A/N: And that's it for the bonus stash—you guys burned through all my extras! 🔥😂 I need to recharge and build up a buffer before I can drop more. So hang tight while I cook up the next chapters!
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The Tyrant's crimson eyes burned through the corridor, steady and unblinking. Jack's stomach twisted as the floor shook under its deliberate steps, each one rattling the chandeliers above the music room.
"Move!" Jack grabbed Jill's arm, pulling her down the hallway. The Tyrant roared, the sound rolling through the mansion like thunder, then charged.
The hall blurred in Jack's vision, his Viral Sense flaring so hot it felt like his skull was about to split. Every step of the giant echoed in his head—thud, thud, thud—like a predator's heartbeat syncing with his own.
"Left!" Jill shouted, cutting down a narrow passage. The walls closed in around them, lined with cracked plaster and old pipes dripping rust-stained water. The air thickened, damp and suffocating, every breath tasting of mold and dust.
Jack risked a glance back. The Tyrant's bulk smashed through the corridor, tearing into the walls as if they were paper. Shards of stone and wood rained down, choking the air.
"This way—the stairwell!" Jill's voice rang high with urgency.
They burst into a service hall, its low ceiling strung with dangling pipes and flickering bulbs. A set of rotting stairs led down into blackness. The stench of damp earth wafted up, heavy and cloying.
Jack's Viral Sense hammered even harder now, a drumbeat behind his eyes. The basement wasn't empty. It was alive with presence—massive, sinuous, something waiting in the dark.
He gritted his teeth, forcing the words out. "There's more down there…"
Jill's pistol never wavered, but her jaw clenched. "Better than being torn apart up here."
Behind them, the Tyrant's roar split the hall.
Without hesitation, they bolted down the stairs. The monster's shadow swallowed the passage above, its crimson gaze fixed on them—steady, relentless.
Jack turned, keeping pace with Jill as together they plunged into the basement darkness.
The air closed in immediately, damp and suffocating. The walls seemed to press tighter with every step. Pipes hissed overhead. Their flashlights carved thin beams through the gloom, but the shadows clung like oil.
The Tyrant's roar faded above. Jack's boots splashed on damp concrete, the air thick with mold and dust. Jill handed him a spare flashlight, the beam shaking in his unsteady grip.
The basement pressed in on them—a narrow corridor lined with rusted pipes, old grates overhead hissing with steam. Every sound echoed too loud. Every step sounded like someone else was following just out of sight.
Jack's Viral Sense flared again. It wasn't just the echo of the Tyrant above. Something else moved down here. Fast. His head throbbed with each pulse, flashes of motion skittering across the edges of his awareness.
"Jill," he muttered, voice low, "we're not alone."
She didn't look at him. Her pistol tracked the shadows ahead, her breathing slow, measured. "Then keep your eyes open."
A sudden clang above made them both snap their lights upward. A grate shuddered. Dust sifted down. The sound of something heavy sliding through the vents slithered past them.
Jack's grip tightened on his pistol. His gut twisted.
"It's stalking us."
Jill's voice was steady, but low. "Let it try."
They moved carefully through the narrow hall, boots splashing in shallow puddles. Pipes rattled overhead, echoing with faint vibrations, like something massive was brushing against them.
Jack's Viral Sense spiked. Right above.
"Down!" he barked, shoving Jill just as the ceiling burst. A massive, scaled body crashed down between them, tail lashing, scattering water and debris. Its head shot forward, jaws gaping wide enough to take a man whole.
The Yawn.
"They have snakes too? What's next, a spider?" Jack yelled as both of them rolled, firing three rounds into its hide.
Jack's flashlight beam cut across the serpent's massive body as it recoiled, slithering back into the ceiling.
Then it was gone. The snake's coils slid back up through a shattered grate, its hiss echoing in the pipes like a mocking laugh.
Jack panted, his skull throbbing with the strain of keeping track of it. The Yawn wasn't just big—it was smart. It was using the vents, circling, waiting for an opening.
He glanced at Jill, her chest rising and falling fast.
"It's toying with us."
Jack's head pounded like a drum. The Yawn wasn't just slithering randomly—it was circling them. Every pulse of his Viral Sense painted jagged flashes of its movement, weaving through the pipes above.
Then, suddenly… it stopped.
Jack's breath hitched. He scanned the ceiling, but the pulses in his skull blurred, too faint to pin down. The bastard had figured him out.
"Jack?" Jill's voice was taut.
He clenched his jaw. "It knows I can feel it. It's trying to jam me up—throw me off."
A crash to the left made them both whirl. A steam pipe ruptured, blasting the corridor with scalding vapor. Their flashlights caught a glimpse of thrashing coils, but when the mist cleared, there was nothing.
Jack's Viral Sense spiked again—behind them.
"Move!" he barked, shoving Jill forward just as the Yawn's massive tail smashed through the floorboards behind them, spraying water and debris. The impact rattled the hall like an earthquake, nearly knocking them off their feet.
They bolted deeper, boots splashing through ankle-high water. The corridor split ahead, two narrow paths branching off.
Jack's skull flared, warning him too late—the snake was driving them.
"Jill—!"
The wall between them exploded as the Yawn's head crashed down, jaws snapping. Jack shoved against its scales, knife plunging into thick hide. The serpent recoiled, but not before its massive body whipped around, slamming into him like a battering ram.
Jack went flying across the hall, crashing into a rusted grate. The impact stole his breath, his flashlight skittering into the water.
"Jack!" Jill's voice echoed, sharp with panic—then cut off as the Yawn's coils smashed down between them, sealing her off.
Water surged. Dust rained from the ceiling. Pipes buckled overhead.
Jack scrambled to his feet, blood pounding in his ears. His Viral Sense screamed at him—Jill was on the other side, and the serpent was with her.
"Jill!" His shout cracked the dark, desperate.
But the only reply was the hiss of the Yawn, echoing through the basement's suffocating black.
Jill's POV – Basement
The serpent's coils crashed down between them, shaking the floor so hard Jill nearly lost her balance. Dust rained from the ceiling, choking the air.
"Jack!" she shouted, but her voice was swallowed by the screech of twisting pipes and the Yawn's guttural hiss. She couldn't see him—just the dark bulk of the snake's body sliding across the corridor, sealing him away.
Her flashlight beam jittered over rusted walls and water-slick concrete. The hall had narrowed. The air was damp, suffocating, heavy with the stench of mold. Every drop of water echoed like a gunshot.
She steadied her pistol, sweeping the beam back and forth. Her training screamed at her to control her breathing, but her pulse hammered in her ears.
Stay calm. Remember your training. You've fought worse.
A scrape overhead made her light snap upward. Shadows shifted between the grates, something huge sliding through the vents above.
Her breath caught. "Come on then…" she whispered, forcing steel into her voice.
The Yawn didn't lunge. It circled. Jill's light caught flashes of scale and coil, glistening in the damp. The sound of it moving through the pipes was maddening—too fast, too fluid. It was toying with her.
Then silence.
Jill's grip tightened on the pistol. Her flashlight beam shook just slightly. The silence was worse than the noise.
A rumble beneath her feet. The floor bulged. Jill barely had time to leap aside as the Yawn's massive head erupted from the water, jaws gaping wide.
She fired, muzzle flash lighting up the corridor, bullets sparking off thick scales. The snake's head reared back, then whipped forward with terrifying speed. Jill threw herself sideways, but the jaws clipped her shoulder—fangs sinking deep, venom burning hot as fire.
Pain lanced through her body. The gun slipped from her grip, clattering into the water. Her breath caught in her throat, ragged, as the venom spread like wildfire through her veins.
She hit the ground hard, vision blurring. The flashlight rolled, its beam spinning wildly across the walls before settling on the serpent's face. Its eyes gleamed like molten gold in the dark, fixed on her as she struggled to push herself up.
Her arm wouldn't respond. Her legs shook under her. The venom was already eating away at her strength.
Her lips parted, a ragged breath escaping as the hiss of the Yawn filled the corridor again.