From hell alex hunter 8, p.26
From Hell: Alex Hunter 8, page 26
It reached out and probed the minds of the creatures, finding their thoughts, complex emotions, and feeling their fear.
Fear was something it had never known itself, and didn’t understand. How does something that is almost immortal become afraid? Afraid of what?
It looked forward to consuming their tiny minds with their rich thoughts, and settled down to wait. It was in no hurry, as time was something it always had on its side.
CHAPTER 41
USSTRATCOM – Sub-level 4 – Synthetic Warrior Room
SOPHIA came to her feet. Still linked to Alex Hunter’s mind, she felt the intrusion as the entity probed his thoughts. She followed it back and immediately saw the threat that the massive creature posed to him and his mission.
In SOPHIA’s synthetic brain, a thousand, thousand permutations ran through her neural network in the blink of an eye, and she chose the best option from among them.
She seethed, knowing she wasn’t fully ready yet. She’d been busy fitting the physiognomy construct she’d chosen for her appearance. The facial features were perfect, and more than a mask in that it contained synthetic muscles, eyes, and even teeth, all linked into SOPHIA’s own brain for perfectly simulated movement.
The one draw back was that if she opened her mouth there would be no tongue or throat beyond the smile. However, her full skin suit wasn’t completed yet and neither was the hair she had ordered under Walter Gray’s authorisation.
The android turned to the console and looked down into the glass screen, catching sight of her reflection and admiring it. She practiced smiling, blinking, and even pursing her lips.
“He will like it,” she whispered, and angled her face again.
Unfortunately the face ended just behind the ears, and the smooth, brushed silver of her normal external skin took over.
If she had a few more days she would have been complete. But events had overtaken everything. SOPHIA then crossed to the door. She had little time to put her plan into action and be where she needed to be.
“Open.” She said.
Nothing happened.
“Open,” she repeated, this time in Professor Walter Gray’s voice.
Once again the door refused to budge. SOPHIA felt anger begin to build, now knowing that Gray must have locked her in.
She had no time for this. “Open!”
SOPHIA lashed out, and her fist struck the center of the door, booming like thunder and creating a dent in the tough steel alloy. She struck it again and again, until one side began to separate from the frame.
SOPHIA jammed long silver fingers into the gap, and braced herself, and then pulled the sides apart. The two-inch-thick steel peeled back and she folded it aside.
As she stepped out into the corridor, one of Gray’s scientists sprinted toward her, obviously hearing the commotion. She recognized the man as Michael Anderson. SOPHIA liked him.
“Stop, SOPHIA!” he yelled and held up a hand.
SOPHIA moved quickly, grabbing the outstretched arm, and using her other hand to punch him in the center of the chest over his heart. He immediately fell, and she hung onto his wrist as he went limp.
She looked down at the fallen man, and detected a laboring heart that was now bruised. She liked him, so hadn’t killed him.
SOPHIA quickly donned his coat and still holding him by the wrist, began to drag the comatose Michael Anderson to the elevator.
She bet Gray would have locked her out of that as well. But dear Michael had a handprint, and while his body was still warm, he was her way out.
SOPHIA lifted the man and pressed his palm against the glass plate. A red line ran around it, and then the elevator doors silently slid open.
CHAPTER 42
Abandon all hope ye who enter here.
Once through the wall of flesh, Alex stopped to take in the red world beyond. The temperature outside now read 300 degrees – enough to instantly sear flesh and cook lungs with a single breath.
Amazingly, the volcano was hollow, and its internal walls were glistening smooth as if coated by some sort of substance that perhaps insulated it from the outside. Before them was a pathway, wide enough for their vehicle, but on a cliff edge. On one side, the outside, was a sheer rock face disappearing up into the red gloom of the hollow cone of Mount Etna. But on the other it fell away into the heart of the volcano. And deep, deep down below was the river of magma responsible for the hellish red glow.
There was movement down there, and Alex leaned closer to the window. There were more levels, and more pathways along the side of the chasm. Along these paths the lumbering creatures dragged their organic sacks, and undoubtedly the bodies of people, animals, and anything else they had managed to capture.
Alex knew the people were doomed, because even if they were somehow alive, and even if they could be freed from the creatures, how the hell would they be returned when the temperature down below would be in the high hundreds?
He gritted his teeth; the situation reminded him of a passage from Dante’s Inferno: abandon all hope ye who enter here. He knew there was probably no hope for those lost souls.
Matt groaned. “If whatever is down there, and whatever it is that these monstrosities serve, is not the devil, it damn well should be.”
The dog whined and Alex said a silent prayer that Joshua and Aimee weren’t already down there. He stared over the chasm’s edge. “Well, if whatever is down there is mortal, then we’ll kill it.”
“Damn right,” Casey said.
The pathway along the edge of the chasm gave their vehicle about two feet to spare, though in some places it was less than one. It seemed to lead down, and that’s where he wanted to go, so … Alex eased his foot onto the gas, and loose rock skittered out from under their wheels to plummet over the cliff.
“Holy crap.” Matt held on tight as Alex navigated the narrow path.
They passed numerous side passages that he bet had creatures lurking inside. Alex wondered what would happen if the things tried to push them over the edge. He supposed they would and he’d just have to rely on the vehicle’s greater weight, traction, and his own ability to react. But it didn’t matter – nothing was going to slow him now.
He soon discovered he was right, as several of the creatures lurched from a side passage, not to observe or stand in their path to stop them, but to ram the side of the armored vehicle.
Alex felt the impact, but the weighty vehicle held its ground and the massive bodies rebounded away to be easily shunted aside or crushed beneath their wheels.
Casey swiveled the rooftop Gatling gun and sent a spray of high-cal bullets behind them to first strike the bodies, then push more over the edge.
“Got a side passage coming up,” Matt said, looking down at the computer-aided schematic. “Second on the right.”
They slowed and then Alex stopped the war machine right at the cave mouth. Immediately a huge mass blocked it, removing any chance of seeing inside.
“Blow that fucking thing out of the way,” Alex growled.
“On it.” Casey opened up with a short burst of the rotating machine gun, zippering the beast with 50 cal rounds before it was punched back, vanishing deeper inside the cave.
Alex pointed a camera after it and tried light amplification, telescopic, and even X-ray, but nothing showed up.
“There’s something in there, but I just can’t get a good reading on it,” Matt said.
Tor barked furiously and Alex turned to it. The dog turned pale eyes on him and then whined.
“I’m going in,” Alex said.
“What?” Matt’s mouth fell open. “It’s –” he checked the scanner, “– 520 degrees out there. You’ll cook.” He grabbed at Alex. “Even if there are civilians in there, they’ll be dead.”
“Let him go,” Janus said, and turned to Alex. “Find them. Find what happened to them.”
Alex nodded and said to Matt, “Got a little present from Gray and special weapons – one of a kind. Open her up, and don’t let anything else inside. The shield will protect the interior, unless it’s breached.”
Casey racked a shotgun and tossed it to Janus. She racked another and waited with her hand on the door button. “Count of three, two, one …” She punched it.
The door slid back, and the air wavered from the force field. Even though it was supposed to fully insulate them, Matt saw Casey hold a hand up as the heat washed over them. Alex pressed the glowing blue button on his chest and immediately cooled as the force field enveloped him in a soft glow. He held up a hand, turning it over and looking at the glow for a moment, before facing the dark red hole of the open door. Doorway to Hell, he thought.
“Shut it after I’m gone.” He stepped out.
CHAPTER 43
“We are the first and last line.”
“There are people moving around out there.” Sanjay squinted at the ground radar for a moment more and then looked over his shoulder to his boss.
Walter Gray glanced up from his microscope, his back still to the young lab technician. “How many?”
“A lot.”
“Very precise. And just how far out there, do you mean?”
“Just at the mist line – about 800 feet. They seem to be waiting or looking for something. Maybe they’re lost.”
“And maybe they know exactly where they are and where they’re going.” Gray crossed to the radio and first tried Alex Hunter, but gave up when all he received was ear-splitting static. “Send a drone up, quick now.”
Sanjay raced to a small console and began to type.
Gray opened another link to Sam Reid. “Lieutenant Reid, come in.”
The deep voice boomed back at him: “Go for Reid.”
“Lieutenant, Sam, there seems to be some unusual activity on the periphery of the laboratory, at about 800 feet at the smoke line.”
“Crap,” Sam muttered. “Is it those big sacks of shit again?”
“I don’t believe so. More human shaped, so could be survivors, or … might not be. We’re sending up a drone to take a look.”
“Drone away,” Sanjay said from behind him.
“We’ll be ready. Let me know what you see,” Sam said.
“Of course. And Sam … if they’re not friendly, they cannot be allowed to get into the laboratory, is that clear?”
“Don’t worry. We’ll do our job,” Sam responded evenly.
* * *
Sam signed off and turned to Aiko. “I think we got company.”
Maria’s eyes widened and she shot to her feet. “What is it?”
“There’s a group massing at the smoke line. Might be friendlies, and might not. We’ll know soon as –” Sam’s comm. pinged again. “Go.”
He listened for a moment, his eyes narrowing. “Confirmed. We’re on it.” He signed off and turned. “That was Gray. Seems some of the faceless have decided to pay us a visit. They may try to take a run at the lab. We’re not going to let that happen.”
Aiko began to gather her weapons and her hand immediately went to the empty place on her back where her blade used to be. She grimaced, obviously missing it.
“Come on,” Sam said to Maria. “I’ll get you into the lab where you’ll be safe.”
“No.” Maria shook her head. “No, I can help.”
“Look, this is –” Sam changed his mind. Bottom line, he needed all hands. Besides, she was still in her HAWC armor, and had real courage. “You’ve got a handgun, but also grab Velez’s, plus any spare mags you find for your belt.” Sam looked hard at her. “Shoot anything that’s not us.”
She nodded solemnly, her eyes still wide.
“And shoot to kill,” he added, then clapped his hands, making a sound like a gunshot. “Muscle up, people, outside in sixty seconds.”
Sam slotted a fresh drum onto his shotgun and clipped a spare drum, plus shells, onto his belt. He was ready, and used a fist to bump his chest plate, over the picture of Alyssa tucked in behind there. Gonna see you soon, beautiful, he thought.
Aiko came and joined him, racked her gun, and then the trio headed out. Maria now had a holster on each hip, and though she barely knew how to shoot straight, as long as she took down a few, that’d be a few Sam and Aiko didn’t need to worry about.
Sam lifted one log-like arm toward the billowing smoke and the motion tracker on it mapped the images he couldn’t see. He read the data. “More than two dozen signatures in close and a lot more further out. Looks like a small army massing.” He nodded as he stared at the small screen. “Good, they’re coalescing into tight groups – means a shotgun blast spread will make a mess of a lot of them all at once.”
Sam and Aiko had loaded explosive shells. The plugs would enter a target and then detonate outward like a fragmentation device. The tiny pellets would shred anything for a radius of about fifteen feet. They would easily penetrate a car door, so flesh and bone wouldn’t stand a chance.
“What do you think they’ll be bringing?” Aiko asked.
Sam dropped his arm. “Guns, knives, clubs, rocks, bare hands, and teeth. They’ve shot at us before, but damned if I know how they can see with their eyes sewn shut.”
“Maybe something sees for them,” Maria said. “They’re being controlled.”
From behind the wall of smoke a shot rang out, and it hit Sam’s shoulder plating with a crack. It spun the huge man a few degrees and he grunted.
“Armor up.” He initiated the war mode on his armor and the hardened visor closed like scales over his head and face, while the heavier plating slid over his body. Aiko and Maria did the same.
Sam held a fist out to the side. “We are the sword and the shield.”
“We are the first and last line,” Aiko responded. She bumped knuckles with him, the hard armor making a clacking sound.
Maria added her fist. “Um, all for one and one for all.”
“You got it.” Sam grinned down at her, but knew she wouldn’t see. “We’ve got your back.”
Maria nodded.
“Spread.”
Sam walked out to the right, Aiko to the left, leaving Maria in the center. She pulled both guns. Her shoulders were hiked from nerves and she looked tiny next to Aiko. Compared to Sam Reid she looked like another species altogether.
Sam saw the first shapes begin to form at the smoke line – lots of them.
“Come on!” he yelled as the figures seemed to hesitate. “What are you waiting for?” He started to chuckle softly and then stepped forward to hold his arms wide and roar, “We are a force of nature, we are the dogs of war, and we are the killer of killers.”
They came then, leaping, scuttling, and crawling, the horde was like a vision of a disgorging Hell. Aiko screamed something in Japanese, and even Maria yelled her own version of a war cry as she lifted both her guns to point at the approaching horde.
They came fast, some in rags, some in tattered suits, and some naked, showing the eyes and runes carved into their flesh. They carried everything from shotguns to broken broomsticks, or just held up clawed hands.
The weirdest thing was that they were totally silent – behind the coverings over their faces Sam knew that their eyes and mouths were sealed with twine. He sucked in a deep breath, filling his lungs, and planted his legs.
“Engage!”
He pumped the shotgun and fired, pumped and fired, over and over, and bodies were literally blown apart by the explosive shells.
Inside his helmet, Sam switched the visor to objective plotting, where the software built into the suit identified the optimum target and color-coded his greatest threats – he took them down first.
Out to his left, Aiko did the same and the first wall of attackers was forced backward as the HAWCs made every shot count. Maria fired with one hand then the other, and managed to strike every second or third target because the chaotic hordes were pressed in so close to each other. Gunfire smacked into the three of them, but was easily deflected by the super-hardened armor they wore. However, several times the lighter-framed Maria was knocked onto the ground.
There were too many to take them all down, and Sam knew that soon they’d be overwhelmed and it’d come down to hand-to-hand. Though he didn’t think the horde would be able to penetrate Maria’s armor, he didn’t want them massing on her and carrying her away.
“Close ranks.” Sam’s command was passed into the other helmets, and he and Aiko eased in to either side of Maria.
They continually fired, reloaded, and then fired again. Bodies lay on the ground all around them, moaning through sewn lips, or were totally obliterated and spread over dozens of feet. But for every one they took down, two or three more took their place.
“We’re gonna be out of shells before they run out of bodies,” Aiko said.
“Yep, then we’re going to have to go old school,” Sam replied, as one of the attackers ran in from the side. He swung his shotgun like a club, caving in the man’s skull. Then he flicked the gun back around to fire into the swarming horde.
After another few minutes, He was down to his last drum of shells. He bet Aiko was the same. And he didn’t want to think what would happen if Maria ran out – he didn’t expect her to try and physically fight for her life. She’d done what he asked of her. He started to move his huge body in even closer to hers.
“You have done well,” Gray said into Sam’s earpiece.
“Huh?”
“The numbers have been culled significantly – they are manageable now.” Gray sounded pleased.
“Manageable? We’re just about out. My tracker indicates at least several dozen more coming in at us.” He began to back up.
“Yes, that’s it, ease back to the lab, all of you, and on my word, lay down flat. Got that?” Gray replied.
“Got it.” Sam swung his shotgun again. “Aiko, Maria, you heard? Back to the lab.”
“We lay down … on the ground?” Maria asked.
“That’s the plan,” Sam said. “I just hope he’s got more up his sleeve than us playing dead.”
