Ravenwood Nuclear Power Plant
9:45 PM
The power plant sat on the banks of the river like a dead beast. Two massive concrete cooling towers rose into the night sky, their silhouettes blotting out the stars. The facility had been decommissioned in the late eighties, surrounded now by rusted chain-link fences and signs that read: DANGER - HIGH VOLTAGE - KEEP OUT.
Five shadows moved through the tall grass at the perimeter.
Kenji crouched by the fence, gripping a pair of bolt cutters he had stolen from his dad's garage. His hands were sweating inside his gardening gloves.
"This is a bad idea," Marco whispered. He was carrying a heavy flashlight and a crowbar. "This is the setting of every horror movie where everyone dies in the first twenty minutes."
"We don't have a choice," Sarah said. She was taping her ankle with athletic tape to stabilize her limp. "The Detective knows we have the tape. He knows we know. If we don't find the Black Box tonight, he gets it tomorrow."
"Aris," Kenji whispered. "Is it clear?"
Aris pressed his ear against the metal fence post. He closed his eyes, listening to the vibrations in the steel.
"No foot patrols," Aris said softly. "But there is a hum. Underground. It's deep, like a heartbeat. The main generator shouldn't be running, but something is spinning down there."
"Let's go," Kenji said.
He clamped the bolt cutters onto the chain links. Snap. Snap. Snap.
He peeled back the fence, creating a hole just big enough to squeeze through.
They crawled through one by one, their sneakers crunching softly on the gravel of the service road. The plant loomed over them, a maze of pipes, catwalks, and dark windows.
"We need to get to the main reactor building," Kenji said, pointing to the central dome. "Dr. Vance said the box was beneath the cooling tower."
They sprinted across the open asphalt, expecting a spotlight to hit them at any second. But the place was deserted. The security booth was empty, the glass broken.
They reached the heavy steel doors of the reactor building.
"Locked," Kenji said, tugging on the handle. "And it's not electronic. It's a rusted padlock."
"Step back," Marco said.
The big boy stepped up. He didn't turn his whole body to stone—just his right arm. The gray, rocky texture spread from his shoulder to his fist. He wound up and punched the lock.
CLANG.
The rusted metal shattered instantly. The door groaned open, revealing a pitch-black corridor.
"Flashlights," Kenji ordered.
Five beams of yellow light cut through the darkness. The air inside was stale, smelling of mold and stagnant water. Dust motes danced in the light.
"It's quiet," Maya whispered, staying close to Kenji. "Too quiet. Where are the monsters?"
"Maybe they're sleeping," Marco suggested hopefully.
They moved deeper into the facility. They passed empty control rooms with walls of dead buttons and dials. They passed locker rooms with rotting uniforms still hanging on hooks.
"This way," Aris said, looking at a faded map on the wall. "The reactor core is down. Sub-level 3."
They found the stairwell. It was a metal spiral staircase leading down into the dark belly of the plant.
As they descended, the temperature dropped. The air got wet and heavy. And the sound Aris had heard—the low hum—became audible to everyone.
Thrum... Thrum... Thrum...
It vibrated in their teeth.
"Do you feel that?" Sarah asked, rubbing her arms. "The static. It's strong here."
"My skin feels itchy," Kenji nodded. He looked at his watch. It was dead. The screen was just a jumble of alien characters.
They reached the bottom of the stairs. Sub-level 3.
The door here was heavy blast-proof steel, designed to contain radiation. But it was already open. It had been ripped off its hinges from the inside, the metal twisted like foil.
Kenji shone his light through the doorway.
"Oh my god," Maya breathed.
They were standing on a metal catwalk overlooking the main reactor chamber. It was a massive cylindrical room, hundreds of feet wide. In the center, where the nuclear fuel rods used to be, there was a pit.
But the pit wasn't empty.
The entire bottom of the chamber was filled with a glowing, blue substance. It looked like a bio-luminescent swamp. Thick, black vines pulsed with blue light, climbing up the walls of the chamber like ivy.
And nestled in the vines, suspended over the pit, were eggs.
Hundreds of them.
They were translucent sacs, the size of watermelons, hanging from the ceiling and the catwalks. Inside each sac, something was curled up, twitching.
"It's a nest," Aris whispered, his voice trembling with horror. "It's a hive."
"Those aren't just eggs," Sarah said, shining her light on a nearby sac. "Look at the shape inside."
Kenji looked. The embryo inside wasn't a dog. It had long arms. Legs. A head.
"They're humanoid," Kenji realized. "Like the Shadow-Clone. They're growing an army."
Suddenly, Aris grabbed Kenji's arm. "Down!" he hissed. "Lights off!"
"What?"
"Something is moving down there. Something big."
They all dropped to the metal grating of the catwalk, switching off their flashlights. The room was plunged into darkness, lit only by the eerie blue glow of the swamp below.
Kenji peeked through the railing.
Down in the pit, wading through the blue sludge, was a creature.
It was massive—easily ten feet tall. It looked like a gorilla made of black oil and scrap metal. It had massive, armored shoulders and dragged its knuckles on the ground.
It was carrying something. A metal drum.
The creature walked to the center of the pit and crushed the metal drum in its hand. It sprinkled the contents—glowing yellow uranium rods—into the swamp.
The vines pulsed brighter. The eggs hanging from the ceiling twitched faster.
"It's feeding them," Marco whispered. "It's feeding them radiation."
"That's a Tank-class," Aris analyzed quietly. "Like Marco, but... worse."
"We need to find the box and get out," Kenji whispered back. "Dr. Vance said beneath the cooling tower. That pit is the base of the tower. The box must be down there."
"Down there?" Sarah hissed. "With King Kong and the scrambled eggs? How are we supposed to get it?"
"We distract it," Kenji said. His mind was racing. Strategy. He needed a strategy.
"Marco, can you throw something heavy?" Kenji asked.
"I can throw a car if I turn full stone," Marco said.
"Good. See that control booth on the other side of the chamber?" Kenji pointed to a glass room across the abyss. "Marco, you and Sarah go around the walkway. Throw something through the window. Make a lot of noise. Draw the big guy away."
"And you?" Sarah asked.
"Maya, Aris, and I will go down the service ladder to the pit," Kenji said. "While it's chasing you, we grab the box."
"This is suicide," Aris muttered.
"It's the only play we have," Kenji said. "Ready? Break."
Marco and Sarah crept away into the shadows, heading for the other side of the dome.
Kenji, Maya, and Aris moved toward the service ladder. The metal rungs were cold and slick with condensation. They climbed down slowly, inching closer to the blue swamp.
The smell was overpowering—ozone and sulfur. The hum of the hive was deafening.
They reached the floor level, hiding behind a massive concrete pillar. The giant monster was about fifty feet away, its back to them, tending to the vines.
Kenji scanned the area. "Where is it? Where is the box?"
"There," Maya pointed.
In the center of the pit, rising out of the blue sludge on a small island of concrete, was a black metallic case. It looked like a military briefcase, bolted to the floor.
It was right next to the monster.
"Too close," Kenji cursed.
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed from above.
SMASH.
Marco had thrown a metal locker through the glass of the upper control booth.
The giant monster roared. It was a sound like grinding metal. It spun around, looking up at the broken window. It saw Sarah waving her flashlight.
"Hey, ugly!" Sarah yelled. "Come and get some!"
The monster roared again and charged toward the wall, digging its claws into the concrete to climb up toward them.
"Now!" Kenji yelled.
He, Aris, and Maya broke cover. They sprinted across the slippery floor, dodging the pulsating black vines.
They reached the concrete island. The Black Box was there, covered in slime.
"It's bolted down!" Kenji yelled, tugging at the handle. It wouldn't budge.
"Aris, the lock!"
Aris dropped to his knees. "It's a keypad! I need time!"
"We don't have time!" Kenji looked up.
The monster had stopped climbing. It had realized it was a trick. It turned its massive head and looked down. It saw them standing by the box.
It let out a shriek that shook the walls.
Then, it jumped.
It fell from the wall, crashing down into the swamp with a massive splash of blue sludge. It stood up, blocking their exit.
"Aris, work faster!" Kenji screamed.
Kenji stepped in front of Aris and Maya. He was exhausted. He had no energy blasts left. But he had to hold the line.
The monster charged.
Kenji took a deep breath.
Warp.
He teleported ten feet forward, directly into the monster's path.
"Hey!" Kenji shouted, waving his arms.
The monster swiped at him.
Warp.
Kenji blinked away, reappearing behind the monster's knee. He kicked the back of its leg. It was like kicking a brick wall, but it annoyed the beast.
The monster spun around, swinging a massive fist.
Warp.
Kenji blinked again, appearing on top of a pipe above the monster's head.
"Over here!"
He was buying seconds. Just seconds.
"Got it!" Aris yelled.
The keypad beeped. The bolts disengaged with a loud clack. Aris grabbed the heavy black box.
"Run!" Kenji yelled.
He tried to warp back to them, but his vision blurred. He stumbled. He was out of juice.
He fell from the pipe, landing hard on the concrete island.
The monster loomed over him, raising both fists for a killing smash.
"Kenji!" Maya screamed.
Suddenly, a pink tether shot out from Maya. It connected to Kenji, not the monster.
Kenji felt a rush of warmth. Energy poured into him. Maya was giving him her own stamina.
Kenji's eyes flared blue.
He didn't warp. He shoved his hands upward.
BOOM.
A kinetic shield exploded from his palms, catching the monster's fists in mid-air. The shockwave cracked the concrete floor.
"Go!" Kenji gritted his teeth, holding the shield. "I can't hold it!"
Aris and Maya grabbed the box and ran for the ladder.
Kenji dropped the shield and rolled away as the monster's fists smashed the ground where he had just been. He scrambled to his feet and sprinted after his friends, the monster roaring at his heels.
They were in the hive now. And they had just kicked it.