White Space

46

 "Did you find anyone?" Yemon asked.

 "I'm sorry, man." Jaleel shook his head.

 "Alright, we should look—" Yemon couldn't finish the sentence as Jaleel lifted his rifle up with inhuman speed and let out a short burst that barely missed his head. Yemon froze instantly, knowing not to move and let the man do his job. Once Jaleel lowered the rifle, he turned his head towards the target to see the more human-like half of the Colin creature slid down from the wall, leaving a bloody trail. His hand was sliding off the panel by the door that flashed green briefly.

 "Shit." Jaleel said, still holding the weapon up. "These fuckers are smart, too. Just what we need. Let's hope the other door—" Before he could finish the thought, the flickering all around them ceased. The hairs stood up on Yemon's arm as he turned around to see all the lights and screens stop blinking. Now, for some reason, this seemed even more menacing than the flickering he was almost used to. And then the moment had passed, and a literal wave of flickers pulsed through the lights overhead from the extremities of the base toward the recreation room and the doors behind them. Then another one, this time faster. And another one. Then the doors groaned with torturous mechanical effort and started opening.

 "Let's go!" Yemon shouted.

 "But where? The Meg's toast!"

 "I don't know. We need to see if there—"

 "There are no survivors here!"

 "But we can't just leave here like this!"

 "Fine. Stay and die! I'm going topside." Jaleel started towards the airlock.

 "We'll have to see about that." Yemon said as he caught up with Jaleel at the reinforced doors. Once Jaleel started the cycle that would let them through and bring the elevator down, he turned back to the corridor. The flickering intensified in the recreation area, obscuring the entire place in a strange penumbra between the bright light and the absence of it, ever changing. What he could make out were thin tentacles feeling around in there. But that was enough. "But I'm kind of on board with your idea now."

 "It's almost here. Once we're topside, we can figure it out." Jaleel said, stepping next to Yemon and looking down his iron sight. "We just have to hold it for a little while."

 "That won't be easy." Yemon said, clutching the axe to his chest.

 The tentacles slowly made their way toward the corridor and started feeling around the walls at its mouth. Then, an enormous, muscular, webbed foot appeared, followed by a strange head. It looked pointy, like that of a giant predatory fish, but it seemed to possess no eyes or mouth. Instead, the tentacles just spilled forward from the end of the head, right below the pointy end.

 The rest of the thing pressed itself inside, revealing a short and stubby head, not unlike a flat pyramid. Another step brought another, slightly thinner set of legs ending in strange, webbed hands. They couldn't be strictly called feet, as they displayed at least one thumb by the looks of them, but their shape was also closer to a foot. Whatever they were, they continued to pedal the terrible beast toward the two men, trudging into the corridor on yet another set of limbs, these thin, long and emaciated.

 The creature was finally inside the corridor, filling it wall to wall, pulling in a flattened, stubby tail resembling the backside of a giant tadpole. It was even swaying ever so slowly. The tentacles continued feeling around the walls and peeking inside doors. Then the motion suddenly stopped. It didn't just wind down like Yemon would have expected. It ceased in the blink of an eye.

 "What the fuck is it doing?" Jaleel asked.

Seemingly triggered by Jaleel's voice, the massive being erupted in movement again. The tentacles emanating from the head of the creature left the walls and, in a strange, swirling motion, flowed directly towards the two men. The monster reared up, grabbing the walls with its muscular front limbs and inflated, as if taking a deep breath. Instead of that, however, it opened its whole underside, revealing a several meters long mouth along its entire length.

 "What's with all the mouth bellies?" Yemon asked, reminded of the creature in the caves.

 The thing began its progression toward the two, insignificantly small men, propelling itself forward by scraping the walls with its front arms and stepping closer and closer with the rest. As its white body arched back, its mouth covered the width of the corridor, more fleshy tentacles spewing forward from its depths among rows and rows of knife long teeth.

 "This is not good!" Jaleel said, pulling the trigger. As the first pieces of super-fast metal hit the ivory flesh under the flickering lights, it stopped for just a second. Then it shook itself and continued its slow but relentless pursuit. Jaleel switched from short bursts into full auto, but even this couldn't stand a chance at slowing it down. The tentacles were already at arm's length, each ending in razor-sharp petals and a disgusting beak that spewed out black sludge from time to time. Yemon hacked at the longest ones that were getting too close for comfort, but there was only so much he could do. Then there was a shift in the shadows around them. Yemon glanced back to see the lift descend as the thick airlock doors parted.

 "Get in! Now!" he shouted. Jaleel, still firing, stepped retreated into the chamber, which was somehow properly lit. Just when Yemon slapped the big green icon on the wall mounted display, the creature shot its tentacles forward at incredible speed. Some of them blocked the doors from closing, while others went in for the kill. Yemon brought the axe down on them at the bundle between the doors just as the lights inside started flickering inside.

 "Shit!" Jaleel shouted.

 Yemon struck once more, allowing the doors to close before the creature's colossal head hit the other side of the reinforced glass. Then, the inner, opaque safety doors closed, and the elevator started its ascent towards the surface.