The hull of the chilled ship stirred to life with its beeps of reasons. Steam billowed forth from around pods that had been iced over, holding its inhabitants at a forty five degree angle. Slowly, the glass doors opened and goose bumps covered their skins from the sudden onslaught of coldness. Streams of breath could be seen coming from each body. One of them opened their eyes, their fingers twitching erratically, attempting to move anything felt like the weight of the world on them. Finally getting a grip on the sides of the capsule, Angelique pulled herself forward, falling face first when one foot landed on the frosty floor, hearing two more familiar clumps next to her.

“Jumping can be such a pain in the ass,” Minx mumbled, pulling herself up to move to a nearby swivel chair.

“I second that,” Rick followed Minx’s lead and did the same.

Angelique took her time though, taking in deep breaths and letting them out slowly. She knew that the slower and steeper breaths that she took would help her gain more balance and would oxygenate her blood once more. The others thought her crazy, but when she was the first to be up and moving about while they still took time to adjust, she would only smile at them with her chin held high. Walking over to the flat screen computer terminal five minutes later, Angelique looked over the stats to find out their progress. Everything was where they needed to be… actually higher than they needed to be.

“That’s odd.”

“What’s odd?” Rick yawned.

“We were woken two days early.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know.” Angelique walked past the others who still remained in their seats from lack of full use of their limbs, went straight to the front of the ship and ordered the shields over the windows to open. Widening its toothless jaws, their faces went pale, for Angelique, paler than normal. Earth was right on their front door step bidding then hello. The once green and blue planet was now a scornful crimson with dark red clouds hovering over it.

“Rick, start inputting those coordinates for landing. Earth’s atmosphere is sucking us in. That’s why we were woken early,” Angelique barked, finding it hard to remove her eyes from the sight but did so to take command. One thing that she always triple checked before each jump was that the fail safe switch was on. Anything out of the norm would wake the passengers without hesitation.

“Where are we landing?”

“New York,” Angelique replied without hesitation, “Turn the shields off. Get ready. It looks like a rough one.”

Even as she said it, the movements of the ship became jagged and sporadic. Earth became one large ball of flame pulling them into its destruction. Angelique leaned forward and closed the shutters, switching to computerized view of the outside as to not risk shattering the glass with the immense heat that may be in store for them. Entering the atmosphere was over in a matter of moments. Clouds passed by them in such a hurry that when they finally broke through it took them all by surprise that they didn’t even notice the figure before them. It turned moments before contact, soaring out of the way just in time. Wings large like a bat and long black hair accompanied it.

“What the hell was that?” Rick roared, trying to keep his balance in his chair. The magnets seemed to have lost their control over the passengers the moment of descent.

“I don’t know. Let’s just hope there aren’t more.” Angelique’s knuckles were turning white from the grip on the control wheel, trying desperately to keep control. She watched the ground coming ever closer, knowing the precise moment to throw on the thrusters.

“When, Angie?”

“Wait… wait… now!” With a sudden jerk, the ship righted and they landed with a soft thud on the ground.

“Well, I think that may have been our best landing yet,” Rick croaked sarcastically.

“At least we’re all still alive, Rick. Open shudders,” Angelique leaned on the control panel and looked out through the transom, noticing the steam filtering up from the ship.

The city was dead… or so it seemed. Buildings were decayed and falling apart while the streets had been torn in various sections from earthquakes. The environment had changed from when humans last inhabited it. The temperature looked hotter than they were accustomed to, steam erupting in a mixture of areas from the ground. Even at this level, the sky had been scorned into red. Where straight roads had been it was now littered with broken cars, glass shards, and other objects none of the crew wanted to venture in finding out.

“Minx, I want a report of anything moving within a five mile radius even to the smallest degree. Rick, find out where this archive is and let’s get to it. The sooner we leave the better… Welcome home…” Angelique whispered the last part softly. If there were any more creatures out there like the one they saw coming in, she wanted to know about it before they or it found each other again. Within two minutes, a map was placed in the center of a round table in the middle of the ship and a reader was placed on top of it.

“Okay, the museum that we are supposed to be heading to is about two blocks north,” Rick pointed in two spots; one being their location and the other their destination.

“There are at least two dozen things moving out there. Plus we’ll need to use the OG’s. The oxygen level out there is almost depleted, the carbon dioxide levels are higher than even our own planet, meaning that these dots on here that are moving are either dead… or have adapted,” Minx gave her report.

“Okay lady and gent, let’s suit up. We don’t know what these things look like anymore so let’s not take any risks. Let’s stun first and if that doesn’t work, shoot to kill.”

Looking down at her wrist half an hour later, four dots read on her OG meter. This worried her slightly that they were on a time limit, which she hadn’t been expecting but it put the pressure on to get off the dead planet as soon as possible. Walking through the first set of doors to the outside world, the three adventurers waited for the equalization of pressure in the cabin before continuing through the last barrier to unfamiliar territory.

“Ear pieces working?” Angelique placed a hand over her ear and spoke into it.

“Loud and clear,” replied Minx, who was ordered unwillingly to stay with the ship.

“Do you have visual?” Rick asked, getting the video chips in place that attached just above the right eyebrow.

“Crystal.”

“Remember, Minx, you are our eyes and ears. Let’s go, Rick.”

The streets were deserted with the exception of metal debris rusted and bent strewn everywhere. The building structures creaked under the hot breeze that whispered passed them as they continued forward.

“It reminds me of hell… or at least what it would look like,” Rick whispered, unbelieving that when he was only a year old everything looked so different from how it was now.

“I agree. How are we, Minx?” Angelique asked, holding her gun in front of her, waiting for anything to jump out at them.

“So far so good. It doesn’t look like you’ve been noticed. Just keep it nice and slow.”

“There it is…”

The stone building in front of them that used to be the American Museum of Natural History seemed sand blasted along the outer exterior. The Theodore Roosevelt statue had been knocked from its standing place and now lay across the steps. Where flags used to hang were now only threads of their existence. Entering the front hall once known as the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda now lay in shards of broken glass and sculptures that once gave the museum part of its beauty. Dark and dank, Rick and Angelique moved forward to a set of stairs that would lead them deeper into the heart of it all. On the first floor, different exhibits were destroyed in the wake of the dead, trying to feast upon anything living. Bones ornamented the floor along with pieces of clothing. Continuing on down to the lower level, Minx’s voice disturbed the silence.

“About twenty feet in front of you is something moving. It doesn’t seem to be making much of an effort to flee or it just didn’t hear you.”

They indeed heard the crunching of something coming from behind the steps by the old school lunchrooms. Standing at the ready, they continued forward where something large was hunkered over on the floor, making inhumane sounds of ripping apart flesh. When their lights flashed over it, the thing turned, staring at them with yellow eyes and glowing pupils. Blood dripped down its lips and decayed lips. The creature’s hair fell over its face in small clumps of what was left of its scalp. The rush of rotting flesh met their nostrils as they moved around it, waiting for the first strike before opening fire. In the dead woman’s hands rested a limp rat.

Snarling at them, it made an attempt to charge, only to get a face full of electric darts that sent point three milliamps a piece through its victim causing it to commence in seizures. Smells of burnt and decayed skin puffed through the air, forcing Rick and Angelique to cover their noses. Once again the creature scathed its disapproval, galloping off like a four legged animal to scale a wall nearest it. Perching on top of the stairs, it sat at a reasonable distance away to watch its prey.

Moving forward, the two walked to a nearby door that would lead them down a hallway. Blowing the lock with their weapons, they entered, flashing their lights in every which direction. Even though it appeared sealed they didn’t want to take any risks. The antechamber to the supposed vaulted room was long and narrow with no other way in or out except through the entry they came through and the one they headed towards. Rick pulled something out of his pocket that resembled two keys and handed one to Angelique.

“We need to enter and turn these at the same time. Ready? 3…2…1…” The keys were pushed in the locks that sat on either side of a large metal door. Wheels turned and munched on the silence, opening the large mass to reveal a small room filled with computers. Monitors were silent with darkness while the control panels reveled in soft shimmering lights that faded in and out. Looking before them was another safe. Entering the combination twelve, thirty three, and zero, it resounded with a click. Popping open, Angelique reached in her hand to pull out a small two inch cube.

“Is that it?” Rick asked, not pleased that four months had been taken out of their lives for this minuet object.

“Yeah. Let’s get out of here. We’ve got two hours left,” Angelique noticed the meter on her wrist.

A noise came from behind them, triggering weapons to be brought back to eye level as they stared down the dark hall. Rick placed his flashlight over his gun to get a better view of where the source could be only to see an oversized rat scurry away from the glow. Releasing their held breaths, they went to move forward before abruptly stopping halfway to a clear exit. A dark shadow had flown past the door before something landed in front of their one way out to freedom, kneeling down with one hand on the floor, large wings compressing… It stood to its full six feet which met Rick at eye level.

“Minx? What the hell is going on… Minx?” Angelique whispered.

Back on the ship, Minx had been intently watching the screens of her fellow friends. Once again playing with her nails, the corner of her eye still remained on the reader that sat between the two screens. When a dot appeared to be moving towards them at a fast pace, she tried to call out to them but only got static. She could only come up with a logical explanation that they were in the vault… but at that same moment a scratching noise came from the entrance of the ship. Standing cautiously, Minx withdrew her gun and moved towards the still echoing resonance.

“Where the hell is Minx?” Rick whispered through the corner of his lip with his weapon still aimed.

“I dunno… What is that thing?”

Angelique squint her eyes, noticing the creature reaching for something. When it brought back its arm, it threw forward the dead beast they had shot earlier and chucked it forward. The once woman squirmed on the floor, twitching from missing its head that rolled past the body moments later. This baffled Angelique, lowering her weapon a few degrees.

“Hey guys, you might want to get out of there. There’s something by you about twenty feet away and we’ve got company here… and these things are neither friendly nor human,” Minx’s voice came over their ear pieces, causing Rick to jump.

“No shit, Sherlock! Where the hell have you been, Minx?”

“I heard something and went to check it out. I tried alerting you guys but I only got static.”

“Look, Angie… these things are large. If we don’t get out of here soon these things are going to start tearing away at the ship,” the level of patience rose on Minx’s voice several notches as another clank came.

“We’ve got a predicament on our hands here, Minx. We’ll get there as soon as possible…”

“They’re confectors… large claws and teeth creating them into the ultimate killing machine.” All conversation seized as the three foreigners stared at the thing before them that spoke in a deep male voice holding such smoothness that Minx and Angelique lost all train of thought.

“Confectors… that’s Latin for Destroyers,” Minx mumbled.

“Are you… human?” Rick squeaked, feeling stupid for asking.

“… You need to get out of here before more arrive. Confectors are like overgrown panthers but twice the size and three times the temper. Come, I’ll help you,” he reached out a hand towards them.

Angelique and Rick looked at each other in contemplation. Obviously they would be walking right into a war zone back at the ship but here was a ‘man’ who knew more about this planet than its prior inhabitants did. This could either be their one way off this dead rock to safety… or their certain doom…