“Julia’s got some very good form. You can see how her bullets all found the target. She’s got some scattered here and there, but she also managed to get two rounds overlapping in the exact center. Two bulls-eyes.” He smiled at Julia again. “Excellent job.”
Julia had smiled back, but felt a sudden wave of shyness come over her and she lowered her eyes. “Thank you.”
The memory of that summer washed back over her there in the dank cave. What ever became of the range master? She recalled the fuzzy feeling she’d had for him after that first encounter. She remembered spending every free moment of the camp up on the range.
He taught her a lot. And Julia knew that he was the first man she’d ever had a serious crush on. She was just at that age. Fourteen. When the bridge between a girl and a woman doesn’t seem that great, but still spans a million miles of poignant heartache and experience.
For his part, the range master never touched her. Never spurred on her crush. He just remained the friendly man who controlled the shooting area. He taught her some finer points about shooting. So much so that by the end of the summer, Julia won a medal in the inter-camp jubilee competition.
I hope all those lessons weren’t lost on me, she thought.
Another sound came at her ears.
Closer.
Something was out there. In the darkness.
Julia remembered the effect that bright light had had on the one creature she and Mick had seen back at the greenhouse. She wished they had some of those ultra-bright spotlights with them now. All they would have had to do was flip the switch and while the creature was blinded, they could kill it dead.
Still, was that the right thing to do?
As far as they knew, the creature had killed Vikorsky. In all likelihood, it had also murdered the other station crew. But did that give Julia’s team the right to kill it? Were they exceeding their mandate by declaring themselves judge and jury and executioner all in one fell swoop?
Too late for debate on the issue, she decided.
Sure, studying the creature would have been nice. But the danger it apparently posed was too great to risk another life on.
It would have to die.
A scrape sounded further up.
It had to be close now. That sound hadn’t been more than seventy feet away.
Why was it moving so slowly? Julia frowned. Something wasn’t right.
Here they were, in the cave, ready and waiting with enough firepower to hose down a veritable army and the object of their hunt was meandering its way toward them. If it had been relaxed and not suspicious, would it have moved faster?
Probably.
Which means it knows we’re out here. Julia frowned. She wished she could whisper a warning to Mick.
Maybe he already knows, she thought. Maybe he knows the creature knows we’re out here waiting to kill it.
More sounds echoed off the walls of the tunnel.
Closer.
Julia’s hands felt slick with moisture. Come on already, let’s get the show started. The sooner the creature made its appearance, the sooner they could be done with this battle.
Another scrape.
A brilliant beam of light appeared from the end of Mick’s rifle barrel.
The flashlight!
It cut a swath of yellow across the cave.
And instantly, Julia heard the shrieks. Just like she’d heard back in the greenhouse.
And then she saw it.
Them.
On the ceiling.
My god, how many of them are there?
“Aim high!”
Mick’s voice broke in over the shrieks and then he opened up.
And all hell broke loose.
13
Julia jerked the M16 up and at the roof of the cave. Her finger jerked and the gun bucked once sending a round ricocheting off the area above her.
She could see the muzzle flashes of the other guns shooting.
She heard the reports; they sounded like explosions in the darkness.
And all the action happened in a weird strobelike effect thanks to very little light being spread around the area.
Shouts now as team members directed their fire accordingly.
“Front!”
“One o’clock — get him!”
“I’m out, gotta change mags!”
It all seemed incredibly surreal. Julia felt herself shrink into a tight shell. Her vision narrowed and she kept searching for targets and squeezing the trigger. She lost count of how many times she thought she’d gotten one of them in her crosshairs. She fired again and again.
Until she squeezed the trigger one time and it fell forward with a dull click.
Out of bullets.
“I’m out!”
She dropped down under cover of her rock and felt for the magazine release. There! The empty mag dropped and clanged off the ground. Julia pawed for a fresh one and then jammed it up and into the housing, jerked the charging handle back and let it spring forward.
Something dropped down to the cave floor close to her.
She spun.
Brought her gun up.
A face appeared before her, no more than two feet away.
She screamed.
It shrieked.
She fired.
The gun bucked once. Julia kept squeezing the trigger. More bullet casings jumped out of the gun spinning in the strobed light to the cave floor.
Someone screamed.
The face in front of Julia’s disappeared.
Jon F. Merz
Prey
Had she killed it?
Sporadic gunfire erupted from around them now. Fewer shouts called out. Mick had kept his fire disciplined and tight. Squeezing off controlled bursts at his targets. Julia knew others had gone full auto.
She kept on her arc and thought about how miraculous it was none of her bullets had ricocheted back at her.
We could have been killed having a firefight in here, she decided.
“Cease fire!”
Mick’s voice again. And he still sounded as cool as ever. Just another trip out to the range for him. Julia frowned. I have to go to the bathroom.
“Cease fire!”
She felt Mick beside her. His voice stayed low this time. “You okay?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I think so.”
He patted her on the back. “Nice job.”
“We need some light.”
Julia turned. “Someone get one of the survival lanterns cranked up.” She wondered what sort of a slaughterhouse they’d see materialize as the light blossomed in the cave.
She heard the fizz and poop of the lantern coming on. Dull yellow light spilled across the jagged promontories of rock. And Julia saw…
Nothing.
“What the fuck?”
Wilkins stood. “What the fuck is this shit? There are no bodies here.” He glanced around. “I know I got at least one of those bastards.”
Julia scoured the area. Spent brass casings littered the ground; she could see the impact points where bullets had apparently hit the rocks of the cave walls. But she couldn’t see any blood. And no creatures lying on the floor dead or dying.
Nothing.
She glanced at Mick but he was only staring down the tunnel toward where the light had originated. She came up beside him. “What the hell just happened here, Mick?”
She shrugged. “Wish I knew.” He lifted his rifle. “I shot a whole bunch of those things, whatever the hell they are. I saw them fall down dead. We all heard their shrieks. That didn’t sound like they hadn’t been injured to me.”
“They sounded like they were dying,” said Julia. “I know I shot at least two of them.”
“I’d bet we all shot a lot more than that,” said Kendall suddenly behind her. Julia turned and saw the serious look on his face. “But the fact remains there are no bodies here.”
“Any theories?”
Kendall shrugged. “I wish I had one. When we started firing, I could see them in the flashes of light from the muzzle blasts. They were all around us. Ready to pounce. I think they wanted a sense of surprise.”
“They knew we were here,” said Julia. “I got that impression, too.”