4051 Runes 2

(P-7 Jayla fires a single round at the child’s forehead. It stumbles back before emitting a screech, and its body begins to be disfigured as it transforms into an arachnid, similar to the entities encountered previously. Its new form measures roughly five meters in length and height. P-7 Jayla is consequentially knocked back and pinned beneath it as it writhes on the ground.)

P-7 Jayla: Shit, get it off me!

(The team engages with the entity for roughly ten seconds as it regains its balance. Bullets have little effect, and the flames produced by P-7 Trevor and P-7 Rainer appear to cause pain, but do not deter the entity. It lifts itself up and uses its mouth to grab hold of P-7 Jayla’s right leg, breaking it in the process. It drags P-7 Jayla to the center of the circular pattern and begins to mutilate her legs, causing P-7 Jayla to lose consciousness. At this time, the thaumaturgical symbols present on the walls are seen to glow softly, and the floor contained by the circular pattern begins to dematerialize. After five seconds, the floor becomes a portal into an unknown location, with dirty brick walls and floor of a tunnel visible. P-7 Jayla and the entity fall through the portal.)

P-7 Trevor: Shit! Jayla!

P-7 Rico: We’ve got company!

(Twenty smaller arachnid entities emerge from the hallway behind the team. Despite P-7 Trevor’s usage of his flamethrower and S-3 Morgan’s usage of their thaumaturgical ability, incapacitating ten of the twenty arachnids, the team is overwhelmed. S-3 Morgan, P-7 Trevor, P-7 Charlie, and P-7 Rico are dragged by five of the entities into the portal, and P-7 Rainer successfully terminates the remaining five with his makeshift flamethrower.)

(At this time, SiteCommand's connection with the rest of the team is intermittently lost and reestablished.)

SiteCommand: Rainer, can you hear me?

P-7 Rainer: I can. Shit, what the hell?

SiteCommand: How were you able to terminate the remaining entities without aid?

P-7 Rainer: I, um… I memorized the symbols that we saw upstairs. And then I manifested a few strips of tape with the symbols inscribed on them and put them on my suit. So… speed, perception, misdirection… what was the other one?

***

The Beast Beneath the Library