He raised his whole body, sweat was pouring from his brow, all the muscular fibers of his short arms were exerted to the limit. He pressed all the weight of his body over the neck bones and in just a second the head separated from the shoulders.
The creature continued fighting as if nothing had happened, while its pale face was tumbling on the side. Its red pupils had occupied all of its eyes and its twisted blue lips were torturing the air like a fish, squirming on the hot sand.
Babyface took a breath, released his hold, then pushed the decapitated body away and left it move chaotically its limbs in the air. It resembled a cut chicken with a carcass, twisting in death convulsions.
He went to the head, pressed the nozzle of the gun to the forehead of his own self, and fired.
The limbs of the headless body dropped dead on the sand.
There was no blood.
The Lieutenant got up, shook off his clothes and asked unperturbedly:
“Mike, how many are left with you? The bullets are precious, there is one more of these fuckers. Alan’s double.” The Lieutenant got up, shook off the sand from his trousers and leaned over the object in which the double had stumbled.
It was Norman’s body.
Babyface put his finger on the carotid artery. He did not feel anything.
“I know, but I believed I could shoot him in the head. I’m sorry, I was carried away”, Michael could not stop excusing himself.
“Okay, Mikey”. The Lieutenant knelt by the body and brushed the face with his palm, closing the eyes. “That’s the Major’s dead body.”
“I’m sorry, Lieutenant”. Michael also knelt by Norman’s body.
“How many more have you left, Mike?”
“Just one.”
“What about the carabines?”
“The carabines are missing.” Mike pointed to the hole in the dome. It was torn and near the ground a big opening gaped.
“How much fuel have we got left, Hans?” Marcela was sitting in front of the computer but her glance was lingering somewhere away from it.
“For not more than an hour and we have a little for the Rover’s tank. If we manage to fix it at all. Now our life depends on it.”
“Hans, I don’t want us to spend another night here, we are not going to survive.”
“That’s right, but if we go walking through the desert, we are doomed. Better to wait for the night to pass and start early in the morning.”
“We are not going to make it till morning, Hans, what are you talking about? You know we’ll be attacked after the sun sets.”
The door opened abruptly and Michael and the Lieutenant rushed into the room. Babyface was almost breathless.
“Quickly! We must leave now!” He was almost stuttering, being so much in a hurry. “There are explosives everywhere.”
“Lieutenant, calm down, what are you talking about? What explosives?”
“I saw them, they are an entire network, they’ve surrounded the whole Base and can explode at any moment. We have not more than twenty minutes left.”
“Who put them, Lieutenant, did the doubles do it?”
“I rather believe Ivanov started it, looks like a fine job, but then they ‘inherited’ them and put some more. The detonators were with Ivanov the first time when the female double attacked him. They have been missing since then. They can be activated any minute now, I don’t think they’ll wait for the countdown.”
“Yes, having in mind that we kicked their asses hard”, Michael smiled.
“There is one left, Alan’s double, but he’s got the carabines with no less than two hundred bullets”, Babyface said. “If he decides to attack us, we don’t have anything to act against it.”
“My God, we are doomed!” Marcela had directed her eyes at the ceiling.
“Cover the windows with something”, the Lieutenant ordered. “Hans, help me move this cupboard to the door. People, we are barricading in and waiting, Michael, our hopes are on you now, you have to fix the truck real soon.”
“Yes, Sir, I’m going right away, you can rely on me.”
“Lieutenant, give him the last bullet”, she said.
“Now, I think he has too light a finger, and we’ll quickly be left without this weapon.” Babyface’s tone was definitive. “March is there any serum left?”
“Unfortunately, I used the last extract. I need more time for the next batch…”
“How much time?” he interrupted her.
“Two hours at least.”
“That’s too much. Anyway, get on.”
Michael lifted the bag with instruments from the floor and disappeared outside through the door.
“Come on, Hans, push harder.” The Lieutenant was moving the heavy cupboard almost by himself, while the fattish Professor seemed only to be leaning on it on the other side.
The door behind the solid cupboard shook.
“Open up!”
“That’s Michael, move the cupboard”, Marcela said. The Lieutenant moved the metal box and opened the door to the young man. The three of them stared at him.
“What are you gaping at me, people, my double was the first one to be killed”, he laughed. “Your truck, ladies and gentlemen, is ready, and is at your noble disposal.”
“Oh, Mike, you are my hero!” Marcela embraced him and kissed his cheek and he stepped back a little embarrassed and red in the face.
“How could you fix it?”
“Well, the tank has two sections, un-upper one and a lower one, which is narrower. The upper one was completely destroyed by the blades, it couldn’t be sealed and would not keep any fuel. But the lower was just a little bended by one hit and was not punctured. I just moved the tube, sucking fuel to a lower level, and now we have a working Rover. True, it cannot run for more than twenty five miles here, in the desert, but if we carry petrol and fill the tank, we can safely reach Al-Farafra oasis.”
“Mike, you are a real treasure, but what can we do with Alan, we can’t leave him.”
“Me and Hans will carry him to the back seat of the truck, we’ll pile up around him blankets and pillows, so that he doesn’t move too much while we’re driving. I think it is possible…”
“I don’t know if he could survive a journey through the desert. He has lost an awful lot of blood and he really needs an operation in a hospital. Here I am helpless, I cannot do anything…”
“Marcela, bandage him the best you can and calm down. You are doing everything in your power.”
Alan seemed to turn in the bed.
“Do you think he can hear us? March, please talk quietly”, Michael whispered.
“He can’t possibly hear, he’s still under sedation. But I’ll soon have to wake him up for the journey. He would better have certain reflexes preserved with all this jostling…”
“How are you, Alan, are you very much in pain?” she asked him gently.
“Only a little”, he lied. Actually, he hurt unbearably and he was counting the seconds to the next opiate infusion.
“It will all pass, my friend”, she tried to console him in an even quieter voice. This was the first time she called him that.
Really, her voice had stronger effect on him than the drug in the IV.
Marcela was tired, exhausted with the struggle, pale with worry, devoid of sleep, disheveled and still so natural and attractive. He could look at her face forever.
“Alan, your forehead is all sweaty. Are you hot?”
“Yes, a little… I’m a bit hot.”
The Lieutenant and Hans prepared a makeshift carrier from a grid that they extracted from the floor. They put a soft blanket over it and attached some leather belts so they could carry the sounded man to the truck.