Cold Hell - 30. Chapter 29

Danni unfolded a large blueprint of the facility across the table, flattening out the creases. He could feel the mixture of weariness and impatience of the group standing around the table, their eyes dull with sleep. He’d woken everyone up; it was time to come up with a plan and get everyone moving. We’ve done enough sitting around and bickering.

He tapped at the square representing the security room. “What’s in this room?” he asked, looking at Brantov and Ulana.

“It’s where security guards were stationed. They watched and listened through the cameras to make sure no one tried to smuggle information out of the research station,” said Ulana. “Adwele was worried about people at the colony finding out about this. He wanted to keep it a secret for as long as he could, fearing it would start a riot or a coup.”

“Are there any weapons?”

“Some. Mostly just pistols, a few shotguns. Nothing special. What we had didn’t prove to be very useful when the infection broke out and people started dying.” Ulana rubbed at her eyes. Her face had grown paler.

“Anything will be better than what we have now. Everest and I have some ammo left but it’s not much. And between the two of us it would be more difficult to watch everyone else’s back, so the more you are capable of defending yourselves the better. What’s in the control room?”

“”The reactor. It powers the whole facility.”

“Is it powerful?” Danni asked.

“Quite,” said Ulana. “As I said, it powers the whole building and the drill we used to tunnel through the ice.”

“Can we blow it up?”

Silence enveloped the room. Everyone was looking at him but no one was saying anything. Brantov was the first to speak. His voice shook with barely suppressed anger. “How can you suggest such a thing? Do you not realize what we’ve found here? We’ve discovered something Earth could only dream of finding.”

“People have died because of this discovery - people will continue to die if we don’t stop it.” Danni smirked sardonically. “But of course, Brantov, you don’t give a shit. To you human life is insubstantial as long as it furthers the gains of science. We can use the computer to override the safety parameters on the reactor: this would cause it to heat up until it exploded. Can we blow it up or can’t we?” He looked to Ulana. “There’s just one problem: That’s where their nest is.” she said.

“Nest?” said Everest, speaking for the first time since Danni had asked him to come into the room.

Ulana nodded. “It makes sense in a way. In the control room, is another room. The airlock. You go through the airlock to get to the caves, so they’re closest to the city.”

“There’s no other ways to blow up the station?” Danni said. “We would have to fight our way through.”

Dinah shook her head, muttering something under her breath. Danni couldn’t quite make out what it was but it sounded like, This is insane. Like Brantov, he knew she didn’t agree with the idea of blowing up the city. They’re both crazy, he thought. Neither of them care about anyone else but themselves. Who lives or who dies. Just as long as they get the power they want.

“It needs to be done,” Everest said. Danni nodded his thanks in the man’s direction. Having one person’s support was better than having none at all.

For the next two hours Danni and Everest continued to work on coming up with a plan, poring over the map. Ulana provided input, offering her knowledge of the facility. What her feelings were on blowing up the facility were not clear to Danni; he got the feeling she would do what needed to be done to survive. They were able to reach a consensus: the plan was to take the stairway all the way down to the security floor which was underground. While the journey was certainly long, with plenty of risks, the chances of detection were less likely than if they were to use the lift, which could make too much noise.

Night had begun to fall when Danni and Everest began working on taking inventory of their ammo. Danni had two magazines for his handgun and three clips for his rifle. If it was regular flesh and blood men they were fighting he would have been comfortable with the amount of ammo, but these creatures were much harder to kill than the average man. He would have to make every shot count; and while he hoped to find weapons in the security room, he didn’t want to get his hopes up.

It was completely dark when Danni and the others were ready. The room stunk of fear. Brantov and Ulana had spent a week in this room, safe from the horrific monsters that roamed the facility. In many ways it had become their refuge. Now they were leaving it, going on a mission that could very well kill them. But with Ulana he also sensed determination. She would, he now knew, do what needed to be done.

Danni himself was not impervious to fear no matter how hard he worked not to show it. The thought of fighting their way deeper into the compound, getting closer to the city, terrified him. He had encountered the once-human monstrosities twice now - he’d seen how strong they were, how durable. And he kept thinking about the thing Ulana had shown them. I don’t want to turn into that. I’d rather die first.

He went into Adwele’s office. Okja was in her cage. He opened the door of the cage and held out his arm so she could climb up to his shoulder. The monkey’s fur felt soft and warm against his face. He scratched the side of her face gently. “You’re coming with me,” he said, before putting her in his pack. He left it open enough so she could breathe.

“I’m frightened,” he admitted to Everest. They had all gathered in front of the door leading to the stairwell.

“Me too,” the big man said.

“If I get infected I want you to kill me,” said Danni. “I want you to put a bullet into my skull - without hesitation.”

“I will,” Everest promised, without hesitation.

The group left the safety of Engineering, beginning their journey towards the bottom of the facility.

...

They almost made it down to the security floor without bumping into any trouble. Almost.

Danni felt like he was melting from the inside out he was sweating so profusely. His back and thigh muscles burned as if someone was cutting bits of them away with a hot blade. They’d climbed down four flights of stairs and had another two to go before they made it to Security. Everest and he kept having to stop so the others could catch up. Mostly it was Brantov and Ulana who fell behind, sometimes by a flight and a half. Danni kept having to grit his teeth to keep from telling them to hurry the fuck up.

Such was the case when one of the creatures came around the corner, alien limbs snapping and flailing through the air. Danni saw the movement coming from the corner of his eye and lashed out with a kick. The move was sloppy and poorly aimed but was strong enough to send the creature stumbling back a few steps. Danni aimed straight at its face and let off several shots. The report of gunfire was deafening in the confined space. The rifle bucked against his arms. Blue-green fluid flew from the creature’s wounds.

The creature bellowed, a deep-pitched agonized sound that assaulted Danni’s hearing. From what he could see the creature was now more alien than human, greatly resembling the corpse Brantov and Ulana had shown them. Danni whipped out a knife and dove forward, burying the blade of the knife through one of the creature’s eyes to the hilt. Fluid leaked from the wound. The creature’s legs and appendages twitched with waning life before going completely still.

No sooner had he pulled his knife free, another was blurring towards him. Everest shoved past Danni hard enough to knock him into the wall. White fire flashed from the muzzle of his weapon. Each flash revealed one terrifying detail of the creature’s anatomy after another: the bone-like exoskeleton, the fingers of the hand which had fused together to form claws.

A limb flashed towards Everest’s face. The big man ducked out of the way, moving faster than Danni would have guessed him capable of. Danni used the moment to charge in from the side, pulling out his pistol. He pressed the heel of his boot against the creature’s chest until it was pinned to the wall. The burning smell of gunpowder and a contrasting aroma not unlike rotting fruit filled his nostrils as he fired half a magazine into the alien.

He turned around just in time to see a dark shape drop from the air. A third creature landed in the space between Everest and Ulana. Before Everest could raise his rifle and fire more shots, the creature was on top of the Mureen clan woman. The mouths of the appendages tore through clothing and flesh as if she were made of nothing more than paper, burrowing into her, lifting her off her feet which kicked helplessly. Endless amounts of blood fell onto the white floor. The groaning sound coming from her mouth and the scream of despair Brantov let out made the hairs on the back of Danni’s neck stand on end.

Danni and Everest both lifted their weapons. The rifle in Danni’s hands felt incredibly heavy. Together they unleashed a barrage of fire that shook the alien’s body before it dropped to the ground, taking Ulana with it. The woman did not move.

“No,” Brantov moaned. His face was beet-red and slick with tears. He tried to kneel on the ground, reaching out to touch Ulana, but Danni grabbed a hold of him.

“I’m sorry,” Danni told him. Okja was screeching madly from the pack on his back. “She could be infected. We have to move.” Before the doctor could protest, he shoved the man in front of him. Already he thought he could hear the approach of more creatures.

The next minute was a mad dash that seemed to last longer than it did. At last they reached the hatch leading to Security. Danni slammed his hand into the pad and ushered the group forth before the hatch had completely opened. A horde of the aliens were charging into view, too many for Danni to count; their shoulders scraped along the walls of the hallway. Danni and Everest unleashed a number of shots. One creature went down, another following it as their limbs became entangled.

“Inside!” Danni shouted. He could barely hear his own voice due to the concussive ringing in his ears. “Everyone inside!”

He and Everest backed through the hatchway. The remaining creatures were almost on top of them, quickly breaching the shrinking distance between them. At last the hatch closed with a hiss. Multiple bodies slammed into the door from the other side but it seemed the door would hold. Danni lowered his weapon, forcing himself to breathe. He unzipped his jacket, wanting to expel the internal heat radiating from his body. The handle of the rifle was slippery with his sweat.

He looked over the rest of the group: Dinah was leaning against the wall, panting; Brantov had sunk into a computer chair, sobbing quietly into his hands. Upon looking at the scientist the reality of Ulana’s death hit Danni. He hadn’t known the woman, couldn’t even say he liked her. But he felt he was to blame for her death. After the close call on the lift when they’d first entered the facility it had been his idea to take the stairs; he’d hoped the stairs, while a longer journey, wouldn’t have drawn as much attention. Still, there was no time to punish himself now - assuming they were able to get away from this hellhole he would do that later. Ulana’s death only spurred his motivation to destroy the facility and hopefully eradicate any future chances of infection. Everest stood by his side, a reassuring presence.

Danni went to the grieving scientist and put a hand on his shoulder; for the moment the compassion he felt towards the man outweighed the hate. “I’m sorry about Ulana. I know you cared about her.”

“She was my second chance,” Brantov said. He lifted his head to look at Danni with dripping eyes. “I didn’t get a chance to say good-bye to my wife on Earth - after she found out about the kind of work I’d been doing as a scientist she wouldn’t even see me one last time. I thought I would never find love again - until I met Ulana.”

Everest cleared his throat. “I don’t mean to interrupt but those creatures are still trying to get in.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulders where the thumps and groaning of metal could still be heard. “We need to keep moving.”

Danni nodded before turning back to Brantov. “I know it’s not much of a consolation - but we can avenge her memory and the memories of everyone who died in this building by blowing these things to hell. I promise, I’m going to do my best to make sure that happens, even if I have to give my last breath to do it.”

The security room was small with a bank of video screens that looked into every room and corridor of the facility. One monitor showed the creatures standing outside the hatch to Security. They pounded their inhuman claws into the metal relentlessly, punching dents into it. They never stop, Danni thought. They don’t get tired like we do. They’re like machines - killing machines. And if he let himself, he could feel their mindless need to get inside, to kill and infect and invade. Their intent was the same as every parasitic being that had ever existed.

He blocked them out. There was one screen which caught his eye. Towards the bottom it said CONTROL ROOM. It was hard to see what was going on in the room as it was dark inside. He thought he saw movement but couldn’t be sure. He could make out a long cylinder in the center of the room; he was willing to bet it was the reactor. Tendrils of blue-grey matter grew along the side of it. He squinted. What the hell? The vines seemed to be coming from pods, but it was hard to tell what they looked like beyond their shape. And he could see the shape of bodies littered around the metal grid of the floor.

Creatures. Too many to count.They were sleeping. And we’ll have to find a way to get through them in order to blow up the reactor. Danni could see no other way. The abominations had them boxed in; the only choice they had was for their group to fight.

There were two lockers drilled into the wall, locked shut. A lanyard with a passcode hung from a hook. Danni snagged, praying it would work, praying there were weapons inside. Instead he found three suits. They resembled hazmat suits, made of a thick white material, with heavy boots, and a helmet with a protective faceplate.

“Engineering made those for the expedition team Adwele sent down,” Brantov said. His eyes were red but he was standing on his feet, seeming to have regained his composure. “No one had any idea what was down there at the time. We thought they would provide protection.”

“You thought wrong,” Dinah said tactlessly.

Brantov shot a glare her way but said nothing. Danni found himself respecting the man for not allowing himself to be provoked considering the loss he’d just experienced.

“It’s better than nothing.” said Danni. “It looks like there’s some kind of...vegetation...in the room. There’s something growing along the side of the reactor. For all we know the contagion could be airborne.”

“There’s only three suits,” said Dinah.

“The suits are equipped with radios inside the helmet,” said Brantov. “That way everyone can communicate with each other. But I think it’s safe to say one of us will have to stay here.”

“That will be you,” said Danni,”assuming you know how to walk us through controlling the reactor.”

Brantov nodded. “I can.”

Danni felt his face drop when he opened the other locker. There was nothing inside, no weapons or ammo. The chances of them getting out of this situation alive looked more unlikely than ever. It’s a risk we’ll have to take, he thought.

It took fifteen minutes for Danni, Everest, and Dinah to struggle into their suits. The suits themselves were heavy and restrictive, especially around the shoulders. The helmet made Danni feel trapped; the air tank fastened to his back was heavy. The gloves made his hands look fat. He handed his gun to Dinah.

“I take it you know how to shoot a gun?” he asked her.

“Of course.” Her voice crackled through the radio attached to the inside of his helmet.

“There’s only one clip of ammo. Make the shots count. Everest are you ready?”

“Ready.” Danni found the steadiness in his voice to be slightly comforting. He felt better knowing he had someone to watch his back; he realized, absently, that he found himself trusting Everest more and more.

The only way to get to the control room was by lift. The group gathered in front of the door. Brantov gave Danni, Everest, and Dinah sad looks as if this was the last time he’d ever see them. Maybe he was right. “I’ll be by the radio at all times to give you the instructions. Just be careful. Once the reactor begins to heat up we’ll only have a short time to get out and get a safe distance away.”

“Just do me a favor and make sure you keep an eye on Okja,” said Danni as the trio stepped into the lift.

The scientist actually smiled. “Will do.”

The doors to the lift shut and began to take them down into the closest thing to Hell Danni wanted to see.