Kyle West - Apocalypse

“Follow me,” Samuel said. “And stay quiet.”

Samuel walked out, and we followed him.

We rounded the corner, and Makara’s flashlight clicked on. It looked like we were at the scene of a grisly murder. There was blood everywhere – the walls, the floor, the doors. It was as if the creature had consciously painted everything red to mark its territory. In the corners grew tufts of pink fungus.

It was quiet, and cold. There was a deadening of sound, and our footsteps did not echo but stopped at the walls.

We walked for several minutes until we came to an intersection. A rush of cold wind blew through the deserted corridor. From where it came, I could not tell. But it was not natural.

Samuel held his hand up, indicating us to hang back. We did so, and he crept up to the crossroads. He stood in the middle of it for a moment. Then something massive rushed past in a blur. It snatched Samuel as it scuttled past on multiple legs. Samuel grunted, and was gone from sight.

“Samuel!” Makara yelled.

She ran into the darkness. I was right behind her. We turned in the direction Samuel had been taken.

But the hallway was empty.

I pointed to the floor. A trail of a clear liquid led to an open doorway on our right. It looked like he had been dragged in.

Makara ran, and I followed her. I held my gun in front of me.

We had entered a common area. A pool table sat in front of us, and a large television screen, shattered, sat in the corner. Makara shot the flashlight beam around the room.

The wind blew again, chilling me to the bone. I spun around, but there was nothing but darkness.

“This way,” Makara said.

I followed Makara across glass spread across the floor. It crunched under our boots. The walls were colored pink with fungus. In a far, dark corner of the room, I could see the outlines of the couch. And on the couch, a body.

Makara and I ran up to it. It was Samuel, his body was wrapped in a thin, white coating of…something.

Samuel!” Makara hissed.

“What happened?” I asked. “Where is that thing?”

Samuel stared past us, at the ceiling. The floor below us darkened. I felt the cold wind, close, tickling the back of my neck from above.

I looked up to see an enormous spider.

Makara screamed.

As I aimed my Beretta, the thing opened its mouth, revealing a long stinger that was curved and bladelike. From the end, poison dripped. It screeched as it swiped it at me. I dodged just in time.

At the same time, a hairy, muscular leg clobbered me. The force was so great that I fell and rolled to the other side of the room, where I hit the wall.

I struggled to get up. The arachnid was huge, standing on eight legs, each one the height of a person. It was covered with sticky, pink flesh. A pool of slime collected beneath its body, dripping from its mouth, its fangs, its many white eyes. Two large, serrated pincers opened and closed, longing for a taste of either of us. And the blade, set in its mouth, was cruel and pointed, flexing back and forth.

With me out of the way, the creature knocked Makara to the ground. It moved over her, its fangs opening, sharp blade arching back.

I got up, doing my best to hold my gun steady. I started shooting.

Bam . Bam . Bam .

The shots reverberated in the room, deafening me. The creature squealed. I had hit it on its side, but it hardly made a dent – purple liquid oozed out, running down its leg. It shook itself, and then turned to face me. It scuttled toward me, its pincers chomping open and closed.

I shot again, hitting it in an eye. It screamed in pain – on its breath I could smell the rot of other victims. Still, it crawled closer, just feet away.

I shot, over and over, right into its face. When it opened its pincers, I could see inside its mouth. I shot it there.

The spider went rigid. I jumped out of the way and continued to shoot, aiming at the head. The hideous creature crawled on its belly toward me. Finally, the magazine was empty. I wouldn’t even have time to switch it out. The thing was only feet away.

I got out my knife, stabbing into the thing’s head, over and over. It shuddered, then lay down on the ground, dead. I retrieved my knife. It was coated in pink slime.

I wiped it on some nearby furniture and ran to Makara, who was lying on the floor. I knelt beside her, and shook her by the shoulders.

“Makara! Makara!”

Her eyes opened.

I looked all over her body, but could see no wound.

“Can you stand?”

“I’m…I’m fine. I just…do not care for spiders.”

She began to sit up, and crawled to the couch where Samuel was. I helped her over to him.

“Makara,” he said.

“Samuel, you idiot, why did you go ahead? What were you thinking?”

Samuel shook his head. “I’m sorry. I saw something and didn’t want to risk everyone.” He struggled to move. “Can you get me out of this damn thing?”

“What is it?” I asked.

“Spider silk,” Makara said. “Luckily it isn’t too thick. It shouldn’t take long to pull off.”

For the next few minutes, we cut and tore at the spider thread. Soon, Samuel burst out and stood next to us, and began to pull the icky stuff off his clothes.

“I’m glad it didn’t bite me,” he said. “I would have been toast. I would have never imagined such a thing could grow to that size.”

“What else is in this place?” Makara asked.

“I don’t know, but we’re not staying to find out,” Samuel said. “Kari is still somewhere in here. We’re leaving.”

Before leaving the room, I switched out my Beretta’s magazine. I had a feeling I would be using it before long.

“Go left here,” Samuel said.

We turned. This entire side of the Bunker had been completely taken over by the xenovirus. The floor was carpeted in pink and purple fungus and strange stalactites hung from the ceiling, dripping slimy liquid. We did our best to avoid them.

We turned into a long hallway, and my breath caught. We were in a gigantic chamber, standing on a metal bridge spanning darkness. Below, I could see shapes of large machines, now dark and defunct. These had been the nuclear reactors that had once powered the entire Bunker. They were offline, now – the dorms must have been running on a backup source of power. Above, two large streams of sunlight spilled in from holes in the high ceiling, casting spotlights on the floor below.

Across the bridge, I could see three sets of metal doors.

“The elevators are ahead,” Samuel said.

We started across the bridge, our footfalls echoing hard off the metal.

We were a third of the way across when a massive shape sailed through the air from one of the machines. It pummeled into the bridge right in front of us.

It was a giant humanoid, probably three times the height of a person. Sickly, pink flesh covered its entire body without a trace of hair. Long claws extended from its massive hands. Its eyes were narrow slits, white and glowing. Muscles bulged under sinewy skin, ready to inflict destruction. Bloody gashes, dripping purple goo, lashed up and down its body. Its reek made me feel like a tsunami of raw sewage was washing over me.

A low rumble sounded from its throat.

“Kari,” Samuel said.

Kari charged. Makara lifted her gun and fired, six times, but only hitting the monster’s muscular chest. All of them entered, but did nothing to slow her. Samuel also gave a few shots, but only managed to hit Kari’s shoulder.

I aimed my gun for the head.

Bam . Bam .

I missed twice. She was near, and took a swipe for my gun. It clattered to the grated metal floor and slid away, almost falling off the edge.