Chapter 10: Allied Nightmare
John was following a block behind a young boy who had been taken into custody. He followed them toward the rift site and found that a small military-esque base had sprung up over the course of a week and a half. The boy was roughly led into the largest building. John looked around for a way to follow without being noticed, but there were men bustling around everywhere, and there was no way he could manage to even get close. He lay low, watching the base from the cover of the bushes at the edge of the tall grass, hoping for an opening. Dusk slowly fell, but just as twilight was threatening to disappear, a blast rocked through the cool air.
The people in the base started scampering around like ants on a collapsed anthill. Something came through the rift, and the tension seemed to drain as if through a sieve. A lone man moved forward and shooed a small creature into a cage, which he placed on a table nearby. Next, there was a soft rev of a motor, and a small machine moved toward the rift on a pair of treads. Two men from the crowd fussed with it for a moment, and then it moved forward and disappeared into the distorted air. It quickly reappeared. A man stepped forward and fiddled with something, and shook his head. Another man started shouting at him, but eventually stopped, the rift closed, and the group dispersed.
All but a few men filed into the second largest building, and John seized his chance. He crept slowly and as quietly as he could through the thick grass. John took advantage of when the breeze rustled the grass and increased his pace, using the shifting grass as sound cover. The wind died down and he crouched where he was, shivering slightly. The way looked clear, but he didn't want to risk being heard now that he was getting close to the outpost. If he was detected, it would be very difficult for him to escape through the grassy field. He remained where he was and listened, but there was hardly a sound beyond the trees as the wind reached them, but he paused at something. He got the faintest whiff of… sulfur?
John felt his blood run cold, and he glanced in each direction as quickly as he could without making a sound. To his left, he saw something move. He squinted in the darkness that had fallen over the place, and saw a large thing, low to the ground moving at an angle toward him. John froze and slowly put his hand over his mouth to stifle the sound of his breath. He heard a soft shuffling sound from the direction of the motion. It turned very slightly and headed directly at him now, staying low, and scarcely making a sound. John didn't know what to do. He could run, but there was no guarantee that the thing wouldn't catch him, not to mention his cover would be blown and he may never get another chance. He decided to stay still and hope the thing moved past him.
The creature approached more and John finally saw that it was the fire breathing monster that had originally bitten him. John wanted to try to back toward the woods, but his feet felt welded to the ground. The creature came closer, and closer, John's heart pounded in his ears. John couldn't move a muscle, and the creature came within a foot and a half of him, and stopped, staring directly at him. It leaned closer and sniffed his cheek. John's heart was pounding so hard that it hurt, but he didn't make a sound. It looked into his terrified eyes, and then rubbed its nose gently into his shoulder before turning and focusing on the camp. John just sat there, stunned.
What the hell just happened? The last time I saw this thing it tried to fry me and filled my arm with puncture holes. Now it's acting like we're old friends. What's the deal with this thing?
The wind blew again and John knew he needed to move. He glanced over his shoulder several times as he moved closer, and each time found the creature right beside him, staring intently at the small base. The pair was very close now; only a few yards of high grass separated them from the tamped down area around the hastily constructed buildings. John thought he saw a tiny shimmer in the grass, glanced at the animal beside him, and abandoning all pretense, grabbed it in a bear hug and pulled it back. He felt heat under his arm where it touched the red splotches on its back, but he was relieved that no flames scorched his skin. The creature looked quickly at him, its lip curled up slightly. John tensed up once more, and trying to explain, he reached down and gently brushed the fishing wire-like line low in the grass with the tip of one finger.
The annoyed expression on the creature's face vanished at once, and it bent down and sniffed the trip wire. It glanced at John and carefully stepped over the nearly invisible line. John followed it and they came to the edge of the grass. John carefully lay down, trying to conceal himself as best he could while beside him, the animal did the same. A man stomped by, yawned loudly, and continued on his way. John looked both ways, then quietly rose from his hiding place and snuck to the edge of the largest building, which was placed just nearby. He peered around the corner, and gave a start as he heard a tiny rustle and the creature followed him. He snuck around the side and found a small window, with a biohazard symbol beneath it. He peered into it.
What he saw disturbed him. Rows of cage-like cells lined the walls of the metallic building. Many were filled; on one side with children and teens, most asleep against the wall, and the rest looking emptily into space. The other side was filled with the creatures John presumed were their parallels. The parallels were all restrained in some way, bearing heavy straps and chains. Many wore muzzles over their faces. He bit his lip and longed to free them, but could see no way to do so, let alone do so quietly. He slowly reached down to the small pouch on his hip and extracted his mother's camera. He took care to turn the flash off and snapped as many pictures as he thought would be needed. When he finally put the camera away, the camera read thirty pictures taken. He felt something brush against his elbow.
He turned and saw the creature beside him. John shifted away from the window, and it rose into its slouched sitting position to look through the glass. It let out a soft whine. Its eyes ran over the cages on both sides, but on each pass they lingered on a boy in his early teens, and on a mousey creature across from him. It was much smaller and rather round, but it had the same coloration as the large creature in front of John. John glanced back and forth between the animal beside him and the tiny, plump one in the cage, and he suddenly recalled how Combee had changed.
No wonder he's especially interested in that one; that parallel is just a younger version of whatever he is!
John heard footsteps nearby and tapped the creature tentatively on the shoulder. It glanced at John, and seemed reluctant to leave, but eventually turned away from the window. The pair moved to the edge of the base and silently back into the grass. A man walked by and paused to yawn. John took a tiny step backwards, and broke a small piece of stiff grass. The man stopped, looked into the grass, raised his gun, and cautiously approached. John and the animal slowly backed deeper into the grass, moving very methodically to avoid making a sound. The animal's ears perked up and it looked around at the same time as John felt a slight resistance on the bottom of his shoe.
Floodlights blazed and an alarm bell suddenly sounded through the camp. John looked back and saw that both he and the creature had backed into the tripwire. Shouts rang through the camp in all directions. A gust of wind blew, and John and the creature beside him stayed as low as they could as they half ran toward the tree line. John heard men shouting close behind them.
"There it is! It looks like there's more than one! Command said to shoot on sight!"
Adrenaline surged through John like a tide. Thinking fast, he looked at the animal beside him, positioned his fingers into a sort of crude claw, and mimed pulling his breath from his mouth and spreading it around behind them. The creature looked perplexed for a moment, but then fire flared from its back and it created a wall of blazing light in the grass, before ducking back down and running along next to John. They reached the tree line and ducked behind some bushes. John's eyes were wide as an owl's, and his chest was heaving. He smiled a little at their narrow escape and looked to the animal. His fleeting smile faded as he saw it shuddering on the ground, its leg dyed liquid ruby.
John carefully approached and saw that it had been hit in the leg as they ran. Ignoring his instinct to keep running, John reached down and hefted the animal up, supporting it as he would someone with a broken leg. John could never understand why; he just felt some strange loyalty to it; he knew it wasn't the monster it originally appeared to be. John helped it hobble through the trees and to the edge of town. He looked around. Large amounts of smoke were now issuing from the field in the distance. John peered into the dark streets. He hadn't accounted for the possibility that it could be dark by the time he got back. It was now well past curfew and there were sure to be armed men on street corners along the route home. The creature leaning on him was panting in pain now and John knew it would bleed out if he didn't get it somewhere safe soon.
He heard the sound of footsteps running on sidewalk and the pair ducked down behind a bush. A number of men ran around the corner, and hurried toward the smoke. A fire siren blared in the distance. John looked carefully around, and he helped the creature down the dark sidewalk. He peered around the corner but saw nobody. He kept going. More footsteps and another small group of men hurried past toward the smoke. John stealthily made his way back home, opened the door, and took the animal inside with him.
Monozu turned the corner. "About time you got back you prick. What the hell… hello, what have we here?" He had spotted the now woozy animal being laid on the hard floor.
John ran off into the bathroom. Monozu followed. "Your mom is gonna have a cow!" A rumbling chuckle came from his direction. "You are so boned when she wakes up, man!"
"Can it, Monozu."
He opened the cabinet and withdrew several items before hurrying back to the creature on the floor.
"Monozu, any way you can tell this guy that I'm gonna try to help him?"
"Maybe, but… hang on… isn't that the one that bit you in the first place?"
"Will you just work with me on this?" John snapped.
Monozu shook his head a little and said, "People are so backwards sometimes," but he walked over and growled something to the creature on the floor.
He looked up. "He gets it, but if you wanna help him, you should get a move on, he's not looking too good."
John kneeled down beside the creature, and grabbed a pair of tweezers. He gently moved it closer. As soon as the cold metal touched the animal, it flinched away, but slowly relaxed again. John found his mark, and as carefully as he could, inserted the point of the tweezers into the shining hole in its leg. A shiver ran down its length. John slowly maneuvered the implement until he felt something hard. He pinched the tweezers down on the bullet and slowly pulled it. The creature tensed again and gave a growl of pain. John hurriedly reached out with his free hand and pinched the creature's mouth shut. It continued to give a muffled whine until John fully extracted the piece of metal.
He then grabbed a cotton ball, put some alcohol on it, and dabbed the wound. John felt its jaw tense under his other hand. He grabbed a roll of bandages, and wrapped them around the animal's leg as best he could. He sat back, and realized his hand was covered in blood. He walked to the bathroom again, washed his hands and the tweezers clean, and replaced the things from the cabinet. He returned to the other room and found the creature lying on its chest, curled around and sniffing the bandages on its leg. It then tenderly stood and sniffed at the bullet, which John had placed in an egg cup. It looked up at John, hobbled over, and rubbed its face against the side of John's pants. It lay down at his feet and John apprehensively reached down and scratched its head. Its fur felt soft, but the dark hair on its back had some kind of oily substance in it. John rubbed his fingers together and sniffed it. It had the faintest hint of sulfur.
The creature had gone to sleep on the floor, and Monozu walked over. "Not too shabby, doc," said a mocking voice in John's head.
John ignored him. He walked over to the sink, and grabbed a lighter. He stared at his slightly oily fingers and turned the water on with his other hand. He moved the lighter close to his oily hand and clicked it. A small flame appeared over it. John quickly jabbed an oiled fingertip into the flame, then slowly placed it in the fire and held it there. He felt no burning at all. Several seconds had passed before he even began to feel heat. It slowly crept up in intensity until John finally jerked his finger from the fire, almost a full minute later. He examined his finger and found it completely unharmed. He closed the lighter, snuffing the light, and washed the oil from his hand.
Interesting…
"So when you're done trying to light yourself on fire, are you gonna tell me what happened?"
John snapped out of his trance. "Oh, yeah, right."
He explained what had occurred and showed him the images saved on the camera. "Wow, that's really… damn."
"Once again, watch your language."
"So what're you gonna do? Commando raid? I really wanna get out of this house for once in my life, can I come with you?"
"Monozu, do you even realize how incredibly stupid that would be? The only thing we'd accomplish is getting locked up in a cage, or worse. No, we need to think this through…" He paused for a moment, then said, "Strength in numbers. With enough people on our side, we might stand a fair chance at a rescue. I haven't seen much, but it doesn't look like these creatures aren't anything close to mundane animals. Vespiquen somehow made all the bugs around attack those guys; this one can breathe fire, who knows what you're all capable of? First things first, I should get these on the internet," he said indicating the camera. "If people see what they're doing to their kids, they'll flip. With any luck, that'll be enough to get the kids freed, but seeing as they still don't have the slightest clue what's going on, I wouldn't completely rely on that. They still think this is some sort of disease. At least they have the sense to see it's caused by bites and it isn't airborne, or who know what else they'd do."
John heard a stirring in the other room and jumped. His mother came around the corner, sleepy-eyed, and her eyes fell on the bandaged creature lying on the floor. She blinked several times in rapid succession, as if expecting to be dreaming, then in a sort of whispered shout, "John! What the hell is this thing doing in my house!"
"Well, you see…"
"What are you doing with my camera?"
"I, uh, I…"
"It dawned on her. Oh, you didn't!"
Monozu hopped up onto a nearby chair and settled back to watch the fireworks.