by Ben Hammott
“Two minutes fifty,” warned Krisztina.
“Crap,” cursed the pilot. “It’s going to be damn close.”
“Seems to be the story of my life lately,” commented Richard dryly.
COLBERT SLAMMED FRESH ammo in his rifle and glanced up at the helicopter moving into position. When ropes dropped, he turned his attention on the approaching monster and pulled the pin from the last grenade they had. Giving it a kiss for luck, he released the priming clip and lobbed it at the creature.
Though she could survive being struck by bullets, EV1L feared the explosive things they threw. Seeing one sailing towards her, she quickly changed direction to avoid it. When it had exploded too far away to cause her any harm, she refocused on her hunt of the humans.
Cursing when the creature dodged the grenade and continued towards them, Colbert sprayed it with bullets.
“I’m out,” shouted Sullivan.
Mason’s weapon clicked on empty. “Me, too.”
Saving what precious ammo he had left, Colbert stopped firing and directed his gaze at the helicopter that lowered until the ropes touched earth. “Get ready men. Here comes our ride out of here.”
Colbert kept his weapon trained on the creature and fired short bursts at intervals to slow its progress. Flicking his eyes from the creature to the ropes, when they were near enough, he shouted. “Let’s go.”
To leave their hands free, Sullivan and Mason stowed their weapons and ran.
When Sullivan glanced behind and saw Colbert hampered by his limp and shooting at the creature, he slowed and veered over to him. “Give me the rifle. Your wound is slowing you down.”
Aware Sullivan was right, Colbert handed over his weapon and continued his limping dash for the dangling ropes that were drawing nearer.
Noticing the creature look at the helicopter, Sullivan fired a longer burst of firepower to distract it. This time it didn’t try to avoid the bullets but absorbed them into its pliant mass. When it directed its gaze back upon the fleeing men, tentacles reached out for pieces of surrounding debris, plucked them up and threw them at the helicopter and them.
“Look out! Incoming!” warned Sullivan, discharging the remainder of the bullets at the creature.
Turning his gaze from the rope he had selected to grab, Mason ducked under a piece of flying metal, stumbled, regained his footing and continued his sprint for the rope.
Colbert ducked under, dodged around and leaped over the wreckage landing in his path.
Sullivan leaped over a piece of wreckage that struck the ground in front of him and toppled to the side when another piece glanced off his head. Unable to regain his balance, he tumbled to the ground.
Praying the wreckage striking his craft didn’t damage anything essential for keeping it airborne, Kelly held the helicopter steady and on course for his teammates’ risky pickup.
Richard dodged back when a piece of metal clanged off the doorframe close to his hand.
“Two minutes,” called out Krisztina, anxiously.
SEIZING HER CHANCE to catch one of the humans, EV1L rushed at the fallen man.
Shaking his head groggily to clear the fuzziness, Sullivan noticed a shadow sweep over him and looked fearfully at the tentacled creature leaning over him. He grabbed for his pistol that wasn’t there; he had loaned it to Krisztina.
EV1l clashed its teeth together as it lowered its mouth towards the human feast.
MASON GRABBED AT THE rope when it was within his grasp and started climbing.
Colbert, a few steps behind, grasped a rope and groaned when the wound on his shoulder was ripped open. Ignoring the pain from his battered body, he hauled himself up the lifeline. When the roped twisted around, he noticed Sullivan had fallen and the creature was looming over him. Out of ammo and time, there was nothing he could do to help his friend.
WITH TEETH EAGER TO sink into the human’s flesh and her body anticipating the burst of nourishment about to surge through her, EV1L spread her jaws to receive the human and lowered its head. Defenseless against the Black he couldn’t touch, Sullivan gazed at the tentacles surrounding him for an opening he might be able to escape through. There was none. The creature’s glossy limbs trapped his as securely as any prison bars. He stared at the sharp black teeth around the widening mouth that emitted an acrid stench and accepted his fate.
EV1L jerked its jaws away when something bounced off her head. She gazed at the roundish object that thumped to the ground beside her and then at the hairy, human-like beast that had thrown it. She focused on the thing it held in its hand. It looked suspiciously like the exploding things the humans had thrown at her. Fearing the thing that had just struck her was about to explode, she rushed clear of the expected blast.
Though confused by the creature’s sudden departure, Sullivan seized the opportunity and climbed to his feet. Dirt and snow picked up from the rotor’s downwash and wind-whipped at him as the helicopter drew near. He turned as it flew above him and was slapped in the face by a rope. He stumbled backward and almost tripped. Recovering quickly, he lunged at the rope pulling farther away. His grasp fell short, forcing him to run after it.
“I CAN’T BELIEVE A MONKEY just saved Sullivan,” uttered Kelly, gazing below.
Krisztina leaned out the door and looked below in surprise at the scene playing out. “It’s Boris.” She watched the Black monstrosity climb the side of the building and move along the roof; it was creeping up on Boris. She waved a hand frantically at the chimp. “Move, Boris, move!”
WHEN BORIS HAD SEEN the strange black creature that he blamed for his recent troubles and the absence of his human friend, he had jumped from the roof. He grabbed a couple of rocks from the ground and threw one at it. He bounced up and down and hooted in satisfaction when it hit. He was about to throw another when it darted away. Boris watched the human stand and looked at the noisy flying machine. Inside it was humans. He recognized the female, a friend of his human friend. Was he also in there with the other humans?
He scrutinized the faces he could see for his friend but couldn’t pick him out. Hearing something, he turned his head to the roof behind him. The creature loomed over the edge with tentacles reaching for him. Boris spurted away.
EV1L gave chase.
AWARE THERE WOULD BE no second chances, Sullivan sprinted for the rope with a hand stretched to grasp it. His fingers curled around the lifeline and pulled it towards him. Gripping it with both hands, he started climbing. His glance up the rope picked out Colbert and Mason almost at the helicopter, and Richard and Krisztina focused on something behind him. He turned his head and was surprised to see a chimpanzee rushing towards him and behind it the Black, tentacled monster in pursuit.
“SULLIVAN’S ON THE ROPE, get us out of here,” Richard ordered the pilot.
Kelly lifted his craft and increased power to the engine. “How much time do we have?”
Krisztina looked at her watch. “One minute twenty-five seconds.”
“Fuck!” cursed Kelly.
When Mason’s head appeared in the doorway, Richard helped him inside.
Colbert arrived on his heels and collapsed into a seat. Breathing heavily from the climb, he nodded at Richard. “Thanks.”
“We’re not out of trouble yet—just over a minute before the bomb goes boom!” said Richard.
Colbert smiled at him. “We’ll survive, we have you, the man that should have died many times but miraculously, against all the odds, is still here.”
Richard rolled his eyes. “Yeah, a lucky charm, that’s me.”
“I guess we’ll find out soon if that’s true,” said Krisztina, looking down sadly at Boris. If the alien didn’t get him, the explosion would.
BORIS’S LUMBERING GAIT sped him towards the ropes speedily rising from the ground. He glanced behind at the creature, its floundering limbs propelling it swiftly, if not majestically, forward. Turning his attention back to the flying machine that had begun to turn, Boris veered to the side. Spurting forward he jumped
onto the smoldering cab of the destroyed tanker and leaped for the nearest rope. As his momentum weakened and he began to head back to the ground, his hand grasped the rope.
Hanging on the rope for a breather, Sullivan glanced down when something jerked the lifeline and saw the chimp was responsible. It seemed he also didn’t want to be left behind. His gaze flicked to the tentacled creature that seemed to roll in a mass of flailing limbs onto the burning truck. Thankful the rope was too far away for it to reach, he restarted his climb.
WITH ONE LAST CHANCE to claim the human nourishment, EV1L climbed onto the wrecked shell of the vehicle, and after withdrawing some of its limbs into its mass, it shot out a single long tentacle and wrapped it around a dangling rope. Yanked from the truck, EV1L dragged along the ground until the tentacle hauled its bulk onto the rope. As soon as its main mass was within reach, its other limbs pulled it up the rope.
KELLY CURSED WHEN THE helicopter tilted to the side. “What the hell was that.”
Colbert peered down the ropes. “Shit! The alien’s on the rope.”
“Get rid of it or none of us will be leaving,” screamed the pilot, turning away from the perimeter fence before Sullivan crashed into it and possibly snagged the abseil ropes.
Richard reached for the coupling securing the rope to the helicopter.
Colbert grabbed his arm. “What are you doing?”
“Getting rid of the monster.”
“Sullivan’s also on that rope.”
“Then tell him to get off because if I don’t cut the creature free, it will soon be in here with us. Then we all die!” Richard yanked Colbert’s grip from his arm and continued unscrewing the coupling.
Colbert snatched a headset from the roof and slipped it on. “Sullivan. Get off the rope, we’re cutting it free.”
Still climbing, Sullivan tore his eyes away from the monster below and glanced up at Colbert looking down on him. “On it.” He stretched for the nearest rope that was beyond his reach.
Colbert looked at the locking pin about to be freed from its thread. “Now, Sullivan!”
To avoid the reaching tentacles, Boris leaped for the nearby rope being whipped by the wind and the downdraft, grabbed it and climbed.
Heeding his commander’s warning, Sullivan leaped as best he could from his unstable perch that offered no leverage to push off from and fell towards the creature’s tangled limbs.
“He’s falling,” uttered Colbert.
As soon as Richard turned the screw free from its thread, the rope dropped. “Now can we get out of here?” said Richard.
Gripping the rope with three limbs, Boris grabbed at the falling human’s hand reaching for the rope beyond his grasp and snagged it with his fourth.
Sullivan gripped the rope he swung towards. When he was securely on it, he nodded his thanks to his strange savior, but Boris was already climbing. Envying the chimp’s climbing prowess, he looked down at the alien crashing to the ground. Having lost track of time, Sullivan wondered how long they had before the bomb detonated. With what little strength he had remaining, he restarted his climb.
Surprised by what he had just witnessed, Colbert informed the others. “He’s safe. The chimp caught him.”
“What about the alien?” asked Mason.
“Returned to earth,” answered Richard. “And good riddance to it. I never want to see another alien creature for as long as I live.”
“Living might not be very long,” stated Krisztina. “Fifty-six seconds to detonation.”
Colbert glanced at the back of the pilot’s head. “Punch it, Kelly!”
“I’m punching! I’m punching!”
In a last-ditch effort to stop the humans from escaping, EV1L rushed for the fence, climbed it and shot out a limb that grew to an impossible length. Just as it looked as if it would grab the rope the human hung from, it was pulled from its reach.
Richard dodged back when the chimp bounded through the door and then returned to staring back at the alien creature watching them from its perch on the security fence. He pictured film footage he had seen on TV of nuclear explosions and thought they were still awfully close to be able to survive the blast. “Can’t this thing go any faster.”
“Only if we lighten the load,” replied Kelly.
“You want me to throw him out, sir?” asked Mason, smiling at Richard.
Colbert looked at Richard. “Before this mission, I wouldn’t have hesitated, but he did save our asses.” He reached for Sullivan’s hand when he was near enough, and after hauling him inside, released the remaining ropes and slid the door shut. “You took your time.”
Panting, Sullivan sat on the floor. “Sorry, sir. Paused to play with the alien wildlife.”
Richard nodded at Boris on Krisztina’s lap. “What about throwing out the chimp?”
Boris pouted at Richard.
Krisztina grabbed Boris’s hand. “No one is throwing Boris out.”
Mason glanced at the countdown on Krisztina’s watch. “Forty seconds.”
“We’re not going to make it!” informed Kelly anxiously. “Hold on, it’s about to get bumpy.”
Those who weren’t buckled in secured their harnesses and held anything solid they could find to cling to.
Sullivan slid into the co-pilot’s seat, strapped himself in and looked at Kelly. The worry etched on the pilot’s face increased his own. “Anything I can do?”
“Pray like you’ve never prayed before.”
The group fell to silence as the seconds ticked away.
Looking at her watch, Krisztina counted down. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six...”
Those with their backs to the facility growing more distant with each second turned to observe the detonation.
“...five, four, three, two, one.”
Nothing happened.
Richard sighed. “All that damn trouble for nothing.”
“Why didn’t it explode?” asked Mason.
“Russian engineering is probably to blame,” offered Sullivan.
Krisztina was about to argue the slur against her countrymen when a bright flash followed by a loud boom rolled across the sky. A mile-high mushroom of smoke, flame, and debris rose into the sky above the facility. The shockwave sped dust and debris towards them. Richard gripped his seat when it was almost upon them. Picked up by the wave, the helicopter surged forward, jolting its fearful passengers.
The turbine whined in protest from the spinning craft. The tail rotor vibrated so violently it struck the fuselage. Torn violently from its mooring it whizzed along the side of the fuselage with a loud clatter until it shot off ahead of the craft. Fighting the excessive pitch and yaw as the helicopter spun in the opposite direction of the rotors the lost tail rotor no longer corrected, Kelly battled the G-force thrusting against him and activated autorotation. It was a lame attempt to bring back some semblance of control to lessen the impact with the ground that was coming close fast.
His face a mask of fear that matched some of the others who knew what was coming, Richard looked at Colbert. “How’s your lucky charm working out for you now?”
Colbert grinned. “Ask me again after we’ve landed.”
“We’re going down!” shouted the pilot unnecessarily. It was the only thing presently occupying everyone’s thoughts. “Brace for impact!”
AFTER WATCHING THE humans escape in their flying machine for a few moments, EV1L headed back to the building. She would collect the decapitated human corpse and go below to search for any of her surviving brood. After they had nourished themselves on the dead human, she would initiate a second birthing phase to boost their numbers. They would then leave this place and start their colonization of this human world.
As EV1L pushed through the hole in the side of the building, her plan to conquer Earth was brought to an abrupt end by the bright light that vaporized every molecule of her evil form.
CHAPTER 30
Crash Landing
IN A FRANTIC ATTEMPT to cushion the landing, Kelly flar
ed the rotors just before machine met ground. Contact with the frozen tundra sent a powerful, metal-crunching jolt through the craft and everyone inside. The craft’s forward momentum rolled the helicopter with accompanying sounds of crushing metal and fuselage. The rotor tips sheared off. One embedded in the fuselage, the end a finger-width from Colbert’s face. The rotor stumps dug into the earth, sending the helicopter spinning across the ground. The engine, ripped from its mount, rolled over the craft. The spinning ends of the rotors ripped through the flimsy fuselage and passed between the horror-struck seated passengers with a terrifying whirring blur before rolling out into the tundra. Accompanied by the crunching and buckling of metal and the flimsy fuselage, as well as Richard’s drawn out, hysterical scream, the occupants were tossed chaotically like laundry in a tumble dryer when the helicopter rolled over and over before coming to a stop.
Silence reigned as the cloud of dust thrown up by the rough landing settled. Groans filtered out from the battered passengers. Boris hooted in protest of the rough treatment.
Colbert glanced around at the faces at odd angles due to the craft’s listing position. He was pleased to see that though battered and disorientated, miraculously, all had survived. “If anyone is injured, call it out.”
He received replies of all okay.
Colbert looked at Richard. “What about you? You must have a sore throat at the very least with all that screaming you did on the way down.”
Richard glared at Colbert. “Funny.”
“Everyone out!” ordered Colbert. “There might be leaking fuel which could ignite at any moment.
Spurred on by the thought of being roasted alive, everyone made a controlled but hasty exit.