There was a part of Jack that thought that he would be...well, thrilled wasn't exactly the right word, but, to some degree, looking forward to going outside. Even if 'outside' was airless, frozen dead space, surely it was better than being inside the bloodied chromium corridors of Phobos Base, trapped with ravenous beasts and insane cannibals. Except, he reflected as he stood in the airlock with Sergeant Blackmore, waiting for it to complete its cycle, he was not looking forward to what was coming next. If anything, he was afraid.
The pair of them were heading outside first, to make sure the area was secure. According to the plan they'd concocted, (it was so simple it could hardly be called such), they wouldn't have to go all that far. The airlock would let them out about fifty meters from the auxiliary communications tower, which was built on a small rise of land. It was supposed to be a stable, easily-defended piece of land. And they were hoping they didn't have to defend it at all. Not that Jack had any hope of that. He focused up.
The airlock completed its cycle.
The doors slid open in absolute silence.
Jack once more found himself staring out over the dead, gray surface of Phobos. He couldn't see anything in the immediate vicinity, so he and Blackmore stepped out, each of them clearing their side of the area.
"We're clear," Blackmore reported.
Jack continued surveying the area while the other two cycled through the airlock. The lights along the exterior of the base pushed back the heavy darkness, but only so much. There wasn't a whole lot in this area, though he could see the comms tower ahead of them and, even farther away he could just make out the dark bulk of the other structures they had yet to investigate. They were ringed by brilliant lights. Jack was hoping they wouldn't have to go any further. They would fix the radio, call for help, and wait for the retraction team.
And that would be that.
Jack wasn't a coward and he didn't like to run from a fight but...this was insane. The other two finished cycling through and they did another sweep of the area before beginning their trek across the surface. They moved at as brisk a pace as they could manage, their muzzle-mounted flashlights activated, punching holes in the gloomy darkness. Jack didn't particularly feel comfortable with all that light telegraphing their position from a mile off, but the light here was poor and they didn't really have any other choice.
The silence was ominous and total. All he could hear was his own breathing and the rumble of his heartbeat or the occasional sound over the comms channel. As he continued searching the darkness, Jack found his mind wandering. He wasn't sure if it was the horror of the situation or if he was actually a lot lonelier than he thought, but his thoughts immediately turned to Jennifer. It wasn't just that she was great in bed or that they got along really well in the limited time they'd enjoyed together, it was something more complicated.
He really liked her, and he lamented his current situation because if things had continued the way they'd been rolling along, he would have more than likely pursued a real relationship with her. There was a simple but powerful certainty to her, and he'd always been attracted to women like that. Women who, even if they might be in a shit situation or facing down something terrifying, they persevered and got the job done.
Jack snapped back to reality as he thought he saw something. They were almost to the comms tower. As he slid his flashlight beam across the surrounding area, he saw that the terrain was fairly rocky and uneven.
A lot of places for enemies to hide.
They made their way up the rise of land and came to the comms tower. It seemed to be clear, although it was obvious that someone had been here at some point. The tower itself was a cold steel monolith of metal and technology, rising a good three stories into the airless sky. It was built onto a twenty by twenty square platform that had concrete barriers along its perimeter. Jack frowned as they finished following a simple path that looked like it had been steamrolled, and came at last to the platform.
This place was almost designed as if the creators had a battle in mind.
Exactly how much had they known?
With these disturbing thoughts in mind, Jack led the way up onto the platform and checked it out, moving slowly around the tower, playing his flashlight across the area. Still nothing. He could see signs of tampering, a few panels along the base of the tower were open and occasionally spat blue-white sparks.
"See what we're working with here, McGee," Blackmore said.
"On it," she replied, moving quickly across the platform and crouching at the base of the communications tower.
"Secure the area," Blackmore ordered.
Jack moved over to one side of the platform, playing his light across the landscape once more, hunting for hostiles out there in the darkness. This whole place put him on edge. The knowledge that there were only a few centimeters of fabric and armor between him and a painful, frozen death was really starting to get to him. There was nothing out there but a silent, pockmarked gray landscape of craters and hills, and…
The light hesitated as it fell on something. Some kind of dark movement.
"I think-" Jack began and then let out a startled warning shout as one of those dark-armored zombies popped up from behind one of the rocks. It opened fire on him, holding a pistol. The round sparked silently off of the concrete barrier in front of him.
"Contacts on the left side, too!" Blackmore reported.
Jack took aim with his own pistol and fired. The first shot was sure and true, hitting the faceless horror right in its faceplate and shattering it. The inhuman monster disappeared from sight as it fell slowly back to the surface. He didn't have long to enjoy his initial victory because suddenly, half a dozen of the bastards popped up from their hiding spots. And they'd brought company! Four Lost Souls rose from behind the rocks and hills, burning impossibly in the dead space, coming towards him. Cursing, Jack shifted his aim.
"Lost Souls!" he called.
He began popping off shots and managed to cap one of the impossible horrors. It must have been a lucky shot, because the thing burst into a spray of bleached bone that fell slowly to the surface. The others swam towards him through the open space as the zombies plinked away at him. Cursing, Jack crouched, took aim, and kept up his fire. He emptied his pistol and managed to bring down two more of the Lost Souls.
The final one was dangerously close now.
Jack dropped his pistol and managed to snap his shotgun up into play. He squeezed the trigger and hit the final flying skull dead on and almost point blank. The slug shell demolished the creature, blowing it away in a miniature explosion. Letting out a sigh of relief, Jack then cursed as a round scorched past, nearly puncturing his suit. He crouched, let his shotgun hang and hastily reloaded his pistol. He ducked his head as one of the zombies that had made it closer opened fire on him again, then popped up and fired.
Two shots took it in the chest and then the neck. Apparently, zombies needed to breathe, because this one dropped its gun and started clawing at its throat. Not dead yet, but out of the game. He shifted and fired again, then again, emptying another magazine in as calm and controlled a manner as he could manage, and put down the others.
Jack remained crouched as he reloaded, then peered cautiously over the edge of the concrete barriers. He didn't see anything else moving out there.
"Clear right," he reported.
"Clear left," Jennifer said.
"Clear forward. Ward, check the back," Blackmore replied.
"Yes, Sergeant." Jack moved low and fast across the platform to the back, the way they'd come from, and scoped the situation out. He didn't see anything moving. After a moment, he reported back. "We're clear," he said.
"Good. McGee, where are we on those repairs?" Blackmore asked.
"Getting there," McGee replied.
"All right...Ward, Taylor, head out there, gather whatever ammo you can. One of you watch the other," Blackmore said. "I'll maintain overwatch from up here."
"Yes, Sergeant," they both replied, and then headed out.
They took Jack's side first and moved carefully among the rocks. The next several minutes passed in stark silence. They took turns guarding each other while they patted down the corpses. Most of them were under-equipped. They managed to police up several magazines for pistols, a handful of shotgun shells and a few more mags for the SMG, which Jack took half of and added to his own inventory after giving the rest to Blackmore when they got back, who was the only other one among them who had an SMG.
He reloaded his own SMG and frowned. He only had one spare mag in reserve now, but he supposed it was better than nothing. Since he was doing decently with shells, he gave whatever he'd gathered to Jennifer.
"Okay," McGee said suddenly. "I did it. It's fixed. We should have-"
Jack felt terror seize him and he blanked out all else as he saw it. It was sailing straight down, dive-bombing like a depth charge from Hell, over McGee's head. A Lost Soul. He screamed a warning as he raised his pistol, but it was already too late.
The thing disappeared straight into her skull.
"Back!" Blackmore snapped, stumbling away from her.
McGee dropped the tools she'd been holding. They fell slowly and hit the platform soundlessly. She began screaming. The sound was awful and godforsaken and seemed to consume Jack's whole world right then. Her hands shot up to her helmet and she began beating at it, shuddering violently, as though in the grips of a tremendous seizure.
"HELP ME! HELP ME!" she shrieked, falling to her knees.
Jack caught a flash of blood on the inside of her helmet. He was frozen in indecision, having no idea what to do, caught in a paroxysm of terror. McGee suddenly dropped down to her hands and knees and bashed her helmet into the platform. She reared up and did it again. As she came back up for a third time, there was a stark white flash and her head snapped to the side. Blood flew out and flash froze as she fell to the platform again.
"Get her weapons," Blackmore said quietly after a moment, lowering his pistol.
Jack still felt frozen, but he forced himself to move. Numbly, he took a few steps across the metal deckplates, then fell to his knees. He patted down McGee's body, mutely collecting her weapons and ammunition.
"Done," he reported softly as he got back to his feet.
"Let's get back inside," Blackmore said, his voice flat.
They regrouped in the control room once more. Jenkins was standing guard and looking better than he had before. Some of his color was back and he wasn't sweating so much. Baker was leaned forward, staring at the screen of the primary workstation.
"Sergeant Blackmore, I've found a few things out," she said.
"Comms are back up. McGee's dead," Blackmore replied bleakly.
Jenkins stiffened and Baker sat up, turning to stare at them. "What? How?!"
"Lost Soul," Jack said.
"What'd you find out?" Blackmore asked.
"Not as much as I'd like to," Baker said, her features falling at the news of another KIA, and turned back to the screen. "But more than I expected. Their databases are pretty scrambled. I know what the Phobos and Deimos Anomalies are. They're gateways. Teleportation devices. There's a little confusion here about whether or not they discovered the gateways here on the moons, or they built them themselves. I'm not entirely sure. Essentially, when you turn them on and link them up, you can step through and cross the distance instantaneously. Teleportation."
"So what does that have to do with zombies and flying skulls and monsters?" Jack asked.
"I don't know. Maybe...they're from another dimension?" Baker replied, shrugging.
"Well, it's a bit of a moot point now," Blackmore replied. "Fire up the radio. Call us a goddamned evac."
"On it," Baker replied, turning to another screen and working the controls. Jack felt the tension begin to mount as she brought the comms array online. Fear was breaking through the shell of shocked horror at McGee's death. So many things could go wrong...what if they were trapped here on Phobos? What if help never came? A dozen more scenarios flashed through his head as he listened to Baker work in the intense silence.
"Crap..." she whispered.
"What?" Blackmore replied immediately, walking over to her. "Is it still damaged?"
"No," Baker said slowly. "McGee did it. The repairs were good and it all works. Something is actively blocking our outgoing signals."
"What is it?"
"I'm not sure...hold on." She resumed her work. Jack felt his heart thumping hard in his chest. God, please just let this be over... "It's coming from the Phobos Anomaly and it's blanketing half the moon," she explained.
"Great," Blackmore muttered.
Jack felt his hopes fall. He tried to reign in control of himself, but this was all so much. Too much too fast.
"Okay," Blackmore said, a little louder, straightening up. "We go through Central Processing and then hit the Military Base and grab whatever hardware we can get our hands on. From there, we can get to the Phobos Anomaly. We blow it up, then come back here and make the call. Does that make sense to everyone?" he asked, looking around.
Jack found himself nodding. He was beginning to feel better. Not good, but better, now that they had some kind of a plan.
"Good...let's get back to work, Marines."