by Crae, Edward
“Like humans, the rate and frequency of infections is varied. The most commonly susceptible animals are predators and other high strung animals. Most herd animals are immune, but you will occasionally find one that has succumbed to the gene-altering effects. Go to the next cage.”
Toby kept his eyes on the bizarre coyote thing as he went to the last cage. It was frightening, and almost looked like it would burst through the glass and gobble him up.
“This last specimen is something new that I had never seen before. I cannot tell you what kind of human becomes this type; not yet anyway. But I found this one just as it was emerging from its cocoon.”
Toby pulled the curtain aside, and stepped back in horror. The creature inside was exactly like the one that had attacked the camp. It was tall and skinless; only muscle and spiked bone. Its skull was exposed, and grinned like a demonic Halloween decoration with jagged teeth and black, hollow eyes. He remembered the one he saw as having glowing eyes, so knew that this one was dead.
“How did you kill this?” Toby asked.
“Let’s just say its death was… shocking. Now, I have no information on this one. As I said, I have never encountered one before. But what you are about to see now is the ultimate in mutation. These creatures are sentient, highly intelligent, and seem to be the same as they were in their previous lives. Only now, they are nearly invincible, and god-like. Behold the Overlord.”
A large curtain along the back wall opened slowly, revealing the most horrifying and alien creature that one could imagine. There, fastened to the wall by its arms, legs, and four long tentacles, was a giant-sized skeletal creature. Like the other mutants, its skin was white and glossy, but with armored plates of bone. It had black alien eyes that were like orbs of glass, and the most fearsome and evil rictus grin that Toby could imagine. There were transparent fangs that interlocked perfectly, as if designed by some mad scientist. Its very appearance made Toby shudder, and he stepped back in terror.
It was like looking into the face of the Devil himself.
“This, my little friend,” Maynard said as Toby’s vision began to blur, “Is our future.”
Chapter Three
“I can’t believe the debris has reached this far,” Cpt. Blair shouted over the chopper’s rotors.
“Jet streams and such,” Dr. Grace Hill shouted. “It’s not that unusual. It was a large impact, but not as bad as it could have been if the fragment had been a solid object.”
One of the Army grunts leaned over to her. It was Ramirez, a Private First Class whose job was to patch structural damage. She was tough as nails, but oddly curious about science—especially anything that had to do with the comet.
“If it wasn’t solid,” she said. “Then what was it?”
Grace leaned over to get closer. The chopper was loud enough, but the howling wind outside made it all the worse.
“Mostly ice, mixed in with small chunks of rock, hydrocarbons, amino acids, etcetera.”
Ramirez nodded, seemingly satisfied. Grace knew she didn’t have to explain much to Ramirez. She was a smart girl, despite her gung-ho military attitude. She liked her. A lot.
“Dr. Hill,” the Captain shouted again. “Once we reach Atterbury, I’m touching down. We’ll need more fuel to get to the Impact site.”
“Alright,” Grace shouted back.
She looked over to Ramirez, who gave her an upward nod. That was the signal for “all good”, Grace supposed. She wasn’t sure.
“Where are we now?” Grace asked her.
Ramirez leaned forward to look at the radar in the cockpit. “Looks like we’re just south of Indy,” she said. “We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“What is Atterbury?”
“Camp Atterbury,” Ramirez said. “It’s a training base for the Guard.”
Grace nodded, smiling. “That’s good. Will there be more soldiers there?”
Ramirez chuckled, and the other grunts joined in for some reason. Grace was confused. Had she said something amusing?
“What?”
“Not soldiers,” she said. “Grunts. Marines are Marines, Army are grunts. The Guard, well, they’re weekend warriors. But for now, that’s all we got.”
“I see,” Grace said, still not sure what the difference was.
There was a sudden jolt that knocked her off of her seat. She was grabbed by another grunt tightly, and shielded as he pressed her against the seat. The chopper spun and pitched, letting in the harsh winds and cold rain. Grace gritted her teeth, thankful that the young man had offered his own body in her defense. She could feel his hands clutching her lower leg and her shoulder. His grip was tight and secure.
“Hold on, Ma’am,” he shouted. “Just a little turbulence.”
“Captain,” Ramirez shouted. “What’s our twenty?”
“We’re right over Columbus,” the Captain shouted back.
Another heavy impact jolted the chopper again, this time throwing everyone from their seats. Grace’s backpack slammed into her, knocking the wind out of her, but she grabbed it in a death grip. The soldier who had saved her the first time hit the wall next to her, slamming the side of his head against the hard metal. She could see blood splatter and fly through the air in the weightless environment. The chopper was spinning rapidly, and descending like a lead weight.
She could feel herself screaming.
The young man fell away, tumbling through the chopper and right out the side door. Grace screamed, attempting to reach out and grab him. But it was too late. Ramirez attempted to grab hold of his leg, but the chopper was jolted again, and her hand missed. Grace could hear her scream.
“Jacob!” she shouted.
There was an explosion in the cockpit, and the entire chopper was suddenly filled with flame, and unbearable, scorching heat. Grace closed her eyes, clutching her backpack, ready for it all to end in one fiery explosion.
But then she felt two tough hands grasp her around the waist. A pair of muscled legs wrapped around her, gripping her like a vise. Then, when she thought it was all over, she and her rescuer were pitched into the darkness.
Grace’s stomach flew up into her chest. She was falling. They were falling. She dared not open her eyes, lest she see the ground closing in on them. She did scream, however, but it was drowned out by the sound of the chopper slamming into the ground and exploding in a fireball that she could see through her eyelids.
“Hold on!” she heard Ramirez shout over the rushing wind.
They were jerked to a slower descent suddenly. Grace nearly dropped her backpack, and Ramirez’s legs nearly ripped her in half. She finally opened her eyes, seeing the treetops rushing up at her from below. Ramirez had deployed a parachute, but they were still falling rapidly.
Military speed.
In her head, Grace prayed to a God she didn’t believe in.
“What the fuck was that?” Drew said as they all saw the fireball in the distance.
Everyone suddenly crouched on instinct.
“Holy shit,” Cliff said. “I thought I heard a chopper earlier.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Dan shouted. “It could be Gephardt dicks.”
“Well,” Cliff shrugged. “If it was, they’re dead now.”
Jake stood back up. “If that was a chopper crash, we might be able to salvage some equipment. If it wasn’t too bad, anyway.”
Dan nodded. That was a good idea, but they were looking for Toby, not scrap.
“Look,” Toni said. “If Toby is out here, he would have seen that, and went toward it. We might find him there.”
“Alright,” Dan said. “Let’s go.”
Grace was slammed into the branches of a dead pine tree. Her backpack—and her breath—were knocked away, and she could feel the sting of her skin being scratched by the mass of stiff branches. Ramirez still had her legs wrapped around Grace’s waist when they finally came to a stop. They hung there, suspended, as the brutal cold wind pelted with its icy whips.
“A
re you okay?” Ramirez asked from above.
Grace was in pain, but was alive, and thankful. “I’m alright,” she said. “But I dropped my backpack.”
“That’s alright. We’ll find it.”
“I hope so,” Grace groaned. “My laptop was in there.”
She could hear Ramirez grunting and straining against the buckles of the parachute. Grace reached out and grasped a branch, taking her weight off of her rescuer. “Are you stuck?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Ramirez answered. “But I think I can get loose with your help. Can you reach my left boot?”
Grace reached around and grabbed Ramirez’s left leg. She felt around her boot, finding a large knife strapped to her calf. “Got it,” she said.
“I can’t reach. Can you cut the harness between my legs?”
“You want me to cut there?” Grace asked, not sure whether she would want any sharp objects near her own groin.
“I can’t get my harness loose,” Ramirez said. “It’s the only way. Just be careful,”
Grace swallowed nervously and reached up to grab the groin straps. She slipped her fingers underneath it and pulled. It wouldn’t budge.
“You’ll have to wedge your foot on something and take your weight off of it,” Grace said.
Ramirez felt around with her boot. Grace directed her toward the stump of a thick, broken branch, and Ramirez pushed up. Now Grace could pull the strap down enough to slip the knife underneath it. She sawed carefully, so as not to cut or stab Ramirez, and in a minute or so, the strap was cut.
“Good,” Ramirez said. “Now move over if you can.”
Grace carefully grabbed a nearby branch and stepped over onto another. Ramirez climbed down through the severed strap, meeting Grace face to face. She reached into her cargo pocket and pulled out a small scope, putting it up to her eye and looking down at the forest below.
“Do you have any idea where we are?” Grace asked.
“In the woods, obviously,” Ramirez said. “But I have no idea where. We were around Columbus when we got hit.”
“What the hell hit us anyway?” Grace wondered.
“I have no idea, Doc, but whatever it was, it was huge.”
Grace gritted her teeth. There was nothing she knew of that was big enough to down a chopper. Nothing alive anyway. Maybe a giant pterodactyl, but those weren’t around anymore.
“We need to climb down,” Ramirez said. “It doesn’t look too far to the forest floor.”
Grace nodded, but gazed in the direction of the chopper. There was a bright glow coming from the crash site, meaning it was still burning—and possibly spreading. She wondered if anyone else had survived.
“We should find the crash,” Grace said. “Maybe someone else survived.”
Ramirez began climbing down, urging Grace to follow. “I doubt it,” she said. “But we’ll go anyway. We need weapons. You wouldn’t happen to have anything in your backpack would you?
“No,” Grace said, beginning the climb down. “Nothing but my laptop and solar charger.”
“Shit. Stop.”
Grace froze due to the urgency of Ramirez’s voice. Something was wrong, she knew. Ramirez was still, and her gaze was directed at the forest floor below.
“What is it?” Grace whispered.
“I’m not sure. Something white below.”
Grace cringed. She knew that anything with pure white skin was likely a dangerous mutant. Even worse, most of them could climb fairly well, some of them even capable of crawling on the ceiling.
A growl sounded from below that sent chills up her spine. Her teeth began chattering, and her heart pounded. With the freezing cold air, and the prospect of a carnivorous mutant below, their odds weren’t looking too good.
She stayed as still as possible, clamping her hand over her mouth. Ramirez was also as still and stiff as a board. The two of them were frozen as the creature wandered around below. Grace could hear it sniffing and growling, and could see the faint outline of its body. It walked on all fours but was human shaped, with four tentacles that were barely visible in the dim light.
Anthropomorphic Malefactor. Mutant created from a human. She knew them well; the human as well as the animal types. They were incredibly dangerous, infectious, and always hungry. From her observations, she knew that they also fed on the fungal humanoids. As dangerous as it was, she was thankful it was not something greater. Still, she would rather face a group of fungal humanoids than a mutant.
Slowly and carefully, Ramirez lifted herself up to Grace’s level to see her face to face.
“It knows we’re here,” she whispered. “We have to distract it somehow.”
“With what?” Grace asked. “I don’t have anything, do you?”
“All I have is a knife,” Ramirez said. “And I don’t think that’ll work.”
Grace remembered that she had an apple in her pocket. Thankfully, it hadn’t fallen out. She had been about to eat it when the chopper was hit by its aerial attacker. She pulled out the apple, showing it to Ramirez, who shrugged and took it.
“I’ll throw it to create a distraction, and then we’ll climb down as quickly as possible.”
Grace nodded. “Then what?”
Ramirez pursed her lips in thought. Then, the creature below roared as it finally caught their scent. Grace gasped as she looked down. The creature was staring straight up at them, gnashing it huge maw as its claws dug into the trunk of the tree.
“Ramirez,” Grace whispered in terror.
“Yeah?”
“In case we don’t make it, what’s your first name?”
Ramirez looked up with a sly grin. “Gena.”
The search party heard the hissing of a creature in the distance. The foul sound echoed through the forest, causing them all to stop and reassess their strategy. If Toby was anywhere near the crash site, the creature could be after him. They had to find him before he was eaten or mauled to death.
Dan and Cliff both scoped out the area ahead of them with their IRs. Though there wasn’t much to see, there was a definite heat signature about two hundred yards away. It would take several minutes to get there.
“To the northwest,” Dan said. “Slightly off course to the crash site.”
Without a word, they all picked up their pace. Dan and Cliff both checked the area again as they ran, making sure they stayed on course. The heat signature grew larger, and the hissing and growling was growing in intensity.
Someone was in trouble.
Dan stopped to look again, seeing the definite shape of a stalker in the distance. Strangely, there were two more heat signatures higher up. Confused, he lowered his rifle and caught up to the others.
“It looks like there are two people up in a tree,” Dan said, nearly breathless. “The stalker is trying to get at them.”
“Maybe crash survivors,” Toni said.
She was probably right, which was disheartening. They all wanted to find Toby, especially Dan. He couldn’t let the boy down. He had made a promise to take care of him. But now that promise would have to wait. There were others in trouble; likely military folk who could be of help.
Ahead, he could hear the growls increasing, and the whip-like snap of tentacles. Then, there was an intense and fearful shout. It was a woman’s voice. They all picked up their pace, desperate to help whoever was in trouble.
Gena kicked at the beast with her boot, waiting for an opportunity to swipe at it with her knife. Its face was horrifying with its gar-like jaws that snapped with the intensity of a crocodile. She growled with it every time it snapped at her, doing her best not to let it climb any higher.
Above her, she could hear Grace cry out just as the creature’s front tentacles whipped around and stung the tree trunk just above Gena’s head. Acting on instinct, she swiped with the knife, severing one of the tentacles. The creature cried out in pain, and the severed appendage fell to the ground, writhing and squirming on its own.
“Fuck you!” she growled.
Then, out of nowhere, the tell-tale poof of a silenced firearm sounded from several yards away. The creature screeched, turning its attention to the area behind it. The gunshots sounded again, and the spray of blood told Gena that the creature was being pummeled with bullets.
A small group of people came out of nowhere, all armed and unloading on the creature. It pounced down to the forest floor, waving its remaining tentacles menacingly as the group surrounded it. The two in front stepped forward, unleashing a hail of suppressed, automatic fire. The creature cried out, backing away and pressing its body against the tree trunk.
Then, another one of them fired multiple rounds from two high caliber revolvers, taking the creature down in a splattering display. As the creature fell forward, another much larger figure shot forward with an axe, chopping the creature’s head in two.
Gena remained silent, unsure of whether their rescuers would soon turn on them. She held her hand up to make sure Grace was quiet, and waited.
“Hello,” a voice said from below.
The large man stared upward as another one stepped forward.
“Are you alright?” the voice asked.
Against her better judgment, Gena began climbing down. “We’re okay,” she said. “Thanks for the help. Grace, come on down.”
Dan studied the creature as the two women made their way down the tree. Jake helped the smaller woman get down safely, and everyone gathered around to join Dan. He took note of the second woman, a short and slim woman with highlighted brown hair and glasses. She looked like she knew things.
“Just what I thought,” the woman said. “Human type.”
“You know about these things?” Dan asked.
The woman nodded. “I do,” she said. “I’ve been studying them since this whole thing started.”
“Are you a scientist or something?” Jake asked.
“Microbiologist among other things.”
She turned and began looking around, and the woman in the military garb addressed the group.
“Are you all holed up somewhere around here?” she asked.
“We have a camp nearby,” Dan said.