Alien Infestation

by Peter Fugazzotto

  A roar erupted from the soldiers.

  Snake bumped around in the festive crowd, hooting and slapping hands, and then suddenly he held Engstrom in his arms.

  He laughed. "We did it, didn't we? Got rid of those damned bugs."

  "We don't make such a bad team, do we?" she said.

  He might have said more, might have pulled her more deeply into his embrace, might have finally taken that kiss from her, when a klaxon blared and she jumped back out of his arms.

  He heard a voice rumble from her helmet radio. It was Kray. Snake recognized his voice but he could not make out his words.

  A silence fell over the soldiers, their celebration drained by the unbearable klaxon.

  "Back!" shouted Engstrom. "We need to go back. Retreat. As fast as you can. Back to Level 2."

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  KRAY AND HIS team gathered outside the door to the chapel on Level Three. Kray counted down from three to one on his fingers and then Miller popped his head around the doorframe, fired his gun, and unleashed a wall of flame.

  The bugs chittered wildly and a wave of heat rolled out of the room, so hot that Kray wondered if he would have any eyebrows left. But he did not wait for the heat to vanish. Instead, he peered around the corner and pumped two bullets in the bug that was still standing. The second shot splattered its head, and the foul stench on bug blood almost choked Kray. He gagged for a second and then stumbled away from the door.

  Miller, for good measure, filled the room with fire again. The flames consuming any lingering stench.

  "Mmm-mmm," said Miller. "Lightly roasted bugs. My favorite. Just need a little hot sauce."

  The other soldiers around them smiled but none of them laughed.

  Kray looked back in the room making sure the job was done. "I don't know. I don't like this. Seems like it's all a bit too easy. That first wave that hit us did not go down so easily. What's so different?"

  "They were concentrated before. A giant wall," said Miller. "Now we've broken them into manageable bite-sized Crunchs."

  "That's what worries me. How'd they get stupid so fast?"

  Miller did not have time to answer. No witty reply from him.

  The emergency lights in the hall began flashing red and a loud warning klaxon blared.

  "What the hell?" said Miller.

  Kray connected back through to Admiral Kronos. The line washed with waves of static.

  "The bugs ..." started Kronos. "...Broken through ... air ... Retreat. Pull back. ...Help."

  The Admiral's voice was suddenly swallowed in static, his words indistinguishable. Kray did not need to hear more. He knew the one thing he needed to: his team had to retreat. He patched through to the sergeants and told them the same.

  "Let's go. Let's go," he said to his team. "Back to the stairs and we form a defensive line at the landing on Level Two until I can get this sorted out."

  Miller kicked a wall. "We're giving up ground we just took. They'll just swarm right back and we'll have to do this all over again. We're making a mistake."

  "Son, we got orders to retreat. What do you think I should do?"

  Miller dropped his head. "Follow your orders, sir."

  "Then let's do this. Miller, you take the lead and get us back to Level Two."

  They set off at a quick pace down the hall, not fast enough to be running, and Kray wished they could move faster but he knew that Miller was right and it was better to be safe than sorry. No use running into a trap. For all they knew a swarm of bugs could be around the next corner.

  Miller stopped at the elevator and smashed a finger into the button.

  "What are you doing, soldier?" shouted Kray.

  "Getting us to Level Two, sir."

  "The stairs! We take the stairs!"

  The elevator bell dinged and Kray cursed. He turned his gun on the doors and the others did the same. A sudden tingling of panic covered his skin. He had seen enough horror movies. You never took the elevator. You never knew what was going to tear out of it.

  It seemed to take an eternity. Then the doors slid open.

  Kray fought to keep his arms relaxed and the gun steady. He could see that a few of the faces of his men had frozen, jaws clenched, knuckles white.

  The elevator was empty. The stench of bug poured out and the walls were coated with a sticky slime.

  Miller took a few steps towards the elevator.

  "You gotta be kidding me, Miller," said Kray. "We don't go in the elevator. No way. To the stairs! On the double soldiers! We've lost time."

  This time Miller took off at a faster pace, and the team struggled to stay together as one tight unit, but they did. The stench of the bugs, rather than weakening and becoming more diffuse, grew stronger. Kray's eyes watered and he gagged slightly. Their stench filled the air but he did not see a single one. How was that possible?

  They reached the stairs, and Miller ahead of the others ducked through the door. His scream made the others freeze.

  "What the...?"

  "Miller?"

  Kray cut past the soldiers pressed against the wall until he came to the door to the stairwell. "Miller? Soldier? What's going on in there?

  Miller did not answer. Kray edged the door open with his foot. Bug stink flooded his nostrils. The lights in the stairs had been knocked out. He thumbed on his night vision goggles and peered through the crack in the door. There were bugs. Dozens of bugs.

  He cursed and pointed his men to either side of the door. "How'd they get ahead of us?"

  "Maybe that was the plan all along," said Cole, hunched over to make it seem as if he were not as tall as he was.

  "They're bugs."

  "They're the enemy. Never underestimate the enemy."

  "Bugs," said Kray.

  "What about Miller?" asked Cole.

  "Odds are he's dead. But we owe it to him to try to rescue him. So let's get some flares, light the room up, and see if we can get in there and rescue him."

  Cole assumed the point position. He tossed a flash grenade into the stairwell and followed it with a flare. The moment the flare left his hand, the marine stormed the stairwell.

  Kray burst through the door and stopped dead in his tracks. The stairwell was empty. No bugs. No Miller. Only the foul-smelling ichor and slime on the walls. Blood trailed up the steps. He heard a muffled scream from Level Two.

  Kray's jaw trembled. "Miller's still alive. The bastard's dragged him with them. Boys, we leave no one behind."

  This time Kray led the charge. He made it as far as the first landing and then the bugs attacked, pouring out of the door. Kray opened fire on the first wave of bugs, the gun nearly jumping out of his hands, the bullets cracking through the carapace of the insects. Behind them the walls dripped with bug blood. The flares stretched their shadows behind them making them seem even more monstrous than they were.

  The bugs were no match for the bullets roaring out of the guns of the marines. Row after row fell. Kray screamed at his men to move forward and they took the ground, mowing down the bugs that stood between them and the doorway opening to Level Two.

  Kray was the first through, gun spitting bullets, bugs dropping. But as soon as he made it into the hallway, he realized they had no chance. The hallway on Level Two teemed with bugs.

  In the middle of the hall, Miller lay on the floor. Kray was not sure that he could help Miller any more. Two dozen bugs ripped him open at the stomach and a long trail of guts stretched down the hall. One of the bugs stood over him, holding him up by the head, its mandibles having torn his skull in half. The bug slurped his brains.

  "Retreat," Kray screamed and his men charged down the stairs. Kray slammed the door shut and threw his weight into it. Cole stayed at Kray's side, pressing his shoulder against the door.

  "We need to figure out a way to lock this door," said Kray. "Block it so they can't follow us through."

  Cole pulled a welding torch from his kit. "I can try to melt the door."

  Kray shook his head. He
was not sure they had the time and he doubted that it would even hold. How long before the bugs were at the door again?

  And as if the bugs sought to answer that question, they crashed against the other side of the door. Kray and Cole struggled together to keep it closed.

  "Run," said Kray.

  "I'm not leaving you behind, sir."

  "You run. I'll hold them off and when you're all through the door below, I'll make a run for it. Just like the basic training obstacle course. I aced that test. A big leap, vault the rail, a rolling landing, and then through the door."

  "They'll be right on our tail," said Cole. "You'll only buy us a couple more minutes."

  "A couple more minutes is better than nothing," said Kray. "Go, and when you have the all clear flag me through."

  "I'll just be a second, sir," said Cole. "And thank you." He nodded grimly and then ran. Within a few seconds he had leapt down the stairs, stumbling at the bottom, catching himself against the wall, and then slipped through the door to Level Three.

  Kray leaned hard against the door and counted the seconds until he would see Cole again.

  He reached ten when something smashed at the door and Kray's feet slid along the floor. He threw his shoulder against the door, and the bug on the others side threw its weight right back at him, enough to push the door open and slip a pincer through the opening. Kray blew it apart with his gun.

  This bought him a moment.

  Where was Cole? That kid better not have left him behind. There would be hell to pay for that.

  He touched his helmet speaker. "Cole, good buddy, give me the all clear."

  Static roared. Just as he was about to turn it off, he heard the screams of men.

  "Cole!"

  Static. He strained to hear something, anything, but the static was too loud.

  "Cole!"

  The bugs smashed against the door again. His feet slid. They pressed more. He could not hold the door any more so he ran. He sprung forward, grabbed the metal railing, and in a single motion sailed into the air. He hit the ground harder than he thought he would and could not catch himself. His knees gave out beneath him and his head smashed against the wall, the face shield cracking but not shattering.

  He forced himself to his feet. He fired blindly over his shoulder towards the surging shadow spilling out of Level Two. He stumbled forward a few steps, ripped open the door, and stepped out into the hall.

  "Cole?"

  The few remaining soldiers fired wildly with their guns. Bugs swarmed the halls. They poured out of the air vents in the walls, a steady stream of the vermin. They were too many of them. He fired a few shots but it did not matter. He watched the last of his men dragged into the arms of the bugs.

  They had lost. The bugs had defeated the Space Marines. Did he and his men ever have a chance? Did anyone make it out alive?

  Several bugs saw him and charged, springing off the walls, their mandibles clicking, their faces covered in the bright red blood of Kray's men.

  He ducked back into the stairwell.

  The flare on the floor flickered but it was enough to see the bugs circling him, their chittering sending chills up his spine, their stench making him want to puke.

  He was ready to die.

  But on his own terms, he pulled the pins on two grenades and spread his arms wide and welcoming. "Come on you, cockroaches! We're going to hell together."

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  SNAKE'S BREATH ROARED in his ears. His heart pounded and sweat poured down his face. His legs burned and his back ached, and all he wanted to do was to stop for a moment, gather his thoughts, and maybe drink a little water. He was so thirsty.

  But he knew he could not stop running.

  To stop was to die.

  The Poros had become a killing field.

  They had made it back to Level 2 following Engstrom up the stairs, Fifi blasting a trio of bugs that had burst through the door at the bottom of the steps.

  Snake had breathed a sigh of relief when he crashed through that door at the top of the steps thinking they were safe.

  But that was a mistake.

  No sooner had they come through the door than bugs loped at them from down the hall, and even as they charged, more bugs poured out of the air vents.

  Now Snake and the others ran for their lives, trying to outpace the bugs in pursuit behind them, and hoping not to get caught by bugs at one of the intersections.

  "Where are we going?" Snake screamed. He fired a shot over his shoulder and the bullet took the bug's head clean off. He snickered wishing one of the others would have seen that running shot.

  "Level 1," said Engstrom. "We get up to the command center. We regroup with the rest of the marines. We make a stand. We fight for our lives."

  "Forget that," said Snake. "We go to the Phaethon."

  "The other soldiers need us."

  He skidded after her around a corner. Fifi slipped but Crunch was right there at her side and he picked her up in one smooth motion. !"

  "The comms are down, that's all. We regroup."

  "We need to get to the Phaethon!"

  Snake had no idea whether Engstrom was leading them towards the Phaethon. She knew the ship better than he did and he trusted that she was doing the smart thing and not trying to lead them towards the command center. Even if soldiers still manned that room, what chance did they have against the sudden swarm of bugs?

  He could not believe everything that had happened. It was as if he were living in a nightmare – from getting arrested to being sentenced to the prison planet, from escaping the pod to that first encounter with the bug, from escaping the Acheron to the battle with the bugs on the Poros. And now everything had shifted in a single moment from the victory of flushing the bugs into space to suddenly running for their lives and trying to reach the Phaethon. He could not imagine anything going worse but a creeping suspicion told him that things would only get worse. Bad luck piled on bad luck and he knew he was not free and clear yet.

  But he imagined getting to the Phaethon, where things would finally turn in his favor. He knew it. Deep down inside. Once he reached the Phaethon, his luck would change. For the better.

  The small crew was crossing an intersection when the bugs hit.

  Gunfire exploded in the hall. Soldiers screamed. The bugs slashed with their arms.

  The soldiers were split into two groups with bugs in between and as the wall exploded with bullets around him, Snake realized that the soldiers on the other side of the bugs were almost hitting him with their missed shots. Engstrom who had lagged behind with Snake saw it also.

  "Stop!" she screamed but the other soldiers did not hear them.

  "We need to run," said Snake. He tapped the shoulders of Fifi and Crunch and the four of them raced down the hallway, the sound of the gunfire and the screams of the soldiers fading. He slowed enough to look over his shoulder.

  No bugs pursued them. Instead they pressed forward in battle with the soldiers.

  He had no way to tell whether the soldiers were winning or not. But at least they were not killing each other.

  "We should circle around to another corridor and help them," said Engstrom. She glanced at a map display on her forearm. "We can't just leave them behind."

  "Yes, we can," said Snake. He grabbed her arm and stared at the map. "The Phaethon, you ran us past it. Can I even trust you?"

  "You're a monster. How can you leave others behind when we might have a chance of saving them?"

  They had drifted to a stop in the hall. Fifi glanced repeatedly over her shoulder. "We should have this conversation somewhere else."

  "Like the Phaethon," said Snake. They were not far. Maybe three hundred yards of turns, and then a straight shot to the docking door. He grabbed Engstrom by the arms and pulled her in close. "Trust me. We're no good to anyone if we are dead. Let's get back to the Phaethon. We can establish communication with the command center or other remaining soldiers, direct them to our ship, and make a decision
from there. You've gotta see the writing on the wall. We've lost the battle. No shame in retreating and regrouping."

  "I don't care about dying," said Engstrom. "But I can't stand by while others are getting killed. Not while I can do something about it."

  "Stubborn, and you will get yourself killed for no reason."

  "For the only reason." She twisted out of his grip. "I'm going back to help the others. I can't leave my soldiers behind."

  "Too late," said Fifi. She stared back down the hall in the direction from which they had just come. A horde of bugs charged, eating up the ground, blood flying from their limbs and mandibles.

  Behind them, Snake saw the corpses of the soldiers, and the bugs that had stayed behind to feast. His stomach tightened. For a moment, a cold panic seized his legs and despite wanting to run, he could not move his legs.

  Then Fifi unleashed the fury of her gun. The hall exploded in flame. She flew off her feet and smashed into him, knocking any hesitation out of him.

  Before the smoke cleared and Snake could see whether any of the bugs survived, he yelled. "Follow me. To the Phaethon."

  With that, he grabbed Engstrom's arm again and pulled her with him. He caught a glimpse of her face, her eyes filled with tears. But she did not resist. She ran with him, racing for their lives, racing for the safety of the Phaethon.

  Snake had seen the map in his head. He knew which way to run. They did not get far before Fifi shouted out a warning from behind. The bugs had found them. They were closing in.

  But ahead the corridor was clear. He saw Docking Door E ahead and beyond it the Phaethon.

  "We're not going to make it," shouted Crunch.

  Snake glanced over his shoulder and saw that his companion was right. The bugs at the pace they were moving would catch up with Snake and the others before they reached the door.

  Snake stopped and wheeled about. "Keep going. Get the door open. I'll catch up."

  He saw the look in Fifi's eyes. She was scared. He had never seen her scared before. The look in Engstrom's eyes was harder to read but she too ran past him, any thoughts of heroism temporarily erased by the immediacy of the bugs in pursuit. Death had a way of making decisions simpler.