Ceaseless (8 page)

Allan came to the end of the corridor and moved through the ruined doors at the end of it, entering an even larger corridor. The walls were lined with massive cargo bay doors, half of them open. No doubt the corridor saw a lot of through traffic in the way of forklifts and anti-grav cargo shifters, but for now it had been turned into a slaughter house. Another dozen security personnel and technicians lay dead and broken on the ground.

The fighting had died away now. Allan looked around furiously, rushing forward and peering through the nearest open bay door. Beyond it was the immense, open space of a hangar, complete with all the usual suspects like toolkits, cargo crates and vehicles. Opposite the first door was another, also open, this was giving a view out onto a sun-drenched landing pad beyond. Something like dark hope surged in Allan's chest as he spied movement on the landing pad. He began rushing through the hangar, towards the exterior.

The killer was ahead, though he was only visible for a moment. The hulking figure had just finished ascending the back ramp of a cargo freighter occupying the landing pad and had disappeared into the darkness of the rear bay.

“There he is!” Allan screamed, scrambling forward.

He could hear the others behind him. Johnson was saying something, and so was Redford, but he ignored them both, his boots pounding the landing pad, the quality of that sound changing to a dull metallic thud as he hit the back ramp of the vessel. Allan raced up it and came into the bay, which was cavernous and empty save for a few vehicles secured at the far end.. He turned around briefly and spied the others.

“What are we
doing
?!” Johnson cried.

Before Allan could answer, the engines began coming to life. Allan moved over to a control panel beside the rear cargo ramp and hit a button. It began to fold closed.

“We're going after him,” he replied firmly, then turned and began walking deeper into the bay.

“This is insane!” Johnson cried.

Allan ignored him, stumbling slightly as the engines finished activating and the ship rose swiftly into the air. He kept going, fighting against gravity, until he had reached the door at the front of the bay. He opened it and found himself in a long corridor. It stretched away from him, cast in dim lighting. There were doors along the left and right hand sides of the hallway, but he ignored them. The single door at the opposite end beckoned to him.

The bridge.

He began stalking the length of the corridor, weapon at ready. Already, something like a plan was forming in his mind. He reached the door to the bridge and stopped, heart racing, adrenaline pumping. The others crowded in behind him.

“What are we doing!?” Johnson whispered furiously.

“Taking this ship down,” Allan replied. “I'm going to head in there. We send the ship into a nosedive, then get to the crash room, it's right there,” he pointed to one of the doors that led to a room meant to serve as protection if the ship was going down if the escape pods couldn't be reached, “and ride it out.”

“He already survived a crash!” Johnson snapped.

“It's our only means right now! We're here on this ship and we have to, at the very least, slow him down,” Allan replied. Johnson opened his mouth to reply but Allan cut him off. “No, listen, I'm bringing this ship down and that's final. Go wait in the crash room if you won't help.”

Johnson stared at him for a moment, his eyes wide and wild with fury and terror, and he then he turned abruptly around and disappeared through the door Allan had indicated. Allan turned and glanced at Lucy and Redford.

“I'm in,” Redford said.

“You're insane,” Lucy replied, then turned and joined Johnson.

“Fine. Come on, let's do this,” Allan said, turning back to the bridge door.

He reached forward, and hesitated. A part of his mind knew that this was absolutely insane. If he went in there, he would probably die. The chances of even succeeding in sending the ship into a nosedive were very slim, let alone incapacitating or ending the killer. He realized he didn't care. It didn't make any difference.

It's not like he had anything left to live for anyway.

Allan hit the button.

The door slid open. The killer stood at the controls, working them. Beyond the front windows they could see the clear blue sky. The killer seemed not to have noticed them. Allan glanced briefly at Redford, but the man seemed consumed by anger, staring directly ahead. He raised his weapon, a rifle  he must have grabbed from the starport, and opened fire before Allan could say anything. The bullets pinged off the killer's broad back, doing no damage, but served to get his attention. He turned, spied the two men intruding on his bridge and began walking.

“Come and get it you
fuck
!” Redford screamed, continuing to fire.

The killer seemed to be focused on him. Allan took the opening that presented and raced past the killer, dodging around him and hurrying up to the main terminal. Redford kept up the rate of fire, both from his rifle and his mouth. He ranted and raved, shrieking at the killer, raw emotion cracking his voice. Allan's hands flew over the controls, hit the override and changing the course. A thought flickered through his mind: the notion to see where the hell the killer was going, but there was no time and he abandoned the notion.

The ship abruptly shifted course and began heading towards the ground, a few hundred meters below them.

Allan turned and began running towards the exit, knowing he needed to get to the crash room. The killer had reached Redford. One massive, dark-clad armor shot out, grabbed the arm holding the rifle at the bicep and pulled.

Redford screamed as his arm came off in a spray of blood. The killer dropped the arm, reached up and grabbed the man's neck. Allan knew what would come next. He took the opportunity and ran by them, shutting and locking the door behind him, then raced down the corridor to the crash room. He opened it, spied Lucy and Johnson already locked into the protective chairs that lined the interior walls of the room.

He had just enough time to take a step, then the ship crashed.

* * * * *

“Is he dead?”

“I can't tell. He's in that fucking suit...”

“If he's dead, can we just go home?”

“Give it a rest already.”

“What happened to the other guy?”

“He's dead,” Allan said.

He stared up at the uncertain faces of Lucy and Johnson and sat up. They back up, giving him some room, as he climbed slowly to his feet. Several things hurt, his head most of all, and he seemed certain that he was bleeding from somewhere.

“How long have I been out?” Allan asked.

“About twenty minutes,” Johnson said.

“Shit...at least we're still alive. Any sign from the killer?”

“No, nothing. We haven't heard any movement but...we haven't really left the room, either,” Lucy replied.

“Why not!?”

“Because there might be a fucking unstoppable killing machine out there, you asshole!” Lucy snapped.

Allan sighed, turned and walked over to the door. He opened it up and peered out into the corridor beyond. The ship was tilted slightly at an awkward angle and the lights were flickering, those that were still functional. The door to the bridge was still closed. Allan hurried up to it and opened it up. Slowly, it slid into its small bay in the wall, revealing an empty room. Well, Allan looked down, empty save for Redford's remains.

“Jesus,” Johnson whispered from behind him.

The front windows were broken out. Allan rushed up to them and stared into the wastelands beyond. Very distantly, he thought he could make out a dark shape, becoming smaller. Allan thought for a moment, something not adding up. Without a word, he turned and left the bridge. The others followed as he hurried down the corridor and opened up the door at the back. In the cargo bay, he spied the vehicles he'd seen earlier.

“Why didn't he take one of these?” he murmured.

“Maybe they don't work? No power?” Lucy suggested.

Allan moved up to the nearest one, the only one that had remained in its moorings and thus the only one that had survived undamaged, and climbed into the driver's seat. It was a simple, topless model jeep, the same version as the one they'd left back at the starport. He turned over the engine and heard it kick to life.

“Seems fine to me, go lower the back ramp,” Allan said, turning the engine off and hopping back out. Lucy moved to comply.

“What are we doing now? Please tell me we're evacing,” Johnson said.

“Don't you get tired of whining?” Allan replied as he began detaching the straps and bars that held the vehicle in place.

“Not even close. Not if my life is on the line and there's no good reason,” Johnson replied.

Allan sighed explosively. “That thing has already killed dozens of people. We need to find some way to stop it. It's our duty.”

“To who!?” Johnson cried.

“To anyone in it's path!”

“You're fucking nuts. Crazy. And I mean that. I think you've actually lost it. We have no plan, no real way to put a stop to this thing. And you want us to just keep flying blindly into it. It's pure random luck we've survived this long.”

Allan ignored him, slipping back into the driver's seat after finishing releasing the jeep. He turned it back on, listening to the sound of the cargo ramp lowering. He fired up the navigational database and studied it briefly.

When he saw what was up ahead, a genuine smile creased his face.

“I've got a plan,” he said. “Come on, mount up, we're going ahead.”

Chapter 07

–
Desperate Measures
–

“You're going to do
what
?!” Johnson screamed.

Allan watched the dot on the horizon slowly grow closer. Beyond it, he could see the outline of the structure they were heading for, also growing. All around them, the wastelands sped by at dangerous speeds. Allan pushed the pedal a little harder.

“The plan
could
work,” Lucy admitted reluctantly.

“It
will
work,” Allan replied firmly. “No way he could survive that.”

“Okay, let me rectify that statement: we
could
survive the plan.”

“We will. It'll be fine.”

“Can you just let me out here,” Johnson asked.

“I'm not slowing down. You could jump, if you wanted,” Allan replied.

“God, you're an asshole,” Johnson muttered.

They kept driving. After a moment, Lucy spoke up.

“I think something's wrong with the...what did you call him? The killer?” Allan nodded. “Yeah, I think something's wrong.”

“Well no fucking shit!” Johnson shrieked.

“No, I mean beyond that. He had to have seen the vehicles on his way in, and he had plenty of time to come take this one. It obviously works, it survived. So why didn't he? There was absolutely no good reason not to and several
to
take it.”

Allan thought about all his encounters with the killer so far. “We know literally nothing about this guy besides the fact that he's now apparently moving in one direction, he likes to kill and, for some reason, he has access to this remarkable technology.”

“He
does
have the ability to operate vehicles,” Lucy pointed out.

“Yeah, there is that. Maybe he's cracked? Maybe he's kind of stupid? I mean, it's possible. Maybe he's insane, beyond the whole murdering everyone thing?”

“Yeah, he's insane, all right...oh fuck, we're coming up on him,” Johnson said.

They all fell silent. The dark dot was much closer and larger now. Allan half expected to see the killer running, but he was walking with great strides through the hinterlands of baked dirt. Allan was tempted to just hit the bastard, but he knew he'd survive it and the jeep would probably be ruined in the process. So, instead, he just swerved around the hulking figure. The killer looked at them as they passed, and even reached out and tried to grab the jeep, but his armored fingers missed the frame of the jeep by mere inches.

Allan glanced in the rearview. The killer loomed but was rapidly disappearing behind them, his pace never changing.

“Fuck, that guy is creepy,” he muttered.

Ahead of them was the power plant.

* * * * *

Allan braked hard and killed the engine as he came up to the gate surrounding the single, massive structure of the power plant.

“Are you sure you can do this?” he asked, looking at Lucy.

“Believe it or not, yes. I may be a comms specialist but I pulled a year at a power plant after I graduated. I learn quickly,” she replied.

“This is fucking insane,” Johnson replied.

“And the shelter
will
protect us?” Allan pressed as he stepped out.

“Yes. They've all been tested. It will protect us,” Lucy replied.