Kane liked playing God; he wasn't about to let anyone know there was a safe way outside where they would be beyond his grasp. I was perplexed by this situation, and there were odd pieces to their story that just didn't fit. I understood Kane's self absorbed tactics, but I couldn't understand why he was be so utterly stupid as to allow those test subjects to live. Why hadn't he just sterilized the stasis chambers when he had the chance and be done with it, and remove the threat?
"What possible rationale would prompt you to let those things live," I stammered in contemplation of the absurd ignorance of it all as I pointed to the giant mutant on the screen as it lumbered on its rampage down the residential halls, "when you could have just unplugged those cryogenic units and remove the danger they posed?" The General looked like he was searching for his words, choosing what he preferred not to reveal; but Beatrice had self-preservation in mind and beat him to the punch.
"Those specimens were our only leverage for assistance when the Militia Commanders arrived." she blurted.
Their muddled sensibility slowly became clear; those giant mutated lab rats were insurance, a guarantee for a position in rank when they got out of here. The problem was, the military brass never arrived; and they never would. In recent years, Kane had been forced to tighten his grip while playing King over his subservient subjects far longer than he had originally anticipated; while keeping one eye on the clock as months turned to years since the catastrophe. In a small way, I could understand their dilemma; but I had no sympathy for their brazen selfishness.
"We need to help these people," Thorn noted with urgency, breaking the rising tension in the air as he pointed towards the security feed while the monster continued on its murderous spree through the complex while people scattered for safety. Anyone it had not killed was doubtlessly contaminated with the virus and would turn in a matter of hours, further spreading the pathogen.
"How can we stop this thing?" I pleaded with earnest, as victims continued to be butchered on the security footage.
"Caity, there were several empty service avenues below the maintenance rooms on the bottom level," Thorn answered, pointing to the area on the map where the manual laborers were stationed. Most operational areas were for refuse waste and water filtering, but it was a convenient maze of pipes that we could try to redirect that creature too.
"You think we could trap it?" I inquired with hesitation.
"Nah, woman, we could kill that thing if we could lure it to the grinder!" Haiti mentioned with a half smile, pointing to the processor room. The Grinder was the pet name given to it by the staff, which was a huge turbine fitted with interlocking blades. It's function was to pulverize food and plant waste into fertilizer for recycling back into the tree nursery and organic gardens. Problem was, that it was located several levels down, and there were a lot of innocent people caught in between.
"Lure it with what, exactly?" I was afraid to ask.
"...Maybe live bait?" Haiti suggested with a questionable pause. The absurd thought of that made Kane laugh.
"Ludicrous! Why even bother? We should make our way out of here while we still can," he bellowed in contempt at the idea.
"What makes you think there is any 'we' in that plan, old man?" Thorn shot back, "I'm all for leaving your sorry ass here, sir!" he finished sarcastically with a salute; his hand adjusted into a personal message of contempt with his middle finger.
"We have to do what we can to save those people. How do we get them to the elevator on the level above?" I demanded towards our two hostages. At that moment, one of the bound guards beside Haiti began to stir and was quickly silenced again with a swift kick to the head.
The displayed map showed there were multiple routes, though we were aware it was outdated as many sections were inaccessible or had collapsed. It turns out that Kane's daughter was one of the rare victims of Haven who died in an authentic accident, rather than by foul play. He would cooperate to save his own skin, though his contempt was unwavering.
"On one condition, we both come with you," the General demanded, nodding across the table towards his accomplice, Betty, as the sole addition to that bargain. As figured, he didn't actually give a crap about the two lackey guards lying unconscious on the floor. In his eyes, they were expendable.
Reluctantly, Thorn untied Kane but kept his gun in hand and sat him at the console. His first step was to turn off the blaring alarm, and when he did the creature we had been tracking on the cameras, gave a curious pause.
"Hold on, turn that alarm back on for a second," I suggested. When he did, the mutant became agitated again. Kane turned it off once more and this seemed to pacify the brute.
The deformed beast continued to advance its way down the halls, only becoming irate when some poor soul was unfortunate enough to come within sight of it. There were a few people didn't jump out of its way fast enough, only to have their heads promptly removed from their shoulders.
"Can you turn that alarm on in certain corridors? Maybe we can lure it by sound?" Thorn suggested to his captive at the console. Kane set up a line of site where the embedded alarms could be disabled, as they led down towards the recycle chamber located on the lower level.
"It's taking the bait," Kane conceded, "and what's this grand plan of yours to get it to jump in to that machine?" he huffed at the entire idiocy of our proposal.
"Maybe a bit of live bait would actually work," Thorn answered as he nodded in agreement towards Haiti who had offered the suggestion. With that, Thorn grabbed up Kane by the shoulder, "and you're it; time to earn your stars!"
Beatrice was quick to assist us, and helped devise a plan to instruct any survivors towards one of the sealed halls, while Thorn and Kane found a route to flank the creature and make their way to the lower waste process chamber and attempt to lure it in. Kane vowed he would only repair the bypass to the central elevator once he was back safely as insurance. As little as we liked the idea, Thorn finally agreed; knowing he had to at least make a half-assed effort to keep the arrogant prick alive. I instructed Haiti to stay in the control room to keep a guarded eye on Beatrice and the monitors while I went to help guide the survivors to safety.
"Stay here and route us to the elevators once I get everyone into the upper mess hall," I briefed, and Haiti affirmed without argument. I was suspecting he would rather stay here anyways, judging by his quick response, "Exactly how is it that you plan on getting that thing in there, really?" I asked Thorn with a breath of skepticism, referring to the recycling apparatus. Thorn just shrugged with a lack of immediate concern.
"Eh, I'll make something up," he replied with a thoughtless grin, as we gave him a worried glance in response.
Yanking the old man out the door, I followed close behind. We only had two pistols, so Thorn took one and Haiti kept the other to keep Beatrice in line or in case either of the bound guards awoke and decided to give him a hassle. My mission was only to gather anyone I could find and guide them back to the secured corridors.
We backtracked towards the exit to the Ballroom and took a side passage that weaved its way through multiple service tunnels. This area had been off limits and designated as a restricted area to the residents, so only Kane and his guards had ever been aware of the scope of its breadth through the edges of the perimeter. Once we hit a junction with an access door out in the security hall, Kane entered the code and unlocked it.
"Be careful." I offered to Thorn, with an almost idiotic thought of kissing him right then and there; which I admitted would have appeared overly dramatic. Looking like a fool, I caught myself leaning into him and quickly regained my composure. He just gave me a nod, though I might have imagined a puzzled flash in his eyes. I felt entirely like an embarrassed ass at that moment, but did a damn good job of hiding it.
Thorn escorted Kane around a corner and was gone from sight, looping their way past the creature's current position as Beatrice would guide us both on our separate objectives from the control room and communicate through the local intercoms
. I ran off on my errand, and it didn't take long before I encountered several scared residence hiding among the rooms and behind counters. I simply could not go around knocking on every door and had to keep the survivors as quiet as possible, so as not sabotage our efforts and distract the mutant from its immediate course.
Beatrice gave vocal instructions through the video screens for all inhabitants to make their way to the mess hall level and meet me there. I led several terrified individuals towards the main hall, pressing upon them that it was vital they kept silent. Many turns later through the corridors, we crossed the carnage left in the wake of the rogue monstrosity. Blood and body parts were scattered everywhere and their red painted upon the walls.
It soon became painfully clear that these people had been kept so sheltered down here that they had forgotten any protocols of how to deal with contaminated scenes. I turned back to see one middle aged step directly into a pool of blood, not realizing he had just tainted his footwear. I screamed at him as quietly as I could while advising to avoid touching anything. Once we got past the gore, I had the man kick off his contaminated shoes.
This endeavor was going to be a lot trickier than I had imagined; finally realizing to myself, that Kane might have been right. Any one of these individuals might have inadvertently contaminated themselves already. Many were holding hands, carrying their children and supporting one another. It was this faultless human contact and compassion that had exasperated and ultimately escalated the transmission of the plague in the past; it was a set of precautions necessary to exercise that they had lost all familiarity with.
My heart sank in despair while I was forced to pass up several wounded victims of the attack as they called out in pain, not realizing that they were now beyond all help. Even if I had my own firearm, I don't know if I could bring myself to give them the only kind of mercy left to offer. This genetically enhanced mutant infected everything it touched.
As I passed a bank of desks in an alcove, a movement caught my eye. Calling out if anyone was there, a little girl poked her head out from underneath the cover where she had hidden when the raging creature had passed through this way. With wide scared eyes, she turned towards me, tears beading in her eyes. I motioned for her to be quiet and come to me so I could lead her to the others.
"Don't be frightened, come on," I motioned gently for her to come to me.
"What about the monster?" the child blubbered fearfully, her eyes scanning the hall around her as she stood their poised and afraid to move.
"It's gone, but you need to come with me now," I urged while lying as best as I could, not exactly knowing where the creature was at the moment, "what is your name, little one?" I beckoned again for her to hurry.
"Hannah," she stammered, still shaken by the brutal events moments she experienced moments before. Her eyes now wandering towards the dead bodies strewn about the hall with an anxious pout forming on her lips as a tear dripped down her cheek.
"Hannah, I need you to follow me, okay? We need to leave now. I can take you to your parents," I added, hoping that I was not referring to anyone of the corpses lying broken and sprawled around the corridor.
"Mmmkay," she whimpered softly, as she suddenly bolted towards me. Her arms were outstretched, as if she expected me to grab her up the way her mother had always done. With her eyes locked upon me she faltered and stumbled while she ran the wrong way around and went straight through the mound of bodies littering the edge of the alcove.
I stood there, horrified, and almost blacked out with overwhelming anguish. The little girl had tripped and fallen to her knees, having caught her innocent fall by planting both her palms into a pool of infected blood. A mixed look of confusion and dread washed across her face as she held up her bloodied hands, droplets of red falling from her stained fingers.
Mentally, I wasn't there anymore; all I could see was the face of that little girl I had taken care of for that family in the woods all those years ago. The image of that innocent child petting that limp squirrel, and the pus of contagion dripping from its dead eyes. At that moment I relived the emptiness I felt as I fled that evening, leaving that poor girl to her fate. The gunshot I heard echoing through the valley of a parent shooting their child, and not knowing if they had all met their fate because I had been too cowardly, too emotionally weak to do the right thing when the moment called.
I knew it would haunt me, and here she was, staring at me again. Her face on another child; the pleading stare of what circumstance and destiny had brought her young life to such a sudden and horrible end. I fell back against the wall, something inside of me breaking. This girl before me, crying tears that would soon turn to a weeping of her own blood from her wide innocent eyes. To lose everything she is or was, or will ever be; into something absent and pitiful.
An agony welled inside, weakening me as I took several steps back, one after the other until I had to tear myself away. There were others to save who still had a chance, though I had an overwhelming feeling that I had left a part of myself behind standing in that blood drenched alcove. I wanted to cry, to bawl my tears out as I ran away from myself; but I had become too groomed, too jaded to show a single tear of sorrow, for it had become a familiar symbol of death and our lost humanity in our forsaken world.
Sacrifice
Kane was led several steps in front of Thorn, who encouraged him forward with a helpful prod from time to time. Beatrice directed the two men through local speaker system from back in the control room, advising them where they needed to turn as they tracked the creature via the security cameras embedded in the video screens which were peppered throughout the complex. The number of guards Kane had on staff were actually very few, which were the only personnel in the facility he allowed to carry weapons; the lethality of which, was greatly lacking, Thorn discovered from his overdressed captive.
"So, instead of going on this mutant goose chase, why didn't you just order a squad of armed guards to blast that thing? I know it's big, but a shot to the head should stop it," Thorn muttered to Kane as he gave him another push towards the lower recycle chamber.
"For all that attitude of yours, you're actually not the brightest crayon in the box, are you?" Kane snapped back at Thorn, attempting to insult his younger man, "You grabbed the first gun you could get your twitchy little fingers on, but you never even bothered to check the magazine."
Thorn froze in apprehension and quickly checked the weight of the pistol he held, opening the clip to see if there was any ammo. Suspicious for a brief moment that Kane might be manipulating him into some sort of ambush, Thorn visually checked the clip; and with a sigh he confirmed that it was loaded, but noted it was filled with a number of strange blue flat tipped slugs.
"What the hell are these?" Thorn spat back as he engaged the clip back into the weapon.
"Stun bullets," the old man replied, "it's not such a good idea to shoot any infected and take the chance of getting blood everywhere, or to kill the occasional rowdy civilian ...its bad for public relations," Kane smirked.
With a grumble, Thorn realized that Kane was correct for the most part. Using lethal force on the residents would likely raise the level of dissent among the community. Popping a Weeper now and then at a distance had its uses, but firearms did splatter infected material that could be a liability in such enclosed quarters as this. These stun bullets had a unique sheath that were designed to create a high electrical charge as they left the specialized barrel. These weapons had a much lower velocity than a regular firearm, and were not designed to penetrate, but could certainly deliver a decent amount of voltage to drop most anyone. However, they were devised to work on someone normal; and it was assumed the crazed, oversized mutation they were chasing likely didn't fit the bill.
"Still, why not just get a squad of your men and stun the fuck out of that thing?" Thorn suggested, offering his two cents of wisdom.
"The frozen specimens were engineered to have a unique physiology. I doubt their nerve impulses would even be
affected in any manner to stop it in its tracks," Kane replied, "you might only tickle that thing with these non-lethal weapons, or end up really pissing it off," Kane offered back.
That being the case, it wasn't really relevant at the moment if they were going to provoke the creature anymore than it already was, since it was engineered to be hostile to begin with. The mutation was an organism designed to go on a rampage behind enemy lines; there was little thought put into what would be done after the biological weapon had served its purpose other than termination. The fact that those government scientists had actually taken a living human being and turned it into that lumbering atrocity made it perfectly clear exactly who the monsters really were.
"We've drawn the target into the lower level and it has entered the recycle chamber. You two need to get down there and barricade the doors," Beatrice advised over the intercom screen on the wall nearest them.
"Where is Caity, now?" Thorn replied to the video board, checking to make sure she was safe.
"Cait is mak'in her way through the main level and getting the survivors to the elevator," Haiti's voice came over the speaker, "she's do'in okay, man," he consoled his friend, which satisfied Thorn's concerns for the moment.
"You two don't have any time to lose," Beatrice cut in with urgency, "I don't think we could lure that thing back in there once it realizes there is nothing down in that section," she added.
Both men hurried down the chamber hall until they came upon the stairway down to the reclamation conveyor apparatus, known as the Grinder, which was used for processing compost. What was a matter of concern was that when the huge beast had made its way through the entry to the machine room, it was apparent that it had taken an intense disliking to the double doors, one of which was nearly torn entirely from its hinges. This did not bode well for their planned attempt to lock it inside. Thorn ran to the nearest video screen and addressed the control room of this troubling development.
Broken Mirror: Apophis 2029 Page 14