Chapter Four: Worse Than Death
Joel and Emily were thrown violently from their beds, sending them sprawling across the floor. Joel felt a dull pain in his ribcage as he landed hard on his laptop, his leg still caught in his bed sheets. He heard his wife scream as her form landed near his, colliding with the door to his bathroom. Then the floor started to shake violently. Emily screamed.
But Joel did not get a chance to say anything before the room was suddenly plunged into total darkness despite the faint light still outside. For a second, he could not even see in front of his face. He put his hands on the floor to push himself to his feet, but then something happened that he could not explain.
A thick trail of deep orange lights suddenly webbed its way across the floor under his hands. The lights moved with the fluidity of water but with the motion of a serpent crawling across the desert floor as they branch outside and slowly went to cover the walls. Joel watched in stupefied amazement as the lights formed intricate patterns and symbols that he could not interpret. They gleamed sharply in the pitch blackness, and kept winding their way around until the entire room was covered in a terrifying display of hellish lights. He felt a tingling sensation in his hands as the lights pulsed rapidly. And then—
"RRREEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"An inhuman, earsplitting shriek consumed him. It literally traveled through him, rattling his bones, and making his ears buzz. He then cried out, and put his hands to his ears. It was so loud…
Emily screamed again, but Joel could no longer see her in the darkness. What was going on! He knew he must be having a nightmare. He had to be. This couldn't be real…this couldn't be real…
But then all of a sudden, the scream abruptly ceased. The lights that had covered the entire room flashed brightly and disappeared, and normal light started to slowly return. Then Joel gasped, realizing he'd been holding his breath the entire time. He took his hands off of his ears, and put a hand to his chest. His heart was pounding. He turned his trembling head towards Emily. She was lying on the floor, covering her head and whimpering. Her eyes were tightly shut. But slowly she opened them, and looked at Joel. "What was…?" she whispered. "Joel, that scream…it was the same one in my dream…"
"Emily, calm d—" Joel began, but then the floor shifted again under their bodies. Emily screamed again, and her hands immediately went to her head. But then the tremor faded. "Emily…" Joel tried again. But this time he was interrupted by another voice.
"Main system power failure!" an alarmed voice declared over the PA. "Emergency! All systems shut down in sectors Alpha Sector, Beta Center, Delta Labs. All marine report immediately to Marine HQ! I repeat—"
"Secondary power systems enga—" Another voice cut the other one off.
"Secondary system power failure." the second voice amended.
"Tertiary servomotors online. All personnel—" yet another voice announced. But then that one stopped as well. The Joel heard a loud hum slowly die outside in the hallway. The power was going out.
"Joel, what's going on!" Emily cried. "What's wrong!"
"I have no idea." Joel said slowly, shaking is head. "Get your clothes on. We have to find out. We have to find out…"
"Oh my God!" Emily cried. "Joel! Where's Megan!"
-
Steve Hammer had already picked himself up off the floor. He was clutching a crying Megan in his arms tightly. The lights in the bar were still flickering, but the room was lit by something else. "God have mercy…" Steve whispered as he watched the scene in helpless horror.
He did not know if he was hallucinating or not, or he had just gone completely insane from the shock of the impact and the writings that had written themselves across the walls, floors, and ceilings. But he knew he could feel Megan's little heart thudding in her chest and hear her cries. Whether or not this was real, it would be foolish to believe anything else. His hand instinctively went to cover her eyes from the scene before her as he said, "Sweet Jesus…"
A flaming, almost transparent skull and drifted its way into the room only seconds after the writing had vanished. Then, soundlessly, it had flung itself at a stunned Ronnie. And then it had gone down his throat, its fiery tail lingering above his lips. Steve watched in horror, as the man suddenly lifted off of the ground. Even from where he was, Steve could hear the man gagging.
The bartender's chubby fingers grasped desperately for something in midair, his legs kicking desperately. "Help me…" he gurgled out, his eyes fleeting for an instant to Steve's. But Steve could not move. Only watch in horror. Then the worst happened.
There was a sickening crunch as Ronnie's head snapped backwards at an impossible angle, and suddenly his fingers stop twitching. But the body continued to float in midair. Megan began to cry louder, pressing her head against Steve's armored chest. Then, whatever force had caused this horrific scene, unceremoniously dumped the body to the floor behind the counter with a loud thud.
Steve swallowed hard. "Shhhh…" he hissed shakily to Megan, trying in vain to calm her down. But with his other hand, he reached for his pistol. This wasn't over. It couldn't be. He closed around the butt of it, drawing it slowly.
And that's why we grabbed Megan and stood up when he heard shuffling behind the counter. He held the girl close to him, his palm already slick with sweat. But his aim was steady, trained from years of experience. And as shocked as he was he was not afraid. He knew that the feeling would dilute his senses and block out what he needed to feel. And Megan needed to know he was confident. It was still almost pitch black, but there was still shuffling behind the counter. "Ronnie!" Steve barked, making Megan cringe. And to his surprise, a hand shot up from behind the counter and grabbed the edge of it, clumsily wrapping its fingers tighter around the lip. But Steve made no motion to approach. He kept his pistol trained on the darkness.
And when Ronnie rose, Steve made no move to put down his gun. Megan, who slowly turned her head to take a peek, screamed and buried her head back against Steve's chest. And part of Steve wished he could have done the same. It was Ronnie's body to say the very least. But in the dark, Steve could his illuminant, beady white eyes. They were glazed over, staring at him and yet at nothing out into the darkness. Steve stepped backwards are Ronnie's jaw unhinged, hanging slack inside of his head. His tongue rolled out, and his arms were still clumsily swinging at the air as if he was reaching for something. And his skin was slowly turning white, paling in the darkness.
Megan screamed again before she started crying, and Steve snapped out of his stupor. "Ronnie! What in blazes are you—!"
"Life!" a voice echoed in Steve's mind. He looked at Ronnie, and saw the corners of the man's lips had turned upward into a sick grin. But his jaw was still hanging open. Steve leveled his pistol at Ronnie's head. Then Ronnie made a gurgling noise in his throat, and grasped at Steve.
And then Steve knew there was nothing in that body. At least nothing alive. It…it wasn't alive. It couldn't be, and Megan's little heart thudding her chest assured him that whatever this thing was, it wasn't human anymore. He pointed at the thing's chest, and fired.
The shot drowned out Megan's scream, the loud snap of the pistol instantly filling the room. The shot sent he body recoiling back into the counter, knocking over glass and bottles to the floor, creating a loud shattering noise. But the thing got up, it's smile even broader, the light in its dead eyes gleaming even brighter. He fired once more, but this time he aimed for its head.
The ensuing, sordid lobotomy was nothing that Steve ever wanted to see again. The hollow point bullet blew the top of its head clean off, and sent a mop of dark hair flying into the cabinets behind it with a sick splat! Purple-red specks of its brain and skull splattered the wall behind it, and as for the thing itself, it fell backwards again into the cabinets with a loud clang. Then it sunk to the floor, but this time, it did not get up. A loud sigh exited its body. Then a sickening stillness fell over the bar. Steve watched as it disappeared into the darkness. "I'm…I'm sorry, Megan…" he said. "I'm sorry…"
"Is it gone?" she whimpered, her sobs quieting a little. "I don't wanna see it! Is it gone!"
"Steve took care of it." he whispered. "That thing won't bother you no more…"
"This isn't fun…" she said, sniffing loudly. "This isn't fun…"
The smoke from the end of his pistol drifted away, disappearing into the darkness. He held her closer, rocking her gently like he used to do with his daughter once upon a time. He held her tight, and said, "Mr. Steve is just as surprised as you are, ma'am. Lord knows it's true…"
But he knew that couldn't be it. He couldn't explain it, but the feeling was still here. This room reeked of death and decay, twisting his stomach into a knot. Whatever this was, it was just getting started. He looked out towards the door where they came from. The door's power panel was still flashing green. It was open. He did not know if it was safe to go out, but not going was worse than nothing. Life, Steve thought, is exactly what I intend to keep, whatever you are. And that's no empty promise.
-
McDonough and Ricks slung their machine guns out in front of themselves, and fired at the moving shadows in the dark. Both of them had been heading for their rooms when suddenly all this crazy shit suddenly happened, throwing both of them off of their feet. And now metal panels were popping off the walls like some freak earthquake, gas was hissing out, and they couldn't see a goddamned thing. But they had taken out their flashlights, strapping them to their guns. Now the small circles of light in front of them were their only source of light since the overhead skylights revealed nothing but the dark Martian night. And they weren't firing for any reason, either. Already, they'd both seen these ghost heads flying around and into people's room. Then all of a sudden, these people would burst from their rooms…and would run at them. McDonough had only had to see that glow in their eyes to know that they meant to rip his head off. And, with the terror that filled him now, it's all he needed to know. He didn't' care how this had happened, but he was booking it to Marine HQ on the double.
They both heard a screech in the darkness behind them, so they kept running. McDonough heard Ricks throw an empty cartridge behind him and slap a new one into his machine gun. "Eat this!" he shouted, pointing his gun behind him, and firing randomly into the darkness, lighting up the floor and walls with glaring flashes of light and loud noise.
McDonough looked back into the halo of light Ricks had created, and saw another panel fly off of the metal walls with a loud clang. He also saw the spark of bullets as Ricks wasted yet another clip on the darkness.
But he was brought to a sudden stop as he ran into something tall and soft. He heard a collection of screams as he and whoever he'd run into were thrown to the floor by the force of his collision. Ricks, who had fallen behind, suddenly turned, pointing the gun ahead of him again. "Freeze!" he shouted, hand already on the trigger.
"No!" a familiar voice cried. McDonough shook his head and looked in the darkness. He couldn't tell who it was, but he saw a hand go up. "We're friendlies! What're you pointing that flashlight in my eyes for, Ricks!"
"Oh, man!" Rocks said, putting down his gun for a second. "Joel, is that you?"
Another light went on in the darkness, revealing the figure. It was indeed Joel, and some chick. He was wearing a suit of armor and carrying a shotgun in one hand, a flashlight in the other. The chick was wearing an oversized shirt and a pair of cargo shorts. Both of them were sitting on the floor, panting, and looking as scared as McDonough felt. "Yes, it's me! Who else would it be! Stop waving that gun around, damn it! What the hell's going on!"
"Damned if I know!" Ricks said, his voice on edge. "But did you see that weird writing shit! And those ghosts! Jesus Christ, I'm going to go insane if—"
"Shut up!" McDonough finally broke in. "Listen, we got to get to Marine HQ! They've got all those intel satellites. They know what's going on here! We've already killed some guys here who looked…shit, I don't know, man!"
"That was you two firing?" Joel said. "You guys are stupider than I thought. And now you run into me! Why are you shooting at our goddamned soldiers! They can help us—"
"Shut your fuckin' mouth, we know what we saw!" Ricks exploded angrily, scrambling to his feet. "Yeah, we already killed some of our guys! But you haven't seen these guys, Joel! These guys…I saw Harris, man, and I know Harris would definitely stop running at me with a razor after taking forty fuckin' shots to the chest! And I don't know about you, but I'm heading to MHQ now! You and your bitch can stand there and reason with whatever the hell's back there!" He thrust his gun back towards the darkness behind them. "But you would have shot too, Joel! You would have fuckin' shot too!"
For a minute, the only sound was everyone's heavy breathing. Then Joel swallowed hard, and said, "Fine…fine. You guys go ahead! My daughter's somewhere in this base, and I'm not going to lose her to a freak accident!"
"Shit, man! What the hell—your daughter!" McDonough exclaimed. "Jesus Christ, what did I miss over the past few days!"
"It don't matter now!" Ricks said, slapping his partner on the shoulder. "But we need to get to command. Now. They'll know what's going on…"
"Did anyone bring their radio!" Joel demanded. Ricks looked at McDonough, and exchanged glances that revealed the obvious answer to that question. The Joel went off again. "Geez! Am I the only one who does his job around here!"
"I don't have time for this bullshit." McDonough said, and began trotting off. Ricks watched in amazement as he shrugged past the chick and started walking away. "Aren't you coming, bud!" McDonough challenged, pausing only briefly before continuing on. Ricks looked at Joel, and looked at the gradually disappearing figure of McDonough. He watched as his friend slid into the nothingness, and he was left standing with Joel and the chick, the incandescence of his flashlight and Joel's wobbling and wavering as it cast a dull portal of light that gleamed harshly n the metal walls.
There was a moment of silence as all stopped to catch their breath, and finally Joel dipped his head and swallowed. "Listen…"
And they all turned and looked back into the darkness. Sure enough, there was the click-clang of feet on the metal tiling somewhere in the vacuum of nothingness. It sounded distant, but it grew louder and traveled up and down the walls as if there was something climbing on it. A floor panel vibrated as the click-clang suddenly stopped, followed by a heavy thud. Ricks wiped the sweat from his brow with a shaky hand, and he felt the muscles in his neck twitch as he clenched his jaw. He turned, his flashlight slowly creeping along the ground as he moved. The small circle of light in front of him was his only clue as to what was back there. But he froze again as the footsteps returned, but they were heavier now, the click-clang morphing into a thudding noise. Ricks slowly raised his rifle, staring straight into blackness where he last heard the sound.
But there was n—
WHUMP!
The chick screamed, and a suddenly a huge shadow flitted over the group. Ricks felt all of his internal bodily functions halt for a moment, but his body kept moving. He spun and immediately pointed his gun at the ceiling, numbly firing off a burst at the quick movement. There was a cacophonous racket as his gun fired, creating an epileptic nightmare in the confined space. But his common sense suddenly snapped back in to his head as he stared at the dented, blackened, pockmarked scar that his bullets had left on the ceiling. The thing had already come and gone.
He looked over. Joel had raised his shotgun, and was pointing it at the ceiling too. The chick was clutching her arms around his raised, knees knocking together. But he finally looked at Ricks also, and nodded. "I…I think we better keep moving." And that suggestion was unanimously decided as they lowered their guns and, slowly but surely, started creeping the way McDonough had gone. The chick did not let go of Joel's waist, but just held on tighter. He put his free arm around her reassuringly.
Ricks cast his eyes back to the darkness behind them for the last time. But he dared not wait for something else to happen. Because whatever went bump in the night was eventually bound to get tired of bumping. He turned to the path ahead. The elevator was 75 meters ahead. If they were lucky, they might catch up with McDonough as well. But it was much too early to hope for the best.