Deadlocked 5 Read Free

devastated the men around the corner.
    The weapon's shots ripped through the shins, calves, and kneecaps of the two men in a macabre display of crimson as chunks of flesh flew through the air behind them. The guard was close enough to have taken the brunt of the attack, but the man in blue soon died as well.
    After the assault, she pulled the trigger a few more times to make sure they were dead. The guard's head exploded into a mire of bone and brains and the force of her final shots caused his body to flop backward as blood poured out of him.
    Echo was breathing heavy as she stepped over their bodies and did her best not to cr y as her foot splashed down in the muck. She was terrified and sickened by the violence, but her entire world had been shattered in the past ten minutes and her sanity threatened to leave her completely. If only she could reach the surface, maybe then…
    "Freeze!"
    She looked up and saw another guard far down the corridor. Her weapon's cacophonous blaring must've alerted him. He wasted no time in pointing his rifle in her direction and she leapt to the right, behind the protection of the grate that the man in blue had swung open.
    "Put the gun down and step out where I can see you," said the guard.
    She thought about getting to her knees and sneaking around the side of the grate to take him by surprise like she had the last men, but the grate between them provided him an outline of her, which would give away her subterfuge.
    There were other hurried footsteps in the distance from behind her, back where she'd come from, and her heart raced as she was caught between two advancing groups. She could see the guard through the grate, walking slow and steady with his rifle pointed at her.
    To her right was a fan blade, nearly the size of her, and a dark tunnel beyond. She had no other choice, and slipped past the fan as she fumbled with the switch on the side of the weapon that turned on the flashlight.
    The ventilation tunnel was small and Echo had to crouch as she moved deeper in. The shaft stopped at a 'T' section and she chose to turn left just as the guard reached the opening behind her and shined his light inside. He took a shot and the gunfire reverberated through the tight corridor as Echo involuntarily screamed out in fear.
    She darted through the tunnel, her rifle's flashlight beam bobbing wildly in front of her. She turned and fired the weapon toward where she feared the guard would soon be. Hopefully the random blast would prevent him from chasing her.
    Her gunfire rattled her senses and the ringing in her ears changed from an obnoxious hum to a deafening roar. Her own footsteps on the metal floor were silent behind the severe ringing.
    She fired again as she moved backward, and then again, continuing a series of short bursts to scare the guard into hiding. Her hearing was devastated and the ringing in her ears became so painful that she couldn't help but cry and cringe after every shot.
    Then the rifle stopped working. She pulled the trigger over and over, but the tumultuous explosions had stopped. The rifle no longer worked, and she had no idea why.
    Echo turned and prepared to run, desperate to stay alive, but she stopped dead in her tracks as her rifle's beam illuminated the corridor beyond. She'd been moving backward for so long that the gruesome contents of the ventilation shaft were a shock when she turned around and saw them.
    There were men in there with her. The first was almost at her feet, and his tortured limbs caused her to quiver in terror. He was on his belly and pulled himself forward with what used to be his arms but were now just shattered sticks of flesh and splintered bone. His skin was devoid of pink luster and his wounds didn't bleed red, but instead seeped a sticky black fluid. He had sunken cheeks and wrinkled skin that seemed to have shrunk, revealing his yellow and black teeth in a demonic visage. His eyes were similarly exposed, bulbous and protruding from his face as