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

Nidelia actually gulped when he gave her his hair brained idea. She looked around and managed to open one of the dead peoples lockers... wow, he must have been an officer. She grabbed one of the hand guns holding it shakily. She'd never used a gun... not since... she shuddered and put the thought to the back of her mind.


"I-I hear you loud an clear Mr. Devontess," she says. "I managed to get one of the lockers open... I believe it belonged to one of the officers who were put in stasis. I do have a gun... I do know how to use it, not necessarily a good aim, but I do know how to use it," she says, her voice getting more shaky the longer she thought about having to use the gun.


She was then pulled into a flash back, completely blacking out and u likely she was hearing anything Malcolm was saying.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


She stood there screaming as her dad pointed his gun at the trespasser. "Get out of our house now!" He snaps. But her dad was too slow, the invader grabbed the gun from her dads hands and shot him point blank in the head... not once... Not twice... all six rounds of the barrel were let out into her fathers head.


She screamed.louder and ran down the hall. She had to get out of the house... the neighbors, they could help! She ran and ran, hearing the intruder give chase. She didn't look back as her tears streamed.down her face. She was fourteen years old. Her mother had died of pneumonia... what was she going to do?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


She then snapped out of it. "A-are you there Mr. Devontess?" She asks shakily. She had apparently turned around and slid to her bum against the wall. She broke into silent tears as she waited to hear this strange mans voice.
 
Malcom was lowering himself down the shaft when she asked if he was there, Malcom paused, and nodded, "Well a firearm might do some good... maybe..." When she didnt reply, Malcom frowned, and he asked "Nidelia? Are you alright?" Time passed so he let the cord slide through his hands, and he fell the rest of the way down, slowing his descent with the cord only slightly. Malcom was in good shape, so when he touched the bottom of the shaft, he checked the remote's data stream, it couldn't detect him, or her, but it did show where it was in relation to the rest of the complex, He muttered, "Alright... if your there... then... I need to go this way..."


Malcom made his way to the edge of the ventilation shaft and kicked the panel open. When she spoke Malcom said, "I'm here Nidelia." He could hear the strain in her voice, "I'm coming, Stay put if you need to, that hallway is clear. I promise you, I'll be there soon." He picked up the pace, making his way to his first door, he tapped the remote and it slid open. He counted his steps and the doors between him and the creature, then how many it would be until he made it to her. He passed through two additional doorways before he made it the door with the creature behind it. A chill went up his spine as he looked at the door, great savage dents in it showing the beast was trying to get out. He could hear slams on the other side, but they were in the wrong direction.


Malcom moved to the vents again, and tore the panel off roughly, grunting, he muttered, "Great, It knows there's more people waking up... freaking fantastic..." Malcom felt the adrenaline kick in as the creature sniffed the edge of the ventilation shaft he was in. He froze, held his breath, didn't even swallow, if there was a sound, even a glimmer of a sound, the thing would know exactly where he was.
 
(Dammit. I haven't recieved any notifs from the thread. ><)


Another one was awake? There were more of us? That thought alone surprised Bianca. As of now, Malcom was talking to the woman who just woke up. A bit frazzled, but she seems ok.. For now. "Let's just hope she gets here safely.." She murmured to herself, not noticing if anyone heard her. "Someone get on the control station, See if you can't keep me appraised of where the nasty things are. They're the red ones." Malcom said, looking to the group and back to the shaft.


"I- I'll do it." Bianca told him, walking over to the control station and looked to the map and saw blue and green dots, and a couple of red dots outside their room. For now at least. There was also a gray dot, but it seemed that whoever it was, was in safety. As Malcom got into the shaft, Bianca's gaze turned back to the monitors and looked back to the blue dot and what seemed to be Malcom; a green dot with a star near it. Then, something caught her eye. A red dot was nearing Malcom! "Ok.. Ok.. Don't panic.." She murmured, trying to calm herself down. Bianca looked back to the blue dot, and noticed that a red dot was appearing and disappearing close to it.


Bianca audibly gasped, but not so loud as to surprise Malcom. Bianca keyed into the comm, albeit a little scared for both Malcom and the blue dot's life. "M- Malcom.." She whispered, trying to keep her voice in check. "I- I think both of you are in danger.." She said, gulping as she continued to watch the monitor.
 
Nidelia blinked looking around as she started hearing loud steps coming from one of the other three hallways she had left. She dropped her voice down to a whisper and forced herself to stop crying.


"Mr. Devontess... there's something in here... with me..." She whispers and slowly stands up and looks at where the door was at the other end of the hall. She slowly started to move towards it.


The steps were getting closer, making her heart beat faster and she started to break out in a cold sweat. She gained a firm grip on the gun she had managed to grab and kept walking towards the door.
 
Malcom was frozen. He closed his eyes, and brought his right hand up to the communicator in his ear, then with a deft motion, he tapped it's mic, trying to signal for silence, that he knew the thing was there. He couldn't speak, couldn't reassure either of the women that he was safe, or anything, even a breath out of place and he was dead. He listened to the beasts breathing, and matched his own with it, when it inhaled, so did he, when it exhaled, so did he, when it took a step, he dared to take a step, he could hear it's movements, almost frantic now, but consistent. He slowly made his way towards the end of the shaft, his eyes opening slightly as he took careful steps, Inside his head he was screaming at himself, "Run, for the love of everything, Run you big fool!" But he knew, he knew deep down, if he even flinched out of pace with this monster, it would tear the bulkhead apart and kill him in a heartbeat.


After what seemed like an eternity, he made his way to the end of the shaft and as carefully as he had moved, he unfastened the vent and carefully slid out, replacing it he collapsed in a heap, not caring about what was around him, he shuddered and fell onto his back, muttering over the mic, "I... Seriously thought I was dead... It was right next to me. I cant... I don't..." He calmed himself down and got back to the task at hand, "It's behind two bulkheads Nidelia, I just passed it, I'll be there soon." He stood up and made his way away from the door, the beast was slamming against it now, trying hungrily to break through.


Malcom came to the bulkhead that lay between him and Nidelia, held up the remote and keyed the door open, leaning against it's frame, he smiled lightly as the door slid open, he'd wait for her to notice him, a big confident grin on his face, he had forced himself to relax, he knew he was going to have to keep her calm to get her past the creature. They would have to move soon, because if they didn't it was going to make it's way through to them.
 
Nidelia looked at him, her face pale, but she walked through and hugged him instantly without thinking. "Thank you thank you thank you," she whispered over and over just shaking like a leaf. Seeing someone actually alive was a relief in its own right.


The smell if decaying bodies had started to get to her. But to see someone with their body in tact and breathing, it was a sight for sore eyes.
 
Malcom tapped the mic once, giving the reassurance that he heard Bianca, so she kept quiet. After what seemed like hours, Malcom keyed into his communicator. "I... Seriously thought I was dead... It was right next to me. I can't... I don't..." He muttered, seemingly frantic at what had transpired not a minute ago.


Bianca looked back to the monitor, and noticed that the blue dot was already next to Malcom and heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that he and the woman were safe. She also didn't notice any red dots near them as of late. Keying into the comm, Bianca began speaking. "Well.. Looks like you guys are safe for now.. Malcom, that beast that was after you seems to be lurking near the vent you were just in. I suggest you guys find a different route." She said, calming herself in the process.
 
Malcom smiled lightly, and hugged her back briefly before pulling back and kneeling down he looked her over, "Your more then welcome Miss now-" When Bianca spoke, he paused and sighed, "There's a problem with that Bianca, Check the maps. There isn't another way through. I took that path because that was the only way here. We either get back that way, or we take the escape hatch at the very end of the hall to the outside." He shrugged at Nidelia, "I can get us past it, your just going to have to trust me. Can you do that?" He looked her in the eye as he stood up. Malcom was tall, toned, and had an air of confidence about him, even if he was terrified of the thing behind the door.


((It's a generalized facility, theres no other way back.)
 
She nods looking him back in the eyes. She seemed to pull of his confidence, though it was obvious she was still very nervous. But she wasn't shaking like a leaf anymore.


"Is there no way past it without crawling through the vent?" She asks curiously as she stuffs the hand gun she had grabbed into her pants waist band and waited his response.
 
Hearing the lady's plea, Bianca looked back to the monitor and smiled. "Well, you're just in luck. Looks like the beast outside of where you guys are, is joining the other beast near the vent. You can get past them easily this way. Although do be careful. They might change their mind and come back to where it is you guys want to go to." She said, keying into the comm, worried for their safety. Bianca has seen the carnage those beasts could do, and it does not look painless.


"I'll keep you guys posted on their locations, you better move. And fast." She added, looking back to the two dots near the vent. 'I hope this works..' She said, thinking to herself and praying that the two get here safely.
 
Jace continued his way upwards through the service shaft, stopping only to shake his legs and his arms to get blood flowing into them again, and kept climbing up that cramped space. He assumed that the 'voice' he heard muffled through the cement between him and where it was coming from was just the standard 'announcer' program sending out information to those waking. But then with a revelation, the thought dawned on him; He did not receive information. Was it a person still alive? And if so, it was close. So he would continue faster than ever up the ladder. Though just as he was at the halfway mark, he paused, hearing something shuffling around on the other side of one of the ventilation shafts. A smirk stretched its way across his face as he squinted his eyes, peering down the end to see a shadow move. He broke from his upward ascent and climbed into it, shuffling himself as quietly as he could through said vent. A few of the slit-formed covers for the vents allowed him to look down from his position through the thick cemented ceiling. All he could see were shadows again. Ones that moved from his view. He paused, licking his lips and thinking to himself 'well... I spy with my little eye someone's petit silhouette'. He held back a chuckle as he continued to slide silently along the ceiling, taking every single bend that would keep him on the 'petit' ones trail. And soon, his trek would come to an end. He'd peer through one of the slotted vent covers down at a pair of boots. Of course his 'nasty' thoughts were cut off by the sudden slamming and banging noises that came from an area just right of where he was looking. And so as cats do, curiosity took over and he slid his way over enough to see a large shadow 'lunging' itself against some other object. Yeah, he definitely didn't want to go that way. And as he slid back, he twisted his head enough to see the pair of boots again. It was kind of funny how he had not been paying attention to any of the words the owner said, but as he finally came out of his lecherous, perversion-filled, daydreams, he realized something. That voice didn't match the shadow earlier. And with an angry scowl, he realized he had been had! Tricked! Bamboozled! And the realization that he might've been thinking about a dude made him quite upset. But then he listened to what this being was saying. 'it's behind two bulkheads Nidelia...'. And with that, it all made sense. He was on the other side of the wall where that 'petit' shadow was. His tongue drooped out of his mouth with a nasty lick across his lips. And the thought 'I won't let some monster get you babe. No worries there. You just stay put and let Jace take care of you.' Of course this was an inward thought, and though they probably didn't know he was there, somehow, they would feel as if they were being watched.


And with that last thought, he shimmied himself through the ceiling, coming to a crack in the vent. And by squeezing through, he stood up in a caved in portion of the top ceiling. Well, it was less caved in and more tore apart. The entire floor that he stood on was weak. And honestly, he could feel the steel, rusted, beams that were haphazardly supporting the weight of the large block of cement shifting with each step. So he waited, peering down at the cracks in Nidalia's ceiling. Watching her. Waiting. And now completely still. He was thankful that the area above him was covered in steel beams and rubble, hiding him in this 'pocket' of cement and metal. It was almost like a little safe-haven, if not a little dangerous to be standing on. But it did give him a GREAT bit more view than the ventilation shaft.
 
In the excitement, Malcom had missed Jace entirely, in the excitement, Malcom had lost his edge for a moment, his adrenaline had slowed down slightly but then when Bianca mentioned the beasts moving away, he frowned, muttering to himself, "That... isn't right... Their animals..." His mind raced with possibilities and he moved back down the hallway towards the door, muttering into the mic, "Bianca, check again, do a focused sweep on us, check for life signatures, I need to know exactly how many of us there are." He backed away from the door slowly, realizing his error, the creatures were regrouping, and now he was away from the rest of his pack, he was the appointed leader, and he was away from his pack, having left them between a rock and a hard spot with only one way out. He turned back to Nidelia, his spine turning to ice, he almost shouted over the comm, "Bianca! Check the vent I came down! Look down it, throw one of the glow sticks, there's a couple in my bag! Hurry!"


While Malcom and the others had been trying to reach Nidelia, Malcom's scent had fed through the vents, as had everyone else's. The beasts would find their way to the facilities ventilation ducts in the lowest levels, and begin clawing their way up through the cramped vents. Behemoths though they were, there were the younger spawn of them, the adolescents were just as adept at hunting as the parents, and because of their size, they were even faster and more agile. Malcom's route back would be blocked by no less then five of them, all of which were making their way deeper into the maze of ventilation ducts and vents.


The sick feeling deep in Malcom's stomach had returned, but he knew he had to keep himself together. His face was a mask of rigid solidarity as he made his way back to Nidelia, "We need to move, Now."
 
Nidelia looked at him. She had come to the same conclusion. "They found their way into the ventilation ducts didn't they?" She asks and runs back over to the locker she managed to open and pulled out the two shotguns and other hand gun, along with a bag of ammo.


This put her fully in Jace's view. Her body was nicely curved and the form fitting spaghetti strap shirt and tank top showed it, along with the jeans showing off her lower form as well.


She bent inside the locker again finding a bag of what seemed to be picckled and canned foods, giving Jace a full view of her lower half. She then stood and looked around. She had a random shiver pass over her.


She'd felt this feeling before... years ago. As though she was being hunted... but not by an animal, but an animalistic human... she shook her head. Things were just bothering her, it was nothing.


She looked over at Malcolm. "These should come in handy Mr. Devontess," she says holding one of the shotguns out to him with the best smile she could muster.
 
Jace's eyes widened as he lost his breath. His vision scanned her over as if looking through her rather than at what she was wearing. But as she bent over to grab canned food, a crooked and almost goofy grin spread over his face. 'That's right girl... grab those cans... And if they're too heavy, I'll help you' would enter his mind. But as soon as this little show was over, he snapped his vision to his left, then his right and remembered what that man just said. He saw the size difference in the 'tunnel-esque' vent the man was in and the small factory-like shoots that Jace had climbed through. His slight panic faded, knowing that for now, he was safe. And that for now, he should wait for them to lower their guards more before he try something 'foolish' and get shot. Of course his current position would definitely be available in the computer's display. And whoever it was who was in charge of giving the information, would see that Jace's grey dot was right above them; RIGHT above them. And had been for some time. Of course with all of the movement of the red dots and the numerous ones now appearing, perhaps they wouldn't realize to tell them about him until it finally dawned on Bianca how close he had been to those two. And also, how close the monsters were getting to either the other two's locations... or to the central room that the others were viewing from.
 
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Malcom nodded, and pulled his 9mm out of his waistband he clicked off the safety, pulled back the slide and muttered, "One in the chamber..." He slid the gun away, knowing he could need it in a heartbeat. He took the shotgun and cleared the breach, nodding again at her, "How many shells in the bag? These aren't loaded, so it's whatever is in there that we have." He'd seen the beasts, if just for a second, He knew what he needed to know, the gun's wouldn't do a whole lot, but it would slow the things down. He looked down at the remote, it was flashing repeatedly, "Firmware...?" He wondered, and he tapped the flashing icon. The screen went black, and Malcom froze on the spot. Had he just destroyed their map?
 
Nidelia saw this and froze. "Mr. Devontess, did you just kill that machine?!" She asks alarmed at the idea of not having a map and started shaking again. She completely forgot to look in the bag to see how many shells were in it. How were they supposed to get back without the map? What if the comms had gone out too?
 
Malcom turned it over in his hand, and sighed, "I'm not sure... I think it's firmware is updating..." As he finished speaking, the device shimmered back to life, "There we go!" He smiled and it displayed the three dimensional map again, but there was more detail now, more settings he could access, "Huh... I guess the mainframe had some improvements done on it during the actual time of the Cryo... they must have sent out the wave of updates but missed a few of the remotes." He tapped several of the settings on the side, and saw all of the little red dots moving throughout the hallway, through the vents. His blood ran cold as he stared at the image, He finally looked to where they were before shutting off the display on the device. He offered it to her, "Hang on to this for me." If she took it, he'd have his 9MM in his hand, his face a mask of calm, he'd turn towards the vent, his back directly to Jace, "Lets move while we still have time." While it terrified him that he hadn't noticed another person, it scared him even more that he had no idea what the other person had in means of defense.
 
Nidelia smiled as it came on. "We should continue, we need to try to get back to them before the creatures do!" She says waiting for him to lead the way patiently, but impatiently at the same time.
 
Malcom moved back to the vent, murmuring quietly, "We have seconds, if that, to get past this section..." He climbed inside carefully then froze, he heard the sniffing, the shuffling again, echoing through the vent. With his hand loose and open, he beckoned her over to him, "Come here..." He was slowing his breathing, back to what it had been for the beasts, "See if you can match my breathing patterns." It took him effort, he had to make sure she could do it.
 
It was actually easy for her. She preferred to do it with her patients she was working on, it let her keep track of them while not having to watch all the monitors.


She nodded once she had it down and she looked at the vent. She hated small spaces... that and it was dark in there, like it hadn't been hard enough for her when she had been blind longer than she should have been? She gulped slightly as she stared at the vent.
 
Malcom glanced at her, "Is it alright if I touch you, we need to do this carefully." He put his hands out to her, the 9mm back in his waistband. He was gauging the narrow vent carefully, continuing to change his breathing patterns, matching the sniffing he heard, changing it according to the beasts breaths, "It's like dancing, stand on my feet, hold my hands, don't slip off, and we wont get eaten." He smiled at her, a slight amount of nerves showing through.
 
She actually could not control the blush that spread across her face. She knew it was necessary, but he wasn't exactly bad for a girls eyes! She hadn't really paid attention to it before now, but he was four inches short of being a foot taller than her.


His hair was neatly cut in what she knew to be the military style. His eyes were soft and kind. Something she really hadn't noticed.


She continued to blush as she nodded. "I'm ready," she whispers with a soft smile. She then put her hands in his. Her skin would be very soft. Before she went into cryo she made sure she kept her hands well moisturized, especially since the soap used to scrub down before a surgery would dry her skin out so bad.
 
Malcom smiled slightly, "Just keep looking up at me, and match your breathing to mine, put your feet on mine, Just... like learning to dance." He would wait for her to place herself, then he would start moving slowly, a single step at a time, the motions would need to be precise. He could hear it sniffing and then, it stopped


Freezing he looked at Nidelia, quieting his breathing as much as he could, they were inches from the nearest vent and he could feel the creatures hot breath on his shoulder. He suppressed the fear, closing his eyes for a moment, he waited until the creature resumed it's pacing, it's growling, and it's heavy breathing.


Malcom knew if there had been another, if the creature had not been alone, this ruse would have been impossible. As if jinxing himself in thought, right as he finished passing by the vent, he heard a hooting trill, the creature outside responded with it's own, and a second beast appeared. Malcom froze again, not even looking down at Nidelia this time, He swallowed and took a step as he heard the first beast move slowly, it's pacing changed, even it's breathing was altering, and it was all he could do to keep in pace with it. He took another step, and finally they were out of the possible visual range of the beasts, but still close enough to be smelled, which he was sure they had been, close enough to be heard, without a doubt, so he took each step with precise care, each movement was gauged to allow for the monsters in the hallway.


As they finally reached the other end, Malcom could not even release his grip as he slid to the floor, the strain on his body to keep his movements so precise had exerted him immensely, he shivered from the adrenal shock and wrapped his arms around the woman wordlessly, closing his eyes, shivering as he did. He figured he was making her a bit uncomfortable, but he needed a moment of normalcy, a moments reprieve from the hell that he was having to traverse through, until he'd gone on his own, the presence of the other women, the monsters that threatened them, had driven him to move with reckless abandon, but now, he'd gone out and risked his own life for the sake of one other, he muttered, "I really... Honestly thought we were dead when that second one showed up..." He relaxed his grip on her, the mental stress on him as well as the physical stress would manifest rapidly as he shivered in the even temperature room. Malcom let his head fall back, shivering, trying to get his mind and body to relax.
 
Nidelia actually enjoyed his arms around d her and smiled, but she quickly realized he was going into shock. "Shit," she whispered and when he let go she placed both hands on either side I'd his face and looked into his blue eyes.


"Malcolm, look at me, you're going into shock, if you relax now your body will start to shut down," she whispers as she grabs his hand and tries to pull him up. She hadn't even realized she called him by his first name for the first time.


The try wasn't very good as he was considerably heavy and she wasn't exactly physically fit after two hundred years in the cryo tubes.
 
Malcom shook his head, "No I'll be alright... I'm just..." He shook his head, shuddering. He looked at her calming, smiling lightly he lets out a strained laugh, "We still have a ways to go, and a climb... We have to get there before those... things do..." He sighs and lifts himself off of the ground, grunting, he nods at her, "Still have that remote? It's the map back, I think I know the way but we need to check for the beasts. If they're in the ducts then were going to need get ahead of them." He would sound strained but stronger then when they'd come out of the air duct. He looked to her for a moment, and nodded, "Thank you, by the way."
 
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