A collective gasp filled the room. John's eyes widened in shock, his gaze snapping up to meet Jake's. The betrayal in his eyes spoke volumes. Without warning, Jake lunged at John, his hands transforming into terrifying, claw-like appendages. He slashed at John's chest, the fabric of his winter gear splitting open like paper. John cried out in pain and stumbled backwards, clutching at his chest. Guttural growls from the creature that used to be Jake. He threw John aside with a swift, brutal motion like a rag doll, his human facade rapidly deteriorating. John's body slammed into a shelving unit, his gasp of pain punctuating the hellish roaring that the deteriorating human form of Jake was making as he crumpled to the floor.
As they watched, paralysed with fear, the creature's face began to shift grotesquely. His skin bulged and twisted, like a canvas being deformed by unseen hands. The changes were swift, but to the crew, time seemed to slow, each horrific transformation unfolding in nightmarish detail.
The pleasant features they had associated with their colleague started to distort and warp beyond recognition. His brow ridge rose and fell, hardening into a chitinous exoskeleton. His cheekbones protruded and stretched, elongating his face into a monstrous snout lined with jagged, razor-sharp teeth that gleamed in the stark light of the lab.
His eyes, once friendly and full of humanity, split and multiplied into a horrifying array of bulbous, multifaceted orbs. Their alien depths were a myriad of hellish colours that swirled and glimmered in the artificial light, a chilling reminder of the creature's otherworldly origin.
As Jake's skin began to moult off, it was replaced by a hideous, reptilian skin. The creature's flesh shimmered with an unearthly viridian hue, the scales coalescing into a formidable armoured carapace that looked both slick and impenetrable. The sight was a sickening spectacle under the sterile laboratory lights, the viridian scaling reflecting the light in an eerie glow that was far from the friend they once knew.
In the face of the creature's terrifying transformation, Essie was the first to move. She set off the flare she held, and, with a scream that was equal parts terror and defiance, she lunged at the alien form, her flare connecting with a hiss and a sizzle, the creature recoiling at the sudden pain.
Kate and Ceriann, spurred by Essie's bravery, reacted in tandem. Their hands closed around the remaining bottles of the ethanol-based solution. In one swift, synchronized movement, they threw the bottles at the creature. The glass containers shattered upon contact, showering the alien in the flammable liquid.
The reaction was immediate. The liquid ignited with the heat from Essie's flare, transforming the creature into a writhing inferno. It screeched, the sound otherworldly and bone-chilling, as the flames consumed it, dancing and flickering on the nightmarish landscape of its body. The smell of burning flesh filled the room, the acrid scent a testament to their victory, yet a grim reminder of their loss.
When the fire finally died down, the only thing left was a blackened, smouldering heap where the creature had once stood. The immediate threat was over, but the taste of victory was quickly replaced by fear. Smoke billowed around them, and their eyes turned towards John, slumped against the wreckage.
He lay there, his figure a shadowy outline against the torn debris of what used to be the lab bench, his chest heaving as he struggled for air. His uniform was a saturated mess of dark crimson, the gaping wound on his abdomen stark and grisly against the white fabric. His chest rose and fell in harsh, laboured breaths, each sounding like a battle against the inevitable. His face, under the dim, hazy light, was almost the colour of the Antarctic snow they'd lived amidst for the past 6 months.
Ceriann immediately fell to his side, her hands pressing against his wound in a desperate attempt to stem the tide of his life seeping out. Her face was composed, her eyes teary but focused. But the helpless shake of her hands betrayed her dread.
"John," she said, her voice shaking, "Just... just stay with us, okay? Someone go get bandages!"
He looked up at her, managing a weak, lop-sided smile. His gaze held a startling calmness, a profound acceptance that sent shivers down their spines. "Hey," he murmured, a familiar joviality lingering in his voice, "Always knew you cared."
Essie was there next, her hand tightly entwining with his, her face ashen. "John," she whispered, her voice choking on his name, "You can't... you can't leave us." Tears were slowly welling up in her eyes.
"I probably don't have much of a choice in the matter..." he said, his voice barely a whisper. His face contorted in a grimace as another wave of pain washed over him.
Kate crouched down beside him. "John, come on..." she softly nudged him. "Stand up... please."
John's eyes met Kate's, a soft smile forming on his lips. "You're all... incredibly strong," he rasped, his gaze sweeping across all of them. "I believe in you."
His body convulsed in a cough, his grip on Essie's hand slackening. "Tell... tell Ethan... he was my favourite," he said, his voice a mere breath, his gaze flicking to the sketches in his archaeological lab. The life in his eyes seemed to dim with each passing second. "Just one thing... burn my body. I... don't wanna be one of those things..."
His breathing grew more laboured, shallower. His eyes drifted shut, his body slumping further against the debris. One last breath shuddered through him, and then... silence.
The others sat there in shock and grief, the only sound in the room their own harsh breathing and the echo of John's last words. The grim reality settled in like a shroud of sorrow. He was gone. His peaceful but neutral expression in the midst of the chaos around them seemed almost out of place.
The air in the lab felt colder than ever before. The once lively space was now a chilling crypt echoing the horrors they had all just witnessed, joining the ranks of the common room and Faith's lab as vestiges of horror and unspeakable loss. The reality of John's demise, coupled with the jarring transformation of Jake into an unspeakable monstrosity, left them with a collective grief that was hard to process.
Jake, once a dependable part of their small team, their dependable companion and the steady hand who had kept them on course, was no longer. The presence he once brought was replaced by a chilling absence. His laughter that used to echo through their living spaces, his way of putting everyone at ease, his meticulous notes on every discovery they made – all had been erased in an instant. He cruel reality that he had been the invisible enemy among them. His betrayal cut deeper than they cared to admit. It wasn't his fault, they reminded themselves, but the memory of his familiar face morphing into that grotesque creature was forever seared into their minds.
And John, their leader, though not a paradigm of authority, who just about got the job done, was now extinguished. A deep silence had replaced his habitual, if random, chuckles. Their demises left a void in their hearts that no amount of time or space could fill.
The crew stood solemnly around John's body, each lost in their own thoughts, their own grief. Essie's eyes were beyond recognition, her jaw clenched, an attempt to hold back further tears threatening to escape. Kate's gaze was distant, her fingers absent-mindedly clutching at the lab coat she had worn in better days. Ceriann, the pragmatic, was perhaps the most visibly shaken, her face a pale mask of disbelief.
Reluctantly, they agreed upon John's last request. The procession was quiet, the air thick with sorrow. Kate stood over John, dousing him in the solution and setting him on fire. They watched as the flames consumed John's body, the bright orange and red a stark contrast against the relentless, sterile white of their Antarctic environment.
As the fire dwindled and John's body was reduced to embers, the loss felt more real, more permanent. But as each one of them turned away, a newfound resolve hardened within them. They had lost Jake to the alien, and John to the chaos, but they would not lose themselves. Their fight was far from over.
Only what remained of Josh stood between them and safety.
YOU ARE READING
Mimicry
HorreurOn Bouvet Island, 7 British researchers are sent to a research base, with the purpose of fostering a prominent-enough discovery to make their mission a success. They think they find the key to this when they find an alien ship buried in the Bouvetia...
