Subject Nightingale 1: Birth and Death (6 page)

BANG.

Nightingale was pulled violently from the scene when the flash bang erupted, and she threw her arms around Michaela.

“It is alright, little one!” Michaela shouted without realizing it, her ears ringing from the blast. She stood and poked her head into the hallway to assess the damage—if any—done to the creature.

Its chest was wide open, and its sticky flesh clung to the walls, ceiling, and floor of the hallway. The gaping hole revealed its mechanical insides—more than what it may have absorbed previously, it actually appeared to be powering this thing. Mechanical organs pumped vital fluids through thin metal tubes that weaved through the creature's chest like veins through a human.

But despite having its chest wide open it was still on two legs, and hardly seemed deterred by having a portion of its body blown off. The random items it had been absorbing, including many of the guns, were now scattered across the floor. They were creeping back toward the creature, though, the roving chunks of flesh carrying them mindlessly toward their host.

“
Door's open!” Theo announced, grabbing at the thick globs of flesh that had landed on him. The tan flesh was slowly changing color to match that of Theo's, and he yelled as he tore it off his arms and legs by the handful. “This $#!% won't let me go!” he shouted, the globs of flesh assimilating portions of his clothing, becoming one with the fabric—and then latching onto his skin to claim him.

“
Get through that door!” Jonny ordered as he rushed out of the office, laying down some more cover fire as the creature continued to advance. He aimed for its mechanical organs, but the bullets bounced off without leaving so much as a scratch.

“
Michaela, get the girl through!” Theo shouted as he cocked his shotgun and fired on the creature repeatedly. He advanced, moving toward the office where Michaela and Nightingale were hunkered down, putting himself between the two and the creature. He could feel the flesh tearing his own from his body, the chunks growing larger and heavier, and soon there was almost no visible difference between his own skin and the globs.

Michaela nodded and grabbed Nightingale's hand, and they bolted for the door. She ducked under the crowbar and pulled her ward through. “We are clear!” She took cover behind the wall and trained her sights on the creature, but held her fire while Theo was in the way.

Jonny ducked under the crowbar next, and shouted after Theo. “Theo, we're clear! Fall back!”

The mechanical organs were beginning to dent under the repeated blasts of Theo's shotgun. A few of the thin hoses became detached and spewed a clear liquid all over, and the creature let out another roar. Theo turned his back to it and sprinted for the door, but the creature's hand hit him square on his back before he reached it. It had hurled its arm like a whip, and now it was stretched to a few yards long.

Theo was shoved the last few feet and collided violently with the door, and he felt the creature's flesh creeping up the back of his head. He dropped his shotgun and shoved the crowbar with both hands, pushing it into the stairwell so the door began to close.

“
What the %$#@ are you doing, Theo!?” Jonny shouted, immediately grabbing the door and putting all his strength into keeping it open.

“
It's no use, Jonny,” Theo muttered out, his voice a guttural snarl of pain. He gasped and panted for breath, turning his head so Jonny could see where the creature's flesh was slowly and painfully crawling over him. It was already impossible to tell where Theo ended and the creature's long arm began.

“
We'll cut that %$#@!^& thing off you, we just gotta get you through the door!” Jonny refused to let go of the door, wedging it open with his foot against the threshold.

Theo tried to speak, but he couldn't. He felt his throat sealing shut, becoming just another mass of flesh for the creature's gruesome armor; he couldn't breathe, he only had a few moments left. He jutted his arm through the door and Jonny grabbed his arm to pull him through, but Theo was reaching for a grenade. He plucked it right out of the small pouch on Jonny's chest, and then grabbed the door's emergency latch with his free hand.

He grunted and used his grip to help pull the door shut, and Jonny shouted from the other side.

“
God dammit, Theo, get your ass into this stairwell! That's an order, soldier!” He pounded on the door and reached his arm through, but Theo took a step back out of reach.

He retrieved his own grenade and pulled the pins on both, one in either hand, and he grinned at Jonny.

“Theo, no!” Jonny continued to shout helplessly.

The creature tugged Theo back toward its body, heaving him effortlessly through the air. Jonny watched as the grenades' levers flicked through the air, and he threw himself toward Michaela and Nightingale.

“Fire in the hole!”

Theo was pulled back-first into the creature, pinned to its chest as the flesh continued to overtake him. He shoved his fists behind his back and through what flesh the creature had reclaimed, until he felt his clenched fists touching the beating mechanical heart and flexing lungs. He watched as the door shut completely.

Michaela tackled Nightingale to the floor and shielded her with her body, hands over the back of her own neck. Jonny landed flat beside her, and then,
BOOM!

The entire floor rocked, and then fell silent.

“God dammit, Theo!” Jonny immediately jumped to his feet and began pounding on the door.

“
Are you okay, child?” Michaela asked quietly. “We need to keep moving.”

Nightingale was stunned and her ears were ringing, but she was otherwise fine. “I think so,” she said, and Michaela helped her to her feet. The bird had flown several feet into the air, safe above the action, and landed unharmed on Nightingale's shoulder once she was upright again.

Jonny was still pounding on the door and yelling at Theo, so Michaela grabbed his shoulders. “Jonny!” she shouted, spinning him and forcing him to look at her. “Get your $#!% together and get us out of here! Do not make Theo's sacrifice in vain!”

Jonny immediately snapped out of it. He knew what needed to be done.

“We're behind schedule,” he said, lifting his rifle and loading one of his last fresh clips. He cocked the hammer back and started toward the stairs leading down. He crouched and grabbed the crowbar on his way past, retracted it, and tucked it into a pouch on the back of his belt.

Michaela fell in line behind Jonny, and Nightingale was right behind her. There were footsteps several floors below, they were coming up the stairs, so the group began to rush. The door to floor 12 was open, so Jonny led them inside—it was better than meeting someone head-on in the stairwell.

Chapter 6
Intimacy Issues
 

Jonny's face was red with a seething rage that Michaela could feel emanating off him in waves. She was concerned he would lose it at any moment, but Jonny was a better soldier than that. He controlled his breathing and kept his mind focused, aiming his rifle left and right as he moved swiftly through the hallways.

“In here,” Jonny said as he approached the wooden door of a private office. They needed to regroup and think about their next move.

He tested the doorknob gently, twisting it slowly—it was unlocked, so he eased the door open. He crept into the room, stepping carefully onto its plush red carpet, covering the left side, away from the door. There was a sturdy oak desk near the left wall, and a man cowering in the corner beside it.

“Contact!” Jonny shouted, and Michaela trained her sights on Jonny's target as well.

“
No!” the scientist shouted, hands high above his head. He was clearly unarmed, so Jonny held his fire.

The door was pulled suddenly from behind, opening completely to make room for two members of building security to get the jump on Glitch squad.

One of the men kicked the inside of Michaela's leg to force her to her knees, and she dropped her rifle. He grabbed her forehead from behind and brought a blade across her throat, but she grabbed his arm before he could slice her open.

The other man grabbed the barrel of Jonny's gun and hurled his other fist toward his face, landing a strong sucker punch square across his jaw. His upper body twisted and his gun's strap snapped, sending the weapon to the ground. Jonny immediately drew his knife and dropped to the floor, hooking his legs around his attacker's and twisting to bring him down as well. He rolled toward him and brought his knife down toward his attacker's chest, but the security member rolled out of the way and sprung to his feet, and drew his own knife.

Michaela clenched her attacker's arm and shoved her entire body back and into his legs, knocking him off balance just enough to gain the leverage she needed. She twisted his arm and twirled out of his grasp, standing and drawing her knife in the same motion.

She and Jonny stood back to back, knives clenched upside down in their fists, free hands raised defensively in identical stances. Their two attackers adopted similar stances in front of each of them, squaring off and sizing each other up.

It had all happened so quickly, Nightingale hardly had time to react. Before she knew it, Jonny and Michaela were standing in the center of the room, waiting for someone to make the first move. Her eyes were wide with panic and she backed against the wall.

“
Look away, child,” Michaela said to Nightingale, her fiercely determined gaze locked on her opponent's knife. “You have already witnessed many gruesome things this day. I do not want you to witness me killing a man.”

Nightingale trusted Michaela, and truly believed she would continue to protect her—and also that she
would
kill this man. She just nodded and turned toward the corner of the room, and crouched. She shut her eyes and held her hands over her ears, trying to just wait for Michaela to come get her.

“
It's been a while since we've needed to resort to close combat—still remember your training?” Jonny asked jokingly, his voice quiet and calm.

“
Do not forget who it is that trained
you
, Jonny...” Michaela replied. She addressed her opponent next. “We four are about to become very intimate... My name is Michaela,” she said.

“
Krauser,” her opponent replied.

“
Jonny,” Jonny said.

“
Burton,” his opponent said next.

Krauser made the first move, taking a quick step forward and stabbing square for the base of Michaela's throat—right above her collarbone, the only spot on her torso not covered by body armor. Michaela took a step back, and Jonny took a step forward to mirror Michaela's movement. He gave her room to dodge, launching his own attack on Burton at the same time.

Burton grabbed Jonny's wrist to stop his knife, and thrust his own toward his face. Jonny cocked his head to the side, just barely dodging the blade. It scraped his cheek and opened a small gash, and he felt blood trickle down his neck.

After dodging Krauser's initial attack, Michaela swung her arm up, an uppercut that brought the blade toward her attacker's face. Krauser dodged with a back step, and then a sidestep to avoid the blade being brought straight down into his skull.

He flipped his knife to hold it upright, and hurled his arm at Michaela's stomach. If he could land the blade right beside the zipper, he could hit that weak spot and pierce her armor. His blade was blocked by Michaela's, though, and instead landed home against the thick Kevlar. She threw her other fist across his face in a strong punch.

After pushing Burton's arm away, Jonny hurled his fist against his face, landing a powerful blow in the same instance as Michaela. Both their opponents were knocked off guard, and they took advantage of the opportunity to swap, rotating as one.

Jonny reached his free hand down to grab Michaela's sidearm, and as soon as he faced Krauser, he fired a bullet into his forehead. The sound of gunfire and the sight of Krauser dropping sunk Burton's stomach, and distracted him just long enough for Michaela to take advantage. She stepped forward and buried her knife in his chest, piercing his heart in one strong, swift motion.

Burton gasped and dropped his knife, and before he even hit the ground, Jonny fired another shot. The scientist from earlier stopped dead in his tracks, inches from ducking out the door when the bullet hit the ground at his feet. His hands were high above his head again.

“Hold it right there!” Jonny shouted and stormed over to the scientist, arm outstretched to keep Michaela's sidearm trained on his torso. “What the %$#@ was that thing up on fifteen!?”

“
I don't know!” the scientist shouted back, quaking at having a gun pointed at him.

Jonny grabbed the front of his shirt and pinned him to the wall with his forearm. He shoved the gun's barrel against his throat, right below his jawbone. “It killed one of my men!”

Michaela, meanwhile, pulled her knife out of Burton, and wiped the blood off on his sleeve. She tucked it back into its sheath and walked over to Nightingale, and touched her shoulder. “It is over, little one.”

Nightingale looked at Michaela over her shoulder, and then at the two dead men on the floor. “You killed them?” she asked as she stood.

“I cannot take all the credit,” she answered. “Jonny helped a little.”

“
I work on this floor, floor twelve!” the scientist shouted. “I think floor fifteen is mostly nanobot research, I don't know! I don't know what they have up there!”

“
Who leads the research!?”

“
I don't know, I don't—” Jonny cocked the gun's hammer back with his thumb and pressed the hot barrel harder against his throat. “Oh, $#!%, I think his name's Phellman!”

Jonny took a step back, putting his arm's length between the scientist and himself. The scientist relaxed when he was let go, but then immediately dropped dead when Jonny put a bullet in his forehead. He uncocked the gun and tossed it to Michaela, then pulled the flap away from the touch-screen on his forearm. He began swiping through the Lab's personnel files, looking for Phellman.

“Jonny,” Michaela said after she caught and holstered her gun. He wasn't paying attention, though. “Jonny, we must keep moving.”

“
I need to find out what was going on up there,” Jonny replied. “I need to know what killed Theo.”

“
No, Jonny, you need to get us out of this building.” Michaela shut the door to provide them a little more security, and she picked up Jonny's rifle. She walked over and held it out for him. “Take your gun, and we will leave.”

Jonny snatched his rifle away from Michaela, but instead he just placed it on the heavy oak desk in front of him. “I need to know why Theo died!”

“Theo died so we could live!” Michaela immediately rebutted.

When Jonny tried to access the screen labeled
Personnel Files
, red block lettering appeared to tell him he no longer had permission to view them. Tommy must have met up with another squad and radioed Command to cut off their access.

Jonny gritted his teeth, and his lips turned up in an intense snarl. He grabbed the edge of the desk and shouted, heaving it off the ground and turning it on its side in an impressive display of unadulterated strength and rage. Nightingale began to back away, suddenly frightened when she saw the expression on his face. She kept Michaela between herself and Jonny, and soon bumped into a tall bookshelf that took up nearly the entire wall of the office.

“Jonny, calm yourself,” Michaela said. She touched his shoulder, but he shook her off.

Something wiggling on the ground caught Nightingale's attention, then, and she jumped with alarm when she saw one of the thin metal tubes that had been inside the creature. She looked all over the room, worried that it had followed them, but of course it was nowhere to be seen. She doubted it would be able to hide in the sparsely furnished office, so she relaxed and knelt to inspect it.

“Was it stuck to someone's shoe or something?” Nightingale asked, looking at the bird on her shoulder. It just chirped and cocked its head to the side as if in a shrug, and Nightingale shrugged in response. It didn't seem to have any of that flesh on it, so she reached out to pick it up.

“
Don't touch that,” Jonny said firmly when he noticed Nightingale.

He was a second too late. The instant Nightingale's fingertips touched the thin tube, she gasped and her eyes clenched shut against her will.

She saw Phellman—she recognized him from earlier—staring at her in Doctor Metzger's office, surprised to see her alive. He bolted into that secret passageway, but ran right into an ECHO squad. They gunned him down and kept moving—left him for dead, but he clung to life.

Nightingale watched as Phellman pulled himself down so many flights of stairs, crawling on his belly and bleeding badly. He pulled himself all the way to floor 15, and then somehow managed to pull himself up to his feet. Using the wall to support most of his weight, he found his own laboratory.

He collapsed just inside, and dragged himself to the storage unit where he kept his most recent experiments. One weak, shaky arm lifted, and his quivering hand punched in a security code to unlock the heavy steel cabinet with a loud, hydraulic hiss. The shelf slid out and he reached inside, grabbing a handful of tall, narrow vials.

Somehow, Nightingale knew they were his nanobots—exactly like the ones Doctor Metzger had injected into her.

Phellman rolled onto his back and shattered the vials in his fist. The glass tore his flesh, but he could feel—and Nightingale could feel—what must have been millions of microscopic machines pouring into his open wounds and sealing them shut. They went into his wounds and healed them from the inside, starting with his hand. After that his bullet wounds began to heal, repairing the internal damage to his lungs and heart first, and then closing the bullet holes in his torso.

He gasped in a breath once his lungs were fully functional, and his heart began beating full force.

Too quickly.

He panted for breath and sprung to his feet, eyes suddenly wide and excited as if he had received a sudden burst of adrenaline as he looked all over. “No!” he shouted, and lifted his shirt. The bullet holes had healed, but flesh continued to grow. The nanobots didn't know when to stop, so they kept multiplying his cells—creating more
and more flesh, continuously packing it on, creating large swells on Phellman's torso. “They work, I know it, I saw it! They healed her without these side effects, why not me!?”

His breathing became labored again when his lungs began to swell. He clutched his chest and bolted from the room, sprinting down the hallway, his mind racing with possible solutions. Supplements were at the top of his list, though, so he ran to the other end of the floor, and burst into the cybernetics laboratory. He was panicking and afraid of dying, and the emotions were transferred to Nightingale.

“Calm down, kid!” Jonny shouted, but Nightingale didn't seem to be listening. She had picked up that tube—it wasn't even five seconds ago—and almost immediately began bawling her eyes out.

“
I don't wanna die, I can't, I wanna live!” Nightingale shouted. “I need the synthetic lungs... The synthetic heart... Synthetic veins...”

“
What the hell's wrong with her!?” Jonny asked Michaela.

“
I do not know!” Michaela knelt beside Nightingale and looked her over quickly. “She appears unharmed!”

“
The nanobots will absorb them,” she continued to mutter. “They'll reject my damaged organs, and will assimilate the synthetics.”

“
Synthetics?” Jonny asked, and then reached down to grab the thin tube—a synthetic vein—from her hand. He tossed it across the room, and Nightingale immediately snapped out of it.

Her eyes shot open wide and she looked up at Jonny and Michaela. “It was Phellman!” she shouted.