Weekly Drabble #312: Identity Unconfirmed (Patreon)

This week's prompt is 'friend or foe' from Burning Desire, so we get a story based around that question. Enjoy!

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Identity Unconfirmed:

“C’mon, man! Let me in! This isn’t funny!”

“Not until I know it’s you!”

“Not until... Dave, you know who I am! This is Reggie.”

“Yeah? How do I know that? Maybe you’re not you!”

“Oh, for... I just went out to check the breakers in the aux shed because of the outage. You know that. We talked about it.”

“I also know that it takes three minutes to get to the auxiliary shed and maybe a minute to reset the breakers. That’s seven minutes in total. You were gone fifteen minutes and twenty-seven seconds. That’s more than enough time to be replaced.”

“Yeah, and what does being in a winter fucking storm at sunset do for that timetable, Dave?”

“You still have to prove it’s you.”

“God’s sake. Look, all right? I have Reggie’s access card, I have Reggie’s uniform – see how there’s no rips or blood stains on it? – I went to your son’s second birthday party and your bitch mother in law made a cake with nutmeg in it, which you’re allergic to.”

“An alternate could have found that out from social media.”

“D-dave you are s-seriously pissing me off here.”

“You’re stuttering. Alternates glitch like that!”

“I’m s-stuttering now because it’s dropped b-below ten degrees and I’ve been out here almost tw-twenty minutes in my regular duty uniform, Dave.If-if I’d known you were going to have some kind of paranoid break, I’d have taken my winter gear. Can you please open the fucking door now?”

“I need you to prove you’re really Reggie first.”

“What do you want, then? Biometrics don’t really work with alternates. I obviously wasn’t brutally murdered by a mimic and my torn clothes put back on.”

“Tell me something that only Reggie would know.”

“We’ve worked together for four years. Before this posting, you were at Fort Bragg but you requested a transfer. Officially you said it was because you needed someplace closer to your wife because you two were trying for a child, but it was really because of what you saw on July 12th.”

“That’s something Reggie would know...”

“Good, so can you-”

“...but an alternate could have still found out about that.”

“For fuck’s sake. David. The storm’s picking up and I’m f-fucking freezing out here right n-now. You need to let me in. If you want, give me a fucking blood test or whatever, but you can’t keep me locked out.”

“For the security of this facility, I can. And I will, if I have to.”

“Sergeant Carlson, if you do not unlock this door and let me in right fucking now, I am going back to that shed, grabbing a crowbar and opening it my damn self.”

“If you do that, it’ll prove that you’re not Sergeant Ackland and I’ll be within my rights to use lethal force against you.”

“So instead you’re going to let me freeze to death?”

“The real Ackland would understand. The security of this facility takes precedence over all other concerns.”

“I f-fucking understand all right! I understand that you’re g-going to let me die out here because I g-got caught in a freak storm and fucked up a timetable I didn’t even know about! Open the God damn door, David!”

“I’m sorry, Reggie. I’m afraid I can’t do that. Not until I know it’s really you.”

“It’s going to dr-drop down to fifteen below tonight, David. The other b-buildings aren’t heated. You leave me outside and you’re k-killing me. You know that.”

“Mimics aren’t effected by the cold. If you’re not really sergeant Ackland, you’ll be fine.”

“Th-that’s your plan? What, in the m-morning are you going to poke my frozen b-body with a stick and go, ‘aw, shucks g-guess that really was Reggie’?”

“Unless you can prove you’re him. Right now you’re not doing a bang-up job of that.”

“Why, b-because I’m pissed and don’t want to die?”

“Like I said, the real Sergeant Ackland would understand.”

“And like I said, the real Sergeant Ackland doesn’t want to f-freeze to death six inches from s-s-safety because his partner’s gone n-n-nuts. H-how about that time when your mother-in-law was staying w-with you? You w-were sick as sh-shit and came in an-anyways b-because sh-she was driving you up th-the wall. At b-break you c-could barely st-stand and I c-covered for you with the lieu-lieutenant. I br-broke into the janitor’s cl-closet and stole a m-mop to cl-clean up when you p-puked in the th-third floor stairwell.”

“That’s good, but it’s still not enough.”

“Wh-what d-do you want from me, D-David?! J-jesus Chr-Christ.”

“I want to know that I’m not letting the doppelganger of my dead friend into a highly secure installation to do God knows what.”

“I’ve d-done ev-everything I c-c-can to pr-prove that. Y-you either trust tha-that it’s m-me or you d-don’t.”

“I don’t. I’m sorry.”

“Y-you kn-know w-what this m-means, D-D-David. I-I’m g-going to d-die out h-here.”

“I have to keep this facility secure, Reggie.”

“F-fuck you, D-David.”

“If you were in my position, you’d do the same. We have our orders and we can’t let anything get in the way of that. When I know it’s you, I’ll let you in. Until then, I must k-keep this facility safe.”