Doom 3™: Worlds on Fire

32

WITH INSTINCTS BORN OF COUNTLESS FIREFIGHTS,dodging bullets, grenades and bombs exploding all around, Kane spun to his right to what, somehow, he had registered as cover. He curled up as tight as possible, head tucked under, arms and hands tucked tight into the body.

The roaring locomotive of air blasted into the room as if it would blow the walls out, and the Martian heat would cook him and Ishii in a matter of moments.

He didn’t look up. But then he heard another noise, a shrill scream, nearly an animal sound. Maybe caused by the sudden vacuum created by the air bellows?

That was followed by an ear-piercing hissing noise, static raised to an unbearable volume, intolerable heights of pitch. Kane quickly covered his ears with his hands. In the motion, his eyes closed.

But they picked up something else now blasting into the room.

A light—deep red, brilliant, the intensity of the sun in the room. He thought,It’s like the world is on fire…

For a moment Kane felt something pulling at his flesh, this new light, this heat, this brilliant red glow somehow tugging on his skin.

But Kane—still protected—hugged closer to the metal barrier that led back to the Convergence Chamber. Behind his tightly closed eyes, he could see the light fade. Then—of course—came the new sound.

The sound that trailed in the wake of this red tide of light.

And as this new screaming, roaring noise cut so easily through the covering made by his hands pressed tight, Kane noticed his hands shaking.

His knees tucked close, shaking also.

And he knew that in all the battles he’d been in, in all the times he had faced death, it never, ever, felt quite as bad as this.

Maria looked at Rodriguez, his goofy mouth open, looking down the hallway. Her hair blew off her forehead, her cheek.

She thought of something then: funny thing—the breeze a fist made as it sailed close by your face, close enough to generate that little wind, and then goes flying safely by…a miss.

A miss. Because you ducked. You weaved. You bobbed. The thought clarified.

You moved.

And she saw an alcove leading to an Alpha Lab storage area. Narrow, dark, but away from this now growing roar of wind, this roar clearing the way for something else to come.

Theo let his mother’s hand go. Maybe it was the funny wind.

The soldier had stopped. He started to turn. His mother stood there. Her hand reached out, looking for Theo’s hand.

Theo went to grab that hand, latch on, hold on, hold it tight—

When whatever came into the tunnel threw Theo back. Pushed him back hard, then smacked him down onto the floor. He screamed. He did what every kid does. He called for his mother.

“Mom! Mommy!”

But still this wind kept pushing him, like a playground bully, pushing, sweeping him away, until Theo felt himself fly up as if he was paper, now thrown against a wall, then down another corridor.

And then there was nothing.

Swann flew back against the door.

Both pods now glowed an incredible red, like massive flames erupting from the floor. Did the pods even still exist? Each one shot out jagged spears of reddish lights, in every direction, penetrating the walls of the lab, shooting every which way.

In that moment Swann knew he was alive because of where he stood. And as long as one of those spears didn’t hit him, those sharp points of fiery red light shooting all over, then he was fine.

He laughed. A weird feeling.

When so many fell around him, tumbling to the ground, the light skewering right through them. Scientists who only seconds ago were walking around checking everything, now lay writhing on the ground.

Because—and this was the sick thing—those spears rocketing out of the twin pods, when they hit something alive—they didn’t just move through them. No, like hooking a human worm, they jabbed into the person on the floor, legs kicking, head arching up and then smacking down to the floor. Toying. Playing.

Swann shook his head.No. Not playing with them. Doing something else.

He turned right. One person stood nearby, unaffected as the rolling spears flew into and out of the lab. Betruger. Standing there. His skin seemed red, then, for a second, rippling. He held something in his hands. Like a shield, filled with curves and protrusions.

What the hell is that?

Until finally Swann looked at the pod to the right. Where the volunteer had been standing only seconds ago, smiling, all thumbs-up and okay.

He was still there. Sort of. Only now what had once been his naked chest was this gaping hole. A hole that seemed to pulse and grow larger as the spears shot out. And out of that hole, things came out.

Swann looked at one. Something with a head, a big smiley face of teeth, and snakelike legs somehow helping it move.

He looked away.

Because more things came out, different things, things that Swann didn’t want to see. He knew he was shaking, heaving and crying as he stood there, somehow miraculously alive.

But another glance at the fireworks explosion that was Delta Lab…

Scientists, once speared, shot through with the electric red bolts, now…yes…standing up, slowly getting to their feet, slowly, studiously. (This was new to them, after all.) They werealive.

But then one of them nearby turned to Swann, and he knew that wasn’t quite right. Not alive in the way they were only seconds ago.

The nearby one, whose loopy jaw now seemed to be able to open double-wide, tilted its head, seeing Swann.

Noticing him. Swann’s right hand felt the edge of the open lab exit.

He turned, not even able to worry that there might be something there, right there outside, waiting for him to spin around and turn and try to get out of the lab.

And Swann started running as fast as he could, unaware that as he ran, his screams resounded throughout the corridor.