The Jackson - Part Seven

7

From the streamlined spires and its gleaming exterior Corey would have thought that the inside was lined with gold accents and chandeliers. The reality was vastly different. As he followed Victoria and the other monster through the red, glowing hallways, the building resembled a hospital more than luxury apartments.

“Watch your feet,” the Aswang called from the lead.

Corey couldn’t see well under the red lights so when he slipped in a puddle of blood and kicked a corpse’s skull, his boot landing where its face should have been, he was surprised as hell. He yelled out and Victoria spun around and covered his mouth with her trembling hand. Corey still hadn’t found his footing and was falling backward until Victoria pulled him to her.

She whispered, “You need to calm down and keep quiet. We aren’t alone up here.”

“Good job, human,” called the Aswang. “They’re coming.” His sunken chest bowed as his hands flew out to his sides, claws at the ready. “I hope you’re ready to fight, Crone. The other prisoners here aren’t as considerate as me.”

Her eyes glistened and she released Corey. “Find a weapon. Anything.” Then her skin began to change and those dark eyes turned to black. Her teeth grew over her bottom lip and her fingernails stretched as something at the top of the stairs roared.

“Kill as you run,” roared the Aswang.

Corey panicked. He needed a weapon. He didn’t have claws and teeth and something was charging them from the top of the steps. His fingers clutched the back of the man’s shredded coat and flipped him over. A clipboard skidded down the stairs followed by an organ or two. Nothing. He had nothing useful. Corey’s head spun as he searched for anything. Things were stomping their way down. The Aswang was standing on a small landing a few feet up and there were no corpses but there was a fire box and, blessed Jesus, there was an axe inside. His shoes slipped as he raced ahead, eyes locked on that red box. Victoria shouted for him but there wasn’t any time to stop. A tentacle slithered its way around the landing, gripping the Aswang around the neck and pulling him up. As Corey punched the glass to free his weapon, he heard the Aswang chuckle. The bastard actually chuckled. Then he ripped the tentacle free from the creature’s amorphous body.

Corey didn’t think. He swung the axe hard, confused when the body he hit was gelatinous instead of solid. But it bled. He swung again and again, working in tandem with the Aswang, taking his own blows from the slapping appendages. One good hit over the top and the thing’s body opened up like a rotten meatball and its insides poured free. The putrid smell nearly cost Corey the last bit of whatever was left in his stomach.

“Maybe you’re not so useless,” said the Aswang with a toothy smile.

Corey wiped the dark green blood from his face and nodded.

It was like the floodgates had opened. Screams, screeches, hooves beating, there was a horde coming for them.

“Can you reason with them?” asked Victoria.

The Aswang shook his head. “They want blood and nothing else will satisfy them.”

Corey was so sick of this bullshit. It was one thing after another and more than likely, they weren’t going to make it out of there. He was beaten, covered in various bodily fluids, and had never been more scared in his life, but he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to try. “I’m not going to sit here and wait to die.”

With that he took off up the stairs, axe hugged close to his body, ready to swing. Both Victoria and the Aswang were close behind him.

“By all means, lead the way,” said the Aswang before he gave a victorious howl.

A war had been waging since Corey and Victoria had set off the alarms and freed the monsters. Walls were painted red with blood and gore, not just from lab workers and guards but from other creatures. The Aswang had been right – these things were so bloodthirsty that they didn’t care who they killed. There was no reasoning with madness and judging by the machinery and the devices in the upper rooms, Corey could see why they were twisted. They had been tortured and tested on. He didn’t have time to think too hard about it though because he was too busy trying to stay alive. They all were.

Once they reached the white labs it became a blur of teeth, blood, and snarls. Corey did his best to keep an eye out for Victoria but it was near impossible.

Soon things calmed. The monsters that were left weren’t as hungry or as eager to fight. Most, like Corey and Victoria, just wanted to stay alive. Some were trying to break out the windows or even through the walls, so crazed they didn’t care if it destroyed their hands or claws.

“Are we all okay?” asked Victoria, who was so covered in blood that she was almost unrecognizable.

Corey nodded, letting his axe clunk to the tile floor. His hands burned and his arms had been slashed. He couldn’t feel pain so much as numbness. “We’re alive. That’s all that matters.”

The Aswang wiped the gore from his ashen face. “I haven’t found anyone to de-hand yet. There have been corpses but they’ve been picked clean.”

Corey and Victoria shared a look of despair. Maybe there wasn’t any getting out, thought Corey. Maybe, even after all of the fighting and all of the strain, they really were going to die in this fortress in the middle if the city.

Then, gunshots rang out, and a man screamed.

The Aswang smiled. “Let’s hope it’s the hand we need.”