Creed

I limped down the hallway, all alone, a pool of blood trailing behind me. My left arm and leg were still attached to my body, but were practically rendered useless by now. I couldn’t move either at all.

This all happened while I was escorting the inspector through the private sector, a little bit after we entered.

I couldn’t think of anything to say on our way to the control center, so we walked in silence. The rhythm of our footsteps became the only main source of sound around us, and an irregularity in the inspectors caught my attention. I slowed my pace and turned around, curious as to what happened, only to have a beam of energy careening at my face. My reflexes saved me, the next thing I knew I was on the ground a few feet away, a large gash in my arm. My fight or flight instinct kicked in, and I attempted to scramble away, but the man posing as the inspector slashed at me again, slicing my leg. The adrenaline coursing through my body was so great, I didn’t feel a thing, and continued running for a minute straight, until I regained conscious control of myself.

He must have had more important things to do, because after I fled, he didn’t chase me. I have no idea where he could’ve gone.The pain was starting to catch up, every movement I made, no matter the body part, hurt.

As I made my way through the hallways, searching for any locker room at all, I noticed the lack of other scientists. All of our hours differed, there could be times where nearly no one was on the clock, but there was always at least a few people. It had been a few minutes since I was attacked, and not only had I not encountered anyone, no one had come across the trail of blood I was leaving behind.

I finally reached a locker room, and went straight for the compartment holding the first aid kits. I was no medic, didn’t have much of a clue how to use any of the things in first aid kits, but I at least knew that I needed to stop the bleeding. I removed my lab coat and ripped it in half with all the strength I had left, and used each half to soak up the blood from my leg and arm. The wound on my leg, luckily, wasn’t too bad, so wrapping it up was not too difficult, but the fake inspector really got me on my arm.

His energy sword cut through one of the two bones in my forearm, possibly severing some of my tendons too, hence why I couldn’t move or feel my hand at all. Getting this one patched up was important, but I needed to visit a real doctor to get it fixed. I could go to the hospital in the private sector, but seeing as all the scientists were missing, I didn’t think that was a good option, it would only waste time.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

After wrapping my arm and leg in the lab coat and gauze, as well as tying the leg of a chair I broke off to help with walking, I set off for the public sector, thinking there would be people there to help me.

Right as I exited the locker room, a person covered head to toe with heavy metal armor appeared next to me, holding an energy sword at my neck. The person towered over me. Well, I was hunched over from being wounded, and he was standing at alert, ready to end my life in the blink of an eye, but there were still multiple feet between our eyelines. After a moment, he retracted the sword and used his other hand to open the visor on his helmet.

“What the hell is a civilian like you doing in here? You need to get out of here, back into the main area!” He yelled at me, kindly pointing the way to the public sector.

“Gah… ah… ok?” I could barely speak. I nodded slowly and started limping away. This man was not the fake inspector, but he was wearing armor that had a similar green color to what the inspector was wearing. The sheen of the metal was the same as well.

“Oh, you’re hurt? Here, I can carry you to the main area, but only that far. I’m busy in here right now, and can’t accompany you all the way to the exit. Someone else on our team should be out there and should help you out.” He said while picking me up and running toward the public sector.

He sped through the private sector, the connecting area, and arrived right in the main area in the blink of an eye. The armor he was wearing must be boosting his physical capabilities. No normal human could sprint hundreds of meters that fast.

He carefully placed me down, spun on his heel, and disappeared back down the hallway from where we came.

I stared at where he was last for a moment and thought about how lucky I was. I think he was tasked with killing anyone who looked like a scientist he came across while patrolling the private sector. That must’ve been why the whole place was empty. My lab coat was currently ripped in half, tied around my arm and leg, and partially covered in gauze. I was really only wearing my normal pants and a random shirt from my wardrobe, both of which were not articles of clothing that were part of our dress code. I didn’t really look like a scientist at all with all of that.

I muttered an empty prayer to a god I didn’t believe in, and started slowly limping to the nearest hospital. After a minute of staring at a map to try and figure out where the hell the nearest hospital was, I thought I felt a rumbling beneath my feet. I stopped to try and feel it better, but was practically launched in the air by an explosion that shook the entirety of Kuroe 228922.