Chapter 8: The fight continues.
“That simulation you keep talking about, it’s the famous Sixty story riddle right?” Nancy asked as she had heard many urban legends about that simulation in particular. “I heard that only fifteen people have ever reached the fifty ninth floor and that only two people have ever ascended to the sixtieth floor of which one never returned.”
“That’s true.” Bruce nodded before adjusting his sun glasses. “I don’t know much about the two that made it to the top though. I imagine they must have been real monsters since I myself only ever made it to the fifty eighth level when I tried the simulation myself. It’s pretty tough so it’s no surprise that academy students only have to reach the twentieth floor in order to qualify for the ACDD.”
“The facility that Stark was raised in, I still remember watching a historic documentary about it when I was a child.” Nancy said before her brows began to tense up. “That place was so beautiful and in the end it too fell to the Cosmic Death. It was such a depressing thing to learn about, it was one of the stories that humbled me as a child. It made me feel like there were no sanctuaries for humanity in this dying universe of ours.”
Bruce noticed her change in expression before asking. “Are you ok?”
Under the dim light of the transporters interior, Nancy smiled and said. “I’m afraid that if I hear how this story ends I’ll end up even more miserable than how I feel now.”
Bruce leaned back and smiled gently. “A true optimist can find hope in the most dramatic of tragedies. Try to see the lesson in it.”
Nancy nodded before motioning for Bruce to continue.
Bruce cleared his throat before continuing with the story. “Where were we again? That’s right!
The four of them had just ascended to the fourth floor of the apartment building.
Stark was the first to notice that only bloody scraps of their former bodies were left.
Fortunately the two Necromorph’s were nowhere in sight, leaving the four of them to ponder amongst themselves.
“Which one do we go after first?” Beverly asked.
“Since you both have prior experience with the giant we will go for that one first.” Stark said before continuing down towards where the giant’s apartment was with the rest of them quickly following.
A massive gaping hole was where its door and half of its wall once was. The stench immediately hit Stark once more. No matter how many times a person smelled the Cosmic Death they’d never get used to it. Its scent was that of rotting flesh mixed with what could only be described as a bizarre nauseating thickness. The thickness was always worse than the actual smell itself, it had a habit of making a person’s bones feel like glass.
As stark peered past the scattered garbage and grime towards where several blood streaks accumulated in the corner, he saw it.
The giant Demi Necromorph was as disgusting as ever as it squatted down motionlessly.
Stark quickly pushed the rest of them back around the corner where he continued to say. “Let’s just wait for the pulse grenades to detonate. Even if it wasn’t that particular one that ate me and Victoria, the explosion will still weaken at least one of them. Regardless if it turns out to be this one or the parasite we’re going to torch it as soon as the grenades detonate.”
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“I can’t help but think that this is all a bit pointless…” Hockney said suddenly.
Stark locked eyes with him before asking. “What do you mean?”
“Think about it.” Hockney said. “In order to be graded we need to devise a strategy that will work on our first attempt of the day. Right now the strategy we’re using relies on you and Victoria’s dead bodies from a previous attempt being eaten.”
Stark suddenly face palmed. “How could I be so stupid, this plan is completely unreproducible on our first attempts. Shit…”
Soon both Beverly and Victoria also had complex expressions.
Victoria was the first to speak up and say. “Actually, I think there’s still hope. While we might not be able to reproduce this on the first attempt tomorrow, we can still use this as an opportunity to learn more about their weaknesses. We can still implement the plan in some way on our future first attempts, the core idea is that we hit them with the pulse grenades and finish them off.”
Stark stroked his chin before looking at Victoria. If she acted like this all the time he’d be frothing at the mouth at the chance to marry her.
Stark quickly placed his hand on Victoria’s cheek startling everyone.
Victoria was stunned and turned bright red before smiling as she began to caress his hand with her own gently.
“Victoria.” Stark grinned. “Always be like this from now on and never change.”
“Oh… ok…” Victoria replied sheepishly unable to hide how obviously flustered she was.
“Right.” Stark quickly removed his hand from her face before turning back around to peek around the corner at the monster.
Noticing that Victoria’s hand still clung tightly onto Stark’s, Beverly leaned in to the blonde’s ear and whispered. “Don’t make it weird.”
Victoria quickly released his hand before her blush intensified even more.
Stark narrowed his eyes on the hunched monstrosity before he suddenly heard a loud bang come from its body.
The sudden sound startled everyone causing them all with the exception of Stark to retreat further down the corner. Several of the dim lamps surrounding the apartment went out suddenly.
One of the grenades had detonated inside of the Demi Necromorph. Stark wasted no time and yelled. “A grenade detonated, we have to attack now!”
They all nodded before stampeding around the corner with their blades and guns drawn.
Beverly took the lead as she held her riot shield up infront of her with one hand and aimed her shot gun with the other.
“Fire now.” Stark commanded.
At the next moment they all opened fire on the Demi Necromorph.
It quickly jolted awake as it felt its back being shredded by bullets before grabbing a chunk of the wall in front of it to shield itself.
It then spun around and hurled the massive piece of debris towards the teenagers who ducked and rolled out of the way.
“Let’s flank it from two sides.” Victoria yelled out.
They all nod at her before spreading out around the roaring monster before quickly resuming their onslaught.
The Demi Necromorph once again began to rip away chunks from the wall before throwing them around randomly, too busy wincing to aim.
Beverly staggered as she deflected several huge pieces.
Stark narrowly dodged a flying piece of wall before pointing his right index finger at the giant.
“See ya…” Stark immediately activated the flame thrower and blasted the Demi Necromorph from a small distance away.
The fire quickly engulfed the entire creature causing it to slowly stop its struggle as its blood burned inside of it. It then slowly collapsed shaking the entire floor seemingly.
“It’s done.” Stark had a wide smile. “We actually killed it!”
“There’s still one more right?” Hockney asked immediately.
“That’s a problem for another day, right now we need to focus on stopping the fire from spreading.” Stark said.
“I’m already on it.” Victoria quickly ran out of the apartment before returning with a fire extinguisher. She immediately blasted the burning corpse with foam ending the threat of the spreading flames. She then stopped before placing it down on the floor.
“Victoria you’re the best!” Beverly gave her friend a big hug before looking back at Stark and asking. “So do we go after the other one now.”
Stark nodded. “Let’s go.”