Ghosts of War Page 2

annoying hissing sound in the background; after a few seconds, a frail voice of a man emerged: 'If you are listening to this, then you are already too far inside to escape. The subjects that were experimented on all suffered some kind of cardiac arrest after thirty-minutes. They had no pulse for approximately two minutes but then they returned, resurrected by the devil himself!' There were loud sounds of banging in the background. 'They will hunt you and infect you and then you will turn into one of them, unless you can accomplish what we could not. The soldiers that were here saw what could happen if these things got out, so they rigged the entire place with explosives just in case there was a risk of an outbreak, but they didn't stand a chance! The detonation device is on the next floor up in room V12. Get to the room and blow these suckers back to hell before they get out! They are immensely strong, so use the light, particle guns; all the subjects were sensitive to the experimental light. May God be with you.' The terrifying sounds of the door exploding open and an ear splitting scream made them all feel uneasy.

  'I say we get the hell out of here now!' Lance shouted.

  'Didn't you hear that? Think about what could happen if these things get out!' Ryan said.

  'Forget it... these things aren't going to let us leave - we're going to have to stop them ourselves!' Barnes remarked, looking around at some ammunition he found scattered on the floor.

  'What? Have you all gone crazy? Those things are going to kill us, we need to get the hell out of here and back to Britain. Who gives a toss about what happens here?' Lance yelled.

  'Are you ok?' Nicole asked Patrick, who looked like he was about to pass out. His cheeks were like strawberries and his eyes appeared unfocused.

  'I... I don't feel so good...' he began to stumble backwards. Ryan rushed and grabbed hold of him, gently laying him on the ground. Within seconds, his entire body turned pale and he felt as cold as ice. Ryan checked for a pulse but there was nothing. They all stared at one another in shock - a combination of sorrow and fear circulated the room like a hurricane and it was not long before they had to make a decision, 'we all heard what was on that tape, he was obviously infected with whatever that stuff is and soon he's going to wake up and kill us!' Lance panicked.

  'We don't know for certain that he's infected!' Nicole argued.

  'No, he's right!' Barnes lifted Patrick's sleeve and exposed the gruesome bite marks.

  'So what are you suggesting?' Nicole asked.

  'We are going to have to kill him... kill him properly... so he doesn't come back!' Lance stuttered.

  'You've all gone mad! This is our friend, he was an outstanding soldier and we need to bury him with respect!' Nicole pleaded.

  'We might not have time for that! Barnes raised his rifle and pointed it at Patrick's head. Nicole stared at Ryan, 'Ryan do something!' but Ryan shook his head and stared at the floor helplessly.

  Although Patrick was in fact dead, this felt wrong and it took Barnes using all his might to pull that trigger. The splatter at that range was like a burst pipe and blood sprinkled everywhere. Even in war, it was impossible to look at a soldier, a patriot and a friend with his brains splattered across the floor, and worst of all, at their hands.

  Nicole struggled to contain her emotions. She removed a blanket from her rucksack and placed it over Patrick's body.

  'There's nothing we can do for him now, let's move!' Barnes ordered, making a brave face.

  'Sir... with all due respect, we need to get the hell out of here!' Lance said.

  'Lance, if you want to go, then go and if anyone else wants to join him, you're welcome to go but I am not leaving this mission!' He didn't wait for a reply and walked off in search of room V12. Ryan and Nicole followed without hesitation but Lance was convinced that this was a suicide mission and decided he was going to find his way out.

  Barnes was no stranger to dangerous situations, but even he had never been in the middle of anything like this. But a mission was a mission - either he'd complete it or he'd die trying, that was his motto. He was a few years older than the rest of his team and considered them his family, especially Ryan and Nicole, and they in return respected him like a father. But he found himself questioning: 'what father takes his family to their death?' He stopped in his tracks, 'it's only going to take one person to find and set the detonator, so I want you guys to find away out of here and go!' Both Nicole and Ryan refused the generous offer. While they were arguing, a scream shrieked through the corridors. They shone their torches but still couldn't see anything. The scream emerged again but louder this time. Suddenly, they could see something running towards them at immense speed. It was the shape of a well-built man and although his teeth resembled a wolf's fangs and his eyes were twice the size of a normal person's, he bore a strange resemblance to Patrick. They began firing frantically but were only slowing the crazed man down.

  'Aim for the head!' Barnes yelled over the ear-torturing gunfire. After they almost emptied all their weapons, the man fell to the ground. Their heartbeats thumped on their chests like thunder battering the sky.

  'Come on, we need to move fast!' They ran through the dinky corridors, desperately searching for the room. But instead, they found something that almost scared them to death, a four legged creature crept toward them in the corridor. It was as black as coal and it's eyes were like the bright tail lights of a jeep. It's roar made the floorboards vibrate and it's fangs were already stained with blood. It paced towards them and managed to successfully dodge all the bullets fired.

  'Quickly! In here!' Ryan shouted and ran into a room and closed the door behind them, and not a minute too soon. It bashed its head against the door so hard that the entire room felt like it was shaking.

  'That door is not going to last long... and I'm almost out! Nicole panicked.

  'I got an idea, this door opens inwards, so we let it barge in, we run out and shut the door behind us - that'll buy us some time!' Barnes said, while trying to catch his breath.

  'Then what?' Ryan asked.

  'Then we run like hell!'

  'I don't know, what if we don't make it out quick enough?'

  'Look, any minute now, that thing is going to barge in here and enjoy a three course meal. At least this way we stand some sort of chance!'

  They all nodded in agreement and braced themselves. 'Ok, it seems as though it's taking a run up before impact, so we wait a few seconds after it hits and then open, hoping that it's momentum will force it further in the room, giving us more of a chance to escape.'

  Ryan insisted that he'd be one to swing open the door so Barnes and Nicole stood on the opposite side. Nicole and Ryan's eyes locked together, memories of their lives flashed past them. Their mission had changed from trying to stop

  these things to simply trying to survive. Barnes, on the other hand, had the goal in mind. He wasn't prepared to leave until he had sowed things up. All who knew Barnes would vouch that he had the will to die.

  After a few seconds, Ryan flung the door open and the creature barged in. But before anyone could react, Barnes ran and jumped on the creature's back, getting ahold of its neck, he used his knife to dig into its throat and slit it as hard as he could. Lava like blood sprayed out of its neck like a fountain as the severed head of the creature rolled onto the floor. Barnes remained completely still as the adrenaline wore off. His muscular chest increased and decreased with his heavy breathing.

  'What the hell was that? The plan was to run!' Nicole yelled.

  'You really thought we would have got away?'

  'But you said...'

  'Hey, you're alive aren't you!'

  'Good point!' Ryan said, 'we should get moving!'

  'Wait... look at this...' Nicole walked up to a large table at the end of the room where there lay a selection of outlandish weapons. They were all black with a few streaks of silver. They didn't look like they belonged in the real world, they belonged in the imagination of visionary. They were all different sizes and shapes, Nicole picked one up and held it out
in front of her. When she touched the trigger, a sharp red beam appeared pointing at he wall, 'it must for aiming or something.' Nicole remarked under her breath.

  They all jumped as a hideous looking man barged in and ran towards them. Nicole's immediate reaction was to pull the trigger - the man stopped and looked down towards his torso, where blood was flowing out. He then looked back at them with his eyes ready to burst. He screamed as his body began to swell and within a second, he exploded, showering the entire room with his insides.

  They all stood in complete shock, 'that is disgusting!' Nicole commented, brushing bits of sludgy tissue off her clothes.

  'That is bloody amazing!' Barnes turned to the table and grabbed some of the weapons. 'Load up! Now we know how to kill these bastards!'

  As soon as they crept out, they jumped as the door next to them exploded open and a man wearing a long white coat stepped out. His hair looked like grey snakes dangling and his eyes were as black as night. They stepped back fast and raised their weapons as he walked forward, scrapping his long black nails across the walls.

  Nicole fired and got him right between his haunting eyes. And his penetrating look stopped, he fell to the ground and his head exploded - his brains splattered on the wall and floor. Nicole's arm was shaking as she stood in shock with the gun still pointing out in front of her.

  'Nice shot!' Barnes remarked and