Chapter - 11

"What are you doing in this lab?" Martinez asks, his plasma rifle steady in his grip.

"It's my laboratory, I'm collecting my work" Diane explains impatiently.

The eyes of Martinez cloud with darkness.

"I've been ordered to secure a sample known as BSK-01" he explains as a repeated alarm starts blaring accompanied by red emergency lights.

Martinez glances to Diane, she tightens her grip on the case.

"You have it, don't you?" he says to her.

They see his eyes become darker, watch as he slips into possession.

Diane remained silent. They could tell that Martinez wouldn't be reasoned with.

"Diane, just hand it over so we can get out of here" Hugo pleads.

"No" she replies, slowly backing toward the other exit.

"Give it to me" Martinez snarls.

"The life support is about to give out, Louis observes, just forget about orders"

"I don't care, I want that sample!" Martinez asserts as he levels the rifle on Diane.

The Marine steps in front of the weapon, Martinez glares.

"Alright, tough guy, Martinez says, let's pick up where we left off"

Major Daniels and the researchers quietly leave through the other door, the Marine stares into Martinez's blackening eyes as he holsters the rifle and cracks his knuckles. The Marine holsters the shotgun and they begin exchanging blows, then brawling through the lab's door and continued their melee on the adjoining path. The Former Human's previous training and experience made him an even match for the Marine as he blocks and evades.

Major Daniels led the survivors through the infested passages, the closest escape modules were all spent. They moved deeper through the complex, Daniels mows down the creatures in their path.

"Emergency, atmospheric reserves at critical levels. Evacuate immediately" the station computer wails.

Martinez and the Marine had unknowingly fought their way into the sector where the Phobos teleporter had still been operating throughout the incident, the station alarm bellows through the area. Their forearms strike as they counter blows, Martinez roars with fury as they stray deeper into the sector.

Major Daniels' chaingun barrels slow to a stop after ripping through a mob of demons, he was running solely on luck and adrenaline. They reached the next sector and made their way to main corridor. Daniels opens fire on Pinky when an Imp attacks Dr. Osborne.

Daniels hears their screams, he levels the chaingun and fires, a trail of bullets streak across the creature's torso. Louis was soaked in blood, his limbs and chest slashed.

"I'm sorry, Louis, Daniels says, if we stop we're dead"

They regretfully abandon their colleague. Louis reaches out to them in horror, clutching his blood-soaked neck as growls of nearby creatures reach his ears. His tortured screams echo loudly.

Meanwhile, Martinez and the Marine strayed deeper into the portal research labs, the humming from the distant teleport systems grows louder.

Fueled by his growing anger, Martinez's demonic possession intensified. The Marine watched as his face warped demonically, he could no longer be recognized as he attacks with enraged madness. Their limbs collided in blurs of strikes and counters as the station alarm continued to sound. The Marine was getting desperate, he had to escape.

Remaining pockets of demonic growth consumed the environmental control systems, routes for filtration vents and regulators were blocked.

Major Daniels, Diane and Hugo came to another escape module and found it was destroyed. A demonic roar sounds through the area.

"Who would do this?" Diane asks.

"I don't know but we need to keep moving" Daniels says.

"Go this way, it's faster!" Hugo suggests.

They take the shortcut and find a mob of demons hiding in the shadows, Major Daniels fires a burst from the chaingun. They move to the next sector, a spine chilling roar reaches their ears.

"Oh, no!" Diane says nervously.

"We can't turn back" Daniels instructs.

They moved through a bend in the path and see an intact escape vehicle in the distance as another alarm sounds. They race toward the pod, the growls growing louder. They crossed a seemingly empty passage when a Hell Knight appeared as Dr. Manning passed and stomps toward him. Daniels turns toward the Hell Knight and fires but the demon brushes off the attack. It swipes Hugo with its sharp claws, slicing into his chest. He screams in pain as limbs are torn. Daniels and Diane run toward the pod, the Hell Knight manifests a blob of plasma and hurls it toward them. The escape pod was meters away, the searing acidic blob closes in. They step inside and Diane slaps the launch command on the control panel, plasma splats against the sliding blast door as the escape vehicle ejects from the station.

The Marines were still locked in combat. Hope for escape was slipping away, the odds of finding an escape pod had to be impossible by now. They moved closer to the portal lab, the Marine hears it humming from ahead and realized that it could be the only way off the station.

He hated the thought of using the portal but he was left with no other choice. Atmospheric level were nearly depleted in the area but the Marine still had a small supply of oxygen in his armour. Martinez was still putting up a vicious fight even without his helmet. A lack of oxygen eventually affects him, his attacks slow and the Marine had the advantage. Martinez passes out from repeated blows and lack of oxygen, the Marine takes his plasma rifle and backpack full of energy cells. Wherever that portal leads, he'll be well prepared for whatever awaits. He runs as fast as he could to the distant passage, a final alarm notification sounds.

"Emergency, atmospheric reserves depleted. Evacuate"

Martinez surfaced from the daze and sees the Marine running down the passage, he gets to his feet and follows behind. The Marine skids to a stop at the passage and sees the teleporter at the far end of the chamber being guarded by demons. He hastily reaches for his pistol and swiftly makes his way through, quickly taking down the Imps in his path. He punches a Cacodemon spinning across the room, he then maneuvers around a Hell Knight and takes charge toward the churning portal. Martinez steps into the test chamber as his sight spins, his vision settles upon the Marine disappearing behind the portal. He steps unsteadily into the lab before collapsing to the floor and his body trembles.

In the escape pod, Major Daniels and Dr. Stone studied the information coming from the station, and sees that life support reserves were depleted. By this time there was no hope of survival.

"Damn, Diane swears, I guess he didn't make it out in time"