The Reaper Wars 04: Night Tides

"It ain't easy to get it to work in there but some of them do. Others find a sharp piece of metal or glass and cut away till they're gone."

Takashi didn't seem fazed by the sight whatsoever as he walked back to force my frozen form forward. He never took his arm off me while escorting me inside. Before entering, I took one last look at the men, women and children scrapping for a morsel of food only to finally see the still forms leaning against cage walls; the ones that didn't survive the disgusting melee for sustenance.

Finally in the hospital I noticed the smell was being combated by the sterilizing agents stored inside, giving rise to a war of scents where all were equally horrid. Just by the door was a high mirror. I imagined that before all this, some pretty woman must've used it to check her hair and make up before going to see the doctor about something trivial. Now I gazed at myself, barely recognizing the look in my eyes, not even recoiling at the dark stains marring my clothing. I hadn't even been here a day and already this place was changing me.

Takashi made a move to force me on once more, without thinking I smacked his grip away, turning towards him with outrage boiling over in my throat.

"Do you even stop to think about what it might be like for those people in there? Jesus Christ!" I cried out, turning on the spot, trying to move away some of the thoughts raging inside me and before I knew it I was on the ground.

The strike wasn't hard enough to knock me unconscious, though I didn't doubt the Sergeant could if he tried. But through some twisted mercy it helped me focus back on him, I was feeling something different than rage but it was muted the second I met his eyes. One wrong move and he could kill me without punishment or even so much as a second thought.

"I had to guard the Wall while my wife and two sons suffered in those pens so don't you fucking dare get righteous on me." Saliva spattered from his lips as he shouted at me, the whites of his eyes were visible in his murderous glare. He seemed to take a mental deep breath and compose himself. I thought he was about to say more, but instead, he paused for a moment and the crimson left his face.

"I don't think you've yet grasped the severity and scale of what's going on here but you will. We're undermanned and under supplied. Those rations! Those are ours! We can't ship in extra supplies for them because we can't fit it in amongst all the ordnance we need. We can't simply let them go either because sooner or later a carrier is gonna be amongst them and then we're all fucking dead!" He stormed away towards the next door, holding it open he looked back at me.

"We're suffering too, you wanna come see? Write some notes, take some video for your fucking bullshit story?!"

I didn't say another word, I couldn't. I simply followed him through and realized exactly what he meant once we entered the wards.

The smell of blood crashed against me like an aura materialized into force and as far as my eyes could see lay the injured, dead and dying. Medically trained personnel rushed around in a constant, frantic speed between patients, their plastic aprons criss-crossed with crimson smears. No bed was empty and when the beds ran out, the doctors and medics had to use what floor space was available.

I had to watch my step as I tiptoed over the wounded soldiers. I passed over three before something grabbed my leg forcing me to stop. Looking down I saw a young man holding onto my calf with whatever strength he had left. His face was covered with an unhealthy sheen of sweat and his skin was as pale as snow. He was struggling to breath as blood poured erratically out of his coughing mouth. He was dying, choking on his own blood from an internal injury.

I wanted to lean down and try and comfort him somehow but before I could, I was shoved out of the way by a medic. She checked him and looked over to a doctor nodding her head from side to side before leaving him. A few seconds later two soldiers moved to grab his legs and they dragged him away. There was no effort to ease his suffering, he was dead already and had only to suffer through it as he was dragged away like waste meat, still fighting for his final breaths. His weak screams only bringing on more torment as he faded from life alone and abandoned.

Takashi motioned me on once more and I waded through the slurry of blood, shit, piss and tears. Not a single bullet wound was present. Most of the casualties carried gruesome slashing injuries or hideous punctures. I passed three in-progress amputations in one room alone, their bellowing screams of pain practically pushing me on just to escape the sound.

I also noticed that some bore strange burns, more like corrosive burns than traditional fire- based wounds. These were the most grotesque as the victims were experiencing seizures with gaping holes through their bodies. Most of these were designated dead on arrival and dragged away screaming. Euthanasia wasn't a priority here and neither was decency. I had a growing suspicion that ammunition was considered too valuable to expend on these poor miserable souls.

We exited the wards on this level into a stairwell and I was shamefully grateful for the brief quiet. I had to stop for a moment halfway up the stairs and thankfully Takashi allowed me at least that.

"Those are all casualties from last night's attack. The ones that survived or weren't taken anyway." He looked at his hands again and once more I could see the incessant trembling.

"No fire caused the burns they suffered." I said, half statement, half question. I noticed I was panting, trying to catch my breath. There was so much pain in the air of those rooms, it overwhelmed me.

"You're right. The docs theorized that the creatures carry a molecular acid for blood. Shoot one on the street and its blood's gonna melt through a good few feet of concrete. Goes through steel like piss through toilet paper. You saw what it does when it touches skin.

Takashi lit another cigarette and held it towards me. I'll admit I was tempted, it was insanity. Part of me came to the conclusion that I could probably die here but I was worried about how smoking would affect my health. I declined and he slouched down against the wall opposite me. I always felt grateful for my health when I visited a hospital when nothing was wrong with me, now I just felt guilty.

"I lost a corporal on the botanic fields when they were building the Wall. A decent kid with dreams of honor and valor. Got impaled in the stomach by the tail of one of those things right here." He punched against his armor around the stomach area.

"He was dying already but the dragon hadn't finished. It pulled itself in with its tail and he unloaded his rifle at it. Filled it with more holes than you could count, covered his whole body with its blood and within a few seconds he was gone. Nothing. No body, no armor, nothing. Just gone. Didn't even have the chords left to scream."

"Even with all the shouting and gunfire we could hear him melting away, sizzling." As he was saying that he stubbed the cigarette before getting back up. "C'mon the Captain is this way."

We continued upwards to the third floor, the screams of the wounded following us all the way as we passed by more wards. There were no minor injuries: it was a case of if you could hold a gun you could fight. Eventually we reached what must've been the Captain's quarters.

Takashi entered first, holding me at arm's length from the doorway for a moment before we both entered. In contrast to all the ruin and squalor I had encountered since setting foot in Tokyo, the Colonel's quarters were like what his office must've been back at whatever base he was originally from. Presentable, organized, civilized. An oasis of order amongst the depravity and chaos.

Nothing seemed disheveled or out of place, apart from a single bunk that was situated at the far end of the room. But even the bed was made perfectly to the highest standard of inspection.

The Captain himself was as clean as a whistle in his dress uniform, perfectly shaven. His face was surrounded by the steam arising from a freshly made coffee resting in clean hands. The pistol resting beside him was in factory condition, like it had never been fired.

At the time I may have not liked Takashi but at least I was finally was beginning to understand why he and the other troops acted like they did. Instantly I had a dislike for the officer sitting in front of me.

"You armed this civilian Sergeant?" Not even an introduction as the Captain eyeballed the soldier behind me.

"Yes sir. I saw it fitting regarding his proximity to a possible contact. He has been instructed to turn it on himself in the event he is captured. As you say Captain "One less body is one less enemy."

The Captain stood up and faced the window leading to the balcony outside with his hands clasped behind his back. "Thank you Sergeant that'll be all. Wait outside and rest a moment."

"Yes sir." Takashi replied before twisting on his heel and marching out the room in perfect form. The Captain clearly demanded a high degree of respect. Or was it just blind obedience to any sense of order that remained in this hellish place?

I'd interviewed commanding officers before and it never goes the same way twice. To order soldiers into death's jaws requires a unique personality and strength of mind, for those that did it well at least. But this was no ordinary situation and this Captain was clearly no ordinary officer.

Neither of us spoke for those initial moments, we both shared whatever silence was possible amongst the animalistic noises from the city's refugees outside. I decided to go first but before I could even open my mouth he cut me off.

"You'll have many questions, I can imagine a lot of them concern the way things have been handled in this grave situation." He spoke with his back still facing me.

Even with my clothes saturated in dried blood and my memories filled with the horrors of what was happening here, I finally felt like I was in control for once. I was in familiar territory and as the Captain returned to his seat, I was armed to the teeth with questions.

"Ask your questions Mr Crook and I'll answer what I can, is that fair enough?" He asked and to which I nodded.

"Captain, this place is an information black site. Speaking from what I've seen, no other nation has any idea whatsoever what is going on here. Why bring me, a British journalist here when your country is working so hard to conceal all this?"

"I had you smuggled here because I want an unbiased account of what's happening here. My government have seen it wise to conceal the nature of the threat to the international community. If my superiors find out you're here I'll be probably executed for treason."

"You mean just like those men hanging from those ropes outside." It was too soon in the conversation to ask that question and I was damning myself for being so amateurishly forward.

The Captain sat with the question for a second and personally I thought that was it and that the interview was over.

"Have you ever been in a siege Mr Crook?" He asked, staring me dead in the eye.

"No, the last recorded siege was on Argus and that was a decade ago."

"Correct, sieges are generally considered one of the most savage instances of warfare. It's as much about morale as it is about numbers and weaponry. One man succumbs to his fear during battle and runs. Fear spreads like the plague and before you know it there's no one to man the defenses." He stood up again and faced the window, I was beginning to get the impression he didn't want to maintain eye contact for much longer.

"Lose the morale and you've lost the siege and make no mistake Mr Crook, we're under siege. If we fail here, the gates to Earth will open to these creatures and no amount of nukes will stop them. They spread like a plague so the seed of desertion has to be uprooted before it can be spread."

"Morale is hard to upkeep when your men are murdering innocent civilians." I pushed the ball this far, I had to keep it going.

"You see my quarters and my appearance and think that I refuse to get my hands dirty?" He asked rhetorically.

"Wouldn't be the first time an officer hides behind his men." It wasn't a direct accusation but I sure as hell was trying to imply it.

"Do you have any children David?" He used my first name, I had definitely struck a nerve.

"No I've never been lucky enough to find a woman that could deal with the nature of my work." Try having a relationship when you're away for months sometimes years in cryo and your other half has spent all that time alone, or perhaps not alone at all.

"I was very much the same for a time until luck found me and we had a son together. He was a good boy who followed in my footsteps and joined the military. He didn't have the same ambition that I did at his age, he merely wanted to serve." As he spoke the pride in his voice was as clear as the orange sun that blazed through the balcony window.

"We were both sent here from leave, home from our current tours past the outer rim, his body is in that pyre you passed down the street."

The air suddenly changed in the room and I started to regret my aggressive questioning. "Sir I'm so sorry I shouldn't have pressed you."

"No you're doing what your profession requires and I'd expect no less. He was taken by the creatures while in the quarantine zone on patrol, only a week or so ago. The days seem to meld together here." He paused to look at a framed photo sat on the desk facing away from me. His eyes betrayed the sense of remorseful longing in his eyes as he stared at the picture.

"Back then we really didn't understand the nature of our enemy and I thought I'd never see him again. I was inconsolable that night and against my wishes. I had to be sedated while my lieutenants took command of the section."

His hands grew visibly tight and began to tremor in his grip. "That night as I rested in a drug-induced sleep we came under heavy attack. We nearly lost the Wall. I woke up to my lieutenants dead and troops on the verge of panic. Carriers began to flow in with the refugees and quarantine was nearly broken before midday. With no system in place we simply shot them at the gates, allowing access to no one."

"Then a spotter identified my son running towards the gate, I couldn't believe it. My little Li was alive, I didn't think of quarantine, frankly I didn't care. I ordered the gates open and welcomed my boy right there. At first I didn't think, I was too relieved to see him alive."

I knew what was coming but I didn't dare breathe, it was clearly tearing this man's soul apart to retell this story.

"I already knew he was infected before the medic even checked him, he knew it too but he ran all that way for a sense of control over his own death. He wanted my pistol to end his life. I couldn't allow him that dishonor and so I did the deed myself."

He paused for a moment, the muscles of his jaws clenching his teeth down to crushing strengths. "I aimed at the base of his skull and after a few seconds I pulled the trigger. It was as much mercy as I could give him. To feel no pain at the end."

I looked towards the bed and realized the reason it was so tidy wasn't that he kept it that way it was that the poor bastard had probably not slept for a full hour since sticking a bullet in the back of his son's skull.

I will never forget what I saw come out of that dead boy's chest, that serpentine abomination. Whatever these things were, they couldn't possibly be as terrifying as what they had forced these humans to become. These pitiful damned souls that were shackled to this wretched place. This living Hell.

"I think that our conversation has run its course Mr Crook. I trust that you have recording equipment with you?" He finally turned back to face me and I could finally see through the facade he wore for his troops. He was weary to the bone and clearly wanted to be left alone.

"Yes Captain."

"Good, you have my blessing to record everything that you deem necessary. You'll be on the next resupply flight that leaves the day after tomorrow. In the mean time I'll leave you under the care of Sergeant Takashi. He'll look after you, he's always served me with distinction and honor, even here. That'll be all."

I collected my rucksack and proceeded to head to the door but I couldn't leave it at that, I'd gotten the man so wrong. "Captain, for what it's worth I'm truly sorry about your son."

The captain was sat back at his desk again, the pistol sitting ominously close to his steady hand. "Thank you Mr Crook but I'm grateful that he didn't live long enough to become a monster." Did he mean the serpent or the men under his command?

Takashi was waiting outside, the walls weren't thick. He had heard everything . He didn't make a comment about the conversation with the Captain as we took the same route back through the hospital. Navigating through the wards I noticed that the number of wounded present had lowered. Jesus as I sat upstairs conducting an interview people had died right underneath my feet. It was a harrowing thought but the Captain wanted me to do my job and that's what I was going to do.

Finally we left the building and the sun was beginning its descent back down towards the western horizon. The slow shadow would begin to come down on the Wall as night fell, but at the very least that wasn't for another couple hours.

"What now?" I asked Takashi. I felt like I had seen enough of the devastation and the macabre to last a life time, but the night was still young.

" Now Civvie. You're going up there with me. It's time you saw what remains of our great city." Takashi started walking towards the stairs and I followed.

As we climbed up the stairs, the height suddenly became all too real. I stared down at the gaps between each step and saw the drop heighten. It didn't help that the stairs audibly winced every couple of steps, or that my boots were sticking to the grated surface from the fresh layers of congealed blood. With every step I could feel someone's blood suctioning my feet to the steps with a wet tear as my boots separated from the metal.

We reached the summit and I looked to the east, towards the destruction, an entire city razed to the ground and shattered beyond imagination.

Takashi stood beside me. He knew what was coming before I even did as my sense of balance weakened. A steady hand kept me from losing my footing as my eyes blinked away the stinging smoke. Thick clouds of permeating ruin that sailed on coastal winds towards us, carrying with them the ghosts of millions.

"You finally know what we're dealing with now Civvie. Welcome to Tokyo." I recognized the voice as that of Corporal Hoshi, Takashi's second-in-command who I rode alongside from the landing site. He was one of the squad that slept like a baby as we left that boy's burning body behind.

My mind couldn't quite comprehend what greeted my eyes. As far as I could see, the scale of ruination and chaos seemed impossible. The city had suffered more than a disaster. It was a reckoning of apocalyptic proportions. It seemed fantastical at first, like a biblical nightmare, but it was apparently nothing compared to the towering fires that raged the night it all began. The night the Gatekeeper fell from the sky and the demons emerged to claim whoever survived.

My eyes passed every empty street and hollow building; nothing stirred. I couldn't see any movement whatsoever. The city looked to be a dead carcass. Its citizens, its wealth and its industry consumed, stripped bare; leaving only the broken bones of memory. But the soldiers were soon quick to remind me that inside the honeycomb of shattered skyscrapers, nestled in those crumbling ruins, the dragons were lying in wait.