He nodded at his comrade and the barrier was raised.
The driver wound up his window to keep out the chill, steered the truck through the barrier and roared down the road.
Keen to be out of the cold, the two soldiers returned to their comrades in the warm hut. After removing their coats, one of them crossed to the telephone to let Checkpoint 3 know the tanker was on its way.
After Sven had answered Checkpoint 2’s call and returned to his seat, Mason radioed his commander to inform him of the situation.
CHAPTER 20
Birthing Chamber
“Is that a cow?” uttered Buckner, staring at the bones stripped of flesh. Sinews, muscles and viscera lay amidst the large dry bloodstain that covered the elevator floor.
“What’s left of one.” Sullivan stepped into the elevator and crouched to examine the hole in the top of the large skull. He pointed at the edges. “Whatever devoured it seems to have melted bone to get at the brain.”
“What the hell is a cow doing in an elevator?” asked Dalton, his eyes constantly scanning the corridor.
Colbert suspected it was part of the trap the Russian scientists seemed to have set for the alien. “Let’s not lose focus, people. We have a mission to complete.”
“Mother Goose, be advised a diesel tanker is heading our way. ETA, approximately 35 minutes.”
After pondering the news briefly, Colbert replied. “Received Eagle 4. Delay driver at checkpoint until mission completed.”
“Understood,” confirmed Mason.
Stepping around the scientist’s scant remains, the team crowded into the elevator and rode it down. Their attention and weapons focused on the widening gap of the elevator doors sliding open. When nothing attacked, they stepped out into the glare of light shed by the elevator’s internal lighting, the only brightness in the dark hall. Eyes and weapons scanned both directions for signs of the creature they knew was down here.
“Seems clear,” said Sullivan, lacking the conviction it was. A creature as black as the darkness that might be concealing it would be difficult to spot.
All had been briefed with the available information they had on the alien creature. It was intelligent, dangerous, and had the amazing ability not only to change its form but also to split apart to become separate versions of itself that not only shared the characteristics of its main mass but was just as formidable. In short, it was vicious, adaptable and extremely dangerous—a real badass.
Sullivan glanced at Colbert. “Flashlights or night vision?”
Colbert briefly pondered the merits of each given their situation. Though their NVGs were fitted with the latest high-resolution intensifiers and Pulse IR that bathed the surroundings in infrared to enable them to see in pitch black situations like this, Pulse IR was only effective for a short distance. They wouldn’t see the Black coming until it was upon them. “Flashlights.”
Multiple beams of light from tactical flashlights attached to assault rifles pierced the darkness.
Colbert moved to Richard and looked at the tablet screen. “Where’s the main labs?”
Richard nodded his head along the corridor. “That way.”
Colbert touched the screen and zoomed out to view the whole level. To their right was a cluster of laboratories. Opposite and to their left was a series of what looked like cells, storerooms and the main generator. In a hushed voice he called Sullivan over and pointed at the tablet screen. “Take Dalton and distribute the explosive charges this side of the elevator. I’ll take the rest of the men, and Richard, and plant the charges this side.” He glanced at his watch. “Sixty minutes should be enough time for us to complete the mission and leave, so set the timer for seventeen hundred hours.”
Though Sullivan suspected the commander’s sixty minutes assessment might be cutting it fine with the alien creature they might have to deal with somewhere down here, he kept his doubts to himself. “Dalton, you’re with me.”
The two soldiers split from the pack and headed along the corridor.
Richard stared after them. And it begins. The splitting of forces made them easier to pick off. Certain men were about to die. His sense of self-preservation went on full alert to ensure he didn’t become a casualty of this foolhardy mission.
Commander Colbert led them towards the laboratories.
EV1L 2.o intently observed the humans who had just arrived. It took in their numbers, their weapons and the threat they presented to its queen. It glanced behind into the birthing chamber where its queen was giving birth to the first batch of her hoard that would overrun the humans’ world. Its gaze switched to the egg sacs littering the floor. The younglings inside were forming quickly. Ever-changing limbs, bodies and heads pressed against the thin rubbery walls as memories of creatures they had never met were passed on from their queen, implanted into their subconsciousness to be recalled at a moment’s notice. Sensing they would soon hatch, EV1L 2.0 turned back to the approaching humans it needed to delay and kill. Avoiding the light beams they swept before them, it slithered up the wall and along the ceiling.
Richard glanced behind at Buckner covering their rear. Since it was imperative that he keep the alien weapon concealed from the others if he hoped to sell it, his gaze fell on the holstered pistol he coveted. He preferred the smaller weapon to the larger rifles he found difficult to control. His experience with the alien menagerie on the spaceship had taught him that even though human weapons hadn’t always proved effective against some of the alien species, it did slow most of them down. Though he thought he could snatch the pistol from the quick release holster, Buckner would only take it back. He would have to wait until one of them was killed before he claimed a weapon, something he didn’t think would be long in coming.
Richard refocused his attention ahead at the glass walls the SEALs’ light beams swept over. They had arrived at the laboratories. God knows what foul deeds the Russians had carried out down here. The remoteness of the underground subterranean complex indicated it would have been something obviously clandestine and likely extremely hazardous. The laboratories screamed bioweapons and germ warfare to Richard, which caused him to worry about any traces of toxins that might still be down here. They could be breathing contaminants in with every breath. They, or at least he, a civilian forced to accompany them, should be wearing HazMat suits.
Colbert raised a fist to halt his team and aimed his flashlight through the layers of glass walls encasing the cluster of hexagonal laboratories, control rooms and preparation chambers. His cautious surveillance halted on a dark object that seemed to be moving slightly, expanding and contracting, alive. It was difficult to discern exactly what it was in the darkness through multiple layers of glass that distorted both the beam and the object his light was focused upon. It would need checking out.
Colbert glanced at Buckner and Kessler as he quietly issued his orders. “Place the charges around the laboratories with the timer set for seventeen hundred hours. That gives us fifty-six minutes to complete the mission and leave. If anything moves that isn’t human, shoot it.”