Afraid of the Dark

by Chris Hechtl

  “Good to know,” he said.

  “It means if they can do it right they would be invisible to each other. But they can't quite pull it off. It's…” she thought and ran her hand through her hair. “It's like camouflage for us.”

  “Okay...”

  “It means that they see in a different part of the electromagnetic spectrum than we do. We see the middle area,” she used her hands to portion off an imaginary line then moved them to the left. “They see in the lower bands, the infrared. Some Terran animals like snakes do that.”

  “Okay...”

  “The other area is ultraviolet but that's not used by either of us. That explains it. I wonder if that's why they can see soldiers in camo suits?” she asked wrinkling her pert nose. “Aren't they supposed to dampen the heat signature?”

  “Um...” he shook his head and sighed in exasperation. “You lost me again.”

  “Camouflage suits. The military wears them. I was talking to the military crew we've got. Private Hernandez, Ross, and the others. They told me the BDUs they wear dampen but don't eliminate their infrared signature.”

  “Okay... I know dear, marine remember?” he tried hard not to roll his eyes. She had thrown him for a moment with that whole camo suit comment. “Following you so far...”

  “I asked, what about telling people apart. Ross said something about IFF whatever that is and Hernandez explained that they have markings on their uniforms that only show up under certain bands of infrared light.”

  He nodded. “So...”

  She shook him firmly. “So dummy, the aliens use the infrared band. I'm betting their vision is mostly in the infrared with only a bit in the normal range. Maybe one set of eyes, the big set is infrared and the other is normal?” she mused rubbing her chin.

  “Um...”

  “So if they are marked in infrared and the aliens can see infrared they stand out,” Private Hernandez said coming up behind them. He rubbed his bandaged forehead. “That explains a lot actually,” he said. He'd taken a team out hunting during the night and had barely made it back alive. Shane wasn't sure if he should strangle the guy or what.

  “Right,” Jen said with a firm nod. Her eyes went wide again. “We need to alert someone to this. They need to know that their people stand out like sore thumbs to these things.”

  “Crap,” Hernandez breathed softly. “All right I'm with you. We'll check with that guy Gabriel, maybe he's got a CB set up that can punch a strong enough signal out. If not maybe he can daisy chain it to the FEMA people on the ham net and they can get it into the right hands...”

  “Crap,” she said grimacing they walked off.

  “Ah, nice talking with you,” Shane said in amusement, waving a hand. He shook his head in wonder. His wife surprised him all the time.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  He drove down Fredrick and spotted bushes rustling as herbivores tore at them. Suddenly a Gremlin came out and hissed. The animals back away. It shielded its face from the light, hissing and clawing at the sun and then moved to a new thicket. He slowed and then stopped the car to watch. The thing had an armored back with spines and crests. It was blackish purple, with a reddish yellow belly.

  It belly crawled across the pavement, snaking its head back and forth and making a low sibilant growl. It paused and then crawled under the bush nearby. After a moment there was a rustle and then a great deal of hissing and squalling. The bushes shook for a few minutes as the caterwauling continued. A minute later two red Creeplings were practically thrown out. Each was half the size of the Gremlin. They hissed at the sun as well, ducking their heads and placing their hands over their eyes. After a moment they turned so their back was to the sun and then headed for a thick pine tree a few feet away. They scuttled up it fast and then hid in the branches.

  The red Creeplings had sails going from their wrists to their ankles. A long spike like limb came out of their rib cage and seemed to act as some sort of strut for the wing. They couldn't fly, but he'd heard that the damn things could glide.

  “Well, don't see that every day, he said after a moment, craning his neck over the dash to try to see them. He couldn't see... no check that; he could just make them out. They were hanging upside down facing away from the sun with their arms over their faces. Like bats. Just like bats. “Dan, get the camera. Jen's going to kill me because I forgot to film that. Robby, take notes,” he said getting out.

  “Boss what are you doing?” Robby asked as he got out as well.

  “Hunting,” Shane said, pulling out the shot gun and then going to the back. He took out the chainsaw and smiled.

  “Dude, not a good idea,” Dan said, but he had the camera out and was filming the area.

  “You got a better one?” he asked.

  “Um...”

  “That's what I thought,” Shane said shouldering the saw. Robby followed him, carrying a spiked metal bat and a long wicked sword. “You know how to use that kid?” he asked, setting the saw down near the curb. The thicket and tree were right up against a wall so there was nowhere the aliens could retreat too. The wall zigzagged out on the left side so they were effectively trapped. At least the Gremlin was. The ones up in the tree could glide out.

  “Yeah man, but Dan's right, not good. We're cutting off their retreat. Cornered animals aren't sane man,” Robby said shaking his head. Shane glanced at him. “My grandad told me,” he said.

  “Ah,” Shane said. “I learned it from a Tom and Jerry episode myself. Well, we'll see shall we?” he asked. He pulled a fire cracker from his vest pocket, lit it with a lighter and then tossed it into the thick bush. After a second it popped. The bush rustled and the Gremlin rolled out, snarling. It shook itself and then snarled at the sun and then the intruding humans. It tensed and then charged.

  He fired once when it was six feet away. The buckshot slapped it to the ground and it snarled once more, this one sounding like pain. He fired a second shot as it got up, catching it and rolling it. It covered its face with its forearms, kicking its back legs.

  “Let me see that,” Shane said, taking the bat. He went over and slammed it into the alien's head. It growled and grabbed the bat. One good yank and it was out of his hands. He let it go; otherwise it would have pulled him off his feet. Damn the thing was strong!

  “I got it,” Robby said, tossing him the sword and picking up the chain saw. He yanked the cord and it roared to life.

  Alien animals around the area looked up and then moved off. The Gremlin turned to look at him. It snarled at the young man. He hesitated, just long enough to lock eyes with the thing.

  “Damn but its ugly,” he muttered. Shane wasn't listening. The moment the thing's attention turned away he lunged forward and stabbed down. The sword almost rebounded off the tough leathery hide. It slid lower to the crotch. The animal realized the danger and reached for it, letting go of the bat. Danny lunged in at the distraction and cut down with the saw.

  The animal looked up and screamed as the saw came down, cutting into its throat. It thrashed violently, arms and legs kicking and thrashing. Both men looked away as blue ichor and yellow tissue sprayed.

  Dan felt the saw buck and he stopped. He looked down. “We'll, its dead,” he said. “Trophy?” he asked, spitting goo. “Damn man, taste's terrible,” he said spitting over and over and then wiping his mouth with the clean part of his sleeve.

  “And it stinks,” Shane said, spitting himself. He was already formulating a better plan to kill the things. A pike or pitch fork... Trident maybe. He looked at the tree. “One down, two to go. I think though to do that right we'd need to net the tree,” he said. Red eyes glowered at him, apparently the two hadn't missed the show. “And I think they know what's coming,” he said.

  Sure enough just as Dan and Robby looked up the tree rustled and then the Creeplings took flight. They screeched, flying away from the sun to a palm thirty feet away on the other side of the wall. They hit the trunk spreadeagled, skittered down until their claws caught and then started to
climb. In moments they were up among the fronds and out of immediate danger.

  “Boss, uh...” Robby said uncertainly.

  “No, we're not following. I'd like to, don't get me wrong. But no, these got away,” he said. He looked at the Gremlin and then knelt. Carefully he used the sword to prod its various parts, studying it. Some of it was bubbling. It stank to high heaven.

  It was built a bit like a chimp, but wiry thin and its back was covered in scales, downward facing spikes, and crests running down either side of its spine. It had horns, and a thick leather hide over parts of its body that needed to be flexible. The back was a purple fringed with yellow, with tiger stripes of red and yellow going to a yellowish underbelly. He pulled a lip open. It had shark like teeth, rows of them. Nasty. From the look of it, this one had recently eaten a dog. Fur was stuck in between some of the teeth.

  The arms and legs were actually proportional to the body, not like a chimp or gorilla. It had two fingers and an opposing thumb. The digits were long, and clawed. The claws were permanently out and black. It had torn bat ears, an engorged forehead melon and spines running down its back. Under each armpit a short spike stuck out. He used the sword tip to touch the spines on the back of the head. It was pointed down. There were two, but the other was snapped off. He pulled at one and it lifted. A skin sail was attached to it, with more spines. The skin was a bluish yellow. He let it go and it dropped back down slowly.

  The face... god the face. Like the horror creature from the movies and yet unlike it. Pointed shark teeth for one, rows and rows of them going back in the mouth. Something he really didn't want to dwell on. A thin, red tongue. Four eyes, two large ones facing forward, a reddish gold. A smaller eye was above the larger, most likely dominant eye. It was facing to the sides and had a thin horizontal slash of a pupil. There was a milky set of eyelids over the cornea. The eyes were slitted like a cat's.

  The thing had a single set of nostrils, right on the muzzle where he'd expect them to be. Bat like, wide. Broad lips streaked in yellow with a lot of saliva.

  The tail was something he hadn't expected. The tip was split. The entire spine was covered in either folding spines or bone spines that stuck out. There was armor plate on the shoulders, knees, forearms, thighs... the damn thing was an armored killing machine.

  “Boss you think we should get moving?” Dan called from the truck. He looked up and nodded. “Get the tarp,” he ordered.

  “The tarp? Boss seriously?” the guy asked. “In the truck man? I can smell that thing from way over here!” he said.

  “Roof rack then,” Shane said getting up. “You bag it. We're going to look around.” He took out his shot gun and reloaded it. Something told him it was a good idea. He'd have to make sure people remembered to reload after each fight. Just in case.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  “What do you want me to do with this?” Jayne asked waving her hand in front of her nose as she pointed to the body. He glanced at it and then to the crew on a cherry picker covering the lights in fencing. Even the poles were being secured with improvised fencing and wire. Good. He turned back to Jayne. She had her short snub nose wrinkled for all it was worth.

  “Get Jen and anyone who knows a little about animals. A vet if we've got one handy. Have them take a look. Dissect it. Make sure they film it,” he said. Dan held up a sim card. “Dan's got some footage. A kid named Wes does too. Tell Jen I want a necropsy on this thing when she has time. Compare her first hand observations to what Gabe got from the UCR reports. We need intel on the enemy,” he said. “So does the world, find someone to find a way to get the information out too.”

  “Um... sure,” she said looking at the others. “Right after you take a shower,” she said waving her hand in front of her face.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Like we have one,” he snorted.

  “Hose,” she said pointing to the side of the building. He nodded. “Works I guess,” he said. He waved to Wes and Dan. “Come on, let's go get washed up. You two can go eat, I'm going to go check in with the others,” he said. The two nodded and rushed for the hose. He shook his head and took a more sedate pace.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  He checked in at the Lowes shopping complex around three. Art and another manager of one of the other stores was in charge. It was a choreographed routine now; material not needed immediately was being hauled out of the stores and put along the perimeter. Most if not all of the food was already transferred. They were focusing on other things now. “Get that damn flat of pots out of the way,” Ross said angrily, pointing to an area along the perimeter. “Damn it priorities people!” he snarled. Shane shook his head and moved onto the next site.

  The Target/Wal-Mart campuses were about as busy. Again, most of the food and weapons had been moved the first day. Teams were cleaning out the restaurants. A few had run into trouble. There were a few alien carcasses. One guy was dragging a big one off to the curb out of the way. He went over to him and lent a hand.

  “Damn things,” the man grunted as they heaved. He was panting. There was a stream of blue blood behind them, where they had been dragging the animal. “They don't know to get out of the way,” the man said.

  “Road kill,” Shane said.

  “Yeah, stink like a skunk man. I need a shower,” the man said wiping his brow with the back of his hand. His fingers were dripping blue ichor.

  “Grab a hose and clean up. Careful in the restrooms, have someone watch your six just in case anything's in there. I'll see if we can get Bob to set up some community showers or something at the mall,” Shane said.

  “You're the boss man right?” the guy asked as they heaved the thing off the curb and down into the embankment.

  “Yeah, Shane O'Neill,” Shane said with a nod.

  “Don't you have anything better to be doing?” he asked. “Not that I don't appreciate the help though,” he said hastily.

  Shane snorted. “I'm just helping a friend,” he said. He nodded. “I've got to check into all the sites then back to the mall. Keep plugging,” he said slapping the guy on the shoulder.

  “You too,” the man said moving off to get back to work. Shane watched him go and then turned to the group. Sheila, one of Jayne's protégés was handling this and doing a good job. She had a couple of people with her who were doing okay.

  “Boss?” he turned to see Jayne there. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “I could ask you the same thing,” he said. “I checked Costco, Lowes, and Winco, and I'm working my way through the area before I check the other end of town,” he said.

  “Ah,” Jayne said with a nod. “Sheila's doing okay?” she asked.

  “Looks that way. I think we need to post some guards for each group though, just in case,” he said. “And have a couple go in armed before the harvesters do so every morning.”

  “Really?” she asked.

  “Its not going to be too much longer before we start having issues. I'd like to nip it in the bud if at all possible,” he said.

  “Ah,” she said with a nod and made a notation on her tablet. “Okay, got it. I'll bring it up at the next meeting,” she said with a nod, not looking up.

  “Art's crew has a good security set up. You may want to model it after that. Or Ross and Leon over at Costco. I think Ross set Art's up before moving on. He's more focused on security over materials though.”

  “Yeah I noticed that,” she said grimacing a little. She was going to bring that up. Ross's crew was hesitant, clearing an area multiple times before moving on. They would also just stand around and gawk and not chip in when the loading needed to be done.

  “Any more help come in?” he asked. She glanced at him. “I mean mall people. Anyone we know?”

  “A couple of old hands managed to straggle in yesterday and this morning. One girl worked at the Cinnabon years ago. I stuck her and a couple of newbie’s to hold down the fort there. Hopefully they aren't slacking off.”

  “Jen'll keep an eye on them,” he s
aid.

  “If she doesn't get distracted by the kids or the animals, or researching the aliens. We got a biologist in from the UCR area early this afternoon. Headed up the 60 on a moped of all things.”

  “It was the only way to get through the gridlock of abandoned cars,” Sheila said with a shrug.

  “Whatever works,” Shane said with a nod.

  “He said the campus is overrun with animals. His lab was invaded. He locked himself in a specimen vault and nearly froze to death. When he came out there wasn't anyone else around so he took off.”

  “Why here and not elsewhere?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “I think he figured the major cities will be mad houses. It figures, when civilization breaks, people go nuts and then head for the hills.”

  “Or the suburbs,” he said with a nod. “Great, more things to worry about,” he said.

  “What?” she asked looking at him. He grimaced, shifting his rear and checking the area.

  “I'm talking about raiders Jayne,” he said quietly, making sure no one was near. Her eyes widened a little. He nodded. “Yes. Bill, Wayne and I are worried about it. When civilization breaks down people band together into gangs. Some of those gangs go a Viking, killing and stealing.”

  “We're not exactly innocent of the stealing part,” she said indicating the effort around them.

  His lips puckered in a tight lipped smile. “You've got me there. Anyone who objects can submit a bill. We'll sort it out later. But we're not going to kill for food or ammo. I'm setting the tone that anyone can join as long as they are willing to work. We're going to have our hands full.”

  “Yeah with people trying to get out of working,” she said.

  “I'd rather have them underfoot and bellyaching and malingering than out there hiding and preying on our people or others,” he said.

  She shivered a little. “I've seen Mad Max and other movies. No thank you. I get your point,” she said with a nod. “I'm going to do another census tonight if we're not whipped like last night.”

  “Get Bob and a team to sort out the bathing situation. We're going to need showers,” he said.