(edited by AVM.5746)
River of Memories-Ch 7: Scream
-====
Mom’s bark… I’m not a surgeon!
Lilyia continued to try to keep her thoughts together as she pulled another IV (the 30th one from her count) from Silver’s body. He made another yelp which always caused her to reflexively bite her lower lip.
“….!”
“Sorry, sorry! We’re almost done though.”
She figured she’d been at this for about ten minutes. At first she was reluctant to even touch the IVs, but she knew that if she was going to get him out of there, much less move him around, there was no choice but to yank them out. When she finally built up the courage to pull one out, she surprisingly found out they slid out fairly smoothly and most of them came out without any pain. On top of that, the suit that Silver wore also acted as some type of rubbery sealant over his skin. So every time she pulled an IV out, the punctured veins were immediately sealed like a bandage. It was really fortunate, considering she didn’t have any bandages or disinfectant on her.
“Okay, okay… That was the last one. Now then…”
She looked at the last thing connected to Silver and sighed a depressive breath.
“Great.. Now comes the fun part…”
“…..?”
She now arrived at the ‘speed bump.’ She didn’t notice it at first, since she didn’t have a direct line of sight of his back until all this started. What was left from Silver’s confinement was not a simple IV line, nor a metallic restraint.
It was worse. Much worse.
Connected to a large wire-netted tube that could not be severed with a knife, and lodged into Silver’s back, was a 3-pronged spinal-tap. It was lodged between the rear of his neck and mid-back. It’s almost as if someone literally took a gigantic fork, stabbed him in the back, and left it in there.
And from Lilyia’s point of view, it wasn’t going to come out easily…
“Ok, Silver. Ummm. This, uh, this is gonna hurt… So I’ll need you to—“ She laid a hand on it.
“….!!”
And he immediately freaked and shook her off. He looked at her with confused and scared eyes, as if trying to say, “No, don’t!”.
“No, no, no… It’s okay, it’s okay. I promise, I’ll be as gentle as I can.” She smiled and tried to give him the most reassuring look she could.
For a moment he looked at her with unsure eyes… He took a look over his shoulder, noticing the large hose connected to his back, then looked at her again. Then, with flickering eyelids, he lowered his head as if reluctantly allowing her access.
Lilyia smiled sympathetically, and held his head close to her chest. “It’s going to be okay, alright? I promise, I won’t let anything bad happen to you…”
Silver whimpered in fear, and seemed to bury his head into her chest even more, as if knowing what was to come. That action alone made Lilyia’s heart ache something bad inside. She had to desperately fight against refusing to pull the tap, but she knew this was something that had to be done if he was going to get out of there.
She closed her eyes, held his head close, and gripped the fork. “Okay… On three…” she began.
Please Lilyia, she begged herself. Don’t screw this up!
“One.. Two… THREE-!”
She pulled.
And he screamed.
“AHHHHH!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH——!!”
“I KNOW! I KNOW! J-JUST HOLD ON!”
Unfortunately the tap wasn’t coming out as smoothly as the IVs. About half-way out, there was suddenly a lot of resistance and she ended up having to exert more strength than she needed. She could only imagine the pain he was going through right now. Her thoughts were in a fierce argument; one side begging her to stop as his screams supported the thought. But she knew that stopping only meant they’d have to do this again, eventually. This thing had to come out now!
But the sound of a child screaming in pain..
It was the most horrifying and excruciating thing she had ever heard…
.
“AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE-!”
“It’s almost out! It’s almost out! Hang on! And—!”
The tap came out with a “Thwack!”
“—————-!!!”
“It’s over! It’s done! I’m sorry! I’m, so so sorry—!”
Silver gave out a painful…
Then he went limp. Silent.
“S-silver? Silver?” Holding him close, she shook him. “H-Hey. You okay?”
He gave no response, only lay lifelessly in her arms. Her eyes widened and her body chilled in dread.
“Oh, no…” She whispered. “ Oh, no, no, no, no…”
Quickly, she lifted him out of the pedestal, slipping out without resistance. Laying him flat on his back, she quickly lifted his chin and put her ear to his mouth and stared at his chest.
She felt and heard the breath. His chest was still rising. She placed two fingers under the side of his jaw.
She felt a pulse.
He was still alive.
Lilyia breathed a HUGE sigh of relief.
“He.. He just passed out, “ She assured herself. “He’s fine. He’s alright—
BWAAAM-BWAAAM-BWAAAM!
All of a sudden red lights began to flash in the lab, and alarm-like sound began to echo. Before Lilyia could wonder what was happening, the mechanical female voice announced:
ALERT-ALERT-
SUBJECT VITAL SIGNS IRREGULAR
HOSTILE ACTION DETECTED-
UNKNOWN ENTITIY NOW CATEGORIZED AS HOSTILE—
(edited by AVM.5746)
Lilyia eyes widened. Hold up… Was the system, AI, or whatever automatic thing in this lab detecting and monitoring her this ENTIRE TIME? And only NOW it saw her as being hostile? She looked dowkittenlver and realized what had happened… Did that thing think she attacked him??
“Wait, wait, wait! Hold on a minute!” She yelled into the room, though she didn’t know if this computer had eyes, ears or whatever anywhere. “I wasn’t attacking him! I was just trying to get him ou—!“
Like a mercifulness god descending, the mechanical voice issued its order…
DEPLOYING SUBJECT BETA-
ELIMINATING HOSTILE -
Lilyia heard a massive creak erupt from the lab. From behind the empty pedestal Silver was in, the metal grating seemed to slide out like a trap door. Emerging from the ground, to her disbelief, another glass chamber, similar to the one Silver was in, rose up.
About a few seconds later it emerged, the chamber shattered into piece, spilling its glowing contents through the grating. What stood in the middle made Lilyia petrified.
It was… Human. Or it looked human. But it was the size of an ettin, its was head bald and its face disfigured. It’s torso and limbs were disproportionately muscular, so much that one arm was ridiculously larger than the other. It’s skin was a metallic silver color ,and it gleamed like it was actually made of the metal… It was completely nude, but it had no reproductive organs. Webbed around its body she saw various veins that glowed blue.
For a second, the large, silver humanoid looked at her with it’s emotionless, glowing blue eyes… Then its eyes widened and it made an expression that showed recognition and anger. It snarled showing hideous, sharp, dislocated teeth.
Despite its horrifying appearance, Lilyia stood her ground and gave it a nervous smile. Hey, Silver wasn’t exactly what she expected…. Maybe it was friendly if she was polite?
“H-h-hi? My name Is,uh, L-Lilyia..?" She gave it a wave. "What’s your name?”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH—-!”
“Okay then… WWAAAAHH—!!!”
She grabbed Silver, and bolted the other direction.
+++++
“Time’s up, Private.”
“Five more minutes.”
“You’re out of time. Group up the with the rest.”
“Please, sir. Just five more minutes, I can just—“
“YOU HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING FOR THE LAST TWENTY!” The charr yelled. “What the scrap do you think another five will do?! Just face it Private, she died the moment she fell into that pipe! So shut the slag up, stop deluding yourself, and get back in line, Soldier! The longer you wait here, the more you’re putting the others at risk~!”
Thompson looked stunned. He looked like he was trying to think of something to say—
“GAAAH!!”
Instead he gave out a roar of frustration and he kicked the loose metal panel of the teleporter he removed away. In the large empty faciltiiy, it made a loud clanging noise in the distance that seemed to signal his defeat and despair. Though his back was turned, the Charr could imagine the face he was making.
Approaching him from behind, he laid his overally large paw on his shoulder. “Listen, Thompson. It wasn’t your fault. Scrap happens in the field, whether its during a battle or a simple set-up job like this. ….But I can personally tell you, the moment we get back LA, I’ll make sure to give the requisition officer a firey hell for mixing in a landmine which killed one of our troops. Do you understand me, Private?”
Tom just nodded, and quietly replied, “…Yes,sir…”
“I don’t know if Sylvari believe in any religion, Thompson. ”But wherever she is now, I’m sure she’s in a better place.”
++++++
Bad place! Bad place!! Move, move, move!
Lilyia again dashed from behind the console, and dived behind another one as the silver monster rammed into the one she was previously behind. This thing was wrecking everything between itself and her once it got sight of her.
(edited by AVM.5746)
Hiding behind the console, Lilyia whimpered and wept unshed tears as she held the unconscious Silver close. It was akin to small little girl shivering in fear as she was holding tight to a teddy bear…
This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening! This is a dream right? I’m dreaming! HAHAHA!
She peeked around the corner. Saw the humanoid brute still roaming.
Nope! He’s real. He’s mean. And he’s gonna squash me like a bean. Yup, I might as well be blue guacamole. Waaaaaah~!
She whimpered in fear and despair. She couldn’t help also think that she may have jinxed herself. When she discovered it was just some little boy that came out of the chamber, she was very honestly disappointed it wasn’t some big monster. Now that she got one, she knew she’d remind herself in the future never push her luck again. …That is if she gets a future.
Lilyia looked over the corner again and analyzed the brute. Luckily for her, despite it’s size and ferocity, it was rather clumsy.
…And stupid.
On top of that, and rather ironically, she did take that messenger golem’s advice and equipped her hunting signet before all this started. The boost in speed indeed had saved her life a few times when she had to make split second dashes between cover, especially since she was carrying Silver in her arms the entire time.
However, it wouldn’t last long. There were only so many consoles in the lab room; as soon they all were smashed down, she’d be out of hiding spots and then this game of hide-and-seek would be over…
She could try fighting it.. .But considering the resilience it took in smashing all those consoles and ignoring the electrical burns and pieces of shrapnel that stuck to its body, she figured shooting it with the few arrows she had would just kitten it off.
She also considered using Silver as to prevent it from attacking her, after all it was deployed specifically because the AI or whatever in the room thought she was injuring him… However, not only did the idea of using the child in her arms as a shield or decoy appalled her, but the way that thing was charging at her, even with Silver in her arms seems like it was willing to kill them both regardless. Whoever thought to use this thing a guard dog was freaking insane; it acted like a rabid dog who didn’t know who was who…
As she continued to peek around the corner, keeping an eye on the monster, she also noticed the teleporter in the backroom. She cursed under her tongue. If only… IF ONLY, she could get that teleporter to work for her, she’d be out of this nightmare. But that was impossible. It wasn’t programmed to work for her, and she didn’t have any time or the knowledge to know how to—
Wait a minute.
She looked dowkittenlver, who was still unconscious in her arms.
Maybe it would work for him? What if she brought him in with her?
(edited by AVM.5746)
She peeked around the corner again. It was going be risky. There were no consoles nearby the teleporter, and if this didn’t work, she’d have no time to find cover and hide. It’d be certain death. Even if it did work, it would be VERY close since the teleporter needed about 10 seconds to scan before working. And that thing could dash at her before it was up…
Her body shook and her teeth rattled with hesitation. Should she do it? Should she risk it? Or—-
A small piece from a nearby broken console suddenly fell down on the metal grating.
Clang!
“———!!!!”
Immediately, the brute roared and charged toward the sound . The consoles looked like mounds of loose dirt as they were devastated along path of its charge.
“…..”
Screw the hesitation! What did it matter? The moment that thing destroyed all the consoles in the room, she’d be dead anyway!
As soon as the brute took a moment to recompose itself after it’s charge, Lilyia quickly but quietly ran to the teleporter on her toes, careful not the make a sound on the metal grating. Luckily monster’ back was turned to her. Sweat rolled down her face and she forced herself to stay calm from her uncontrollable shivering.
As soon as she entered, the lasers began to scan.. Then they seemed to focus on Silver in her arms. All the while, the teleporter was making high pitched noises which then a caught the attention of the brute. Though it’s back was still turned to her, it was looking up and around, trying to find out where the noise was coming from..
Don’t turn around.. Don’t turn around…!!
VALID DNA IDENTIFIED-
ACCESS GRANTED –
INITIALIZING TRANSPORT-
HAVE A GOOD DAY, CEARA-
“Oh thank Mom’s big green leafy—! Wait. Ceara? Who the heck is—?”
“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!!”
Lilyia looked ahead and noticed the silver monster charging right for her. No where to run or hide, she knelt down, held Silver tightly, and closed her eyes awaiting what was to come.
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA——!!!”
BAAAAAM!!!
The teleporter exploded into mountain of sparks and metal. And Lilyia and Silver were dead on impact, turned into mess of blood and flesh…
…Or they should have been.
The monster looked down at the rubble. There was nothing. Nothing but wires and metal.
As if infuriated by letting its prey escape, it reared its head back and screamed.