Fast (23 page)

            There was
another
massive exhaust turbine, identical to the ceiling unit, embedded under the grill. The two turbines faced each other about twenty-five feet apart.

            Once activated, they would turn the room into a hurricane.

            Scanning the lab with a fresh eye, Coleman noticed that every piece of equipment, every bench and trolley, was securely anchored to the floor. Every piece of non-essential equipment was stored in strong cabinets. A checkerboard of recessed anchor points covered the floor.

            Near Coleman’s boots, someone had been repairing the floor grill. A portable blowtorch sat on a small trolley. On the floor beside the blowtorch rested a large square of replacement grill.

            Coleman realized his colossal error of judgment as he approached the loose square of floor grill.

            Moving from the pool had been his big mistake. He heard the creature instantly.

            It was above him.

           
Right
, above him.

            It must have been lurking up among the coiled ceiling pipes.

            As he looked up, the creature fell towards him with its limbs outstretched like a fishing net.

            Coleman dove away as the creature
crashed
down. Its wasp-like body smacked into the floor just inches from his boots. The spiked tentacles thrashed all around him. He scrambled over the grill, but the creature launched after him.

            The floor slipped sideways under his hands. He was on the loose piece of replacement grill. He spun himself over the grill, up onto his feet, and yanked the grill up like a shield, still using two fingers to hold his colt.

            The creature’s head smacked into the grill and catapulted Coleman backwards. He flew through the air like he had been shot backwards from a cannon, his arms and legs windmilling until he crashed onto his back and slid along the floor.

            His body armor absorbed the impact, but his arms felt like he had tried to stop a bus.

            Still sliding backwards, he swung down his right arm and blasted three fast shots at the creature’s head.

            The creature thrashed left and right to dislodge the grill. Only one of Coleman’s shots was on-the-money, but it ricochet off the grill with bright orange sparks.

            Coleman jumped to his feet as the creature dislodged the grill.

            Run.

            He needed to draw the creature away from the pool so the others could emerge safely. He took off running, treating the room like an impromptu obstacle course. He didn’t have time to think beyond that simple plan. He leapt over a low trolley loaded with scientific instruments and heard the creature collide into the trolley behind him. Reaching the edge of the chamber he turned and started a big lap around the lab, putting as many obstacles as possible in the creature’s path. He hadn’t forgotten that there was possibly another creature in here somewhere. Glancing towards the pool he spotted Marlin emerging and yanking free his CMAR-17.

            It’s about time!

            ‘Hold on! I’m on it! I’m on it!’ shouted Marlin, scooting sideways between two benches to find a clear shot.

            King emerged from the pool behind Marlin. His eyes went wide as he absorbed the spectacle of Coleman sprinting the wild obstacle course just ahead of the marauding creature. ‘Holy crap!’

Marlin opened fire on the creature.

            A stream of bullets tore up the lab behind Coleman as a second later, both Marlin and King’s CMAR-17s churned out rounds. Sparks exploded off the steel surfaces behind Coleman. He lost track of the creature in the mayhem. The Marines leveled the lab in his wake. They could only be catching glimpses of the creature, but they were doing a good job of destroying the place in the process.

            ‘Hold your fire!’ hollered Coleman, realizing he had no idea where Vanessa stored the templates. The Marine’s weren’t holding back. Marlin and King would decimate the lab before they killed the creature. They needed a line-of-fire unobstructed by all the research equipment.

            There were two fixed benches on either side of the pool, arranged in a ‘II O II’ formation.

            Marlin and King were between the closest set of benches.

            ‘The bench behind you!’ yelled Coleman, cutting left and sprinting straight towards the Marines. ‘Climb up now!’

            Without question, Marlin and King scrambled onto the second bench. Up on the bench, they spun around and raised their weapons. Coleman sprinted directly at them, straight down their line-of-fire.

            Two meters short of the waist-high bench, he dove like he was trying to steal a World Series home-run.

            He slid straight under the first workbench. Momentum and wet fatigues carried him right through the gap between benches and under Marlin and King. He slid at eye-level straight towards Vanessa, who had just poked her head over the side of the pool.

            The creature crashed full speed into the first bench.

            The bench
crumpled
under the impact. Splintering white laminate bench-top flew past Coleman’s head. Vanessa ducked as pieces splashed into the water around her. Twisting to peer back from floor level, Coleman saw that two of the steel bench legs had snapped clean off. Two more were bent over parallel to the floor. The bench’s entire steel frame was buckled around the creature.

            The pinned creature thrashed among the twisted steel at Marlin and King’s feet.

            ‘Now!’ yelled Coleman. ‘Fire!’

            Braced on the second bench, Marlin and King opened fire. They hosed bullets through the pinned creature. White gouts of fluid fountained into the air under their assault.

            As though choreographed, both Marines simultaneously stopped firing and snapped up their rifles.

            Vanessa lifted her head over the pool edge again. ‘You guys certainly know how to make an entrance.’

            Marlin and King jumped down from the bench. Vanessa climbed from the pool.

            ‘I knew you were in trouble,’ Marlin said to Coleman. ‘I heard your colt firing when I was underwater.’

            ‘The spiky bastard dropped right off the ceiling,’ puffed Coleman, still catching his breath, waving his colt towards the pipes surrounding the exhaust turbine.

            Marlin switched on his flashlight and carefully scanned the ceiling.

Vanessa surveyed the destruction around the pool. ‘Look what you’ve done to my lab.’

            Regaining his breath, Coleman pulled the body armor flap to expose his skirmish maps. He flicked through them to the third map in the series: the research level floor plan. On the map, the research level was arranged with the smaller sub-labs branching off the large main lab. The floor plan reminded Coleman of a molecule diagram from chemistry class.

            Orientating himself on the map, he realized the strange sound they noticed earlier sounded louder.

            King crossed to the plexiglass barrier leading west. Craning his neck, he scanned the lab beyond. ‘Looks clear. I can’t make out the source of that noise.’

            Vanessa rushed to a shelving unit covered in assorted gadgets and instruments. She quickly spotted her goal. ‘Ah, perfect.’ The touchscreen tablet computer she’d had the techs waterproof. She clipped it to her wet cargoes.

            Coleman pointed to the plexiglass near King. ‘Can you raise that barrier, Vanessa?’

            Vanessa crossed back around the pool to a low control station. Blue light patterns played over her back as she touched the glowing options on a wide computer screen. ‘Okay. I’m unlocking the barriers. The independent door controls will raise the barriers now.’

            Coleman jerked his thumb towards H-lab. ‘Check out that noise. Shut it down if you can. We don’t want any more interest from the creatures than is absolutely necessary. If there’s any sign of trouble, fall back double-time.’

            Coleman caught Marlin’s eye as he said the last. ‘I mean it. I know you two are itching for payback, but this isn’t the time.’

            ‘On it,’ said King.

            Coleman pretended not to see the knowing smile pass between Marlin and King. Those two were planning to kick some serious terrorist ass the first opportunity they got.

            Marlin raised the plexiglass barrier. They scanned the lab beyond then disappeared through the doorway.

            Two butterflies flew in through the open doorway. A second later, four more flew in. All six butterflies alighted on the dead creature.

            ‘The Monarchs are following the creatures,’ observed Coleman absently. ‘This is the third time they’ve appeared with the creatures.’

            Vanessa spun from the control station, obviously interested by Coleman’s observation. ‘Are you sure? That species of butterfly has been genetically designed just to serve inside this Complex. They’re not exactly Monarch butterflies. It’s a multi-pollinating insect sensitive to the chemical signatures of plant reproduction.’

            ‘Sex pheromones?’ tested Coleman.

            Vanessa rushed around the pool for a better look. ‘Exactly. These butterflies just exist to chase chemical signatures. It could be incredibly significant if they are following the creatures. Are you sure of what you saw?’

            Coleman plucked two butterflies off the creature and backed up twenty paces. He tossed the butterflies into the air. The two insects immediately homed back to the creature.

            ‘That could be useful,’ he muttered thoughtfully. ‘Wherever we find butterflies we know we’ll find the creatures.’

            He quickly collected four butterflies using a screw top plastic canister lying among the bench wreckage. The canister fitted under his body armor.

            The remaining two butterflies seemed to fascinate Vanessa. She stared at them in a trance.

            Coleman had to speak twice before she answered.

            ‘What’s wrong?’ asked Coleman again, sensing an abrupt change in her manner. She’d suddenly developed a rigidness in her posture that Coleman associated with Marines entering a high-risk zone.

            ‘Nothing,’ she replied. ‘It’s fine. Just thinking.’

            ‘Okay, then. Let’s get the templates out of here. I think we’re going to have some unfriendly company any second. Where exactly are they?’

            ‘Right here.’ Beside Vanessa stood what looked like a stainless steel deep-freezer. She entered a code on the side of the unit and stepped back. The lid of the steel chest glided open. White gas spilled from inside and rolled down the sides.

            Coleman approached and peered into the glowing white gas.

            Vanessa said, ‘The storage unit has to acclimatize the templates to the lab temperature. It will take a few minutes. There, see?’ She pointed into the chest. Six small transparent containers sat recessed into the bottom. Six more spaces represented where the stolen templates had resided. Beside each container blinked a red light.

            She indicated the lights. ‘When these lights go green the templates are ready to extract. If we move them any sooner they’re useless.’

            Coleman had a radical idea. ‘Why don’t we just destroy them? Now that we’ve seen what they can do.’