Chapter 06

The amorphous creature stepped forward. Tendrils emerged from its body as it growled. Gustav had never seen a creature like that one. It was like his brain couldn't process the information his eyes were sending.

Behind them, a whirring noise and the sound of draining water was heard. It could only mean one thing. The disgusting creatures inside the tubes would wake up and attack.

His hands were occupied with the girl, and couldn't reach for his gun.

"Ansem!" Gustav bellowed. "Can't you do something?"

"Someone is controlling the machines remotely, can't do anything."

"We're screwed." In all his years as a detective, Gustav never thought he would die at the hands of monstrous creatures.

"Maybe we can find an opening," Ansem stated. "I don't know if it is going to work, but might as well try."

The tubes encasing the homunculi were finally gone, their bodies dropped on the floor. However, they began to jerk and make clicking noises with their hook-like claws.

"Whatever you're thinking, better do it fast!"

Ansem drew his gun and aimed at the shadow creature just a few feet away from them.

"Detective, use your mystic eyes on the black creature."

"What?"

"Just do it." Ansem fired a shot at one of the homunculi creeping from behind.

The shot threw the creature flying into the chasm where behind where the crystal organ was before.

The other homunculi watched in amusement as the one of their own screamed into the darkness below before fading away.

Gustav turned his attention the shadow creature, and fixed his gaze as hard as he could. The pain of using the 'eyes' began to creep up again.

"What am I looking for?"

"Something that resembles a brain or a heart," Ansem instructed.

"That thing has those things?"

By this time, Ansem had felled two more homunculi, that left five too many to deal with.

"It's a living creature, it must have one of those. Find them and I'll shoot them."

"What's a gun going to do to that thing?" Gustav reproved.

"Don't worry about that."

Their plight was dire, so even the most harebrained of plans could work. He partially understood Ansem's plan. He would ask as the spotter to pin point the target. Just like any sniper mission in the army.

As the black creature moved, Gustav observed a strange mass moving through the creature at random patterns.

"Is that what I'm looking for?" Gustav mused.

The mass moved into one of the lowest tendrils of the creature's body.

"Found it!" Gustav shouted. "It's near one of the tendrils beneath that thing's body!"

"Got it!" Ansem aimed and fired.

A single shot tore through the tendrils of the black creature like it was butter.

The black creature roared in pain as it dropped to the floor writhing in pain.

However, it didn't take long for the creature to stand back up again. The only silver lining was that it didn't regenerate the tendrils it lost.

"Not enough, huh?" Ansem snarled.

Ansem didn't need to instruct Gustav to find the other 'heart' of the creature. As he found another one moving through the creature's body. This one moved faster, probably a survival programming. It was going to be complicated to pin point this one.

The pain of using the mystic eyes was splitting Gustav's head in half, but he finally got a fix on the creature's remaining core.

"Shoot at the center mass!" Gustav ordered.

Ansem fired another shot, leaving a large hole at the center of the creature. As it fell to the floor, Gustav and Ansem ran past the creature's dying body.

However, a gruesome sight lay in wait for them. The homunculi had begun to feast on the creature like carrion birds. The sound of tearing flesh and splashing blood came to stop when the creature began to feeding on the homunculi instead. It wasn't eating them, but absorbing them into its body. Growing larger and gaining a more solid body the more it ate.

"Warning!"

"Warning!"

"Warning!"

An electronic voice bellowed.

"The hell is that?" Gustav asked as he waited for Ansem to open the main door of the laboratory.

"Facility compromised. Initiating containment procedure."

A flash of light followed by purple-tinged sparks. Then a roar of a blazing fire, the purple flames began to melt away everything they touched. Even the creature wasn't immune to them. It roared in agony as its body was engulfed in flames. However, this only made it angrier and gave chase after Gustav and Ansem.

Everywhere was covered in the purple flames, in the distance the cries of pain of the homunculi could be heard. It sort of brought some sick satisfaction to Gustav. At least he wouldn't have to worry about dealing with those freaks.

"Don't let the flames touch you," Ansem warned.

"You don't need to tell me that," Gustav retorted.

"Those aren't ordinary flames," Ansem explained. "It's magic fire, if it touches you, it'll not only burn your skin, but your soul as well and it'll use it as kindling."

Magic fire was an absurd concept. How could something burn something that was supposed to intangible? Still, with everything he had seen, he had to believe it. Gustav glanced at the girl he was holding in his arms. They had to find a way to escape the facility before it became nothing but ash.

The roar of the creature chasing after them grew closer. Between the creature and the magic fire, there was a possibility they wouldn't be able to escape.

They arrived at one of the corridors, still left untouched by the flames, but it wouldn't be long till it caught up.

Every door in the corridor lead to a dead-end, except one. One of the rooms was already engulfed in the purple flames, but it had something that resembled a garbage chute. It was large enough to fit one adult.

"Where does that lead?" Gustav asked.

"Dunno, but it's worth a try." Ansem replied.

Avoiding getting touched by the flames, Ansem jumped in first. As Gustav was getting ready to jump in, a large set of claws tore open the wall of the room. It was the creature. Now it resembled a large ball of purple fire. It opened it's mouth a lashed at Gustav, grabbing him by the ankle.

A disgusting sensation crept up his body. He could feel the slimy and coarse texture of the creature's tongue.

Without a second thought, Gustav slid the girl into the chute, hoping that Ansem would catch her.

The creature pulled his tongue like a monstrous chameleon, and Gustav dropped on the floor. Reaching for his gun, Gustav fired twice at the tongue. It was sturdier than he thought, for it only managed to tear into it a little.

The flames were drawing closer, but at least the creature stopped pulling him closer. With the excessive heat from the flames, Gustav's gun had turned hot, making it harder to hold.

"I had enough of you!" Gustav fired the rest of the clip in his gun as the heated trigger melted into this finger.

As the creature's tongue finally snapped, Gustav crawled as fast as he could and threw himself into the chute hoping for the best.

Gustav sped up as he descended in the dark tube. It felt cool, a welcome from the inferno he was before. But why was it taking too long to reach the end? Did he make a mistake? What about Ansem and the girl? He calculated he had descended at least some five hundred meters.

Then as he thought he would continue to fall forever, Gustav was shot out of the chute into a body of water, sliding across it until he finally stopped, making a huge splash.

"Cough, cough," Gustav gasped for air. Sitting on his knees, he took a deep breath.

At first he was a bit disoriented, but he recognized the place. It was a lake at least two kilometers outside the city limits. It was already nightfall and on the horizon he could see the lights from the city.

"But how?" He wondered. He only down was the only way he was going.

"Ansem!" Gustav yelled.

The questions about he arrived at the lake had to wait, he had more pressing matters.

"Where the hell are you?"

"Over here, detective!"

On the shore, there was Ansem with the girl in his arms. They both looked fine, despite being soaked from head to toe.

The first one Gustav decided to take a closer look was the girl. She was still unconscious, but alive.

"It surprised me when I saw the little lady shoot out of the chute. Thankfully I caught her before she got hurt."

Gustav brushed aside the girl's hair. He was relieved more than he thought he would be.

"What happened back there?" Ansem asked.

Gustav told what happened after Ansem was the first to slide down the chute, how the creature broke into the room, and that he was almost eaten, how he severed the creature's tongue and burned his hand before sliding down the chute.

A sharp pain shot through Gustav. The pain in his hand was too much. The palm of his skin had melted off.

"That looks back," Ansem checked Gustav's hand. "Let's go to my office, I have something that might help you. Can you hold until then?"

"Of course," Gustav gloated. "I've through worse before."