by Jacob Rayne
After a long, tense couple of seconds it became apparent that she hadn’t been spotted.
Still, she was deeply unnerved.
Across the street from her was a man leaving his house with a shotgun clutched in his pale hands. He approached the nearest of the ominous freaks calmly and aimed the gun at its head.
The blast tore through the night air.
Blood and chunks of skull flew from the mutant’s head, coating the road and the face and clothes of the gunman.
At the sound of the gunshot, the other mutants snapped round to face the gunman and began to lurch towards him.
Worse was the fact that the gun blast hadn’t killed the mutant.
Though half of his head was now a bleeding mess, he still stood, still approached the gunman.
Sadie had seen enough.
A second gunshot made her jump. She looked back and saw that most of the mutant’s face was missing now.
She could see the creature on his skull through the gaping wounds.
Moving much faster than seemed possible, the mutant threw himself at the gunman, who abandoned his doomed attempt to reload and instead swung the shotgun like a baseball bat, hitting the mutant’s ruined face with a sickly squelch, sending glistening orbs of gore flying through the air.
The mutant kept coming and grabbed the barrel of the gun. Wrenched it out of the gunman’s grip and slammed it into his face.
Blood sprayed across the gunman’s face as his nose crumpled upon impact.
The other mutants got closer, moving slowly but deliberately over the urban landscape.
Sadie couldn’t help but watch the horrible scene.
The mutant again slammed the gunman in the face with his own gun.
The blow knocked the gunman to the floor where he cried out as he noticed the other mutants on their way to him.
His screams echoed off the surrounding buildings.
Sadie felt like she should help but knew that there was nothing she could do.
The mutant slammed the shotgun down on the man’s face like a madman’s version of the strongman contest at the fair.
Blood sprayed up onto his face and clothes.
What was left of his face twisted in a sickly grin.
He brought the gun down.
Again the sickly crunch as the heavy wooden stock shattered fragile skin and bone.
As the mutant raised the gun for another strike, Sadie’s paralysis broke.
She realised that this was her opportunity to escape. The gang of mutants surrounded the fallen gunman. His screams continued.
There was another sickening crunch and Sadie looked back to see the mutants falling on the gunman.
She knew there was nothing she could do to help, so she ran before they could finish him and start looking for fresh meat.
The middle-aged woman in the news wagon looked at Duggan as though he was a lunatic when he’d finished his story about the breakout of the crazed mutants.
‘So you’re telling me… Sorry, what exactly are you telling me?’
Duggan sighed. ‘Listen, Sadie whatshername off Channel 6 news is all over this story already. If you don’t want to be left in her dust I suggest you start spreading the word.’
‘Sadie Willow’s on the story?’ at this, the woman stiffened as if it could be genuine after all.
‘Yep. So I’d get yourself an exclusive before it’s old news. But most importantly let everyone know what danger is on the way.’
The woman ignored him now, seemingly daydreaming about the big scoop that had just fallen into her lap.
‘Ah, she’s gone,’ Duggan said to Mark. ‘Let’s get outta here.’
Mark adjusted his grip on Jake who was still unconscious and made room for Duggan to get back on the Harley.
They tore away, leaving the reporter to her frantic preparations.
Jeffries led the two soldiers along an underground walkway.
Water dripped from the rock above them.
Below the walkway was a sheer drop into the bowels of the earth.
The view made Abbott’s head spin, but he couldn’t help but glance at it now and then.
‘Where are we going?’ Hammett asked.
‘Safety,’ Jeffries said.
Behind them they heard the sound of the second door being battered down.
Jeffries punched a code into the keypad at the end of the walkway and the door opened with a swish of air.
‘What’s that thing doing here, anyway?’ Abbott asked.
‘It wants me,’ Jeffries said.
‘Angry at being cooped up for so long?’ Hammett said.
‘Probably, but that’s not why it wants me dead.’
‘Why then?’ Abbott said.
‘Because it knows that if I die then all the other labs will be opened.’
Abbott grabbed him by the lapels and slammed him against the door. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’
‘If they don’t get a call from me by nine pm each night, my men are under strict instructions to open all the facilities and let the test subjects out.’
Abbott slammed a fist into Jeffries’ mouth, sending half a tooth rattling to the floor. ‘You fool, you’ve killed all of us.’
‘Hence why I need bodyguards,’ Jeffries grinned.
Abbott pulled his fist back to hit him again, but Hammett grabbed his wrist. ‘We don’t have time for this, Captain.’
‘We can go back to the surface from here, or we can go further underground and hide away from the creatures,’ Jeffries said.
‘What do you plan on doing?’
‘I’d go further underground. There’s a reinforced shelter down there. My father built it in the eighties when all the talk of nuclear strikes was prevalent.’
‘Lead the way then, dickhead,’ Abbott spat.
Jeffries led them down a staircase which seemed to lead down to hell itself, judging by the heat coming from the air around them.
Above them a dent appeared in the door they’d just come through.
Sadie realised she had no idea where she was when she came to a crossroads.
In this part of town there were bodies piled in the middle of the road.
A few of the mutants picked at the fallen like they were a buffet table.
She kept as quiet as possible, but her feet ground broken glass into the concrete.
The building to her left had been gutted by flames – no doubt as a result of someone trying to burn down a building filled with the mutants.
One of the mutants looked up from her meal, blood coating her smile. The effect of nearby flames on her face gave her an even more deranged appearance.
Sadie’s blood ran cold. The girl went back to her meal.
Got to get out of here, Sadie thought.
Against all her natural instincts, the journalist in her made her take a video of the mutants eating their victims.
She got a full minute of footage before shutting off the camera and moving away from the nightmare scene.
The door at the top of the stairs kept Subject I at bay for barely as long as the previous two.
Jeffries and the two soldiers heard it fall then heard the sound of claws scraping across the metal walkway.
They quickened their pace down the staircase, seeing that they didn’t have far to go.
Abbott glanced up to see the black, wiry shape take to the air.
‘The fucker can fly,’ he cried out in dismay.
Jeffries nodded.
Hammett reached the foot of the stairs first.
High above them, Subject I was beginning his descent.
Ahead of them was a long underground tunnel, dark and forbidding like the barrel of a huge gun.
‘Get in the jeep,’ Jeffries said.
At first the two soldiers didn’t know what he meant, but then they saw a black jeep in the shadows at the edge of the tunnel.
The sound of Subject I’s tattered wings came closer as they ran towards the jeep.
Sadie saw one of the mutants heading for her across a mound of rubble.
His movements were bizarre, spiderlike, and sent her into an almost blinding panic. She ran headlong for the nearest building; the ruined shell of a hotel.
In the lobby she frantically scanned for a hiding place. Her eyes stopped upon the reception desk.
The mutant was still making his way over the rubble.
She rushed to the desk and lifted the hatch.
Squeezed through, lowered the hatch and scuffed her knees as she dropped onto the marble floor.
Above her the ceiling groaned. She saw a large block of plasterboard hanging askew from the rest of the ceiling.
This held her attention, so she didn’t see the hand that reached out and grabbed her face, covering her mouth so that she couldn’t scream.
Jeffries got into the driver’s seat, slammed the gearstick into first and set off up the tunnel before Abbott had even closed his door.
Ahead of them the tunnel seemed to stretch out forever.
‘You’re going to hell for all of this,’ Abbott said, shaking his head.
‘In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re already in hell,’ Jeffries said.
‘You got a car phone in this thing?’ Hammett said.
‘No. Why?’
‘So you can call your buddies and stop them from releasing more of those fucking things.’
‘Unfortunately not. I—’ Jeffries trailed off.
‘What?’ Abbott said.
Jeffries tapped his mirror.
The two soldiers turned to see Subject I at the far end of the tunnel behind them.
‘Ah, shit,’ Abbott said.
Jeffries put his foot down and the jeep’s engine groaned in protest.
Abbott wound down his window and leaned out a little, squinting as he aimed his magnum at the rapidly approaching dark mass.
He fired a few rounds, which drew sparks from Subject I’s armoured carapace.
‘Holy fuck, Magnum bullets just bounced off it,’ he said in utter disbelief.
‘Save your ammunition,’ Jeffries said.
Abbott fired one more shot, hitting the advancing creature in the face.
The bullet created a small wound which didn’t seem to bother the creature.
‘Shitting hell,’ Abbott said. He wound up his window and started reloading.
‘There’s only one way I know of to kill these things,’ Jeffries said. ‘And that’s to—’
The rest of what he said was lost in a scream as Subject I slammed into the jeep, sending it weaving across the road.
‘Sadie, it’s me, Joyce Sturm from Cascade News and Weather,’ the voice of the person holding her said.
‘You scared the living shit out of me.’
‘I know. I’m sorry. Some biker guy told me what was happening.’
‘Grey hair? Handlebar moustache?’
‘Yeah.’
‘He told me about this too.’
‘He told me you were in town. I knew it must be a story if you were here.’
Sadie smiled.
‘I came for the story, course I did, but I wanted to make sure you were alright too. He said those things were pretty nasty.’
‘They are.’
‘I know. I’ve seen them in action. Listen, we’ve got to get out of here. My car’s on the next street over.’
‘I don’t want to leave the hotel. Those things—’
‘I know, I know. But we can’t wait here for them to find us. I’ve got my .45 with me.’
‘It won’t do any good, trust me.’
‘Shit. What are these things?’
‘Experiments gone wrong, from what I can gather. I’ve got some good footage of them already.’
‘You have? Then we definitely need to get out of here.’
Joyce peered over the counter.
‘Shit there’s one of them in the lobby.’
‘I know, he followed me in.’
‘Fuck, what are we going to do?’
‘We’re going to die, Joyce.’
The footsteps came closer, bringing with them the horrid gasping breaths.
Sadie could picture the blank look on the face too.
The ceiling above them creaked a little, tilting from side to side by a few degrees.
‘That doesn’t look safe,’ Sadie whispered.
‘No. It gives me an idea, though. Get ready to run when I say so.’
There was a thump as the man’s feet hit the counter top.
Then Sadie and Joyce stared up into the grinning face of death.
‘Fucking hell,’ Abbott said as the jeep shook again beneath Subject I’s attack.
The creature was clamped to the roof. It let out an unholy roar that made all three men fear for their lives.
A scythe-like blade appeared through the roof, accompanied by a horrendous metallic tearing.
The blade just missed Abbott’s head.
He pressed his Stetson to his scalp and ducked away.
The claw came down again, opening another hole in the metal roof.
‘That claw is razor sharp,’ Abbott said. ‘It made short work of that roof.’
On the other side, another claw came down, creating another hole.
‘Hell’s flames,’ Abbott shouted.
Jeffries moved the jeep from side to side, trying to dislodge the creature but, for now, it had too tight a grip.
The right claw came down again, carving a deep gash into the roof.
Hammett tried not to imagine what those blades would do to flesh and bone.
Subject I’s screaming, charred skull appeared through the slash in the roof.
Though Abbott was a hardened war veteran, he cowered at the sight.
His fear lasted only a few seconds before his training took over and he fired the magnum point blank into the creature’s left eye socket.
Subject I screeched and reeled back.
It fell forwards, using the momentum to slam one of its bladed forearms onto the roof again.
The blow caught Jeffries in the shoulder and sent a tidal wave of blood down his arm.
He cried out and let go of the wheel.
Subject I poked his head through the gap in the roof, heading for Abbott who fired again.
The bullets made small dents in Subject I’s face, making him bleed but otherwise doing nothing but annoy him.
The jeep careened across the tunnel, with Jeffries’ loss of control.
Hammett lunged at the wheel to correct it, but the jeep struck the wall. This turned out to be good as it sandwiched Subject I between the jeep and the tunnel.
‘That’s took some of the wind out of his sails,’ Abbott said.
While Jeffries clutched his spurting arm, Hammett leant over and grabbed the wheel.
He steered away from the wall then slammed into the tunnel again.
Subject I let out a cry of rage as his head was thrown out of the gap in the roof and into the tunnel wall.
Jeffries slammed the brakes on, jamming the two soldiers against the seats in alarm.
Subject I was thrown clear of the car by the emergency stop.
He lay on the road, just starting to gather himself.
Jeffries hit the gas again and floored it.
The jeep slammed into Subject I just as he was starting to get up. It bumped over him, jostling the three men around.
Jeffries drove on, leaving the twitching mass of chitin and hate in his rearview mirror.
As the mutant scaled the counter with startling speed, Joyce fired her .45 at the flap of loose ceiling.
The first bullet hit and the crack spread, dropping the loose section down at an angle.
She fired again and the ceiling fell, right on the mutant’s head.
‘Go,’ she shouted to Sadie then started scrambling through the dust and debris.
Sadie watched for a dumb moment then bounded over the counter, spitting dust as she went.
The man’s legs twitched for a while
then he fell still.
‘Nice one,’ Sadie said.
She looked at Joyce then down at herself. They looked like they were in costume as ghouls or zombies. It was almost funny.
‘Yeah. One down, hundreds to go,’ Joyce said.
‘Let’s get to the car.’
‘Yup.’
They left the hotel and their mouths fell open when they reached the street.
The gunshots had attracted dozens of the vacant-eyed mutants, who were making their way through the rubble to the hotel.
Jeffries drove for a few minutes, frantically checking his rearview mirror in case Subject I returned. A cool breeze blew in from the holes in the roof.
‘Lucky you got hurt, really,’ Abbott grinned. ‘Else we’d never have dislodged the fucker.’
Jeffries said nothing, just grimaced at the pain in his arm.
‘You really should be destroying these things,’ Hammett said. ‘In light of what this one alone is capable of.’
‘I know,’ Jeffries said, ‘but it’s nearly billions of dollars down the drain if we do.’
‘Fuck the money,’ Abbott roared. ‘Those things will take over if they get loose. Doesn’t seem to be much we can do to stop them.’
Jeffries pulled the jeep to a stop. The tunnel seemed to stretch on as far as they could see both in front and behind them.
‘We’re here,’ he said, getting out of the jeep.
He pulled a key card from his pocket and swiped it on the reader. A huge section of concrete wall moved back.
‘Ain’t no way he can get through that,’ Abbott grinned.
‘I wouldn’t doubt it,’ Hammett said.
The three men left the tunnel and moved into the cool darkness of the shelter.
The door slammed home behind them.
Duggan stopped the bike in a motel lot.
‘Getting saddle sore,’ he winced. ‘Let’s rest up and get some food.’
‘Good plan,’ Mark said.
‘You wait here,’ Duggan said. ‘I’ll sort a room out for sleeping beauty.’
He disappeared into the gaudily-lit motel building.
Mark rested Jake back on the seat and got up to stretch his legs. He was exhausted, the strain of the last few days taking its toll on him.
The place was silent except for the crickets which chirped in the distance.
