Chapter 9: The Burn Pit.
Keeping to the shadows, careful not to be seen, Colin crept up to the equipment shed, determined to find the other flamethrower. He opened the door and promptly leapt in alarm as he was greeted by Peder, who'd already had it strapped to his back.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" Colin cried.
"I might ask you the same question." Peder replied.
The two men stared at each other for a few moments, each uncertain of the others intentions. Finally, they moved away, keeping a careful eye on each other.
A pit had been dug in the courtyard and the bottom filled with kerosene. The bodies of the things were thrown in and several more barrels of kerosene poured over the heap.
"That's enough. Get back." Said Lars and directed his flamethrower at the pit. "Burn in hell." He snarled as he lit the whole mess up. A mass of flames shot up, stretching half a metre or so above the pit's lip. Even in the midst of the blizzard that was picking up, they could feel the heat radiating off from it. It comforted them slightly to know that nothing could survive that.
"What the fuck's happening to us?" Said Peder, finally asking the question they'd been afraid of for the last few hours.
Kate replied. "This thing attacks its prey Copies it perfectly, and hides then inside it. Waiting."
"Is it still among us?" Jonas asked nervously.
"It could be any of us."
Everyone instinctively edged away from whoever was nearest them.
"We've got to get out of here." Said Adam.
"Yeah, right now." Colin agreed.
"You could be getting into a vehicle with it." Said Kate. "You'd be alone. Venerable. It's exactly what it wants. Not to mention, you'd be giving it a way out of here. A way to spread. It's like a virus. So what do we do with viruses?"
"Quarantine." Said Adam, though he sounded not too keen on the prospect. "We isolate it and then we kill it."
"That's a scary thought." Said Peder. "The eight of us are this planet's only defence right now!"
"Not even all eight." Kate reminded him.
"I think I've got an idea who isn't" Colin piped up, gesturing to Peder with his razor. "Where were you when we were trying to deal with the helicopter? All the others gathered straight away. You took longer."
"I was getting some maps from the storeroom."
"You were wiping up the blood!" Colin spat.
"It would only have taken a minute." Said Adam. "None of us were paying attention. Anyone could have got to it."
"And do you think I trust you?" Said Colin, turning to jab his razor at the American. "You knew what this bloody thing could do but you didn't tell us till it was too late!"
"I..." Adam struggled but could think of no way of explaining his actions. Instead he responded with counterattack. "What about you? You gave up on that radio pretty quickly. It might not have been dead. You just don't want reinforcements getting in! And why are you so keen to be alone right now unless you're planning something?"
"Let's look at this logically." Said Edvard. "Was anyone alone with Juliette at any point today?"
"Peder was." Said Adam, realising. "He was helping with her reports. Maybe Colin has a point. You don't want anyone else to have a flamethrower. You're trying to haul our weapons! And I haven't seen you with a cigarette all day!"
"Can I point out that you were alone in the lab with that creature all night. If it wasn't dead, it could have got to you! You still haven't explained why you never warned us."
"I was in the lab with him." Kate interjected.
"That only brings you into suspicion." Said the Norwegian.
As the group continued to argue in English. Sander moved over to Edvard for a quiet word in Norwegian. "Kate shared a room with Juliette. We should keep an eye on her."
But Lars overheard "Kate tried to warn us. If you two had listened, we could have done something. If anyone, it's you we should suspect!"
"Is this supposed to clear her?" Said Edvard. "What better way to confuse us than by pretending to be helpful?"
"This is no good." Kate said finally. "We've all been alone at some point today. That thing could have got to any of us. Whoever it did get to could have got to anyone else. This is just what it wants, for us to turn against each other."
"We have to rely on science." Said Sander. "Exposing our own, uncontaminated, blood to the cells of the creature should create some kind of reaction."
"Then we take blood samples from everybody, and we test each one of them." Said Adam.
"How long will this take to prepare?" Edvard asked.
"Adam and I can prepare it in a couple of hours." The microbiologist replied.
"Ok." Said Kate. "Lars and I can disable the vehicles." She looked around at a sea of worried faces. Some doubted Sander, others her, others the validity of the test. "We have to trust in this plan." She reassured them. "It's our only chance of making it through this."
"In the meantime." Said Edvard. "The rest of you into the rec room. It may be best if we stay together for the time being."
Feeling only slightly more optimistic about their prospects, the group separated, leaving the fire to destroy a small part of their enemy.
Sander looked at the flames, for a moment, and sighed as his Nobel Prize dreams literally went up in smoke. Just a few days ago, he'd been on the verge of the greatest discovery of his career. One that would define the future of humanity. Now, his only concern was to ensure that humanity still had a future.
As Kate held the light, Lars lifted the engine cover and cut all the lines to the fuel injectors. To a trained mechanic, this would be a simple problem to fix. Fortunately Lars was the only trained mechanic on the base and the creature would, hopefully, be unable to perform a diagnostic by the time someone could stop it.
Kate asked him something in English. Lars couldn't understand but could guess what she'd be asking.
"Done here." He replied.
"No more vehicles?" Said Kate.
"No vehicles." Lars nodded. At least he understood what those words meant.
With his task done. Lars climbed out of the snowcat's cab. He glanced around the garage for anything else the thing might want to utilise. Already, he'd disabled the vehicles, moved all but one set of keys to the base's strong box and hidden a particular crate he didn't want falling into the wrong hands. Secrecy was the best thing he had going for him right now. However, it occurred to him that if anything were to happen to him, his actions would leave the remaining humans with no weapons. He couldn't tell anyone where the crate was hidden since anyone could be one of those creatures.
As Lars pondered this predicament, Kate emerged from the other side of the vehicle. She alone, the dog handler could trust, whatever the others might say. She'd done the most to hinder this creature already.
As Kate looked over to see what was troubling the Norwegian, he beckoned her over. Lars guided her over to where he'd hidden the crate under some equipment and opened it up to show her what was inside.
"Grenades?" Said Kate.
"Thermite charges." Lars replied, his vague knowledge of English telling him that Kate had guessed correctly. Technically, they were designed for loosening particularly tough chunks of ice. But, if the firing pin were removed manualy, they could serve the same function as a hand grenade. Other than the flamethrowers, these charges were the humans best hope.
"Is everything alright?" Said Edvard's voice, at the door. They'd been gone longer than expected and he was beginning to get suspicious. Lars quickly shut the crate and hid it again.
"Everything's fine." Said Kate, cottoning on that Lars wanted the box to remain hidden.
"The storm's getting worse." Said the commander "We'd better move inside. Lars, we should move in."
Author's Notes: The original version of the group scene featured a lot of arguing between Peder, Adam and Colin, but was re-filmed to give more lines to Kate and Sander. What I've tried to do here is a merging of the two ideas. It was a lot of fun thinking of the reasons they probably suspected each other.
Lars probably does know a few English words, hence why he and Kate can understand each other to some extent. He just doesn't know enough to maintain a conversation.