Noralie walked through the stretch of the corridor of the Squads Division Wing. Her hands are inside the pockets of her lightweight vest, her fingers feeling the smooth surface of the pill bottle tucked underneath.
She arrived at the Orion-13's common room, its doors automatically slid open as she approached. Her steps took a sudden halt upon entering as she see the room; the office-like atmosphere it once exuded now transformed into something like a simple party room.
Most of her squadmates are gathered on the central table that was adorned with packs of snacks and bottles of beverages. Juliane was also there, digging in with the simple camaraderie with Leon beside her— kinda unusual for them.
At one end of the table are Carl and Ilse, focused on the white screen on the wall infront of them that's projecting a duel game of Portal Combat, their hands relentlessly fiddling the joystick controllers.
Noralie's eyes shifted at the far corner where Walter stood and smiling as he look at everyone, his gaze is warm with a hint of wist.
Noralie eyed him for a brief moment, sparking a random thought in her, How long had he been in duty?
She brushed off the thought and proceeded inside. Striding in, she spotted Gunther who sat alone at his desk, typing on his computer keyboard while munching on a bowl of red takis.
Noralie looked around for a moment before approaching, "Hi, Gunth."
Gunther shifted his gaze away from the computer monitor and offered his warm, iconic smile, "Hey, what's up?"
"Uhm, may I ask, what's going on?"
"Oh yeah," Gunther licked the red powder covering his fingers. "You're a bit late, huh? Walter was exceptionally generous today so yeah, free treat. The best leader in comes of maintaining the group's morale, uh-heh!"
He let out a short chuckle. "Why don't you go ahead and try some snacks before Carl stuff them all?"
"What about you?"
"Nah, I'm finishing a document record that I need to submit to the Archive today." Gunther shrugged, "One of my responsibilities as the Orion Bloc's representative."
"Ah."
"Yup, now if you'll excuse me..." Gunther refocused his attention to his computer monitor.
Noralie continued on her trail towards the central table, her colleagues giving her a brief glance as she take a seat. Carl and Ilse's trashtalks echoes around the room as they fiddle with their controllers. It's clear who's winning in this game as seen on their expression.
"I'll scrub your smug face on the floor, bozo." Ilse snarked, her eyebrows furrowed and jaw clenching in frustration.
"Hah! I'd like to see you try!" Carl sported a sardonic smile.
Noralie adjusted herself on her chair, letting herself let out a neutral expression while thinking about the things she missed during her short time of her absence. She caught an occasional glimpse of Leon looking, his eyes bore at her which Noralie tried to ignore.
"Noralie! Glad to see you're back," Walter approached. "I'm sure you had a quite work with Christina back there."
"Not really, sir." Noralie shrugged, eyes fixated over the gameplay on the white screen. There was barely any work at all.
"Oh?" Walter chuckled. "Well, why don't go ahead and take some snacks. My treat. It's important you keep your energy since tomorrow is another day."
I wonder what he meant by that, Noralie casually glanced at the snacks strewn across the table, her hand reaching out almost instinctively to select one.
Without looking at the packaging, she tore a pack open, and the pungent scent of sour vinegar suddenly wafted up to her nose. It was a bag of salt and vinegar chips, she noticed, as she examined the familiar brand label. A beat.
Taking a moment to observe Walter's relaxed posture, a subtle sense of reassurance washed over her. Perhaps everything was indeed finea and she should just rid her mind of such thinking.
Just like her mother would say, dwelling deeply on what tomorrow might bring is futile as it will reveal itself in its own time. She mentally pushed back the incoherent thoughts that clouds her mind and instead, she redirected her attention to the camaraderie unfolding before her.
This is a chance to cherish the moments of lively quality time, a welcome respite from the tiring day and she should relish the moment for the meantime.
3:30 PM.
Somewhere around Runenbach District. Almost a kilometer away from Aurich…
Wet sloshes echoed through the deep recesses of the dark tunnel of the stinking sewers. The walls are damp and are covered with moss, the faint squeaking of rodents resonate from the corners, with rats feasting on the chunks of organic materials being swirled by the flowing sewage water.
A technician, his nametag reading 'Sven', was carefully treading his way against the wave of horrendous waters, his heavy rubber boots are stained by grease and slimy substance.
"Yeah, I'm done," said Sven while tapping his earpiece. "Can't wait to get out of this darned place ASAP."
"Alright, I'm packing now," said the person from the other side of the radio. "Go meet me at site five."
"You got it."
Sven continued his trek on the musty environment ahead. He can't wait to get out of this disgusting and forsaken place and he's just lucky to have the mask cupping his nose and mouth against the odors, otherwise, it would have been a great disaster of him puking the contents of his stomach.
The path ahead him was illuminated only by the headlight of his helmet and as he walk deeper, the scratches on the walls became more evident. Sven peered the marks with a critical eye as the scratches gradually trail into a series of deep, wide scrapes.
He recognized these marks as natural occurrences in the crypt, caused by abrasive materials in the wastewater or the natural corrosion of concrete. However, the sight of something resembling claw marks from a large animal was enough to send shivers down his spine.
The heck are these? pondered Sven. I should probably add these to my report.
With a swift motion, he tapped his earpiece once more and called, "Hey Mal, are you there?"
Static.
"Mal," he repeated. "I'm nearing five. It's just around this corner."
Still nothing, just a burst of monotonous static. Sven groaned in annoyance while suspecting another stupid prank from Mal. Letting it slide for now, his hand reached to the dangling keys from his utility belt.
As Sven turned around the corner, he mentlly braced himself for any jump scares awaiting him amidst the dark path but to his surprise, there was none. Just pure silence.
"Mal? Come on bud, this ain't funny," Sven looked around suddenly stopped upon seeing Mal lying motionless in the murky waters. "Mal!"
From the dark passage near Mal's body, a couple of tentacles emerged and slithered towards mal, the appendages wrapped around his leg before swiftly pulling him into the dark abyss.
Sven's jaw dropped upon the sight and began command his legs to move and run away but they wouldn't budge. All he could do is stand there and listen to the squelching and cracking of bones.
He watched in terror as Mal's convulsing body was violently thrown out of the passage. Gradually, Mal's technician clothes ripped apart as his limbs stretch in an inhuman length while his body contort into an otherworldly figure.
Sven took a few steps back as he see Mal's once-convulsing body slowly rose. No, it's no longer his friend, not Mal but an entirely new entity that inhabits that body— a lurker.
It stood there, staring at the technician with yellow glowing eyes while taking a few steps as if familiarizing itself with its lurker transformation.
Suddenly, another figure emerged from the shadows that rattled Sven. Everyone in this world are well aware what a hunter phantom is and right now he damn well knows that he is staring into one.
Without another thought he turned around and sprinted the other way as fast as he could. He was running in circles, he knows that but he's still determined to flee whatever abomination that was behind of him.
While he was on his run, a lurker moving in a blinding speed bumped against him; the momentum made him crash against the nearby wall that disoriented his senses upon impact.
Sven pressed a palm against the wall surface as he tried to regain his bearings beneath his panting breath while waiting for the oblivion to come.
The series of splashing water made him look up and the sight made his eyes wide with dread. Lurkers, a group of them surrounded him like a hostile crowd awaiting for their moment to strike.
The void eye sockets that that stared onto Sven was enough to suck out any traces of faith in him, leaving nothing but a sheer hopelessness.
A particular set of movements caught his attention, his head darted on his helmet to adjust the headlight strapped around it and the silhouette then came clear into his view.
"M-Mal, what did that monster do to you?" Sven mumbled as he stare at the monsterized version of his friend that motionlessly stood there.
As if in unison, the lurkers turned around and made way for the approaching bulky figure— the hunter.
Sven kneeled and cried, his palms pressing against each other. "No, please don't."
He continued to beg to the imposing monster in front of him as the flood of uncontrollable emotions began to overcome him.
The hunter, however, ignored his pleas and grabbed him by the neck, in which Sven tried to squirm and resist but with a quick snap of his neck, his body became limp like a motionless rag doll.
The diagonal mouth that stretched across the hunter's warped face opened widely, allowing a meaty tentacle with a bony spike ending to come and wriggle forward. It slithered into Sven's mouth before pumping an overflowing amount if yellow, glowing liquid.
The hunter then threw Sven's convulsing body aside and walked towards the nearby manhole above. The huge eye on its left shoulder stared at it with burning hatred and anger.
It knows what lies on the other side, he is aware. Humans— disgusting and fragile beings that deserved to be wiped out from the face of this land. Hypocritical creatures that are fueled by greed and frugality.
It is time to punish them for making him what he became, for pushing him to turn into this abomination. This is the time for the rise of wrath.
