Andrew Mackay - Pink Symphony

Handax stormed across the metal veterinary walkway. The fluorescent bulbs emitted a white light that was initially blinding to those who’d never been inside before.

A distinct waft of something very familiar crept under his nostrils – like that of a hospital.

“Right, is this the place?” Handax turned to Moses’ guard. “Is it?”

“Yes, this is where they keep them.”

“Good,” Handax turned to Leif and Moses. “Now, no messing around. Once we’re in, we grab what we can. We’re looking for the release mechanism.”

“Release mechanism?” asked the first guard, who nearly soiled himself. “What are you going—”

“—Shut up,” Handax spat in the man’s face and removed his balaclava, “You don’t say a goddamn word, you hear me?”

“No, don’t show me your face.”

“Hey!” Handax grabbed the first guard’s chin and turned his face to his own. “Look at me. Remember my face, USARIC scumbag.”

“Okay.”

“ We are going in there and doing what we need to do. Who’s in charge at Medix right now?”

“Wool ar-Ban.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Handax slapped the guard’s face and tightened the grip no his chin, “ar-Ban is on Beta along with the others. For the last time of asking, who’s in charge? Give me a name.”

The guard knew he had two options. He could tell his captor the name of Wool’s replacement, or head butt a bullet.

“Her name is Katcheena.”

“What a stupid name. How many people are in the compound?”

“I dunno, maybe twenty or thirty?”

“That many?” Handax pushed the man against the sliding door, “We need your palm print. Take your glove off.”

The guard did as he was told.

“Hanny?” Leif asked. “You want us to keep our guests, here, on display?”

“I want these two cowards front and center. Use them as body shields.”

“Oh, no…” the second guard burst into tears, “Please d-don’t—”

“—Hey! Stop crying,” Leif lowered her gun in an attempt to calm the man down, “As long as you do what we say, you’ll be fine.”

“B-But I d-don’t want—”

“—Bluergh, waaah!” Handax interrupted in severe mockery mode. “I don’t wanna die,” he finished and returned to his usual, venomous state. “Try telling that to the poor animals you bastards have locked up in there.”

Moses took this opportunity to play the hard man. “Yeah, shut the hell up.”

Handax turned to him. “Moses?”

“Yeah?”

“Be quiet.”

Handax turned to the first guard and grabbed his bare hand. “We good?”

“Yes.”

He grabbed the back of the guard’s hand and slammed his palm against the glass plate. The door flew open, inviting them inside the compound. Handax turned to Moses and Leif. “If they run, shoot them. I reckon we have about two minutes. Someone is bound to set off the alarm.”

“Let’s do it,” Moses jammed the barrel of his gun against the first guard’s head and walked in with him. Leif did the same with her guard.

Handax pulled his balaclava over his head and thumped the guard on his back. “Let’s go.”

Handax entered the room and took a look around. A vast laboratory, the size of a football stadium.

Dozens of medicians in white coats busied themselves at their computers to his immediate left. None of them saw him or his colleagues enter the compound.

To the right, a series of metal cages containing dozens of chimpanzees. Many of them hopped around and made a noise. The rest were asleep or covering their ears trying to get comfortable.

Dead ahead of them was the main console. A woman with red-rimmed glasses attended to the control bank. On the far wall behind her stood three doors.

USARIC medicians swarmed the place. It was hard to know where to start.

BLAM !

He fired a shot into the ceiling, startling everyone in the room. They turned in fright to see a masked Moses and Leif threatening to kill the security guards. “Good people, can I have your attention please?”

The medicians held their breath and threw their arms up in total and utter surrender. The woman with the red-rimmed glasses dropped her clipboard to the ground in shock. “Oh, my word.”

“Now, I know this looks weird,” Handax held out his arms and clutched his gun tighter than ever. “I can assure you we are not here to hurt anybody. In order to make sure none of you hit the alarm, I’m gonna need you all to get on the floor. Nice and slowly—”

The cheering and hollering from the caged chimpanzees threatened to overwhelm Handax’s statement.

“—Would you shut up, please.”

They wouldn’t shut up – they were chimps. If anything, the fact that a stranger had made contact with them exacerbated their excitement all the more.

“They’re chimpanzees,” said the woman with the red-rimmed glasses hit a button on the console. “Leave them alone.”

Pssscccchhhhh…

Handax swung his gun at the woman. “What did I just say?”

“It’s not an alarm, look,” she said, nodding at the chimp cages. A soft, pinkish gas emanated from the seams in the wall. One by one, the more excitable creatures slowed down and fell asleep. “I’m just quietening them down.”

“That pink stuff doesn’t hurt them, does it?”

“It’s absolutely harmless.”

“You better not be lying to me,” Handax hopped over the bench in front of him and reached the woman. “USARIC’s track record in truth-telling department isn’t exactly one hundred percent, is it?”

The woman squinted at Handax. “I can assure you, they are perfectly fine.” She couldn’t see past the balaclava. Inside, she was puzzled. She felt the need to keep an exterior air of confidence for the sake of her team. “Who are you?”

“It doesn’t matter who I am,” he said, clocking her USARIC name badge. “Consider me a freedom fighter… Katcheena Brooks .”

She turned her head away, angry at Handax’s intrusion on her person.

“Why are you wearing glasses?” He removed them from her face. The wired rims had no lenses in them.

“I like them.”

Handax chuckled, “Do you think they make you look intelligent?”

“—Hey!” Moses screamed from the door to the compound. He caught a medician reaching for the alarm button under her desk. “You! Get down on the floor or I’ll blow your damn head off your shoulders. Do it!”

Close to tears, the medician fanned her arms across the floor and sobbed against the tiled floor.

“Moses,” Handax called out, feeling a little sorry for her, “Come on, man.”

“She was going for the alarm, you know.”

“Just keep your gun on the guard.”

Moses turned his gun on his captive and thumped him on the arm. “Trying to distract me.”

Handax dropped Katcheena’s glasses on the floor and nodded over at Moses. “I’ll cut straight to the chase, Katcheena. My friend over there is going to absorb USARIC’s data. My other friend and I are going to release all the animals.”

Katcheena burst out laughing. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah. Really ,” Handax jammed the barrel of his gun into her temple. He found her strange laughter puzzling, “And if you don’t do exactly as we say, I’m going to paint a pretty little death smile on your pretty little face.”

Katcheena’s flippant reaction was met with dumbfounded reaction from her many colleagues.

“I don’t think so,” Katcheena turned to her frightened crew and screamed at the top of her lungs. “Everyone, follow the agreed-upon course of action.”

She thumped the red button on the console, setting off the security alarms. The white walls turned blood red from the spinning cascade of the red emergency lights.