ANOMALY

The man opened the door, stepped inside and flicked the light switch. It was a rather empty room, containing only a table with some uncomfortable-looking chairs, a whiteboard on the wall and several filing cabinets full of documents and reports.

He took a seat, placed the binder he carried on the table, and waited patiently.

…

Eventually, he heard voices and footsteps coming from the hallway. He turned his eyes towards the door, right as the newcomers arrived.

"Dr. Elizabeth." he said.

In the doorframe stood a tall woman, wearing glasses and a white lab coat, with long blonde hair gathered in a bun. She had a distinct, elegant feel to her appearance, despite the dark bags under her eyes.

"It's good to see you, Rowan. It's rare to bump into you lately, with everything that's been going on."

"I told you not to address me like that…"

"Yeah, yeah… Roger that, colonel." she said, almost disregarding his words.

A burly man in full military attire followed her closely from behind.

"Colonel." he saluted him. "Captain of Alpha team, Isaac Stone, reporting in."

Rowan returned the salute, and watched as Isaac took the seat in front of him. There was only one person missing. He showed up about thirty seconds later, a similarly dressed man with slimmer physique.

"Intelligence officer, Ronald Mason, reporting in, sir." he announced, saluting him as well.

He closed the door, and took the last remaining seat.

"Let's get straight to the crucial points." said Rowan. "Regarding the discoveries on the subway underground… Dr. Elizabeth, please."

"Let's see… After analyzing the footage and samples Bravo team brought back from the tunnels, we've confirmed that the unidentified mass of organic tissue they found is indeed the husk of a praetorian stinger cocoon. It's pretty recent, a couple of weeks old at most." she explained, while reviewing some lab reports.

Elizabeth's words were causing lots of concerning issues to build up inside Rowan's head, but he'd rather not interrupt her.

"So far, this cell has displayed a rapid proliferation of new queens, that get immediately devoured by their own colony. Since no queen managed to survive for longer than a few hours, the colony couldn't establish a proper hive, which is, generally speaking, a prerequisite for the spawning of praetorians. Since we have now confirmed the presence of one of them, this can only mean a stable queen has arisen."

"Hmmm…" Rowan mumbled to himself. His voice caused Elizabeth to stop talking for a moment. "If a hive shows up, it'll be catastrophic for our safety. We have taken a lot of risks coming here for the sake of research, but I won't throw my men into a deathtrap."

"The emergence of a hive is not guaranteed. You see, that praetorian in itself is severely anomalous. The samples indicate that it was formed through the amalgamation of several flawed stinger drones. This shouldn't be possible. Praetorians have only been observed to spawn from special eggs laid by the queen. This kind of procedure is unprecedented… Besides, there're no signs of a hive so far. If there's a stable queen running around, it's clearly not doing its job."

"Is it safe to assume you don't know what's going on?"

"Well, I have a theory… Since queen pheromones are tightly tied to their emotional state, it's possible this new queen has gone through severe distress, something that made her self-preservation instincts kick in with enough force to induce this unnatural spawning process. Praetorians are pretty much the queen's royal guards after all… However, something's off about this theory. This queen isn't doing what the colony needs it to do, so the praetorian would try to kill her, not protect her…"

Rowan directed his eyes towards Captain Isaac.

"Captain. Your report, please."

"Yes, sir!" he answered. "My team was tasked with the investigation of a suspicious scene in the vicinity of Saint Marie Hospital. We found a large number of destroyed vehicles, and the surrounding areas had serious structural damage. No human being would be capable of inflicting that kind of damage without the aid of explosive devices. It would, however, be perfectly reasonable if a praetorian was involved."

He pulled out a bunch of photos and spread them on the table for everyone to see. They depicted the damage he had just described a moment ago, but there were also several of them showcasing bloody stains on the road.

"The scene was bloody all over, but no human remains were located. We also found bullet holes in the vicinity, but no trace of the weapons that caused them, no bullet casings… Even the bullets themselves were missing from the holes. The entire area had been thoroughly cleaned of evidence, for unknown reasons."

'I think I can picture the events… A distressed queen… A praetorian… The creature tries to kill her… She ran away until it eventually caught her? Why else would the praetorian show up in this other remote location, if it has a queen to murder? And then… someone intervened.'

"Officer Ronald."

"Yes, sir." Ronald retrieved his own pile of documents and reports and sifted through them. "We have reasons to believe there's some other organized group operating within the cell. Captain Isaac's report is one such example. The cleanup of the scene is unlikely to have been the work of ordinary civilians. There's also been sightings of supply airdrops from unidentified aircrafts, but they were all retrieved and their traces erased before we could arrive at their location."

"Where were those airdrops deployed?"

"All of them in the vicinity of Saint Marie Hospital, sir. The timeline of these events matches a sudden convergence of survivors on the hospital. We've caught a radio broadcast claiming to offer safety and basic necessities to anyone who makes their way to the building."

"Alright… Could you offer some subjective insight?"

"Pardon…?"

"Leave those papers and reports aside." the colonel placed his hand on top of Ronald's documents, prompting him to let go of them. "What do you, personally, think?"

"Uh… The fact that these clandestine operations have gone nearly undetected and untraceable for us for so long leads me to suspect that we might have a mole, sir… I believe it's a possibility we need to consider."

"Thank you, officer. I despise having to suspect my own men, but I appreciate your honesty."

"Do we have any news on Dr. Marcus?" asked Elizabeth, staring at Roland with an inquiring gaze.

"Not yet."

"What a pity…"

Rowan raised his hand, requesting silence for a moment.

…

"Captain Isaac, you'll report the news to the other teams. Everyone should be carrying heavy-duty weaponry, fit for handling a praetorian. If that thing is rampaging around the city, we need to be able to counter such a threat. Additionally, teams Alpha and Bravo will approach the hospital to recon. I'll deliver the exact details of the operation this evening."

"Understood, sir!"

"I'm not sure that's such a great idea…" added Elizabeth. "After all, if you ask me, this whole deal with the hospital seems like a trap. I'm sure you must understand what I mean, right, colonel? It's like they've been laying down a trail of crumbs to grab our attention."

"I understand your concern. But if it's true that there's an organized group operating illegally within the cell and possibly interfering with our duties, with who knows what intentions… It's the kind of emergency we can't ignore. Which is all the more reason for all parties involved to proceed with extreme caution."

"Yeah, I get it…"

They couldn't afford to stay still. That cell was the only place in the entire world where humanity was still able to get close to the essence of the Sting. That anomaly might just hold the key to uncover its secrets. The key to take the world back from its clutches. If there was external interference, they would need to deal with it, quickly and decisively.

…

"Let's move onto the next subject."

******

"Alright, here's the plan for now: we'll be staying in this basement. It really does look like nobody comes down here, ever, so it's our best option. Besides, if that nest on the upper floors keeps the hordes at bay… that's one less problem to care about." explained William. "Stella went with a couple of her trusted comrades, and entered the hospital from the main entrance, like any other survivor would. Nobody knows she's associated with us, so nobody will suspect her. She'll be our eyes and ears in there. And since they know Ethan hangs around the top floor, he'll be our intermediary."

'He seems trustworthy enough, although I'll have to keep an eye on him, just in case… And Stella agreed. I sure hope he doesn't end up causing us trouble…'

"Then… we'll just wait…?" Claire's voice sounded disheartened.

"Yes. Until we know for sure what's happening up there, we should stay put."

She sighed and leaned back against the wall with a droopy posture. By her side, Nora listened in silence.

Thinking about it, it was convenient that he had the audacity of returning Nora's cellphone to her at the apartments. She still had a couple of pictures of Logan from before the pandemic. If Stella confirmed his presence in the building, they'd finally have solid evidence of Lilian's whereabouts.

'I know she's "sensing" her presence again… But I'd rather have some more tangible evidence.'

However, her main tasks were learning about the current status of the hospital, reuniting with her comrades, and if possible, finding out where was the girl being held. Until then, there was little they could without raising suspicion.

If she was able to reach an agreement with her comrades up there, it would open up the opportunity to get in and out of the hospital unnoticed, when any of them happened to be stationed as lookouts. But, for the time being, they'd have to survive with the resources they had managed to carry on their way in.

In all honesty, the basement wasn't so bad once tidied up a little bit. They didn't have commodities like personal rooms, or even beds, but at the very least it was safe and spacious.

"Find a spot somewhere around here, and settle down. Help the others if you can. And make sure to rest if you need so. I'll go up to the top floor and have a small chat with that brat, Ethan. I'll make sure he really understands what we agreed on…"

******

Claire watched as William disappeared behind a corner. Moments later, Nora sat down on the floor. She looked concerned.

"Are you alright…?" asked Claire.

"I... I can feel her fear. She's so scared… Having to sit down and wait is just… frustrating."

Claire sat down by her side and hugged her, trying to comfort her as she usually would. She still hadn't told her about Lilian's nature. A shambler queen. She figured she would let her know once they had managed to finally reunite. Once everything was over. Once she had no more reasons to worry about her sister's safety. At least, not this much.

'I wonder, though… According to Marcus and those documents, shamblers communicate via pheromones… Is Nora's connection with Lilian also based on pheromones? But Nora isn't a shambler…! I think it might be related somehow, but there's something missing… I bet Marcus knows the answer…'

In the end, it didn't truly matter what the reason was. It didn't change anything. Lilian was still a part of their family. She was somewhere up there, alone, scared and confused. And they were going to take her back.

"We'll make it, Nora. You'll see."

"Mhm…"

******

Dark.

Cold.

She hated the pointy thing.

The pointy thing was painful.

Drooling.

Can't control.

Dark.

…

It made her forget about things.

It made her forget about sis.

Sis's voice went silent.

Silence.

…

She couldn't hear brother's voice either.

She didn't understand brother.

Brother hated her.

She thought brother didn't understand her either.

She was afraid.

Fear.

…

Brother hated her.

But brother was scared too.

Brother was out there.

Close but far away.

Why was brother scared?

Was he scared of her?

No.

…

Head hurts.

Norie.

Help.