Ice Rift - Xtro: Alien Invasive Horror Thriller

by Ben Hammott

  Blightburn nodded. “That is a good question.”

  “Must be something we haven’t seen yet,” offered Judy. “Perhaps something both alien species are collaborating to produce?”

  They all stared at the screen showing the resting alien.

  “Hopefully, it’ll be destroyed before we find out,” uttered the colonel. “Two alien organisms to contend with are more than enough.”

  Blightburn frowned when the Xtro suddenly darted from the cavern and rushed along the tunnel.

  “Where’s it going?” asked Troy. “That tunnel leads away from the exit.”

  Blightburn knew precisely where it was going. She snatched the walkie-talkie from the desk.

  CHAPTER 39

  Explosions

  As Wesley handed Rick the third explosive charge, his radio crackled with the INSECT director’s voice.

  “You need to prime the explosives and get out of there now! Something’s coming!”

  Toby and Digger looked at the radio the frantic warning had come from. Digger hadn’t lived as long as he had by not listening to his internal voice, informing him something bad was about to happen. He took a few steps away from the shaft.

  Confused by the message, Wesley sought confirmation. “What is coming, Control?”

  “Your imminent deaths if you fail to do as I say. Prime the explosives and get clear, now!”

  Wesley looked at Rick, who had his head and shoulders in the hole. “You hear that, Rick? You need to finish up now.”

  Rick slapped the final explosive on the side of the shaft. “I heard. Ten seconds and I’m done.” As he reached for the activation switch on the destructive device, a slithering from below distracted him. He peered into the darkness as the sound got nearer. Fear gripped him as he fumbled for the switch on the side of the detonator. A soft click turned on the activation light. Something barely discernable appeared at the far reach of his sight, a group of tiny orange dots reflecting the glow from his headlamp. They grew larger fast. Rick almost screamed when the thing entered the beam and slithered in a mass of tentacles toward him. He jolted out of the shaft and slammed the grill shut in a lame attempt to trap the monstrosity.

  “What is it?” asked Toby, noticing Rick’s pale, fearful expression.

  “A monster! Run!”

  Wesley grabbed Rick’s arm, halting the man’s escape. “Are the explosives set?”

  “Yes!” He pulled Wesley’s arm off and darted into the bushes.

  Toby and Wesley backed away from the slithering coming from the shaft.

  Wesley pressed the radio’s talk button. “Control. Shaft 2 is set, and something’s coming up it.”

  “Get clear. We are blowing it now,” warned Blightburn.

  Glancing at the red lights that began to flash as it passed, the Propagator slammed into the metal grill and sent it swinging open. It shot from the shaft and lashed out tentacles at the two fleeing humans when it landed.

  Tripped to the ground by the thing around his ankles, Wesley stared back and froze in terror at the monstrosity that gripped him.

  Toby screamed when something grabbed him by the legs and lifted him into the air. He screamed again when he was shoved headfirst into the shaft. Wedged in the hole, his terrified eyes reflected the blinking lights getting rapidly faster. A bright flash scorched his eyeballs before his head disintegrated.

  The ground around the shaft rose into the air. The blast propelled the Propagator and its captive through the bushes and tumbling down the side of the hill. Limbs flailed as it rolled. Each brutal contact with the ground cracked or broke Wesley’s bones. His pain mercifully ended when his head struck a rock with enough force to crack open his skull.

  The Propagator shot out appendages at a tree and wrapped around it. Its momentum carried it in a circle until it grabbed another tree that brought it to a halt. As earth and rock bombarded the surrounding ground, its tentacles ripped off Wesley’s bloodied clothes from his battered and broken corpse, his feet remaining in his boots when they were savagely torn away by the ankles. As it stripped the flesh from its victim’s body, it rested on other limbs and turned upside down. Tentacles fed chunks of tissue and organs into the hairy mass that quickly absorbed it, nourishment for the seeds swirling in its digestive juices.

  Abandoning the broken skeleton amidst the blood-soaked earth, the Propagator headed for the telltale sounds of more humans hurrying through the undergrowth.

  Even as fit as he was for his age, Digger doubted he would be able to outrun the alien horror he had glimpsed erupting from the shaft when he had turned tail and fled. He looked at Rick a short distance ahead and sighed. Crashing through bushes in his panic, the frightened, reckless soldier couldn’t have produced more noise and an easier trail to follow if it were his intention to do so.

  Digger’s eyes darted to the left at the sound of something moving through the trees. He slowed his pace and glimpsed something dark, fast, and frightening. The living, breathing nightmare was homing in on Rick. Focused on the loud ruckus Rick was making, it hadn’t detected him yet. Digger stopped and concealed himself amongst the rocky edge along the top of the ravine they had traversed through on their way to the airshafts. Certain the alien creature would soon be upon the fleeing soldier, and Rick’s life taken; he would wait until the gruesome deed had been done, and the alien had gone before heading home. He tilted his face to the darkening sky. He would wait here all night if need be to avoid that hellish monster.

  CHAPTER 40

  Second Drone

  In the control room, Blightburn glanced at Yuri. “Is the second drone prepped yet?”

  “Just finished. You want me to send it out?”

  “What do you think? It’s a useless waste of expensive equipment sitting in its locker. Get it airborne and take it to Devil Falls. We need to find and destroy those Xtros that came out of Kathryn’s friends.”

  “There’s also the infected man wearing brown boots from the mine we need to find,” reminded Troy. “If he reaches the town and starts infecting others, it could prove problematic, to say the least.”

  “We have no way of knowing if that hasn’t already happened,” warned Colonel Jennet. “Perhaps it’s reached the point where we need to seriously consider enacting the Scorched Earth protocol before it spreads out of town and becomes uncontrollable.”

  “Duly noted, Colonel. Consider I’m considering it, but it’s not come to that yet.” Blightburn focused on the central screen when the feed from the drone camera Yuri was about to launch appeared.

  Flaps on the comms trailer roof folded back to reveal the yard-wide drone within. The six rotors spun and lifted it gracefully from its garage. It flew over the airbase and headed for Devil Falls.

  Chapter 41

  Rick

  Fear of the monster he had glimpsed in pursuit, and his hazardous sprint to outrun it, carried Rick precariously down the hill and toward the fast running stream snaking through the valley below. Realizing he needed to control his too-fast descent before he twisted an ankle or broke a leg, he grabbed at bushes, tree trunks and shrubs to slow his momentum. His caution was discarded when the creature shot out from the bushes and whipped tentacles at his legs. Rick jumped over them and tripped with his clumsy landing on the uneven terrain. He thudded to the ground; his shoulder painfully took the brunt of the fall. He rolled down the slope, and a few moments later, he was airborne.

  After narrowly missing seizing its prey, the Propagator gave chase and close on Rick’s heels, followed him over the cliff.

  Looking fearfully at the rocks littering the white water he plummeted toward, Rick thought his chances of surviving the fall weren’t looking good. He glanced above when something brushed his foot and saw the frightening monster reaching tentacles for him. He drew in his knees to avoid them and splashed into the river.

  Grabbed by the swift current, Rick clawed his way to the surface with the alien creature foremost on his mind. Turned by the swirling currents, he came face to face wi
th the mass of tentacles splashing their way towards him; it looked like something from a Lovecraft horror story rather than anything that should be encountered in real life.

  Aware the alien wasn’t the only threat to his life, Rick turned so he would head down river feet first. At least then, if he crashed into a rock, he wouldn’t smash his head open or be knocked unconscious, offering him a chance of survival. The wildly frothing water coming up was evidence the rapids were about to get a whole lot rougher.

  Caught in the grip of the current that carried it away from its prey, the Propagator used its plethora of appendages to latch onto a rock and climbed free. It peered ahead at the human swiftly being taken from it. Its eyes scanned the river and picking out a route, used the boulders protruding above the surface as steppingstones—each leap bringing it closer to its target.

  Narrowly avoiding colliding with a large boulder and doing his utmost to keep his head above water and air in his lungs, Rick glanced to the side when he noticed movement. The alien was out of the river and jumping from rock to rock. It was trying to get ahead of him. Although aware of the consequences if it succeeded, at the mercy of the river, Rick could do nothing about it.

  As he desperately racked his brains for a way out of his predicament, Rick remembered what Digger had said earlier when they were just about to cross this very river by means of a tree that had fallen to bridge both banks. ‘Be warned, if you fall in, you’re as good as dead as up yonder it turns into a waterfall that plummets seventy feet into the Devil’s Cauldron, and there ain’t no escape from that bottomless hell. It’ll suck you down to a watery grave, and there you’ll stay until you rot away.’

  Rick inwardly groaned. If the monster didn’t get him, it seemed Devil’s Cauldron would. Swept around a bend, he glimpsed something that might save him from one of the threats. He kicked off the next boulder that came within reach and grabbed at the branch of the tree that half lay in the river. Slimy with algae and from the constant drenching it received, his hand slipped. He grabbed at another branch and groaned when he was yanked to an abrupt halt. He latched on with his other hand and gazed at the creature perched on a rock where it was waiting to pluck him out when he drifted by.

  When it started moving toward him, the available steppingstones taking it on a circuitous route, Rick hauled his tired and aching body out of the water until he could latch an arm over the branch. His right hand reached for the pistol at his waist, his cold, numb fingers having trouble releasing the Velcro strap that held it in its holster. Taking a deep breath to calm his rising panic, his eyes followed the alien skulking ever nearer. Forcing his fingers to grip the Velcro tag, he ripped it free and tugged out the weapon. Water poured from the barrel when he raised it above the surface and aimed at the monster almost upon him. Praying that it would still fire, and his aim was true, he rapidly pulled the trigger.

  *

  When gunshots echoed through the ravine below, Digger moved to the edge of the cliff and looked down at the river. He registered surprise at seeing the creature leaping erratically from rock to rock to avoid Rick’s bullets. When the gun clicked on empty, the beast was still alive. In a last-ditch effort to save himself from the monster’s clutches, Rick threw the pistol at it and let go of the branch he had sought refuge upon. Wondering if the man had decided drowning was a better death than what the monster held in store, Digger watched him being swept toward the lip of the waterfall.

  Surprised by the creature’s swiftness, Digger watched it race across rocks. Just as Rick shot over the edge, it landed on a nearby boulder and leaped over the waterfall after him. Four tentacles grabbed rock anchors as it disappeared from sight and reappeared a moment later when it swung back into view with one tentacle wrapped firmly around Rick’s neck. It landed safely on the boulder and brought Rick close to its face as if to say, ‘I got you.’ Digger could only imagine the terror Rick was experiencing. After eyeballing its human captive for a few moments, the monster headed for the riverbank, climbed the cliff, and disappeared into the undergrowth.

  Digger pitied Rick’s plight. He didn’t particularly like the man, but even his worst enemy didn’t deserve what he had coming. Staring at the position where the creature was last seen, he wondered if it would remain by the river, perhaps to feast on its victim, or move off? He concluded to avoid running into the alien, it would be safer if he spent the night where he was rather than risk venturing down into the valley. He shuffled away from the cliff and ensconced himself amongst the rocks where he settled down for the night, but with the vision of the creature fresh in his mind, he expected sleep would be hard to come by.

  Chapter 42

  Return to Base

  As the thrown-up rocks and debris settled and the sound of the explosion rolling through the valley faded, Richard and the SEALs emerged from their shelter in one of the old mine buildings and crossed to the collapsed entrance.

  Satisfied it was sealed for good, they crossed to the quads.

  Colbert checked Mason’s assault rifle was loaded; Mason would be driving the other quad, so wouldn’t need it. “You’re driving. I’ll need to retaliate if we are attacked.”

  Mason and Sullivan climbed on the other quad, and they headed back to the airbase.

  CHAPTER 43

  Alpha’s New Mission

  Having observed the proceedings from its perch at the top of a tall pine, the Alpha watched the humans leave. When they had gone, it climbed down and crossed to the mine. After scrambling over the rocks blocking the entrance and finding no way through, it pondered the fate of the Propagator; had it been killed, survived the blast and was trapped inside, or, remembering the hole in the cavern roof, had it escaped through another exit?

  To ensure the survival of its species, it would have to assume the Propagator had perished and start over; the humans were proving to be resourceful, but so were they. With just enough seeds remaining inside it to infect the requisite number of hosts required to repeat the process, it would have to choose its next victims wisely. It also needed to seek out a new lair to build a second cocoon. It returned to the forest where it had left its unwilling host, took control of the sheriff, and headed for Devil Falls.

  Eating the tasty carrot his owner had just brought out to him, Benjamin Bunny turned his head toward movement and watched the man walking past the ranch-style wooden fence glance in his direction and halt. Although Benjamin had seen little from his five-foot by two-foot hutch, something within him warned him to be wary of this human. He continued chewing his scrumptious meal while he watched something crawl from the man’s neck.

  Perched on its host's shoulder, the Alpha began a series of bloating pulses before splitting into two. While the new Alpha re-entered the sheriff, the original Alpha headed into the garden toward Benjamin’s hutch.

  Even though it was his memories that had given the Alpha the idea of infecting the rabbit children loved to cuddle, the Sheriff, none the wiser to what had just happened, continued along the path.

  Sensing danger when it approached, Benjamin retreated into the safety of his closed-off bedding area; if he couldn’t see it, it couldn’t see him.

  The Alpha stopped in front of Benjamin’s hutch. After examining the cage for a few moments, it jumped onto the wire mesh, which covered two-thirds of Benjamin’s home. It squeezed through a gap in the wire landing on the floor distributed with pungent rabbit droppings and urine before making its way to Benjamin’s sleeping area. There was a squeal of terror, a brief rustling of straw, then silence.

  Thirty minutes later, Mrs. Nora Vanguard, a part-time nurse at the local medical clinic, exited the house with a basket of damp laundry and began hanging out the clothes, towels, and her spare nurse’s uniform. As she headed back to the house, she noticed something and approached Benjamin Bunny’s hutch. She knelt and put her fingers to the hole in the broken wire mesh, its edges bent out by something rabbit size forcing its way through. Nora opened the door of the bedding area to find Benjamin absent. She stood, he
r knees creaking with the effort and glanced around the garden. Seeing no sign of the escaped rabbit, she sighed and reentered the house. No way was she going traipsing around the neighborhood looking for him. Her husband would be home soon, she’d send him out searching when he got back.

  *****

  The sheriff kicked in the door at the rear of the abandoned ore processing plant situated on the town’s outskirts and entered. After a search of a few rooms proved unsuitable for the task Alpha 2 required of it, he arrived in the smelting foundry. The cavernous roof space was crisscrossed with metal beams and crane rails. Large hulks of abandoned rusting machinery littered the floor space, and large panels of grimy opaque windows ran along the top third of the building. Although most of the glass had suffered the passage of time relatively well and were still intact, some panes were missing, and others were cracked or broken.

  After taking the sheriff on a tour of the room, it proved to be ideal for the task ahead. The second cocoon would be constructed here. To alert the others of its kind to the location when they were ready, it returned to its entry point and wove black strands around the door. Eager to get the cocoon started and have sustenance on hand when the new Propagator emerged, Alpha 2 headed into town to enlarge its workforce and, at the same time, gather the required nourishment.

  *****

  Forced to leave her cubs when her mate failed to return from his hunt, the vixen was out foraging. With her usual hunting grounds alive with human activity, she had sought sustenance for her cubs elsewhere. She skulked through the town heading for the trash bins at the back of the Pick and Hammer bar, where it usually found food scraps, easy pickings that didn’t need hunting down. She halted across the street from the garbage and sniffed the air tainted with the scent of discarded leftovers.