When the protective circle of flaming torches had been formed, they crossed to the exit and passed through. The corridor was clear. They broke the circle and while Jack and Jane faced forward, Richard and Theo walked backward. Though progress was slow, they eventually neared the part of the ship where Jack and Jane had hidden Lucy. Though they’d heard an occasional distant shriek, so far no monsters had made an appearance.
Jack halted the small group and whispered, “Just around the corner is where the monsters were feeding on the Clickers Jane killed. I’m hoping they’ve feasted and left, but if they’re still there, don’t panic. We must stay together and drive them away with the flames.”
Jack cautiously approached the end of the corridor and peered around the corner. Apart from the remains of three devoured corpses, no monsters were in view. He led the nervous team across to the door that led to corridor where they would find Lucy in a nearby room.
Theo and Richard looked at the grisly chewed carcasses; hardly any flesh remained on their disarrayed bones. Both knew they’d suffer the same fate if they were caught. Unable to avoid stepping in the pools of congealing blood, they left bloody footprints in their wake. On reaching the door, Theo and Richard faced the corridors that led off to the left and straight ahead and held torches ready to fight off any monsters that appeared. Jane positioned herself beside the door control while Jack prepared to face whatever lay on the far side of the door when it opened. He held a flaming torch in one hand and a raised an ice axe in the other. Jane opened the door.
The first thing Jack noticed from the light of the flaming torch he thrust through the doorway were the smashed and hanging blue emergency lights; only a couple remained lit. Their swaying movements indicated it had been done recently. The shadows cast the length of the corridor wavered back and forth, creating a spooky scene for them to enter. One light had a dodgy connection and flashed on and off similar to a strobe light. Jack guessed the monsters were responsible—further evidence of their intelligence. It felt like a trap.
Richard felt Lucifer squirm beneath his jacket and knew for certain its fur would be bright red. “The monsters are coming.” He laid a reassuring hand over the lump in his coat and waited for the nightmares to arrive.
Theo glanced at Richard and was about to ask how he knew, when they arrived.
Shrieks rang out from all directions.
It was an ambush.
Scott and Pike entered the main hut and slipped out of their cold weather clothing.
“We need to get help. If there are more of those things in the rift, the others will be in trouble.”
“Who will you call?” Pike asked.
Scott looked at him. “Everyone!”
The Hunters in the corridor the far side of the door rushed at Jack and Jane when they peered through the opening. Caught in the flickering strobe light, they appeared and disappeared, seeming to lurch forward in slow motion.
The Hunter monsters Theo stared at filled the corridor as each scrambled forward in the haste to be first to reach the limited meal on offer. “Jack! We need to do something, fast!”
The mass of clawed limbs and sharp teeth that rushed at Richard, were just as eager to reach the food before the others claimed it. Screeches, howls and scraping claws came from all three directions.
Aware that fighting on three fronts would result in them all being killed, Jack decided on the only solution he could think of. “Everyone through the door and use the flames to hold them back.”
They scrambled through the doorway. As soon as they were through, Jack closed the door. When the edges met he smashed the door control with the axe.
Jane glanced at the smashed control and then at Jack questioningly.
Jack shrugged. “It might work this time.”
They spread the width of the passage and held out the flaming torches. The monsters slowed and stopped a short distance away. The Hunters on the other side of the door slammed into it. Their muffled shrieks and howls and the pounding on the door indicated their frustration and anger at being denied a meal. When one was injured in the melee, they turned on each other.
Jack glanced along the corridor. “The room where we put Lucy isn’t far away, so let’s see if we can force the Hunters back far enough so we can join her. The room will be easier to defend than the wide corridor.”
They waved and prodded the flames at the snarling monsters as they cautiously moved forward. The Hunters backed away from the flames.
Theo stabbed at one that swiped out a claw. It squealed when the flames licked at its skin.
Richard glanced at Theo. “I’m glad we’ve got these torches, we’d be dead without them.”
They hadn’t gone very far when a thin tube slithered from the ceiling and pointed its nozzle at Richard’s torch. A jet of white foam shot out, smothering the flames instantly. Richard cursed. Theo’s torch was next to be extinguished.
Jane tried to keep her torch away from the nozzle now directed at her flames, but it moved just as quick. When the foam shot out, she threw the torch at the monsters in a last ditch effort to drive them back. The monsters screeched and leapt back from the flaming missile. Jack glimpsed what he thought was the room where Lucy was, almost level with the monsters. When the extinguisher turned in his direction, he rushed forward and frantically waved the torch from side to side, driving the monsters further back. He snatched up Jane’s torch as another nozzle slid from the ceiling. He pressed the door button with his elbow. “Everyone inside.”
They rushed into the room.
As foam sprayed, Jack flung the torches at the monsters and stepped into the room. Jane closed the door. Jack’s eyes searched the room. There was no sign of Lucy. She had either awoken and wandered off, or they were in the wrong room.
The Mimic received the report from one of her minions sent to track the humans. They were in trouble. If they were all killed she might never leave this prison. The Mimic set off to see if they required her help.
She heard the sound of the creatures before she set eyes upon them. She rounded a corner and gazed at the group of ten Hunters gathered in the corridor with their attention focused upon one of the doors. The Mimic assumed that’s where the humans had taken refuge. When she held her arms out to the side, they morphed into two sharp blades. She glanced briefly at a door she passed and without breaking her stride she approached the monsters. The first two died without noticing her arrival, but the remainder saw the menace that threatened them. They scrambled away along the corridor, but with their escape blocked by the inoperative door, they turned and faced the threat. They snarled at her and guardedly moved forward to do battle.
The Mimic swiped the blades at the nearest two. Blood sprayed their comrades and the corridor walls when the two Hunters’ heads parted from their bodies. Three rushed at her. A blade stroked across one’s stomach, leaving behind a rip that spilled intestines. Another died from the blade that passed straight through its body, a twist and a yank up severed vital organs. The third was stabbed in the eye to penetrate its brain. As their bodies collapsed to the floor in a bloody heap, the Mimic stepped back.
The three remaining creatures glanced at the dead bodies of their brethren. Though the urge to feast upon them was strong, they had to kill the attacker first. All knew how difficult that task would be. They communicated a plan with grunts and shrieks. They stepped over the piles of tempting flesh and spread out in a line. The middle creature shrieked before it leapt. Its claws stretched out to slash and kill. The remaining two went in low to body tackle the Mimic and knock her off balance.