Fungal Tide

by Ian Woodhead

***

  A dozen huge men, all dressed in hide, circled a terrified furry male. A man with hair down to the middle of his back released an ear piecing howl before bending down, picking up the tiny creature by his neck and slamming him hard against a tree.

  ***

  A beautiful city, full of domes of all sizes, bathed in rich blue light erupted with the terrible sound of screams as men carrying flaming torches ran between the domes, killing any fur covered-creature that ran out of the domes.

  ***

  Sierra saw three creatures gazing at her. The middle one looked similar to the other male, Vel-Nisstar, only twice the size with a stockier build.

  “But you can’t” How are we any different to them if you go through with this madness?”

  Sierra recognised the voice of Vel-nisstar’s lifemate. The creature stood on the left, brushed a pure white paw down its thick-set body.

  “You are the only female in all of our history who has been given permission to enter the hall of the Creator. Remember your place before we have you removed.”

  “No, let her say the words she believes, Vel-Shah. If we cannot explain our reasoning to this female, how do we ask our survivors to follow our example?”

  The remaining speaker was unlike the other two. Instead of fur, this one more resembled an upright lizard.

  “Child, this is not the end. Our souls will not notice the passing of time. The invaders will dine well that is true, but their species is flawed. Their time here is finite.” The green scaled creature leaned closer to the female. “We just wait until they kill each other off. I suspect that we will be able to reclaim our world in no less than a few thousand years.”

  “This is absolute madness! You’re going to kill us all!”

  ***

  Sierra fell back against the hard surface, the images dissolving like strands of smoke. The black stuff had not moved from any other person. She stood on shaky legs and staggered over to two people at the other side of the cave. Unlike the others, they were linked, their fingers entwined. The girl looked in her thirties, with short cropped dark brown hair, while her partner was more her age. His darker skin tone suggested he had middle-eastern origins. Could they be lovers?

  She took her eyes off the man’s toned body and looked towards the light. How long before she and the rest of the people in here were plunged into total darkness? Sierra wrapped her arms around her naked body. A couple of hours at the most. She needed to find a way out of here.

  The strange dream inducing fluid didn’t look to be releasing the others any time soon. Even so, she couldn’t leave the others in here. Sierra crouched and gently shook the woman’s shoulder and received a few words in that strange language for her trouble, only this time, she had no idea what she said. Sierra shook her again, this time it felt like shaking a rag doll, and she received no response.

  “Are you all dreaming that place as well?” she uttered. Sierra stood behind the woman, pushed her hands under her shoulders and attempted to drag her out of the black slime. After a full minute of heaving, moving her a couple of inches, while the stuff just moved with the woman, Sierra surrendered to her tired muscles and left her where she lay.

  The black fluid came in to the cavern through an opening at the base. The gap would be wide enough for her to squeeze through but as soon as she touched the fluid, Sierra’s mind would end up in that ancient place again. The river left the cavern through another hole on the other side but this one was only a few inches in diameter. She wouldn’t even get her head through there.

  “What am I going to do now?”

  “You can stop talking for a start!” hissed another voice.

  Sierra yelped in fright and frantically looked around the cavern in search of the owner. She found him lying in the far corner, hiding behind the body of a middle-aged woman. He raised his head and nodded.

  “Please, keep your voice down to a minimum. Sound down here travels very far.” The old man silently got to his feet, stood over the woman and sat on her chest. “Don’t look so disgusted,” he whispered. Mavis won’t mind me. It’s not as if I weigh a lot.”

  “Who are you?”

  “Up until an hour ago, I thought that I was a talking chipmunk. And now?” the man sighed heavily. “And now I’m back to being Arnold Lister. A forty-two year old accountant, married to a very annoying wife, with a dead end job and no kids.” He grinned and held out his hand. “Pleased to meet you.”

  “Why didn’t you announce yourself when I woke up?”

  The man cast his eyes up and down her body. Sierra turned away when she saw life in the lower part of his body.

  “You are a very beautiful woman,” he whispered.

  She gritted her teeth and strode up to him. “And you should learn to keep your dirty thoughts to yourself. Sierra crouched down to his level and pinched his arm when his eyes dropped to her breasts.

  “How do we get out of here? Come on, if you’ve been awake for over an hour, you must be able to have worked out some way of escaping.”

  He shook his head. “You don’t get it yet. You will though, oh yeah, you can sit there, feeling all smug and looking down on poor old Arnold, just like everybody else does but this so called dirty man knows something that you don’t.”

  Sierra resisted the urge to punch him, especially when his gaze dropped to her breasts again. “You’re very sad, I feel sorry for you.”

  The man chuckled. “Oh my, we’ve only just met and already you’re calling me names.” The pursed his lips together. Wait on, no, I don’t believe this is the first time we’ve met.” Arnold smiled, showing off two rows of uneven, yellow teeth. “Yeah, you handed me a cup of coffee, followed by apple pie. You work in the café, just off Moore Street. Sorry, I didn’t recognise you with your clothes off.”

  She wanted to cry, this was so unfair. Why could she have not woken up in this horrible place next to Ryan? He’d found them an escape route by now. Then again, if she was going to fall into the trap of dreaming, why can’t she wake up next to the man in bed, in a very expensive hotel room? “Do you want to find out how hard this beautiful woman can punch, Arnold?”

  He folded his arms, the man’s fingers brushing over her stomach. “Go ahead, if it makes you feel any better. While you’re at it, why don’t you start shouting? Go on; scream as loud as you can, I won’t stop you. Go ahead, and see how long you can stay alive.”

  Sierra jumped away from the man, she strode of the river of black sludge and settled down between the other couple. The man glared at her. She felt real hate coming from him. What had she done in her past to deserve all of this? Sierra found her fingers running along the man’s arm, heading to his interlock hand. He’d help her find some way out of this place. If only she could get him to wake up.”

  “I do know a way out, girl,” he whispered. Although I’m not sure you’ll like the idea.” He stood up and walked down to the edge of the stream. This stuff obviously brought us in here, through that large hole. So, all we have to do is go out the same way. It’s that simple.”

  “Yeah, it’s does sound simple, apart from the obvious flaw that as soon as you touch the stuff, you end up asleep.”

  “I’m not a complete fucking idiot!” he hissed, placing his hand on his hips. Look, I’m not a big guy.”

  Sierra resisted the temptation to look down at his crotch.

  “I don’t weigh that much either. So the obvious solution would be for me to use you as a boat. Sure, your mind will be transported into that far distant past but not your body.” He jumped over the flowing sludge. “So, what do you think?”

  “You want me to basically surrender my body over to you?” She shook her head. No way. I’m sorry and I know its wrong for me to say this, considering we’ve only just met but I’m not too sure that I like you, let alone trust you.”

  Arnold’s face turned a deep shade of red. “You spoilt, stuck up little bitch,” he rasped. “You’re just like the rest of them!”

  His voice rose in
volume.

  “I’ve been alone in here with all of your sleeping pliant bodies. What makes you think that I already haven’t taken advantage of you?” His fingers wrapped around his limp cock.

  “My sex drive is far greater than anyone else I know.” Unlike the bitch of a wife, I don’t think once a month, if I’m fucking lucky, is suitable.” Arnold leered at her. “Oh yeah, I did have a bit of a play.”

  Sierra raised her fists, “You’re a vile little bastard! I’m going to wish that you were dead.”

  The man backed away.” Not with you, love!” he shouted. “I promise, not with you. Just with Mavis and maybe the woman lying next to you, but I swear, not with you.”

  A shadow fell across the sleeping youth’s chest. Sierra glanced up and saw something above her in one of the chimneys, blocking out the light. Arnold hadn’t seen it. “Tell me why you wanted to keep quiet Arnold.”

  He slammed a hand over his mouth. “Oh, heck, I’ve forgotten about them. There was another man in here with us, he was already awake when I woke up, only that poor bastard was hysterical, he just wouldn’t keep quiet. Something big, green and very, very hungry snatched him. The black slime fought back but it couldn’t stop it.”

  His hungry green monster was coming back for afters. Sierra clambered over the woman and lay between the interlinked couple. “But you’re alive.”

  “Only because I didn’t move or speak.”

  “Arnold, there’s no way that I’d let you go anywhere near my body, you creepy little worm. When the others wake, I‘m going to tell them all that you had sex with them whilst they were out of it.”

  He jumped over the river. Sierra saw activity in the solution, several tiny bubbles bursting along the surface.

  ”No, you won’t” he yelled. I won’t fucking well let it happen.” Arnold strode up to the three of them. “Just because I’m smaller than you, it doesn’t mean I can’t look after myself.” His fat tongue rolled between his lips. “I’ve taken moving flesh before, young lady. It’s been a while, but I’m confident I can do it again.”

  Sierra kept perfectly still. “I’m going to tell the men that you raped them as well.”

  His temper went nuclear. Arnold opened his mouth to scream, only before the blast left him, a thick, green tentacle swung down and wrapped around the little man’s neck, turning the shriek into a horror filled squeal. The response from the black fluid made Sierra yell out, as it detached from the cave floor in one solid lump and embraced both Arnold and the large armour-plated intruder.

  She felt both people beneath her start to stir. Sierra hurriedly pulled them both to their feet and pulled the pair over to the now clear hole in the wall. She pushed them both through before running through herself. Sierra turned around at the last moment to see utter chaos erupt inside the cavern as the other people were waking up, half of them crying out and weeping openly. Before Sierra could tell them to follow her, the black gunk fell back to the cave floor, lumps of broken shell and a few fragments of bone rained down with it. It seemed that the stuff couldn’t tell the difference between human and the intruder. She turned back and followed the other two, wondering how many people would miss the horrid little man.

  13.

  Two miles distant

  He loved the smell of old churches. The combination of wood polish, old bibles and the faint but lingering odour of old lady’s perfumes took Jefferson Straus back to a more sedate time, to when his strict but fair mother made sure that his early education was orchestrated by the Lord and his tyrannical servant, the reverend Grimshaw. That huge man, standing above the terrified eight year old Jefferson, the man’s multiple chin wobbling like a plate of jelly, covered in spittle, while his thunderous voice tortured his ear, would never leave him.

  Nor would the painful memory of the man’s thick, brown, wooden rod that only saw light of day once the parents had left this giant to instruct his several ‘students’

  “Sir, we’ve have secured the perimeter. All hostiles neutralised and the staff are now ready to bring in the equipment.

  Jefferson’s nod was barely visible but it was enough movement for the man to turn around and leave him to his private thoughts. He wandered over to the pew and picked up the single sheet of paper lying on the surface. He frowned when he found it contained a shopping list. Jefferson placed the paper back and sighed. The building was no place for a military style base of operations. And yet, there was nowhere else to go. The centre of town was already out of bounds. The white carpet had already covered over most of the visible brickwork and concrete. Even if that stuff hadn’t been so invasive, their team only had enough repellent to keep the green hunters away for just a few hours.

  He stood back against the wall as the staff began to bring in their equipment. It shouldn’t take them long to set up the labs, they were all well practiced at this task. After all, this was the ninth occasion in as many months.

  His confidence didn’t stop the sweat from running down his palms. Jefferson was very nervous, he had reason to be as well. This was the final test and by far the largest. If this didn’t go to plan, he could well be indirectly responsible for wiping out the human race. Somehow, he didn’t believe that would look good for his promotion prospects.

  Jefferson watched the scientists bring in the two live samples, their naked bodies floating in the glass cylinders, full of pale yellow liquid and decided to leave them to their preparation. His men didn’t need him under their feet and besides, his presence made him nervous. This wasn’t a bad thing, but nervous personal were liable to make mistakes,

  He left the main building and strolling around the back, grimacing at the remains of the white fibre still attached to the gravestones. Their roots dug into any material, whether it was brick or their hardest metal; apart from the group’s repellent nothing could stop them.

  As he reached the rear of the building, Jefferson stopped and gazed across the white landscape towards the house where they found their samples. It still concerned him as to how on earth that woman and her mother had not only been able to fight the stuff infecting their body but was able to partially destroy so much material with only some shop bought fungicide.

  He’d already tried to use some of the same solution, (scooped out from the bottom of the same container with a spoon) on some of the carpet growing up the side of the woman’s house. The small amount didn’t even mark the fibre.

  “What makes her so fucking special?” Normally, he relished looking for answers to seemingly unanswerable questions but this enigma had gotten him well and truly stumped.

  Jefferson absently scratched the outside of his face visor and decided to put this question to one side. There was no point in getting so worked up over this. He’d get results when the doctors took her out of the solution and gave the women a more intense examination.

  Right now, he ought to be jubilant that their predictions had gone exactly as planned. Thanks to the extensive research from their last eight excavations across the planet as well as some very illogical leaps of faith, he now believed that the step to understanding the alien’s super weapon was but days from completion.

  Just like Ryan Bennett, he was able to look past the rigid lines of established thinking in order to get to the real truth. Unlike that fool, Bennett, he knew when to keep his crazy ideas private.

  This idea of an advanced race of beings paying their planet a visit back in the midst of time was too big to keep to himself, not when he so needed more evidence to back up his claim and evidence required money. Although, technically, he owned the company, the sums of money that he needed were too large to siphon out of the accounts; he wouldn’t have been able to access the finance not without the board’s approval.

  They would have made sure he disappeared forever if Jefferson hadn’t secured the essential information. It had taken him an extra eight years to secure what he thought he needed to convince the others on the company’s board, but it had been so worth it, mainly for the shocked look on their
faces after demonstrating his finds to them, as well as their capabilities.

  “After all that time, I am so close to the end.” He sighed with happiness, gazing over the landscape of Radfield. To others, they saw rot, ruin and devastation, an unstoppable infestation that could not be controlled. Jefferson saw a renaissance masterpiece. The buildings, people and animals, roads and fields were the canvas and his spores were the paint. The spores softened the hard human angles, creating an almost dreamlike landscape. It was such a beautiful sight, even more profound, knowing that he was the originator.

  He had in his power the ultimate biological weapon, capable of consuming whole countries. If Jefferson so chose, he could hold the world to ransom, there would be nothing or nobody able to stop him from getting whatever he wanted.

  Jefferson walked back to the front entrance, chuckling to himself. He’d be shaving his head bald, giving himself a facial scar and buying a white cat next. He entered the church, stepping to the side as two technicians ran past him, with a large roll of red cable. It hadn’t taken them long to put down the larger equipment. He located his second in command and hurried over to him.

  “How long now before we have power?”

  The other man glanced at his watch. “Perhaps another ten minutes for the main units to charge up then another twenty minutes after that for the circuit to complete. Give or take five minutes. We are ahead of our estimated schedule, sir, is there a specific reason as to why you want it sooner?” The man gave Jefferson an apologetic smile. Apart from the obvious, of course.”

  Jefferson grinned tightly. “The two women still trouble me.”

  “And you need to find the answers?”

  “Not only that, my friend. Apart from those two, we’ve had no other jagged edges along our operational lines.”

  The man nodded. “Yes, it’s gone better than expected.”

  “Then we need no further unexpected incidents. Are our five archaeologists still functioning?”