The New Haven Incident - Part Thirty-Seven

Mendez glowered at the back of Captain Harding’s head during the long, silent walk. He could do nothing. He had been stripped of his weapons and walked with his former unit surrounding him, now his enemy. They were remarkably vigilant for men with such blank eyes. Behind him, the tranquiliser having worn off quickly, Lilith walked with Dr. Liu by her side holding her hand, escorted by Dark Ones. Lilith walked as if in a dream, her head down. Her father looked across at her often, his face etched with concern. Like Mendez, there was nothing they could do but comply.

Nothing yet. Mendez swore to himself that he’d make Harding pay. Somehow. Then he’d make Reinhert pay for what he did to his friend to make him this way. His mind turned unwillingly to Sebastian, now dead in an underground corridor. His body will be buried by the rubble when the bombs strike the city. No one who knew him would be informed. Those civilians waiting for him to come to their aid will die waiting. It will be as if he never existed, and everything he had fought so hard to achieve here would come to nothing.

He had just been cured. Mendez growled his frustration.

He had known Sebastian only a short time, but in that time, he had come to respect him a great deal. Despite the surly, dour exterior, despite the obvious traces of addiction etched into the man’s arms, there were glimpses of the kind man he might have been if Cedarwood never happened. Sebastian had cared about what happened to the people everyone forgot. Hell, he threatened suicide on their behalf. In everything, he proved to be incredibly selfless; to a fault as it turned out. He had known, Mendez was certain, that he could not win the fight he picked with Harding. But he fought anyway, trying to buy time for Lilith to carve an escape.

Lilith failed, Sebastian failed, Mendez failed.

The injustice of it all chaffed. Mendez felt his hands itch; an uncharacteristic desire for retribution making him curl his fingers into fists. He wished more than anything to put a fist through Harding’s stupid, smug face.

How could he do it? How could he sacrifice his humanity? His team? His friend? For this? A thousand questions raced through Mendez’ head, a hundred sudden wounds requiring violent redress. That Mendez could do nothing about any of it was the greatest wound of all. He struggled to rein in his temper. He had to keep a clear head if he had any chance of saving Lilith and her father, let alone the rest of the city.

Finally, after turning down endless corridors, the three were ushered into a small, white room. Mendez watched, trying to keep his expression neutral, as his weapons were stowed away in lockers. He did not resist as his tactical vest and various holsters were removed, leaving him with only his shirt, trousers and boots. He felt naked without his kit. He refused to meet Harding’s eye, electing instead to stare hard at the far wall. The captain stood to the side, his face impassive, watching the blank-eyed members of his team go about their business.

Lilith had her weapons similarly removed and stowed. She also did not resist. Mendez could not meet her eye, not because he felt any kind of animosity towards her, but because he could not bear to see the grief in those dark eyes. Because he felt responsible for the failure. He had not been fast enough. He should have tried harder. His logical mind knew there was nothing he could do against an enemy that literally refused to die. This did nothing to ease the guilt that compounded the rage currently burning in his chest.

Dr Liu had his pockets searched. Richards pulled out a small thumb drive and held it up. This caught Harding’s interest. He pulled his weight away from the wall against which he leant and walked forward.

“What’s this now?” he asked, taking the drive and examining it.

Dr. Liu did not respond. He did not shy from Harding’s gaze, responding to the big man with a surprising amount of steel in his demeanour.

“Let’s take a look.” Harding opened a panel in the room to reveal a small computer. He plugged the thumb drive in and opened the first file. He continued until he came to a video file. Not hesitating, he pressed play.

My name is Doctor James Liu, Liu’s voice said from the computer speakers. I am a researcher at the Cedarwood Research Facility, New Haven campus. Harding scrubbed through the video. …I believe the New Haven infection was deliberately released by Dr. Reinhert as an unsanctioned human trial for a viral delivery system he created for the purpose of — Harding stopped the video and straightened. He turned and observed Liu a moment before striking out, delivering a backhand that sent the doctor sprawling.

Lilith broke out of her grief, leaping at Harding with an angry shriek. The fight was brief, and so fast Mendez couldn’t really understand what was happening. It ended with Lilith against a wall, her hands pinned above her head, Harding using his body to pin her against the wall.

“You’re no longer the strongest one in the room, little girl,” he growled softly in her ear. He leant in and sniffed her neck. Lilith struggled, but could do nothing.

Mendez moved, crossing to Harding in two strides, he grabbed a hold of the captain and bodily hauled him off Lilith with a primal snarl. Lilith fell to her hands and knees with a soft gasp.

“Don’t touch her,” he growled as Harding slid across the polished tile floor on his side. Harding rose to his feet, laughing softly.

“Or what?” he asked Mendez. “What are you going to do about it?”

Mendez would not win a fight against Harding. Even if Harding hadn’t drunk the Kool-Aid, and become the monster he was now, it would have been an impossibly close match. Still, Mendez put his hands up in the guard position.

“Try me, asshole.”

Harding did, and in a fight briefer than between Harding and Lilith, Mendez was on the ground, his ears ringing from the strike to his head. That he was still conscious was a testament to how much the captain had held back. Mendez tried to push himself upright. A roaring pain in his side told him that Harding had also broken his ribs.

A hand closed around Mendez’ neck as Harding pulled him up, lifting him so that his toes scraped on the ground.

“Don’t pretend you’re better than me, Mendez. You’d do the same if you were me.”

Oliver scoffed, too angry and indignant to have room for fear. “You really think that, Harding? Do you even know me? Did you ever? That’s how you bastards always justify what you do. You think everyone is the same. That they’d do the same things. But you’re wrong. I am better than you. And to think I looked up to you.”

Harding lowered Mendez until his feet were firmly on the ground. Then he punched him, throwing a powerful uppercut into Medez’ abdomen. The Warrant Officer dropped to the ground with a grunt, dizzy with pain.

“Take them,” Harding said, stepping away.

The Dark Ones regained control of Dr. Liu and Lilith, taking them to the door at the far end of the room. Lilith met Mendez’ eyes. Her expression was steely, her eyes flashing. It felt depressingly like a goodbye. Richards and Joseph each grabbed one of Mendez’ arms and hauled him upright. Not yet having recovered the use of his legs, they dragged him from the room through a different door. Yet more corridors greeted Mendez’ vision. They turned down three separate ones before his legs started working again. By that time, however, they had reached their destination, stopping before a recessed door. It slid open with a hiss, and Mendez was pulled inside.

Sturdy make-shift cells, newly made out of rusty steel scavenged from somewhere, lined the room. Mendez was pushed into one of the smaller ones, currently unoccupied. The door slammed shut and locked as he turned around and lunged forward. He reached through the bars and grabbed the shirt of one of his captors — Richards.

“If you think you won’t pay for this, Richards, you’re wrong. I swear to God I will get out, and I will find a way to end you. I promise.”

Blank eyes stared at Mendez. Richards stepped away, giving Mendez no real choice but to release him, turned and, with Joseph coming silently to his side, exited the room.

“Mendez?”

Oliver turned at the sound of his name and saw Sakata in one of the larger cages along with the rest of his team, and the two groups of survivors. Captain Wu and Team Four occupied another cell. Wu rose and walked to the bars, greeting Mendez with a curt nod.

“Captains,” he greeted, offering nothing but a curt nod.

“Thank God,” Sakata said, smiling slightly. “When I saw it was Team Two… I was worried you’d become like them.”

Mendez scoffed. He wrapped his hands around the bars near the lock and shook, testing their strength.

“Where is Dr. Liu and Lilith?” Dr. Lundt demanded.

“They took them. I don’t know where,” Mendez answered honestly.

“Agent Connors?” Sakata asked.

Mendez gripped the bars hard and looked down at the ground before shaking his head.

“I’m sorry,” Dr. Lundt said softly. “A cure was always a long shot.”

Mendez snorted. “It worked,” he said, looking up at her, feeling his eyes burn with the rage that flared again in his chest. “The cure. It worked. It was Harding who killed him.”

A murmur made its way through the captives.

“Jesus,” Sakata murmured.

“Yeah,” Mendez agreed. He stepped back from the cell door and looked around. He didn’t know what he was looking for; something, anything that might help him escape. “Harding is going to pay. But first, we need to get the hell out of here.”

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