“Maybe the survivors at the Hilltop Bastion unfroze the cryogenic chambers too early, and somehow it backfired.”
Michael considered the implications, shaking his head in awe. “If Jordan knows about all this, then why would he send Weaver, Rodger, and Andrew down there to check out one of the chambers? He has to know there are no survivors.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know everything.”
Michael snorted. “Trust me, he knows a hell of a lot more than we do. So that raises the question: Why send the divers on a probable suicide mission in a red zone?”
“He never did buy Captain Ash’s dream, did he?”
“No, they never did see eye to eye on that.”
“You don’t think he would do this on purpose, do you?” Layla asked. “To prove Captain Ash wrong. To prove that we have to live up here forever?”
“If that’s true, then the monsters aren’t just on the surface anymore. There’s one at the helm of the Hive.”
Michael got up, his mind racing.
“Where are we going?” Layla asked.
“To save our friends.”
Hot breath fogged Magnolia’s visor as she and Rodger entered a cavernous hallway leading to the cryogenics lab. The rust-coated doors loomed twenty feet high in the distance. They weren’t moving very fast, Magnolia stopping every few feet to check their six. Their flashlight beams hit the open door. The landing and stairwell appeared free of any contacts, and they hadn’t heard anything for the past half hour.
As they approached the doors, Rodger reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a small white card. This was the first room they had encountered that was completely sealed off. The personal quarters, cafeteria, and gymnasium they had passed on the way down had all been broken into. They had found evidence of another gun battle outside the gymnasium, but they didn’t have time to stop and examine it. On the bright—or at least less gloomy—side, Rodger hadn’t asked to search for wooden salvage, which meant he was spooked.
He stopped in front of the door and looked up. These rusted doors separated them from possible survivors suspended in deep sleep. It was hard for Magnolia to grasp that they could be so close to other humans. People she had never talked to, faces she had never seen. After spending her whole life on the airship with fewer than five hundred residents, she might finally meet a stranger.
But these people weren’t like the ones she knew on the Hive. They had been frozen in the distant past, in a world wholly unlike the one she lived in. Would she even be able to relate to them? Have a conversation with them?
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Rodger whispered. “Maybe I should contact Weaver before we open this thing up.”
“No, we’re doing this now.” She eyed the control panel and walked over to the sensors. She wiped away a thick layer of dust with her glove, then reached back for the card. Rodger’s hand shook as he gave it to her.
“You okay?” she asked.
“I’m good. Just a bit on edge.” He took a step back and readied his rifle.
Magnolia bent down to the control panel. She was nervous, too, but curiosity won out. In the past, that side of her nature had gotten her into trouble. Maybe they should wait—but what if they never had another chance to search this place?
“Doesn’t look like this room’s been accessed in ages,” she said.
“Is that good or bad?”
Magnolia shrugged. “We’re going to find out. Are you ready?”
Rodger gave a thumbs-up.
She waved the card over the sensors once, then twice. On the third try, the glass blinked green. She unslung her rifle and moved over to Rodger.
A hollow thud like a distant gunshot rang out above them. She cringed at the noise. Then came three more bangs as the locking mechanisms opened. A distant, guttural groan answered the sounds.
Both divers turned from the entrance to look down the hallway. The noise had come from the stairwell at the end of the hallway.
They had woken something.
The angry groan evolved into a series of grunts. The sounds rumbled up from the lower floors as if the whole facility’s guts were rumbling. It was the same creature they had heard earlier, and Magnolia had just told it precisely where they were.
“Rodge, stay on point,” she said. “I got our six.”
They came together back-to-back, with Magnolia pointing her rifle at the landing and Rodger training his on the doors.
“Is that a Siren?” Rodger asked. “I’ve always wanted to see—”
The heavy doors opened, silencing him as the metal screeched across the concrete floor.
Magnolia took a step back as he moved. She didn’t even turn to look inside the room, just kept her muzzle on the landing.
The grunts had changed to a screech that sounded like a dozen Sirens at once. The high-pitched din was followed by clattering from the stairwell. Snapping metal and the shriek of claws over concrete grated on her ears.
She swallowed and did her best to square her shoulders, preparing to fire at a split-second’s notice. Sweat dripped down her forehead as she backpedaled after Rodger into the chamber.
“Where’s the card?” he asked. “I need to close the doors!”
“Upper right vest pocket,” she replied.
The clatter from the stairwell grew louder. The thing was climbing, scraping against the walls as it came. Whatever this beast was, it would be far and away the biggest living thing she had ever seen.
Rodger grabbed the card from Magnolia’s pocket as she stepped into the room, keeping her muzzle trained on the landing, her finger on the trigger.
“Hurry up, Rodge!”
A faint orange light emerged in the stairwell. The bangs and thuds grew louder as the light brightened.
“Come on!” she shouted.
The doors groaned again. They were closing, but not fast enough. At the other end of the passage, the creature bounded up the last of the stairs and pounced on the landing so hard they felt the tremor. It rose to its full height: a staggering eight feet tall.
She zoomed in with her scope as the doors continued to shut in front of her. The magnification revealed a muscular humanoid figure with a disproportionately small head. Her crosshairs flitted across glowing orange flesh and up to the thing’s face. Two white irises with blue pupils stared back at her from a skinless skull.
“What the hell is that thing!” Rodger shouted. He was pushing the left door shut now, his boots slipping across the floor.
The creature bent down and let out a guttural growl from deep within its chest. It raised its muscular arms, revealing catlike paws that ended in three jagged claws.
Magnolia lined up her crosshairs and fired a burst into its chest. The bullets hit their target but only barely penetrated. She fired another shot at its small skull as it bent down to charge, revealing a back ridged with armored fins. The round chipped the bone and ricocheted off the walls.
“The fucker’s got armor!” Magnolia shouted. She slung the rifle over her back and rushed to the other door. Putting her shoulder against the door and planting her boots, she pushed with all her strength. Her injured ankle flared with pain as she pressed against the heavy steel.
The beast charged down the hallway at alarming speed. The doors were only three-quarters closed, and it was coming in fast.
Magnolia could see they weren’t going to get the doors shut in time.
She stepped back, unslung her rifle, and shouted, “Shoot it in the legs!”
He followed her lead, and together they open fired through the gap in the closing doors. Rounds lanced into the creature’s tree-trunk legs, spattering blood over the concrete. Magnolia almost whooped in relief. Maybe they could kill this thing after all.
Despite the trauma to its legs, the monster kept barreling toward them, hunched down, screaming in rage. She could see the muscles constrict across its chest and arms, as it ran full tilt at them.