Speaker 1: When the Night Comes Out Presents the Hive Part fourteen.
Mike packed up the last of the bombs into the
backpack Dalton had rigged up for all of them. He
hefted his rifle but also managed to balance the flamethrower
the madman had somehow rigged two. He just hoped that
when he depressed the trigger, the flames would shoot forward
and not just blow him to smithereens. Once that was done,
he turned around to see the rest of his people,
including Reg ready for his command. Dalton, thank you for
helping us with this, he said, I would never have
been able to produce flamethrowers and bombs like this. I
know you did a lot of bad up top, but
down here you may have just saved high. Dalton's face
was serious and hard, and he just nodded. The creatures
are attacking our friends and family and the ADMIN building.
Mike said, we have to save them. Let's get it done.
Without further word, they moved as one, almost like the creatures.
At first they moved at a light jog, then they
began to run as they reached the door. The halls
were empty, but of course they were. All of the
creatures were at the admin building. It was a long
haul up a lot of the spiraling ramp and a
long run to get there. So they ran the bombs,
clanking and clinging in the backpacks. They were, Lord, let
us get there to save our friends. Also, don't let
these bombs blow us all into pieces before we do.
Mike prayed. He could not remember the last time he prayed.
Alvin Winston stood at the window and looked out over
Hive City proper. He had been working here for years,
and he had never been more afraid than he was
right then and there. The real problem was that he
had no idea what they were really afraid of facing.
He got word to fortify the school, a contingency they
had in place should something go catastrophically wrong within the prison.
So something had gone horribly wrong and put the city
and the residence here at risk. But what there had
been chatter about creatures? What the hell did that mean?
Do we have the window ready for fortification? He asked Martha,
one of his teachers, who stood to his right. Yeah,
they're ready. Are we sure everyone has come here? Al asked,
are you sure we have the whole town in here?
Everyone who was not at work in the admin building
or the prison itself. Okay, then let's shut this down.
Carl will have to fend for himself. Al turned around
and headed back down the hallway. He heard the rumble
of the metal shutters closing off every window. Each of
them had small slits that would allow them to look outside,
but other than that, they were made from some titanium
alloy that was virtually unbreakable. He hoped they were. They
had guns, too, lots of them. Al wore a pistol
on his right hip. He hoped he would not need
to use it, but he had a very bad feeling
in his gut. Up ahead was the gymnasium. This was
where the entire student body and everyone from Hive City
was right now. There were more guns there, even some
of the kids were trained how to use them. What
he felt was fear inside his stomach. What were they
going to do? What was about to hit them? What
was happening within the hive? Jen and the rest of
the office workers headed for the second staircase. Behind them,
the creatures were still plucking random individuals and either ripping
their throats out or just biting them a few times.
When Jen turned around to see them pursuing and noticed
a few of those who had their throats ripped out
were now crawling along the ceiling. If any one of
them were killed by these things, you'd come back as
a zombie or demon or whatever the holy fuck these
things were noted, Jen thought, gotcha down the stairs. She went.
There was nothing to look at here except for the
white walls and the stairs beneath. It felt far too narrow.
How were they going to get the rest of the
floors to follow them or did they just seal off
each floor. We need to seal off each floor, Jen said, Hey,
if we have every floor in the stairwell, it will
log jam. We got to get the people on each
floor to barricade themselves inside. One of the guards and
saluted her in a weird way, using two fingers to
his forehead, and then ran into the door. Jen heard
him shout about barricading the door. Then she heard another
guard down below telling the next floor. At this point,
there was nothing else to do but run. Jen focused
on the stairs, moving her feet as fast as she could,
not wanting to fall. If she fell, those around her
would just run her over, and then the creatures with
the teeth would come. She could still hear them up there,
growling and snarling. Sometimes there would be screams, but she
could not tell if they were male or female screams.
Down down, Finally, she came to a door and realized
she was at the bottom. She had just run down
about thirteen flights of stairs. Her legs ached and her
breath felt caught in her throat, but still she ran.
There was one guard holding the door open and waving
people through. Jen burst through the door and somehow found
a burst of speed. She managed to pass the people
in front of her and made it to the front
of the line. All around her were other office workers,
but there were also families and more guards. Finally, there
were prisoners, still wearing their orange jumpsuits, all looking confused
and slightly terrified. Jen reached the doors to the gymnasium
and saw that it had been emptied. It was just
slightly less than a football field in length, but with
only four doors, there were no windows. They could steal
those doors. If they could get the creatures to stream
into this area, someone was going to have to run
in there with the creatures. The thought rocketed through Jen's
head as she leaned against the wall panting, trying to
catch her breath. She was not cut out for all
of this running. She jogged every day around Hive City,
but also on the treadmill, but it was far different
when you were filled with fear and basically running in
a panic. Who was going to run into the gym?
Jen had no idea, but hoped someone would under stand
the need here one step at a time, she thought.
Dorothy Mills was thirty five years old. She had lived
in Hive City, working as an administrative assistant at first,
and then becoming a manager working with the mining operations
over the years. How many years she had been here
for six years now As of five minutes ago, things
had been great. Now her life was over. Although she
was in good shape and knew how to fire a weapon,
there had been far too many creatures all over the place.
They crawled up the walls and across the ceiling like
spiders or roaches. Dorothy had shot as many as she could,
but when the others were overrun and started to bolt
for the break room, she ran too. Then she had
caught her foot on a torn spot in the rug
and fallen. Her gun went spinning away and out of
her reach. Dorothy had a moment to feel sure. She
was going to get to her feet and run, but
then something fell from the ceiling and landed on her back.
She screamed, but there was nothing she could do before
the thing's teeth buried themselves into her shoulder. Then the
thing was gone from her back and Dorothy was left alone.
The pain was excruciating, and it filled her entire body.
She felt blood running down her back and across her chest.
There was an intense burning in the spot on her
shoulder where the thing had bitten her. Dorothy Mills was
thirty five years old when the world changed around her
and she was infected and turned into one of the creatures.
She managed to get into a seated position and felt
her body shaking. Her mind slipped away, and before it
was entirely gone, she had a moment to think of
her mom, who was in her sixties and still alive
on the surface, the woman who had not wanted Dorothy
to take this job far beneath the ground, the job
she had grown to love thrived in, and the life
she had gotten used to with its artificial suns and
painted skies on rocks. Then whatever Dorothy had been was
gone and replaced with the hive mind of the creatures
around her. Her consciousness was assimilated, becoming one with the
rest of them. All of her knowledge of the hive
had been absorbed. One of the people Dorothy regularly interacted
with was Carl, the guard at the gate. She also
knew many people within a hive city, and knew that
the school was the place where everyone in Hyvee City
was to run when there was a crisis. There were
people there now, They were not trained like the guards.
There was just one guard at the gate. It was
practically undefended. About one hundred of her fellow creatures all stopped,
cocked their heads to the side. They were processing. All
of the creatures paused for a fraction of a moment,
then most of them continued their pursuit of the office
workers below them. Go, the command came from many, Go
and attack the gate, enter the city, attack the school,
Take them all and grow their numbers. Dorothy, her memory
is now part of the group, her personality gone and
subsumed by the creatures around her, turned and ran back
toward the office where the others had come pouring in.
She jumped out the window like a high diver, making
a dive and grabbed the side of the building. Head down.
She scrambled down the building behind her. She heard the
others following her, their teeth bulging from their mouths and
snarling and grunting. It was time to take the gate,
Time to take Hive City. Mike and Dalton ran in
the lead. The halls were so empty it was eerie.
Up ahead, far above them, there was the sound of
combat and destruction. People were dying, and Mike knew that
there were people who he had worked with for years
who had been turned or were devoured and torn apart.
Going up the spiral was so much more exhausting than
heading down. Their legs burned and their breath ran in,
ragged breath in and out. Still they ran their burdens,
making them move slower than any of them would like.
But they kept on. We have to move faster, Mike said,
nearly breathless. They're dying up there. Jesus, why isn't there
an elevator in this goddamn place. Will be there soon,
Mike Dalton panted. We'll get there and take them out.
I know it. Just keep moving, just a few more levels.
They kept running, their heads down, the backpacks on their shoulders,
pushing down on them, trying to keep them from moving fast,
but they kept running. Everything depended on them, and they
knew it. They would be there soon, Mike thought, But
would it be soon enough? Would they end up having
to destroy the entire building? Jen caught her breath, and
then they began pushing furniture around the floor, blocking the
various entrances to the hallways and pathways between the cubicles.
There was nothing they could do when the creatures crawled
along the ceilings, but she hoped that this would channel
them in the direction they all wanted these things to go.
All of this had been done in minutes, while those
with guns mowed down the creatures that had been right
behind them as they poured through the stairwell doorway. Then suddenly,
there had been a few seconds where all of the
creatures paused. It was so sudden and so abrupt, even
the defenders of the building had stopped what they were
doing in confusion. It only lasted a moment, but it
was enough to get the tables, chairs, and filing cabinets
in place. Get ready, Jen commanded, They're going to come
through again. Try to lead them this way. She had
a sinking feeling there was a way, but she didn't
want to do it. Would any of them want to
go in there if there was nothing in there they wanted?
The snarling, growling, gnashing of teeth started again, and now
they came through the doorway like ants from an ant hill.
First one and two, then dozens of them. They crawled
along the ground, while more of them immediately crawled across
the walls, and then several crawled up the ceiling. They
moved so fast the gunfire started, but the shooters moved backwards,
now not holding their positions but trying to be the bait.
The creature seemed not to understand what was happening, and
they continued on moving so fast. One of them dropped
down and landed on a shooter, knocking him to the ground.
The head of the creature darted forward like a snake
and bit the man in the neck and shoulder, then
turned around and scrambled toward jen. Jen without even thinking,
turned and ran behind here and not facing her, was
the open doorway to the gymnasium. Inside the entire area
had been cleared of the cots and other furniture which
had been put in there to house people. It was
just a big empty space with basketball nets and bleachers
which had been folded toward the wall. There was the
very large main gym, but then a riser and a
slightly smaller area which was separated from the main gym
area with a curtain. Jen No she heard someone yell,
but her face was fixed on a far spot at
the end of the gym. It was the red exit sign,
which indicated there was a door that led into a hallway.
It was heavy, only meant for emergencies, and would be
nearly impossible for these creatures to get open if she
could make it her nothing, She saw nothing. All that
was around her was the gym floor and that exit
sign at the far end. She could hear her blood
rushing through her veins, and the sound of her heartbeat
drowned out everything. Someone reached for her, and there were
more voices telling her to stop, but she didn't stop.
The gym floor was slippery, and she had a moment
where she nearly lost her balance, but then she got
both feet beneath her. The sound of her shoes squeaked loudly.
Her breath was ragged, and she knew she would not
be able to run at this pace for long, despite
her attempts to stay healthy. This had all been too much.
Her mind was calm. This sort of surprised her. There
was no voice telling her she was crazy somehow, some way.
She had known all along that she was going to
have to be the one to lead these things in here. Yes,
it was likely going to result in her death or assimilation,
which amounted to the same thing. But what right did
she have to ask someone else to do this? It
seemed to take forever to run across the gymnasium floor.
She saw everything rushing past her, but kept her focus
on that goddamn door. That door right there. Just push
the handle and get through, then slam the door behind her.
If she also hit the emergency fire alarm just beside
the door, the damn thing would lock when she slammed
it shut. The corridor beyond was narrow, but also built
with steel reinforcement, and was nearly impenetrable. Were the creatures
following her. She didn't dare turn around and look. She
reached the door, hit the fire alarm on the left,
then hit the bar to push the door open. It
opened so easily, and she had taken one step into
the corridor beyond that was when a hand with a
steel like grip grabbed her shoulder. Mike and the rest
of his team came to a sudden stop. They were
finally at the top tier of the hive. The final
row of cells would on their right, all of them empty,
some of them coated in blood, and up ahead, towering
over them was the Administration building. What they saw there
froze them all. Mike bent over and put his hands
on his knees, set his burden down for a moment.
Dalton was to his left, also breathing heavily, his eyes wide.
Reg was just behind him, breathing hard. Jesus, Mike, they're
coming down the building, Reg said, through gasps. Not all
of them, Dalton replied, by my eyes, that's maybe just
over one hundred. So many of them are people I recognize.
Mike muttered, his heart hammering in his chest, fit to
break through. They're coming back down. But are they headed
toward us, Reg asked. Mike shook his head. No, No,
they're going to head for the gate. Look, they're already
veering that way. They absorbed too many people inside that building,
and now know what the gate is and that Hive
City is beyond it. We've got to stop them, Dalton said, Mike,
can you get all that radio of yours and see
if you can find out what's happening in that building.
If only a hundred or so aheaded towards the gate,
then what have they done to the rest of them?
Mike slapped his forehead. I should have thought of that.
He keyed the microphone. Hello, this is Kettinger. Anyone in there,
come back. We're back and with weapons. What's happening inside
the administration building? We see the creatures heading for the gate.
There was a crackling on the mic for a moment,
and then a voice came on. Mike didn't recognize it
because the man on the other side was out of breath,
and there was a noise in the background, shouting and
something that sounded like animals snarling and biting. Mike, Mike,
we're hurting them into the gym. Jesus, Mike, Jen's in there.
You've been listening to When the Night Comes Out the Hive.
Tune in next week for The Hive Part fifteen. 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.