Cold Hell - 31. Chapter 30

For a strong moment, Dinah considered turning the gun on Danni and blowing his brains out. She’d been wanting to do it all day, no - the last couple of days. But then she would have to deal with Everest. Her squire had completely turned against her and now stayed at the little shit’s side like a loyal dog. I hate you, she thought, seething inside. Her fingers tightened around the grip of the gun. I hate the both of you.

But then the doors to the lift opened and Dinah found herself staring into the darkness on the other side of the doors. It was thick, oppressive, seeming to press in on them from all sides. The only illumination came from the small lights in their suit helmets.

She had looked at the screen with Danni and seen what he’d seen, but the resolution had been too dark and too grainy - it could not prepare her for the sight she was seeing now. She felt her heart catch in her chest. She forced herself to take deep breaths, taking in the air hissing gently into her helmet; it had a plastic taste to it.

The darkness within the control room still made it hard to tell exactly what she was seeing - or maybe her mind simply couldn’t comprehend it. Humanoid shapes lay all around the reactor, hands tucked neatly beneath their heads like dreaming children. Some of them still wore the clothes of the scientist who’d worked here, or shreds of it, and some wore nothing at all. She searched the faces that were within range of her vision, looking for signs of awareness but there was none. One of them twitched, clearly dreaming. But of what?

And there were the pods, growing along the reactor and on the sides of the walls. What were they? They frightened her more than the abominations ever could, filling her with the same primitive dread one might feel towards insects, but there was also something about them that fascinated her.

“I can hear it.” The sudden crackle of Danni’s voice within her suit startled Dinah.

“Hear what?” she asked.

“The city - it’s right below us. It’s like listening to a humming or droning sound...and there’s voices...” His voice sounded dreamy. “They’re talking but I can’t understand what they’re saying. Let’s go. Stay close.”

Danni led them into the darkness.

…

The voices spoke in a language he’d never heard before. Danni was quite sure it was alien...but the words, the way they wound together and flowed so easily. It was quite musical. There really is such a thing as ghosts, he thought.

Reluctantly he blocked out the voices and forced himself to focus on the task at hand. He tried to avoid the puddles of blue-grey gunk covering the floor. When his foot did touch the puddle, it made a wet, squishy sound; pulling his foot away was like trying to pull it free from molasses. He was thankful of the droning noise coming from the reactor; it silenced any of the noise they might’ve made. So far they had made it without waking any of the aliens up.

Brantov’s steady voice directed through the maze of sleeping bodies, past the reactor itself. He thought he saw one of the pods twitch; Danni made sure to steer well clear of them. His sixth sense told him they were particularly dangerous. He stopped once to look over his shoulder. The lift seemed far away, further than he would have liked. Keep moving, he told himself. Don’t stop.

“You’re close to the computer,” Brantov said. “It should be right in front of you? Do you see it? It’s next to the control panel.”

The control panel took up a whole wall: buttons, switches, and glowing numbers. Next to it, sitting on a desk was a computer monitor. There were more vines growing all over it. Danni felt his heart sink. He relayed this information to Brantov. “I’m going to see if I can cut it away. Everest, Dinah, I need you to watch my back.”

He pulled his knife out and reached out cautiously towards the vine. He sensed no danger from it unlike the pod. He gripped it firmly with a gloved hand and sliced at it with the blade. The vine was tough, harder to cut than it looked. He had to give a good tug before the sharpened blade sliced all the way through the vine. Dark fluid leaked from the end as it bled all over the desk. Danni threw it to the ground with a grunt. To his surprise the computer monitor booted up when he shook the mouse.

“It needs some sort of password. Do you have it?”

“Just a minute.” There was a pause. Danni forced himself to remain patient despite the fact each second spent in this room was suffocating. Finally Brantov came back with the password. Danni typed it in. The flicker of a smile touched his lips: He was in.

“As of right now all safety measures are in operation to keep the reactor from overheating - this would be the control rods. Without the control rods in place the reactor will start to overheat until - ”

“It explodes,” Danni said grimly.

“That is correct.” Danni thought he heard a slight smile in Brantov’s voice.

“How do I control the reactor?”

“Normally by using the controls on the wall panel. Someone thought to make it easier by being able to use the computer. Thank God for small favors, eh. I can take you through the process.”

“I’m ready.”

For the next minute Danni worked, tapping keys and clicking the mouse while Brantov calmly walked him through the procedure. So far things were going smoothly, though Danni didn’t dare let himself hope. He knew from personal experience things could go wrong at any second. Sure enough just as the whirring sound coming from the control rods had begun to die, he had a flash of premonition. He turned his head. Dinah was standing several feet away by the reactor, facing him. She seemed to be unaware of the pod behind her.

He watched as something within the pod moved, the outer layer - he didn’t want to think of it as having a skin - rippling as if alive. Then the layers peeled back, forming four triangular layers. White, translucent tentacles popped out from within the mouth of the pod with a skin-crawling whipping sound, and wrapped themselves around Dinah’s helmet. She gave a loud shriek before she was being pulled out by the pod. The pod growled hungrily, reminding Danni of a demo .

Danni resisted the fear and disgust warring inside of him. With a knife in hand, he approached the pod and a struggling Dinah. She was screaming, trying to pull the tentacles away with her gloved hands, but the limbs were too strong. Even as she tried to dig her heels into the ground the tentacles tugged her closer. Cracks had begun to appear on the faceplate of her helmet.

Why do you want to save her? a voice whispered in the back of his mind. Strangely, it was Juan’s voice. You’d be doing her a favor by letting it have her for a snack. Or are you so determined to redeem yourself?

“Dinah, I need you to stop screaming,” he said firmly, forcing calm into his voice. “I’m going to cut you free. And I need you to hold very still. I have to do this quickly.”

She looked at him, eyes wide with fright. “Don’t let it kill me.”

Why? She’d watch and let it devour you if the shoe was on the other foot…

“Everest,” he said, “hold her while I cut her loose.”

The big man set the rifle down within reach and gripped Dinah’s shoulder firmly. “I think I saw one of those things move.”

“Keep watching as best you can. The sooner I cut her free the sooner we can begin getting out of here. Brantov, are the control rods still operating?” Danni began sawing through the tentacles. In the back of his mind he wondered what would happen if the pod decided to switch its interest to a different prey, or if the other pods decided to start attacking.

“The control rods are shut down. It won’t be long before heat in the reactor begins to rise. We need to get out of here and get as far away as possible.” The tone in Brantov’s voice had become very urgent.

“I understand.” Danni’s breath was fogging his visor as he continued to cut through the limbs. Dark fluid leaked from each tentacle. The pod made a sharp squealing sound each time, but the plant-like creature showed no signs of wanting to let go. “I don’t know if you can tell through the camera but we’re kind of dealing with a fucking situation right now. Be ready to run your ass off when we come out of the lift.”

He finally cut through the final tentacle.

The pod shrieked this time, a sound that didn’t just pierce through the glass of Danni’s helmet but through Danni’s soul - the pain it felt was the same as his own if he were to be in pain right now, and this flabbergasted him. Alas, in all reality, of extraterrestrial origin or no, it was a fucking plant. The sound seemed to echo throughout the room, triggering the other pods. Danni, Everest, and Dinah, Dinah now free, watched with mirrored expressions of dread as all the pods around the reactor opened their mouths and began to scream.

“It’s time to go,” Danni said. “Get to the lift!”

The trio broke into a run with Danni in the lead. Already the creatures slumbering around them were shifting, beginning to rise to their feet. It wouldn’t belong before they were surrounded with no way to get out. Already one of them was stepping in the way to intercept them. Danni maintained his course, charging straight towards it. He aimed his rifle and fired. The salvo of bullets shredded the aberration’s elongated head; it dropped to the floor with a heavy, wet thud.

Finally at the lift, Danni slammed the handle of his gun into the lift. The monsters were swarming towards them, tripping over one another to get to their prey. The control room was filled with the sound of fire. Everest and Dinah were both firing their weapons, effectively taking out the enemy with well placed shots. The lift doors had finally opened enough for them to step inside.

The doors had just begun to close when one of the creatures dove desperately towards the elevator. One of its appendages shot through the door and wrapped around Danni’s leg. Before he could yank his feet free it tightened and yanked. His legs went out from under him and the rifle fell from his hands. Everest’s fingers closed around both of his wrists. For a moment Danni hung in the air, the subject of a tug-of-war game before the doors cycled close, slicing through the limb enclosed around his leg. Danni grunted as Everest pulled him to his feet.

The appendage twitched frantically on the floor. Dinah cursed and stomped down on it with a wet splat. The appendage curled in on itself, then stopped moving.

…

Brantov was ready to go. Danni’s pack hung from one shoulder. Okja could be heard screeching impatiently inside.

“I checked the cameras,” said Brantov. “The doors are clear - they just left. I don’t know where they could have gone.”

“Then I think we better take our chances and run while we can.” Dinah pulled her helmet off and set it on a chair. She was relieved to have the damned thing off. She would be even more relieved when they’d left this place. What was I thinking in bringing us to this place? she thought. She was still shaking from her experience with the pod. She could still hear the wet squeak as the tentacles wrapped themselves around the glass visor of her helmet, still feeling the sick nauseating sense of helplessness.

The feeling had been constant over the last couple days - she wasn’t used to feeling in danger.

She glanced at Danni. He didn’t notice. He was more in his element then she was in her’s. And here I thought he was the lone type who didn’t want to lead. But he had stepped up, kept them going, kept them alive. She’d been wrong about him. She remembered how she’d thought about shooting him and felt another emotion she hadn’t felt for anyone but Natalia: guilt. Twice now he had saved her life, once at the clinic and again just moments ago. He didn’t have to do so, not after she’d manipulated him for her own purposes. Not after she’d sent Mikael to kill him.

She had been wrong about so many things lately. She’d fucked up so many times. And it had taken several near-death experiences for her to finally realize it.

If we ever make it out of here I have a lot to make up for.

…

Ulana’s body remained where they had left it. She leaned against the steps as if she had been waiting this whole time, her blue eyes staring at nothing. The sight was eerie and filled Danni with great sadness. He wished he could stop long enough to close her eyes - at least then it would look like she was sleeping.

Had there been time he would have stopped to do so; in a perfect world she wouldn’t have died at all. But this was not a perfect world and there was no time. The seconds were ticking. There was no way to tell when the reactor would explode; and even if they got out of the building they wouldn’t necessarily be safe. They still had to get far enough away to be out of range of the blast. And no matter how much he might want it to be so, he knew blowing up the facility and the alien city beneath it wouldn’t make up for his sins, the damage he’d caused on Earth.

The horde wasn’t far behind them. Danni could hear them. He knew they were coming up from the elevator shaft. There would be at least a hundred of them.

He forced himself to keep running, determined to survive. Why he was so determined, he didn’t know. It wasn’t as if he had much of an existence waiting back for him in Clan Wuxia. He would spend the rest of his days in this cold hell, looking at the same ugly sky. But he knew the real reason: He’d watched his mother wither away slowly, the madness eating at her. He’d always felt she’d given up.

I’m not going to give up. Not like that. Not like her.

So he kept running, kept pushing himself even though he was past the breaking point. Even once they were outside, he didn’t stop. Not even to breathe in the fresh air.

The truck was still waiting for them like a faithful dog. He was glad to see it.

“Get the truck started!” he shouted at Everest. He turned to face the facility. Dinah and Brantov ran past him.

Dinah stopped. “Aren’t you coming?”

Danni could hear the engine turning over but it wasn’t starting. He glanced back towards the facility. The door of the hatch tore open two abominations burst through, snarling like wild animals.

“I need your gun,” he said.

She handed it to him without hesitation.

“Get in the truck,” he said. “Don’t worry about me - you’re stuck with me whether you like it or not.”

He turned to face the two monstrosities. They’d risen to their feet and were lunging towards the truck. More were coming out of the facility. He emptied the remaining half of his rifle into the horde, then the rest of the handgun; several alien creatures fell into the snow. He couldn’t ignore the feeling of satisfaction each buck of the weapon brought; like them he had been made into a killing machine. He hadn’t started out as one, just like them, but had been changed all the same. In between these moments he’d spotted something lying in the snow: some sort of tool. He grabbed it and hefted it out of the snow. A pick axe. Not the most effective weapon, but it would do.

Everest had finally got the engine of the truck running. He honked his horn twice to let Danni know: Time to move out.

He grabbed a hold of a handhold and stepped onto the back of the truck as it began to crawl away; with the other hand he held the pick axe. A creature tore across the snow after the truck. The sight made him think of a dog chasing after a mailman. The image made him grin, and hurt a little, made him homesick for Earth. You would see dogs chasing after a mailman on Earth.

The abomination had caught up to the truck. Now with it no longer in the close confines of the facility, it could move at full capacity which was faster than anything a human was capable of him. Danni cursed. He knew the fighting wasn’t over with yet.

Carefully he began to climb the back of the truck, holding onto the handholds as tightly as he could. The truck had picked up speed. The wind slapped at him, numbing his cheeks. He gritted his teeth, grunting in pain. Despite the gloves he wore his hands kept freezing to the metal handrails. He felt flesh tear every time he pulled his hands free.

The abomination leapt onto the back of the truck. it climbed far easier than he’d managed, crawling on top of the truck within seconds. Danni waited until it was within range before he swung the pick axe with all his might.

The sharp end of the pickaxe glanced off the side of the creature’s face. It screeched more out of anger than rage. Its appendages flashed towards Danni’s face. He expected to feel the mouths of the limbs tear into him but at that moment the truck hit a ridge, pitching him off the side of the truck.

His heart jerked. He waited to feel the back-breaking impact of the ice but he caught the edge of the roof with both hands. He dangled precipitously, feet scrabbling for purchase over two feet of empty air. Finally he found it. The muscles in his neck and forehead were visible as he pulled himself up. He grabbed the pick axe before it could fall into the snow.

The creature attacked again but this time he was ready. He sidestepped its dangerous limbs, swinging the pick axe, this time hard enough to knock the creature down. A third, final swing buried the sharp tip into the top of the creature’s head.

When he was sure the creature was no longer moving, Danni kicked its corpse into the snow and threw the pickaxe after it.Moving carefully he slapped the side of the passenger’s window with his hand. Once the door was open he let himself inside. The cabin was cramped with four people but Danni wasn’t complaining. Okja was peeking at him, head poking out from the top of his pack which Brantov was holding in his lap.

We’re alive, he thought with a tired but relieved smile. We’re -

He saw the explosion in the side mirror. It was reflected in the mirror as a mushroom cloud of fire and smoke that billowed out towards the sky. It was almost beautiful to see. Everest, he knew, had seen it too through the rearview mirror.

“Go faster,” Dinah ordered. Her voice was tight with fear.

“I’m going as fast as I can.”

The ice rumbled all around them. Danni watched the shockwave approach through the rearview mirror. He felt for a seatbelt but his fingers found none - the seatbelts had been removed. Of course they had, he thought grimly. What a stupid thing not to have. Slowly what was left of the burning facility fell through the hole in the ice until Danni could no longer see it. The hole was getting bigger, spreading towards them.

The truck was going at ninety miles an hour, as fast as it could go. Was it fast enough?

I don’t know, Danni thought. I don’t care.

He felt at peace for the first time in a long time.

As it turned out the truck was fast enough. He wasn’t sure when the sound of the ground falling away had stopped, only knew it when Everest had brought the truck to a stop.

The group got slowly out of the truck. They approached the hole in the earth several yards away from the truck, no longer of two different clans for the moment. Everything they’d endured had been forgotten at the sight of what lay before them.

All at once Danni remembered his dream, how the ice had split open to reveal the beating heart of the planet, how Adwele’s voice had come to him floating on the wind, telling him not to go any further.

He took in the alien structures with their biomechanical exteriors. Every building had a different shape. Tracks spanned between the buildings. Dust and burning embers and flying drifts of snow rode the wind, making everything glow. There was simply too much for any human eye to be able to take in or describe.

The city whispered to him in its alien language, louder than it had been in the control room of the facility. Still he had no idea what it might be trying to say to him. He knew the others couldn’t hear its voice; to be the only one was a curse.

No one said anything. No one could speak.

Danni turned at the sound of tires grinding through snow. Two trucks had stopped beside them. People armed with guns filed out, marching through the snow at them. He felt himself tense, ready for another battle. He didn’t know how much more his body could take but he knew he would go down fighting. They had Mureen tattoos on their faces just like Brantov.

Dinah walked towards the oncoming group, hands raised in surrender, prepared to negotiate. The woman coming towards her with a bandana obscuring most of her face, butted Dinah with the handle of her shotgun. Dinah went down in a spray of drifting snow.

A large man came towards Danni with hate in his eyes. He held a dangerous looking machete in his hand. Danni waited until the man was almost on him before attacking. He disarmed the man of his machete and twirled so that he was now behind him. The blade flashed through the air, slicing through the man’s hamstrings. Danni turned yet again only to hear the crack of gunfire. He felt a burning pain in his shoulder, felt the force of the shot blow him off his feet. He landed in the snow beside Dinah, already beginning to lose consciousness.

His last thought before hands lifted him roughly to his feet was, We didn’t destroy the city. It’s still there, still standing. It’ll happen again. It’s only a matter of time.