Page 34 of Survivor
There was no time to think, only to react. What were these creatures. A flash of fang, a scrape of claws, matted fur, and way too many legs. Not arachnids, not rats, but a combination of the two. They were fast, rabid. Blood coated my arm where one had cut me. It burned and throbbed. The fucking creature better not have infected me with a toxin.
Blur guy was whizzing in and out of the fray, trying to get to the exit across the chamber, no doubt, but the creatures were many, and they were fast too. Not blur fast, but fast enough to block his exit. He could have attacked me, knocked me down and left me to be devoured, but he obviously wasn’t thinking straight. Self-preservation could do that to you.
Fuck you, twin dude, you’re stuck here with me.
I needed a weapon. I needed something to attack the creatures with, aside from my fists. I needed the berserker. But that bitch only came out when I was raging, but right now I was running for my life, scared. True, she usually left me unconscious, but what choice did I have? If I didn’t do something, I’d run out of juice and these creatures would rip me to shreds. It was either summon the berserker, kill the creatures and hope for the best, or keep running around and eventually run out of fight.
It had to be the berserker, and for that I needed to get angry.
An idea bloomed in my mind.
I leapt out of the way of a maw of teeth, rolled under the belly of another ratspider, and then came up in time to smash a fist into the side of a third one’s head.
My attack only slowed them down, but nothingkeptthem down. They were like cockroaches, indestructible.
“Hey blur guy, you want to get out of this alive?”
“You have a plan.” His voice came from my left.
“Yeah, hit me.”
“What?”
I could see him zipping about in the periphery of my vision, but I needed to keep my eyes on the creatures trying to eat me.
“Hit me. Now.”
“With pleasure.” Something slammed into the side of my head, knocking me off balance. A creature’s talon caught my shoulder, leaving a searing, burning track in its wave.
Another block to my cheek, this one a fist.
The world grew dark and then the berserker opened her eyes.
Finally.
Heat erupted from my core, rushing through my body and bringing a crimson haze with it, and then my body wasn’t my own. It belonged to her. It belonged to the hunt. It belonged to the primal beast.
Flesh tore and bones snapped, eerie screams filled my ears and blood coated my hands. I moved through the chamber like a tornado, destroying everything in my path until there was nothing but silence.
The crimson haze retreated, and darkness edged my vision. My knees trembled and I buckled, grabbing the wall for support, smearing blood across the metallic surface. Around me was a graveyard of body parts.
The berserker had done her thing. I needed a minute, just a minute to recharge. I couldn’t let unconsciousness take me, not now. Not here.
“Impressive,” Twin guy’s voice said.
He was still here? “Why didn’t you leave while you had the chance?”
“And give up my paycheck?” He tutted. “Not likely.”
“I could have torn you to shreds.” I looked up at his face, fighting the darkness that wanted to take me under. “She could have killed you.”
“But you didn’t. Your mistake.” He stepped closer, peering at me through close-set eyes. “It’s gone now. Your eyes aren’t yellow anymore. You’re out of juice now, aren’t you?”
I’d thought he’d have run, saved his skin; either that, or the berserker would have done her thing. A heavy weight settled on my chest because there was no way I could fight him off, not right now.
“Fuck you, blur boy.”
He attacked. My head ricocheted off the ground, and before I could get my bearings his weight fell on me and his hands wrapped around my neck.
