Chapter 6: Back for round two.

Stark and Victoria had once again arrived late to the simulation room. The rows of seats were all empty this time with only the director tapping his boot on the glossy floor as he awaited the two.

“Sorry for the hold up.” Victoria said sheepishly.

Stark himself did not apologise, as he had been injured and thus found his lateness to be reasonable.

The director rolled his eyes not bothering with reprimanding them and simply waved his hand before the two massive doors to open them.

Stark and Victoria smiled at one another before continuing on into the darkness before the doors closed silently behind them.

Immediately upon entering the simulation they rushed towards the sixty story Building before entering back into the stench of its interior.

“Crap!” Stark immediately covered his nose in disgust. “I completely forgot about the vile stench in this place.”

“Stark…” Victoria tried her best not to gag. “I’m going to pass out…”

Stark immediately grabbed her hand and pulled her forward with him.

The two once again entered the elevator where they began to ponder.

Stark’s eyes panned across the pile of weapons as he looked for a specific thing.

Victoria followed his eyes before suddenly gasping with surprise when she saw the weapon they had fixed themselves on.

Stark kneeled down before retrieving three electromagnetic pulse grenades from deep within the pile.

“I get it now.” Victoria grinned. “Don’t we need more though?”

Stark stroked his chin. Electromagnetic pulses had the ability to completely neutralise a Necromorph’s black mucus. With this he could surely counter the giant Demi Necromorph in case it used its black mucus to protect itself.

Victoria went through the various weapons completely rearranging the pile as she searched for more Electromagnetic pulse grenades. She sighed heavily after finding none and simply took a katana from the pile along with a revolver.

Stark copied her and took a katana and a revolver for himself as well.

He then looked over at Victoria before saying. “Let’s head straight back to where we died the last time. If Lupus and Delilah are still fighting that thing up there then we’ll just skip straight to the fifth floor.”

“Understood.” Victoria nodded before standing up straight. “I doubt that we’ll make it further than last time though, the grenades we have just aren’t enough.”

“That’s fine.” Stark stood up and smiled before handing her two of the grenades and keeping one for himself. He then stored it in his suit’s back pocket while holding the katana and revolver in each of his hands.

Victoria equipped herself in a similar manner before the two nodded at each other and left.

Upon exiting the elevator they see none other than Beverly and Hockney entering the building from outside. Stark clearly remembered that him and Victoria were the last to arrive and laughed before saying. “You both died didn’t you?”

“Shut up!” Beverly shot back. “Do you have any idea how terrifying that thing is on the fourth floor? It’s a total monster. Delilah and Lupus are fighting it right now as we speak.”

“Beverly you poor thing…” Victoria teased before walking towards her with her arms spread, weapons still in hand. “Do you need a hug from mommy Victoria and daddy Stark?”

“Listen here.” Beverly quickly stormed towards her friend with an evil grin. “You think it’s funny huh? Why don’t you go and try your luck against that evil thing.”

Stark turned to look at Hockney before asking. “Did they use fire on it yet?”

“Not yet.” Hockney replied “I’m assuming you’re asking that because you plan to use the pulse grenades right?”

Stark nodded.

“We told Lupus about the pulse grenades but he insisted on killing the Necromorph with fire alone.” Hockney snickered. “He kept on going on and on about his honour and all of that nonsense.”

“What an idiot.” Stark frowned. “Let’s go Victoria.”

They quickly left the other two youths before ascending up the staircase.

They were about halfway up when Stark suddenly asked. “Remember yesterday when you searched the other corridor?”

“Ah!” Victoria placed her hand over her lip. “I searched the first three apartments and found nothing. When I went to the fourth and opened the door the stench of the Cosmic Death suddenly became much more intense. I heard the commotion caused by the fight between Lupus and the giant Necromorph so I ran towards where you were without checking inside.”

“I see…” Stark pondered deeply as he ascended the steps.

There were obviously more enemies lurking on the fourth floor for them to kill. It made sense considering that this was a simulation clearly designed for the entire class to participate in at once. The intent behind the design was likely for them to work as a team with all six of them only taking on one floor at a time. That would be quite annoying as Stark was largely used to doing his own thing up until now. Occasionally Victoria would tag along from time to time but aside from that Stark rarely worked together with the others. It seemed that this similation was indeed a final exam. One that would take him the rest of his final year to pass.

Victoria then suddenly yelled. “Director! Can you hear me? I need to know how many enemies are lurking on the fourth floor.”

The voice of the director soon echoed across the grimy staircase, seemingly coming from all directions simultaneously.

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*why don’t you two find out yourselves. Do you want me to hold your hand through it? Do I look like your dad or something?*

Victoria stuck her middle finger up at the ceiling before pouting and continuing up.

Stark chuckled internally as they finally reached the fourth floor.

They immediately felt the vibration in the wall as Lupus continued to fight the Demi Necromorph in its apartment.

Victoria then asked. “We’re going to the fifth floor right?”

“Not yet.” Stark replied. “Let those two continue to struggle against the Demi Necromorph while we explore the apartment you discovered.”

Victoria then stepped ahead of him. “Follow me.”

She then led him down the opposite corridor from where the fight between Lupus and the Demi Necromorph could be heard raging on.

Stark kicked down the doors of the first three apartments to confirm that they were empty.

When they reached the fourth Victoria took the lead and booted down the grimy door.

Just as she had said, a wave of thick Cosmic Death stench immediately swept them away like a tsunami. It was even stronger than the one the Demi Necromorph produced.

Both of them developed chills as they stared into the darkness of the apartment.

“You go first!” Victoria said immediately abdicating her position as the leader. “I’m pretty scared already.”

Stark sighed. “Fine.”

He slowly stepped forward into the darkness with Victoria following closely behind him. The visiblity was so poor that Stark couldn’t help but strain his eyes to search the various black silhouettes. If he wasn’t mistaken he was now in the living room right? The stench continued to strengthen as he stepped forward.

“It’s of no use.” Stark said. “I can’t see anything and the smell is too strong, I need some fresh air.”

He then suddenly stopped causing Victoria to bump into him.

He looked back at her and was about to tell her to head back before he suddenly saw two bright red eyes race past just behind her.

“What the…” Stark immediately clutched his blade and revolver before yelling. “Get behind me Victoria.”

“Where is it…” Victoria frantically looked around before stepping behind Stark.

Stark stared straight ahead towards the open front door. The red eyes were no where to be seen anymore.

At the next moment Stark suddenly felt his feet lift off the ground as an overwhelming force grabbed him by the neck.

Victoria watched on in terror as Stark levitated in mid air. She immediately knew what kind of Necromorph this was.

She instantly drew forth her revolver and fired at the spot just infront of where Stark was being held.

The sound of bullets shredding through flesh could be heard before a gut wrenching scream.

Stark immediately stabbed forward with his Katana causing it to impale something meaty and invisible. The creature then threw him towards the wall before retreating out of the dark living room with the katana stuck inside of it.

Stark staggered to his feet before saying with a grimace. “I hate to admit it, but we fell right into it’s trap…”

At the next moment he saw his katana seemingly floating at a diagonal angle with its tip dragging across the trash ridden floor.

Stark and Victoria moved close to one another as they kept their eyes on it. This was one of the nastiest mutations, a Necromorph with the ability to turn itself invisible.

“Let’s stay close to each other.” Stark said as he circled around the katana with Victoria.

The Necromorph made no sound at all as it moved closer to them, only the disgusting scrape of the katana tip on the stone cold floor could be heard.

The katana quickly arced through the air towards Stark who dodged backwards.

Victoria swerved to the side before nailing the Necromorph with a kick from her left leg.

She felt its mass get sent tumbling backwards as the katana clanged all over the ground.

Stark then aimed his revolver before firing three times consecutively. All three shots seemed to hit and the Necromorph immediately screamed bloody murder.

Its heavy footsteps could soon be heard charging toward Stark again.

Stark listened closely to the footsteps before quickly side stepping a thrust he sensed coming. He then dove for his katana that had been abandoned on the ground and grabbed Victoria before leaving the living room and slamming the door shut.

In the Apartment’s corridor the two formulated a plan without talking. Stark held up his katana to show Victoria the black blood drenching it. He then held up his right index finger before stoking a small flame with the flame thrower built into it.

Victoria’s eyes widened in the dim light before she nodded with a resolute expression.

The two then charged back into the living room and stood still listening for the footsteps.

Like the stupid beast it was the Necromorph immediately charged towards them.

Victoria then quickly swept it off its feet with a low kick causing a loud thud as it hit the ground. Stark then raised his Katana high before thrusting it down into the now screaming monstrosity.

Now pinned to the ground it quickly gave up on its invisibility revealing its true appearance. It had two massive cat like red eyes and a mostly humanoid body shape with black scales all over it. The shape of its head resembled that of a child with microcephaly. Overall it could be said to have an appearance only a mother… no, only a blind mother could love.

Stark stoked another small flame as he held his index finger to the katana that was covered in its blood. A blaze quickly ignited that traveled down the katana until entering the whaling body of the Necromorph.

Fire erupted from all of its orifices as it was ignited from the inside out. After a few seconds of struggling the creature finally died.

“High five!” Victoria smiled holding her hand up infront of Stark’s face.

Stark smiled and gave her what she wanted.

He pulled his sword free from the burning body before saying. “Let’s go check on Lupus and Delilah. It’s best if we-“

The stench of the Cosmic Death Suddenly grew so extreme that they both immediately became dizzy. The environment began to twist and contort as if they had been on a merry-go-round for two long.

“What the hell.” Stark immediately covered his nose and so did Victoria.

They then both looked at the still burning corpse as a black snake like mass slipped out from its flaming eye sockets.

“A parasitic type!” Stark sneered before immediately retreating back to the front door with Victoria.

The two entered back into the light of the main corridor before slowly walking away from the apartment backwards.

“That thing was seriously hiding inside of the other one?” Victoria sneered. “That’s total bullshit.”

“It’s a parasitic type so we’re pretty much screwed.” Stark frowned.

One would expect that parasitic Necromorphs were the weakest as they tended to cower in the bodies of their peers. Many of the first humans to encounter the Cosmic Death had believed that only to be met with a rude awakening. Parasitic Necromorphs were in fact among the most formidable and it took hundreds of dead soldiers for that lesson to be learned.

Both Victoria and Stark watched on in terror as the bull sized head of a gaunt dog like animal emerged from the door. Its snout was bent and twisted grotesquely to mimic a clown’s smile. Its teeth were not sharp but almost human like in their shape. Replacing its ears were two massive thumbs adorned with bony protrusions.

It slowly turned to face them before glaring into their souls with its human like eyes.

The stench was the worst part. They had briefly escaped the room and by extension its smell but now that it had stuck its head out to look at them the smell hit them again like a buss.

Once again they felt as if the world was spinning and quickly ran back towards the staircase.

Before they reached it however they saw none other than the giant Demi Necromorph from the previous day looming over something by the staircase.

Upon closer observation they saw that it was slowly ripping apart Lupus’s corpse before gobbling up massive bites of his flesh.

Stark didn’t feel fear but instead laughed mockingly. “In the end Lupus tried to flee from his enemy, what a joke.”

“I don’t think this is the time for jokes Stark.” Victoria said as she clung close to him, her voice visibly shaken.

Stark looked at her and smiled. “We’re dead anyway…”

At the next moment the massive parasite suddenly appeared above them with its gaping mouth open for the world to see and admire.

A few seconds later both Stark and Victoria were dead.