I came out neat where I had originally entered and was quickly spotted by the perimeter guards. There were about ten spread out along perimeter of the camp with the zone. I headed towards the closest. They used radios to inform the command I was back. They did not approach me. Activity in the camp behind them picked up. I walked towards them stopping about eight meters away.

“Threat retrieval protocols.” I call out.

“Understood” Came the reply. It was clear he was not happy with this. Well sucks to be you right now. Welcome to my world.

The soldier who had answered began speaking into a radio. Whenever a threat was retrieved from a zone several protocols were enacted straight away. I dropped the body to the ground. I was covered now in its blood and was likely a sight to behold and smell. Yea definitely the smell!

The soldiers withdrew from the perimeter. The one I had spoken to remained with me at his position.

About ten minutes later the first team arrived in environmental hazard suits. Or moon suits as many call them. They were a mixture of scientists and soldiers. They bring a motorised flatbed trolly with many crates and bags. The soldiers advanced first. It is always fun to see the mixture of modern and ancient weapons that soldiers carry at these bases.

“Alright, you know the drill boys. Let’s start with the body.” One of them began. He was addressing us through a speaker on his suit. I back away from the body as two soldiers as they advance. They confirm the creature was dead and then radioed to the scientists.

They move up with the trolly and studied the corpse. They select one on the crates to place it in. The crates were designed to be sealed so no bacteria got in or out. It will also free the carcase within. The crate would be loaded into a transport and rushed to the Zone Research Laboratory. This was a completely Government control lab that was a far cry from a few years ago when the private sector would be involved.

Once there it would be studied and classified by threat. The information discovered would also be classified as a secret until a use could be found. Then the Government would share it and take a cut from the profits of any discoveries. This was a major source of funding now for the response forces assigned to contain the zones.

A new creature produced would get a lot of attention as far as I was aware no new ones had appeared in British zones in at least two years. This means an extended decontamination and observation period was in store for both me and the poor soldier who had radioed in.

The body was loaded into the crate was hauled off by part of the team and the rest turned to us.

“Time to strip gents.” The soldier who had first spoken said.

We set about removing our gear and clothing with quite a bit of muttering and gripping. We knew what was coming so we did not delay as the faster we complied the faster it would be over.

By this time in my “career” as a Zone Operative I had stripped naked more times than I could count in front of strangers. This meant I had come to accept by body a long time ago.

We were handed plastic coveralls and shoes to put on. My gear and clothes would be collected by the team for study and decontamination. From the state of them probably burned.

Once changed we were taken to the decon tent with the soldiers surrounding us to make sure that the rest of the base camp personnel were a safe distance away. Most did not look our way as it was a regular sight for those who had been working around zones for any period of time. More than normal did look as they were easy to spot as the new support personnel. Thankfully non-Governmental cameras and smartphones were banned at these base camps.

The decon tents were set up to handle up to four people at a time. So, the soldier and I were both sent into different tent entrances. Inside two more suited men were waiting for me.

“Please remove your clothes and place them into the provided container” One on the left began.

I had gone through this so many times that I did not even acknowledge the instruction as I was already stripping. The overalls and the shoes were deposited. The left guy sealed the container.

“Have you any injuries” the one to the right asked recording my answers onto a pad.

“Not to my knowledge.”

“Are you aware of any alien matter of fluids entering your body?” Right guy.

“No.”

“Are you suffering any effects known to happen when in a Zone?”

“Yes.”

The questioning continues along these lines for a few minutes until the list was completed. Then we moved to the scrub down. This is never the most pleasant part of the procedure. Many have seen this in films and TV shows and yes it is as unpleasant as it looks.

Once finished I get another set of overalls and shoes. Then I am led into the third stage the start of my isolation and monitoring period. Blood and tissue samples are drawn to be studied. This room has a chair and a plastic screen for visitors. The base doctor I presumed was behind the screen looking at another pad. He looked up as I sat and the two men in environmental suits left.

“I see from your record that you have been through this procedure several times before Operative Harrington. So, we will dispense with the talk on what happens next.”

“Thanks.” I started to dry my hair with a towel that had been supplied.

“You are going to have several visitors now as you will have already guessed.” I nod to him at this. He then turned and left.

Alexander came in shortly after with a number of others and the army Captain from the briefing. The personnel set up a table and chairs and then left. Alexander and the Captain set up a camera and laptop for the debrief. It was to be done here and now to get the raw take of what I had been through.

“Debrief of operation ZCA-0143. The date is the 16th of January 2037 and the time is 15:33 hrs. Alexander Harley-Grenville, Captain Allan Johnson and Zone Operative John Harrington present.”

It was later than I thought it was I had been in there a long time.

“Mission briefing was held at 08:30hrs and mission commenced at 08:45hrs. The situation was accelerated by the fact that this was not a secure area as the Zone being investigated was new. Operative Harrington was tasked with entering the Zone and locating the Breach and identifying the creatures that it was spawning.”

He paused to allow a few seconds of reflection.

“Operative Harrington, can you take us through what happened then?”

Here we go I start from when I entered the zone. I explained the environmental impact that the zone was having on the forest. The changes were not major but present. The impact of the trees and the fog diminishing the light was a point of concern. The mental effects I was aware of were also noted and we all knew that I would be getting a full phycological evaluation anyway. So, anything missed by myself would be added later.

I was not ever happy for them as I did not know what was being reported. They had always vexed me badly what were they hiding from me? What were they hiding from everyone? These thoughts crowded my mind.

Had to focus!

“I recommend that Operatives be outfitted with more chemical lights in such places.”

“We will take that under advisement.” Alexander replied.

Will they? Who will make these decisions I had never met them! I almost went spiralling again in my mind. Focus!

I went on to how the creatures and my observations of them. Captain Johnson enters the conversation here.

“How do you rate these creatures?”

“Fast and aggressive seems to be the norm. I don’t know if they are pack based or if they were attracted to me. The first encounter was two and the second was three.” I answered.

“They used the terrain and darkness to get close and shadowed me before attacking.”

This was not good news as such organised and effective hunters would make missions to close breaches far more dangerous. Which one of use will be lost next? I wonder.

“Was in these encounters that your shield and armour were burned?”

“It was in the second encounter. The creature I brought back is of a second type that I fought. It spits a flaming substance that clings to things.”

This piece of information gets both men’s attention. A creature with a ranged attack was extremely rare. I think only two types had ever been recorded that I was aware of.

“What can you tell us about these attacks.” Johnson continued.

“Like I said they spat it at me. The stuff was clingy to whatever it hit and burned blue.”

“Like a methane gas flame?”

“Same colour but the whole flame was blue.”

Both men looked at each other worriedly as what I was describing was in many ways a worst-case scenario. A new breach to my knowledge had never produced such aggressive and dangerous defenders so quickly. The studies I and they had seen had back this idea that zones like infect developed over time and with human deaths. Animals were smarter and got the hell out of the area pronto.

The zone was an anomaly or marked a dangerous turn in what new zone breaches were capable of doing. If it was a change then Zone Operative jobs were about to get a hell of a lot worse.

I had been thinking over this zone as I went through the decon procedures. The more I thought about it the more concerned I became. My mind was spinning out with possible outcomes each one worse than the last. I was however to keep this to myself for now. But it churned within me.

The debrief continued as I explained how I identified and killed these new creatures. I walked them through my actions and how they squealed like pigs when they died. This fact raised a few eyebrows but hell it was what it was.

“So, you only encountered the two types of creatures?” Johnson asked.

“Yes, as far as I saw they were the only two types. When I reached the breach, I inspected it as normal and set off the flare.”

Both nodded at this.

“Did anything else happen or was observed at the breach?” Alexander asked.

This set off my mind all over again. Did I hear that voice? Was I imagining it? I am I going crazy? Focus!

I shook my head and the others thought I was answering no to the question. They did not ask for a verbal answer as the debrief was being filmed.

“Any other questions or points.” Alexander asked. No responses were given.

“Unless there’s anything to add this will mark the end of the debriefing of Zone Operative John Harrington on operation ZCA-0143.” Alexander intoned. This brought the debrief to an end.

The recording equipment was shut off.

“As you know John you will be placed into an environmental suit and transported to Zone Com for further testing.” Its full title was United Kingdom Zone Response Command (UKZRC). We all called it Zone Com for short.

I simple nod that I understood to Alexander. Johnson got up and left as he spoke to me. Alexander was packing away the equipment as the two earlier men returned with a suit for me.

I heard a helicopter arriving as they assisted me in suiting up. From here I was escorted out of the tent. The camp was in full action as the zone barriers that would start forming the perimeter had arrived. I was joined but an armed guard not in moon suits this time and the soldier who had met me at the perimeter in his suit. We were then escorted through the camp.

The Helicopter that arrived was a Chinook transport. We were bundled on with the crate with the body I had recovered. After the crew strapped us down, we took off. Zone Com was the main hub of the British response to the zones. I had spent a lot of time there as it was where the hospital that we are sent to when injured and it felt I had only just left.