The rifle erupted in a gout of flame and sound. She was used to being in a combat zone, but the first shot fired was always the loudest. Even in the large room, the shot sounded like a cannon. The thing in the darkness was no longer waving in the air. Whatever it had been, it was gone and there was no way to tell if Epp’s shot had been true.
The members of Charlie and Delta all pointed their rifles down the hallway, their lights crisscrossing and cutting through the gloom. And then she saw it. The floor had crumbs of something black on the carpet. Maybe Epp had hit his mark after all.
“Boss!” Givens yelled from the other side of the room.
She didn’t bother looking over at him, her eyes riveted on the spot where the thing had been. “What is it, Alpha?”
“I hear it. It’s still back there.”
Sarah cocked her head and listened.
Click. Clickety click click click.
“Alpha? Scout. Charlie? Scout. Beta and Delta will provide cover. If you see that thing, do not approach it. Just call out where it is and get the hell away from it.”
“Boss!” the men behind her and the other teams said in unison.
Epp and Schneck took up a stagger formation and proceeded forward. She looked at O’Malley. “Get ready,” she said. He nodded, eyes narrowed. She tried not to smile. The rookie didn’t look like he was going to break. Good, because they didn’t have time to deal with that shit.
She moved to the side, leaving O’Malley to hug the wall. She stayed a few meters behind Schneck and Epp and to their left. If they had to move backward in a hurry, she wasn’t going to be in their way. But more importantly, she’d be able to cover them without risking friendly fire. Heart thumping in her chest, she took a step forward for every two steps Charlie took.
The crackling and sizzling sound grew louder, and the smell of roasted, rotten meat stung her nostrils. Charlie was near the rear area where they’d seen it. A quick look told her Alpha was on the other side. If the hostile was in an area open to both sides of the room, both teams were going to have a shot at it. She prayed it had departed. And then Epp was firing his weapon.
He saw the creature before she did. Three tentacles lashed out into the hallway. Epp leaped backward, finger on the trigger, rounds exploding from the barrel. Then Schneck joined in. Across the room, she heard Alpha opening up.
Several rounds hit one of the tentacles near its tip. The sharp hook disappeared and then another took its place. The other tentacles smacked into the floor and dragged across the tile with a sound like nails on a chalkboard. Alpha was emptying their mags with controlled bursts while Schneck and Epp held down their triggers until their mags ran dry.
“Out!” Epp yelled. He stepped backward and Sarah stepped forward. They crossed as she took his position, rifle aimed into the flashing gloom. Epp reloaded behind her. The tentacles came again. One of them slashed the wall right in front of Schneck. He might have squealed but she couldn’t tell—she was already firing.
Her bullets flew true, snapping the tentacle in half. Black particulates rained in the air before settling to the floor. Alpha’s side of the room went quiet. Givens and Perkins were no doubt reloading while Beta took their position. But it didn’t matter—the creature had had enough.
Sarah held her fire long enough for Schneck to step back from the melee. He made it five steps before the black, squat thing moved from its hiding place and into the hall.
One part of her brain told her to fire while another screamed at her to run. She did neither. For a moment, her body completely locked up. The creature, blacker than the deepest darkness, waved four eyestalks from its base. The dead obsidian orbs at the tips seemed to stare at her. Its three legs clicked on the concrete as it shuffled forward faster than she thought possible, four tentacles raised in the air like scorpion tails. They reared back to punch forward.
A hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her backward. Rapid fire exploded beside her as O’Malley opened up. She watched the bullets hit the creature’s body. Black liquid drizzled out of the holes before hardening and plugging them. The rattle of two more weapons firing brought her back to herself. She shook away the arm on her shoulder, aimed, and pulled the trigger.
Her rounds punched more holes in the creature’s middle. It kept coming, closing the five meters at horrible speed. A tentacle punched forward. She side-stepped and it slashed empty air. Just as she began to aim at it, the middle one moved toward her. The hooked end sliced at her body and took a chunk of cloth and Kevlar from her shoulder.
She rolled to the side and hit the wall. O’Malley stood before it, the creature practically on top of him. He was yelling, screaming at the damned thing. His weapon clicked on empty. From her place on the floor, she watched him reach for a mag and then his entire right arm lay next to her.
The tentacle that amputated his arm rose above his head. Sarah tried to scream a warning, to tell O’Malley to get the fuck down, but the sharpened hook sliced downwards, bisecting his skull. O’Malley’s helmet detonated in a shower of plastic shards, the glass rattle of his shattering skull, and a spray of blood.
O’Malley’s body fell to its knees and then slumped to the floor. Another tentacle hooked into his back and dragged his corpse backward. The creature’s body crackled and an irregularly shaped hole appeared. She stared into the infinite darkness for the briefest of moments, and then she was emptying the last of her mag into it.
The bullets did nothing to keep it from lifting the body up and then placing it into the hungry mouth. Smoke and steam rose as O’Malley’s body dissolved into its makeshift gullet. A hand grabbed her shoulder and lifted her to her feet.
“Fallback!” she screamed. Rifle fire continued, bullets raining down on the creature. Another tentacle snapped in half, but regenerated before her eyes. The creature’s body shuddered and crackled, and then it did what she feared most—it grew.
The squat body elongated. A dark, moist-looking bulbous end dropped to the floor. The concrete sizzled where the liquid end touched the blood and plastic from O’Malley’s body. A pair of mandibles sprouted from either side of the dark hole. More legs crackled out of its base. Two more tentacles rose from its great back. The creature scuttled from side to side as it stared at the retreating team.
“Get out of the room! Fall back!” Sarah shouted again.
The hand holding her disappeared from her shoulder. She turned and began to run, Schneck covering her and Epp. When they passed him, he turned and ran too. When they reached the door to the clinic area, the remaining seven team members slipped into the hallway. Givens slammed the door shut behind them. Through the glass in the door, they could see the thing lumbering toward them.
The glass exploded outward. A tentacle ripped through the door and waved in erratic patterns. The hook inverted and scratched across the door’s metal surface. Sarah cleared her weapon and inserted a fresh magazine.
“Schneck!” she yelled without turning around. “Get the guard. Get the civvies. Get them the hell down the stairs right fucking now!”
Her radio crackled. “This is Moore. No one will be allowed to go down those stairs, Lieutenant.”
“Fuck off, Moore. We have to get them out of here!”
“I’m sorry,” the cold voice said, “but I can’t risk it. They won’t be allowed off this floor until that thing is destroyed.”
Sarah ground her teeth. “Schneck. Get them to the back of the building, as far away from here as you can. If you find another place to hole up, get them there!”
“Boss!” he yelled through the radio.
She walked backward until she stood next to Givens. “Got any ideas?”
The Kentuckian wiped sweat from his cheek. “All we have is bullets, knives, and grenades,” he drawled. “And the first two ain’t gonna help.”
“Lieutenant!” Harrel’s voice yelled through the headset.
“A little busy right now, Doctor.”
“Just listen. It combusts in natural light. You have to find a source of
natural light!”
“What the hell is she babbling about?” Perkins asked.
“Shut it,” Sarah said. “Doctor? Where the hell am I going to find natural goddamned light?”
“I don’t know,” Harrel replied. “But you need to find halogens or UV lamps. There should be strong enough lights in an operating room.”
The metal door groaned as the creature pressed against it. The tentacle hanging out of the door’s window smashed into the walls on either side.
“That door’s not going to hold,” Givens said. His voice was flat and emotionless.
“Fall back!” Sarah said. The seven members continued walking backward, their weapons still pointed at the door. Grenades. They had grenades. Givens carried one flashbang and a regular explosive. The rest of the team only had flash bangs. The explosive would do a lot of damage, but unlikely to affect the team if they were far enough away when it went off. “Givens. The second that thing comes through the door, I want an HE grenade up its ass.”
“Boss,” Givens said. He reached down and pulled a pineapple from his belt. His rifle fell on its sling, but stayed on his shoulder. He hooked one finger through the ring and waited.
“Everyone else, get the hell back!”
The team continued moving down the hall. She turned for an instant and saw the security guard herding the rest of the hospital staff around the corner. If this didn’t work, the damned creature would tear through her team leaving the rest of the floor defenseless. Like we’re not already defenseless, she thought to herself.
A terrible squeal echoed in the hallway. Metal shrieked as tentacles punched through the door’s surface. Another tentacle squeezed through the window gap. The hooks sliced and smashed at both sides of the door. The metal twisted and bent. The lower hinge popped sending a bolt flying past her head.
Givens took a step forward and pulled the pin. He gripped the handle, waiting for the right moment. The door buckled again and then bent in half, affording them the sight of its gyrating eyestalks, and tentacles waiting to come through the door. The thing was even bigger than when she’d first seen it. It must have eaten more than just her rookie.
Finally, the door gave out. The upper hinge snapped. The door flew several meters into the hallway and crashed into the floor. The creature attempted to squeeze its bulk through the doorframe. Sheetrock and wood splintered outward as the thing pushed forward. The doorway buckled and then exploded outward. Givens released his grip and the spoons dropped to the floor. He stared at the thing, his eyes boring into it. It came forward, its mandibles clicking. Givens tossed the grenade at it and then turned and jogged, his hands pulling his weapon back up to the ready state.
The grenade hit the carpet and bounced just in front of the creature. Sarah screamed “Fire in the hole!” and shielded her eyes. A split second later, the world was filled with smoke, a cloud of pulverized sheetrock, and bright light.
Chapter 34
Ears ringing, the world sounded muffled and distant. She opened her eyes and cursed. The light was so goddamned bright. It’s the explosion, she told herself. You might have a concussion. Yeah. Right. Grenade. What a great idea that was.
Wait. Where’s the thing? The thought got her moving. She raised her head and rifle. The rest of her team was getting to their feet. The shockwave had practically knocked everyone over or at least off balance. But that didn’t make sense.
The wall nearest the clinic was blown outward. She could see the city street through part of it. The explosion had been powerful enough to destroy all the sheetrock and take bricks with it. The non-load-bearing walls that separated the clinic from the rest of the floor were in ruins. They looked as though an artillery shell had hit them. Even the concrete floor was missing large chunks and in one of the huge divots, she could see the crawlspace between the first and second floors.
“What the fuck just happened?” Perkins asked.
Sarah looked at him. He was right next to her, but his voice sounded as if it were miles away. “I don’t know.” She turned to Givens. The Kentuckian had a slight smile on his face. “You carrying nuclear ordinance, soldier?”
“No, Boss,” he drawled. “But I think Mr. Monster detonated.”
He was right. There was no sign of the creature. It had simply vaporized into nothing. She looked at the ceiling above the clinic. Most of the tiles were missing. Wires and pipes hung down into the room beyond. A grenade couldn’t have done that kind of damage. It had to have been a combination of the creature and the grenade.
“Fire?” she asked aloud.
“What, Boss?” Perkins said. He put a finger in his ear as if trying to clear it.
“Moore. This is Celianne.”
“Here. Is the creature destroyed?”
“I think so,” Sarah said. One of my men tossed a grenade at it. It was effective.”
Pause. “Yes, it was. So effective you blew out part of the building.”
Sarah blinked. “What?”
“I can see part of the building’s steel frame through one of my feeds. You’re lucky to be alive.”
“Got that right,” she said. “Dr. Harrel told us about using UV light. Have you confirmed that fire works?”
Pause. “We’re getting some reports from the oil rig. Sounds like the stuff is flammable, but we don’t yet have confirmation.”
“Understood. We’re going to clear the area and then I want to send these people down to the first floor.”
When Moore spoke, her voice held a frosty edge. “You will clear this floor. But you will not, I repeat, not send those people down. They are to stay exactly where they are.”
“Why?”
“Think about it, Lieutenant. If you send them down there, someone will panic and try to get out of the building. If that happens, my soldiers will have no choice but to shoot them.”
Shit, she thought. Moore was right. Goddamned civvies wouldn’t be able to help themselves. Unless… “Moore, let’s send them to the ER basement with the others. As long as they go that way, they should be fine.”
“Negative,” Moore replied. “Keep them where they are. Trust me on this, Lieutenant. The best way to save these people is to get them out of harm’s way. And as far as you’re concerned, the first floor is more dangerous than anywhere else in the hospital. Is that understood?”
She wanted to yell at the woman, explain just how insane her logic was. She wiped the side of her face. It came away damp with blood. “Yes, ma’am,” she said. “Are there any more hostiles on this floor?”
Pause. “Not that we have seen, no. But we have confirmed casualties on the third floor.”
“Shit,” Perkins said, his mic off. “How the hell are they confirmed?”
Sarah glared at him. “What’s up there?”
“We have two hostiles,” Moore said. “One appeared in the diagnostics lab. We lost sight of the other, but we believe it’s heading to the maternity ward.”
“Wait, what?”
“You heard, Lieutenant. Please get your team there immediately.”
“Acknowledged.” She clicked off her mic and stared at her men. “You know what you’re facing now. You know what you have to do.” She curled her lip into a sneer. “We’ll have time to toast O’Malley later. But right now, we have to keep those people safe. Understood?”
“Boss!” the men yelled.
She turned and ran to the stairwell, her men just behind her. The image of O’Malley’s severed arm shot into her mind. Her rookie. Her charge. Her partner. Dead. And now she was dragging the rest of the men to fight another of those things. And all they had to fight it were flash-bangs and bullets.
Sarah flung open the door and marched through it. She ran up the stairs as fast as she could, barely remembering to breathe. Givens and Perkins were no doubt on her heels, the two men hungry for some payback. They needed to find a way to fight the things without explosives if they wanted anyone to survive.
Chapter 35
“Dr. Ellis?” Moore�
��s voice piped through the command center’s speakers.
He looked up at the speaker in the wall and glared at it. In his left hand, he held a dropper. In his right, the test tube. He knew she could see him via the cameras. Didn’t she know this was some dangerous shit? “What?”
“What are you doing?”
The woman’s voice was infuriatingly calm. It made him feel like he was back in elementary school facing off with a patient, but patronizing teacher. Worst of all, she was faceless.
He put the test tube back in the holder and hissed air between his teeth. Now was the fun part. He moved the dropper into the middle of the stainless steel basin and squeezed the bulb. Another milliliter of the black substance dropped out onto the metal.
“Well, Dr. Moore, I’m trying to run some more tests, if you don’t mind.”
“And what test would you be running now?”
He glared up at the camera in the corner. It was hot. He was tired. Worst of all, he was terrified. He’d been on a constant adrenaline rush for hours, but there was nothing left in the tank. Unless he managed to calm himself down, and take it easy, he was going to crash. And if he was careless at the wrong moment, he was going to die. It was that simple.
“This,” he said, “is a test for flammability.”
Pause. “And how are you going to do that?”
He grinned at the camera. “Simple. We have a wand lighter for emergencies. Not exactly standard issue, but we like having them around. Never know when you’re going to need to start a fire.”
“Dr. Ellis,” Moore said, “you proved M2 is combustible with UV light.”
“Correct,” he said. “But Harrel told me the SWAT team doesn’t exactly have UV light sources at their disposal. Would be nice to let them know if there’s another weapon they can use.”
Pause. “Good idea, Dr. Ellis. Continue.”
His eyes lingered over the camera for a moment. He wished he could see the woman, make eye contact, and glare at her long enough to make her uncomfortable. Instead, he was intimidating a goddamned camera.
The Black: Outbreak Page 17
