Parasite Lost

by Kyle Aho

  A brief lull in the firing signaled that the assailants were reloading and he had only a few seconds to save his own life. He let go of the doorframe and allowed gravity drop him through the cabin and out the broken windshield. Dante grabbed on to a section of the fuselage and wedged his feet on the nose of the hovercraft. He adjusted his footing and used the micro pistons in his legs to launch himself toward the nearest enemy craft.

  He couldn’t help but smile as he saw the utter shock and amazement on his assailant’s faces as a bear-sized man flew through the air like a spider monkey toward their hovercraft. One man was so shocked he dropped the ammunition he was reloading and frantically searched for another magazine. An involuntary glance down reminded Dante of the other traffic whizzing around them and the many buildings they were over, not to mention the long drop to the pavement. Dante collided with the aircraft and slid down the side before he latched on to the landing gear with his hand. His newly added weight forced the entire vehicle to dip until its pilot steadied them out once more.

  Dante reached up for anything he could hold on to so he could enter the hovercraft. His hand latched onto something warm and meaty. A quick jerk later and Dante watched a man plummet towards the city streets below. He shrugged and reached up again. His hand grabbed hold of a seat frame and with a grunt of exertion he hauled himself into the craft and came face to face with the man who dropped his magazine seconds earlier. Dante punched the man with such force it drove him back into a fire extinguisher and sent him to the floor in a daze. As the man came to, Dante had already dragged him to the edge of the hovercraft. He barely had time to scream before Dante threw him out to suffer the same fate as the first assailant.

  Dante heard a loud explosion. A shower of glass erupted from a nearby building and sparkled as it reflected plumes of fire. His personal hovercraft had collided with a building and the fuel reserves ignited, causing a spectacular explosion. Dante cringed as he thought about the lives that may have just ended as collateral damage to this assassination attempt. He turned and walked toward the cabin door. With a swift kick the cabin door flew off its hinges and revealed a terrified pilot. The pilot flicked a switch next to his seat and reached between his legs to grab a handle and give it a quick tug. Dante was once again assaulted by wind as a panel in the roof of the vehicle shot open and the pilot ascended through the opening as his seat ejected. Dante grabbed the controls and looked over at the second aircraft that had up until now refrained from firing on him to avoid friendly casualties. They opened fire.

  With a flick of his wrist, Dante banked the hovercraft hard to avoid an incoming barrage of bullets. He flew toward the enemy craft, gaining altitude at the same time and engaged the autopilot before heading back into the passenger hold of the craft. Air whipped around him as he looked out the cabin doors and down on the top of the other craft. He jumped and landed on top of the second enemy craft, hunkered low to keep his balance. Once he was stable, Dante crawled over to the edge of the hovercraft and gripped a hunk of metal that he assumed was an expensive piece of communication equipment. He used it to swing down into the passenger hold feet first like a gorilla swinging from a branch.

  The fancy dress shoes he’d worn to impress his father connected right into a would-be assassin’s chest with such force it shattered his rib cage and slammed him across the interior of the hovercraft and into the opposite wall. The man clutched his chest gasping for air. A burst of rounds from the second and final assailant hit Dante square in the chest. Dante looked at the man, down at the wound, then back up to the now terrified man before punching him so hard his neck snapped like a dry twig. Dante picked up the gun his attacker shot him with and broke open the pilot’s cabin. He stopped the pilot from ejecting by smacking him in the back of the head with the butt of his newly acquired rifle. Using one hand Dante grabbed the unconscious man by the back of his neck and yanked him from the pilot’s chair and tossed him out the cabin door before settling into pilot’s seat.

  Dante flew the hovercraft down to street level and stopped next to a homeless man. He took the ignition card and climbed out to approach the homeless man who was squinting through thirty years of alcohol and street drugs. His eyes widened.

  “Dante Opulen? Ish ‘at rilly you?” he asked, rubbing his eyes in disbelief.

  “It’s all yours buddy,” Dante said, gesturing to the hovercraft and tossing him the ignition card.

  “Sureiously?! Wow, thanksh Dande, I rilly ‘preciate it!” the man said, overjoyed momentarily before he noticed the gaping chest wound Dante didn’t seem to care about. “Wudda hell happened t’you?” the man asked. Dante ignored him and walked off, letting his second heart compensate for the damaged one as he made his way home. “Wudda hell happe’in here?!” the homeless man shouted after him.

  Dante bought a hat and a coat from a nearby shop to at least try and keep a low profile after such a debacle. He felt like a character from one of his early movies hiding in plain sight with a poor disguise that somehow fooled the surrounding populace. He wanted to hail a cab and go home but his data-pad must have fallen during one of his jumps because it was no longer in his pocket. A few hundred credits later and he had a new one.

  “Want headphones for your new d-pad sir?” a teenaged boy near the vending machine he had procured his data-pad from asked. The kid was obviously down on his luck and trying to make a few extra credits selling used junk. It looked like the headphones were his own.

  “Nah, I’m good kid. Thanks,” Dante replied.

  “Are you sure? Some of the po-po around here get cranky about their noise ordinances.”

  Dante ignored him.

  The newly acquired device needed a data plan so Dante had to pay for a two year contract and wait long enough to establish a connection before he could hail a cab. Once the cab arrived Dante threw the new data-pad in the kid’s lap and asked the cabbie to fly him up to the top level of the hive so he could go home.

  He used needle-nose pliers to pull bullets out of his chest and had just enough time to clean up his wounds and toss the bloody rags in the garbage before his wife, Athene, and their two boys came running in from gravball practice. Dante slipped on a shirt to hide the dressings, confident that they would be mostly healed in a matter of hours.

  He walked out into the living room as his kids greeted him half-heartedly and ran over to the holo-pict screen to play a videogame. Dante gave his wife a kiss and asked about her day, not really listening as he looked for his spare data tablet.

  “Honey, are you listening to me? You seem a little distracted…” Athene asked, her voice warm and comforting like a meal cooked without genenhanced produce.

  “Yeah baby, I’m sorry. Can I use your tablet? There was an accident on my way back from seeing dad, I just want to see if VCN is streaming any details.”

  She handed him her data tablet, “Of course, was everyone ok? How is Sirus anyways?”

  Dante took the tablet and logged into his personal profile. A blinking icon informed him he had a new message. He went to his message box. The message was from his father, sent only moments ago and flagged as important.

  He opened it up and read the message. Had to make sure you’ve still got it. Dante pursed his lips and deleted it. “He’s the same crazy ol’ bastard as always.”

  Chapter V

  Dante pointed his massive shotgun toward the desk. A terrified murmur came from underneath and two hands slowly lifted in surrender. Dante stared with an intensity that loosened the man’s bowels as he crawled out from underneath the desk wearing what looked like a gas mask. Bren motioned to Alistair to keep searching the area before walking over to interrogate.

  “Please don’t shoot, I’m a scientist,” the man said, his voice cracking like a prepubescent teenager.

  “What’s your name?” Bren asked. The scientist stared into the barrel of the shotgun.

  “The man asked you a question,” Dante said. His voice was modulated ever so slightly by his bio-hardware so that he so
unded almost demonic. The scientist cleared his throat and struggled to get his attention away from the gun pointed directly at him. “Julian Porter. Most of the other doctors call me JP. Sort of a social acceptance thing I suppose.”

  “All right JP, what are you doing here? What’s with the mask?” Bren asked, glancing over to Alistair who was busy poking through some holo-pads in the corner of the room. Apate was still searching in the hallway nearby and nowhere to be seen.

  “I am a researcher on this project. I am in charge of virtually every-”

  “What’s going on? How come you’re the only one alive?” Bren said.

  Julian was annoyed at the interruption but didn’t argue given the circumstances.

  “Well I heard they would be sending help but I had hoped they would send trained scientists, not soldiers. Seeing as you gentlemen look like professionals I trust you will understand the importance of confidentiality and understand that I can’t discuss the project with you,” Julian said, as if his air of professionalism and confidence would end the conversation. Dante reminded the scientist of his presence with a growl. Julian was promptly brought back to reality before Dante could finish his audible displeasure. “But perhaps, given the circumstances I can, erm… bend security protocols.”

  “Good idea,” Bren said as he flashed a patronizing grin.

  “Ok, where to begin. This facility is part of the-” a shriek pierced the air and was followed by the unmistakable crack of energy weapons. Julian squealed like a terrified toddler and dropped to his knees before scuttling back under the desk. He cradled his knees and tried to suppress an anxiety attack. Everyone in the lab looked around as they tried to figure out what was going on. They heard the teeth rattling sound of metal being shorn apart, followed by a minor explosion from somewhere else in the facility.

  The three men glanced at each other. Apate was not in the room with them.

  “Apate, are you ok?” Bren radioed over the comm unit.

  “I’m fine. Anyone know what that was?” she responded.

  “Not yet but we’re about to find out. Where are you?”

  “Down the hall inspecting another laboratory.”

  “See if you can find out where that noise came from. I’m sending Alistair your way to help. Stay sharp.”

  “On it,” she said.

  Bren nodded to Alistair, who left the laboratory in search of Apate. Dante flipped the desk that Julian hid under and tossed it half way across the room with one arm. “Get up and start talking,” he said. Dante pointed his shotgun once again at the terrified scientist.

  “Before I begin, I should let you know you are all going to die,” the scientist said matter-of-factly. Bren and Dante exchanged glances.

  “How do you figure?” Bren asked.

  “You’re here. You’ve broken the quarantine and you’re inside the facility without protection, which means you will not be leaving the facility.”

  “We got in just fine, I don’t see why we can’t get out,” Bren said.

  “Well you will probably leave but you won’t be alive when you do. Not exactly.”

  “Now hold up a minute, you said there was a quarantine? Is there some kind of virus or something?” Dante asked.

  “A parasite actually. In the air and the blood. By coming in here and letting it out you’ve probably killed the entire planet,” the scientist said. He relaxed as Dante lowered his gun.

  “You don’t seem worried,” Bren countered to call JP’s bluff.

  “I was hoping they would send in a qualified rescue team with hazardous material suits and an army to stop the creatures but it’s obvious to me now that is not your intention. That means the company only wants the information we gathered on the parasite and that we are all as good as dead. Expendable assets.”

  “Look man, I’m tired of this, just tell us what the hell is going on and point us to the information you are talking about so we can get out of here,” Dante snapped, shaking his shotgun for emphasis.

  “Bren, Dante, come in,” Alistair radioed. Bren sighed and stepped away from the scientist, who began speaking to Dante about the parasite.

  “What is it?” Bren radioed back.

  “We’ve got life.”

  “Human?”

  “Negative. I’m thinkin’ you guys are going t’want a look for yourselves.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Bren said, instantly regretting it as the cranial bomb at the base of his skull started beeping, “biscuit! Son of a biscuit!”

  “What about biscuits?” Alistair asked.

  “Nothing. Hold tight, we’ll be there in a moment,” Bren replied.

  “All right. Down the hall, hang a left, and then a right at the intersection.”

  “Copy.”

  Bren turned to face the scientist, who was sweating bullets as he looked down the barrel of Dante’s shotgun while trying to explain his research.

  “Let’s go, Alistair and Apate found something. It sounds important.”

  “Probably the containment labs. Tell them to keep the doors shut, it’s very important that the specimens don’t-”

  Before Julian could finish his thought a drone, likely used as a surgical aid if the rotary saws, vice clamps, scalpels, and needles poking out from it were any indication, lazily hovered its way into the lab. Julian panicked. He dove for the overturned desk, only again to be dragged out by Dante. With no more effort than if he were a soda can, Dante lifted Julian into the air by the throat and held him at eye level, which was considerably higher than most people found comfortable.

  “Get your crazy ass up. It’s just a drone, let’s go,” Dante said.

  “No! You don’t understand, we have to hide!” the scientist shrieked, and glanced over his shoulder. The drone turned and hovered directly toward them. The scientist kicked and flailed but was locked in the air by Dante’s vice grip. Without warning the drone extended an arm with a whirling saw blade attached. It pushed the saw through flesh and bone until it exited through Julian’s chest. The poor man began to drool and gurgle as blood spewed upward in a messy arc from the rotation of the saw. Dante dropped him and pulled his hand away from the spinning blade. Julian fell and slid off the drone’s arm with a dull thud. Dante lifted his weapon and blasted the drone out of the air. Sparks and metal chunks flew everywhere as the drone spiraled to the floor and Bren was forced to jump out of the way to avoid the debris.

  “That’s frakked up,” Dante said.

  “What the heck man, watch it!” Bren shouted.

  “His chest just exploded onto my face,” Dante said, his voice like liquid nitrogen as he wiped blood from his eyes.

  “You could have shot me!”

  “But did I?”

  Bren decided it was best not to argue but he kicked the drone scrap to let out some frustration. He remembered all the bloody corpses on the way in and wondered if the drone had something to do with them. Bren grabbed a lab coat off the back of a chair and threw it to Dante. Dante gave an appreciative nod and wiped the gore from his face. They took one last look at Julian’s mangled body and went out into the hall to find Alistair and Apate.

  “Did you say something about biscuits?” Dante asked as they navigated the halls. There were a few other mangled corpses along the way.

  “What?” Bren asked.

  “I thought I heard you say you’ve got biscuits. I know we’re busy and all but I could use a snack.”

  “I don’t have any biscuits, shut up and keep moving,” Bren replied as they rounded a corner decorated with several plaques denoting the ‘Researcher of the Month’. Alistair stared in horror through a window in the middle of the hall. Apate looked through a similar window on the other side.

  “What’s wrong with ‘em?” Alistair asked as Bren and Dante caught up. Inside the window was a fully equipped surgical station with all of the machines and tools one would assume inhabited such a space. Blood coated the walls and dripped from the ceiling. No less than a dozen small monkeys were jumping around and s
winging from equipment, bashing at the windows and breaking anything they could find. Despite their screaming no sound escaped the thick glass of the window. They couldn’t even hear the monkeys’ hands smacking against it.

  As they stared in horrid fascination everyone could tell something about these monkeys looked out of place. At first they assumed it was just a coat of blood causing the fur to clump together and look like little scales. Unfortunately it was much more bizarre. Upon further examination it appeared as though short quills were poking out through the skin of each monkey, almost as if a porcupine was trying to fit into a monkey skin suit. Each monkey was proportioned differently as well. Some had an extra large arm or leg, a few had extra limbs, tails or heads. Each was a different variety of monstrosity, with tumors along every limb contorting their already warped bodies. Apate looked into a similar room but it was full of different birds. Long, serrated quills had replaced feathers and their beaks and talons looked rough and jagged, almost as if they had been crudely carved from obsidian. The birds were unable to fly freely in the enclosed space and searched for an exit. They tore apart the bodies of a few scientists that had been locked in when the specimens escaped.

  “What the heck are they?” Bren asked, more to himself than anyone in particular.

  “Hell if I know,” Dante answered, staring into the black eyes of a monkey-like creature that was viciously clawing at the window in hopes of tearing off his face.

  “Where’s the man you found?” Apate asked, having taken in enough of the carnage in either room. She looked at the spattering of blood on Dante’s chest and raised an eyebrow.

  “He was attacked by a surgical drone,” Bren said as if he was apologizing for his dog peeing on a pedestrian. Apate’s lips curled in distaste.

  “We found an open one ‘round the corner an’ a little ways down,” Alistair said as he pulled himself from sight of the grisly rooms. They walked past several more laboratories full of raging, mutated animals and slowly approached an open door to a laboratory.