บท 9: SCP-3288; Part 9, Hunter Becomes Hunted
The vertical fissure was narrow and damp, but Top squeezed his muscular frame in to the tight space, the pressure of the jagged and sharp walls pressed in to his arms almost cutting his lung expansion to half.
Better than dead.
The drips of rogue water drops echoed unusually loudly through the vacant cave that served as a tomb for most of this comrades. It had been some time since Jesters roar had broken Top from his panic induced route, maybe a half hour. Top couldn't move his arms to check his watch, he just stood there, pleading that the darkness enveloping him would be a fine ally and not betray him to the foul talons and cruel nature of The Empress.
As Top remained in the darkness, he allowed himself a smirk as he thought of which god or entity had spared his life this long, but it didn't last long, he ceased his breathing as the sound of click, click, click echoed down the hewn corridor. Clawed feet, getting closer.
Fuck.
A lifetime of moments passed and the clicks of the claws hitting the uneven stone of the passage came closer and closer, he could hear her breathing, excited short breaths, sometimes followed by a playful hiss, she was so close now. Top guessed she must have been a couple of meters away from his hiding hole, he could hear her sniffing the air like a hound and then silence. Another tense minute passed. The darkness seemingly darker than before, the silence deafening, but eventually it was broken by a deep growl, and then a new noise softly echoed from a distance. It was far away, but changed pitch, up and down, up and down, high and low, like a strained siren...
Local law enforcement! You beautiful sonsabitches!
Top had to stop himself barking out a sharp laugh as he detested local law enforcement and found the irony of this moment amusing and lifting. The mission always went bad when they got involved, always about their little laws. Try the law of nature and living! You wont care for local laws when there's some crazy blood thirsty creature tearing your head off at the neck! Oh how ironic that they were now saving his arse! The sirens came closer, increasing in volume, even down the cave where Top had hidden himself. He had stayed close to the bodies of The Fell Borns, hoping they would mask his scent with their own, and it may have been counter intuitive. As their smell may have even attracted her, now yes, it could have made her think the scent was already hunted and killed, and moved on, but was it a risk he was really willing to take another time?
With The Empress clearly irritated with the imminent arrival of the Police, Top figured she had decided to deal with that problem first. Top made his move as quietly as he could, easing himself free of the tight jagged stone hiding space, using the torch to check his weapons state, he had a single round left in his rifle. He rummaged through the vests of The Fell Borns and found four more magazines full for his weapon. The Sirens outside came loud enough to obviously now be at the entrance to the house, wherever that was and then they silenced. Top was listening hard to interpret any voices carried by the wind that he missed the subtle pebble or small stone that was made loose by the tiny twisted bare feet carefully placed to make as little noise as possible. Drool thickly seeped down the mutated jaw of the haunched over thing that was stalking the lone figure clad in a black uniform as it began fastening its black helmet back upon its head.
Nearly close enough to jump on... nearly.... two more steps.... ghaaah! The thing got too excited about its prey and let out a strange contorted noise of glee which startled Top, who spun and wide eyed saw the thing so close he raised his rifle and fired a single shot, the back of the haunched-over things head erupted in a fountain of brain matter and skull fragments as the back of its skull exploded with the bullet happily exiting the foul flesh of the creature.
Fuck.
Top listened for a moment, only to have his fears confirmed.
A hoarse cry echoed down the roughly cut passage from the house. Sporadic single shot gunfire swiftly followed by screams of pain and fear. The battle outside, which Top could only imagine was a slaughter for the police lasted less than a minute before all was silent again.
Fuck.
Top ran as fast as he could, taking no care in being silent, soon he found himself amongst the bodies of the foul wretched things that littered the dining cave. The smell was far worse than what it was the last time he was down here, maybe an hour ago. A mix of wet iron and rotten eggs, Top found himself doubling over and losing the contents of his stomach over the blood spattered floor. Top moved over to the table, where he had been previously held captive, thinking, which way did The Fell Borns come to rescue him? He scanned and recalled that they came from the right hand side as he was sat, so he moved down in to the darkness of the cave.
The floor was far more uneven and lazily cut here and he took more care and time, not wanting to break his ankle leading to him bloody and gruesome demise. The corridor tilted this way and that, as if attempting to give the impression of a sea made of stone beneath the feet of the creatures that scuttle about it. Top heard a sound that could only be described as the disturbance of still air, as he turned back to the dining cave to see the source, he saw the black dressed form of one of The Fell Born's, cut off at the waist, flying through the air towards him, the darkness made it impossible to see the other end of the vast hewn room, where the half body had been tossed from. His position clearly exposed, he quickly swivelled to the right, narrowly dodging his former comrade's missile corpse. Once Top found his footing, he levelled up and fired his weapon, three rounds in to the darkness. The strobing orange fiery flashes erupting from the end of his rifle illuminated the lazily carved stone passage and Top could make out, for a split second, a long slender figure crouched by the dining table, legs bent like a spider ready to pounce on a stricken fly, the jagged toothy grin threatening to split the ebony face clean in half as it grew unnaturally wide.
She had moved at incredible speed to the dining table a mere twenty meters from him if she had thrown the corpse. Had she thrown the corpse? If she did, then her speed and manoeuvrability was too advantageous for him to deal with, or, there was another one down here, strong enough to throw the body and nimble enough to do it almost silently.
Top allowed the microsecond it took for the fear of either realisation to take hold of his quivering heart. He had seen some things in his past. Torn bodies, horribly mutated hosts for strange diseases and deamons, he had even acted as one of the escorts for relocation of SCP-096, and he had never felt fear like this. True fear.
The fear of being hunted.
The fear of staring at your killers lustful teeth seconds before they sink in to your flesh.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง