As the cloud began to thin around them, Ryan raised the Steyr to try to chill the sec man, but it was too late. Already the clothes were dissolving off his body, then his skin began to sag and melt away, showing the network of muscles and veins. Gurgling horribly, the dying man swung the pod about, still valiantly trying to chill his inhuman attacker even as his organs slid from his torso and piled at his feet, white bones appearing within the raw, red flesh.
The cloud was gone from around the companions as Mitchum’s bloody skeleton toppled over, knocking the pod to swivel about and point straight up. The last couple of Firebirds slammed into the roof of the tunnel to violently explode, broken tiles and concrete debris raining upon the companions. J.B. pulled Mildred out of the way of a falling slab of concrete, and Dean cried out as a chunk of ceiling hit his hand, knocking the card into a puddle.
“Hot pipe!” he shouted, sucking on the minor wound while rummaging about in the dirty water with his other hand. “Where the hell is it?”
As if understanding the words, the Cerberus cloud billowed about in a circle and started hastily for the companions.
“Get inside!” Ryan commanded, starting for the steel door.
“But the card!” Dean cried out, splashing in the muddy water.
His father grabbed the boy by the collar and hauled him erect. “No time. Leave it!” Ryan commanded, pushing his son toward the open doorway.
Tendrils of fog were already snaking along the ground as they piled into the alcove. The armored portal of the redoubt had automatically closed, and Krysty hurriedly punched in the code to open it. As before, the massive truncated door ponderously slid aside, and the companions squeezed through the widening crack to get inside.
The door was still opening when the main body of the fog arrived before the outer doorway. Throwing the gren into the tunnel, Ryan then fired from the hip, the slug hitting the wall behind the door, the ricochet slamming it shut with a loud bang. A heartbeat later there was an explosion, and the door shook, fumes seeping around the edges. Then the fumes began to coalesce and pull the weakened barrier away from the jamb, static electricity crackling over the warping sheet of metal.
“Molotovs!” Ryan shouted, and Dean rummaged in his shoulder bag for the firebombs.
Doc was already at the interior keypad, tapping in the access code to try to make the redoubt door close faster. But the armored slab didn’t increase or diminish its speed. Slow and steady, it reached the far wall, paused and began the journey back home.
Flicking her butane lighter, Mildred started igniting the greasy rag fuses and the companions crashed the Molotovs into the alcove, the combined bottles building a raging conflagration that overflowed into the redoubt. Jak added a pint of whiskey he had taken from the department store. The flames soared as the materials ignited, and the companions waited breathlessly to see if the door would close before the death cloud breached the bonfire.
The opening between the black metal door and wall was only a foot wide when the first tendril writhed out from the dying flames. The companions poured hot lead into the narrowing crack, but still more of the fog pulsed into the redoubt when the door finally slammed shut. The piece of the Cerberus lashed about wildly as if in pain, then began to dissipate and vanished from sight.
“Safe.” Mildred exhaled, slumping against the wall. Warm currents from the life-support system were already carrying away any trace of the cloud or the firebombs. The replacement air was dry and flat, tasting of iron and antiseptically clean, the floor vibrating with a faint hum of powerful machinery. The overhead fluorescent lights were bright, with only a few dark tubes in the fixtures, and one flickering as it struggled to stay active.
“The hell we are,” J.B. cursed, backing away.
Faint wisps of cloud were seeping through the hairline cracks around the massive portal.
“Mat-trans chamber,” Ryan ordered, working the bolt on the Steyr to chamber a fresh round.