‘I think that must have startled it. Isn’t there a manual lock on this latch?’
‘Here, flip this.’ Mark says through clenched teeth as he tries to hold the knob from twisting and still keep the door closed.
Robert stands up, ‘They aren’t doing anything. Maybe they’ve given up!’
‘I’ve got people on their way. Should be here in few minutes.’ Mark comments.
The room is quiet except for the sobbing of the two young girls. ‘Matt, did you check the two back doors?’
‘They’re secure and I blocked them as best I could.’
‘Ok people, just sit tight for a few …’
A low sobbing like a lost soul crying over the fog-filled moors rose from the dark shadows of the other room behind the doors. A chill runs through him and Mark can feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. A faint chemical odor, like smelling salts enters the room.
‘He’s alive out there!’ Janet whimpers and moves towards the door.
‘No, that’s not the guard. I’ve heard this before.’ Mark stopped as the wailing becomes louder. Then the lights begin to flicker and dim.
‘How can that happen?’ Robert comments in the semidarkness of the room. ‘Did they get into the main control center?’
The girls are openly sobbing now. Violent scratching begins at the door. Mark motions the others back from the doorway, ‘They aren’t attacking the door. They are hitting the door frame where the electronics are located. They are going to short-open the doors!’
‘But how, we have it mechanically clamped!’ Robert whispered.
Matt Zoeller turned to him, ‘The doors will fly apart when they break the proper circuit. It’s a fire control and safety access built into the doors. Doesn’t matter how tightly we fix them, they’ll fly apart.’
‘How could they know about such circuitry?’
‘I don’t know if they do understand it but they are attacking the right section of the door for just that feature! Coincidence? They seem to be able to sense the control sequences. Of course maybe it’s something less than that but I’m not willing to underestimate their intelligence again.’ Mark replied. ‘Now, we need to move back from the doorway. Move to the other end of the kitchen.’
The ammonia-like stench grows in the room and the sobbing transforms into the menace of a low growling warble. Their eyes have grown accustomed to the low light levels.
‘Get ready. Here’s some water, try and wash some of these fumes out of your eyes. Matt, when they come in you stand behind us and get any that may get past Bob and me. We’ll try and ambush the two of them.’
The scratching at the door is now a sharp ripping sound. Harsh growls of anticipation pass through the thin metal. Any moment and they will be through and into the kitchen.
Robert picks up a heavy vibro-knife used for carving meat and holds it before him. ‘I wish this would have happened anywhere but here. At least we would have had our Armor-all on. I feel naked as a …’
The door flies open with a crash as it slides back into the metal walls of the ship. The fumes are even stronger and in front of them stand both Black Ghosts. Unlike their original attack, they can be seen much more easily in the doorway but even now their features are indistinct, blurred. They stand still, their heads slowly turning and their bodies backlit by the walldisplay on the far side of the room.
One steps forward and screams out a loud, low warble. His yellow eyes glow in the now dim lights of the room as he stares at the people huddled in front of him.
‘Quick, push over these benches!’ Mark shouts and the attention of the cold, lifeless eyes shifts toward him. It opens its mouth slightly but no sound can be heard except a low buzzing and clicking in their ears.
‘Throw anything!’ He shouts just as the creature hopes and stumbles across a fallen bench in front of him.
The second Black Ghost runs around the blocking table and snaps at Matt and the cringing people by him. ‘That’s it! They aren’t used to things flying at them like this. Throw anything!’ mark cries as a pot flies past his head. ‘Fall back, make him come directly at us. No Robert, don’t throw those poles. Hold them and use them! Like this! Poke don’t swing them. You have to jab him … watch it! You girls get behind me.’
The young girls are screaming hysterically. Their fear spurs the attackers on.
‘Robert, can you get at the back door and open it?’
‘No! We’re too close to the door. I can’t move the things in front of it away… watch out Mark!’
Mark ducks just as the dinosaur swings a sharp claw-tipped hand at his head. The blow strikes him, glancing off the side of his face. A wave a nausea washes over him as he pulls back, slightly stunned for a moment.
A Black Ghost quickly leaps on him knocking the breath from his body. He lifts a claw-tipped foot, it’s single black claw is raised high, ready to thrust down and into Mark like a broad curved dagger.
Mark looks up and tries to gasp but the breath gone from his lungs. Then he sees a bright light cut through the dimness of the room and his sense of time seems to slow. In spite of his situation, he can’t take his eyes from the beam swinging across the ceiling. It flickers white, no yellow with tinges of … no that’s purple. His eyes cannot focus on the beam but they are fully taken and held by the almost three dimensionality of the brightly flashing, almost physical shaft. He watches as it flicks from the ceiling, down onto the back of the Black Ghost standing on him. The animal’s reaction is totally unexpected. Deep brown, almost black feathers become translucent for the briefest instant. Then they stand out explosively and their shadings ripple and swirl in a myriad of colors. First a deep, almost black gold that flashes red with tinges of yellow. The ripples of color charge through the patch of illumination without stop and the feathers physically shiver in the stimulus of the light.
The beast turns and flips as though bitten by a snake. Somewhere in the deep depths of his consciousness something tells him he can finally breath again. Cool, life-giving air flows into his lungs but his eyes are held by the light and a high pitched squeal that gradually fills the room.
The sound pounds on their ears as though a high speed freight train suddenly passed into the room and locked it’s brakes. The light flicks across the open space and lands on the second Black Ghost.
The animal suddenly leaps into the air and springboards into the wall. It’s skin is aglow with ripples of fire and dark black death that rage across the illumination on its body. The screaming doubles, ringing through the ears of the stunned humans in room as the shaft of light swings from victim to victim.
A pass flies across Marks face and his reactions pull back in terror. He feels nothing. No pain, no retching loss of reality and not even the expected searing heat of the bright shaft of light that continues to so brutally savage the two dinosaurs. The spell broken, his eyes fly across the room to the origin of the beam and view Doctor Marty Feldman standing calmly with an intense looks of interest on his face as he observes the suffering of the Black Ghosts.
Mark turns his head to the side and his eyes fly back to the Black Ghost squealing in pain. The shaft leaves the animal and he forces his gaze to stay on the animal. It fades, disappears before his eyes. A faint, shimmering pool of air stands in its place. Mark would never have been able to see this subtle distortion if he had not been looking directly at the beast when it disappeared. As he watches, the apparition turns, charging toward the exit door and the safety of the darkness beyond.
The bright, strobe-like light shifts across the room, suddenly capturing the fleeing Black Ghost as it once again flashes back into the spectral magic of its suffering. Caught in mid-stride, it flies back and a scream lifts in the close confines of the kitchen. The scream throbs through the ears of the humans as they watch it wither on the floor, a few drops of blood dripping from its nose.
The light brutally swings back and forth between the first Black Ghost and the second. Each time it touches them they scream and fly aro
und in a strange crazy dance like rag dolls shaken by a terrier. Then one manages to rise and momentarily evade the savage bath of illumination. It runs out the door, followed by the second Black Ghost and the room is left to the humans. They stand dumbstruck, stunned into silence. Their ears still ringing painfully from the cacophony of sounds and screams.
Marty follows hot on their trail, ‘Come on! We can still catch them.’
Mark struggles to stand, ‘Marty stop! Do not go through that door!’
‘We can still catch …’
‘You can still get killed very quickly. That’s a perfect ambush setup. Now get back here!’ Mark wobbles over toward the figure in the other room. ‘Marty? Marty! Boy am I glad to see you! You came just in the nick of time but if you go through that door you will die. Do not underestimate them.’
‘Say, what the heck is that thing? You didn’t show it to me in the lab.’
‘Jim ran into me in the hallway, I was on my way over anyway. We rushed ahead to get here as quickly as possible. I just finished this thing and it’s not too reliable yet but as you can see it does work. I believe I need to …’
‘What the hell are you talking about? You were fantastic! Your timing could have been a little earlier though.’
The lower doors fly open and Daniel Drake charges through the doors with three others close behind. ‘Oh God! Thank God you are ok. They charged by us like a bat out of hell. I thought for sure I would find a room full of corpses!’
‘Well thanks to Marty, we are ok. We need to …’
‘No!’ Marty interrupted, ‘You need to come back with me. I have three others of these in my lab and it’s on the way. Quickly!’
Marty quick walked toward the lower door. Dan looked at Mark, the unvoiced question in his face.
‘Quickly Dan, you need what he has.’
‘I don’t see anything but a big flashlight.’
Mark turned to him as they passed into the hallway, ‘That flashlight is exactly what you need. I believe we finally have a deterrent for these guys that is both defensive and offensive. Quickly, maybe we can catch them before they leave.’
‘Fat chance, we can’t even see them until it’s too late.’
‘I think those days are over Daniel. Quickly now!’
* * * * *
David Pope swung the Jensen Boat toward the open sea and then around the headlands and headed toward the sandy beach on the northern shore of the peninsula. The boat handles a little sluggish but that was because the large gash in its side still has not fully healed.
The boat is made of mock Nickel-Titanium synthetic with two memory states. That means it has two low-energy states for its shape. When in its storage-state, the boat is a simple, easy to transport and quite compact cube. When activated, the cube transforms into a jet-boat hull and a smaller cube on top is the engine and control package. Right now, the boat has nearly completed the process of reforming itself to its original state thereby healing the large tear in its side.
The boat used a wave to float up onto the sand where Anton and Alex pulled it safely up the beach. Corey swings the sand crane around and connects onto the pallet with Ed Saren’s body and a very upset Tom Bracken.
‘I tell you guys I can walk up. It’s only my shoulder and I don’t want to return to the Station like this.’
‘Shut up Thomas.’ Anton grumbled. ‘We can’t fool around. We have to let them know we’re ok and that those Black Ghosts are probably working their way back here. I don’t want to have to manhandle you half way up the cliff because you aren’t as strong as you think you are.’
‘You are wrong on one thing Anton.’ Corey breaks in. ‘I called ahead to ask Doctor Graeme to meet us up top. The Ghosts have already hit the Station and we’ve got a few others who have been killed including the Wei and Barbara’s daughter.’
‘Oh no, not little Jenn.’ David stopped working on the pallet and stared out over the calming seas.
‘Well they are gone now. Looks like Marty Feldman came through again. He has a way of breaking their camouflage cover. Unfortunately we also lost one of the board members and I don’t know just how Mark is going to handle this.’
‘The whole thing has really been quite a disaster.’ Anton grumbled. ‘Come on, let’s head up top, I need a cup of coffee and about twenty hours sleep.’
* * * * *
‘Now don’t you worry your bonnie face lassie. We’ll have this bright smiling visage back to itself in little time atall.’ Doctor Ian Graeme applied the spray across Molly Pasteur’s raw neck and face. ‘Now just watch, you’ll have nary a mark on yer warm smilin’ face in nigh a week.’
Molly winced and then visibly relaxed as the local sedative began to take effect. ‘The pain is unbelievable. It’s like having a thousand paper cuts across my shoulder, neck and back.’
‘Aye, ‘twas exactly what ‘tis. A thousand cuts that have ruptured the superficial veins and would continue to bleed without treatment. Their saliva must lay in an anticoagulant to enhance the bleeding. If he had been given a chance to cover more of your body you would have bled to death but it would have taken a while.’
A weak but teasing smile flashed across Molly’s face, ‘Doctor Graeme, I’m always amazed that your brogue accent can come and go like that.’
‘Aye lass, depends upon my fell mood and inclination!’
‘Well it was good enough to take my mind off the pain I was feeling. Thank you so ….’
Molly turned her head and her eyes widened as she heard the soft warbling that carried through the walls of the office. It slid up and down the scales, dropping into a menacing growl-like rumble.
‘They are back! They are looking for me Doctor Graeme! I can hear them at the door and… and something is over by the window too!’
‘Molly! Molly, look at me! Easy now, we’re safe in here. I’ve had the door access disabled. You have to manually open it if anyone wants entry. The inside now has a hard, physical bolt on it that I set after you came in. I’m not taking any more chances after having had three attacks here at the clinic. I’ve called the …’
A frantic scratching started below the window. Molly pushes Ian off and rises from the table to run over to the hard crystal wall section. A black shadow is scratching down below the sill of the portal. As she looks a pair of eyes suddenly appear, eerily floating in the shadows before her. Cold, yellow and merciless like the eyes of death, they stare into hers without blinking, looking deep into her soul. Molly is held motionless in the sure knowledge of their hostility. She can sense the intelligence and vengeful yearning burning coldly inside of this beast before her.
They stare at each other for an eternity, barely inches apart and separated only by the clear quartz optic of the SilFuse formed window. The animal suddenly explodes into motion and she can clearly see the dark maul of death as it opens its mouth and screams in frustration at her image so close before it yet so clearly out of its reach. It attacks the window, scratching frantically with four-inch long claws and lashing out with a sensitive tongue in search of any edge or crack that might provide a means of forced entry.
The warbled growl transforms into a bone-piercing howl of anger as a soft force pulls her gently back from the window. She slowly regains recognition of the room around her and can faintly hear a soothing, protective voice calling to her from far away. Her world spins with the sounds of hard nails scratching across the doorway down the hall while a red-mouthed demon claws frantically at the thin pane of the window before her and her head throbs and rings with the howling thirst of their cries for her blood. Thin threads of blackness skim across the edges of her vision and she can feel herself slipping away.
A sharp odor suddenly rips Molly back to awareness. ‘Oh no you don’t Molly. Come on, wake up! I can’t have you passing out now. We have to move back into …’
The quartz of the window sizzles with a bone-chilling ripping sound. Pieces shatter and fly across the office, small deadly slivers skittering across the floor,
flying into their hair and over their clothes. Blood curdling screams fill their world and pound into their ringing ears as they turn their heads. A black feathered fury has pushed through the window and hangs across its sill by the scant hold of a jammed shoulder. Saliva drips from its mouth as it lashes out toward them in its frenzied struggle to enter.
Ian grabs Molly around the shoulders and pushes her into the hallway. The door at the front of the building slams and pounds with the fury of some unseen tempest as he pushes her into the operations room at the rear of the building.
‘Move, into here! No, don’t just stand there, head over there toward the back of the room.’ Ian shouts as he closes the door behind him and shoves a long rod into the door’s handle to secure the entry.
Molly head is swimming and a sharp, cutting faint odor begins to fill the room. It burns into her head dredging out foul memories frantically pushed to the deep, dark recesses of her mind. Black recollections of torment and smothered panic. Fears of pain filled utter despair. The room begins to swim but a small pinch on her arm brings her around to focus on Doctor Graeme.
‘No you don’t lassie. That’ll help you to stay with us a few more moments. You need to head back into the chamber back there. Do you think you can walk now? Go, I need to do something over here. Quickly!’
A crashing, ripping sound enters the room from down the hallway. A blood curdling scream like the fury of Homer’s sirens passes through the walls as though they are made of paper. The door before him suddenly vibrates with bold fierce blows. Claws skid across the plastisteel of its panels, screeching across its hardened, smooth finish. They settle into the edges, cutting and clawing along the faint line separating the door from the support of its surrounding walls. The screams transform into a hard, low grunting and mewing call that pulses through the door with the deadly scrape of each claw.
Ian turns to a steel cabinet and rips open a drawer. He grabs a tube and flicks the top from it. The door vibrates and pulses before him with the onslaught of fury behind it as he pushes a paste from the tube around its edging. The paste grows and swells to fill the entry. Hardening within seconds of its contact with the air. The sounds from outside lower just a little.
Hunter's Moon (Cretaceous Station Book 2) Page 36
