Ramirez’s mouth dropped open when Richard and Krisztina stepped into the corridor and ran towards the creatures. Unable to hear the shots Richard fired, he watched the creatures suffer from the onslaught. He guessed lack of time had caused them to abandon his safe route for the more dangerous direct route. He hoped they made it.
Richard almost faltered on seeing the large group of creatures gathered around the elevator ahead that turned their evil gazes upon them. “Grenades!”
He raised the rifle and raked the evil group with bullets.
Krisztina shouldered her rifle, pulled two grenades from her vest and holding down the arming levers, pulled the pins. “Two ready.”
The creatures leapt for the walls when the first bullets struck and spreading out rushed at their prey.
Holding his nerve as they rushed nearer the oncoming creatures crawling and leaping from the floor, walls and ceiling in a macabre ballet of viciousness, Richard waited until they had reached the second left-hand corridor. “Now!”
Krisztina lobbed the grenades at the vicious onslaught of evilness and turned into the branching corridor close behind Richard. Shrieks and squeals followed the explosions that shook the walls.
Richard slowed when he reached the door at the corridor’s end, and alert for creatures, he stepped inside and gazed around the room. It was clear.
Krisztina followed him through.
“Warning. Evacuation protocol in process. Eleven minutes until detonation.”
As Richard shut the door, he glimpsed the survivors of the explosion, angry and snarling creatures thirsting for revenge and human blood, coming. Not confident the door would hold them at bay for long, he joined Krisztina climbing through the escape hatch. Richard closed and locked the hatch as soon as he was through. When he turned to the ladder he saw that though Krisztina gripped it, she hadn’t started climbing; instead she gazed up.
“There’s something up there.”
Richard peered up, flipped his NVGs over his eyes and saw the focus of Krisztina’s concern. A creature high on the ladder was silhouetted in the light shining through the top hatch they had left open for a quick retreat. Its eyes glowed bright, menacingly, in the NVGs spectral illumination when it looked down at them. He raised his rifle and took aim.
Krisztina pushed the weapon aside. “Not good idea. If any part of creature showers down on us, we’re dead. I’ve seen drops of Black crawl inside my comrades and seep from their pores. It devoured them from inside out.”
Richard sighed and moved to the hatch. “We’ll have to find another way.”
“But the creatures…”
“Trust me, when my life’s in danger I excel at surviving,” reassured Richard.
“Ramirez. Change of plan and warn Colbert he has an alien about to pay him a visit from the escape chute.”
“Copy that,” replied Ramirez.
“On it,” replied Colbert, who had been listening in.
Richard exited the escape chute and crossed to the door the creatures scratched at, searching for a way in. The air tight seal held them at bay. His glance at Krisztina detected the fear in her eyes that for the moment self-preservation kept from his own. He also saw her determination. Like him, she was desperate to survive. “Do exactly as I say, and we might yet live through this.”
With the insistent self-destruct alarm continually warning them of their imminent deaths if they didn’t escape, Richard grabbed a glass flask from an open box and thrust it into Krisztina’s free hand. “Throw it across the room when I open the door.”
Shocked he would do such a thing but aware they needed to get past the creatures somehow, she joined Richard against the wall behind the door. She raised the flask as Richard reached for the handle and threw it when he yanked open the door.
Creatures eager to be first to reach the food, rushed in and headed for the sound of breaking glass. When the last of the small hoard had entered, Richard pulled Krisztina through the exit and yanked the door shut.
“What now,” asked Krisztina, pointing her weapon along the dark corridor.
“The elevator. It’s our only option.”
Krisztina sprinted alongside Richard. “Isn’t the elevator broken?”
“If it’s the same as the other elevator on Level 4, there’s a ladder in the shaft we can climb to Level 1 and from there we head for the exit elevator.”
“Oh!” uttered Krisztina. “More climbing.”
“Are we clear, Ramirez?” asked Richard, rushing through the facility.
“I don’t know how you did it, but it seems to be. Did I hear correctly, you’re going to climb elevator shaft to Level 1?”
“Affirmative,” replied Richard. “What’s it like up there?”
“Crowded and I’ve been unable to find a clear path.”
“Don’t think we could afford the delay if you had. We’ll have to fight our way through. Be grateful for any assistance you can offer from your end.”
“I’ll do what I can, which won’t be much.”
“Understood.”
When they reached the corridor junction, their heads darted left at the sound of metallic clinks making themselves heard above the warning alarm. They briefly focused on the two creatures Richard had riddled with bullets a few moments earlier, reforming and shedding bullets from their small masses.
With no time to waste shooting them again, they sprinted for the elevator. Amongst the many brittle pieces of dead Black littering the floor, were splatters of fluid Black flowing towards one another and reforming.
Ignoring the danger that might be waiting for them inside, they climbed into the shaft and onto the ladder. Rung by rung they rose towards the elevator hanging high above them.
Richard notified Ramirez—the only person who might be able to help them—of their progress. “Climbing elevator shaft. Colbert, I know you’re listening. Don’t you dare leave without us.”
Colbert promptly replied. “We leave at three minutes to detonation whether you’re here or not, and that’s cutting it fine to be clear of the blast. Good luck.”
“We’ll be there,” said Richard with more confidence than he felt.
“Warning. Evacuation protocol in process. Ten minutes until detonation.”
“Ten minutes,” translated Krisztina, practically running up the ladder. “Seven until our ride to safety abandons us.”
“Then we don’t stop for anything. We blast everything that gets in between us and the exit. Understood, Sweet Cheeks?”
“Da. Whatever it takes, and I’m not Sweet Cheeks.”
Richard had a perfect view of Krisztina’s rear as he climbed. “You don’t have my point of view.”
Peering through the wet streaks left in the wake of the juddering worn wiper blades, and snow whisked across the tundra by the biting wind, Mason noticed Sullivan sprinting for the smaller building attached to the side of the main construction, Mason steered the tanker into the compound and skidded to a halt beside the Russian transport truck. He killed the engine, climbed out and crossed to his commander.
“Good, you made it,” greeted Colbert. “Go help Sullivan. There’s something climbing the escape chute.”
Not quite understanding everything that was happening here but certain he was about to find out, Mason held his questions in check and rushed across the compound to help Sullivan.
Sullivan entered the generator hut and moved cautiously to the open hatch his rifle pointed at. Gusts shook the heavily insulated hut and swung the single dim bulb hanging from the ceiling, which eerily moved the shadows it cast. Snow, more ice pellets than fluffy whiteness, pinged off its sides. He shot a glance behind at Mason when he entered and indicated the hatch with a slight movement of his head.