The Killers Amongst Us: Chimera Dawn Chronicles

by Conner, Declan

  Shaw glanced around the walls. He looked at the strange half-human and half-animal creatures depicted in the artifacts. He’d never considered them as other than ancient cartoons, he thought as he turned to look directly at Cleo.

  “Don’t tell me you think you’re gods?”

  She didn’t answer, but rising from the sofa, his jaw dropped as her face changed form. Her face took on the features of a female lion. Shaw gripped the chair arms, then pushed his back into his seat.

  “In this form I was Bastet, the god of fertility. Later I was tasked with being the protector of the Pharaohs.”

  “Is that what the Sphinx was?”

  “That was the artist’s impression of a later god, not very flattering at that,” she said, and sighed. “We didn’t build it. Originally it had a dog’s face.”

  “But why did you come here?”

  “Our mission was to seek out suitable planets to colonize. We had specialists in all fields to build a new civilization. But then we found primitive man. They were more numerous than we expected, and they could easily have destroyed us by sheer weight of numbers, despite our technology. So, we chose to lead them through guidance. Teaching them. Choosing leaders. Setting up kingdoms. Improving their DNA to be more intelligent. But then some became too intelligent, and devious. But to answer your earlier question, humans named us gods. Quite flattering when you think about it, and it saved us from being hunted down. We are far for being God, you can take comfort in that.”

  Her form changed once more. Cleo’s skull elongated, her arms became spindly. Her stomach formed a pouch beneath her dress, and she grew a good six inches.

  “In this form I was Nefertiti and others in history. This is the host’s form that we have on our own planet in the Orion constellation, shared with our true spirit, and which is blessed with everlasting life. When our body dies, we seek new hosts to share our journey, and to provide offspring. But it takes special hosts with special DNA sequences including some hidden in the junk. Our brain capacity and memory in this form far exceeds anything that you can imagine.”

  Her features returned to being Cleo.

  “Next you’ll be telling me you were Cleopatra.” Cleo lowered her eyes, then smiled.

  “Hmm. I’ve told you too much already. We’ve talked enough. It’s time for you to join Fuller and to learn of his plans.”

  He had questions. More questions than his brain could handle. More questions than there was time for. She was right. He knew that time was running out before Summers launched an assault on the silver mine. One question stabbed away in his mind.

  “Why Amy?”

  “Her DNA. The tests confirm her offspring will be suitable hosts.”

  “What!”

  “Yes, Amy is a chimera. Our tests on the material you provided showed that your wife wasn’t her birth mother, but that you were the father.”

  “But I was right there at the birth!”

  Chapter 52

  CLEO leaned over and put her arm around Shaw.

  “You need to compose yourself. Fuller will be looking at you to lead the assault.”

  “Me?” Shaw said.

  “As he says, you will have the best motivation and the will for it to succeed, don’t you think?”

  “He’s right there. I don’t get why they are trying to poison everyone?”

  “Because Akhenaten wants what he had when he ruled Egypt. His faction is well placed throughout the world with the ear of many political, religious and administrative allies. You might have heard of the New World Order in all its guises, including a spinoff from the Masons. He feels the time is right to cull the Earth’s population and to take control, before they deplete valuable natural resources and destroy the environment completely. Unfortunately, he does have a point.”

  “No offence, but why don’t you just all go home and leave us to our fate.”

  Cleo laughed.

  “There is no way home. All that talk of the afterlife with the Pharaohs was to keep their allegiance. Only the gods carry the eternal spirit. We don’t even know if our home still exists. We’ve tried our best to give up our technologies, particularly this past two hundred years, but it will take forever to get to the point of our returning home.”

  “So why does the Pentagon want to blow you out of existence?”

  “Because they think we have given them all we have to give. If only they knew. And anyway, now they have new visitors to work with. We still have our supporters for our faction. Fuller is an example. But our detractors have the upper hand, and Akhenaten’s actions leave our kind tainted.”

  Gyp sidled up to Shaw, tugging at his pants with his teeth.

  “I think Gyp is trying to tell you something.”

  “What? Oh, yeah.”

  Shaw hauled his backside out of the chair. It was as if he’d had the life drained out of him as he headed back to the lecture room.

  “Forgive me if I don’t join you, but I have arrangements to make to get to our bolt hole.”

  He waved his acknowledgement without looking back, and stepped back into the lecture hall.

  “You look drained,” Cox said. “Did she have anything interesting to say?”

  “Nothing that wouldn’t get me locked up in a loony asylum if I repeated what she said and showed me.”

  Shaw looked at some blueprint plans spread out over the operating table. They were stamped with a County Planning Department’s logo, and headed, Brakes Silver Mine.

  “How will these help us?” Shaw asked.

  “Ventilation,” said Fuller, and dropped a dark aerial photograph over the plans.

  In one corner, he could see a white and green blurred cloud on the image.

  “What’s that?”

  “That’s warm air escaping the workings outside the compound and quarry area on the cliff face. People have to breathe. Where the air comes out is where we can enter.”

  “I have it covered,” said Cox. “The women here are going to help us. We just need your posse to assist us to sweep all three levels to find Amy and the rest. Fuller here will have transport ready to get all the detainees away. I’ve contacted Frank, and he says no problem.”

  “He would,” said Shaw.

  Fuller ran over the details. They were scant at best.

  “How do we know they won’t kill the women and children before we can get to them?”

  “We don’t,” said Fuller, “but if you don’t get in there and get them out before Summers mounts the assault with his CONOP crew, they’re dead anyway, Amy included.”

  “So apart from how to get in and out, we’re blind?”

  “Yeah, but at least you have the numbers to pull it off. And I have the transport to get the women and kids out.”

  “How long have we got to get over there and to get in and out?”

  “Two hours and ten minutes,” he said, then looked at his watch. “Sorry, make it two hours and seven minutes.

  Chapter 53

  SLEEP deprivation had taken its toll. A night tossing and turning had left Amy exhausted. She stared at the elevator button LED glowing red at level two. Her body shivered, and her stomach knotted as she waited for the light to go out. She waited for the elevator to descend. The glowing light remained static.

  “Don’t look so nervous. You’ll soon find out why you’re here. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?” said Abi.

  Amy’s head snapped in the direction of the sound of ringing. It was coming from the speaker of a telephone, bracketed to the wall. Abi stepped over and released the handset. She pressed the handset speaker to her ear, then looked over at Amy.

  “Yes, she’s here at the elevator. I’ll bring her up when the cage arrives.”

  Abi placed the handset back on its cradle.

  “Does he or she have a name?”

  “It’s not for me to speak our leader’s name. We’re to go to the second floor, now.”

  The red arrow facing downward glowed. The sound of the cage scraping on its
tracks could be heard from the shaft. Each screech of metal on metal grated in Amy’s mind, like a bad toothache. She sucked in some air, her chest heaving, and then she slowly exhaled. The cage landed with a bump and the door retracted. Amy sighed that the cage was empty.

  “So, is this leader a he or a she?”

  “More of a presence, really. Nothing to be afraid of.”

  Amy stepped into the cage behind Abi.

  “Second floor you said?”

  “Yes.”

  Amy blindsided the button panel and pressed the letter G. She turned to face Abi and crossed her fingers behind her back.

  “So were you kidnapped and brought here like me?”

  “It’s not to be spoken of.”

  “There’s only you and me. You can tell me.”

  “I was brought here by someone who turned out to be a good friend.”

  Amy detected a wistful look on Abi’s face. Moisture formed in her eyes.

  “So you weren’t friends then to start with?”

  “No.”

  “So couldn’t this friend have helped you to leave before you got sucked in?”

  “No. I want to be here.”

  “Not much of a friend then.”

  It seemed to be a sore subject, when she noticed Abi set her first scowl in Amy’s direction. A flash of light briefly lit the cage. Abi charged forward, pushing Amy to one side.

  “What have you done? That was level two.”

  Amy grabbed at Abi’s wrists as her fingers reached out for the buttons. She wrapped her leg around Abi’s legs and brought her crashing to the floor.

  “You may not want to leave, but I damn well do.”

  Amy knelt on her back.

  “Get off me. You can’t leave. You’re special. You must know that.”

  “Yeah, I’m special alright. To my dad and my boyfriend. Oh, and my dog, Gyp.” The cage stopped with a judder and the door slid open. “Sorry about this.” Amy punched Abi with her fist on the side of her head. Abi groaned, then her body collapsed, leaving her limp on the floor. Amy pressed the button for the third floor, then stepped out as the door closed.

  “So much for befriending her. What now?”

  She looked to see a clear blue sky. Amy took a deep breath and then sniggered at the thought she would soon be free. She looked around, seeing nothing of her surroundings, only Ted walking toward her. He was wearing a suit, laughing, and he looked to be joking with two armed guards flanking him.

  “What the... !”

  Their eyes met and Ted set a frown. Her vision blurred, then started to spin. Amy’s legs weakened, unable to hold her weight. A sudden blow to her head, and she fell to her knees.

  Amy opened her eyes. Her head throbbed. She touched the source of the pain to find a swelling on her temple.

  “What goes around, comes around,” Abi’s voice said.

  She turned to see Abi sitting next to her, rubbing the side of her own head.

  “Sorry about thumping you. Where are we?”

  “Level two, outside the court chamber. They’ll call us soon.”

  Amy looked right and then left. Armed guards stood either side of the bench. She had a flashback to the image of Ted outside the elevator. It bugged her that he frowned at her and didn’t call out. Why was he here? Amy wondered.

  “I told you there was no way out for mere mortals. Now I might be in trouble for you trying to escape.”

  “What? —Oh yeah. Sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I’ll accept whatever punishment they give me for the sake of my children.”

  She noticed a stone slab mounted on the wall opposite, engraved with hieroglyphs and she studied the symbols. More than anything it was a distraction to keep her mind occupied in the absence of any magazines. Next to it was a depiction of an Egyptian Pharaoh and his entourage.

  “Why all the Egyptian symbols and images on the walls?”

  “It’s not for me to enlighten you.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  Her eyes were drawn to the hieroglyphs. First one, and then another symbol stood out. A shiver passed through her body as if a ghost had walked right through her. She recognized them right away. They were the symbols from her dreams.

  “Those symbols on the stone. The one opposite.”

  “What of them?”

  “Do you understand them?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “The fifth one on the first line. What is it?”

  “It’s a zero.”

  “What about the one on the third line? The first one.”

  “It’s the number one, why?”

  “Nothing. It just looked interesting.”

  “You’ll learn them all soon.”

  “Will you be teaching me?”

  “Not unless I’m ordered to after your naming.”

  Amy shuddered at the mystery of the naming.

  “So I guess you don’t want to be friends after what happened?”

  “I can’t ever be your friend, but it has nothing to do with you hitting me, or me striking you.”

  “There ya go. You’re talking in riddles again. Why can’t we ever be friends? Ever is a long time?”

  “Exactly. An eternity.”

  Abi turned away. Subject closed.

  The sound of boots clomping along the corridor caught her attention. They were faint at first, growing louder. The figures appeared around the corner in the corridor. The middle one was Ted. He glanced at her and looked away. Her jaw gaped, open mouthed. Words stuck in her throat.

  Hello—I’m here. Your girlfriend, remember me?

  Ted ignoring her had left her confused and speechless. It felt to her as though she was dreaming his presence and that he wasn’t actually there. He offered no recognition—nothing. Not even the blink of an eye. The only emotion he showed was reddened cheeks, and clenched fists. They marched past and around the bend at the other end of the corridor. Amy could feel the emotion building inside. A tear ran down her cheek.

  “You’re to enter now,” said one of the guards, and bowed in front of her. His words acted as a counter to her emotion. She knew this wasn’t the time to break down, but the time to garner some strength.

  “Right, let’s see who this jerk is then that’s holding me,” she said, and wiped the tear from her face with her finger.

  Amy held her head high and straightened her shoulders. The guard opened the door and she walked into the chamber. She heard a gasp behind her, and looked over her shoulder. Abi was standing with her hand over her mouth, her eyes popping. She followed her vision. In the center of the room was a metal post, set it a circular mosaic. The naked body of a man was lying motionless, curled up in the fetal position. He was in shackles and fastened to the post with a chain. To the side of the mosaic was a bubbling cauldron of thick black liquid over flames. The cauldron had a wheel and gears attached to the side. Next to that was a hollowed out stone, the size of a coffin. Around the mosaic were poles pegged into holes, and evenly spaced. They were topped with what could only be described as having scimitars attached, making them dangerous weapons.

  “What the hell is all this?” Amy said, and turned to Abi.

  “He’s here for judgment. He escaped. But then his fate was sealed anyway.”

  Abi was clearly distressed. A look of panic danced in her moist eyes.

  “Please, take your seat,” said the guard, and swept his arm in the direction of what could only be described as a gold ornate throne, with bird’s wings fashioned for the back rest.

  “Go on, sit,” said Abi. “It’s no use doing other than their bidding, or they’ll force you.”

  Amy stepped over to the chair and settled onto the seat. The arms where like the legs and claws of an eagle. Amy rested her arms, and spaced her fingers over the claws that grasped two orbs. She flinched, but it was too late. Amulets clasped her wrists and ankles, fastening her to the chair. Struggling was a waste of effort. After a few wriggles, she relaxed to the situation.

  Abi walk
ed in front of her and squatted at her feet.

  “Ya, could have warned me.”

  “It’s for your own safety. You’re not ready yet to be unfettered in his presence.”

  “So this leader is a male. Where is he?”

  “He’ll appear behind the lace curtain between the two stone columns opposite.”

  “So will I actually see him if he’s behind the curtain?”

  “No, it’s forbidden until after your naming, and your wedding ceremony.”

  “What!”

  Chapter 54

  SUMMERS climbed out of his vehicle over at Claymore. The forward-command post was buzzing with personnel scurrying around. Troops were in position at the gun batteries, trajectories already set in two directions. Shrill sounds from the Black Hawks and troop transporter choppers powering up, had him covering his ears. He turned away from the swirling vortexes created by the blades, choking and coughing on clouds of dust drawn up from the field. The choppers rose, then peeled off in formation with separate flight paths, a Black Hawk either side as an escort to each of the transporters. With the air now still, accompanied by the sound of thunder from the choppers’ rotors in flight, he walked briskly over to the command trailer. The roof bristled with satellite discs and antennas, testament to the task in hand. Summers flashed his ID to the guard at the door. The guard saluted, but stopped him, insisting on inspecting his ID.

  He climbed the steps to the command trailer and stepped inside.

  “You’re just in time,” said the forward-base commander.

  Summers nodded. At the far end of the trailer were communications officers, both wearing headsets. They were sitting at a bench facing separate banks of monitors. Summers glanced over the first bank of screens. He noticed the screen in the top left hand corner. The drone’s camera was relaying images of the terrain passing below. It wasn’t like the films of precision-bombing sorties that they handed over to the news channels. The images were crystal clear. In the top left hand corner, a digital display gave the altitude, and below that a countdown of the ETA to target. On the screen below, the image was jumpy, but he could clearly make out the compound at the animal sanctuary.