There was an edge to his steps in his mind, silent yet louder than ever — each light tap of his feet on the floor sounding like the concussive beats of a thousand drums, following the fast pace set by his rushing heart. Thump, thump, thump — so it went, on and on.
The absence of noise, he supposed, would have been just as unsettling — therefore, without the ability to turn back, he moved on, crouching slightly and with his dagger close. At that very moment, the only thing separating Carter and the three Dreamers to his right was the big shelf that sat between them. As far as he could tell, the Dreamers tended to move little until actively disturbed, but that didn't mean there wasn't a chance one would just up and walk around the shelf, therefore catching sight of him.
He was still on the first of three rows of shelves, each with five shelves. His original intention was to stick to the extremities, but both the rightmost and leftmost rows had Dreamers on them, so he was saddled with the middle one, which only had a damn Dreamer on the end.
By then, hopefully, he'd be somewhat safe. For now… he reached the end of the shelf. As expected, there was an empty gap between it and the next shelf, which meant some time exposed. Thankfully…
" < Dash > " — thus came the muttered words, so quiet he barely heard them. The [System], however, heard him clearly, and he felt the ethereal shift in something he couldn't quite put a name to. It was an odd sensation, one he was quickly associating with this ability and with the [system] as a whole.
[MP: 70/85]
Unfortunate.
But, on the bright side — it took exactly a second for him to skip from the end of the first shelf in the column to the beginning of the next one. He had to take care — preserving his MP would be essential if he was to stay alive, because < Dash > might as well be his one escape card from an ambush. Therefore, using it sparingly — in short bursts and only when necessary — was for the best.
Now that he was slightly closer, he could see the silhouette for the Dreamer on the shelf ahead of his. While it was facing him, its eyes were kept on the floor, and Carter imagined they'd be somewhat dazed if the creature was more human. He quickly banished those thoughts from his head, though; he'd rather not think about what kind of woman this Dreamer had been before it became… that.
What a difficult enemy to face.
… He shook his head and continued moving slowly, sticking to the shadows the shelves projected, for all the good it'd do him. Which wasn't much, if you haven't figured it out, for the lights that his entrance had turned on were surprisingly bright. If he wasn't good at walking silently, he would've likely attracted unwanted attention.
Carter reached the end of the shelf — and repeated the earlier method. This time, it took him two seconds — one to turn to the right and the other to step in (and halfway through) the lane itself.
[MP: 60/85]
He dismissed the alert with a silent shrug, turning his eyes towards the elevator door in front of him, on the wall between two conveniently located large wooden crates. The door was spotless, without as much of an inch of dust on it, and he immediately located a lever to its right. There was a small display on the door itself, but nothing was written on it.
He made a beeline for it, taking care to remain crouched and silent. < Dash > wasn't needed this time, which was good. The distance between the cover provided by the crates and the end of the shelf was so small he simply hopped there — and only then did he relax.
"...You..Ru?"
They sounded like words spoken through a blender, with a screeching undertone to them. Soft and slowly pronounced, and coming directly from his right, even though he was crouched as low as he could possibly be.
Carter looked towards it. The crate to his right — the one he'd called convenient — had had quite a large hole punched through it, from one side to the other. Therefore, he could see directly through it — and thus did he meet two glowing red eyes and a parted mouth.
A Dreamer. A young child Dreamer, even — one he had missed because she, too, was on the floor, with her back resting on the crate and her face turned to stare at him.
Carter's heart stuttered to a fucking close.
"Holy shit!" He exclaimed in shock, taking a step back in surprise. Then his brain caught up to his mind.
Every Dreamer in the basement suddenly turned towards him. He heard fumbling on the areas behind and around him. A Dreamer behind the crate to his left suddenly knocked it's body into the wood as if attempting to kill him through it.
He desperately reached for the lever and pulled it. Instantly, a low-pitched thrumming began downstairs — quite the loud one. The lights around him flickered.
Then the screen on the door lit up.
"Starting back-up Generator," it said. "Please stand by."
Fuck, Carter eloquently thought. Fuckity fuckles with a fuck-berry on top.
Ping!
[Bonus Objective discovered!]
[Objective: Clear the Dreamer Onslaught! 3/18]
Fuck, Carter mentally repeated, with a little more emphasis this time.