We Are Still Here

by Jimmy Bird

  The closer they got, the more they didn’t even resemble test subjects. They looked like something out of a horror movie. Their clothes looked like they were torn and stained in blood. Huge chunks of skin looked missing on most of them. A few even looked like they were missing half of their faces.

  A realization hit me. At that exact moment, I knew the government had lied to us. All of us. They weren’t trying to create ‘super soldiers’ like the ones you see in the comics. They had been creating something else.

  Out of nowhere, I had a bad feeling come over me. Fear gripped me as I barked out my first order to ‘Fire’. Your brother relayed the order.

  In one fluid motion, the first line of soldiers dropped to one knee while the next line stood over them. In unison, they began firing.

  The bullets hit the subject’s bodies in quick fashion. Their bodies jerked around as the bullets struck their mark. Only, they didn’t go down. They didn’t even scream out in pain. They just kept marching sporadically towards us.

  We were wasting ammo and quickly. The thirty-yard cushion we had was almost gone and we hadn’t even taken one of them down yet.

  One of the men at the far end of the yard yelled out, “I’m out. Reloading.”

  Before long the other men began yelling the same thing. My men were fast at reloading their rifles but not fast enough. The closest subject was now within a few feet. The men began to break rank.

  One soldier who was knelt on the ground, jumped up to his feet and swung his rifle like a bat, “WHY WON’T YOU…….”

  His head exploded into little pieces. Before he could even continue his statement, the soldier behind him was still shooting at the subjects. The first soldier must have inadvertently stepped into the second soldier’s line of sight. The men screamed in anguish and disbelief for their fallen comrade.

  My instincts kicked in, causing me to pull my sidearm. I aimed at the chest of the closest subject and pulled the trigger. Nothing. The bullet did nothing! My shot didn’t even phase the guy.

  Just like everyone else, I kept firing. The subject ignored the bullets hitting him in the chest area and lunged towards the closest soldier.

  His actions caught the squad by surprise. None of us had ever see someone take as much lead in the body as he had and continue standing. It was unsettling, to say the least.

  The soldier lifted his left arm up to protect himself. The subject reacted by opening his mouth and biting down on the soldier’s forearm. The soldier screamed out in pain and tried to yank his arm back towards him, but it was no use. The subject had a Pitbull type of grip on the soldier’s arm.

  The weight of the subject caused the soldier to become unbalanced and fell backwards. The rest of the squad turned their rifles towards the back of the subject and opened fire. It didn’t even phase the subject as he pulled his head back, ripping the flesh from the soldier forearm.

  “What are you?”

  I heard your brother scream, “We have more incoming!”

  I turned towards the East again and noticed that more of the subjects were within a few feet of us. I hate to admit this, but I froze. I didn’t know what to do.

  Justin screamed, “FIRE!”

  Our squad ignored the one on the ground and turned to face the next threat. They turned around just in time.

  The closest subject reached for one soldier, I believe it was Mike, but Mike was too quick. Mike kind of side stepped into a kick. The subject fell forward onto the ground. Mike turned and stood over the subject and fired his rifle. The subject’s body convulsed as the bullets hit her body, but it didn’t stop her from trying to get up.

  Mike then took the butt of his rifle and drove it down onto the back of her head. Her body went limp. The back of her head was bloody. I had mixed feelings as I watched in awe as he stood over her, triumphant. He panted from trying to catch his breath.

  I watched in horror as she began to move again. This time however, she wasn’t acting like she was. She was a little more disorganized. I wondered if it was from the blow to the head. Head? That gave me an idea.

  I turned my gun towards the downed subject, the one who had ripped the skin from the soldier’s forearm. I aimed at the side of his head as he bent back down trying to bite the soldier again. I prayed that it would work as I pulled the trigger.

  The subject’s head motioned towards his left as the bullet struck his right temple. The results were more then I could have ever imagined as he fell sideways, limp.

  “Shoot the subjects in the head!”

  Justin relayed my order, “Shoot them in the head!”

  Mike shot the woman in the back of her head. She fell flat on her face. Blood and brain matter seeped out of her head.

  All around us, the tide of the battle turned in our favor as the subjects went down from being hit in the head. Relief washed over me as I knew that we were winning the fight.

  The only hiccup came when another soldier named Bob stopped shooting. One of the subjects walking up to him was a child, a little boy about 10 years old. The boy had short brown hair and his ears pierced. He was wearing a white t-shirt stained with with spots of blood that looked two sizes too big. His left arm was missing huge chunks of skin around his left elbow. The kid was missing a shoe on his right foot, causing him to limp. His sock looked filthy. He looked eerily familiar.

  From pictures I had seen, the child looked like his estranged son. Bob’s wife had divorced him while he been deployed to Afghanistan. She had taken their son and moved away. I didn’t know where. After she had left, the military had become Bob’s entire life. I mean that he was dedicated to the military life before, but now it consumed him. I guess that he thought that if he could rise in rank, then she would take him back.

  In a surprising move, he lowered his gun and dropped to his knees. He raised up his arms in a welcoming gesture as he called out, “Jacob!”

  Justin screamed out Bob’s name, but he ignored him. He was focused on the child limping up to him.

  Could it have been possible that Bob’s son had been a test subject? The answer to that question is ‘No’. Jacob was underage and no parent in their right mind who give permission to be experimented on. Especially, the kind of the testing the government was doing. It didn’t make sense. None of this made sense.

  The fighting all around us was beginning to die away. The only remaining test subject was the little boy who looked like Bob’s son, Jacob.

  We watched in awe and horror as Bob stayed there on his knees, waiting for the boy who looked so much like his son. The boy raised his own arms up like he was ready to give his dad a hug. My heart melted at the affection being displayed.

  Bob called out, “Jacob.”

  I guess that it was his son. Bob grabbed Jacob by the shoulders and began to pull him towards his body. Apparently, Jacob had something else in mind.

  As Bob brought his son in closer, Jacob turned his head and opened his mouth. Without warning, Jacob bit down hard.

  Bob screamed outloud, “Jacob? Stop! What are you doing?”

  Bob began to try to push his son off of him. It was no use because just like the other test subject, Jacob had a Pitbull type of grip on his dad’s throat.

  A few of the other soldier’s grabbed Jacob from behind and tried to pull him off of his father. Jacob wasn’t letting go. Justin and Mike grabbed Bob and pulled backwards. The combined force of them pulling two apart worked, sort of. The two soldiers fell onto their backside as they pulled Jacob backwards on top of them. The same was done with Bob by Justin and Mike.

  Bob screamed as the flesh was ripped away from his neck. Blood sprayed out in all directions, covering Justin and Mike as Bob fell on on them.

  Our medic instantly ran to Bob’s side, “Bob? Bob, can you hear me? Hold on Bob. We’ve survived worse than this.”

  The medic pulled out rags and pressed them up to Bob’s bleeding neck. Bob had a distant look in his eyes as he began to gasp for air.

  The medic looked up at me, “
Captain. I can’t stop the bleeding. It’s a wound like I’ve never seen before.”

  Jacob on the other hand showed no remorse for what he had done. He turned towards the soldier on his left side and bit down on his arm.

  The soldier screamed out in pain, “What the Hell man? What’s wrong with you? Get. Get him off me.”

  A couple of soldiers rushed towards him to help. One grabbed Jacob’s right shoulder. Jacob then let go of the soldier’s arm and turned to try to bite the soldier that had grabbed his shoulder.

  I told the soldier to move out of the way as I lifted my gun. I aimed at Jacob’s head and was about to fire when Bob spoke up.

  Bob’s screamed, “No Captain. Don’t shoot him. My son’s not in his right mind. I’m fine. I.......I just need a second to recover myself.”

  Jacob wasn’t stopping though.

  I look over at Bob, “Bob. I’m sorry. They told us not to let the test subjects bit us.”

  Bob screamed, “No, Captain. Noooooo!”

  I’m not sure what happened, but Bob immediately stopped screaming. I looked over and he was laying very still. His eyes were wide open and had a distant look into them.

  Bob’s best friend and our medic screamed, “No, Bob. Stay with us.”

  Tears began to form in my eyes. Bob had died by the hand of his son and not by a conventional way. I....I couldn’t let this happen to anyone else.

  I aimed by gun at Jacob’s head and fired. The bullet struck his temple and flew out the other side, spraying blood and brain matter on the soldier who’s arm he bit.

  It’s. It was over. The last of the test subjects were down. My body began to shake as my adrenaline wore off. I felt weak in the knees. I wanted to sit down.

  As a matter of fact, I was just about to do that whenever I heard someone yell, “No, Bob! No!”

  I looked over and saw Bob jump on top of our medic. He was bitting down of the medic’s face. The medic screamed out for help.

  Another scream came out from behind me. I turned around and saw that first soldier who had gotten bit in the forearm attacking another soldier next to him.

  Another scream came from another soldier who had helped pull Jacob off Bob. The soldier who had got bit in his arm, attacked the soldier next to him.

  What the Hell was going on? A thought ran through my head as our orders played itself repeatedly. One phrase stood out ‘Don’t get bit’. Damn. It must be the bites.

  Someone grabbed my arm, trying to pull me up.

  I looked up and saw Justin, “Captain Steph, get up. We need to get out of here.”

  I didn’t say a word. I was just too shocked by what was happening and looked back at all the madness. Those who had gotten bit were now attacking their comrades in arms and were showing no remorse or recognition.

  I allowed Justin to pull me to my feet and pull me away from the danger. My feet were like lead, I was frozen in place by fear. After all my years in military, I had never witnessed anything like this.

  I felt a hard slap across my face. That pain caused me to react as I turned towards my attacker and punched him in the stomach. I heard a mmmm.

  Justin responded, “Sorry Captain. I…. I deserved that, but you weren’t moving.”

  I blinked, “Justin? Justin, what happened?”

  “I think that you went into shock. Captain, we have a problem. Look.”

  I followed his finger towards the chaos ensuing behind us. Our soldiers were attacking each other. A few soldiers had moved behind us.

  One soldier screamed, “Captain! Call in an air strike!”

  Another yelled out, “Call a retreat!”

  Another soldier dove towards the ground, “Grenade!”

  The rest followed suit. Still disoriented, I stood there unsure of what I needed to do. I....I....

  Just then, I heard, “I got you Captain.”

  I was tackled to the ground just as a sharp pain ran through my side. I tried to scream out in pain, but my head was being held down into the dirt. The weight of someone covered me, trying to shield me from the blast.

  I managed to get out, “Get. Get off....”

  I couldn’t complete my sentence whenever the grenade went off, shaking the ground. A ringing ran through my head. I noticed that the weight of the person quickly rolled off me, allowing me to breath again.

  I turned my head and took a deep breath. I could see that the grenade blast had caused some major damage to the area. A nice pit had formed into the ground, surrounded by body parts and blood were everywhere from both, soldiers and test subjects alike.

  I began to rise to my knees and stopped. It was hard to concentrate with my head still ringing. I shook my head, trying to clear the cobwebs out of it.

  I put my right foot up into a kneeling position and began to stand up when a sharp pain rushed through the right side of my body. I glanced downward and noticed a huge knife handle sticking out of my upper stomach area. I don’t think that it was quite high enough to hit my ribs, but it still hurt like hell. Justin rushed towards me and grabbed my left arm. He gently helped me to my feet. Who said chilvary was dead?

  Once I was one my feet, I took a moment to gain my balance. Justin was there by my side to help me. I looked around and took stock. Including me and Justin, just six of us remained. I looked over at the mess of body parts. Whoever had tossed the grenade had placed it well.

  I turned towards the bodies. I needed to grab my men’s dog tags. I needed to make sure that their families were informed. I took a step towards the bodies and collapsed down to one knee. The pain in my side was excruciating. I figured that the knife had cut something vital inside my stomach.

  Concerned, Justin rushed to my side, “Captain? Are you alright?”

  I nodded my head to indicate that I was, “Justin. We need their tags.”

  I took a deep breath before continuing, “We need their tags, so we can inform their families. We also need to call in a chopper.”

  Justin knodded and stood back up. He turned towards our remaining men, “Make sure that you get our men’s tags. It’s how we honored our dead.”

  Without a word, the men knodded their heads and rushed towards the body parts in order to get the tags. Justin glanced towards me for a quick second to make sure that I was okay and noticed my side.

  With concern in his eyes, he rushed towards me, “Captain. Are you alright?”

  I looked over at him, “I think so. Why?”

  He glanced downward, “Your side.”

  Damn, I had forgotten about my side. I glanced downward and noticed the handle of a long knife sticking out of my stomach area. Seeing the handle must have triggered my pain because it returned at full strength. Suddenly, my vision became blurry. It felt like I was going to pass out.

  My speech became sluggish, “Justin. I.....I need you to call in our evac.”

  Justin replied, “Already done Captain. They’re only five minutes out. They must have had emergency personal in the area just in case.”

  I strained to get my words out, “That......that doesn’t make any sense. Why......why would they have a chopper standing by?”

  Justin shook his head, “I’m not sure. But it’s a good thing they were.”

  My words began to slur, “Is.....issss tttthhhaaattttt a chopppppper IIIII hearrrrrrr?”

  I could see the concern on Justin’s face, “Yes Captain. Help is almost here. Just hang on.”

  I became lightheaded and fell backwards. I looked up towards the sky and saw the edge of helicopter blades come into my view just past the tree tops. My view was quickly cover by my men’s helmets. It seemed that my men had rushed to my side.

  Before passing out, I could hear Justin speak to whoever showed up, “Wait? You’re not military. Why are you wearing hazmat suits? Who the Hell are you?”

  A strange voice replied, “Relax son. We’re here to help.”

  “What are you doing with that syringe? What’s in it?”

  “Something to help with the virus i
nfection?”

  Justin asked, “What infection?”

  The stranger replied, “The infection you just came in contact with?”

  The last thing I heard was, “What are you......”

  I woke up days later in the military hospital. Disoriented, I looked around the room. Everything was hazy at first. But I stopped looking around when something caught my attention. I stared at it as I tried to clear my vision.

  I noticed that a pale looking man in a black suit was sitting in the corner watching me. A man, I had never seen before.

  He must have seen my confusion because he spoke in a soft even voice, “Hello, Captain Steph. My name is Agent Johnson. I’m with the government. I’m here to debrief you.”

  My mouth was dry, “Debrief me? On what?”

  He kept his voice even, “There was an accident?”

  Concern crept into my voice, “Accident? What kind of accident? What happened? Where am I? Where are my men?”

  The stranger’s voice showed no emotion, “Your men are fine, Captain. They are being debriefed as we speak.”

  “Who are you?”

  He sighed a little, “I told you. I’m with the government. My name is Agent Johnson.”

  Memories began to flash in my head. I looked at Agent Johnson.

  Something didn’t feel right about him, so I decided to play dumb, “Why does my side hurt?”

  He spoke up, “You were in an accident.”

  “What accident?”

  He shifted in his chair, “Well, your squad was assigned to stop some escaped convicts. They were considered armed and dangerous.”

  I wasn’t convinced, “Us? Why didn’t the local police or the FBI deal with them?”

  He spoke, “They were ex-military and the FBI felt that the best way to deal with ex-military was to put them up against military.”

  That’s not how I remembered it going down, but I figured I would hear this guy out, “Okay! So, what happened?”

  “Well, it got kind of dicey between y’all, but your squad came out of top.”

  Curious, I asked, “What about the injury to my side?”

  I nodded towards my wound, “It seemed that during the battle, someone threw a grenade and you were hit with shrapnel.”