The Thing 3: Assimilation✔️

Epilogue: The Long Haul

Blake looked out over the vast antarctic wastelands surrounding his facility, hands behind his back, staring out of the windows of what had once been Graves' office.

His facility. He was still getting used to that.

Okay, well, not all his facility. He shared it with MacReady for the moment.

It had been two weeks since Graves had shot and nearly killed him in this very office. He'd woken up two days later in the airfield's infirmary. Weldon had been there. The first thing he wanted was a test, both for himself and for Weldon. The medic had been kind enough to oblige him. MacReady had come to see him shortly after, (and had submitted to a test of his own), and explained that they were in control of the airfield and were currently working with several different governments to enact a quarantine.

They'd contacted as many governments as they could at around the same time, so that no one tried to get into a power play and bumrush the continent to take control just like Gen Inc. Luckily, it seemed to be working. The United States, Norwegian, German, Russian, Japanese and Brazilian governments were currently working together to enact a full quarantine around the continent, and since then several governments had started getting in on it. After healing up enough to start walking around again, (which took another day or so,) he'd gotten up against Weldon's recommendations and had started helping the others get the base in shipshape.

Since he'd woken up, he'd been helping burn bodies, scrub away the blood and bring the airfield back up to code. And preparing it for the long task ahead. The governments were in agreement: Blake and MacReady were certified experts on the Cloud Virus, and they had been placed in charge of the makeshift army they'd built down there, with more experts to come down once the quarantine had been fully enacted.

The past two weeks had been easy, though.

Blake knew that the hard part was just beginning. Somehow, someway, they were going to have to sterilize the entire continent. It seemed like an...impossible task. It would take hundreds, probably thousands of men and all manner of surveying and scanning technology to sweep the whole thing over and over, looking for Thing creatures.

Yes, it was going to be a task that could take years...decades even.

A lifetime. Maybe even longer.

And Blake was looking forward to it. As insane as it was, as terrifying as it was, as hard as it was going to be...it gave him a sense of purpose. This was something he could do, something he actually felt (mostly) qualified to deal with. He knew he'd have to give up his life back home, but what life was that? He didn't have many friends, none outside the military actually, and not much family to speak of. It seemed like he'd been alone for ages, fighting for a cause that he didn't always believe in or even understand.

But now he a definitive purpose, and was serving with men who knew the stakes. Professionals who would get the job done, who would fight to the bitter end.

Behind him, the elevator dinged open.

"See anything interesting?" MacReady asked, moving across the room to join him.

He kept a little farther away than arm's length. They would all be doing that from now on, all subtly paranoid of each other.

It was the only sane way to live down here.

"I suppose I'm just getting myself used to it," he replied.

"Yeah, I know what you mean..." He descended into silence for a moment. "Well, if you feel up to it, Delta Team is prepping to head out to Outpost Thirty One to scrub it and search for supplies. You feel like going back?"

"Where it all started...for us anyway," Blake murmured. He took a deep breath and let it out. "Yeah, I'm up for it."

"Good. Alpha Team is already at Dronning Maud and Bravo and Charlie are at the Weather Station, retaking control of it. It's in good enough shape that we think we can re-purpose it to serve as a support station," MacReady said, turning and heading back towards the elevator. Blake followed after him, listening, nodding.

It was time to get to work.