Frostbite

The Base

My train of thought cut off suddenly when Kooper's voice echoed throughout the concrete steel walls of the outpost. "I got the camera hooked up, get up here!" I hurriedly finished covering up Griffin before heading up to the radio room where the computer is kept, leaving a crack in the heavy, creaky door before jogging up the steps.

I pulled up a chair next to Kooper, whose eyes were squinted slightly in concentration as he clicked and typed at the computer, until finally he let out a long, drawn out whistle. "Wow." Was all he had to say as he stared at the monitor.

"What is it?" I asked him while peering over his shoulder at the monitor that showed a still image of 4 men standing in the snow, as well as a play button and a timeline at the bottom of the screen.

"He's got almost 4 hours of footage on this thing. Must have been filming until just before he got back here."

I scooted my chair a little closer so I could better see while Kooper began to comb through the footage of men walking in snow, trying to find something of interest that could answer some of the questions lingering in our minds.

Eventually the sped-up footage showed the group approaching a dull brown building on the horizon, although the storm that was beginning to kick up reduced it to a brownish blob on the screen. Kooper fast-forwarded the film a little bit more and resumed normal speed when the group approached the entrance to the Swedish outpost. We both leaned forward to stare intently at the monitor in anticipation of what they would find.

The computer showed the group walk up to the door and pound on it hard. They awaited some sort of response, but when after a minute none came, 6'5" 250 lb Mendoza took the liberty of kicking at the heavy door in an attempt to get it open. After this didn't work, they went around the building and found a back window and bashed it in with a walking stick. They climbed in one by one, and over the sound of the wind we managed to make out a disgusted "What the..."

The dark room became illuminated by various flashlights revealing that the outpost had become a bloodbath. At least a dozen men lay dead in pools of blood throughout the room, their blank faces being lit for fractions of a second and then being shrouded in darkness as the Americans waved their flashlights about, taking in the horrific scene laid out before them. "What the hell happened here?" quietly escaped the mouth of Mendoza.

"Come look at this one!" Jenkins yelled out "Someone bit this guy's jugular!" The men shined their lights on the body at Jenkins' feet. Dried blood caked the man's neck around teeth marks that were obviously human.

"What the HELL happened here?!" Mendoza once again yelled out in disgusted confusion, causing an echo throughout the bloody building.

"Everybody calm down!" Griffin shouted out. "If you all would settle down and cooperate with me, then maybe we could figure it out!" he paused to catch his breath and then added in a calmer tone "Look around for any notebooks or computers, we need to find the log to figure out what happened here." The men grumbled but complied, and after a minute or so of silent searching they located a notebook on a table.

"Griffin! Come check this out." Called Jenkins. The camera turned to face Jenkins and Griffin walked over a body that had been shot between the eyes, reaching the other side of the room to inspect the notebook. The other men gathered around as Griffin used his light to see the book.

"Mission log." Griffin stated plainly as he looked at the cover. He flipped through the pages until he reached the end of the written-on pages and flipped back a few to the beginning of the last log and began to translate aloud to the other men. "September 21st, 2017." He scanned through the entry until he found something of interest. "11:00 AM: Felix got another sample yesterday from that lake. He still hasn't seen any animals near it, which is a bit odd considering it's the only body of water for miles, even if it is frozen over. He brought the ice in this morning and I've been studying it ever since then. These bacteria truly are fascinating, but I still need to collect more data before I can apply any taxonomical classification to them. I hope Felix is being careful out there though, these could very well be pathogenic. I'll remind him to be careful about washing his hands." Griffin turned the page intently and continued reading.

"3:40 PM: Something is terribly wrong with Felix. He complained about feeling cold and needing to eat something warm before he passed out. His body temperature is 30º C, and his hands and feet are so cold he might get frostbite if he doesn't warm up. His heart rate is of course down to dangerous levels, almost 30 BPM. We have the heat as high as it will go and he's covered in blankets. Doctor Karlsson says he's confused, his temperature should be rising by now. At any rate, we have him quarantined; who knows what kind of illness is causing this. I think I need to destroy those bacterial samples."

The men around Griffin shifted uncomfortably at what was being read. Griffin still continued. "8:23 PM: Cold. So cold. I can barely feel my hands, the numbness is making it hard to write. Everyone is dead. Felix got worse, his fingers turned black and then he woke up, and he bit Doctor Karlsson. Oh, the blood. Gunner and a few others tried to restrain him, but Felix overpowered them. Franz had to shoot him. And then Karlsson got back up, and was just as strong as Felix had been. He bit Gregor this time, and Franz tried to shoot Gregor too. Then Mark pulled his gun at Franz, and..." Griffin skipped ahead in the scratchily written journal to the end of the last entry, having read enough to understand what happened. "The last thing it says is, 'I'm cold, I think I'm going to go to bed.'" Griffin lifted his head to the confused and horrified faces around him. "Look in every room, we need to find this guy. Jenkins, go with Mendoza. Johnson, you're with me."

Griffin and Johnson began to walk around the station, cautiously and thoroughly scanning each room over with their flashlights. They went through the kitchen, and a radio room before they came across what had to be the sleeping quarters. Johnson went first, holding his pistol tightly in his right hand while slowly turning the knob with his left. The door opened slowly with an eerie creak and Griffin scanned the room with the bright beam coming from his flashlight.

Standing next to one of the bunk beds was a man with his face towards the ground. His breathing was irregular and noisy, and despite being bundled up he was shivering incessantly. Griffin's light froze on him, and he hesitantly called out "Hallå?" The man's head suddenly shot up to look at the two men, and his face made my stomach churn.

His skin was cracked, revealing the scarlet flesh underneath that was starting to turn black. His mouth opened and a snarling scream that sounded like something out of the deepest pit in hell escaped, and he started to run towards the men before Johnson let off three rounds, the shots sounding like cannons in the enclosed space. The man lay on the ground and blood started to pool around his body. Johnson and Griffin stood in shock as the other two men came running. "What the hell happened!?" Yelled Mendoza, running up to look into the room and see the corpse that was still illuminated by Griffin's light.

Before anyone could respond to his inquiry the video suddenly paused and a message appeared reading"ERROR: STORAGE SPACE EXCEEDED" Kooper and I stared at the monitor; we wereboth rendered speechless by what we had just seen.