(72)
Mossy arrived back at Chandler’s sometime after midnight. He had explained his plan to the boys and they had agreed to help him get what he needed. He just had to close the loop with the McCauley’s and find his way in the tunnels. The boys had told him the lab entrance was still accessible, and from there he could find his way. He wasn’t concerned about finding his way out. As he went over the plan in his head he began to drift off to sleep. Then his eyes snapped open and he sat up. He had felt no fear about executing his plan, but as another memory returned, so did the terror of what he was going to face.
Mossy rolled over and pulled the pillow over his head. But the knocking on the barracks door only got louder. He needed sleep; whoever was knocking would have to wait. His stomach clenched with cramps, the result of sleep deprivation and too much bad coffee. He’d been up for almost 48 hours straight going over the DNA sequences, but he could find no way to reverse the aggressive behavior of the creature. The blood lust. Two days ago, an assistant who entered the cave to take temperature and humidity readings never came out. His right hand still held the clipboard but that was the only part of him they found. If he could just sleep for a few hours, he was sure he could find the answer.
The door exploded inward and Mossy knew there would be no sleep. Something else had happened, he was sure of it. The two MP’s had weapons drawn as they entered through the shattered remains of the door. “What is it? What do you want?” Not for the first time since working on this project, Mossy was afraid.
“Get dressed and come with us. General’s orders.”
“What’s happened?” Mossy croaked. Both men remained stoic, offering nothing. Mossy sighed deeply, a sense of dread and finality overtaking his initial fear. He knew what Gunlinger was capable of and how far he would go to protect his reputation. Whatever had happened for him to send his goons after Mossy had to be bad. He slowly got dressed, his mind spinning, looking for a way out. He had to find out what happened and let Gunlinger give him another chance. Another wave of nausea struck and he had an idea. As he bent to tie his boots, he jammed a finger down his throat. It was all his turbulent stomach needed and a spray of vile vomit shot from his mouth as he turned to the soldiers. “Oh God,” he moaned and ran for the bathroom, sure the soldiers wouldn’t immediately follow. He flipped on the faucet in the sink and continued to make gagging noise as he slid open the window as quietly as he could. The bathroom door had no lock but Mossy grabbed the curtain rod from the shower and jimmied it between the door and the wall. It wouldn’t do much but it might give him a few extra seconds. He made one final gagging sound, then leaped out the window and ran into the night.
He’d only made a few steps when he heard the soldiers knocking on the bathroom door and asking if he was alright. He sprinted between the buildings and paused—should he try to talk to Gunlinger or get to the creature and end it? If Gunlinger had sent for him, it wasn’t to plan the next steps, it was to tie up a loose end. He headed for the entrance to the underground lab.
He stayed in the shadows, sticking close to buildings and vehicles for cover. He immediately noticed the lack of activity on the base. No, not a lack of activity, an absence of it. Gunlinger must have ordered lockdown. It was worse than Mossy thought. Sacrificing cover for speed, he ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He arrived at the entrance to the lab ready to try to overpower the guard, but there was none. He cranked open the trap door and scrambled down the ladder into the tunnel. As he approached the cave that held the natural holding tank for the creature, he paused. There was something wrong. The air smelled of copper and gunpowder. Shooting and death. Steeling himself for the worst, he stepped into the cave.
There were bodies everywhere. Not bodies, body parts. It was a massacre. The air was still heavy with smoke. Whatever had happened had been recent. An orange glow at the back of the cave caught Mossy’s eye and he turned quickly, tensed for a fight.
“I knew you’d show up here. I sent my best men to get you but I knew you’d get away. It’s over Moses. The end. An abject failure.”
“General, what happened?” Mossy felt the bile rise in his throat. If he hadn’t already emptied his gut, he would have then.
Gunlinger inhaled deeply on a cigarette as Mossy moved closer. He saw a large weapon in Gunlinger’s other hand and knew that he had in fact been waiting for him. “Man can’t control creation, Moses. Even his own creation.”
“Sir, I just need a little more time to figure out the flaw in the sequencing…”
“There is no flaw, Blaakman. The creature is doing exactly what we wanted. Killing. But it will kill our own as efficiently and coldly as it would kill the enemy.”
“I can fix it…”
“No! We’ve gone too far. I’ve gone too far. This can’t be fixed. But it can be stopped.”
Mossy stared at him. His utter calm was unnerving with the carnage that surrounded him. Mossy knew now that what he had feared was true. Gunlinger was quite insane. “I know how to kill it.”
Gunlinger uttered something that might have been a laugh. “It’s gone beyond that, Moses. We learned something very interesting this evening. The water you are looking at connects under the surface to the lake outside.”
“How…” It hit him like a hammer. “Oh my God. How many?”
“How many is too many, Moses? The damage has been contained. My men have handled it, but I can’t let it happen again.”
Moses stepped toward him. “How many, damn it?” He shook with a mixture of rage and disgust.
Gunlinger raised the pistol and Mossy stopped. “It killed a young couple out on the lake. It was sheer coincidence that one of our patrols saw it happen just before dark. A couple of young lovers looking for a quiet spot to make love, perhaps just out to escape the heat. Their lives ended before they began. I can abide by sacrificing men who signed up for it, but not civilians.” He flicked his cigarette into the water and it hissed out. “My men gathered the remains and left the capsized boat and lifejackets floating. By all accounts it will look like they went for a swim and drowned. But I know better, Moses. Now we know better.”
Mossy could only stare, speechless. The look in Gunlinger’s eyes spoke volumes. Unless he acted quickly, he was not getting out of this cave alive. He had to keep Gunlinger talking until he found a way to get the gun. “General, are you sure it was the creature?”
Gunlinger glanced up with dead eyes and nodded once.
“And are you sure it was just the two that it got?” He hated the way it sounded, as if two were not bad enough.
“I guess we really can’t be sure, can we?”
“What happened here? Did you already kill it?”
Gunlinger uttered another barking laugh. “No Moses, I don’t believe we did.”
“I can kill it…” Suddenly the water swirled and the creature erupted. It stood on the shore, tentacles waving menacingly around it. Mossy stared at his creation. He looked into its eyes and shivered at the emotionless intelligence they held. Gunlinger stood and the creature turned toward him. It bared its rows of razor-sharp teeth and Mossy saw its body slowly crouch. He knew what was coming next. He screamed for Gunlinger to run and jumped in front of the creature just as it pounced. They collided in mid-air with a devastating impact that sent them sprawling to the floor of the cave in a tangle of human and reptilian body parts. Mossy heard gunshots ring out in the cave as he struggled with the creature. Its strength was incredible and Mossy was no match. As the shots echoed behind him, he was dragged into the water.