by Brad Knight
Something jumped out from an open doorway that Mack was passing by. It grabbed him and pinned him up against the wall. What at first looked like hands broke up into hundreds of thousands of small metallic bug like machines and completely covered his arms. He couldn't budge. After seeing what had him pinned, not being able to move was pretty far down his list of issues.
“What the fuck are you?” asked Mack out loud. He was referring to the Alpha who had him stiffly retrained.
“What the fuck are you?” asked the Alpha back. It looked Mack up and down and scanned it with it's intense yellow eyes.
Mack had never seen anything like the Alpha before. It was at once frightening, fascinating and confusing. Then he heard countless voices speaking nothing but computer code. He looked at the Alpha's lips. It wasn't talking to him. So what was?
The nanites that the Alpha's own body was composed of were talking to Mack. Each one was synchronized in their questions. Even though he mastered how to transform his body, he had no idea how to talk back to the tiny machines.
Suddenly the Alpha let go of him. All those little machines that had him pinned returned to a shape more akin to a human hand once again. Even though it released him, neither of it's glowing eyes stopped staring him down.
Do I attack? Do I run? Or do I piss myself? What the hell is this thing? More importantly, what the hell does it want? Mack had no idea what to do. Any of the creatures he ran into since the outbreak were always more of the maim and maul first and ask questions later type. But the Alpha was different. It was like it he was fascinating to it.
“Like me?” asked the Alpha in the kind of creepy voice usually reserved for EMP playbacks on ghost hunter shows. The Alpha gently turned Mack's head to the side and examined him. Doctors did the same thing while checking a patients lymph nodes. “No. You more. Perfect.”
What's creepier? That this thing can talk? Or that it thinks I'm somehow perfect? That is what it said right? Mack slowly started to move. In the child like part of his mind he felt that if he went just slow enough that perhaps he would go undetected. You know, like the Alpha was a T-Rex.
Much to Mack's surprise and relief, the Alpha didn't stop him. It just stared at him as he backed away from it. He went slowly at first then started running.
Before he got to the kitchen, Mack heard some screaming. It came from the direction he was heading to. From the sound it was clear that it was a woman, an older one.
There's only one person I know that could get that kind of reaction out of someone. Mack knew he was close to finding Amber and Stephanie.
He arrived in the kitchen to find Jeanine freaking out. There was blood everywhere, especially on her clothes. He couldn't tell exactly what happened but someone must have hurt her pretty bad. Chances were that whatever he did to her couldn't make things much worse. So why bother?
The scene on the deck of Haven was somewhat alarming. Almost half the freighter was in flames and a Galatea helicopter took shots at survivors. After he understood the gravity of the situation, Mack spotted Amber and Stephanie hiding behind some shipping containers.
“Amber!” shouted Mack as he braved the high caliber bullets and ran over to meet his teenage charge and best lady.
“Where the hell have you been!? yelled Amber when Mack joined them behind the shipping container.
“I could ask you guys the same thing.”
“We need to get off this damn ship!” Stephanie kept peeking over the top of the shipping container. She had to make sure that the helicopter wasn't circling around behind them, thereby negating their cover.
“Yes, we do.” Mack looked around. With his enhanced eyes he could see the deck of Haven pretty clearly. What he looked for was maybe an inflatable life raft or even some life preservers. Basically anything that would keep them from drowning, because the only way off the freighter was going to be overboard.
There! Mack spotted life jackets attached to the wall of the conning tower, and it wasn't that far. But being shot at had a funny way of making any distance seem a little farther.
“Stay here!” he instructed. Stephanie and Amber had no time to protest as he sprung up and sprinted towards the conning tower.
Mack didn't make it very far before the helicopter caught a glimpse of him dashing across the Haven deck. The pilot, through his night vision recognized him as their target. Informed about his particular unique abilities, they had no problem trying to gun him down.
The deck below Mack lit up. And it followed him. He was in the helicopter's spotlight.
Large bullets meant mainly to damage and disable vehicles impacted and ricocheted around his feet. He tried to ignore them but a couple hit him in his back, sending him into a tumble.
The Galatea helicopter had to circle around again if its occupants wanted another shot at him. That meant that he only had less than a minute to get up and recover from his wounds. He knew he couldn't take much more of that punishment.
Mack could feel the bullets still embedded under his skin as he tried to stand. The pain was almost crippling. Sure his skin and flesh slowly healed. That didn't do anything about the hot lead that was likely to be stuck in him for the rest of his life.
Too slow. Mack had made it upright, wobbly, but upright. He didn't do so quick enough. The spotlight was right back on him and the chopper was ready to engage.
There was a crash from up above, high in the conning tower. Mack looked up and through falling shards of glass saw the Alpha he encountered down below leaping towards the helicopter. The distance of the jump was impossible. Still, that was what happened.
The helicopter pilot tried to pull up and out of the way, but he was too slow. With a thunderous crash the Alpha burst through the windshield. Over the course of that impact the pilot and copilot were killed instantly.
Without anyone to fly it, the helicopter spun out of control and fell onto Haven's deck. Mack watched as out of the wreckage emerged the Alpha, seemingly unharmed. As he, Stephanie and Amber all stared in disbelief, the creature casually walked across the deck to the corpse of the young scientist, Blunt. It rifled through his things and found the vials of serum that would extend it's life. Once retrieved, it jumped off the freighter.
That was... wow. Mack was in awe. What he witnessed was something that even in the crazy times he lived in, was unprecedented. It was damn impressive.
Mack hunched over from the pain in his back, finally reached the life jackets. He grabbed three of them, and aware that he was lucky to still be alive, he didn’t want to press his luck. He hurried back.
Amber and Stephanie put on their life jackets. Once those were on, they helped Mack put on his. With all three of them strapped in and ready to go, they headed towards the edge of the deck.
“Alright, girlie girl. You first.” Mack and Stephanie helped Amber up on the railing that was meant as a safety measure to prevent passengers from falling overboard. In other words, it was meant for the exact opposite purpose.
The railing was a little slippery but Amber managed to make it up without incident. Upon getting up there, a wave of butterflies assaulted her stomach.
“I don't know if I can do this,” she said as she stood on the edge of Haven's deck. The dark water was a long way down. Not a second passed after her voicing her misgivings that Stephanie pushed her.
Stephanie followed her into the black undulating waters. Mack was about to join them when he heard Jeanine. Against his better judgment, he turned to see what she had to say.
“Wait! We need you!” Jeanine stumbled across Haven's deck towards him. Something was wrong with her. Light from the fire provided enough color for him to see her skin. Black veins were spreading under it like jellyfish tentacles. “Something's wrong with us. We injected ourselves with the same strain of the nanite virus that was in your blood. So why are we turning?”
“I really don't give a shit. After what you did to those people you had locked down below, you deserve whatever is happening to you.” Mack got up on t
he railing at the edge of the deck. He took a moment to mock Jeanine before going overboard. “Don't worry. I'm sure God will save you.” The Viking jumped into the inky waves. On his way down he heard a meat puppet screech on deck.
Chapter 13
: Escalation
General Xin eyes slowly opened. It was not unlike being in a dark room when a door opens flooding it with sudden light. His focus was blurry.
What happened? How did I…? The wreckage! General Xin tried to sit up. Suddenly the blurry room started to spin, and that's when he felt the bandage on his head.
There was knocking at the door. General Xin looked around and realized where he was. He saw the room when Mrs. Meesang gave him a tour of the Phoenix Borroloola Base. It was an infirmary.
The knocking at the door didn't stop. Xin sat at the edge of the very uncomfortable infirmary bed. He felt a tugging at his arm. When he looked down to see what it was he discovered an IV stuck in the crook of his elbow. It was attached to a bag of fluids that hung on the other side of the bed near the wall.
Not one to passively be confined, General Xin ripped out his IV. With his movements no longer restricted he got up out of bed. He was off balance but managed to stabilize himself against the wall.
“General?” There was more knocking, followed by a voice that Xin didn't recognize.
When he tried to reply, General Xin felt how dry his throat was. Forming anything more than a grunt or moan hurt, so instead he just kept heading towards the door one step at a time.
By the time he got there, the General's vision began clearing up, and he saw the door knob and reached for it. That's when he noticed there was something wrong with his hand. It was wrapped up in bandages and hurt a lot. Even a tough old timer such as himself had to switch it up to open the door.
With his uninjured hand General Xin tried to open the door, but it was locked. What is the meaning of this?
“Why does this door not open? Open it! Now!” Commanded General Xin. Each order hurt.
“I'm sorry but I can't do that, General.” From the tone of his words, it was easy to deduce that there was a soldier on the other side of the door. Or at least what was once a soldier.
“Why not?”
“We're under strict orders from Mrs. Meesang, sir. You are to be quarantined until further notice.”
General Xin took another look at his bandaged hand. He didn't remember hurting it, but it felt wrong. Not only did it hurt but he felt like bugs were crawling all over his skin under the wrapping.
“Am I infected?” asked Xin. He wasn't one to mince words or cower from unpleasantness. Quarantine could only mean that he was either infected or they thought he was. Then it hit him. If he was infected than he would have turned by then. True he had no idea what time it was, but a window high above leaked in daylight. Afternoon daylight by the looks of it. That was plenty of time for the virus to take it's hold over him.
“I don't know, General. They don't really tell me those things. I'm sorry.” The tone of the ex-soldier's voice changed from stern to sympathetic.
“Can I speak to Meesang?”
“She said she'll be by later. She seemed really happy to see you alive.”
So happy she locked me up. General Xin retreated from the door. He knew he wasn't going to be able to talk his way out of there. Instead he'd wait. The man was nothing if not patient.
***
Outside the infirmary was in disarray. No one knew what happened to the scout team sent out to examine the wreckage. They would have asked General Xin but he was in no condition to inform them, especially since he passed out shortly after getting back to Borroloola Base.
What Mrs. Meesang was left with were questions. What did they find out at the 787 wreckage? What happened to the team? If they were dead, what killed them? And how long before it came for the rest of those under her care?
Mrs. Meesang stood on the roof of the Borroloola facility. From there she had a view in every direction for miles. Under the bright afternoon sun, she could even see the still smoldering remains of the plane. That wasn't what got her attention though.
More and more infected started shambling around and forming groups. It was behavior that Meesang had never seen before. They were actually working together. To her knowledge that should have been impossible.
What freaked Mrs. Meesang out more then than the gathering infected was the fact that they hadn't attacked. In fact they seemed to be be purposefully keeping their distance. It was unsettling.
While looking around at how much trouble her people were in, Meesang saw something walking towards the front fences. From it's silhouette it looked human, but there was an intense reflection from the sun on it's body.
The two men assigned to guard the front entrance of the Borroloola facility had no idea what to do. An Alpha, the leader of the small pack, slowly approached them as calm as could be. All the while it stared at them with its unflinching yellow eyes.
Meesang heard the crackle of her radio. “Do we engage m'am?” asked one of the guards from the other end.
Mrs. Meesang didn't know what to do. Mainly that was because she had no idea what the Alpha was, it's intentions or capabilities. But she didn't have time to think it over.
“Do not engage. But don't let it into the facility. I'll be down there in a minute.” Meesang hurried off the roof. She took the stairs down to the ground floor and went outside.
“What's going on?” asked Mrs. Meesang's husband, Yamata. He met her as soon as she stepped outside.
“I don't know yet. Get everyone ready. We may have a fight on our hands. I hope it doesn't come to that, but we need to be prepared.” Mrs. Meesang told the truth. Yamata nodded. He went to go get everyone ready. She grabbed his arm first. “No one fires unless I give the command or they attack. I don't want this to escalate into something it doesn't need to be.”
“Understood,” said Yamata. He rushed off to spread the word.
The lead Alpha casually walked past the two front gate guards. They followed with their rifles at the ready. It didn't seem particularly worried about them. In it's short time free from captivity it learned what was really a threat and what wasn't. Human beings were weak and completely incapable of stopping it in small numbers. Control of the situation was in it's hands.
Mrs. Meesang stood behind the front gates. She watched as the intimidating metallic creature got closer and closer. As the leader of Phoenix's Borroloola Base she had to put on a brave face. But she was terrified. To her knowledge, no one saw anything like an Alpha before.
The leader of the Alphas stopped within five feet of the front gates. It heard the click of safeties being turned off on the guns held by the increasing number of men and women gathering around Meesang. Still it didn't feel too threatened.
“What do you want?” asked Mrs. Meesang. The question was a shot in the dark. None of the infected ever talked or seemed able to understand any language. They were feral and viscous. A calm demeanor and the shape of a person encouraged her to give it a try.
“Science,” replied the Alpha.
Hearing words come out of the creature's mouth took Meesang aback. But again she couldn't show how much that freaked her out. Instead she swallowed and continued talking.
“Science? I don't understand.”
The Alpha pointed behind Mrs. Meesang at the facility. “In there.”
“Do we do science in there? Are there labs? What is it you want?”
“In there.”
“You want me to let you in? I'm sorry but we can't do that.” Mrs. Meesang hoped her refusal to let in the Alpha wouldn't result in conflict. The men and women holding guns on the creature struggled to stop themselves from shooting.
“No in there? Why?” asked the Alpha as it cocked it's head to the side.
“Do you know what happened to our people who went out to the plane crash?” asked Meesang.
“Yes. We crash.”
“Did you kill them?” Mrs. Meesang swallowed hard af
ter asking the question. She feared the creature's answer.
“Science. Lab. Now.”
“I'm afraid we can't let you in.”
“Why?”
“Because I believe you're dangerous.” Meesang managed to muster up enough courage to look the Alpha in its eyes.
“I dangerous? Yes. Correct.” The Alpha didn't turn the other way as much as shifted the nanites that made up it's front, to the back. And vice versa. It slowly walked away.
***
Hours had passed since General Xin woke up. He grew tired of laying in bed, so he tried working out. It was hard for a man of his age. His stamina was nowhere near where it used to be. To make things worse his right hand hurt too much for him to use.
The only exercise that Xin could do was aerobic. If anyone saw him it would've been an embarrassing sight. A broken down old soldier running around in circles in a relatively small room was inherently both comical and a little sad.
There was knocking at General Xin's door. He wiped the sweat off of his brow. Before answering the door he needed to look presentable.
“Xin? Is it alright if I come in?” Only one person left alive called him just by his name without “General” before it. It was Mrs. Meesang.
“One minute!” General Xin finished buttoning up his shirt, and before opening the door he looked over himself and straightened everything up. “Come in!”
The older Thai woman looked a little pale. There was a vacant look in her usually lively eyes.
“How are things?” asked Mrs. Meesang in an attempt to break the ice.
How do you think? General Xin looked around silently. Then he stared back at Meesang.
“Yes, I'm sorry about that. We couldn't risk letting you interact with the rest of the base without first being absolutely sure that you weren't infected. But to be honest, that isn't really our main concern right now.”
General Xin looked Meesang in her eyes. “You saw one.”
“What was it?”
“I do not know.”
“You've seen one before? They were out there at the plane wreckage. Did they kill the rest of the team? Are they dangerous?”
