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Dennis stretched his right arm out towards the lowest ladder rung, only to stop when the movement caused a sharp stabbing pain in his left side. Darkness pulsed at the edges of his vision in unison with his heartbeat. He squeezed his eyes shut to fight back the tears that gathered along the corners and tried again. A second wave of pain made him drop his arm, his fingertips barely brushing against the metal. Digging his teeth into his bottom lip, he placed his palm against the floor. It took every ounce of his willpower not to cry out while rolling over onto his back. Having a cracked (or broken, he wasn’t sure) rib forced him to take in breaths far too shallow to be able to stop the burning in his lungs. As much as he needed to get up, he couldn’t on his own.
He opened his eyes to stare at the amalgamation of melted flesh covering most of the LCAC.
Injured as he was, he had won. It was over.
After being trapped in that forsaken research facility for hours on end, chased by mutated creatures and struggling to stay alive, it was over. No more running. No more fighting. The nightmare had come to an end, and by his own hands no less. Humanity no longer faced the cataclysmic threat of HO213.
The click of the door drew his attention to the control room. Cindy’s gaze fell on him, and with a gasp she ran to him with nary a thought about the nearby mound of flesh. Upon seeing his left side there was a sharp inhale from her. The wound must have been worse than he first thought. With it having happened in the middle of the battle, he hadn't even bothered to look at it. He took a quick glance at it. Though the blood made it hard to see, the area around the damaged rib had already begun to swell. During the fight one of the bugs had latched onto his side, leaving an open wound the size of his hand surrounded by frayed skin. Because of it he could easily see the tissue beneath.
A slight tug on his arm made his vision blank out. It took several seconds for it to return, during which Gary joined the two outside. Gary and Cindy spoke in hushed tones to one another, too quiet for Dennis to hear over the roar in his ears.
He could, however, catch Cindy saying “get you inside” when she turned to address him.
“Rib,” he mumbled.
He wasn't sure what else they said to each other. He did know what they planned to do when Cindy carefully slid an arm underneath him and Gary grabbed his right arm. Together the two hoisted him to his feet. Groaning, he let his head fall forward. With each agonizing step towards the control room the throbbing in his side worsened until he felt close to passing out. To ground himself, he dug his nails into his palms. The effort proved to be fruitless when the world began to fade into darkness around him.
The echoes of rapid gunshots in the corridor
A desperate plea for help
An agonized scream
Flesh twisting, pulsating, bulging
Chest tearing open, ribs expanding outwards to reveal a blue core
His name spoken by a pained, guttural voice barely recognizable as—
Dennis woke with a start.
With a soft exhale, he leaned his head against the wall and stared out the window. An hour if not more had passed since the fight; the moon had begun to rise. He sat propped up against the wall in the corner closest to the door with a large bag behind his back. Gary was curled up sound asleep on the opposite side of the room. Cindy, on the other hand, sat hunched over in the pilot’s seat. For a moment he wondered if she had fallen asleep too, but then she turned to grab the bottle of water beside her seat.
A dull ache in his lower back prompted him to move. He braced his hand against the wall to slowly shift himself. Despite his best efforts, a grunt of pain slipped out. Trying to move wasn’t the best of ideas. Having heard the sound, Cindy once again reached down and then stood. In the few seconds he closed his eyes Cindy had kneeled beside him with an unopened bottle in her hand.
“Careful. I patched you up as best as I could, but I’m not a doctor.”
She held up the bottle with a raised eyebrow. When she received a nod, she pressed it against his lips and tilted it up. He only took a small drink, but it was enough to soothe his sore throat.
“I moved as many of the supplies as I could into here before we left just to be safe. Glad I did, since the storage room is blocked off now. Though I wish we had access to the bed. I would’ve liked to take a few precautions when dealing with the possibility of infection,” she said.
Infection? His chest tightened at the thought of becoming one of those horrific monsters, his flesh ripping apart and rearranging to become a mockery of his former self.
“It’s been at least two hours though, and no signs have appeared. It’s safe to say you aren’t at risk from the bacterium. Destroying Origin really did put an end to it.” Noticing his widened eyes, she placed a hand on his arm. “You’re in no danger from it, I promise.”
A whisper of uncertainty crept forward from the back of his mind. He pushed it aside and placed his hand over hers. “Right.”
He closed his eyes again. Though he had managed to avoid that fate, many others hadn’t.
Of the dozens of workers in the research facility and the fifteen members of Team Red Light who had been sent there, he, Cindy, and Gary were the only ones who survived.
Just three survivors.
All those people dead thanks to a madman’s obsession with an alien bacterium. A madman who had been given an entire facility to conduct experiments endorsed and funded by the government.
Millions if not billions would have died if it had spread beyond the Antarctic. Humanity wiped out by a mutative plague. A global genocide backed by the United States.
Bile worked its way up his throat. Knowing their plan had been to use HO213 for biological warfare against other countries made his stomach churn.
He lowered his hand.
Cindy had gone there voluntarily to work.
“Did you know?”
The question slipped out without a second thought. When they had first read about the project it seemed that she hadn’t known, but now he found himself doubting that. What if she had known the truth and only pretended to know nothing?
“Know what?”
“What Falken was doing. And the government.”
Cindy barely narrowed her eyes, but it was enough for him to notice. “No. Information about HO213 was heavily restricted. Only Falken knew the true nature of the project. I didn’t find out until reading the files on the disk the Major gave you, same as you.”
Dennis swallowed. “What did you do?”
“A range of things. The personnel were split into groups, each having their own focus. The subjects we focused on were things like biochemistry, genetics, and genomics. In hindsight, all the research we did was probably to make creatures for Falken.” She let out a heavy sigh and rubbed her arm. “I wish I had found out sooner. I know there was nothing I could have done, but…”
The guilt in her voice made him lower his eyes to the floor. She really hadn't known.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have doubted you.”
“It’s alright. I understand why you might think that. I would’ve felt the same if I were in your position.”
Though he still felt ashamed about his lack of trust, her reassurance made him feel more at ease.
“What did you want to tell me? Back in the facility?”
“I wanted to apologize to you,” Cindy said.
“For what?”
“For the way I treated you after learning Andrew was killed. I knew you must’ve been struggling with his lost just as much as I was. After all, you two were best friends long before he and I ever met. Of course you wouldn’t have taken his death well. Yet I never even considered your feelings, and even blame you for it. I only ever thought about myself.”
Dennis closed his eyes and twisted the fabric of his pants in his hand. “I hated myself for a long because I couldn’t save Andrew. I couldn’t even give him the burial he deserved. And I only hated myself more for not being able to help you.”
“You did help me. I kept pushing you away, but you came.” She coaxed him into letting go of his pants to intertwine their fingers. “If it wasn’t for you, we never would have gotten out.”
“I want you to know that if you ever need me, I’ll be there. No matter what,” he said.
“And I’ll be there for you, too.”