by Maxey, Phil
Fiona started walking down the stairs.
“Hold on, there’s something you need to know,” Said Zach indicating to the newer members of the group. “We saw a scan of the facility and there’s lots of heat signatures on the next two floors, we have no idea what they are.”
“Who cares.” Responded Fiona shrugging off Zach’s grip and continuing to descend.
“Maybe we should go back up” Said Cal.
“Your choice but I have a feeling we are better of staying together.” Replied Zach while following Fiona, the rest of the group followed. Cal stood for a moment on the landing and looked up the stairs, then started to descend.
They approached the open door to floor eleven cautiously. All the lights were out in the hallway beyond.
“Do we need to go down there?” Remarked Michael to Abbey.
“No.”
“That’s real good.”
The group filed past the open door and continued down to level twelve. The door was open and the hallway beyond was also filled with darkness, the difference this time was a distant moaning. The six of them stood around unsure of moving forward.
“How do we get the lights on?” Remarked Ray.
“They must be broken otherwise it would have been indicated on the facility scan for these floors.” Replied Abbey.
“Does anyone else hear the moaning or is it just in my head” Said Michael.
“What moaning?” Replied Cal smiling.
“That’s not funny brother.” Replied Michael.
Fiona tutted and walked into the darkness.
“Wait!” Zach half whispered half shouted after her. Sighing he raised his charge baton and walked into the shadows. The rest of the group leaned forward into the gloom trying to see, when a crackling noise made them all flinch.
“Use the batons to light the way” Said Zach who was standing next to Fiona ten-feet down the hallway, their faces illuminated by an intermittent blue hue. Abbey walked into the hallway followed by the rest.
As they approached the door to the hub the moaning grew louder.
“What’s the smell,” whispered Michael “smells like rotten fish and I know rotten fish.”
“There’s light in there.” Whispered Ray. They all slowed their movement, even Fiona looked unsure of what was ahead.
Zach and Fiona got to the hub entrance, the door was wide open, and moaning bounced off the walls all around them. Hanging from the ceiling were people wrapped in a white wooly substance, some wearing guard uniforms some wearing orange. The ones that were moaning were gently swinging back and forth.
“What the fu…” Michael couldn’t finish his sentence before another loud boom shook the facility. Three bodies fell to the floor, one wincing on impact. Abbey ran over to the source of the sound, but stopped a foot away and started to back up. What was once a guard was now something else, something in transition, its eyes were pure white and it’s skin hung from bones that were slightly protruding. It writhed in front of Abbey lost in a torment that Abbey did not want to see. She turned away and looked about for the exit to the lift.
A third boom impacted the facility this time rocking the group on their feet making them spread their arms to stop from falling. The boom’s where louder than before. Abbey spotted the exit to the lift and moved towards it while beckoning the others. A few feet away from the lift hallway entrance she froze in her tracks. At the end of the hallway in front of the lift was something she recognized from a newly formed nightmare. A form part humanoid part something else with multiple limbs was waiting, looking at her. If a human had evolved along the same lines as an arachnid this is what it would look like. The whole group were now standing behind in silence, some not believing what they were seeing.
“Who’s for going another way?” Said Michael.
“There was one like it in the cell next to mine, although not as big.” Replied Abbey.
“It looks…human in some way. Fuckers they must have been doing experiments on us.” Said Michael.
“Whatever it is it’s blocking our way out.” Said Zach.
“I’ve already killed one like it, and I’m not going back up.” Replied Fiona starting to move forward, Zach grabbed her arm, Fiona shrugged him off.
“Buy me dinner first.”
“We don’t know what it is, but I can guess it created all the mess in here,” Said Zach “We need to lure it out, distract it somehow, then make a run for it.”
“How pray tell do we do that?” Replied Ray looking anxious.
“Bait.” Replied Fiona and stepped forward into the hallway, some twenty-feet from the creature. “Hey you, over here” she shouted towards the mess of limbs. The creature did not react. The rest of the group apart from Zach hurried behind the control room, peeking out towards the lift hallway. Fiona moved closer. “Hey ugly? Ov…” before she could get the last word out there was another boom this one so pronounced that it knocked her off her feet slamming her into the side wall. A body fell from the ceiling and landed on Michael causing him to jump back, another narrowly missed Cal.
For what could be only guessed as the creatures face turned towards Fiona, it’s long limbs slowly moving from their rigid posture. Fiona lay on the ground dazed, Zach seeing her distress ran forward.
“Come on, you got its attention” and pulled her to her feet. The creature’s legs felt along the walls to both sides of the hallway pulling it’s body towards them. The rest of the group was crouching watching in silence. Zach and Fiona backed out of the hallway more slowly then they wanted, but falling was not an option. They all watched from behind the control room as the creature moved uneasily towards the door, almost as if it was learning how to walk. A sea of limbs filled the doorway then with a thrust it burst onto the floor of the hub just a few feet from Cal who froze. A long spindly limb started reaching out towards Cal’s face, who stood looking horrified. At this distance they could all see blue veins running up and down the creatures limbs, blood flowing and tendons stretching. The creature made no noise as the spiny fingers on the end of the limb flickered and probed towards Cal.
“Hey over here!” Abbey appeared off to the side of Cal, charge baton fizzing in her hand. The creature immediately noticed and its limbs lunged for her, making Cal duck, as they swung past. Abbey jumped back while Zach and Michael started waving their crackling blue batons as well, pulling the creature towards them around the left side of the control room. Cal joined Ray who was already inside the hallway to the lift.
“Get to the lift,” Zach anxiously indicated to those around him “I got this”. Abbey hesitated then turned and ran with Michael to join the others. Running up the hallway they arrived at the lift and pushed the most obvious button. A beep noise sounded, together with a message on a small screen next to it.
“PLEASE CONFIRM IDENTITY”
“Shit!” said Michael his voice panicking. Abbey felt her neck then chest and pulled out one of the ID cards she earlier found. Swiping it across the screen, the lift door started to open.
Fiona stayed behind Zach both of them slowly pulling the creature further around the control room to be positioned on the opposite side of the hub to the lift hallway.
“Now!” Zach and Fiona ran to the hallway, Zach paused to close the door while Fiona ran to the lift where the others were standing. The creature started to appear around the other side of the control room, it’s arms sliding along the glass of the windows.
“Damn door,” Zach pulled on the door but it refused to budge. He looked back at the creature a few yards away. “Screw it” and ran for the lift. As he entered, Abbey hit the button marked “surface” and the lift door started to close. At the end of the hallway the limbs of the creature started to appear. The lift started to rise.
The biggest boom yet slammed the lift against the steel walls housing it, it’s internal lights flickering. The bodies inside hit each other at the mercy of their steel cage. The lift resisted the attempts to knock it off course and proceeded to rise up t
hrough the floors.
“Surface” announced a female voice and the doors opened.
CHAPTER 7
Dust and smoke blasted the inhabitants of the lift. Zach staggered out onto dusty concrete keeping low, trying to make sense of where he was. It was nighttime, but the lights above the lift entrance illuminated a deserted scene in front of them, which contained a few wooden shacks that in a previous life could have been latrines. They were in the desert and a fierce wind swirled around them forcing them to cover their eyes. They all walked forward into a large flat area. Off in the distance to the south a glow hung low in the sky hugging the horizon with a cloud of mist above it, there was a similar smaller glow to the north. As the wind died down they found themselves standing, hesitant to make a definite move in any direction.
“From the stars and plant life I would say we are in North America, somewhere in the Chihuahuan Desert” Said Cal “Which would make that Albuquerque and that El Paso” he pointed to the glows north and south.
“I was right” Said Ray looking a little lost.
“We should stick together,” Said Abbey.
Fiona looked irritated.
Zach wiped his hand over his face. “Look we don’t know what happened down there and we don’t know what’s happening out here, maybe the world ended, maybe not either way we should stick together until we do know.”
“It’s easier for us to be caught as a group” Replied Fiona.
“Do you see any guards or MP’s here? They obviously have something else on their minds,” Replied Zach. “I say we still have a few hours of darkness until it’s going to get mighty hot around here, let’s scope the area, find what we can then move out.” They slowly turned and walked away. Cal and Michael headed for one of the shacks, Abbey, Ray and Zach walked to another. Fiona hesitated and joined the latter group.
Zach kicked open the shack door. In the gloom they could see a small space about five by five-foot with shelves. Zach’s charge baton illuminated bottles of clear liquid on dusty shelves and various farm equipment on the ground leaning up against the far wall that looked like it had been there since the great depression. Fiona saw a pickaxe and picked it up.
“Now this is something I can work with.”
Ray grabbed one of the bottles of liquid, ripping off the top and chugging it down without thought. Zach went to say something then stopped, figuring if it wasn’t water it was already too late anyway. Ray wiped away the moisture from his face and looked at everyone looking at him. Zach and Abbey grabbed the remaining bottles and they all left, pulling the door closed.
The second shack was larger and the door was already open. Michael and Cal peered in. There was a cobweb covered battery operated lamp, which surprisingly lit when switched on. Scattered around where barrels with skulls and cross bones on them, and a few empty backpacks which they both took before leaving.
“There’s no obvious roads out of this place, I think we were all brought in by chopper, but let’s say those glows are Albuquerque and El Paso, that would put us somewhere south of White Sands. If we head west towards those mountains we should run into a town.” Said Zach.
“I’d prefer to stay off the map” Replied Fiona.
“Staying off the map out here in the noon sun means dehydration and death, but that’s your choice” Zach pointed to Cal’s lamp. “That needs to be turned off, only use it if we really need to.” Cal turned it off. “Stay close to each other.”
The sand swirled around them as they started walking across the concrete towards the intense darkness of the desert.
After an hour of walking the wind had died down. Luckily the moon provided some indication of shape and form for the group to follow each other, and the occasional baton trigger gave a course correction when it seemed someone was veering off course.
“What was that?” Said Abbey to Zach who was walking a few feet in front of her. Zach slowed and strained to absorb the silence around him. There was a noise of something but it was hardly indistinguishable from the sound of the sand being blown over the ground.
“Probably nothing.”
“I can hear something, it sounds like…galloping?”
Zach stopped and put his hand up for the group to stop as well.
“Why the fuck are we stopping?” Said Michael.
“You can’t hear that?” Replied Abbey. By now the group were in a small circle all trying to extend their hearing into the void around them.
“Sounds like something’s coming this way, I can’t pin down from what direction though.” Said Zach. The group looked around trying to see into the gloom. “Spread out, keep low but don’t go too far.” Zach, Abbey and Ray moved behind a small dune, the others crouched behind some cacti.
“Look” Said Abbey pointing.
To their north a cloud of pale dust was just visible, something heavy was moving fast towards them. The ground started to shake slightly.
“Maybe a patrol? I’m not going back without a fight.” Said Michael. Fiona looked sarcastically at him.
“It’s not a Humvee, no lights.” Said Cal.
The dust started to have form the closer it got, eyes could be seen and a snout of sorts, large powerful legs beating down on the desert floor.
“Is just a horse, maybe we can capture it?” Said Ray standing up, then running down the dune into the gloom. Abbey made a lunge to grab him but it was to no avail. The creature that had created such a dust storm changed direction and was now heading straight for Ray. The intensity of the ground shaking increased and was now a constant drumming. twenty yards to his right the other group where gesturing to Ray to go back but he kept on walking forwards his arms stretched out in a welcoming fashion.
“Ray get back here we don’t know what that is!” Shouted Zach in Ray’s direction.
Ray stopped where he was. His eyes fixed on the creature now bearing down on him and all emotion left his face. He turned and started to run back to the Dune. Zach staggered out from his position and ran down the sand half falling half jumping to try to get to Ray before the mass of dust and anger engulfed him. Ray was now running as fast as he could, but his old legs were no match for the uneven desert floor.
He’s not going to make it thought Abbey as she watched the creature tear though the desert towards Ray. Twenty-feet away, ten-feet away, five-feet away. The creature charged nose down at Ray’s torso but not before Zach tackled Ray and brought him down in the best linebacker tradition. Ray and Zach fell to the ground then both scrambled to their feet. Zach pivoted and pushed his charge baton out in front of him, the electricity crackling lighting himself and the creature.
“He needs our help” Cal scrambled to his feet baton in one hand, lamp now illuminating his path in the other, closely followed by Fiona.
In the glory of the neon glows of their batons and shallow light of the lamp the creature could be seen. It was horse-like, like a horse was used as a template of some kind as this creature was bigger than a horse, it’s head and neck were longer and were covered in a kind of plating similar to an armadillo, as was it’s back. It’s head whipped around between the members of the group that were now on both sides, showing teeth more at home in a wolf. Stamping its hoofs, the dust flew up making it hard for Zach to know exactly what to strike at. Cal thrust his baton forward, while Fiona swung the pickaxe connecting with the front leg of the creature. A sound half scream half something else bellowed out and it’s head whipped around knocking Cal off his feet. It then reared up on its hind legs and was about to slam down on Cal when Zach and Abbey thrust their charge batons into the underside of the creature making it fall backwards. It then turned and galloped off into the darkness taking with it a cloud of dust. Ray and Michael both appeared from their positions and joined the group. Zach reached down and helped Cal to hit feet.
“Any damage?” Said Zach. Cal felt his ribs, which were bruised but nodded in the negative. They were all covered in dust, and breathing heavily. Cal’s lamp lay on the ground casting a shallow
circle of light against them all.
“That wasn’t a horse.” Said Ray looking confused. Zach noticed his arm was bleeding.
“It got you?” Said Michael to Zach.
“No I think I managed to avoid it, maybe when I landed on the ground, must of hit a rock or something. It’s just a scratch.” The thunderous noise was now far away.
“Look, something is very wrong here, the things in the prison, that thing, what the hell’s going on, is this even Earth?” Ray said looking anxious walking around on the spot. ”Back in the eighties I saw some shit, but nothing like this.”
“The stars.” Said Cal. Ray looked puzzled. “I’ve looked up at those stars for many years as a kid, this is New Mexico, no doubt.” Ray went to say something, Cal replied before he could. “I don’t know what is going on.”
“We need to keep moving, only an hour of night left and I don’t want to be caught out here when the sun comes up. Everyone keep alert. If something don’t feel right fire up your charge baton.” Said Zach.
They all fell back into a fractured line and continued walking. As Abbey walked her mind was deep in thought.
There are monsters out here, in the real world, what the hell has happened? What were those loud booms? Is my family still alive? How can I get to Boston?
Abbey wasn’t the only one lost in thought but no one was willing to share.
By time the sun was rising over Organ Mountain the group had made it to the outskirts of the small town of Baldo. The sun glinted off various cars and trucks, some military, proudly laid out in neat rows. Their pace had slowed but they had made it. Unassuming single and double story buildings lay out in front of them. As they approached the first building Zach crouched behind a metal fence.
“Don’t see any sign of life” Said Zach.
“Maybe this place was abandoned, it’s pretty remote.” Replied Cal.
