by Anson Barber
With the Haunt safely loaded, I jumped in the back of Bobby’s truck and slid the back window to the side. I reached in and shook him.
“Bobby! Hey, asshole! Wake up! I’m taking this guy in and I’m not even going to split it with you! What if the light had hit that guy in the back, huh?” Nothing. Now I was a little concerned. I reached across and popped the lock on the driver’s door and jumped over the side.
I opened the door and patted his face. It was cold.
“Holy Shit!” I rolled him over so I could get a better look. I thought I saw him breathing earlier, but if he was dead and I had been yelling at a corpse I’d feel really awful.
“Bobby!” I pressed my fingers against his throat. His pulse was slow but fairly strong. He was alive. Maybe he had drunk himself into a coma? I reached under his arms and tried to pull him out of the truck. The truck was jacked up so high his legs fell to the ground with a heavy thud.
Once I got him laid out, I checked his breathing. He was breathing fine. I pulled open his eyelids and it clicked.
Bobby Sims had ice blue eyes, but now they were clouding over. They were gray, slowly turning black. I checked his arm, the veins had also gone dark.
I swallowed while my brain tried to rationalize what was going on. Bobby was a Haunt. But that was impossible. The Bugs were gone. I had no idea how he could have gotten that way.
I was about to be horribly enlightened.
The Haunt in my van began to scream. I’d lost track of time as I was trying to rouse Bobby. I heard cries of “Help!” and “Let me out of here!” That was common enough when they first woke up. What wasn’t expected was when Bobby’s eyes snapped open and he instantly sat up and pulled away from me.
“Bobby, it’s me! Dillon McAllister. What the hell happened?” I asked.
“Dillon? Get the fuck out of here!” he shouted.
“Not until you tell me what’s going on!” I yelled back.
“She got me. She’s coming. You have to go now!”
“What? Who turned you?”
“That freaking Bug.”
That wasn’t possible. Bobby pointed toward the hole on the other side of the building.
I didn’t see anything, but I could hear…something.
A loud chattering and scraping. Something was coming. Something big.
I’d never seen a live Bug during the invasion. Only TV reports and a full scale model once. That sound was worse than I ever imagined.
Just as I was about to freak out, Bobby screamed and grabbed at his head. He knocked me down as he thrashed around on the ground.
“She’s in my head! I can hear her! She’s hungry!” he wailed.
“Bobby. Come with me now!” I got up, pulling at Bobby’s arm as he tried to stand. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t the whole way to his feet, I was already dragging him toward the van.
Bobby screamed again and clutched his head. “You have to get away from me! I’ll take you to her! I don’t think I can…” He shrieked and fell to his knees. “Run, Dillon. Run!”
I wasn’t about to leave him there. I grabbed him under the arms and pulled him up just as the enormous beast reached the top of the hole.
The Bugs I’d seen on TV stood about ten feet tall. This thing before me was more like fifteen to twenty. Its arms and legs weren’t needle thin. They were thick and armored, more like a crab than a bug. This wasn’t a drone. It was a queen.
“That…impossible…” I somehow managed to say.
She clicked and chirped as Bobby began to twitch. The queen stood there for a moment and then let out a loud wailing cry before she attacked.
I dropped Bobby and pulled out my UV light. I wasn’t sure what I thought would happen. Maybe it would sting her enough so I could make a run for it. I shined it on the hideous monster as she closed in on us.
I had used my light on Haunts before. It could quickly make their skin bubble up and sizzle. On this Bug, however, it was ineffective. The beam wasn’t strong enough. She reared her head in the air and chattered loudly.
Shit. I was going to die.
I was going to die before I got the chance to break out the one person who might have been able to help me after I dug myself out of the earth, cold and thirsting for blood. I thought for a fraction of a second about the irony of the situation.
I shined my light directly in her large red eyes. She shrieked and drew back, kicking gravel and dirt in my direction.
In the midst of my terror, I remembered something I had seen on TV. A panel of scientists was sharing everything they knew about the Bugs and the reasons why they left.
Once they’d abandoned their attack on our planet, they left behind some of their own.
The ten foot orphans, with their insatiable thirst for human blood, had been captured. Unfortunately, we didn’t have very long to study them.
About three days after the ships left all the Bugs remaining on Earth died, as if connected to some auto destruct program. It was believed they were killed when the queens—safely aboard their ships—left our solar system and could no longer stay connected with their offspring.
In the short amount of time scientists had to observe them, however, they had discovered a few things.
The scientists were certain the creature’s eyesight in the visible spectrum was deficient. Instead, they tracked their prey by infrared heat. It was how they were able to root us out. Honed in on our body temperature.
A thought popped into my head as the Bug started coming toward me again.
I pulled the flare gun from my vest and shot it away from the door. The flare caught her attention and she changed course. Call it heat camouflage, like turning on a flood light when someone is wearing night vision goggles. It would buy me some time.
I ran back to Bobby and tried to wake him up.
Black foam erupted from Bobby’s mouth and his gray eyes glazed over, he fell still with my arms still grasping him. He was gone. I dropped him and ran to the van before the queen could come after me again.
As I started the van, she hurtled through the large door. I quickly backed up and turned on the UV flood lights mounted on the roof, filling the area with light. I pulled the hand gun from under the seat and emptied my clip in her general direction. I hit her at least twice from the sounds of it—it didn’t hurt that she was the size of a frickin’ barn.
The queen screeched and pulled back into the warehouse. I knew it wouldn’t hold her back for long, she’d heal quickly once out of the light and come after me again.
I didn’t waste any time. I gunned the engine and backed through the gate, leaving the lights on until I was far enough away.
My heart was pounding so fast I wasn’t sure if I could speak as I raced down the road calling for help.
“9-1-1. What’s your emergency?” the man asked.
“There’s a Bug at the chemical plant on Winding Hollow Road. You need to send a containment team right away.”
“A Bug?”
“You remember! Giant aliens, drinking blood, we all thought we were going to die. That whole thing!” I said in exasperation.
I heard him scrambling on the other end of the line, figuring out who to call. “Oh, God! Okay. Let me see.”
The Haunt in the safe box was still screaming and kicking.
“Shut up!” I yelled.
“What’s that?” the operator asked.
“I wasn’t talking to you. How are we coming with that number?”
“I’ve got it. I’m calling now. Please stay on the line to help me explain.”
Within minutes I’d briefed the right people and the military was dispatched. Whether they’d go for containment or obliteration, I didn’t know, and quite frankly, I didn’t care.
I sped down the gravel road, not remembering it taking this long to get to the factory from the mai
n road. I was almost beginning to think I had gone the wrong way when the paved road popped up before me. I turned right to go into town.
Town sounded good. More people. Then I felt guilty. Surely, I didn’t want to lead the thing to town and more people.
I didn’t need to worry about that, however. Two military helicopters with large purple spotlights flew low across the road in front of me, heading toward the factory. There were missiles hanging from the underside. Missiles were good.
Finally, my heart began to slow and I could think straight again. I pulled over and barely got out of the van before I threw up.
I got back in the van and pulled out once I was able to get my hand to stop shaking long enough to turn the key. I was almost in town when the Haunt—who had been yelling since we left—stopped abruptly.
“Hey!” I yelled to him. “Are you okay?” I asked again, knowing the answer was probably no. “Crap!” I slammed my hands against the steering wheel and followed the blue signs with the “H” to find the nearest hospital.
I took a deep breath and parked by the emergency entrance.
Two women in scrubs were outside smoking. I could feel them watching me as I unlocked the back door and climbed inside. I turned on the dome light above my head and unlocked the box.
It was the same as Bobby. Black foam around his mouth, his black eyes staring at me blankly. Dead. It might have happened when the choppers took out the queen.
I leaned out and called to the women by the door.
“Excuse me! Could you have someone come help me with a body?”
“Sure.” The taller of the two threw her cigarette in the ashtray and went inside as if people brought bodies to their hospital in big, black vans every night. Maybe they did.
Three orderlies came out and pulled the Haunt out of the box, putting him on a gurney and wheeling him inside.
“You’re probably not going to want to do anything to the body. Homeland Security or some other agency will be getting involved at any moment.”
I sat on the bench outside the hospital and called Ray.
“Done?”
“No.” I rubbed my forehead. “I ran into a bit of a problem.”
“Like what?”
“Bobby’s dead. He was turned into a Haunt. The Haunt you sent him to bring in is dead too. There was a Bug…” I shuddered, not wanting to finish the sentence.
“You’re serious? You came in contact with a live Bug?” He must have thought I was messing with him.
“Very much alive.”
“Shit!”
“Yeah. A queen I think.”
“You’ll need to get the paperwork in for that. I’m pretty sure that pays pretty good.” I could hear him rifling through papers.
“Thanks, Ray. I’m fine by the way,” I snorted.
“Sorry. When you get a chance, if you could ask someone for the paperwork that would be great.”
“I think I see the person I need to talk to right now.” I looked up to see a woman flanked by men in blue uniforms walking into the hospital. She stopped by the information desk and the clerk pointed to me. “I gotta go. I’ll call you back.”
“Sure. Uh, says here the form you need is a CCL-DCM.”
“Got it.” I hung up and looked at the woman walking toward me.
She was wearing what looked like a cocktail dress. Red sequins sparkled as she walked on the highest heels I’d ever seen a woman wear. She moved as comfortably in them as I did in my scuffed up work boots. Her mocha skin glowed and her white teeth sparkled as she smiled at me. What she was doing with these soldiers was anyone’s guess.
“Excuse me, are you the person who found the live exomorph?” she asked.
“The big Bug? Yes.”
“I’m Colonel Michaela Arder. AFMS, Biomedical Sciences Corp.” All I heard was the word colonel and knew she was very important. I fought the instinct to salute her.
“Dillon McAllister.” I shook her outstretched hand, thinking my name sounded kind of insignificant.
“If you don’t mind, I have a few questions.”
“I figured. And apparently I need a form CCL-DCM to fill out.”
“So you’re a Hunter?”
“Right.”
“Bit off more than you could chew on this one, huh?”
“You could say that.” I smirked as she pulled out a cell phone and texted someone.
“First, let’s get you checked out.”
“I’m fine, really. Just a little shaken up.”
“Then it won’t take long.” She nodded down the hall and I followed her into an exam room. A nurse came in and they spoke in medical lingo for a while. The nurse handed her a white coat.
“You’re a doctor?” I asked, causing one side of her lips to pull up.
“That’s right.”
She took a blood sample. The fact my blood was still red seemed to be enough to make her smile.
“Do you dress like this for work every day?” I asked.
She smiled again before she answered.
“I was at a party when I got the call.”
“Pretty quick response time.”
“I have a jet at my disposal. It’s one of the perks of being the acting Chief Medical Officer of the US Air Force.”
“One of the perks, huh? Well, la-dee-da,” I muttered that last part more to myself, making her laugh. She was checking me over with a little more than just medical interest. It helped me relax, having that extra bit of normalcy.
After she took my blood pressure and gave me a once over, the nurse was dismissed so we could talk privately.
“So. What happened?” she asked.
I spent the next hour being debriefed. I explained how the Haunts seemed to be connected to the queen, though I only had Bobby’s word on that. I explained how I got away and how the other Haunt died in my van, presumably when the queen was killed.
“I thought they couldn’t do that,” I said when I’d finished. “I thought that was one of the reasons they gave up. Because they couldn’t get into our head and control us.” At least that’s what the eggheads on TV had said. But they had also said none of the Bugs were left alive on Earth too.
“I’m afraid I can’t comment on that. But I remind you this information of yours is classified. It goes nowhere outside of this room.”
I leaned in closer and tilted my head giving her my best grin. “Yes. I understand, but come on. Between you and me. This kind of information might keep me alive if I come across any similar situations. That helps you out as well, right?”
She sighed and looked back at the door before deciding whether or not to share. I watched her pupils dilate and knew I was in.
“As you know, the Bugs were controlled by their queens.”
“Yes.” I knew that much from TV.
“We figured there were a dozen or more on each ship. No way to be certain. Most of them stayed onboard, but some came down during the harvest. And while the drones didn’t have the ability to control us, it appears the queens might be able to.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.” She sighed. “And we really have no idea who was controlling the queens.”
“Wait, they weren’t in charge?” I swallowed. It didn’t seem possible.
“These Bugs aren’t advanced enough to work out an invasion plan capable of taking down a civilization, let alone build FTL capable ships. They were shock troops, disposable and easily bred. Something smarter had to be calling the shots.”
I shivered from the thought. “So how did she end up surviving here so long? Why didn’t she die like the others?”
“We don’t know, but we’re going to look into it. At this point we can only assume the queens are autonomous.”
I asked the most important question. “Is she dead?”
“I�
��m afraid that’s classified,” she said. I wasn’t sure I liked that answer. “Why don’t we get out of here? I’m guessing you could use a drink and I got pulled out of a party. You owe me some fun, and I bet you’d rather continue this someplace more comfortable than a hospital.”
“Okay.” I wasn’t quite ready to be alone with my thoughts.
A man in fatigues and a bright blue beret came to meet us as we left, handing me the forms I needed to fax to Ray.
“Do I assume you’re keeping this quiet?” I asked as we walked toward the exit.
“That would be impossible. People saw the helicopters. The farmer across the field saw it and hit the internet. Word’s already out. Just don’t mention it was a queen yet.” She sighed. “Besides, there’s no threat, everything is fine.” She said it like more a mantra than the actual truth. “I’m more worried about the misinformation that’s about to hit the fan. The press are already out there.”
It was going on midnight as we walked outside. A crowd of people was waiting by the automated doors.
“Mr. McAllister, is it true you encountered a live Bug at the chemical plant this evening?”
“How did you escape its grasp?”
“Did it bite you?”
“Are there others?”
“Is it true that Haunts are turning into Bugs now?”
“Was it half-Haunt, half-Bug?”
I blinked from the flash and the lights of the video cameras as they continued to pepper me with questions.
The guards at the doors made sure the reporters couldn’t get too close. I put up my hands. They quieted for a moment to allow me to answer.
“Yes, there was a Bug, but there is no longer a threat. There was nothing to indicate it was a hybrid or that it had once been human. Just a lone survivor from the invasion.” It seemed to be a safe comment. “I’m sure you’ll be getting more details from Dr. Arder and her team when they’re available.”
Of course, that didn’t satisfy them. They wanted details, and I wanted to get the hell out of there. I pushed through the throng of reporters and helped the doctor into my van.
She made a phone call while I drove to the next town in an effort to get away from my paparazzi. We were followed by her escort.