Lein Reznoph
The shooting had gone from organized volleys to scattered echoes in only a few minutes. Whoever was attacking was doing one hell of a job. Lein kept to side corridors whenever he could, but he knew eventually he'd have to enter the main one.
Every so often he'd hear shouts and screams, but none of them seemed nearby ever. In fact, the whole place seemed empty. Every time he heard gunshots he ducked into a cranny or pressed against the wall, but no expected bullets came his way... Nor, he was beginning to realize, was there any answering fire. Plenty of people were shooting, but no one was shooting back. Maybe he was too used to the detached computerized interface of his armor.
Pft. Yeah, and maybe he was a fish. Someone was winning and not letting anyone return fire. If the guards were the ones shooting, then the prisoners must have been slaughtered already, or at least beaten badly. But if the prisoners had taken the armory...
No time for that. Lein would have to-
A trooper came backing into his hallway from a side passage, and he reached instinctively for a handgun that wasn't there. She had her riot shotgun trained at something farther down the corridor she'd arrived from, and was mouthing words without saying anything. Tears streaked her face and her eyes darted around, looking at nothing. Reznoph was reminded of a rabbit he'd once seen while scavenging for food, half-mad with fear and paranoia and jumping at everything. He kept silent, hoping she wouldn't turn that gun on him.
Something slamming against a wall or floor nearby, clattering like a dropped fork. The trooper howled like an injured animal and pumped the trigger furiously. The shotgun fired once, but in her terror she forgot to pump it again for the second shot. Something furred and armored came charging out of the turn and Reznoph caught a glimpse of a horned helmet. The creature slammed her against the wall. Reznoph remained silent and watching as it lifted her up with one hand and chopped her in half at the waist with a massive hunk of scrap metal that could charitably be called a sword.
Then it turned to face him. Reznoph steeled himself, but he felt sweat on his brow. Whatever now faced him looked human- How could it not? There wasn't anything else. But it wore a helmet of bones and chitin that even in the harsh lighting of the hallways obscured its face save for two burning orange eyes. Its arms were oversized and long, the muscles on them flexing as it lifted the enormous blade.
Reznoph was a Shock Trooper. He'd been on steroids and stims his entire career here, and would have comfortably outsized most professional football players by a long shot. He could tear trees out of the ground if he had a good start at it.
This thing made him feel like a midget, puny, weak. Reznoph felt a flare of anger, but it was extinguished by the size of the thing. He wasn't even armed. How...
The trooper's riot shotgun lay discarded on the floor.
Lein looked down at it, then back up at the monster. As it began to slowly step his way, he charged. He was counting on the narrower corridor to prevent it from hitting him, but it didn't seem to have gotten the memo. With a tremendous sound of tearing, screeching metal the blade or the strength behind it tore straight through the wall. He dove, rolling under the sword and past the creature, came up running to dive again for the shotgun. While the monster ponderously turned to face him, he raised it, pumped, and fired. The bullet sparked briefly on the armor and hit a wall somewhere nearby. He tried again, but the gun refused to fire. Jammed, maybe, or out of ammo after whatever running fight had brought it here.
"Aw, son of a bi-"
Lein was able to roll as the sword came down, but the force of the blow tore the floor and roof below. It collapsed, sending Reznoph falling. He struck hard concrete and felt blood fill his mouth from the impact while his vision erupted in stars.
Overhead, the Consuming Doubt looked down. Its head tilted to one side as it regarded the fallen Shock Trooper. Then it turned away and moved farther into the hall, towards whatever it could find.
Its victim lay on hard concrete, blurrily trying to think and failing. He knew that below was... What was below? Cells, right? He was in the cellblocks? Or maybe the labs. He couldn't be sure.
Reznoph risked speech. "Is anyone there?" he rasped, wishing it was lighter. He hated the dark.