by M. Lorrox
Eddy is leaned against the wall with what remains of his arms hanging at his sides. His right arm has no elbow; his left arm has its elbow and about an inch and a half of forearm. Eddy raises them both and angles them in front of his chest. “Dad, is this it for me now?” He brings his eyes up to his father’s, but he can’t keep them dry.
Charlie grabs his son around the shoulder and squeezes. His thumb presses in above the collar bone, and his fingers wrap down onto Eddy’s shoulder blade. He swallows and tightens his grip for a moment, struggling to be strong for his son. Be optimistic—but honest. “If we can’t get them reattached, we’ll get prosthetics and find the best vampire surgeon there is. You may someday be able to regrow them.”
“Have you ever met anybody that has regrown one? Or anything big?”
Charlie shakes his head. “But with modern science, or even tomorrow’s science, they’ll figure something out. If they can grow a human ear on a mouse, a vampire can regrow their own hand.”
Eddy rests his head back against the ship. I’m such a fool.
What is it? Charlie’s hope fades with his son’s frustration.
Eddy stares at the dark ceiling while his eyes well tears.
Charlie deflates further with a sigh.
“I almost wish he killed me.” Eddy squeezes his eyes, and rivers run down his cheeks and neck.
“No, that’s not...”
Eddy tilts his head back down and looks at his dad. “The life I’ll have now isn’t one I’d want. Dad, I have to pee, and I can’t even lift a spoon let alone unzip my fly. Fff...fuck, I mean, are you going to wipe my ass later for me too?” He shudders and begins to sob, then he bangs his head back against the ship’s hull.
Charlie swallows and stands before him. “Yeah, I will. I did it when you were a baby, and right now, you’re injured. You’ll be able to manage it yourself someday, but right now we—” Charlie motions around the boat. “—have a much bigger problem. Are you going to make it worse or make it better?”
Eddy scoffs, then snarls. “How the hell am I supposed to help? Want me to sit on something so it doesn’t blow away? I’ll be a fantastic paperweight. Or a doorstop—if you need to prop something open—I’d be good at that too.”
“Your brain works, don’t it? Work on a plan.”
Eddy sniffs snot up his nose, but it runs back down. He wipes it on his upper arm, on the sleeve above his bandages. He groans and shakes his head. “I’m such an idiot.”
“No you’re not...”
“He told me to drop my weapons and go, but I wouldn’t listen. I should have... But instead, he still took July, and I lost my arms.” He grits his teeth. “Dad, he took her—she was unconscious. He was working for Dr. Melgaard, wasn’t he? He brought her to him… BACK to him.”
Charlie nods. “We think so, yeah. The facility’s helicopter picked them up.”
-Drrnk!- Ghost, resting toward the back of the boat, punches the wall.
Eddy shakes his head. “That bastard. How could he?”
Charlie groans and sits down. “I don’t know, but I trusted him...” Peter, or Johannes or whatever the fuck you want to pretend your name is, how fucking dare you? How COULD you?
“Dad?”
“...Yeah?”
“I really do need to pee. Maybe just come outside with me and...pull down my pants.”
Charlie stands up and lifts Eddy from his armpit. “Come on, kiddo.”
When Eddy’s finished, they come back in. Owen is working on the directional jammer, and he sets down a multimeter. “Hey, Leo, if you’re not busy, I could use an extra set of eyes.”
Charlie smiles at Owen.
He notices, but he doesn’t look at Charlie. He keeps his face hopeful and focused on Eddy.
Eddy nods. “I still have them. What do you need.”
“Pull up a chair and... Oh, umm, I mean—”
Eddy slips his foot behind an equipment case and kicks it over next to Owen. “You mean push a crate over and...”
Owen smiles. “And watch the multimeter. I need to check continuity on these circuits. This will light up if we’re good, and the number will be the ohms of resistance. Read them out to me.”
“Okay.”
Charlie pats his son on the shoulder. “Just holler if you need something, Leo.”
“Thanks.”
Owen positions the test probes along tiny soldered connections. “Major Dubois did a great job, but at some point, in the explosion or when being moved around, something came loose. We’ll find it though, we’re halfway there already... How’s this?”
“Good, thirty-three.”
Alright, we’ll try farther up... Oof, after I stretch. He lifts his head from the work and shakes out his neck. “These equipment crate seats and tables aren’t the most ergonomic.”
Eddy wiggles to reposition himself. “Nope, they sure aren’t.”
Owen’s eyes light up, and he stands. “Get up, we can use the extra ACUs as cushions.”
Eddy leans forward and lifts his butt up, and Owen slips a set of the clothes underneath him. He sits back down. “Oh yeah, that’s better. Thanks.”
Owen sits back down, also on a makeshift cushion. “Ahh... You know, umm, Leo, I knew a couple guys that hit IEDs—improvised explosive devices—who lost arms and legs. They get on just fine after some rehab.”
Eddy sighs. “Good to know.”
“This one guy, Kirkpatrick... Well, I’m not saying this to make you feel any better, but he lost damn near half his body and then started dating this smoking hot chick.”
Eddy smirks, then smiles, then laughs. “Chicks dig scars.”
Owen snorts. “Yeah! But seriously, there’s even this gym I heard about... I can’t remember where, but it was started by an ex-NFL guy, and they specialize in workouts for...disabled people.”
Disabled. Fuck me. “I’ll look it up later. Thanks...”
Owen sighs and returns to the circuit board. “Sorry, I just—”
“No, it’s okay, really. But let’s focus on finishing this mission, otherwise I lost them for nothing, and that thought really pisses me off.”
“Deal. How’s this?”
Eddy is looking toward the hatch. “Hey, does anybody hear that? Is that a drone?”
Hecate pokes her head in. “No. Helicopter.”
Charlie rushes toward the back. “From the facility?”
“I don’t know, I can’t see it, but it sounds like it’s coming from there, from around the mountain.”
Damn. Charlie thinks for a moment.
Ghost leaps up. “Need a scout?”
He shakes his head. “I’m betting someone’s coming to us… Everybody arm up, we might...” He looks at his son. “Sorry, I—”
Eddy blasts to his feet and points his right arm-stump at his dad. “Look, I know I don’t have arms. Stop treating me with kid gloves and just run this operation! Somebody’s coming, right? Well, let’s get ready. Besides guns, what else do we have? We need to get the hatch closed, right? Come on people, let’s get to work!”
Charlie nods. “That’s ma-boy.”
Peter and a technician ride in the helicopter, while Nicholas—who is too large with his metallic body, armor, and weapons to fit inside—rides on a platform hung below it. As the pilots descend from The Plant, Peter talks to his son over the radio. “Listen to me now: watch yourself. I know the people you’re up against, and they’re going to throw everything they’ve got at you. They aren’t going to take Hector’s offer.”
“I hope they don’t. Dad, just look out your window, isn’t this gorgeous?”
Peter looks. “Yup, sure is... What camera are you looking through?”
“The one on the grenade launcher. The one on the machine gun is thermal, and let me tell you, this valley looks weird in thermal.”
Peter sighs. “You remember my briefing on their armaments, right? And you studied the map?”
“Chill Dad, I can pull up the map whenever I want. When I get on the ground, I’ll activate my Ceramic Reactive Armor Modules and my Integrated Targeting system... I’m gonna toast those terrorist scumbags.”
Peter sighs. “Well... Just be careful. Try to give them a warning shot or something. If you can avoid this fight, do it.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.”
The helicopter lowers the platform to the ground a mile south of the attack boat, and Nicholas steps off. “I’ll talk to you later, Dad.”
In the speakers implanted in his ears, he hears his dad’s voice. “Good luck, son.”
Attached to Nicholas’ right arm—and supported by an articulated strut to his waist—is a modified, 40mm automatic grenade launcher. It has a camera that can zoom in to three-times magnification, a laser rangefinder, and a ballistic computer that can program fuse durations on compatible airburst ammunition. Nicholas has two belts of grenades he can switch in at any time: programmable airburst, and high-explosive rounds.
Attached to—and extending from—his left arm is a huge machine gun. Weighing in at thirty-pounds, the four-foot-long gun is much bigger and heavier than the M4 carbines most infantry soldiers carry. Instead of sights, it has a thermal imaging camera with a digital reticule overlay. The gun can fire fifteen of the large, 7.62x51mm rounds per second, and it’s fed by a belt of nine hundred bullets.
Attached to points all around his waist are a series of robotic arms. At the end of each is a one-foot square, half-inch thick, ceramic-and-rubber armor plate—the Ceramic Reactive Armor Modules. When hit, the plate redirects the force of the blast. When destroyed, a new plate can be brought up into position.
On his back, titanium armored cables run from the Integrated Targeting system to the I/O ports of his weapon’s electronics. All together with his armor, weapons, and battery packs, he weighs almost one thousand pounds. To Nicholas, moving around is as demanding as carrying a backpack; the nylon artificial muscle fibers spliced into his muscles and directly attached to his shiny exoskeleton do all the heavy lifting.
Nicholas watches the helicopter fly away until it crosses behind the mountain. I’ll prove my value, Command. I won’t let you down.
He boots up his CRAM-IT systems and starts stomping toward his target.
Mary finishes her song and releases a long, tired sigh. She takes a few deep breaths and hugs July tighter.
After a moment, July returns to herself. She looks out the window, then she focuses on her and Mary’s reflection in the glass. “I really like that song, what is it?”
Mary swallows. “It’s just something I remember from a long time ago... From a childhood, but it’s been so long, I’m not sure if it was from mine, or from my daughter’s.” She shakes her head.
July turns to face her and leans back against the cool window. “What happened to her?”
Mary pauses, pursing her lips. “There was an accident, and she was taken from me...a long, long time ago.”
“I’m sorry... It hurts so much to lose someone. My mom died in an accident, six or seven years ago.”
Mary reaches forward and takes July’s hand. “I’m so sorry, my dear. I’m glad you like that song; I’ll sing it for you whenever you like as long as we’re here.” She motions around the room with her head.
July notices the pool of blood, torn flesh, and the stack of bones in the corner. He deserved it... Eddy’s hands! She leans off the windows and steps forward, finding them with her eyes.
“July?”
She swallows. “Eddy’s hands…”
Mary frowns, then looks down at her remaining hand. She fidgets her fingers.
July turns to her. “Can they be sewn back on him or something?”
Mary only responds to July with a pained look.
“But…he needs them.”
Mary nods, then she motions toward the hands. “He would need them, in order to try and reattach them, but he’s not here…”
July imagines Eddy screaming and holding up two amputated arms. She shakes the image from her mind. “Then we’ll have to preserve them for him.” She steps toward the box that Dr. Melgaard placed the hands in, and she picks it up. She looks into the box, at her closest friend’s hands soaking in fluid. “They’re in a liquid… It’s cold.”
“Well, that’s a good sign. Whatever they’re in might be helping to preserve them.”
July finds the container’s lid, secures it closed, then carries the container over to the mini-fridge. When she reaches it, she doesn’t open the door. Instead, she stares for a moment because she realizes the container won’t fit inside. She takes a breath then sets the box down on top of the fridge. She adjusts the sheet she has wrapped around her, jogs over to the security door at the far side of the room, and raps her knuckles against the metal. -knock, knock, knock, knock, knock-
A guard answers from the other side. “Yes?”
“We need someone to come in here and preserve some body parts, immediately.”
“I can relay your message—”
July slams her foot into the ground and cracks the tile. “NO! You will send someone in here NOW!”
The guard clears his throat. “Okay, calm down, I’m on it.”
At the back of the room, Mary can’t help but smile. As July turns and steps away from the door, Mary comes back to herself. “Good thinking. You’d be amazed what a vampire’s body can do. Hopefully, your friend can get them reattached… I don’t have that hope. My arm is long gone…” She sighs. “Well, when someone comes back in, maybe they’ll clean up this mess at the same time.”
July glances at what remains of Dr. Melgaard’s corpse and snarls her lip. Then, she looks back at Mary and returns to the window beside her. “I wish I could kill that man all over again.”
Mary squints and tilts her head. “You were right when you called him a monster.”
She nods, relives the moment she tore his head off and sent it flying into the wall, then sighs. She glances up at Mary and notices the IV stand behind her. “You said the drugs the doctor gave you only kept you under, but you remembered what was happening around you?”
Mary nods.
“What is this place? Why are we both here now?”
“Come sit with me on my bed, and I’ll tell you what I know... But would you mind grabbing me some blood from the little fridge? I’m feeling weak.”
“Sure.” July walks to the fridge, tries to ignore the container set on top, and grabs a pair of pints for Mary. She brings them to her and sits on the bed alongside her.
“Thank you.” Mary bites the corner off a bag and drinks some. “This is what I’ve learned. We’re in New Zealand, but I’m sure you knew that. They call this place The Plant, and Dr. Melgaard worked for a group called Væir. I believe we’re both here because we’re unique, and the doctor wanted to study us.”
“He said you were really old?”
Mary nods. “I can’t really remember being young, or any of my youth, so I don’t know exactly how old I am. But I know that I was rescued by farmers in 3484 of the Hebrew calendar, or around 278 BC.” She instinctively moves to touch her infinity ouroboros pin with her right hand and again is reminded that her right arm has been amputated. “This arm thing is going to be hard to get used to… Oh, I’m sorry…”
July clenches her teeth and just stares.
“I’m sure they’ll send someone soon. Try not to think about it.”
She sighs and closes her eyes.
“When the farmers found me, this is all I had with me.” Mary motions with her left hand to the pin that is still attached to her jacket.
July glances at it, then she leans closer and squints at it. That’s like the symbol on the ring, but without the V... This is different, bu
t…somehow familiar.
“I assume Dr. Melgaard wanted to do experiments on my cells. When a vampire gets very old, they change.”
“How so?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know really, just that tiny mutations add up, and we change. For example, with just a little bit of blood in the morning, I can be outside all day. I still need it for energy, but other vampires have to drink it throughout the day to be outside.”
I don’t have to drink it at all... Well, not to go outside, anyway.
“I know Dr. Melgaard wanted to cure vampires of our weaknesses, mainly our susceptibility to sunlight and our requirement to drink blood to maintain our health. If vampires could be free of those concerns, imagine how much better their lives would be.”
July nods. “Fine, I get the goal there, but what about what he did in DC? I mean, he killed all those people—not just my friends, but thousands of others.” She shakes her head.
Mary leans against the raised back of her bed. “From what I remember, Væir wants to heal the world. That’s the word they used, heal. They want to create a peaceful world—one without suffering.”
July scowls. “He caused so much suffering.”
She nods. “Indeed… Whatever the reason, he and Væir must have believed it to be necessary.” She bites her lip and looks off to her side, then she rubs her head. “They said something about ending all wars, about making a new world filled only with peace. Perhaps what happened in DC was intended to destroy what’s left of the United States.”
“I just don’t get it. I can’t wrap my head around any of this.”
Mary half-shrugs and half-nods. “The U.S. used to be a military superpower—even after losing the west coast. But if the Pentagon was taken out, the U.S. wouldn’t be much of a threat anymore. If Væir wants to end all wars, the world’s superpowers and governments would have to submit…which they’d never do. They’d have to be destroyed.” She sighs. “I can understand the motivation of bringing peace to the world—by ending all wars...”
Whoa, she’s sad, really sad... July lays her head down against Mary’s chest.
Mary smiles and pets her. “I’ve seen what horrors people have brought upon one another. With modern technology, they’ve killed more people in battles than can possibly be imagined. And now, as we sit on the precipice of a new era, I’m afraid it will only get worse.”