Hollis peered down at him, glacial blue eyes seemed to pierce his soul and reflected in them he bore witness to his own doubts and dread. “Sure thing lone star, think we all need a break after this,” the smile that followed was fake, yet Daniel appreciated the effort.
“Ok then, once Geek has got the pod ready, I’ll be point, I want Doc with me in case whoever is inside needs medical attention. Snowman, Killer you’ll be at the door covering just in case, Boy you’re in the corridor with Geek. This is simple, we open the pod, if whatever is in there isn’t human or make’s a threatening move it dies. Rules of engagement are simple, shoot if I do, or shoot if I’m dead. If I go down Snowman, Killer, lay down covering fire,” he pivoted to look at the two heavy weapons specialist. “Get Doc out of the room and fall back to the drop ship don’t wait for anything, get back and get the hell off this ship.” He waited, “We all know what to do so let’s get it done, clear?” he asked.
“Like rain water,” the replies came, almost collectively.
A grin creased his face, however much he was falling apart he could always rely on the men and women he had around him, they were more than friends, more than family. It was hard to describe the bond to those that have never served, had never fought or bleed with another person.
“Geek, how are we looking?”
“Almost ready,” she replied as her fingers froze on the keyboard, “She’s coming online now.” She pulled her tracker free from the exposed circuits and took two steps backwards.
It was then that the light above the pod began to flash, “Awakening sequence has begun.” a shrill, mechanised voice crackled through broken speakers, “Pod alpha four, three, five, is online.”
“Get ready,” Daniel uttered as he brought up his weapon, his finger shot to the trigger and his body prepared for battle. Tendons and muscles tightened and his vision narrowed.
“Prepare for awakening in five, four, three.”
“Why is there always a goddamn countdown?” Hollis uttered.
“Cause it always builds up the tension,” Kelly added.
“Two, one, awakening commencing.”
There was a loud bang and steam ruptured from a pipe above them.
“You have to be shitting me,” Denzel bellowed.
“Talking about shitting, I may have just made a mess,” Mathieu retorted.
“Enough,” Daniel said as he marched forward towards the pod, the green light above it blinked several times and then went off. The door began to creak open, old rusted hinges responded and screeched angrily, as a thin cloud of mist escaped. Within his mind, he played out the scenarios, they came like frozen pictures laid on top of each other, a human hand caked in blood, snaking around the door, clawed talons, tentacles, everything that a lifetime worth of horror movies had breed into him. He felt the hairs on the nap of his neck rise and his breath caught in his throat.
Once again he was back at his home, standing outside his parent’s bedroom all those years ago, his sister’s voice again so clear.
“Don’t open the door, just run.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Mille stood next to Daniel and watched in reverential silence as the door to the emergency pod, slid open cautiously, as if the metal itself was resisting releasing whatever was contained within it. To her, fear was something that she had become used to, the only dream she had ever had as a child was to be a doctor and to help others and fear comes with the job. Yet now as she stood within the gloom and waited for the sole survivor of this carnage to reveal themselves, she felt true dread, claw its way into her stomach, like the icy talons of some kind of primal ghoul.
Images flickered within Millie’s mind and once again her own nightmare begins again in earnest, she was back within the operating room and it is not fear that she feels but ecstasy. The effects of the drugs are quick, the euphoric high, her limbs feel lighter and deep inside her abdomen there’s a warm glow, like she has a roaring fire at her very core.
Millie looks down at the girl, her image still so clearly burnt within her soul, she was only twelve, but already the woman that she would become was clear. Millie moves strands of loose hair away from the girls face, even now she cannot speak her name, which is her final failure and her own weakness. Her gloved hands are covered in sanguine fluid. Millie glanced down, the child’s chest is laid open and she has no memory of starting the procedure. She peers around and finds there is no one in the room with her.
Millie’s attention is drawn to the scanner floating above her head, a red light is flashing and to her it seems so beautiful, like a star blinking in and out of existence. She studies the reading, the girl’s heart has stopped. She shifts her gaze down again and sees thick, dark, crimson blood pooling within the exposed ribcage, somewhere within her, the doctor is screaming, yet it is the addict that has control now.
Millie reaches down tenderly and takes hold of the child’s uncovered heart, she feels the warm liquid even through the latex and senses the last few beats. She doesn’t realize, but already it is too late, the child has died. Later her lawyers will argue that it was accidental, they will argue over legal language Millie doesn’t understand or care about. They are the best that money can buy of course, her family have made sure of that and like all things in this universe justice is for sale. Yet she knows the truth the child’s blood is on her hands and always will be; she killed her. The girl stands next to her, now, pale almost ashen skin and her chest is still open. Her vacant eyes fixed upon Millie, they hold no hatred, or anger, they are the eyes of the dead and all they embrace is the final truth.
Millie is back in the room, “Doc,” a voice, “Doc, are you with me?”
She turned and saw Daniel staring at her, “Yes,” she managed to croak.
She feels like she is going to pass out, she barred her eyes and fought to control her body. Snapshots flare within her consciousness, the needle enters her vein, the tourniquet is removed and her fingers flex trying to speed up the movement of the drug. For the first time in more than four years she hungers for that fix, not for the high, but just so that she can forget that night, that single great mistake, that will forever haunt her, as it should. The first thing they teach you at medical school is to do no harm and she had failed that most basic tenet. She hadn’t meant to, that is the argument that has allowed her to continue for these last years, hoping that if she does enough good, helps enough people, she will somehow be forgiven for her trespasses. Yet she knows that she won’t be, after all she killed a child, what greater sin is there than that.
“Doc,” suddenly hands are on her shoulder. “Doc, are you alright?”
She opened her eyes and Daniel is in front of her, she stretched out a gloved hand and slides it over the glass that covers his face, she wishes she could feel his skin.
“Yeah,” she wrestles her feelings under control, “I’m ok,” she is suddenly aware of her hand and removes it. “I don’t know what happened.”
“It’s this goddamn ship,” Hollis added from the doorway.
“Yeah the sooner were out of here the better we will all feel,” Denzel concurred, the flame from his weapon causing shadows to dance over the wall.
“Doc, you with me?” Daniel enquired nervously.
“Yeah don’t worry Lone Star,” She uttered as she managed to pull herself up, “I’m fine, just got a bit light headed, that’s all and I’ll be fine.”
“Check your mix,” Daniel said calmly.
Even though she knew that wasn’t the problem, she peered down at the digital read out on her wrist, everything was fine, “It’s all in the green,” she felt like her legs had turned to jelly. “I’m fine sir, sorry.” She battled to keep her voice level and calm, even though within her a hurricane of sensations was swirling.
“Ok good,” Daniel turns back to the emergency pod, the door stands ajar, “I’m going to open it up.”
“Are you sure you want to do that Sir?” Hollis asked.
“Do I want to,” Daniel repl
ies calmly, “No,” once more a slight hesitation, “Is it our job to, yes.”
Millie tries to move yet it is as if she is frozen to the spot, she peers down and in her hand she holds the laser scalpel, gore and flesh caked along its metal surface. A miasma of tissue and fluid rises from the superheated blade.
“Doc you’re with me, just in case,” Daniel says as he steps forward.
She wants to follow him but her limbs refuse to respond to her desire, she feels her muscles twitch and her breathing becomes raged. She is a silent observer now to the events, as if she has stepped out from her own body and is staring down. She watches helpless as Daniel approach the door, behind her in the doorway, Hollis and Denzel stand ready there weapons primed.
“Ok I’m going to open the door,” Daniel’s voice is still and steady, he is strong even now, even after everything. “Everyone get ready.”
All she can do is watch now, Daniel’s gloved hands edges over the steel of the door, Millie wants to scream at him to stop, yet she is no longer there, she is back within the shadowy operating room, the girl is back on the table, her chest is agape, yet so are her eyes. The child doesn’t speak, she doesn’t need to, as her eyes tell the whole story. Millie stands in silence, looking down at the girl whose life she just took away. A life she cut short, a light that she extinguished from this universe. Millie feels tears on her cheeks and she screams, not just for the pain she had caused but all the pain she feels.
The girl simply stares at her and there is nothing she can say. The dead have no voice. Millie glances down at her own body again, she turns and a bright light greets her, the child stands at the end of it, her hands outstretched. Millie edges forward towards the radiance, leaving the pain and regret behind. She steps into the tunnel and towards the child’s hand. It is only then that she see the shadow, standing over the girl, its eyes are like coals in a roaring fire. Millie feels it reaching for her. She can feel it hunger, its desire, not for her flesh but for her very soul. The girl simply smiles, after all the dead have no voice and that is what this ship is, death.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Daniel’s hand is on the door, in his mind his sister voice repeats on a seemingly endless lope, “Don’t open the door, just run.”
He can’t though, he begins to pull the hatch open, when he hears the scream, this time not within his mind but within the room. He pivoted around and can only watch as Millie slumps unceremoniously to the ground.
“Doc,” he yells as he rushed to her.
“What the fuck!” Hollis exclaims.
“What happened?” Denzel asks, panic rich within his voice.
Daniel doesn’t have time to respond, he has more pressing matters to attend to. Just as he gets to Millie lifeless body, the door to the emergency pod bursts open, his eyes race to it. Before he can speak, Hollis depresses the trigger on his chain gun. White hot projectiles surge forth and tear into the metal wall. Sirens are whaling and lights are flashing now.
For Daniel it is as if the very sands of time have slowed, he sees everything happen as if they are single pictures laid out before him. The shadow erupts from the gloom of the escape pod, weapons train on it, faces set in masks of shock, people shout, Denzel’s flamer burps a wave of brilliant fire into the room, everything is illuminated, the liquid blaze splashes over the far wall like a wave hitting rock. The shadow moves, it outline given form, two big eyes, bright and gleaming, ears standing erect, a tongue lapping from its mouth.
“Stop!” Daniel shouts, the firing ceases, yet the flames themselves still reign, engulfing the far side of the chamber, it ebbs and flows like a living organism seeking out food onto which to feed.
He looks at the wolf, it stands only a few feet away from him, it shifts up on its haunches its nostrils flared, its eyes constantly moving.
“What the fuck is going on?” Kelly enquired loudly as she advanced into the room, the animal turns to her, it growls, exposing its fangs.
“Is that a fucking wolf?” Hollis asked.
“Are you fucking blind?” Denzel retorted sharply, “Of course it’s a fucking wolf.”
“Alright no need to be a dick about it,” Hollis added.
Daniel’s mind was racing, he had to react quickly, “Geek check on Doc.”
“Roger that sir,” Kelly answers as she raced towards Millie’s body.
Daniel edged towards the wolf, slowly, he allows his weapon to hang by his waist and holds his hands out to show the animal, he means no harm.
“It’s ok boy,” he said slowly.
The beast watches him, its eyes so human, so full of emotion. It tilts its head to one side cautiously, its breathing quietens and it appears to calm slightly.
“That’s right,” Daniel said as he gets closer to the animal, the light of the fire gives him a clear look at it. It is a monster, muscles cover every inch of its body, its thick fur gleams, chalk white leads into gun-metal grey and long powerful legs culminate in large paws. It is clear that someone had definitely cared for and domesticated the beast.
“Easy boy,” he whispers, he is only a foot away from the wolf now, he stops and gets down on his knee and holds out his hand, he wished he could take the gloves off, yet that was not possible.
“Killer put out the damn fire,” He said not taking his eyes from the animal.
“Sir,” Denzel responded as he shuffled behind Daniel. He grabbed a portable fire extinguisher from the wall and aimed it at the fire, instead of the modern stasis field, a jet of white foam, geysers forth coating the vivid blaze. Depriving the monster of oxygen and like any living being, it died. Caustic black smoke raised up and pooled along the roof.
The wolf startled, backs away towards the wall, its nostrils splayed again. It opened its mouth wide, fang’s drip with viscous saliva and it howled. It was a haunting sound that seemed to echo around the small, cramped room and set everyone on edge.
“Easy there boy,” Daniel pleads his voice, slow and calm, he is used to dealing with animals, as a boy he had a natural affinity with them, his father always said they can sense kindness and will respond to it.
“Geek, how’s Doc?” He asked taking his eyes away from the animal for a moment; Kelly is knelt over Millie’s still body.
“I don’t think she’s breathing Sir,” Her reply is hurried and coated with emotion.
“Ok just hold on,” He turned back to the wolf, he has to be quick now, he edged on the ground towards the beast. “It’s ok boy, I’m not going to hurt you, but I have other things that I have to deal with, you understand?” he asked, a broad beam on his face, the animal tilted its head in reply, “Yeah you understand me don’t you?” the wolf’s tongue emerges slowly from behind the fangs and unhurriedly it lowers its head.
Daniel drifts closer, still cautiously, being sure to not make any sudden act, he holds out his hand and allows the animal to sniff the glove cautiously, “I know it’s only a glove but you understand, don’t you?” the animal answers by licking his palm.
“Good boy,” Daniel’s free hand rubs gently behind the beast’s ear, the wolf slowly slouched to the ground. “Yeah your ok aren’t you?”
“Looks like you’ve made a friend there Lone Star,” Hollis added from the relative safety of the doorway.
“I don’t want to break up the love in,” Kelly shouted, “But Docs in trouble here.”
“It’s ok Geek,” Daniel replied as he stared at the animal, “Stay boy.” The creature sat down, “Good boy,” he exclaimed and rubbed the beasts head gently.
Then he flew across to Kelly who was desperately trying to get Millie onto her side.
“I can’t see her readout,” Kelly exclaimed nervously.
“It’s ok Geek,” Daniel answered as he came to hunker down next to her and helped to roll the Millie onto her side, he peered down at the screen on the back of the suit, which gave the vital signs of the wearer. Her signs were low, but Millie wasn’t dead.
“She’s alive,” he shouted in relief.
“Thank fuck for that,” Denzel added exuberantly.
“What happened?” Kelly asked as she snakes her hands over the suit looking for any kind of obvious malfunction or fissure in the material.
“I don’t know Geek,” Daniel said as he shuttered his eyes for a minute, a wave of respite washing over his already exhausted and drained body. “I think she was having trouble before we opened up the pod.”
Mathieu stuck his head round the door, “Maybe she got scared stiff.”
Hollis grabbed a hold of him and almost lifted him off the ground. “Watch your fucking tongue Boy, Doc is more of a soldier than you could dream of being.”
“I was only.”
Was all that Mathieu could say before Daniel interrupted, “Enough Snowman put him down, we’ve got real problems here.”
Hollis didn’t say anything, but he put Mathieu down, once his feet were back on the ground the young soldier piped up, “It was just a joke Sir I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“I know Boy,” Daniel responded coarsely, “Just keep watching the corridor ok.”
Daniels mind raced, he knew two things for sure, he had to get Millie off this ship and he had to also continue forward and get the Black box. They had to know what had happened on this leviathan.
He keyed his communicator, “Monster you copy over?”
“Yeah Lone Star this is Monster go ahead,” Bill’s voice crackled over his auditory implant.
“Doc is down, I don’t know what the matter is, but she’s still breathing.”
“What happened?”
“Wish I knew Monster,” Daniel retorted as he glanced down at Millie’s face, her eyes were barred and he thought he saw tears trickle down her blanched cheeks. “Look bring up the whole of team two, you secure Millie and get her back to the drop ship. I’ll take the rest of my team and get the black box. If we’re not back to you within half an hour or Doc gets worse you take the drop ship back to the Troy and send another one for us.”
The First Dawn (The Sci-Corp War Saga Book 1) Page 17