Warning: Swearing in this story will not be censored.
Updates may be slow
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The amber glow flickered, blinding as his eyelids began lifting to release him from darkness. Close to the moment he opened his eyes, he forced them to shut once more from the seething pain dripping into his orbs. Past the insufferable buzzing, a loud rhythm replayed on loop in his ears.

Bum, Bum, Bum...

A heartbeat. He was alive.

A soft groan escaped passed the mans lips once noticing a painful throbbing that convulsed from his head down across his limbs. The back of his head was wet and stuck to the floor, the red of which he could hardly see in front of his blurred vision mixed with another liquid substance. The liquids clashed, creating swirls like a mesmerizing piece of abstract art.

It was warm. No, it was much worse than that. It was scorching. It was only then that he recognized the pops of exploding cylinders and crashes of burning objects giving way to the flames. The ache in his head was not enough to drown the ache in his chest caused by the heart pounding against his rib cage. However, the stinging across the rest of his body did the trick.

His fingers wiggled and twitched as they regained feeling, struggling to roll over and hoist himself up to his knees. The first few times he had slipped on the liquid that had pooled beneath him, hitting the ground before eventually managing to maintain stable leverage. It didn't help that he couldn't see.

His hands were soaked, making it impossible to wipe away the substance covering his eyelids, preventing him from opening his eyes for more than a few seconds. The heavy drops fell from his lashes.

"Where are they?" The screams had long since faded, and for that he did not know rather to be frightened or grateful.

"Ferox?" His quiet voice shook before coughing heavily as the smoke in the air entered into his lungs.

Forcing his eyes to open for as long as he could, the man looked around to search for any signs of life. The tips of his fingers and palm of his hand instinctively jerked away from the plashet of blood and other liquid chemicals before he forced them back into place. The coat he wore was no longer white, now stained in streaks of red and ripped or burnt at every inch. The different aromas of metal, smoke and blood clashed in his nostrils, close to triggering his gag reflex.

He wanted to look for bodies but he knew his eyesight would not last. Aside from that, he was not sure if he wanted to know what comrades had died in the attack, if any. The inhuman shrieks grew louder as his hearing slowly recovered.

"It hurts."

He took a chance at glancing to the containment tubes, glass shattered with flames enveloping the insides. The bodies of subjects previously stored within the containments laid in the flammable liquid, flesh of artificial bodies burning. They were never alive to begin with anyway...

A blur of white and orange laying upon the floor was all he needed for a sliver of comfort before crawling toward the mass.

"Please...please don't be dead."

The man on the floor groaned, ginger hair made darker from thick blood. His wild blue eyes fluttered open, muttering his friends name in a shallow breath. He groaned as the other assisted in lifting him up, assuring the ginger that he was okay and that they would escape from the flames before the ceiling had an opportunity to collapse. However the man had to admit that if he kept his eyes open much longer, the chemicals would make him permanently blind.

As they got to their knees, he shut his eyes and allowed Ferox to lead the way. They could no longer tell if the liquids on their faces were blood, tears or spilled chemicals. Likely all of the above. The only light that lead Ferox's way to the exit aside from the orange glow of the flames was that of the occasional burst of red from blaring emergency alarms. The insufferable racket it created was nearly enough to mask the animalistic screeching.

"Almost out." Ferox's light, almost feminine voice assured. Just as he had said so, a shadowed mass of black emerged from the dark corner and lunged forward with luminous crimson eyes radiating pure rage and resentment.

Ferox yelped and ducked away from the first swipe of its claw, however was less fortunate with the second which managed to hit a clean strike along his upper chest. Along with the deep gashes, the wind was forced away from his lungs with that single swipe which flung him against the metal surface of the floor, watching his friend collapse beside him without his leverage.

A scream found its way out of the ginger as the beast dug its claws into his chest, digging nearly deep enough to scratch at his ribs. Another head seemed to emerge from the creatures side, a new pair of arms lurching and snatching the other in its grasp just after he had wiped his eyes with his tarnished sleeve.

"Hero!" Ferox screamed through the pain.

Even with the intense pain surging throughout his body, Hero's bloodshot eyes that were visibly losing their vibrant deep blue color stared into the pair of empty red voids hovering over him. His hand rested over a glass shard left from a broken light fixture that had crashed to the ground.

The adrenaline pumped through his veins, gripping the glass shard tight enough that the clear material was quick to stain with red, the warm liquid dripping down his fingers and wrists as he slashed at their assailant. The glass sunk into the entity's eye, causing it to scream and let the two of them go.

Hero pulled the glass out as he scampered to his feet, latching a hand on his friend's arm to yank him up. His chest bled, however was not profuse.

The creature screamed at the two, Hero instinctively pushing Ferox back to protect him with the glass shard held over his chest. He knew that such an insignificant thing would not protect them but he refused to go down without a fight.

His squinting eyes glared, ready to swing his arm until the body of the inky behemoth was surrounded by an electrical current. The electricity pulsed around it for no more than a second before it's skin sizzled and evaporated. A hiss shrieked as the monstrosity dissipated in a cloud of black smoke and red inky bile, dissolving into thin air to leave behind an orb of red light that soon faded with the rest of it's body.

The two stared at the source of who or whatever had come to their rescue. Their eyes met with the smoking barrel of a gun. The chamber glowed purple and red, an invitation Hero remembered creating way back when.

The DX-77, a weapon created with the purpose of killing a demon from the inside out with specially made bullets.

And to kill humans if needed.

"What are you doing here? We have to get out!" Hero cried out but the person standing before them, body covered head to toe in a torn hazmat suit with a mask shielding their face, remained eerily still.

Their eyes grew wide when taking notice that the gun was still pointed toward them with no sign of being lowered. The masked person pulled back the hammer as if to take another shot, the realization snapping into the two men that this stranger was not there to save them.

"Ferox, run!" Hero sprinted to keep the trigger from being pulled.

"Hero, don't!" The ginger reached a hand out, unable to grab at his friend in time.

Hero lunged to land a stab on their attacker, only for a black rubber glove to grab a hold of his wrist and bend it back with enough force to make him scream and drop the shard of glass. A line of scarlet was left behind along his palm, dripping with liquid ruby.

The person in the suit managed to lift their leg, wedging a knee between them to push Hero back enough for the rest of their leg to fill the space and kick him with enough force to wind him once more. As Hero coughed and gasped for air poisoned with smoke, he could not see the barrel of the gun aimed his way or hear his best friend screaming from behind.

BANG!
...

Is it not odd how a simple rhythm is the line between life and death? A simple continuous beat like the spirit breathing into a body, its song of hope and purpose even when the mind is so feeble. A continuous rhythm of hope and persistence.

Bum...Bum...Bum

The edges of his vision went dark with silver spots before suddenly finding himself back on the floor. The world began to spin, impaired hearing fading in and out with his vision following suit.

His chest rose and fell as he took in deep breaths, almost hyperventilating. A metallic taste against his tongue strengthened, fingers going numb with all coherent thoughts drowning among the many spontaneous fears flooding his mind.

Where are they? Where's Ferox? Is he okay? Was he going to die here and now?

There was no sharp or shooting pain, as if everything had gone numb. Slowly feeling returned, more of a burning, aggravated sensation in his chest close to his slow beating heart and esophagus. Hero could almost feel the damage done by the bullet between his ribs and cracked cartilage, the electrical pulse he had given the object fading, leaving nothing but burning radiation.

Fading in and out of consciousness, he waited for a white light or the feeling of being pulled from his own body. He waited for anything.

All that came were tears and memories of his family before passing out.
...

It was dark. He could not move but he could hear that all too familiar sound of the electrocardiogram pulsating to and from life. He focused on the sound of the monitor past the nurses and doctors as they pricked him with needles and forced tubes into his body.

"A hospital? H-how? Where?"

He wanted to see, though when finding that he could not do so, bandages covering his face, a part of him was grateful for so. He was scared. Scared to see what had been done to him, scared to see her crying eyes, scared to see Ferox dead on the ground, scared to see that gun in front of him once more.

He did not like this feeling, to be the one on the other side of the monitors, to be the one laying in the bed where so many others had died. After so many years of seeing death, of saving lives, it was only then that he realized how afraid he was of death...

And how afraid he was of life.