Protect All Monsters

by Alan Spencer

  Empty static replied, so he then tried channel two to no avail. Channel three was the final frequency. He repeated his message twice. Nothing.

  He squeezed the device, very disappointed. “Damn it.”

  He loaded the backpack with the grenades, the Uzi, and the tear gas shooter. He kept the gas mask around his neck for quick access. He stored extra clips of ammo and then strapped the pack to his back. The sniper rifle and the M-60 were his immediate weapons.

  Backpedaling to the office again, he peered out the window and saw the monsters were gathered in the courtyard.

  Shooting vampires in a barrel.

  About to peer outside again, the walkie spattered the words, “This is Dr. Kasum, are you there, Richard?”

  He remembered Dr. Kasum as a curious man. The doctor studied the monsters by checking blood samples. The doctor tried to trace the origins of their mutations and perhaps curb them. But his work had come to no concrete results. The monsters were monsters, and they were going to stay that way.

  “Dr. Kasum, this is Richard Cortez. Is there anybody else with you?”

  “Yes; there’s Cynthia Wells, Herman Ratcliffe, Grace Mooney (Richard grimaced), and Addey Ruanova.”

  “Where are you holing up?”

  “We’re trapped in the medical unit, my office.” Sharp crackling and static muddled the rest of the response: “…they’re everywhere…numbers…we’re alone…dead…”

  “Stay where you are. I might know a way to reach you without them knowing. Give me five minutes, and I’ll reply again.”

  He scanned the shelf and selected the notebook that charted the general blueprints of the facility. He thumbed to the medical unit page. There was an underground tunnel beneath the med unit to sneak living bodies onto the premises without the workers knowing.

  He noticed the holding area for the monsters in the medical unit was connected to a different tunnel. There was an access ladder from within the med unit that led to it. He wasn’t sure how he could reach it from his present standpoint without being seen. The tunnel ultimately led back into the facility near the docking port. It would be another place to hide. The longer they remained undetected, the better the chances they might leave without being slaughtered.

  He reported back. “Dr. Kasum, are you there?”

  “Yes.”

  “In the monster holding area of the med unit, there is an access to a tunnel—you’re familiar with it. Lead the others below. I have a key to your building’s door. I’ll meet you in the tunnel.”

  “But when do we go down?”

  “You’ll know. Just keep an ear out. I’ll keep them busy. You’ll hear it.”

  Richard stayed in Brenner’s office and stood vigil at the window, the spot he’d shoot from. Once he fired, they would turn the place over until they located him. He needed a better plan than cut and run. All he had to do was race through the courtyard and enter the medical building. The tear gas had a life of ten to fifteen minutes before it dissipated. It would take two to three minutes to clear the elevator. Maybe that much time to run from the building to the courtyard. And then he had to avoid what monsters might reach him.

  “Richard…please help me.”

  The whisper issued from the hallway outside of Brenner’s office. Another survivor. He was careful leaving the room. He checked each end of the hall for anything dangerous.

  “I’m hurt…I can’t move…I can’t move at all.”

  The hall was clear. The words of agony were coming from one of the vampires’ rooms.

  He was hesitant to reply, treading softly and taking in shallow breaths. His feet kept squishing over the bloody carpet. It was impossible to be silent.

  “They attacked me. I saw you, but I was scared…”

  The voice was female. It was coming from the other room next to him. Standing on the threshold of that room, he spit out one word. “Addey?”

  She was sprawled on the floor with her legs chewed up, her stitching undone. A headache burned him upon the sight of her.

  “How did you get here?”

  Addey frowned, the expression spelling out anguish. “I was doing my job on the third floor. Then the vampires attacked me. They overtook me and disappeared into the slots in the wall.”

  “But Dr. Kasum said you were with him.”

  “He’s a liar. They’re setting a trap. Dr. Kasum wants to save the monsters. It’s his work, his passion. He won’t give it up. So he’s luring you to him so he can finish you.”

  “T-that doesn’t make sense.”

  “You two want different things. Think about it. You want them dead. He wants to save them. Isn’t it obvious?”

  He considered his options, and his head was on fire. White-hot pain emanated from behind his eyeballs and dug deep into his brains. This wasn’t just a headache, it was an infliction. The intensity wavered when he took a step back from her.

  This couldn’t be Addey, he was thinking. Dr. Kasum wouldn’t fight to save the monsters. He was determined to fulfill his duties, but once the obligation was done, so was his work ethic.

  He did what he always did when he didn’t trust somebody.

  Let’s play some Q&A.

  “How’s your brother, Deke? He’s still working on the sublevel, right? Did he make it out safely?”

  Her eyes were unblinking. “God, I can’t think. I’m in so much pain. Will you come here and help me? Please, Richard…I can’t do it by myself. I want you to hold me. Kiss me. That night we kissed, I wanted more. Just kiss me one more time. You’re the closest I have been to being in love in years.”

  “What about your old job teaching preschool? You miss that?”

  Again, she attempted to avoid the question. He could detect another attempt at stalling, so he pointed the barrel of the M-60 in her direction. “Answer my questions, or I’ll shoot you. Now talk!”

  She screamed. Her mouth extended into a snout as sprouts of coarse hair shot out from her body in random patches. He emptied ten rounds into her chest, and the half-formed beast flew into the glass coffee table. The wolf’s flesh deflated, the skin sagging and melting. Thinking it was dead, he was about to turn back when a vampire ripped through the human cloth and crawled on all fours at him. Instinctively, he shot it through its head, the lower jaw unhinging. The vampire’s face dissolved into a rotten jelly mudslide and revealed a zombie. This time, he swung the butt of the M-60 repeatedly until the bouillon-colored brains oozed out of its broken eyes and ears.

  He stood watching the remains. Waiting, he considered what had happened. It had mimicked Addey. And the monster changed three times over after each death.

  I bet the PSA doesn’t know about any of this.

  “Enough of this waiting bullshit.”

  This required bold tactics. If one monster knew he was here, who or what else did?

  He charged back into Brenner’s office to the window.

  “Now it’s my turn to play some games of my own.”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Addey perked up at Richard’s voice speaking through the device. It was a hopeful note among many disharmonious ones. Everybody else shared in the excitement except for Grace Mooney. She was withdrawn, keeping to the wall nearest the monster holding area. She was clutching her Winchester for reassurance.

  “You think we’re going to get out of this mess?” Addey asked Herman.

  Herman seemed hopeful. “Another door or barrier between us and the monsters is fine by me.”

  Dr. Kasum waved them to the back of the room where Grace was already positioned. He was concerned and enlightened by the prospect of escape. “I’d forgotten about the underground tunnel. I’ll be honest about it. We carted living humans via that tunnel to bring here for the monsters to eat. I’m not proud of having my hand in murder, but it is what it is.”

  “Where does it lead?” Addey ignored Dr. Kasum’s admission. “Does it lead away from here?”

  “It leads to the shipping port. I think Richard’s hope is that i
f we keep moving, the monsters will grow restless. They’ve consumed hundreds of bodies. Maybe after an afternoon or even a night, they’ll get tired of hunting for a handful of people and shove on.”

  Cynthia crossed her fingers. “I’ll pray for that.”

  “Hey, it’s something good,” Herman encouraged them all.

  Grace tapped on the steel-reinforced door. “But what about what’s waiting for us behind the door?”

  Addey pointed at the rifle in her hands. “We excuse them of their brains, what do you think? If you can’t do it, then allow me.”

  “Or allow me,” Herman said. “Give me the gun.”

  Grace sneered at them. “I’m not giving you shit.”

  “We have three guns,” Addey said. “How many monsters are back there?”

  “Three zombies and two vampires,” Dr. Kasum provided off the top of his head. “We still have to be cautious. They could harbor abilities we don’t know about.”

  “Like shape-shifting,” Addey suggested. “Taking on the features and thoughts of people we know. Turning to liquid. Dying three times as different monsters before they perish. Sucking blood from your body without touching you. Are you telling me there could be other things we have to combat as well?”

  “I don’t know.” Dr. Kasum sighed. “I didn’t know about their changes. They kept them at bay. James Sorelli orchestrated a well-plotted overthrow of the complex. They’re smarter than we anticipated. Much smarter.”

  “We have to keep hiding,” Addey decided. “In order to do that, we have to march through that door and kill them. Then we can climb down into the tunnel and keep moving. It’s that simple.”

  “Yeah, that easy too.” Grace was snide. “As long as we’re not attacked or confronted by anything, we’re A-okay, team.”

  “Fuck off,” Addey fired. “You were a bitch before, and you still are a bitch.”

  Grace laughed. “Some things don’t change.”

  “Why were you so nervous when we were talking to Richard?” Cynthia asked Grace. “You weren’t the least bit interested in what he had to say. You walked away when Dr. Kasum’s walkie went off. Why?”

  Grace huffed. “On this island, we all have a job, correct? Dr. Kasum sent innocent people to be ravaged alive,” she tapped the steel door with her knuckle, “behind this door. You shoveled dead people’s remains on the sublevel, Addey. Cynthia, you delivered platters of human organs and limbs to vampires and zombies. Brenner committed the worst atrocities, but I had to obey him. I would’ve been the arms and legs popping out of those vending machines otherwise.”

  “Spit it out,” Addey demanded. “What’s the deal with you and Richard?”

  Cynthia and Dr. Kasum closed in on her. Sweat beaded off Grace’s neck and forehead. She was growing nervous. “Brenner instructed me to dump Richard’s body into the wolf arena. That bastard should be digested material in one of those beasts’ stomachs by now.”

  Addey stiffened. “He was alive when you dumped him with the wolves. Jesus Christ! And you’re afraid he’s going to want to pay you back the favor when he comes to us. Our backs are against the wall. I’m sure he’s pissed, but circumstances granted, we’re all watching our asses.”

  “I don’t trust anybody with a right to a grudge. I can’t trust Richard with my life.”

  “I’m not exactly a fan of yours either, but it’s the way today transpired. I’m dealing with it.”

  Dr. Kasum clutched his .28 revolver. “Richard will be lucky to make it here. I’m not waiting for a high sign or smoke signal of his arrival. I think Richard had a good idea. The tunnel’s a great place to hide. We barricade this steel door behind us and we move on and keep moving. They’ll leave eventually. There are only four of us. The monsters won’t waste too much time on four people.”

  “They wasted fifty years,” Addey argued. “Why not a few more days?”

  Dr. Kasum turned the circular valve, deciding to enter the chamber on his own. Herman joined in, the valve stuck by rust. After the two added enough elbow grease, the door unlocked with a hermetic hiss. An offal stench crept free. The smell had every characteristic of Addey’s past jobs on the island. She feared what was beyond the threshold.

  It can’t be worse than what is outside. Nothing can top that.

  Grace and Dr. Kasum chose the front flank, Cynthia and Addey the rear, and Herman stood in the middle. Addey used a stool as a weapon since she was unarmed.

  The door closed behind them, Dr. Kasum spinning the valve wheel tight to close it off. They were locked in. He unlocked the red box on the wall nearby and retrieved a fire ax and wedged it through the door handle. “That should hold it.”

  “And that would’ve been a kick-ass weapon as opposed to my stool,” Addey complained. “Fuck it. I’m cranky. I start my period today. Seriously.”

  Herman smiled. “I believe you.”

  “I had mine last week,” Cynthia said. “Thank God too. I get serious cramps. Wicked hot flashes.”

  The floor was concrete and slick with condensation. Overhead, it dripped. The room was so humid—humid as a Kansas summer. Addey caught a thermostat beside her, and it read ninety-two degrees. “Christ, it’s hot in here.”

  “It keeps them weaker,” Dr. Kasum explained, “when the temperature is a tad unbearable.”

  “Why are we talking?” Grace demanded. “They’ll hear us.”

  “Good.” Dr. Kasum spoke sharply. “Bring them on. I didn’t want this to be a scavenger hunt.”

  “Well, they’re still dangerous.”

  Addey talked over them both. “It’s too late. They know we’re here anyway.”

  Herman whispered, “Everybody just shut up now.”

  There was no equipment or tables or cages. The deeper they traversed, the more pieces of human anatomy popped up in the form of picked clean bones and torsos ready to be excavated of their contents. Blood had long since dried up or leaked out the tubes positioned throughout the room’s ceiling.

  She turned to the doctor when he suddenly gave a puzzled look. They’d walked every inch of the room. There was no puddle of water that could turn into monsters or anything attached to the ceiling about to drop down on them. Dr. Kasum fixated on the hatch on the wall. The keyhole was a simple circle, no handle or lock mechanism. Dr. Kasum lifted a long-stemmed iron key from his pocket.

  Dr. Kasum said to them, “It looks like they might’ve entered this other room.”

  Grace pointed up to a vent. The grate had been torn off. “No, they went up.”

  Dr. Kasum paced back and forth, thinking. “It’s astounding. I never saw that grate. It must’ve been hidden—or created. All this time, and they could escape. I entered this place and took blood and skin samples. I’ve evaluated them for years. I shuffled old and new monsters out every other week. Many monsters died keeping their plans secret. It’s…it’s amazing what they’ve perpetrated.”

  The doctor turned pale. Then he sobbed, covering his face with his hands in shame. Cynthia placed her hand on his shoulder, but the doctor shrugged her off. “I just need a minute. Please, just a moment to myself.”

  Cynthia walked up to Addey. “You think he’s losing it?”

  “We’re all losing it. This has been his life for decades; what do you expect? His life has been unraveled, and everything he’s worked for was essentially a lie or a failure. He couldn’t cure the monsters of their mutation.”

  Grace’s eyes were fierce. “Who gives a shit? Let’s get into that tunnel and stay safe.”

  Dr. Kasum unlocked the hatch, acting on her suggestion. “Yeah, I agree. It’s a shame is all. We could’ve saved the world. And instead we made it easier for the monsters to overtake us.”

  “They haven’t overtaken us yet,” Addey insisted. “The world is still safe. I’d love it if Mother Nature corrected her mistakes. The ocean could wipe them out. They’d drown at the bottom of the ocean and turn into shark food.”

  “And watch the sharks turn into rabid beasts,” Cynthia spe
culated. “What are next, rabid weasels?”

  Everybody burst out laughing. It lasted for minutes and the cacophony bordered on lunacy. Addey wiped tears from her face, so amused.

  Moving on, the moment of letting go finished, Dr. Kasum turned the key. The hatch came open with a wild creak of a dry hinge. The echo of rushing water channeled below them.

  “What’s that noise?” Addey asked everyone.

  Dr. Kasum said, “The island has a sump pump of sorts. It spits out water that sneaks into the island and cycles it back into the ocean. The bottom hatch is designed for this purpose.”

  Cynthia wore a worried scowl. “Is there really a way out of here?”

  “There’s a walkway that leads to the boarding docks above us. We’re not trapped. I wouldn’t go down unless we had a Plan B.”

  Herman muttered, “And a Plan C, and a Plan D…”

  Addey descended the ladder first. The drop was onto a rusted-out platform decorated in green and black barnacles and heaps of trapped seaweed. The platform had a control room with mechanical towers the size of computers made in the 1980s. A filter system captured the water and spit it back into the ocean with a snowblower’s churn. Suction tubes and steel blades collected the water, the blades like the spinning of a tiller to chop up any thick debris.

  “What do we do now?” Cynthia threw her hands up. “We’re here.”

  Dr. Kasum and Herman were the last to come down. The doctor locked the hatch on the way down and said, “We wait for Richard to arrive…or for the monsters to leave.”

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Richard crouched in front of Brenner’s third-story window. He had an eagle’s-eye view of the courtyard and the feasting monsters.

  They don’t know what’s about to hit them.

  He aimed the tear gun canister, and performing a gut check, pulled the trigger.

  “Fire one!”

  Phooop!

  The canister detonated upon ground impact, shedding blinding smoke.

  “Fire two!”