Chapter one
In a small medical clinic so remote it could have been almost anywhere, a long line of families waited patiently as two doctors wove in and out of the three rooms of the clinic as they saw to each patient's needs. Today was Vaccination Day, one of many that was held every year, and that meant that the two doctors had been up since well before dawn, first preparing meals for themselves and then getting the clinic ready for all the people that would be coming through. The first patients had started arriving just after the sun had cleared the horizon, reddening the clear sky and promising scorching temperatures by noon.
The doctors were a brother and sister team, from a far off land, so far that, though the locals had been told its name on several occasions, they had forgotten it. They were of equal age, just over thirty summers and, though the locals had been wary at first, they had eventually warmed up to these strangers who brought with them medical supplies and ways to heal the sick that had not been known before. The doctors were well liked in the community, even more so because they respected the local ways, as the missionaries before them had not.
Today however, one little boy did not seem to be liking the brother doctor, Nigel by name. He squirmed in Nigel's arms, preventing him from even considering administering the vaccination the little one had come to receive. The boy's parents had been killed in one of the many warlord raids that had plagued the area since the civil war, and though he had been found a new family, the mother had two smaller children that had demanded her attention as soon as the boy had been called, so he'd been sent in by himself, while the mother had attended to the younger children.
"Hey Tas!" Nigel called for his examination room. "A little help would be nice."
Dr. Natasha, as she was called by the locals, popped her head through the door as she passed, and with a chuckle took the boy from her brother. She chattered away at him in the boy's native language, distracting him long enough for her brother to clean the area and vaccinate him. He didn't feel a thing.
"Done." Nigel sighed with relief as he pressed a cotton ball to the site. "Darn I wish I had your talent with languages. Would make things so much easier."
"As I recall, brother mine, you slacked during our language classes before we came here."
"Hey! At least I can say 'look at the monkey in the tree." Nigel joked, disposing of the existed needle and preparing the next as Natasha grabbed a small sweet out of a jar and handed it to the boy, whose eyes lit up as he crammed it into his mouth and rushed out the door before they could do anything else to him.
"Yes but when will you use it?" Natasha joked back, she and her brother exchanging a smile, as the next child all but ran into the room, begging for his 'jabba.' Nigel rolled his eyes good naturedly.
"It's your own fault...ja-buh. Ja-buh." Natasha teased as she left the room. The locals, many could speak at least a little English, had a small problem with pronouncing some words, particularly the ones that ended with 'b,' something they didn't have in their language, at least that's what the resident English teacher had said. But then she had left due to a family emergency and the doctors had been left with the locals for over a year. Nigel again rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her as she left the room, before turning to his new patient with a grin.
By the time all the families and children had been seen to, the sun had long since retired for the day. As the last of the families made their way home under the stars, Nigel and Natasha settled to the desks, completing reports for the folks back home that funded this, and other humanitarian ventures in the area.
"You know," Natasha started as she slammed yet another report into her outbox, "considering they check on us every week, they could at least give us less paperwork."
"True, but then it could also be worse, I suppose." Nigel grunted, and at Natasha's doubtful look, he added. "We could have a raid, and the paperwork."
Natasha grudgingly gave her twin that one. They'd been lucky this season, with only a few raids from the local warlords. And even then, it had been more about a show of force rather than doing any actual damage to the other side. The Med-station had been left alone, as was usual, both sides having kindly declared it no-man's land, though that had been tested a few times, when both sides had brought in their wounded. It had been a tense few weeks, with both parties camped on their door step, but they had made it through, and it had also resulted in the weekly visits, with reinforcement doctors from the head branch. And even though the Med-station and its staff couldn't be touched, their supply caravans were regularly detained by one side or the other, and this week's shipment had been no exception. Half of their supplies had been taken, but at least no lives had been lost in this seizure.
As the hour neared midnight, Nigel dragged Natasha out of their office and propelled her towards her bedroom, ordering her to sleep "the reports would keep until later that week," when the reinforcements arrived. It had been routine for the reinforcements to take over treating any patients while Nigel and Natasha completed their reports and requisitions for new supplies.
They had almost made it to their beds when an insistent pounding on the locked door stopped them in their tracks. Through a crack in the blinds they hey could see a young boy, clearly having just run along way, pounding on the door, calling for Natasha.
"Mother's gone into labour." They said at the same time, chuckling and separating to get the needed materials.
Sighing Natasha turned to open the door, recognizing the boy.
"Mother…baby come fast…must come now." the boy managed between gasps. Natasha nodded, and grabbed her bag and the keys to the jeep. A quick hug to Nigel, and a whispered, "drive safe" and Natasha and the boy were driving away into the night. Nigel watched until they were out of sight and then locked the door before heading to bed. But he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that had risen in his chest as he'd watched them drive off.
The boy's home wasn't far, at most 10 miles, and they were pulling up beside the door in no time. Natasha could hear the mother's labour cries from outside and visibly flinched as she walked into the house.
"Is she going to be all right?" the boy asked.
"Your mother's going to be fine. You'll see." Natasha assured him with a smile, sending him to sit with his father's and two older brothers. Inside the bedroom, with their mother the boy's older sister washed their mother's face with a cool towel and tried to calm her. Natasha greeted them all and set to work.
Five hours later, a howling baby boy lay in his mother's arms as the rest of the family crowded around to get a glimpse of the new arrival. They thanked her profusely, and she slipped out the door with a promise to return in a couple days to checks on other and child,
Outside, Natasha sat in the jeep, head lolled back against the headrest, letting the energy drain out of her. Another child! Another to try to keep healthy! And only enough supplies to deal with half as many people!
"Damn." she sighed explosively, throwing the jeep into drive, heading home.
Alongside the road, an ominous black forest loomed over her, close to the road, for most of the way home. The locals believed the forestand after almost three months of living in its shadow, Natasha wasn't too sure if she disagreed. Strange noises came out of the forest at night, whooping and chattering like hyenas, yet they were no where near the African savannah, screams could be heard, though it could be the wind. Whether or not it was haunted, Natasha had always been careful while driving with the forest at her side. Who knew when a deer or other animal might run out onto the road just in time to be hit by one of the few passing cars in the area.
Suddenly, something darted onto the road. A great black shape, larger than a human but not the right shape to be a deer. Natasha swerved to avoid it, briefly losing control of the jeep before coming to a stop with the front end wrapped around a tree. Moaning, she stumbled out and swayed next to the jeep as she surveyed the damage..
"Oh god." she groaned and reached back for her backpack. "Headquarters isn't going to like this."
A rustling and snuffling in the trees beside her caused her to whip around to confront the sound. But before she could get a good look, she was grabbed by the arm and propelled into the forest.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She exclaimed as her foot connected with a root and she toppled to the ground. Surely, the warlords wouldn't go back on their word after two years of keeping it. But when she turned to face her attacker, she couldn't believe her eyes.
Towering over her was the ugliest man she'd ever seen. If one could call it a man. It's head was misshapen and it's skin, which had appeared merely dark from the corner of her eye, turned out to be completely black. It was also naked from the waist up, a single band of leather crossing its chest.
"Move human." It growled at her, stepping closer.
'Probably the best advice I've heard all night.' She thought to herself, and ran. Behind her she heard that roaring laughter of the creatures behind her, but she could only think about getting away. She had gotten most of the way to the Med-station before the crash, if she could make it…
She hadn't gotten very far before she was tackled to the ground. A smaller version of the first creature wrenched her up and brought her back before the first, who promptly backhanded her.
He growled menacingly in her face before tossing her onto his shoulder like a bag of potatoes and running. Still she tried get free, and none of her attackers took any further notice of her. The forest whipped by at incredibly speed, considering she was certainly no lightweight, then suddenly there was a crash of thunder and a flash of lightning and Natasha was dumped onto the ground as the creatures gathered around.
"I ain't goin' no more, less it be Master's keep." one spat.
"Yeah. There's spider round here. I doesn't wants to be here when theys get hungry."
"Bring the girl through the gate. Kill her and then back to Master." The leader said.
"Why can'ts we have some fun first?" one slathered. "Master won't know, and it been sooo long." Another slathered, reaching a grimy hand towards her.
Natasha cringed and tried to make herself as small as she could, praying to whatever gods that were listening to please let her live.
"Master wants us back before dawn. It will take too long." The leader again raised his blade, but was restrained again by his lackeys.
"We wants to hear her scream." The other creatures jostled each other and shrieked in anticipated delight.
'Someone either save me, or shoot me now.' Natasha's mind whimpered, her body frozen in fear.
"Enough!" the leader roared, swiftly silencing his lackeys as he drew his blade and swung it towards Natasha.
Natasha screamed and recoiled, but the blow never came. The sound of screaming metal on metal squealed through the air as the sword impacted against something that was unseen, but never touched Natasha. Instead the blade was held mere inches from her skin, and grew red hot until the creature was forced to release it with a roar of pain. Panic and a strange sort of fog in Natasha's heads drowned out the confused and terrified shrieks of the creatures around her. She could feel something building inside her, bubbling and boiling, pressure building to impossible levels, and pushing its way out of her body… hot and massive…strong…she couldn't….
"NO!" she screamed before everything went black.