Nuclear Winter

The End of Days

Davis explained what Jager had not.

"We have been here for over a year now. The Chameleons have been setting this scenario up for a while, but we keep throwing a spanner into the works."

"What do you mean?" Juliet was now more confused than ever. Not only was her memory not working properly, she was still flashing between what the chip had put in her memory, and what her real memories were.

"What happened here? What actually happened to the human race?"

Davis' eyes narrowed and a look of anger passed over his face.

"Chameleons!"

"What..."

Davis looked like he was about to answer, but then his head suddenly swiveled to the left.

"They are coming! We have to get back up into the vents. Move Corporal."

Juliet stood quickly and moved towards the vent. Davis opened the medicinal cupboard, quickly scanned the contents and grabbed what they had come for. Juliet looked longingly at the vent, which was twice the height of Davis.

"Don't worry, you'll go up first," Davis said.

"What about you?" Juliet asked.

"Don't worry about me."

The private bent down and cupped his hands, Juliet steadied herself and then Davis boosted her into the vent. Juliet moved quickly, and if she didn't know better she thought that maybe Davis had found it easy. She pulled herself up and then turned to help Davis get up. She put her arm down to give him something to grab on to, but Davis waved her out of the way. She moved and watched in astonishment as he leaped the twelve feet from the floor to the vent and pulled himself up. Juliet looked as though she were about to say something, but Davis pre-empted her.

"Quiet now!" he whispered.

He began carefully moving the vent back to the opening, but then the door opened below them and two Chameleons in military fatigues walked in. Davis stopped moving; almost stopped breathing and Juliet did the same.

The two looked like they were on patrol, they were talking quietly to each other, and their eyes were zipping all over the place, as though they were watching for something. They did a quick scan of the room and turned to leave. Suddenly one of them stopped and sniffed deeply.

"Do you smell that?" a raspy voice scraped.

The other Chameleon sniffed and nodded. They began making their way over to the vent, sniffing as if tracking the two humans. Juliet looked over at Davis, eyes wide.

"They have found us," Davis whispered. "Don't move!"

Davis gripped the white knife in his hand tightly; it had not left his hand since they had left the connecting tunnel. The Chameleons were almost underneath them now, and Davis moved into position.

The Chameleons were sniffing deeply now, a fresh scent. Until now, Juliet had had no idea how horrible it felt to be hunted. Suddenly the Chameleons stopped and began to look up. At that moment Davis leaped from the vent, knife in front of him. He quickly stabbed the first Chameleon in the neck with the knife, again the silent scream and then dust. Davis hit the ground and spun his legs around, knocking the other Chameleon over as he did so. The Chameleon hit the ground and Davis thrust the knife into his chest. Threat eliminated.

Juliet watched as Davis had a shaking fit, his body moving uncontrollably. She was almost ready to hop down when he sighed deeply and stood. He turned and leaped up into the vent once more. Juliet smiled at him.

"Well done soldier." She whispered. Davis tried to smile back, but his face was pale and his body was sweating profusely.

"Are you alright Private?" Juliet asked.

Davis shook his head.

"No, this white knife is a gift and a curse at the same time. As well as giving us a weapon to use against these creatures, it also means that I'm slowly becoming one of them. We don't have much time. Let's get back, and I'll explain the plan."

* * *

Juliet was once again eating a tin of shredded chicken. It was the last of the stock they had brought with them from Earth. Davis was sitting in a corner of the tunnel, looking decidedly unwell.

Juliet offered him some but he waved it away.

"I do not get hungry for food anymore."

Juliet got up and walked over to him, she sat down beside him and kissed him on the cheek. It was cold. Then she put her arm around his shoulders. He looked tired, almost as though he were ready to give up. He looked up and her and managed a slight grin.

"My ability to be happy diminishes; it is as though it is draining the goodness out of me every time I kill one of them."

Juliet nodded with an understanding she didn't have. He was becoming extremely pale, far beyond any normal healthiness for a human. It was amazing that he was still functioning at all.

"Who gave you the knife?" Juliet asked him.

"Jager gave it to me. It is his personal knife."

"Why did he give it to you?" Juliet asked.

"For protection. The weapons that we have are ineffective against the Chameleons, as you saw in the portal room. Technically they are already dead, and cannot be killed. They feed off the life of others to survive in the shell of their bodies. The knives act as a kind of transfer system. If you stab a living creature with it, it draws out their life essence and gives it to the wielder, making them stronger, but only for a limited time. The effects eventually wear off and they have to feed once again."

"Who are the Chameleons Private, and what do they want?"

"Jager explained a bit of the history behind them, and it is not pretty. The Chameleons were an experiment, they were once human. They were accidentally created during a military experiment to make a super soldier. Something went wrong, I am not sure what, Jager never told me, but they became these horrible creatures that drain people of their souls. They turned on the human race, surviving by feeding off the souls of the living. Jager is a relatively new recruit to their race, having been around for only three hundred years. He said that at first, the feeding was addictive, he needed to do it, but now he is tired of living and wants to die. That is why he is helping us. He wants to stop them from going back through to Earth again.

"What do you mean again?" Juliet asked.

Davis looked at her darkly then; she could see the battle going on inside him. His human half was repulsed at what he was doing, but Juliet could see that the other half, the Chameleon half was relishing the idea.

"This isn't the first time they have done this Juliet. It is a cycle, the Chameleons have been feeding off Earth for at least a thousand years."

"What are you talking about?" Juliet started, "We would have known if they were."

Davis laughed then, a deep throaty laugh, which made an inhuman sound.

"The nuclear war that has raged for the last thousand years is the human races attempt to destroy the Chameleons. It fails every time, and we have ended up becoming cattle for the Chameleons; they have destroyed our planet numerous times and fed on every living thing they can.

Once they devour all life on Earth, they turn on each other, only the highest echelons of these creatures survive to the end and continue the process. When your team created the wormhole, they created time travel. The Chameleons were smart enough to figure out that if they took advantage of this that they would have an unlimited supply of food. They wait, they grow weak, but history always repeats itself and we always create our time travel machine and we always come back to this horrible place.

As soon as it happens they go back through the machine and do it all over again. Jager told me that they have done this eight times now.

Juliet looked at him; there wasn't much else that she could do. The theory was so far-fetched that she was unsure that Davis was even sane anymore.

"We created these creatures, Juliet. This is our punishment! Our punishment for trying to play god." Davis moaned.

She needed to focus on something else or she felt as though she would go insane herself.

"You talked about us running out of time. What are we running out of time for?" Juliet asked. This question brought Davis back from whatever misery he was fighting inside himself. It gave him something to concentrate on.

"Jager was talking to me about this how this time is different to the smooth transition it has been in the past. In the past, the recon team came through as we did. There they were met by the creatures, as we were. But this time one of their kind went crazy with hunger and attacked Private Aimes, do you remember."

A light flashed in Juliet's mind; one of the Chameleons jumping on Private Aimes and stabbing something into his neck. She had remembered yelling from both sides, Colonel Straith yelling at his men to stand down. Lieutenant McIntyre had assessed the situation quickly and seeing a threat he had immediately given orders to open fire. Juliet had depressed the trigger of her gun, but they had still kept coming. She had seen realisation in the Lieutenants eyes, he had figured very quickly that Colonel Straith and his men were not as they seemed. He had turned and ordered the rest of the team back through the portal because they were at the front, he had ordered Juliet and Private Davis to stay behind with him to lay down suppressing fire and give the rest of the team time to get away. They had stood shoulder to shoulder for a full minute holding the Chameleons back, but eventually, the Chameleons had broken through their gunfire and after that Juliet remembered nothing until she had woken up a week ago.

"But the machine was shut down. How did General Erikson know to shut down the gate again?" Juliet asked.

"One of our team got through Corporal, Jager didn't know who it was but he warned them. They now are on full alert on their side."

"Can they not destroy the portal from their side?" Juliet asked Davis.

"No, that's not how it works. If the portal is still functional on this side, they can still get through. Jager told me that they have tried twice already."

"So what was your plan?" Juliet inquired.

"We have a chance to destroy this machine Corporal and stop this cycle for good. There are only a handful of these bastards left. If they get to Earth, the cycle starts again. Straith will make sure that nothing like what happened this time will happen again. He will keep a close eye on his men, and we may never get another chance like this."

"What about getting home?" Juliet looked at him sadly.

Davis looked at her and then at the ground.

"We can't go home, Juliet. The portal needs to be destroyed from this side. There are only two of us, and I will have to hold them off while you do it. I am the only one that can give you a chance."

Juliet was saddened; she would never see her family again. She looked up at Davis and saw that he wanted to show the same emotion, but his transformation was taking more of his human side away from him every hour. He just put a hand on her shoulder, she pulled away. It was like being touched by ice.

Davis looked hurt, but this gave Juliet courage; there was obviously some human part of Davis still left. The young private looked deeply into her eyes.

"This is what we signed up for Corporal. We promised to protect America from all enemies, foreign and domestic."

Juliet nodded and wiped away a tear.

"I know Davis. It just makes me sad, that's all."

Davis nodded.

"Me too, but we have an opportunity to stop someone else in another thousand years having to make this choice."

"Are there any more of our team left?" Juliet asked.

"No, Jager said they had either died getting back to the wormhole or had been killed in the process of trying to get back to Earth. You were their last shot. That is why they are still hunting you."

"Okay!" Juliet said. "What is the plan?"

* * *

Davis' plan was simple. They would enter the chamber where the wormhole was being kept through the vent system. There was only one way in and out of the chamber.

Private Davis would kill any Chameleons there were in the room, then he would defend the entrance for as long as he could. Giving Juliet the time she needed to destroy the machine.

But no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy.

Davis had scouted the vent to make sure no one was in the room and then had removed the vent and jumped down. He turned to catch Juliet when he was attacked by three Chameleons that had obviously been lying in wait. The Chameleons were strong, but Davis' military training made all the difference. Through the use of the white knife, his strength had also grown. He defeated them, taking their essence and becoming stronger again. He turned quickly and Juliet jumped from the vent.

"Move quickly," Davis exclaimed. "I can feel myself starting to turn into one of them now. I don't know how much longer I will last."

Juliet hurried quickly over to the machine. Davis ran towards the door, where already a group of Chameleons was making their way cautiously into the room. They had seen the way Davis had dispatched the others and had a healthy fear of the soldier.

Juliet heard the beginning of a struggle, as her fingers flew across the keyboard. To destroy the machine she would have to delve deep into the heart of the computer system and destroy it from the inside out. Earth and the people she knew and loved deserved a healthy and happy life. One where they did not have to live in fear of these creatures.

* * *

Wave upon wave came at Davis; he had managed to get into a small corridor between the entrance to the cavern and the machine. This limited the numbers the Chameleons could throw at him at any one time.

Davis had been worried that his strength would fail, that he would not be able to continue protecting Juliet from the creatures, but he found that it was the complete opposite. Each one of the creatures he killed made him stronger, made him feel better than he had ever felt before. For a moment he let himself hope, that maybe they had a chance. That was when the pain hit him; after he had defeated the ninth chameleon, it was an intense ripping feeling inside his chest, like someone had shoved his hand inside it and ripped out his heart.

Davis fell to his knees stunned, this pain was unlike anything he had ever felt. He felt as if his very soul were leaving his body. Another three Chameleons approached; Davis put out a hand to steady himself and stood. He glanced quickly back at Juliet. Her fingers were still whizzing over the keypad, trying to destroy the system. He couldn't let her down, she was depending on him to protect her and give her enough time.

They came at him in a group, rushing. They could see that he was weak. They sensed a victory. The Chameleons were not stupid creatures, they knew how much of a threat Davis was, and they wanted to stop him at any cost. He picked his moment, and with his increased strength he grabbed two of the heads and crashed them together. The third bounced off his comrades and momentarily went off balance, which was all that Davis needed. He swung his arm out, the knife ripping through the sinew and muscle in his neck. He then spun and plunged the knife deep into the other two as they lay stunned on the ground.

As he let the power flow through him from the kills he doubled over with the most intense pain yet. He vomited, expelling the last remains of any organic food left in his system. He crumbled to the floor in agony, screaming loudly. He heard Juliet in the background call his name.

"Davis!" He looked around and saw her moving towards him. He steeled himself. He couldn't let her down. She needed to do this.

"NO!" he screamed at her, motioning her back with his arm. "I can do this." He saw concern mirrored in Juliet's eyes, but she sat down and continued her work.

Davis expected an attack any moment, this was the perfect opportunity, he was pretty much defenseless, using the last of his limited energy to make a show of his strength to Juliet.

So it was a surprise when instead of another wave of Chameleons, Straith himself approached. Through pain-glazed eyes he watched the Colonel walk towards him slowly. The bastard was only metres away now. If Davis could only get in a lucky shot this may all end. Straith was the brains of this whole operation. If Davis could cut off the head of the snake, the creatures would have less of a chance of coming back. Davis hoarded his strength as the pain continued to wreak havoc throughout his body. He would only have one shot at this.

Straith approached and bent down, his spirit knife at the ready; this was it, Davis would not go quietly. He thrust his arm upwards at the colonel's unprotected neck. The blade was just about to penetrate when Straith's hand intercepted it with what could only be called superhuman speed.

Davis tried to keep his momentum up and push through, but Straith held tightly. The Colonel was strong, much stronger than the others.

"You are in pain aren't you?" Straith stated.

Davis was silent. The Colonel had now twisted Davis' arm and was pushing his own spirit knife back to his chest. Davis felt the beads of sweat beginning to form on his head, from the strain of trying to keep the knife away. Suddenly the Colonel placed his hand on Davis' chest. Davis furrowed his brow, what was the Colonel doing?

"I can make the pain go away!" the Colonel said, and immediately the pain disappeared.

Davis let out a small gasp of relief as the pain faded.

"Or...I can let you suffer." He took his hand off Davis' chest, and the pain came back instantly, and twice as strong. Davis screamed again, the pain was traveling through his body like food colouring through water, becoming more and more intense.

The weight of Straith's hand came back upon his chest and the pain diminished, leaving Davis sweating and hot. All thoughts of wrestling the spirit knife was gone, just the relief of not having the pain was respite enough.

"What you are going through now is what we call 'the change' – it happens after your twentieth kill and is the final stage of becoming one of us. Only the high echelons of Chameleons understand the true nature of the change, and only we five can stop the pain that you are going through. You have a choice private; you could become one of us, and swear allegiance to me..."

Straith took his hand off once more, and the pain that had so blessedly been gone before was restored. Davis could not control his screaming, the pain was unreal. Thankfully Straith only gave him a second to consider his offer.

"...or, I could leave you here, writhing on the cold concrete floor and suffering for the next three hours as the change finally kills you. I will not make your death an easy one. You have been a thorn in my side for too long now."

Straith removed his hand, Davis had no choice, he couldn't take the pain anymore.

I'm sorry Juliet. He thought.

"I swear..."

"Swear what?" the colonel asked.

"Allegiance..."

"To?"

"You...please take the pain away!" Davis begged.

Straith grinned and when he did, Davis knew that he had sold his soul to the devil.

"Welcome brother," Straith said.

Davis felt the grip on his chest tighten and closed his eyes.

* * *

Juliet could hear the struggle going on behind her; from the sounds of it, Davis was holding his own. Grunts of exertion and the sounds of the Chameleons turning to dust were at the back of her mind as her hands flew over the keys.

She was almost into the portals mainframe; the brains of the computer. If she could get there, she could find the termination point that she and Rory had installed into the mainframe for just such an emergency. The termination point would fry the electronics and systems so that the Chameleons could no longer use it, the shell would be there, but it would be of no use to them.

She heard the scream moments later and looked around. Davis was on his knees, vomiting. It didn't look good. She stood.

"Davis!" She began moving towards him.

"No!" the Private yelled, motioning her back. "I can do this."

Juliet saw the three Chameleons coming towards him. He stood and went back to work. Juliet sat back at the computer, worried. Would Davis be able to give her enough time? She broke through the final firewall. It would not be long now.

More screaming, and then Juliet noticed the silence. Her military training immediately kicked in and she went straight into defensive mode. The silence could mean only two things; Davis was dead or...

...Juliet turned and saw Davis and Straith wrestling on the ground. Straith has Davis pinned and was pushing his arm into his chest. Juliet knew immediately that Davis was in trouble.

She hit the termination point seconds later. Her brain flew through the commands on the screen. She entered the final text on the command screen 'terminate electronics' and pressed 'enter.' As the programme began going through its destructive sequence she sent a message back to Earth. They had to know.

'All team member's dead...machine destroyed...threat extinguished...give our love to everyone...farewell.' – Juliet watched in anticipation as the message was sent seconds before the machine completed its termination sequence. Smoke began issuing from the panel and the machine itself.

Juliet sighed in relief, it was done. Davis had done it! He had given her enough time. A slight smile crested her face, and then she felt a blinding pain slice through her back. She leaned back to ease the pain and watched in sadness as Davis' face floated above her.

"I'm glad it was you," she whispered.

His eyes said it all, sadness and pain; but his face showed nothing. He was one of them now.

* * *

Colonel Straith looked at the body lying on the ground in front of him. The human woman Juliet was dead. Her body slumped beside the machine that she had just disabled. The spirit knife which had sucked the life out of her was firmly grasped in Private Davis' hand.

"Well done Private Davis. You have earned my trust. The first kill after you have changed is always the sweetest, but it is like a drug. You will always be searching for the feeling of that first kill, but you will never get it again, no matter how many souls you take."

Davis turned and looked at him blankly.

"I feel the need to feed more, but what do we do now? The b***h managed to destroy the machine, and get a message off to Earth as well."

"Excellent!" Straith said and turned to his new Captain. An eager Chameleon by the name of Stukar. "Ready the engineer, Captain Stukar."

"Yes, sir," Stukar replied, saluted and left the room, followed by the remainder of the Chameleons.

Straith turned back to the disabled time machine and looked at it greedily.

"Engineer?" Davis asked.

Straith smiled, but there was no happiness in his eyes.

"Of course. You didn't think that I would have no other options left, did you? After that i***t, Freeman got greedy and attacked your team at the beginning of this whole mess I had to find a different way of getting back to Earth.

Waking you was only the first stage in my plan; I needed to know who was helping you. The information you gave me about Corporal Cullen was a bonus, allowing you to escape into the air ducting system allowed me to identify the traitor Jager, who I already had my suspicions about."

"What made you suspicious of Jager?" Davis asked.

"I run a tight ship Private. No one would have attacked your team without a very good reason. I planted the idea in Freeman that his betrayal would go unpunished if he gave me information on the reasons behind his attack (it didn't, and he suffered terribly once he had given me the information I needed). He let slip of a discussion between himself and Jager on needing to feed. It seemed that Jager was egging him on, whipping him into a frenzy about the feed to come. I remember the moment it happened, and I distinctly remembered Jager staying well away from any feeding, so that meant that he was not wanting to feed as badly as he made out.

Corporal Cullen was the second stage of my plan. She gave me the information I needed on how involved Captain McIntyre was. The fact that you and her met up and came up with your ridiculous plan to disable the time machine played right into my hands. Not only have I now eliminated Jager and his plan, but Earth now believes that the machine has been destroyed and that the threat has now ended."

"So what is the third stage in your plan?"

"Soon, you will see." Straith replied.

Deep down, somewhere inside his now destroyed human soul, Davis felt a tinge of fear, but it lasted only a moment as the need to feed replaced any last sparks of his humanity. He found himself anticipating the feeding that would come soon.

"But I would imagine that six billion souls should last us through another thousand years."

The two Chameleons grinned in spite of themselves.

* * *

Rory McIntyre slowly opened his eyes.

It was very bright, with white shapes moving in his field of vision. His surroundings felt familiar, but not. Everything was a bit blurry. He tried to sit up, but his body wouldn't respond. He thrashed his arms and legs, but they were restrained. Panic. Suddenly a soft, pleasant voice soothed his racing nerves.

"Rory, it's alright, you are safe."

Rory breathed deeply, his heart rate slowed a bit. He allowed his eyes to focus on the shape in front of him. It was a woman—that much he could tell. Her facial features were soft and rounded. He felt a hand on his forehead. Reassurance. He finally relaxed.

"That's it." The soft voice crooned. "Easy does it."

Rory closed his eyes. His mind wasn't quite ready for processing. The soft voice had said he was safe. The soft voice was comforting. He would sleep now...

Adam Crump

Whangarei

New Zealand

3rd January, 2013