Necropolis 3 (13 page)

He emptied the magazine.

There was a spray of black-and-red gore, as well as sparks, and the spider lost its grip on the wall. The lift continued, unabated. The thing was in the air for a heart-pounding second, and then it crashed to the ground, smashing entire earth-movers beneath its bulk. A long, lonely howl of pain echoed throughout the cavern.

Greg watched thing thrash about, legs twitching like mad, as he ascended. The lift reached the top and stopped. He gave the grotesque monster one more glance, then turned and sprinted down the narrow tunnel at the top.

It was still alive, but he'd dealt with it for now.

He prayed he'd never have to see that thing again.

Chapter 12

–
Into the Maw
–

Above.

Greg never thought he'd be so glad to see a bleak, rocky mining tunnel. He'd been headed towards the surface for what seemed like forever, but couldn't have been that long. The spider was left behind, and he hadn't heard or felt any tremors. Whatever it was, it seemed to be trapped in the lower mining section.

At least he prayed it was.

There was light at the end of the tunnel, a good, strong, steady, white light that came from several powerful work-lights no doubt. Greg crested the final portion of the tunnel and stepped out. He looked left, then right, seeing the familiar main tunnel that ran just beneath the surface of the airless moon.

Overhead, a sign pointed him towards the hangars, and safety. He set off in that direction, pistol still clutched firmly in hand. It wasn't safe down here, and he wasn't quite out of the fire yet. Greg glanced over his shoulder. It got darker after several dozen meters, he saw. There could be anything in that darkness.

He picked up the pace.

He wondered how far away he had emerged from Burne and his men. He couldn't see anyone in the tunnel, but, then again, they may have very well retreated into the generator and oxygen rooms themselves.

Or they could all be dead.

Greg felt a chill ripple through him as he considered this fact. What if the Augmented or the Undead or Dark Ops or some ridiculous combination of the three had finally overrun the miner's headquarters?

What if he was truly alone down here?

Greg shook off the notion. He broke into a light jog, tired but still pumped with residual adrenaline from his harrowing experiences thus far. Finally, he came to a familiar storage room. Greg slipped in, finding it empty. He holstered the pistol and began the long climb up the ladder.

The hatch at the top opened and he climbed through. The coast was still clear. He listened as he climbed up and out and sealed the hatch behind him. His fear of finding nothing but blood and death refused to abate as he moved over to the door, opened it and peered out. The corridor beyond was large, lonely and empty.

He wished in vain for a radio. Moving out into the corridor, Greg listened intently for signs of life. Immense relief swelled through him as he heard distant voices that weren't screaming or shouting orders. As he began to hurry along the passageway, fear began to well up once more. What if it was Dark Ops?

He kept the pistol out.

Finally, as he drew closer to the voices, Greg rounded another corner and came to one of the entrances to the hangar headquarters. A pair of security personnel stood guard, sharing a cigarette.

One of them raised his weapon, a rifle, as he spied Greg.

“
Who goes there?”

“
Wait, that's one of the survivors from the fleet overhead...holy shit, we thought you were dead,” the second one said, putting a restrictive hand on the first's gun.

“
So did I,” Greg replied. “Can I go in?”

They stepped aside. “Yes, do. They're planning a major mission.”

Greg’s heart sank as he moved between them. What now? What godforsaken thing was he going to have to do now?

As usual, the headquarters was abuzz with all manner of activity. Techs, security officers, miners, everyone who was still alive, numbering in the low dozens now, were scurrying about with infopads, crates, weapons, wounded, and more. Greg hunted, desperate for Kyra or Campbell or even Powell, familiar faces in a sea of the unknown. He spied them a moment later, clustered around Powell's work station, as per usual.

“Hey!” he called as he made his way over.

They all glanced over, some of them more startled than others. Several eyes widened in surprise, and Kyra suddenly dashed forward. As soon as she crossed the distance, she wrapped him in a hug and kissed him hard on the mouth.

“Thought you were worried about infection,” Greg said.

“
Oh, whatever. I doubt you've got any in you anyway,” Kyra replied, a little breathlessly. “Where the
fuck
have you been?”.

Greg led her over to the others, where he gave them a quick version of the events that had befallen him, with particular emphasis on the giant, Augmented-enhanced spider. None of them seemed too thrilled about that.

“This is fucking wonderful,” Lynch muttered miserably. “Now, let me get you up to speed on what's been happening while you took a vacation down in the mines. We've managed to get the area secured, for now. I think the other three armies are keeping each other busy for the moment. However, I'm beginning to suspect we've got some kind of traitor in our midst.”

“
The thought had occurred to me,” Greg replied.

He thought about the strange way the trio of Berserker cages had opened, and all the other 'unlucky' things that had been happening.

“Any suspects?” Lynch asked.

Greg shook his head. “No. I don't suspect anyone in my group. We all know the stakes and I can't imagine anything that would tempt them or myself.”

“Unless it was Dark Ops doing the tempting,” Mike said.

“
Yeah, but most of the 'problems' have coincided with Augmented or Undead attacks. Either it's coincidence...or someone is playing a very subtle game of subterfuge. Either way, what can we do about it?” Greg asked.

“
Nothing, for now. We need to go ahead with the plan. And I'm afraid it's a really nasty plan. You're going to
hate
it,” Lynch replied.

Greg scanned the faces of those around him. They all looked grim and bleak, having gotten over the initial burst of joy at seeing him alive again.

“What is it?” he asked.

“
We're down to two missing components, one for the bomb, one for the ship. The part for the bomb is over at what is now Dark Ops HQ...and the one for the ship is, quite unfortunately, not anywhere on this moon.”

“
So...we're fucked?” Greg asked dismally.

“
No, not exactly. There's a spare listed in inventory...on one of the former Dark Ops ships, currently floating above our heads,” Mike replied apologetically.

“
I...but those are totally owned by Erebus and the Augmented!” Greg cried.

“
I told you you were going to hate it,” Lynch replied.

Greg heaved a world-weary sigh. “Fine, I guess I'm volunteered for the job...who's going with me? Or do I have to go it alone?”

“No, Campbell has volunteered to go, and our head of security, Burne. It's just going to be the three of you. And I'm afraid you've got to leave right away. We can't afford to waste this lull in the battle,” Lynch replied.

Greg let out a long groan, and let his shoulders slump in defeat.

“Fine, I'll go get ready.”

He turned and made his way towards the makeshift armory. Kyra and Campbell joined him. Kyra slipped her hand in his, lacing their fingers. Her skin felt smooth, warm, and familiar. He squeezed and she squeezed back.

“I missed you,” he said.

“
I bet you did,” she replied. “I'm honestly amazed you survived. I was
reasonably
sure you were still alive, but...”

“
But the odds were against me.”

“
Yeah...I...didn't know what I was going to do if you'd died.”

“
We've always known it was a possibility.”

They came to the collection of tables and crates. Greg reached for a weapon, but Kyra stopped him. He glanced at her. He realized her eyes were filled with unshed tears. Campbell broke away from them, gathering his gear.

“I
know
you could, in a logical sense, in an academic sense. In the same way that I
know
that fire burns and a broken bone really fucking hurts. But
knowing
isn't the same as
experiencing
. I...just, God, I'm sorry. We've been through so much already and here I am about to break down. I guess, I'm just saying, it was really scary,” she said.

Greg nodded and realized he was quite close to crying as well.

“I understand. I keep thinking the same thing, trying to make myself understand that we could all die or even just you could, but I
do
shy away from the thought. I don't know how to handle it.” He laughed uneasily. “It's hard to believe we've gotten this far in just a handful of weeks. From strangers to this.”

“
Yeah, I know...but they always say relationships form at a hyper-speed under extremely stressful situations. And we've been stressed for quite a long time now. I'm so afraid this is all going to end and we're going to be sick of each other,” Kyra replied.

“
Well...how about we cross that bridge when we come to it, huh?”

“
Seems we end up saying that a lot, don't we?”

They were both silent for a long moment. Greg suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to tell Kyra that he loved her, but it seemed like a bad idea. Was it even true? Was it just his stress or lust or chemicals speaking?

In the end, he kissed her once more and turned away from her.

They had salvaged some more of those heavy-duty mining suits and brought them to the armory, for which Greg was immensely grateful. He
stripped of the battered one he'd been wearing and began pulling it on. He wondered where Burne was. Greg finished suiting up and filled his pockets with spare magazines and shotgun shells, then switched over the four infoclips to the new suit. He clipped a fresh medical kit to his belt and ran a quick diagnostic on the suit.

While it ran, he grabbed a shotgun, slung it across his back and grabbed a rifle as well, setting it to three-round burst. He slung it over his shoulder and turned to look at Campbell, who was finishing up as well.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

“
Yep...as well as, I suppose. Not really looking forward to being back up there in that floating metal hell,” Campbell replied miserably.

“
Yeah, me neither. Go find Burne, I'll be over in a minute.”

Campbell nodded and left. Greg turned face Kyra once more. They stared at each other for a long moment

“Come back to me safe,” Kyra said finally.

“
I always try. You do the same,” Greg replied.

He felt that perhaps there was a lot left unsaid hanging between them, and maybe it was best left unsaid, at least for now. Although, he wasn't entirely sure why, Greg thought back to Cage's words, asking him about regrets and no time and all that. If he told her he loved her and then died in an hour, we he have any regrets?

No, he wouldn't.

“
I love you,” he said suddenly, the words bursting forth from his mouth.

She suddenly let loose a burst of nervous laughter. “You do?”

“Yes, I do.”

“
I love you, too,” she said, hesitating only slightly.

Greg laughed himself now, feeling a great relief flood through him.

“Well...that's good to know,” he said.

Here, they both laughed, then kissed.

“Hey! Let's get
going
!” Burne called from across the hangar.

“
Hang on to that thought,” Greg said, and then broke away from her.

He moved through the hangar, feeling more elated and awake than he had in a long time. So he was in love, and he was loved in return.

And it was wonderful.

He moved towards Campbell and Burne.

* * * * *

They took one of the two jump ships Greg and the others had original come down in. Burne explained that they'd wanted to strip them for parts, and had, to some degree, but left both of them with basic functionality.

Just in case.

Of what, Greg wasn't sure, but didn't ask.

The three of them loaded into the ship. Burne went forward to the cockpit while Greg closed the cargo ramp. He and Campbell sat and listened to the sounds of the ship running through its warmup sequence. Greg tried to tell himself that it wasn't going to be so bad, that he was fast enough, strong enough, smart enough to get himself out of this situation alive and keep on going. That everything was going to be okay.

Only he couldn't even begin to believe that.

He felt scared, alone, and so tired, his elation leaving him.

“
Can you tell me more about Dark Ops?” Greg asked, looking at Campbell, trying to distract himself.

Campbell seemed lost in his own head. “Hmm? Oh, I guess so. Not much to tell that you already haven't seen, I guess.”

“I thought you were pretty high up.”

“
I was just a glorified bodyguard, to be honest. I had clearance to
go
places, but not to
know
anything. I just followed Starck around a lot, me an' Rez. God, that guy, he was creepy. He's one of those guys who just lives to kill, you know? He worked out and trained like
all
the time. Hardly ate anything but pure nutrients and protein, you know, bare minimum. Really lucky shot you got on him, otherwise he'd have been really hard to take down. As for me and Dark Ops, it was just a whole lot of 'shut up and go' or 'hurry up and wait'. Lot of guard duty, lot of scaring people, when the time called for it, and killing people.”