#doom insert

Looking at the sign at the bottom of the staircase you kept count. 

“Ten.” Looting through the relatively intact looking floor you’d found a bag of Keen candies, it’s better than nothing.

“Nine.” Three possessed and a corpse, you’d found some food in their backpack, they’d want you to have it. The shrieks from the floors below you are getting louder, the sound of your own heartbeat in your ears was deafening.

“Eight.” Structural integrity was becoming a problem, the lower the floors the more demon activity and damage they'd gone through it would seem, walls having been broken down and apparent scorch marks in the stairwell had left the concrete steps weakened.

“Seve-” As you placed your foot on the final step the concrete crumbled down below you, hitting the floor below hard, a chunk of concrete landing right on your thigh, sending a crushing pain though your whole leg as you desperately reached for the metal handrail, the remaining flights of stairs had more or less crumbled down completely, leaving you at the edge of a three to four floor drop.

“Six.” Gently pulling yourself up with the help of the handrail you limp into the open area, you were going to have to find another way out of here. The demons you could hear earlier had gone eerily quiet, the thought of them having left already crossed your mind but was soon interrupted as an Imp rushed around the corner and just about ran into you. 

Firing three shots, the flashes of the gun illuminated the dark hallways previously vaguely lit by distant flames, two shots hit the Imp in the chest, the other barely missing its head. Leaping backwards it charged up a fireball in its claws, causing you to run for cover behind what remained of a knocked over reception desk as the searing projectile narrowly missed its target.

With trembling hands and tears in your eyes from the pain that was still lingering in your leg that seemingly slithered up your spine, you peeked up above the desk, pistol raised and ready to fire, an explosion rang out in the distance, distracting the Imp for long enough for you to take your shot.

Blood and gore splattered the walls around the demons' now headless corpse, watching it fall limp to the ground you let out a long held breath of relief, only to see that your plasma shot had only hit the wall behind the demon, not its head.

Footsteps, there were footsteps coming down the hallway towards you and there was no way for you to see what was coming. What else would have such impeccable aim other than a demon soldier, or perhaps it was a lucky shot by a wandering corpse?

Teeth clenched, tears trailing down your cheeks and with your heart seemingly lodged in your throat you held the pistol high, you were not going to die today, no matter what.

Skirting around the broken down wall into the reception area was a heavily armoured marine holding a crimson scoped rifle, while his appearance first took you by surprise you would not let your guard down, there’s no proof that what’s under that armour isn’t corrupted, the pistol remained aimed at his head, you wouldn’t miss this time.

Seemingly just as surprised as you at the sudden appearance of another human the marine stood still, lowering his gun in an attempt to show that he wasn’t a threat, you weren’t buying it. Placing the rifle on his back very slowly he took a few small steps towards you at a time, hands raised in front of his chest, too self-aware to be a demon.

“Stop right there..!” Your voice faltering and hands shaking was a dead giveaway to the marine that you were not an experienced soldier. He already knew that that pistol shot wouldn’t do anything to him in his Preator suit. Taking another gentle step towards you and reaching the opposite side of the desk he reached out a hand, placing it ever so gently on top of yours that were holding on to the pistol for dear life. 

Finally letting out a cracked sob you surrendered the pistol to the marine, instead choosing to crouch down and cling to the desk in order to take as much weight off of your leg as possible. Placing the pistol down on the mauled work surface he kneeled down next to you while making sure to keep his full view of the floor.

You both remained quiet while he inspected your leg, sitting you down and taking out a small medpack from one of his many pockets, applying a tight bandage to keep the swelling down to a minimum until he could get you better care, noticing you wince as it became tighter he placed a hand on your arm, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Looking into the gentle eyes behind the visor you wiped away the spilling tears.

“I-I’m scared.”