Descent into Darkness (Major Spoilers for House of Ashes)

Chapter Six

Once back in the temple, the first thing Jason and Nick did was try to make sure the door was closed in an attempt to keep the oncoming creatures out, although struggling a little bit since the doors were so big and heavy. "Put your shoulder into it!" Jason shouted in a panic. Gabrielle was immediately trying to help them out, pushing as much of her weight on the door as she could. "Hurry!" Eric called out to the trio, in as much of a panic as everyone else.

"I don't see any Iraqis." Nick commented, a little bit calmer than the others, the action of closing the doors had been a little bit easier with all three of them pushing. "If they've got any sense they'll stay back. Shit's about to get real in here!" Had been Jason's response.

They'd almost finished shutting the door when they heard Rachel calling out for them to wait, making them stop. "Rachel!" Nick called excitedly, relieved that she was ok. Eric had also been just as happy and relieved to hear her voice. "You're alive?" Nick questioned in disbelief while Jason and Gabrielle finished closing the doors. "Have any doubt, marine?" Rachel responded, caught off guard by Nick pulling her into a hug. The situation just got more intense and awkward when the hug had gone on for too long, Eric almost glaring at Nick.

While that was going on, Jason used a large plank of wood to barricade the doors. "Where's Eric?" Rachel asked as soon as Nick pulled away, the woman smiling at the sight of her husband.

"Rach?" The Colonel immediately went over and hugged her, so relieved that she was still alive. The next thing he did after pulling away from her was apologise to her. "You followed climbing protocol. You had no other choice but to cut the rope." She reassured him gently. "We don't need to discuss it."

Although Eric didn't really drop the subject. Nick cleared his throat to get the pairs' attention. "We good?" He almost seemed like he was in some kind of brief strop in response to Eric's intimacy with Rachel in that moment. Gabrielle had even noticed the disgusted expression on his face as he spoke. Just when she thought it was the end of the conversation, Eric was immediately on Nick's case about his relationship with Rachel, which then lead to a fight breaking out between them.

Rachel was quick to intervene. "Stop it!" She snapped at the pair, before addressing Nick. "Don't, Nick."

Eric just went on about knowing about Rachel's and Nick's relationship, still glaring at the Sergeant. At that point, Gabrielle had tuned out the rest of the conversation, especially since there was more pressing matters to be dealing with. "Look, now is not the time for this. " She chimed in, wanting to bring the focus back to the current task at hand.

Jason decided to fill Rachel in on what had happened during her absence. "It ain't good. Merwin's gone. Those things... they got Joey... Clarice." He trailed off, unable to finish the sentence before Rachel cut in. "Clarice was infected, those things, I don't know how, they got inside her. I couldn't take the risk, I had to leave her behind."

When Jason questioned Clarice still being out there, Rachel elaborated. "That's not Clarice anymore. I saw her changing before my eyes." She answered, confident about what she'd seen before rejoining the group. "I believe it. Same thing happened to Joey, he would've bitten Gabby if Nick and I hadn't been there." Jason agreed.

As much as Gabrielle wanted to think she could've managed on her own, he was right about that last thing. Then the screeching started back up again as the group started to move forward, turning back to see the doors being aggressively banged on. Jason gave Rachel a gun to make sure she had a weapon to defend herself with. 

"Alright! Fall back to the main temple!" He instructed the team, everyone retreating back into the main hall. Once inside the room, Gabrielle helped Jason and Nick close and barricade the door behind everyone to try and keep the creatures out. "They're inside already!" Nick shouted in reaction to seeing some of them charging through the hallway. "We can't let anymore in. I don't care what their invite says!" Jason insisted.