Earth Man

by Richard Paul Evans

  Danny stood outside the doctor’s home, a large sign on the lawn made it clear this was the home and office of Dr. W. Rue. The parking space was designated FOR PATIENTS ONLY and was three cars wide. There was no car in the driveway, but it could have been in the garage. The house was fairly traditional, built in the 1980’s with a small pair of stone stairs leading up a slight hill to the front door. The white door matched the rest of the house and there was a gold doorbell on the right side. The garden next to the stairs had already died, the wilted flowers buried under the weeds. The lawn and bushes alongside the house were landscaped rather nicely. Someone had taken care of the property up until recently. Danny wondered how Dr. Rue found the time to keep the house in such good order. The answer, of course, was money. Obviously the young handsome doctor had been paying someone until recently to keep the property in shape; he might even have hired cleaners for the interior.

  ‘What must it be like to have the money to hire other people to do things for you, people like him and Helen’, Danny thought.

  The doorbell chimed and when no one answered right away, Danny rang it again twice because he was feeling jealous and annoyed. This was the guy who’d run over his son and he was twice as mad now as he’d been then. He was made at himself for not being more concerned when it had happened. There was so much going on and Danny felt as if he’d neglected his son so he decided he’d take it out on the doctor’s doorbell.

  Slowly the door opened and then stopped halfway. There was no one there and no noise came from inside the house. In fact Danny couldn’t hear any noise at all. It was as if the whole world had suddenly gone quiet, except for the squeaking of the door hinges as it hung partially open.

  “Dr. Rue?”

  OUR ENEMY IS HERE!

  The creature that was once Dr. Wilbur Rue huddled in the shadows of the front entrance, sniffing the air. The doctor and the Third had become as one now, the doctor was a part of the Growth.

  IT IS HIM!

  The beast lopped quickly down the basement stairs, frightened and nervous. It wore a black suit stained with old blood and a fresh, clean new medical coat. The creature could no longer stand erect; it had changed the inside of the human body so drastically that it had warped the doctor’s spine. It had been weeks since they’d faced each other but the monster still remembered Danny’s scent. His sudden appearance had caught it off guard and it was unsure of how to proceed. It had grown comfortable in its nest, taking its time murdering while enjoying the fruits of its labors.

  Danny waited only a few minutes before pushing the door open and slowly, cautiously entering the house. Although he knew he should call out again, something stopped him. The house looked posh, modern and clean but it felt wrong. Just to be safe Danny borrowed the abilities of a stray cat wandering nearby. As soon as the power surged through him his sense of foreboding grew even larger.

  “Dr. Rue?” Danny said, unable to bring himself to shout. He was frightened of what might answer. There was a smell in the air, a metallic, sweet smell mixed with something else, something alien. It was hard for him to make out details in the living room, the light coming into the house made his cat-like vision worse. Despite his poor vision, his sense of smell was enhanced and he knew right away where the Third had gone. It had left a chemical trail in the air leading him right to it. Following the scent to the basement door, Danny opened it and saw a trail of blood leading down the stairs. The blood had been cleaned off the top step only; the dried mess covered the stairs like a bad paint job.

  Danny stood in the doorway debating his next move. Sweat was already forming on his brow and when he ran his hand through his hair it came back wet. If it was truly one of those things down there, and he believed it was, then there was no one he could call for help. Neither the police nor the military would be able to take the monster he’d faced in the hospital, not without losing a lot more men than he’d be able to live with. Not when it was his job to face it and destroy it. Danny didn’t know that it had taken Dr. Rue; he just knew it had followed him back to town from the hospital. The more he smelled its rank odour coming from the basement the more he knew for certain what it was. It had almost killed him the last time, his powers had kicked in and saved him but he didn’t know if he could do that again. Then the creature made the decision for him, singing out to him with the best human voice it could muster. A twisted version of the doctor’s voice echoed up the stairs from the dark.

  “Come come, Mr. Boyle, come on down.” It said.

  Danny took a few steps down tentatively, one foot at a time.

  “We might as well talk before we commence with the hostilities. I am the Third of my kind to reach this world. You may address me as such.”

  “You’re certainly more talkative this time.” Danny said as he casually walked around the basement.

  It was taking all Danny’s courage to keep his fear locked down in his gut. He wanted to learn as much as he could about the creature, about what it could do, before trying to destroy it. He pushed all the fear down, almost physically swallowing it as he put each shoe in front of the other. As his feet touched the basement cement he saw what the Third had done to the doctor’s home; it had turned it into a slaughterhouse. There was death all around him; he knew it not just with his human senses, but with his heightened powers as well. It took all his will to keep his eyes on the monster but he could see the blood and gore out of the corners of his eyes.

  Even though the monster was almost folded over at the waist due to its twisted spine, it still shared the physical characteristics of Dr. Rue. Beneath its skin something seemed to move and pulse, things pressed out from inside making it appear as if the doctor’s skin was shifting and swelling.

  “Consuming your species has not been overly difficult. I can speak now, with a little more clarity. Do you know what we are?” It asked.

  “Yeah, some kind of space virus,” Danny replied confidently.

  The creature stood up erect, snapping the bones in its back. It then cracked its neck as it were waking up in the morning, a casual imitation of a human gesture that made it all the more revolting. It looked Danny right in the eyes as it adjusted its doctor coat and the human skin it wore. The confidence Danny was feeling when he walked in had evaporated.

  Two bodies, one of a large man in overalls, the other an employee of Molly Maid based on her shirt were chained up and hanging from the far wall. Their heads were removed and sat on the table in front of their corpses. Their organs were also removed, sealed in plastic bags and sitting in Tupperware trays next to the heads. There were no bones left anywhere in the bodies, the bones lay in a pile far across the basement where Dr. Rue’s personal gym used to be. The bones, as well as torn clothing and insulation, formed a small padded layer on top of the workout equipment where the Third slept. Danny could see two human skulls next to the compression in a pile of bloody clothes; a shape left by the creature’s sleeping body. Although there was blood everywhere the hanging bodies were spotlessly clean. The corpses had been stitched up, washed and then hung like laundry. The Third had taken them apart with the precision of a surgeon.

  Danny walked around the makeshift operating table and the creature circled opposite him, blocking his route back to the stairs. He needed to know who its victims were. Kelowna was not a large town and he was certain he would know them. At first he thought the heads were misshapen or crushed but when he looked down at them, squished like soccer balls, he knew what had happened. The doctor, the monster, had somehow removed the skull from the heads. The skin and soft tissue lay there like a Halloween mask. Not only was the Third killing people, but it was experimenting with their bodies.

  The changes in the monster from the raging thing in the hospital that had taken his arm, to this smooth skilled killer, was more frightening than anything else Danny had experienced. Every nerve in his body buzzed with energy at the creature’s very presence. They circled each other in the basement like dancers, each one taking stock of the other. They
knew each other now, both of them had become greater than they were before. Both had been babies when they’d first faced off; the alien new to Earth and Danny fresh from the woods and as scared as a fawn. Each of them with a mission of their own; chosen as warriors to defend their kingdoms, a mission that said they must destroy each other. Neither one of them had a problem with that.

  “I have learned much from this host but it is almost empty now,” the Third said. It fought to keep itself erect as it rocked back and forth, twitching with hungry anticipation.

  “I am the Third of the Growth, warrior class battle drone. In the tongue of this planet’s dominant species, I claim this Earth as ours.”

  Danny had already absorbed as many animal abilities as he could in the surrounding area. He gritted his teeth and raised his hands like a boxer, holding them in front of his face.

  “Just shut up and fight her murdering, disgusting plague.”

  Two black tentacles burst from the monsters chest in response, armed with jagged spikes on the end. The cat-like abilities Danny had absorbed gave him more than enough time to dodge underneath them and roll away as they ripped up the drywall behind him. Old clutter in the basement was shredded and tossed about as the tentacles flailed back and forth. Danny ducked behind the operating table and flipped it over, using it as cover. The energy gathered around his hands, creating simulations of cat paws over top of his own hands. The paws could stretch, touch or release their claws on command, as natural to him as his own hands. As the tentacles whipped overhead he leaped onto the flipped table and launched himself at the Third. The creature did not move as Danny bounced off it, landing on his feet and slashing at the Third with lightning speed. With one backhand motion the monster connected with Danny as he leapt in the air. Danny was launched backwards, crashing into the wall above the stairs and landing on them awkwardly. He avoided the tentacles flying toward him by scampering quickly up the stairs to the main floor. There was no safety to be had there, however, as the tentacles burst up through the floorboards. Only his cat-like reflexes kept him moving, leaping from spot to spot toward the window as the wood exploded beneath him. The floor ripped and collapsed as the monster tore through the supports, just inches behind him as he ran. Leaping through the window he felt the glass cut into his hands and face, but his leather jacket protected him from serious injury. The tentacles suddenly wrapped around his feet, he’d been too slow recovering and the monster dragged him hard back inside the house.

  “Don’t. Run. Away!” the creature roared.

  Danny sunk his claws into the window frame, the creature pulling on his legs. The tentacles released him and he landed on the splintered wooden floor inside. It pointed the stingers right at him as the tentacles flew toward him but this time he was faster. His claws lashed out and hooked into the tentacle, with the other hand he sliced through the black flesh. As the creature pulled back the tentacle split in half. The Third pulled the tentacles back into its body, the tip of the injured one dangling off the end.

  As it reabsorbed its injured limb back inside its body, Danny charged at it, slicing the last tentacle clean through. He hit it hard and low with his shoulder, both of the crashing through the wall into the adjacent office. The two warriors smashed through a cheap computer desk, tripping and separating away from each other. Pieces of smashed computer equipment was scattered across the floor.

  Danny was up first and grabbed the large recliner chair nearby, smashing it over the alien’s back. Tossing the splintered chair away, he kicked the Third as hard as he could, catching it in the jaw with the toe of his hiking boot. There was a loud crack and the creature grabbed its mouth, stumbling back into the wall. Long black nails dug into the plaster as the creature pulled itself back to its feet. Black slime poured from its mouth, splashing unto the floor. Danny stopped in his tracks and the creature turned toward him, smiling.

  The alien’s grin split its face in half; the broken jaw fell off revealing a mouth of small sharp teeth. Ant-like pincers burst from its neck, large vicious mandibles that clattered and snapped. He punched it hard but it took the blow and hit him back directly in the chest even harder. With the air knocked from his lungs he stepped back but it came at him, hitting him a second time. This time it caught him under the chin with an uppercut and he was sent flying back. His teeth had banged together so hard his vision went black and the pain was overwhelming. Suddenly the Third lifted him up and threw him through the outside wall of the house. Landing hard in the dead garden out in the front yard, Danny struggled to remain conscious. Blood dribbled out of the corners of his mouth and he wiped it off with the back of his jacket sleeve. Something inside him had broken, but he could see red in his eyes. He could see power.

  The front door of the house exploded into splinters of wood that sailed through the air over Danny’s head as he got to his feet. As the alien walked toward him, it rolled up the sleeves of its coat just as long razor sharp blades formed along his blackened forearms. The doctor’s suit was shredded and it kicked off its shoes, revealing mutated feet with thick claws. Under the coat the shoulders seemed to swell and the stitching on the left side burst, revealing armoured shoulder plates. The eyes that had once belonged to Dr. Rue were now completely black, leaking the same oily gunk that made up the creature’s body. It ran down from the corner of Wilbur Rue’s old eyes like tears.

  Danny stumbled to his feet, bravely facing it as it walked down the stairs toward him. His punch missed and the creature slashed him across the chest with its forearm blades, leaving a deep wound that spurted blood. He still had his flying ability so he launched into the air but the Third was prepared, it grabbed his ankle and held on tight. Kicking it did nothing and he could not pull away and it pulled him slowly closer. Danny roared like a madman but the creature simply dug its nails into his ankle and pulled him down until it could sink its teeth and mandibles into his shin bone. The pain was tremendous and Danny screamed, but he was cut short as the creature slammed him to the ground.

  His injuries were so severe, all over his body, that he could not even register them all anymore; all he wanted was to get to his feet. The alien had slammed him so hard he’d sunk three inches into the soft grass. It climbed on top of him before he could get up, pressing down on his chest with tremendous weight. Spikes jutted from its legs, tearing into his side and hips. Danny knew it was over, he could not struggle or move his arms. It was too heavy and it had pinned him like a child. The Third reached down, opened Danny’s jacket and picked at the perfect slice across his chest. It reached into his shirt and tore a strip of flesh off, holding it in the air over its mouth.

  “You are the second champion I have defeated,” the Third said, “I wonder how you’ll taste in comparison.”

  A putrid yellow human tongue lashed out and slurped down the small piece of Danny’s skin. As it swallowed Danny bucked and fought with all his might. The creature waited until he had exhausted himself and then began to slash at him with its nails. His leather jacket took much of the attack but he instinctively put up his hands to protect his face. The nails sliced through his hands and wrists and one blow caught him across the face, slashing open his forehead. Suddenly there was so much blood in his eyes that he could not see. He felt the creature shift, pulling back its arm for the final blow. Then it was suddenly gone and the air rushed back into his lungs.

  As Danny rolled over on his stomach, wiping the blood from his face, he saw the creature land a dozen feet away. Danny covered his eyes from the blinding sun as a shadow fell over him. He turned and saw the deer standing there in the sun like a mythical beast sent by the Gods. It had come to save him and it had grown even larger than before. The antlers were at least eight feet wide and as thick as steel cables. The Third roared in pain and kicked at the dirt as Danny got to his feet. The blood was so heavy from his face wound that he had to constantly wipe his eyes just to see. The blood caked his hands, front and back.

  The deer lowered its antlers and charged at the alien monster,
kicking up chunks of the lawn under its huge hooves. There was a sickening squishing sound as the deer impaled the Third on its antlers, but the alien was still alive. It kicked and screamed, digging its feet into the ground and wrestling with the deer. It began to pull itself closer to the deer’s head, pushing the antlers further through its own chest. The deer tried to shake it loose or pull free but the creature was too strong, too heavy to be moved. The deer had trapped itself and it snorted angrily at its predicament. Danny could hear the alien’s mandibles clicking hungrily and the deer was frightened. He pushed out with his powers, farther and stronger than he ever had before. The Third seemed to ooze over the antlers, forcing the deer to the ground. Everything was happening too fast for him. The alien grabbed the deer’s head and pushed it down. The poor animal began to squeal.

  Danny couldn’t see what was happening; the Third had its back to him when it took the deer down. All he could see were the deer’s feet kicking frantically. A red glow formed on Danny’s skin, trailing off in wisps like steam. There was a pool of blood beneath him, soaking into the grass. Animals were all around him but he couldn’t think of any way to use them, there was nothing he could imagine that would give him the power to conquer the Growth. Deer, squirrel, bear, beaver, ant, wolverine. There seemed to be nothing he could use, nothing that could save them.

  The deer let out a shriek as it died and Danny knew he would soon be next. With his injuries he could barely move, there was no way in hell he was going to run anywhere. A wail of police sirens rose in the distance, heading toward him. With houses on either side of them someone must have called the police; it was the middle of day on a sunny Saturday afternoon and Danny realized he was not alone. As the Third began to pull its body back into a human shape, Danny looked around him. A woman sat in the window in the house on the left, a phone stuck to her head. In the kitchen behind her, her dinner had escaped. The lobster had crawled off the counter and was searching along the floor for water. Lobsters have armour. Lobsters also have claws. The Third turned around and adjusted its doctor coat. It was all theatre, the monster had completely consumed Dr. Rue and it used his gestures to mock his victim’s species. It brushed back its human hair with an armoured black hand, an obscene gesture that imitated the man whose body it had stolen. Danny lifted his hands again into the same boxing stance as before. This time giant red claws formed over his arms. The red energy burning through him created armour over his entire body, only his face was clear. Danny and the Third collided, ripping and tearing at each other.