CHAPTER FIVE

Later that night, the four of them quietly slipped out of the back entrance of the hospital. They had offered to stand guard there so that some of the soldiers could go get some rest, and since they hadn't sat down for hours, the soldiers almost kissed them when they relieved them of their duty.

Sarina couldn't believe they were about to do this. Was it necessary, yes, it was...but that didn’t mean she wasn’t worried about the little mission they were about to do. Going against Husks during the day was one thing. It was much easier to see the numbers you were dealing with but at night, that was a different story. There was no way you could tell how many Husks there were. Ten's, hundred's, thousands? In the hours that had followed the initial attack, there was no way to determine how many people they may have converted into Husks. It was a high possibility there would be more this time around.

Zeek walked over to the three of them. "The cages are ready.”

Len turned to look at Zeek. “How did you end up getting those by the way?”

Zeek looked down over the edge of the of the roof to the hospital. “I repurposed medicine cabinets. In the stock room, they had a lot of them and they were closed shut by a cage door...worked perfectly.” He looked at Len. “Oh, that reminds me, I have sedations ready just in case.” He nodded and looked at the two Asari, “Look forward to seeing if you two survive," he smiled.

Sarina and Liana looked at Zeek, "Yeah...anything else we could get you while we're down there? A book, a needle, a brain perhaps?" Liana said sarcastically.

"No, I believe I have everything I need...and I highly doubt you’ll find any brains out there...plausible though, I guess...under the circumstances,” he rubbed his chin.

Len brought his hand to his brow and shook his head. This was going to be a long night. He walked over to the ledge where Sarina and Liana were standing. "I'm not very fond of this idea."

"There really isn’t any other choice Captain. We need this information if we are to have any chance of making it," she placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled encouragingly.  "Just provide us with cover fire. I couldn’t ask for a better guardian."

Len took in a deep breath and nodded as he unslung his sniper rifle. 

With that, Sarina and Liana both jumped off the building, using their biotics to slow the fall.

"Facinating,” In his state of awe, Zeek almost leaped off the building himself as he watched Liana and Sarina jump off. 

“Whoa!” Len pulled him back, “Last thing we need is having you face splat on the ground below.”

Zeek carefully stared over the ledge. “Simply remarkable...would love to run future tests on the Justicar."

Len frowned and sighted up his sniper rifle. He couldn’t help but feel uneasy about this whole thing. What could they possibly learn from these things besides that they were made to kill. But, whatever would come of it, they trusted him to provide backup, and that was exactly what he was going to do.

"Ha, I beat you to the ground!" Liana voiced, rather loudly, when she landed.

Sarina landed just after Liana and rushed over to her. "Shhh...we don’t know how many of them are out here. Be cautious!"

Following Sarina’s lead, they moved up the streets like shadows, not making any sounds. After a couple of minutes of sneaking around, they came across a small group of human husks, wandering aimlessly.

“We’re supposed to bring as many as we can back. Throw up the stasis and walk them back to the hospital, I’ll cover you,” Sarina whispered.

Liana walked into the street, “Just like with my ex-boyfriend, great.”  Liana whistled to the husks. Taking notice of her, the husks started charging Liana. Waiting for the last possible second, she finally threw up the Stasis Field, all the husks froze just feet from where she stood. Lifting them into the air, Liana started to double back to the hospital. 

Out of no where, they both heard a gunshot ring out, and Sarina could feel the air rush past her head. The shot hit a husk that was creeping up behind her, right in the center of its forehead. When she turned around, she could see a whole horde of husks, of all different species, making their way towards Liana and herself. Slowly unsheathing her sword, Sarina prepared for the fight. “Get back to the hospital! I’ll stall them!”

“You’ll get no argument there!” with that, Liana increased her speed back to the hospital.

Letting out the breath he had been holding in, Len started reloading his rifle. “Put the silencer on your rifle Captain! We will not be able to keep this discrete with loud gunfire!” Len heard Sarina speak through the ear com. “Damn it!” He muttered to himself as he attached the silencer on.

Zeek paced around the ledge of the building, his binoculars in hand...more like, some soldier’s binoculars in his hand. His reasoning had been that they were just lying there, unused so...he would borrow them for the night. It was hard to explain what he was feeling in that moment exactly but most of it was excitement and extreme fascination. He had always wanted to witness an Asari Justicar in action and now that he had “front row seats” so-to-speak, he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. For a second, he had even forgotten what they were there for. “I wish I had one...” He meant to keep that to himself but found that he had actually muttered it out loud when Len answered behind him.

“They’re getting you one already!” He took another Husk down.

Zeek looked over at Len and blinked a few times, “Yes...yes, I...I meant her...she would be very...nice...very convenient to have around...that’s what I meant.”

“Oh for the love of...just shut up!” Len clenched his teeth and took another one out. He stood up and moved positions to get a better angle. 

Thud. Another head hit the ground and rolled away. Sarina had to hold them off long enough for Liana to get the husks back to Zeek. Ducking, jumping, spinning...she was always on the move slicing everything that came near her. She kept fighting until she heard a low growl. She turned around. It was one of those big husks…the kind that had charged at Serenity. The kind that Zeek wanted. She made her way to the husk as it started moving for her. When they met, Sarina made the first attack. She went to slice at it with her sword, but before she was able to meet blade to flesh, the husk had backhanded her into a wall. Sarina should never have underestimated its strength. Looking over, she could see Liana was ALMOST to the wall!

“Shit!” Len stood up and aimed at the big Husk that was attacking Sarina. He nailed it once in the head, but that only seemed to piss it off even more. 

Getting up, Sarina attacked the husk once again. She threw her leg up but the husk caught it in mid air. Acting on pure adrenaline and reflex, she threw her body into the air, performing a backflip. As she moved back, she charged her biotics and whacked it with a biotic push with her other foot, nailing it right under the chin. It fell back with an angry growl.

“Sarina! Liana is up on the roof and the husks are secure! Get your ass back here!” Len called through the com.

Nodding in acknowledgement, Sarina sprinted as fast as she could to the hospital. She could hear the husk was right on her tail. She didn’t dare to look back. Right at the last second, she made it to the hospital wall. Jumping up on the wall, she ran a couple steps up the wall, and back flipped off it, and spun her body around in mid air. When she landed, she heard a big crashing sound behind her. Turning around, she saw the husk had run into the wall and was knocked out. Not taking any chances, she threw up a Stasis Field, and threw the husk up onto the roof.

As she reached the ledge, Len held his hand out and helped Sarina up. He looked at Zeek. “This better be enough.”

Zeek looked down at the big husk and stared at it closely. “Batarians...multiple...” He frowned analyzing it.

Len shoved him. “Hey!” 

Zeek stumbled back a bit, snapping out of his trance. “Yes, yes...this is more than I could ask for,” he looked at Liana and Sarina. “Thank you,” he gave them a little nod.

The Batarian Husk twitched.

Len brought up his rifle but before anything else happened Zeek slammed a huge needle into the husk’s chest, injecting it with some crystal blue liquid.

“Whoa!” Liana stepped back a bit, “What the hell is that?”

 “Neuroleptic.” When he saw them blink a few times, he clarified. “A tranquilizer...the sedatives I said I had. Scientist sometimes use it on Thresher Maws and Krogans in order to tranquilize them for long periods of time to under go necessary testing.”

“Where did you get that?” Len stared down at the needle. That couldn’t be legal.

“I always carry some wherever I go. It usually comes in handy.” Zeek nodded.

Len rolled his eyes and walked off. “I don’t want to know.” He just waved.

-------

Several hours had passed after the, “Salarian Blitz”, as Len was code naming, had happened but Zeek hadn’t taken a single break from his experiments. He was pretty much like a little kid let loose in a toy store. He kept muttering data and observations to himself as he studied his specimen carefully. The world around him didn’t exist at that moment.

Len and Sarina had decided to go back inside the hospital before he began his experiments, Len, for one, did NOT want to experience Zeek getting a high out of ripping some Husk’s brain out, but he also wanted to check on the security of the hospital and Sarina, wanted to check up on Serenity.

Liana, on the other hand, still sat on the roof's ledge, her legs dangling off the side of the building. The Reapers where still going through the city and even though none were close to the hospital, she could still hear every thump, laser, explosion, and scream echoing throughout the air. Noises were so much more audible at night. She hadn’t realized how disturbing that was until now. 

“Hey Doc Z,” she finally looked over her shoulder, “you got anything yet?” 

He didn't say anything for a moment or two. For a second, she thought he wasn’t going to answer but then he finally mumbled, “Some interesting information but I need to do further testing in order to conjure some logical conclusions.” 

Liana raised her eyebrows, “Logical...yeah...right,” she shook her head and knew that was all the conversation she would get out of him for a while.

So, she went back to looking down at the city. When she started to look directly below her, instead of out in the horizon, she noticed what seemed to be a little store of some kind that wasn’t very far from the hospital. Part of her knew that she shouldn't leave the hospital alone but she was tempted to go and scavenge some supplies. Plus, they needed the supplies badly so there was no harm in going for a little peek. Right?

Liana looked to see if any husks were roaming around down below. But, from what she could see, it was clear. So, she jumped down like she had done before.

Zeek frowned for a second as he thought and when he went to write something down in his notepad he noticed Liana jump down from the corner of his eye. He blinked a few times wondering if he should say something...tell someone? He approached the ledge and watched her carefully making her way to a little shop not far away. “Smart girl.” He scanned the area and saw it was pretty quiet at the moment. She should be fine, he told himself and went back to his work.

Liana made her way inside the little store. The lights were out, and the place was pretty much a wreck...just like everything else. The difference about stores though, wrecked as they may be, there was still a lot of food and clothes all over the place. Liana smiled a little bit to herself but something just didn’t feel right to her. She slowly looked around. Maybe it was just nerves. So, she grabbed a bag that was lying on the floor and grabbed any food, water and medi-gel that she could find in a first aid station in the store.

After a few moments, Liana had reached the jewelry section of the store. As much as her survival skills weren’t interested, her feminine side was. She modestly looked over some things. After trying a few rings and necklaces she put them back deciding that none were to her taste. When she put them back down she stopped and thought for a second...these could come in handy. So, she picked some of them up and shoved them in the bag. 

Once her bag was pretty much full, she made her way back to the door but froze when she heard a familiar scream. She instinctively dropped to the ground, behind the nearest desk and drew her pistol.

-------------

Inside the hospital, Len went to find Sarina and waited until she had tucked Serenity into one of the beds. He watched her for a moment and when she approached him, Len nodded towards the girl. “She okay?”

Sarina nodded. “Yes...she’s scared but...” she looked back at Serenity. “She’s managing.”

Len nodded and walked with her towards the waiting room. He sat down in one of the couches and sighed. “What do you think of this Zeek character?”

Glancing over at Len, Sarina contemplated his question. "He seems...” she struggled to find the word, “enthusiastic...about his work. Maybe slightly reckless but I think he is suitable for the tasks ahead of us.”

"Yeah. I just hope his antics don’t end up getting us killed," Len said as he let out a breath.

"Same concern...but I don’t think he will put us in any unnecessary danger. I’m also curious and...wondering...if he may look into what is ‘wrong’ with me...”

Len frowned, a bit confused, but curious at the same time.

Sarina stayed silent for a moment before continuing, “I have this...thing...so much more power than I had before and I don’t know why. If it turns out to be something dangerous, I want to know about it. Dying has never been a concern for me. I trained as an Asari Huntress and then later a Justicar. I face death everyday. But that’s me. I am not accustomed to putting other people's lives in danger.”

Len listened to Sarina carefully. He hadn’t known her for very long but for some reason he already felt a connection to her. So much so that what she was saying...worried him. “dangerous?” He sat up and thought for a moment. “That’s what you want Zeek to look into then?” He looked down and nodded. “Well, I may not agree with, his...’methods’ but...he is brilliant.” He stood up and started to walk towards the hallway but stopped by her side, “Just...let me be there when he’s going to do these, experiments...I think he might be a little infatuated with you.” His mandibles moved slightly, indicating a Turian smirk. He placed his hand on her shoulder momentarily and gave it a reassuring squeeze then walked off.

---------------

After what seemed to be a few minutes, Zeek heard a bone chilling shriek. His muscles tensed. It had to be that husk he had seen from afar before he reached the hospital. It had to have been an Asari husk and by what he had seen, it seemed to be one of the most ruthless. But then he remembered Liana. He rushed to the ledge and saw something moving in the shadows not far from the little shop Liana had slipped in. He hesitated for a moment, not sure what to do. He looked down at the ground. It wasn’t extremely far...but he couldn’t just jump down. But he was a biotic too...not as powerful of course but he could still form a pretty strong mass effect field. He ran over to the Batarian husk, took out his pistol and put two rounds into the thing’s forehead point blank so that the shots would be some what muffled. He had pretty much gotten everything he was going to get from that specimen. He looked over at the other husks. They were laying on the ground tied up, gagged, and in cages...they weren’t going any where. 

He rushed back over to the ledge and breathed. He tried to focus as much as he could before he took the leap. Right before he hit the ground he emitted a pulse of dark energy which slowed his fall but the impact was still strong enough to knock the wind out of him. He groaned and when he was finally able to stand he felt slight pain in his foot. He grimaced and rubbed his foot slightly as he looked around cautiously, trying to spot the shadow he had seen earlier. 

When he could finally walk, or more like, limp, he slowly made his way towards the shop. He couldn’t see anything out by the front.

There was rustling.

Zeek perked up and when he realized it came from the back of the shop, he dashed for the front door and when he made it in he found himself starring down the barrel of a pistol. He froze.

“Doc Z?!” Liana hissed. “Shit, I was about to blow your brains out!” she yanked him down to the ground. “Did you see anything out there?”

“It’s in the back,” he pointed towards the back of the shop. “Outside.”

Liana looked to where he pointed and nodded. 

“I don’t think it knows we’re here...would you mind if we watched it? Just to see what it does?”

Liana cocked her brow. “What?” she then remembered, “Oh right, you’re the crazy-husk-stalker-Salarian doctor...” she made a face, “How could I EVER forget that.”

“Come on, it’ll give us some insight.” He crawled quietly across the floor and when they reached the back wall, Zeek straightened up just enough to be able to take a peek out of the window. He looked around. “I don’t see anything...”

“Oh goddess...”

Zeek glanced at Liana and saw her eyes wide. He followed her stare and held his breath when he saw what she was seeing. It was that creature...the Asari husk and it was dragging a half dead Asari.

Zeek felt mortified. Frozen. He didn’t know what to do. Neither of them knew what to do, they just sat there. Starring.

The creature then stopped and pulled the Asari up close to it’s face, it opened it’s mouth but before it could do anything, Zeek’s leg slipped on a wrapper that he had been kneeling on and he bumped the window slightly. 

The creature turned to look at the shop with a hiss.

Zeek and Liana dropped to the ground almost immediately.

“Damnit Doc!” Liana hissed between clenched teeth and shoved Zeek.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He closed his eyes, “I don’t think it saw us...it’s too dark...”

Liana gritted her teeth, “I’m not taking those chances!” and sprang to her feet launching a Warp attack at the Asari husk. “Doc Move it!” She shouted as she fired several more shot's at the husk.

The Husk dropped the half-dead Asari and charged towards Zeek and Liana with a deafening wale, biotic energy building up around it.

Zeek rolled into cover and took his pistol out and activated the incendiary ammo before he looked over his cover. The husk was baring down on Liana who had taken cover behind a checkout desk firing several shots before taking cover again to reload.

Liana continued to fire on the husk but the bullet's seemed to bounce off its barriers. Then the husk built up a biotic throw and launched it at her. The force was so powerful she felt the desk slam into her, knocking her back into the nearest wall.

She was still disoriented and in pain but the fear and adrenaline that was pumping through her veins caused her to crawl out from behind the desk that had slammed into her. She staggered for a moment and when she looked up she found herself starring face to face with the husk. It only took a split second for Liana to see the pain and suffering from behind those dreadful eyes. A split second, to see the asari who this husk use to be. But then, the Husk began to open its mouth and the smell of death came from it. Liana knew that this was the end but she wasn't going anywhere without a fight. Without thinking, she hit the husk with a biotic throw, sending it stumbling back a few steps.

When it turned around, Zeek was standing right in front of her. He smiled, waved, and biotic charged it point blank.  The force caused the Banshee to propel back to Liana.

“You fucking Reaper bitch!” with that, she unleashed the last of her power in a biotic blast that finally sent the Banshee across the shop and into a wall, causing the rubble to fall over it. 

Zeek stepped up behind Liana and smirked, “I think we just invented our own version of biotic ping pong.”

Liana looked over to the back of the store, “We have to go check on that Asari, she might be--”

“She’s not...she’s dead.” Zeek cut her off. For a second, a hint of sadness flashed across Zeek’s expression but quickly faded.

Liana looked back at the rubble where the husk had landed. She was even more pissed now.  Dusting herself off, she said, “Biotic Ping Pong, huh? Well then, let’s go see if this bitch is down for a round two.”

When they walked up to the Banshee, it lay there motionless for a moment before its skin started to char as if catching on fire.

“No....” Zeek took a step forward but before he could do anything, the body had turned to ash. “No!” 

“Oh Goddess,” Liana rolled her eyes, “please don’t have a Salarian hissy fit on me right now Doc.” She slouched her shoulders, suddenly looking even more drained.

Zeek gritted his teeth and shook his fists. It was evident he was trying to release his anger verbally some how but all that came out was, “Krogan quad sack!”

Liana almost laughed out loud but instead she glared at him, “Shut up,” she waved at him. “I think those big Brutes out there have Krogan quad sacks so don’t make it sound like an invite!” she hissed.

Zeek breathed and looked at her, “I’m sorry...that would have made a great test subject...could have been revealing,” he shook his head and started to make his way towards the front of the store but then he stopped suddenly, almost causing Liana to bump into his back ”...the husk...not the quad sack,” he nodded and continued walking.