Up From The Deep by Vaughn Jackson (highly recommended books txt) 📕

the viscous substance. “Smells acidic.” He shined the light on his boots. The mucus had started to eat away at the thick rubber sole. He scraped it off on the floor as best he could. “Don’t step in it,” he said. “Come on we’ve only got about a mile to go.” As he spoke, a thick glob of the mucus dripped down from the ceiling onto the ground in front of him. “Fuck,” he whispered. “Above us.”

As he fell silent, he noticed a noise that hadn’t been there before, a soft scuttling sound interspersed with whisper-thin squeaks. He slowly raised his light to the ceiling and saw…legs. Hundreds of chitinous legs, writhing and oscillating around mucus-covered, segmented bodies. As the light passed over the shiny black eyes of one of the insectoid creatures, it began to scream.

“What the fuck are those?” Shannon asked.

“Devonte, you seeing this?” Brannigan whispered.

“Unfortunately,” came the voice through his headset. “I hate bugs.”

“They look like isopods,” came Skylar’s voice. “Like lice,” she finished.

“I’ve never had lice,” Brannigan said, “but aren’t they supposed to be smaller?”

“We’ve captured deep sea isopods as big as a foot.”

“How about six?”

“Holy shit,” came Devonte’s breathy reply.

The first of the creatures dropped to the tunnel floor with a moist thud. Thick, pincer-like mandibles snapped at them with a harsh clicking sound. He could see now that the segmented plates were each covered in a field of wicked spikes. It reared back with a scream, kicking its front-most legs and shivering violently.

Thayer opened fire from Brannigan’s right, blasting the creature’s head into a thick purple paste. The sound of the shots echoed loudly throughout the maintenance tunnel.

“Hold your fire,” Brannigan shouted.

It was too late. The whole ceiling came alive with a collective scream, the creatures on the ceiling no longer moved languidly, but clattered to a violent cadence. He heard at least two drop down behind them before Bowman called out to confirm the situation.

“We need to move, now!” Brannigan shouted. “Stay on me.” He set off at a sprint, glancing up every so often in the hopes that he’d see an end to the sea of legs and pincers. Behind him, he could hear the ever growing and quickly approaching swarm. “Tell me these things are herbivores.”

“Parasitic carnivores,” Skylar’s voice said. “They will eat you.”

“Of course they will.” He skidded to a stop as the path branched into three separate paths. Confused, he checked his GPS. According to the device there should be a right turn at this junction. Instead the path went left, straight, and back the way they came, but at a left angle. Not right. “Devonte, the hell is up with this?”

“I don’t know.” His voice sounded panicked. “The schematics were the most recent I could find, from just last year.” Brannigan heard loud clicking on a keyboard through his headset. “They should be right, unless…”

“Unless Tempest has been doctoring the schematics for a long time,” Brannigan finished.

A human scream from behind interrupted their conversation. Brannigan wheeled around to see Collins, just as a pair of pincers crunched down through his skull. The look of shock and horror never left his face as several of the swarm broke off from their stampede and began to rip and tear at his flesh.

“Open fire,” Brannigan called. It was too late to save Collins, but he’d be damned if these bugs got the better of him. The sound in the narrow tunnel was unbearable as the dark lit up in flashes with the rapid-fire volley of the rifles. Bugs showered the walls with their insides as they popped like vile balloons. But they just kept coming.

“We’re gonna get overwhelmed if we keep this up,” Hicks shouted.

“I know,” Brannigan yelled back. “Damn it,” he hissed. “Left path.”

The soldiers responded and began their escape. Bowman’s leg was caught by one of the creatures, dragging him to the ground. Hicks opened fire on the attacking creature, blowing it to bits, but not before several more clamored over the downed man, stripping him of his flesh in seconds.

The swarm carpeted the ceiling and walls behind them, blowing out lights and tearing electrical cables as they stampeded after the fleeing men. Ahead of them was a heavy iron door much like the one they entered through.

“You lot lay down suppressing fire while I get this thing open,” Brannigan shouted, shouldering his weapon and immediately setting to grinding the rusted wheel on the door. The echoes of gunfire blended with the high-pitched screams of the creatures as they were blown apart.

“They’re getting a bit close for comfort here,” Chaplin shouted.

“Keep shooting,” Hicks roared in reply.

“Almost got it,” Brannigan said as the door swung open on creaking old hinges. “Everyone through, now.”

He didn’t have to tell them twice. The remaining two soldiers dove through the door, Brannigan was right behind them, dragging the heavy weight with him as he went. The vault-like door sealed shut with an exasperated hiss and a dull clanging thud. Brannigan gulped down air in greedy breaths as he listened to the furious chittering of the creatures on the other side of the door.

“Bugs,” Hicks gasped. “I fucking hate bugs.”

“Brannigan,” Devonte’s voice crackled to life through Brannigan’s headpiece, “are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Brannigan said, “just thoroughly creeped out and…and we’re down two men,” he added bitterly. “Bowman, and Collins. Fuck.” He looked at the three remaining men. Chaplin had been one of the first to encounter the monster they were calling Inkanyamba. He looked exhausted, but mostly unfazed by the loss of their comrades. Hicks looked upset but managed to stay composed. Thayer, on the other hand, was in tears.

“Fuck, man, they came out of nowhere and just fucked our shit,” he said. “What the fuck are we supposed to do about that?”

“You haven’t even seen the big one up close yet,” Chaplin said.

“Oh you think this is funny?” Thayer spat. “Two of our men just died. My friend just died!” He stalked across the room and hoisted Chaplin up by his collar and slammed