The Bloodless (20 page)

              He thought it would be a good idea to bring back some ancient torture and killing methods. The first one he reintroduced to the world was the “Drawn and Quartered” method. However, instead of sending four horses running in different directions, he would just have his soldiers play tug of war with his victims’ limbs until they slowly separated from the body. The most brutal tactic he employed that I heard only gets used on high value targets was something I think was called “Blood Eagle,” but I  can’t be sure.

              Grendel was given a special unit, the only one like it amongst the ranks of Bloodless that mindlessly follow directions. This unit consisted of the hand crafted survivors of the initial assault on GoD Laboratories. They can be compared to Spartans of ancient lore, the soldiers that were nearly impossible to kill because of their skill and toughness in battle. To us they were known as The Hunters.

              They usually were not sent out with the regular army. Grendel would send them out on special errands, mostly ones that included eliminating high priority targets and bringing down known resistance outposts. Once targeted by The Hunters, you didn’t stand a chance of hiding because they would find you. However, much like the animals that humans hunt, one would never know he or she was being hunted until they spotted a Hunter. And unlike a regular hunter who likes a clean kill, these Hunters made sure to make as big of a mess as possible. This was how they sent a message out to anyone who was found to be a part of the resistance. They didn’t carry weapons. They were bare handed specialists and would use whatever was lying around at the time; the older and rustier, the better.

              However, The Hunters acquired all of their tactics directly from Grendel, who trained them himself. No one knows where Grendel learned his methods, they just relay what they see. Some say his skills were inherent with the body. Others say he just made them up and they happened to resemble historical methods. It all depends who you ask, but it doesn’t matter where he learned them or how, just the fact he knows them is bad enough.

              The following is a first-hand account of one of the first encounters anyone had with Grendel and probably one of the few to witness his brutality and live to tell about it. I found this in a journal on a battlefield. It seems to have been written by one of the commanding officers of the initial resistance army:

              “Our numbers were many and our morale was high, but neither of those things helped us on that day.

              “It was shortly after the failed Operation Prime Assault. I was ordered to take a small group of soldiers into the hot zone in an attempt to take out any lone enemy squads. After a few hours of patrolling we didn’t run across any. On our way back was when we were ambushed by the very enemy we were searching for. We were outnumbered at least four to one. In the front stood one of the most imposing figures I had seen in all my years. We had nowhere to go, no way to fall back as we were completely surrounded and once the attack order was given, we didn’t stand a chance.

              :The enemy swarmed us all at once. We tried to fight back and were successful in taking out several of them, but the numbers were far from on our side. We tried to surrender but apparently they weren’t taking prisoners as even after we laid down our arms they continued to slaughter my men. I was beaten within an inch of consciousness and was kept alive merely to witness the brutality this enemy corps operated behind.

              “Their commander, a tall man with muscles bursting from his skin, picked my soldiers apart piece by piece, literally. Some he had eviscerated and then fed them their own entrails while others were carved open and bled to death, like a stuck pig. The shrieks of agony and torment still haunt my nightmares. I expect the only reason I was allowed to live was so I could pass on what I saw that day, so that others would know a terrible fear whenever they saw this man, a man I can only dub Grendel, as that is the most brutal monster I can think of.”

              Yeah, that’s what we were up against that day. It wasn’t looking good for us at all. Like I said before, not many people escaped from Grendel’s squad, let alone seven people.
 

*****
 

              I trusted that Fox wasn’t going to get himself blown up and was hopeful that we could finally cleanse the world of such a repugnant scourge. I waited until I saw Burns and Pillar running safely in the opposite direction of the Bloodless that were chasing down Fox before pulling the motorbike around in the opposite direction and wrenching back on the throttle as hard as I could. One tire lifted off the ground then thudded back down as we sped away from the blast zone.

              “Daniel, I am in position. Make sure everyone is at a sufficient distance,” Fox’s call came in over the radio.

              “Everyone report.” I yelled into my communicator. All clears came across the wire, a moment’s relief stole over my body but was quickly gone as I realized what that meant. “Are you sure about this Fox?”

              He didn’t respond with his voice, instead a blinding light erupted behind us and shortly after the ground began to quake. A searing heat tickled the back of my neck and soon enveloped my entire body. It felt like I was being cooked from the inside out, but poorly like a cold hot dog in an old microwave. Just as it felt like my skin would catch fire the air around me was cool again and I could breathe properly once more.

              I slowed down the bike and looked back at Crowder. He was still there but definitely looked shaken and I felt just how he looked. That was something I hoped I would never have to experience again. Once I was sure we were clear of the blast zone I brought the bike to a skidding halt.

              I brought my radio to my face, “Status check! Everyone come back, start from the top!”

              “Saturn reporting and that was a helluva sight.”

              “Burns and Pillar here, we’re just fine.”

              “Buggs.”

              Then there was a long pause. “Fox,’ I said tentatively, “we’re all waitin’ on you bud. Come back.” Still nothing. We sat there for several moments but Fox didn’t respond.

              “Daniel,” it was Saturn, “I don’t-“

              “Get off the line Saturn,” I yelled back, “he’s gonna respond, he’s probably still hiding from the fallout.” Again the radio went silent, this time for even longer. Finally Crowder gently placed his hand on my shoulder. I ripped off my communicator and slammed it on the ground, shattering it into hundreds of tiny pieces. I was pissed off, sad, confused, and any other feelings you can think of. I felt them all at once.

              “Daniel,” Crowder put his hand back on my shoulder, but I barely registered his touch, “Fox died for a very worthy cause. He took out Grendel.”

              “How do you know? What if Grendel got away?” I asked, and instantly cringed at how childish the question sounded.

              “Because if Fox is gone, whoever he was after definitely went down with him.”

              The journey back to base was a long and quiet one. We headed back to the rendezvous point where Saturn, Pillar, Burns, and Buggs were waiting for us. Nobody spoke. Saturn’s eyes were red and swollen, tear tracks stained her cheeks. Burns was especially down because he was so adamant about everyone surviving this mission. He failed and we failed him. Misery wrapped its unwanted arms around all of us and held on tight the entire way back to base.

              We didn’t even try to be cautious, we didn’t care at that point. We were all thinking the same thing; if any more Bloodless came to investigate the explosion they’d be in for a rude surprise and a swift and brutal death. I don’t know about the others, but I was hoping they’d come, I was aching for them to come so I could transfer as much of my pain to them as I could. None did, however, and we made it back to base just fine.

              Everyone took their spots around the table, leaving Fox’s and Crist’s seats open, as was our tribute to our fallen comrades. Friends and allies that could never be replaced. Still nobody spoke for quite some time and the mood remained quite somber. That is until it happened:

              “Why is everyone so sad,” everyone whipped around, “did someone die?”

              It was Fox. He stood before us virtually unscathed. A great uproar issued from the group, even one from me I never knew I could make. We all stood up and gathered around him, hugging him and some even hit him a little. Saturn wept openly as she hugged him tightly.

              “What the hell man,” I yelled after the clamor died down. “What happened to you? Why didn’t you respond on the radio?”

              “Daniel,” he started, as if slightly annoyed, yet the corners of his mouth curled slightly, “I set off a Crowd Pleaser, you cannot expect my communication equipment to survive a blast such as that one.” He held up his communicator and sure enough, it was fried.

              “Still,” Crowder said, “you could’ve made some sort of attempt to contact us to let us know you survived.”

              Burns grabbed Fox by his front and pulled him close, “Don’t you ever, EVER, do that shit again Fox.” Fox laughed calmly and patted Burns on the shoulder. He then released Fox and patted his shoulder in return, a satisfied grin on his face.

              Once everyone got settled and in their seats, now this time only Crist’s was left empty, Saturn turned to me and asked, “So, what’s this unbelievable news you have for us?”

              “Oh right,” I said tearing my eyes away from Crist’s seat. I looked around at everyone, “You all are aware of the research that took place at GoD, right?” Everyone nodded their heads. “Well, as one would expect, not all of it was exactly right, some might even say immoral. But it happened, there’s nothing we can about it now, except learn from it. The disturbing part, to me anyway, is that there were experiments that I didn’t even know about. From what I could understand under the circumstances, it looks as though there were some weapons being developed by us.

              “Now, you might be asking yourselves, ‘What is a genetics lab doing making weapons?’ Of course this question is incredibly valid and I wish I had an answer for you but all I have is a guess. That being this: Someone from the military decided it would be a good idea to branch out their already expansive weapons catalogue. I’m pretty sure someone got a promotion for thinking outside of the box on this one because weaponizing genetics experiments was unheard of, as far I know.

              “Really, it came down to being a biological weapon in the end, at least what was produced openly. However, there were other experiments that went along with all this. Experiments that were on the genetic level and I can only assume it was part of the military’s latest attempt at a ‘super soldier’ type infantry unit. These units are like Bloodless but bigger, stronger, and meaner. They were supposed to be anyway. I’m not sure if the experiments weren’t going as designed, but the creatures we encountered weren’t quite up to the results the military was demanding from our scientists.”

              “So what you’re saying is,” Saturn interjected, “there are more things out there that want to kill us that are working for the Bloodless?”

              “That much I am not sure of,” I replied, “at least whether or not these things are in league with the Bloodless.”

              “Don’t think they are,” Buggs chimed in.

              “Yes, I am not so sure they are either,” Fox added. “I witnessed, just before detonating the Crowd Pleaser, those creatures fighting with Grendel’s Hunters. It seemed as though they were targeting both us and them, most likely meaning that they do not have a specific target but rather attack indiscriminately.”

              “Well that don’t sound no good. Last thing we need is more monsters killin’ us,” Burns said.

              “Settle down now,” I said, trying to calm their fears, “we don’t even know if those things are still in existence. For all we know they could’ve been destroyed in the blast. Fox,” I said turning to him, “did you see whether everyone was taken out?”

              “There were no bodies intact, that I saw, when I left the blast zone. Everything was dust, as it should have been. I cannot confirm that all targets were eliminated, however, as I was intent to escape the lingering radiation as hastily as possible. On the same note, I did see Grendel not too far from my location just before I detonated the bomb. It is most likely he perished in the explosion, but again, I cannot be sure.”

              We all sat there for a moment, each one of us thinking about the prospect of a surviving Grendel. I could hear shudders roll across the room.  Crowder broke the silence, “So what does it all mean?”

              “It really doesn’t mean that much,” I answered.

              “Sounds like it means somethin’,” Burns said.

              “Well it’s all just conjecture right now. I’m just relaying information I found in notes from an experiment. Granted, what we saw was real, but we don’t have any reason to believe it will continue to be an issue.” It felt strange. Even though we accomplished all our goals that day and ostensibly a bit extra, we weren’t as excited as we ought to have been.

              “So it’s one step forward, two steps back,” Saturn said.

              “No, come on you guys,” I pleaded. “We’re down two power stations and we didn’t lose anybody today. We should be very proud of ourselves and what we accomplished.” They didn’t look convinced, “Okay, let’s just call it a night. I have some things to do, so let’s go our separate ways for now. Do what you have to do and we’ll meet back here in three days.” Nobody really spoke as we all rose from the table. We said our goodbyes and soon the place was empty.