Edward Lee - Slither

He'd taken something off the shelf, something Nora had already seen. The small square box-

Another bomb, she realized. Just like the one he put on the RTG.

He opened the lid and removed the hockey-puck-size disk. Again, he retracted some sort of rod from the disk's side, removed a small cap, and stood the disk upright on the desk. Either the rod had a base she couldn't see, or it had some sort of glue that enabled the disk to stand on end.

Next, the figure's gloved fingers produced a small black cube. He merely touched the disk with the cube, and-

Oh, shit, this is really bad…

A circular line of green light-thin as threadinstantly circumscribed the edge of the disk.

And the line began to blink.

Nora didn't need to see a clock to know that he'd just set the timer on the bomb.

At least it meant he and the rest of the crew intended to leave soon. But HOW soon? she wondered. With no clock hands or numbers, she had no way of knowing how long the timer had been set for.

I screwed up huge, she realized. I 'should've left with Loren. Shit-I should never have come here! We could be on the boat by now, leaving this place. Instead, I'm stuck in an alien coat closet, and I just watched one of the aliens activate a bomb!

She caught a breath in her chest when the door opened and two more men in black suits and masks walked in.

It was clear-by the way they moved and looked at each other-they were communicating, yet Nora heard no words spoken, alien or otherwise. It seemed that the first figure was giving orders to the others, because a moment later they were taking things off the shelves and carrying-them-out.

They're taking their gear back to their ship.

But would they take it all? How potent was the bomb? Would it destroy anything they left behind?

Too many questions that had no answers.

Then the scariest question:

This room… The uniforms…

Nora watched through the crack as the first figure turned and made for the narrow door that led to the room she was hiding in.

She wanted to scream but her fear sealed her throat shut. Oh, please, God, get me out of here!

She could hear the doorknob being turned, could hear the hinge keening, when by another stroke of luck she found another narrow door in the corner. She was through it just as the figure had walked into the room.

She remembered now, how the rooms all seemed to be connected by the narrow inner doors, probably alternate fire routes for the old missile station.

Thank you, God, she thought.

But what room was this? One she'd been in previously?

Her next glance around told her no.

The image that glared back rooted Nora to the floor. It was too vivid… and impossible. It was…

A woman.

She was naked, and she hung from the back wall as if suspended in midair in a cruciform position. Strange black bands girded her upper arms and wrists, yet there were no cables attached to them.

What was holding her up?

It didn't matter. Nora's frozen stare ranged the wom an's features, most notable of which was a swollen belly like that of a woman eight months pregnant. Her head was arched backward as though she were staring at the ceiling, a mane of long black hair hanging in line with her spine. When Nora stepped closer and to the side she discerned the next most shocking feature: The woman's left eye was opened and appeared normal, but the right eye was an empty socket. A black tube or wire looped into that socket, having been threaded through the optical canal to reach the brain. A second black wire had been fed into her mouth and down her throat.

A young college girl, Nora managed to guess through her horror. There were bikini lines, plus a generic vine tattoo around one ankle. Piercings that had been removed left telltale holes above the navel and through the nipples.

She simply hung there.

Nora detected respiration; then the left eye blinked. Still alive… Obviously another test subject they were monitoring directly. The bands around her wrists and upper arms were the only things she could be held aloft by…

Some sort of gravity-reversing technology…

How could Nora possibly get her down?

The answer lost all significance when Nora reached forward and encountered the same invisible pane she'd discovered in the other room. If felt identical to glass but lacked any frame, any point of foundation. A containment barrier, she realized. A giant test tube.

Her cognizance snapped back.

The doorknob again.

Shit!

She ducked into the leg well of a desk against the other wall.

They'll put ME in that thing if they catch me!

The black-garbed figure entered and looked up at the naked girl. He extracted something from his belt, touched it, and-

Nora couldn't contemplate the next thing she saw. Haven't I seen enough today!

Via some arcane command from the tool on his belt, the entire transparent barrier she hung behind immediately changed tint. The room darkened while the screen itself began to glow…

Like a big MRI machine, Nora guessed. But an ALIEN one…

Now the image of the girl was being displayed like a living X-ray. The ventricles of the heart expanded and compressed, the aorta throbbed, internal organs expanded and contracted. But if that weren't enough, her next revelation surely would be.

Another command from the implement threw a square border of light right over the girl's belly. Then the image within the square increased in magnification times three.

The image alone nearly caused Nora to scream. But how could she, with this otherworldly technician in the same room?

The magnified image now displayed the girl's grievously expanded womb.

The womb contained a quivering, coiled-up worm. It looked like a -roll of hose packed into her belly.

Just then Nora only knew one single thing in the world: When that guy turns around, there's no way in hell he won't see me sitting under here…

It was either sit there and die, or…

The figure remained examining the uterine image, his back to Nora. Nora stood behind him. When she raised the flanged tool high, the floating girl's head moved forward, her left eye watching-.-..

The black figure had only turned halfway when Nora brought the tool down on the back of his skull.

He collapsed… and Nora reached for the door to the hall.

The split-second thought told her she had no choice but to take the chance. Had the other two figures returned to their vessel?

Or were they standing right outside in the hall, no doubt with weapons beyond her imagination?

She flung the door open.

The hall stood empty.

Nora jogged for the exit door. It was closed but she whipped out the object she now knew was a key. Her fingers felt around the face of the bizarre dead bolt, found the tiny slot, then she put the key in and instinctively turned it-

Snap!

The end of the key-broke- off in the keyhole.

Nora shuddered. She hadn't pushed it in far enough, and she'd forgotten to not turn the key itself.

I just broke the key off in the fucking lock!

She banged her hands against the door.

Of course, it didn't budge.

Oh my God, I just locked myself in an alien lab, and one of the aliens is still here!

Even if she'd killed the one in the room with the girl, the other two would certainly be back for him, if they weren't already.

Nora knew the door wasn't opening unless she found a way to push the broken tip all the way into the keyhole.

But with what?

She felt imbecilic trying to blow on it. Then she banged it with her fist. Nothing happened. The one she'd knocked out would probably have a key, but that would mean searching this body…

And with her luck, that's when he'd wake up.

She didn't know if it were a prayer or just a figure of desperate speech when she pleaded: Holy shit, God, please help me find a way!