by C A Bird
This room had huge tools, 6 foot long wrenches, hanging on the wall in the event a manual shut down of the penstock valves ever became necessary. The tops of the turbines extended through the floor on the side of the room closest to the water outlets.
Beyond the stairwell a large door led to the rear of the plant, the oil storage area, an area that was darker, more ominous.
“Group two, come in.” the walkie-talkie squawked. “Take caution! We’ve found a tunnel with evidence that something recently dug through from the reservoir. Whatever got Rick is in this cave! Any sign of Bud?”
At that exact moment Mark and David, leading the group, came upon a pool of purple, congealed blood by a bank of lockers located next to the back door.
“Oh God,” Mark said. “There’s blood here.” They stood frozen, their weapons pointed at the darkness beyond. There were stacks of barrels filled with machine oil that extended into the mountain, in caves and tunnels few of the remnant had ever visited. Mark turned to Lori. Her face was pale but she appeared determined to follow this through with no sign of retreat on her features.
The radio reported, “We’ve searched the lower cave. There’s nothing down here so we’re coming up to join you. Hang on until we get there.”
They were more than willing to wait. As they stood there, Mark suddenly felt dizzy and slightly nauseated, and being from Southern California he knew the symptoms –
Earthquake! A big one!
He grabbed the railing around the staircase as the tremor grew in strength, then diminished briefly, and – KACHUNK - intensified, as it shifted the shelter sideways, throwing them all off balance. Dust billowed into the room from the open door, loose equipment in the plant fell off shelves and glass shattered on the floor and flung shards around their feet as the violent shaking continued. Mark, trying to keep his feet, threw an arm around Lori, covering her head with his hand, his forgotten weapon pointing toward the ceiling. David slipped on the blood and fell heavily to the ground, as the other three jumped to the open doorway to take cover.
That was a gigantic mistake.
A hairy arm extended around the side of the door, raking one of the men across the throat with rapier-like claws and laying him open from ear to ear. His already lifeless body, gushing blood, dropped in place. One of the other men leaped away, whirling, firing his weapon indiscriminately into the opening. “It’s in there! Oh sweet Jesus, it got Manny!”
David regained his feet, although the shaking continued, leveled his weapon, and moved quickly to the side of the door away from the creature.
“Quit firing!” David yelled. “You’re gonna hit one of us!”
Mark released Lori and they both moved to David’s side, weapons trained at the door. Mark could barely see a shadow through the dust, moving toward the back of the cave. It disappeared behind a stack of barrels. The shaking subsided as the other group ran up behind them.
“What’s goin’ on?” Lenny yelled. “Did you get it?”
One of the guys with Lenny, Patterson, spotted Manny’s body, his throat grinning at them in death. “Oh man, what happened to him?” He turned away, suddenly green. The others pointed their guns at the door, hardened by the fact that whatever had done this to Manny was just beyond.
“I saw it go farther back into the cave.” Mark said.
“Yeah? Well, it’s going to be hard to see back there.” said Lenny. “Everyone, on three, through the door in an arc, backs together. One-two-THREE!”
They jumped through the door, fanning out, weapons pointing into the back of the cavern. Patterson gave Manny’s body a wide berth. They choked on the thick, swirling dust which also obscured their vision. Barrels were stacked against the back wall by the huge storage tank while other stacks extended into the large empty area in front of them.
“My group, you five,” Lenny pointing to the four men and a woman, “In an arc, weapons ready, stay by the door. Whatever happens, it doesn’t get past you. Got it?” They nodded in unison.
“The rest of you, come on!”
They moved away from the door and took positions against the railing. Mark looked down, back toward the entrance, and saw dark swirling water covering the cave floor thirty feet below. There was a lot more water than when they first entered the cave. The recessed floor was almost full, reminding him of Will’s black-bottom pool from his former existence.
Lenny motioned them forward. “Three of you, Lori, Marcus and Sam, take positions here. You have a clear visual path and it can’t sneak up on you. Just try not to shoot the rest of us.” Mark was relieved Lenny had selected Lori to remain behind.
Lenny, David, Mark and Bill Jamison moved forward, still unaware of the nature of their adversary. Ten feet from the first line of barrels Lenny motioned them to stay together and go around to the left. Just as they reached them, the entire line, pushed from the back, came crashing down, on, and around them. The barrels were empties, stacked two high, prior to being moved into back caves for storage. Even empty they weighed twenty pounds apiece. Mark threw up his arm and deflected one that was falling directly at him. It hurt like hell but he managed to maintain his focus behind the barrels.
And saw the creature attacking!
“Here it comes!” he shouted to the others. He brought his .357 up and fired, but using only one hand the shot went high with the kick of the weapon. He grabbed the gun with both hands and fired off a second round. The creature screamed, more in anger than pain, but Mark thought he may have hit it. David flung a barrel aside and fired several rounds in rapid succession, also from a .357 Magnum. The Jaime creature reached Bill who had been dazed by the falling barrels, picked him up over his head and flung him toward the rail, his body landing hard on the smooth surface and sliding under the rail. Sam leaped for him but missed as Bill disappeared over the edge, his surprised yell ending abruptly as he hit rocks in the cavern below.
The creature screamed again, a thunderous, maddened scream that froze them momentarily in horror, when they finally discerned its nature, and then all three men as well as Lori, Sam, Sheri and Marcus began firing everything they had. The creature stretched up to its full height, fully seven feet, and stood there as a rain of bullets tore into it, stepping back slightly but not going down. Letting out a final primal scream it suddenly flung itself forward directly into the gunfire, lunging toward Lenny who was farther forward than the others. It slashed at him, the claws laying open a gash in Lenny’s arm as the creature crashed to the floor. They stood there pumping more rounds into it until David regained his senses.
“Hold your fire!” he yelled. “I think it’s dead.” They all stopped firing, with the exception of Patterson, who kept spasmodically pulling his trigger, teeth gritted and his eyes wide, until he ran out of ammo, the others watching in amazement. “Nice going Patterson. Now it’s deader. Hope you never need that ammo you wasted.”
David approached the body tentatively, kicked at it, and jumped back. It didn’t move.
“What the hell is it?” asked one of the men that had been guarding the door. “God! It looks like it’s rotting!”
“Whew, and it smells like it too!” added Lori. “Where did it come from?”
“I think it must have broken in from the outside. That would explain the increase in the radioactivity we detected in the dragon caves.” Mark said.
Just then the lights went out.
May 7, 9:20 p.m.
The contractions were stronger and more regular than yesterday’s and Sandi was feeling pressure above her pubic bone. Moments ago, while using the toilet, she saw bloody mucus on the paper and knew it was a sign she could really be in labor. She was excited, but frightened as well, still concerned the baby may have been hurt during the attack by Clay Hargraves. She wanted to tell Pete, but he hadn’t answered her page so she decided to go see Dr. Jim on her own.
She entered the elevator and pushed the button for the top floor, feeling the gentle surge as the car glided upward.
In the next
instant she was thrown against the back of the car as it lurched and ground to a halt. She smacked her head, and dizzy, threw out her hand to brace herself. The car bucked, causing her to actually leave her feet. She came down hard, went to her knees and grabbed her abdomen.
“Oh no...oh no... not now. Please God! Not now!”
She tried to get to the side of the car to brace herself but it was shaking violently, scaring her into thinking it might drop. The car lurched again, this time in the other direction. She grabbed the railing and held on for what seemed like several minutes but the temblor actually lasted only 42 seconds before subsiding.
When the shaking finally stopped she regained her feet and punched the buttons on the panel. Nothing happened. The lights were all off and she realized the power to the elevator had been knocked out, maybe power to the whole shelter. She waited while she had another mild contraction then yelled to try and attract attention to her plight. This quake was much stronger than the smaller tremors they had been experiencing and she knew, if the shelter was damaged or people hurt, that there may be no one to help her.
She sat back in the corner of the car, eyes wide, big tears flowing down her cheeks.
“Pete, oh please… please help me,” she whispered.
May 7, 9:40 p.m.
Barbara was making a valiant attempt to read “The Wind in the Willows” to a group of twenty three extremely frightened children. The big quake had tossed the daycare room around like a ship on a stormy sea flinging the kids to the floor. No one had been seriously injured and Barbara was trying to restore calm until parents could arrive to collect them. Tonight was movie night, many parents taking advantage of Barbara’s babysitting and a chance to have a break from the little ones. She knew the parents would be here any minute to retrieve their children.
“Tigger was …,” she was saying when the lights went out. Quake damage caused safety relays in the power plant to trip, even though the turbine continued to generate power. Approximately two seconds later red emergency lights came on creating an eerie atmosphere that frightened the children and sent a shiver up Barbara’s spine. Kevin Arnaud started to sniffle but Ashley and Jeremy comforted him. Jeremy understood Kevin’s uneasiness. Each time his mom told them everything would be alright something else happened, and the children were feeling less and less secure.
Barbara gave up on the book, gathered two of the crying children in her arms and hugged them. The others all gathered around for their hugs as Barbara gave comfort in the strange reddish glow.
Parents arrived, relief crossing their faces when they found their children unharmed. After a few minutes Barbara was left with Jeremy and Lori’s two children. “Mom, when will Ashley’s mother be here?” Jeremy asked.
“She’s really busy right now, Jeremy. We’ll keep Ash and Kevin with us for a while. Okay kids?”
“I want my mommy!” Kevin whimpered.
“I know, honey. She’ll be here in a little bit.”
May 7, 10:00 p.m.
“There’s more radiation at the power plant.” Micah said. “It’s pretty weak, well below the danger level, which is a good thing since Mark’s group is down there. Jeez, you know what? I’ll bet it’s from the water.”
Micah held one of the walkie-talkies. He and Will were trying to monitor the communications between the two groups in the power plant.
“No doubt.” Will said. “We need to repair the leak as soon as possible. How’re you doing with the intercom?”
“I’ll have it fixed pretty soon. The main system’s back up, you can make general announcements, but the individual intercoms, on a separate circuit, are still down.”
Will flicked the toggle, announced a meeting in the auditorium and said to Micah, “Inform me of anything you hear from Mark. I’ll be back shortly.”
Just then an audible alarm sounded from the computer.
“It’s the door alarm.” Micah said. “They must have opened a Dragon Door in the power cave looking for the bear.” He hit the enter key and the alarm ceased.
Just as Will left the room the walkie-talkie came to life as the search party reported in, announcing that the creature had been slain.
“Yee-hah, good news at last!” Micah whooped. He briefed them about the radiation in the cave, assured them it wasn’t dangerous and promised to gather a repair crew immediately.
***
Will hurried to the auditorium through hallways illuminated by the red back-up lights. The room was packed with frightened residents needing reassurances from their leader. Others streamed in, these late arrivals having just fetched their children, as Will raised his hands for quiet.
“Please, take your seats so we can get started.” He shouted above the din. “We’ll be sending a repair crew to the power plant as soon as possible and the intercom system is partially repaired.” He took a deep breath. “Unfortunately, there’s a problem in the power cave besides the potential damage from the quake.”
“What kind of problem?” asked Vernon Richenour.
“The animal that killed Richard Krieg has apparently gotten into the power plant. Bud Nagle is missing.”
The remnant sat in stunned silence.
“We have an armed search party at the plant. They’re equipped with walkie-talkies and will inform the Crow’s Nest as soon as they hunt it down. Then we can send in a repair crew.”
“Have there been many injuries?” Freddie called out.
“I’ll have to check with Dr. Jim. We’ll let you know.
“What about more quakes?” someone yelled from the audience.
“Dr. Whitehorse warned us the tremors could be leading up to the large quake we’ve just experienced. There will undoubtedly be some aftershocks but I’m confident we can make repairs. We need to assess the shelter for any damage. It was built to withstand hydrogen bombs but the quakes put it under different stresses. We need volunteers to perform the inspection so please stay after the meeting. I know it’s late but we need to get started immediately.”
“What if this wasn’t the big one?” asked Vernon.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Will answered. He reached up and pulled a map down just behind the podium, shining a flashlight on it. All three levels of the shelter were illustrated on the map.
“On the bottom level, here,” He pointed with the light, “at the rear of the shelter is a dragon door that isn’t indicated on any other maps, nor is it readily visible, being only a slit in the wall. The door has been secured until now but I unlocked it on my way to this meeting. Beyond the door the corridor goes west for 30 yards then turns south. There is a quarter mile, reinforced tunnel leading to a massive blast door that, in turn, opens into a cave. The cave is reinforced in the same manner as the reservoir and power plant caves are. The tunnels and other caves were subject to being damaged by blasts but these structures were too important to leave in their natural state.”
“Why weren’t we told about this before?” asked Vernon.
“I’m telling you now! You didn’t need to know before.”
Will was beginning to lose his patience with Richenour.
“The cave will hold all the residents of this shelter. The outside blast door will not be opened until absolutely necessary - it leads to the outside.”
“Is that safe?” asked Brian Morrison.
“The radiation has fallen to levels we believe are safe and we’ll only use the tunnel in the event a catastrophe renders the shelter uninhabitable. If that happens proceed through the tunnel into the exit cave.”
He explained to them the reason for building their sanctuary in this lonely part of New Mexico and the hope that the radiation in the west valley would be compatible with life.
“The radioactivity in the western valley is less than elsewhere. We would be wise to remain there until it’s safe to try and return to civilization. We can send out reconnaissance parties to assess the damage and they can report back about what condition the surrounding area is in. We’re
attempting to fully restore the intercom system. There is still significant danger so stay out of the dragon caves and especially the power plant. Try and get some sleep and we should have more news in the morning.”
May 7, 10:20 p.m.
Emergency lights had come on within seconds of the power failure, powered by an emergency generator located in a third level room of the shelter. Mark ran to the railing and peered down into the darkness of the pit below. He couldn’t see Bill. At the far end of the ledge where the railing connected with the wall was a ladder descending into the dark area between the lower cave wall and the concrete enclosure around the waste water outlet. Mark ran to the ladder and quickly descended. Lenny followed him and the others stood at the rail looking down. Once they were in the dark their eyes adjusted slightly and Mark found Bill’s body by the wall in several inches of water, his neck obviously broken from the fall. Lenny felt for a pulse.
“He’s dead Mark. Let’s get him out of here.” They yelled the news up to the others and heard muttered curses. Hoisting the body, they carried it to the foot of the ladder.
“Let’s get some rope to haul him up.” Mark told Lenny as he started up the ladder. At the top he met the others. “We need to retrieve his body for burial.” Mark told them. “But let’s take a look at the plant. Now that the thing, whatever it is, is dead, we’ll want to get started on repairing the leak and getting the primary power back on. Did you radio the Crow’s Nest?”
“Yeah, we told Micah we killed it but didn’t tell them about Bill yet.” David said.
“Radio for a crew to come take away both bodies and send for guys that are familiar with how this plant operates.” Mark instructed. “Let’s take a look at the damage.” He moved over beside Lori.