Chapter 6
Chapter 6
In the demon infested Phobos science station, the Paranormal Division devotees were facing fierce resistance. Demonic hordes charge toward them and fall to chunks of charred meat and ashes, attacks sometimes coming from all directions at once. Dr. Banks places another lost soul in a pile on a zero-g mover and it begins to follow the convoy of other various frozen specimens moving back to the airlock. Mason fires the cryogenic-repeater on an approaching Hell Knight as Kronos tossed cryo-grenades, the demon is frozen solid and they scramble to place the specimen on a mover as combat robots opened fire on approaching Imp.
They place the demon onto the mover as the firing fell silent. Kronos glances toward some movement in a nearby laboratory. Glass beakers, test tubes, various tools and full chemical jugs were floating around in the air, cabinet doors open and slam by themselves continuously.
"What the...?" Victor utters.
The others look over and see the paranormal activity, Banks takes a step back in shock, bumping into the frozen Hell Knight. The specimen begins to rock back and forth on the mover, Mason and Nexson both try to steady the frozen alien but only managed to get in each other's way. The Hell Knight tips far to one side and tumbled to the hard floor, shattering into thousands of chunks.
"You clumsy fool, that was an important specimen!" Nexson raves.
Banks runs his hand over his visor.
"Well how do you expect me to react?!" Banks loudly replies, gesturing to the ongoing paranormal activity.
"Clinically, you bloody intern" Rupert snaps back, he steps to the laboratory door and blasts the disturbance into submission with a stream of plasma.
"Ignore it" he says, standing before the burned cabinets and molten instruments.
A disapproving disembodied growl is heard all around them, they try to ignore it.
"We need to replace that specimen, move out" Nexson instructs.
Straying further inside the research complex, they fight through waves of demon in the hope of finding an equally sizable specimen. At least an hour had passed before they came upon a towering Hell Baron advancing alongside dozens of smaller demon, they all knew it would be a valuable specimen.
"Capture that alien" Nexson commands loudly.
"That thing is huge" Kronos exclaims.
Nexson, Banks and Kronos fire streams of plasma around the Baron as Mason fires the cryo-repeater, freezing grenades burst, Imp and Pinky caught in the plumes are shattered into chunks.
"Easy! Don't shoot the big one" Rupert says.
The number of smaller demon was thinning but the Baron continued to advance, the cryo-rounds and grenades having little effect. The Baron's stomping pace began to slow and became still, freezing solid. With some difficulty the devotees place each of the demon's hoofs onto a zero-g mover and it slowly drifts back to the air-lock chamber. The zero-g movers brought the Baron only a short distance before it began to vibrate, flakes of ice were drifting away from all over its body, a spreading puddle of fluid was gathering beneath. Flares of Hell energy burns beneath the ice, a pair of cryo-grenades burst around the demon, Mason clumsily drops a magazine of cryo-rounds trying to reload. The Baron roars as it returned to life, tumbles from the movers and crashes to the ground. The demon gets on its hoofs and stomps closer, a green blob of plasma sails through a cloud of icy mist and splats against the alloy wall. The Baron brushed through the freezing fog as cryo-rounds and plasma fly towards it but the demon continued to advance. Mason heaves the barrel of the BFG 9000, firing on the Baron just before it could deliver a devastating attack, they brace against the close-range bio-force explosion. The Hell Baron is consumed by the erupting blob of energy, sending bloody matter splatting against their armour and the walls of the station.
Rupert was fuming with rage.
"We can't afford to waste the cryo ammunition on these failures!" he raves.
"You're losing your cool, Rupert" Mason snaps.
Nexson coldly glares in his direction.
"This is insane! We have enough specimens, let's get out of here" Banks pleads, fear straining his voice.
"Look, we made it this far unscathed haven't we? This is just a minor setback" Nexson replies in a milder tone.
"I don't know, maybe that's enough" Kronos considers.
"Let's just finish what we have left of the cryogenic ammo. One more specimen, then we leave" Nexson presses.
The group falls silent as they consider, Mason and Victor exchange a determined glance.
"We have all the firepower we need" Rupert insists.
"Okay, let's do it" Victor says, Mason nods his approval. A smile widens along Rupert's face.
"I still think this is a bad idea" Banks laments glumly.
The devotees are startled by the pneumatic sigh of a station door opening nearby, the heaving of heavy breaths vibrates along the passage.
"Who is that?" Banks mutters.
The sound of a whining motor is heard as an armed figure steps from the door, spraying a hail of gunfire. Nexson was caught in the path, cutting him in half, spilling strange coloured fluids onto the hexagon tiled floor, torn cables and hoses could be seen within the ripped torso, the combat robots returned fire but were quickly destroyed. The others gawked in disbelief as Rupert shot sparks and thrashed robotically.
"Run!" Kronos cries.
They rush back the way they came, a spray of gunfire narrowly traced around them as they disappear into the passage.
"How do we get out of here? Where's the airlock?" Banks raves.
"It's this way, keep moving" Mason replies between strained breaths, glancing at his auto-map.
Victor curses.
"We still need to signal the ship" he says.
Banks looks back and sees the demonized Martinez running closer from behind, he then revs the chaingun's motor.
"Incoming" Banks shouts, diving into a cornered alcove along the wall.
Mason was caught in a short burst, dropping the BFG as he crumples face-first to the floor, a diagonal line of gaping bullet holes tracing his blood soaked body. Banks nimbly grabs the weapon, points it toward the demonized marine and fired a fully charged round.
"Eat this, freak" Banks shouts defiantly.
Martinez steps to the side with practiced efficiency as the quivering plasma continued into the far wall and detonates, the bio-plasma eating through the alloy material and revealing the laboratory behind. The demonized marine sprays the last of his ammo, Banks and Kronos evade the fire. Martinez drops the weapon and runs closer as he draws a sidearm, then firing the pistol on Dr. Banks. He fires the entire magazine, Banks dies with a shocked expression on his face, body riddled by bullets. Kronos went to open fire from a corner, Martinez grabs the plasma rifle from his hands. Shocked, Kronos bolts as fast as he could.
"I can smell your fear, mortal" Martinez taunts, closing from behind.
Fear gnaws Victor's nerves as he hears the running footsteps getting closer. The demonized marine knocks Victor crashing to the floor, he aches in pain, blood and loose teeth spilling from his mouth. Martinez grabs Kronos by a wrist and drags him along the corridor, Victor fought savagely for survival but couldn't break from the demon's grasp. He sees light from the portal radiating from a laboratory door and he realized where he was being dragged to. Victor swears and shrieks, kicking and reaching for anything he could. The demonized marine smacks Victor into submission and drags him closer to the gate of bright portal energy.
"Noooooo! Noooooo!" He shrieks before disappearing behind the churning portal.