Dunsen flew out and into the mist.
“Shut it.” Alex stood in the doorway, fists bunched, but feeling agonized over throwing his man outside. He never wanted to have to kill a HAWC and had to keep telling himself it wasn’t Dunsen anymore.
“Move.” Morag leaped to grab the thick door and tugged futilely, until Alex reached over her to help slam the thick outer door shut.
Alex rolled away, and Morag put a hand on the locking wheel, about to spin it, when it was jerked from her hands and began to lever open. Huge stubby fingers came in around its edges.
Casey Franks barged forward, climbing over the backs of the cowering NASA techs and Sam, and lifted her weapon. She stuck the barrel through the door.
“Sorry, Dundee, mate.”
“No.” Alex held up a hand. “Don’t fir…”
She pulled the trigger, letting loose hundreds of rounds in a few seconds. There was an inhuman roar, and the hands vanished. The door finally closed and was locked.
Alex got to his feet and spoke through gritted teeth. “I gave you an order, soldier.”
Casey dropped her weapon. “That wasn’t Dundee anymore, boss. He wouldn’t have wanted to go on… like that.”
Alex pointed at her face. “It was my call. I had it under control.” He felt his anger beginning to rise.
Sam dropped a huge hand on his shoulder. “She’s right. Had he got back in here, he would have torn us up.”
Alex felt his head begin to throb as he stared at Casey. Insubordination in the field is treason, a tiny voice whispered with a sneer in every word. Throw her outside, before they all challenge you.
Sam lifted his hand from Alex’s shoulder. “Boss?”
Alex turned to throw a punch at the hull of the ship that made the entire craft ring like a bell and left a huge dent in the steel wall.
“We’re losing too many.” Alex held his head for a moment, easing the pain he felt inside. “Too many.”
No one spoke, but just all breathed heavily, waiting for the adrenalin to cool in their veins, watching for what happened next.
“The Russians are infected,” Sam said at last.
“I don’t get it,” Casey said. “Why aren’t the fucking Russians changing as fast as Dunsen? He went from being okay, to becoming like those Morg things in minutes.”
Alex paused. “They must be different somehow. Maybe something in their metabolism that fights the change, or infection or whatever it is. They’re still changing, but at a slower pace.”
“We’re all dead,” Russell whispered.
Alex spun to point at his face. “Stop that.”
“The strength, speed, and rapid healing — I heard rumors,” Casey said. “About these Russian Special Forces guys called Kurgan. They were supposed to be as badass as we are. But hyped up with changes to their DNA.”
“Well, they’re damn well getting worse now,” Monroe said, and motioned over his shoulder to the bay area. “Can’t be long before those guys are the same as Dunsen, or those monstrosities roaming around outside somewhere.”
“They’re fucking everywhere.” Casey showed her teeth.
Sam tilted his head back. “And they’re inside the Orlando now.” He turned to Alex. “The enemy within.”
“And without,” Alex responded.
“We’re gonna get squeezed real soon.” Sam looked around at the tiny cockpit. “Can’t stay in here, boss.”
Russell Burrows walked toward the front cockpit window and stared out at the darkening clouds. “Our astronauts, Mitch, Gerry, and Beth, were the first infected. They survived the crash-landing or perhaps had just enough humanity left to bring the ship down. But then they quickly changed, no, evolved, into something else once they were here with continual exposure to the biological gas.”
Alex stared out through the cockpit window. “And once we run out of oxygen, we either learn to hold our breath, or we breathe in the biological mist too.”
“I ain’t breathing that shit, no time, never,” Monroe said evenly.
“None of us are.” Alex turned. “Our primary objectives were to secure the image-data chip, and if any astronauts were alive to bring them home. These things are not our astronauts, so that part of our mission is now nullified.”
“They are,” Anne demanded hotly.
“Priority now is to get us all out alive. If those things out there want to live, then they better learn to stay outta of our way.” Alex glared.
“Easier said than done.” Russell sighed. “This is their home now. This is what they’ve adapted to, and I’m betting they can see through this fog clear as day.” He rose. “They’re faster, stronger, and damned hardier than we are. They may try to stop us.”
“And there’ll be even more of them soon,” Sam said turning to Alex, and motioning to the bay area. “We need to make a plan, ASAP.”
“Then let’s get that chip, and get the hell outta here.” Alex squared his shoulders. “HAWCs are you ready?”
“HUA!”
“You’re going to fight them?” Morag said. “In here?”
Alex turned. “They can always surrender.”
“Nah, we kill ’em all,” Casey said enthusiastically.
“But, what happens if you lose? What happens to us?” Anne said quietly.
Casey threw her head back and laughed. “Well then, girlie, you get to try out your communication theory.”
CHAPTER 29
“Sam, Monroe, Franks, with me.” Alex looked at Russell. “And going to need your expertise as well, Mister Burrows.”
“Me?” Russell Burrows’ mouth dropped open.
“You bet. It’s your bus,” Casey sneered.
“Everyone else, once we go through that door, lay flat on the ground,” Alex said — no one needed to ask why.
“What’s the plan, boss?” Sam asked, rolling huge shoulders.
“We ask nicely.” Alex readied himself. “Once.” He reached out a hand to the door-locking button. He held up three fingers, counting them down. Then he punched it.
Alex went in first to the bay area of the Orlando shuttle. The mist here was thicker inside than out.
Sam was beside him and the NASA engineer was nervously trying to see around one of the enormous HAWC’s armored shoulders. Alex saw that the Russians had sealed the rip in the side of the craft using metal rods and spare panels and all lashed together with cable. They were obviously intent on keeping something out.
Alex held up a hand, and the HAWCs stopped to stare. The three hulking men all had their backs turned and were gathered around something at the rear of the bay area.
“What the fu…” Casey pointed her RG3, but Alex waved it down.
“Wait here.”
Alex eased up behind the men and saw they were fixated on some sort of long, dark rock. He immediately felt the warmth coming off it, and it made his skin tingle — radiation.
He leaned toward Russell. “Mister Burrows, stay back. There’s radiation coming off this thing. Our suits will give us some protection, yours won’t.”
Russell fumbled a small Geiger counter from his pack, and held it up. “This must be it; the asteroid fragment that the Orlando crew recovered from space. I remember…” His voice fell away for a moment, as his mind probably took him back to the event. He pointed to toward the long rock. “I remember watching them grab it from space. We expected it to be radioactive. But it’s tolerable, for a while. Wouldn’t want to stay to close for too long, but we’re okay for now.” He lowered his arm. “Recovering this was the last thing they did.”