The No Names

by Frank Albelo

  “They keep getting the weak link confused! They think it’s you, when it's really Alpha over there.” Delta could barely contain his laughter as he pointed in my direction.

  The man’s dark humor was enough to ease the tension the ambush had caused. I also dropped to the ground, retracting my helmet as I let the cool of the city dry the sweat that had accumulated on my face. As soon as my breathing was in order the incessant voice in my head picked up again.

 

 

  Shaking my head lightly at what appeared to be some nonsensical progress, I noticed Gamma looking at me oddly.

  I hadn’t had an opportunity to speak to her about the encounter with Starden, or whatever had happened after. I motioned her closer to where the other men were regaling each other in their recountings of the battle.

  “Something on your mind?” I asked once she was closer. We weren’t on the comm system so I had to raise my voice slightly over the chatter of the others.

  “Yeah. I was just… thinking about what you did with the other robot. What you did here too. Is there something you aren’t telling us, Alpha?” she asked.

  I was taken aback by the girl’s observance. I’d been hoping that my exploits could remain acts of ‘fight or flight’. With the increased frequency with which they were happening, not to mention the episode I had had at the surface camp, I was sure they wouldn’t be convinced. In the least.

  Not knowing how to answer something I didn’t have the answer for, I simply shook my head, “Nothing’s going on. If there is, you will be the first to know. Ma’am.”

  The girl smiled kindly, taking my words to heart. I felt bad for deceiving her, as well as the others, but I wasn’t sure what was happening to my body. Regardless, I was determined to keep pressing forward, at least until I found a way for the others to return to Earth.

  She’d only been wanting to check on me, quickly joining Zeta to talked about their grab-and-stab tactics. I felt a smile creep its way forward. Regardless of what happened with Starden, or with my body, I would conquer it. I stood, activating my helmet and motioning everyone forward. It only took about another hour to clear the rest of the building, adding several stacks of wood from broken down chairs and a few lengths of metal to our stockpile.

  When we exited the building, I noticed the darkness beginning to shroud the city. I urged the others to get to B1 before night fell. None of us had stayed outside during night time in the city yet, but I wasn’t eager to discover what other denizens were ready for a piece of us. Once we reached the entrance to the building, I scanned the immediate alleys and the windows of the opposite buildings.

  My eyes caught on something on one of the farthest buildings I could see. The edge of the row of buildings ended on a shorter more rounded tiered building and something stood at the top. As my eyes adjusted to the encroaching gloom, the shape came into focus. A definite humanoid form was standing on the roof of the building, a fading ray of light causing a glint to reflect off its eyes. They were staring straight at me.

  ALPHA!

  I heard the voice in my head, much louder than before. A shiver ran down my spine as I noticed the figure leap into the air, rushing closer.

  “Guys! Something is coming!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. I’d lingered on the first floor of the building while the others had gone ahead to offload our loot. I wasn’t even sure if they could hear me from the bottom floor. I white-knuckled my pipe wrench, expecting a fight with whatever mutant was rushing forward through the street.

  I felt my mind relax for some reason, the grip on my wrench lessening as another ray of light illuminated the creature’s eyes. An unknown part of my brain reacted to that stimulus, drenching me in adrenaline, and causing me to regrip my wrench. My apprehension turned into anger and I yelled in my mind.

  NO MORE!

 

 

 

  The moment the thought forced itself into my mind, the creature audibly screeched to a halt. Now that it was only a few buildings away I could see that it had an extra pair of arms growing out of the base of its ribcage. The arms that extended from there had reached for the ground and dug themselves in to stop the unnatural advance of the creature. I took a step forward, swinging my wrench up to my shoulder.

  I decided to test what I had done to cause it to stop.

  Leave.

  I thought, focusing wholly on the creature as I had done with my anger. The creature tilted its head to the side, the still darkening world obscuring its features from me. As we stood there for a tense minute regarding each other, the world fell into near complete darkness. The moment we were both out of view from one another, a piercing wail sounded throughout the city block. I could somehow… feel… the presence of the humanoid creature and I knew it hadn’t been the source of the sound.

 

  …

 

  …

 

  Even as I realized that I could sense the creature, painful howling thoughts invaded my mind. I doubled over to the ground, holding my head as a pounding agony wormed itself into my brain. The thoughts felt similar to the calling voice I had heard, but these were simply raw unfiltered static instead of a coherent sound. I must have been stifling a scream, because when I felt an arm on my shoulder a guttural roar broke free.

  The sound that came out of my mouth should not have been physically possible for a human. Even with my pain drowned mind, I knew. I was mutating. I was a monster.

  We are not monsters, but you are not human…

  Not anymore…

  The voice in my head rang like a clear bell. The roar was cut short, replaced by panting and the realization that my arms were pinned to the ground. I turned to see Delta and Epsilon struggling to hold me to the ground. Seeing that my scream had died down, they dragged my back into B1. I slumped into their hold and they dragged me all the way to the lit room at the top of the building. Gamma and Zeta were waiting impatiently next to Marvin, weapons drawn. I felt a hand against my chest and my helmet retracted.

  I winced as I heard the collective gasps of the other Digits. Before Gamma shifted in front of Marvin I managed to catch a glimpse of my face. My once square face and rounded nose had been replaced with impossibly sharp features. As the seconds ticked, I saw the fear and disgust on the Digit’s faces turn into confusion and then finally wonder. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I wrestled control of my arms and glanced at the polished surface of the circular table to see the final edginess of my face smoothed out into what I recognized as my own face.

  I was gapping like a fish out of water until Delta’s gruff tone broke our reverie.

  “Would someone care to explain what the actual fuck is going on?”

  “I… don’t know,” I said, feeling defeated.

  “Well, I sure as fuck don’t either, but unless I get an answer we are going to stand here all damn night long.” I heard clinking behind me and turned to see Delta heft my wrench onto his shoulder.

  The man looked to be straining to hold the thing to his shoulder, dropping the head to the ground after a few minute.

  I sighed. Resolute to come clean, I spoke to the others, “Ever since we first got to the moraine I have felt… different. Stronger in all the senses of the word. I could carry the body of the long armed mutant far more than any of you could, for one. I have always been strong, but not quite like that.” I paused, remembering my leaping to the roof of B1 as well as my fight with Starden’s mech.

  “I have also been doing things that can’t really be described as… human. Fighting the ten foot ATC Starden has amongst those.”

  “Well, no shit Sherlock. Do you know what is going on with your face, or the screaming or the fucked up cacopho
ny that is coming in from the rest of the city.” Epsilon replied, almost offhand.

  I looked at him in confusion. I was not sure how long I had been screaming, and I didn’t hear anything then, but I wasn’t exactly all there. I saw the world begin to tilt to the side, the other Digits rushing forward.

  “Oh, Alpha… ” I heard Zeta whisper as black overtook me.

  ● ● ●

  When I came to, Delta was sitting on one of the swiveling chairs opposite of me. I could feel the cool stone walls behind me as Delta’s eyes bore into me. I knew there was nothing I could say in my defense. I wasn’t sure what was happening to my body, but I severely doubted the Digit would cause me harm after leaving me alive.

  “The wailing outside finally died down.” I saw the man place an armored hand to his face, leaving a slight trail of black blood on his chin.

  “Alpha… please tell me you have it put together?” The man finally asked.

  I was not surprised by his question. I was not sure if my supernatural drive was based on the changes my body seemed to be undergoing, but I would use everything at my disposal to save the others.

  “I am not sure what is happening. I will not hurt any of you, but if I… lose it… I just can’t be sure,” I replied quietly.

  Delta stared deep into my eyes. I had killed Officials and mutant creatures, yet the man’s look shook my confidence the most. I heard shifting beside me and I was lifted to my feet.

  “We got you, Boss. Just hope you got some more of that kickass juice in yah.” I could not help but chuckle as I looked left at Epsilon.

  “I’m not sure, but why do you ask?”

  “The mutants have been, well, raiding the building.” Delta sighed heavily.

  My head snapped in his direction, taking in the blood that covered his armor and how fresh it was on closer inspection. I scanned the room. All the Digits were present, but they were all covered in some degree of gore. I felt my chest tighten, remembering the howling roar I had unleashed while changed. I didn’t know anything about the social interactions of mutants, but a loud roar is probably far from a friendly gesture.

  “How many?” I asked, moving forward and grabbing my wrench.

  I didn’t fail to notice Delta recoil slightly on his chair, but he responded either way, “Only three so far, but we haven’t stopped hearing scurrying from the the floors below.”

  I knew what had him shaken the most. Since arriving at B1 the only mutant threats we have encountered were ones we had gone out to search. I quickly ordered Epsilon to organize the chairs into a rough defensive line by the entrance. If we needed to retreat, this well lit room would be our last stand.

  “If we don’t want to get swarmed, we need to go and meet them,” I said, moving towards the staircase.

  Delta and Epsilon hesitated for a second, but when the other Digits fell in behind me, they quickly joined.

  I gritted my teeth. I vowed to remain in control. I needed to be stronger and if I was to mutate then I would remain myself. What are a couple extra limbs if you can save your friends? The voice in my head be damned.

  Hurry. They are coming. I heard the voice in my head.

  Speak of the devil, I thought. This time, I didn’t flinch away. Imagining the humanoid I had seen earlier, I felt an invisible wall around my mind. I pushed my feelings and thoughts through it and a rush of sensations flooded me, causing me to miss a step on the stairs. Zeta caught my arm and smiled reassuringly.

  Who is ‘they’? I thought.

  No time. Came the reply, the wall around my mind disappeared a second after.

  I hurried down the stairs, skidding to a stop on the floor below. The moment I made it down, two mutant dogs pounced on me. Taking it in stride, I shifted my wrench, making the dog clamp on it instead of my arm. The other did manage to sink its fangs into my arm, but I quickly slammed the two dogs together, stunning them briefly.

  Without a hint of hesitation, two of the Digits pounced on the dogs stabbing their necks repeatedly. I kept moving forward, instructing Marvin to take the lead in case we had an assault from a human mutant. The stinging from the mutt’s bite was already starting to fade and I looked at my arm to see the wounds already beginning to fade.

 

  I realized then why I had been fine after the other dog bit through my suit while looting, I was already beginning to change. The Subconscious Manipulation had to have something to do with my ability to heal so quickly.

  Shrugging it off, we continued our descent. Encountering no other mutants within B1 we made it out onto the street. I noticed that there were no bodies next to the building. Our stockpile for rations had been taken. I bit back the urge to growl, scanning the buildings around B1. The night had just ended, and meager streams of light were making it through the ice above.

  I zeroed in on a pair of humanoid shapes perched on one of the tiers in the building across from us. I attempted to push out my thoughts like with the voice, but received muted static in return. I could only hope that the creature who had been talking to me was more friend than foe and that the ‘they’ were the pair on the building.

  The moment my thoughts bounced off the humanoids, they let out shrill guttural sounds, jumping down from about twenty feet high.

  “Keep them at range! I’m going to try to stun them, when you have a shot pelt them with everything! Marvin, hit the other one!” I shouted, kicking off and out of the building.

  One of the mutants was similarly looking to the long armed woman we had seen in the passage. The other however, looked to be all kinds of bone; jagged shoulder blades and extra bones coated its arms and legs, while an exterior ribcage seemed to extend from its back into an odd bony chestplate. I chose the bone mutant as my target, hoping the ATC would be able to at least hold and drain the less armored one.

  I ran full tilt towards the bone monstrosity. I held my wrench out in front of me, ducking just in time as it threw bone projectiles at me. I had to weave twice as it slowed my forward momentum with its ranged attacks. While not as strong as I wished, I pulled the move I had used on Starden’s ATC. The swing connected as I slid to a stop on the stone street. I felt the impact reverberating through my arms, stronger than when I had hit the ATC.

  The voice in my head updated me about advancements in Metabolic Hyperburn, but I suppressed it as I had done before. I needed to focus on the fight.

  I heard crunching from the mutant’s joint as it halted its advance. Before I had a chance to stand back up, it had grabbed the back of my armored suit. I felt myself get launched into the air. The creature wasn’t necessarily fast, but it had superhuman strength. In the second or so that I was in the air, I tried to get my bearings.

  Delta and Beta had been forced to engage the long limbed mutant while the others threw rocks at it. I could see that Marvin was knocked over to the side, struggling to rise in its bipedal form. I saw the mutant swat the ATC back to the ground just as it was about to stand. The next moment I was sliding on the ground, sparks flying off my armored back.

  I spread myself as wide as I could, trying to stop myself from having my slide turn into a roll. I had lost my wrench when the mutant tossed me, the only thing I had left was a wooden spike still wedged in my chest belt. I stood to my feet, the pain from the impact already fading. I felt my mind clear. Ever since the meeting with the mind speaking humanoid, the increased strength and vitality I had been experienced had come slightly more under my control.

  I knew that the longer this fight went on, the more likely it would be for the bone mutant to use its ranged attack on the others. I gritted my teeth, wishing the others luck as I ran back to the grotesque bone monster. It was all I could do to move out of the way of the thrown bones, several striking my armor plating. The mutant seemed to be pulling out all the stops as it heaved a deep breath, the bones on its arms bristling like a porcupine.

  I knew what was about to happen and with only a few feet between the two of us, I dove
forward. Again, several bone shards glanced off my armor, but several more found purchase in the gaps of the plating on my back. I screamed, embracing the pain and remembering the feelings I had fighting the ATC. Shivers ran down my arms as my flexed muscles pushed the bone shards out of my body, spurts of blood flying into the air.

  I gritted my teeth, roaring as I grabbed the mutant before it could shoot any more bones. My armored hands dug deep into its forearms, snapping bone all the way to the original human’s radius. The nails-on-chalkboard scream that erupted from the mutant caused me to flinch slightly. This gave it enough time to shoot out a bone shard dead into my chest plate, knocking me on my back.

  “Come the fuck on you boney asshole!” I screamed, the last part of my insult turning into a roar as I leapt to my feet.

  I tackled it, looping my finger around the outer rib cage as we fell to the ground. I pressed my foot on its abdomen and heaved up, breaking its sternum apart. I ignored the mutant’s screams and flapping arms as it tried to throw me off. I grabbed a hold of one of its ribs, ripping it from its body and ramming it through its bone plated chest into its heart. The flailing continued for a few more seconds as black blood coated the street and as soon as the flailing weakened I stomped on its throat for good measure.