Chapter 104: Cleaning House (Patreon)

Here's the first chapter for today; the second one is coming in a bit!

Quick note: in earlier chapters, I mentioned that a full year had passed; I changed that to 3 weeks for continuity reasons and because of where the story's headed. Sorry for the mix-up!

Hours had passed since the ropes from Jor’s wrists were removed. A few yards away, the patch of dirt where the senior researcher had been kneeling was completely empty. No body. No blood. The Operator had just pointed a finger, spat out a word, and erased the guy from existence.

Around the perimeter, near the Bioresearch Facility’s entrance, the survivors huddled together. Only a few could step outside without losing their minds looking at the sky. The rest of the crew and their families stayed inside. Silence hung over the dirt. The only sounds came from the pods and whatever the hell was flying outside the dome.

Nobody said a word, and everyone kept their mouths shut, terrified the Operator and her group could somehow hear them, even though they had gone inside the facility hours earlier.

Sarix pulled her knees to her chest. Her torn blazer hung loosely on her shoulders. She stared at the empty space where the senior staff had knelt. “She killed them,” Sarix muttered. “Just like that. One finger, and they’re gone.”

Kaelen set the butt of his rifle against a rock. His jaw was swollen, dried blood crusting his lower lip. “They had it coming. Panic made them lose their damn minds. They wouldn’t listen to a word we said. We’re probably the last people left alive on this rock, and they were cutting deals with the shit that wrecked our world. Give it time, and they would’ve sold us out next.”

“They were still our people,” Sarix snapped. “They were scumbags for what they did, but we worked together. We ate lunch together for weeks. We knew their families. She didn’t ask questions or hold a trial. She just tossed them to the monsters.”

Jor stepped between them. “Shut up, both of you.”

He looked toward the Bioresearch facility’s entrance. “She went inside two hours ago and said she was checking on the test subjects in the pods.”

Kaelen rubbed his hands together, his fingers twitching against his knuckles. "We were all paralyzed. She's gotta understand that, right? Once she finds out..."

“I watched people I know fly off like missiles,” Jor said. “I locked up. We all did. Maybe she’ll understand why no one managed to tell her there’s a direct way in, right out here, to the level B-13 pods.”

When those words left Jor’s mouth, everyone fell quiet. Nobody knew what she would do to them once she came back out and realized she never had to go inside there in the first place, especially if all she needed was to check on the test subjects. Everyone turned to look at Jor, clearly asking him to be the one to tell her.

“Fine, I’ll talk to her,” Jor said. “We’ll offer her the instructions and full access to the test subjects’ storage bay and the ships. But if something happens to me… if anything happens to me…” Jor’s words trailed off. What could possibly be worse than this happening to us?

Kaelen glanced at the main entrance. “Makes no sense. We’ve never seen her around here. Not at meals, not at the meetings we’ve had since the world ended.”

"She didn't live here. That's obvious," Jor said.

Kaelen got to his feet, gripping his rifle by the barrel. He pointed toward the rock face near the outer perimeter. “She came out of those rocks with the other two and that weird robot she drags around.”

A few yards out, an explosion had blasted a deep crater in the rock wall. Inside the opening stood a tall stone arch. Dark slabs framed a clean doorway. Inside, there was no door or stone, only a black passage.

Malcor stood up, eyes fixed on the cave. “That’s what that giant creature wrapped in ragged red clothes pointed at. That thing was really friendly with her; don’t you find that suspicious? And it said something about inviting her through next time, or something like that.” He started walking quickly toward the crater. A few yards out, he slowed and stepped carefully toward the entrance.

"Get away from there, Malcor. Poking around that thing might piss her off," Jor called out, stepping after him.

Malcor stopped near the entrance line, staring into the dark center. "She came through here. Had to. Maybe it's an evacuation route? A bunker?"

"Malcor, get away from it," Jor said, quickening his pace.

The kid ignored the warning. He hurriedly stepped forward, pressing his body into the entrance. A sharp crack echoed loudly. Something struck Malcor in the chest with tremendous force, hurling him backward out of the cave. He was flung through the air and landed forcefully on the dirt, his neck twisting unnaturally.

Jor closed the distance in two quick steps and knelt. Malcor’s eyes were wide open, his face pale, mouth agape. A choking, rattling sound escaped his throat as he struggled for breath. Blood flowed over his lips, dripped down his chin, and soaked his shirt. His hands clutched his broken ribs, thrashing weakly as he suffocated on his own blood. One violent convulsion shook his frame, then a shudder. Then he stopped moving.

“We need a medkit! Now!” Kaelen yelled, dropping to the ground beside him. He grabbed the kid’s shoulders, trying to straighten the kid’s head.

"Leave him," Jor said.

Kaelen withdrew his hands, palms covered in blood.

"He's dead," Jor said.

Sarix buried her face in her knees. A muffled sob escaped her. “Another one. We’re dropping one by one.”

Running footsteps came from afar, from where the pods were. Three technicians arrived, breathing hard, their uniforms soaked with sweat. They stopped when they saw Malcor lying dead on the floor.

"What happened to him?" one technician asked.

"He touched that arch over there,” Kaelen said, wiping his hands on his pants.

The technician looked away from the body, maybe tired of seeing so much death in this place. “We’re done with the pods. The test subjects… sorry, those people were put back to sleep. We locked the manual overrides on every pod. Right now, we’re opening the hatch to level B-13 to bring the pods inside.”

"Good," Jor said.

The machinery started moving. The ground shuddered beneath their feet. The concrete slab at the center of the staging floor cracked open. Two massive steel plates split apart. Cold air blew out as the gap widened.

A heavy freight elevator platform rose into view, locking flush with the floor with a dull thud. A small console mounted on the safety rail flickered to life.

Jor turned to the pod technicians. “I know workplace praise doesn’t matter much anymore, and with everything that’s happened, I haven’t had time to tell you. You did an excellent job regaining control of the outer doors and security permissions. Thanks. I know it’s been hard.”

A loud roar echoed from the Bioresearch Facility’s main entrance, rising from deep within. The sound multiplied, growing louder by the second. Panic tore through the thirty-seven survivors gathered outside.

"Get back!" a technician yelled, stumbling away from the entrance.

Complete chaos erupted. People shoved each other, scrambling backward through the dirt. Some dropped to their knees, desperately digging heavy rocks from the gravel. The security personnel racked their rifles, locked their stances, and aimed straight at the entrance.

“That’s impossible!” a security guard yelled amid the growing noise, his fingers locked around his rifle. “The lower levels are supposed to be locked; they shouldn’t be able to get out.”

“My family is in there!” a man screamed, his eyes wide and frantic. “No! I have to go in! I have to get them!”

Several others followed him, overwhelmed by fear. They pushed ahead as a frantic crowd, all trying to reach the facility entrance.

Jor grabbed the first man by the collar and dragged him back. “Hold your ground! Don’t be an idiot!”

Before anyone could react, a massive explosion erupted at the Bioresearch Lab entrance. A mutated creature burst out, slamming into the walls at high speed and leaving a smear of blood. It then shot out of the entrance, screaming as an invisible force propelled it upward into space. The crowd froze in panic. Two more twisted bodies burst out, roaring as they shot upward. Then five more. Then ten.

Dozens of creatures with twisted forms, heavy muscles, and sharp claws shot out of the facility. Their roars faded into the distance as they were flung into the crimson sky.

Everyone there was in shock. Nobody even breathed. They stared upward, understanding what had happened. The Operator was doing to the monsters exactly what she had done to the senior staff. She was cleaning house.

A deep tremor shook the dirt, causing the ground beneath Jor’s boots to vibrate. The dirt bulged upward and the surface cracked open, as if something huge was trying to break free from below.

“Jor, move!” Kaelen yelled, pointing down. “Get out of there!”

Jor jumped back. His boot caught on a jagged rock. He stumbled hard, hit the dirt, scrambled to his feet, and sprinted away from the swelling earth. The ground exploded behind him. Chunks of concrete and dirt rained down on the survivors. A massive blob of melted flesh erupted from the crater.

The thing was huge. Dozens of human bodies were fused into a single, moving pile. Arms and legs stuck out at odd angles, thrashing blindly into each other. Faces were stretched tight against the skin, merging into the sides of the massive pile of meat. They were still alive. As the monster flew into the crimson sky, a couple of frantic words fell. “…help… please…”

Then the voices snapped off. The mass was already gone, shrinking into the distance, but the stink hung in the air.

“May the winged ones have mercy. What was that?” a technician yelled, wiping spit from his chin, staring straight up. “Were those… people?”

High above the red dome, the giant Leviathans circling the area spotted the flying bodies. The colossal monsters altered their flight paths and swooped down with incredible speed. They snatched the mutants from the air and swallowed them whole. It was an open slaughterhouse up there. More massive shapes descended from the sky, drawn by the sudden feeding frenzy.

On the ground, the survivors stood frozen, staring at each other in stunned disbelief. More mutants kept emerging from the open hole in the dirt and from the facility’s entrance, rising in a relentless, nonstop stream.

Kaelen slowly lowered his rifle. He stared at the endless line of monsters being launched to their deaths. “Does this mean this place is safe?”

Jor watched another mutant get flung into the jaws of a Leviathan. He wiped the dirt off his pants. “Looks like our worries just dropped a bit.”