LUNA HELEN

  Now Helena was there, falling right in front of me. Her body still twitched, going through its final spasms.

  My entire body trembled; I was still trying to understand how all of this had happened.

  I looked at Erick behind me, and his expression was even more shocked than mine.

  I stepped closer to him.

  “Are you okay? What happened to you? Your body started burning… and there was a light.”

  Erick’s face grew more and more confused as I spoke.

  “Light? Burning?”

  He frowned, as if trying to make sense of everything.

  He tried to stand up, but his steps were unsteady; he seemed clumsy.

  “Luna, I don’t know what happened, but I saw things… strange things…”

  Erick explained what he had seen, and now I was the one completely confused. Was it just a hallucination, or was there something more to all of this?

  Either way, we didn’t have time to think about it. We needed to get out of there. I walked outside, and everything was shut down; even the droid guarding the door lay malfunctioning on the floor.

  I hoped the elevator was still working, and luckily it was. As Erick leaned on me for support, I noticed something was off. He was quieter than usual, more introspective. I was afraid of what that could mean…

  Once inside the elevator, I selected floor 2. I needed to find Lúcius and Crox and tell them what Helena had been doing. I would have to say it was all an accident…

  GENERAL EDMOND CROX

  As we drank, we talked and reminisced about how we had met and everything we had gone through to get where we were.

  I glanced at the monitor, and there it was — the alert.

  8 MINUTES UNTIL CONTACT.

  “Well, the conversation’s been good, but I’d like you to help me with something… one last time.”

  I could see the confusion on Lúcius’s face.

  “Sir?”

  I stood up and walked over to a wall with a control panel. I typed in a code that only I knew — something I had hidden from everyone since the creation of these facilities. Something I hoped I would never have to use again.

  The wall opened, and there it was — glorious, just like the first time I saw it, despite the worn paint and battle scars. The only truly new thing was the arm, replaced after my last battle on the front lines. I felt a phantom pain in it, even knowing it was no longer there.

  I turned to see Lúcius staring at the armor.

  “You remember it, don’t you?”

  “How could I forget?”

  He stepped closer, placing one hand on the replaced arm. He had always blamed himself for it, even though I never held any resentment. On the contrary — we survived and saved many lives because of him.

  “What do you intend to do with it, sir?”

  “Well, I need you to help me put it on. Soldier, Lieutenant, Doctor… and my best friend, Lúcius Varela. Would you help this old man in one last battle?”

  “Yes, sir!”

  He answered with a hoarse voice, without hesitation, snapping into a military salute.

  LúCIUS VARELA

  My chest tightened at those words. I had always known our time was coming to an end, but now it was certain.

  I had my repair kit with me, as always. We didn’t have much time to make the armor functional.

  “Sir, we have a problem. I can’t locate the weapon system.”

  “Don’t worry about that. Just focus on the movement maintenance and the nitrogen core…”

  Those words… now I understood what he was planning. My hands trembled involuntarily, but I forced myself to continue. I had no right to deny a man the choice of how he would meet his end.

  When I finished the repairs and helped him suit up, Edmond removed his coat and gloves, revealing his metallic arm, gleaming under the red lights of the room. It still hurt to see it.

  He stepped into the armor. The blue and green were worn by time, but it was still majestic.

  “Sir, are you sure about this?”

  Edmond placed a hand on my shoulder. He was smiling — something I hadn’t seen since the loss of his daughter.

  That broke me inside. My eyes burned as tears streamed down my face.

  “Soldier, are you crying?”

  “No, sir… it’s just dust…”

  Edmond smiled one last time as he turned and walked toward the emergency elevator leading outside. Only a handful of them still existed, and one was right there.

  It didn’t take long for him to reach Sector 1. I used one of the drones to follow him and maintain communication, since the armor lacked proximity sensors.

  The creature had already reached the area, but we still had no visual confirmation. The thick fog and the darkness of night prevented any form of visualization, human or mechanical. The only things still functioning were the motion sensors beneath the ground.

  “Which direction is it coming from?”

  Edmond asked. His voice was calm, but I knew it was only a fa?ade.

  “Sir, it’s 300 meters to your left. Ever since that thing started moving toward us, attacks from the smaller creatures have decreased. Today, they stopped completely. I don’t understand this behavior… it’s as if it’s a top predator, and the others are afraid to approach.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “How are the soldiers?”

  “All positioned inside the Sector 1 facilities, sir.”

  “…Good.”

  Sudden, irregular knocks echoed at the door. Who could it be, in a situation like this?

  I stood up and opened it. There they were — the two siblings, Luna and Erick. They looked terrible. I can’t imagine what they went through to get here.

  “Come in. What happened to you? And where’s Helena? We tried contacting her, but got no response.”

  When I asked about Helena, they exchanged glances, and the brother looked away.

  As they stepped inside, I noticed the young man’s body. There were no crimson veins on his skin anymore; he looked perfectly “normal.” That filled me with a hope I hadn’t felt in a very long time.

  Then the girl began to speak.

  “There was an accident with the compound, and Helena was contaminated. She completely lost control… and ended up taking her own life…”

  The story was poorly told. I needed more details.

  “And him? What happened to his body for it to be like this?”

  “We didn’t—”

  Her voice was cut off by Edmond’s transmission.

  “Lúcius? What’s the distance?”

  The surprise distracted me. I turned to the monitors.

  “Sir, it’s about 45 meters in front of you. Do you see any sign of it?”

  “No. I should have seen it by now…”

  That was strange.

  “What’s going on? Where is General Crox?”

  I explained quickly. The girl’s shocked expression said everything. The young man, on the other hand, seemed lost in his own thoughts.

  “Lúcius, who’s there with you?”

  “It’s the siblings, sir. Luna and Erick Helen.”

  “What? What are they doing there? And Helena — how is she?”

  “…She’s fine, sir. They came to inform us that the tests are progressing.”

  As I spoke, the girl stared at me. Tears streamed down her face as she covered her mouth. She understood what I was doing — and why. I couldn’t allow that man’s end to be even more tragic.

  “Is she there? I’d like to say goodbye.”

  “No, sir. She had to stay in the laboratory.”

  “…I understand. Then please tell her I’m sorry. For everything. For not protecting her. For demanding so much from her… And tell her I was always grateful for everything she did for Camille. She stayed by my daughter’s side until the very end…”

  “Understood, sir…”

  “Lúcius… are you seeing this?”

  I looked at the screen. A silhouette emerged. As it drew closer, details became clearer. The thing was enormous — around 7 to 8 meters tall, bipedal, its body covered in red and black fur, riddled with exposed pustules.

  The most grotesque part was its massive mouth, with a nearly two-meter-long twisted tongue emerging from the middle of its waist. A single eye occupied what should have been its head. Everything about it was wrong.

  It walked calmly toward us, destroying everything in its path with each step.

  GENERAL EDMOND CROX

  The thing was massive. My entire body trembled on instinct. Just looking at it distorted my mind. But I had a purpose — that was why I was there.

  I began removing part of the armor plating protecting the polymer nitrogen reactor. I was about to disengage the containment when the giant moved. Its eye locked directly onto me, and it screamed.

  A scream so terrifying and distorted that it froze my entire body. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t move.

  The creature went into a frenzy and charged toward me. My body still wouldn’t respond. The closer it got, the worse my mental state became.

  When it was about ten meters away, I began to feel changes in my body. I felt veins spreading and writhing; my skin itched so badly I could have cut it just to make the sensation stop.

  “Lúcius… I’m sorry. I can’t move anymore. Something in that thing’s scream paralyzed me…”

  My voice came out distorted. I began hearing whispers in a language I didn’t recognize. So this was what had happened to all those creatures… and now it was happening to me.

  “Sir… I’m sorry for this…”

  Lúcius said.

  Seconds later, I felt something strike me. Then came an electric discharge. I felt that my body was still mine. The pain and heat released enough adrenaline to make it react.

  I could move again and disengaged the containment. There was no turning back now. The giant was closer.

  But it needed to come even closer.

  I advanced toward it. The closer I got, the more my body changed. My hair began to fall out. My tongue split in two. The pain was unbearable.

  I was no longer human. I no longer had control over my body. But it kept advancing.

  I screamed, roared like a beast, charging toward that thing. My consciousness began to fade, but I was still there… like an echo of myself.