Virulent

Chapter 13(b): Horror

Ezra fell into her recent routine, arriving at the lab early enough to take her time getting in her suit, by the time the new guy she referred to as Fly—as in a fly on the wall for all he did, all day—arrived to watch her. When he did, she was already in her inner suit, getting her glove on. He seemed jittery than normal this morning, bounding in like a child on too much sugar.

"What's up, Doc?" he may as well have shouted.

It startled Ezra and caused her hand to jerk, ripping the inner latex glove she'd been meticulously tapping around the wrist.

Great. She'd have to start that again.

"What?" She turned, finally noticing how buzzed he was.

The young boy—she doubted he was eighteen—scratched his head sheepishly. "Kind of wish I wasn't here right now. No offense, Doc."

Ezra didn't know why he still called her Doc, though she'd asked him to call her Ezra or Dr Mayur. "Why?" she asked. "Am I too boring a detail for you?" Half of her hoped that was true and she could tell him to leave, that she'd be fine on her own. At least it would give her a window of opportunity to try things out without the eyes.

The soldier shook his head, laughing. "No, it's not that, Doc. It's just Captain Gracery landed with the new recruits, and everyone is going... to see them..."

New recruits. Ezra faintly remembered that conversation from yesterday's drill.

"... I was kind of hoping you'd sleep in or something and give me a chance to go see them..."

"Oh!" Ezra nodded. Was he waiting for her to let him go? "Would you like to go?"

He hesitated. "I can't just leave you..."

His face reminded her of the one Shaki was notorious for pulling, the one that basically begged her to come along. "Would you like me to go with you?" If Captain Gracery was right, these were recruits for her lab. She may as well see the soldiers she'd be working with.

Fly's eyes went wide with excitement. "Would you?"

"May as well. I'll have to start this from scratch, anyway." Ezra ripped off the rest of the glove and turned around. "Help me out of this."

#

When Ezra followed Fly to what they called an observation deck, she had not expected the whole of the base to be there, gathered shoulder-to-shoulder, vying for a look. I may as well have stayed in the lab, she thought when faced with wide shoulders and not a lick of view of the garage below. That vast open bunker where they stored their vehicles was also their main entrance.

It was a while before the crowds thinned a little, having caught sights of the newbies and wandered off, talking amongst themselves, that she made her way to the edge of the deck to get a look herself. Why she bothered with more soldiers, she couldn't tell. It wasn't an everyday occurrence, so it must have been boredom.

As soldiers passed her, she caught snippets of comments that confused her to no end, before the view revealed itself.

"...did you see that one with the cute, round face? I'd like to get to know her if you know what I mean..."

"...they look surprised to be here..."

"...one minute they're home, next minute..."

And as she did, moved towards the edge, a sense of dread bubbled in her chest. No. No. It can't be. Please. Please don't let it be them—But her thoughts halted like a train about to hit a jumper. Screeching.

"What? No, no, no..." She gripped the railing, a wringing pain in her chest as her heart went from zero to a hundred in a second. Tehreem. She'd recognised that beautiful flowing dark waves tied high in a ponytail and that graceful walk anywhere. But the more she looked, the more her heart attempted to escape its hold. It wasn't only Tehreem standing there, rounded up like cattle she'd seen in shows, confused and terrified. Every single face she saw brought back memories of the candidates Rai had shown her on their Antarctica trip. Every single one...and then more. More familiar faces than she liked.