Parasites

by Jason Halstead

  “Lance Corporal Kate.” He felt annoyed at himself even as he corrected her. Did it really matter whether she had the right rank or not? It mattered to Fiona, he supposed, and because Fiona had trusted him and become his friend, it mattered to him. “And I agree, there must be supplies we can take. We need to contact the Explorer, let them know what happened. They can send down help. You guys can be rescued!”

  Kira’s eyes narrowed. She looked up at the sky, squinting to protect them from the bright light. “We need to be quick. What are your names? We’ll have to carry her. And whatever happens, you do what I tell you to, okay?”

  Jeremy and Synnamon looked at each other before returning their gaze to her. They nodded. “I’m Jeremy, this is Synnamon.”

  “Synnamon?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Yes.” Jeremy failed to fight the smirk that curled his lip up. Kira’s tone had the same implication that had entered his own thoughts when he’d first met Dr. Rice.

  “Spicy, I like it,” Kira said. She winked at the wounded doctor and stepped past them to stare across the grassy plane. “Think you can carry her, Jeremy?”

  Jeremy nodded. He wasn’t sure how, but now that Kira had brought attention to how much better he felt, it seemed like nothing was impossible. “Climb on my back.”

  “Oh, and one more thing,” Kira said. She turned her head to stare at them. He realized Kira was looking at him specifically even as Synnamon was wrapping her arms around his neck and preparing to wrap her legs around his waist. “The longer you’re here the more refined things get. Take me, I can smell things you wouldn’t imagine. I know Dr. Rice is having her cycle right now, for example. And I can even smell pheromones. You know, physical signs of emotions like fear or happiness or… lust.”

  Chapter 11

  Jeremy’s back ached and his lungs felt like he’d tried breathing on the sun by the time they reached the ruins. He let Synnamon climb down and, after a staggering step, collapsed. Groaning, he pulled himself into a sitting position and gasped for several long moments.

  “You know how to make a lady feel good about her weight,” Dr. Rice quipped.

  He thought about giving her finger, then decided against it. There was too much at stake and raising his arm would take too much effort. Instead he shook his head and offered a grunt.

  “You’ve been eating rations, haven’t you?” Kira asked.

  Jeremy grunted again. He knew he couldn’t speak coherently so he didn’t want to bother trying. Synammon came to his rescue. “Yes, why? We’ve been running tests on the local flora and fauna and it seems safe, but there are many unidentified compounds in it. I—”

  “It changes you,” Kira interrupted. “Something about this place gets inside of you and makes you different. Better. More alive. The water seems to do the most, but maybe that’s because water’s in everything and it passes through our bodies the fastest.” She shrugged. “Whatever it is, once you start you can’t stop.”

  “It’s an addiction?” Jeremy looked up to see the alarmed look on Dr. Rice’s face after she asked her question.

  “Sort of,” Kira said. She looked around, studying them compound, then turned back to them. “I don’t know what it is or how it works, I just know how I feel. That and after we saved some other people who crashed after we did, they brought a bunch of their food from their ship. Some of us tried it and it made us sick. Everything on this planet is built to survive, even the planet itself.”

  Dr. Rice frowned. “Hurry up Jer, I need to get to my lab.”

  “You’re lab looks a little flat right now,” Jeremy pointed to the building with the science labs in it. The megasaur had stepped on it or done something to cave in a few walls and a roof here and there.

  “Congratulations, you killed it.” Kira pointed past the science building to where they could see the top of the tail of the megasaur laying on the ground.

  “We didn’t kill it, we ran like babies,” Jeremy muttered.

  Kira ignored him. Dr. Rice gestured for him to stand again, finally convincing him. He had to admit, he felt better than he had any right to. A quick stretch of his back and he felt ready for another hike across the plain. He hoped the next time it wouldn’t require a passenger on his back though.

  Kira kept her bow partially drawn as they hobbled through the wreckage. Broken sections of walls, machinery, weapons, vehicles, and even people lay scattered about. Already the insects had gathered and were feasting on some of the tastier pieces. Jeremy stumbled, drawing a cry of pain from Synnamon, when he saw a massive insect that looked like a cross between a centipede and a scorpion feasting on a hand. The worst part was the hand was only a little bit smaller than the bugs head.

  A few moments later they used the manual override to get into the science building. Inside it looked only slightly less desolate. Some sections were largely untouched while others lay with gaping holes in the walls or ceiling. A few times Jeremy and Kira had to work together to force the wreckage out of the way so Synnamon could get through, earning a “This better be worth it,” glare from Kira. Jeremy felt the same way, but he needed friends, not enemies.

  Dr. Rice’s lab was exposed to the outside, courtesy of a gaping hole in one wall. Through it the body of the megasaur lay exposed. Or at least a portion of its back and flank could be seen. It was unnaturally still, lending credence to the belief that the Marines had done enough damage to kill it at last. More surprising was that several pieces of equipment in the lab remained powered up.

  “Hurry,” Kira snapped. “Something’s not right.”

  “What, you smell something?” Jeremy quipped.

  She snapped her head around to look at him. His grin faded when her deadly calm eyes met his. “Yes.”

  Synnamon let go of him and hopped over to each workstation, calling up the reports and scanning through them. Jeremy watched her for a moment, his skin itching with his need to move. “She’s right!”

  Kira looked harshly at the sudden and loud outburst from the biologist. She looked away just as quickly, returning to keep watch through the hole in the wall. “Good, can we go now?”

  “Right about what?” Jeremy asked. He moved closer to look at the charts on the display Synnamon was looking at.

  “I’ve been analyzing our blood samples. I didn’t pay much attention to it, I was looking for increases in white blood cells and other signs of disease or infections. I missed the benign changes.” Her voice rose with excitement.

  “Changes like what?”

  “I’m not sure, that would take longer. Some fundamental differences but without studying them I’m not sure. I’d have to guess the changes might allow for superior bonding and delivery of compounds. Nutrients, minerals, glucose…everything! I’d need to do some biopsies to be sure.”

  Jeremy stared at the screen, suddenly interested. “A biopsy?”

  “Not now. Now we need to leave.” Kira’s voice cut through their budding interest like a laser scalpel.

  “The megasaur is dead, why does it matter so much?” Synnamon protested.

  “Because your Marines didn’t kill it.”

  “What?” Jeremy noticed Kira was still staring out of the room. “If they didn’t, what did?”

  “Something I’ve never seen before. Pick up the doctor, it’s time to go!”

  Chapter 12

  Kira pulled her bow back to a ready position. The tension was minimal while she watched through the gap in the wall. She cursed and stepped through it, pulling the bow back fully and releasing in a smooth motion. Jeremy couldn’t see her target but a shriek reassured him that her target was real and that she’d hit it.

  “Go! Back through the building. I’ll pull them away and meet you at the tree!” Kira hissed even as she fitted another arrow to the bowstring. She stepped away, the muscles displayed in her legs flexing.

  “Them?” Synnamon asked.

  “Come on!” Jeremy said, reaching for her arm. She resisted for a moment, craning her neck to try and peer outsid
e. A more insistent grip convinced her to turn to him so he could slide her arm around his shoulders and help her back through the base. Another animal scream hastened their progress.

  Down the hall Synnamon pulled on Jeremy, slowing him. “In here!” She insisted, gesturing towards a room with an open door. It had once been the office of Taylor Warren, the legal expert assigned to the mission. What drew Dr. Rice in was the window in the outside wall.

  Giving in to his own curiosity, Jeremy helped her in to the office. Outside the window they saw Kira slip her bow back over her shoulder and draw the long knife at her waist free. Three small animals lay on the ground, the last still twisting and rolling. Four others rushed at her, moving along multi-segmented legs and dragging tails behind. They were small and black, measuring no longer than a foot in length, but even from a distance they could see the mandibles on their heads.

  “Insects?” Synnamon asked.

  “I think so,” Jeremy said. Not enough legs, plus the addition of a tail defied the classical insect body type. Then again, nothing on Vitalis adhered to the animal kingdom as humanity knew it. A noise in the distance behind them made them both jerk. Something had fallen in the building.

  “Let’s go!” Synammon whispered.

  Jeremy nodded and helped her move back to the hallway. They turned towards the entrance before Jeremy thought to grab the rifle slung on his back and hold it in his free hand. A hiss from Dr. Rice brought his attention from the gun to the scene in the hallway.

  Two of the creatures pulled up short from the direction of the lab. They hissed, mandibles stretched wide to reveal sharp teeth in a mouth that seemed so large it was out of proportion for the head of the bugs. Above the mouth each had four eyes spread evenly along the front and side of the head . A segmented black chitin shell covered their bodies, swelling and contracting with each breath they took.

  “They’ve got lungs!” Synnamon gasped.

  “That’s great, can we go now?”

  “We’re trapped!”

  Jeremy looked the other way and see there was another of the bugs approaching from the opening in the hallway. He raised the rifle and fired. Acrid smoke curled up from the bubbling industrial plastic of the wall beside and above the bug. He adjusted the rifle and pulled the trigger again, then ground his teeth when the gun didn’t react.

  “Jeremy!”

  He looked back in time to see one of the two bugs pounce, followed a second later by the other one. He fell back into the room, pulling Synnamon with him. Her twisted ankle caused her to stumble, bringing both of them down.

  Jeremy pulled free of his former boss, scrambling to put more distance to the doorway. He snatched up his dropped rifle, sparing enough time to note that it was ready to fire again. He had a target a moment later when the first of the bugs leapt into the doorway. Synnamon screamed even as Jeremy yanked the trigger and watched smoke and steam hiss off the Vitallian insects back. The bug screeched, mandibles stretched wide. Over the grating noise he could still hear the juices inside the bug popping as they boiled and burst.

  The next bug cleared the doorway, leaping past its dying brother at Jeremy. He thrust his gun out, batting it aside. He felt the material in the gun give, then felt as much as heard the sudden hum from inside of it as the stored energy dissipated. The insect, he noted, had landed on Synnamon’s leg. She screamed and tried to flail her legs to knock it free.

  The bug held on, grabbing tight with its four legs and sinking its mandibles into her thigh. Jeremy stared, at a loss for what to do while the bug worked its grip tighter. It pulled back, tearing off a chunk of flesh and feeding it into its mouth. Blood ran down her leg freely, adding to a growing puddle beneath it. Synnamon was gasping and whimpering, her cheeks white and her eyes starting to roll back into her head.

  “Jeremy!” She whimpered, reaching for him.

  Jeremy had slid away from her. His back was against the wall of the office. He looked around, unaware of how rapid his breaths were coming. He was trapped! One final look above him and he saw the window. He jumped to his feet and worked the release on it, jamming his fingers twice before he coordinated the safety lock and then the actual window release.

  Synnamon whimpered again, breaking his frantic need to escape for a terrible heartbeat. He stared as the other bug leapt onto her and bit into her abdomen. It tore its mandibles free in a shower of blood. She grunted and reached for Jeremy again. “Please!” She wheezed.

  His mouth worked but no sound came out. He wanted to tell her he was sorry. He wanted to give her hope. He even wanted to grab her hand and pull her with him. Then the bug on her leg lifted its head and stared at him with its alien eyes. He heard himself whimper and felt the nearly overwhelming urge to urinate. Jeremy jumped and pulled himself through the window head first with no thought to what awaited him on the other side.

  Chapter 13

  Synnamon’s screams echoing in his ears, Jeremy pulled himself up from the hard ground he’d slammed into. He rolled away, uncertain if the screams were real or imagined, then lurched to his knees and finally his feet. He ran, putting distance and speed first, then only later realizing he wasn’t headed in the right direction. He saw the body of the Megasaur moving, which made him skid to a stop.

  He saw after only a moment that the Megasaur was dead. The movement came from inside its midsection. A bloody gash in it rippled and pulsed as yet more of the bugs crawled free of it, covered in the fallen creature’s ichor. He stared at it, unable to comprehend just what he was seeing. Something tugged at his mind, trying to quell the terror that paralyzed him. It was more than an urge, he knew he needed to look at something behind him. His muscles remained frozen, locked on the site of the six or seven insects that were chewing on the Megasaur. Were the feeding on it or doing something else?

  A sharp pain in his back made him gasp. He took a step forward from the impact, then spun rapidly. Had one of the bugs gotten behind him and attacked him? Was it chewing on his back and ripping out his blood and muscle just as they had done to Synnamon?

  He saw Fiona waving at him from behind a ruined truck. He glanced behind himself again, still imagining the phantom bug clinging to him, then ran towards her. He collapsed beside her, cowering behind the truck and hugging his arms around his knees while he fought to catch his breath.

  “Damn Sinclair, what happened to you?” Fiona asked.

  Jeremy stared straight ahead, unable to put the words to the sights he’d seen. He shook his head and fought back the tears that threatened to blur his vision.

  “Is that your blood?”

  He jerked, his entire body twitching at the realization that he had Synnamon’s blood on him. He stared at his clothes and saw the blood spattered on them. He opened his mouth but closed it rapidly, afraid he was going to vomit. He shook his head and bit down hard, fighting hard to breathe through his nose and find some semblance of sanity.

  “What the fuck happened to you, Jer? You’re white!”

  Jeremy risked a glance over his shoulder. The derelict truck was in his way, so he turned and climbed onto his knees to peer over it. He realized after only a moment that the bugs weren’t feeding, they were enlarging the gash. Whatever was causing the rippling inside the corpse shuddered, then began to emerge through the gash.

  “Holy shit, what is that?” Fiona breathed. Jeremy whimpered without meaning to.

  A larger version of the smaller bugs had emerged. It was nearly three times the size of the smaller drones and looked similar, save that it had an additional body part more in line with a traditional Terran insect. Unlike the Terran counterpart, this body part was in place of its tail and rose up. The mandibles on its head were different as well, instead of simple pincers they resembled the segmented limbs of a crab, only they had single blades instead of claws.

  “A queen,” Jeremy whispered. He shrunk back down and stared into space.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here!” Lance Corporal Kate said. “I found a few others and directed th
em over to where you and Dr. Rice were at. Why’d you leave, anyhow?”

  Jeremy shook his head. He couldn’t talk about it yet, not this soon and definitely not this close. “Later,” he said.

  Fiona stared at him for a long moment, then nodded. “All right, let’s go.” She walked away, bent into a low crouch. Jeremy followed, nearly sprawling on his face multiple times as he tried to move as fast as the awkward position would allow.

  Fiona rose up into a full run a few moments later. Jeremy gave it no thought as he matched her pace. He’d tried jogging with her in the weeks past and she’d always left him gasping for breath. This time he was keeping pace and breathing easily. Focusing on the run helped him put distance, both physically and emotionally, from the science camp.

  They didn’t stop until they jogged into the shorter grasses surrounding the gathering site. Kira was waiting there, as well as a few others. Jeremy noted Taylor was there first, but he forced himself to ignore her to keep the thought of what had happened in her office out of his mind. Wes Roberts was climbing to his feet to greet them, Wes had been a veterinary technician for Crymm Hall. Dr. Hall was missing. The other survivors were two marines, Private First Class Alecia Swift and Private Alex Jamison, and one of the maintenance crew, Coral Watson.

  Kira’s eyes rapidly took in the state of Jeremy’s clothes. “Where’s Synnamon?” Her stride towards him was strong and intimidating.