Fatal Reaction, Survival

by M A Hollstein

  “How far is this fuckin’ place?” Seth complained. “Thought it was close.”

  “Just want to make it quick.”

  “Stay here,” Seth said, turning to leave the room. He disappeared for a moment into the office.

  Aaron couldn’t believe what he was about to do. He sucked in a breath and darted over to one of the tables along the back wall and stared at the array of weapons. He’d never held a gun before. Feeling frightened, he left the guns on the table and stared at a few baseball bats, shovels, and a pickax leaning against the wall. His eyes raked over the table again, and he picked up an ordinary carpenter hammer. His palms were sweating profusely, and his hands were shaking as he gripped the wooden handle. The hammer felt heavier than expected.

  When Seth returned, his head was down, examining the set of keys in his hands. He was completely taken unaware when Aaron came up beside him and whacked him upside the head. When the blunt head of the hammer collided with Seth’s skull, it made a disturbing, sickening sound. Seth dropped both the keys and the gun, as he bellowed out in pain. His legs buckled and instinctively he gripped his head as he went down on the ground.

  Wide-eyed, Aaron eyed the gun that Seth dropped and was thankful it didn’t go off. With his Nike, he quickly kicked the gun across the floor, out of reach. A stream of explicatives escaped Seth’s lips as Aaron scooped up the car keys. He could see blood soaking the man’s hands, and squeezing between his fingers that were pressed to his skull.

  As Seth stumbled to his feet, Aaron ran to the side door with both his camera and the car keys. He let himself out and scanned the lot for a car. There were several automobiles. He pushed the alarm button on the key fob attached to the keyring, setting off an alarm belonging to a newer model silver Toyota Tundra.

  Sprinting to the truck, Aaron could hear Seth slamming open the door, coming for him. He hoped that more Crusaders didn’t emerge from the convenient store next door upon hearing the commotion.

  “Shit!” Aaron cursed while disarming the truck and sliding behind the wheel. He knew he probably should’ve hit the guy a second time, but he didn’t have the heart. He only wanted to stun him enough to get away, not harm him. Aaron wasn’t a killer. He revved up the engine and could hear Seth’s voice bellowing at him to stop. He threw the truck into reverse, nearly hitting Seth, then put it into drive, and screeched out of the parking lot. Seth took a shot at him but missed. He heard a couple more shots go off. He thanked the Gods that Seth was a lousy shot, and made a sharp right turn at the flashing traffic light.

  Aaron wanted to get the hell out of there before Seth alerted the rest of the Crusaders of his escape. He quickly hopped on the freeway, Northbound. As he raced down Interstate 5, he immediately slammed on the brakes. An SUV was headed straight for him. A woman was driving, and an older Asian man was in the passenger seat. He could also hear the roar of motorcycles. The SUV drove right past him. Ronnie and his crony were chasing them on their Harleys. Ronnie turned his head to look at Aaron as he passed his truck.

  Nervous, Aaron turned his truck around. There was a roadblock up ahead. He was worried that Ronnie would stop pursuing the SUV and head after him. As he turned, now facing what would normally be oncoming traffic, he was thankful to see the Crusaders continuing their pursuit of the SUV. Aaron wondered who the unlucky people were. He trailed behind them, watching the SUV head back down the onramp they’d originally used to enter the freeway.

  Aaron knew that Ronnie was chasing a Japanese man with a machine gun. The woman driving the SUV looked frightened. She was obviously not a thug. He felt he should follow them, even though he was unsure of what he could do to help protect them from the Crusaders. But then again, they were the ones with a machine gun. Maybe they could protect him. Maybe they’d be able to lead him to somewhere safe.

  Unsure of what he was doing or where he was going, he followed the Crusaders that were following the SUV. They were now entering a neighborhood and driving parallel to the freeway, away from San Diego towards Los Angeles. Aaron figured the woman driving the SUV was trying to avoid roadblocks. He just hoped she had a plan because he knew he didn’t. The smart thing would be to use this diversion to get far away. But where would he go? Would he be able to make the drive back home all the way to Sacramento? He doubted it. His mind drifted to his parents and his little brother. He had no clue whether or not they were still alive. The way the virus had spread so quickly, he knew the odds of them surviving were slim. He was kicking himself for not staying in Sacramento and going to the state university there. Then he’d have been home with his family. If he were there, maybe he could’ve protected them.

  With the back of his hand, Aaron swiped at the tears building in his eyes. He chose to go to San Diego State University because he wanted to be on his own. He wanted to experience independence. If he’d stayed in Sacramento, he’d still be living at home, and his Mom would be cooking for him and doing his laundry.

  Aaron shook his head. He’d been so stupid. So selfish. He’d give anything to be at home right now with his parents and his annoying little brother. As soon as things settled down, he’d make the drive back home. He was horrified at what he might find but knew he had to do it. Aaron stared up at the large spacecraft hovering in the sky. The little flashing white light seemed to be growing brighter as they grew closer to the ship.

  Chapter 6

  In the parking lot, Amanda had a shopping cart filled with supplies. The car she’d driven was parked in front of the store, but the gang members had slit the tires. Bill had ridden in a brown sedan with Susan and Liam. However, Amanda didn’t trust them. Not after the secrets, they’d been keeping. She refused to ride in their car but hadn’t yet voiced her opinion out loud. She was dying to tell Bill what she’d learned from Susan about the virus being their fault. Then maybe Bill wouldn’t be so trusting of them either.

  “We’ll find another vehicle,” she said to Susan while scanning the lot. “Maybe a truck.” She looked at Bill, “You know how to hotwire?”

  Bill shook his head. He mussed his son’s hair with his hand. “Don’t worry, sport.”

  Benjamin was busy playing with his new action figure, not paying attention. He was wearing a superhero shirt he’d picked out and a new pair of jeans. Bill cleaned him up the best he could using baby wipes. Most of the blood was gone.

  Susan popped open the trunk and began to load the supplies from the cart. Amanda spat at her, “Don’t! I said we’d get our own vehicle.”

  “There’s plenty of room,” Susan said coldly, adding the items to the trunk.

  “I said, no!” Amanda snapped.

  “Fine.” Susan tossed the item she was holding back into the cart. “You deal with it.”

  Liam was impatiently waiting in the driver’s seat and started up the car. Amanda looked upwards at the blinking white light on the ship. Susan followed her gaze. “It means they’re unloading.”

  “Unloading?” Amanda looked at her with concern.

  “Yes.”

  “Unloading what?”

  “When the light began to flash, they began shuttling people to the planet.”

  “People?” Amanda hugged her arms across her chest.

  “Yes. My people,” Susan said. “You have no reason to fear us. If you keep to yourself…”

  “Aliens?” Amanda asked.

  “If that’s what you’d like to call us.”

  “What do your people look like? Do they look like you? Like us?”

  “Yes. Mostly. We have our physiological differences.”

  “What do you want with us?”

  Susan sighed, “Now isn’t the time or place. We need to move.” Her voice sounded tired and weary.

  “If your people aren’t a threat to us, then why are you so scared?”

  Susan slammed the trunk closed. “It’s not my people I’m afraid of. It’s what’s coming.”

  Amanda could see Bill at the other end of the parking lot, trying to open doors to the vehicles.
r />   “What’s coming? Please, tell me.”

  Susan leaned against the trunk. “It’s a long story.”

  Amanda put her hands on her hips. “Try me.”

  Susan knew she’d not get very far without giving Amanda some answers. She doubted she’d be able to sway her to give them the boy peacefully. But if she knew more about the situation, maybe she would be more understanding.

  “In our solar system, we have two life-sustaining, neighboring planets. For nearly a thousand years we’d been at war with one another until a treaty had been signed. The Order, our government, has been supplying the other planet with food. Their food supply had run out, and that was why we’d been at war. When we realized we couldn’t beat them, to keep the peace, we became their food supplier. Some of our people and their people have crossbred over the years increasing the population on both planets. After hundreds of years of feeding this other planet, our resources have been depleted. We created scientific colonies to branch out to find other life-sustaining planets. We were hoping to find a planet where we could blend in, unnoticed, and live in peace. That’s how we’d discovered Earth. Unfortunately, our rivals from the neighboring planet, who were growing impatient due to our lack of food to supply them with, tracked us here.”

  “I don’t understand.” Amanda was a little confused. “How does the virus fit in?”

  Susan pursed her lips together, then answered, “We were tainting the food source.”

  “Food source?” Amanda asked. As the meaning of the words set in, she gasped, “Omigod! You mean, they eat people? We're the food source?”

  Her mind automatically envisioned all of the infected people attacking the healthy people. Then she remembered the man in the alley, when she took her boyfriend, Jasper, to the hospital, she’d hidden behind a dumpster when one of the infected found her. He’d been eating a rat. It had still been alive. She could still hear the high pitched squeals ringing in her ears.

  “They consume their food alive,” Susan stated as if reading Amanda’s thoughts. “The half-breeds are more flexible in their diets. We… I can eat small animals amongst other things.”

  “Hurry up!” Liam yelled impatiently out the window.

  “You… you were providing them with people?” Amanda asked. “And you… you’re a half-breed?”

  Susan’s face hardened. She didn’t answer the question. She didn’t like admitting to being a mixture, especially since she had been conceived out of violence. “Since they are not a cannibalistic race, they do not eat each other or the half-breeds. Over hundreds of your Earth years, our two races have been interbreeding, leaving the population very few untainted people. The half-breeds can control their hunger, and eat other foods if they want to, but it takes discipline. Still, most prefer live animals. It depends on your bloodline and which planet you were raised on. Genetics can be tricky. On our planet, our animals have mostly diminished, and so have untainted people.”

  “So, this virus, what Benjamin has…?”

  “Was created from their DNA, yes. Unfortunately, there were unforeseen side effects. We didn’t realize the infection would be deadly to humans. We were trying to protect you from… them. Make you undesirable. And also protect our new found home.”

  “Their DNA, that’s why Benjamin can hear them?”

  “I believe so. They communicate telepathically. If he can hear them, that means their ships are growing closer. He may become dangerous. So far, he’s the only human we’ve come across to survive the infection. I’m sure there are others. We just haven’t had sufficient time to locate them. Our half-breeds are created from the conception of the two different races, and they are not telepathic. The boy… Benjamin… he’s unique. He may be the key to the survival of the human race, or he may be something else entirely. We won’t know without further research.”

  “Wait!” Amanda held up her hand palm out. “You’re telling me that they’re coming here? The other aliens…”

  “Yes. I must go.”

  Amanda placed a hand on Susan’s shoulder.

  “What…what are they?”

  “We call them the Scourge.” Susan’s eyes grew large. “And they’re hungry.”

  “Are you really trying to help us?”

  “Susan!” Liam hollered.

  “In a minute!” she barked at him. Impatiently, she answered Amanda. “It’s in our best interest to help you. If they cannot eat you or your animals, there is nothing to keep them here. And we need your resources. We have spent many years studying your people so that we can easily blend in. Since your population has mostly died out, we’re moving in, of course. No more hiding. No more needing to blend in. This will become our new home.”

  “What about the… the Scourge?”

  “We’re preparing for war.”

  “What if you lose the war?”

  Susan shrugged. “We'll have no choice, but to make a new peace offering.”

  Amanda’s stomach lurched. She knew what Susan was implying. What was left of the uninfected human race would become their peace offering if The Order lost the war to the Scourge. She looked around in a panic, but could no longer see Bill. She again looked up at the ship, staring at the little blinking light. Her mind was racing with this new information. The slamming sound of the car door snapped her out of the daze. Susan had scooted into the backseat, and Liam drove off. Amanda was left standing there, in shock, next to the shopping cart filled with supplies. The supplies all seemed useless now. She looked around for Benjamin. He was nowhere to be seen. Was he with Bill? Or was Benjamin in the car? She spun around feeling helpless as the car raced out of the parking lot.

  “Hey!” Bill called to her, rounding the building. “The shop!” he yelled. “I can just put on new tires.”

  Amanda ran in his direction. “Is Benjamin with you?”

  Bill hurried up his step. “What?”

  “Benjamin,” Amanda cried. Unexpected tears rolled down her cheeks. “Is he with you?”

  “No,” Bill said. “I thought he was with you.”

  Amanda began to hyperventilate. The new information she’d learned was sinking in, as well as the fact that two aliens, unlike those that have been hovering in ships for the last few weeks observing them, took Benjamin. Bill wrapped his arms around her. Amanda sobbed into his neck. “They took him then… they took him.”

  “Oh,” Bill said softly. He smoothed her hair with his hand. Amanda couldn’t believe how calm he was being. It was unlike him to be so quiet. He was temperamental and opinionated. She wondered if the aliens had done something to him. Maybe they’d sedated him.

  “We need to go after them!” she sobbed. “We need to get him back.”

  “It’ll be all right,” he said, kissing the top of her head, trying to comfort her. “Everything will be okay.”

  Disgusted by his calmness, Amanda pushed away from him. “What the hell is wrong with you? They took your son!”

  Bill nodded, solemnly. “I gave Liam permission to try to help him.”

  “What?” Amanda couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You did what?”

  Bill frowned. “You saw what he did to that guy.”

  “He was trying to protect me!” Amanda balled her hands up into tight fists. Her body was shaking with a mixture of anger and fright. “I can’t believe you’d let strangers take him! Especially those strangers. Did they tell you who they are? What they are? They’re the aliens that have been hovering in that ship you’ve been fuming about! They’re already transferring people, their people to live here, on our planet! Our home!”

  Bill looked down at his hands, and his shoulders slumped with defeat. He appeared both physically tired and emotionally drained. “Amanda,” his voice low, “come with me.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you.” She turned to walk away. She was going to go home. Maybe the walk would help her to clear her head.

  “Amanda, please,” Bill said coming up behind her. He grabbed hold of her hand. “I need to sho
w you something.”

  Not wanting to go anywhere with a man that would so easily give up his child to strangers, she stopped walking, because she felt she at least owed it to him to see what he wanted to show her. Bill had been doing his best over the last several weeks to help take care of her and Benjamin. But right now, she wondered if she even knew him at all. He was different; mellow. He was no longer the strong-willed, high strung, judgmental man she’d been living with the last few weeks. The Bill she knew, would not trust in aliens.

  “Please.” Bill squeezed her hand and led her back into the garage. Amanda averted her eyes and tried not to look at the body of the man that’d assaulted her. Dark, thick blood had pooled all around him and was congealing.

  Bill ushered Amanda back into the store. She followed him past the auto supply section, and they made their way to the toy aisles. Amanda stopped walking and sucked in a sharp breath. Her heart pounded rapidly in her chest. Blood was splattered all over the beige colored floor. She covered her mouth with her hand, stifling a gasp. One of the gangsters, the heavyset one, was lying on his back, eyes wide open. His stomach had been ripped to shreds, and his internal organs had spilled out onto the tiles. She got a glimpse of the man’s intestines and had to hold back the bile rising in her throat.

  “Oh my God,” she cried, turning away from the mess. “He did this? Benjamin?”

  Bill nodded. “The other man is over there if you’d like to see him. He’s worse off.”

  Amanda shook her head. She’d seen enough. She was thankful the overhead lights were still not working, and most of the man’s body was hidden in shadow. “He’s so little. I don’t understand. How’d he do this?”

  “When I brought Benjamin into the store, he stepped over this body, without batting an eye, to get to the toy he wanted,” Bill’s voice cracked. “There was no sign of remorse or fright or even disgust. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I can’t help him, Amanda. What am I supposed to do?”

  “I don’t know,” Amanda said. “But I can’t believe you’d give him to them? Those aliens… They’re the cause of this virus. They’re the ones that did this to him! Did Liam tell you that? Did he explain to you what happened?”