Paterson, December 25th, 2012
Late evening. Sun's long down and the eight of us sit, washed out, under fluorescent lights in a semi-private ward just off of the dissection site. We've got the bed pushed away and a folding table set up. The special six, George, and Sgt. Ross. Doc and Ross take turns spelling out the technical details. I can see Leo and Alpha have lost the thread some time ago. Leo's actively fighting off a nap. George scribbles notes, or questions, for later. Ed, who's already heard it all, doodles. I wish we had some coffee left.
Presentation over, I open the table to questions and discussion. The boys look nervously at each other. None of them want to be first.
George, I'm not surprised, runs tired hands through thinning brown hair and sighs, "Doc, Kat, Ross, that's good work. But what does it mean? Straight-up, no-bullshit, plain English."
I sit back in the chair. Take a moment to gather my thoughts. "Are you asking for me to translate the terminology or for conclusions?"
Leo interjects, "Translate."
George glances at him, "I've got my own conclusions, I want to hear yours."
"I not need conclusions. It is clear they are weapons. Tell me how to kill better. Now, they like tank on two feet. Where do I shoot them to make them stay down?"
"Let me answer Leo first," I tell George. "Leo, here doesn't appear to be a one shot kill zone. The skin is thick, tough, and has anti-ballistic properties." Leo nods in understanding. "Underneath that skin, the muscles are also dense and the ribs run all the way down the torso. They're much thicker than a human's and denser, further protecting vital organs. Those organs appear in groups of four, two on each side, one high and one low. The "brain" is center of mass and deep in the body, but there are additional nerve centers in the head." I shrug. "A vulnerable spot might, might be the middle of the back, you've a lot less meat to dig through to get to it."
"Ah, so, the answer is no."
"Pretty much do as we've been doing. It is very hard to kill but enough damage will take it down. Personally, I would recommend doing more damage even after it stops moving. If you have the time, follow Alphabit's example, take it's head off and cut through it's spine in a couple more places. It will heal damage anyone would think would have been fatal."
I spread my arms wide and shrug. "Wish I had a better answer."
"I need a bigger gun."
"Get me a tank, Leo. Any other questions about the autopsy."
Alphabit stops petting Rex, raises his hand like he's in school. I shoot him a go-ahead. "The blood."
"Right, the blood." I suppress a shudder. "I'm going to digress for a moment and start with the mouth. The structure is designed to sink the fangs in deep and hold on while the inner teeth masticate the surface tissue. As we've seen, this going to result in two deep puncture wounds and a broad, bloody central wound. There should be much bleeding. From the lack of blood at the site of killings I believe it drank it down. Even so, it's digestion system is strange. There is no stomach - there is just a long tube from the end of the trunk to down near the bottom of the body that ended in a little pouch. It could not hold the amount to fluid in a human body. Doc believes the esophageal, I mean tube's, lining is permeable to red blood cells and they transit straight into the being's bloodstream."
"Now, it gets technical. Instead of regular blood, when you look under a microscope you find these hairy black objects and, in this case, a lot of human blood cells from multiple different people surrounding it. That's why we received contradictory typing results. There's also shreds of cellular material in the bloodstream and secreted onto the skin. It subsists on the blood and sweats out the residue. It may regurgitate waste as well. How much blood it regularly consumes or how often, I don't know. But from our casualties, it takes a lot. More?"
Alphabit's returned to stroking Rex. "No, no need."
"Any others? No. Well then, I have conclusions, but I want to hear your input first. Give me your honest appraisal and recommendations. Rank, bottom to top. Eddie, you're first."
"I should have taken that promotion. Ok, cryptid or Eatee, not sure which."
"Go on."
"For cryptid, the ability to feed on humans implies it has always been here. The influence it has on most people's perceptions also tells me it evolved with us as prey. If the population is small, then the war's driven it into view. We've done a damn fine job of cutting down the food supply. Thousands of people disappeared in the US alone each year. How many fed them?"
"For Eatees, extra-terrestrials, it's layout is basic humanoid, but organs, blood, and other details are way, way out there. Less likely is how an alien could subsist on terrestrials. Maybe there isn't that much difference in life-bearing biospheres. Of maybe just Clarke's Law."
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." I provide. "What technology?"
"It remade itself for our environment and commonly available food supply. The beast is the tech. I prefer it being a cryptid myself. Less problems that way. In either case, track them down and kill them with fire. They're dangerous."
"Rutkowski?"
His eyes are hard. "You know already. They're from Hell. We need to find them and send them back." The 'you need to stop wasting time' goes unsaid.
"Ross, how about you?"
He smiles grimly and laughs, "As of now, I'm lining my helmet with tinfoil. Couldn't hurt, right? I've no opinion on who they are, how they got here, or anything like that. We need a live one so we can find a way to block the hoo-doo it do. Then we kill them where ever we find them. I want them extinct."
"Alphabit?"
He gives everyone a serious stare before starting. "Dearg-due. My Gran was full of tales. The Dearg-due was supposed to be a woman who came and took the young men. Later they were found drained of their blood. This thing can look like whatever it wants; an angel, Baron Czarny, whatever the watch let approach before they died. It's a monster, Dearg-due."
He falls silent. Rex climbs up and butts him under the chin. He goes back to stroking.
"George? You?"
"I 'spoke' with Tom earlier today. He wrote that Tim isn't nearly as verbal as he used to be and Eileen barely looks at the books we left. It could be shock, but they've been animated with him, just less verbal. They've shared some about the thing with him, they call it their 'special friend', and it was a 'figure of light' that warned them of the colored monsters that would be coming. It is the same pattern as we had in Warsaw. I'll bet a weeks pay that if we could get one of the 'dements' to talk he'd tell us the same thing."
"I've been in some serious shit before and I'm not ashamed to admit this fucking scares me. Two continents, similar creatures, similar infiltrations of survivor communities. And we know damn all about their numbers, organization, and other capabilities. We need to find the gold and GTFO ASAP. If we encounter another one of these things I'd recommend forgetting the gold."
"Is that all George?"
"I've got plenty, but I'll limit it to two more so we can get some sleep. One, Jones appears to possess similar capabilities. We run into him, or another like him, we need to grab him quick. Hell, he may have intel on these things that we can wring out of him. Two, do you have any clue as to how to spread your immunity? Because having thirty men who can see would go a long way to evening the odds."
"I'm in agreement about Jones or his brother. And to your second point, no, but would you mind donating some blood?"
"Hmmmm?"
"Or we give you transfusion," Leo barks, "see if it clots in your veins or not."
"Leo!"
"Samples. Sure. Leo, you can keep your Ivan blood away from me." George slaps the inside of his elbow, "These veins bleed red, white, and blue!"
Alpha grins, "That'd be a sight. Technicolor!"
"Enough boys, enough! Leo, since you're so eager to contribute. What's your thoughts."
"Does he have one to share?" snaps George.
"Enough."
"Da, is weapon. All know Soviet biological and psychic programs very advanced. This is the poisoned fruit. Maybe they were deployed by submarine to the coasts. Maybe they escaped from lab after war starts. Doc didn't find any balls. Maybe they cannot breed. Would be a natural precaution to build into them. We kill them as we find them and we outlive them. Meantime, we hope to find our friend Jones. I bet he end product of Soviet labs as well. Put him to the question, he'll sing. Our little KGB bird." Leo smiles and it isn't remotely pleasant.
"Doc, please?"
"We've talked about this, but I'm going to say it again. This speculation isn't getting us anywhere. We need to take the next one alive. We've heard them talk. Adequate negative reinforcement will make it talk again. If it doesn't talk, it can provide other answers. I know you think it is too dangerous, but we can isolate it in here or in another building if needed."
Sigh. "Thank you, Doctor."
"That leaves me. This is what I believe based on the evidence to date. It could not have come from earth. The internal layout is too different from any creature I can recall. It is very durable, hard to kill, and self-repairing to a fair-the-well. We don't know how it messes with human's minds or why it wants to, but that capability is not one found in any higher vertebrates. We don't know why they are here, or what they really want. Although they may work with some people for a while, Root can attest to how that would work out. They're a clear and present danger and, unfortunately, an outside context problem."
I let them digest my declaration. I get blank looks from Leo, Root, Ross, and Doc. Ed explains, "She means this is a problem we could not have foreseen and may not have the capability to deal with in a meaningful way. Think Aztecs vs Spaniards."
"Right. Now, the group of us seem to have a higher resistance to it than most other people. With the capabilities of this facility we have a chance to work on it. Doc and I have some tentative courses of action, seeing if we can culture the bits in our blood and how they interact with uninfected tissue. George, you're our donor since you do match Leo. I want us to keep this on the QT."
Affirmatives all around.
"Doc and I are going to be working on this the next few days. We don't have the best research tools. A gas spec would be great, but we can do a great deal of work with the basic chemicals left in the labs. George, Ed., I want you to work on the exterior defenses. These things are light sensitive. See if we can get the athletic fields halogen flood lamps to function and mount them over the edges of the roof so we can light up the immediate exterior. Leo, you've been pushing to recon down south and observe Hizzoner's territory. How many days and men do you want?"
"Four days, one more to swap sleep schedules."
"I'll go," volunteers Alphabit.
"Brief your subordinate and you can go."
"Thanks, I need to stretch my legs."
"Final instructions. We're going to maintain the buddy system we developed. Tell them to keep an eye out and not worry about reporting any oddities with themselves or others. We know the monsters are real." Once again they nod.
Good, George and Ed, stay here. Leo, let me know before you leave. You're dismissed."
