The man's eyes were not fully open when he began speaking. "This better be good, Gates. It's fucking Sunday for Christ sakes." His voice was gruff, but much to Sam's dismay, it contained a familiarity that sent chills up her spine.
"Gates is dead," Sam said.
The man's eyes shot open wide, and he stared back at them with an intense fear. The man looked as if he wanted to speak, as if he needed to speak, but couldn't. Sam took this as a cue to continue.
"Gates is dead and so is Soto." She motioned to the floor, not sure if the man could see the General's corpse lying in a pool of blood and feces.
"It can't be," the man on the screen whispered, "it's far too soon." He snatched something off screen, and a moment later, he was speaking rapidly, "We've got a code red at facility 36. I repeat, a code red at 36. Yes, I'm sure." The man looked back at the screen, his face gray, and then added, "I'm looking right at her, sir." The screen went black.
"What do you think that was all about?" Cole asked.
Sam shrugged. Whatever it had been, the man on the screen had been expecting Sam to call, just not so soon. And judging by his reaction, it wasn't some stranger's face that had him all riled up. No. This man knew Sam…and somehow she knew the man.
The monitor beeped and Sam turned her attention to it. The screen now read:
SELF-DESTRUCTION SEQUENCE ACTIVATED
"That's not good, Miss Sam."
"No, Cole," Sam said, "That is not good at all."
There was no countdown timer accompanying the words, so Sam had no way of telling how long they had. Nor did she have any idea what would happen when the unseen timer reached zero. It was possible the computer would fry itself from the inside. It was also possible that the entire underground city of Lost Angel would implode. Either way, she planned on being gone.
Sam plucked Cole's rifle from the floor, pressed the butt of the gun to her shoulder and fixed her aim on the door. They would have to shoot their way out and then back to the upper levels. The odds were far from good, but something from deep inside of Sam assuaged her nerves. Her mind knew what needed to be done.
Sam looked to the monitor above the door. She waited as it cycled through countless views of abandoned hallways before landing on the camera pointed on the outside of their door. She blinked twice to make sure that her eyes weren't deceiving her. The midnight runners were gone. A cold ball of steel formed in Sam's guts.
"You see that, Cole?" Sam asked and nodded to the monitor.
"Those monsters are gone."
"Why?"
"Don't make no sense," Cole said. He knelt down beside the girl and lifted her up with ease. Gently, he swung her body over his shoulder. The girl moaned and then muttered something inaudible.
"What'd she say?" Sam asked.
Alex repeated her words, Doc listening intently beside her. He turned to them and said, "She said we have to get her brother. That Sam promised we would."
Sam's heart sank into her stomach. She had made a promise and now faced with uncertainty she had to make a choice. Her mind flashed to Jordan and to Rebecca, the only family she had since being relocated to New Hope.
Sam looked back to the words on the monitor and then to the screen displaying the empty hallway. They didn't have time to wait while she thought of all the pros and cons of a rescue mission. They would have to seize the opportunity, regardless if the beasts were hiding just out of view of the camera. They would have to go now…deeper into the mines.
10
The craggy passageway was empty just as the monitor had depicted. Sam led the foursome out of the late President's office, the rifle raised and pressed against her shoulder. Cole followed close behind, now cradling Alex's crumpled body as a groom would carry his new bride over the threshold on their wedding night. The doctor brought up the rear and Sam wondered if it was fear or an actual desire to help that drove him to continue. She hoped for the latter as they plunged deeper into the darkness.
They moved silently down the near pitch-black corridor. After a few minutes, the slope of the pathway leveled and then spilled out into a monstrous cave. Jagged stalactites hung ominously from the cavern's ceiling nearly 50 feet above them and moonlight poured in from a large opening in the center of the ceiling. It bathed the two stone buildings in the heart of the massive chamber in soft white light.
The buildings were 200 square feet in area and ten feet tall, each with a flattened roof and a wooden door built into the front. A small pathway, barely large enough for a man to walk through, was nestled in-between the edifices. Surrounding the two structures were soldiers, each armed with an assault rifle.
The buildings cast dark shadows over the cavern floor and Sam could barely make out their outlines. She counted a dozen in total but estimated there was at least one of two hidden in the darkness. The room was dead silent except for the soft drone of the generators humming from the depths below.
Sam turned back to the group and silently pointed two fingers at her eyes and then pointed to a spot further along the cavern wall. A hundred yards along the wall, barely visible, was a cropping of stalagmites, just large enough for them to hide behind. Cole and Doc nodded. Without any further cues, Sam turned and slithered out into the darkness toward the barrier.
Sam's skin turned to gooseflesh as she hugged the cool cavern walls. The pants provided some comfort but the sleeveless top of the dress was paper-thin. She longed to be back in the dirty, bleach-spotted coveralls.
"You hear something?"
Sam froze at the sound of the guard's voice. It was only a whisper, but she heard it in stereo. Cole, on the other hand, hadn't and nearly barreled her over. Sam motioned for them to hunker down.
"Nah," another guard said. "Those creepy-crawlers got your panties in a bunch, Xavier?"
An eruption of laughter spread through the group of soldiers.
"Those creepy-crawlers are no joke, man."
Another wave of laughter.
Sam motioned for the group to continue.
When they arrived at the outcropping, Cole gently put the girl down on the rocky ground. The doctor did his penlight routine and Sam got into position so she could see building's entryway. After a moment, Cole joined her.
"You think they saw us?" he whispered.
"If they did, I think we'd be dead."
"You gotta plan?"
There was a long pause as Sam contemplated this. The 16 bullets in the clip of the rifle would be enough if every one of her shots were dead on. The four extra bullets even provided some wiggle room. But if there were more soldiers hiding around the rear of the buildings or if the darkness affected her accuracy, then they would be sitting ducks. The plan to shoot it out wasn't a viable option.
"No," she said.
Sam's eyes darted around the room, but there was nothing to indicate another plan would be any more plausible.
Jordan's voice filled her mind once more,
Midnight runners.
Sam sighed.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," she whispered.
"What does that mean?"
She didn't answer him. The answers would come soon enough. But she couldn't chance telling him that she was about to risk their lives on a hunch from her dead boyfriend. Time was already running out. The self-destruction sequence had been activated. She would have to act fast.
Without a word, she lifted the rifle, took aim at one of the thinner overhanging stalactites, and squeezed the trigger. The sound of the gunfire was deafening. The blast echoed off the canyon walls causing Cole to quickly throw his giant hands over his ears. He looked to her, his eyes wide and filled with shock.
The bullet hit its target, separating the rocky spike at its midpoint. It rocketed toward the ground and a handful of soldiers dove out of the way as it collided into the hard floor of the cave and exploded in a dust cloud of debris.
"As long as they didn't see the muzzle blast, I think we'll be okay," Sam whispered.
To her horror, Cole responded in a yell, "What'dya say?"
Sam's eyes grew as wide as Cole's had at the shock of the gunshot, and then Cole's grew even larger at the realization of his mistake. Through the rocky barrier, Sam saw the guards turn toward them and a moment later a cacophony of gunfire exploded through the caverns.
Sam and Cole both threw their hands over their ears and slid down as far as possible as bullets slammed into the rock wall behind them. The doctor used his body as a shield and draped himself over Alex.
Wave after wave of bullets lodged into the rock wall and each time Sam's heart skipped a beat. Death was close now. She could feel its icy touch on her skin. In only a few moments, she would be reunited with Jordan. Her mission failed but her heartache over. Shards of rock exploded above and debris rained down on top of them. Cole pulled her close to him and then covered her head with his giant arms.
After what seemed like an eternity, the gunfire died off. Sam managed to quell the fear coursing through her body and broke free of Cole's grasp. She raised her head slightly until she could see through the rocks. From her position, she heard muffled screaming, could see the soldiers reloading, some already drawing aim on them again. She dropped back down again, preparing for the next wave of gunfire when suddenly the unearthly screams of the midnight runners ripped through the cavern. Not just one but all of them. And they were close.
Sam drew a finger to her lips and Cole nodded his head feverishly. The doctor rolled off of Alex and much to Sam's dismay, the girl's beautiful purple eyes were wide-open and filled with terror. The sight sent Sam's anxiety into overdrive. She tried to steady her breathing but instead her breaths came more quickly, each one more shallow than the last. Her heartbeat doubled and then seemed to treble to the point of pain, as hot blood was forced through her arteries. Her palms became clammy. Her pupils constricted to the size of pinheads, causing the world to grow dark and blurry. And then again she heard the disharmony of screams and she knew that the monsters had arrived.
Terrified shouts from the soldiers melded with the shrieks of the midnight runners and created a ghoulish opera. They lasted only a moment before a fusillade of bullets ripped through the air ending the macabre ensemble and Sam covered her ears once more.
And then there were more screams. Different kinds of screams. Screams from the soldiers. Bone-chilling, blood-curdling screams. Sam squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the horrible nightmare to be over with. She had bet on the wrong team and now she prayed the midnight runners would kill them quickly once they were done with the soldiers.
The screaming finally desisted, and for a long moment, there was nothing but silence. Sam's entire body trembled and her heart jack-hammered in her chest as she awaited the midnight runners to ascend their tiny barrier and finish the job. The doctor was on his hands and knees, his head bowed underneath his chest, in what Sam could only think of as a crude prayer position. Alex's eyes had closed and again she was lying motionless. Cole, his face stricken with worry, placed a giant, calloused hand over one of hers.
A gunshot broke the silence and then a man screamed out. This scream, however, was not filled with terror or pain but rather victory. It was fused with a sick laughter and Sam couldn't tell which was worse. It was a familiar voice despite of this. It belonged to Eric.
"Take that you motherfuckers!"
Another gunshot.
"You bastards aren't going to take me out! No sir. Not today. Not ever!"
Two more gunshots.
"I run this bunker, bitch."
More gunshots.
More profanity.
Sam took a deep breath and braved raising her head so she could see. From her vantage point, she saw the heaps of bodies and blood strewn across the cavern floor. Mixed in with the human bodies were those of the midnight runners. The massive creatures were twice the size of any man, but their corpses were lying as motionless as the soldiers.
In the center of the aftermath was Eric. His face was bathed in moonlight and Sam shuddered at the sight of him. Blood dripped from a dark goatee, his face as mutilated as the doctor's, but twisted in a sinister sneer. He walked through the crowd of bodies, the muzzle of his gun sweeping back and forth between the hulks spread out on the floor. He paused at one, fired another shot, the creature's body seized and jerked and then went still. He laughed manically and then he continued his sweep.
Sam lifted the barrel of her rifle, rested the stock in-between two narrow rocks and set her sights on the man. She wanted to take advantage of the moment and put a quick end to this victory party before he remembered his original target. This act of cold-blooded aggression might offend Cole or Doc, but Sam didn't feel any remorse. She knew this soldier was as guilty as all the others and she needed to put him down like the rabid dog that he was.
She wrapped her finger around the trigger but paused right before squeezing. Looming over the man, balanced like some sort of majestic bird on the stoop of the building, sat one of the creatures. Its wide jaw was open and the razor-sharp teeth were dripping wet with blood. Its muscular hind legs perched eloquently on the edge of the roof, gripping the stone with ease. Sharp claws on one giant hand hung in midair over the victor below. Only a bloody stump remained of where the other hand should have been.
Sam contemplated shooting the creature from its perch and then dealing with the man below fairly, but she never got the chance. The creature jumped down noiselessly and landed on the lone survivor from the group. The man collapsed under the weight of the beast and Sam watched in horror as it wrapped the massive claw around the man's throat and promptly detached Eric's head from his torso.
"Good god," the doctor whispered.
She felt the knot in her stomach tighten as the beast lifted the severed head of the man into the sky. It stared at it for only a moment and then shoved it into its mouth. The creature chewed once, the blood-curdling crunch of bone grinded against the razor-sharp teeth of the beast, and then it swallowed. The midnight runner lifted its head into the sky and howled. Sam seized the unexpected opportunity.
She hopped up from her position, took aim and unloaded the clip. The midnight runner spun toward her when she popped up, but its eyes went wide as the first of the slugs lodged into its chest. Sam kept the trigger squeezed tight and counted as each of the 15 rounds found its target. Each one buried into the chest and abdomen of the beast.
The last round disappeared into the creature's chest and Sam watched as its eyes went cold. It took two steps forward, stumbled and then collapsed into a heap.
Sam stood still, her heart echoing between her ears, her stomach clinched so tight that she could puke, terrified that the beast would rise back up or that another would emerge from the shadows to finish the job, but nothing happened. When Cole placed a hand on her shoulders, she screamed before resigning to a flurry of quick jabs to the big man's chest.
Ten minutes after Sam had killed the midnight runner, she swung the door open to the building. The long conference table had been abandoned. Cowered behind it, on the opposite side of the room, were the royalty—huddled together and trembling. There was one soldier who had been assigned to wait inside with them, but he didn't attempt to raise his weapon. Sam pointed her rifle in his direction and motioned for him to drop his rifle which he did without question.
"Evenin', fellas," Sam said, her voice almost whimsical.
The men didn't answer her, nor did any of them rise from the floor. Some had drug their leather chairs to form a makeshift wall for what Sam could only guess was protection. A few peaked out from behind, but didn't dare make eye contact with her.
"Doc, get your bag," Sam said. She was unwilling to waste any time on the animals residing in the room. They were all dead men walking in her opinion.
The doctor squeezed past her and entered the room. He went to the far corner without making eye contact with any of the dignitaries, grabbed a large leather bag from the seat of a chair and returned to her.
"I'll be with the girl if you need me," Doc said. He looked back to the men and then added, "I pray that you won't."
Sam nodded, and the doctor exited the structure.
"Wh-what do you want from us?" a white-haired man stuttered from behind a tall leather-backed chair.
"I want you to stop asking questions before I put a bullet through your brain, Chief," Sam said. She surveyed the room to make sure she had their undivided attention and then continued, "Now, there's nothing else I'd love to do than unload this clip on you sick, old perverts and blow every one of your dicks clean off." She watched as the old men squirmed. "Your families might have kept this city alive for hundreds of years, but all you've managed to do is to turn your own children into slaves. It's a perversion so corrupt and evil that even your ancestors would be rolling in their graves. You should be ashamed of yourselves."