Almost paralyzed with fear, I pulled back and kicked the handle with all of my weight. It remained stuck for what felt like endless minutes. Until finally, a low-pitched creak echoed from the hinges of the door. I turned, sweating and retching at the musty stench.
A head full of snapping teeth thrust right for my neck. I reared back. The canary’s drool curdled down its maw like a thick black gravy. I shambled away, walloping the canary with a chunk of dead wood. It grunted, wildly clawing bleeding grooves in my arms. I slammed at its head again. Bits of brain and jellied blood sprayed on my lips. I pushed the brain-crushed canary away with a manic guttural sound. Glancing over my shoulder, other canaries teetered right for me. From what little I could see inside the mining station, an oil thick darkness awaited. I took a second to consider—but not too deeply—whether if hunkering down inside was a good or a shit idea.
Canaries surrounded me, blood oozed from their shredded flesh. I latched on the swinging door handle, sprinted inside, and slammed it right behind me.
Panic sparked in my gut.
No light.
It was cold inside. Freezing.
A mining station with no power. Figures. The canaries stood maybe a good twenty feet from my door. My first instinct was to slide my hands along the walls, hoping to find a fuse box or at least anything useful. The metal walls felt cool underneath my fingertips. Every few seconds my nails would scrape on narrow grooves. I fumbled like this until something landed on my feet with a soft nearly inaudible thud.
I kneeled down slowly, patting my hands on the floor. Something long and smooth found my hand. It took me a moment to grab it, and a sudden flash of weak dim light flickered from the laserlight I found on the ground. With a swift wave, I aimed it at the floor. Five stiff, dead fingers had dropped on the tips of my bare feet. With flustered kicks, it flung up and out of my way. I swung the light, making out a silhouette in the dark. I looked across the room and caught a glimpse of a frozen pair of eyes. The slack-jawed corpse slumped against the wall. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled until I fought to put myself at ease.
It’s not like I hadn’t seen a dead body before. Just the opposite. Death was not new to me.
I eyed it briefly, and then turned my head away. No matter how much I fished deep in his pockets, I came up with nothing—other than pocket lint and a rusty razor that was balled in the other hand. Maybe the poor bastard intended to kill himself, or attempt to fight off the canaries to no avail?
The body itself was surrounded by a halo of dead flies. With no food or water, I’d practically climbed in my own coffin. I had a good three days until I’d die of thirst. Either that, or the hellfire of hunger in the pit of my belly would do me in first. I slid my back against the wall, hugging my knees. I needed a solution, but couldn’t think of a single one.
Every once in awhile, I had a pretty good idea about things. This was not one of those times. A rush of blood gushed through my heart as it pulsed to the rhythm of its beat. It thudded loud and hard like the hammer of a sawed off gun. Carefully, I eased open the door to take a peek. That’s when I saw the fuse box, right before the tree line. I had to make a break for it. Otherwise, the feral horde of snapping canaries would flay my skin right in broad daylight. I pulled back, setting myself in a running stance.
“Fuck…”
I stepped out with the blunt end of a laserlight like a plastic samurai sword. I charged forward at full speed, enraged, wide-eyed, arms above my head and shrieking at the top of my lungs.
I smashed the flat head of my laserlight like a sledgehammer, deep in their pocked and scarred faces. I dodged their clawing gangly arms. Another canary swiped at my thigh, I pivoted slightly and at once, shoved the handle into its gurgling gullet. A tidal wave of black mucusy pus exploded on my shirt and ratty hair. Immediately, I stepped back smearing off the reeking goo, frantically checking for my own wounds. I didn’t once take my eyes off of the fuse box, storming right for it. Canaries sputtered in my face, chomping as they chased me in a possessed rage. I shuffled a few steps, banging on the metal fuse box and grabbed a fistful of rainbow colored wires.
Groaning, snarling canaries ambushed me in a corner. I muttered to myself, plugging in wires every which way. An electric zip surged through the power line as shockwaves of pure energy reached the core. I didn’t have the words to express my breathless joy when the light above the mining station door flickered bright. But over the course of the next few seconds, I observed the sprawl of canaries flanking me from all directions. My heart skipped a beat, and I drew in my arms.