by Tim Flanagan
It seemed that the creatures were watching what Steven and Tracker were doing. They too began looking in the same direction and began hopping over the desks towards the door. Steven and Tracker leapt forward and sprinted alongside the cookers towards the swing-door. They still had no shoes on and their feet slid on the polished floor.
Tracker, lowered his shotgun. It was clear that the creatures were going to reach the door before they did. As the first creature began pushing the door open, Tracker released his first shot. Although it blew a hole neatly in the body of the creature, forcing it backwards, it also took a section of the doorframe with it. Tracker reached up and pulled the top metal bolt into the door frame. The door was getting hammered by the creatures on the opposite side, desperately trying to push it in. The bolt was not going to hold it secure for long. Steven put the barrel of his shotgun through the gap in the door frame that Tracker had created and released a shot of his own into the crowd of creatures. They retreated from the door long enough for Steven to drive the bolt at the base into its housing.
Somewhere else in the building they heard a chorus of creatures scream.
'It's not going to hold them for long,' said Steven. 'We've got to move through to the store room.'
'You said that the creatures breathe nitrogen from the air,' said Tracker suddenly having a thought. 'If we change the air content the creatures won't be able to breathe.'
'Increasing the levels of oxygen or carbon dioxide would probably make them more docile, but wouldn’t be enough to suffocate them,' replied Steven.
'What about methane? Gas used in kitchens is mainly made up of methane. If we turn on all the cookers and hobs, this room will fill with methane. It might give us more time to escape.'
The creatures had begun throwing themselves at the door in a repetitive rhythm of dull thuds whilst others clawed at the loose wood of the shattered frame.
Steven nodded.
Between the two of them they turned on every gas ring and cooker they could see, as well as some spare gas cylinders that were stacked beneath a portable outdoor barbeque. Gas swamped the air in a continual hiss. By the time they retrieved their bags and got over to the next door, it was already beginning to make the air taste different. Steven punched in the door code and together they went through into a storeroom.
Behind them the thuds against the swing-door got slower and weaker as the gas began to make the creatures sleepy and docile. But it didn't stop some of them releasing a high pitched and desperate scream into the air which was replied to by creatures somewhere else in the building. Before long the creatures inside the canteen and kitchen would become unconscious, but it was also a battle against time for Steven and Tracker to escape too. The gas would slowly begin to leak beneath the door and fill the store room.
Above their heads came a deep metallic bump that seemed to resonate from inside the air ducts.
Steven and Tracker looked at the square metal box that ran across the ceiling of the room. More bumps, now closer, were accompanied by scratches and scrapes, then a characteristic screech that the two humans recognised all too well. More creatures from elsewhere in the building were now moving inside the duct, responding to the sound of their siblings in the canteen, and heading towards them.
Wasting no time Steven and Tracker moved straight over to a large pair of metal exit doors, released the large spring bolts that had been housed in the ground and stumbled into an underground car park.
Everything was pitch black.
Tracker swung the flashlight round. Behind them the sounds inside the air duct were getting louder and closer. In front were several cars, abandoned by owners that had never finished work to drive home. To one side of the car park was a ramp that Tracker presumed would lead up to street level, but a metal shutter blocked the exit.
'Let's check the cars for keys,' shouted Tracker as he began to run over to the nearest one.
'Wait,' said Steven. 'I saw a key safe on the wall in the store room.' Tracker turned back, flashlight swinging round, checking every dark crevice and corner for more creatures.
Steven pushed the doors back open and squinted around the store room. Fixed to the outer wall was a metal case. There wasn’t any time to waste. In the air duct behind him, the metallic thuds of movement were getting so close that they sounded like they were coming from within the room. Steven raised his shotgun and blew a hole in the side of the key safe, removing the lock as well as part of the plaster on the wall behind. Then, using the butt of the gun, he swung it into the safe, buckling the door half off its hinges. Inside were several hooks, but only two keys, each thick and black for slotting into a dashboard.
'These must be for the SIS Commander's cars,' said Steven excitedly. 'Heavily armoured and bullet-proof. That also means creature-proof.'
Behind them a sheet of metal from the air duct fell to the ground of the store room. A yellowed hook emerged around the edge as a black winged creature pulled its body out.
They ran as fast as possible towards the cars. Steven pressed a button on the key fob and the orange lights of a black Jaguar flashed repeatedly.
Beneath the air duct more creatures emerged, pouring out like a stream of black liquid. The first creatures began moving towards the humans.
Steven and Tracker grabbed a car door each and threw themselves inside just as the air duct collapsed to the ground, unable to support the volume of creatures that were pouring out. They began streaming into the car park, clawing across the ground and ceiling like a plague of locusts, consuming everything beneath their dark shadows.
Steven pressed the start button on the dashboard then jammed his foot down hard on the accelerator. The car surged forward with such power that the force pushed them backwards into the seats. He turned the wheel until the car was lined up with the exit shutters, hoping that the armour on the car was strong enough to withstand the impact. The car quickly become swamped by creatures blocking Steven's vision. A coloured mist began to emerge around the creatures as they oozed nitric acid onto the metal as they tried desperately to get inside.
Steven jammed the accelerator to the ground and waited for the impact, hoping that he was still lined up with the exit and not one of the concrete walls.
As the car hit the shutters, it violently threw the two occupants forward before being thrust back into their seats as the car picked up speed again. The windscreen burst into a million beads of glass, but remained intact. The creatures that had been on the car were swept off it or lay mangled around the shutters. Steven squinted as his vision adjusted to the daylight, but, in the rear view mirror he noticed a peculiar orange glow filling the underground car park behind them. He realised that he was looking at a huge fireball that must have been caused by the gas inside the kitchen igniting.
It was now charging through the car park, forced on by the reinforced concrete walls, towards the exit that the Jaguar had just created. The sound of an explosion followed; a deafening noise they felt vibrate inside their chest, one that left their ears deaf except for a high pitched whistle. As the fireball hit the car, the force lifted the back off the ground catapulting them up the ramp and into the road at the front of the MI6 building. Instinctively, Steven pulled the steering wheel so that they faced the same direction as the road, but the speed he was going made the turn slow. The side of the Jaguar slammed into a car parked on the opposite side to the MI6 building. With his foot still pushing on the accelerator, the tyres spun helplessly before gaining some traction and projecting them forward once again and away from the building.
They felt the second explosion inside the car as the shockwave rippled beneath the road surface. But, the third was the greatest. The gas that had filled the canteen area exploded, destabilising one side of the building as fire erupted from within. The green glass of the lower floor windows exploded in shards and splinters which showered the road and shredded the surrounding trees. It was followed immediately by the second floor windows then all the way up until the glass in the r
oof exploded into the sky. Part of the foundations around one side of the building was now missing. Calmly, the white brickwork began to fall into a space that had now appeared beneath it.
Steven and Tracker watched in safety from the other side of Vauxhall Bridge as part of the MI6 building collapsed into a growing white cloud of dust. The ground between the building and the Thames began to sink. The murky waters of the river breached the walls that held it back and filled the cavity beneath the building.
28. Unit A12, Fort Halstead
Once the cloud of debris had cleared, Steven and Tracker made their way back across the Thames to retrieve their Land Rover. The road the remains of the MI6 building was a thick carpet of dust, shattered glass and brickwork. The Jaguar gradually became entrenched in the debris like a push-bike in thick snow, so they decided to abandon it and walk on foot. They moved towards some of the back streets where the rubble hadn’t covered the roads quite as much allowing them to pick their way through more easily. By the time they arrived back at the Land Rover both men were covered from head to toe in a thin film of white dust which continued to settle around the buildings.
They took the Land Rover and headed back towards the hospital where they found Georgia nervously sitting upright on the couch, a handgun resting across her lap.
'Did you hear that explosion?' she asked.
'We were in it,' laughed Tracker, brushing his clothes down.
Steven automatically began changing the dressing on Georgia's arm. She winced slightly where part of the gauze had become stuck on her wound.
'We found a nest of creatures living inside the MI6 building,' continued Tracker. 'But, no sign of the community that had stayed there.'
'Maybe they had changed their mind and used a different building?' said Georgia.
'Don't you remember?' interrupted Steven. 'We overheard the old man inside the Bank of England tell Wanda that they had lost communication with them. Coldred's communities may be down to three; the American Embassy,
10 Downing Street and the Bank.' 'But what was the explosion?' asked Georgia again.
'There was a gas leak,' explained Tracker. 'Half the building is now submerged beneath the Thames.'
Steven washed out Georgia's wound with more saline fluid. The surface of the wound was red and healthy, but if the antibiotics had already become diluted within her system, it wouldn’t be long until the bacteria began eating away at the wound and putting Georgia at risk. For now at least, the wound appeared to be healing.
'Did you find the information you needed?' Georgia asked Steven.
'Yes,' he replied with a smile. 'It's not far from here. We need to go to Sevenoaks to a government facility called Fort Halstead. Coldred's unit is known by the initials ANILE, and it has a history of alien experimentation.'
Georgia looked down at the clean white bandage that Steven had wrapped around her arm. He then tied a sheet over her other shoulder to form a sling for her injured arm to rest in. As he leant forward to make a knot in the sheet, Georgia turned towards him until she could feel the heat from his face on her cheek.
'Thank you,' she said softly. 'For everything.' She kissed Steven gently and smiled.
Tracker turned away, pretending he hadn’t seen anything. 'I don’t think we should stay here much longer,' he said as he began sorting out the contents of the hold-alls. 'Let's move everything we have to Fort Halstead. If we leave first thing in the morning we should be able to find shelter before night falls.'
'Let's hope it isn’t a cloudy day,' replied Steven with a wide beam across his face. 'The creatures don’t seem to need the protection of complete darkness anymore. When we were in the MI6 building, the storm clouds provided enough light restriction to enable them to wake.'
That night, after enjoying a feast of canned ham, crackers and chocolate, they settled down once again for sleep that would be continually broken by the screams of creatures patrolling the night. Steven examined the road map from the car using a flashlight beneath a thick duvet so no light could be seen outside. He found the small town of Halstead, north west of Sevenoaks and within the boundary of the M25. All around that area were small pockets of houses, but there was one area that wasn’t detailed in the road names and looked like an industrial site. Steven decided that would be the first place to explore once they arrived in Halstead the following morning.
Locked inside the consulting room they napped at intervals. They had learnt that if they kept quiet and out of sight, the creatures didn’t know they were inside.
They awoke to a lovely bright morning. The sun cast warm beams through the window and into the consulting room. Even the birds seemed to be singing in the trees outside, bravely emerging from wherever they hid during the night, knowing that the sun had scattered the creatures.
Steven and Tracker loaded everything they could find into both of the Range Rovers then helped Georgia into the passenger seat. Steven jumped in next to her and started the engine. Tracker followed behind in the second car. The roads through the densely populated streets of Eltham, Sidcup and Orpington ate up the time during the morning. Although the way through was clear in places, there were other parts that took some negotiation. Occasionally, they came across bundles of cars that formed blockages where chaos had rained down on unsuspecting drivers and pedestrians several nights before.
They saw no one on the streets. No sign of human life. Any survivors that remained had already moved out or found shelter.
Leaving Orpington, they followed a minor road that took them past green fields and country lanes. It was a stark contrast to the oppressive buildings of London and they began to feel free. Fewer cars littered the road allowing them to pick up some speed again. They continued past patchwork fields and lush green woods until the road ran alongside the more dominant and intimidating M25. Steven turned right and followed another road through more woodland until they saw tall wire fences topped with barbed wire lining the road. This was a sure sign that they were heading in the right direction and that Steven's assumption about the poorly labelled industrial site was correct. In the distance he could see the single storey square building that looked like a security gate to a compound. Blocking the road were two red and white striped barriers that could be raised or lowered by the guards, but today the barriers were not manned.
Steven and Tracker got out of their cars and walked over to the small building that would normally have provided accommodation for the guards. They walked through the unlocked door and climbed over a desk. Tracker continued through another door on the opposite side and began manually raising one of the barriers. Steven looked through the paperwork that was scattered on the desk, then began rummaging through a cabinet. Stuck to the side of the desk next to the telephone, he noticed a simple list of names together with their telephone extensions and block numbers. He scanned down the list looking for Coldred's unit until he found it: block A, unit 12.
Steven went back to the car and drove through the now open gate then waited for Tracker to follow. Immediately after the gate they could see a series of four units that nestled amongst the trees. On the right was a near empty car park. Steven read the numbered plaques next to the entrance door of each building. He knew he was in block A and they had just passed unit six. He turned slowly off the main road, past unit eight. In front of him was a large featureless unit with a grey slanted roof. Coming through different parts of the roof were industrial vents, air conditioning units and external pipe work. A shiver rippled down Steven's spine. He knew that this was Coldred's research and experimentation unit. This was ANILE.
They parked the cars in a yellow hatched area of road at the front of the building. Next to the door was a brushed metal plaque that simply had the code A12 etched on it.
'This is it,' shouted Steven across to Tracker as they both got out of the cars. They helped Georgia then grabbed two guns each.
'How are we going to get in?' asked Tracker.
'I'm not sure,' replied Steven. 'Let's take a look aroun
d the outside.'
They walked together, following the access road to the side of the building. On the opposite side was a wooded area with a high fence to stop people from entering, or maybe prevent secrets getting out. One side of the building had discarded buckets and mops propped up against a metal door. The door had no lock or handle on the outside. Steven was just about to continue past the door until Georgia stopped him.
'This must be a fire escape,' she said, pointing at a Fire Assembly sign. 'Which means that it won't be locked by an electronic keypad.'
Next to the door was a large yellow clinical waste bin with a small window just above. Part of the glass in the window was obscured by a wide metal pipe that vented gases out.
'Even if the glass is reinforced, that window will be weaker because of the pipe coming through it,' said Tracker. 'If I can get the glass out I could get through and open the door from the inside.'
Tracker climbed on top of the yellow bin and struck the glass near the pipe with the handle of his gun. Steven and Georgia watched as the first pieces of glass began to crack away from the window. As soon as some of the glass became loose the rest seemed to come away easily. Tracker placed his jacket over the edge of the window and began to climb in. Once he had pulled himself over the ledge, he looked down into the room below.
'Looks like a cleaning store cupboard,' he shouted to the others.
He lowered himself down as far as he could, then let go of the window frame. There was a gentle thud as he landed on the floor inside, followed by silence as Steven and Georgia waited anxiously outside.
From the other side of the metal door they heard a clunking sound as the safety bar was pushed down and the door into Coldred's research facility swung open.
Steven took a hesitant step forward, not really knowing what they were about to find.