Still, her head urged her to move on, her feet taking it one step at a time into the structure. Inside was a lot more computable than the pure black outside. Despite the impeccable exterior, the interior seemed much more haphazard. The same matt black colour lined the walls and ceiling in the form of beams and pipes. The grey of the walls was poisoned with the Dijon yellow light, seeming to glint like monstrous watchful eyes between the dark piping.
The eerie quiet from outside was broken by the sound of air bubbles being pushed through the pipes along with the occasional clanking of what could only be machinery further into the building. To Katya’s delight, however, she couldn’t hear any sign of the aliens around. Sure, they weren’t the loudest creatures, but they were seemingly built for speed or agility rather than total silence. Especially on a metal floor like this, at the very least she would hear the tapping of clawed feet.
Her boots made no noise with their leather soles and her slow, careful steps. Each corner was paused at to make sure there was nothing there to spot her. The structure of the building was very square, everything based at right angles. The ground floor all seemed to surround one room in the centre.
Katya made sure to check all the corridors before she came to a stop in front of the metallic grey door, inside the doors were much more noticeable. Behind her was a thin set of black metal steps leading up to the other floor. Her blue eyes scanned the door-like shape and the wall either side, spotting one of those lighter areas indicating a switch like the one outside.
As the door slid open, Katya was assaulted by a miasma of what reminded her of the smell of dissections. Her breath caught in her throat as she creased her face in disgust at the sheer height of the smell. Fear gripped her. Her legs seemed to freeze as though in protest at the idea of venturing inside.
She didn’t want to go in.
Her imagination was going wild with possibilities of what was causing the smell.
The tapping of sharp claws on metal brought all thoughts to a sharp halt. Her legs finally spurred into action to get her away from the sound that was surely a sign of danger.
Inside the room, there were two tanks connected to one another. The first tank was filled with a sangria coloured syrup, slowly moving in an anticlockwise flow. The larger tank which was connected to the smaller and receiving drops of liquid was filled with a rouge pink soup-like liquid being slowly boiled.
Ducking around to hide behind the smaller tank. Katya silently drew her small blade from its sheath. The tapping of claws was frequent enough for her to work out that it was four sets of claws. They continued until they finally came to a halt in the room with her.
Daring to shift and glance through the gap between the two tanks, the red-head finally saw one of the quadrupeds up close. Like the bipedal. The beast was slim with armour bending in underneath where a stomach would normally bulge out even a little bit. It was a similar size to that of a male African lion, with a skeletal feline shape. Armour covered its head with an opening to allow for powerful snapping of the jaw. Even its tail looked as though it was made of the armour metal.
At that moment Katya dubbed these quadrupeds ‘Hiko’ which she had once named a stray cat as it translated to ‘Hellcat’. Gulping hard, Katya found herself unsure of how she was meant to survive against something with that many weapons.
She would have thought on the matter more, except something in the smaller tank moved and caught her attention. Time felt like it froze as her blue eyes settled on a human face with corroded holes burning through the skin came into sight.
“Crap!”
Katya couldn’t stop herself scrambling back away from the tank with a loud curse. Oh god… that syrup liquid was dissolving that person.
Had she come in here just to find that everyone had been melted down into some kind of soup?!
The Hiko growling tore her mind back to the immediate threat.
Damn.
Her mind was blank with fear.
As the beast moved around the side of the tank, sniffing at the air intently Katya didn’t even think before jumping onto the piping in the gap between the two tanks, trying to keep her eyes from focusing on the human face. The gap was only slim, but she managed to lodge herself and her backpack within it.
If only the gap was the same width all the way through…
It was too small. Katya had trapped herself.
Katya was certain to be burning through her corticosteroids in her system at rapid speed with the stress rising in her body. Her mind was buzzing in blank instinct just like it had done with the Nerushi invading her home.
She couldn’t die.
She wanted to see Oliver again, wanted to see her family again; feel her mother’s hug, hear her cousin’s laugh… at that moment she found her never missed her younger sisters cheeky smile so much.
These thoughts were likely her saving grace. They squashed her fear down and left her in a slow, silent world as the short, rounded muzzle of the Hiko came into view. The mouth of the creature reached too far up the head for comfort in a Joker smile shape.
It wasn’t until after the head had turned to face her, the deep wine-coloured eyes lightening to a garnet colour and darkening in a flash as the creature focused on her, that her body moved again on automatic.
Her blade was thrust through the creature’s throat the moment its jaws opened to attack. The fangs tore her sleeve slightly, scratching her arm, drawing blood from two small puncture wounds.
After a moment, the Hiko crumpled to the floor with Katya’s blade pushed through the back of the neck with the jam-like blood dripping down the tip of the blade.
This time, being alone, Katya didn’t have anything to immediately turn her attention to and all the fear that had been blanked out rushed to the surface.
Her legs quaked beneath her and brought her shakily to the ground, sliding down the corner of the tank with rouge pink liquid inside.
“I must be insane” she mumbled to herself as she pulled her sleeve to inspect the fang wounds “Oh yes, stick your arm in a death trap jaw. Such a smart move Katya.”
It was much harder to laugh these things off when no one was there to act tough in front of. Her breath shuddered in and out of her lungs as she wiped the drops of blood onto the sleeve.
“Ok, these ones can die too huh? I can do this…” Katya mumbled moving herself to kneel by the Hiko’s body. Hopefully, they had more weak point points than just inside the mouth. She was bound to lose an arm if she tried to do that again.
Pulling the blade carefully from the feline-type creature’s mouth, Katya once more allowed her fingers to search over the matt black armour. The back of the neck and the throat both had a weakness, allowing the Hiko far greater head movement than the Nerushi.
The armour on the Hiko felt thinner in general, probably aiding to the creature’s flexibility and endurance. Still, very few areas had no armour at all. The areas of the inner legs, closest to the hip and shoulder joints were four areas of weakness along with the neck. Unlike the Nerushi, the Hiko had no weaknesses on its feline legs.
So, her best bet was the back of the neck. Her fingers ran over the wound, once more getting that blueberry coloured gloop on her fingers. As she checked the width of the weakness, Katya noticed that the blue wasn’t the only liquid there. The same rouge pink that was in the larger tank was trickling out from incorporated pipes under the armour.
The corroded face in the purple tank… the pipes linking the two… the consistent boiling of the pink liquid… and that same liquid inside the armour of these monsters…
Katya couldn’t stop herself from vomiting the moment it clicked. Humans were being turned into liquid food!
Oh god…
Tears prickled her eyes at the idea that people she had known were being dissolved in such a disgusting end.
Was this happening all over the country?? All over the world? Had she lost her family to this sickening end?!
Her imagination may have taken a very dark t
urn had a scream not sounded from the floor above. It was high pitched, the sound of a child trying to protest against something.
Katya clung to that sound as hope that some people still lived. Tearing herself away from the tanks that would haunt her dreams, she took a tight grip on her small blade and headed out of the room.
Cautiously, she moved up the stairs, glancing around as soon as she reached eye level with the floor above. A young girl being gripped around the back of the neck was kicking out the Nerushi that held her off the ground.
Before this day, a child’s scream was just annoying. But the sight of this brown-haired child, crying and screaming for her father was down-right heart-breaking.
The nine-foot terror didn’t even spare a moment to cease the child’s protests, it was not even remotely bothered by the small feet kicking back against the armour. The digitigrade shape of its legs gave the creature a light bounce as it walked, it’s long claws on its feet granting better balance.
Katya followed as it made its way down the corridor, the child masking any soft sound the red-head made.
As it stopped in front of a door, she took her chance. With a quick rush to the space behind the monster, Katya reached up and plunged her blade into the side of its neck where weakness was.
Her arms reached to catch the girl as the long spider-like fingers released her neck. The girl clung to Katya like a lifeline, her little arms wrapping around her shoulders as she sobbed.
“Shh, it’s ok now. I’ve got you” Katya cooed gently to the girl, propping her up with her free arm as the other adjusted the blade in her hand.
For that very moment, she had meant that it was ok, but the moment the door fully opened in front of them she knew it really was not ok.
In the room, there were six stations of equipment. Like vertical slabs with tubes coming out the back. Five of them had people attached to the front and liquid in the tubes. Two males, two females, and one child; meaning that the girl that clung to her was meant for the sixth station.
For now, Katya’s blue eyes met the flash of the wine-coloured eyes of the Nerushi who had turned around as the door opened.
Could she be successful for the third time?
Quickly pulling the girl from her hold and ushering her behind the red-head, Katya raised her blade as the Nerushi let out a gurgling rumble, advancing on the female.
Taking a couple of deep breaths to steady herself, Katya took a split second to glance over the Nerushi’s movements. The way those springy digitigrade legs bent and tensed suggested it was going to launch at her, the long fingers splaying ready to take a grip fast.
It was a calculated risk not to try and move out of the way as she was leapt towards and lifted from the ground by her neck. She could feel the solid lines of those armoured fingers pressing on her arteries in her neck, immediately causing the feeling of blood reduction to her brain.
This gave her a few seconds’ window with the being within her range before she would pass out. Katya didn’t have time to hesitate. Plunging her blade into the side of the creature’s neck with increasing precision and confidence in her strike. She felt the release of the fingers allowing her feet to find solid ground once more. Blood rushed back to her head bringing a light-headed feeling as she stabled herself where she stood.
She noted to herself that killing one of these was definitely less hazardous from behind.
Sheathing her short blade, she rubbed the sides of her neck while turning back to the terrified little girl. A gentle smile pulled on Katya’s lips, an expression that softened her face considerably.
“See, I said it was ok. Come on, let’s help these people” Again, her response around someone else was to act like she knew exactly what she was doing, to go into autopilot to keep others calm and secure. It worked though, the little girl immediately latched her fingers onto the hem of Katya’s shirt and nodded. “You’re very brave. What’s your name?”
“…Lily”
“Lily, that’s such a suitable name for such a brave girl.”
The idea of talking about something as simple as a name might seem daft as they moved over to the closest machine with the young boy attached, but if Katya was out of her depth and terrified, she couldn’t imagine what it was like for a child.
The boy appeared to be awake but unresponsive. Eyes remaining open, but they would not focus as Katya attempted to gain a response. A pipe gagged the boy’s mouth while thin pipes were attached to their backs. Katya noted, as she pulled the boy’s body forward to rest against her, the rubes looked fused with the skin rather than inserted… as though the boy was becoming one with the machine.
Dread filled Katya. She was going to have to cut these people free, slice into their bodies carefully to set them free from the wires. Her fingers danced around the tubing, finding the infused areas to at least be small in size… she could patch up eight small wounds on each body with the first aid she had taken from the pharmacy.
The second issue was that they were all naked. She would have to help them once they got out, barefoot with the number of broken things on the ground in the city would not make a good combination.
Well, she’d deal with that if she managed to get them out.
Pulling her backpack off, she pulled out the alcohol wipes and large plasters. Placing her ornamental blade on the floor she pulled out the flip knife and upon opening it, wiped the blade down with one of the alcohol wipes. Turning to see Lily watching her anxiously, Katya smiled gently to her once more.
“When I get them down, can you help me fix they cuts?” The red-head knew this wasn’t the place for a child, but children did have a trait of being more at ease when they felt involved and important.
Lily nodded nervously, taking the plasters and packets of wipes that Katya handed her.
“Good lass” Katya gave the still scared girl one more reassuring smile before turning to the matter at hand.
Adjusting the boy's body against hers to make sure he was pulled as far from the machine as the tube would allow. All her weight supported against her left side as she pulled on one of the rubes and her blade cut into the boy’s skin. At that moment the boy began to writhe with a gurgling choking sound. Katya stopped her movements immediately and pulled the boy off her to examine him while her flip knife clattered to the metal ground.
The boy’s green eyes were wide and full of terror as he appeared to choke on the tube in his mouth. Damn, it wasn’t that keeping him asleep then.
Swiftly and carefully the red-head dislodged the tube from the boy’s throat and freed up his oesophagus that was pressing into the trachea.
“It’s ok, we got you. But you need to be strong and quiet, ok?” Katya started as the boy began to cry. He wasn’t going to be cut free without screaming, he was only about five years old. They were going to get heard at this rate. “Ok sweetie, I need to get you down. There will be eight jolts of pain, but I need you to be tough for me, ok? If we make noise, those scary monsters will come back, so instead of yelling when you feel the pain, I want you to bite down instead”
All she could do was ignore the pure fear in those green watering eyes and wait in all seriousness for the boy to nod and lean his head back onto her shoulder. Katya was the only thing she could afford to be bitten down on for now. Her own teeth clenched tight as she motioned for Lily to pass up the flip knife.
Taking hold of the tubes one by one, the red-head pulled until the infused section was clear and sliced through the flesh to detach them. The viciousness of the bite on the small of her neck increased with each cut while the boy’s tears dripped and soaked her collar.
Katya made quick work of the cuts through and soon she was lowering the boy to the floor keeping him close as she tended to the two pence sized wounds with the first aid bits that Lily passed her. The kid had definitely been becoming one with the machine. She hadn’t just cut off skin but had removed small indents of muscle tissue from his back.
Lily stepped up though, cradling the boy
once his wounds were treated, talking in a soft trembling voice about how it was going to be fine because a superhero had arrived that could kill the monsters.
Oh, if only Katya was a superhero.
Each of the adults had their throats cleared first so that Katya could explain the situation to them, but their panic and pain was just as real as the boys. By the time Katya was patching up the back of the last adult, a female in her mid-forties, the red-head could feel her own blood under her shirt from where her skin had broken under the pressure of teeth trying not to scream.
“We have to get you out of here.” Katya was surprised at the confidence in her voice. The naked state of those in front of her was driving it home just how vulnerable they were in these moments. Unlike her, they didn’t have anything to protect them. They didn’t even have shoes to aid them if they tried to run.
Silence of the Apocalypse- Journey Home Page 3