Zombies vs Magical Girls

Cables smashed through crumbling concrete as the mutated creature tore down the narrow corridor after them. Each thunderous impact shook the facility down to its foundations. Matsui had to keep blasting just to clear their retreating path of debris.

"We gotta bring this whole place down on top of it!" Reira yelled over the destruction, punctuating her point with a fireball. The blast barely left a scorch mark on the twisting biomass. Nothing they had could stop its relentless advance.

They spilled into the exam room housing the human test subject just as massive tendrils whipped overhead, pulverizing the interior wall. Before Matsui could react, the nest of cables ensnared the struggling man on the table and reeled him upwards. It silenced his terrified wailing in a sickening crunch.

Jayla unleashed crackling lightning at the creature. But it only seemed to integrate the fresh biomass, bloating larger. Realization dawned on Matsui - it got stronger by assimilating the living.

"We can't let it reach the surface!" she ordered. "Hit it with everything!" All three unleashed their magic desperately, but only Reira's flames seemed to damage the mutating mass. The monster recoiled from each scorching barrage, thrashing in rage.

Pressing her advantage, Reira engulfed the creature in a swirling vortex of fire. The temperature spiked as oxygen fueled the inferno. "Burn, you freak!" Reira snarled, face shining with sweat. Matsui allowed herself to hope - they could win this!

A sudden deluge of frigid water doused the flames, reducing Reira's assault to puffs of steam. "Sprinklers!" Matsui cursed as the lab's systems stifled their only effective weapon. An alarm blared ominously through the smoke-filled air.

Unhindered now, the creature went on a devastating offensive. Flailing tendrils batted them against crumbling walls like rag dolls. One clipped Matsui's shoulder, shattering the joint instantly in a white-hot blaze of pain.

Barely clinging to consciousness, it slammed her into a computer terminal. Jayla's hand smacked down on a prominent red button as she was also flung away. Through the haze of agony, Matsui heard a synthetic female voice announce calmly, "Self-destruct mode activated. T-minus three minutes to detonation."

Oh god… what had they done? Matsui forced herself upright, blinking through tears. "We have to get out now!" Adrenaline fueled her exhausted body into motion then the halls trembled under apocalyptic force. Escaping a labyrinthian bunker before it collapsed seemed another impossible task. But giving up was not an option with oblivion minutes away.

Matsui clutched her mangled shoulder, trying to block out the white-hot agony. They had only minutes to navigate the sprawling bunker before the imminent detonation reduced it to a tomb. But the raging creature still barred their only escape route, smashing aside Reira's ineffective fireballs.

Over the chaotic din, Jayla grabbed Matsui's uninjured shoulder, eyes alight. "The water - I can fry that freak easily!" She gestured at the sprinklers still dousing the lab relentlessly. If they could just avoid the deadly currents…

"No way, we'll be zapped too down here!" Reira protested, dodging a whipping tendril. But Matsui quickly devised a strategy, her militaristic upbringing rising to the dire occasion.

"We get to high ground away from standing fluid, and you blast it!" Even if the plan failed, fighting to their last breath beat, waiting helplessly for oblivion. She met their frightened but resolute stares, pride surging through the pain. "We can do this... together!"

Dorki sailed up before the thrashing creature, firing searing beams into its gnashing maw. "I will buy you time, go!" Swallowing down searing agony, Matsui dragged herself onto a lab table, her friends scaling counters and desktops nearby. Their temporary refuge would only last within seconds.

Perched atop the dripping machinery, they had a direct vantage on the flailing monster as Dorki expertly continued baiting its attacks.

"Hit it with everything!" Matsui screamed. Jayla aimed her sparking staff as one immense cable whipped toward them.

A deafening thunderclap shook the facility's foundations as blinding voltage channeled into the waterlogged lab from Jayla's staff. The creature convulsed wildly, trapped in the deadly current now coursing through its spasming body.

"Don't stop!" Matsui ordered over the maelstrom. She glimpsed chunks of charred biomass sloughing away before the relentless assault. With a final cataclysmic eruption, the blackened husk collapsed leadenly to the flooded floor and lay still, the lab falling eerily silent save for the sprinklers' spray.

"Guys...the countdown," Reira panted urgently. Snapping back to their present reality, Matsui slid off the table, landing hard on her crippled leg. No time to assess injuries now - escape was all that mattered.

"Grab anything useful, hurry!" Rushing to the cure's shattered containment safe, she retrieved the last glowing vial and limped after her friends toward the exit. Up the darkened passageway, Matsui heard the elevator arrive on their level seconds before they all crammed inside.

"Come on, come on!" Reira slammed the wall in frustration as the elevator lumbered upward. Overhead, the passive AI voice ticked down their final 30 seconds to live. Everything rode in these fleeting moments…

They tumbled out into the library study as an Earth-shattering explosion rocked the entire townhouse. Chunks of the ceiling rained down as they threw themselves desperately out the front door. Behind them, a roiling fireball engulfed everything.

The scorching shockwave hurled them like leaves across the debris-strewn street as the labyrinthine facility caved in on itself, swallowed forever by flames. Ears ringing, Matsui struggled up to witness the burning remnants of their hubris made manifest.

But before they could even catch their breath, distant screams and moans escalated rapidly. Matsui's gut sank - the blast had attracted every zombie in the area. And the girls were in no shape now for even the weakest foe. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she raised her staff once more than the horde charged into view. They had merely bought themselves more borrowed time in this unending nightmare. But she had faith it would be enough...it had to be.

The street swarmed with the undead as Matsui struggled to stay upright, clutching the precious cure vial to her chest. Behind the approaching horde, Dr. Yoka's underground lab burned brightly, lighting the shambling forms, advancing hungrily.

"There's too many to fight head-on!" Reira yelled, dropping another charred zombie with a concussive fire blast. Their only hope was breaking through to some kind of transport and outrunning the flood.

Scanning in a hurry, Matsui spotted a dingy public bus idling halfway down the block. "Make for the bus, hurry!" Fueled by adrenaline, they charged the remaining distance, blasting aside any zombies that drew too close. Dragging her mangled shoulder, Matsui refused to let the pain overwhelm her now.

Slamming inside the grimy vehicle, Reira grabbed the driver's decayed corpse and flung it out the door before taking its place. "Buckle up kids, this might be a bumpy ride!" she quipped, hot-wiring the ignition. The engine roared to life just as dozens of zombies reached the bus.

Lurching forward, they plowed through the crowd, rotten bodies crunching under tires. Matsui clung to a seatback, watching through cracked windows as they distanced themselves from the burning rubble. For the first time in hours, she breathe easier. They had made it.

But decayed hands burst through the bus's roof, tearing at the interior. Matsui turned to see zombies drop from the overhead compartments, blank eyes fixing on the fresh meat. Hidden undead from past passengers - they had foolishly assumed safety too quickly once more.

As Matsui hung back protecting the cure vial, her friends launched into battle with the ambushing swarm. Reira blasted attacking creatures between steering the careening bus while Jayla surged lightning through handrails, frying any zombie that touched them.

Outside, Matsui caught glimpses of overturned cars, scattered bonfires, and chaos matching the violence within the speeding vehicle. They had to get off these exposed streets. Sensing an opening ahead, she yelled, "Turn right now!"

Reira veered the bus at breakneck speed, launching them sideways. Zombies crushed against windows flashed past in a nauseating blur. "There should be alleyways to lose them ahead!" Matsui called above the shrieks and sizzles.

Nodding, Reira wrenched the wheel again, plowing them into an empty side street. "See if you can find any kind of shelter!" She threw Matsui a grin stained red from a gash on her forehead. Behind her ongoing fight, most of the bus already lay heavy with corpses.

Peering desperately between abandoned buildings, Matsui finally spotted an ancient pachinko parlor ahead. "There, we can barricade inside!" Just as she gave the direction, a sickening crack resounded through the air - the windshield now spewed crimson. They had shredded too many zombies under tires.

The bus veered drunkenly, scraping building sides before careening straight through the parlor's neon facade in an explosion of glass and metal. The impact flung Matsui forward over a seatback, colliding against the ticket counter before falling stunned to warped floorboards.

For untold minutes, all she registered was the bus moaning and pinging as its heat died. She moved each limb, gingerly bruised ribs and some burns, but somehow still intact. Reira and Jayla approached intact as well, equally dazed. The cure vial remained unbroken in her grip.

Wordlessly, they pried open the jammed doors and limped into the choking night air. The bus smoldered behind them, its exposed passage into the once-hidden parlor now swarming with zombies. Their safe house wouldn't last long.

But Matsui remembered passing fire escapes earlier in the chaos. Guiding the others down an alley, they ascended the rusty ladders up onto a flat rooftop. Collapsed against an exhaust fan, Matsui finally allowed them a moment's rest as deadly groans echoed from below.

Despite losing another shelter, they hadn't lost everything. Lifting the softly humming vial, Matsui said with weary determination, "We still have this. It's dangerous, but it could work against Revena."

Reira gave a tired thumbs up. "Sounds good, boss. May as well go out with a bang trying."

Jayla nodded, eyes already drooping with exhaustion.