Page 15 of Psycho Pack

His footsteps shake the whole corridor as he thunders toward us. I dive left as Plague rolls right. Thane opens up with his rifle, but the bullets just spark off the monster's armored parts and barely seem to faze his scarred flesh.

I scramble to my feet and sprint toward the lab equipment. If bullets won't work, maybe some spicy-ass chemicals will. I startgrabbing bottles, going for the shit I know is the most explosive and dumping them into a big glass beaker.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Plague yells at me as he ducks under a swipe from those giant talons.

"Science!" I bellow back, dumping some nasty-looking yellow powder into my cocktail. "What happens if I mix this hydro-whatever acid with this green stuff?"

"Very bad things!" Plague shouts, horror in his voice.

"PERFECT!"

I give the mixture a good swirl and hurl it at the monster's back. The beaker shatters over the iron spikes, spraying smoking liquid all over his scarred body. The monster roars as the chemicals sear his skin.

"Fuck yeah! Come to daddy!" I yell, smacking my chest. "Got more where that came from, Nightmare Wraith!"

"Don't ever call yourself a daddy again," Plague snaps as he rolls past me, narrowly avoiding getting crushed. Why is everything he does so unnecessarily fancy and coordinated?

"Aww, you love it," I shoot back. "I felt how hard you got when I was chokin' your ass."

Plague's lip curls like he's gonna kill me if the monster doesn't first.

The monster's mechanical arm crashes down, pulverizing the concrete where I was standing a second ago. I dive between his legs, coming up behind him. There's a huge tank of something that looks like glowing sewage mounted on the wall. The warning labels are in Vrissian, but skulls and crossbones are universal.

"Hey, fuckface!" I shout. "Catch!"

I shoulder-check the tank off the wall and heave it at the monster. His talons slice through the metal like butter. Green fog explodes outward as whatever was inside vaporizes. Themonster staggers back with a snarl, raising his mechanical arm to shield himself in vain.

But he still recovers way too fucking fast.

The monster's talons rip through my stolen uniform and tactical vest like tissue paper. Pain explodes across my chest as he slams me into the wall, pinning me there with his mechanical arm.

"Fuck!" I roar, trying to break free. But this thing is stronger than anything I've ever fought and the talon digging into my shoulder feels like a goddamn sword. I may be a big guy, but he's holding me up like I weigh nothing.

Thane empties his rifle into the monster's muscular back, but the bullets just spark off those iron spikes and plates. The monster doesn't even flinch when a few strike flesh. His glowing blue eyes bore into mine through that featureless iron mask as he draws back his other arm for another strike, his hand curling into a fist.

Gettingreallyfucking sick of mutants punching me in the face.

"Over here, 3686!" Plague shouts from somewhere.

The monster's head snaps around, but he keeps me pinned. Through the haze of pain and chemical smoke, I see Plague kneeling beside Valek's crumpled form. He jams a syringe into Valek's neck and pushes the plunger.

Valek jackknifes up from the floor, his silver eyes darting wildly. When his gaze lands on the monster, his face twists in recognition, then pure horror, like he's having some kind of insane flashback.

"Stay back!" Valek snarls, scrambling to his feet. "Don't touch her!"

Her?

"Bro, what the fuck?—"

The monster lets out an earth-shattering roar, finally releasing me to turn toward the new threat. I slump to the floor, clutching my bleeding chest. Fuck, that's gonna leave a mark. Through gritted teeth, I watch as Valek lurches into a fighting stance, swaying drunkenly.

"Run!" he slurs, gesturing angrily at... me? He lurches forward, throwing himself at the monster. His fist connects with the iron mask in a glancing blow that probably hurts him more than it hurts the beast.

"Bad plan, bro," I yell at Plague, wincing as I haul myself up, using the wall for support.

Plague just glares at me. "Did you have a better one? Or did you just plan on letting that thing grind you into bone dust?"

I sneer at him. "Aw, Doc. I'm startin' to think you care."

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