Brandee started to step down, but Heathyr yanked her hands free. “No,” she pleaded. “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.”
“We’re so close,” Brandee said. “Don’t stop now.”
Trying to encourage her to cooperate, Brandee grabbed Heathyr’s hand and pulled her down one step, but Heathyr wrestled her hand away.
“I can’t do this again!” Sobbing uncontrollably, Heathyr screamed into the air. “This is for real now!”
Then Brandee noticed fluid trickling down the stairs. Heathyr’s pink exercise pants were soaking wet from groin to the ground. Realizing she wet her pants in sheer terror, Brandee felt terrible.
“Come here,” Brandee said with as much care as she could. She opened her arms, then crouched.
Reluctantly, and still weeping like she had been mortally wounded, Heathyr wrapped her arms around Brandee’s neck. She squeezed so hard, that it made breathing difficult, but Brandee could tolerate it for now. This ordeal was almost over.
“Tell me what you saw downstairs,” Brandee said softly. “Not the creatures, this time. What else do you remember seeing?”
“Blood,” Heathyr choked out. “On the floor. That’s where they were...” The girl’s voice turned into a deafening shriek. “EATING ME!”
“Oh, honey...” Brandee stood up and rubbed the trembling girl’s back as she bounced and rocked her. Brandee stepped up the stairs with every intention to take the girl back to the hospital. Then, she stopped and turned to look down the stairs and through the open doorway again.
The sun had crested just high enough a ray of light beamed over the jewelry shop and into the stairwell. All Brandee could see was a dirty concrete floor and her own shadow. No blood. Brandee’s heart pounded in her neck. Her breathing stuttered erratically.
With everything that had happened since they arrived here this morning, Brandee had to admit that the girl in her arms had her terrified. But, there were still unanswered questions at hand. What did Heathyr see in her dreams? Was she having nightmares? If she left what would happen to Heathyr? Would she go insane from her visions and constant state of terror?
Brandee realized that she couldn’t leave without having a good idea how to continue treating the girl. And that lower level held the answers to two important questions.
Was Heathyr really having nightmares?
Was it possible for someone to see into the future?
As of this morning, Brandee thought she knew the answers to both questions, now she wasn’t so sure she did. She came here for answers, not to go home with more questions. The real question was the one about seeing into the future. If that were possible, then perhaps Heathyr hadn’t had nightmares all along. Had she seen something that hadn’t happened yet? As fantastic as that possibility seemed, it was rapidly proving true. And the only way to get a definitive answer was to go down these concrete stairs and find out.
She must know the truth.
“Close your eyes, Heathyr,” Brandee said trying to keep her voice calm. “I need to take a quick look. I’m just going through the doorway for a second, and I’m not letting go of you.”
“No,” Heathyr cried into Brandee’s neck. “Please don’t.”
Brandee stepped down the stairs and walked through the doorway.
After several steps, and at the edge of the light on the concrete floor, she paused to scan the room. There wasn’t much to see. The overhead lights were out. The only light source was the single sun ray that illuminated a rectangular section of the cracked and uneven floor. Most importantly, there were no creatures to be seen. Relief washed over her.
“That’s all I needed to see,” Brandee smiled as she patted Heathyr on the back. “Let’s go get you that ice cream I promised. I think everything’s going to be okay, Heathyr.”
Heathyr sobbed back.
Now, hearing echoes of shuffling feet, Brandee called out, “Hello?”
Something crossed the doorway blocking the light coming from behind them. She turned to see the silhouettes of a crowd staggering toward her. Heathyr’s entire body shook as she cried harder. “I told you!”
Why were people living in this garage? Were they homeless? And why here and not one of the hundreds of abandoned houses or apartments that were all over the colony?
“Hello?” Brandee said. “I’m Dr. Brandee Clarke. I didn’t mean to startle anyone,” she said as she back peddled away from the group and deeper into the garage. “I’ll be on my way. Sorry to—”
Her heel slipped. Brandee landed on her backside. Hard. With the crowd bearing down on them, Brandee sensed she and Heathyr were now in danger. She needed to run. Brandee’s hand darted to the floor, landing in a pool of oily liquid. When she drew her hand up, there was just enough light to make out the liquid’s crimson color. Blood.
Heathyr squealed as someone yanked her from Brandee’s arms. The stench of rotting meat turned Brandee’s stomach. Her view darkened even more as the crowd piled on top of her. She found the weight of an unknown number of bodies and hands irresistible. They had pinned her to the floor. They pulled at her clothes, ripping them from her body. Unable to kick or push or even move, she screamed.
The crowd murmured. Teeth sank into her neck. Pain seared her brain as flesh was ripped from her body. She screamed again. They grunted. More teeth tore muscle from her bicep. Then her breast. They growled. Then more teeth pierced her leg. Then her cheek. Brandee screamed in pain as much as she did in terror.
Somewhere in the darkness, Heathyr cried out, “They’re eating me!”
Then the girl shrieked, “They’re eating me!”
Then she screamed at the top of her lungs, “THEY’RE EATING ME!!!”
Dead Weight
By R. Patricia Wayne
EDITOR’S NOTE: The rangers spend their lives patrolling the jungles of Mars. And because of this, there are numerous ranger outposts spread throughout the jungles for a temporary means of rest and relaxation.
This is the story about one unfortunate squad of rangers who decide to stop at Outpost 64-C on their way to Camp Calypso.
December 21, 2255
FRIDAY
With both an electrical storm and the monsoon season on the horizon, Commander Lauren Roth discovered communicating with base camp fruitless. The old ranger’s transmitter just wasn’t powerful enough to cut through the atmospheric interference. Still unwilling to concede to the storm, but entirely frustrated, she slammed her hand on top of the radio.
Piece of shit!
Outpost 64-C was similar to most of the other remote outposts. A single story structure that sat inside the jungle. It consisted of a barracks hall, officer’s quarters, a mess hall, a shower room, laundry facilities, and rec room with attached lounge.
And much like all the other distant outposts, 64-C normally sat abandoned until a squad of rangers wandered by. This outpost, in particular, rarely saw rangers at all. It was nearly a hundred miles from the nearest ranger base, and it took a full day to clear the vegetation from the grounds before it could be inhabited. If it weren’t for an automated terraforming station needing repair, Roth and her squad would have never been out this far.
Wearing only a white bath towel, Lauren sat alone in her quarters, desperately trying to connect to any ranger base camp. Her room was small, with only a bed, a desk with pencil and paper, and the small digital transmitter that barely worked on good days.
She eventually gave up trying to communicate directly, and this time she changed the frequency and tried connecting to the operator at the nearest mining camp. Camp Calypso’s transmitters were newer, bigger, and even piggybacking through a mining camp even further away from base camp, they’d surely reach a ranger base. Any base camp would do.
Moments later, a female voice replied to the commander’s repeated attempts to connect.
“This is the switchboard operator for Camp Calypso,” the woman’s voice crackled over the small radio. “How can I help you?”
“Operator, this is Command
er Lauren Roth of the rangers. I have a medical emergency. I need to speak with the first ranger base that you can connect to.”
“You cannot connect from your location, commander?”
“Negative. Please hurry.”
“Stand by, commander.”
Peering out the only window in her quarters, the skies were black just beyond the jungle’s wall of palm trees. Lightning forked across the sky, and the following thunder shook her chest and rattled the walls.
Another handful of minutes later, the operator returned, but with the storm rapidly approaching, her sentences were now broken up with the occasional hiss of dead air.
“Commander, I have Captain... camp... stand by.”
A moment later another female voice crackled over the radio.
“This is Captain Karol Wagner of... camp... nature... medical emergency?”
“Captain, I have one ranger with a broken leg. With the storm approaching, I’m afraid she won’t get the medical attention she needs A-S-A-P.”
“I can dispatch... transport... your location?”
“Due to the storm, we’re hunkered down at Outpost 64-C. It’s along the base of Olympus Mons. Thirty klicks north-by-northwest of Camp Calypso.”
“How did... injure... leg?”
“Captain, I’m assuming you’re asking about how it happened. Two of my girls were on patrol and one fell into a sinkhole. She landed in what appeared to be an abandoned research station. It’s not on any of my maps, but it looks like it’s been here for a very long time.”
“Does... name?”
“I found a sign nearby. Does Iron Mountain mean anything to you?”
“Stand by, commander... connecting... only a few minutes.”
Lauren leaned back in her chair. She ran her fingers through her damp blonde hair and blew out a long breath. After a few more minutes, she picked up the olive green fatigues she’d worn earlier and tossed them into the corner near her pack. She then slipped out of her towel, then dressed in her clean underwear and uniform she’d previously laid out on her bunk. As she tied her hair up into the standard, ranger high-ponytail, the voice of the captain at the distant ranger base returned to the radio.
“Commander... sending a transport... location. All your rangers are to immediately return... base camp... debriefing, except for yourself and... also sending Sister Clarissa Kelly of the protectorate... Your orders are... take her...research station. Understood?”
“With the storm, I doubt she’ll be seeing anything.”
“It’s not open for debate, commander... follow... orders. Understood?”
Lauren cringed at the radio. “Heard, acknowledged, and understood, captain. Thank you. Outpost 64-C out.”
To Lauren, something seemed odd about the mysterious voice on the radio. Not only hadn’t she heard of any Captain Karol Wagner, she had no idea which ranger base the operator had connected her to. And recalling the entire squad for debriefing for something as simple as a broken leg was ridiculous. Well, unless it was because they’d stumbled over the lab. The name Iron Mountain must have meant something to the captain. In which case, that might explain why everyone was being hauled in and a cop was being sent out.
December 22, 2255
SATURDAY
It was mid-morning when the lights of an approaching shuttle finally appeared in the black skies. The storm was uncooperative at best. The howling winds caused the palm trees to sway back and forth, the rain slapped against the asphalt landing pad like rocks. The constant crackle of lightning bolts didn’t help to elevate her mood either.
With a roar from the engines, the transport shuttle settled down on the landing pad. And, it suddenly became clear by the black scorch mark on the hull that it too had been struck by lightning. They all knew it was dangerous to fly during storms like these, but it proved just how concerned the rangers were when one of their own was injured.
As soon as the shuttle’s side cargohold door raised upward, a woman in a crimson longcoat hopped out of the shuttle and sprinted toward the main entrance that led directly to the rec room. Her coat billowed and rolled in the fierce wind, revealing the holstered energy pistol strapped to her hip.
Lauren turned to her squad of girls, all lined up single file. Each neatly dressed in clean fatigues covered by an olive-green raincoat and Peacekeeper rifles over their left shoulder. And at the end of the line, two girls carried the stretcher with the wounded ranger, Roxanna.
“This weather makes any attempt at doing anything orderly a wasted exercise,” she told them. “As soon as I release you, just sprint to that shuttle and buckle in. Do NOT kill one another trying to figure out who sits where.”
The girls giggled.
“And please don’t drop Roxanna as you fight over seats.”
The girls laughed this time.
Lauren’s squad was comprised entirely of blonde girls ranging between fifteen to twenty-years-old. And as she was nearing forty, it made parting with them difficult. She already missed them like a mother sending her children off to summer camp. She wanted to hug each of them before they left, especially Roxanna.
The main door slid aside, the protectorate officer sprinted in with the door immediately sliding closed behind her. She bounced on her toes as she shook the rain from her coat.
“Sister Clarissa Kelly, I assume,” the commander asked.
“No need to be so formal. Clarissa is fine,” she replied. “You must be Commander Roth.”
“You can call me Lauren.” She then turned to her squad. “You ready girls?”
“Sir, yes, sir!” They’d all shouted their reply a little more enthusiastically than she wanted to hear.
“Wait, commander,” the officer interrupted. “Who were the two rangers that found the research station?”
Lauren grabbed the shoulder of the twenty-year-old girl who was first in line. “Corporal Madison Troy.” Then she pointed to the fifteen-year-old girl on the stretcher. “And Roxanna Cruz down at the end.”
“Has anyone else seen the place,” Clarissa asked.
“Just me.”
“I was told that everyone goes back, except those that have seen the research lab. That means you and the corporal stay. That excludes the injured girl, of course. She goes.”
With a shrug, Lauren turned to her corporal who had already lost her smile. “Looks like you’re staying here with me.”
The girl nodded.
“Put your gear away and meet me in the lounge.”
With her head hanging low, Madison slowly walked off toward the hall that led to the barracks. The entire squad watched her shuffle away. And now, Lauren felt like she’d broke the girl’s heart. Riding in a shuttle, even during a rainstorm, was something they all looked forward to. It meant they were returning to one of the base camps. And that meant better food, hot showers, movies, games, and far better beds than they had at the outposts. Even the worst day in a base camp was better than any day in the jungle.
“You ready girls?” Lauren asked again.
Their attention returned to their commanding officer with a lot of nods and a few that muttered, “yes, commander.”
Trying to cheer them up, Lauren smiled at them. “Don’t worry girls, Maddie and I will be there as soon as we get this mess cleared up. Now...anyone still here in fifteen seconds is staying here. Run! Haul ass!”
With giggles, the girls all sprinted toward the door. It slid open as they dashed into the rain. As the girls carrying the wounded ranger ran past, Lauren noticed that Roxanna was bouncing back and forth and clutching the rails of the stretcher as if her life depended on it.
Lauren hopped into the doorway and yelled to be heard over the rainstorm. “I said, be careful with Rox!”
*****
With the raging storm outside, there wasn’t much to do. So, the two rangers made their way to the lounge. In the middle of the long oak bar sat a cutout that held a chess set made of heavy marble pieces and a solid oak chessboard. And after dragging the game to
a nearby table, Madison and Lauren spent the afternoon in the lounge sipping on white wine and playing chess.
Sister Clarissa Kelly had disappeared for the longest time, reappearing only shortly before dinner hour. Her crimson leathers and matching blouse were now dry. She was now toweling off her damp blonde hair with a white bath towel.
“Where’d you go,” Lauren asked while moving one of her chess pieces and trying to make conversation at the same time. “You were gone so long, we thought you got lost.”
“Took a shower while my blouse and underwear were in the dryer,” Clarissa tossed the towel on the bar, then crossed behind the bar and started opening refrigeration units below the wall of liquor bottles. “You people keep any beer in this joint?”
“What you see is what you get. Beer doesn’t keep like wine and liquor does, so it doesn’t get stocked.”
“Well, that’s just great,” she replied. “I guess I’ll be drinking water.”
“What colony do you work in?” Lauren asked. “Nysa, I’m assuming?”
“Not Nysa.” Clarissa drew a glass full of water from the tap behind the bar. “Scythia.”
“Scythia?” Madison cringed.
Lauren spun in her seat to face the protectorate officer. “That’s more than twice the distance. Why didn’t they send someone from Nysa?”
Clarissa sipped some of her water, then leaned on the bar. “Beats me. I just got a call and was told I needed to come here to deal with a research lab. That’s all I know.”
“What do you mean deal with a research lab?”
“Look, commander, I don’t know much more than you do. They got me out of bed last night for this bullshit. I was told to come here, so here I am.”
“Were you being transferred to Nysa?”
“Not as far as I know. I’ve been a cop in Scythia for nine years; since I graduated from the academy.”
Lauren looked at Madison who was shaking her head. The corporal didn’t seem to believe the story any more than she did. After a moment of thought, Lauren returned her attention to Clarissa.
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