Chapter Text
Rubbing her eyes she looked back and forth between the white tundra and the detailed sketch that sat neatly on her lap. It had taken up her morning yet all she could do was scowl at the results. Twirling her No. 2 pencil in her hands she let out a heavy sigh, she closed her eyes and leaned back on the soft cushions she used as a make-shift seatback. Opening her light brown eyes her gaze trailed back to the bleak white tundra that lay undisturbed and consistent as it had been for hundreds of years before man.
Crossing her arms loosely over her stomach she looked over to the scattered group of men that inhabited the game room. Some played card games and poker. Others were engaged in the nightly pole game as they attempted to alleviate the constant boredom brought on by their isolated placement. All trying to entertain themselves.
She had known the handful of men for years now, yet most were little more than mutual acquaintances. She knew little about them and once the job was over they disperse to not meet nor talk again tell the next seasonal job opportunity arose. Yet, Cora couldn’t shake the terrible dread that seemed to plague her since she accepted the yearly six-week job. She had had the option to back out. She could have walked away but she didn’t. Instead, she chalked it up to unstable hormones and her newly heightened protective instincts. She had to.
She needed the money. She needed it to provide for her and her coming child in the harsh world of single motherhood. People didn’t care that the love of her life ran off with another woman after she informed him of her pregnancy. They wouldn’t care that her current predicament was the result of her bending to his will and being too desperate to satisfy him. Her parents and society weren't merciful. They would lay the blame on her and her alone despite it taking two to tango.
The job was always a large paycheck. Enough to pay for her expenses for close to four months. If she was careful she could maybe stretch it out to five. She had made the decision with the acknowledgment of these benefits. She just had to be careful to keep her condition to herself. She was only two weeks into her pregnancy. She had time. She could hide her bump for four months. She just had to be careful.
Smiling, she thought back to Fuchs. He was entirely against it, citing the multiple risks she was taking and the danger of her employer finding out. She had been forced to dismiss his concerns but asked that he help her manage her pregnancy. Fuchs was a biologist by trade but he had gone to medical school for years before swiftly changing his career path. She knew had asked much of him and she had hated it. He was her best friend since childhood and she had leaned on him for years.
She had depended on him for friendship when she was tossed aside by her small-town home community because she was the white trailer trash kid. He had been the one to hold her all night long when she had tried to overdose on the sleeping pills she stole from her mother's already drug cluttered cabinet. Now he was the one helping her conceal her secret. Fuchs had always been her rock and stability all her life. She loved him, it was unfortunate that he saw her as nothing more than a close friend.
Looking away from them once more she turned back to the window, to the white mountainous dunes that surrounded them. Studying the landscape some more she began blocking in the contrast.
“Do you hear that?”
Ignoring Palmer, she continued drawing while the others tried to figure out what he meet. All but Palmer were at loss for but a moment or they were until they heard the all-familiar sound of a helicopter.
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She felt like vomiting. Backing away from the malformed being that the doctor and McReady had brought. Moving to stand behind Fuchs she covered her mouth with her hand and half-heartedly tried to hold down her gags. Grabbing at Fuchs shirt she tactfully pulled him away from the monstrosity. Locked in both equal disgust and fascination as they all stood still and observed the creature.
“Blair, I’d like you to start an autopsy right away.”
No one said anything for a long time after Cooper had spoken. No one dared break the silence.
One by one they shuffled out. Cora was the first to depart. Walking briskly down the halls she fled from the mutant. Passing the equipment room she slowed as she rounded the corner to the sleeping quarters. Walking past the other bedrooms she was about to arrive at her room when she was unexpectedly intercepted.
Jerking upright, she sucked in a quick draw of breath and she took an unconscious step back. It was only the rescued sled dog. Letting out a nervous laugh, she went to step past the dog but stopped. Something within her urged her to not go further but to instead turn her focus back to the animal a couple of feet in front of her.
It held her stare in equal focus if not more intense. It did not move nor did it seem to breathe as a dog should. Instead, it was statue-like. Its eyes held a certain cold intelligence to them. As if there was nothing remotely dog behind its heterochromia gaze.
Unmoving and unflinching in its blatant observation, its eyes inspected her form for a moment. The husky then opened its mouth and took in a series of deep breaths while it moved its nose leisurely through the air and as its black nostrils flared.
Once done, the dog's cold eyes returned to her own before taking long clear strides toward her. Not moving, she stared back into its evolving eyes. She couldn’t place what it was but something had changed. Something had shifted starkly in her and the demeanor of the animal in front of her.
The air around her seemed to constrict and the dog's eyes seemed to grow ever more doll-like with every step. She could swear its pupils had moved ever so slightly apart from their normal distinction. As it neared her she took a few unconscious steps back from the animal as a series of small almost unnoticeable trimmers racked through its body. In seconds the dog lunged at her and at that moment she dodged.
That was when she ran in the opposite direction.