by Jesse Wilson
They opened up the flamethrowers.
“Don’t burn me, don’t—” The soldier held by the infected was covered in fire along with their targets. He began to scream as his body burned. The black slime bubbled and caught fire along with the bodies. The infected men on fire began to scream in very human voices. The shrills of pain echoed in everyone’s head. It was as if the infection left and they had regained control as the fire did its work.
The smell of the alien material was strong and almost resembled the smell of burning rubber, but it had a hint of sulfur to it. But when it mixed with the unmistakable odor of burning flesh, the soldiers that were closest to it began to throw up and fall to their knees.
“Get those men out of there now,” the commander ordered and turned his attention back to the road as the wind blew the smoke across the road. “Alright, lock and load. I don’t know what is coming down that road, but no matter what it is, we have to stop it here,” he said and continued. “Reform the line and get ready for a fight,” the commander said to him.
The radioman turned his eyes to the growing dot in the road.
“Yes, sir,” he replied to him, trying to suppress just how nervous he really was.
That black truck came to a stop ten feet away from the blockade, and no one was willing to make the first move.
“There is more than one of them in there; we could be in trouble,” the communications officer said, but the commander never bothered to look at him.
“Give me the loudspeaker, and call this in to base that the target has arrived,” the commander said to him as he held out his left hand. The speaker was handed to him, and he lamented having to resort to such primitive methods of communication. Despite everything telling him to just open fire, he was still curious as to what this thing was or wanted and was sure he was going to regret it.
“Turn off your engines and we can talk this out. I don’t know what’s going on, but we can stop all of this right now if we can come to some kind of understanding,” he said through the loudspeaker. He knew this thing was supposed to be a space monster, but what kind of monster drove a truck? Terra turned off the engine.
“Well, it seems not all of your kind like to shoot first. Rare. I think I’ll talk to this one,” she said to the others in the truck and opened the door.
“You guys might want to stay in here, you know, in case it’s a trap, and its most certainly a trap, no matter how ineffective,” she said to them and slid out of the truck. “At least she left the keys in it,” Madison noted as the door closed.
“So, you want to talk to me? Great. Let’s talk,” Terra said as she walked forward, fearlessly into the direction of the soldiers.
“What do you want here? Is there any way we can get along with one another? I don’t want to shoot you,” he replied to her and she smiled at him.
“I want my body back. This one is fine, but it’s so limited. I don’t want to kill anyone; just the opposite actually. I want you all to join me in eternal life. No more death for anyone,” she replied to him and finally got close enough to negate the need for the megaphone.
“I’ve seen what your life means. We can’t live that way but maybe you could live on our planet? Come to an understanding of some kind?” he said to her and she smiled, coming to a stop mere feet away from a nervous line of soldiers.
“No, I am afraid we can’t. I need my body back. You see, without it, all of ones I have taken and who spread on their own will no longer be under my control. Right now, I can control their movements and their methods. In a few hours, they will be mindless monsters who will not only infect, but just mindlessly kill anything they see. You don’t want that, do you?” she replied to him and crossed her arms.
“No,” he said and put the loudspeaker down, torn on what to do and glancing towards the still-burning chopper.
“Did you send that helicopter to attack us?” he asked her. She smiled.
“It was less of an attack and more of a clear-the-road tactic. I really thought that’d turn out better than it did,” she replied to him and the commander narrowed his eyes. He took a step back because she was close enough to do his job now.
“Open fire,” he ordered his men and Terra was disappointed. She walked forward into the bullets as they followed their orders. Terra’s body was shredded, and the black ooze sprayed all over the road as she fell face first into it.
“Flame units, clean this mess up,” the commander ordered, surprised that this was going so smoothly. The two flamethrower units quickly approached the fallen body and took aim. The commander saw the twitch a moment too late.
“Wait, get back it’s a—” He was cut off as black tentacles erupted from Terra’s back and struck the faces of the two men. They immediately dropped to the ground as two more black tendrils lifted her up off the road.
“It was a trap. Of course it was. But you can’t say I didn’t try to be peaceful about it,” she hissed between black, razor sharp teeth.
“Kill it!” the commander screamed, and the soldiers opened fire on the creature. This time, the bullets hit the black flesh only for it to mend instantly.
The two men with the flamethrowers stood up and turned back towards their former team, opening fire. The flames washed over the vehicles and caused the soldiers to retreat in a hurry.
The commander pulled out his sidearm and started to shoot at the tanks of the flamethrowers. He knew they wouldn’t explode, but at this point, disabling them was good enough. Unfortunately, he missed. The noise was enough to attract Terra’s attention. She turned and lunged at him with her tentacles. The commander reached out and grabbed the first one that got too close on instinct.
The black tendril wrapped around his hand softly, and with more strength than it appeared to possess, pulled him off his feet towards Terra.
“I like you, but I won’t be stopped by someone like you,” she said as the tendril sliced into his hand and her flesh mixed with his blood. Despite being infected, all he could do was glare as the alien flesh took him.
“Consume them all,” she said to him, and the commander’s mouth erupted with black fangs as the black veins formed under his skin. She set him on the ground. The radioman was frantically trying to call for help when he paused and looked at his former commander just seconds before black, razor sharp fangs tore into his neck.
“Kill it,” someone screamed. Terra turned to look at the approaching soldiers.
“Yes, kill me, humans; it’s all you seem to be good at doing,” she said with a smile as two black tentacles lifted her off the ground while the other two flailed in front of her.
Madison and the others watched in horror as Terra waded through the fire and the bullets to dispatch the soldiers one at a time. A gentle grace, as she never killed a single one, but instead used her tentacles to infect the others one at a time with accurate and frightening speed. As if she was picking flowers out of a garden on a summer day.
“God damn, we’re all screwed, aren’t we?” Janine asked no one.
“I can’t even begin to count the ways, but look at her. She, he, it, isn’t killing any of them. Anyone she or her people take down stand back up. Maybe being infected won’t be so bad,” Russell mused over the idea, and Madison hit him just after he said it.
“Say it again, I dare you,” she said but never took her eyes off of the scene unfolding in front of them. Russell didn’t want to get hit again because it actually hurt, so he kept his mouth shut and did his best not to react to the pain. Within minutes, Terra’s tentacles reformed into her back, and she was already walking towards the truck again, waving.
“Great. She’s peppy about the whole thing too,” Madison said under her breath. Terra seemed to be walking slowly towards the truck, but within seconds, she was already opening the door.
“Well, we can go forward to the base now,” she said and got into the truck. They watched as infested soldiers pushed all the armored transports out of the way with almost no effort at all.
“Onward into the unknown, right?” Terra said, starting the truck and driving it forward down the road.
Chapter Forty-Seven
The road trip to nowhere was turning out to be exactly that. Cory was driving them down an empty highway, and for the past three hours due to martial law being declared, they hadn’t seen anyone else the whole time out here in the desert. Bob was sleeping in the farthest back seat next to Alex, who was also passed out. Rose was staring blankly out of the window, imagining all the stories she was missing and doing her best to forget the destruction of her hometown and the fact that everyone she knew was likely dead. It was easier to think of the action she knew she was missing instead. Jeff, with nothing of interest to record, was also passed out.
“Aliens. Who would have thought that the world was going to end with aliens?” Cory said to Heather who was sitting beside him.
“I’m not convinced the world is coming to an end,” she replied to him, but kept her eyes on the lookout for any surprises that might show up.
“What do you mean? Because it seems pretty cut and dry to me. I lost my whole town to that black slime thing in the crazy lady. She seemed pretty vicious and determined to do the same thing everywhere,” he said, trying to block out the worst of what he saw.
“Don’t worry. On the way to captain crazy’s ranch, we got intercepted by an alien probe that seemed to know if we needed help, so I said yes,” she replied and smiled. Cory didn’t trust it.
“The lizard person and I had a great conversation for a couple of hours. I don’t know how much help the aliens are going to be if anyone heard you,” Cory replied and swallowed nervously.
“Why? Did Xule say something about it or what?” she wondered.
“No, no, it’s just a feeling is all. I get them sometimes,” he replied. But after hours of nothing, something appeared on the horizon a tiny black dot coming in their direction.
“We have company. You got any weapons in this van?” she asked him.
“No, afraid not,” he replied and tightened his grip. “Why?”
“Martial law was declared. Either it’s a convoy of soldiers and we’ll be fine, or it’s a group of nutjobs who have already convinced themselves the world has ended and decided to go road pirate and reenact all their favorite post-apocalypse road movies,” she replied to him. The seconds passed, and it became increasingly clear this was not a unit of soldiers as two motorcycles broke off into the oncoming lane. Cory became nervous.
“Look alive, people, we have incoming,” Heather said to the others. Bob opened his eyes and wondered what was going on, and Alex stirred awake as well. Alex wasn’t sure what was going on, but he was aware that he had to go to the bathroom now and everything was uncomfortable as he sat there with his left leg still asleep on him, feeling more like a dead weight than a limb.
“Motorcycles,” Heather said, recognizing them at once.
“What should I do?” Cory asked, increasingly nervous about the situation. “You’re the driver, you decide,” Heather replied as Rose slid herself between the seats.
“You should stop. If you don’t, you’ll run them over. Soldiers, or just people, it won’t matter; they’ll kill us all for sure,” she suggested, and it made a lot of sense to Cory who began to slow down.
“Alright, here goes,” Cory said to himself as he pulled the van over, but he didn’t shut the engine off.
Seconds later, two of them drove passed them, and the third one stopped in front of them. As he put the kickstand down and got off the bike, he walked up to the driver side door.
“Hey, roll down the window,” the man said to him. Cory swallowed and did just that.
“Where are you guys heading?” he asked, and from his appearance, it was clear he wasn’t a soldier. But he was a thin, leather-clad, clean-shaven biker. Cory once watched a special Netflix on biker gangs but didn’t see any symbols he remembered on this guy.
“No real destination. Whatever the next town is,” Cory said, telling the truth. He didn’t know and none of them did.
“Kid’s right, we’re just along for the ride is all,” Heather said and the man smiled, looking at her.
“Listen, wait for the rest of us to get here. Get out and stretch your legs. We may have a place for you to go,” he said, keeping that smile. “My name is Jack. Those two back there are Ringo and Chica,” he said and motioned to them. Neither of them seemed interested in the van, but were already off their bikes. Cory couldn’t tell who was who from here.
“I’m going to take him up on that leg stretching out. I have to take a piss too,” Alex spoke up and Bob just rolled his eyes.
“Alright, I just hope we don’t end up regretting it,” Bob added, worried this wasn’t going to turn out so well.
One by one, they filed out of the van. Alex wandered off to the ditch while the others gathered to the front of the van.
“We barely escaped Reno after a horde of oozers showed up and started to tear the place apart,” Jack said, and he did his best to stop talking before he revealed things he didn’t want to.
“Reno? Goddamn. We escaped from Vegas. This kid here said he lost his whole town to the monsters,” Rachel replied. Jack looked past her and recognized Rose.
“You. You’re the TV lady that interviewed the alien,” Jack said, and then he realized seconds later that this was the same group who was there in the beginning. “Holy hell, you’re all responsible for this, aren’t you?” Jack took a step back.
“No…we…well, yes, I suppose we kind of are, but that’s not the point. The point is we are just as screwed as everyone else,” Bob said as Alex came back to the group. “It’s a long story, sure, but the truth is simple. We’re not immune to any of this either. I think all of this is going to go away soon,” Alex said to Jack, but Jack didn’t feel convinced enough.
Soon, the rest of the convoy showed up. With two trucks and an RV in the lead, they all came to a stop. The doors opened, and much to everyone’s surprise, they all looked like normal people instead of road pirates cased in armor; not even a facemask. “Boz! Hey, Boz! These are the people we saw on television, the Area 51 people!” Jack said as Boz, a middle-aged, heavy-set man stepped out who was obviously exhausted.
“Where are you people headed?” he asked them, ignoring Jack’s attempt at raising tension.
“Nowhere, we’re just… going without a plan really,” Bob replied to him and Boz nodded.
“Radio says there is a refugee camp just outside of Vegas. It’s been on repeat for hours, just before sunrise,” Boz replied as Heather and Cory looked at one another. Neither of them nor anyone else even thought to turn on the radio.
Alex walked around the van, opened the driver’s side door, and turned on the radio. All that came out of that old radio was high-pitched noise, no matter what channel they tried to go to.
“My radio never did work all that good. Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not working now,” Cory said as he looked at Alex. Bob wasn’t so sure that was the reason for it not working, but kept his mouth shut.
“Boz, man, we can’t trust them. These people are all responsible for this. They were on the news with that alien and everything,” Jack said, trying to bring the focus back to that issue.
“Shut up, Jack, we’re all tired. Responsible or not, there isn’t anything we can do here to make it better,” Boz said and sighed.
“You can join us if you want. We’re going to the camp because we have nowhere else to go, and there isn’t anything alive; well, nothing you want to meet up with in that direction, anyway,” Boz said to them and rubbed his eyes.
“Really? That bad? I believe him. I think we should follow them,” Jeff finally said as Rose looked back down the way they came from.
“I seriously hate backtracking, but I suppose it’s better than going down there,” she said and sighed.
“Alright, Jack, you and the others get back in line. Tell the boys and girls we’re moving in a few minutes,” Boz said to him and Jack
rolled his eyes.
“Alright, but this is a bad idea. I don’t know why, but it just is,” Jack protested but signaled the other two. Seconds later, they drove passed them.
Jack got back on his bike and followed. “The boy never was quite right; always so paranoid growing up. Anyway, get yourself turned around and follow us,” Boz said and reached in the RV. He pulled out a rather large walkie-talkie that looked as if it came from forty years ago and handed it to Heather.
“We’re all on channel six. If you run into or see anything, tell the rest of us, it’s all I ask,” he said as started to climb back in the RV.
“You got it, let’s get out of here,” Heather replied. Now that they had some kind of a plan, they all got back into the van.
“Look at that, they weren’t road pirates,” Cory said as he got behind the wheel. “Don’t be so sure, kid. We can trust them for now. But don’t let your guard down,” Bob replied as the cars started to drive past them. Cory put the van into gear and turned it around to follow the last truck in the line to go back to Vegas, even though it was apparently a place of refuge. It was better than driving until the gas ran out in the middle of nowhere.
“Did you see what way she went?” the elite soldier asked a guard as they turned the corner in the camp.
“Who? See who went where?” he replied, surprised as she came out of nowhere. “The infected woman. She ran this way and we need to put a stop to this, now,” she replied to him, but he just had a blank stare in his eyes that told him all she needed to know; he didn’t know anything. Just to be sure, she scanned him with her ultraviolet device. He was clean.
“I’m not quite sure who you are, but I am not infected, thanks for the scan,” he said, realizing what she did.
“Yeah, well, stay that way and watch your back; it’s likely already too late, but we need to assume it isn’t until we know that it is. Act normal,” she said to him and started to walk away.
The guard swallowed. All of a sudden, every tent and flapping tent opening in the wind set him on edge. Now the enemy could literally be anywhere.