by Robert Brumm
He got to his feet and looked around the lobby for anything even remotely resembling a weapon. The best he could come up with was an umbrella leaning in the corner behind the reception desk. It wasn’t much, but if he was lucky he could at least try to poke out an eye or something. He couldn’t tell where the sound had come from so he wasn’t sure which of the three doors leading out of the lobby would get him to safety. Before he could decide, one of them slammed open and a girl emerged, holding a pistol aimed right at him. She lowered it as recognition flashed across her face.
“Holy shit,” she whispered. “Howard? Is that you?”
Howard nodded, still holding onto the umbrella like a baseball bat.
“It’s me. Ann. Remember?” She poked her head through the doorway behind her and raised her voice slightly. “I found him! Over here.”
Seconds later the sounds of footsteps filled the hallway beyond. Ann opened the door wide as Dave the marine entered with Emily and Tre, and an Asian woman he didn’t recognize, close at his heels. Emily’s face lit up and she ran to him, hugging his legs and beaming.
“Hey, buddy, good to see you up and about,” Dave whispered. “You okay to walk? We need to get the hell out of here. Pronto.”
Emily pulled him toward the door.
“Where is everybody?” he asked Dave.
“Minnie didn’t make it.” Dave’s gaze sank to the floor. “The doc who stitched you up too. ’Course, you didn’t get a chance meet him.”
“Wait a minute, didn’t make it from what? I meant everybody, not just Minnie. What the hell is happening?”
“We were hoping you could tell us,” the Asian woman said. “After all, you gave birth to the things that killed your friend. So to speak.”
Five
“Gave birth?” Howard’s mouth hung open as his hand went for the sore spot in his stomach.
“Hey,” Dave hissed. “We don’t have time for this.” He grabbed a wheelchair close by. “Get in and keep quiet. We need to get the hell out of here.”
Howard obeyed and Dave quickly pushed him down the hallway with the others following. The only sounds in the corridor were the rubber wheels on the tile floor and the footsteps of his companions. Howard had noticed that everybody looked terrified and that Emily was falling behind. He held out his hands and Dave slowed so she could hop onto his lap. He held her close and felt her heart pounding under her sweaty T-shirt.
With the natural light from the windows gone, all they had was the beam of Ann’s flashlight. They hurried along the dark hallways, through clouds of flies and the acrid stench of death and decay. The beam bounced off the walls and floors, making Howard dizzy. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to clear his head and calm his queasy stomach.
They turned a corner and stopped at a door at the end of the corridor. Dave stepped from behind the wheelchair, his AK at the ready. Tre took his spot behind Howard’s chair and Ann held the flashlight beam on the door. Dave slowly opened the door with one hand, holding his rifle steady with the other. Daylight filled the corridor. He poked his head outside, looked in both directions, and gave the group a nod. He held open the door while Tre pushed the wheelchair outside.
The fresh air was heavenly. Howard sucked it in like a skindiver right before going under. He couldn’t get enough. They hurried over to an old Ford Bronco parked in the alley behind the hospital.
“Okay. Let’s go, let’s go,” Dave whispered.
A squeal from one end of the narrow alley ripped through the quiet afternoon. Everybody froze. Howard squinted at some sort of animal crouched in the light of the alley opening ahead of them. Others quickly joined it.
“Get in!” Dave raised his rifle and got down on one knee.
Ann pushed Howard toward the open car door as Dave and Tre opened fire. Howard scrambled past the front seats, Emily and the Asian woman on his heels. The concussion from the rifle shots in the confined space pounded his ears as they continued to fire short bursts down the alleyway. Ann hopped into the passenger seat and leaned over to start up the Bronco.
Howard looked between the front seats and couldn’t believe his eyes. At least a dozen of the creatures like the one he’d seen back at the farm were racing toward them. One of Dave’s shots found its mark, causing one the creatures to somersault to a standstill. The others dodged to avoid its body.
Ann stuck her head out the window and screamed for Dave and Tre. They finally stopped firing and scrambled into the Bronco – Dave at the wheel and Tre opening the hatch and diving into the back. Ann grabbed Dave’s rifle as he shoved the truck into gear and floored the accelerator. The heavy SUV lurched into motion just as the creatures reached them, one of them actually bouncing off the grill before being run over by the front wheel. Another one timed the perfect jump and landed on the hood. It struggled to find purchase with its smooth hooves against the smoother steel before it lost the fight and slid off.
As the Bronco accelerated, the creatures, now behind them, started to fall back. Ann stuck Dave’s rifle out the window but he grabbed her arm to stop her. “Don’t waste the ammo! We got this. We’re good.” The truck reached the end of the alley and Dave made a hard right onto the main street. He checked the mirrors and slowed the vehicle to safely weave through abandoned cars on the main road.
“Everybody all right?” Dave looked into the rearview mirror at Howard.
Howard squeezed Emily’s arm and she smiled at him and nodded.
“Are you in much pain?” the woman next to him asked.
“I’m doing okay, I guess.”
She offered her hand to Howard. “My name is Soo Kim.” The handshake seemed absurdly normal considering a pack of aliens had just chased them and nobody in the car except him seemed to find that strange.
“I assisted Dr. Wilson in your surgery.”
“What surgery? You’re going to have to bring me up to speed.”
“You had a bellyful of those little critters,” Dave said. “Soo and Jake pulled them out and saved your life.”
“They survived though, and flourished.” Soo pointed over her shoulder at the rear window. “As you could see.”
Howard looked down and put his palm on his abdomen again. “You’re saying those things were inside of me? That’s why I was hurting so bad?”
“We counted eighteen after we removed the embryonic sac. Each one was about the size of a quarter.” She put her hand on his arm. “Do you have any idea what those creatures are and how you were impregnated with them?”
Emily yanked on Howard’s sleeve. “Minnie says de were demons.”
Tre scoffed and continued to stare out the back window.
Dave pulled the Bronco up to the curb across the street from a small grocery store a few blocks away from the hospital. “Hey, let’s save catch-up for when we’re off the streets and safe.”
He killed the engine and they quickly got out. Dave produced a set of keys from his pocket and opened the front door. It was glass but had heavy steel bars as burglary protection. The windows did as well. They hurried inside and Dave locked the door behind them.
He peered between the paper signs on the door, looking for movement outside. “Everybody stay down, keep quiet.”
“Any follow?” Tre asked.
Dave shook his head. “Don’t think so. I…wait, there’s a few. Crafty bastards.”
Howard looked over the display case in front of the window and saw three of them down the street. They trotted at a casual pace, stopping once in a while to sniff the air. They slowly approached the Bronco and stood on their hind legs to inspect the interior. The inside of the grocery was dead quiet; Howard could hear the creatures outside clucking and snarling.
After what seemed like an eternity, they moved on down the street. Dave exhaled and came away from the door. “That was a close one. I probably should have parked farther away from the store.” He set the AK on the counter and rubbed the back of his neck. “We came across this place yesterday. It’s as safe as anyt
hing around. I found the keys on the owner in the back and there’s plenty of dry foods and bottled water to last us for a while.”
Howard was completely out of energy. He leaned up against the wall and slid down to a sitting position. Ann handed him a bottle of warm water and he drained half of it in one pull. Soo rustled around in a bag and gave him a couple of painkillers.
Dave pulled up a folding chair and sat next to Howard. “We can hold up in here for a day or two to get our shit together and help you rest up .” He glanced at the others then back to Howard. “In the meantime, you wanna fill us in on just what in the holy hell is going on?”
Howard drained the rest of the water and shifted his weight, trying to get comfortable on the concrete floor. “I’ll tell you what I know but I’m just as confused as you guys. I’ve seen those things before. Well, just one actually. It was on a small island off the coast of Antarctica. I’m not sure, but I think it must have been in a spaceship we found.” He paused and searched the faces of his audience, waiting for one or all of them to laugh. Nobody said a word.
“I’m a convict. I was sentenced to life on an island prison camp where we came across this ship, underground. I’m guessing it probably crashed a long time ago. I don’t even know how that thing survived.”
Dave shook his head. “With all due respect, Howard, are you out of your goddamned mind? Did you hit your head or something?” He glanced at Soo.
“I know it sounds crazy but it’s the truth. You’ve seen them yourself. Do they look like anything of this world?”
“He’s got a point,” said Ann.
“It killed some people on the island and almost got me before a woman and I fought it off. We trapped it in a shed and burned it to the ground. In the process it stabbed me with that big stinger and must have, I dunno…planted eggs in me for some reason. Doesn’t make much sense.”
“It was probably a reproduction defense mechanism,” Soo suggested. “It could have sensed it was in mortal danger and wanted to plant eggs in a host before it died. That could be the way they reproduce.”
“Gross.” Ann stared at Howard’s stomach. Tre nodded in agreement.
Howard cleared his throat and looked at the floor. “That’s only half of it. I can’t say for sure, but I think the pandemic started from the ship too. Must have been some old germs or something floating around in there. It wiped out the whole prison camp population except for me and two other guys. For some reason we were immune.”
“If you were stranded on an island way down there, how in the hell did you get to Jamaica?” Dave asked.
“I have no idea. After I was stabbed by that thing, I lost consciousness and woke up after my plane crashed up in the hills. I can only guess they were flying me back to the States to figure out why I didn’t get sick. I found a town, ran into Emily, and you know the rest.”
Howard put his arm around Emily. “I’m sorry, you guys. I brought the germs with me. If I’d have died back on the island none of this would have happened.”
Ann perked up. “Hey, if he brought it with him then it’s probably just here in Jamaica, right? What if everybody back home–”
“I’m sorry,” Soo interrupted. “Not with the rate this disease spread. Think of all the people flying in and out of the country. It would only take days for this thing to spread across the planet. They may be better off in some areas, maybe they were able to set up quarantines, but I think it’s probably this bad everywhere.”
“I think she’s right, kid,” Dave said. “The cavalry would have arrived by now.”
Ann’s face fell. She quickly got up and stormed to the other side of the store.
Tre sighed and stood up. “I go talk to her.”
“This isn’t your fault, Howard,” Soo said. She offered him a thin smile.
“There’s one thing I don’t understand,” Howard said. “If those things were small enough to fit inside of me just a couple of days ago, how did they get so big so fast? And how many are there?”
“They’re multiplying like rabbits, that’s how,” said Dave. “They grow up fast. Real fast. And there are way more now than what started out. You counted, what, almost two dozen when you pulled them out?” he asked Soo.
“That’s right, and by the end of the day only half of those survived. The bigger ones ate the little ones.”
“There must be hundreds out there now, and growing,” Dave said. “All hell broke loose late that night after the operation. Some schmoe who thought he was in charge because he was the last standing member of the government confiscated the things.”
“He said he wanted to study them,” Soo added.
“Well, whatever he wanted to do with them, it didn’t go as planned,” Dave continued. “They killed him in his trailer sometime during the night and probably ate him. We’ve seen plenty of that since.”
Howard nodded, thinking of Reg’s disemboweled corpse. He’d seen it too.
“Sometime in the early morning they busted out of there. Probably no more than two or three of them but they went on a killing spree. Plenty of sleeping bodies in thin tents and sleeping bags close by. Some of the refugees with guns and twitchy trigger fingers panicked and started shooting. It was still dark out and plenty of people probably got hit by accident.
“A couple fires started from who knows what and before you knew it, chaos ruled. We managed to hightail it out of there in the truck and get to safety.”
“What about Minnie?”
“She was killed yesterday,” Dave said. “We were outside the hospital, trying to find a safe way in when a pack attacked us. Ann, Soo, and Emily were here in the store.” Dave stared over Howard’s shoulder and his eyes glazed over.
“Coming to find me,” Howard said.
Dave nodded. “She knew what she was getting into. She insisted. We almost fought ’em off but those cocksuckers are relentless. One of them got Minnie and Tre went after her.” Dave glanced over at the corner of the store where Ann sat with her head in her hands. Tre leaned over her, speaking softly into her ear. “If I hadn't pulled him back, Tre wouldn’t have made it either. I knew it was no use…” His voice trailed off and he looked at his hands.
“It’s been a long day for everybody,” said Soo. “Let’s all get something to eat and some rest.” She held out her hand to Emily. “Come on, honey. Do you want to help me fix dinner?”
Emily scrambled to her feet and followed Soo. Dave started to stand up.
“Hey,” Howard said. “I just want to say thanks. Really. For everything. Not just the hospital but for me and Emily back in Boone’s Run.”
Dave nodded slightly. “Don’t mention it.”
“What I said before, about being a convict…”
Dave held up his hand. “I’m a marine, not a cop. But I like to think I’m a damn good judge of character. Twenty years in the corps helps you get a sixth sense about people. I don’t give a shit about what you did to get locked in the can so just forget it. Are you going to make me regret it or can I trust you?”
Howard nodded.
“All right then. Besides, that little girl really took a shine to you so you can’t be too scary.”
Howard chuckled. “Yeah, she’s something else.”
“Come on,” Dave held out his hand. “Let’s see if we can find you some decent clothes and get a bite to eat.” He helped Howard to his feet and they joined the others on the other side of the store.
Six
Howard felt a tickle on his nose and swatted away what he thought was a fly but turned out to be a hand. His eyes shot open and he sat up, wincing and grabbing at his stomach. Emily fell back, wide-eyed and startled.
“What? What’s wrong? What is it?” He looked around the dimly lit store.
“Sorry,” Emily whispered. She scooted closer to him. “I was jus’ makin’ sure you were still breathin’.” She held her own hand over her nose.
Howard’s shoulders sagged and he gave her a tired smile. “I’m still breathing, hon. I f
eel like I’m barely alive but I think I’ll pull through.” He gently tugged on one of her braids. “Sorry to worry you. How are you doing?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Fine.”
Howard made out a lump of blankets at the end of the aisle and saw the bare foot of one of the women sticking out. He couldn’t tell if it was Ann or Soo. “It’s barely light outside,” he whispered. “How come you’re up so early?”
Another shrug. She glanced toward the front of the store and spoke softly. “I keep hearing dem outside.”
“What? Hearing who?” The store was quiet except for a low snore from the other side of the aisle. He assumed that was Dave or Tre. He was about to ask her again when he heard it himself. A soft scraping sound at the front of the store. He pointed in that direction and Emily nodded. He started to get up but she grabbed his arm.
“Don’t!”
“I’m just going to take a peek. We’re safe in here. Don’t worry.”
Howard got up and stretched. He was sore and feeling a little weak but otherwise no worse for wear. A decent meal of mostly canned foods had boosted his energy and morale last night. Ditching the hospital gown was a nice change too. Dave slipped out after dark and commandeered a change of clothes from a shop down the block. He returned with a pair of cargo shorts and a yellow T-shirt proclaiming JAMAICA MON! in bold letters. He may now look like a tourist rube, but the clothes were clean and comfortable. Dave even snagged him a decent pair of sandals and guessed his size spot-on.
He went to the front of the store and approached the windows. Almost every inch of glass on the front of the building was covered in posters and signs. He smirked at the back of the handpainted poster announcing SALE TODAY. Judging by the weathered and faded paper it was printed on, the “sale” had been going on every day for years. He peered through a gap in the glass and his smile faded.