by Greig Beck
One after the other, his HAWCs called back to him – all of them alive. Good. He could see that some shook heads and tested shoulders, and he knew that was as close as any would come to admitting to having injuries.
“Weapons check.” Alex saw a prone figure in a NASA suit and quickly crossed to them. He rolled the body over and Russell screamed and held hands up over his visor.
“It’s okay, you’re safe.” He pulled the man up. “Where’s Anne?” He looked around. “And Morag?”
Russell shook his head, looking sheepish. “I don’t know. I got hit and went down. That’s all I remember. Sorry.”
“Okay.” Alex understood. He and his HAWCs were warriors, designed for fighting, but not Russell. He spun back to his team.
His HAWCs held broken weapons. Sam held up his and looked at the heavy casing. “They targeted these. Busted all of them. Seems they did what they came to do – disarm us.”
“That’s not all,” Alex growled. “Spread out; we got missing people. Find me a trail.”
It didn’t take long for the remains of his team to come back in.
“Grounds all chopped up close in, but no trail further out.” Sam shrugged. “Or if there was that damned slime has closed over it already.”
Alex exhaled hard through his nose. “So, they didn’t just come to disarm us. They came for the women.” He checked the timer counting down on his arm. “We got no time for this shit.” Alex walked a few paces away, and stopped to stare out into the wall of cloud that seemed calm now, as though sated after swallowing Morag and Anne.
He knew he couldn’t leave the women. He also knew he couldn’t lead his HAWCs back in for a rescue, as they’d never make it out before the detonation caught them. He turned to look at his remaining team – they were tired. Anyone he took with him would be as good as dead.
Alex decided. “Sam, you’re in charge, head for the rendezvous point. I’ll get the women.”
“I’ve got your back, boss,” Casey said.
“Not this time,” Alex told her. “I need to travel light and fast. You all need to get to the rendezvous point, and get Mister Burrows and yourselves out.”
She started to disagree, but he held up a hand. “You know you can’t keep up with me, and I can lower my heart rate and oxygen consumption. You can’t.” He placed his hand on her heavily muscled shoulder. “I’m betting you’re going to be fighting tooth and nail to get there; you need to be in that fight, Lieutenant Franks. Clear a path; I’ll be needing it later.”
Her jaw jutted. Sam Reid stepped closer. “The fight’s going to be with you, boss. And you know I can keep up.”
I’m wasting time. “Listen up, people. When I get back with Morag and Anne, you all better be up at that rendezvous point, clear?”
Sam growled deep in his chest and Casey’s fists were still balled.
“Am I clear?” Alex lunged forward shouting.
“HUA.”
Alex nodded. There were no more words. He turned and vanished into the roiling fog.
* * *
Morag and Anne were thrown into the back of the downed space shuttle like sacks of sand. They immediately scrambled away from the Morg creatures to huddle against the wall, trying to make themselves as small as possible.
The hulking creatures were bulging with lumped muscle and strange growths that looked like coral and sea anemones. One of them went and stood before the fragment of meteorite. But then it stopped and just seemed to lean forward to stare and inhale the gases coming off it and take them deep into its lungs.
There were three of the Morg crowded into the bay area of the Orlando, and she heard one or more moving around outside – perhaps the Russians now joining with them. Alex Hunter had been right, this was obviously their home, or nest, or hive, for whatever these things had become. Some still had the remnants of clothing hanging from their bodies.
They had brought one of the HAWC guns, but had discarded it once they returned, as it seemed the strange rock with glowing interior was all that mattered to them.
They ignored the RG3 completely, and Morag mentally calculated how easy it would be to grab. The creative side of her brain conjured up images of her diving, snatching the weapon up, and blowing dinner-plate sized holes in the beasts, before grabbing Anne and returning to Alex and his HAWCs as a hero.
But then her logical brain kicked in and stomped all over her daydreams, shouting at her that it would be impossible, suicide, and worse, it’d probably mean something horrendous like being eaten alive.
She sat for a minute more, but then began to edge forward anyway. After all, since when did reporters do anything that was logical?
Immediately, one of the things swung toward her. She froze. It could have been staring right at her, but it was impossible to tell with those weird glassy eyes that were all black like those of a bug or shark.
She looked hard at it, but couldn’t tell exactly what the things reminded her of, as they were still basically human shaped, in that they had two arms and legs, but their large heads were receding into their shoulders now. This meant the facial features were spread over a much larger area. The original two large, disc-shaped eyes were now central to a ring of smaller eyes that reminded her of a creepy close-up of a spider.
Morag edged back, but the thing still seemed to watch her. She swallowed dryly. Look away, you creep. But she couldn’t look away either – if the obsidian eyes weren’t bad enough, now the nose was also gone, leaving a single hole covered in a small flap, above a mouth that was the real abomination. It was circular hole that puckered together in a tight ring. When opened the mouth telescoped outward on a cartilage scaffolding, and showed a red, circular gullet ringed all the way down with needle-like teeth. It was the mouth of a deep-sea creature, not a human being or anything else that walked on Earth’s surface.
At last it turned back to the asteroid fragment, and Morag carefully raised herself up to see better. Inside the long shard of glittering rock, she could just make out something glistening purple that throbbed like a muscle or an exposed organ. She lowered herself and snuggled in tight to Anne.
“Listen, we need to get the hell out of here.”
Anne seemed transfixed by the creatures and didn’t appear to hear her. Morag nudged her.
“Hey.”
“Wha …?” Anne’s eyes were wide, but she seemed more spellbound than frightened.
“I said, we need to get out of here. Now.” Morag shifted closer to the NASA scientist and felt things crunch underneath her.
“Yes, I heard,” Anne hissed back, and pulled away from her. “I still think we should try to communicate with them.”
“What?” Morag grabbed her arm and tugged. “Look down – see what we’re sitting on? Fucking piles of bones. I think this is their kitchen. We’re not here for pleasant conversation, we’re here as food, you fool.”
She shook her head. “No, no, no … not me.”
The woman is an idiot. Morag looked toward the opening in the side of the bay area; the creatures had jammed the makeshift door back in place, and she could just glimpse the darkening mist that led to the outside.
Even that tiny crack gave her hope. She felt around beneath her and then grabbed what she at first thought was a stick, but turned out to be a long bone – possibly human. It was a pitiful weapon against the monstrous creatures.
Anne suddenly got to her knees. “Don’t worry, they don’t want to kill us. I know it now.”
“What? How do you know?” Morag’s brows snapped together as Anne then started to push to her feet. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I think they may just want us … for mating.” Anne’s eyes were glassy and fixed on just one of the huge beings.
Mating. Morag felt her stomach flip at the thought. “I’ll fucking die first.” She lunged at Anne, but the woman was already moving away.
Panic welled in Morag’s chest and her head snapped toward the door again. There were shadows passing by outside. It was
then she knew her fate was sealed – even if she somehow managed to get past the creatures inside the shuttle, somehow found a way to dislodge the heavy door, and then somehow made a run for it, there’d be even more monstrosities waiting for her outside.
Don’t think you’re going to be able to gab your way out of this one, girl. She gripped the length of bone even harder.
“Mitch?” Anne shuffled a few more steps toward the three beings. “It’s me, Anne.”
Her eyes were glazed, but a watery smile touched her lips behind her facemask. “I came, Mitch. To find you.” She stepped closer and held up her arms. “I know you recognized me out there, before.” She opened her arms wide. “Mitch, darling, I can help you.”
“Mitch?” Morag swung to look at the monstrosity. She was horrified to think that this thing might have once been the human astronaut with the matinee-idol looks she had seen smiling back at her from the NASA publicity shots. And worse, was Anne’s fiancé. One thing she knew without doubt; it sure as hell wasn’t that guy now.
“Get back here, you idiot. That’s not Mitch anymore,” Morag insisted.
It was then all three of the Morg turned to the women. They were so big now they had to hunch beneath the eight-foot tall roof. The one closest to them still had the vestiges of an orange suit stretched over one shoulder and hanging around its knees. Its skin looked plated into insect-like segments, and pencil-thick hairs poked stiffly from its shell-like skin.
The closest Morg leaned its neckless head toward Anne, and she held her arms out wide, her face beaming.
“Yes, that’s right, it’s me. I said I’d always be here for you. I love you.”
The thing just stared with its multiple black eyes, its mouthparts moving feverishly. Anne looked over her shoulder to Morag. “You see, I told you we had nothing to fear.” She turned back. “They’re just as confused about what’s happened as we are.”
The creature almost lovingly held out one hand that had only three thick fingers, all ending in cruel, dark talons. It grasped her upper arm, and pulled her toward it. The others stood and watched.
“Yes, yes, it’s me, Mitch.” Anne grinned madly. Her eyes were almost luminous now.
The creature reached up to grab the top of her head, and then tore her environmental protection hood free, taking some of her hair with it. Anne yelped.
“No!” Morag yelled, grinding her teeth. She held up the long bone, but knew she’d never have the courage to attack.
Anne just stood there as the thing let the hood fall to the ground, and she coughed and held a hand over her mouth. Her eyelids fluttered as if she was going to pass out, but after another moment, her jaw set and she lowered her hand.
“I’m ready, Mitch.”
She waited in its grip, eyes streaming and face red from trying to breathe the foul spore-gas surrounding her, and undoubtedly mixed with the smell of rotting meat and the odors of the things themselves.
The creature craned forward, seeming to examine the woman. Morag felt her sanity stretching – should she try to save Anne, or make a break while they were distracted? It was an easy decision – there was no way she could save Anne, who might even fight her if she tried. The NASA woman had made her choice; she would too – it was time to beat it. She began to creep toward the door.
“See, I knew it.” Anne spoke over her shoulder. “It’s going to be okay; we’ll be safe with them. In fact, better than safe. I think they want to mate with us; start a whole new race. It won’t be so bad.” She grinned like a lunatic at the monstrosity. “We’ll be like their queens.”
Morag shuddered and inched a little more toward the door, but couldn’t drag her eyes away from the abomination and his willing disciple.
The thing that had been Mitch had Anne by the neck and dragged her toward the meteorite fragment, and bent her over it. Anne struggled, grimacing, her eyes screwed from the pain of the Mitch-thing’s grip. But then they widened as she stared down into the split in the rock as she fully beheld what was inside for the first time.
“There’s something …”
Thin tendrils burst forth, wrapping around her head and neck and spearing into her flesh. Anne’s mouth opened wide in a silent scream, but no sound could come as the sticky-looking ropes entered her mouth, eyes, and nose.
The Mitch thing let her go and stood watching as her small body bucked and jumped. Strange lumps and protrusions were beginning to form all over Anne. Her hair slid off her head in clumps.
Morag whimpered and refused to look anymore – the sounds spilling from the miserable woman were making her light-headed from terror.
Odd noises began to emanate from Anne – pops, squeaks, and sounds like wet tearing. Morag felt her head turning back as if it had a will of its own. Anne’s suit material rumpled and danced in an unnatural, boneless way as if it was flapping in a strong breeze.
Then, to Morag’s horror, Anne’s HAZMAT suit collapsed, as the tendrils burst from her sleeves and feet, shredding the material. The spore gas leaked out, the slime plopping to the ground. Her empty suit followed, and then Anne was just … gone.
I’ll be next. A wave of panic passed over Morag that was almost debilitating in its severity. She knew then that her choices were simple: make a break and probably die on her feet, or end up like Anne – absorbed, consumed, or whatever had just happened.
Fucking fuck that. Morag stayed low in the gloom of the shuttle-bay area, scrabbling through the putrid mess until she got to the door. She jammed hands in on either side of the panel wedged there and tried to lever it apart – it didn’t even budge by a hair’s breadth. She tried again, straining until she felt something pop in her shoulders. Still the door didn’t move.
“Please, please, come on.” She regripped the steel, focused and strained with every atom of strength she had left in her body.
A hand with three stubby fingers slammed down on her shoulder, piercing her flesh and then dragging her backwards.
CHAPTER 38
Alex ran hard, dodging around huge columns of slime that he was sure leaned toward him as he sprinted past. Things threshed inside them and squirmed under his boots, making it feel like he was in some sort of swampy miasma. Many times fist-sized bugs, or whatever they were, slammed into him and stuck; he pulled them away, crushing them and flinging them to the side as they tried uselessly to burrow into him.
Alex slowed as something out in the weird speckled fug thumped down heavily making the ground jump as if a building fell. He continued to watch in the direction he thought it had come for several moments. Hope you stay far away, big fella, whatever the hell you are. He waited a few more seconds for the sound to repeat, and when it didn’t, he lowered his head and powered hard once again toward the Orlando.
Our own personal Doomsday Clock is counting down, and we have just hours remaining. In that time, he had to find the two women, snatch them away from the Morg, make it back to the crater wall, scale it and find shelter from the heat and blast force before the detonation turned the entire mountaintop basin into a temporary volcano – doable, provided everything happened to plan.
Like that ever happened. Alex half grinned at the thought. He ran harder – he needed more time.
The mist was becoming thicker, and he had to rely less on his vision as he did on his other senses. But inside the crater, the weird buzzing that was continually working within his head obscured everything. The only thing that told him he was heading in the right direction was the buzzing – it got louder when he headed one way, more than others.
Alex leaped between two mucus-covered stumps and found himself right in the middle of a bunch of creatures that had a plate of chitin on their heads, but the rest of their bodies were little more than lumpy sacks.
The closest one to him shot out a long pipe that extended from its head, with a sucker around what had to be its mouth. They must have all been delighted by Alex’s sudden appearance, and they all crowded forward, blocking his way.
Alex backed up
a step, wondering exactly what the things had been before their DNA had been distorted by the mix of gases in the crater. Once again, the suckered pipe shot out, trying to stick to him.
No time for this crap. The long pipes shot out again and again, trying to sucker onto him. But the next time one tried, he caught it and held on. The thing lunged, and he met the rush head-on, driving one armor-plated fist deep into the chitin plate on top of its head.
There was a solid crunch, and his fist sunk in to the elbow. He drew it out, and kicked the disgusting bag of flesh toward the others.
“Eat that.”
They did. Diving at the free meal, their pipes extended to stick onto the leaking meat bag. Alex grimaced as he saw the dead creature immediately begin to deflate as its fluids were sucked out.
While they were occupied, he darted around them and ran on.
* * *
Casey Franks led the remaining team back to the mountaintop’s inner wall. They were in a single close line, moving at a jog, following some sort of pathway. Tucked in behind her was Russell Burrows, gasping like a stranded fish, then came Drake Monroe, and Sam Reid brought up the rear.
The senior HAWC could only just make out the outline of Franks up ahead in the thick fog. He turned one way then the other, trying to see and hear everything. They were basically retracing the steps from their arrival, but back then where they had encountered a hazy field of sludge with the occasional mound of rock or tree stump-like growth. Now it was a virtual forest of all manner of alien-looking things.
The weird shit was growing, no doubt, and now Sam wasn’t even sure whether the oddities surrounding them were animal, vegetable, or none of the above. And he hated every atom of them, especially as for defense all the HAWCs had left were their wits and a few remaining knives.
The big man could feel eyes on them. Things watched them, scuttled away to avoid being seen and, he was damn sure, followed them.
