“Jesus! General, Bub is out. He's killed Rabbi Shotzen and gotten through the first gate.”
“I'll be right there.”
“He's coming,” Andy told Sun, hanging up the phone.
“What did he do to the Rabbi?” Sun asked. “The screams...”
Andy put his arms around her. He tried to shake the image of Rabbi Shotzen being peeled by Bub, but it refused to go away.
The Purple Door flew open, and Andy and Sun each jumped back.
“How did he get out?” Race demanded.
The General was in full dress uniform. Helen was in a sequined evening gown. She looked worried.
“Shotzen said Bub knew the code.”
“Sunshine, if you could wait with my wife. Andy...”
Race motioned for Andy to follow. Andy didn't want to. But Sun's eyes on him forced him to move. He trailed Race back into the Red Arm.
CLANG!
The gate was still holding. Bub rubbed his shoulder and squinted at the new arrival.
“Raaaaace. Let me oooooooout.”
Race approached slowly. Andy was even slower. He watched the General peer past Bub and down the hallway, which was charred black and drenched in gore.
It looked like a corridor of hell.
“Why did you kill Rabbi Shotzen?” Race asked.
“It was fuuuuuuun.”
“Blow this bastard up,” Andy told Race.
Bub leveled his eyes at Andy. “Open the doooooor, Andy. You want to fuck Suuuuuun? I’ll make her your whore if you let meeeeee ooooout.”
Andy had to clench hard to avoid wetting his pants.
“Here's the deal, Bub,” Race said. “You go back into your habitat, lock yourself in, and I won't destroy you.”
“Do you want power, Raaaaaace?” Bub hissed. “You can be a general in my army. I’ll make immoooooooortal.”
Race took another step forward, still beyond grabbing range. He took his eyes off of Bub to examine the gate.
“Hooooooow is Helen?” the demon cooed.
“She's fine.” Race looked hard at the demon. “Why?”
Bub grinned slyly.
Race’s voice was almost as scary as Bub’s. “What did you do to her?”
“Let me ooooooooout. There's still time to fiiiiiiiix it.”
“So help me, if anything happens to that woman...”
“She haaaaaaates you. She haaaaaaates you for bringing her heeeeeere. But I can fiiiiiiix that. Maaaaaaake her loooooove you again.”
“You're bluffing. You're trapped, and you're bluffing.”
Bub barked, his laughter echoing down the hall.
“We’ll seeeeeeeee.”
Race turned around and walked briskly back down the Red Arm, Andy in tow.
“Let me oooooooout!” Bub screeched.
CLANG! The ground shook as the demon rammed the gate again.
“What's going on, Race?” Andy asked. “Just detonate the bombs.”
“I need to talk to the President.”
“Then get his ass on the phone!”
They entered the Octopus, Race going to his wife. He held her face in his hands.
“Do you feel okay, dear? Anything wrong?”
“I feel fine, Regis.”
“Sun, can you check her out?”
Sun nodded, and sat Helen down at one of the far tables.
Andy got up close to Race and thrust out his chest. “Why don't we kill him?” he demanded.
“He can't get through that gate. It's holding.”
“What if—”
“I can only destroy Bub if he's a risk to any of the occupants of Samhain.”
“Bullshit,” Andy said. “We're expendable. The people involved in a top secret project are always expendable.”
Race jammed his finger into Andy's shoulder. “We are not expendable, understand? But I can't kill Bub unless he's a threat. Right now he's trapped. He cannot get out. And even if he does, we have back-ups.”
Andy said, “The bombs implanted in his body.”
“Yes. Plus we have something called Lockdown. See, above all the doors?”
Race pointed to every door in the Octopus. Above each of the frames was a large overhang with a slit in the bottom.
“More titanium gates, they completely seal off each arm and the Octopus. I just need to type in the code on the security screen, right here.”
“What's the code?” Andy asked.
“Lockdown. One word, all caps.”
“So what are you waiting for?”
“It can't be reset. Once we're in Lockdown, gates drop on all the arm entrances and in front of the exit at the end of the Yellow Arm. Plus three more titanium gates drop on the staircase leading to the outside. We'd be stuck here until someone cut us out, bar by bar, with a blowtorch. So that isn't necessary right now. You don't have to worry. We're safe.”
Andy shook his head. “I've had it,” he said. “I'm not a soldier. It's not my job to fight the devil. I know exactly what will happen. I saw Jurassic Park. Everything will go wrong. The systems will fail, Bub will get out, we'll all be dead by morning.”
“Calm down, son.”
“Bullshit! I want out. Me, Sun, the rest. Get us the hell out of here, Race.”
Andy met Race's gaze, trying to be just as impassive.
Race said, “Okay.”
Andy stared at him, amazed. “Okay? That's it? We can go?”
“Of course you can go. I'll call the President right now, arrange for transport. We can have a chopper here within an hour.”
Andy wasn't sure if he could believe him or not, but Race sat down at a terminal and accessed a program called CONTACT. He clicked the options bar on EMERGENCY.
“Direct link to the Prez,” Race explained. “Unless he's having a press conference, he should be on line in a minute or so.”
Within seconds another window appeared on screen. The message bar read AUDIO CONNECT.
“General?” came the President's voice from the monitor speaker.
“Mr. President, the occupant has breached the first two phases of security. He is extremely hostile, and we have civilian casualties. Request immediate evac.”
“Is the occupant currently contained?”
“Yes. I'm going to stay with him. But I want the rest of the team picked up ASAP.”
“Of course. I'll contact Fort Bliss.”
“I'm going to need help to neutralize the subject. Maybe one of those big game hunters who captures elephants for zoos. With a tranquilizer gun and plenty of ammo.”
“I'll find someone as soon as possible. A helicopter will be sent immediately to evacuate the team. I'll debrief them at Fort Bliss. How did this happen, General?”
“I'm not sure, Sir. He got the codes for the gates somehow.”
“I'll contact you soon. God be with you and your team, General.”
The computer blinked MESSAGE ENDED.
“Well,” Andy said, relief making him feel twenty pounds lighter, “he's an okay guy after all.”
Race picked up the phone and hit *100. His voice boomed over the in house speakers. Dammit, Andy thought. That was the intercom code.
“Attention, this is Race. Everyone meet in the Octopus for immediate evacuation. Repeat, everyone meet in the Octopus, we're all getting out of here. Move your asses, people.”
“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!” Bub bellowed, his voice heard from all the way down the Red Arm.
“I guess he doesn't like the news,” Andy said.
“Screw the son of a bitch. What the hell happened in there, Andy?”
“I don't know. I was in Red 6 translating the glyphs and I heard screams. It was Rabbi Shotzen, getting ripped apart.”
“Shotzen let him out?”
“I don't think so. Bub... he skinned Shotzen to get the code for the second gate. The Rabbi didn't give it up.”
“Brave man. So how did Bub get the codes?”
“What's happening?” Dr. Belgium entered the Octopus through the Green Door.