Brood X: A Firsthand Account of the Great Cicada Invasion

by Michael Phillip Cash

  It never bothered Lara that he liked to play so much. It gave her some time to straighten up the house while he shot hoops alone. If the weather was sunny and over forty degrees, he would be outside. He would take hoops solo over jogging with his wife any day of the week.

  The girls heard the ball bouncing off the rim through the screen door in the kitchen.

  Marni was standing by the door, drying a pan and watching their play.

  “I don’t mean to harp,” Marni said in reverie. “I sometimes think I’m displacing my own anger.”

  Lara was hoping to get an apology from her for calling Seth an asshole. She was fighting with Seth over Marni staying and questioning herself if her friend was really worth the struggle with Seth.

  “Dom lost his job last Tuesday.”

  Lara felt her pain. She was going through the same thing and knew how hard it was. Her sense of resentment completely evaporated.

  “What?” Lara stopped whipping eggs to look up at her friend.

  “His sales dropped. That’s why we lost the apartment. I couldn’t keep up with the payments. My salary’s been frozen for three years. No raises. I got a part-time job just to help, but it started affecting our relationship. He said I emasculated him. He could support us. If not for all this cicada crap, people would be spending more.”

  “Seth says the same thing. I don’t know what to tell my parents anymore.” Lara moved closer. “He’s been even asking at the gas station if he could pump gas,” she sighed. “I felt like he was finally growing up. You know, no job was beneath him. Maybe this whole thing is a good thing in some small way.”

  They heard a shout followed by a scream.

  “What?” Marni yelled, dropping the pan. “What was that? Dom, Dom, are you OK?”

  She opened the screen door to a panicked Seth. “Close the door and stay inside!” He pointed at Marni without taking his eyes off Dominic.

  “What’s the matter?” Lara put down the eggs and walked over to the door.

  “I saw something fly into Dom’s chest,” Marni screamed. “I don’t see him now. Look, I’m coming out!” Lara grabbed the camcorder without listening and followed Marni.

  “Help!” Dom was on the brick patio with Seth circling him, completely flustered. “Get them off.” Dom was breathless. “Ow, ow, ow,” he started moaning.

  “Damn it!” Seth screamed. “Move your arms, Dom. I have to grab them!”

  On top of Dominic was a cluster of cicada. They covered his groin next to his pubic bone. Shaking furiously they fluttered their wings violently.

  The girls started crying.

  “Dom!” Marni cringed. “Seth, get it off him!”

  “I can’t! His arms are in the way.”

  Seth started yanking the cicadas off his body. He felt one of the bug’s abdomen tense. The threatened cicada let out a shrill that drowned out the girls’ screaming.

  Dominic wailed. Everyone watched helplessly as the cicada jolted down his abdomen, stabbing Dominic in the stomach with its stinger. Snot was shooting from Dominic’s nose, his face bright red.

  There was nothing they could do. Seth tried kicking it, but it clung tighter to Dom’s shirt. Blood starting pouring out of the incision the bug just made. The insect’s legs planted themselves in his skin.

  “Oh my God!” Marni screamed and rushed to help Seth.

  “Get into the house, Lara,” Seth shouted over his shoulder.

  “I’m calling the police.” Lara handed the camcorder to Marni and ran for the phone.

  “Call an ambulance!” said Marni in hysterics.

  Seth slowly pried the bug off of his friend. He grabbed the basketball and smashed it, goo squirting up at both Marni and him.

  He removed his shirt and kneeled down to press it on a wheezing Dominic. Applying pressure, he tried to stop the bleeding. He surveyed the little cuts the bug made with their legs, but the gash that it left in Dominic’s belly was what was most worrisome.

  “We have to get him to a hospital,” Marni said frantically.

  Seth helped Dominic stand and put his arm under Dom’s shoulder. He half-carried him into the house. Meanwhile, the wail of sirens in the distance gave them comfort. Seth thought, “Wow, that's Oyster Bay. Lara picked up the phone, and the cops are on their way.”

  Something didn’t seem right. Lara went into the house just a few minutes ago, and now there are ambulances screeching down the block.

  He didn’t want to make anyone even more frightened, so he said the only positive thing he could think of. “Oh good, the ambulance is here.”

  Lara came out with the portable phone. “Nine-one-one never answered. What’s going on?”

  Dominic was turning paler than parchment as the seconds passed. “It hurts so much.”

  “Keep my shirt on there, buddy,” Seth warned. “Get me another shirt, Lara.”

  Lara was standing, frozen, staring at the reddening cloth on Dominic’s stomach. Marni was getting the keys. “Lara!” Seth barked, “help Marni find the keys and get my license and another shirt.”

  Lara jerked into action, but Marni came out with a bag, another towel, and the keys in her mouth.

  “Don’t worry, honey. We’re taking you to the hospital. They’ll sew it up, one, two, three. Lara, move! We don’t have time,” Marni urged.

  They moved their way through the kitchen and through the garage entrance. Seth helped Dominic get into the SUV. Both girls climbed into the backseat, Lara slower than Marni.

  With the garage door open, they noticed several ambulances speeding up and down their street, sirens blaring as they came and went. Seth jumped in the driver’s side. Slamming the SUV into reverse, he sped out.

  Chapter 7

  Infest

  “And they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth…”

  - Exodus 10:5

  “Don’t you have another emergency room in this hick town?” Marni screamed at Seth.

  “I’ll go in and stay with them,” Lara said to Seth. They were parked in the packed hospital parking lot.

  “No. I don’t think so,” he gave Marni a dirty look. “I don’t want you going in there,” he said to Lara. “You don’t know if people are sick or what. I don’t want you catching anything.” He exited the car. “Stay here, I’ll be right out. I just want to know what’s going on.”

  “At least document it for me with the camera, so I’ll know too,” Lara said concerned.

  “Keep the sunroof closed,” he ordered.

  Inside, the corridors were packed with dazed patients. Many were holding towels or rags to seemingly minor bites or cuts like Dominic. Most were children, their parents hovering over them. Here and there you could see someone cradling a broken limb, probably a victim of an accident that resulted in avoiding bug attacks. All in all, it was not a bloodbath, but there were a lot of alarmed people.

  Seth found Marni and Dom on the floor in the corridor that lead into the elevator for employees.

  “Why are you here? They’ll never call you.”

  “They put us here,” Marni spat.

  “Hey, Marni, it’s not my fault.”

  “You chose to live in this shithole called...”

  “Hey, I didn’t ask you to stay.”

  “Kids, kids,” Dom laughed weakly. “Can we save the argument for later? I’m hurting here.”

  “Sorry,” Seth nodded. Marni bowed her head, tears welling in her cocoa eyes.

  “Really, it’s nothing. Just don’t fight. Seth, we’re gonna be here for a couple of hours. Take Lara home and we’ll call you when to pick us up.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah, no sense in all of us wasting a night.”

  “You think it’s going to be all night?” Marni asked angrily.

  “No, no. They’re taking the serious cases first. I heard two doctors talking. They have a few heart attacks, one car accident that looks bad. This is small potatoes. They’ll probably send nurses out to patch peop
le up. That’s what I heard the suit say.” Dom pointed to a harried administrator, who was racing down the hall, a phone to his ear.

  “You think?” Seth asked.

  ”Yeah, they’re gonna want to move these people,” Dom repeated.

  “See you in a couple hours. Hey, before you leave, you think you could buy a couple candy bars for us.”

  “Sure,” Seth said. He went to the cafeteria and got on a line for the candy machines. He stood behind two men, a mulatto security guard and a very blonde EMT.

  “You got any change, Chet?”

  Chet shook his head. “I just have enough to buy fat bastard a Snickers.”

  “That’s what you call Ralphie?” the blonde laughed. He had a lazy way of talking. Seth listened into their conversation. He couldn’t place the accent.

  “That or rat bastard. Depends on what he’s making me do.”

  “You’re funny,” the blonde turned around to Seth. “Hey dude, change a twenty?”

  Seth dug into his pocket. “How much do you need?”

  “Change of twenty. I’m short a dollar for the ripoff machine.”

  Seth shook his head. “If you wait, I’ll see how much I have left. You see that couple over there?” Seth pointed to his friends who looked like a couple of homeless people. “You think you could get them seen?”

  The blonde took an appraising look at them. “I can talk to somebody.”

  “Greeeeat!!! Pick your snacks guys, it’s on me.” Seth used up all forty dollars on snacks for everyone, including licorice whips for his wife.

  Dominic was seen in record time.

  The EMT was from California, Seth smirked knowingly. He’d know that laconic accent anywhere.

  ***

  “Man, you are lucky to be alive,” Seth said from behind the camera. “Lemme see.”

  The foursome sat at the kitchen table. It was getting dark outside. While it seemed like it took forever, they were only in the hospital for three hours. The emergency room was getting packed, and Dominic just had a gash. The doctor had more important things to tend to, so they sanitized it and sewed it up one-two-three and sent him home.

  Horror stories started to surface about young children and elderly people being attacked by cicadas. Even the nurses seemed to be getting more nervous. There were more stories about cicadas landing on cars and causing accidents.

  “Four stitches and back in business, yo.” Looking like Frankenstein’s monster, Dominic’s stomach was a patchwork. He started calling it a war wound and was admiring his ripped abs which were now red and swollen.

  “Don’t touch it, you moron,” Marni warned. “It could get infected. And turn off that stupid camera, Seth.” She was clearly out of patience.

  “Is it hot in here?” Lara said, sweating. Seth touched the air-conditioning vents. “It’s on, but it’s not cold. I’ll check the thermostat.”

  His voice floated from the other room. “It’s clicking on, but it’s definitely not cool in the house.” He came back to the kitchen where they were all having a midnight snack. “I’ll go out tomorrow and check the freon. It’s too late for anything now.”

  “It’s going to be an oven in here tonight,” Dominic complained.

  “Turn on the news,” Lara interrupted. “Let’s find out what’s happening in the area. That waiting room was pretty active.”

  “Lara, let’s go to bed. Everyone’s overreacting. The doctors were great. I didn’t see any panic, just a lot of insect-bite drama. By tomorrow they’ll figure out something to exterminate the buggers and on to the next doomsday scenario.”

  “I want to watch the news,” Lara insisted.

  “And I want to spoon,” he laughed. “Seth one, channel four nothing.” Then over his shoulder he told the others, “Spooning always gets ’em. Lights out, everybody.”

  ***

  The camera was charging on Seth’s nightstand. Night vision lit the room.

  Seth was snoring the sleep of the exhausted, his breathing loud and long. Lara turned uncomfortably from one side to the other. She was in a light sleep, hot, bulky, and miserable.

  The room was still.

  An AC vent swung open making a low squeak but not loud enough to wake Lara or Seth.

  A gaggle of cicada poured out. Sheet rock and dust trickled down after them. A four-inch-long cicada crawled halfway through, falling onto the comforter at the edge of the bed. One by one, more cicadas followed the bigger one, dispersing around the room. Monstrously big, it climbed stealthily, working its way up Seth’s long body, coming to rest near his mouth.

  Seth snorted and batted at the annoyance, without quite waking up. The cicada’s swordlike ovipositor poked down and aimed for his sweaty neck.

  Seth’s eyes snapped open. The scream died in his throat as he stared eyeball to eyeball with the insect. The cicada gently started rattling, making Seth jump into action. Attaching itself with the tenacity of a burr, it latched onto Seth’s exposed skin.

  The commotion stirred Lara out of bed, and she saw her husband wrestling with the bug. At first she thought it was a pillow and Seth was playing a joke. But Seth’s scream shook her fully awake. It was a muffled sound because the cicada was blocking his windpipe with its ovipositor.

  After her eyes adjusted, she saw the transparent wings. Letting out a shrill scream that would deafen a dog, it set off all the cicadas rattling in the room.

  The commotion scared the bug, which naturally gripped harder. This woke Marni and Dominic, who burst into the room.

  Seth rolled off the bed attempting to pull off the bug, and it tensed up even more.

  “Help him!” Lara wailed, holding her protruding belly. Dominic, feeling none too spry himself, held his own midsection, too weak or too scared to help.

  Marni grabbed everything from Lara’s dressing table and started throwing it at Seth.

  “Not the powder, stupid! Get a knife or something!” Seth said in a garbled voice. Marni ran out.

  Seth barged his way into the bathroom using his shoulders. The gentle rattle of the cicadas turned into a symphony in the bedroom. Shrieking, Lara started swatting them with her shoes. The familiar summer sound filled the room.

  “Seth.” She stepped around the cicada carcasses, trying to make her way to the bathroom.

  Nauseous and getting excruciating stomach pains, Dominic sank to the floor with a moan. Struggling to get off the floor, Dominic blocked the entry to the bathroom. He couldn't seem to muster enough energy to help Seth.

  They heard the shatter of glass and muffled cursing coming from the bathroom. Lara stepped over the prone Dominic and lumbered to the bathroom door. Holding her slipper, slowly opening the door, she heard Seth curse,

  “That’ll teach you to sting, motherfucker.”

  Seth emerged holding a decapitated cicada by the foot. His neck was irritated from the bug’s leg.

  He looked at her flimsy slipper, “A slipper, Lara? Really?”

  “I killed a few of them,” she replied defensively. “Did it hurt you?”

  Marni rushed into the room, brandishing Seth’s baseball bat. Taking in their flushed appearance, he bowed elegantly. “I’d like to thank the Academy.”

  They all climbed onto the king-size bed. Seth was out of breath, Marni dazed. White with fright, Lara stroked her belly. Dominic was sick to his stomach. Spread around them was the carnage of their first battle.

  “How’d they get in here?” Lara looked around the room. Marni pointed to the open vent.

  They both shrieked.

  Seth stood, stretching up with the bat to try to close the loose vent cover but couldn't reach it.

  Dragging over an ottoman, he climbed up and banged the vent closed.

  Seth started crushing the cicadas with his bare feet.

  “What are we supposed to do?” Marni asked sheepishly. “Close all the AC vents? It’s the middle of summer. We’ll cook.”

  “I have some plywood in the garage.” He looked at his nervous wife. “I’ll drill
them on. Dom, turn on the TV. Let’s see what’s going on.”

  Dominic picked up the remote and tried to turn on the television. Nothing but snow stared back at them.

  “Here, give it to me.” Seth held out his hand. He pressed buttons, clearly getting frustrated.

  “It won’t work any faster by you pressing the buttons, Seth. It doesn’t work!” Marni offered snidely.

  “Shut up, Marni!” Seth shouted.

  Dominic slowly stood up. “Do you think cable’s out?”

  “Maybe you didn’t pay your bill.” Marni was still smarting from being yelled at.

  “You know,” Seth looked at her holding up his other hand, his thumb and index finger ever so close together. “I was this close to almost liking you.” He then flipped her the finger.

  “Screw you too, Seth,” she flounced from the room.

  “Marn...” Lara, ever the peacemaker, called after her.

  “Just leave her, she can’t go anywhere. Listen.” Seth shut off the television. The gentle sound of cicadas outside had turned into a roar.

  ***

  The next morning Seth was in the den documenting with the camcorder how he sealed off all the vents. He peeked in the living room where Lara, Marni, and Dominic slept on the floor, sans blankets. All the AC vents had been sealed off with plywood. Seth wasn’t going through that again. Deep down he was scared, but he wasn’t going to show them. He decided to be a man of action. There was no way the bugs were getting into this house.

  The AC vents were easy to seal.

  He turned on the TV to see if he could find out anything else. Surely they weren’t going to show daytime television. There had to be some type of additional coverage.

  The TV picture was fuzzy but watchable now.

  “Channel Five’s round-the-clock coverage of the Great Cicada Invasion continues.”

  Seth chuckled to himself, “They’ll name anything.”

  “The Northeast,” the reporter continued, “is now engaged in an air war against the emerging cicada. Beginning this morning, aircraft are flying at three hundred feet, spraying a cicada-control product.”