Doctors and Soldiers

The three of us reposition ourselves, producing a triangular formation, with me at the “tip,” Jen to my right, and Harbinger to my left. And we each squeeze our respective triggers…

We fire at what seems to be endless waves of nightmare-inducing enemies. We don’t know how many of these things the Innovator has… And though he holds no control over them, he is completely immune to the attacks from these creatures, so long as he protects his head.

As Jen empties the remainder of her clip, she glances down at her tactical vest with the intention to retrieve a replacement magazine, but then… she sees that red-haired girl latching onto her leg—Sarah.

Though Jen hesitates, she continues to reach for a magazine, when…

CHOMP!

Sarah thrusts herself onto Jen, biting Jen’s arm that was reaching into her vest.

Jen yelps in pain, dropping the clip of ammunition. Sarah throws Jen off balance, causing Jen to fall on to her back while the rest of the horde surrounds her.

“You’ve lost control over your entire body, Sarah,” Jen informs, seemingly talking to the red-haired creature. “So if I must lose a single arm as punishment for recommending a treatment that turned you into this, I’d say I got off far too easy.”

Jen uses her free hand to discard her rifle and exchange it for a pistol, shooting the surrounding creatures as she uses her legs to twist her body in a 360-degree motion with Sarah on top of her.

Jen continues to fire upon the creatures pursuing her in the distance.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CLICK! CLICK!

…But her pistol ammunition runs dry.

Then, Jen speaks, but it’s not a call for help… “Sarah, you’re awfully despondent today. Here, let me help you out of bed.”

As if possessed, Jen hoists Sarah over her shoulder as she makes her way toward the creatures swarming the Innovator.

“Jen! Stay in formation!” Harbinger orders.

But it is no use.

Jen shoves her way past a detachment of creatures, giving her a clear path to the Innovator and his surrounding hoard.

Jen tosses her remaining grenades into the Innovator’s horde.

“W-WHAATTT!” the Innovator screams, continuing to protect his face. “I can’t detonate the grenade with my acoustic unless it lands right next to me! Grr, I’m trapped by my own minions, as I can’t change the acoustic frequency with a broken wristpad. I’ll need to use my arms to protect my brain and eyes from the shrapnel just to live!”

As the grenades pelt the Innovator’s horde, Jen places Sarah’s body between her and the Innovator.

“Sorry, Sarah. You’ll have to forgive me for my lack of hospitality.”

Jen’s grenades explode, eliminating most of the Innovator’s horde.

However, drawn by the explosions, the creatures Harbinger and I were fending off turn to Jen. Having acquired a new target, our enemies rush past us, descending upon Jen’s position! past us, descending upon Jen!

Harbinger and I empty our clips into the stampede of creatures, but we can’t save Jen without her getting caught in the crossfire, given that Jen is directly behind a swarm of enemies!

“Jen, hit the ground!” I yell, intending to fire on her location.

But Jen does not comply. Instead, she simply drops her empty pistol and places both hands on Sarah’s shoulders.

“Sarah, I have some good news for you,” Jen explains in a calm, somber voice while Sarah snaps her jaws at Jen.

“Yes, yes, I know you’ve been waiting to hear this for a long time. And I’m here to inform you… that I’ll be giving you a clean bill of health!”

“Jen! What are you doing? Drop to the floor!” Harbinger orders.

“You’ll be discharged from the hospital today. Don’t be scared, Sarah! It’s good news! No more appointments, no more check-ups. You just need to promise me that you’ll take it easy for…ever…”

Jen turns to Harbinger and me, posing one final question, “Hey… though I failed as a doctor, did I succeed as a soldier?”

Not expecting a response, Jen plunges her knife into the back of Sarah’s neck, holding her body close as the two of them are engulfed by the swarm.

All we hear are the sounds of screams and struggles as they morph into the chattering of teeth, the clamor of mouths rending flesh, and the cracking of bones, deducing that she shared the same morbid fate as Trace…

My head is spinning, reeling from the loss of yet another ally. Though, unlike Trace, who was largely unacquainted with, this was my comrade.

The stoic, reliable Jen…

A matter-of-factly medic who discarded her path of healing to fight for a better future.

Now, she’s being devoured by a product of the very corporation that she intended to fight against, hoping to lead to its eventual dissolution.

The narrow chance that Jen was still alive, despite the harrowing noises I heard, was dashed, as I saw a lock of her blonde hair tossed away by one of those monsters.

Just discarded…

Just like that…

Enough.

“We’re not some corporate asset that you can own and liquidate!” I scream firing into the crowd of creatures desecrating Jen’s body.

“What’s the point of inventing anything if you have to forfeit your own humanity to do it, huh, Innovator?!”

“You’re dead, Innovator! Your obnoxious acoustic device, your filthy spacesuit, and your abominable test subjects—your life’s work—doesn’t even compare to the value of a single one of Jen’s medical consultations!” Harbinger yells in anger, as he races to stand next to me, shoulder-to-shoulder, mowing down the few remaining creatures surrounding the Innovator.

At least a hundred corpses lie dead on the floor. If we were a normal tactical squad, we would have already been overwhelmed by this “hostile-rich” environment. But by holding a replacement magazine in one hand and firing our rifles with the other, we were able to produce a near-continuous barrage of gunfire at the cost of accuracy. Not that accuracy is relevant when our enemies are so close and numerous.

Despite our threats and ruthless efficiency in slaying the former humans, the Innovator only stares back at us with a giant smug grin, almost as if he is certain he is completely protected. Is he bluffing? Has his stock of experimental monsters nearly depleted… or is he just getting started?

As I near the end of yet another clip of ammunition, Harbinger and I realize that we have finally killed enough creatures to close the gap between us and the Innovator. We dash toward the Innovator, but then—I am suddenly pinned to the ground! One of the straggling creatures leapt from one of the windows above, landing directly on top of me!

Pinned by the creature, I struggle to move or throw the creature off my back as it writhes on top of me.

THUD! THUMP! THUK!

I no longer hear gunshots coming from Harbinger direction, instead I hear the sound of a rifle being used as a makeshift club, smashing human heads.

Harbinger was ambushed by a fresh wave of monsters, cutting him off from me and leaving me to fend for myself…