David Golemon - Event

The Ranger squeezed his way past the other Rangers until he came to the end of the team. A lone Delta commando covered their rear.

"Excuse me, Sarge," he said as he placed the probe into the wall. As he started to take his reading, he noticed the red light on his VDF had become brighter. He lightly hit the box and was starting to question the sensitivity of the machine when he felt movement to his left. He looked back along the length of tunnel; there was nothing but blackness in the area they had already covered. He turned and looked at the Delta sergeant, who was taking a drink from his canteen. He could have been picking up his movement. He lowered his ambient-light goggles and turned back to his rear. He didn't catch it at first because it was so close it was unrecognizable. The creature was there, staring right at him. The eyes were actually glowing bright yellowish green as it tilted its large head and studied him for a moment. He quickly brought up his weapon and pulled the trigger; nothing happened. He had forgotten to remove the safety he had put on as he maneuvered around the team.

Suddenly he was blinded as the Delta sergeant opened fire. The armor-piercing rounds flew by his head and struck the animal dead center in its broad chest. Then three more Rangers added their fire to that of the Delta soldier. Rounds were ricocheting off the creature as it roared. The Ranger was still blinded as he was grabbed by the lethal claws of the enraged animal. He felt the air being crushed from his lungs, and though he wasn't aware of it, three armor-piercing rounds went through his own armor where it met his hips, and then through his body, and struck the animal. He saw one round hit an area uncovered by the beast's exoskeleton, the pain causing it to squeeze him even harder. But still the animal had shown no ill effect from the bullet penetrating its body.

The Delta sergeant lowered his weapon and was joined by two other Rangers as they tried in vain to pull the first man free of the clawed monstrosity before them. Hanson was there, adding his firepower to those trying to find a weak spot on the creature. Suddenly the wall exploded outward onto Hanson and the would-be rescuers. The creature that struck them in force was larger than the tunnel and brought down the rounded ceiling on them as they turned in terror. Hanson felt a powerful arm as it raked by his face and grabbed someone to his right. All he could hear was a scream of pain as the man was pulled over him through the loose collapse of dirt. He couldn't breathe as the sticky dirt fell into his mouth. He tried to pull back on someone he had grabbed on to when the roof fell in, but as he pulled, he realized it was someone's weapon and not an actual person. Then he was suddenly free of the cave-in as he was turned upside down. He spit out dirt as he felt blood rush to his head. He heard firing in all directions and just knew he was going to catch a wild round in the back. The screams were now reaching his ears as he finally focused his night vision on what had him. The beast roared and quickly bashed him against one of the hardened walls. His senses flew out of his body and he became mercifully numb as he heard his back and legs snap into several pieces. The beast screamed again, then threw him to the ground where he lay in a slumped position against the wall. Still alive, he saw around him at least five of the smaller animals as they attacked what remained of his team.

The last thing Hanson saw was the larger of the animals as it lowered its large head toward him and the eyes blinked, as if it was smelling him, studying something it hadn't seen before. He didn't feel the roughness of the black tongue as it slowly curled free of the mandibles and delicately licked his face. The odor was the same as what he had smelled in the tunnel. Hanson's senses were gone forever as the beast started feeding.

The first tunnel team to meet the enemy had been wiped out within two minutes of first contact.

Ryan pushed the earpiece as deep into his ear as he possibly could and still the static was too much. He removed his Kevlar helmet and shone his light at Collins's chest, making sure not to hit his goggled eyes. He wiped sweat from his brow and shook his head.

"Still can't make it out, Major. It may be Site One, or one of the other tunnel teams, I just can't be sure." He reached for his oxygen to get a breath of clean air.

They had been deep underground for almost an hour and forty minutes and hadn't made contact with as much as a ground squirrel. Collins shone his light ahead of the others in his team and noticed a branch in the tunnel up ahead. The men were squatting and taking some of their own oxygen. The humidity was off the scale and the heat was close to unbearable. They would have given anything to leave the 0 2masks on because of the stench clinging to the tunnel walls, but they knew they might have at least a few more hours of this, so they conserved as much as they could.

"Being underground is hell on the COMM links. Where do you estimate we are, Sergeant?"

"I believe the center of town is just that way," Mendenhall answered, pointing to the right. "Maybe a thousand yards or so. The depth of this tunnel is making the GPS signal we're receiving from base sporadic at best and nonexistent most of the time, but my last fix was pretty dead-on, so I'd say not far ahead."

Collins had chosen this particular hole because it seemed to be the freshest and hottest of the many trails. It seemed to have been created by two animals traveling side by side because it was wide enough for the men to get around without too much difficulty. He looked at the other members of his team. They were hot in the new abalone-shell armor and were using too much of their water.

He placed his hand on the wall and felt the eerie smoothness through his glove. It was almost crystalline in feel and shimmer. He glanced again at the other fifteen members of his tunnel team. The Delta men were in the lead, then him, Ryan, Mendenhall, and Everett, and the last five were Rangers bringing up the rear.

"Well, if the town is that way, I'm thinking the branch to the left, away from the town. Thoughts?" Collins asked them all, not just the officers.

They all concurred with silent nods.

Suddenly, the VDF Mendenhall held started blinking. Something was moving toward them and it was coming fast. The lights started blinking on and off at a faster rate, and the needle on the motion sensor went into the yellow. Mendenhall raised the small stainless-steel probe that was attached to the side of the handheld VDF device and shoved it into the wall of the tunnel. The lights became brighter and started blinking even faster. The gauges were starting to really move into the higher ranges, indicating extreme movement. He then removed the probe and jammed it into the wall to his right; the blinking lights slowed and dimmed at the same time. He returned the probe to the other wall but farther to the left, then he pulled it free and placed it in the wall farther to the right. The lights again sped up their blinking and glowed bright red. The directional indicator showed the vibration coming straight at them, and the motion sensor was now pegged in the red.

"Uh, we have company headed this way, Major."

"Which direction?" Collins asked, bringing his XM8 rifle up into firing position.

"Shit, sir, now in every direction." Mendenhall took his eyes off the VDF and raised his own weapon. He glanced down at the signal once he was prepared to defend himself. "Shit, the needle first points to the south, then jumps to the east, then west." Mendenhall kept his eyes on the device. "The only place they're not coming is from behind us."

"You men, bunch up, four-man teams. I want weapons coverage in all directions. Keep fire discipline, you are now weapons-free."