The doors closed shut behind Mira. She followed Duke and Kid down the corridor from the lab to the atrium. She briefly nodded to them as she took the next corridor to the Ark Chamber while the boys headed back into the dig. She jogged quickly through the corridor, keeping her eyes out for any of the creatures.
"Pinky, I'm outside the Ark door. Open up." Mira said.
"Opening." Pinky said.
The large door hissed and swung open. Mira kept her back to the opening as she slipped into the chamber. She walked to the panel and closed the door again. Mira waited until the door had locked before she turned to Pinky. He was watching her from the console.
Mira walked to the console. "Where're Kid and Duke right now?"
Pinky looked at the screen. "They're almost to the dig."
"You get any sighting of those things lately?" Mira asked.
Pinky shook his head. "No, thank god."
"You can thank him when we're back on earth." Mira replied. Her eyes exchanged between Duke and Kid's kill cams. She watched them enter the dig and move through quickly. She had to hand it to them, they were quick and cautious in the dig. They moved past Mac's body, their camera's lingering longer than they should. Pinky muttered something under his breath, but Mira didn't hear it. She kept her focus on her teammates. They rounded the corner where the bodies had been. Now, only one body remained.
"Shit." Mira muttered.
"Where the hell'd did the body go?" Pinky asked.
Mira swallowed, still watching the screen. "You may not want to answer, Pinky."
"Sarge, we got a problem. One of the dead scientists is missing." Kid said.
Suddenly a mechanical whine came from the door. Mira's head snapped up. Pinky looked to the console. The schematic of the door came up, a bright blip on the screen pinpointed the location of the error. Mira ran from the console towards the door. She placed herself between the Ark and the door. She lifted her gun and aimed in the center of the door.
"Pinky, you there? Pinky!" Sarge demanded.
"Sarge, something is cutting through the ark door." Pinky explained.
"Do you have a visual?" Sarge asked.
"Oh I got a visual alright." Pinky explained.
Mira watched as the sparks flew from the door. She narrowed her target to the center of the sparks. The second the creature burst through, it would make a break for her. She had that small window to get the upper hand on it and kill it first.
"Mira don't let it get through!" Sarge ordered.
Mira tightened her grip on her machine gun. The kick would certainly jar her chest, but she couldn't that thing through.
"Five...four...three...two...one..."
Suddenly Mira heard a clatter behind her and the activation of the Ark. Just as the door fell in. Mira pulled the trigger instantly. The large creature broke through the hole and charged. Mira followed the creature as it ran towards her, wielding a large chainsaw. Mira held her ground until her clip emptied.
"Shit!" Mira yelled her swung her weapon around her back and reached for her pistol.
By that time, the creature was already upon her. It swung the chainsaw at Mira's head. Mira dove out of the way, pulling out pistol from her holster. She pivoted on her knee and aimed just as the creature went through the Ark. Mira stared at the ark in horror. The fucking thing had gotten through the other side.
"Fall in!" she heard Sarge order.
Mira rose from the ground and holstered her pistol. She turned to the door as Sarge and Reaper entered the chamber. His eyes immediately fell on her lone figure in the room. Mira watched his eyes harden instantly. Mira took a deep breath and walked toward Sarge. Reaper picked up the discarded ST grenade from the ground.
"Did it get through the Ark?" Sarge asked.
"Yes." Mira answered.
Mira hadn't even finished the last syllable when Sarge's fist slammed into the left side of her face. The force reopened her stitches, causing blood to seep freely down her face again. Mira was momentarily stunned, but it was quickly replaced with anger. She slowly turned her head to look at Sarge. Mira moved to fight back, but Reaper reached across her chest and grabbed the left side of her vest, preventing her from retaliating against Sarge. Sarge turned from her in disgust as Kid and Duke ran into the chamber.
"Pinky's gone, that fuck up ran." Sarge said.
"Shit. It got through." Duke said.
Reaper lowered his arm from Mira and turned toward her. He turned her head to the right, eying her torn stitches. Mira pushed his hand from her chin. She shifted her hardened glare from him to Sarge's back and stepped from Reaper. "Pover'te mne seychas?"
Reaper said nothing.
Suddenly the light system powered down in the chamber.
"What the hell is that?" Duke asked.
"System reboot. Time required to begin renewed operation, five minutes."
"What the fuck happened?" Sarge demanded.
Mira ran to the console. "Reboots been triggered from Earth. The entire system is rebooting."
"Quarantine code is breached. This mission is no longer containment. Get all the weapons and ammo you can, we're going through." Sarge ordered. "Move!"
Mira pulled a magazine from her hip and slammed it into her weapon. She shouldered her gun and walked from the controls. She wiped the blood from her cheek, but she immediately felt it begin again.
"Sam come in, over." Reaper called into his comm. "Sam do you read me, over. Come in." He looked at Sarge. "She's not answering."
"Time required to begin renewed operation, four minutes and forty-five seconds."
Sarge looked at Reaper. "You got three."
Reaper bolted out of the chamber.
"Mira, make sure the fucker comes back." Sarge ordered.
Mira sprinted from the chamber out of hearing range of Sarge. She easily caught up with Reaper just outside the atrium.
"Sam? Come in Sam." Reaper continued through the comm.
"Where was she last?" Mira asked.
"Genetics." Reaper answered.
"I'm on it." She answered. Mira weaved around Reaper and took off down the corridors. She held her gun up, scouting as she ran toward the Genetics lab. Mira reached the door and entered to find the lab empty. She frowned and quickly searched. It was completely empty. Mira turned just as Reaper reached the door. "She's not here."
"What?" Reaper asked.
"She's not here." Mira repeated.
"That can't be." Reaper replied. He couldn't lose Same, not now. "shit."
"Look, there's no sign of a struggle, so she walked out on her own." Mira explained. "Why would she leave and where would she go?"
Reaper tried to think, but every passing second was one that Sam might not have. She was resourceful, he knew as much. Graduating from school yearly and getting her doctorate in her yearly twenties. She was smart. That was why she was on Olduvai. They needed her. Carmack had needed her. Carmack...Reaper turned and sprinted back down the hall.
"Reaper!" Mira called, sprinting after him.
How could he have been so stupid? After what they had just discovered what Carmack's research really was, how could he leave her and expect her not to investigate into it further? She was a scientist, naturally curious. It would be any different with her life on the line. Reaper sprinted into the infirmary to find Sam standing at one of the tables. Relief immediately filled him. "Sam, why didn't you answer your comm we gotta go now!"
"Why did it take Goat and not Destroyer. Why Carmack and not Doctor Thurman?" Sam asked.
"What?" Reaper asked.
"What is she talking about?" Mira asked.
"Lucy had the twenty-fourth chromosome but she wasn't a monster. She died protecting her child, not devouring it." Sam explained.
"So?" Mira asked, unaware of what they'd seen.
"Why did the same chromosome that made her superhuman turn Stalh into a monster?" Sam asked.
"Let's go." Reaper urged.
"Just give me a minute." Sam asked.
"We don't have a minute." Reaper and Mira said in unison.
"Then give me ten seconds." Sam pleaded.
Reaper looked from his sister to Mira. Mira looked back at him. Mira shrugged. "She hasn't lead us wrong yet. And I'm already in the shithouse with Sarge anyways." Mira looked to Sam. "Go."
Sam nodded. She motioned her hand over a long pink organ of the creature. "This is its tongue." Sam picked up a pair of clamps holding a cotton swab. "This is brain matter from Portman." Sam ran the swab several inches from the tongue. The tongue lurched up at the swab. Reaper and Mira pulled from the table.
"Shit." Mira said. "That things still alive."
Sam set the swab down. She picked up the next swab and syringe. She injected whatever was in the syringe into the swab. "This is from Destroyer." Sam waved the swab over the tongue but it remained motionless.
Mira frowned. "What the hell?"
Sam set Destroyer's swab and grabbed Portman's waving it over the tongue. The tongue lurched back to life for the swab. Sam set it down and looked at them. "It's choosing, John. It's choosing who to infect."
Mira leaned closer to the tongue, but kept a safe distance from it.
"Choosing? How's it choosing?" Reaper asked.
"There are genetic markers for psychotic and violent behavior. It could be a specific neural transmitter its picking up on. Like ganglion latching onto numbers in the DNA code linked-"
"Linked to what? What? Evil?" Reaper asked.
"With some behaviors and mental disorders, they're passed down genetically from either the mother or the father." Mira said, looking up from the tongue. "Early tests allow some people to avoid hereditary diseases, but the gene itself is still within encoded in the human genome so it can still be passed on through generation."
"Ten percent of the human genome is still unmapped." Sam explained. "Some say it's the genetic blueprint for the soul. Maybe C-24 is what killed the population?"
"Like side effects of untested drugs." Mira said. "Whatever trigger's the mutation into superhuman's must've latched onto the right- or wrong-markers and triggered this...mutation instead. The Olduvinians probably never knew what was coming."
"It would explain why some of them had to build the Ark to escape to a new beginning." Sam explained. "Some it made superhuman. Other's monsters."
"Oh my god." Reaper muttered. He turned to Mira.
Mira's eyes suddenly grew large and met Reaper's knowing look. "Der'mo, karantin!"
"We gotta get out of here now." Reaper ordered. He headed for the door. Mira slung her gun to the front and followed.
"What?" Sam asked.
"Come let's go!" Reaper ordered.
Sam pulled off her gloves and grabbed the cylinder. "What's going on?"
"Karantin kodeksa byla narushena!" Mira explained.
"What?" Sam asked.
"The quarantine was breached!" Mira said.
"The people quarantined on the other side of the Ark. They won't all be infected." Reaper explained.
"What's going on?" Sam asked.
"If code's breached mission status changes." Mira replied.
Reaper turned to Sam. "Sarge is going to kill them all. Come on."
They rushed into the hall. Mira took rear and glanced at her watch. "Reaper, the reboot finished seven minutes ago."
"Shit." Reaper cussed. "Mira go through ahead of us."
"What?" Mira asked.
"You can get to the Ark faster on your own. Find Sarge and tell him what we found here." Reaper ordered.
Mira nodded. She weaved around Sam and Reaper and jogged ahead. "I'm on strike three with Sarge, Reaper. You better hope he doesn't shoot me onsite."
"Just get through the Ark." Reaper replied.
Mira nodded to herself. "I'll see you on the other side." Mira kicked herself in high gear and booked it to the Ark. She dove into the chamber and slid across the smooth floor, stopping at the Ark. The silver metallic liquid swarmed around Mira the second she reached the core.
almost done!
translations (the ones that you guys need anyways.)
Karantin kodeksa byla narushena quarantine was breached (rough)
Believe me now? Pover'te mne seychas?