by Alex Gore
“But, Major, this is not humane” Marcela protested. “He is my patient and as such he is innocent till proven otherwise. Let your tribunals and judges put him on trial later, but while he is under my observation, I insist for him to be free.”
“Impossible!” the Major replied firmly.
“Can I make a suggestion, Sir”, the Lieutenant interjected surprisingly. “Maybe the lady is right… to a certain extent. The physical power and the tactic skills of the Colonel might be useful in this critical moment, Sir.”
“He is right, of course. Ivanov is a formidable force” Michael said.
“Please, Major”, Marcela said, employing the gentlest note in her voice. “Let me go and unlock him. The man suffers, he has lost at least two liters of blood and would hardly be able to hurt someone in near future.”
“Okay, but he stays under the direct observation of the Lieutenant”, Norman agreed.
“And how is the situation with communications, Major?” Michael asked.
“As a consequence of the attack we’ve lost all connection with the rest of the world. We have power for ten hours more and no food, except for a few packs of crackers. Water is altogether thirteen liters.”
Marcela looked through the small round window. Dawn was coming outside and the smoldering remains of the Base could be seen. The smoke mingled with sand and the storm was carrying it away in the sky.
“The dormitories are completely destroyed, as is the munition warehouse. We have no weapons with the exception of my pistol and two automatic M4, for which we have almost no bullets.”
“What about the SUVs?” Hans asked. The latest events had marked his face as well. He looked exhausted, pale, dirty and a little thinner – all features that were unusual for him. The feverish worry in his eyes made his round face look somehow younger. His shirt was cramped and was a pitiful reminder of his perfect attire from a couple of days ago. The jacket was missing and the white handkerchief, with which he constantly wiped his sweaty forehead, now looked like a dirty rag.
“One is completely destroyed, the fire has left only its metal carcass, the other one is with cut tires and cannot be ignited. I have to check it and see what I can do with it”, Norman said.
“I can help you, Major, I know a bit about trucks”, Michael proposed.
“How many of these suckers are left? As far as we know, they were exactly as many as us, right?” Marcela asked and looked at the others.
“Yes, correct”, Hans replied. “Our total number in the Base was fifteen, wasn’t it, Major?”
“That’s right, six soldiers, the Sergeant, the Lieutenant, myself and you, the scientists. Plus, of course the two Russians. Fifteen altogether.”
“Okay, we found Greg dead, and two more had disappeared without a trace? What were their names?”
“John and Taylor, yes. We declared them missing, but they were probably killed with Greg. They were both patrolling around the Base. Two of the soldiers died in the first explosion and the other two – in the attack through the roof. We found the Sergeant’s body by the watchtower and Sergey was shot by Mikey’s double.”
“Fuck, that’s totally crazy” Michael said in a sad voice, imagining a creature, that looked like him, doing something so awful.
“So… We killed two of them in the roof attack, two more escaped… right?” Hans was counting in his head. “March’s double was eliminated by Ivanov and those of the dead soldiers should have already disintegrated according to my computation.”
“You mean they do not exist anymore? They are dead, aren’t they?” Marcela needed to be sure that they are now free of those particular monsters.
“Yes, you’ll never see them again.”
“Thank God” she said, making a cross in the Orthodox manner, finishing with her right hand over her heart.
“So, we are five, not counting the two wounded men in the infirmary. The doubles are also five: mine, Alan’s, Ivanov’s, Norman’s and the Lieutenant’s. That’s it, we have five vermin creatures to kill.”
“If we are focused and keep together, we might be able to finish them”, the Major said.
“May I make a suggestion, Sir”, Babyface surprisingly spoke again. He did not seem anymore so much the pedantic military person. “Let’s group in two teams in view of safety. Me and you will be responsible for each of the teams, Sir.”
“Actually, this is a brilliant idea, Lieutenant.”
The rest exchanged glances in wonder of the creativity, demonstrated by the young man with the gentle face.
“Myself, Hans and Michael will take on the technical maintenance of the SUVs”, the Major said, “and will try to restore communications. Your task, Lieutenant, is to guard Marcela, who will be taking care of both patients. And try to find a way in which we can exterminate the abominable creatures.”
“Understood, Sir!” Babyface saluted, stamping his feet, his body as straight as a string.
Alan lifted himself a bit and rested on his elbow in the bed. The action of the anaesthetics was now diminished, his mind got clearer, but at the same time he started feeling an awful pain in his left leg. He looked down at himself and saw that the whole bed was red in color, the white synthetic sheet was soaked with his blood and the stench was terrible. He looked at his right leg, which was smeared and his once white sock had an indefinite color of dirt. It hurt just a little bit, obviously from the bruises, while he was spinning along the floor of the room.
He shifted his eyes to the left and… saw nothing. Just a huge spot of blood on the sheet. His leg was not in its place! His leg was cut!
At this moment Marcela and Hans entered the room. They were followed by the Lieutenant, who took a chair from the corner and set it across the patient’s bed.
“What happened? Please, you’ve got to tell me!” Alan cried at them.
“Alan, calm down, you had an accident, lie down and try to compose yourself, you’ll be okay.” Marcela ran to him and started to switch on faster the opiate in his intravenous catheter.
Alan stopped her with a weak gesture and fell back on the bed. He had no strength left for any other movement.
“Please, March, don’t drug me, I prefer to be in pain, but to be aware of what’s going on.”
“Do you remember what happened?”
“We were attacked, I kicked one of them in the ass, somebody was shooting, that I remember, but all the rest is like in a fog.”
“Alan, you saved me.” Marcela addressed him with a gentle profound glance. “If not for you, I’d be dead now.”
Alan lifted the corners of his mouth in an almost imperceptible smile.
“You covered her to protect her”, the Lieutenant said. “But one of the creatures literally tore your leg. I’m really sorry, Alan.”
“Did you kill it?”
“Norman shot it in the head. I eliminated the other one.” The Lieutenant modestly lowered his head and went to the bed of the other patient.
“Why is it here?” Alan was watching the Cube with suspicion. “We decided it is safer to keep it here.”
“Safer?! Tell it to my leg, goddamn it! This thing kills us! It is a
work of the devil and must burn in hell! We have to take it out of here and destroy it! Once and forever!” Alan started to get out of bed. He was like a madman, insanity filled his eyes, he was shouting hoarsely and his cries made Marcela’s heart sink.
She pressed the button and the liquid in the UV started flowing down the tube. Alan fell asleep instantly. “How are you, Colonel?” The Lieutenant was looking straight into his eyes and despite the darkness in the room could see the Russian’s pupils clearly.
“Better.”
“You are aware that because of your unlawful saboteur’s actions you have to be arrested and stand before a court martial, aren’t you?”
“Right!” the Colonel answered with a voice, surprisingly strong and firm for his condition.
“We decided to release you from responsibility and temporarily clos
e our eyes, on the condition that you cooperate and cease any efforts for sabotage and for communication with your government. I hope, you will remain on our side, we greatly need each man in that crucial moment. Do you agree?”
“But of course, Lieutenant.” Ivanov turned with an effort on the other side, obviously feeling strong pain. “I’ve always been on your side.”
“I’m not convinced about that, Sir.”
“Or at least when we were allies and had a common purpose.”
“Okay. I’ll leave you to rest now, but bear in mind that the cameras in the room are on, and we are following every movement of yours.”
Ivanov sighed deeply and the bed shook. The conversation was clearly over.
Norman’s team, Day 7, 7:24 a. m. “The Rover is fine, the engine was blocked, the battery was exhausted, probably from the magnetic field, but I think we’ll be able to fix it. Mike did a great job.” Norman put a cracker in his mouth with a serene smile, then drank exactly three gulps of water from the plastic bottle, covered his head with the dusty scarf, put on the pilot’s hermetic goggles and went again outside. His face was even dirtier now.
Michael went to the room with the spare parts to find something for fixing the punctured tires and for charging the battery from the generator.
Hans was trying to connect to the rest of the world. He was bent under the desk in the control room with his nose stuck in the satellite connection device.
“Hey, Hans, do you fancy a cracker?” Michael shouted at him. No reaction at all. “Hans, can you hear me, man? Aren’t you hungry?”
The scientist was obviously carried away in his thoughts. Michael bit his cracker and left.
PART FIVE: THE DEATH
“What would your good do, if evil did not exist, and how would the earth look if the shadows disappeared from it?” Mikhail Bulgakov, “The Master and Margarita” After the rage of nature silence came.
The dawn of the new day.
The storm went away as quickly as it had come. The sun led a
decisive struggle with the sand grains in the air and was trying to pierce its bright rays through the dusty shadows of the retreating gale. Just a few more hours and the unequal fight would end with the beautiful triumph of light.
Marcela thought how quiet death always was. Even if one had lived noisily, even if one’s voice had overwhelmed the voices of others, one dies alone and in silence. Regardless of how many millions of humans had been under you power, you leave the world weak and pitiful. No matter how many cannons have roared in honor of your royal birth, when you die, only a solitary shot spreads its echo.
They were not going to get out of this. They were not going to make it. She felt it, this was stronger and would defeat them. No way they could oppose it.
The sky had turned blood-red, there was no trace left of the ethereal bluish green hue. They were standing in the control room or in what was left from it. The computers were strewn, broken in pieces on the floor, the roof was almost completely destroyed. The sand, brought in from the storm was even forming small dunes.
The satellite connection did not function, they had no internet and communication with the world was impossible. Their mission was top secret and the people who knew about it were too far away. Even if they decided to reveal their position and ask the local people for help, by the time they reached them, they would be dead without food and water.
They were all alone in that godforsaken place. Even when they arrived here, they knew that there would not be help coming from anywhere. They should put their faith in themselves and God. And God had abandoned them.
Now evil was piling up strength but they knew it would come
back soon. Marcela had just come back from the biological lab, having changed Alan’s bandage.
“Damn! The tank!” Michael rushed in, slamming the door behind his back.
He untwisted the cloth around his head with an angry movement and threw it on the floor. After him the Major came in, clutching his left shoulder with his hand. Both of them were covered with sand, all scratched, cramped and dirty.
“Boys, what happened?” Marcela jumped up and went immediately for the cabinet with the bandages.
“We were attacked by two of those. They were the doubles of Hans and one of the sergeants” Norman said and sat down so that Marcela could put a bandage on him.
The wound was bleeding profusely but was not deep, there was no residue from a bullet or inlet opening, just a number of small perforations as after a bite. Not a bite from a man or a dog, but rather strange in appearance: he was as if bitten by a shark with three rows of sharp teeth. The blood was mixed with yellow-greenish pus.
‘It’s too early for an inflammation process’, she thought. Usually pus appeared in a few days while this wound was only from a couple of minutes ago. Obviously, some unknown enzyme made the biological processes develop faster.
“You’ll feel pain for a second, Norman, I need to disinfect the wound, sorry”, she said and showered his shoulder with peroxide The bubbles created thin froth, chasing out gelatinous whitish strange matter.
Norman clenched his teeth in a painful grimace without uttering a sound. Large drops of sweat appeared on his forehead.
“I’m almost ready, Major, let me put some iodine, that does not hurt.”
“We were surprised or it wouldn’t have been so easy for them”, Michael whispered, collapsing on the chair, very pale in the face. He was losing consciousness and his head was falling backwards.
“Mike, are you okay?” Marcela cried.
“They attacked us with bare hands, while we were repairing the SUV”, Michael said with a trembling voice. “We had no time to react, but we didn’t give up… One of the doubles managed to bite the Major’s shoulder … the other…”
‘But you are bleeding, Mike!”
The young man faltered and the Lieutenant instantly caught his falling body just before it touched the floor, while Marcela leaned over him and tore with her hands his bloodied shirt.
She noticed five holes on the right side below the ribs, out of which dirty black blood was trickling, mixed with whitish fluid, spreading revolting stench.
“What happened to Mike, Norman? Tell me now! What is this wound?”
“Ivanov’s double stuck his five fingers in his stomach like skewers.”
“And he has curled them inside! My God, I wonder what these creatures are made off, if their fingers are like arrows!”
“March, look at this”, Babyface said, showing her the wound. “I’ve never seen such blood, there is something else here, isn’t there?”
“Yes, we definitely have to test this mucus.” She gathered a sample of it in a sterile retort, which she duly sealed. “Mind you, this thing aimed directly at the liver. It knows where to hit, in order to kill the more efficiently!”
Norman stood up at once in order to help the Lieutenant, who put Michael on his back and carried him to the bio lab. To common surprise he did it with such ease, as if the body of the student was made of cheese.
“You’ve obviously picked wisely your people, Major”, Marcela noted and bent over the retort with the sample.
“Where is Hans?” Norman dropped in the arm-chair, then touched the bandage with his good hand.
“He said he needed ‘to communicate with the Cube’. You know how he is, when he is obsessed with an idea.” Marcela put the last sticking plaster on Michael’s bandage and straightened up. “I’m leaving you, I need to see what this mucous nastiness is. Try to have some good rest.”
The Major did not hear her last words, having gone into a slumber from exhaustion.
Biological hall, last day, 7:59 a.m. Hans had long ago given up the efforts to repair the satellite connection and had spent the last couple of hours sitting with crossed legs on the floor by the Cube with a sheet of paper and a pencil in his hand. His head was filled with formulas, he was somewhere far away as if not noticing what was going on around him. He was so much engrossed in wha
t he was doing, that he did not even wipe the sweat, streaming down his forehead. For several hours he had not touched his pipe and Marcela started to really worry about him.
“Hans, my friend, do you want a drop of water, aren’t you thirsty?”
He turned his head to her with a wandering glance and replied:
“No, March, I’m not thirsty. Have you heard of ‘Mandela’s effect’?”
“No, what is it?”
He seemed not to have heard her at all, raised his eyes at the ceiling and focused on a dot.
“Hans!”
The plump Professor dropped his bottomless glance at her and it soaked through her.
“Come on, say something!” Marcela was starting to panic.
Hans just sniffed a couple of times, deep in thought. He sat again on the floor and started scrawling indecipherable formulas on the paper.
“Hans, please, don’t be like that… You’re scaring me…” She was already calling Norman on the walkie-talkie. “Major, please, all of you come here. Hans has totally lost it.”
The plump scientist, who always found the correct answers to all of their questions was their most solid support in this place and now she was terrified of the thought that they may lose him. He was the only one who always kept presence of mind and calmly and soberly solved the most complex problems. What would they do if he was not himself?
Marcela left Hans to his difficult formulas and started testing the samples, taken from Michael’s and the Major’s wounds. She mixed the material from the retorts with the citrate and poured the liquid over a lot of test slides. Then she prepared the color indicators and switched on the microscope.
Once under the spell of the light in the lens and engulfed in the miniature world of cells and organelles, time as if stopped for her. If someone saw them with Hans at that moment, he would take them for mute sculptures, each one absorbed with a stony glance in his and hers parallel worlds. He was transfixed by the music of figures and logics, while she was married to the variety of the mini-world.