Erebus: An Apocalyptic Thriller

by Steven Bird

  ���What the hell are we waiting for then?��� Mason asked.

  With a look of agreement on his face, Dr. Hunter said, ���The galley is halfway between here and Ops. Ops is at the far end of the berthing complex from the galley. Let���s plan on stopping at the galley to get some food and water. Then, based on what we find there, we can make the decision to proceed to the Ops center or not.���

  Chapter Eight

  McMurdo Station

  As the team from MEVO worked their way through McMurdo Station toward the galley, they saw signs of recent violence all along the way. A decapitated corpse wearing U.S. Antarctic Program gear lay in front of the National Science Foundation building. Though the head was nowhere to be found, crystallized frozen blood stained the icy ground around the body.

  As they paused for a moment, each wondering who the person may have been, undoubtedly an acquaintance or friend of some of them, Brett said, ���Come on. Let���s keep moving.���

  ���There it is,��� Mason said, pointing ahead to the large, blue, two-story metal structure.

  The galley was housed in the lower floor of the building, with laundry facilities, a billeting office, a library, and a convenience store that contained everything from snacks to liquor, located on the upper floor.

  Seeing boot prints going in what appeared to be virtually every direction, Brett knelt and paid special attention to one set and said, ���Droplets of blood follow along with these tracks.���

  Kneeling beside him, Mason noted, ���Yep. You���ve got a good eye. They���re tiny and almost lost in the snow from all the commotion.���

  ���Whoever the poor soul was seems to have sought refuge in the galley as well,��� added Dr. Bentley. ���I sure hope the fellow is friendly.���

  Hearing a door slam behind them, the group turned around to see a disheveled woman, wearing only her bib-overalls, but no jacket and no boots, standing just outside building 211, which was a berthing or dormitory for seasonal workers.

  As the woman quietly stood there, staring at them with the same lost, dazed look as the man who had attacked Ronald, Dr. Perkins said, ���We���ve seen that look, and I don���t have a good feeling about this.���

  Agreeing with Dr. Perkins��� observation, Dr. Bentley added, ���I do believe that young lady would be feeling the effects of her bare feet if she was in a correct state of mind. They���re obviously frostbitten.���

  Lowering her head and intensifying her stare, the woman���s breathing began to steadily increase as she moved slowly toward them, almost dragging her frostbitten feet.

  ���Ma���am?��� Neville shouted. ���Are you in need of assistance?���

  Upon hearing their voices, the woman���s cadence increased as her slow, plodding walk turned into a run.

  ���Shit!��� Dr. Duval shouted. ���Do something, but don���t kill her!���

  Readying his axe, Mason said, ���Head for the galley.���

  ���What if the person who left the trail of blood is still in there?��� Neville asked.

  ���Then we���ll deal with it,��� replied Brett, as he ran up the steps of the galley to the double doors at the entrance. ���Now, come on!��� he shouted as Mason squared off with the woman, holding his ice axe in both hands in front of him.

  Joining Mason, Dr. Hunter lowered his makeshift pipe spear and pointed it at the woman. Gesturing to Mason���s axe, he said, ���I���ll hold her off so you can do the job.���

  Nodding in reply, Mason held the axe high as the woman, now at a full sprint, ran straight into Dr. Hunter���s sharpened pipe, impaling herself through the stomach.

  With the pipe protruding from her back, Mason and Dr. Hunter were both shocked to see the fight and rage that still resided deep inside the woman���s eyes. Dr. Hunter struggled against her forward motion as he held her out of reach the best he could.

  ���What the hell is this?��� he asked, staring into her eyes. ���Look at her! She���s behaving like an animal!��� Looking to Mason, he shouted, ���You���d better hurry the hell up and get it done!���

  With one powerful blow of his axe, Mason sheared off the top of the woman���s skull. As her eyes rolled back into her head, she dropped to her knees, grasping Dr. Hunter���s spear before rolling over to her side, dead.

  The sweat that had been profusely emanating from her pores began to freeze instantly to her skin as the extreme cold of Antarctica overcame her residual body heat. Within seconds, the heavy layer of sweat created an icy sheen on every exposed surface of her skin.

  Pulling his spear free, Dr. Hunter said, ���Quickly. Get inside with the others.���

  Joining the others inside, Mason and Dr. Hunter took the opportunity to catch their breath as Dr. Perkins and Neville quickly jammed chair backs into the push-type handles of the doors, preventing the mechanisms from being operated from outside the facility.

  ���You killed her!��� Dr. Jenny Duval shouted. ���Why the hell did you have to kill her?���

  ���Are you blind?��� Mason shouted in reply. ���She was no different than the man who attacked Ronald.���

  ���You should have just run away,��� she argued. ���We don���t know what is going on. We might have been able to help her.���

  ���Fuck that!��� shouted Lester. ���Ronald tried talking to his killer, and it didn���t work. There was no soul inside that monster, if you ask me. Kill them! Kill them all! We need to kill every damn one of them if we have to!���

  ���Jenny,��� Dr. Hunter interjected as he carefully wiped his spear clean with a tablecloth, trying his best to avoid touching the blood. ���He���s right. As crude as he made it sound, he���s right. We have no clue what���s going on here. All we know is that death���violent death���pervades McMurdo at the moment. Remember the headless body in USAP gear? That person may have tried reason instead of violence to deal with the threat before him. I���m not letting something like that happen to any of us if I can help it.���

  Looking around the galley, Mason asked Brett, ���So, what���s our situation?���

  ���There���s a lot of blood on the floor in the kitchen and prep area, along with a few bodies in kitchen staff uniforms. Besides that, the place is a wreck. It looks as if everyone left here in a hurry.���

  ���Let���s do a quick sweep of the place to make sure we���re alone,��� Mason said as he began to work his way between the tables. ���The last thing I want to do is be surprised by another rabid psychopath when I finally sit down to eat.���

  ���Agreed,��� replied Brett sharply. ���Jenny, you come with me. Neville, you go with Mason. Dr. Bentley, you and Dr. Perkins team up, and Doc Hunter, you take Lester. Let���s spread out and sweep the immediate area and meet back here. Yell if you have a problem, otherwise, try to keep quiet. It was our talking outside that probably led our visitor out of the berthing to find us.���

  As everyone began to split up as directed, Lester protested, ���Hell, no. I���m not going to look for something to kill me. My ass is staying right here.���

  ���C���mon, Lester. It���ll be fine,��� Dr. Hunter assured. ���We���ll keep an eye out for each other. The guys are right; we need to make sure we���re secure here before we find ourselves cornered in the back looking for food.���

  Shaking his head, Lester insisted, ���No. I���m staying right here. You���re not in charge anymore, Doctor. We���re not at MEVO. That little research game you were playing is over.���

  ���Have it your way, Lester,��� Dr. Hunter re
plied. ���Gerald, I���ll go with you and Walt,��� he said, addressing Dr. Bentley and Dr. Perkins.

  Pulling out a chair and sitting down at one of the galley���s cafeteria-style tables, Lester huffed under his breath, ���I���m sick of this shit. Sick of it.���

  Gesturing for Dr. Duval to follow, Brett said, ���Jenny, let���s check out the kitchen.

  Following along, they watched as the rest of the group dispersed as Brett had recommended.

  Looking underneath the swinging half-doors leading into the kitchen and prep areas, Brett whispered, ���I don���t see anything, but what���s that smell?���

  ���Something���s burning,��� she said.

  Slowly pushing one of the doors to the side, Brett slipped inside, looking in horror at the cook who lay dead on the floor with a meat cleaver buried deep in his chest. Nudging the body with his foot, ensuring no life, Brett crept past the man, being careful not to step in the slippery pools of blood that had begun to thicken and dry in the warm air of the kitchen. Continuing past a row of deep sinks, they came upon the grill and fryer area of the kitchen where they found one unidentifiable worker who had been pushed into a large, commercial deep fat fryer.

  ���Oh, dear Lord,��� she said, covering her face with her sweater.

  ���I guess we know what was burning,��� Brett said as he reached to the controls, turning the fryer off.

  ���My God,��� he said. ���The poor bastard���s upper half is burnt to a crisp.���

  Seeing Jenny begin to dry-heave, he motioned for her to continue toward the large, walk-in refrigerator. ���Are you gonna be okay?��� he asked.

  Wiping her mouth, she said, ���Yeah. I���ll be alright. I just… I just can���t…���

  ���I know,��� he interrupted. ���Me, too. It���s just too much.���

  ~~~~

  Exploring the horseshoe-shaped stairwell leading up to the second floor, Mason and Neville crept slowly up one step at a time in an attempt to see around the staircase to what might await them above.

  Reaching the upper landing, Mason noticed that a portion of the hand-railing alongside the stairs had been beaten off, and was shoved into the door-actuation lever at the top of the stairs, jamming the door shut.

  ���What the���?��� Neville said, joining Mason on the upper landing.

  ���It looks like someone didn���t want anything from the upper level to get down the stairs.���

  Hearing a crashing sound, as if a display rack of some sort had been knocked over at a distance on the other side of the door, Mason said, ���Let���s leave well enough alone. Let���s get back down to the others.���

  ���Agreed,��� replied Neville as the two men quietly worked their way back down the stairs to the first floor.

  ~~~~

  Sitting nervously at the cafeteria table alone, an uncontrollable torrent of thoughts raced through Lester���s mind. Thoughts of his family back home, the warmth of the sun on his bare skin, and the freedom to simply get in his car and drive as far as he wanted to go reminded him of what he now began to believe he would never see again. What the hell is going on here? I don���t understand. I don���t understand. Make it stop. Oh, please, God, make it stop. Wake me up from this nightmare.

  With his panic-laced thoughts being interrupted by the sound of a chair scooting across the floor behind him, Lester jerked around to see Frank Horton, a friend of his and a writer from Virginia who had traveled to McMurdo Station to work as a fry cook in search of an idea for his next great novel.

  ���Frank,��� he said nervously. ���Thank God, it���s you. What the hell is going on?���

  As Frank slowly walked toward him, Lester could see a blank, emotionless look on his face as beads of sweat oozed from his skin. ���Frank. What���s wrong, Frank? Are you okay? It���s me, Lester.���

  Standing up from his chair, Lester recognized the look on Frank���s face as the same look he���d seen on the face of the man who had brutally killed Ronald the day before.

  ���God, no, Frank,��� he said, backing away. ���It���s me, Frank. It���s me, Lester. Don���t do this, Frank. Please, don���t do this.���

  ~~~~

  Searching the coffee shop, Dr. Hunter saw a twitching body lying in the corner of the room next to the cooler filled with yogurts and parfaits. Several chairs were piled up on top of the body, which he could now see was a woman. Many of the chairs had been broken in what he could only assume was a horrible act of violence and rage.

  As he approached the twitching body beneath the pile of chairs, he placed his weaponized piece of steel tubing on the counter and whispered to Doctors Bentley and Perkins, ���Be ready. I���m going to see if she can be helped.���

  With Bentley and Perkins holding their spears at the ready, Dr. Hunter began slowly and quietly removing the broken bits of coffee shop stools and chairs, revealing a blonde woman in her early thirties.

  Her eyes darted around wildly, and her breathing was rapid and shallow, but from the position of her head, Dr. Hunter could tell there was nothing he could do for her. Her neck was severely broken and it appeared that both of her arms were as well. Probably from shielding herself from the violent blows, he thought.

  Kneeling beside her, he said, ���I���m sorry. I���m so sorry.��� as he brushed her hair out of her face.

  Seeing a tear appear from the corner of her eye, he said, ���I wish there was something we could do. I���m afraid to move you. Your neck looks too badly injured. If we can find help, we���ll come back for you. I promise.���

  As the tear ran down her cheek, her breathing slowed and her life slipped from her mangled, damaged body.

  Closing his eyes for a moment, Dr. Hunter���s heart ached inside, only finding solace in the fact that she was no longer in pain and that she was free from this terrible ordeal.

  Turning to Doctors Bentley and Perkins, Dr. Hunter began to speak when they heard screaming coming from the cafeteria. ���Lester!��� he exclaimed as the three of them turned and began to run toward the desperate pleas for help.

  ~~~~

  Back in the kitchen, Brett and Dr. Duval had reached the walk-in refrigerator where most of the perishable fresh food was kept. Reaching for the handle, he said, ���I sure could go for some fresh fruit right about now.���

  As he began to rotate the lever to open the large, stainless-steel door, Dr. Duval said, ���Try to be quiet about it. Don���t let the door make any noise.���

  ���Relax, Jenny,��� he replied reassuringly. ���I���ll be nice and easy. Besides, you know you want an apple or orange just as bad as I do.���

  Placing his hand back on the lever, he rotated it slowly clockwise as the latching mechanism released with a click. Looking at her with a grin on his face, he whispered, ���Sorry,��� with a smile.

  Hearing something fall from a shelf inside the refrigerator, she shouted, ���Close it! Close it now!��� as they both attempted to shove the door closed. Feeling the weight of a fully-grown man slam into the door from the opposite side, both Jenny and Brett were knocked backward and onto the floor.

  As a crazed man, dressed in his issued bib-overalls and snow boots, stood over them, they could see sweat running down his face, dripping off his nose as his breathing seemed heavy and rapid.

  Watching as he turned to them, looking at them with the same blank stare as the others, Brett exclaimed, ���Holy shit! Go! Go! Go!��� as he hurried back to his feet, swinging his axe at the man.

  With the impact from his ice axe nearly severing the man���s left arm, Brett was startled to see that the wound seemed to have no effect on the man
at all. As the man let out a primal scream and with his teeth fully exposed, charged Brett. Reacting quickly, Brett swung again, nearly decapitating the man as a stream of blood splattered across the white kitchen wall behind them.

  Seeing the man fall to the floor, the threat having been neutralized, Brett turned and followed Jenny, who was now running back toward the cafeteria���s seating area in search of help.

  ~~~~

  Rounding the corner and entering the cafeteria, Dr. Hunter saw a figure standing over the location where they had left Lester. The figure, wearing what appeared to be a surgical mask, rubber gloves, and goggles, in addition to the typical cold-weather gear issued by the United States Antarctic Program, was raising a large fire axe, seeming to Dr. Hunter to be preparing to drop it to the floor. Unable to see Lester due to the position of the tables and chairs, Dr. Hunter drew back his spear, preparing to throw it from across the room in an attempt to save Lester.

  As Mason and Neville reached the bottom landing of the staircase, they burst into the cafeteria just twenty feet from Lester���s bleeding, bludgeoned body.

  Recognizing what was going, Mason turned to see Dr. Hunter prepare to thrust his spear into the air. Raising his arms above his head, waving frantically, Mason yelled, ���Doctor Hunter! No! No! Don���t do it,��� as he ran toward the person with the axe, seeming to be unafraid.

  Confused by what he was seeing, Dr. Hunter paused, only to see the axe-wielding figure remove the surgical mask and goggles, and then the hood of the red, USAP issued parka. To his surprise, Dr. Hunter saw his dear friend, Dr. Linda Graves, turn to him as she lowered the axe. In an instant, he recognized the caring look in her eyes. He knew that she was okay. She wasn���t afflicted like the others.

  Dropping his spear, he ran to her side to see Lester, lying on the floor still and lifeless, with his jugular vein torn from his throat. Joined alongside Lester in the massive pool of blood beneath him, was Lester���s friend, Frank Horton.

  Horton���s chest had received numerous blows from Linda���s axe. With his chest splayed open, his heart was visible, still, and lifeless.