Chapter 6:Road to the Evil Sorceress II

[Myacu]

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"Everyone run for it!!!"

The others were already bolting towards the exit doors. But in a split-second decision, Jax suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway. In a flash he had armed himself with Ravaner against the accumulating masses of Grats rapidly approaching them. Grasping the cool handle of the rifle, Jax unleashed a deadly assault on the monsters with a spray of Pulse ammo. The once clean tiles of the floor soon were scattered with swollen black limbs, some still twitching grotesquely even ater their dismemberment. Dark green fluids spurted from the black bodies as they fell to the floor.


Jax relentlessly continued to blast away the creatures when --- he heard a hallow click from the inside of Ravaner. He pulled the trigger. Click. Pulled it again. Click. And then he realized.

Out of ammunition.

Fuck.


He didn't have time to reload, and soon more Grants clammered through the collapsed wall, advancing with greater speed.



He had no choice but to run. Just stop playing the 'hero' role and just get the hell outta there.


Tiny beads of sweat trailed down the sides of his face as he summoned a surge of of energy within him to run even faster-- to the point that pushed the physical limitations of his body.


He was deaf to any sounds, including one of someone shouting out to him. All he heard was the tremulating clacking of the Grats as they pressed closer onto his heels.

[Rayden]

Rayden was running for it along with the rest, giving a backward glance to gauge the distance between the freaky Grats and them. Jax was bringing up the rear...no, he was actually staying put, trying to gun the Black Grats down! And the empty-chamber click that followed after numerous rounds announced the depletion of his teammate's ammo. Jax began running, with the Grats pursuing dangerously close behind him.

"Take cover Jax!" Rayden slowed to a halt, shouting at him. "I'm gonna fry them to give us some distance!"

He hastily cast the spell, a wall of Flare shooting up right between Jax and the nearest Grat, but didn't wait to watch his results before picking up his pace again. Piercing shrieks and a bitter, pungent smell of something burning filled the immediate air.

"Hope I didn't burn you man." He said breathlessly to Jax. "But at least you're still up and running instead of being slashed by Grats." He stole a look behind. The second wave of Grats was already up and chasing, waddling over the first row of burnt carcasses courtesy of Rayden's Flare. He groaned.

"Oh man! Don't these critters ever give up? They're supposed to be bugs!"

[Diego Stanton]

Deo hated running. He didn't even like to walk. But when the black grats began to emerge from the walls, he ran and nobody would have thought that this was a guy who spent most of his time sleeping.

"Where the heck are we running TO??" Deo yelled as the team rushed around a corner. He glanced backwards for a split second and saw hoards of grats rushing after them. Legs and eyes began to protrude out of the walls as Deo ran past as more grats dropped to the floor.

No use in throwing a bomb, there hundred of them. Deo thought grimly.

[ST]

Mwahahah *wears ebil cloak*
---------------------------

Hadrian was shifting his eyes from the hallway to his sensor. Where the heck were they going? Good question. "Uh...Give me a sec!" He pushed some buttons on the device and spoke once again. "We should be able to get to the exit if we kept going right to every forks we meet!"

That was when they met with a blind corner that had no right turn. "...the hell," he mumbled. Still, he trusted his sensor. The way to the exit had got to be to the right. Maybe they had to keep going till they get to a right turn.

"Forget it, just follow the road!" Seifer announced, veering to the left. Everyone followed.

Stella and Quistis were the last ones to turn on the corner when a vicious black Grat brutally burst through the floor that they've stepped on, throwing the two ladies into two opposite direction. Quistis hit the rotten wall, losing her glasses from the impact; while Stella was thrown hard on the slimy floor, skidding her farther back than she should've.

Stella
As you pulled yourself up, you looked behind you to see the number of insane, hungry-looking Grats coming at you at a wild speed. Just a little ways in front of you and Quistis was the Grat that came out of the floor. Suddenly, it charged towards Quistis who was scrounging the floor to look for her glasses.

[Stella]

It only took her a moment to decide what to do.

In the blink of an eye Stella was on her feet and dashing across the floor. She slid in front of Quistis landing hard on her hip as he attack meant for the other woman slammed into her. Black spots flashed across her vision as she climbed to her feet drawing her guns.

The smooth familiar metal made her feel at ease. In this insanity storm for that moment Stella was the calm eye. Her jacket was torn and blood was oozing along the wound in her chest but she didn't even notice. The only thing on her mind at this moment was the Grat in front of her, and the Grat after that. Even if it cost Stella her life she was going to make sure Quistis got out of here.

Her fingers started to move lightening fast on the triggers letting lose round after round into the insect before her. Blood pumping through her body, heart pounding her ears. This moment was all that mattered.

[miyavi]

Sho whirled around, his senses on overdrive as he almost fell over from stopping so quickly and began running back where he came from.

"Dammit!" Quistis swore, finally finding her glasses on the slippery floor and trying to desperately wipe slime off the glasses and put them on at the same time.

Skreeeee!

There was a Grat approaching her, flailing its arms/tentacles/whatever wildly. Sho shouted a warning, then dived.

Quistis managed to slip on her glasses just in time to see a tentacle whipping towards her. "Wha---?!"

Whumph!

Sho tackled the blonde SeeD, the both of them sliding on the slick floor. Almost immediately Sho scrambled to his feet, then ran towards the offending creature, using his momentum to ram his shoulder into the creature, making the Grat fall backwards and crash into another set of creatures intent on attacking.

Quistis was getting up when Sho ran back to her, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet. "Let's go, ma'am!" the martial artist said, pushing her on her way, before turning to Stella.

"Stella! We've gotta move it, pretty girl!! Grats aren't the real enemy...we've got a zombie child to find!"

[waterlily43]

Rayden realised from the look on Stella's face, she wasn't going to budge unless someone forced her to. Sho had noticed it too, but he had his hands full with helping Quistis on her feet to grab Stella as well.

Looks like a job for me He smirked to himself, and whipped out his trusty Devil's Cultlery. It was a tacky name but they did their job nicely enough, slicing into the Grats' wriggling bodies in his path.

"Stella Babe!" He yelled above the din of Grat wails and the background chanting, making his way relentlessly towards her. "I know these Grats are disgusting and evil but no way you can kill all of them! There's better ways to utilise your skills! Let's go!!!" He urged but still sensed her resistance.

"Sorry, but I'll have to do this." Sheathing his fork, he slipped an arm around her waist, and practically lifted her away from the heap of bullet-ridden Grat bodies she had disposed of. His knife-wielding hand cleared the path around and in front of them. He grabbed her wrist and pulled, leading her towards the escape route. "I'll give you something for that wound later but now we gotta run!"

[Stella]

His fingers wrapped around her wrist and she snapped out of her battle haze. Rayden was dragging her away and she couldn't help growling under her breath. Stella hated to admit it but he was right. She should keep her ammo for the real enemy.

Instead of struggling against him she turned and went with him following behind Rayden. She smirked a little to herself as she realized that she had just been rescued by a fork.

"Thanks Rayden" she said smiling at him.

[waterlily43]

Rayden was initially a little surprised to hear her thanks. But all the same he turned briefly and flashed a dazzling grin back.

"Hehe No problem. I don't just do washing your toilet. Even if it's something petty like rescuing from hungry Grats, just give me a call and I'll be there." He ended with a wink, turned back, his speed gaining yet a notch.

Yooooohooooo score one!!!!!

[Stella]

Stella could feel the adrenaline rushing through her. With a grin she stopped suddenly pulling Rayden to a stop with her. Breathless and impulsive she leaned in and pressed her lips to Rayden pulling him into a sexy soft kiss her blood pounding in her ear.

With a grin she pulled away and gave him a wink before starting to run again pulling him along with her.

[waterlily43]

Rayden's eyes widened. He almost sputtered. He let her pull her for almost the whole length of the dormitory corridor.

"Damn girl you sure know how to pick the time!" He hooted with a wolfish grin. "Hows about another one?"

But before he could make good on his suggestion, a thundering, ground-shaking crash erupted up front. Most of the surrounding Grats started waddling around in confused circles from the noise.

"What the hell happened?" He asked when he bumped into Hadrian, who had stopped dead in his tracks.

[Hadrian D'arcell]

As the group ran away, Hadrian looked back to see Stella plant a solid kiss on Rayden's mouth. His jaw opened slightly, and he could just whistle. That Rayden was on his lucky streak. If that's what you get for being a hero... he said to himself, thinking he should be more heroic often then. He swung his gaze in front when the flesh wall erupted right in front of their group, resounding into an unearthly loud crash. It was like a combination of rubbles and flesh crashing before them, totally blocking their path.

"What the hell happened?" Rayden bumped into Hadrian.

"Uh oh," he said, looking at his sensor. "We're definitely out of track now---"

"Damn it!" Seifer hit the pile of rubble with his Hyperion. They could see a small dingy room from where the wall had collapsed. It stunk badly inside, but it seemed to be the only way forward.

[miyavi]

Sho realized that he had been holding Quistis Trepe's hand the whole time they had been running. As if he was burned, Sho dropped her hand and blinked at the beautiful woman. "Aa, sorry," he muttered, just in time to be interrupted by Seifer swearing.

"Damn it!"

Sho looked around, taking a quick glance over his shoulder. The Grats were still squealing about 30 feet down the hall away from them, going nuts. < The noise must've screwed them up, > the martial artist thought, before noticing the small room beyond the collapsed wall. < Seems like the only place to go... >

"Aa, hold up, I'll go check it out," Sho volunteered, making his way into the room before anyone could object.

< Oh, crap! >

Sho nearly reeled. If he thought the hall smelled bad, this room was like, a kajillion times worse. The smell physically knocked him backwards, out into the hall, and his eyes were watering.

"It...it looked clear," Sho managed to gasp out. He was gasping lungfuls of less-disgusting air. "But the smell...gahhh...!"

Seifer stuck his head inside. "Shit," he muttered, looking back at the SeeDs and meeting Selphie's and Quistis' gazes. "It smells like a dead T-Rexaur that's been left out for weeks. Any ideas, Tilmitt? Quis?" He waggled his eyebrows at the two women, smirking. "Grace us with your SeeD-level intelligence."

[Diego Stanton]

Rayden and Stella's rushed and unexpected kiss seemed to capture everyone's attention, including Deo's.

What?! Didn't these two meet just a few hours ago? He thought as he turned his head in surprise.

WHUMP.

"Hey, watch it!" Seifer shouted, swinging his gunblade dangerously close to Deo's head.

"Sorry..." Deo apologized and rubbed his head from the collision with Seifer's back. It was then that the wall collapsed and the grats started to go crazy.

Deo was surprised when Sho eagerly volunteered to go into the room first. Within seconds he stumbled out with his eye watering.

"It...it looked clear, But the smell...gahhh...!" he exclaimed.

"Can't be that bad..." Deo said. "I bet I've smelt things 10 times worse." He was glad that Jaime and Vanesse weren't there to elaborate.

Confidently, Deo pushed past Sho and Seifer into the opening. For a second it was fine. Then..

AHHH SHIT!

The smell hit Deo full force, making him physically gag. His eyes began to water uncontrollably and he noticed that he couldn't see anything beyond two feet in front of him. Wiping away his tears, he realized that the entire room was covered in a thick fog. No wonder he couldn't see anything.

It's probably this fog that's causing the smell. He thought grimly, lifting his shirt up to his mouth to breathe into.

"I got a plan," Deo announced as he backed out of the room. "We run through that place as fast as we can and get out through the other side."

[Myacu]

"We run through that place as fast as we can and get out through the other side."

Jax blinked. "So, you're proposing that we simply run through the shit-smelling mist, which, we can't really see in, with the no idea of where it leads to, not mention of any Grats that could be lingering there still?"

He slowly smirked.

"Well..." he said, patting a newly reloaded Ravaner, "it wouldn't hurt right?"


This time he directed his attention to the higher ranking officers.