By four-thirty, the tunnel felt as if it was alive, and couldn't decide whether to breathe or hold its breath in excitement.
The air hung heavy with anticipation. Someone muttered in a hopeful tone that maybe they will be safe when the sun rises. Everyone tried the ignore the comment hoping they didn't just jinx it.
The barricade was their salvation. The generator hummed weakly, the construction lights throwing harsh orange light over their surroundings. The group all slightly separated into their groups they arrived with talking in low voices, counted supplies, or adjusted their limited equipment. Every second felt as if they were on a knife's edge. Only the little one that came with the old man slept unaware of his surroundings.
There was a sudden knock on the barricade quiet in nature, but shocked everyone, immediately fearing the worse. Once. Twice. The knocking continued in a slow pattern.
As if it the person was not panicked at all about being alone in the dark. It seemed as if it was deliberate.
NO IT WAS TESTING CHRIS'S mind screamed with the idea.
Valez stood, eyes narrowing saying. "Positions."
Everyone moved instantly grabbing whatever weapon they had available. Jess grabbed her crowbar, Dev a wrench, Eda and Nolan flanking the gate. Chris took the right side, the shard in his pack pulsing once against his spine.
A voice rang out, sounding like a young child.
"Please… someone… help." The words echoing from just beyond the barricade.
Jess's knuckles whitened. Whispering the word "Mimic." in a questioned tone.
Valez nodded. "Say the following line." He yelled out
"Sally sells seashells by the seashore!" The man beside him said.
There was a pause. Then the voice outside repeated it right, almost!
"Sell…ly…sh-sh-shh…shells by shh…"
The rest dissolved into static heavy breathing. Something that could not come from a child.
"Light it up!" Valez screamed.
Dev swung his flashlight toward the gate, and a dying construction lamp flickered to life beside it, bathing the makeshift barricade in light. The figure beyond the mesh shrieked, it sounded like a boiling kettle through someone's torn throat.
The barricade shuddered from the impact. Something hit it hard once, twice, followed by scraping, like nails dragging against a chalk board.
"It's testing it," Jess said.
The barricade began to buckled. "Everyone help brace it someone cried out!"
Dev ran for a loose beam, while Chris moved to meet him. Jess braced her shoulder against the frame. The shard was hot now, Chris could feel it distinctly through his bag. Every hit against the barricade made it grown as if in protest. it seem as if the barricade would collapse at any moment.
"On three!" Valez barked. "One… two… three!"
They slammed the brace into place. The sounds outside grew wild, thrashing, then stopping almost immediately.
+1xp flashed across Chris's sight
Suddenly there was sound coming from above. A steady shuffle, as if something is trying to squeeze through a crack.
Eda froze. "No…"
Another drip. Then a splatter noise. Chris raised his flashlight. The vent grille above the barricade buckled outward, screws shrieking while being pushed out. The Metal groaned under the pressure.
"The vents!" Jess shouted.
The shard flared to life against Chris's back. He barely had time to move before the grille ripped free, crashing to the ground. A full-sized body fell through the opening.
The landing destroyed its legs twisting at horrifying angles, with ribs protruding out through its skin, yet it still moved!
It pushed itself up with in a jerking, spiderlike fashion. Patches of flesh hung off its body, half its face seemed to have no skin, with its teeth flashing through the exposed facial muscles. Its scream blood curling, dripping with malice.
"Fuck!" Valez yelled.
Chris stepped forward first hesitantly. The creature rushed him, off-balance but fast. He met it halfway, swinging a metal pipe like a bat. Smashed its jaw, turning the scream into a choking gurgle. Jess followed up, her crowbar sinking deep into its temple. Nolan's steel bar then came down next, snapping what was left of its spine.
It still tried to crawl forward, dragging itself by torn arms, head twitching. Chris brought the pipe down one final time, splitting its skull like a watermelon.
+2 XP
The shard pulsed once, not like before. It didn't just feel warm. It felt as if it was inhaling the surround air as if it was drinking. The air around him shimmered faintly as if he was surrounded by a heat haze. Above them, another vent groaned. Eda moved before anyone else could, knife flashing into the duct. Something hissed inside, scraping claws against metal. Nolan's pipe followed, smashing the vent inward.
A second figure dropped out, landing with, one arm folding beneath it with a pop. It rose, staggering on ruined limbs. Jess stepped in and drove her crowbar down in an arc that ended it immediately before it could stand.
Chris didn't get a notification this time.
But the shard reacted, vibrating again, as if feeding off the death nearby, condensing it, pulling it into itself and then feeding him the remaining energy.
+2 XP (absorbed)
He couldn't tell if that was for better or worse.
The air reeked of blood, oil, and heat.
Outside the barricade, a chorus of whispers seemed to fade away as if they were retreating into the dark.
No one moved. Only the hum of the generator and the ragged rhythm of human breath filled the tunnel. Then Valez finally spoke, voice low and shaky.
"I think it's clear. For now."
Chris leaned against the wall, chest heaving. The shard in his pack pulsed slow and steady, like it was cooling down after a meal. He wanted to bring back the experience window he decided to call it. After trying a few different ways he finally managed to make it appear.
XP Gained: 3 Total (Condensed Energy Bonus)
Level 1 — Progress: 14/ 10 XP
Class decision pending…
The text began to blur in his vision for half a second before shattering replaced with something new.
Error: Foreign Artifact Detected
Allocation Locked. Recalibrating Host.
The lights seemed to flicker to him, the hum of the generator warped as if time slowed down, for just a second, he swore he heard whispering in a dozen languages, all saying the same thing.
"Pathfinder."
Then everything snapped back to reality when
Jess touched his arm, snapping him out of it. "You good?"
He nodded, swallowing hard. "Yeah. Just… dizzy."
Her eyes lingered on him for a second longer searching for something. Then she looked away. saying "We'll call that a win. For now."
The tunnel seemed to be able to breath again as if it was waiting in anticipation to see what was the aftermath. The quiet stretched on as if to lure those into the thought that it was finally over. Outside, the darkness unknowingly seemed to shift and whispered to itself like it was trying to remembe these trivial beings struggle.