“Fuck, how many of these assholes are there?”
“Well, the whole sector IS filled with Decay Lords…”
Vetal tutted as he peered around the corner. He and three other Decaylings were in a bit of a pickle. What seemed like some sort of electrical fault actually turned out to be a powerful Life Goddess attacking pretty much everything in the sector. At the very least, she had managed to turn off all the lights and mind-controlled the majority of the base.
Normally, a Life Goddess acting out of line would have been a brief nuisance, but somehow this one had gone in hard and really locked the place down.
“We’re nearly there though, right?” Ksatah whispered. “Like, literally just a bit further from here?”
Kalis nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”
“Just waiting for this cunting mind-controlled asshole to fuck off…” Vetal hissed.
“Can’t we just knock them out?” Kalis asked. “Surely, between the four of us, we are strong enough to jump on him?”
“Not worth the risk,” Arkay explained. “We really don’t want to bring attention to ourselves. Plus, they might set off an alarm or something. Or call for backup.”
Vetal peered around the corner again. “That would be really, really bad. And we’re still currently utterly fucking powerless right now.”
“So, uh, what is the plan?” Ksatah whispered. “Do we, like, distract them or something? We can’t hide in this closet forever…”
Arkay snickered briefly. “Well we could, it’s plenty big enough for the four of us.”
“Ksatah’s right,” Kalis butted in, before turning around and quietly inspecting the closet’s contents. “We need a plan. Or an idea. Or anything.”
“A distraction could work…” Vetal muttered. “Maybe see if we can throw something past the guard and sneak in behind him.”
“We could use this?” Arkay suggested, picking something up off the floor. On a closer inspection, Arkay was holding a small, rubber blue ball. “It’s bouncy.”
Vetal snatched the ball from Arkay’s hand. “This is perfect. We throw it as hard and far as we can, then make a run for the medical room before that asshole comes back.”
“That works…” Kalis seemed a bit uncertain. “I just wonder if it’ll even work.”
“Well, you got any other ideas?” Vetal grunted. “We’ve been stuck in here for like an hour now!”
“Alright, alright…” Kalis stepped back. “Let’s give it a try…”
Vetal grunted again, then peered down the hallway. The possessed creature was pacing up and down, and the door they needed was right in the middle of the being’s pacing. Luckily, there was a set of stairs on the other side of the creature’s route, that would easily allow for further distractions.
“You guys ready to run?” Vetal whispered.
“Yeah.”
Vetal took a deep breath, then threw the rubber ball down the hallway. As the ball passed through the being’s legs, the creature swiftly chased after it, following the ball down the stairs.
“Run!” Vetal hissed. “We don’t have long!”
The four Decaylings quickly made it to the door they wanted, however there was a small problem.
“Fuck!” Vetal exclaimed, much louder than he intended, holding a small, plastic card in front of a scanner device. The door beeped and remained shut. “Our Decayling passes don’t…”
“Let me try…” Arkay waved the metal wristband in front of the door scanner. This time though, the door opened, and Arkay dragged everyone inside, quietly closing the door behind him.
Once the four hybrids were inside, they took a moment to catch their breath. Thankfully, the guard hadn’t noticed them. However Ksatah and Vetal had noticed something else.
“Arkay, what the fuck, you have Decay Lord levels of access?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“You are not a Decay Lord though!” Ksatah squeaked.
“I am a Decay Lord though…” Arkay explained. “I did both the written exam and the Decay Lord challenge thing. It’s all official.”
Vetal was about to say something angry, but Ksatah interrupted. “That’s cool. Strange, but cool. Don’t wanna look a gift horse in the mouth though.”
Vetal sighed, then relented. “Yeah, you’re right. Best not to complain about the thing that just saved our asses…”
The Decaylings all paused, inspecting their new surroundings. The room was a small doctor’s office with two beds, a desk, a cabinet full of tools and medicine, and a lot of paperwork.
“Alright, guys, let’s start looking for this apparatus,” Kalis exclaimed. “Once we get these collars off, things will be a lot easier…”