The Keras Genome

by Kurtis Eckstein

  No one moved at first, but then one of the men approached tentatively with a radio in hand – it was attached via a wire disappearing beneath his shirt. Noah realized that not all of them had a radio. He accepted it and held it up to speak. But then he paused, wondering if it was already on the correct channel for Major Pearson to hear.

  The soldier seemed very uncertain of him. Noah was curious if the military clothes gave the man some comfort, signaling to the rest of them that he was one of their own. Speaking quickly, he asked, “Will Major Pearson hear me on this channel?”

  The soldier nodded, seeming more suspicious by the question. Noah ignored him as he spoke into the radio. “Major Pearson, this is Noah. I’m done. Come pick me up.”

  There was a brief pause, and Noah’s racing mind wondered if Pearson had heard. Then static crackled on the radio, and the Major’s deep voice responded. “There is a building to the east, near your location, that we can land on. It’s the second tallest building closest to you. Do you see it?”

  Noah looked in the correct direction, thankful that he was familiar enough with this city to know which way was east, and saw which building the Major spoke of. It wasn’t very tall, but it was definitely the second tallest building in this area of town and it was very wide, having a large flat roof. Noah spoke into the radio again. “I see it.”

  Without pleasantries, the Major responded immediately. “We will meet you there.”

  The helicopter was already headed in that direction, so Noah handed the radio back to the soldier. He nodded to the man, as a way to nonverbally say thanks, and then ran for the edge of the interstate, leaping over the side. Glancing back as he landed onto the pavement below, he saw that several of the soldiers had also run to the barrier to watch him land below. To them, Noah probably appeared to be a real-life superhero, possibly something created from a military experiment. Noah himself wondered if the military had accidentally done this to him.

  Running down the street, he made a few turns before finding the right building. The door he found was locked, so he kicked it open. The metal entrance bent against his foot, exploding off its hinges into the hallway. He stepped over it and headed inside. Finding a stairwell, he bolted up the stairs as the sound of the helicopter in the distance got louder. He realized he didn’t need his bandit mask on anymore, so he removed it from his face. As he reached the top, he broke down the door to the roof just in time to watch the helicopter begin to land.

  Madison was watching him from her seat in the helicopter. Her face seemed relieved and anxious all that the same time. He could tell from the look she was giving him that she needed him desperately. It had taken him less than five minutes to kill all three monsters, yet he knew for her it must have felt like forever. He had been confident in his abilities, but she didn’t share that confidence.

  Realizing he had made her watch a real-life horror movie, involving him as the main character, he felt bad for the trauma he knew it must have caused her. She didn’t know he would be fine when he had smacked into the ground without a parachute. She also didn’t know he would be fine with fighting monsters from her darkest nightmares.

  Noah was already walking up to the helicopter as it landed. He threw open the door, and jumped inside, wrapping her up in his arms. Simultaneously, unseen to anyone else, he enveloped most of her body with his blood again, intensifying the embrace.

  He could feel her muscles noticeably relax a little as he encased her in himself. “I’m sorry.” Noah whispered as Major Pearson slammed the door shut. “I’m here now. I’ve got you.”

  Chapter 14: Spectator

  The moment Noah had retracted his blood from her body, Madison knew Noah was going to leave her. His words only confirmed what she already knew. As he fell backwards out of the helicopter, Madison desperately reached out her hand trying to save him, forgetting briefly that he wasn’t normal anymore. She knew he probably had a plan, like creating a blood parachute, but it still scared her to see him fall from such a height.

  Major Pearson began cursing nonstop in response to Noah’s decision. She did her best to ignore him while she watched carefully as Noah plummeted to the ground. The air from the open door kept blowing hair in her face, making it difficult to maintain a visual on his rapidly decreasing size. The sudden absence of the warm bodysuit formed by Noah’s blood had made her painfully aware of her anxiety. Now, she felt like her heart was going to jump right out of her chest.

  As he continued to fall, Madison watched in horror as no crimson parachute appeared, and Noah crashed directly into a street below. She felt her heart stop in shock, terrified he was gone forever .

  As she saw him begin running down the street, faster than humanly possible, a wave of relief swept over her with such force that she began to uncontrollably cry. She had never been so afraid in all her life – afraid she had lost the one person who meant more to her than anything.

  Thank God! She thought, trying to stop crying in front of the Major.

  Even though there were three other men in the helicopter with her, she felt completely alone, as if no one really existed in the world other than Noah. The feeling made it even more difficult to get control of her uncooperative tear ducts.

  Dammit, Madison! She told herself. Stop crying! He’s okay!

  She tried to focus on anything else to get her mind off her overwhelming emotions. She realized Major Pearson was talking into the headset, but he wasn’t speaking to anyone in the helicopter. She listened closely to what he was saying.

  “What do you want us to do?”

  A voice she recognized as Major General Wolfe’s, from overhearing the phone call earlier, responded after a pause. “Noah Reid is our top priority right now. You are not to leave the city without him. Observe the battle from the air. You will be debriefed upon return.”

  Major Pearson confirmed he understood and then unbuckled to close the helicopter door. Getting back in his seat, one of the men upfront spoke to the Major .

  “Sir, you aren’t worried the kid will be upset that you didn’t get the girl to safety?”

  Madison was surprised the soldier had spoken so boldly to the Major, but even more surprised when Pearson didn’t react negatively to the soldier’s comment. She realized the two must have a close friendship outside of work for the soldier to feel comfortable enough to ask his superior such a question when he was clearly pissed.

  The Major replied, giving Madison an unnecessary disgusted look at the uncomposed teenager in front of him. “The girl is just dead weight. The only reason she’s on this chopper is to appease him, but that doesn’t mean we have to babysit her for him. We never agreed to that. Major General Wolfe made our orders clear.”

  “Yes sir.” The soldier responded.

  The Major then spoke to the pilot. “Maintain visual, but keep our distance. We can’t escort him back to base if we are downed by one of the Keras.”

  “Keras?” Madison’s curiosity and confusion allowed her to regain control of her emotions.

  It was obvious by Pearson’s reaction that he had let the word slip – it was clearly a term they used amongst themselves, but it was too classified for the public. Without explaining much, he harshly stated, “The Keras is the code word we use for those things down there.”

  Madison realized she hadn’t seen what Noah had left to fight. She quickly looked out the window, searching for Noah in the city below. She couldn’t find him, but then suddenly something else captured her attention .

  A massive spider-like creature with six legs was destroying everything in its path on the interstate. Madison uncontrollably screamed, terror filling her chest. All three men noticeably cringed in response to the shrill noise echoing in their headsets.

  “What in the hell is that?” She demanded, afraid again for Noah’s life.

  Pearson yelled at her, annoyed. “I already told you, now shut up!”

  Madison wasn’t in the mood to be intimidated when the love of her life was in danger of being eate
n by her worst nightmare. “I didn’t ask what you call it, I asked what in the hell is it ?”

  “It’s classified and none of your damn business. Now shut the hell up!”

  While Madison wasn’t afraid of the man in front of her, she also knew nothing she said would get him to talk. She gave up the futile pursuit and concentrated on finding Noah. Finally, she spotted something zooming down the street towards the spider-monster and realized it was him. She was both impressed he was running so fast, while simultaneously fearful for his life as he approached certain death.

  She watched him jump high into the air, as the spider swung at him with a disgusting hairless leg. It slammed him into a semitruck, causing it to slide forward crashing into several cars in front. She could see people further down either side of the interstate trying to escape on foot. The monster was so large that people far away appeared to be able to see its towering figure thrashing around. Her heart briefly stopped as she imagined what it would be like to be on the ground, running for her life from something that should only exist in the worst of nightmares.

  There were several dead bodies lying on the road between the monster and group of soldiers firing their guns. The massive black spider ignored them as it attacked Noah again, its movements so fast that it looked like its legs were teleporting from one spot to another. There was barely a blur to indicate that movement had occurred.

  As she watched in horror, something falling caught her eye. Her breath caught in her chest, and her heart jumped into her throat as she realized another massive black spider was falling from the sky right on top of Noah. She felt like she would have a heart attack any second, that the muscle pumping blood throughout her body would just stop beating entirely from fright. It landed on top of Noah, and she couldn’t see him anymore.

  No! She screamed in her mind. Her thoughts went blank as she urgently searched for any sign of him. Both monsters made quick movements, converging their attacks on a single point, and then they were suddenly motionless for several seconds. Abruptly, both of the massive black bodies fell to the concrete road as if the life had been sucked right out of them. Madison watched carefully, still looking for any sign of him.

  Finally, she saw him appear, walking towards the soldiers who had stopped firing. One of the men walked up and handed him a radio. Noah’s voice abruptly crackled in her ear as she held back the urge to cry again .

  “Major Pearson, this is Noah. I’m done. Come pick me up.”

  It had been less than five minutes since she had last heard Noah’s voice, but that short time had felt like an eternity. She was trying to fight back the tears as hard as she could, while she half listened to the Major giving him directions on where to go. She wasn’t usually this emotional, but when spiders and certain death were involved, it definitely took a toll on her. When Pearson was done talking with Noah, he cursed under his breath, looking as pissed as ever.

  As the pilot steered the helicopter in the direction of the warzone on the interstate, the Major directed his anger towards her. “Don’t say anything about the Keras. It will be Major General Wolfe’s responsibility to brief him on the state of affairs. If I find out you told him that word, I’ll have you shipped off to the middle of the desert.”

  Madison doubted his threat was anything more than a bluff, but she didn’t think it was necessary to rebel against such a simple request. Her top priority was to stay with Noah at all costs, and even if he wouldn’t actually ship her off to a desert, he might legitimately try sending her back home.

  She nodded in agreement, and verbally confirmed. “I won’t say anything.”

  He was still pissed, but seemed satisfied with her answer.

  As they drew closer to the building where Noah was to be picked up, she saw that he was already on the roof. Despite her relief at being able to actually see his face, she still felt anxiety over the entire situation. She didn’t like the idea that her love was fighting giant spiders – she also didn’t like the idea that giant spiders existed in the first place. Sure, it was the man’s job to kill any spiders that threatened a woman’s life, even the humongous pin-needle sized ones, but this was just ridiculous.

  Noah locked eyes with her, holding her gaze as they landed. He walked up to the helicopter, even before it touched down, and yanked open the door the second it did. In one swift motion, he leapt into the cabin and wrapped his arms around her. His blood instantly covered her up tight again underneath her clothes, completely unnoticeable to anyone else, making the embrace extra intimate.

  Tears filled her eyes once more, as another uncontrollable wave of relief overwhelmed her.

  Chapter 15: The Keras

  The helicopter ride had actually taken longer than Noah expected. Initially, Major Pearson didn’t say anything to him, visibly upset. Noah knew the real reason he was angry was because he wasn’t in control of the situation – Noah was acting of his own accord and Pearson didn’t like that fact. The man had seemed reasonable when Noah had spoken with him on the phone, but now Noah knew he had only cared about getting the mission accomplished as efficiently as possible.

  After Pearson had a few minutes to cool down, he finally mentioned he was impressed with Noah’s performance. The Major spoke more reserved than he had earlier, but nevertheless his astonishment led him to comment on the efficiency with which Noah had executed the ‘mission.’ The way that Pearson spoke of his landing without a parachute, and defeating the enemy in under five minutes, Noah could tell he was thinking about the tactical advantage their army would have with this type of power.

  Soldiers who were invulnerable, could jump from a helicopter without a parachute, and who could execute the enemy with such precision, was every military’s dream. No one could oppose such a force if they had enough men like him – even a handful might be enough. Noah felt confident that with even just a few soldiers like him, no one could stop them – but could the military maintain their control over a small army of super-soldiers?

  Noah didn’t want to contribute to their delusions of world domination by helping them out, but he realized he needed answers about what was going on. He needed answers about what had happened to him.

  When the helicopter landed at the military facility, Noah helped Madison unbuckle her harness and scooped her into his arms. He then leapt out of the aircraft, landing softly on the ground below. He used this opportunity to whisper in her ear to inform her that he was going to retract his blood covering her, so the military didn’t think she was like him. It had bothered Noah that the Major had made that assumption when seeing the crimson thread connecting them. He didn’t want anyone else to make such assumptions, and he now felt confident he could protect her without a moment’s notice.

  Madison agreed, and they followed Major Pearson into the building hand-in-hand. They were led down several hallways before reaching a conference room guarded by two soldiers. Inside, most of the room was filled by a long mahogany table, along with a large TV screen against one of the walls. A man with deep wrinkles that didn’t match his age sat waiting in a chair at the table. By the look of his uniform, Noah assumed it must be Major General Wolfe. The guy had a wireless keyboard and mouse sitting in front of him. Another man, who was clearly a scientist by his lab coat and thick glasses, sat quietly in the corner of the room. He appeared as if he was only there for observations rather than interactions. There was a clock on the wall that showed it was 12:14 PM. It had only been about two hours since they had left the hotel. Noah again wished they could have just stayed in that room forever.

  Major Pearson was dismissed, and he closed the door behind him. Noah and Madison brought two chairs closer together and sat down across from the Major General. The large TV screen was turned on, but currently blank. The military man looked at them with curiosity before speaking.

  “Hello Mr. Reid and Ms. Ross. I am Major General Wolfe, who you spoke on the phone with. This here is one our lead scientists, Dr. Timothy Anderson.” The man in the corner gave a brief wave, at th
e mention of his name, as Wolfe continued. “I haven’t had a chance to speak with Major Pearson regarding your recent endeavors, but I have already received some interesting reports from other sources. A job well done. It’s a shame you aren’t old enough to enlist in the military yet.”

  Internally, Noah scoffed at the idea of joining the military at this point. Maybe given different circumstances he might have considered it, but they had already long lost his trust. Torturing someone isn’t a great way to start any kind of meaningful relationship. Noah just nodded in response, and Wolfe continued.

  “Now, I realize you have a lack of trust for us, so I want to start by explaining why our forces took the actions they did. I think if you understand things from our point of view, then you will realize why the decisions made by those in charge, of the operations involving you, were logical at the time.”

  Wolfe then moved the mouse in front of him, and the large screen came alive with an image of Riley. Noah and Madison both looked at each other, confused to see her image appearing in this setting.

  “I’m sure you are both familiar with your classmate Riley Sullivan.”

  They both nodded cautiously in response.

  “This is her a little over a week ago.”

  A video that looked like the footage from a security camera popped up on the screen. A woman’s figure could be seen walking down a pathway, possibly in a park. It was clearly after dark, and the teenager looked like she was hurrying home. Suddenly, a black spike appeared out of nowhere and stabbed the girl in the back. The attached black insect then appeared, hovered over her as if it were watching. After a few seconds, the seemingly unconscious girl got up and began walking away from the insect as if nothing had happened. The video stopped automatically as soon as the girl had exited the screen.

  Noah and Madison both glanced at each other, and then looked at Wolfe for an explanation. He provided one freely.