“They’re gathering,” said Rory, handing Max a pair of night vision goggles.
Max traded out the binoculars for the goggles and groaned when he saw not a group of howlers, but a coiled-up worm with a black shiny carapace and thousands of oversized millipede legs. The worm had no eyes that Max could see, but it had a mouth—a large round maw with row after row of wicked teeth. There were a few howlers left, and to Max’s surprise, they were giving themselves to the queen’s horrendous maw, practically fighting for a turn to be eaten.
“What the fuck…” said Max.
“What do you see?” said John.
Max described the alien space worm queen, and even as he spoke, it changed. The queen swallowed down its last howler and began to glow with electric light. The many plates that made up its dark carapace suddenly opened, and dozens of long electric tentacles erupted from it and swayed in the air like insectile feelers.
“I don’t want to know what kind of nightmare that bitch is going to give birth to,” said Max.
“We must not let her lay her eggs,” said Rory.
Max was about to hand him back the goggles, when suddenly the queen’s head turned in his direction. If it had had eyes, Max would have sworn that it was staring right at him.
A sound born from the depths of hell issued from the queen, jolting everyone and echoing through the river basin. It suddenly uncoiled, and the thousands of legs propelled it with startling speed right for the hill they had parked on.
“Okay, this is fun,” said Max. “Now it’s coming toward us.”
“It’s time,” said Rory, staring at Max expectantly.
Max chuckled to himself. “Alright then, let’s do this shit.”
He unstrapped the rocket launcher from the back of the sled, walked out to the edge of the hill, and took aim at the center of the queen’s body. The thing had to be a hundred feet long, and it was at least fifteen feet around. It was a big target, but it was still two hundred yards away. Max steadied his breathing and let the rocket fly.
The rocket shrieked through the air, leaving Max’s heart hammering with anticipation and adrenaline. Everyone watched the rocket’s epic flight through the air as it flew out over the hill and curved down, slamming into the middle of the queen. The explosion was exquisite, and the militiamen cheered when the ice gave way and the queen was pulled into the frozen river.
Max looked through the night vision goggles. The hole was at least twenty feet across, and there was no sign of the queen. “Well, that was easy,” he said, handing Rory back the goggles.
But Rory wasn’t looking at him, he was staring at the frozen river. Max turned back to look and let out a sigh. The ice was glowing downriver from the blast site.
“Ah, shit—”
The ice suddenly exploded upward near the bank, and the queen erupted form the water. A thousand legs brought her up onto the bank, and the head rose up as she curved back like a cobra about to strike. A guttural roar escaped the queen, followed by a crack of lightning. To everyone’s surprise, the tentacles shot up the hill like bolts of lightning, grabbing hapless militiamen and their snowmobiles before yanking them back toward the queen.
“Fire!” Rory cried, and the hillside erupted with gunfire.
Max hurriedly reloaded the rocket launcher as a thousand rounds slammed into the approaching queen. The tentacles came again, pulling screaming men and women off the top of the hill and wrapping them in a blanket of crackling electricity.
“Hey, bitch!” Max screamed over the tumult.
The queen space worm reared back like a striking snake, opening its hideous maw.
Max fired.
The rocket screamed through the air, making a beeline for the queen’s mouth and disappearing inside it. The head exploded in a shower of gore and thick ichor, blowing Max off his feet. He watched from his back as the colossal worm teetered. The thousands of feet jittered like a millipede on crack, and the tentacles randomly released blasts of electricity. Finally, the queen’s shiny body swayed and toppled over, hitting the ground like a felled sequoia.
Max hurried to his feet and grabbed the last rocket. He found John and Valentine among the group and breathed a sigh of relief that they were alright. Rory had survived as well, but a half dozen militiamen and women hadn’t been so lucky.
“Look!” someone shouted.
Max found the woman and followed her pointing finger.
Down by the shore, the body of the queen had begun to glow once more. The tail end of her long body started to swell. It suddenly opened, and a black mass at least ten feet long was pushed out of it. Max at first thought it to be an egg, but if it was, the shell wasn’t hard. Instead, a thin membrane was hiding a dark, writhing form beneath it.
What emerged from the disgusting mass of glistening film was so outlandish that Max could hardly believe his eyes. The thing had two arms, two legs, and a torso like a human, but that was where the resemblance ended. From its head, dozens of tendrils hung like electrified dreadlocks, and its face was all mouth, circular like the queen’s had been, and filled with vicious-looking teeth. The long neck was worm-like and stretched at least two feet off the shoulders. The entire body was covered in dark carapace-like plates that reflected the fire still burning around its mother’s destroyed head.
And it looked pissed.
The beast turned its head toward the group on the hill and let out a bloodcurdling shriek.
Chapter 19
Hybrids from Hell
“What. The. Hell. Is. That!” Valentine shrieked.
“I guess it’s a wormhead,” said John.
Everyone looked to Max for guidance, including Rory.
“What?” said Max “I signed up to kill the queen, and the queen is dead. Besides, there’s only one of th—”
Another sack emerged from the dead queen’s tail, and then another.
“Great,” said Max. He returned everyone’s expectant look with one of his own. “What are you waiting for? Kill ‘em all!”
He jumped on his snowmobile and started it up. The others followed his lead, hooting and yipping as they peeled out down the hill and unloaded gunfire on the wormhead. Max riddled the first with bullets that seemed to have little effect on the hard-shelled hide. The other soldiers’ bullets seemed just as useless. One of the snowmobilers got too close, and the wormhead sprang fifteen feet, leaping like a lion to pounce on the hapless militiaman.
“Take them down the river!” Max cried out and headed west across the frozen river.
John and Valentine caught up to him, and he held up a grenade. They nodded understanding and drove ahead. Rory and the others caught up as Max allowed himself to fall behind. He glanced back as the last of the riders passed him and found six wormheads barreling across the ice after them on all fours. Max sped up, having lagged a little too much. One of the beasts landed two feet behind his sled, and Max fed him shaved ice, gunning the throttle and screaming across the snow. He pulled the pin on the grenade and threw it behind him.
The explosion boomed twenty feet behind and he ducked down, not wanting to be hit by the shrapnel. A quick glance back told him that he had hit one of them, blowing off both arms and half the dreadlock tendrils. But despite its injuries, it kept coming.
Rory suddenly flew by in the opposite direction, machine gun blazing as he steered right for the lead wormhead. He veered right at the last moment, tossing his own grenade at the monster and steering clear. The grenade exploded right in front of the wormhead, blowing off limbs and leaving a twitching mass of gore in its wake.
One down.
Max waited for Rory to catch up again and tossed one and then the other remaining grenade, taking out another of the alien hybrids and finishing off the armless monster. The remaining wormheads split up, two heading for opposite banks and the other continuing across the ice.
“Head them off!” Max yelled to Rory. “I’ll take care of this one!”
Rory nodded and sped up to direct his men to go after
the wormheads that were now running along the banks. John and Valentine slowed down and let Max catch up. He had to speed up to fifty miles an hour before the wormhead began to fall behind, and he cursed back at it, quite fed up with the overpowered alien spawns.
“What’s the plan?” said John.
“You two have any grenades?”
Neither did, and Max glanced back at the pursuing beast, trying to think of something. He wondered how long it could keep up this kind of speed. The militiamen were doing their best against the other wormheads on the north and south banks, but they still hadn’t taken them out.
Max’s snow sled suddenly began to sputter and choke, and he lost speed fast. John and Valentine slowed down as well, but Max urged them on as he fought with the throttle, trying to get the engine running right.
He glanced back and found the wormhead right on his heels. With a surprised string of curses, Max gunned it, but the snow sled suddenly died. Behind him, the wormhead leapt into the air. Max hit the brakes, ducking down as the alien soared overhead, missing him and landing on all fours.
Max fought to get the sled going, but it was no use. He stood up instead, brandishing his twin Uzis, and aimed at the wormhead as it turned around and stalked him.
“Come on, you ugly motherfucker!”
The wormhead leapt, and Max unloaded both clips into its open maw. Blood flew and the beast cried out as it came down on the snow sled. Max leapt out of the way just in time, but he paid for his bravery as a claw caught his leg and tore through his pants. He hit the ground and rolled, coming up with Stefan’s sword in hand.
The wormhead electrocuted the snow sled with its tentacles and tore at the seats like a rabid beast before turning its eyeless face in Max’s direction. With his free hand, Max reloaded the Uzis and pointed one at the creature’s head.
“Open up and say ahhh.”
“Vraaahhh!” the wormhead screamed—just what Max needed.
He riddled the open mouth with bullets, taking extreme joy in the tortured howl and the black ichor that spurted from the dozens of tiny wounds. The wormhead staggered and fell to one knee, and Max reloaded. He aimed the gun at the prone monster, trying to think of a catchphrase that Stefan would be proud of.
“Your momma picked the wrong planet,” he said, and pulled the trigger.
Click!
Max glanced at the jammed gun, cursing his luck. The wormhead acted quickly, launching itself at Max, arms spread wide and long claws gleaming. Max pulled back his sword, ready to impale the beast right through the mouth.
Suddenly, a snow sled slammed into the wormhead, taking out its legs and sending it careening off to the side. The sled turned and rolled, launching its driver off at more than forty miles an hour. He recognized Valentine and rushed to her aid, but a low growl stopped him in his tracks.
The wormhead was lying on its stomach, its legs mangled and broken and dragging behind it as it clawed its way across the ice. Max pulled the clip out of the jammed gun and slapped it into the other Uzi, slowly stalking toward the prone monster. He unloaded the clip in its face before tossing the gun to the side and brandishing his sword once more. He moved in for the kill, staring at the twitching, bleeding creature with not one ounce of sympathy. The tentacles zapped the snow and ice, dancing wildly atop the head.
Max raised the sword over his head and brought it down with all his might. But the scales were thick, and the sword only sunk a few inches. Furious, tired, scared, and thoroughly pissed off, Max hacked at the worm-like neck until his blade found ice.
Chapter 20
A Well-Earned Reprieve
Valentine had broken her arm during her daredevil crash into the wormhead, and seven of the militiamen had fallen in battle. The bodies were gathered, and the wormheads and queen were doused with gas and burned.
The mood was glum when they reached town, but Rory made good on his promise, and Max, John, and Valentine were given leave. It was late when they got back to the police station, nearly three in the morning, and Max didn’t think he had it in him to head out again that night. John and Valentine were swamped as well, and not only that, there was food cooking that made Max’s stomach want to scream.
He couldn’t remember the last time he had had a full meal.
“You’re welcome to stay here for the night, or as many nights as you need,” said Rory. His attitude toward them had changed dramatically, and Max didn’t know if it was because he and his friends had proven themselves, or because Rory was so shaken by the loss of life. Whatever the reason, Max happily accepted the invitation, along with a steaming bowl of stew.
“How you holding up?” he asked Valentine as a woman bandaged her freshly set arm.
“Like I ran over a wormhead and shot off a Ski-Doo at forty miles an hour,” said Valentine.
“You did great,” said Max, looking from her to John. “Both of you.”
John shook his head. “Does it even matter? You saw that queen. How many of those bitches are out there?”
Max had been wondering the same thing, and though he didn’t know the answer, he knew it wasn’t a good one.
“Not to mention those friggin’ wormheads,” said Valentine. “If the queens keep laying eggs like that, we’re all screwed. And not just us, the entire world.”
“I think the world was screwed as of Saturday night,” said Max. He meant it as a joke, albeit a bad one.
It got no laughs.
“Seriously, Max, what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know, Val. If we can get to Fort Drum, then we’ve got a shot at least.”
“Not us,” she said. “Humans.”
Max let out a slow sigh. “I don’t know. Let’s take it one day at a time. Alright, kiddo?”
She nodded, wiping her eyes and suddenly laughing. “I’m fucking falling apart. Look at me.”
“No shame in that,” said Max. “Eat some food and get some rest. You’ll feel better in the morning, I guarantee it.”
He told John and Valentine that he needed some air, but in truth, he was beginning to feel like he was losing his shit as well. He found Rory standing in the falling snow and wiped his eyes, cursing to himself.
Rory held up a cigarette without looking back, and Max happily took it. The young warrior extended a lit Zippo, and Max offered his thanks. He took a drag and blew it out through his nose, enjoying the way it burned.
“I’m sorry about your fallen brothers and sisters,” Max said, knowing that if he glanced over at Rory, he would see tears dancing in the man’s eyes.
“Me too,” Rory whispered.
They stood there in the falling snow and smoked in silence. The quiet was unsettling. There were no distant growls, no snarls or howls, no screams of the dying. Only the wind made a sound, sending the steadily falling snow swirling erratically here and there.
At length, Rory cleared his throat and spoke. “Mother Laughing says that there is yet hope.”
Max finally glanced over, and Rory’s eyes were dry.
“Hope for who?”
“All of us. But she says that we must leave our home.”
“I was thinking the same thing. I know this is your land, but if there are as many queens out there as I think there are, the whole country is going to be overrun by wormheads in less than a week. You and the others should come with us to Fort Drum. They have secure vaults and shit. You know, doomsday bunkers.”
“I didn’t mean we Mohawks would have to leave our homes,” said Rory, meeting Max’s gaze. “I meant humans.”
“Leave our home? What, leave the planet? Mother Laughing said that?”
Rory nodded.
Max gave a quick laugh that surprised even him. “Sorry, friend, but we don’t have that kind of technology yet. I mean, we’ve been to the moon, but sending a large number of people into space? Out of the question. Shit, man, where would we go anyway?”
“Mother says that humans live on other planets. Says we must find them.”
“Tell you wh
at, Rory. I think I’d like some of whatever your Mother Laughing is smoking. Nah, the only way off this planet is dead. But hey, nobody gets out of here alive anyway, right?”
“I believe what Mother says is true,” said Rory, squaring on him. “That is why I have decided that we will go with you to Fort Drum.”
“Whatever the reason, brother, I’m glad you’ve decided to come. I mean, hey, we all might be able to live long happy lives underground. Maybe we’ll become like mole people.”
“Mole people?” Rory shook his head and flicked his cigarette into the snowbank. “That’s a little out there, don’t you think?”
“Hah! Coming from the guy who believes Mother Laughing’s going to be an astronaut?”
Rory shrugged and opened the door. “Stranger things have happened.” He went inside, and Max laughed to himself and stared out at the falling snow. It glowed bright in the floodlights.
Max thought of Piper then, wondering where she was, what she was doing, and if she was being treated well by the army. If he hadn’t run into Pike, he would be with her now.
A scream echoed in the distance, miles away, and Max recognized it as the cry of a queen.
He took a final drag of his cigarette, too tired to be afraid, and went back into the police station to sleep. Tomorrow he would see Piper, and sleep was the fastest way to get to that moment.
Continues in the next volume:
The Doomsday Sheriff Day 3
8-16-18
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Doomsday Sheriff_Day 2_A Post-Apocalyptic Zombie Adventure Page 8
