T-Plus 9

Oliver and Soup scrounged through the rest of what littered the ground in the down time they had, waiting for the aliens outside to settle. There were a few battery packs they had missed in their initial search, which were now snug at the bottom of their backpacks, and a few more batteries to add to their ever increasing stash. Daniel kept an eye out the door, flicking his light on and off every time to check on the situation. On, then quickly off, then on again, then off again as he shut the door and backed away. A few seconds later he’d stick his flashlight outside and peeked on the aliens’ activity again as if nothing had happened.

They watched him as he stuck his head out the crack in the door, extending his neck to see over the hill of debris. After wedging himself into his own wall of shelves, Daniel extricated himself and came back with the words they’d been waiting for.

“The big one’s gone.”

“How many are still left outside?” Soup asked, shouldering his pack again.

“Less than half of what was there originally, I think. I’m not too sure. There’s that pile in the way, but I’m pretty sure we can push through.”

Everyone equipped themselves with their blowtorches, attaching their lights back onto the shoulder straps. Oliver helped Daniel shove the shelves aside, and the trio slipped back outside after checking for any nearby aliens. Their lights revealed the situation Daniel had already described to them. Less than half of the aliens they had seen earlier were left, and even when they averted some of aliens as they climbed the large pile of debris in their way, it remained about the same. The only point of concern was the line of aliens blocking their way to the rest of the corridor.

There was a thin fence of them on the far end, separating their nest beside the blocked stairwell and the rest of the second floor. It wasn’t too thick, but there were at least four or five layers of roaming aliens, crowding shifting back and forth past each other in a weird patrol formation. Even the ceiling and walls were covered in their surveillance attempt. There weren’t any obvious weak points from what Oliver could see, although there were several spots where there was a layer less of aliens. He checked behind them, and the extra aliens were still milling around, not reacting to the three of them. Yet.

“Squish or burn?” Oliver asked, gesturing at the thinnest part of the alien line on the far left side.

“Burn as a last resort,” Soup suggested, adjusting his shoulder straps and clipping them together across his chest.

Daniel led the charge, hopping off the pile and slamming his side into the first layer of the alien barricade. Oliver shook his head as he followed his friend. The two of them had only recently recovered, and here they were rolling around and body-slamming aliens again. As the other technician picked himself up, Oliver tackled the next layer of aliens already reaching out for them. The rest of the live barrier alerted their peers, and now even those they had bypassed discreetly were approaching them. In a matter of seconds, their position was swarmed by the flesh colored Nereids.

All he could see were a variety of feelers, half formed tendrils, and even several that resembled arms and hands. They reached out for his shoulders, his head, some for the flashlight that was pointed at Daniel’s back that was dealing with his own set of paparazzi. Oliver flicked on his blowtorch, drawing black lines along the feelers reaching for him. Behind him, he could hear Soup doing the same thing. The now familiar sound of sizzling accompanied by the stench of burning flesh filled the corridor as they fought their way onward. Daniel surged further ahead, alternating between crushing the aliens with his momentum or burning them into ashes and stomping on their disintegrating flesh. The heat from the flames attracted them more than bugs approached a bright light, but the torches burnt the Nereids faster than they could approach. They continued rushing forward, dodging the feelers and ducking under their attempts to grab them. One layer, another layer, and finally a third. After the fourth, Oliver saw Daniel make a break for the open corridor, eliminating some of the aliens approaching from further away as he and Soup wrestled their way through the slim path Daniel had left.

They broke through the alien barricade, their boots thudding against the ground as he and Soup raced after Daniel. Several of the aliens from the outer layer chased after them, although most of them remained to retain the barricade or feast on their friends’ remains. A glance of his shoulder and Oliver could see the swarm they had forced their way through had already reformed. Getting back up to the third floor would be interesting.

“Are they still after us?” Daniel shouted from the front. His light pointed forward, the beam bouncing up and down, revealing a debris filled corridor with scores of roaming aliens.

“Yes!” Soup shouted from behind Oliver. The scientist’s footsteps were a beat behind his, stamping out a chaotic rhythm as they ran. “What do we do?”

“Keep running!”

“You think we can make it to the cafeteria?” Oliver asked as he body-slammed an alien blocking his way. He rolled to his feet again, ducking under the outstretched feelers from another one that Daniel had dodged.

The only reply was the sound of frantic footsteps. A glance over his shoulder revealed the aliens were catching up. Or were they slowing down? Oliver sped up, straining to catch up to his friend. Soup’s steps matched his own, and the two of them sprinted for Daniel’s position at double the speed. As they caught up, their lights revealed more of the corridor’s condition. They had been passing piles of rubble and debris, a collection of broken pipes, walls, ceilings, and metal plating. The section of the corridor they were approaching was less of a mess, and they began to leave the area affected by the intense hull breach. Or at least it seemed that way.

With a few twists and turns of his shoulder as they ran, Oliver noted drag marks on the floor they ran on. The debris hadn’t completely disappeared either. They had just been stacked neatly at the edges of the corridor, clearing the corridor and doorways. There was a great deal of rubble left, the ones too large to shove somewhere, but what was left was easy to maneuver around. A few more glances around revealed pink splatters on both the walls and ground, both behind and ahead of them. Some were dark and dried completely; others were light and fresher, and several of the aliens chasing after them dove at those splotches, abandoning their hunt for an easier meal.

The closer they got to the cafeteria, the cleaner the corridor got, the less aliens there were, and the less breath they had in their lungs. Eventually, they rid themselves of the most stubborn stragglers, and it was only the three of them again. Soup collapsed on the spot, stretching his long legs out and breathing heavily. Daniel and Oliver remained standing, their chests heaving and straining against the backpack straps as they took deep breaths. Oliver rested his hands on his knees, squeezing the muscles that ached.

“Everything still here? No one hurt?” Oliver asked when their breathing stabilized.

The others shook their heads. From what he could see, they didn’t sport anything worse than scrapes and bruises. Oliver replaced one of his blowtorches with a paint bottle, beginning a new line of orange where they rested. Soup joined him, backtracking a bit. He disappeared back the way they came with his light and spray paint. The sound of the nozzle was a constant, distant sound that represented the scientist’s position as his light dimmed. He returned in a matter of minutes, the line he drew extending a bit further back.

Daniel plopped down on a pile of debris, hugging his backpack in his lap. He rested his chin on the top handle, motioning for Oliver to take a seat beside him. The two technicians sat side by side, watching the scientist make paint marks in various obvious locations. Oliver noticed more signs of activity beside the cleared corridor and alien death splatters as his eyes followed Soup. They were faint and a bit vague after they had come trampling through, but there were remnants of dusty footprints. He pointed his light toward the direction of the cafeteria, squinting at the floor for any more.

There were. A stampede of them led toward their destination. Oliver smacked Daniel’s shoulder, pointing at their vague outlines. Daniel pointed his own light toward the footprints. Soup followed their lead, concentrating all of their beams at the floor.

“There are other survivors.”

“From the looks of it, their base should be around here somewhere,” Oliver deduced.

“Makes sense,” Daniel agreed with a nod. “Food’s right around the corner, medicine’s are around the other corner. Other than the fact that there’s an alien nest back that way, this floor is pretty safe.”

“Wonder who they are,” Soup said, coming over to the other two. “To be able to clear this debris, there has to be a number of them at this base.”

“Clean, organized work,” Daniel added, patting the debris they were sitting on. “Least a few of them are technicians. Wouldn’t be surprised if they had a few doctors with them with the clinic on this floor too. Maybe some researchers too.”

“Wouldn’t be surprised if we ran into them in the cafeteria,” Oliver said, standing up. He could feel his legs again, and his breathing was smooth again. “Come on. I want to confirm this.”

They continued down the corridor, more at ease now. Like their own base upstairs, the section leading toward the cafeteria was completely clear of Nereids. The trio took their time, observing the way forward as they walked. They had stacked the piles neatly at the edge of the corridor, giving easy access to the storage rooms that lined the corridor on their left and the labs on their right.

“Which storage rooms were around here again?” Oliver asked Daniel, gesturing at the nearby door.

Daniel turned in spot, figuring out where they were from the small bit of corridor they could see with their lights. He ran his hand through his black hair and shrugged.

“Either more parts for the labs or it’s some of the freezers for the cafeteria.”

“The labs around here should be the ones for cloning and genetic research,” Soup added, pointing at the doors on their right. “Most of them were for food production, but rumors said some of their researchers had correspondence with the ARCNAV lab upstairs.”

“What? Did the Navigators want some fancy food untouched by human hands?” Oliver snorted.

Soup shrugged with a laugh. “How would I know? I don’t know a Navigator.”

They continued onwards, opting to leave the storage rooms alone. Chances were they were already looted by those other survivors. Oliver would’ve been surprised if there was anything left in any of the rooms. Their footsteps continued to echo through the clear corridor. Three sets of footfalls followed the bend of the walls. Oliver caught a glimpse of the numbers labeling the labs. The closest one was Lab 10B. According to his memory, there were only twenty labs, ten beside the cafeteria and ten beside the clinic on the other side. The cafeteria should come into their view soon.

As they walked the familiar way toward their lunch hangout, another set of footsteps approached guided by dimmer light beams. Both sides lowered their flashlights, and faces of differing degrees of shock and amusement were revealed. Oliver’s jaw dropped as Daniel and Soup shouted.

“Chief?”

“Toast!”

***