The New Haven Incident - Part Thirty-One

Sakata groaned, eyes fluttering open to reveal shadowy figures crowded around him. He scowled and closed his eyes again, trying to quell the painful throbbing in the side of his head.

“Captain?” a familiar voice said, breaking through the low murmur of the ghostly figures. Sakata forced himself to take several deep breaths before attempting to open his eyes again. The light hurt, sending a dull throbbing from the back of his eyes into his skull.

“God damn it!” he growled to himself, closing his eyes again.

“Easy now,” the voice said. “You took quite the blow to the head.”

Sakata’s brow furrowed as he tried to place that voice. Rich and feminine, he knew it. But from where? Slowly, as if through fog, a memory appeared.

“Dr. Lundt?” He tried once more to open his eyes. It hurt a little less, so he kept them open as he tried to bring his surrounds into focus.

“Welcome back, Captain,” Joy said, her tone as grim as her expression.

Looking around, Captain Sakata noted his team and the survivors he should have been escorting to safety were gathered around him. Beyond them, he could make out sturdy bars. They were all in a cage.

“Where are we?” he asked, bringing his attention back to the geneticist kneeling at his side.

“It used to be a staff rec room,” Joy answered. “There was one on every floor.” She sighed. “It’s been converted into some kind of prison. How are you feeling? Any nausea?”

“A little. Prison?”

Dr. Lundt pulled a penlight from the pocket of her lab coat and turned it on. She flashed the light into Sakata’s eyes. He grunted and pulled his head away.

“Pupils are responsive,” Joy noted. “That’s good. The concussion is severe, but could be far worse. Can you stand?”

Captain Sakata grunted. “Let’s try.”

“I gotchya, Capt’n,” Franz said, stepping forward and offering his hand. Sakata glanced up at him, noting that he was now only in his shirt, trousers and boots.

“Where’s your gear, Harrison?” he asked as he took the man’s hand and let him help him to his feet.

“They took it from us, Sir.”

Sakata looked down at himself, noting that he, too, had none of his tactical gear or weapons on him. “They?”

“The Darkies, sir.”

Sakata blinked. He observed Franz a moment, trying to detect a lie, then turned to Dr. Lundt. “Is that true? Do they have that kind of sentience?”

Dr. Lundt shrugged. “Damned if I know. I was unconscious before I was thrown in this place.”

For a moment, Sakata opened his eyes wide. “Harding! What happened? Is he alright?”

“Harding is a bastard,” Dr. Lundt spat. She turned and walked a few steps away, the crowd parting for her. She turned on her heel. “He’s the reason I’m here.”

“I don’t understand.”

“He gassed us. Me. His team. We were in an observation room watching Sebastian fight the infection. Mendez left to help him, then Harding popped some gas canisters and I woke up here. The bastard is working with Reinhert.”

“That’s… That’s not possible. He would never —”

“He did.” A new voice, deep and familiar said. Sakata turned and the gathered survivors parted. Sakata’s eyes widened.

“Wu?”

The Captain of Team Four was sitting on a bench in a separate cell, the rest of Team Four sitting around him. They, too, had been stripped of their gear and were left with just their shirts, trousers and boots.

“Hey Rin,” Captain Wu greeted. He stood and walked to the bars as Captain Sakata approached him.

“What the fuck, Charlie?”

“Yeah,” Captain Wu said wryly. “Exactly.”

“Harding did this to you?”

“Not to us. We were attacked by a swarm not long after we arrived at the university. They didn’t kill us. They took us here. We’ve been here a while. It was Harding who led the Dark Ones carrying Dr. Lundt into the cell.”

“What?”

“It was him. Gotta admit, it took me longer than it should have to realise that he wasn’t here for a rescue. Wouldn’t answer any of my questions. When he left the room, he just gave me a shrug. That was it. It was like we hadn’t trained together for five fucking years.”

Sakata frowned. “How? Why?”

Captain Wu shook his head. “Don’t know. Maybe this Reinhert has some sort of dirt on him.”

“Blackmail?”

“I don’t think that was it,” Warrant Officer O’Neil said from this place in the corner of Team Four’s cell. “He didn’t look anything but calm and assured. He’s in this with his whole damned self.”

Sakata returned his attention to Wu. “Is that true, Charlie?”

Captain Wu looked away, struggling to voice the truth. He had noted it himself, but still didn’t want to believe it. Finally, he put his hands on his hips and nodded, looking down at the ground. “Yeah,” he muttered grudgingly. He looked up at Sakata. “Didn’t look like he was under any duress.”

“No,” Captain Sakata said firmly. “I don’t believe it.”

Wu simply shrugged. “Doesn’t change anything,” he noted. “We’re still trapped here.”

Sakata nodded. That much was true. He looked down at his wrist to find his watch missing. He had no idea how much time had passed, and so no idea whether or not the transports of evacuation were on their way, waiting, or had given up and left them all to burn when the bombs started dropping on the city.

“Fuck.”

He turned around and scanned his surrounds. He had to find a way out, and soon.

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