The Sludge: Part 5
Abigail could only watch. Her legs failed her, despite her brain screaming at them to move. The alpha sludge stood still, the mound that was its head moved as if surveying the scene.
Absolute sentience. It truly is a living thing, Abigail thought to herself. It was a marvel of black market biology, but still quite a sight to behold. With all of her attention on the newly arrived sludge, Abigail had not been watching the other sludge monsters, or their slow approach towards each other.
Gunfire rang out. The deafening blasts caused Abigail to duck for cover and throw her hands over her ears.
The bullets simply ran right through all of the sludge monsters, causing no damage whatsoever. Perhaps it was panic, or just for the sake of being stubborn, but the gunfire continued despite its inefficiency.
Abigail looked upwards once more. Her only chance was to get out of the upper exits, which meant she had no choice but to head right towards all of the Cell Breach army. Abigail took a deep breath, but she had no reservations. Not anymore.
She pulled herself up to her feet and began to run along the metal walkway. Her eyes flicked between Horn screaming at her lackeys and the monsters slow offensive approach. The sludge were unstoppable, and Abigail watched them out of the corner of her eye as she maneuvered the many walkways.
Horn had realized their guns were doing nothing. She looked around trying to find a solution, but she could not find one. The guns would be useless, and they would exhaust their ammunition before the sludge got to them. Horn shot another grenade from her launcher and watched it enter a sludge beast. It exploded, blowing the top half of the monster into slimy shrapnel. Within seconds, however, the sludge had reformed. As Horn looked back and forth on the platform, an idea formed within her malicious mind.
Horn looked down at the three vats of yellow liquid below her. A smile laced with evil intent stained her face as she sprung into action.
Horn reloaded her launcher and then aimed it at the vat below. One of the guards saw her and tried to stop her. As he put his hands on Horn, she pulled the knife from the man's belt and lodged it into his throat. He spit blood and frantically grabbed at the gaping wound, but to Horn he was just a nuisance. One solid punch to his face sent him over the railing and onto the floor below.
Horn gripped her launcher and aimed below into the vat once more. She fired the launcher, and the grenade sailed into the vat, submerging into the liquid and scraping along the wall of the container before it detonated.
Horn moved quickly to use the guards near her as shields, and was smart to do so. Some of the yellow liquid shot up to the platform from the explosion, landing on a guard Horn had leapt behind.
The guard shrieked and convulsed as his skin became one with the liquid, flowing off of his body and pulling muscle and organs along with it.
His grotesque remains tumbled over the railing in a horrific display.
The vat itself had ruptured along the wall. The yellow acid then moved like a tsunami of instant death.
Abigail watched it all happen before her, and as the acid flooded the warehouse, Abigail's heart sank. The wave of acid crashed into the sludge monsters she had released, and the creatures shuddered in agony. It also engulfed many of the Cell Breach guards, their screams all quick and frantic before dissolving away as the acid continued on.
One of the sludge monsters reached out a slime covered arm, an act of fear and desperation, before it was caught in the undertow and dissolved into nothingness.
The only sludge that managed to avoid the wave was the alpha sludge from the concrete room, the one that had returned. It somehow had reacted quick enough and had pulled itself up on a platform, just avoiding the acid flood.
The platform creaked and swayed, barely holding on from the weight of the sludge. Regardless, the sludge continued to move in Horn's direction.
Horn slapped the shoulder of a guard near her and shouted in his ear.
"Keep it at bay as long as you can. I have a surprise for that fucker, but it's going to take me a minute to get it ready." Horn did not wait for a reply. She ran back to her office, a short jog from the chaos.
Horn kicked the door open and went behind her desk. She touched a button hidden underneath, and the wall of the office began to move. It moved outwards, and then rotated around to reveal a few weapons mounted on the other side.
Horn grabbed another breech-loading launcher, this one much more bulky than the one she had been using, she loaded it with a very peculiar looking grenade round. The shell was transparent, and full of a thick, orange substance.
Abigail had watched Horn leave the scene, and took advantage. She ran up the walkway, and sped up stairs and ramps alike. Abigail's legs began to burn, her muscles now fighting back at every step she took, but Abigail persisted.
She maneuvered around several guards who paid her no mind. Abigail took one brief moment to turn around. Her eyes widened as the sight of the sludge monster was just meters away, careening along a different metal bridge that connected to the main platform Abigail was heading to.
Abigail kept her eyes forward, and did not respond to the screams and shouts of the guards she passed, their deaths now beginning to drown out the sound of gunfire.
The walkway that Abigail was on shuddered and she fell, slamming into the metal and rolling towards the edge. She managed to stop herself but her legs dangled off of the side. She glanced down and saw the open top of another vat of the deadly yellow acid right below her. Adrenaline kicked in and she heaved herself back to her feet and solid ground.
Abigail opened her eyes to see the sludge looming over her. She screamed and threw her arms in front of her to block a blow she knew was coming.
Instead, a strange sound came from behind her.
Thunk!
Abigail saw something impact the sludge, and the monster's slimy arms moved over the entry point, and it began to dig inside itself in a sort of panic. Suddenly the sludge monster fell on its back, and its form shifted and lost its consistency.
"Eat that, you bastard!" Horn's voice was the melody to accompany the death throes of the monster. Abigail watched Horn swing the large launcher back over her shoulder, its one specialized shell discharged, and pulled her original launcher back up and pointed it at the monster.
The monster tried to gather itself, and made one last lunge at Horn. The sludge leaped over Abigail, some slime splashing down on her face and hands. Abigail was shocked by the warmth of the slime, and then moved at a frenzied pace to get it off of her. She looked at the sludge moving towards Horn, and watched it suddenly explode, most of its mass shooting straight upwards and smashing into the bottom of another metallic bridge.
The rest of the form of the sludge immediately lost form, and crashed off of the bridge and into the vat below, dissolving instantly. Abigail was speechless until she remembered she had some of the slime on her still.
She brushed it off of her but noticed it was not dissolving her flesh, it was just a thick, sticky green substance, nothing more. Abigail’s relief was enormous, but short lived. Horn stepped forward, and Abigail's stomach fell like a stone.
"A chemical mixture that renders all digestive and toxic properties of the sludge inert. It also reduces its ability to hold form. Administered through detonation. Hadn't been tested, but I will call that a success." Horn said as she spoke more to the experimental launcher than Abigail.
However, Horn's eyes finally locked dead on to Abigail.
"Quite a clever trick, releasing the other subjects. Unfortunately, you have cost us much today. For that, you will have to pay the price." Horn pulled out a small pistol, and aimed it directly at Abigail. She was expecting to drink in the fear in her eyes before she executed her, but Abigail was not looking at Horn at all. She was looking above her.
Horn looked up as well, and it was her undoing.
The last parts of the green sludge fell from the bridge above, coming down in a slime torrent onto Horn. The green sludge splattered all over her face and head, and the impact eventually knocked her down on her rear end as the last bit of sludge fell on her.
Abigail looked at the disgusting mess that covered Horn, and watched Horn struggle to stand in the slimy muck, Abigail began to laugh.
The whole ordeal had been too much, and if this was her end, Abigail would take whatever little victory she could.
She laughed hysterically as a a slime covered Horn got to her feet, and held up the pistol once more.
"Laugh while you can, bitch! Your time is up!" Horn shout at Abigail. Abigail's laugher stopped suddenly, and once more she was not looking at Horn.
"Not falling for it this time..." Horn had begun to say, until a heavy force hit her from behind. A smaller, but still quite substantial form of the sludge monster still remained, and wrapped its arms around Horn.
Horn dropped the pistol and struggled to get free, but the sludge did not relent. Abigail observed in static horror as the sludge stumbled back and forth, eventually slamming into the railing. Its form could hold no more, and the sludge broke in half, the top half still clinging to Horn as both tumbled over the railing and into the acid vat below.
Horn screamed as they hit the surface, but the acid filled her mouth as she sank into the vat, her voice silenced for a final time.
Abigail slowly stood up and stared down into the vat. Ripples cut across the acid as the bodies sunk below. A few bubbles came to the surface before bursting, then the liquid became still. The voices of guards began to break into Abigail’s attention and she pulled herself away from the view, hurrying to the helipad exit.
She got clear of the building as was still on the grounds of the huge Cell Breach campus. Abigail had no idea where to go, where to be safe. She looked around, trying to determine the best course of action. Before her mind could find the answer, a sudden rush of sound descended from above her.
Helicopters. Several of them swarmed the entirety of the area. Abigail found herself within the spotlight of one, and she fell down into a sitting position.
The helicopter landed near her, and Abigail awaited the next Cell Breach horror to come to her and take her away. Instead a man left the helicopter and ran to her. He knelt down, and gently put his hand on her shoulder. He produced a badge, and showed it to Abigail.
FBI.
Abigail's emotions overtook her, and she burst into tears. She reached up and hugged the man, who awkwardly returned it as the rest of the calvary arrived.
As the cacophony of aircraft landed outside, within the facility, a slime green hand burst out from the acid and slowly pulled its steaming form out of the vat.
The sludge had survived.
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