What goes bump in the night

Muerte pried his arm from the creature's mouth, and tried to flex his fingers. They didn't. He let out a sigh as he put one pistol into it's holster and reloaded the other. He'd need to find a replacement bone. Shouldn't be too difficult in a hospital like this, especially if there were dead bodies around. The sound was starting to get louder, and Muerte could feel in his gullet just how outnumbered they were


"We need to find a defensible position. In the hallway like this we're prone to getting flanked."
 
Haiku nodded. "Agreed." She wiped off the blood on her face. "Probably just need to clear out a room and barricade it so that they have to climb to get to us." She glanced at his arm and mentally brought up his file. "You need a new arm don't you?"


-------------


Neimi looked up at Samuel and the fighting fury died in her eyes. "We're not exactly in a defensive position, Adrian. I'd suggest we find somewhere a bit safer than a hallway."
 
"I need a new bone in my forearm. The rest of the damage is negligible."


Another gremlin dashed around the corner, and Muerte did not repeat his mistake. Both of the things legs were shot, causing it to fall over and gibber before he walked over and put it out of its misery.


"Here, this should do."


Muerte kicked in a nearby metal door, pointing his desert eagle before walking in. There were several examination tables, all with bodies on them. Some in more 'chewed up' states than others. There were several surgeons tools lying around, as well as a few lockers on the far side.


"See if you can't barricade part of the door. I'll be busy."
 
"Agreed," Adrian said, and headed into an empty room not long down the hallway. Once the other two were inside, he had them help move the furniture, equipment, and basically anything that wasn't fixed in its position in such a way that the entrance was only roughly wide enough for one, maybe two gremlins to enter at once. "There. Now we can let them come to us, and we won't have to worry about being overrun."
 
Haiku nodded and began to move the tables into a barricaded big enough for maybe one gremlin to get through, dumping off the bodies as she went. The stench of death was much stronger than usual. Haiku glanced over at Muerte, observing his work.


---------


"Do we know if they come through windows?" Neimi looked at the single window in the room. "Might want to keep an eye on that, just in case."
 
Next to one of the tables was a relatively young woman, recently deceased. She seemed to be a nurse who had worked here. Muerte knelt down and pulled out his combat knife . . . then jabbed it into the crux of his elbow. He made no sounds or even a grimace as he pulled cut open his entire forearm, and pulled out the remnants of the bones inside. A small squeak, or something akin to it, came from one of the lockers on the far side of the room as he did so. Meurte stopped his work and eyed the metal box


"Might want to check that."


He said nothing else as he started to cut open the arm of the deceased nurse in a similar fashion
 
"I mostly chose a room with a window as a backup escape route, but you may have a point," said Adrian. "Samuel, can you keep an eye on it? If one even so much as peeks in through the window, let us know."


"Will do," said Samuel, and moved to the back of the room, where he could see both the entrance and the window easily.
 
Haiku made her way over to the locker and began tapping on the locker, lightly at first and gradually getting louder. Best to ascertain what was inside before opening it.


-----------


Neimi growled. "I hear more coming. Be ready."
 
Muerte ripped the forearm bones out of the woman's arm, and inserted it into his own arm. Without a pause, he pulled a spool of thick thread and a large needle. He closed up his arm, flexing his fingers experimentally.


"Three to five minutes and I'll have full use again."


A small squeak came from the locker with each pounding . . . and then a soft sobbing.


"Please . . . go away . . . no more monsters . . ."


It was a girl, she didn't sound any older than 6.
 
Haiku's eyes widened. "....child we are not monsters. We are here to help you." She opened the door in order to survey the girl inside.
 
The girl was very small, with curly blond hair that fell just past her shoulders. She had curled up into a ball, upturning her green eyes to look at the woman in front of her. She looked like she had been crying for far longer than what had been heard.


"Where . . . where are they? They . . . came and . . . so many--"


She broke down into sobs again, which stifled as soon as some more growls were heard. A few loud bangs rang out as Muerte unloaded another clip into the gremlins that were trying to claw their way in. One of them fell while the other two limped away, sending out screeching calls.


"I think we're going to have more on the way soon."
 
Haiku racked her brain for what to do. She awkwardly put an arm around the child in an attempt to comfort her. "We'll protect you, little one. What's your name?" She ended up putting both arms around her in hopes of keeping her from crying again. For the moment, she ignored Muerte, knowing he could handle it for now.
 
"M-Maribelle."


The little girl looked up at Haiku before pulling both of her arms over her head with a small scream. Muerte had just unloaded another clip into the opening, as there were now five trying to claw their way in. His facial expression didn't change as he put another clip into the gun and unloaded that as well, leaving two trying to force there way in.


"If you want to make small-talk, you have maybe a couple minutes before we're swarmed."
 
Haiku glared up at Muerte. "You're scaring her, Death." She looked down into Maribelle's green eyes. They were so like Minuet's eyes that it scared her. "I will protect you. Even Mr. Death over there will protect you. He seems like a scary guy but he will protect you. I promise. Now, I want you to go back into the locker until we clear out the rest of the monsters. Okay? I'll come back to you as soon as it's over."
 
Vojta unfolded his bi-pod and unlocked the variable scope of his rifle, surveying just how much of the building he had in view, and what kind of shots he would be working with. 'I can see the entire front, and even into some of the rooms, but if they get much further into the hospital, I won't be able to do much aside from hit stragglers.' He thought as he chambered a round from his magazine. "Comm test. Raven has eyes on. Mark any targets along the front face of the hospital and I'll make the shots."
 
The girl looked up at Haiku with horrified eyes


"NO!"


She clung to the woman in front of her as if Haiku was the only thing keeping her together


"Mommy said to hide and she would come get me . . . I've been waiting forever and she hasn't come back . . . please don't leave me in there again!"


She was literally shaking as she clung to the woman beside her.


Muerte grit his teeth as he kept shooting at the growing mass of Gremlins. Then the communication came through.


"The front side, that's the eastern right?"


"Affirmative, Muerte."


Leceel's voice came through the device, confirming Muerte's question. Muerte put his hand on the recovering arm to the device


"Raven, there's a clump in the hallway on the left side trying to break in--*BANG* *BANG*--Only have the use of one arm, and my partner is indisposed right now. We're holding in what appears to be an examination room."
 
Haiku's eyes softened. This child had no idea that her mother was not coming back did she? This was when she really wished that she had a gun and could shoot from her position and still hold the child. "....all right you may stay out here. But I need to help my partner fight off the monsters. Will you let me go of me long enough to get rid of them? I promise I'll come right back."
 
"I found the room. You guys have anywhere from a half dozen to a small squad of them trying to clamber in. You're going to have some heavy rounds coming in soon, try to stay right or left of the center, since that's going to be killzone for me," Vojta said, loosing a round into the group and watching a gremlin drop. 'The first of many.' He thought as he pulled back the bolt and chambered the second round.
 
Muerte unloaded another full clip into a Gremlin's head as the one behind it flew a couple feet from the impact in its skull. Maribelle looked up at Haiku and nodded her head, but was still shaking. She pulled her head back over her head with a squeak though when the rate of fire from behind Haiku doubled. Muerte had started using both arms again


"This should make things easier. Raven, feel free to change target areas if needed."
 
Haiku stood up and started to draw her swords. "....look away, child. Do not look at what we are about to do." With that, she got in front of Muerte and began slashing her swords into the mix. Gremlin limbs went flying and blood splattered around her.
 
Adrian hacked through his seventeenth Gremlin, but he was starting to feel wear and tear: he'd sustained cuts to his arm, abdomen, and legs. Alone they were nothing, but the number of injuries were starting to affect him. "Urg...Neimi, take over for a few, I need to be patched up a bit." He backed off a bit, standing next to Samuel. "Alright, Samuel, do whatever you need to do."


Samuel nodded and placed his left hand on the back of Adrian's neck, and focused his powers to heal. His hair went from gray to white, and his eyes from gray to brilliant gold. "This should only take a minute. Just stay still until I finish, please."


"Alright," Adrian said. "What exactly are you doing?" he asked casually. He couldn't see Samuel, but knew that he'd only placed his left hand on him.


Samuel explained what his left hand could do over the course of the healing. By the time he finished explaining, the healing was done. He didn't even mention his right hand, or the fact that the pain he absorbs is stored in his body. "All done. Have at them!" Samuel said as his eye and hair color returned to gray.


Adrian stood and tested his muscles briefly. "Amazing, Samuel. Quite the power you have there," he said with an appreciative grin to the man in question. He strode over to the entrance and rejoined Neimi in the defense of their room, slashing and stabbing with renewed vigor.


Samuel steadied himself against the wall. He was trying to hide it, but he'd absorbed enough to cause him moderate pain. He needed to vent it, otherwise he wouldn't be able to absorb more without risking his own life. Nevertheless, he kept an eye on the window.
 
The girl covered her eyes, but didn't make any more noise as she sat there shivering. Muerte continued to fire round after round into the small space . . . right before a scratching noise caught his attention.


"Hold here."


He walked over to another portion of the wall where the noise was coming from . . . and a purple claw broke through. They were digging through the drywall. On instinct he stuck his barrel through the hole and unloaded the entire clip.


----------------------


Leg, leg, leg, leg, leg, arm, leg, leg . . . Shepard calmly shot on limb after the other, each gremlin falling into a writhing pile of immobilized abberations in front of him. The finishing touch was a single grenade, which he tossed right into the middle of the pile before turning around and heading down the hallway. He put his finger to the communicator on his ear.


"Leceel. We need a--"


*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!"


"--estimate on how many of these damn things there are. There doesn't seem to be an end to them."


"Right, the security room should have cameras set up throughout the building."


"Patch through orders to the new recruits, I want them to make their way to the central lobby. There's no reason to be split up now that we're inside."


"As you command. Recruits--"


Leceel started belaying the message as Shepard walked down the corridor. A few more shots and an explosion marked his passing
 
Adrian heard the order come through, but there were so many gremlins streaming down the hallway that reaching the central lobby would be difficult at the moment, to say the least. He stepped to the side so that he could use his communicator. "Havran, we have a whole bunch of gremlins to fight through before we can leave our fortification and head to the central lobby. I need you to send three...no, four rounds into the pack. It won't kill them all, obviously, but we just need you to soften them up so we can get through." Adrian took his hand off the communicator to continue fighting and also address Samuel and Neimi. "As soon as the fourth round is loose, we're running to the central lobby, acknowledged?"


"Right," Samuel said, steeling himself.
 
*BOOM* "One. Reload." *BOOM* Two. Could've been better." *BOOM* "Three. There's still too many." Vojta loaded his fourth bullet and looked through the lens, noticing a faulty support beam hanging from where some of the gremlins had dug through. "Perfect." *BOOM* The bullet struck the beam true and knocked it down, flattening at least 15 gremlins in a line. He put his had to his communicator. "Nothing flashy, but it will have to do. I'll keep your group marked as you move Kindjal. No elaborate movements so I can still hit around you."
 
Adrian's grin widened. "Excellent. Let's go, you two!" He shouted as he charged down the hallway towards the rendezvous point, hacking at any gremlin that got in his way.


Samuel followed without hesitation. He definitely didn't want to be left behind.
 
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