A dull thud from above caused Enzo to look up at the ceiling.
What was that? he thought in confusion.
He knew there were only two guys on the second floor of the HQ: Ned and Klaus. They both seemed like serious and reliable people, which was why Miller had assigned them the task of keeping watch on the second floor, where the security control room was located.
Enzo kept staring at the ceiling, straining his ears, but no additional sounds came from above. It was probably nothing. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that it sounded like a body collapsing onto the floor. Likely, it was just his imagination—he always had quite an active and vivid one.
Besides, he was well aware that there was no way anyone could infiltrate their base, sneak into HQ, and make it to the second floor completely undetected by the guards stationed everywhere—not to mention the advanced machine gun turrets that were incredibly sensitive and capable of sensing even the slightest suspicious movement in any direction.
Still, he knew he needed to investigate that noise, just to be sure. He nodded at Masuo, who stood nearby.
“Hey man, did you hear that?” Enzo asked.
“Heard what?” Masuo replied.
Maybe it was nothing after all. Still, he had to make sure.
“Come with me,” he said to Masuo, who obeyed without questioning him. All the people assigned to guard HQ were the most disciplined ones.
“That’s what we’re gonna find out.”
Unslinging their weapons and gripping them tightly, they approached the staircase and began to ascend, pointing their weapons upward as they climbed. When they reached the landing and started up the next flight of stairs, the corridor on the second floor came into view.
“What the fuck,” Enzo muttered as they both froze halfway up.
There was a body sprawled in the corridor. From where they stood, they couldn’t determine whether it was Ned or Klaus. There was no sign of the second guard, alive or dead, but the door to the security control room was wide open.
“What do we…” Masuo began, but he never finished his question.
From the corner of his eye, Enzo spotted some kind of movement. He wheeled in that direction, but there didn’t seem to be anything on the staircase beside them. However, in the next instant, to his left, he noticed a distortion in the air that originated from a spot on the wall near the ceiling. Before he could comprehend what was happening, he heard a gurgle behind him. When he spun around, he saw Masuo staring at him with wide eyes.
Blood poured from a gash in the throat of his companion. He attempted to speak, but only a gurgling noise came from his mouth. The next moment, Masuo’s weapon slipped from his grasp, clattering to the steps and skittering down. He fell sideways, sliding down the wall until he reached the floor. His weakening fingers clutched his throat, but the gash in his flesh was too severe for him to stem the torrent of blood.
Enzo realized there was some kind of invisible mutant clinging to the wall just a moment too late. He wheeled back to face the spot where he had noticed the strange distortion, raising his weapon. But before he could line up his shot, he caught a glimpse of movement—a barely visible tentacle darting through the air toward him.
In the next instant, he felt something incredibly sharp thrust into his throat, cutting through muscle and cartilage with surprising ease. The blade effortlessly sliced through the flesh deeply enough to sever his spinal cord. Enzo was dead even before his body collapsed to the steps.
Adri and Borys, positioned at the door leading out of HQ, heard a strange noise coming from the staircase. They paused for a moment, but the sounds did not return. They knew Enzo and Masuo were not far from the staircase, so if there was trouble, the two of them would take care of that. However, after the initial disturbance, an unsettling silence enveloped the area. Not a single sound pierced the stillness.
Adri glanced at Borys before turning to face the corridor that led to the staircase.
“Enzo, Masuo,” Ardi called out to them. “Is everything alright?”
There was no response. Adri and Borys exchanged anxious looks before cautiously advancing toward the source of the noise. They didn’t get far, though. Adri spotted a distortion in the air above him. There was some kind of invisible creature crawling along the ceiling! What it was or how it had managed to infiltrate HQ completely undetected was a complete enigma to him.
It dropped on top of him. The invisible creature was surprisingly heavy, causing Adri to collapse to the floor and knocking the wind out of him. Before he could recover from the initial shock, he felt unexpectedly strong fingers wrap around his throat, choking him and silencing his attempts to call for help.
The creature that was choking him suddenly became visible, revealing itself in all its terrifying glory. The obsidian-black monstrosity straddling his chest had two large eyes, wide jaws brimming with triangular black teeth, and three long tentacles extending from its back. These tentacles writhed through the air like snakes, their tips sharp and pointed, gleaming menacingly.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Borys point his assault rifle at the mutant. However, before he could pull the trigger, two tentacles shot toward him with astonishing speed. In the next instant, they stabbed Borys in both eyes, killing him instantly. After that, something strange happened.
All three tentacles suddenly detached from the monster’s body, dropping to the ground where they quickly turned to dust. Adri’s vision began to fade as the lack of oxygen took its toll. He thought the creature intended to suffocate him, but as it turned out, it had other plans for him. With its left hand still constricting around his throat, the monster reached for a knife sheathed at Adri’s belt with its other hand.
The creature then plunged the knife into his chest several times in rapid succession. After that, still clutching the bloody knife in its right hand, the mutant rose to its feet. As Adri’s consciousness began to fade, a grim realization crossed his mind: he now knew what had happened to the other guards at HQ. Ned, Klaus, Enzo, and Masuo were most likely dead by this point. However, there was still one guard left—Raul—positioned on the other side of the first floor. The last image etched in Adri’s fading mind was of the obsidian-black mutant silently racing toward the corridor leading to where Raul was stationed. Somehow, Adri felt certain that Raul wouldn’t stand a chance against such a powerful and cunning foe…
Raul stood at the far end of a corridor, the most distant point from the recent massacre. For that very reason, he heard nothing—though there wasn’t much to hear in the first place, as the previous guards had been killed almost in near silence. No shots had been fired, and nobody had even had the chance to call for help.
Raul shut his eyes for a brief moment to stifle a yawn. Guard duty at HQ was undeniably dull. When he opened his eyes a second later, he saw a pitch-black figure, its posture slightly hunched, standing at the far end of the corridor, having seemingly materialized out of nowhere.
Before Raul could determine whether he was actually seeing it or if his mind was playing tricks on him, he saw the black figure hurl something in his direction. A glinting object hurtled toward him at incredible speed, flipping end over end. He immediately recognized the object for what it was, but before he could do anything, the blade of the knife embedded itself into his throat, sinking all the way to the hilt.
Standing at the other end of the corridor, Jake straightened up. Just like that, every guard in HQ had been taken care of. All that was left to do was get the Skeleton Key and carry out a quick, silent escape.