Resurrection

An Innocent Life

Whimpers roused her. A sound foreign to her ears, yet so compelling, Jones found herself crawling on her hands and knees to get to it. Gould lay in a ball on the floor with an egg-sized bump on his forehead. His breathing accelerated and a high temperature, but he was alive. Upon reaching the source of the whimpers, her mechanical heart missed a beat. In the cold, dried flesh of the arms holding it, lay a perfect, innocent life.

Tutankhamun raised a hand to his burning throat as another bout of hacking coughs took hold. Drawing a ragged breath aggravated his windpipe, irritating the cough further. Only this time, blood rained from his gasping mouth.

Jones lifted the baby and wrapped it in her jacket, holding it safely against her chest. She watched in alarm as the target opened his mouth and a giant slug slithered out, thumping on the floor as it landed. She crossed the room, drew a blade from its sheath at her ankle and used it to slice the creature in two. The target fell to the side with his eyes wide and staring. His skin turned grey, hair falling in clumps to the floor.

"Brown? Green? Do you hear me?" she asked, touching her ear. "We need a clean-up crew in here. Target is terminated."

"Confirm: target is terminated. Do you require medical assistance?"

"Gould requires assistance," she confirmed. "I've something I need to take care of. I'll meet you back at HQ.”

"Captain, are you okay? You sound a little strange."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. I eh… have to take the anomaly directly to the lab." She disconnected the comms and used nearby sugar tongs to place it in a pillowcase. "Let's get you something to eat little one," she crooned to the baby in her arms. "Then we'll drop this thing off at the lab and you can come home with me."