by Jonah Buck
There were a couple of figures standing in the terminal. Cornelia and Fletch must have seen the cable car making its way back across the chasm and come out to see what they were bringing back. Denise looked down at the long crate on the floor of the cable car. Whatever was inside had better be worth it.
It soon became apparent that the dragon creature wasn’t going to fly past and ignore the cable car. The beast was heading straight for them, picking up speed as it went. The creature could move fast when it wanted to.
The loud thrumming noise of the creature’s wings built up, growing louder and louder. Denise gripped the Nitro Express tighter. They weren’t going to make it to the cable car terminal in time.
A second later, the monster reared back and hovered directly next to the cable car. It reached out and tore the car’s doors off with a claw and threw them down into the chasm below. The squeal of metal was even louder than the sound of the monster’s beating wings. The entire car jerked and wobbled on its cable.
Denise grabbed onto the handrail inside as the car swung back and forth. She kept her other hand locked on the Nitro Express. The crate of supplies started to slide toward the open doorway, and Denise had to stomp her foot down on top of it to hold it in place for a second.
The monster hovered next to them and reached a gigantic claw through the gap where the doors used to be. Massive talons scraped across the metal floor, trying to reach Denise and Metrodora like someone trying to fish the last olive out of a jar.
Denise brought the elephant gun around and fired. One of the oversized claws cleaved off in an explosion of foul-smelling meat. The flesh under the armor was pale and veiny. Bits of pulped meat sprayed across the far window. Their color and consistency made the globs look like the world’s largest boogers. The creature’s arm jerked out of the car, leaving the digit behind.
Unlike the undead ghouls the slugs were piloting around, this creature felt pain, apparently. Denise tried to turn the elephant gun around to get a good shot at the creature’s midsection, but it smacked the side of the cable car in anger at the loss of its finger.
The car went sideways like a malfunctioning carnival ride, throwing Denise and Metrodora against the far wall. The metal siding crumpled inward and tore, and the supply crate slammed into Denise’s leg. She shouted in pain. It was like bonking a shin into furniture in a dark room. The pain was sharp and swift.
Gravity sent the car swinging back toward its normal orientation like a pendulum, and the sudden swing back sent Denise sprawling onto the floor. She threw her hands out to cushion her fall and landed flat on her chest. Even through layers of cold weather gear, the bullets in her pocket pressed uncomfortably into her torso.
Outside, she heard a steady pop-pop-pop. A second later, she realized that Cornelia was firing her pistol at the monster from the terminal, trying to distract it. Denise pushed herself up to her knees and then lurched to her feet. In the space of ten seconds, she’d earned half a dozen new bruises, but nothing was broken. Her body screeched at her about the places she’d just injured, but she pulled herself up and grabbed ahold of the handrail again.
The creature had been temporarily distracted by the pistol shots. It flew a short distance away from the cable car and seemed to debate with itself whether it could fit inside the terminal and reach Cornelia. The sudden abundance of prey pulled its attention in several different directions for a few precious seconds as the cable car neared the endpoint of its run. In less than a minute, it would reach the platform.
The creature zipped a little closer to the platform as Cornelia fired a couple more rounds at it. Denise saw a little blast of sparks as one bullet deflected off the monster’s black carapace. There was no way the pistol rounds could penetrate the thick armor. It was like firing spitballs at an enemy fortress. Cornelia and Fletch backed off as the creature moved closer, slipping back toward the doors leading inside.
Instead of trying to pursue them, the monster backed off. It evidently realized that it couldn’t reach Cornelia and Fletch. The real prize was inside the cable car, if it could just figure out how to crack that particular nut.
Denise stepped up to where the doors had been a minute ago and lifted the Nitro Express again. The creature might be able to shrug off pistol rounds, but could it deal with something big enough to give most guns bullet envy? She tried to keep her aim steady as the cable car swung in the wind.
The creature turned around and zoomed back toward the cable car. Denise realized what was about to happen and sidestepped behind the nearest intact portion of the car. A second later, a stream of acid poured onto the car, some of it splashing through the entrance in a nauseating wave. Denise backed away from the sizzling puddle on the floor. Metrodora was on the far side of the car, pressed back into the corner. The goop covered the windows and the outside of the cable car. Denise could hear it corroding the paint and warping the window seals. The glass on the affected windows started to turn brown and then black. Little pockmarks appeared in the glass, and some of the slime started to leak inside. The entire cable car groaned.
Denise tried not to breath in any of the noxious fumes rising around her. She could feel a slight burning sensation on her skin, and her eyes watered just being inside the cable car with the vile substance.
She looked out through the open doorframe, the only view not obstructed by foul ooze. They were no more than thirty feet from the terminal. They’d be safe in ten seconds.
They didn’t have ten seconds. The monster grabbed onto Denise’s end of the cable car. The acid it spat on the car wasn’t able to eat through the metal and glass all on its own, but it was enough to structurally weaken parts of the wall. The metal had gone brittle in places. Other materials were as soft as a chocolate Eater bunny left out in the sun.
The car shook as the creature grabbed hold. There was a terrible shrieking noise as the creature’s claws punched through the weakened walls, jutting into the car toward Denise. Everything started to crumple and collapse around her.
She leapt forward, launching herself over the puddle of ooze that had spilled through the open doorway. She landed next to Metrodora and pushed herself up against the far wall as the rear end of the car tore away in a shower of sparks and the agonized scream of warped metal.
The monster was staring directly at them now through the gaping hole where the far wall used to be. Denise realized she was shouting curses at it. She hadn’t even been aware she was yelling. It was just a litany of barely coherent screams. Things were slipping out of control, like she was a passenger in a bus doomed to slide over a cliff.
There was now a ragged edge where the floor of the car simply ended. Below that was a straight drop down the edge of the crater. The wind howled and tugged at Denise’s jacket as she stared out into the frozen abyss. Their supply crate was only a couple of feet away from the edge of the gap. Denise bent down and pulled it in front of them.
A huge claw reached for them just as the cable car lurched to a halt at the platform. Denise fired the Nitro Express again. The massive rounds tore off another claw, but the creature didn’t pull back this time. It latched its claws onto the interior of the car and shook it, snapping it entirely free of the cable. A high-pitched twang filled the air like someone had just plucked a giant guitar string.
Denise grabbed Metrodora by the arm, and they heaved themselves out of the car as the creature wrenched it off its supports. They landed hard on the concrete platform below. A second later, the crate landed a hand’s breadth away from Denise’s head as the creature twisted the cable car and lifted it up.
Heaving herself up to her feet, Denise dragged herself up and scampered under the protection of the terminal bay. Metrodora followed a couple of feet behind. Cornelia and Fletch stood against the rear wall, next to the doors. They rushed over and helped the two of them limp over.
Still holding the ruined cable car, the creature hovered in front of the transport bay for another few seconds. Ropes of scuzz-colored drool dribbled from
the lobes of its proboscis as it watched them. Denise looked up at those giant, compound eyes and broke open the Nitro Express again. Maybe she could hit one of those ghastly, expressionless eyes.
Before she could load another couple of rounds into the Nitro Express, the monster backed away from the cable car terminal and turned around. The loud thrum of its wings faded as it passed over the crater again, heading back toward the cavern on the opposite side of the impact site. Halfway back, it released its grip on what was left of the cable car, and the crumpled remains dropped into the open air.
Denise took a step forward. She eyed the empty cable car wire. There was no way back to the other side of the crater anymore. Looking out over the lip of the platform, she could see little clumps of the cable car sitting on the floor of the crater far below.
The crate of emergency supplies sat on the edge of the platform. Some of the boards on the sides were cracked from the tumble it took out of the cable car, but it was still here. Denise grabbed one end of the crate and started dragging it toward the doors. Cornelia and Fletch rushed over to help her drag it. Metrodora hung back and nursed her shoulder a little. She might have banged it up while tumbling around the inside of the cable car or during their hasty exit. With three people, carrying the crate was a lot easier, though.
“You alright?” Denise asked when they got it back to the doors.
“Yeah,” Metrodora said, not very convincingly.
“What did you find over there?” Cornelia asked as she pushed the doors open. The heater suddenly hit Denise with some blessed warmth. She just wanted to lie down and bask in it for a while.
“Trouble,” Denise said, dropping the crate on the floor. “Got a crowbar? Let’s get this thing open.”
“I saw one earlier,” Fletch said. “I’ll grab it.”
“Looks like you two really stirred up a hornets’ nest over there. You should have let me come with you to help,” Cornelia said. She turned to Metrodora. “Here. I’ll help you out of that jacket. Let me take a look at that shoulder.”
“Metrodora did alright for herself.”
“Thanks,” Metrodora said, struggling out of her jacket with some obvious effort.
“Besides, we were doing okay until that damn thing turned up.” Denise nodded in the direction the creature had disappeared. “Three people with one elephant gun aren’t a lot better off than two people with a gun.”
“Fair enough. I was able to work on some things while you were away,” Cornelia said as she checked Metrodora’s shoulder.
Metrodora hissed as Cornelia probed at her arm. Cornelia clucked at it and continued poking.
“What sort of things?” Denise asked.
“Just a second,” Cornelia said. She turned her full attention to Metrodora. “Lay down on your back. I just want to check something.”
“Is there a problem?”
“I just want to see something.”
Metrodora sat down and laid herself out on the floor. Cornelia stepped over and started checking Metrodora’s wrist. Denise had a pretty good idea what was coming next, and she chose to find a spot on the floor to stare at.
“My wrist is fine,” Metrodora said.
“Don’t worry. I’m a trained professional. I’ve seen wrist injuries like this before. Wrist injuries often don’t hurt right away, but later…” Cornelia was standing over Metrodora, straddling her. She took Metrodora’s arm by the wrist and stood straight up.
There was a clunk noise that made Denise wince followed by some of the blackest profanity she had ever heard.
“—with an outhouse bucket!” Metrodora finished up. Denise made a mental note to steal a couple of the choicest phrases for herself at some point.
“Your shoulder was dislocated. I reset it for you,” Cornelia said. “Your wrist is fine by the way. I just didn’t want you tensing up too much before I pulled it back into place.”
“Thanks… I think.”
“I don’t have a sling for you, but you’ll need one. You shouldn’t use that shoulder too much for the next month or so. You should put some ice on it, which should be easy enough around here.”
“Got it.” Metrodora gave Cornelia a look that was equal parts thankful and suspicious.
A voice came on over the station’s public announcement system. “This is Colonel Dagenais, speaking to anyone from Delambre Station.”
“Fletch figured out how to hook the radio up to the speakers,” Cornelia said.
“Your window to surrender is drawing to a close,” Dagenais said. “You may have seen certain things in your present location. You have my personal assurances that the French government is willing to let you go after swearing to a secrecy affidavit. However, you are running out of time. You have no doubt seen signs of infection at your present location. You may yet still be fine. Surrender now, and you will be tested and released. After this time limit has elapsed, my men will approach and apply demolition charges to your structure. They will assume that anything inside is hostile, and they will shoot to kill. I repeat, they will shoot to kill after that. There is nowhere else for you to go. Surrender now.” Dagenais signed off with a click.
“Have you or Fletch contacted him?” Denise asked.
“Hell no. It’s been nothing but conciliatory promises and needy threats since you left. He doesn’t even know for sure that we’re in here right now, and it’s been driving him wild.”
“Yeah. You saw his office just off that cell block. He knew about what was happening here. If we talked to the right people, he’d probably end up in prison. There’s no way some of this was authorized. Or, if it was, his commander is going to jail with him. He wants to get his hands on us so he can shut us up. I’ll bet he’s been fretting about how to cover his ass ever since this station went belly up. The fact that they inserted a smaller team at Delambre Station must have given him fits, knowing what was left behind out here. I get the feeling he’s kind of relishing the fact that things got out of hand again. It gives him a chance to play the hero and also wipe out the evidence here.”
“Any good news from the radio?” Denise asked.
“Well…it’s complicated. Kind of a good news, bad news situation.”
Fletch reappeared with a crowbar in his hand. He walked up and wedged the end of the crowbar under a slat on top of the crate. “Let’s get this open. You did the hard work. Either of you care to do the honors?” He looked over at Denise and Metrodora.
“I will pass,” Metrodora said, rubbing her shoulder.
Denise waved the offer off. She might not have dislocated her shoulder, but she’d accumulated a nice collection of scratches and bruises over the last half hour. She wasn’t particularly eager to tug at the crowbar right now.
Fletch went to work, leveraging the prybar under the first board and pushing. Nails squealed as they came loose from the wood. A second later, the first board popped free. “What have we got here?”
Denise leaned in close to see what she’d risked her life to haul back. Everyone bent in and peered into the box. There was a layer of wax paper on top. She reached down and peeled the paper aside to see what lay beneath.
“It’s meat,” Cornelia said.
Denise stared down into the box. As Cornelia said, there was just a layer of raw meat under the wax paper. What in the hell?
Fletch bent lower and took a loud whiff. He pried another board loose and peeled back more of the wax paper, revealing more neatly sliced meat. It looked like an upscale butcher’s display.
“It’s horse meat,” Fletch said.
“Horse meat,” Denise repeated.
“Yeah. Horse meat. Were all the supply boxes identical to this one?”
“Yes, they were.” Denise’s mouth was dry. Then she asked a question that might have been dumb but was nonetheless quite pertinent. “Why is it full of horse meat?”
“Pretty common practice on Antarctic expeditions. The crew starts out using a combination of horses, dogs, and machinery to carry their gear. The hor
ses can’t graze here, though. It’s not efficient to try to bring enough hay to keep them going, either. The party gets started on the horses, and when the animals start to give out, they get turned into emergency rations and food for the dogs. Then, the group continues on with the dogs and sledges. If things get truly bad, if they get stranded somewhere, they can eat the dogs to hold out longer, too.”
“But why is there horse meat in the emergency supply boxes?” Denise felt like she’d just been stood up on a date. She’d been hoping for guns, medical supplies, anything that would give them an edge. This was like some sort of mean-spirited practical joke.
“I’m guessing that they did the same thing when they built this place. Dragged in as much as they could with horses and then killed them. With the temperatures preventing everything from rotting, the station would always have an emergency supply of food, even if they were cut off for an entire winter. That’s what we have here. The supply of emergency backup food for the station.”
Denise looked down at the box of frozen horse steaks. Merovée Station had plenty of abandoned canned food that they could live off of. A crate full of horse parts wasn’t going to help them. She rubbed her eyes and resisted the urge to try out some of those choice phrases Metrodora had used earlier. Taking a deep breath, she looked up and focused on Fletch and Cornelia.
“Okay. Let’s scratch that off as a bust. Cornelia said there was some good news and bad news regarding the radio situation. Give me the good news. I could do with good news. I’m downright hungry for good news. Spill it.”
“Alright,” Fletch said. “The radio equipment here is designed for long-range communication. It’s very good. I was able to contact someone. It took a little while to convince them that this wasn’t some sort of prank. They radioed out to another ship that radioed authorities on Australia who contacted someone with the Squires, and everything got relayed back to the ship I was able to contact. They’re coming to rescue us.”