The Eternal Winter - Chapter 6 - Infected (Patreon)

                                                        Alexander North

It’s cold. So very cold.

This is the first thought that comes to mind as I stare down at the shard in my gut while flying backwards from the force of its impact.

I vaguely hear the shouts of my squad members from the door, but those begin to fade away as I see the captain lowering the door despite the helmetless, and very much crying Michelle pulling on his arm to stop.

Huh. Didn’t realize she cared about me so much.

Actually, this feels kind of familiar.

I’m pretty sure I had the same thought when I saw Victoria and Gabriel’s farewell.

I blink at that realization as I fall to the ground, only to quickly find the wraith-like monster standing right above me with its blade-like limb raised to strike. However, right as the creature begins to lower it, the light shining from the shard in my gut suddenly flares, making it stop its arm at the last second before backing away and heading towards the secret entrance.

What the…

That was odd.

A few minutes pass with the only noise being that of the two monsters trying and failing to tear open the sealed door.

I feel sleepy.

I put in quite a bit of effort to raise my head, just to finally realize that the two monsters aren’t attacking each other like the large one from before did to the infected pirate.

Does that mean that only the brute-like ones are seen as enemies to the others?

Also, why don’t I feel any pain from this shard? And why isn’t it dissolving?

I stare at the shard still embedded in my gut, only for it to finally begin to dissolve as if reacting to my thoughts.

Oh, well, there we go then.

I slowly lower my head to the snow-covered ground again to look up at the heavy snow falling from the sky. The blizzard is nowhere near as strong as it was before, making it just barely possible to see the light of the stars outside.

“Guess I won’t be coming back after all, dad,” I mutter with my voice being covered completely by the sounds of the blizzard and the monsters. After that, my eyelids begin to slowly lower, as if something is pulling me to sleep. At the same time, I feel a wave of cold spread throughout my body before everything goes dark.

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                Five years ago, at the capital planet of The Terran Empire

“So let me get this straight,” dad says, looking rather intimidating as always as he speaks with the man standing at the foot of my bed. “If we don’t go along with your little experiment, then my son – my only son – will die from complete heart failure in just a month? And even if we do go along with it, it’s not likely to even fucking work?!”

I slowly close my eyes as the scientist begins to stutter, “Y-yes, you have it correct, g-general North. Your son’s heart cannot be saved, but if our artificial heart were to work, then he will be able to continue living without any foreseeable problems.”

Foreseeable problems? Because that doesn’t sound foreboding at all.

As if on cue, I hear something shatter from where my dad is sitting – likely the radio he had in his hand. But he surprisingly doesn’t say anything for several seconds. And when he does speak again, it’s to quietly ask, “Explain it to me one more time.”

I want to raise my eyebrow at that, but even that feels rather strenuous. So I don’t.

Being told the same thing like five times in a single sitting isn’t going to make it any more likely to work, ya know?

“Of course, general North,” the scientist says, sounding rather patient with my father. “What we would be doing is completely replacing his current, failing heart with a 100% artificial one. The first one created in history. Not only should it be able to function like a proper heart, but it should theoretically improve his immune system by leaps and bounds by filtering his blood of anything considered by his body as undesirable. It will also be a much stronger heart than any other human being currently has, making it able to take very stressful activities.”

The man stops to catch his breath for a second before continuing, “But as you know, this is the first 100% artificial heart in history, and the first time we’re doing a non-simulated human trial. Which means that it quite possibly might have some risks to it.”

At this point, I stop paying attention as the man goes on about several of the possible risks that might occur during the surgery, followed immediately after by talking about the rather extravagant price of the heart and surgery itself – which even that is apparently a discounted price for being a ‘test subject’ for the heart.

“Just, just stop talking,” I quietly mutter, making the scientist shut up immediately. “I’m guaranteed to die if I don’t try it, while I’m only most likely-*cough*-to die if I do. Make your decision.”

After saying that, I add, “It’s your money, so you make the choice if you want to risk it…” and begin to drift off to sleep.

However, a few seconds later, right before everything goes dark, I hear dad state with absolute certainty, “He’ll do the surgery.”

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                                                       Alexander North

I suddenly regain consciousness and sit up with a gasp while gripping my chest due to the terrible feeling it had during the dream.

However, after a couple seconds of heavy breathing, I regain my composure and realize that it was just a dream.

I take in a deep breath before letting it out again, just to remember where I am and what had happened.

How am I still alive?

The blizzard is still raging around me, but for some reason, it feels like I can see clearly through it. Like, I can tell that I’m in the middle of a blizzard, but I can still see without any problems.

And for some reason, some things – like plants – seem to have a sort of red aura around them.

“What the-” I stop speaking as I notice something strange about my voice.

Is it just me, or does it sound… slightly different? Not really sure how to put it, but it sounds a little clearer than before?

At that thought, I blink a few times and glance down at where the shard had stabbed me, only to not find anything there. No shard, and no wound where it was.

Uh, what the hell happened? Shouldn’t I be a monster right now?

And that’s when I realize that I don’t feel cold. Not even in the slightest. Despite being in the middle of a freaking blizzard.

My eyes narrow slightly as I climb to my feet, just to notice some holes at the ends of my gloves.

Where did those come from?

Almost as if on cue, black claws suddenly stretch out of the holes in my gloves, making me back away in surprise despite the claws somehow being attached to my own hands.

But before I can really focus on the claws, a notice appears from my terminal implant. One that changes everything.

/ Notice \

Warning – user’s physical body has undergone drastic changes.
Would user like to update their Analysis page to show the average numbers of user’s new species instead?

\End of Notice/

I blink once, then twice, then three times at the notice.

Okay then. That’s… how am I supposed to take that?

Before I can respond to the question, it updates itself.

/ Notice \

Warning – user’s new species is not inputted in The Terran Empire’s terminal database.
User may not update the Analysis page to show the average numbers of user’s new species.

\End of Notice/

This time my eyebrow twitches with annoyance at the stupid terminal, only for my jaw to drop open in shock as it changes again to show my new body statistics.

/ Current Analysis of user Alexander North \

Strength: 1.51
Speed: 1.53
Reflexes: 1.32
Constitution: 1.99
Immunity: ???
Senses: 1.65

Body Malfunctions: ???
Error: Cannot determine Immunity or Body Malfunctions of user’s current species.
The average of a human being without a symbiont is a 1 across all stats.

\End of Analysis/

What the what?

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