Trey and Dennings hit the stairs at roughly the same time, weapons drawn.Trey had trouble believing the chaos that was unfolding before him.Several of Dennings' men were already down.The rest were locked in a frantic firefight with each other.
One man landed close to Trey's feet, and as he looked on with horror, the man clawed at his leg, hissing with hate.A starfish-like parasite attached to the side of his bleeding face.
It all fell into place now, the two dead men locked upstairs in eternal combat. They're infected!"he screamed into Denning's ear.They're infected with a parasite!
To Denning's credit, he did not hesitate, but barked orders to the men at Denning's back, who quickly joined the firefight turning the tide, cutting down their former comrades with brutal efficiency.
At last, the roar of gunfire subsided, the air heavy with the smell of blood and sulfur.Corporal Lee came forward, a nasty gash across his forehead.Jesus, Commander, he pawed at Dannings' survival suit.
There was something in the shadows, some kind of hunched, wet thing.I only caught a glimpse of it before it threw those things into the room.At first I thought they were some kind of starfish, then they began to scuttle across the room.
Jesus, they were so fast.They clamped onto some of the men.That's when they turned on us, he said, his voice tapering off to a whimper. Dennings, disgusted, grabbed the other man by the shoulder and shook him roughly.What the fuck did you see?
A wet, hunched thing?Report, he screamed into the other man's face.What did you see?And then, the big, burly sergeant rushed over.Five of the men are down, commander.Two severely injured.Dennings ignored him, taking a deep breath.
He never took his eyes off the trembling corporal before him.Report, he said again.Tell me what did you see, corporal? The other man, remembering his training, calmed his breathing and began to speak in a firmer tone.
I only caught a glimpse, Commander.It was as if the damn thing was wrapped in shadows.He closed his eyes now, perhaps searching his inner eye.He was tall, he sighed, and hunched over in his eyes.He shuddered. They weren't human.
It wasn't human, Commander.I could feel the hate emanating from it.Then it drew those things into the room.Its hand.His eyes suddenly shot open.Its hand was webbed.I swear it, Commander.Its hand was webbed.Okay, son.
Denning said, patting the man on the shoulder.Go help the sergeant here with the wound.Sergeant, he said, turning to the big man by his side. Form a secure perimeter, lock down the entrance.We still have a job to do.Lieutenant, you turn to Trey.
We're heading upstairs to check the safe room.You're shitting me, Trayton replied.You think if anyone was still alive, they wouldn't have heard all that commotion?That's not the point, Dennings growled.
We have a mission to secure those executives, and I'm not leaving here until I know what happened to them, one way or another.Now get moving, he said, taking hold of his rifle. He didn't quite point it at Trey, but the implied threat was obvious.
Still, Trey didn't hold his ground.If you want me up there with you, I want a rifle.Seems like you have some spares now.Fine, Dennings replied.Go grab yourself one if it makes you feel better.
Trey did not have to be asked twice, but knelt down by one of the dead men. The man had been shot in the face.
Blood, bone, and teeth lay scattered all around the body, and Trey tried not to look too hard as he grabbed up the rifle and slung it around his neck.Happy now?Denning smirked at him.
Now get going, ladies first, he said, motioning to the stairs with his rifle barrel.Quickly moving as silently as possible, their heads on a swivel, the two men headed down the second floor corridor, stepping over the two dead men.
Their boots crunched on broken glass as they came to the second floor stairwell.Dettings took Trey to one side.Okay, this is it.The safe room is at the end of the third floor corridor.I'm going in first.You watch my back, weapons free.
You see one of them scuttling monstrosities, you fucking well blow it away.One of those things attaches itself to me.You don't hesitate.You put me down.You got that, Lieutenant? Shouldn't be a problem, Commander."Trey smiled at him.Dannings nodded.
Yeah, you keep that hate, Trayton, if it gets you through.You may not like me, and I ain't too fond of you either, but I still have your back.What I need to know is, do you have mine?Trayton thought it over for a second.Yeah, he nodded.
I have your back.You may be a corporate asshole, but at least you're human. They'll have to be enough for now, Dennings replied.Now get behind me, try not to shoot me in the back.You ready?Trey nodded, okay.
Dennings said, taking in a deep breath, let's do this.Turning towards the door, he gave it a hard kick, making Trey wince before rushing into the corridor, his rifle raised high before him.
Trey followed him in, taking the opposite side of the corridor.There were bodies sprawled across the floor. Dried and congealed blood seemed to be everywhere, streaked across the walls, splashed all over the low ceilings.
As for the bodies themselves, they had been torn open, most from the rear, and Trey noted the large metal door wide open.His best guess was that these were the executives Dennings had been so desperate to find.
They had made their play for the safe room and been cut down in their mad panic. Fuck," Denning whispered, hand over his mouth and nose as he signaled to Trey forward.Look at this," Denning said, kneeling down by a woman in a torn business suit.
These parasites didn't do this.Her back was shredded right down to the spine.You see the claw marks?Yeah, Trey swallowed hard.But who is she? Dennings shook himself as if coming out of a trance before removing a small device from his combats.
Gently, he raised the woman's bloody blonde hair, revealing a small barcode on the back of her graying neck, which he quickly scanned.The device beeped, and Dennings read the name out on the display.Rebecca Porter, Drake Executive Level, Rank 1.
Slowly, he continued on down the corridors.Stooping down, his machine beeping, he read out more names that Trey tried desperately not to remember.
Still, he knew they would come back to haunt his dreams, perhaps begging for his help from their poor, torn, and shattered bodies.Finally, they came to the open door.Mr. Drake, Dennings called out.Mr. Drake, he called again.
Entering the room, his voice growing desperate.Drake, Trayden hissed.What are you saying?He's here?Of course not.He said his nephew, Marcus, to oversee the operations.
But he isn't amongst the dead, and he certainly isn't here, he said, scanning around the small room.I was hoping when he came across that life pod, he'd be inside.That was just another grunt.Touching, Trevor murmured.So what now?
Now we head over to the refinery and check it out to see if there are any survivors.You mean look for that Drake asshole?Drayton spat back at him, but Dennings only shrugged unapologetically.
It's the only place he could survive in this frozen hellhole.So that's where we're heading.Now let's roll.They headed back to the dropship of the driving snow.
One of the injured men had passed away from his grievous wounds, the other man laying groaning on the stretcher.
They were down to only four able-bodied men now, not including Trey and Commander Dennings, who now led the diminished column back toward the dropship.Its dark shadow stained against all that surrounding whiteness.
Suddenly, there came an angry chattering and a cry of alarm as gunfire erupted.Trey span around just in time to see a shadow vanish into the maelstrom.The injured man was gone.An empty stretcher stained with blood lay on the snow.
Get on the fucking ship!"Dennings roared.Get on the motherfucking ship!The remaining men ran as fast as they could, lumbering through the calf-high snow.
Something moved just on the edge of Trey's vision, and without hesitation, he fired a hit stream of explosive lead, laying down suppressing fire as the men breathlessly clambered on board, before Dennings hit the switch, closing the ramp and sealing them safely inside.
Dust off!he screamed to the pilot.Get us out of here now! The pilot didn't need to be told twice, and within moments, the bedraggled survivors were in the air, buffeted by the strong winds of Eurydice's atmosphere.
Take us over to the refinery," Dennings ordered.Hearing this, the remaining men began to grumble, and the large sergeant, who had reported earlier, climbed to his feet.Sir, with all due respect, we are hurting bad here.
Whatever's going on, we need to report it immediately.Get back to the ship and await reinforcements.I don't need your opinion, Sergeant Cooper.Dennings turned on him.
You want to go back to Drake Corporation and explain how we left one of their executives to die out here?Oh, and a family member to boot?May as well slit your own throat.
Now he laughed, and it disturbed Trayton to hear the edge of hysteria in his voice.Sir, the sergeant continued, for all we know he may already be dead.I mean, we don't know what we're even dealing with here.
You, he said, pointing at Tray, you ever heard of these things here on Eurydice? Trey shook his head.From what I read and researched before we left, Eurydice does have some indigenous life, but nothing like this.
Mostly it consists of small fish-like creatures and crustaceans living in the ocean beneath the ice.No intelligent life. Intelligent life."Dennings scoffed.You think those things out there are intelligent?Trey shrugged.
That attack seemed pretty coordinated to me.And the use of those parasites against us?Yeah, I think there is some level of intelligence to be sure.There you go, Cooper said, feeling validated.Fine, Dennings said, looking slyly at the other man.
You want to go back?Fine.Then I will relinquish my command over to you as the next senior rank and let you make that decision. No, wait a goddamn minute," the sergeant flustered.I never said— That's right.
Then he says to Adam, you have nothing more to say.Now sit the fuck back down.We're heading over to the refinery, even if it's just a quick sweep of the area.That way we can go back and say we gave it our best shot, and then we are out of here.
That seemed to placate the men somewhat, and the big sergeant sat back down, his eyes downcast.Trayton, meanwhile, had stood up and gone over to sit by the tech corporal Lee. Hey, do you think you can patch me into the personal record files?
He said, booting up the PDA on his wrist.Maybe this Marcus Drake could help us find out what the hell's going on here.Lee licked his lips nervously.I wouldn't be in direct violation of Drake Corporation policy.
He could have me up on charges of espionage.You know the sentence for that?I mean, those assholes even have their own prisons. He's fuckin' owned everything back on Earth."Trey nodded.Yeah, don't I know him.
You can't even get a candy bar without their name plastered all over it, but... We need this, man.
I don't think the commander over there, he said, nodding towards Dennings, has any intention of just having a quick look around and then bolting back to the ship.He catches me as a do-or-die kind of guy.
He knows damn well if he doesn't return with at least a body or Some damn good answers, he's royally fucked.At least if we can get some answers, we may stand a chance.After all, knowledge is power.Lee gave a strange smile.I think we are fucked.
Either way, I guess this is no harm in it at this point.Okay, my man, Trey smiled, laying a hand on the other man's shoulder.Now jack me in. Lee began to type furiously on his PDA.Damn firewall, he murmured, a small sweat breaking across his brow.
Got you, asshole, he finally murmured, before syncing his own PDA with Trey's.Sitting back, Treyton hit receive and closed his eyes, a small screen appearing across his vision.
He didn't like using his Neuralink like this, but sometimes it was the fastest way to get things done. And there it was.Marcus Drake's personal logs.The first one dated back two months ago.At first, it was all mandatory stuff.
The mining facility had already been up and running when he had taken over, tapping into the vast wealth of Eurydice, making Drake Corporation trillions in new dollars every year and funding their latest round of space exploration.
Next was a report of communications issues, solar storms with high magnetic particles that had taken the comm systems offline.There were attempting repairs, but so far no dice.Still, mining operations were not affected.
And even better news, the survey teams had discovered a new cluster of jadeite pearls in a so far undiscovered trench in the depths of Eurydice's oceans, only a few miles from the portable submersible bays.
Goddamn two-tier operation," Trayden murmured.So the land for the lithium, harvest the oceans for the jadeite.The rest of the logs were more of the same until the last entry, dated two weeks ago.
The portable harvesters and submersibles had been moved across the ice to the new location.Massive holes had been punched through, and the submersible bays and habitats had been sunk to the ocean floor on the edge of the Great Chasm.
For the next few weeks, the submersibles and harvesters would gather the jadeite pearls, then return to the surface with the treasure, ready for the processing.After that, there was only one other short entry, consisting of only four words.
Cries from the deep.Then there was nothing.No more entries, no more files.Nothing. Sighing, fighting a headache, Trayton disconnected and opened his eyes, rubbing at his temples.He was suddenly afraid.More afraid than he had ever been.
The shock of the last few hours that had covered him like a novocaine blanket suddenly fell away, leaving a deep-seated dread that stole his breath away.
Putting his head between his legs, he tried to level out his breathing as the dropship finally dusted down with a jarring thud.
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