Terminal City: Chapter 4

by **Razren** Wed May 07, 2014 1:15 pm

Chapter 4: Dark Creatures

Hawk and Liz had been walking for about an hour before they finally found the hospital. It didn't help that almost all the streets and buildings looked the same now. The hospital itself had no real distinguishing features aside the red cross above it's name; "Lorange General Hospital".

It was a 3 story building, and seemed to be in good shape compared to the surrounding area. Hawk looked the building up and down before smirking. "Perfect. And it looks like it even still has power. There's a double whammy right there!"

Liz nodded and they walked inside. The inside looked slightly less presentable, as the ceiling of the first floor had partially collapsed, leaving some patient beds laying in the middle of the reception center. Hawk ran in and jumped over the counter. Liz sat there and watched her shuffle around the rubble looking for something. She eventually did a small fist bump in the air when she found it. The main computer used for the hospital.

Liz walked over and frowned. "That's not gonna work..."

Hawk shot a look at Liz. "Don't be a Debbie downer over there. The hospital clearly still has power. Did you notice the power lines? They look fresh. Repaired. Now, who would bother repairing the power lines?" She turned on the computer as she talked.

"You could try to argue students, but most of the vending machines out there aren't attached to anything anymore so they still wouldn't work. The cell tower is destroyed, so no incentive for cell phone service. It just doesn't make sense."

Liz sighed. "I guess while you're snooping, it's my job to get the medicine?"

Hawk reached the password control. She cracked her fingers and pulled out, from between her chest, the GPS unit every student had been given. She hooked it up to the computer, and began typing furiously. The computer backed itself into a screen of lines of green code and nothing else.

Hawk turned to Liz. "Give me a sec to break into the computer before you head off. I can make your job a whole lot easier. I mean, yes, it's fairly obvious where they keep the medical storage room. It'd be in the center of the building, so it could get to every patient just as fast. But we don't know where that is."

Liz just sat down in a chair without another word. Hawk rapidly taped key after key until eventually a loud beep was heard. "Alright! I'm in."

After surfing for a bit, she transferred a diagram of the building to the GPS and threw it to Liz. "It's marked where you need to go. Just...go and pick 'em up without me. I'm gonna be snooping for a bit longer." Liz nodded and left.
Liz had been walking around for quite a while without finding much of anything, but then she finally arrived at the location. She opened the small door and was greeted with a room filled to the brim with medicines and all types of medical equipment. She quickly found what they were looking for, but decided to grab some painkillers and bandages as well just to be safe.

As soon as she finished stuffing the last package into her jacket, the lights suddenly cut out. Liz jumped a bit, but sighed. Shoulda figured it wouldn't last long.

She pulled out her lighter and lit it. It gave off enough light for her to see, and she proceeded back towards where Hawk would be waiting. She began to hear a low growl that made her feel slightly uncomfortable. She scuffled down the hallway a little faster, but it felt like the growl was getting closer than further away. Almost as if...Liz stopped.

"Hawk!" She charged through the hallways back towards where Hawk was, but was stopped by the sight of a clawed hand reaching around a corner. She stopped and saw a leathery white face turn around the corner. The creature appeared to have blood shot eyes, long stringy limbs, and a mouth filled with sharp teeth.

Liz remembered reading about a creature like this. If she was right, it was not meant to be here. The school would never send untrained kids against one of these things. She pulled out her lighter as it approached. She stepped back, but then stepped forward with the same look she gave to the wolves.

"Down!" Her voice shook slightly.

The creature seemed to laugh. Then, an unearthly scratchy voice answered her. "And what will you do if I don't....."

Liz almost dropped her lighter. She needed a plan. Fast. She noticed the creature was in front of a gas tank. She flipped the lighter a few more times to get gas in the air. Then she fired a huge fireball at the creature, which dodged as she expected. However, the fireball kept going and hit the gas tank straight on. It exploded into a cascade of gas and flames. Liz took this distraction as an opportunity to get out of the area as fast as she could.

She heard the creature growl in anger and take off down the hallway. Liz kept running, and never looked back. Eventually, she saw Hawk running from a creature as well. When Hawk saw her, she was ecstatic. "Liz! There you are!" She spun around and shot the creature she was running from out of the building with a well aimed whirlwind.

Liz immediately yelled out. "Get the thing back in the building!"

Hawk was confused for a moment, then saw the flames that were quickly torching the place. "Right!" She aimed another whirlwind and managed to get the creature back in straight into the flames. Hawk and Liz then ran together. As they kept running, Liz saw what she needed to do. "Hawk. Can you shoot us down to that window at the end of the hallway?"

Hawk thought for a moment. "Well yeah I could. Why?"

Liz shot another fireball as the main gas line. "Cause this place is about to blow!" Hawk jumped and grabbed Liz. Then they shot off towards the window just as the fireball made contact. The building began to explode, and the inferno helped push them straight out of the building and flat onto the ground, covered in dirt and some ash.

Liz and Hawk both sat up and stared at the building. Hawk was the first to comment. "Well....that oughta get us some attention."

Liz just plopped to the ground with a groan. After resting for a bit, the duo headed back towards where their third teammate was. After arriving, Liz fell down to a corner of the room. Meanwhile, Hawk was administrating the medicine.

As Hawk was finishing, she turned to Liz. "Well, now that the action has calmed down, how about we get to know each other a bit?"

Liz frowned. "There isn't much to know."

Hawk frowned. "Oh come on. There has to be something you can tell me about yourself?"

"I'm from Flavia. Specifically Nascal."

"Flavia? How is it down there? I've been in Indus most my life so I don't know much about the other countries."

Liz sat up. "Days get pretty hot, nights get pretty cold."

Hawk frowned. "Well aren't you one for conversation."

Liz sighed. "There's no point in talking when there isn't anything to talk about."

Hawk ceased attempting to talk to her. Their teammate began to come to. He groaned slightly and Hawk's face was the first thing he saw.

"Where am I?"

Hawk beamed. "Well good morning sleepy head! I'm Hawk. The girl over there is Liz. We're your new teammates!"

The boy blinked and looked around. "Where's my..." He felt his shirt and looked at it. "Wait....did you undress me?!" His pale face lit up like a tomato.

Liz looked over at him. "All I did was take off your shirt and jacket."

The boy's face stayed red, though it was probably from embarrassment now. "Right...sorry."

Hawk smiled. "So what's your name?"

He attempted a smile. "I'm Ian. Ian Drake."

Hawk nodded. "Well now that meet and greet is over...Liz!"

Liz looked over. "What?"

Hawk got up and walked over. "I think I have unearthed the beginning of a big conspiracy!" She ran over and grabbed her GPS. As she walked back over she pressed a button and a big picture of a research facility. "This is the research facility that was decommissioned 5 years before the island was abandoned.

When I was going through the computer trying to get a map of the city, I stumbled upon the patient records. I got curious cause all the patients coming in from March 21st to April 28th were ALL from the facility. And they were all classified as Meta-human patients. Now, we all know Meta-human research is outlawed, so why would there be a bunch of Meta-humans coming from there?"

Ian laughed slightly. "Wow, what did I miss?"

Liz stood up. "So we go to the facility then. We can go tonight."

------------------------------------------

Calvin sighed as they seemingly continued to walk in circles. "We're lost," he groaned to the rest of his team.

Jade turned and shot him a look. "We are not lost. We just haven't found the path yet."

Zach pointed at his flute. "Shall I play a jaunty tune milady?" The look that Jade gave him immediately shut him up.

Calvin smiled when they finally saw a dirt path. "Finally! Salvation hath come!"

Jade sighed. "Can't you two be serious for a moment...."

Calvin smirked. "I can. I'm slightly offended."

Jade rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Are we ready to keep going?"
They walked down the path a little ways before Zach stopped. "Hang on guys, I think I hear something..."

Jade stopped as well and turned to him. "Which direction?"

"Umm...less than a mile due east...coming right for us."

Calvin sighed. "Guess that thing has got our number."

They agreed to wait in ambush for whatever creature was coming towards them. When it finally appeared, it appeared to be a scorpion at first, but then it was revealed to have a spider's body. The tail shot around, looking for a target. Jade gave the signal, and a small melody began.

The spidorpion heard it, zoned in on the sound and shot towards Zach. Unfortunately, the music finally made it's effect and the spidorpion's body stopped moving. Jade charged out with her spear at the ready and attempted to stab it's body. The armor it had completely absorbed the hit, and sent her flying.

Calvin then charged in spinning around his makeshift spear. I can see right where I need to hit it....guess luck's on my side once again.

Calvin jumped up and stabbed the thing in one of its eyes, then pointed at an area of ots underbelly. "Stab there!"

Jade nodded and charged forward, switching to her wind armor. She created a gust with her swing, causing the creature to fly into the air. She then jumped upward and stabbed it underneath. Calvin and Jade then teamed up and both stabbed it in the heart.

The creature rolled over, and Zach laughed. "Well, we really are getting this teamwork thing down. Hahahaha."

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