Alien Devices: Tesla joins crew to prevent alien zombie apocalypse (The Secret War Book 2) (19 page)

They had walked for some time when ahead of them appeared more
of those glowing scratchings in the dark. As they got closer, the lanterns
showed that they were facing another wall that blocked the way forward. Hadley
began to press the scratchings with his hands. The wall parted before him,
bathing them in the same, greenish illumination from inside. The stench coming
from the chamber was magnified, but Hadley did not seem to notice. He turned to
address them.

“Now I shall show you wonders,” Hadley said smiling. “Come in,”
he beckoned to them with his hands as if coaxing a wild animal. “Come in,” He
repeated.  “It's all right.”   Hadley took Abigail's hand and led the way
inside, Will and the rest followed.

The room behind the wall was wide and deep. Will saw the odd
scratchings moving down the walls of the room, eerily gleaming. In the center
of the room was a tall pillar with complicated tubes and conduits connected to
it. The pillar spanned the full height of the room from ceiling to floor. It appeared
to be the source of the green light that filled the room.  

“I am not sure I understand, father,” Abigail said, puzzled.
She craned her neck, looking all around. “If this is the modulating control
center for the engines, how does it function?”

“The control is in there, my dear,” Hadley indicated the
cylinder. “Inside lies a massive intellect that not only created all that you
see around you, but can control every function, even while it is in what we
would call sleep.” Hadley had slowly raised his arms towards the pillar while
he crooned the words he spoke in explanation. Almost as one would greet his
God, Will thought uneasily. 

“How can you know that father?” Abigail looked at Hadley
startled, stepping hesitantly back from him. Her voice held a tremble to it
Will had not heard before. Will signaled to Saira and the two of them moved
towards Lord Hadley and Abigail.

“He came to me while I slept, Abigail.” Hadley explained,
turning around to face his daughter. His arms were still stretched out. He
continued speaking even as Abigail shrank back from his words.

“There is so much that we have never known.” Lord Hadley's face
held the rapt look of a prophet or a madman, Will thought. 

“He showed me wonders of science that we have never dreamed of.”
Hadley exclaimed.  “The answers to suffering, war, chaos, can all be found in
their knowledge! This is the gift he has for us, if we will only listen!” 
Hadley moved to the left wall and began pressing the flowing markings. As if in
answer, a low box, akin to an open coffin, jutted out from the wall.

“He led me to sleep here in His embrace, and transformed me,”
Hadley babbled. He walked towards Abigail, his hands outstretched now like
claws.

“You only have to lie down here for a little while, dear one,
and you too can be transformed!” Hadley said in a voice that shook with
emotion. “You will be able to hear him too! Think of what we will accomplish
together!” Will stepped between them.

“Hadley!” Hunting Owl said sharply to the Lord. “She doesn't
want to lay down! This is some sick thing of the Invaders. Come away man, we
need to get you out of here!”

“’The Invaders'!” Hadley sneered at him. “You know nothing of
them! I have seen the vast and wonderful place they come from. You are a cave-man
Captain, cowering before the first fire. But no matter, soon enough you will
understand. You will all understand.” Hadley closed his eyes as if
concentrating. A loud rustling came from the far end of the room behind the
pillar.

“What is that, Hadley?!” Will exclaimed. “What have you done?”
Hunting Owl pulled his revolver from its holster.

“In my transformation, He has shown me how to command some of
his lesser instruments,” Hadley explained. “Soon you will all understand,”
Hadley smiled at them in rapture, “and you will bless me.”

From around the pillar stomped an obscenity. About three feet
in height, it was a travesty of a man with two short legs and a torso from
which writhed a trio of rope-like tentacles on each side. Where a head should
be, was only a rounded stump, without eyes or mouth. The thing admitted a
strange clicking sound as it advanced towards Will. He could see other of the
strange creatures standing behind it.  Will pointed his gun at the advancing
thing.

“Hadley!” Will commanded. “Tell it to back off! I will shoot
it!” Hadley merely continued smiling.

Will fired into the center of the thing. It flew over
backwards, blocking its fellows. A loud, clicking sound arose from the swarm of
things. At the same instant, Will doubled over, feeling as if an axe was
cleaving his head in two. The green light flared brighter from the pillar, and
the mental axe bit deeper. Will knew this was some kind of attack, but had no
idea how to fight against it.

Suddenly, Chang was in front of the pillar her arms extended
towards it, as if in denial. Will noticed that there was a glow around her that
made her seem more real somehow. The axe inside his skull mercifully vanished
and Will straightened up.

Abigail cried out, and Will looked over to see Hadley sprawled
senseless on the floor, Abigail kneeling next to him.

“Take Lord Hadley away Captain,” Chang gasped out as if she was
lifting a great weight. “I cannot hold it for long. It stirs in its sleep. If
it wakes, we are all doomed!” Signaling to Sebastian, Will knelt to grab
Abigail by the arm.

“We have to carry him!” Will shouted at her over the eerie
chittering of the summoned things. The sound continued, unrelenting. “I need
you to cover us with your gun if those things come at us again. Can you do
that?” Abigail's face changed from dismay to determination. She drew her pistol
and nodded that she could.

Saira and Guang flanked Chang.  Saira raised her electric rifle
and fired at one of the advancing things. The bolt hit it square on, and it
froze mid-step. The others behind it also stopped as the chittering cut off
like a knife. The only sound in the chamber was the whine of Saira's rifle
recharging. Guang stood with his sword drawn.

“They do not seem to like sparkies,” Saira announced. Her rifle
battery finished recharging and she aimed it at the things again.     

Will grabbed Hadley awkwardly under an arm, his gun hand still
aimed at the unmoving things. Sebastian slung his automatic shotgun and
together they dragged Lord Hadley back towards the door. Abigail followed along
beside them, gun at the ready. She was looking around the room, and
stopped.    

“Will,” Abigail cried out, “shoot at the tubes to the pillar!”
She followed up her own words by firing at one. The electric bolt splattered
against one of the tubes where it met the pillar. It released a shower of
sparks, causing the green light of the pillar to pulse faster.

Will took aim at another cable. He was rewarded by it falling
away from the pillar in a shower of sparks. The boom of Sebastian's shotgun
joined in, followed by the flat crack of Saira's rifle. More cables fell away. 
The pillar light flared up blindingly for a moment. Will threw an arm over his
eyes to protect them. When the light dimmed, Will saw Chang had collapsed on
the floor, the glow diminishing and then gone from around her still body. With
a curse, Saira stepped forward. She slung her rifle and helped Guang hoist the
crime boss over his shoulders. The clicking from the things started up again.

“They are moving!” Abigail screamed, shooting one of the
things. The electric bolt shot true, and again the thing stopped mid-step. The
clicking sound from the creatures stopped with it. After what seemed like only
a breath, the thing began moving forward again.  

The clicking seemed to grow even louder as the monstrosities
began to stump forward, tentacles waving. Will shot one, only to have it pick
itself up off the floor and continue towards Abigail and Saira. Cursing, he
took aim again, and this time hit it in the stump where a head should be. The
thing flipped over from the heavy caliber bullet. This time it stayed down.

“Aim for the stumps!” Will shouted. The others shifted their
aim, and the things began falling over. The fallen blocked the way of the other
things behind them, stopping their advance from around the pillar. Will knew it
was only a matter of time before the creatures pushed through the barrier of
their fallen comrades. There were too many of them. 

“Sebastian,” Will yelled over the noise, “You will have to
carry Hadley! Give me your shotgun.” Once they completed the transfer, Will
checked that the shotgun was cocked. He fired it from his hip at the head of a
thing. It fell over.

“Abigail!” Hunting Owl yelled. “Take the guide rope from
Sebastian and a lantern! As soon as Guang gets to you with Chang, head back to
the engine room! Saira and I will cover you!”  Abigail began helping Sebastian
get her father over his shoulders in a dead man carry.

Taking the shotgun, Will sprinted back to towards Guang and
Saira. He passed Guang who indicated he could carry the unconscious woman. A
thing had climbed clumsily over its dead, and came towards them tentacles
waving obscenely. Saira took careful aim with her rifle and it tumbled over.
Will fired with the shotgun, and had the satisfaction of seeing another stump
explode in gelatinous gore, spraying its fellows. Saira's rifle cracked.
Another one fell over on its side, limbs quivering.   The Captain and the Arms
master backed up together, firing as they went.  The things relentlessly followed.

The fight down the passageway would give Will nightmares for
the rest of his life. He let those carrying the wounded get almost to the
limits of being able to see them before signaling to Saira to fall back. At
first, it was easy to see the tentacle things as they were backlit against the
green light of the room they had just left.  The flat crack of Saira's rifle
would be followed by the boom of Will's shotgun. He then pulled the charging
lever down and the gun ejected the spent shell, pushing another from the
magazine into the breach. Both of them fired as deliberately and accurately as
a well-oiled machines.

They had managed to block the doorway of the room with a pile
of dead corpses. Will had looked over his shoulder to see the shrinking dot of
light that was Abigail almost at the limits of visibility. To tarry beyond that
limit would leave Saira and him lost in the disorienting hallway with no
ability to find their way back. Saira cursed and slung her now empty rifle.
Reaching to the small of her back, she pulled out her electric pistol and
calmly fired again.

“How will we aim when we cannot see the light of the room?”
Saira asked Will as her pistol started the whine that indicated it was
re-charging. Will pulled the trigger on the shotgun, and the hammer fell on an
empty chamber. He shoved the shotgun into its holster over his shoulder, as he
had no reloads for it. 

“We will figure that out,” Will said, reaching again for his
revolver. “Time to move back,” he ordered shooting another of the things. 

As they backed up, Will reloaded his revolver by feel.
Splitting his attention, he looked back over his shoulder to follow Abigail's
light and the shrinking light of the doorway, Will saw the things clear the
last of their dead just as he took a last step backwards.  The light from the
doorway winked out. They were far enough from the creatures that they could no
longer hear the eerie chittering sound they made.

“I am not liking this,” Saira said, keeping her pistol aimed
into the darkness. “We cannot see them, and we cannot hear them!”

“Keep walking backwards.” Will snapped shut the breach of his
revolver, giving the barrels an easy spin. “We'll shorten the distance between
Abigail and us.”

As they continued to walk backwards, Will touched his medicine
bag and began to voice Owl’s Song. He Sang for his Totem to sharpen his eyes
that he might see their prey. It was desperation on Will's part. Owl answered
or not as it pleased Him. Will was amazed then when it seemed that he could
discern misty squat shapes stumping towards them, four abreast.

Still singing, he took careful aim and perceived one of them
fall down from his shot. The others however flowed around the dead lump and
came forward relentlessly. In rapid order he shot the other three of the front
line. The others behind that first line of fallen bunched up for a moment as
they sought to move around the fallen obstacles.

“If you can see them,” Saira said, “Wait until they are close
enough that your muzzle flash reflects off them.”

“I think that will be closer than we would be comfortable with,”
Will said as he broke off his singing and watched the shapes start to fade into
the blackness. “Fire now towards the center of things.” 

He started singing again and the shapes came back into his
perception just as one fell from Saira's blind shot. Fast as he could pull the
trigger, he emptied his revolver downing two more. He broke open his gun and
fed the barrels from his ammunition pouch.

“Keep walking,” Will ordered. “They're slowed down again for a
minute. I will try to let them get closer the next time.” He began singing
again, only this time all he could perceive was a dim mass moving towards them.
Owl's gift was weakening.  He kept walking backwards as the mass came closer.
He could just hear the chittering noise the things made when he fired again. The
muzzle flash reflected off the advancing horde and Will could see the line of
obscenities, tentacles waving directly front of him. The crack of the sparkie
in Saira's hand sounded dull in the hallway. Will stopped singing and fired
again and again, the things falling silently before his aim. How much farther
to the engine room? He didn't dare look around. He only hoped that Abigail and
the wounded hadn't gotten too far ahead of them. 

Suddenly there was the boom of another shotgun to his left and
the crack of a sparkie rifle on his right. He saw that Tiku and another of Saira's
Tigers was flanking them. A lantern showed the creatures clearly for the first
time since they had entered the hallway.