The Ones We Forgot: Chapter Twenty-Eight
Impatient and no longer willing to wait, Ross with Anya head for the Hangar Bay while Cain enters the Industrial sector, fully intent on destroying, knowing what that will mean for him.
“I’m done waiting,” Ross said while approaching the console that displayed the statuses of various interplanetary transport crafts in the hangar below. He began checking to see if any of the transports were now ready to fly. The only one that caught his eye just so happened to be the same ship that the Logitek group arrived in. Refuelling had been completed, and apart from some minor maintenance to its external armoured shell, the ship was ready to fly.
“But what about Francis-”
“Fucking everything and everyone is now a Mortan. For all we know, he’ll turn up and infect us too. You still have your pistol?”
“Of course, it’s standard issue. They’ll be here any minute; we can’t just leave them!”
He faced her, not wanting to argue with her stubborn loyalty to a cause that, in reality, cared very little for her. He marched over and grabbed her wrist. “Come with me or stay and die like the rest. The choice is yours, Anya.”
He let go, and without giving her a chance to get a word in, he began marching down the stairs. Once at the bottom, he checked both ways. The way was clear, but to his left, leading back towards the core of the base, he saw blood trails. Someone passed by here not too long ago. Shouldn’t hang around in case they come back. As he approached processing, which would give access to the hangar bay, he heard footsteps getting gradually louder as they echoed off the silvery metal floor. Anya had decided to come, after all.
“You’re right since neither of us is infected. We can only depend on each other.”
The first thing they would need to do was get past the biometric scanner. They stopped before the large metal door, and Ross went and pressed a button on the panel next to the door. Soon enough, it opened.
“It’ll be one at a time. Once I’m through, you go next; don’t dawdle, okay?”
“I won’t.”
He entered the decontamination chamber first, and once the door was sealed, the system automatically blurted to life. The chamber quickly filled with what he knew to be a disinfectant gas, except it had an odd colouring to it. Normally, it was smoky white, but this time it looked darker, so much so that it made it hard for him to see in front of him.
‘Why are you leaving us? What if I never see you again?’
He looked back over his shoulder and saw his girlfriend as she looked back on Earth. The gas being pumped in did not relent; it only smothered him further. It was futile for him to cover his mouth. The damage has already been done.
“I promised I would come back for you, didn’t I? Such a hollow promise looking back at it.”
The form of his girlfriend soon became enveloped by the gas, and when it parted slightly. Someone else stood before him. Anya.
“Anya, you can’t be here. They’ve contaminated the gas!”
The smile she gave him did not contain normal teeth, but instead looked more monstrous, jagged and shaped like triangles. “Oh, Ross. Did you really think you would be my knight in shining armour? How foolish you are; the only one being saved here is you. You will find no greater purpose, I promise,” she said as she began stalking him, prowling around him while he remained frozen. What can I do? This stuff is messing with my perception. It’s tricking me! Even if she isn’t really here, there’s no way to convince me it’s an illusion.
“This is what we can give you: peace of mind. A unity unlike any you’ve ever experienced,” said the gruffer voice now. It was difficult to pinpoint because it kept sounding close and far away, and it even penetrated deep into his brain, burying into his protesting thoughts.
“Son, come with us. We can be a family again.”
“No… that’s not fair, anyone but him…”
“Why? This way, I will never leave you again.”
“You’ll never replace him, not while I’m still in control.”
“We humour you, Ross. Your will can’t hold forever.”
At that precise moment, the gas was sucked out of the chamber, and the process ended. What was usually a few minutes had dragged on for what seemed to be a lifetime. Ross collapsed to his knees, coughing. He vomited nothing at first, but soon specks of black and brown chunks appeared. Already, his insides were mutating. The next door leading into the main corridor opened. He had no choice. He had to continue forward. As he stepped through it and the door shut, he fell against it. I can’t warn her. If she follows in my wake… it’ll claim her too.
Unaware of what awaited her, the door to the chamber opened, and Anya almost stepped inside, but a voice from behind stopped her. She looked over her shoulder and saw them—the Black Knights. The ones she had been in contact with when they first arrived.
“Don’t, otherwise it will get you, too. That’s what it wants. More bodies and minds,” said one of the long, black-haired females with them.
“What do you mean? What happened?”
“I’d hazard a guess that the poison that contaminated the water also found its way into the storage tanks used by the decontamination chamber,” said the man next to her.
“The observation room is the safest bet if we want to avoid any further potential infection,” said the other man with folded arms.
“Don’t all rub it in at once.”
“Sorry, Pyotr.”
“None taken.”
“If we can cut our way in, it should help us bypass going through the decontamination chamber. Can either of you handle that?” asked the man to the black-haired woman and the man who had complained. Not wasting time with an answer, the black-haired woman approached the small reinforced door that normally required a code and instead, she ignited her right hand to form a triangular purple blade of concentrated aether energy. She thrust the blade into the locking mechanism, and the heat soon broke the seal, allowing them entrance. She released the aetherial weapon and stepped back. “Let’s get a move on. Any use of Aether will have them on us in no time. We can’t waste any more time chatting.”
The industrial sector had turned into a battleground. From what he gathered, not everyone had been caught in the Mortis infection. Those lucky ones stubbornly did their best to hold off their fast-turning friends. What bothered Cain a little was how fast this was happening. Back on Earth, the Mortalis threat, though widespread, still had Mortans acting on their own will, yet now they were more coordinated and determined to change even their environment. It could just be a matter of the location, all of them confined to one part of the planet. This was perhaps inevitable, but I can still stop it before it can even be allowed to leave.
Cain moved fast through the Industrial recreational park, past earthly trees and across the grass that once existed in the seed banks and was brought to Mars on board the early colony ships. He stopped only to look up at the reinforced, glass-domed ceiling. The night had settled, but his nightmare was far from over. A glow was cast on the surrounding buildings by the largest of the two moons, Phobos, in orbit around the red planet. As he rounded a corner that would lead him to the Aether Energy Inc. facility, he was set upon by a feral half consumed by the symbiote; their teeth had been blackened, while their eyes were bloodshot. He had to use the rifle to keep some distance between them while it ignited, and brown aether claws dug into the rifle’s metallic body. A single shove later sent the Mortan backwards, giving Cain the opening he needed to plant three shots of aether into the monster’s centre. It hit the ground with a heavy thud. He scrunched his nose at the idea of ripping out the monster’s symbiote, but it was the only true way to make sure it wouldn’t get up again. He reached down into the burnt, smouldering wound and found the symbiote. It came out easily enough, and the body before him finally settled.
He picked up the pace and reached the connection that would take him into the Aether Energy facility. The great titanium steel doors were sealed, though, and it required him to enter an authorisation key to lift the system lockdown. Normally, keeping them away from this place would be ideal, but there’s no saving this situation. This base has to be destroyed, there’s no other way.
The noise of those doors parting sent shivers down his spine, as did the realisation that he wouldn’t live to see the result of his actions. He looked back the way he came, anticipating the creatures being drawn by the sound, he didn’t even wait till they were fully open before entering the darkened corridor. He broke into a run, and soon enough, the neon letters of the sign representing Aether Energy came into view. This is it. This is where your dream ends, Lazarus. At least it’ll go out with a bang.