289: A Plague of Phantoms: Black Crescent Moon V

Reagan

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" I screamed as I hurtled through a swirling magical vortex. Which oddly enough felt exactly the same as getting gut checked by a thrads and sent flying several yards away. Extremely painful and nauseating. A bright light shined suddenly and I found myself floating in mid-air, several feet above ground. I floated for what seemed like several seconds then fell flat on my ass. Which was much more uncomfortable with the Thompson MK.4S strapped to my back.

"OWWWW! FUCK A DUCK!"

I groaned as I sat up and saw the young kid, Bo, sitting up as well and rubbing his head. He looked shocked to see me then looked around in a confused way.

"Wait? Why are you just here? Where are Chase and the others?" Bo asked. I looked around and frowned.

"Better question: where are we?" I asked. Bo looked around again and frowned as well.

It seemed that we were in a large hallway, a rather odd looking one at that. The floor, walls, and ceiling were covered in these hexagon shaped tiles with a finger width of space between them that was transparent. A white light shined from between that space and lit up the long hallway. It made the space seem emotionless and cold.

"Wait, where are we?" Bo asked then jumped to his feet. "No! No! We got separated and sent somewhere unexpected! This is the worst possible thing that can happen!"

I stood up and looked down both ends of the hallway, it wasn't endless but I did have to squint to see the end in either direction. The pathway in front of us looked to be the shortest of the two but I has a bad feeling about that direction.

"We need to figure out where we are and find the others…" I started only to be cut off by Bo.

"OH MY GOD! THIS STILL WORKS!" Bo exclaimed suddenly while looking at the black ring on his finger. I nearly shit my pants with him yelling so suddenly like that. However I controlled myself and frowned at the boy.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, letting my annoyance show. He looked up at me and pointed to the ring. It had weird scratching on it that pulsed with a weird purple light.

"The manacite communication rings! I can still talk to Chase and The others…" Bo exclaimed excitedly then frowned. "…or maybe not…nope scratch that I can only talk to Old man Seamus, Uncle Turry, and Chase…wonder why though."

"Wait? You can talk to them? I didn't see your mouth move." I said looking down at the young boy with a skeptical look. He pulled off his ring and put it in my hand.

"Put it on, it's easier than explaining Chase's enchanted items." Bo said.

I arched a eyebrow at him but slid the ring on my finger, I had to use my pinky finger since it was the only finger small enough for his ring to fit. The moment it did I was nearly defended by a thunderous screech echoing inside my head.

[…I WILL STRANGLE…!] Chase's voice boomed. I reflexively yanked off the ring and tossed it down the hall. Bo watched the ring bounce across the floor then roll until it was nearly out of sight at the end of the hallway then glared at me and motioned down the hall.

"What the hell newbie!" Bo exclaimed. I started to apologize but then frowned when it clicked what he said.

"Newbie?" I grumbled. Bo huffed and pointed a finger at me.

"Yes! Newbie. You might be older than me but you have a lot less time being with Chase and dragged into his crazy, cool, adventurous stuff than I do! That makes you a Newbie in the company." He said with an indignant huff then looked back down the hallway and motioned to the ring that we could no longer see. "And you threw our communication ring away! Total Newbie move!"

"I was startled! I suddenly heard screaming in my head and freaked out." I defended then stared off into space for a second when I realized I was defending myself to a child.

"Newwwwwwbie!" Bo called out then started walking down the hall to get the ring. I had to take a deep breath to repress the urge to strangle the little kid.

'This is why you didn't have kids…' I told myself.

"What was Chase yelling about?" I asked, following after Bo. Bo looked over his shoulder at me then sighed.

"He can't figure out where his Grandpa is and it's freaking him out so I made a little joke to cheer him up." Bo said. I frowned and eyed him suspiciously.

"What joke?" I asked.

"Oh, that he'll meet him eventually on the other side." Bo replied, with a nonchalant shrug then looked straight ahead. I stopped mid-step and scowled at the boy. He noticed I stopped after a few steps then turned to look at me. "What?"

"That wasn't funny, his grandmother died in his arms. He's probably freaking out and worried the same will happen with him." I said. Bo's eyes widened and he slapped his forehead so hard I thought he's knock himself out.

"GODS! How could I forget that! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!" Bo exclaimed then started running down the hall. "I need to apologize!"

I started after him when I suddenly felt like I was being watched. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a black spot at the far end of the hallway. When I turned around completely it disappeared, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

"Kid?" I called out and started walking backwards. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Bo had gotten pretty far ahead of me in the short time that I had turned around.

"Don't call me kid, Newbie!" Bo exclaimed over his shoulder. I heard a odd metallic clink coming the other end of the hallway and looked straight ahead. I saw the black spot at the end of the hallway again and saw another appear beside it, followed by another, and then it stood up.

"KID!" I bellowed as I turned and started running towards Bo.

He's reached the ring and knelt down to pick it up, ignoring my yelling as he stood up and blew on the ring. I heard numerous clinking noises coming from behind me looked over my shoulder as I ran to see those black spots, now black figures, running down the hall in my direction. I looked back towards Bo and saw he'd picked up the ring and put it on. As I got closer I saw a shadow stretch from around the corner of the hallway near Bo. I felt my heart jump into my throat as I saw the figure rush around the corner and rush towards Bo.

"KID!" I bellowed as I drew my Thompson MK.4S and aimed the barrel at the figure. Bo turned and looked at me, his eyes widening when he saw my gun drawn. "GET DOWN!"

He listened and ducked just as the figure jumped to tackle him. The creature flew over Bo as I pulled the trigger. The hallway echoed with the sound of gunfire and an inhuman screech as it was riddled with bullets. It crashed into the wall a few feet between Bo and I before I stopped firing.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Bo screamed as I ran up to him. Without wasting a thought I scooped him up and threw him over my shoulder and continued to run down the hallway.

"DON'T CARE! HE'S DEAD AND HE HAS FRIENDS!" I bellowed as I ran around the corner.

This lead into another hallway only halfway down there was a crossroads with three other hallways we could take. I could hear the creatures behind us screeching and roaring along with the clinking of their feet as they scurried down the hall.

"Newbie that thing isn't dead!" Bo exclaimed while slapping my shoulder.

"What?!" I yelled and looked back over my shoulder then freaked when I saw, what I was pretty sure was the creature I shot, up and chasing after Bo and I. "What the fuck is that thing?!"

"A evo!" Bo exclaimed and I wanted to throw him off my shoulder at the creature for that response.

"OBVIOUSLY!" I snapped then spun on my heels and started shooting at the creature, it was riddled with bullets again and slid across the ground. It's body came to a stop a few feet in front of us and for a precaution I fired a burst into the creature's head and turning it into an unrecognizable paste.

"I think it's dead." Bo said then suddenly its buddies rushed around the corner. "But they're aren't! Run!"

"NO SHIT!" I snapped then turned and ran until I reached the crossroads.

"Left! Go left! Go left!" Bo yelled and slapped the side of my head.

"Stop hitting me! This is why I don't have kids!" I snapped and ran down the left hallway.

"Oh sure, that's the reason!" Bo said sarcastically.

This new hallway was shorter and had a doorway at the end of it. I ran at full speed with one hand wrapped tightly around my gun and the other holding Bo firmly to my shoulder as I sprinted to the doorway. Only to crash into a invisible door and bounce back and landed flat onto my ass. Bo landed next to me and groaned.

"OW! FUCK!" I exclaimed.

"What happened?" Bo groaned.

"I listened to a kid, that's what happened." I chided as I jumped to my feet and aimed my Thompson MK.4S down the hallway.

A loud screech echoed through the crossroads as three creatures came barreling around the corner, crashing into each other and trying to climb over one another to get to us. I stepped in front of Bo and started firing, since the creature's were all clustered together it was much to hit all of them. When the last one collapsed on the ground I fired off a few more shots to make sure.

"Are they dead?" Bo asked.

The moment he did the creature on the top of the stack inhaled sharp and jerked its head up to look directly at Bo. This creature had a chunk of its head blown off, before our eyes it's skull started to grow back along with muscle fibers and skin.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" I bellowed.

"SHOOT IT! SHOOT IT!" Bo yelled.

I aimed and fired at the healing creature, blowing its skull off almost completely this time only to have one of the other ones bellow it suddenly come back to life and start trying to claw its way from under its fellow creatures bodies. I switched targets and shot at it, reducing its head to a bloody goo when the third and last of the trio came to life again.

"OH COME THE FUCK ON!" I barked then looked back at Bo. "Feel free to help at any time!"

"What the fuck can I do? I'm ten and a half?!" Bo gripped. I switched targets and fired at the newly resurrected creature.

"You're splicer! Shoot one of those exploding spells-thingys!" I snapped back. The last resurrected evo fell but another started to heal and move.

"I can't cast spells! I'm only good at splicing!" Bo snapped back.

"WHAAAAT?!" I snapped.

"Not all splicers are good at casting spells!" Bo defended.

"Then splicer or whatever a evo to help us!" I barked. Bo's eyes widened as a fourth creature jumped up behind the heap of constantly healing creatures and tries to rush Bo and I but I quickly fired at it, managing to shoot it center mass and dropping it.

"GADGET!" I heard Bo yelled behind us.

A bright light shined and a crystalline structure flew in front of me and shattered between me and the creature. A odd evo that looked to be a mix between a raccoon, chimp and some kind of weird rodent emerged from. Only problem it was shorter than my shins.

"The fuck is that thing going to do?!" I snapped and looked back at Bo.

"Gadget, Guns!" Bo told his evo. I turned my attention back to the creatures and kept firing at the now four creatures, alternating between each of them to keep them incapacitated until I could figure out how to kill them permanently.

Gadget dropped to all Fours and started hacking and making gagging noises. His jaw unhinged and black mist formed in his mouth before three handguns spewed from its mouth. Two skazzas followed after then two Redfoax N9X. My eyes widened as I saw all the guns getting upchucked by the little evo.

A inhuman screech brought my attention back to the creatures that I was suppressing and I saw that the one that was nearest to Gadget and I was healing and trying to get up so I aimed my Thompson at it and pulled the trigger only the hear the click of a empty magazine.

'FUUUCK!' I thought. I took a step forward and spun on my heel, hitting the creature in the head with the butt of the gun knocking it off its feet. Then dropped the Thompson and grabbed one of the Skazzas that Gadget spat up and aimed at the creature's head and pulled the trigger. I heard another click and my heart almost stop. I pulled the trigger frantically a couple times again then heard multiple clicks. I kicked the creature in the face then looked at the magazine and realized that there wasn't magazine or bullets.

"THERE ARE NO BULLETS! WHAT USE IS A GUN WITH NO BULLETS!" I barked back at Bo. He rushed up and grabbed Gadget abd held him in his arms like a rifle and squeezed him.

Gadget made a loud hacking noise as bullets started flying from its mouth and striking the creatures. A small black orb appeared where the bullets hot and then shrunk, destroying flesh, bone, or whatever. My eyes widened as they were all reduced to little more than hole ridden slabs of meat, like a block of animal Swiss cheese. Gadget hacked one last time, spitting up a ring instead of a bullet. Bo stopped squeezing his evo and looked at the creatures cautiously.

"Well….you used the bullets…" I said.