The icy black waters left much contrast to the vast expanse of white spread out before them.  Darkness was approaching, and already, the sky was beginning to match the murky depths surrounding the fast moving raft.  As if to take it one step further, the wind began to howl, as the heavens unleashed another torrent of snow that obstructed vision even more than the dimming horizon.  The chill of the lowering temperature further reminded them that they were at the mercy of Mother Nature.

The taller man near the front of the raft shrugged and sighed.  “You know, we really shouldn’t have stayed out here so long.  I don’t know what compels me to ever trust you.”  His calm green eyes stared right at the shorter, stocky man, who was definitely muscular, and looked more suited for a position in construction, than manning the motor of a small raft.  

He gave a toothy grin to the taller man.  “Now, now, Sam.  When you’re setting out with me, you know we don’t finish up until we can’t see a foot in front of us.”  

Sam feigned ignorance, “Wait a minute.  You tricked me into this with promises of wine, women, and…”  He paused.  “Well, you know what I mean.  Rick, man, sometimes I think you take your work too seriously.”

The raft was rapidly approaching the snow covered shoreline, and with it, a small dock with a single point of light barely piercing the white, swirling darkness.  The two men continued to throw sarcastic quips back and forth, as Rick expertly began to pull the raft up to the dock.  That dock was hardly stable in the churning froth and intense wind, it merely floated there, almost ready to snap off at the first chance it got.  Sam did what he could to rope the raft to the plastic dock, but it did not look like it was going to hold.  

Rick noticed the trouble Sam was having.  “Do what you can, we’ll see if we can haul it out and lodge it in the shed.  If it gets lost, it’s no biggie.  The taxpayers will gladly buy us a new one.”

The single electric light did little to illuminate the dock.  It was already night by the time the raft was secured, and the snow continued to obscure what little visibility remained.  The din of crashing waves and blowing wind forced the men to use hand signals to get points across.  As they reached down to pull the raft up, something pierced the noisy shadows.  It started as nothing more than a minor tremble, than off to the distance; a bright orange flash suddenly illuminated the night sky, followed by the roar of destruction.  The tremendous sight of the massive explosion, something neither man had ever experienced before, left them reeling.  Both watched the huge fireball rise into the atmosphere, with horror filled expressions.  And then, the darkness returned, only to leave a fire raging at the distant sight of the explosion.  Sam smacked Rick on the shoulder to bring him back to the task at hand, and motioned for him to move into the shed.

Sam opened the door to the small, wooden shed.  It was hardly anything remarkable, it was made of wood that failed to protect against the elements, but went some way in silencing the noise outside.  Rick flicked the switch to turn on the light, which barely illuminated the tiny space of the shed.  Both men were shivering, even in their layers of clothing, but only some if it was from the cold.  
Rick nearly spat as he yelled, “What the hell was that!?  Dear God almighty, that was the ^&%ing base!?  Wasn’t it!? Tell me I’m wrong!”  

Sam folded his arms together, and scowled as he looked at the damp floor.  “What else could… could explode like that out here?  There’s nothing for hundreds of miles.”  
Rick put his hands over his face.  “What the hell do we do now?”

***

The penetrating cold continued to lower the temperature of the small space occupied by the men.  Sam reasoned that it had been nearly a half hour since the explosion.  Rick had taken to sitting on the floor.  Sam wondered how he managed to keep his backside from freezing off.  
With a little effort, Sam began to speak, “We need to check the base out.  We can’t stay here.  There’s nothing we can do from here.”  Rick barely looked like he was paying any attention, Sam continued, “I mean, the base is quite large.  People had to survive, we need to help them.  Maybe we can find a working radio.  God knows, we aren’t going to accomplish anything from here, besides getting hypothermia.”  Sam looked up at the ceiling, there were some frozen icicles.  “We can’t wait any longer; the temperature has dropped enough outside.”

It was totally dark outside by this time.  The moon was barely visible, yet the fire at the base continued to burn.  Rick shut the worn door to the shed and motioned for Sam to follow him into the blackness.  They had nothing to go on except their previous knowledge of the wasteland and the burning beacon in the distance.  The blizzard that had swelled up blew behind the men, as if urging them to continue to the base.  Rick led Sam at a close distance, so as not to split up in the void that isolated them.  Sam looked back for a split second to try and pick out the dock, but that light had long since vanished.

The pyre grew brighter and brighter.  As the men approached the base from the inky black and into the fiery glow of the surrounding area, they surveyed the damage.  The totally concrete building was set against a mountainside, so only part of the structure was visible, while the rest remained within the mountain.  The damage did not appear to be as severe as the massive explosion indicated.  The upper area of the blocked warehouse section had been blown off, and through this, the fire continued.  Even the high, steeped, totally glass control center remained standing, but the power appeared to be offline.  Some unbroken emergency lights still hummed near the side entrance.  Without speaking, the men moved toward the metal door of the side entrance, eager to get out of the ever increasing darkness.

The door hissed open, and the unmistakable odor of the base’s heated sir system hit the men.  Rick quickly moved in first, followed by Sam, who nearly tripped on the cement floor.  Only a few regular lights were on in the entrance hallway, the emergency lights were not on.  

Rick pointed to the nearest light.  “Why would the emergency lights be on outside, when regular power is still online in here?”  The uncharacteristically quite atmosphere of the base was jarring as opposed to the howl outside.  

Sam scratched his ears.  “I don’t have an answer to that, bud.  It sure is quite though.”  Both men milled around the exit, as if not wanting to step forward into the main base.  There were many patches of shadows in just this hallway alone; showing that even the darkness outside had found a way inside.

Sam was the first to move and open the next door, which led to the security center.  Artic research bases were rarely equipped with security guards, but this base was a special case.  Due to the sheer scope of this project, and number of personnel, security was a must.  This door protested a little bit after the open button press, the motor finally overpowered and the door screeched open.  Sam cautiously entered the room, which was well lit, as all the lights seemed to be in working order.  The main security center was set apart and encased in a separate room behind a glass viewing window.  The main area was empty, yet the security center looked to be a mess.  

Rick followed Sam and looked around the room.  He gave a classic shrug, and said softly, “Honey, we’re home.”

***

The room really was devoid of life, empty of more than just people.  It was something else; this emptiness just seemed different to Sam.  Rick had moved behind the glass window into the security center and was looking around.  Sam trudged in after him.  Something had happened in a hurry, the explosion of course, everything was a mess though, as if someone had torn the office apart looking for something.  The main desk was rather large, and low to the ground.  Rick was typing in a few things on the computer when Sam noticed part of something sticking out from under the desk.  He squinted, it looked to be some sort of rusted key, and the base had switched to magnetic swipe cards long before Sam started work there.  He kneeled down and tried to grab the key.  It refused to move.  Annoyed, he looked under the desk.

Rick was frustrating himself with the archaic computer system, which, for all intensive purposes, was useless.  His attention was so focused on getting something out of the pc, that he failed to notice Sam merely staring under the desk, as if frozen.  

Rick pointed at Sam.  “Hey, what’s going on?  There a big rat under there or something?”

The voice must have snapped Sam out of it, and he just stared back at Rick.  “I don’t know if you want to see that.”  He stood up and just slowly backed away to the other side of the room, rubbing his eyes along the way.

Of course, Sam’s warning only made Rick more interested, so he leaned down to take a look.  He gave his eyes a second to adjust to the darkness under the desk.  A pair of eyes stared right back into him.  Rick recoiled back in extreme horror.  Slowly regaining his composure he merely looked at Sam, and peered back under the desk.  Under the desk was a shrunken corpse or something like that.  Rick had difficulty putting it into cohesive thoughts.  The body was clothed in the security uniform, but it was a pale shrunken, sight.  The grayish, tattered flesh that remained on the body appeared to have red growth all over it, some sort of fungal growth.

Rick stood up.  He shook his head, trying to put his thoughts into words.  “What the ^&%?”

Sam raised his head.  “I don’t know what the hell that is either.”  He clenched his fists.

Rick replied, “He’s dead man, what the hell?  The body looks to be in extreme decay.  He was just talking to us before we left this morning.”  All reason seemed to leave his voice. “What the hell?  What the hell?  What the h-“

Looking around the room one last time, Sam waved Rick out the door and over to the main area.  “We need to keep calm, alright.  I know that’s useless with John being dead under his desk, but we need to get help.”

Rick nodded and made sense again.  “We should keep looking around for someone, maybe they all went to the warehouse to check on the damage.”

Sam nodded right back.  The both walked to the metal door that would lead to the warehouse.  Sam gave one look back at the room, before stepping though the portal.  The lights seemed dimmer than before, as if the darkness was slowly consuming the room.

***

The warehouse was massive, and aside from the immediate area near the burning wreckage, was also completely masked in dark shadows.  No lights were on; most were probably knocked out by the explosion.  Everything was a mess; crates had been thrown and smashed open, while the concrete walls had been charred by flaming debris.  The entrance to the warehouse from the security center led to a high catwalk far above the darkened floor.  Sam remembered someone saying it was 20 feet above, with a ladder extending to the ground floor.  Sam moved over the metal catwalk, the clangs of his footsteps echoing off in the distance.  He found the ladder and stared down into the pit.  He couldn’t see all the way down the ladder.  He just did not know what to expect if he went down.

Rick moved next to Sam.  “This is crazy; we won’t even be able to see the rungs down there.”

Sam scratched his nose.  “We need to get down there to see if anyone’s around.”

Rick grabbed the side of the catwalk.  “I know that!  We also need to get down there to reach the main elevator to the control center.”

Sam began to climb down the ladder.  “I’ll go down first.  Just listen for me.”

“Hell no, I’m not letting you be the hero that finds all the survivors, gets the Medal of Honor, marries a supermodel-“  

Sam was continuing to climb down the ladder, ignoring Rick’s protests.  Soon, he had to climb by feeling alone, carefully making sure his hands had grasped the next part.  He heard Rick’s climbing noises following above him.  He was scared, he admitted as much to his sub conscious, of climbing, of the explosion, of the dead body, of the darkness, weather, the whole situation.  Fear took root in his mind as climbing down this ladder was the first moment he had to truly contemplate what happened.  Before his mind began to run wild, his right foot touched the hard surface of the floor.  Breathing a sigh, he stepped aside to give room for Rick to touch down.

The clang of Rick coming down the ladder had ceased.  Sam strained his ears.  When did that happen?  When he had nearly lost himself in thought?  He was tempted to yell, but something in the darkness that surrounded him, forced him to rethink that choice.  Maybe Rick had stopped; he could not have fallen, could he?  He thought of climbing back up the ladder, to see if he would find him.  No, he did not want to try his luck again.  But, Rick was a good friend.  His mind was racing, had something…?  And then, he heard something.  A tiny voice, as if in a whisper, coming from all directions.

The voice, it was impossible to make out, it chilled him to his very core, as if the voice itself had grasped his body.  Then, as suddenly as it had come on, it left.  Alone in darkness that isolated him, his body still felt very weak.  Which way was up, where was the glow of the fire, what should I do know?  His head was spinning; dark forms set themselves apart from the murk and moved toward him.  His mind shattered, he collapsed.

***

There was a bright light.  He moved toward it.  And then he woke up.

He cracked his eyes open, the light of the ceiling was too intense, and he quickly shut them.  Carefully, he adjusted to the brightness.  He grabbed his head, he was lying down.  Looking around, he was in a white hexagonal room with large windows on every side except for one, which housed an elevator.  It was the control center, packed with all manners of electronics, some appeared operational, others where in lesser shape.  As if to match the white paint of the room, a pale figure leaned over him.  “Ah, you are awake I see.”

Sam sat up and stared at the old man.  He wore the lab coat of the science team.  His thin gray hair barely covered his head.  All in all, this was one stereotypical egghead.  With a little energy, Sam was able to speak, “What?”

The old man reached out his cracked hand to help Sam get up.  Same shook his head and got up on his own.  He, of course, asked the most pressing question.  “What happened?”

The scientist smiled a little.  “That’s such a broad question.  What happened to the base?  What happened to me?  What happened to everyone else?  Shall I go on?”

Sam shook his head.  “No, you can start by answering all of those.”

“Well, I can do my best.”  The elder adjusted his ID badge.  “You can call me Daniels, add a doctor onto that if you please.  Okay, I’ll start with you, then.  I don’t know what happened to you.  That would be a better question to ask yourself.  When I returned to the main elevator, you were lying in it.  I merely moved you in here.  You were fortunate to be alive.”

“I don’t remember anything.  I just climbed down the ladder from the security office.  And then-“

“And then?”

“And then I just… fell unconscious.”

Daniels appeared to be lost in thought.  “The conditions out there are less than hospitable right now, which is an extreme understatement.”

With that statement, Sam suddenly remembered Rick, and the dead security guard.  “I was with someone else.  My name is Sam, his is Rick.  He was with me when I climbed down the ladder.”

The Doctor shrugged.  “I didn’t see anyone else down there.  Of course, that hardly means there isn’t anything there.”  

“You appear to be taking this really well Daniels.”

“It’s Dr. Daniels,” he protested.  “One must take things in stride when facing a certain amount of danger.”

“My friend, where is he?”

“I don’t know about your friend.  Are you sure you were with someone?”

“Yes.  We also found the security guard… he’s dead.”

Daniels stiffened.  “The body, you came in contact with it?”

“I didn’t touch it or anything.”

The old man seemed to shudder; he walked over to the nearest window and stared out into the void.  Some swirling snow could be seen outside, but the rest was total darkness.  He clasped his hands together.  “You don’t know?  Know about what’s going on here?  You didn’t here the security announcements?”

“No, Rick and I left with the raft on Thursday night into Friday morning.  We were doing the test on deep sea-“

“My boy, today is Monday.  Just where have you been?”

Sam’s frustrations had been building since he awoke to his friend still missing.  “I don’t know!  I don’t know what’s going on!”

“Please, calm yourself.  Anything like that doesn’t help the situation.  If what you say is true though, you have been unconscious for 3 days.  Today is Monday… Friday was the day of the-“ he fumbled for words, “the incident.”

Sam murmured, “The explosion…”

***

“Well, yes, in a way.  The explosion was more of the finale… to the whole state of affairs.”  Daniels had moved back over away from the window.  “I really don’t know where to begin.”  He looked visibly aggravated as he tried to sort out what came next.  “Let me think.  This base, as you know, is a government funded project.  Oh yes, we study all sorts of things.  There was something, very interesting we found during a recent experiment.”

Sam waved a hand.  “Spare the details.  Give me the bullet points.”

“Err, yes, I wasn’t planning on dealing in the technical details, since it is so obviously beyond your scope.  What we found, was a kind of organism, a virus, if you will.  It really isn’t a virus, but that is the closest thing it can be likened to.”

“So what?”

“Enough.  Just allow me to get through this.”  Daniels took on a pained expression.  “It… it’s difficult to put into words, just what this… thing is capable of.  This virus, we named it, Semotus, after the isolated conditions it grew in.”  The Doctor began to slowly pace back and forth across the room.  “It grows in colder conditions, it’s airborne, with the recent explosion, well, the environmental controls-“

While hardly an award winning science major, Sam was an artic researcher, and it hardly took him more than a split second to put two and two together.  “You mean to tell me, this base has become a biohazard!?”

“My boy, I’m afraid you have walked into… into a viral incubation.  There’s no exception, given how long you say you’ve been here, there is no question about it.”

“I’m infected.  Infected with what?”  Sam was surprised at how calm he sounded, given the circumstances.  Maybe there was something to keeping cool in fatal situations.

The bright room seemed to echo more with the voice of the Doctor, as if something beyond the walls was crying out.  “Modern science knows nothing of such an organism.  It’s… a… mutagen, if you will.”  He grabbed his arm in an effort to roll up his sleeve.  “It goes in phases… far as we can tell.  The first phase, of course, is infection.”

Sam’s mind was swirling like the blizzard outside the protected room.  His eyes did not want to focus, nor follow his desire to look about.  Daniels seemed to notice Sam’s lost expression; he moved over and showed his arm.  “Stage two, is… cell decay.”  Sam’s eyes opened wide.  Daniels arm was covered with the same red, fungal growth that had consumed the security guard’s corpse; he shook his head as he spoke.  “It isn’t so much cell decay, as Semotus is replacing human cells with its own mutation.  The scientific point of the decay is that, this results in clinical death.”

The younger man was not too far in thought to miss the term death.  The fear that had left his mind began to return.  Sam asked, “Death?  Then what is stage three?”  Even though the words came out so evenly, he felt like screaming inside, like lashing out at the only other living thing in the room.

Very slowly, Daniels continued.  “Stage three is mutation.”  Daniels covered up his exposed arm and closed his eyes.  “This stage can be so very unpredictable, from a scientific perspective.”  He blinked hard.  “The target is dead, in every sense of the word.  Higher brain functions have been terminated, indeed.  Yet, the replaced cells begin to activate.  Flesh is changed, pushed passed the brink of capability.  Horrible deformities, growths, and any sort of monstrosity is possible, it depends on the host.”

Sam felt as if he was in some sort of horror movie.

“These creatures are victim to the virus that created them, they’re only desire is to infect, through the most virile of means.”  Daniels stepped over to Sam, and grabbed his hand.  “We are all infected now; we are all mutating, becoming monsters.  It is only a matter of time.”

***

A nightmare, Sam was convinced he was in some horrid dream.  What the hell was this; this was the kind of stuff that he’d expect in a fictional novel.  He surprised himself by remaining so calm, and other than his mentality, so composed.  Maybe it was the virus already acting inside him, slowly dismantling his body from the inside out.  He decided against checking his skin for visible signs of Semotus, but decided against it.  Whatever was in the air already had its hold on him.

It was still dark outside, Sam felt they had been talking for hours now.  The control room was still bathed in the white glow of powerful overhead lights, while many of the computers still blinked and hummed.  He was standing over near the elevator, the only wall of the control room not occupied by massive viewing windows that stared out into the snowy night.  Daniels had moved over to a cart positioned near one of the many desks packed with expensive electronics that would make Bill Gates blush.

He was hurriedly rummaging through the plastic cart, adorned with the universal aid cross indicating its medical contents.  He still carried the same frustrated expression from before, his face turning redder by the second.  When he spoke, his voice was becoming less distinct.  “We can’t tell how long the host organism can repel the viral growth.  It’s different… between… each thing…”  He began to gasp and clasp his chest, but continued poking around the cart.

Sam was leery to walk over to the man; his legs did not seem to work.  In the end, his humanitarian side got the best of him, and he went over and grabbed the failing Doctor.  “It’s happening Daniels, isn’t it?”

The man refused to look and Sam, instead procuring three hypodermic needles out of the medical cart.  Before Sam could react, Daniels jabbed the needle into Sam’s arm, and pushed down hard.  Sam recoiled, and pushed the other man to the ground.  “What the hell!?”

Daniels propped himself up, but made no effort to rise to his feet.  “The… serum… slow… slow… growth… use…”  

Sam leaned down closer.  “This, this can slow phase two?”  He quickly reached for the remaining two needles, carefully applying the covers and placing them in his pocket.  It appeared that Daniels had succumbed to the virus; Sam gazed down on the corpse.  What was the next stage? Mutation?  He was never told what to do about the corpse, how to properly dispose of it to eliminate the chances of it coming back.  Part of him still refused to believe the Doctor would rise back to life as some horrid rending of flesh and bone.

Already, the red fungal growth appeared to cover more of the deceased’s body than before.  If not for that, he would not have feared Daniels coming back.  Behind him, he heard the elevator begin to rise.  The noise was so different from the humming of the control room that it sent him running to the lift control panel.  Ideally, he would have hoped for the security feed to be active, but all he could read on the monitor was the card key that granted access.  He blinked, scanning the listing again.  This could not be right!  He stared in horror, was it coming to get him?

Like some sort of survival instinct he quickly ducked behind the nearest desk.  He had nothing to defend himself with.  His eyes were wide with fear, and he could do nothing to pull his view from the elevator doors.  The lift gears stopped, the metal doors opened with nothing more then a slight hiss.

***

One step, two steps, a figure shuffled out of the elevator.  Sam was paralyzed; he could not stop himself from shaking uncontrollably.  His mind recognized one thing, the uniform of a security guard.
He needed to regain his senses, he needed to think.  The corpse was moving slowly toward the fallen body of the former Doctor.  The once human flesh had begun to warp, leaving a grayish skin exposed, if not for throbbing growths that had appeared over the body.  The head had fallen limply to the side, yet shook uncontrollably.  Down the center of the torso, the stomach had split, revealing an exposed rib cage.  From Sam’s vantage, he could see some sort of thrashing membrane behind the cage, sending grayish liquid leaking down the midsection.  

The arms were no more, nothing more than twitching stubbles, as if the creature had torn them off of its own accord.  Blood still dripped from the sides, and the legs weren’t much better.  It was a monster, short as Sam could formulate.  He still remained frozen, yet the creature was wobbling in place in front of the elevator.  It paid no attention to the lift doors closing, and the motor resetting it to the ground floor.  Sam did not feel he could move fast enough to get to the elevator call button, he did not want to see if the creature moved any faster either.

Somehow, the infected could still see, and the shaking head eventually thrust toward the downed corpse of Daniels.  It still shook, yet the head’s mouth began to open, ushering force a garbled mumble and expelling more of the gray liquid.  Slowly, it made its way to the corpse.  It hesitated for a mere moment, and then something worse happened.

In the most gruesome of manners, the rib cage tore open, exposing the hidden membrane it protected.  The grayish liquid liberally flowed from the open cavity.  Sam could not even see what it was.  An inhuman scream pierced the atmosphere, from what orifice, Sam did not know.  The monster fell down upon the Doctor’s corpse.  The horrid sound continued, Sam slammed his eyes shut, and covered his ears, yelling at the top of his own lungs.

The sound subsided, he opened his eyes.  The white of the control room had been marred by a bloody mess that emanated from Daniel’s corpse.  His eyes darted all over, the corpse had been chewed… or… or something… it was carnage in its rawest forms.  The monster, where is it?  He peeked a little more over the cover of his desk.  He could not see it.  There was no other way out!
His hearing had not yet returned after the blast of screaming.  It slowly faded back in.  Then, he heard exactly what he feared.  The mumbling of the creature was closer now, it sounded almost as if it was talking to him.  It was a disturbingly soft gurgling, almost childlike.  He understood exactly where it was.

He never quite knew what happened next.  He still refused to turn around and look at what was behind him.  In front of him, the mauled corpse began to twitch, and then break apart, until growths busted from the skin.  This was too much for one human mind to take!  He could no longer hold onto reality, his eyes began to close, just as the elevator doors opened, and a familiar figure charged out.

***

Fainting again!?  No, his mind was failing, but he grasped onto life as hard as his mental side allowed.  

“Get the hell down!”

It was too inviting a command to resist, Sam allowed himself to drop onto the floor.  There was a rupture of a shotgun blast that sent a shudder through his body, and instantly snapped his mind into reality.  The desk afforded what little cover it could, as a sickening crunch came from behind him.  The shell had found its mark, and tore right into the monster’s rib cage, shattering the bone, splattering whatever horrid form lurked underneath.  It made no noise as it reeled from the impact, falling backwards through the large glass window of the control room.  The tremendous smash of broken glass was the last thing Sam heard before he turned around.

The chill of the icy night conditions immediately took advantage of the broken window.  Behind him was nothing except the fragmented remains of the creature’s rib cage.  Its gray blood had splashed all over; Sam’s clothes were not spared.

There was a pump sound, and then another shotgun shell was discharged.  Sam whirred around in time to watch Rick pump another round right into the dead Doctor’s corpse.  He turned to look and Sam, and rolled his eyes.  “Gotta’ make each shot count.”

Sam’s voice, something that sounded even alien to him, came out very slowly.  “Is he… it dead?  I mean… for good?”  He was trying his best to regain what little composure was left in him.

Rick squinted back at Sam.  “No, they say fire works though.”  He shrugged.  “Something about its chemical composition being closer to ice than an organic being.  How that’s even ^&%#ing possible…”

The whole force of what just happened hit Sam.  “You’re alive Rick.”

“Yeah, guess the good Lord was feeling generous.”  He gave his shotgun a very cinematic pump.  It was one of those large handled SPAS-12’s, a French weapon.  Rick noticed Sam eyeing the shotgun.  “Yeah, finally the French are good for something.”  He yanked a pistol from his back belt, walked over, and set it near Sam.  “You know how to use this, of course.  We need to get away from this corpse; I don’t think he’s down for the count just yet.”

“What happened Rick?  You were following me down the warehouse ladder.”

“What?  I got down, you weren’t there.  It was too freaking dark to be poking around.”

Sam spoke very somberly.  “When I got down, you never followed.”

“Look.”  Rick picked up the pistol, some sort of Beretta.  He held it right up to Sam.  “I don’t know how that shit happened.  Hell, I don’t know how any of this shit is happening.”  Sam slowly reached out and took the pistol.  Rick continued, “But, we need to get out of here now.  I made my way to the dormitories, there are some survivors there.  They explained…”

Sam quickly shook his head.  “I already got that speech, far as I can tell.”  He relayed what he knew to Rick, who knew about the same amount, except for one more interesting detail.

Rick spoke it with a hint of excitement in his voice.  “The Army’s on its way, they’re going to get us out.”  He flipped the shotgun around.  “But, we need to get to the heliport, just beyond the dorms.  They’ll get us there.”

“What were you doing up here?”

Rick gave Sam a quizzical expression.  “Getting you, of course.”

“How’d you know I was up here?  It’s by a few days-”

“Aha, now that’s another thing I can’t explain.  I don’t know…”

Sam started to laugh, it kind of hurt.  He pulled the pistol’s receiver.  “Yeah, this is a real mess.”  Rick gave Sam a serious look, and then joined right in laughing.

***

“To get to the helipad, we need to go back through the warehouse.”  Rick furiously scratched his hair.  “But, look, it won’t be so simple.  There’re… these things, all over the place, and down there…”  He slowly shook his head.  “I don’t know what, but the walls… the floors… there’s something growing on them, makes these sickening noises, hiding the sounds of those… monsters lurking in the darkness.”

To think there was something worse going on here.  Sam could feel his body grow tense, as if it could any more than before.  “If it’s still just as dark… that… thing can move, I didn’t see it, but I think it can.  We’d be killed!”

“Understatement.  I know, I’ve been thinking about it too.  You’re missing the important question.”

“Yeah, how did you get here with the warehouse being such a nightmare?”

Rick gave a characteristic smile, and held his hands out.  “That’s another understatement.  This whole situation is a nightmare.”  He folded his arms together.  “But… well, there’s no sense in being so wordy.  The elevator goes one level lower, to the service corridors.  We can use those.”

Sam put up his hand, in a kind of ‘stop’ gesture.  “Right, you’ve got it all figured out.”

“Hey, I’ve just been blessed with the smarts; have to share them with anyone I can.  We really need to move, now.”

Sam wasn’t against that idea, and so they called the elevator, and left the bloody mess behind.  Rick used a key to switch the lift into descending to the service corridors.  After several quite moments, the elevator reached the bottom, and the doors hissed open.  The narrow hallway before the men was in surprisingly good condition.  Sam breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the red security lights illuminating the darkness every couple of feet.  Rick walked past Sam and slapped him on the shoulder.

Sam made sure the pistol had its safety off.  “Anything down here…?”

Rick turned and pointed off in the distance.  “God only knows what awaits us.”

“You inspire me with such confidence.”

The concrete hallways, bathed in their red light, were very unremarkable.  Every so often, there was a puddle of dark water or some wall with rather large cracks, pretty common stuff.  Then, there was some sort of moss… or fungus.  It was blood red, or maybe it was the lighting, and was spotted with twitching brackish growths that expelled a familiar gray liquid.

Rick noticed what Sam was looking at.  “I don’t know why its here, but, it has to be related to all this shit going on.  That stuff’s growing so big in the warehouse that it’s chocking out the smaller corridors.  Really nasty…”

Sam nodded his head.  This Semotus virus is not just affecting people, but the building.  It is changing where it lives.  Sam thought there was some word to describe it.  “Terraforming…”

“What was that?”

“Ah, nothing, just something a little interesting I thought up.”

“Well, don’t hold out on me.”  

“Nah, it’s nothing.”

Rick did not push it any further.  Both men walked along slowly, down the tiny corridor.

Sam was the first to speak again.  “Hey, Rick, thanks for what you did back there.  I don’t know what I would have done if you didn’t show up.”

Rick turned back to look at Sam, with a serious expression.  “Without me showing up…?”  His gaze became very focused.  “You would have died.”

***

Both men emerged from the service corridor through a rusted steel door into an emergency stairwell.  Much to Sam’s relief, the Semotus fungus hadn’t yet staked its claim to this area.  It was so quiet though; there was not even the dripping sound of water that accompanied the men through their excursion below.

Rick was ecstatic.  “This should take us right to the helipad!”  He seemed to drop any feeling of trepidation as he began to bound up the stairs.

“We should be careful.  What about everyone else?”  Sam realized the other man was no longer listening, yet he could hear him pounding up above.  Not wanting to be left behind, Sam pressed onward.

The stairwell went up for a few more levels; Sam passed similar steel doors leading to the other floors of the building, until he reached the roof level.  The door was already ajar, letting the icy conditions seep inside.

Sam cautiously opened the door to the roof level.  The perpetual snow was still falling, yet the helipad was bathed in light, casting a white glow into the night sky.  The scene was one of confusion.  Already, nearly a dozen personnel had gathered on the roof, all dressed up in whatever garments they must have scrounged for.  Sam went over to Rick; he was still standing away from the mass of humanity.

Without saying anything, Rick pointed to a group of people throwing a limp body over the edge of the roof, down into the abyss below.  Rick chuckled.  “That virus, it’s everywhere, we’re infected already, we’ll end up just like that one.”

The weight of the needles felt heavy in Sam’s pocket, syringes filled with a serum that supposedly slowed the virus.  Perhaps it was a step toward a cure.  Sam realized that he had never offered the serum to Rick, now was better than never, before anything worse could happen.  “Hey, Rick, I have some-“

The stereotypical whir of helicopter blades drowned out Sam’s voice, and snatched the attention of every poor soul caught on the roof.  It emerged into the space above the people, and was bathed in the illumination of the landing lights.  Sam had never seen a helicopter like that before, especially in weather like this.  It was sleek, painted all black, and bore no flag or insignia.  The door to the passenger compartment slid open just as the copter was joined by two more.  Sam opened his mouth.  “You ever see anything-“

Again, he was cut short, but not by the helicopters’ blades.  A gas-masked soldier, dressed in dark armored fatigues emerged.  The people on the roof surged and began screaming for help.  Similar figures appeared in the other helicopters.  

And then, something worse did happen.

The black-clad figures raised their weapons and opened up on the rooftop.  Gunfire rained down from the flying wraiths, tearing the refuges to shreds.  The weakened people stood no chance as the bullets found their marks.

Sam, realizing the enemies’ attention was on the people near the helipad, seized the opportunity.  “Back inside!”  He was surprised that he reacted to the situation in such an alert manner.

Rick was dumbfounded; he had put so much faith in rescue, that he just couldn’t believe the massacre going on in front of him.  Sam grabbed his arm and pulled Rick back toward the steel door leading down, away from this terror.

Rick must have finally realized the gravity of the situation and began to move on his own, just as a bullet smashed into his leg.

***

Sam was dragging the limp body as the wound stained the gray cement.  He slammed the steel door closed that lead to the war zone on the roof.  We have to get away from here!  He was pretty sure those masked murderers on the roof weren’t going to back off now that they liquidated the gathered people waiting on the roof for respite.  Sam looked at Rick and cringed.  He was deathly pale, not just from the cold outside, the bullet that tore through his right leg created a pool of red around him.

Rick noticed Sam’s expression.  “Damn man, it wasn’t even those creatures that got me…”  The words sounded horse on his lips, so different from his ordinary voice.  “Sam, you have to go, those guys are going to be coming through here to finish the job.”  He let go a coarse laugh, and ended up coughing.

Sam couldn’t believe he would ever see his friend in such a condition.  Was this it?  Rick was right though, Sam couldn’t carry him down the steps in this condition, and those masked soldiers would be on their way inside.  “Look, I don’t know, I don’t… put pressure on your leg, whatever… here…”  Sam removed his overcoat and gave it to Rick.  “Use it, maybe rip part of it to wrap around the wound, keep warm…”

The dying man gave a wry smile, it was almost eerie to see such a figure grinning.  “I still have this shotgun here, that’s all I… need…”  

“I’ll be back… with supplies, with help, something… just do what you can, here…”  Sam moved Rick as best he could, propping him against the wall opposite the steel door.  The rational side of his mind said this was probably the last time he’d see his friend, but the emotional side refused to accept that.  As long as that thought kept him going, wasn’t his survival important too?

“Go… on, get away, I’ll see you… later, we can… get together sometime… share some war… stories…”
Sam almost found himself laughing, even in this state; Rick was still his same sarcastic self.  He nodded.  “Sure thing, I’ll be right back; I’ll grab you something on the way.   What do you want?  McDonald’s, Wendy’s-“

Rick didn’t answer.

Sam turned away quickly, and began to descend back into the place he had thought he escaped.

“I’ll take… Burger… King…”

“Coming up!”  Sam yelled back up the stairwell, his voice cracking, almost expecting Rick to drum out another sarcastic quip.  Nothing came; it was quiet once again in the dying structure.

Sam didn’t even know where to go, so he picked the level right below the helipad, maybe he could find something, something… but what?  “Hope.”  He shook his head.  “That’s what I need.”
The biting anguish of losing the only other person he knew in this place, his friend, felt weak, as if he didn’t really feel anything.  He wanted to stop, he wanted to yell, to scream, to cry, but there was nothing.  Maybe the feeling would hit him later, and then he would truly realize what happened back there.

As he opened the steel door leading to the innards, he heard the helipad door slam wide.  There was no gunfire, no startled shouts, nothing.  Slam quietly entered the floor below.  By the time the soldiers had reached Rick, he was already dead.

***

They weren’t far behind; Sam knew he was being hunted now, not just by this virus that had consumed the base and those within, but the masked soldiers that began terminating anyone they found.  He felt the tension rise in his chest, his breathing felt irregular, but that was to be expected, it was fear that gripped him.

The hallway he was moving in was dim, but not completely darkened.  It was really the sounds that disturbed him.  Already, he had heard the steel door to this floor being opened, and he knew the soldiers were on him.  And what about… the other things that lurked in these seemingly empty rooms?

He remembered his encounter with one of them, those twisted mutations of flesh and bone.  The noises it made and the speed which it moved all adding in to a horribly deformed creature.  And to think, it was once human!  He was already infected with the Semotus virus, he knew that much, how long did he have to find something, something to help him live?

He pushed through a standard office door into then well-lit dormitory area of the base.  The wide open space that led to the individual rooms was pretty barren, what could be thrown and knocked over was, obviously in the panic to reach the helipad and the ensuing “rescue”.  Still, Sam felt more comfortable in the bright room, where he could see and get his bearings.  Of course, the soldiers would be here, unless they were checking the hallways room by room.

“There must be another way out.”  Sam almost expected the empty area to answer; instead, he heard something he had never forgotten.

That piercing scream, almost as if the pain of death was verbalized, tore through the floor.  The soldiers were checking each room, and they had found one of those… things up here.  Suddenly, Sam heard pounding noises coming from the left most dormitory room, and then the same wailing shriek came from behind the thin door.  Sam covered his ears, and dropped to his knees, something inside him shuddered a bit, and he vomited.

The almost welcoming sound of small arms fire echoed through the rooms as Sam regained his hearing.  Good, he had time now to follow the dormitory hall, and maybe find an exit on the other side.  He slowly rose, his stomach was protesting as he began to move down the empty hallway, giving a wide berth to the room that held… something.

It was such an odd feeling, to go through this once bustling area, now devoid of life… well, devoid of human life.  Sam was feeling physically drained now, something was wrong, the virus was killing him, making him into a thoughtless vessel for a perverted organism.  The Doctor he met said he would die before changing, but, how did he really know?  

Sam finally found what he was looking for.  “Thank God.”  The other side of the dormitories had an identical open space to the one he had found before, some of the rooms in this area had they’re doors ajar, yet darkness loomed beyond their openings.  Glass doors covered the entrance to another dim hallway leading out.

He stood in the middle of the open space, almost enjoying the light, but his body ached… and his mindset wasn’t much better.  “What am I going to do?”  The feeling of defeat was overwhelming, what hope did he have?

His weary eyes noticed behind the glass doors.  It was too late.

One of the soldiers kicked open the door, smashing part of the glass.  He raised his weapon, some kind of carbine, and gestured, hands up!

This was it; this was going to be the end.  Sam raised his hands and smiled a bit, “What a way to go…”

The soldier ignored the comment and sent a bullet flying right through Sam’s heart.

***

He opened his eyes, or were his eyes already opened?  He was looking down, lying atop the body of the soldier that had just shot him, that had just killed him?  He was amid shards of broken glass, remnants of the doorway into the dormitories.  The soldier’s body was mauled; dark blood was already seeping into the carpet.  Sam couldn’t move his head to look down at the rest of the corpse beneath him.  If he did, he would have seen the gaping wound that was the man’s stomach.

What was this sensation?  He could not physically move his head; he couldn’t even look down at his own body, he felt… detached, but he began to realize a burning pain.  He wanted to scream, but it wouldn’t come.

If he could have stood up, and looked down the exposed hallway, he might have noticed green eyes staring back.  Behind those glowing eyes loomed the gasmask of a black uniformed soldier.  As he was surveying the scene, another soldier moved up next to him.  The first one flicked off his night vision goggles and said, “God damnit, Jenkins is dead.”

The other soldier responded, the gas mask made his voice sound almost robotic, “He was careless.”  He shook his armored head.  “Well, we know how to finish this, tell Roberts to bring those incendiaries up.”

Back amid the gored body, Sam stirred, he was standing up, but he didn’t feel it, only the constant searing agony, what was this?  He yelled, “Help me!” but all that came out this time was a small gurgle.

The soldiers down at the hallway’s end had been joined by the one they called Roberts.  He carried a larger weapon that was capable of launching incendiary grenades, explosives that set anything ablaze.  He looked at the creature standing atop the mutilated body of his fallen comrade.

That thing, that monster, was indescribable in words.  The extremities had shrunk, exposing white bone that jutted at odd angles through the grayed, worn skin.  Its stomach had torn open to expose the rib cage.  A throbbing red membrane was partially extending through the lower bones.  The tattered remains of clothing clung loosely around the neck area, where its once human head now lay limply to the side, shaking, its eyes frozen in their sockets.  The jaw was partially ajar, seeping gray liquid that mixed in with the blood below.

Then it screamed, that noise that chilled every man watching it.

Sam had noticed the soldiers’ watching him, he was screaming for them to help, to end this torture, yet he heard that noise those monsters made; only this time, he took comfort in it.  It felt… right.  It was only when the sound was complete that Sam could see his reflection in the remaining part of the glass door.

Again, that monstrosity wailed!  Roberts had enough, his ears were already throbbing.  Slowly, he raised the grenade launcher and pulled the trigger sending a grenade flying down the hallway to answer the monster’s screams.

Sam saw the object, but his body wouldn’t react, all that he felt was that-

The grenade found its target, sending the entirety of the room up in flames.

END