by Ian Woodhead
All the while, that smug fucker who appeared out of nowhere, stood there, with that familiar shit-eating grin plastered on his mug, complimenting his men on their expert shooting. Laughing and joking with them as his unit turned this town into a vast killing ground.
Where was he when Lovejoy was taken by that beetle? The poor bastard had just walked past a record shop when those black legs, covered in serrated barbs snapped out from inside that smashed shop-front and pulled the shrieking boy into the darkness. Yates had stood there, like some useless clown while shouting out that he was dry. Lovejoy had flown past the captain and straight into the shop, closely followed by Dallas and his remaining unit. They had found what remained of Lovejoy and Davis at the back of the shop. There hadn't been enough human parts left to pack into a travel suitcase.
They had spotted the murderer of their two men right at the back of the shop, huddled into a corner. Henderson shone a torch on it. The damn thing didn't even twitch, too busy pushing small lumps of bloodied meat into its mouth. Henderson had taken care of that vile creature with a burst of gunfire.
Dallas tapped Jenkins on the shoulder. “Come on, soldier. Let's get this done and dusted.”
The man nodded. He stood up and followed the Captain as they slowly made their way through the junk shop. Dallas stopped beside an open door. It just occurred to him that during the slaughterfest, that other captain hadn't fired a single shot. Did that mean the man was dry before he even met up with his unit or had he been lying? If the latter, then he was responsible for the deaths of two of his men come to think of it, even if Yates was dry, the coward still allowed them to die. Hell, Lovejoy must have been out as well but that didn’t stop him from trying to rescue his mate.
"Question for you, Jenkins. Can you recall anyone, apart from Henderson, discharging their weapons whilst inside that record shop?"
The soldier shook his head. "No, sir. I can’t. Why, is it important?"
“No. I'm just wondering about noise. About how much it would matter to our current situation if we just put a bullet into those insectoid heads instead of stabbing the bastards.” Dallas had no idea why he just lied. “Don't worry about it, Jenkins. It's probably best to stick to the plan and save our ammo.” If he shared his doubt with either Jenkins or Henderson, the Captain would have wished that beetle had got him. “You know, I bet that somewhere in here there could be a whole host of weaponry we could utilise. Crossbows and axes spring to mind. Maybe even a katana.” Dallas knew that they had no time to start rummaging through all this junk in the hope they might stumble over another weapon but he thought best to voice the notion simply to take the other man's mind away from killing Yates.
“Don't worry about me,” said Jenkins, pulling an eight inch matt-black combat knife out from a leather sheaf. “This darling is eager to bite into the flesh of our enemy.” He slowly smiled. “Whether it's insect or human. It'll make no difference to her.”
Hell, so much for taking his mind away from killing the other Captain. Jenkins froze. He then dropped to the floor, pulling the Captain with him. Dallas was more than aware that the young soldier's eyesight was keener than anyone else’s in the unit so stayed quiet and waited until Jenkins was ready to explain his actions.
He didn't have to wait too long. The man pointed to the top of the wall, close to the corner of the ceiling. Despite the helpful pointer, Dallas couldn’t see anything but blackness and the vague shapes of collected junk stuck on shelves that probably hadn't been moved for decades.
A small circular shadow unpeeled itself from the top of the wall and dropped onto the shelf below. His eyes had now adjusted to the change in light. Dallas could now make out a saucer-shaped object using its flexible body to undulate to the edge of the shelf. The thing moved like a damn caterpillar! It fell onto the top of an ancient TV then slid over the surface before bending over and moving down until it had reached the screen where it stopped.
“Just what in fuckery is that!” hissed Dallas.
Jenkins moved his shoulders a few inches closer to the wall. He lifted his knife arm, just as the thing on the front of the TV started to change. Its dark flesh peeled away in four quarters to reveal a dome the size of a dinner plate. To Dallas, it looked exactly like a fly's compound eye. He snatched the knife out of the other soldier's fingers, ran over to the abomination and slashed across. The blade sliced it clean in half with the lower portion slopping onto the carpet beside the TV. A rancid, hot grease odour filled the air causing Dallas to stagger back.
Jenkins gently took the knife back. “We had better shift our arses, sir. Pound to a penny says that wasn't the only one in here, whatever it was.”
Dallas slowly walked back to the TV. Both pieces were now on the floor. The smell wasn't so vile now. “I think it was a camera,” he muttered darkly. “A living biological camera.” He crouched beside the small corpse and despite hearing Jenkins muttering 'gross' under his breath, Dallas carefully pulled the skin back around the creature's edges. His fingers brushed over something warm and sticky. He then made the mistake of pressing the tips of his forefinger and thumb together and discovered to his horror that he couldn't pull them apart!
“Captain, what's wrong, are you alright?”
With a little patience, help from his knee and his other hand, Dallas broke the hold. “Come and have a look at this, Jenkins. I think you'll find it rather interesting.”
“Do I have to?” he replied, approaching anyway. “That thing smells like shit, or something that Henderson cooked.” Jenkins crouched beside the Captain. “Yeah, that definitely looks like something Henderson fried up alright.”
“Pass me your torch.” When Jenkins dutifully handed it over, Dallas turned it on and played the beam across where the soldier first spotted this thing. What he saw only confirmed his suspicions.
“What does that look like to you, Jenkins?”
“Spider webs,” he replied. “From a great big sodding spider. Christ, I wouldn’t like to meet that bastard in real life.”
“I think we just did.” Dallas moved the beam, First to his previously stuck fingers and then back to the remains of the creature. "As mad as it sounds. I think this thing is part spider."
“Oh yeah, I mean that's totally insane. I mean how could a walking eye be part spider? It just doesn't make sense!”
“Yeah. Enough with the sarcasm.” He played the light across the top of the wall again. That webbing wasn't there just for the sake of decoration. Dallas moved a little closer. He grabbed an old metal fire poker. He used the tip to tease away a section of thread and discovered grey fur underneath. “Bloody hell. I think that's a cat inside all that stuff, the poor sod,” he muttered. Dallas turned to Jenkins. “You know, if you hadn't seen that thing with your super-sensitive eyes, it might have been us up there.” The thought of suddenly finding that strong and sticky spider-like thread shooting out from the blackness and covering his face made him want to throw up.
“Yeah well, Captain. You can pin a medal on my chest if we survive this. In the meantime, should we not be finishing off our current mission before, you know, more insect giant eyed spider things catch up with us?”
Dallas shook his head. “I don't think we should go anywhere. In fact, I don’t even believe that there is a threat in the next shop. I didn't see anything.” He paused and used the time to wipe some gunk off his hands. “I mean, we only have the captain's say so and I'm beginning to doubt every word that man spews out.” He leaned a little closer. “That bastard knows far more than he's letting on. You must have noticed that.”
Jenkins nodded. “Hell yeah. That fucker even knew what those insect soldiers were called. What was it again? Mandtils or Mandril. Something like that. How could he know, unless he's already been briefed over what to expect?”
“You don't trust him?” Dallas knew the answer before the soldier even spoke, but he felt it needed saying. Especially considering what he was planning. Christ. Dallas couldn’t believe he was even thinking of betr
aying a fellow officer.
“I wouldn't trust that twat as far as I could throw him. Excuse my French.”
“So, you don't think I'm being suspicious but who's to say that Yates didn’t know about those living spider camera things, and he wanted them to snare us so we'd be out of his hair?” Dallas passed the torch back to Jenkins. “With us out of the way, he'd only have Henderson to deal with. That wouldn’t be too difficult. All the captain had to do was order the man into here to see where we'd gone and...” Dallas clicked his fingers. “That's the end of the line for all of us. We'd be sharing the fate of poor Tiddles up there.”
“I don't understand why though? What the fuck have we done wrong?”
“I have no idea. I suggest we ask him before the devious bastard realises that we're wise to his game. Shine the torch over there in the corner.” Harsh white light picked out the two objects he needed. Dallas grabbed his goodies. “Give me a few seconds then I want you to shoot into the wall twice. You got it?”
He nodded. Dallas spun around and ran over to a glass cabinet full of stuffed toys. He reached it at the same time that Jenkins fired. Just as he expected, a moment later, the shop door flew open. Thanks to Jenkins’ torch, he saw Henderson run into the shop first. Yates followed a few seconds later.
“What the fuck are you playing at, Jenkins?” hissed Yates. “Did I not specifically stress that this was a silent op? Where the fuck is your Captain?”
Dallas sneaked up behind him and pulled the man's pistol from his holster. When Yates spun around, Dallas pointed the man's gun at his face. As Dallas had suspected the man jumped back and threw his arms into the air.
“What is this? You dare threaten another officer?”
Dallas chuckled. “And how exactly am I supposed to do that with an empty pistol?” He lowered the gun. “Wait, that reminds me. I have something else for you.” He reached behind his legs and pulled out a supermarket carrier bag. He gave it a little shake. “Ugly looking fucker it is, Captain. Great big eye in the middle. Do you want to hold it?” Dallas threw the bag at the other captain.
“Get it the fuck away from me!” he yelled, batting it to the side. “I don't want to be caught in its dirty thread!”
Dallas couldn't quite believe that he'd just been proven right. He looked straight at Jenkins to discover the soldier already had his gun trained on the captain's head. “Oh dear. Caught out with your own cowardly babbling. Looks like you are in a bit of a pickle, my friend.”
“What the frig is going on here?” Henderson looked like he wasn't sure who to aim his gun at.
“That man is guilty of murder.”
“What nonsense. Come on, Henderson. Isn't it clear that these two have taken leave of their senses? Dallas you're making no sense.”
He saw the man's gaze dart from Dallas to the contents of the carrier bag. “Henderson. This man practically killed our unit.”
“That's bullshit!”
“Just one more word,” growled Jenkins. “Go on. You lying, murdering sack of shit. Give me a fucking excuse to put a hole in your head.”
“Davis shouldn't have died. This captain here could have killed that beetle there and then. If he had, Lovejoy would still be with us too.”
“He said he was dry.”
Dallas nodded. “Yeah you're right, Henderson. I seem to recall those words leaving his gob as well.” Dallas raised the pistol, aimed at the bag and fired. Two sharp reports blasted through the shop. “Oh, it looks like I've just killed a lampshade.”
“I said no weapons fire,” said Yates, glaring at Dallas.
He aimed the pistol at the captain again. “If you don't start being a little more cooperative, there'll only be one more shot, Yates. After that.” he shrugged. “Well, it won't matter to you anymore.”
“Jesus, you really are a fucking idiot.” Yates snatched the torch out of Jenkins’ fingers. “What is wrong with you lot? Is it that hard to follow an order? Thanks to your incompetence, you have killed us all. I don't just mean us either. I mean our entire species.”
“What are you babbling on about now?”
Yates moved back, not stopping until he reached the wall. “There's seven rounds left in that pistol, Captain. You had better make them count.”
“Oh, I will,” replied Dallas. “Trust me, though. I only need one.”
Yates shone the torch into the corridor. “Bet your life on that? By the way, can you hear some clicking?”
The white light cleared away most of the shadows down there, only for several more long shadows to take their place. “Company!” shouted Dallas, at the sight of the insect solders running towards them. “Make your shots count!”
He threw himself down and managed to get off six shots before he ran out. Still, Dallas took down three of them. He rolled to the side. A moment later, an energy bolt fired from the last insect soldier melted the floor where he'd just been lying.
Henderson took out the remaining enemy with a shot to the head. Dallas got to his feet. “Jenkins, watch him!” He hurried down the corridor, stepping over the insect corpses. Despite the proliferation of alien weaponry scattered across the floor and the fact that they were all now running on empty, he gave the stuff a wide berth.
Yates warned them all against the temptation to mess with the enemy's staff-like weapons, claiming that they were 'infected' with a kind of computer intelligence which developed a bond to their owner, and if anyone else just happened to fire them, the staff acted like a betrayed mistress and acted accordingly. As all this 'info' came from the traitorous captain, Dallas should have treated it with the scorn it deserved but deep in his gut, this is one truth nugget that he did believe.
The corridor led directly into another shop. This one sold shoes. They were everywhere, apart from the facing wall. Something else now occupied that space. Dallas thought he couldn't become any more traumatised by what he'd seen during this short but violent conflict. Dallas had just been proven wrong. He stopped at the entrance, not wanting to venture further inside, not after what his eyes were showing him.
He saw dozens of box shaped structures about the size of a coffee table stacked on top of each other from floor to ceiling. Dallas guessed the boxes weren't just consigned to a single layer either. There could be hundreds there. That terrible thought alone made him avert his eyes until the slow churn in his gut settled down. These cubes were wrapped in the spider silk but not opaque enough to work out their grisly contents. Each one contained a human being, somehow compressed, stretched and distorted in order to fit the shape.
He saw the shapes of faces pressed into the silk and they were screaming. Even from where he stood, Dallas could still make out their muffled sounds. How could they still be alive?
"Oh my God!"
Dallas spun around and found the others had joined him. Jenkins held a gun against the other captain's temple while Henderson just stared at all the human-shaped cubes.
"Sorry, sir," said Jenkins. "He insisted that we brought him."
"So you can gloat?" Dallas took the gun from Jenkins, intending to shoot the bastard right there. He might have even gone through with the task if it hadn’t been for the sudden change in, not only his expression, but his entire posture. The man looked broken. "Go ahead. You'll be doing me a favour."
Dallas lowered the gun. "We were supposed to die in here."
"My God. At last he gets it," replied Yates. "Of course you were supposed to die in here. Your lives were over the moment the fucking idiots at command decided we needed help. Now, thanks to your cowboy antics, you have ruined what little chance we had of containing this. You killed their guardians. Now the Mantil will know we still have the means of hurting them despite their best efforts to wipe us out."
"Sir, something's happening outside." Henderson slowly walked through the shoe shop, towards the front door. He stopped directly in front of the window. "What the fuck?"
Dallas joined him. He couldn't quite believe his eyes either. A pale blue wall of light was r
ising from the ground. It was surrounding the entire town! Within seconds, the light had completely enclosed them, meeting in the middle to form a gigantic half dome.
"This is what we feared. They have sealed us in and ensured nothing can enter, at least, not until the Mantil forces are ready to start their invasion." Yates turned around. "These things, these cubes are for when the huge amount of cocoons hatch. Those things are everywhere. Distributed around the town."
"What are we going to do now?"
Yates smiled at Henderson. "We die. Look above us. Did you think that their precious cargo had only one type of creature guarding them?"
Dallas lifted his gaze to the ceiling and saw the whole surface had started to ripple.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Unlikely Allies
Ellis had to bite her bottom lip to stop the scream from escaping, yet her action did not stop a quiet whimper leaving her mouth. Jason squeezed her hand a little tighter. She couldn't work out whether it was for reassurance or as a warning not to make any more noise. Like it even mattered. Hell, she just couldn't help herself. It wasn't even the utter terror of being found by the bastards currently hunting them which made her cry out. Ellis guessed that at least that would have given her some kind of justification. It was this resin stuff which had pushed her fear levels through the roof.
A few minutes before this area started to, as Jason would say, get a little lively, her boyfriend had finally succumbed to Lorraine's relentless questioning and told them a little more of what to expect. He explained that the Mantil and the other race had developed a kind of organic technology and they had no moral code regarding the sanctity of life. He then stopped and told Aroon that they were carnivores whereas their allies ate the green stuff. The Mantil's products were so much more insidious than anything the other race could develop. Jason explained that some of their creations were able to infect the living with anything from spores ejected from creatures blended against the wall to flying predators which live off the giant wildlife which take a fancy to any other organism that just happened to stray too close.