panel and a broken hinge. She opened the door… … and leaped inside, slamming it behind her before Steve could hear the noise, so much for minor… The entire rear of the hold was gone, the hatch torn away, clouds and sky whipping past at incredible speed. Confused, Claire took a single step forward and saw what the problem was. Mr. X, she thought wildly, remembering the monstrous thing in Raccoon, the relentless pursuer in the long, dark coat, but the hulking creature straddling the hydraulic track wasn't the same. It was humanoid, giant-sized and hairless like the X monster, its flesh similar, an almost metallic dark gray but it was also taller and more muscular, built like an eight-foot-tall bodybuilder, its shoulders impossibly broad, its abdomen rippled with muscle. It was sexless, a rounded hump at its groin, and the hands weren't human hands, were far more lethal. Its left fist was a metal- spiked mace bigger than her entire head, its right hand a hybrid of flesh and curving knives, two of them at least a foot long. And it's not wearing a coat, she thought randomly, as the monster turned its cataract-white eyes to look at her before throwing its head back and roaring, an explosive howl of bloodlust and fury. Terrified but determined, Claire raised her suddenly pathetic weapon as the creature started for her, and put the red dot on its right unicolor eye. She squeezed the
trigger… … and heard the dry click of an empty chamber, deafeningly loud even over the raging winds that spun past the damaged plane.
NINE
There wasn't a curse word strong enough to accurately express her dismay. Claire instantly dropped the useless weapon and ran, dodging to the right, not wanting to end up trapped in the corner, unable to believe that she hadn't thought to check the goddamn weapon. There were six or seven crates stacked against the wall near the cockpit door but no cover there, on either side; the thing would have her penned in.
Go go go!
As she scurried along the right wall, the lumbering creature slowly turning to follow, she grabbed the semi from under her belt and flicked the safety off by feel, afraid to look away from it. It stumped toward her on tree trunk legs, eerily focused on her every step. The cargo hold wasn't all that big, maybe thirty-five feet long and twelve wide. Too soon, she was at the rear of the plane, icy air suddenly pulling at her, working to suck her out into the clouds. Crouching, trying not to think about a misstep, Claire darted across the open space and reached the other wall, grabbing at a raised ridge of metal with trembling fingers. The creature was still almost twenty feet away. Claire held onto the wall, waiting for it to draw closer before running again. At least it was slow, there was that much, but she had to come up with something, she couldn't keep going around in circles. She was watching the creature, could see it clearly… … but what happened next was like some optical illusion. It dropped its silvery head slightly –
– and was suddenly five feet away, the distance closed in a fraction of a second, and it was bringing its right arm down, parting the air with an audible whoosh, knives flashing… Claire didn't think, she moved, her stomach suddenly in her throat, her own action a blur to herself. For a split second she was only a body, ducking and sprinting… … and then she was on the other side of the plane, all the way up by the stacked crates, looking back as the creature slowly, slowly turned. Aw, shit on this! The plane would survive a few holes. She opened fire, sent eight 9mm rounds in a tight grouping right at the center of its chest and all of them hit. She saw the black-rimmed holes open up near where its heart would be if it was human, no blood but moist, dark tissue was exposed, forming spongy lumps around the wounds. The creature stopped in its tracks and started again in about two seconds, one slow step after another, its focus unchanged. A stab of panic hit her, gotta get out of here it's going to kill me, get Steve, another gun maybe…
No, she couldn't, and it wouldn't help, it would only make things worse. Mr. X had been programmed for a single purpose, to obtain a virus sample; she suspected that this creature was after her specifically, and if she left the hold, the creature would just tear through the hatch, killing her and Steve. At least this way, he might have a chance. And 9mm was the heaviest firepower on board if it could take eight rounds in the chest, another gun wasn't going to make a difference. Try for a head shot, like the one-armed monster. She could try, but she had the feeling that something that didn't bleed probably wouldn't go blind, either. Its eyes were strange, perhaps they weren't even used for sight … and there was also the fact that they were on a moving plane, one that shook and wavered; without a scope, how was she supposed to target, let alone hit? All that passed through her mind in about a second and then she was moving again, edging toward the back of the plane once more afraid to run, afraid to stand still, wondering how long she had before it ran at her again and what she would do then… … and it lowered its head like it had done before, and again, Claire's body reacted, but an idea was forming, too. She pushed away from the wall and ran toward it, angling her path, if this doesn't work I'm dead… … and she felt the chill of its strange flesh as it rocketed past her, was so close that she could smell its rotten meat smell and then they were on opposite ends of the open space and it was slowly, mechanically turning around. It had worked, but barely; if it had been an inch closer, if she'd been a half step slower, it would already be over. Guns didn't work, she couldn't leave, so the creature had to go, but how? The air stream at the hold's open end was strong, but if she could duck past it, no way it would nab the weighty monstrosity … she had to knock it off-balance, maybe bait it to the opening and trip it up somehow, she wasn't strong enough to push it… Think, damnit! It was starting toward her again, one step, two. She looked away long enough to scan the floor near the opening, looking for something it might stumble over, maybe the hydraulic track…
The hydraulic track.
Used to push heavy crates to the rear of the plane, to
be unloaded. In fact, two of the empty crates were sitting on the metal platform at the start of the track, just a few steps from the door to the cockpit. The controls were set into the outer wall, right in front of the door. Too slow, there's no way. Except it was slow because it carried a heavy load; if there was only an empty container or two on the platform, how fast would it go then? She had to get to the controls, had to see… There was a blur of movement, and then the spiked mace was coining around, ripping toward the side of her head. Claire jumped forward, instinctively sidestepped, but not quite fast enough. The spikes didn't get her but its powerful forearm did, bashing painfully into her ear, knocking her off her feet. Instantly, the creature crouched and brought its right arm down, but she was already in motion, rolling the second she hit the floor. The hand blades hit the deck and sparks flew, the creature howling in rage as Claire sprang to her feet, trying not to notice her throbbing ear or the tiny black dots that swarmed at the edges of her vision. She ran for the hydraulic controls instead, as the creature rose to its feet, its movements mechanical again, as emotionless as it had been furious only seconds before. A few running steps and she was looking down at a simple control panel, power switch, a dial for entering approximate weight, buttons for back and forth, a tiny readout screen, an emergency shutoff. Claire hit the power switch, twisting the weight dial to the maximum limit, just under three tons. She shot a look at the creature, still at a safe distance, and saw that it was only a step or two from being in the direct path of the platform. Her hand hovered over the blue switch that would move it forward, that should send it bulleting down the hold at an incredible speed. With only a few pounds of empty container where three tons was expected, it would mow the creature down like a blade of grass.
Almost… almost.. . now!
When the creature was standing almost directly on the track, Claire punched the button and nothing happened, nothing at all. Shit! She fumbled for the power switch again, maybe she hadn't turned it on and she saw what was on the little readout screen, and groaned aloud. The simple instructions read, 'Charging for load wait for tone.'
Good God, how long will that be?
The creature was still twenty feet away, walking almost directly along the track. She might not get a better shot at it, because another blow could very well mean her death, but if she stayed where she was and the creature got to her before the platform was charged, she'd be
trapped between the wall and the storage crates. It would bludgeon her into pulp against the cockpit door.
Better to run for it Better to stay put.
Claire hesitated a touch too long, and the creature was in motion again. It swept toward her like a natural disaster and it was too late, not even tune to turn around and flee into the cockpit…
