Necropolis 3 (18 page)

It was time to put an end to Dark Ops.

Chapter 17

–
Executioners
–

It was obvious the underground storage room hadn't been used in quite a while. No lights were on and there was no one and nothing down there waiting for them. A fine layer of dust had settled over most the crates and shelves in the warehouse sized room.

“Spread out!” someone called. “Secure the area and the points of ingress.”

Greg, Kyra, and Campbell moved deeper into the warehouse, playing their flashlights across the industrial gloom. He was thankful to see nothing. They pressed further, listening to the sounds of the others as they secured the area.

Williams was somewhere nearby, presumably. Greg could taste his death already. That man had caused more problems for him than anyone else. Well, except for Erebus, he supposed, feeling his metal arm. But Erebus would get what was coming to it, just a little bit later. He would personally make sure.

For now? He had a bullet with Williams' name on it.

They secured the area, finding nothing down there with them in the warehouse. By the time they'd finished up and located a pair of stairwells set into the wall on either side of a cargo lift, Mike and a fresh squad of security personnel had arrived with the bomb. A few moments later, more men, miners and technicians, came in behind them.

“
We'll use this for a makeshift staging area for now,” Mike said. “Get some lights on. I want this area properly secured.”

There were a string of replies. Mike spotted Greg and approached him.

“Greg, Kyra, and Linda, I'm giving you three the task of hunting down the piece. Get in, grab it, and get out. Campbell, you're with me. There's two likely areas where Dark Ops will have set up their headquarters. One of them is the best place to put the bomb, and that's where we’re going. I'm going to send another squad over to the secondary area. Questions?” he asked.

There were none.

“Then let's get to it.”

* * * * *

Above ground, the fighting was worse than ever. The halls ran red with blood and the Augmented appeared to be in the process of establishing their own base within the Dark Ops HQ. Already, Greg could hear the machine sounds of ordinary men and women being transformed into Augmented.

Greg emerged into a messhall with a great deal of backup. At first, it was very simple. He and the dozen and a half others opened fire on everything that moved. A minute later, when the gunfire fell silent and was replaced by the sound of many people reloading, there was nothing in that room but the survivors.

“Move out!” Mike called.

Since Linda had had time to study the map and was the most familiar with the area, she led the way, Greg and Kyra backing her up. The trio left the messhall, opting to use a smaller corridor tucked away behind the kitchen area that would begin them on their trip. Linda explained in a low voice that the final component they were looking for was in a storage area on the far, right side of the
Dark Ops compound.

They came to the end of the corridor and opened the door. Immediately the sounds of battle spilled in. Greg stepped out into the corridor. There was at least nothing waiting for them within the immediate vicinity.

The trio set out, making their way through the network of bloodied, flickering corridors that Dark Ops HQ had begun. They listened to the screams of dying men, the unholy roars of the Undead, and the merciless machine whirl and whine of the Augmented. For the most part, they seemed to be keeping to themselves, for which Greg was grateful. They managed to stick to the back corridors and shadows until they reached their destination.

“
Okay, it's in here,” Linda murmured, working at a control panel while Greg and Kyra watched her back.

“
Can you get it open?” Greg asked.

“
Yeah, it's just locked. I think a lot of the doors have gone into lockdown, what with the Augmented invasion. And probably the Undead outbreak,” Linda replied.

There was a soft chime and the door opened. Greg turned around, finger on the trigger, but nothing waited for them within. It was just an empty warehouse, smaller than most, nothing but shelves and crates. They slipped in, closed the door behind them and began hunting. It wasn't long before they ran into a problem.

“Shit,” Linda muttered.

“
What?” Greg asked, but already his hopes fell.

The area where the part was supposed to reside had been disturbed. Several crates had been taken down off the shelves and pried open, and it looked like more were missing. Linda found an infopad set down on a foldout table scattered with spare parts and tools, lit by a work-light. It looked like someone had been busy at some point.

“It's been moved,” she murmured. “Underground, into another warehouse.”

“
Did Dark Ops do it?” Kyra asked.

Linda frowned, studying the infopad for another long moment.

Finally, she shook her head. “No, I don't think so. This looks like a work order from before Dark Ops or any of this shit happened.”

Greg heaved a sigh. “Well, let's go then. How far away?”

“Not too far,” Linda promised.

They left the storage bay.

“There's a cargo lift we'll have to ride down to a portion of the mining tunnels and caverns. It's the only way to reach the warehouse we need,” Linda explained as they moved back down the corridor, winding their way deeper into the complex.

“
What the hell is this thing doing down there? Why would they move it?” Greg asked.

“
I don't know. Melissa did a good job but,” Linda shrugged. “Sometimes stupid orders were given or shit gets lost. Miners aren't exactly the smartest bunch.”

Greg remained unconvinced, but held his silence. Something wasn't exactly right about this whole thing. They turned another corner and spied a group of Lancers going to town on a squad of Drones. Kyra raised his rifle, but Greg halted her.

“Let's let them have it out first,” he said.

She snorted. “Fair enough.”

Greg watched the two inhuman groups rip into each other, red and black blood and sparks flying on the air. In the end, the Rippers won out, their serrated claws rending flesh and metal alike, tearing off arms and heads. Greg, Kyra, and Linda put down the handful of surviving Undead as the last of the Drones fell.

“
The lift's at the end of the corridor,” Linda said, setting off.

Their boots squelched in pools of fresh blood as they stepped over the fresh corpses. Greg activated his radio as they came to the lift and opened it up. Nothing inside but more blood and a few corpses.

They stepped in.

“
Campbell, how's it going?” he asked.

“
Like hell, man. We're having to fight for every goddamn inch. You?”
Campbell replied through a haze of gunfire and explosions.

“
Irritating on my end. Someone moved the goddamn piece, we're headed down,” Greg replied, pushing the down button.

“
Hurry up, we could really use your help up here.”

“
Understood.”

The lift started with a jerk and descended into the ground. Greg waited impatiently, unable to shake this feeling of raw tension that mounted. He ran a quick weapons check, making sure his rifle was ready for action, and switched to three-round bursts, just to make himself feel better. The lift was taking so long he had time to check his pistol, too.

“Nervous?” Linda asked.

“
You aren't?” Greg replied.

Linda opened her mouth, then closed it and frowned. “Yeah, I am.”

“We all are. Let's just grab this thing and get the hell out of here,” Kyra said.

The elevator ground to a halt. The doors opened to admit them to a huge cavern, lit by powerful work-lights mounted on the walls and ground. A lot of huge cargo crates, pieces of equipment and heavy-duty vehicles were spread out across the area.

“This is familiar,” Greg muttered as they stepped out. “Which way?”

“
To the right,” Linda replied.

Greg took a step, and then hesitated. A familiar tremor began rippling through the area, making some of the less stable lights sway, causing shadows to swell and retreat. Black terror shot through him as the tremors grew louder, more powerful.

“What the hell is that?” Kyra whispered.

“
I think-”

From one of the larger tunnels across the way, the titanic spider emerged, glistening with black rot and cybernetic enhancements.

“
Holy shit
!” Linda cried.

Greg's radio crackled.
“Greg, if you go quietly and willingly, I might be persuaded to spare your friend's lives. I'm afraid I need you. You're the only living entity left that has the Pure Cure within them.”

It was Erebus.

“Go fuck yourself!” Greg snapped.

He aimed his rifle and began firing. Kyra and Linda joined him.

Erebus manufactured a sigh.
“Very well.”

The spider advanced on them, seemingly impervious to the gunfire. The bullets either ricocheted off the metal components or were absorbed by the enormous body. As Greg depleted his first magazine and hastily reloaded, he realized this wasn't going to work.

“Linda! Any ideas?”

“
Follow me!” she shouted.

Greg hoped for a little bit more of a plan than that, but there was no time. The spider was nearly upon them. Linda took off, darting through the derelict hulks of machinery, and Greg and Kyra hurried after her. They dodged between earth-movers, drillers, and crushers, past huge drill bits, large curves of metal, and piles of cargo crates. Behind them, the colossal spider roared and came after them, throwing these things out of the way as though they were toys. Greg’s heart leap
ed into his throat as the ground shook.

Linda led them out of the main cavern and down a side tunnel that was still big enough to admit the spider. Greg tossed a glance over his shoulder as he sprinted along, the terror and adrenaline making him that much faster. The huge metal-studded arachnid was making shockingly rapid progress through the narrowing tunnel.

“Where are we going?” Greg demanded.

“
Here!” Linda stopped suddenly and moved to the left-hand side of the tunnel. She smashed a control panel next to a massive garage-style door.

“
That's not going to stop it,” Kyra said.

“
I know,” Linda replied.

The door opened. As soon as they were able, the three ducked in. The whole area shook and trembled as the spider approached. Greg looked around. They'd come to an enormous, warehouse-sized room absolutely packed with black barrels. A horrible, pungent smell hit him as Linda led them deeper.

“God, what is that
smell
?
” he moaned.

“
Fuel,” Linda explained hastily as they dodged through the maze of barrels. “Our company is cheap. A lot of these vehicles are old and run on a cheaper fuel source. Liquid. Smells like crap. It's pretty volatile. Going to use it as a bomb.”

“
Holy shit.”

“
This room is specifically reinforced, so it shouldn't cause much damage to the surrounding area. But anything inside...”

The spider crashed into the room.

The trio rushed on. As they reached the end of the room, Linda opened up a door and hesitated in the doorway.

“
If you've got any grenades, give them to me.”

Greg and Kyra passed their scant grenades to Linda, who hurried over to the nearest stack of barrels and set them in a pile. She kept one for herself and retreated.

“Go!” She pulled the pin and hurled the grenade back into the fuel storage bay.

Linda smashed her fist on the keypad by the door and it slammed shut.

“Move!”

They'd come to a corridor and sprinted down it. They barely made it to the end and into another room before a tremendous series of explosions, muffled by the reinforced metal encasing the room, began to sound.

It went on for so long that some small part of Greg was terrified they'd caused some kind of chain reaction that would engulf the whole of the moon and everything on it. After a long moment, they finally subsided.

“
Holy
hell
,” Kyra whispered.

“
Let's go make sure,” Greg said.

They moved back down the corridor and gathered at the door. It emanated an uncomfortable heat. Linda hesitated for a moment, and then opened it. A wave of raw, dry heat, reeking of fuel, rolled out and gagged them. A great deal of smoke was still in the air, but even through it, Greg could see pieces of the spider
everywhere
.