by L M Feldt
I shudder as I stare, barely acknowledging Naoaki as she moves to stand close. I wonder if these things are just a small sample of the monstrosities created during the wars. I sort of understand now, why our civilization is so focused on excluding those of us with mutations from their midst. I can almost accept their obsession with weeding us out. These things have one purpose; to destroy.
“Aito told me that Fish may have been a throwback. That when mutations were a new idea, the process took longer for some. He tried to console me, telling me that Fish had directed us to that pool for a reason, even if things went wrong at the end.” Naoaki whispers near my shoulder. I hear the worry in her voice.
“If it is him…..no way will he turn into….” I don’t finish the words. “He saved my life.” No matter how Fish might have changed on the outside, there is still goodness in him.
Questions float through my mind as I stare. Are these the last ones created? Had everyone died or run away before they could be released? Is there a possibility, however small, that they might still be alive? That they might wake? The very thought scares me so bad I am ready to bolt at the smallest thing. I feel Naoaki press against me and realize we are of the same mind…..terrified.
I am busy trying to talk myself down, convince myself that we are safe and there is no way these… people could have survived five generations in vats of bubbling, yellow liquid when Naoaki gives a soft gasp beside me. Then I see it too….a finger twitches.
Twenty Eight
There is nothing wrong with my survival instincts, Naoaki’s either. We are nearly back to the others already and I am unaware of having made a conscious decision to run. I pause, meaning to stop her, to get our story straight. For some reason I am hesitant to have Aito see the things in the vats. But Naoaki has brushed past me and is panting out her fear to the whole group.
“The bad things. Our stories tell of bad things here.” The blue boy pipes up. Fear and excitement have his eyes wide. I doubt he’ll be so excited when he sees them in person.
“It is unlikely that anything could have survived all this time, even in stasis, although if there is an external power source, something solar maybe….” Aito is getting off track, too fascinated by the idea of a living example of our bloody past.
“You need to find a way to make them stay asleep, permanently! Or we are all going to have a very short, unpleasant future.” I realize I have shouted at him but I am not going to apologize. Too much is at stake right now.
“Your wings are not up. How bad can it be?” Aito asks pointedly. He is skeptical and I am almost flattered that he thinks I am such a bad-ass.
“Really? My wings aren’t up?” Now I am pissed, my voice is carved from stone. Does he think we made up this emergency? To what end? Neither Naoaki or I are given to flights of fancy, nor do we have run away imaginations. Naoaki steps between us as she tries to diffuse the situation.
“If they wake..…” She struggles to describe what we have seen but gives up. “It is worse than any twist or abomination I have ever even heard of.”
“So, we need to get out of here.” Khane suggests. I suspect he is just backing me up to win points with me, whether he believes I have seen a monster or not.
“We need to shut it down.” Micha speaks up. He is usually very quiet. Keeping to himself, him and his dead thing.
With weights in our feet, Naoaki and I lead the entire group to the other lab. Part of me hadn’t wanted Aito to see this lab. The open notebooks, the diagrams….the specimens….there is information here that I am not so sure I want in his hands. Not if my suspicions of him are right. We are careful as we approach, listening for sounds of breaking glass. I am truly scared now and my wings flutter against my back. I hear Khane gulp behind me.
Naoaki goes ahead and scouts the room before waving us in. I have to give her credit. It takes a lot of courage to always go first, to face the monsters alone, even protected by her invisibility. The rest of us enter after she gives the ‘ok’. We huddle in a tight knot just inside the door, ready to run. Aito breaths out a soft hiss.
“Shit.”
We all stare, watching carefully for signs of life. I know what I saw, the finger twitch, and I feel a little resentful that my word isn’t enough for immediate action. I am tense and in the near silence I can hear only the breathing of the people clustered around me. If ever there was a moment for the monster to spring out from its hiding place and eat us, this is it.
“The two at the end are dead.” Micha whispers, his remnant pressed close to his leg. If anyone would know it is him, Lord of Dead Things. I am almost relieved. Two of these monsters won’t suddenly break free from their glass enclosures and attack. Unfortunately, this also means that one is alive.
We all shift our scrutiny to the huge glass enclosure on the left. Small bubbles float slowly through the murky yellow liquid inside. The creature hasn’t moved again but I shiver just looking at it. How insane must you be to create something like this? Is it even human anymore? Does it dream? I shudder to think what a creature like this might dream of.
“Even if it does wake, it will have very little strength. It has been submerged in stasis for centuries. It’s muscles will be atrophied and it may not even remember basic things like walking or talking.” Aito informs us.
“Or biting?” Mumbles Naoaki softly. She and I share a glance. This….thing is a major security risk and all I am hearing from Aito is how it isn’t as dangerous as it looks. Right. I think Aito is letting his curiosity get away with him. I think he sees this half dead creature as another opportunity to learn. It represents lost knowledge, technology of a time long past. For him it is a treasure. I think it needs to be put out of it’s misery so I can sleep tonight.
“But you don’t know.” I insist. I am not letting Aito treat this as an experiment. I will not let him run tests or whatever else has in mind.
“It needs to be put down.” Naoaki states flatly. Her arms are crossed defiantly. She is angry and afraid and reacting much like I am.
Aito cannot fight all of us. Even if he tries his little mind fogging trick - could he control four serious fighters and one erratic blue boy all at once? I can’t help wondering if he might try it, even if it outs him as a monster himself. A yelp and the sound of pounding feet jars the building tension. The finger has twitched again. My wings raise up, hovering just above my shoulders. The danger feels very real to me.
“Tell me how to kill it!” I confront Aito. I see his eyes have gone wide, as thought he did not really believe it could still be alive after all this time. Now I can see he understands my fear. This abomination is one of the last to have been created during the wars that led to the near extinction of the human race. This thing of muscles and teeth and exposed sharpened bones is a killing machine, nothing more. Our very survival may come down to ending it’s life now, while it is still helpless, while it still can be killed. It doesn’t take an intellect of Aito’s level to know that our group, as deadly and well trained as we are, will be no match for it.
Aito nods.
“There must be a kill switch. Look for a red or orange colored button on a control panel, probably in the support base near the back.” He points helpfully.
“Great.” I spit out, pleased as he flinches ever so slightly as I pass by him. My wings are still up, ready, like a bird about to take flight, but not fully extended.
The small box is located just where he said….but the cover is stuck. Naoaki stands guard as does Khane but both of them are far enough away that they will make it out the door safely while the tentacled, many armed being chews on my guts.
“Can I barrow a knife?” I ask.
Naoaki giggles nervously then clamps her jaw closed. She quickly hands me one of hers, stepping back again to a safer distance. I growl at her and jam the tip into the edge of the box frame. I get her nervous laughter. No doubt it is funny to have someone whose wings are made of knives to ask to borrow one. Mine, the ones strapped to my thighs, are fine st
eel with a titanium alloy. They glint blue and I am not risking them for a stupid metal box….
“Shit!” I hiss as the tip breaks off in the narrow gap, stuck tight between the box and it’s cover. Now I have to use one of my knives. I sigh and drop Naoaki’s knife.
“Ah, Keira…” Whispers Naoaki.
“Yea, sorry about the knife.” I say as I unbuckle one of mine. I am starting to sweat. Why did we even come here? The blue boy’s people are right. This place is cursed.
“Not the knife…..just….hurry!” The urgency in her voice distracts me and I look up, wishing instantly that I hadn’t. Through the curved glass I can see the wrist nearest me flexing, twisting gently back and forth, stirring a cluster of tiny bubbles. It is a hypnotic motion and it is hard to tear my gaze away. I swallow hard and refocus my energy to the tiny box, hoping like hell that Aito knows what he is talking about.
A bead of sweat drips past my eye as I stare closely at the point of Naoaki’s knife. It has bent the metal of the cover just a bit….maybe….I slide the tip of one of my treasured knives into the bent space and wriggle it in. I sense the tension around me mounting and I know without looking up that time is running out. The bead of sweat reaches my nose. It itches and I long to scratch but there is no time for that now. With a final push I have the knife as far as it will go. Either it pops the lid or we get to introduce ourselves to the thing in the glass.
“Keira!” urges Aito.
I twist the knife and shove at the same time. Metal screeches, Naoaki yelps…..and the lid pops open.
“Which color!”
“Red.” Shouts Aito.
I see a mess of wires…..all colors of wires….and no buttons.
“There’s just wires! No buttons!”
“Oh no…..” Naoaki moans.
I don’t look up. The horror is waking. It is now or never. I grab a handful of red wires and tug, ripping them free. Nothing happens. My heart is beating wildly. Stark fear is climbing up my spine. I’ve failed...and then I see. One small red wire is still attached. It is wedged behind a knot of black ones and I have to wiggle my finger around them to get it. I cram my finger through the loop and pull it free, praying to whatever god may or may not be watching. There is a click and a whirring drone from somewhere in the wall behind me. A pump of some kind has turned on.
I can also hear thumping and scraping sounds from the glass tube. I don’t want to look, to see that my efforts have done nothing but I am unable to stop myself. Above me, the creature is stirring. Weakly at first, then with more vigor, it saws the bones extruding from its forearms against the glass. Thump saw, thump saw. It’s awkwardness only makes it more terrible.
“Keira!” Khane is suddenly beside me. He grabs my arm and drags me to the doorway where the rest have clustered. I am in shock I think, unable to process the fact that I have been unable to save us. I stumble numbly against Khane’s chest and let him hold me tight. My wings are up and scrape his shoulder drawing blood but he hardly notices.
We are all frozen solid, too terrified to even run as our doom gains strength and pounds the glass with greater zeal. It’s eyes are open now, slits of grayish yellow that seem to be squinting through the thick glass, searching for a target. I wonder if it knows we are out here. I wonder if it will eat us after it has killed us all. A strange vibration fills the room. At first I think maybe I have done something after all. That perhaps I have activated the kill switch but because of centuries passed there was a delayed reaction. Beside me Micha whimpers.
“It is trying to raise the dead.” He whispers. His eyes are huge and miserable.
In a flash of insight I get it. This thing, this nightmare of jumbled DNA, may be his great, great, great granddaddy.
The humming sound ceases suddenly and I start as Aito grabs my arm.
“Look.” He points toward the top of the glass enclosure. A thin stream of icy green is swirling down through the yellow liquid inside. Aito looks alert and some of the gray has left his face. He thinks this is a good thing.
I am more reserved, I know there is a fifty-fifty chance that the stuff drifting down onto the monster is nutritional, meant to revive it fully rather than save our lives. I watch as the creature seems suddenly aware of the green stuff floating down around him. It’s actions become more frenzied and my heart drops into my stomach. We are going to die.
Twenty Nine
As one we shrink back and press against the open door frame. The creature has become increasingly violent in it’s abuse of the glass enclosure. Bone extrusions scrape, nails claw and tentacles thrash in a dance of utter madness. I watch in numb horror and realize, finally, that we are witnessing it’s death. I shiver. I should be happy, or at least relieved. Instead I am repulsed. Not by this terrible stew of DNA, it had been human once. It is myself, my friends, that I shudder over. It is one thing to kill out of necessity, as in a fight for survival. It is quite another to pull some wires and watch someone slowly poisoned.
It isn’t right to kill so easily, with no risk. I understand that it would have most likely killed us all the moment it breached the glass, but it still doesn’t make it right to put it down like an out-of-control twist. This one act of murder for survival has made us no better than the government that would have banished us to the wilderness. Trained or not, they fully expected us to die out here and we would have……if we had not become just like them. The yellow liquid has become cloudy and dark, the creature now a barely moving shadow inside. Finally, it stops moving altogether.
“It is dead.” Pronounces Micha.
I look around at the faces of my friends and I see a variety of expressions. On Aito I see profound relief and vague interest. Naoaki looks about to faint. Micha looks both sad and horrified, Khane stoic and the blue boy…..the poor kid must have taken off long ago. Who can blame him? Only now I will have to hunt him down so I can set him free from this cursed maze.
_______________
I stare into the fire and hug my knees. Not one of us had been willing to stay the night in that place. With single minded determination, we had acted as a group should, working together, and found the way out.
A short way from the open door we’d made camp and gathered some plants to supplement our stores of food. The roasted roots and wilted greens had tasted sour on my tongue, a bitter reminder that survival is not always honorable. There is nothing in the warrior’s code that covers death by poisoning.
“Stop brooding Keira.” Naoaki folds herself delicately beside me. “There was no other choice. It would have torn us apart if it had gotten free.”
“You don’t know that. There could have been a feeling person inside of there.” I insist. How are we to really know. We - the Banished, had passed judgment without a trial. We had kill someone we were afraid of without even giving them the chance to show us their true character. “We decided it was too dangerous to live based solely on it’s appearance. How are we any different from the Minders of the Compound? I was slated for death by Banishment the moment my eyes opened.”
“But they didn’t kill you.” Notes Naoaki.
“No. They don’t just kill us. They train us and then toss us out like garbage.” I reply angrily.
“Yes.” Agrees Aito calmly.
I am silent, still upset and disgusted.
“Why?” I ask finally. “Why waste all that time, effort and food on twists you plan to cast out?” I think every one of us has secretly wondered this. No one voices their curiosity, however. Maybe we had fooled ourselves into thinking that the Minders just hadn’t thought of it yet.
“Don’t feel sorry for what you did. You saved us.” Micha surprises me by sitting close enough to join the conversation.
“Micha is right. That thing was bent on destruction….that is what it was made to to do, to kill.” Khane sits on the other side of Micha, still eating his dinner.
“Did you….” I pause. That Khane is an empath is not common knowledge and I don’t want to out him.
; “I sensed only chaos and bloodlust.”
“You sensed?” Asks Naoaki. She stares at Khane with interest.
“Sometimes I can sense the emotions of others.” He shrugs. “It’s been spotty since Keira’s dip in the pool of acid.”
“Not acid.” Corrects Aito. “The substance in the pool you described was probably some kind of elixir, an organic form of DNA manipulator. Nothing like it has ever been recorded.” The passion pours out of Aito fire-lit eyes, only to me, with what I suspect about him, it looks like madness.
