pandorum

Losses

Chapter 16.

They marched single file out of the storage tank, using the directions that Payton had laid out for them. Mahn was in the lead, followed by Nadia, then Bower and last Leland. It was very dark now, Bower noticed, and as his eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, he marveled at how well he could see in this unlit corridor. Maybe the mutagen wasn't such a bad thing after all.

The ship was silent as they moved, hushed as though it was holding its breath, waiting for them to fix its drastic illness.

Before departure, Bower had watched as Leland carefully selected a makeshift weapon from his small arsenal. He then bade Bower to do the same. Leland had chosen a large heavy two handed blade made of steel alloy and Bower had selected a set of hatchet-like weapons that were long-handled and lightweight. There was a spike at each end of the axes so he could chop and stab.

Leland then sharpened all of their weapons with a laser sharpener that he had scavenged from the mess kitchen.

Bower also had the anti riot weapon for backup.

They were armed to the teeth.

Bower's spirits had been high, motivation was fueling him with energy when they had left. In the steamy shadowed warmth of the narrow hallway, apprehension closed in. He pushed himself on, knowing that there was no going back, no turning around, no putting this mission off until another day. It HAD to be done, period.

Up ahead, Mahn stopped and crouched low to the side of the hall. He drew his swords and was staring ahead into the fog, intently. He wasn't moving on. The clock was ticking.

Bower made his way quietly past Nadia and hunkered down besides Mahn. He whispered quietly, "What's wrong?"

"I think I just saw a hunter child." Mann said so low that Bower could barely hear him.

"A what?"

"Hunter child. You know, a young hunter."

There was a soft scratching noise up ahead of them in the steamy hallway. Bower swallowed nervously. Leland had said the young hunters could climb the walls and celings like spiders. He shuddered, "Are they dangerous?"

"Oh yeah."

"Shit."

Mahn said, "I think it knows we're here. We have to be very careful, my friend. They are really fast and-"

A high pitch screech, similar to a monkey's accompanied the small white flash that flew out of the mist and right on top of Mahn. Bower cried out in alarm and fell backward, drawing out his axes.

In that same split second, he could hear Leland crying out in surprise, and Nadia cussing in German behind him. The spindly creature that was attacking Mahn was about the size of an adolescent child. It was completely hairless, had very sharp teeth, jet black eyes, long arms and bleached white skin.

The small attacker held a sharp spike that it was thrusting downward towards Mahn but he managed to put up one of his swords to block the attack. His blocking sword caught the creatures forearms as it stabbed down at him. As the creature's blade still managed to penetrate Mahn's shoulder, his sword cut deeply into both of the hunter child's arms. It shrieked loudly. Bower came forward and buried both axes into its spine. The young hunter twitched and went limp.

Bower spun towards Nadia as she was pinning another one of the darting creatures against the wall with the spear. It was snapping at her with its sharp jagged teeth keeping both hands on the spear to keep her from crushing its windpipe. He hacked at it with one of the axes but it jerked away, avoiding his attack. He reared back to hack it again but Nadia had already stabbed it with her knife. She stabbed it repeatedly in the chest until it was dead. Bower watched Leland behind her. He finished off the one that had attacked him.