Madman's Monster

by Michael Louis Weinberger

  2...

  The doctor's eyes went wide with fear for the second time, as Zach pressed the button and a burst of strobe lights, kind of like a red-eye reduction feature on a camera flash, illuminated the doctor's face.

  1...

  The sound coming over the loud speakers now was practically inhuman in its level of agony, conveying what must have been intolerable pain. Whatever the flash had done to him otherwise, the doctor could once again feel his pain.

  ...ignition sequence activated"

  Fire erupted from what appeared to an uncountable number of gas spigots imbedded in the walls, floors and ceiling all over the walls of the lab. The entire room was filled so completely with fire that the heat immediately could be felt as it came through the glass, making me flinch and turn away for fear of being burned from the heat.

  Behind the roar of the flames was the sound of the doctor screaming even louder, and when I could finally look back into the room I saw the silhouettes of two figures in the center of the room. One, unusually large and unmoving, had apparently fallen over on his side while the other flailed and contorted wildly as pieces of its extremities seemed to melt and drip off its bones as it's cries of agony grew even louder.

  Then, as the oxygen in the room was depleted, the fire died out and left one unmoving and scorched body lying near the center of the room and, next to it, only the ashen remnants of another. A mechanical voice sounded after a chime, "Trace contaminant level: 0%. Air quality restored. Disengaging auto locking sequences."

  The door leading to the laboratory clicked to the unlocked position as a pain in my chest threatened to overwhelm me...and then I remembered to breathe again.

  Chapter 58

  Rounding up the villagers was less difficult than Lei had thought it would be. The explosion of the initial missile strike prompted the remaining mercenaries to begin looking for ways to evacuate the area. Perhaps they had been ordered to drop everything and run, if something like that should happen, but more likely it was pure instinctual self-preservation that told them the day was lost.

  Lei thought it ironic that no matter how far they ran, they had no chance of getting far enough away. The depressing thought made her sluggish, and if not for Chris she might have simply abandoned the villagers, gone back to Steve, climbed into his arms and waited for oblivion to take them. She thought there was almost something poetic about it, dying in your lover’s arms while looking into each other's eyes until a brilliant and blinding flash transports you to whatever lies beyond. She had lived a long time, by human standards, and technically she was an octogenarian. She didn't look it, and despite the way her life had begun she had few regrets. Maybe the time she had lost with Steve, as they both refused to talk to each other from simple pride, but that time seemed irrelevant now.

  No, her life's only regret, was that she had never officially been able to call Steve her husband. Silly, perhaps, but sometimes a young girl's dreams of marrying her knight in shining armor didn't die completely as the years passed her by.

  That thought dominated her mind, as she and Chris guided the villagers to the surface and watched as they disappeared into the forest to rejoin their loved ones, in celebration of their victory over the evil foreigners who had tried to wipe them out. They didn't tell them that those moments would be the last they would spend on earth. Lei thought it was both a cruelty and kindness, to have kept the information from them. Kind because they would return to their people and be welcomed with hugs and cheers. Cruel because how much tighter would they have hugged their children or other family members, if they knew it was all going to end in a matter of minutes?

  The thought of being with Steve overwhelmed her and Lei turned to go back into the building when something struck the side of her neck. She slapped at it, thinking it was a wasp or bee, but her palm struck something solid and she plucked it out of her flesh. She stared at it and staggered as the world began to spin. She saw Chris still looking at the jungle where the villagers had disappeared and only started to turn toward her as her vision clouded and she started to fall.

  Lei heard Chris call out for her, but his voice seemed so far away and she didn't feel her body hit the ground or understand why everything was turning black before she drifted away.

  Chapter 59

  Chris had turned just in time to see Lei begin to topple over like a drunkard who was finally passing out. Concern had caused him to take an initial step toward her, but movement from the jungle behind Lei made him retreat a step. He heard the tranquilizer dart zip past his ear, and then saw a man run out of the foliage wearing all black commando gear, like the other mercenaries they had faced earlier. Chris shot one more quick glance at Lei who was now lying on the ground and appeared to gazing aimlessly off into the sky and then retreated a few steps before drawing his Karambit from his belt.

  The man came in low, and one of his hands shot up toward Chris' face. No light glinted of the blackened blade he held and Chris just barely managed to juke his head back fast enough to avoid the tip striking his eyes. Pain erupted from his thigh as a second blade swept past and bit deeply into the muscle, but not so much as to reach the large artery that lay beneath the muscle. Chris spun with the second strike and brought the Karambit around catching the third strike blade to blade, which unbalanced his attacker and Chris reversed his movement to slash the blade across the man's abdomen. The wicked curve of the Karambit was designed to slice open a throat or disembowel an enemy with ridiculous ease, but the attacker seemed to sense the danger and twisted out of the way quickly enough that only his clothing suffered any damage.

  Chris spun with his strike and the two men parted. They faced off and began to circle one another as the sound of an automobile engine came to life from some place unseen. Chris couldn't risk a turn of his head to look, but he could hear it as the vehicle’s wheels crunched the ground beneath its tires, coming to an abrupt stop behind him. Chris continued to circle his opponent until the vehicle came into view. Chris' eyes veered from his opponent only for a split second to see a man in a dark business suit dragging Lei's body to an expensive SUV that was unusually outfitted with off road tires and suspension.

  "NO!" Chris screamed and he inadvertently took a step toward the vehicle, but a quick fencing style thrust of the combat knife from his opponent prevented him from running to Lei's aid. Chris blocked the thrust and parried the next as the sound of the vehicle's door slammed shut, then the engine fired as the vehicle reversed its way out of the area, and back into the jungle.

  Apparently, the man attacking him hadn't expected to be abandoned and he broke off the attack to see where the truck was going. Chris tried to take advantage of his assailant’s momentary disorientation, but the man recovered and parried the Karambit away from the strike to his spine. Chris blocked and thrust as the attacker held his ground and did the same. A feint to his left gave Chris' free hand a chance to strike and dislodge one of the two knives the man held, but he recovered and exploited the moment to disarm Chris as well.

  Now, with only his hands as weapons, Chris reached out and caught the wrist that held the last remaining knife. He was going to twist his body and flip the man to the ground, but the man used his free hand to reinforce his knife hand, and the leverage drove Chris to the ground instead.

  Pinned Chris pushed against the wrist and the bodyweight of the man lying on top of him. The guy was strong and he had all the leverage, so Chris knew that although the tip of the knife wasn't falling toward his heart yet, his muscles were going to give out first and he realized he couldn't fight this fight fairly and win. He desperately tried to think of something that might help him survive, but his mind was a blank.

  All the training, time and promise of a new life was for nothing because he was going to die today. And at that exact moment, one thought entered Chris' head. He wasn't still a wimpy, nerdy, medical examiner. He wasn't the lanky little boy who had been shoved into lockers in high school, or had his head stuck in a flushing toilet in grad
e school and again in junior high in order to give him a "swirly" for the amusement of other students. He wasn't that simpering clown who hid in the basement of the police precinct gathering information, while other people took action out in the real world.

  No! Now he was a real live, blood drinking, woman stealing, and night stalking, badass, masculine vampire! Sure, he was going to be killed either by a missile strike while he was out here in the open, or a MOP if he tried to hide inside the building, but he was not! Repeat NOT! Going to be killed by some bully with a blade!

  Chris screamed as loud as he could right in the man's face, while he bucked his body and shifted to the right, letting his arms go slack. The blade dropped down and sank deeply into his left shoulder, and the pain of the injury made the entire left side of his body feel as though it were on fire, but the blade was in his shoulder and not in his heart. Chris used his still working right hand to pull the mercenary’s knife hand to the side, as the man reacted to having missed his target and tried to reverse his force in order to pull his blade free. Chris raised his head, opened his mouth and caught the wrist and knife hand in his teeth. He felt the flesh part under his front incisors and canines while his molars crushed through flesh and lodged into bone.

  The mercenary screamed in pain, desperately trying to free his hand, but Chris bit down even harder and kept the extremity locked in place like a vise. Fingers lost their sensation, dropping the blade harmlessly to the side of Chris' head. Chris thought about reaching for it, but instinct told him to reach with his free hand, placing it behind the man's head, grabbing a handful of his hair. With every ounce of strength he had left, and while still holding the man's hand and wrist in his mouth, Chris pulled the man's head down onto his own crown.

  The top of the forehead, where it begins its curve to the top of the head, is a near perfect parabola and one of nature's most indestructible geometric designs. It is also reinforced with a thicker bone plate than the top of the skull or the facial bones and when Chris slammed the man's face into that part of his head, it hurt. The impact would probably leave a welt or bruise on his head, but the mercenary's nose shattered on impact. The fracture made a popping sound, followed by a burst of blood that flew from the man's nose, while his eyes rolled in disorientation from the concussion.

  Chris pushed the man's head away to an arm's length, and then pulled him down again striking his already shattered nose a second time. Chris bucked his body again, this time dislodging the man who was on top of him. He rolled his body, taking the mercenary along for the ride until he ended up in the top position.

  Chris spat out the man's hand while the mercenary coughed out a mouthful of blood that had flowed into his throat from his ruined nose. Chris raised a fist and was going to finish the fight, but the mercenary's eyes suddenly cleared and he let out a snarl that was as feral and inhuman as anything Chris had ever heard.

  It made Chris hesitate, but in the end did the mercenary little good, because as frightening as that final sight had been, Chris had already moved beyond being scared. He dropped his fist down hard, in the perfect spot on the man's jaw for a knockout, and sent him into an immediate state of unconsciousness.

  Chris fell from the limp form beneath him and took in a few deep breaths. Almost as soon as he caught his breath the adrenaline of battle wore off, and the pain in his shoulder began to grow to a nearly intolerable level.

  He managed to stand turning to walk back to the laboratory building when he had a thought and turned back to the unconscious mercenary lying on the ground. He thought for another second and then lifted his head to look at the part of the jungle where the SUV had gone with Lei, and shook his head in frustration.

  "This is really going to hurt," he mumbled as he moved back to the mercenary and grabbed hold of the man's wrist.

  Chapter 60

  I didn't go inside the lab. I just looked at the unmoving bodies as they sat motionless on the floor of the lab, amazed at the sacrifice I had just seen. Zach had sacrificed himself to make sure the doctor not only died, but that he suffered for all the things he had done. He had literally allowed himself to be burned to death in order to metaphorically spit into the doctor's eye as he gave the sadistic bastard the death he deserved.

  I had wanted to be the one to kill the man so deeply that all I felt now was a surreal numbness. I didn't necessarily feel cheated, as I rationalized that I couldn't have equaled such a horrible end to the man, but I did have a certain degree of vertigo, once I realized I had reached the end of two years worth of pursuit. The concept, of the end of my hunt for the last man responsible for the deaths of so many of my people, had always left me puzzled when I thought about it, because I really didn't know what I would do afterward.

  I slumped into one of the comfy leather chairs and let my eyes focus on nothing as they drifted to the ceiling. I wondered if the next set of vapor trails were visible in the sky yet? And if they were, did they mean that a regular explosive missile was on its way, or perhaps a two and a half megaton bomb that was the MOP?

  I closed my eyes and thought about a time when Lei and I spent several weeks at a beach house a couple of years ago. It had been our reunion and was as sweet as love can be. It made me long for her and listen as footsteps approached the door to the observation room.

  I had been expecting Lei to return after she corralled all the villagers out of the area and was surprised when Chris returned alone instead. Actually, he wasn't alone as he was dragging a body behind him. My initial reaction was to panic, but I relaxed as soon as I saw it wasn't a woman.

  "Why are...?" I had started to ask, but when I saw the look on Chris face and the blood seeping from a shoulder wound, I lost all interest in why he was dragging an enemy around.

  "Where's Lei?!" I blurted out, completely insensitive to the fact that Chris was obviously wounded.

  "Gone," Chris huffed out as he unceremoniously dropped the man's wrist and fell to his knees. "They took her. Drove off in some modified Lexus or whatever."

  I shook my head as if to clear it of aberrant thoughts, "Wait, what! Who took her?"

  Chris shook his head, "No idea. She just fell over when this guy jumped me. I was too busy fighting him to stop the other man, who drove up in his SUV and just picked up Lei and drove off. Left his buddy behind as well." Chris snorted, "You should have seen the look on that guy's face when he realized he was being left behind."

  My head couldn't focus and I took a couple steps toward the door before I realized that we didn't have a vehicle of our own to give chase. Assuming we could even locate them at this point.

  The man on the ground let out a moan, but Chris and I ignored him.

  "Chris we...we have to..."

  Chris held up his hands as he calmly said, "I know, bro. I know, but we don't have a vehicle of our own to make a break for it. I didn't even know there was one in the area to take Lei away in."

  My shoulders dropped and Chris' face dropped with it, "I'm sorry," then his face cheered a bit, "Hey, maybe whoever took her will be able to get far enough away when the MOP explodes!"

  I screwed up my face at Chris.

  "Well...I mean, at least she'd be alive to fight another day."

  A strange garbled and nasally voice behind Chris asked, "What explodes?"

  Chris and I turned to look at the man Chris had brought back into the lab with him. The man was holding his nose with one hand and cradling his other near his abdomen.

  When neither of us responded he asked again, "What explodes?"

  I glared at the man and my voice rose in my throat, "Who took the girl?!"

  The man frowned and considered me for a moment. Then he nodded, "Sure, I'll cooperate with you, but first tell me...what is going to explode?"

  It took all my self-control not to give in to the urge to run over and rip out the man's throat. The thought of savoring real blood for one last time was overwhelming, but somehow I managed to answer him instead.

  "You saw the first missile strike?" I as
ked.

  The man nodded.

  "Well, that was the Navy clearing the jungle so the satellites over our heads could get a clear view of your compound. They're going to carpet bomb the place in order to make sure they have a perfect target to drop the MOP bomb on top of...meaning right where we are now."

  The man's eyes widened as much as their swollen sockets would allow.

  "They wouldn't! The Thai government..."

  I cut of his obvious thought, "Doesn't want a death plague epidemic on their hands."

  The man seemed to think about that and the truth of it rang in his ears.

  He cursed, "Goddamn Pollard!"

  Chris and I looked at each other as I repeated, "Pollard?"

  "The guy who left me behind was military intelligence, but he had to have known that he couldn't out run a MOP."

  "He's CIA?" my thoughts immediately turned to Rogers, but I shrugged and suggested, "Maybe he didn't know that was the plan."

  The mercenary shook his head, "No, he had to know."

  Chris shook his head, "If the military is anything like the LAPD, then there are times when one division isn't aware of what the other is doing or planning."

  The mercenary still looked defiant, but then he seemed to soften and nodded, "That is probably true." Then his demeanor perked up, "Are any of these supercomputers able to send a simple e-mail?"

  Chris and I looked at each other before I asked, "Why?"

  The man scowled at me with as much venom as he crooked nose would allow, "Is now really time for lengthy explanations?"

  "No," I answered, "So give us the really short version."

  Quickly the mercenary said, "It's like you said, maybe Pollard, and therefore, the C.I.A. isn't aware of what the Navy is planning. If he were to find out, maybe he could stop it."

  Chris and I looked shocked, "He's got enough clout to call of the air strike?"

  "That's just it," the mercenary explained, "It isn't an air strike."