The Thing
1905 Words
“Never mind, it's too late to back out now.” Azura cleared her throat, she was still desperately resisting the pressure of nausea in her stomach. “Stop complaining, this is already our mission. Move up! Warrick, keep contacting Lazar and Koa.”
Warrick took out the radio from his belt, repeatedly shrinking his nose. His eyes reddened, bottling up his disgust. “Yes, boss.”
“Sewell, were you able to infiltrate this facility's server system? Find out about the surveillance cameras.”
“I'm on it.” Sewell opened his tablet, starting to work as Azura ordered. Slinging his rifle behind his back, he focused on his tablet.
“They have hundreds of binary codes that I'm having a hard time breaking through.”
“Do what you can, I want to see the records of the surveillance footage.”
“Yes, boss.”
Warrick shook his head, he tried repeatedly to contact Koa or Lazar. There was still no answer. This worried him greatly. “No answer, boss.”
Azura let out a deep breath, thinking of her next actions. “Wait for them for a while longer, we can't continue our mission without them. If they don't return in fifteen minutes, we'll have to pick them up. Relax, they managed to reboot the system generator, they'll be fine.”
“According to the navigation X sent, the vault is in bunker 3F.” Norman added, reading the map and all the information written on the tablet screen. Everything about this core facility.
“I found the blueprints of this facility!” Knox stated, the blueprint map embedded in the glass of the steel wall. Knox smashed the glass with the tip of his rifle. Tearing off the four corners of the blueprints, he pulled them out.
Knox, Azura and Norman checked the blueprint map. It also recorded the creation of the Positron reactor arc core. Knox pointed to the top floor. “We're here 1F, access to the bunker is via the main hangar station elevator at the other end. Bunker 4F is the lowest terminal. That's the reactor arc core terminal. Bunker safe terminal 3F. To get there we have to go through terminal 2F; it's the research center.”
“Okay,” Azura nodded. ”While waiting for Lazar and Koa to return, check your weapons. Look for any information you can find. How did it go, Sewell?”
Sewell shook his head, “I managed to hack in, but the surveillance cameras are down, refusing to stream the footage. Just bad signal.” He replied, showing his tablet, and handed it to Azura.
Azura tried to figure it out, pressing all the buttons, but failed. “Well, let it be. Good job, Sewell.” She took out her radio, still trying to contact them. In the end, though, there was no answer. Azura cursed inwardly, occasionally checking her military watch.
Eleven minutes passed, they still didn't show up. Azura glanced at all her remaining members.
“We're running out of time, boss. It looks like they...”
“Don't say that!” Azura pointed at Warrick, cutting his statement off, “don't you dare say that, under my command, no one gets hurt!”
Norman looked down dejectedly at Azura's words. He knew exactly how it felt. Any soldier would be hurt if his compartment was K.I.A. Norman chose to remain silent, even a comment full of sincere comfort would not help.
Sewell volunteered with Knox. “Boss, just continue the mission, let me and Knox look for them.”
“Alright,” Azura had no other choice, agreeing to Sewell's proposal. “We need to complete this mission. This place is the assembly point. The radio not working must be due to radiation waves. The tablet is still working. If something does happen, you can send an emergency message to Mr. Austin.”
“Got it.”
Azura briefly gripped Knox's hand, and emphasized her words with a glint in her eyes, between earnestness and pleading. “Be careful, promise you guys to survive no matter what.”
***
Azura moved her head. “Let's keep it up. We have to find the safe soon, so we can leave here as soon as possible.”
“Main hangar, that's the elevator.” Warrick pointed to the steel door that resembled a capsule.
Norman realized that the main hangar was the only clean place without any dead bodies or blood splatters. This was extremely disconcerting.
The surveillance cameras weren't working, they were blind with no clues, and X wasn't telling him anything about what was happening in that place.
[That damn silver plate for Rod and Cathy’s lives.]
Norman's eyes roamed the enormous main hangar where there were rows of aircraft and various combat vehicles.
Other rooms include a robot military storage facility, a clean power room, radioactive waste management, a high flux isotope reactor, and a moving crane on the roof.
[This is so sickening. There's no way X doesn't know. X must know exactly what's going on in this place. I don't follow. Does X have anything to do with Intelligence and Charles? What the hell are these damn silver plates for? Too many casualties.]
Warrick let out a long breath. “This is the only place without human organs or corpses scattered about. What do you think, boss?”
“I have no idea.” Azura shook her head, she checked the radiation detector on her belt. “But here the radiation waves aren't too high.”
Norman opened the door to the armory room. He entered, his eyes searching for something.
There were many types of weapons, bomb launchers caught Norman's attention, and he grabbed whatever he could carry.
Azura and Warrick followed, finding an armory like this was like getting the best gift for Christmas.
Warrick whistled. “God bless us.”
Azura watched Norman, the man knew exactly what he was looking for or wanted to use.
Norman even knew how to assemble the weapon.
Azura stated, “You lied to us.”
Norman focused on assembling his weapon. “About what?”
“I know earlier, you do have a background in the military.” Azura felt deceived, “don't argue anymore, what is your unit?”
Hanging the bomb launcher on his back. Norman stared at Azura expressionlessly. “That's not a pleasant thing to discuss, it's better you blind about me. I don't intend to tell anyone either. We're part of the deal, right?”
“Lost your whole compartment, I guess.”
Norman paused, feeling as if the back of his head had been hit with a sledgehammer.
“I can see that wound in your eyes,” Azura added.
“Let's go, boss. The elevator's open!” Warrick called from outside.
Warrick pressed the elevator button to terminal 3F, but suddenly the elevator stopped at terminal 2F.
“What the hell happened?” Warrick pressed the 3F button multiple times, “it's stuck! It won't move!”
Azura pressed the button after Warrick, with the same result. The elevator was stuck at terminal 2F.
Warrick opened the blueprints, “we're stuck in terminal 2F. It's the research center.”
The panel showed terminal 2F, the screen a faded, throbbing error. Norman tapped the panel box, hoping it would work again. But nothing happened.
[Brag!]
Suddenly, a strange growling sound came from outside the elevator, threatening their safety, odd booms that shattered the elevator walls.
The electricity in the elevator went out, the intense tension gripping them, strangling their necks until they forgot how to breathe.
“What the hell was that?!” Warrick shouted in panic.
They raised their weapons, ready to fire, but the atmosphere instantly quieted. There was no more growling or banging against the elevator walls.
“It's bad.” Norman spoke breathlessly, his hand feeling the crumbling walls of the elevator. It was cold as ice.
The nightmare continued, as the sound of an explosion up there shook the elevator.
“We have to get out of here!” Azura cursed whatever was striking them out there.
The button panel jammed, unable to open the elevator door, Norman took out a crowbar, and forced open the steel elevator door. He groaned, his hackles standing out. “OPEN UP! DAMN IT!”
Azura and Warrick helped push down the crowbar, eventually unlocking the elevator doors in time.
“GO!” Norman ordered, letting Azura and Warrick out first, the battered elevator shaking again, threatening to freefall to the bottom of the bunker.
Azura reached out, “Come on! Give your hand!” then she pulled Norman out as the elevator plummeted to the bottom of the bunker, narrowly missing Norman's leg.
Breathing heavily, Norman moved backwards as he realized he was safe. A small explosion sounded from the bottom of the bunker, but massive flames shot upwards.
Azura roared in horror. “RUN!”
More explosions followed behind them. Norman, Azura and Warrick ran with all their might without looking back.
Azura shot at the steel door panel blocking their escape route. The steel door labeled Positron Terminal Research was flung wide open. Norman grabbed the emergency button, pressed it, and the steel door slammed shut again.
A massive explosion occurred, shaking the entire terminal and shattering all the glass in the research rooms.
There was nothing they could do but lie on the floor, the shaking and banging of the explosion slowly calming down.
“Everybody good?” Norman got up first, with his breathing labored, extending a hand to Azura and Warrick. “Thanks for your hand.”
Azura and Warrick stood up, checking the condition of the research terminal that had turned into an emergency status.
“We have to find another way.” Azura declared, turning on the flashlight on her double barrel assault riffle. “The radio is completely dead.”
Norman's tablet lost signal, he clucked in dismay. [Could this get any worse?]
Warrick opened his blueprints again, checking the map. “There's another exit at the end of corridor E12. It's a kind of emergency staircase connected to terminals 2F, 3F and 4F. That's the only way out.”
“Well, let's hope the fire escape wasn't destroyed by the explosion. Nobody hurts, are you?” asked Azura, making sure their protective suits were still tightly closed.
Their oxygen panel beeped as it was running low. Norman girded his loins. “The oxygen supply is running low; we need to find a spare oxygen cylinder.”
Again, this research terminal had the same fate as 1F, with many scientist-clad corpses scattered about, with their limbs mutilated as if something had brutally ripped them apart.
“We'll look for it as we go. They must have stored oxygen reserves in a special room. Let's go. The faster we move, the better.”
“This way.” Warrick pointed down the left corridor.
Norman glared in horror, his feet freezing when he saw the figure of a monstrous creature emerge, ravenous for prey, snarling, showing sharp jagged jaws, horrifying. He stuttered. “What the hell is that thing...?”
And those black lines...
The humanoid monster pounced on Warrick, tearing his body apart as if tearing paper. Crushes Warrick’s helmet, eats his head.
Azura screamed hysterically; full of horror and terror. “NO! WARRICK! HEAVY FIRE!”
***
- Writer
