JANINE DE LUCA: Better speed up, Five. General Bakari wounded the creature when he blew a hole in its flesh to enable our escape, but from those sounds, I doubt he killed it.
PETER LYNNE: He probably really annoyed it though, so there's that. God, these underground tunnels keep getting narrower. We must be pretty far from Red Scorpion by now.
JANINE DE LUCA: Difficult to be certain with the winding route we've taken. We could be 30 miles from the base or just 2 or 3. How are you holding up, Five? You are the most crucial member of this group. The panacea in your blood could cure countless diseases ravaging the world. It is one of humanity's greatest achievements. We must escape the caves, reunite with our team, and get you and the stolen USB drive into safe territory.
PETER LYNNE: Problem being that first step. Oh, I hope Sam and Maryam are having an easier escape than us. [rock crumbles, tendrils slither] Oh! Janine, Five, look out!
JANINE DE LUCA: More of the creature's tendrils lashing out from the cave roof ahead. Five, the tunnel branches to your right. That way, quickly!
[creature screams]
PETER LYNNE: Yep, it is definitely angry.
JANINE DE LUCA: Still moving northward. Bakari swore there was an exit route in this direction. We owe it to him to find it and to survive. His sacrifice cannot have been in vain!
PETER LYNNE: More tendrils coming from the walls. Oh hell, Janine, the tunnel's a dead end! That’s solid rock up ahead.
JANINE DE LUCA: He's right, Five. Both of you, get away from the walls. They're coming up through the ground!
[explosion, creature screams]
PETER LYNNE: Oh, what was that? It sounded like a bomb going off in hell!
JANINE DE LUCA: The tendrils have stopped moving. They're drooping like numb limbs. No, more than that. They're shriveling, wilting.
PETER LYNNE: That's... really creepy, isn't it?
JANINE DE LUCA: It is an opportunity, and we may not get another. While the tendrils are inert, we can double back from this dead end and take the path we were driven from. Come on. Quickly, run!
~
PETER LYNNE: Um, Janine, now that we're not, you know, facing imminent digestion...
JANINE DE LUCA: Watch your head, Five. There are a lot of shriveled tendrils hanging from the cave roof. Still no sign of life from them. I know what you're going to say, Peter.
PETER LYNNE: Oh, uh, you do?
JANINE DE LUCA: Now that we are no longer in imminent peril for our lives, you are going to propose dwelling further on the general's death.
PETER LYNNE: Well, he... he was basically your adopted dad, Janine. I-I can tell you're upset. It's written all over the expression you are not wearing.
JANINE DE LUCA: At first, as a child, I had difficulty accepting him. He was not my parents. Treating him as such felt... counterfeit. I've always been intensely sensible. After my parents died, I craved order, stability, a universe which made more sense than a random car accident. He helped me find that. The boarding schools were strictly scheduled, the home life was military. He said we were alike. I cannot deny his influence over me. Which is uncomfortable, considering his deeds.
PETER LYNNE: Well, you have been known to play the tactical mastermind with a penchant for control. Your minds might be similar, but he didn't have your heart, Janine. You... you do it for duty, or for others, never for yourself. [laughs] Take it from the Catholic schoolboy. We can't choose everything that shapes us. [mechanical footsteps] Oh, what is that?
JANINE DE LUCA: Footfall approaching fast, but it does not sound human. It sounds mechanical. Something just incapacitated the organism down here, possibly killed it.
PETER LYNNE: Well, our grenades barely hurt that monster. Bakari’s sacrifice hardly winded it. I mean, what could overpower it?
JANINE DE LUCA: Something a great deal more dangerous than us. I suspect we do not want to meet the party responsible. Speed up, both of you. Straight down the tunnel, go!
~
[mechanical footsteps]
PETER LYNNE: Whatever those footsteps are, Five, they're catching up. At least the tunnel's widening, turning into a proper cavern.
JANINE DE LUCA: I feel fresh air. With luck, we're close to a way out.
PETER LYNNE: But we're... we're going back, aren't we? To take out Van Ark? I-I mean, we can't just leave him here to make the next zombie apocalypse, can we? He's not going to stop. He might have tried to convince us that he's all sweet and innocent now, but we know differently.
JANINE DE LUCA: That's a problem for another day. Our first priority must be getting the panacea out of Red Scorpion territory and releasing it to the world. This cavern is surprisingly large. If the creature dug the tunnels, this may have been a favorite hunting spot before it grew too large to move. There are shafts of daylight piercing the ceiling. We are near the surface.
PETER LYNNE: Oh boy. Five, look back where we entered the cavern. I can see what's following us. It's a bit hard to tell with all the shadows, but they look human, but with bits grafted on. That one's got cables sticking out of its back. That one's got metal mandibles, no lower jaw. They're in uniform, moving in formation. What are they?
SOLDIER: Secondary target destroyed. It did not kill the primary targets. We have them in sight.
JANINE DE LUCA: If they're in uniform, they must be from the base. Soldiers of some kind, and they managed to kill the creature down here. We do not want them to catch us. Both of you, head down the tunnel to our northeast. Run!
~
PETER LYNNE: Faster, Five! Those soldiers are definitely catching up. And did you see their legs? It was like their joints were on backwards, ribbed with metal, and [laughs] when they ran, they blurred!
JANINE DE LUCA: The shadows hid much, Peter. Our first impressions may be unreliable. But they are most certainly catching up. At least these tunnels bend often enough to frustrate their line of sight.
PETER LYNNE: They’re got rifles. I've got exactly one concussion grenade left from the base. Don't like our odds in a fight.
SOLDIER: Targets, you are preferred alive for insight extraction. This preference is flexible. No further warnings.
PETER LYNNE: Yep, really not liking the idea of a fight!
JANINE DE LUCA: Tunnel is extremely narrow here. We may be able to cause a cave-in in our wake, prevent them following. Peter, throw Five your last grenade. Five, there's a crack in the rock wall to your left. Nestle the grenade there, prepare to pull the pin. We will have to be fast to outrun the blast's effects. On my mark, and now! Down the tunnel, move!
~
[explosion]
PETER LYNNE: [laughs] That did it, the cave roof’s collapsed behind us. Keep moving down the tunnel, Five. I caught another glimpse of the soldiers as the rocks fell and their faces looked, um, stretched, like the skin was pulled back. Definitely base uniforms, too, and I thought Bakari said the base's soldiers wouldn't follow us down here.
JANINE DE LUCA: These are no ordinary soldiers. Either he was unaware of this division or he didn't mention them to keep us focused on the more immediate danger of the creature.
PETER LYNNE: [laughs] I wonder just how much about that base he failed to mention. I mean, with Van Ark in charge, who knows what else they're working on. [laughs] Van Ark reborn. Can't say I'm surprised, given how often I cheat death, but hell! [laughs] Maybe there's more! Wouldn't-wouldn't that be our luck, Five? You know, maybe they've got a-a pickled Colonel Sage in the attic, and a dozen copies of Sigrid working HR, [JANINE laughs] getting megalomaniacal over printer ink and... sorry, Janine, are you laughing?
JANINE DE LUCA: It was... a minor release in tension. It has been a very long day, Peter.
[cave rumbles]
PETER LYNNE: Ah... that does not sound good.
JANINE DE LUCA: The creature burrowed its tendrils throughout the caves. I suspect that weakened the rock. Our grenade may have struck a vulnerable spot, set off a larger cave-in than anticipated. There. In the distance where the tunnel slopes upward, I see a hint of daylight. [rock crumbles] The entire cave system is collapsing. We must get out before we are entombed. Faster, both of you, run!
~
PETER LYNNE: Oh, thank God, fresh air! I was beginning to forget what the open sky looked like, Five. The cave mouth collapsed behind us. Whatever those soldiers were, they're buried under tons of rock. God, it's pretty here, isn't it? We're partway up a canyon wall, big river below. Oh, uh, careful. Five, the ledge is tiny.
JANINE DE LUCA: The landscape does not resemble that around the base. We must have come some distance. We need to find the rest of our team, then make our way to the Maghreb Protectorate. Bakari said our subcutaneous trackers were ineffective underground, but they will be working now. Sergeant Felis will be coming for us.
Peter, I feel compelled to mention your attempts to bolster my morale. I do truly value them. More than once, you have made me laugh in the most difficult times, generally to my own surprise. There is little else in my life that can do that.
PETER LYNNE: Janine, you uh, don't often say.
JANINE DE LUCA: As I've mentioned, I've been working on... myself. Trying to be clearer in certain respects is on my bucket list. I... that is to say, you're an explosion of too many indulged emotions, Peter, and I am too few. We're both socially difficult in complementary patterns. I appreciate that about us.
PETER LYNNE: Janine, I love you, too. Right, the sun's pretty high. We probably have a few solid hours of hiking if we get moving. [metallic banging] Oh, what on earth?
JANINE DE LUCA: It's coming from the collapse cave mouth behind the rocks. It sounds like excavation.
PETER LYNNE: Five, look out! [rock crumbles, robot whirs] Oh my God, that's a - that's a robotic arm covered in bloody flesh. It's punched right through the rock. It nearly grabbed you, Five. It's wearing a torn uniform, and that's definitely one of them. Look at its wrists. Scraps of skin stretched over servos, but a chevron V branded into the flesh.
JANINE DE LUCA: The symbol of a Van Ark creation. The cave-in did not destroy those soldiers. From the sound of it, they're digging their way out rapidly. They are still coming for us. Five, Peter, we are in serious trouble. If a thousand tons of rock didn't stop them, I'm not sure what will.
