Tunnels 05 - Spiral

— it was nothing special. This drive contains the last twelve or so hours of footage from the onsite security system.” He leaned forward and typed in several more commands. “And I’m now going to run the output in a mosaic on the main display, so each of you pick yourselves a couple of cameras to watch. It’ll be playing back far faster than normal viewing rate, so the moment any of you spot anything interesting, just holler.”
    Will and the others lined up in front of the screen and waited with bated breath. “Lights! Action!” Drake said, pressing a key. A grid of ten different monochrome images came on-screen and began to play jerkily.
    Will was scrutinizing his two scenes, both of which he thought he recognized. The uppermost seemed to be of the factory reception area, and the second showed a stretch of the corridor leading from it. The reception camera was angled so that he had a view through the glass doors of the entrance, where it was evidently still nighttime.
    The others had divided the rest of the scenes between them, but Parry didn’t seem at all happy with his choice. As he watched what the two cameras inside the main warehouse had captured, he edged a little closer to the screen to scrutinize one of the bodies in the beds, which seemed to be stirring. Sergeant Finch had wheeled himself beside Parry and was also watching intently with him, absentmindedly stroking a cat purring on his lap.
    But as both Parry and Sergeant Finch continued to peer at the body, it began to writhe violently. From the neck to the groin, it burst open, and Styx Warrior larvae wriggled out. If it could have been made any worse than it was, the fact that it was being shown at an accelerated speed didn’t help.
    Parry recoiled as Sergeant Finch shouted, “God’s holy trousers!” so loudly that the cat on his lap took fright and bolted. “It’s like a flippin’ sausage splittin’ down the middle when you overcook it,” he added.
    “It’s an abomination,” Parry croaked. “What I saw in the factory was bad enough, but
that
defies description.”
    “Focus, Dad, focus,” Drake urged him. “We need confirmation that we finished the job.”
    This sent Parry into a mumbled tirade, of which the others could only catch “teaching your grandmother to suck eggs, are you?” before he straightened his shoulders and began to concentrate properly again. In the semidarkness, flickering images of the Styx women would suddenly come into view, scuttling around like insects as they either went about impregnating more humans or fed on fresh meat.
    “Got a Limiter in mine, but he’s not in uniform,” Elliott announced as her camera revealed one of the Styx soldiers guarding the main gate. “Two Limiters,” she corrected herself when a second soldier came into view. As she saw increasing numbers of them, Eddie came over to watch with her, but made no comment.

    Chester was in the small canteen just off the Hub where he was making tea for everyone while his mother prepared some sandwiches.
    “Gone very quiet out there,” he observed, half glancing through the open door. Then he went back to topping up the last of the mugs with water from the kettle.
    “I’m just so glad you made it back safely,” Mrs. Rawls replied.

    “I’ve got a car entering by the front. Time is nine fifteen,” Elliott reported as an expensive-looking vehicle appeared at the main gates and was allowed through.
    Drake nodded. “The registration number might be useful, but I won’t stop the playb —”
    “More cars,” Elliott interrupted him.

    Chester scooped out the tea bags from each of the mugs with a spoon, then added the milk.
    “I’ll take these through and hand them out. How are you getting on over there?”
    Mrs. Rawls didn’t answer, her back to Chester as she continued to make the sandwiches.
    Chester stepped nearer to her. “Are you still only on the butter?” he asked with surprise. He couldn’t understand why it was taking her so long.
    “I’m just so glad you made it back safely,” she said again.
    Chester shook his head. “Mum, are you OK?”
    She didn’t answer, meticulously spreading butter on a piece of bread, which was already thickly buttered.

    “I’ve got both Rebeccas in the corridor,” Will announced with a shudder. “I think one’s talking on a cell phone.” Then the Rebecca twins disappeared from the scene.
    “I’ll slow the playback a bit,” Drake said, typing on the laptop.
    “Too late,