Instinct (2010)

by Kay, Ben

  ‘That’s all we need,’ said Garrett, pulling her rifle from her shoulder.

  80

  Pain and weakness were gradually slowing the progress of Laura and Webster. They had stopped twice to see if they could tourniquet his arm with strips of leaves. The second time, Laura insisted on doing it and felt the sticky mush of the coagulating blood. Webster stifled raging screams as she tied the leaves off with a piece of torn trouser-leg. Her lack of medical experience meant this was done with little precision. Webster thought her efforts were actually hurting more than the stab of the beetle, but he did nothing to remedy the situation but gasp, ‘A little looser,’ into her ear.

  Reaching a wall, they found that Level Two had its own set of blue lights. It was all they had to go on, so Webster tried to use them as markers. He smeared a little blood on the wall next to each light so they knew where they’d been. But it was hopeless: as soon as they found themselves pushed away from the wall by a barrier of plants, they had to change their route to avoid the dense trunks that would not let them past. By the time they reached another blue light, it was not the one Webster thought they had been aiming for.

  Occasionally they ran into insects. The first scared the life out of Webster when he moved a leaf to reveal its malevolent eyes staring up at him. It took a second to accept that it was too stunned to move, but Webster was still shocked at the sight of this armchair-sized spider, enormous claws curving out of its mouth.

  ‘That must be one of the mutations,’ he said.

  Laura peered over his shoulder. ‘Sorry to diappoint you, but that’s an amblypygid. They’re not poisonous, but I’d rather not be in reach of those claws when he comes round.’

  They moved on and almost stumbled into a scorpion. Like the amblypygid, it was not moving, but they could see the life behind its eyes as it waited to rise and kill again. It was so big that, although they could see its huge claws, they could see no more of its body except for the giant sac of poison that hung from its tail ten feet above them.

  ‘Thank God for that light bomb,’ said Laura. ‘That’s the Arizona bark scorpion, one of the most venomous species in the world. If they were trying to make killers, they chose their subjects well.’

  They moved quickly on.

  By now they had been walking for about fifteen minutes, with no obvious progress.

  ‘Major, do you have any idea where we are?’

  Webster sighed and looked down to Laura’s clear blue eyes.

  ‘No. I’m sorry.’

  ‘Maybe we need to try something else.’

  ‘I just don’t know what. These insects are going to wake up soon, and our only chance has to be trying to find the way up.’

  ‘What if we follow the wall until we get to the hole the explosion made?’

  ‘I’ve tried that. We get maybe ten yards before getting blocked off, then we have to move out into the middle again, where we’re lost.’

  ‘OK. Well, let’s keep going. It’s got to be better than staying here.’

  ‘Sure,’ said Webster. She was right, but they were running out of time.

  81

  Despite being a hundred times the size, it moved exactly like a real fly. Rubbing its forelegs together, it snapped its head quickly from side to side. The scientists watched closely as it buzzed from surface to surface. It stopped next to Carter’s hand and bent forward to examine it. Something, perhaps the poison from the blister beetle, put it off and instead it flew down to the cockroach hole and disappeared inside. Garrett ran to the hole to see if she could get a shot in, but it was long gone.

  ‘Did you see that? Proportionately, it’s far bigger than the wasps,’ marvelled George.

  ‘Amazing,’ said Susan. ‘The integument still operates even at that size.’

  ‘The integu-what?’ asked Wainhouse.

  Mike turned to him. ‘It’s what makes them so strong and flexible. And if that part of them has survived all the experiments, then maybe everything else has.’

  ‘So what?’

  ‘So it might help us. If they also have the same visual processing as normal insects, then they will only be able to see us clearly if we move.’

  ‘But we’ve got to move,’ Garrett said. ‘We’ve got to get the hell out of here.’

  ‘I know, but it doesn’t hurt to remember things that might make them leave us alone,’ said Mike.

  They were distracted by another sound: from the other side of the room, they heard a soft paradiddle, getting louder. One by one, they turned in the direction of Bishop’s office. By now most of the fires had either died to embers or gone out entirely. A near-darkness had returned that sapped the room of visibility. However, the entrance had a blue light above it that made it just possible to see the door, which now showed a small, jagged hole.

  ‘The wasps!’ shouted Bishop.

  ‘Nobody move,’ whispered Mike.

  Nobody did, except Garrett. Slowly, she brought her automatic rifle up to her shoulder and set it to fire a single bullet.

  Closing her left eye and lowering her right to peer through the sights, she was now looking straight at the hole that was growing around the door lock.

  She knew that if her shot was off she might just blast a hole in the door and release the wasps, so she did not squeeze the trigger until she was absolutely certain of her aim.

  Only Susan had seen Garrett raise her weapon. The bang of the primer igniting the propellant sent an explosion of shock through everyone else.

  Her shot was true.

  The bullet ripped through four wasps then flew down the corridor and into Bishop’s office, shattering his coffee machine.

  The sound of the wasps stopped, then began again with less purpose, as if they had regrouped and were only warily restarting the process of breaking down the door. This gave Garrett another chance to take aim.

  ‘What the fuck was that?’ said Bishop in an angry whisper.

  ‘That was me shooting wasps,’ said Garrett, in a manner that suggested he ought to be grateful and shut the hell up. ‘I’m buying us time. Now get to the ropes and head down to Level Two. None of us checked –’

  Her instructions had to wait for another pull of the trigger and the chaos that followed.

  ‘… Excuse me. None of us checked the stairs in Level Two yet. Watch the hell out for the insects, but right now that’s our only way out of here, and time we ain’t got. I’ll cover these fuckers while you do it. Hopefully this confusion’s going to keep the others off your ass.’

  ‘Wait,’ said Bishop. ‘Listen.’

  ‘I am listening. I can hear big fuckin’ wasps.’

  ‘Shut up!’

  It was faint, but it was definitely Laura and Webster, calling their names.

  ‘Where the hell are they?’ asked Garrett, moving around the floor. ‘Major! Keep shouting! We’re gonna find you!’

  At the next call, they looked towards the cockroach hole. Webster and Laura’s calls were still faint, but this was where they were loudest. Garrett dropped down and dipped her head through the floor.

  ‘Major?’

  ‘Garrett?’ He sounded like he was talking through a pillow.

  ‘Major? Where the hell are you?’

  ‘Garrett. Look for a blue light. Can you see a blue light?’

  ‘A blue light? Hang on.’ She swivelled herself round until she had taken in 360 degrees of the floor below. ‘Yes! A blue light. I can see one, twenty feet away. Wave your hand in front of it so I know I’m looking at the right one.’ Webster did as he was asked.

  ‘Yes! Major, I’m looking right at you. Follow my voice and we’ll get you up here.’

  ‘Keep talking, Garrett.’ This was followed by the swish of leaves and the bending and snapping of twigs and branches.

  ‘Keep talking? You got it, Major. The fuckin’ wasps are at the fuckin’ door but I just shot a bunch of ’em. Carter got fucke
d by some crazy poisoned beetles but he’s still alive, and it’s good to know you’re alive cos I fuckin’ need you up here if we’re gonna have even a half-chance of getting the fuck out of this place. We’re not a hell of a lot closer than when you jumped down the –’

  ‘Garrett, we’re right underneath you but we need help. There’s a good trunk right here but it’s not enough for us to climb up. We’re going to need someone to come down and help us.’ Webster was looking right at Garrett, who returned his relieved smile with one of her own.

  ‘You got it, Major, I’m sending Wainhouse with a rope.’

  Wainhouse had appeared at the hole while Garrett was talking. He had a huge grin on his face. This was hope, and he could feel it filling him up as the despair shrank away in response.

  ‘You two had better clear the way,’ called Garrett. ‘He’s coming down.’

  Garrett tied one end of the rope to an enormous filing cabinet that was lying on its side nearby and the other end to Wainhouse. He dropped into the hole and Garrett eased the rope out to let him down.

  By now the others had gathered around.

  ‘George, Mike, I’ll need you two to pull this up when Wainhouse ties them two on.’ They were grateful to be useful, and when Wainhouse gave the signal, they pulled Laura up in a few seconds.

  She never thought she’d be so glad to see Level One of the Abdomen. Her appearance, bloody, pained and filthy, forced the others to imagine the horror of what she had been through.

  Webster was up almost as quickly. His injured arm was a cause for concern, but he assured them he was OK in spite of it. He too was caked in blood and dirt.

  ‘How did you find us?’ asked Garrett.

  ‘We heard your gun firing and realized we were close to the hole,’ said Webster.

  ‘If I’d known finding you guys was that easy I’d have shot a few rounds off as soon as we lost you. By the way, you look like the worst shit I ever did. What the fuck happened?’

  Webster shook his head. ‘I’ll tell you another time. But I will say this,’ he said, looking around at the few insects that were now flying through the air around him, ‘we need to get the hell out of here before the rest of them wake up.’

  They only had to wait for Wainhouse, who tied the rope back on and was winched up to the lip of the hole.

  He had one foot on the floor of Level One, ready to lever the rest of himself up, when he felt something touch his other foot.

  As he looked down to check what it was, two enormous spiked claws sliced up from below, slashing him in half from collarbone to pelvis.

  Before he fell to the ground, the whip scorpion took hold of his left side and tossed it through the air to come crashing down through one of the glass lab dividers on Level One.

  Everyone turned to look in the direction of the noise, leaving the giant beast to slip through the darkness with what remained of Wainhouse firmly clenched in its grip.

  It was an unusually repellent creature, even at its normal size. With eight thorny legs as big as drainpipes and two giant pincers, this one looked as if its only purpose were to cause the death of other things.

  A rushed scuffle to see what had smashed the glass further disguised the scorpion’s movements. The soldiers and scientists arrived just in time to see the last squirts of blood spraying over the base of the exposed spine.

  ‘What the fuck?’ said Garrett. ‘Is that Wainhouse?’

  Although it was obscured by the growing darkness, the visceral horror of what they found grabbed them all by the guts and swung them round the room.

  The confusion added to this, as no one could understand how Wainhouse had been so brutally attacked without them realizing. What had done this, and where was it? Were they all in danger?

  Because of their injuries, Laura and Webster lagged behind the others. As they limped along to the source of the noise, something flickered in the corner of Webster’s eye.

  He looked across to see the reflection of a weak flame on the whip scorpion’s shiny back, but he could hardly make out what was going on.

  ‘Laura!’ he said loudly. ‘Over there!’

  Laura looked to where Webster was pointing but could not see what he was talking about. Suddenly, the creature, as large as a dining table, raised itself up and starting shovelling Wainhouse into its mouth with voracious greed.

  Collapsing forward with fear and revulsion, Laura gasped. Webster had already moved towards the cache of remaining arms to select his weapon.

  He took the Daewoo USAS-12 that he’d kept as a souvenir from an operation in Korea and flicked off the safety.

  He had to move a little closer to work out exactly what was going on, but he’d already made his mind up to shoot.

  Taking aim, the blast blew out the rear left leg and cracked the shell of the abdomen.

  In angered shock, the whip scorpion gave a guttural screech. Tensing its glands, it spewed a thick cloud of acetic acid from its rear.

  Takeshi was closest to the warm mist. He managed to turn away, but it made no difference. The acid began dissolving him from the back, melting first his clothes, then his hair, then burning through his skin slowly enough to stretch out every millisecond of agony.

  He had effectively shielded the others, but as he screamed and screamed and screamed, he fell to his knees, the acid exposing his tissue from behind.

  It looked as if a guillotine were slicing him in wafer-thin sections. His skull and scapulae were visible, surrounded by angry scarlet tissue and the browns and whites of his rapidly disintegrating organs.

  From the front, however, he looked completely normal: excruciatingly agonized but visibly undamaged. In the dark, Mike and Lisa could not understand what was happening to him.

  He toppled forwards, showing them his meat-raw innards. Susan’s screams joined Takeshi’s as he continued to melt away.

  The smell was overpowering as the evaporating remains of the clothes and skin rose through the air.

  Bishop wanted to be sick, but his stomach had emptied long ago.

  Garrett moved through to the side of Takeshi’s remains and, along with Webster, pumped the giant scorpion with whatever was left in her gun. They took out six of the legs, leaving it immobile, but as they were attacking from the rear, they couldn’t find the head shot that would kill it.

  In anger and desperation, it was making an appalling shriek like the screams of hundreds of dying birds. There wasn’t much left of Wainhouse’s torso, but it dropped the mangled scraps as it tried to turn to face its attackers.

  More bullets pumped through its sides and it gave up, slumping to the ground. Its abdomen was now a broken shell oozing a mess of glutinous moisture.

  Webster and Garrett stood over what was left of the scorpion and Wainhouse. To their left, Takeshi had completely disappeared, and the acid was now eating away at the floor beneath him. The hellish smell of melting flesh combined with the acrid stench of burning concrete to make eyes water and stomachs convulse.

  ‘How does this shit keep getting worse?’ muttered Garrett to herself.

  Susan’s screams had subsided a little, but that only made the buzzing at the door audible again.

  Garrett reloaded her rifle.

  82

  A soft ding announced the arrival of the nuclear launch information in Tobias’s inbox.

  The instructions gave him an email address and a series of codes to send, and he wasted no time in tapping them in.

  After pressing the return key he watched the screen and wondered if that was it. Had he just sent several men and women to their deaths? Would there be any kind of –

  The reply took the form of a series of sporadic beeps, followed by a black screen. Then his computer spoke:

  ‘Good morning, sir. This is Comsat liaison,’ said a computerized male voice with the tone of a cheery smile. ‘Operations of this nature may not be conducted in such a way that they can b
e intercepted. That means no writing. I am an officer at the Pentagon, but you are hearing a distorted version of my voice that has been filtered through multiple encryptions. Yours will sound the same to me. If that is clear, how can I help you today?’

  Tobias looked carefully at the screen and leaned in warily.

  ‘Do I … do I just speak in here?’

  ‘That’s right!’ the voice replied brightly. ‘Your computer is equipped with a microphone.’

  ‘Uh, OK … I have an authorization code for a D-22 on Colinas de Edad.’

  ‘Certainly, sir. I now need confirmation of your identification.’

  ‘Sure, er … comsat. hazlit, fourteen, niner, astro.’

  ‘That is affirmative, sir. May I have the authorization code from yourself, and details of the second contact from Mr Stern?’

  ‘I have both codes, including the override sequence that allows me to present Mr Stern’s numbers.’

  ‘Copy that, sir. Go ahead.’

  ‘Twelve, one, twenty-six, seven, one, four, zero, eight, sixteen, eight, three, niner.’

  ‘Affirmative, sir, a nuclear strike will be launched on the MEROS facility immediately. With the time it will take to engage the pilot, and judging by the travel distance, we are looking at an ETA of approximately one hour, over.’

  ‘An hour? Can’t you assholes move any faster than that?’

  ‘Sir, Colinas de Edad is a remote facility. Our nearest airbase lies 146 miles away from it, north-north-east. So, negative, sir. We are unable to get there any faster. However, I believe that there is a remote satellite detonation system that we could attempt to make use of.’

  ‘No, that’s OK. Just get the plane in the air quicksmart.’

  83

  Garrett lined up her rifle for a third shot. The hole was getting wider, partly because the wasps could attack it while she was reloading and partly because her second shot hadn’t been quite as good as the first. It had clipped off a small piece of the door as it went through. The bullet took out another three wasps, but that still left a dozen trying to get in.