by Ben Hammott
Without pausing in her frantic climb, Krisztina shot glances down at the creature scuttling up the chute in a circular direction around the wall. It had already covered half the distance separating it from her. She directed her gaze at the hatch still high above. She almost sobbed in despair. The creature would be upon her before she reached it. Fear induced adrenaline drove her on.
The numerous feet of the Black insect clicking on the concrete wall was as unnerving as the clash of the pincers it continually clapped together. Both sounds grew nearer, louder, far too quickly. Breathing heavily from the exertion of pulling her body up the ladder with limbs now leaden and weakening with every rung she climbed, Krisztina faced the fact that if she didn’t do something she would die, excruciatingly sliced into strips by the gnashing pincers or melted when the Black seeped over and inside her. Unarmed and lacking the weaponlike appendages of her pursuer, she was at a loss as to what she could do to survive.
She pondered letting go of the ladder and hoping the fall would break her neck, offering a less painful end. She pushed the defeatist thought away. She wasn’t ready to give up yet.
When a faint distant shriek drifted up the chute, the clacking of the creature’s footfalls suddenly ceased. Krisztina glanced down. The insect had stopped with its vicious head turned below. Sensing the creature’s halt was connected to the call she assumed was from the original Black alien, she wasn’t going to waste the slim chance it presented and continued climbing.
EV1L 2.0 halted at the call for assistance from its queen and pondered its dilemma. Go to its queen or disobey and continue its pursuit of the human? It looked up at the fleeing female. Desperate for the nourishment she would supply, it ignored its queen’s second call and scuttled after her.
The restarted click-clacking signaled the creature’s continued pursuit. Moving her tired limbs from rung to rung as fast as she was able, Krisztina looked up at the hatch set in the roof of the chute now barely ten meters away. Not far now. I can do this. Get to the hatch. Turn the wheel to open it. Climb out, slam it shut and lock it. Then find something to jam the wheel to stop the cleverly adaptive creature from following.
Her hand grabbed at the wheel as soon as she was within reach. Her arm, tired from the climb, failed to turn the stiff mechanism. Ignoring the scuttling clacks that seemed to have increased in speed, she climbed one rung higher, grabbed one of the wheel’s spokes and pulled with all her remaining strength. The extra leverage worked, rewarding her with the metal screech from parts long dormant forced into motion. As she readjusted her grip and turned the wheel again, she looked down at the creature now almost upon her. When it grew level with her feet, it pulled back its head in preparation to strike. Its head darted forward with pincers opened wide to receive her ankle.
Krisztina yanked her feet away. The creature’s hard-shelled head clanged on the ladder. With one hand gripping a rung and the other the wheel, Krisztina dangled above the long drop. Hoping her foot would find something solid and not sink into the Black, she kicked out at the creature, striking a hard blow to its—for now—solid head.
Unprepared for the surprise attack, EV1L 2.0’s many footed grip slipped from the wall. As it fell, its legs became tentacles that grabbed at the ladder. With its plummet halted, the tentacles pulled it up the ladder.
Aware she only had seconds before the creature was upon her and doubting kicking it again would prove successful now it had tentacles, Krisztina was on the verge of panicking. Sobbing fearfully, she spun the wheel. The slithering of the creature’s latest limbs grew ever nearer. Her legs began trembling violently, almost slipping her feet from their tenuous perch. Her bladder threatened to empty its contents when it began clicking its sharp mandibles together, now too close to be of comfort. Don’t panic! Don’t panic! Don’t panic! she urged herself, not daring to look down for fear she would freeze in terror.
When the multiple locking pins clunked open, she heaved the door open. Escaping air rushed past her as she scrambled out. As soon as she was clear, she gripped the top of the open hatch and slammed it shut. She heard the creature’s frustrated screech and glimpsed the tentacle it stretched towards her, a last desperate attempt to seize its escaping prey. The satisfying clash of the hatch landing in its frame echoed around the room as Krisztina spun the wheel. Aware of the creature’s incredible ability to split apart and form separate creatures, she examined the edges of the hatch for the slightest sign that part of the Black had made it through.
Thankfully there was none. Her glance around the room revealed it to be a janitorial and maintenance storage closet. Cleaning chemicals and materials, brooms, mops, a floor polishing machine, boxes of spare lightbulbs, a large box of tools on castors for easy maneuverability, and tins of paints of the few basic colors used throughout the facility, most with drips running down the edges, lay on the shelving racks covering three of the four walls forming the small room.
Krisztina’s gaze shot at the hatch when the wheel began to turn. She grabbed a mop, knelt beside the hatch and tugged the wheel closed again. Holding it with one hand to prevent the creature from turning it, she slid the mop handle between two spokes and jammed it against the leg of a shelf unit. She released her grip on the wheel and observed it juddering as the creature below tried to turn it. To double ensure the wheel couldn’t be turned and remained locked, Krisztina enforced the first prop with a broom handle jammed through the wheel in a similar fashion. Satisfied the creature couldn’t follow her, she let relief sweep over her.
Though she would have liked to lay on the floor and rest, she needed to warn her superiors of what had happened and leave the complex before the Black creatures made their way to the upper levels. She crossed to the door and exited the room.
FAILING IN ITS ATTEMPTS to open the hatch the human had fled through, EV1L 2.0 unwrapped its tentacles from around the wheel, withdrew them into its form and scuttled down the chute to find out what its queen required of it.
AWARE MORE HUMANS HAD entered the complex and fearing they would again attempt to kill it by using the loud explosive weapons that had nearly brought about its demise previously, EV1L initiated its birthing phase and became female, a queen. Normally she would produce a few offspring as guardians to protect her during the pregnancy cycle, but with the humans making their way down through the levels, she didn’t have the time.
She raised her head and let out a long piercing scream to call her single offspring to her. It would guard her until the process was complete. Then her small formidable army would hunt down the humans and absorb their nutrition.
As her mass began making the changes required for the process, she walked through the chamber she had selected to bear her brood and smashed the lights that aided the humans’ weak sight. She reached for the iron girder stretching the width of the room and hoisted her bulging body off the floor. As her form morphed into a cocoon, tentacles shot out and anchored her to the ceiling.
When EV1L 2.0 arrived at the dark chamber, it stared at the bulging, pulsating cocoon hanging from the ceiling. Instincts it couldn’t disobey now guided its actions. It took sentry by the end of the corridor leading to the birthing chamber, and ready to give up its life in defense of its vulnerable queen, it waited for the younglings to be born.
CHAPTER 19
Early Delivery
TWO RUSSIAN SOLDIERS at Checkpoint Siberia 2 stepped from their warm hut into the cold air. Moving to the barrier across the track, they aimed their rifles at the approaching headlights. Dazzled by the glare, they followed protocol and waited for the arrival of the vehicle Siberia Check point 1 had informed them was coming.
The driver peered out through the windborne snow splattering his windscreen and studied the armed soldiers. He slowed the truck with a loud hissing of air brakes and halted a short distance from the barrier. He wound down the window when one of the soldiers approached and handed him his official documents.
The soldier took the papers and lazily flicked through them. Though the tanke
r truck was a day early, it was on their official list, a diesel delivery to the facility at the end of the road. Even out here in the middle of nowhere procedure had to be observed, especially with all the recent activity. He handed the papers back, and hoisting himself up onto the step, he glanced around the cab. Scrunching his nose at the foul stench of body odor wafting over him, he stepped down. Unaware of the alien infestation in the facility the man was headed for, he waved the driver on.
He nodded at his comrade and the barrier was raised.
The driver wound up his window to keep out the chill, steered the truck through the barrier and roared down the road.
Keen to be out of the cold, the two soldiers returned to their comrades in the warm hut. After removing their coats, one of them crossed to the telephone to let Checkpoint 3 know the tanker was on its way.
AFTER SVEN HAD ANSWERED Checkpoint 2’s call and returned to his seat, Mason radioed his commander to inform him of the situation.
CHAPTER 20
Birthing Chamber
“IS THAT A COW?” UTTERED Buckner, staring at the bones stripped of flesh. Sinews, muscles and viscera lay amidst the large dry bloodstain that covered the elevator floor.
“What’s left of one.” Sullivan stepped into the elevator and crouched to examine the hole in the top of the large skull. He pointed at the edges. “Whatever devoured it seems to have melted bone to get at the brain.”
“What the hell is a cow doing in an elevator?” asked Dalton, his eyes constantly scanning the corridor.
Colbert suspected it was part of the trap the Russian scientists seemed to have set for the alien. “Let’s not lose focus, people. We have a mission to complete.”
“Mother Goose, be advised a diesel tanker is heading our way. ETA, approximately 35 minutes.”
After pondering the news briefly, Colbert replied. “Received Eagle 4. Delay driver at checkpoint until mission completed.”
“Understood,” confirmed Mason.
Stepping around the scientist’s scant remains, the team crowded into the elevator and rode it down. Their attention and weapons focused on the widening gap of the elevator doors sliding open. When nothing attacked, they stepped out into the glare of light shed by the elevator’s internal lighting, the only brightness in the dark hall. Eyes and weapons scanned both directions for signs of the creature they knew was down here.
“Seems clear,” said Sullivan, lacking the conviction it was. A creature as black as the darkness that might be concealing it would be difficult to spot.
All had been briefed with the available information they had on the alien creature. It was intelligent, dangerous, and had the amazing ability not only to change its form but also to split apart to become separate versions of itself that not only shared the characteristics of its main mass but was just as formidable. In short, it was vicious, adaptable and extremely dangerous—a real badass.
Sullivan glanced at Colbert. “Flashlights or night vision?”
Colbert briefly pondered the merits of each given their situation. Though their NVGs were fitted with the latest high-resolution intensifiers and Pulse IR that bathed the surroundings in infrared to enable them to see in pitch black situations like this, Pulse IR was only effective for a short distance. They wouldn’t see the Black coming until it was upon them. “Flashlights.”
Multiple beams of light from tactical flashlights attached to assault rifles pierced the darkness.
Colbert moved to Richard and looked at the tablet screen. “Where’s the main labs?”
Richard nodded his head along the corridor. “That way.”
Colbert touched the screen and zoomed out to view the whole level. To their right was a cluster of laboratories. Opposite and to their left was a series of what looked like cells, storerooms and the main generator. In a hushed voice he called Sullivan over and pointed at the tablet screen. “Take Dalton and distribute the explosive charges this side of the elevator. I’ll take the rest of the men, and Richard, and plant the charges this side.” He glanced at his watch. “Sixty minutes should be enough time for us to complete the mission and leave, so set the timer for seventeen hundred hours.”
Though Sullivan suspected the commander’s sixty minutes assessment might be cutting it fine with the alien creature they might have to deal with somewhere down here, he kept his doubts to himself. “Dalton, you’re with me.”
The two soldiers split from the pack and headed along the corridor.
Richard stared after them. And it begins. The splitting of forces made them easier to pick off. Certain men were about to die. His sense of self-preservation went on full alert to ensure he didn’t become a casualty of this foolhardy mission.
Commander Colbert led them towards the laboratories.
EV1L 2.O INTENTLY OBSERVED the humans who had just arrived. It took in their numbers, their weapons and the threat they presented to its queen. It glanced behind into the birthing chamber where its queen was giving birth to the first batch of her hoard that would overrun the humans’ world. Its gaze switched to the egg sacs littering the floor. The younglings inside were forming quickly. Ever-changing limbs, bodies and heads pressed against the thin rubbery walls as memories of creatures they had never met were passed on from their queen, implanted into their subconsciousness to be recalled at a moment’s notice. Sensing they would soon hatch, EV1L 2.0 turned back to the approaching humans it needed to delay and kill. Avoiding the light beams they swept before them, it slithered up the wall and along the ceiling.
RICHARD GLANCED BEHIND at Buckner covering their rear. Since it was imperative that he keep the alien weapon concealed from the others if he hoped to sell it, his gaze fell on the holstered pistol he coveted. He preferred the smaller weapon to the larger rifles he found difficult to control. His experience with the alien menagerie on the spaceship had taught him that even though human weapons hadn’t always proved effective against some of the alien species, it did slow most of them down. Though he thought he could snatch the pistol from the quick release holster, Buckner would only take it back. He would have to wait until one of them was killed before he claimed a weapon, something he didn’t think would be long in coming.
Richard refocused his attention ahead at the glass walls the SEALs’ light beams swept over. They had arrived at the laboratories. God knows what foul deeds the Russians had carried out down here. The remoteness of the underground subterranean complex indicated it would have been something obviously clandestine and likely extremely hazardous. The laboratories screamed bioweapons and germ warfare to Richard, which caused him to worry about any traces of toxins that might still be down here. They could be breathing contaminants in with every breath. They, or at least he, a civilian forced to accompany them, should be wearing HazMat suits.
Colbert raised a fist to halt his team and aimed his flashlight through the layers of glass walls encasing the cluster of hexagonal laboratories, control rooms and preparation chambers. His cautious surveillance halted on a dark object that seemed to be moving slightly, expanding and contracting, alive. It was difficult to discern exactly what it was in the darkness through multiple layers of glass that distorted both the beam and the object his light was focused upon. It would need checking out.
Colbert glanced at Buckner and Kessler as he quietly issued his orders. “Place the charges around the laboratories with the timer set for seventeen hundred hours. That gives us fifty-six minutes to complete the mission and leave. If anything moves that isn’t human, shoot it.”
The two men headed for the nearest laboratory.
Colbert took the tablet from Richard and stowed it. He then unholstered his pistol and handed it to Richard, who eagerly took it. “It’s time to put your expertise to use.” He nodded to Richard to go first. “Because I still don’t trust you enough not to panic, shoot me in the back and flee, I’ll be watching you.”
Richard, surprised he was now armed, smiled at Colbert as he walked past. You kidnapped me and brought me here by force. You
shouldn’t trust me at all.
PRESSED FLAT ON THE ceiling, the eyes in the puddle of Black hungrily watched the humans below when they separated, increasing its chances of success. Picking out its first victims, EV1L 2.0 waited until the two groups had put some distance between each other before releasing its grip on the ceiling. As it dropped, it morphed into a creature with the semblance of a spider monkey minus the cuteness of the species. Talons grew from its paws and six-inch porcupine-like spikes grew from the back of its head. Its elongated snout sprouted teeth a rat would envy. By the time its claw-tipped paws landed softly on the ground, its mutation was complete. With the lumbering gait of a monkey, EV1L 2.0 rushed at the unsuspecting humans that had entered one of the rooms.
BUCKNER SET THE TIMER on the first charge and switched it on. The red light, which would flash slowly at five minutes to detonation and increase in speed as the minutes ticked down, lit up. He pulled the protective cover from the strip of industrial pressure sensitive adhesive on the back and pressed it against one of the metal I-beam supports. Satisfied it was stuck fast and operational, he fished another charge from the bag and moved to the support column on the opposite side of the room.
On full alert against the alien menace, Kessler constantly turned as he kept guard, his weapon steady and ready to fire. He glimpsed his commander’s flashlight beam through the walls of glass across the far side of the laboratories. He would be thankful when the charges were set and they could leave. The thought of the alien somewhere close by creeped him out. This was like no combat mission he had been on before. He lowered his weapon when his turn carried him past Buckner and raised it again when the man was clear. His rifle light jerked to the corridor. He thought he had glimpsed movement. He stepped to the glass wall and lowered the angle of the weapon. Caught in the beam, the Black monkey-like atrocity bared its teeth at him. Kessler fired through the glass.