OBLIVIOUS

CHAPTER 27 - The Hunted

A vicious howl pierces the night, penetrating the walls of the habitat and clawing its way through the interior to where we stand. It's a primal sound made by an apex predator desperate to strip us bare and devour us until nothing remains. But despite the vileness of the alpha's cry, we can't focus on that now. We can't allow the horror to grip our hearts and paralyze us with fear. If Eve and I are to make it out of this alive, we need to move fast and we need to concentrate on what it takes to survive.

Our path lies ahead of us—the main corridor of the Animal Barn.

The people of the first habitat made more progress than Eve and I ever did, but their work didn't last, and neither did they. I assume they came down to Earth as a couple like us, but I have no proof of that. The skeletal remains of livestock fill the enclosures. The decay should stink but doesn't because of the lapsed time. All biological processes have ceased. It's nothing but the bones of farm animals. It's been years since anyone has been here. Maybe longer.

In the semi-darkness, I continue past the cages and turn to the side to find the storage room that Jinx told us about. In an equivalent room in our habitat, Eve had used the 3D printer to make tools for our Animal Barn, which we never put to use. Visible through the gloom, unidentifiable objects lay on the floor, littering the entryway into the storage area with trip hazards. We kick aside a long-handled something, stumbling over it at first, possibly a garden rake used to clean up hay from the enclosures.

I bend over to see what almost tripped me and come up with a shovel. I doubt it will do us any good, so I toss it out of the way.

Another boom rocks the rear airlock door, the alpha wolf using its cranium as a battering ram. The creature's frustrated growls make my insides quiver. Its claws scrape at the doors and drive us to quicken our steps.

Eve backs against the wall, allowing a shaft of meager moonlight to penetrate the polycarbonate roof and make its way to where I stand. I touch her arm for comfort, but it's a shallow gesture at a time like this, and I don't know who benefits from it, her or me.

A bang of screeching metal echoes through the habitat, but the wolf's grumbling complaints haven't breached the passage yet.

My hands fumble over a 3D printer identical to the one Eve used at our hab. I rub my palm over the casing and continue down to a tabletop, feeling for anything that might stand out. My fingers coil around a short-handled tool, and I raise it to check it out. It's a hammer.

"What did Jinx want us to look for in here, anyway?" I say, more to myself than to Eve. "We'll need more than this." I hold up the tool for her to see.

"It had to be weapons. Something to defend ourself with."

I glance up at her. "Right. I assumed that, but what? Where?"

I edge deeper into the room, shifting sideways to let more light inside. It doesn't help much.

My vision has adjusted. Pupils dilated fully.

In the darkness, I make out shapes on the floor and on the counters. "You spent more time in this room than I did. What's in here?"

"I don't know," Eve says. "This isn't our storage area. It's a different hab."

I nod with understanding. There are similarities, but the night could hide subtle differences.

Against the back wall, there's a cabinet with a padlock securing two doors. I pump the hammer up and down, feeling its weight in my hand. It might work. I trod over to the cabinet, draw back my hand like a hatchet, and give it a wallop. The previous inhabitants forged the end of the tool from a composite metal and then chiseled it with the 3D printer. It's not steel, but it's strong enough to break the padlock. Behind the two tall doors, I find four long-stocked items that appear gray in the shadows.