Gerry looked at them, one after another. He took his smudged glasses off and tried to clean them on his filthy shirt. He put them back on and looked at the walls and floor. His mind finally realized that the dark splashes on the floor and walls illuminated dully by emergency lighting weren’t decoration.
“Oh, no …” he breathed.
“Come on, we have to get out of here,” Hector said. He and Pyro helped the man to his feet.
A buzzing sound was audible, and it was getting closer.
Pyro led Gerry and the boys to the cafeteria. Tables and chairs had been tipped over, and there were dark smears of blood on the floor and walls. Pyro grunted as he opened a heavy metal door to a staff lounge. Some of the boys fell heavily onto chairs and a battered sofa that were scattered around the room, some rested on the cool, dusty tiled floor.
It was late afternoon, and the air was still oppressive.
Pyro, Hector, and Andy handed out water bottles and candy bars scrounged from the lounge storage closet. For a few minutes, the only sounds were the crackling of candy wrappers and water glugging its way down throats.
Gerry splashed a little water on his glasses and attempted to clean them.
He cleared his throat self-consciously. “Um … I have to thank you guys again for saving my life. I don’t understand what those things are, or what’s happened out here, but I think the first thing to do is trade information. That way, maybe we can get a handle on what we should do. I’ll go first.
“My name is Gerry Medford. I’m a professor at a college out in California.”
“You aren’t old enough to be a professor,” Joey said sullenly.
“Well, I am. I have the diploma hanging up on the wall in my office to prove it,” Gerry replied.
“Gee, I feel so much safer now,” Joey muttered.
Gerry continued. “I was called out here by a local exterminator company that was hired to clear out the ant problem you have. They found out that the ants were resistant to all the pesticides they tried, so they contacted the Department of Agriculture in Washington DC. They sent samples of the ants to me, after they were unable to identify the species. That’s my specialty.”
He gestured to a black ant crawling past him along the arm of his chair, antennae waving. “This is a new species. I’ve never seen them before. I decided to come out here and look into this new species, and found out that these ants are a recent mutation. There’s also a high number of defective traits I’ve noticed in these ants; many of them have extra limbs, body segments, things like that. The incidence of these defects is way beyond what it should be. Something in this area is causing a radical increase in mutations. I was camping nearby, trying to track down the cause outside the school grounds when there was some kind of earthquake or explosion. The next thing I knew, there were these giant animals chasing me through the desert, and here I am. I was going to head home tomorrow … I have to start teaching a class next week.”
“What do you teach at college?” Andy asked.
“Biology,” Gerry said. “I’ve always been interested in living things. My favorites are arthropods like insects, spiders, stuff like that. I’m an entomologist.
“Enough about me,” he said. “Tell me about what’s really going on around here. I was told that this is a school, but it looks to me more like a jail.”
The boys took turns relating their stories and theories about the racket the headmaster had working with the law enforcement and legal system.
Gerry shook his head. “Hard to believe something like that could go on. Well, whatever scam the headmaster was running here died with him.”
He wiped the trickles of sweat from his forehead and gulped down some more water.
“All right.” Gerry studied the boys one by one. “There are a few things we’ll have to figure out in order to survive:
“We need to understand what these things are, and where they come from. That’s something I can handle. I’ll need one or two of you to help me bring one of them in for a little biology experiment. I think you must have killed the ones chasing me, or they would have caught me.
“Next order of business. We need to find enough food and water to survive until we can escape or we’re rescued. Water’s most important. We’re sweating it all away in this heat.
“We also need to locate any weapons that might help to defend us against those animals. Whatever you fired at them worked really well. We need more.
“Finally, if we accomplish all those tasks, we’ll still be stuck out in the desert, miles from anywhere. We need to find a way to a town. There are probably some cars in the parking lot; maybe we can locate the keys. If all else fails, my old Land Rover is still parked a day’s hike from here, but I don’t think we could survive the trip, with all those creatures moving around outside.
“Okay, that’s everything I can think of. If anyone has any thoughts, let’s get them out on the table.” He looked around at the boys.
Andy spoke up. “Pyro and Hector have something you should see.”
Pyro nodded. “Yeah, I guess it’s time to unveil my little stash. Come on.”
The boys led Gerry to Andy’s room and up into the ceiling. The heat in the tight space sucked the energy out of him as he followed the boys, twisting past beams and dodging cables and cobwebs. Finally, they descended the vertical tunnel and emerged in the hidden rooms beneath the school.
Pyro led Gerry to the hidden rooms and showed him the chemicals, military-type food rations, and the large drums with the strange labels of FOOD, ALLY, ROYALTY, INTRUDER. Underneath those titles was a complicated string of letters and numbers. Gerry puzzled over them for a moment, but couldn’t figure out what they might contain. He picked up some papers that had been scattered around on the floor and were covered with dust. They looked to him to be some sort of research reports. He folded and stuffed them in his pocket to look over later.
Further searching turned up a small rack of test tubes containing samples of liquid. The tubes were sealed tight, and each had a bright orange symbol and the words DANGER: MUTAGEN printed on it. “Well, that explains some of what I’ve observed here,” he said.
Andy looked at the glass vials. “What’s a mutagen?”
“It’s a substance that causes genetic changes,” Gerry replied. “You understand what genes are, right? They are a kind of ‘biological blueprint’ that contains the information for how any living organism is structured. We know that over time, tiny genetic changes occur; those changes are called mutations. Mutations, together with environmental changes that affect an organism, are what drive evolution. Over time, the little changes build up, and organisms change and develop. These changes occur over millions of years.
“There are chemicals and physical agents that can speed up the process, making genetic changes happen quickly. Radiation would be an example of a mutagen. Scientists exposed fruit flies to radiation, and saw some really big physical changes in the flies, like crumpled-up wings, too many legs, things like that. Mutagens are dangerous because they force dramatic changes that would likely be lethal to the organism. And because genetic changes can be passed on to offspring, the mutations will continue.
“That’s why I have found so many ants with nine legs, and stuff like that. There must be more of these chemicals stored here somewhere, and they’ve leaked out into the ground. The ants burrowing around here would ingest the stuff. I can’t imagine what this place was before it became a school.”
Pyro and Hector showed Gerry how they put together the sodium “grenades.” A small glass vial containing a chunk of sodium in oil was taped to another vial filled with water.
Hector pulled a makeshift slingshot from his back pocket. “This is what we use to fire the stuff. We took some of the bed frames apart, cut a few pieces of metal tubing with a pair of wire cutters, and bent it into shape. Reilly and Shields are the best shots.”
“Wow, nice work, guys. I’m impressed.” Gerry nodded approvingly. “We need to come up with
an escape plan. No idea’s too crazy. Once we have some ideas, we’ll weed out which ones might work best. Lie low down here for a while. I need a couple of volunteers.”
Andy, Pyro, and Hector raised their hands.
Gerry rubbed his hands together and asked, “You guys ever seen a dissection?”
Hector gulped.
GERRY GRABBED A DUSTY TARPAULIN from the basement storeroom. He and the boys snuck up to the blistering crawlway and into Pyro’s room. They eased through the hallway, back to the broken window. Gerry looked outside. No movement. The creature the boys had bombarded was lying a few feet from where the cabinet had been knocked over. Gerry went out the window, feet first. He dropped to the ground and stood the cabinet back up so that the boys could reach it. As the boys came down the cabinet, Gerry spread the tarp out next to the dead creature.
The boys didn’t want to touch the thing, so Gerry moved it onto the tarp and rolled it up. Shoving it in through the window proved difficult, until Andy clambered up the cabinet and pulled the tarp in past the broken glass in the window frame.
As they dragged the wrapped creature down the dimly lit hall, Gerry peeked in some of the doorways into darkened offices. Overturned furniture, papers scattered. Dark splashes on the walls that had to be blood. Small shapes were littered on the floor. Gerry realized that they were bones.
“Hey, let’s use this office,” Pyro crowed. He gestured to the nameplate on the partly open door. It read JOSEPH E. SWITCH, HEADMASTER.
They entered the room, and looked around. The computer monitor had been smashed. A single bloody handprint streaked the wall. On the floor below it were Switch’s broken eyeglasses and the can of insect repellent.
Hector stood looking at the handprint, and said quietly, “What goes around, comes around.”
Gerry and the three boys hauled the bulky tarp-wrapped creature up onto headmaster Switch’s spotless desk.
They were all panting with exertion, and sweating. Switch’s office was still and stuffy.
“I know it’s hot in here, but this is the best time for this little autopsy. Those creatures will be lying low until the temperature starts to go down tonight.”
After a swig of water, Gerry asked, “Any luck with tools, Hector?”
“This was all I could find down there in the lower levels.” He placed a crowbar on the table along with the wire cutters.
Andy was going through the drawers in Switch’s desk. “Would this work?” he asked, holding up a gold-plated letter opener.
Gerry nodded. “Yeah, that will have to do. All right, I need someone to hold the flashlight for me. Pyro, why don’t you handle that?”
He unwrapped the tarp, and they viewed the creature up close.
The thing was about six feet long, with a tough, shiny covering, almost like armor. Bumps and ridges covered the armor. Spiky hairs stuck out all over, almost like cactus needles. Four jointed legs were attached under its body. The thing’s body flattened out at the rear, almost like a wide tail. The tail ended in a spike-like stinger. A massive triangular head contained what looked like faceted eyes, like a fly’s. A wicked set of serrated jaws arched menacingly from the front of the creature’s head. Blood seeped from holes punched through the thing’s armor by the boys’ improvised explosives.
Gerry swore softly. “Amazing …” he breathed. His mind raced, looking for characteristics that would help him understand what these creatures were.
“What is this thing?” Pyro asked, studying the grotesque carcass lying on the desk. “I mean … it’s … it’s …” He shrugged helplessly. “What is it?”
“It looks like some kind of bug. A really, really big bug,” Hector said, wide-eyed. He poked one of the thing’s legs gingerly.
“Not possible,” Gerry said, shaking his head as he straightened the creature out. He started murmuring to himself as he inspected the carcass. “That could be Formicidae, but this looks more like Coenobitidae, or possibly Lithodoidae.” He flexed one of the creature’s legs. “And this is more like Scarabaeidae, but only four!” He scratched his head.
“It looks like a bug to me, too,” Andy ventured. “It’s shiny on the outside, like a bug.”
“No, no, it can’t be,” Gerry said. “For one thing, it’s huge. True insects can’t get this large. They’d be unable to take in enough oxygen, because they don’t have lungs like we do. It doesn’t have the right number of legs, either. Insects have six legs. This creature has four.”
“Yeah, but what about spiders?” asked Pyro.
“Spiders aren’t insects,” Gerry replied as he studied the creature’s eye. “They’re arachnids, which have eight limbs for moving around. Spiders and insects are like cousins. They are both arthropods. Here, help me flip this thing onto its back,” he said.
They rolled the creature over.
“Whoa, whoa. Hang on a second. Check this out.”
Gerry tilted the creature’s head up a little and pointed to a tightly folded pair of spiny arms. He extended one of the arms. It reached well in front of the creature’s head. “It must use these limbs to catch its prey, like a praying mantis. Then these jaws would tear its food to shreds….” He glanced at the boys and stopped. Andy’s eyes were wide and staring, Pyro was chewing savagely on a knuckle, and Hector looked like he was ready to throw up.
Gerry realized that he was describing the probable fate of the other boys and school staff. “Sorry, guys.”
He used the letter opener to pry open the thing’s jaws. They were spiky blades that scissored against each other.
“Well, Hector, you might be right. This creature does have a lot of the characteristics that insects have: three pairs of legs, a body divided into three segments, compound eyes, one pair of antennae. Wow, look at those suckers.” Gerry held one of the spiky antennae up for the boys to see. “These are really important. The antennae are used to pick up chemical signals and pheromones from other insects. It’s how they communicate. Amazing.” He shook his head. “But the size thing is really throwing me. Insects just can’t grow this large. Part of it is the breathing problem, but another challenge would be their skeleton and muscles. Mammals like us have our skeletons inside our bodies. That provides a nice, stable framework for our muscles to attach to, and allows us to move around easily.
“Insect skeletons are on the outside of their bodies. Their muscles are attached to that exoskeleton. It works really well if you’re small and light, but the largest insect around now, the Goliath beetle, grows about as big as your hand. Any larger, and their muscles can’t provide enough force to move their body. Plus, you need lots of oxygen to fuel those muscles. You’d need efficient respiratory and circulatory systems to take in enough oxygen and pump it around the body to power the muscles.”
He wiped his forehead. “I’m not sure what this thing is. Let’s open it up.”
Gerry picked up the crowbar and jabbed it into the creature’s body, along the center. The hard covering cracked. He worked the crowbar back and forth, splitting the body open up the middle.
Andy and Pyro grabbed one side of the creature’s shell, and Gerry pulled on the other. The creature cracked open like a lobster, revealing a gooey mass of internal organs. The smell was horrible. Hector and Pyro retreated to one of the small windows in the office and tried to get some fresh air.
“Oh, my God …” Gerry breathed after poking around the internal structure of the creature. “I don’t believe this.”
“What? What is it?” Andy asked. He went around the table to stand beside Gerry.
“Look at this.” Gerry tapped on something solid inside the creature. “This stuff is made of the same material as the outer shell, but it’s acting like an internal skeleton. See? This hard, clear stuff is like a rib cage.”
He took the letter opener and sliced into one of the thing’s leg joints. He ripped it open and revealed a ball-and-socket joint made of the clear material.
“That’s part of the answer: an internal skeleton. Let’s se
e something else,” Gerry muttered. He moved back to the chest cavity, and pried apart the riblike structures. “There they are.” He pointed at some pinkish organs. “Lungs. With an internal skeleton and functional lungs to pull in air to fuel its organs, there’s no reason to keep an arthropod from reaching this size. What is going on here? This is some kind of brand-new organism. There’s absolutely nothing like this that exists on Earth.”
Hector asked, “Do you see anything that would help us wipe these things out?”
“Not yet,” Gerry replied. “They’re going to be tough to kill, especially with the weapons we have on hand. I think our aim has to be just escaping to alert the authorities, and letting them call in the big guns.”
“If only we could make ourselves invisible,” Andy murmured.
The others gave him a weak grin.
Gerry straightened up with a jerk. His eyes were wide, staring into space.
“Hey, doc … you okay?” Pyro asked.
Gerry slapped his forehead with the hand that had been inside the creature’s guts. Andy ducked to avoid the little bits of organic stuff that came flying at him.
“Of course! The whole thing makes sense now! Andy, you’re a genius. That’s exactly what we’ll do … make ourselves invisible.”
“What, and just walk out of here?” Hector asked.
Gerry nodded. “Yes, we’ll just walk out of here.” He snapped a bunch of pictures with his cell phone. The power level was down to one bar, and there was a NO SERVICE message on the screen. “All right, I think I’ve found out everything I need to from this carcass. Let’s get back to the others, and I’ll spell out what I know.”
During the crawl back to the lower level hideout, Andy asked, “Gerry? How do you know so much about this stuff?”
“Well, I read a lot of science books and journals when I was younger. I was really into it. When I went to college, I thought it made sense to study something I was already interested in. Now I spend most of my time teaching classes, but I still work on a couple of research projects a year.”
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