by Joshua Grant
“What’s going on? Are they in here!?” Gabe’s panic matched her own.
Another mechanical click and the emergency lights kicked in one by one spreading eerie shadows across the room. Thankfully, the giant hadn’t moved. It remained as dead as ever, somehow more grotesque when bathed in the utilitarian pale light.
“We need to move, now!” Julian commanded.
“Too late!” Gabe pointed. Bulges were forming in the shadowy roof above, about two feet in diameter each. They swelled downward as if the ceiling were melting. Chunks of plaster shred from them, smashing into the stage. Something was tunneling through!
Watcher had found them and this time it wasn’t going to hold back.
Chapter 26
Stairwell, Fore
Julian fired the shotgun up the stairwell, expending yet another precious shell. There weren’t many left before he’d be out. Which won’t matter if we can just get to the escape pod and get out of here!
Unfortunately, they were going in the wrong direction. When they needed to go up, the creatures had herded them down, somehow instinctively aware of their objective. Julian could hear the churning of the flood waters just a deck below. They had already reached Deck 1. The damn things were trying to corner them! The intrusive water, what had become their newest hope, now was a death trap, an impassible boundary for them to get backed into.
The buckshot from Julian’s volley instantly shredded the lithe body of one of the doglike Hunters on the landing above. One less monster for them to worry about. Ninety more to go, he thought desperately.
As soon as the first few creatures chewed their way through the theatre roof, dropping nimbly to the stage, dozens more came out of the woodwork, some literally. They were dark, cold things. Thin and fast too, hard to hit as they skittered over the hallway carpet and walls. It looked like someone had starved a pack of hounds and then skinned them, setting them upon the group of survivors, their last promise of a meal. Their faces resembled nothing of man’s best friend though. Split down the middle three ways, their pointed heads bloomed like meaty flowers. Their centers lacked any pollen, instead boasting a black vortex of spindly teeth wrapped around a whipping tongue. Dozens of tripod faces snapped open and closed up the stairwell, desperate to taste warm viscera.
Julian pumped and gave them something else to chew on instead. The targeted Hunter’s head blew clean off, its body flying back onto the stairs. It lay there twitching. Three identical creatures took its place quickly quashing any satisfaction he felt at its demise. The stairwell was swiftly flooding with something far worse than water.
“There!” he said, nodding toward the Deck 1 lobby.
Mac flew into the hallway access, quickly taking point, clearing the path ahead. Gabe was fast at his heels. Aubrey turned and fired three shots with her freshly loaded handgun. Three matching holes appeared in the next advancing Hunter, knocking it back to join its headless companion. At least the weaker weapon worked on these things. The way they were burning through ammo, it wouldn’t matter in a few minutes. Watcher’s hands had been busy. For all Julian knew, there was a Hunter for every passenger on this ship. By his tally, they could probably only handle a dozen more at best.
His eyes met Aubrey’s and she seemed to understand. She fired twice more up the stairs and took off down the hall. Julian was right behind, the choked barks of the strange creatures propelling him forward.
Staterooms flew by on either side. One. Two. A door suddenly exploded to the right, one of Julian’s Prowlers launching into his path. The skin of its face was already pulled back exposing its crooked teeth. He knew far too well what was coming next. There was no time to squeeze off a proper shot. He just swung the shotgun laterally across the monster’s half-face with all his strength. Teeth and bone snapped and Julian hopped over its falling stunned body.
Aubrey fired over his shoulder, a sharp yelp answering the question of whether she hit her mark. Dozens of small footsteps thundered behind him. The pack was closing in! The repeating blasts of Mac’s machine gun echoed down the corridor from up ahead.
No!
“Julian!” Mac cried.
“I know!” he panted, trying to throw on some more speed.
“We’re cut off!”
“I know!” His fists gripped the shotgun tightly, beating furiously at the air for more speed. What the hell were they going to do now? They’d only have seconds if he didn’t figure out an answer to that quick. He heard the Prowler screech somewhere close behind—
“Lobby!” He turned and fired back into the throng of creatures that clawed their way down the hall.
The ship’s thin halls were no longer an option. Both the fore and aft ends were filling up. Luckily, Mac had reached the midship stairwell lobby before the creatures could cut them off completely. He stood at the corner of the lobby, firing furiously into the coming wave of flesh as he bought them time to catch up. The living wall shed bodies with each burst of his weapon but it kept coming, unstoppable in its mass and momentum and hateful lust for them.
Aubrey and Gabe were around the corner in an instant. Another screech from the Prowler and Julian was quick to follow. “Come on!” he beckoned to Mac. Luckily, they didn’t have to tell him twice. An army of flesh eating monsters could do that to anyone. He fell in step beside Julian. Gabe started ascending the stairs, two at a time.
“No, we have to go down!” Julian commanded. Aubrey and Mac stopped at the base of the stairs and looked at him.
“It’s flooded,” Mac informed as if Julian had gone crazy.
The clamor of the creatures became a roar behind Julian. A hellish dam was about to burst out upon the lobby and he wasn’t about to be caught out in it. There wasn’t any time to explain.
“We gotta swim for it,” he said quickly, grabbing Aubrey’s arm and tugging her toward the pool that the lower stairwell had become.
Gabe’s eyes went wide with panic. “I can’t swim!” he yelped, “I’ll drown!” He turned and booked it up the stairs, disappearing from sight. Julian’s heart punched its way into his throat.
“Gabe!”
“Gabe, wait!” Aubrey screamed after him, the hysteria in her voice shrill and painful.
She started heading for the stairs when the first of the creatures poked its cleft face around the corner. Mac looked at them—
--and vaulted up the stairs. “Go, I’ll get him!” he called down, disappearing from view.
A protest was boiling in Aubrey’s thick throat, but Julian knew it was already too late. The creatures were flooding into the lobby’s edge, practically cutting them off from the stairs altogether. Another second and they’d be dog food. His heart plunged.
“I’m sorry!”
He reached around Aubrey’s waist, grabbing tightly, and threw both of them backwards down the stairs. Cold water splashed over them, the creatures’ disgusting cries becoming distant and muffled beneath the liquid veil. Aubrey instantly elbowed him hard in the ribs and his grip slipped. She was clawing for the membrane that sealed them away from the lobby.
Panic swelled in Julian’s chest adding to the pain of already trying to hold his breath. He had to get her before she reached the surface. Get her and swim down. Get as far away from this section as possible. Hope there’s air. Hope they can’t swim. What the hell just get her already!
He kicked at the water, arms and legs working furiously against the drag, but the combined power of his boots, machine gun, and shotgun were just too much. He wasn’t going to reach her in time. Mac’s got him! Aubrey, Mac’s got him! Please don’t!
Aubrey was just beneath the distorted surface, the emergency lobby lights dancing madly off it making it impossible to see beyond, to see what she was launching herself into. Julian reached and caught a kicking ankle. Come on! Aubrey’s face was at the surface—
--something breached the water, flailing to make contact with Aubrey’s exposed face only centimeters away! The low light and the bubbles generated by its thrashing mad
e it hard to make out what it was, but Julian would never forget that mutilated grin. The Prowler struggled to capture Aubrey, to press its face up against hers!
Fuck!
Julian yanked down on her ankle with all his might. She dipped away from the Prowler but it wouldn’t be enough. He watched in horror as its tubule tongue slithered from between its teeth, searching for Aubrey’s nearby jaw. She fought to swim away but she was too close. The worm made contact with her lips—
--and pulsed and blistered, sections of it bursting entirely, releasing black inky fluid into the already grimy water. The rest of the Prowler’s ghoulish face wasn’t faring much better. Nasty sores cropped up along its exposed jawline. It shrieked in agony, the sound of it even more alien in Julian’s stuffed up ears, and then the Prowler was gone, the encounter over as quickly as it started.
Julian waited but nothing else probed the surface after them. The hell just--?
Answers would have to come later. Julian already had to fight back the urge to open his mouth and breathe. Aubrey had to have it worse, but there was no way in hell either of them were going to go up for a breath of fresh air here. She turned and swam, Julian quickly following her down into the dark.
The Deck 0 lobby was almost pitch black. A single bulb in one of the wall-hung emergency lights burned dimly struggling back against the thousands of gallons of water that sought to claim it. Julian strained his eyes against the burning salt and murk of the water searching for an exit…or anything else that might be swimming amongst them.
Deck 0 was normally sealed to the general public. That didn’t seem to apply in a flood catastrophe. The metal side doors connecting to the starboard and port hallways were smashed clean open, one of them knocked entirely off its hinges. Aubrey pressed towards this, Julian in her wake. The doors were designed to withstand flooding from a hull breach. Julian hoped like hell whatever had smashed them in wasn’t still down here.
Aubrey turned out to be a pretty good swimmer. Good, she can pull your ass out of this mess, Julian thought as he struggled against the icy cold. He hated swimming. He despised drowning even more. He was becoming all too aware of the gag reflex swirling around in his throat and the stale air punching painfully in his chest to get out and dear God he couldn’t breathe!
Keep it together Julian!
He fought to keep his focus ahead, on Aubrey and the dimly lit walls. They made it into the hallway and pushed towards the aft stairwell lobby. Thankfully, the emergency lights here had fared better. The nearest one was out but Julian could see blobs of light further down illuminating their path of escape…a long, long path. They pushed towards it desperately, Julian all too aware of the spots that had crept into his vision thanks to the oxygen loss, then the large black blob that coasted into view, that was pressing towards them, that was taking form!
Shit! That’s not a—
The defunct emergency light sputtered to life, clicking on for a brief second and then dying once more. The lightning flash was enough to illuminate the bulky object that had floated into their path. Sunken eyes. Puffy pale skin. A slack jaw and lifeless limbs.
Julian clamped down on the panic stricken oxygen that tried to punch its way up his throat. The thing was a body, a woman whose ghostly hair fluttered around her lifeless face.
Then Julian noticed the others. Two, no three, aimlessly bumping into walls as they drifted. Bodies. Not creatures. Just bodies, what looked to be victims of drowning. Julian wished he could feel relief but all he felt was the burn despite the chilling water. Pressure pressed in on his ears making them feel like his skull was about to burst.
Gotta keep moving!
He slid past the body, the woman’s cold stiff hand lightly brushing his cheek. He recoiled from it but kept going. Maybe fifty meters? He grabbed the metal wall slats for traction, his already numb fingers struggling to grip them. Deck 0 may not have been as aesthetically pleasing as the other decks—it held the staff housing, laundry rooms, and supply storage of the ship—but its utilitarian design allowed for plenty of pipes and metal support struts for them to latch onto. They were making good time, passing four more bodies. None of them moved.
And you’re gonna be one of them! his oxygen starved brain panicked. They say people with the will to survive can last at least three minutes without oxygen. As Julian thrust himself forward once more he figured “they” must have never been drowning.
Another thrust. Another body he had to awkwardly maneuver around. More time lost. How long is this damn corridor!? Julian almost let the shotgun slip from his stiff hand. Can’t lose that! They turned left through another smashed out door. Can’t lose—can’t! I can’t!
Julian’s consciousness was slipping, the black at the edges of his vision sliding inwards eating away at his sight. He couldn’t see Aubrey. He couldn’t see anything! He was floating, not just in the water but somewhere else too. He wanted to breathe. Felt cold liquid hands at his lips trying to press in. The tight seal was ebbing away. Small amounts of water slid over his tongue. Salty.
I survived a damned giant and I’m going to drown like the rest of these poor bastards!
The cold wet hand finally pushed through, shoving its way down his throat and he was powerless to stop it.
Suddenly, strong hands gripped him, yanking him backwards away from the cold. He felt jagged blocks sliding beneath his back. What was going on?
“Come on Julian!”
Who?
“Don’t do this! Get up!”
Julian gasped awake, coughing out a lung full of wet fishy tasting water, his head pounding. “Holy shit!” He looked around wildly. Still dark, but not as dark as before. “Holy shit.”
Aubrey hovered over him, the concern not completely lifting from her pretty features, but ebbing a little. “Thank God!” she exhaled. “You scared the shit out of me.” She stared at him a moment—
--and her face shriveled into a sob. Tears streamed down to join the rest of the wetness on her sopping cheeks. “What the hell Julian? He’s all alone out there. He’s all alone and those things—they’re going to—to--“
She stared off as if suddenly frozen by the ice water they had just slogged through. Finally her shaky stare fixed back on him, her eyes hard set, pure and hateful determination pouring into them. “No. We can’t let that happen. Not this one. They don’t get this one.”
Julian coughed again, finally feeling the burning in his chest reside and his breathing return to something resembling normal. “They won’t,” he promised, his hoarse voice sounding weak, weaker than he expected. As far as attempts to reassure someone went, this half drowned man lying on the floor saying things were going to be okay was pretty pathetic. Still, Aubrey nodded almost imperceptibly. That made him smile. Right, step one: get your frozen ass off the floor.
He tried to sit up, groaned, and forced himself up the rest of the way. “Where the hell are we?”
Aubrey’s cold look made his smile fade. “Just about the worst place possible.”
Chapter 27
Deck 3, Midship
“Here!”
Gabe felt Mac’s tight grip on his shoulder guiding him sideways into a nearby open doorway. The small shop, apparently a massage parlor, was as cluttered and abandoned as the rest of the ship. Gabe knew the place. He’d been through it before during his sojourn aboard the vessel, once with his mother prior to the attacks. He didn’t like it, then or now. It only had one exit, the one they just came through. Before he could protest Mac shoved him behind one of the padded massage tables. Apparently he was in for a day at the spa whether he liked it or not.
They’re close.
He huddled down behind the table. Mac crouched next to him. He checked his clip and slapped it back in. Judging by the grim expression on his sweaty face, they were in a heap of trouble. The Hunters’ strangled barks grew louder. The pack was almost here. Gabe prayed they didn’t have noses anywhere in their mutilated faces. He looked at Mac who watched him darkly as if to say ‘you�
�re the reason we’re in this mess.’ He put a finger to his lips.
Aubrey.
Gabe suddenly felt a deep longing for the woman he had met just a few hours earlier. He wished the army guy hadn’t dragged her towards the water.
The Hunters’ caterwauling suddenly fell silent leaving him to listen to his hammering heartbeat and Mac’s shallow breaths. What were they doing out there? He so badly wanted to look but knew that would be instant suicide and with the way Mac watched him—well, let’s just say the Hunters wouldn’t be the first to get him if he tried.
He silently counted the seconds. Judging by what he’d seen of the Hunters before and their last position when their chorus died, they’d be here right about—
Tick—tick.
Soft footsteps. Nails on polished floor. But not wood. They’re still in the hallway. How long they’d maintain that status was anyone’s guess.
Tick-tick.
The doorway. Seven feet away. The length of a queen-sized bed and a flimsy looking massage table were the only things that separated them from death.
Can’t die. Not until I see Aubrey again. She’s probably so worried about me.
He scanned over the room again furiously. There had to be something he missed, some other way out. Tick, tick. Was it coming in? He didn’t think so. Then what the hell was it doing? Tick-tick-tick.
Gabe’s eyes flew over the back of the room. Three more massage tables and—and something. A small square shadow in the corner. It was hard to see. The room was only illuminated by the stray light of an emergency sconce in the hallway that leaked through the glass storefront. Even now he could see the projected shadows of creatures slipping by, as silent as their slender bodies could muster. He ignored them as best he could, straining his eyes, focusing on the square in the corner.
A vent.
With the ship’s power down he’d be able to slip through with minimal risk to himself provided he could work the cover off. Mac, on the other hand, was too big. Even without the machine gun and tactical vest he’d never be able to make the squeeze.