by Oliver Tuson
Now Clarke could see the nightmarish creature next to a human, the full size of the monster was easy to see. It must have been the size of a large truck. Its weight caused the pointed spikes of its legs to spear into the ground, sending a spiderweb of cracks outwards in the concrete floor. It roared again as the full weight of fire from the four men smashed against the scales of its body and head. Clarke couldn’t tell if the roar was because of the pain of the bullets or out of annoyance as he looked at the minimal effect the weapons were causing on the monster. Either way he kept it up, firing well aimed shots towards it.
The creature stopped in its tracks and brought all of its legs to the front of its hideous body. Digging its spike like legs into the ground in front of it. Bullets sparked off the wall of iron spikes. The creature bent low behind them. Its smaller head and arms suddenly made more sense, hidden and protected in the confined space of the legs and body.
“Cease fire… conserve the ammo!” Clarke shouted, aware of the dying supply the group had left. One by one the fire stopped as they waited for an opening in its defence. An eerie silence fell over the room, except for the drone of the generators as they worked hard to supply power to the facility.
Then it moved one of its huge legs forward. Smashing it deep in the ground. Piercing the concrete floor with ease. Then its next leg. Then the next. Gradually it was creeping forward behind its defensive wall of iron. It reminded Clarke of a Roman legion. Shields locked in place, slowly marching towards its enemy. Where the short swords could flash out and kill. Got to get around it, he thought.
“Flank it!” He screamed at his team. Sanchez and Hawkins instantly dived through a gap in the generators and moved up the room. The creature hesitated as it decided which of its prey to follow, then kept moving towards Clarke, its decision made. Williams fired another burst at it. The rounds sparking off its legs. “Save the ammo! Let the others get in place!” Clarke felt like bait. Waiting as the creature slowly moved towards them. And it was close now. Terror started to grip him as the monster pulled up closer. “Come on boys!”
Fire erupted from the far side of the room as Sanchez and Hawkins flanked the monster. Their gunfire hitting the side of the creature. Each bullet thudding into its scales. It roared in response, but kept coming towards them. Closing the gap.
Clark raised his weapon, waiting for a gap in its defensive wall, but it never came. He stumbled backwards until his back met the back wall. “Shit…run!” He shouted at Williams. They both broke away sprinting in different directions. “Our bullets are not doing shit!” Hawkins shouted over the radio.
“Save them! Get out of here!” The creature was moving towards Williams who had dived behind a generator as he reloaded his rifle. “Williams! It’s on you!” Clarke shouted just as the creature slammed its spikes into the generator trying to get to its prey. The generator sparked and whined, causing dense black smoke to bellow up as the damage of the creature smashing across it took its toll. Williams jumped back slamming himself against the wall and fired a few rounds in frustration. The monster was within meters of him. It whipped its huge tail up and over its wall of legs, like a scorpion striking its prey. Williams dived out of the way just in time as it smashed the ground where he was just stood.
He scrambled away as fear suddenly took control, realising he was cornered. It moved closer until Williams was only meters away from the towering creature. His back wedged between the corner of the walls. He fired until the weapon’s magazine was empty.
As if the creature knew it was safe, it suddenly opened a gap in its legs. Just enough for its long arms to whip out and grab the solider who was desperately trying to reload with hands that were shaking with pure terror. It pulled him in close to its body. Its legs closing up again behind the solider. Williams could smell the scaly death of the beast in the confined dark space. Its mouth opened and saliva dribbled down on to his terrified face. Its breath hot and rancid. With a victorious roar that deafened its prey in its clutches, it bit down on Williams’ body. Its long mouth taking most of his torso with his head, killing the solider almost instantly.
Clarke watched with horror. Helpless to do anything but fire ineffective bullets at it. The monster spun round dropping the broken remains of Williams to the ground in a bloody heap. It sighted Clarke, but didn’t move towards him. Instead it side stepped around him in an arc, trying to keep Clarke trapped against the back wall, unable to get past. Its tail high above it making it look even bigger, even deadlier. “Shit!” This thing was smart. Clarke tried to dart to the side but the creature mirrored him using its massive legs to lunge across the area far quicker than Clarke could move. All the while it began to creep closer. Spike by spike. Leg by leg.
“Sanchez, Hawkins! RUN!"
"We are not leaving you boss!" They fired a few more bursts in vain at the creatures back. Still to no effect. Its black wet looking scales simply absorbing the bullets.
"Incoming!" Jasper’s voice cut over the sound of the battle. He was watching the whole thing from the control room. Helpless to do anything. "Those things from before! They are coming! Loads of them!”
Clarke backed away, he could just see Sanchez and Hawkins spin round to great the new threat that poured into the power room through the double doors from the centre. He felt the ground disappear as he was backed up to the tunnel. He stopped, his toes just gripping the ground as his heels hung over the edge. The monster before him only metres away. The sudden realisation hit him that he was going to die. Jump to his death or killed by this hellish beast, he thought solemnly.
Before the massive bulk of the monster blocked out his view, he caught a final glimpse of his comrades. Surrounded by the hideous creatures from before. Both men stood back to back, firing at them as they came for them. Claws outstretched ready to deliver death.
He had failed. He hadn’t kept his men alive. Again. The creature drew up close, opening its legs and sending the long clawed arms reaching out for him. The mouth of the beast was open. Williams’ blood staining its lips and teeth as it almost grinned in victory at him.
“Fuck you!” Clarke spat in defiance at the approaching death. He quickly pulled out a grenade, pulled the pin, and offered up his empty hand for the creature to grab. “Come on you fucker! I’m taking you to hell with me!”
The creature took the bait. Both of its clawed hands gripping Clarkes arm and pulling him in hard. So hard Clarke almost lost his grip on the grenade. Its legs smashed down behind him, enclosing him in the darkness of its embrace. Clarke hung there by one arm, feeling like his shoulder was going to dislocate. The sickly smell of death from the beast was made worse by the warm air flowing up from the tunnel below. Saliva mixed with Williams’ blood dripped down onto his face as the creature opened its huge deadly jaws.
Steadying himself as best he could, he threw the grenade with all his might into the back of its wide open mouth. The jagged flesh covered teeth at the back catching and trapping it. His hand free again, he instantly grabbed his assault rifle that hung from his back by its strap and fired a hail of bullets into the creature’s mouth and eyes whilst shouting in a suicidal bloody rage as he waited for the explosion to kill them both, which came a heartbeat later as the grenade detonated just as the creature threw its head back in anger as the bullets smashed against its unprotected eyes.
13
Retreat
17:05, 15th August 2003
Power Room, Hades Facility, Northern Iraq
Sanchez heard the grenade detonate as he fired at the monsters closing in on them. He thought of his leader and friend. Imagining him pulling the pin and taking that creature to the afterlife with him. The sudden pain of the loss of his friend hit him hard. “Clarke,” he half whispered as if talking into the afterlife. For a second, he forgot about the surging death clawing towards him. Instead just stared towards the scaly beast that had taken his friend. It laid slumped at the far side of the power room. Not moving. Just a mass of scaly meat.
“Sanchez w
e gotta go!” Hawkins shouted as he cut down another creature that had closed in on them. He punched Sanchez in the shoulder hard, jolting him back to reality. “Sanchez! Come on man!” Sanchez spun round, back in the now. More creatures were pouring in through the door blocking their exit. Their skin changing colour to match the background like a chameleon, making the mass of death blur into one.
He nodded towards the control room where they had activated the power. “There! Move!” They both fired on the incoming monsters as they sprinted to the room. Slowing the beasts down with their bullets. They burst into the room. Sanchez instantly spun around and slammed the metal door shut as the creatures smashed against it. He locked it by sliding the large metal bolt across. The door shook and started to bend as the mass of death on the other side kept smashing against it. Clawing at it to get to their trapped prey inside.
“Shit! We are trapped!” Hawkins said as he aimed at the door waiting for them to burst through at any moment. More creatures leapt at the reinforced glass which vibrated violently as they tried to get through, but still held. Sanchez counted at least eight of them now. All clawing and tearing at the glass and door. Their deathly shrieks reaching them in the room. One smashed its head into the glass in rage. Its eight blood red eyes all focused on its prey. Its lipless mouth revealing razor teeth that glistened with saliva. The creature ran its long-forked tongue up the glass, leaving a wet trail, before it darted back to the door to continue smashing against it in a hungry rage.
He put his back against the wall next to his friend. Both aiming at the door which was slowly buckling under the destruction of the pack.
“Sorry brother.” Sanchez said with a sadness that cut into Hawkins soul.
“Fuck it. At least we are going out fighting! And together! Let's just take as many as we can!” They shared a faint smile and both nodded in camaraderie as they checked their weapons over, ready for the final assault that would bring their death.
The door suddenly bent inwards at the top. Claws appearing and trying to scratch further through the opening. Hisses and shrieks from the monsters echoed in the small room as they became closer and closer to breaching the door.
“Sanchez, Hawkins! Far side of the room by the large terminal, a vent!” Jasper’s voice cut across the radio net. Back in the control room he was running his fingers over the blueprints he had discovered whilst watching his trapped comrades on the CCTV feeds.
Sanchez scrabbled to it and pulled out his commando dagger. The thin specialised blade sliding into the gap with relative ease as he begun leveraging the cover off as quickly as he could. Behind him Hawkins fired through the buckled door into the hideous face of a snarling creature. Blood splattered onto the door frame. “Hurry it up man!”
Sanchez worked on the vent. Wedging and pulling as best he could. His hands shaking with the surge of adrenaline pumping through his body. “Almost there!” Hawkins kept it up. Firing shots over and over again at the mass of death beyond. The monsters blood giving off its toxic gas that was seeping from the door frame and through the broken door.
The door buckled again. This time just big enough for one to squeeze its hideous body through. “Reloading!” Hawkins quickly started to change magazine as the creature tried to pull itself through. “Done! We are leaving!”
Sanchez spun round and fired at the creature which was half way through the tight gap. “Go!” He shouted as he killed the beast in a hail of bullets. The blood gases were now taking affect in the confined room. Causing both men to start coughing with stinging eyes and blurred vision.
Hawkins darted into the vent as he finished his reload. Sanchez was straight behind him pushing him on. The weight of the dead creature and the pressure from its pack finally broke the door from its hinges and locks. The shrieking of the approaching death echoed loudly in the vent as the two men moved on all fours as quickly as they could.
“Jasper! They are right on us, give us a way out!” Sanchez shouted over the radio as he turned to fire on the lead creature. Its claws tearing into the metal as it scrabbled towards them through the vent.
“Follow this shaft. Ahead there should be a junction, take the left.” The two men kept going. Pursued by the pack that clawed ruthlessly over their dead. The beasts having to squeeze through the gap slowing them down and buying the two men valuable seconds to scramble to safety. Sanchez kept up the fire as they went. Turning every few meters to send a hail of bullets down the vent into the face of the next lead creature. They passed the junction and finally reached another vent cover.
Through the gaps, Hawkins could make out a giant room full of pipes and massive water tanks. He started kicking at the cover with all his might. The sound of the men making their escape seemed to make the creatures increase in their rage and hunger for the men's blood.
Sanchez covered him as he kept smashing against the cover. The creatures closed in, only meters away. ‘Click…’ He reached into his assault vest for another magazine. Nothing. “I'm empty!”
Hawkins quickly threw him a spare magazine whilst kicking the vent that had almost come free. Two bolts still only just holding it in place. Sanchez reloaded and sent a stream of bullets just in time into the head of a creature that died at his feet in a bloody mess. Its blood splashed around the vent as it did. The toxic blood instantly hit the men hard.
“Got it!” Hawkins spluttered as he gave a final kick that sent the vent cover sliding into the room. They both scrambled out. Eyes and throats stinging from the gas. They could hear the pack squeezing and fighting over their dead blocking the vent. Claws echoing as they scratched the metal vent pulling themselves through.
“You're in the Water Filtration and Pumping station.” Jasper said over the radio, still planning his friends route out of their nightmare situation. “Turn left, straight across the room and up the staircase!”
The two men sprinted. Lungs burning from the exertion and effects of the chemical blood. They past the mass of water tanks and pipes that littered the room. Sanchez glanced back as he went. Behind them, the pack were through the vent and spreading out. The creatures leaping over the pipes and tanks with speed. The chameleon like skin changing colour as they went, blending into the room with ease. Some seemed to disappear into the shadows of the pipes and tanks, adding to the panic he felt tearing at him. Sanchez knew if they stopped to fight, they would be leapt on from all angles within seconds. Their claws would kill the two friends within a few heartbeats. No choice but to keep running.
“Hawks! Don’t stop!” He clicked the radio, his voice in ragged gasps as he tried to breath. “Jasper they are right on us!”
“Through the next room, down the corridor. I've opened the door to the centre! Clear it and I can seal it off again! Just run!”
The two men leapt up the stairs in a few giant bounds and burst into another narrow room of pipes and control stations. Their hearts were pounding. Legs trembling with the effort. They didn’t look back as they kept pushing on. The sounds of the pack of death were close behind. Their shrieks almost screaming in their ears.
Hawkins was ahead, the younger solider sprinting as fast as he could. Past him, Sanchez could see the open door. But he could sense the monsters close behind. Too close. Far too close. Hawkins burst through the door into the centre.
“Close it now!” Sanchez commanded as he felt himself slowing. His legs giving in to the massive effort. “But your too far…” Jasper protested as he watched on the cameras but got cut short by the aggressive shout of the scotsman. “Do it!”
Hawkins spun round. “Don’t you dare do it Jas!” He shouted in fear for his best friend whilst aiming past Sanchez and firing single well aimed shots as best he could, his heart still pounding and body shaking from the effort of the run and fear from the approaching pack of death.
Sanchez closed his eyes as the rounds whistled past his head. Close enough to feel the air twisting behind each bullet. The creatures were close enough for their blood to spray on his back as the shots bough
t the solider valuable seconds. Hawkins kept firing the well-placed shots as Sanchez reached the door as Jasper was already closing it. He dived through the final gap, dropping low so Hawkins could fire a mass of bullets in to the pursing pack, slowing them down just as the huge door slide shut with a metallic thud.
The heavy metal door held the pack back, leaving the two men safely gasping for air in the centre. Sanchez rolled over pulling his body armour off. The blood splashed over it giving off the toxic gas that continued to eat into the men's senses. He threw it into the side of the atrium, far from them where its effects wouldn’t take hold and laid back, trying to catch his breath. Hawkins dropped to his knees equally exhausted from the effort of the recent fight and retreat.
“Checking cameras now… your clear. Nothing heading your way. At least for now boys. But best not to linger. Get back up here to control asap!” Jaspers voice was full of relief for his friends as he watched them recovering on the cameras.
Both men looked about the centre until they saw the camera that offered Jasper his view. Unable to speak through the heavy breathing, they gave a thumbs up at the solider who had led them to safety. “Anytime boys! Now get going!”
With a grunt Hawkins slowly got to his feet. Sweat was dripping from his forehead as he offered his hand to his friend and helped haul him up. Through heavy breathing and gasps for air, Hawkins slapped his friends' shoulder. “You might be good at yomping, but you got to work on your running old man. My nan could beat you on the track!”
Sanchez was too exhausted to reply. Instead he just nodded as he roughly opened Hawkins’ assault vest and stole a magazine for his rifle and reloaded. Hawkins laughed at his own joke until he looked towards the staircase that led up to the upper level and the control room. “More stairs,” he mumbled with a certain hatred as his exhausted legs started them towards the staircase and up to Jasper.
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