Spores

by Ian Woodhead

  “What are you doing?”

  The Sergeant just hoped that the knowledge he’d gained wasn’t going to kill him. He watched three oily, black flexible pipes emerge from under the creature’s base and slither toward the shirt; as it sensed the blood soaked into the material, it let out a deep moan.

  “Jesus Fucking Christ!” exclaimed Tyler. “What’s it doing that for?”

  Jackson removed his secret smile before he turned to the Major. He made sure that the man couldn’t see the shirt.

  “We need to find that technician, Sir. The slimy fucker has lost it. When I came in here, he was talking to this monstrosity as if it was a baby. When he saw me, he fled.”

  Jackson moved to one side, Tyler’s eyes widened.

  “I believe he’s been feeding human subjects to this thing. Two of my men have been reported missing in the last hour.”

  He watched Tyler approach the cage, “It’s okay Sir, it’s quite docile at the moment. To prove his point, Jackson grabbed hold of the bars. He gazed into the creature’s black eyes, hoping to fuck that this bastard would sense Jackson’s intent. The Major joined him by the cage.

  “So this is what they look like up close.” He reached for his pistol. “Let’s see how bullet proof they are.”

  Jackson stood back one pace and waited for the man to have the gun in his hand before he moved; he expected the creature would know what the man had planned for him. Jackson grabbed Tyler’s arms and pushed him against the bars; the man struggled like crazy but Jackson was ready for that, what the Sergeant didn’t expect was for Tyler to ram his head back. He hit Jackson smack in the middle of his forehead, the man let go and fell back. He groaned and shook his head to clear the dizziness.

  “I’m going to gut you for that, you fucker.”

  Despite having trouble focussing, he rushed forward then stopped dead when he heard the other man cry out in agony. Jackson’s vision came back and what he saw almost made him throw up. The creature had pushed out dozens more of those pipes from under its base. Each one was wrapped around the Major’s struggling body, he gazed in horror as they forced Tyler’s body through one of the gaps.

  As the creature bent over the mutilated corpse, it abruptly pressed its head against the bars, it looked at the Sergeant then slowly winked. Jackson whimpered before fleeing.

  Chapter Nine

  Miles crouched behind a cardboard display and peeked around the edge; he watched the furry horde of sharp teeth, pincers and spikes scurry past the bookshop.

  “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” he muttered. “What the fuck are those things?”

  He took a deep breath before standing up. He couldn’t believe just how close he’d just come to being pulled apart by that lot. He knew what Edgar had told him; that the smaller animals like rats and cats had been changed, hell he’d even seen one of them up close and personal but he never in his life realised that there would be so fucking many.

  “You’re never more than six feet away from a rat,” he murmured. Who had said that to him now? Then it clicked. A couple of years ago, the biscuit factory where he worked had called in pest control due to three pigeons roosting inside the ceiling. He remembered sitting down in the canteen with one of the men who took great delight in recounting his past work related experiences as Miles attempted to eat his cottage pie.

  For the first time today, he wondered if trying to save Amber really was such a good idea after all. He got to his feet and walked further into the bookshop and away from that broken window. From what Edgar had said, the chances of the woman still being alive were very slim and growing slimmer as each minute passed. Would it not be best if Miles just forgot about the Institute and made his way out into the country?

  He ducked down again when a huge shadow passed in front of the window; that was one of those big bastards out there. Was it tracking him, did that thing know he was inside here? According to what Edgar had said, they could track each and every remaining human so the prospect of getting to safety now seemed more appealing than ever. If they did have their own version of sat-nav what chance did he have of staying alive for more than a few hours?

  Miles stuck his thumb into his mouth and bit down; the self-inflicted pain helped him to plough through the self-pity that stuck to his psyche like wet shit to a blanket. He refused to believe that he had seriously considered leaving her in there. He didn’t know she had perished and should know better than to make such an assumption.

  Amber was the only person left in his life who cared about him and if he chucked her on the scrap heap then he may as well end it here and now.

  “Well done,” he muttered, “an excellent speech now, tell me how you’re going to find the Institute.”

  Miles stood up; he brushed himself down then smiled. “Fuck off, self-doubt. You ain’t going to get your own back that way. I’m in a bookshop, you fool.”

  He took one more glance toward the window then padded over to the map section; there were bound to be some city maps over there. Miles walked past the History and Science section and stopped by Film and Music. He sighed; one quick look wouldn’t hurt. He’d spent many hours searching through movie books researching film stars and looking for obscure films, that had been way before he’d discovered the internet. Miles picked out one particular book he remembered buying nearly a decade ago. The action movie reference bible was renowned for classifying every movie from every country spanning back to the 20’s; he must have read his own copy from cover to cover at least twice, it made fascinating reading. This was the updated version, and the last ever version to come out now.

  Miles was about to flick to the last few entries when his eyes caught a flash of blue and green just by his foot, he assumed it must have been a dropped book until from the corner of his eye, he saw it move.

  He jumped back and his eyes darted down. The same type of abomination that had taken a chunk out of Edgar’s leg stared back at him. Miles gasped and threw the book at it. He didn’t stay around to see if he’d hit it, he spun around and raced for the stairs at the back of the shop. Oh shit; he then remembered that he’d left the gun in that record shop, how stupid was that? He could have dropped that thing with one shot.

  “And you’d have brought the rest of them in here with the noise.”

  The book hadn’t stopped it, he heard its claws clacking against the wooden floor. The sign beside him told Miles that there was a coffee shop on the top floor. If it managed to follow him up the stairs, he’d make his last stand behind the counter, hopefully with a nice big knife at his disposal.

  Miles took the stairs two at a time when he reached the next floor, he looked behind him, stairs weren’t stopping it and to make matters worse, another one had joined it, this one though made the abomination look like a cuddly teddy.

  “Oh fuck. I’m dead.”

  This one resembled a bright blue-segmented worm covered in thick plates of armour. To make matters worse, if that was even possible, hooks and claws protruded from its front. This nightmarish construct looked like it had escaped from the imagination of a fucking lunatic. It was the size of it that sent his mind spinning; it must have been as big as him. Miles turned back around and raced through the Fiction section, painfully aware that they were gaining on him.

  Somehow, alerting all the other monsters with noise from his shotgun didn’t seem so important now.

  “I should have kept it,”

  Miles changed direction and headed away from the next set of stairs; if he did get to the last level, he’d be trapped up there with no way of escaping and from what he’d seen of that other creature, he’d need more than a fucking steak knife to take that thing down. He ran past the Horror section and then skidded to a halt. Bookshops didn’t just sell books anymore. Miles picked up an armful of paperbacks and launched them one by one at the approaching creatures. The assault appeared to confuse them; the armoured creature then reared up and attacked a bookshelf next to it. Miles turned and ran through the Science Fiction section thinking h
ow apt it would be if those things attacked and slaughtered him in amongst all these alien invasion stories.

  He then slowed right down; something had changed, he controlled his heavy breathing and listened.

  “What the hell?”

  They’d just gone, he couldn’t hear nor could he see them. He peered around the bookcase, wondering if the little bastards were attempting to sneak up on him. Miles didn’t see them but he did spot something he wasn’t expecting.

  Sat at a table in front of him was a young man a few years younger than Miles. He had his head buried in what looked like a romance novel. Miles guessed his age to be around nineteen, he was a big lad, his shoulders and arms were huge. It was muscle created by hard, strenuous labour, not gym work.

  The boy slammed the book shut and ran his forefinger down the spine. “Look at what I’ve done,” he exclaimed.

  Miles thought the boy was talking to him until he noticed the boy’s eyes were gazing at the bookcase to the side of Miles.

  “They’ll never be able to sell this now.”

  Miles coughed. The boy screamed and dropped the book on the floor.

  “Sorry,” said Miles. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” He picked the book off the floor and handed it back to the boy. “If it helps, I don’t think anybody would want to buy it anyway.”

  “You shouldn’t be so dismissive,” he replied. “I’m Alistair, by the way.”

  It hadn’t taken the boy long to regain his composure.

  “These silly love stories are really popular, granted, with me being twenty five, I really should be reading war stories or horror books.” Alistair sighed; he opened the book and flicked through the pages. “It’s weird, really. Until all this happened, I was never interested in reading. My deity of pleasure was the soaps on telly.”

  Miles glanced behind him, there was still no sign of those things. He wondered if he ought to leave this guy here and make tracks before those creatures returned. He had no intention of overstaying his welcome. Miles suddenly wondered how this kid had managed to evade the creatures.

  “Look, I’m sorry, I can’t stay. Do you want to come with me?”

  The lad shook his head, “No, sorry I can’t. I’m Alistair by the way. Oh, I’m sorry, I’ve already told you that. I don’t suppose you have any food do you? I can’t remember the last time I ate something…” Alistair furtively glanced around the store. “Something normal.” He whispered.

  Miles shook his head.

  “Oh, that’s a shame. Well is there any chance of you passing me that really thick hardback by your right hand? That should keep me going for at least a week.”

  Miles jumped when something under his table moved. He took a couple of steps forward and crouched down, “what the fuck is that?” he exclaimed.

  Alistair let out a bitter laugh. “I bet it looks really gross now. I stopped looking a few days ago.”

  Thick, black cords of what appeared to be creeper vine had burst through the floor tiles and entwined around both Alistair’s legs and the legs of the table; upon closer inspection, Miles saw hundreds of needle-like spines pushed into the boy’s skin. Around each spine the flesh looked rotten, leprous. Miles turned away and stood up. He felt gorge rising up. What the hell was it? It reminded him of an insect caught in a carnivorous plant.

  “Oh, yeah that,” replied Alistair. “This is mother’s way of punishing me. I put bleach in her tea. I also put wee in and loads of other stuff too. I was supposed to look after her when she was bed-ridden.”

  Miles yelped as the two creatures brushed past him, Jesus, he hadn’t even heard them approach. They took no notice of Miles and jumped on the table. He watched gob smacked as the large creature hopped across the surface, purring.

  Alistair turned to Miles, “Best you don’t watch this. It’s pretty gross.”

  It grabbed Alistair’s face and pulled his mouth down. The creature’s jaw yawned wide and a thick, wet, green pipe slid out and pushed into Alistair’s mouth. Miles watched a bulge appear in the pipe that flowed along the length before stopping at the boy’s mouth. The boy swallowed. It didn’t take him long to realise what was happening, that grotesque thing was feeding the boy like a mother starling fed its chick. By the look of terror and pleading showing in Alistair’s eyes, he wasn’t a willing participant.

  After three more bulges, the creature withdrew its feeder and dropped into Alistair’s lap. Miles could hear it still purring.

  The boy licked his lips then wiped his hand across his chin, removing a dribble of bright pink glutinous fluid. Miles didn’t even want to imagine where that stuff had come from.

  “There’s a fire exit down by the children’s books. Take the stairs to the roof. It’s how I got in here before mother managed to trap me.” He brushed his hand across the thing’s scales then bent down and lifted the other one onto the table.

  “I’ll keep my mother’s sentinels secured whilst you make your escape. Please hurry though, if these do catch you, I’m afraid we’ll be meeting again.” Alistair smiled. “The next time though, this one will be feeding me with you.”

  Miles, nodded and hurried over.

  “Wait a minute!” shouted Alistair, “You still haven’t passed me that book.”

  Miles scooted back, grabbed the hardback and placed it on the table before running toward the Children’s section.

  Chapter Ten

  There is was again! She stopped crawling, sat back on her knees and placed her ear against the cold metal wall. Amber could definitely hear something scraping; the noise was audible even over the constant hum of the generators.

  It reminded her of a swarm of insects, thousands of legs crawling across the floor at high speed. Amber shivered, probably not the best of comparisons to use in her current situation. She noticed a small grille set into the floor, a bit further along the ventilation shaft. Amber slowly crawled towards it, hoping to God that the images flowing through her head were totally off course.

  Amber silently groaned as she stared through one of the narrow gaps. Her imagination was wrong, this was even worse. Hundreds of cat-sized creatures hurtled along the corridor below her. Each one was subtly different from its neighbour. It was like a sea of multicoloured death flowing across the carpet. She silently crawled over the grille, thanking the Gods that she remembered just how large these shafts were and trying not to imagine what would have happened to her if she’d stayed down there.

  Amber pulled herself along, heading for the three-way junction, further down the shaft. She hoped the shaft leading up would eventually take her to the departure lounge and freedom.

  “Please, let it be so,” she murmured.

  As Amber approached the junction, she discovered that her plans to reach the surface had effectively been scuppered. The two shafts leading off were half the diameter. Her world had just collapsed.

  “Oh, this is so fucking unfair. I’m not that thin. Haven’t you put me through enough shit today, fate?”

  Amber assessed her options, not that she had a vast amount to choose from. She definitely couldn’t go back the way she came, those things would still be in there. She closed her eyes, remembering her frantic climb up through that hole. When she dropped out of the hole and spilled onto a soft, blue carpet, Amber had actually thought she was in the clear until she saw the state of the corridor. Dozens of similar sized holes honeycombed the walls. It didn’t take her long to realise that if she didn’t get out of here, she’d be dead. Amber got to her knees and peered down the hole she’d just climbed up, the creature wasn’t there. That didn’t make sense, Amber was sure that it was right behind her.

  There were two doors at either side of the corridor.

  “Where am I now?” this was another part of the complex that she hadn’t been to before. Just how large was this place? One thing was certain, wherever she was now; they had more money to splash out on a more expensive decorator. Carpeting down, framed prints of landscapes hung from the wall, even oak wood-effect doors. Amber
hadn’t seen this anywhere else in the Institute.

  It looked rather homely, well, it would have done before the creatures hadn’t swiss-cheesed the walls.

  Amber ran to the nearest door. Predictably enough, the bloody door was locked. She sighed and ran in the opposite direction. As she attempted not to stumble over chunks of fallen masonry, she heard the unmistakable sound of the creatures sliding along the tunnels, she glanced behind and saw two heads poking through a couple of tunnel mouths, beside that locked door.

  She put on an extra burst of speed, relieved to see the other door standing wide open. Amber raced forward, desperate to get away from those monsters.

  “Oh, Jesus!” she cried, as she entered the darkened room. The place resembled an abattoir. There were bits of bodies, in various stages of decomposition, arranged in neat piles across the floor.

  Those things were following her in here, she could hear their progress as they slid along the carpet. She’d stumbled into another of their larders. What the hell was she going to do now? There didn’t appear to be any way out, until she spotted the metal grille hanging down, held onto the wall by a single screw. Beyond the grille was a ventilation shaft, large enough for her to climb into.

  She crawled past the two smaller shafts. Amber gave them both the middle finger then cursed the builders for making her journey so damn hard. It seemed ironic that she’d discovered more of this building’s hidden places in the last few hours than in all the time she’d spent exploring.

  As Amber moved slowly forward, she wondered who the unfortunate souls in the plush area of the Institute were. At first, she thought that they were bits of bodies the creatures had found and just deposited them there. But it seemed more likely that those people were down there all along.

  People with money and power perhaps? The local movers and shakers. Amber got the impression that she’d just stumbled into what was left of the new headquarters of the new government for the north of England. Odd that, considering that’s what Amber thought they were trying to achieve.