David Golemon - Ripper

The biggest difference in Smith was his desire to hurt, destroy, and render flesh into pulp. The thought of taking life from anything and everything overwhelmed his mind as he shook his head with an ecstatic swelling of near perfection. He remembered laughing uncontrollably.

Since he had intentionally breathed in far more of the formula than his men, he had immediately taken control of the altered men before him. He was the dominate of the group according to the millennia-old adage that the strong will out. He had had to make an example out of a soldier who had thought he could control the group by smashing the man’s head through a wall. The man was still alive but was now far more receptive to control. This was all due to Smith’s much larger stature.

He was also aware that his brain could only take so much before the sensitive synapses overwhelmed the very tissue that contained the electrical firings. Its material could not expand fast enough, nor was the cranium strong enough to hold the enlargement. The brain was dying and Smith knew he had only a short time to extend the magnificent feeling he was experiencing. The drug had made him not regret anything in the slightest as he saw beyond the mere death of the body and knew he was truly living for the first time. He was now seeing what life for humankind would be like millions of years in the future with the expansion of the mind. The evolutionary growth was an intoxicating mix that sent euphoric riches into the thought process. He realized that this is what being God was meant to feel like.

And a vengeful God he was.

The clinic on level nine was silent for the moment, but Farbeaux had the sense to know that something had gone quickly to hell as men and women were seen running through the halls and his senses could fathom that there was more than just a biohazard happening inside the complex. He cursed his luck as he felt the cold steel of the handcuffs that secured him to the bed. He looked over at the security man who had been trying to raise someone on his radio. Henri watched the man step into the clinic, look around, and then step back inside the room shaking his head and trying the radio once more.

“Sergeant, how long have you been in the military?” Farbeaux asked.

“Five years, eight months,” the young airman said as he again walked to the doorway.

“That’s long enough for you to have developed a sense that all soldiers get over the years.”

“And what’s that Colonel?” the sergeant asked as he angrily turned away from the activity in the hallway.

“A sense that should tell you, as you Americans would put it of course, that the proverbial shit has hit the proverbial fan.”

The kid didn’t say anything as he turned back around, ripped the headphones off his head, and walked over to the phone beside Henri’s bed. He lifted the receiver, but then Henri saw his face flush with even more anger when he heard the continuing announcement by Europa to evacuate. The guard started to slam the phone back down into its cradle when he felt the Frenchman’s eyes on him. He looked up and saw Henri raise his right eyebrow. He was about to say something when Denise Gilliam strode quickly into the room, walked over to the bed, and started removing the tape that held the IV in place on Farbeaux’s left arm.

“Hey, Doc, what are you doing? I have orders that say he goes nowhere,” the guard said.

“I override any authority inside this clinic young man. Now free up Mr. Farbeaux’s restraints; it’s time we get the hell out of here,” the young dark-haired MD said as she started to pull the bed away from the wall. “Now Sergeant!” she said far harsher than she would have liked.

“Ma’am, this is a very dangerous man,” the sergeant said even as he produced the handcuff key.

“I suggest you follow the good doctor’s orders son. Smell that?” Henri said as he jangled his right cuff against the steel bedrail.

“What?” both Gilliam and the sergeant said at once.

“Cordite. There is one hell of a battle taking place somewhere, more than likely below us on another level, possibly even on level seventeen where the emergency was declared.”

Both the doctor and sergeant looked at each other, realizing that the Frenchman was telling the truth. The airman started to unlock the right handcuff as Denise finished pulling the IV line free of Henri’s arm.

“Help me push him to the elevator,” she said as she started tugging on the large bed.

“Doctor, if you would release this other restraint, I assure you I can walk, possibly even run, which I think may factor into this situation any moment.”

“No, we can get you to safety,” the sergeant said as they reached the doorway.

“Then may I possibly persuade you to get my clothes out of the closet?”

“No!” both the sergeant and doctor yelled at once.

As the load of over a hundred and fifty staff rose into the ancient hangar on level one, the perimeter security element of the Event Group was waiting for them. They were in the process of herding the last of the science staff off the giant cargo lift to join the first lift of men and women out in the scrub of flat desert to await orders and transport to a safe location when the exterior lights flickered and then went out. The twelve men of the outside security team whose job it was to secure gate one were frustrated in not being able to join their mates down inside the complex, especially when they started hearing the stories about heavy gunfire coming from level seventeen.

Every man, woman, soldier, doctor, professor, or technician knew the Event Group was compromised, and its largest element was sitting out in the open where the world could discover a secret that had been buried in the sands of Nellis Air Force Base for the past sixty-one years. Even more, they wanted to return and assist those men and women who were now trapped inside that darkness that may have become a mass grave for their friends and colleagues.

And what was worse, they knew there was now something in that darkness that had a functioning and scheming brain and worst of all — teeth.

As Niles Compton, Pete Golding, and Charlie Ellenshaw banged through the doorway of the stairwell and into the main reception area they heard the crashing through the steel conduit that allowed the elevators to ride on a cushion of air. Niles could see enough through the battery-powered lighting to know that his staff had successfully evacuated, a load off his mind. Still, he had to know there was something and as he moved away from the two scientists they were shocked to see him move toward the elevator doors. Their eyes widened when they saw their boss start to pull the doors apart.

“Niles, what in the hell are you doing?” Pete called out as Charlie reached him first and tried pulling his hands away. Just as Charlie reached the doors Niles slammed backward into him and he was forced to catch Compton before he fell to the floor. Something had impacted the double doors leading to the shaft. As they watched, there came a loud bang and then a large bulge appeared in the stainless steel.

“How are they moving up that shaft?” Pete asked as he pulled the two men away from the elevator.

“With the description Captain Everett gave us, they must be using the guide rail that centers the elevator inside the shaft, and with no compressed air they have no resistance to impede their climb.”

Both Pete and Niles turned and looked at Ellenshaw, who returned the look with a “what?” expression. All three jumped when the left side of the steel door bent outward and for the first time they saw the hand of the thing inside of the tube. It grasped the corner of the steel door and pulled down. The screech of metal was deafening as the creature wrenched and warped the elevator doors, first one side and then the other.