The DOOM Chronicles

Chapter 12: Search & Rescue

After checking the quickest route against their maps and memorizing it, they left through the medical wing exit and Nichols locked the door behind them. Jack didn't have time to check on Nelson and Bekele was still in there tending to him. He and Cortez ended up in a bloody corridor that didn't look all that different from the dozens of others Jack had spent the last week of his life traversing. He tried to ignore the reek of fresh death and blood as he stepped over several corpses as they made their way down the tunnel.

"How you holding up?" Cortez asked.

"I'm fine," Jack replied.

"You can tell me if you aren't," Cortez said.

Jack sighed. "I'm worried about Jennifer, and about the end of the world, but otherwise I'm okay," he said, relenting a little.

"You really aren't more freaked out?"

"Yeah...wait, are you?" he asked, glancing back at the man. He had an anxious look on his otherwise easygoing face, and it suddenly clicked on for Jack. This was...well, not exactly old hat, but he'd been through this shit before. The time he'd spent on Mars's two moons and, quite literally, going through Hell had only lasted days, but they'd felt like month-long tours of duties. This was all new and raw and screaming for Cortez.

They paused just short of the end of the corridor.

"I'm freaking out a little," he admitted. "I mean, I'm good, just..."

"Yeah, I get it. I've been in your shoes. Fuck, I was in them barely a week ago. Just try to keep it in perspective: we've trained for this. I know it sounds nuts, but my training saved my ass more times than I can count, so you can rest assured that if you're a good Marine, you'll at least have the toolkit necessary to thrive in this environment. They're brutal, and relentless, and horrifying, but they're also kind of stupid. I mean, don't underestimate them, exactly, but don't be afraid of them. You can kill them. You've proven that. And you can keep it up. I've been to Hell and back at this point, so I know what I'm talking about, and I've seen you fight. You can definitely do this if you keep your head on a swivel and your wits about you, and let your training do its work."

Jack wasn't entirely sure if he was talking out of his ass or not. That was the problem with luck: it was random. The laziest jackass might walk away clean from this whole mess and the most dedicated Marine might catch a bullet in the opening volley. That was luck. But he believed in some of what he said, at least, and so did Cortez, it seemed.

"Yeah, okay," he said. "Thanks. I'm good."

Jack gripped his armored shoulder and gave it a small shake. "We can do this."

"Hell yeah," he said, reaching out and gripping Jack's shoulder.

They stood up after that and shifted to the end of the corridor. It let out into another thoroughfare not unlike the one he'd come into initially. And it was just as shredded, thrashed, and mauled as that first thoroughfare as well. They could hear a great deal of gunfire coming from the right and saw a good deal of Imps and Demons making their way towards a large opening. He also saw a little legion of Lost Souls streaming towards it as well.

"Fuck," he muttered as they set off. "Come on, we've got to take out those flying skulls first."

"What the fuck are they?" Cortez replied.

"Instakill enemies," Jack warned.

"What!? How?"

"Just don't let them touch you, no matter what, that's how they make more zombies."

"Jesus fuck," Cortez muttered.

Jack had the assault rifle out and switched to three-round burst. The Taskmaster was almost made for this task. He sighted the nearest Lost Soul, hovering malignantly along as though it didn't have a care in the world, moving away from them, and squeezed the trigger. The gun spoke and spat out three bullets, and they connected instantly. The Lost Soul popped into a belch of flame and a rain of bleached bone fragments. Several of the Imps and Demons, and a few of the other flying bastards, took notice of the two of them and immediately about faced.