Desolate The Complete Trilogy

10



Howard was chosen to go through the door because he was one of the men who opened it. Carl was along simply because he happened to be sitting with Howard when the guards came. Howard and Carl were issued powerful flashlights and a small two-way radio. The guards had their usual assortment of small arms. Not so much to keep Howard and Carl under control, but mostly for what might be beyond the door.

Cottrell studied the door for the first time and seemed unimpressed. “Get your asses in there and see what you can see,” he told the pair of prisoners. “Bell, you give me a holler on the radio and let me know if you think it’s safe in there.”

Howard nodded. Carl smiled at Cottrell. “Wish us luck.”

“Move yer ass.”

Howard and Carl stepped through the door and on to the slanted walkway. They slowly moved down slope to the closed door at the end of the hall, shining their lights on a red button next to the door.

“Seems simple enough,” Howard whispered.

“Yeah, but what the hell is on the other side? Wish them screws would have lent us a piece or two.”

Howard reluctantly pressed the button and the door swiftly slid to the side out of sight. They stepped into a large room that appeared to be some sort of laboratory.

“Holee shee-it,” Carl muttered.

Broken glass, equipment, and instruments were scattered everywhere. Large cages lined the side of the room. They carefully stepped through the debris and looked into each one. The first two were empty but the third cage held something.

“Goddamn, what is that thing?” Carl asked.

Howard had no answer so he just stared at the creature inside. It had obviously been dead for quite some time. The torso was about the size of a full grown pig, its skin grey and shriveled. Four thick and stubby legs pointed to the ceiling. Massive dull claws protruded from its flat feet. Howard bent over and pointed his flashlight at its face. Empty eye sockets, the eyeballs undoubtedly rotted away long ago, stared back at him. They were the size of billiard balls.

“Howie, come take a look at this one.” Carl pointed his light into the cage next to him. It held something that looked similar to a cockroach, only it was as big as a tortoise. Another cage held a carcass of something that wasn’t as tolerable to decay as the other two creatures. All that remained was a heap of bones and fur in the corner of the cage. “Maybe they were like us. Some sort of prison ship, ya know?”

“I dunno.” Howard studied the rest of the room with his flashlight. “Looks to me like they were specimens or something.” Shattered tanks on the other side of the room held strange skeletons of aquatic creatures.

“Bell, O’Donell, what the hell is going on in there, dammit?”

Howard jumped at the radio squawking in his hand. “Uh, nothing Sergeant. We’re just looking around. Everything is okay, so far.”

“Well hurry up, we’re freezing out here.”

“Poor baby,” said Carl. “Come on, man. “Let’s see what’s behind this door. Stinks in here.”

They left the lab and walked deeper into the craft. Off of the main hallway they found several rooms that appeared to be sleeping quarters and a storeroom full of containers smashed open and in shambles. At the end of the hall they walked through the open door to the bridge, finally confirming the fact that it was some sort of craft.

Two bodies were still strapped to the cockpit seats. A third body was sprawled on the floor under a heap of broken computer equipment. The control panels and windows in front of the pilots were crushed from the impact of the crash.

They carefully crept closer to the bodies for a closer look. They were the size of an average person and wore uniforms and gloves made of a strange material. Both wore helmets with clear face shields. Howard aimed his light on one of their faces and saw the mummified skull behind the clear plastic. It had a narrow face with large eyes, no nose, and a small mouth.

Carl touched the helmet of the body closest to him. The head crumbled from the torso and tumbled to the floor.

“Jesus,” he muttered. “Poor bastards.”

“Bell!”

“Yeah. We’re here,” he said into the radio. “I guess it’s safe to come in now.”

“We’re on our way.”

“What do you make of it?” Carl asked.

“I don’t know. This thing must have crashed a long time ago. It probably got buried when the volcano erupted.”

“Yeah,” Carl said absently. “You know, maybe this is our ticket out of this hell hole. Shit, they can’t keep a prison camp on an island with a crashed space ship. This place will be crawling with scientists and reporters. They’ll have to move us somewhere else.”

Howard could hear the enthusiastic discussion of the guards down the hall. “Come on, we better go.”

A search of the rest of the craft didn’t explain much more. They found more equipment and storage but many of the other doors in the ship were locked or broken and they were unable to get past them. When Cottrell was satisfied, they headed back to camp to report the findings to the warden. Howard and Carl returned to their barracks to tell their story to the curious bunkmates.