Wings of Death

The rain theory

Dr. Erica was conducting some experiments on different types of water. She wanted to find out if Margaret’s rain theory was actually true.

“Well, you see Margret, I wanted to analyse the dead Bloodwings myself but I wasn’t allowed to leave the base. So, I requested Captain Elijah to bring me a corpse but he returned with a clump of feathers and scales. He said that the corpses had disappeared and only these clumps were left on the ground. The feathers in them were so badly corroded that I could not run any tests on them. There were many things which could have caused the change such as the atmosphere itself, the explosive rounds fired by the soldiers or maybe the rain. I needed to be certain. When you told me about your own observations I became quite convinced that it must be due to either the rain or the atmosphere. The Bloodwings seem to be doing just fine in earth’s atmosphere so I dismissed the atmospheric vulnerability theory. Right now I am running some tests on four different samples of water to find out if there is something in the water which affects Argon based life forms.”

Margaret was deeply interested in the doctor’s research and offered to assist her. Dr. Erica graciously accepted the offer and told her to record the findings and upload them to her personal database.

Dr. Erica lifted the first beaker labelled as ‘sample 1’ and dictated to Margaret, “Sample one: Distilled water. The distilled water does not contain anything special. It is just pure water.”

When Margaret had finished noting it down, she went on to talk about the next sample.

“Sample two: Tap water. The tap water contains a few impurities such as small traces of iron and chlorine along with common salt. It is perfectly normal.”

She waited for Margaret to finish writing it down and then took the third beaker in her hand.

“Third sample: River water. It contains several impurities such as iron, lead, zinc, salt and soil along with different types of commonly occurring bacteria and viruses. It does not contain anything out of the ordinary.”

Dr. Erica hadn’t finished analyzing the fourth sample which contained rainwater. When Margaret had entered the room she was getting ready to run tests on the fourth sample.

She continued after a short pause, “Only the last one is left.  I shall begin the tests now”. Suddenly she remembered something. “Where is Dr. Grant?” she asked.

Dr. Grant hadn’t been able to visit Dr. Erica yet. He had an important matter to attend before he could meet her. He was standing inside the secret tunnel which connected the fort to the outside world. His friend did not know about the secret tunnel and had got completely lost. Luckily, he called up Dr. Grant instead of trying to find an alternate route himself. Guided by Captain Elijah he was quickly able to locate tunnel B-38.

“He has just entered the tunnel. He will be here soon”, said Captain Elijah handing the phone back to Dr. Grant.

Back inside the lab, Dr. Eric had finished running tests on the fourth sample of water. She turned to Margaret with an excited look in her eyes and exclaimed, “This is not ordinary water. It’s a huge discovery!”

Lieutenant Amy sat up straight in her chair and begged the doctor to tell them what she had discovered.

Dr. Erica could barely control her excitement as she tried to talk about the results of the test, “This water.... It is not just normal water mixed with common impurities. It contains a rare compound of Xenon. I will need to run further tests to know what the compound is. I need to get my hands on the corpses of the Bloodwings right now!”

“Okay, I will see where Dr. Grant is”, saying that Margaret left the room in a hurry.

Dr. Grant’s friend had finally arrived. After a routine inspection, he was asked to step out of the armored truck. This shady friend of Dr. Grant was Blake Morton.

Blake Morton was formerly a prisoner at Arlington Central Prison. He was tall and athletic and always wore a bandanna on his forehead. He had a well-defined jawline and piercing eyes. There was a skull tattooed on his neck. In his past he used to steal all sorts of cars and bikes and sell them on the black market. The armored caravan which he was currently driving had previously belonged to a bank and was used for transporting currency notes.  Blake was an ace motorcyclist and knew the lay of the land better than most geologists. There was not a single city in America which he had not visited at some point of time. He was 40 years old and had a very crude sense of humor.

Initially he was reluctant to transport the corpses of the Bloodwings because he did not want to get involved with the military, especially due to his past exploits. However, Dr. Grant reassured him that he would be free to leave whenever he wanted and promised him a hefty reward. Although he had accepted the contract, he realized now that the soldiers would not allow him to leave so easily. The Captain asked him to stay at the fort as it was safer than staying outside. He would have refused the invitation if it was from any of the other soldiers but he didn’t want to get into the bad books of the man whose tales of bravery had made him a national hero.  He reluctantly agreed to stay at the fort. Captain Elijah and his men took the keys from Blake and opened the rear door of the caravan. The corpses were both intact. The Captain ordered his men to carry the corpses to the lab and shook Blake’s hand to thank him for his service. Blake never had any respect for men in uniform but he felt a strange admiration for Captain Elijah.

The corpses of the Bloodwings were placed inside wheelbarrows and carried to the research facility. Dr. Grant accompanied them to the lab. Meanwhile Blake decided to grab some beer from the military canteen. Captain Elijah was happy to oblige him.

Back in the research facility, Dr. Von Hart welcomed her mentor with a happy smile. She was glad that they would be working as partners after such a long time. The corpses of the Bloodwings were in perfect condition. Dr. Grant had sprayed them with formalin and covered them in plastic to prevent them from decomposing. Before inspecting the Bloodwings Dr. Erica told her mentor about the progress she had made so far. He was surprised to know about her recent discovery. After pondering over the details for a few minutes he decided to study the Xenon compound himself. Dr. Grant just couldn’t understand how Xenon formed a stable compound and was baffled by its presence in rainwater. Dr. Erica told him that it might have been caused by the massive solar storm which took place only a couple of years ago. Only one thing remained doubtful: the origin of the Bloodwings. They had their work cut out in front of them. The Lieutenant excused herself and went outside to check on the survivors.

Dr. Hart carefully removed the plastic covering and cleaned the corpses of the Bloodwings with a small brush which had been dipped in a special solution. Once the cleaning was done, they both began running tests on the Bloodwings. They discovered that the scales and feathers were as hard as bulletproof glass. They could not be shattered even with multiple blows from a hammer. Next Dr. Hart proceeded to ignite their feathers with a blowtorch. The feathers did not melt or catch fire even when the temperature was as high as 300 degrees Celsius. Finally, she decided to put the rain theory to the test. Using a burette she slowly let the rainwater fall on their feathers drop by drop. The outcome shocked everyone. As soon as the rainwater came into contact with their feathers they started corroding. It seemed as if it wasn’t rainwater but a concentrated acid. After just 75 seconds the whole left wing had melted into a pulp. Margaret was astonished by what she had seen. Her theory about the rains was spot on. Both Dr. Erica and Dr. Hart applauded Margaret for pointing them in the right direction. They knew this discovery may very well change the outcome of humanity’s battle against these monsters. It had now been confirmed without a shadow of doubt that the Bloodwings were extremely vulnerable to rain water.