(( Sorry I haven't replied yet. xP I'll try and get a post up soon, though. I've been sick so I haven't been able to go on the computer for more than a few minutes lately. ))

Tomas didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to think that there was something else on the other side of this door, waiting to pounce on them w hen they managed to catch their breath. To secretly be watching, while they went about flicking the switches to turn on the power. No, he didn't want that to happen at all. But somehow, he figured there would be. Exactly what was a whole different question completely.

Slamming the door shut, and locking it from the inside, all Tomas could hear was the heavy breathing from their gas masks. That, and the radiation meter continuing with its annoying chime and beeping tune. Just as fast as the corridor. He was worried that the serum wouldn't hold, and that the gas mask was a pathetic attempt to keep the toxic radiation out. After all, even though their drysuits were thick, it would be no match against holding off the effects. Placing the meter in his pocket, the Norwegian turned around to look at Lilith, check she was okay. "Here, let me put it on for you." He said, tapping the gas mask and gently pulling it from her hand. With a now less-shaking pair of hands, Tomas placed it on her head and tightened the straps quickly, so she wouldn't breathe in or expose her face for no more than a few seconds. Although she couldn't see it, Tomas smiled.

The power room was like a figure of eight. There was the walkway that hugged the wall, and another path that joined the two long sides in the middle. Two, thick towers of machinery, wires and flashing lights created the effect of a 'square number eight'. Tomas took Lilith around the right side, keeping his eyes focused on anything that might be hiding around the corner, or behind something. "Keep me covered while I start to reboot this thing." Approaching the small terminal in the corner, he began to flick through certain screens, pressing buttons that almost seem just random guesses to someone who had never been down here before. But Tomas knew what he was doing. And as he tried to get the power back on, something began

Lilith laughed a bit as she listened to him, occaisionally glancing down at the indicator that started to beep every now and then. "Wow, Norway.. That would be such a nice place to visit. And I never would've imagined living down here. I think I prefer it on the surface." She said with a nod. She followed him when they turned at the crossroad and almost walked right into him when he stopped. She blinked in confusion, about to ask why he stopped, but he kept on walking soon after so she just shrugged it off as nothing and continued to follow.

As they walked forwards, Lilith kept a bit closer to Tomas. The silence was eerie, and it made her all tense and alert. When she began to hear the reader beep much faster than it had been, she knew they were going in the right direction. When he turned to face her, just seeing his worried look made her start taking her bag off her back. She was about to speak when she heard a groan come from infront of them. A chill ran up her back and she was suddenly very alert.

She looked around Tomas and her eyes widened at what she saw. It was then she began to notice the smell coming off the deformed men infront of them. She clamped a hand over her mouth, to block out the smell. She immedietly hit the floor when Tomas told her to stay down and put her hands tightly over her ears when she heard the shots. She took her bag off her back quickly and began fumbling around, trying to grab her mask. Her hands began shaking again, making it hard to grab ahold of anything. Once she got ahold of the mask she put it on and tried fastening the straps, but her hands kept on slipping and she couldn't get it tight. When she heard him scream at her, she put her bag on her back and stood quickly, just holding the mask in place with one hand as she grabbed his that was outstretched towards her. "But what if those things are in that room too?!" She yelled, glancing down the hall at the ones that were coming towards them from down the hall. She just decided to take that chance and began running towards the door.

"Aww, I'm from Narvik. It's a little town along the coast of Norway. Lived there for a good few years before I came to America, and before I knew it, was living in a station under the sea. Not what I had in mind, really. Thought it'd be all neon lights, casinos and red light districts. Guess I was wrong." Of course, he was joking about the red light district, but anything to release some of the tension. The indicator was beeping once every twenty seconds or so, telling him there was some trace of radiation in here. But the serum should counter that no problem. He stopped at a crossroads, and looked left and right, trying to remember what way it was. "I think it's right." He said to himself, turning in to it and stopping. Did he just hear something?

Slowly beginning to walk forward again, he kept on his toes. Tomas didn't like this lack of activity, but of course, deep down he was secretly hoping that everyone else died in the radiation leak, and didn't actually become... something else. The Norwegian continued onwards, beginning to become alarmed that the reader was beeping faster now. He turned around to look at Lilith, giving her a worried look. "We're getting close to the reactor, you want to-"

There was a horrible groan that came in front, Tomas could feel himself walk in to something, but his own body rebounded back in a defensive mechanism. The sound came from a man, wearing the typical navy blue jumpsuit that the occupants here wore. But what differed was his face. It looked to have melted off, his eyes burst, mouth deformed, and the horrible smell that he only noticed now. Tomas was startled, how could it still be walking about? Down the corridor from which they had come stood another two, with similar disfigurements. It lifted its hand, showing pieces of bone fragment sticking through a lack of fingers. "Stay down!" He yelled to Lilith, raising the shotgun and firing a shell in to the stomach of the 'man'. Blood went everywhere, and his body split in two from the closeness of the blast. The bones cracked apart too easily, as if the radiation had melted and softened them somehow. With the pair of monsters stumbling towards them, Tomas dipped in to his bag, pulling out the gas mask. His hands were shaking, he thought he was going to drop it. They couldn't go any further without them, but the straps were getting all tangled up. Shit, shit! One more attempt... he pulled it over his face... okay... now the straps... hurry, he had to tighten them... what about Lilith... did she need help?... everything was fastened... they had to run now! The torso of the creature was now crawling, Tomas kicked him out of the way and grabbed his things again. "Towards the door... we'll lock ourselves in!" The Norwegian screamed to her, reaching for her hand.

Lilith gave a quick nod and turned away, looking down at the detector in her hands. So her work down here would officially begin once she stabbed herself in the neck and wandered further into the station. Even though she loved what she did, she was beginning to regret her career choice. At least she didn't have to stay next to the reactor the whole time she was down here, and could come back to these couple rooms that were radiation-free. For now.

She took a needle with the serum in it and refused to look at it as she stabbed it into the side of her next, gasping a bit as she felt it pierce her skin. She hated pain of any kind, needles especially. But it had to be done, and she kept on reminding herself of that monster that attacked them and how this would protect her from becoming one of those things. It reassured her a bit to know that she had at least some form of protection.

After she was finished, Lilith looked over at Tomas and nodded. "Alright." She said as they made their way out of the control room, towards the power room. She looked around the small corridor, constantly glancing around. This place creeped her out already. She almost couldn't believe they were in the ocean. She looked back over at him when he spoke and smiled. "Yes, that's my name. Nice to meet you, Tomas.. Well, I was born in Hawaii since my parents just happened to be placed there studying the volcanoes at the time. Lived there until I was about 8. But now I move around alot for my work. I go wherever they need me to. Where are you from?" She asked. She was so glad that he started up a conversation. It was keeping her mind from thinking about what could be in this station.

"I'd say it's best to be safe than sorry." Kenu replied, nodding his head at her suggestion to take the serum. Afterwards, Tomas and Lilith would be the first to be required to take it every half an hour, after properly being exposed to the radiation. So far, the rest of them were hoping that it hadn't reached them yet, but there was no way to be certain. The radiation detector was coming up with nothing just now, which meant at least this room was safe. Dominguez would rather stay here for the entire investigation than go much further.

Tomas sighed, bracing himself. He hated injections or needles of any kind, so taking the shot to the neck wasn't much fun. Closing his eyes, he gulped once and slammed it against the left side of his neck, pumping the ingredients through his blood stream. It only hurt for a few seconds, but he could tell it was worth it. Rather a few stinging moments than a life of being one of those... monsters.

Next, the Norwegian grabbed his bag and shotgun, bracing himself for the journey. "As soon as this thing starts to tick wildly, put the gas mask on, okay?" He asked, looking back at her, knowing they all had a gas mask already in their bags. "Thanks for coming, but." He said, not sure if he had introduced himself. Did she know his name? Tomas knew hers was Lilith, or was it? Yeah, that was it. Lilith. Changing direction towards the power room, Tomas held the small detector with one hand, and the shotgun in the other. The room he was in now was another narrow corridor, with numerous doors and turns. "Lilith, that's your name, isn't it? I'm Tomas. Where you from, Lilith?" He asked, trying to make conversation to make up for the creepy environment they were walking in.

Lilith went through the door that Tomas and Dominguez had went through and carefully walked down the hallway, heading towards the room that the two were sitting in. She looked around the room, thankful that the lights were working here. Hopefully there were working lights where the reactor was. She always hated working by the light of a flashlight. Also with possible monsters lurking around this station, she would feel much safer if the whole room was lit.

She looked over at Kenu and followed him into the control room. She looked over at Kenu and then to Tomas when he volunteered to put the generator back on. She nodded when he asked for a detector and took her bag off her back, setting it down on a table. She rummaged through it until she found one and held it in her hand, looking down at it. Since the reactor was close to the power supply room, there would be high levels of radiation in the air. Since she had to check out the station and the reactor anyways, there was no escaping the fact that she would have to go into areas with high levels like those anyways...

"I'll go with you." Lilith said, turning around to face him as she put her bag on her back again. "I need to measure how much radiation has seeped into the other rooms of the station anyways, so I'll go with you." She said with a nod. Besides, she needed to get familiar with this place and the people she would be working with, and honestly she didn't want to be with all those SEALs. She always felt so tense around people like them, and would much rather be in the company of an engineer. She then looked to Kenu. "Since we're going to be fairly close to the ractor, will we need to take some of that serum?" She asked.

Dominguez didn't exactly feel safe being in this room, all the while something big was out there wanting to kill them. There was a great big gap in the floor that could let absolutely anything in, just like they had swam in. What was to stop squid-boy to sneak in and start flailing about, trying to grab things. Or better yet, what if he could come on dry land and chase after them?
He knew he had to stop worrying, but it was impossible after the things he had just saw. Completely unprepared for it. Picking up an assault rifle, he went after the Norwegian Engineer, and began to go further in to the underwater base.

Kenu smiled, replying with a handshake. "I'm Kenu," He said, pronouncing it as if there were two 'e's after the K. He didn't like the idea of having to pump a needle in to the side of his neck either, but considering it was the matter of life and death, he'd be silly to pass it off.

Holding the rifle in his hand, he signalled for two men to stand guard here, and keep them informed on the radio of anything strange or supicious. They nodded, and another three followed Kenu through the same door that Tomas and Dominguez had left through. It was dark, could just make out the walls and floor. The door ahead had already been opened by Tomas, and the Norwegian and Dominguez were sitting in what looked like a recreational room. A large snooker table in the middle, along with a television, game station and computer. Needless to say, neither of them worked. The lights on the other hand were still working, which was a relief.

Moving on, Kenu took them to the control room, which had the main computer terminals. Unsurprisingly, the radio communication equipment was down. Tomas had explained there were numerous generators and power sources, depending on what piece of equipment they were after. To get it working, they would have to travel west and turn it back on.
"Well who wants to volunteer to put it back on?" Kenu asked, Tomas knowing that he was the only one really educated in the working of the station.
"I'll do it," He sighed, knowing he was going to have to do it alone. "I need a detector." Tomas said to Lilith, remembering that she had brought on a few to detect the level of radiation in each of the rooms. The reactor was close to the east wing power supply room, and it worried him. There was no doubting that there were large levels of the stuff in the air over there. "I guess I'm going alone."

Lilith glanced over at one of the SEALs and just nodded simply. She still couldn't be positive, but what she saw was so very human, but not at the same time. She pushed herself up off the ground and stumbled a bit before regaining her balance. She took a deep breath and tried to control the shaking that was in her legs. She looked over to Tomas when he spoke and agreed with her. "I'm not entirely sure, but that monster had what was left of a human anatomy." She said with a nod. She looked over at Dominguez before looking at Tomas again. He would understand eventually, if and when those things attacked again.

When everyone grabbed a weapon, Lilith went over and grabbed a bag, stuffing all her stuff and research equiptment into it. She slung it over her shoulder and looked up to Kenu when he placed a hand on her shoulder. He could probably feel very much that she was trembling quite a bit. She glanced down at the layout and got the hint that he was reminding her of why she was here.

"I understand." She said, looking down. She really didn't like the idea of sticking a needle into her neck at regular intervals, but she would do anything to keep herself safe from the radiation. She was told that she would be protected from the effects if she did the necessay precautions. She gave him a half-hearted smile as he tried to reassure her. "Thanks... I'll be sure to check if the radiation got into the vents. We can block off the rooms that are clear." She said with a nod. She then left him and walked over to Tomas. "Thank you.. For helping me. I'm Lilith, by the way." She said with a slight smile, holding her hand out towards him.

"A human?" Asked one of the SEALs, a Florida-born basketball player known as Dominguez. Although having a name that sounded Hispanic or Spanish, his skin colour was pale, mostly due to his mother's side of the family. "No, that thing wasn't human. It had arms. Lots of them. Big, long, tentacle arms. How can you tell me that thing used to be something like us? Impossible." Of course, he had a problem with denial, and a narrow-vision of things. With the casualty list, he was now 3rd in command of the operation.

Tomas nodded slowly in agreement with Lilith's statement. "Yeah. I think it was. Used to be. Probably someone that worked here, before everything went dead." Looking around the room, there was no sign of chaos in this area. Everything was clean, nothing out of the ordinary. Commander Kenu had put all the oxygen tanks to one side, and looked in the box that two of his men had brought with them. Inside was numerous weapons, medical equipment and things that Lilith would need to complete her objective. Research things, that Kenu had no idea about. He had kept out of the discussion until now, and quickly changed the subject away from the monster that had attacked them. "Everyone grab a weapon." There were half a dozen shotguns, and about twelve M4 carbine rifles. Tomas picked up a shotgun, filling it up with ammo and pulling out a backpack from the box. He shoved as many shells as he could in the backpack and slung it over his shoulder.

"Keep watching every corner. Don't go slacking off, we've already met up with one of the workers here. There's plenty more to talk to." Tomas warned, opening a door in the corner of the room and peaking his head through the darkness. Power to that area must have been cut. Turning on a flashlight, he pointed the beam down the short hall to another door. Stepping carefully, there was a slight shake in his hands that was hardly noticeable, but he himself could still feel it.

Kenu turned to Lilith and put a hand on her shoulder. A layout of the base was in front of him, and he was pointing to where the nuclear reactor was. Of course, she had already been forced to memorise this, but it was a reminder to see it clearly on a large piece of paper. "We're guessing that the leak's spread pretty wide, and as far as we know, it could be through the ventalation system. The closer we get to the reactor, the more dense the radiation. Stab the serum in to your neck at regular half an hour intervals, you got it? I know you're gonna hate this, but you're the one that's gonna have to get right next to it to inspect the damage. We'll give you a protection suit and gas mask to try to stop the effects. Don't worry, kid." He tried to assure her.

Before Lilith could do anything else, she felt something wrap around her waist and pull her out of the way of a large tentacle that she saw through the corner of her mask. She sighed in relief, knowing that it was the diver that she saved. She held out her hands and felt for him, just to be sure and then brought a hand up and tried to help him wipe the tar off. She shook her head, knowing it wasn't going to come off and swam along with him when she felt him pull her wrist. Thankfully she heard the monster still screaming in pain, giving them enough of a distraction to escape.

She had never had her sight taken away from her before, and it was one of the most frightening experiences she's ever been through. She was thankful for it, though, when she just saw a glimpse of a diver on the bottom covered in tar and blood. She was glad she couldn't see how many there were down there, and what happened to them. This was definately the worst expected twist in their journey. She then began to wonder if the rest of her time down here was going to be good at all.

When they entered the station and surfaced in the moon pool, she looked around, holding out her hands and waiting for people to pull her put of the water. Lilith immedietly took off her mask and hood, sitting on her knees on the ground. She took a few deep breaths as she dropped the tank beside her and looked over to the diver that was with her. She felt even more relieved when she saw it was Tomas and was glad that he came back to help her. She had a difficult time taking off her flippers, since her hands were shaking so much, but she eventually managed. She looked over at him and up to the commander. She tried to speak but no words came out, so she just looked down. After a few minutes, though, she finally spoke. "That was a human... I believe." She said quietly, glancing down at the pool of water beside her.

Tomas could see that the diver had been hit. The tar splattered over their mask, taking away their ability to see. He was worried, the diver almost refused to move as if in fear of swimming straight in to the monster. But floating there was just as bad. Tomas knew he had to help, repay the favour. The diver had saved his life, and whether it was Lilith (who he had suspected) or it was one of the SEALs, he couldn't just swim off and leave them to die. A selfish person would have realised the monster had put all his attention on that diver, allowing Tomas to get a quick getaway. But he played it brave, and played it stupid. Thrusting his body towards the diver in peril, he grabbed their waist and the pair dived out of the way just as a large tentacle was going to rip through the diver's body.

That was close. But it was still in pain, and instead of swimming after them, seemed to wriggle about and scream for a little more. As it was preoccupied with its injury, Tomas tried to wipe away the tar from the diving mask, but it seemed to almost stay glued to its original spot. Grabbing the wrist, the Norwegian lead the diver through the water, towards the station. All around him were the bodies of the SEALs, lying on the bottom. All had bloody wounds, all were caked in tar. Tomas wondered what the substance actually was.

Once out of reach of that... thing, Tomas slowed his swimming and entered the station from below (the north wing was raised above the ground by about six metres). Soon, they were in a moon pool, a small square of water with dry ground that surrounded it. He spotted the six SEALs and the Commander, who offered a hand. By now, they had taken off their diving masks, tanks, flippers and hood, but kept their drysuits on. He noticed that the woman wasn't one of them, so that left two options. Either she was right beside him, or lying on the ocean floor. His fingers were crossed for the first scenario, and as he climbed out, Tomas chucked off his oxygen tank and lay on his back.

"What the HELL was THAT!?"