Protocol Zena

by RJ17Boy

Chapter 4: Choices

The time waiting for Mac to get here was the tensest experience I’ve ever faced up to that point in my life. Jeremy and I watched each other intently waiting for someone to make a move. I was glad our rifles were taken away. If they weren’t, we would’ve pointed them at each other the entire time and if one of us fired, well I surely would’ve been the one killed.

I wasn’t angry at Jeremy for wanting to kill the unicorn. I understood why he wanted her to die and to some extent I agreed with him. However, the situation just didn’t make it seem right to do so.

Finally, Jeff and Mac showed up. Mac was carrying a lantern while Jeff had a massive first aid kit.

“I thought we said we weren’t going to anything until Mac approved of something” Jeremy said to Jeff.

“Correct” Mac said. “We aren’t doing anything to the creature just yet. I asked him to bring it just in case one of you decided to shoot the other.” I don’t think he was being honest, but I wasn’t going to argue.

Mac looked at the unicorn. “So this is the fine specimen we have here?” He leaned over it and analyzed it. “You’re right about her being in horrible shape. I don’t know if we could even save her if we wanted to. In fact, I’m unsure if even the best hospitals could save her.”

What a great way to begin the conversation.

“We’ve discussed this with Joe and Shela. Joe said he’d back whatever decision Richard makes and Shela thinks it needs to die.”

“I’ve decided to not vote on this issue” Jeff said.

“And I’m not sure what to do just yet” Mac said.

“So if we put it to a vote right now” I said, “It would be a three way tie since Jeremy wants to kill her and I want to save her if that’s indeed possible.”

“I see.” Mac paused for a moment. “Since you two seem to disagree on what to do, why don’t you present me your reasons for me to take your side?”

“I thought that was the plan to begin with” Jeremy said.

“Same here” I replied.

“Technically” Mac said, “I’m the leader of this group so what I say goes no matter what the group thinks. However, since our group is evenly divided and I can’t decide what to do, I guess I’ll need some… persuasion as to what action should be done.”

“Fair enough” I said. “So how are we going to ‘persuade’ you? Have a debate about what to do?”

“Something like that. One of you will present a reason why your action is the right one and we will discuss whether or not that point is valid. Once that point is done, the other will make a point and the process repeats until either a decision has been made or we’re just tired of discussing this topic. Is that fair for you two?”

I looked at Jeremy. He didn’t seem to mind this method. “If Jeremy likes it” I said, “we’ll do it.”

“I’m ok with it” Jeremy said. “It’ll be nice to hear the consequences of each decision.”

“Very well then” Mac said. “Richard, you go first.”

I was hoping Jeremy would get to go first, but oh well. Can’t get everything you want.

“Ok then” I said. I thought about what to say first.

Has to be a good point.

After a while, I thought of one. “I think this unicorn has some useful information.” I let everyone take in the thought. “Take a look; she’s not wearing any battle armor. This means she had no intention of getting into a conflict.”

“We don’t know that for sure” protested Jeremy. “We didn’t look around this area when we found her meaning the body armor could be nearby. Besides, she could’ve been taking a break and decided to take off the armor while she rested and then got attacked.”

“Doing that in the middle of a warzone is unlikely. Besides, I don’t think soldiers would be carry bags like that if they intended to get into a fight.” I pointed towards the bags.

“I noticed those coming down here” Mac said. “Jeff, could you see what’s in those bags? Maybe we can figure out who she is with the content inside.”

Jeff went over to the bags and tried to open them. When he couldn’t, he took out a pocket knife and tried to rip the bag open.

“This stuff’s tougher than Kevlar” he said. “My knife’s not gonna be able to cut through it.”

“Must be a special type of material” I said.

“Maybe” Jeremy said, “Though it doesn’t prove anything. All the soldiers could’ve received bags made of the same stuff.”

“Perhaps, but look at the belt attaching the straps together.” They looked. “It matches the mark on the unicorn’s rear. If you ask me, there’s a good change this was custom made for her and not standard issued.”

Mac looked indifferent. “I’ve made up my mind on this point.” He looked at Jeremy. “Your turn to make your case.”

“Very well then” Jeremy replied. “Right now, she is a threat to our safety in more ways than one. For starters, her mere presence threatens to bring unnecessary attention to our base. There is a strong possibility that there are scouts out here looking for her despite her level of importance. The closer she is to our base, the more likely it is we’ll be discovered and our safety will be compromised.”

“So?” I retorted. “Killing her won’t make her any more or less likely for scouts to discover our location. Besides, moving her towards our base may divert their attention away from us since they won’t have any clues or reasons as to where we are located.”

“Or it can give them that many more clues and reasons to look in our area since the previous area lacked them.”

“Same with moving her away from our location.”

Mac considered this. “What other threats does she pose on us? You did say there was more than one so let’s hear them.”

“Biological threats.” Jeremy replied. Mac looked just as confused as I felt with that statement. “Look, she’s not from our world so it’s safe to assume that other diseases might be lurking on her. Therefore, the longer she stays around, the more likely it is we might contract something just like the Ancient Americans did when the Europeans came over.”

I had to counter this statement. “If any of these diseases could’ve been spread, I think one of us would’ve gotten something before we got here.” Now everyone was looking at me suspiciously. “Think about it. When they came, they swarmed us by the hundreds, maybe thousands, and we were all close to them. If the diseases were spread by air, we already have it in some form or another so having one here wouldn’t make much of a difference.”

“What about by contact?” Jeff said. “Some viruses spread by touch. None of us have touched one of these beings except for Richard and I so we could’ve contracted something.”

I could counter this. “Joe can confirm what I’m about to say. When we were heading to the rendezvous, one of the pegasi landed on the top of our vehicle and in order to get him off, I threw it off the vehicle. If the disease spreads from creature to human to human, I already have it and probably the rest of us have it.” I looked at Jeremy. “Anything other threats you think she can possess now?”

Jeremy seemed to have a trick up his sleeve. “In the off chance she does come back, we don’t know if she’ll be cooperative with us or not. She could reveal her position to her allies or turn on us and kill us while our guard is down. We just don’t know enough about her to take such a chance.”

He has a point. How do I counter an argument like that?

“You guys didn’t know much about me when you first saw me. Perhaps you still don’t.” I looked at Mac. “Either way, you still trusted me enough and allowed me to venture with the group-”

“Only cause two of us knew something about you beforehand” Jeremy interrupted. “This situation isn’t the same as yours because none of us knows anything about her except that her race has attacked us and we-”

“I’ve heard enough about this point” Mac said. At this point, I couldn’t tell which side he favored more. Mac looked at me. “Have any other points you’d like to bring up?”

That I did. “What if the tables were turned? What if we were her and she was us? What would you want her to do to you?”

“Kill me” Jeremy responded, “that way she can’t get any of the secrets I possess.”

“That’s easy to say, but if you have no secrets to hide, what then? You would’ve died for nothing.” I addressed Mac. “I don’t know what these creatures are, what they would do or what they are capable of, but we don’t have to treat them as if they are not equals. We maybe at war, but ethics and morality still apply and if we’re not careful, we’ll lose who we are.”

Jeremy responded, “There are times where we must put ethics aside to save ourselves”

“And now is not the time to put them aside” I retorted. “Look, I can kill them as easily as anyone else, but I must have a reason to do so. On the way here, I was attacked and I could kill them since my life was on the line. Here, there is no clear threat being presented and if I kill her, I might as well have murdered another human.”

There was a long pause. “Jeremy” Mac said implying it was his turn to make a statement.

He looked at Jeff. “Mac said that you claim the unicorn is in critical condition did you not?”

Jeff looked surprised at the question. “Theoretically, yes. I don’t know the anatomy of unicorns, but if they are similar to that of humans, then she is in unstable condition.”

Jeremy had a grin on his face. “And would you say that the odds of her surviving are rather slim?”

Jeff thought about that. “If we were in a hospital like Mac said earlier, she would have a…” he did some calculations in his head, “56 percent chance of survival I think. Not exactly favorable odds, but miracles have happened before.”

“What about these circumstances?”

“These?” He did some more calculations. “From what I’m willing to perform, less than 3%.”

Jeremy looked at Mac. “Even if she is innocent and can end up helping us somehow, do you really want to use what little resources we have on those slim odds?”

He had a valid argument, and used Jeff as his source.

Cleaver one I'll give you that.

But, like all arguments, there had to be some kind of leverage I could use. I thought vigorously.

I looked at Jeff. “If you were to get permission, somehow, to perform first aid on her right now, what would you use on her?” Any chance I had on persuading Mac now rested on his shoulders, and I wasn’t sure how he would respond.

“You guys need to warn me before you put me into your arguments” Jeff replied. “For what I would use…” he opened the first aid box and looked at what he had. He considered his options for a few moments. “For starters, I would not use any medicines on her. Without knowing how these creatures would react to the drugs, she could easily die from an allergic reaction to the stuff.” I figured he would say this much. “However” he took out a small brown bottle, “I would use some hydrogen peroxide on the wound to clean it up. Not too much, but enough so that I’d be confident the chance of infection is rather low.”

“How much would you use?” Jeremy asked.

“Not even a quarter of the bottle. It doesn’t take much to clean a wound so we would have plenty left over to attend to any wounds we may encounter.” He put the bottle away and took out some medical thread and a needle. “Afterwards, I would stich the wound up so that nothing else can enter the body. I think I’d be pushing the power of what the thread can hold, but I’m confident I can mend it.” Jeremy looked concerned about the amount of thread he had. I must admit I was feeling the same way. It wasn’t a lot and we may need it later on.

“How much thread would we have left if you were able to mend it?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t worry about that” Jeff said. “I managed to scavenge some extra thread with me before we left so we’ll have plenty of thread even if I use all of this up. Besides, if my skill of the needle were needed again, I doubt you would be alive before I could operate on you.”

I addressed Mac. “As Jeff said, we wouldn’t be using enough resources to freak out over. Even if the odds aren’t favorable, I think we should take a chance with what we have to gain from it.”

Mac indicated he didn’t want to hear any more arguments and took everything we said into consideration. I wasn’t sure what he had concluded which made me that much more nervous. All of us waited in anticipation.

After a few minutes, Mac said, “I agree with Jeremy that she does pose a threat to our safety.”

Damn it!

“However, I do not think the threat is significant enough that we need to take action against it. I don’t know if she does have any information that would aid us in the long run, but those bags have made me curious as to why she’s here, though not enough to try and save her.”

One step forward, one step back.

“I think this situation makes the morality of taking her life questionable at best, but I think there’s enough reason not to kill her… not yet anyway.” This flip flopping was testing my patience. “I do think the benefits of saving her are minimum, and the odds of saving her are thinner than a hair. However, since we won’t use much of anything in attempting such a feat, I think the risk might be worth it…”

Mac looked at me. “However, I will only allow this if you accept full responsibility for what happens. If she gets any of us killed or injured, you might as well have done it. If we get captured because of her presence, you might as well be a traitor to us all. You will also have to find the means and resources to aid her. I will not allocate any of our scarce resources to help her. These are the terms you must agree to. Nonnegotiable.”

I blinked in disbelief. “Those are some harsh terms.”

“And they are the only terms I offer. Do you accept them?”

I paused. “Let me think this through.”

“Please do.”

Gosh. Was I willing to accept such a burden? I mean, the odds of this being favorable... ugh, this is too much. I had to ask myself many questions: Why do you want to do this? Are you willing to take the responsibility of another life? Are the benefits really worth the consequences?

I contemplated all this for several minutes which tested everyone’s patience including my own. In the end, I had made a decision, and I had a reason to back it.

“While I was heading over here, I saw many people being attacked. I saw many innocent beings tortured and there wasn’t a single thing they could do about it. During this trip, I wanted to help them out so bad, but I forced myself to hold back aid knowing it would probably kill me if I helped. This has slowly chipped at my thoughts even if I wasn’t giving them much attention at all.”

I looked at Mac. “I wouldn’t accept your term, but I’ll be damned if I let myself walk away from another suffering, innocent soul, even if they aren’t on our side. We maybe at war, but my conscious won’t use that as an excuse to let me destroy who I am at heart. I don’t know if the soul before us is innocent, but like our justice system, I’ll look at her as innocent until we can prove she is guilty. So, as much as I hate this, I accept your terms and the responsibilities and burdens that come with it so I can save myself.”

Everyone was stunned with what I just said. I must admit, I was surprised that I said what I did. Jeremy looked a bit disappointed at the decision, but he seemed to understand why it was happening.

Mac seemed satisfied with my answer. “Very well.” He handed me his lantern. “You and Jeff will fix her up using only the materials Jeff said he would use” he turned to Jeff, “that is if you are willing to do such a thing.”

Jeff was taken back a bit. “I meant what I said, so I will mend her wounds.”

“Ok then.”

“Can we move her closer to the shelter” I asked, “and perhaps place her on the table so she doesn’t have a greater chance of getting infected?”

“You can move her as close to the shelter as you like, but she stays outside.”

“I wouldn’t put her on the table though” Jeff interrupted. “It’s not large enough to support her and I fear it may harm her more than if she laid on a bare patch of ground.”

“Makes sense” I said.

Mac looked at Jeremy. “Let’s grab the bags and leave them to their work. Don’t want to cause them to mess up because we distracted them.” Jeremy agreed, grabbed the bags, and went back to the shelter with Mac.

For the next two hours, we treated the gash the purple unicorn had on her chest. Jeff did most of the work while I just held the lantern so he could see what he was doing. I kept my head turned away most of the time since the sight of the stitches going through her was a bit gruesome for me.

When he was finished, I asked him, “Want to help me move her up to the shelter?”

“You gonna move her whether or not I help you?” I nodded. “Well, might as well. Don’t want to ruined my handy work cause you did something stupid.”

“Thanks man.”

Jeff carried the front end leaving me with the rear which was… awkward to say the least. The walk may have been short, but carrying the unicorn made it seem much harder than it really was. When we got to the shelter, we cleared out an area near the north side and gently placed the body down. Jeff then grabbed a water bottle he brought with him, cleaned his hands, and gave the bottle to me to which I did the same.
By the time we were done, we were both exhausted. Honestly, I didn’t really care what the others thought of this; I just wanted to get some sleep. When I entered the shelter, I didn’t focus on anything except me getting some sleep. I grabbed a sleeping bag and a foam pad, made enough room for me to lay down in, unrolled the padding, unrolled the bag over the padding, entered the sleeping bag, and tuned out the world as I fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes, I saw the unicorn floating over the table with white light gushing out of her eyes. A field of energy surrounded her which blinded me as I tried to understand the situation. Everyone was standing up and had their guns aimed at the creature.

“What the hell is going on?” Shela exclaimed to Mac.

Before he could respond, the unicorn shot lightning out of her body at everyone but me causing them do vanish in a burst of light. I laid there terrified at what just happened. As I stared at the creature, her eyes turned to mine.

As we looked at each other, I asked “Who are you?”

She responded with a bolt of lightning to my torso. My vision suddenly went white.

I jolted up from my sleeping bag painting for breath as I noticed the room was dark and everyone was sleeping. I breathed a sigh of relief.

It was just a dream.

This just made me question my decision to save this creature more which gave me a slight headache. As I rubbed my head, the door opened. It was Shela.

“Are you ok?” she asked. “I was just on patrol duty when I heard-”

“I’m fine” I said as I tried to catch my breath. “Just a bad dream.” I let out several sighs as I tried to relax from what I saw.

Shela looked at me curiously. “You questioning your decision to spare that unicorn?”

I nodded. “That dream made me do just that.” I explained what I experienced to her.

“Gosh. That’s… something. I can’t find the right word for it.”

I chuckled. “Terrifying would be the word I’d use.”

“If you say so.” There was a pause. “Mac told us what you said to him.”

“Did he now?”

“Yea. I don’t necessarily agree with sparing her life, but I can understand why you though so after what he said.”

“What else could I do?”

She gave me a serious look. “Trust me when I say this. Unless something happens that causes us harm, don’t question your decision no matter what. The more you think about it, the more you’ll go crazy over it. The last thing we need right now is more craziness; that city girl’s got too much of it as it is and I don’t want you turning into her because you made the decision that you did.”

I chuckled. “I suppose you’re right… Anyway, I’m gonna try to go back to sleep.”

“Yea. Guess I should go back on patrol as well. Goodnight Richard.”

“See ya in the morning Shela.”

As she closed the door behind her, I lay back down and went back to bed.