Survival is Crucial

Altered Beast III

Unconscious guards and corpses littered the halls, dents lining the walls, dry specks of blood creating a pattern across walls and floors as the hallway led to both Maxim and Kevin. Maxim looked barely injured though clearly winded while Kevin was almost worn down completely, though almost having no damage on his face, his hands were almost completely mangled. "You're quite the son of a b***h, aren't you!?" Kevin yelled, wheezing at the end of his sentence while still keeping a stance.

Maxim chuckled, "I didn't expect someone as strong as you either."

"Hey, I have a question for you."

Maxim raised an eyebrow, "What is it?"

"Is the reason you decided to meet us directly because Balrog wasn't with us?"

"Hm... kind of, I mostly wished he was here but my motivation for coming to this place was of higher importance."

"Why is that? You after the dude with the bounty?"

"If anything, I want to help him."

Kevin sighed, "Well, obviously, something was lost in translation."

"No kidding." Maxim laughed boisterously, "But, this is more fun!" Maxim was about to continue fighting but stopped himself, "Fuck..."

Kevin looked confused, taking a couple of steps back from Maxim.

"I got caught up in all the fun!" Maxim raised his hands up into the air, "I surrender, sorry for killin' your guys."

"A sorry wouldn't exactly cut it, dude."

The news that Maxim was officially captured went throughout the entire ship, most people who worked there going about business as usual while some others were either hiding off somewhere, or completely distracted from their original goal due to pure unadulterated rage, quickly telling the guard's of the other's existence and that they were most likely in hiding within the ship.

Ryder had managed to find a collection of boxes to hide himself in, staying curled up within a corner of some sort of storage facility, only hoping to bide his time until they arrived in Colombia.

Back in California...

Yua was given the news of Nixon's disappearance after what had happened, stricken with worry within her hospital bed as Balrog sat quietly outside, arms crossed as his eyes hung low enough to make people think that they were closed.

One person within the hospital noticed Balrog, confused as to why a homeless man was sitting quietly outside a hospital room, not saying anything whilst looking as if they were about to pass out any minute yet nobody even glanced at this man, it seemed as if they didn't even know that he was there, invisible to all except that one young man wearing a nurse's uniform. He looked around all the halls before approaching Balrog, "Umm... sir?"

Balrog looked over to the young man.

"Are you visiting, or...?"

Balrog sighed, "I'm a guard."

"What?"

"Doesn't matter, you don't need to involve yourself any further."

The young man raised an eyebrow, laughing nervously in response. Balrog looked at the young man as if he were a freak of nature, not understanding why he was laughing when there were no jokes being told. "Well... I would li-"

Balrog sighed again, stepping off from the wall he was leaning on before towering over the young man, "Who are you?"

"What?"

"Just answer the question."

"Justin...?"

"What is your occupation?"

"I'm a nurse?"

Balrog made a visibly confused expression before going back to leaning on the wall. Justin visible mouthed the words "What?" before stepping in front of Balrog fully. Balrog raised an eyebrow.

"Could you please stop loiter-"

"I'm just doing my job, so do yours and don't get involved."

"Your job is loitering?"

Balrog opened his mouth to retort but stopped himself, "I'm not bothering anybody am I?"

Justin looked to his surroundings noticing once again that people just didn't recognize Balrog's existence whatsoever, and now, that included Justin. As someone accidentally bumped into Justin, they just looked over at their shoulder in confusion before setting off back down the hall beside him. "How...?" Just looked back at Balrog. "What is going on here?" Justin pointed to the people that were walking around them. "They're walking around us, but it's also like they don't... notice us?"

Balrog scanned the room as if he was going to answer Justin's question but decided to ignore him, staring down at the ground.

"Please don't ignore me!"

Balrog kicked himself away from the wall again as Yua left her hospital room, also not noticing both Justin and Balrog standing behind her.

While limping, she made her way to a small food court, taking an elevator down to it, Balrog following next to her while carefully watching his environment, Justin accidentally getting caught up in the flow in the process. They both watched from a distance as Yua grabbed herself some food and ate at one of the tables within the food court, visibly disgusted but some of the things that she had eaten before going back to her hospital room shortly after, both Bal and Justin returning to the positions they were in before.

"How did she not see us?"

Balrog looked Justin in the eyes, "You're odd."

"What?"

"Nothing, just thought that this was unusual."

"So you also think this is weird? Also, why are you stalking that girl?"

"Did I not say I was guarding earlier?"

"I just find that hard to believe, why would she need to be guarded."

"That isn't your business and it would be better if you didn't know."

Justin took a deep breath before letting out a long sigh, "Alright, yeah... I'm just wasting time doing this." Justin was just about to leave as a young Asian man had walked up to the both of them, his face ran pale as it was very obvious he was concerned. "I heard my sister was here!?"

"Justin," Balrog turned to him, "Go in there and ask that woman if she has a Brother."

"Hm?"

"Just go."

"Alright." Justin entered the hospital room, the young man looking confused to the both of them.

"Can I go in!? Is she okay!?" The Asian man began to panic before almost pulling a gun out from his belt, but it didn't even make it out of its holster. Balrog, hand firmly placed on the Asian man's hand as it was pulling out the gun on his waist.

"You're a fool."