A tall man crouched next to a writhing corpse. The body was once a man in nothing but his underwear. The top half of his head was flowered open and some dark mass was moving around inside the shoulders, struggling to get out.
There was something hypnotic about the wriggling and shaking that allowed him to focus his mind.
“Captain?”
The man glanced over his shoulder and saw a short man in dark fatigues doing his best not to look at the body.
“There’s signs of a struggle consistent with the strike team’s report. But there’s no trace of the Crimson Ghosts.”
“Any idea where they went?”
“We’re getting reports that the team sent to MW-416 was ambushed. Descriptions of the attackers are consistent with the Crimson Ghosts and an unknown stranger.”
The Captain perked up at this.
“Who was with them?”
“We don’t know sir, facial recognition turned up absolutely nothing in either our records, Darkshield’s, or in any civilian network.”
“How is that possible?”
“We don’t know sir.”
“Show me his photo.”
The man raised his arm and tapped on a watch-like device on his wrist. He made a flicking motion and the Captain felt his watch vibrate slightly. Raising his arm he tapped the device and the image of a familiar man’s face appeared above it.
“I’ll be damned,” murmured the Captain.
“You recognize him sir?”
“He was that fellow we saw wandering in the Shelf, the one who escaped via a naturally occurring rift.”
“He was spotted escaping with the Crimsons Ghosts on MW-416 to an unknown location. The team sent to this world also reported that he ambushed them after they initiated a biolock.”
“How did he escape stasis,” the answer occurred to him as he said it so he held up his hand, “they didn’t account for him when using it.”
“That’s correct sir.”
“Damn,” the Captain said running a hand across his bald scalp, “we only had a handful of those devices left.”
The team wants to know what you want us to do here?”
“Have the explosives been recovered?”
“Yes sir, there was enough ordinance to level this entire camp, but we were able to salvage them.”
“Good.”
The Captain turned to stare at the writhing body. The smaller man awkwardly shifted on his feet.
“What are your orders now?”
The Captain sighed and stood up from the footlocker he’d been sitting on. He took a moment to glance around the tent before settling his eyes on the man.
“Gather whatever intel is available regarding this location and distribute the supplies accordingly. I want this place cleaned up and everyone ready for evac.”
“Where are we heading sir?”
“I’ll tell you when I know.”
The man nodded and ducked out of the room, shortly after his departure a muscular woman entered. She was about to speak when she noticed the corpse. Her eyes lingered on it for a moment before meeting the Captain’s.
“One of ours?”
The Captain nodded.
“He obviously turned, but either the process was interrupted or they did something with the upper half.”
“They must have killed him or removed the microdot.”
The Captain nodded and they both stared silently at the wriggling corpse, each caught up in their own thoughts.
“I’m worried about the team that escaped.”
“Crimson Ghosts?”
The Captain nodded.
“What threat do they pose to the Order?”
“The Crimson Ghosts are notorious in Darkshield, it’s a catchall team for the members who survived the deaths of their original teams. They’re also known for some pretty significant atrocities.”
“Is this you talking or the Order talking?”
The Captain tapped his watch a few times and flicked some files over to her device.
“This is Darkshield talking.”
She took a moment to glance through what he’d sent her and her eyes widened. Having looked at the information himself he understood her reaction.
“Darkshield allows these individuals to breath?”
“If you can somehow ignore their evil they’re one of the more successful teams in the company. Whenever a hellish dimension is encountered that’s determined to be of possible interest to the company, they’re sent in to establish a foothold. I can’t decide if Darkshield values their monstrous ability to stay alive or if they’re actively trying to kill them and getting some hard work done in the process.”
The Captain gestured at their surroundings.
“In the short time we’ve been here our probes have encountered multiple predatory creatures and environmental hazards. We’ve nearly lost three men trying to determine if this area holds any advantage for us.”
“Does it?”
The Captain shook his head.
“Then why does Darkshield care about it?”
“There’s a particular creature here they’re hoping to domesticate to assist in tracking down rogue Anomalies. A creature they call a Dog-Spider.”
He flicked the file to her and she marveled as an image of the eight-legged creature projected above her watch.
“It’s absurd.”
The Captain tossed his head side to side for a moment.
“It’s a clever idea, the Order would be smart to implement similar strategies.”
The woman frowned and swiped the image away before lowering her arm.
“You know I share your distaste for the Order, but with all the organizations we’ve worked for they seem to be the most honorable, even if they’re misguided.”
“They’re a more sophisticated brand of rat I’ll give you that. But in the end there’s somebody at the top hungry for power and control and doesn’t know a damn thing about wielding either. Darkshield uses shady capitalism and The Order uses cultish fanaticism, both to accomplish pointless ends.”
“Both think they’re doing something good in their own way.”
“The villain never considers themselves the villain, they’re merely the misunderstood hero.”
“What does that make us?”
The Captain chuckled under his breath.
“Disillusioned monsters wanting to burn the whole thing down.”
They were silent again and both of their gazes drifted to the body. The Captain wondered how long the creature within would continue struggling to survive or if it would ever give up. Based on what he’d been told about the creatures he expected it to keep struggling until the body decomposed around it and it was finally able to get free.
“I can relate to it.”
The Captain looked over at the woman and saw her nodding at the thing.
“Full of potential but trapped in a meaningless struggle.”
“You’re not happy with your role in the Order,” he asked, already knowing the answer.
She sighed.
“They can bring down Darkshield, that’s all I care about.”
“And then what?”
She shook her head.
“I can’t think about that.”
The Captain nodded and found his gaze drifting to her spine. Dark memories crept into his mind so he shook his head to clear them and started walking to the exit. The woman fell in step with him as he left the tent.
“What’s our objective now?”
“The offworld teams…at least the ones we know about have been dealt with. The final step is to drive the last nail in the coffin and end this.”
“You’re not worried about the Crimson Ghosts?”
“I am, but I’m hoping our numbers can overwhelm whatever actions they try to take to stop us. Even a superhero can’t save two people from a burning building if they’re on opposite sides of the world.”
“But they can try.”
“Which is why we’re going after them.”
“I thought the team on MW-416 wasn’t able to determine their jump points?”
“They’re going to Darkshield.”
“Of course,” she said nodding, “they won’t know where the other offworld teams are and their best move is to coordinate with any survivors at the main facilities.”
She suddenly glanced at him.
“Did we discover what they were questioning the Center for?”
He shook his head.
“The Center killed seven of our people when they tried to hack into the mainframes. Gaining access would require the detonation of a major EMP.”
“And remove any and all information they might have.”
“The high council isn’t ready to pull that plug so they’ve withdrawn all troops until their scientists can come up with another way of gaining access.”
“So the Crimson Ghosts could know everything or nothing for all we know.”
The Captain nodded.
“When do we leave?”
“In a few minutes, we’ll use one of the anchor points and begin making a sweep of the facilities.”
“That should only take us a few weeks.”
He smiled at her insight.
“Once it’s done it’s done.”
She nodded, the corners of her mouth twitching into a smile. Again his eyes drifted to her spine and the dark memories returned.
“Promise me one thing.”
He met her gaze.
“If the COO is still alive, I’ll be the one to remedy that.”
The Captain was unsettled by the feverish look in her eyes, though he understood her passion given what had happened to her.
“You can start thinking about how you want to do it.”
The smile twitched back onto her face again and she nodded before walking away. The Captain watched her go for a moment before peeling off to a spot outside of the camp. A few soldiers gave him nods, but he ignored them as his mind focused on a different matter.
Standing some distance away he pulled his arm up and tapped the watch. An image of the strange man’s face from the Shelf’s came up again. Flicking through the attached file he was shocked by how little information there was about him.
There was something about the man that held his attention like a vice. Sure, the lack of information about him and the fact that he kept popping up in the middle of their operations peaked his interest, but there was something else. Something gnawing at the back of his mind that told him this man was important in some way.
He committed the man’s face to memory before swiping his image away. The Captain stood for several long seconds staring out at the purple fields as his mind struggled with that nagging feeling.
Author’s Note:
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