Abrahamoff’s asleep now. He’s been drifting in and out of consciousness ever since the attack. I think he’s stabilized, but there’s no way we can get out of here without running into that beast again. We’ve been in here for over two days now and we’ve gotten no word from the surface team or the Chinese or anyone. We’ve got our emergency rations here, but I don’t know how much longer we’ll last before something else happens.
Abrahamoff woke up a few hours ago. He was very weak, but he started talking to us about an idea he had before he fell asleep. He thinks that if the creature is avoiding the room due to the “radiovacuum” (that’s Abrahamoff’s term for it, not mine) field, then if we can lure it in close and then crank the field up to maximum strength, we might be able to weaken or kill it. The problem is that we don’t even know what the thing is made of, where it’s from or what might interest it. Krylov thinks that it wants to kill us and that we should be the bait, but I’m not so sure about it. Abrahamoff dozed off again before we could talk to him about it so we’re waiting for him to wake up again before we try anything.
I can hear the beast outside the room. I can see it sometimes, too, across the platforms. It sticks to the darkness, avoiding our lights as we try to see it. It keeps moving in to the reactor and back out again, over and over, like it’s feeding. Krylov and I think that must be what it’s doing, feeding on the radiation. That doesn’t explain why it killed so many people, though. It could be an animal defending its territory, or perhaps it needs us for something else.
I nearly lost my gun to this strange substance we found on the ground. I think the creature must secrete it, maybe from its mouth or nose. It looks like a pile of goo on the ground, like clear gelatin or something. When you touch it, it feels that way too, for the first second. Then, it solidifies almost immediately, trapping the object that was touching it and binding it to the ground. I poked at it with the butt of my rifle and had to cut the damn thing loose. This stuff is incredibly resilient against blows, but a sharp blade renders it inert and you can just scrape it off once you’ve cut into it. I wonder, is this a defense mechanism, an active trapping mechanism or simply a curious byproduct of whatever this beast is?
Abrahamoff is awake again. We’re going to test the device. He insists on being the bait, but Krylov and I won’t allow it. He’s the one who’s figured out the system and he’s the most important of all of us. I’m going to act as bait while he triggers the device, then we’re all going to try to get out of here. May God have mercy on us if we don’t make it through this.
Feb 20, 2014
Krylov is dead. So is Abrahamoff. I can’t think. Can’t think, can’t concentrate, can barely write. I got out, with Krylov. He died within minutes, though, the poor bastard. His skin was bubbling off from the radiation. Before that thing died it got a swipe in at him, pumped him so full he was nearly glowing. The device worked, though. Killed the beast cold in its tracks. Abrahamoff distracted me, acted as bait instead. The thing got him and nailed Krylov before the device went off. I’m in a chopper, minutes from base. Have to hide this, keep it as proof to myself that this really happened. That beast disappeared, all evidence vanished. Just the blood and bodies left. At least it’s dead.
Feb 23, 2019
My God, it’s happening again. Five years later and it’s happening again. I pray it isn’t so, and I hope it isn’t so, but my gut tells me otherwise. I never thought I would touch this accursed book again, but circumstances demand it. In twelve hours we leave for Ukraine, my partner and I. We are to investigate the site of the Chernobyl power plant and the nearby town of Prip’Yat. Once again I’m tasked with investigating “anomalies” in the area.
My superiors have briefed me separately from Lucas, my partner. My attempts to find out why have been met with the simple instruction to keep him in the dark. The massacre in China is still a guarded secret, I see. Writing this information down in my field journal is a grave risk that could mean my imprisonment, but if what I fear to be true comes to fruition, we must all know what has happened.
I have been given a small device that I am told will kill one of the beasts. It’s a small cylinder containing a fuel cell and miniaturized circuitry for a portable radiovacuum. I’ve been instructed to use it only when I’m within a few meters of the creature, as it has a limited range and is good for only one use. The bastards are preparing me to kill a beast when they won’t even tell me if one is here.
If I can confirm that another beast is present in the city, I will tell Lucas everything about it. Command can lock me away in the mines or shoot me, but it doesn’t matter. No more deaths will come from this beast. I wish Abrahamoff or Krylov were still here, God rest their souls. I can’t get an answer out of anyone I speak to about China. No one will talk about it for fear of being punished. Someone expected this to happen again, though, if they made the device in that room portable.
Lucas is a good kid. Tough as nails, still naïve, but a good kid. I hope this turns out to be some kind of field exercise. He doesn’t need this, not if it’s what I think.
Time to ride.
Chapter Nineteen
Lucas turned to the last page of Iosif’s field journal that contained writing. Nearly a quarter of the small book had been filled with Iosif’s scribbling. Some of it was in calm, clean writing while other parts were jerky, small and rushed. While it wasn’t much, Lucas finally had pieces to the puzzle that helped explain the events that had unfolded. He closed the book and stared at the leather cover, trying to wrap his mind around what he had just read.
Yuri shuffled away from him and sat back down in his chair. Both of them stared at the ground, temporarily lost in a fog of confusion after reading through the field journal together. Yuri was the first to speak after several long, quiet minutes.
“So where’s the device?”
Lucas looked up at Yuri, shaking his head questioningly. “Device?”
Yuri pointed at the small book, nodding in Lucas’s direction. “Yeah, from that last page. He was talking about a device that would kill the creature. So where is it?”
Lucas’s mind finally started to shift back into the present. Distracted by the journal, he had momentarily forgotten where they were. With the creature still at large and no doubt still in pursuit of them, they would have to move quickly to try and kill it before it got to them again. He pushed himself up from the table, arching his shoulders and checking his SVD’s magazine and safety.
“We need to check Iosif’s body, or what’s left of it for the device. Come on.”
Lucas led Yuri back down the hall, fully on alert again for the beast. The hospital was quiet again, devoid of all sounds save for their footsteps and the wind. The scratches and rustles that heralded the arrival of the creature were nowhere to be heard, so they moved quickly, taking advantage of their time alone.