Containment

Author : Javen J.

1:10. Three fingers of vodka were left; two in the bottle and one in a tumbler. He had never drunk so much before; and never would again. At least there would be no record breaking hangover. He chased the tumbler with a sharp inhale. He looked down at his mangled knee. It was bloody and useless; but he had nowhere to go.

1:02. He had a hyper-rifle, two fingers of vodka and one minute to live. The countdown continued as feverish crashing reverberated through the makeshift barricade. He erected it to isolate himself in the orbital laboratory’s control center.

:55. He poured himself the rest of the vodka and sat the glass between his legs on the ground. He hoisted up the hyper-rifle and checked its charge. The rifle grew exponentially heavier as he lost more blood. Charge at four percent; about fourteen bursts of fire left.

:42. More than enough. He fingered the sight. It took him roughly fifty bursts to put down seven of the freaks and erect the barricade. However, there was no need to kill them all; only to preserve the countdown.

:38. He took a long deep breath and held up the vodka. He would not let it go to waste, like his research. He chased the vodka with a few tears and warm thoughts of his young lass.

:30. He heard metal twisting as the barricade began to give way. He figured the hatch must be cracking open because he could hear the creatures’ audible throat growls.

:24. Once friends and colleagues; now mindless victims of a botched experiment.

:20. The barricaded hatch crashed open and the howling abominations rushed into the control room.

:16. He delayed the stampede by hitting the first intruders in the knees with several rifle bursts.

:11. Suddenly the room was filled with creatures.

:08. Half of the freaks charged for the control panel behind him and the others began clawing at his already mangled body.

:05. He ignored the immense pain and fired his remaining bursts in defense of the panel.

:02. When his charge was depleted he used the butt of the rifle to shove one creature away from interface.

:00. The countdown terminated. He writhed in agony hoping the infliction was contained. Without warning the station’s grav-drive reached critical mass and vaporized the station and every piece of dust and particulate matter within a mile.