Who Goes There?
Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 6:13 pm
...w-wh-who goes there?
Snow slaps softly against the windows, as my mind snarls with the Chess game against the computer on my laptop.
Hisao and Shizune are busy playing.. well, Arguing, over a game of Risk. I look to them and let my mind relax from the strain.
Hisao says that a peaceful coexistence is the only real victory, when the entire world is at stake. But Shizune declares that the only victory there is; is defeating everyone else, or failing that; denying any of them victory.
Their debate rages on, segueing into dilemmas of morality and trust. "The real Risk is to trust someone, and trusting that they trust you.", a pompous Hisao proudly proclaims. "That's stupid! Stop being Stupid!" Misha happily translates on behalf of a peeved Shizune.
Now their voices distract me, as I try to beat this custom computer-chess-player Hisao found on the Internet for me. It was praised as having a unique ability to "learn" and "mimic", adapting itself to better defeat the player, which right now happens to be me;
"Hanako?" Lilly's voice almost startles me, waking me out of my droning thoughts, she asks me who's winning; Me or the inhuman thing? I try to force an answer but in shame, I hit 'Alt-F4' and killed the game. I can't lose if nothing wins.
It's Winter here, in Yamaku. Everyone's gone home to the warm embrace of their parents' houses. I have nowhere to go... so Lilly decided to stay here with me, Shizune didn't feel like going home after a particularly bitter argument.. a non-verbal confrontation on her part anyway, with Jigoro.
Hisao stays too since "there's nothing but heartbreak for me back there.", as he melodramatically states, even when he Does have a warm home to return to. The only one who understands the loneliness of being an orphan in winter; is Rin. And in her, I share a closer kinship, as Emi went home to stay with her mother.
"It's like that winter holiday scene in Harry Potter, you know?" the random set of words boldly shoot out of Hisao's big mouth. But flaky-minded Rin doesn't really see Hisao's words break the soft atmosphere, and adds more random words herself; "Wouldn't it be cooler if the animated chess pieces had flaming chairs to attack with?"
I don't mind them much, as I set about reading in the Student Council room, with Shizune still doggedly trying to chase down the last remnants of Hisao's sneaky army.
Making sure she gets every last one of him.
It reminds me of when she sent a whole army of Terran-Firebats against Hisao's Zerg-Lurkers as he tries to scurry them away for an opportune counter-attack.
Incidentally, reading about parasitic spores that take over ants does not improve my moods much. Too much Zerg-rush, sugar-rush.. Zerg-sugar-rush? I'm thinking far too much like Hisao for my own liking. But Akira's timely arrival as signified by her Evo 7's unique horn saves my unamused frown into an undeniable smile.
I think I'm the first to rise from my chair, but together we all rush and race to put on our thick winter clothing and get Akira. It's already a particularly harsh and unforgiving winter that's just worsening by the day, so much so that I have to struggle to lead Lilly through slippery snow and wanton winds.
"Yo! 'Sup? Sis! Hanako! Hisao! Rin, Shizune. and Misha." Akira's hands immediately clamp together under her hot breath, the realisation hits her that she isn't wearing enough protective clothing. Hisao quickly gives her the extra set of gloves and coat he doubled on himself. That's some ambitious foresight for a sometimes careless Akira.. -something's moving in the Evo 7.
"A Puppy~!" Misha points and gleams the widest grin through the passenger window, not wasting time in immediately opening the door, much to the slight displeasure of an Akira just barely getting her coat on; "Yah, it was supposed to be a surprise for Lilly, but the cat's out of the bag now, ain't it? Happy Early Birthday Lilly!"
Rin chooses to interject before Lilly could reply; "It's a dog. not a cat.", Akira chooses to go; "err, yeah. Right!" as the husky puppy immediately leapt up to a very surprised Lilly for a hug. Lilly says something to Akira about the appropriateness of a puppy as her gift, before the wind kicked up and convinced us all to go right back in before we're blown away into the mountain's whiteness.
As we're dressing down and settling in to the warmth of the Student Council room, a sultry voice suddenly creeps out of Hisao; "I guess you're staying with us a while then, Akira. Need someone to ahh.. say; Warm the cold lonely nights ahead?"
"..you comin' onto me? Hisao?" a more amused than annoyed Akira answers. "Is that a song?" a more confused than coherent Rin calls into question. Hisao says it's not a song, as far as he knows, and that he's always found Akira a fascinating creature, capable of rocking his world -blah blah blah, random nonsensical romantic nonsense.
"I'm already; Taken." Akira mentions to cut Hisao off, with no small hint of sinister glint in her eyes. And perhaps a naughty smile in response to Hisao's whimsical retort; "Don't worry, we'll just drown away the aftermath in the bottles of wine you brought over."
A few more meaningless witty comments, and soon the cosy warmth is back to us all again, Lilly and Akira are doing some catching up, while Misha tries less-than-subtly for the puppy resting on Lilly's lap.
Lilly either doesn't notice it, or pays no heed
to Misha's constant.. cooing.
"Got some Hot Chocolate while we wait out the storm," my sleepy eyes immediately lock onto Hisao, who's just bringing in the much much desired chocolate with him. Give me that warm liquid chocolate Hisao. Mmm-mmm. "Thanks", I manage to whisper to him. Hisao warmly smiles and softly whispers back; "You're welcome."
A long sound of metal groaning shoots through the white winds, before it dawns on us that Yamaku's gates are being opened despite its hinges almost welded dead by the gripping cold. Someone unfamiliar with the school is trying to get in through the front gate, not knowing of the easier route which we and Akira used.
At first Shizune said she'll investigate the "enemy at the gate", giving us all concern and reason enough to join her anyway. Shizune's been watching too much of Hisao's war movies. And Hisao's brought too many movies just to winter over with.
It's some kind of truck, a loud American Ford maybe, driving over the walkways and gardens and onto Shizune's nerves, not even the principal will survive her atomic rage. Which Misha unfortunately translates into a harmless happy tone, still fraught with "fuzzy" puppy thoughts.
Speaking of which, I didn't notice the puppy escaping from Lilly's grasp, the howling snow kicking up must have startled it, and sent Akira and Lilly after it. I'm about to go after them when a small explosion shoots a shearing trail of dark sound almost next to my head.
The interloper is shooting at us! Pure panic struck on our faces, we run for it! Following Akira and Lilly into the medical building, the hallways of the nursing quarters envelope us faster than I remember, its polished floors has Misha slipping over herself in her snow boots, before Hisao just carries her altogether.
Monstrous echoes haunt the hallways, I thought it was the interloper's firing at first, before I realise he isn't following me, oh no... all of us had split up in the confusion, I don't even know if Lilly and Akira went down the hall I'm in.
Shrilling screams of some monstrosity confirms it, the interloper is hunting something.. else, I'm relieved it's not us, but speechlessly terrified at what is starting these.. inhuman screams. Worse still, there are very Human screams in there somewhere, screams of abject fear and loathing terror.
I'm rocking myself back and forth sitting on the floor, I don't know how long I've been doing it until the interloper finds me. There's green and yellow paint on him, ..it looks and smells thick, as if it's blood by another colour. He's trying to say something to me, I don't know the language he's speaking.
I think the screams stopped, but the terror snares at me deeper as he pulls and drags me along with him. Where is he taking me? Why am I not fighting back? Fear has me forgetting how to even walk properly. I'm about to cry, when the screamings come back near me, but no longer as echoes from some hell on earth.
Hisao finally finds me and demands the interloper to let me go, he shouts through a few languages before the two of them start yelling at each other in English. I don't understand what they're saying.. he lets go, and I fall on my knees, the man keeps pointing at me as I fail to even crawl away.
What is happening?
"它会变形！ 它是没有固定形状的！ 你不可以相信她-"
Hearing enough, Hisao charges, catching the man by surprise. Struggling for the sniper rifle in their hands, I barely hear it go off over myself screaming in tears.
"Oh god.. oh god... oh my god." Hisao's hands tremble, trying to drop the rifle, but his eyes can't look away...
A familiar click clack of sandals wakes at least Hisao up from the madness, Rin's finds it important to tell us that there's something "weird and pissed off" that we need to see. Before noticing the dead man on the floor and calmly uttering "oh sh*t" to herself.
My mind doesn't process what happens for at least an hour, but when I come to, my eyes slowly and horribly register the huge mess of charred mangled.. "flesh" in the emergency room.
It looks like all the nursing staff is in here, mixed up into one burnt.. thing. I think I nearly vomit again when the thoughts suddenly become too clear to take.
Everyone else shares the same disgust for it, everyone.. except Akira who isn't accounted for, Lilly suddenly remembering about her sister at the same moment I did.
We split up again into three groups of two to look for her; Shizune and Misha to look in the classroom building they seem to know best, the almost unaffected Hisao and Rin in the same bloodied, horrible medical building. And Lilly and I to try for the dormitory building, just in case. Before we try looking outside in the storm.
I almost forget the interloper's corpse is on the way to the dorms, but I can't be sure now if it is a good thing or a bad thing to have forgotten. As there is nothing here. No blood. No rifle. Not even a fading footprint. If it wasn't for the bullet hole in the ceiling, I would have thought I misremembered.
"Lilly! Th-that man's body!.. it was.. it was right here! I swear!" but she just keeps telling me down, she may not have seen the horror of the medical building, but judging from the foul smell from hell, she must know enough to think I'm losing my mind.
Maybe she's just as scared as I am, and is trying to resume as much normality as possible. So I don't say anything more. I just keep an eye out for anything horrible that might come our way.
Briefly braving an even worse storm than before, we lose our footing rushing and crashing into the dorms, the more sensible and sheltered tunnel path is far too poorly lit for me to just keep my objections to myself.
I help her navigate throughout the entire, eeriely empty, girls dorm. I'm sure we aren't the only ones staying for the winter holiday. Where is everyone else? Why do I keep looking behind me? Is that.. Thing's smell really just from our clothing or imagination?
The questions keep us from doing the most thorough of searches, as we barely do more than walk hurriedly through each floor, calling out Akira's name as loudly as we dare, before passing through the worse winter storm in living memory again, and repeating our cowardly routine in the boys dorm.
Just as the girls dorm; all the doors are shut and probably locked, so it's a huge shock to find Hisao's and Kenji's doors open. Lilly and I both know Kenji is the last person in the school to leave his own dormroom door open ajar like that, and we know Hisao is still with Rin in the medical building.
I come back with the fire extinguisher with the pin pulled out, ready to spray whatever might be there. If Lilly thinks this is stupid, she doesn't say anything. As we had gone past the point of no return, and now taking very quiet steps into Kenji's room.
There is nothing here.
Nothing is out of place.
It baffles us, and we might have reasoned that the wind blew the doors open, but the windows are very much shut. Whatever was here, it's not anymore, and in a pained relief, we head back out before a dripping sound catches my attention.
We don't hesitate as much to fling the bathroom door open, to find a.. thing, hanging from the ceiling, eating someone. More of the blood squirted onto the white floor, as it bit harder, just realising it's been caught.
A long howling scream is it all does, and it does not intimidate me, I spray it with the extinguisher. And scream for Lilly to run, bashing with all my might the extinguisher at its three red eyes, then running up to Lilly and pulling her faster out from this hellish nightmare we're in.
More of what is happening slips my mind, as we run blindly out into the killing storm, I'm sure the thing behind us would be slowed by the freezing cold, but I turn to see it.. changing shape, into a half.. dog-thing, coming at us in growing leaps through the deathly white haze.
"oh no," my lips quivered when Lilly trips and falls behind me, I run back and hold her, knowing this is the end. But I don't close my eyes, I stare at death in its ugly face, almost blinded by the white heat of light smashing the abomination apart. A rocket guided by laser blew the dog-thing into burning pieces before its last leap to maul me.
Hisao emerges from veils of icy shadows with the used rocket-launcher as a make-shift melee weapon, uttering to the still retreating, but fast freezing corpse-pieces; "Good boy. Play dead."
before pouring
potent acid on them. Melting every single piece that didn't disappear quickly enough into the snow.
My senses shaken and shattered, I close my eyes to the rising hiss of the white storm.
I'm not even sure how everyone ended up back together in the science lab.
The cold feels like it's starting to creep in from the outside.
"So what this thing is.. is a shape-shifter. I don't know how else to put it." A calm and stable voice from Hisao explains, as his hands still shakes as he works, duct-taping another of Misha's endless pink cans of hairspray to the another science-lab lighter.
"Are there more of them out there?" Misha's voice is now very very normal, no more lilting of an unnaturally cheery tone. Hisao wishes he didn't hear that question, but answers anyway; "I think we're the only humans left. If it had got to a bird or a mouse, or an ant, or even the god damn air-borne microbe called 'The Common Cold'; you know what? It probably did. And we are looking at an unstoppable viral invasion of All Life on Earth. Far far worse than Fire-ants or Cane-toads. We are utterly fu-"
"No, there is still hope." Lilly speaks with an affirmation that somehow denies us despair, and continues maintaining the sense of hope ..or whatever shred of normality that is left; "Don't you see? It's trapped here, this storm is keeping it indoors."
Hisao sprays a jet of potent flames at the completely blackened skeleton model, to test his last improvised flame-thrower, taking careful precaution to set it down safely before replying to Lilly;
Hisao: "You don't understand Lilly, let's.. let's say that the extreme cold right now will disintegrate small bits of that thing, but if it had a large enough biomass to maintain body heat, why; it just needs to grow a furry coat and be swaggering straight down town below."
Lilly: "I think if there even Are any more out there, they're trapped."
Hisao: "What makes you say that?"
Lilly: "We're all still alive. If the thing is as powerful or resourceful as you say, we wouldn't be here right now."
Her sentence gives Hisao good pause,
Hisao: "Alright, maybe you have a point. Just a few minutes difference, and it would have yours and Hanako's biomass, more brainpower, and potential to work with. And it would have escaped far enough to end the world. I mean, we're only, what; Six people here now? Confirmed alive, uninfected and unmutated?"
Lilly: "Akira is still out there somewhere, with my dog."
Hisao: "I think that Was your dog. And ..Akira."
Lilly falls silent, trying to hold back the pain and tears. We don't know for sure if that dog-thing Was actually Akira, but it... it probably was.
Hisao: "Look, let's calculate this; the dog Akira brought in was infected, then it got her, and the whole medical staff when the virus matured out of control. Some of it escaped, or managed to infect the sniper as he electrocuted the monstrosity with overloaded defibrillators."
Rin: "Then you killed the sniper."
Hisao: "..., yes, then I.. fought for the gun, and accidentally pointed it at.. He Pulled the trigger alright? He Pulled The Trigger. Maybe I should have jammed my finger in there to keep it from firing, but I Didn't Kill Anyone! Alright?"
Guilt and regret is all that Hisao has and becomes, but at least he tries, to recollect his thoughts and force himself to go on, keeping some sense going in understanding the situation;
Hisao: "I went through the sniper's truck, it had spare ammo for the sniper rifle which is currently missing, no side-arms, and one rocket-launcher that I used up."
"Thank You." I say that out of the blue, wanting to have said it the entire time I was here.
Hisao: "Y-you're.. welcome. There's also.. the sniper was a Gen-Inc technician, or whatever, he was in charge of transporting that infected dog. At least that's what I gather the licence and permit for getting an animal through immigration is for."
Misha: "How did you know how to use a rocket-launcher?"
Hisao: "The arrows and instructions are printed on the side of it. It's meant to be idiot-proof."
Misha: "Really?"
Hisao: "I also do a lot of research on military weapons and tactics so I can get better at Counter-Strike. Is that enough? Moving on; I think someone seriously screwed up at the airport, landing the dog with Akira when she flew in."
Misha: "How did you know? She didn't say how she got the dog,"
Hisao: "Yes she did! She said the dog was running around unclaimed at the airport, so she picked it up. And if Lilly really didn't want it, she would have just given it to an animal shelter."
Misha: "Wait wait, Shi-chan is.. she asks if the dog affected anyone else at the airport,"
Lilly: "oh my god.."
Hisao: "Yeah I know. But if the technician came straight after Akira, I think the Cloud Virus was either inert then, or the technician had dealt with any wayward infections. Which might explain the notable lack of other firearms and a whole flamethrower despite his permit saying he had them through immigration."
A lengthy silence settles, now comes the discussion for the next course of action as the sun sets, the white howl blazing to an orange bloom of false warmth, before it will inevitably darken to an empty void.
Lilly: "What do we do?"
Misha: "I'll tell you what we'll Not do. err, Shi-chan. Not me. She says; No one leaves."
Hisao: "err, there could still be other Things. With us. The tunnels connect all the buildings together you know. I'm not even sure if every, Single, Cell of biomass at school here is accounted for and torched and frozen. If there's any chance of escape, it's now, when there's still daylight to navigate with down the hill. Once there, we'll have more resources to-"
Misha: "Then what's the point of you preparing so much? You had already thrashed the entire school's heating system, you think I don't know what you're doing? ..what? What are you saying Shi-chan? What is Hi-chan doing?"
Lilly: "He's.. staying behind. He wants us to get out, while he forces a confrontation with any possible Thing that might still linger. It will get so cold that they'll come for him,"
Hisao: "Actually.. err, I was thinking that Shizune, Misha and Rin could get someone in town to help, like say, call Mutou, or just bring back some flame throwers the next morning. I mean, flame throwers aren't illegal in America, right?"
Lilly: "I think they are in Japan."
Hisao: "Though I'm actually still incredibly worried if the thing had indeed gone to town, and I was thinking of having someone there just in case, and also to keep anyone from entering the school, like say.. the groundskeeper will be coming back here eventually. If there are still Things, no fresh meat must come in. We have to Starve the flood and force it out."
Misha: "And you're not concerned of infected meat going out?"
Hisao: "...err, I don't think we are infected."
Misha: "The dog, nor Akira looked infected."
Hisao: "..., that doesn't..,"
Rin: "An oversight. A huge one."
Suddenly, the orange-white light outside the window, dies and blares into red warnings filtering into the freezing science lab, I hug myself tighter, I wish we have the coats and gloves, but Hisao burned them all in fear of infection, since he can't remember which one Akira wore or touched.
Hisao: "Dammit."
Misha: "We're all Staying."
Hisao: "Until the next morning, the symptoms start to show within 24 hours, so-"
Rin: "Still not seeing the oversight. No offence Lilly."
Lilly: "I don't understand you at all. No offence Rin."
Misha: "It's a shape-shifter, right? What if it's one of us? Right now?"
Misha gulps as she says it, Shizune stares at me and Lilly,
Hisao: "Oh! Come on, what? H. P. Lovecraft horror? Unkillable Aliens versus invisible Predator? Keep your paranoia to yourself Shizune! It shape shifts to environmental factors, to adapt! It's not Transformers, alien nano-robots in disguise!"
Misha: "You know.. you know already, you must know how perfectly it hides.. and you're afraid to admit it, Hicchan?... You love.. her too much?"
Hisao: "Shut UP!"
Rin: "Disguising is adapting. To both save itself and kill for food. Red-on-black; Friendly Jack. Red-on-Yellow; Kill a Fellow."
"One of us.. could be the Thing?" I finally speak, with fear and tears running down on my face.
Rin: "Lilly was closest to the dog. Hanako was closest to Lilly. Symptoms appear within 24 hours. You're already the Things."
Hisao breaks down and cries on the floor, I think.. I think he suspected me and Lilly, the entire time, what was his plan? Send Shizune and Misha and Rin quickly out? While he stays with us to determine if we're human? That.. hurts.
I know I'm human. And so is Lilly. And I shout as much,
The silence rings in my ears, realising I just cursed Shizune for fratricide.
That.. at least stops Hisao, and he picks himself up, composing himself.
Hisao: "Red ants, black ants. Red army, black army. Parasite hiding in one of us. No one trusts each other. And we're on our own side. Now no one leaves. And no one knows if the world's gone to hell outside our doorstep."
Misha: "How could you be sure Misha and I aren't the Things? Shi-chan.. I don't want to talk about this anymore.."
Hisao: "I'm sure at least Lilly is.. Could Be. Could. Be. And that must.. Would. Mean that Hanako is too, and if you, Shizune and Misha, were the Things as well, there is nothing stopping you from killing both me and Rin. You'd have the greater numbers. Simple logic. Excluding many less likely factors."
Lilly: "I'm human. Hisao."
Hisao: "It's not that I don't trust you Lilly.. it just that..; I Can't. Trust You."
Lilly: "You'd trust Shizune."
Hisao doesn't even acknowledge Lilly's words anymore,
Hisao: "Daylight's going. If Shizune and Misha and Rin wants to leave now.. you'd better."
Misha: "I.. I don't know what's out there. And I Don't trust you. Splitting us up in the storm makes us the Easiest targets. But Shicchan..."
Hisao: "I'm not the Thing. Or I would have just attacked you."
Misha: "But.. but Hi-chan is very underhanded, and will lock us up one-by-one, just in case, that's how Hi-chan plays his game.. and also, who's to say.. No Shizune-chan! I Will Not Say That! Enough! I AM HUMAN TOO!"
Hisao: "I suppose if you don't want to leave, I can't force you."
Now Misha is starting to cry, away from Shizune. I'm still crying too, alone from Lilly.
Hisao secures the lab, locking the doors down and enhancing the windows with duct-tape in spider-web patterns. Anyone can reach for the weapon cache on the table. But we'll have no food for tonight. No warmth. Only the lights that shine on and on. Not revealing who is who.
I cry myself to sleep in the corner. As the dark and cold begins to consume us all.
The Dreams are flesh, twisting and burning in their horror. I'm in the midst of it, in my home on fire. Watching it all.
I close my eyes. And awake to the beckoning of Hisao's screaming.
Almost thankfully; it sounds more like he's just whining and complaining.
Hisao: "-NO!! Why did you fall asleep? What happened to taking Turns? I Told You All! One-At-A-Time An-Hour-At-A-Time! Now we All could be The Thing!"
oh my god, I'm sleeping in Lilly's embrace, she's too close to Hisao, with Rin still sleeping on his shoulder, and just at arm's reach from us; Misha has her head in Shizune's lap.
"Now this is messed up." Rin sleepily declares, while still snuggling and rubbing her eyes against his shoulder. "We didn't even make love."
Hisao: "...what."
Lilly: "Wait a minute. If we all fell asleep like that, and no one's ..attacked, then,"
Misha: "I know I'm still human, I don't know if you are."
"I think no one was the Thing at all!"
My voice is loud and happy, and I have the brightest smile to go with it.
Hisao nods a little, "I.. well, maybe.. I know I'm human. This is unexpected. Lilly; I'm sorry."
She thinks a while, before smiling, "you're not forgiven. Until you make me breakfast."
Hisao smiles with jubilance and energy; "Done!" ...before whispering so softly that only Lilly and I hear it; "Thank you."
Together, we undo the cable lashings securing the door, before Hisao realises something.. something so dark, that the morning light leaves us again in the blinding cold of the unceasing storm. If only I had thrown myself into a hug with everyone before he said it;
Hisao: "Is this a ruse? The flamethrowers are all missing."
We look to the long table we were all sleeping against, indeed, they were gone.
Hisao: "It's playing with us. Shizune, you're right; It's a game. It's messing with us. Or some of us couldn't be infected. Or.."
"Or what?" my voice is just so sad, but I ask anyway.
Hisao pulls out the last cable on the door, freeing us all,
Hisao: "There are many explanations. But the worse is this; We are all now the Thing. And it has left us our souls and conscience to study us."
Rin: "I told you this is messed up."
Listlessly, we find our way to the cafeteria together, not taking the tunnel and braving the storm. As if somehow the whiteness cleanses the horror from us, we even go about routinely, half-expecting the school staff to serve us something. Only for Hisao to barge into the kitchen and reveal all the food gone, and the air tainted with the same foul smell as the dead thing in the medical room.
We're all going hungry now. The Thing is still out here, and with us; Experimenting on us.
I wish it would just kill us, spare us this torment. Let us die as humans. My thoughts sink my head into dark pits of despair, I barely pay attention to Hisao keeping water in a pressure pot far beyond boiling point, for ten minutes, before trusting it enough for us to drink.
Hisao pours us all each three cups, still incredibly steaming. No one would trust him if he served the water drastically cooled out-of-sight. So we all sit at the table, watching each other. Waiting to have our "meal".
Water for breakfast. Hardly how I want to start the day. Hisao characteristically breaks the silence; "In Africa, there are these brine shrimp eggs that can withstand two hours of boiling water, and hatch. Just.. so you know, that even this drink may not be safe."
And Rin characteristically answers him; "I trust you enough.", giving Hisao reason to wistfully smile. Something that I do too, for reasons I can't discern. If this is my last moments as human, I think I want to spend them smiling. I tell Hisao that he's a good person, and that I love him. Along with everyone else.
"I hope we all stay together."
Only the howl of the wind outside keeps us company, as Lilly tries to reason that we should contact someone, at least Mutou, and warn them, have no one come back here. Since there's the problem of the staff's contacts and associates, friends and families. There will certainly be worry and concern on their part.
Shizune argues otherwise, saying that the only logical way out is to burn everything down, give the Thing no hiding place, before Hisao cuts the air with the truths no one wants to hear; "Face it, Lilly, Shizune, for all your bickerings, the Thing has enough biomass to escape already. So the world outside is gone by now. We can't stop it. Maybe we should have fought last night, but it's over now."
"I refuse to give up. Shi-chan. Not me." Misha felt like she needed to add that last part. We're all dejected enough that we don't really notice. "Hisao, you're a smart guy, you must have done research on disaster and disease relief effort rescue things, right? And you watch zombie movies. You know how to stop an invasion."
As if pushed by those words, Hisao leans back, the fading steam from his cups slightly drawn to him as he shifts. He takes a deep breath and looks up to the ceiling, wondering out loud; "I don't know. I read the Gen-Inc documents, I know I'm the only one who can read English here but there's a dictionary in the library, go use that to confirm my words if you don't-"
"I'll trust you this much." the words somehow carried more weight than Misha normally can give. It briefly pulls Hisao's eyes to Shizune, before he looks back down to his cups, and continues; "It was meant to be like botox, distilled down to use it somehow, or weaponise it."
"But things don't go very well, and the Cloud Virus can't be reverse-engineered in any useful way. Weaknesses are that it's vulnerable to extreme temperatures, and can be damaged by fire. It doesn't need too much energy to shape-shift, and it infects all kinds of animals. Like some alien rabies from hell, it hijacks its hosts intelligence to commit unspeakable sins. Though the host is Always aware that they are infected, it's just their.. "moral compass" is completely gone. What's left of the host is driven by.. hormones. Well, they tested the victims' brains, and it was full of the same chemicals as someone engaged in lust. That is.. before the brain completely changes to that of an alien one."
Misha: "So.. if someone is infected by the Thing, they.. start thinking like a serial killer?"
Hisao: "Yeah. Basically a psychopath. Not the Hollywood depictions, but the ones who can lie and act very well. Like Dexter. But as evil as a Hollywood Zombie. There are exceptions though.. sometimes a host with a muted sense of pleasure will realise something's wrong with him, and try to assert control over himself. And it's not pretty. It's like.. Spider-Man trying to tear off the Symbiote costume, except the hosts try to.. well, "cut free". I.. wish I didn't read that part of the documentation."
I really feel disgusted. What sick abominations Are these Things?
Hisao: "The long story short; There is no cure. Though the human immune system is remarkably resistant to it, provided the Cloud Virus enters via a cut or a wound where it is easily detected and eliminated, before it has a chance to mimic. But if it enters via say.. an injection, or prolonged contact, it will mimic so perfectly, that you won't even know your arm's gone completely."
..Alien hand syndrome?
Hisao: "Which is almost fascinating really, since it can only infect in such a slow, time-consuming way, cell-by-cell, the hosts's system might have enough opportunities to "reverse-assimilate" it, the Cloud Virus will start identifying with the stronger host and reject any more outside invasions. This was never documented or fully replicated in the Gen-Inc labs, but two individuals called Blake and MacReady, and possibly one called Whitley, are suspected to have developed this kind of 'condition', rendering these men very powerful and virtually unstoppable. They are literally; 'Mutant-Things' that retain humanity."
Rin: "...so, they are Human-Things?"
Hisao: "err, like the Doom movie we were watching last week; the dude became a super-soldier, and we watched him in First-person? Yeah, I don't know if we're that lucky. What Blake and MacReady had in common was.. drive, ambition, pure Will, as it were, "strong-arming" the Cloud Virus to serve out of sheer spirit. The only one I know with that much determination is... Emi. And she's thankfully safe at home."
Lilly: "..., you lost me."
Hisao: "Errm, you know how happy people have stronger immune systems? Basically, like that, ..ahh, think of the Cloud Virus as an Ant Colony, more Army Ants than Leaf-Cutter Ants actually, since it's all chaos. But yeah, if your body's immunity imposes strong order and stability, the Thing Cells have to mimic that, and in doing so, they obey the orders to eliminate cancer cells or foreign cells, Thing-cells that are caught mid-morph are then identified, and their unique markers immediately sought out and destroyed. The Cloud Virus soon has to turn on itself and start thinking it's part of the host, out of pure genetic instinct and programming, and it Has to keep doing that. Soon, the host is full of good-Cloud Viruses that sees it's own kind as alien. Traitor cells. Cancer Thing-cells. As it were."
Rin: "You talk too much."
This suddenly makes me wonder; "so.. Hisao, you're saying that ...every Thing Cell is selfish?"
Hisao: "From what I gather in the documents, that's how they work, yeah. Even less loyalty than normal ants, they'll fight and eat each other until the stronger and better adapted cells wins. It's constant evolution. Very much like Fire Ants, a self-challenging 'Super Colony' of ants, who will brood-raid each other's nests, until there's only the strongest nest left, and the Queens themselves will even defect and share control, for a while, before the workers will dispose of the weaker queens. A whole sisterhood of Fire Ants will even turn on their own mother, as soon as they've identified themselves with the strongest queen in the nest."
Misha: "Like idol singers and their fans,"
That one certainly came from Misha, I can't imagine Shizune being into 'idol singers'.
Hisao: "I'm a Linkin Parker for life. But yeah. Anyway.."
Misha: "Can we.. wait, I have a better question, Shi-chan, not me; Hisao, you're so "knowledgeable", aren't you the perfect candidate for the Thing?"
I half-expect Hisao to calmly assure Shizune, but he starts to fidget a little, his hands start to wonder for his cups,
Hisao: "Maybe.. but I know I'm human. As far as I can tell."
Misha: "Prove it."
The cups of water have cooled enough to drink now, despite Hisao's fingertips still absentmindedly testing the sides of the cup in brief touches...
Hisao: "I'll need a rabbit."
Rin: "Are we in Australia?"
Hisao: "No, but we're tumbling down the rabbit hole. Fast. We have to stop. Shizune's right. We have to come up with a test to determine who's the Thing, for that I'll need a rabbit immunised to human blood."
Lilly: "Perhaps something a little more realistic? Hisao?"
Not expecting that, Hisao seems to take a hit from Lilly's words and shuffles uncomfortably, trying to make more sense than he's used to.
Hisao: "ummm, we don't have lab rats here either..., no mammals, damn. My A+ in Biology has failed me. Okay, maybe a chemical test? I have a C++ in Chemistry, heh,"
He mockingly laughs at his own joke.
Hisao: "I'll need some infected blood or tissue to work with..."
Rin: "I'm not going back to the medical building."
"NO ONE'S GOING THERE! NO ONE'S GOING ANYWHERE!-"
My heart jumps, my nerves crack, my horrified eyes can't believe the screaming man,
"YOOOUUUUU! F***CK!-INNNG!"
alive and standing with the sniper rifle at the entranceway,
"FEE!- MII- NIIIIISTS!"
Rin: "oh. sh*t."
Hisao: "SCATTER!"
Lilly: "No! Wait, what is-"
My instincts pull at Lilly's outstretched hand, getting her out of Kenji's direct line of fire, narrowly before her cups burst into shards and splosh water all over us,
Lilly: "Kenji? Kenji?! I thought.. I thought- Isn't he blind?"
Kenji: "ONLY LEGALLY, B*TCH."
We split up, diving for the kitchen, hiding behind walls and crawling among cabinets,
Hisao: "He's using the sniper scope, that's like.. what, 50x magnification? So he isn't necessarily the Thing."
Misha: "Does it Matter? OW!-"
Some pans sparked and splintered from another shot, sharply crashing onto Misha head,
Misha: "That Monster's Trying To Kill Us!"
Still cowering near us but slowly distancing his being, Hisao breathes deeply, and puts some calmness back in his sullen eyes again,
Hisao: "I have an idea. The rest of you stay hidden. Hanako, kick me that kitchen mop."
I oblige, sending it sliding across the smooth floor to his quick acting hands, turning on the Kinner-brand stove and lighting the mop on fire. All while still crouched and hidden from the approaching Kenji's sight.
I was about to ask him what he's doing, before he jumps on a counter and pulls himself up to the ceiling, plunging the flaming mop into the fire sensor.
A bullet takes him down just as quickly, plates and glass break his fall. I sit in cold horror, the icy sky above slowly.. painfully, rains thick waterfalls of rushing terror over me.
Hisao: "...ah, that's not ..what I had in mind...."
Lilly: "HISAO? HISAO? WHAT HAPPENED? HANAKO? SOMEONE? TELL ME WHAT IS HAPPENING?"
Hisao: "Shut up.."
Lilly: "..Hisao?"
Hisao: "now just.. run, you fools... he can't see or hear you. and don't get hit."
I run to him, amidst my heart pounding in pain with each stray shot Kenji fires at me, but I don't care, I bring myself to kneel over Hisao, soaked in life-warm blood and storm-cold water.
Hisao: "stupid, stupid, girl.."
"i love you, i love you so much.. I'm Sorry!"
Hisao: "don't cry, ..hey, don't cry."
He smiles as my tears cloud up my eyes,
Hisao: "I think my back's gone, hanng onn.. AH! yeah, ...it's gone."
He heaves and throws a sigh, before picking up a knife and tries to see where Kenji is by the reflection.
Hisao: "There. He's right there. Damn, I think he can still see. The water's not as thick as I hoped. Hanako, make a run for it, I left an unfinished spare axe-weapon in Akira's car. You can finish it. Failing that, you can set fire to the cardboard boxes of the sniper ammo, they'll act as very dangerous grenades, I scratched out and exposed enough of the bullets' ignition points, the slightest fire will set them off."
"I'm.. I'm not leaving you,"
Hisao: "I'll make you. Argh!.. My body's going into shock, listen, I didn't have us crush our cellphones for a reason, more people will be coming back here eventually, the Thing is going to spread, it will consume all life on earth, I don't know if we can really stop it, I don't know if anything short of a fuel air explosive will work, but... ahhh-"
Hisao lapses in and out of coherence, "sorry, the impact trauma... and some blood loss, too I think, ...it's getting to me", and I don't know why I keep shaking him, as if it'll stop him from making me cry.
Hisao: "Hanako.. please, I can keep pressure on the exit wound, just... go. Run! I'll distract him."
"no, I won't leave you."
Hisao: "You'll have.. have to, ..you have no choice."
Hisao starts.. singing,
Hisao: "Z-F-T! Tells Us How It'll Be! Results of Technology! Read That Manifesto To Me! Mr. Jones was in the Lobby! He can Jam a surveillance feed! Jo-Jo-Jones is gonna Test Liv! Evaluation System! Somehow Olivia Turns Out The Lights! It's Zee Eff Tee! It's German! Zerstšrung dursh Fort-schritte der Technologie -Destruction by Advancement of Technology! Get off the crapper Kenji! Parallel World of Thi~ings! There'll be Con-fron-tations Baby!"
He's lost it...
I scamper, I crawl, I fumble through broken ceramics and blood in the water, before Kenji finally finds the sad, shivering Hisao on the kitchen floor, beating drumrolls with a pan,
Hisao: "You Ain't Nothing But A Hound Dog! Cryin' All The Time! You Ain't Nothing But A Faux Dog! Playin' Us All The Time! Well, you Ain't Never Caught a Rabbit and you Ain't No Friend o' Mine!"
Kenji: "Last words, traitor."
the long barrel pokes accusingly on Hisao's head, fast water running along the length of it,
Hisao: "When they said you was a high class of life.. Well, that was just a lie... when they said you was high class... well, I'm gonna die. .....I blame Misha."
Misha: "WHAT?"
Whipping the rifle to her loud voice, Kenji almost shoots Misha in the head, her drills dancing up in the blast of the bullet's shockwave.
Taking the opportunity to repeat the Shiraki incident, a knife from Hisao flicks fast into Kenji's firing hand, forcing him to drop the rifle into the water, ruining it,
Kenji screams and languishes, it's just a flesh wound, but his constant cursing and repulsive ramblings had given Lilly space and direction to walk herself up calmly to him,
And she gives him a long pause for comprehension, as she snaps her aluminium cane to heavy length and beats Kenji's head to a horrifying silence.
Sending his limp body splashing to the floor, his breathing gurgles into the rising blood and water, before Lilly kicks his head face-up so he doesn't drown.
Now only the sound of watery snow spraying from above, rushing horridly into the drains.
A white cold haze lifts from my mind, revealing Lilly quietly calming, and composing her crying self, then throwing her head up and declaring to no one;
Lilly: "Shoot your mouth off now, Student Setou."
Snow slaps softly against the windows, as my mind snarls with the Chess game against the computer on my laptop.
Hisao and Shizune are busy playing.. well, Arguing, over a game of Risk. I look to them and let my mind relax from the strain.
Hisao says that a peaceful coexistence is the only real victory, when the entire world is at stake. But Shizune declares that the only victory there is; is defeating everyone else, or failing that; denying any of them victory.
Their debate rages on, segueing into dilemmas of morality and trust. "The real Risk is to trust someone, and trusting that they trust you.", a pompous Hisao proudly proclaims. "That's stupid! Stop being Stupid!" Misha happily translates on behalf of a peeved Shizune.
Now their voices distract me, as I try to beat this custom computer-chess-player Hisao found on the Internet for me. It was praised as having a unique ability to "learn" and "mimic", adapting itself to better defeat the player, which right now happens to be me;
"Hanako?" Lilly's voice almost startles me, waking me out of my droning thoughts, she asks me who's winning; Me or the inhuman thing? I try to force an answer but in shame, I hit 'Alt-F4' and killed the game. I can't lose if nothing wins.
It's Winter here, in Yamaku. Everyone's gone home to the warm embrace of their parents' houses. I have nowhere to go... so Lilly decided to stay here with me, Shizune didn't feel like going home after a particularly bitter argument.. a non-verbal confrontation on her part anyway, with Jigoro.
Hisao stays too since "there's nothing but heartbreak for me back there.", as he melodramatically states, even when he Does have a warm home to return to. The only one who understands the loneliness of being an orphan in winter; is Rin. And in her, I share a closer kinship, as Emi went home to stay with her mother.
"It's like that winter holiday scene in Harry Potter, you know?" the random set of words boldly shoot out of Hisao's big mouth. But flaky-minded Rin doesn't really see Hisao's words break the soft atmosphere, and adds more random words herself; "Wouldn't it be cooler if the animated chess pieces had flaming chairs to attack with?"
I don't mind them much, as I set about reading in the Student Council room, with Shizune still doggedly trying to chase down the last remnants of Hisao's sneaky army.
Making sure she gets every last one of him.
It reminds me of when she sent a whole army of Terran-Firebats against Hisao's Zerg-Lurkers as he tries to scurry them away for an opportune counter-attack.
Incidentally, reading about parasitic spores that take over ants does not improve my moods much. Too much Zerg-rush, sugar-rush.. Zerg-sugar-rush? I'm thinking far too much like Hisao for my own liking. But Akira's timely arrival as signified by her Evo 7's unique horn saves my unamused frown into an undeniable smile.
I think I'm the first to rise from my chair, but together we all rush and race to put on our thick winter clothing and get Akira. It's already a particularly harsh and unforgiving winter that's just worsening by the day, so much so that I have to struggle to lead Lilly through slippery snow and wanton winds.
"Yo! 'Sup? Sis! Hanako! Hisao! Rin, Shizune. and Misha." Akira's hands immediately clamp together under her hot breath, the realisation hits her that she isn't wearing enough protective clothing. Hisao quickly gives her the extra set of gloves and coat he doubled on himself. That's some ambitious foresight for a sometimes careless Akira.. -something's moving in the Evo 7.
"A Puppy~!" Misha points and gleams the widest grin through the passenger window, not wasting time in immediately opening the door, much to the slight displeasure of an Akira just barely getting her coat on; "Yah, it was supposed to be a surprise for Lilly, but the cat's out of the bag now, ain't it? Happy Early Birthday Lilly!"
Rin chooses to interject before Lilly could reply; "It's a dog. not a cat.", Akira chooses to go; "err, yeah. Right!" as the husky puppy immediately leapt up to a very surprised Lilly for a hug. Lilly says something to Akira about the appropriateness of a puppy as her gift, before the wind kicked up and convinced us all to go right back in before we're blown away into the mountain's whiteness.
As we're dressing down and settling in to the warmth of the Student Council room, a sultry voice suddenly creeps out of Hisao; "I guess you're staying with us a while then, Akira. Need someone to ahh.. say; Warm the cold lonely nights ahead?"
"..you comin' onto me? Hisao?" a more amused than annoyed Akira answers. "Is that a song?" a more confused than coherent Rin calls into question. Hisao says it's not a song, as far as he knows, and that he's always found Akira a fascinating creature, capable of rocking his world -blah blah blah, random nonsensical romantic nonsense.
"I'm already; Taken." Akira mentions to cut Hisao off, with no small hint of sinister glint in her eyes. And perhaps a naughty smile in response to Hisao's whimsical retort; "Don't worry, we'll just drown away the aftermath in the bottles of wine you brought over."
A few more meaningless witty comments, and soon the cosy warmth is back to us all again, Lilly and Akira are doing some catching up, while Misha tries less-than-subtly for the puppy resting on Lilly's lap.
Lilly either doesn't notice it, or pays no heed
to Misha's constant.. cooing.
"Got some Hot Chocolate while we wait out the storm," my sleepy eyes immediately lock onto Hisao, who's just bringing in the much much desired chocolate with him. Give me that warm liquid chocolate Hisao. Mmm-mmm. "Thanks", I manage to whisper to him. Hisao warmly smiles and softly whispers back; "You're welcome."
A long sound of metal groaning shoots through the white winds, before it dawns on us that Yamaku's gates are being opened despite its hinges almost welded dead by the gripping cold. Someone unfamiliar with the school is trying to get in through the front gate, not knowing of the easier route which we and Akira used.
At first Shizune said she'll investigate the "enemy at the gate", giving us all concern and reason enough to join her anyway. Shizune's been watching too much of Hisao's war movies. And Hisao's brought too many movies just to winter over with.
It's some kind of truck, a loud American Ford maybe, driving over the walkways and gardens and onto Shizune's nerves, not even the principal will survive her atomic rage. Which Misha unfortunately translates into a harmless happy tone, still fraught with "fuzzy" puppy thoughts.
Speaking of which, I didn't notice the puppy escaping from Lilly's grasp, the howling snow kicking up must have startled it, and sent Akira and Lilly after it. I'm about to go after them when a small explosion shoots a shearing trail of dark sound almost next to my head.
The interloper is shooting at us! Pure panic struck on our faces, we run for it! Following Akira and Lilly into the medical building, the hallways of the nursing quarters envelope us faster than I remember, its polished floors has Misha slipping over herself in her snow boots, before Hisao just carries her altogether.
Monstrous echoes haunt the hallways, I thought it was the interloper's firing at first, before I realise he isn't following me, oh no... all of us had split up in the confusion, I don't even know if Lilly and Akira went down the hall I'm in.
Shrilling screams of some monstrosity confirms it, the interloper is hunting something.. else, I'm relieved it's not us, but speechlessly terrified at what is starting these.. inhuman screams. Worse still, there are very Human screams in there somewhere, screams of abject fear and loathing terror.
I'm rocking myself back and forth sitting on the floor, I don't know how long I've been doing it until the interloper finds me. There's green and yellow paint on him, ..it looks and smells thick, as if it's blood by another colour. He's trying to say something to me, I don't know the language he's speaking.
I think the screams stopped, but the terror snares at me deeper as he pulls and drags me along with him. Where is he taking me? Why am I not fighting back? Fear has me forgetting how to even walk properly. I'm about to cry, when the screamings come back near me, but no longer as echoes from some hell on earth.
Hisao finally finds me and demands the interloper to let me go, he shouts through a few languages before the two of them start yelling at each other in English. I don't understand what they're saying.. he lets go, and I fall on my knees, the man keeps pointing at me as I fail to even crawl away.
What is happening?
"它会变形！ 它是没有固定形状的！ 你不可以相信她-"
Hearing enough, Hisao charges, catching the man by surprise. Struggling for the sniper rifle in their hands, I barely hear it go off over myself screaming in tears.
"Oh god.. oh god... oh my god." Hisao's hands tremble, trying to drop the rifle, but his eyes can't look away...
A familiar click clack of sandals wakes at least Hisao up from the madness, Rin's finds it important to tell us that there's something "weird and pissed off" that we need to see. Before noticing the dead man on the floor and calmly uttering "oh sh*t" to herself.
My mind doesn't process what happens for at least an hour, but when I come to, my eyes slowly and horribly register the huge mess of charred mangled.. "flesh" in the emergency room.
It looks like all the nursing staff is in here, mixed up into one burnt.. thing. I think I nearly vomit again when the thoughts suddenly become too clear to take.
Everyone else shares the same disgust for it, everyone.. except Akira who isn't accounted for, Lilly suddenly remembering about her sister at the same moment I did.
We split up again into three groups of two to look for her; Shizune and Misha to look in the classroom building they seem to know best, the almost unaffected Hisao and Rin in the same bloodied, horrible medical building. And Lilly and I to try for the dormitory building, just in case. Before we try looking outside in the storm.
I almost forget the interloper's corpse is on the way to the dorms, but I can't be sure now if it is a good thing or a bad thing to have forgotten. As there is nothing here. No blood. No rifle. Not even a fading footprint. If it wasn't for the bullet hole in the ceiling, I would have thought I misremembered.
"Lilly! Th-that man's body!.. it was.. it was right here! I swear!" but she just keeps telling me down, she may not have seen the horror of the medical building, but judging from the foul smell from hell, she must know enough to think I'm losing my mind.
Maybe she's just as scared as I am, and is trying to resume as much normality as possible. So I don't say anything more. I just keep an eye out for anything horrible that might come our way.
Briefly braving an even worse storm than before, we lose our footing rushing and crashing into the dorms, the more sensible and sheltered tunnel path is far too poorly lit for me to just keep my objections to myself.
I help her navigate throughout the entire, eeriely empty, girls dorm. I'm sure we aren't the only ones staying for the winter holiday. Where is everyone else? Why do I keep looking behind me? Is that.. Thing's smell really just from our clothing or imagination?
The questions keep us from doing the most thorough of searches, as we barely do more than walk hurriedly through each floor, calling out Akira's name as loudly as we dare, before passing through the worse winter storm in living memory again, and repeating our cowardly routine in the boys dorm.
Just as the girls dorm; all the doors are shut and probably locked, so it's a huge shock to find Hisao's and Kenji's doors open. Lilly and I both know Kenji is the last person in the school to leave his own dormroom door open ajar like that, and we know Hisao is still with Rin in the medical building.
I come back with the fire extinguisher with the pin pulled out, ready to spray whatever might be there. If Lilly thinks this is stupid, she doesn't say anything. As we had gone past the point of no return, and now taking very quiet steps into Kenji's room.
There is nothing here.
Nothing is out of place.
It baffles us, and we might have reasoned that the wind blew the doors open, but the windows are very much shut. Whatever was here, it's not anymore, and in a pained relief, we head back out before a dripping sound catches my attention.
We don't hesitate as much to fling the bathroom door open, to find a.. thing, hanging from the ceiling, eating someone. More of the blood squirted onto the white floor, as it bit harder, just realising it's been caught.
A long howling scream is it all does, and it does not intimidate me, I spray it with the extinguisher. And scream for Lilly to run, bashing with all my might the extinguisher at its three red eyes, then running up to Lilly and pulling her faster out from this hellish nightmare we're in.
More of what is happening slips my mind, as we run blindly out into the killing storm, I'm sure the thing behind us would be slowed by the freezing cold, but I turn to see it.. changing shape, into a half.. dog-thing, coming at us in growing leaps through the deathly white haze.
"oh no," my lips quivered when Lilly trips and falls behind me, I run back and hold her, knowing this is the end. But I don't close my eyes, I stare at death in its ugly face, almost blinded by the white heat of light smashing the abomination apart. A rocket guided by laser blew the dog-thing into burning pieces before its last leap to maul me.
Hisao emerges from veils of icy shadows with the used rocket-launcher as a make-shift melee weapon, uttering to the still retreating, but fast freezing corpse-pieces; "Good boy. Play dead."
before pouring
potent acid on them. Melting every single piece that didn't disappear quickly enough into the snow.
My senses shaken and shattered, I close my eyes to the rising hiss of the white storm.
I'm not even sure how everyone ended up back together in the science lab.
The cold feels like it's starting to creep in from the outside.
"So what this thing is.. is a shape-shifter. I don't know how else to put it." A calm and stable voice from Hisao explains, as his hands still shakes as he works, duct-taping another of Misha's endless pink cans of hairspray to the another science-lab lighter.
"Are there more of them out there?" Misha's voice is now very very normal, no more lilting of an unnaturally cheery tone. Hisao wishes he didn't hear that question, but answers anyway; "I think we're the only humans left. If it had got to a bird or a mouse, or an ant, or even the god damn air-borne microbe called 'The Common Cold'; you know what? It probably did. And we are looking at an unstoppable viral invasion of All Life on Earth. Far far worse than Fire-ants or Cane-toads. We are utterly fu-"
"No, there is still hope." Lilly speaks with an affirmation that somehow denies us despair, and continues maintaining the sense of hope ..or whatever shred of normality that is left; "Don't you see? It's trapped here, this storm is keeping it indoors."
Hisao sprays a jet of potent flames at the completely blackened skeleton model, to test his last improvised flame-thrower, taking careful precaution to set it down safely before replying to Lilly;
Hisao: "You don't understand Lilly, let's.. let's say that the extreme cold right now will disintegrate small bits of that thing, but if it had a large enough biomass to maintain body heat, why; it just needs to grow a furry coat and be swaggering straight down town below."
Lilly: "I think if there even Are any more out there, they're trapped."
Hisao: "What makes you say that?"
Lilly: "We're all still alive. If the thing is as powerful or resourceful as you say, we wouldn't be here right now."
Her sentence gives Hisao good pause,
Hisao: "Alright, maybe you have a point. Just a few minutes difference, and it would have yours and Hanako's biomass, more brainpower, and potential to work with. And it would have escaped far enough to end the world. I mean, we're only, what; Six people here now? Confirmed alive, uninfected and unmutated?"
Lilly: "Akira is still out there somewhere, with my dog."
Hisao: "I think that Was your dog. And ..Akira."
Lilly falls silent, trying to hold back the pain and tears. We don't know for sure if that dog-thing Was actually Akira, but it... it probably was.
Hisao: "Look, let's calculate this; the dog Akira brought in was infected, then it got her, and the whole medical staff when the virus matured out of control. Some of it escaped, or managed to infect the sniper as he electrocuted the monstrosity with overloaded defibrillators."
Rin: "Then you killed the sniper."
Hisao: "..., yes, then I.. fought for the gun, and accidentally pointed it at.. He Pulled the trigger alright? He Pulled The Trigger. Maybe I should have jammed my finger in there to keep it from firing, but I Didn't Kill Anyone! Alright?"
Guilt and regret is all that Hisao has and becomes, but at least he tries, to recollect his thoughts and force himself to go on, keeping some sense going in understanding the situation;
Hisao: "I went through the sniper's truck, it had spare ammo for the sniper rifle which is currently missing, no side-arms, and one rocket-launcher that I used up."
"Thank You." I say that out of the blue, wanting to have said it the entire time I was here.
Hisao: "Y-you're.. welcome. There's also.. the sniper was a Gen-Inc technician, or whatever, he was in charge of transporting that infected dog. At least that's what I gather the licence and permit for getting an animal through immigration is for."
Misha: "How did you know how to use a rocket-launcher?"
Hisao: "The arrows and instructions are printed on the side of it. It's meant to be idiot-proof."
Misha: "Really?"
Hisao: "I also do a lot of research on military weapons and tactics so I can get better at Counter-Strike. Is that enough? Moving on; I think someone seriously screwed up at the airport, landing the dog with Akira when she flew in."
Misha: "How did you know? She didn't say how she got the dog,"
Hisao: "Yes she did! She said the dog was running around unclaimed at the airport, so she picked it up. And if Lilly really didn't want it, she would have just given it to an animal shelter."
Misha: "Wait wait, Shi-chan is.. she asks if the dog affected anyone else at the airport,"
Lilly: "oh my god.."
Hisao: "Yeah I know. But if the technician came straight after Akira, I think the Cloud Virus was either inert then, or the technician had dealt with any wayward infections. Which might explain the notable lack of other firearms and a whole flamethrower despite his permit saying he had them through immigration."
A lengthy silence settles, now comes the discussion for the next course of action as the sun sets, the white howl blazing to an orange bloom of false warmth, before it will inevitably darken to an empty void.
Lilly: "What do we do?"
Misha: "I'll tell you what we'll Not do. err, Shi-chan. Not me. She says; No one leaves."
Hisao: "err, there could still be other Things. With us. The tunnels connect all the buildings together you know. I'm not even sure if every, Single, Cell of biomass at school here is accounted for and torched and frozen. If there's any chance of escape, it's now, when there's still daylight to navigate with down the hill. Once there, we'll have more resources to-"
Misha: "Then what's the point of you preparing so much? You had already thrashed the entire school's heating system, you think I don't know what you're doing? ..what? What are you saying Shi-chan? What is Hi-chan doing?"
Lilly: "He's.. staying behind. He wants us to get out, while he forces a confrontation with any possible Thing that might still linger. It will get so cold that they'll come for him,"
Hisao: "Actually.. err, I was thinking that Shizune, Misha and Rin could get someone in town to help, like say, call Mutou, or just bring back some flame throwers the next morning. I mean, flame throwers aren't illegal in America, right?"
Lilly: "I think they are in Japan."
Hisao: "Though I'm actually still incredibly worried if the thing had indeed gone to town, and I was thinking of having someone there just in case, and also to keep anyone from entering the school, like say.. the groundskeeper will be coming back here eventually. If there are still Things, no fresh meat must come in. We have to Starve the flood and force it out."
Misha: "And you're not concerned of infected meat going out?"
Hisao: "...err, I don't think we are infected."
Misha: "The dog, nor Akira looked infected."
Hisao: "..., that doesn't..,"
Rin: "An oversight. A huge one."
Suddenly, the orange-white light outside the window, dies and blares into red warnings filtering into the freezing science lab, I hug myself tighter, I wish we have the coats and gloves, but Hisao burned them all in fear of infection, since he can't remember which one Akira wore or touched.
Hisao: "Dammit."
Misha: "We're all Staying."
Hisao: "Until the next morning, the symptoms start to show within 24 hours, so-"
Rin: "Still not seeing the oversight. No offence Lilly."
Lilly: "I don't understand you at all. No offence Rin."
Misha: "It's a shape-shifter, right? What if it's one of us? Right now?"
Misha gulps as she says it, Shizune stares at me and Lilly,
Hisao: "Oh! Come on, what? H. P. Lovecraft horror? Unkillable Aliens versus invisible Predator? Keep your paranoia to yourself Shizune! It shape shifts to environmental factors, to adapt! It's not Transformers, alien nano-robots in disguise!"
Misha: "You know.. you know already, you must know how perfectly it hides.. and you're afraid to admit it, Hicchan?... You love.. her too much?"
Hisao: "Shut UP!"
Rin: "Disguising is adapting. To both save itself and kill for food. Red-on-black; Friendly Jack. Red-on-Yellow; Kill a Fellow."
"One of us.. could be the Thing?" I finally speak, with fear and tears running down on my face.
Rin: "Lilly was closest to the dog. Hanako was closest to Lilly. Symptoms appear within 24 hours. You're already the Things."
Hisao breaks down and cries on the floor, I think.. I think he suspected me and Lilly, the entire time, what was his plan? Send Shizune and Misha and Rin quickly out? While he stays with us to determine if we're human? That.. hurts.
I know I'm human. And so is Lilly. And I shout as much,
The silence rings in my ears, realising I just cursed Shizune for fratricide.
That.. at least stops Hisao, and he picks himself up, composing himself.
Hisao: "Red ants, black ants. Red army, black army. Parasite hiding in one of us. No one trusts each other. And we're on our own side. Now no one leaves. And no one knows if the world's gone to hell outside our doorstep."
Misha: "How could you be sure Misha and I aren't the Things? Shi-chan.. I don't want to talk about this anymore.."
Hisao: "I'm sure at least Lilly is.. Could Be. Could. Be. And that must.. Would. Mean that Hanako is too, and if you, Shizune and Misha, were the Things as well, there is nothing stopping you from killing both me and Rin. You'd have the greater numbers. Simple logic. Excluding many less likely factors."
Lilly: "I'm human. Hisao."
Hisao: "It's not that I don't trust you Lilly.. it just that..; I Can't. Trust You."
Lilly: "You'd trust Shizune."
Hisao doesn't even acknowledge Lilly's words anymore,
Hisao: "Daylight's going. If Shizune and Misha and Rin wants to leave now.. you'd better."
Misha: "I.. I don't know what's out there. And I Don't trust you. Splitting us up in the storm makes us the Easiest targets. But Shicchan..."
Hisao: "I'm not the Thing. Or I would have just attacked you."
Misha: "But.. but Hi-chan is very underhanded, and will lock us up one-by-one, just in case, that's how Hi-chan plays his game.. and also, who's to say.. No Shizune-chan! I Will Not Say That! Enough! I AM HUMAN TOO!"
Hisao: "I suppose if you don't want to leave, I can't force you."
Now Misha is starting to cry, away from Shizune. I'm still crying too, alone from Lilly.
Hisao secures the lab, locking the doors down and enhancing the windows with duct-tape in spider-web patterns. Anyone can reach for the weapon cache on the table. But we'll have no food for tonight. No warmth. Only the lights that shine on and on. Not revealing who is who.
I cry myself to sleep in the corner. As the dark and cold begins to consume us all.
The Dreams are flesh, twisting and burning in their horror. I'm in the midst of it, in my home on fire. Watching it all.
I close my eyes. And awake to the beckoning of Hisao's screaming.
Almost thankfully; it sounds more like he's just whining and complaining.
Hisao: "-NO!! Why did you fall asleep? What happened to taking Turns? I Told You All! One-At-A-Time An-Hour-At-A-Time! Now we All could be The Thing!"
oh my god, I'm sleeping in Lilly's embrace, she's too close to Hisao, with Rin still sleeping on his shoulder, and just at arm's reach from us; Misha has her head in Shizune's lap.
"Now this is messed up." Rin sleepily declares, while still snuggling and rubbing her eyes against his shoulder. "We didn't even make love."
Hisao: "...what."
Lilly: "Wait a minute. If we all fell asleep like that, and no one's ..attacked, then,"
Misha: "I know I'm still human, I don't know if you are."
"I think no one was the Thing at all!"
My voice is loud and happy, and I have the brightest smile to go with it.
Hisao nods a little, "I.. well, maybe.. I know I'm human. This is unexpected. Lilly; I'm sorry."
She thinks a while, before smiling, "you're not forgiven. Until you make me breakfast."
Hisao smiles with jubilance and energy; "Done!" ...before whispering so softly that only Lilly and I hear it; "Thank you."
Together, we undo the cable lashings securing the door, before Hisao realises something.. something so dark, that the morning light leaves us again in the blinding cold of the unceasing storm. If only I had thrown myself into a hug with everyone before he said it;
Hisao: "Is this a ruse? The flamethrowers are all missing."
We look to the long table we were all sleeping against, indeed, they were gone.
Hisao: "It's playing with us. Shizune, you're right; It's a game. It's messing with us. Or some of us couldn't be infected. Or.."
"Or what?" my voice is just so sad, but I ask anyway.
Hisao pulls out the last cable on the door, freeing us all,
Hisao: "There are many explanations. But the worse is this; We are all now the Thing. And it has left us our souls and conscience to study us."
Rin: "I told you this is messed up."
Listlessly, we find our way to the cafeteria together, not taking the tunnel and braving the storm. As if somehow the whiteness cleanses the horror from us, we even go about routinely, half-expecting the school staff to serve us something. Only for Hisao to barge into the kitchen and reveal all the food gone, and the air tainted with the same foul smell as the dead thing in the medical room.
We're all going hungry now. The Thing is still out here, and with us; Experimenting on us.
I wish it would just kill us, spare us this torment. Let us die as humans. My thoughts sink my head into dark pits of despair, I barely pay attention to Hisao keeping water in a pressure pot far beyond boiling point, for ten minutes, before trusting it enough for us to drink.
Hisao pours us all each three cups, still incredibly steaming. No one would trust him if he served the water drastically cooled out-of-sight. So we all sit at the table, watching each other. Waiting to have our "meal".
Water for breakfast. Hardly how I want to start the day. Hisao characteristically breaks the silence; "In Africa, there are these brine shrimp eggs that can withstand two hours of boiling water, and hatch. Just.. so you know, that even this drink may not be safe."
And Rin characteristically answers him; "I trust you enough.", giving Hisao reason to wistfully smile. Something that I do too, for reasons I can't discern. If this is my last moments as human, I think I want to spend them smiling. I tell Hisao that he's a good person, and that I love him. Along with everyone else.
"I hope we all stay together."
Only the howl of the wind outside keeps us company, as Lilly tries to reason that we should contact someone, at least Mutou, and warn them, have no one come back here. Since there's the problem of the staff's contacts and associates, friends and families. There will certainly be worry and concern on their part.
Shizune argues otherwise, saying that the only logical way out is to burn everything down, give the Thing no hiding place, before Hisao cuts the air with the truths no one wants to hear; "Face it, Lilly, Shizune, for all your bickerings, the Thing has enough biomass to escape already. So the world outside is gone by now. We can't stop it. Maybe we should have fought last night, but it's over now."
"I refuse to give up. Shi-chan. Not me." Misha felt like she needed to add that last part. We're all dejected enough that we don't really notice. "Hisao, you're a smart guy, you must have done research on disaster and disease relief effort rescue things, right? And you watch zombie movies. You know how to stop an invasion."
As if pushed by those words, Hisao leans back, the fading steam from his cups slightly drawn to him as he shifts. He takes a deep breath and looks up to the ceiling, wondering out loud; "I don't know. I read the Gen-Inc documents, I know I'm the only one who can read English here but there's a dictionary in the library, go use that to confirm my words if you don't-"
"I'll trust you this much." the words somehow carried more weight than Misha normally can give. It briefly pulls Hisao's eyes to Shizune, before he looks back down to his cups, and continues; "It was meant to be like botox, distilled down to use it somehow, or weaponise it."
"But things don't go very well, and the Cloud Virus can't be reverse-engineered in any useful way. Weaknesses are that it's vulnerable to extreme temperatures, and can be damaged by fire. It doesn't need too much energy to shape-shift, and it infects all kinds of animals. Like some alien rabies from hell, it hijacks its hosts intelligence to commit unspeakable sins. Though the host is Always aware that they are infected, it's just their.. "moral compass" is completely gone. What's left of the host is driven by.. hormones. Well, they tested the victims' brains, and it was full of the same chemicals as someone engaged in lust. That is.. before the brain completely changes to that of an alien one."
Misha: "So.. if someone is infected by the Thing, they.. start thinking like a serial killer?"
Hisao: "Yeah. Basically a psychopath. Not the Hollywood depictions, but the ones who can lie and act very well. Like Dexter. But as evil as a Hollywood Zombie. There are exceptions though.. sometimes a host with a muted sense of pleasure will realise something's wrong with him, and try to assert control over himself. And it's not pretty. It's like.. Spider-Man trying to tear off the Symbiote costume, except the hosts try to.. well, "cut free". I.. wish I didn't read that part of the documentation."
I really feel disgusted. What sick abominations Are these Things?
Hisao: "The long story short; There is no cure. Though the human immune system is remarkably resistant to it, provided the Cloud Virus enters via a cut or a wound where it is easily detected and eliminated, before it has a chance to mimic. But if it enters via say.. an injection, or prolonged contact, it will mimic so perfectly, that you won't even know your arm's gone completely."
..Alien hand syndrome?
Hisao: "Which is almost fascinating really, since it can only infect in such a slow, time-consuming way, cell-by-cell, the hosts's system might have enough opportunities to "reverse-assimilate" it, the Cloud Virus will start identifying with the stronger host and reject any more outside invasions. This was never documented or fully replicated in the Gen-Inc labs, but two individuals called Blake and MacReady, and possibly one called Whitley, are suspected to have developed this kind of 'condition', rendering these men very powerful and virtually unstoppable. They are literally; 'Mutant-Things' that retain humanity."
Rin: "...so, they are Human-Things?"
Hisao: "err, like the Doom movie we were watching last week; the dude became a super-soldier, and we watched him in First-person? Yeah, I don't know if we're that lucky. What Blake and MacReady had in common was.. drive, ambition, pure Will, as it were, "strong-arming" the Cloud Virus to serve out of sheer spirit. The only one I know with that much determination is... Emi. And she's thankfully safe at home."
Lilly: "..., you lost me."
Hisao: "Errm, you know how happy people have stronger immune systems? Basically, like that, ..ahh, think of the Cloud Virus as an Ant Colony, more Army Ants than Leaf-Cutter Ants actually, since it's all chaos. But yeah, if your body's immunity imposes strong order and stability, the Thing Cells have to mimic that, and in doing so, they obey the orders to eliminate cancer cells or foreign cells, Thing-cells that are caught mid-morph are then identified, and their unique markers immediately sought out and destroyed. The Cloud Virus soon has to turn on itself and start thinking it's part of the host, out of pure genetic instinct and programming, and it Has to keep doing that. Soon, the host is full of good-Cloud Viruses that sees it's own kind as alien. Traitor cells. Cancer Thing-cells. As it were."
Rin: "You talk too much."
This suddenly makes me wonder; "so.. Hisao, you're saying that ...every Thing Cell is selfish?"
Hisao: "From what I gather in the documents, that's how they work, yeah. Even less loyalty than normal ants, they'll fight and eat each other until the stronger and better adapted cells wins. It's constant evolution. Very much like Fire Ants, a self-challenging 'Super Colony' of ants, who will brood-raid each other's nests, until there's only the strongest nest left, and the Queens themselves will even defect and share control, for a while, before the workers will dispose of the weaker queens. A whole sisterhood of Fire Ants will even turn on their own mother, as soon as they've identified themselves with the strongest queen in the nest."
Misha: "Like idol singers and their fans,"
That one certainly came from Misha, I can't imagine Shizune being into 'idol singers'.
Hisao: "I'm a Linkin Parker for life. But yeah. Anyway.."
Misha: "Can we.. wait, I have a better question, Shi-chan, not me; Hisao, you're so "knowledgeable", aren't you the perfect candidate for the Thing?"
I half-expect Hisao to calmly assure Shizune, but he starts to fidget a little, his hands start to wonder for his cups,
Hisao: "Maybe.. but I know I'm human. As far as I can tell."
Misha: "Prove it."
The cups of water have cooled enough to drink now, despite Hisao's fingertips still absentmindedly testing the sides of the cup in brief touches...
Hisao: "I'll need a rabbit."
Rin: "Are we in Australia?"
Hisao: "No, but we're tumbling down the rabbit hole. Fast. We have to stop. Shizune's right. We have to come up with a test to determine who's the Thing, for that I'll need a rabbit immunised to human blood."
Lilly: "Perhaps something a little more realistic? Hisao?"
Not expecting that, Hisao seems to take a hit from Lilly's words and shuffles uncomfortably, trying to make more sense than he's used to.
Hisao: "ummm, we don't have lab rats here either..., no mammals, damn. My A+ in Biology has failed me. Okay, maybe a chemical test? I have a C++ in Chemistry, heh,"
He mockingly laughs at his own joke.
Hisao: "I'll need some infected blood or tissue to work with..."
Rin: "I'm not going back to the medical building."
"NO ONE'S GOING THERE! NO ONE'S GOING ANYWHERE!-"
My heart jumps, my nerves crack, my horrified eyes can't believe the screaming man,
"YOOOUUUUU! F***CK!-INNNG!"
alive and standing with the sniper rifle at the entranceway,
"FEE!- MII- NIIIIISTS!"
Rin: "oh. sh*t."
Hisao: "SCATTER!"
Lilly: "No! Wait, what is-"
My instincts pull at Lilly's outstretched hand, getting her out of Kenji's direct line of fire, narrowly before her cups burst into shards and splosh water all over us,
Lilly: "Kenji? Kenji?! I thought.. I thought- Isn't he blind?"
Kenji: "ONLY LEGALLY, B*TCH."
We split up, diving for the kitchen, hiding behind walls and crawling among cabinets,
Hisao: "He's using the sniper scope, that's like.. what, 50x magnification? So he isn't necessarily the Thing."
Misha: "Does it Matter? OW!-"
Some pans sparked and splintered from another shot, sharply crashing onto Misha head,
Misha: "That Monster's Trying To Kill Us!"
Still cowering near us but slowly distancing his being, Hisao breathes deeply, and puts some calmness back in his sullen eyes again,
Hisao: "I have an idea. The rest of you stay hidden. Hanako, kick me that kitchen mop."
I oblige, sending it sliding across the smooth floor to his quick acting hands, turning on the Kinner-brand stove and lighting the mop on fire. All while still crouched and hidden from the approaching Kenji's sight.
I was about to ask him what he's doing, before he jumps on a counter and pulls himself up to the ceiling, plunging the flaming mop into the fire sensor.
A bullet takes him down just as quickly, plates and glass break his fall. I sit in cold horror, the icy sky above slowly.. painfully, rains thick waterfalls of rushing terror over me.
Hisao: "...ah, that's not ..what I had in mind...."
Lilly: "HISAO? HISAO? WHAT HAPPENED? HANAKO? SOMEONE? TELL ME WHAT IS HAPPENING?"
Hisao: "Shut up.."
Lilly: "..Hisao?"
Hisao: "now just.. run, you fools... he can't see or hear you. and don't get hit."
I run to him, amidst my heart pounding in pain with each stray shot Kenji fires at me, but I don't care, I bring myself to kneel over Hisao, soaked in life-warm blood and storm-cold water.
Hisao: "stupid, stupid, girl.."
"i love you, i love you so much.. I'm Sorry!"
Hisao: "don't cry, ..hey, don't cry."
He smiles as my tears cloud up my eyes,
Hisao: "I think my back's gone, hanng onn.. AH! yeah, ...it's gone."
He heaves and throws a sigh, before picking up a knife and tries to see where Kenji is by the reflection.
Hisao: "There. He's right there. Damn, I think he can still see. The water's not as thick as I hoped. Hanako, make a run for it, I left an unfinished spare axe-weapon in Akira's car. You can finish it. Failing that, you can set fire to the cardboard boxes of the sniper ammo, they'll act as very dangerous grenades, I scratched out and exposed enough of the bullets' ignition points, the slightest fire will set them off."
"I'm.. I'm not leaving you,"
Hisao: "I'll make you. Argh!.. My body's going into shock, listen, I didn't have us crush our cellphones for a reason, more people will be coming back here eventually, the Thing is going to spread, it will consume all life on earth, I don't know if we can really stop it, I don't know if anything short of a fuel air explosive will work, but... ahhh-"
Hisao lapses in and out of coherence, "sorry, the impact trauma... and some blood loss, too I think, ...it's getting to me", and I don't know why I keep shaking him, as if it'll stop him from making me cry.
Hisao: "Hanako.. please, I can keep pressure on the exit wound, just... go. Run! I'll distract him."
"no, I won't leave you."
Hisao: "You'll have.. have to, ..you have no choice."
Hisao starts.. singing,
Hisao: "Z-F-T! Tells Us How It'll Be! Results of Technology! Read That Manifesto To Me! Mr. Jones was in the Lobby! He can Jam a surveillance feed! Jo-Jo-Jones is gonna Test Liv! Evaluation System! Somehow Olivia Turns Out The Lights! It's Zee Eff Tee! It's German! Zerstšrung dursh Fort-schritte der Technologie -Destruction by Advancement of Technology! Get off the crapper Kenji! Parallel World of Thi~ings! There'll be Con-fron-tations Baby!"
He's lost it...
I scamper, I crawl, I fumble through broken ceramics and blood in the water, before Kenji finally finds the sad, shivering Hisao on the kitchen floor, beating drumrolls with a pan,
Hisao: "You Ain't Nothing But A Hound Dog! Cryin' All The Time! You Ain't Nothing But A Faux Dog! Playin' Us All The Time! Well, you Ain't Never Caught a Rabbit and you Ain't No Friend o' Mine!"
Kenji: "Last words, traitor."
the long barrel pokes accusingly on Hisao's head, fast water running along the length of it,
Hisao: "When they said you was a high class of life.. Well, that was just a lie... when they said you was high class... well, I'm gonna die. .....I blame Misha."
Misha: "WHAT?"
Whipping the rifle to her loud voice, Kenji almost shoots Misha in the head, her drills dancing up in the blast of the bullet's shockwave.
Taking the opportunity to repeat the Shiraki incident, a knife from Hisao flicks fast into Kenji's firing hand, forcing him to drop the rifle into the water, ruining it,
Kenji screams and languishes, it's just a flesh wound, but his constant cursing and repulsive ramblings had given Lilly space and direction to walk herself up calmly to him,
And she gives him a long pause for comprehension, as she snaps her aluminium cane to heavy length and beats Kenji's head to a horrifying silence.
Sending his limp body splashing to the floor, his breathing gurgles into the rising blood and water, before Lilly kicks his head face-up so he doesn't drown.
Now only the sound of watery snow spraying from above, rushing horridly into the drains.
A white cold haze lifts from my mind, revealing Lilly quietly calming, and composing her crying self, then throwing her head up and declaring to no one;
Lilly: "Shoot your mouth off now, Student Setou."
