Surviving
Ultimately, it was the dogs that sniffed him out. I had my doubts - the cold, the wind, the snow, the vast spaces involved, the nature of our quarry himself - but they did it. Somehow, they followed a trail that had been buried for weeks by never-ending blizzard, all the way to a cave we'd have never seen, not from the ground or from plane or from satellite, no matter how many times we went back and forth over the terrain.
Most useful goddamn animal the Creator ever came up with, the dog. The one animal we'd always keep in plentiful supply.
We caught him by surprise, surprisingly enough. I had been ready for a fight, for him to come out swinging or to get the drop on whoever went in first. So I sent Sully in first, of course. But nothing came of it; he was tucked into the back, slow and stupefied, barely aware of us at first even as we crowded into the little hole out of the wind. He was like a dope fiend, those ones who can't bring themselves to check out at a Dignity Center.
I gave a nod and Sully reached down to shake him awake.
He flailed limply at first, but then he started to shake off the stupor. Then he got a little rough. I don't know what hidden reserves they have deep within, but clearly there's something for the body to call upon with the willpower is there. He rapidly went from pathetic to intimidating, from weak as a kitten to strong like a bull. He struck back at Sully, knocking him down, and made for the cave exit like a cat made of lightning.
Outside, of course, we had the UV arrays ready to stun him. We quickly threw a temporary shelter up around him where he lay on the ground.
"What do you want?" he hissed at me as I knelt down next to him.
I pulled back my hood, unzipped my jacket, unwound my scarf to expose my throat to him. "Right here," I said, pointing.
He shook his head, sudden horror dawning on his face. "No!" he whispered. "Never again! Please… I am the last!"
"That's why we're making you do it, dumbass," I snarled.
"I killed off the others myself so that the world would be rid of us at last," he began to sob. "The planet is dying. There is no future!"
I slapped him hard. "You're just like those sad shits who go take the final cure," I sneered. "But just because you want to throw away the one redeeming quality you possess doesn't mean you can deny it to everyone else."
"Redeeming quality?" he choked. "My life has never been anything but a curse since I was turned. Do you know how many hundreds of years I have spent longing for death?"
"Don't give a shit," I said, and gestured to the crew. "So you don't know what to do with immortality. Fine. Don't you worry about us. We have lots of ideas."
The four men already holding him down were joined by four more. Our captive looked around at them, then back at me.
"Don't do this," he begged. "You can't imagine the price on your soul and the hunger you will feel. Someday there will not be enough life on the planet to sustain even one of you, much less several."
I looked down at the creature with open contempt. "That's a solvable problem. What do you care?" I gestured toward the battery of UV floods. "Once you've infected all of us, we're going to reward you with exactly the final destruction that you crave so much."
For a moment, I saw his resolve waver, but then he curled up in a ball, wailing. "No! No! No more temptation! No more!"
I sighed and gestured to Sully. "Get his mouth open and his fangs extended." I rubbed and slapped at my neck a few times to get the artery to swell. "Guess we're doing this the hard way."
------
For consideration: maybe twinkling in sunlight would be a small price to pay for immortality
Most useful goddamn animal the Creator ever came up with, the dog. The one animal we'd always keep in plentiful supply.
We caught him by surprise, surprisingly enough. I had been ready for a fight, for him to come out swinging or to get the drop on whoever went in first. So I sent Sully in first, of course. But nothing came of it; he was tucked into the back, slow and stupefied, barely aware of us at first even as we crowded into the little hole out of the wind. He was like a dope fiend, those ones who can't bring themselves to check out at a Dignity Center.
I gave a nod and Sully reached down to shake him awake.
He flailed limply at first, but then he started to shake off the stupor. Then he got a little rough. I don't know what hidden reserves they have deep within, but clearly there's something for the body to call upon with the willpower is there. He rapidly went from pathetic to intimidating, from weak as a kitten to strong like a bull. He struck back at Sully, knocking him down, and made for the cave exit like a cat made of lightning.
Outside, of course, we had the UV arrays ready to stun him. We quickly threw a temporary shelter up around him where he lay on the ground.
"What do you want?" he hissed at me as I knelt down next to him.
I pulled back my hood, unzipped my jacket, unwound my scarf to expose my throat to him. "Right here," I said, pointing.
He shook his head, sudden horror dawning on his face. "No!" he whispered. "Never again! Please… I am the last!"
"That's why we're making you do it, dumbass," I snarled.
"I killed off the others myself so that the world would be rid of us at last," he began to sob. "The planet is dying. There is no future!"
I slapped him hard. "You're just like those sad shits who go take the final cure," I sneered. "But just because you want to throw away the one redeeming quality you possess doesn't mean you can deny it to everyone else."
"Redeeming quality?" he choked. "My life has never been anything but a curse since I was turned. Do you know how many hundreds of years I have spent longing for death?"
"Don't give a shit," I said, and gestured to the crew. "So you don't know what to do with immortality. Fine. Don't you worry about us. We have lots of ideas."
The four men already holding him down were joined by four more. Our captive looked around at them, then back at me.
"Don't do this," he begged. "You can't imagine the price on your soul and the hunger you will feel. Someday there will not be enough life on the planet to sustain even one of you, much less several."
I looked down at the creature with open contempt. "That's a solvable problem. What do you care?" I gestured toward the battery of UV floods. "Once you've infected all of us, we're going to reward you with exactly the final destruction that you crave so much."
For a moment, I saw his resolve waver, but then he curled up in a ball, wailing. "No! No! No more temptation! No more!"
I sighed and gestured to Sully. "Get his mouth open and his fangs extended." I rubbed and slapped at my neck a few times to get the artery to swell. "Guess we're doing this the hard way."
------
For consideration: maybe twinkling in sunlight would be a small price to pay for immortality