Realm of Kong: The Culling Page 8

  Enough of that.

  Macy put down the hand. He decided to give himself a minute to compose himself.

  “I was just testing the limits of her agility,” said Macy.

  You are not a scientist. You are a child.

  Macy snickered at the last thought in his head. “I am more of a scientist than anybody I know. I don’t bow down to rules because it makes somebody queasy. Science is about breaking through barriers.”

  Science is about expanding the horizon. It is not about killing others.

  “Maybe in whatever your line of work was,” said Macy. After he said his words out loud he stopped to look at the remains of Mellora’s face. Her head floated in the solution. Her eyes were glossed over. Macy kept his eye on her as if she would respond from her severed head. She remained still.

  Macy stayed quiet for another moment. He twirled around in his chair several times to break the tension in his head.

  Then he started to hear commotion coming from outside his door.

  Dr. Hallett found refuge in an abandoned office at the main building. There were several scattered around due to the firings. He huddled in the corner closet. Staying out of sight was his goal now. He did not want this. He just wanted to go home. Whatever balance mankind had with the kaiju was slipping. They were being overrun. There was nothing he could do about it.

  His heart pounded so loud he did not notice the footsteps that entered the empty office he was occupying. When he did he stopped breathing. His only fear was they would hear his heart as well.

  Shadows creeped through the office. Hallett could see them through the space under the door.

  Then the door opened and the soldiers were on top of him.

  Ishikawa lead a team of soldiers through the halls of the facility. She kept in contact with another team at the dormitory of the scientists and other civilians of the base. Every name that was called over the communicators was checked off on Ishikawa’s list. She had recognized the men and women that were attempting to leave the island. Only a couple of them had been rounded up so far. They had gone quietly.

  There were still several people missing. Most of them were found by other teams and escorted to their quarters. Ishikawa waited for confirmation from her contact before crossing anybody off of her list.

  “I need an update,” said Ishikawa. “Where are we on finding Hallett and the others?”

  “We found seven more hiding in one of the janitorial closets, Russell, Goldberg, Doshi, Pauls, Westfield, Neil, and Montief.”

  “Good, thank you. Were there any injuries?”

  “No,” said the officer on the other end of the line. “They came with us willingly.”

  “Keep going,” ordered Ishikawa. “We still need to find Hallett.”

  “We believe he is hiding down in the labs.”

  “Then get down there. And get the rest of the civilians back to their quarters. There are still several dozen people not accounted for.”

  Honsou got on the communicator. He was leading his own team in another part of the facility. “I will head down to the labs. We’ll take the south entrance.”

  “I’ll take the north,” said Ishikawa. She turned the corner and led her team to the next leg of the search.

  Every lab in the sub-basement was locked with a security code. There was a universal code that could be used in emergencies. Even with the code it took time for the teams to search every lab.

  Ishikawa stood by as her team went from one lab to the other. Her tally of the civilians was nearing its end. Only a handful of people were left, and only Hallett was left from those that were attempting an escape.

  Ishikawa saw him as the most dangerous of the group. He had taken charge and was adamant about getting off of the island. She worried he would attempt it again with new people or possibly sabotage a part of the facility in order to urge the rest to leave.

  “Sir,” came a voice over the communicator. “This door will not open.”

  Ishikawa heard Honsou respond to the issue.

  “What’s the matter?” he asked.

  “The key pad is just dead,” said the soldier.

  Ishikawa shook her head. She did not need to hear anymore of the conversation. She rushed off from her group with the order to keep looking without her.

  KNOCK.

  KNOCK.

  Somebody’s at the door.

  “Yes, I heard it,” said Dr. Macy.

  Are you going to get it?

  KNOCK.

  KNOCK.

  “Go away! I’m busy,” Macy yelled at his closed door.

  “Open up!” ordered the soldier on the other side.

  “What did I just tell you?!” Macy yelled back.

  “Every civilian is to be taken to their quarters,” said the soldier. “We are in a state of emergency. Haven’t you heard the alarms?”

  “I disconnected those a long time ago,” said Macy.

  “Open this door immediately,” ordered the soldier again.

  “Just go away,” said Macy. “I am fine. We are all fine.”

  “We?” the soldier asked.

  Macy grumbled. He did not mean to say 'we.'

  “No, just me,” said Macy. “I am fine. Now, please go away.”

  “We are not leaving until you come out of there,” said the soldier. “All of you.”

  Macy jumped to his feet. He urgently looked all around his lab. The room was trashed. Food trays, wrappers, and paper cups scattered the ground. Then he turned his attention to his table. Pieces of the caudata he had killed were on display for all to see.

  The knocking on the door grew more aggressive. Then it suddenly stopped. Macy froze. He watched the door. Every time his heart beat he thought it was the door about to be knocked off its hinges.

  He had to hide his work. If they saw it now he would be finished. They would not understand what he was doing. They would not understand he had done what was best for all of them in the facility.

  “Scott, this is Jordan,” said Colonel Honsou. “Open this door, now.”

  Macy ignored the pleas of his team leader. Honsou never called Macy by his first name. It sounded like fingers on a chalkboard when he did it.

  “Colonel, will you please tell your men that I do not need any assistance. I am really busy with my important work. You can move on from this room. I am perfectly safe in here.” Macy never stopped moving. He ran with two jars in his arms. His hiding spot was less than perfect, but he needed to move fast.

  “I can’t do that, Scott,” said Honsou. There was his first name again, Macy thought.

  “This isn’t a kaiju attacking,” Honsou continued. “We’ve had a situation with your fellow scientists. We just need to make sure you are safe and are in no danger. We can’t guarantee that without seeing you and escorting you to your quarters.”

  “These are my quarters,” said Macy. “I’ve slept in here more than I have my room. I don’t even remember where it is.”

  “Then come out and we will show you,” yelled Ishikawa. She had just arrived and overheard that last of what Macy was saying.

  “Yumi!” said Dr. Macy. “Is the whole gang here to save me?”

  “No more games, Macy,” said Ishikawa. “I warned you what was going to happen if you did not come out.”

  Macy stopped in his tracks. He still had a few jars to finish hiding.

  You better hurry.

  “No, crap,” Macy said. Then he ran off again.

  “Is there somebody else in there with you?” Ishikawa asked.

  “Nope!” Macy yelled.

  “Then let us in!” Ishikawa demanded.

  On the other side of the door, Ishikawa turned to Colonel Honsou.

  “It’s your call,” she said.

  Honsou looked over at the locked door of the lab. His men were waiting his orders. Macy was obstructing their duty and had overall been disobeying orders for weeks.

  “Bring that door down,” ordered Honsou. “Bring Macy into custody. I’m not
standing for this any longer.”

  Everything had quieted down outside the lab. Macy could not hear anybody on the other side of the door. The sound of his zipper boomed in the quiet tension. He kept his steps light. It was dead quiet all across the lab. The only thing Macy could hear was the voice in his head.

  They’re going to find you.

  “At least they won’t find you. Not yet.”

  BAM!

  It won’t be long before they clean up.

  BAM!

  “They’ll have to make heads and tails of the place first. I can talk my way out of this before that.”

  BAM!

  Macy quivered at every strike of the door.

  Here it comes.

  Then the lab shook from the force of a detonation. The once locked door gave way and skidded across the floor for several feet. Debris and garbage soared into the air. Macy felt the vibration of the explosion in his rib cage.

  Before he could recover a flash grenade was thrown in. Macy tried to turn away, but it was no use. His senses went haywire. For the first time in he could not remember how long, the voice in his head was gone. There was only ringing.

  Several hands grabbed hold of Macy. He could not overpower them nor did he want to. He was in too much pain to put up any more of a fight.

  The soldiers led by Honsou and Ishikawa carried Dr. Macy out of his lab. He never touched the ground on his way to the detention center.

  Chapter 18

  “How did you lose control of the situation? What happened out there?” asked one of the oldest members of The Cabinet.

  Tucked away in one of the offices of the administration building of the Japanese facility, The Cabinet was holding their latest meeting. The Cabinet was a secret organization that had existed since the 1950’s. Their goal was world spanning and long in the making, their identities known only to each other. They were the secret power controlling the facility and they had almost lost it all during the attempted evacuation of the island.

  “Olivier threw it into chaos,” said another member. “If he had not shot at Ellis we would have been fine. We could have talked down Hallett and the doctors.”

  “You’re delusional if you believe that,” argued a third member that had been out on the field during the situation. “We need a permanent solution to our defenses. Keeping Babel 4 online for so long was a mistake. The residents here are not going to just sit back while their lives are at risk. Living in Japan is dangerous enough. Tengi’s current rampage is terrifying.”

  “Tengi is helping the situation. She has almost single handedly freed this country from the kaiju.”

  “That is not a good thing. She has been defending the kaiju for three decades. Now, all of a sudden she is taking them out? There has to be a reason for that and it cannot be good. McClare gave us a warning from Arikura. Something is coming, and Tengi would see to it. We need to consider what that is. If we are not prepared for it then we could all be dead, and all of this that we have been working towards is gone.”

  “We are already looking into it,” said a fourth member. “We have sent an olive branch to Mechiju Corporation. They may have something we can use. But it is going to cost us.”

  “Did you use Noah?”

  “No, he is still an asset.”

  “Good.”

  “That solves one issue. There is still the matter of Dr. Macy. You had him arrested. We need him.”

  “It was a judgment call,” said the third member. “We caught Hallett early without anybody else knowing. I saw an opportunity so I took it. We needed to raid the subbasement. Macy had been secluded down in his lab for over a month. We needed him out of there.”

  “But not in the detention center.”

  “If he stayed cut off then he would have been dismissed from the island. He was on the list. Nobody knows what he has been working on. He does not talk to his team anymore.”

  “If he stays in the detention center he will surely be sent home. Your scenario is no better.”

  “We have access to his lab now.”

  “And what have you found?”

  “The search has barely begun. It is a mess in there. The smell is awful enough. It smells like he used the corner as his bathroom. We’ll start going through his files soon.”

  “It’s not too late to bring him in.”

  “I do not recommend that.”

  “There is little else we can do. If we save him he will be wondering why. We cannot have him asking that many questions about it. If he is brought in then at least he will know what is needed of him officially and what he is capable of doing.”

  “He won’t listen to the facility directors. What makes you think he will listen to us?”

  “Because we can offer him whatever he wants.”

  “He is too dangerous and unpredictable.”

  “It does not matter. You brought us to this decision. We need to keep him on this island, and we need to do it as quietly as possible.”

  “It is your call.”

  “Very well. I will have my answer soon. Until then get Kanno to make a speech to the residents. Have him settle their nerves. Tell him that help is on the way. We will be defended again. I assure you of that.”

  The President of the Japanese Facility Takao Kanno stood on a podium in front of a camera. The video was transmitted all across the facility so anyone not present at his speech could still hear it. That was fortunate because very few people were in attendance.

  The mood at the facility was gloomy. Fear gripped many of the residents including both the scientists and the soldiers. Uncertainty floated in the air about the future of the base. The previous day’s events left over two dozen scientists and soldiers in the detention center. The question on everybody’s mind was who was next?

  Takao stood behind the podium almost blocked by the piece of furniture. He had to stand on a stool to avoid visual awkwardness. His knees shook rapidly out of sight. He hated being in front of a camera. He never asked for all of the attention. He never asked for this position. It was thrust upon him by The Cabinet. They were his puppet masters.

  “Hello,” he began. His voice cracked and he had to clear his throat to calm down.

  “Hello,” he said again. “I wish to address the events of yesterday and the future of our home here in Japan. Yesterday was not our best moment. We all let our emotions get the best of us. We’ve never been in this situation before. Robo-Kong is out of commission, and Babel 4 is being repaired. It has left us defenseless.

  “There is plenty of reason to be afraid. Your concerns are real. Tengi’s actions of late have put us all on edge. The attack on Russia is only another hole in our hearts for those that were lost.

  “But now is not the time to run in fear. We need to stand strong. Now, more than ever, the world needs us. We are here to solve the kaiju crisis. Your work here is more valuable than anywhere else in the world. You are valuable. Make no mistake, we know that.

  “The chaos yesterday only escalated because of one soldier that took it upon himself to break the rules and create the fear that you see now.

  “Protection is coming. The Mechiju Corporation has offered aid in the form of a new guard for the facility. Five new mechs that will protect the facility and all of us until Robo-Kong is once again operational. These five mechs, code named The Mighty Men, will work alongside Babel 4 to bring peace of mind to all of us here in Japan.

  “Continue with your work. Let us all get past the horrible events of yesterday. Our first duty is to protect the residents of the facility, but we cannot do that without cooperation. Together we can stay safe and save this world.”

  Takao finished his speech with no fanfare. He was silent for a second and nodded at the camera man to indicate he was finished. Then the transmission was cut.

  Chapter 19

  Randal McClare rolled into the facility around noon. His jeep was filled to the brim with passengers. All five of his detainees were secured with plastic handcuffs. Three were put in
the middle seat while one sat in the front seat next to McClare. The fifth was placed in the back. He was the final chaser that arrive mysteriously injured. The man was unconscious half the trip, but when he came to he could not help but scream the entire way to the facility. McClare had made the chaser improvised sutures for his injuries, but they were starting to come undone. The bumpy car ride was only speeding that process up.

  The other chasers tried to ignore their injured brethren. There was nothing they could do to help him except give him words of encouragement, but most of the positive thinking was drowned out by the man’s sorrows and cry for relief.

  However, one chaser stared out the plastic window of the jeep the entire ride. The bald man mumbled to himself. His words were never audible, and the others started to ignore it after a short time. The man’s glazed eyes kept their attention on the horizon. His forehead pressed up against the plastic screen. He sunk in until the screen would no longer give.

  When McClare arrived at the gates he checked in all of his passengers. They were given security wrists bands and then McClare made his way first to the medical ward.

  He drove his jeep as fast and as safe as he could. They were in the home stretch to help the chaser in the back. His cries of pain had gotten worse in the last hour. There was nothing else McClare could do but get him to the doctors. His medication and supplies were out. Speed was the only thing he had.

  The jeep pulled up to the hospital wing of the facility. McClare hopped out of his seat and rushed to open the back hatch of his jeep. The man nearly spilled out of the back as the door opened. McClare caught him with ease.

  “It’s going to be okay,” said McClare. “We can help you here.”

  Two nurses ran out to help McClare with their new patient. They pushed a gurney to the area. McClare lifted the chaser onto the bed. The nurses strapped him in as the man screamed in excruciating pain.

  “He came to the village like this. It looks like he escaped from a kaiju attack,” explained McClare.