Humanities Contingency_You Will Lose Yourself

by Matthew Birch

  “Funny you mention that; I just found one as well. I imagine we’re talking about the same hole?” Chloe smiles widely, seemingly amazed for some reason. “Well, I’m going to get back up; it’s the right thing to do even if everyone panics a bit!” Charging past, she breaks out into a brisk jog.

  Glowering, Ian turns on me again. He knows he is right, now, will he gloat or not?

  “Don’t even say it” Not wanting to hear the answer, I make the gesture and we continue onwards regardless. Chloe is getting back up, so now we have the get-go for checking out the area. Plus, it must be safe if that is just where she came from. Ian must be thinking the same thing because he doesn’t protest. At last, we are there, in the place where trucks would come and go to transport and deliver goods back when life was normal. Ian turns on the flashlight fixed into his hard helmet, I use the flashlight attached to my belt to view the area in new light. Investigating the open space, we check the huge metal door that has been reinforced with a little bit of everything that the soldiers could find! Furniture, machinery, vehicles!

  “Down here-” Ian kneels down on the far left side of the fortification. Joining him, I drop down and see the man-sized hole that has been created. “See?” Reinforcing his original point, he takes pleasure in watching me frown. So, now he gloats, bastard.

  “What’s this?” I ask curiously, my mind being taken by the little details surrounding this hole. Whoever made this hole literally burnt their way through? Gloop is smeared around the whole from start to finish. An unpleasant odour surrounds it. Reaching out, I go to touch it.

  “It has acidic properties. I wouldn’t recommend touching...” Ian trails off, revealing his index finger that has been horribly burned...

  “Why didn’t you tell me that had happened to your finger?” I glare at the foolish man. For an engineer, he’s not very smart common sense wise. “Also what made you touch it, Ian?”

  “Same reason you were about to. Curiosity... Besides, I took the right preparation, hard, thick gloves and everything. Didn’t make a difference, this stuff is strong. If I did this with my bare finger, then my whole hand would have been burned off mate” Ian, turning from shocked, to fearful, and then to fascinated, I watch a whole array of expressions flow through his face in such a short time.

  “Well, damn. Either way, we need to do another headcount. Something has definitely gotten out and from what Robert said, it will come back” Standing back up, we face each other.

  “Maybe we should make some noise to see if something comes out? Maybe it’s here right now and we’d never know about it?” Ian proposes our next plan of action.

  Shaking my head, I do a full three-sixty of the room, flashing my light at every last corner we can see. “No, maybe it’s best we do something like that when we have everyone else here”

  “Fair enough” Ian shrugs his shoulders while looking at the hole. “Let’s at least seal it up in case it uses this as the same way to come back in”

  Sealing the hole proved to be a difficult task at first, eventually, piling as much of what was left as possible on top of it got the job done. Hurried, heavy footsteps enter the storage room with us. Robert, joined by Chris and a few of the other healthier soldiers flood the room, checking every nook and cranny they can.

  “Where is it?” He demands, heading straight towards Ian and I with a passion.

  “Gone...” Turning my hips, I innocently point at the acid hole that tells him everything he needs to know. Looking back, I see our leader go weak. He knows he made a mistake with the headcount, now he’s regretting not being more careful.

  “I admit it... I have made a fatal error...” Posh, highly, Robert speaks down to me in his way of apologising. His eyes meet my own, accepting it, he moves on quick. “Soldiers, we’re doing an immediate search of the building. I want everyone sleeping in the same place tonight. We can’t make any mistakes!” His orders are laid out and his people execute the plans, leaving the rest of us to come together and discuss him as needed.

  “No matter what happens, we are leaving tomorrow” Callum address only the members of our group specifically once we are all together.

  “Can we really do this...?” Ian says glumly...

  “This fucker could be anywhere...” I reference the infected soldier that got out.

  Ed steps in out of nowhere despite his hated level by our group. I haven’t got the biggest problem in the world with him. I didn’t care much for Daniel, and I don’t care much for Ryan either. I respect that Ed did what he did to protect himself and the people he loves. Still, he killed someone, and that is enough to make me wonder if he is the good guy he makes himself out to be. “If Robert will not do it, I will. I say we gang up on him and find out every last soldier who is infected and kill them”

  And for once, my group favours something that came out of his mouth...

  Are we about to risk our compassion in the name of safety? Is this truly the right thing to do? Robert believes there is a cure off the island. Can we get everyone there before it’s too late?

  Chapter 15 - Our mistakes

  Bundled together like a flock of sheep, the unsuspecting group all huddle together in the darkness. Having been ushered by their blinded leader, every last survivor at the mall is held down in the single main space near the entrance. Overly extensive, the sleeping area that has been created houses, everyone. Though, being close to one another is an understatement, those who were against the idea of being this close preferred the term, dangerously intimate.

  There is no privacy, and no one feels they have the freedom they want. Regardless, they know the stakes; an infected got out and could be back at any time. Not wanting to risk an expected ambush, Robert tries his best to plan ahead. If everyone is together in the easiest place to defend from, then the infected individual can only come from one place and one place alone, the main entrance...

  Zack, staying awake, stays to one side. Sitting on an armchair he moved in his spare time, he rests near the entrance. Gun in hand as his weary eyes threaten to force him asleep. He’s on guard duty, taking the pressuring task of keeping everyone safe. Other guards include Matty and Chris. No real shift pattern exists; the general rule being, ‘if someone looks like they have rested enough, wake them and take their place’.

  Crammed together are the people who would see the other dead. Barely two people away, Alice is the shield that breaks up Ryan from Ed and Maya. Close enough to attack, but too far too kill. Another rule Robert smartly put in place, is that one chosen member from your respective groups has to be on guard at any one time. For example, not everyone from the southern group can be on guard at any one time with the perspective that they would use their advantageous viewpoint to slaughter the northern group - simple things really.

  This is a last-ditch effort in the interests of keeping everyone safe, their leader does what he can to preserve that. Difficult to sleep, many of the survivors toss and turn, trying to rest with the knowledge that an infected soldier has gone haywire and could be anywhere...

  Trying to jolt himself away, Zack slaps himself. When no improvement is made, he lifts his weapon and takes aim at the outside world, using the action as reason enough for his body to not drift away. With one eye closed and the other on the sights, he turns his body until he’s looking straight at Matty who sits at the other end. Covered with a kids blanket to protect himself from the cold on this daunting night. Their campfire has been extinguished on the order of Robert, who believed it was like a permissive beacon for the infected. Their only light tonight is the moon above them. Having noticed Zack aiming at him, Matty removes his hand from beneath the blanket and waves. Lowering his gun, Zack notes how Matty is just as asleep as he is. Nodding back, Zack sits upright, escaping the slouched position that deceptively tells him he is comfortable. Clicking his back, he yawns deeply, eyes closed as he stretches.

  ‘Maybe it’s about time I changed someone else onto my shift...’ He thinks to himself.

  Lookin
g over the intimate crowd, Zack searches for the members of his group. Studying their faces, he pinpoints who would next be best to ask. Up above, a figure passes his view, and his attention is drawn to Chris who does routine patrols, his eyes constantly on the lookout where his ears fail him.

  Stifling yet another deadly yawn, he makes his move, focusing on picking Joey as the next lookout when, out of the corner of his hopefully lying eyes, he sees the figure they had expected, but not foreseen. Freezing, without making a sound, he spins on his heels as delicately as possible to face the same ominous figure that faces him. Watching intently, the humanoid person begins to leisurely but surely, walks forward, homing in on the vulnerable group of people. The closer the being gets, the more his Zack’s eyes comprehend what they’re up against.

  Observing it through the sights of his rifle, he notices the little detail that is the metallic, hanging dog tag of the soldier it once was. It is still draped around its neck, the chain having melted while only the tag itself remains. Having not been melted away like the rest of the clothes and possessions the soldier once had, it raises the question of how it remains so intact and protected. Maybe, due to the past life of the soldier, the monster’s parasite refuses to burn it away. Instead, it is opting to absorb its metal imprint into its grimy coat where the skin droops and roasts away, only to be methodically replaced by new skin cells where the acid leaves it in a constant state of pain and dismay. Wet, dripping, the acid continues to eat away at the body, the continuous state of repair renders it slow and weak, making an indulgent target. Its sight is as unruly as it is disgusting. The smell doesn’t do it justice, even at their distance; the dripping on the floor makes such a sensitive sound as if it were the droplets that fall from a tap.

  The quickest and most efficient way to get the attention of everyone else was to take the shot, which Zack does after hugging his trigger for so long. He closes the distance, leaving lead melting away inside the monster. The booming cannon of the smoking barrel of his rifle has everyone awake and going mad within seconds.

  Matty is the first to raise the alarm, shouting at the top of his lungs, “IT’S HERE!”

  While everything goes into an uproar behind him, Zack is the first line, taking repeated shots for as long as his magazine can last. Each bullet connects, sending acid and burning flesh scattering over the ground where it bubbles like bacon in a frying pan. Each shot is aimed somewhere different from the last, chosen perfectly to bring the acidic monster down before him. First, is the chest, followed by the head which does nothing to slow it down? Resorting to his next retreat, but not his last is the arms, belly, waist and finally, one stumbling kneecap before the other. Falling with a thump on its ineffective knees, the monster is left crawling while sinister giggles erupt from the mouth it had formed in the five seconds it had to create it. Slurred, the monster cries like a demented animal.

  Matty and Chris, the next most prepared people join Zack’s side and stare down onto the monster who continues to crawl like a baby. The noise it has created simultaneously ringing in their ears all the while, overlooking the monster that really fails to strike fear, does much better in the department of bewildering them. Then, a figure in the distance moves obscenely fast, like a blur, another monster is adding to the mix and-

  “SOMETHING ELSE IS OUT-” Matty can almost raise the alarm through his thick accent, though, it’s already too late. Another monster slams into him, sending him off his feet and tumbling on his back.

  Chris opens fire with the submachine gun he has, letting loose into the expeditiously electric monster that moves so fast the eye cannot see until it breaks long enough for the human eye to perceive its existence. Zack, noting the uselessness of the acidic monster, is smart enough to realise that this entire time the acidic monster was a decoy. The real threat is right in front of them!

  Matty, getting off the ground, whistles in the hopes of getting everyone’s attention. “FAN OUT!” He shouts, ordering everyone as they form a loose circle formation. Needing to cover all angles, this is made easier when the ranks are joined by a distressed Robert, a nervous Maya, and a toughened Ed who is taken off his guard when something barrels into Maya-

  The acid monster swiftly vaults up-

  Happening so wildly, no one has the time to realise what is going on. The light of the moon isn’t enough, working as their enemy rather than their friend.

  “EVERYONE GET BACK INSIDE!” Robert Bellows, waving his hand in the air near the entrance. Their formation is broken as quickly as it began. Ed tends to Maya who got knocked down by the dashing beast while Matty just had his life extended a little longer when Chris saved him from the acid monster who leapt like a frog at him!

  Zack, untouched, continues to pursue the rushing beast who does not remind him of a monster, more of a pack leader. A leader of one with no more monsters left to follow. No one knew where they went or why their numbers dwindled, but this last pack leader, the beast, leads his army of one in the last ditch effort to prevent the humans from reaching their goal, freedom...

  Having a seizure, the acid monster catches Zack off guard-

  It bubbles and bubbles, literally creating sockets of air until they all expand large enough that-

  Decreasing all at once, the pockets of air are emptied as its mouth hangs wide and a ball of acid is fired-

  Zack, dodging the attack, is left stunned as the attack flies overhead! No one is hit, but now they have an even worse threat - a projectile throwing monster. Taking acid pot-shots, the whole group is left in retreat as they struggle to focus on two enemies at once. Stumbling on his feet, Zack is aided by Graham and Holly who work together to get him back to the entrance of the mall. Chris subdues the acid monster, rippling its body with bullet holes that only cease the monsters relentless pot-shots, not the life it continues to live much to their misery. One ball of acid soars through the air and hits the entrance of the mall, disintegrating it into nothing!

  Roaring, the beast runs up the wall of the mall, leaving indents, where it’s clawed hands and feet grip tight to firmly keep itself planted onto the concrete walls. Upon reaching the roof, it looks down on everyone, giving the proud signature roar before looking for a target. Someone it can kill...

  Making its educated choice and leaping down, it makes its move, picking the only target who sees it coming-

  Ed meets it half-way, running right to the spot where it lands, like a fool, the brave man meets it head to head. He evades being squished before rolling to the side. Proving his skill and acrobatics, he ascends onto the back of the beast that is left paralysed from the powerful landing on the floor, its body’s skeleton crippled. Retrieving the blade from his belt, he slices and stabs the spine of the beast. Struggling to throw him off, it sways around, its roar growing dimmer with each consecutive strike-

  At least until Callum aids Ed, sending a bullet from the most powerful handgun the group have into the undefended neck of the once rapidly moving beast.

  Panicking, the monster beings to flail around, knocking Graham backwards before shoving Robert to one side, no one retreats, instead, everyone runs at the beast, seeing the opportunity to end the towering, lion-like pack leader. While Ed expertly rides it like a boss, Callum bounces back to reload, his place quickly being filled by Chloe who runs at and slides underneath the beast. Using the shining machete she has, blade upright, she slices right through the belly of the beast, leaving its insides sprawling out seconds later after the skin weakened and split. Luckily, she escaped being coated in bodily fluids and organs after escaping the other side.

  At last, with the continuous fire of almost everyone in the group, they all circle it and continue to accurately destroy its body until Ed lands the finishing blow with his blade that severs the neck. At last, the once rapid beast gently comes to its end, the demise being drawn by the group who worked together to kill it.

  Now, they only have one threat. The acid monster they forgot. Because when it shoots a ball of acid, everyone is abl
e to circumvent it except for one poor soul. Someone is hit and amidst the madness, but no one knows who.

  Robert and several others repeatedly open fire on the acid monster until it bursts, spreading its destructive insides everywhere, ruining all that they have built. Before it finally withers away, when all that remains is the head, its bubbly throat warns them through a voice of hiccups. “Run...”

  While everyone is worried by this, Zack is the first to be distracted by something far worse.

  Walking forward, with sluggish, irregular steps as to not disturb his scorched form, the upper right side of the melting body fades into blobs of red flesh and gore on the floor. Silent, everyone watches on as the one man everyone couldn’t help but loves disappears right in front of their very eyes...

  Now, he falls to his knees. The acid spreads. Coating his skull as his eyes disengage and his head droops like an ice cream in the summertime. Dribbling like a newborn, the acid drips to his legs, causing them to grow weak despite the sustained walking. As if the last signal from the brain was to not give up, the body hastily walks and walks. Bit by bit, his body is transformed into gunk to the point that you wouldn’t know it was once a proud, loving man who only ever wanted for everyone to be happy.