The BIG Horror Pack 2

by Iain Rob Wright

  "Good," Boss said. "Then we'll have this mystery solved."

  Lexi watched the humanoids continue their start-up routines. One of them turned slowly to face her. Its yellow eyes pulsed. Its mouth opened wide like the maw of a snake and a long, drawn-out whistle came from its voice box.

  "What's it doing?" Lexi asked, covering her ears and wincing.

  Trent shook his head. "I don't know. I...It looks like some kind of data corruption in the start-up Kernel. Let me see if I can access its operating system." Trent switched on his comms unit and headed over to the whistling humanoid. Its eyes continued to pulse like a strobe light.

  "I've never seen one do that before," Gellar said.

  Lexi looked at her. "Have you been around them much?"

  "Yes, the Army used them in my unit for resupply and mine disposal. Before I joined the Space Corps, I was in the field during the Texan-Mexican war. There were dozens of humanoids on the ground with us. They never did this, though."

  "I'll figure it out," Trent shouted over the noise. "Just let me plug in." He pulled a zipwire out of his comms unit and plugged it into a small slit-port behind the whistling humanoid's ear. Immediately its eyes stopped pulsing and settled on a solid yellow.

  The whistling stopped.

  "What did you do?" Lexi asked Trent.

  "Nothing yet. I was just about to-"

  Trent's feet left the floor as the humanoid grabbed him around the throat and lifted him up. His legs thrashed in the air.

  Boss was the first to respond. He dashed forward and grabbed a hold of Trent, tried to pull him free. "Trent, stop screwing around!"

  Trent choked and spluttered. "H-help."

  The group of humanoids were suddenly all awake. They looked around curiously with their bright yellow eyes like newly-hatched lizards.

  "This ain't good," Hopper said.

  Lexi ran forward as the humanoids began to converge on her father and Trent. Trent was growing purple in the face and his kicking was becoming more frantic. Boss had started pummelling the humanoid in the face but the blows did nothing. It was like punching a sheet of metal. "I can't get him loose," he shouted as Lexi came to help him.

  Lexi grabbed one of the humanoid's arms and tried to yank it away, but it was impossible.

  Trent's struggling grew weaker. His eyes bulged from his head.

  The other humanoids began to approach en masse.

  "We need to get out of here," Miller shouted at them. "Run."

  But Lexi kept struggling to free Trent. "We can't leave him."

  "You have to," Miller shouted. "Get out of there."

  Lexi looked over her shoulder in time to see another humanoid coming right for her. It snatched out a hand and tried to grab her, but she ducked out of the way. Boss was still trying to release Trent, but his hands were bloody from throwing so many punches. Trent had gone still, dangling limply from the vice-like grip around his throat.

  Lexi was about to admit defeat. The other humanoids would be on them any second and there was no point her dying trying to save Trent. He was already lost.

  "Get down!"

  Lexi spun around to see Hopper coming at them with a large yellow bucket. Boss spotted him, too, and got out of the way just in time to avoid the torrent of soapy water being released from the bucket. The water soaked the humanoid and immediately its yellow eyes began to spit sparks.

  It released Trent’s neck and he crumpled to the floor.

  "Help me get him up," Boss shouted.

  Lexi and Boss scooped Trent up by his arms and started dragging him away towards the elevator where Miller and Gellar urgently waited for them. Hopper covered their back, kicking out at the humanoids that had begun to give slow, deliberate chase.

  Gellar ran forward to meet them all and helped them carry Trent the last few yards, and between the three of them they managed to drag him into the elevator.

  Hopper was still outside and they shouted at him to hurry. He was still holding the plastic bucket in his hands and he decided to lob at the nearest humanoid. It bounced off its head uselessly, but Hopper’s point was made. He turned around and leapt into the elevator just as the doors were closing.

  They started heading upwards. "Arriving at the Space Dome. This is a public area, please ensure all standards of uniform are met. Enjoy your day."

  "How did you know that would work?" Lexi asked Hopper between panicked breaths.

  Hopper shrugged. "Doesn't matter how far along technology comes, electronics and water just don't mix."

  "You knew the eyes were a weak point?"

  "They are on a human being. I figured the same might be true for fake humans."

  Miller was on the floor, checking on Trent. "He's still alive, but his pulse is weak."

  "Is he going to be okay?" Lexi asked.

  "Depends on whether or not his neck is damaged. If his windpipe is broken or if the blood was shut off from his brain for too long..." He shrugged. "We'll know as soon as he wakes up. If he wakes up."

  The elevator doors opened.

  "We need to get Trent somewhere safe," Boss said. "We don't know how many more of those bloody machines are walking around the place."

  "They don't use them in the public areas," Lexi said, recalling what she knew of the park. "They break the illusion of fantasy for the guests."

  "We should stick to the public areas, then," Gellar said.

  "We're heading back to the Hermes," Boss said. "Some sort of cyber-attack has made the humanoids dangerous. That might be what caused everyone to disappear. We're not equipped to deal with a hostile situation like this."

  "That's not true," Miller said. "The Hermes is equipped with six battle assault rifles and pulse grenades."

  "We're not frikkin’ soldiers," Hopper said.

  "Gellar and I are Marines."

  "Well, you two feel free to go full Rambo, but you won't find me running around with a gun."

  "Let's just get to the Hermes," Lexi said. "We'll make a plan from there."

  They exited the elevator, carrying Trent between them, and headed back out into the space dome. The view was a lot less awesome this time and, more than ever, Lexi felt the weight of the cosmos bearing down on her. They hurried into the boarding tunnel, where Hopper released the airlock, and they threw themselves back inside the Hermes like the Wrath of God was nipping at their heels.

  Hopper closed the airlock and slumped against the wall. "That was hairy," he said.

  "Open a comm channel, Lexi," Boss ordered. "I need to get a report to Britcomm ASAP."

  Lexi climbed into the cockpit and switched on the Hermes' transmitter. She was surprised when the console failed to light up. In fact the entire cockpit stayed dark. Even the standby LEDs were blank. She swivelled in her chair and tapped at the nav console. That, too, stayed dark.

  "What is it?" Boss said, obviously seeing the confusion on her face.

  "Nothing's working. The computers, the controls...it's all down."

  "How is that possible?"

  "It's not," Hopper said, flicking the cabin's light switch on and off uselessly. "Nothing would cause the ship's systems to fail all at once – except for one thing: sabotage. Somebody did this."

  "Maybe it's the same thing making the humanoids play up," Gellar suggested.

  "Or,” Hopper said, “somebody came and uploaded a virus into the computer's base programming or placed an EM jammer nearby to shut down the ship’s power core."

  The radio unit on Trent's shoulder suddenly hissed and a voice came through it. "You can’t leave. You have been exposed. You must remain here. I'm sorry."

  Boss grabbed the radio unit and barked a reply. "Who is this? Identify yourself."

  "I'm just a man. A man trying to do what's right. You cannot leave. You're all going to die here. I'm sorry."

  The radio went dead, just like everything else around them.

  #

  "Who the hell was that?" Miller demanded as he opened up a supply cabinet at the rear of the Herme
s. From inside, he pulled out an assault rifle and shoved in a magazine.

  "Calm down," Boss said, raising his meaty hand.

  Miller cocked the weapon and handed it to Gellar, then started loading up a second. "I suggest we arm up. Each magazine holds one-hundred-fifty low-velocity ball bearings. Makes a mess of a man but won't damage anything keeping a roof over our heads."

  "I'm with Miller," Gellar said, strapping the assault rifle around her neck. "That was a threat we just received. Our ship has been sabotaged. We need to defend ourselves."

  Boss spoke slowly, calmly. "Twenty-thousand innocent people. That's how many lives are in jeopardy here. Running around with rifles isn't going to do very much, but if it makes you two feel better, then by all means take them; but if you fire off a single round without my say so, I will personally see to it that you are Court Martialled out of your respective units."

  Miller scowled. "You have no say in military matters."

  Boss walked up to Miller and stood nose to nose with him. "Really? Who do you think taught your General Baxter how to fly? In fact, the very reason I have you and Gellar here is because Baxter owed me a favour. If you want to see how many powerful hands I've shaken, test me."

  Miller took a step back and averted his eyes. Gellar looked away too.

  "Okay," Boss said, his tone suddenly positive and fatherly. "We're in a spot of bother here, officers, but that's what we've all been trained for. My decision to abort the mission stands. We need to get a call through to Britcomm advising of the situation. That is still our only priority. Our own communications are down, which means we must seek alternatives."

  "We should head for the control centre," Hopper said.

  Boss nodded. "Yes, we should. I imagine this place has enough technology to light up every cell phone on Earth. We need to head there immediately."

  "But the comms are offline," Lexi said. "That's why we're here in the first place."

  Hopper folded his arms across his chest. "I bet the guy who threatened us on the radio is behind it. There's someone screwing with all the systems in this place. Maybe it's a tech; someone who works here."

  "I don't care who's responsible," Boss said. "I just care about getting to that control room and doing whatever we need to do to get a call out."

  "If the systems are down," Lexi said, "then the only person who can get them working again is Trent."

  "Good thing he's awake again," Hopper said, nodding down at their fallen colleague.

  Trent blinked, looking at them all in a daze.

  "Are you okay, Trent?" Lexi asked. She knelt down beside him and put a hand against his cheek soothingly.

  "Did I win?" he said.

  Lexi smiled. "Not so much. Do you remember what happened?"

  Trent shoved himself up into a sitting position and rubbed his neck. "Yeah, I remember." He looked around at the unlit cockpit, noticed the dark computer displays. "We're in trouble, aren't we?"

  "No," Lexi said. "Not yet, but we're going to need your help."

  "Okay, but it's somebody else's turn to get strangled by a robot next time."

  "Deal. Can you get up?"

  Trent said he could, so she helped him to his feet. He swayed dizzily, but managed to stay upright on his own. He eyed the assault rifles that Gellar and Miller held and frowned. "There are two-hundred humanoid units at Facility 23. I hope you've brought enough ammunition."

  "We're sticking to the public areas," Lexi said. "They shouldn't be around."

  "Let's get going," Boss said. He moved over to the airlock and pulled the release, allowing them all to proceed cautiously back through the tunnel and into the domed check in area. Up ahead, behind all of the desks, was a sloping pathway. At the top the hill was an archway with a huge banner attached to it. It read: WELCOME TO GRAND GALAXY. YOUR ADVENTURE STARTS HERE.

  "Get your tickets ready," Hopper told them. "And keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times."

  They stuck close together and started up the slope cautiously. The silence was unsettling. Walking into humanity's largest theme park should not have been a quiet affair. They hopped over the turnstiles and entered into the first section of the amusement park. It was a shopping area, full of themed stores and guest services running in two parallel rows. In the middle of the paved walkway was a pretend spaceship, painted white and red like an ambulance – it was a designated First Aid station. Behind it lay a bank of vending machines set inside a pretend rocket. The ceiling blinked and twinkled with fake stars three hundred-feet above their heads.

  "This is all wrong," Trent said nervously. "There should be people everywhere." He rubbed at his neck again. "Although, right now, I'm glad of the peace and quiet."

  Boss gave his orders. "Take point, Miller. Gellar, bring up the rear."

  They moved in a line, the two soldiers at front and back, and kept their pace slow and cautious. It didn't take long, though, before they encountered the park’s first attraction.

  Lexi looked up at the looping rollercoaster and couldn't quite believe it. The thing was eighty-feet high and swooped and dove in every direction. The fact that something like this had been built on the moon was hard to conceive, but there it was right in front of her. The coaster's cars were modelled after old-fashioned black and white lunar rockets, like the ones used at the turn of the century. The rollercoaster’s journey began with a vertical launch, mimicking a blast-off. The cars shot directly upwards, just like a real rocket launch, before swinging up and over into a series of helices and loops. The ride was designed to look like the guests were leaving Earth and travelling into the cosmos. It looked like a lot of fun."

  "Maybe when this is all over we can take it for a spin," Hopper said.

  "I'm sure there'll be lifetime passes for all of us," Boss said. "Let's just keep it moving. Trent, you have the maps. Do you know the quickest way to travel to the comms room?”

  "It's at the back of the park, near the Forbidden Planet section. Just under a mile ahead."

  Hopper whistled. "This place is big."

  "You have no idea," Trent said. He was zipping through information on his comms unit. "Looking at the maps of this place is like looking at a city. It has a water treatment plant, oxygen garden, hospital, supermarket, casino, nuclear power core, trash compaction site...it goes on and on. The amusement park is only a tiny piece of this place."

  "What's that?" Lexi pointed at a collection of wooden crates directly in front of them, blocking most of the path.

  Trent shook his head. "I don't know."

  Before anybody had chance to approach, a ball of flame went hurtling through the air towards them. It struck the wooden crates on the pathway and disappeared inside one of them.

  Boss grabbed Lexi and shoved her to the ground. "Get down!" he shouted as he dove on top of her.

  There was a massive explosion, followed by assorted sounds of whizzing, popping, and crackling. Lexi looked up from beneath her father to see fireworks erupting from the crates in all directions. The crates themselves were on fire and a candyfloss cart lay on its side nearby, smouldering from the blast.

  Boss pushed Lexi's face against the ground, not letting her move. "Sound off!"

  "Hopper okay."

  "Miller okay."

  "Gellar okay."

  "Trent...not okay, but I'll live."

  Fireworks continued rocketing into the air, exploding above their heads and hitting the store fronts and ride fascia. As Lexi struggled out from under her father and climbed to her feet, a fizzing green ball flew inches past her face.

  "What the fuck?" Miller growled, aiming his rifle in all directions. Every firework that popped made him flinch and adjust his position.

  "Keep your head together, solider," Boss demanded.

  Miller nodded and lowered his rifle slightly.

  Another ball of flame flew through the air. Lexi spotted it first and shouted a warning just in time for everyone to take cover.

  “Incoming!”

  The fie
ry projectile smashed on the pavement and ignited.

  "Somebody’s throwing firebombs," Gellar shouted. "Permission to fire."

  “Permission bloody well granted," Boss shouted back to her.

  Lexi spotted movement. "Over there," she pointed to a man standing inside an asteroid-themed carousel ride twenty yards ahead.

  Gellar sought out her target and allowed a smirk to cross her lips. "Target acquired." She pulled the trigger.

  Lexi watched as the stranger darted away amidst a hail of deadly ball bearing fire. Miller broke cover and tried to give chase, but the flaming firework crates held him back. "Damn it," he bellowed, firing off a barrage of rounds. “Damn it.”

  Boss rushed up and slapped the muzzle of Miller's rifle towards the ground. "You have no target. There could be civilians."

  "With all due respect, Boss, someone is screwing with us. And I do not like being screwed with."

  "Chill the hell out," Hopper said.

  Miller turned on him. "Chill out? If it wasn't for me bringing along a rifle we would probably all be toast right now."

  Hopper rolled his eyes. "You're acting like a dick."

  Miller went red in the face, but before he responded, Gellar cut him off. "He's right, Miller. Stop flying off the handle. We stick together and we act smart. You’re a Marine. Act like one."

  Miller seethed, his teeth bared. He turned and walked away.

  "What's his deal?" Hopper asked Gellar once Miller was out of earshot.

  "A rebel set his brother on fire in the Texan-Mexican war using a Molotov cocktail. I'm assuming he's not a fan of firebombers."

  Hopper let his shoulders slump and decided not to say anything else.

  Lexi went over to where Miller was standing and stood beside him. Hearing about his brother’s fate had upset her. "You okay, Miller?"

  "I'm fine. Why is everyone ragging on me for trying to do my job? I'm a soldier. My job is to shoot bad guys."

  "I thought a soldier's job was to protect people. You're not protecting us by losing your cool. You were right about bringing the rifle, but that doesn't mean you need to use it every time."

  Miller sighed. "Sometimes a rifle is the only tool that works."