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The Apocalypse Grinder - Chapter 266
🕑 Added 2025-10-06 02:40:06 +0000 UTC<< Chapter 265 | Index | Chapter 267 >>
Ronan’s eyebrows raised. That was surprising. Both that she had done such extensive documenting and research into the gorzerk and also that she had figured out what no one else had.
He didn’t make that obvious with his facial expressions or response, though. Clearly the doctor was worried about people overhearing her. He had a great idea. “Doctor, how would you feel about taking out all the shapeshifters that you suspect in one fell swoop? I think I learnt something useful from the one that took over the captain’s body before I killed it and we might be able to expose those who have infiltrated the med-bay.”
She seemed to consider his offer seriously for a moment. Then she shook her head. “It’s too risky. What if we target someone and they turn out to be innocent? Think of all the other patients, as well. What if they take a hostage when we confront them?”
Ronan understood her concerns, but he didn’t share them. None of the shapeshifters that had been listed as part of the group infiltrating the med-bay would be strong enough to take a hostage before he could turn them into paste. He was utterly confident in his abilities. He just needed to convince the doctor that he was capable enough. “Let’s do the head checks, first. After that you can at least share the list of the people you suspect. We can watch them after they leave work.”
That seemed to mollify her. “That’s a better plan. We don’t need to rush into anything dangerous. Now, this way. The checks won’t take long.” Unfortunately she didn’t know the truth—there was a definite need to rush because the gorzerks were about to unleash frozen hell on the underground bunkers.
The checks really didn’t take long. The doctor simply ran a strange metal object around his head a few times. The results of the scan seemed to be sent to her handheld screen and she perked up after reading them. “Well, the preliminary scan seems to indicate no lasting damage to your brain. I’ll just do some other checks to see how you respond and then you’re free to go. I’ll give you that research you asked for too.”
Ronan nodded. The rest of the checks were things he was more used to. Shining a torch in his eyes and doing some faculty checks. Once the doctor seemed convinced that he wasn’t a walking threat to himself or others she let him stand up. They were about to leave the room when the door opened and another doctor walked inside.
“Doctor Valen, I was wondering if I might get your assistance with one of my patients. I’m having a bit of trouble diagnosing what exactly is wrong with their lungs.” His gaze flicked to Ronan and he gave him a subtle nod. Ronan found that interesting.
“Sorry, give me a moment. I need to finish up with my patient first and then I can come and have a look, Doctor Havis.” She turned back to Ronan as the other doctor nodded and started to walk out. Ronan froze. Havis. That was one of the names in the elite gorzerk’s journal.
He schooled his expression as the other doctor left. Doctor Valen reached into one of her draws after checking that he had gone and started rummaging about. “I’m fairly certain that Havis isn’t one of them. He’s slightly odd but there are some facts I observed in the bodystealers that he doesn’t display.” Maybe you need to go back to the drawing board, then… His confidence in her discovery waned at that point, but he would still give it a read.
She handed him a folder. “I’ll keep that in mind. Just stay safe. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you here.” Doctor Valen’s expression warmed. She was about to respond when the door opened again.
The other doctor walked back inside and shut the door behind him. He turned to look at Ronan and narrowed his eyes. “Long live Gorz’Arak.” Here we go. It’s like they’ve all gone crazy with their grand plan coming to fruition. Isn’t the whole point of being a shapeshifter to be subtle?
“What was that? We’re just about done here, Doctor. I’ll be out in a minute. You didn’t need to barge inside.” Doctor Valen looked tense. Ronan had no desire to play along with the annoying shapeshifter.
He conjured a hammer in one hand and rushed towards the doctor. “What are you doing, Davy, he—” Doctor Valen’s voice caught in her throat as his hammer smashed into the side of the shapeshifter’s head. The moment it did, the man’s skin peeled back and revealed the grey flesh of the gorzerk.
It snarled and screeched, flailing its arms at him. With its head already half-crushed it wasn’t long for this world. A second blow of Ronan’s hammer ended its life and it collapsed to the ground in a quivering heap. He let the conjured weapon dissipate, then shook his hand and turned to Doctor Valen. “Looks like that research of yours needs a bit of work, huh?”
She was pale, staring at the body on the ground. Her hand trembled and she seemed about to go into shock. Ronan reached towards her and she flinched away from him. The doctor inhaled deeply and then lowered her trembling hands. They slowly returned to normal as she closed her eyes for a few seconds. When she opened them, she looked towards Ronan with an accusatory glare.
“Even if he was a shapeshifter, you can’t just charge people and start smacking them over the head with a hammer because of your suspicions! That’s just—” Ronan held up a hand to cut her off.
“It wasn’t just suspicion. I told you I had a method for distinguishing the bodystealing bastards from the rest of us, right? Well that was it. Didn’t you hear what he said right before I attacked him. Long live Gorz’Arak? That’s the same thing the chief said to me right before he tried to kill me. In fact, now that we’re in this deep together I might as well come clean.” The doctor reeled from the sequential surprises and sat down on her chair, one hand going to her forehead.
Ronan took a seat on the patient bed again to explain things. “I didn’t actually hit my head this morning. Well, I did, but not by accident. When I woke up there were two people I didn’t know carrying me out of my bedroom. They didn’t realise I had woken up and started talking about how they were going to replace me and some kind of grand plan to unseal the bunkers. You said we don’t need to rush, but that’s not true. Whatever they’ve been planning is happening today. Everyone is fucked if we don’t stop them.” He grew more incensed towards the end of his speech.
He wasn’t sure why he was going about things in this manner, but now that he’d started down this route it seemed to make sense to follow it to the end. He still didn’t want to become the kind of person that would simply slaughter everyone just to catch the hidden enemies. That meant working with the ‘innocents’ in this particular tutorial scenario.
The stress of the socialising and subterfuge was just another form of challenge that he had to take on. Only by doing so head-first could he ever hope to improve at it.
The doctor seemed to have been shocked into silence by his revelation. She was staring into space and he could see the gears turning in her head. “Look, take as long as you need to digest that but I can’t afford to wait. That Havis guy was only one of a few here in the med-bay. I took a journal from one of the aliens with a list of all the people they replaced. If we go through it together can you point them all out to me? We can get rid of a lot of threats in a short amount of time. You’re a doctor right. Your job is to help people and by doing this you’ll help everyone in the bunker.” Ronan knew he wasn’t the best at being persuasive, but he hoped that the combination of the stressful situation and his high charisma stat would tip the scales in his favour.
She sighed. “It’s hard to believe, but after everything I’ve seen today and that I’ve been researching and observing… I fear you might be right. If this plan you’re talking about is happening today we don’t have any time to waste. I trusted in my insight with Havis and I was wrong. It seems I have to lean on you this time, Davy. Let’s do it. Show me the list.”
Ronan took the journal out of his inventory and flipped to the pages that listed who the gorzerks had replaced. Doctor Valen scanned the list, her face going through a range of emotions. She nodded and hummed as she tapped on names. Ronan guessed she was corroborating the real list with those she had suspected previously.
When she got near the end of the list she paused and gulped. “I can’t believe that. Jonah was so kind to everyone. He didn’t deserve to be replaced by some body stealing monster.” Her face steeled into an expression of determination as she clenched her fists.
“The good news is that most of my suspects were on the list. It means that even though I was wrong about Havis, my overall theories are probably correct. Let’s go. Some of those on the list aren’t working today but quite a few are here. I’ll find reasons to get them alone and then you can strike fast before the others realise what is happening.”
Ronan nodded and stood up. “Let’s do this.”
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