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  “Hey … you … bastard!” Matt forced out, trying to get the monster’s attention.

  He got it as the monster spun away from Lorie, ripping its hand free of her. Lorie slid down the wall to slump into the floor. Even barely hanging on, she struggled to eject her rifle’s spent magazine and replace it with a fully loaded one. Matt had always known Lorie was tough but seeing her now, she was something else. He knew that with wounds like hers, unconsciousness would have claimed him already.

  The monster came charging at him. Its furious roar echoed in the corridor as Matt braced himself to fire his weapon. Matt knew that he was only going to get one shot. He had to make it count. Aiming at the monster’s chest was pointless. As powerful as his shotgun was, it wasn’t going to bring the monster’s charge to a halt. Matt aimed for the monster’s head and squeezed the shotgun’s trigger. To his horror, the monster ducked the shotgun’s blast. The heavy slug thudded into the far wall of the corridor, mangling the wood there, and then the monster was on him. Matt blocked the slash of its claws as they came at him with his shotgun. Sparks flew as the thing’s claws struck the weapon and knocked it from his hands. It hit the floor with such force that the shotgun literally shattered at Matt’s feet. Matt staggered backward as the monster lashed out again. Claws swiped through the air where he had just been as Matt drew the pistol holstered on his hip.

  Matt’s pistol cracked in rapid succession as its barrel flashed. Each round hammered into the flesh of the monster, drawing blood. They didn’t really do much more than tick off the monster even more than it already was though. The shots lacked the power to get real penetration through its dense muscle beneath the monster’s white hair. Matt continued to try to back away from the monster. He wondered where in the Hades Davis was. Surely the engineer had heard the sounds of the battle. The generator was loud but not loud enough to cover up the sounds of gunshots, no matter how close to it Davis might be. The engineer was Matt’s only hope now or so he thought until he heard the chattering fire of Lorie’s M-16 from behind the monster. As wounded as she was, Lorie had succeeded in reloading the weapon and saved his life once again.

  The monster cried out as Lorie’s rounds dug at the flesh of its back. The unexpected barrage of fire slamming into it sent the monster careening into the wall of the small corridor where the battle raged. Matt used the distraction to his advantage. He raised his pistol at the creature again. His hand was shaking from the pain he still felt from his broken ribs as he did his best to end the monster. Aiming at the monster’s face and eyes, Matt emptied the remainder of his pistol’s magazine. His first shot cut a trail of red across the monster’s right cheek. The monster whipped its head around in his direction to snarl at him as Matt put two rounds into its mouth. The first of them shattered several of the monster’s razor-like teeth. Blood splashed outward from the monster’s mouth as Matt’s next shot tore at the gums beneath its upper lip. Lorie’s M-16 fell silent and Matt saw that she had finally slipped into unconsciousness. He couldn’t bring himself to admit that she might be dead. Matt wasn’t going to let her die if there was anything he could do about, but in order to help her, he knew the monster had to be stopped first. There were two shots left in his pistol as the monster reared up to its full height with a thunderous roar of rage, blood leaking from its mouth. Matt aimed for the softer flesh of the monster’s neck and fired his final two shots. One missed its target and made contact with the monster’s chin. The bullet flattened against the bone beneath the monster’s skin there, cracking bone in the process. It was enough to make the monster rear its head back farther from the pain, creating an easier target for his second and final shot. His last bullet found its target, plunging into the monster’s throat. Blood splattered as the bullet ripped into the monster’s windpipe, silencing its roar. The monster’s eyes went wide as it realized it couldn’t breathe. Clawed, white hair-covered hands clutched at its wounded throat in vain as the monster stared at him and realized its life had just been brought to an end.

  Crashing onto the floor of the corridor with a loud thud, the monster lay there as blood began to pool around it. Matt watched as the monster’s body twitched sporadically before finally lying completely still. His empty pistol slipped from his fingers and clattered to the floor at his feet. Matt just wanted to fall over himself. It took every ounce of his will to stay on his feet and get moving toward Lorie. Stepping over the monster’s corpse, he started toward her. Losing his balance after only a few steps, Matt caught himself against the wall of the corridor and clung to it. He could see that Lorie wasn’t moving. There was so much blood around her where she sat propped up that Matt knew she had to be dead. Her last act had been to save him by drawing the monster away from him at just the right moment. Matt pulled himself up, regaining his balance, and started to her again. As he did, a third monster entered the power generator building through its open doorway. Snow blew in around the monster as it came. The gaze of its blazing yellow eyes fell on him. Matt had no weapon or strength left to fight it with.

  The monster sprang at him. Matt opened his mouth to scream as its claws came at him. The monster caught him by his lower jaw and snapped it downward, unhinging it. Blood flew as the flesh of Matt’s cheeks tore apart. Matt stared helplessly at the monster as it finished tearing away his lower jaw. Blood gushed from where it had been attached. The monster wasn’t done with him though. Its other hand grabbed his head and bashed it against the wall behind him, cracking open his skull as it impacted the wall. Brain matter leaked out of his skull beneath his hair as Matt’s eyes rolled upward to show only whites, and the monster allowed his corpse to topple to the floor.

  ****

  Davis had been hard at work on adjusting the malfunctioning power flow of the generator deeper in the building when the battle in the corridor had started. There was no choice but to finish what he had started or the generator would shut down. If it did, Zulu Base’s power would be completely out. Not even the backups would kick in because of the work he was doing. Heat, comms, the exterior cameras, all of it would be offline. Davis worked as fast as he could to get his work finished. By the time he had, the gunfire in the corridor outside had fallen silent. He figured that meant Matt and Lorie were dead, as he could hear the inhumanly heavy footsteps of something coming through the corridor toward the door of the generator room. Setting aside his tools and locking the panel he had opened back in place over the wiring he had been working on, Davis reached for the M-16 he had brought with him. He readied the weapon and waited where he was for the monster to enter the room. The monster likely knew where he was, and with only one way in and out of the generator room, there was no hope of getting by it without a fight.

  The door leading out into the corridor was open. Davis didn’t dare try to make it to the door to close it. From the sound of the monster’s footfalls, it had to be already too close for him to risk trying. Davis bit his lip as he saw the monster’s shadow fall over the doorway. The lights were dimmer in the generator room than in the corridor beyond it and the monster’s hulking frame partially blocked the light spilling through the doorway. He knew trying to hide would be pointless too. The room was a small one and there wasn’t really anywhere to hide. The monster’s sense of hearing and smell had to be far superior to a human’s for it to hunt in the environment of Antarctica.

  The monster entered the generator room. Davis flinched at the sight of it. Seeing one of the things in real life and only a few yards away was so much more terrifying than the footage Major Dixon had shown them all in the command center. He had scoffed at that footage, mocking it and saying it had to be fake. There was nothing fake about the monster in front of him now though. It stood close to nine feet tall, all white hair and muscle. Its eyes glowed a feral yellow as the monster saw him. Bracing his M-16 against his shoulder, Davis took aim at the monster and squeezed the rifle’s trigger. The bullets he fired pounded the monster in burst after burst. Blood splattered to stain the monster’s white hair a bright shade of
red with each shot. The monster shrieked in anger and pain, raising up its arms against the bullets still coming at it. Davis’s trigger finger continued to hold the M-16’s trigger tight even after the weapon clicked empty. The monster had taken the entire magazine he had fired into it and was still on its feet. With a roar, it came at him, closing the distance between them in a mere three strides of its long legs.

  Davis had no sidearm to try for or time to reload his M-16. He spun the M-16 around in his hands to use it as a club. Raising the rifle over his head, he brought its butt down in an arc against the monster, hoping to stop its charge. The monster didn’t even try to dodge the blow. The rifle shattered against the arm it raised to block it in the seconds before it plowed into him, knocking Davis off his feet. He went sprawling onto the floor of the generator room with the monster dropping on top of him. It growled and snarled as its claws tore at him. Davis wailed as the claws of the monster’s right hand slashed open his chest. The claws of its left hand buried themselves in the side of his skull, jerking his head upward in the process. As they pierced his brain through the bone of his skull, Davis’ world went black and then there was only a cold, never-ending darkness.

  ****

  Alex was bored out of his mind. He had dragged a chair near the main entrance of Zulu Base and sat in it, staring at the heavy door in front him. There was a pump-action shotgun lying in his lap and an M-16 propped against the side of his chair within easy reach. The security officer also wore a 9mm pistol holster on his hip. Alex was armed to the teeth and he hoped ready for anything that might try to force its way through the door into the base. He believed in being prepared. Keeping his focus was the problem now. He didn’t dare listen to music for fear that it would prevent him from hearing any early signs of trouble. Despite that choice, the security officer was still oblivious to the battle that had taken place moments before within the nearby generator building. The thickness of Zulu Base’s outer door and the howling of the wind from the storm had muted the sounds of Matt and Lorie’s gunfire. The first sign that Alex had that something was wrong was the door he was watching flying inward at him as it was knocked from its frame. Alex threw himself sideways, dodging the door and flopping onto the floor. Even as the door clanged to the corridor floor next to him, the first of the monsters was coming in through the doorway from the storm outside. Alex rolled to his feet, his shotgun in hand. He pumped a round into the weapon’s chamber and met the monster’s roar with a battle cry of his own. Alex’s shotgun boomed. The monster reeled backward into the one behind it as the blast opened up its chest in an explosion of gore. Alex counted three of the monsters, including the one he had just shot. The one he had shot was bleeding profusely from its mangled chest but was still far from out of the fight. Alex pumped a second shell ready in his shotgun and then snatched up his M-16 with his free hand. The security officer finished the wounded monster with another blast that pulped its face while he fired at the two behind it with his M-16. His first burst tore at both of them. Two bullets struck the one on the left as the last bullet buried itself in the shoulder of the other. Alex swept his M-16 to focus his fire on the farthest away of the two monsters as the closest one tripped over the corpse of the one he had just killed. It went down hard onto the floor with a loud grunt as Alex’s bullets cut a line of red holes across the right arm and shoulder of the other monster. Alex kept up his rate of fire with his M-16, emptying its magazine entirely into the farthest monster. The creature shrieked a high-pitched cry of pain as the bullets peppered its chest with holes.

  The closer of the monsters shoved itself back to its feet and came raging toward him. Alex flung his empty M-16 aside instead of attempting to switch out its magazine for a new one. He worked the pump of his shotgun, getting another shell ready inside of it instead. Alex knew he had to hold the monsters until the others heard the battle and came running to his aid. If the monsters got by him, they would have free run of Zulu Base and be able to engage the rest of its staff likely before they even knew what was coming at them. The monsters were scary as Hades. They were all white hair and thick muscles driven by a primal rage that burned in their yellow eyes. Alex longed for a grenade as he hefted his shotgun and fired it at the face of the closer of the two monsters. The monster tried to duck the blast but all it did was put the top of its head directly in the path of the blast. The top of its skull folded inward as the heavy slug from Alex’s weapon entered it. The monster dropped straight down onto the floor, splashing blood and ruptured brain matter out of the wound his shot had inflicted upon it. Its body lay there twitching as Alex faced the last of the monsters.

  Alex felt a surge of pride that he had already dealt with two of the creatures on his own before any of the rest of Zulu Base’s staff had even reached his position. The feeling was taken from him as the monster surged forward to smack his shotgun from his hands. The trigger finger of Alex’s right hand got caught in the weapon and snapped loudly as it broke. Alex yelped at the sudden pain that coursed through his hand. The palm of an overly large, human-like, white hair-covered hand hammered into his chest, knocking him backward. Alex flew several feet through the air before landing hard on his back against the floor of the corridor. Biting his lip against the pain, he rolled out of the path of the monster’s foot as it came stomping down at him. The monster’s foot slammed onto the floor of the corridor with such force it seemed to shake the very walls around it. Reaching around, Alex yanked his pistol from its holster with his left hand as he made it to his feet and sprinted away from the raging monster that was continuing to try to close on him.

  Gregory, Ryan, and Brooks came running, appearing at the far end of the corridor. Alex ran toward them. He could hear the monster following after him. Its heavy footfalls slammed down on the metal of the corridor floor. Alex imagined he could feel its breath on the back of his neck. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that monster wasn’t that close to him … yet … Though it was gaining on him fast.

  “Get down!” Ryan barked at him and Alex threw himself flat on the floor as the trio ahead of him let loose at the monster. M-16s chattered, hosing the monster with a barrage of fire that stopped the hulking beast in its tracks. Blood erupted from the numerous wounds the bullets opened up in its body. The monster roared its fury, hurting, and unable to continue its advance. Alex didn’t know how many rounds the guys hit the beast with but it did finally fall. It thudded onto the floor behind where he lay.

  Alex scrambled back to his feet and ran to join the others.

  “I bet you’re glad to see us,” Gregory said.

  “What the heck took you guys so long?” Alex asked.

  “We were trying to let you get in some fun before we broke up the party,” Brooks said, laughing.

  “Is that all of them?” Ryan asked, still staring along the corridor toward the base’s main entrance.

  “Somehow, I doubt it,” Alex replied.

  “Should we start cleaning up this mess?” Gregory gestured at the corpse of the three monsters.

  “No.” Alex shook his head as he saw movement through the open doorway in the waves of blowing snow outside. “This fight isn’t over yet. There are more of those things coming.”

  “Frag, he’s right,” Ryan muttered. “Look!”

  Outside in the snow, numerous sets of glowing yellow eyes could be seen. Some of them began moving toward the open doorway that led into the base.

  “Get ready,” Alex warned. “This time, it ain’t gonna be so easy.”

  “Who said the last time was easy?” Brooks quipped.

  One by one, hulking, white-haired monsters came through the main entrance of the base. The size of the doorway prevented more than one of the creatures from entering at a time. It gave the base’s defenders the advantage. All of them had used the brief respite to reload their weapons. Ryan was the first one to start shooting. His M-16 chattered as he poured fire into the lead monster. Gregory and Brooks joined him. Alex held his fire. He planned to be ready when the other
s’ spent their magazines or the monsters got too close. His shotgun was best suited to that task. Besides, he felt like some up close and personal payback right now. The first group of monsters had nearly gotten him, and he would be damned if this group was going to get that chance.

  Two of the monsters fell from the constant barrage of fire the base’s defenders poured into them. The next three closest monsters were wounded as well when their M-16s clicked empty one after another.

  “Reload!” Alex shouted. “I got this!”

  The security chief moved forward, his shotgun leveled at the approaching monsters. He blew a gaping hole in the lead monster’s chest in the center of its sternum. The monster toppled backward into the path of those behind it. The monster directly behind it caught its falling body and hurled it aside into the corridor wall to get it out of its way. Alex fired again. The head of the next monster exploded in a shower of blood, bone fragments, and gray bits of brain matter. Its body flopped onto the floor, tripping up the next monster in line. Alex didn’t give that one a chance to get up. He ran forward, pumped a round into his shotgun’s chamber, and pressed the weapon’s barrel to its skull. The shotgun’s blast splattered its head open. The monster’s blood splashed over him. Alex immediately began to back up. His move forward had brought him closer to the other monsters than he had intended. One of them came bounding over its fallen comrades to take a swipe at the security chief with the claws of its right hand. Its reach fell just short of doing him real harm. The monster’s claws ravaged the cloth of his shirt but didn’t hit his skin beneath it. Alex squealed like a school girl, something he was never going to live down if he and the others survived the next few minutes. Instead of trying to pump another round ready in his shotgun, Alex ran like a bat out of hell away from the oncoming monsters.

  The others had all reloaded by now and stood ready to break the monsters’ charge. The lead monster had more brains than any of them had given the creatures credit for though. It reached out with its clawed hands to tear away a sheet of metal from the wall of the corridor and used it as a shield to cover its advance and the advance of those behind it. Bullets pinged against the piece of the wall the monster held, denting it, but very few of them managed to truly pierce the monster’s makeshift shield.