Дэниел Смит - Below Zero

‘I…’ Sofia wiped her goggles again, wondering if it had been her imagination, a trick of the blizzard, but the shape moved again. This time it grew larger, becoming darker as if it were approaching. ‘Keep moving.’ She fought hard to hide the fear in her voice. ‘Keep moving.’ She wanted to stay strong for Peters. It was her job to stay strong. ‘Just keep—’

The shadow surged forward, exploding from the blizzard like a shark erupting from the foamy sea. Sofia had never liked the erratic movements of the Spiders. The way their legs stuttered; the way their arms jerked when they swapped attachments, but when the Spider came at them out of the storm, it was different. The jerky movements were replaced by smooth, fluid motion. This thing wasn’t like a robot now: it looked as if it were alive , and it came with the speed of an unstoppable juggernaut: a mass of scuttling legs and reaching arms.

When Sofia first realized what it was, she thought there was no way it was going to stop. It was going to trample right through them, crush them into the ice. But it did stop. In the blink of an eye, it came to a halt, centimetres from where Peters was standing.

Peters was too shocked to do anything more than stare in horror, camera still pointed at the Spider which leant forward as if it were inspecting him.

Sofia knew she had to do something, so she raised the rock collector she had taken from the Magpie, and swung it as hard as she could. There was a crunch when it connected with the Spider. The impact of metal on metal jolted her arm, and rattled her teeth.

Taken by surprise, the Spider paused only for a heartbeat before it struck. With an unnatural pounce, it extended one of its arms and snatched hold of the rock collector as Sofia swung it a second time. It tore the tool from her hands, jerking her forward so she tumbled face down on the ice.

The Spider’s other arm shot out and grabbed Peters around the bicep.

Peters screamed, dropping the camera, and the bug scuttled backwards, dragging him away into the storm.

Sofia lay on the ice watching the shadow fade from black to grey. When it was gone, she stared at the emptiness of the swirling blizzard.

Another person, in the same situation, might have despaired. They might have given up. They might have decided it was easier to stay where they were and wait for the Spider to return for them. What else could they do?

The thought crossed her mind, but no, Sofia Diaz was not the kind of girl who gave up. She did not lie back and accept what was happening to her. Sofia had been in difficult situations before. She enjoyed danger, she loved the thrill of adventure, and she liked to be in control.

As a Scout, Sofia had learnt the meaning of ‘Be Prepared’. She had printed it out on a piece of paper and stuck it on her wall so she would never forget it. Right underneath it was another motto that had served her well when she had been rock climbing or on survival weekends in the Outback. Being prepared was great, but sometimes things go wrong. And whenever that happened, she had a back-up; the unofficial motto of the United States Marine Corps.

Improvise, adapt and overcome.

That’s what she had to do now. She told herself to get a grip, sort herself out and get on her feet. There was no excuse for lying there doing nothing. Not ever. She might not know what was going on, but she was going to do everything she could to find out, and to warn anyone else who came to Outpost Zero. She would improvise, adapt and overcome.

She opened her mouth and screamed into the storm. She shouted so loud and hard that her voice was like broken glass when it ripped from her throat. It was a battle cry, tearing out of her; her promise to the storm that she was going to fight.

She scrambled to her feet and pulled the tracker from her pocket. A blue dot – all that was left of Peters – was travelling away from her at high speed, rushing across the airstrip towards Storage, but Sofia couldn’t afford to waste time thinking about him; there were two other Spiders out there somewhere and she had to reach safety. She shoved the scanner back into her pocket, snatched up the camera Peters had dropped, and hurried across the landing strip, keeping the guide rope in her left hand as she ran. The tightness of the rope was reassuring. It would get her back. It would lead her to—

The rope slackened and slumped into the snow behind her. Somewhere in the storm, something had cut it.

The Spiders. They’ve come for me.

Forcing the panic down, Sofia kept hold of the loose rope and battled on through the storm as shadows gathered. Hidden by the weather, more monsters were moving in the darkness, cruising, testing, waiting for the right time to strike.

‘Get away!’ Sofia yelled at them. ‘Leave me alone!’ There had to be something she could do to protect herself, something that would give her time to get to The Hub.

The flare gun!

It was still in her pocket. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing, and it might give her the time she needed – it might be the difference between life and death. Using her teeth, she pulled the glove from her right hand and flicked it away. Without the glove, she was able to move more freely, but it wouldn’t be long before the cold bit into her skin and turned her fingers black. She had to be quick.

She dug the flare gun from her pocket, thumbed back the hammer, and aimed at the main cluster of shadows.

When she fired, a sharp pop! punctuated the wind, and sparks jumped from the barrel of the pistol as the flare shot out. It travelled no more than a few metres before hitting something hard – ting! – and coming to an abrupt stop. The flare bounced away and dropped into the snow, bursting into a bright dance of red sparks that illuminated the surrounding area like brake lights on a foggy motorway. In the red glow, Sofia saw the silhouettes of two Spiders identical to the one that had taken Peters, but they didn’t come forward to attack her. Instead, they recoiled from the bright light of the flare, jerking away as if it had caused them pain.

It’s the way they see .

The Spiders were equipped with cameras allowing them to see in different ways. That’s why they had found it so easy to track her and Peters in the storm. They had heat-vision, night-vision, infra-red, microscopic. And the brightness and warmth of the flare had interfered with all of those. If she could keep them blinded, damage the camera, she might have a chance.

With her left hand hindered by her thick glove, and her right beginning to go numb, Sofia fumbled as she reloaded the gun. She cursed her clumsy fingers as she struggled to push the flare into the chamber, then snapped the gun closed and fired another shot. This time she aimed at the ground directly in front of the two Spiders. Pop! The flare sparked and burst into a bright flash of red. Smoke filled the air around it, creating a swirling cloud to hide her escape.

Sofia fired once more before reloading, pocketing the gun, and reaching for the guide rope. The Spiders were turning this way and that, trying to locate her, but she had stolen a few precious seconds and didn’t have much further to go. She kept the loose rope in her left hand, following it until it grew taut as she came to the place where she had tied it to the Magpie.

The silhouette of The Hub filled the storm in front of her, and she knew she was almost there.

I’m going to make it.