“Suppose about now you’re havin’ some regrets.” He smiled.
“Yeah. My brother was only ten when I left. I shouldn’t have come here.”
He raised a bushy white eyebrow. “You two close?”
“Kind of. Jaden came along real late. My dad disappeared before I was born. I never knew him. Mom got into a ‘no strings attached’ arrangement with someone at her work and got pregnant at forty-three. I’d been so pissed off at her for so long, I didn’t really see much of my brother ’til he was about nine. One day he went from avoiding me to adoring me.” She choked up.
“Now what’s a mother gotta do to get their kid pissed off like that?”
She wiped her cheek on the blanket. “I guess it could’ve been a lot worse. Mom was more like an employer than a parent, about as affectionate as a lump of steel wool. Kept me in extra-curricular activities so she didn’t have to watch me when I was small. Rode me all the time about grades as I got older. ‘Oh, you have to do well to get into this school. You have to get into this school to get a good job’ and so on.”
“Mmm.” The vape tube hissed and gurgled. He blew a fog ring, a bigger one after it, and shot a fast tiny one through both.
“I met Will at Berkeley. He seemed like a nice guy at first. Everyone loves him when they first meet him. There’s just something about him that makes people want to trust him. I lived with him for two and a half years, and spent like ten months of that time trying to psych myself up to leave. He’s such a domineering, manipulative bastard.”
Gensch chuckled.
She blinked. “Wow… did I just really say that? I mean… I’ve thought about it, but I’ve never been able to tell someone the truth like that before.”
He waved the vape wand about. “Near-death experiences have a way of rearranging priorities.”
Kerys looked down at the lumps her shoes made under the blanket. “Yeah… so what about you? Why’d you come out here?”
Gensch exhaled a long plume of vapor. “Figured my ex-wife’s lawyers couldn’t find me here.”
She cracked up laughing.
“Eh, bad joke. Don’t mind me.” The vape wand gurgled, loud against the oppressive silence, as he took another pull, apparently fighting a smile. “Never had a wife. USIC didn’t leave me much time for that mess. Enlisted within an hour of turnin’ eighteen, never looked back.” He stared off into nowhere, fog leaking from his nostrils. “Figured I ain’t cut out for that whole ‘family’ thing.”
Kerys crossed the hall and sat beside him. “I dunno. I think you would’ve been an okay father.”
“Is that so?”
She ducked under his arm and leaned against him. “Don’t take my word for it. I’m no judge of fatherhood. I’ve never even met mine.”
He chuckled. “Well, kiddo, try and get some rest.”
“Yeah, right.” Kerys rested her head on his shoulder.
“I draw the line at bedtime stories.” The vape tube hissed, cutting off with a sputter. “So that ain’t happenin’.”
She smirked. “Night, Dad.”
20
Reckless
A hard sneeze shocked Kerys awake. She sneezed again, tried to breathe in, but her nose refused to admit air. The attempt caused her to cough to the point of gagging. Sensing imminent vomit, she lurched over sideways, mouth open. A little saliva dribbled from her lip, but after a few labored breaths, her stomach calmed. She gave it another few seconds in case a surprise occurred before sitting up and wiping her face on her sleeve.
Sergeant Gensch leaned away, right eyebrow high.
“I’m not nuts yet. Shit, thought I’d gotten over this cold.” Kerys leaned back against the wall and focused on breathing for a little while. Within a few minutes, the congestion went away. She sniffled. “Ugh. Guess I’m just allergic to morning.”
“In high school, I couldn’t stand mornings. USIC cured that little hang up.” He tossed her a ration pack.
She squeezed chicken-flavored paste into her mouth, barely chewing before swallowing, and emptying it in under a minute.
“Ready?”
“Yeah.” She shed the blanket from her shoulders, stood, and stretched. “I need to get to the lab.”
He got up with a grunt. “Been quiet all night.”
“Did you sleep?” She blinked.
“A little.”
Sergeant Gensch led the way down the corridor, turning left where the dead-end met another hall, and taking a right about ten feet later into a long stretch lined with doors. Faint clattering surged and ebbed like wind-driven hailstones against the windows at the far end. He advanced with his body canted sideways, left shoulder leading, hand on his pistol.
Kerys tucked up behind him when he stopped at a corner and peered around to the right. “Why’d you stop?”
“Thought I heard something moving.” He peered back at her. “Might’ve been wrong.”
A metal crash echoed in the distance behind them, like a pile of cafeteria trays falling over.
She leapt against the wall, knife pointing down the hallway behind them. “That wasn’t the wind.”
“Even the crazy get hungry.” He stared toward the sound. “You think whatever’s eatin’ people’s brains is gonna kill ’em, or are we gonna need to go hunting?”
“No idea. That’s why I want to go to the lab.”
“Mmm.” He slipped around the corner, heading south.
Kerys backed after him, keeping her eyes locked on the noisy hallway until she put solid wall between her and being seen. Her breathing slowed to small sips of air, and her heart pounded.
“Coming?” muttered Gensch.
“Yeah.” She spun and jogged to catch up. “My hands are shaking. I wish I could be calm like you.”
“I’m fuckin’ terrified,” he said, deadpan.
She let out a nervous giggle, covering her mouth to keep quiet.
He pointed his gun around a left turn, swiveling after it and aiming at four distinct points before relaxing. “Damn. Poor bastards.”
Five bodies lay in the antechamber where the hamster tube that connected to the lab pod met the dome. All wore green jumpsuits, riddled with bullet wounds. The nearest body didn’t have much of a head anymore.
He stopped to pick up an assault rifle, but discarded it with an annoyed grumble. “Three things cause people to fire on full auto: idiocy, panic, or bein’ crazy. Looks like Miller had the trifecta.”
She shrugged.
“Come on.” Gensch ducked to enter the tube and jogged ahead.
At the eastward bend about a third of the way to the lab pod, a faint hissing became noticeable. Blood coated the wall to the right in a spray pattern. Three bodies lay slumped close together, a woman and man in camouflage jumpsuits next to a large man in a grey one. Faint sizzling came from up ahead, as if someone in the lab cooked up burgers, though the air held no appealing smells.
Gensch hurried to the dead, rummaged the bodies, and took a pistol magazine from the woman’s belt.
“What’s that hissing?”
“Bullet cracked the window.” He pointed at a starburst in the plastic. “Air’s going out like a leaky tire.”
“Oh, shit.” She backed up.
“It’s not too bad. Air pressure’s not that much different. Least it’s in our favor. Bad shit ain’t comin’ in.”
“What do we do?” She gulped.
“Check the lab for any survivors, nut jobs, or usable supplies… then I’m gonna seal this tube. We won’t need the damn lab sittin’ here waitin’ for a ship.”
She nodded.
Kerys jogged ahead to the opening at the west end of Lab Pod 1. She stepped in and looked around at dimly lit empty labs, each one surrounded by glass like enormous fish tanks. Here and there, computer terminals provided some light from desktop backgrounds or lock screens. One monitor played a movie with spaceships trading laser fire. Gensch entered behind her, handgun up.
He swept his gaze across the area, and relaxed. “G
uess they took the day off.”
“What day is it anyway?”
“Tuesday.” He shrugged. “I mean. It’s Tuesday on Earth right now, in LA. Avasar uses California time out here. This dirt ball’s got somethin’ like two-point-four days to one Earth day, so it’ll be dark on Sunday and Monday, lit all day Tuesday and Wednesday, and some of Thursday…”
“Suppose it’s easier without exterior windows.”
Kerys tried to remember the way she’d gone before, when she’d been intent on asking Anna’s opinion on the flower but chickened out at the sight of Will in the same room.
Will. Oh, no… I haven’t seen him since everything went to hell…
A pang of almost-sorrow hit her at the thought of him dying. He’d been an asshole, but she had once loved him. The same way she let the good moments keep her hopeful and sticking around far longer than she should have, she dwelled on a somber sense of loss. After so long, she’d finally accepted that he’d been abusive, but despite that, she didn’t feel right cheering about his death.
Floor tiles shifted and clanked underfoot from Gensch walking up behind her. She put Will out of her mind and marched on. Black spaces on the floor up ahead, missing tiles, exposed a sunken space full of wire bundles. A handprint smeared in blood suggested someone tried to crawl down there to hide, but didn’t make it.
Near the door to Anna’s lab, a man lay dead against the wall, most of his jaw missing as well as a significant portion of skin on the front of his neck and chest. A large glass flask lay inches from his right hand. Whatever liquid had spilled from it ate a hole in the floor.
“Damn.” Gensch shook his head. “That had to hurt.”
She cringed and scurried past the body.
Three more corpses sat in a stack by the left wall inside the lab: two men, their skulls bashed-in, lay next to a slim Asian woman with a large hole in her chest, bigger than what a bullet would’ve left.
Gensch looked around, again with his weapon high. “Someone moved them after they died. We might not be alone.”
“I’m going in. Cover me.”
He almost chuckled. “What?”
She walked toward Anna’s desk where she’d spent hours in VR with the alien ‘head.’ “That’s what you military types always say, right?”
“Only in movies.”
Kerys sat at the desk and tapped the keyboard. With a chirp, the screen lit up to a desktop. “Lucky… Anna forgot to lock her workstation.”
She dove into the file system hunting for research notes. Gensch paced around, keeping his attention on the giant windows and other labs.
Squeeeeeak.
Kerys looked back over her shoulder.
Annapurna emerged from a tall storage cabinet, wide-eyed. A blood-soaked white lab coat hung half off her shoulders. Her bra peeked out from the ripped front of her jumpsuit, three fingernail scratches clear on the skin above her breast.
“Anna!” Kerys jumped to her feet. “You’re alive!”
“What are you doing?” asked Anna. “That’s my research.”
No! Kerys sniffled, hand over her mouth. Grief crashed into her like a speeding car. “Anna… Are you still you?”
“Get away from my research!” screamed Annapurna.
Behind her, Gensch muttered, “Shit!”
The enraged scientist charged at Kerys, raising a pry bar coated in dried blood. Kerys dove to the side, landing on all fours and scrambling upright as the hook end gouged the desk mere inches from the keyboard.
“Anna, please stop!” Kerys gave Gensch a pleading look. “You’ve caught something that’s made you sick. You’re not being rational. Something’s infected people, and we need your help to figure out what’s happened.”
“Wasting your time,” muttered Gensch.
Annapurna didn’t seem concerned with the handgun aimed at her face; her wild glare never left Kerys. “You’re a liar. This whole time you’ve been cuddling up to me to get my research. That stuff with Will was a lie to make people feel sorry for you. I’m a fool to have ever believed it. He’s such a sweet man. Now I see what you’re really like.”
“No, Anna. You’re delusional from whatever’s infected you.” Kerys raised her hands, staring at the crowbar. The straight end had a foot or so of blood caked on it. She shot a brief look to the dead woman, assuming the large hole in her chest came from the pry bar. “Think about it. You found microbes in the statue, right?”
Anna lunged, swinging high. Kerys ducked left, yelping as the bar ripped a strand or two of her hair out.
“Son of a…” Gensch charged up behind Anna, grabbing her in a bear hug and pinning her arms. “She’s gone, kid. Ain’t no comin’ back.”
Annapurna thrashed, screaming, “You can’t steal my research! I’ve already sent it all back to Earth. They know it’s my work! Lying, scheming, backstabbing bitch!”
Gensch shifted her to the right, and gave Kerys a ‘where do you want this?’ look as if he held a piece of furniture. “This one’s past her expiration date.”
“No…” Kerys looked down. “She’s my friend.”
Annapurna whacked at his leg. He grunted and tossed her, flailing and shrieking, over the desk.
“Anna! Stop!” yelled Kerys. “Please help us!”
The woman sprang to her feet, crowbar held high. Gensch aimed, but hesitated at the pained expression on Kerys’s face.
“Please, Anna.” Kerys offered a hand. “Please listen.”
Annapurna lowered the crowbar, twitching, her eyes blinking with a spasmodic tic. She walked around the desk, staring at Kerys.
“Come on, Anna. You’re still in there. You did great work. It’s all yours. I know what it’s like to have your efforts stolen. I’d never do that to anyone else.”
“You’re looking for information…” Annapurna glanced off to the side, muttering in Hindi.
“What did you try to tell me? You were so terrified.”
Annapurna walked up to her, craning her neck to stare around at the ceiling. “I said something about my research. It’s going to kill you. It’s killing everyone.”
“What is?” Kerys grasped Anna’s left hand. “You found it. Tell me.”
“I…”
Gensch raised the gun.
Kerys shook her head. “Please… tell us what you found.”
Annapurna lolled her head around once before locking eyes with her. Her expression of placid calm shifted to sorrow. “We’re already dead.”
“No, we don’t know that yet. There might be a cure… or maybe it wears off.”
Her expression twisted with sudden rage. Annapurna leapt at Kerys, shrieking a war cry, and dragged her to the ground. Kerys landed on her back, fighting to grab hold of the crowbar. They rocked side to side in a battle of strength for a few seconds before Kerys shoved her off and rolled onto all fours to crawl away.
Anna jumped on her, pulling the crowbar tight across her throat. Kerys grabbed it with both hands and forced herself upright, kneeling. She tried to yell for Anna to stop, but couldn’t breathe.
Bang.
Kerys yanked the crowbar away from her throat as the woman trying to kill her slumped forward, dead weight on her back. She dropped it, coughing, cradling her neck and desperately gulping air.
Sergeant Gensch put Anna’s body over by the others, arranging her flat on her back with her arms at her sides.
It’s not right… it’s not right. Shaking her head, she covered her face in her hands and cried.
“Sorry it happened that way,” muttered Gensch.
Kerys sniffled. “It’s not your fault. Thanks for the help.”
“Just a matter of time before that’s us.” He walked a few steps to the next desk, and flopped in the chair. “At first, I thought whatever did this was takin’ longer to affect people with more body mass. You know, fit, healthy people. Most of my soldiers seemed to be stayin’ sane, but they only lasted hours more than the eggheads.” He scratched at his stubble. “Maybe I’m wrong though
. You’re still holdin’ it together.”
“Gee, thanks.” She rubbed her neck again.
He chuckled. “You ain’t no little twig, but you’re no Ellen either.”
“Ugh.” Kerys shivered at the last memory she had of that woman. That awful scream. That awful, awful smell. “She was so close… I could hear the electricity sizzling under her skin.”
“Damn shame. Never know it lookin’ at her, but she’s all into that frilly shit.”
“Hello Kitty.”
“Huh?”
Kerys pushed herself upright and sat by Anna’s terminal. “That white cat face she put on everything.” She traced her fingers across the VR helmet, and cried more. “It’s not fair. All these people are dead. Why?”
“Dunno,” muttered Gensch. “Isn’t that what you wanted to come here to find out?”
She stared at Annapurna’s body via reflection on the monitor. “I’m so sorry… I know you didn’t mean any of that. Something affected your mind.”
After offering a moment of silence for her friend, she resumed her search. A while later, she opened a file containing a lab report about ‘alien microbes.’ According to the parts that didn’t fly over her head, Anna’s team had been experimenting with the dessciated microbes found in the alien statue. They had attempted to rehydrate them and succeeded in ‘reanimating’ a sample, which had been kept in isolation. A video clip showed a man in a full protective suit standing by a clear-walled box. He had his arms in holes, manipulating robotic hands inside. Other attached images depicted capsule-shaped bacterium with long, thin hairs waving around. Anna’s notes indicated she believed the hairs allowed them a ‘degree of mobility never before witnessed in single-celled organisms of this size.’
“Oh, shit…” Kerys swallowed hard. “That’s got to be what happened.”
“Care to enlighten the grunt?” The vape tube gurgled.
“That stuff’ll kill you.”
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