Work Text:
Capgras Syndrome – a delusion that a friend, family member, or spouse has been replaced by an imposter.
Sometimes, you almost wished you were out in the field, instead of standing guard all day in the ECHO 1 military base. At least out there, you had a small chance of making it if you ran. Cooped up in a base, with all the soldiers for it to hide behind...they were easy pickings. Like shooting fish in a barrel.
You hadn’t had the misfortune to encounter ZEUS up close and personal, but you’d heard things from the guys. Word spreads quick around the bases, and that monster was a hot topic. They said it could eat people and shapeshift into them. That it could look, sound, and act just like the person, and you’d never know until it suddenly sprouted claws and tried to eat you.
And that wasn’t the worst of it. According to the survivors – of which there were very few – it wasn’t mindlessly attacking anything that moved. It was smart. It could learn. It could strategize. And it seemed to have a hatred for the military, attacking them at random and running off after chewing through half the squads.
ZEUS had the ability to take people's paranoia - and there was plenty of it, because it's a man-eating monster who can be anyone, anywhere - and use it to make them turn against one another.
It could choose to mimic someone in the base. Could be one of your squad mates. Could be someone you've never met. Could be the best bud who's had your back since you joined. But you know it's out there. Watching you. Laughing at you. Mocking you.
You try to stop thinking about it. Instead, you try not to taste the rations you’re shoveling down your throat, surrounded by your squad in the mess hall. Being near the guys you trust to have at your back brings you a small comfort. But there’s always that doubt, in the back of your mind. Your squad mates are talking to another team about the mysteries of ZEUS.
“-don’t think they know any more than we do.” One of the men from the other squad says.
That prompts Rabid to pipe up, “Bullshit. The higher ups know more than they’re letting on, they’re just not telling us. They don’t care about the grunts. We’re all just fodder to ZEUS.”
This sparks a heated debate about how one of the men would taste so disgusting that ZEUS wouldn’t want to eat him, and the other responds that ZEUS wouldn’t want to eat the other’s mother. Long used to their arguing, you ignore them and wonder who came up with ZEUS’ codename. It’s a stupid codename.
Breakfast is shorter than you’d like. Soon, it’s the next shift’s turn, and your squad is rotated back out into base proper, to stand guard in the motor pool. You can feel your palms getting slick with sweat. You push it to the back of your mind.
Then someone shouts, "IT'S HIM! IT'S ZEUS" and everyone, including yourself, aims their weapon at the guy the finger is pointing to. The accuser is the senior helicopter pilot. “He just shapeshifted, I saw it! SHOOT HIM!” You shoot the guy. The bullets from your M4A1 rifle and 15 others shred the guy’s chest, and he goes down like a sack of bricks.
Who was that guy? You don't know. You don't really care.
They check the body, and confirm it's just that. You breathe a sigh of relief and terror. You're glad it's not actually here, in front of you. You make sure to keep an eye on the corpse, just in case. It doesn't move.
There’s a guy talking loudly somewhere to your right about how he could recognize ZEUS from a mile away, some cocksure greenhorn running his mouth to mask his fear. You think that was the guy who transferred in just a few days ago. Right before ZEUS attacked his base. Awful convenient, you thought.
When the suspicion falls on the greenhorn, he foolishly tries to run. You don’t hesitate to shoot him. Awful convenient.
Then later, it happens again. There's a shout, followed by gunshots. You fire with them. Someone drops dead. A few seconds of silence, then a confirmation. They call out the nametag on the body. “Wait, that was Rieben?” Someone asks next to you.
You notice your squad mates getting fidgety. You’re starting to twitch, too. One of the head pilots, who was stationed near the back of the base, walks by and inputs the code to the main door. The entire base goes silent enough to hear a pin drop. You stop breathing. Everyone's eyes are on the man, anxious ZEUS is going shred right through him and burst into the base.
The pilot exits the base, the door locking behind him. The tension level goes down. What was that pilot doing anyhow? He's not supposed to leave his post for another 2 hours.
Whatever. It's above your pay grade, anyways.
Then, another shout. More gunshots. Another confirmation. You begin to have doubts. One of the privates in the squad stationed near you, probably freshly transferred, given how jumpy he was, suddenly pointed towards one of your squad mates. "IT'S ZEUS!" Bewildered, you and everyone in the base point your weapon at him as he attempts to desperately deny the claim.
Is it really ZEUS? You didn't know the guy that well, but you were friendly enough. You chatted in the mess hall just this morning. When could ZEUS have possibly gotten to him? But, you realized, he hadn't always been in your sight. You had turned your back on him a few times. Was he really ZEUS? You could see his terrified eyes swiveling to yours. You don't know. You don't know.
You gun him down.
You try to justify it to yourself. ZEUS could be anyone. Anywhere. It's self-defense. If it really was ZEUS, you could've died. Better to shoot him, and it turn out to be a mistake, than to not shoot at all, and it turn out to be ZEUS.
You know, before they ever call it, that the guy wasn't ZEUS.
When the suspicion eventually falls on you, you try to do the exact same thing he did. You know it won't help. There's a burning pain in your chest, and suddenly the ground is rushing up to meet you. There's a fleeting thought, of a pilot walking out the door, and then -
nothing.
Silence. Another confirmation. The tension stays high.