End of Days Series

Red Velvet

"A whole lot of mites, sir..." he answered.

"Get back here, Newell. We'll spray you down, and you can survive in the chamber for 48 hours for quarantine and observation."

"I'm already here, sir," he said against his better judgment as he looked down at his chest and legs of his EMU suit swollen with clots of red mites that were crawling upwards toward his helmet. He swept his hand across the visor, smearing the mites on the Plexiglas, their viscous yellow insides spreading a swath across one eye, just enough to be bothersome like an itch he couldn't scratch. He reached down to brush off the lid to the toolkit and flipped it open, the back of the lid crushing fistful of mites that set off a chemical wave through the colony, now agitated and swarming toward the disturbance.

"This is not going well," Newell said through his mic.

Tevis wanted to grab the handset from the commander; she could hear the pulsing of blood in her ears at the rasp of Newell's voice. She pushed forward the PTT button in anticipation.

"What's happening, Newell?"

There was no immediate answer.

"Newell!" shouted the commander into the mic.

"I'm heading back, sir..." said Newell, the shout of the commander getting him to refocus.

"Good. We'll be ready for you. When you reach the rim wait for further instruction." Tevis released the toggle and she slumped into her chair with relief.

"Let me know when he's in sight," the commander said peering out the window and handing the handset to Tevis, then turning, he left without a word.

She waited until he left the room before toggling open the channel to Newell.

"Where are you, Irwin?" Tevis asked using his first name.

It was good to hear her voice, but he was beginning to feel he made a fool of himself.

"I'm still here, Tevis," he said addressing her by her first name and disregarding her rank.

"I'll be with you the entire way, Irwin. Hang in there. Our SAT will pick you up in another five minutes, and I will guide you in."

"Thanks, Tevis." He needed to focus on her voice and knew that any stray thoughts could open the door to panic. But It was getting difficult, the smear across his visor had changed, uneven, like a melt. As it was, he had to contort his head in the helmet to see below the distortion, and even that was no benefit for his non-dominant eye. He was covered in mites, but he knew not to brush them away this time, so he shook his head, which seemed to work for short periods of time before the visor was covered again. Fortunately, he could see below the distortion to his feet and follow the footsteps he had made getting here, occasionally shaking his head to clear his visor, but it was becoming more frequent, and he was starting to get dizzy from it.

"I have you on SAT, Irwin," she said with a lift in her voice as she zoomed in on his coordinates, but froze at the site of the red mass surrounding him and pooling from the beacon tower. She let go of the toggle in time for him not to hear her gasp and could taste the bile in the back of her throat.

It made him feel better that at least she could see him. "Just keep me on track, Tevis... it's getting hard to see my steps."

"You got it, Irwin. You're heading in the right direction."

Although the mites were small, only a shirt button in size, the sheer number of them made his knees wobble from the added weight. Another shake of his head to clear his view and he almost fell over.

Tevis could hear his breathing becoming shallow and faster, and she knew panic might be setting in. "Slow down your breathing, Irwin. One step at a time, and breathe in deeper. I'm right here with you. We can do this."