Chapter 6
Infected
Alexander North
It's cold. So very cold.
This is the first thought that comes to mind as I stare down at the shard in my gut while flying backwards from the force of its impact.
I vaguely hear the shouts of my squad members from the door, but those begin to fade away as I see the captain lowering the door despite the helmetless, and very much crying Michelle pulling on his arm to stop.
Huh. Didn't realize she cared about me so much.
Actually, this feels kind of familiar.
I'm pretty sure I had the same thought when I saw Victoria and
Gabriel's farewell.
I blink at that realization as I fall to the ground, only to quickly find
the wraith-like monster standing right above me with its blade-like limb raised to strike. However, right as the creature begins to lower it, the light shining from the shard in my gut suddenly flares, making it stop its arm at the last second before backing away and heading towards the secret entrance.
What the...
That was odd.
A few minutes pass with the only noise being that of the two monsters
trying and failing to tear open the sealed door. I feel sleepy.
I put in quite a bit of effort to raise my head, just to finally realize that the two monsters aren't attacking each other like the large one from before did to the infected pirate.
Does that mean that only the brute-like ones are seen as enemies to the others?
Also, why don't I feel any pain from this shard? And why isn't it dissolving?
I stare at the shard still embedded in my gut, only for it to finally begin to dissolve as if reacting to my thoughts.
Oh, well, there we go then.
I slowly lower my head to the snow-covered ground again to look up at the heavy snow falling from the sky. The blizzard is nowhere near as strong as it was before, making it just barely possible to see the light of the stars outside.
"Guess I won't be coming back after all, dad," I mutter with my voice being covered completely by the sounds of the blizzard and the monsters. After that, my eyelids begin to slowly lower, as if something is pulling me to sleep. At the same time, I feel a wave of cold spread throughout my body before everything goes dark.
Five years ago, at the capital planet of The Terran Empire
"So let me get this straight," dad says, looking rather intimidating as always as he speaks with the man standing at the foot of my bed. "If we don't go along with your little experiment, then my son – my only son – will die from complete heart failure in just a month? And even if we do go along with it, it's not likely to even fucking work?!"
I slowly close my eyes as the scientist begins to stutter, "Y-yes, you have it correct, G-General North. Your son's heart cannot be saved, but if our artificial heart were to work, then he will be able to continue living without any foreseeable problems."
Foreseeable problems? Because that doesn't sound foreboding at all.
As if on cue, I hear something shatter from where my dad is sitting – likely the radio he had in his hand. But he surprisingly doesn't say anything for several seconds. And when he does speak again, it's to quietly ask, "Explain it to me one more time."
I want to raise my eyebrow at that, but even that small motion feels rather strenuous. So I don't.
Being told the same thing like five times in a single sitting isn't going to make it any more likely to work, ya know?
"Of course, General North," the scientist says, sounding rather patient with my father. "What we would be doing is completely replacing his current, failing heart with a 100% artificial one. The first one created in
history. Not only should it be able to circulate his blood like a proper heart, but it should theoretically improve his immune system by leaps and bounds by filtering his blood of anything considered by his body as undesirable. It will also be a much stronger heart than any other human being currently has, making it able to sustain incredibly stressful activities."
The man stops to catch his breath for a second before continuing, "But as you know, this is the first 100% artificial heart in history, and the first time we're doing a non-simulated human trial. Which means that it quite possibly might have some risks to it."
Quite possibly might? Seriously? Because that word choice certainly shows confidence. Not to mention all of the times he said the phrases 'should do this' and 'theoretically'.
At this point, I stop paying attention as the man goes on about several of the possible risks that could occur during the surgery, followed immediately after by talking about the rather extravagant price of the heart and surgery itself – which even that is apparently a discounted price for being a 'test subject' for the heart.
"Just, just stop talking," I quietly mutter, making the scientist shut up immediately. "I'm guaranteed to die if I don't try it, while I'm only most likely-*cough*-to die if I do. Make your decision."
After saying that, I add, "It's your money, so you make the choice if you want to risk it..." and begin to drift off to sleep.
However, a few seconds later, right before everything goes dark, I hear dad state with absolute certainty, "He'll do the surgery."
Alexander North
I suddenly regain consciousness and sit up with a gasp while gripping my chest due to the terrible feeling it had during the dream.
However, after a couple seconds of heavy breathing, I regain my composure and realize that it was just a dream. I then take in a deep breath before letting it out again, just to remember where I am and what had happened.
How am I still alive?
The blizzard is still raging around me, but for some reason, it feels like I can see clearly through it. Like, I can tell that I'm in the middle of a
blizzard, but I can still see without any problems.
And for some reason, some things – like plants – seem to have a sort
of red glow around them. Like a silhouette of red light surrounding them. "What the-" I stop speaking as I notice something strange about my
voice.
Is it just me, or does it sound... slightly different? Not really sure how
to put it, but it sounds a little clearer than before?
At that thought, I blink a few times and glance down at where the
shard had stabbed me, only to not find anything there. No shard, and no wound where it was.
Uh, what the hell happened? Shouldn't I be a monster right now?
And that's when I realize that I don't feel cold. Not even in the slightest. Despite being in the middle of a freaking blizzard with my chest exposed through the damages to my armor.
My eyes narrow slightly as I climb to my feet, just to notice some holes at the ends of my gloves.
Where did those come from?
Almost as if on cue, black claws suddenly stretch out of the holes in my gloves, making me back away in surprise despite the claws somehow being attached to my own hands.
But before I can really focus on the claws, a notice appears from my terminal implant. One that changes everything.
/ Notice \
Warning – user's physical body has undergone drastic changes. Would user like to update their Analysis page to show the average number
of user's new species instead?
\End of Notice/
I blink once, then twice, then three times at the notice. Okay then. That's... how am I supposed to take that? Before I can respond to the question, it updates itself.
/ Notice \
Warning – user's new species is not inputted in The Terran Empire's terminal database.
User may not update the Analysis page to show the average number of user's new species.
\End of Notice/
This time my eyebrow twitches with annoyance at the stupid terminal, only for my jaw to drop open in shock as it changes again to show my new body statistics.
/ Current Analysis of user Alexander North \
Strength: 1.51 Agility: 1.53
Reflexes: 1.32 Constitution: 1.99 Immunity: ? Senses: 1.65
Body Malfunctions: ?
Error: Cannot determine Immunity or Body Malfunctions of user's
current species.
The average of a human being without a symbiont is a 1 across all stats.
What the what?
\End of Analysis/
Chapter 7
Strange Energy
Alexander North
I stare at the words flashing over my eyes for a few seconds before closing out of my terminal, raising my hands to my face, and taking off my gloves. Just to find my hands looking extremely pale but with sharp, black claws sticking out of the tips of each finger instead of regular fingernails.
But those weren't there when I had first woken up. Why are they there now?
I stare at them for a few seconds before remembering that they had come out right when I had wondered where the holes came from.
Maybe...?
I focus on the claws while willing them to retract, and they do just that. Interesting.
So I have retractable claws now, along with a body that is about 1.5
times as strong as it was before. Is there anything else different?
I look around at my surroundings, only to quickly remember the sight
thing.
Why am I able to see as if there wasn't a blizzard going on around me?
And what are those red... wait.
If that were the case... could it be?
I begin walking forwards while feeling a little bit off balance due to
the new physical capabilities of my body, but I ignore it to climb up the ledge and look out over the base.
"I have infra-red vision," I mutter at the sight of several red auras surrounding the much larger monsters, with a couple of smaller, faint red auras hiding behind the doors leading inside the base.
Huh. It looks like only the large brute-like monsters actually have body heat. The others are all just as cold as the blizzard.
But if I have infra-red vision, then why can I see like normal as well? It's like I have both regular vision and infra-red stacked on top of each
other... not to mention the fact that I can practically see through the snow and ice of this blizzard as if it were a ghost or something.
After considering it for a few seconds, I shake my head and instead focus on looking through the rest of my body for any other changes.
Which quickly brings my attention to the fact that it wasn't just the injury from the shard that healed, but every injury I had. Including the one from the wendigo-like monster's claws and the one on my head from the terminal hitting me earlier.
Why did this happen? Does the infection not always turn you? Or is there something else?
I don't have that light blue glow that the other monsters have where their heart should be, so maybe... wait... heart?
Could that be why I didn't turn? At least not completely.
My brows furrow at the thought, but I jump down from the ledge to land next to the secret entrance instead.
I can figure that stuff out later. For now, it would probably be best to find the rest of my team.
Assuming I can even get past this door.
I look around the door to see if there is some way to open it from the outside, but I can't seem to find any. And dad never mentioned anything about a way to do that either when he shared the base's blueprints with me, so it looks like I'll have to find another way in.
Because even with my enhanced strength, there is no way I'd be able to rip it open. Not when two monsters have already tried and failed.
With that thought in mind, I turn around and begin making my way towards the base proper.
Let's see if these monsters will attack me or not.
"Shit, shit, shit," I swear over and over again for a few seconds as I run away from one of those stupid wraith-like monsters that started chasing after me the moment it laid its eyes on me.
Looks like they still want to kill me!
The creature continues to chase me all the way back up to the secret entrance, where I finally give up on running and turn around.
Fuck it. If it wants a fight, I'll give it one!
But the moment it gets close enough to me, a very intoxicating smell enters my nose. And I'm not sure how, but I just know that it's coming from whatever is glowing in its chest where its heart should be.
Why do I want to eat its heart? That can't be healthy. Assuming that even is a heart.
Wait... do I want to eat it? I can't actually tell. It feels more like I want to... absorb it?
The creature doesn't give me much time to think about it as it rushes towards me with its incredibly fast speed, making me raise my hands up while instinctively letting my claws out to catch the creature's blade-like limbs before they can reach me and cut me apart. And surprisingly, the blades only pierce about a few centimeters into my hands while the creature's limbs suddenly begin to frost over.
What the...
That's when I remember something that had slipped my mind before. The sight of the brute beginning to frost over slightly in the places
where the wendigo touched it.
Does that mean I'm some sort of wendigo-monster and human hybrid?
And if that's so, then why did the monster begin to freeze over but not the gloves that I've been wearing on my hands? Or the other clothes and armor I'm wearing?
Uncaring of my thoughts, the monster – one that I'm just going to start calling a wraith at this point – lets out a screech and begins pushing harder against my hands.
I grunt from the pain registering in them before kicking out at the wraith's legs, taking them out from under it. The creature then makes an even louder screech as it falls to the ground with me falling after it, but I plant my knee on its chest to keep my face from falling onto the blades.
Damned monster, just give up already!
The monster obviously doesn't do that and tries to get up, but it's surprisingly weak, letting me keep it down with just my knee as I slowly push its blades back. And once I have its blades held against the snow on the ground, I step on them with my other boot, letting the blades sink a little into my boot as I move my right arm back before stabbing my claws straight into the creature's eyes.
It lets out a terrifying shriek with a completely different tone than before, making me realize that this shriek is of pain instead of anger.
I grit my teeth and force my claws deeper into its eyes until I hit something that seems rather solid.
Why does it feel like I'm scraping against ice?
With a grunt, I force my fingers into the ice-like material, making the creature's shriek raise in pitch again only to cut off entirely as the creature stops fighting. Then – as if on instinct – I pull my claws out and splay my fingers out over the creatures chest, letting whatever blue light is in its chest slowly climb up to my hand and spread throughout my body, making me feel really good in the process. Once the light runs out though, I return to my senses and fall back on the ground with a gasp of air, following which another notice appears from my terminal.
/ Notice \
Warning – unknown energy has entered the user's body. Attempting to analyze energy...
Analysis complete.
Energy is used as nutrition for user's body and can empower the user. Updating user's statistics...
\End of Notice/
I sit on the snow-covered ground that still doesn't feel cold at all for a few moments before the terminal updates again.
/ Notice \
The following user statistics have updated: Agility: 1.53 - 1.54
Reflexes: 1.32 - 1.33 Senses: 1.65 - 1.67
\End of Notice/
/ Current Analysis of user Alexander North \
Strength: 1.51 Agility: 1.54
Reflexes: 1.33 Constitution: 1.99 Immunity: ? Senses: 1.67
Body Malfunctions: ?
Error: Cannot determine Immunity or Body Malfunctions of user's
current species.
The average of a human being without a symbiont is a 1 across all stats.
\End of Analysis/
After reading through my new statistics, I focus on the unmoving corpse of the wraith.
So, absorbing the energy stored in their chests can make me stronger?
I stare at it for a few minutes until I hear a roar echoing from a distance away from me, making me finally climb back up to my feet.
Whatever happened to me, it looks like I won't ever be needing a symbiont. Like, ever. But if the other infected monsters can absorb this stuff as well, then won't that mean that the monsters will just get stronger and stronger?
Because that would be bad. Like, apocalyptically bad.
Chapter 8
Mourning and Analyzing
Within the Military Base located several kilometers to the south of Argo City on planet Arran
Right as Alex's squad-mates closed the secret entrance door
"Nooo!" Michelle screams while trying to reach the door, only for her twin to hold her back with his teeth gritted in silence. "Let. Me. Go!"
The captain of squad AR27 walks over to her and slaps her in the face, sending her into a stunned daze as he shouts, "We've already lost two of our own! I will not lose a third!"
He then walks past them as Michelle falls into Michael's arms and continues crying. Meanwhile Robert just stares blankly at the sealed door and Victoria follows after the captain.
Once the captain gets sufficiently far away from the others, he stops and slams his fist into the wall of the tunnel, punching straight through the rock and burying his fist in it. "Damn it, Alex..." he mutters while clenching his fist before thinking, 'This is my fault, isn't it? For having him take on the other one with me. He's not a symbiont host after all, so why the fuck did I...'
"Don't beat yourself up over a decision, captain," Victoria suddenly says from behind him, startling him into pulling his fist back out. "You made a decision, and it didn't work out as planned. Learn from it and move on."
The captain takes his helmet off and throws it onto the ground before glaring at Victoria, who already has her helmet held against her side. However, the man doesn't say anything in response and instead starts heading towards the other end of the tunnel while tersely saying, "Make sure the others join us shortly. We don't have enough time to mourn right now."
Victoria quickly salutes with a "Yes, sir!" and turns around to gather the others. But what she doesn't notice is the tear streaking down the
captain's face as he grabs his helmet again and continues walking towards the inner door of the tunnel whilst completely ignoring the inert traps and alarms.
Back at the sealed outer entrance, Michelle can be seen climbing back to her feet while wiping her tears with her helmet sitting on the floor next to her.
"We need to go," Victoria repeats herself, to which the two twins nod in agreement, grab their helmets, and begin walking away. However, Robert just continues staring at the door until Victoria finally grabs his shoulder and gives it a light shake, snapping him out of his daze. "Come on, private. He wouldn't want you to die with him."
The rookie continues to stare at the door for a few more seconds before looking down at the ground and turning away.
Once they all catch back up with the captain, they find him messing around with the panel for the inner door.
"Watch out for shards inside," he says with a grimace while pulling the panel off of the wall and revealing the inner circuitry. "I saw one while walking over here. And once it missed me, it physically burrowed out of the tunnel with the tunnel closing up behind it."
"Shit, those things can get inside too?!" Michael swears while still holding his sister's hand and feeling it tense up slightly at the mention of shards.
"Apparently, and that means that-" the captain pauses with a grunt while removing another hidden panel within the revealed inner circuitry, revealing even more circuits along with a simple safe lock. "-there could very well be monsters roaming around the inside of the base."
This sets off another round of curses from Michael as the captain slowly and carefully enters the code for the non-electrical lock. He then stands back up again once he finishes and the door clicks to show that it's now unlocked.
And the first thing the group hears once the captain opens the door, revealing a hallway on the other side, is the sound of a loud screech coming from further down the hall from them.
The captain clenches his fist slightly on the door's handle before quietly saying, "Let's go," and walking through the door.
Alexander North
Huh. That's... interesting.
I stare up at the sky, or rather, at the three shards flying across it, completely ignoring me to go towards the base proper.
Then I turn my gaze to look back at the odd shard that seems to be digging itself up from beneath the ground.
And that's rather terrifying.
It also means that there might be monsters inside of the base.
I watch it slowly dig its way out for a moment before kneeling down
and grabbing it myself as the ground seals itself back up behind it, just for the blue light in the shard to enter my arm immediately upon contact. My eyes then widen as I feel the same satisfying feeling as earlier spread through my body, followed by another notice from my terminal.
/ Notice \
The following user statistics have updated: Agility: 1.54 - 1.56
\End of Notice/
Okay. If I had to guess, I'd say that these shards contain some sort of energy that mutates whatever it enters, and these mutations seem to be connected to the heart somehow. But they also turn the mutated ones into seemingly animalistic beasts that lose their intellect. And any further contact with the energy promotes the mutation further, strengthening the body of the one mutated?
Or something like that at least.
I drop the shard and walk over to the wraith's corpse before opening its head up a little and noticing that it does still seem to have a brain. It's just that its brain is frozen solid.
Which is weird.
Is that why they lose their intellect? And if that's the case, then why would my heart being artificial stop me from losing mine?
Possibility after possibility enters my mind, only for me to shake my head and begin heading back to the base proper.
For now, making sure the others are safe is more important than guessing what exactly the energy does to people. Especially since it seems to be helping me somehow.
However, not even a few steps in, I draw to a halt as something I had overlooked in one of the messages earlier comes to mind.
The terminal called the blue energy a source of nutrition. Does that mean I can't eat and drink normal food and water anymore? Or is it just an additional source that I can have?
Because having to rely on something that's causing an apocalypse as my only source of nutrition would be a problem.
I narrow my eyes at the thought before sighing again and continuing on my way towards the base.
Nothing I can do about it. Although I get the feeling that dad might rush me to the Terran Research Union and try to figure out how to turn me back if there really is a problem with this.
If not? Then he'd just as happily leave me like this for the power it gives me.
And I think I'd be fine with it too.
After all, taking in the symbiont isn't all that much different, and I was basically raised by dad knowing I would probably become something inhuman through them anyways.
This is just... a different path, I guess?
Despite my thoughts on the symbiont though, I clench my fists just slightly at the thought of taking one in before shaking my head again.
Chapter 9
Planning and the Major
Alexander North
As I'm sitting at the edge of the base proper, I finish typing up my notes in my terminal before rereading through them.
One. The wraiths and wendigos hunt anything that they can see with their infra-red vision, including the brutes who are the only monster besides me with any body heat.
Two. The brutes break everything they see. No matter what it is. Such as the poor soldier I saw getting smashed by one on the other side of the base and the wraith that was hunting him.
Three. The wraiths enjoy hunting. They will chase after their prey for a very long time, to the point that I've never seen one give up on prey before. Although most of the prey I've seen them chase didn't last long, considering that they were wild animals. But the one that chased me back to the cave never gave up, annoyingly enough.
Four. The wendigos have a ravenous appetite, which clears up my worries about not being able to eat normal foods and drinks. These creatures will eat anything they find edible. Which seems to mostly just include meat.
Five. The three types of monsters I've seen so far each have their own quirks. The brutes have strength far beyond that of the other two, with much thicker skin and muscle protecting them at the same time but an equally lower intelligence than the others. The wraiths have speed far beyond that of the other two, with two relatively sharp blades in the place of their arms, an almost human level strength, and a level of intelligence similar to a predator in the wild. The wendigos have strength and agility a bit above that of a human with the ability to freeze anything they touch and the ability to take a lot more damage than a normal human can with an intelligence that honestly reminds me of a bee. What with how they seem to disregard their
own safety to kill. Although the bees are doing it to protect their hive, while the wendigos are just doing it to kill and eat.
Kind of like a zombie in one of those zombie films I watched back home with dad.
And six. The monsters have tough bodies, with a much stronger regeneration ability than humans have. Albeit with some having much stronger regenerative abilities than others, such as the wendigos. So the cleanest way to kill them is to strike at either their brains or their hearts, since both seem to shut off their regeneration power long enough for them to die.
After I finish rereading through the notes, I close out of my terminal again and turn my head around the tree I'm hiding in to look at the base.
I'm getting sick of sitting here taking notes, but I've already failed rather miserably at getting into the base three times now. So at this point it's best to know the monsters as well as I can.
And that includes myself now as well.
The things I've realized about myself is that my claws retract and extend whenever I want, and my little freezing power seems to only freeze organic creatures for the moment. Whether that'll change in the future or not is not something I know right now, nor do I want it to change right now. Considering just how annoying that would be to freeze everything I touch, including my own clothes.
I have my hybrid vision, and at the same time, while my body still has body heat, it's drastically reduced from what it was when I was human. So, the wendigos and wraiths can still see me with their infra-red vision, but nowhere near as clearly as they would see a normal human. Which mostly means that they can't see me through walls like they can other living things.
Which is nice.
I look around my body one last time to make sure I've gotten everything before nodding to myself and jumping down from the tree.
Time to try getting in again.
The base's exterior is set up with five large towers and a large wall going between most of the towers, leaving just one section without a wall. However, that one section is built next to a river and instead has a bridge with plenty of security posts and a road on it.
Additionally, the exterior is tall enough that you can't climb it very easily, but you can look into it from the mountains nearby.
Which in hindsight really is a flaw in its design, but no one ever really expected someone to be sieging it. So no one bothered to deal with this problem. Not to mention that the majority of the base is built underground.
Now though, this flaw has helped me a lot in showing me the exact locations of the monsters. Or at least their locations back when I was on top of the mountain to look.
I slowly make my way to the outer wall before squinting my eyes at it to look for any signs of heat signatures just in case I missed one of the brutes. And once I don't find any, I extend my claws and begin digging.
The first time I tried getting in, I tried the obvious route, which was climbing over the wall. But that failed rather miserably when I couldn't reach the top. After all, the wall wasn't built for people to climb and even has some areas on it meant to stop people from doing that. Areas that work even against my claws.
As for the second and third time I tried getting in? Neither of them worked. And they were both done via attempting to sneak in through the front entrance.
One of those attempts was also the point in which I truly realized the lengths a wraith will go to catch its prey. Considering how it chased me all the way back to the secret entrance.
But this attempt? This one should be different.
I continue to dig through the ground, happy that I eventually remembered the existence of a cellar in one of the office buildings outside. Even if it took three failed attempts to do so.
I just hope that I chose the right place to dig.
Within the Military Base located several kilometers to the south of Argo City on planet Arran
While Alex is digging through the snow-covered ground
"Terran. Fucking. DAMMIT!" the captain of squad AR27 shouts while smashing the monster of which Alex calls a wendigo's head into the ground, finally making it stay down. "These things just don't want to die!"
As if to prove his point, the wendigo tries to raise its head again despite having cracked the ground with its impact while screeching.
The captain motions for the others to help while focusing both of his arms on its head and kneeing its chest to keep it down. Meanwhile both of the twins make their way over to him with regular steel swords in their hands.
"Try taking off its head!" the captain grunts, and the twins nod at that and begin to saw away at the creature's neck.
Meanwhile, Robert and Victoria can be seen standing at the door to the office they're in, watching to make sure no other monster enters since the door is currently lying on the ground a few meters away from them.
Eventually, after several painful seconds of sawing, the two twins manage to get the creature's head off, making it cut off its screaming in an instant while dropping its resistance.
All three of them back up while heaving heavy breaths of exhaustion before Michael eventually mutters, "Poor John. He didn't deserve this."
The captain glances at him with a frown and asks, "You knew that one? Or the person it was before turning?"
Michael nods without taking his eyes off of the dead wendigo's corpse and says, "Yes, sir. He was one of my lunch pals."
The others all share looks in confusion, but the man doesn't explain any further.
"We should-" the captain suddenly cuts off and shouts, "Shard!" while pointing at the corner of the room where a shard pierces through the cement of the room's ceiling and begins digging itself the rest of the way out.
All of the soldiers rush towards the other door in the office which the captain opens, revealing another set of offices with a few still-living soldiers inside that quickly lift their guns and aim them at squad AR27 as they close the door behind them before the shard can free itself.
"Hold up your hands!" one of the new soldiers shouts without pointing his machine gun away from the squad, but the captain and the others just ignore the man as they catch their breath. "I said hold them up! Or I will shoot!"
"Go ahead," Victoria mutters while still catching her breath. "Not like it'll do much."
The soldier grimaces at that, showing them that he knows exactly what would happen if he tried.
Eventually, after seeing that none of them are changing into monsters, and that there aren't any shards in the room around them, the soldier slowly
lowers his gun. Meanwhile the other two soldiers that were with him ignore the paranoid one and get up from their place sitting down in office chairs.
"Have you seen the base commander?" one of them asks, to which the captain of squad AR27 shakes his head and says, "No. We just got back to the base a few hours ago ourselves."
"Wait wait wait," the paranoid soldier asks while glaring at them, "you were all outside when this started?! What if you were infe-Shit!"
Before the man can finish talking, the one soldier who hasn't said a word from amongst the three smacks him on the back of the head to shut him up before looking at the squad and asking, "Just how bad was it out there?"
The captain finally looks up at the man after having caught his breath, just to immediately straighten up and salute him while shouting, "Major Vaugns!"
He then motions for the others to salute him as well before answering, "It was even worse outside, sir, with the number of monsters including both wild animals and people. Furthermore, our ship had crashed, and I suspect many other ships have done the same at the start of this icy hell."
The major frowns at the news while walking over to the captain.
After a few seconds of silence, he eventually asks, "Did you lose anyone?"
This one question makes the captain's voice turn quiet as he answers, "Yes, sir. Two of my men."
"My condolences," the major says, his frown growing deeper before he turns around again and adds, "we need to find the base commander. He should have a direct connection to the headquarters through his terminal should the base be under EMP attack."
"We were searching for him when we ended up here, sir," the captain explains, still with his hand in a salute. "We've already checked the sites from here to the secret entrance and we were about to go look towards the lieutenant colonel's quarters."
The major turns around at that with a nod and says, "Then let's go."
Chapter 10
Appearance Changes