Cool as a cucumber, and not fazed one iota, Seth slowly pulled the car over to the side of the road. He neatly put the car in park and turned to Marni. “Time to go to work.”
He climbed in the backseat. Lara was a sweaty mess. In an attempt to calm her down, he joked, “Hi, Lara, how ya doin? Wanna get some sushi?”
Seth grabbed the towel that was thrown in the back, covering the seat. “Now listen to me,” he ordered. “Rest your head on the window. Back up.”
Lara scooted up. Seth reached up her dress and took off her panties. He threw them in the trunk of the car.
Feeling the urge to lift her legs, Lara kicked at Seth who accommodated her as best he could. “Move the seat forward, Marni.” He continued issuing orders.
Seth thought furiously, “What did the book say? What did the book say Breathe…before, the middle, no it was…what was that word?”
“The height!” He yelled out. “Lara, listen to me. Breathe at the height of pressure. Breathe hard and push when the contraction hurts the worst. We’re gonna do this together. Come on, breathe, baby.”
Sweat glistened on her face, and her mouth was stretched back in a tight grimace. Lara groaned a deep noise from her heart.
“I see his head! It’s really happening. Just push, Lara. I’m here. Marni and I are here.”
The cicadas were beginning to cover the car and block the light. “Shine the light from the camcorder, so I can see what I’m doing,” he told Marni.
“I would think after all this time, you’d be very familiar with the area, Seth.”
For the first time, Seth looked up and grinned at Marni. “You’re not so bad, kid.”
“Much as I am happy you two are bonding, this time can it be only about me?” Lara sniped.
Laughing, Seth instructed Lara, “Now breathe…hee, hoo, hee, hoo.”
“Heeee, hoooo, heee…”
Marni couldn’t help but breathe just like Lara. “Hee hee, hoo, hoo.”
“Cut it out, Marni,” he said.
“Do you see anything yet?” Marni asked.
“Hemorrhoids,” Seth looked up at Lara and grinned. “You’re doing great, honey.”
“Pressure, I feel so much pressure.”
“Push, Lara,” Marni told her. “Push.”
Lara screamed a bloodcurdling scream, and the baby’s head popped out. “Is he OK? I don’t hear him!” Lara was panicked.
“I got a head! We got a head!”
“I can’t do this anymore. I can’t do this. It’s too hard.”
“Yes you can, Lara!” yelled Seth. “Listen to me. Push as hard as you can! I got the baby! We came this far, one more push!”
This resonated with Lara. She propped herself up to get in a good position. Grabbing the passenger side headrest and backseat headrest, she pushed with all her might.
“Head, now shoulder, knees and toes...” Seth sang. He caught the baby sliding out.
“Oh, oh, oh!” exclaimed Seth with a shout of joy. “I don't believe this!”
“Oh my God,” Lara said with pure and utter exhaustion. "Is he OK?" She heard mewling like a kitten and then an outraged cry.
“Hush, little one. Daddy loves you,” Seth cooed, laughing and crying at the same time.
Seth quickly wrapped the baby up in the towel.
“Is he OK?” Lara demanded, only to hear Seth reply, “She’s beautiful. Perfect. I am so proud of you, Lara. I love you.”
“Oh, Seth.” Lara’s eyes stung. “Are you OK?”
“I couldn't be happier,” then to Marni he said, “Go into the glove box; I have a pocket knife and some duct tape in there. Give it to me. Let me cut the cord.”
“Why do you have a pocket knife and duct tape?”
“Jimmy.”
Marni dug into the glove box. She removed a giant pocket knife and a roll of gray duct tape and handed it to Seth.
“Duct tape?” Marni questioned.
“I need something to clamp the cord.”
He wrapped duct tape around the umbilical cord close to his daughter’s belly making a tight tourniquet. Sighing, he then cut the cord.
“Seth.” Lara was teary. “A girl. We don’t have a name prepared.”
“How about Cicada?” Seth responded with a smile.
“Oh, Seth. We have a daughter.” Lara’s eyes stung as she cuddled her daughter close.
“I am the happiest man on earth. You did good, real good.”
“I like Hope.”
“What?” Seth asked.
“Hope. She’s filled me with hope. We’re going to be OK.”
“Lara, she’s gorgeous. Seth, maybe you should go back to school to become a doctor.”
“I hate to break up the warm and fuzzies, but perhaps we should continue our joyride to the hospital? They have to clean Lara up,” Seth stated.
“Let’s go,” Lara responded as Hope squealed. “The four of us.”
“My brood,” Seth said.
Lara enfolded her baby to her breast and stuck her nipple in the baby’s mouth. The baby rooted quickly and aggressively. “Ouch!” Lara’s eyes opened wide as Hope latched on to her.
Seth climbed over to the driver’s seat. He put the car in drive. The lights flickered and then the whole SUV died. Marni turned on the camera flash.
“What now?” asked Marni.
Seth checked the gauge. He was speechless. “I…I…”
“What Seth?”
“I have no gas.”
“No.”
“Seth, what do we do?”
Fate was setting in. It was enough with the setbacks, but at this point there was nothing more Seth could do. “I did everything I could. At least we’ll all be together.”
The girls began to sob. Lara looked deep into Hope’s face, taking her in.
Seth removed the gun from the back of his pants. Everything stopped. Marni put the camera on the dashboard.
“Seth, what are you doing with that?” asked Lara.
“We won’t feel anything.”
“Seth,” Lara pleaded. “We’ve come this far. Something will happen.”
Seth’s eyes slid shut, tears prickling behind the lids. “It can't end this way. It just can't.” He didn’t even realize he said the words aloud.
The worst-case scenario had happened.
He would shoot Marni first. Then Lara. Then Hope. Then himself. It was better than suffocating to death. It would be quicker. He didn’t want his family suffering. There was nowhere to go, no one to call. Even if they tried to go outside, those things would swarm them.
He didn’t know how long it would take to die from those things implanting their eggs inside him. It took Dominic a week. He had no idea how long it took Jimmy to die. He just wanted it to be quick.
Seth didn’t want his family to suffer. That was one thing he always promised Lara, that he would do everything in his power to make sure they weren’t in pain.
The glass started cracking from the weight of the cicadas. There was no more time left. He had to do it quick or they would all be crushed—or worse, crushed and still alive writhing in pain.
“I can’t believe this is where it ends,” Marni said in hysterics. “On the fucking Long Island Expressway.”
Seth slowly cocked the trigger. He turned to Marni.
“I…I want to do it myself,” Marni pleaded with tears pouring from her eyes.
“Are you really going to do it?” Seth asked.
Marni nodded her head.
He handed the gun to her.
“Just point and shoot.”
“Like you’ve done this before,” Marni wanted one last joke before her life was over.
“Marni!” Lara grabbed her shoulder from behind the seat.
“Promise me that you’re going to follow.”
She saw the glass cracking in the back. Another minute and the car would be filled to the brim with cicadas. They would be crawling into every orifice.
“I don’t know where I’m going next, but
I sure hope it’s better than this,” Marni said sadly. “See you soon.”
She stuck the gun in her mouth. Both Seth and Lara squeezed their eyes shut.
Marni closed her eyes tight. Breathing hard, she touched the trigger gently.
Click.
Seth opened his eyes and stared in disbelief at the scene he saw outside through a small spot in the windshield of the car. “Noooo, Marni, don’t.” He reached across the car to grab the gun.
Boom.
A liquid hit the car with furious vigor. The entire outside of the car was being pulsed with water.
Marni stared with wide eyes at Seth, who held the unused gun in his hand. She opened her mouth but no words came out.
“What’s that?” Lara shouted over the roar of water hitting the car.
Light shone throughout the entire car. Beautiful, glorious sunlight poured in the windows. Marni was still.
“Can you see me?” she asked Seth, looking at him. Seth nodded his head, more confused than she was. “Are you dead too?” she continued.
Seth shrugged his shoulders.
“Am I a ghost stuck in limbo?”
“I don’t think your dead, Marni.”
“How do you know?”
Seth grabbed the gun from Marni. He unloaded the clip and looked inside. It was empty.
“You’re number wasn’t up, Marni.” He peeked through the clip in a playful way. “Only you could screw up killing yourself, Marni.”
The deluge of water had coated the car. “Do you think heaven is a car wash?” They couldn’t see anything else because water was streaming down the car. The cicadas were being washed away.
The gushing stopped.
There were two knocks at the window. All three of them yelped, their hearts beating frantically.
Everyone glanced over to see a blue-suited officer motioning for Seth to roll down the window.
At first Seth didn’t know what button to touch. He accidentally started rolling down the back window. “Sorry.” He rolled down his window.
“Everybody OK?” asked the officer.
“Yes!” exclaimed Seth. “Yes! We were on our way to the hospital. My wife just delivered our baby. She’s in the back.”
The officer peeked to the back.
“You OK, ma’am?”
“Yes, yes, officer.”
“Good. Stay put. I’ll be right back.”
“Wait, where are you going?”
The officer left. Seth recognized that face. “Did he look familiar?”
“You know him.” Marni looked on confused.
“I think that was the same guy who…”
“Yes, it was,” Lara said in tears. “What was his name? You made a joke of it.”
“Simon. I said we had to do what Simon said,” Seth chuckled. “If I wasn't seeing him with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it.”
He knew everything was going to be all right. About twenty yards away was a water truck with a full tank washing the cicadas away. Five fire engines, a dozen army trucks, and four ambulances were positioned on the Expressway. The water truck and fire engines were washing the cicadas to make a path for the EMT workers.
The police officer returned.
“I wasn’t talking on my cell phone, I swear,” Seth told him, his hand on his heart.
This broke the ice completely. The back door opened. A team of emergency medical technicians swaddled Hope and helped Lara out of the car. Marni grabbed the camera as she peeled herself off the seat.
An entire team of EMTs ran over with stretchers. They hooked up Lara to an IV.
Seth exited the car, his knees suddenly wobbly, his gait unsteady. He looked at Officer Simon and the world wavered as his adrenaline rush subsided.
Drunkenly, he latched on the officer and gave him a bear hug. “I never thought I’d ever say these words. I love ya, man.”
“You’re OK, son.”
Seth and the police officer came around to help Lara onto the stretcher.
“How’s the baby?” Seth asked.
Officer Simon took the camcorder from the front seat and threw it into his squad car. Marni was led onto a stretcher, completely exhausted.
“How did you find us?” Seth asked the officer.
“Once the army got involved, it got easier,” he replied.
“My husband delivered our baby.”
“Nice work, kid.”
“Seth was amazing.” Marni sighed.
“It was nothing, I swear,” Seth said, blushing. “She did all the work.”
“Well, we’re going to get you all to the hospital. Is there anyone else with you?”
Marni looked down. “My boyfriend.” She shook her head.
“Where?”
“At our house,” said Seth. “What’s left of it.”
“We’ll have some direction on how we’re going to kill these bugs over the next few days. But otherwise, let’s get everyone loaded up and on our way.”
“Thank you,” Seth said and walked toward the ambulance to join Lara and his child.
Shirt plastered to his body, Seth pointed to the water raining down on them. “That stuff OK?”
“It's just water.” Simultaneously, they lifted their heads up to drink. Seth stepped between the two stretchers and took both of the girls’ hands. Gallantly, he kissed them both on the wrists. “Nice work, my ladies. Couldn’t have done it without you.” He leaned down to kiss his daughter's sweet cheek. “You too, my little ladybug.”
“Call her sunshine, muffin, sweetie but no bug names.” Lara pulled his face for a lip-smacking kiss.
“She’s as cute as a bug in a rug,” he teased.
“No bugs!” both girls shouted.
Marni was rolled to a separate ambulance, Seth and his family in another.
Jonathan Tate was standing with the EMT staff crew on the Long Island Expressway. Idling over to the squad car, he slipped in and took the camcorder. “This ought to be interesting,” he sniffed. He began filming the departing ambulances. “Wonder what’s on it,” he said to himself as they drove away.
About the Author
Born and raised on Long Island, Michael has always had a fascination with horror writing and found footage films. He wanted to incorporate both with his debut novel, Brood X. Earning a degree in English and an MBA, he has worked various jobs before settling into being a full-time author. He currently resides on Long Island with his wife and children.
[email protected]
Brood X: A Firsthand Account of the Great Cicada Invasion Page 15
