Floxham Island ~ Sinclair V-Log AZ267/M Read online

  “That’s a pretty name,” I continued. “Now Jena, you’re a real grown up young lady so I want you to do an important job for me okay? Do you think you can do that?” She nodded and stopped crying. “Great. Now Eddy here is real scared so he needs you to be brave for him.” She nodded. “You’re the only one I can trust with him.” She nodded again. “Good girl. Now we will be back in an hour, after we’ve had a look around so don’t think we’ve forgotten you. We’ll come back for you in one hour, I promise.”

  “Can you find my dad and bring him back?” she asked quietly and I frowned.

  “Your Dad?” I asked and then realised he must be an inmate. “Oh is he an inmate here? What’s his name?”

  “No he works here,” she replied. “His name is Randy Marks and he’s a guard. We’re going on holiday together to Arrenar Prime.”

  “Oh I see,” I nodded and smiled. “I’ll look out for him okay?” This seemed to placate her a little so I smiled and stood up. It was only then that I saw what the old guy was doing. He was crouched down beside Eddy and was gesturing to him with his hands. At no time did he speak, but continued gesturing until the boy nodded and scooted over next to Jena. As I turned to leave the room I caught sight of the thinker guy and his expression made me stop in my tracks. He was watching the old guy with a frown, which soon turned to shock. Before I could ask him what was up, Flark barked at us once more.

  “Okay people listen up. There are ten of us so we’ll split up into two groups of three and one of four and scout the place out and be back here in one hour. I’ve found a plan of the complex. Here look.” He spread out the large sheet on one of the desks. The prison was laid out in the typical way, with a large oblong central building with eight long wings leading off it in a semi circle like the rays of a sun. “This central section is where we are now and there are four floors, so I vote for now we contain our search to this central building first. Now who here is competent with firearms?” The military guy, the plain woman, Meesha, Cap, Luggs and me all raised our hands. “Okay,” Flark continued. “This room here,” he said pointing to a small square on the plan, “is the armoury so I vote we make our way there first before we split up. We must make sure each group has at least one competent gun with them too. Any questions? Okay let’s go.”

  Slowly we made our way to the armoury and let ourselves in. This was somewhere I immediately felt at home so I knew what I was looking for. It didn’t take long for me to find the appropriate hardware and I helped myself to a powerful short range laser rifle and a laser pistol. As I helped myself to several spare ammo clips, I saw the thinker guy looking bemused so I went over and introduced myself.

  “Sam Sinclair,” I said, extending my hand, which he shook nervously.

  “Ronjo Beghart,” he replied.

  “Ever fired a gun?”

  “Never, but I sure wish I had,” he smiled. He was obviously scared so I took pity on him and took a quick look around to see what was most appropriate from the hardware on display and smiled when my eyes fell upon a rack of rookies. The AB11 Rookie is the first weapon given to new military recruits, many of whom will never have used a firearm before. The Rookie has a very short effective range but it’s lightweight and easy to load and fire. Reaching up, I fetched a couple down with several spare ammo clips.

  “Here ya go,” I smiled. “Anyone with a few brain cells can use one of these; they’re real easy. Just hold it like this, aim and fire. Each of these clips here will give you a hundred shots and when you’re empty you just pull this here, like this. Drop it and click another one in like this. Here, you try.” Crossing my fingers that he was a swift learner, I watched as he changed the clip remarkably well and smiled at me. It’s always been a firm belief of mine that an armed man will feel safer in even the most hopeless of circumstances and I reckoned there was always a chance that this guy might just save my hide before we got off this rock. Once we were all armed we split up and I found myself teamed up with Luggs, Cap and Ronjo. Not a bad haul considering what else was on offer. We decided to take the second floor so with a deep breath, we set off up the stairs.

  *****

  CHAPTER THREE

  My mood was almost fearless as we began climbing the stairs but as we continued climbing and the silence closed in around us, a sense of unease again crept in. As we reached the second floor I’d decided that I was mighty glad to have Luggs nearby and mentally apologised to him for my low opinion earlier. A throwback to ancient times he may be, but he was damn fearless and ready to take anything on. He strode forward with purpose and I couldn’t help but admire him. Embarrassed at not being the first to move, I tried to emulate him and strode after him. Cap was behind me and Ronjo, shaking with fear, crept along at the back. Looking back on what we must’ve looked like as we crept our way around the second floor offices; a fearless throwback, a law enforcer, a terminally optimistic engineer and a terrified civilian, I can’t help but laugh and although we were a motley bunch, we were no pushover.

  The first three offices we found revealed nothing of any use to us, either by way of explanation or assistance and we were beginning to relax as we continued down the corridor. Luggs snorted with annoyance and swore as he hefted the ridiculously large laser rifle he’d helped himself to in the armoury. It turned out that he was ex military too and was firearms trained so we felt safer with another competent gun in our group. As he continued onwards with his huge gun at the ready, he reminded me of one of those characters in vidicom games. You know the type; massive shoulders and eyebrow ridges to match and no language to speak of other than the occasional grunt. Oh and always the obligatory huge gun. Even his name matched the look and I couldn’t help but smile.

  We approached the fourth office in the corridor and saw at once that something awful had happened here. The remains of the door lay in pieces on the floor and the bit that remained hung flaccidly on its remaining hinge; giving silent testament to some previous and terrible assault. Each of the pieces bore huge scratches almost an inch deep and as I looked, I couldn’t imagine what manner of beast made them, nor with what. We looked at each other, eyebrows raised and eyes wide in shock as we took in the scene.

  “What the hell could’ve made those scratches?” Ronjo exclaimed, verbalising the thought each of us was silently wrestling with.

  “More to the point,” Luggs said, “is it still inside there?”

  “Well you’re more than welcome to go and find out,” Ronjo responded immediately, “and I’ll wait out here for ya.”

  “On your own?” Luggs grinned at him. “Sure buddy, okay. See ya later,” he snorted as he stepped towards the door and ducked under the wood that hung limp from the wrenched hinge. There was no way I was about to drop any further down the pecking order just yet, so I stepped in after him, swiftly followed by Cap. The interior of the room looked like the aftermath of a hurricane. One desk was smashed to matchwood; the other was still in one piece but upside down with one leg bent at a most unnatural angle. The remains of computer consoles lay in pieces on the floor amongst other assorted debris; the flotsam and jetsam of prison administration cast unceremoniously aside in what must’ve been one hell of an attack. Cap produced a flashlight and swung it around the room and we all saw the body at once. Propped up in one corner, the abdomen flared open to display the contents within that none of us wanted to see.

  “Holy fuck,” Luggs exclaimed as we heard Ronjo gasp behind us and run out into the corridor; his heaving and gagging almost as unsettling as the sight that lay before us.

  The man sat in the corner, his eyes staring unseeing into the room. One arm hung down, hand in his lap while the other was tucked behind his back. The two flaps of skin splayed apart as the contents tumbled out into his crotch, reminding me of those darkly gothic and cheaply made vidicom horror movies I watch from time to time. Cap trained his flashlight on it and the bloody mass glistened at us as we stood there revolted but unable to look away.

  “Whatever the fuck killed him ate h
is insides but didn’t touch anything else,” Cap whispered. Unsure of what he was getting at, I frowned and he nodded to the body. “Look at the rest of him Sam, not a scratch on him.” We looked and found to our horror that he was right; whatever killed the man was only interested in what lay beneath the skin. Luggs and I came to the same realisation at the same instant as Cap said what we were thinking. “That means he was alive when it started eating him.”

  We found Ronjo breathing deeply out in the corridor and set off once again. Up ahead the corridor turned ninety degrees to the left and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t help but imagine all sorts of horrors waiting for us around that corner. It occurred to me that the others might be thinking the same and I almost asked them in an effort to lighten the mood, but then realised that Ronjo would probably lose it if I did, so I held my tongue. What we found were three more bodies, all with their insides torn out but otherwise untouched and the floor was sticky underfoot with congealed blood. We squelched past them and headed for the nearest office to find it ransacked in a similar manner to the last one. The corridor walls were littered with the same deep gouges that we’d seen on the wrecked doors and in one place there were several holes in the ceiling. As I looked at those holes and wondered what had caused them, a pattern suddenly leapt into place. Three holes side by side and another behind; those were claw holes made by something hanging from the ceiling.

  “Hey guys,” I whispered, “make sure you keep a look above as well as all around huh.” Everyone looked up and I noticed Ronjo’s face pale by several more shades.

  “Shit,” Luggs hissed as he looked up. “What the fuck have we gotten ourselves into here?” Just as I was about to make a remark we were all silenced by a screech from somewhere above. As one we all looked up and listened, holding our breaths. Another screech and then a human cry that made even Luggs gasp in shock. Someone was dying horribly somewhere above us and from what we’d already seen, we knew what they were going through at that moment. Several shots rang out, accompanied by shouts that grew gradually fainter told us one of the groups was now down to two and that those two were running for their lives. “Oh for fuck’s sake,” Luggs said as he wiped a hand over his head. “I’m a co pilot on a two bit passenger liner. I shouldn’t be dealing with this shit on what I get paid.” He was right and I understood perfectly how he felt and nodded.

  “Yeah well I’m just a law enforcement guy,” I replied, “and I’m happy to deal with murderers and crazies anytime over this shit. Come on, let’s get this going before we lose what nerve we have left huh?” Luggs took a deep breath and rolled his neck around before nodding and stepping forward.

  By the time we found ourselves back at the stairs, we’d found several more bodies and all but two of the remaining offices were torn to pieces. We were about to start down the stairs when we heard footsteps above and looked up to see Flark and the elderly guy coming towards us. They both looked white as sheets and the elderly guy had large sweat stains under his arms.

  Where’s Meesha?” Luggs asked. “We heard it all going on.”

  “We lost her,” Flark sighed.

  “Aww shit,” Luggs replied. “What was it? We’ve seen the damage it does.”

  “It’s like nothing you could imagine,” Flark responded and the elderly guy nodded. “It’s like a big bird but with teeth instead of a beak. It was waiting for us in one of the offices; just hanging from the ceiling and watching us for over a minute before it dropped down onto us.”

  “We had no idea it was there,” the elderly guy gasped. “It was just hanging there, silent as the grave and watching us. Oh shit I’m too old for this.”

  “Take it easy Kitt,” Flark soothed. “You’ve done great so far, don’t lose it yet okay?” So that was his name huh? Kitt. He didn’t look like a Kitt to me but then you can never really tell and I was pondering what name he did look like when we heard more footsteps coming down from the top floor. We were then joined by the military guy, the plain woman and the blue eyed plank pilot. All looked scared out of their wits but all were alive. So we’d made our tour of the central building with just one loss and we’d identified one of the creatures. It seemed we’d done okay, for now. “Let’s get back downstairs, do the ground floor, get the kids and go find somewhere to hole up as base camp.” Flark suggested and everyone nodded.

  We started down the stairs but Flark suddenly stopped and turned to me. “Oh by the way Sam, we have a new problem too.”

  “We do?” I replied, wondering what the fuck else could be worse than this.

  “Yeah I’m afraid so. Kitt here went to take a piss before we started and found your prisoner gone,” he looked at the old guy who nodded and shrugged apologetically. Oh shit, this was just what we didn’t need.

  “What?” I yelled a little more sharply than I should’ve done. “How the fuck did that happen? That’s all we need right now. As if being stranded on some rock surrounded by creatures who want to snack on our insides isn’t enough, we now have a murderer running loose around the place.” This was going from bad, to worse, to unbelievably shitty in quick succession and I was beginning to lose my temper.

  “He’s a murderer?” Ronjo asked.

  “Yeah,” Kitt replied, “so let’s hope the creatures get him before he gets us huh?”

  “Let’s hope for that,” I agreed without realising the significance of Kitt’s remark. “He’s not worth quite as much dead, but it shouldn’t be a total loss.”

  We headed down the stairs and made a tour of the ground floor to find several more ransacked offices and just two more bodies. Then we all agreed that our next priority should be to find some place that offered us the means to make a drink and maybe even get something to eat. It took us no more than ten minutes to find the canteen where the office workers obviously took their breaks and I was delighted to see several nutri vend machines and an auto snack. Kitt and the young woman, who introduced herself as Marta le Roque, went to fetch the kids whilst I decided to go and check how Nembier got away. Cautiously I entered the bathroom and found the restraints lying on the floor undamaged. That was odd and I frowned as I checked them over; if he’d forced his way out of them there should be blood on them but they were clean. He must’ve somehow picked the locking mechanism and this just confused me even more. In all my years in this job I’d never known anyone pick these babies open, so the fact that Nembier had obviously managed it both enraged and intrigued me. Irritated, I sighed as I pocketed them and left the bathroom to head back to the canteen for a drink. Halfway there the scream rang out and I stopped dead in shock, momentarily startled out of my wits. It was a woman’s scream and seemed to come from the general direction of the room where we’d hidden the two kids, Eddy and Jena. My hand automatically went to my hip and I unholstered my laser pistol as I ran towards the scream, to find Marta in the corridor with a hand over her mouth.

  “What the fuck’s happened?” I yelled. She closed her eyes and just shook her head. “Marta. What’s happened?” I yelled again and shook her shoulder. She pointed into the room and I stepped gingerly towards the open doorway and peered in. The sound of murmuring voices met my ears and I recognised it as the old guy Kitt so I headed towards his voice. As I rounded the barricade we’d set up to hide the kids, I felt my stomach lurch and the breath leave my lungs. Kitt was trying to soothe his grandson Eddy and encourage him to move away from the remains of Jena who lay by his side, her head in his lap. The huge opening in her throat had sprayed blood for several feet and Eddy was saturated with it. “What the fuck did that?” I hissed at Kitt who ignored me as he continued soothing Eddy. “Kitt,” I yelled, “what the fuck killed her?”

  “How the fuck should I know,” he snapped back.

  “Well ask the kid, dammit.”

  “I’m trying you idiot, you’ll have to be patient. He’s scared out of his wits. It’ll take time for him to tell me what happened.”

  “Hey kid,” I barked and stepped forward. “What happened to her huh?
Come on, tell us what happened. Hey kid are you listening to me?”

  “That won’t do any good Sam,” Kitt hissed. “He’s deaf and mute.”

  Now I understood why Kitt seemed to be gesturing at him all the time; he was using some kind of sign language with him. Then I remembered when we’d put the kids in here and how I’d seen Kitt gesturing at Eddy and how Ronjo seemed confused, no, shocked as he’d watched and I made a mental note to ask him about that. We became aware of the sound of running footsteps and soon Flark and the others entered the room and gasped in shock at the sight of Jena. Before I forgot, I went to look for Ronjo and found him outside, comforting Marta.

  “Hey buddy. Y’know when we put the kids in there, before we set out to reccy the place?” He nodded. “I saw you watching Kitt as he did that sign language stuff with Eddy.”

  “So?”

  “So I saw you suddenly look confused or shocked at something. Do you remember that?” He hesitated just a little too long before shaking his head and I knew he was lying. “Well buddy, if you do remember, I’d sure like to know what it was you were shocked about cos there may be a chance that our survival depends upon it okay?” He just looked at me so I glared at him for a few seconds before turning away, confident in the knowledge that he now knew that I knew he’d lied to me and I hoped that this knowledge would encourage him to open up. This situation was rapidly going down the shitter and I was beginning to realise that I was not in control of my destiny any more and that both scared and annoyed me. Adrenaline coursed through me, so I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall as I took deep breaths to try to calm myself down. Being stuck in this hell hole, surrounded by monsters with a penchant for people’s innards, with a bunch of civilians and just two useful ex military guys on whom I could depend was bad enough but then within the first hour of getting here I’d lost Nembier and two of our group had been killed. Apart from the obvious, I was already aware that something wasn’t adding up quite right about this situation and it irritated the fuck out of me that I didn’t know what it was.