Corporal Knightley could not help herself. She snickered at his suggestion that there could be worse than what they’ve already encountered.
“You mean to tell me that there are worse things than what Were Inc has created?” the corporal snorted in disbelief. “I’ll have no part in this, I don’t do this kind of work. We were meant to be a search and rescue team and we are not disposable mercenaries,” the corporal affirmed while ripping off her Were Inc Insignia and throwing it at Captain Quis Podex along with her helmet and tags.
The captain looked to Lieutenant Storm and asked, “What about you?” in a monotone voice.
She lifted her head, looking between Marie and the captain with her eyes watering. “Like it matters, I mean, am I the only one that has any sense here?” she whimpered, looking at them in turn. “I’ve spent too long running from vampires, trying to outthink Minotaurs for food. I was captured by orcs and sold as, as a slave to a witches’ coven; I’ve done unspeakable things before I was shackled in that tunnel for days on end! Now, I’m fighting symbiotic monsters and goblins, I can’t be the only one here who thinks this isn’t possible and now, now your captain tells us there’s worse out there?” Lieutenant Storm broke down hysterically.
Marie tried to console her, unsure what she could say to help, so she just hugged her while they sat on the floor.
“It’s not possible, it’s not, they aren’t real they’re only in stories,” the lieutenant repeated, clutching her weapon for dear life.
“All the creatures you’ve heard of in stories or seen movies, they all came from reality, reality of a time long since forgotten,” explained Captain Quis Podex.
“Here in Eiru, humans are the rarity,” he finished.
“Karama, come in Karama, this is Nightshade,” the radio spoke and the team finally heard from HQ.
Captain Quis Podex jumped up to the radio panel and answered, “Nightshade this is Karama. Power has been restored, multiple hostiles encountered, requesting immediate extraction, over.”
The silence that followed left the team with a sinking feeling. Finally, the silence was broken.
“Extraction is a no go, repeat, extraction is negative. Your mission is complete, make your way back to the bay, avoid contact with locals at all cost. You will be contacted at sixteen hundred hours, Nightshade out,” the radio link was immediately disconnected.
“What the hell was that?” shouted the lieutenant.
“We’ve been deemed expendable, lieutenant,” replied Marie.
“We have our orders, move out,” ordered the captain. “Shut up, fool,” Marie announced.
“I no longer take orders from you or Were Inc. I’ll make my own way back,” she barked with anger surging through her.
“Corporal Knightley, you will fall in line,” bellowed Captain Quis Podex.
“Piss off,” she shouted as she approached the camera controls, checking the facility for a safe route out of the facility.
The lieutenant asked a lingering question, “Captain, why was Project Mortal created?”
He replied with a soft timber in his voice, “If we can get to Dr Oscar’s personal quarters, I can show you.”
Captain Quis Podex tried to reassure the lieutenant and regain Marie’s trust and loyalty.
“It seems quiet. If we can get to the end of the corridor and to the junction, we can take a left turn, it should lead us to the personal quarters’ area,” Marie explained.
“Right, let’s move,” ordered Captain Quis Podex once again.
They gathered their belongings exchanging their helmets for the visualisers; with the power restored they wouldn’t need their night vision equipment anymore. Once they were ready to move on, Marie pressed a series of buttons on a control panel and opened the sealed door; Lieutenant Storm stood into the corridor with her weapon following her eyes as she looked for goblins. Luckily, there was nothing there to greet them. They crept along the hall trying not to make a sound; it was scary to sense the breathless air to smell that sickly-sweet smell of blood mixed with the overpowering stench of death! They had made it to the junction without any trouble, they did have to step over even more dead than before they entered. It would be difficult to remain silent when they were stepping on armour and weapons, it was unavoidable, they would be making noise at some point.
“Follow my lead,” Captain Quis Podex ordered with a firm and resolute voice. They entered the personal quarters with Captain Quis Podex taking the lead, walking ahead of the two women.
“Take this,” Marie whispered to the lieutenant while she slipped a rather small stun gun into Lieutenant Storm’s hand. Lieutenant Storm replied only with a quick head bob.
“There’s a room hidden behind one of these walls, look for a slot or a switch,” the captain instructed.
They looked for the switch or button or some way to open the hidden room in the hopes the captain was telling the truth. Suddenly and without warning, they were attacked by both a goblin attack force and the pro-mortal symbiotes! Marie and Lieutenant Storm instinctively stood back to back and picked their targets carefully before firing their weapons. They were in luck as the goblins and the creatures were not allies, they too were attacking one another, taking some aggression away from the two ladies.
“To hell with this secret room, we got to get out of this one first!” Lieutenant Storm shouted over the raging battle.
“Follow me,” Marie replied as she raced to the laundry chute at the end of the room.
Slamming her hand onto the button over the chute; opening the chute that seemed to plunge right down into darkness.
“Inside!” she yelled.
“The captain’s gone!” Lieutenant Storm exclaimed.
“Forget him, we gotta go!” Marie screamed before pushing Lieutenant Storm into the chute rather forcefully then jumped in after her.
The inner surface of the chute was slimy, making any method of slowing down the rapid fall rather impossible. When they reached the end of the chute, they both came shooting out like human cannonballs! They were launched into the
