Exterminator : The Dark Beneath

“We make our own monsters, then fear them for what they show us about ourselves.”

―Mike Carey, The Unwritten, Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity

02:08, 15th September, Old Mine works

Jack snorted as he woke, the weak light from the chemical torches he set around the room casting a thin red light around the room. He shook the cobwebs from his mind and stood, groaning as his muscles protested after sleeping on the hard stone floor. His headache still lurked in the back of his head, but seemed muted somehow. Amani was sleeping fitfully on the workbench, his skin even greyer than before. Unless they could get him medical attention soon, Jack was certain he’d die.

“SAM,” he whispered into his helmet mike,” What time is it?”

“3:25 am Jack, you have slept for 2 hours. I have been unable to re-establish any communication with the ARC or other survivors.” Jack nodded, unsurprised at this. The weight of rock above them, coupled with the solar storm that must be raging overhead, would kill any signal. “However, I have picked up intermittent contacts from another Exosuit. The signal is corrupted and I have been unable to pinpoint its direction, but I believe it to be Mr Andrews.”

“Really!?“ Jack exclaimed in shock, having assumed the other man died when the rail station collapsed. His Exosuit was so punctured that he doubted it could even protect against the environment. “How the hell did he survive?”

“Unknown. His suit telemetry is badly degraded and I can’t establish communications, but it is possible that he managed to seek shelter in a side tunnel to avoid the explosion and weather the collapse.”

Jack shook his head ruefully. He should have figured that if anyone could survive it was Andrews, the man was part pit-bull part cockroach, all bastard. In theory, even with all the damage Jack had seen, Andrew’s armour should keep running as long as his suit’s power plant and air systems remained functional. He should be able to survive for a while down here that is if the creatures didn’t find him first.

Speaking of finding things Jack was concerned that Amani’s friends hadn’t returned yet. It was possible they’d travelled further out they he’d expected, or perhaps they’d had to circumvent damaged sections of tunnel, but the possibility that they’d run into the creatures was a unhappy possibility. He’d hoped that when the workers returned they ’d have found a route to the surface, or at least Intel On the nearby tunnels. Without their input he’d have to look for himself.

He moved over to his suit and called up its status in his HUD, whistling slightly at how much damage the nanobots had managed to repair. SAM had managed to restore his servo system and synthmuscle fibres to decent condition, so he should be able to move more easily. Hell, with the way the creatures moved he’d be surprised if a flat out sprint wasn’t needed in the not-too-distant future. The bots SAM had directed onto his under-suit had also been busy. Without the nanofabricator in close conjunction, their flexibility was limited, but SAM had programmed them to form a simple airtight seal over the rips and tears in his under-suit, so at least he wouldn’t be risking atmo, burns or contamination, at least until the next rip.

He triggered the suit to open and stepped swiftly inside, working his arms and legs into position before signalling it to close again. As the armour folded around his body, he couldn’t help but sigh in relief as the reassuring bulk of the Exosuit settled around him, barely even wincing as the DNI engaged. He cricked his neck and rolled his arms to check the fit, raising his hand and flexing it, admiring how the repaired servos in the forearm made the motion smooth and quiet. That said, the suit was weakened in several areas, and as his repair nanite reservoir was almost empty, any further damage would be difficult to deal with, barring slapping some armour cement on it and hoping for the best.

Stepping as lightly as 200kg of plating allowed, he moved over to Amani and scanned him with the suit sensors. He had low blood pressure, elevated temperature and slight tinges of hypoxia, probably due to the low atmospheric levels of Ox coupled with blood loss. On the other hand, he appeared stable for the moment so Jack decided he was safe enough to leave for now. Looking around he spotted old clipboard on a shelf and decided to leave as short note just in case Amani woke when he was gone. The attached pen had long since dried up, but the tip of his comb tool was enough to scratch a simple message in its back cover, which he left on the bench along with some rations and a canteen of water. Signalling to the MUTT, he opened the door and carefully poked his head out into the dark corridor to check the coast was clear. He carefully played the beams of his helmet lights into every nook and cranny he could see. Finding nothing waiting for him he moved to let the MUTT by and carefully closed the door behind him.

“Ok SAM, pull up the area map again and let’s see if we can work out the most likely route for our workers to have taken.”

He studied the map in the HUD, tracing the corridor along, noting the nearest shafts, lifts, or stairwells heading upwards. Several were marked as blocked off, but whether that was due to the tunnels being refilled or simply covered over with a grate he couldn’t tell, but since the workers had no map to consult he decided to start checking the shafts on the main routes and work his way out. But he might not have to do it alone.

Reaching down to his left thigh he opened a storage recess and looked inside at his recon. Drones. Unfortunately, a blow had slightly buckled the cover at some point, crushing two of the tiny robots, but three remained. He gently plucked them from the casing and rested them on his palm as SAM activated them. Each was about the size of a deck of cards, two rotor wings rising from each side to form a tiny dual-rotor helicopter. Their bodies were a mix of silvery alloy and plastic, housing tiny camera lenses, IR scanners, and audio pickups, allowing them to identify targets and relay their position to him via small but powerful communications packages. Their propulsion came from Kevlar rotors run by tiny neodymium motors and its power came from a matchbox sized fuel cell that gave it up to 12 hours of flight time, longer if it landed and simply monitored its surroundings.

He set the drones to start scanning the nearby corridors for movement and sent them off. They were designed to detect movement and audio signals so they should be able to detect the creatures and alert him, and do the same if they encountered the missing workers.

Once the drones were away he started left along the corridor in the direction of the nearest shaft, keeping his lights moving to check every corner, duct and doorway that he encountered, the powerful beams casting harsh shadows from the odd bump in the walls or pipe on the ceiling. He had his suit’s radar pinging the area from motion and the drones were scanning the nearby tunnels, but he couldn’t shake his unease. For as long as he could remember the tunnels had been his domain, unpleasant yes, but never threatening. Now everything had changed, and he was the hunted rather the hunter.

This far from the main rail line he was deep into the old works, the tunnels around him having been cut from the living rock by huge tracked mining drills, laser edges creating smooth spiral patterns in the curved walls. In places where the ore seams had been rich the minors had hollowed out voids, stretching up above the tunnel floor or down below his path. He crossed over a huge pit, at least a hundred meters wide, and so deep his torchlight couldn’t pierce the darkness below. It had a roadway around its edge, spiralling down into the darkness where the drill had once be driven down to follow the ore, but fortunately the miners had constructed a wide hanging bridge across to the far side, like a grander version of the walkways he’d encountered before.

Jack walked across, trusting that something built for multi-tonne mining drills wouldn’t have a problem even with his weight, although he eyed the thigh wide cables that held it from the ceiling above with some trepidation and winced at every creak from the metal beneath his feet.

Not all the tunnels he moved through were from the mining itself, a huge number where utility paths, where the miners added routes for ease of movement or to allow power and piping through. These were more uniform and better laid out, having been dug to allow faster access to the ever moving mining fronts for miners and the pipes and cables needed to run their equipment. Together they formed an intricate and confusing system of passages that snaked back and forth through the rock, linked by straight access tunnels.

Knowing this Jack had been scratching arrows on every intersection he found just in case. If one of the missing workers found it hopefully they’d be able to follow it to him, or back to Amani. Also, if Jack’s map failed for any reason he’d at least be able to find his way back. He encountered the occasional flooded area where water ran from above; trickling down the gently sloping tunnel, lichen hugging the edge of the hand wide trickle. This area should have been prime Rat territory, but he’d seen no sign of them, which made sense considering the number of creatures that had attacked the Geoplant. That many predators would need a whole lot of food to sustain them, and somehow they didn’t strike him as picky eaters.

After half a hour he found the nearest possible route to the surface, but it was a bust, the doorway into the lift shaft blocked by half metre concrete barriers that must have been lowered down the shaft from above before being moved into place and secured by pouring more concrete down to seal the shaft solid, probably to stabilize the surrounding structure. On the plus side he found a few scattered footprints in the dust nearby, so at least he was on the right track. He set off towards the next shaft, his map showing him heading further out bellow the valley floor. He wished he could start shouting out to try and contact the workers but couldn’t risk it, the possibility of attracting unwanted attention was too high, so he increased his pace, moving from abandoned tunnel to abandoned tunnel, their uniformity starting to mess with his sense of direction, but his map kept him fairly orientated.

Half a hour later he started noticing the tunnel he was in improving in quality, rough cut rock walls being replaced by straight concrete corridors and metal access doors. He checked his map and realised he’d reached the lower levels and was near one of the mine elevators that carried the ore to the surface before the train lines were installed. The huge lifts had hauled hundreds of tonnes of rock and ore to transports above before it was driven back to the processing centres that once stood where the ARC now sat.

The corridors appeared in surprisingly good order, with no sign of damp or lichen. Instead dry concrete dust covered the floors and surfaces in a fine powder, which meant that Jack found the next set of boot prints without issue. He increased his pace in excitement as he moved further into the depths, checking each intersection for directions. The walls still had old safety notices and work orders attached; warning miners to check their respirators and ensure safety protocols were upheld. Finally he found what he was searching for at a T-junction, a sign directing him to the emergency stairwell. The boot prints moved in that direction so he hurried through the grey corridors, eager to find another person after the darkness.

He started hearing faint clangs ahead, followed by muffled voices, until he turned a corner could see a large domed area with a huge elevator pressure door several meters high and wide set in the far wall. The small area near it was lit by ruddy red light ahead. As he moved closed he could make out several men in stained orange overalls where standing just to the lift of the massive pressure door, struggling with something in a smaller doorway, several emergency flares were scattered around the floor nearby, filling the area with a haze of red tinged smoke.

The group were talking to each other loudly as he approached, arguing about how to force the door open in raised voices. So much so that they didn’t notice his presence until he was right beside them, a man near the back spinning around brandishing a crowbar as he suddenly realised Jack was behind him.

“Jesus fucking Christ!“ he bellowed, startling the men and causing them to leap into action, spinning around toting makeshift weapons.

Jack hurriedly raised his hands and gestured non-threateningly. “Whoa, easy guys, I’m as human as you are!”

The men swore and cursed, but lowered the weapons. One breaking into nervous laughter, his light coffee skin caked in grey dust. “Shit man, I just about crapped my pants. Warn a brother next time”

Jack nodded. “OK, sorry that was my bad. What are you guys trying to get open?”

The guys who laughed, gestured at the door. “What do you think? This is the access door to the Emergency Staircase. Runs all the way to the surface, should be unblocked too but for some reason there’s this heavy pressure door here with no power.” He looked Jack’s suit up and down. “You think you can force It open with that Exosuit?”

“Probably, “Jack admitted wearily, running his eyes up and down the door. ”Not sure if we should through!”

“What?“ another man said angrily, stepping forward and glaring at him, “why the fuck not? We need to get out of here before those fucking things catch up”

“And go where?” Jack asked, looking around the group and seeing angry faces. ”You know the top is just surface access, right? There aren’t any buildings or offices up there, just more tunnels, and rooms along with a few airlocks out into the valley.”

“So? We get up there and call for help, fuck it we’ll walk if we have to!”

“That’s not going to work!” Jack replied with a shake of his head.

“Shut up man!” Another worker shouted at him, using a wrench to try and prod Jack in the chest. The group around him were getting agitated and Jack realized they were right on the edge of panic. He raised his hand and grasped the wrench in his gauntlet. The man tried to pull it free but Jack’s arm didn’t move.

“Ok listen!” Jack said firmly,” You all need to calm down and think about this. Have you forgotten that we’ve got the largest solar storm we’ve ever seen raging overhead, or that we’re smack back in the middle of nowhere? If we go up there we still won’t have communication, we’ll be miles from anywhere and, unlike me, and none of you have any protective gear that will shield you from the radiation bombarding the planet. Hell, even with this suit in prime condition I wouldn’t want to head out on the surface. You guys would be dead in minutes!”

The group seemed to deflate as he talked, several slumping down to the floor in exhaustion.

“So we’re fucked!” one sobbed.

“Not necessarily!“ Jack said cautiously, earning a few hopeful looks. ”You guys headed here because you thought about the mine heads right? Well, my suit has a fairly detailed map of the major works and there are a few shafts nearer the ARC that Lead up into higher areas of the mines. They’re not major routes, so It’s not surprising that you didn’t find them, but with a bit of luck we can get up to a higher level and reach the ARC through them.”

“You serious? What about those things?”

“I don’t know guys, I have no idea if they’re there, but I do know that if we try to get out from here at best we’ll be stuck for days until the storm passes, and that’s if the creatures don’t find us first. At least my way we have a chance of getting home! Besides I need to head back for Amani”

The workers argued amongst themselves for a minute, discussing the plan so Jack glanced around for anything useful. From the map he knew that above them on the surface was a small cliff face that the lift ascended to, complete with a huge airlock for mining vehicles and smaller ones for personnel, although who would want to walk out into the sand and rock of the valley km’s from anywhere? His musings were interrupted as the workers finally agreed to his plan, apparently seeing the logic of it. He began leading them back through the concrete tunnels towards his route in. The laughing worker moved up to join him and extended an arm.

“I’m David by the way. Thanks for coming to find us!“

“No problem, David“ he replied, gently taking the other man’s hand and carefully shaking it in his gauntlet. “ Amani’s the one you should thank. If he hadn’t told me, I would have thought everyone else was dead and headed off on my own. How many others survived?”

“Only 15 or so” David replied softly, his shoulders slumping. ”We’d managed to get a fair way down the rail line before the plant blew so we avoided the worst of the explosion. We did go back to look for other survivors but we thought you were crushed. Sorry!”

Jack waved his apology off. “Don’t worry about it, man. I can see why you thought that, and besides, it was tricky as hell to get out from under the rubble without bringing the ceiling down on my head. So where are the rest of you?”

David shrugged. “We decided to split up, some to look for surface access, other for supplies. Three of the less injured guys volunteered to scavenge the station along from the plant.“

“Shit!“ Jack swore vehemently, causing David to jump. “I must have just missed them in the tunnels. We need to hurry!”

“Why” David said with concern, moving to try and match Jack’s increased pace, causing the men following to shout out questioningly”

“Because I could hear the creatures digging on the other side of the cave in. If they burrow through your friends could be right in their path!”

Simon tapped his mask a few times to dislodge the dust covering the filters before slipping it back on, grimacing as it rubbed the dirt covered burn on his cheek from the plant fire. They’d only got out of there with limited medical supplies so the more badly injured had priority. He took a few experimental breaths, the mask re-circulating his air and adding a little oxygen from the tank on his waist, whilst expelling the excess CO2. They were all running low on tanks and filters, so he, and two other workers he didn’t really know, had volunteered look around for supplies in the nearby station, without any luck. In the end they’d reluctantly decided to head back to the collapse to check the fallen for supplies. He was pissed he hadn’t thought to check right afterwards, but then again hindsight is 20/20.

He turned and nodded to the other and stood up from where they’d been resting against the wall of the rail station along from the plant.

“Rest break’s over guys, we need to get there and back quickly” he glanced around the darkness, the thin beam of his touch roving over the rails below. ”I don’t want to be this close to the plant any longer than necessary!”

The others groaned, the burly worker helping up his smaller friend. Simon should really ask their names but decided not to. With the way today had gone he’d probably just have to add them to the dead later anyway. Better not to know. Easier on his soul.

They started back along the tracks, trying to light up every shadow with their meagre torches and flares, the only things they’d managed to find in the emergency supply closet next to the train platform. They stuck near to each other and after what seemed like hours in the darkness finally drew close to the plant. Ahead of them they could just make out a faint light in the tunnel ahead, flickering like a candle. Rubble and debris began to litter the ground as they walked, occasionally having to clamber over metal beams fallen from the ceiling above.

“Christ, it’s a miracle this hasn’t come down already!“ Simon whispered, the weight of unstable rock above seeming to bare down on him. ”Let’s look quickly and then get the fuck out of here!”

The other two nodded and they hurried forwards, gingerly searching for bodies. Simon found the first, just a forearm and leg sticking out from under a mass of rock. He knelt down and reluctantly tried to move some of the smaller pieces to reach the corpses leg, but had to turn away gagging as it reviled the body’s shattered organs leaking through. He quickly stood and moved to another. His companions were searching nearer the tunnel wall to see if any workers had tried to seek shelter before they died, lighting flares and throwing them down the tunnels, casting flickering red light out over the debris and bodies as they searched.

Simon concentrated on searching along the rails themselves moving along until he came to a sloping pile of stone and metal that blocked the tunnel. He knelt down by a body and started searching but froze as he suddenly realised he could hear a dull scraping sounds coming from the other side of the pile.

“Guys, we need to be quick!” he said in alarm. “I think those things are trying to dig through the rubble ”The other two stopped for a moment in fear before moving again, frantically searching the bodies. Simon wanted to just leave, but they needed more filters urgently.

Examining the nearest part of the pile, he could see a arm sticking out of the rubble ahead, and moved to kneel by it, peering closely before gagging as he realized it wasn’t connected to a body at all severed at the forearm. The end looked ragged and torn, and something compelled him to lean closer to stare at a fragment of something white sticking out of the flesh. It wasn’t bone, but something about it drew his attention. Reaching out he gingerly pulled it from the bone where it was embedded and held it in his torchlight. It was a tooth, a human one from the looks of it.

“The fuck?” he whispered, before turning to face the nearest man, who was pulling the equipment belt off a body just in front of a maintenance tunnel entrance, red light and smoke flickering in the mouth of the tunnel

“Guys!” he said, his voice cracking before he coughed and tried again, ” Guys! I think it just found a....” He trailed off as something moved the tunnel behind him, hellishly backlit by the red tinges smoke backlit by the flare. It was a man, his features impossible to see with all the light and smoke, but the figure’s size and bulk definitely belonging to an Exterminators Exosuit.

The worker heard a footstep behind him and spun around, wrench raise to strike, but paused at the sight of another human and raised his arm to block the flares glare.

“What the fuck man! Don’t sneak up on aaAAAGG” The Exterminator’s arm shot forwards to grab the workers outstretched arm and a wet crunch split the air. The worker started screaming in agony the exterminator pulled him closed via the shattered limb. Simon leapt to his feet and sprinted towards the struggling combatants, whoever the Exterminator was he’d obviously lost his mind! The attacker had pulled the screaming man into the passageway and in the struggle errant boot kicked the burning flare against the wall, where it cracked, spilling out fire and smoke. Simon could barely make out the two figures in the hellish red smoke butThe grappled worker was screaming in pain and terror.

The worker’s friend leapt through the doorway and grabbed the Exterminators armoured forearm with one hand, the other slamming a fist into the attacker’s open faceplate, but for some reason the worker was the one who cried out in pain, pulling his hand back and cradling it as Simon arrived. He glanced down at the man’s hand and saw to his horror that a chunk had been taken out of it, along with the index and middle finger, as if a ragged pair of shears had snapped through them. He looked up, finally able to see the attackers features, and screamed.

The Exterminators suit was torn and battered, huge gouges and rents cutting through the armoured outer shell to show moving servos and flesh, the helmet remained, but the faceplate was gone, revealing a face covered in open scabs and sores, heavy set eyes with red tinged whites. But it was the mouth that horrified him the most, open so wide the skin at its corners was split, revealing jagged teeth never meant to fit a human jaw

Simon stood frozen in shock even as the mutated thing opened its jaws impossibly wide and sank them into the trapped workers neck with a crunch, blood instantly welling our around the wound. The worker’s screams choked off into a wet gurgle, his arms falling limp by his side as his attacker shook his head like a dog, tearing a huge chunk of flesh free.

Simon stumbled backwards, tripping over the and falling on his ass before turning and scrambling back into the rail tunnel, his mind blank with panic. The other worker recklessly leapt over him but fell with a cry as his ankle turned on a lose rock, sending him tumbling to the floor. Simon glanced behind him to see the hulking figure shuffling out of the tunnel, his victim’s feet dangling a foot off the floor as the huge man continued to tear into his upper body. One armoured gauntlet took hold of a limp arm and pulled, tearing the limb free of its socket with a wet crackle of tearing flesh and cartilage. The wounded worker pulled himself to his feet, crying out in pain as he stepped on his injured leg, but Simon’s attention snapped to a rock tumbling down the collapse. He gaped in horror as one of the black creatures wormed its way free of the rocks, another swiftly following it, then another. Others were digging themselves free of other areas.

Scrambled to his feet and backed into the tunnel wall, his head darting between the two dangers. The mutated man had crouched to tear at his meal, but his red tinged eyes peered out at Simon, seeming to glow in the week light. The Rat like creatures were surging around on the collapsed tunnel wall, and more and more were joining them.

He looked at the limping man, his eyes meeting Simon’s in mute appeal.

“I’m sorry” Simon gasped, before turning and sprinting back up the track. He heard the other man cry out for him to wait but he focused on moving, the sudden sound of chitterling behind scaring him into a fresh burst of speed. He glanced over his shoulder to see the former Exterminator had risen and was lumbering after the wounded man, but his left leg seemed to be impeding him, reducing his sped to a rapid lurch, which meant the limping worker was slowly gaining ground.

Then the rat things moved, flowing off their perches and up the track in a dark wave. In seconds the worker was pulled to the floor, and Simon turned away, focusing on his sprint, eyes darting ahead trying desperately to guide him through the jumping light of the torch in his hand.

Behind him, the thing that had once been Andrews lumbered forwards, its right leg armour creaking and groaning as the damaged servos struggled to move. The once-man stopped for a moment by the faller worker, but he creatures turned and hissed at him en mass, teeth bared as they defended their kill. He snarled back but instinct warned him off attacking such a large group. Instead he tuned and lumbered slowly into the tunnel, sniffing the air as he followed the scent of sweat and fear to new prey.