Depth Charge - red earth

Chapter 20

Victor landed the jet in the forecourt of what used to be the SS labs. Numerous groups of troops had gathered not far behind them, ready to head underground for the battle. As far as the troops were concerned, Victor and his team looked like they were part of the plan. Victor was glad they had not gone in yet; maybe he had enough time to find what he needed.

The loss of Lonnie had been horrific, but the team continued on professionally, determined to finish the mission. There was a vast cloud of grey ash above them, as Olympus Mons glowed red in the distance. The wind was howling fast with the retraction of the Halo Shield. With their blasters at the ready, they cleared the area before entering the building; knowing that any number of creatures could be upon them at any time.

Going through a number of hallways and security doors that were no longer guarded, Victor led them to Leonard's lab room. "Start searching."

"What are we looking for?" asked Meghan.

"Paperwork, samples; anything that looks like it could have been used as a weapon against the creatures."

"Leonard wanted to utilize their powers for weapons of war. What makes you think he had something that could combat them?"

"Just a hunch I suppose." Replied Victor as he walked over to the main dissection table. He stood there for a while, imagining Leonard spending countless hours studying the various parts of the creatures; fascinated with the contents. Looking over to the back wall, Victor noticed a seam in the panel; a hidden doorway. He cautiously slid it open to reveal a small, but well lit room, full of glass cabinets.

The glass cabinets had small pieces of the creatures in them. To his left, Victor noticed 10 glass trays. Only nine of the trays had the silver vials on them. Picking one up of them, Victor walked out to the rest of team. "Hey I think I found ..."

Victor stopped short at the door; with a blaster pointed at his chest. Leonard finished the sentence for Victor, "Something?"

The team turned around and pointed their weapons at Leonard. Victor shook his head though, and they lowered their weapons; only Meghan kept hers aimed.

"Yes," continued Leonard, looking very worn with multiple scratches over his body; likely from his confrontation with the beetles. "You have found something special, but I'm afraid I can't let you use it - not now."

"How did you survive, Leonard?"

"I played dead under one of the beetle carcass."

"Shame you weren't really dead," replied Meghan.

"What is this, Leonard, a weapon against the creatures?" asked Victor.

"Not quite. It is a virus, but not the sort you may have seen in the movies that ravages through the alien hosts and decimates them on the spot."

"Then what, what were you planning to use it for?"

Leonard smirked at Victor and carelessly moved his wrist slightly to the right. A loud blast rang out as Victor felt a wet warm spray of lumpy liquid across his face.

"I don't have time for this," stated Meghan as she watched Leonard dropped to the floor; his head a gaping mess from the blast.

"He was about to tell us what this could be used for! Couldn't you have waited a few more minutes?"

"It is all that excellent training you gave us, sir. Never miss an opportunity to drop the enemy."

Victor wiped his face to clear off some of the mess. "Let's get going then."

Heading out of the lab, they began back down one of the corridors when the ground started to shake.

"What's that?" asked Elmer.

The rumbling seemed to be coming from all sides. It was a sensation they'd experienced before.

"Run!" commanded Victor. A burrowing horde of creatures began to emerge into the compound.

With a decent head start, Victor and his team ran swiftly through the corridors until they got to the main entrance. They burst though the front doors and looked at the lines of troops that had moved closer.

"They're coming!" shouted Victor. "Prepare yourselves!"

Victor thought of how young and nervous some of the faces of the troops were. There was no need for Victor's team to be on the front line here though. He commanded Meghan to get the ship ready as they headed toward it quickly.

The building behind then began to shake as the foundations loosened below. Panes of glass dislodged from a height and fell, smashing to the ground. As Victor looked back, he noticed a group of people running through the waterfall of broken glass. Victor noticed the familiar hat of Carl Anderson.

Victor looked on as a giant cloud of dirt and rubble exploded up from the path behind Carl and the others. A swarming army of hideous beetles emerged from the cloud, hissing and shrieking as their legs paced quickly to finish their intent of destruction. "They're not going to make it," muttered Victor.

"Andy, Elmer, follow me! Clear a path for those civilians to the ship."

Speaking into his comms, Victor commanded Meghan to start the ship and bring it closer.

Running fast with weapons aimed at the approaching creatures, they began firing upon the ones that were closest to the group. Becky and Alice were screaming as they ran. Stacey and Amy made good pace. Carl and Greg remained at the rear of the group, firing what they had left of their rounds to slow the Beetles progress. Ryan could hear voices in his head coming from behind the frontline army of creatures - kill them all; reduce them to fodder; we will prevail.

It didn't take long for the armies to join in the battle, though they were busy defending themselves as the line that had opened up looked like a never ending chasm that stretched for miles. The battle had begun, but instead of the humans corralling the creatures, it was the humans that were on the back foot.

Meghan lifted the ship into the air and darted over to the fleeing humans. Positioning herself in mid air between them, she used the exterior weapons on the ship to carve a sizeable 'V' shape in the creatures. Barely touching the ship on the ground, she opened the ramp for the others to climb aboard. What seemed like a life time took only seconds, and that was all they had to spare.