Hi everyone. So, bad news. After this chapter, I might not post again for a little while. I just had a... really bad incident on Saturday while umpiring a baseball game that's really unhinged me. A coach got in my face about a call I made and called me the worst umpire he's seen and that I was calling a bullsh*t game. Don't get me wrong, I AM going to finish this story, but I just need some time to recenter myself.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it may be the last for a while. Hopefully not, but it depends on how long it takes for me to recover.

Despite that, on to the blood test. Let's be honest, you can't really write a Thing-fic without the blood test in some way, shape, or form. There will be character death, and by the end of this chapter, only a few humans will be left standing.

Another snippet of info about my upcoming prequel story: Since it is set in the Cold War, there will be Soviet vs. American tension. Lux is a Soviet researcher, while Ahsoka is a US Navy pilot and Rex is a US Army Ranger Captain. I'm still trying to come up with a title that would work well, let me know if you have any suggestions.

Achilles453 - Thank you! It means a lot to me that you love this story and are going to read the prequel/sequel. As for who is the Thing, they're going to be revealed in this chapter. As for why the Thing has a fixation on Sabine, in the novella by John Campbell, the Thing is telepathic. It is in this story as well, and the remaining humans are going to figure that out in a future chapter. My reason for why the Thing wants to get rid of Sabine so much is that it knows that she is one of the few people there that are capable of figuring out its game and stopping the Thing. Kallus has been tied down and Ezra is one of the people under suspicion for most of the story, so they aren't as much of a problem to the Thing. It tried to get rid of her by framing her, but Sabine shot down that idea and inadvertently revealed one of the Things in the process. I was planning on having a post-epilogue chapter that goes more in depth in this story, so I'll explain more there. I hope this is enough for the moment and that you like this chapter as well!

teresa. spanics - Well, it wouldn't be much of a story if the Thing was felled by a couple gunshots now would it? I'm glad you liked the last chapter and hope you love this one too!

Antarctica, Several Miles Away from McMurdo Station, March 13, 1987, 0300 Hours

Commander Tano sat nervously in the back of a snowcat. Hera and Kanan had stayed behind at McMurdo as Hobbie unsuccessfully tried to reestablish contact with Outpost 17. It had been over half an hour, yet there was no word from the Outpost. Ahsoka almost felt like banging her head against the wall. She had commandered a snowcat, desperate to reach her friends. What had gone wrong?

Could they have succumbed to cabin fever? She shuddered at the thought, then realized Ketsu had said that they found something in the ice. What could this something be? Ahsoka's memory flashed back to about 15 years ago at the North Pole. The final battle against that alien, it had nearly killed her. Shaking off the memory, she realized the driver was trying to get her attention.

He yelled, "Commander, we can't penetrate the storm. It's a complete whiteout out there, we'd never make it."

"We have to carry on! I need to get there!"

"Sir, with all due respect, we can't! The storm's interfering communications and we'd be in unfamiliar terrain. If we carry on, we die!"

Ahsoka sighed, "Alright. Let McMurdo know we can't penetrate the storm." She sank back in her seat, and did bang her head back against the wall several times. She knew she wasn't just retreating, it felt like she was abandoning her friends. She almost felt that they were dieing, and that she should be there.

She sighed and slammed her fist down, before putting her head in her hands and crying.

Outpost 17, March 13, 1987, 0330 Hours

Sabine had refilled the fuel tanks of both flamethrowers and walked into the rec room. Kallus was standing to the side of the others, training a shotgun on them. Sabine looked at him, "Drop that weapon Kallus. Move over there with them."

He glanced at her, but complied, leaning the shotgun against a table. Sabine had emptied out Jyn's cache and the contents on the table: one HK93A2, the other Mossberg 590A1, several frag grenades, and a couple thermite charges laid next to a box of dynamite. Several sticks of dynamite remained secured on Sabine's flight jacket.

Sabine tossed a couple reams of rope and cable onto the couch in front of the others.

Ezra looked up at her and asked, "What you got in mind, Sabine?"

"A little test. Kallus, you and Ezra tie everyone down real tight."

Ketsu sneered at her, "What the hell for?"

"For your health." Sabine snarled back.

Gooti looked at all the others and shouted, "Come on, let's rush her! She's not going to blow all of us up!"

Sabine stared her down, the nozzle of the flamethrower subtlety pointed in Gooti's direction. It was a stand-off, broken only by Ketsu. "No, no, wait a minute." She moved closer to her. "Let's do what Sabine says. After all, she did try to take out Zare pretty quick. Didn't she?"

Sabine looked at her and lightly raised the pistol, "That's close enough Ketsu."

Gooti stood defiant, "You ain't tieing me up."

"Then I'll have to kill you, Gooti."

Ketsu slowly brought the scalpel into her hand. She gripped it tightly, ready to strike. She couldn't trust Sabine anymore. For all she knew, Sabine was maneuvering them into a position where she could kill them easily.

"Then kill me."

Sabine moved the gun from Ketsu to the dog handler. "I mean it." Sabine snarled in a low, menacing voice. She fired a warning shot above Gooti's head.

Gooti ducked instinctively before letting out a sigh, "Hmph. I guess you do."

Ketsu lunged forward, but Sabine ducked and sidestepped. The scalpel sliced her cheek instead of driving through her throat. Sabine grabbed Ketsu's hand and elbowed her in the head, before grabbing her shoulders and kneeing Ketsu in the stomach. Winded, Ketsu dropped to the floor. The others started to rush in and Ketsu got up. Sabine shot her in the leg, before whirling to fire a warning shot at the others. Ketsu lay on the ground, clutching her leg.

A minute later, Sabine cut the rubber insulation of a copper wire as Kallus and Ezra tied everyone down. Gooti mumbled to herself as Kallus tied the last knot. "We should have just jumped her ass."

Ketsu snorted at Gooti, "Yeah, I tried that. Didn't work so well for me. You want to try?"

Sabine ignored them, motioning to Ezra, "Kallus, tie up Ezra over there." As Kallus began to strap Ezra to an armchair, Sabine looked at the others tied to the couch. "We're going to draw a little bit of everybody's blood."

Ketsu interrupted, "Why? So you can drink it?"

Sabine chuckled, "No, although she might." She pointed to Gooti before continuing, "We're going to find out who's the Thing. Watching Zare and later Jai back there gave me and Kallus the idea that every one of you Things is a whole. Every little piece of you assholes is an individual being. Every piece is self-sufficient, a monster in itself, with it's own built-in desire to protect its own life.

There's nothing mysterious about blood; it's just as normal a tissue as a piece of muscle, or a piece of one of you Thing's tentacles. You see, when a man bleeds, it's just tissue. Blood from one of you Things won't obey when it's attacked. The blood will live, it'll try to survive and crawl away from... let's say a hot needle. You'll have to bleed, if you don't bleed when cut, then, by God, you're phony! Phony from wherever the hell you came from!"

Kallus went from person to person, slicing their thumbs with the scalpel taken from Ketsu. He collected the blood from Ezra, Ketsu, Mart, and Gooti into different petri dishes, sliding them on the table before moving to the next person. After Gooti, it was his turn. Kallus sliced his finger, letting the blood drip into a clean dish. Sabine nodded, "That's good. Now move back there." She indicated with her torch to a corner of the room. Kallus stepped back, sweat beginning to form on his brow as Sabine held the spool of wire in front of her torch, letting the flame heat the tip of the wire.

The others watched intently as the wire began to glow reddish-orange. Sabine pointed her torch directly at Kallus as beads of sweat stood out on both of their foreheads. Kallus held his breath as the wire descended towards the blood and he closed his eyes.

The wire hit the blood, letting out a soft hiss. Sabine tried again and it hissed a second time. Kallus let out a long breath as Sabine nodded, "I guess you're okay. Put that on and watch them." She pointed to the second M2A1-7, which Kallus strapped on.

Sabine proceeded to cut herself, letting a small amount of blood accumulate into a new petri dish. She reheated the wire, and it began to glow again. "Now I'll show you what I already know."

Sabine touched the wire to the blood, and a hiss sounded through the room. Ketsu glared up at her, "That's a crock of shit."

Sabine smirked at Ketsu, "We'll see. Mart now."

Gooti snarled at Sabine, "This is pure nonsense! It doesn't prove a thing!"

Sabine narrowed her eyes at the dog handler, "I thought you'd feel that way, Gooti. With the way you've been wanting to kill me at every step. You left to go to the kennel when Saw was smashing the radio. For all I know, you could have sabotaged the blood. I'll do you last."

Sabine touched the wire to Mart's blood only for it to spring up with a shriek. Startled, Sabine let go of the dish and the nozzle of the torch fell to the ground. The fuel line disconnected from the nozzle.

Ezra yelled in horror, "Get away from it! Sabine! Burn it!"

The Mart-Thing charged forwards with incredible force, racing for Sabine. Its face splitting, its mouth roaring. The Mart-Thing dragged the couch with it, pulling a screaming Ketsu and Gooti with it. The Mart-Thing slammed shoulder first into Sabine, knocking her over the table. Sabine yelled out, "Kallus!"

It moved too fast. The Mart-Thing shredded its bonds and lept at Kallus. Kallus shot off a burst of flame, not enough for it to catch fire, but enough to distract it. Sabine dived onto the Mart-Thing's back and the three went crashing to the floor. The others sat helplessly, struggling against their bindings, as they watched the melee unfold. The Thing threw both Sabine and Kallus off of it, and Sabine scrambled back up and grabbed the nozzle of her flamethrower. She quickly raised it to fire, but the Mart-Thing just smirked at her. She fired, but only a short burst of flame flew out of the end. The flamethrower sputtered and Sabine realized it was in need of repair. The fuel line had disconnected. She quickly turned her attention to the explosives on the table.

Kallus had gotten back to his feet and the Thing turned back to him. Kallus fired, but the Thing dodged by jumping up to the roof. The others were screaming hysterically as the flames passed right above them. The Thing scuttled across the roof, almost right above them. It fell down right on top of Kallus, who dove to the side. Sabine ignited a flare and grabbed a bundle of dynamite from the table. She lit the fuse and ran at the Mart-Thing as it approached the felled Kallus.

Kallus saw her coming and yelled out at the Mart-Thing, "Do it! You son of a bitch!" Its head split down to its neck, transforming into a large maw as it bent down, but Kallus grabbed a nearby metal chair and shoved it into the Thing's gaping maw. The Thing tried to dislodge the chair from its mouth, but was unable to. It spun around and a second mouth opened up from its back. A blackened, iron-strong tongue lashed out at Kallus. Stunned, he managed to barely avoid it. The chair lodged in its head caused the Mart-Thing to start spinning like a propeller.

Sabine swung the useless flamethrower, striking the Thing in the upper back. The Thing toppled to the floor, and it got back up to chase her. Sabine stood her ground as the Mart-Thing spun at her, the second mouth continuing to spit and snarl as it got closer. Sabine waited until it was two yards away, before hurling her bundle of dynamite into it. Kallus slammed another chair from the bar into it like he was in a bar fight. Sabine jumped on top of Ezra, trying to shield him from the blast. Kallus tried to jump over the back of the couch and do the same for the others, but was a second too late.

A muffled explosion signaled the end of the Thing as the swallowed explosive ignited from deep within what used to be Mart. Bits and pieces of flesh splattered across the room. Kallus was thrown into a wall by the shockwave, falling to the ground in a heap. The armchair Sabine and Ezra were on was knocked on it side. Sabine scrambled off of Ezra as quickly as she could.

She grabbed Kallus' flamethrower and proceeded to burn each piece of Thing flesh until only ash remained.

-0-

Sabine hastily cinched the ropes down on an unconscious Kallus, she had to make sure he wasn't infected now. She had tied Kallus onto the couch where Mart had sat, next to Ketsu. Gooti was on the opposite side. Sabine quickly drew some more of his blood, keeping the torch positioned on the others.

Gooti sighed, "Mart may have hated it here, but he was an okay guy. Five minutes ago I'd have sworn he was a man. Those damned things are more than imitation."

Sliding Kallus' blood back on the table, Sabine grabbed the wire and reheated it, before isolating Ezra's petri dish. It was now or never for the two of them. Sabine was sweating profusely and her hand trembled as she held the intact flamethrower on Ezra. Ezra was also pouring sweat, his knuckles white as he clenched his hands in anxiety. Sabine held her hand above the dish as she smiled sadly, "Ezra, may I say that I hope you stay with us?"

He gave a weak smile, nodded and closed his eyes. Sabine dropped her hand, the wire hitting the dish. A harmless hiss sounded and Ezra opened his eyes. He took a deep breath as Sabine untied him with one hand, keeping the torch aimed at the others.

Sabine handed Ezra the flamethrower, then picked up Ketsu's dish. Heating the wire with the working torch, Sabine looked at Ketsu. Ketsu stared stoically at her and nodded. "Lets do it."

Sabine touched the wire to the plate, and the light hiss sounded again. Ketsu exhaled, then realized who she was sandwiched in between. She turned to look at Gooti and the unconscious Kallus, and struggled against her bonds. "Get me outta here! Cut me loose! Cut me the hell... come on. Get me the hell out of here! Cut me loose, damn it!"

Sabine sliced away Ketsu's bindings and the radio operator scrambled onto the floor, away from Gooti and Kallus. She limped over to the table where Sabine looked at the ground sheepishly, "Sorry about the leg."

Ketsu laughed, "What can I say? I tried to kill you. Be happy you didn't aim any higher, you sure could have."

Sabine nodded, "Start fixing that thing." She pointed to the broken flamethrower.

Kallus woke with a start, realizing he was now bound. The others snapped their attention to him. He looked at Sabine and said, "Hey! What happened? I know you ladies and gentleman have been through a lot, but why am I tied down again?"

Sabine narrowed her eyes, "We have to make sure Mart didn't infect you." She grabbed Kallus' dish, but he said, "Wait! How about yourself? How do we know that you're you?"

Sabine shrugged, before cutting her arm again and applying the hot wire to the blood. It hissed. Kallus nodded, "Alright, how about me now?" Sabine did the same for Kallus' blood. It didn't react and Sabine cut Kallus loose.

By now, Ketsu had fixed the flamethrower and strapped it on. Kallus grabbed a couple flares, sticks of dynamite, and grenades. He also picked up the Mossberg 590A1 before training it on Gooti.

Gooti stared grimly ahead. She could do nothing as Sabine and Kallus soaked her and the couch with buckets of kerosene. Ketsu and Ezra got on opposite sides of her as Sabine grabbed the dish holding Gooti's blood. Everybody tensed, adrenaline pumping and breathing stopped.

Sabine smirked evilly at Gooti and moved the wire to just above the plate, before lifting it back up again. She repeated several times, moving the wire close only to pull it away from the blood. Ezra chuckled darkly at Sabine's trolling of Gooti; true it was a little sadistic, but Gooti had tried to convince the others to kill Sabine, so to him it made sense.

Gooti finally snapped, "Just get it over with already!" Sabine raised an eyebrow, but complied, and the blood sprang up.

-0-

Ketsu flopped down in the armchair as Kallus sprayed the contents of a fire extinguisher over the remains of the Gooti-Thing. It had been much easier this time, the kerosene soaking the Gooti-Thing's clothes had made it a literal fuel drum. It was fried to a crisp struggling to escape its bonds by both Ketsu and Ezra's torches.

Ezra set his torch down and smiled as he turned to Sabine. He quickly closed the distance between the two, taking her head in his hands and kissing her. Sabine froze momentarily, thinking for a second that he would try to attack her, before she relaxed into the embrace and kissed him back.

Ketsu looked at them and snorted, "Hey! Didn't Commander Tano make a rule against public displays of affection?! Especially snogging?!"

Sabine laughed, breaking out of her kiss to smirk at Ketsu, "She's not here is she? Also, I don't think the rules apply anymore based on what's happened. And we just learned the few of us are human. Wouldn't you be glad?"

Ketsu smiled and shook her head. Kallus leaned back against the wall, dropping the fire extinguisher, "Is it finally dead?"

"I think so. Except the couch is destroyed."

Kallus smiled as well, "Good riddance. I've spent too much of this winter tied to that fucking couch!"

Ketsu started to giggle uncontrollably. The strain placed on the others started to loosen as they heard the giggle turn into a full blown laugh and Ezra scowled at Ketsu's uncontrollable laughter. Sabine started to chuckle as she looked up, taking a small comfort in both the laugh and the vibrating of the roof as the wind howled above them. Hopefully, they could fix the radio. Once the storm cleared, she thought, they could hopefully get help and leave this hell. A shame that they couldn't fly out, Saw had destroyed the helicopter. Wait a minute...

Ezra grumbled at Ketsu, "Shut the hell up." She laughed even harder before wiping her eyes and settling down. She grinned as she turned to face Sabine, but it faded as she Sabine's now alarmed expression. An uneasy silence settled over the others as the stark realization hit them all.

Sabine spoke, her voice almost a whisper. "Saw..."

Next Chapter: The Beginning of the End