The Thing 2: Infection✔️

Chapter 12: Deeper Still

This time, when the elevator doors opened, it was noticeably hotter.

"This is the furnace room," Dixon said helpfully.

Blake found himself staring into a huge, murky room. A massive stack of crates dominated the center of it. He stepped out cautiously into the intense heat, and immediately saw where it was coming from. To his direct left was a massive furnace. It was basically a huge, rectangular hole in the wall with a wire-mesh grate covering it. A huge fire roared inside.

"Wait here," Blake said.

The men responded affirmatively and Blake began to make a slow circuit of the room, around the large amount of crates in the center. He began to see that they weren't so much of a pile as a perimeter. There was an area of empty space within them. On the opposite side of the room was another furnace, mirroring the other.

Blake made his way along the space in front of the second furnace. He spied a gap in the crates, a way into the center. He wanted to see if there was anything useful in there, something that might help him in his war against Gen Inc and their mad Colonel, Whitley. As he began to step into it, he heard a warning snuff from around the corner of the way yet gone. A second later, a hideous, misshapen Walker appeared, a thing of rough gray skin, huge, powerful arms and no eyes. Blake screamed and, with nowhere to go, backed in through the gap.

The Walker came in after him, forcing itself through the narrow gap and collapsing one of the heavy crates, blocking the way out. Blake cursed violently, thinking fast, looking around. He spied another narrow gap across the way, something he'd have to duck to get through. But what about the Walker? An idea popped into his head and he knew it was probably his only chance. Reaching into his pocket, Blake extracted one of the grenades he'd grabbed. He pulled the pin, dropped it at his feet, turned, ran and dove through the hole.

"Frag out!" he called.

He'd just begun scrambling to get out of the way when the grenade blew. Something heavy and painful slammed into his back, and several bits of debris rained down on him, but otherwise he was unharmed. Slowly, he got to his feet and surveyed the damage he'd caused. Luck had found him once more, and both furnaces remained intact and unbroken. Blake felt relief sweep through him. He could have easily seen flames shoot through the room. The crates, however, were all broken up and scattered in pieces across the room.

So was the Walker.

Blake felt fear shoot through him and he checked himself as the men came out of the elevator. After a long moment, he breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't seem to have gotten any on him. Neither did any of the men.

"What the hell happened?" Dixon asked.

"Walker," Blake replied simply. "Come on, let's go."

The only way out was a huge, garage-style door that was closed to the world. Blake found a switch and flipped it. The door ground open.

"Holy shit," Fisk muttered. "This place is huge."

"Yep," Dixon said. "There's a lot more to this place."

"How did they build all this without anyone noticing?" Blake whispered.

"This is freaking Antarctica, no one notices anything down here," Dixon replied. "If you've got the resources and the money, you can pretty much make anything happen fast."

"Yeah, I guess so..." Blake murmured.

They were standing on a catwalk that overlooked a large, warehouse-sized room. The floor below was littered with all manner of crates and boxes. At the back of the room, on the ground floor, was another huge furnace. On the impromptu second story, there were doors. Two of them, one on either side of the catwalk platform.