Chapter 9

Chapter 9

It wasn’t long before the small unit reached the entrance to the mine; the original entry point that was collapsed deliberately for such a long time.  Casey had another rush of guilt at her first sight of the mine, wondering what exactly was behind that pile of rubble.  Where Nick spent nearly fifteen years…confined and experimented on…having to see horrible things no child should ever have to witness.   

As she considered the old entrance, Casey frowned thoughtfully, wondering how they were to enter the facility.  Looking to Nick, she opened her mouth to ask her question when he motioned for her to follow him as he began to walk to the left side of rocky wall of the mountain the mine originated.  “The entrance is little farther down.”  

Following him, with the others, Casey’s mind wondered off to Nick once more, speculating how he truly felt on the inside.  He seemed to come off calm and collective, nothing bothering him in the slightest as he dealt with the situation at hand, but she could only think of that as being a cover for his true feelings.  She could only imagine his thoughts when the creatures were released upon the town.  The guilt he must feel at the living nightmare they were now in.  

Did he think of his grandparents often?  Was he thinking of them at all? She knew he loved them, but after everything he had gone through, she wasn’t quite sure who he was anymore. 

His grandparents had truly suffered believing he had died in the river.  Though she had told them, told everyone, the truth, they believed her bonk on the head had given her a senseless dream.  The only one who seemed to believe her was her sister.  She didn’t know if it was because her sister trusted her or if it was just the fact she was gullible.  In either case, she was happy to have her to talk to over the years. If only she could talk to her now…

Casey was surprised when the squad came to a stop.  Her thoughts had distracted her from her surroundings; from time.  She was unsure how far into the woods they had gone and was puzzled by the place they stopped.  Everyone was turned to the rock wall to the right, but there was nothing there, nothing she could see anyway.  Just more rock.

Standing just ahead of the group, closer to the wall, TECH pulled his laptop from the case at his side, flipping it open.  After a few keystrokes and two clicks, a slab of the rock pushed out a little, before folding down revealing a 5x5 blue screen with white lettering.  

Casey’s brows rose as she peered over his shoulder intrigued.  Apparently, it was an authorization panel awaiting the passcode.  TECH placed his fingers up to the panel and, with a lightening touch, typed the correct code, signaled by a green screen.  TECH flipped shut the laptop, replacing it back within its case.  The little screen was once more covered by rock and to its left more of the rocky wall began to fold in on itself before gradually shifting to the right ever so slowly.

TECH turned to them with a thumbs’ up, waiting for them to enter.   As she and the others passed him into a well-lit area, Casey couldn’t believe what she saw.  The rock wall had opened into a wide room; white walls, white floors, and high florescent-lit ceilings surrounded her.  The area looked completely clean, not what was expected from the stories she had heard.  

There was a small tug at her shoulder.  Looking to her right, she saw Nick to her side, his splashguard pulled back, looking down at her.  “We have to move a little further.  This is only the main hall.”

“Main hall?”  Her gaze swept over the area seeing nothing but an ongoing stretch of white.  “I don’t see any doors…” 

“Follow me.” Was all he said, walking a little ways ahead of her, the others passing her by.  She turned to the sound of something sliding shut behind her, seeing TECH at another panel like the one before.  He must have entered another code to shut the door.  

Turning back she quickly caught up with Nick, seeing the others beginning to take off their face guards as well.  Must mean it’s safe in here. Casey caught herself before she could walk into Nick’s back who had stopped before her.  Sidestepping she looked to him.  “Why are we stopping?”

He didn’t answer, only raised his right hand touching one of the white tiles before him with a flattened hand and pushed in.  It sounded with a distinct click.  She merely watched, keeping confused thoughts to herself when the tile began to change from white to a golden colored light.

Before her eyes, the white wall faded, revealing a set of stainless steel doors, one on either side of the glowing tile.  It had only taken her a moment to realize what the set of doors actually were as they slid open.  Elevators.

She watched as the group split into two, each going into separate elevators.   Nick looked to her.  “Are you coming?”

She nodded, eagerly boarding the left elevator with him, MED, and LINGO.  The inside looked like a normal everyday elevator with eleven buttons on the panel.  As the doors slid shut, Nick tapped the 5, enlightening the little circular button with his touch.

She looked to her fellow passengers.  This is the first time she was able to see any of the soldiers without their splashguards, excluding Nick of course, and was considerably sure which of the two was LINGO and the other to be MED.  

The only thing that made her so sure was the fact that MED was substantially shorter than the rest of the 6’ soldiers, which was about her height, 5’3.  He had a dark complexion, with light brown eyes that shined with an outgoing spirit that he wasn’t at all shy in showing.  His dark hair was nearly all shaved clean and there was a diamond stud in his left ear.      

LINGO stood to MED’s left, the reason she had acknowledge the height deference in the first place.  Coming off a little uptight, which didn’t fit well with his boyish features, LINGO’s expression was unreadable, his jaw set firmly, as he stood in a complete erect posture.  His skin was lightly tanned and he had a head full of thick, short black hair that became disheveled from the removal of his mask. He didn’t seem as old as the others and she wondered if he was the youngest out of the group, then reminded herself she had yet to see what everyone else really looked like beneath those splashguards. 

There were a few moments of silence as the elevator made its smooth decent down to the fifth floor and after a few seconds ticked by, Casey had a strange sensation come over her.  It felt that the elevator wasn’t just going down, but sideways as well.  Could that be possible?

MED noticed her thoughtful expression, almost as if reading her mind.  “You are pretty observant.”

She blinked a few times, taken from her thoughts.  “Huh?  What was that?”

A small smile crossed his lips. “You feel like you are being somewhat pulled right?”  

She nodded.  “It almost feels like we are moving down, in a diagonal direction.”

LINGO nodded.  “That’s because we are.”

“I was watching you when we started moving.”  MED tsked.  “It didn’t even take you long to notice it.   I’m impressed.”

She looked between LINGO and MED, unsure of what to say when Nick nudged her arm.  Looking to him, she was surprised to see a smile.  “The elevator is made to go nice and smooth. And very slow.”  He motioned for her to look at the number indicator.  They were just moving to 3.   “The average person isn’t supposed to feel the movements for security reasons.”  His smile faded as he looked back to the elevator doors.  “The further we go down, the further under and closer to town we become.”

The town… she was now beginning to have more of an understanding to how the creatures were able to attack so swiftly.  Her gaze went back to him.  “How close to Town do we get?”

“Level 10 is the town’s center.”

She let out a long breath, her hopes of any more survivors diminishing.  Dad…

Six more minutes ticked by and the elevator came to its crawling stop, dinging before sliding its doors open, allowing its passengers to exit.  Only a second passed before the second elevator resonated the same ding and it too slid open its doors, letting out the rest of the squad. 

Casey took the opportunity to scope out the surrounding area, noting this area too had entirely white surfaces.  Everything seemed so clean, sterile; just like that of a laboratory. There were two halls leading to the left and right.  The hall to the right held numerous doors, all of which were pulled closed, and the hall to the left opened into a wider room furnished with tables and chairs. A cafeteria maybe?   

Straight ahead of the elevators was the largest screen she had ever seen, set within the wall over a large control panel.  TECH went straight to the control panel upon leaving the elevator, removing his laptop from its case along the way.  She watched as he plugged the little machine into the large monstrosity it now sat on.  He immediately began hitting buttons, his head darting from the colossal screen to his laptop, his hands moving briskly over the keys of his laptop and the control panel that Casey could scarcely keep track.  The enormous monitor flashed various windows as they came open then closing just as fast.  She never thought anyone could move that quick using a computer, let alone two, and one of them being so large at that.  This man definitely had skill.

TECH’s brown eyes darted between the two screens, strands of his dirty blonde hair hanging around his lightly tanned face each time he looked down to the laptop.  Every-so-often, she would notice a facial tick, a slight rise in the left corner of his lips that would make a small pop sound whenever it occurred.  She wondered if he even knew he did it with how intently he was looking at the screens.  It was as if nothing was going on around him at all.  

Her gaze fell over the rest of the group.  The only faces she hadn’t seen were AUTO, SCOPE, and BANG.  With a momentary thought, she understood the one with the sniper rifle to be SCOPE.  Really, it was only obvious to her with the meaning of the names, each signifying their profession.  

Though it was hard for her to tell anyone’s built beneath the suits he looked to be tall and lengthy, his face thinner than the rest.  He had high cheekbones with faint freckles over the brim of his nose and fair cheeks.  His eyes were a clear light blue mixing well with his reddish-orange hair, cut short and neatly set. 

Now was the more difficult part.  The two men standing on either side of SCOPE, BANG and AUTO…which one was which?  There was nothing that she could see that would differentiate the two. Well nothing materialistic anyway.  Their physical appearances were different but without asking she wouldn’t know, and she wasn’t about to ask either.  She had this feeling AUTO didn’t like her very much and she wasn’t too fond of his attitude either.

The man on the left stood with his arms crossed, his hazel eyes distant.  His complexion was tanned and he wore a red bandana over his head making it hard to tell whether his hair was shaven or just hidden beneath the fabric.  There was a small silver ring pierced at the far end of his right brow.

Switching her gaze to the man to the right of SCOPE, she saw him observing her.  When their gazes met, he rolled his green eyes off to the side making an audible grunt, running a hand through his wavy brown hair. She smiled turning back to TECH.  That one has to be AUTO.  

After a few more screens, TECH turned to the others.  “Perimeter check is complete.  Everything is clear.”

Casey gave herself a mental shake.  After what the others told her about the facility, she imagined it to be relatively large, and in a matter of maybe 2-3 minutes, he surveyed it all?

“Good work.”  Nick said, heading for the left hallway.  “Let’s get ready to eat.”

“Great, I’m starving.”  AUTO called out as everyone began to follow Nick.

Casey trailed behind, a thought weighing heavy on her.  “What’s wrong girl?”

She turned to see MED beside her.  She smiled meekly.  “It’s nothing really.”

“You should just spit it out.”  SCOPE said a little ways ahead of her.  “It’s just better to get whatever is bothering you out in the open.”

Her smile faded.  “I was just wondering how safe we are staying in the facility.  I mean, this is where they originated isn’t it?  What if there are more?  I’m sure you took care of the ones here, but what if they come back?”

“No need to worry about that.”  Nick said from ahead of the group as they neared the large opening at the end of the hall.  “There is only one exit to this place now and that’s the one we came through.”

The one named BANG beside him raised his arm, his hand pointed up.  “I took care of the 2nd one no sweat.”  He said proudly lowering his hand.  “It’s all buried beneath tons of rock and dirt now.”  He gave a slight head motion towards TECH.  “Everything else is in his hands.  We’re safe.  No worries when you are with us doll.”

Casey felt he face redden at the doll remark.  She didn’t like those names, thought of them as being very demeaning.  Nevertheless, she would let that one slide…for now.

After reaching the end of the hall, she was able to see that this room was indeed a cafeteria, and a large one at that.  There were round tables set throughout the lengthy room, 5-6 chairs at a table.  Towards the back was the kitchen area, stretching out to the length of the room.  Separating the two areas were stainless steel counters that were opened on either ends closer to the walls, which allowed the workers to pass through as needed.  The kitchen was equipped with all of the heavy duty appliances needed to feed a facility of such size.  Everyone headed towards the kitchen area first.

 “I say in celebration of our survivor we should have pizza!”  MED said pulling a few pizza boxes from a side freezer, immediately pulling the frozen pizzas from their boxes.  

Nick peered inside the freezer before it closed shut.  He watched as MED placed the pizzas on individual pans.  “Seems we are going to have to restock tomorrow.”

“How do you know you will find anything?”  Casey questioned.  “I mean, I figured a facility such as this must have its own power source, but it seems in town power is out except for the emergency lighting in the hospital.”

TECH leaned across the counter, eagerly watching the oven as MED slid the pans inside, and shut the door before adjusting the temperature.  “I was able to route the store’s generator to our power supply.”  

“I didn’t know you could do something like that,” Casey said amazed.  “and from such a distance too.”

“Don’t forget,” MED began sitting up on the counter beside TECH, “The further down we are the closer to town we actually get.”  He patted TECH on the shoulder.  “Things like that are a simple task for him regardless.”

“Thanks.”  TECH said genuinely, his cheeks tinting a light red.

“And with the new power supply we were able to place anything perishable within the walk-in cooler set in the back.”  MED continued to explain.  “It may be a little crowded but we should have more than enough food for a while.”

Casey crossed an arm over her ribs, resting her left elbow to her wrist as she placed a hand to her cheek thoughtfully, a thought coming to mind.  “Hm, you seem rather well organized.  But I guess it should be expected with everything you have been through.”  She smiled lowering her hand and crossing her arm over the other.  “Either way, though you may not need it, I’d like to help you tomorrow.”

Nick looked to her blankly. “Absolutely not.”

Casey felt dumbstruck.  “Why not?”

“Why would he?”

She turned to her right, seeing AUTO coming up to her side.  “Excuse me?”  

“Well, what can you expect?  You have no weapons and besides that,” he paused briefly, giving a shrug before eyeing her with a belittling gaze, “you’re a woman after all.”

Casey felt her cheeks flare as she turned to him fully, her fingers digging into the gauze around her arms.  “I don’t see what being a woman has to do with anything and for your information I can handle myself if need be.”

AUTO nodded.  “Yes, we all had seen how well you handled yourself when MELEE carried you into the ER.”  He smirked at her facial tick, taking a step closer, pointing a finger in her face.  “Women like you should just stay back and let the men take care of you.”

Casey’s jaw dropped open as she went to speak however closed it shut once more, giving him a cool smirk.   Before he knew what happened, she grasped the wrist of his outstretched hand swiftly, twisting his arm painfully to the side and pulled him forward.  This is where she brought up her forearm connecting it roughly with his throat, while placing her right leg behind him.  Releasing his arm, she gave him a push causing him to trip over her leg and crash to the floor. 

Looking down at AUTO with a sharp gaze, she wiped her hands onto her pants as if to rid them of some unseen dirt before running them through her disheveled hair.  “Really, maybe you should learn who you are talking to before you open your mouth.”  She stepped forward placing a foot to his chest as he went to move, keeping him from sitting upright.  “For your information, though I don’t know why I bother to tell you, I am a Drill Sargent in the military.  Just because I just so happened to be taken off guard by a creature I have never imagined could exist, does not mean I am some weak woman.”  She bent down into a squatting position grasping either sides of his vest before rising, lifting him up to his feet with ease.  “Besides, I think I’ve done fairly well without a weapon this time, don’t you agree?”

AUTO looked to her clenched fist on his vest giving her a slow nod, his eyes glistening in perplexity.  “Uh huh?”

 “Good.”  She then released her grip, pushing him away from her lightly in the process and watched as he stumbled over his two feet.  Her brows narrowed though she fought back a satisfying grin.  “Now stay in line and out of my face you slimy little maggot!  Or maybe I’ll have to do something about it next time.”

Placing her arms in a crisscross fashion behind her, she allowed a casual smile to cross her features; it felt so good to finally be able to let off some steam.  She turned to the others seeing they were watching her with slack-jawed expressions.  Keeping her composure, she raised a brow.  “Yes?”  Was all she questioned in a firm tone of voice.

The unit before her straightened their postures at once, MED jumping down from the counter awkwardly to join the others.  Casey felt a calming sensation with their unease.  Here she was, without a gun, intimidating seven grown men.  Sure, they were held in captivity and seemed to act more like teenagers then men, but who’s really counting in the end?

Her gaze fell to Nick who simply smiled at her in turn.  Taking the pistol from SCOPE’s belt, he handed it to her.  She held the handgun firmly at her side.  “Won’t he be needing this?”

Nick regarded SCOPE for a moment as he placed a hand to his rifle before turning his gaze back to her.  “He’s our sniper for a reason.”  

Casey stepped forward, holding the gun out to him.  “And how about you?  You should have taken it for yourself then.”

Nick crossed his arms.  “I’m not really one for guns.”

She smiled, checking the clip, seeing the gun had not been used, at least not recently, then nodded.  “Then I guess I have no choice but to accept it.”

He turned from her and began walking towards the cafeteria section.  “It’s a good thing too, since you will be suited up in the morning.”

Casey felt a sense of acceptance weld up within her.  She knew what he meant.  Tomorrow she would be going with the unit on their restock mission as one of the team.  Looking to the gun in her hand, she smiled.  She had to admit, she like the way her old friend was now.  Turns out her little Nicky, wasn't so little anymore.  In more ways than one.

“Hey uh MELEE, where are you going?”  MED called after him, realizing his comrade was heading out of the room.  “What about the pizza?”

“I figured I’d lay down first.”  He replied, glancing over his shoulder to the others, “That black smoke tells me you need to put new ones in.”

“Wh-what?”  MED turned, as did the others to the oven that was pouring out black smoke.  His eyes widened as he rushed over to the oven, turning it off and pulling open the doors. More of the thick black smoke came out.  Waving his hands out in from of him, he was able to clear enough of the smoke to see the black rimmed pizza.  “Ah man…,” he said, his shoulders slumping.  “What a waste.”

BANG patted his friend on the shoulder.  “Hey it’s no big deal.  We have a few more in the freezer.”

MED grabbed a pair of oven mitts that had been placed on top of the oven’s surface.  “But, it’s pizza.  No one should waste pizza.”

“Yeah,” SCOPE chimed in, “but look at the bright side.  It could always be worse.”

And, as if on cue, the sprinkler system turned on causing water to rain down on them from above.  MED turned to SCOPE, hitting him a few times with the oven mitts. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you not to say that?” 

SCOPE raised his arms out before him, blocking his hits.  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

TECH walked passed them, shaking his head.  “I’ll override the alarm.”

LINGO followed him. “I’ll get the mop and bucket.”

Casey laughed at the scene before her, not bothered in the least at the water splashing down on her.  Subconsciously she felt as if it were washing away the pain and fear she had endured in the past day.  She felt as if they would make it out of there.  Somehow, they would make it through.