Thick as Thieves 2: Under Your Command

Chapter 18

"What do you reckon, Doc?" Michael asked Malcolm as the scientist examined Carter who was now laid out groggily where Deborah used to sleep, back when Mira kept her as prisoner.

"You'd be better off asking Elisabeth, but to me it looks like he's been poisoned. They both have."

Malcolm glared at Mira, making a point to remove himself from her vicinity.

Mira didn't even notice. She sat beside Carter, watching him with concern. "He can't die," she whispered. "God knows he's a pain in my ass but he's all I've had these past few months."

Michael stared at them, his confusion growing. "Mira, what the hell happened to you? Where are the rest of your people?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she spat, returning her attention to her Sixer ally.

"Try us," Mark replied. "We're pretty open-minded lately."

Mira sat back. She suddenly looked so small, with her knees pressed up against her chest, almost like a child.

"That thing that killed my people...have you seen it?"

Michael nodded solemnly. "I have."

"Then you know it's not any ordinary dino. It's smart. It knows things. It can do things." She bore her teeth like a wild animal, her eyes brimming with moisture. "We knew about the Badlands portal. As soon as we found that damn figurehead I knew that's where it had to be. But it was too late. That thing attacked before we even had a chance to find it." She looked off into the distance. "I've never seen so many people die that quickly before." She furiously wiped a tear from her eye. "Some of us made it out alive. We survived. But we spent months living in fear, trying to figure out how to get back to the future. We thought our best chance was to stay in the Badlands, in case the portal opened again. But it never did. Food got harder to find. Morale got low. We got desperate and, well, Doctor Wallace knows what happened next."

Michael looked over at Malcolm who lowered his head and his gaze to the floor.

"After that...what happened?" Michael pressed.

"There was this Phoenix Group asshat. Hooper. He fancied himself the new leader of our band of outcasts. If one of us disagreed with his methods or stepped out of line, we were out. If he didn't kill us first...We butted heads a lot. But he kept me around - he needed me. Those idiot soldiers don't know the first thing about the wildlife here. That's why most of them died. The ones that are left are only alive because of me."

"So what changed?" questioned Mark. "Why did you leave?"

"Hooper's a nasty piece of work. He doesn't care about anyone else. He only cares about his own survival. That and money. So he came up with this harebrained scheme to bring the dinosaur to his employers, so they can weaponize it."

Mark and Michael both looked at each other.

"How the hell is he gonna do that?" asked Mark sceptically. "He doesn't even have contact with the future."

"That's what I said," replied Mira. "Any means we had to contact the future got lost or destroyed. But he's determined to find a way. Even if it means coming back to the colony."

"That doesn't sound good," Malcolm said, arms crossed over his chest.

"That's when me, Carter, and a few others broke away. Seeing what that thing can do...I wanted no part in it. But by then we started getting sick. The others, they didn't last. But me and Carter, we decided to come back here where we'd be safe."