Toxic (46 page)

A fighter, hidden behind a half-destroyed wall, was shooting at the T-J, which was floating above a rocky landscape. The barrel of his gun shot flames that were particularly visible under infrared light. He was joined by his companions. The two humans exchanged a few words and then separated. The first one smiled and pressed the trigger once again.

“Did we register what they said to each other?” he asked the Arthrosian, pointing at the rectangle in question.

“I... I’m not sure. There was a lot of noise from their guns.”

“Can you filter the frequencies?”

“Of course, Your Excellency.”

This was a technician’s job. The operations chief requested a subordinate, who resolved the problem in less than an octain of seconds.

“Perfect. Play it again for me.”

He watched the second fighter approach the first one and put his hand on his shoulder. “
Miguel, ¿está seguro?
”

The second man had a peaceful look to him. “
No lo van a encontrar, jefe
.”

The translation came to him simultaneously. In the end, interrogation would be necessary, Jave thought. Of the two men, only the first one was still alive. He grazed the touch pad on the arm of his chair.

“Officer Kjet?”

“Your Excellency.”

“One detail has been bugging me since you got back. I’m going to need to lift a few rocks.”

The Lynian imagined the reptilian’s forked tongue whipping the dry air.

“I’m all ears, Your Excellency.”

“You scanned the surrounding area before and after the attack.”

“The sector has been cleaned. There was only this group of fighters.”

“Nobody else?”

“Unlikely.”

“But possible?”

“Only beyond the perimeter.”

“Thank you.”

Jave cut the communication. All of a sudden, the Arthrosian ran towards a hemisphere in which a technician was moving around. The emissary noted his pink and almost translucent arms twisting towards a video feed.

“What’s happening?”

The chief of operations leaned one of the antennae on his short head towards the display. The five captives were rolling on the ground in violent spasms among the other products, who didn’t dare help them. They kept their distance. The Lynian jumped out of his armchair.

“Send an intervention team and drones,” the Arthrosian officer ordered.

They arrived too late, Jave understood. The chaotic movements of the prisoners decreased after a few minutes and then stopped. He watched the macabre scene with the lifeless bodies strewn on the floor. Foam was dripping from their mouths. The crowd still kept its distance. A few humans approached carefully. A woman crouched hesitantly and touched one of the corpses. The Primark entered the room, his eyes reduced to yellow slits. He demanded explanations, but Jave didn’t pay attention. He concentrated on the human, indifferent to the angry whistles of the reptilian. He heard the Arthrosian say that the troopers were getting ready to enter the dome.

“Don’t do anything,” the emissary ordered.

“We can’t leave them there,” Naakrit objected.

“Of course.”

All of a sudden, the hand of one of the corpses shook, to everybody’s great surprise, including the mercenaries.

“They have become infected.”

“Grrrr,” the Primark said angrily. “The whole batch is compromised. We’re going to have to sterilize the dome, which won’t be pretty.”

With the Nairobi site now nearing its maximum treatment capacity, the Dubai domes were filling up quickly. This one held almost three thousand units.

“Can you isolate that section?” Jave asked.

“Yes, but they have been in contact with these humans since they arrived. You know the rules in the event of infection.”

“We should have checked them before,” the Lynian declared.

That sounded like a reproach, and in a way, it was one, the Lynian thought.

One of the fighters, transformed into a spoiled product, grabbed the woman and his hand went around her neck. At his side, the soldier beside him got up haggardly. His skin had a waxy look to it and was almost gray. Overcome with panic, the prisoners started to scream and run in the direction of the milky walls. The first victim lay on the floor in the middle of a scarlet pool. The infected man had ripped off a piece of her face.

“I can’t send soldiers in there,” Naakrit announced. “It’s too late.”

“Clearly.”

“The question is: how did they become infected?”

Jave’s nasal vents released a puff of oxygen. “You still don’t understand?”

The reptilian shook his bony head and his scales went purple. “Explain.”

“The humans that Kjet faced knew that they had no chance of escape. Their plan was as simple as it was remarkable: to infect the enemy at its base by transforming in turn into these creatures and trying to spread panic. Those who killed themselves during the attack couldn’t bear becoming these things. They chose another path.”

“According to you, this is an attack against us?”

More of a desperate defense strategy, he thought, but the humans weren’t counting on disappearing off the surface of the planet or even the Universe without a fight.

“They surely didn’t expect as much.”

“Their efforts are in vain. They won’t cause any serious damage.”

“For sure. But you just lost a batch of three thousand units in your own nest. That, I think, is their first victory since the invasion. This is an upsetting situation, from the point of view of the interests of the Combinate. This demonstrates that you aren’t in complete control of events.”

Naakrit scowled. “This won’t happen again.”

“Of course. Because of that, I have to go to South America. I think Kjet may have missed an element that I would like to verify.”

The Primark didn’t say aloud what was understood. He didn’t oppose his request. Bit by bit, the Lynian was chipping away at the reputation of the loyal lieutenant. His undermining would eventually produce results.

L
ike the majority of movie theaters, this one wasn’t an exception to the rule that the spectators had to leave the room by a door different from that of the entrance. Hector had noticed that it led to the back when he had explored the premises. The path led to the parking lot but remained out of sight. The trafficker, who had been standing in as head projectionist, suggested to Masters that they evacuate the group that way. The colonel approved and watched over Dew and Alison’s safety. The frightened young girl hugged the soldier. Bruce had taken the lead to make sure that there weren’t any infected waiting for them on the other side. Alison was shaking and grabbed his canvas pants.

“Are they going to come?”

“I... wait a minute, where’s Elaine?” the marine suddenly asked.

A panicked look appeared on Alva’s face. “Oh shit! She left to get cigarettes from the dining room.”

Masters exchanged glances with the Colombian.

“
Sí
, I saw the
chica
 leave but not come back.”

“I hope that she at least heard the gunshots and took cover.”

The singer’s mouth contorted.

“I’ll bring her back,” the soldier assured them. “In the meantime, you leave the building. We have to get out of here and regroup in a safe place. The roof of the shopping mall seems like the safest place to me.”

Hector agreed. “
Sí
, we can take the exterior ladder.”

“How many are there?” Alison asked, panicked.

“Around thirty. No more. We can take care of them, but that won’t make them any less dangerous.”

Bruce stuck his head out of the door. “The path is clear. We can go.”

Masters left Hector and Bruce to direct the two children and the diva towards the exit and then, one by one, they climbed the ladder to take refuge high up. The marine sprinted towards the clinic with his gun in his hand.

He stopped for a brief moment behind a tree to watch the creatures, which were wandering around the shopping mall parking lot, crossing it bit by bit and getting closer to the stores. As long as they remained concentrated there, they could kill them. They had to avoid letting them disperse, which meant organizing an unavoidably dangerous hunt.

The colonel left his observation post and after another short run, entered the hospital building. Arriving at the dining room, he got a bad feeling without being able to explain it. He had the impression that something was missing from the décor. Elaine wasn’t there; he checked the whole floor. He started with the room that she shared with Alison. Empty. The wing was home to a former break room with a television, towards which he went right away. Empty. He then went through each room, annex and floor at a run. No sign of the nurse.

He called her several times, without getting a response. Had she been attacked? Had she fled? It was impossible to know. There was no evidence. He didn’t see any signs of a fight. Elaine seemed to have evaporated. His heart contracted.

The colonel shot down the stairs and arrived at the parking lot. He joined the group on the roof shortly afterwards and told them the harrowing news. “Elaine disappeared.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. She’s not in the clinic. I searched everywhere.”

Alva moved towards him. “We can’t leave without her.”

The marine’s head plunged towards the floor. “You can’t do this to her,” the singer maintained. “I suggest we stay.”

The others didn’t get involved. Alison watched them, waiting for their decision.

“
Podemos matar los muertos
.
”

The biologist swallowed. “Do you want to attack them head on? You’re crazy...”

The colonel took a deep breath. His gaze crossed that of the Colombian. He seemed to be recovering from his wound quite well.

“That is still the best solution. The three of us can take care of them. There’s not that many of them and they’re concentrated in the parking lot. Are you OK to fight them even with your shoulder?”

“
Sí
, I’m high on pain killers; if they bite me, I won’t feel anything.”

Alva leaned over the wall. “Don’t you find it odd that they’re gathering here in an orderly fashion, like cattle? It almost seems like they were driven towards us.”

Masters admitted that the situation was strange, but that didn’t change anything when it came to how to react to it. They needed to eliminate the threat.

“Bruce?”

The young man sighed. His eyes expressed an understandable fear, but he didn’t cop out. “Ok then. I’m following you.”

“Alva, you stay with Alison and Dewei while we take care of the zombies.”

As an experienced combat professional, the soldier laid out his plan.

“The main danger is being surrounded. They don’t move very quickly, but they have their advantage in numbers. It’s easy to be overwhelmed. We are going to go in a line, from the top of the parking lot to the highway. Kill every L-D that gets in front of you. A bullet in the head or – he pointed to Bruce’s machete – by decapitating them. Don’t forget to keep the line, as that allows us to cover each other and not lose anyone. Got it?”

The two men agreed.

Terrified and with the night upon them, putting his plan into action wasn’t that easy.

They easily fought the closest creatures, who rushed towards them. The shots resounded around the island. It was impossible for the nurse to not hear such a racket, Masters thought, spotting a zombie dressed in a lace nightgown as if it had just gotten out of bed. It collapsed barely two meters away. Hector took aim and fired. The weapon’s recoil made him grimace. Nervous and clumsy, Bruce had to try several times to decapitate a man with a swollen gut. Even on the ground, he continued to move forward, his fingers grabbing at the cracks in the pavement and dragging his body. His half-detached head hung backwards. The biologist mumbled. Their hunting party hit a spot of bad luck. Bruce tripped less than a meter from his prey, dropping his machete.

“Fuck! My ankle!”

The soldier helped him immediately and put a bullet in the skull of the crawler, whose scalp striped with scratches showed grey clumps. The incident had the effect of breaking the line, and at the same time, Hector had to reload.

A good fifteen L-Ds were on the verge of overwhelming them. The mini-horde threatened to cut off their retreat. The Colombian shot a close assailant in the stomach. The purulent flesh spread in a brown umbrella at the same time a second one was approaching him. He stepped to the side and gave him a violent whack with the butt of the gun, breaking his cheekbone. The next attack made the creature fall face-down. Hector pushed the barrel between his shoulder blades and fired.

“
Madre de Dios
,” he mumbled, moving his shoulder.

In a few moments, what had been originally planned as a rational and controlled cleaning transformed into a delicate situation on the point of getting worse.

“We retreat,” Masters decided, grabbing Bruce by the collar of his jacket.

He held up his 45 and spotted an L-D who stayed up for a brief moment. The blood flowed from his forehead in a stream that separated both sides of his skinned nose. Then, he collapsed. He heard Hector’s gun at his side once again. Bruce tried to get back up, but couldn’t. He tried to pull at Masters’ sleeve, throwing him off balance and making him miss his target.