by Darien Cox
“What now?” Brett asked.
“Two feet front, should see hallway turn to left,” Baz said.
They moved ahead and saw another corridor. “We see it.”
“Walk down please.”
Brett and Nolan started down this new hallway. There were two bodies slumped in the distance, but that wasn’t the strangest part. There were things floating through the air, like oversized bits of dandelion fluff. The spidery things flashed with electric blue and green light. “What the hell are these things?” Brett said, ducking to avoid one.
“No to worry,” Baz said. “Can’t hurt you. Just energy. Keep walk.”
“Okay.” Nolan kept stride alongside Brett. “We’ll just ignore the creepy glowing spider things too,” he whispered.
“Okay stop,” Baz said. “Turn to left.”
They both turned, facing the cottony white wall. “Okay,” Brett said. “Now what?”
“Step forward. Nolan first.”
Nolan stepped up to the wall.
“One step to right,” Baz said.
He took a step to the side. “Here?”
“Yes. Put hands together and push into wall.”
Nolan spaded his hands and touched the wall. The texture was slippery, and he winced as his hands disappeared inside, making a sucking sound.
“Pull hands apart.”
Nolan stretched his hands apart and the wall peeled open, revealing thick, noodle-like cords. It looked like he was opening up someone’s stomach, the slick tubes inside colored red, blue, and white. “Okay. It’s open.”
“Brett, open the case,” Gordy said. “Nolan, do you see the knotted red tube on the right, between the two blue? It should be the only one with a knot in it.”
“I see it.”
“The Grey tech controlling the sleep signal is inside that knot. I want you to put your hand right around that knot, but don’t move or pull it yet.”
Nolan rested his hand on the knot, wrapping his fingers around it. The blue tubes alongside make a sickly squishing sound. “Is this shit alive?”
“No,” Baz said. “Not exactly.”
“Great,” Brett said. “Now what?”
“This has to happen simultaneously,” Gordy said. “Brett, take the message drive out of the case and stand beside Nolan.”
“What are you doing?” a voice behind them called out.
Nolan let go the knot and spun around.
Brett dropped the small black drive back into the case and stumbled.
“Who is that?” Ogden demanded. “What’s going on?”
Brett and Nolan stared in the direction of the voice that had called to them. A few feet down, within the snowy wall was a cleared space, like filmy mirror. Behind it, a face pressed against the film, short orange hair, large blue eyes, paper-white skin. “Holy shit,” Nolan said. “I think it’s the—”
“Angry nasty,” Ogden’s voice said. “Baz, what is he doing there?”
“Yeah Baz,” Nolan said, his voice trembling. “There was no angry nasty in your schematic.”
“Let me out!” the orange-haired creature said, banging a fist.
“He not supposed to be there,” Baz said. “Must have been move by hybrids. Ignore.”
“You heard him,” Ogden said. “Ignore him. Get back to the other wall.”
Brett looked at Nolan and widened his eyes. “Lots of things to ignore in here, huh?”
They moved back to the wall. Nolan slid his hand in and wrapped the red knot in a fist again.
“Okay, Brett, get the message drive.”
Brett picked up the small black device and stood next to Nolan.
“I know what happening!” The angry nasty’s voice was slightly muted through whatever filmy door held it prisoner. “The Whites were about to send me back. Back to my people. We had a deal! The hybrids lock me up and I have no food or water. Please let me out.”
“Be quiet,” Nolan said. “What’s next guys?”
“Brett,” Gordy said. “You see that bluish purple tube up above and to the left?”
“I see it.”
“Line the drive up with that, but don’t touch it.”
“Got it.”
“Hey!” The angry nasty pounded its fist. “In my interest to help you. I was there. Meeting with the Whites when hybrids attack. They lock me up here! If you don’t wake Whites I can’t go home! Let me out. Let me help.”
“Oh to shut him up,” Baz said.
“Who is talking in your ears?”
Brett and Nolan glanced at each other. “Baz,” Nolan said. “The angry nasty can hear you at control.”
“That’s okay,” Baz said. “Just ignore him. Is time. Ready?”
“Oh, I know that voice,” the angry nasty said. “Hello! You remember me? I speak English too now. You used to teach me to drive vehicle. When I was small. Remember?”
“Be silent, Tullis,” Baz said. “If you say is true then let humans work. Whites will wake.”
“Fuck to you. Baz. Go fuck your humans.”
“That’s what I thought,” Baz said. “He no change. Nolan. Brett. Ready?”
“We’re ready,” Brett said.
“This is Gordy. I’m going to do a ten count. On ten, Nolan needs to rip the knotted cord out of the wall. Hard. It must be completely severed from the wall. It should give, but use all your strength. And on ten, Brett, you slide that drive right into the center of that blue cord.”
“Just…slide it in? Is there a port or something I should be looking for?”
“No. The information will be absorbed and dispersed. The material inside the casing is not human tech. The plastic casing will disintegrate and the information within will spill into the Whites’ linked systems. It’s programmed to broadcast on every network throughout the base. Trust me, okay?”
“They will come for you soooon,” the angry nasty said. “The hybrids will come. You need me. I can fight.”
“You guys ready?” Gordy said. “If that humanoid behind you starts talking during my count, you need to block him out, okay?”
“Fuck to youuuu,” he sang. “Whoever you are.”
“Charming,” Gordy said. “Okay. One. Two. Three…”
While Gordy counted off, the angry nasty was surprisingly silent. Nolan wrapped his fist around the knotted tube. It was slippery like an intestine. Brett lined the drive up next to the blue tube above.
“Eight. Nine. Ten.”
Nolan tugged the slippery knot, the connecting ends stretching as he yanked as hard as he could. When the thing gave, the ends snapped with a sucking sound, and Nolan stumbled and fell back onto the floor. He sneered at the gelatinous red thing in his hand, then looked up as Brett jumped back from the wall. The blue tube had a slice in it where he’d inserted the drive, but as they watched, it healed over, becoming smooth again.
“Is that it?” Nolan said. “Can I let go of this thing now?”
“Not yet,” Gordy said. “You need to untie the knot, grab the Greys’ tech you’ll find inside it, and put it in the silver case to bring back. It should look like a spiral crystal, likely either black or red.”
Nolan struggled to untie the knot, but the rubbery thing kept sliding out of his gloved hands. He worked his fingers into the knot, used all his strength to pull, but his fingers slipped again and he ended up punching himself in the face mask.
“Ah ah ah!” the angry nasty laughed. “Amusing. Do again!”
“Fuck off!” Nolan said. “And fuck this. Gordy can I cut this thing?” He got the pocket knife out of his suit.
“Be careful, Nolan. Try not to damage the tech inside.”
“Here, let me help.” Brett knelt down and held the two rubbery ends to the floor.
Nolan held the knot down in the center, and made a careful slice halfway down. He set the knife aside and slipped his fingers inside, feeling something hard and solid. Digging, he caught a finger around it and dragged it up.
A somewhat slimy black corkscrew-looking
thing rested in his hand.
“That’s it,” Gordy said. “Put it in the case, now. Both of you head back to the starting point. The Whites could start waking up any moment.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Brett said.
“Wait!” the angry nasty shouted. “Take me with you!”
Ignoring the voice, Brett and Nolan jogged back down the hall, hopping over fallen white bodies as they went, dodging the glowing spider things that floated through the air. Nolan didn’t care how harmless Baz said they were, he didn’t want them touching him.
As they ran down the second hallway, the walls began flashing from dim to bright, dim to bright. “I think we set off some sort of alarm,” Brett said as he hopped over a sleeping White. “You see the walls?”
“I see them,” Gordy said. “It means the message drive is working. Just keep moving.”
“Waaaait!”
They turned back. Nolan was stunned to see the tall form running toward them, short orange hair, long legs in a white jumpsuit. “Oh fuck,” he said. “How the hell did he get out?”
“Ogden you seeing this?” Brett said. “Angry nasty, incoming.”
“Fuck,” Baz said. “Message program maybe unlock door. Apology.”
“Get to the exit pad,” Gordy said. “Now.”
They ran the last length of the corridor. As Brett hopped over one of the Whites, an arm reached up and grabbed his leg. Brett went down hard onto his stomach. “Oof!”
“Shit.” Nolan grabbed Brett by the wrists and dragged him from the White’s grasp. The White reached a long arm up to Nolan, its huge snow globe eyes blinking slowly. Still groggy. Good.
“Go, go, go!” Brett climbed to his feet and ran.
Nolan spotted another White stirring ten feet ahead, but this one looked like it had a hangover, slouching over and rubbing its temples. It looked up in surprise as they ran past.
“We’re here,” Brett huffed, tugging Nolan into the half-circle at the end of the hallway. “Beam us the fuck up.”
“Starting transit now,” Gordy said.
White mist spilled out before them, thickening. Then a figure dove through the mist, the angry nasty slamming into Brett. As the two fell to the floor, the mist grew substance, flashing with electric light, becoming solid. Then Nolan felt movement.
They were going up to the surface again. But with an extra passenger in tow.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Nolan immediately pounced on the angry nasty and pressed his knee down on the back of its neck, pinning it to the floor. He wrapped an arm around its head. “You okay, Brett?”
Brett climbed to his feet, wobbling as the misty tunnel took them up. “Fine. Ogden, we have a problem.”
“I see him,” Ogden said. “Stay calm.”
“You try any of your tricks I promise I can snap your neck faster.” Nolan tugged the hybrid’s head of orange hair and pressed his knee harder into his neck.
“I won’t harm!” he said. “I want to get away from hybrids. Not like other hybrids! They violent!”
“That’s funny coming from you,” Nolan said.
“Worse than me! Worse. Babies take longer to fall asleep so they chase them down. Babies screaming. Hybrids…drag babies by feet. My people maybe do bad things but never babies! Never hurt babies. Please. Just want to go back to my people.”
“Hello,” Gordy’s voice came through their earpieces. “Mr. Angry Nasty on the floor there. Can you hear my voice?”
“Yes,” the hybrid squeaked. “That is not my name. Why you all call me this? My name is Tullis.”
“Tullis, listen carefully,” Gordy said. “I know exactly where your fleet is, and can destroy them within minutes. You will behave yourself and do what the humans tell you. Or all your people die.”
“Okay. Okay. No harm. Promise.”
“Nolan, let him go.”
“Uh-uh. No way.”
“Nolan,” Ogden said. “Do as Gordy says.”
Nolan released him and stepped back. Tullis rolled over, gasping. He held his hands up as he stood on long, shaky legs. “No harm.”
“You stay right there,” Brett said. “Don’t move.”
“Twenty seconds to surface,” Gordy said. “Soon as you’re clear run straight back to the extraction point. Quint and the others will pick you up in the chopper.”
“Copy that.” Brett looked at Nolan. “Good job.”
“Save it ’til we’re safely in the air,” Nolan said.
The motion stopped, and the mist cleared. It took Nolan a moment to realize he was standing on solid earth again, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. He lifted his mask and smelled pine trees, making him think of Elliot, the smell of his hair. Get back. Gotta get back.
“Let’s go,” Brett said, tugging Nolan’s arm.
They ran into the forest, Tullis trailing behind them, blessedly silent. Nolan could hear the chopper blades. “You go up ahead of us.” He grabbed Tullis and shoved him forward. “I want to keep an eye on you.”
“Okay fine, don’t push.” Tullis ran like a deer ahead of them, long strides, leaping up the trail.
Nolan kept time with Brett who ran ahead of him, the mountain wind cold but welcome on his face. He could see the chopper now, just twenty feet ahead. Then something white darted out of the woods in front of him, shrieking.
Nolan saw the fan of long white hair and instantly ducked, throwing his fist up and catching the white hybrid in the groin. It doubled over, and he kicked it in the face, sending it tumbling into the trees.
Brett turned back. “Nolan!”
“Go, go, go!” Nolan shouted and Brett turned and started running again.
As they approached the chopper, hovering low to the ground, Nolan saw Tyler hanging out the door, gun ready. Wiley was beside him, waving them over. Brett helped hike the angry nasty up, and Wiley grabbed him as Tyler trained his gun on him.
Brett turned back to Nolan. “You first!”
A blur of white darted in front of Nolan so fast he didn’t have time to react before something sharp sliced down his lower neck and over his collarbone.
Pain.
He stared into the double irises of a second white hybrid.
Background noise seemed to fade out as the pain dulled to a sting, then numbness. In the seconds before his legs gave out he had several thoughts. The hybrid’s white hair was curly. He’d never seen a curly-haired hybrid before. He felt wet inside his suit, something warm gushing over his chest. The sound of the chopper was much quieter now—a soothing lullaby, like a window fan on a hot summer night.
As Nolan’s body fell backwards, he saw the curly-haired hybrid shrieking as Brett sprayed something in its eyes. Then came the tat-tat-tat of bullets from Tyler’s gun. The splash of blood across the hybrid’s white jumpsuit.
There was something wet in Nolan’s eye. Blood. Splattered blood on his face.
As his back hit the ground he looked up and Brett was hunched over him. Brett was screaming his name but it sounded far away. Brett looked so funny with his mouth wide open, his eyes crazed as he shook Nolan’s shoulders, then pressed a hand to his neck, fingers coming away red.
It was all so strange. He’d have to tell Elliot about it later. But now he wanted to sleep. Felt it taking him down. The kind of peaceful sleep that would blot everything else out. Silence. Blackness. Nothing.
****
Elliot stared up at the side-by-side screens in the control room. Brett’s camera, focused on Nolan. Nolan’s pale face, closed eyes, a font of blood gushing out where his neck met his collarbone.
The other screen, Nolan’s camera—Brett’s panicked face. A splash of blood like paint dots across the screen, the treetops bending in the wind. Both scenes shifted as Tyler’s face appeared, then Nolan was lifted, thrown over Brett’s shoulder. Wiley reaching, pulling him up. Nolan’s face again from Brett’s camera, laid out on the chopper floor.
Elliot wasn’t even aware that he was screaming—screaming Nolan’s na
me over and over—until JT’s strong arms caught him in a bear hug from behind. “I’ve got you,” JT said. “I’ve got you, Elliot. Stop. Stop screaming. I’ve got you.”
Elliot heard snippets of conversation from the control room and the chopper both.
“…can’t stop the bleeding.”
“There’s a hospital in the village, take the chopper to…”
“…no time! He’s bleeding too fast. Oh Jesus.”
“…back to headquarters he’ll be dead by then!”
Something stung Elliot’s face and he looked up, realizing Christian had slapped him. “Snap out of it!” Christian said. “Please, Elliot. Please stop screaming.”
Elliot struggled in JT’s grip. “Nolan’s dead.”
“He’s not dead yet,” Christian said. “Snap out of it now. We need to stay calm.” Even as Christian told Elliot to stay calm, his voice trembled. But it was enough to jolt Elliot.
“Okay.” He shook JT off. “Okay, let me go!”
Gordy and Ogden spoke frantically into their microphones. Baz leaned over the front console, shouting, louder than Elliot had ever heard him.
It was chaos.
But somewhere in the background of all this noise, he focused on a voice in the cacophony. A voice from the chopper. It was a voice he didn’t recognize. The angry nasty.
“I can unbleed him. Listen to me! I can unbleed him. Let me help. Don’t push me, get off!”
“Hey!” Elliot pushed forward, stepping up next to Baz. “What’s he saying? What does the angry nasty mean?”
Ogden looked back, his face stricken.
“What’s he saying?” Elliot shouted. “About unbleeding?”
Baz straightened. “Tullis can do this. But I do not trust.”
“Fuck trust!” Elliot said. “Let him try!”
“Ellytot, I see him do harm for amusement before. He could be lie.”
“Let him try,” Elliot said through clenched teeth.
“Wiley,” Ogden said. “Let the hybrid look at Nolan. And give him an earpiece. Do it now.”
“Are we going to a hospital or back to base?” Quint’s voice came through. “I need a direction, guys!”