I exited the elevator and hurried back to the door for the security office. I waved the identification badge over the sensor outside the security-office door. With a click, the door opened, and I walked in. The place was disorganised, as though a pack of four year olds had gone through it. There were no signs of laser blasts or anything similar, but the floor was littered with notebooks, computer discs, and overturned chairs. Around the perimeter were surveillance camera displays, showing literally hundreds of locations within the complex. One set was labelled Level Three. In most of the shots, I saw extensive laser damage… and bodies. Hundreds of bodies. Whatever they’d let loose here, it had definitely originated on the lower level. Right where I needed to go.
I explored the room until I found the console that regulated the elevator. It button was labelled Level Three Access. I pressed it. A message appeared on the console screen: Please enter confirmation code. Damn it. I got down on my hands and knees and started sorting through the notebooks, papers, and handbooks scattered around on the floor. After several minutes, I found a manual titled Security Protocol. I flipped it opened the table of contents. One of the chapters was titled Codes. I read through it, but no specific codes were given. The basic principle outlined in the chapter was that security should change the confirmation codes on a daily basis. As I was about to toss the hand it back on to the pile on the floor, a 3 by 5 card fell out. On it were seven or eight numbers, all but one of which were crossed out. It was worth a try.
I pushed the button, and the message appeared again on the console screen. There was a ten-key pad on the console. I punched in the numbers from the 3 by 5 cards. The message disappeared, and a button lit up.
I ran back to the elevator and stuck the blue card into the blue access slot. This time, pressing the Level Three button presented no problem. With a shudder, the elevator came to life and began to descend. I was seriously doubting whether I was up to this. Maybe the creature, or whatever it was, was dead now, but I wasn’t going to bank on it. After a wait twice as long as between Levels One and Two, the elevator came to a thumping halt. The door separated, and I stepped out into pitch darkness. My flashlight was on, but I had an overwhelming need to turn on the light. I ran the beam over the wall to the right of the elevator doors until I found a switch. As I flipped the switch, a hiccup of light flared like lightning, and then a network of dim fluorescent bulbs awoke.
I was standing on the edge of a slaughter. Dead bodies were everywhere. Seeing them on the monitors in the security office had prepared me somewhat, but I’d never been at the scene of the massacre before. The air in the room was unbearably thick. I opened my backpack, pulled out my rebreather, and strapped it on. Now I was breathing normally, though the sight of at least forty corpses had my heart racing. I checked the bodies nearest me. They were in the same condition as those I’d seen on Level Two: looking mummified, with rubbery eyes and mouths open.
The room could have been the interior of the world’s largest garage. Piles of components and shards of strange alien materials were scattered everywhere. In the very centre was what must have been the fairly intact remains of the spacecraft that had crashed at Roswell. It wasn’t entirely dismantled, and I could still see the basic shape. The ship looked to be in excellent condition, considering that it had crash-landed. It wasn’t saucer-shaped at all, but looked more like a big, metal boomerang. I took a walk around the ship, not seeing anything particularly overwhelming — except, of course, for the fact that it had come from another world.
As I looked around, I had the same sensation I always felt around snakes, except now I couldn’t see or hear it. I just knew it was there somewhere, waiting. Out of the corner of my eye, I swore I saw something move. I spun around and stared at one of the corpses. Had it twitched? I must have imagined it. God, I had the creeps.
With just a hint of panic, I picked up speed. Referring to the receipt, I quickly located the storage area where the power cell was supposedly kept. But the door to it was padlocked, and even a good-sized laser blast in the door hadn’t penetrated into the area beyond. I opened my backpack and pulled out my bolt cutters. Without much effort, I slipped through the padlock bars, pulled the padlock off, and opened the door.
Inside the room, two walls looked like big, metal library-card catalogue cabinets, each numbered individually. On a third wall was what looked like a display case — the kind you see at museums. There were several shelves behind the Plexiglas. The objects stored there ranged from bizarre to banal, but I had no inclination to examine them. I turned to the metal cabinets and followed the numbers around the room until I reached number 186. I pulled the drawer open, expecting to find nothing inside. I was wrong. There was the power cell.
Then, I heard the noise.
I extracted the power cell and walked quietly back to the storage-area door. Barely opening it, I took a peek outside. I waited for several moments before deciding I’d just been hearing things, and went through the door. I looked around, but didn’t see anything dangerous or threatening. Then I caught the movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned and focused.
One of the corpses was moving.
My first thought, as happens quite often in extreme situations, was completely irrational. I wondered how someone could have been injured and stayed here in the complex all these years without medical attention. I reconsidered and suddenly realised that I had no same explanation for the movement of the corpse. I had the power cell and that was all that really mattered. I moved toward the elevator, not caring about anything except getting above ground and going home. Suddenly, another corpse moved.
I froze. Sounds of rustling and scraping echoed softly through the dead air. I spun around. Behind me, other bodies were moving. My breathing became shallow. All around me it appeared as if an army of dead men was coming to life. Some of the bodies twitched uncontrollably. Others convulsed violently. I was in a house of horrors. I turned and ran.
Just as I reached the elevator doors a loud, low groan filled the chamber. Without thinking, I turned to see what had caused the sound. One of the corpses shook with a tremendous spasm. Transfixed, I watched as a greenish-grey mist seeped from the mouth of the dead man. I’d never seen anything like it. The mist was transparent and moved fluidly, but seemed to have too much mass to be floating in the air.
The mist rose slowly toward fluorescent lights high above the floor. The light surrounding me slowly assumed a green tent. Most of the corpses were now groaning and convulsing and emitting more greenish-grey mist from their mouths. decor is of crows grew louder and louder. The walls were now glowing green. Clouds of the greenest continue drifting toward the fluorescent lights. Despite the terror surging through me, I couldn’t take my eyes away from the scene.
With a strong effort, I turned away and press the button for the elevator. As I waited for the doors to open, I looked back. The mass ascension was slowing. Then, to my horror, the cloud began to drift toward me. The doors to the elevator opened and I quickly stepped inside. The doors slowly closed behind me.
Still holding the power cell with one hand, I fumbled through my pockets for the blue passcard. The first passcard I found was the red one. I dropped it and continued searching. Green light glowed through the cracks around the elevator doors. I found the blue passcard and inserted it, then push the button for Level One. The elevator shuddered then started to rise.
I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes. My heart was racing uncontrollably. The elevator vibrated comfortingly as it carried me closer to the surface. I took a deep breath, and opened my eyes. Mist was seeping in through the cracks under the elevator doors. I’d dropped the power cell and slid into the corner. I was trapped. The mist was more transparent than it had been before, as if it had stretched in order to slide under the cracks. It sparkled as it slowly rose from the floor.