01 Jan Cutting Through the Door

Posted at 11:00h in Strange and Unexplained by CreepypastaStories.com 0 Comments

📅 Published on January 1, 2025

“Cutting Through the Door”

Written by Corpse Child
Edited by Craig Groshek
Thumbnail Art by Craig Groshek
Narrated by N/A

Copyright Statement: Unless explicitly stated, all stories published on CreepypastaStories.com are the property of (and under copyright to) their respective authors, and may not be narrated or performed, adapted to film, television or audio mediums, republished in a print or electronic book, reposted on any other website, blog, or online platform, or otherwise monetized without the express written consent of its author(s).

🎧 Available Audio Adaptations: None Available

⏰ ESTIMATED READING TIME — 4 minutes

Rating: 10.00/10. From 1 vote.

Please wait...

“Come on Private, get this damn thing open!” Private Edmund almost didn’t hear his commander. His focus was trained solely on the door in front of him. The NitroCutter was almost halfway through the thick steel door of the ship’s eastern sector. He almost couldn’t even hear it, despite it being an alarmingly loud device.

Behind him was a cacophonous mixture of bestial growling and the rapid discharging of the commander’s plasma rifle. The growling was getting closer and closer. “Edmund, goddamn it, how long till we’re through the door?!”

“It’s breaching, sir!” shouted the Private. He could hear one of the growling beasts bound through the air, primed to pounce on both of them. Their fortune hadn’t run out, though, as Commander Rathburne would be damned if any of this rabid “scaly scum,” as he so often loved calling them, were going to make it past him without being barbecued by his rifle. “It’s cut through!”

“Okay, now how long’s it going to take for you to get the damn thing open?”

“I don’t know, sir!”

“Not good enough, Private! I’m low on power, and I’ve only got one more battery after this one!”

“I’m trying, sir!”

“Well, try harder!” the commander barked. Edmund rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth.

Even putting the full force of his weight on the drill, the laser was still only gradually penetrating the layers in the door. It was likely going to be at least another minute and a half, maybe even two, God forbid, before they’d have a large-enough hole carved out for the two of them to be able to access the escape pod on the other side. Unfortunately, from the sound of things going on behind him, the scaly warriors from the planet Ra’aptar weren’t planning to give him the time he needed.

He almost dropped the drill altogether when one of the beasts from behind him emitted the most earsplitting screech possible. He was, of course, quickly silenced by Commander Rathburne’s furious plasma fire. “Edmund!” he shouted. “I’m on my last battery here! How’s that door coming?”

“I’m reaching the halfway point! I need another thirty seconds, tops! Just give me thirty more seconds!”

“Tell them that!” replied the commander anxiously as he turned and resumed firing a fresh hailstorm of plasma upon the hulking beasts charging at him at ramming speed. One after another, reptilian bodies dropped dead, piling atop each other to the point where a wall of corpses was forming. Even still, they charged, unimpeded and unintimidated, and more ravenous than ever.

Rathburne saw the red, beady eyes of another immediately take the place of each one he dropped. Some of them, he could see, were still covered in spatters of blood–the blood of the members of his platoon, one of which was his son.

“God, Ryan,” the Commander mourned. “I’m so sorry…”

One after another, he stood firm, spraying plasma fire as if it were water from a sprinkler, showering and frying anything he saw–which wasn’t much, to his credit, outside of large, scaly bodies. He’d fry the entire ship, including himself and everyone else alive, so long as each and every one of their attackers were dragged straight to Hell with him so he could get another piece of them there.

One of them, a rather nimble beast compared to his herculean brethren, bobbed and weaved past the commander’s line of fire until, finally, he was within range to pounce on him. Rathburne had just enough time to see the creature charge at him from the right before he was tackled and pinned to the ground. The weapon was thrown from his hands.

On the ground, Rathburne’s strength was completely occupied with keeping the beasts’ jaws from tearing his head from his shoulders. Private Edmund saw this and saw that the rifle was only a foot and a half away from him. The bad news was, it took at least two hands and his full strength to maintain the progress he’d been making cutting through the door. If he let go now, it’d be almost impossible to prime the drill before another wave of beasts barraged them. He could already hear the second wave charging down the halls, blood-drunk and snarling.

The Commander’s strength was quickly failing him, and it wasn’t long before the beast’s jaws were fastened around his shoulder, his brachial artery taking the brunt of the damage. Rathburne’s wail of agony echoed above even the roars and snarls of the approaching onslaught.

“Commander!” cried Private Edmund. The scaly beast looked up from his prey to regard him. Edmund’s eyes went white as his heart froze. What could he do? He had no weapon, and he couldn’t make for the discarded plasma rifle. He was defenseless.

Just as the beast reared back to spearhead him, it found, to its shock, that Rathburne, though bleeding profusely and weakened dramatically, still had the strength to hold the beast back. He grappled with the creature, fastening his arms around its throat and his legs around its waist, before throwing himself backward, taking them both back to the floor. For a moment, Edmund remained frozen, petrified with shock.

The dying commander regarded him thoughtfully. Rathburne could no longer speak, but all the same, Edmund imagined the voice of his leather-lunged commander shouting, “Do it! Get to the escape pods and get the hell out of here! That’s an order!”

The beast was bucking and fighting wildly, and it wasn’t long before it became clear that he wasn’t going to be able to keep hold much longer. At last, though, the drill completed its circuit, forming a sort of hatch, which the Private quickly broke through, and he sprinted to the end of the corridor ahead. There, he practically hurled himself inside the open pod before frantically mashing every button on the control panel until at last it launched. The hatch dropped just before a monstrous reptilian beast leapt for him. Two seconds later, the pod was ejected from port, destined to roam the stars until it either ran out of power or was picked up by another cruiser.

After taking a brief moment to allow his adrenaline subside, Edmund relaxed in his seat. It was over, he thought. He’d made it.

Whatever came next, it would at least be peaceful. At least it would be quiet.