Radioactive: Chapter Two

Radioactive

Chapter Two

~Haunted Houses and Monsters~

Part Two

Kiri followed the blood trail from the hole in the ceiling to the second floor room. The walls in the room were covered in claw marks and blood smears. The floor opened up to Kiri’s right. A small notice appeared in her vision. The DNA from the blood sample belonged to the latest missing person, Mr. Granger. He disappeared after stating to his wife that he was going to take a walk and would be home soon. Kiri sighed. He wasn’t coming home as he intended.

Her attention shifted to the claw marks on the walls. There appeared to be a struggle of some kind in the room. Kiri scanned one of the claw marks and put it against her vast database. She didn’t find any direct matches. Kiri filed the information to use on a later date. Whatever made the scratches had five claws, awfully sharp by the looks of things.

Curious she brought up a virtual schematic of the house. She scowled when she didn’t see Kaiba’s tracking number come up where he said he’d be. Instead of in the basement he was below the house in what looked like an air pocket that the house was almost on top of. Fortunately she rarely listened to Kaiba’s order not to monitor him. On more than one occasion, he had bitten off more than he could chew. Naturally he would insist that he would have been fine.

A red dot appeared on the screen labeled UO for Unidentified Object. It seemed to be pursuing Kaiba’s blue symbol in a predatory manor. Kiri glanced at the claw marks once more.

“And he asks why his father insists I come along on these missions,” Kiri stated.

She jumped through the hole to the first floor and walked toward where she left the briefcase. Her eyes started to glow purple. Ones and zeros crossed her visions on the screen. When they disappeared there was a hole where all the zeros had bunched together. With her briefcase, Kiri jumped into the hole.

Kaiba landed on a pile of bones. He stumbled forward, releasing his grip on his flashlight and ending up on his hands and knees. The flashlight struck the ground and went out almost instantly. Kaiba suddenly found himself alone in the dark. For a moment, he forced himself to breath evenly to calm himself. Nothing ever got accomplished by panicking. Then he started feeling around in the dark for his flashlight.

There was a sound behind him and Kaiba looked over his shoulder. Naturally he couldn’t see anything in this darkness. He forced himself to remain calm and levelheaded. It was just loose dirt falling from the hole. Nevertheless he found his hands searching more franticly for the flashlight. One of his fingers touched the butt of the flashlight, pushing it further away. The sound of something sharp scrapping against the rock rang out in the darkness. There was no rationalizing it anymore, there was something behind him. He grabbed the flashlight and tried to turn it on. It wouldn’t.

Kaiba swore and got to his feet, facing whatever threat was after him. He hit the head of the flashlight against the palm of his hand hoping to bring the device back to life. There was a low growl as Kaiba tried to make the flashlight work. He took slow even steps backwards, feeling his way through a place he couldn’t see. Once again he hit the flashlight against his palm and is slowly flickered to life. He pointed it in toward the darkness.

He jumped slightly, not expecting what he saw to be so close. At about four feet away was the mysterious predator. It looked part human in some appearances but was covered in green scales except for its face. Its face looked human by all means. It was around the neck that the scales started appearing, transitioning from skin to the green scales. Black claws extended about three inches from its fingers. The claws on its toes were much shorter. Its tail waved low to the ground. It appeared to be made out of segments and three blades shot out at the tip. Neural spines extended from its back at about two inches apart. They weren’t that tall but they were noticeable.

The creature growled. Its eyes looked large and innocent as the tapetum lucidum reflected the light of the flashlights light back. Strands of white hair fell over the creatures face. It looked at Kaiba with curiosity and interest. Kaiba tilted his head slightly and the creature followed the motion.

“So you’re what’s been following me all this time,” Kaiba spoke.

The creature cooed or something close to it. Kaiba took another step back, looking behind him a brief moment. The air pocket was wide and expansive. When he looked back at the creature, the creature had decreased the distance between them by a foot. The creature cooed again.

“I think it’s safe to say that it’s better if you don’t get much closer,” Kaiba took a step back.

The creature tilted it head and crept closer, maintaining the new distance. Kaiba nearly tripped backwards over some remains. He looked down at the remains, only half eaten by the creature. Kaiba felt his breath get caught in his throat. Suddenly the creature screeched, bearing sharp fangs. It lunged at Kaiba.

Kaiba raised his arm to defend himself. He felt the creatures fangs dig deep into his arm. Kaiba fell backwards at the impact dropping the flashlight. This time the light remained on. He tried to crawl backwards as the creature tried to bite through his arm. Kaiba took his other arm; a blade pierced his through the skin of his wrist. The blade was six inches long. Kaiba thrust his arm into the creature’s abdomen, the blade digging deep into the flesh. The creature cried out in pain, releasing Kaiba’s arm. It retreated into the shadows.

Kaiba quickly got to his feet. Blades extended from both wrists. He looked around, the light from the flashlight only provided uneven light. Kaiba looked into the shadows. He knew that the creature was still out there, waiting for another opportunity to attack. The blades extended to about a foot. His eyes scanned the darkness. He heard something behind him. Acting quickly, Kaiba threw his arm in a wide arch and pivoted around.

He cut the creatures face as it lunged at him. The creature fell to the ground. Kaiba took his other hand, the blade sharp and ready, and thrust it in the creature’s chest. The creature moved in time and the blade struck the creature in the upper right shoulder. Angered, the creature’s tail lashed out towards him. The three blades dug deeply into Kaiba’s back. He cried out in pain.

Kaiba pulled his arm back and severed the creature’s tail. He stepped back and tried to pull the three blades of the tail from his back. The creature turned its body and attacked again. Kaiba darted to one side. He grabbed what was left of the tail and pulled it out of his back. The creature turned toward him again and started to attack. It leaped and lunged at him but suddenly it whimpered and was thrown to one side. It struck a rock, a silver blade dagger sticking in its leg. Kaiba turned to where the dagger came from. Kiri stood there, an annoyed look in her eyes.

“You couldn’t wait until I was done with examining the first and second floor?” Kiri asked.

“Can we talk about this a little later? We have a little bit of an issue,” Kaiba muttered.

“Would you like your briefcase now or later?” Kiri held the briefcase out.

The creature growled anger at the new comer.

“Later! Later! I’ll look at it later!” Kaiba shouted impatiently.

“Yes, sir,” Kiri put the briefcase down.

She shifted herself into combat mode, redirecting most of her energy to her weaponry, arms and legs. The creature charged at her. Kiri stepped to one side, grabbed one of the creature’s arms and threw it into the opposite wall. The creature struck the wall. Kiri charged at it, her fists glowed a light purple due to her routing additional energy to her hands. She punched the wall where the creature was just moments before. Acting quickly she pivoted and punched the wall repeatedly following the creature as it tried to escape along the wall.

Dust, dirt and rocks fell off the wall. The creature screamed as Kiri pursued it. It ran away from the wall and Kiri was hot on its heels. She extended her right arm. A long compartment opened along her arm. A sword appeared and a machine slipped the sword down her arm and the hilt into her hand. She focused her energy in to her legs and jumped. Kiri pointed the blade down and landed just inches off her target. The creature darted out of the way the last moment. Unfazed, Kiri transitioned into her next attack. She took the sword and threw it narrowly missing the creature as it started to scale the walls.

Kiri straightened both her arms. Compartments in both opened revealing two silver handguns. Once they were placed into her hands she aimed and shot at the creature. She struck the creature several times and it lost its footing, falling back to the ground. There were two clicks as all her bullets were spent. The creature rolled over from its back and ran toward her. Kiri dropped the guns and stood still. The creature rushed at her and leaped. Out of nowhere Kaiba rushed passed her. The blade of his right arm was extended to three feet. He cut the creature from its opened mouth and cut through its entire body.

The creature’s snarl was cut short as its death came. Blood sprayed all over Kiri as she stood there unmoving. Kaiba breathed heavily, blood stained the blade. He relaxed his arm and the blade retracted back into his arm. Kiri dropped her human cover. Her body glowed a nebulous purple. Soon after, her body returned to its original clean self, clothes, appearance and all.

“What now?” Kiri asked as she walked over to the brief case.

“Bag the body and the rest of the tail. I’ll have Jekyll do an autopsy,” Kaiba stated.

Kiri set the briefcase on its side and opened it. A laptop computer lay secured in the case. She pulled out a black bag from one of the pockets it the case and walked over to the creature’s body. The foundation gave off a loud creaking sound.

“We should get out of here before this whole thing finally comes down,” Kaiba closed the case and waited for Kiri to finish with the body.

Together they made their way out of the house. Once they stepped outside the house fell into the abyss. Dust and dirt stirred up into the air, hiding the world in in a hazy fog. Kiri placed the body in the trunk and Kaiba got into the passenger’s seat. He opened the briefcase and turned on the computer. Kaiba wrote a report just as Kiri was getting in the car.

“You’re bleeding all over, sir,” Kiri stated as she sat in the driver’s seat.

“I’m fine,” Kaiba smirked, “The sooner we get home the sooner I can get this looked at.”

“We’re going to the airport with you looking like that?” Kiri started the car.

Kaiba closed the laptop, “I was thinking we could take the Midnight Train instead.”

Yes, sir,” Kiri pulled away from the curb leaving the destroyed home behind.