by Jeff DeMarco
Cole stood. “Or trying to take the house down.” He walked to the front door.
“Where you going?” Rivers moved to follow.
“It wants me.” Cole pushed him back. “No sense dying for the hell of it.” He sprinted out the front, then to a clearing between the house and the row of boulders.
The creature circled, its shimmering eyes fixed on Cole; its body not unlike a cheetah or wolf, albeit earless, hairless and brimming with spines, its movement mechanically efficient.
“What the hell,” Cole whispered, as the creature bolted towards him. He dove and rolled. The creature dug its paws into the ground, pushed off in his direction. He dove, his knee colliding with its muzzle; a dagger-like fang pierced his leg. Its head whipped back, landing flat on its back. It rose unphased.
Cole turned and ran; his feet kicking up dirt with each stroke of his leg, blood seeping from the open wound. The creature followed, its pace slightly faster. ‘One shot,’ he thought, focusing his mind as he turned in line with the row of boulders.
A loud ‘crack,’ a boulder split down the middle and rolled downward, pinning the creature’s hind quarters. Cole walked to it; it writhed and bellowed – its voice sounded electronic, while snapping its jaws towards Cole’s legs. “What are you?” He searched the field for a large rock, then lifted it on his shoulder and positioned himself above the creature - the rock raised above his head. “Whoever made you…” He slammed the rock down on its head. “Damn them.”
“Julie!” Cole called out into the void. “Brie!” His mind manifested his current surroundings into the void: the darkness of night, the creature. They appeared almost at once, a shock at their surroundings.
“Have you felt it?” Cole asked.
Brie walked to him, stared down at the creature. “Yes.”
Julie eyed the two, a hint of contempt in her eyes. “What is it?”
“Organic.” He lifted the boulder, his body moving with him outside the void. “Composite and metal alloy.” He ripped the creature open at the chest, exposing the internal biomechanical structure; a sticky opaque blood flowed from within. “Nanorobotics,” he whispered, his eyes focusing deep into its chest cavity. He sniffed the tips of his fingers, then tasted. “It’s sweet, like glucose.” He spat it out, then glanced up at them. “There’s more like it.”
Brie crouched down, examining the creature. “We need to warn the others.”
“Well?” Cole stared up at Julie.
She shook her head. “Do whatever you want.”
CHAPTER 13
“Modified insulin produced in the pancreas,” Bariac spoke quietly, poised on a laboratory stool. “creates an insatiable hunger. If we could somehow damage one of the dozen processes in the pancreas, without destroying it entirely – diminished insulin production. One of two keys to creating the Hunters.” He rubbed at the frustration in his forehead. ”The other, an androgen inhibitor – attacks the MAO-A gene; boosting levels of aggression. Perhaps engineer a virus on top of testosterone – direct interface with the genetic structure… rebuild it, in a way.”
“Or destroy the gene entirely,” Gloria whispered.
Bariac shook his head. “If it didn’t destabilize the entire genetic structure, it’d leave them weak, defenseless against predators, or other hunters.”
She scowled at the rejection. “They’d be essentially human, then.”
“Their minds,” Bariac said. “As for their bodies; outside of surgery, there’s nothing to be done.”
“Special delivery!” Ari and Dustin wheeled in three of the hunters stacked on a gurney, bound and gagged. “We heard you were finally up.”
Their eyes lit up at the sight.
“Sedated,” Ari said. “Might be a good idea to get something more permanent, metal restraints, a cage maybe.”
“I’ll get the builders on it,” Dustin said. “Who are you?”
“I’m… ashamed to introduce Dr. Alfonse Bariac.” Gloria stared at him with a repellant look in her eye.
Dustin’s brow furrowed at the remark.
“The creator of what you know as ‘hunters.’ He manufactured the virus.”
Dr. Bariac’s heart sank once more as he shrank in his seat; Ari stooped down, busying herself, silently glaring at Bariac, studying his face..
“I don’t….” Dustin’s face contorted, he rubbed at his beard. “Hmm…”
“How are you feeling, Gloria?” Ari stayed stooped, obscured by a desk.
Gloria wheeled up to one of the creatures, feeling for its pulse. “Like I was ripped open by one of these blokes.” She felt the arm move in her grasp. “Quickly, onto the bed.”
“3… 2… 1… Huhhhh.” Dustin and Dr. Bariac heaved the creature onto the hospital bed. “Shot them with 3 milligrams of fentanyl, enough to kill a human. It should be out for a while.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure, Captain Freeman.” Doctor Bariac lashed its left arm and leg to the railings. “Everything about them is faster: their metabolism, their speed, agility, learning capacity. I wouldn’t be surprised if-” It thrashed in a fury, bit through its makeshift gag. It ripped at its restraints, moving its head forward to bite.
“Shit.” Ari threw Dustin an end of rope as she watched the others hunters begin to wake. As one, they moved to either side of the bed, but the rope pinned the creature’s head back.
They moved away and toward the door, and the creatures thrashed off the gurney and onto the floor. “Any tranquilizer?” Ari asked.
Gloria pulled her pistol, a desert eagle slung to her wheelchair. The two shots echoed, deafening the room. She glared at Dr. Bariac. “What’s that about them being faster?”
Dustin sighed. “Guess we’ll set the traps back up.”
“It’s fine, Dustin. We’ll make due with one for right now.” Gloria wheeled over and grabbed a white towel, setting it on the rapidly spreading pool of blood. “I’ll let you know if we need more.”
Dustin looked over with a curiously benevolent look, examining the doctor, sensing his weakness. “Tell me one thing, doc…”
He looked back at Dustin, his body slumped around his wide midsection.
“Why do people let you live, after they find out what you’ve done?”
“I can only hope to correct what I’ve done.” A somber look in Dr. Bariac’s eyes. “Atone for my sins.”
The muscles in Dustin’s neck tightened, and his jaw clenched into a revolted sneer, as the image of his brother’s rotting remains, the tattered scalp and skin, shards of bone, ran through his mind. “That’s not possible.”
Bariac studied Ari as she left the room, an odd recollection.
Nguyen lean in. “Do me a favor, O’Brian,” he whispered. “Let me know what she says, and be ready to pull the plug.”
Another Sailor walked up, seemingly oblivious to Nguyen. “You ready?”
O’Brian looked at him cross-eyed through his pop-bottle glasses. “What’s that?” he lisped.
“Get the network up and running,” the Sailor said.
Brie looked up at the Sailor. “Cole?” she whispered.
“In the flesh,” he whispered back. “Kind of.”
O’Brian sat down at his desk, and began pinging different Internet Protocol’s. He wrote down each IP that blocked his network trace onto a notepad. Commander Nguyen several steps behind, O’Brian felt the unknown Sailor lean against his shoulder, staring down at his notes. “Can I help you?”
“Sorry,” Cole said. “Just helping out.”
O’Brian’s rolled his eyes under his glasses.
“What’s next?” Brie asked.
O’Brian spun in his chair. “I’ll attempt to-“
“Mind if I have a go.” Cole said, walking around the workstation.
O’Brian cocked his head in confusion as the Sailor knelt down next to the ethernet cable, putting both hands around it.
The Sailor’s face contorted, as Cole felt nothing, no signal passing through the wire. “Brie, can I borrow your ha
nds for a minute?”
She walked over and knelt beside him. She felt Cole’s hands touching hers as his apparition coursed through her body. Her heart felt a slight flutter at the sensation, a mild hazy confusion in her mind.
Julie looked on from afar, in control of Lieutenant Vega’s mind; she felt an impulse of rage as she stared blankly at the two.
Cole was inside now, and he could see the numbers pass by him as bolts of binary light in a pitch-black arena. Bits of data were moving, but from where, he couldn’t tell. ‘Automation?’ he wondered. In trying to interface with the data, he found generic commands, standard traffic automation set up before the world went dark. One caught his eye, lingering, as if observing him; as if code could observe in a way a living being could; he found it to be incredibly complex, fragmented and encrypted in a way he had never seen before; its code moving to counter him, as if alive. Frustrated at the obstacle, he bypassed it and moved along the track, following the trail laid before him, bypassing firewalls and malicious code. Suddenly, his path stopped. He was in the sky now, high up above the stratosphere; a satellite firewall. He struggled, focusing the lenses of the camera to look down to the dark earth. Part of his consciousness drifted away, clearing a path through the chaos and code that separated the world, while his attention remained focused on the beauty of all that lay before him, admiring its creation and complexity.
Several hours had passed as they knelt on the operations center floor. Brie had seen something as her mind followed along with Cole; it was an eagerness she had never felt, but much enjoyed.
“There,” Cole stood from the floor. Many hours had passed and it was dark outside. “We should be all set.” He was stretching the ache from the Sailors muscles.
Brie looked at him with wide eyes. “You ought to tell Julie.”
“Yea,” Cole smiled. “It can wait.”
O’Brian cocked his head at the conversation. A fire shot into him; his hands seized at the keyboard.
“Don’t know what she’s so snippy for.” Brie’s face turned to a frown. “Not like anyone’s missing him.”
“I don’t know.” Cole shrugged. “She’s been distant, ever since…”
Brie looked at him sideways.
He bit his lip. “Never mind.”
O’Brien waited for the Sailor to leave, then removed his pop bottle glasses. “They’ll betray you.” His speech impediment gone.
“Huh…” Brie eyed him curiously.
“All of them,” O’Brien whispered. “Commander Nguyen, Julie, Cole… All of them.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s ok if you don’t believe me… You will.”
Brie called out, “Cole!” She was alone in the operations center, just her and O’Brien.
“He can’t hear you,” O’Brien whispered. “I can help you, if you’d like… Make you stronger, give you whatever your heart desires.”
She called out again. “Anyone!” She stared at O’Brien, an odd fear and warmth creeping up her spine. There was a familiar quality to his dark green eyes.
O’Brien smiled. “Some other time… soon.”
In an instant, the operations center was humming with people; O’Brien was sitting casually at his desk, his pop bottle glasses back on, his mannerisms aloof to the exchange that had just taken place. He looked down at Brie, staring at him. “Can I help you?” his lisp had returned.
She shook her head slowly, dazed at the exchange; then looked into his eyes – blue.
CHAPTER 14
Brie crept through the house – still and silent; afraid to wake either Commander or Mrs. Nguyen. As she lay still, drifting, a presence lingered outside her window. She could sense its transmission of infrared signal, but couldn’t decipher the language – not human, not quite living. Silent, she hopped to the warm hardwood floor, reached under her bed for an aluminum bat. She held it, cocked, ready to strike, listening to the near imperceptible rustling outside her window.
A presence emerged outside, powerful; its mind guarded. She reached inside to its mind and was stopped dead, its aura visible in magnetic resonance only. She was shocked at the power coming from this being. Then a ‘snap,’ the breaking of bones, ripping apart of metallic structure; the creature’s transmission signal absent now. The rustle of a body being drug through grass.
She rushed to the window, glimpsing the silhouette of a man, in one hand a severed head, the body in the other. She crept through the house, ran from the front door to outside her window, then into moonlit darkness. She called out - “Hello!”
Silence.
She walked back, her head turned over her shoulder. She knelt down, pressed her fingers into the opaque substance scattered along the grass; brought her fingers to her nostrils – “glucose,” she whispered.
She waited in darkness, clutching the hilt of her bat laying across her chest. Silence, she slowly drifted into sleep.
“What is your wish?” a voice startled her from behind – she spun, his pants and shirt blended in to the all-white surroundings.
“Is this the void?” she asked, wondering at her own dream-like feeling.
The man laughed, his dark complexion folding into laugh lines along his face. “Is that what you call this place?”
“Who are you?” Her gaze was lost in his dark green eyes.
“A traveler… You can call me Shay.” He smiled. “But I’m more concerned with who you are… so tell me, what is your wish?”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “Is this a trick?”
“No trick.” His eyes were wide, a genuine care in them. “I live to give people exactly as they desire.”
“What’s the catch?” She stared at him, examining him. “What do you want in return?”
“Nothing, yet.” He crossed his finger over his heart. “In time, I hope you would follow me.”
“See?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Knew there was something to it.”
He walked towards her, his bare feet seemingly flowed over the white ground. “My only wish…” He knelt down to her. “Is that you follow what’s in your heart.” He stared deep into her eyes, his psyche now within her. “But I’d hope that your heart leads you to me.”
“My mother,” she whispered. “I want my mother back.”
“Done.” His smile benevolent as he stood. “Goodbye.” He leaned down, kissed her forehead. “See you real soon.”
In a flash, she awoke; she had a pleasant feeling, like being wrapped in a warm blanket. It was mid-day now. More time had passed than she had perceived.
“Guess what!” Brie walked into the living room, her face brimming with excitement.
Commander Nguyen smiled at her from the comfort of his recliner. “What’s that?”
“Guess!” She stood in the living room, her eyes demanding with a jubilant fervor.
“I can’t read minds, dear.”
Mrs. Nguyen walked in from the kitchen. “Have you eaten lunch yet?”
“Not now, Mom…” Brie paused and turned to her, a hint of embarrassment and confusion on her face. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Mrs. Nguyen looked back at her, her head turned slightly in puzzlement, then smiled as if to say - ‘There’s nothing to be sorry for.’
Brie felt a sudden emotional weightlessness, a kick of endorphins, as if suddenly something long sought after was finally hers. “We stayed up late last night, got the satellite network back up.” The whisper echoed from her mouth, as if it hadn’t been said, as if it was no longer important.
His brow furrowed. “What’s Jacob up to now?”
“It’s not-“ Her mouth snapped shut as she snapped back to reality.
“It’s not what?” Nguyen stood from his recliner. “It’s not Jacob?”
“I said too much, already.”
“No.” Nguyen softened his tone. “It’s ok, you can tell me.”
“I shouldn’t.”
“Very well.” He looked down at her over his reading glasses.
“We need to learn to trust each other.”
“I do… I just…” Her head cocked sideways. “You know what it’s like, keeping secrets.”
Nguyen made a grumbling noise in his throat.
“I wish I could tell you,” Brie said. “I really do.”
“We’re on the same side, Brie.” His eyes and tone were piercing. “What is it that you want? And I mean really want?”
The words rang in her head, like Deja vu. “A mother,” she whispered, a smile beaming under her glare.
“I mean for the world,” Nguyen’s voice grew louder, as he stood. “and for your brothers and sisters.”
“I don’t know,” she snapped. “I wasn’t part of his inner circle.”
“And what about Jacob,” Nguyen demanded. “What about his plan?”
“I don’t know about his plan!” Her voice tiny but fierce.
“You’re like a daughter to us.” Nguyen dropped to his knees in front of her. “And it’s no accident that you came to us.” He took her hand. “If we’re to continue on this way, we need to be honest with each other. We need to tell each other the truth.”
Brie nodded as tears began rolling down her cheeks.
“Tell me the secret,” he whispered.
“We’ve…” She rubbed her arm across her damp eyes. “lost contact with Jacob, with everyone.”
His brow furrowed. “When you say we-“
“Cole and Julie, we’re alone. We’ll start the search for the others today, but it’ll be like finding a needle in a haystack.”
He hugged her. “You’re not alone,” he whispered.
Brie’s eyes turned to Mrs. Nguyen; an oddly unpleasant feeling in Commander Nguyen’s arms.
CHAPTER 15
“What do you think of him?” Ellen asked, as she wheeled Gloria down the hall. It had become a ritual of sorts. A way to get Gloria out of the lab, where she spent 18 hours a day. They took the long way around, as usual, passing a set of windows, opened just for the occasion, set three stories above the hospital courtyard.
