Leviathan(76)

“Yeah, yeah, I got it! Just go!”

Barley's tall dark shadow disappeared down the corridor as Leviathan hit the vault again. A fiendishly long foreleg, talons gleaming black-red, snaked under the open fire door, reaching, scraping. But all of them were too far back from the portal.

“Chesterton!” Connor lifted the colonel to a sitting position. “Get it together! That thing's still alive!”

Another superheated blast hit the vault, and Connor saw liquid fire dripping to the narrowly-raised space of the vault door. Dust and darkness stirred at the beast's shuffling and Connor saw a long, clawed foot against the flaming stones. He spun back around.

“Chesterton! Come on, man! Get it together!”

With a groan Chesterton seemed to come around. In the dim light created by Leviathan's continuing, flaming attack, Connor saw the colonel lift a hand to his bloodied head. “Oh man,” he mumbled. “Oh, god, that rolling in the dirt stuff is harder than you think when your arm is really on fire … It really is.”

Connor felt his teeth clench in vivid fear. There was no time left for compassion. Connor began dragging the wounded colonel to his feet. “Come on, Chesterton. Get on your feet! That thing's coming through the wall in less than a minute!”

“Barley ...” he gasped. “Where's Barley ...”

“He's alive,” Connor answered, staggering down the hallway, finding uncertain footing on the fallen rock. He whirled back suddenly. “Frank! Where are you?”

“I'm here!” an unsteady voice answered.

“Come on, Doctor! We've got to move to the far end of this corridor.”

Frank leaned his hand against the wall as he moved. “Yeah, I know.”

At the exit of the Command Cavern, Leviathan continued its attack, relentless and raging. Connor knew the beast's blast-furnace flame and the strategically placed physical blows against the fire door would soon tear the structure from its moorings.

But in moments the survivors had recovered, gathering speed. They gained steadiness as they went forward, and then they were running, following the wide, twisting corridor for a half mile to come to the vault-sealed end that led into the Matrix, a cavern named for the spiraling columns of limestone and calcite that rose titanically from the 200,000-square-foot floor comprised of granite and calcite cave pearls. It was used primarily for storing heavy equipment, spare steel plating and additional ventilation ducts.

Connor was grateful that the lights in this end of the passageway were still functioning. They glared fluorescent white in the calcite-dust atmosphere raised from the trembling attack on the fire door, now far behind him. As he reached the end of the passageway he saw that Barley had already removed the control cover plate on the vault, rewiring the circuit. Familiar now with the routine, a half dozen soldiers began working the hydraulic pump, raising the door two feet and then three so they could enter the cavern.

A murderous collision followed by a victorious roar sounded at the distant end of the tunnel, alerting them to the fact that the beast had almost defeated the fire door. Quickly everyone began to slide beneath the vault into the sprawling cavern beyond.

But Chesterton broke away from Connor and leaned against a wall, staring back down the passageway. He drew a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol from his holster, infinitely weary. Yet he still retained his military bearing and Connor began to understand the true strength of intelligence and will that had made the man a colonel in the first place. Then Barley and two other soldiers slid beneath the narrowly raised vault, entering the cavern.

“We've got to slow it down,” Chesterton said weakly, face smeared in blackened sweat. “We can't outrun it.”

Connor grimaced, knowing he was right.

Overhead lights swung, vibrating to the thunderous bellowing that traveled the length of the tunnel, and Connor looked up to see the huge power cables running across the roof. His teeth came together with a snap.

Of course.

Immediately he spun, seeing where the cable tied into the intermediate connector box, high and to the side of the vault door. “Chesterton!” he shouted. “Get your men to bring me a ladder! Do it quick!”

Chesterton didn't even question the idea; things were obviously too bad for him to question anything at all.

His voice rang out and Connor heard a response on the far side of the vault, inside the Matrix, the rush of men scurrying to obey. In a moment two soldiers slid an extension ladder beneath the fire door. Other soldiers raised it to the wall, following Connor's instructions.

A violent, shattering concussion shook the cavern floor, and Connor knew that the vault had finally struck the ground, slammed out. Connor glared down the tunnel, trembling instantly, expecting to see the nightmarish shape rushing toward them, glaring, gaping, slashing.