Damage Control

by Eric Alan Williams

  Irena's werecat vision was nowhere near like a vampire's ability to see body heat or sonar for that matter, but she could see spectrums of light changes easier than a werewolf could. Her left ear perked. She turned to her left and noticed the outline of light that the laser wall's red glow was throwing off. She saw a perfect outline of the two creature's bodies coming at her. Her trigger-happy response went into action as Adams continued his slow primping taunt.

  She fired both handguns simultaneously. Hitting both creatures, but the shot was not fatal. The shot only forced them to drop the invisibility barrier of bending light.

  "INCOMING!" She yelled.

  Adams had a laser rifle with him. The rifle's sling was over his shoulder, allowing the haughty man a quick reflex at slinging it forward, taking sharp aim, and taking down one of the beasts with a clear headshot as it ran right at him.

  Irena was like a ballerina in mid-air. Irena was a former acrobat in the 1940s until her fateful meeting with a werecat that simply wanted to turn her for her catlike grace in the circus troupe she belonged to. Luckily for her, those skills stuck with her. It looked as if she was dancing on air while she spun around, firing two more shots from her handguns. She preferred fewer modern weapons and opted for two Glocks that had silver mags. She fired her silver bullets. This time, her aim hit the second creature in both eyes. It fell down right beside Adams.

  "WHAT THE HELL KINSKI!" He yelled loudly at the short haired dark beauty. She gave him a look that clearly hit him in the face. She had just saved his ass, and it was starting to sink in. She didn't even need to say a single word.

  A redhead with perfect bouncing curls came running over with her sniper rifle after hearing the shots. She saw the two creatures twitching in the ground. The one Adams had killed was finally starting to melt away, the one Kinski had slain was still twitching. "Are you two okay?"

  Kinski looked at Marylou Summers and gave her a look too. "We're fine." Followed with a verbal slap. "We'd be even better if Adams would cut his fucking hair and stop playing with it!"

  Summers pressed a button on her armband. "Brandon, my location now, we have samples you can take before they fully disintegrate!"

  Ashley Brandon, one of the teams' science officers, didn't waste any time getting there. Using the homing beacon built into every armband, the hyperactive vamp flew into action to find them, literally. She landed, retracting her wings, and rushed to the body that Irena had left.

  She pulled out what looked like an Ink pen and jabbed it into the creature's fur that was missing both eyes, right behind the left ear. The beast's blood drew up quickly. A light pulsed on the extraction pen. It went from red to green, then blue. The pen felt cold to the touch after that.

  The vampire with the brown pixie haircut stood up as the blond highlights frosting the tips of her hair bounced. She put the sample a small box she was carrying on her utility belt. "That's one sample down." She said cheerfully.

  Irena was a bit inquisitive. "How many samples are you shooting for Ash?" The two were on a first name basis.

  "I would like to get seven or more, just to make sure the traits are staying the same with each creature, plus of course the creature responsible before it gets shipped back."

  Adams smirked. "If it gets shipped."

  Both women glared at him, tossing daggers through their eyes as if that were possible. He shrugged.

  "Seriously, if that thing tries to kill one of us, that thing is toast, burnt toast, if my blaster rifle has anything to say about it," Adams said boastfully.

  East Side of the Laser wall

  Xairin and Griffin were making rounds. They had heard on the commlink about the encounter on the south wall. Griffin was overprotective. "Xairin, stay sharp, got it?"

  "I get it, Griff, I promise I do," Xairin announced as he had his two laser pistols flaunting in the direction of the woods.

  "I am serious Xairin, this is serious now."

  Xairin rolled his eyes. "I get it. Mutant wolves bad."

  The woods were not any more friendly for Xairin and Griffin as they made rounds. More than a hundred yards into the bushes, one of the yellow-eyed creatures was watching every move they made, studying them.

  The beast was like the others. A coyote infected by the thylacine. The creature was bear-sized, like that of a black bear, a full grown one, watching the prey walk around the red laser lights made like horizontal bars. It watched the red-headed man first, then the dark-haired man exchanging glares. It wanted to dart out but didn't. This one was reserved. It sensed what happened with the recent deaths in the pack.

  Like the other, it wasn't long before a second pack mate was watching alongside it.

  The two thylacine enhanced beasts watched without making a single noise. No growls or any hard-predatory breathing. They watched with clear beastly intent.

  _____

  The thick of the wood.

  Two miles away in the deep of the wood. The creature that begat the pack was feasting on the remains of a wild horse that had strayed too close to the pack. He was larger than he was when he attacked the camping trip Hammond and his sister were in, nearly as large as the stallion he was eating.

  His piercing black stripes accented his tan fur, even with the blood all around him from the mess he had made. He fed delightfully.

  A few feet away from the sloppy salivating noises he was making, laid eight coyotes with bite marks in their backs. They were average, small, the size of a young German Shepard, and twitching. The pack master had infected them and brought them here to watch and welcome them into his growing horde. He was waiting.

  The creature knew he needed more wolves in his pack. He knew he was being hunted. He could see every single detail his pack mates were seeing and felt the deaths of the two that had died. He also could feel a pull to Hammond's mind that made him curious. He could tell someone he had bitten was nearby and reached out. The beast gasped as he realized something about the man whose mind he was trying to enter resisted.

  Hammond, unlike his sister, had sensitive genes. A trait he gained from his biological father. Hammond wasn't a grand spectacle of the breed, merely a level one. Like Xairin, he never embraced that. His sensitive side, however, was what kept the beast from taking control at this distance which perplexed the creature feasting on the horse. As it tried to reach out and control Hammond, the only thing Hammond experienced was a headache. He needed to be closer.

  The beast was man-like, as was the genetic manipulation that the Aeon Strain induced in all animals it afflicted. It stood upward, gnawing on a femur tightly grasped in its clawed hands. The beast was every bit of twelve feet in height while upright.

  The eyes were yellow, glowing. Red veins were spreading in the creature's pupils as it tried to reach out with a mental hold on Hammond. The beast growled out of frustration. He remembered biting Hammond; the creature recalled the event quite well. The animal remembered trying to pull him through the wooden door. It recalled his head bursting through the wood and biting into Hammond. It then recalled his sister. The blood tasted similar.

  It was Hammond's blood however that was truly different than any the creature had feasted upon. That day was unusual for him too.

  After biting Hammond, it recalled leaving him be. The taste of Hammond left the creature bewildered.

  It ran into the woods as his head began to pound and pulse. The creature knew at that moment, something was different about him. Now, the man that made his mind different was here. It was Hammond's sensitive ...D.N.A. that evolved this beast further.

  The beast finished gnawing on the horse's femur. He dropped the bone to the ground and spoke. "HAMMOND..."

  _____

  The Betty.

  Helena Dolenigan had recalled the crew back to the Betty for a briefing... The Commander was pacing now. Given some of the samples that Officer Brandon had collected, Dolenigan wanted a report. So far, the evidence was clear. Science Officer Brandon had already seen a genetic trait showing up in the
two samples collected so far, a human genome, a genome-specific to sensitives.

  After the summons, no other wolves had been sighted, and she was less than pleased with Adams at the moment after hearing Irena out his actions.

  Helena looked at each face aboard their vessel. She put her finger in Adam's face. "I will deal with you when we get back to the academy. She then pointed to Officer Ashley Brandon. "Tell them what you've found so far."

  The pixie-haired science officer pulled up a holographic display emanating from her watch. She plugged in a small USB cord, attached to one of the sample pens, and connected it to the device on her wrist. ...D.N.A. modules floated in mid-air, shimmering in bright yellow lights, sparkling.

  She pressed a few keys on her watch, and the crew watched as ...D.N.A. particles began to break apart, flowing around the room, she pointed with her hand, causing them to become more significant. A blue helix, with six distinct interlocking twisting bands swirling around one of the strands, was the thing she focused on most. "Sensitive ... D.N.A. What we are seeing is a sensitive gene, one specific for telepathy and intelligence. I think that these creatures are not just assimilating humans, but also absorbing humanoid ...D.N.A. that the Aeon Strain can somehow detect being useful for either adaptation or for evolving the strains." She looked around the room. "It would explain why some of our Elders have expressed that in the past, such intelligence wasn't seen this early on in the monsters of old. Sensitive ...D.N.A. is allowing for an evolutionary jump."

  She then pointed at Hammond. "We know that Hammond Smith was a level one sensitive, and one of the victims that this specific thylacine infected. I guess that not only did it infect you, Mr. Smith, but also, your ...D.N.A. infected it, or rather, was absorbed."

  Xairin frowned and stepped forward. He didn't want to interrupt since he was the new guy, but he had a genuine concern. "If that's the case, I too was a sensitive until that albino bat bit me. It would explain why it was smarter than the rest, I know she escaped the fire we set in New York, she knew to get out of there. I never felt her die. Which means that if this is true, she is still out there and evolving also?"

  Helena lowered her head. "We have to call this in. If sensitive ...D.N.A. is allowing these things to evolve quicker, then we have larger issues on our hands' Team 203."

  Ashley nodded. "Doctor Aaron Battle needs to be made aware of this too. The World Health Organization needs to be made aware of this."

  The Commander agreed. "Contact W.H.O., and then transmit a report to Commanding Science Officer Alice Grimm, she needs to be aware of this. After all, she is head of the Society of Night's Science Division."

  Ashley nodded.

  Chapter 7

  Alice Grimm was never really ordinary in any way. She was always top of her class, had four PHDs by the age of twenty-four, and on the side, loved illegal cage fighting, participating in it regularly when her time allowed.

  She was strong for a human, well, when she was human. She was fast, faster than she should have been. Some said it was like fighting a striking cobra based on just how quickly she could throw a punch or a kick when they entered the ring with her.

  Alice grew up in London, raised by a single mom who worked three jobs to make ends meet, that was up until the living wage laws passed by the Global Alliance. Before that, her mother mainly worked as a bartender in most of her previous employment providing for Alice, and her two brothers, each one having a different dad that was never there. While Alice's brothers knew their real fathers, or at least who they were, Alice never did. At the age of 14, she found out she was the product of a one-night stand. That bothered her for a while, often resenting her mother for some of the choices she had made. Either way, her mom at least tried to make sure Alice and her two brothers were pushed as hard as she could push them into making something of themselves.

  Alice was quite the looker. She was tall, lean, with brown hair that she kept shoulder length. The green-eyed beauty, with the brains to match.

  Her first Ph.D. was in medical technology, her second, medicine, and the other two were in genetics and evolutionary biology.

  Like so many infected, Alice was no difference in how she became a new Aeonian. Like anyone, she just wanted to cut loose at times and had attended a beach party in Costa Rica the night of the comet. She partied, danced, and clung to the closest bystander when the debris began to fall. She was one of the first new Aeonians to emerge after the fallout did what it had come to do.

  In the matter of a few months, she managed to quickly become noticed by The Society of Night and was offered a job since Doctor Aaron Battle, preferred to remain in the closet so to speak. The man who handpicked her for her brilliance was David Tesla.

  David rivaled Trevor Graves in every aspect where scientific intellect was concerned, Alice was a close second and Ethan a good third.

  Both David and Trevor were a little jealous of one discovery Alice had made before she became infected. Similar to Sensitive evolution, in recent years rare cases of humans exhibited above average strength or speed, resulting in discovering two additional human evolutions, one of which Alice possessed. Both of these new beneficial mutations, like sensitives, were forced by pharmaceutical side effects. Alice was one of the first scientists to confirm the phenomena along with tracing the origins of the mutation to an approved steroid that had replaced prednisone about the same time Xyphamine was on the market. Amphazolinide was initially intended to help with swelling and inflammation, but it was later discovered to have both performance-enhancing qualities, as well as speeding up healing. No other side effect was found, until recently.

  The drug Amphazolinide was the undisputed cause in creating a dominant gene that benefited children produced by the mutation with either, above average strength, or speed, so far, rarely both, Alice was one of the rarities. These humans were nicknamed brutes, for brute strength, or nimbles, for being agile, and faster than an average human. Alice deduced that her father, whoever he may have been, had to have been a brute given her strength was the more dominant at the time.

  While David Tesla was the High commanding Officer of The Society's scientific division, Alice was his second in command, and for the moment, given lead over genetic research. The Society wanted their own lead agent working on the Aeon Strain since Aaron Battle wouldn't defect from the World Health Organization.

  Sitting behind a desk in a white sterile lab, Alice was glued to her paper-thin 32-inch computer screen, going over DNA molecules, and genetic data that was pouring in from several of the science officers assigned to the numerous teams. Ashley Brandon's data, along with her report, had just come in. It had Alice fascinated.

  Within two clicks and the help of an AI using 3D mapping, a holographic image displayed above a circular projector on her desk. She noticed several genes floating in the air as words and numbers appeared beside each one. It took another three seconds after the display shot into the air until she nodded. "Science Officer Brandon's right. This thing has Sensitive DNA embedded into the creature's genomes."

  One of Alice's theories ranged greatly, one of them was that the humanoid creatures created from the Aeon Strain pathogen, could also similarly absorb DNA compared to the way it infected humans. She theorized it as an additional adaptive trait. Sensitive DNA, after all, was a dominant gene like the brute and nimble genes were.

  She ran a few diagnostics, using the AI to help navigate and save time. She verified Ashley's findings, the thylacine breed had indeed absorbed sensitive traits, and it was the likely cause for the increased intelligence.

  This theory both fascinated Alice, but also caused her to worry. Before the ADHD drug, Xyphamine was found to cause Sensitive mutation, the genetic evolution it had created was widespread. For everyone thousand humans, there were at least two hundred or more sensitives in that populace. Brutes and Nimbles accounted for far less, possibly around fifty or so in a similar study. That number was rising due to each of these genes having such a significant dominance facto
r.

  Due to there being at least two hundred people out of every one thousand or so, being sensitives, the sensitive gene was easily absorbed, and if this continued to be true in all other creatures creating new Immortium, this evolution was far from being controlled. Alice let out a sigh at that thought.

  Alice recorded Ashley's findings and sent out an email to all science officers in the field, including the World Health Organization. Everyone needed to be on the lookout. She also sent an email to David Tesla and the Society of Night's ruling Council. If what they were seeing was correct, it now explained why the animals were getting smarter quicker than the creatures infected during the comets first passing.

  For Alice, she feared what sensitive genes would do. The Aeon Strain already induced various psychic abilities, now with sensitive genes in the mix of creatures creating Immortium, it was hard to tell what some of them could be capable of. Even sensitives infected were already demonstrating abilities above caste level abilities.

  She pulled up her holo-commlink from her desk and pressed a button on the small device resembling a marble that would fit into a holster on her shoulder. A beam shot out from it, displaying a rather dashing looking man, working behind another lab station. The man's youthful appearance and dark hair caught her eye quickly, though she didn't care for his outdated mustache. "Doctor Tesla?"