“Jesus,” Hanson said slowly.
“Do you think he was telling the truth?” Daly asked nervously. “About the Seal?”
Malory shrugged. “Who knows?”
“What are we going to do, Commander?” Clovis asked.
“Survive,” she said calmly.
“How do you propose we do that?” Watkins asked.
“By taking the fight to them.”
“That’s suicide, they can be anywhere,” Watkins said fretfully.
“We either stay here and starve or we go on as planned,” she said. “Either way, I’ll bet my last dollar we’re not as important to them as the rescue team would be.”
“Why do you say that?” Lenard asked curiously.
“They don’t want to stay here anymore than we do,” she answered simply. “They want to travel.”
“Oh, my God,” Corky gasped. “If even one of them reached a city...”
“We’d be fucked,” McNeely finished for her.
“Commander, come take a look at this,” Clovis requested from the door.
She padded over to join him, following his eyes to the clump of worms Coy had coughed up. “Unfortunately, I’ve seen them up close before, Mr. Stokes,” she said dryly.
“They’re dead,” he said interestedly. “They’re already decomposing.”
Malory spared a closer look at the grisly pile on the other side of the door as Lenard and Tanaka came forward curiously. Tanaka dropped to his knees to get a better look and hummed thoughtfully for a long moment.
“It would be my guess that they can’t survive for long without a host,” he said finally.
“I’m inclined to concur,” Lenard added somberly.
“Well, now we have something new to think about,” Malory said dismissively and took a deep breath. “Chief, if one was traveling from here in the service tunnels, which door is the quickest one to get to and get back?”
“Operations,” he answered quickly.
“And the farthest?”
“Receiving.”
“I’ll need one volunteer, the Chief, the Lieutenant, and the Sergeant Major excluded,” she said regretfully.
“That would be me, Commander,” Alvarez said.
“You’ve already got a job, as do I. We need one more,” she said grimly.
“I’ll do it, skipper,” Hanson said quietly.
She nodded. “Lose the flame unit and gear up, you have Operations. Alvarez you’re on Mechanical. I’ll take Receiving.”
“When are we leaving?” Alvarez asked.
“Five minutes”
She turned to place a kiss on the top of Corky’s head, bending to whisper in her ear. “See you in a bit.”
Corky smiled bravely. “You’d better come back, Commander,” she whispered.
Malory beamed her best smile and turned to the crowd. “When you get your door sealed, radio in to the Sergeant Major and then get back here as fast as you can. Chief, give us a flight plan.”
Reynolds stepped forward. “I assume you’ll be entering the tunnels from the entrance created yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“Alright,” he said. “It’s a straight shot for about thirty to forty yards before you come upon an intersection, Operations will be to the left. The next intersection will be to the right and lead to Mechanical. From there the tunnel curves around to the left, eventually leading to Receiving.”
“Alvarez, Hanson, any questions?” Malory asked.
“Got it,” Alvarez said quickly.
“No questions,” Hanson replied.
“If you succeed and are able to head back, radio your status prior to arrival,” she said gravely. “You’ll have to be able to get back in here with a reasonable degree of safety for the people inside. Understood?”
The men nodded to the affirmative and she walked over to don her gear.
“Commander,” McNeely said. “A quick word in private, please?”
Malory gestured to the next room and followed after him.
“Your orders, in the event you do not return?” he asked as soon as the door closed behind her.
“One way or the other, Doug. I’ll seal my door,” Malory said quietly. “If the other guys succeed, clear the complex. Then at the very least, you’ll need to clear the area outside of the North door so you can either leave the facility at the first opportunity or admit reinforcements in the summer.”
“And if things go south?”
“If that happens,” Malory said gravely. “I want you to do me a favor.”
“Name it,” he said seriously.
“First, you cannot allow a rescue to arrive without warning. As a last resort, get someone into Operations and get the dome cleared. Even if you have to take everyone with you,” she said grimly.
He nodded. “And the rest?”
“The rest is personal,” she whispered with difficulty. “If the situation calls for it, I’d like you to put Corky down so she doesn’t end up a meal, or worse yet, one of those things.”
McNeely took a deep breath. “Malory, I don’t…”
“Please, Doug,” she interrupted softly, tears hanging on the precipice. “I can’t bear the thought of her suffering like that,” she added in a croak.
He closed his eyes and quickly nodded.
Malory breathed a sigh of relief and brought a hand up to wipe at her eyes. “Don’t let her see it coming, okay?”
Another nod and he extended a hand. “You watch your ass out there,” he said gravely.
She took his grip with a smile. “You can count on that.”
05/11/02 - 0510 hours
Malory walked back through the door, McNeely emerging a second after her. “We ready?” she asked and got nods from Alvarez and Hanson. “Let’s blow this pop stand.”
She let her best cocky smile fly at Corky and shot her wink, receiving an affectionate smile in response.
“Okay,” she said brightly, cocking her shotgun and inserting another round. “Open the door, I’ll take point. Alvarez you got flank. Don’t stop to smell the roses.”
“Good luck, all,” Clovis sounded off, prompting a round of well wishing.
Reynolds nodded and came forward to punch the code into the door, shooting a glance over his shoulder. “Ready?”
“Do it,” Malory ordered, taking off at a run as soon as she had enough room, pounding through the foyer and into the hall.
The quick footsteps of Alvarez and Hanson echoed behind her and within seconds they approached the missing floor plates from the last attack. Taking a running start, she slid the last few feet on her knees and dropped headlong into the tunnel. It was a longer drop than anticipated and she landed on her hands and knees with a grunt. She rolled away quickly so the men following her had room to enter and found herself face to face with the ravaged corpse of Mark Isaaks, her hand and shotgun resting in the devastation of his chest cavity. She forcibly bit down on the impulse to squeal in disgust and rolled over him with closed eyes as Hanson dropped into the tunnel beside her.
She rose to her feet, having to bend over at the waist to keep her head from scraping the ceiling and leveled her gun down the hallway. As soon as Alvarez joined them and gave her a thumbs up, she proceeded forward as quickly as she could manage, eyes and ears strained for anything of import. Their anxious breathing and the sound of hurried footsteps in the ice seemed conspicuously audible.
Within minutes, she cautiously approached the first intersection and signaled the men to halt. Taking a deep breath and holding it, she rushed forward and leaped across the gap, coming to her knees and signaling it clear. Hanson nodded and gave a two fingered salute before making his way down the adjoining tunnel alone. Alvarez motioned her forward and she turned to continue on, mentally wishing the young Sergeant well.
Ten minutes later, she did the same for Alvarez as the man disappeared toward his destination, finding herself suddenly alone and feeling terribly vulnerable. After a determined sigh, she was again on her way, he
r breath visible puffs of white as the cold inside the tunnel only added to the oppressive apprehension consuming her.
The tunnel began to veer off to the left and her gaze became even more agitated, the curvature in front of her slightly obstructing the path ahead. The ducting and conduits lining the wall that she wouldn’t ordinarily notice took on a sinister appearance, obstacles to be avoided and she was afraid to let any part of her body brush against them.
A lifetime later, she spotted the door beckoning to her in the distance and she went stock still, afraid to let herself hope that she might actually succeed. The walls closed in on her as she hurried forward, her focus reduced to nothing but the objective in front of her. Twenty more yards and she could sprint back to safety. Soon it was fifteen yards and then ten.
Eight yards from her destination she screamed in both terror and surprise as the floor fell in on top of her. The scream cut off abruptly as the wind was forced from her by the obscene strength of the jolting grip that yanked her into the hallway above. Stars danced in front of her eyes as her face collided painfully against the wall, bloodying her nose with a crunch. She went limp in her captive’s grip and found freedom as she sunk to the floor. Her arms and neck burning abrasively from having her sweatshirt torn forcibly from her body, she rolled to the side, surprised to find the shotgun still in her hands.
Coy stared stupidly at the rag of her shirt dangling from his hand and turned to recapture his target.
The point blank blast from her shotgun severed his left leg from the knee down and he fell almost comically to the ground, his hands made no move to break the fall and his head hit the ground with the sound of a melon being split.
Malory followed the blast with two more quick shots to his face and neck, she would have fired a fourth but the impact from the rounds forced his body into the hole he had created in the floor and he disappeared from view. The sound of footsteps from behind brought her swinging around to see Percy lumbering up the hall from about twenty feet away.
Not wasting any time, she emptied the shotgun at Percy and dropped it to the floor. Instantly swinging the rifle around from her back and firing it down the hall until it locked open empty. The clatter of the magazine hitting the ground was quickly followed by the insertion of another and the loud clack of the bolt being snapped closed. Her finger depressed the trigger and a salvo of bullets tore into the ceiling as the floor panel she was kneeling on surged upwards, flinging her backwards down the hall. She fell into the hole she had emerged from, landing on her left shoulder with an audible crack and emitting an ear splitting scream of pain that echoed loudly off the walls.
The sudden grip around her ankle brought her back to the moment and she brought the rifle still strapped to her up with her right arm and took aim through tearing eyes. The bullets slammed into Coy’s face, neck, and chest, tearing away flesh and splattering the ice walls haphazardly with blood and tissue. Worms began to drop in clumps from one side of his ruined head and Malory screamed again, frantically kicking away from him as his grip left her boot.
She scrambled wildly backwards and bit her tongue hard enough to draw blood when her back connected against something solid. Her head whipped around hysterically and she found herself against the frame of the pressure door. In a second of clarity, she knew she had no other option and hurriedly crawled through, pulling the door closed behind her. Her eyes catching a glimpse of Coy relentlessly pursuing her, using his arms to propel him forward, before the door closed with a satisfying electronic chime.
The tears started in earnest as she entered the code to seal it, effectively locking herself out of the central facility. She fell back against the wall and dropped the magazine from her rifle, digging another one out of her bandolier with her right hand and slapping it home. The agony radiating from her left shoulder was crippling and it sent waves of misery coursing through her when she tried to make a fist. A hand came up to wipe at her nose and she flinched in pain.
Angrily, she took stock of her situation. She had lost her shotgun, but still had her pistol and radio. Other than her rifle and the bandolier of magazines, she was dressed from the waist up in a pale blue bra, the sleeves of her missing sweatshirt gathered at her wrists. The bandage around her ribs that Corky had diligently applied the night before was missing and she suspected her nose was broken. She didn’t even want to think about her shoulder.
It took a moment but it slowly dawned on her that she was still in possibly hostile territory and she considered the alternatives. The only place available that offered her a safe haven was Operations and that would require running across the cavernous room that housed the platform and down a long ice hallway, up two flights of metal stairs, another short hallway and the time it took to enter her code and seal the door. Then, if she managed to get there, she would find herself trapped in a small room with no food or water. Sadly, she realized that it was her only choice and she rose with a whimper to travel the few yards the led to the end of the tunnel.
She poked her head out cautiously and rapidly looked back and forth, finding it clear to emerge into Receiving. The wide-open space of the cavern allowed her the small and liberating feeling of having room to maneuver. It was a drastic change from the cramped confines of the tunnel and for a moment at least, she could look around and feel confident of her safety. The temperature here was much colder and uncomfortably emphasized by her lack of apparel as heat was only sparingly applied to this part of the compound to keep equipment from freezing over. Her eyes took in the long column that led to both the platform and the world above and she wished it were as simple as taking an elevator ride to escape. The distinctive outline of the helicopter rested silently on its skis and her gaze roamed over the room’s other machinery slowly, reminding her eerily of a hastily abandoned ghost town.
A flicker of movement caught her eye and she froze, watching intently as Dr. Garret lurched slowly out from between several barrels of fuel. He was far enough away that she didn’t feel immediately threatened, confident that she could outrun him. She shot a glance at the hall that led to Operations and began jogging towards it slowly, crossing the open space and keeping a wary eye on her pursuer. Her path widened as she approached the hall, keeping distance between her and the entrance in case it was providing refuge to anything she didn’t want to encounter. Finding no sign of company, she glanced over her shoulder at Dr. Garret and found him teetering along at a rapidly alarming pace and closing the distance between them. She considered trying to slow him down or take a leg from him, but didn’t have much confidence in aiming the rifle with one hand accurately. Shrugging it off, she jogged down the hallway, pausing at the foot of the stairs to shoot a glance behind her. Garret hadn’t reached the hall yet and she suddenly remembered her radio, she let go of the rifle and pulled it from her belt.
“McNeely.”
“Go ahead,” he responded immediately, his relief evident.
“The door is sealed,” she said, glancing up sharply as Garret appeared to pick up speed and advanced faster than she thought possible.
“Understood. Your status?” he asked worriedly.
Garret began to jog, the stiffness she associated with the creatures beginning to show signs of wearing off. She brought the radio to her mouth but thought the better of it as Garret frighteningly began to cover more ground and she turned to run up the stairs. Two steps from the top, the radio flew from her hands and dropped to the ground below as a stair collapsed out from under her, the impact of her chest against the next step knocked the breath from her body. Her waist hanging precariously in the air below the staircase, she struggled madly to pull herself up with right arm. The rifle hanging from her side hindered her progress and she began to panic, flailing around hysterically. The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps sobered her and she struck out with her left arm, using both to pull herself up with a piercing scream of distress. Finding her feet, she didn’t look back and ran up the second flight of stairs at a breakneck pace, flying down the
hall so fast her feet barely touched the ground. Her momentum brought her up against the door to Operations with a thud and she frenetically punched in the entry code, her finger jabbing forcefully into the keypad.
She thanked God she got it on the first try and threw herself into the room, slamming the door shut behind her with a frightened energy. Her eyes came up to see Garret’s face ram into the porthole hard enough to leave behind a blood smear and she quickly reentered the code to seal the door. The rifle came up and she backed away from the door slowly, her eyes riveted on the face staring at her blankly through the porthole. Her calves bumped up against a chair and she spun wildly, her eyes flying around the room in terror. Still hyperventilating from her close call, it took several minutes for her to restore any semblance of calm and composure.
Eventually, she balanced herself with a deep breath and unslung her rifle, placing it on the desk in front of her. She sank into the chair that had spooked her and gingerly poked at her shoulder, whimpering at the pain her examination produced. A sleeve from her ruined sweatshirt became a washrag and she tenderly wiped the blood from her face, throwing the soiled garment irritably across the room when she was finished. Starting to fume at the situation she found herself in, she lifted angry eyes to meet those that still maddeningly gazed at her through the window.
A hand came up to reveal her right breast she cupped it defiantly. “Suck me, bitch,” she hissed.
Her display elicited no response. Garret just stared.
———
Corky positioned herself in a corner of the lab and brought her knees up to her chest as soon as Malory disappeared down the hall, praying desperately for her safe return. Clovis joined her a few minutes later and she appreciated the comfort his presence provided, offering him a weak smile of gratitude.
The time stretched on excruciatingly and she schooled herself not to cry. Telling herself that if Malory could find the courage to do what she had, she would be brave enough not to break into heartsick tears. That is, until she at least had the benefit of a little privacy in which to conceal her breakdown. She was determined to give the appearance of strength, knowing that the people surrounding her looked to Malory for leadership and she wasn’t going to tarnish that by playing the part of the hysterically inconsolable girlfriend. It was going to be a hard sell, even to herself.
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