by Jesse Wilson
“Logan, you don’t need to be afraid anymore. This is the next stage of life. We can all be together. Equality humanity has fought so hard for is being given to us as a gift,” Tina said as she stood up from bed, placing her left hand on his shoulder.
“You’re not you anymore. You’re infected with that alien slime from that thing. We won’t be equals; we’ll just be slaves. That’s not you talking,” Logan said, but he knew he was finished.
“It is me talking, dear, but I feel like I can see everything. Of course, I do have this nagging voice in the back of my head to take a bite out of you, but it’s distant,” Tina said, puzzled at what all of this meant. Logan didn’t take his eyes off of her yellow eyes and stood up, backing away from the three of them.
“Let me go and run away. That guy is here to kill you. Run and hide away from everyone. Whatever this is, isn’t fully active. You don’t have to bite or infect anyone else; we can fix this,” Logan pleaded with her and Tina looked at the struggle going on. “Yes, I think running for my life would be a great idea if I don’t say so myself,” she replied to him with an evil-looking smile.
Logan shivered as she tore through the side of the tent.
“See you around, Phoenix; hopefully, sooner than later,” she said to him and walked through the opening. Logan watched her leave and turned his attention to the fight he ignored up until now.
The burned man had superhuman strength as all the infected did.
“Kill me? You really want to kill me?” he said with a twisted anger as he held the figure in black off the ground with one arm. The figure in black was slamming its fist down as hard as it could to try and escape, but it was useless. Logan saw the weird-looking weapon on the ground. He knew that trying to talk to the alien blood infected victim was usually useless, until now.
There was no connection with the stranger, so he picked up the gun, pointed it, and pulled the trigger. The weapon fired a light blue ray and struck the man. There was a quick flash of light and the wrapped man was frozen solid. The figure slammed down on the arm again and shattered it at the elbow this time, falling to the ground. The hand was still attached to the neck.
In a second, the mask was taken off; those frozen fingers were removed and the figure was to revealed to be a black-haired, green-eyed she.
“Thanks for the save,” she said to a still-stunned Logan who stood there, still taking in everything that happened. She walked to him and took the weapon out of his hands.
“Where is the other one?” she asked him, only seeing a hole in the side of the tent. “Damn it, she’s gone, but she didn’t infect you. Without the core body active, the influence must be weaker,” she said to herself and looked at Logan.
“For your sake, I hope that you didn’t just end the whole human race,” she said to him and was clearly angry. “At least one threat is taken care of and the other one is on the run. Until you hear from me, no one gets out of this place,” she said to him and walked out of the tent out of the hole Tina made. James and the medic, seeing her leave, assumed it was safe to enter to see what happened.
James had recovered, but his throat still burned with each breath.
“You didn’t die, that’s good,” he said to Logan as all three of them were looking at the frozen, steaming statue of a wrapped man before them.
“No, but part of me wishes I had,” Logan said, feeling responsible for things beyond his control.
“Come on, let’s get you two to another tent,” Baldwin said, impressed that the elite Chemical Dragon soldier turned out to be a woman and not a man like she expected it to be. She tried to keep calm despite everything she had just seen, but it wasn’t proving to be easy. She was hoping the mysterious stranger could handle it from here.
“We need an infection cleanup crew in Tent Six, Section One,” Baldwin said into her radio. She couldn’t keep her eyes off the black-and-red frozen fragments on the tent floor, realizing how warm it was all of the sudden.
Chapter Forty-Five
“What do you mean there is a refugee camp set up outside of Vegas? I gave orders to exterminate anyone they found coming out of that fire,” Carr said and slammed his fist against the railing of his bed with his free hand as he held the phone in the other.
“Did you really think Americans could be ordered to kill other Americans just like that? Really?” Sterling said to himself as he sat in the room with his friend in a rage. He was immediately happy that he wasn’t able to be heard.
“I don’t care what it takes. All it’s going to take is one of those things to get free and—” he was cut off again. “What do you mean there are reports of an outbreak in the desert? Are you telling me that we destroyed a city for nothing?” Carr asked in frustration. Whoever he was talking to was not giving him any news he wanted to hear, and if he was getting it, well, it wouldn’t be long before the general media figured it out too.
Sterling, despite not wanting to be so brutal, felt his heart sink when he heard those words.
“You don’t even understand how bad this is going to get. We have to stop this at any cost,” Carr said into the cell phone and hung up but didn’t throw it.
“Tim, you’ve got to take it easy. You were almost killed today,” Jim said to him, but knew it was pointless.
“I was barely hit. That reporter just got me in the shoulder. I’ll be fine, Mother, but we can’t rest until this threat is contained,” he said, paused, and continued.
“I fear the whole west coast is lost to us if we can’t take this threat down. Martial law is declared, but it’s not going to be enough. This black slime is smart; it’ll get around the defenses we set up, I just feel it,” Tim said and was thankful no one else was in the room.
“Listen, you get some rest, and I’ll take over for a while. Running a country isn’t so hard. It’s all a matter of relocating resources and putting in entertainment to kill riots,” Jim said, and the president rolled his eyes.
“Yes, if only it were that easy. All you need to do is make sure that everything west of Vegas is ready for open war. Every base should already be on high alert; just make sure that everyone is ready for anything. Keep the readiness alert as low key as possible. The last thing we need is a riot in the cities for whatever reason,” Tim said, and despite the morphine drip, he still appeared to be clear minded.
“Don’t worry, you get some rest, and I’ll take over. I’m the best vice president you could ever ask for,” he said with a smile and continued. “The secret service is just dying to get me into a safe place because of what happened, but I needed to make sure you were going to live, you know?” Jim asked and smiled.
“I know. Those pesky agents are always doing the best they can. It is so annoying in a crisis,” Tim said and smiled, but that smile faded when he turned on the television and he saw they were still covering the destruction of Vegas.
“Don’t even say I shouldn’t watch this. This is the best way to keep informed sometimes. Get out of here, Jim,” Tim said to him and waved him off weakly.
“See you soon,” Jim said and stood up to walk out of the room.
An agent in black met him there and the two of them were quickly off to some secret bunker under Washington D. C. He got into a limo and picked up the phone.
“Get me Fort Poseidon. We have a situation,” he said into it with as much confidence as he could muster.
The agents sitting across from him had no idea what he was talking about, but didn’t show any kind of emotion over it.
“Trust me, it’s needed. Code Delta Green X-ray SCP 001,” Jim said into the phone.
“Verified. Great. Put me on hold, and I’ll make sure it’s the last time you ever do,” he said. It was time to stop depending on tactics from the last century. It was time to get smart, and Jim thought he knew just how to do that.
***
At the same time on Nurid, Ulrix sat in the captain’s chair of the battle cruiser. He flipped a button and at once connected to the communication receivers to all the other s
hips.
“Hello, everyone. Before we get underway, it is traditional to give some kind of confidence-raising speech. Unfortunately, I don’t have any words that can help with that. All I know is that we are flying to our deaths potentially. This weapon we face is unlike any most of you have ever seen. So, uh, to use an earthling expression, let’s give it hell,” Ulrix said and paused for a second.
“Good luck, and may none of your ships breakdown,” he finished and clicked the communication.
“Alright, let’s go on a ride. Take us out at mark six and let’s hope the rest of them can keep up,” he said to his second-in-command as the ship’s engines powered up with a distinct vibration.
The massive ship pulled out of the space dock followed by fifteen others of similar size but vastly different designs.
“Sir, what is Earth even like?” the second-in-command asked him. It was the one thing most of the people on the bridge and the ship had wondered.
“Earth is a chaotic place, not so different than most other planets you’ve been to. From the reports, I read humans are generally good but are a little bit insane. I guess we’ll all find out together when we get there. They don’t know we are on the way, so I suspect it will be a bit of surprise for them when we show up with all of our ships like this,” Ulrix replied to him. He only hoped that they could beat Garmonbozia to the planet to set up a defense of some kind.
Chapter Forty-Six
“What is your favorite movie?” Terra asked them as she drove down the road in the military truck as fast as they could go. The others were nervous being this close and going this fast, but strangely enough talking, seemed to help.
“I’ve always liked Closet Case,” Madison replied, and she was gripping onto the door for dear life at the speed they were going.
“Really? That movie didn’t make a damned bit of sense,” Randall quipped back, taken off guard by her response.
“I didn’t bother watching it. You both just wasted an hour and a half of your lives,” Janine replied to the both of them. Just for a minute, they forgot they were riding with a monster.
“I don’t know what that movie is,” Terra said to all of them.
“With all those people you’ve brain jacked, not a single one saw Closet Case? I guess that movie sucked worse than I thought,” Madison replied to her and Terra smiled.
“I’ve never stolen anyone. Instead, I adjusted them. I gave them immortality. Anyone who is a part of me will live forever. Is that really so bad when you think about it?” she asked them and smiled but never took her eyes off the road.
“No, living forever isn’t too bad, but I don’t think I’d want to live as a slime-infested zombie,” Randall said and the other two agreed.
“Wow, harsh. I know what a zombie is now and that, good sir, is a total insult,” Terra replied with a smile. Randall was expecting to die or be infected with that comment; to his surprise, neither thing happened.
“How long have we been driving? It feels like forever,” Janine said, changing the subject. Driving into the sun seemed to make time stand still and with none of them having sunglasses the only one who could truly see where they were going was the driver.
“Don’t worry, we’re almost there. That helicopter has been trailing us for the past twenty miles, and I can see a blockade up ahead. Janine, would you be a dear and take the wheel? I have to do some pest control,” Terra said, throwing the door open and leaving the truck.
“Oh hell,” Janine said as this happened with almost no warning. The truck started to move towards the ditch at this high rate of speed they were going. She reached over and latched onto the wheel before sliding into the driver’s seat. Madison and Randall immediately latched onto one another’s hands without even thinking about it.
She quickly regained control of the truck and slowed it down, finally coming to a stop.
“Alien said there was a barricade up ahead. We can get there and—” Madison cut Randall off at once.
“And get shot. We’ve been travelling around with the queen slime. For all they know, we’re all infected,” she said and brought up a good point.
“What do we do?” Janine asked them.
“We do the only thing we can do. We wait for Terra to get back. We’re not safe no matter what we do now,” Madison replied as they sat there in the middle of the road.
Terra smiled as she flew from the truck and sped towards the black helicopter following them in the sky.
“Open fire! Do it now!” the pilot screamed pointlessly as he pressed the trigger.
The guns on the chopper came to life, sending torrents of lead in Terra’s direction, but with a quick swerve, she got out of the way. Making her way to the pilot’s door, she gripped the handle with her left hand and tore it off the hinges with ease, tossing it to the earth below.
Black slime erupted from her right hand and struck both of them in the neck at the same time. The two men shook violently, and the helicopter started to dive towards the ground.
“Don’t let it crash. I still need this thing,” she said to the pilot who immediately took control of the thing.
“There is a blockade up ahead of us. Go blow it up for me, will you?” she said to the men.
“Yes,” the pilot responded in more of a hiss than a full word.
Terra let go of the machine and flew back down to the truck, landing right beside it.
“Why did you guys stop? I thought I totally said to not stop, but here you are, not moving,” she said to them and Janine slid back over to her seat.
“You might be immortal, but we are not. The blockade up there would have shot first and asked questions later, so we decided that waiting for you was the better choice,” Madison replied to her.
“Really? You could have just slowed down; I mean, you can barely even see them from here. You humans are way too nervous. Being fearless is just another advantage of being part of me, but a deal is a deal,” she said as she got back in.
The helicopter flew past them overhead.
“See, I got it handled, nothing to worry about,” she said with a razor smile and closed the door, starting to drive forward.
“Your plan is to kill them all. You’re not that much different than we are,” Randall said mostly to himself.
“Only if I have to. I much prefer giving life instead,” she replied to him, never losing that smile.
“Sir, we have incoming. It’s the surveillance chopper,” a soldier said to his commander looking through a pair of binoculars.
“Raise them to find out what they are doing ahead of the target,” he replied as a chill ran down his spine fearing the worst.
“X-Ray One, you are requested to return to the mission immediately,” the soldier said into the radio, but there was no response.
“Sir, no response, should I try again?” he asked, but the commander shook his head.
“No, we can’t take any chances. Have the flyboys knock that thing out of the air,” the commander said as he looked into the direction of the approaching threat.
“Delta Wing, we have an incoming threat. Target is X-Ray One. They have been compromised and are deemed a threat; they haven’t turned off their transponder, so they should be the only thing flying in the air in the vicinity. You have your orders,” the radioman said.
“Affirmative. We are inbound, ETA two minutes,” a voice responded, and the commander turned his eyes to the road.
“Alright, you alien slime, give us your best shot,” he said to himself as a black dot appeared in the distance.
Two F-22 Raptors screamed overhead of the blockade; it was a lot sooner than two minutes. Everyone watched in confusion as a single missile was fired and the helicopter was struck, falling to the ground in a fiery explosion.
“Target destroyed. Delta Wing is returning to base,” an almost mechanical voice said through the radio. The commander knew better.
“Men, take aim. If anything comes out of that fire, shoot it. Flame units, prepare to clean
up the mess,” he said into the radio, taking the microphone from the man at his side.
Every barrel was pointed at the husk of twisted metal that had landed just outside the barrier. Only hearing stories of the Vegas incident and not knowing what was true or just made up, everyone was nervous about what could happen next.
For a few seconds the fire burned and showers of sparks scattered all over the ground around the wreck. Then, out of the billowing black smoke, two figures came shambling out into view. Their burned flesh was healing with every step they took towards them.
The armored vehicle mounted guns opened fire first. The two figures in the distance were hit and black slime flew from the wounds, but even from here, it was clear that this stuff was not blood; it was too thick and resembled tar. The men fell backwards on to the road, but only for a few seconds. They started to twitch and immediately stood back up.
“Let them get closer so the flame units can do their job,” the commander said over the radio. The two infected men walked forward in a strange, jerky style that was inhuman and painful to watch.
“Just a little more,” the commander ordered as the infected ones got closer, but then his eyes widened as he watched them go from broken movements into frightening speed.
They broke out into a dead run then leapt into the air, clearing two hundred feet to land just in front of a Jeep. The pilot thrust his hand into the radiator of the thing and lifted it up in one piece, throwing it at another armored vehicle to the left.
The soldiers in the Jeep were crushed to death, and the man on the mounted gun managed to jump out of the way but broke his ankle when he landed on it wrong. The man screamed in pain, attracting the attention of the infected pilot. He turned and stared at him with those hungry yellow eyes.
“Kill those slimy bastards! Now! Open fire!” the commander said into the radio as he watched in disbelief at what he was looking at. The soldier with the broken ankle was grabbed by the neck and picked up. The line of soldiers opened fire again. The two infected men were struck down, and this time, the flame units closed in.