I am in an isolated ward the next day, this ward specialises in biohazard cases. Both I and the other operative are here, she is in another room. I was told her name was Suzan, I remembered after that.

We were placed into isolation straight away when we arrived on base. We were both showered again and run through a massive number of tests. I feel like I had several pints of blood removed. They even took samples of hair to be tested.

I thought the initial reaction when I emerged from the first exposure was bad, I was proven wrong the clearing of my system of the pollen was horrific. My body feels like I have been wrung out and driven over several times. I have been sweating and shaking like there is no tomorrow. The room’s toilet and I were now intimately acquainted in a way I had never hoped. I smell of puke, sweat and chemicals.

I have gone through several IV bags trying to keep me hydrated as I cannot keep anything down. I hardly slept each hour was pure torture. I have been told that I am going through withdrawal. Strangely I am not craving the pollen so I am hopeful to get over this soon, I am just dealing with the aftermath. Hating every second of it.

I had been interviewed about my condition and how I was affected. I had become sick of repeating myself but they kept asking. There was a regular procession of medical personnel in environmental suits.

Laying back on the bed I have just returned from the toilet. I feel like I have run a marathon. Sweating and breathing hard from each trip. My door opens and someone enters. God, here we go again! Looking over I see Dr Helena. The fact that she is not in an environmental suit but in medical scrubs was a good sign for my future.

“I would ask you how you are feeling, but I can guess from the way you look.” She says to me.

“Joking at my expense now doctor?” I ask.

“Yes. I am afraid I am.” She is teasing me.

“That’s new.”

“I am testing your mental state as well as mocking you.”

“Figures.” I gripe.

She moves to my bed and sits on the only chair in the room. She has her ever-present e-pad ready. Normally she would check my monitors for my vitals but they are not connected to me.

“Entertainment aside how are you feeling?” She was all business now.

“The same as the last twenty times I have been asked.” I am getting snarky and I know it.

“Ok. I want to you ask the question again but think about how you are after a normal mission.”

Now that’s odd. I frown and her. I do as she asks and thinks about it. At the moment I really cannot think of anything. My head is still a bit messed up, no it’s a lot messed up.

“Sorry, doc not really in the mood for this.” I tell her and honestly, I am not.

“That’s alright you are going through a bad withdrawal from what you were exposed to. I was asking about whether you are suffering from the normal zone after-effects?” She asks.

Again, I pause and think. It’s suddenly clear what she is saying. I am not. After every mission, I am in a bad place mentally with depression normally. But at the moment I am rather clear-headed all things considered when depression is concerned.

“I am messed up physically but my head is much clearer now that you ask. Still not 100% but clearer.” She nods at my answer reviewing something on her pad.

“We have noticed the difference in your reactions and interactions. Over the last few years, we have established a baseline to measure how you are mentally after a mission. As you can figure we were rather surprised by your results.”

“Do you know why?” I am very interested now.

“Ironically whatever you were exposed to seems to be cancelling out the zones other effects.”

“Oh joy!” I say very heavy on the sarcasm.

She does not respond keeping her attention on the data being displayed. She swipes several times looking at what is being presented.

“Your tests are showing that you will probably be released to a regular ward within a day or two.”

“I will not complain at the change of scenery at all.” Trust me I would not. I am in total isolation here.

“I thought you might enjoy that news.”

I do not add anything else as she is focused on the pad once again. She again scrolls through different screens. I just relax as I am still recovering from the journey from the toilet

“They want to debrief you as soon as possible.”

“I figured they would. I think I should get it over as soon as I can.” I acknowledged.

“I will keep them from bothering you for a few more days.”

“No. I think I should get it done sooner. How about today?” I ask.

“Are you sure? I will not recommend it but I think you can handle it.” It was clear she was not happy.

“Yes, I think I will. Can you arrange it?”

“Yes. I can do that.” She taps on the e-pad for a few minutes. “I have just sent the message telling command you are willing to do the debrief.”

“Thanks.” I just relax now knowing what’s coming.

Before she can say anything, her pad pings. She looks at the message that has arrived.

“Major Hawks will be here in two hours for the debriefing.” She tells me.

“Thanks. I will be ready.” Why am I not surprised that it would be him?

“Ok. I will leave you to rest.” She gets up and leaves me alone in the room.

I close my eyes and try to relax. There is no clock in the room and I do not have any devices so I will know that it is time when they arrive.

## ## ## ## ##

Sometime later the knock came.

“Enter.” I sat up getting myself ready for what is to come.

Hawk and Walker enter the room. They are dressed in medical scrubs, not normal uniforms. They are both carrying cases with their recording equipment. They put them on the small table in the room.

“Good afternoon Operative Harrington. Thank you for having the debrief today.” Hawks began. Walker began to set up the recording equipment for the debrief.

“How are you feeling?” Is Hawk trying to make small talk?

“I look how I feel.” I tell him. He nods looking at me. Shit, I must look bad.

Walker quickly and efficiently sets up everything. She nods to Hawk that they are ready.

“Ok. Let’s get started.” They both sat down to start the debrief. Walker started the recording.

“Today is….” He began to speak but I drowned him out as this is the start of the standard mission debrief. I only paid attention enough to be ready for my part.

“Can you tell us what happened when you entered the zone?” Hawks handed the debrief was handed over to me.

“As per my mission instructions, I was sent to look for a missing operative…..” That was the start of the mission breakdown for me.

I took them through the start of the mission and my initial thoughts and ideas. They became much more attentive when I spoke about the yellow tint of the fog and it had affected me. Then I came to how I became aware of it.

“So, injuring yourself allowed you to realise that there was an issue?” Hawk asked.

“I was feeling relaxed and was losing focus. When I stubbed my toe, the armoured boot took the brunt of it but it was enough. The pain gave me a moment of clarity to see the tint in the fog. That’s when it dawned on me that something was wrong. My state of mind was compromised somehow.” I paused to reflect.

“Please continue.” He prompted.

“Knowing that I was being affected helped but I quickly began to fall back into my earlier state. That was until I encountered the triffid.” Hawk makes an unpleasant face at that name. I bet he was hoping I had forgotten that one.

“We are pre-classing what you encountered as a Plant Type Threat Level 1. Dependent on this and Operative Higgins debriefings.” He stated for the record. “Please continue.”

Well, I was still going to use triffid just to annoy him. I went on to describe what the triffid looked like and my reaction to it. The body and flower head. The colour and weird star shape are like a cross between a daffodil and an orchid. I did not mislead them when I told them that a at first ignored it. When asked I told them how the yellow fog was now dulling my instincts to a dangerous degree. The whole mind-altering fog was a big difference from “normal” zones. As it’s been proven that it’s the breaches that cause the normal effects.

This mission was one of the worst I have been on. Strange to say but the way it was messing with my mind and instincts deeply disturbed me. It is bad enough in a zone but this one was one of the worst because it was so insidious in its approach.

“What changed your stance towards it?” Hawk was all business and focused on this new type of threat.

“I had bypassed the triffid. I was still following the trail. I had to hit myself with the back of my axe on my helmet to cause pain to keep focused.”

“So, you can confirm that pain was a good counter to the atmospheric effects you were experiencing?” Hawk was taking notes on his e-pad.

“Yes. The more intense the better.” I could confirm that.

“So, you were still following the trail.” He prompted.

“As I was following the trail, I heard something behind me. I span around to find the triffid. At first, I was confused and unsure of what I had heard. I realised that the triffid had moved.” Hawks perked up at that!

“The threat was mobile?” He had to ask for confirmation.

“Yes, and that’s not all...” I went on to describe the fight. The vines, screeching and pollen ejection. Hawk was rapidly taking notes as was Walker. I far as I was aware there had never been plant threats reported in Britain or anywhere else come to think of it.

“To confirm you were hit by a concentrated blast of the “pollen” for better of a word. Then what happened?”

“I tripped super hard.” I stated deadpan. They both paused and blinked at this.

“Can you explain?” Hawks was unsure about asking that.

So, I went on to describe at best what happened to me and the loss of time that I experienced because of it. It was beyond hard to describe what I have experienced but I tried and failed. But trying is half the battle. This seemed to answer some unasked questions he had.

I broke down my thoughts on the triffid and how easy they were to take down when confronted. It was not very tough and the stem broke easily when attacked. I gave them my thoughts that it was an ambush-based threat. Hawks agreed based on present information.

I take up the tale again. After coming back to sort of full awareness I told them of recovering my equipment. Returning to the trail and finding the oak tree with the hanging Operative Higgins.

“So, you cut her down and then exited the zone?” Hawk asked.

“Well, actually no as I approached the tree to figure out how to do that, I found…” I went on to tell them of the next threat I faced and how I overcame it. The one I was calling the “big brother triffid” much to Hawk’s annoyance.

He soon rated it as a type 2.