Night 71: Main Hallway, 1-Center

[ninelivesonce]

[from here]

The main corridor was dark, and no sounds came from the sun room, even when Taura pressed an ear to the doors. That didn't mean much, but it gave her something to do while she waited. Then she switched to jogging back and forth along the length of it. Staying in one place had proved more dangerous than making a visible target of herself; she didn't like waiting.

[Rita]

Comments

[toujoursalarecherche]

Why exactly the girl was shaking, it was hard to guess, aside from the skittering she couldn't determine the source of and the chills that ran through her from it.

Was it for her own safety? In a measure of feelings, sure. How long had she been walking around there, not expecting to come across a dangerous situation so directly? Coming face-to-face with that made Ciel chide herself; she needed to get back home... home, to the Resistance.

"Promise me you'll come back!"

To Alouette. Before the others who "changed" could reach her and those who didn't go with her that day.

There was also the aftermath within the Sun Room. If it had nothing to do with whoever brought her here, then it didn't mean anything to her compared to her immediacy. However, if they helped her... were they hurt because of her? Did she cause even more lives come to harm through another one of her decisions?

The sound that came from the center of the room in beckon to her put that last possibility into even greater focus, and so the girl with guilted concern obliged, advancing with worried glances around her and a series of queries, asking, "H-hello? Are you hurt...? What's going on?" It was only afterwards that her scatterbrain reminded her of the tool in her hand, so she clicked the flashlight on and shined it towards the source of the voice whilst she crept forward.

[damned_monsters]

The graveled chittering from the center of the room continued, its tone rasped like a strained whisper of someone in dire need. It was unfortunate for the creature trying to lure her in that she turned on her light: the beam blinded it instantly, and the hushed noise became more of a hiss as the light revealed the true source of the supposed distress. Two bulbous eyes and a mouth full of glistening teeth appeared, vanishing just as quickly as the creature darted back into the darkness.

It was not the only one, however. More noises came from behind her- the patter of deft feet and monstrous claws making their way across the floor around her, followed by more chattering from the left, then the right. Worse yet was the hoarse rattling nearer to her feet, getting closer with every passing second.

[toujoursalarecherche]

The echoing clank of the flashlight on the floor throughout the halls followed Ciel's yelp and her own landing, startled by the sudden "face" she had seen. She completely forgot that now, caught up within that moment. That couldn't have been a person, Ciel's mind thought as it raced through whatever remaining semblance of logic it could bear, but struggled to think of much else, stricken with shock.

The noises around her reminded her of her situation, but too late. Before she knew it, she was surrounded. Her chest expanded from the air coming in, her breathing forgetting itself.

Was this how it would end? The girl looked to her right to desperately find the flashlight, it being a last resort to use. And there it was, next to the doors to her right; she noticed it right before the tool clinked along them, and it turned the light for a final time away from the hall entirely, the light caught too thin of an angle to properly illuminate the area.

Her increasing whimpering contained many emotions. Anger directed at herself, fear from the danger, and misery from the situation. All she could do now was face the apparent end of her life...

No! I can't let it end like this!

Not like this. Ciel's face flashed of forced determination, born of a final attempt to save herself, for the sake of everyone else. In one fluid motion, she pushed herself up off the ground to try and grab at the flashlight so far away. She did not get far, however, before something made her fall again. What was that? Did she trip? Did she bump into something? She couldn't tell right then. She skidded a short distance towards the flashlight, not quite able to reach it. Would it really help? She didn't know, but it was her only chance left, so she continued to inch towards it on her elbows and knees, in a brave trial to ignore the sounds about her and behind her, around of and in front of her.

[damned_monsters]

One of the creatures hissed at her as she tripped over it; though its skin was thick, the impact had left it sore and ill-tempered. Its chittering went from quiet to anything but, its call a warning cry louder in the darkness than it had been a moment ago. Gone was the whispered pleading, replaced with a stuttered, furious wheezing that could be heard all around the room.

While its brethren danced around Ciel as she crawled toward the flashlight, as though taunting her to move while she still could, the angered one snapped at her leg with its sharp teeth, trying to get a hold of her in return for having been tripped over like a footstool.

Sorry for the delay!

[toujoursalarecherche]

The shrill sounded like nothing the young scientist had heard before, and with the new sounds came an even stronger dread of despair. She was nothing compared to these creatures, and she knew it. She never had the fighting ability of the Reploids and, with nothing now to protect herself, Ciel knew that she was in dire peril.

As if that wasn't enough to make her nerves go into overdrive, she then felt a stinging, sharp sensation on her left shin. Her flailing with her legs as she attempted to grab at the flashlight saved her from a much more gruesome fate, the teeth only deeply scraping the crus' flesh, but for now the pain made her scream her own series of cries, those of a panicked animal afraid for its own life. The immediate response made her left foot come down on whatever it was that attacked her, though it was far less so for revenge than for her own redoubling of her efforts to reach for the flashlight.

Finally, though the seconds felt like they couldn't be short enough, Ciel took hold of the flashlight and quickly rolled over, turning the flashlight on the things in the darkness. No matter how long she had came to know of machines that resembled living creatures, her knowledge of Mechaniloids could not have prepared her for this moment.