Ben Hammott: Ice Rift

Jack shrugged. “What other option do we have?”

Richard crossed to the open doorway. The others followed.

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

THE TANTALIZING SCENT OF blood wafting through the ship had encouraged the Clickers to ignore their fear of the Hunters whose domain it led them through. The stronger the scent became the faster they moved through the corridors. When they rounded the corner and detected the many corpses on offer, they howled with pleasure and scrambled to be the first to reach them. There were so many Clickers that the first to arrive and rip off chunks of flesh were quickly pushed out of reach of the food. Worried the hastily grabbed feast might be stolen from them; they wandered along the corridor to find a private space to eat.

Footsteps moved away along a side corridor. One of the Clickers chewed the piece of flesh as it moved to stare after the fading footsteps. A small group of the human creatures disappeared around a corner. It soon finished the small scrap of flesh it had snatched and wanted more. It glanced back at the desperate shrieks of its kind fighting each other in their frantic haste to grab a morsel of flesh from the Hunter’s corpses. There were so many fights breaking out, a second helping was unlikely. Hoping the owners of the footsteps would be more accommodating, the Clicker called out to its hungry brethren who had been pushed aside and the seven Clickers followed the humans’ trail.

Though the short alien moved swiftly, his short legs made him easy to keep pace with as they all rushed along corridors, through doors and down staircases. Any creatures encountered were quickly dispatched with a blast from the unusual weapon the small alien seemed adept at using.

The Clickers moved faster and soon caught up with their fleeing feast.

The constant clicks accompanied their dash through the ship. When they’d descended a second staircase, the alien halted at the bottom and bade the others to stand aside. He turned a dial on the weapon and pointed it up the staircase.

The Clickers appeared at the top and rushed down.

The alien aimed and fired. A tiny ball of red light erupted from the end of the weapon and grew to a width of a hand. It struck the first Clicker’s chest and burst straight through, leaving behind a neat hole with smoking edges. It continued on its path until it had passed through five of the seven clickers and struck the wall with a burst of red sparks. The small alien adjusted his aim and fired a second shot at the two fleeing Clickers. It passed through the nearest Clicker’s head, but only grazed the second Clicker’s shoulder when it dodged to the side out of its path. The light ball struck the wall and again a shower of sparks lit the gloom. The surviving Clicker reached the top and leapt behind the wall.

The small alien watched the dead Clickers slide and tumble down the staircase. When he was certain all were dead, he lowered the weapon.

“We could have done with one of them earlier,” said Theo, in awe of the weapon and the damage it had caused.

The alien turned away and led them on.

Richard stared at the weapon enviously. If it were possible for him to get his hands on it, or a similar one, he would do so. It would be worth a fortune.

The small alien halted at a door and turned to face his new found friends. All were out of breath from their run. “We are about to pass through a room filled with small dangerous creatures. We must move quietly. Our aim is to reach the door on the far side. If you are attacked there will be little I or anyone can do to help, so if that happens to one of you, you others must leave them or you will die also. Do you all understand?”

“Isn’t there a less dangerous path we can take?” asked Richard, far from pleased with the dangerous route the small alien had chosen.

“There is not. Remember, move swiftly and whatever you see or hear in there, do not make a sound.” He opened the door.

Thick mist rushed out. They entered. The mist was so high only the head of the short alien was visible. They kept pace with his bobbing head when they moved across the room lit by a faint, green glow from above.

Jack glanced up. Bridges were set at intervals. He recognized their layout. Above them was the cathedral room with the three impossibly tall aliens in the transparent cylinders and where they’d been chased by the space rats and the vicious insects. The frightened expressions of those around him were evident they also recognized the danger. Jack remembered where the ferocious bugs had come from—down here. They were in the insects’ nest. He glanced around anxiously. The patter of tiny feet drifted out of the mist and small-clawed feet were heard moving on the floor above.

The alien veered off to the right and all followed his lead. He led them between two metal pillars and beneath one of the walkways. The small insects that had successfully attacked the swamp rats covered the walls and the underside of the walkway.

Something scarpered along the floor by Theo’s feet. He trod on something. The crunch of bone or hard shell sounded as loud as a gunshot in the quiet chamber. Around them the patter of thousands of tiny feet invaded the silence. Theo’s face was etched with fear when he glanced behind at Jane and Jack. Jane pointed forward and mouthed, keep moving. Theo crashed into a pillar. A metallic boom echoed through the room. Theo dropped to the floor and was swallowed by the mist.

The small alien heard the sound, but kept moving.

Richard, who was directly behind the alien, also heard and ignored it; he’d faced the insects once and had no wish to do so again.

Lucy glanced back at the sound. She saw no sign of those who’d been following her. The insects were on the move. Jane, Theo and Jack wouldn’t stand a chance.

Jane dropped to a crouch and felt in the mist. She found Theo and turned to Jack. “He’s here, knocked unconscious.”

The insects knew they were here now so keeping quiet wouldn’t save them now.

Jack knew they should heed the alien’s warning. What they were doing was foolhardy and would likely get them all killed, but like Jane, he couldn’t leave Theo, not when there was a chance to save him. He helped Jane pull Theo upright. They slung the unconscious man’s arms around their shoulders and dragged him in the direction the small alien had taken.

The insects moved in on them from all directions.

Because the mist hid the insects, both Jack and Jane found it unnerving and would have preferred to see them coming. At least then they could kick and stamp at them. Hidden from view like they were, they’d no way of defending themselves.

Jane remembered the egg-laden insects and imagined the tiny creatures burrowing into her flesh and eating her alive from the inside. She shivered.

Jack called halt. They stopped. Insects flowed down the wall in the thousands. Though they became lost from sight when they entered the low mist, their tiny feet clacked on the metal floor and revealed the direction they headed—straight for Jane, Jack and Theo.

Jack turned and searched for an escape route; there was none. They were surrounded. He looked at Jane. “If I had a gun, I’d shoot you.”

Jane forced a nervous smile. “I bet you say that to all your dates.”

The insects grew closer.

Jack would’ve laughed if their situation wasn’t so dire. “I wasn’t aware this was a date.”

Jane shrugged. “We’ll not get another, so let’s pretend it is. That way we won’t have to die alone.”

Jack nodded at Theo. “We could drop this rather large gooseberry and kiss.”