Jon Merz - Prey

At last, she crossed into another corridor.

Filled with doors.

Everywhere.

Was it an illusion? Was it some type of trick?

How was she supposed to choose?

She had a feeling that time was running out quicker than she wanted it to. Were the aliens leaving? Were they planning to take off and bring Julia and Mick back to their home world with them?

She had to hurry!

Julia started punching the door releases up and down the corridor, trying to work as systematically as she could. First one on the right, then one on the left, then back again.

She kept an eye on the door she’d come from and used it as a marker for her starting point.

But then it got too confusing and she almost forgot where it was. So she fired a single round at the door, watched it scar the metal surface and then turned back to the other doors.

Where would they have put Mick?

She ran down the corridor. “Mick!”

It was silly, she supposed. Shouting would draw them to her. But she thought they might know where she was anyway. They were smarter than her after all.

Or were they?

Had they allowed themselves to develop to the point where their minds simply overshadowed every other aspect of their being? Were they mentally so profound that they failed to grasp the primal any longer?

Perhaps.

“Mick!”

Another dinocreature came running at her from down the corridor and Julia killed him, too.

More brass shell casings littered the floor. Julia dropped the empty magazine and slapped another one home, jerked the charging handle and kept moving.

More doors opened. More empty rooms beckoned.

And still, no Mick.

He has to be here! He has to be alive!

Why would they kill him? Wouldn’t they use him as bait to get Julia back here so they could try to impregnate her all over again?

Wouldn’t they?

She ran to another door. Inside, she saw two gray aliens. They raised their hands at her and Julia felt an incredible wave of pain sweep over her. She wanted to drop the gun, vomit, and scream at the same time.

Her ear filled with a high-pitched whine.

Her eyes watered.

“Mick!”

She brought the gun up and shot both the aliens. They toppled over and Julia thought she could hear their screams mentally. But then the whine stopped and she felt a measure of relief come over her.

She had to find him.

Another room, further down the corridor.

How many more to go?

Hundreds it looked like…

She’d never get through them in time. Even now, she could feel some type of low growl coming from the underbelly of the ship. It felt like they were starting up the engines.

For takeoff?

More doors hissed open.

A few more dinocreatures made a half-hearted attempt to rush her or fire their guns, but Julia felt like she was in some type of weird zone now. She felt cool and collected even as the waves of panic that she’d be trapped here swept over her.

She fired again and again.

More aliens died.

And Julia kept searching.

It was taking too long.

And then she saw another door. Unlike any of the others she’d opened before. This one was blue.

Blue?

She found it weird to see a color in the entirely gray environment. And even thought she wasn’t close to opening it, she felt a strong tug to go to it and open it.

Now.

She ran over.

Pressed the door release.

It hissed up.

“Mick!”

He lay there on a gurney. He was strapped into place, his hands and legs held fast by some type of metallic collars placed at four points. He lifted his head.

“Hey you.”

She smiled and wanted to cry. “I’ve been looking all over for you. We’ve got to get out of here, I think they’re planning on leaving.”

“You feel the engines?”

“Yeah.” Julia studied the collars. “How the hell do these things release?”

“I don’t know,” said Mick. “I’ve been laying here trying to figure that out myself. I think they’re controlled by the computer over there.’

Julia ran to the console and saw the keyboard with bizarre writing on it. She looked up. “Should I just punch some buttons and see what happens?”

“Guess it’s not written in English, huh?”

“Nope.”

“Oh well.”

Julia frowned. Punching buttons would take too long. There was no time left! “Hang on, Mick.”

She jerked the M16 up and sprayed off several rounds into the console’s belly. A massive spark jumped out. Fizzles and pops crackled in the air.

“Shit.”

“Do it again,” said Mick. “I think I felt something tug the collars.”

Julia fired again and this time, a small fire started in the computer console. It seemed to lick at the wiring. Black smoke billowed out.

“Anything?”

“Yeah. They’re gone.”

Mick stood there, smiling. He pointed at the M16 on Julia’s back. “Is that for me?”

She slid it off and handed it to him. “Glad to have you back.”

He grinned. “Time for kissing later, okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah.” She thrust a few grenades into his hand. “I thought you might know how to make this ship go boom if you positioned these right.”

“I see you left the device where it was.”

She looked at him. “I couldn’t do it, Mick. I couldn’t stand the thought of seeing a nuke used on Antarctica.”

He nodded. “Yeah. Well, there’s nothing to be done now except getting the hell out of here.” He looked at the grenades. “I can rig something up real quick but we won’t have a lot of time. Do you know the exact way out of here?”

Did she? She sure as hell hoped so.

“I followed sort of a straight line across the rings of corridors. I used the rooms as crossovers instead of trying to follow the corridors around and around.”

Mick nodded. “Good plan. Okay, let’s do this.”

Julia watched him go back to the computer console and rip out several wires. He knelt under the console and opened up a panel, placed the grenades in there with the wire, did a few things and then stood back up.

“Okay, let’s go. We’ve got maybe three minutes at best before those grenades start going off.”

“You sure it will bring down the ship?”

“Nothing to do but try.” He nudged her forward. “After you.”

Julia opened the door and looked out. A laser blast shot past her face, almost singing her skin.

“Shit!”

Mick ducked out and sprayed the corridor. Julia heard shrieking. Mick pulled her out with him. “Which way?”

She pointed. “Up there.”

“Run!”

They ran for the bullet-scarred door. Once they got through it, Julia felt better. She led them from room to room. Each time they crossed a corridor, they checked to make sure there weren’t any aliens waiting for them. They ran into a few but there seemed a greater sense of urgency now than ever before.

Mick frowned. “Hear the engines? They’re cranking them up. We don’t have much time.”

“How long until this thing blows?”

“Maybe one minute.”

Julia led them back to the last corridor.

Five dinocreatures stood by the door.

Mick shook his head. “Fuck this.” He took a grenade from Julia and lobbed it at the dinocreatures who tried to scramble out of the way. Julia and Mick ducked back as the blast caught the dinocreatures and scattered their bodies like seeds.

They hurried out, almost sliding in the goo staining the floor.

“The door!”

Mick reached it first and pounded the door release. It hissed open and they fell through into the jungle.

“Hurry!”

They ran down the path now, harder than Julia had run so far today. She could see the cloying mist issuing up again from the plants.

“Don’t breathe the mist. Hod your breath!”