Chapter 14
Subject: Maddy
The airlock door to the science lab slid open, Liselle waiting inside with a smile on her face. Maddy greeted her with a hug. That’s work appropriate, right? “You got everyone together?” Maddy asked. This was her second attempt at getting the science team on her side.
“I got Doctor Carney to agree to talk to you again, everyone else is running a long synthesis. We are trying to catch up on side projects since we haven’t been collecting new samples from the field.” Liselle explained as they walked through the science lab.
Maddy sighed, Carney was a nightmare last time. “Okay, thanks.”
They rounded a corner and came to a common area. It was a lot like the security team’s, but far messier. Doctor Carney stood with her arms crossed, looking impatient.
“Okay, Doctor Carney, I have a problem that I want your help with, and I think you’ll be interested in helping once I tell you what it is.” Maddy tried to get ahead of the verbal abuse.
Carney’s expression changed, reflecting a genuine interest. “Okay, I’m listening.” Carney gestured towards a collection of spartan couches and cushioned chairs. Liselle sat and Maddy joined her. Carney had a cup of tea and sat crosslegged on the couch facing Maddy, cradling the cup in her hands.
“I have to start with a question. What is the deal with kids in New Carthage? Why have them, and why are they banned from going into the city proper?” Maddy asked.
Liselle started to speak but Carney cut her off, “well its simple really. Children under sixteen can’t safely have a medical nanite system installed. Groups of more than, say, a half dozen people without defenses against the local microbiology is just asking for trouble. The more people in a gathering, the more likely they are to promote the evolution of a novel life form that can infect them.”
“That makes sense. So, why have them at all?” Maddy asked.
“Well, colonists were encouraged to have children during the first few years of colonization. It’s actually very important for the health of a colony to have that sense of community, and as you know, human birth rates are the only thing holding humanity back from the stars.” Carney said.
“That and the aliens,” Liselle added.
“So, what happened with the colonists that had kids before the colony effort was abandoned?” Maddy asked.
Carney beat Liselle to the answer again, “they formed small communities outside of population centers. Kids aren’t an automatic death sentence. As long as there aren’t a lot of them in one place, they’re generally okay. I’m really curious to know where this is going Maddy. If you’re pregnant its okay to say it.”
“NO!” Maddy reacted, shocked. Liselle giggled, Maddy blushed and sighed. “Look, I’m trying to fix the things that Chief fucked up.”
“Good luck with that,” Carney muttered. Maddy ignored her and kept talking.
“I decided to pay a visit to the local police to see about fixing the damage there, and they asked me to investigate a missing persons case in a village outside of the barrier.” Maddy pulled out her smart link and navigated to the map, showing Carney and Liselle where the village was located.
“Oh I know that place!” Liselle exclaimed. “We have a monitoring station out there. We used to land in the village hike in. The people were super nice and loved to trade things from the city with us. Someone is missing?”
“Yeah. Five people actually, all the kids in the town. They all disappeared overnight at the same time.” Maddy said, clearly bringing down the atmosphere a few notches. Liselle looked sad and Carney’s expression changed to one of resolve. Maddy had won her over, at least for now.
Maddy continued, “I can lead the investigation, I have experience in this sort of thing from the corps, but I would really value your teams perspective. It’s kind of weird that all five would disappear at the same time and even weirder, it seems to be happening all over New Carthage.”
“We’re in. If there’s kids involved, we’re in.” Carney was stone-cold serious. Liselle nodded along. “Plus, there’s a monitoring station there that we really need to get the filters changed on. I suggest you bring us along, we’ll take one team and change the filters and then we’ll join you in the village after you’ve had a chance to get some information from the locals. When are we leaving?”
“Pack your stuff, I’ll get us a ride,” Maddy smiled. This plan was coming together.
Two hours later and they were in the air and heading towards the village Detective Ward had asked them to investigate. The second Maddy had announced an operation for Team Two, they were on their feet clamoring for action. Even the pilot was ecstatic to have something to do after days of uncertainty. Maddy shot a text to Detective Ward.
Maddy: Hey, I’m heading to the village you wanted me to check out. Any word on the other cases?
Ward: Not yet, been busy. By the way, the fleet finally gave an update. It’s not public yet, but the outage was caused by an alien incursion!
Maddy: WTF
“Two minutes out!” The pilot shouted. Maddy tore herself away from her smart link. Aliens explained a lot, but all the way out here? Oasis was supposed to be away from all that. Maddy compartmentalized the uncertainty and got back on task. Focusing on something solid did wonders for calming nerves.
“Okay team, here’s the drill. Pilot, set us down in the village and get on a holding pattern. Backup LZ is one kilometer east on the plateau. Felix! You’re in charge of fireteam one. Take Gremlin, Two-Feet, and Peanut and escort the science team to their objective, the monitoring station on the hill to the south.” Maddy paused and scanned the inside of the shuttle. Everyone was nodding along. Doctor Carney and Liselle made up the science team on this one. “Dad and I are fireteam two and we are staying in the village to interview the locals about the missing kids. Use TAC1 primary comms. Any questions?”
“No ma’am!” Felix shouted. Everyone else shook their heads no.
“On approach now,” the pilot announced. Maddy hit the button to slide open both side doors on the shuttle. She looked out at the village. A half dozen prefab structures were intermixed with improvised shelters. The buildings were surrounded by rowed gardens and primitive tools. The genetically modified green of the Terran born plants stood in stark contrast to the reds and purples of the native fauna. A wooden fence with coils of razor wire lined the perimeter of the village, with at least one gate opening to a single track trail visible. Maddy didn’t see any people among the structures.
“Eyes on the target. Anyone seeing… anyone?” Maddy asked as she flipped to thermals.
“Negative Sergeant,” Dad responded. “Maybe they’re out searching.”
“Nothing on thermals either, but the buildings look hot, maybe they’re inside,” Maddy added. Every prefabricated structure was reading much hotter than the surrounding environment.
The shuttle touched down in a clearing just outside the village. The team filtered out of both sides of the aircraft and took up positions. The science team dismounted, throwing heavy cases of filters and equipment to the ground. Peanut and Two-Feet were wearing the heavy powered armor and stood still as the equipment was loaded onto their backs. Maddy and Dad wore light patrol armor, looking more like cops than soldiers. This was intentional; Maddy wanted to look professional but not frightening. She brought a 5.7mm submachine gun instead of the usual battle rifle. Dad packed a shotgun, just in case.
No one came out to greet them. Great, Maddy thought, we scared them with the combat drop. Maddy keyed up TAC1, “alright, you know what to do. Meet back here when you’re finished.”
“Yes ma’am!” Felix responded. Clearly very excited to be in charge of a fireteam. Fireteam one marched off down a game trail, the team clearly familiar with the terrain. Maddy turned to face the village, Dad at her side.
“Hello? Science team security!” She shouted at the buildings. “We’re here for the missing person’s report.” No one came out. Maddy took a few hesitant steps and called out again. No response.
“They gotta be out searching,” Dad said.
Maddy keyed up the pilot, “air ops, do a grid search with thermals and see if you can spot the locals. We’re thinking they’re out looking around.”
“Copy that!” The pilot responded. “Nothing yet but I’ll let you know.”
Maddy looked at the village. There was a central ‘road’ with buildings lined on either side. “Dad, take the right side, I’ll take the left. Door to door until we find someone.
“Yes sergeant,” Dad responded. He was on, dialed in. Maddy’s sixth sense tingled and she thought about pulling the science team back to have more backup, but pushed it down. Maddy though Dad was feeling it too.
She walked up to the first structure, improvised and small, no more than a shed. She knocked on the door and announced herself before opening the shoddy wooden door. The shed held a handful of gardening tools and a stack of wood next to a hand-built workbench. The wood was black.
“Clear,” Maddy announced on the radio before exiting and moving to the next structure. This one was a prefab, one of the buildings colonists set down as a first wave, temporary sort of thing. Not meant to be a forever home. Maddy knocked and announced herself. No response. Dad cleared a structure behind him.
Maddy pushed the door open and walked inside. It was dark. Do they have electricity? She wondered.
“Helloooo,” Maddy said. She reached up to turn on thermals, but decided her helmet light would be better, that way she wouldn’t sneak up on anyone. No one was home, but the place looked odd, out of place. She walked towards a door and slid it open. In the corner, Maddy saw a thick, stringy mess of white, damp… vines? Maddy approached and poked at it with the edge of a clothes hanger that was laying on the ground. It gave under a light press, but stayed stuck to the wall. Maddy couldn’t pull the hanger away.
She keyed up Dad, “hey are there any native xenos that make webs?”
“Like, big ones?” Dad’s voice was vaguely worried.
“Yeah like, I dunno. The strings are maybe three or four centimeters in diameter. It’s too big for catching normal sized bugs.” Maddy poked at the vine or web or whatever again.
“Where’d you find that?” Dad asked flatly, the note of worry being more prevalent.
Maddy stood and took in her surroundings, “a bedroom. In the corner.”
“Yeah, I’m seeing that shit too Sergeant,” Dad’s fear amping up more as he spoke, “should we bug out?”
“Not yet. There could easily be a weird bug or fungus or some damn thing that does this. We’ll have the science team look at it when they get back. If you see any more weird shit call it out.” Maddy was starting to feel even worse, like she should pull back and get the rest of the team in, but she had no legitimate reason to do so, and she didn’t want to change the plan now. She decided to check in, maybe they’d make it back on their own in time.
She mic’d TAC1, “Felix, check in.” A brief delay.
“All good Sarge! We’re at the objective and the science team is changing filters now. It’s actually real quiet. We didn’t even see anything to shoot at.” Felix reported.
Maddy stepped outside, “very good. Don’t delay getting back. We haven’t found anyone here yet but I’m getting a weird feeling.”
“Should we come back now, Sarge?” Felix asked.
“No, finish the mission and head back,” Maddy looked up at the sky. Now that Felix mentioned it, there weren’t any of the usual thousands of not-birds. There weren’t any of the flying bugs either. Maddy listened and heard… silence. Totally unusual. Red flags. Maddy checked the mag in her submachine gun while she approached the next building.
“Clear,” Dad checked in.
Maddy stopped at the threshold, hearing something inside. Not quite voices, but a gulping sound? Maddy pushed the door open and stepped in.
The room had light, but that made everything so much worse. Maddy couldn’t comprehend the sight in front of her; her mind stopped like a truck hitting a brick wall. The room was sparse, a living room of some sort. In the corner of the room, a man was sitting against a wall with his arm outstretched, held in place before him. He was stuck to the wall with a mess of webbing in an awkward pose, his clothing partially melted off of him. His red, begging eyes turned to Maddy and his mouth opened wide, jaw quavering.
In the center of the of the room lay a huge glistening sack of sickly yellow flesh, pulsating and writhing. It had a abdomen like a spider’s, thin and covered in brown chitin plates. Four insect legs with disturbingly human muscles rested below it. The end of the thing, the head, was a horrific assortment of inwardly facing appendages surrounding a wide, open maw. It was trying to force something down, it’s mouth-arms greedily shoving and packing, making a slurping, choking sound as it went. The something in its mouth had legs. Human legs. They kicked wildly.
Maddy was frozen in place. Every muscle in her body screamed to turn and run but her mind was paralyzed by fear. Her stomach flipped upside down and her vision narrowed. The man in the corner started screaming, his voice hoarse, breathy, and hollow. He must’ve been screaming for hours before Maddy got there.
“HEEELLP!, HEELP THEM! THEY’RE IN THERE! ALIVE IN THERE!” The terror in his voice was infectious, Maddy stared at the thing in the center of the room, her mind racing. Details clarified as she watched the bulbous mass of the thing pulse and shift. The shapes within it were familiar and alien at the same time. A human hand pressed out from within, distending the flesh. Human shapes materialized from within the creature now that Maddy knew to recognize them. It was full of people, and they were still moving. The man screamed.
The fleet marine in Maddy took control. She raised her submachine gun, unsure of where to fire. The whole fucking thing was full of people, she would kill them if she shot. The man in the corner screamed, “SHOOT IT! KILL THE- KILL IT PLEASE!” Maddy squeezed the trigger, the submachine gun let out a fearsome BRRRRT as a half dozen armor penetrating rounds tore into the abdomen. The creature wailed and raised it’s torso into the air, it’s four motive legs flexing to their full length. It hit the ceiling.
Maddy let out another burst of fire, then another. She screamed as she shifted into a fighting stance and pressed the trigger down with all of her strength. Round-after-round passed through the monster, it smashed it’s torso into the ground, raised it, and smashed it again, over and over, wailing like a siren. Maddy dropped a spent mag and loaded another with military precision, smacking the bolt release closed and firing another stream of death into the damned thing. It tried to scurry backwards through a doorway as Maddy fired into it, but it was too fat to fit through. It’s legs struggled in vain to escape the withering bursts. It’s guttural rasps mixed with the bursts of machine gun fire and Maddy’s war cry as she advanced on the thing, firing. She emptied another eighty-round mag, swapped it with her last, and kept firing. The thing lifted it’s torso into the air, reaching the ceiling. It wouldn’t fucking die!
Suddenly, a series of loud, rhythmic booms echoed through the room and chunks of the creature’s torso were blown away. Dad had come in with auto shotgun and started blasting away at the creature. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. The auto shotgun was meant for big game; each slug it fired blasted chunks of plating and flesh off the torso. His fire mirrored Maddy’s, every round into the creatures limbed midsection. Smoke filled the room as the weapons barked and spit. The creature fell to the floor under the security team’s shared assault. Maddy and Dad kept firing until their weapons ran dry. The creature’s torso was nearly cut in half, held together with a few strips of ragged, yellow flesh. It’s blood was a deep red, almost black, and was splattered all over the room. The legs in it’s mouth weren’t moving anymore.
Maddy was a woman possessed, she dropped her submachine gun and drew a long combat knife out of her thigh holster. Dad muttered, eyes wide, and pumped new shells into his shotgun. “Help me!” Maddy said to him, “they’re fucking alive in there!” She advanced on the dead thing’s writhing sack, running her knife across it. The outer layer of flesh was thick and fibrous, Maddy had to saw to get through it. Dad slung his shotgun over his shoulder and joined in, sawing and hacking at the mass.
Maddy got through the outer layer and found the inside to be a pink semi-solid, a thick jelly. She found it much easier to split it once she had a hole opened, and her blade eviscerated the thing, spilling steaming, goo covered human shapes onto the floor. They people that came out were naked, and wrong. Their skin was smooth and glassy and bright red. An arm reached out from the mess and she grabbed it to help pull the person out of the dead creature, but the skin pulled away from the arm and Maddy stumbled backwards.
“Oh my god,” Dad said. Maddy’s face twisted in horror as the man in the corner started screaming.
A voice crackled over the comms, the pilot’s voice. “Hey I’ve got a bunch of contacts on thermal coming out of the east by the backup LZ. They’re uh, mostly human shaped, but way too big to be the locals. I think y’all should get to the primary LZ as fast as you can, like right now.”
Maddy was numb, this was unreal. She hit the comms, her voice surprisingly strong considering how she felt, “fireteam one you need to triple time it to the LZ right fucking now. Get aboard and shoot anything that isn’t human.”
“Yes Sergeant!’ Felix responded, excitement in his voice.
Maddy turned to Dad and pointed at the man in the corner. “Help me get him, the people in this thing are fucked and so are we if we hang around.” Dad nodded.
The man in the corner sobbed, “I couldn’t do anything, I could’t help anyone,” he repeated over and over. Maddy and Dad cut through the webbing with their knives. Maddy noticed the pink goo from the creature that was still on her gloves and knife dissolved the webs immediately. She freed the man’s arm and it immediately latched onto Maddy’s shoulder with surprising strength, digging into her muscle.
“Ow fuck!” Maddy shouted, punching the man in the shoulder and pointing a knifehand at him “You do that again and I’ll break your fucking nose!” She wasn’t herself, the fear was taking charge. She took a deep breath to calm herself. Slow is steady, steady is fast. Calm is fast. She cut through the last webs with Dad, gently pushing away and pinning the man’s limbs in a a way to avoid hurting him. He kept trying to grab them while sobbing and muttering incoherently. The guy had been through hell.
Maddy and Dad worked wordlessly. They stood the crying man up and immediately pushed him against a wall, pinning his arms behind his back. Maddy slid her arm under his elbow and twisted his hand out as Dad cuffed him. She could hear him mutter, “fit, placement, double locked…”. Good man, he was focusing on little things to center himself. “Let’s move,” he said as soon as the crying man was restrained enough that they could get him moving to the shutting without having to fight him anymore.
The man cried, “NO! NO! NO!” As they walked by the mess of squirming, steaming bodies on the floor. Maddy spoke to him calmly and sweetly, ostensibly trying to calm him, but really trying to calm herself. Focusing on details to avoid having to think about the people they were leaving behind.
Maddy and Dad walked the man outside, gently aiming him towards the landing zone. Felix and the others came running up the game trail; the science team, and unsurprisingly, Peanut, were red and out of breath, huffing. They met up in the open space as the shuttle hovered overhead, descending. The crying man blubbered unintelligible nonsense non-stop.
Gremlin gestured at the man and spoke up over comms, “who’s this, Chief Junior?”
“What happened to you?” Two-Feet asked, his eyes wide and full of fear. Maddy realized she was probably covered in blood and gore from the creature.
“No time right now! Cover all sides and combat load, science team and this guy first!” Maddy ordered. The shuttle touched down, engines roaring. Felix and Gremlin hopped into the shuttle behind the science team. Maddy and Dad walked the crying man to the shuttle and sat him down on the cargo deck; the team aboard lifting him and strapping him down into a seat. Maddy drew her sidearm and raised it to low ready, scanning the bushes while the team unloaded the filter decks and equipment off the power-armored security officers. They loaded up, and Maddy jumped in behind them. The shuttle lifted off without hesitation, Maddy barely getting her seat restraints on before the shuttle banked and flew full speed towards New Carthage.
She flipped on her thermals and looked down at the forest below her. Any doubt on whether it was the right idea to leave the melted villagers behind vanished as Maddy watched a wave of twisted figures rushed into the village, just moments behind her team. They would have been slaughtered.
Maddy looked at Dad. His eyes were hollow. “What the fuck was that, Dad? What kind of xenos were those?”
“Not Oasis xenos,” Dad responded. A chill washed down Maddy’s back.
“What happened down there?” Felix asked, concerned. Liselle and Carney looked petrified. Who knows what they heard on the comms.
“Xenos overran the village, killed everyone. This guy,” she gestured at the crying man, “was the only one alive that we know of. It was a mess, a real mess. We’ll download the helmet cam footage and debrief back at the station.” Maddy felt tired, the adrenaline metabolizing out of her system now that the danger was mostly over.
“Pilot, we need to drop one off at the New Carthage Hospital. Put us on the shuttle pad on the roof. Felix, call the hospital and let them know we have one coming in, tell them it was a xeno attack, I’m going to let the cops know they need to sit on him.” Her team responded in the affirmative, and Maddy pulled out her smart link.
Maddy: We went to the village. Everyone is dead. We are dropping one surviving villager at the hospital. Please send an officer to sit on him if you can and meet us at the station for a debrief. It’s way too much to text.
Ward: Holy shit! Are you guys okay?
Maddy: We’re okay.
Ward: Any word on the kids?
Maddy: I think they’re dead. I think the whole village is dead.
Ward: Xenos???
Maddy: Yeah, fucked up ones. We have footage. You have to see for yourself, I can’t describe it.
Ward: Okay. I’m on my way to your HQ. I’ll see you soon.
