When Monroe halted the team, they stared at the hangar entrance a few yards away and the darkness within.
Garcia glanced at his team mates. “What in hell’s name was that?”
Mitchell smiled at his nervous companion and tapped his assault rifle. “Does it matter?”
Garcia shrugged. “Suppose not.”
“It could only be one of those alien monsters the scientists encountered,” added Cobb, a little nervously.
“I wouldn’t worry,” said Washington. “Those scientists survived with little more than their wits. With the firepower we’re carrying the aliens won’t stand a chance.”
Monroe directed his gaze ahead. “Keep in formation and your eyes peeled. We’re after technology, not live alien specimens, so kill anything that moves that isn’t us.”
The men in the control room aboard the container ship were staring at the drone’s camera feed screen when the shriek rang out. They had reached the same conclusion as Monroe that it had originated from one of the alien monsters. Fascinated to set eyes upon a live one, their heads moved slightly nearer.
Norton shifted his gaze from screen to screen. It was like watching a live horror movie. “I thought the scientists said the hangar was free of monsters.”
“That was then,” said Fleming. “When the ice broke free it might have caused damage to parts of the ship, allowing the aliens access to areas they couldn’t reach before.”
Admiral Thomson creased his brow. Whatever the reason, that the creatures had ventured into the hangar was one of the many unknowns that concerned him.
The men concentrated on the screens as Sergeant Monroe turned his head and looked at the drone operator.
“You see anything, Fitch?”
Fitch shook his head. “That doesn’t mean something’s not in there though.”
“Stay here and keep searching and if you see anything, you be sure to let us know.”
Fitch, concentrating on controlling the drone via the small display, nodded.
Sergeant Monroe led Alpha Team forward.
The men’s cautious footsteps barely made a sound when they entered the hangar and roamed their weapons around the large space they crossed through. The flashlights attached to their weapons followed their amazed expressions wandering over the shuttlecraft they moved between. The groans and creaks of the hull heightened the tense atmosphere and their anxiety.
The men in the control room were glued to the screens.
Sergeant Monroe halted his team with a raised fist when he heard clicks on the metal floor growing steadily louder, nearer. His light focused on the patch of darkness the noise originated from. A monster the size of a large dog entered the beam. It neither glanced at the lights that followed it or halted its slow, menacing stride.
Alpha Team’s weapons and gazes, that were an equal combination of fascination and concern, followed the fearsome beast. Though they had seen the scientists’ photographs of some of the alien monsters, it did little to prepare them for the creature that had just appeared. It was shocking even for the battle-experienced men.
“I think it’s a Space Rat,” whispered Mitchell, recognizing it from the description the scientists had given of the ferocious creature.
The vicious rat, as if noticing their presence for the first time, stopped and turned its gaze upon the men. Its eyes reflected their lights and gave it a supernatural appearance.
“Why is no one shooting it?” asked Garcia, his finger poised on the trigger.
“I want to see what it does,” Monroe answered. “We might learn something.”
Terrifying shrieks rang out from all around them.
The men in the control room stared in horror at the glimpse of monstrous yellow eyes and a mouth choked with sharp teeth from Garcia’s camera feed before the image turned to static.
“The lone rat was a distraction,” realized Thomson. It hinted they had intelligence and caused him further concern.
Gunfire echoed through the hangar.
Monroe’s feed showed Space Rats being riddled with bullets. The dead or wounded were immediately fed upon by others of their kind. Monroe spun when something shrieked close by. A rat leaped at him. Claws ripped at his face. He fell to the ground firing until the weapon fell from his hands when another rat clamped its jaws around his wrist, severing veins and biting to the bone. When the rat perched on his chest ripped out his throat, Monroe’s final pain-wracked breaths gurgled blood.
The drone rushed to the team and presented those safe in the control room an aerial view of the attack.
Though many rats lay dead, there were plenty of others eager to take their places.
Mitchell fired a burst of bullets at the one that leaped at him, but his panicked reaction ruined his aim, only grazing its shoulder. The rat collided with his chest and knocked him backwards. He stumbled and tripped over the vermin feeding on Monroe’s bloody corpse. He slammed the rifle into the rat about to sink its teeth into his neck, cracking its skull. He pushed it off and rolled to the side but before he could climb to his feet a rat landed on his back. Claws ripped at his clothes and skin, causing equal damage to both. Mitchell’s scream was a mixture of pain and fear when he glimpsed others running to join the feast. There would be no escape if they reached him. He struggled to his feet, aimed the rifle over his shoulder at the creature clinging to his back and fired. The rat’s head exploded and it fell to the ground. Mitchell sprayed bullets at the alien vermin rushing at him. The weapon clicked on empty. With no time to reload, he used the weapon as a club, smashing rats left and right.
A Space Rat perched on the top of the nearby cargo shuttle observed the carnage taking place below while it bided its time and waited for a chance to feed. The air was filled with the delicious scent of the strange creatures’ blood and it salivated at the thought of tasting it. It watched one of the two-legged creatures battling with its brethren and saw its chance. It altered its position so it was directly above its chosen prey and jumped.
When Mitchell sensed a new threat, he turned. Claws and teeth filled his vision. Excruciating pain quickly followed. Claws ripped at his face, slicing through his eyes and skin. Foul carnivorous breath spewed from the jaws that stripped away his flesh. Mitchell stumbled. His screams joined the shrieks that surrounded him. More rats eager to taste his flesh joined the feast, biting and ripping his body to shreds as they each claimed a piece. Blood sprayed. Mitchell died.
Lovell and Washington fared no better. When the Space Rats attacked from all directions, they teamed back to back and had at first managed to defend themselves, but when more rats leaped from the darkness they were soon overpowered. Unable to defend themselves from the multiple savage attacks, the men fell to the ground. The rats fervently feasted and others lapped up the warm blood pooling around the marines’ corpses.
Though Fitch was no coward, he had seen enough to recognize the battle had been lost. If he could have helped his teammates he would have, but there were too many Space Rats for their small force to defeat. Alpha Team was beyond his or anyone’s help now. He landed the drone heavily on top of a shuttlecraft and ran back along the ice tunnel.
Some of the Space Rats that had yet to satisfy their hunger noticed the fresh source of food’s flight to safety and gave chase. Fitch glanced behind at the mass of claws and teeth in pursuit and threw the drone control at them. One of the Space Rats caught it in its mouth and crunched down on it, cutting it in pieces.
“Bring the chopper back, NOW!” Fitch screamed into his mic.
He stared longingly at the end of the tunnel that seemed so far away, but there was no sign of the helicopter. Fitch wondered how long he would survive if he jumped into the freezing sea. Not long, he concluded, a few minutes at most, but it had to be a less painful death than being torn apart and eaten. He shot a glance behind to judge his chances. They weren’t good; the rats had gained ground. Fear and adrenalin spurred him on. As he neared the end of the tunnel a rope dropped into view and dangled in the entrance. Fitch would have smiled if he hadn’t been so terrified. He leaped from the ice with his arms stretched ready to receive the lifeline. His hands clamped around the rope as he swung out over the sea before the return swing carried him back towards the ice and the rats that poured from the tunnel.