Chapter 35 Sins of the past

The gate opened, several monks stepped out, goggles scanning their faces, files were called. Slowly they walked towards her. Liz thought they looked old-fashioned. Long cowls, one with a thick beard, others clean-shaven. A nun made her way, she was in her nineties, but still rustic. 

"That's exactly why we don't have tourists, not in groups," she snapped at the monks. 

"But Mother Superior, you told us to welcome the delegation," came from a monk.

"And up there in the tower, that's where our grandmother smuggled us, Babsi and I, in to see the old torture chamber," came from behind us. 

"I see..." came from Min.

"We were caught by a nun back then and Babsi and I had to scrub the floor in the chapel as punishment and Grandma had to go to the abbot and apologize to him."

The nun looks at Gitte, who squeals and hides behind Jannet.

"That's her! The nun from back then!"

"How do you know that?" asked Min.

"The same eyes."

"You! The one hiding there! " 

Liz didn't look, her gaze wandered over the walls of the building and the landscape, the scanner in her glasses working incessantly.

"I'm here for the inspection," came from Alex. Liz looked at the nun, who was staring at him.

" We've been told that our application for renovation and modernization has been put on hold. "

" That's why I'm here, the person in charge passed it on. "

Liz watched the nun come closer.

"So, an application I sent to the Vatican, where religious usually come, was forwarded to the military?"

"No. The request was forwarded to the Council and assigned to me. Because of the high casualty list."

She looked at Alex.

"The Council sent the military here because of the boar?" 

" Which there is nothing in the reports and I may point out to them. That there's an order to report conspicuous animals."

The nun was still staring at him, Liz looked at her father who didn't care, he looked at her from the panel and she winced.

"That's a boar."

"A boar doesn't make wounds like that sister, I've seen the pictures of the wounds."

"It's a boar, Brother Thomas has seen it." 

She pointed to a monk who was staring at Alex as white as a sheet. The Mother Superior saw him. 

"Brother Thomas, what's going on? You're not usually so shy."

The man addressed stopped. 

Liz looked at him and a file appeared in her field of vision. She looked at Mei, who smiled at her and said Tommy quietly. She went to her father and whispered to him that it was the Tommy from before. 

He looked at her. 

"Come here."

Thomas obeyed and came closer. 

"You can't order him around!" complained the Mother Superior.

"He can, ma'am," Liz said and looked at her. She gave her a punishing look. 

"What kind of boar was that?" asked Alex.

" He was two meters tall, I saw him when he was rummaging through the old garbage dump."

" Good, show my hounds the spot, the mother superior will show me a list of the renovations."

Liz looked at Mei, who smiled. She hurried to the SUV and changed weapons. From the light assault rifle to the hunting variant she had also used in Africa. She screwed back mods. Everyone but her father stared at her. 

"What, you need firepower for mutant beasts." 

Mei grinned and nudged her brother Thomas.

"Come on, the hound has scented blood."

He led them both down a path. Liz looked around as they walked.

"Tell me Thomas, why did you turn so white up there?" Mei began.

"I'm not as culturally alien as the Mother Superior, I know when ..."

"Yes?" Mei didn't let up. Thomas paused and looked at the two of them.

"You're his kids, back when I made my dick-driven move. He was sitting on the sofa with me when I came home." 

"So what? You still could have ..." Mei grinned. Thomas shook his head.

"You two were already an urban legend back then. Horny fuckers, but unattainable. Anyone who got too close to you was caught by hydras. Anyone who got past them was caught by a demon with sunglasses. I was ready for anything back then, you were eating out of my hand and ready to be picked."

Mei grinned. 

" I know you still have a hard-on even now." 

" Go on, why didn't you dare?" Liz interrupted. 

" I was a delinquent back then, thought I was the greatest. I wanted to be a musician and so on. They knew everything, everything I'd done. I came home and he was sitting on the sofa, having my mother pour him coffee. "

"And why did you become a monk?" 

Thomas scratched the back of his head.

"I got a woman pregnant on a tour as a musician, the Vatican gives me anonymity." 

"Do you know that the Vatican hangs in the north block?" 

He froze. 

They came to an old landfill that Liz Brille said had been repurposed. 

"What exactly were you doing here? " Liz asked, looking at the tracks.

" Well... the other brothers and I relieved ourselves here..." 

She looked at Mei, who grinned.

"Bring him back, I'm going to hunt the animal now."

"That's huge!" Thomas interjected.

"Thommy, she'll make it. Do you want to relieve yourself quickly or should I help you?"

Liz shook her head, her glasses had scanned the ground and showed her the hoofprints she was following. 

She had always found it strange that so many animals had mutated, but being a mutant herself, she was sure of it. New world. 

She followed the trail through the undergrowth, there had once been a footpath here, also illegal camps from the time of the infection. She saw remnants everywhere. Old wooden huts, tents, protective fences, now overgrown by the forest and rotting. She searched the huts carefully, but there was no sign of garbage or animal nests. 

She searched further and found several outdated video cameras hanging in the trees. She tapped her finger on a button on the goggles that was supposed to start the scan but didn't. She pressed the radio button in her ear.

"Sup Liz," came Tahara from the other side.

" Can you scan my position with a satellite?" 

" I could do that, yes. But it'll cost you. " 

Liz sighed. 

"What?"

"Five hundred points, I need new underwear, my lover stole the last one."

Liz looked over to a bush, put on her gun.

"I've got some unused ones, you and I are the same size anyway. You can have it."

" Scan starts in 3... 2.... 1.." 

Liz's field of view changed, displaying all sorts of things at once. She fired several volleys in a direction from which an agonized screech sounded. She looked around.

"I'm sending the scan results to your glasses Liz. When can I pick up the set?" 

" Tonight" She went to the source of the screech and found the boar lying on the ground, twitching and choking on his own blood. He was a good six feet tall, under arm-length tusks and his eyes stared at her, bloody. Liz drew her combat knife and jammed it into the animal's head, then looked around and found its nest in an old DHL truck, with 4 piglets huddled in a corner as she entered the truck. 

She drew her gun and shot them, then looked at the remains of the containers in the truck, carcasses and put several containers and samples in bags. 

Pulling up the scan data, she saw much of the old camp and followed the cameras, which led her back to the monastery. The monks stared at her, she was a little bloodied. She followed her glasses and stopped in front of an iron door that was locked. 

She checked the lock, pulled a door opener out of her pocket, put it on and pressed the lever. 

She heard a cough behind her.

"Can you explain what you're doing to the door?" asked the Mother Superior.

"I'm carrying out an investigation."

" This is a convent!"

There was a crack and Liz pulled out the door knob. Then he looked at her. 

"Good, the boar is gone, now come where it came from."

" I'm going to complain!!! They can't do what they want here!!!"

Liz looked at the Mother Superior, she so didn't care what she wanted.

"Do it, you know where to go." 

She pushed the door open with her foot and held her rifle at the ready. It was a musty storage room that hadn't been used in a while, but the scanner showed her fresh tracks. She shifted her gaze and was about to enter until she was grabbed by the collar. 

"Where are you going?" asked Jannet, holding her tightly. 

"Out to the surveillance cameras down there."

Raising an eyebrow, Liz sighed.

" Hold still and you'll show me.

" 

Liz felt Jannet attach a cable to her glasses and attach it somewhere on her.

"Those are good scans Liz, I didn't think the glasses could do that." 

" Um, I bribed Tahara to make some with a satellite."

"How much?" 

" Ehm a pack of unused lingerie..." 

She felt a slap on the back of her head.

"You go before me, understand?"

Liz sighed.

" Aye, like in basic training..." 

She walked off, the room was smellier than she had expected. 

"Shouldn't Mei be with you?"

" She escorted the monk back when I killed the boar."

They crossed the room and Liz followed the cables in her field of vision, where a wall now blocked the way. 

"Radio Tahara on for depth scan."

Liz pressed the radio button.

" Deep scan to my position Tahara."

" You know I can't just..."

" Just enter it as an order of service."

It wobbles in her field of vision.

" Good. System wants to know from whom."

" Use my name."

" Then your supervisor will receive a notification."

The scan flickered in her glasses.

"Oha, the scan was confirmed immediately... Also the one before and the one after...".

Liz looked at the scans and the path that opened up in front of her, a corridor that led into the depths. And ended in a room. 

She found the mechanism for the wall and rolled down the sleeves of her BDU, pulled on her gloves and put the breathing mask on her head. And pulled the hood of her BDU tight.

Jannet looked at her in confusion.

"Aren't you exaggerating, Liz?

"

"No." She pressed the mechanism on the wall, which squeaked and hissed open. Old air escaped. Jannet held his nose.

"Bah! " She took a few steps back. 

Liz focused on the hallway, leveled her rifle in front of her, the scanner lighting up the hallway in her field of vision. She pressed a light switch. Sporadic light bulbs lit up, creating a ghostly atmosphere without the goggles. 

"Wait Liz! Mei, get your ass to me. I don't give a fuck what you're doing right now." Liz stopped, eavesdropping down the hallway. She took advantage of the time and swapped the mods for the rifle so she could use it better in the narrower hallways. Mei came running up, panting.

"What, first you want me to watch Dad, then get something for Mom, and now this..." She looked at Liz.

"Oh no... Liz, you know I hate this."

"You watch up here in the hallway Mei. I have to get your father." Jannet hurried off.

Liz loaded the gun and waited for Mei to change.

"And did you clear him?" asked Liz.

Mei shook her head.

" He was so scared of Dad, even when I said I wouldn't say anything. No, he ran away in a panic."

Liz laughed and slowly walked down the stairs. When she got to the bottom she saw an open door which she opened with her foot, inside was a surveillance room with consoles and monitors, she saw another door which she opened which led into a cave where an old covenant trailer with a field lab was. 

She searched the cave and found the exit, which had been blown up. 

The depth scanners flickered across her goggles again and she saw humanoid figures rising. 

She heard a strange, dusty rattle.

"I'm pushing the corridor's locking mechanism down."

"Why?"

Liz opened the door and saw the rotten grimaces of the infected coming towards her.

"Code cough mei." 

"Ah Schitt!" 

Liz also heard Mei start firing her rifle.

For Liz, dealing with infected was nothing new and no challenge, she used up two magazines of her rifle until no one moved, dead or immobilized. 

The light flickered on, Liz had to blink, she was in the midst of 40 infected lying on the ground in various stages of decomposition.

"Eww, Liz... hang in there..." came from Mei, who was standing in the doorway to the control room.

Liz looked around and then lifted her glasses.

"Aren't you supposed to be upstairs? "

"The scans say there's nothing here..."

Liz looked down at the head of an infected, severed from the torso and still moving towards the lower jaw. The pus-filled eyes stared at Liz, then froze. 

Mei came to her, watching where she stepped.

"Bah... pure mess here, we need to blast the entrance clear. " 

Liz looked at her, tapped her boot against her skull and stared at her again. 

"A cheater. Watch where you're stepping, Mei."

She gave Liz a questioning look, just nodded and ran to the hallway that was being blasted. Liz crouched down and bumped a severed hand against her skull. She paused when she felt someone against her. She looked up and Alex looked at her questioningly, just managing to pull her fingers away as the skull bit into the severed hand.

"I've only seen that once before on a mutant version."

Her eyes lingered on Alex, she froze as Alex grabbed the head by the skull and pulled it up. 

" What do you think you've found? "

" Uhhmm..." she pulled her samples out of her bag.

" Since I haven't been able to boot up the computers here yet, some kind of lab. What was experimenting on people. " She points to the containers.

"Ewww here are spilled soldiers, really disgusting..." came from Mei. 

"What kind of uniform?" asked Alex.

"The one Liz's mom wore in the founding photo. Ahh." 

Shots rang out from Mei's side. Liz ran over quickly. Mei stood with her rifle pointed at the body. 

"He's moved! "

Liz came closer and saw arms stretched out towards her beside the corpse, which now had a hole in its head. 

"Dad! Blasting isn't a good idea until we get this locked down." 

She heard footsteps approaching, he looked at the body and the hands. 

"The scan data told me that someone was in here before us, the dates range from one to two years." 

" Liz come to me for a minute, I need to use your suit as a phone."

She obeyed. Her BDU and vest served as a protection and communication center, Meis did not. She felt him open a pocket on his vest and pull out a phone.

Liz heard everything through her earpiece anyway.

" Liz, how many more scans are you going to do... the satellite is already gone..." Tahara began. 

"Did you locate Liz's position?" she heard and also Tahara's squeal.

" Yes uncle... "

" Good. Then please enter the following. I want two exo teams for the quarantine. I need cleaner teams and it guys, all in exo suits. Then tell the research department to send someone as soon as possible, preferably someone from the infection department. 

" Uh Uncle..."

"Put it on speaker Tahara."

Liz heard a click.

"Pass on my instructions, I want the area scanned thoroughly too. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir. But sir, the data shows that they are surrounded by infected ..."

"More rooms?" 

"Aye sir..."

" Good. Pass on my orders, keep the scans going."

He hangs up. 

"We're going back upstairs." 

She obeyed, the skull was placed on a crate and Liz closed the door behind her, then the others and upstairs.