by Brad Knight
“Let's go!” said the man in the jeep's passenger seat. The driver turned on the vehicle.
The jeep slowly drove towards the front gates of Borroloola. Once they were opened the all-terrain equipped vehicle sped out into the Australian savannah leaving clouds of dust and sand behind.
Xin watched the lights of Borroloola get smaller and smaller. His eyes started to close on their own. He saw flashes of Shanghai. They were extremely brief moments when he wasn't in the back of the jeep. Bumps on the road to the plane wreckage jostled him awake and back to reality, but sure enough, he drifted off again.
General Xin had gone days without sleep. As strong as he was, that need to slumber always wins. He found himself drifting in and out of consciousness. Though he didn’t know it, he was experiencing micro dreams.
Finding the plane crash wasn't difficult. In a vast desert of black, burning wreckage was easy to spot. It was a bright jet plane fuel fire.
The jeep bounced up and down as the driver took the vehicle off road. It certainly wasn't a smooth ride. But it was a necessary one. If they traveled on roads, getting to the crash would have taken twice as long.
Heat from the plane wreckage was so intense that those in the jeep felt it long before getting close. The winds conspired to blow the thick black smoke in General Xin's direction. It was enough to make the driver stop the car.
“We'll go on foot from here,” said the man in the passenger seat.
Though he wanted to lead the group, General Xin kept quiet. He certainly wasn't in any shape to be out there with them, let alone lead them.
Everyone got out of the jeep and approached the 787 wreckage. Through the smoke it was hard to see and breath. In it blew burning embers, carried by the winds. At least at first. The group covered their mouths and noses with bandanas or the collars of their shirts.
When the winds shifted and the smoke cleared up a bit, the group from Borroloola could truly see the full scope of the wreck. The huge plane was split in two. After hitting the ground, the nose of the 787 was flattened. The fuselage tumbled, breaking off the front. Then the back half burst into flames.
Pieces of the plane littered the ground all around the wreckage. The group could hardly take a step without something crunching under their feet. General Xin almost stumbled over Isaac's amputated leg.
“Who's plane is this?” asked one of the group as he sifted through the wreckage with the barrel of his rifle.
“Don't know. Whoever it was must have been important. This is the first plane we've seen in god knows how long,” commented another member of the group.
That looks familiar. General Xin saw something on the side of the 787's fuselage. There was soot and dirt covering it, but it looked like a logo. And it was one he recognized. Galatea.
General Xin unconsciously readied his rifle. He knew that Galatea meant trouble. Before that trouble arrived, he would be ready for it. At least that was what he thought.
“There's something moving under here. I think there's a survivor!” yelled one of Xin's group.
Get away from there! Move! General Xin knew there was trouble hidden in the 787 wreckage. He never had the time to actually warn the rest of the group before all hell broke loose.
The member of Xin's group that thought he found something still stood near the wreckage of the burning fuselage. With his free hand he tried to shield his face from the intense heat. He was fixated on the movement he saw through a broken window. Suddenly a spear made of nanites jutted out from that window and impaled him through the chest.
General Xin ran over to the impaled man. His desire and instinct was to help, even though there was no helping him. Before he reached him, the nanite spear exploded into a swarm, not unlike flies or other flying insects.
The swarm of nanites flew away from their now dead victim. They gathered together a couple of feet away. In a flurry of movement, they reformed into a humanoid shape. Once in that shape they magnetized and stuck together, forming the leader of the small pack of Alphas.
At first transfixed by the transformation of the nanite spear into an Alpha, Xin's group just stared. It was as if they couldn't comprehend what was happening. They couldn't believe it. That only lasted a few seconds. Because there was more than one Alpha in the wreckage, which quickly became apparent.
Them again? What are they? General Xin stared at the lead Alpha. He remembered seeing it back in Shanghai before the walled city fell. It stared back at him with intense, glowing yellow eyes that shined through the smoke.
General Xin heard one of his group members scream. It was the woman who drove the jeep. There was a hand and forearm sticking out of her chest. The portion of arm was metallic and reflected the nearby fire. Behind the driver, in the dark, was another pair of yellow glowing eyes Her screaming stopped.
Retreat! General Xin didn't even bother squeezing off a few rounds. Instead he made a mad dash for the jeep. He had to get away and return to Borroloola base. They had to be warned what was coming, or their slaughter would be ensured. Though in the back of his mind he knew that there was a better than good chance they would be slaughtered even if he warned them.
Xin heard gunfire. It was from the only other surviving member of the group. The man tried to fight off the third Alpha. His bullets did nothing.
There was no reason for General Xin to look back. Or wait. He knew that there was no helping his fellow Phoenix member. Instead he decided to do what he could to help those back at base.
General Xin reached the jeep. He was about to get in when he was grabbed by the back of his head. In a flash his face was driven into the side of the vehicle. There was shock followed haziness and dizziness. The General felt blood dripping down his forehead and face. Pain hadn't set in yet, but it eventually would.
The leader of the Alphas picked General Xin up by his shirt. Every limb of the General’s body was limp and unresponsive. His body still had not regained it's bearings.
“Where am me?” asked the lead Alpha. The tone and sound of its voice changed with every syllable making it hard to understand.
Xin didn't answer. Him not answering angered the lead Alpha. It's yellow glowing eyes squinted like human eyes did when upset.
“Where am me!” demanded the lead Alpha.
“Australia.” General Xin understood the lead Alpha the second time.
“Australia.” The lead Alpha perfectly mimicked General Xin's voice. Then it dropped him. It made an assessment that the unarmed older man wasn't a threat.
After unhanding General Xin, the lead Alpha summoned the two omegas to his side. Once they were reunited, it opened its mouth impossibly wide. It's bottom jaw reached it's belly. Out of that mouth it let out a screech that perforated both of the General's ear drums. The sound didn't do it, even though it was loud. It was the waves of pressure that accompanied them.
General Xin coughed up blood. It wasn't just his ear drums that were damaged. The wave of pressure expelled from the lead Alpha's distended mouth battered his organs. If that wasn't shitty enough, he couldn't hear the screeches coming from all around, near and far, in the dark. They were from all the infected within earshot.
Sensing an open window of opportunity, General Xin picked himself up off the dirt and climbed into the jeep. He was too nervous to look back. If he did, he knew he'd see the Alphas coming for him. So he turned the ignition and slammed on the gas.
Between the dust and dirt kicked up by the jeep's tires and the almost oppressive black of the very early morning, Xin had a hard time seeing where he was going. All he could see were those glowing yellow eyes. And his foot got heavier.
There was an intense ringing in General Xin's ears. He was disoriented. Due to his lack of sleep, his vision became like video, skipping frames. It was a minor miracle that he didn't crash the jeep.
The woman in the watchtower who first saw the 787 spotted the oncoming lights of the jeep speeding towards the front gates of the base. They're already coming back? That was fast.
Eventually General Xin reached the outer fences of Borroloola base. It wasn't until he stopped the jeep and fell out that he felt safe. The guards at the front gate rushed over to help him. They asked what happened and where the other team members were, but he couldn't hear a word they said. Aside from the ringing in his ears, he heard nothing.
The front gate guards picked Xin up They put his arms around their shoulders and carried him past the fences into the Borroloola base. Slipping in and out of consciousness, he had no idea what was going on. More importantly, neither did any Phoenix member in the facility.
Mrs. Meesang and her husband rushed out of the compound to meet General Xin. Right behind them were medics with a stretcher. Xin told himself he would stay strong so he'd be able to tell them what was coming. He wanted to save them or at least give them a chance. But his body needed mending. In order to allocate its energies properly, it shut him down. The General was finally going to get some sleep.
Chapter 11
: Deja Vu
“I'm telling you, they kidnapped them. There were men, women and children. They marched them right through the jungle at gunpoint,” said Mack. He was on Haven in the sleeping quarters that he shared with Stephanie and Amber. Both the girls were there with him.
“For what?” asked Stephanie, who didn't want to believe what Mack told her.
“Wait, when was this? I thought you were on the beach?” Just as Mack figured, Amber had no clue where he was for those few hours back at the Maluku Islands.
“I don't know what for. But I doubt it was for any good reason. People tend not to kidnap others just to show them a good time.”
“Jesus, listen to yourself. This is the first truly good thing since all this started. And you want to throw it all away because of what you think you saw in a jungle.” Stephanie wasn't ready to even entertain the idea that the residents of Haven were up to no good. Despite Mack's insistence that he saw some shady goings on in the past few days, she wouldn't believe him. She couldn't. Ever since losing her brother she wondered where she belonged in the post outbreak world. That was until recently.
In Stephanie's mind, Haven was a place to start anew. True, at first it was just an attempt to calm Mack down, to center him. Ironically it was her that was calmed and centered by the floating community.
“Don't take the lord's name in vain,” laughed Amber. “You know that's a sin right?”
Stephanie gave Amber a dirty look. The teen took the hint and shut up.
“What is it? Do you think I'm lying? You think I'm making things up? Why would I do that?” asked Mack.
“Because you like it out there! You tell yourself you want to find somewhere safe, free of all the chaos. But you're lying to yourself. You thrive in this new fucked up world. And now that we've found that safe place, you're scared to settle down.” Stephanie didn't hold back. All those thoughts that had been floating around in her mind since arriving at Haven came spilling out.
“I'll find proof. Tonight. I'll prove to you that this place isn't what it seems.” Mack gave up trying to convince her that Haven was not a good place filled with good people. At least with words. No, he'd need something more concrete, something that would erase any doubt in even the most stubborn mind.
“What are you talking about? What proof?”
“Dunno, I'm going to find some though.” Mack sat down and put on his boots.
“Don't be silly. How about the both of us just cool down. Maybe we can get some sleep and talk about this with clearer heads in the morning?”
“You can go to sleep. I'm checking this shit out.”
“Fine. I believe you. Just go to bed.” Stephanie rolled over in her bunk.
No you don't. Anyway, I need to find out what this place is. For me if for no one else. For Amber. Mack finished tying the laces on his boots.
Unless they had work detail that required them to be out of the communal living quarters after ten, all the residents of Haven were in bed. Even the main lights were turned off to conserve fuel and batteries. Only emergency red lights spaced out every twenty feet were allowed. It was just enough light to find one's way to the lavatories.
The darker the better. Now I know what lions feel like in the night. They see everything.
Mack stuck his head out of his living quarters. The halls outside were dark. Faint red lights colored corners. They reminded him of the Golden Pony. Those days seemed so far away.
It was hard to be quiet when wearing boots while walking the hollow halls of a ship. Mack managed to do it through some trial and error. He headed down to the engine room.
Mack had been all around the main floors of Haven. Everyone had. They consisted of the kitchen, the communal living area, a rec room and of course the decks. Never did they let people down into the bowels of the freighter, unless they were members of Jeanine's inner circle. That was where he needed to go. Problem was he had no idea how to get there.
The halls were empty. Mack hadn’t even run into the slightest hint of a guard or any other bible thumper. It was almost too easy. But only almost.
Mack tried door after door, only to find nothing, which was frustrating.
This is the last one. Please let there be something behind here. I really don't want to come back and hear “I told you so”. Or worse. She'll probably not say a thing at first and wait till I fuck up next and bring this back around and use it against me.
The door in front of him was of the bulkhead variety. Designed to keep out water and maintain water pressure if the vessel flooded, it was more substantial then all of it's rather simple brethren. Therefore he figured that if there was something to hide, behind a bulkhead would be almost as good as a vault.
In place of a handle, there was a wheel that unlocked and opened bulkhead doors. Mack grabbed it and expected to be able to easily open it. But the wheel fought back. It took the extra strength afforded him by the perfected nanite virus to even spin it a little bit.
Why the hell wont this thing open? The more difficult it was for Mack to make progress on the bulkhead, the more determined he was to get it open. Frustrated but still resolute, he looked to see if he could spot what prevented him from succeeding. He hoped that it wasn't barred from the other side.
How did I not spot that earlier? Mack saw that a portion of the door was welded to the frame at the seam. That explained a lot but presented a new problem. It was one that he had the answer for inside his body. All he needed to do was figure out how to access it.
Mack remembered Ted Gorman and the ways the late CEO transformed his body. He made spikes and blades, and they were sharp. Mack would know, he got stabbed with a few.
If we have the same form of the virus floating through our blood than I should be able to do it too. Mack wanted to transform parts of his body, but unlike Gorman, he didn’t want to turn them into blades. He wanted to make his body able to pry open a partially welded bulkhead door.
Not knowing how to shape-shift his body, Mack took the only approach that made sense to him. He concentrated on what he wanted. That became much harder once it started working.
Transforming part of his body hurt, a lot. Mack wasn't ready for it. In many ways it was worse than healing a grievous injury. The bones, nerves, muscles and skin twisted and contorted. But Mack didn't stop. Somehow he kept his concentration. He was determined to see his plan through.
Both of Mack's feet turned into forms that could best be compared to eagle's talons. He used both of them to dig into the steel door frame. His arms turned into pry bars, stronger than any that could've been found on the market before the outbreak.
With both feet about halfway up the bulkhead door height, he latched onto to the frame. He lifted his upper body up so that he could dig his pry bar hands into the seams up top. Then he pulled and leaned back at the same time.
It was difficult and loud, but Mack managed to pry open the top of the bulkhead door. The thick steel was bent. That wasn't what he wanted. Still, it was a start.
Mack got off the door frame and instead dug his talons into the floor under him. He grabbed the bent top half of the door and pulled with everything he had. Much to his own surprise, he wasn't able to break the weld but he did break the hinges.
That works. But I don't think there will be any hiding this though. Oh well. If I'm wrong about them, they wouldn't suspect I could literally tear the door from its hinges. If I'm right, well… I don't think it will be that big of a surprise.
Mack squeezed through the now opened bulkhead door. He didn't bother trying to cover his tracks. A bulkhead door bent in half and torn off its hinges would be impossible to hide. It represented the simple fact that there was no turning back. And that was fine with him.
Beyond the bulkhead door, Mack found a stairwell. It lead downwards into the bowels of Haven that Mack had sought to find. He prepared himself mentally for what he might discover down there. Whatever that may have been, he had to know.
***
“Two minutes. We're two minutes out.” The members of the Galatea strike team en route to Haven heard their helicopter pilot's voice in their ear pieces.
“Prepare the asset for drop,” ordered Harris Yedlin, the leader of the Galatea Strike team. He addressed the youngest member of the team and the only one to have a science background, Corey Blunt.
Blunt wasn't a big guy. Compared to the other members of the strike team, he was like a child. But his presence was necessary. He was the only one to have any experience around the Alpha infected. Since they had one on board that was to assist in the operation, the young man's presence was a must.
Though he wouldn't admit it, Blunt was afraid. It wasn't just the Alpha that scared him. Which it absolutely did. He feared that the rest of the team would realize that his knowledge about the creature was limited at best.
As Blunt made his way past the real soldiers and towards the cage that the Alpha was held in, he almost threw up in transit. Helicopters didn't agree with him.
Of all the things that Blunt thought he'd see in the Alpha cage, a woman's form wasn't one of them. The creature looked like what it must've interpreted as a desirable female. It was a tactic to throw the members of the all male strike team off balance. What it didn't realize was that any form it took would've done the same.