Chapter 7
Sadamoto pulled the door out of the way and began to creep along the corridor, keeping his rifle close to him. His favoured pistol rested in its holster. He nodded at Kagura. Evidently she must have been showing her concern.
"Don't worry about it Miss Kagura" said the man. She nodded slightly. She was worried, the man could easily be falling into a trap. And Miss Kurosawa might be caught too. She liked the woman and didn't want to see anything happen to her. She didn't want to see anything bad happen to any of the people here.
"Am I the only one with a bad feeling about this?" she whispered as Kimura appeared behind her.
"I have a bad feeling about this whole place" replied Kimura quietly. "I personally heard of over five cases of townspeople being killed and partially eaten." He paused, as though pondering over whether to say something. "You didn't hear this from me, but apparently the bodies not cremated soon after post mortem disappeared from the mortuary."
"Disappeared?" she asked. Had the bodies been stolen? Or perhaps something even creepier…even worse then stealing dead bodies. But what could that be?
"Vanished, never seen again."
"He's there" said Kagura pointing.
Sadamoto reached the end door and saw that indeed it was keypad locked. The light was still on, power still present. He slowly clipped the small device onto the keypad and leant back. Kubo looked down in surprise at the computer screen as a small panel appeared, six blank spaces. Suddenly a number appeared. Kubo sat watching as numbers cycled around, too fast to be fuller seen. Another number appeared.
"I think it's working boss!" called out Kubo.
"Finally, a piece of equipment that bloody works" commented Sadamoto. He stood back, the flashing red LED lights hurting his eyes. He rubbed his moustache and turned towards the door where the others waited.
"Obata, Minamo get ready. Come down when I call you" he stated. "Don't enter until I say so."
"Understood" replied Obata. Minamo nodded.
Numbers continued to appear, only one remaining. Finally it flashed up, and a small screen flashed up. Completed. Sadamoto nodded as the door slowly opened. He walked back along the corridor.
"Come on in then."
He turned suddenly as the door at the far end closed. Obata grunted in surprise as the door slammed shut just before he stepped through. A few seconds earlier and he could have been crushed. He gripped the door, pulling on it. He and Minamo turned back to Kubo.
"What the hell is going on Kubo?" asked Yukari, taking a place behind Kubo.
"I don't know, something weird is going on" replied the man. "Oh shit." The screen was busy flashing. A message in red font appeared, continually flashing on the screen. Defence system activated.
"Kubo, what is happening out there?" asked Sadamoto over the walkie-talkie.
"I don't know boss. Get out of there now, something is happening!"
"I'd like to but I can't."
"Obata, Minamo open that door!" called out Yukari, rushing over to join the soldiers. They strained, trying to push the door open, the heavy door not moving at all. Obata un-strapped his gun and placed it on the ground, grunting as he pushed hard against the door.
Kagura sprinted across to Kubo who sat on his own, desperately staring at the screen.
"You have to open the door" she said.
"I know, I know! But I don't know how to, I'm trying!" replied the man, desperately trying to open the doors and disable the system.
"What's going on now?!" asked Yukari out loud.
Sadamoto saw Yukari pointing from the other room at something behind him. He heard a low hum, and saw the lights grow brighter. As he turned he saw two bright spots appearing on each wall, in line with one another. Suddenly a bright thin beam of light was emitted. Sadamoto paused, and watched as it moved forward. Deciding to test this room, see what was happening, he chucked the rifle at the light. He swore loudly as the light passed through it, cutting the metal rifle in half.
"Well shit me" he said, ducking as the beam passed overhead. He pulled out the pistol and shot at the piece of glass where the beam was slowly beginning to appear again. He fired, bullets bouncing off the wall and barely leaving a mark.
He climbed to his feet and watched as another beam moved towards him. He leapt up, the beam suddenly rising. He gripped hold of the metal beam above him, the laser narrowly passing beneath his legs. Just want he needed. The damn system seemed to be responsive, some form of artificial intelligence. Behind him Minamo, Yukari, Obata and Kimura desperately tried to force the door open. Kagura stood beside Kubo, trying to calm the man down as he tried to deactivate the system.
He landed back on the floor, chucking his pistol to the floor. That wouldn't do a damn thing now. He stood waiting, watching as another laser beam began to develop. He doubted he'd get away with using the roof this time. The beam moved forward, and turned, more beams being formed from the one. Sadamoto stood as it developed into a series of fine diamond grids.
No escape.
Minamo turned away as the beams reached the man, who stood staring at them defeated. He felt the briefest experience of intense pain before everything stopped. They passed through the man, reached the end of the room and disappeared. The man was still. Slowly lines began to appear throughout the man as he started to fall apart. His body was divided into tiny diamonds, no blood as the wounds had been cauterized by the intense heat of the lasers. One eye popped as the chunks of the former leader fell to the floor, landing in a haphazard pile of flesh on the floor.
"Oh shit!" yelled Yukari, Minamo still looking down at the floor. She turned to Obata. "Did you see that?!" The man nodded slowly.
Kubo sat typing with one hand, wiping away sweat with a small piece of cloth. He placed it back down on the panel and stepped back. Defence systems deactivated flashed up. He pushed himself away from the panel and slowly stood up. In a slightly nervous manner he stepped towards the door and looked in at his dead commanding officer. He slowly turned to the others.
"Well what the hell happens now?" asked Ohyama.
Kubo stood and took a deep gulp of air, trying to calm himself. He rested his arms against his hips and finally spoke. "I'm shutting down this Red Queen thing. I'm taking the defence systems offline and we are going to investigate this place."
Kagura was impressed. She could tell the man was scared and upset, but he was still trying to remain calm and businesslike. She was also certain that the man blamed himself for the loss of Sadamoto, having been the one to open the door and fail to shut down the system in time.
"Shut down? We should just get out of here!" replied Ohyama in disbelief. "The leader of this team is dead, we have no idea what is down here, we should just fall back."
"We have nowhere to go" replied Kubo. "The only way out of this village other then walking isn't here for several hours."
"Then we should stay in the house above" replied Ohyama.
"How do you know about that place?" asked Yukari stepping close to Ohyama.
"It's like a vague memory, I work here I think" replied Ohyama. "I can remember stepping into the house…a train…this place slightly. But it's all just a blur."
"We have no idea what is down here, and what is up there" replied Kubo. "The house may already be compromised. We are here now, and we have a mission to complete." He looked at Ohyama as the person started to speak.
"I'm not going to have let one of my friends die for no reason at all. It is now a rescue mission. We're here to retrieve Team Bravo and any civilians still left alive. Finding out what happened here is secondary now."
He stepped into the glass corridor and stepped over the warm remains of his commanding officer. Nervously he glanced back at the others.