Chapter Fifteen – Passionate

Chapter Fifteen – Passionate

“I have a hard time looking down on them. You know, the people who tried really, really hard to find some good in the aliens.

Poor, kind souls.”

—Garen Dispry, Secretary of Defence, 2028

***

Antithesis were quiet. It was one of those things that made them extra-fucky. Normal animals were supposed to make noise, right? I hadn’t seen too many, other than the occasional rat, but the videos and such of dogs always showed them moving and breathing and generally making a lot of noise.

The antithesis in the second tower didn’t make a noise as they melted. It was really disappointing.

“Gom? I think I’m done clearing this area. How are things going on your end?”

“I have an entire tower that looks like a pyre. It’s beautiful. I can’t tell if the crackle I hear is the building melting or the aliens, but I’m pleased either way.”

“Uh,” I said. “Right, that’s… real nice Gomorrah. Should we meet up by the third break in the fence? Myalis, spot any more aliens sneaking in?”

No, none so far. A small group of model threes escorted a model eight and tried to leave the area, but Gomorrah’s vehicle anihilated the group.

“That’s… not many aliens around here,” I said. “We’re talking what? A hundred?”

So far we have confirmed fifty-two kills in and around this facility.

Gomorrah hummed. “That’s really not a lot. Barely a scouting force, especially not as spread out as they are. Did security really not see any others?”

We could trace back the approximate direction this group came from.

“That’s an idea,” I said. I started walking towards Gomorrah’s position. It wasn’t hard to notice, what with the pillar of smoke in the sky. “We might be able to take out a small nest.”

“I think the Family might want to target those from orbit again.”

“And destroy this whole facility while they’re at it?” I asked. “I care for corpo property about as much as the next punk, but this place is making food. I like food. We could clear out the hive on our own, I’m sure.”

“We’ll see,” Gomorrah said. “This early on, it’s possible that the hive’s barely worthy of notice. I’m not saying we ignore it though, that would be irresponsible. Let’s see if we can’t destroy it in one go or at least prune it down then mark its location for check-up later.”

I nodded as I continued to walk along. A glance at the Family’s map showed a few more growing spots of yellow, and even a couple of minuscule orange streaks. No red though, and there was a growing green spot spreading out around the city. Secured locations? Placing being patrolled? Areas that they could confirm had no aliens?

I’d have to play with the map some more later. In the meantime I found a filter option and toggled it open to select Hive Locations. A few dots appeared on the map. Exactly five of them, all close to orange splotches. Three of the five had pins with the names of samurai attached to them.

“Looks like hives are getting a lot of focused attention.”

More points to be earned for the moment, and since antithesis hive growth is exponential, destroying one before it can grow large enough to defend itself is simply a wise course of action. There will be a couple of hives scattered around that remain undetected for each that are obvious.

“That’s plainly terrifying,” I muttered.

I paused a few minutes later as I found the last section where the antithesis had broken through the gate. It was hard to miss, what with the injured model three slumping its way across the ground, its rearmost legs very clearly broken, and a trail of whatever passed as blood following it across the cement ground.

I looked around to make sure there weren’t any others around, then stepped closer to the alien. “Is this the only one alive out here?” I asked.

It seems to be. One of the towers was pillaged recently. The models tried to leave the area, those were the ones that Gomorrah’s vehicle ambushed.

“And this little guy?” I asked with a gesture at the model three.

Perhaps a survivor. The Fury used explosives to eliminate the group, it’s entirely possible that a model as light as this was tossed back some distance.

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I walked around the little alien so that I was at its front. It was rather pitiful, dragging itself across the ground, breaths coming in deep chuffs and limbs trembling. “I feel kind of bad about shooting this guy,” I said.

Technically its genderless. Also, it is entirely incapable of seeing anything that isn’t an antithesis as anything but a threat. You won’t find any compassion given reciprocated.