THE LAST ORDER
It was over and doctor Yazdogsky didn't know how he should feel. On one paw he was grateful for the fact that Laika had no longer to suffer in the lonely space capsule multiple miles above the earth, but on the other paw he felt so empty and powerless for the fact that he had not been able to save her.
It was almost three in the morning and with him were only two more engineers, who monitored the course of the remaining rocket. Dead tired, the doctor stood up from his chair, "Please, keep an eye on her...I know it's...over, but you know what I mean. I will speak tomorrow to the higher ups and try my best to persuade them about the things that happened here."
The other two, a brown bear and deer with large antlers, just nodded and turned with a sad gaze back to their monitors. The doctor decided to take a last look at his patients in the infirmary before trying to get some sleep.
Two soldiers stood in front of the door to the station who guarded the place, when the doctor approached both of them saluted him. He didn't know exactly how it had happened but since his attack against Tuskenko, the power of command had switched over to him. A fact that he didn't like much, but for now it had to make it work. He saluted back and entered the infirmary.
On the right side laid Alexei, who had no longer a bullet in his leg but a lot sedative medicine in his body. The doctor knew that he wouldn't wake up so soon and somehow, he envied the young Snow Leopard. Because he knew what would happen when his own head would hit the pillow, there would be just one mammal on his mind – Laika.
The little hedgehog lady was still unconscious and for now it was better to keep it that way. The wound she had received to her head was not severe but injuries to the brain should never be taken lightly. Beside her laid Albina, still sitting nervous in her bed and waiting for someone to clear up her mind about Laika's situation. With pleading eyes she looked at the doctor and he began walking over to her bed.
"Doc?" Albina, the proud polar vixen, asked in a meek voice, which was weakened by tears and hours of sobbing. Doctor Yazdogsky took the paw of Albina and gave it a gentle squeeze, together with smile that felt for him incredible wrong at this moment.
"She has no longer to suffer, my dear. It's over...for better or for worse."
Albina didn't reply. She just nodded and pulled her paw back. It didn't take long before she turned away from the doctor, facing her unconscious friend in the bed beside hers. The dhole understood that she needed some time to herself and walked to the end of the hall, where his last patient was laying in a bed, handcuffed to the frame and guarded by a privacy screen.
After ten more beds he reached General Tuskenko who was, to the doctor's surprise, awake. His face looked still terrible and some of the wounds were still slightly bleeding, but the boar had refused every sedative that had been offered to him.
The doctor stood on a small stool beside Tuskenko's bed and looked with a grim face at him, "It's done, Oleg. She's dead. Are you happy now?"
"No but it was a needed exchange. One life sacrificed, for so many we can maybe save," The General replied and shifted slightly in his bed, but the handcuffs on both sides prevented him from moving too much.
"Today, there was one life we could have saved for sure. But instead, we gave in to your delusions. That 'they' are out there. That 'they' are watching us…," The doctor shook his head and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He didn't know what he awaited, but without being asked, the General began to talk.
"Half a year ago, before all of this here started, I was ordered to Furmanova from the president himself. For a whole month there had been no communication and no response from a little military base with at least 2000 thousand soldiers, on the outskirt of our nation. Not far away from the eastern states. What do you think I have found there?" The General spoke slowly and turned his head just towards Doctor Yazdogsky, when he had ended.
The Doctor, however, had no interest at all in such games and sighed annoyed before he answered the question, "I don't know? Signs of a battle? Wounded soldiers? If there are 2000 mammals...then there should be at least someone left."
"Nobody. The base was empty and there were no signs of a battle or even one mammal left, but everything else was untouched. The weaponry, the tanks, airplanes, defenses, the clothes of the soldiers, everything was there. We found no signs of mass graves or similar things. They were just gone and we had no idea what had happened. It was as if the Goddesses had themselves come down on earth and wiped everyone out. Now tell me, Vladimir, what on earth could do something like this?"
"I...I have no idea," The Doctor had to admit and asked himself if what he just heard was the truth or some elaborate excuse for Laika's death.
The General turned his head back to the end of the bed and stared at nothing in particular.
"There was only one hint and it was written in the diary of the leading Colonel of the base. Colonel Medjew, a good mammal and brave soldier. Who was always careful with his subordinates but never fast with his gun. He liked to think about a situation before he did something...not the best precondition for a soldier."
"What was in the diary?"
"Just two sentences as the final entry: The Last Order was here. Dissolve your Country! And from there on we found more and more evidences for their existence. Notes with their name appeared in top secret files, mammals disappear and more bases were found empty."
Doctor Vladimir Yazdogsky had never before heard such a story or even the name the Last Order. He shook his head and couldn't stop to search for a solution. But whatever he thought of it made no sense and so he came to the conclusion that only one explanation could fit. It was a lie.
"No, that can't be true...that's ridiculous."
"Go to my room and search for a case file with the title TLO incidents. There you can read everything about it!"
The doctor stood up from the little stool and looked angry at the boar, "Oh I will do this but I know what I will find. Tse, even now, after Laika died for your plans. You still insist in those lies about an almighty organization? For once in your life, Oleg, take responsibilities for the things you did!"
The dhole was already walking away when, he made a sudden turn and shouted a last sentence at the General, "You've send Laika to her death and now you try to excuse yourself with some fairytales and urban legends? Even if all you are saying was true, you had no right to take her life! You could have come up with dozens of other options, yet you decided to go with the faster one, and Laika paid the price for that decision you made! I'm done with you and I hope I'll never have to talk to you again!"
The doctor walked away from the boar, leaving him alone in the darkness of the nightly infirmary. The General could nothing do but shook his head about the dhole, when he recognized that someone was standing at the end of his bed. His eyes needed a moment to adjust to the darkness, but when they did he saw green eyes glimmer in the darkness like emeralds and a small to midsize mammal in the white cloth of a doctor. It was a fox, whom he had never seen before and who slowly walked up to his side.
"Good morning, Mr. Tuskenko."
"Who...who are you?"
The fox was young and not older than thirty. His whole face was stern when he talked, "You can call me Alpha and I'm just here for a short visit."
"A-a-about what?" The General, a soldier with many years of experienced, was almost in blind panic about this unknown visitor.
"About your end. You see, we can't afford that people talk to much about us...and I have to apologize because of the case file. Your old friend Vladimir Yazdogsky will find nothing and probably keep you in memory as a liar. But I guess, a lot of mammals will take your end just as the fair punishment for Laika's unnecessary death. There will be not a lot of question. Sleep well, General."
The fox held a syringe in his pocket and without any hesitation, the fox who called himself Alpha injected the substance to the General. Tuskenko felt how his eyes became incredible heavy. A minute later he was unconscious and another ten minutes before his heart stopped beating. When he was found in the morning, there was just him, but no fox.
NOTES:
Okay, you might be a bit confused right now
What the hell is this?!
Well it's time for the big plot twist: Laika is actually a tie-in to Ansem's story "Two of a Kind", that you can find here: s/12564197/1/Two-of-a-Kind
In fact, this last chapter was written by Ansem himself.
The events of my story will actually have an important impact later in the story of my dear friend, just you wait!
In the meantime, check out his awesome story!
Finally, thanks to everyone who followed me on this journey!
A big hug to you all!
See you to the next story!