The figure made a terrifying hissing sound right before Katie punched it in the empty face so hard it fell over.
"Really? How does this even work?" Katie complained as she knelt down beside the faceless figure. "Are you a person who just doesn't have a face, or...what even are you?"
The figure hissed again, this time a lot more furious and rightfully so. Its blank face turned to Katie, and it suddenly reached up for Katie with two frail arms. Katie smirked before literally snapping the arms by 90 degrees with brute force. As the figure's arms collapsed, Katie grabbed onto the figure's ponytail and yanked it up.
"Can you talk?"
Hiss…
"What are you? Some sort of abomination? Are we talking about sci-fi or fantasy? Like are you made in a lab or are you the result of some sort of forbidden spell?"
Hiss…
"Do you have any other notable characteristic other than being ugly?"
Hiss…
"Oh screw you you arrogant bastard!" Finally impatient, Katie jammed her Knife right into the center of the blank face. The abomination screamed as fiery energy scorched through its body, frying its entity. Finally, as Katie let go of its braid, the abomination's body fell on the ground, dead.
If the abomination could talk, it would definitely be complaining now. I'm a psychic unit! I kill with my mind! And I have never ceased trying to crack your mind! Did you not feel it or something? Hey ref, this gal's hacking! Do something!
Katie kicked the abomination's body as Caitlin and Vivian slowly approached. As soon as they saw the thing on the ground, the two girls found themselves frowning. The abomination didn't look good, and the giant hole in its face didn't help refine its appearance either.
"It's not bleeding. Well, it is, but it's not bleeding blood." Vivian keenly noticed something. Out of the hole in the abomination's face came some sort of black goo.
"It's something supernatural, likely sent by Mr. Isaac to stop us. He knows we're here." Caitlin added. "He's trying to kill us. Good. That means he's afraid of what we are doing." A somewhat thrilled look was in her eyes.
"Well, if he wants to kill us, he needs to do a lot better." Katie scoffed, wiping her Knife against the clothes of the abomination. It wasn't like Mr. Isaac didn't know what she was capable of. If he thought he could scare her off...then she would be beyond disappointed. "Also, do I get a reward for the kill? Maybe a kiss? Not to brag but I probably saved your lives."
Before Caitlin could answer, footsteps started appearing across the floor, and as Katie looked back up, she found a smile climbing onto her face.
Across the floor, countless figures emerged from the shadows. Many of them were the same faceless abominations as the one dead on the ground. Others were some sort of...hounds? Katie really didn't know how to describe these four-eyed beasts half a man tall. Their claws were as sharp as daggers. She subtly wondered what it would feel like to get those claws in her...a thought that made her squeeze her legs.
She turned back to Caitlin and Vivian, both of whom tried to conceal their fear.
"Now that's definitely worth a kiss."
"We have to go, now." Vivian glanced at the elevator. She knew Katie was deadly, but no amount of psychopathy could make her beat all these monsters, right? "This operation is over. Mr. Isaac is stronger than we anticipated...we have to get out of here immediately!"
"I don't know about getting out of here, but we should definitely go for the elevator." Caitlin turned to Katie, who gave her a nod.
"Fine. I'll cover the retreat."
As the monsters were still taking their sweet time approaching from all sides for the most dramatic effect, the three girls turned and ran for the elevator. An abomination was closer than the others. Before it could make a move, Katie reached out and tossed her Knife right into the face of that abomination, ending its life immediately. Literally giving herself a pat on the back, she ran over and retrieved the Knife, knocking over two more abominations with her bare hand.
Vivian and Caitlin finally made their way into the elevator in one piece. Katie wrecked two more abominations before reaching the elevator as well. Vivian was about to press the 1st-floor button when Caitlin turned to Katie.
"Can you take them?"
"Only if you give me a kiss afterward."
"Well…" Caitlin shrugged and glanced back at the howling horde. "I guess that's a deal."
"Perfect."
Katie said as she turned around and faced the encroaching beasts.
"So...do we have a safe word or what?"
As Katie turned and faced the monsters, Vivian snapped to Caitlin in horror.
"What have you done? She'll die out there!"
Vivian distinctly knew Katie was special. Not everyone could truly have fun in Mr. Isaac's games and still be alive to this day. She knew Katie was a mixture of psychopathy and some sort of combat ability. She also knew her boyfriend Alex shot her full of shotgun shells, and she stabbed Katie herself, only to find the girl without a scratch the very next day. So...rapid healing? Wouldn't be the oddest thing the classmates have seen.
But rapid healing didn't make her invincible! Vivian had trouble believing Katie could heal after being torn to shreds. And the pain! Vivian suspected that even if she herself was immortal, it would take less than ten minutes for her to be begging to die. Immortality didn't mean immunity to pain!
Yes. Katie was a badass, but she was trapped out there against dozens of horrifying monsters with just a knife! That hardly seemed fair!
"She can handle it." Caitlin replied quietly before pressing the close-door button, sealing off the elevator. There was something shaking in her voice.
"No she can't!" Vivian found herself speechless. "This is different from those zombies she killed! There are so many of them…"
"She can heal."
"I know! Alex literally shot her with a shotgun! She should be long dead!" Vivian retaliated. "But that doesn't make her immortal…"
"Do you think I don't know that?" Caitlin suddenly snapped back to Vivian. Her voice was trembling. "Do you think I want to leave her out there to fight those monsters and risk her life, alone? No! We have known each other since we were children! But guess what?"
She paused, drawing a deep breath.
"We can't run now. We can't retreat. Mr. Isaac doesn't want us to meet that producer, which means that is something we have to do! Maybe...maybe this is our only chance of saving everyone from this hell!" She turned back to the door. She could hear the sound of fighting outside, from the sickening sound of knives piercing flesh to the grunts of her friend. She looked down on her handgun to ensure it was loaded.
If Katie died here, then she wouldn't leave this building alive. No...if Katie died, then she had no intention of living in this cruel world all by herself.
---
Meanwhile, outside of the elevator, Katie pulled half of her hand out of the stomach of one of the hounds.
"Ok...corrosive blood. Noted." She whispered, her eyes half-closed as she rejoiced in the relieving agony of having most of her fingers melted away.
Another faceless abomination leaped onto her back and tried to...strangle her? Katie didn't know what it was thinking. All she did was stay right there, and a tree branch darted out of her back and went clean through the abomination's head.
Without Caitlin by her side, Katie was free to utilize her superhuman arsenal to its maximum.
A hound charged at her from behind. Katie stood back up. She could dodge the charge, but why bother with that? Instead, with her Knife in hand, Katie stood her ground and took the full brunt of the hound's weight. As the hound's teeth bit into her guts, Katie, screaming, jammed her Knife into one of its four eyes. The Knife went clean through.
For the next five seconds, Katie kept on stabbing the hound in the eye while the hound chewed on Katie's intestines. Five seconds later, the giant hound was the first to collapse in a puddle of Katie's and its own blood. It really couldn't keep up with this anymore…
The victor of this brutal duel, Katie was maimed, crippled, and deformed to a figure that made the faceless abominations look like child's toys. Half her guts were outside her body. She barely had an inch of good skin left thanks to the corrosive hound blood. And what was left of her right hand was left inside the hound's skull.
"I'm just glad Caitlin didn't see this…not the best for our romantic relationship." Katie growled furiously as she got back up. As much as she enjoyed sitting in a puddle of corrosive blood, she had enemies to kill. Four tree branches darted out of her mutilated body and seriously messed up the day of four abominations.
As she stood up, Caitlin suddenly felt a sense of hunger, but that hunger was quickly replaced by a strange sense of satisfaction.
The next second she knew it, her crippling injuries were mostly recovered.
On the ground, the dead hound was reduced to its skeletons.
Katie didn't notice what happened to the hound. As soon as the pain across her body disappeared, she quickly found herself in need of more. Another hound leaped onto her, ready to satisfy its belly.
The only one it satisfied was Katie.
The abominations and the hounds kept on advancing, and Katie gladly sent them to their end. Her Knife was actually doing quite well in this situation. Somehow, the corrosive blood had little effect on the weapon. Either way, the Knife only served as one of her weapons, one that she only occasionally used.
Her branches, and even her fist, were as efficient.
Finally, the last abomination collapsed on the ground, its head completely removed by Katie's strikes. It was hardly a clean death. The interesting thing was, despite that, it was still one of the cleaner ones.
As her body recovered once again, Katie picked up her Knife and stood back up. She strolled across the battlefield one last time to make sure she got all of them. The corrosive blood sizzled against the floor, and somehow they failed to melt through.
When all the blood was neutralized and the battlefield was cleared, Katie finally gave the elevator door a knock.
"Ladies, they're all dead! You can come out now!"
The elevator door opened up once again, and Caitlin and Vivian walked out. They stared in awe as they scanned the field of carnage. There were enough monsters here to wipe out a modern army, yet they were all massacred here like defenseless rats by Katie.
So who was the real monster here?
In a sense, Vivian almost pitied them.
She turned back to their killer, to the girl who somehow slaughtered dozens of monsters with a single dagger. But as soon as she turned, she found herself blushing slightly.
For a simple reason. Katie's clothes didn't have the same immortality as her, and after the intense battle, Katie found herself in a rather uncomfortable situation of being naked from head to toe.
Thankfully, she came prepared. As soon as Caitlin came out, Katie grabbed onto her backpack, took out a pair of jeans and a black jacket, and started getting dressed. After all, she still hoped to maintain some modesty...though she had to admit she was a little disappointed when Caitlin looked away as well.
After she finally had most of her skin covered once more, Katie turned to the more important matter at hand.
"So, now what?"
"Now we move on." Caitlin glanced back at the elevator. "Let's just hope that this floor is the only thing Mr. Isaac has waiting for us."
"Yeah...that's what we all hope…" Katie whispered quietly before remembering something really, really important. "By the way, Caitlin, aren't you forgetting something?"
"What?"
Katie leaned forward to a point where she could smell Caitlin's breath. Vivian silently returned to the elevator, sensing the sexual tension in the air. Finally, the blonde realized what her friend was asking for. Here, in the middle of the bloody battlefield, was really not a place for romance. And honestly, Caitlin didn't know what she felt about Katie romantically.
Nonetheless, Caitlin leaned forward and kissed Katie on the lips.
As the two girls parted ways two seconds later, as she tasted the warmness on her lips, Katie suddenly hoped there were a hundred more floors of monsters for her to kill.
This combination, from a brutal battle to a soft kiss to conclude, was perfect.
Having gotten what she wanted, Katie happily followed Caitlin back into the elevator like a loyal puppy. Vivian pressed the 12th floor button once again.
This time, all went well, and when the elevator door opened once again, the three girls found themselves standing on the 12th floor of the RCTV building.
They got to where they wanted to go. They should be happy.
Except they weren't. At least Caitlin and Vivian weren't.
Why? Simple.
In front of them was a sea of corpses.