"Work harder!"
"Okay, everyone stand back." The heavy man edged away from the explosive he had secured to the door."
"We don't have time. Blow it."
"Fire in the hole!"
The explosion didn't even register against the deafening punishment of the devastation. The door fell inward, revealing a dimly lit hallway.
"Let's go."
The team rushed forward. Jett stood at the entrance, waving them in. His voice was snatched by the same brutal wind that nearly plastered him against the wall. Squinting, he braved a look at the coming catastrophe. Just the sight nearly overwhelmed his senses. The sky was tortured by fire and lighting. The gaping cavity only widened; a hellish mouth that sought to devour all in its path. Deep inside was glimmering darkness, as if he stared at a fire-rimmed portal into the depths of deep space.
This is it, then. The end. The end of everything.
Bozo was the last, jerking back and staggering. It took a full second to realize he had been repeatedly shot in the back. As he fell forward, Jett dropped to one knee, avoiding the barrage of gunfire aimed at his head. Lining the attacking Deviant in his sights, he fired his rifle's grenade launcher. The explosion turned his assailant to a pulpy stain against the shattered wall.
Jett gestured helplessly. "What the hell are they attacking for? Don't they see what's coming?"
"They can't… hear you. Too far… gone." Bozo rolled over, blood staining his glittering teeth. "Wasn't… watching. Bastard got me good, Big Top."
Jett motioned to the others, who had stopped in the hallway. "Don't worry about it. We got this far. Won't let you—"
Bozo grabbed Jett's arm with a shake of his head. "Not… gonna make this one." He grimaced, yanking a C-4 explosive from his pack. "You take the crew on. I'll make sure to shut the door behind you."
Jett shook his head. "You know I won't leave a man down."
"You gotta. Do it for me, Big Top. We're all that's left. Can't let it be for nothing." Bozo raised a trembling hand. "Raise hell."
Jett's vision blurred when he clasped Bozo's hand. "Die well, Hellrazor."
Bullets ricocheted around him. He yelled, firing back at the advancing Deviants as he retreated into the hallway. "We're taking the building. Let's go."
Rosy grabbed his arm. "What about Bozo?"
"He's closing the door. His choice."
Her eyes glistened, but she nodded, dashing ahead. Jett motioned the rest onward.
"Major fire in the hole. Move it, people!"
The explosion erupted just as they rounded the corner. The walls vibrated, smoke and dust funneled inward. He squinted as the hallway darkened from the choking detritus.
"Switch to night vision."
He tapped a button on his helmet. His visor brightened, illuminating the vicinity just in time to see the crew of Deviants that stealthily approached from the far end of the large laboratory.
"We got company at twelve o'clock." He opened fire, dropping several Deviants. The others scattered, ducking behind consoles and equipment.
Beef unloaded his heavy rifle in a semicircle formation, tearing right through glass and metal. Dropping to one knee, he motioned forward.
Jisei dashed headlong, leaped on Beef's back and vaulted, firing twin handguns at the Deviants huddled behind a console barricade. She landed on top of them, finishing with close range double taps.
Jett went to the wall console, pulling up building schematics. "The bunker will be deep underground. Take the door to the left — it goes downstairs."
Jax jogged over to the door. A throwing knife whirred and struck right next to the door handle, narrowly missing his fingers. He jerked his hand back with a curse, turning to glare at Jisei.
"Hey what the hell—?"
She pointed downward. Jax glanced that direction, realization dawning on his face. "Tripwire. The door's rigged. Thanks, Jisei. You saved my bacon. That's three times I owe you."
She held up four fingers.
He frowned. "You still counting that time in Chicago? C'mon, that's a technicality."
"Later, Jax. We're on a clock." Jett glanced up. With the firefight over, the sounds from outside the building had amplified. He had never heard anything like it. The entire facility shuddered as if on the verge of collapse. He was sure it wouldn't be much longer before that actually happened.
"Can you disarm that thing?"
"Gimme a minute."
"You got twenty seconds."
Jax grunted. "Bozo was best at this, but I think… I got it." He stood, took a deep breath, and pulled the door open.
No explosion.
He turned to them with a grin. "See I told you—"
The side of his head disintegrated. His lifeless body seemed to fall in slow motion.
Jett pulled a grenade and tossed it into the corridor at an angle to make it bounce off the walls. The team leaped to the side as the explosion ripped the door apart and blew debris into the lab. Jett rolled to his feet and ran inside, fanning his rifle back and forth. A single body lay inside, shredded by the detonation. He rolled the corpse over with his boot.
"Just a kid. Bastards must have left him to guard the door. Damn it!"
The boy couldn't have been older than fifteen. Sightless eyes stared from a charred and filthy face, the electric blue color fading as Jett started.
Beef grunted. "Nothing we can do for it. Jax is gone, brother. So is the kid. We gotta keep trucking."
Jett took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright, let's move."
They proceeded down the stairwell with caution, floor after floor until Jett lost count of how far they had descended. The walls groaned in torment; the stairs rattled as if about to rip apart.
It was a relief when they finally reached the bottom. His legs were on fire, but there was no time for rest. He dashed to one side of the wide double doors, Jisei the other. He motioned at Beef, who ran forward when they kicked in the doors.
Rosy followed closely behind Beef, quickly fanning out to cover the area. It was a large, brightly lit, circular control room. Massive monitors lined the walls, most displaying screen snow. Stainless steel islands and tables were overlain with computers and prototype tech. There was no one waiting for them inside.
No one alive.
A half dozen bodies were strewn across the concrete floor in the center of the room, lying in a pool of blood. They looked just as filthy and nasty as their friends outside, covered in tribal and geometric tattoos, innumerable piercings, grease, and dirt. Despite all the filth, they didn't look as if they'd been there long.
Beef circled the corpses. "What do you think happened?"
"Best guess? Mass suicide."
"Good for them, I guess."
Rosy jerked a thumb at the consoles. "They probably saw what was coming."
"Probably." Jett had already dismissed them from his mind. He approached the main computer terminal and slipped in a mini-drive. "Okay, time to see if Data Mack's info was worth the price we paid. If we're in the right place, there should be a hidden door leading to an old underground missile silo that's been retrofitted into a stasis station."
Beef snorted. "Yeah, or we scare the rats that have been nesting here all winter."
"Better than out there," Rosy said.
"'Till we starve."
She smiled. "We can eat the rats."
"We're about to find out." Jett tapped in a last command. "The wall over there should be a façade. It's going to open up right about… now."
They all held a collective breath as the wall shuddered. With a piercing squeal of hinges, it slowly slid to the side, revealing a stainless-steel entrance-way behind it."
Jisei walked over and rapped the surface with her knuckles. It was solid, but there was definitely something hollow behind it.
Beef glanced at Jett. "Still sealed, Big Top."
"I got eyes, Beef. We're right there. Just have to figure out how to open—"