Growth and Lust Ch. 06 - Wicked One

Her brain screamed as it stomped in need, her soul throwing fuel on the fire as it danced with guttural chants of battle.

I will kill.

I will feed.

Teloo pushed down her instinctual fear of the woman in front of her, raising her arms to wrap them around her daughter. Squeezing Ginrar tight to her own body and pressing their heads together, pursing her lips as her own soul recoiled at the caustic fog the banished essence oozed.

'He awaits.'

Releasing her she stepped back, not wanting to let go but resolving that it was time. Through pained eyes, Teloo blinked; now seeing an empty door frame with her daughter missing. Her presence void from the shuttle entirely and her mission on its final chapter.

She turned and glanced at Bakaree and Pertas bunk room, wondering if they would be alright up here alone as she kept the room sealed. Pressurized so they would sleep with little care of the world outside of the door.

Ginrar hit the ground, the grass under her feet telling her its secrets of the estate as it lulled in the wind. Willing herself forward to the gate that separated the out from in, its iron bars shuddering to her will, finding two in front.

One wanting fortune.

One wanting blood.

Paxton blinked and the swaying form of some kind of monster was in front of him, just at the edge of his sight but looking at him and Darrin. He looked at his coworker, seeing the glaring man gripping his rifle tighter as he began to get ready, Paxton turned his head forward again. Seeing the red face was just inches away from his own, his body shrunk before his legs gave out. The dead eyes of the monster willing him to sit, hitting the ground as air refused to enter his lungs. Out of his peripheral vision he saw Darrin still standing, he breathlessly turned to look at his counterpart. About to scream for him to shoot the thing!

His heart nearly stopping as he saw Darrins shoulders meshed into the bars of the now open gate, leaning backwards as if he fell into it. His head on the other side, pushed through the bars and diced into long strips as steaming blood and matter landed on the ground behind him.

He looked forward again, fear cackling in his ear as the end for him was abundantly apparent.

Alone.

He twitched, the air around him void of the demonic presence that was about to end him just as it did his coworker.

'I need to get up, remember your post, you have to warn-' Paxtons thought stopped in an instant. There was another, watching him, so close and studying him quietly with tentative eyes and fuller cheeks, then darkness took him.

Teloo let the unconscious body hit the ground and rest, knowing he would be out for some time, but not making a judgement call out of line of Ginrars. Her daughter spared this one, she wasn't about to change that, she did get his thought though. Going to the guard hut and deciding to warn the workers in the estate of the danger to come.

Ginrar moved through the open environment, smelling, studying, plotting, thinking, her brain working feverishly to sate her desire. As if higher powers above or below bent to her will to allow her wants to come forth.

This one wants money.

This one wants women.

This one wants his mother, while this one wants what I have to offer.

They took so long, they seemed so simple, so childlike as their wide eyes and aweing mouths asked questions that didn't deserve to be answered. Why was she here, why was she picking through them, why was she like this.

Braden fell back on his butt as his eyes seemed to be playing tricks on him, tony had his weapon yanked from his hands. No not yanked, his hands were taken with it, the man was on his knees screaming, the blood slowing as his cries quieted and he slumped over. Drah was asleep and slumped on his side, but Cherick right next to him had been decapitated. His eyeball and parts of his skull still stuck to the wall he once stood in front of.

He rolled to his hands and knees and scurried as fast as he could, crawling with erratic fury as he tried to get away.

This one.

Ginrar looked down on him, stomping her foot in between his shoulder blades, looking inside and seeing what the man was truly. Someone in white, in a bed, tubes and machines, beeping, rhythmic and meaningful.

Braden thought of his mother, how he just wanted to be able to support her, how he wouldn't see her pull through.

He held his breath as the tears poured from his eyes, feeling the monster on his back as he was next.

He held his breath, imagining it was rising to stomp down, waiting and fearing but accepting that it was coming. The warmth in his crotch spreading as the yellow surrender would ensure his body was found in disgrace.

'Please, no-'

Nothing.

He gasped as his lungs ached with begging need for breath, fearfully looking around he rolled to his back. Pushing with hands and feet to the wall and putting his back to it as he darted his eyes back and forth.

Quiet.

The bodies of the others littered the estate fore ground, he couldn't grasp what had happened as he didn't know. It was too fast, too angry, one second he wanted his lunch break, the next they were all dead. The iron like smell of blood sprayed across the grass as the crickets and night breeze carried on with little care.

This one wants women.

Her brutal red hand encompassed his face, squeezing as if to ball her fist with the face that had been seen by so many crying victims disappearing.

This one wants money.

His eyes closing as his body went limp and he collapsed to the granite floor.

This one wants children.

She watched as he had little time to react to the pain, the hanging bits that tormented the young being removed and shoved into his own maw.

Ginrar made her way through the halls of the Blackstar estate, her voice silent as her judgement fell. Who was she to be the driving spear that delt the hand of fate to men who just moments ago thought they would indulge in their wants once more. They were not inclined to believe that this would be their final day, or their most gruesome memory.

Did they all die?

No, truly some just wanted to feed their family or live in the best means they could.

But some were evil.

Did the estate make them this way?

She gripped a mans arm, tally marks of fallen ones inscribed on it with such pride, but now he faced his own death with disgraceful pleading. She removed it from him, beating his skull in with it before flinging it at another. Dispatching his head to splatter against the once prim and proper wall of the haunting home before his body collapsed, his knees hitting the floor just before his shoulders.

No, the estate did not choose for them.

Less Roke would have been like them.

He was good.

So very good.

So lovingly supple and delicate.

She dove her hand under a mans plate carrier and deep into his guts, seeing him scream and try to paw at her but being too slow. His body folding in half as he evacuated his waste into his pants and gurgled on the floor.

Ginrar, she was the one to decide their night, she was pushed to this by fate.

Visions of brunette hair with wisps of cigarette smoke dancing upwards filled her fore thought.

The wicked one.

She was here.

Ginrars foot connected with a set of double doors, blasting one to slam against the wall while the other let loose from the hinges. Tumbling and skidding down with sparks and chipping concrete, screams of men to fortify the position and stop the threat.

'I just wanted to go to college.' Tanner thought as he watched his team lead struggling for air, the mans body absorbing bullets from his own subordinates as she held him. His jaw being removed and hurled, stabbing into Jasons eye as the man fell backwards and screamed in pain.

Tanner took up the weapon with trembling hands, but where to aim was a mystery to him. One instance Roadesu was looking down his weapons site, the next moment his head from the nose up was gone. Tanner watched the mans breathless corpse topple over like an inanimate dummy. There was no blur of enemy to be seen as he lost the light of hope in his self, wishing he had listened to his sister when she asked him to turn down the job offer.

Through tears and dribbling snot he made his own decision.

Putting the barrel under his chin and squeezing the trigger. The crack of the round firing off hurt his ears, but the continued ringing only brought him confusion.

So quiet.

He opened his eyes, his heart lurching in his chest as it was so close. Its eyes were the thinnest sliver of hateful fire, black pools wide and judgmentally watching him. The barrel of his gun in its grip and pulled to the side, his life dispatching ticket fired off and buried in the ceiling above him.

Its maw opened, lips so calm and resolute as it held fangs of power behind them, the cavern so deep and dark with a writhing monster inside.

"I decide."

Tanner listened to its words, information bestowed from a god to a lowly dog slumped in its own failure.

"Who lives."

"Who dies."

......

Gresh made his way into the shuttle bay, finding the huddled mass of whispering humans that cowered in a closed office around a desk. Windows around each side and instruments monitoring the system and air traffic of the area.

"Hide, hide and stay out of the way, we do not seek you."

Gresh heard Teloos voice across the radio they huddled around, seeing men and women look at each other with worry.

"What do we do?" Sara asked, wondering how this threat just appeared, they couldn't even see anything on the radar scope. She worried she would be fired for this, or worse.

"We stay the fuck out of the way, that's what we do, didn't you hear her? Security teams aren't responding, we shelter in place and lock down the port." Kearin said.

"The phones aren't working, what if the estate tries-" Farsee stopped talking, her brow shaking as she began to cry, looking out of the window and into the port.

Kearin looked at her, "It'll be alright, this is bullet proof glass, whoever's doing this-"

"What the fuck is that?" Sara asked with a shaky voice.

Kearin looked at her, turning around to follow her gaze and freezing in place as he saw it. It was so big, red with horns and animal furs around its shoulders, it watched them so stoically. Studied them through the window, fiery eyes that seemed so intent with purpose.

"Security protocols suspended; fire detection system has recognized a hazard in your area. Please calmly evacuate to the nearest rally point and await further instructions."

Kearin listened to the monotone female voice give them the command for evacuation, the fire suppression system coming online. 'No, no we need to shelter in place not evacuate -' His blood ran cold as the realization kicked him in the fear portion of his brain. The primal part that started working to make adrenaline and weigh the options of fight or flight.

He looked at the door that held the beast out.

The dead bolt lock sitting at a 45 degree angle to the right, assuring him it was engaged.

Then the fire protocol flipping it the other way to unlock, springing open for evacuation. The lazy thud of the door striking the stopper before colliding with the wall. Reminiscent of the butchers axe hitting a chopping block.

Darkness enveloped them, black falling all around like a curtain of fear clouding their vision. Kearin flinched as Sara screamed in horrified torment, her loud vocals echoing off the walls and glass.

"WHERE THE FUCK IS IT!" Sara bellowed, scrambling for her phone, turning it on and holding up the screen as she tried to comb the area with the dim light.

Kearin looked at her and then around, the power had been shut off, he had noticed the flicker of light before the sounds of gunshots rang out. He saw it happen every time they tested the generators and switched to emergency power. The lap wasn't long enough to kill the computers or air traffic system, but it did make a few of the older bulbs hesitate, darkening for only a blink before coming back.

But now they had nothing, he could see the red EXIT sign still illuminated above the door, leaving the area in a haunted glow. The larger bay doors would be stuck shut now, no way for the port to open and people to escape by shuttle.

'Peter.'

The thought had no business entering, so quiet he wondered why he would think it, why would he create a random name. Kearin spun on his feet, feeling something at his back but only finding darkness behind him.

Farsee shook on the floor, she just wanted to put her brother through school, it shouldn't be like this. 'Peter.' She thought, no that wasn't his name, it was Beresh, like her father.

Sara circled back and forth, wondering what was going to happen to her, she had her debt almost paid off. Then she could get out of this dreary hell hole. 'Peter.' She heard in her mind, thinking of a stolen shuttle from a long time ago.

She froze when she felt it behind her, the phone being squeezed so tight in her fingers she felt the screen protector crack. It huffed against her ear, "Veronica." She heard, realizing the first name wasn't from her own thought, but whispered so quietly she only thought she imagined it. She wanted to run, she looked to the EXIT sign wondering if she could make it to the door.

"You can't."

She pursed her lips, shaking uncontrollably as she thought it wasn't fair, this wasn't fair. She played by the rules, she kept her nose where it belonged, she was a good employee, "Veronica." She heard again. That bitch, that callous cunt who always walked around like she was gods golden girl, always leaving shuttles in shit shows of a mess. Scowling and berating anyone like the fucking bitch she was, she hadn't seen her come up from the estate for days. In fact the entire shuttle bay hadn't been used since that thing Veronica made had come back-

Nothing.

Sara could breathe again, fearfully turning around with tears falling down her cheeks, not seeing anything behind her. She looked around and wondered if it was truly gone, only hearing the breathing of her two other coworkers.

Gresh made his way through the darkness, pleased with the informant getting the doors to unlock and using fear to get a quick bit of information. No one had left the estate since Roke had been brought in, so by all accounts he was still here somewhere.

......

Reedus looked at the radio that she held, retrieved from the hip of a screaming man that was now laying limp against the wall next to his partner.

"Hide, to witness death is to invite her judgement."

Reedus listened to Teloo speaking over the radio, turning her eyes to look at Saffee as she heard the message to.

Saffee looked at what the informant had told them was the switch gear, the bolt cutters thrown through it and stuck into the brick wall behind it. The light show and smell of electricity had been quite the sight, but with this portion out the generators wouldn't deliver power to the estate. She looked at Reedus, the woman holding something large over her shoulder and wrapped in a canvas tarp. "You're not gonna carry that thing the entire night den?"

"I'll keep it safe, plus I have you here with me." Reedus said with a knowing head nod.

Saffee rolled her eyes.

......

Ginrar felt the teeth in her hand, polished and cleaned in preparation for long use in the skull of the body at her feet. They slipped through her fingers, like pebbles on the bank of a river, like she use to enjoy with Roke on their working planet. The way he would shiver and comment on how it was cold due to it coming from snow covered peaks. She felt so warm at the thought of his innocent demeanor, a man that had been so hurt before, taking deep breaths of freedom at her side.

Merock watched the monster standing over Chells dead corpse, her jaw missing with her tongue hanging out. Eyes still open as her body laid lame on the floor with blood and mucus on the front of her operating scrubs.

He watched as its head snapped to him, the judgmental gaze of a force that couldn't be touched looking at him. Like a hurricane moving through the coast and about to demolish him as he was helpless to stop it, he thought of his daughter for that moment. Resigning to die with her on his mind, apologetic that he couldn't be a better father, missing her accomplishments and always promising to be there next time.

He exhaled his surrender, brow tented and understanding that this would be it, looking at the red beast one more time.

Blinking his sorrowful eyes.

Now finding it was gone.

He fell to his knees, his chest shaking as he couldn't grasp what he was supposed to do now.

Ginrar thrashed the halls of the lower levels, till it was there, till it slapped her in the face with teasing glee. How a lover would taunt a partner, 'Come here~' it chided, giggling as it convinced her to follow and move. 'Don't you want me~' she turned down the hall, feeling the gush of crimson bathe her hands as she cleared her path. The crunch of frame under her foot as their bones broke with cries of pain.

Tearing her way down the hall.

Remembering how she had found out about Rokes past life, how she tore into his little home and confronted him. Those scowling eyes that wanted her to leave it alone.

But she never would leave, never again.

Instead of scorn, would he show her joy?

Jubilant and wanting, arms wide with hope.

Then she arrived.

It was here.

'Ginrar~'

He was here.

Hers.

Roke.

Roke was-

The door laid on the floor, the room open to her sight as the walls were stained red, red of him. Blood of life with chips of concrete like a mosaic of pain, vacant of carcass or being.

Her breath ceasing, the copper scent of human life trying to assault her nose.

Where?

Her eyes pleading, the flame smothering with vexation as the night that was so cold gripped at her heart.

She clenched her fist, her teeth grinding as her lips peeled back with ferocious anger.

WHERE?!

She screamed in anger, her chest rattling as she let every ounce of her wretched fury become vocalized into a wanting warning for anything that held him away. Any being or power that thought this was a clever ruse, an intriguing idea, a laughing joke of pain directed at her by keeping him away.

Gresh felt it first, vibrations through his feet allowing his brain to become aware of something deadly. Something hateful demanding tribute from the groveling masses that would bend to its god like power. Then something else, touching his shoulder and pulling, as it always did.

That warning, that endearing careful touch that was so quick to take his shoulder and whisper its guidance to him. Not with words he could understand, but with a feeling, pushed into his soul and quietly guiding with care.

Listen.

He let his feet trot to a stop, looking down as he never wanted to let this feeling down. Never wanted to lose it, but now wasn't the time. He knew what that anger below him was, knew why she screamed in righteous fury. But he had to keep his own being moving, if he failed here, what kind of life would he leave for the ones waiting. If he failed her, would she make good on her promise-

Right.

He furrowed his brow, looking to his right at the corridor he had just passed, the darkness doing little to hide anything from his sharp sight. He turned back to it, looking down it and beginning to walk, with confusion at first. But morphing as he felt the hand push him, his feet beginning to pick up speed as he bound down the granite floor.

Left.

He turned quickly, reaching out a hand to dig fingers into the wall and make his turn as tight and controlled as possible. Picking up speed and making short work of the hall, passing still illuminated safety lights but seeing them beginning to fail. He wondered for a moment if the informant was doing that as well, but his attention was soon taken away.