by Don Chase
Soon the other elevator doors opened and a fresh flood of people rushed toward Jax. The two stairwell doorways had trails of quickly walking people as well. Some seemed on the verge of panic as they looked around trying to figure out what to do and where to go next. Most seemed to remain calm or at least pretend to be. There was a steady flow of people now and still no sign of the invaders, which worried Jax.
He didn’t have to worry long before he heard screams coming from the stairwell across the lobby. He stood his ground even though every instinct told him to run and help. The heavy stairwell door flung open and a man stood still, one hand on the handle, the other on his throat. He coughed once and blood shot out from between his fingers. He stumbled forward a step and fell face first onto the floor, blood pooling around his head and chest. His eyes stared off blankly and his feet held the door ajar.
The civilians running for the hangar gasped and more than a couple screamed as they saw the dead man lying on the floor. Morris kept telling everyone to “Remain calm,” as they passed through the hangar door, but they were starting to push and panic despite his best efforts. His heart jumped as well and he groaned as he heard a guttural roar come from the stairwell. He stepped out into the lobby to join Jax, who he had found staring down the sights of his rifle which was trained on the open doorway.
The screaming in the stairwell had stopped but he knew the brutes were still in there. Jax moved across the lobby, his rifle at the ready, with Morris a half a step behind and off to his right. He saw the brute round the corner as he got closer. It saw the two of them and stopped for a moment. It was grey, massive and covered in tattered rags. It stood silently for a moment assessing the situation, a severed arm dangled from its hand.
Jax swore as he saw a second brute come up behind the first. “Fire!” he yelled and pulled the trigger of his rifle. Both men unloaded on the brutes. They stared in horror as the two creatures swatted at the rounds as if they were no more than an annoying insect. They fired short bursts until they both heard the click of an empty magazine. The brute in front stumbled back against the one behind him and put his hand to his chest. Drawing it away he looked puzzled as he noticed it was covered in blood.
Jax saw his hesitation and charged forward, dropping his rifle and pulling two grenades off his harness. “Get the door!” he yelled as he pressed the small red buttons on top and threw them directly at the two brutes standing on the first landing in the stairwell. He ducked to the side and Morris shoved the heavy door shut, forcing the body on the ground to spin half way around. Morris put his back to the steel door and felt it kick forward as he heard the two successive explosions. He grabbed two of his own grenades and pressed the small red buttons before yanking the door halfway open and chucking them in as well. “Just to be sure,” he said a split second before the next two explosions.
They reloaded and slowly opened the stairwell door. The inside of the door was riddled with shrapnel and covered in scorch marks. When they heard no movement they stepped inside. As the smoke cleared they saw one of the brutes lying on top of the second, its back had been ripped to shreds and the back of his skull was missing. Jax poked it a couple times with his rifle barrel to make sure it didn’t move. He heard a rasping gurgle and stepped back. The second brute was still alive beneath the first, barely. He stared at it as it let out a weak cough which caused a mouthful of dark red almost black blood to cover the side of the dead brutes head. It was missing most of an arm and from what Jax could see had a large hole in its chest and some shrapnel imbedded in its side. The creature struggled trying to get out from beneath the other but was growing weaker. Jax watched for a moment before aiming his rifle at its forehead and pulling the trigger, it died in an instant. He took a long last look at the creature now that it was dead and was troubled as well as intrigued that it looked mostly human except for its color and size. “We should get back,” Morris said, putting a hand on his friends shoulder. Jax nodded and they returned to the lobby and the seemingly endless flow of civilians hoping to find safety.
Chapter 8
Gaedens’ eyes snapped open. He looked around gathering his bearings. Fear started to rise from deep inside him. He pushed his back up against the wall and used it to help him stand. He felt a dull thrumming in the back of his skull. Checking the hall to make sure he was alone, he stumbled a couple steps away from the wall. The thrumming was worse now, growing. He knew he needed to run, to find safety, to find a way off the station. He needed to get to the hangar deck, but the noise in his head was louder now, a constant pounding that felt like his head would explode.
He put his hands on both sides of his head and screamed. The thrumming was deafening now and he couldn’t think. Suddenly it stopped and he stopped. Standing up straight, his hands dropped to his sides. He stared forward. His pupils dilated and grew until his eyes looked to be nothing more than black with a blood red rim around them. Gaeden was calm now. He knew he needed to get to the hangar deck and he knew what needed to be done, but he wasn’t Gaeden anymore. He had no name. He was part of something larger now, something that had a purpose, a mission. He had a mission as well and it started with him getting on an evacuation shuttle in the hangar. He grunted and plodded off down the hall toward the stairwell.
Janelle heard the thrumming as well when she woke. It only bothered her for a moment before she succumbed. Her pupils dilated and she became something more. Her consciousness grew dim as the noise in her head grew and began to dominate her weakened psyche. This new entity in her brain quickly asserted control. It rifled through her recent memories while it effortlessly snuffed out whatever was left that had been “Janelle”.
She knew she had to get to the command center to find the one who controlled this place, this “station”. She had to find the one called Dalon Rihn. She didn’t know why she had to, just that she did. She ran down the corridor until she came to the heavy steel door. The small sign next to the door read “STATION CONTROL CENTER, AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY”. Part of her had no idea what this meant but her memories clearly showed that this is where she would find Dalon Rihn. She looked around to find a handle to open the door. When one wasn’t found she began pounding on the door, the wall next to it and on the sign that she didn’t really understand. In frustration she began to shriek and wail incoherently as she slammed her fist into the steel door.
Inside the control room Talis and Corgan worked feverishly to turn the safeties off on the reactor core while Rihn and Graunt waited. Rihn visibly jumped as they heard the first dull thuds on the door to the control room. “Seven hells they’re here!” Rihn said as he went pale.
“Can we see what’s in the hall outside of here?” Graunt asked.
“Yes sir,” Corgan said as he tapped away on his com pad. The large screen at the front of the room flickered to life and showed a young woman standing alone in the hallway pounding against the control room door.
“Is she alone out there?” Graunt asked.
“She appears to be,” Corgan said. He checked two other angles of the hall before confirming that she was alone.
“That’s Jenny or Jan, whatever her name is I know her,” Rihn said.
“Whoever she is, we can’t just leave her out there,” Graunt said as he moved toward the steel door.
“I am done here. The safeties are off. We should go… very soon,” Talis said as he got up from his desk and slid his com pad into a pouch that he slung over his shoulder.
Graunt punched in his override code and the door slid open. He reached out and grabbed the screaming woman by the shoulder and pulled her inside. “Get in here,” he said as he slapped the emergency button next to the door that would close and lock it almost instantly.
The woman finished the scream she had been in the middle of when the door slid open and stopped abruptly to look around. “Dalon Rihn,” she croaked out in a voice that barely sounded human.
“Hi, I’m so glad you’re okay,” Rihn said as he walked toward her and put his hands on h
er shoulders. “We need to go and we need to go now, so just follow us okay?”
The body that was Janelle stood in front of them silently in confusion. When she didn’t reply Rihn nodded at her and said, “Good, just follow us and you’ll be alright.”
“Okay everyone, we’re leaving right now so let’s move. The life pod is down this way,” Graunt said as he jogged to the far side of the control room. He turned to make sure everyone was behind him before continuing down a long corridor. Janelle watched as they hurried to the far side of the control room, grunted and followed after them.
Marcus opened the door and peeked inside before stepping into the stairwell. The others quickly followed and Grady closed the door quietly behind him. This stairwell would lead them straight to the hangar bay eight levels above. They quietly made their way past the first landing and up to the landing of the floor above.
Marcus hissed and put a hand up for everyone to stop behind him. Olivia nudged her way forward until she was directly behind him, “What’s up?” she whispered in his ear.
Her voice was soft yet husky and Marcus suddenly found himself distracted. He turned his head slightly to hide a smile before he spoke, “I think I heard footsteps.”
He tilted his head and raised a finger when he heard the sound again. This time they all heard it. It was the sound of footfalls on steps and there were several now, not just the one. No longer feeling like they were alone, Marcus vaulted across the landing and started up the next flight of stairs. As his foot hit the first riser of the next flight he was stopped mid-step by an inhuman howl that echoed throughout the stairwell. “What in the seven hells was that?” he heard Grady ask from the back of the group.
“I think it’s one of them,” Marcus answered, his voice barely above a whisper. Then the screams started. They heard the occasional footfall and a few loud cracks but most other sounds were drowned out by the screams of the people trapped in the stairwell above.
“It sounds like they’re getting massacred,” Stella said.
“We can’t just stand here, we gotta go help,” Grady said as he drew his pistol and charged past the frightened group.
“Wait,” Olivia said as she grabbed his arm. “It was too late for them as soon as the screaming started. If you run up there now you’ll just get the rest of us killed.”
The last of the screams were cut short. There was a moment of silence that lasted an eternity until it was shattered by a triumphant roar. “No way am I waiting here, I’m taking the fight to them,” Grady said as he bolted toward the stairs.
“WAIT!” Marcus yelled. He was cut off by the sound of automatic weapon fire coming from above. Grady had continued up the stairs and was now a full floor above them.
The gunfire stopped and Grady continued to climb the stairs. He was older and had spent most of his youth abusing his body more than most normal people could easily withstand. He was starting to get winded with all the adrenaline and exertion of running up the stairs. He paused on the second landing above Marcus and the others, wondering why it had gotten so quiet. An evil little grin formed when he considered that the things invading the station had gotten their just desserts.
He had started up the next flight of stairs when he heard a massive explosion from above. Instinctively he threw himself down on the stairs and covered his head. When he realized that nothing was falling on him he slowly uncovered his head and looked around. He heard footsteps behind him and pushed himself up off the stairs as the others rounded the landing. “You okay?” Olivia asked looking up at him.
“Yeah, it came from up there,” he said. His ears were ringing. “I think you may be right. I don’t think we wanna go up there after all.”
“Sir I am beyond full here, shuttle one is closing up shop. Do you want me to stick around until the others are full?” Jax and Morris heard Argun say in their ear as they crossed the lobby to the hangar door.
“No get out of here. I don’t want everyone banging on your hull trying to get inside. The others should be good to go soon so we’ll see you outside,” Jax said. The crowd was starting to slow a bit as they reset their security by the doors.
“Shuttle one lifting off,” Argun said. Jax glanced over his shoulder to see the shuttle landing gear raise up into the hull. The ship wobbled as it slowly made its way down to the launch bay. It would be hard to maneuver with all the added weight until the ship got out into the void of space. He nodded to himself as the ship dropped out of sight. “Initiating launch, see you outside all,” the pilot announced.
After a moment of silence the pilots of shuttle two and three announced that they were full as well and would begin the launching process. Shuttles four and five would be full soon. Jax looked at the crowd of people that were left and began worrying that there wouldn’t be enough space for all of them. “The residential areas have a lot of life pods right?” He asked Morris quietly.
“Yeah there should be plenty left from the look of the crowds we had, why?”
“Just in case,” Jax answered.
His thoughts were cut off as he heard yelling behind him coming from inside the hangar. He shoved his way through the last of the crowd and saw the problem instantly. The fourth shuttle had closed its ramp and was firing up its lift engines. The remaining people had begun shoving and pushing to get on the fifth and last shuttle. “EVERYONE CALM DOWN!” Jax tried to yell over the noise
“Shuttle four lifting off.” He heard in his ear as the ship rose off the deck.
Everything was drowned out by the whine of the engines as the shuttle moved down to the launch bay. Jax waded through the throng of people, dodging curses and elbows until he was out in front of them standing at the base of the shuttle ramp. “EVERYONE CALM DOWN!”
Morris watched his friend trying to regain control of the situation and shook his head. Drawing his pistol he raised it over his head and fired four rounds straight up. The yelling ended instantly as everyone turned to see who was firing. Morris smiled and said “The man has something to say and would like your attention,” as he holstered his pistol. The crowd, silent now, turned and looked at Jax.
Jax tried but couldn’t help but chuckle a little before he spoke. “Now that I have your attention,” he began. “This last shuttle is almost full, once it is, we’ll be taking the rest of you up to the life pods on the residential level. If you’d like to head up there on your own you can, but I’d suggest against it considering we have no idea where these things are in the station.” He stumbled back a step as a younger man in workout clothes pushed by him and ambled up the ramp way onto the shuttle. “Sure, just go on ahead, sorry to be in your way,” he grumbled sarcastically.
“How do we know it’s safe?” Someone asked from the small crowd that was left. Jax watched as a handful of people turned around and headed across the lobby toward the stairs.
“You don’t but they’re standard life pods with plenty of food water and oxygen to hold everyone until help arrives,” he answered.
“When is help coming?” someone else asked. He put his hand to his ear to hear. The pilot of the last shuttle was telling him he was full and about to commence his lift off. Jax put his arms out to corral the crowd that was left and began walking away from the ship to give it room to take off.
“I don’t know when they’ll get here, but the GF and local militias have been alerted by our distress signal.” He stopped when he got to the hangar doors. ”Commander Morris and myself will lead you upstairs to the lowest residential level. We’ll go up this stairway in the lobby and be at the pods in no time.”
Jax gave a nod to Morris who returned it. Jax led the way and started across the empty lobby, making sure to check down the long hallway for any brutes. When he saw it was clear he motioned for the others. Morris came up at the back end of the group. He watched the last shuttle make its way to the launch bay as he stepped out into the lobby.
Jax checked the stairwell before motioning the civilians behind him to follow. The two dead brutes wer
e still there along with assorted body parts but otherwise the way was clear. They had to go up two flights and Jax had his finger on the trigger guard the whole way. He moved them as quickly as he could while trying to maintain some kind of noise discipline. Morris slid up next to him as he waited by the heavy steel door leading to the residential floor.
“You get the door, I’ll go in low, you cover me high,” Jax said. Morris nodded in agreement and Jax took a deep breath as he waited for Morris to push the door open.
Morris shoved the heavy door and Jax darted through it in a crouch, his head and rifle moving as one scanning every part of the open lobby for signs of the creatures. He glanced back over his shoulder and nodded to Morris. Jax’s second came through and held the door until all the civilians were through.
As the group padded down the carpeted hallway toward the first life pod, Morris heard a noise coming from behind them. He stopped and turned around as the rest of the group kept moving. The buzz grew louder. He raised his rifle in time to see the first of the giant insect like creatures come floating around the corner. “You have got to be kidding me,” Morris said to himself before he squeezed the trigger.
The civilians heard the shots behind them, the screaming began shortly after as some of them flung themselves on the ground and others ran forward past Jax. He was forcing his way back against the tide of panicked people trying to get to his friend. He saw that two other creatures had come around the corner to join the one that was heading straight toward Morris. He breathed a quick sigh of relief as he watched Morris blow off one of the wings of the creature. It dropped and skidded on the floor twitching in a corner as it tried to take off again.
Jax opened up on one of the other two as Morris dispatched the one on the floor with the butt of his rifle, smashing it repeatedly against the hard carapace until he heard a satisfying crunch. Jax’s target felt the sting of the first few rounds and began trying to evade the rest of his shots. Years of high speed flying had sharpened the old pilots reflexes and he led the critter just enough that he ran into a hail of shots tearing both his wings off completely as well as puncturing its thorax. Jax grimaced at the sight of a thick green liquid oozing out of one of the holes. It dragged itself along the carpet trying to get to Jax. He fired three more rounds directly into the things head and it stopped moving.