The Hades Facility: 'In the darkest depths, lay your darkest fears...' (The Prometheus Series Book 1)

by Oliver Tuson

  A fitting name for the project that guarded this hellish facility he now found himself in, Clarke thought, his mind taking him back to his friend who was now gone. Victim to this place.

  His temper got the better of him again as he smashed the terminal against the wall. Shattering the screen. He stood up and headed back out of the office, still intent on revenge and greeting the death no doubt stalking him somewhere out there.

  He headed out of the lab and back up the elevator. Leaving the so-called successful lab behind. He emerged back onto the centre and paused listening to any sign of the creatures that roamed the corridors. Nothing. He tried the main elevator leading up again, already knowing the result as he pressed the unlit button. Nothing. He swore under his breath as moved to the next lab and pressed the call button to descend into lab number two.

  Millerchip was thinking. Sat on the counter rubbing his injured arm. More to help his thinking than to sooth the pain. They were down to four men. Four men left alive out of twelve highly trained special forces soldiers. He watched the remainder of bravo team as they sat on the table talking about the death of their team leader and friend. Taken by that hideous scaly beast in the power room. At least he took that thing with him. A brave warrior's death. He had liked Clarke. The bravo leader always supported him and the decisions he had to make. Always motivating the task force and achieving the objective. He knew the man had some issues from his past that he didn’t speak of, but that made Millerchip like him even more. The team leader still fighting on regardless of the burdens of his past. He respected that. And he respected Clarke. The thought of his death weighed heavy on him. Along with the rest of the men he had lost on this day whilst under his command.

  He watched as Hawkins leant in close to Sanchez and tried to offer a few words of support to his friend. The quiet scotsman just nodding as Hawkins spoke. Millerchip had known Sanchez was getting close to Clarke. The two men bonded with ease. This whole day had been tragic. And to add to the tragedy, even with the power restored, the facility’s satcom had not worked.

  Jasper said that someone had sabotaged the communications systems. Someone had deliberately cut off the facility’s ability to talk to the outside world. And they didn’t know who or why, adding to the mystery of the nightmare they were stuck in.

  He shook his head as if to shake away the past twenty-four hours as he walked up to the remainder of bravo team. “Gents, I know your hurting. And I share your grief, for Clarke, and for everyone we lost today. But we have to keep going.” He looked each one in the eyes to make sure he was connecting with them before repeating the words to ensure they sunk in. “We have to keep going. Try to find a way out. We owe it to the rest of our men who can’t escape this place. We owe it to your bravo leader. He would want you out. Back to safety.” They all nodded as they sighed. Putting their grief on hold to deal with at a better time.

  Professional soldiers were good at that. Bottling emotions up to empty at a more appropriate time. Usually with drinks and likeminded people, Millerchip thought to himself, hoping they would survive long enough to get the chance.

  Jasper said nothing. He simply slipped off the table and took up his place on the terminal again. The quiet professional through and through. “I'll try the CCTV feeds, try to locate anything of relevance. If there’s another way out, I’ll find it.”

  “Good man Jasper.” Millerchip said as he faced the other two.

  “I’ll do a weapons check boss.” Sanchez said, more to stay busy than anything else, already knowing the poor state of their ammo situation.

  “I'll check on the patient.” Hawkins said as he walked into the office to check on the unconscious woman lying on the desk.

  “Good work lads.” Millerchip said glad to see them busy doing tasks. Tasks that would keep them off the depressing state of the day and focused on the job at hand. Although they kept busy, they all went about the tasks in silence, adding an eerie feel in the room of soldiers that were usually talkative and full of jokes. He walked over to Jasper to watch his progress. The solider was flicking through various camera feeds. Going through each camera view and studying the picture for anything of use. Anything that might help their dire situation.

  “Oh my god!” Jasper suddenly proclaimed loud enough to draw all the survivors back to him.

  “That man is indestructible!” Hawkins shouted in joy as they all looked at a camera feed of Clarke stood in a lift descending down towards a research area. He looked broken. Slumped against the wall. Covered in dirt. His face blankly staring ahead. Armed with only a pistol which he clutched tightly in white knuckles.

  “Where is he?” Millerchip asked with a voice full of relief. Jasper continued to play with the terminal.

  “Research and development lab number two. He must be wandering around down there. Lost or exploring the area. Wait…” Jasper played with the controls some more. “He couldn’t get back up as the main elevator to the upper levels is controlled from here.”

  “Try him on the radio and get that elevator running.”

  “Clarke! You hear me boss! Get back to the elevator and I’ll get you back up!” Jasper tried to raise him. Nothing. “Boss! Come on Clarke!” Nothing. He just stayed still, leaning on the wall of the lift as he went down. “Shit. He must have lost it, or damaged it in the fight. Where is he heading?” Sanchez asked as he watched the screen intently.

  All the men suddenly felt a huge surge of fear for their friend as Jasper brought up the camera feeds for lab number two. Various angles of the research area displayed on the bank of monitors causing the survivors to all mutter curses at the sudden turn of events.

  “Shit! We have got to warn him! Jasper get that lift open now!” Millerchip turned to the other two members of bravo. “Come on! We have to go save him. He’s walking into hell!”

  15

  A Glimpse of Hell

  17:45, 15th August 2003

  Lab Two, Hades Facility, Northern Iraq

  ‘Ding’. The doors of the elevator opened revealing a layout similar to the last lab. A long corridor and offices splintering off. But this one was like a scene from hell. The lights were damaged and flickered randomly, casting the room into extremes of darkness and bright light that illuminated the mutilated bodies that lay strewn around the corridor. Blood was splattered around the room. Covering the floor walls, and even the ceiling. The windows to the offices were smashed as if a wave of destruction had flown through it. The glass shattered and the fragments were covering the floor.

  He tightened his grip on his pistol and stayed motionless for a few moments. Listening for any sounds. Nothing. The part of him that had accepted death, the part of him that was ready for revenge at any cost was in control now, pushing him on. Ignoring the fear that the room was causing, he crept out of the lift. The doors shut behind him and the elevator gave a metallic groan as it went back up to the centre. It must be its default setting, to wait up at the centre Clarke thought as he moved forward to the closest body, dressed in the lab coat of a researcher. The man had been savagely killed. His flesh was torn to ribbons. Dark blood pooled about the carcass. The sight and deathly smell almost had Clarke considering to turn back. But he dismissed it just as quickly as it arrived. He wanted revenge, and did not fear death after losing so many of his friends and comrades.

  His boots crunched the blood-stained broken glass as he moved up the corridor. Carefully looking into each room, weapon raised, safety off with his finger hovering over trigger. Ready to deliver death to anything that lurked in the shadows. Or at least go down fighting. More bodies were laying around. All equally savaged, some with missing limbs and one with a severed head. He reached the end of the corridor. The door was damaged. As if something had torn its way through from the other side and bent the lower part of the metal door up. Like a half-opened tin of fish, opened to reveal the meat inside that laid about the bloody corridor.

  He ducked under the bent and jagged metal remains of the door and followed the corridor a
round a sharp corner as he progressed deeper into the hellish nightmare. The corridor opened out on to large observation platform. In its middle was the remains of a female scientist. Her body now in several bloody pieces spread over the platform. He crept across it, through the remains that made his stomach turn. His boots leaving footprints in the massive pool of her blood. As he reached the edge of the observation platform, he rested his hands on the safety railings and took in the sight that unveiled itself before him.

  “Jesus…!” His words were almost a whisper. A whisper of dread and fear as he took in the sight. A huge lab stretched out ahead of him, disappearing into the dimly lit distance. The power to the lights must have still been off, as only the familiar red emergency lights offered any illumination in this part. The area must have been the size of the power room above him, he thought as he leant on the railings of the platform looking down over the lab.

  All around the outside of the lab were various monitors and terminals set into the walls. Workstations and control points for the researchers to work on their deadly weapons. Some researchers were still at their workstations. Their bodies mutilated. The savage wounds that ended their lives illuminated in the eerie red lighting.

  But the most terrifying sight of all, was the in the middle of the area. Massive glass cylinders were evenly spaced out. Thick reinforced glass tubes that were easily ten foot high. The strange containers were filled with a thick red fluid that reminded Clarke of blood.

  He focused his gaze onto the closest tube, situated almost below him. His heart started to beat faster as he saw the shadow of one of those creatures, he had fought in the conference room floating in the thick fluid. It’s bulky muscular frame and six limbs silhouetted in the red fluid.

  He quickly scanned the number of tubes. Easily sixty he thought we a sense of dread which drew worse as he could just make out the final twenty or so tubes. The glass smashed and covering the floor amongst the thick red liquid that had oozed out of the broken containers. Clarke could just make out large clawed footprints that dotted off in various directions through the red substance.

  The scene of death suddenly made more sense. Whatever system that kept these creatures asleep in their tubes must have failed. Maybe the power failure, Clarke thought as he tried to understand the mystery of this facility. He imagined the massive creature he had killed tunnelling up and destroying the power generators. Cutting the power, maybe causing some of these things to awaken and smash out.

  Either way, somehow, the creatures having made their escape must have flowed through the lab, killing as they went. Pouncing on the workers at the terminals. He glanced back at the woman’s remains on the platform. Maybe she was running away after seeing the event unfold. Running as the mass of death leapt on her and tore her apart. Clarke then looked towards the door. Seeing in his mind as the monsters smashed through it into the offices. The hideous beasts tearing through the door whilst the terrified researchers tried desperately to escape the very death they had created. And that death flowed in, ending the life of the very people that had given them life of their own.

  He thought back to his own fight with the creatures. How many had they killed? Four? Five? Shit! There must be at least fifteen more roaming the corridors of this hell. With a faint smile, he wondered if Sanchez and Hawkins had managed to take any with them before they were overrun. He hoped so. Both men were true warriors who would fight till their last breath. He could easily imagine them taking a few with them. He smiled deeper in satisfaction of the thought as he moved off.

  Stairs ran down either side of the observation platform to the lab floor below. He started to creep down the staircase. Silently stepping as he went. Listening to the sound of death waiting to take him to his friends.

  Emerging on to the lab floor, he approached the first tube. Weapon raised directly at the shadowy form floating in the tank. It’s four arms hanging by its side. Massive claws floating in the red liquid. Clarke stared at it for a moment before heading deeper amongst the tubes. Slowly passing by the containers of death until he emerged into an opening in the centre of the tubes. A large metal platform, almost like a solid operating table was set in its centre. Around it ran various medical and research equipment. At the base was a crane system with an empty tube still attached.

  Clarke imagined the beasts laying sedated on the operating table. Researchers carrying out their deadly work. Prodding and probing at the creature. Deciding what to change and what to keep. The researchers playing god as they decided on the laws of evolution as they created the ultimate killing machines. Then sliding the monster back into its container and putting it back into storage with its others. A warehouse of death.

  He approached a work station that was next to the operating table. It’s computer no longer working without the necessary power supply. In the dim red glow of the room, Clarke could make out various research files scattered on the table. Picking up the most interesting one, he read its cover.

  ‘PROJECT MANTICORE, TOP SECRET’. He flipped open the file. Various pictures of DNA threads and terminology that Clarke didn’t understand were printed on the first few pages. Although he did understand some of the names. Canis Lupus he recognised instantly. Wolf. Chamaeleonidae or simply chameleon. Araneae. Spider. Other names he couldn’t make out. But he guessed they would be equally as savage or cunning. He glanced at the creature in the tubes. It was nothing like the animals listed. Or maybe it was? Maybe in slight ways. But it was definitely its own unique horror. He flicked more pages until he reached an extract from a report.

  ‘Project Manticore, or the stalkers as they have been nicknamed by the research team, are developing well and leading the way to achieve the facilities objectives. The combined DNA of nature's killing machines when mixed with our unique catalysts has led to an almost perfect weapon. The stalkers have developed into fine hunters. Working ideally in packs, they can sense each other's strategies and hunting plans. The pack act in a way that decimates their prey with ease.

  However, their blood is their greatest asset. From mixing the various venomous species of reptile and amphibian such as dendrobatidae, or the poisons dart frog if you will, their blood became no longer poisonous as such, but instead developed into a gas when exposed to oxygen. Enough to incapacitate its prey. Combined with the chameleon like ability to change its blood flow to its skin and change its colour, it can blend in with deadly ease to most environments. The ultimate predators. True stalkers.’

  Clarke spun round as he heard a noise from across the room. A metallic thud that echoed around the area. The noise bouncing off the walls and tubes. He crouched down behind the workstation as he peered around the corner towards the noise, his pistol in both hands ready to aim quickly.

  Footsteps. Not human. Clawed footsteps. The sharp talons making a unique noise as they tapped on the metal floor. Clarke ducked back under as his adrenaline was surging through his system. Heart pounding so hard he thought the creature might hear it. He steadied his breathing as best he could. Adjusting his grip on the weapon ready for the fight. The footsteps drew closer. He peered around the station again, aiming his pistol as he did.

  He could just make out the stalker crouched down low as if sensing the ground to find him. All six of its limbs on the floor as its lipless mouth opened and it hissed its snake like tongue out into the air. Clarke aimed ready to send it to its death. He applied pressure to the trigger as he had the sights of the weapon squarely on the creature's head. Its eight red eyes darting around in their sockets searchingly as its forked tongue tasted the air. He went for the final squeeze of the trigger when the sound of a high pitch shriek sounded behind him, amongst the tubes and containers close by.

  “Shit!” He whispered releasing the trigger slowly, knowing the other one would be on him in a flash if he fired and tearing him to pieces in seconds. He crouched back down silently. The sounds of the two stalker’s clawed feet filling the room as they moved about, hunting him down. Getting closer and closer with eatin
g passing second.

  Got to get out of here, he thought as he silently crept towards the stairs that would take him back up to the platform and elevator. Silently moving from tube to tube as the dull red lighting guided his way.

  The two stalkers shrieked at each other, communicating their hunt. Both were closing in now, sensing the direction of their prey. Their footsteps growing louder and louder. Clark kept low. Checking around each tube before darting to the next one. He was close. A few more tubes and he could get to the stairs then up to the safety of the elevator. As much as he wanted revenge, it would be on his terms, with a fighting chance to take as many to the grave with him as possible.

  A sudden victorious and deafening shriek echoed about the tubes, followed by the sound of one of the creatures jumping close by. Clarke spun round searching the area immediately around him. As he did, it landed with a heavy thud on top of the container Clarke was crouched behind. He looked up with relief as he saw it was looking down the other side of the container. Still unaware of its prey’s exact location below.

  Before it could look back and down to where he was, Clarke silently slipped behind the next tube. The stalker was looking around frustratedly, knowing it was close to its prey. Its forked tongue licking the air. Tasting the fear and anticipation that hung there. The other one was close too. Its claws scrapping on the metal floor. Clarke reached the edge of the tubes and crouched down whilst looking at the stairs.

  Open ground to the top. They would see him the second he made his move. He looked about at a workstation close by and grabbed large glass science bottle off it. As silently as he could he threw it away towards the middle of the cluster of glass tubes whilst praying they wouldn’t see it fly threw the air in the red lighting. The smash was loud in the room. Shattering into pieces behind the monsters that spun around to investigate the noise of the potential prey.