Epic: Book 03 - Hero (27 page)

After several seconds, Dostoevsky answered. “Very well. Go north. We will all stay in one another’s view.”

She stepped away.

“
She is brave,” the commander commented once Esther was out of earshot.

Svetlana did not reply.

Back by Scott’s team, Nicolai scaled the ladder. The twitchy slayer was the last one to climb up, as Scott, Viktor, and Boris waited. They pressed their backs to the east wall, leaving the hallways on the west wall in plain view.

“
Romanov, Ryvkin, check the left hall,” said Scott. “Boris, come with me down the right. Watch for holes in the ceiling. If you smell anything, say something quick.” They affirmed.

Motioning to Boris, Scott moved to the right hallway and approached the edge of the wall. After glancing around the corner to ensure its safety, he crept around it. “Stay behind me, Boris. No matter what.”

Boris breathed heavily behind him. “Yes. I stay behind you. All the time.”

Dostoevsky and Svetlana were halfway down the south hall on the lower level when Clarke’s voice came over the comm. “All teams, hold.”

Both of them froze.

“
We’ve got a hole in the ceiling on our level. It doesn’t look Old Era. Remington, watch your position—it’s nearest to you.”

“
Affirmative,” Scott answered through the comm.

Despite the frigid cold of the structure, sweat drops dripped down Svetlana’s face. From behind her visor, she stared at the commander.

“
Continuing forward,” said Dostoevsky.

Auric’s voice suddenly cut through. “Commander…I do not know for certain, but I am looking down west corridor and I think I saw something.”

Dostoevsky continued moving ahead. “You must be more specific.”

“
It was like a movement, very fast. Like it was shadow. Far ahead, but I cannot be sure. Maybe it was trick of vision. I wanted you to know.”

“
Which way did it go?”

“
Across an intersection far ahead. It was traveling north.”

Esther spoke up. “I’ve heard nothing on my end. Are you
sure
to the north?”

“
That is what it looked. It was there when I blinked. I do not know.”

“
Commander,” said Esther, “I’d like to regroup.”

Dostoevsky stopped. Far ahead of him, the corridor turned. “It could have been trick of vision, as he said. Continue to go forward.”

“
Yuri…” Svetlana whispered behind him.

Esther spoke again. The waver in her voice was growing heavier. “I know I said I could go alone, sir, but…”

Svetlana touched Dostoevsky’s arm. “We should not leave her by herself.”

“…
I’m not sure I want to move ahead now,” finished the scout.

Dostoevsky motioned Svetlana away. “Go back to Auric. I will go ahead alone.”

For the first time since returning to
Novosibirsk
, Svetlana looked at Dostoevsky with urgency and concern. “No!” she whispered. “Come back with us, please. We will do this together.”

“
We are less than five meters from the turn, Sveta. I must see what is around it—”

Auric interrupted. “I just saw it again. Again, it appeared, then went north. There is something there.”

“
I’m falling back,” Esther said. “I have to fall back. I’m not staying here.”

“
I am here, Esther,” Auric answered her. “Come to me.”

Svetlana tugged on Dostoevsky’s arm. “Please, Yuri. I beg of you, please. No one should go alone.”

His eyes lingered on the corner ahead. Finally, he muttered, “As you wish. Go. I am behind you.”

“
Thank you, Yuri.”

Nodding a single time, the commander remained facing the south corner. Instead of approaching it, however, he carefully backed away.

Captain Clarke and his team had passed through several rooms, most of which housed lockers and tables. Various ancient instruments—gas masks, dosimeters, field instruments—were strewn about in disarray.

“
Tell me, Jurgen,” Clarke asked, “how did your first bug-hunt feel?” The captain continued to move forward, hitting corners hard when he reached them.

David mirrored the captain’s every action. “It felt a lot like this.”

Behind them, Derrick and Oleg covered the rear.

“
But we didn’t see a hole in the ceiling first,” David went on. “We smelled human flesh.”

Derrick’s mouth fell open. “Are you serious?”

“
Then we saw blood on the walls. Then we saw the corpse.”

“
Aw, shoot.”

Oleg, who had been silent up to that point, finally spoke. “Perhaps we should all be quiet, yes?”

Clarke slipped around another corner. David did the same. Only when the new halls were visibly cleared did David respond. “It doesn’t matter if we’re quiet or not. They already know we’re here.”

Svetlana was the first to meet Auric and Esther. “What did you see?” she asked Auric.

“
I only saw it for a second, twice the same thing. Just a shadow that disappears to the right. But it could have been nothing.”

Dostoevsky finally joined them.

“
We should tell the captain,” Svetlana said to him. “So he knows what Auric saw.”

“
Nothing has been confirmed,” the commander said. “He
thought
he saw something dark. Everything is dark here, even with tcvs—I have already seen movement several times. But I know it is not really there.”

“
We still should say
something
.”

“
What will we say? That we saw shadows in the distance? None of us have heard a single thing.”

Suddenly, as if on cue, a human voice wailed. It came from directly beyond the corner Auric had been watching. It was a female voice—a voice in pure agony.

All four of them froze. The hair on the backs of their necks stood on end, as chill bumps exploded on their arms. The wail lasted for several seconds before fading away.

Svetlana reached for her belt. “There is someone alive.”

Dostoevsky listened, but no further sound came. He addressed Auric without looking. “Broll, did that come from where you saw something move?”

“
Yes.”

The sound came a second time—a drawn-out, tortured moan. Then it was gone.

“
It is definitely from the right, around that far corner,” Svetlana said as she prepared her medical kit in one hand and pistol in the other. “We must go, quickly.”

Dostoevsky readied his weapon. Auric did the same. But neither they, nor Esther, took a step forward.

Svetlana turned to Dostoevsky. “Yuri, if we do not hurry, this woman may die. This is why we are here. We
must
at least try to save her.”

Dostoevsky focused down the corridor again. “Auric, stay here. Sveta, Esther, stay directly behind me. We move slowly.” He turned to Svetlana again. “Let us go.”

Nodding her head confidently, Svetlana stood at the ready. When Dostoevsky moved, she mirrored his pace.

Two other intersections preceded the one from which the scream had come. Leaping into the first one, the commander pivoted his assault rifle in every direction.

The woman wailed again. The chilling cry was louder; they were noticeably closer.

Svetlana stayed low, her handgun poised and her eyes focused ahead. “I may need time to work on her. Esther, can you hold one direction if Yuri holds the other?”

“
Yes.”

“
I do not know what condition she will be in. It may not be good to look at. Just watch the hall.”

“
I said yes, didn’t I?”

They approached the second intersection—the final one between them and the woman. Dostoevsky secured it, and they were one turn away. The woman wailed again; now she was around the very next corner. The tortured pain of her voice reverberated along the corridor walls, just as it had time and time before.

Esther suddenly slowed, right behind Dostoevsky and Svetlana. “Wait, wait! Everyone freeze!” They all stopped in their tracks.

Esther’s muscles were tensed. She stared straight ahead, hardly breathing. “It’s always the same.”

Dostoevsky looked at her oddly.

“
Every time she screams. It’s always the same.”

For several seconds, not an operative moved. Only their breathing made noise. Suddenly Dostoevsky gasped in realization. Grabbing Svetlana, he yanked her behind him.

She stumbled but maintained her balance. “Yuri, what are you
doing
?”

“
That is not a woman screaming,” he answered, aiming at the corner ahead.

From around the next corner, the voice wailed once again—lingering for several moments then fading away.

With Svetlana and Esther behind him, Dostoevsky hurriedly backed away from the corner, forcing the two women back farther.

“
I do not understand,” Svetlana said.

“
Your woman is dead,” said Dostoevsky. “That is the last sound she made. We are being lured.”

Suddenly, a new sound came from the corner. It was not the voice of a woman, but it was trying to be. It was a series of whimpers and moans. It was unmistakably alien.

Something skittered in the opposite direction.

“
Auric,” said Dostoevsky through the comm, “look around you. There is more than—”

Auric fired his shotgun. Dostoevsky turned just in time to see the discharge. In the next instant, the German was gone. The sound of claws against armor rattled out of view.

The second attack came moments later. As Dostoevsky turned his head away, a necrilid leapt from the corner ahead, striking the commander in the chest. The fulcrum was knocked off his feet.

Svetlana screamed and fell backward, dropping her pistol while Esther aimed with her own. From the corner behind them, out of a view, Auric fired another shot.

Dostoevsky howled as claws stabbed through his armor. With a frantic swing, he punched the creature in the side of the head. The necrilid was thrown to the wall.

Esther fired. Several shots pierced the necrilid’s body, and it leapt from wall to wall. It disappeared around the next intersection, its screeching claws echoing.

Dostoevsky groaned, thrust himself up, and reclaimed his gun. “Where did it go?”

“
Down the hall,” Esther answered. Eyeing the fresh trail of blood, she said, “Shall I pursue?”

“
No. Wait.”

From around the corner behind them, they heard something new—the sound of stumbling boots.

“
Get Broll,” Dostoevsky said, waving the two women away. He staggered as blood seeped from claw holes in his armor. “I will get the necrilid.” Down from the intersection, where the creature had fled, came the frantic tearing of claws.

Auric emerged from the corner before either woman could seek him out. Claw marks were etched on his armor, but he still gripped his shotgun firmly.

Clarke’s voice came over the comm. “We heard gunfire—what’s going on?”

Dostoevsky readied his assault rifle again. He was hunched over in pain. “Two necrilids,” he answered through his helmet comm. “One injured, the other…”

“
The other is dead,” Auric answered.

Dostoevsky grunted. “We are in pursuit of the injured creature.”

Svetlana stopped him before he could move. Her voice was shaking. “We must get you back to the
Pariah
. You are hurt.”

“
I am fine,” he answered gruffly. “It did not go deep. This armor is good.” His attention returned to the comm. “Captain, be advised—they are mimicking human sounds.”

“
They’re doing
what
?”

“
It sounded like a woman. It was drawing us close. Perhaps it was a woman it killed.”

“
Noted, commander. Remington, are you getting this?”

“
Yes sir,” Scott said. “That’s good to know.”

Esther grabbed Svetlana’s pistol from the floor and jammed it hard into her hand. “Do you know what this is?”

“
Of course—”

“
Then next time,
use
it.”

Dostoevsky and Auric rounded the next corner, where a freshly clawed hole had been torn through the ceiling. Flakes of debris fell to the floor.

“
Captain,” Dostoevsky said, “the necrilid has gone one level up. It may be near you right now.”

On the level above, Clarke stood still. Around him, David, Oleg, and Derrick fell silent. “Understood, commander.” As soon as the captain was off-comm, he turned to the rear. “Jurgen, Cole, return to the entrance. Make sure it’s not flanking us. Be watchful.”

The two men were about to go when another sound stopped them. It was a loud shriek from deeper in the complex.

David stepped back. “Sir, we need to stay together.”

Clarke shook his head. “No, we don’t. Go back and cover the entrance. Strakhov and I shall proceed ahead.”

“
Captain, you’re seriously underestimating—”

“
I am a
captain
, Jurgen. I know a little bit about combat. Go back to the entrance.” He turned to Oleg. “I shall continue at point. Cover my back.”