The surroundings were familiar, considering he was currently standing in the location. It was only different by the existence of the creatures which had been killed by Han and his group recently. Looking around, Han knew that this scene was likely the source of madness inside of Ji-Min.
Around her, her teammates began to regain consciousness. Their bodies jerked in surprise once they realized that they were not where they expected to be. Han could hear the sounds of whimpering and crying from some of the members.
"Where?" A man asked, his name was Dan. His name floated to Han's mind due to being inside of Ji-Min's memories of the event.
"What happened?" A girl named Casey asked, terror in her voice. "We were inside of the forest, weren't we?"
Several more of the team members joined in on the rising panic of the group, as they tried to figure out how they were brought to their current location.
A scream sounded from one of the guys, startling the rest of them. "What are those things?!" The guy yelled as he waved an arm, pointing at the Modified Humans.
Several helmets turned as they looked in the direction the guy was pointing, and soon they scrambled away from the image. It was at that moment where they realized they were inside of a cave, the only exit facing the roaming creatures.
"Everyone, we need to calm down," A confident voice called out. Jason was standing up and motioning to gain everyone's attention.
The group settled down once they heard Jason's words. One of the people who was the most thankful for the strength in his words was Ji-Min, who had felt terror course through her after seeing the things outside of the cave. A sense of panic had overcome her thoughts. Even now, when she glanced at the monsters and saw their strange forms, her skin crawled at their eldritch appearance. It looked like someone didn't know how to create a living creature and randomly put things together.
"Jason's right. Our mission hasn't changed, which is to better understand what's happening outside of the university and learn how to better fight the increasing threat of these things." Sean, the team lead announced.
With both Sean and Jason saying such encouraging words, the group's spirit lifted.
"What we need to do is try to figure out how to get out of here," Sean said. "Likely, we were ambushed, knocked out, and dragged here. I don't know for what purpose, but we can think about that at a later point. We have supplies to last us for more than a week, so the first thing is to observe their behavior in order to sneak out."
"Why don't we just kill those things?" Samantha asked, reaching for her weapon. Though she didn't look like it, giving off an innocent girl-next-door vibe, as a Crowd Controller, Samantha had battle hungry tendencies. When faced with conflict, her first reaction was to dominate first and ask questions later. She stood there with one foot already facing the mouth of the cave.
Sensing the nervousness in her voice, Jason looked at Sean, the two of them likely discussing something.
Judging by how Samantha handled negative emotions, Ji-Min knew that Samantha was close to rushing out and that's why Jason and Sean were trying to be tactful to not set her off.
"Samantha, I get where you're coming from, and it makes sense considering we specifically trained to handle dangerous scenarios...," Jason spoke slowly, like a bomb technician attempting to diffuse a dangerous device. "But many of those creatures are beyond what we expected."
Adding in his thoughts, Sean said, "Also, judging by the number of creatures out there, it's likely that we'll be overwhelmed before we could escape."
"You don't know that! We don't even know if anything will happen while we 'observe' them! The whole reason why we're here is to show our ability to wipe them out!" Samantha yelled with contempt dripping from her words.
A couple of member of the team nodded their head, as they were moved by Samantha's words. Though the majority of people sided with Sean and Jason.
Seeing that she hadn't convinced the group and likely not wanting to go out alone, she sat down grumbling about how they were cowards and deserved to be eaten.
Those who had a similar mindset to Samantha moved closer to her. Judging by how they nodded their heads, occasionally, Ji-Min assumed that they were privately communicating with one another.
Jason and Sean moved towards the entrance of the cave and leaned against the opening, watching to see if any pattern emerged in the behavior of the creatures.
-----
Ji-Min checked the time displayed on her monitor and saw that it had been a few hours. They had noticed a couple of things, one of them being how often the monsters would feed on the growing pile of bodies placed far across from where they were. All throughout the cavern, monsters would spontaneously change their physical appearance. Jason guessed that the creatures were evolving from consuming the bodies.
"Look! There's another one that's evolving!" Sean pointed out in excitement. Both Jason and Sean found the process fascinating and tried to come up with theories as to what was taking place.
Several members of the team walked over to where Sean and Jason were standing, curious about what was occurring. They joined in the discussion, some being crazy while others were variations of what Jason and Sean had already stated.
Ji-Min was both horrified and attracted to what was unfolding in front of her. This wasn't the first time she'd seen the evolution of the monsters while trapped in the cave, but it still was a sight that seemed outside of anything familiar to her. Each time, the monsters would go through a unique process. Sometimes the thing would grab nearby monsters, or it would complete the cycle on its own. The skin may bubble or stretch along the body. Thinking about the various ways still made her gag, but also mesmerized her.
"What is that thing doing?" One of the guys asked in a high pitch voice. "Why is it coming over here?!" His voice went up an octave.
A couple of her teammates stepped back towards the rear of the cave. Their arms slightly up and hands facing out as if to stop the monster ambling towards them. The sight made several of them visibly shake in fright. A few thought of the idea to reach for their weapons and spears, swords, and dual wielding weapons emerged, ready to take on the threat.
"Jason, if that thing comes closer, I want you to lead half of the team, and the two of us will use a pincer strategy, hitting it from the sides," Sean explained.
Jason nodded and began picking out who was going to attack with him. He looked at Ji-Min and indicated that she would be on his team.
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"Ji-Min, stay close to me. I don't know whether we'll be able to take on this thing with just our numbers, so you need to be ready to escape." Jason said to her privately. "I'll try and make you an opening, so be ready for it."
Ji-Min felt herself beginning to tear up, thinking of Jason putting himself in such a dangerous situation. She wanted to run up and hold him, but Ji-Min understood that it wasn't the appropriate time for such actions. Instead, Ji-Min took out two blades from her back and carried them tightly in each hand. With her speed, she tried to be confident of her being able to contribute to the fight.
When they were all grouped up, Sean nodded his head, and the two teams rushed out. Each team arching towards the sides of the creature.
"I only needed one of you," A voice sounded.
Ji-Min was startled by the voice that seemed to originate from the monster. Trying not to fall behind, she decided to convince herself that she imagined it.
The gaping mouth in the front of the monster opened, and a voice was heard, sounding like someone had their throat filled with mucus. "It's impressive to see you insects utilizing such tactics against something like myself. Though, insects will always stay being insects in front of a superior creature. Now... Let me enjoy devouring one of you to help me consolidate my power."
"Did that thing just talk?!" One of the guys yelled in confusion still running with the group belonging to Sean.
Laughter came out of the creature. "Yes... I'm quite able to communicate in your language, likely a remnant from who I was before I was blessed."
Ignoring the words of the creature, Jason leaped towards the thing's side. Flying through the air, boosted by the power of the suit, Jason was able to close the last bit of distance in order to attack. The spear in his hand was about to plunge into the bubbling flesh of the monster.
"Watch out, Jason!" Ji-Min screamed when she saw the monster grin.
Tentacles shot out of the flesh of the creature, grabbing the spear and stopping it right before it was able to touch the creature. On either side of Jason, more tentacles sprouted out of the side and raced towards where Jason was trying to escape from. Both of his hands were tangled by the tentacles that held the spear.
"Hmmm... I can sense that you're going to be quite a meal for me. Too bad... I want to grab the other one, but I don't think they'll allow me." The monster casually chatted.
Ji-Min stopped moving and fell to her knees in horror, watching as tentacles grabbed each of Jason's limbs. While being pulled to the head of the thing, Jason struggled and tried to face Ji-Min.
"Run! We were wrong! Save yourself, Ji-Min!" He screamed. Jason continued to try and tear off the tentacles that were on him, though every tentacle that he tore off it was replaced by several more. "Get off of me!" Jason yelled in frustration. Seeing Ji-Min on the floor and not moving, he yelled, "What are you doing!? Get out of here! Please!"
Instead of reacting to what Jason was screaming, she was forced to watch
her emotional anchor be dragged from the side to the front. On either side of the mouth were two arms. One of them grabbed Jason and began tearing off the armor to expose Jason's body.
"It feels like I'm cracking open a shell to reveal the tasty meat," The monster chuckled, enjoying the process. "Maybe if you help me grow stronger, I'll be allowed to eat this person you've been screaming at?"
When Jason's helmet was removed and his face exposed, he yelled, "You don't get to touch her. I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" Jason kept screaming.
Still chuckling, the monster used several of its tentacles to carefully pull out Jason's body out of the suit. "Yes... You're quite a strong individual. I can sense it inside of you. You'll soon be part of me and help me to grow." Saliva began to drip out of the monster's mouth as if it was eager to taste Jason who was still yelling obscenities at it.
"Jason!" Sean yelled and rushed at the monster. Several other team members rushed to attack the beast.
With one arm, it swatted Sean away and used its tentacles to toss aside the others. "Don't worry. You all will be enjoying this experience later. I'm limited to this one morsel, so all of you will need to stay back, or I may be tempted."
Sean's body was laying on the ground, likely he was knocked out from the blow. It was only an added sign of the difference in power.
Smaller monsters began making their way towards their group. Each of the monsters tried to grab Ji-Min's teammates. Now they were fighting off the smaller monsters, unable to help Jason who was now entirely out of his suit.
As Jason began to get closer to the monster's mouth and realize that he was going to be eaten, his angry yelling turned into screams of terror. Jason looked at where Ji-Min was and cried out, "Help me, Ji-Min! Please don't let me get eaten!"
The monster opened its mouth and then ate the legs off of Jason. Blood gushed out of the two stumps that were all that was left of Jason's legs. As if not thinking about anything else, the monster appeared to be enjoying the meal. The screams coming from Jason accompanying the sounds of it chewing what used to be part of Jason.
Ji-Min could feel tears flowing out of her eyes and didn't notice one of the smaller monsters grabbing her and taking her away. She kept focusing on Jason, who was reaching out towards Ji-Min.
Jason had stopped begging for his life, and instead screamed, "I love you, Ji-Min! I love you, Ji-Min!" Over and over again, as if to use the declaration as a mantra to protect his mind from his current reality.
The last thing Ji-Min saw of Jason was his eyes looking at her as his entire body entered the mouth of the monster. His eyes never blinked as he stared at where Ji-Min was. There was a smile on his face, even while being in a nightmarish position.
Not once did Ji-Min cry out to Jason, being completely paralyzed from the sight of seeing the person she loved being devoured.
Han watched as he could sense the mind of Ji-Min beginning to crack. No longer was she going to be the innocent girl that he had seen in her memories. Moving forward into her memories, Han watched as Ji-Min had to witness her comrades try to escape and fight the monsters. Then one by one all the people she knew were peeled out of their protective suits to be eaten, their pleading voices echoing in Ji-Min's mind.
Soon, all she had were the two equally broken girls. Sitting in the back of the cave, as she hummed a tune while giggling uncontrollably as she observed the monsters coming and going.