Exterminator : The Dark Beneath

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”

-H. P. Lovecraft, Lower mine works

19:17, mine works

Jack stumbled through the darkness, only his right chest lamp and left headlight still working, the others having been damaged during fighting and running. He could feel his ribs grinding with every step but he didn’t dare stop to treat them just yet, not with time ticking away. At any moment the things might find a route around the blast doors, and it was a race to see who could reach the airlock above first. His HUD was still silently flashing with damage indicators, although He’d muted the audio alarms, all they were doing was aggravating him.

He moved through the dark of the mines, trusting SAM’s map module to lead him back to the pit, and from there to the mineshaft above. He had yet to figure his next move from there, but the thick walls and doors of the surface airlock should buy him some time to think of his next move.

“How much further SAM?” he whispered, the encroaching darkness weighing down on him, especially now he knew the horrors it might conceal.

“I estimate two hundred meters to the tagged bridge, Jack. However, I recommend you stop and apply medical attention immediately. My reserves of nanobots are almost depleted, but if you allow me to..”

“No SAM!” he said firmly, ”I might need those for something really serious any time now. I’ll just have to make do!”

“Yes Jack, something more serious than a potential punctured lung from your broken ribs, or a concussion from head trauma. I highly doubt my reserves will help if they become worse”

“Really SAM, using your sarcasm module on me now?” he said with a wince as he turned a corner, his knee complaining at the motion.

“Well Jack” she responded, her computerized voice sounding faintly annoyed, ”If you die I won’t have a chance in the future!”

“Fine!“ he exclaimed in exasperation, “I’ll stop. I think I see the sign for a workshop up here, so I’ll have a 5 minute break to patch myself up. Have the MUTT sit outside and keep watch will you?” He moved to a side door and pushed it open, showing another small workshop room, much like the ill fated one he’d left Amani in what seemed like weeks ago. He forced down a wave of bitter memory and hobbled to the back and upholstered his lances, laying both weapons on the workbench in front of him before he quickly searched the room for anything useful.

Amongst few scattered tools and bits of metal he found a few cans of welding gas tucked away in a corner. He grinned, the chemical makeup was slightly different from his lance’s fuel, but with a bit of modification he could use it. He lugged the crate to the bench and set it down, before taking a few deep breaths and triggering the suit to open.

The armour peeled back and he stepped out, stifling a scream of pain as his leg and ribs protested at the loss of support. He hastily pulled his medical kit from the thigh storage and pulled out the last of his pressure bandages, quickly wrapping them around his chest and leg in an attempt to hold his injuries in place.

“Jack, I’ve been running a diagnostic on the second lance, and I’m afraid it is no longer viable as a weapon. It appears that the fuel projection mechanism was damaged at some point and the high volume of use you put it too has warped it.”

“Shit!” he swore, still wrapping the bandage around his chest, not bothering to put it under his under-suit. “No chance of repairing it?”

“Highly unlikely with the equipment on hand,” she commented, ”although you could trigger it, the warped emitter would most likely leak fire into the internal workings and trigger a explosion”

Jack paused for a second. ”An explosion you say?” He eyed the cylinders of fuel lying by the lance and grinned. “ I think I’ve found use for our damaged lance.”

A few minutes later he was back in the suit and hobbling along the corridor, the MUTT faithfully carrying the box of fuel and broken lance strapped to its back. Jacks leg and ribs still ached but he had to admit they felt better now the pressure bandages were acting to immobilize them. He turned a corner and had to fight not to whoop in glee, ahead of him he could see the corridor widen out, and his lamps could just see the edge of the huge bridge.

“Almost home free, SAM” he said, choosing to ignore the question of what to do after the crossing. ”Almost home..”

Something bellowed behind him, the sound echoing faintly down the corridor and causing him to spin around in fright, his eyes panicked as they scanned the darkness. A second bellow followed, slightly louder.

“Oh fuck!” he whispered, “He’s found me!”

Jack turned and started to hobble as fast as his injured leg could carry him down the corridor and onto the wide metal sanctions of the bridge. He stopped for a second to drop the last of his flares on its first segment, a fuel canister hastily tied to it with tape and its valve partly open, the red flame of the flare igniting the fuel to send a loose cone of fire pouring from its end. It wouldn’t last long, but seeing how the creatures feared fire, he hoped it might dissuade them for a while.

He moved out onto the bridge, the illumination from his remaining lights swallowed up by the darkness around him, cutting the world down to just him, the glow from MUTT behind him, and twenty meters or so of metal bridge ahead of him. Another bellow echoed from behind, and Jack couldn’t help but glance over his shoulder. The ground seemed to be flowing around the red circle of light from the flare, and he stared for a moment before realising it was a hoard of the creatures, screeching in anger as their dark shapes scurried here and there as they tried to find a way around fire in front of them. He grimaced in pain and focused on moving, the stamping clang of his injured leg on the metal bridge echoing around the dark void, accompanied by the ever growing chorus of squeaks and shrieks from the swarm behind him.

He’d just reached the middle point of the bridge, hanging suspended over the deepest part of the pit, when a howl of hate and blood lust carried across the pit, echoing back off the walls until the very air seemed to vibrate. He turned and looked back to spot Andrews’ hulking figure standing at the edge of the flare light which bathed the hellish figure in a bloody mask. The thing’s face was partially obscured by the flickering shadows, two pinpoints of deep glowing red blazing out through the shattered faceplate of its helmet. It had already healed its damaged eye, and as it moved determinedly into the light he noticed its leg seemed to have healed as well.

“What the fuck?” he said, his stomach falling, “how the hell am I meant to stop you?”

The figure looked at him and then screamed, a sound like water boiling off hot metal stabbing Jack’s ears, before the creature began to lope towards him, one armoured boot crunching the flare and fuel tank, a fireball roaring upwards with a dull thwumpand obscuring the figure in flame. For a moment the creature was obscured by flame.and Jack had a instant of hope, but moments late the fire cleared to reveal the hulk was still treading inexorably forwards, leaving the first wave of creatures smouldering behind it.

Jack turned and ripped the broken lance off the MUTT’s back, slamming it down on the bridge and triggering its flamer. He started to hurry along the bridge, armoured feet slamming down on the metal, adrenalin distracting him from the pain of his injures as he forced himself into a awkward run as the terrible creature behind him bellowed. The MUTT cantered onward, SAM controlling the droid as all Jack’s being was focused on running. His suit sensor calmly informed him the pursuer was already a quarter of the way along the bridge and Jack prayed that the lance would trigger soon. If the Andrews thing made it across…….

Behind him the valve of the ruined lance failed, causing a thousand-degree flame to burst from its seals, bathing its internal fuel store it in heat. The treated metal held for a few moments before the combination of heat and rising internal pressure caused them to rupture. In a millisecond the canisters exploded, sending a shock wave of kinetic energy rippling out along the bridge. The section they were on shattered, the force overcoming the metal’s integrity even before the thousands of degrees of heat the explosion produced bathed it.

A shock wave passed along the bridge, making it roll like a ripple across water, it reached Jack and the MUTT and flung him into the air, his limbs flailing wildly as he tried to control his fall. The metal of the bridge rose up to meet him and he landed badly, slamming into its surface and tumbling forwards, armour sparking off the metal bridge as he slid towards the edge. He flailed his arms, screaming as his body shot over the edge just as he managed to lock his fingers around one of the hanging stanchions.

His ribs protested as he hung from his left arm, the deep black abyss of the pit beneath him. The bridge above him was wobbling from side to side in the after effect of the explosion, and as he turned his head several large sections broke free along from him, the metal sanctions suspending them from the ceiling pulling free as the weight of the damaged sections slowly overcame their strength. The whole middle section of the bridge was gone for forty metres, and a few flaming pieces of debris were tumbling into the blackness beneath. Jack faintly herd a huge splash below. Apparently the bottom of the pit had flooded over time to form an underground lake.

Jack grunted and painfully reached upwards, his armours servos whining as the pulled him far enough up toallow him to grasp his other hand onto the edge of the bridge. He painfully pulled himself upwards, until ,with a grunt of exertion, he managed to pull his heavy body onto the walkway, the metal swaying alarmingly as his torso rested on the edge. He took a moment to grab a deep breath before pulling up his legs and rolling into the middle of the bridge. He stared up at the ceiling, fighting for breath as his adrenalin slowly subsided. He’d come this close to dying, again, this close to the end. Laughter bubbled up from somewhere deep inside, pouring out of him in helpless chortles that echoed strangely around the cavern.

“I’m alive, he said loudly, before raising his voice to the heavens. “I’M ALIVE YOU BASTARDS! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO THROW AT ME NEXT?”

There was a sound of tearing metal as another section of the bridge tore free to plummet into the darkness, and the sound recalled him from his outburst.

“Fuck you universe!” he muttered, painfully pushing himself to his feet, “you’ve made your point”

The MUTT stood a few metres in front of him, the sturdy drone having apparently out passed the worst of the blast. Jack began to limp across the remains of the bridge, following the MUTT, painfully aware of the creak of metal behind him and the tremors passing through the surface under his boots.

“Come on, just hold together a little longer.” he pleaded as the he finally saw the far wall of the pit come into view.

“Jack,” SAM chirped, ”I’m tracking the creatures via audio pickup, they appear to be climbing along the chamber walls towards us”

He swore and tried to move faster, the creaks and groans of the bridge getting nearer as more stanchions failed. He just managed to step onto the solid stone of the far side when the last segment tore free, banging and scraping as it tumbled down the sides of the pit into the darkness below.

“Where to SAM?” he said quickly, glancing at the three possible routes leading off the platform.

“Follow the left route to the next junction. From there I can direct you to the stairs leading to the surface!”

“Well, we’d better hurry SAM! I don’t think I have enough in me to see off another attack.”

Jack hastened swiftly into the darkened tunnels, the faint glimmer of his lights fading to leave the cavern behind him once again in darkness, silent save for the faint rippling of disturbed water and the scrabble of claws on rock. Soon even that receded as the creatures pursued their prey, and for a moment there was quiet. But deep in the pit, beneath the water’s surface something stirred, its metal covered body burnt and battered by fire and explosion, its bones shattered by the fall, the thing that was once Andrews rested in the cold embrace of the water as the dark science riddling its body worked to rebuild it onto something new.