Opening the door slowly, I glanced into the darkened hallway beyond and didn’t see any movement. Securing it again, I turned and nodded to McBride. He took out a hand-drawn map that Captain Parkes had given him of where he believed the generator room was.
“Are you sure this is accurate?” I whispered.
“As far as we know,” replied McBride. “None of us have ever actually been inside.”
Behind us, I heard the sound of keys clicking on a keyboard. I glanced up to see Bridgett tapping away on the access panel’s keyboard. Shockingly, it still had power. Walking over to her, I glanced over her shoulder and watched her work. She was good with a computer and working her way through the maintenance systems.
“I can’t access any of the research computers,” she explained softly, “but the maintenance stuff isn’t encrypted. I’ve got the map of the facility coming online, now.”
I watched as the little screen began to show schematics and floor plans. It took me a few minutes to locate the generator room, but when I did I was glad that Bridgett had thought of this. It was nowhere near where Parkes had thought it was. If we had followed this map, we would have been lost down here for hours.
“Good work, kiddo,” I said, smiling at Bridgett. “Thanks to you, we know right were to go.”
McBride gave her an appreciative nod and we headed back to the door. Once we were all back in position, I started planning our route. If we were lucky, this place hadn’t been under control of the dead. If it was, then we were in for a lot more trouble than we were ready for. If it was just scientists and a security team, I would give them enough warning for them to get the Hel out of here. If they chose not to abandon this place, then it was on their heads. This was the only way to stop the Hrimthurssar from building an entire army of Stalkers.
Opening the door, I slipped out into the darkened corridor and began walking silently towards the next set of stairs. I knew the generator room was two levels down and about fifty meters south of us. That would take us right past one of the main research bays, but as long as we didn’t run into a security detail we should get through without too much trouble.
We kept in a single file line, staying close to the wall. Even Bergelmir was staying surprisingly quiet. When we reached the top of the stairs, I noticed that even the emergency lighting was off. The stairwell and the hallway at the bottom were both dark. The hairs on the back of my neck were beginning to stand on end. Something was definitely wrong in here.
“Look sharp,” I whispered. “Something isn’t right.”
I heard the soft sound of weapons being taken off of safe and the tightening of leather gloves against weapon handles. I slipped my own weapon off of safe and brought the stock tight against my shoulder. With a sigh of resignation, I started slowly down the stairs. I kept close watch on the bottom, waiting for any sign of movement that might indicate either the living or the dead. I wasn’t sure which one frightened me more.
When I reached the landing, I glanced out into the hallway. There was an oddly familiar smell in the air, but it wasn’t the scent of a zombie. This was different. Muskier and strong, it reminded me of the time I took my kids to the zoo. The little light-bulb went off in my head. What I smelled was the scent that I remembered from the primate house. This was strongly reminiscent of the larger animals.
“Do they experiment on animals down here?” I whispered to McBride.
“I think so,” he replied, softly. “I’m not sure what for, but I know they got live animal shipments all the time.”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” I muttered.
“Is that a problem?” asked McBride.
“Depends,” I answered. “They created the Stalkers by using panther DNA to augment humans. If they’re doing something similar with either chimps or gorillas, then we might be seeing something completely new. Let’s hope they weren’t as successful as the other group.”
I had to move about thirty yards down the corridor before I could take the next set of stairs down to the generator level. That should take us right past a large room that had no designation on the map. That must be where they had been keeping the larger animals. I wasn’t particularly hopeful about the outcome.
We crept silently down the corridor and I saw our first glimpse of light other than my flashlight. There were small lights in the large room ahead. The smell of primate excrement and bodies grew stronger the closer we got, so I knew this had to be the room. As I peered around the corner and into the large room, I could see large steel cages and enclosures that would easily accommodate animals as large as gorillas. The truly scary part was that they were all empty. Some of them had been torn open.
“Oh shit,” I hissed.
As the others glanced into the room, they all seemed to be as surprised as I was. The thought of gorillas roaming free down here was bad. The thought of a small army of zombies that had been spliced with gorilla DNA like the Stalkers had been was terrifying. There was no telling what capabilities they would have. Undoubtedly they would be tremendously strong. They would also be able to climb and leap like no one’s business. In a word, they were trouble.
There were enclosures for at least forty animals. The males could reach damned near five hundred pounds and could rip a man apart with its bare hands. They were easily far stronger than even the biggest of the Hrimthurssar. If they were successful in grafting that ability to a human, then they would be stronger, faster and more agile than any type of undead that we had encountered before. Make that trouble with a capital “T”.
As we began to move away from the enclosures and towards the next stairwell, I saw something in the hallway which made me come up short. There in the middle of the floor were the tattered remains of a white lab coat. It was covered in dried blood and there was crusty blood on the floor. I could see where something had been dragged through it and bloody hand prints on the ground where someone had struggled to get free and failed.
Lying beside the lab coat was a bloody pair of women’s glasses with the glass cracked in the left lens. I felt a chill run up my spine at the thought of the woman struggling desperately against the might of a gigantic gorilla. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me since gorillas are not predators by nature. An enraged gorilla could attack and kill a human, but I couldn’t figure out why they would drag one off.
Just as I was about to turn towards the stairwell, something caught my eye. Something was moving in the darkness farther down the corridor. I blew out my breath in a whoosh, dreading what I was about to look at. Then slowly, I brought up the light and lit up the corridor. What was waiting for me will haunt my dreams for some time to come. Turning towards my light was a massive male gorilla. It had to weigh well over five hundred pounds and was rippling with muscle.
When it turned to face me, I could see the damage that had been done to its chest and arms. There was muscle showing through some of the wounds. I could tell by the eyes that it was dead. It was also moving. The Reaper Virus had jumped to gorillas. What was worse is that I was now its next target. I doubted that it was still a vegetarian. We were all now on the menu.
“Run!” I bellowed, shoving Bridgett onto the stairs. “Get to the generator!”
I snapped up the M-4 and fired. The round struck the massive beast in the forehead and careened off of it. The sagittal crest was too thick for the small 5.56mm round to penetrate. It took a chunk of dead flesh with it, leaving the bloody skull bare in a spot about the size of a silver dollar.
The big beast threw its arms up and growled a horrifying challenge, revealing long canine teeth. Then it bounded onto all fours and came charging at me like a freight train. It was closing the thirty yards quickly and the others were still getting down the stairs. I had to buy them time to move.
Yanking the Keltec shotgun off of my pack, I let the M-4 dangle by the strap and flicked the safety off of the Keltec. My first round thundered through darkness and struck the beast in the chest. I could see that the Winchester Supreme Elite round
tore a massive hole in the flesh, but did nothing to slow it down. It took two more bounding steps and cut the distance between us in half before I had the next round cycled into the chamber.
I fired again and blew a massive chunk out of the creature’s neck, but not enough to incapacitate it. Desperation fueled my hands as I pumped the next round into the chamber. The thing had closed the distance between us and was nearly on top of me. It leapt into the air and was bearing down on me when I fired the third round. This time, it took the creature’s head apart.
I dove beneath it as it sailed right through where I had been standing, sliding to a stop on the tiled floor with its outstretched fingers just touching the broken glasses. It was finally still, but I could hear more movement coming in the darkness. It was time to move.
Heading down the stairs as fast as I could go, I caught up with the others as they reached the hallway. Above us, I could hear movement but nothing had reached the stairs. It was only a matter of time until more of those creatures came bounding down the stairs after us. I had already learned, nearly to my demise, that the M-4’s wouldn’t do the trick. It would take a much heavier round to stop one of those monstrosities.
“Keep moving!” I called, and shoved them in the direction of the generator room.
Marko illuminated the hallway ahead of us, but it was mercifully clear. We had another large room ahead of us, but I had no idea what it would hold for us. There was no way of knowing, but it had to be better than what was waiting for us at the top of the stairs. At least I hoped it was.
“Wylie!” called Marko. “You might want to get up here!”
“Fuck!” I snapped and headed for the front of the line.
Ahead of me, I could see that it was quite a bit lighter up there. From the way the light flickered, I knew it had to be torches. Bergelmir came to an abrupt halt directly ahead of me and I had to go around him to find out what they were looking at. I was wrong, this was worse than the Gods-damned gorillas. Standing in the center of the large room waiting for us were all five of the Hrimthurssar.
“Nice of you to join us, Grant,” said Grimnir sarcastically. “I appreciate you bringing all of the Einherjar here for us to kill all at once. It’s so convenient for us.”
Chapter Twenty Two
Face-off
“The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at
best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends,
and where the other begins?”
- Edgar Allan Poe
We fanned out in a line, squaring off against the Hrimthurssar. I faced down Grimnir and Bergelmir squared off with the one that had the mace. He was bigger than Bergelmir and covered with runic tattoos. His long black hair was pulled back in a warrior’s braid, which ended in a silver ball that capped it. He brought the mace up and laid it across his shoulder while Bergelmir readied his own sword.
Since I had already dispatched two of the Hrimthurssar, I was able to provide both Butcher and Marko with fighting blades. I had given the bow that I had captured to Bridgett, but the pull was too much for her. If we survived this battle, I was looking forward to providing weapons to everyone who needed one.
Vigdis moved to stand in front of Bridgett. That was a mismatch, for sure. Vigdis was a match for any man, standing well over six feet tall and rippling with muscle. Bridgett stood about five feet six and weighed about a hundred and ten pounds, soaking wet. Unless Bridgett was a martial arts master¸ Vigdis was not going to have much trouble beating her. I was relieved when Lieutenant McBride stood beside Bridgett with a determined look on his face. McBride didn’t have a sword, but he had a fire ax that he’d grabbed off of the wall and that was going to have to do.
Butcher stood across from the guy with the spear. They eyed each other speculatively, each trying to psyche the other one out. The one with the spear was easily a head taller than Butcher, but that didn’t seem to bother him. In fact, he seemed eager to fight him. Maybe it was the challenge or maybe it was pride, but Butcher was not intimidated at all. He just put his hands on the hilt of his sword and waited for him to make a move.
The one that had the axe stood across from Marko. Marko had the matched fighting swords I had taken off of the Hrimthurssar that I had killed below the Arch. The Hrimthurssar had the advantage in weapons, but if they went hand to hand then I had no idea how it would turn out. The big warrior looked to be the stronger of the two, but I had learned not to underestimate Marko. It was going to be an interesting fight.
“It’s already too late to stop us, Grant,” said Grimnir. “We already have what we came for.”
“We’ll see,” I replied. “This fight isn’t over.”
“I will..,” began Grimnir.
I didn’t let him finish. I was already tired of his bragging and posturing. This bastard might kill me, but he wasn’t going to keep telling me all about it first. I rushed forward and swung a blow intended to take his head off, but he blocked it easily. He smiled a predatory smile as he began the slow dance of battle. I wanted to knock that smile right off his ugly face.
The battle erupted all around me as my attack signaled the beginning of the fight. I could only catch bits and pieces as my peripheral vision caught glimpses of the battle around me. I was too busy fighting for my life to pay too much attention to the others. I could only trust in the Gods that they would emerge victorious.
Grimnir swung his massive blade at a downward angle, intending to catch me from left shoulder to right hip. I managed to dance away and heard the shriek of his steel digging into the tiled floor. Grimnir swung the blade back in an attempt to catch me off guard, but I was already moving. I could already see the fighting around me was turning into pure chaos.
Bergelmir parried a blow from the warrior that he was engaging, then drove his fist into the unsuspecting warrior’s face. Blood erupted from the crushed nose, but the big warrior only took two steps back and shook his head. A blow like that would have knocked most men unconscious. The mace dangled in his hand for only a moment before he regained his composure. Bergelmir didn’t have enough time to take advantage of the momentary distraction.
Vigdis launched a savage attack, intending to cleave Bridgett in half, but McBride knocked the blade away with the handle of his ax. While Vigdis was engaged with McBride, Bridgett surprised me by running up to McBride and putting her hand on his shoulder. Using his height to vault herself into the air, she performed an amazing spin kick and struck Vigdis in the face, forcing her to stagger back with a shocked look on her face.
“I’ll be damned,” I thought quickly. “She is a martial artist.”
The warrior with the spear spun the shaft around and drove the tip right at Butcher’s midsection. Butcher sidestepped and grabbed the haft of the spear with his right hand and drove his left into the surprised warrior’s mouth. Blood flew into the air as the big warrior lost his grip on the spear and took two steps staggering back. Butcher tossed the spear behind him and continued after him without drawing his swords. It seemed that Butcher preferred using his hands.
Marko waited for the big warrior to swing his axe at him, before catching the blade on both of his swords. When the weapons locked, Marko twisted to the right and used the locked weapon like a wrist lock. With a shift of his weight, he tossed the massive warrior to the ground. Before he could regain his feet, Marko kicked out with his left foot and struck him in the face. Before I could register anymore, Grimnir attacked me again.
I parried the blow from the massive two-handed sword, only to have to take a shot from his huge fist in my ribcage. The air came out of me in a whoosh and I had to jump back to avoid a second blow. My entire side was on fire with the pain that radiated from what I knew had to be several cracked ribs.
As I glanced around me, I could see the behemoth shadows that could only be the gorillas beginning to surround us. This time Grimnir wasn’t taking any chances. Oh well, if he was going to fight dirty, then so was I. It was time to shift the advantage to my people
and put his down for the count.
Spinning wide I moved to engage Grimnir, but I took a slightly wider stance than I needed to. I knew that by swinging wider, it would be telegraphing the swing and Grimnir would block it easily. However, I wasn’t actually aiming at Grimnir. At the midpoint of my swing, I connected with the real target. I hamstrung the warrior who was fighting Bergelmir.
The wounded giant turned rapidly to face me, losing his focus on Bergelmir. It was a costly mistake, as Bergelmir stepped inside his reach and with a mighty blow from his sword removed the warrior’s head. The face still had a look of shock on it as the head fell away from the body and bounced off into the darkness. Bergelmir spun away to help engage Vigdis before the body had hit the floor.
Butcher drove several solid punches into the abdomen and face of the warrior he was facing. As the big warrior stumbled backwards, he drew a wickedly serrated knife from his belt. Butcher didn’t look at all surprised by the appearance of the weapon. He took two steps forward and kicked the warrior in the chest with enough force to knock him back and into one of the gorillas. That’s when all Hel broke loose. It was all that it took to break the control they had over the undead primates.
With roars that would fill my nightmares for years to come, the beasts surged forward knocking aside both of us with equal ease. One of the beasts grabbed the warrior that was fighting with Marko and tore his arm off as if it was a twig. The warrior screamed in pain as the beast threw the arm aside and sank its fangs into the open wound. As more of the beasts swarmed in to the fray, they attacked whatever target was closest.
One of the beasts took Bridget to the ground, but before it could bite her face off McBride stepped in and drove the ax into the side of the beast’s head. While it wasn’t enough to kill it, it did get the creature’s undivided attention. The beast snapped its head around and snarled at McBride, who casually drew his pistol and shot it through the eye. Bridgett just managed to dive out from under the creature, before it collapsed to the floor with ichor seeping from the ragged wound and the ax still protruding from the side of its head.
Ragnarok Rising Page 43