Don't think, just act.

I creep my way around the mountain the base is built into. I get as close as possible to the guards without being seen.

When I’m finally in position, I’m only a few feet away from the nearest one. There’s a small bit of glass I can see the reflection of the nearest guard in. I just have to wait for him to turn his head.

“Hey John, are you feeling alright after last night?” He turns his head to ask.

I dive out of my hiding spot and bring the pipe down on his head. He never gets his answer. Don’t think about what I’m doing, just focus. Just move. Just act.

The guard nearest to me doesn't even have time to react. He just stares, mouth wide in horror. I end him before he can even scream.

The third hefts his rifle and begins to yell as loud as he can. I rush forward, if a single bullet hits one of my coolant lines I’m a dead girl walking.

I reach out with the pipe, connecting with the very tip of the barrel and knocking it out of the way just before he fires. The shot goes off harmlessly into the ground. I make sure he doesn't get a second shot. In under a second, three guards have been reduced to none.

Don’t think, just act.

I can faintly hear the sounds of boots running up stairs from inside the front door. I guess subtlety is out of the question now. Grabbing one of the rifles off the ground I dive into cover next to the door. The door slams open, but before anyone can step out I lean the rifle around the corner and unload the entire magazine.

I can feel the recoil of every shot, each and every one is a potential end to a life. A small tremor goes through the ground as person after person drops. Only when the gun begins to click empty do I stop.

Don’t think, just act.

I grab a second rifle and turn the corner. Even if anyone survived that onslaught, I know I’m faster. Luckily the only people on the stairwell are the dead and dying. Several of them moan, crying out as their life force leaks from a half dozen holes I carelessly placed in them. I let them bleed, can’t waste the ammo.

I can hear yelling at the bottom of the stairs. The blood pooling at the final step and the corpse slowly sliding down gives away the fact that I’m not dead.

Just walking down the stairs might be suicide, there’s got to be some way I can see what’s happening before I go down. But equally, maybe it would be better to rush down right now? To get there before anyone has any time to prepare?

“Vince, can you check out down there?” I ask him quietly.

He comes casually walking up from the bottom of the stairs.

“I can only see what you can, everything else is just a black void. Unless the world just ends down here, you’re on your own, Little Blue.”

“Great.” Looks like I’m just charging down the stairs wildly.

I sprint down the stairs, careful not to slip on any of the bodies or their fluids. The stairway lets out into an abandoned lobby. Surprisingly fine red couches, wooden tables, and an actual carpet fill the space.

The second my foot touches the landing I hear a spark of electricity to my left. Out of the corner of my eye I see a person lunging for my chest with a cattle prod.

A thick wire runs out the back of their head and snakes beneath a closed door. Their face is expressionless, their eyes empty of life, and their breathing calm. That doesn’t stop them from attacking.

Don’t think, just act.

I barely have time to get my rifle up in time to knock their cattle prod to the side. The electricity arcs through the weapon and into my hands.

The pain is immense, the most I’ve felt since my time stuck in the lab during a particularly nasty birthday. My arms begin to spasm wildly until I thankfully drop the rifle, severing the connection.

I jump back, narrowly avoiding a second swipe. The prod sparks against the wall. What would even happen to me if I got hit? It’s entirely possible such a surge of electricity would be immediately lethal. What do I even do? The harpoon! No idea if it’ll connect to the wire if I aim at their skull, but I have to try.

I dodge backwards for a third time, this one comes so close to connecting that the electricity arcs against my shirt, leaving small burns on Kara’s gift. Fucker. Now it’s personal.

Somehow, my mind can’t help but focus on the fact that my attacker has been entirely silent since they began their attack. Are they even real? I don’t have time to worry about that.

I unclasp the harpoon from my back and try to bring it up to head level. I’m barely too slow. The electric prod hits my chest, sending both my body and mind into chaos. Every color and every shape overlaps my vision at the same time. It feels as if my body hits the ground over and over as the room spins. My ears ring with the loudest sound I’ve ever heard.

I stay that way for an eternity. Time has no meaning, there’s no concept of me. I am what I feel, and I feel everything. Slowly the ringing, the shapes, the colors, the very universe begins to fade.

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I return to reality curled into a ball on the floor and drenched in blood. A corpse with a metal spike driven into its chest lay atop me. Wires have crept up his neck, breaking the skin in several places and diving back inside as they’ve searched for their goal. They weave themselves into the wire at the back of the corpse's head.

“Fuck!” Everything I’ve done hits me at the same time. I just killed them. I killed a lot of people.

“Little Blue! Blue! Focus girl!” Vince once again forces me to look into his eyes.

“Vince. What did I just- did I-” I can’t begin to describe the atrocities I’ve committed. “Vince help.” I beg.

“Look at me.” He brushes some of my remaining hair out of my face. “We don’t have much time before someone else comes in. You need to keep going.”

“I can’t. Look at what I did! I’m a monster.”

“Little Blue, we all have to be monsters sometimes. What matters is why. You’re doing it to save your friends, that’s not bad. All your friends are still alive in here.” He taps the side of my head.

He means my brain, but doesn’t know that’s not where mine is.

“You couldn’t save us the first time, but by living, you can keep everyone alive now. Same with Corax. You just have to keep moving, alright? If you can’t keep going for you, then keep going for everyone, and for me. Alright? Can you do that?” He hands the cord connected to the harpoon to me.

“I’ll try.” I don’t feel any better, but he’s right. Whatever I’m going through, Corax is going through worse. I’m not just fighting for me, my death means eight more. Even if five of them are trying to kill me.

“That’s all I ask. I’ll be right beside you the whole way.”

I keep a rifle in hand, ready to shoot anyone who enters and plug myself in.

Instead of the white void I’m familiar with, I find myself overlooking a long, verdant valley. This is the first time I’ve ever seen trees. They’re tall, strong, and beautiful. Sounds of birds and insects fill the air, morning dew covers every leaf and blade of grass.

In the center of the valley lies a lake of crystal clear water. A large island sits in the center, fields of wheat and orchards of apples cover the land.

A castle at the center dominates everything around it. Grand walls of pure white marble and tall towers dwarf everything else on the island. The only way in is through a closed wooden drawbridge.

It’d be breathtaking, if I weren’t focused on my body. A dozen skinless limbs jut out of my swollen torso at every angle. Large, malformed teeth prevent my jaw from closing. Heavy spiraling horns dig into my own scalp. Blood drips from my exposed muscles with every movement. It’s excruciating.

I’m the monster I deserve to be.

I drag my body towards the castle. Everything my body touches gets flash frozen and shatters into hundreds of needle sharp shards an instant later. Every shard digs deep into me with every movement. Behind me I leave a wake of destruction. Even here I ruin everything I touch.

The birds stop singing when I get close to them. Of course they’d fear a monster like me.

I drag myself across the landscape for what feels like hours. Inching ever closer to the castle. I’m on a time limit, no matter how much it hurts, I have to keep moving. I can only hope it’s taking less time in the physical world.

Vince joins me silently on my lonely precession. There’s nothing for him to say, but I’m glad he’s here. I couldn’t do this without him.

Finally I arrive. A lake of water can’t stop me, and they know that. The drawbridge drops open with a thud. Although, I’m not lucky enough to be let in without a fight.

At the other end stands a cloaked figure with wicked talons at the end of their arms and feet. A large raven’s beak juts out of their hood, and shining faintly, are familiar eyes. They’re feral and scared with no hint of recognition in them.

Corax? I try to call out to him but my mangled mouth turns my cry into a weak moan. Corax rolls up the sleeves of his robe. A wave ripples through his feathers and dark light streams out of the gaps. Something shifts under them, across his skin. He waits for me to make the first move.

Corax! It’s me! I desperately try to cry. I don’t want to fight him. I won’t fight him.

“You don’t need to.” Vince pats one of my many shoulders. “Just touch him, share who you are. Make him understand.”

I’m so tired. I can’t even move.

“Come on Little Blue, you’ve made it so far. Just one more task and you can rest.”

Do it for him, right?

“Attagirl. Do it for him.”

Don’t feel, don’t worry. Just move.

I drag my heaping mass onto the bridge. The wood splinters beneath me, just like everything else. I drop a few feet and slam into the now frozen surface. Even being near me is enough to freeze the water solid.

I’m much more comfortable on the frozen ground. My nails can dig into the ice and my body naturally slides nearly frictionlessly. I can move, maybe I can touch him.

Corax jumps off the bridge, stands on the bank, and raises his hand. His feathers ruffle and the dark light grows. A flock of ravens burst out from between his feathers and circle around him, a tornado of feathers and claws. With just a raise of his arm he commands his flock to attack.

A hundred birds dive down, their wings skimming the clear ice of the lake.

They come for me.

I try to skate away on flailing arms but am just too slow. I dodge most of them, but a dozen beaks and claws rip free chunks of my flesh. My mind screams out in a pain that I must shut down. Every hit I take slows my thoughts, I can’t dedicate anything to processing how much pain I'm in.

The flock comes back around, still ravenous for more of my blood. They won’t stop until I’m dead.

I slam down on the frozen surface and wrench up a great chunk of ice to use as a makeshift shield. The ravens slam into it and I let myself slide backwards, closer to Corax.

A sharp whistle comes from the bird man behind me and the ravens break off their attack. They return to their master and circle him once again. With another wave of his hand they rush again.

I can’t turn my shield to them before they slam into me, trying desperately to slow me down. I dig my claws into the ice and hold.

I can feel my mind slipping with every cut and bite. I’m going feral. Focus on only one thought. Get him. Touch him. No other thoughts. Nothing else matters.

I drag myself through the cloud of shrieking knives. Vince’s hand leads me, always just out of reach. Inch after inch I claw my way forward.

My blood begins to freeze against my skinless body, both slowing me down and becoming my armor.

After losing most of myself to the birds, Vince whispers a word in my ear.

“Jump.”

I dive forward through the flapping wall. One thought dominates my mind.

Touch him.

Touch him.