Reanimated as Death's Bane

Shadows in the Tunnels

In another section of the facility, a group of guards chased after a Dashkyr that escaped its containment during the blackout. They wore white armor suits with sharp scale designs and a dark visor helmet.

They moved fast in groups, coming from different angles to corner the alien, but the Dashkyr moved like a ghost. Each time they reached its last seen location, it vanished. ‘Clever bastard.’ Ace grinned.

He led the pack, a group of highly trained mutants with strength, skill, and tactics. He was a peak third stage mutant, but his speed couldn't match the Dashkyr's, and his teammates weren't doing any better.

The workers in the facility were being transferred to an underground safe house, keeping them away from the chaos, the loud stomping of boots above added to their worry, they couldn't tell what was going on and they couldn't help either, they just had to hope and wait for it to end.

The Dashkyrs plan was simple, to tire them then attack.

A shout cracked through the comms, “Got it, crawling into tunnel B.”

The teams arrived instantly, finding the Dashkyr returning a metal lid from beneath, its five eyes and what passed for a mouth had a mischievous grin as it slowly sank into the tunnel.

“You reported instead of chasing it?” Ace barked at the scout, “Make sure everyone is transferred safely and lock this place down!”

He led his men down a ladder into the dimly lit tunnels, and water puddles splashed under their feet as they landed.

The tunnel was deafeningly quiet, aside from the crew's footsteps, nothing else could be heard. But somewhere in the shadows, the Dashkyr was making its move, a smart one, but the team wasn't going to let it, they were the hunters.

“Alright, split up! Tee, take six left. Rex, six right. I’m heading center with the rest,” Ace ordered, ‘Kade’ll have my head if this thing escapes.’ he thought.

Rex and Tee had been his strong brothers in battle, he knew they would make good leaders, so why not?

Thirty minutes had passed since the groups began searching for it, then Tee’s voice hissed through the comm, “I don’t like this, man.”

“Chill, we’re all at the third rank, not amateurs, we got this,” Rex responded cockily.

“Zip it!” Ace hissed. Third stage or not, this thing was playing them, even with their high tech sensors and thermal scan, they hadn't spotted a sign of the figure.

“I’ve got something!” Rex said, he leaned down staring at a cracked pipe with several large claw marks, all the way to a vent above.

“Its made…”

Just as he was about to give the details, every member of the crew could hear it, the screaming and grunting sounds through their communicators, then Tee’s voice came clear.

“It's… on us, hurry!” he yelled at the top of his voice. His team had met with the Dashkyr, and the battle had begun.

“Everyone over there now!” Ace ordered, he sprinted down to Tee's tunnel with his crew and the other group followed quickly.

They couldn't miss it when they arrived, red and green blood splattered on the wall, lifeless bodies lay scattered around like trash, and blood pools formed underneath them.

“Ahh they couldn't hold it off, we're screwed.” Ace sighed, placing a palm on his helmet. The sight was hopeless, twisted limbs, bodies split in two, and others mangled like rag dolls.

The silence was broken by a low, muffled cough. Tee, a crack extended on the chest area of his armor. He lay upward, and from the elbow, his arm twisted the opposite way, but he was alive, soaked in blood.

Two guys rushed over to assist him.

Ace sighed, relieved that not everyone was gone, but a thought crossed his mind, he glanced at the lifeless bodies and noticed that they all had their helmet on, including Tee, except one that lay further away from the rest.

He was dragged to the corner, and trails of green blood could be seen, and it became fainter down the path.

“As expected, it would shapeshift and trick its way out, that's why its blood trails are fainter.” Ace thought as he observed the scene.

“You two get him to the clinic,” he ordered “make sure the entrances and exits are locked down once you leave and return. I can't afford to lose more men to that thing.” He ordered the men supporting Tee.

While the rest cleared the dead bodies.

But that was far from the reality of things. Tee was dead, and his body lay in the Dashkyr's stomach. It had studied the groups and attacked the weaker leader, Tee, and now they were helping it out of the tunnels. Its plan had worked.

When the men returned, they had done as Ace said, with their weapons, they searched all the tunnels faster, but it took more than an hour. They didn't find any other trace of the Dashkyr, aside from the claw marks and blood trails.

Tee was taken to the clinic area, and the first thing he asked for was water. The assistant brought a jug over.

The assistant smiled, surviving such a catastrophe he must be dehydrated. Then she handed him some health potions to soothe his pains.

The Dashkyr needed to consume about ten liters of water to retain human form for a day, and if it drank all that in their presence, it would raise suspicion.

It needed to move to act, but was restricted in this clinic room under a check up. The Doc in charge was already asking too many questions and would notice if Tee didn't behave as expected.

Dashkyr Tee was running out of time, then an idea sparked. The bathroom. A perfect excuse to slip away and get more water, before executing the next phase of its plan, to get out of there.

But there was a problem, it didn't know where the bathroom was, the facility's layout was like a maze. Asking would expose its ignorance, and one wrong move would raise an alarm.

The Dashkyr slowly rolled of the bed and forced a casual stretch. Turning to the specialist, it mumbled “Bathroom,” mimicking Tee’s voice. The specialist only gave a nod, it shut the door and its heart or whatever passed for one pounded hard as it stood on the corridor.