The Snake's Embrace - Part 15

Alcan held her chair leg out at Folsek. Chark left through the door. Before Alcan could say anything, I took the son by the arm and led her out through the doorway. She tugged back and looked through the door. She stared at her father. Folsek bowed his head to her and gave a smirk as he said, “I love you. Always.”

She held her hand out and pressed it to the front of her hospital gown. Her lips trembled. She shook her head and turned away. I put my arm around her shoulder. Chark was a ways down the hall, checking the next intersection. I could hear Alcan cursing. I saw the edge of her as she yanked the data card out of the console.

The son shook her head and touched her cheek. “Why do I feel so sad? Did I do something wrong?” She looked at me for answers. I gave her a pat on the back, pulled her close, and said, “I know you didn’t do anything wrong. Come on.”

Chark moved away when I got close. I reminded myself not to swallow. Alcan stormed out of the doorway with the chair leg still in her arms. The door shut behind her. She glared back at it and trudged over to us. She tucked her full pockets in and held the chair leg out. The son’s eyes widened. He clutched the material of my dress.

Alcan raised the leg like a bludgeon. She took a long breath. I turned. I stared her in the eyes and said, resolutely, “You will never touch her.”

She blinked her eyes over on me. Chark shook his head and said, “Stupid Queenie…why the fuck you got a hard-on for that one when there’s tons of them in the walls?”

He jerked his head to the side and looked down the hall. Alcan tightened her grip, exhaled through her nose and slowly lowered the chair leg. She crept ahead of Chark and gave a look too. He looked over at her and gave a not-to-subtle shove to put her behind him.

The son squeezed my shoulders. Alcan checked the other hall though Chark had already watched it. He pressed his ear to the wall. He looked to us, gestured down the hall, and said, “Okay. This way. Now.”

He hugged the wall, pausing briefly at intersections. We kept close. He looked like he was counting to himself.

The next sound I heard, far off, was a scream followed by a cascade of weapons fire. A few seconds later, the weapons fire ended.

Chark picked up the pace. He stopped at a particular intersection, sighed, and made a right. The far-off sounds were closer.

I worried about stray shots, for me and the son.

Alcan moved with Chark near the front. The chair leg was down at her side. We paused at a familiar intersection. The son whispered near my ear, “Is this a game?” Her tone sounded a bit confused but curious.

I shook my head back to her and said softly by her ear, without touching, “No. We’re in danger. I don’t want you to be hurt.”

She squeezed my hand back and whispered, “Thank you, Mommy Pygo…or is it just…Pygo?”

Chark and Alcan moved ahead. We followed closely. This area looked familiar as well. We paused at the next one. A flourish of gunfire erupted and echoed from all directions then swiftly died out.

I rubbed her neck and whispered, “Either is fine. But why did you call me Mommy?”

She blinked. Her eyes looked so clear. “Oh. It was like Pygo. A pretty word in my head. It felt like you.”

Alcan turned and gave her a quiet “shhh”. The son buried her head into my dress again. We stepped quickly through the intersection. Chark paused a moment at the next one. The son asked, very quietly, “Are we going to be okay?”

I paused and stopped. I looked down this intersection. I could see the spent flash grenade on the floor. I whispered to Chark and he turned back. He checked each way and eventually found the room where he’d dumped the supplies.

He pushed the door open. Three ‘Aiborae’ were standing in the middle of the room. I caught a flash of colorful hair and turning gazes. One of them had Chark’s sack set on her head. She took her hand from her nose. The other two stopped smiling. The weapons were spilled out on the floor. Chark yanked the door closed and clicked the key in the lock. The girls on the other side began hitting the door. The son looked out from around me and frowned.

Chark checked the lock. The door rattled but held, for now. Chark started walking away and muttered to himself, “New plan time…”

We followed.

Alcan caught up with Chark. “Well? What is it?”

Chark gestured ahead and whispered, “Look out for dropped weapons and work our way back.”

Alcan shook her head. “Retreat.”

Chark leaned around the next intersection. “Survival. It’s what I do.”

She leaned her head around the corner and checked the ceiling too. There weren’t any main access vents in this area. The son nudged my shoulder and asked, “Why did we lock them in? They wanted out. It’s not right.”

Chark leaned back and quietly told her, “Well, Carrot, they messed with my stuff.” Alcan clutched her arms, tightened her mouth, and looked at the floor.

The son looked at Chark. This stretch of hallway sounded eerily quiet. I couldn’t even hear the rattling door that Chark locked. The kid shook her head and said, “But it isn’t nice. You should tell them you didn’t like it and maybe they’ll apologize.”

Chark turned away. “Right before they make me one of them.”

She touched her shoulders. “They’re like me, aren’t they? And Pygo! What’s wrong with us?”

I could hear footsteps. I pulled the son back. I urged her, “Shh…” She pressed her face into my dress. Alcan had her own side of hallway with her chair leg raised high. The son fussed a bit. I braced myself against the wall. I listened. I could hear more than just the sound of one set of footsteps. It seemed as though there were little sounds on all sides. Alcan gave the leg an experimental swing. I considered covering the son’s eyes.

The footsteps approached. They were careful and slow. Chark leaned around carefully. He relaxed the muscles of his neck and said, “Friendly” in a deep voice. The footsteps approached.

One of Alcan’s guards, decked out in a dirt-tinted gray uniform and a rifle, looked around. He raised his rifle and backed away as he caught sight of the son and me. He turned to Alcan and said, “Sir…” She gave a long look at the son before telling the guard, “We’re all…friendlies. Report.”

The guard still kept his rifle close. His hair was close-cropped and spiky like a cluster of brown brambles. He had a goatee shaped to a point. The son squeezed my hand and didn’t make eye contact with him. I kept my eyes on the guard and he kept his on mine when he wasn’t talking to Alcan.

He said, “Sir. Corporal Florin Demark. There were massive losses on our side to the enemy. We tried to seal the sabotage but our forces weren’t great enough to resist. CO Burian called for fortifications along areas separating the outer complex from the central complex, sir.”

Alcan nodded. “Did he discuss the Special Protocol?”

Corporal Demark adjusted his pants and noted, “Sir, this isn’t a safe location for discussion. I was en-route to meeting up with greater forces. Sir…” He nodded to Alcan. She nodded back.

Chark cracked his knuckles. “Got a spare gun, Denmark?”

The Corporal looked at him and said, “Demark. Just a small one and it’s down to three rounds.” He passed a gun from his pocket to Chark. Chark checked it out and seemed pleased. Alcan glared. The Corporal took the lead. Chark stayed close.
The Corporal gave me looks every so often. We were moving into hall territory which I’d never seen before. The area looked like one of the simulator areas from General Speir’s time. The doors were laid out in equal rows on either side. Number cards had long since worn away.

The son traced her hand along one and asked me, “Are my questions bad?”
I frowned and told her, “Why do you think that?”

She tugged on my dress when the Corporal looked back. She said softly, “Because people don’t look happy when I ask. Not even you.” She gave me a quick look before hiding her eyes.

I let a breath go and told her, “As long as I’m here, you’ll be safe. Okay?”

She clutched me a little tighter. I almost tucked my lip in my mouth. I couldn’t even feel the venom which the scout had transferred but I figured that either meant it had been absorbed or, as suspected, it was part numbing agent.

Once we were past the doors, we came to a bright area without doors or vents. Some of the tension vanished. Chark still checked the hall in both directions but soon relaxed. The Corporal talked quietly with Alcan.

“Sir. The Special Protocol is still active but Burian has doubts as to whether it will provide an adequate defense, sir.”

She nodded and asked, “Secondary measure?”

He frowned and repeated her question back to her. She lowered her head and sighed, “Right. He would’ve mentioned my term for it. Secondary Shield.”

I wondered about both code names. I didn’t like the sound of either.

The guard sighed and then, after a moment, gave a nod. “Yeah. I do remember something. He said that it sounded…like a poor idea, sir.”

Alcan snarled and yelled in a careful volume. “I don’t fucking care what he thinks! This is about the survival of everything. I will not fucking give up! Ever! We will win back this world.”

The Corporal watched her, uncertain but attentive to her words. “Sir…you can go tell him. Come on, sir.”

I heard a single, clear giggle. I was about to say something but Chark remarked first, “Wait…”

We waited quietly for another sound. I looked to the son, who looked around behind her and then back at me. I didn’t feel anything in my legs. The Corporal leaned his head around both intersections and said a soft, “Clear, sir.”

We followed the Corporal through another bland section. The metal looked warped and bulging from some long-ago trauma. From down the hall I could sense heat. I could feel it as a warm pressure on my lip. The son rubbed her lip. I asked around, “Does anyone feel something warm?”

The others looked around and stopped for a second but only the son and I could detect anything.

At first, it was just subtle and ever-present, like the stench from Chark. But the more we walked, the hotter it felt. The son covered her face and winced. I fanned her a little.

It took a little longer before Alcan said something. She nodded and said, “It’s getting warm. Are we on the right path?”

The Corporal nodded and held open his mouth a little. He took a breath but didn’t say anything. Chark checked the gun the Corporal gave him. Alcan looked over at the gun. She asked him, “Could you…pass me that, Mr. Chark?”

Chark rested both hands on it and said softly, “Why? You’ve got the best weapon of all, Queenie.”

Alcan glared and lowered the chair leg. She informed the Corporal, “I’m going to need to borrow your primary weapon, Corporal.”

The Corporal turned back and looked at Alcan. “Sir?”

She set her eyes on him. “You heard me.”

He checked every path again and told her, “I’m very short on weaponry right now, sir. I gave my secondary weapon to your bodyguard. I’d really rather keep this one, sir.” Chark flashed a look of amusement.

Alcan stood a little taller and said firmly, “I am not making it an order but I will if you don’t comply.”

The Corporal clutched his rifle and said, “Sir. We would be safer having this conversation back at Command.”

Alcan pressed her teeth and the side of her neck. “Now it’s an order. Relinquish your weapon to your commanding officer.”

The Corporal pulled his rifle back and said, “With all due respect, sir, fuck off. Court martial me later.” Chark grinned.

Alcan leaned her head back with her eyes wide and growled, “You want to run and hide. You’ll never fucking use your goddamn gun. You coward.”

The Corporal nodded. “Human.”

Chark gave Alcan a shove and said, “Ease off of Denmark. He just wants to make it home to Copenhagen some day.”

Alcan whirled around at the shove and grabbed for the gun in Chark’s hands. His face lost all of its playfulness. It hardened and aimed at Alcan. He held her up a little by the shoulders and neck. His voice was still. “When I’m not around, do what you fucking want. But you fuck with me, Alcan, and I will make you regret every day you lived.” He didn’t look angry or furious.

He set her down with a gentle hand and tucked the gun behind himself. He bowed his head to her and asked, “We good? You okay?”

She rubbed her neck softly and turned away. I looked at Chark and he turned away too. He clutched the gun with his head down. He swallowed and shook his head.

The son looked confused and whispered to me, “Why are they so angry and scary?”

I brushed her hair. I tried to think of an answer for her which she might be able to understand. All of them sounded circular or dishonest. So, I told her, “Fear of the others…like the ones in the locked room.”

I could tell her next question. “But Aline was nice. Those others looked friendly too. Why can’t we just talk to them?”

We started walking again when there was no further sign of who made the giggle. The heat only increased. I spoke by her ear as we trudged and said, “Because everyone not like you and me would be turned into them.”

It was the same thing Chark told her, so I figured how she would answer. She stared at her feet a moment. She started to answer and then paused. She frowned and asked, “Would they want to? Would they be happy?”

I didn’t expect that. I watched her eyes and said, “No. It would destroy them.”

She eyes widened. She spoke a little louder as she asked, “Would it happen to the one who called me ‘dotter’?” Her gaze seemed to beg my answer.

I told her, “Yes.”

She straightened and stopped walking. She looked back and pulled away from my dress. She shook her head and said, “No…I don’t want him to be destroyed. They have to stop. It would be bad!”

The others looked back. She pressed her head into my side and said, “Pygo! We have to tell them that it’ll hurt him! Please!”

I brushed her hair. I looked up at Chark. He stared back at me. I frowned and asked, “What is it?”

With no amusement, he said, “We may have a plan.”  

Chark checked each intersecting pathway. Alcan stood in his way as he turned back. She gripped her throat and glared at him, “Tell me. Now.” Her voice faded as she tried to punctuate her words.

His face remained stern as he said, “No.” Alcan watched him but didn’t ask again. Chark looked at the son and said, “That’s right, kid. I’ve seen raids before, things like this.”

The son watched Chark and asked, “Can we tell them it’s bad?”

Chark held up his shoulders and flicked his eyes around the hallway every so often. “It’s what they are.”

She leaned closer. “Am I like them?”

Chark crouched. “That’s your choice. Your touch will be just like them though.”

She pulled her hands back from me. “My touch will destroy?!”

He glanced over at Alcan, who was pacing and looking down the hallways. The Corporal kept a firm grip on his weapon. Chark nodded. “Won’t kill but it kills who you are and what you remember. But…some people hate what they remember and who they are, so they don’t mind it.”

The son kept her eyes firmly on Chark. She kept her hands back. She took a few breaths. “What about me?”

Chark looked at me. “Not my department.”

I held back on a swallow and told her, “Well. I only know what….the one who calls you ‘daughter’ told me. But…you were terribly sick. You were in pain.” I winced a little as I said those words.

She turned away and looked down at her hands. I added softly, “Your touch won’t make changes for about three days from now. So it’s okay now.”

Chark stood up and added, “But, still, don’t touch me.”

The son backed away from all of us and shuffled her feet. “I’m really sorry…”

Chark blew on the gun. “No reason to be.”

She looked up. “I want to help. I don’t want to hurt. Hurting is bad.” She flinched a moment. I felt conflicted.

The Corporal leaned back and whispered, “I hear something.” He and Chark brought their guns up. I looked down at the son. She watched them. I held her hand. She flinched in my grasp but let me hold it. I resolved to pull her behind me if shots were exchanged.

For an instant, I wondered why I didn’t ask for a gun. With that thought, a rush of thoughts followed it. I wondered about the affection I felt for the kid. I wondered why my tension had evaporated. The well-spring of focused rage which kept me human those decades felt like it had dried up.

I squeezed the kid’s hand tighter than I should’ve, but she squeezed back just as tightly. Trickling moments passed with just the straining heat against my lip, like sandpaper on my senses.

The Corporal and Chark each gave a careful look around. Chark relaxed his aim and said, “There’s no reason to be…because you can help, even more than Old Man Pygo.”

She blinked at this comment and gave me a questioning look. I gave her a pat on the head. She turned back and asked, “What do I do?”

He answered her simply, “You just tell them all that we told you. They’ll listen to you.”

Chark gave me a nod and led us closer to the warmth. The two of us had to pause for a moment. The son fanned her face and whispered me a question, “Will you be with me?”

I gave her a nod and said, “Absolutely.”

After the next stretch of hallway, the path widened but the heat was still as oppressive as ever. It took another stretch before we found out exactly why the heat was so bad. The hallway led to the path Chark and I had taken to get to the outer complex. High flames blocked the way. We all shielded our faces. Central vents in the ceiling were open wide. A section like a jet engine opened in the floor. They filtered and fanned the flames. We were on the hostile end of the flame block.

The son squeezed her face into my dress. She whimpered. I was feeling a little woozy myself. I didn’t want to be anywhere near the flames. Chark looked down the tunnel. I could see movement. Chark narrowed his eyes. The Corporal kept his eyes on the flames. He looked bothered. I looked at the flames and quickly pulled back. I kept the son’s eyes hidden. In the flames I glimpsed a form with arms. I couldn’t tell if it was human or Aibora. I didn’t wish to look again. The son coughed.

Alcan stared down the flames and raised her head. “This is one of the protocols Burian discussed…” She coughed quickly and smothered her mouth. “I never approved it.”

The Corporal leaned out the threshold and said, shielding his face as the flames roared up, “How can we get around?”

Chark turned to face him. “Your question should be, Denmark, what’s keeping them from coming to where we are right now?”

The Corporal looked down the hall. He opened his mouth to offer an answer but Chark had already moved away and up the hall to the raging flames. Alcan followed, still eyeing the gun occasionally. The Corporal worked his way up from the rear.

The son leaned out. I kept myself in front of her and my gaze away from the darkened mass in the flame. From the corner of my eye, I thought that I could see more than one smoldering mass. I could smell something foul beyond even the most wretched pits of humanity I’d encountered since the Aiborae came.

I pressed the son to my side. Chark turned back and said, the pull from the flames and the oxygen-feeding vents rippling his clothes, “Looks like it’ll gonna be just you and Carrot, old man.”

I leaned near one of the feeder-vents to get fresher air and shield us. I frowned and coughed, “What do you mean?”

Chark walked back a little. “It means this is where we go across the barbeque and you two go into the snake’s nest.”

I took a step. The feeder-vent tossed my hair as much as it shook Chark’s clothing. Alcan leaned around Chark. He leaned to obscure her. The Corporal looked down the flames.

He added, “See you when the shit cools.” Alcan watched him as he turned away and faced the flames as well. Alcan stared me down and said, “These monsters would destroy every one of us to make sure their viral spread consumes everything.” She glared at the son. “They must be stopped.”

As the two of us took a step back, Chark stepped as close as possible to the roaring flame. I could see sweat across his face. He turned back to Alcan and asked, “So how do we do this?”

She looked beyond the two of us and at the stirring shadows in the distance. She sighed and said, “It’s on multiple redundancies so it keeps the fire going. We need to radio ahead for a temporary stop.”

Chark looked to the Corporal, who was sweating as well, “So, Denmark, can you pull our asses out of hell here?”

The Corporal stepped back and slipped a small rod from his pocket. He slipped it in his ear and pressed against the side. He listened and said, “Command? Corporal Florin Denmark. Demark. Signal back, please.”

He pressed more and sighed. “Sorry, sir. I tried it earlier but it wasn’t working. Does anyone else have one?”

I shook my head. Alcan said a simple, “No.” Chark offered, “Had one.”

The Corporal shut his eyes and turned the dial on the side. I looked back. The distant shadows didn’t seem as far now. The Corporal clenched his face and jerked his head up. He stepped away from the flame and said, “I can’t hear anything.”
He took quite a few steps from the flames, looked back at them, and noted, “The flame could be causing interference.”

Chark finally looked amused as he remarked, “Uh…no.”

The Corporal coughed and took a few more steps, closer to the shadowy movements. He fiddled with the receiver till Alcan finally took a step towards him and asked, “Is it set to the landline relay?”

He looked at her with brief confusion before embarrassment crossed his face. He passed the device to Alcan, who adjusted it and calmly set it in her ear. She glanced down the hall and pulled the device close. She blinked and said, “Static…”
She glanced at the wall and said, “Check the listener relay.” Chark and the Corporal each took a wall. Chark pried off his panel first and checked the wiring. He held out an incomplete loop of wire routed into a strange bit of electronics and said, “Folsek’s people are diligent.”

Alcan cursed and muttered, “Damn. It’s been months since the last outer complex check.” The Corporal yanked off the panel on his side and looked over the wiring. He smiled as he said, “Looks like they didn’t get all of them.”

He reached his hand in. Chark looked over, dashed to the Corporal, and seized him in his arms. Before the Corporal could protest, Chark tossed his knife into the opening. Electrical arcs zapped out and smoke billowed.

Chark looked at the bewildered Corporal and said, “Common strategy. It’s short- circuited. Try to touch or use it and you get a heart-stopping shock.”

The Corporal swallowed and gave a slow nod. Chark fished his knife out by the plastic handle and poked up the wiring. He sliced a bit of it and then poked around. He gave the Corporal a nod. The Corporal worked quickly on the soldiered components.

I could hear one of Aiborae and the words she spoke. She said, “Why are they so upset?” Alcan turned her head but I wasn’t sure if she could hear as well. The son looked to me. I clutched her close. Alcan pressed her stick to her hand and stared out at the darkened hallway.

I caught the end of an answer, “…happy with us.”

The Corporal closed the panel and checked the reception. His eyes perked up quickly and he whispered, “I have them….hello? Hello? Can I speak to Major Burian?”

He blinked and listened quietly. Alcan paced. Chark eyeballed the flames.
A few heartbeats later, the Corporal spoke, “Major? Sir, we need to passage from the Outer Complex to the Central Complex immediately….Corporal Florin Demark. Along with Colonel Alcan, S-s…uh, Colonel Alcan’s bodyguard. And…” His eyes quickly landed on the two of us. “And that’s all, sir.” Chark gave the Corporal a lingering look.

A few moments of silence were punctuated by random noises, like metal scratching. The Corporal nodded and passed the device to Alcan. She wedged it in her ear and immediately said, “This is Alcan. Open a passageway now.”

Chark eyed the flames. His eyes glimmered with their curling intensity. Alcan drew her lips back in a snarl. “If I were compromised then I’d BE DEAD!” She clutched the headset device and added, “…Now!”

I could hear rattling above. The vent system for the outer complex was isolated from the central complex but it still would get them far too close to us. Chark and the Corporal aimed around. Alcan edged her way to the flames. The son looked out and said softly, “Don’t hurt them…”

I heard a vibration and a feeling in the floor like a jet engine powering down. The flames in one of the columns started to fall. It flickered and dropped till it became a hot, spinning section of metal. It didn’t take more than that to send the Aiborae swarming from all corners.

They were fast and nimble as they leapt out of every inch of the walls and ceiling. They tumbled and rolled and dashed right for us, arms outstretched. Chark tightened his finger and fired a round at the group. They kept coming.

Alcan looked between the horde and the red-hot, slowing flame floor. The Corporal fired several shots. Alcan pressed on her headset and yelled, “Start it up again! NOW!”

She backed and took a running leap across the red-hot section and winced as she staggered to the other side. Chark made a great leap as he fired again and dashed out of the reach of one of them. He rolled and braced himself against the wall on the other side. The Corporal fired a few more rounds. The fast one, who had made a grab for Chark, picked herself up and eyed the Corporal. She was dressed in a sleek, green outfit which looked similar to what the rest of the advancing mass was wearing.

The Corporal’s rifle clicked. I rushed over and grabbed her by the mid-section. She looked back in surprise as I pulled her to the ground. My arms were covered in her venom. The son followed and pushed back one that tried to make a move for the Corporal as he rushed to the now-accelerating fire generator.

One of them bolted ahead and grabbed at his leg. She held cloth. He pulled his hands up and squirmed in her grasp. She tried to reach through his clothes. I shouldered her and blocked as he dashed out from under us and through the opening. One of them went for him on the side.

He darted in and caught a bit of flame on his sleeve. He groaned and, as soon as he was through, rolled on the floor to squelch the flames. Dim flames sparked. One of the Aiborae made an attempt for the closing gap. Alcan stepped up and raised her chair leg. I shut my eyes and heard a sharp smack. When I looked again, the advancing Aibora jerked back and flailed her fingers at Alcan’s hand. I thought, for an instant, I saw her flesh and Alcan’s meet.

As she tumbled back, the flame erupted out to the ceiling. Alcan stepped back. I watched her. She looked fine but unsettled, her visage rippling around the walls of flame. The Aibora she’d struck picked herself up. She stretched her neck and looked back at those on the other side. One of them asked Alcan, “Why do you fight us?”

Alcan shook her head, gazed at the confused son, and said, “We are human and we will never let ourselves become you! Tell your fucking leaders we would rather die than spend a single moment as one of you!” Alcan tossed her stick into the fire and held her hands down and away. One of the Aiborae held her nose as Chark gave a look at them. His eyes settled on me as he said, “Don’t worry. I’ll bring you back some marshmallows, old man.”

The Corporal poured water on his arm and panted. An Aibora looked at him with focused eyes and she winced as he clutched his burn. The Corporal didn’t seem to notice her. The three of them rushed from the wall of flames and into the central complex, leaving us with the Aiborae.