When the Night Comes Out Presents the Hive, Part six. Kettinger sat in
his office watching the tape loop over and over and over again in horrified fascination.
As the trustees lumpered out of the morgue and as Tristan reached for the
camera. Then he saw doctor Bellinger in the background. The team had found
other footage. In each case, the horror got worse. Jennifer had finally
made up an excuse to leave, abandoning Ketnenger with the horror all by himself.
Other shots showed the trustees and Bellinger walking down the hall, entering the
first patient's room and staying there for a while. Then a dark stain spread
across the floor, flowing from within the room, and all of them slowly
emerged, once again covered in more blood. One of the trustees carried what
was obviously in arm, and he was very obviously eating it like a man
devouring a chicken leg. This can't be happening, Kettinger whispered to himself,
what the fuck is going on? Down their cue. He had heard nothing,
and was wearing an earpiece so that if Hugh called it could be patched
to him no matter where he was in the complex. He had this idea
that he should be running around doing something, but he could only sit there
in his office and stare the trustees on his screen were entering another patient room.
Another several minutes with nothing. Then they all re emerged. Now one
of them was carrying something that looked like meat in his hand, chomping away.
Then a few moments after that, one of the patients, covered in
blood staggered from the room to join the group shuffling down the hall. Kettinger
felt he was a man who could handle any crisis. This was part of
why they had chosen him for the job. He had handled riots, and
he had handled hunker strikes. He had dealt with the depths of mines and
cavans before he came to the Hive. He had run businesses and done all
sorts of things before he came here. You could have one thousand years of
experience and a thousand years of training and never be prepared for something like this.
For the first time in a long time, Ketneker was afraid. Mike,
I have Q, Jenny yelled, put him through. In an instant,
Kenneker's right ear was filled with noise. Gunfire was the first thing he
recognized. Then came the sounds of men shouting, some of them screaming.
Boss Q blared into his right ear, Goque, we have no fucking idea
what's going on down here. They're attacking us. More gunfire, something exploded
or burst apart. In the background. Ketninger could easily detect Regg's deep booming
voice giving commands. More rapid fire. Then something growled and a man screamed,
who who's attacking the trustees' medical staff? Patience, Q shouted, they
came out of the ceiling. Cut us off. You got to shut down
the entire medical wing. They're all crazy. They're biting, eating us.
They killed everyone in the hospital wing. Shit. The gunfire sound was very
loud, and Kennenger could picture Q down there shooting his own gun into someone
or something. Then there were more screams. Shut it down, you'll be
trapped, Kennenger shouted back, I need you back here, Q. If
they get out, they'll kill everyone and everything. Boss Q shouted, He
was blotted out by screaming and more gunfire. Plus when they bite you,
something happens. It's like a disease. It happens fast too. What you
turn into one of them. Q said, we've shot five of our own
guys who got bit. Boss shut it down, and like that Q was
gone. Somehow, the silence was more terrifying than the gunfire. Kenenger stood
up and ran to a bookshelf across from his desk. He found the right
manual, the one filled with emergency procedures and codes. He found the right
page, got back to his desk and typed the codes into the computer.
A moment later, a siren went off inside the Hive. He could hear
it in his head, just outside his office and coming from behind the window
that made up one wall of his office. All over the high it echoed,
and everyone would know that it was an emergency. Down in the hospital
section, huge metal doors began to close like giant metallic lips to seal everyone
and everything off from the rest of the Hive. Ketnenger picked up his phone
receiver and punched a few numbers. A moment later, his voice emerged from
speakers everywhere in both the Hive and Hive City. He did his best to
keep his voice calm. This is Warden Kettinger, he said, his own
voice echoing back to his ears. This is emergency Protocol A seventeen. The
medical word has been sealed off. I need every guard, every employee to
come to the hive complex immediately. Again, this is emergency Protocol A seventeen.
I need all hands on deck. He put the receiver down and ran
his hands through his hair. He looked up and Jennifer was there in the
doorway. The look of sheer terror on her face broke his heart. It's
going to be okay, Jen, he said, We've got them sealed off.
What about Q, what about REJ. We're going to get them out,
Kenninger said, standing up and heading across the room to put on his
vest and grab a helmet. He also strapped two pistols to his body and
found his rifle in the closet. I'm going to get them out this time.
Jennifer did not argue about how they needed him back in the office.
Things had gone way off the rails here, Kenninger knew, and they were
now making things up as they went along. Kennnger smiled at Jennifer, but
the smile felt way too fake. She managed to smile back, and then
Kenninger turned and walked away, heading for the large assembly room downstairs. Send
me any updates that you get. He called back over his shoulder, and
if Q calls back, patch him threw right away. Jennifer nodded, but
Ketninger was already in the elevator and gone. Q clutched his rifle tighter.
Around him were the guards that remained, all of them, breathing heavily and
sweating. Ahead were the guards who had been bitten, and the rest of
the medical staff and patients who to a man looked mean and very dead,
but also like they were decomposing before their eyes. Q wiped his eyes.
This could not be happening, He kept telling himself. This was a nightmare
and at any moment he would wake up and find himself in his bed.
The monsters or whatever they were, Q was having a hard time coming up
with a name, were trying to surround them. Q and his team had
moved to behind the nurses station. It was really the only cover and only
place that could be defended. They had tried to get into one of the
patient rooms, only to find that the patients had been turned into monsters and
had been hiding in the closet. They came out after them, and they
had all spilled out into the hallway, where they found the rest of the
hall blocked. There were twenty guards left. There had to have been about
seventy monsters. The monsters, ghouls, zombies, demons had proven exceedingly hard
to kill. What's next, rege Q asked, We just have to keep
fighting. How are you on? Ammo Q checked, not great? Go
to a single shot, Redge said. The man was infuriatingly calm. Shoot
for the head. Why the then we've been able to bring down went down
fast with headshots. Rege replied, and that he shouldered his weapon and peered
down the site. A moment later, his gun fired and a blonde nurse's
head exploded in a spray of fine red mist. Her body dropped like its
strings had been cut. She collapsed to the floor and then did not move
again. Well, shit Q said, feeling a moment's hope. This may
not be as lost to cause as I thought. Suddenly the formation of the
group of ghules changed. The guards who had been bitten they had changed so
fast, so fast, moved to the front of the group. All of
them wore their helmets. The helmets were all bullet proof. Shit reg said.
The Gules were moving better now, more steadily. They had charged at
the guards at one point, moving with a blinding speed, trying to overtake
them with speed and numbers. The guards had opened fire and managed to cut
down several of them and then ran. It had been sheer panic, without
a clear idea of a plan or what to do. For several minutes,
aim for the head, reg repeated himself, let's get out of here.
The rest of the guards nodded their acknowledgment and shouldered their rifles fire. The
air erupted in gunfire. Q took aim at the nearest gul, one of
the trustees, and cited his weapon. Picking the spot between his eyes,
he fired. The ghoul turned his head. The bullets sailed past and caught
another Ghul who had been standing behind his intended target. The bullet caught him
in the shoulder. What the fuck, Q said, mostly to himself,
since the guards were still shooting. To his amazement, the ghoul he had
fired at smiled at him. The twined rows of sharpened teeth looked like a
shark's mouth. Q aimed again and fired lower and caught the ghul in the
chest. The smile vanished and the ghoul staggered back. Then Q fired again,
this time hitting the Ghul in the head. He was down. There
was a crash from behind them. Q peered out and saw that six more
of the ghules were down. But then he turned around and looked behind him.
There were fifty more Ghuls in the hallway. More of the ceiling had
come down, and from within the missing parts he could see a ventilation shaft
that had been torn open, the metal ripped apart. Q gasped when he
saw these Ghuls. They were dressed in prisoner garb. There's more, Q
shouted, behind us got to some of the prisoners, and they're using the
ventilation system to get around. Rege whirled and took out two of the prisoners,
but the prisoners were fresher, if you could say that about corpses,
Q thought, and they immediately charged. Q opened fire, taking out one
of the ghul's kneecaps. The ghoul let out a grunt and fell to the
ground, but then kept crawling. The others were running. He fired again
and again. One of them did the dodging maneuver and missed, but then
he caught another with a bullet to the head. They swarmed over the nurses
station, like ants released from an ant hell. One of the guards,
who was still facing the other way, was grabbed from behind. The sharp
teeth of one of the prisoner ghules bit down on the man's neck. The
guards screamed and blood jetted from his neck. Then he was gone in a
mass of bodies. The ghules from the front of the nurses station now swarmed
them. Q and Redge took turns fire, turning first one way and then
the other, always opposite of each other, firing, then turning, firing
and then turning. Someone grabbed at Q's arm, and he looked sideways,
seeing his elbow about to disappear into the mouth of one of the infected.
He pointed the barrel of his gun and fired into that mouth. The top
of the ghoul's head disappeared. We're too open, Q shouted. We need
to get into someplace that we can barricade. I know we need one of
the rooms. Red shouted, firing and firing without missing a beat, but
we need to find one without zombies in it. There was the word that
Q had been avoiding. Were these zombies? Were they the undead? He
had never believed such a thing was possible, but it was hard to dispute
the evidence. Just then, two men in medical scrubs leapt onto the nurses
station wall, their teeth bared. They jumped into the cluster of guards,
sprawling. When reg fell into him, Q heard screams and something like thick
paper tearing as one of the guards was bitten and then dragged into the swarm.
Arms and legs were all around Q's head. He scrambled on his stomach,
batting away the hands that grabbed at him, just trying to get clear
of it all. The smell of decay was so strong now it was overpowering.
He heard growling and grunting from the zombies. Something grabbed his shirt and
started to pull him up, but he twisted his body, kicking out with
his left foot and connecting with a soft body, and he felt his shirt
tear. He fell to the floor and was able to get to his hands
and knees. He had lost his gun shit. Q got to his feet
and whirled around. Immediately one of the prisoners was on him, his sharp
teeth gnashing the air inches in front of Q's face. The stench from the
man was unbelievable. Q held up his hands and gripped the prisoner jumper.
The man still wore the ghule's fingers, clawed at his arms and were trying
to claw at his face. Hugh immediately dropped to the floor and kicked out
with his feet, and the prisoner sailed over Q's head. I haven't used
my judo training in ages, Q thought, slightly bemused, as he got
to his feet again. The prisoner was disoriented, but then distracted by something
going on over at the nurses station. Q turned his head and had to
gape an awe. Reg had apparently run out of ammunition or lost his rifle
as well, but yeld a huge knife in his hand. He was taking
the gules down one at a time with stabs through their chin, through their
temple, and through their eye. He had his own teeth bared, sweat
pouring down his face, but he kept stabbing and then throwing the bodies aside.
Q was so fascinated that he was almost bitten in the neck. A
moment later, he let out a scream and turned his head and saw the
nurse whose name had been Dina, right there, her eyes red rimmed and
filled with menace. Her teeth were needles. Q moved aside sending her into
the wall. Then he punched her in the face, smashing the nose.
She staggered but did not fall. He needed a weapon. He looked around
and saw a metal stand normally used to hang medicine and deliver it intravenously.
Q grabbed it and swung it in a wide arc. The bass connected with
Dina's head with a crunch. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she
fell straight down. A noise caused Q to whirl around and face the front
entrance of the medical facility. It was a huge, metallic scraping sound.
Someone's opening the doors, He yelled, reg did not acknowledge. He just
kept fighting and stabbing. A moment later, the doors to the hospital opened,
and to Q's surprise, Mike Kenninger was in the lead. A whole
platoon of guards followed him, and the air was full of bullets. Hugh
leaned against the wall, never more grateful that his boss was an idiot who
did not follow protocol much. He watched amazed. It was as if the
entire group of zombies all stopped at once. They appeared for a half second
to be listening to something, then they all ran instead of attacking the new
people. They ran back down the hall with amazing speed and grace. They
leapt into the air and vanished up into the broken air shaft. Ketninger and
his men kept firing, gunning down some of the fleeing ghouls, but a
good number made it into the air shaft. The silence that followed was in
its own way, as loud as the gunfire. Hugh sank down the wall
to the floor and closed his eyes. Q Q opened his eyes and saw
Kennenger removing his helmet and running for him. Om okay, Q said,
but his voice was weak. He cleared his throat and tried again, Im
okay, see to Rege, Reg, were you bitten? Reg stood at
the nurses station. All around him wore bodies. He had blood all over
him, but Q had no idea if it was his own blood or whatever
blood was left in the ghoules he had stabbed. Rege had one hand down
on the desk at the station, his head down. Several of the guards
that had been with Kennenger ran to him. Just before they got there.
Reg raised his head and looked at Q. His eyes were clear. He
gave a thumbs up, kim me out of here. Mike, Q said,
get me the fuck out of here so we can talk. We are
fucked. Mike gave him a curtain nod and then helped him to his feet.
Q looked around. There were bodies everywhere, and there had been enough
blood on the floor and walls when they got here, but now the place
was absolutely painted in it. From what Q could tell, it was just
he and Red who had made it. He had seen quite a few ghules
dressed as guards bolt up into the air shaft. Q looked up. They
were up there right now, crawling around with whatever purpose creatures like that might
have. It was the one place they had never thought about with the hive.
It was impossible to climb up to the surface in them. The metal
shafts that fed the main chambers were too thin for people to crawl through,
and they'd have to crawl through miles and miles of smooth metal pipes to try
to get there. But to get around inside the hive, it was like
discovering a hidden subway system. They're in the air shafts, Mike Q said,
We've got to find a way to steal them off. Let's get back
to the office. Mike said, let's get back there and we'll figure something
out. Q said nothing else, but he didn't have a good feeling about
it. There may be no stopping this, and what about Hive City.
Q felt a sudden sinking feeling in his gut. Full impact of what this
might mean hit him at once. All those families, all those people,
hundreds and hundreds of people, and if they got to the surface, let's
move fast. Q said. They stepped it up a notch. Q and
Ketnenger got back to his office and record time. Kettenger waved off everyone who
tried to get in his way and asked questions. They got into the office
and Kettenger tried to get C to lay down on a leather sofa, but
Q immediately began pacing around the office. You need to get people into the
airshaft's mic, he said, you have to find a way to shut them
down. Steal off that wing right away. Kettinger stood there and let him
ray for a minute, and then placed both hands on Q's shoulders. Q
tell me what happened, so Q did. He told Kettenger about realizing that
they were essentially fighting the undead. Kennenger started to protest, but Q launched
into a tirade about how he knew what he had seen and that Kennenger was
wasting time. Q. Kennenger shouted again, you have to slow down.
I don't understand any of this. Q managed to stop pacing, and then
Kenninger saw something that actually pierced him to his soul. Unshakable, unflappable.
Q was afraid. In fact, the man looked terrified. They killed the
ones that were too badly hurt, Q said, by tearing them apart and
eating them. They bit the ones that were healthier, the ones they thought
they could use, Mike, and now that they've eaten and expanded their ranks,
they've gotten stronger. When they bit the guards, they turned it about
thirty seconds. Mike. One minute they were guards and men we knew,
and then the next their skin was gray, and somehow their teeth were all
as sharp as knives, and they were trying to kill us. Kenninger's head
was swimming with questions, but there was no reason to doubt Q. The
man had never uttered anything untrue as far as Ketenger knew, and besides reg,
there was no one else in the hive that Kenninger trusted more. Okay,
Kenninger said, we don't have doors or ways to seal off the air
vents. We have ways to shut them down in case of gas escaping from
the mines or anywhere else. Q replied. That shuts off the air,
but it won't prevent them from smashing through the closed off fence. Then we
have to find out where they are, get ahead of them and get a
crew up there to seal off the vents. Q said, we need to
weld panels into the air shafts and seal them off. Try to get them
back to the medical wing. Then we can steal that wing off until we
can figure out how to kill them. He swallowed hard. If we can
kill them, Kettenger strode to his desk and began typing furiously on his computer.
The banks of screens changed from the CCTV to a series of green lines
against a black background. The lines seemed to form corridors that spread out like
a spider web across the screen. After that, the screen filled with tiny
red dots the trackers. Q whispered, I've never seen them like this before.
I need to narrow it down. Kenninger said, everyone here has one.
They didn't tear out their tracking chips. When they turned, Kettinger typed
more, trying to focus the computer to just look for people who might be
in the air shafts. The dots began to disappear until there was just a
cluster. It was maybe about fifty to seventy five of them clustered in a
spot not far from the medical wing but over prisoner cells. Their numbers are
larger already. Q said, they've broken into more cells, turned more prisoners.
They're moving in a pretty straight line. Ketninger said, we can try
to get a crew ahead of them and seal off the air shaft. We
need to seal off as much as we can to lead them back to the
medical wing. They're still in g wing. Q said, we need to
seal that wing off right now. What about the prisoners in there? Fuck
them, they're a lost cause. We need to worry about the rest of
the prison and hive city. Mike. If these things take over here and
can find a way to get to the surface, there'll be no stopping them.
Whoa, whoa, whoa whoaque. Let's relax a little bit here.
While I have no reason to doubt you, we cannot really have zombies in
the hive. This has to be some kind of disease or something. Q
cocked his head to the side, as if Kettinger was the one who had
lost his mind. You mean a disease that causes trustees like Tristan who were
very much dead, to come back to life and attack the living. That
kind of disease. Kettenger had no response. Good point, Okay, I
want to get prisoners out of g Wing though we are not the monsters here.
Get a crew together and get them back this way and into the cafeteria.
Where's Reg He was down there with me. You should have seen him
down there, Mike. He was alone, one man wrecking crew. I
know, so I want him to lead the teams to do the welding,
Kettinger said. Kettinger hit a button on the communicator on his shoulder. Reg.
It's Mike, you okay, I'm fine, boss. I want to
get a little payback. Can I take a team into the ash shaft after
them? Kettinger had to admire the man's determination and his ability to read minds.
He told Rege what needed to be done. Got it, I'm on
it. Kettinger looked up at Q. What are you still doing here?
Go get the prisoners out. What are you going to do? Q asked
as he headed for the door. I need to make sure that this place
is locked down and no one gets into Hive City, Kettinger said. Q
did not reply, He just vanished through the doors and was gone. Kettinger
hicked up his phone and dialed the number to Carl at the gate. Carl,
we have got big, big problems, buddy, he said. You've
been listening to When the Night Comes Out The Hive. Tune in next week
for The Hive Part seven. Written by Brian w Alaspa, narrated and produced
by Ali James, Music by Vivek Abishek. Catch up on the first four
seasons of When the Night Comes Out now support us on Patreon for more terrifying content.