Prey

by Jon F. Merz

  But that would mean leaving Mick.

  She didn't think she could stand the thought of being the sole survivor from this expedition.

  She kept on her original heading.

  After thirty minutes, she came to the spot where they'd first visited the cache. She shut down the Snowcat and jumped out. The snowfall here seemed less than over by the mountain range, which she was grateful for. At least she wouldn't have to push more snow out of the way.

  She found the cache marker and scraped off the foot or so of new snow.

  Her hands touched metal.

  Steel?

  She scraped some more and found the release catch next to a number pad. She punched in the code Mick had given her and she heard a soft hiss escape, like an airlock being released.

  The lid slid back.

  Julia peered inside.

  She saw more long cases like the ones Mick had pulled out the first time for rifles. Julia pulled one out. She could see other cases clearly marked as ammunition and grenades. She took those out as well.

  But it was the dull gray briefcase-sized object that drew her attention.

  Some type of fancy script ran down one side of it. What language was that in?

  She pulled it out.

  In the bright sunshine, it seemed innocuous enough.

  But the fact that it was in the weapons cache concerned her. She remembered what Wilkins had told her about. Small nuclear devices.

  Was this one of them?

  She'd take it with her. Maybe Mick would know how to work it.

  She stopped.

  Did she really want to set off a nuclear weapon on the continent? Did she really want to ruin this last piece of unspoiled real estate in the entire world?

  She frowned. Did she really want to let the aliens live? The nuclear weapon could kill them all and their creatures. Wasn't that worth a little radiation here?

  She looked around. The whiteness of this place seemed so virgin. So proper. So natural.

  To ruin that so she could kill the aliens...

  No.

  She slid it back into the cache and shut the door again. If she was going to kill them , she'd have to do it with the guns and grenades. She felt certain Mick could rig some type of improvised explosive device using the grenades that could take their ship apart piece by piece.

  Better that than a nuke unchecked.

  Julia had already made some bad decisions on this trip. She didn't want to be the person who had nuked Antarctica. That would have finished her off for good.

  She stood and pulled the long crates back to the Snowcat first. Once there, she broke the crate open and pulled out four of the rifles and checked them over the way Mick had shown them earlier.

  There was no time to zero them properly. But Julia didn't feel too worried about that. It was going to be close fighting. A few inches off at four hundred yards wouldn't mean squat in the close confines of the spaceship.

  She checked the grenades over. There were several different types. Julia brought all of them, tucked in behind the driver's seat of the Snowcat.

  She glanced back at the weapons cache.

  An idea slipped into her mind.

  She walked back and reopened the cache, peering inside for a longer time now. After a few minutes searching, she came up with four survival kits filled with food and water.

  She broke these open and gorged herself until she felt like she couldn't eat anything else. Somewhat restored, she threw the litter back into the cache, took a few fresh survival kits and headed back to the Snowcat.

  She climbed back in and restarted the engine.

  It turned over easily.

  The sun still shone brightly overhead.

  It was time, she decided.

  Time to go back to the tunnel.

  Back to the jungle.

  To the spaceship.

  Get Mick out alive.

  And to finally dispense some serious justice to the aliens who had killed off her team.

  Julia wheeled the Snowcat around, burped once, and trundled off back in the direction of the mountains.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  By the time Julia got back to the tunnel entrance, the sun had disappeared behind a huge swath of bloated gray and white clouds moving in from the east. The first flakes fell on her as she climbed back up to the ledge and squeezed herself and all the supplies inside.

  She took a moment to swig some more water before shrugging off her winter weather gear and hoisting the rifles, grenades and ammunition on her back while she dragged the survival kits to the proximity of the jungle entrance.

  Doing so exhausted her even more, but Julia wouldn't let herself quit until she had Mick back safe and sound.

  If he wasn't dead yet.

  The thought had hit her several times during the course of her journey. A huge part of her urged her to simply forget about Mick and get the hell back to the research station. At least there she could radio for help. Raise the alarm.

  And if the aliens came for her there, she could probably hold them off.

  Probably.

  So why risk her life by coming back to this place? Why risk another impregnation attempt by the aliens? Why risk running into Kendall again?

  For Mick.

  She sighed. Her life had been devoid of anything she could remotely classify as romantic for so long that the prospect of enjoying some quality nuzzle time with Mick had pretty much driven her common sense right out of her.

  Did love ever make sense anyway?

  She didn't think so.

  What about Mick? Would he take to her the way she had to him? There was no guarantee he'd be enthralled with Julia when this was all over.

  She shook her head. Either way, she had to try. And she didn't much think that anyone deserved to die the kinds of deaths her people had suffered at the hands of Kendall and his alien pals.

  There needed to be some payback.

  Big time.

  At the entrance to the jungle, Julia paused again and sucked down more water. She was worried about dehydrating with all the exertion she'd been putting herself through today. Combined with the multi-climactic settings she'd been walking through and she'd have to be careful she didn't pass out at some point.

  It was time.

  She nudged her way through the entrance and paused there.

  Waiting.

  Part of her suspected they might have set some type of trap. Waiting for her to come back.

  But she saw nothing that would indicate such a thing.

  What she did see was the body of the dinosaur with Nung's head embedded in its chest still laying where she'd left it.

  Dead.

  Nung's eyes were closed.

  Like he was sleeping.

  But he wouldn't be waking up from this one.

  She moved further into the jungle and sniffed the air cautiously. But again, there seemed to be nothing to alarm her. The air seemed clear. She took a deep breath, watched for any unusual side effects and could find none.

  Maybe Kendall thought she'd run back to the research station without caring about what happened to Mick.

  Good.

  She paused by the dinosaur, knelt down and touched Nung's face. She whispered a silent prayer of the kind she hadn't said in so many years. She hoped he'd find a way to forgive her.

  She hoped she'd find a way to forgive herself, too.

  The rifles clanked against each other as she walked further down the trail. She followed the curves now more confidently than she had before. She knew where she was going.

  And while she kept an ear peeled for possible dinocreatures and other nastiness, something told her she didn't have much to worry about. She hastened along.

  When she finally saw the metallic door leading into the spaceship, she paused. This was it.

  She tucked two of the M16s underneath a nearby shrub, along with some grenades and ammunition. Chances were good that she and Mick would need them when they came running out.

>   She slid her own M16 off her back and held it at ready. She kept the other diagonal across her back for Mick. She prayed he'd be safe until she could get to him.

  But where was he?

  She pressed the door release on the side of the door and it slid open suddenly with a sharp hiss. Julia took one last glance around and stepped inside.

  The door slid shut behind her.

  Silence dropped.

  Julia stood not moving for a minute, taking in everything around her and letting the ambient noises settle in her ears. If anything changed, subconsciously, she'd notice it.

  She could see blast marks on the walls still, evidence of the lasers shot at her and Mick during their escape attempt. She could see smaller scars from the bullets they'd fired as well.

  Here and there on the floor, dark stains showed up.

  Blood?

  But whose?

  Julia pushed the idea that it might be Mick's out of her mind. She had to concentrate on finding him. If there was bad news waiting, she'd handle it when she got to it.

  She turned left and headed down the long winding corridor back toward where she and Mick had come from before they got to this point.

  The ship seemed deserted.

  It worried Julia just a bit. Where was everyone? Where was Mick? Had they gone some place else? Did they have the capability to transport people to places outside the ship? Could they be there now and Julia not even know it?

  Anything seemed possible now, after all she'd been through.

  But in truth, she suspected they were simply deeper in the bowels of the ship, rather than out here on its periphery. And that was fine with Julia. She'd find them in her own time. And she'd kill every last one of them.

  She reached another door and slid into the next closest layer of the ship. There were more doors here. Some lead to examination rooms. Others seemed to lead to storage rooms. Julia hoped she could find a laser rifle to help even the odds, but she had no luck doing so.

  More corridors seemed to stretch on and on forever. She avoided them and worked her way deeper into the ship by jumping rooms. She would try to follow the rooms deeper into the ship rather than get caught up winding her way around and around in an endless circle.

  By the third room, she could sense something.

  They were still here.

  She didn't know how she knew it. She just did. Some part of her instinctive self sensed that they were still in the ship. Were they waiting for her? Were they poised to kill her once she reached a certain point? Or were they eagerly waiting to get in between her legs again?

  She frowned. Fat chance she'd allow that to happen. She looked at her M16 and smiled. She'd take her own life before she carried one of their disgusting little creatures to full term.

  No way.

  She crossed through another room into a corridor she hadn't seen before. A flash of panic leapt across her mind - she hoped she'd be able to remember her way out of this place. Mick might not be in any condition to lead her out. It would be up to her to remember how the hell she'd gotten this far in.

  She glanced back at the doors. Just follow them out as much as possible in a straight line, she told herself.

  I hope it's that easy.

  She turned back to the corridor and continued on. Now she could pick out stray noises filtering into her ears. She was too far away to determine what they were, but she knew she was getting closer to another run-in with her bigheaded gray-skinned hosts.

  And Julia couldn't wait.

  She kept moving.

  The M16s had grown heavy. Their weight seemed to pull at her small shoulders. The grenades in her pockets tugged at her to sit down and rest a while. The extra magazines of ammunition weighed a ton. Julia shook her head. How the hell did professional soldiers carry all this junk?

  She was sleepy.

  Tired.

  What a day.

  She smirked. It'd be nice to take a load off. To sit down for just a few minutes somewhere and grab some shut-eye. Maybe one of the rooms she kept passing would be a good place to lay low for a while.

  It'd be so nice to close her eyes.

  And dream.

  Yes, dream.

  Her eyes snapped open.

  What the hell was going on?

  She clamped her mind down and focused instead on the thought of killing as many little aliens as she could. She imagined what their diminutive bodies would look like splayed apart in bright red across the expanse of their ship.

  Or maybe she'd do some experimenting of her own on them. Make them into the twisted disgusting creatures they seemed to delight in turning humans into.

  Yeah, that'd be nice.

  Another wave of fatigue swept over her. This one stronger than the last. Julia almost staggered from the sudden weariness that fell on her.

  She leaned against the wall.

  Breathe.

  Breathe.

  She shut her eyes for just a second and saw an image in her mind of an alien with its big eyes peering deep into her soul.

  No!

  The image vanished.

  The fatigue vanished.

  Julia could feel a sudden flush of adrenaline course through her bloodstream.

  They were trying to get to her through her mind. Just as they'd done when she was lying on the table and they were anesthetizing her using her mind.

  She wouldn't let them this time.

  Not a chance.

  Julia sucked in more oxygen and tried to flush her system with enough of it. Then she righted herself, slid a grenade out of her pocket and kept it out just in case.

  Further up the corridor, she could see a door that looked a little different from the others. It drew her to it.

  Julia brought her M16 up.

  Reached for the door release button.

  Pushed it.

  The door jumped up.

  And Julia found herself facing an alien ten feet from her. As soon as she saw it, another wave of fatigue dropped on to her. Was this the one who was trying to subdue her mentally?

  She could feel the weight on her limbs. The rifle seemed too heavy. The grenade too bulky. She couldn't stand anymore.

  She just had to sit down.

  And sleep...

  Just for a little while.

  "NO!"

  Julia jerked the gun up and squeezed the trigger. The M16 chattered three times and the body of the alien exploded as the rounds hit it. Chunks of gray flesh seemed to come off and splatter the nearby walls.

  The fatigue vanished again.

  The adrenaline came back.

  Julia frowned. They must have had the ability to shut down the adrenal glands through their mental manipulations.

  So much for that.

  Julia surveyed the scene with a detachment fueled by hatred.

  Time to find Mick.

  She turned to leave and stepped out of the room.

  As soon as she did, an alarm sounded from deep inside the ship.

  And Julia knew that any surprise she'd had was now gone.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  She moved faster now, feeling as though time was of the absolute essence. Would the aliens kill Mick if they thought she was on her way to rescue him? Would they set a trap and wait? Or would they dispatch whatever remained of their dinocreature security force?

  Julia couldn't see any video monitors on the walls, and the fact that they hadn't seemed to know where she and Mick were earlier on, made her feel at least somewhat good about not being observed.

  But maybe they didn't need them.

  After all, the aliens had already demonstrated they could easily tap into her mental psyche and manipulate it to their advantage. Sure, she'd fought them off this last time, but was that the best they could do?

  And if they could play around inside her head, couldn't they maybe also know where she was at any given minute? Could they hear her trying to figure out where Mick was?

  Too many questions.

  Julia found he
rself longing for an easier life. She wasn't cut out to be a soldier, but that's just what she'd found herself becoming. What she really wanted was to make all of this go away. She wanted her team back. She wanted to see their smiles and hear their laughter. She wanted to remember what it was like before the horror of this trip had unfolded.

  And she knew she could never go back to that ever again.

  She hefted the M16 and kept moving. Another door led out of the room and she moved through it into another corridor.

  She heard a screech, wheeled around, and saw a dinocreature aiming a laser rifle at her. She ducked and fired off several rounds.

  They caught the alien square in the chest, ripping his sternum open and spraying blood all over the corridor. It fell with a dull thud and Julia moved ahead to another door.

  At last, she crossed into another corridor.

  Filled with doors.

  Everywhere.

  Was it an illusion? Was it some type of trick?

  How was she supposed to choose?

  She had a feeling that time was running out quicker than she wanted it to. Were the aliens leaving? Were they planning to take off and bring Julia and Mick back to their home world with them?

  She had to hurry!

  Julia started punching the door releases up and down the corridor, trying to work as systematically as she could. First one on the right, then one on the left, then back again.

  She kept an eye on the door she'd come from and used it as a marker for her starting point.

  But then it got too confusing and she almost forgot where it was. So she fired a single round at the door, watched it scar the metal surface and then turned back to the other doors.

  Where would they have put Mick?

  She ran down the corridor. "Mick!"

  It was silly, she supposed. Shouting would draw them to her. But she thought they might know where she was anyway. They were smarter than her after all.

  Or were they?

  Had they allowed themselves to develop to the point where their minds simply overshadowed every other aspect of their being? Were they mentally so profound that they failed to grasp the primal any longer?