Alec Rickson:
"Best I can do, considering the circumstances." Gabriel told him as he finished wrapping his wound up with bandages.
"Hmm..." Alec inspected his injury and it seemed to be well patched.
After Alec accidentally shoots Garner, he is pushed into a surgical room by the guy that was accompanying the fallen soldier. Gabriel was his name, and to be completely honest, he gave Alec the creeps.
All dressed in black, trench coat, sword on his hip. He looked like one of those internet edgelords that liked filming themselves in their mother's basement.
Thankfully, he actually knew first aid and was able to patch Alec up. There was medical equipment inside of the surgical room, so he was able to disinfect his cut, suture it and bandage it up. He even managed to reset his shoulder.
"You lost a considerable amount of blood and you have a fever, so you better sit tight for now." Gabriel spoke as he began to look around him.
"How...mm..." The pain was still considerable, they didn't have any painkillers, so he would have to put up with it for now. "How many of those things are there?"
"Too many for me to handle in a narrow space like that while helping you move." Gabriel was quick to respond. It was true, Alec would need help moving around and it genuinely angered him. "But if I don't find any other way out of this room, we might have to risk it."
Alec sighed and looked at his Beretta M9 that was right next to him. If his arm wasn't wounded, he wouldn't have dropped his LMG and they could have just filled those things with holes through the door. "Even if we do get out, how the hell are we going to get away?"
"In my RV that is parked near the entrance." Gabriel was quick to answer.
"You got an RV?" Alex couldn't believe his ears.
"I wouldn't waste my time coming here if I was on foot." Gabriel was quick to declare. "Speaking of which, besides the other Marine, was there anyone else with you?"
Those words made him remember Andreas, and by his choice of words, he probably saw him. "You saw Andreas?"
"Cracked skull, no way he could have survived." Gabriel spoke bluntly but truthfully, since Alec already knew that but wanted confirmation.
"We were with the group that was riding on a bus but we got separated after those crazy people came after us." Andreas wanted to go after them, but Rickson grabbed him and dragged him away because the idiot was going to get himself killed by acting like a hero.
"Any idea where the people on the bus went?" Gabriel asked. "A direction or maybe a building?"
"I saw some of them running towards a movie theater, but I didn't really see whether they got in or not." Alec was too busy shooting those things to care.
"It doesn't matter, Jonas can decide whether he wants to risk his ass searching that." Gabriel seemed to share his opinion on looking for survivors.
"Jonas?" Alec recognized that one.
"I bumped into Jonas, Catherine and Stephanie on the road." Gabriel revealed. "Ended up giving them a ride here."
Alec wasn't a fan of those three. Jonas was a classic juice headed idiot that thinks he's tough. Catherine was an annoying bitch that loved to put her nose on other people's business. Stephanie was a worthless doormat that clearly wasn't right in the head.
Both of them were suddenly distracted by the sounds coming from the door. They weren't pushing or forcing the door open, but they could tell that they were still on the other side.
"What the hell are they doing?" Alec asked in confusion.
"Waiting." Gabriel responded. "While they do retain some level of intelligence, it is mostly limited to follow very direct orders in their most literal sense." Which actually made sense since Alec did notice this kind of odd behavior from them. "In this case, their orders are probably "destroy all humans" or "capture humans to add to the symbiotic mass"." Gabriel suggested.
"Symbiotic mass?" Alec was confused with that. "You mean that weird slime that they put the corpses on?"
"Those people are very much alive and will be kept alive in a weird biological life support until the Hive finishes using them." Gabriel explained.
Alec assumes that the Hive is that big alien monster that attacked them when they arrive in the city. "Using them for what?" That was the question that he wanted the answer to.
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "That symbiotic mass or "weird slime" as you called it is used as a protective layer that the Hive uses to sustain her eggs until her babies are born." Gabriel explained. "And before you ask, that thing that you were running away from was one of her babies."
His choice of words immediately sent shivers down Alec's spine. "One?!"
"When an egg hatches, six of them come out of it." Gabriel revealed it. "I killed one yesterday and another today, meaning that there are four more around."
"Fuck..." One of those things was already terrifying enough, four more of them. "We need to get the fuck out of here."
"Obviously, but there is only one exit." Gabriel revealed as he pointed at another door on the left side of the room that was completely blocked by rubble from the collided helicopter from the floor above. "So unless we find an alternative way out, we might have to shoot through them."
Alec heard him loud and clear, but he knew he wouldn't be much use in a shootout since he wasn't exactly in good shape.
Gabriel began to walk around, inspecting the area for any other opening.
Stephanie Gotts:
"That... Whatever the hell that was , it can't be good!" Jonas spoke in visible worry.
"You wanna try yelling a bit louder?" Mr. Shelby asked sarcastically. "But yeah, I agree with you on that."
Catherine was rubbing her eyes. "Gabriel may know what it was, so we have no choice but wait."
Stephanie was sitting in front of one of the pillars, hugging her legs and waiting. What they saw sent everyone into a deep state of worry. Having no idea what it was, they have no choice but to wait for Gabriel to come back to ask him.
The cold was getting worse and the wind was making her shiver. I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, I hate this.... To say that experiencing the comfort, warmth and safety of Gabriel's RV made their precarious situation even more difficult to bear would be an understatement.
"Hey..." Suddenly, Dakota approached and kneeled down. "You okay?"
"No..." Stephanie didn't see a point in denying. "It's too open, the wind just keeps getting stronger." The gusts of wind that came their way only emphasize that fact.
"You're shivering." Dakota pointed out in concern. Before she stood up and moved to her tent, where she grabbed a blanket and wrapped Stephanie on it.
"T-thanks." Stephanie really needed it.
"The winds are just going to keep getting colder." Dakota spoke up. "If we don't get out of this city, we at least gotta try to find a place with walls." Otherwise they might die of hypothermia because of the increasing cold.
"Do you think they found anything?" Catherine asked them.
"A dead body most likely." Mr. Shelby told her. "I don't know about you, but that scrawny little wimp didn't strike me as competent."
"Gabriel will be more interested in the meds." Jonas was quick to add. "Look, I can already tell that Gabe is self-serving-"
"No shit," Mr. Shelby interrupted. "I don't think you understand but it's usually the self-serving assholes that live the longest when shit hits the fan." Then he looked around. "And this is a massive pile of shit that hit an airplane fan."
"I agree." Catherine seemed to be on the same page. "While Gabriel is definitely capable. He's also unreliable because he will prioritize himself over anyone in the group."
Stephanie frowned after hearing that, not liking at all what Catherine just said about Gabriel after everything he did for them.
"Maybe..." Jonas rubbed his head. "But it's kind of obvious that we need him more than he needs us."
Stephanie nodded in agreement since it was true.
"Which is something that needs to change as quickly as possible because he will probably ditch us the second it becomes inconvenient to him." Catherine harshly replied to Jonas's statement despite it being true."
That sent a shill down Stephanie's spine. No! No! No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No! The thought of being stuck in a place like that without Gabriel around was beyond terrifying.
"We need to get the cars, it's the only way we're getting the hell out of this city." Jonas pointed out the obvious.
"Good luck doing that with that godforsaken thing roaming around that area." Mr. Shelby rebuffed. "I ain't gonna be much use if we need to run around and I don't think any of them is gonna volunteer either." He pointed towards the others in that makeshift camp, who were shivering in the cold.
"He's right." Catherine agreed. "We're gonna need at least three or four people to get as many cars as possible," She placed her rifle over her shoulder. "Otherwise it's just an unnecessary risk."
Stephanie just sighed, because it was literally the exact same thing that happened right before those monsters attacked them. Just arguing, fighting and no one coming to a decision.
It was another thing she liked about Gabriel. He came up with a plan without any of this bickering.
"It looks like we're gonna be stuck here for a while." Dakota pointed out.
"Yeah..." Stephanie looked down with a sad face in response.
"Mind if I ask," She gently touched Stephanie's face. The bruise that Chris made on her was better but still visible. "What happened to your face?"
"Chris punched me to use me as bait to get away from the monsters." Stephanie was still bitter about that, especially since she tried to help him.
"What?" Dakota couldn't believe her ears. "Are you serious?"
"Yes." Stephanie confirmed. "I didn't die because Gabriel saved me and carried me to his RV." Remembering that caused a small blush that appeared on her cheeks, she did her best to hide it.
"Any idea what his deal is ?" Dakota, thankfully, didn't notice her blush.
"What do you mean?" She didn't understand the question.
"I get the feeling that he is not exactly helping us for the goodness of his heart, so I'm curious to know what his motivation is." Dakota explained since Gabriel's reluctance has been painfully obvious so far.
"Well..." She really wanted to deny that claim but unfortunately, Dakota was right. Gabriel wasn't really helping them for the goodness of his heart, he was doing it out of self-interest. "He needs a place to stay until winter passes." That was his sole motivation so far.
"We all need that, because the cold is just gonna get worse." That was the pure and raw truth of their situation. They are barely getting by with how cold it is right now and only god knows how much worse is going to get.
"Ummm.... Hey," Suddenly, Jonas awkwardly approached them. "I was wondering- "
"If this is gonna be another one of your attempts to talk about our dead relationship," Dakota angrily stood up, completely lacking any patience towards Jonas. "Piss off!"
"Babe, loo-" Jonas tried to touch her shoulder but she pushed his hand away and moved to get away from him. "I just wanna talk!"
Stephanie watched as Jonas followed Dakota around attempting to speak with her. She just sat there watching them. Wondering what exactly did Jonas do for their relationship to fall apart like that.
Alec Rickson:
"What the fuck is happening?" Alec asked Gabriel.
While Gabriel was searching for a way out of that room. Out of complete nowhere, they started to hear loud noises coming from the other side of the door.
"Fuck..." Gabriel searched the room for something. Finding it near the operation table he immediately rushed to grab it.
"Hey!" Alec didn't like that at all. "Wha-"
"Unless you have a death wish, I suggest you shut the fuck up right now. " Gabriel spoke calmly as he grabbed something from the operation table. An oxygen tank.
Alec opened his mouth to speak again, but closed again after hearing a loud noise coming from behind him. That was accompanied by a tremor that seemed to affect the whole room. Causing Alec to instinctively stand up and step away from the wall.
"Is it..." Alec had an idea of what it might be, but was afraid to say it.
"Yeah... It came to retrieve her baby's body." Gabriel confirmed his fear. "Look," He approached him while holding the oxygen tank. "We're gonna have to fight our way out. Otherwise the Hive might collapse this entire building to retrieve her baby."
Alec knew that he was right, because the building was already compromised from the helicopter's crash. Add the sheer weight of that creature and the building will fall apart on them. "Fuck." He held his pistol and prepared to engage.
"That M249 in the middle of the corridor." Gabriel asked him about his light machine gun. "How much ammo?"
"Around fifty rounds." Alec made an educated guest, but there was still a considerable amount of ammo in it.
Another tremor ran through the room, stronger this time. Dust fell from the ceiling in thin streams, giving the impression that the building will collapse on top of them at any moment.
Alec tightened his grip on the Beretta. "That thing's not just walking around out there, is it?"
"No." Gabriel didn't even look at him. "It's digging."
Alec felt his stomach drop. "That's supposed to make me feel better?"
"It should make you move faster." Gabriel replied calmly.
Another impact. Louder. Closer. Something heavy scraped against concrete somewhere beyond the walls.
Alec pushed himself upright, shoulder screaming in protest. "So what's the plan?" He was hoping that there was one. "Because 'sit here and die' isn't really doing it for me."
Gabriel was hoisting the tank like it didn't weigh anything. "We make them stop waiting."
Alec frowned. "What?"
Gabriel finally looked at him. Calm. Focused. Like none of this bothered him. "They're stacked on the other side of that door, following simple directives. That makes them predictable."
"And?" Alec didn't understand where he was going with this.
"And predictable things panic when something unexpected happens." Gabriel explained.
Another tremor hit. Hard enough this time that Alec had to steady himself against the wall.
"Fuck this," Alec muttered. "Just tell me what you're doing."
"When I open this door, they'll push in." Gabriel walked to the door, stopping just beside it where he set the oxygen tank down gently, then glanced back at Alec. "That's what they've been told to do." He adjusted his grip on the tank. "So we give them something to run into."
Alec stared at him. "...That's your plan?"
Gabriel's expression didn't change. "You got a better one?"
Alec exhaled. "...No."
"Good." Gabriel nodded once. "On the floor, to the right of the doorway... there's a metal tray." He pointed towards the door. "When I kick this out, you shoot the valve." He pointed towards the valve. "Not the tank, valve."
Alec blinked. "That's… gonna do what, exactly?"
Gabriel grabbed his Ithaca 37 from the table, racking it once with a clean, mechanical sound. "Turn it into a rocket."
That actually made sense in a terrible, probably suicidal kind of way.
"...Right." Alec shifted, raising the Beretta despite the protest from his shoulder. "And if I miss?"
Gabriel glanced at him, already moving toward the door. "Then we died trying."
"Fantastic." Alec really didn't like this.
"When I open that door, you don't shoot immediately." He instructed him.
Alec blinked. "Are you serious?"
"Yes." Gabriel's tone didn't change. "You shoot when I tell you to."
Alec hesitated, then gave a stiff nod. "Fine. But if this goes to shit-"
"It will," Gabriel cut him off. "Just not for us."
That didn't inspire confidence but Alec had no choice but to comply, so he stood a few steps away from the door with his Beretta M9 ready.
Gabriel grabbed his Ithaca 37 from his back, racking it once. The sound was sharp, mechanical, final. Then he nudged the door open just a few inches.The noise outside shifted instantly. Scraping. Shuffling. Movement right up against the gap.
Alec felt his pulse spike but his hand was ready to pull the trigger.
Gabriel didn't wait. He shoved the oxygen tank through the opening, hard, sending it rolling into the corridor. "Now!"
Alec fired and the first round punched into the tank's valve.
For a split second, nothing happened.
Then the world snapped.
It shot forward in a violent, spinning burst, blasting a white plume behind it as it ricocheted down the corridor like a possessed missile. It slammed into one of the creatures with a sickening crunch, tore through another, then bounced off the wall and kept going.The confined hallway amplified everything—the noise, the chaos, the sudden disarray. Creatures staggered, some thrown off balance, others turning instinctively toward the moving object.
Gabriel then opened the door wide open and came across all of those Hive Zombies who were distracted by that oxygen tank. With the shotgun up, Gabriel took out nearly all of the Hive Zombies that were standing on the other side of the door by using a Push-Pull technique to deliver rapid fire. The shotgun roared, the extended tube letting him cycle rounds without pause in tight, brutal blasts that shredded anything still standing in the immediate path. He worked the pump fast, controlled, and efficiently. "Move." He stepped out while reloading his shotgun after.
"Move!" He snapped.
They pushed into the corridor, only to catch a glimpse of even more Hive Zombies entering through the door that leads to the stairs. Forcing Alec to step back into the room and to Gabriel to run to the room on the other side to take cover.
Gabriel crouched down and began to reload his shotgun.
Alec leaned on the wall and began to fire from cover with his pistol.
Once Gabriel finished reloading, he reached inside his coat's pocket and pulled out a small pocket mirror that he used to check the hostiles without getting out of cover. Once he took a very quick look, he placed it back inside his pocket and stood up.
Instead of opening fire however, Gabriel instead turned around and walked all the way to the window that was at the end of the room. Smashing the glass using the stock of the shotgun and unceremoniously passing through it.
"Hey!" Alec called out to him as he watched Gabriel move to the right and disappear from his line of sight. "Motherfucker..."
The Marine realized that he just got ditched. "Goddamnit!" He cursed as the Hive Zombies began to open fire, with the bullets hitting the wall, forcing Alec to re-enter the room. As he did, he noticed Garner's dead body and the M16A4 on the floor.
He contemplated reaching for it, but the gunfire was still coming. "Mmmr!" The tremors were actually getting worse with dirt coming out of the roof.
Once the gunfire stopped, in an act of desperation. Alec charged forward and grabbed Garner's gun from the floor. Rapidly moving his head back and seeing those Hive Zombies reloading their guns and approaching him. So he held up the M16A4 with his uninjured arm and prepared to open fire.
Only for Gabriel to actually step out of the room that was the closest to the stairwell. Prompting Alec to actually get on the floor as Gabriel began to blast them all from behind using a stable stance and rotating the targets in a turret fashion in controlled firing arcs.
It only took a few shots for them to drop dead but strangely , he couldn't see any blood despite some of them losing body parts from the shotgun blast.
Gabriel reloaded his shotgun once again and searched the floor for something, which turned out to be a magazine. Then he slinged the shotgun in his shoulder before approaching Alec.
"What are yo-" Before Alec could ask him, Gabriel grabbed the M16A4 from his hand, removed the STANAG magazine, dropped the M16A4 on the floor and pulled a M4A1 from his back. Loading the magazine in it and holding it with both hands.
"Come on." He assumed a squared-off stance and moved towards the stairs.
This guy had training, it's obvious. Alec thought after everything he saw so far. "Mrr..." The pain is getting worse, but he had to pull through, so he forced himself to follow Gabriel. But not before making a quick stop to grab his M249, slinging it into his back. He didn't care if he had to drag himself, he ain't leaving it behind.
Slowly, he moved himself towards the door that leads to the stairwell. Where Gabriel was standing near the door, peaking into the stairs with his assault rifle ready.
However, another tremor came and it was the strongest one yet.
"Ah shit!" Forcing Gabriel to move back as the rubble began to fall from above, which only damaged the already weakened structure of the building even more. Culminating in the worst possible outcome, which was the stairwell collapsing.
"No!" Alex screamed as the steps fell down, essentially trapping them on that floor.
"Great," Gabriel turned around and moved in the opposite direction. "Looks like it's the hard way."
"What?" Alec didn't understand what he meant.
Gabriel walked past him without giving him the satisfaction of an answer, walking down the corridor. The tremors are now even worse and he could hear sounds of demolition, with the certainty that the building is falling apart even more apparent.
"Mmm..." Alec followed Gabriel until he turned into a corner.
"Seriously?" He heard Gabriel speak.
Upon reaching the corner as well, he saw what he meant. "Jesus..."
Right in front of them was an open door that led to the elevator shaft. However, there was a dead body in it, a rotting corpse of a woman with her upper half laying on the floor and her lower half being nowhere to be found. But due to her position, they can have a very good idea that her lower body went down with the elevator.
Gabriel sighed, before he approached the corpse while slinging the assault rifle into his back. "My sincerest apologies, ma'am." Then he spoke respectfully before he gently pulled the corpse away from the door and took a good look down.
"Seriously?" Alec knew exactly what he was planning to do.
"Unless you wanna try your luck jumping through the window." Gabriel spoke sarcastically. He peeked inside, before he unceremoniously reached for something.
"Hey!" Alec peeked inside as well and noticed Gabriel grabbing on to a small maintenance ladder on the side.
"Keep up or fall behind, it makes no difference to me whether you live or die." Gabriel bluntly told him as he began to climb down the ladder. "But you got something I want, so kindly keep up if you can."
Alec grunted in frustration. Mostly because if the situations were reversed, he would probably do the same thing. "Fuck this... Just fuck..." Having no other choice, Alec reached for the ladder with his uninjured hand and carefully placed his feet on it while gripping it tightly. "Mmm..." He grunted as he carefully climbed down, using every bit of energy in his body to do it and the weight of the LMG that was hanging in his back wasn't helping.
Suddenly, another big tremor occured. This one worse than the previous one and it nearly caused Alec to lose his grip. Something that only made it worse was an incredibly loud and disgusting sounding noise that was coming from the first floor.
"Ignore it and keep moving." Gabriel told him as he continued to climb down.
Alec kept moving, but ignoring was not an option. Especially since they were heading right towards it.
After what felt like an eternity of struggle. They reached the top of the elevator that was on the first floor. With Gabriel carefully stepping on it and reaching for the elevator's roof hatch. Alec also stepped on it, panting heavily and feeling like was about to pass out at any moment. But it wasn't over yet, as Gabriel jumped down the hatch and Alec simply followed behind him in a desperate need to leave that place.
So he tried to carefully descend, but he was so exhausted that he ended up falling down with his knees buckling and him falling on his ass.
Gabriel, who was trying to forcibly open the elevator door with his bare hands. Something that should be extremely difficult but the elevator seemed to be damaged enough to facilitate it. After a bit, the elevator doors came apart with a strained grunt, metal groaning as it bent just enough to give. The gap widened inch by inch until he could wedge his fingers in and pry it open. Dust sifted down from above.
He leaned out, scanning.
."Come on." He turned around and helped Alec up, in a human crunch fashion and helped him move towards the elevator door. He hated that but he was at his limit, so all he could do was accept the aid.
Once they were out of the elevator, they simply made their way to the left in order to reach the reception. The second they did reach it, however, they came across an awful sight.
Alec widened his eyes in horror when he saw that big monster from the street inside of the hospital. With it's disgusting and smelly body almost all the way into the hospital but it's head was completely lunged into the wall that led to the stairwell for some reason.
Gabriel moved his head and stared into his eyes with an expression of pure focus. He had really deep green eyes that were hard to ignore, especially with his pale skin and black clothing highlighting them. He tilted his head backwards, signalling him that they had to go back. And by his expression, he could tell that it was extremely risky since that thing was making extremely loud noises that indicated a deep state of agitation.
There was nothing to argue since that thing was covering the exit anyway, so they had no other choice. So they turned around, only to be startled by Hive Zombies coming their way.
"Shit!" Alec ended up saying out loud as three men armed with a crowbar, baseball bat and machete charged at them. With the one with the machete closing the distance and attacking them.
Gabriel shoved Alec aside and slipped the strike, the blade cutting air where his head had been. Then the Hive Zombie tried swinging it's Machete at Gabriel, but he caught his arm, locking it under his shoulder, and slammed him hard into the wall. The one holding the baseball bat came at him as well but Gabriel pivoted and drove a sidekick into his chest, sending him stumbling back. Before he tore the machete free from the first man's grip and drove it straight through his skull.
The last one holding the crowbar attempted to close the distance and hit Gabriel from behind. Only for Alec to pull out his Beretta M9 and fire three rounds to his chest. Before he fired a headshot into the one that Gabriel had kicked when he saw him getting up from the floor.
It wasn't much of a victory however, as the building began to tremble even more violently then before and the sounds of that creature could be heard by the two of them, especially since they could see it's disgusting body moving backwards. The deep and violent tremor rolled through the corridor as the sound of tearing concrete followed, then a massive impact that made the ceiling shudder.
"Come on, we got to move." Gabriel grabbed Alec and stood him up, before the two rushed down that corridor in hopes of reaching a emergency exit. Alec struggled but Gabriel helped him, with him looking back and seeing that monster face looking directly at them as it practically smashed it's head through the corridor, concrete and rebar giving way like brittle bone. It shoved forward, dragging its massive body through spaces far too small for it, tearing the structure apart as it came. The ceiling buckled, chunks dropping in its wake.
Alec regretted glancing back.
Because it was looking straight at them.
"Don't look." Gabriel said, hauling him forward as another section of ceiling came down just behind them.
Forcing the two men to stumble their way out of there as quickly as they could as the rubble began to fall on them. Reaching a corner as the monster keeps violently pushing towards them and destroying more and more of the structure.
"Look!" Alec yelled as he noticed a broken window at the end of that corridor.
xxxxxx
Glass blown outward. Cold air rushing in. So they pushed toward it and then the floor jolted again.
A loud metallic crack echoed from somewhere ahead.
Gabriel saw it first as he quickly moved his head to get a better look.
The fire exit door just past the window, half-crushed. The frame warped inward, pinned by fallen debris. There was no way it was opening.
"Not that way." He said immediately, already turning his head, scanning.
Even more impact behind them. It was getting closer and Alec's breathing was becoming erratic.
The wall split further as the creature forced more of itself through.
Gabriel's eyes locked onto a side passage a dim, marked by a sign barely visible through dust and smoke.
Alec also tried to see what it was and widened his eyes when he saw it clearly.
{AMBULANCE ACCESS}
"This way." Gabriel declared.
They veered off, boots slipping on wet tile as they cut into the narrower corridor. The air changed, it was cooler and moving, which was a good sign.
The tremors worsened.
Ceiling panels dropped.
One clipped Alec's shoulder and sent him staggering. But Gabriel caught him before he hit the ground, dragging him forward. "Don't fall back."
A disgusting sound, louder now, almost on top of them.
The corridor ahead opened into a wider loading area.
The Ambulance bay.
The rolling door at the far end was half-open, bent off its track. Daylight spilled in through the gap.
But not nearly enough.
So they pushed harder.
Behind them, the wall at the corridor entrance exploded inward as the creature forced through, tearing the opening wider with sheer mass. It's movement sent a shock through the structure and something above them gave.
A massive beam cracked loose from the ceiling.
"Oh Shit!" Gabriel shoved Alec forward as it slammed down behind them, hitting at an angle. The impact shook the entire bay, debris cascading in its wake.
For a second.
Everything held.
The fallen beam and rubble formed a jagged barrier between them and the creature, which slammed into it almost immediately. The obstruction buckled, but didn't fully give.
Not yet.
"Move!" Gabriel yelled.
They stumbled to the door. Gabriel grabbed the bent metal edge of the shutter and heaved. It screeched, resisting, then lifted just enough.
Alec dropped low and crawled through, struggling but managing to drag himself over broken concrete.
Gabriel stayed a second longer, bracing the door. But Alec was able to see back and he noticed that the barrier was failing as the creature forced part of it's head through the debris, splitting it wider. So Gabriel slipped out and let the door crash down behind him.
They didn't stop until they were clear of the overhang, out into open air.
Behind them, the hospital groaned and another collapse followed. Loud, heavy, final enough to send a cloud of dust bursting out through the ambulance bay.
Alec bent over, gasping.
Gabriel stayed upright, eyes fixed on the building, waiting.
Watching.
Making sure it didn't come through again.
"Come on, my RV is on the other side." Gabriel declared as he immediately ran away.
Alec sighed, took a deep breath and followed him.