The access tunnel ended at a half open blast door. A small metal cabinet lay across the doorway, jamming the door. Grunting, I put my shoulder to the bulkhead and slowly pried it open. The loud grating alerted some creature through a second blast door. I readied my shotgun, but the door remained closed. "Waiting for me, eh?" I said aloud with a smile, "Perhaps you're not so stupid after all. Party time." My hand slapped the access panel, sending the door shooting upwards. I sprang back quickly, firing a blast as the door rose. A soldier took the shot at the knees, severing both legs as he crumpled to the ground. Others moved in for the kill. I pulled back further into the room, blowing the head off the first one I felled. I would have to remember that pain means little to these zombies. A low gutteral growl boomed beneath the soldiers grunts. God knew what the hell that belonged to, it was certainly not human, at least not anymore. The troops swarmed in from both sides, guns at the ready. I layed down a surpressing fire, moving back and forth to keep them from getting a good bead on me. I put down ten of them, taking only one serious hit across the temple. I wiped the blood away from my eye; that growling was getting closer. I would need to see what I was shooting at. There it was, a pink horror from the edge of my imagination. It shambled towards me, impossibly fast. Two powerful arms lifted me off the ground, sending me crashing into the far wall. It charged forward, howling, ignoring the shotgun blast to it's torso. The creature's huge slavering jaw snapped down onto my left arm, a flailing claw throwing the shotgun to one side. Adrenalin and pain-killers kicked in at the same time. Blood poured from the beast's mouth. My blood. I felt and heard a loud crunch as it's jaw locked down, snapping bone. I howled in pain and anger, blood pouring into my eye, colouring the world a blurry red. My fist slammed into it's soft pink flesh, and for once it stopped it's unearthly growling. The adrenalin kicked into overdrive, there was no stopping me. The world turned red ... My vision cleared and I watched as I withdrew my hand from the small crater I smashed into this creature's ... this demon's head. The thing had slumped to the ground, but its jaw remained locked around my wounded arm. I pulled out my pistol and blew off the demon's lower jaw. Grunting, I pulled out the creature's teeth that were still embedded in my arm. The arm looked terrible; the fact that I couldn't move it told me it was a lot worse. The demon's teeth easily punctured through the light-weight armour that I wore, and could have easily sheered off my whole arm. Luckily the carbon-titanium steel frame that held the armour plates in place proved tougher. Unfortunately, the torn metal that was once that very armour now ripped into my entire forearm, from elbow to wrist. I was losing a lot of blood. I quickly threw off the armour plating, realizing then that I had broken all the knuckles in my right hand. Examining a plate, I found that the creature had two sets of teeth, a fact my gunfire had obscured. I also noticed, wiping away some of the blood, that the armour's frame was heavily dented. Given time, I think that the demon would have even broken through that. Christ. Titanium alone would have been the perfect metal to use for combat armour, if it had not been so heavy. Various attempts were made to lighten the metal, and an alloy called titanium steel was developed. Basically it was a titanium and zinc alloy, with a few other metals thrown in. The resulting metal proved to be too maleable. It was hard to break or puncture, but it was too easily bent out of shape to be of much use in combat. They then doped up the alloy with strings of carbon atoms. The new alloy, carbon- titanium steel, was much lighter than it's predecessors, and actually proved to be much stronger than it's titanium ancestor. Though lighter, it still made a suit of armour unwieldly. So the military used the new alloy to form a frame, an exoskeleton of sorts, upon which lighter armour plates could be mounted. This proved to be a better idea in the long run, as this allowed for one to just replace the damaged plates, rather than the whole suit of armour. I sprayed my arm with a coagulant, and bandaged the wound as best as I could. I used what cloth I could find to bind my head wound and to wrap up my impaired hand. I was in sorry shape, and not much in the mood for a long extended fight. Guess I wouldn't have much choice in the matter. I gathered up what ammo I could, finding some armour plates that I put to good use. I picked up the shotgun, giving it a quick one-armed pump. I gasped in pain as the jarring motion sent searing pain down my right arm. I would have to sling the shotgun until I could fix my hand. I slung the gun over my shoulder, allowing the magnetic catch to lock onto the metal plates on my back. The spiked gloves I wore were more than just for looks. A mild current ran through every military weapon. This current powered a magnetic catch on the gun to allow easy storage until needed. The gloves would interupt the circuit, demagnetizing the weapon ad allowing it to be pulled free. I spent a few minutes reloading clips and placing them across my chest. The magazines had similar magnetic catches as well. I cocked the pistol and headed out the door. The hallway wrapped itself around a large pool of toxic waste. The pool was once most likely a heavy water recepticle for storage of nuclear fuel rods. The green glow given off by the liquid showed it had outlived its usefulness. Left with two choices, I went to my left. Turning right, the passage led to a door on the outer wall. I found a clip on the ground, probably dropped in the midst of a gunfight. My hand hit the access panel, the door slid open Shouts from all sides. 'Too many.' my mind flashed as I fired into the room. A ball of flame exploded off my shoulder, the intense heat blistering my cheek. 'A barrel!' my mind registered, altering my aim for me. Three explosive shells ignited the volatile mixture, sending searing hot metal everywhere. I was thrown back out the door, death screams muted by the closing door. I got to my feet shakily, holding my abdomen uselessly. A metal shard pierced my side, protruding grotesquely through my lower torso armour. My palm activated the door, and I stepped in for a second time. Four bodies lay unmoving on the ground, one corpse still smouldering. Then I saw it. "Damn, now how am I supposed to get to you?" I said to myself, looking at a silently mouthing blue face. The ledge peered into emptyness, the sphere upon a pedastal rising from the darkness below. Guttural growls rose from the encompassing darkness. 'Protected too, I see. Well, let's see what happens.' I pulled back, noticing another window revealing a powerswitch. I raced up a short flight of stairs, finding a small staircase leading down. My pistol flared to life, an imp flying down the stairs, blood flying in an arc from the hole in its head. Two more appeared from either side. One fell, but the other launched a fireball. Desperate, I dove down the stairs, firing contiuously. Ten bullets tore through it's body, lifting it off the ground and slamming it down lifeless. I rolled to my knees, ignoring the bruising and the pain, firing five more bullets into a third imp. Catching my breath, I rounded the corner and threw the switch, a door swished open overhead. One deep breath and I was up the stairs, salvation getting closer. Stepping over the still smouldering body, I found that a door had indeed opened, leading upwards between the two windows. I acted quickly, charging forward and firing as fast as I could. Three soldiers fell to the ground, two bullets piercing through my body. An imp's aim was off, and exploded a barrel in front of it's face. It had no face now. I continued around the corner. I saw that a panel had descended, and I raced towards it, hearing another demon making it's way for me. The panel began to rise and I threw myself forward, activating the secret door behind the panel and sending me face first down a flight of stairs. I got to my knees before screaming in pain. Two fireballs slammed into my chest, throwing me up the stairs. My pistol flew off into the surrounding darkness. Only the shotgun now. It released easily, and I swung it around just in time to place the barrel in an imp's belly. I rolled to one side, allowing the gutless imp to fall lifeless to the spot I had just lain. I yelled out to cover my pain, pumping the shotgun again, firing into the darkness. I fired ten more times until I was sure nothing could live, then slowly I crawled into the dark. I found a couple of stimpacks, but I was too weak to use them. Only one thing could save me now. I searched the room slowly, blood pouring from my arms and temple. The fall did not help any. I found it hard to breath, the smell of cooked meat and burnt hair did not aid in that endevour either. I collapsed to the ground by the pedastal, rolling over onto my back. The switch! I attempted to rise, but found myself too short of breath. I couldn't get up! I tried again, but succeeded in only falling back, this time snapping the bone in my left arm. A swath of blood splashed across me, my broken bone piercing through what little flesh I had left in my arm. I screamed, nearly blacking out. Grunting, I leveled the shotgun. 'No choice now.' Boom. ... To be continued ...