James waited until the last possible second. He launched himself upward, grabbing the ceiling ventilation grate, pulling his legs up into a tuck. The bottom laser passed inches beneath his boots.
The commando tried to jump over the bottom one. He cleared it—but he miscalculated the top beam.
It caught him mid-air at the waist.
He didn't scream until he hit the ground. The top half of his torso fell one way; his legs fell the other. His entrails spilled out onto the sterile floor, steaming in the cold air.
"Help me!" the soldier gargled, clawing at the floor with his hands, dragging his severed torso toward James. "Please... help..."
James landed, breathing hard. He looked at his fallen man. There was nothing he could do.
"Kaplan!" James roared at the glass door, his eyes locking with Alice's on the other side. "Open this goddamn door!"
Outside, Kaplan was hyperventilating.
"Hurry! Hurry, they're going to die!" Alice shouted, grabbing Kaplan's shoulder and shaking him. "Do something!"
"I know! Do you think this is easy?!" Kaplan snapped, tears of frustration mingling with the sweat on his face. "She's rewriting the code! I'm bypassing the firewall... almost there... come on, come on!"
Inside the corridor, the commando's screaming stopped. He was gone.
James stood alone. The leader of the USS team, a veteran of hundreds of black-ops missions, was trapped in a glass box with a ghost.
The whine returned. Louder this time. Angry.
James backed up to the very end of the corridor, pressing his back against the exit door. He raised his gun, though he knew bullets were useless against light or the door.
A single beam appeared.
It moved slowly this time. Mocking him.
James watched it. It's low. I can jump it.
He bent his knees, preparing to leap. The laser sped up. James tensed—
And then, the Red Queen cheated.
Just as the beam reached him, it didn't stay a line. It fractured.
Zzzzzzt-Zzzzt-Zzzzt.
The single beam split, expanding upward and outward into a complex, checkered grid of blue light. It filled the entire hallway from floor to ceiling, wall to wall. There was no space to jump. No space to duck. No space to breathe.
It was a wall of death.
James stared at the grid rushing toward his face. His tactical mind ran the calculations and came up with zero. He lowered his gun. His expression went slack, a mix of disbelief and acceptance.
"Oh, shit."
The grid passed through him.
For a moment, he stood there. The grid dissipated into the wall behind him.
James blinked. A thin, red grid pattern appeared on his face. Then on his uniform. Then on his hands.
Outside, Kaplan hit the final key.
BEEP.
"I got it!" Kaplan yelled, slamming his fist on the console. "Power down! I killed the defense system!"
The heavy steel door hissed and slid open.
"James!" Alice shouted, rushing toward the opening.
She stopped dead in the doorway.
James Shade was still standing. He looked at them, his eyes glassy. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.
Then, gravity took over.
He fell apart.
Literally. His body separated into hundreds of perfectly diced cubes of flesh and bone. The pile of remains collapsed onto the wet, red floor in a wet heap of gore.
Blocks of flesh, bone, and uniform slid off one another in a gruesome, geometric collapse. The pieces hit the floor with a wet, heavy sound that echoed in the pristine hallway.
The silence in the glass corridor was absolute, heavy with the metallic scent of cauterized flesh.
Alice clamped a hand over her mouth, stumbling back. Rain turned away, swearing loudly. Matt looked like he was going to faint.
Kaplan stared at the carnage, his hands trembling over the keyboard. "I... I w…"
"Uuuwaghhh!"
Matt stumbled back, his hands flailing. The shock was too much. He doubled over, retching violently onto the white tiles, his mind unable to process the gore.
Kaplan, standing at the console, turned away, his face ghostly pale. "Oh god... oh god, I was too late..."
Alice stood frozen. She stared at the pile of remains that used to be a person. For a full minute, she couldn't breathe. The horror of it threatened to shatter her mind, to drag her down into the same panic Matt was feeling.
But then, something inside her clicked.
A cold, hard steel encased her heart. The fear didn't vanish, but it was pushed down, buried under a layer of survival instinct.
Her face turned icy. She stepped over the pool of blood, moving with a robotic determination.
"Kaplan," she said, her voice devoid of emotion. "Pick up the Electrical Charge."
Kaplan looked at her, shaking. "What?"
"The Electrical Charge," Alice commanded, pointing to the black duffel bag dropped by the dead medic. "Pick it up. We are finishing this."
She didn't wait for him. She grabbed the handle of the heavy bag and shoved it into his chest. Kaplan fumbled with it, staring at her intensity, then nodded. He wiped the tears and sweat from his face.
"Right. Right. Let's do it."
They stepped over the remains of their leader and entered the blast doors of the Red Queen's Chamber.
The Central Core was a stark contrast to the rest of the facility. It was a massive, circular room shrouded in darkness. A long, narrow metal walkway extended over a bottomless pit, leading to a central platform where the mainframe housing stood.
The only light came from the pulsating blue LEDs of the server banks, breathing in a slow, rhythmic cycle.
Alice and Kaplan walked to the center console. Matt stumbled in behind them, wiping his mouth, his eyes darting around the shadows as if expecting another laser beam to slice him in half.
"Hook it up," Alice ordered.
Kaplan knelt, unzipping the bag. He pulled out the Electrical Charge Emitter—a device that looked like a high-tech drill with a remote detonator. He began attaching it to the main breaker of the Queen's housing.
"Hurry," Matt urged, his voice hoarse. "Kill her before she kills us."
Suddenly, the blue lights in the room flickered. A holographic projector whirred to life above the console.
Alice and Kaplan walked to the center console. Matt stumbled in behind them, still wiping his mouth.
"Hook it up," Alice ordered.
Kaplan knelt, pulling out the Electric Charge device—a remote-detonated microwave emitter capable of rebooting the mainframe. He began attaching it to the glass casing of the main breaker.
"Hurry," Matt urged, his voice hoarse. "Kill her before she kills us."
Suddenly, the blue lights in the room flickered. A high-pitched hum filled the air.
Above the console, a holographic projector whirred to life. Red light coalesced in the air, forming the image of a small, British girl in a frilly dress. She looked innocent, almost angelic, except for the cold, artificial intelligence in her eyes.
Alice stared at the hologram. It was so detailed, so disturbingly human.
"She's holographic," Kaplan explained, his hands working quickly on the wires, though his eyes were fixed on the projection. "A visual representation of the AI."
Alice frowned, tilting her head. "Modeled on who?"
"The head creator's adopted daughter," Kaplan replied, not looking up. "She was designed to learn. To think."
The Red Queen turned her pixelated gaze toward them.
"You are bad," the hologram said, her voice synthesized and echoing from everywhere. "You are all bad."
Matt flinched. "She's watching us!"
"Stop," the Red Queen commanded. "Don't do it."
"Why?" Alice stepped forward, staring the hologram down. "So you can kill the rest of us like you killed the others?"
"I did what was necessary," the Red Queen replied, her tone devoid of remorse. "The T-Virus escaped. It is highly contagious. I could not allow it to reach the surface."
"You're a murderer," Matt spat, his fear turning into anger.
The Red Queen ignored him, focusing on the Electric Charge device. The hologram turned her gaze to Kaplan, who froze, his hand hovering over the detonator. "I will not allow you to disable me," the Red Queen stated matter-of-factly. "You are interfering with a Level 5 Containment Protocol."
"Containment?" Alice stepped forward, staring the hologram down. "You killed everyone in this facility! You murdered them!"
"I did what was necessary," the Red Queen replied, her tone devoid of remorse. "The T-Virus escaped. It is highly contagious. I could not allow it to reach the surface. I locked the doors. I sealed the hive."
"You're a murderer," Matt spat, his fear turning into anger. "My sister is down here somewhere! You killed her!"
The Red Queen looked at Matt with disdain. "Your sister is already dead. You just don't know it yet."
She turned back to Alice, sensing that she was the one calling the shots.
"You must listen to me," the AI pleaded, though the request sounded more like a threat. "If you shut me down, the power grid will fail. The magnetic locks on the containment sectors will disengage."
"So?" Kaplan asked, sweat dripping onto the Electrical Charge device.
"So," the Red Queen continued, "The things I locked away... will be released. You have no idea what is walking through these halls. There are creatures here that have evolved even beyond my understanding."
For a fraction of a second, the Red Queen's code processed an image from Sector 3 E—a white-skinned monster with silver claws, laughing like a maniac while chopping Zombies like they were vegetables.
"There is an evolution taking place," she said, her voice lowering. "A variable you cannot fight. If you cut the power, you let him out. You let them all out. You will all die down here."
Alice hesitated. The conviction in the AI's voice was chilling.
"Don't listen to her, Alice!" Matt shouted. "She's trying to trick us! She's evil! She just wants to save her own ass!"
"I am incapable of deceit regarding safety protocols," the Red Queen countered. "I am pleading for your survival. Walk away. Leave the facility sealed."
"She's evil, Alice!" Matt yelled, reaching for the remote in Kaplan's hand. "Shut her down! Do it!"
Alice looked at the holographic girl. "Open the doors. Let us out."
"I cannot do that," the Red Queen said. "The risk of infection is too high. You are all expendable."
Alice's expression hardened. That was the wrong thing to say.
"Kaplan," Alice said softly. "Push the button."
"Idiots," the Red Queen sneered, her red form flickering violently. "You are so short-sighted. You are dooming yourselves to a painful death. Idiots you all gonna die her—"
ZAP.
Kaplan slammed the switch.
The Electrical Charge device fired. A massive surge of microwave energy blasted into the mainframe.
Red Queen screamed, her voice distorting, pitching down into a demonic bass before dissolving into static.
The red hologram shattered into pixels and vanished.
The blue lights of the server banks surged brightly once, then died.
Voooooom.
The hum of the facility died. The air circulation stopped. The lights in the Core Room went black, plunging them into total darkness for a terrifying second before the yellow emergency floodlights kicked in.
"It's done," Kaplan panted, slumping against the console. "She's down."
"Good riddance," Matt muttered, leaning against the railing.
But none of them celebrated. Because deep in the distance, echoing through the miles of tunnels and shafts of the Hive, a sound began to resonate.
Click. Click. Click. Click.
It was the sound of thousands of magnetic locks disengaging at once.
The doors to the labs were opening.
The doors to the holding cells were opening.
The doors to the Kennel were opening.
Alice looked at the others, the Red Queen's final warning ringing in her ears.
"We need to move," Alice whispered. "Now."