Lyon’s Den

"[…]That motley drama—oh, be sure

It shall not be forgot!

With its Phantom chased for evermore

By a crowd that seize it not,

Through a circle that ever returneth in

To the self-same spot,

And much of Madness, and more of Sin,

And Horror the soul of the plot.

But see, amid the mimic rout,

A crawling shape intrude!

A blood-red thing that writhes from out

The scenic solitude!

It writhes!—it writhes!—with mortal pangs

The mimes become its food,

And seraphs sob at vermin fangs

In human gore imbued.

Out—out are the lights—out all!

And, over each quivering form,

The curtain, a funeral pall,

Comes down with the rush of a storm,

While the angels, all pallid and wan,

Uprising, unveiling, affirm

That the play is the tragedy, "Man,"

And its hero, the Conqueror Worm."

—Edgar Allan Poe, The Conqueror Worm

"The Red Death had long been feeding on the country. No sickness had ever been so deadly — so great a killer — or so fearful to see. […]There were sharp pains, and a sudden feeling that the mind was rushing in circles inside the head. […]And darkness and decay and the Red Death ruled forever over all."

—Edgar Allen Poe, Masque of the Red Death

—————————

When I awoke with a gasp I knew I wasn't dead. How so you ask? To be dead would be freedom from pain and I longed for it's embrace.

One of my eyes was swollen shut, I was half blind in the other and I tasted blood in my mouth. It was metallic and bitter as I grimaced from the pain and ringing in my ears. There was a scream, flash of movement and a crash just a few feet above me.

Oh, I remember where I was, falling down the stairs after fighting several people tends to sometimes give me a concussion. That's a joke, of course getting shoved down, kicked in the head by five dudes, and interrogated interrupts your memory. I struggled to get up, holding onto the railing with all the strength left in me.

"Lyon! You okay?"

There was no answer.

I struggled up a step of the stair, one, two-

My knees flared in pain when they scraped the steps when I collapsed again. When did the fire alarm kick in? Must have turned on while I was out. Everything in my body wanting to rest I pulled myself up again and moaned,

"Lyon! Where-"

I was pressed against the wall from behind. A rubberized hand covered my mouth as another probed my body for weapons before pressing a device to my neck. Unable to resist, I tried weakly anyways but then the gun-thermometer-like device dinged red and my captor declared,

"She's a Vector."

I was turned around to face them, hand on my mouth as squads of people started going up the stairs. All of them had guns, the hazmat before me was black with a black visor. There was no face to be seen only the glare of tactical lights attached to weapons as they passed… and they just kept coming. The man snapped in my face for my attention, ordering tactically,

"From now on you are going to answer my questions with the nod or shake of your head unless told otherwise. Do I make myself clear?"

Having no choice in the matter, I nodded.

"Were you attacked by other infected?"

Yes.

"Approximately how many dozens of people are in this condo?"

I grew distracted by a dead body of a tenant that I just noticed and he snapped in my face again.

"How many dozens of people lived here before the attack?"

I held up a shaky five as yet even more lights passed. How many guns are there? I can't teleport out of the way of all these guns. As long as one of them held me I couldn't even sensibly try.

"Out of that sixty, were at least one dozen of them infected like you?"

I shook my head, growing dizzy.

"How many infected attacked you?"

I shrugged my shoulders, feeling sleepy now.

"How many infected are in this building before the attack?"

Two fingers. I could imagine the thoughts that passed along his face as he finally asked,

"Is the other expecting you?"

Only a defiant glower answered the question.

—————————

Squads Alpha, Beta and Charlie pushed into floor 1A, the floor directly above the ground floor. This happened to be where most of the fighting was. Bodies littered the hall, and blood mixed with the water as it flowed towards the stairs. They checked the pulses on all of them: dead as rocks.

Next was getting the scanners out and all of them dinged red. All of them were Vectors. All of them were infected. All of them had powers. Their bodies were going to be shipped out and studied while this condo was going to be taped off and quarantined.

Yet one enemy Vector overpowered them with no signs of being wounded. Uneasy glances passed between the squads who then gazed to the black door at the end of the hall. Blood oozed from under it, the light from inside shining scarlet into the hall.

This door was condo ten, with a Roman numeral 'X' on it. Three of the ten rooms were boarded up, so searching the other six rooms for hostiles didn't take the three squads long. Alpha squad opened the black door to condo X slowly.

They checked their corners as trained. There was three bodies on the floor and a small fire on the wall from the fight on the left. The three leads walked about the ruined living area slowly as the man in the back began checking the body by the door.

He checked the body with his scanner as was protocol until something moved. It wasn't the body, but the crimson sheen of water reflected above him. When he looked back the door slammed behind him.

Bullets ripped through the black door as the others turned and shot. Screams and watery noises emanated from the room for only a few seconds until the room went eerily silent. The black door had more blood flowing underneath it now.

As if daring them, the door slowly creaked open like a Siren's shore.

The squads outside fixed their guns on the door, fled behind doorways and corners and radioed for back up. Snipers outside fixed their sights on the room. Movement was minimal, all they could see was the reflection of the water on the floor. A helicopter flew up to the window and shined its spotlight inside with minimal effect. Nothing appeared to be in the room.

But the beast of condo X had collected two of the pistols from the soldiers and extra magazines.

Beta squad advanced next. The squad leader advanced slowly and gave his men hand signals to be stationed at the door. Volunteering to go inside, he had three guns at the door and snipers outside watching him. They all watched as a sword on a tentacle impaled the squad leader. The three men at the door looked up at the beast of condo X too late.

From the ceiling above the door, he leaned down, upside down and blasted two of the soldier's brains out at the same time. Then two 1911's finished the last soldier, completely removing his head at point blank range.

This all happened in two or three seconds and no one got a shot off. Chaos on the radio, ringing in the ears, and the sounds of a dying soldier were the only noises in the hall. Charlie team did what anyone else would do: retreat. They fled back to the stairs and reported that the monster of condo X was on the ceiling above the door last they saw. Their platoon leader at the stairs, the man in the black hazmat, wondered what to do.

Men had been flowing up the stairs until the shooting started. Now there was several dozen soldiers armed to the teeth on the stairs and bottom floor. The platoon leader ordered the Charlie leader to check the hall.

Heart hammering, sweat dripping and pooling in the hazmat suit, Charlie squad's leader peeked around the corner slowly. The snipers couldn't warn him fast enough. He only had half of his head out before he was greeted by the hammer being cocked back on a 1911.

The man's face was angry, the lack of pity; animalistic, as it's eyes bore into him. He looked normal, edgy in his hooded leather jacket and jeans but normal. The platoon leader asked,

"See anything?"

"He's right here," he gulped, "he's got a gun to my head."

Everyone stepped back like what he said was a jump scare.

The beast spoke as a tentacle came from his wrist and wrapped around his hostage's neck, "Where is the girl?"

"Now- you don't want to do this! You're sick!" The platoon leader plead.

"I know, but-" a blade protruded from the white mass as it swam like a shark down to the man's neck, "if you don't give me a brunette girl that was right around the corner then a lot more people are going to die."

The blade swam around the hostage's neck like a dorsal fin. It seemed like the knife was IN him. What else could he possibly have swimming around in his body?

The beast of a man only had silence as an answer… and he didn't like it.

"Three…"

Radio's buzzed and the helicopter whirred outside.

"Two…"

The squad leader began to whimper and beg.

"One-"