"Right, watching the monitors, I thought I was watching a science fiction movie!"
A group of people chattered amongst themselves, trying to distract themselves from their fear of the monster outside the door.
"Shut up!"
Doctor Sean turned and glared fiercely at the buzzing senior researchers behind him. He held great authority in their eyes, and his command silenced them.
Doctor Sean, having quieted everyone, was himself sweating profusely, constantly glancing at his LCD wristwatch. A percentage was ticking upwards on its display—the progress of the system backup transfer. He dared not evacuate until it was complete.
He wiped the cold sweat from his brow, a byproduct of his fear, and tried to calm himself.
Almost there! We can leave soon!
He took several deep breaths, barely managing to suppress the terror in his heart.
When the transfer reached fifty percent, the base's self-destruct protocol had already been initiated and could not be stopped.
