“What do you want us to do?” Bri asked.
I rolled my eyes. “You two are the kings of causing trouble. I am sure you’ll think of something,” I stood and took my MK 14 off handing it to Bri.
Day 2
I slipped out of my pack and reached inside drawing out a blue windbreaker. I slid it on, covering my armor. I took off my leg holster and pocketed my Glock. I wasn’t going in there with much, but if I did this right no one would have to be hurt. I bumped fists with Johnson and half hugged Bri.
I walked out of the foliage and made a beeline right to the back entrance to the hospital. It was a smoking door and was the only non-secure door in the facility. In today’s society every secure building had a smoking door, that was unlocked. I walked right in like I belonged there. The first thing that hit me was the place was quiet. That was strange, with as many patients in it and with the airplane and bus crashes this place should be bustling with activity. I slipped down a back corridor and to the emergency stairs. Kell office was on the fourth floor.
I moved up the stairs, taking them two steps at a time. I stopped halfway between the second floor and third because a door opened above me. I retreated down to the second floor and opened the door to access the ward there. I slipped in and found myself confronted with ten of these mutant looking men. They just stared at me, not one confronted me at first. It was like they didn’t know what to do, with an intruder in their midst. I put my hands in the windbreaker pockets feeling the security of the Karambits. A nurse I recognized came out of a room and looked in my direction. We locked eyes for a moment and then she cleared her throat getting the men’s attention.
“That is Dan he is just an orderly. I need help in this room please.” She turned her back on me after a wink and walked back into the room she had come out of. All the mutant men followed her like baby ducks after their mom.
I silently thanked her and slipped back into the stairway and smashed my face against the chest of one of those men. He was easily taller than me and well-muscled. He tensed as he grasped onto my biceps.
He said something I couldn’t understand, but the meaning behind it was clear. He wanted to know who I was. My hands were still in my pockets wrapped around the Karambits. I brought them out as fast as I could and flipped them open. With his hands holding my biceps I couldn’t raise them to attack his throat or face. So, I did the one thing open to me. I bent my elbows and raising my hands to his flanks and sunk my blades in deep. The man let go of me and tried to retrieve something from his pockets. I am a fighter, one who will do anything to win. I pressed my attack swiping at what would be his weak points if he was a normal man. I cut him four more times in the chest and torso, forcing him back to the landings wall. He opened his mouth to scream. There was no way I would be able to escape or reach Kell once his alarm went out. I reacted on impulse sinking the Karambit’s blades deep into the sides of his neck and ripping the blades forward. I had sliced through where his carotid artery was and just about cut his head free of his shoulders. His eyes rolled back in his head as he tried to stem the gushing yellow fetid blood with his hands. In a few seconds he fell limp from the loss of blood and gasped his last breath. I dropped to my knee and wiped my hands and blades clean on his white uniform.
With that done I vaulted the steps to the fourth-floor door and inched it open a crack. I watched the hallway and was relieved to find it empty. I slipped into the hallway and walked quickly to Kell’s office. I checked the handle and found it locked. Smiling, I reached into my pocket, removing a small keyring I kept for emergencies. I put the proper key in the lock and unlocked it, opened the door quickly and moved in as I heard noises coming from another office. I shut the door but kept it open just a crack, so I could see out in the hallway. My chest was still heaving from the fight I had in the stairway. The door across the hall opened and two people came out, both like those mutant men. I closed the door and threw the lock.
“Can I help you?” an educated male’s voice asked. I reached into my windbreaker, gripping the closed Karambit again, and turned slowly.
One of those weird men sat at my wife’s desk. He had no weapon that I could tell. “I am looking for Doctor Welko.” I stammered out, trying to hide my uneasiness.
He looked me over for a moment before his hand shot toward the phone on the desk. I moved unnaturally fast, pulling the Karambit, flipping it open and bringing it down. I put the blade through the man’s hand and into the table, pinning him. With my other hand I brought out the other Karambit and vaulted over the desk. I flipped the knife out and put it against his neck before he could utter a cry. I was breathing hard, over the stress more than the athletics I had performed.
“If you attempt to yell out, I will slice your neck open and spill out your life force all over this desk, I have already done this little trick with one of your other men. Nod if you understand.” I whispered in the man ear.
He nodded as much as he could with my blade pressed against his neck, even then the Karambit bit into his skin and released a lone bead of yellow blood, that rolled down his dull white-colored skin and into the collar of his shirt.
“Good, now you are going to answer my questions,” I reached down to the desk and twisted the knife in his hand a little bringing out a hiss of pain from him. “If you lie to me, or I even think you are lying to me I will do more than that to you. Do you believe me? You may speak.”
“I believe you will kill me, but till then if I lie to you, you will deliver pain to me. Am I correct?” he spoke in a cultured voice. Like a professor who thinks they are above you.
“You are correct. First question, where is Doctor Welko?”
“I do not know who, Doctor Welko is.”
I sighed and reached toward the knife buried in the man’s hand. As I reached it the man tensed as if he was going to do something stupid. I brought my hand back quickly and snatched his free hand. I brought it in front of his face and exerted pressure bending it backwards. “I am going to break your fucking wrist, then I am going to use this knife against your throat to start cutting pieces of you off. Got it?”
“If you are speaking of the woman that they call Kell, then yes, I know where she was, at least. I doubt she will be there right now though.”
“Explain,” I hissed. I would’ve done so in his ear if he had ears.
“She was taken in the first wave of our attack. They are holding people at what you call Watson Park in the middle of town.”
“Why wouldn’t she still be there?”
“The spot is a holding area for transfer of prisoners.”
“Transfer to where?”
“Have you not asked yourself who we are yet? I mean except for being able to speak and a slight resemblance, you should recognize, we are not from here.”
“I figured you weren’t from here. So, where are you from?”
The man sighed slightly. “Please remove the knife from my throat and we can have a civilized discussion. I take it this Kell is a family member? Perhaps a sister or wife?” He raised a questioning eyebrow.
I removed the Karambit from his throat and pocketed it. I stepped back away from him removing my Glock from the windbreaker pocket and then around to the front of the desk, pointing the gun at him. I used my foot to find the guest chair and slid into it.
He gave me a flat smile like a teacher would to a child. “May I ask your name please?”
“It’s Dan, and what’s yours?”
“They call me Quashay, which translates loosely to Doctor in your language.”
“So, you do not have a name?”
He gave me another flat smile. “My people are named for what they do, there is no single identity like in your culture.”
I thought about that for a moment before continuing our conversation. “So, what did your family call you before you became a Quashay?”
“Family? We do not have those. My race is engineered, we are created to fill a need in our society. A Doctor was needed when my batch wa
s ordered, thus I am Quashay.”
“Okay, back up. Where are you from?” I raised my free hand and scratched my brow in curiosity.
“Ah, I was amazed when you didn’t ask the most obvious question first. We are from a different reality than yours.”
“Quashay, I am going to ask a bunch of questions now. What do you mean by different reality? Why are you in my reality? Why is it you speak English? And are you my enemy?”
Quashay frowned for a moment as he considered his answer. “When the Universe exploded into being, a multitude of realities were created into existence. You are in one, my people are from another. A million realities exist all on the same plane but, resonating at a different frequency. My scientists found a way to tunnel into other frequencies allowing us to tear into your world. Why we are here, is an interesting question. My people are low on resources, and to gain more we raid other worlds. It has been our way for a millennium, we tear a whole in time and space and roll in with our greatly superior advanced technology and take what we need.”
“What resources is it you need?”
“Biological, we have run out of useable DNA to continue our way of life.”
“You mean people? You kidnap people and take them back to your world and do what exactly?”
Quashay looked down to the knife imbedded in his hand and shook his head. “Yes Dan, we take people. They are blanks for us to use when we create new batches of our people. I am not a fan of this process as it destroys the host…” Quashay stopped speaking and looked at the knife in his hand again. “It kills the host nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine times out of every million.”
“That is not a good percentage for my kind Quashay.”
“No, it is not. Except you have somehow stumbled across the one abhorrent in the first wave of the invasion. You see Dan, I was taken from my world and my DNA was re-written to become one of these things. I woke up from the remaking process completely intact in mind. I could remember who I was and what had happened to me. I have played along in order to stay alive. Aberrations, when captured are immediately incinerated. This way they cannot infect the rest of the race. So, Dan, when you asked if I am your enemy, I can, in all good conscience promise you I am not. I am in fact, your ally.”
I sat back in the chair and stared at Quashay, trying to understand his story. I wasn’t completely sure he was telling the truth. I am a smart man, but not one of science, unless it is about guns, weapons, and tactics.
I took a risk. “Quashay, would you be willing to help me find my wife Kell?”
“Yes Dan, I am preparing to finish up my tour of duty on your world and am set to return to the Collectivus. If you provide me with a picture of her or her scent, I can track her down when I get back. Maybe I can somehow get her back to you.”
I stood and moved toward the desk, I gripped the Karambit and pulled it out of Quashay’s hand. I stared down at him trying to read his alien like visage. A thought came to me. “Quashay, Collectivus is a Latin word for collective.”
“Yes, our main language is close to your Latin, I was a linguist in my old life and that has helped me learn your language fast. The Collectivus is like a beehive in your nature. We all have our roles and work to better ourselves and provide for our Royal Leaders.”
“I am having such a hard time following along with all this. You said you need a picture and something with her scent? Turn around.”
Quashay spun in his chair wrapping a cloth around his wounded hand. Behind him on the window shelf was two framed pictures of Kell and me. Next to that was her scarf she kept in her drafty office to keep her neck warm. Quashay cocked his head as he studied the picture, he then reached out and pulled the scarf off the ledge. He buried is face in the scarf and sniffed. He reminded me of a bloodhound preparing to track a fugitive. Quashay put the scarf on the desk and closed his eyes. He stayed that way for a full minute. I wasn’t even sure he was breathing, his chest never rose, his body never even twitched. I was about to get off my chair to check on him when he opened his eyes.
“Sorry to alarm you Dan. I was placing Kell’s likeness and scent into my mind. I will do everything I can to assist you,” he reached into his pocket and pulled a small device that looked like a syringe. “This is a communications device. We insert it into our bodies, itallows us to speak to our people on our world. I need to inject it into your neck.”
I smirked at him as I tried to decide if I would allow him to do this to me. “Quashay, will you be able to track me with this device?”
“I will Dan, but not any other. This is encoded with my own encryption, I created it so if I ran into another aberrant, I could keep in contact with them secretly. I know you have no reason to trust me, but believe me, I could’ve taken your life the second you walked into this office.”
“How’s that?” I asked in a snarky voice.
“Please do not feel threatened,” he reached into his lap and brought up one of those pistols I had seen earlier. He placed it on the desk and pushed it in my direction. “Dan, we need to find a way to trust one another. I promise you I want to stop the Collectivus as much as you do. They took everything including the one I loved and turned me into one of these,” he placed his hands on his chest. A single yellow tear broke from his eye and rolled down his face.
“Is this gonna hurt?” I asked.
“Yes, it will.” Quashay lifted the syringe and came around his desk.
“I had a Sergeant, when I first joined the military, who told me that sometimes you just had to throw caution to the wind and believe in something,” I put the Glock on the desk next to his weapon. “You better not cross me Quashay.”
“I promise my friend; we have the same goals.”
It was then I remembered his hand. “I am sorry about your hand; I was hyped up over a fight in the stairway right before I came in here.”
“We will say our mutual pain will be the binding factor in our commitment to work together,” Quashay placed the injector against my neck. “Are you ready Dan?”
I nodded my head slightly and closed my eyes. I heard the injector fire and then I was overwhelmed with pain throughout my entire body. It was as if Quashay had injected me with liquid fire. Every nerve ending felt like it was being scorched. I felt myself fall from the chair as my body went as stiff as a board. My head was the last thing in my body to ignite in pain. It was as if someone had turned all my senses up to a million. I could taste the air, the light in the office burned my eyes, my ears were pounding as if I was had a full set of concert speakers against my head and they were turned up to eleven. Even my nose got in on the action, I could smell everything in the office, my own body, the fake leather of the chairs, the wood of the desk, the half empty coffee mug. I was in overload; this was worse than any pain I had ever felt including having my leg blown off. This was intense, beyond intense.
I lost track of time as I burned from the inside out. When my senses finally drew back to normal, I found myself panting and sweating as I laid on the floor. I opened my eyes and looked up into Quashay’s strange eyes.
“Holy Christ on a crutch, that hurt more than anything I have ever felt. How long was I out,” my voice sounded rough like I had a sore throat.
“You never lost consciousness Dan. The entire process was faster than anything I have ever observed before, it defies any logical explanation,” he offered his hand to me.
I took it and he surprised me with his strength. He almost launched me into the ceiling with how hard he pulled up. I landed on my feet and my shoulder let out a scream of pain, but as fast as the pain came it went. Quashay looked at me strangely, his head cocking to the side.
“Dan, what is wrong with your leg?”
I looked down as if I needed to. “Oh, uhm I lost it from below the knee in Afghanistan.”
“May I please see?”
I hopped up on the desk sat and pulled my pants up, exposing the gleaming metal of the combat leg. “Sure, ain’t no pro
blem though.”
Quashay dropped to his knees and took the leg into his hands exploring the prosthetic like he had never seen one before. Oh, hell he might not have, maybe they don’t have these problems with the Collectivus.
“The design looks crude. How does it work? I see no batteries or internal mechanics,” he continued to look it over.
“It is not powered except by me. It is hinged at the knee and the piston absorbs shock to protect my knee from the impact.”
Quashay cupped his chin as he continued to examine it. “Very, very crude.”
“It is what it is, I have learned to adapt to it and can do everything I did with the original.”
“If you say so, but this is archaic.”
I was about to respond when I played the entire scene back in my head. Neither of us had used our mouths to communicate. Quashay stopped what he was doing and tilted his head up toward me. He gave me a small smile.
“Great little communications trick huh?”
“This is great, and you swear only you and I can hear each other?”
“This channel is heavily encrypted; we are completely connected now. Relax, close your eyes, and think of me.”
I did what Quashay asked and entered my calming place. The one I learned to create to handle the actions I had to take when killing others. I felt like I was sliding down a slide in the dark until swirling colors lit up all around me. I stopped abruptly and felt myself go weightless as I floated in the ethereal space of swirling colors. Something alien, appeared in front of me. It was larger than me, brown rough scaly skin, four huge body builders like arms, the head took on the appearance of a great Silverback gorilla. I studied the creature as it studied me.
“Quashay is that you?”
The mighty gorilla nodded his head. “It is Dan. This is what my race looked like before the Collectivus took us and used us for their needs.”
I looked around at the vast color filled space we floated in. “Where are we?”
Quantum Theorem Page 5