Darkness (7 page)

“Keep going!” I said.

We ran past the bodies of the Howlers deeper into the darkness. The one I had shot down was still ahead, its body swelling and threatening to pop. We weren’t going to run past it in time.

With the Behemoth just a few yards behind, I pulled both Anna and Ruth toward the right, into the open archway that led into the Caf. As soon as we passed through, several plops sounded. Walls of purple slime shot across the archway. And still, the Behemoth thundered down the hallway, letting out another baleful roar

And from behind came still more wails. I swept my flashlight across the Caf floor, finding a maze of upturned tables and chairs. We could not escape quickly through that, and the Behemoth could crash through it all, anyway. We had to stick to the Caf’s perimeter – circle along the wall until we came out the other archway, not directly opposite of us, but along the wall to our left.

Even as I took stock of the situation, several Howlers spilled out of the kitchen doors, crawled over the buffet, slithered from beneath tables.

“Come on!”

I ran ahead, firing a few shots. One of my bullets connected with the shoulder of a male Howler, who hissed and snapped in pain. Though the Howlers felt pain, it sure didn’t do anything to stop them. We hopped overturned tables and chairs toward the archway. Once we exited the Caf, it would put us in front of the medical bay. Once there, we had only to follow the main corridor around a corner. Then it was a straight shot past the Officers’ Wing and then into the Rec. From there, we could take a corridor to the motor pool. It was the only chance we had, as I saw it.

We ran along the wall of the Caf as the Howlers pushed their way through the downed furniture. They kept getting caught in the tables and chairs, which worked in our favor. We easily made it to the archway and into the corridor beyond.

Only to have a Howler blindside me from the left.

Anna was on him in an instant, slicing him along the back. The Howler yowled and convulsed on the floor.

“Come on,” Anna said, pulling me up. “No time to finish that one off.”

I forced myself to my feet. Behind, the Behemoth charged into the Caf. We passed the medical bay. Its double doors were wide open, but I didn’t even bother to check for anything. It led nowhere where we needed to be. In the Caf, the Behemoth seemed to be fighting the Howlers by some miracle. Apparently,
Radaskim
xenolife fought amongst itself. Whatever the case, it was the distraction we needed. We sped down the corridor, finally reaching the corner.

We made the turn, running down the dark, empty hallway. Our boots clicked on the linoleum. The screams of the Howlers faded. It seemed as if most of them were concentrated on the Behemoth in the Caf. That didn’t mean we were out of trouble yet. On our left we passed the corridor leading to the Officers’ Wing. I didn’t bother shining my light in that direction; I knew it to be a dead end, like the medical bay. I doubted the Howlers Anna and I spotted earlier were still there.

We passed a flight of stairs leading downward. The entrance to the bigger apartments broke off from the main corridor. This, too, was a dead end, so we ignored it and ran on.

At last, we arrived inside the Rec Room – a vast space taken up by basketball courts on one side and couches and flat-screens on the other. The room was completely trashed – the screens were broken, the couches torn and flipped, and blood smeared the floor. A rotten musk hung in the air. As in every place else in the Bunker, there was an absence of bodies. I didn’t know if the Howlers had eaten them, or if these bodies had become Howlers themselves. Perhaps a mixture of both.

“Where now?” Anna asked.

“The motor pool is off that hallway,” I said, pointing to our left.

“Hopefully it’s not locked down,” Ruth said.

“There’s only one way to find out.”

We pressed ahead. Silence reigned in the dark room, our footsteps echoing off the wide walls. The corridor to the motor pool approached as the screams of the infected monsters followed from behind. They were no longer fighting amongst themselves. We couldn’t stop now.

We entered the corridor. A sign along the wall read “Motor Pool,” with an arrow pointing down the hallway.

“We made it,” I said.

We continued running along the hallway. There were no other side doors, so it was a straight shot to the final two doors, which stood at the top of a small set of steps. The doors were electronic and needed a keycard for access. My hope was that there would be no power, so that we could force the door open.

Each of the doors was closed. A keycard slot on the right was the only way to open it. A green light on the slot still shined, meaning that the doors had power. And the doors having power meant that they were still securely locked.

Dreading what I would find, I pulled on one of the doors, heaving on it with all of my strength. It was useless. These things were designed to
not
be pulled open. A security card was needed – or the power needed to be shut off entirely. Even then, it
still
might not open.

We all stood there for a moment. Behind I could hear the pursuing screams of the monsters. They would almost be to the Rec – all some four hundred former citizens of Bunker 108.

“Should we go back out?” Anna asked.

I saw no other choice. We had to get to the beginning of the corridor and reenter the Rec before the Howlers blocked us in this corridor. We had to try the front entrance again. Only I had no idea how we would get there, because it would require going back into the main corridor.

Then, I saw that we weren’t getting out of this one alive. We had to either bust down this door or fight out way through dozens upon dozens of Howlers.

From the Rec, however, we could take other paths – toward the swimming pool, the light baths, the showers, or the locker rooms – maybe from there, we could access a lower level.

It was better than dying here.

Anna and I both started running back for the Rec, but Ruth stayed behind.

“Ruth!” I yelled. “Come on.”

I turned to see her kneel down on the floor. “A keycard!”

I ran back to her, taking the card from her hand. It read “Officer Michael Sanchez.” His portrait beamed at us with a goofy smile, looking younger than he did these days. A bit of blood smudged one of the corners.

“Michael, you beautiful bastard,” I said.

He must have left his keycard behind during his escape in case someone else needed it. That move had probably saved all of our lives.

I swiped the card, and the door beeped agreeably. The doors slid apart, opening the way to the motor pool. We ran into the darkness ahead.

That was when an axe head swiped down right in front of us.

I guessed that this was where Darcy was camping out.

***

My flashlight illuminated Darcy’s upper body and his crazed blue eyes as he leveled yet another downward swipe with his two-handed axe. Ruth dodged this blow, and the axe head hit the cement floor, sending a cascade of sparks into the air. Within a second, Anna advanced, placing the sharp edge of her katana at the man’s throat. He paused.

“Drop the axe and on your knees,” Anna said. “And your hands above your head.”

The automatic door shut behind, cutting off the sound of Howlers now filling the Rec. The man knelt, dropping his axe to the floor with a clatter. He then slowly raised his hands to the top of his bald head, which was ringed with gray hair. I pointed both my gun and flashlight directly at the man’s face. He was short with pale, sallow skin. A thick gray beard grew halfway down his chest. He was perhaps in his early sixties.

And she was right – this was
not
a man who had lived in Bunker 108. At least, not a man who lived in sight. I did not recognize him at all. It was Old Darcy, alright.

Ruth walked forward, her blue eyes blazing. She studied Darcy, who had begun to shake. Several Howlers slammed into the motor pool door we had just entered, but we ignored them for now. The air stung with the smell of not just motor oil and machinery, but human excrement. Darcy had been living here.

I looked ahead – in the darkness I could barely discern the shape of a Recon. There would be a radio in there, which was how Darcy had contacted me and how he had heard my conversation with Makara earlier.

He gave a yellow smile, and a crazy light danced in his eyes. “Alexander. Welcome home. How does it feel to have been the ruin of us all?”

Anna edged the blade closer to the man’s neck. He merely snickered.

“Should I kill him?” Anna asked.

Darcy squirmed, but Anna kept the blade just at Darcy’s neck.

“Not if you want to know the way out of here, Missy.”

“If you knew the way out,” I said, “you would have used it already.”

Darcy said nothing to that. “Or maybe I just wanted the pretty girl to come out and play.”

Ruth’s eyes burned as she jabbed at Darcy’s neck with the pole, the hook of which shined with fresh, purple blood. Sweat shone on Darcy’s face in my flashlight beam. A sour smell emanated from his entire person.

“Alright,” I said. “How do we get out of here? Is it anything more complicated than opening a garage door?”

Darcy’s eyes widened slowly as a wider smile came to his chapped lips.

The Howlers continued to batter at the door. I wasn’t worried about any of them getting through this century. We had all the time in the world.

“Ah, now we’ve come to it,” Darcy said.
“Now
we’ve come to it. Yes. To get out, you must...open the garage door!”

Darcy snickered. Anna’s mouth turned down distastefully.

“You have one last chance, old man,” she said. “Tell us something useful.”

Darcy quieted, and his eyes lifted and looked past me, at the door behind. I resisted the impulse to turn and look.

“You have three seconds,” I said. “Three. Two...”

Darcy just smiled, as if he had an ace up his sleeve. For all I knew, he did.

“One.”

Darcy fell backward, pressing something against his wrist. Before we could stop him, or do anything for that matter, the door behind opened, letting the Howlers through.

Chapter 6

Anna and Ruth turned for the door as three Howlers squeezed past the opening with baleful screams with more waiting in the wings. Darcy cackled and slipped away toward the Recon. We could only deal with him as soon as we dealt with these frontrunners.

Anna sliced the first Howler down – she cut him across the torso, then spun and severed his head from his body. Ruth jabbed a woman Howler right between the eyes with her hook. I shot the third down. More filed in from behind. There was no way we could keep this up.

“We need to get to the Recon!” I said.

As we backed across the motor pool, more and more Howlers spilled from the open door and into the garage. The women ran behind me as I faced the Howlers, firing my Beretta. Flashes illuminated their rotted faces. Several Howlers fell before I emptied my magazine. I rushed to replace it with a new one.

As I fired anew, the Recon roared to life. Darcy had somehow gotten inside of it. The headlights flashed on, illuminating the motor pool’s interior bright blue. More Howlers poured into the motor pool. We had to get inside the Recon or we weren’t going to last long.

I shot another Howler in the shoulder, causing him to spiral to the ground. In the distance, I noticed the ones Anna and Ruth had killed earlier beginning to inflate.

“Get to the Recon,” I said. “And kill Darcy!”

The downed Howler ruptured, quickly followed by a second. The purple slime came within feet of my body, coating the other Howlers advancing forward.

“He’s getting on the turret!” Anna yelled.

I snuck a quick glance over my shoulder. Darcy’s head appeared at the turret above the Recon. Already, he was aiming the giant weapon toward us.

“Go!” I yelled.

As Darcy readied the gun, we ran right to the Recon; it would be safe right next to the vehicle because Darcy couldn’t point the gun down that far. It was only a temporary solution. The Howlers would be on us in seconds, so we still had to find a way inside the Recon to kill Darcy.

We made it to the passenger door, finding it locked. We could go around and try the driver’s door, but it was probably locked, too. Then there was the cargo bay. I thought that might be our likeliest choice.

Still the Howlers pressed forward. The nearest was probably twenty feet away. I fired a few shots, bringing it down. Good thing, too. My magazine had once more emptied, and I had to work quickly to slide a new one in.

“He can’t aim straight down at us,” Anna said. “And he probably locked all the doors. That means we have to improvise.”

She sheathed her katana, and I wondered just what the hell she was doing. She then climbed onto the Recon’s hood, and pulled herself on top of the cab.

“Anna!”

She was going to get herself killed. At the same time, we were as good as dead down here.

From above, Darcy squealed as he angled the gun around. He was going to blast Anna right off.

I fired a few shots upward, unheeding of the Howlers now pressing in. A few bullets ricocheted off the metal of the gun, casting sparks. Darcy looked down and spit at me and continued to concentrate on Anna. Still, I had distracted him long enough to give Anna the time she needed. She sidestepped the barrel of the turret, climbing inside of it to face Darcy. A knife gleamed in Darcy’s right hand.

While Anna climbed the railing surrounding the turret, Darcy took a swipe with his knife. Her eyes widened as she dodged clumsily, falling to the turret’s deck. Darcy was on her in an instant. Anna was the more skilled fighter, but Darcy was far crazier – and crazy counted for a lot in a fight.

“Come on,” I said to Ruth. “We have to help her!”

We scrambled onto the Recon’s hood, just in time for the Howlers to collide with the vehicle. They reached for our legs, but we stood in the center of the Recon’s hood, out of reach. I boosted Ruth onto the cargo bay where she could assist Anna. But instead of doing that, she reached down to help me up.