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One Character (16)
🕑 Added 2025-05-08 17:00:04 +0000 UTCChapter 16 - Through Rot and Ruin
The train screeched and shuddered to a final, jarring halt deep within the bowels of the earth. Sparks flew from the locked wheels.
“End of the line,” Kazuma reported from the console and pointed towards the forward viewport. “Blockade dead ahead.”
Everyone moved forward. Through the grime-streaked glass, they saw it – massive, reinforced steel doors, thick as a bunker wall, completely sealing the tunnel. Emergency lights painted them in an ominous red glow.
“Alright, everyone out,” Chaz commanded. “We go on foot from here. Kazuma, lead us to the nearest service access tunnel bypass.”
As they disembarked onto the dusty track bed, Bernam eyed the formidable blockade. He cracked his knuckles. “Looks tough, boss, but give me a few minutes… I could probably blast through that.”
Chaz rounded on him instantly. “Are you an idiot, Bernam? We blast through that, and we create a direct route for every Unus between here and Havenwood straight back towards Aethelgard! You want swarms pouring into the city?”
“He’s right, you brute,” Olive Woo added disdainfully and smoothed her tight-fitting tactical gear. “Think for once. We have families, friends back there. We don’t invite the monsters home.”
Bernam grunted sullenly but fell silent, clearly chastised.
Kazuma consulted his datapad. “This way. Service tunnel access should be about fifty meters down this auxiliary track.”
They moved cautiously down the dark side tunnel. No emergency lights functioned here; only the beams from their helmet lamps cut through the oppressive gloom. The air was still, heavy with disuse. So far, no guards, no automated defenses – a good sign.
As they walked, Wes’s keen eyes swept the surroundings. Near a pile of discarded railway ties, he spotted something half-buried in grime and slime – a standard GRDF issue pulse rifle, looking recently dropped. He noted its location but said nothing. Someone had been here, perhaps fled in a hurry.
They reached a heavy steel door marked ‘Service Access Delta-7’.
Kazuma quickly interfaced his datapad with the electronic lock. With a soft click and hiss of hydraulics, the door slid open. They slipped inside, entering a narrower concrete tunnel lit by flickering, unreliable emergency strips. They proceeded single file, weapons ready, senses alert.
A faint, distant scraping sound echoed down the tunnel. Everyone froze instantly. They listened intently as they held their breath. Silence returned. After a tense minute, they cautiously resumed their advance.
The narrow service tunnel eventually opened into a much wider cavern – an old underground transit hub or maintenance depot, now swallowed by decay and something far worse. The stench hit them like a physical blow – rot, decay, and the uniquely pungent, acrid odor of Unus ichor and decomposing flesh. They grimaced and covered their mouths and noses.
The cavern floor was a horrific tableau. Crumbled concrete lay strewn amidst thick, pulsating tendrils of alien flesh snaking across the ground. Piles of glistening monster guts lay scattered randomly. Partially decomposed human corpses lay amongst the ruin, some little more than skeletal remains draped in tattered clothing, others still disturbingly fresh, being slowly consumed by the encroaching alien biomass.
“Gods, it reeks down here.” Wes’s voice was muffled by his hand.
Olive gagged beside him. “Disgusting.”
“Suck it up,” Chaz ordered gruffly, seemingly unfazed by the gore or the smell. “This is the price of getting rich. Kazuma, the vault – direction?”
Kazuma consulted his datapad again, trying not to look too closely at the horrors around them. “Based on pre-outbreak schematics… the main entrance should be through that collapsed archway, north-northeast. Approximately two hundred meters.”
They advanced cautiously by picking their way through the gruesome debris field. Wes felt slick, stinking mush squelch under his boots and fought back a wave of nausea.
Suddenly, his ears picked up a faint skittering sound, high above them.
“Hold up! Something’s moving!” He hissed urgently.
Chaz reacted instantly. “Pillar! Now!”
They scrambled behind a massive concrete support pillar just as the sound grew louder. Peeking cautiously around the edge, they looked up. Several spider-like Unus, each the size of a large dog, scurried rapidly across the cavern ceiling until they disappeared into the shadows on the far side. They moved with unnerving speed and purpose.
“Looked like they were in a hurry,” Bernam observed quietly once the creatures had passed.
“Let’s not wait around to find out why,” Chaz said grimly. “Move.”
A short while later, they reached their destination. The area immediately surrounding it was surprisingly clear of Unus debris, almost unnaturally clean compared to the rest of the cavern. Before them stood a massive, circular vault door emblazoned with the old Federated Credit insignia.
“There it is.”
Chaz breathed; a greedy light shone in his eyes.
“Finally!” Bernam grinned, already cracking his knuckles again. “Let me at it, boss!”
“No!” Chaz snapped immediately. “Kazuma handles this. We don’t know what kind of seismic sensors or internal defenses this thing has. We trigger an alarm down here, every Unus for miles might come running. Besides,” he added pointedly, “we don’t want your heavy-handed blasting damaging the contents. Credits don’t spend well if they’re melted slag.”
Bernam slumped slightly; looking disgruntled again. “Fine. Scrawny tech kid gets all the fun,” he muttered under his breath.
‘All muscle, baby inside,’ Wes thought wryly.
Kazuma stepped forward, he wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers. He produced a complex array of devices – probes, signal scramblers, bypass tools – and began meticulously working on the vault’s intricate locking mechanisms. The rest of the team fanned out slightly, watching their surroundings.
The cavern remained eerily quiet. Wes reached into his pocket instinctively for a cigarette and lighter. He brought it to his lips, about to spark the flame, when Chaz’s hand shot out and clamped down on his wrist.
“Don’t even think about it, Specter,” Chaz warned; low and serious.
“What? It’s clear here,” Wes protested quietly.
“Look around you,” Chaz said, gesturing subtly at the glistening slime and decomposing matter coating the cavern. “Unus decomposition, especially mixed types like this… it releases trace amounts of methane and other volatile organic compounds. It’s not strong enough to smell like pure gasoline, but trust me, it’s flammable. One spark…” He didn’t need to finish the sentence.
Wes looked skeptical. “You sure?”
“Pretty damn sure,” Chaz replied firmly. “Learned that lesson the hard way on a job back in Neo-Kyoto. Nearly lost my eyebrows. Put it away.”
Not willing to risk incineration, Wes reluctantly pocketed the cigarette and lighter. They settled into a tense silence; observed Kazuma work and listened to the unnerving quiet of the ruined cavern.
They waited.
