The Thing 3: Assimilation✔️

Chapter 11: Countdown

They set off into the network of dimly-lit tunnels and connecting chambers as the dust settled from the tremendous explosion overhead.

Blake was beginning to feel like he was running on autopilot. He had no sense of time, no concept of what might be happening in the world around him. For all he knew, everyone back at headquarters might be dead or infected. For all he knew, Graves might be dead. As he walked down a narrow alcove of concrete with Nuzzi, he felt like the two of them might very well be the last two human beings in the entirety of everything.

He fought to shake off this feeling of isolation. It was dangerous on a battlefield, and this particular battlefield was unlike any other he had encountered before a few days ago. He stuck to the basics: check your corners, trust your instincts and be ready to open fire at the drop of a hat. Nuzzi was silent behind him as they stepped out of a narrow passageway, into a transitional room with five other doorways, all leading into tunnels that snaked away from them.

"Where to next?" Blake asked.

"Continue ahead, we're not far," Nuzzi replied.

"So...how'd you get involved in this?" Blake asked as they plunged into another poorly-lit corridor, moving ever closer to their destination.

Nuzzi sighed. "I was working for Genetic Incorporated Italy," he replied. "I'm top in my field...or so I'd like to believe, honestly. Gen Inc scouted me about a decade ago and I've worked on a number of projects since then. When word came down of a potential breakthrough in Antarctica, I have to admit, I was deeply intrigued. Especially with all the secrecy surrounding it and the sheer amount of money they offered me to drop everything and come down here."

"When was that, exactly?" Blake asked.

"About a month ago. They'd received word that some kind of alien craft had been discovered. It was all very compartmentalized, so I didn't know too much, but I managed to piece some things together. Like, we had cut a deal with the US Government. I just thought they were offering protection...I had no idea you poor bastards were essentially lured down here to stir up some trouble and then be captured for test subjects. When I first got here, I was placed at a weather station, then transferred to a submersible. I worked with a man named Faraday and we had quite the time determining the nature of the entity."

"I was there and I met Faraday. I think Whitley shot and killed him," Blake murmured.

"Hmm. A most unfortunate end."

"What have you learned about...what did you call it? The Cloud Virus? Is this thing actually alive or is it just an animal?"

"Well...those are good questions. We're not sure. We're not even sure what happens when someone is taken over by the infection. I believe that one of a few things happen. The first, and in my opinion, the most likely, is that the infection either slowly but surely takes over a person from within or, if it has the time, consumes the whole host and replaces it with a perfect, infection-controlled copy, and then the person who has been infected no longer exists. They are dead, and what we are interacting with is an alien entity that merely looks human. It walks, talks and sounds like a human, but it is merely a chameleon.

"Another possibility: the infection hides inside the human host without revealing itself, so that the human does not know it is infected until, suddenly, when it is threatened, the infection suddenly takes control and shoves the host's consciousness aside, taking control of the body. A third possibility is that a person knows they are infected...and tries to hide it, hoping that they can somehow fight it off. And, of course, there's no certainty. It could be a roll of the dice, all three of these things could happen, or perhaps there's some fourth option I haven't considered."