Vending Machine Lunch (16 page)

“Oh jeez! Someone help me, oh God please, don’t do this to
me, oh- agggggh!”

With the
com-link still screaming peoples deaths into his ear, Johnston
heard squelchy footsteps from behind him. Slow, but gradually
getting closer, with deep, grunty breaths. Johnston’s fingers were
shaking as he tried to put the shells in the emergency weapon. But
he managed it.

Deliberately
slowly, Johnston turned around to face whateveritwas that entered.
He recognised who it was immediately, as his eyes scanned the
figure that had entered the room. It was Sierra Bravo Jaiden. But
he had changed. His skin had become almost translucent, his eyes
misted over and lifeless. His work clothes were saturated in blood
and there was a massive chunk from the side of his neck missing
with entrails hanging out. As he stepped closer, Johnston noticed
there was what looked like a bullet wound in his leg that prevented
him from moving quickly.

“We need support down here! Echo team need support. We are
trapped and surrounded by... ...ings! Just get someone down here
okay? Is anyone God-damn listening!?”

Johnston raised
his loaded weapon, “Jaiden? What is going on here?”

Jaiden didn’t
respond, just stepped closer to Johnston, revealing his
blood-stained teeth as he did so. The light from the CRT monitors
flickered, light bouncing off Jaiden’s gnawed and blood soaked
face.

“Jaiden, you’re
scaring me now,” said Johnston, trying to remain firm, but his
voice wavering, “If you don’t tell me what is going on I will have
to shoot you.”

Jaiden stepped
closer.

“I asked if there was anyone there!? Please, someone! Send
help down here we need- aaagghhh!! OhmyGod- Aggghgh!
Agggghhhggghhhh! AAAAAAAGGGHHHH!”

Johnston
painfully listened to the screams of agony down the com-link as a
very mangled Jaiden approached menacingly. He raised the emergency
weapon just a little more, indicating that he was prepared to
shoot.

“Jaiden, this
is your final warning,” coughed Johnston, but as he did so, his
eyes glanced to the CRT monitors, showing live images of the
horrors that were occurring around the facility. He focused on one
screen, a guy in his office pointing his emergency weapon at
something that slightly resembled his former college Jaiden, whom
was approaching slowly due to a damaged leg. Whatever had happened,
Jaiden was no longer in existence. Jaiden had been possessed,
drugged or something and now had a reasoning guy, half-heartedly
pointing his emergency weapon at him, pretty much cornered in his
own office and delivering pleading threats as though the employment
hierarchy would have the slightest effect on what had just
happened. Johnston just wanted the guy on the screen to save
himself and shoot Jaiden’s body.

Without
thinking, attempting to mentally block the screams of pain from his
colleagues over the com-link, Johnston squeezed on the trigger.

There was an
ear shattering crack as the weapon fired its shells. Without
knowing how, Johnston found himself sat back on the floor below the
shelf, gripping the weapon with dear life. The shells had hit
Jaiden’s torso, but hadn’t had much of an effect. Johnston had
stumbled backwards with shock as he pulled the trigger and fallen
on the floor.

Jaiden was
still limping towards him, bearing his teeth violently, blood
pouring from his mouth. He screamed violently at Johnston, as
though angry that he had been shot again. It was a blood curdling
scream, making the hairs on the back of Johnston’s neck stand to
attention. The scream hadn’t felt human. There was an underlying,
undying resonance to it.

“Shoot them in the head! Shoot the possessed in the head!
It makes them stop! I repeat, shoot the possessed in the
head!”

Someone was
screaming down the com-link to shoot ‘the possessed’ in the head.
Johnston was pretty certain Jaiden was now one of ‘the possessed.’
Without another thought, his hands trembling as he did so, Johnston
aimed the best he could at Jaiden’s head and fired again.

There was
nothing but a dull click. A dead man’s click.

Johnston cursed
loudly as he remembered that the emergency weapon needed reloading
after every shot. Scrambling up, Johnston spat painfully from
terror and brushed his hands along the shelves, hoping to come into
contact with some shells.

Too little too
late.

Jaiden grabbed
Johnston with enormous power and tried to take a bite out of him.
Johnston could almost taste the blood on Jaiden’s breath, as he
resisted, pushing Jaiden’s violently biting mouth away.

However, Jaiden
appeared to be far too strong for Johnston. His teeth were getting
closer and closer to Johnston’s neck, his mouth fangs ready to
savour the taste of Johnston’s flesh. Johnston looked into his
eyes. They were still glazed over, misty and unfocused. However
they had a certain determination in them. A deep desire. A desire
to feed upon anything possible.

Jaiden’s teeth
were now horrifyingly close to Johnston’s neck. Johnston squeezed
out tears of terror, his eyes attempting to focus with Jaiden’s,
ignoring the flickering red light and the panic pouring out of his
ear piece from the com-link.

Johnston had no
idea what inspired him to do what he did next. But it saved his
life from being eaten alive or being turned into whatever Jaiden
was. It might have been some sort of reflex that his body made
against the thought of almost certain death, or perhaps simply his
brain forced his body into auto drive as his mind was panicking.
Either way, Johnston was not sure what happened to make him do what
he did.

“Aggghhh! These things just never stop!”

With as much
force as he could muster, Johnston rammed his fingers into Jaiden’s
eyes. Squelch.

For some reason
he was expecting a scream of pain from the possessed Jaiden, and
was quite taken aback when it didn’t come. Instead there was a
stunned silence, apart from the cries of pain and yelling for help
from the com-link.

Slightly
disgusted, Johnston slowly pulled his fingers out of Jaiden’s now
non-existent eyeballs. Squelch two. As he did so, in the ever
flickering white and red light of malfunctioning equipment,
Jaiden’s grip on him loosened.

“I knew we
shouldn’t have gone off schedule! What the hell is this mess?”

They both stood
there, stunned, for around half a second. It was the longest half
second of Johnston’s life as his mind processed what had just
happened. It didn’t take long for him to work it out. Jaiden was
now blinded now. He couldn’t see. Or at least, what possessed him
couldn’t see.

Rushing back to
the metal shelves, Johnston grabbed the emergency weapon, pulled
out two shells and reloaded. Jaiden was now furiously flailing
around, blind to the environment around him, thrashing angrily
around trying to find Johnston.

Johnston raised
his loaded weapon and fired. Luck was on his side. The shells blew
off half of Jaiden’s head and he was propelled into Johnston’s
control desk in a shower of blood. The CRT monitors were still
sparking, the lights were still shining and flickering red.
Johnston wondered what to do next.

“Sierra Alpha Jacob to all interior staff. We are under
attack from an unknown enemy source. All staff are advised to arm
themselves with an emergency weapon, usually located at the back of
industrial unit cabinets. Permission to fire upon suspected enemies
granted, providing doing so will not compromise or damage any of
the facilities equipment or machinery. You are all ordered to
regroup at the entrance hangar. Staff are reminded to keep the
com-links clear, so vital communication is possible.”

Despite the
mess up, Jacob’s voice still sounded smug, arrogant and obnoxious.
Johnston hated it.

“This is all
your fault you know Jacob. We should have never deviated from the
schedule,” said Johnston over the com-link before coughing
violently.

“Sierra Alpha Jacob to Sierra Charlie Johnston. Your
opinions have been noted and you are reminded that com-link
etiquette is still enforced and to be maintained in an emergency.
In case you haven’t noticed, we have a colour code red. You know
what to do, send the transmission. The exterior appear unaware of
the colour code.”

“I couldn’t
give a crap about com-link etiquette, you’re gonna have your balls
on a plate if we get out of this,” spat Johnston down his ear
piece, “And what do you mean the outside are unaware? Have the
exterior lights failed again?”

“Apparently so. That is why it is imperative you take the
transmission card to the CRT terminal in the communications office
before we either meltdown or the possessed convert us
all.”

“Johnston?”
it
was Josh,
“I’m coming with you. By yourself you’re bound to fail, no
offence.”

“Sierra Alpha Jacob to Sierra Bravo Josh, you will do
nothing of the sort. You will regroup with the rest of us at the
hangar.”

“Oh shut up
Jacob,” said Johnston down the com-link, “You lost all authority
when you created this mess. Regroup those who aren’t possessed and
for God’s sake try to keep them alive. Josh, get to my office,
you’re coming with me. I want this over with, I need some
tobacco.”

“Almost there.”

When Josh
reached Johnston’s office, he looked an awful mess. He was covered
in blood, had several nasty scratches down his face and was limping
slightly. Johnston had prepared himself, putting his box of shells
in his jacket pockets so they were easily accessible. He had put
the transmission card in a secure pocket.

“I’ve only got
sixteen bullets left,” said Johnston.

“They’re called
shells,” said Josh, “I’ve only got six.”

“Any idea what
has caused this mess? Was it a resonance cascade?”

“Wouldn’t put
it past it,” said Josh, “Either way, as my twelve year old nephew
would say, this crap just got real. I smell a cover up coming.”

Johnston
coughed, “C’mon, all we need to do is send this damned
transmission. Them damned engineers can’t ever do their job right.
I was assured the exterior lights were fully functioning.”

They exited
Johnston’s office. The heat hit Johnston, it was like being in an
oven. The facility was in rapid danger of meltdown. The entire
facility was illuminated red, making the blood from the many broken
bodies look black. Wires and CRT monitors sparked away to
themselves, displaying abnormal data and dripping in black
blood.

“Any idea how
long we have until meltdown?” asked Johnston.

“No.”

“Christ, I
don’t believe this. If I get into any trouble over this I swear to
God I’ll-”

“-heads up,”
interrupted Josh, nodding ahead on the platform.

Ahead were two
possessed. They appeared to be eating someone, who was dead on the
floor. The stench of dead flesh and warm blood began to creep up
Johnston’s nostrils. He wanted to puke. It was disgusting.

“I take the one
on the left, you take the one on the right?” suggested Josh, as
they slowly crept towards the three bodies.

“Uhuh,” said
Johnston in agreement, stifling a cough to keep quiet. It didn’t
work.

With a shriek,
one of the possessed ceased his activity of devouring the expired
and spun around to face both Josh and Johnston. The other followed
suit a split second after, and without pause, they launched their
translucent bodies at the unprepared workers.

Josh fired at
his designated target and missed; hitting the dead body they had
been eating. There was barely a chance for him to get a curse word
in before the possessed being threw themselves upon Josh.

Without
pausing, Johnston rammed the butt of his weapon into the chest of
the possessed that was after him, in hopes of winding him. The
attempt failed as the snarling reanimated dead man appeared not to
feel a thing. However, they were pushed backwards, buying Johnston
some valuable time.

He spun around
to Josh, who was on the floor attempting to push the manic
possessed from him, who was snarling and scratching chunks from
poor Josh underneath. He fired. The shells blasted themselves from
the emergency weapon in a flash of white light within the blink of
an eye, leaving a subtle stench of gunpowder behind. If luck would
have it, Johnston hit the neck. The possessed was thrown and
crashed against the walkway railing. There it screamed with
frustration, blood spurting everywhere, attempting to get back up.
But Josh had now got back up.

A heavy
sideways force pushed Johnston over. He cursed as he fell,
remembering that he had forgotten about his possessed. His weapon
flew from his hands and tumbled on the floor, sliding out of reach.
Johnston heard an ear splitting bang as Josh must have shot the
possessed that was after him again.

Alas however,
as Johnston span around to defend himself from being pretty much
eaten alive, he discovered that the lights had shut out and now
Johnston was left to defend himself in darkness.

Silence ensued
the darkness. Johnston could hear himself breathing heavily from
the fear. He wanted to cough, but forced himself to be silent. He
literally could not see anything but an everlasting eternal
blackness in front of him. The facilities power source must have
failed. Or had been cut.

“Josh?” he
whispered, fearing the possessed would hear him. There was no
reply. Even the com-link had gone deadly silent.

“Josh!?” he
whispered again, a little louder. Again, nothing.

Johnston was
just about to move and try standing up when another bang hit his
ears. The light’s incandescent white light, dazzled Johnston. In
front of him, a figure screeched and pounced towards him.