Fail-Safe

Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Six dropped down into the maintenance room, quickly stepping aside. Kyntak silently sprang down after him. The stench of rotting flesh assaulted his nose. He cast his flashlight over where he knew the body to be. Beady eyes stared back at him. Six thought he saw the end of a tendon disappear into the rat's tiny mouth.

"That's just gross," Kyntak scrunched his nose up at the smell.

The room was the same as Six had seen it earlier. Thick, rough cement walls surrounded them. Rusted pieces of track were leant up against a corner and parts of an engine were strewn about. On the far wall, a steel door was jarred open. It was pitch black save for the light coming from their torches.

Scanning the flashlight across the walls, Six saw the blood splatter from Turret agent's impact. It looked like a large dark ink stain on a page. Above him, he could make out the hole in the ceiling caused by the wreckage, jagged pieces of metal surrounding the opening.

Kyntak crouched over the body. The rat scampered away. "He doesn't have any abseiling equipment on him, and I can't imagine him getting down here without it." Kyntak poked the corpse with the tip of his torch. "I don't see any cuts to his legs, so I doubt he fell through the ceiling. Why was he down here to begin with?"

Six stared at the empty eye sockets. "We don't know. Turret lost contact with him several days prior to contacting the Deck. Last they heard from him; he was meeting with an anonymous drug informant."

Six approached the steel door mounted to the far wall. Grabbing the handle, he pulled it open. It was heavy, the hinges squeaking and groaning as it swung inwards. He inspected the front of it. It looked like a cannonball had slammed into the door. A dark narrow corridor lead to more darkness.

"There's a pedestrian access here, it probably links up to another portion of the tunnels." Six called to Kyntak.

Kyntak approached the door. "What the hell did that..." Kyntak exclaimed looking at the door.

"Probably the same thing that did that." Six looked over at the decaying body.

Kyntak batted cobwebs from his face as he and Six crept down the narrow corridor. They decided to turn their torches off so not to alert their presence to anyone who may be at the other end. Six felt dust entering his lungs and resisted the urge to cough. He heard something scattering on the pipes above him. More rats, he thought.

The dim outline of end of the corridor was barely visible. Six stopped as he approached it and listened. He couldn't hear anything save for his and Kyntak's slow breathing. He turned his torch on and looked around, Kyntak followed suit. It was as he thought, they had come across another subway line.

Kyntak jumped down onto the track. Six stood motionless at the edge. The back of his neck prickled, fine hairs standing up. A nervous sensation of being watched crawled over him, like little spiders dancing over his skin. He strained his ears listening.

He caught motion out of the corner of his eye. A small pinprick of red light flashed once on the ceiling. He brought his torch up. Nothing was there.

"Six," Kyntak called, snapping Six back to the present. "This looks like blood."

Kyntak shone his torch along the track. Six could see small dark droplets in the light. He joined Kyntak on the rail. The droplets became more frequent as they continued along. Six felt eyes on his back. He whirled around. Nothing.

"What's wrong?" Kyntak asked.

"I feel like we are being watched." Six said, a hint of anxiety in his voice.

The droplets stopped. They swept their torches around the track looking for more. Only a thin film of dust covered the tracks. Six brought his torch up to the ceiling.

Dark red fingers reached down towards him; the tips almost purple where stagnant blood had pooled. Six's gaze travelled upwards along a patchy forearm that was suspended from the ceiling. The middle and index fingers curled towards him like talons. He noticed something trapped between the palm, ring and little finger. He cocked his head to the side to get a better look. It looked like a small piece of paper, like a business card.

Reaching up, Six plucked the paper from the hand. He turned it over and recoiled. It was the Ace of Clubs.

He took a breath, opened his mouth to tell Kytnak, and screamed.

Cold, heavy fingers closed around his wrist. He snatched his hand back and heard something snap. His wrist was released, and the arm landed on the ground, fingers twitching.

"What happened?!" Kyntak exclaimed, as he pulled Six back by the shoulder.

Six was still clutching the playing card, shaking. He heard the scrape of metal on metal and looked up.

Hundreds of tiny red lights exploded above them.

The tunnel around them lit up with gunfire. Kyntak filled the air with bullets, keeping his finger depressed on the Hawk. It had taken Six a spilt second to change his from Semi-Automatic to Automatic. He joined his brother raining bullets into the ceiling.

One of the red dots leapt down. Sharp metal claws ripped into Kyntak's shoulder. Six used the butt of his Hawk to smash it to the ground.

"What the hell was that thing?!" Kyntak yelled still firing.

Six kept up the gunfire while looking down at the now motionless assailant.

"It looks like some kind of robotic spider." Six yelled.

Kyntak ripped the empty magazine from the Hawk. He slammed another in and racked the gun.

"Whatever it is it can go to hell! That hurt."

Bullets casings pinged against the tracks. The tiny red dots rapidly blinked out. Six felt something land on his boot and swiftly kicked it away.

The last red dot fizzled out as Six's magazine clicked empty.

Breathing heavily, Six swept his gun mounted light across the ground. Hundreds of small, metal robots lined the train tracks. About the size of a large rat, they looked like the cross between and spider and a lobster. Long, sharp, claws extended from the main body. In place of a head, was a large camera lens.

Cautiously, Six kicked a few of them away revealing the arm buried beneath them. Dark wires spooled out where the elbow should have been. Six could see the ends of the broken wires sparking with electricity as the fingers gave one last twitch before going limp.

"Are you ok?" Six asked Kyntak.

Kyntak groaned. "I really liked this shirt." He pulled at the tear on his top.

Six breathed a sigh a relief. "I think that's enough recon for now."