Finally they arrived at the end of the hall. Kay heard people talking inside one of the rooms, their voices muffled. "Wait here," MacReady told her. He disappeared inside and spoke to someone in a low voice. When he came back out, he motioned for her to come inside. Kay stepped into the room and looked around. It was a communications room; she remembered the one they had back at her base. There was a man sitting in front of the radio. He had headphones over his ears as he tried to reach someone. The other man, Garry, was sitting at a table with papers scattered on it. He motioned for Kay to come and sit down across from him. She sat down in a metal chair as Garry gazed upon her.
"Glad to see you're feeling better, Miss Kennedy," he said. "I have to ask you a few questions regarding you and Mr. Morrison."
"Fire away," she replied. "What do you want to know?"
"After MacReady and Copper brought the two of you here, they went back out and discovered a research base several hundred miles from here." Garry slid a few photos across the table to her. "Recognize this?"
Taking the photos in her hand, Kay gazed down at the black and white shapes. She saw a large building with a sign out front that was written in Norwegian. "Yes," she said, flipping to the others. There was a photo of the inside of a ruined lab; her lab. "This is my base." She flipped to another picture and saw the body of one of her co-workers. Their face was scarred, but she knew instantly it was her fellow researcher, Marianne Banks. Her face was burned and her clothes torn and bloody. She was killed once the creature took her over.
"You worked for the Norwegians?" Garry snapped her back to reality.
"Yes. Denny and I were researchers. We were hired a few years ago, but this was only our second trip down to Antarctica." Garry clicked his tongue and exchanged glances with MacReady. Kay looked at them both. "What?" she asked.
"Miss Kennedy," Garry said. "This base has recently been destroyed. Can you tell us why?"
Kay felt her mouth go dry. "If I told you, then you wouldn't believe me."
"I saw the bodies," MacReady said gravely. "All of them were mutilated in one way or another. One of them had committed suicide with a razor."
"Miss Kennedy, this is a serious situation you're in," Garry leaned toward her. "What happened at your base?"
Before Kay could speak, MacReady spoke up. "We found something," he said, narrowing his eyes. "We found your notes and video tapes. We also found something that appears to be a disfigured man. He was burned alive."
Now she began to panic. "Y-You…you didn't bring it here, did you?"
"Yes, we did. Blair examined it and—"
"Are you crazy?" she exclaimed, rising out of her seat. MacReady was taken aback. "Do you realize what you've done? If that thing is alive…" Kay felt anger well up inside of her. "Oh, God, I cannot go through this again…"
"What thing?" Garry asked. "You know what it is?"
Before Kay could say anything, a loud alarm set off. It rang throughout the base, echoing off the walls. Garry and MacReady exchanged looks and started for the door. "Wait here," MacReady told her. "Watch her, Windows." The two men disappeared outside the room.
Kay glanced back at Windows. "We're just going to sit here?"
He shrugged. "That's what he said."
"What if they need help? We have to help them."
Windows stood up. "Look, ma'am, MacReady told me to watch you—"
Kay was already out the door, following the sound of the alarm. She could hear Windows following her, trying to get her to stop. She looked in the hallway and saw two men running towards the threat. Soon after, she heard several gunshots fired off. Fearing the worst, she jogged towards where they had gone and soon saw everybody outside a cage. Kay cautiously approached the group, gazing at their shocked faces. MacReady had a gun poised at the cage, completely alert.
She could hear weird sounds coming from inside. When Kay looked, she almost threw up. It was a giant, disgusting bulk of blood and skin in the shape of a dog. The dog's head was misshapen, its mouth and ears disproportioned with the rest of its body. There was a dead dog carcass lying up against the wall, a gunshot wound in its chest. The creature snarled menacingly as two more slimy body parts grew out of it. The body parts, looking more like giant arms, shot out of its back and grabbed the ceiling. The creature pulled itself up to the ceiling and hung there. There were shouts as someone entered the scene wearing a flame thrower.
"Damn it, Childs, torch it!" MacReady shouted, yanking the door open. Childs entered the cage and froze as he gazed upon the creature. After a moment's hesitation, he cranked up the flame thrower and burned the hanging dog. It howled as the flames made contact with its skin, falling limply to the floor. Three of the guys then rushed in with fire extinguishers and hastily extinguished the flames.
"You were supposed to be watching her," Garry said.
"Look, I'm sorry, but she just sprinted away from me," Windows explained.
Kay wasn't paying any attention to what they were saying. MacReady caught her eye and they exchanged astonished glances. She quietly stared back at the burnt creature, realizing the horror she had just endured would now be starting all over again.