by Kyle Aho
Chapter XII
Data transfer technology had come a long way in the last century but transferring over a hundred terabytes of information still took a considerable amount of time. Since the myriad of enraged and mutated predators trying to kill them were occupied with easier prey it felt like a good time to rest and assess their situation.
Everyone was running low on ammunition once again. Dante had a handful of shells left for his weapon and even though his hands were massive the shells were too so it didn’t amount to much. Apate consolidated the few bullets she had into a single magazine. Alistair was out of fuel for the inferno pistols and would have discarded them like Apate if they weren’t so rare and expensive, not to mention the sentimental value they held. He stuffed them into their holsters and secured them tight since he wouldn’t be using them any time soon. He still had a decent amount of fuel for his torch sword but that meant he was going to have to get closer to these wretched things than he wanted. If all else failed, he still had one grenade on him as a last resort. Bren didn’t have to worry about ammunition, his father’s notorious weapons as reliable as ever. He had forgotten that the shock-batteries had shorted out and he noticed one of the winches beginning to stick so he used some small tools he procured from his pockets to tinker with it.
Apate checked the data transfer and sighed at the thirteen more minutes they were going to have to wait. “Once this is done, would you be willing to carry the hard drive for us Dante?” she asked. Based on what she’d seen him survive thus far she thought he was the best person to protect it.
Dante nodded.
“Good, then we can get back to my son and get out of here.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry but frak that, we got what we came for so let’s get the hell out of here,” Bren said.
Apate put serious thought into using her last few bullets on him right there.
“Look, I know he’s your kid but we signed up to do a mission and once that hard drive is full that mission is over. I want to get the frak out of here and get as far away from this rock as possible.”
Apate was at a loss for words. He was right, they signed up to get the data and leave. Her personal issues weren’t their responsibility. Bren’s lack of compassion didn’t surprise her but she still felt betrayed.
“Don’t worry lass, I’ll help you find ‘im,” Alistair chimed in.
She looked over her shoulder and gave him a thankful look before turning to Dante. He avoided eye contact.
“I’m sorry, I’ve got kids of my own to worry about. I’ve got to get back to them.”
Alistair started to regret his decision.
“I suppose I’m not surprised,” Apate said as she turned her back to them.
Bren didn’t care but Dante was more wounded by this gesture than any of the bruises, broken bones, or lacerations he’d suffered thus far.
“Take the hard drive and get to the emergency evacuation shelter. I’m sending a route to your holo-pads now,” she said as she punched a few buttons on her floating display after drawing a route with her finger on the map hovering in front of her. With a friendly chime the console signaled it was finished transferring the data. Apate unplugged the hard drive and handed it to Dante.
Bren cocked his head toward the ceiling. “What the frak is that?”
Above them came a scuffle before what sounded like a burp followed by the sound of liquid splattering on the other side of the ceiling. Next came a sizzle. Everyone stared up at the ceiling in horror, weapons aimed at the noise as they stepped away from it. The ceiling started to smoke and drip as viscous acid bore holes that plumed outward and opened the ceiling above them. They only had a moment to register what was happening before a spiny and bloated humanoid punched its way through the ceiling tiles and dropped into the data bank with them.
The creature let out a gargled scream and took a deep breath as it prepared to projectile vomit. Bren shot his harpoon into the back of its head. He yanked its neck back and forced the bile to shoot straight up into the air. It splashed against what was left of the ceiling and rained back down on the creature, coating the surrounding floor and causing it to corrode beneath them. It attempted to scream as it choked on its own corrosive vomit. Its skin bubbled as it tried to flail its bloated limbs, struggling to keep its balance on the melting floor. Bren activated the winch in his forearm and the chain snapped tight. The gluttonous creature was too heavy for him to move. He activated his boot spikes to ground himself and himself from falling over and gave the chain a strong tug to try and dislodge it from the creature’s skull.
Unfortunately, the spiny carapace covering the mutant was stronger than the flesh and bone he was used to and Bren couldn’t remove his harpoon before the acid chewed through the floor and the bloated screaming monstrosity fell through. It ripped Bren’s boot spikes out of the ground and dragged him toward the gaping maw in the floor.
Dante dove and grabbed Bren’s ankle. He struggled to drag Bren back up against the awkward weight of the bloated mutant mixed with the precarious balance of the ever-corroding floor. He also had to maintain his grip on the hard drive. Alistair ignited his torch sword and rounded the mouth of the hole to cut the harpoon chain. Before Alistair could sever the chain the floor melted and Dante lost his balance. He fell face first with Bren into the maintenance network below. The earsplitting bang of tortured metal rang through the data bank as something outside tried to bash its way in. Their makeshift barricade of furniture rattled loose.
Apate jumped over the hole and sprinted to the other side of the room towards a second door, only to be stopped dead in her tracks by another impact, this time at the door in front of her. They were trapped.
Alistair looked around for an alternate method of escape. Claws and fangs poked in on the sides of each doorframe. He looked down into the maintenance tunnels and saw a mix of sludge and bodies in the darkness. Obviously if they jumped down it would be difficult to get back inside and retrieve Apate’s child. Then he remembered the sizzling hole in the ceiling.
“Apate!” he shouted, bending over and cupping his hands together. He gestured for her to use them as a foothold so he could boost her up.
She took the suggestion without pause, stepped onto his hands and jumped slightly as he lifted her to the ceiling. She then crawled into the space and turned around to offer Alistair a hand. He grabbed a nearby desk and moved it into position before stepping up and jumping into the space above just as both doors flew into the room simultaneously with a mass of ravenous monsters in tow.
Alistair struggled to pull himself up as his legs dangled and the mutated creatures entered with tortured groans searching for prey. With Apate’s help, Alistair managed to climb into the space above the ceiling before the mutated man with the giant maw could snap his feet off as a light snack. Apate and Alistair crawled into the cramped space above the ceiling that was reserved for air ducts and wiring. They scrambled through the cramped space and tried to ignore the fact that maw mutant was climbing up behind them in pursuit with his jaw clicking in anticipation. Just as Apate noticed a shaft of light ahead, a black spear shot up in front of her.
The spear retracted and reappeared a few feet ahead of her accompanied by the screech of torn metal. Disappearing once again the spear thrust up a third time, yet still farther down. Apate advanced little by little and Alistar bumped into her while trying escape the slathering jaws of the mutant behind him blissfully unaware of the trouble ahead.
“Move it lass, c’mon!” he shouted as he began to panic.
Apate waited for the spear to reappear and was horrified to watch a long, slimy tendril poke up in its place. It slithered around and searched for something, almost as if it tasted the area. Apate pulled out her gun to use a precious few bullets to blast the tongue in half. Alistair screamed in surprise as the shots deafened them both temporarily. Apate pressed forward with Alistair in tow, angry spears shooting up around them and a hungry mutant in pursuit. Apate came upon a drop leading down a sh
aft. It was capped off with a grate to direct air into the hallway below. She watched the grate for signs of movement.
“Move lass, what’re y’waiting for?” Alistair shouted.
If anything was down there she was about to meet it. She turned awkwardly in the small space and fell feet first down the chute. She dropped through the grill at the bottom of the shaft and landed hard in the hallway beneath. Alistair followed and drew his torch sword upon landing. Fortunately they had navigated to the other side of a wall and the spear-wielding creature wasn’t around to greet them. They heard a growl as the maw mutant fumbled through the ducts above.
“This way,” Apate said, wasting no time to run down the hall and toward the labs where her son was held.
As they approached each intersection they hugged the wall and listened for anything lurking around the corners. It was mercifully quiet. Their boots squeaked and left bloody prints along their path that filled back to pools before they had even turned into the next hallway. Lights flickered and the echoes of mutants wreaking havoc throughout the facility forced them to stay on their toes but they traversed the hallways unmolested. They approached a long hallway with many windows on either side that led to various labs and research areas. None of these labs had been damaged yet and the pristine working equipment inside looked out of place.
“Why so easy all th’sudden?” Alistair asked as they approached a laboratory.
“Maybe Bren and Dante found a way back up and are keeping them busy. Don’t jinx it.” Apate said, using her key card to unlock the room holding her son.
Pumps hissed and fluids bubbled but this room was otherwise quiet and serene in comparison to the rest of the gore-drenched facility. Apate went to the chamber holding her son and pressed her fingers to the glass. Her touch left sticky red prints. Alistair searched the room for any signs of infiltration and was relieved to see they were alone. For now, at least.
Apate hit some buttons on a nearby console and the hermetically sealed chamber opened with a lazy sigh. She carefully removed the needles, tubes and sensors from her child’s body. Tears carved a clean river through the grime on her face. The boy choked as a tube was removed from his mouth and he slowly came to consciousness.
Alistair was surprised to see how old he was. Easily a toddler, the boy looked around in confusion. He stared up at the woman above him and screamed in fear. Apate tried to calm him down, shushing him, and cradling him in her arms but it was no use. She looked down into his eyes and realized with horrid clarity that he didn’t recognize her. She was a complete stranger to him, no different than the myriad of other women that had tortured him thus far in his life.
Her heart sank and her arms felt numb. She set the boy down and staggered to a nearby console. Alistair noticed a secured vial with a glowing red substance in it resting on a mechanical dais nearby. Underneath the vial was a screen that read ‘ANTIDOTE SYNTHESIZED’ in blocky capital letters. He carefully picked it up and stuffed it into a secure pouch on his hip. Screaming in confusion and fear, the child cried harder than his mother and struggled to make sense of his surroundings. Alistair realized he was the only one not enraptured by intense emotion and decided to take hold of the situation.
“C’mon Apate, grab…” he struggled to remember the name she had told him, “…Raza was it? Grab Raza and let’s get out of ‘ere,” he said.
Metal screeched as the door to the lab was forced open. The mutant with the meat cleaver arm entered the room. There was a streak of fresh blood running down his chin. Apate snapped from her stupor and quickly snatched up her child, holding him close to her chest. Alistair raised his torch sword and prepared to charge. With a groan, the mutant shuffled into the lab but didn’t attack. Instead, it stared at the boy. Apate stared back for a moment before she realized in horror that this creature wanted her son. Then she realized something even more shocking.
“Gideon?”
Dante lifted his head out of the water and spat out a glob of something thick and stringy that tasted the way rotten fish smells. Bren screamed. Dante’s shotgun had fallen from his grasp during the fall and he could barely see as viscous gunk dripped down his face. He wiped his eyes clean of grime and saw Bren punching the fat acid-filled mutant with savage ferocity.
“Die you ugly fat frak!” Bren shouted as he drove a spiked fist into the mutant’s face for the umpteenth time.
“Watch the acid!” Dante yelled.
Bren held his punches for a moment to look over his body for any signs of damage. Yellow bile dripped down his chest and from his arms but it wasn’t doing any damage. A cloud of bile floated around the fat mutant as it bobbed lifelessly in front of them.
“Maybe the water stops it?” Bren asked. Dante looked over his own body and despite there being blobs of yellow fluid dripping from his armor it had no effect.
“Guess so. You seen my gun?” Dante asked. Bren felt around in the murky water.
The mutant twitched.
“Oh hell no!” Bren shouted before hammering the mushy pile of meat that was left of its head with a spiked fist several more times. He finished his barrage and stared at it.
“Found it,” Dante said, lifting his shotgun from the sludge, and giving it a few shakes “where the hell are we?”
“I don’t know but it smells like ass,” Bren said.
Hungry grumbles echoed from above.
“We should get out of here,” Dante said as he sloshed his way over to a concrete ledge about waist height.
“Yeah, you still have that drive on you?”
“Oh shit,” Dante said as he reached inside his vest to search for the drive, “feel around, it’s gotta be close.”
Underneath the murky water they found a menagerie of items including rocks, trash, machine parts and even a few bones. Water and sludge had completely soaked their armor and as they kicked up more and more debris it grew more difficult to identify anything. Dante slid his fingers over what felt distinctly like teeth when his hand came upon a sold brick of metal. He lifted it out of the water and grinned.
“Found it,” he said.
“Good, this is disgusting, let’s- ow!”
“Let’s ow?”
“Something just bit me!” Bren said, splashing at the water and looking around.
“What was it?” Dante asked, looking over at the floating corpse of the mutant that brought them down to this cesspool.
“I don’t know, but ow! What the frak?” Bren lifted his arm and a long black eel came up with it. The creature twisted and flailed as it tried to rip off the chunk of armor and flesh it had locked its jaw around. Bren grabbed it with his other hand and ripped it from his forearm. Dante sloshed over to him as Bren threw the eel at the wall across from them.
“Are you ok?” Dante asked. The eel hissed and squirmed, inching its way to the edge of the concrete and slithering back into the water. They both climbed out on the other side before it would find them again.
“Where are we?” Bren asked as he pulled off his boots and dumped the muck out of them. The walls were unfinished rock but the floor was poured concrete. Flickering lights led to an intersection with pipes jutting from the ceiling. Murky water filtered through a grate at the end of the passageway.
“This is a mining planet, right? Maybe this is some kind of cave,” Dante said.
He secured the hard drive to his belt and hoped that the fall and resulting splash of water hadn’t damaged it. Bren put his boots back on and they followed the lights toward the intersection up ahead. A pile of bodies greeted them around the corner. It was mostly animal carcasses with several men at the top. Bren and Dante approached with caution. Above was a panel in the ceiling with blood dripping from the crevices.
“Is this where those drones bring the bodies?” Bren asked.
They hugged the wall and continued down the cement walkway. Along the way were several more piles of bodies and every so often they found more offshoots of rough stone that lead into darkness.
�
�These tunnels must honeycomb the area,” Dante said.
“Don’t know and don’t care. I’ll just be happy when we get out of this shit hole,” Bren said as they walked up a ramp to find some pumps and generators struggling to accomplish their tasks. Steam billowed from the elbow of a nearby pipe and the almost all of the readouts on the machines were blinking red and flashing with various warnings.
Dante felt guilty for telling Apate he didn’t want to help rescue her child. He thought about his two boys back home and knew he would go to any lengths to protect them. She wasn’t being irrational; she was simply being a parent. He should have sympathized with her and offered to help, contract be damned.
“Hey, look at this,” Bren said as they rounded the corner. There was a ladder fixed to the wall with a sign next to it that read ‘Maintenance Building’ with an arrow pointing up. The ladder led up to a platform connected to the wall. Shafts of light peeked around the metal door at the end of the platform. Bren went to the ladder and started climbing.
“Wait!” Dante said.
Bren looked over his shoulder, “What?” and slid down the ladder.
“I…,” Dante paused, “should we go back?”
“We just found a way out, and you want to go back?”
Dante shrugged, torn between escape from this nightmare and helping an innocent child. “We don’t even know if they are still alive,” Bren argued, surmising Dante’s thought process without having to hear it.
“But what if they are? Don’t their lives mean anything to you?”
“No, they don’t. She has been lying to us from the beginning and we have just been offered a chance for freedom. I’m not going to give that up.”
“Well what if we infect the rest of the planet by opening that hatch?” Dante reasoned.
“Are you kidding me? Obviously this planet is frakked, look at these things,” Bren said as he gestured to the black eel that followed them in the water, hissing as it surfaced. It was difficult for Dante to argue. “If you want to go back and die then fine, be my guest, but give me the hard drive so one of us can finish the job we signed up for.”
Dante hesitated. He wondered if his father would care that he had not brought the drive back personally. He wondered if his father would care if he returned at all.
“Dante, give me the damned hard drive,” Bren repeated. Dante looked up and saw both of Bren’s arms pointed at him, harpoons ready.
“What the hell are you doing?” Dante asked.
“If you won’t finish the job I will.”
“What if we open that door and these things find a way to the surface?”
“Not my problem.”
“You would let an entire planet die to these things to collect a check?”
“Look, it sucks but I didn’t take this job because I cared about anyone on this backwater. Give me the hard drive.”
Dante held his ground.
“Would you really kill me for this?”
Bren didn’t respond but didn’t lower his weapons either. Dante was now stuck with the decision of abandoning the rest of his team, an innocent child, and possibly killing an entire planet or killing a team member and going back into the jaws of hell to risk his own life and see if the rest of his team was even still alive.
Before he could make a decision, Bren fired. One harpoon aimed at Dante’s face and the other aimed at his gun. The first harpoon nailed him in the forehead and blinded him with pain but didn’t penetrate his titanium skull. The second harpoon snatched his shotgun from his hands before he could retaliate. Bren caught the massive gun in the air, handling it awkwardly due to its size. Dante reeled with pain and squinted through the blood seeping into his eyes. Bren pointed the gun at Dante’s face and pulled the trigger.
