The Farthest Door

Chapter-4: A Horde of Knights

There are soldiers near the gateway out of the college. There are about a dozen of them. They are walking down a paved road. The fog envelopes them, limiting their view. They are carrying assault rifles with laser pointers attached. The soldiers are wearing bulletproof armour and slightly bleached camo. They have metallic helmets, with two lenses on the goggles. They have kept their weapons at the ready, with their fingers on the triggers. They are taking quiet steps with rhythmic movement. The leader of the pack, adorned with stripes, is at the forefront of the group. She raises her hand with an open palm. The squad halts. She looks more carefully into the fog. She closes her hand to make a fist. The squad arranges itself in a single horizontal row. Only one stays behind to keep watch at the back of the group. They open fire and focus at one specific distant point.

Only after a few trigger squeezes, the leader commands.

Leader:

"Hold Fire!"

The squad rearranges itself into an ellipse and continues down the path. As they walk further down their path they simply trample over the dead body of an oxycheri.

Scene Change.

Back at the animatronics lab. John is carrying a toolkit and a plastic chair. An oxycheri is being captive with animatronics holding it in place. Its head is wrapped in aluminium foil

John:

"Now, Jake, we experiment. We have a live specimen of this thing. We need to see what hurts them the most. They came to this place expecting sheep, now we the shepherds, shall show them the knights of our kingdom. Let the wolves attempt to hunt, we will send them running to the hills. One thing no one can beat a human at is making a weapon of conflict."

There is the sound of gunfire out in the distance. Jake and Lucas are startled, John on the other hand has a smile on his face which later turns into a tense expression.

John:

"Looks like we have a distraction. Should take away their attention from a glass building with one of their own in it. Lucas, quick, get some tape and tie up the oxycheri's other hands to its back."

Jake:

"Are you sure you don't want animatronics doing that, and not a sheet of sticky paper waiting to be burned in a vat of acid?"

John:

"Tie it around its wrist. I don't know if you have ever noticed, but go on, try to itch the wrist of your arm from the hand of the same arm. They are just aliens, not magicians. They can pull a smaller hat from their top hat, not a rabbit. Though that would be funny, wouldn't it? Give them a top hat and see their mouthless faces gasp after seeing a rabbit pop out."

Jake stares at John. Lucas picks up the roll of tape lying on a nearby table and starts taping the oxycheri's hands together.

John:

"If we tie the hands of the oxycheri to its back, its silhouette will look more human. Okay, getting back on track. I found this toolbox, if you have anything that causes harm bring it here. We need to test it. We'll check for pain once this creature wakes up. Until then, let's test its armour."

Jake and Lucas start looking into the drawers of the storage room for any tools. John puts down his plastic chair in front of the oxycheri and the toolbox alongside it. He sits on the chair and takes out a hand drill machine.

John:

"I have wanted to drill through you this whole time, but now that I have the opportunity and the power to do that in my hand, I almost feel pity for you. Like I said, almost."