Floxham Island ~ Sinclair V-Log AZ267/M (8 page)

To my surprise,
the doors weren’t locked and swung open with just a push. Frowning,
I looked at Dex, who shrugged and shouldered his laser rifle. We
stepped through into a short corridor that stretched before us and
disappeared down a flight of steps. We approached the steps and
peered into the gloom but could see nothing. Luggs got out a
flashlight and we all groaned aloud at the sight that greeted us at
the foot of the short flight of steps. The remains of the door to
cell wing number one lay strewn at the bottom of the steps; each
piece graffitied with deep gouges and spattered with blood.

“Bingo,” Dex
hissed.

“Shit,” I
replied.

“Oh fuck,”
Luggs added and Ronjo gasped.

“Is there a
light switch anywhere?” Luggs asked as he examined the outside of
the doorway. Before anyone could reply he found a sensor plate
covered in blood and smacked his hand onto it. The cell block leapt
into view before us and we found ourselves staring at half a dozen
sleeping creatures as they hung from the ceiling. The sudden
explosion of light woke them up and we had just seconds to register
what was about to happen. Dex and his military training gained my
eternal admiration as he switched into autopilot, closely followed
by ex military Luggs and the two of them opened fire. The cell
block erupted into shrieks as the creatures found themselves under
fire and dropped from the ceiling and headed towards us. They were
basically bird like but their wings had skin stretched across
instead of feathers and their claws were easily six inches long.
Instead of a beak, they had a normal mouth with a pair of long
curved fangs hanging down over the bottom lip. Another matching
pair curved up from the bottom jaw and overlapped the top lip; the
two pairs interlocking and giving them the ability to rip and tear
rather than cut and slice. Their eyes were huge and I knew there
would be no way to hide from these night creatures with excellent
eyesight. Roughly the height of a grown man, they were a formidable
sight as they flew towards us, their jaws open much wider than one
would think normal.

Fear brought me
to action and I raised my rifle, joining my fire to that of Dex and
Luggs. Within a few seconds I faintly registered a body squeezing
between me and Luggs; the pop, pop, pop that followed telling me
that Ronjo had found his mojo at last and was bravely standing with
us, his AB11 Rookie useless against these monsters. At the speed
they were flying, it would take no more than five or six seconds
for them to close the gap between us and we knew we had nowhere to
go to outrun them. We had no choice but to stand and fight, so we
stood our ground and gave them all we had. One by one they fell
until the last of them landed less than a foot from our boots. For
several seconds we stood unmoving; the sudden silence deafening. As
my mind began to calm I became aware of laboured breathing beside
me and turned to see Dex and Luggs, staring into space as I had no
doubt just been doing myself. Ronjo was shaking, his Rookie still
held out in front of him, ready to fire so I put a hand on his arm
and talked him out of his shock.

“Ronjo, it’s
okay. You did fantastic buddy, well done and thank you. They’re all
done now, you can relax. That’s it, lower the gun. Good job,” I
encouraged and slowly he blinked and lowered the weapon. “Dex?
Luggs? You both okay guys?” Both sighed and blinked several times
as they came to their senses and nodded. “Well done guys, we have a
good team huh?”

“The best,” Dex
nodded as he turned and grinned at me. “Okay let’s see what we have
inside.”

Two hundred and
fifty cells on each side of the long corridor stretched out before
us and all were eerily silent. We crept forward, all of us now
needing no reminding to look up as well as all around and
approached the first of the cells.

“Dex, Luggs,
you guys keep watch all around okay? Ronjo, you check the cells on
that side and I’ll check these ones. That sound okay?” Grunts
responded immediately and we continued on. My heart sank as we
reached the first of the cells and I saw the laser fences had gone
down. “Shit,” I hissed and everyone looked at me. “The cells use a
laser fence system which obviously runs off the same power grid as
the safety net that keeps the flying creatures out. With the
antenna down, the laser fences will have come down, letting the
inmates out and the creatures in.”

“Dammit,” Dex
hissed with a loud sigh. “How much fucking worse can this get?”

“Ronjo,” I
whispered. “You better prepare yourself buddy cos we’re undoubtedly
gonna be finding the remains of the inmates somewhere around.” His
eyes widened and his face paled. He gritted his jaw and nodded at
me. “I just thought you ought to be prepared okay? If you need to
leave, that’s all right.”

“I’ll be fine
Sam,” he replied with as much defiance as he could muster, which
wasn’t much but I couldn’t help but admire him. “I’ll be fine.”

We worked our
way along the corridor and each cell held at least one body. Some
lay on their bunks as if asleep but all bore the same injuries as
the ones we’d seen upstairs; the abdomen split open and the
contents wrenched out in an untidy heap leaving us wondering how
all of that stuff could fit into that small space. The floor was
awash with blood and the metallic smell tainted the air, making us
all retch by the time we reached the end of the corridor to find
the emergency exit door standing open.

“So here’s one
way they’re getting in,” Dex said as he pulled the huge heavy metal
door closed and struggled with the cross lever that held it shut.
“Help me with this would ya?” Luggs put his weight to it and
together, the two of them secured the door. “Thanks buddy, that’s
one down, three more to go.”

We jogged back
along the corridor and up the steps to the central hall to find
Kitt and Eddy standing there with a tray of cold drinks.

“Oh my god
you’re okay,” he sighed with relief. “I heard shots and then it
went quiet for ages. I was just beginning to wonder if me and Eddy
were alone here. We’ve made some cold drinks for everyone, thought
you might need them. Here, help yourselves.”

“Man are we
ever glad to see you,” Luggs smiled as he helped himself to a
drink.

“You obviously
got some creatures down there too then?” Kitt asked and Dex
nodded.

“What do you
mean us too?” I asked.

“I heard shots
from that corridor too,” he said as he pointed to door number five.
“They started shooting a few seconds after you did, but they’re not
back yet.”

“Maybe we
should go and,” Ronjo began but just then the door opened and Flark
stumbled out, swiftly followed by Cap, the blue eyed plank and then
Marta. All dropped to their knees and heaved deep breaths. Marta
was visibly shaking as Kitt went up and handed drinks around.

“Oh god,” she
whispered, “I’ve never been so terrified in all my life. They were
down there, hanging from the ceiling and just came for us as soon
as we switched the light on.” The blue eyed plank reached out and
took her hand and gave it a squeeze and she did her best to
smile.

“Yeah, same
with us,” I replied. “We found the emergency door at the end was
standing open. I’m guessing that when the laser fences went down,
the inmates decided to let themselves out, little realising that
they were signing their own death warrants.”

“Yeah, our door
was open too,” Flark nodded.

“Shit I would
kill for a cigarette,” I said. It’s been five years or so since
I’ve smoked regularly but under extreme stress I do find it calms
me down. Not once had I seen any of my colleagues smoking so I
guessed I’d be out of luck, but to my surprise, the blue eyed plank
dug into his pocket and threw a pack over.

“Help
yourself,” he said, “and light one for me while you’re at it would
ya?”

After a short
break we set off down to cell wing number two, leaving Flark and
his group heading off to number six. As we got to the top of the
short flight of steps that led down to the door, we stopped dead in
our tracks with shock. The steps were littered with bodies, all
torn open as before and it looked as if the inmates had been caught
as they tried to enter the main building. We picked our way down
through the bloody mass of bodies and Dex put his hand out towards
the sensor pad that would bring the lights up. He looked at me and
I held up three fingers, then two, then one and he slapped the
sensor; bringing the whole of cell wing two into view. No creatures
flew at us this time but the place was littered with corpses. We
could see the door at the end of the corridor was closed so we
assumed the inmates had either gone out that way, seen what was
waiting for them and come back inside, only to be met with
creatures that had entered through the other corridors, or they had
simply chosen to enter the building rather than go outside. Either
way they were doomed.

“Well it looks
like this one is safe,” Luggs said as he lowered his gun and turned
to go.

“Wait a minute
guys,” I whispered before they could retrace their steps and leave
me there. “I have to find Nembier remember? Wanna help me out
here?” Dex nodded and indicated towards the light sensor.

“Okay Sam,” he
said loudly, “looks like this one’s clear. Let’s go try number
three huh?” he grinned at me and slapped the sensor, sending the
place into darkness once again. We all held our breath, not daring
to make a noise and strained our ears. Just as I was about to
speak, we all heard a noise to our left. A scuffling, accompanied
by a grunt and murmurs of disgust, then footsteps. Dex slapped the
sensor and light exploded into the corridor, momentarily blinding
Nembier as he stood there red from head to toe in blood from the
bodies he’d hidden himself beneath. He looked at me in shock as I
took aim.

“Tell me why I
shouldn’t kill you, you annoying fuck,” I yelled angrily at I took
a step forward, gun aimed at his head. “Go on, tell me why.” Dex
and Luggs stepped forward, guns aimed at his chest and he dropped
to his knees and began to sob. Still angry at him, I lowered my
rifle and dug in my pocket for the restraints and approached him.
“Professor Kluvak Nembier, I am restraining you once again in
connection with nine murders on Agrillia 3 and also for the murder
of Jena Marks here on Floxham 4.” After I secured his wrists we
marched him back along the corridor, still sobbing. Once at the
central hallway I pushed him to the floor and despite my normal
self control, I lost it and kicked him hard in the gut. He yelled
in agony and crumpled into a heap. “She was just fourteen you sick
fuck. Why in hell’s name did you have to kill a child huh? What the
fuck did she do to you?” My anger burst out of me, the frustration
and fear this situation caused within me, fuelling its force and I
went to kick him again but Luggs put a hand on my arm and shook his
head.

“No Sam,” he
whispered and looked me right in the eyes.

“I didn’t kill
anyone,” Nembier sobbed as he held his gut. “You have to believe
me. I didn’t kill anyone. Not home on Agrillia and not here either.
I can’t prove it but I didn’t do it.”

“Shut up you
psycho fuck,” I yelled as I grabbed him and hauled him to his feet
before marching him back to the bathroom. Taking extra care, I
secured him, this time with two sets of restraints, with both hands
secured to different anchor points. By keeping his hands far apart,
he’d not be able to pick the locking mechanism again.

“Please don’t
leave me in here alone Sam,” he begged as I turned to leave and
again, the vague feeling swept into my mind that made me
momentarily wonder about him.

“If you’re not
here when I get back and I have to come looking for you again, I’ll
shoot you and bring you in dead next time.” His gaze fell to the
floor as I glowered at him and with the last of my frustration, I
thumped the wall angrily before shutting and locking the door
behind me. His loud sobs followed me as I marched away to rejoin my
group.

Throwing all
self control to the wind, I helped myself to another cigarette from
the pack the blue eyed plank gave me and breathed in deeply to calm
myself down. Before I finished it, door six opened and Flark and
his group stumbled out coughing and retching. Without waiting to be
asked, I lit another cigarette and handed it to the blue eyed
plank, who took it and nodded at me. It turned out that they found
a similar scene waiting for them in cell wing six as we’d found in
number two and we all agreed that the inmates must’ve first used
the emergency exit door, only to find themselves surrounded by
creatures. When they had the sense to re enter the cell wing and
close the heavy emergency doors, they must’ve thought themselves
safe but what they couldn’t know was that inmates from other cell
wings had left their emergency doors open, allowing the creatures
inside to wreak havoc. We knew we had to get all the emergency
doors properly shut before anyone could relax.

“We’re halfway
through guys,” I said to the exhausted group, “but we have to get
the other four done before dark. Does anyone not want to continue?”
I looked from one to the other and I will admit to assuming Marta
and Ronjo might ask to sit out for a while but to my surprise no
one spoke. “Okay, let’s do this huh?” Dex nodded and I turned to
walk towards door number three when Kitt came walking up with more
drinks.

“Does anyone
know why the door to the bathroom is locked? I can’t get in
there.”

“Oh yeah sorry
that’s my fault,” I said. “We found Nembier in number two and I’ve
secured him in there again and locked the door this time. If he is
able to get out of the restraints again, he’ll have the door to get
through too and maybe we’ll be back from clearing these cell wings
by that time so I can kick his ass before he gets away again. Come
on, I’ll let you in there before we do the next cell wing.” He
nodded and I followed him to the bathroom and unlocked the door. My
whole body ached and I was so tired I could hardly stand as I
stepped aside to let him enter first before following him inside.
This was the first time since we got to Floxham that something
happened that I can look back on in the cold light of day and
realise was a huge clue, but at the time it was weird enough for me
to notice and get me suspicious but I didn’t see the whole picture.
Nembier looked at Kitt as we entered and at first I didn’t see
anything strange. It wasn’t until I was re locking the door as we
left that I realised it was Nembier’s expression as he looked at
Kitt that was weird. It was almost a smile of recognition that
flashed across his face and in any other circumstance I’d expect
him to ask how he’d been since they last met. As soon as he saw me
though, the look vanished and he was back to his normal
expressionless self and kept his eyes to the floor. As I locked the
door I finally had a little warning bell go off inside my head that
I had no intention of ignoring. Although I didn’t yet know why, I
suddenly realised that I didn’t want to trust Kitt anymore.