Superhero by Night Omnibus

by Jeffery H. Haskell

  We finally hit the floor marked with the vehicle icon. There were two doors: one into the facility and the other to the garage. I knelt down next to the garage door, opened it an inch and looked inside.

  It wasn’t the largest underground garage I’d ever seen, but it was close. How the hell did they build this out in the jungle?

  There were a few dozen strange looking vehicles with boxy back ends, a couple of standard Armored Personnel Carriers, and a few 4x4 style Jeeps with heavy armor.

  I slipped through the door, keeping it as closed as I could as we passed. It shut behind us with a barely audible click. I froze for a moment, waiting to hear or see anything. Nothing.

  Once I was sure, I led her to the armored 4X4 and tried the door. It opened.

  “Thank God for small favors,” I whispered to her. “Get in.” She did, without hesitation. A search of the interior revealed two things: first, there was a rack for weapons in between the front seats, but no weapons. Second, there were no keys.

  “Neve, you need to stay here while I go find the keys.”

  I expected her to argue, but she just nodded. I closed the door quietly behind me and padded back to the main entrance. I knew there were at least two of those things on the loose, maybe more. Without weapons or power, fleeing was the expedient choice.

  Still, it pained me to think of leaving innocent people behind. Once inside, I went to the inner facility door and tried the bar. It pushed open and I peeked inside. I froze for a moment, not even breathing as I listened for any sound.

  Nothing.

  Somewhere on this level, there had to be a box with keys in it. I was going to find it.

  I stepped inside, careful with the noise of the door. The last thing I needed was to make a rookie mistake and alert whatever these things were by slamming a door by accident.

  Once inside, I made my way to the reception desk. Every level, so far, had these security desks as the first thing. Past them were varied hallways of different configurations, but always with a desk like this to start.

  Like the other levels, there were dismembered bodies behind it. Whatever happened here, happened fast. They didn’t even have time to react.

  I ran behind the desk and knelt down, doing a quick search for keys—nothing.

  The computer blinked at me. This one was on; the others hadn’t functioned when I checked them. I hit a few buttons and it asked me for a password.

  Useless.

  Unless? I could grab Neve and use her password, but... no it wasn’t worth the time. That thing hunting us wouldn’t take long to find the right floor, especially if everyone else was dead. I couldn’t believe one creature killed everyone in this facility in the two hours I was healing. How the hell had it even gotten loose?

  The map on the wall behind the desk showed the fire exits and a rough layout of the floor. There were about a dozen doors, along with a repair facility in the back. Bingo. If that was where they repaired vehicles, then they would likely also have the keys there.

  I ran toward my target, padding down the hall on my toes, trading a little bit of stealth for speed. Down the hall, past more bodies, a mix of the large security men and women. What remains were left had those white implants on their necks, which was just weird.

  What the hell were they doing here?

  I made it to the garage door; it was torn open like a tin can. Peeking inside I scanned the dark room looking for life, and oh boy I found it.

  Breathing echoed in the room like something out of a bear cave. It was much hotter in there than the hallway; I could feel the heat pouring out.

  Fantastic. So much for one monster.

  I took another look. At the far end, about fifty feet in, was a mass of creatures, currently sleeping—maybe—but certainly not moving. It was impossible to tell how many there were—maybe six or seven. Plus the other one that had been chasing me. Eight so far.

  Eight of these… Damn.

  I took a moment to slow my heart rate and steady myself. When I was as quiet as I could be, I crossed the threshold, making sure each footfall was like a butterfly landing on a soap bubble, just the way Joseph taught me.

  Like most repair garages, there was a cage at the far end where equipment was stored—and hopefully keys as well.

  The snoring creatures were ridiculously loud as I made my way across the thirty feet to the cage. At least I was on the opposite end from them. Who the hell thought making these things was a good idea? Might as well give great white sharks a pair of legs and let them breathe air!

  The heavy musk was thick enough to choke on. I breathed slowly, in through my nose and out through my mouth, trying to avoid holding my breath. I knew I could be silent when I wanted, a shadow even. But it was one thing to move without alerting a person, but a beast? They had a whole other level of senses.

  The cage ran half the length of the far wall, stopping at a door. The rest of the wall was taken up by an admin office with a small window that faced the garage. If I had to guess, that was where people came to check out vehicles.

  For a secret base in the rain forest, this place was well maintained and organized.

  I reached the gate that led into the cage, it was partially open. I moved it, an inch at a time until I could slip through, and stepped over the severed hand that had kept the door from closing all the way.

  I held my breath for a moment. Inside was a slaughterhouse. Half a dozen people had crowded into here for protection but didn’t get the door closed in time.

  I tried not to think about what I was stepping on while I searched for the keys. In the admin room, I spotted a metal box on the wall; perfect.

  I opened it up and there were two dozen keys hanging from the board. Each was labeled and bar-coded, but I had no idea which one started the jeep; I’d have to take them all.

  A coat hanging on the wall presented an opportunity. I took it down and quietly took each key off the board one at a time and put them in the coat.

  Once I had all the keys, I rolled it up, tying it like a package with its sleeves. I jiggled it a little and no sound came out.

  I turned and scanned the room one more time to make sure I hadn’t missed—

  Lucky lucky.

  A Spas-12 shotgun leaned against one of the three desks in the room. I hadn’t seen it when I entered because it was partially shielded by the chair. I walked softly to it, placed the key bag on the desk and picked up the lethal weapon. It had a five-round tube. There was no real way to check if there was a shell in the chamber without pumping it, and that was a no-go. Far too loud.

  I slung the strap over my head with the barrel pointed down. The gun hung diagonally on my back. I picked up the keys and headed for the door that led from the office to the cage. Once through, I picked my way carefully through the mess to the cage door. I was sweating hard in the heat and my muscles were starting to ache from the prolonged exertion of silent but speedy movement, but so far, so good

  I shifted the bag to the other hand and headed for the main door... when a howl the split the air and echoed through the outside room. It must have found me.

  The snoring stopped instantly, replaced by growls and yawns.

  “Screw it,” I said as I broke into a run for the door. Predators always chase running prey, but it wasn’t like they were just going to ignore me if I stood still!

  I grab the jagged lip of the door as I ran past, pinwheeling around it and down the hall opposite the way I had come in. If the other beast was on this level, I didn’t want to run into it.

  Howling, followed by the scraping of claws on concrete and tile, told me they were following me.

  I envisioned the fire escape map in my head and saw a route back to the front desk. I leaped just in time to miss an overturned water cooler and ran right into an open office that looked like a scene from a war movie. Dead bodies everywhere, half eaten, with blood all over the place.

  “Spice,” I said as I ran by, ignoring the scene.

  “What?” she ask
ed appearing next to me and running.

  “What the hell are these things?”

  She shrugged. I took another corner, dodged a fallen planter and bee-lined it for the door.

  “Other than if you get eaten we’re both dead, I have no idea. I’d call them werewolves but they don’t look like the ones I’ve seen.”

  That stunned me. Werewolves were real?

  I saw the door I was aiming for; it was torn off its hinges but it led to the garage and the armored jeep.

  I passed the desk and the world went sideways. The blow sent me sprawling, my makeshift bag of keys flew from my hands into the wall. I hit the ground and rolled to a stop.

  Clawed hands grabbed my calf, sinking to the bone. I clenched my teeth from the pain. My instinct was to go for the shotgun, but right now it clung on to me with the strap. The monster threw me and I crashed through the ceiling tiles in a shower of white powder, to fall to the floor twenty feet away, landing painfully on the shotgun. I grunted, rolled and had my feet under me. For the first time, I could fully make out the beast coming toward me.

  And oh God how I wished I couldn’t.

  It was hideous. Nine feet tall hunched over, I could tell that it had once been human. Its legs and arms were distinctly human, overly muscled and coiled to attack, even if its hands ended in claws. The head though—the head was a thing of nightmares. Large floppy ears hung on either side, framing a misshapen snout full of serrated teeth and an obscenely long tongue. Its whole body was covered in dark black hair or fur, I wasn’t sure what the difference was. A thick mane came down from its head and ran the length of its body.

  It walked hunched over on its knuckles like an ape, not a dog. Whatever genetic nightmare these things were, they couldn’t be allowed to live.

  I unslung the shotgun from my back, racked the slide and shouldered the weapon. Aiming for its face, I pulled the trigger.

  At the last possible second, like it knew exactly where I was going to shoot, it dodged. I ended up blowing a hole in the wall instead of its head.

  It charged me. For something so big it was incredibly fast, crossing the thirty feet in one bound and slamming into me.

  I didn’t have my powers, but I wasn’t helpless. I backpedaled and jammed the gun against its neck as it toppled me over. “Dodge this,” I said as I pulled the trigger. The shotgun blast was deafening. Lucky for me I hadn’t pressed it too hard or I wouldn’t have a shotgun. The pellets bounced off its hide, ricocheting around; some hit me and I winced from the pain.

  Bulletproof? You got to be kidding me.

  The only way for it to be indestructible like that would be if it had superpowers, but I’d never heard of anything like this before.

  I grunted as it backhanded me. It opened its mouth wide and brought its serrated teeth down on my shoulder. I screamed then—no amount of self-control would stop that from hurting.

  It didn’t let go, but started tossing its head back and forth, slamming me into walls and the floor, trying to batter me to death before it began feeding.

  It was all I could do to hold onto the shotgun as it death-rolled me. It stopped for a second to see if I would struggle more. Pain burned through me, running down my whole body. I managed to keep my head clear long enough to jam the barrel into its ear canal and pull the trigger before it could resume shaking me to death.

  The blast changed its mind. Chunks of flesh and blood sprayed the far wall and it fell dead.

  “Oh thank—”

  Whatever it was, it had the life force of ten people. The euphoria hit me like a truck. Strength surged through me and I pushed it’s snout off of me, freeing my shoulder. The wounds healed instantly and I felt like a million bucks.

  “Wow,” Spice said from against the wall she was leaning on. “That was something else. Forget what I said about running; let’s kill the rest of these things.”

  “I would agree with you, but somehow I don’t think they’re going to sit still while I shoot them in the ear canal with a 12-gauge shotgun. Besides, I only have three rounds left.”

  We looked at each other for a second, our eyes lighting up as we both had an idea at the same time.

  “The armory!” we said in unison.

  Chapter 28

  I ran for the door and triggered my shadow step, passing right by the mass of fangs and claws as they came around the corner between where I dropped the last one and the stairs. I hit the steps and hauled butt three at a time under the red emergency lighting. By the time they noticed I was gone, I was kicking in the remains of the door that led to the floor the armory was on.

  I heard them, though, scrambling up the stairs. The stairwell door was trashed; there was no point in trying to secure it. I ran down the hall to the locked armory door and slid to a halt.

  “How strong am I?” I asked Spice.

  She smiled at me and gestured for me to kick the door in. There is an art to kicking in doors; hit the wrong place and you break your foot, not the door. Or maybe your foot goes right through the door.

  The best place is where the door and the jam connect—usually just above waist level. I hauled my foot up and kicked with all my might. The impact blasted the door open, tearing off part of the jam that held the security bar in place.

  It made a helluva racket. I ran inside and breathed a sigh of relief.

  The room had four racks, each with a different kind of firearm. Pistols, shotguns, , submachine guns, more Spas-12s, and one with five full-sized rifles. I didn’t have time to stop and see what kind they were.

  However, the best part lay nestled in the corner. My clothes, boots, pistol, and mask. I pulled my pants on and decided to skip a shirt and go with a tactical vest instead. And then my mask. It felt good to wrap the red scarf over my mouth and nose. At times it felt a part of me—as if I weren’t truly The Wraith until I wore it. Blue light flared in the room as my eyes glowed and I was me again. Last, but not least, was my cell phone. It had half a charge and no signal, but as soon as it did I could let Krisan know where I was and get some help un-fragging this mess.

  Ditching my current shotgun, I grabbed a new one and loaded it then found a bandoleer of shells and put that on.

  I dug a little further in the back and found several crates of stun sticks, a pistol that looked a lot like the ones The Saints used for their security, and a box of grenades. Several of those went in my pockets.

  Hallelujah.

  “You’re out of time,” Spice said from the door where she played lookout.

  I ran to the door, pulled the pin on the high-explosive baseball, and lobbed it down the hall without looking.

  “Listen, these things have to come from somewhere, right? From what I can tell so far—” the explosion ripped through the hall, sending debris in either direction, right behind the shock wave.

  “—the more restricted floors are up. We need to go up. Thoughts?”

  “Don’t get eaten. Oh, and kill more of these things!” A shudder ran through me as she licked her lips right before vanishing. It was a stark reminder that while she looked like Spice, she was most definitely not my Sara.

  I leaned out to look at the carnage the grenade wrought. The roof had partially collapsed, dumping an HVAC tube into the hall and filling the small area with debris.

  Two of the wolves struggled, wrapped up in electrical wires as they strained to get through. I pulled the pin on two more grenades but held the spoon in place.

  “This is a terrible idea,” I said aloud to myself.

  I ran right at them, screaming at the top of my lungs. I was fast, and I stood in front of them in an instant. They both opened their mouths to roar. I leaped, dunking the grenades at the same time while triggering my shadow step.

  We were on my turf now. Powers? check. Darkness? check. Plenty of things to kill? Check-check!

  I was on the stairwell, taking five steps at a time when the twin explosions echoed behind me and the double euphoria hit. Whatever these things were, it really was like killing
ten normal people.

  Each level I passed had the same door leading to a cookie-cutter security desk and white halls; all of them but the last one. It was a massive vault-like door that looked like they designed it to withstand a nuclear blast. And it was wide open.

  I pulled the shotgun and extended the folding stock to shoulder it as I moved in. I could see perfectly despite the near total blackness. Once past the giant door, there was an airlock; this door was more human-sized, and it was open too. I stepped through into some kind of decontamination chamber; just like the other two, both doors were wide open. I peeked through the first one—the elevators were a dozen feet away, beyond a security desk.

  It was getting easier to ignore all the dead bodies but still... the other door led to a hall. I sniffed the air, smelling the heavy scent of musk, not unlike the repair facility.

  Every door was open; each one was a cell, solid metal, with a tiny slit in the door for food. The walls were covered with scratches and blood. Cracked, gnawed-on bones littered the floors of the cells. There were ten rooms but only eight of them had the hallmarks of occupancy.

  I wished to God those bones were animal bones, but I didn’t think they were. The only door not open had a handle that turned like an old style gate—as if this door needed an extra layer of security.

  Maybe nobody was stupid enough to release the hounds by accident, but this door needed more security? I grabbed the latch, pulled up then shoved it to the side. The heavy door slid open and I pushed it all the way until it banged against the wall.

  They didn’t know I could see them; they were absolutely quiet. I counted twelve women, lined up against the back wall, holding perfectly still.

  “It’s okay,” I said in a whisper.

  No one moved.

  “My name is Madisun. I’m here to get you out,” I said a little louder. I pulled down my mask in an effort to be less scary.

  “Shh, they’ll hear you,” a woman in the middle said.

  They had to be terrified, not to move or make noise. I know I would have been.