The Obsidian Army

She never liked to fly. She hated it but she also saw the irony in it. She had been in active service for years and still had motion sickness. She opted for more land-based military activities and tried as much as possible to steer away from all sea and air travel.

Family visits were strictly by road, and Gerald begrudgingly went along with it, bless him. Heck, before this recent expedition, she couldn’t remember the last time she sat on a flight of any kind, yet here she was on her second flight in a week. 

The only reason she agreed to this was the nature of the situation. Not just anyone gets recruited to join a special task force by the Secretary of Defence. She knew she was a credible soldier, her stellar record at the academy and her achievements in her years of service proved that, but the call still shocked her. 

The cloak-and-dagger nature of the entire mission also made her uneasy, but Gerald helped ease her nerves as he always did. She missed him and their little daughter. 

It had been barely a week since she left home, but she missed them. She thought about them the entirety of her first flight to the newly established military base in Reno where she had been for the last couple of days.

The plan was to get there days before the mission, allowing her to better prepare for the job ahead and familiarize herself with her team. 

Her imposter’s syndrome arose when she got to base and saw the other recruits. High-ranking officials, with storied careers much more prestigious than hers. However, once she received the briefing, she understood why they were there.

Something extra-terrestrial touched down in a Reno suburb a few days earlier, the area had been quarantined, and their job was reconnaissance. 

“You look like hell, Sanchez” Sergeant McCollins said with a chuckle from the back of the chopper.

The other guys gave perfunctory chuckles. Sure, she looked like hell, but that was just the motion sickness.

Every other person on that chopper looked as bad as her, dreading what they were about to face. They touched down at the command station of the quarantine facility where the containment force field was controlled. The team settled in and got ready to engage. 

A few minutes before they left the station, Captain Anderson, the captain of the task force, gave a final briefing. “You move in four groups of two men. You already have your tactical partner. The whole area is devoid of civilians, they were evacuated once the entity got loose.”

“ You have but one assignment,” he continued. “You see anything or anyone and you gun that fucker down. We aren’t taking any chances. Keep your gas masks and your combat hazard suits on. I‘ll be here on the other side watching through your body cams and guiding you. Godspeed to all of you.” 

They exited the airlock of the quarantine station and walked into the dry, hot, Nevada air. Anderson gave the go-ahead and the force field was temporarily deactivated at the access point closest to the station, allowing them entry. 

Once within the force field, they spread out and began their survey. Elaina was teamed up with Sergeant McCollins, who she had grown a certain fondness for over their few days together. He had a certain charm and was one heck of a marine. 

She felt slightly at ease about the whole situation being teamed up with him, though she knew she was as much of a comfort to him as he was to her. 

They had been traversing the west side of the quarantined suburb for some time when the unmistakable sound of gunfire filled the air. One group had come in contact with it. She tightened her grip on her rifle and glanced towards McCollins. He was staring out into the distance where the gunfire came from, hand on his radio, ready to make the call. 

“Anyone know what the fuck that was?” No one responded. “Captain, any word on what’s going on down there? We hear gunfire.”

Silence.

The gunfire continued and began to sound from other sides of the quarantined zone. McCollins kept staring at the sky, listening. She could see his mind racing.

She began to head towards the next building, trying to get her mind off the sound. She entered the abandoned home, the door left ajar by the previous occupants who most definitely left in haste during the evacuation.

The house looked normal for the most part, similar to all the others they had inspected. She scanned the living room, then the kitchen. Suddenly, she heard a sound from upstairs, footsteps. She headed for the stairs and got her gun ready.

That was one of the things she prided herself on. Despite her nerves and worries, when it came down to it, she would shut it all out and focus. 

As she crept up the stairs, she could hear her heart thumping against her chest, only then realizing that the gunfire had stopped and everything had gone quiet. She got to the landing and walked, slowly, down the hall towards the open room on the left, gun at the ready.

As she walked into the room, she was shocked to find a child, a little girl, cowering in the corner. She eased up and stared, puzzled, at the child. She reminded her of her little daughter.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m here to help.” She relaxed from her shooting stance and stooped down to the child’s level, reaching out.

“Hey! Hey!! What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Sanchez?” McCollins had walked into the room with his gun aimed at the child. 

“It’s just a kid, she’s harmless.”

"We have strict orders to shoot anything that moves. This place is compromised, along with everything in here. We don't even know what we're dealing with. Just step away from the kid, I'll handle it" he said with the emotionlessness of a seasoned killer as he leveled his gun at the girl. Elaine couldn’t just stand there and watch this happen. 

“You can’t just kill a child.”

“That’s the thing, that’s not a child. A child shouldn’t be able to breathe in this air, it’s full of all kinds of shit.”

She was about to give a retort when it happened. If she hadn’t been a party to it, she never would have believed it. The little girl lurched at her and pinned her down with strength not typical of a girl child. 

Without hesitation, Nathan opened fire at the girl but she, or whatever it was, didn’t flinch. Elaine could feel her protective suit begin to eat away as the girl pinned her down. She watched in horror as the girl’s slender frame began to liquefy, her figure dissolving into an undulating obsidian-like mass.

Her human form melted into a thrumming otherworldly entity. It moved its focus from her and rushed at McCollins who kept firing at it. The formless black entity knocked him to the ground and started engulfing him.

She ran for the exit. She needed to get help. She jumped down the flight of stairs and ran out the door into the open air, hearing gunshots ring from the room above. As she ran towards the force field, more of the formless entities chased after her, shape-shifting masses that twisted and contorted with each step. She tried to radio for the others but didn’t get any feedback. She radioed the station.

“Mark…..Mark! Open the force field right now. I need to get out of here!”

“I’m sorry Elaine, I can’t. Captain’s orders.”

“What, what do you mean captain’s orders?”

“Sanchez, Captain Anderson speaking. We can’t let whatever’s in there get out. It’s better contained now that we know what we’re dealing with.”

She stopped running.

“What?”

“I’m sorry, Sergeant. It’s for everyone’s safety. Your sacrifice will save millions. This is too big a threat.”

She turned around to find she was surrounded by black formless entities. She held back the tears as she dropped her rifle to the ground.

“And the others?” She asked. 

“All dead,” replied the Captain.

She took off her gas mask and felt the sweltering Nevada heat. As the contaminated atmosphere enveloped her, it felt like breathing in a cold, heavy fog that seeped into every pore. 

Her vision blurred and colors faded to shades of darkness, the captain's muffled words slipping into the distance. Her limbs began to tremble uncontrollably as if a dormant force awoke within. 

The transformation accelerated as her body contorted, bones shifting and reshaping beneath her skin. A profound sense of dread washed over her as she felt her humanity slipping away, replaced by a new alien presence that surged through her veins.

Within moments, she stood as one of them—a black, shape-shifting entity.