Chapter 4: Alien Shit Hits the Fan
Anthony remained at his post waiting for the day to end.
About 15 minutes went by when a series of explosions rocked the floors beneath them.
"It may have ended earlier than I thought." He realized.
Klaxon alarms sounded and fires started in one corner of the lobby. Screams could be heard down the hall and several scientists ran through the halls calling for help. Dr. Wood, one of the supervisors, stammered past the front desk but something was awry...
His lab coat was shredded and torn, and his khakis were clean but ripped exposing bruised flesh, but his chest...something was wrong with his chest...It seemed to be moving as if there was something beneath it.
Suddenly his shirt split open revealing a seam of what could only be described as...teeth. And his hands were deformed and lengthened into claws. More disturbing of all, was his head, which was mutilated into having numerous fractures of his skull broken into and brain tissue falling out from under some sort of parasitic thing controlling his body.
Most horrifically, Anthony could still hear under a muffled voice filtering the chilling words..."Help...me!...I can't...see!
Please...god...help...me!"
He hesitantly pulled out his holstered Glock sidearm and regrettably pulled the trigger firing several bullets into where the poor man's cranium should have been. The disfigured man collapsed onto the floor, a mustard yellow blood oozed onto the crevices of the concrete ground.
He stood there mourning the man.
Murtaugh whipped back to his senses. It was no use staying in a disaster zone. It was his duty to attend to the needs of the surviving personnel and escort them to safety.
He looked towards the halls leading to the elevator. To make matters worse, there were more of those crabs appearing from out of green...portals into the facility.
This was going to be a hell of a shift.
-
Harold was almost to the front of the line when a scientist came pushing his way through the crowds.
Cummings could hear the scientist's voice over the crowds bustling near the security checkpoint.
"Please, this is urgent! I need to see Thompson, a Dr. Roger Thompson! It is of vital importance that I reach him as soon as possible!"
Sgt. Guthrie walked over to the anxious scientist. "Sir calm down. We're trying to work out a system crash to verify everyone's I.D. and-"
"Identification?! You don't need to see my identification! The scientist ran through the throngs of workers, past the clearance center, and towards the door. He hollered "I must see him before-"
The grumble of an earthquake-like force shook the Transportation Terminal building to its core. Plaster and stone came crashing down from several spots in the room and a section of the ceiling smashed through the floor above and onto the panicked scientist before he reached the door.
"My god..." Guthrie exclaimed, " what have we unleashed."
Another security guard yelled " Everyone get down!" before Harold was knocked unconscious by a cascade of stone and concrete. He watched helplessly as a moment of pandemonium erupted in the crowds as people rushed over to the other side of the room and Harold Cummings' world went dark.
Meanwhile in the Sector D office complex, Dr. Roger Thompson had given up on meeting with Dr. Heckler, who had failed to arrive as usual, when his lamp began to flicker.
The lamp burned out. Then the whole room became dark. The offices around him began to undergo the same changes in a matter of moments. Sirens sounded. The Black Mesa announcement System came on. "Unauthorized Biological Life forms detected in Sector C and ventilation systems." The voice of his secretary Ms. Charles crept into his room.
"Mr. Thompson? there's someone at the door waiting here to see you. I couldn't understand his name but he mentioned some sort of crab. Did you-"
Ms. Charles mild-mannered question was never finished as she let out a blood-curdling scream as some inhuman creature grabbed her and threw her down the adjacent hallway; breaking the alarms, turning the once vibrant third floor of the office complex into an ominous building of silent despair.