Man Down

Twilight was melting into a few twinkling stars when Aiden radioed the others for help. His stomach lurched at the stench of both human and creature carnage. If evil had a smell, that would be what it was like.

Aiden' sinewy chest was bare, but the fire kept him warm. A few moments before, he’d ripped his shirt into three parts to bind his best bud's wounds the best he could. He wasn’t sure his friend would make it until help arrived.

Several coyotes were staying in touch with their quavering howls and yips. He and Daniel had fought off five creepers by themselves before nightfall. Two were attacking Daniel when Aiden had tried to warn him of a third. At that moment, the creature struck Daniel’s left eye. Blood erupted from the socket, painting the left side of his face a deep red. Normally, Lieutenant Daniel Stone was an impressive sight, but now his face was unrecognizable. Aiden felt responsible.

The worst part, though, had been having to yank that small stick from his buddy’s eye after the last creature was killed. Daniel’s teeth clenched as blood mixed with a jelly-like substance spewed out.

The creepers were strong. He’d give them that.

 Beads of sweat appeared above Daniels’ chapped lips, lips that likely would never kiss his wife or his children again. Daniel groaned and lifted his head slightly, mumbling something about tasting copper. It seemed ironic to Aiden that the International Treasury had recently decreased the value of the metal to four cents per pound. He felt a soldier's worth was deemed even less to most everyone, including the government.

Aiden scrambled to his friend’s side. “I’m here, buddy. Ok, I’m gonna help you raise up now.”

Taking Daniel by both limbs, Aiden dragged his body toward a nearby tree so his back could rest against it.

 Daniel began to cough and spit up blood. In a few seconds, his teeth were chattering. Aiden laid a blanket over his friend, knowing that none of it was a good sign. He got up and walked several paces away, not wanting to watch.

“God, if you’re there, we could use one of your miracles,” he said, looking up towards the dark sky.

No one answered but the birds, crickets, and bullfrogs.

*****

Around 3 a.m., the others still had not arrived. Aiden wondered if he should radio Mike Hansen again, but he knew the forty-five-year-old medic was a brave, practical man, known for his punctuality and attention to detail. If something happened, he or one of the others would have called. Aiden thought Mike was easy to talk to, and even though he was a no-nonsense type of guy, he still had a sense of humor.

As he got up to place more kindling on the fire, he saw Daniel’s lips moving; his chest wheezed as he fought to breathe.

“Easy, buddy. Just rest. “

Daniel pointed to his right pants pocket.

“You….take this."

Aiden reached in and grabbed the folded piece of paper. Using a flashlight, he saw codes and notes about the research going on at the bunker they had been stationed at the past year. He refolded the note and slipped it into his own pocket.

“You know what to do?”

“Yes,” Aiden replied, “Just rest. Help is coming. They should be here soon.”

“Reiner—gotta stop him.”

Aiden’s brows furrowed.

 “Is this something about that machine?”

“Yes....creepers……everything.”

Aiden’s heart began to drum against his chest, still wondering what his friend meant, but knowing he should be afraid to find out.

“Jus…tell wife and kids…I love th-…”

Daniel’s body began to shake and jerk from side to side. His tongue finally became limp. Afterwards, his mouth ceased to move and his eyes stared straight ahead.

Aiden tried everything, breathed into his friend’s mouth, tried chest compressions. But Daniel was gone. Aiden had no choice but to burn the body now, to prevent something worse than death.

*****

Lighting up a cigarette, Aiden let his mind wander. None of it made much sense to him. Everyone had shrugged off Daniel’s past claims that something was going on. There’d always been several guards posted in the back of the undergound bunker, and even those who had access to the lab needed prior clearance each time they entered.

Where had the creatures come from? And why had they appeared so soon after the blast? In the strangest of possible scenarios, he couldn’t have imagined this happening in his lifetime.

The creatures quickly laid most everything to ruins. The grid had gone down quickly, creating suspicion between nations. Government leaders hid underground. Everyone else fought for their lives. Phone towers and crops lay in ruins. Some had gotten bold enough to set their own property aflame to kill as many of the creatures as possible before dying themselves.

Taking another slow drag off the cigarette, Aiden exhaled, releasing his thoughts into a curl of smoke drifting upward. Memories came flooding back. It was strange that the first to come to mind were trivial ones, like when he and Daniel snuck out of the underground bunker to go on a drinking spree, and he’d almost woke everyone with the mere passing of gas. Daniel had vowed to get even. Aiden had put a hand over his mouth trying to hold back his laughter.

He supposed this was his revenge… dying first.

*****

Forty-five more minutes passed, and the others arrived in a HEMTE. Soon they were bragging about their recent encounters with the creepers. Aiden didn’t respond when Mike Hansen sat down beside him, patting him gently on the back.

“I’m sorry about Daniel.”

Mike’s voice echoed into the wind, sounding surreal.

Mike continued, “The commander radioed us earlier. He said to return to Chesapeake and wait for further instructions. The machine is being dismantled.”

Aiden came out of his haze momentarily.

 “Did he say why? We gotta go back to Bluemont. Daniel said it was important."

Aiden unfolded the piece of paper Daniel had given him and extended it to Mike. Several codes were written in black ink. They both knew codes for entrance into all the secure areas of the bunker could only be used once. His buddy had circled the one that accessed the posterior area of the bunker.

Mike nodded. “I knew something was going on in that lab." 

As they shared a cigarette Mike began to open up about a time when his curiosity about the machine had almost landed him in trouble. Shortly after the blast he'd taken a stroll past the wrecked lab. Waiting for him when he returned to his quarters was Reiner. After stiff questioning and a reprimand for being in that part of the building, he'd sent Mike to containment.

Mike concluded the tale with a quip, “Well, nothings gonna happen unless we get going“. When Aiden didn't say anything, he continued,

"I’ll drive us back to the bunker now. You look like you’re still in shock.”

Mike offered him a shirt from his backpack as everyone was climbing back in the vehicle. In seconds, they were on their way.

*****

The odor of human carnage became stronger as drove deeper into the woods. piercing their lungs and making their stomachs lurch. A barrage of human bodies nearly covered the ground, some drained of blood and others mere bones. The gluttons had reached straight into each victim’s skull, took his brains, then moved on to the next.

Joe, a brown-skinned corporeal from Chesapeake, sighted a creeper lurking behind a tree in the distance. Its gray lips parted into a rabid sort of grin that chilled Aiden to the bone. Joe called for Mike to stop the vehicle for a moment.

Joe took out his flare gun and nailed the creeper’s neck, and afterward his chest. They all watched the flames lick against its wet, greenish-purple skin, burning it to nothing as it howled and convulsed on the ground. Afterwards, Lucus used a fire extinguisher to put out the remaining flames.

He and Daniel had always had to bash the creepers brains out, which took being at close range. Flare guns were in short supply with everyone on the internet buying them up. If only they'd had one, Daniel would still be alive.

His muscles momentarily stiffened at the sound of distant shots in the woods. No doubt, someone was trying to kill another of the creatures. How many of them were left was hard to guess, since they’d spread everywhere.

Finally, they arrived at the bunker. Aiden’s pulse began to pound. It was time to get some answers.

*****

Upon arriving , they found two armed officers preventing entrance. Aiden tried to talk them into allowing him in. They refused.

Mike then called Commander Reiner, requesting that he call off the guards.

It took some convincing.

“John said the machine has already been retired and there’s no need for us to be here. We should go to Chesapeake as he ordered before. He sounded angry. I don’t want to push it.”

Aiden’s patience was wearing thin.

Through gritted teeth, he told Mike, “We’re going in there whether he likes it or not.”

Before Mike could reply, Corporal Lucas Gray had fallen to the ground convulsing. He was sweating. Instead of sweat, he was covered in green mucous and foaming at the mouth.

Mike put him in triage, keeping an eye on him. By then, Aiden had had about as much as he could take.

“What the…”

“Strange… He’s developed secretions similar to what you see on a creepers’ skin. Let’s get him inside. Reiner will know what to do.”

Both guards unlocked the entrance and stepped aside, not wanting to risk exposure. Aiden made his way straight to the commander’s office while the others went their separate ways to see what else they could find.

When he reached Reiner’s office, Aiden’s face was beet red and his pitch had jumped an octave. “I demand to know what’s going on here!”

“Lieutenant, where’s your salute and ‘yes sir’? Did you forget I outrank you?”

“No sir,” Aiden complied, then kept right on speaking. “Is something going on here that shouldn’t be?”

“Just why would you think that?” The commander’s tone was dripping with sarcasm.

The lab director, Dr. Robert Surgyn, darted into the room a couple seconds after, his face ashen, pleading for assistance.

“Commander, I just had to restrain that soldier who was just brought in.”

“You mean Lucus Park?”

“Yes sir. He’s developed the dental structure of the creatures, as well as the skin characteristics. He also has an appetite for human flesh.”

“Let’s go to the observation room.”

 Following them into the hall, Aiden figured he might soon know what this was all about.

*****

Dr. Syrgon took them through winding halls that culminated in a secure area at the posterior of the bunker. The smell of fresh paint and sawdust indicated recent restoration. Lucus lay in a cylindrical chamber made of steel and glass around the top. Various lights flicked on and off, rotating in cycles around his body, assessing its metabolic changes.

“There’s nothing we can do now but wait.”

The doctor ushered them from the room.

Passing through a huge lab containing various medical devices Aiden knew nothing about, several colored powders and liquids could be seen on a shelf, but what caught Aiden's attention was the a room ahead that seemed less obvious.

Waving away the director's warning that it wasn't safe, Aiden punched in the code for the door to the machine room, having memorized it. When he entered, lights came on and the door sealed behind him.

From outside, the commander and the director’s eyes both widened in horror. They would need a code override plus an injection of a protective serum to safely enter, and there wasn’t time for that. The commander dashed back to his office to reset his own key card.

Meanwhile, Aiden checked out his surroundings. Though the room was mostly vacant, there was a control station in the center. Several buttons blinked on a large console. A computer nearby showed what looked like a DNA sequence, and a set of goggles was lying on a chair.

In seconds, Aiden’s thoughts became like Jell-O, his movements like walking through molasses.

The door finally opened.

“Hurry up, Surgyn!

“Right away, sir!”

The director charged at Aiden, the syringe in hand. Aiden felt a sharp sting in his right arm as the needle went in.

In seconds, Aiden’s words became like marbles in his mouth. Darkness fell over his vision before he collapsed in a heap on the floor.

*****

The moment Aiden awoke, he found himself in a hospital bed with Surgyn standing over him.

“Don’t try to sit up yet. You took a fall when I injected you with the serum.”

“What the hell WAS that?” Aiden’s face was pale, but his speech was back to normal. 

“Just something we give people before they enter the Machine to prevent disorientation.” Surgyn replied, not making eye contact.

 Aiden’s face turned crimson, revealing his impatience. “And what else aren’t you telling me? When he spoke the word ‘else,” his pitch rose considerably.

The director scratched his head, looking a little uncertain about how to word things.

“Well, I may as well tell you,” he began.

“The room you entered contains environmental controls that allow us to mix oxygen and other elements. Earlier, you were breathing a mixture of gases, some from worlds that mankind has visited but cannot inhabit at this time. The chamber is where we keep track of the internal changes after subjects receive the various mixtures of gases. By stepping in the room, you contaminated your nervous system. I had to inject you with an antidote, then we took you to the decontamination chamber, but now you’re ok. There should be no lasting damage.”

Out of the blue, emergency alarms began going off and screams emanated from the hall. Over the PA, he heard Joe making a dustoff call to evacuate the building. Next, they heard the echo of equipment crashing. Several creepers of various sizes were running down the hall. The doctor moved quickly, trying to close the door, but before he could, one dashed into the room, grabbing him by the arm. It's skin looked the same as the others, yet its face and height were those of a male child. Surgyn dropped to his knees and pulled it close to him.

“It’s ok, Jermaine. No one’s gonna hurt you," he said, stroking its head gently.

“What? You’re experimenting on children!”

The doctor’s chin dropped.

“No, not exactly.”

“Well what exactly DO you call this?”

“It’s called cloning and stem cell research. The universal government made it classified due to the political ramifications, but here we clone human bodies for experimental purposes rather than using animals for our research. It’s much more valid and reliable. The space program wants this research is because through injections, DNA manipulation, and the controlled air mixtures, we have found a way to create beings that have the ability to tolerate the harsher environments. Where humans can’t go, we can send them. The military wants it because they can send invulnerable armies during their earth and space war missions. Soon, guys like you won't even have to go to war; we can even colonize new worlds. Everybody wins. One problem, though is the clones reproduce quickly. They're asexual. They can pass their DNA to humans through bites and secretions, but this ability helps improve their longevity."

“So, this is where the creepers came from?”

"Well....sort of...... the blast---"

Before Syrgan could finish, a full-grown creeper, bounded into the room and grabbed him by the throat. Aiden could tell it was Lucas. The soldier’s eyes were vacant, looking quite menacing. Before anyone could stop him, Lucas charged, then he reached into the doctor’s skull, and consumed his brain. Before he harm anyone else, Aiden pulled out his pistol and shot Lucas in the head at point-blank range. He fell in a heap to the floor.

*****

As Aiden rushed down the corridor, he received a call from Mike saying that he and the others would be waiting for him outside, and that they had already evacuated the other military and lab personnel. They'd contacted the Universal Bureau of Investigations, who would soon be questioning the commander and taking it from there. 

He went on. "We've been given permission to seal the area. But I'm taking it a step further. We're going to burn it down. I don't care if they get pissed. We're soldiers and we've got millions of people to protect."

As Aiden joined the others, he noticed everyone was quiet. Everything that had recently happened had snuffed out conversation like a fire extinguisher.

Finally, Mike broke the silence.

 “We set charges throughout the building. But what about Lucus? Did he get out?"

Aiden shook his head.

“No. First, he killed the lab director and was coming at me next. I had no choice.”

Mike patted him on the back.

“You had no choice, buddy. It will always be this way for us as soldiers, losing people we care about, making sacrifices.”

Aiden nodded, acknowledging the truth of the statement.

On Mike's command, the charges transformed he entrance to the bunker into a pile of rubble.

 Looking down, Aiden spotted four coppers on the ground. Aiden thought of how he'd recently compared the worth of soldier's lives to a mere few cents.

"So a soldier’s worth is more than a few coppers, after all."

Wherever Daniel was, he knew his friend was in a better place, and this was his way of saying hello.