The smell in the building was acrid, the creatures overrunning the facility having carried something foul with them as well as destroying dozens of vats holding dangerous fluids. Doctor Polmo sat with a gun in hand, staring at it in shock. He had emptied the entire clip, and every bullet met its mark in the head of a creature no matter how quickly it charged at him or how wildly it was flailing. He weighed the gun in hand, trying to see whether it had any special properties to it before crawling toward the deceased guard thrown into the room. He refilled ammo and peeked his head around the door that sat ajar ever-so-slowly, his breathing erratic as he witnessed more creatures on the far end of the hallway.

"Is... is anyone out there?" a quivering voice asked on the intercom. Doctor Linda. "I'm... Me and Doctor Ryans are sticking together, but we think we might be the last ones alive. But he's really hurt and the creatures are right outside. Please hurry, we're in the--"

The creatures were furious at the sound of the intercoms and dove at them, tearing them out of the ceiling and crushing them beneath their large feet. They lumbered around, searching for prey as they bared their silver, hungry teeth. Their eyes were a red glaze, watching for movement from any corner by darting their heads around maniacally as if trying to pop their necks, but not finding the right angles.

Doctor Polmo clicked the magazine of his gun shut, immediately startled by the ragged snarls of the creatures at the end of the hall. One began darting toward him while the other walked slowly, like a proper gentleman grizzly bear.

"Ah!" Doctor Polmo gasped as he trained his gun and fired in an instant, the first creature toppling, motionless. The second creature picked up its fallen ally and held it in front of his face, shielding him from a bullet.

Doctor Polmo didn't have the time to marvel at the intelligence displayed by the bloodthirsty thing lumbering toward him, only had the time to make a plan as fast as possible. He breathed deeply, ignoring the pungent odors filling the room, and shut the door behind him. He then ran to the back end of the small room and pointed his weapon at the closed door. He figured the creature would use the dead creature to break the door down, leaving him a moment to take it out.

The door bulged inward. Polmo swallowed, his shooting hand shaking. His sweat stung his cheek as it rolled down his face. Another indentation of the door. Polmo's eye twitched involuntarily. Then the door collapsed inward, the shine of the red eyes absorbing all of Polmo's focus.

BANG!

Just as he fired, the creature pulled the deceased body back to his face and protected himself. Polmo groaned for a moment then reevaluated his plan. He threw the gun toward one wall and ran to the other. When the sound of the gun made its way to the creature, it turned left whereas Polmo turned right. He slid behind it and grabbed the gun as it clattered to the floor. The creature threw the body at him as he fired, killing it, but was hit hard by the large dead projectile. The air was knocked out of him, but he was able to get to his feet after a few seconds, limping his way down the corridor.

He knew where Doctors Linda and Ryans were based on the only room with an intercom that wasn't already overrun. He stumbled his way over, his lungs screaming in pain as he finally had a moment to consider his before-unforeseen abilities with a gun. Was he always this good with a gun, or was there something with the creatures that made this latent ability come out? He had never fired a gun before today, and the harrowing events of watching friends and colleagues somehow made him hyper-focused. He didn't understand it as he climbed over another dead creature, the stench overwhelming.

He finally saw the room he was looking for, surrounded by five creatures scratching at the steel door. Polmo raised his weapon and fired four times before the gun clicked, out of ammo. He looked at the empty gun, then back to the single creature remaining standing and staring at him with its evil red gaze.

"Arrgghh! Booo!" Polmo raised his arms rapidly, trying to make himself seem bigger and scare the creature.

The creature acknowledged him and roared an ear-piercing scream, deafening one of Polmo's ears and he shrunk down to try and protect himself from the noise. The creature began to bound toward him like an eager, hungry dog and Polmo could only stumble backward in fear.

He threw the gun at the creature and the door behind the creature was thrown open, a woman in a gas mask stepped out and fired something rapidly at the creature. She missed most of them, but the last one landed. The creature tripped, turning around and pulling out a dart from its rear before another dart sprouted from its chest and it fell.

"Doctor Polmo!" Doctor Linda shouted at him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm alive!" Polmo coughed, struggling to stand and stumbling his way into the room.

"Are you... are you sure?" Doctor Linda asked, shocked.

"I'm sure... why?" Polmo asked.

"You're not wearing a mask!" Linda pointed to her covered face. "Your breathing in all the air."

"It's just fetid creature stink, right?" Polmo said, finally inside the room, the door closed behind them.

"If only. Most of our chemical vats were spread through the air. Your senses are probably really heightened, right?" Linda asked.

Polmo swallowed hard, his throat burning.

"I might have noticed something like that," Polmo agreed.

"That same thing never got out of testing because it'll burn your brain along with all the enhancements," Linda explained. She pointed to Doctor Ryans who Polmo only now noticed. He was unmasked and catatonic.

"This isn't much of a rescue, is it?" Polmo asked Linda as his vision started blurring.

"Not for me, it isn't," Linda sighed, refilling her dart gun as more creatures began scratching at the closed door.

/r/Nazer_The_Lazer