by Kip Hartzell
The monster didn’t even blink as it lunged, growled, and quickly retreated. It moved around to get closer to Samari-A, making the group move slowly toward the door. Then it lunged again, briefly making Samari-A, and Asa, let go of each other. She squealed and regained Asa’s arm.
“He’s trying to separate Samari-A from us,” Asa said. “I think he’s trying to protect her from us. Maybe that’s why he has not attacked,”
“Perhaps, but he’s strong enough to kill us both. Make for the door. Samari-A, you’ll be the last one out, so get ready to lock it. Go!”
They raced the creature to the door, Samari-A saw Krios’s distorted face in the resemblance of the man, as she closed the door and locked it. What used to be Krios, beat and howled at the metal door. Dents protruded with every crash.
“I don’t think that door is going to hold him, “Asa said as he looked around for a solution. He picked up a small surgical laser and looked at it.
“I doubt that will help much,” Jonah said, looking around, himself. “Wait, the original metamorphic design was for people to breath CO2, right?”
“Yes,” Samari-A said, putting her fear aside.
“Grab those oxygen generators.”
They grabbed a canister just as the door was knocked off its hinges, and the Krios creature leaped out into the room. It growled, and started to circle them, sometimes on all fours, other times on two muscular legs.
“Alright, open the canisters.”
Asa stood there with his canister spewing oxygen, and a puny knife. While the other two held a canister in both hands. The creature rolled from side to side as if fighting for breath. It lunged at them, but retreated. It began to stagger, suddenly with a crazy run toward the main door, it hit it solidly, and drove the door almost to the shuttle. It roared and ran off down the main extraction tunnel.
“May the Great Creator have mercy on us,” Jonah said, watching the creature disappear down the tunnel. “I’m sorry old friend. Asa, give me a hand with this door.” The two propped the battered metal door against the gaping hole, and went back to the computers. “Is anyone hurt?” Jonah asked, spying the two.
“I’m unhurt,” Asa said, trying to shake off what he had just experienced.
As if being reminded, Samari-A raised her arm to reveal a bit mark near her elbow. The blood had already dried, but the bruising around it was purple. Asa retrieved a first aid kit, and began treating the wound. “What the hell just happened?”
“I surmise,” Samari-A began, “that the compound we were infected with, was to change our aggressive DNA into a more docile sequence.” She ran her hands over the computer, quickly identifying what she was looking for. “May the Great Creator forgive us.” Asa and Jonah looked at her strangely, as she showed molecular cells capturing others and then multiplying. “The fools, they have mutated the compound when they exposed it to a heavily enriched oxygen surrounding, add in the animal DNA, and sub-DNA strands, it has mutated into a virus.”
“Is it still contagious?”
“Yes, highly.”
“Then why didn’t we mutate?”
“The contagion is no longer airborne. It is blood-borne.” Samari-A slowly raised her arm to closely examine the bloody bandage Asa installed.
“How long does she have?” Jonah asked.
Asa looked at her, then Jonah. “Approximately six hours.”
“Samari-A,” Jonah said, as tenderly as possible, “I know this is terrible, but we need your expertise in finding a cure.”
Samari-A took a deep breath and a quiet determination came over her face. “I shall get started.”
After four hours, determination started to give way to frustration. Samari-A used both hands to smack the top of the work station. Asa put his arm around her shoulders. “You need to take a break, go to the room and rest.”
“No, because the last person who went into that room came out a monster.”
“I am not going to let that happen to you.” They embraced.
“Promise me you will not...let me become a monster. I already feel like one for inventing the compound.”
“It was not your fault, you played a small part in a much larger diabolical plan.”
“I have more bad news,” Jonah said while moving 3-D pictures. “I’ve been going back through the surveillance system to find Krios, but I found the Councilor and forty troops boarding the neutral ship, Icarus. I think she plans to send the ship to OEG territory and release the virus.”
“How long ago?”
“About seven hours.”
“With the planet, wide black out, she may not know about the mutation side-effects.”
“Whether she knows about the virus mutation or not, she needs to be stopped.”
“Wait, did you say, Icarus? That’s the ship my former wife and son are on. We have to stop her.”
“You two, go. I will continue to work as long as I can.”
“No, I will not leave you.”
“You must.”
“Samari-A,” Jonah said, with a puzzled look on his face, “why did the initial exposure not affect us? Why have you shown no signs of the transformation?”
“Uh, well, there could be hundreds of reasons. Maybe,” she got a studied look on her face, tapped her chin with a finger, and then grabbed a blood extractor and took some of her blood. She then moved to Asa, and then to Jonah. Setting the device on the computer scanner, she gave it time to process the information. The computer beeped and she waved the program around as quickly as she could. “It was right in front of me the whole time. We were inoculated from the conditions in the shuttle. Why did I not see it?”
“Things have been a little chaotic,” Asa tried to console her.
“More bad news, it’s not a cure. We are only vaccinated against the virus.”
“So, our blood is a vaccine,” Jonah said, watching Samari-A shake her head. “Download all information to the shuttle and make your own back up.” Jonah made his way to a locker, inputting some symbols, he reached in and pulled out a large carrying bag and looked back at the two. “We are leaving.”
The shuttle moved through the underground tunnel as quickly as possible, while Asa flew where his co-pilot told him. Samari-A stood in the flight deck doorway.
“Samari-A,” Jonah started, “can you manufacture the vaccine from what equipment we have on board?”
“It is possible, but I can’t make very much.”
“Make as much as you can.”
She left without another word.
“How are we going to escape the force field?”
Jonah tapped in some coordinates. “Take us there.” He pointed at the coordinates. “There was a high probability that a lockdown might happen, so we made an escape hatch, of sorts.”
The shuttle zipped out of the drainage system into daylight. It was immediately detected, and armed drones were sent after them.
“You need to impress me with the power of your ship. Faster is better.”
“Alright, but that shield better be down, or we’ll be bug splats on the inside of a windshield.”
Jonah smiled. “Trust me.”
Asa didn’t smile, but gave him a wry look.
The shuttle rocked from blasts from the drones trying to slow them down.
“We have ten seconds before the drones have a lock, and then it will be the shortest escape in history.”
“The window will only be open for a few seconds.” Jonah held his hand over the console as he watched it intently. “Four, three...” Jonah pressed a button activating the program. Asa gritted his teeth and half squinted, as the shuttle passed through nothing. The rear camera showed several drones crashing into the shield, and falling back to Assillins.
Jonah started sending a message. “I hope this message gets to the OEG. Without a direct comm booster, the contaminated ship may get there before the message.”
“We must help stop the spread of the virus on Icarus. Jonah, I have to save my son and former wife, an
d I need your help.”
“And I’ve got to save an entire race.” Jonah’s face showed doubt and conflict.
“I’m certain the communication system on board the Icarus is far more powerful than this shuttle.” Asa let that sink in.
Jonah blew out a frustrating breath. “Very well, take us to the space liner.”
The shuttle finally caught up to the massive space liner, and roughly engaged the airlock on the amidships on the upper beam. The shuttle blended in as starlight streaked by.
“Alright, this is as close as I can get to the bridge,” Asa said. “Jonah, go for that and I’ll find my family, Samari-A, stay here, and work on more of the vaccine.”
“No, I’m going with you. I will inoculate people as we go.”
Asa knew better than to argue with her when she had that look. “We should go, then.”
Jonah took out his large bag and began putting on a projectile proof vest, which also had the capability to deflect laser and particle beams. He handed one to Asa and Samari-A. He then pulled out several projectile weapons that had particle beam conversions on them, and tossed one to each of them. He slipped a few impact grenades in the vest pockets with ammo and power cartridges. The other two watched while putting on their gear. He then tossed a set of comm-scanners at them, and put his in his vest. Zipping up the bag, he stood up, and strapped it to his back.
Handing them some nutritional bars, he said, “If my oldest and best friend was willing to kill me, I can only assume there will be no way to talk the infected down. Most likely we will have to kill them to stop them.” The shock on their faces gave way to that realization. “The comm-scanners should have the schematics of the space liner. When you find your family, let me know, and I’ll meet you to help in your evacuation back to the shuttle. May the Great Creator be with us all.”
They stepped out into a dimly lit corridor. It was cold, a light breath could be seen in the shadows. The air was stale and thick. Samari-A took out her scanner and pressed a few buttons.
“CO2 levels are very high, but only enough to slow oxygen breathers down.” She reached into her bag and handed each one a small vile of pills. “Take one when you need it. They’re blood oxygenators, use sparingly.”
Jonah looked at his scanner as he adjusted his rifle. “We’ll stay together until we reach this juncture, then you two are on your own. Move out.”
They moved slowly at first adjusting to the dim lighting. Ghostly echoing screams could be heard in the distant corridors. Jonah moved quickly to the noise, and burst into a large room full of panic and mayhem. Krios looking creatures were circling a small group of uninfected. The five bark-faced humanoids turned to look at Jonah. They saw him as a threat, and charged. Jonah fired several projectiles, hitting them center mass and knocking them down. The others seemed confused and ran, or loped, out of the room. The two that got hit, shook it off, and ran after their comrades.
“I was hoping that would have had a bigger impact on them, it only startled them. Next time, I don’t think they’ll scare so easily,” Jonah said.
Asa moved forward to the crowd of four women and a child huddled in the corner of the room. They were relieved and started to slowly move to him. “Is everyone alright?”
One young, dark haired, blue eyed, woman came forward. “Thank you. What is happening?”
“It will be alright. What is your name?”
“Shawn-A.”
Jonah interrupted, “We can do this on the way. Inoculate them. They can either come with us, or stay, but we need to move.” He went hastily to the doorway, while studying his hand-held.
Samari-A gave the group a cursory look over and vaccinated them as she went. The last young lady was hesitant. Samari-A lifted the young woman’s arm and spied a bite mark.
“Jonah, Asa.”
The two came to her as she raised the girls arm. The two looked at each other as if wanting the other to make a suggestion. Jonah relented, “Vaccinate her anyway, and maybe it will be in time.”
Samari-A did so, and the girl flinched.
Jonah turned to leave, and almost ran over the only child in the room. She was small and fragile looking, but held a presence. He noticed right away that she had the rare blonde hair, cut relatively short, and blue-green eyes. She looked so familiar to him, but he couldn’t place her, then again, he didn’t have time worry about it.
“Is she going to be alright?” the little girl asked.
Jonah hesitated as he considered the little girl’s plight. “I won’t lie to you, I don’t know. I hope we got to her in time.”
“Thank you for trying,” she said, with strange confidence for such a small person.
Jonah smiled and nodded to her, then reality set in, and he put on his warrior face. “We are going.” Jonah took off down a corridor.
“Are you soldiers here to save us?”
“No, dear,” Samari-A answered directly. “We are here to stop the infection as best we can, now come with us.”
The group caught up with Jonah as he was checking out an elevator. “The power is still on, and most everything is still working. We can take it to our juncture. Everyone get in.”
“Are you sure you are not military,” Shawn-A remarked, while stepping in. “Should we not be trying to get off the ship, instead of going deeper into it?”
“We need to contact the authorities and warn them,” Asa answered, “and find my son.”
Shawn-A, and the others got into the elevator. The lighting was even dimmer and the air stale as they moved through the decks.
“What is happening?” the young girl asked.
Asa looked at Samari-A, who began to explain, “A DNA virus has gotten loose from the research lab, and is turning people into-”
“Monsters,” the little girl finished.
“Essentially.”
“I want to go home.”
“We are trying, please be patient.”
The elevator stopped and the doors opened to suck all the oxygen out of the elevator. Samari-A began passing out O2 pills to the new comers before they passed out. Jonah and Asa took one of their own.
Jonah stepped out and looked left, and then right, he made eye contact with an infected. It charged, followed by whoops and screams from a half dozen more. “Back!” He fired as he backed into to the elevator.
The projectiles only knocked them down for a few seconds, just long enough for the group to get back into the elevator. As the doors closed, a dark brown wrinkly set of hands slashed between the doors. The safety sequence began to open the door again. Jonah put a boot into the stomach of the culprit, sending him flying back into his comrades, while Samari-A frantically waved her hand over the control panel, the others just screamed. The doors tried to closed again. Jonah raised his rifle, and shot the creature in the head, sending blood and bone into its group. The doors shut this time, and quiet settled over the elevator.
Jonah checked his scanner, and then rerouted the elevator. Samari-A began studying her scanner. “There seems to be a large concentration of people in the lower mid-section of the ship. Your son should be there.”
“How can you tell?” Jonah asked. “The shielding of this ship should prevent scanning of over thirty feet.”
“I have partially tied into some of the ship’s internal sensors.”
“Huh.” Jonah reconfigured his scanner. “That’s better. We will be further away from our objectives, but it will do.”
The elevator stopped. Asa and Jonah took precautions and secured the area. Jonah knew they couldn’t travel with the new comers, so he gave Shawn-A instructions on how to get back to the shuttle, with the code to get in. They were to remain there until they got back. The elevator whisked them away.
“I will contact you when I get to the bridge.”
“We will keep you informed of our progress,” Asa said.
“We do not have a lot of time, so find them quickly.” Jonah took off down a corridor.
The creature was hanging
from the ceiling when Asa fired. It fell with a loud thud and twitched. The two stepped over it, watching blood and brain oozed out of its eye socket, that seemed to be their only weak spot. “This way,” Asa said, looking at his handheld and trying not to gag. “As long as they don’t attack in groups, we should be alright.”
They stopped, and hid in a small utility room, letting Asa get his bearings.
“Asa, what if...you know...what if they are infected?”
He stopped and stared into space for a moment. “I don’t know. I will make a decision when I find them.” He moved out, with an even more determined look on his face.
They skirted two more clusters of afflicted. By now, he was able to distinguish the dots on his scanner from what was human, and which was not.
They came to a locked door. Asa tried to open it, but he was no lock breaker. Samari-A moved in and took the panel down. She then hooked up some leads from her scanner to the door lock. After pressing a few keys, the door slid open. “You still amaze me,” Asa said, as he moved into the dimly lit room. Samari-A smiled as she followed.
“Hello,” Asa said loudly, “Hello, I know you’re in here. I am not afflicted. We want to help.”
Slowly a closet door opened to reveal an elderly woman and a couple of children hanging onto her legs. Asa inched forward, and stumbled over something. He shined his light down, with startled quickness, he jumped back. An afflicted male lay there with substantial wounds. Its head almost caved in, and missing a few body parts. Asa scanned it as Samari-A welcomed the woman and children. Soon, they came out of everywhere, ten women and children in all.
