Ultimate Thriller Box Set - Crouch Blake - Страница 40

He winked and went through the Yellow door.

The hallway was empty. Race moved slowly at first, then broke into a jog. The years of daily exercise had paid off. He tried to push the emotional baggage aside and visualize his goal. Yellow 4.

That's where the bomb switch was.

He got within ten yards, and then Helen burst out of Yellow 3.

But it was no longer Helen.

She'd changed into a five foot version of Bub. Her chest was greenish, rather than red, and her wings didn't look large enough for flight. The legs had bent backwards, like a goat, ending in large cloven hoofs. Her arms ended in razor claws that resembled eagle talons. Hundreds of long, pointy teeth, thin as icicles, jutted from her mouth, so large that her lips were shredded and bleeding.

Race stared hard into her elliptical eyes, eyes the color of a furnace. He found no trace of his wife in their depths. A lump the size of a plum formed in his throat.

“Hello, dear,” Race said.

It took two steps towards him, its piggish nostrils sniffing the air.

“Can you understand me, Helen?”

The creature growled, raising its talons. They ground together with the sound of knives being sharpened.

Race clenched his teeth and said, “I'm sorry.”

Then he took a running start and dove at the thing that was once his wife.

It was like fighting a tiger, all claws and teeth and muscle. Race had the weight advantage, but the sheer ferocity of the demon's attack put him on the defensive. He was being torn apart in ten places at once.

She forced him to the ground and continued her assault, ripping at his clothes, snapping at his neck. The pain was electric. He felt as if he'd fallen into a meat grinder, and part of him wanted to just give up and die.

But Race was a soldier. A soldier with a debt to settle. For his country, that he loved so dearly. For his friend Harold, whose senseless death weighed upon Race every hour of every day. But most of all, for Helen.

Bub had to die. And so did this abomination that was once his wife.

Race went for the eyes, making his fingers stiff and jamming them in hard. The demon squealed, releasing its grip long enough for Race to crawl past and reach Yellow 4.

It was a keypad entrance. Race lifted his arm to punch in the code, but his arm wasn't working right. He took note of the puddle of blood forming around his feet.

He was hurt bad.

Race used his other hand, unable to stop it from shaking.

His first attempt at the code failed.

The thing that used to be Helen advanced on all fours, like a wolf.

The General ignored the threat, and once more punched in the code. A talon wrapped around his leg and tugged, just as the door unlocked.

Race grabbed the doorframe and pulled himself into Yellow 4, breaking the beast’s grip. He slammed the door shut with his feet, hoping it would hold.

*

“How do we know for sure the bombs will kill Bub?” Sun asked. “He heals so fast.”

Andy was sitting with his arm around her, and he couldn't be sure if she was trembling, or he was.

“This could be interesting.” Dr. Belgium got up and headed for the Red Door. “I think I'll watch.”

Andy said, “Be careful. Race said those charges were large enough to...”

Oh no.

“Large enough to what?” Belgium asked.

“We have to stop him.” Andy got to his feet. “Call Race, we have to stop him from setting off those bombs.”

“Why why why would we do that?” Belgium asked.

“Do it!”

Andy knocked away a chair from the Yellow door barricade but Sun held him back.

“You can't go in there. That thing will tear you apart.”

“Call Race!” Andy said. “He can't set off those bombs!”

Andy broke away from Sun, but rather than the Yellow Door he went for the Red Door. He half stumbled, half ran down the Red Arm.

Bub wasn't near the gate. And Andy saw why.

*

Race took a deep breath and choked on the blood. There wasn't an inch of him that didn't hurt. But that didn't matter. All that mattered was the detonation switch. Race was going to send Bub back to hell, where he belonged.

The phone rang. Race ignored it. He crawled to the side panel along the wall. There were several buttons and switches. Race turned on the power for the remote, then activated the radio transmitter and disengaged the safety.

“This is for you, Helen.”

He hit the detonation switch.

*

Andy could see the gate, twenty yards ahead. Resting on the bars, near the lock, were two stainless steel pellets each about the size of a baseball. Even from that distance, Andy could see they were slick with blood.

Andy knew why the demon had taunted Race earlier.

Bub had dug the bombs out of his body and set them on the gate.

The linguist turned tail and ran back to the Octopus.

“Get down!” he said, slamming the Red Door and pulling Sun to the floor.

The explosion rocked the complex, blowing the Red Door off of its hinges. Andy felt the floor vibrate like a mini earthquake, shaking so hard he bit his tongue. The BOOM was painful to his ears, and immediately followed by a wave of heat and smoke, which drifted through the Red Arm and into the Octopus.

Andy looked down the hallway, straining to see through the haze.

The titanium gate swung open.

“Reaaaaaaady or not,” Bub said. “Heeeeeeeeere I coooooooooome.”

The demon crawled forward.

“What happened?” Sun said.

Andy ignored her and rushed to the computer terminal, grateful that it wasn't damaged. He booted up the main screen and searched for the SECURITY window. There were a dozen headings; COMMUNICATION, INVENTORY, HELP, PERSONAL, SECURITY...

“Aaaaaaaaaaaandy!” Bub bellowed.

Sun said, “Jesus! He sounds close. Did he get through the gate?”

Andy glanced down the Red Arm and saw Bub making his way down the hall. He was about forty yards away, moving in a crouch.

“This is not good,” Belgium whispered.

“Andy, what are you doing?” Sun shook him. “Can you stop him?”

Andy clicked on SECURITY and the password window came up. He typed in lockdown.

PASSWORD INCORRECT.

Andy retyped it, making sure he spelled it right.

PASSWORD INCORRECT.

“Godammit, Race!” Andy smacked the desk with his fist. Race said lockdown, one word no breaks. Andy tried lock down.

PASSWORD INCORRECT.

“Andy, whatever you're doing, do it fast.”

Andy chanced a look over his shoulder. Bub was twenty yards away and closing.

“I'm not worried.” Dr. Belgium put his hand to his chest. “I'll have a heart attack before he finally gets here.”

Andy typed lock-down with a hyphen.

PASSWORD INCORRECT.

Andy hit the HELP button. It read PASSWORDS ARE CASE SENSITIVE.

“Caps. It’s all caps.”

“We've got to run,” Sun said. “He’s almost at the door.”

Andy typed in LOCKDOWB.

“Stand clear!” he yelled.

He hit ENTER.

PASSWORD INCORRECT.

“Oops. Typo.”

“He’s here!” Belgium screamed, high-pitched and frantic.

Andy pressed BACKSPACE, erasing the B. Then he hit N and ENTER.

LOCKDOWN ACTIVATED.

Six titanium gates dropped from the overhangs above all the doors in the Octopus, simultaneously sealing it off with a ground shaking CLANG!

Bub barely pulled his arm back in time, or he would have lost it. The demon stared at the new set of bars and scowled. He grabbed one and gave it a violent tug. It held.

The demon screamed, an unearthly wail that sounding like hundreds of souls being tortured.

Andy let out a deep breath. The adrenaline was wearing off and his whole body was shaking badly.

The phone rang, prompting Dr. Belgium to scream again.

Andy grabbed it.

“Did I get him?” Race asked on the other end. His voice was wet and sickly.

“No, General. He used the bombs to blow up the gate. I had to go into Lockdown.”