Chapter 39: Cometh the Hive

Taking the stairs two at a time, we raced down, passing fallen body after body. I grabbed the handrail at a landing to whip myself around, going as fast as I could. At first the stairwell muffled the gunfire, but it was continuous and steady, indicating two situations. First, the bullets worked, otherwise our guys would have switched weapons. And second, the creatures were coming in slow enough to be shot one by one.

When we got about halfway down, the guns boomed out on full auto.

“Shit! We have to get down there,” I began taking the stairs three at a time.

“Wait!” shouted Marci. “They’re coming up!” She dropped her pack to the ground, started readying her gun. “I haven’t fired a shot, still have six full clips. You?”

Bent and I both stopped, pulling our submachine guns off our backpacks.

I readied mine, checked to make sure there was one in the chamber, set it to single fire, safety off, finger outside the trigger. “I shot a burst from my first clip. And my handgun. So, five and half for the submachine gun.”

“Six full clips here.” Bent clicked his safety off, too.

Marci said, “Fred and Ave have to be low now. We might have to give them some of ours. They’re better at, uh, killing than we are. Shooting! I mean shooting.”

“Definitely, much more training,” said Bent. “They did have twice the number of clips than we do because of those extra guns, but yeah.”

The gunfire was getting closer and was now coming in measured single shots. They were backing up the stairs, coordinating their retreat, but they had to be under continuous attack.

“We’ll head down until we see them,” I said loudly. “Then, we’ll take firing positions and switch them off. Bent, you and I on either side of the stairs, Marci behind us.”

“Got it.”

“Understood.”

The gunfire abruptly stopped just below us. Soon, Fred, Ave and Dylan were running up the stairs, Fred waving at us, “Go, go, go!”

Behind them, one of the little ant-people ran to the stairs. It was just about twice the height of each stair. The creature stopped, leaned forward, placing its arms flat on the stair above it. A second creature climbed up its body, then likewise hugged the next step. Soon, another little one climbed up both of them and repeated the process.

“Boss!” Fred grabbed my arm, “We have to go!” Holding his Skorpion in one hand, he shot each of those things on the stairs, and the next one climbing up, the kickback not remotely noticeable with his strength. A big one ran around the corner, stepping over the bodies to race up at us. It jerked backwards as Fred put a bullet into its chest.

“Jesus!” I tore my gaze away from the creatures and bolted up the stairs. After five flights, my legs started to feel it but pressed on. I was beginning to hate these goddamn stairs. It felt like we’d been up and down them nonstop for the past few days.

Ave yelled as we ran, “They followed us up, but not all of them. Some of them went into the hallways.”

“Into the hallways? What do you mean?”

“No point in making a defensive stand,” said Fred. “They just keep coming.”

We continued running and no one answered my question.

***

Reaching the top floor, everyone was breathing hard. We shut and locked the double doors but didn’t press furniture up against them. It was the single point of entry. Also our only exit. Unless you counted the balcony or the rooftop. Those weren’t great in terms of surviving the exit.

“What happened down there?” I asked.

“They broke through the door,” said Ave, “then sniffed around. When they got closer, they caught our scent or heard us or something and rushed forward. At that point, we opened fire. Bullets take them down, but more just keep coming.”

Dylan pulled out his gun’s magazine, the bullets were about halfway down, and said, “They have no concern for their own lives.” He popped it back in. “I do not want to find out how sharp their teeth are, no matter how little those things are.”

Ave looked at me dead in the eyes, “I saw one of them tear into a zombie carcass. They are built to cut chunks of flesh out. Then a bunch joined in, but we took off before they got into it.”

“I left my other submachine gun down there. It was empty,” said Fred. “I’m down to this one and five clips. Maybe ninety bullets.”

“That’s about what I have. And I left my other one down there, too.” Ave scratched the back of her head, “There just wasn’t time. Once they identified our position, they swarmed us. That’s when we-”

“-switched to full auto.” Fred ejected his clip to check on it, the rounds about a third spent, he put it back in. “Then to burst fire at the stairs. Single fire when they spread out more.”

“Once we moved out of the way,” said Dylan, “and up the stairs, they stopped single-mindedly heading for us. Some of them did, but others went in other directions.”

“Yeah,” I scratched my neck, “Ave said that on the way up. Why aren’t they all attacking us?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they lose focus easily?”

“That’s not it,” Marci said. “They’re exploring. Searching the building. They don’t all need to attack us, but they do need to learn the environment. I wish we knew how smart they were. Like, if they’re only as smart as ants, they’re just wandering around, looking for food. But if they learn and understand the layout of the hotel and enough of them get inside, they’ll trap us. River, we probably don’t have a lot of time.”

“Alright.” I stared at her for a bit, trying to come up with a plan, but imagining hordes and hordes of these things descending upon us. “Fred, Ave and Dylan, take a breather, drink some water. Dylan, how are you on bullets?”

“Down to three clips. I could use some if you guys have extra.”

“Ave?”

“Same as Fred, sitting at five magazines.”

“Marci, Bent and I will give each of you one clip. That’ll get you back up to five, Fred and Ave to eight, and give us three each. Everyone wear your sidearm, make sure magazines are accessible for it, too, in case we’re pressed hard.”

Everyone began rummaging through their packs, strapping on their handguns, taking magazines out. After that was done, I continued organizing us. “Marci, Bent here,” I passed them my flashlight so they could double up the beams, “go check outside, see what they’re doing. Don’t take too long, though. We’ve got to leave soon.”

“What’re you thinking, Boss?” Fred took a sip of water.

“Either the other stairway or the elevator shaft. But it’s blocked off at the eighth floor. So, the other stairs until the seventh floor, then the elevator shaft. Once we hit the lobby, it’s a short trip to the hallway to get out. I think we’ll get boxed in using the stairs if they swarm up. But they probably won’t find the elevator shaft immediately.”

Ave tilted her head, “A short, messy fight. They’ll be all over the entrance by now. I wish the Victoria gave us grenades.”

“Yeah. Either we fight through the lobby or go further into the dungeon. We’ve got supplies for a week or so of food, but who knows what’s further in the dungeon. By the looks of it, more danger than we can handle.”

“Maybe just a couple days of booze,” said Fred.

“Yeah. Give me a sec, I need to think.”

“You got it, Boss. I’m gonna find more food. And booze. Be back.”

Fred passed Ave the water, then the three of them headed to the kitchen, leaving me to pace in the near dark. I should have asked one of them for a flashlight, but it didn’t really matter right now. The floor was empty, the furniture pushed up against the walls, making it perfect for pacing.

Our options were likely getting worse by the second if more of those creatures were pouring into the hotel. Bent’s idea to restart the altars was a no go. Aside from the immorality involved, we had no idea how long it would take or if it’d even work. That left venturing further into the dungeon or escaping.

I guess I’d already made up my mind. The dungeon was too unpredictable, too dangerous. We could get trapped in a dead-end and then those things would eventually overcome our firepower advantage. Without a map, and fleeing swarms of hungry ant-people, we’d face the real possibility of just getting lost spelunking. It seemed our only choice was to leave through the lobby.

I shook my head, pacing back and forth. All of this would have been avoided if I’d just listened to Marci, if I’d just taken us out of the dungeon. We’d finished the quest, we’d learned a little about the nanotech, and we hadn’t found their mainframes. There was no reason to suspect they’d be deeper in this dungeon. They might be, but we had no hints they were here other than Lane lying to us about seeing walking computers.

Burying my face in my hands, it was worse than that. Yeah, we all knew Lane only said that to keep us around to fight their village’s monsters. I’d hoped, at that point, there might be something to it. A fool’s errand. Marci had called our task a difficult one. Why stop there? It was an impossible task. If this planet’s military couldn’t stop the nanotech attack, there was no chance a newbie team of six could. We’d already lost our leader and our communications officer.

Since entering this dungeon, we’d come very close to losing members multiple times. Fred, infected by a zombie bite and Ave, head smashed in by a trap. Saved only by the grace of the nanotech potions. I’d have to err on the side of caution going forward. Be more careful, take less risks. Yet I didn’t see how to decrease the danger we were in when the entire game centered around it.

And there was no way around the danger now. Getting trapped in this hotel was my fault, my choice. Now we had to fight our way out, through an enemy that didn’t care for their own lives, that only saw us as food. I hoped I wouldn’t be responsible for anyone’s death.

Just then a familiar bell rang:

NEW QUEST: ESCAPE THE HIVE! ONLY THE BRAVE AND DARING WILL VENTURE FURTHER INTO THE DUNGEON. WHICH ARE YOU? BONUS EXPERIENCE POINTS IF YOU DESTROY THE HIVE. GOOD LUCK!

I looked at the ceiling, shaking my hands in the air, “Oh, fuck off, game!”