Hurry

Stale air. Recycled oxygen. Rush tried not to breathe in too much of the musty air as he haphazardly stumbled down the rusted ladder, also trying at the same time not to groan at the stabbing pins and needles sensation in his left leg. “Alex!!” He shouted, mustering his strength to grab onto the rail in the dark hallway, flicking his holographic lenses on. A metal thud rang distinctly behind him, and after a few paces the android was at his side. “Where do you need me to go-“ His voice echoed, slightly metallic with worry. RACR pooled around his feet, orange flickers of light indicating it was on high alert. “We need to open this thing so we can get everyone inside- not just us.” Rush explained, starting to hop-limp his way down the corridor. “There’s two consoles still active from my readings- we can use dual authentication to open the bunker…” He trailed off as they got to a fork, staring down either hall. Neither looked inviting. The lights were out, stray wires hung from the ceiling where panels had broken and decayed. Mold crept in between the floor and the walls, and thick, thick darkness lay ahead. Even with his lenses, the atmosphere was foreboding. “Be careful.” He whispered, out of habit. His voice threatened to shake like his hands were, but he clenched them, forcing himself to be numb again. “I’m the robot, I should be telling you to be careful.” Alex cracked weakly, but his voice retained the static that he was unable to hide in his anxiety, unlike Rush. One breath sucked in, one breath breathed out. “Okay.” Rush nodded to Alex sharply and turned off into the right hall, flicking on his comms, connecting himself to Alex and the rest of the group. “Alex, go left to the end of the hall, you should find a stairwell. Two floors down and to the right- that’s the console room. I’ll comm you when I reach my end. We’ll need to do this together. Everybody else up there, hang tight.” The comms clicked for a second before Pine’s voice rang in his ear. “Copy that.” Unearthly silence pervaded the hall, pervaded the rooms, save for the heavy step.. clang, step.. clang, step.. clang of his boots against the metal grates. A few live wires buzzed with unused potential, but he carefully evaded them. He knew where the console was- right now, it burned like a fiery brand in the back of his mind. It was less painful when he couldn’t remember. But right now, it was necessary. He was almost there. Just as the doors to the console room were in his sights, the comms crackled. “Rush!!” Pine’s voice shouted at him, and he winced. “We need to move the people inside the bunker now! We’ve been tracked, people are spotting at least twenty Naguul flanking us!!” Rush ground his teeth, his muscles bunching a little as he forced himself to put a little weight on his wounded leg to go faster. “Can’t yet, Pine- we Haven’t authenticated it yet! You’ll get yourselves killed clawing at a brick wall!” He shoved the doors open, stumbling against the desk that held a monitor. “Sweet relief-“ He muttered to himself, slumping over as he starting typing away, making the bright blue screen flicker to life. “Alex, are you at yours??” He tapped at the comms, and two seconds later he heard the familiar voice. “I’ve found it and started it up! It’s waiting for your input!” “RUSH!” A scream on the comms cut out Alex’s voice. “We’re being overrun, they’re getting in through the vents!!” Gunshots. “OPEN THE DOOR!!” “Hold on!!” Rush yelled back, his breaths coming in swift and sharp as he started putting in bypass codes as quick as he could. “What do you mean they’re getting in?!” Silence. He clenched his fists and yelled in frustration for a second, before a loud bang reverberated outside in the hall, causing him to whip his head around. More silence. “Pine??” He whispered, knowing that it most definitely wasn’t. Flexing his shaking fingers, he fumbled at the holster on his leg, grabbing his handgun. He groaned weakly when he checked the magazine. Two bullets left. The sound of something like metal tearing in half made a guttural shudder run up his spine and he snapped to, holding the gun in front of him as he swiveled, eyes darting everywhere in the darkness. It almost felt surreal in the next period of silence, until the monitor beeped. He blinked and looked over- the bypass had worked! Eagerly he tapped his comm, trying to hear something- anything. “Pine, the bypass worked! You can get everyone down here once I-“ A bloodcurdling scream shattered his eardrums seconds before he was pummeled sidelong into the wall. Razor sharp claws pierced through his arms and for a moment, he was unable to do anything but gasp like a fish out of water. The stench of rotting flesh that hit his nostrils made his eyes water and he choked, coming face to face with a snarling, hissing reptile three times the size of him. “Rush?!” Alex’s voice crackled in his ear. Rush could only gasp as he was thrown onto the floor like a pile of bricks, left fumbling for his gun as it slid away from him. He only let out a yell of pain when his back was raked by the same needle-like fingers trying to drag him backwards. He aimed one solid kick at the beast’s face with his good leg, knocking it backwards with a screech into one of the desks. “I’m trying-“ He gasped, choking on his own spit- he tasted metal. Maybe it was blood. “I’m trying- I just need to finalize the authentication-“ He croaked, trembling fingers snatching the handle of the gun as he army-crawled his way over. He whipped onto his back to sit upright and face the creature, only to find it smashing glass and computers in its wrath before it’s milky, dead glassy eyes focused on him. Some of its teeth had fallen out, leaving behind rotted gums. It hissed furiously and coiled up like a vengeful worm before springing at him. He fired once, hitting it in the shoulder. It fell off course from the impact, screaming again as spikes of ice exploded and jutted out of its body. Rush took the opportunity to scramble up onto his good leg, chest heaving for breath. “Rush!! Now!! We need it open now!!” The voices were blurred. He stumbled over to the console, but a claw wrapped around his good ankle and he froze. A chittering hiss bubbled up from behind him and he swallowed. “You guys just don’t quit, do you-“ He muttered shakily, begrudgingly turning to face the serpent rising over his head, shoulder dangling by a thread. Its mouth unhinged and came down on his like a foreboding chandelier made of needles. He had no time to react except to lift the gun straight in the path of its mouth and pull the trigger. This time, there was no scream- or at least if there was, it was cut short. Instead, bone splintered like wood and he was knocked over in a shower of steaming blood and a writhing corpse. He struggled and almost suffocated from panic under the weight before shoving the headless body off. His tunnel vision only made the blinking monitor visible, and as much as his shaking hands would allow, he typed in the passcode and hit “Verify”. “Pine—you can come in. The doors are open.” He half groaned, looking over at the scrabbling body on the ground. Looking back at a shard of glass left from a broken monitor, he heaved a little, picked it up, and wedged it in between the scales in its side. He hesitated, nausea, pain, exhaustion, and panic welling up in him all at once. He used his boot to shove the shard in, watching the black, sizzling goo ooze out as he collapsed next to the body, leaning his back against the wall to prop himself up. He stared at the ceiling and spit out blood, doing his best to breathe calmly. “Everyone can come in now.”