He felt a creeping sickness in his head, and closed his eyes against the pain. When he opened them again, scant moments later, he could see the back of his wife as she ran from him. Setting his jaw, already knowing what he would find, the baron turned and strode toward the lab.
As soon as he entered, he could smell the decay and corruption, as though they were tangible.
“It’s true…” he whispered to himself.
“THIS IS SICK. I remember the reports about Mengele, and how they always said it couldn’t happen again. My daddy always said they were wrong. Jesus Christ, Dad, you were right.”
Mildred fought back the tears as she stood over the cots where the hideously mutated results of Jenna’s experiments lay. The eyes of the speechless mutie children looked up at her in fear and despair. They had known nothing but hate and pain, but knew that she was a stranger, and may end that pain.
Alien joined her. “There’s no hope for these poor souls,” he said softly. “We must—”
“I know,” Mildred interrupted. “But I can’t.”
“Then I must. And as her husband I must take responsibility for not knowing.”
Alien held out his hand, and Mildred knew what he wanted. She handed him her ZKR.
The baron took the blaster, checked the breech, then put the barrel to the head of the first mutie child.
“Please forgive me,” he whispered before pulling the trigger. The noise was intense in the small room.
Alien repeated this with all the children, tears coursing down his face.
When he had finished, Mildred took his arm, and they reentered the main lab. The others were standing there, not knowing what to say to the shattered baron.
Alien looked around at the legacy of his wife.
“Destroy it,” he said quietly, giving Mildred back her ZKR. “Destroy it all. Then we find her, and put her on trial.”
“I don’t think it’ll come to that,” Ryan said gently. “If she’s gone, and so is Harvey, then you’re going to have to fight for your ville. ‘Cause we’re the only ones who have seen this for sure, and there’s no telling who’ll side with who if the truth isn’t yet known.”
The baron nodded. “So be it. If it comes to a firefight, then we must be ready. So smash it all, as quickly as possible.”
“How?” Downey asked. “You want us to blow it up, mebbe set fire to it? We need to get rid of those chilled experiments, that’s for sure. Can’t risk disease on top of this.”
“Too dangerous down here for grens or firing,” J.B. commented. “The best thing would be to shoot up the equipment, and plas-ex that room to bring the ceiling down in there and bury those poor bastards.”
“Let it be so,” Alien said quietly, striding from the room.
He was joined by everyone except J.B. and Ryan. While the Armorer sprayed the comp and medical equipment with his Uzi, Ryan laid the charnel house of the side room with plas-ex, which he fused and timed.
“Okay, people, let’s get the hell away,” he said urgently as he and the Armorer exited the lab. They ushered the others down the tunnel and around the corner as the plas-ex detonated in the lab, bringing down the walls and ceiling of the side room, burying the corpses of the experiments.
“Some of those children were from the ville,” Alien said quietly. “She and Harvey must have been taking children and experimenting on them.”
“How come we never knew?” Blake asked, bemused. “I mean, it ain’t that big a place, right?”
“I believe I may be able to offer a possible solution,” Doc commented. “The Sunchildren have always taken children that strayed to the outside. What better cover for Jenna and Harvey to abduct children? Then, when they had finished with them, they turned them loose on the outside, where they did, actually, become victims of Samtvogel.”
Blake shook his head in disbelief. “I thought I knew that bastard.”
“Throughout history, man has had an almost boundless capacity for deception and savagery. There are some things, friend Blake, that never change.” Doc pursed his lips, an expression of infinite regret crossing his brow.