Ben Hammott - Siberia

To leave their hands free, Sullivan and Mason stowed their weapons and ran.

When Sullivan glanced behind and saw Colbert hampered by his limp and shooting at the creature, he slowed and veered over to him. “Give me the rifle. Your wound is slowing you down.”

Aware Sullivan was right, Colbert handed over his weapon and continued his limping dash for the dangling ropes that were drawing nearer.

Noticing the creature look at the helicopter, Sullivan fired a longer burst of firepower to distract it. This time it didn’t try to avoid the bullets but absorbed them into its pliant mass. When it directed its gaze back upon the fleeing men, tentacles reached out for pieces of surrounding debris, plucked them up and threw them at the helicopter and them.

“Look out! Incoming!” warned Sullivan, discharging the remainder of the bullets at the creature.

Turning his gaze from the rope he had selected to grab, Mason ducked under a piece of flying metal, stumbled, regained his footing and continued his sprint for the rope.

Colbert ducked under, dodged around and leapt over the wreckage landing in his path.

Sullivan leapt over a piece of wreckage that struck the ground in front of him and toppled to the side when another piece glanced off his head. Unable to regain his balance, he tumbled to the ground.

Praying the wreckage striking his craft didn’t damage anything essential for keeping it airborne, Kelly held the helicopter steady and on course for his teammates’ risky pickup.

Richard dodged back when a piece of metal clanged off the doorframe close to his hand.

“Two minutes,” called out Krisztina, anxiously.

Seizing her chance to catch one of the humans, EV1L rushed at the fallen man.

Shaking his head groggily to clear the fuzziness, Sullivan noticed a shadow sweep over him and looked fearfully at the tentacled creature leaning over him. He grabbed for his pistol that wasn’t there; he had loaned it to Krisztina.

EV1l clashed its teeth together as it lowered its mouth towards the human feast.

Mason grabbed at the rope when it was within his grasp and started climbing.

Colbert, a few steps behind, grasped a rope and groaned when the wound on his shoulder was ripped open. Ignoring the pain from his battered body, he hauled himself up the lifeline. When the roped twisted around, he noticed Sullivan had fallen and the creature was looming over him. Out of ammo and time, there was nothing he could do to help his friend.

With teeth eager to sink into the human’s flesh and her body anticipating the burst of nourishment about to surge through her, EV1L spread her jaws to receive the human and lowered its head. Defenseless against the Black he couldn’t touch, Sullivan gazed at the tentacles surrounding him for an opening he might be able to escape through. There was none. The creature’s glossy limbs trapped his as securely as any prison bars. He stared at the sharp black teeth around the widening mouth that emitted an acrid stench and accepted his fate.

EV1L jerked its jaws away when something bounced off her head. She gazed at the roundish object that thumped to the ground beside her and then at the hairy, human-like beast that had thrown it. She focused on the thing it held in its hand. It looked suspiciously like the exploding things the humans had thrown at her. Fearing the thing that had just struck her was about to explode, she rushed clear of the expected blast.

Though confused by the creature’s sudden departure, Sullivan seized the opportunity and climbed to his feet. Dirt and snow picked up from the rotors’ downwash, and wind whipped at him as the helicopter drew near. He turned as it flew above him and was slapped in the face by a rope. He stumbled backwards and almost tripped. Recovering quickly, he lunged at the rope pulling farther away. His grasp fell short, forcing him to run after it.

“I can’t believe a monkey just saved Sullivan,” uttered Kelly, gazing below.

Krisztina leaned out the door and looked below in surprise at the scene playing out. “It’s Boris.” She watched the Black monstrosity climb the side of the building and move along the roof; it was creeping up on Boris. She waved a hand frantically at the chimp. “Move, Boris, move!”

When Boris had seen the strange black creature that he blamed for his recent troubles and the absence of his human friend, he had jumped from the roof. He grabbed a couple of rocks from the ground and threw one at it. He bounced up and down and hooted in satisfaction when it hit. He was about to throw another when it darted away. Boris watched the human stand and looked at the noisy flying machine. Inside it were humans. He recognized the female, a friend of his human friend. Was he also in there with the other humans?

He scrutinized the faces he could see for his friend but couldn’t pick him out. Hearing something, he turned his head to the roof behind him. The creature loomed over the edge with tentacles reaching for him. Boris spurted away.

EV1L gave chase.

Aware there would be no second chances, Sullivan sprinted for the rope with a hand stretched to grasp it. His fingers curled around the lifeline and pulled it towards him. Gripping it with both hands, he started climbing. His glance up the rope picked out Colbert and Mason almost at the helicopter, and Richard and Krisztina focused on something behind him. He turned his head and was surprised to see a chimpanzee rushing towards him and behind it the Black, tentacled monster in pursuit.

“Sullivan’s on the rope, get us out of here,” Richard ordered the pilot.

Kelly lifted his craft and increased power to the engine. “How much time do we have?”

Krisztina looked at her watch. “One minute twenty-five seconds.”

“Fuck!” cursed Kelly.

When Mason’s head appeared in the doorway, Richard helped him inside.

Colbert arrived on his heels and collapsed into a seat. Breathing heavily from the climb, he nodded at Richard. “Thanks.”

“We’re not out of trouble yet—just over a minute before the bomb goes boom!” said Richard.

Colbert smiled at him. “We’ll survive, we have you, the man that should have died many times but miraculously, against all the odds, is still here.”

Richard rolled his eyes. “Yeah, a lucky charm, that’s me.”

“I guess we’ll find out soon if that’s true,” said Krisztina, looking down sadly at Boris. If the alien didn’t get him, the explosion would.

Boris’s lumbering gait sped him towards the ropes speedily rising from the ground. He glanced behind at the creature, its floundering limbs propelling it swiftly, if not majestically, forward. Turning his attention back to the flying machine that had begun to turn, Boris veered to the side. Spurting forward he jumped onto the smoldering cab of the destroyed tanker and leapt for the nearest rope. As his momentum weakened and he began to head back to the ground, his hand grasped the rope.

Hanging on the rope for a breather, Sullivan glanced down when something jerked the lifeline and saw the chimp was responsible. It seemed he also didn’t want to be left behind. His gaze flicked to the tentacled creature that seemed to roll in a mass of flailing limbs onto the burning truck. Thankful the rope was too far away for it to reach, he restarted his climb.

With one last chance to claim the human nourishment, EV1L climbed onto the wrecked shell of the vehicle, and after withdrawing some of its limbs into its mass, it shot out a single long tentacle and wrapped it around a dangling rope. Yanked from the truck, EV1L dragged along the ground until the tentacle hauled its bulk onto the rope. As soon as its main mass was within reach, its other limbs pulled it up the rope.