The Chimera Report

There weren't always dragons in the Valley.

Of all the thoughts to cloud my mind it shouldn’t be that. But with my hands pressed to the wound at my side and the taste of copper on my tongue, lying in the dirt and staring up at the dragon infested sky…it is.

There weren't always dragons in the Valley.

But then, once upon a time, there weren’t dragons at all…

Or skulks for that matter.

It seems almost ludicrous now to think the skulks used to be the worst of our problems. We didn’t know what we were in for, that they were about to mutate once again and become the plague that now fill the skies as they had been on land…

A coughing fit seizes my chest, painting my chin red. I don’t bother to wipe the blood away, fat lot of good it would do when my hands are already covered in it.

Why aren’t I healing?

A dragon screeches above, drawing my attention back to the sky. It circles, and dives, and somewhere below a human screams. Around me the sound of the battle rages. But it’s too late. It’s just too late.

It’s poetic really, that it ends where it all began.

I never thought I would come back here, didn’t think anything was left after the blast. But here I am, ending in the place that was my beginning…

The coughing stops, and distantly I’m aware the pain is fading too. I’m not naïve enough to think it’s my body’s healing finally kicking into overdrive. No, this is the numbness that comes with the real end.

“I’m s-sorry.”

My words are a whisper, stolen on battle raged air. My mind turns from the Valley, from the sky, from the carnage and most of all from my failure. Instead, I try to summon her eyes, those deep brown pools I would happily drown myself in. Her smile, the touch of her lips against my own.

My Elenore…

All that I am is because of her. Everything I have done since, to see her free.

And I failed…

I wish for her face to be the last thing I see, to carry me off nestled in her arms. I want it. I need it. After these many months of battles, of wins and failures, it is owed to me.

But even this small kindness evades me, my mind returning instead to the first time I was here…the place of my rebirth. The place that made me what I am…

No. I want Elenore, my Ellie…

The sky fades under the rising darkness, and all I see is him. He takes my hand and leads me into that black…

and the rest…

is silence…

***

CONFIDENTIAL - CHIMERA Debrief: 21200203

SUBJECT 1

“Interview commenced at 08:00 hours. Please state your name and call sign for the record.”

“Callahan, Maxine Winnifreth. Call sign: Medusa. And you are?”

“Lieutenant Nicholas Lincoln, I will be conducting the interview today. Do you consent to this debrief?”

“Don’t really have a lot of choice, do I?

. . .

“I will repeat the question: do you consent to this debrief?”

“Fine. Yes. Be a short debrief, though.”

“I have been made aware of your memory issues.”

“That’s an understatement, Linc.”

“Lieutenant will be fine. Now, please begin.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Start here—let the record state I am handing the subject the last transmission we have on file before the subject’s team went dark.”

. . .

“Well?”

“Hold on a minute, geez. Memories spotty, remember?”

“Let the record state that subject is reading the transcript.”

“Are you going to do that for this entire interview?”

“. . . Yes.”

“Lucky me . . . hold on.”

“Holding.”

“You know that’s annoying, right?”

. . .

“So, this is it? This is all you have on record?”

“Yes. The transmission was interrupted. We have pieced together what we believed happened, but we would like to hear it in your own words.”

“Are my team, okay?”

“Yes, they are currently being debriefed the same as you.”

“Why can’t I contact them?”

“Protocol. You must complete debrief before you can rejoin your team.”

. . .

“Are you ready to begin?”

“Yes.”

“Then begin.”

***

“Talk to me, Griffin.”

<Guard tower neutralized, you’re a go, Medusa.>

Callie’s voice buzzes in my ear, edged in metallic static. For the dozenth time, I check the schematics on my wrist guard, the map of the building before us plots a clear path to my target.

I don’t like this. The mission is rushed, last minute. We have loose intel at best and now my team is on the ground, ready to risk our lives and for what? Even the package is a mystery. The code sequence in our mission specs will identify it but until then, we are going in blind. Whatever it is must be beyond top secret if the higher up won’t even risk us knowing in case we’re compromised.

I really hate that word.

They should just call it what it is. Captured. Failure.

<Max?>

Topher’s voice crackles in my other ear, over a private channel, triple encrypted.

“What is it, Toph?”

<Be careful, I gotta bad feeling, yeah?>

The interior of my helmet tickles my cheeks, the smirk my usual response to Topher’s gut.

“You always gotta bad feeling.”

<Yeah, well, this time ain’t no different. Watch your six.>

“Always do. East wall still clear?”

<Affirmative.>

I nod, not that he can see it.

“Minotaur, west wall, report.”

<Five-by-five, Team Leader,> the last of my squad confirms.

We’re in position. Callie has the aerial vantage point, the boys both east and west walls. No more waiting.

It’s go time.

The compound stands a mile west of the Valley, isolated and easily overlooked. The little background we dug up confirmed it was once an old jail, closed long before the outbreak, abandoned or so we thought.

Now its infested with skulks—

***

“Skulks?”

“Huh?”

“You said skulks. You mean you encountered a nest of Deimons.”

. . .

“Yes.”

“Why do you sound guarded?”

“Everybody knows what skulks are. We call them that coz they, well, skulk. Why stop me to clarify that?”

“For the clarity of the record.”

“Riiiight.”

“Your sarcasm is noted. You may continue.”

. . .

“You’re annoying, you know that?”

“It’s not the first time I’ve been told. Continue.”

“. . . Whatever.”

***

The skulks stole something they shouldn’t, something me and my team were tasked to retrieve.

“Okay guys, engage thermal tracking, I’m going in.”

<Good luck, boss. You got this.> Callie replies. The words are spoken every mission, both ritual and prayer.

<And we got you.> Toph adds, finishing the sentence, closing the circuit.

There’s no backing out now.

I punch the code on my wrist guard activating my suits primary protocols. What little light and shadows shift around me, my body disappearing, cloaked by the closed eye of invisibility. At least to the outside world. Thankfully the tech in my visor still lets me see myself, otherwise what comes next would be all but impossible.

I move with quick sure steps, tread silent, crossing the open-air perimeter of the compound. The wash of harsh floodlights positioned on the roof are designed to keep the shadows at bay. The absent red light beneath the security cameras hanging from the walls announce the death of the surveillance equipment in this section. Toph’s handywork as always.

It’s nothing for me to override the lock, and opened the outer door, leading me into a small holding bay of exposed cement. There is a second door, which falls equally fast to my command, and then I’m in.

The hallway is dark, the lights movement censored. Despite my current ghost-like state, I move with care, if I displace the air too quickly, it could still trigger the sensors, or worse, one of them might sense me.

The hallway is an ugly off-white, scratches here and there reveal the cement wall beneath. I assume it’s cold, skulks like the cold, but my suit is thermoregulated, protecting me from the elements. I’ve moved the map from my wrist guard to the interior of my visor, the faint blue line streaks across the glass, superimposing the schematics. It’s not ideal, it slows reaction time, but it’s safer and leaves both my arms free.

The map takes me down a series of empty hallways. The locked iron gates have been removed, making my job easier. The first stairwell comes up. I have to head to the lowest level.

I take the stairs as silently as I have walked the halls, slow and sure, trusting my team and my tech.

<Skulk at three o’clock, Medusa> Callie’s voice warns.

I don’t respond, not this close. I don’t need too, I might be invisible to the world, but not my team. The thermal imaging scope tracks my suits whereabouts even through all this stone. Just as they reveal the skulks’ lower than human body temperature.

On the first landing I see him.

“He” is generous.

Most skulks retain their mind and their body for the most part…unless they don’t eat. This one, looks like it’s low on the pecking order. The not quite alive but certainly not dead kind. The creature is more zombie than skulk. Sallow skin hangs as if the muscles have deteriorated. Bruises cover his bald head and circle bloodshot, rheumy eyes. He wears dirty torn overalls, revealing a deeply scored chest from old, unhealed claw wounds. His arms are muscled but hang limply at his sides. I focus on those eyes. Unseeing, unblinking. He exists in a trance-like daze.

That’s how skulks sleep. It’s beyond disturbing.

I could take him out, but better to leave him sleeping in case there’s a shift change.

Slipping past him isn’t easy, one wrong step and unlife will flow back into those cold flat eyes. But the hallway is wide and inching past him does the job.

But as I hit the second stairwell, I hear movement.

Not prepared to risk being overheard, I type the question into the console of my wrist guard, grateful my visor shows my suit when I am transparent to the outside world.

How many?

Callie answers immediately.

<Ten on the next landing.>

I stifle a sigh. We knew this wasn’t going to be easy.

<Want me to cause a distraction?> Ellis asks.

Negative. Hold your position.

<Affirmative.>

I step down onto the second sub-basement and see them. These skulks are very much awake, and better held together. The one above nothing more than a guard dog…

***

“Why have you stopped?”

“The transcript states what happens next.”

“Do I have you remind you about the clarity of the record?”

“You don’t but I know you want too.”

“Humor will not make this go faster, Agent Callahan.”

. . .

“Neither will glaring.”

“Whatever. Can I get a coffee?”

“We have only just begun.”

“Which is I why I want get caffeinated. I’m going to need it to get through this with your stellar personality.”

“You are drifting close to insubordination Agent Callahan.”

“It’s Max, okay? Just Max, and I don't report to you. So, about that coffee?”

. . .

“Very well. Let the record show investigation suspended at 08:35.”

Click.

***

CONFIDENTIAL - CHIMERA Debrief Report: 21200203

SUBJECT 1

“Interview resumed at 08:47 hours. Subject has her coffee.”

“Black. Just how I like it.”

“I’m happy to hear that. Are you ready to continue?”

“Now who’s being sarcastic?”

. . .

“Are you ready to continue?”

“Fine, but for the record: I can confirm the transcript is accurate. The skulks on the second sub-level didn’t pose a problem. They were busy moving equipment and setting up a second laboratory. That alone was out of character—”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why was it out of character?”

“. . . Oh, clarity of the record, right. Skulks aren't known for their brains. They’re not stupid, but it’s unusual to find one that retains it’s IQ higher than a child. They function more on instinct than intellect, yet here was a group, carrying out tasks almost as if they had full cognitive comprehension.”

“And did they?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe? I didn’t stop to question them. I’m guessing at least one did and was giving the orders. Anyway, I was able to slip past them to the third sub-basement. That’s where the fun really started.”

“Very well, continue from where the transcript ends.”

. . .

“Well?”

“I was just trying to enjoy a moment of untainted coffee goodness before I get to the next part, this isn’t exactly a fun walk down memory lane, you know.”

. . .

“Let the record state that the subject is drinking her coffee.”

“Urgh. This is foul. Was it filtered through a sock?”

“This might surprise you Agent Callahan, but agent or not, you are a sixteen-year-old girl without working nanites to repair the damage of caffeine. While these are unusual circumstances, and I have been advised to accommodate you, I will do so within limits. Now, if you’re quite finished, may we proceed?”

“. . . Fine. I’ve changed my mind, what comes next isn’t as bad as this sludge.”

***

The skulks have been busy. The bottom sub-basement has been outfitted with various kinds of testing equipment.

But testing for what?

The schematics show the first half of my retrieval is in the next room to the left: an office. A small nondescript desk sits against the wall covered with files, various print outs and my target—a computer.

The basement appears empty, all the main action on the level above. Even though I’m invisible, I crouch within the foot well, and attempt to hack the computer remotely.

Nothing.

I end up standing and going old-school, connecting to a port from my wrist guard. A few quick commands confirm there’s no internet here, in fact, there is no hardware to allow for a remote connection—or hack.

“Retrieving data.”

<Confirmed.> Toph replies.

The information being copied flashes across my visor. I busy myself, sifting through the papers on the desk while I wait. What I see is far from comforting.

Genetic testing.

The skulks are looking for a cure.

So far, all attempts to reverse the vaccine that caused the skulk mutation have failed and failed with catastrophic consequences.

But something else catches my eye: A file marked Subject B.

The data finishes downloading. My job here is done. Despite that truth, I open the folder and read the most recent page.

What I see doesn’t make sense, not at first. Then I understand. The skulks aren’t trying to reverse the mutation, they aren’t trying to go back. The data shows a new path forward—genesplicing.

The question is: what are they splicing their genes with?

<Medusa, everything okay?>

Callie’s voice shocks me back into the present.

Stupid.

What this is or isn’t doesn’t concern me. I have a mission to finish.

“Everything is green, Griffin. Stage one complete. Moving to retrieve the package.”

<Affirmative Medusa. Your path is clear.>

The package is through the next hall to the right. Callie’s words hold true, there are still no skulks hiding in the rooms I pass. The floor is empty.

This is too easy.

I turn right into the next hallway. The lights are off.

Great.

I pause just long enough for the guys to check in.

<Medusa?>

“This feels off, Griffin,” I reply. “Still green?”

<Still green.>

<I told you I had a bad feeling,> Toph’s voice adds.

I ignore him, sweeping the empty hall once more. I trust my team and my tech. Inching down the hall, the lights stay off. Something tells me these are not movement activated but regular old switch lights.

A hum comes from the room to my left, the same place as the package.

The door is closed, locked. Like the other doors, you need a keypad code to open it.

I enter the code that I used to enter the compound.

The sensor flashes red.

Holding my wrist up to the keypad, I input the command in my console to override the lock. The sensor flashes green.

Even though my nerves are calm, the nanites in my blood regulating my adrenaline, I take a breath to center myself.

“Retrieving package.”

<Affirmative Medusa.>

The door hisses open, the only warning that the room inside is pressurized. A faint blue light illuminates the room beyond. Five empty metal tables—gurneys—stand in a row. At the very back of the room, the sixth gurney is covered with a white sheet and underneath is the familiar shape of a body. Human or skulk I can’t be sure, but I really don’t want to get any closer to find out. Fog rolls across the floor, another sign the room is cold—freezing. Again, I’m grateful for my suit.

The rest of the room is lined with larger bulker lab machinery. One in particular catches my eye. A laser. This might just be the stolen tech we have been tasked to retrieve.

“Package in sight.”

I stepped forward, into the room. I’m so focused on the laser, I miss the trip wire. Something so old and rudimentary works though. Here I am, literally covered in tech that can turn me invisible, that allows me to hack and enter anywhere I want to go, and a small piece of wire attached to an alarm bests me.

I hit the ground just as the soft blue light strobes to angry red and an earsplitting whoop, whoop, whoop, screams through the air.

I’m in trouble.

Dammit.

<Medusa report!> Toph shouts.

“Trip wire, I’m made.”

He swears.

<Can you get the package?>

“No, it’s too big. I need help. Besides, they will be on me in less than a minute.”

<Time for that distraction?> Ellis asks.

I can already hear the skulks hollering, their bloodthirsty feverish calls louder than the alarm. They are like a pack of wolves who have caught a scent, spurred on by the thought of violence, of death.

There’s no other choice. I can’t take them on my own.

“Time for that distraction,” I confirm.

***

A BOOM explodes above, strong enough to shake the entire foundation all the way down to the third sub-basement.

Ellis.

<Incoming Medusa, hold tight.>

A second boom lands a moment later, another wall felled beneath Ellis’s juggernaut suit.

“Affirmative Minotaur,” I reply to our team’s heavy hitter.

The lights flicker above, then die, and I’m in the dark. Topher’s own electromagnetic tech has taken out the power.

My night vision kicks in as the first skulk enters the room. His purple bruised head turns white under the green light. Being alone in the dark in a basement in a building infested by skulks is not my idea of fun.

I pull my sword free of the sheath at my back. I can use my laser side arm, but not while invisible. Both need my suits power source to work, and I’d rather not be an easy target right now. At least invisible I can hold my own until the others arrive and then we can get what we came for, blow this place and sleep better knowing there are a few less skulks in the world—

***

“May I interject?”

“. . . You may?”

“Your team’s primary directive was to hunt the skulks, correct?”

“Correct.”

“So why then were you tasked for a retrieval mission? Surely there were other operatives better suited to the task?”

“I don’t—why are you asking me? It’s not like we get a choice. They point, we go, it’s that simple? I assumed at the time that we were the closest team available. The mission was time critical.”

“And were you?”

“What?

“The closest team?”

“I don’t know. How would I know that? You would know more than me.”

“Very well, continue.”

“Are you implying the mission went wrong because my team weren’t up to the task?”

“They are your words, not mine, Agent Callahan.”

“So, what are your words then, Lieutenant? “

“It makes no tactical sense for your team to enter further into the building. They should have used their skill sets to draw the enemy away from you, allowing you time to complete the mission and escape.”

“Have you ever seen a skulk, like, up close?”

“Of course.”

“I doubt that, because if you had, you would know that even with our tech, we’re outmatched. Skulks are simply stronger and faster. We have nanites that make our muscles stronger, our nervous system faster, but they can move at an inhuman speed. That’s why we hunt in teams. My decision was within training scenario parameters. Besides, I have already confirmed I wasn’t able to remove the laser on my own. It was too big. I needed a second pair of hands. So yes, in fact, they did need to come further into the building if we were going to complete the mission.”

. . .

“What’s with the face? Got something more to add?”

“At what point did you become aware the laser was not the package?”

“I . . .”

. . .

“Do you need another break, Agent Callahan.”

“No.”

“Then at what point did you become aware the laser was not the package?”

“Not until after.”

“After what?”

“After we were ambushed of course. That’s what you’re getting at after all, isn’t it?”

. . .

***

The skulk goes down quickly and quietly, never seeing my blade coming. Six more pour into the room and fan out, knowing I’m there but unable to locate me. Skulks have a keen sense of smell, but our suits mask our scent just as they hide our heat signature. But even invisible it’s only a matter of time before they find me.

Hugging the wall, I manage to get into position behind a second skulk, putting myself closer to the door in case I have to run. Sword raised, I’m ready to swing when another BOOM from above draws my attention.

Concrete cracks, dust, and rock debris rains down as Ellis punches his way down to me.

A huge stone boulder falls the ground, pushing the skulks back and in the midst of it all, a familiar silver suit drops into the room, crouching to take the impact of the fall.

Ellis stands. He’s taller than I am, not that it’s hard to be, but in his suit he’s truly a giant. Wide shoulders, thick arms and legs built for power. It was all suit, underneath, Ellis is actually kinda scrawny. Tall and gangly, yet to fill out or grow into his limbs. But the juggernaut suit fixes that problem.

<Get to the package, I’ll handle them,> Ellis says, turning to punch the nearest skulk clean in the face. The man flies backward, slamming into the wall. Then the remaining five are on him, or rather, hanging off him. Ellis was the only one of us who could go toe-to-toe with a skulk and keep on standing.

I sheath my sword and run back toward the laser, wasting no more time. I punch the code in my console, scanning the equipment waiting for the confirmation that this is what we were sent here to retrieve.

My console flashes with an error.

“No!”

<What’s wrong?> Callie asks, out of breath. She’s in the compound too, fighting somewhere above.

“The laser isn’t the package.”

<What else could it be?> Toph shouts. I wonder if he and Callie are fighting together. I hope so.

<Max, you need to hurry,> Ellis warns. He’s holding the skulks off, but losing ground with each passing second.

I search the room. There’s nothing else. Nothing that looks out of—

No. It couldn’t be.

With a sinking feeling in my gut, I force my feet forward toward the last gurney and that white sheet.

Please, no, just . . . no.

Only this time when I punch the code into the console the reading confirms the package.

Images flashed in my mind of every horror movie I have ever watched, to the point my hand starts to shake as I reach for the sheet. Thankfully, a small flash of calm steadies my nerves, my nanites working to keep my fear in check. Before I can think any more on the horrors that await me under the sheet, I rip it away.

What I see freezes me to the spot. Not in horror, but in surprise. The boy on the gurney isn’t disfigured, isn’t pale and stitched up, or horribly burned or any of the hundred things I expect to find. Instead, he is whole and untouched. Callie would even say handsome. He looks to be about seventeen or eighteen. Nude from the waist up, his body is muscled and very defined. He could easily model with a jaw that square. His hair was long, which is odd. He has the kind of face that would suit shorthair better.

“Package located,” I whisper into the comms. “Griffin, Satyr, I need you both down here.”

There’s no way I can carry him on my own.

<On our way Medusa.>

Two things happen then.

The boy on the gurney opens his green eyes scaring the hell out of me. I gasp and step back, reaching for my sword again. The next minute a wave of nausea rolls through me, making the room spin and the floor spongy. I manage to take another step, trying to find my balance. My legs are slow to move, my pulse pounds in my ears and fear stampedes through my veins driving my heart into my throat.

My nanites have failed, it’s the only explanation.

The only way for that to happen though, is with an electromagnetic pulse similar to Toph’s but on a different frequency.

But how? Skulks don’t have that kind of technology.

But then, skulks don’t run genetic tests either.

I turn to Ellis, to call out that it’s a trap.

A new skulk steps into the room. He’s different from the others. He looks almost human and even though I’m still invisible, his eyes find my own, the icy fingers of his unlife stare straight at me, crawling along my spine.

He smiles, baring large white teeth in a challenge.

Then he raises his hand to his chest where a device is strapped. He continues to smile—to snarl—even as he turns the dial on the device.

Pain tears through my body, my suit short circuiting, driving me to my knees. Somehow, he’s turned my tech against me.

My invisibility fails and suddenly I’m exposed, not even the dark will save me now—

***

“What you mean he looked almost human? Can you expand on that?”

“I mean, he looked more human. He didn’t hunch or sniff the air. His eyes had more life in them than the others, he walked with purpose. It’s hard to explain. Skulks have a distinct look. Flatness to their eyes, their skin sags and bruises from the lack of blood circulating. This one had bruises under his eyes, and partially sagging skin, but otherwise, he just seemed more alive. He still had most of his hair. That’s one of the things that’s always the first to go.”

“Why do you think that is?”

“That he was more human-like, you mean?”

“Yes.”

“Beats me. He might have been genetic testing on himself. But then that begs the question who started testing on him to give him back some of his lost humanity? If you want my honest opinion, I think he was an anomaly.”

“An anomaly?”

“Yes, there’s always an exception to every rule, right? The vaccine that was supposed to kill the virus and save us ended up causing the mutation that created the skulks. It makes sense that a further mutation might occur, that one might cause a skulk to retain more humanity than the others. I mean, this nest was different. They were organized, focused. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

. . .

“What are you writing?”

“The time. I believe you are correct. I just want to record the time stamp for my report later. I want to put forward your insights.”

“. . . Oh, okay, then.”

“You seemed shocked Agent Callahan?”

“Just surprised. I wasn’t expecting to not hate you, Linc.”

. . .

“Shall we continue, Agent?”

“Probably safer to.”

***

I can’t stand.

I try to, but without working nanites feeding strength into my muscles, the suit is too heavy for my body.

Ellis is also on the ground, swarmed by skulks, trapped in an unresponsive suit just like me.

No. Not like this.

“Satyr, Griffin, do you hear me?”

Nothing. Comms dead too.

I pray they weren’t within the EP pulse range, that they are still coming. They’re our only chance now.

A silver body drops through the hole Ellis made.

Topher hits the ground hard and doesn’t move. The suit cushions his fall, stops any serious injuries from the impact, but that’s about all it’s good for now. Now it’s just a metal anvil holding him down.

Callie drops a moment later herself, crashing on top of Topher, her metallic wings falling flat and useless like the rest of us.

More skulks drop from the hole after them.

I count ten in total, eleven if you include the leader.

“What a perfect bounty,” the leader snarls, words laced in a growl.

It’s the first time I’ve ever heard a skulk talk.

“Oh, man,” I mutter, knowing the others can’t hear me. “We are in deep sh—”