Chapter 337: Bloody Battle
Laz watched the glass shatter however he held back his fire. Firstly, the steel gate was down and wouldn’t break that easily. Secondly, Bruce had noticed what had happened and was not only rushing the other teams back to the lobby, but he was also trying to get additional help by calling headquarters.
What Laz didn’t know was no matter how many times he called, he just got a busy signal and it went straight to a mailbox. Bruce could only sweat more and more as he failed to connect, knowing that this was a very bad thing.
Thinking to himself though, he decided to take drastic action and got a hold of the maid service and laundry teams in the building and ordered the heads of both teams to go door to door and get everyone in the five story building, even if they had to drag them, to get down into the shelter in the basement. As an extra measure, he had one team stay and assist them in getting the guests to comply, even ordering them to force their way into rooms if the occupants refused to come out.
Pretty soon, the once quiet halls were bustling with activity as quests reluctantly started to listen to the employees and made their way down to the shelters.
Laz was soon joined by the other five as they took up defensive positions in the lobby, their guns trained on the front door. The security system had locked out all the other doors which were regular steel doors anyway while security panels dropped down to protect the windows. At this point, the only real way into the building was the broken glass door of the lobby.
And currently, that door was being assaulted by twisted nightmares from a bad Lovecraft spinoff.
There were foxes the size of deer clawing at the gate. Squirrels with spike tails pounding where ever they could. Bulls and cows, standing on their hindlegs and wielding clubs that looked like ripped down trees while deer the size of pickup trucks with blood red eyes and racks made of razor sharp metal took turns slashing at the stainless steel cages.
While they looked imposing, it was still easy to tell what they were. Watching on, the security personal and Laz couldn’t help but suppress their fear, knowing that other buildings were facing the same threat. Laz couldn’t help but wonder if these things were going to keep changing even more and couldn’t help but feel a shiver down his spine when he did so.
Even the normally valiant War was looking on with worry in the dark. These creatures seemed to be far more developed and evolved than anything she had come across so far.
’Is this the result of having an intelligent leader?’ She wondered to herself. While she admitted that her sisters were smarter than her, she was skilled in all things war and seeing the troops made War weary of their commander.
Seeing the gate start to strain under the weight of the attacks, Bruce called out for them to open fire. He had been holding back since although it seemed like it would be easy for them to mow down their invaders, the truth was that bullets hitting the gate would cause it just as much damage as the ones trying to break in from the other side. While the club hadn’t spared any expense with these top of the line security gates, it was obvious that the pressure they were under was a lot stronger than what the makes could even imagine for them.
After all, they were still thinking in terms of normal and this was anything but normal.
Hearing the order, Laz and company opened fire, trying their best to aim for the strongest beasts in the middle. Muzzle flashing and gunfire rang out as the entrance was coated with gunfire, mowing down the weaker creatures trying to break in. Unfortunately though, it was soon clear that normal bullets would have no affect against the larger creatures with thick hides.
Seeing this, Bruce called for armor piercing and incendiary shots to be fired next. While these showed much more promise, it was also clear that it took a lot to take these beasts down. After only five minutes of gunfire, the supply of these special rounds was running low.
"Save the special shots. One person concentrate on the larger beasts, everyone else take out the smaller ones," Laz said, seeing the situation. While he wasn’t in charge, Bruce was becoming more and more panicked and unreliable. As such, Laz was just stating the obvious.
Seeing as how he made the decision, everyone passed their special ammo on to him and switched back to regular bullets.
Taking careful aim, Laz pointed and fired with pin point accuracy, hitting the more difficult beasts in vital areas almost every shot. Even he didn’t know how he did it. Had he been able to see War in the room off to the side, he would have noticed that her eyes were gleaming with a red light. What she was doing was akin to making hit markers for Laz so that he could see where he should be hitting. And because he was a great shot in the first place, he took down the beasts one after another.
After what seemed like forever, the beasts attacking the gate retreated all at once, as though they had been summoned by an unknown signal. The security team and Laz didn’t let up until every last one was gone.
After a few tense moments, they couldn’t help but let out a deep breath a relief. Even they could see how badly the stainless steel gate had bent in, a sure sign that it was about the buckled under the weight of the attackers. For whatever reason they retreated, everyone was grateful.
Laz brought his gun with him and walked forward, examining the damage.
The gate wasn’t going to be usable anytime soon. In fact, they probably wouldn’t even be able to raise it out of the way. Instead, they would have to rely on other entrances and exits to come and go.
Looking around, Laz noticed a lot less corpses of the demon beasts that he felt their should be. Looking out onto the pathway though, Laz frowned at the sight that was presented to him. As the other members of the security detail came forward, more that one person couldn’t help but throw up at the gory scene in front of them.
Blood caked the gate, the walls, floor and ceiling. Further out, there were signs that bodies had been dragged from the front and ripped apart. There was more than one bite mark on each body that had been dragged back, indicating that obviously, the beasts were eating each other when they had the chance. This also showed why there was a lack of bodies at the gate.
Just as they were lost in their own thoughts, War walked out from the side room and came up to Laz while Bruce finally exited from his reinforced office to address the security members, thank them for their work, tell them to go resupply and then escape back inside with claims of wanting to try to get back in touch with whoever he could.
Laz, on the other hand, seemed fascinated with the various blood stains and pools of blood coating the front entrance. It was a strange feeling for him, almost like he was drawn to the dense, red liquid as the smell hit him, triggering something in his head. He couldn’t help but walk closer to a pool that had formed inside of the gate thanks to the large number of beasts that had died on the other side.
War watched him with interest while the other members of the security team went to resupply themselves.
Under her watchful gaze, Laz kneeled down to the pool and in a trance like state, he put his hand in the congealing liquid and held it there while closing his eyes.
War, seeing this, was confused. Just when she planned on asking what he was doing, she saw little motes of light, like sparks from a fire, shot off of the blood and rush into Laz’s arm. War was so surprised she almost couldn’t hold back a scream, but she covered her mouth quickly to prevent it. War then looked around in a panic and moved her body over to block the view from prying eyes.
While spiritual strength wasn’t her strong point, in fact, of the four sisters, she was probably the weakest one when it came to it, she was strong enough in general to spread her sense out in an effort to see what was happening with Laz while also making sure that they were being ignored by the others.
As War watched on, the motes of light flowed along the the top of the blood pool like little boats, all speeding along for the same goal. The lights then started climbing Laz’s arm when they got close enough and disappeared inside of him. Once War turned her sight inside of Laz, she figured out that the energy he was draining off from the blood was rushing into his center. She wasn’t strong enough the try to break through and see exactly what was happening, but she felt like it could only be a good thing. Maybe Laz had figured out his own means to revive himself.
The things she couldn’t see would have left her astounded.
Inside Laz’s center, the motes of light being drained from the blood and absorbed in were being funneled through the golden droplet of blood that was floating around while being restrained by black chains. The droplet of blood was currently centered over where Laz’s palace would have been, obviously having moved from it’s previous orbit. As the tiny motes of light went through the golden droplet, the very slight red color tint that they had was removed and the light that came out of the other side was a pure white without a hint of discoloration. As they exited the droplet, the motes would then fall onto the ruins and absorb in, causing the rubble to start to liquify and meld together. While the rubble that had lost all of it’s energy had been a black color, the new liquid was a perfect golden color, with all traces of impurities removed.
Whatever was happening, there was no way it was normal.
War, keeping her sense out, noticed that Bruce was done with his conversation in the office and was about to return. War reached over and shook Laz, softly at first but then harder. After she had rocked his whole body, Laz finally opened his eyes and blinked, coming to. This distraction was enough to wake him from his trance. He turned to look at War while she had a pleading look on her face. Looking from her to his hand and what he was doing and then back to her, he quickly stood up and shook the blood off his hand. She passed him a white guest towel that she had gotten from who knows where and he wiped the rest of the paste like blood off his hand before handing her back the towel and walking back to the desk.
War followed after making the towel disappear.
"From what I’m being told, this isn’t over yet. The creatures are still running around outside, but they look to be gathering in one area. On top of that...." Bruce started before his voice trailed off.
"What’s up boss?" One of the males asked.
Bruce took a look at everyone in turn and seeing the question on their faces, took a deep breath,
"Some of the buildings have been overrun, their gates smashed and the communication lost. While it’s unknown how many guests and employees were able to escape to the basements, unless a team can get inside and get the doors opened, there is no way to figure that out."
"Isn’t there radio equipment inside the basement safeholds?" a female member asked.
"There is, but something is interfering with the signals. I was only able to get through because my office still has a hard line to headquarters, just like most offices. But the basements do not," Bruce said with a grimace. If what he was being told was correct, there was a chance that almost half of the guests and staff might have been killed already. Unless they made it behind the heavy, reinforced basement doors.
No one could have predicted that.
"What about government help?" The first male asked.
"They are sending teams over as we speak. But with the weather coming on us like it is, it’s going to delay their arrival. Until then, we have to do what we can to keep people safe and.... alive." Bruce looked at them one by one before retreating back to his office. He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and sat down at his desk, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers.
’How the hell are we suppose to hold on for 24 hours...?" Bruce questioned silently, with no one else to bare the burden of this information.
