“What are we going to do?”
My voice sounded more hopeless than I’d intended. As the others talked about what to do next, Anna stood next to me and grabbed my hand. One by one, her fingers intertwined with mine, and the feeling of her warm hand there made me feel weak. The action surprised me for its boldness. I turned to look at her, but she merely gazed intently at the building, tinted orange from the dull sunlight fading behind the clouds.
“We’ll find a way,” she said. “Just don’t give up.”
What was left of the sun descended behind the western mountains, plunging the valley into darkness.
Anna let go of my hand as the others turned around.
“What did you guys decide?” Anna asked.
Samuel said nothing, and merely shined his light down on the xenofungus. The layer here was thin, and beneath it was tarmac.
“A runway?” Makara asked.
“Yes,” Samuel said. “If there’s a runway here, there should be hangars somewhere nearby. We’ll freeze if we have to stay out here for the night.”
“I don’t see anything resembling a hangar out here,” Lisa said.
“We’ll just have to follow the runway and look,” Samuel said.
“What about the Recon?” I asked.
“One thing at a time,” Samuel said. “I just need to make sure we don’t die from exposure or the crawlers.”
Something caught my eye. A vertical sliver of light appeared in the direction of a nearby hill.
“I think we found our hangar,” I said.
The sliver grew wider and wider, revealing more light.
“It’s built into that hill,” Samuel said. “I think we found our friends.”
“Are they flying a plane?” I asked.
“I don’t care,” Makara said. “It’s payback time.”
Everyone ran ahead, and it was all I could do to keep up. As we got closer to the light, I could make out the shape of a low, sleek jet. As it rolled out of the hill and into the valley, the roar of its engine filled the valley with pulses of sound. That sound would draw every one of those creatures in this direction.
The plane took on a sudden burst of speed. It rocketed toward us, quickly closing the distance.
“Out of the way!” Samuel yelled.
Everyone dived out of the plane’s way as it screamed past us. I turned to watch its six thrusters, arranged in the shape of a circle, burn a fiery blue as the plane arched up from the ground and streaked through the sky. The plane’s sound waves thundered against the ground as it disappeared into the night.
When the noise died, it was replaced with another one — the monsters, screeching and wailing. They were coming this way.
“Let’s move!” Samuel yelled.
Samuel sprinted for the open doors of the hangar. Behind, the creatures’ unearthly screams came closer.
We entered the hangar doors. We had to find a way to close them before it was too late.
“Search for a switch,” Samuel said. “Anything!”
My eyes scanned the walls. These doors had to close, or we would be overwhelmed. I saw a silver box affixed to the wall. I opened the box and saw the words “Hangar Doors” above one of the many red buttons. I pressed it.
The doors screeched, forcing themselves shut ever so slowly.
I ran back to the front, where the rest of the group stood. Lisa had taken a position on top of some nearby crates, and was readying the scope of her rifle. Anna stood with her katana in front of her, as calm as if she were doing one of her meditations. Makara held her pistol with both hands, facing outward. Samuel and I took our positions beside her, pointing our guns into the darkness.
A large, lumbering creature that might have once been a bear charged between the closing doors, going right for Makara. We unloaded into it, and it gave out a baleful roar as it snapped its jaws. With a long, fleshy arm, it began a swipe of its scythe-like claws at Makara. But a loud crack sounded in the hangar and the beast fell dead. Lisa had shot it in the head.
The doors were almost shut, but before they closed two more crawlers slipped in. They slithered along the ground with their bowed legs. Long, curved teeth lined the insides of their powerful jaws, and their all-white eyes burned fiercely.
They circled around us, waiting to strike. We fired at them, but it was as if they could anticipate our movements. At every shot, they danced out of the way.
Lisa, from above, aimed at one of them, and bided her time for the perfect shot.
One of them broke, going straight for me. Anna stepped in front of me, using her blade as a shield. The creature screamed as its neck was ripped open by the blade, and purple liquid oozed from the gash as the crawler crashed into the floor next to me.
The other one hissed, and fell upon Samuel like lightning. He was tackled to the floor, but before the creature could sink its teeth into his neck, Makara and I pulled it off. The thing was slippery, and the slime on its skin burned on contact. The crawler slipped through my hands, targeting me. Makara tried to hold it off. I could feel its drool dripping on my neck.
The creature collapsed on top of my chest, knocking the wind out of my lungs. Anna had shot it with her sidearm.
The others pulled the monster off me. It took a moment before I could breathe again.
“Alex, are you alright?” Makara asked.
“Here,” Samuel said, handing me a canteen. “Wash off with this. It probably doesn’t have the human strain in it but it pays to be careful.”
“Thanks,” I said, my voice raspy.
I washed off my hands and neck, and stared at the three bodies on the floor. I didn’t know why it was only the human ones that exploded. I was thankful we didn’t have to worry about it.
Everyone stood for a moment, catching their breath. Outside, we could hear the horde screaming and howling.
“We need to secure the perimeter and come up with a plan,” Samuel said.
We walked around the large hangar, checking for any doors, holes, or cracks where anything could slip through. There seemed to be no entry except for where we had come in. Soon I found myself focusing on the cargo plane that was still parked in the far corner of the hangar.
If they could fly a plane, who was to say we couldn’t?
“I want to check that plane out,” I said.
“Good idea,” Samuel said. “There could be food, water, or other supplies. Why don’t you and Anna do that?”
Anna nodded toward the plane. “Come on.”
A boarding staircase led up to the door. I was afraid it might be locked, but the door opened right up when I tried the latch, revealing the plane’s interior. Anna stepped inside, pointing her flashlight left and right. In the back of the plane were crates of MREs. Looking at the dates, I saw they were long expired.
We walked into the cockpit. I noticed two large pilot chairs, and behind each of them additional chairs. There were hundreds of buttons, a control stick in front of the pilot’s chair, and a large LCD screen set in the control panel, midway between the pilot’s and the copilot’s chairs.
“Cool.”
I stood there a moment, and the LCD screen flashed on automatically. It startled me; it must have sensed our motion. The screen displayed a map of the United States, and several red circles, each marked with a number — 21, 33, 105. I didn’t see the point of any of it. I saw 108, right there in the San Bernardino Mountains. 114 was not too far northwest of it. I realized that these were Bunker locations.
I searched for 40. I found it in northeastern Arizona, near the border of New Mexico.
“Do you think this plane works?” Anna asked.
