Soldier Dream

Ghost Grinder

The Abdima were getting closer and closer to their station in the last week. The stench of death seemed to do nothing to draw them away- perhaps it never had. But now something was reeling them in, and reeling in large numbers. The spidery creatures were plumper than Cereza had seen recently. They had obviously been eating well. Abdima were even committing cannibalism. Anything and everything to get stronger, right?

She pressed into the rails, shifting on the platform, her legs dangling off the edge. A cold breeze swept over the compound, brushing up against her face. A breathe of fresh air was just what she needed. Inhaling, she pressed her forehead against the handrail. She could see them in the distance, little dark shadows.

Two weeks ago, they had cremated her commander on the pyre. The man who had shot him had attended his so called funeral, and said his apologies. He was incredibly stoic. Doctor Berry also attended, standing far back from the pyre, a face-mask over his mouth. He'd glanced her way once, and he had looked over her like she wasn't even there. But soldiers meant nothing to big shot Doctors now did they? It stank, even though they had shaved his body of hair before hand. His body had smoldered in the fire.

"Cereza?"

Startled, she twisted around.

"George," she said, grabbing the rail and hoisting herself up.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Doctor Berry wants more soldiers underground in the labs. The Abdima are acting up, getting restless."

"Are you staying here then?"

"Yeah...they want as many shot down as possible now. As a sniper, they want me to hit the long range while they send in a ground unit." He shrugged apologetically.

"Things are heating up then."

"Guess so."

She inhaled and nodded, turning back to look at the Blood Streets. They seemed to stretch out forever in the dark, but the people of the compound were all to aware they only lived in a small segment of the world. So much of the world had already been devoured.

She'd only been in the Laboratory compound a few times before, and most of those times had been to drop off Abdima for experimentation. Why they would need more soldiers down there, she was curious. They already had over fifteen for roughly five securely contained abdima. So how were more necessary?

In the elevator, she pulled the lever and stepped back into the middle and crossed her arms behind her back. Luminescent lights flickered softly as she stepped into the first section, the reception. She strode to the receptionist and reported herself for duty.

"Oh good," she said anxiously,"thank god. It's a real mess in there, they need all the help they can get. The rooms are in lock down. Where are the rest of you? There's supposed to be at least seven"

Her muscles tensed in anticipation, Cereza immediately withdrawing her weapon.

"What's happened?"

"One of the Abdima got loose in the vivisection chamber. Something went wrong, it wasn't affected by the gas. It's killed three men, and another two are unaccounted for. The talkies went down. Doctor Berry ordered the rooms be sealed until reinforcements arrived."

"There are supposed to be fifteen soldiers down here, where are the rest of them?"

The receptionist went a little paler. "I... I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"No, no, I don't, will you please just go help them?!"

Cereza clenched her hands around her gun. "Which room?"

"Room twelve, it's towards the back."

A smart soldier would wait for reinforcement. She hesitated.

"Call in more reinforcement," she ordered.