Fast (6 page)

            Coleman spun towards the sound of sustained gunfire to the west. Third Unit’s attack had formed a temporary breach between the creatures and the evacuees. At the head of that breach, Privates Fisher and London faced the full force of the swarming creatures.

            Standing back-to-back, Fisher and London used a three-hundred and sixty degree arc of gunfire to hurt everything in their range. Creatures swarmed towards them from every
side. Their CMAR-17s fired white-hot, but the creatures surged closer every moment.

            Fisher’s voice burst over Coleman’s radio. ‘Backup. We need backup right now!’

            Coleman searched for a way to help. He couldn’t reach Fisher and London in time. King and Marlin looked closer, but were maneuvering to place a wounded creature between themselves and more incoming hostiles. They appeared only seconds away from the same predicament as Fisher and London.

            ‘Fisher - London - you need to break out,’ ordered Coleman over his headset. ‘Focus your fire to the east and break out!’

            ‘We can’t!’ yelled Fisher between bursts of his weapon. ‘They’re too close. There’s too many!’

            And then Coleman saw one of the creatures swipe a barbed tentacle across London’s face.

            London’s entire head smashed to the right. The left side of his face tore away. Blood fountained from his carotid artery like a burst water main. The impact slammed him to the ground.

            ‘London is down. London is down!’ yelled Coleman into his radio.

            Private Gill rushed up beside Coleman.

            ‘Holy shit,’ moaned Gill. London’s blood spurted straight up into the air.

            ‘We need to get in there!’ Coleman yelled. ‘You go left and we’ll open a -’

            Then Gill was gone.

            The creature slammed Gill from behind like a raging bull. In the roar of gunfire they hadn’t heard the creature approaching. Gill rolled along the floor in the creature’s grip. Before their momentum stopped, every tentacle had wrapped tightly around his body.

            Then it got worse. The creature began a frenzy of hyperactive motion, tearing Gill apart.

            Coleman sprinted towards the young Private. He stopped just a meter short, searching for a clean shot, but the limbs wrapped up too tightly around Gill.

            Writhing under the assault, Gill pounded with his fists for the three or four seconds his body remained in one piece.

            Then the creature began feeding. Coleman could see straight into its mouth where hundreds of noodle-like strands flicked over Gill’s wounds like tiny vacuum cleaners.

            Seeing how quickly the creature killed Private Gill, Coleman realized why there were so few wounded evacuees. They either reached the evacuation tunnel in one piece or not at all.

            Backing away from the feeding creature, Coleman searched for London and Fisher. Fisher’s firing hadn’t stopped during the attack on Gill. Marlin and King broke from their engagement and ran to offer Fisher support fire.

            It was too late.

            Kneeling over London’s body, Fisher clamped his hand against London’s gushing carotid artery. He looked up as a creature’s mouth entirely
engulfed his head.

            The creature jerked Fisher from his feet. It thrashed his body overhead like a doll in the mouth of a rabid dog. Fisher’s legs kicked up in the air. His searching right hand found his pistol.

            Somehow, he drew his pistol and started firing. His bullets went wild, but he didn’t give up. Only his body armor kept him alive.

            The creature slammed Fisher’s body down on the floor. Coleman heard a grisly series of cracks as Fisher’s back broke. Now its mouth clamped around Fisher’s neck.

            The creature gave the limp body another massive overhead swing. The body came loose and cartwheeled through the air. Fisher’s head stayed in the creature’s mouth. Blood sprayed outwards from the cartwheeling corpse. As Fisher’s decapitated body slid across the floor between King and Marlin, Coleman heard a tremendous crash of breaking glass to the north.

            ‘Captain,’ Forest shouted over the radio, ‘I got kids over here! I got incoming hostiles. I can’t stop them. I need help right now!’

            Coleman’s guts tensed up in fear.
Kids!
Children. Maybe David. They hadn’t reached the evacuation center.

A young woman emerged from the admin hub shepherding six children towards the evac tunnel. Coleman remembered there was a school back in there. David had talked on the phone about his school in the hub.

            Already sprinting, Coleman scanned the terrified little forms for David. None were David, but one was in trouble.

            ‘I see them,’ Coleman yelled into his radio. ‘Get them moving, Forest. Tremaine - focus on the admin hub - stop those creatures reaching the kids.’

            Tremaine turned and poured gunfire into the creatures that came bursting from the hub.

            Forest reached the young woman with the children. ‘Come on, Come on - this way! Come on, faster!’

            Coleman fired as he ran.

            Tremaine obliterated the front of the hub trying to stall the creatures pouring from every office and corridor. He slapped a fresh magazine into his CMAR-17 and kept firing.

            Two creatures already moved to intercept the children.

            One terrified child, a small red-haired boy, slipped from the back of the pack and stood screaming. Forest spotted the child and started backtracking. Coleman was closer. Without stopping, he snatched the boy up and tossed the rigid child towards Forest.

            ‘Get them out of here!’ Coleman spun as the boy flew through the air towards Forest.

            The two hostiles charged at Coleman.

            He didn’t have time to turn and run. He didn’t have time to lift the CMAR-17 and take down both creatures. As the creatures came together, he dove. His body flew through a nightmarish maze of thorns grazing his body armor. He hit the ground
just
behind the creatures, ducking his head into a combat roll so he came up running. Now he led the creatures away
from the children.

            Tremaine stood thirty meters ahead, facing a dozen creatures swarming from the admin hub. The creatures reached less than fifteen meters from Tremaine, who fired his assault rifle left and right, trying to hold the hostiles back.

            But Coleman knew how the creatures moved. He knew how they reacted to gunfire. Tremaine was in trouble.

            Coleman keyed his radio as he ran. ‘Tremaine - break out - they’re too close to you!’

            Tremaine turned and took two steps before a tentacle struck his ankle.

            ‘No!’ yelled Coleman as Tremaine pitched forward.

            Tremaine windmilled his arms and tumbled forward headlong, smacking into the ground and sliding on his body armor. He flipped over and started crawling on his shoulders, bringing up his rifle.

            The creatures surged on top of him.

            Tremaine’s body tore apart in seconds.

            ‘The kids are clear,’ Forest radioed, but Coleman was running for his life. The two hostiles pursued just meters behind him. He cut left and headed for the large planter boxes. Each three meter long marble planter overflowed with glossy shrubs. Four of these heavy features stood arranged in a diamond.

            Coleman focused all his strength into leaping over the closest box. He planted his right boot and jumped. He didn’t know if leaping over the box was even possible in his body armor.

            Two seconds later, he discovered the jump wasn’t possible. His left boot caught the top edge of the box. Face-first, he crashed through the shrubs and tumbled out the other side.

            The first creature
smashed
into the planter box. The entire box rocked towards him, tilting up precariously on one edge.

            Then the second creature hit.

            The heavy marble box toppled over Coleman’s legs. He lunged away, moments before the box
crashed
down inches from his boots. Plants and soil cascaded over his legs like a mini-landslide.

            The first creature had three tentacles pinned under the heavy box. Coleman fired from a prone position, unwilling to spare a second to find his feet.

            Marble shards exploded off the box.

            But the second creature wasn’t pinned. It launched itself straight through the air towards him. He couldn’t move in time. He lay in the exact position in which Tremaine had died - on his back, unable to rise as a creature fell upon him.

            The impact felt stunning. Its body knocked aside his assault rifle. Its heaving bulk crushed his lower body. Inches from Coleman face, its head blossomed open into a pink cavity of teeth. It reared back to attack. Coleman’s legs came free.

            He kicked up and jammed his boots either side of the creature’s descending head.

            The creature jerked to a halt with Coleman’s legs locked straight out. Its horrid mouth gaped just inches from his face.

            Coleman was stuck. If he moved he would lose his balance. His CMAR-17 lay jammed under his left shoulder. His legs shook. Any moment they would buckle.

            But strapped to his right thigh hung his silver savior.

            Sliding out the heavy colt pistol, he aimed the weapon right into the creature’s gaping mouth.

           
BOOM!

            The shot blasted a hole in the creature’s head the size of a dinner plate.

           
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
He kept firing, tearing wet chunks from the creature’s head. He twisted his arm and fired down the creature’s mouth into its body.

            Liquid jetted from the wound in a geyser that splashed on the floor behind him. At once the creature slumped back. Coleman pushed away with his legs.

            He slid backwards on the slippery floor and found his feet.

            The creature looked finished, but he’d seen enough monster movies. He shot it some more.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

            As he repositioned his assault rifle, King, Marlin and Forest rushed into cover behind the planter boxes.

            Coleman checked his radio. Third Unit couldn’t expect any help. All over the Complex, every unit had heavy casualties. They all called for backup.

            ‘Captain,’ yelled Forest, pointing to the east. ‘They’re sealing the evac tunnel!’

            The heavy, portcullis-like containment door was sealing the Evacuation Center from the Complex in a spectacle of whining sirens and flashing orange lights.

            It didn’t matter, Coleman realized as the remaining survivors of Third Unit grouped together back-to-back.

            Because they were completely surrounded by hostiles.

            They were trapped.

#

Corporal Harrison and Private Sullivan ran for their lives.