Chaos Seed, page 21
part #1 of Shadow Coalition Series
Research Log: 361
Subject 29 is lost. Eli entered the holding cell to adjust the fluid tubes as blood had begun to seep into one of them. Zoy accompanied Eli as protocol dictate. Until this point Subject 29 had remained completely inactive, the restraints had been removed to allow for more extensive testing. The CCTV footage shows that as Zoy entered the cell the subject “awakens”. 29 displayed an incredible show of strength by throwing Eli across the room. Eli died instantly as a result of his injuries.
29 proceeded to jump on top of Zoy. Subject 29 showed remarkable strength against the vampyr, far more than an ordinary hume. At this point 29’s vitals went haywire. It is unclear from the footage what happened. When the Subject stands up, Zoy is unconscious although no physical harm appears to have come to him.
Subject 29 then escaped the building through force. Stun rods had no effect on the Subject, and we were unable to stop him. Trusted officers are in pursuit. I have ordered a scan to be performed on Zoy.
It is as I had hoped or feared. A new Paramorph is situated within the brain-stem of Zoy. As the Proto-A Paramorph never reproduced and remained benign, we did not expect to see reproduction from the Proto-B Paramorph this quickly.
As the Proto-A Paramorph was mostly dormant within the hosts with only slight increases to the host’s physical strength and healing capabilities, the Proto-B Paramorph was designed to enhance these properties. We manipulated it to reproduce the properties we desired, we made it easier for us to reproduce the Paramorph. It was never meant to be capable of reproduction itself.
Zoy was successfully restrained unfortunately he “awakened” much faster than expected. The restraints posed no threat to him. To prevent an outbreak, I ordered the host to be shot. It is a terrible waste. The body was ordered to be disposed of, however, when clean-up arrived the body was no longer there. Reanimation was not expected.
I now know that we pushed too far. We wanted stronger, better, faster hosts. This was not achievable without stronger, better, faster Paramorphs. It is essential that we regain control of the Subject and any new infected hosts. It is clear that the Proto-B Paramorph has huge benefits for military application – if the hosts can be controlled.
Twigs stared at the screen in dismay. Garett and Zoy were the first two missing persons. Despite one of them being shot. He never thought that he would have preferred this to have been a terrorist organisation trying to bring down civilisation. It was better that, then this super-parasite.
The missing people that they had been searching for must all have been infected by this Paramorph thing. He remembered the strange way Martin Crawes’ skin had crawled, and he had transformed into Zoy before their eyes. They had thought it was some kind of special effect from some high-tech armour. The thought of it being a parasite manipulating DNA made Twigs feel sick.
He looked back to the log, he had wanted answers, he just hadn’t wanted these to be the answers.
Research Log: 362
From the data we have managed to gather from both field research and internal lab research, we have deduced that the Proto-B Paramorphs are using some kind of hive mind to communicate. Their behaviour, from what we can see, is more like that of ants than of ordinary parasites. They are working in unison. It is believed that Subject 29, as the first successful Proto-B Paramorph host, is the Queen.
The outbreak is spreading at an unprecedented rate. It began slowly and is now quickly gaining speed. From the information we have been able to gather, the Paramorphs seem to only be capable of dividing a certain number of times before having to recover or regrow within the host’s brain.
It is vital that this outbreak is contained. It is with our deepest regret that their destruction has been ordered. However, with the bios now offline and the city in chaos I see that we have underestimated the Paramorphs too much. They were not meant to be controlled. I am uncertain whether or not they can be stopped. I can’t help wondering, what have we done?
The thought of any kind of parasite crawling around inside your head was enough to make Twigs balk. Thinking that the parasite could control you and take over your body and mind would give him nightmares.
Checking his watch, he realised he’d been down here far too long, Shiv would have already reached the Nest and be making her way inside. He raised a trembling finger and pressed his earpiece, he had to call Shiv. If these logs meant what he thought, they meant than that email from Maz was far more ominous than he’d thought before.
The Queen has found the Nest. What other Nest could they mean?
He had to warn Shiv.
17: Too Late
Shiv had never experienced an earthquake, she imagined that it probably felt similar to a hunder charging towards you with the intent of smashing everything in its way.
The floor vibrated with each stomp of his feet. The room trembled as the giant approached. Shiv waited and slowed her breathing. Thud, thud, thud. The footsteps quickened and with a screeching crash the hunder burst through the door and collided with the wall.
Shiv pulled the trigger with her good hand. Her aim wasn’t as good as normal, but the stun grenade connected. Agony shot through her fractured arm and she tried not to scream as the recoil shuddered through the shattered bones. She forced herself up and towards the hunder as the electric shock shivered through his vast muscles.
Shiv leapt past him. Each jolt of her foot connecting with the floor felt like burning hot ice through her arm. She gritted her teeth and blinked away tears as she sprinted to the incinerator door. The light by the override lever was still on amber, meaning it wasn’t fully powered yet.
A glance over her shoulder told her that the hunder was already emerging from the wreckage of the door. He shook himself and staggered out of the room. With a look of pure rage, he began stomping towards her. Grunting, Shiv hoisted the grenade launcher in her good arm and fired. It roughly hit where she intended, unfortunately it only slowed the giant down for a moment.
The hunder shook his head furiously as if trying to clear it of flies. He roared and resumed his charge, gaining momentum with every step towards her. She fired another grenade, her shoulder complaining at the recoil. This one missed him by a fraction of a centimetre.
Urgently she checked the light beside her. It flicked to green. Despite the pain a smile forced its way to her lips. She fired another grenade, not caring whether this one connected or not. The discharge buzzed through the air behind him as he gathered speed and charged her head on.
Timing was everything.
Shiv waited until he was only a few feet away and pulled the lever. The lights in the room all changed to red and the incinerator alarm rang out. Fortunately, this hunder, whatever he might really be, was acting true to his kind and only had one thing on his mind: crushing her.
Shiv darted into the incinerator chamber and rolled out of the way at the last second. Her arm was neatly tucked into her. It didn’t stop the pain. She pushed away the thought of her arm as the hunder charged in after her and crashed into the back wall of the incinerator.
Her poor aim didn’t matter when she was stood right next to him. She pulled the trigger and hit him at point blank range with a stun grenade before he’d even realised that she wasn’t pulverised between him and the wall. Shiv sprinted for the second incinerator door which was further away and steadily closing.
The hunder roared again and lurched after her. Her stroke of misfortune continued as he managed to grab hold of her broken arm. He squeezed. Shiv stared at him as it took a moment for her brain to recognise the anguish. His eyes had turned pitch black in fury as he wrenched her arm. The bones minced together, tearing skin and muscle alike. There was no time to consider that she would never be able to use that arm again. If she didn’t get free, she’d never do anything again, the door was already half-way closed.
With her free hand Shiv dropped the grenade launcher and pulled the hunting knife from her belt. Twisting round felt like her arm was going to explode. She was afraid she would pass out from the pain. Adrenaline pushed her onwards as she thrust with all her strength. The blade slid into the hunder’s eye like it was a bowl of well-set jelly. He screamed in pain and anger. Releasing his iron grip on her arm he reached up to pull the knife from his face.
Shiv didn’t stick around to watch. She stumbled to the second door and rolled under it before it slid shut. The alarm continued to blare out and the red light was dazzling above her. She breathed a shaky sigh of relief and wiped the tears of pain from her eyes.
She sat up and watched through the incinerator window, the hunder gaped back at her with one good eye as he realised his mistake. The light by the lever turned red to show that they were past the point of no return.
Super-heated air ripped through the room she had just been in. The hunder’s form seemed to flick through hundreds of images, each one different to the last. Each one, burning, the skin charring, eyes boiling, mouths open in a silent scream as their lungs were scorched. Her brain tried to make sense of it, it didn’t seem like adaptive armour at all, it seemed like he was all those different people, all those different species. It wasn’t possible, it made no sense at all.
She left the incinerator running and crossed back to the control room. Out of her bag she pulled a syringe which she stuck straight into her arm. It only took a moment for relief to flood through her body.
Surveying the damage, she realised that it barely resembled an arm anymore. It was shattered beyond recognition, there was barely a patch of normal coloured skin. She bandaged it and made a temporary sling, just to be safe she took several more drugs to stave off the pain. Hopefully they would be strong enough and last long enough to see her through a confrontation with Harrier. It was never going to have been easy. Now it was going to be even harder.
She struggled back towards the incinerator, attempting to catch her breath while that creature was being burnt to a crisp.
Her earpiece began to buzz. No doubt Twigs was about to talk her out of it, little did he know that would only convince her to do it more.
∆∆∆
The dial tone rang for what seemed like an age waiting for the connection to establish with its partner earpiece. Finally, the ringing stopped, and Twigs could hear ragged breathing down the line.
‘This really isn’t a good time to chat!’ Shiv hissed at him.
His shoulders sagged with relief at the sound of her voice. She was still alive, she was still Shiv.
‘I’m sorry, I know it’s not. Still, you really need to know this,’ he said in a whisper. He realised he didn’t need to whisper but couldn’t help himself, it seemed too dangerous to speak loudly.
‘Go on,’ Shiv replied. She sounded out of breath as if she had been running or fighting. Probably fighting, as that seemed to be her favourite pastime, Twigs thought. He paused as he tried to summarise everything that he’d read without sounding like a mad man.
‘It’s not a terrorist organisation. The missing persons – they’re infected. They have some kind of parasite living in their brain which has taken them over,’ he began, he definitely sounded insane, but he couldn’t stop now.
‘Doctor Asma and this group were going to use it to cure diseases or to sell to the military because it makes people stronger and better. This is their second time around and things have gotten out of hand. They have genetically manipulated the parasite and now it’s taking over, it’s reproducing!’
Shiv listened silently on the other end. Twigs took a breath, all he could do was hope that she believed him.
‘The test subjects escaped and now they’re infecting other people. That must have been what the blood was for, it must have been. I think maybe…do you think that Harrier has been infected too?’ Twigs felt like he’d just babbled. He couldn’t fit everything he wanted to say in fast enough or concise enough. He knew he wouldn’t have her attention for long, so he had to try. It all sounded so insane, the words coming out of his mouth were barely plausible, he wasn’t sure how Shiv would believe it.
‘So, the blood we collected was for these parasite things then? It would make sense that Harrier was infected, it wasn’t exactly in character to order my assassination. Is there anything – shit!’
There was a gunshot and the line went dead. Twigs closed his eyes, praying that Shiv would be ok.
There was so much he hadn’t fitted in. He had forgotten to mention that they healed faster, or that they could reanimate, or that they were all probably completely screwed. He supposed they had already seen some of that, they just hadn’t realised what they were seeing. If she had already been fighting her way through the Nest, she might have already come across some herself.
Twigs looked back at the e-file, there was only one more research log left.
Research Log: 363
The Queen has found the Nest. It would seem that the Paramorphs have been hunting their hunters. All we can do is hope that the Proto-A Subjects are not present. We are not certain what would happen if the genetically modified Proto-B Paramorph came into contact with the unmodified Proto-As. It is likely that the enhanced genetics of the Proto-B will allow it to quickly wipe out the Proto-A Paramorphs. However, there is no certainty, as we do not know how the two types will interact.
We are evacuating now; this will be the last log before we are moved to the Crux Facility. Once there we will continue searching for ways to contain the outbreak or, alternatively, to destroy it.
The investors have not yet been informed of the outbreak. We are forced to consider this research strand a failure.
It is uncertain what the infection count is now. By going off the earlier levels of division, we estimate that numbers could be as high as 576, that does not include if those have begun reproducing as well. We believe that the Paramorphs will reach sexual maturity (when they can begin parasitic division) once they are two to three days old. The infection rate will be exponential.
Considering the Paramorph’s exceptional abilities we are preparing the bunkers for long-term use.
The Paramorph is both fascinating and terrifying. It would appear that it can transform into any form that has previously been infected. This would explain why our teams have struggled to track the hosts. Those who have managed to find or capture a host have had even greater difficulties. It is possible to kill a Paramorph’s form, however, this only delays it for a moment, the older the Paramorph is, the faster the transformation process.
So far, the only way we have found is to incapacitate the host for a prolonged period of time in hostile conditions until all possible forms have been expended. When no host can survive the Paramorph itself is terminated. This correlates with previous data gathered from Subjects 27 and 28. Each Paramorph host may have up to 576 different forms, potentially even more, the Paramorph may be unable to withstand the stress of all of its forms dying. Further research is to be conducted into this field.
The log ended. Twigs felt numb. He raised his finger to try calling Shiv again. There was no answer. Her earpiece could be dead. She could be dead.
He left a message, just in case she could still hear him. He could barely believe it himself, he wasn’t sure if Shiv would believe him at all. He could only hope that she heard him.
‘Shiv, they can change form, that’s what it was in the lab. It was a Paramorph switching forms. As long as they have forms to switch to then they won’t die. You have to kill all of their forms to kill them properly but there could be hundreds of them,’ he paused with the message still running.
‘They also said there could be some different types out there? I don’t know. Shiv this is too much. We are in way over our heads. You need to get out, they’re talking about going into hiding in bunkers. I think we should do the same. There’s still time. Please Shiv. Please hear me. You have to get out of there. We have to leave Umbrae before it’s too late!’
Twigs hung up the call. A noise behind him made him jump. He spun around, still holding the e-file, to face the person who had intruded on his call. They smiled and said;
‘It’s already far too late.’
∆∆∆
Shiv listened to what Twigs had to say. In some twisted way it made sense, although it was hard to understand from the brief explanation Twigs had provided her with. It also defied common sense. How could a parasite possibly have such capabilities, was it due to a parasite that these people they could change their appearance?
Shiv retrieved her handgun and approached the incinerator window. The process had finished, and it was cooling before opening the doors again. There was no sign of the hunder, or Zoy or anybody else. All that remained was a heap of ash and a misshapen blob of blackened metal that must have been her grenade launcher.
Whatever that thing had been, it wasn’t getting up from that.
Twigs continued and his words washed over her, the dots connected but it didn’t make it any easier to understand. They were never terrorists, they were parasites?
‘So, the blood we collected was for these parasite things then? It would make sense that Harrier was infected, it wasn’t exactly in character to order my assassination. Is there anything – shit!’
The gun was fired before she had a chance to move. She was fortunate that it hadn’t been fired to kill. The bullet embedded straight into her leg between her armour plating. She dropped to the floor only just managing to avoid landing on her freshly bandaged arm.
The culprit who had shot her must have snuck in while she was listening to Twigs. The line had gone dead leaving a slight ringing in her ears.
Her brain felt fuzzy. She tried to twist around to see the shooter. She flopped to the side, her body wouldn’t comply. She heard them approach the incinerator and saw from the corner of her eye as they pulled the lever. The lever denied them access as it was still too hot inside. They cursed under their breath as they squinted through the window, seeing nothing more than ash and molten metal inside.
Shiv’s tongue felt like rubber in her mouth, it wouldn’t do as it was told. Her gun was still in her good hand, down by her side. She looked at it, willing her arm to raise it. Nothing worked.
