by Murr
“I’m not sure. I came in and found my parents…then something hit me…”
The attendant came back.
“Doctor.” She motioned for him to follow her.
Outside someone was yelling about getting everyone the fuck outta here.
Ruiz stepped back in.
“Ashley, we’re evacuating. Stay still. I’m going to get the details and I’ll be back with a wheelchair. Just be a few minutes. Nurse, stay with her please?”
“Absolutely,” the nurse said nervously.
Outside the bubble, people were furiously packing up laptops and medical equipment and running out. She saw a couple of elderly people that lived up the road being wheeled out. They were both gray, with yellow eyes. Ashley touched her face, wondering if she’d turned gray too.
There was more gunfire and then a small explosion. Vehicles were driving away. People were sobbing, while others ordered them to move it, get on the buses.
The nurse gently sat down on the edge of her bed and smiled at her through the plastic shield of the hazmat suit.
“What have I been exposed to?”
“Sweetheart, we don’t know. We had a man show up at the hospital and…before a doctor even had a chance to see him…he exploded in the waiting room. There weren’t many people in there at the time and no one can agree on what they saw…”
“Am I going to explode?”
Ashley touched her belly, which was still in pain, despite the morphine.
“I honestly have no idea.” The nurse gripped her hand. “But we’re working around the clock to figure this out and save you.”
“Thank you,” Ashley whispered.
There was shriek nearby and a clatter of things being knocked over.
“Somebody-nurse-help me!”
The nurse jumped up, “I’ll be right back!”
She ran out and soon Ashley could hear a struggle as they tried to get a patient restrained. The nurse screamed and something wet splashed on the plastic tarp nearby.
“What the fuck! Run!”
Ashley curled up in a fetal position, trying to control her breathing. There was a loud scuttling noise, something got knocked over and then the whole tent shook.
Outside, vehicles were speeding away and fewer people were nearby. The gunfire was further away and the tent was obviously empty now. Had they forgotten her?
She took a deep breath and forced herself to sit up. Her body was wracked with pain. There was immense pressure pushing against her intestines and it was getting hard to breath. She walked over to the opening in the bubble, hunched over, cradling her belly. The bubble next to her was ripped open and blood was everywhere. She moved as quickly as possible across the tent and into the open air, which was dark gray with smoke. To the west, the horizon was on fire. Getting her bearings, she realized her parents’ neighborhood was over there. She looked to her right and saw a bus pulling away, while another was idling.
Starting towards the remaining bus, she tried to call out for them to wait. When she was with ten yards of it, the bus began to rock and the people inside began screaming. The back third of the windows were suddenly sprayed with blood. Shots rang out from inside and more blood sprayed the other windows. Ashley began backing away when the doors swung open. A soldier fell out, trying to crawl away. Half of his face was torn off.
The soldier rolled onto his back, pulling his side arm and emptied the magazine into the bus. Ashley was heading for some jeeps when the soldier rolled on to his knees, loading a new clip. She looked back in time to see his body yanked back into the bus.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck…”
Clearing the other end of the tent revealed a new set of horrors; several people in hazmat suits were scattered on the ground, torsos exploded. Beyond that were body parts of soldiers. Abandoned vehicles, windshields smeared with blood. Ashley gasped, and something pushed into her chest. She punched herself in the belly, trying to scream, but no sound came.
She turned, looking for anyone, and between two abandoned trucks, she spotted a soldier crawling on his belly. He was stopped by yellowish, spindly leg with a sharp tip stabbing his thigh. He screamed in pain and horror as large, spider-like creature crawled from beneath one of the trucks.
Ashley dropped to her knees, digging her fingers into her belly, slack jawed and struggling to breath. The creature mounted the soldier. It had six legs and a bulbous body. Its face was full of tiny red eyes, all of which stared at Ashley as it’s mandibles opened wide. It dipped it’s face towards the base of the soldier’s spine and snipped his spinal column, pulling it up, out of his back, then began suckling the end, loudly slurping the juice. Ashley started crawling away as fast as she could go.
Ahead of her, a man in a hazmat suit emerged from a cloud of smoke, staggering. He went to one knee, fell backwards and started to spasm. A moment later, his torso exploded open and another one of those creatures emerged from his chest cavity. The thing made a warbling cry as it freed itself. Ashley went to move sideways and put her hand into the remains of another soldier. She would have vomited if there was anything left in her stomach. She stared at the goo dripping off her hand and resigned herself to her fate.
Then she saw his gun. She’d never touched a gun before, but she’d seen plenty on TV. She looked for the safety first, then pulled the top back.
The newborn creature crawled towards her, and the one inside her pushed against her pelvis. She aimed the gun at the newborn and let it get close enough that she wouldn’t miss. When the gun went off, it was so much louder and kicked so much harder then she expected. She nearly dropped the damn thing. The newborn’s head was split open and the body fell to the side and twitched.
She pushed the hot barrel to her belly, where a painful bulge was. She said the names of her family members and pulled the trigger.
Three legs punctured her back, belly, and ribcage as the creature jerked before it bled out inside her. Ashley fell back as darkness filled the edge of her vision. Helicopters flew by overhead.
The nurse suddenly fell to her knees beside Ashley. Ashley held out her hand, trying to focus. The nurse took her hand. The plastic shield of her mask was broken open. Tears ran down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry I left you…”
Ashley closed her eyes and shook her head. There was no reason to apologize.
“Its everywhere…the whole town…the military is using flamethrowers on evacuees. I heard the guy in charge say they were going to fire bomb the town…”
She squeezes Ashley’s hand.
…
Corry sat alone in the living room at four AM, watching the news footage of soldiers with flamethrowers burning strange creatures as they tried to escape from massive nests. There were shots of the downtown on fire, cars exploding. The anchorwoman said everything had to be burned to the ground to be sure.