Arcen hurried back to the research station Gamma-17 after wearing a pair of slimy pants the oil girl dropped off for him. He wanted to see Jenna again. He would’ve been just as excited to see anyone else from that hell camp alive. The blame was on somebody, but they were employees, just like him. They didn’t deserve to be eaten, half digested and thrown back out.

  It was hard to find his way back in the dark, but he managed to stick to the path of destruction that lay ahead of him, sliced vegetation and oil patches still burning.

  The camp was still on fire when he got there. The tents were like candle wicks, absorbing the oil puddles and burning off. The pile of corpses lay exactly where he threw up. Some of them were on fire, some of them completely charred already.

  “Jenna!” he yelled, and listened for a reply. He heard nothing above the sound of crackling flames. “Jenna! Can you hear me!”

  It took him almost ten minutes to find her. The oily girl had dragged her off to a corner where flames couldn’t spread to her. Jenna’s face terrified him like nothing ever had. She was translucent. Her skin barely holding her gel-like flesh together. Her blue eyes stared at him helplessly as her body shivered at the sight of him.

  Dear god!

  “It’s okay! I’m back now!” he tried to tell her, but she only panicked even more. Jenna indeed had some sort of mutation. It was nothing like anything he’d ever seen. She had no blood. Her flesh was like clear gelatin under her skin. The time she spent in his stomach had dissolved the top layer of her skin.

  He could see all the inner workings. Her veins and arteries pulsed blue, the same shade as her eyes. She had bizarre organs arranged even more weirdly. Her heart was symmetrical, and her lungs had folds on them like a cerebral cortex.

  Holy shit, what do I even tell her!

  He had nothing to tell her that would calm her down. She looked more fragile than glass.

  “I’ll take you to a hospital! I’ll go get help!” he said two things at once. Then he tried to lift her off the ground. Her mouth parted, and a faint shriek came from her lips.

  Don’t do that!

  He placed her back down. She was in pain. He saw tears flow down from her wide-open eyes down her translucent cheeks.

  “I won’t leave you! I promise!” he told her, his throat clogging up with a stone instead of the usual tickle. This woman had talked to him about her daughter’s birthday a few hours ago. He felt horrible about swallowing her, even though it wasn’t really his fault. That infernal creature from the egg had come to that conclusion on its own, using his body for its own ends.

  He hurried back towards the camp and found some clothes that weren’t on fire. The pile of bodies was slowly catching fire as the thick layer of gel-like oil burned off on top of them. He didn’t have anything to prevent it. He pulled a couple of them off, but it was meaningless. They were soaked in gallons of thick oil.

  He had no way of separating all of them. He slammed the clothes he found on a rock to beat the oil off them. He ran back to Jenna and covered her body with them.

  Now let’s see.

  He tried to lift her again, this time with some layers of clothing between their skins. She didn’t shriek as hard as she did last time.

  “Alright, Miss Jenna, hold on tight” He wrapped his arms tightly around her knees and shoulder and started walking away from the camp. He didn’t have any light to follow, but anywhere else was better than a camp going up in flames. He was careful to not take her oil drenched body anywhere near a fire.

  He was walking in the dark when he heard a tire screeching in the distance.

  Is it recovery?!

  “Hey! help!” he yelled. “Help us!”

  Lights fell on him almost immediately. It came hovering through the trees and stopped above him like a helium balloon. A vehicle came crashing over the rocks, a modified buggy. Three others like it came from various other directions, and men jumped out, their guns glinting in the darkness.

  “Stay where you are!” the voice came from a loudspeaker on the first buggy. “Tell us who you are!”

  “Arcen Henwick!” he yelled. “and I got Ms. Jenna with me!” He tried to show them he was carrying her. He could only see the silhouettes of their helmets in the dark.

  Men shuffled toward him, and three of them surrounded him, pointing their guns at his chest.

  “Drop your package and lay down on the ground, slowly!” The loudspeaker gave instructions.

  “Please! she’s wounded! help her!” He yelled at the nearest soldier.

  “Please follow instructions, Mr. Henwick!” The loudspeaker blared. “Or you will be shot.”

  Arcen obeyed, placing Jenna at his feet and lying on the ground next to her. The three soldiers shuffled closer, and one of them flipped him around. He felt them checking him all over. He was only wearing a pair of pants. There wasn’t much to check. Another one poked and prodded Jenna.

  “Please be careful! She’s injured!” He yelled, trying to stop him. A boot crushed his hand back to the ground. He heard Jenna shriek again as two soldiers unwrapped her.

  He couldn’t see their faces, but the way they immediately stopped reassured him. They’ve seen exactly what he’d seen. It had shocked them.

  Arcen’s hands were tied behind his back.

  “This is a temporary measure, Mr. Henwick. Please follow orders,” the soldier reassured him as he helped Arcen stand. Three of them wrapped Jenna back with the clothes and lifted her off the ground.

  “Oh my God, Mr. Henwick!”

  It was Torga. He was in the passenger seat next to a grim-looking man in full tactical gear. The project manager practically jumped at him to hug him.

  “I ran off to get help. I have no idea how any of this happened!” He was almost crying. “And Jenna, what the fuck happened to her?!”

  Arcen remembered what the oily girl told him. He had to lie to these people. He didn’t want to give them any reason to pin all the blame on him. Helviter would only be eager for a scapegoat after this massive fuckup.

  “The creature from the egg ate her,” Arcen muttered under his breath. Torga jumped.

  “Ate her?!”

  “Yes”

  “I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?” The man behind the steering wheel said, lowering his black mask to speak. “Get in, we’re going to the camp.” A soldier put Arcen in the back passenger seat and climbed up the buggy’s side.

  “Mr. Henwick, this is Commander Wells, from Helviter Asset Recovery,” Torga said, his voice still shaking. The man was still trying to remain professional after everything that’s happened.

  “Sorry about the cuffs,” the commander said nonchalantly as he drove over the fallen debris.

  “I don’t mind,” Arcen lied. Being in cuffs already made him feel guilty.

  “Well, it’s not polite. We got calls from people screaming about some attack. We’re just extra careful,” Torga said, holding onto the buggy’s seat for dear life as it bounced over a rock.

  “I understand, No problem.”

  “Did you see it?”

  “I…honestly don’t remember anything,” Arcen said with a pretentious sigh.

  “You said the woman was eaten?” The commander asked over his shoulder.

  Arcen paused for a beat too long to form the excuse. Luckily, his mind worked fast enough to come up with the least suspicious string of words.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “She looks eaten. Her skin’s all dissolved. There are other bodies… like that,”

  “Jesus Christ,” the commander swerved. “What a clusterfuck.”

  The man glanced sideways at him for just a second. Arcen almost didn’t catch it as the vehicle lights flickered. He remembered something else.

  My Aura! I have to hide it!

  He felt panic rush from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. He felt like he’d already blown it. Maybe they already scanned him somehow.

  Tower!

  In his desperation, he tried to speak to the tower in English. It didn’t respond. He tried seven more times before he found the exact thought-trigger for it.

  He wondered about his contract, and he did it like Norm did. He only had one contract. The one the oily girl gave him.

  ╭────────────────────╮

  ︶╯ SUBCONTRACTS ╰︶

  ????

  FABRICATE WEAKNESS [1]

  ╰─────────╮╭────────╯

  He activated it immediately.

  ╭────────────────────╮

  ︶╯CONTRACT╰︶

  ????

  FABRICATE WEAKNESS

  ╰─────────╮╭────────╯

  ╰︶ACTIVATE︶╯

  There was no discernible effect. Nothing about him changed. He wasn’t sure it even worked.

  Well, shit. Now what!

  He had nothing else that he could do. He had to keep lying and keep pretending. He decided to act sick if it came down to it. They’d have to give him medical attention and leave him alone. He’d do what’s necessary to get Jenna and himself out of this hell tower.

  In a way, it was a good thing Jenna was unable to speak. Asset Recovery wouldn’t have anyone else to compare his information with.

  As long as he stuck to the ‘I don’t remember anything’ line, he’d at least get out of this tower. He could think about his next steps once outside. He could take his siblings and disappear to Alaskan wilderness or move to Indonesia for the rest of their lives.

  I have to get the fuck out of here first.

  They arrived at the camp five minutes later. Asset Recovery quickly set up a perimeter and started doing what they’re titled after. They put out flames where needed and started gathering things from a list of priorities. Three soldiers dragged the bodies out of the pile, and others took various equipment towards the crushed containers where the lab was.

  Commander Wells oversaw all operations from a temporary shelter set up between two parked vehicles. Arcen nodded off after watching them work for almost an hour. Torga alternated between checking on him and Jenna, occasionally bringing snacks or drinks and trying to patch up previously unseen cuts or bruises with plasters from the field medic.

  “I would’ve never guessed Ms. Jenna was a mutant,” he said, sitting next to Arcen with the second box of apple juice.

  “Do you know what she is at all?” Arcen asked, genuinely curious.

  “No idea, Mr. Henwick. The medic thinks it’s something to do with a sea creature that can’t die.”

  “Can I see her?”

  “No, she’s being prepared for medevac. There’s a lot of debris and oil absorbed into her. She’s suffocating, and there is a risk of infection.”

  “Fucking hell.”

  Arcen knew something Torga didn’t. The oily girl said she would have revived Jenna, but she couldn’t even if she wanted to, because Jenna wasn’t dying. Whatever she meant by those words, Jenna was likely much more resilient than she looked.

  “They’re packing other corpses as well,” Torga choked up when he said it. The man was visibly traumatized. “All those people. Dr. Bourbon. He didn’t even have a face. Oh god,” he held his stomach and gulped.

  Arcen didn’t even clearly remember swallowing doctor Bourbon. It had all been a pink haze back then. He remembered seeing the bearded old man on his massive hand. The man was screaming with joy in that faint memory.

  “I think I’m gonna quit, Mr. Henwick,” Torga said with a sigh.

  “I think the same,” Arcen agreed. No salary could justify what happened.

  Unless it was an outrageous amount per month. He would be back at work on Monday for the right offer. Everyone had a price. Torga’s price was likely much lower than Arcen’s. He wasn’t even around to see the carnage. He’d of course have lower standards.

  Arcen kept track of time as he had these little chats with Torga. He kept activating the contract every twenty minutes, paranoid about someone here detecting his massive Aura. He was asking Torga impatiently about the time they could leave the cave.

  Asset Recovery wrapped up their operation about an hour later. Then, it was time for information. Commander Wells had already set up another tent for the interrogation. Two soldiers accompanied Arcen there.

  “Sit down, Mr. Henwick,” he said with a smile, pointing at the foldable chair before him. The man had removed his helmet and mask. Arcen saw him for the first time. He had a chiseled face with two scars on his lower lip. He looked middle-aged, with two horn-like knobs on his temples. His eyes had vertical pupils, and a faint scaly pattern was webbed on his face. The man had some sort of reptilian mutation.

  “Commander Gauge Wells. I used to be a Ranger before Mayday, 75th Regiment,” he recited, extending his hand. He gripped Arcen’s hand in a firm handshake.

  he looks and sounds like the leader of all the tough guys.

  “Arcen, Henwick. Lead Sorter. Helviter,” he stammered, unable to conjure any confidence to declare his identity. “Used to be a high schooler before Mayday,” he added awkwardly.

  “Really? so young? I must admit I can’t tell the age of a full mutant based on looks. No offense, Mr. Henwick.”

  “None taken. I get that a lot.”

  Wells flipped through a document in his hands and marked something off. He looked up at Arcen and marked something else off. He flipped to a new page in this file and put it on the table, sliding it towards Arcen.

  “I’ll get straight to the point, Mr. Henwick. Do keep in mind that this is standard procedure. You are not under any suspicion. I’m asking questions that are related to my tasks.”

  I’m most definitely under fucking suspicion.

  “Ask away, please. I’ll do my best.”

  “Asset Recovery operates on a list of priorities. The top ones were about saving the lives of the employees. We arrived too late for that, except for you and Ms. Jenna.” Wells cleared his voice. He was clearly uncomfortable with telling Arcen the true order of priorities on his list.

  “We’ve secured what we could, but one high-priority asset is missing. You can see its picture in the document. Do you recognize it?”

  Yeah, that’s the fucking egg.

  It was a zoomed-in shot of the egg, cropping out Norm’s body. Asset Recovery has been given this image for a reason.

  They likely weren’t told a lot of information about it. An egg that is black. They were only supposed to recover it. Wells didn’t look like a man who would have any questions about its functionality.

  “Yes. I was brought here to analyze this black egg,” Arcen said, making Well’s job easier.

  “I do not have the clearance to know what it is. Please don’t tell me any classified information. I only know that I must recover it. Do you know of it’s whereabouts?”

  Nothing about it was classified. I wasn’t told a fucking thing about it until I found out.

  “Last I saw it, it was in the lab. It was on a corpse of this climber, Norm Lorraine. I have no memories after the fourth session.”

  Well’s brows furrowed. He leaned in, glaring at Arcen with his sharp green eyes. “You were sent here on a predictive analysis task. I’m guessing that’s the session you’re referring to?”

  “Yes. I had to see into the egg’s past, and then I had to check what was inside,” Arcen sighed tiredly. “That’s where things may have gone wrong. Because after that session, I woke up in this camp you see right now.”

  He did everything he could to keep his voice steady. He wasn’t used to lying to someone’s face.

  “The oil spilled all over this place has strange properties. Would you say that came from whatever was in the egg?”

  Shit. I have to lie harder.

  “I’d assume so, I just can’t be sure. Actually, there was some oil in the egg when I went inside it.”

  Wells’ frown deepened. He’d been caught off-guard with Arcen going inside the egg.

  “That’s part of predictive analysis, by the way, I was plugged into it, and projected my mind inside it. This is what Cephs like me are best for.”

  “I see. I’m not familiar with these things. Thank you for the explanation, Mr. Henwick.” He leaned back in the chair. “I think, then, we’re to assume something brought out a creature from that egg. It killed everyone and destroyed the camp.”

  “Yes. I don’t have any other explanation.”

  “Is there any explanation for why you somehow remained relatively unharmed?”

  Fuck. He had to ask it.

  “It might be because I interacted with the creature,” Arcen started piecing an excuse together. “I was sort of kind to it, because I thought it looked like a kitten.”

  He saw Wells’ eyes open wide at this bizarre excuse. He clearly wanted to hear more of it.

  “It was humanoid because it grew out of that dead climber. I think so anyway. It looked like a baby,” Arcen said with a gulp. “It may have thought of me as a friend. Or imprinted on me like a bird. I can’t remember what happened.”

  “I see… ” Commander Wells sighed. It was a distinct sigh of a man clearly far out of his depth. Arcen could tell he believed roughly thirty percent of what he dropped. There were things that sounded too bizarre even after the Mayday. This was one of them. He cleared his voice. “That’s all I have for you—”

  A soldier came in, interrupting their one-on-one session. Wells turned to him, visibly annoyed.

  “A Mr. Morgav is requesting your immediate attention, sir!”

  “A who private?!”

  “Mr. Morgav, sir. He says he’s from the Nostrum Frontier Group.”

  “Tell me someone cuffed him, private.”

  “There was no need, sir. He’s complying with our orders.”

  “The fuck is this now... ” Commander Wells swore under his breath, adjusted his mask and put his helmet back on. He left the tent without telling Arcen what to do.

  He idled there for someone to tell him the next step. Bored and curious, he started flipping through the document that Wells left behind. As he glazed over the various photos of items and pictures of employees, he felt like he forgot something important. He couldn’t remember what it was.

  Can’t be anything I said, could it?

  He tried to recall all the words he spoke in the last few minutes. Going over his lines to see if he tripped on his own lie somewhere. He couldn’t find any problem with it.

  Could be something I didn’t say then?

  He didn’t hear the footsteps until they were right next to the tent. Someone came barging in through, ripping the front flap of the tent with a sharp claw.

  He was a tall, slender man, taller than Wells and Arcen. He wore a black vest and black jeans. His hair was slicked back tightly against his skull, leaving few stray strands waving about. His thin face was scarred horizontally in six lines, one cutting across his right eye. He had a glowing red gem in that damaged eye socket. This man screamed ‘experienced climber’ from the top of his head to the ends of his toes.

  “Mr. Morgav! please step away from the tent!” Commander Wells’ voice came from behind him.

  “That’s him alright. That’s the fucking rat. He has eight million Aura. This is the ground floor. Ask him how he got that much, and you’ll know who fucked your little corpo picnic.”

  Holy shit, I fucked it up!

  Arcen felt like the floor vanished beneath his feet. He knew what was nagging him all along. He’d forgotten to activate the contract to hide his Aura.