by Jacob Rayne
He couldn’t handle two, he’d need to give one of them his undivided attention.
It was obvious that the big man in the lab coat was in charge, so he shot the other man right between the eyes.
The big man seemed unbothered by the death of his friend.
‘I ain’t gonna tell you shit,’ he sighed. ‘So stop wasting your time.’
Duggan laughed. ‘The name Taunton Terrors mean anything to ya?’ he asked.
The big man shook his head.
‘It is – was – one of the US’s most violent and feared biker gangs.’
‘So fuck.’
‘You didn’t let me finish. I was chief interrogator in the gang. And you know what one of my catchphrases was?’
The big man remained silent.
‘Dead men tell no tales, but a man about to lose his balls will tell you everything.’
The big man looked slightly worried for a second as the implications of what Duggan was saying sunk in.
‘So, you wanna think real hard about what you say to me.’
‘You’re biting off more than you can chew, my friend,’ the big man said.
‘I assure you I’m not. And I’m certain you’re no friend of mine. So, before I have to start shooting bits off you, what’s the secret with the gun?’
The big man met Duggan’s eye. Held the stare. Duggan saw no fear in there. Not even a hint.
‘Say, what’s your name, stranger?’
‘Brent.’
Duggan lowered the gun to the man’s groin. ‘Brent, I’m going to blow your balls off if you don’t tell me what I want to know.’
‘Do it. Ain’t nothing to me.’
Brent’s eyes darted off to the left.
Duggan thought it was a trick, one of the oldest ones at that, but he turned for a split second. It was all the big man needed.
He threw something at the floor and suddenly the air was full of stinking gas that seeped in through every orifice in Duggan’s body. His eyes streamed with tears, his throat and nose felt like they’d been lined with chilli powder.
Brent shoved past him and ran off.
Duggan cursed under his breath, then, unable to breath, fell to his knees and went to sleep.
Abbott remained on edge throughout the short climb, knowing that Cormac’s men were sneaky enough to hide and fire on them when they were halfway up the slope.
But they reached the top without incident.
At the top, the path spread round like a harbour. There were a few boats, anchored against the force of the underground river.
There was also a helicopter, sleek and black, looking like the answer to a particularly fervent prayer. Abbott crouched down, pulling Brad down with him. He winced as his stump hit the stone, pebbles digging into fragile cauterised flesh.
‘Do my eyes deceive me or is that the very same cocksucker we’re looking for?’ Abbott said, thrusting the barrel of his magnum at a figure below them.
The scientist squinted. ‘Yep, I’d say that was him. But I’d be caref—’
His words fell upon deaf ears. Abbott was already charging down the scree of the slope, bellowing curses at the top of his lungs.
When Duggan woke up, the corridors were empty, but he could sense that something was different.
There were huge sounds coming from above him, like shoes falling from a loft. He reckoned it was an avalanche, probably some sort of booby trap set by the bearded man as he fled.
This thought was proven to be true when a large rock slammed into his head and made his world do a somersault. It was a huge effort of will not to go back to sleep.
He carried on, ignoring the falling rocks and the merciless burning in his lungs.
Finally he emerged into the cave system. A glance behind him revealed that most of the laboratory ceiling had fallen in.
He scrambled along the tunnel, scraping away most of what remained of the skin on his hands, knees and elbows. It seemed to take an age, but he neared the cold night air.
All around him, the floor was cracked and shifting.
Creatures scurried everywhere. They didn’t seem to care that he was there, only concerned with their own safety for now.
Duggan was painfully aware that this could change, so he pulled his gun and Taser and followed them as they fled the cave system.
‘They’re all watching the caves,’ Hennessee said.
‘Yeah, I thought that. What’s going on?’
The ground beneath the chopper shook.
Hennessee scanned the caves with the night scope.
‘Looks like the ground is giving way,’ he said.
‘Gimme a look,’ Peterson said.
Sure enough, it looked like the top of the caves had fallen in. The rest looked like it was sure to follow in the next few minutes.
Duggan followed the creatures out to the exits. In front of him, a huge rock fell, crushing the creature in front of him into a bloody pulp.
He scrambled over the rock and set off after the next creature in front. He reckoned they were getting close to the exit now, as the light of the inner chambers was fading, replaced by the dark of the forest outside.
The ground beneath Chuck shook, tearing him out of his uneasy sleep. He looked up and saw Jon standing over him.
‘Fucking hell, Chuck, I wondered when you were going to wake up. It’s been doing that for ages now.’
‘What’s going on?’
‘I don’t know. I’m going to take a look though. Fancy it?’
‘Not really. I think we should stay here. Safer.’
‘Live a little, Chuck.’
‘Na. I’ll wait here, thanks.’
‘Fine. I’ll see you soon then.’
Jon disappeared into the darkness outside. Chuck decided he’d cover him, in case anything else was curious about the earthquake.
Duggan followed the creatures to the main entrance to the caves. As he got there, a huge rock fell, crushing more of the escaping creatures.
The creatures behind them hissed in frustration at their exit being blocked. While they hissed and clawed at the rock, Duggan set off down a narrow passage, searching for another way out of the caves.
Cormac’s head snapped round when he heard Abbott’s barked obscenities and he uttered a curse of his own. He’d thought he’d done enough to kill the pesky Texan captain many times over, but somehow he’d managed to cheat death yet again.
Abbott’s bullets slammed the side of the helicopter near Cormac’s head. He and two of his henchmen were struggling to load a huge plastic crate into the back of the helicopter.
‘Nice trick, mind, trying to get those fucking spider things to take me out. Less blood on your hands that way, eh? Or did you not think you could handle me?’
Cormac’s hand reached for his gun but Abbott shot the ground at his feet. ‘I got a bead on ya, ya bearded fuckstick. Leave the gun where it is or the next shot’s going right through your forehead.’
Cormac raised his hands.
Abbott was a few metres from them now.
Brad was rolling down the slope with all the finesse of a drunken elephant.
‘You fuckers too. Hands up,’ Abbott said. ‘We’ve got this place surrounded.’
Cormac looked at him, sceptical.
‘Where ya headed?’ Abbott asked.
Cormac shrugged. ‘Any place but here.’
Abbott sprayed the left hand guard’s head up the side of the helicopter. The slick cloud of blood left trails down the paintwork as it ran down.
‘Start talking, or you’re next.’
‘I’ve got nothing to say to you,’ Cormac said.
The second guard fell, gushing blood from a fist-sized hole in his head. His brains joined his comrade’s on the paintwork, slowing dripping down to the stone floor.
Abbott smashed the butt of his gun into Cormac’s face, shattering his nose across his face in a dark cloud of blood.
‘Start talking, ’fore I send ya to meet your brother at the
pearly gates.’
Cormac opened his mouth, but moved it into the gun barrel, daring Abbott to pull the trigger.
Abbott did, but the gun clicked empty.
‘Fuck’s sake,’ he muttered.
While he fumbled in his pockets for more bullets, his hands shaking with anticipation and sending the bullets scurrying from his grasp, gunshots raked the bodywork of the helicopter.
‘Shit,’ Abbott said, ducking low.
‘Grab him and put the gun to his head,’ he told the scientist who was now wheezing and spluttering for breath from the chase.
He nodded, eyes wide.
Abbott took the plastic case and grabbed the sides hard. He could feel the weight of it. Cormac and his two comrades – all big guys – had been struggling with the weight so he didn’t have much hope of being able to lift it. He let out a grunt and heaved it as hard as he could.
The case lifted, almost putting his back out in the process. He managed to move it a little, but he realised he had no chance of putting it into the chopper on his own.
‘Help me, dickwad, or he’s gonna blow a hole in your skull,’ he told Cormac.
He grinned and began to help, then at the last moment tipped it over.
There was a deafening sound of breaking glass. Abbott despaired, but his sorrow was quickly replaced with fury.
He smashed his right hand into Cormac’s mouth, shearing off his two front teeth and cracking his jaw. The big man slumped forwards, blood spilling down to stain his thick beard.
Abbott pushed hard, shoving the case into the chopper.
He spat on Cormac, then tried to drag him into the vehicle.
His efforts were disrupted by the approaching gunfire.
He cursed more vehemently than ever before when he was forced to leave Cormac and get into the chopper.
The scientist dived in behind him and they set off.
As they rose, Abbott aimed a shot out of the window, but he just missed Cormac as his men pulled him to safety.
The helicopter shot through the tunnels, the light on the nose cone carving through the darkness.
Below them, Cormac’s boats chased them, but they were too slow. Gunfire hit the copter, but it escaped pretty much intact.
‘Where we going?’ Brad said.
‘To catch up with some old friends,’ Abbott said, turning the chopper towards the shelter where he’d left Mark and Sadie once they were out of the underground system.
Jon walked towards the caves, which were a dark shape in the distance. The top of the caves had fallen in.
Rocks were streaming down the sides of the hill. It was a breath-taking sight. Chuck didn’t know what he was missing.
He moved closer, his eyes wide with the spectacle in front of him.
He didn’t know whether to be amazed or terrified when he saw dozens of the creatures streaming out of the ruins of the cave system. It was an awesome spectacle. The time to leave came when he saw them running across the stepping stones.
He cursed and set off back towards the cabin, but his path was blocked by a line of the creatures.
They stared at him, hunger in their eyes.
Duggan found the tunnel but it looked almost blocked. A hole between the roof and the rock didn’t look wide enough to take him, but he was crawled in regardless.
Like he’d thought, his shoulders stuck but he was still wet from his swim in the underground lake. He tried to force himself through. His shoulders slipped through, taking most of the skin off. It was a small price to pay.
He dragged himself forward on his hands and knees, pulling his feet through the hole.
The panic and effort of the last few hours had already taken their toll on him. He was exhausted, but the end was in sight. He crawled along the tunnel as fast as he could, scraping another layer of skin from his battered body.
Chuck saw the small group of creatures move towards Jon. He leaned the rifle on the top of the fence and took aim. The head of the creature approaching Jon exploded.
Chuck aimed again, while the creatures searched for the source of the gunshots. The one trying to sink its teeth into Jon’s throat fell, holding its spurting chest. Jon seemed frozen to the spot.
Chuck took aim again.
Jon’s legs refused to work. As much as he wanted to run away, he couldn’t. The creature next to him fell, half of its face a mess of spurting blood.
The one behind it lunged at him. His legs allowed him to move. He set off into the trees, but the creatures were close behind him.
Chuck took out the lead creature just as it closed on Jon. The only problem was that it landed on Jon’s legs, knocking him to the floor.
Jon pulled the gun and started firing at the creature. Two retreated from his shots. Chuck scared off a third with a perfect headshot.
While Chuck reloaded, a creature came from nowhere in his scope. It landed hard on Jon’s chest, shaking his body with the force of the impact.
Chuck fired, but it only grazed the creature’s back. It seemed not to care.
Chuck watched the crowd of creatures surround his friend. His bulging eyes saw them dive on him as one entity, their teeth pulling bloody strips from his face and neck. His next shot was hard, but it was the kindest thing to do. He put it right through Jon’s skull.
Then he turned away as the creatures began to rip Jon’s corpse apart.
Duggan reached a hole at the end of the tunnel. This one was blocked by a creature’s body.
‘Just my fucking luck,’ he hissed.
It didn’t seem to be dead, as its eyes were still lit up. There was no way he was going to go back now, so he had no choice but to crawl over it.
At such close quarters, he had no room for weapons; he’d have to rely on his hands. He crawled back a few feet, grabbing the creature’s ankles and pulling it back with him. It didn’t stir, was just a dead weight against his pull.
He stopped dragging the mutant when he was confident he had enough room to get out. His heart sledging against his ribs, he began to crawl over its prone body.
As Duggan’s hands reached the creature’s waist, he thought he felt it move. He shrank back a little. Froze, his eyes locked on the creature’s frame. It remained still.
‘Imagining things, Jim,’ he said to himself.
He started crawling over it again. The feel of its scaly hide made him feel ill. His face was level with its face now. It seemed to be breathing, barely, its exhalations just a faint breeze on his face.
He crawled on, his nerves jangling the whole time. It remained unmoving. His feet brushed over its face. He looked back, certain it was going to start chowing down on him.
It didn’t move.
He breathed a sigh of relief and crawled out into the woods. He paused a moment, taking deep breaths of the fresh forest air, trying to get some life back to his aching muscles. The ground beneath him rumbled.
He decided he’d go and put a bullet in the creature in the tunnel’s skull, better to be safe than sorry. He shucked a few rounds into his gun and crawled back through the tunnel mouth.
The creature was gone.
As Duggan stood up from the tunnel entrance, the creature appeared, just a dark shape with glowing orange eyes that raced out of the gloom.
He exhaled hard as its head connected with his belly and sent him flying backwards as if flung from a cannon. His gun skidded across the floor. The creature sunk its teeth into his chest, tearing loose a mouthful of oozing flesh.
Agony swamped his body and mind, but he had sense enough to put his thumb in its eye as it came in for seconds.
He sunk his thumb in all the way to the second knuckle, making it rear back, screaming. He rolled over, ending up on top of it.
‘Shoulda killed you when I had the chance,’ he said, slamming his fists into its head.
It snapped its jaws, taking off the smallest finger on his right hand. He gave it a solid headbutt, which made his vision go a little wobbly, and sought its eye again with his thumb.
It roared in agony and pushed its claws into the bite wound on his chest. He punched it hard, catching his hand on the tip of one of its teeth.
The creature’s jaws snapped shut, just missing his wrist. It shoved him hard, throwing him to the side, then got up and dived onto him. His world spun and blurred as the creature’s hard head collided with his own.
He fell back, trying in vain to focus his eyes. The creature’s claws pierced his gut, grabbing a handful of his bowel and pulling it out of the wound.
Duggan screamed and kicked out, blindly hoping he’d hit the creature by some fluke. His foot sunk into its belly and knocked it back. Duggan stumbled to his feet and aimed a soccer kick at the head on the floor in front of him. The creature let out an unholy cry as another of its tooth came loose in a geyser of blood.
He booted it a few more times, then dived on its back and sunk in his chokehold. It seemed to take an eternity, but finally fell still.
After making sure he wasn’t walking into another ambush, he found his weapons and hobbled back to the chopper.
The chopper’s radio flared up with white noise. Hennessee and Peterson couldn’t understand what it said but they figured that it was Duggan. Weiland said nothing, sleeping again on the back seat.
Just on the hope that it was Duggan, Hennessee woke Weiland and got him to help to put the log back across the river.
Weiland protested, but did it. As Hennessee and Weiland approached, the creatures turned towards them.
At first, Duggan tried to hide from the sea of creatures streaming out of the collapsing caves, but he realised that, as inside the caves, they were more concerned with their own safety than tearing him a new arsehole.
Still, he prepared himself in case they did attack. He hoped and prayed he’d make it back to the chopper before they turned on him.
Just as Hennessee and Weiland picked up the log, the creatures appeared in droves.
Hennessee cursed, dropped the log and pulled his gun from its holster. He fired at the first creature, sending it tumbling to the floor. The other creatures roared and moved in.