[Occam's Razor] [Occam's Razor] Occam's Razor: The Colorado Incident

Jace's eyes were closed upon hearing the 'don't let his blood touch you' line out of Malcom. "Yeah... none taken." he'd have a tone as if he were somehow unable to hide his dismay at the timing of said words. "But just for the record. I don't have AIDs..." He knew that Malcom was talking about the infection from that predatory creature they had killed before-hand but that didn't stop him from chiming out a remark, whether it was necessary or not. He huffed and opened his eyes, hearing the lightest whispers of Woods and Nadia's voice through Malcom's communicators. And as Revelia added to her suggestion in, Jace looked to the ground, grasping up the metal bar in his hand again with a snarl, feeling just how tender his hand had become through all of the harsh impacts and gashes in it from the fighting. His legs visibly shook as he hefted the six hundred pound bar of metal up in a vertical position as he cupped his left hand under the bottom of it as if he were trying to use his 'strong hand' to support its weight. Jace's face looked a bit more pale than usual but he merely gripped the bottom and grunted, hefting it up to lean more against his left shoulder. "At least we can clear the way."


His eyes looked to the floor as his lower lip hunk a bit lower on his face as he huffed out a breath of air. A semi-vacant look was on his face as if he were lacking expression for that instance. He'd shake his head, blinking his eyes, and took a hesitant step forwards towards Malcom. "Where to?" He asked this with full intentions on taking the lead again. After all, having to whirl the girder around while having to protect the woman they came to save wasn't necessarily the kind of thing he could see himself pulling off while staying back near her. It was clear at this point that Jace's pride, the only thing keeping him form collapsing in front of this woman, was even at its limit. His legs still had strength in them for certain. But it wouldn't last very much longer. And the drops of thick blood kept splotching the ground in front of the steel toes of his boots. He even had to wipe his palm on his overalls, causing a half-hand shaped smear down the side as he winced and re-gripped the bar as to not have a slippery grip. Effectively placing his hand (now clear of the blood clot that had formed) back onto rusted, filthy, metal. The dark red stain on his pants a reminder of how thick the 'gunk' in his palm really was; and a stark reminder of how much clotting it had underwent.
 
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Malcom had slowly pushed himself back to his feet, something itching in the back of his mind, like an incessant voice telling him "Run" He shivered as he looked around in the gloom, "That way..." He almost whispered as he pointed back the way they had come, "And quietly... I have... a very bad feeling..." He had mostly ignored the squabbling between his subordinates until now, when he said into his comm, "Nadia, Woods, Get in the lift, go to the floor directly above us. When I say, come down, and keep the door shut until were there... Something's wrong... It got quiet as soon as we got to our new friend here..." He nodded to Jace, motioning down the corridor, "You take point, Sorry my friend, but I have this feeling your muscle is going to be needed in the front. I've got our back." As he finished speaking, he slid his kukiri out of it's sheath, like a predator bearing it's fangs. He might not have been as imposing a figure as Jace right then, but the cold look in his eye's might even chill the con, he'd recognize it, the switch from being a human, to being a monster. Malcom continued to regard the situation until Jace would begin down the hallway.


Off in the distance, beyond them, the growing mass of creatures that boiled and rolled were contemplating, they were preparing, seething, the closest of them clung to the walls. Even Jace and Malcom would miss them, half amphibians, adapted to near zero light, that acted as scouts for the lesser creatures of the infected mutations that called the earth home. The greater beasts had pushed through this mass, away from this horde, and were making their way towards the source of the sound that they had heard earlier, wondering what it was. But the mass smelled blood on the air, it thirsted for it, craved it, but it wanted the fresh, newly woken one more, already warded from the other two in the hall, they would fight through the pair now and break them for the sake of getting at her. The mass was mainly comprised of humanoid types, but there were others, horrendous mutations, all between the size of a human and the mass of a bear or a large dog. Each of them a different variant, part of the swarm, part of a lesser hive mind. A weaker connection, but more rapid, more decisive, though easily frightened and turned back at the loss of it's numbers. These humanoids were the same from the upper halls, having traveled down through the ventilation shafts to get at them before Alexander would have closed off the vents, or finding alternate routes through the walls. Now they seethed, and boiled, and waited, for a moment to strike.
 
He shook his head to clear it... It didn't matter. It was in the early stages, he was fine. What mattered was the situation down stairs that was quickly getting FUBAR. He had his orders, no need to sit around feeling sorry for himself. Besides, he was already infected. Just one less this to worry about, now it was a standard encounter, just try not to die. That he could do.


He tapped his comm to include Nadia in the channel, and took a deep, steadying breath. "On my way, sir." He made his way into the armory after fiddling with the console some, and took a brief moment just to admire it all. His favorite job as a private had been inventory. Not because he enjoyed math more than the other guy, but because he got to see all the creative ways smart men made things that go BOOM! It was just a wholly satisfying feeling... That, or he was already cracking under the pressure.


Woods shook his head to clear it again, and grabbed some of the body armor from the, as Nadia had mentioned, still opened locker. He put one the first one he came across, finding it a near-perfect fit, and was eve surprised to find 'WOODS' stitched across the left breast. Huh, it was his armor from the Repel Team... And before, too. He grinned widely, now that had to be a sign, he got his lucky armor back. He grabbed the smallest armor he could find and shoved it neatly into a pack, which he swung over his shoulder, opting to carry his Scar instead. He figured the new civ might feel a little better with some protection.


He pinned his grenades to his armor, slid his spare clip and magazines into slots fitted for the purpose, and grabbed a few extra of each until he had four of each. Malcom said he didn't feel right, so he was going to come prepared. He outfitted his SCAR with a laser-sight, tactical scope and a shoulder strap (the sort meant for keeping a rifle within easy reach and keeping your hands clear), but refrained from adding anything to his Beretta. He spent a brief moment fawning over a machete, before adding it to his belt. Everyone else seemed to have pointy things, so why shouldn't he?


Finally, he opted to grab a field triage kit to stuck it into the pack as well. He didn't have much medical training outside of the field, and with the Contaminated, the only cure had been a bullet between the eyes. But, it was generally a good idea to have more than one man carrying the med kits.


The whole thing probably took around two and half minutes, as the armory was laid out like most. He felt as prepared as he could be, so he moved out, closing the door behind him, and was there in about two. He tapped his comm to close the channel, and saluted in the same motion. "Sorry I'm late, Staff Sergeant, but I had some collecting to do."
 
The look in Malcom's eyes said all that was necessary. It actually caused him to pause for just a moment. However Jace finally squinted his vision at the other man, allowing a nasty smirk to rise over his face to show those fantastic personality traits he had been known for. "That's a good look." His tone turning more slimy in tandem with the cocky grin on his face. He'd start to march forwards, having turned from them and started looking back the way they came. "And... Don't apologize. I was hoping you'd say that." His feet began to move again as he made a somewhat brisk few steps forwards, moving at a power-walk pace. A pace the woman could probably run at. "Not going to lie to you..." His voice became absent for a few seconds. "-I feel woozy. But also..." The same sort of pause pressed in the air like a weight as if the air had stirred up some sort of horrid tension. "I feel anxious. Ooh, so anxious... Heh-heh...~" His chuckle continued on until it was subdued under his breath. His shoulders tensed and bulged as he hunched forwards just a bit, throat muscles undulating as one side of his neck twitched, then the other. From their position behind him they would probably guess that each twitch indicated just how rapidly he was looking from left to right, then up and down. His head wasn't moving but these muscles betrayed him as his eyes moved in unison.
 
Nadia had pressed the button for the lift and after it only being open for a few moments Woods appeared, fully ready, and saluted her and apologized for the wait. Nadia quickly saluted him back before entering the lift, "No problem, Captain. Just ready to get this horror show underway." she said as she entered the lift and stepped to the opposite side of the console to leave that to Woods. She had steeled herself against the possible horrors she would encounter and just hoped that the others weren't in too bad of shape. She figured that they had to be tired from the fight she had left them to and on top of whatever else they ran into, she assumed that they had be running on fumes at this point. With her and Woods fully geared up and stocked with ammunition and firearms, she was farily certain that they would be able to handle any obstacle that stood in there way. A smile crossed her face, showing off her inner fire to go on the offensice, then she tapped her comm open so she could hear everyone, she just wanted to be in the know in case anything happened.
 
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Woods nodded and stepped inside, moving to the console. The others were on the fourth floor, and Malcom wanted them on the third, until they made it to the lift. The plan was sound enough, especially with what little they had to work with... He just hoped things didn' t go south. They were risking all of their military personnel with this op... Hell, three-fourths of their combat experienced people were infected. He had some time, he hadn't been bitten or anything. Hell, he might even have a full day before the whispers started...


He shook his head for what seemed to be the millionth time that day and took another deep breath... To anyone else it might seem to be nerves getting to him, but his mind was already clear. He knew what he had to do, and he was going to do it. Plenty of time to worry about things afterwards. The op came first, safety of his team second, then his personal safety came third.


He pressed the button with the '3' and watched silently as the doors closed and they went one step closer to hell.
 
Revelia pushed herself harder than she had ever done before to stay in between the two men. It didn't help that she was already such a small framed lass, but they seemed to move borderline inhumanly, and that meant she was left taking bigger steps at a faster pace.


As they charged down the hallway Revelia took just a moment, the quickest of moments, to look over and wheeze out a cough. As she did so she saw something behind a broken cryo tube that caused her to freeze up immediately. Of course her freezing only lasted long enough for her to get knocked over by Malcom, but she wasn't about to blame him.


Scrambling back to her feet, Revelia dashed towards the cryo tube to find a small girl, head in her hands, her long, matted hair hanging over her face. And she was sobbing.


"Hey there, don't you worry, I'm here to help. Name's Revelia, but you can call me Revy. What's your name?"


As Revelia spoke, she reached out with her non-dominant right hand, offering comfort to the child. That's when it happened.


The girl stood straight up, screaming inhumanly as she threw her arms out in a threatening gesture. At her wrists the skin ended, leaving two protruding, jagged, hook like claws, and that wasn't even the worst part. Her entire lower face and neck opened up, bridge of the nose to collarbone, in a massive, tooth filled orifice that reeked of death and decay.


Screaming in shock Revelia fell backwards and swung her bang-stick wildly, pegging the 'girl' right in the right shoulder. There was a deafening bang as the recoil spun Revy one way and the girl the other, and as Revy made to stand back up, she saw that the 'girl' too was standing, screaming, ignoring the fact that her right arm was still held on by only a few centimetres of flesh.


That was when two more came out of shadows behind the cryo tube.


(OOC: I did it. I'm a terrible person. @Morridan I hope Jace won't be too effed up by this, enjoy ^.^ )
 
Without thinking, without feeling, without even a breath, Malcom moved forward, his right hand tossing his kukiri to his left, then in a smooth motion, as he moved in an arc, he reached over to Jace's back, and tapped him before he slid the kukiri he had lent the man up, and threw both blades past Revelia, the motion was savage, fluid, and as though he had practiced it a thousand times. He stepped past Revelia, grasping the child sized abomination in his arms for a few moments, he looked to Revelia, his face a cold, heartless mask, "Move..." He said as his arms wrenched, not simply snapping the beings neck, but ripping it clear away from the creatures form.


His blades had found another pair of targets, had actually buried themselves into the skulls of the creatures that had come from behind the cryo tube. Malcom knelt down to retreive them from the still twitching corpses. When he drew the first blade from the slightly taller of the pair, it reached for him, and without hesitation his free hand found the side of it's face, smashing it in with furious power. As though anticipating the second to attack in a similar fashion, as he pulled the blade free, he wrenched it across the other beings neck as he pulled his second blade free.


Malcom stood, and turned towards Jace, had he moved or not, he would yell at him, "Move Jace, Close your eyes and Move!" He slid his second Kukiri away, and offered a hand to Revelia, "On your feet." His voice was without emotive inflection, his face was coated in fresh blood, "We need to move, Now."


As Malcom carried out the executions, his mind had become focused on the task, he didn't feel any emotion for these creatures, he knew what they were to him. They were his enemy, his greatest fear, and his future. Deep down, he knew what was inevitably going to happen, and he wanted to kill as many of them as he could before they took his mind, and took him into their fold. He felt the weight of his 9mm at his side then, realizing he'd need to keep a close count on the remaining bullets. He'd need to save at least one...
 
Jace had felt the tap on his shoulder, turning as he snapped his gaze at Malcom just as the first shot was fired. And within that second, he saw both blades fly past the woman they came to save, landing in the child-like forms of the deformed beasts they were hunting. His pupils dilated , watching them fall. His mouth went to open but stopped halfway as the execution of the first one by way of Beheading commenced and ended with a loud snap. His face, one of pain and urgency already, had twisted into a wrinkled and sour look of disgust. However it would fail in comparison to display his thoughts fully upon watching the remaining, grounded girl's head being bludgeoned into a pulp with one clean shot. His eyes full of wrath and confusion as to how to exude it outwards. Tears streamed down his eyes as blood was breathed out in a mist through clenched teeth and dribbled down over his lower lips as he let out a shaky exhale. His rage all pointed at Malcom, looking through his eyes and seemingly the wall right behind him. The stare given to those that even this mad-man deemed too vile. It was as if he were aiming to punch through Malcom's skull itself.


Of course this stare soon ended as he turned and directed his attention forwards, holding the metal bar straight outwards. His veins all over his face, neck, shoulders, arms... Everywhere there was skin showing, even through the rips at the back of his overalls, were all bulging against his skin. His face a beat red as his bloodshot eyes pierced forwards. The thoughts 'They had their whole lives ahead of them', and 'Why the -HELL- are children not where Malcom said?!', and of course the obvious 'It's all thanks to these monsters that they're like this' reeled in Jace's mind, propelling his thoughts purely on revenge. "Those... Mother... F-...." He'd pause, teeth crackling under the stress of his now insane bite-force. So tightly grit together were they that his gums were actually bleeding.


This pause of course not lasting very long at all as he slung the metal bar against the ground, bolting forwards in a maddened rush. A horrid, anguished cry left his throat in a furious crescendo of pain, outrage, and the most primalistic anger imaginable. His shout putting even the roars of the 'predatory' mutants to shame. He gave no warning in his movement. His legs pounding with angst against the ground as he charged headlong straight towards any of them he could find. His goal was clear. Kill on sight. Do not let a single one pass. Without passion and void of any enjoyment, he was to massacre. He was going to simply destroy.
 
Nadia watched as Woods entered the elevator and shook his head, she figured that he was just shaking the last of the jitters from his mind. She stood silently by as he pushed the '3' button on the lift console, and said a silent prayer to herself as the lift began to descend. She wasn't quite sure what was in stored for them but she could imagine that it wasn't going to be good or easy, and recalling the final scene of Jace and Malcom fighting in a sea of monsters made her unconsciously grit her teeth in anticipation and a bit of anxiety. Her body was in fight mode and she felt fully aware of everything around her, granted she was simply in a lift with her comrade, but she still felt that as soon as the doors open that she would be able to handle anything that came their way, and just to not start out like she did last time...she opted to pull a recently sharpened knife from her sheath. She figured that the others were probably short, if not out, of ammo and as such she wasn't going to waste the ammo she had brought if it wasn't absolutely necessary. She was hoping, naively, that the monsters that Woods and her would encounter would be the simple humanoid ones, which she felt could easily be dispatched with close quarters combat, but realized that there could be any number of horrors roaming about...and if that turned out to be the case she was confident enough that she'd be able to draw a weapon from the bag or draw her own 9mm to put the enemy down.


She thought that she was ready and fully prepared, but then she heard it...the horrid scream or yell of what sounded like an enraged beast. It sounded human though, but at the same time borderline monstrous...and suddenly her blood ran cold. What the hell was that? she thought as her body seized up. It was definitely either Jace or Malcom...she was too rattled in the moment to be able to clearly identify who or what it was, but her demeanor quickly went from prepared to awe-struck and unsure. Just what the F.u.c.k was going on down there! Her whole body shook a little bit before she managed to slowly regain her composure though her demeanor was still thrown out of whack now, and she couldn't even bring herself to talk into the comm to ask what was going on.
 
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Gratefully accepting Malcom's hand up, Revelia had to do her best to not overbalance and fall on her face as she felt her entire body lift off the ground as the man aided her in standing. Her footing regained, the slight woman was about to reload her bang-stick when another one of the child-like monstrosities started her way. Sliding the impromptu shotgun into her belt loops, Revelia reached around her back, suddenly very glad she'd held onto her original femur bone club.


Deftly spinning out of the way of the charging creature, Revy swung the femur viciously and let it smash into the back of the abomination's skull. With a resounding crack, the femur shattered the former child's skull while also cracking length wise and splintering into a number of bone shards. Looking at the ruined weapon, Revelia thought fast and pulled the wrapping from the bone and let the shards fall.


Looking up and ensuring Jace and Malcom seemed to have the attention of the creatures, she tore the cloth in half, found the two longest, sharpest shards of bone, ideally the stronger looking pair that were both about twenty to twenty two centimetres long, and wrapped the blunt ends leaving her with 15 to 17 centimetre long 'blades'. With her two, new, ice pick-esque weapons Revy stood again just in time to see another of the child creatures slide easily past Jace.


Did she blame the man? No, he seemed to be really shook up about the children. That didn't mean she had to be happy about it though since this one was closer to her height. Readying her weapons, Revy ducked under an insanely fast hook-handed swing and drove her first shiv up into the wretch's gut. It let out a psychotic scream of what could only be pure rage before Revelia felt the hooks of one hand collide roughly into her back before its mouth whipped down and latched onto her shoulder.


Letting out a grunt of discomfort and slight pain, Revy slammed both her shivs into the little effer's skulls and sighed as it's mouth went slack and it fell off of her. Realising that her scuffle drew her farther from Malcom than she liked, she moved back towards the man while groping at the place the hooked claws had hit her back, and eyeing the shoulder of her vest, sighing in relief.


"Goddamned knife proof," Revelia grinned in nostalgic relief, "I owe you my life twice then, big brother."
 
Woods sighed, leaning against the back of the lift, closing his eyes. That is, until an inhuman roar caused him to start and bring his weapon to the ready, just as the doors opened as they reached the third floor. His rifle was aimed through the large doors in an instant, reaching over to press the button to shut them, wary of potential threats... And one happened to present itself quite readily, as a charging half-bear and half-pig... thing that dropped from one of the vents in the ceiling, followed by a number of others


"Nopenopenope!" he shouted, slamming his his fist down on the button repeatedly. "C'mon, c'mon! Dammit!" He resigned himself to facing the creature, damn doors were too slow. He slid easily into a crouched position, right in the middle of the cart, flicked his safety off, and opened fire at the lead beast. It wasn't long after that that the doors finally shuddered closed with a resounding thud! and Woods ceased fire.


It was followed by several more thuds, as the creatures rammed repeatedly into the outside doors. He reopened the channel to Malcom. "Shit, looks like we've a bit of a situation here, Malcom. Some beasts are trying to break into the lift here."
 
Malcom reacted to every situation he could, as fast as he could, which was slowly accelerating. As Revelia dealt with one creature, his logic determined that she was going to slow them down far too much for them to be able to effectively move back to the lift in a reasonable amount of time for Jace's stamina to last and his knife wielding to last. He heard Wood's transmission as he noticed Jace going into a basic berserk mode. He also heard behind them as several other creatures, ranging between child sized, to adult sized, and several animal based creatures seemed to drip out of the walls, each using the vents and power conduits to creep through more efficiently. Malcom drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming himself, keeping his mind focused on the task at hand.


What seemed like long enough to regain his focus, was only a moment, he barked out a quick order to Woods, "Go to floor five, away further orders, it'll hear the lift go down, and it'll stop trying at the door, these things know how strong those doors are, it's just trying to scare you. There is an override switch on the lift's control panel, below the close door button, flip it to the left, it'll keep the doors shut when you get there. After the lift stops, turn it back off and wait, check your weapons, stay frosty." He reacted to Jace a second after he was done sending orders to Woods...


Malcom stepped close to the man, pointing past him, "Move, That way, Get us to the lift or she isn't going to last five minutes! Do not stop until you are there, I will deal with anything that gets past and comes from behind, Now MOVE!" His right arm jerked re-actively, his blade no longer in his hand, it tore down the behind Jace, back the way they had come, and into the skull of yet another of the creatures. But before it even fell to it's knees, he was at it, removing his weapon, and using his other to sever it's head from it's shoulders. "How easy it's becoming to remove their heads..." He thought as he slid back a few feet, avoiding the talons of several creatures that lashed out in retaliation.


The growing horde at their backs was now making it's way slowly towards Revelia, and Malcom had himself placed between the approaching monsters and the girl. He glanced back at her, for a second, judging by her stance, she was prepared for his next order, "Do yourself a favor, get right against me, I'm going to need to carry you down that hall once he gets moving, because you will -Not- be able to keep up with us once we start running." His left hand snapped forward again, fending off a tentative claw, he rotated his right side forward and slammed the blade into the creatures neck, snorting as he did, this felt so easy, why was it so easy..?


As Malcom continued to defend them, the creatures massed in, in greater numbers. Behind them there were possibly twenty, ahead, possibly several thousand. They rose through the levels, and descended from above, from hiding places they had long since slept, Four floors worth of mutant's of all types, were descending and rising to greet them, Malcom had little idea what was coming for them, beyond the slowly raising volume of the whispers in his mind. It seemed to be a hungry beast, approaching them with a vicious intention of devouring them all. Malcom's mind laughed back at it, his ego slowly rising, "There aren't enough of them in the whole world to kill me, I survived Isreal, New York, LA, Voskresensk, I sealed Illinois and Colorado..!"


Malcom's voice actually echoed out from between his lips, "I'm the last commander in chief of the human race you bastards! You won't kill me, Or anyone else under my command or protection! I'm Malcom Devontess! Do you hear me! I'm the worst nightmare your kind has! I've butchered hundreds of your kind and lived through it without a mark! Come on!" He spun his right hand's blade into a reverse hand blade motion as he shouted at them. The whispers seemed to lessen at his declaration of superiority to them, and it almost seemed as if the horde hesitated as he finished, like it was unsure if it could crush this man and his allies, but then the hungry beast within drove it forward again with almost the same resolve as before...
 
Nadia was still recovering from her tremors of shock and fear as the doors opened, only seeing Woods hitting the button out of her peripherals, but at the same time feeling as though she wasn't exactly there in athe moment. That all changed though when a mutant bear-pig dropped from a vent and began to charge with some of its buddies pulling up the rear. Although she could see them she couldn't move her body couldnh't get herself to respond, and was still frozen in place as Woods was frantically pushing the buttons to close the doors. She watched as Woods croutched in the center of the lift and took fire at the beast before the doors finally closed, and as the doors closed with a Thud! it was as if at the same time Nadia came back online.


She exhaled hard and began to suck in air, feeling light-headed as she hadn't realized that she had been holding her breath for a long while. As her brain refocused and Woods talked to Malcom, she silently cursed herself for her collapsed demeanor as she knew she would be no use to anyone if this were to happen again. She quickly sheathed her knife and pulled, from the bag a few side arms to compliment her own 9mm. "Thank god one of us kept their wits about them," she said scolding herself to Woods, "This definitely just got a lot more difficult." she said as she clicked off the saftey of her own weapon.


Hearing Malcom's voice over the comm helped calm her spirit and got her back into fight mode, which she thought she had definitely lost after that horrid scream and the surprise rush of monsters. She shook her head side to side quickly as she rebuilt her composure, and then looked over at Woods, ready for him to follow the orders issued.
 
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Jace was too far gone for words to sway his movements. However the pointing in his peripheral vision mixed with the muffled 'wah wah wah' sounds that barely pierced through the thick fog of hatred that had consumed him directed him on his path. He had immediately there-after burst forward to top speed, thrashing the metal slab in a twisting, whirling, motion. It was as if he had been possessed by a cyclone. He literally twirled the girder in his hand and smashed it in each direction as if it were a mere twig. However this 'artsy' display turned into a Neanderthal-like spin as he spun like a top, smashing a clearing through the first five to come within range. The tops of their shoulders exploded upon impact as he ceased his spin and counter-spun to smash one of the creatures that thought it could break free of the carnage so long as it could move further behind the man. With an apprehended yelp and a splashing noise, its thoughts of freeing itself of its fate was cut short as its blood and bone was slung over the wall.


And so the man continued to run his way towards the mass, letting out another bestial scream that sounded like a half-screech and half-roar, hinting at the 'human' origin from which the noise came. It was pure madness that filled Jace's eyes as he unleashed pure hell on the creatures in front of him. He smashed the bar down on one creature that tried to slide under his legs, coming to a stop as its body accordion'd itself up as the metal girder was stapled into the ground, crushing its head without even so much as a pause before the metal was ripped back off of it and send flying through the next beast.


The creatures were all leaping and diving in attempts to scurry past him only to get mercilessly batted down and executed. They even got up the nerve to try and rush him five at a time to over-take him. But sadly for them, he just killed them en-masse, rising the girder up under the creature's necks and pressed forwards and then downwards, snapping their spines at the middle. And with a push forwards, he rolled the metal tool forwards and spread their brain matter out on the floor as if he were using a rolling pin to knead dough. There were only tiny glimpses of white left in his eyes by now. The rest was a pitch black abyss. His mouth held open as he huffed out thick clouds of red mist from the pools of blood filling his mouth from where he had previously grit his teeth. One could almost feel sorry for the creatures as he crushed them in such a fashion. The kind of vision not unlike that of a full grown man slaughtering baby animals (whether kittens are used or puppies, it wouldn't matter). The only ones to make it past him were the tiny 'doom-children' that he simply didn't have the drive to kill.


As he continued to send the message through the horde that 'none' were to pass, they had started to falter just as the 'wah wah wah' sounds echoed through his mind again. These of course being the taunts that Malcom so boldly exuded. Of course as soon as the horde pushed on, un-known to Jace as to why, he let out a long, victorious, bellowing roar that rumbled the very metal in his hands, causing its high pitched *PING-ING-ING* ringing to chime in tandem. Jace's head lurched downwards as he began to move once more, gripping the girder hard enough for one of his fingers to snap backwards from the pressure, breaking itself as the effort to swing such a heavy chunk of metal became too much to bear. But the snapping of one finger, the bone of which was pushing through the skin, was not even a twinge of pain in the berserk-numbed fury that he continued to undergo.


Three of the creatures had actually managed to form some sort of line right behind one another. And despite Jace's best efforts, the last two got through to him and clamped their fangs down onto his calves. But with a dull clang of steel, he smashed through both of their necks, decapitating them and leaving their severed heads hanging from him. But with this came a whole knew kind of rush. Human-wave-tactics were now the new normal. Jace's whirling, smashing, bashing, crushing, and outrage-driven blows sped up tenfold as he stopped his mad dash into them. He had been stopped. And by the looks of it, the numbers were not ending. In such great strain, many of the creatures clung to his arms, shoulders, waist, and thighs in an effort to tear the man's movements down to a slow enough crawl that their brethren could secure safe-passage. Within moments, he had several live beasts waving about as they clung to his arms. Four severed heads were still clung to his body as even through decapitation, their jaws ceased to relinquish their grip on him.


He was holding his own through all of this, but after just ten seconds of constantly being pummeled, and the ramp of dead bodies in front of him, Jace was forced to take a step back. A -DANGEROUS- step back, indeed. With even the slightest ground given, these creatures found the determination to bash their bodies against his. Their aim was literally to break him down. And this first step backwards showed them all they needed. This man was a wall... But he was still Human! Jace of course was forced to take two more backsteps before he took a step forwards, whirling the girder around in a side to side fashion to try and 'grind' his way forwards. But there were simply too many to filter through his own man-made meat grinder. And with frustration now being added to his insane mental state, he let out a horrifying yell. The context of which would be made clear should the other two actually catch up to him. "HUAAAAAAAAAH!!!" His eyes were squinting closed, his muscles were being tore, his chest had indentations that were popping in and out as he breathed, and he was covered in gashes and tears. The top of his overalls all but tattered with several beasts clinging onto him from all sides until they too were mere heads torn from their body and stapled onto him.


((OOC : Remember to always keep in mind. Jace is still just a human xD . Also, a path has been cut 3/4ths of the ways to the lift. But them damn buggers are intent on stopping him. Also, yells are loud enough to go through Malcom's communicators. So they could guess at how dire the situation is as an FYI ^_^ ))
 
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He nodded fiercely, "Affirmative, sir. Over." His inner-soldier still not quite used to the lax nature of the apocalypse, at least where formalities were concerned. Woods rose to his feet, tapping the comm, and rubbed his hand through his hair... Which was a coy maneuver meant to disguise the fact his hands were shaking uncontrolably, the other holding the hilt of his new machete in a death-grip. Wouldn't do to show weakness, however justified it may be, in front of your squad. Leader shows fear, subordinates tend to think there's something to be worried about.


You know, more than the bear-pig-things slamming against the doors.


He shook his head, "Yeah, well, I've a little more experience with these things than most... Takes a bit more than that to shake me." He chuckled half-heartedly. He moved to press the button and flip the switch, his back positioned to cover his still-shaking hand, and did so.


"You good, Staff Sergeant?" He asked, moving to the center-rear of the lift.
 
Malcom watched as Jace forged the path for him, slightly shocked at the mans pace, and rather then finding the normal sickness at the gore around him, he laughed, he let out a long, mad laugh, he shot forward after the man, playing the part of cleaner, anything left behind lost it's head in his new signature finisher. After about the tenth body to roll away headless, his left kukiri snapped in two, it's blade spinning off behind him to lodge into the skull of another enemy. He felt the rising bloodlust as he haplessly butchered the smaller humanoids. He abandoned the hilt of the weapon, and sighed as they kept pouring in at him. He'd yet to pull too far beyond Revelia but he could see Jace was going to need his help soon, and the sound of the mans cries were beginning to make him weigh his options more carefully. He was soaked in blood now, his right kukiri still battling on, severing head from neck, from body, with his left he was breaking anything that came within reach. In addition to the blood coursing down his form, as richly as his own pumped through him, his face was lit with tears, the realization of what they were doing, of who they were killing was sinking in.


Malcom gazed at the atrocity he and Jace were committing, and then having fully committed himself to it, forged ahead, clearing a path for Revelia, saying through the gore that splashed around him, "Stay close, but avoid the blood. Keep it off of your face. Or you'll end up... Just like them... Just like us..." his left arm grasped a young girl, hardly mutated, the only tell tale sign was her willingness to follow the horde, her raw strength, he reached down to break her, thoughtlessly. In the moment that he had his left arm about her, her face turned to his in fear, in awe, and confusion, almost as though she was asking "Why?" And Malcom's arm spun her in a whipping cracking motion, But he held onto her now lifeless body, gazing at the child for a long moment, he shuddered, realizing more and more the atrocity, with every moment he stared at her, it sank in. "This... Is hell..." He murmured, before looking to the oncoming horde.


Without hesitation, he moved, lifting Revelia off of the ground, he shifted in a sprint, moving after Jace, he simply ran past the small child-esque figures that filled the hallway, ignoring their clinging, clawing efforts, shooting past them at as rapid a pace as he could, tears and blood streaming down his cheeks and across his face. He charged ahead, muttering to her, "Hold on, for your life, Hold on." He was nearing Jace, and he lept forward, coming to a stopping impact that made a slight gap in the oncoming mass of tiny bodies. He had fallen to a crouching position when he came to the full stop from nearly top speed, and he released his grasp on Revelia, moving to Jace, He lodged his Kukiri in the skull of the figure closest to Revelia, hoping she'd get the idea that it was probably her last new line of defense.


With every bit of power and control he could muster, he moved beside Jace and roared as he grabbed hold of the mans weapon, and pushed forward. Jace had been better rested earlier, but now the man was battered and torn, Malcom looked to him and gave him a look of, "My turn." He grasped the weapon and pushed forward with a battlecry that would have made the generations of mankind proud. His muscles strained under the weight of the weapon, and if Jace still clung to it, he'd find himself being dragged forward by the other man. Malcom had been leinent until now, he had held back most of his strength, as he had yet to need all of it at once, but now, he brought the weapon lower, near the waist of the adult creatures, blocking the path of all advancing monsters. He shouted into his comm, "Woods! Door! NOW!!" He could see it, just ahead, and that was all he needed as he pushed towards the door with every ounce of strength his mutating body could muster, his muscles swelled and his chest heaved as he took a titanic step forward. If Jace had let go of the grinder, Malcom's movement would throw it through the mass of bodies, leaving them decapitated up to the stasis pod closest the door, the weapon would lodge itself into the pod, creating a temporary barricade, if Jace clung onto it, Malcom's movements would simply push the weapon forward with a mighty movement, trudging forward until it reached the pod regardless, Either way, They had made the door...
 
Having taken the chance to reload her bang-stick despite the jolting ride she'd just received from Malcom's aid, Revelia staggered after the two man barricade, chest heaving. She'd had to kill twice more before the man had finally aided her, and despite what she and her brother had been through before, they'd had firearms, plenty of ammunition, and always handled things from a distance.


This was so much different.


Still, if these two expended this much strength to save her, there was no way she was going to let herself go down now. Not this close to the damned door. Ensuring her shivs were in an easy position to draw, and that her bang-stick was ready and rearing, Revelia noticed one of the creatures had climbed up and was practically half on top of Jace. Unsure of if the man was too tired to deal with it, or if he was too far gone to care, Revy used his outstretched legs and overalls like a impromptu ladder and swung the bang-stick overhand, smashing into the thing's chest with a spatter of gore.


Properly chuffed with the results, she reloaded the bang-stick quickly and almost immediately swung it at another creature that came running up from the way they'd just come from. As the bang-stick hit, it jolted in a way that Revelia knew was wrong, and an almighty blast of force threw her backwards towards the elevator door.
 
As soon as the girder was stripped of his grip (breaking his thumb upon being yanked from his rock-crushing, but yet still weakening grasp), Jace stumbled, catching himself just before Revelia climbed up onto him to deal with the other 'passanger'. Upon the explosion of gore spreading down his slashed up back, his legs buckled as he took a knee. A thick dribble of blood flooded out from his lower lip as he started to cough and wheeze in a growling, half-gurgled, state. His eyes still full of rage but his body, now free of the burden of fighting, had all but lost its strength. He placed his hands, a broken shell of their former selves, onto his thighs to try and push himself back up but only barely managed to take a stand before he staggered again. The man was all but beaten. And this revelation came to Jace as soon as he felt himself stagger. His energy started to fail him as his rage was all but used up in the task to just stay on his feet. The ground underneath him had started to layer itself in a sheet of thick, slime-like, blood as it desperately coagulated and attempted to halt its outwards streams. His lower half from the chest down on his front side was bathed a dark crimson. His entire body was pale, nose broken from the previous assault, and his eyes barely cracked open as he huffed out another red mist as his breath sprayed forwards, lumbering forwards and towards the still-closed door with each shaky step, not even bothering to swing his arms at any creatures on his way to it.


When the doors opened, the first sights that would fill the 'picture-frame' the door made would be a scene of carnage. Body parts in piles, blood coating the floor, and a lumbering, defeated-but-still-standing Jace. His eyes a look of loss and lack of emotion. His jaw was slack, blood dripping from his battered face. And terrible gashes along his bulky frame, the sources of the thick red blood coating him from belly to toe. Each step a slippery splattered *CLUNK* as he staggered forwards before falling just in front of Woods and Nadia both, twitching as he exhaled a gurgle in the thick pools of blood under him as he went unconscious. His pale, blood-lost, face was now down for the count.
 
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"Shit, yessir!" Woods shouted in near panic, they'd barely started rolling and they were headed for the wrong damn floor! He bounded over to the console, smashing his open palm against the '4' button, silently praying to the powers that be that it worked... That they hadn't already passed the fou-


The lift shuddered to a stop, on the fourth floor. Only the doors weren't opening. With a loud curse, he flipped the override switch and pressed the button to open the door, sighing in relief as it did so. That is until a young woman flew through the barely opened doors. Woods' arm was out instinctively, his body swiveling easily to reduce the momentum as he brought her to bear.


He'd just set her down in a corner when she was followed by a battered and bloodied Jace who stumbled through the doors and collapsed. Which prompted him to swear again as he immediately fell into a crouch and started giving cover fire for the remaining two, silently picking off anybody that got too close to Malcom as he made his way to safety.


"Staff Sergeant! Ready on the console! We need to beat a swift retreat!" He shouted, reloading his SCAR as he did so, before resuming fire.
 
Malcom looked to woods, nodding at him, "Glad you could make it in time Captain." He said as one of the creatures leaps at him. He caught it mid air, and broke it's neck in a spinning contortion that would make a yoga expert wince. He flung the body off down the hall and moved to Jace, wrapping his arms underneath the man's arms and legs he picked the large man up and moved him into the lift. Without even saying another word, he relived Nadia of his railgun and hit the primer switch, reaching into the case of shells. He popped the barrel open, and dropped a shell into. He stood in the center of the hall, and gazed at the mass approaching from where they had just been.


Turning his back on the horde, Malcom hefted his rail gun, and aimed down it's length, then when it's primer turned green, he pulled the trigger, and the recoil-less gun fired off a shell. Malcom watched it as it screamed away, then turned and looked at the horde of creatures, which, were looking down the hall past him now, Malcom glanced to Woods with a shrug, "Shock and Awe... Worked in New York..." And a moment later, there was an explosion, the blast wave shook the complex around them. Malcom opened the rail gun's canister and filled it with another slug. The priming charge already prepared to fire. He rolled his head as though working out a strain or a kink. He raised the gun and aimed at the mass behind the makeshift barricade, muttering, "Bang..." raising the muzzle like it had been fired with a large amount of kick. The mass of bodies didn't stop, didn't cease to approach. They tripped over each-other to get at Malcom and the others, the smaller forms from down the hallway were still approaching, the rolling mass of flesh roared as it neared them.


What Malcom hadn't noticed, was while he was dealing with the oncoming horde of monsters from the hall, the barricade had shaken loose,and there were hundreds of the creatures pouring towards the lift, the first of them already reaching it. They screamed as they came at Woods and Nadia, trying desperately to get at them to consume them. Malcom spun, it had taken him a brief second to fire the shell, and the creatures had never once let up. They had already forged a path between him and the elevator of bodies, and now they were coming at him again. He used the butt of the railgun to incapacitate one of them before two more were about his shoulders, trying to haul him down. He roared and bashed the skulls in of the first two, but four more took their places. He was being overwhelmed.


((OOC: Roll with this, I'm building to something.))
 
Shaking her head fiercely, Revelia groaned as her world spun. In the back of her head, she realised that she'd been caught by someone and placed in the corner of the elevator, though who caught her was a mystery. Still, it seemed trouble wasn't over yet.


Forcing herself to stand, and leaning on the side of the elevator for aid, Revy looked about to see two new people, and the larger man, Jace, collapsed on the floor. As the large man laid there, Revelia saw smaller creatures trying to take swipes at him as the bigger ones drew the survivors attention.


Not hers though.


Unwilling to stand by as one of her saviours was assaulted, Revy pushed off the wall and stood over the man as best as she could, slashing and jabbing with her bone shivs with an adrenaline fueled, desperate ferocity. She could only hope that this confrontation would end soon, because she knew she wouldn't be able to hold up much longer.
 
Nadia had gathered herself well and the next few moments proved that she had steeled herself. First there was the bloodied and rather exhausted body of Jace that appeared before her, and seeing the man this exhausted brought about a worried feeling in her chest, although the man did just fight against an army of monsters that most men would've been taken by in mere moments. The Malcom had come in and retrieved his railgun, she didn't really pay much attention to the girl, aside from noticing that she was alive and safe now.


At Woods command she went and posted up by the console and watched as Malcom was annaihilating the oncoming hordes with the railgun...shock and awe, indeed. Suddenly though he began to become overrun by the disgusting hordes, their screams piercing and blood-thirsty, and she croutched down in front of the console, leaning to the side to peer out of the lift, and began very carefully and skillfully giving cover-fire to Malcom, hitting all four...the furthest one in the face, the next in through the right eye and out the back of the head, the third through the neck, but only managed to clipped the closest one to him in the knee cap, stumbling the creature right before Malcom...she figured he'd easily be able to dispatch that one though.
 
As the tide of bodies moved against him, it rapidly became from all sides. Malcom spun and bashed away every figure he could. He had lost both of his knives, so he grabbed the first thing that came to his grasp, one of the creatures. Taking it by the leg he swung it around and smashed it into the oncoming group, but they simply rose back up and threw themselves against him. As they piled over him his desperation and frustration at the situation grew, he roared and shouted out, in a bellow that would permeate the entire hall, "Enough!"


It was as though time had stopped, Malcom watched as the horde of creatures pulled back from him slightly, ceasing their onslaught, they stopped all attacks on all of his allies as well. The railgun still clinging in his hands, Malcom shuddered, and regained his composure, breathing heavily, he made to move into the lift, he didn't feel like second guessing what had just happened. As he moved, they cleared the way for him, and when he entered the lift, they began to move away slowly, backing up, staring at him. He shivered and tapped the door controls to seal the door. He took a step to the back of the lift, and leaned against the wall, sliding down it he shuddered and shook, muttering, "Take us up... Top floor, Get me out of this hole Captain... That's an order..." He closed his eyes, trying to make sense of everything, "What have I become..." He thought to himself as he sank into his own mind.
 
Nadia had watched carefully as the turn of events all went down, and she felt a bit sickened and scared by what happened. It was as if he had somehow commanded them, his shout of "Enough" seemed to be just that. The monster were repelled not by force, but by his words alone, and as he entered the lift and issued out his command, Nadia hit the proper button on the lift...staring out silently at the retreating horde as the doors sealed shut.


What the hell had she just witnessed? She had clearly overlooked something or forgotten something important, but that was way too bizarre. Now, looking back on it, there was something else odd to, she had witness him snatch a monster out the air with minimal effort and snap it's neck with ease. Perhaps she was mistaken, seeing things in the heat of the moment that were quite as they appeared...but the parting of the mutated sea was no figment of her imagination...that was just plain creepy. She leaned against the side of the lift looking at Malcom quizzically and then to Jace, wondering if that's why she had been sent back up with the civ earlier.
 
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