Speaker 1: When the Night Comes Out presents the Hive Part sixteen.
Jen ran along the corridor. How long was this thing?
She wondered, why she never knew that this was there.
It seemed to run the entire length of the gymnasium
and then around it. It was surprisingly well lit, and
the walls were clean. Who the heck went back here
and cleaned all of this? There was no door outside, however,
that was a bit odd given the emergency exit nature
of the door. Of course, it was probably created more
as a kind of safe room in case there was
a prisoner riot than a place to hide during a fire,
but still, there had to be an exit somewhere. Her
arms and legs hurt, her entire body felt bruised. She
was completely exhausted in ways she had never thought possible.
She heard the creatures on the other side of the wall,
still snarling and growling. She also heard explosions, which sounded
like they might have come from the outside of the building.
For all she knew, everyone inside the building was dead
and Hive City was under attack. Now she picked up
the pace a bit. Jen broke into a light jog.
Up in the distance, there was a red glow cast
on one of the walls. Even from the distance she was,
she could tell it was an exit sign. Her people
needed her. She had to get there and get back
into this fight. Mike and Dalton approached the gymnasium door.
It had been locked, of course, when Jen had pulled
the emergency alarm, but just to keep them in there,
furniture had been stacked up in front of the doors. Still,
the stack of furniture began to shake as the creatures
on the other side repeatedly slammed themselves against the door frame.
Even from behind the doors and the blockage, he could
hear them snarling and growling, and some of them trying
to speak. Are we really going to go in there?
Mike whispered to Dalton. Dalton cocked his head to the side,
studying the scene before him. I guess we have to.
How do we keep from being overwhelmed? Mike asked. There
were others behind them, more guards, each armed with flame
throwers and the homemade explosive devices. They all shifted from
one foot to the other and looked absolutely terrified. It
was hard to argue with that feeling. Mike was terrified too.
I wish we could hear from rege and find out
how the flamethrowers and bombs are working out there. Dalton
whispered back. Mike hit the walkie on his shoulder. Regreg,
can you report what's happening? There was a long pause,
and then the microphone kicked into life. There was noise
in the background, shooting, and some consistent roaring sound that
Mike could only guess was the flames from the flamethrowers.
We're moment them down, but when we hit them with
the fire, they just keep coming. Reg reported, then you
have a flam and zombie headed right for you. Mike
looked at Dalton. Well that doesn't sound promising, Dalton thought
for a moment, basically, they aren't burning fast enough. We
need to get the brain to die faster. In other words, well,
now it's a great time to figure this out, Dalton.
Mike commented, how do we make that happen? There's a
fuel line beneath this building. Correct, you have some kind
of fuel that helps heat this building and even gets
pumped into Hive City. Mike had a moment to be
baffled by how much this man knew about how things
worked around here. I want to know how you know that,
but we don't have time to get into it. Yes,
there's oil and gas and things we've tapped into down here.
We do have some gasoline powered things we use in
the mining operations, but that's all back down by the mines,
and I am not running down there again, Dalton smirked
and shook his head. The oil should suffice. We need
to find a way to tap that line and then
connect it to the sprinkler system in the gym. There
is a sprinkler system in there. Correct, Again, Mike wanted
to interrogate this man on where he got his information.
One thing at a time, stop the apocalypse, and then
you can question Dalton king, Yes there is. This is
all great. Do you know how to do that? Mike asked.
I have some ideas, but there has to be an
engineer or a mechanic who can help. Maybe not one
that's either still alive or not turned into one of
those things Dalton. Dalton's smirk grew then time to ask.
Before Mike could do anything, Dalton jumped on a desk.
Excuse me, we need someone who can help us here.
Is there an engineer or a maintenance person or someone
very mechanically inclined. Who could help us? Four people stepped forward. Fantastic,
Dalton jumped down off the desk. Look, we have a
slight problem, but we might have a solution. However, it
requires a bit of mechanical know how, Plus we also
need this done pretty quickly. Reg and the rest of
his team had pushed the creatures back up against the gate.
There were several of the creatures running up the walls
on fire, still snarling and growling. They didn't seem to
be in any pain at all. They were just snarling
instead of screaming. Rege tossed another one of Dalton's bombs,
and it exploded a few moments later and blew several
of the creatures apart. Flaming debris rained down on all
of them. So far, they had not lost any more
of the team, but they had heard a scream from
the other side of the gate, and Rege worried Carl
was either one of them now or torn to pieces.
How much more fuel was in this flamethrower. There was
no Gage to tell, but he hoped it would be
enough to get the rest of them that had squeezed
through the gap in the gate. Please let that be enough.
He thought that has to be enough. Of course, reg
was sure that if he had to use his knife
and stab each of these things in the head to
kill them, that he was ready to do that. Then
they were right at the opening of the gate. Rege
pushed through, gasping when his hand brushed the metal it
was so hot. Behind him, the rest of the man
came through. While there were still creatures and flames staggering around.
They were slowing down. Several of them fell over. Rege
pushed through and stepped to the other side. There was
the road leading to the gate, and off to the
left was the little hut where Carl sat, the man
who had said hello to him every morning for the
years he had been here, the man everyone knew by name,
and who was invited to all of the picnics and
family events. There were no creatures right there. On the
other side, however, there was a blood all over the
small hut where Carl normally sat. There were metal casings
on the ground. The windows were shattered. The man had
fought the creatures right up until he couldn't. All of
the men stood and stared. There was a hand up
against the window. It was also covered in blood. None
of them wanted to see how much of Karl was left. Fortunately,
the screeching sounds of the creature snapped them all out
of their reveries. Rege looked up and passed the hut
where Carl's body was now so much meat and bone.
He could see the creatures headed over the fake lawns
and crawling across the houses and buildings. They were headed
for the school. Somehow they knew they had to head there.
Maybe they could smell the people, or maybe someone had
been turned that knew where the safe zone was. Either way,
they were headed there, running in a shambling way, snarling, drooling.
We have work to do yet, guys, Reg said. The
school is all lockdown and they have guns, but they
aren't trained for this. We are no one, protested. Reg
hit the mic on his shoulder. Dozens of the creatures
managed to get through the gate. They got call. They're
now headed for the school. If you can hear us
at the school, what headed your way, But you better
hold things down, shoot for the head. The men, having
been running for more than an hour, now headed off.
They were tired, scared, sweating, hungry, but not one of
them was ready to lay down and give up. Hive
City lay ahead, and they were going to get these
things out of their homes. Jen finally reached the exit sign.
She turned left and hit the metal bar on the door.
It didn't budge. Cursing, she hit the thing again, then again.
I am not going to have fought my way down
here and end up stuck in a fucking hallway, she said,
and this time she kicked the metal bar. The bar
gave and the door creaked open. Jen breathed a sigh
of relief. Now she knew where she was. She was
in a back office area that had not been used
in months. It was dark, but she could make out
the cubicles just across that room, and off to the
left was the door that would lead to another hallway.
That hallway would lead back to the gymnasium and she
could find Mike and find out what was going on.
She had heard Raj. Of course, she knew that Karl
was gone, but she did her best to keep it
inside and lock it away for now. From the other
side of the wall, she could hear people yelling back
and forth. It was too far away and the wall
was too thick to make out what was going on,
but everyone was in a tizzy for sure. Hopefully it
was to destroy the things in the gym, but she
had to find out. Jen stepped out into the darkness
and shadow and began to walk through the office. The
door to the hall she had been in shut behind
her loudly. It made her jump, and the darkness in
here was very disturbing. She was half way across the
office when she heard something within the shadows. It was
not footsteps, and it did not sound human. It was
sort of like a sigh followed by a screeping. Having
been nearly mauled to death in the gym, she knew
what it was. Something was in here with her, and
it was not human. One of the creatures was in
here with her. Shit, she whispered. Alvin held his breath
and held the gun in his hands even tighter. His
heart hammered so loud in his chest that he was
sure everyone around him could hear it as well. His
breath felt shallow and like he was breathing a little
too hard. You have to calm down, he thought, You
are going to hyperventilate, and then you'll be of no
use to anyone. They need you to lead. He put
the gun down and then his hands on his knees.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Remember
the training, he had been so prepared to shoot down
prisoners if they had rioted and were trying to take
over Hive City. Now he had to take down these
horrible creatures that either killed or they turned people he
knew and loved into creatures like them. After a few moments,
he felt in control of himself, and he stood back
up and peered out of the thin slin in the
metal shutter. What he saw there made his blood run cold.
Alvin could see them how many a hundred, maybe more,
maybe less they were running Over the rooftops and across
the lawns. They and scurried, and even from this far
away he could hear them snarling and drooling and growling.
There was nothing remotely human about them. They ran on
all fours, leaping and running like animals. They made sounds
that were not human, and even from where he stood
he could see their hair was falling out, their flesh
was rotting. How the hell am I in this situation,
he asked himself. He raised the rifle and found one
of the leaping creatures and began to track it. The
scope brought the vision even closer to him, and he
could see the sores and the rotting pieces of flesh
falling off the body. Had it been burned, Perhaps maybe
it had been standing next to one of the others
that had been burned. The creature peered into windows as
it went. They were looking for any residence that might
still be in their houses. There was no one. Get
ready and shoot for the head. Alvin called out, take
your time and remember your training. We need to take
them down once they're in range. He looked to his
left and there were two women still in their skirts
with the rifles up to their eyes. Over to his
right were two high school seniors, barely old enough to vote,
and neither of them old enough to buy a drink,
also with the scopes up to their eyes. The barriers
will hold. Just shoot straight, reg and some of the
others will be right behind. We've got this. Alvin put
the scope back up to his own eye. He wished
he felt us certain about things as he tried to appear.
Shoot straight, he told himself, citing the same creature he
had been following. Shoot for the head. Mike and Dalton
had little to do while the engineers and mechanics worked
on transferring the oil to the sprinkler system. This is
an insane idea, Mike thought to himself. How are we
going to stop the gym or this entire building from
burning down once we do this? He asked Dalton. I'm
sorry to say, Michael, that the gym will be out
of commission for a while. I apologize if this ruins
the inter league basketball tournament or someone's pickleball practice. However,
it is my understanding that these doors are fireproof. Isn't
that why Jim ran in there and wanted to herd
them into the gym. It will burn for a time,
and the gym will need repairing, but we can head
in there with fire hoses once all of the creatures
are dead, really dead. Mike hoped that Dalton was correct.
What was going to happen if they set the gym
on fire and then the entire building burned out. How
many would die trying to get out? What would they
do if the entire system that held the hide together
was destroyed. It was the kind of thing an administrator
would think about, and he could not help but chastise
himself for thinking this way. Right now, he had to
stop these creatures. To snap him out of his thoughts.
The engineer came up to him. We have it hooked up.
I think oil is going to leak all over the
goddamn place. But if you just coat them enough to burn,
we should be okay. Thanks, Mike said, thank you for
doing this. The engineer just nodded and walked away. Another
person that Mike did not know fully but had seen
around the office before. If he got out of this,
he really needed to spend some more time with these people.
It was too easy to get lost in the administrative
duties at the top and forget all of the people
who had also chosen to live down here and separate
themselves from the sun. Okay, let's do it, Mike said
to Dalton. Dalton also just gave a nod and gathered
up his flamethrower and some of the fire bombs he
had brought with them. Turn on the sprinkler system, Mike
said into his microphone. A silence fell across the office.
There was a loud squeaking sound, and the entire building vibrated.
Then that died down, and very distinctly, there was the
sound of something spraying within the gym. For a moment.
Mike was back on the surface, sitting in his house
as a young man, listening to the rain liquid pattered
down on the floor and the equipment in the gym.
The creatures reacted violently. Whether or not their collective hive
mind realized what was happening, Mike would never know, but
they began to throw themselves against the doors and pound
even harder. Dentse began to appear in the metal. Okay,
turn it off, Dalton called, no more, we don't want
to drown them in oil. There was more squeaking, and
then the pipes in the wall shuddered again. The sound
of rains stopped inside the gymnasium, but the creatures kept
growling and snarling, pounding on the door. In fact, the
pounding got more intense. One of the metal doors, already dented,
actually shook in its frame. We better do this. Not
sure how long that frame those hinges are going to hold,
Mike said. Dalton fired up his flame thrower. The moment
we open those doors, they're going to try and come
falling out. We have to push them back with a
wall of flame. Once we light one or two, the
rest of them if they're packed as tight as they
seem to like to congregate. Then they'll all go up.
Prepare yourselves. Once we get them burning, we'll need to
lock them back in. Hey, engineer and mechanic, get the
water hooked back up. We have to let them burn
until they are no longer a threat. But we can't
risk a fire in this place. Everyone did as Dalton suggested.
Mike had just a moment to marvel at how the
man had stepped in and taken over this organization so quickly.
No one saw the man who had killed so many.
He was the man who was going to save them. Ready,
Mike cried out. Several people stood near the doors holding
the handles. One of them was near the button that
would release the law. Now Mike cried, the doors opened.
Jen froze and waited for her eyes to adjust to
the darkness. She could hear the creature moving, the telltale growling,
slobbering sounds they made. Gave it away. It was between
here and the door, but she couldn't see where. Where
are you, you, son of a bitch? Jen whispered. A
shadow slowly descended from the ceiling. Had it been up
above the ceiling, she thought that was the case, but
these things could also crawl across the walls and ceiling.
She had the distinct feeling that this creature had run
away from the rest of the group, showing surprising independence
given the hive mind. These things had Her eyes finally adjusted,
and she could even see who it was. His name
had been Todd when he worked in the offices. He
was a nice enough guy, but now saliva or some
other hideous liquid dripped down his chin and onto the
floor with an audible PLoP. His suit was torn and dirty,
which seemed to confirm he had been running up above
the ceiling tiles. Todd, are you still in there, Jen asked,
as the creature began to move toward her. The thing
that had once been Tod walked in a strange, hitchy gait.
His arms and legs did not seem to work together
in any way. His head twitched back and forth, and
when it did so, his neck bones cracked. Todd, if
you're in there, it's me, Jen, she said. Please, you
have to be in there somewhere, Please just let me pass.
Todd just kept coming. When he reached about ten feet
from where Jen stood, he leaped through the air. Jen
held up both of her hands and caught him in
mid air, and they fell backwards onto the floor. Jen
got her feet under the creature and sent him sailing
over her head, where he landed back near the door
she had just come in on his back. She got
to her feet as fast as possible. She had just
gotten to her feet when Tod hit her full speed
in the side and wrapped his stinking arms around her shoulders.
All of the wind rushed out of her lungs, and
when she gasped, she could smell and even taste the
rotting corpse that held onto her. They were carried forward
and pain exploded all around her eyes and all over
her body as they smashed into the cubicle right near them.
She was on her back and everything went black for
a moment as she saw stars and bright colors from
hitting the cubicle wall so hard. Tod's arms were still
around her, and the desk was hard and unyielding beneath them.
Jen opened her eyes and what she saw was a
row of teeth. The mouth opened, and as she tried
to get her breath back, the open mouth lunged for her.
You've been listening to when the night comes out the Hive.
Tune in next week for The Hive Part seventeen, written
by Brian w Alaspa, narrated and produced by Ali James,
music by Vivek Abishek. Support us on Patreon for more
terrifying content.