The Howling Dark

Image by Three-shots from Pixabay

Jake slowly opened his eyes, squinting against the harsh fluorescent lights above him. He tried to sit up but a splitting pain in his head made him groan and fall back against the cold metal floor. Where was he? The last thing he remembered was the helicopter ride to the remote Antarctic outpost, surrounded by his research teammates. But now the large room was empty, filled only with silent machinery and blinking control panels.

"Hey, is anyone there?" Jake called out hoarsely. Only the hum of the generators answered him. He slowly sat up, holding his throbbing head. The whole place seemed abandoned. After examining a control panel, he realized he was in the central hub of Outpost Zero - but why was he alone? And what had happened to the others?

The main door suddenly slid open with a whoosh and Jake spun around. A tall, thin man with rumpled blonde hair stood in the doorway, dressed in a heavy parka.

"Carl!" Jake cried in relief. "Where is everyone? What's going on?"

At first, Carl's eyes peered through Jake vacantly, clouded and detached. Then a hint of awareness crossed his distant stare. "Jake! You made it! After that freak blizzard hit, we all got separated. Come on, we have to barricade this place."

Jake followed the older scientist down the sterile metal halls lined with doors, descending a flight of icy stairs into the lower levels which housed the living quarters and labs. Carl explained that the anomaly alarm had sounded during the storm, signalling a tear between dimensions had opened somewhere inside the outpost.

But before they could evacuate, a violent blizzard battered the base, cutting power and communications. Afterwards, no one else was found inside. The two men seemed to be utterly alone in the frozen facility.

Carl spoke in hushed tones about 'something' lurking in the dark corridors, hunting them. He grabbed a flare gun and axe off the wall, passing a fire extinguisher to Jake. "Use this if you see it. The cold seems to drive it away," he whispered.

Jake's heart pounded as they searched the lower levels, securing the doors. What had come through the anomaly? As they barricaded the last door, Carl's walkie crackled.

"...Found...specimen...lab..." the garbled voice said. Carl grabbed the device, yelling "Sarah! What have you found? Where are you?" Silence followed. The men exchanged an ominous glance. Whatever had crossed over, the other researchers had encountered it.

Jake followed Carl through the halls, extinguisher raised in trembling hands. The axe and flare gun seemed woefully inadequate against the unknown horror that had come to the outpost. As they approached the lab section, scratching sounds emanated from inside the walls. Carl tried yelling Sarah's name again but there was no response. The scratching grew louder.

With rising dread, they entered the genetics lab which lay in shambles. Equipment was overturned, papers scattered across the floor. Bloody handprints marked the walls. In the center of the room lay a twisted figure sprawled on the floor. Jake gagged at the sight of Sarah's lifeless, disfigured body. Dark claws had torn her apart.

Carl’s face hardened with rage and anguish. "We need to find the others. Seal off this lab." Jake stood frozen until Carl grabbed his shoulder, jolting him back. They shut the mangled airlock doors and kept moving. Two more bodies were found in the ensuing hours, leaving them the sole survivors.

Carl obsessed over trying the radio while Jake dragged furniture to block air vents and doorways. This thing was cunning, brutally efficient. He hoped barricades would save them but Carl seemed to know otherwise.

During a heated discussion about using the snowcats to escape, the scratching returned above them. Jake aimed his extinguisher in terror as droplets of blood began to seep through the ceiling panels. "It's in the ventilation system!" Carl shouted. “Run!”

They just made it to the domitory hall when the ceiling collapsed behind them. A blur of slick black flesh and grasping claws surged through the opening. Jake sprayed his extinguisher in sheer panic, slowing the creature for a moment as Carl fired his flare. With inhuman speed, the alien vanished into the shadows.

Panting, they leaned against the locked dorm doors. Jake met Carl’s defeated gaze with despair. "Our chances of surviving this are not looking good. Our exit plan has gone up in smoke, hasn't it?"

Carl checked his flare gun grimly. "Let bold hearts lead the charge and we shall be exalted, battles won and just rewards secured."

The creature pursued them all through the outpost over the next hours. They staunched bleeding wounds while using the last of their makeshift weapons to keep it at bay. But exhaustion took its toll. Carl sacrificed himself to buy Jake time as theirrunning battle brought them full circle to the central hub.

Jake sealed the hub door and slumped to the floor, guts twisting as Carl’s screams echoed down the corridor. The shadowy creature scraped at the door, snarling. Jake spotted the emergency anomaly controls across the room. If he could activate them, it might destabilize the tear...sealing the entity away or destroying it entirely.

Summoning his last reserves of strength, Jake dragged himself to the control panels. With a menacing screech, the alien burst through the damaged door, oozing across the floor toward Jake. He frantically entered the activation code with shaking fingers as the creature barreled towards him.

The machine whirred, lights flickering. A high-pitched hum filled the hub as Jake stumbled back. "Come on!" he yelled hoarsely. The alien recoiled from the increasing energy, writhing in pain. Just as it prepared to lunge at Jake, a brilliant flash exploded through the room.

When the light faded, no sign of the entity remained. Jake collapsed to his knees, laughing brokenly. It was finally over. He had survived the impossible.

As he clung to life, waiting for rescue, Jake hoped the horrors unleashed at Outpost Zero would remain buried forever in the endless Antarctic ice.