Extinction Age

by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

  “Chow’s with me,” was all Beckham said.

  Fitz could smell the pressure of this mission. It was the stink of sweat, blood, and fear. Everyone in the tiny command center had been through so much. Hell, Fitz still hadn’t taken a proper shower, and he’d hardly slept a wink for nearly twenty-four hours. He was having a hard time holding his tongue.

  Jensen broke the silence. “Echo 1 will drop Alpha on the bow. Bravo will be dropped on the stern. Alpha will clear the CIC first while Bravo works on clearing the compartments below decks. Any questions?”

  No one replied and Jensen looked at his wristwatch. “All right. You have two hours to snag some shut eye. We meet on the tarmac at 2100.” He took a minute to scan every face and then stood. “That’s all. Dismissed.”

  Fitz groaned as he got up and followed the others out of the room. When he got outside, Beckham had already pulled Chow aside at the bottom of the steps. Fitz stepped into a cool breeze and took in a breath. The tension between the two operators gave him the jitters.

  “Fitz, hold up,” Beckham said. “You too, Peters.”

  When the Marines reached the bottom steps, they stopped and waited. Beckham massaged his shoulder.

  “Are you up for this? If not, tell me. There’s no shame in sitting this out,” he said, shooting a glance at Chow. “If you’re in, you’re in for the mission as Lieutenant Colonel Jensen described it. That means no going rogue and trying to be a hero if we meet the enemy.”

  “I’m good,” Peters said.

  Beckham held the man’s eye for a beat. Peters gave a slight nod and crossed his chest with an arm, stretching the muscle by holding the elbow with his other hand. When he switched arms, Beckham returned Peters’ nod and turned to Chow.

  “I’ll be fine,” Chow said. “Just want to get this over with and give Jinx a proper burial.”

  Fitz was up next. He forced a half smile. “I’m with you.”

  Beckham kept his eyes level with Chow’s gaze.

  “Like I said, Beckham. I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me,” Chow added.

  Beckham nodded and clapped a hand on Chow’s shoulder. “All right, brother,” he said and then looked toward the tarmac. Sunlight flickered off the idle Blackhawks, the metal shimmering in the final moments of the day’s heat.

  “Get some rest, if you can,” Beckham said. He pivoted away from the view and began the walk back to the barracks. That’s when Fitz saw the blood stain on the operator’s upper shoulder. Nobody had questioned whether Beckham was okay to go. Fitz was starting to wonder if someone should.

  “Have you ever done this before?” Kate asked.

  Ellis shook his helmet. “Can’t say that I have. Never been in a situation where I needed riot gear.”

  Kate paused to scan her partner. Black armor bulwarked his chest and neck. He pulled on his leg and arm guards and then donned a helmet with a metal grill.

  “I meant have you ever taken a bone marrow biopsy?”

  Ellis bent down to lace up his boots. “Nope. Never done that either.”

  Kate finished putting on her own gear and considered the task ahead. The definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and hoping for a different result. Every time they entered the facility where they kept the Variants was a risk. Flying them to the island had been a risk. But in order to save lives, they would need to continue to take risks. This time there was no one else to do it but Kate and Ellis.

  She slipped the chest armor over her shirt just as the door to the small locker area in the armory opened. A tall Medical Corps soldier strolled inside. His face showed a racial mix that Kate couldn’t place. His olive skin could be Italian, but his green eyes were far from Eastern European.

  “Doctors, I’m Sergeant Lombardi. Lieutenant Colonel Jensen requested that I help you with the test.”

  Italian after all, Kate mused.

  “Which one are we going to put down?” Lombardi asked. He continued across the room to a locker and inserted a key.

  “The injured female Variant in Cell 3,” Kate said. “I want one that’s healing. The stem cells will be proliferating at an extraordinary rate.”

  Lombardi nodded like he knew what she was saying. “Can’t put that one under though, Doc. The tranquilizer almost killed it the last time. Too damn weak right now. We were lucky to save it.” He opened the locker and pulled out a metal rod. Holding it firmly in his hand he said, “Not to worry. It will already be restrained by metal chains, and I’ll be bringing this.”

  Ellis backed away from the oversized Taser. “Looks like it would just piss one of ‘em off to me.”

  The sergeant shook his head and reached back into his locker. He removed his riot suit and began changing right in front of them.

  Kate caught herself staring at the man’s tanned, well-muscled physique. Ellis was doing the exact same thing. He quickly glanced over to Kate and then at the ceiling like he didn’t know what to look at. She could see the color rising his face. She felt the heat of embarrassment in her own cheeks, but when Ellis’ nervous eyes darted back to Kate, she was smiling warmly. She’d always wondered why Ellis had never mentioned a girlfriend, and now she knew.

  “Here’s the plan. I’ll go in first and zap the fucker in the face,” Lombardi said with one of his legs halfway into the padded suit. “Dr. Ellis and I will then tighten the chains so it won’t be able to move. That should give Dr. Lovato a chance to take a bone marrow sample.”

  “Sounds like a pretty shitty plan to me, Sergeant,” Kate said. “No offense. We were watching last time you tried to sedate it.”

  “Either of you got a better idea?”

  Ellis looked at the Taser with narrowed eyes. “Not really. But I will take one of those.”

  Lombardi grinned, revealing a bottom row of crooked white teeth. “I can arrange that.” He reached down and tossed the Taser to Ellis. Then he grabbed his armored vest and continued suiting up. He finished by pulling on an armored wrist piece that had teeth marks from an earlier attack.

  There was something about Lombardi that made Kate nervous. He seemed sloppy. Inexperienced. Beckham would never have joked in such a situation. As the thought went through her mind, Kate realized that working with Beckham and his team had spoiled her. Not everyone was a Delta Force Operator, after all. Anxious to get started, she decided to let it slide.

  Kate readied the biopsy needle and took in a breath. Nothing to it, she told herself. Insert the needle in the patient’s bone, remove the center of the needle, and move the hollowed needle deeper into the bone.

  Only this wasn’t a normal patient. This was a monster.

  Kate shivered inside her suit. “Let’s get this over with.”

  “Follow me,” Lombardi said. He led them out of the armory and down the steps to the adjacent building. A patrol of soldiers passed, their tired eyes scanning the underbrush. They moved sluggishly, fatigue breaking them down with every step. They seemed to barely notice the three medical personnel in riot gear.

  Lombardi opened the door when they got to Building 4 and gestured for her and Ellis to go inside. Kate’s skin prickled as soon as she entered the facility. She could almost hear the claws scratching across the ceiling and the popping joints of Patient 12—the Variant that had nearly killed her. The armored suit suddenly felt paper thin. She hesitated inside the lobby, peering down the hallway. Two soldiers patrolled the wing with assault rifles.

  “Well, come on,” Lombardi said, waving them forward.

  Ellis stopped and walked back to her. “You don’t have to do this, Kate. I’m sure Sergeant Lombardi and I can take care of it.”

  She shook her head slowly. “No, I’m fine. You need me.”

  “You sure?”

  Kate brushed past Ellis, their armor scraping. “Okay then,” she heard him say as she walked toward Lombardi. The sergeant was already at Cell 3.

  “Stay right outside this door,” Lombardi told the two guards. “If anything happens, you have permission to
take the patient down.” He took a peek through the glass and then turned back to Kate and Ellis.

  “Okay, remember the plan?” he asked.

  “You Taser the fucker in the face,” Ellis said. “Then we tighten the restraints and Kate gets her sample.”

  Lombardi gave a thumbs up and crouched next to his bag. He pulled a second Taser and unfolded it with a slap to the side of his leg. It extended into a two-foot long weapon.

  “Follow me,” he said.

  Kate fell into line behind the men. The sooner they got the sample, the sooner she could start working on another bioweapon.

  Lombardi unlocked the door and pulled it open. The naked female Variant lay on its back. It twisted viciously against its restraints, rattling the chains over the ground. The monster’s lean muscles stretched and lines of blue veins stretched with them.

  A screech followed as the creature homed in on the team with its single, yellow eye. The creature hunched, pushing its body up with its shoulders. Bandages on its shredded right leg leaked a pus-like yellow jelly, and the wound on its left arm bled freely.

  Kate followed the men inside the room with one hand on Ellis’s shoulder and the other on the needle. Lombardi circled the monster, the tip of his Taser sliding across the floor.

  The Variant twisted its head, whipping thin strands of blonde hair over pale translucent skin. It snarled and snapped at Lombardi’s foot. He parried the attack with his Taser and shocked it in the middle of its forehead.

  A high-pitched howl erupted from the monster’s mouth. The sound intensified until it was so loud it hurt Kate’s ears. She dropped the needle and cupped her hands over her helmet.

  Lombardi hesitated as the creature jerked on the ground. Then he bolted forward and shocked the Variant again. This time he hit it between its breasts. Saliva and blood exploded from its mouth, peppering his visor. The Variant sucked in several deep breaths, gasping to fill its lungs.

  Now was their chance. Kate scooped up the needle and patted Ellis on the back. He was already moving to the right. Lombardi crouched down and tightened the chain on the Variant’s left arm and then its left leg. Ellis followed suit, and in a matter of seconds they had the monster stretched across the floor in an X shape. Both men prepared to strike with the Tasers.

  “Come on!” Lombardi shouted.

  Kate approached with a guarded half step. The creature snapped at her with jagged, broken teeth as she grabbed for its left arm.

  Kate jerked backward. She felt her heart rise toward her throat, pounding so hard it threatened to jump out of her chest. The monster was studying her, and for a moment Kate saw a hint of fear, a fragment of humanity. It vanished when the thing chomped again, the fear giving way to rage.

  “Move it, Doc!” Lombardi shouted.

  Kate pulled off the plastic tip of the needle and grabbed the Variant’s arm again. This time she didn’t flinch as it clacked its teeth together.

  She inserted the needle into the bone, removed the center, and moved the hollow needle deeper. The monster let out a low whine, the tone almost melancholy. Kate withdrew the needle, retreated to the wall, and placed the sample in a secure plastic box.

  The Variant thrashed and screeched as Kate darted through the open door, past the soldiers, and down the hallway until she was at the entrance to the building. She didn’t even glance over her shoulder to see if Ellis and Lombardi were following. When she got outside, she placed the box carefully on the ground, pulled off her helmet, and took in a long breath of fresh evening air.

  “Is that you, Kate?” came a voice below.

  Kate brushed a curtain of hair from her face. Beckham stood on the walkway, looking up with a furrowed brow. He was decked out in combat armor, a rifle slung over his back.

  “What the hell are you wearing that suit for?” Beckham asked.

  She took a second to catch her breath and said, “I could ask you the same thing.”

  He glanced down and then looked away. “I have to go back out there.”

  Kate followed his gaze to the north, where the Truxtun had last been seen. It only took a second to realize where he was going.

  “You said you were staying for a while,” she said.

  “I have to, Kate, I’m sorry.” His eyes flicked to the box on the concrete landing. “What were you doing in there?”

  Kate huffed. She wanted to hear something from him; an apology, an explanation, some display of emotion—anything but questions.

  “Were you inside of one of those cells? With a Variant?” Beckham asked.

  “Does it matter?”

  “You put your life in jeopardy, Kate, without even telling me—and you’re going to lecture me?” He shook his head. “How about you do your job, and I’ll do mine. Things will work better for us that way.”

  Kate’s heart ached. He was right, she should have told him. But he should have told her too.

  “When were you going to tell me about your mission?” Kate asked, her voice softening.

  “What do you think I was on my way to do right now?” He straightened his helmet with a tap of his hand, and turned to walk away.

  “Don’t go, Reed. Please, don’t,” Kate said, walking down a single step.

  “I can’t let my men go without me. I won’t,” Beckham corrected. “I won’t abandon them.”

  “What about…” her voice trailed off and she searched his eyes for an answer. It wasn’t that Beckham didn’t care, Kate realized. The problem was that he cared too much.

  “I’m sorry, Kate. I’ll be back in a few hours,” Beckham said. He offered a short nod and then hurried away.

  -9-

  Darkness shrouded Plum Island. Another precious day humanity would never get back had passed. Countless more lives, lost. The scars from the previous night still lingered. Beckham noticed every single sign of battle as he strode across the tarmac with Fitz, Jensen, and the others.

  After two hours of downtime and a fight with Kate, he was having second thoughts about the mission. Maybe he needed to sit this one out and let someone else take his place. He was injured and exhausted.

  A simple sidelong glance at his team reminded him they were all in the same boat. Every man wore the same solemn, tired look. Beckham was just doing a better job of hiding it than they were.

  There was no one else to take his place, and he wasn’t about to let Chow go out there on his own. The memory of the mission to Bragg was still fresh on Beckham’s memory. In the search for his family, Horn had broken a cardinal rule—he’d let his emotions get the best of him. Beckham had done the same thing by giving chase in New York when Jinx was taken. Chow was liable to make the same mistake on the Truxtun. Beckham couldn’t stop him from going now, but he could monitor his actions. Just like he’d monitored Horn’s at Bragg.

  To add to the stress, Beckham felt growing dread from the way he’d left things with Kate. She deserved better. He’d been a prick, but he would make it up to her when he got back.

  The distant chirp of crickets followed the teams across the tarmac to the choppers. As soon as they arrived, Beckham and his squad began their final preparations. He tightened the strap of his helmet and checked his optics.

  “Listen up,” Jensen said. He licked his lips and waited.

  All around Beckham, the other men stopped what they were doing and faced the lieutenant colonel.

  “Situation is still the same. Ops has been hailing the Truxtun all day—still no answer. Recon hasn’t found anything. Guess they heard a dog barking, but that’s about it,” Jensen said.

  “A dog?” Fitz asked.

  “Yeah, a dog. Four legs and a tail,” Jensen said.

  Fitz blushed and Beckham grimaced. Tensions were too high. The knot in his sour gut tightened. Maybe the mission wasn’t a good idea after all.

  “You know the drill. Once we clear the ship, I’ll call in Echo 1 and 2. We’ll load up on all the weapons and supplies we can manage to jam into the birds. Got it?” Jensen said.

  Be
ckham locked eyes with Jensen, ready to protest, but he backed down at the last second. Now wasn’t the time to question the mission. He should have done that hours before, during the briefing. His job now was to follow orders and achieve their objective.

  “Yes, sir,” Beckham said after a brief pause.

  “All right, men, let’s mount up,” Jensen said, his voice filled with a dangerous enthusiasm. He grabbed his weapon and jumped into Echo 1.

  The rotors on both choppers made their first pass, whooshing overhead. Beckham jogged after the others to Echo 2. He took a seat next to Fitz and immediately traced a finger over his vest pocket. Inside was the tattered picture of his mom. He patted the pocket carefully, worried that he would damage his last copy.

  Chow took the seat next to Beckham and pointed the tip of his M4 to the metal floor. Closing his eyes, he whispered something under his breath and then exhaled.

  Good, Beckham thought. Maybe Chow had his emotions under control after all. He bumped his fellow operator on the arm with a friendly fist.

  “In and out. Easy as shit,” Beckham said. “Get some ammo and grub and get back safe. Then we honor Jinx and the others. Give them the funerals they deserve.”

  Chow slowly nodded. The chopper rose into the air and Beckham leaned back, resting his helmet on the metal wall, praying the Truxtun was an unguarded treasure chest free of Variants.

  The domed buildings shrank as the chopper pulled away from the island. Somewhere down there, Kate was working on another weapon that was supposed to save the world. She’d put her life in jeopardy to get a sample from a Variant, and although the thought of her getting hurt made him furious, he wasn’t mad at Kate for doing her job. Neither of them was good at delegating the most deadly work, especially when protecting the lives of others was involved.

  As the facilities vanished from view, he feared that what made them alike would also be what drove them apart.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” Kate snapped.

  Ellis held up his hands defensively. “I’m sorry. Jeez.”