David Golemon - Ripper

“That’s what we need to discuss,” Will said as he moved over to the side of the landing to allow Farbeaux to stand next to him. “The armory will be locked, but unlike everything else in the complex, it’s not sealed magnetically, so power or not, we can open it with this,” he said as he pulled out a large key.

“Finally, a security design I can understand,” Henri said as he looked back at Sarah, now looking better than she had in the past hour. Her eyes managed to look up at him and she gave the Frenchman a ghost of a smile.

“You think maybe Sarah’s a little vulnerable right now, Colonel?” Mendenhall asked as his own eyes blazed at Henri when he saw the looks exchanged between Farbeaux and McIntire.

Farbeaux smiled and looked at Sarah and back again to Mendenhall. He could see Will was angry about Colonel Collins not being here, and possibly being dead. Still Henri could not resist. He looked back at Gloria who was anxiously awaiting Will to tell her to come the rest of the way up the stairs. Farbeaux’s smile broadened as he glanced back at the young black man.

“It’s highly possible she is vulnerable, Lieutenant Mendenhall, perhaps as much as Dr. Bannister is at the moment.”

Will got angry for the briefest of seconds, and his eyes went to Gloria as she looked up at him and smiled once more. The air was let loose from his lungs like a punctured tire. His shoulders slumped as he realized the Frenchman was right in his assessment. He was no better than the colonel and he knew it. He just nodded his head.

Farbeaux returned the nod and lightly slapped Will on the left shoulder.

“It is hell being human sometimes, isn’t it Lieutenant?” Henri again smiled. “But then again if we weren’t, we would end up something like those creatures out there. And I thought I was inhuman at times.”

“You are inhuman,” Will said and again nodded to the Frenchman. “Well, what do you say we go and get something to fight back with, Colonel?” Will said as he turned to the stairwell door.

“After you,” Henri said looking back at Sarah and winking in the weak lighting.

“Let’s just hope we don’t run into trouble,” Mendenhall said with a confident move to open the door.

He swung the heavy steel door open and his eyes widened as one of the giants was standing right in front of him. Mendenhall quickly closed the door and threw his body against it just as it was struck with the weight of the beast in the corridor. Farbeaux saw the lieutenant’s predicament and quickly threw his weight behind the effort to keep the abomination at bay.

“Okay, we’re in trouble!” Mendenhall yelled over the roaring outside.

Jack and Charlie stared into the black abyss where the stairwell had once been. At least three levels of steel landings and steps had been torn free from their mountings by the intelligent creatures they were struggling to survive against. Collins shook his head in utter frustration as he knew they would have to brave the hallway outside and the long curving corridor to get to one of the other three stairwells that were situated in a semicircle along this particular level.

“Doc, now you wait here while I see if there’s company waiting for us on the other side of this door. Do you understand?”

Frightened to death after he had peered into the darkness far below and seeing the stairs ripped out, Charlie could only manage to nod his head up and down several times.

“Damn it, Doc. I asked if you understood,” Jack barked angrily and then immediately regretted it.

“Yes … Colonel,” Ellenshaw finally managed.

“Alright, do as I say and maybe I’ll let you have a hand grenade,” Jack said with a wicked twist of his lips, knowing he would never give Crazy Charlie one of the small explosive devices, one that he could pull the pin on and hold until it went off in his hand. But the mere offer worked on the old hippie turned soldier wannabe.

Collins turned to the door, took a deep breath, and then opened it slowly. The hallway as far as he could see left and right seemed to be clear. The emergency lighting was still functioning, meaning that the creatures more than likely had not visited this level. He looked back at the wide-eyed, crazed-haired Charlie who waited without breathing for Jack to say something.

“Okay, come on, Doc.”

Charlie followed Jack into the curving corridor. He raised the M-14 carbine, careful to aim it away from the colonel’s back as he had numerous times since their journey had begun and been stingingly admonished for it. There were several flashes from the emergency floods likely due to weakened wiring that made the two men pause as they moved down the seemingly clear hallway. They passed the brand-new nuclear science labs and made sure to duck beneath the broad windows in case there were surprises waiting in Virginia’s laboratories. Collins raised his hand up in the air and Charlie stopped, but not before running into the colonel’s backside. Jack looked back and shook his head.

“Wipe your glasses off, Doc; they’re all fogged up.”

Ellenshaw did as he was told, surprised when he placed the thick glasses back on at how he had seen anything before he was told to clean them.

Just as Jack started to move forward again the radio at his side sent a message through to his earpiece. Collins was instantly ashamed that he had actually jumped at the suddenness of the noise, which in turn made Ellenshaw yelp. Collins hissed for the hundredth time in the last thirty minutes. He quickly placed a finger to his lips, making sure Charlie remained quiet, but still ashamed for acting just as frightened and actually showing it. The answer Jack knew was to blame Charlie … it made him feel better.

“Compton to Colonel Collins.” Jack tried to return the call, but Niles jumped in too quickly, cutting him off. “Compton to Colonel Collins, come in.”

At that very moment Charlie reached out and took Jack by the arm, tilting his head to their rear. Collins looked and saw nothing, but Ellenshaw pointed to his left ear and tapped it. Jack listened. He heard the sound of heavy breathing, and then something crashed far away but on the same level.

“Damn, we have company on this level, Doc,” he said as he started walking faster toward the large curve and the stairwell beyond. As they moved away from the sound behind them, Jack reached down and made sure his volume was lowered since he didn’t exactly know how sensitive the soldiers’ hearing was. “Collins to Compton, come in. Over,” he said softly into the microphone poised at the corner of his mouth. “Collins to Compton, over,” he repeated.

Suddenly Ellenshaw saw the colonel jerk as the voice of Niles came screaming over his earpiece.

“Colonel, listen, I don’t have a lot of time,” Niles said while breathing hard and running. “I have one ugly son of a bitch chasing me. You have to get down to level eighty-four immediately. Those smartass bastards have shut down the cooling pumps for reactors one and two. Do you hear? Level eighty-four, Jack, eighty-four — gotta go!”

Charlie saw Collins freeze as he heard what Niles had to say. “What is it?” Ellenshaw whispered as he turned when another crashing noise was heard below them.

Collins reached back and grabbed Ellenshaw by the collar, forcing him along the hallway. As they approached the stairwell door, Jack cursed as he heard something back along the corridor start running after them.

“Oh, there’s something coming Colonel,” Charlie said as his feet were flying down the hallway past Jack like a scared rabbit with the colonel dead on his heels.

The two men finally reached the nearest stairwell door and Jack threw it open. He took one step inside and started to fall. Ellenshaw reached out and caught Jack by his collar, reversing the roles from just moments before. Collins had stepped right off into space. Charlie dropped the M-14 and tried using both hands to pull Collins back from the abyss as he realized the creatures had torn out the landing and the stairs below it. Collins dangled as the three assault packages slipped from his grip and tumbled end over end into the darkness below. Charlie struggled to keep the colonel in check, but he was quickly losing the battle. Collins finally managed to reach out and take hold of a twisted piece of metal to arrest his fall and help Ellenshaw, who was far stronger than Jack had ever given him credit for, gain a better handhold on his shirt. Finally he found purchase for his foot on a partially ripped out stair and pushed himself backward. With a final heave both he and Ellenshaw fell backward through the open door. As they both tried to catch their breath, they heard the pounding of heavy footsteps stop and then the sound of breaking glass as whatever it was crashed through the window into the nuclear sciences labs.