The New Haven Incident - Part Ten

The morning was cruel. It was Dr. Lundt who noticed that Sarah was no longer breathing. She had died in the night, and was cold by day break. Lilith woke to find the doctor, sitting by Sarah’s bed, silent tears streaming down her face. She knew immediately, and was at Dr. Lundt’s side, wrapping her arms around the woman as a sob finally broke loose.

Mendez woke with a start, sitting upright from the dubious bed that he had made of the first few steps leading up to the loft where the survivors were sleeping. Soft murmurs and a few quiet sniffles drew him up to investigate. He stopped at the top of the stairs, frozen by the sight of the survivors gathered around Sarah’s bed. His heart dropped as the realisation hit him.

“Fuck,” he whispered quietly to himself. He made the sign of the cross, not because he believed, but because his abuela would beat him with her slipper if she ever found out he did not.

The grieving did not take long. After a moment, Dr. Lundt pulled the blanket that had been covering the girl over her head, and stood.

“Gather your supplies,” she murmured, and the cluster of now nine survivors dispersed, packing what little they had in melancholic silence.

“I’m sorry,” Mendez said gently as Dr. Lundt approached, Lilith at her right shoulder. Dr. Lundt nodded, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

“Tell your commander we’re ready to move when you are.”

Mendez nodded. He flicked a quick glance at Lilith before descending the steps to relay the news of Sarah’s death and the readiness of the survivors. Lilith touched the doctor’s shoulder, and Lundt turned.

I have to go.

Dr. Lundt nodded. “Be safe,” she said, taking both of Lilith’s hands. “We’ll see you tonight.”

Lilith nodded, offering a sad smile before following Mendez down the stairs. She paid the extraction team no mind as they ceased all their activity to watch her cross the floor, open the sliding door to the balcony, and leap off the side.

“Second star on the right,” Mendez murmured, “And on until morning.”

“What?” Richards demanded.

“Never mind.”

Carter tore the communications unit out of his ear and tossed it onto the table in disgust. “It’s not fucking working,” he growled. He rubbed the side of his face and turned as the sun broached the horizon, breaking the gloom at last with warm, golden light. It did not help to lift the eeriness of a silent city.

Sakata grunted. He straightened, adjusted his gear and looked down at the ground in thought. “We proceed as planned,” he said at length. “Wake the group. We need to head out soon.”

Carter nodded. He groaned as he rose from the chair, which he had been sitting in all night. “Christ,” he muttered.

“Getting old, nerd,” Sakata said, flashing a grin.

On any other day, Carter would argue. Not today. He was too damned tired and too damned achy. Instead, he simply grunted his agreement before collecting his weapons and heading to the boardroom to wake the survivors. He paused as he exited the boardroom Dr. Liu had given them, noting that Sebastian leant against the only entrance to the floor, one leg resting on the door behind him, one arm folded across his torso, supporting the other at the elbow. His lips rested on the knuckles of his free hand, thumb twitching as he stared blankly at the floor. Carter beckoned to Grier who walked over.

“What’s his story?” he asked in a low voice.

“Stood there all night,” Grier answered. “Thought he was asleep a couple of times, but if any of us moved, he would snap to.” Both men stared at Sebastian. The man glanced up at them, offered a sardonic smile, then returned to his brooding. Grier leant in close and whispered, “I don’t think he’s all there.”

Carter snorted. “Tread carefully, my friend.” Grunting, Grier returned to his position, and Carter turned to wake the survivors.

To his surprise, they were already awake. They sat in small groups of three or four, mostly in silence. Whatever gear they had was packed, and what they didn’t intend to take with them was stacked neatly against the far wall.

Dr. Liu stood as Carter entered. “Good morning, Lieutenant,” he greeted in his quiet voice.

“You’re ready to go, I see,” Carter said.

Dr. Liu nodded. “We’re just waiting on one other. Then we can go to the safe house.”

“Safe house?”

“That’s what we’ve taken to calling them. They are places to go when we have to move, which, if we’re to evade the patrols, we’d be wise to do, and soon.”

“Uh… we’re to escort you to the Vista Hotel —”

“We’re not going there,” Dr. Liu said. “It’s full of infected.”

“Intel marked it as safe.”

“Your intelligence is not up to date, Lieutenant,” Dr. Liu said, mildly. “We go where she says.”

“Who?”

“My daughter.”

Carter stared at the doctor. “We have orders —”

“You might,” Dr. Liu said. “But we do not. We go where Lilith says.”

“Lilith?”

“My daughter. Do keep up.”

Carter rubbed the side of his face. “Well, the Captain needs to hear this.”

“By all means, lead the way. I will explain it to him.”

For a moment, Carter could do nothing but stare at the man. At length, he shrugged. “Okay.” he said. “Come on then.”

Captain Sakata was playing with the radio when Carter returned with Dr. Liu in tow.

“Good morning, Doctor,” he said, flicking a switch repeatedly.

“You’ll break it,” Carter grumbled, pulling the radio away. He looked at his captain. “Slight problem,” he noted.

Sakata raised his brows and looked at the doctor.

“I understand that it is your intention to take us to the Vista?” Dr. Liu said.

“Yes.”

“No.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“The place is a nesting site for the infected. You can’t take us there. You may as well be offering us up already spitted for roasting.”

Sakata blinked. “The area is clear.”

“It is not.”

“Our intel —”

“Is incorrect.”

Pausing, Sakata observed the doctor a moment. “And you know this how?”

“My daughter.”

“Your daughter.”

“Name’s Lilith, apparently,” Carter noted.

Sakata glanced at Carter, then returned his attention back to the doctor.

“She’s the reason any of us are still alive at all,” Dr. Liu said. “She knows the situation out there. She’s the one who made the observations about their remarkable behaviours, and she knows where is safe and where is not. Well, as safe as can be expected given…” Dr. Liu waved vaguely. “We go where she says.”

“We have orders —”

Carter snorted and Dr. Liu explained. “As I said to your subordinate, you might, but we do not. We go where Lilith says.”

“Alright, let me talk with her. Which one is she?”

“Oh, she’s not here.”

“Not here.”

“No. She went to Joy… to Dr. Lundt’s group to deliver food and medicine. She is expected to return soon.”

Sakata stared at Dr. Liu.

“I should also explain, that she isn’t —”

A shout of surprise and the sounds of a struggle interrupted the doctor. Sakata and Carter rushed past him into the hall, and immediately pulled their rifles up. joining the rest of the team, who were all aiming at Sebastian; all except Grier, who once again found himself facing his team, back pressed against Sebastian’s chest, a knife at his throat and his own sidearm pointed at Franz.

“Put them down,” Sebastian said, his blue eyes like ice.

“What the fuck?” Sakata demanded.

“It’s a giant fucking bug, sir,” Grier said.

Sebastian changed tactics, placing the barrel of the sidearm against Grier’s temple. “Down. Now.”

“That’s not a bug, Captain,” Dr Liu said quietly. “Please put your weapons down.”

“What fucking bug?” Sakata snapped.

“Please, just put the guns down.”

There was a long hesitation as Sakata observed Sebastian. There was nothing about him that suggested that his threat of pulling the trigger and ending Franz and Grier was anything close to a bluff. After attempting, and failing, to come up with a scenario in which he didn’t lose at least two of his men, Sakata lowered the rifle and took his finger off the trigger. “Weapons down.”

Slowly, reluctantly, the rest of Team Three did as they were commanded.

“Thank you,” Dr. Liu said. “Lilith?”

A face peeked out from behind Sebastian’s right shoulder. Sakata started. Large, dark eyes that were a little too large for the heart-shaped face in which they sat peered at him. Copper patches of raised skin decorated her forehead, growing in size and reducing in number as they reached her hairline to form a band of shimmering bronze. His disbelief grew as she stepped out. Four large, dragonfly-like wings protruded from her back.

Instinct almost brought his rifle up again, but Sebastian caught the hint of movement, and reminded the captain that Grier’s life was still in his hands. Sakata released the gun. He felt Dr. Liu move past him and watched as the doctor walked brusquely forward to embrace the winged woman.

“I was worried,” he heard the doctor murmur. He watched as the woman signed.

“Oh,” Dr. Liu said. “Oh no.” He pulled the winged woman close. “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

Sakata continued to stare as, clearly upset about something, the woman buried her head into her father’s neck.

Sufficiently assured that no one would shoot now, Sebastian released Grier. He unchambered the bullet in the man’s sidearm, set the safety to on, and handed the weapon back to the lieutenant. Grier took it, but offered a scowl instead of thanks.

“I think someone needs to do some talking,” Sakata said, as the woman and the doctor separated.

Dr. Liu turned. “Captain Sakata, this is my daughter, Lilith.”

Lilith offered the captain a small, sad smile and a wave, an unremarkable greeting had it not come from a human-sized fairy.

“What…?”

“It’s a long story, Captain. And not one we have time to tell. It’s time to be off.”

Lilith signed. Dr. Liu translated.

“She says that she met the other team. The rendezvous has changed. He’s been trying to raise you on the radio all night, but has so far only managed to contact your operations control.”

Sakata frowned.

“This can’t be real,” Savage said. He turned to his captain. “You can’t be believing this?”

“Harding,” Dr. Liu supplied as Lilith signed. “And the tall one with the chocolate.”

“Mendez,” Franz murmured. He turned to his captain. “Sir, I don’t think she’s lying.”

“You think she’s for real?” Savage demanded.

“Unless we’re all having a mass hallucination,” Franz snapped in response.

“Everyone calm down,” Sakata said. He sounded less like a captain than an exasperated parent. It pulled a smile from Lilith. Sakata noted it, and he observed her, trying to decide on the best course of action. “Okay,” he said. “What’s the new location?”

Lilith signed. There is a second-floor dance studio on the corner of Lavender and Jacaranda. The area has been patrolled and abandoned. There’s nothing but kobolds there now, and not many of those left.

Dr. Liu translated.

“Kobolds?”

“What in the D&D campaign bullshit is this?” Carter demanded.

Sakata turned to him. “You know what kobolds are, nerd?”

“They’re lizard-people-things. Low level monsters from Dungeons and Dragons.”

Rats, actually, Lilith corrected, through her father. Infected, scaly rats; as large as a medium dog.

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Carter said. 

“Low-level monsters, huh?” Sakata said. “And I suppose that the hotel is full of higher level monsters.”

Yes, Lilith said, smiling brightly. Exactly.

“I guess it’s to the dance studio we go. Everyone get ready. We’re moving out.”

Sebastian stood to one side, watching the interactions, utterly forgotten. It was a special talent to go from the greatest threat in the room to absolutely invisible; and while that was a skill he indeed possessed, it was helped exponentially by the young, winged woman who seemed to effortlessly shrug off her strange appearance and bring people to her side. He smiled slightly as he observed her, then turned to note that the survivors were ready to go. Captain Sakata gathered everyone into formation, and they left the boardroom.

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