Pinky arrived at the rock wall and scurried up the side towards the nearest beast. She grabbed its leg and yanked it down hard. The Wolf Monster slipped and lashed out at the creature responsible. Pinky easily dodged the claw and jumped onto its back. She grabbed its ears and yanked its head back and to the side. Her head shot forward. Her teeth latched onto its neck and ripped a large gash in its throat. She leaped off as her victim fell and climbed up the cliff. The first beast had already reached the top. She scrambled onto an outcrop of rock and leaped at the second beast. She slammed into its side, freeing its grip on the rock, and raked claws down its belly as she dodged away and watched the wounded Wolf Monster tumble down the cliff.
Pinky climbed over the ledge and looked at her mate facing down the Wolf Monster. It smiled at her and nodded. They both attacked at the same time. The Wolf Monster screeched as it lashed out at the fast moving creatures, but they ducked and dodged its claws as they made contact with their own. It fell to the ground panting heavily. Blood poured from its many wounds.
Howls rang out as the pack announced their return.
Pinky and her mate left the wounded creature as a distraction for its comrades and leaped over the cliff. They slid to the bottom and rushed across the ground as the pack arrived.
The Wolf Monsters instinctively gave chase, but skidded to a halt, raised their vicious snouts, sniffed and turned their heads back towards the cliff and the strong scent of blood. After a brief glance at the two fleeing creatures they headed back to the cliff to begin feasting on the food they didn’t have to chase.
CHAPTER 17
Fields of Fear
THE WARM HUMID room the Russian salvage team had entered was lit by rows of light cells hanging from the ceiling. It stretched into the distance and was filled with raised growing beds one-hundred-feet wide and what seemed three times that long. Each contained a single variety of crop that included fruit trees, vegetables and grain crops similar to wheat or barley. Untended, the crops had run wild and a carpet of rotten fruit and vegetation covered the floor between the crop trays and filled the air with the stench of cloying decay. Lines of one-inch wide black pipes, which seemed to be part of an irrigation system, were suspended above each crop area and led to large, tall tanks positioned at intervals around the room.
Sergei Antonoff walked over to a fruit-laden tree and plucked one of its purple fruits, similar in size and shape to an avocado. He sniffed it. “It smells sweet, a cross between a grape and a pear.”
“I wouldn’t risk tasting it,” said Brusilov.
Sergei had no intention of doing so. He dropped the fruit and when he gazed down the long path, he thought he glimpsed movement. “Captain, I think crops aren’t the only thing in here.”
Brusilov followed Sergei’s gaze. Though he saw nothing, he trusted the man’s judgment. “Okay, let’s leave. There’s nothing in this room we want.”
As if it had patiently waited for those very words to be spoken, the door rasped closed just as ominously as it had opened. Weapons were brought to bear on the closed door but no one was nearby to have operated it.
“Probably on a timer to protect the warm, moist atmosphere,” Viktor Rozovsky suggested, feeling a bead of sweat run down his neck.
A distant shriek rang out.
Weapons swiveled towards the sound.
Nothing moved except for their rapidly beating hearts and the blood pumping through their veins.
“Let’s go,” ordered Brusilov.
Their weapons roamed the room for danger as they backed towards the exit.
Petya Babinski reached the door first and searched for the door control. He found it smashed on the floor. “Captain, we have a problem.”
Brusilov glanced at the broken control highlighted in the beam from Babinski’s flashlight and received an uneasy feeling they’d walked into a trap. He watched as Rozovsky and Vadik tried to force the door open. When it was obvious they wouldn’t succeed, he glanced around the huge room. “There has to be another exit in here somewhere and we need to find it before whatever’s in here finds us.” He led his men down the nearest path.
Another screech closer than before, came from ahead and to their right.
Vadik aimed his weapon at the point where he thought the sound had originated from. “Whatever it is, it’s in that alien wheat field.”
Brusilov thought it wise they move before it attacked. “Pick up the pace.”
All were glad to do so and they hurried along the path. Each footstep squelched into the thick carpet of rotted vegetation. The rustle of crops on their right indicated something homing in on them. All were startled by the sprinkler system when it sputtered out jets of water that filled the room with fine rain and cut their limited vision even more. Without making a sound, something leaped from the crop field on their left. It had been waiting for them.
Horror spread across Yegor Kristoff’s features when he turned and stared at the ten-foot-long creature. Patches of scraggy fur and scaly, snakelike skin covered its muscular brown body. He stumbled into Babinski when one of the monster’s three-clawed front limbs lashed out, ripping three deep gashes across his chest that continued up his neck and across his face. Blood gushed from the wound as the creature sailed overhead. Its long tail, ridged with short, sharp spikes, ended in a jaw the size of a large melon and crammed with sharp teeth. It gripped Yegor’s face and flipped him into the air, sending the dying man soaring over the path. The creature disappeared into the opposite crop field and then reappeared briefly to snatch Yegor’s screaming body from the air. The grisly sounds of tearing flesh quickly followed, ending the Russian’s harrowing screams.
Rozovsky sprayed bullets after the monster crashing through the field away from them.
Sergei gripped his shoulder. “Stop, you’ll hit Yegor.”
Rozovsky sprayed one more burst before stopping. He looked at Sergei. “What’s it matter? He’s already dead.”
“Quiet everyone,” ordered Brusilov. He was worried that the creatures had shown intelligence and there were at least two of them―the one that had lain in wait and attacked and the other that had distracted their attention.
Though the rain made it hard to hear anything more than a short distance away, they all heard the cacophony of excited squeals that rippled across the room. There were more than two monsters and they had smelt blood―human blood.
Expecting an attack at any moment, Brusilov scanned the room. His eyes halted on the nearest water tower. It was their only chance. The higher vantage point would give them a good view of the room, the approaching monsters and an ideal defensive position. “Head for the water tower.”
They sprinted for the tower and while the Captain and Vadik kept guard, the others climbed the ladder. Its widely spaced rungs were evidence it had been designed for someone with longer legs than humans. Once the others reached the top, they covered Brusilov and Vadik’s climb.
The height of the tower had brought them above the rain, but the fine mist it created still impaired their view of anything moving through it. The men spread out around the edge of the tank and scanned the room below.
Brusilov switched off his weapon-light and advised his men to do the same to conserve the batteries; they could be stuck here for some time.