Mandible

by Ian Woodhead

  “Are you buying into this intelligent insect thing now?” Andrew put away the knife. It then hit him exactly what Nelson had just said. “Heavy artillery?”

  Nelson nodded. “Sure, why not. Living tanks, and you ain't going to use such massive animals to protect such delicate devices. Oh no, you're going to use something much smaller, something which ain't going to steam-roll over all your valuable gear.”

  Andrew was not slow on the uptake. He knew exactly what Nelson was suggesting. "Guardian insects, you mean."

  “Yeah, fucking guardian insects and we've both fallen inside a shitty science fiction movie. Only the stakes are our lives.”

  “Ain't great odds either. Come on, let’s see if we can find a way out of your movie without ending up as dinner.”

  “Or inside a chrysalis.”

  “Yeah. That too.” Andrew took the lead, he made his way past another bank of slot machines, looking everywhere, including up, to see if anything really was watching them. There were a couple of moments when he swore something up in the shadows moved but that could have been down to nerves and his imagination. After all, if they were being watched then surely these guardians would kill him and Nelson just out of general principle? Had they not already proven themselves capable of doing harm to their precious jewel? He paused beside an ancient pinball machine.

  “Andrew, what's wrong?”

  He moved to one side.

  “Holy fuck!” exclaimed Nelson.

  More cocoons filled the space between the back wall and the pinball machine. All identical to the one they had passed earlier. Andrew stopped counting when he reached thirty. “God, these things really stink.” Andrew slowly walked past the pinball machine and stopped next to one of the outer chrysalises. He avoided all temptation to peer inside, not wanting to find out what kind of damage the stuff had already caused to the poor sod inside, instead he did his best to look past all these unholy things and stare at the wall. Did something over there just blink?

  “Wait, hang on, where are you going now?"

  “I thought I saw a green light on that wall, Nelson.”

  “So what?”

  Andrew didn't bother answering him, instead he pushed through the hanging bodies, wincing at the feel of the hard outer casing. It was warm, a little sticky and all together totally unpleasant. When caterpillars entered these things, the forces inside literally rewrote their DNA. If the same was happening to these people, what was going to be the finished article? Was he looking at the birth of more insect people, like the ones he saw in his vision?

  “Oh, of course,” said Nelson. “I can't believe I've been so thick.”

  The old man had finally got it. Andrew reached the end of the cocoons and wiped slime on his pants while staring at the green fire exit sign above his head. “I think it's time to get the fuck out of here.” He slammed the bar down and pushed open the door, unprepared for the eye-watering bright light which flooded the dim room.

  “Breathe that in, man,” said Nelson. “So that's what fresh air smells like. Come on, let's make tracks. Tony is going to be wondering where we are.”

  It was Andrew's turn to stop someone from making a life changing mistake. “Hold your horses for a second,” he said, grabbing Nelson's arm. “Something isn't right.” His eyes had already adjusted to the bright sunlight and although the town looked quiet enough, the immediate area below the metal stairs was full of shiny white bones. He leaned out and looked up towards the felt roof, just as another bone fell off and plummeted down. There was movement up there! Andrew spotted a grey trainer lying on the first step. He ran out, scooped it up and hurried back to Nelson.

  “What are you playing at?”

  “Hush your lips. Just watch.” Andrew threw the shoe as hard as he could. It didn't even get past the edge of the metal fire escape before something plucked it out of the air. The thing which snatched it looked like a wasp, only a hundred times bigger and painted black and red. It dropped the shoe, spun around in mid-air then flew straight for them!

  “Holy fuck!” Andrew pulled Nelson back inside. He grabbed the bar but it was too late. The huge predator had already curled three of its legs around the door edge. Its strength was phenomenal. Despite using all his strength on that bar, the giant creature easily pulled the door out of his grasp. If Nelson hadn't been holding on to his belt, it's possible that Andrew could have found himself flying over the edge of the gantry and smashing into the ground. That is, if another one of those wasp things appeared and grabbed him.

  The monster rushed them again. Nelson threw him to the floor before dropping to one knee. The old man already had the pistol in his hands. He got off two shots. The first one clipped its wings while the last shot blew off the monster's head.

  Andrew rolled to the side then jumped up and ran back to the wide open fire-door. The serene landscape no longer existed. There were monsters everywhere. Three more giant wasps had dropped from the roof and were now clinging to the side of the brick wall. He saw several beetles, of different shapes, colours and sizes, all scuttling towards the bottom of the gantry. Andrew also spotted his first real sighting of the insect-men. Two of the things stood on the roof of a black delivery van. He quickly grabbed the bar and pulled it shut. It was obvious that they weren't escaping by this route.

  He stood with his back against the wall, sweat dripping off his face. Nelson stood motionless close to the downed monster. The room was not silent. A quiet muffled screaming was leaking from one of the cocoons close to where Nelson stood. It took him a few moments to work out why. The old man's first shot hadn't just clipped the monster's wing, it had continued its trajectory and punctured a chrysalis. Thick red and yellow fluid ran down its casing and dripped onto the floor to form an uneven puddle. Andrew reckoned that if any of these insect guardians were going to show then this would be the opportune moment.

  “I'm guessing we're not leaving through the fire door?”

  The screaming had stopped now. He offered up a short prayer for the life that Nelson's stray bullet had cut short, thinking that at least the soul inside the casing died while still being human. Nothing had rushed in to investigate so perhaps the old man's theory of guardian insects was invalid? If so, then did they have a duty to put bullets into the rest of these dirty things?

  “Andrew, are you still there?”

  “Yeah, sorry. I was wool-gathering.”

  “You picked a good time to do that.”

  “There's no way we can leave that way. The courtyard is swarming with giant insects. We wouldn't last ten seconds.” He decided not to mention the insect men. “We have to find another way out.”

  It took Nelson a few seconds before replying. “Teleport?”

  “What?” The old man simply shook his head then started to push his way through the hanging cocoons.

  “Hey, where are you going?” Andrew ran after him. He finally caught up with the old man just as he reached the pinball machine. Nelson stood next to it. His pistol was pointing straight at Andrew's face. “What's this, man?”

  Nelson shrugged. “Guess you weren't the only one who was wool-gathering. Thing is, the way I see it. we need to face the simple fact that we are out of options. I guess utterly fucked would be a more precise way of putting it. We're not going to get out of this place alive.” Nelson paused. His tongue ran along his bottom lip. “At least one of us isn't.”

  “Right, and you think what? That offering me up to the monsters will buy you enough time to escape?” Andrew was too tired and sick of this shit to even pretend to feel betrayed. Hell, he wasn't even all that scared. Not that he didn't think Nelson would go through with his insinuation. The old man's moral centre had come from Satan.

  “Lay the shotgun on the floor and kick it over.”

  “Like that's gonna fucking happen,” he yelled. “Suck my dick, you fucking turncoat.”

  “I'm sorry that you feel like that, old friend.” He took aim.

  Andrew dropped down and rolled back into the
midst of the cocoons. Two shots rang out. One of them nicked his thigh. He ground his teeth to stop himself from crying out. God, that really hurt! Warm blood soaked into his pants. Nelson cursed but he didn't fire again. Instead, he pushed his way through the hanging bodies. Andrew rolled to the left. He knew escape was pointless as the wet blood he left on the floor told the old bastard exactly where he was going. “Fuck this,” he muttered. Andrew managed to sit up. He aimed at the chrysalis above him and paused until Nelson stood behind it. He then fired. The shot blew him back but it also obliterated the top of the cocoon as well as taking out most of Nelson's face.

  His partner in crime lay sprawled on the floor in a lake of blood mixed with the lumpy, stinking contents from the cocoon. What remained of the casing had fallen over Nelson's ankles. Amazingly, the old man still lived. Both his arms moved through the gloop. It looked like he was trying to fly. Andrew used the shotgun to help himself up, moved closer to the other man, bent down and grabbed the pistol. He was so tempted to put him out of his misery, to finish the job, but that idea went out of the window when his thigh wound gave him a timely reminder. No, fuck him. Let the untrustworthy bellend stay there, making his snow angels in the foul smelling mess. Something was bound to come along to turn the bastard into kebab meat and Andrew fully intended to be somewhere else when that happened.

  He limped back towards the single chrysalis. Killing Nelson was the last thing Andrew had wanted to do but what other option did he have? The old man had practically signed his own death warrant. He had known Nelson a long time. Long enough for Andrew to understand that the stubborn bastard would not change his mind.

  “Fucking marvellous. Thanks for that, Nelson,” he growled. The situation hadn't changed, except for the little fact that there was nobody to watch his back. “Now what am I going to do?” Andrew hurried past the lone chrysalis without looking at it, reaching the railing and leaned over. His heart sank when he saw huge moving shadows as well as the occasional glimpse of insect leg and wing by the entrance. He turned his head and almost dropped the shotgun. “You have got to be shitting me!” The kid, the one who was supposed to be all wrapped up and turning into Christ knows what was sat inside that arcade cabinet with his hands gripping that steering wheel. “No, no way!” Andrew spun around and...

  “Seriously, dude. It's a piece of piss to get out.”

  Andrew blinked several times. He was now leaning against the cabinet. The pain in his leg had gone and so had the weapons. “How did I get here?”

  “Bollocks. That's another pound wasted.” The kid stuck his head out of the side of the cabinet. “I'm not used to an audience. That's probably why I buggered up.” He grinned. “Nerves, I guess. Don't fret about the moving. You're not really here. Neither am I for that matter. Kinda makes me wonder why I got so pissed at losing again. The moving bit? Oh, The Mantil call it Projection. They do it all the time apparently. Never mind about all that, dude.”

  “I might not have a gun but I can still punch you into next week. One last time, you annoying little turd. What the fuck is happening to me?”

  The kid climbed out of the cabinet. “You were right about this place being protected. If you want to get out of here then you need to give them a reason to protect you too, dude.” He nodded over to the shadows just outside the entrance. “Figure it out.”

  He was back beside the railing. “Figure it out? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Figure what out?” Andrew turned and marched right up to the chrysalis. “I need more than that, you geeky little twat.” He jerked and swung his gun around, believing that something was right beside him but the only movement he saw was Nelson, still wriggling about in the muck. Andrew watched him for a moment before moving a little closer to the severely wounded man. He had an idea.

  Andrew leaned the shotgun against the pinball machine then grabbed the old man's ankle and dragged his body closer to the railing. Thanks to the huge amount of mess under him, the job wasn't too difficult: the stuff acted as a lubricant. Once he got the body to where he wanted it, he wrapped his fingers around the man's upper arms and pulled him up. It was then just a matter of tipping him over the edge after that. Andrew slid his chest along the top of the railing then grabbed his leg again and lifted. The old man's body balanced for a couple of seconds before gravity took hold and he dropped on to the ground floor, landing in the middle of the aisle with a sickening thud.

  Three beetles and a centipede rushed inside but before they could even get to the meat, hundreds of fist-sized dark-orange bugs dropped out of the ceiling and started attacking the huge intruders. Andrew swallowed hard. He picked up the shotgun and ran as fast as he could down the stairs and towards the entrance, making sure to stay well away from the carnage happening in the middle of the arcade.

  CHAPTER TEN

  The secret gets out

  Jason hadn't said a single word in ten minutes now. None of the others had either. Her boyfriend explained how important it was for any of them not to make a sound. He said that all their lives depended on it. Ellis stopped walking. She leaned against the rough stone and thrust her hands deep into her pockets.

  “What the hell are you doing?” hissed Lorraine.

  Ellis put her finger against her mouth while continuing to look at the stone wall. As expected, the older woman squeezed past her and raced after Jason. Marty said nothing. He just gave Ellis a quizzical look before joining her. The walls were giving off heat. It hadn't been too noticeable while they'd been traversing this route but now that she'd stopped, Ellis could definitely feel the difference. She didn't even bother asking herself why. Her mind had already burst with the vast amount of unanswered questions that had smacked into her since leaving work.

  “Are you okay, honey?”

  She shook her head. “No, Marty. I'm far from okay.” Ellis gazed at the older man. “I feel like I've fallen down the rabbit hole.”

  He let out a long-drawn-out breath. “I'm not far behind you there.”

  “Ellis, have you hurt yourself?”

  Her boyfriend had come back. He stood beside her, his face a picture of concern. Jason honestly looked like he cared about her safety. Yet, after all the tiny pieces of information that he'd casually dropped whilst in that bar, Ellis just didn't know if this man, the one whom she thought she knew, was telling the truth. She turned her head, fearing that if he continued to pull that face, Ellis would either fall into his arms and burst into tears or punch the bastard in the face.

  “We're almost there. Just another few metres to go and then we really will be safe. I promise you.” Jason slid his fingers into hers. “Please, just give it another couple of minutes. That's all I'm asking.”

  Ellis couldn’t stay here, sulking like some big kid, that much she did know. “Fine, have it your way,” she whispered.

  He grinned his famous grin and gently pulled her along with Marty following behind. Where had Lorraine gone? The woman hadn't come back with Jason after grassing on her. Was she ashamed to show her face? Thing is, Ellis didn't really know any of the people in her group, who knew what could be going through the older woman's head right now? For all Ellis knew, what was happening right here in her crappy town might be happening everywhere else. This could really be it, the End of Days, the Apocalypse. Giant insects will once again rule the land just like they did all those millions of years ago.

  Did that sneaky cow have designs on Jason? Sowing the seeds of discontent while still pretending to be best of pals? Why not? If this truly was the beginning of the end then Ellis wouldn't put it past Lorraine to try to bag the alpha male. Ellis guessed that if she was in Lorraine's position, she’d probably be thinking along the same lines. Marty was a lovely man but he couldn't protect them: a warrior, Marty was not. Hell, he’d have trouble fighting his way out of a wet paper bag.

  On the other hand, her over-active imagination could be just reacting really badly to her admittedly dire looking situation and feeding her mind with any old paranoid bullshit. More than likely
, her friend was only looking out for her and had no intentions of stealing Jason.

  Jason came to a halt. Ellis almost bumped into him, she was so consumed in her private delusional fantasy to notice that Jason's promise of a couple of minutes had already arrived. She found Lorraine too, she stood beside a perfectly ordinary panelled, polished wooden door in the same style as the bar they left. It did look a bit out of place in this stark environment.

  "Are you going to explain all this secret agent stuff to us now, Jason? " asked Marty. "After all, you did promise."

  "Almost ready!" he replied. "This is going to knock your socks off."

  He sounded like an excitable kid getting ready to unwrap his Christmas presents or show his girlfriend what was going to be the market's newest toy stall. Was that even going to happen or was that just part of his elaborate cover? Come to think of it, was she part of Jason's cover too? If that turned out to be the case then Ellis really would knock his fucking block off.

  Jason opened the door and hushed them all inside. "Welcome to the outer fringes of Geocorp Energy Solutions."

  "I've heard of them," said Marty. "They had an office in town a few months ago, I remember walking past the place a couple of times. If I remember correctly, they were proposing an alternative method of producing electricity with geothermal energy. To be honest, it sounded like a con."

  "No con, Marty. These guys knew their beans alright. Hell, this was their third site. Everything was going great until..." He stopped speaking for a second when they reached another door. "…They encountered what they described as an anomaly." Jason keyed in a number sequence into a keypad beside the door. "You know what? I think my CO would be better filling you in. Major Yates is such a lovely chap. You'll get on with him like a house on fire, Lorraine. He shares your evil sense of humour." The door slowly opened outwards. "Of course, we evacuated the base. There's only military..." Jason stopped again.