Mandible

by Ian Woodhead

  They heard a lot of gunfire earlier on. Jason told them that he suspected the armed forces were taking out the escaped insect wildlife. Ellis kinda knew that this wasn't some theory that he'd come up with. There really were soldiers out on the streets, wiping them out. It might have been a reason to celebrate until she remembered what he said about the engineered predators. Without their usual hosts, the only thing left to feed on were the human survivors. As disgusting and sick as that sounded, what had caused her anxiety were the heart-attack inducing images that her traitorous mind kept drip feeding her.

  Jason must have heard something, so he'd told them to flatten their bodies against the resin tunnel and make no sound. Compared to all the traumatising shit she had endured, not moving and staying silent should have been a doddle. To the others it probably was but they didn't have her imagination which showed her hair-fine tendrils growing out of the resin tipped with needles which pushed into her soft flesh, or the surface stretching apart behind her head to display rows and rows of teeth, or snake-like vines unfolding from the resin, wrapping around her thighs and... at that point, Ellis gasped out loud.

  Perhaps the hand squeeze did have an unexpected benefit. It did shut her mind up, at least for the moment.

  Jason leaned forward, looked around the corner then breathed out a sigh of relief. “Okay, kids. Looks like it's all quiet out there,” he whispered. The man looked straight at Ellis while emphasising the need to stay quiet as sound travels a distance in these tunnels. He moved forward, still holding her hand. Ellis was aware that Lorraine and Aroon took up position behind her. By the sound of it, those two had developed quite a relationship judging from their continuous whispering. Ellis wasn't sure how she felt about that. She kinda believed Aroon was hers, as stupid as that sounded. Still, at least they were able to keep each other reassured. The same certainly didn’t apply to Marty. He still wasn't right. The older man took up position right at the back but if she hadn’t glanced over her shoulder, she wouldn't have known. The man hadn't made a single noise since leaving the café.

  Knowing that the only contact she had with the resin tunnel was through the soles of her feet reassured her too. Ellis didn't need to listen to Aroon's whispers to make her feel any better, no way. Besides, unlike Lorraine, she had Jason, her strong, seemingly indestructible soldier boy. Oh Christ. Who was she kidding? It should be obvious by now that he only used her as part of his cover story. He was just a walking, lying muscle machine, as simple as that. It's the lying that hurt her more than anything. Exactly how much of his story was true? Did he really have an uncle who now lived in Bolivia? That time he told her that he broke his leg after falling out of a tree when he was fourteen. Did that really happen? Fuck. Was Jason even his real name?

  She should have dumped the goon and made a pass at Aroon. At least Ellis knew where she stood with him. For a start, it's unlikely that he'd surprise them all with the shock news that in his spare time, he killed intelligent insect super soldiers. She sensed Jason slowing down. It wasn't fucking fair. Why couldn't Jason be normal? She liked the old Jason, the big idiot who spent his spare time collecting stupid toys.

  “Hey, are you okay?”

  She nodded, unaware that Jason had been watching her.

  “Are you sure? Cos it's either been raining in here or you've been crying.”

  “I'm fine.” Ellis gave that oh so concerned face the best smile she could. “Just been thinking about all those poor people who lost their lives today, that's all” Fuck him and the horse he rode in on. If Jason could bullshit his way through this catastrophe then so could Ellis.

  The response that Ellis received wasn't quite the one she expected.

  “The ones who perished Ellis, were the lucky ones,” he growled. His grip on her hand tightened. “I need you to see this. The same rules apply. No fucking noise. This time, if you do, we'll all end up in your own version of hell.” He pulled her around a corner then dropped down, taking Ellis with him. “This is what we all tried to avoid,” he whispered. “Go on, take a look. Don't worry. Those creatures are too concerned with their own immediate needs to care about any observers. Even so, that doesn't mean that their trainers will be as complacent.”

  The tunnel had taken them into the second floor of what, until yesterday, was a large shoe shop. Silk webbing and pieces of broken up cocoons covered up most of what this shop once sold. Ellis wished she could have continued looked at the stuff covering the shoes, trainers, and slippers. As horrible as that stuff was, it paled in comparison to what lay beyond her peripheral vision. The gasps of horror coming from both Lorraine and Aroon should have warned her not to look but since when did her body take any notice of her senses?

  She saw humanoid insects chowing down on big boxes full of raw meat. Sure, it was pretty disgusting but it wasn't the worst abomination that her eyes had shown her today. It certainly didn't warrant the absolute look of sickness plastered upon the faces of her friends.

  Her guts, and the desire to throw up and run away joined the others when Ellis spotted that two of those insect things were wearing shoes. She looked away, her gaze finally finding Jason. Those monstrous things are what came out of the cocoons?

  He took a deep breath then wiped a couple of tears from his cheek. “There's a high probability that you passed most of those monstrous things every day whilst inside the market. There's also a high probability that you also walked past some of those boxes of compressed meat as well.” He opened his jacket and pulled out three guns. Jason slapped them into their hands, missing Marty out. “This handgun is a Glock 17 and that is also the number of rounds inside the magazine.” He then pulled out a spare magazine and showed them how to eject the old one and how to set a fresh one before handing them all two more spares.

  “Just what the hell do you expect me to do with this?” demanded Lorraine. She held the gun as if it was about to explode. “We're not soldiers, Jason.”

  “I know that," he replied. "Neither are those creatures down there. At least, not yet. Besides, there's not much difference between that gun and the one you lost earlier on.”

  “You're serious about this aren't you?” said Ellis

  Jason slowly nodded. “Look through the shop window and tell me what you see.”

  Ellis had already noticed that the sky had changed colour. It hadn't occurred to her at first that it should be dark by now. They had been in here for hours! It actually felt like days but she knew it was probably around nine. Even if it had only been a single hour since the shit hit the fan, that sky should not be the same colour as the ocean. “What the hell is that?”

  “We're all trapped in here,” he hissed. “That's their way of ensuring this operation of theirs stays on track. Nothing gets out and nothing gets in until they decide. At least, that's what they think.” Jason pushed his way past Lorraine and Aroon then jumped off the edge and vanished into the blackness.

  “What the hell is he doing?”

  “How am I supposed to know what he's sodding doing, Lorraine?” She spotted a shadow moving at high speed towards a group of four insect soldiers. Ellis turned her attention to them and noticed they weren't as eager to consume the packages of meat. The other soldiers were digging into that stuff like a deer carcass torn apart by a pack of starving wolves. Their mantis-like faces were looking up to where they were hiding! One of the soldiers raised a staff-like object. It had to be a weapon.

  Aroon grabbed Lorraine and pulled the woman back into the corridor. “Ellis, don't just stand there. Get back in here, out of the way. Those things are going to kill us! Ellis, I've seen what those weapons are capable of.”

  Aroon's urgent pleas abruptly stopped when two gunshots, coming from below, momentarily deafened Ellis. She spun around and saw one of the soldiers splayed over a meat cube. The other soldiers had scattered in all directions.

  The sound of receding footsteps suggested that Jason's only back up now consisted of just her. Marty had slumped himself against the wall, seemingly obliv
ious to their current predicament. Oh fuck, what could she do about any of this? Ellis worked in a factory for crying out loud. She jumped and almost shot herself in the foot when a pair of hands landed on her shoulders.

  “Aroon's run away, the bloody coward.” Lorraine gently pulled Ellis to her knees. “Looks like it's up to the girls to rescue the hunk.” She grinned. “Ellis, if we do get out of this alive, we're having a threesome, simple as.” Lorraine winked, dropped onto her front and crawled closer to the edge.

  If they did get through this fucking mess intact, Ellis might even go with her friend's ridiculous suggestion, if she wasn't simply having her on. Ellis joined her friend who was about to slip over the edge. More than likely, Lorraine was just winding her up. She followed her over and landed on a collection of foam-filled seats. Her friend pulled her off, brought a single finger to her lips and motioned Ellis to follow her.

  She looked back to where they'd come. Three insect soldiers were already on the next level. As to how they had gotten up there so quickly was answered when Ellis looked to the left and saw another four of them climbing the wall like flies. “You have got to be fucking kidding me,” she muttered. Ellis reached out, grabbed Lorraine's arm and pulled her back. “Wait, what about Marty? We can't leave him up there!”

  Lorraine held onto her. “We don't have a choice, honey. Come on, we need to find your boyfriend.”

  Ellis stayed where she was, not believing that poor Marty still hadn't moved. It's like he either wasn't aware of the danger he was in or just didn't care. The soldiers were almost on top of him before the man finally reacted. Marty lifted his head off his chest and looked both ways. He tried to get up but his legs collapsed from under him. He hit the ground hard.

  “Please, Ellis. Turn away. You really don't want to see what they'll do to him.”

  As much as Ellis wanted to, she just couldn't turn away. The soldiers reached Marty's body, stopped, gave him a cursory glance then continued their progress to the resin tunnel where they met up with the wall climbers. All seven soldiers vanished inside the tunnel.

  “What just happened, Lorraine?” Marty now lay motionless. She so hoped that what she'd just witnessed wasn't a seizure. Then again, even it was, they were hardly in any position to help Marty.

  “I've no idea, honey. All I know is that the man is probably in less danger than we are. Come on. We have to move. I think I see him now.”

  Ellis followed the woman as she slowly made her way through the empty metal aisles, all devoid of shoes. There were so many soldiers left down here. It appeared that most of them went after Aroon. Lorraine was right, she now saw Jason as well. He had taken up position behind a large cardboard display stand. There were four insect soldiers still feasting on one of those meat blocks, obviously oblivious to his proximity which made her wonder why those bastards were still alive! Did Jason think they wouldn't eventually discover him, as if, just like Marty, he had some kind of immunity? Lorraine skidded to a halt and dropped down. Ellis followed at the sight of two more insect soldiers. They walked straight past them. She risked a peek over her shoulder.

  Marty had moved! It wasn't much, the poor man had managed to return to his slumped against a wall position. It meant he wasn't dead though. That had to account for a win for the home team?

  “Why are they still hanging around?” hissed Lorraine.

  Ellis shrugged, like she had the answer for that. She couldn't even figure out how Marty had survived his encounter. Could it have something to do with Jason not giving the man one of these guns? Ellis recalled watching a movie back when she was a kid. Some rubbish about this alien hunter only killing people holding weapons. Ellis sighed. Like it really mattered.

  “At last!” Lorraine waited for the soldiers to turn the next corner before running to the next aisle. She turned around. “Come on!” she whispered urgently.

  Ellis ran after her.

  “Christ, woman. You picked a dumb time to start daydreaming,” whispered Lorraine. “You looked like you were on another planet.”

  “Another town would suit me right about now.” She lifted her head a little higher. There didn't appear to be any more soldiers standing between them and Jason but it wouldn't stay this quiet for long. Something must have spooked the insect soldiers. They were becoming a little agitated. Ellis hoped to God that those things hadn't already worked out that they had company. She picked up a stray slipper, pulled out the insole and twisted it before tying it in a knot.

  “What are you doing now?”

  “Making sure we're not cut down by friendly fire,” she replied. It struck her as unreal that Jason still hadn't spotted them. That soon changed when the insole gently bounced off his back. The man spun around, saw the two women and ushered them over. “As easy as that.” Ellis grinned at Lorraine then pulled her across the gap.

  Ellis opened her mouth to ask the big hunk what he was playing at, only for Jason to hush her. He moved to the side and pulled Ellis to the front. "The cavalry has arrived," he whispered.

  Her first sighting of their allied race made her go cold and she had no idea why. There were just three of them, they didn't look all that different to the insect warriors currently hunting them. The same physical configuration except that their edges weren't so sharp. Oh, and their colourings were more muted. Their subtle differences reminded Ellis of the contrast between a bee and a wasp.

  The new guys were tooled up with a much shorter version of the enemy staff weapon. They also carried a highly polished dinner plate sized object in their other appendage. Could that be a shield? Ellis turned her head towards the other group of insects at the other end of the room. They had returned to the meat cubes and were finishing off the wet remains. The new set of insects suddenly broke cover. Two fired their weapons which melted the heads of two enemy insects. The sole survivor threw itself behind the cube but the improvised cover had no effect in keeping it safe from harm. The allied insects fired again. The stream of energy turned the mass of meat into superheated steam which boiled the survivor alive.

  “These new guys don't mess about,” muttered Lorraine. “Glad they're on our side.”

  Jason stood up. “It might be best if you two stay here. They really hate confrontation and tend to get a bit twitchy. We don't want any accidents. Won't be a mo. I promise.”

  He scrambled past Ellis, not giving her the chance to resent him denying her the chance to 'have a word' to the creatures who were partly responsible for this fuck up. Not that she intended to take the slightest bit of notice of Jason's advice. “You're not the boss of me,” she said under her breath.

  Lorraine grabbed her arm. “Didn't you hear what he said?”

  “Sure, I heard every word. Come on, let's go say hello to a bunch of talking termites.” The false bravado melted away as soon as the group of insects noticed Jason was not alone. The change in their posture startled the hell out of her but not as much as when two of them raised their weapons.

  Ellis had no desire to allow a bunch of over-sized ants turn her into a puddle of goo. She placed her hands on her hips. “Just what the hell do you think you're playing at? We're supposed to be on your side, for crying out loud. What, you can't tell the difference between human and insect now?”

  Lorraine clung to her side. Ellis felt the poor woman shaking like a leaf. She was just as terrified, just hoping that her boisterous front would actually work, if not, there was always her knight in shining armour there to calm down their twitchy fingers.

  It did seem to work. The tallest of the group lowered its weapon and the others followed suit. It then suddenly jumped forward, stopping less than an inch from her face. It took every ounce of her willpower not to turn on her heels and run away. The same didn't apply to Lorraine. If Ellis hadn't grabbed her, the woman could well have been on the other side of town by now.

  “We all apologise as is our type,” it replied. The Deltin raised its gun arm, expertly spun the weapon and casually dropped it into Ellis's hand. “A gift. Much ha
ppiness shows we, although genetically dissimilar, shared characteristics which our descendants will celebrate.”

  She had absolutely no idea how to respond to that. The weapon felt so weird. Warm and pliant. It took a great deal of restraint not to throw it back at the insect. Ellis cocked her head to the side, trying to figure out exactly what to do as well as trying to figure what it had just said to her. Thankfully, Jason intervened.

  “We are grateful for your acknowledgement of our shared if not genetics, but thought rooms in one dwelling. However, we do still share goals which, not yet clear, may, in time, overlap. Perhaps my friends require a sample of threat provisioning, instilled by the Mantil? Perhaps, with haste and with the lines leading to outcome?”

  “Confirmation of allegiance solidified with stem rod's approval. Much relief shown by fellow companions and equipment. Jason, forgive our tentativeness regarding fellow soft-flesh. Now, agree upon haste of news. Our species has reached zenith. Eyes do not lie, sustainability impossible without intervention but stock is poor so we die.”

  Jason took the insect's claw. “I'm sorry to hear that, Zaratous. Don't give up just yet, my friend. I don't believe that you and your six soldiers are the last of your race. There must be more of you somewhere.”

  Ellis got the feeling that Jason's speech was for her benefit.

  "Mantil troops already gather. They sense victory. As they are wont, only now, the enemy no longer reliant upon in-built arrogance. A baseless manoeuvre at best, but needed to suit their demands on the populace. Significant developments have proven us also relying upon in-built arrogance. For which we can only apologise, Jason. Their conversion not anticipated complete success. Cannot allow them to leave. We shall help you destroy them all."