“Wait”, Macready interrupts him. “We must focus exactly on a point: when did McKinnock come out of the armored vehicle, agreeing immediately to take the test?”
In front of the questioning gaze of the other two he goes on: “when Serum began to protest loudly stating that the test was useless and it wouldn’t have worked.”
Suddenly the air seems to get colder, and a chill runs down the spine of the three survivors, who draw the same conclusion in unison.
It’s the woman to give voice to their thoughts, almost whispering: “It did it to lead us to believe that the test was valid and make us lower our guard, sure that we had finally solved the problem. This means that…”
The words die in her mouth.
Macready concludes: “the creature may still be among us and it may have learned how to withstand the test with electricity. Ivanov, that son of a bitch… Thirty years of experiments… He was sure that he was studying the creature, but indeed the opposite happened. They used who knows how many animal species for testing, with the only result of enriching its genetic heritage and make that monster even more dangerous than it already was.”
Long moments of silence follow. No one talks anymore, aware that everyone may be hiding a nameless abomination.
“What do we do now? Is there another way to distinguish who is human from an imitation?”, Ironside asks.
“Maybe there’s another way”, Moore’s reply, as thinking aloud. “Earlier, in the lab, Ivanov carried out a test on a blood sample of the boy who had been captured by soldiers. He used a powerful acid to induce the creature to show up in an attempt to survive.”
“An acid…”, Ironside echoes. “Where do we find an acid?”
“In the vehicles’ batteries”, Macready answers.
“Mmm… Yes, it’s sulfuric acid”, Moore continues. “In concentration between thirty and forty percent. It’s not as strong as the one prepared by Ivanov, but it might work.”
Slowly, a hiss becomes perceptible to the ears of the three people. Macready is the first to hear it and to jump up in alarm. “Can you use a sub-machine gun?”, he asks turning to Ironside.
“Yes, of course…”, he replies, looking alarmed.
“I ordered the boys to make an aerial survey of the scene of the crash of the Boeing”, Macready explains quickly. “And the point where the convoy got smashed, to check that there was nothing suspicious. We can’t get them off the ground, some of them might be the creature.”
Shit…
“You stay with him, Emily, I’m going to the helicopter, I have to stop them before they take off. If things worsen, use the machine gun to shoot it down.”
Macready turns to the helicopter and is about to set off, when it perceives a light touch on his arm.
“Albert…”
The man turns his gaze, crossing that of the scientist. “Watch out.”
He nods, resting for a moment his hand on that of the woman, then he heads running towards the aircraft. The helicopter is about sixty meters away, the propellers rotate slowly, increasing speed.
Hawk is in seat of the co-pilot, Bishop is at his side, activating a series of switches. Behind them, on the benches, there are Brimley and other soldiers.
“What’s up with Macready?”
Hearing the words of the man sitting next to him, Bishop looks up, noticing the Major running and waving his arms toward the helicopter. His gaze remains unmoved.
Macready reaches the helicopter, approaching hunched over on the pilot’s side.
He shouts in order to be heard, while the motor keeps roaring. The Major orders the pilot to abort the mission. However, this one seems to ignore it, merely staring at him expressionless.
“Sam, turn off the engine, the reconnaissance is canceled! Canceled! Do you understand me?”
“Bishop, the Major says to turn off the engines and abort the mission”, says Hawk.
Macready keeps beating on the helicopter windshield, on the side closest to Bishop, when he notices something that makes his heart freeze in his chest.
Bishop’s face. He knows him well, they have spent years working together. He remembers the long scar that disfigures his face on the left side.
Macready can’t believe his eyes.
The scar is gone.
In the throes of growing agitation, the Major moves to the other side, waving at Hawk to come out.
From the inside, he can’t hear the voice of Macready, but there’s no need for words to understand what he’s saying.
“He’s telling us to get out, turn off the engine, Bishop, what the hell is going on?”, Hawk shouts alarmed.
The helicopter lifts a few centimeters from the ground, the pilot seems indifferent to what is happening around him. Hawk on the other hand realizes well the situation and in a desperate move he deals a direct blow to the pilot’s face. Then he tries to grab his right arm and block it to regain control of the helicopter.
The head of Bishop rotates unnaturally following the received blow. From his neck comes a sharp noise, like a branch that is broken, and his skull remains in that position. Almost instantly his body begins to shake, as though in an epileptic fit. His right arm manages to escape Hawk’s grip and moves trembling. His open hand starts to grow in size, the fingers weld in pairs and deform, taking the shape of a sort of claws bristling with thorns with metallic reflections.
The horrific limb tightens firmly on Hawk’s neck. Filaments and stalks as thin as capillaries emerge from the creature, penetrating into the skin of the soldier, beginning to dig into his body in order to assimilate it. Hawk tries to escape, he struggles, hitting the controls.
The soldiers inside the helicopter are powerless and try desperately to hurl themselves toward the side door. However, Keith Brimley is faster, and stands between them and that slim hope of salvation. His eyes are not human anymore… they’re black, opaque, aliens. A low and prolonged lament comes from his mouth. It grows in intensity, until it overcomes the noise of the helicopter engine.
The number of the propeller’s revolutions begins to decrease, while the helicopter lands back to rest on the ground. Macready rushes to open the side door, but despite his efforts it won’t move a millimeter.
As the noise of the helicopter turbine fades, the sounds coming from inside take over.
Human shouts and bestial roars mingle with the heavy thuds of something that clashes violently against internal bulkheads.
No, damn it, no!
Getting closer to the cabin, Macready has a brief sight of what is happening inside. Something monstrous and terrifying shakes, and in that constantly changing chaos he catches a glimpse of the bodies of the men, being torn to pieces.
They are only a few seconds, but they seem endless. The Major hesitates looking at a bloody tentacle that ends with a huge compound eye and sets against the glass, watching him. Other blows sound against the bulkheads, which begins to deform.
When a splash of a greenish material hits the glass in front of his face Macready steps back instinctively. Realizing that there is no way to save the men inside the aircraft, the Major turns to flee. After a few meters he hears the sound of something breaking behind him, a thump and the sound of tortured bulkheads, followed by a roar of another world.
The man turns to watch, and the sight is terrifying.
Ironside is on the roof of the armored vehicle. He witnessed the sequence of events through binoculars. The helicopter was about to take off, then it touched down again to the ground. He couldn’t see in detail the interior of the cabin due to a reflection of the sun, but he has been able to note rapid movements.
When Macready suddenly started running, Ironside wasted no time. In a few moments he unlocked the assault machine gun mounted on the roof of the vehicle, getting ready for the worst.