Fast

by Shane M Brown

  What in the name of all things holy?

  It was like a scene from a horror movie.

  The creatures chasing and eating people looked the size of lions.

  Each creature possessed a mass of tentacles like a dozen thrashing anacondas. A large tapered head sprouted from this tentacle nest. When the creatures caught a victim, the head blossomed open, revealing a mouth wide enough to swallow a wild boar. Concentric rows of inward-pointing teeth lined this crimson cavity.

  Like a Great White Shark, realized Coleman.

  Fleeing the creatures, the human content of the level emptied chaotically across the pedestrian loop towards its south-east corner, towards the evacuation tunnel entrance. Or at least they tried to. Many weren’t making it, and still more people were emerging from the western stairwell. The distance from the western stairwell to the evacuation tunnel measured at least four hundred meters. No refuge from the creatures existed in between. The loop’s only feature this side of the glass-walled administration hub were four large, leafy planter boxes.

  Essentially, the evacuees made their desperate escape across a four hundred meter long killing field. At least thirty creatures stood in their path. People were getting mauled. People were getting dragged. Coleman realized that every hump of thrashing limbs was somebody being torn apart. Only the sheer number of people weaving through the bedlam reduced casualties. Some creatures seemed unsure where to attack first and missed their chance.

  All this flashed before Coleman in a second, but only one question seared into his mind.

  Where is David? Where is my son?

  Coleman desperately searched the faces and shapes of the fleeing people. No children. Had the children already reached the evacuation center, or were they cut off and trapped somewhere, forgotten in the panic and unable to compete against the hordes of terrified adults?

  Vanessa won’t let that happen. She’s got him. She loves our boy more than life itself. She’d already have him in the evacuation center.

  But what if she didn’t or couldn’t? What if she was trapped herself, unable to reach him? Coleman imagined David terrified and alone somewhere, or perhaps fighting for his life this very second. Where would he be?

  Coleman realized he was panicking, freezing up, completely forgetting his training and everything he was meant to do. But it was his boy….

  Someone roughly grabbed his shoulder. Corporal Forest was one step ahead of Coleman’s thoughts. He jerked his head at the evacuation tunnel and yelled over the screaming, ‘David’s either in there or trying to get in there right. We need to clear him a path right now! We need to help!’

  Coleman sucked it up and looked over his shoulder. You want to help your boy, then start helping right here.

  Third Unit had snapped their weapons into firing position. They had stopped behind him in an arrowhead formation, as equally at a loss as himself. No military maneuver existed to deal with this situation, but the Marines couldn’t help by gaping from the sidelines.

  Coleman had to trust in the professionalism of his team.

  Let’s just fight them.

  ‘Choose your targets,’ he barked. ‘Let’s give these people some room to move, Marines!’

  Third Unit reacted instantly. King, Marlin and Gill attacked left. Tremaine, Fisher and London attacked right.

  Coleman and Forest ran straight into the middle of the mayhem.

  Forest was already firing, snapping his rifle left and right and using his precise trigger-control to hurt every hostile in his firing arc.

  All around, Coleman heard CMAR-17 assault rifles start discharging. Third Unit were finding whatever means they could to attack the creatures without injuring civilians.

  On Coleman’s left, a creature dragged a man like a fallen horseman caught in the stirrups. Blood soaked his trouser leg where the creature gripped him. He desperately scrabbled for purchase on the smooth enamel floor.

  Coleman saw a clean shot and took it.

  He snapped off three fast rounds squarely into the creature’s head. The creature stumbled sideways, then recovered and charged straight towards the gunfire.

  Diving aside, rolling on his shoulder, Coleman avoided the charge and came up shooting. His bullets tore into the creature at point-blank range. Behind the nest of tentacles pumped a fat, pale, wasp-like body. The body throbbed like a giant human heart. Sappy white fluid spewed from its wounds as Coleman churned bullets into the collapsing mess.

  The creature stopped moving with a quarter of its body torn to shreds.

  ‘Target their abdomens!’ Coleman radioed as he knelt beside the wounded man. ‘The body is vulnerable!’

  The man bellowed as Coleman wrenched the tentacle from his calf. Three-inch long thorns lined the creature’s limb. The man stumbled away towards the evac tunnel despite the deep raking wounds covering his leg.

  Coleman checked his CMAR-17 magazine. He had used nearly half a magazine to take down just one creature.

  Part of a frantic radio message burst over his headset: ‘- I repeat, we have multiple hostiles. Non-human! I repeat, non-human, attacking us from all sides! Request immediate -’

  It sounded like Fifth Unit. Corporal Stevens. Stevens’ team entered the Complex by the northern stairwell. Coleman could only imagine the carnage if they became trapped in the stairwell.

  What have we walked into?

  Listening now, Coleman heard automatic CMAR-17 fire coming from every corner of the Complex. Multiple skirmishes. Every team sounded heavily engaged.

  Desperate engagements, Coleman realized from the sound of the sustained gunfire. The creatures are everywhere.

  He heard another voice he recognized on the headset, Corporal Harrison’s, a friend of Coleman’s since basic training. Harrison was attempting to fight and make a combat report simultaneously:

  ‘- got too many…(static)…be everywhere…(static)…defensive withdrawal through…(static)…civilian casualties coming…(static)…trapped in -’

  The radio message cut off.

  Coleman stopped trying to make sense of the fragmented messages. Third Unit was scattered everywhere. To the west, Fisher and London stood back-to-back firing. Closer to Coleman’s position, Marlin and King sidestepped around a creature thrashing wildly under their assault. They lifted their weapons high and angled their shots downwards to avoid hitting passing civilians.

  To Coleman’s right, to the east, Tremaine, Gill and Forest each worked on their own, weaving through the chaos, shooting, moving, shooting again.

  Coleman noticed a pattern in the creatures’ behavior. Gunfire affected their movements. Even the creatures not being fired upon moved erratically and changed directions every time a weapon discharged nearby. He saw the pattern, but didn’t have time to dwell on it.

  Because at that moment he saw Forest in trouble.

  Forest’s assault rifle had run dry. He stood plugging aimed pistol shots into a creature charging straight towards him.

  Coleman keyed his headset radio. ‘Forest, get ready to reload.’

  Forest didn’t respond. He was busy shooting for his life.

  Coleman dropped to one knee and leveled his assault rifle between Forest and the creature.

  He thumbed the weapon to fully-automatic and aimed. When the creature’s wasp-like body filled his weapon-sight, he squeezed the trigger. The blast of fully-automatic fire ripped down the side of the creature like a cheese-grater.

  The creature rolled away from the impact, its momentum thrown off by the side-attack.

  Forest reacted instantly. He holstered his pistol and in one smooth motion lifted out a fresh ammunition magazine for his rifle. He rammed the magazine home, cocked his weapon, and started firing downwards into the creature like he was hosing leaves off a driveway.

  Coleman spun towards the sound of sustained gunfire to the west. Third Unit’s attack had formed a temporary breach between the creatures and the evacuees. At the head of that breach, Privates Fisher and London faced the full forc
e of the swarming creatures.

  Standing back-to-back, Fisher and London used a three-hundred and sixty degree arc of gunfire to hurt everything in their range. Creatures swarmed towards them from every side. Their CMAR-17s fired white-hot, but the creatures surged closer every moment.

  Fisher’s voice burst over Coleman’s radio. ‘Backup. We need backup right now!’

  Coleman searched for a way to help. He couldn’t reach Fisher and London in time. King and Marlin looked closer, but were maneuvering to place a wounded creature between themselves and more incoming hostiles. They appeared only seconds away from the same predicament as Fisher and London.

  ‘Fisher - London - you need to break out,’ ordered Coleman over his headset. ‘Focus your fire to the east and break out!’

  ‘We can’t!’ yelled Fisher between bursts of his weapon. ‘They’re too close. There’s too many!’

  And then Coleman saw one of the creatures swipe a barbed tentacle across London’s face.

  London’s entire head smashed to the right. The left side of his face tore away. Blood fountained from his carotid artery like a burst water main. The impact slammed him to the ground.

  ‘London is down. London is down!’ yelled Coleman into his radio.

  Private Gill rushed up beside Coleman.

  ‘Holy shit,’ moaned Gill. London’s blood spurted straight up into the air.

  ‘We need to get in there!’ Coleman yelled. ‘You go left and we’ll open a -’

  Then Gill was gone.

  The creature slammed Gill from behind like a raging bull. In the roar of gunfire they hadn’t heard the creature approaching. Gill rolled along the floor in the creature’s grip. Before their momentum stopped, every tentacle had wrapped tightly around his body.

  Then it got worse. The creature began a frenzy of hyperactive motion, tearing Gill apart.

  Coleman sprinted towards the young Private. He stopped just a meter short, searching for a clean shot, but the limbs wrapped up too tightly around Gill.

  Writhing under the assault, Gill pounded with his fists for the three or four seconds his body remained in one piece.

  Then the creature began feeding. Coleman could see straight into its mouth where hundreds of noodle-like strands flicked over Gill’s wounds like tiny vacuum cleaners.

  Seeing how quickly the creature killed Private Gill, Coleman realized why there were so few wounded evacuees. They either reached the evacuation tunnel in one piece or not at all.

  Backing away from the feeding creature, Coleman searched for London and Fisher. Fisher’s firing hadn’t stopped during the attack on Gill. Marlin and King broke from their engagement and ran to offer Fisher support fire.

  It was too late.

  Kneeling over London’s body, Fisher clamped his hand against London’s gushing carotid artery. He looked up as a creature’s mouth entirely engulfed his head.

  The creature jerked Fisher from his feet. It thrashed his body overhead like a doll in the mouth of a rabid dog. Fisher’s legs kicked up in the air. His searching right hand found his pistol.

  Somehow, he drew his pistol and started firing. His bullets went wild, but he didn’t give up. Only his body armor kept him alive.

  The creature slammed Fisher’s body down on the floor. Coleman heard a grisly series of cracks as Fisher’s back broke. Now its mouth clamped around Fisher’s neck.

  The creature gave the limp body another massive overhead swing. The body came loose and cartwheeled through the air. Fisher’s head stayed in the creature’s mouth. Blood sprayed outwards from the cartwheeling corpse. As Fisher’s decapitated body slid across the floor between King and Marlin, Coleman heard a tremendous crash of breaking glass to the north.

  ‘Captain,’ Forest shouted over the radio, ‘I got kids over here! I got incoming hostiles. I can’t stop them. I need help right now!’

  Coleman’s guts tensed up in fear. Kids! Children. Maybe David. They hadn’t reached the evacuation center.

  A young woman emerged from the admin hub shepherding six children towards the evac tunnel. Coleman remembered there was a school back in there. David had talked on the phone about his school in the hub.

  Already sprinting, Coleman scanned the terrified little forms for David. None were David, but one was in trouble.

  ‘I see them,’ Coleman yelled into his radio. ‘Get them moving, Forest. Tremaine - focus on the admin hub - stop those creatures reaching the kids.’

  Tremaine turned and poured gunfire into the creatures that came bursting from the hub.

  Forest reached the young woman with the children. ‘Come on, Come on - this way! Come on, faster!’

  Coleman fired as he ran.

  Tremaine obliterated the front of the hub trying to stall the creatures pouring from every office and corridor. He slapped a fresh magazine into his CMAR-17 and kept firing.

  Two creatures already moved to intercept the children.

  One terrified child, a small red-haired boy, slipped from the back of the pack and stood screaming. Forest spotted the child and started backtracking. Coleman was closer. Without stopping, he snatched the boy up and tossed the rigid child towards Forest.

  ‘Get them out of here!’ Coleman spun as the boy flew through the air towards Forest.

  The two hostiles charged at Coleman.

  He didn’t have time to turn and run. He didn’t have time to lift the CMAR-17 and take down both creatures. As the creatures came together, he dove. His body flew through a nightmarish maze of thorns grazing his body armor. He hit the ground just behind the creatures, ducking his head into a combat roll so he came up running. Now he led the creatures away from the children.

  Tremaine stood thirty meters ahead, facing a dozen creatures swarming from the admin hub. The creatures reached less than fifteen meters from Tremaine, who fired his assault rifle left and right, trying to hold the hostiles back.

  But Coleman knew how the creatures moved. He knew how they reacted to gunfire. Tremaine was in trouble.

  Coleman keyed his radio as he ran. ‘Tremaine - break out - they’re too close to you!’

  Tremaine turned and took two steps before a tentacle struck his ankle.

  ‘No!’ yelled Coleman as Tremaine pitched forward.

  Tremaine windmilled his arms and tumbled forward headlong, smacking into the ground and sliding on his body armor. He flipped over and started crawling on his shoulders, bringing up his rifle.

  The creatures surged on top of him.

  Tremaine’s body tore apart in seconds.

  ‘The kids are clear,’ Forest radioed, but Coleman was running for his life. The two hostiles pursued just meters behind him. He cut left and headed for the large planter boxes. Each three meter long marble planter overflowed with glossy shrubs. Four of these heavy features stood arranged in a diamond.

  Coleman focused all his strength into leaping over the closest box. He planted his right boot and jumped. He didn’t know if leaping over the box was even possible in his body armor.

  Two seconds later, he discovered the jump wasn’t possible. His left boot caught the top edge of the box. Face-first, he crashed through the shrubs and tumbled out the other side.

  The first creature smashed into the planter box. The entire box rocked towards him, tilting up precariously on one edge.

  Then the second creature hit.

  The heavy marble box toppled over Coleman’s legs. He lunged away, moments before the box crashed down inches from his boots. Plants and soil cascaded over his legs like a mini-landslide.

  The first creature had three tentacles pinned under the heavy box. Coleman fired from a prone position, unwilling to spare a second to find his feet.

  Marble shards exploded off the box.

  But the second creature wasn’t pinned. It launched itself straight through the air towards him. He couldn’t move in time. He lay in the exact position in which Tremaine had died - on his back, unable to rise as a creature fell upon him.

  The impact felt stunn
ing. Its body knocked aside his assault rifle. Its heaving bulk crushed his lower body. Inches from Coleman face, its head blossomed open into a pink cavity of teeth. It reared back to attack. Coleman’s legs came free.

  He kicked up and jammed his boots either side of the creature’s descending head.

  The creature jerked to a halt with Coleman’s legs locked straight out. Its horrid mouth gaped just inches from his face.

  Coleman was stuck. If he moved he would lose his balance. His CMAR-17 lay jammed under his left shoulder. His legs shook. Any moment they would buckle.

  But strapped to his right thigh hung his silver savior.

  Sliding out the heavy colt pistol, he aimed the weapon right into the creature’s gaping mouth.

  BOOM!

  The shot blasted a hole in the creature’s head the size of a dinner plate.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! He kept firing, tearing wet chunks from the creature’s head. He twisted his arm and fired down the creature’s mouth into its body.

  Liquid jetted from the wound in a geyser that splashed on the floor behind him. At once the creature slumped back. Coleman pushed away with his legs.

  He slid backwards on the slippery floor and found his feet.

  The creature looked finished, but he’d seen enough monster movies. He shot it some more. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  As he repositioned his assault rifle, King, Marlin and Forest rushed into cover behind the planter boxes.

  Coleman checked his radio. Third Unit couldn’t expect any help. All over the Complex, every unit had heavy casualties. They all called for backup.

  ‘Captain,’ yelled Forest, pointing to the east. ‘They’re sealing the evac tunnel!’

  The heavy, portcullis-like containment door was sealing the Evacuation Center from the Complex in a spectacle of whining sirens and flashing orange lights.

  It didn’t matter, Coleman realized as the remaining survivors of Third Unit grouped together back-to-back.

  Because they were completely surrounded by hostiles.

  They were trapped.

  #

  Corporal Harrison and Private Sullivan ran for their lives.