The Missing Town

by Marcel Liemant

  “Tom?” Will barked.

  He hurried into the kids room and checked the closet, under the bed and in every nook and cranny he could find. He picked up the kid’s tablet. The movie Cars 23 was paused on the screen. Will’s brother had loved those movies.

  “Tom, come out kid!” Will yelled.

  There was no response. Will clenched his fist and slammed it into the wall. Plaster pattered down onto the carpet. He shook his head and ran back down the stairs where Natalie stood.

  “It’s time to go to that goddamn portal.”

  Natalie met his eye, there was a fierceness in her stare that he hadn’t seen in her before. “Let’s go,” She said.

  10

  Will went out to his car, Natalie assumed, to get guns. When he was out of sight, Natalie put her hand against the wall and took a few seconds to breathe. Her gut was knotted with guilt and terror. Her heart was racing with adrenalin. Every second she spent in this house, in this town, felt like an intrusion into a dangerous world. Tom had been taken, she’d let that happen. She could only imagine how afraid he was.

  With shaking hands she pulled out her phone. Will seemed to genuinely care about Tom, despite his brutish way of showing it. She didn’t think he would lie about the police. She’d definitely seen the news stories too. It still didn’t make sense to her, that they should do this alone. That they even could do this alone. Natalie’s finger hovered over the screen. There were children in danger and she had to make the right choice. She typed in the emergency services number.

  Will burst through the front door and Natalie shoved the phone into her pocket. Will was holding two large electronic guns.

  He held out one of the guns, the silver one, to Natalie and she took it.

  “Do you know how to use it?” He asked.

  “Point and shoot. I’m familiar.”

  She put the strap over her shoulder. It was heavier than Natalie had expected, but she didn’t want to show it.

  William frowned. “We should go.”

  “Wait.”

  Natalie ran upstairs and rifled through her travel kit. She found DaVinci and shoved it into her lab coat pocket. She joined Will back downstairs. “Ready.”

  In the street, Will turned to her.

  “It’s out past the main street,” Will said.

  “Have you seen it?”

  “No.”

  Will marched forward without another word. Natalie, shifted the gun onto her shoulder and dug into her pocket. She pulled out DaVinci and checked the GPS, which was still locked onto the portal. Will was right. Natalie followed after him, at the end of Tom’s road, Will broke out into a jog. Natalie, accustomed to keeping up with Wolfgang, kept pace close behind him. Wolfgang ran beside her, and she was grateful. Natalie had never been in a human place, so devoid of humans. It was devoid of animal life too. There wasn’t a rustling in the trees, or a bat or bird flying overhead. There wasn’t any wind. The only movement in Quuorn was the three of them, running towards the portal.

  When they reached the main street, Will stopped and held a fist up. Natalie assumed meant that she should stop too.

  “Do you see something?” Natalie whispered between gasping breaths.

  Will shook his head. He aimed his gun at the street and looked through the sights, scanning one way and then another. From what Natalie could see, the main street was as deathly quiet as the rest of the streets had been. But she appreciated the chance to catch her breath.

  Will pointed forward and took off again. Natalie took a moment to fill her lungs with oxygen. Wolfgang let out a sharp bark.

  Natalie hit the ground hard, the gun slammed into her stomach, winding her. Before she could react, she was being dragged back out onto the road. Natalie watched Wolfgang bark and then race after her. She hit the mucus trail and flipped herself over. The tail was wrapped around her legs and Natalie needed to get free before the alien injected the venom.

  She tried to wrangle her gun into position. She heard another set of footsteps behind her and looked back to see Will sprinting after her. Wolfgang was running by his side.

  Natalie aimed her gun forward, but she couldn’t see the alien. She wondered how long its tail actually was and then pressed the trigger. The gun slammed backwards into her chin but let off a shot. Nothing happened. Natalie fired again and this time there was a shriek from the darkness. She stopped short and the tail retracted.

  Wolfgang was on her in seconds, whining and licking her face.

  Will sprinted right past her.

  “I’m alright,” Natalie said to Wolfgang.

  Her legs shaking, she got to her feet and wiped some of the slime from her back and arms. She took several deep breaths before her heart rate returned to normal. When she stood up straight, she saw Will jogging towards her.

  “The little buggers are fast. But I think you clipped him,” He said when he reached her.

  Natalie nodded. Unable to think of anything coherent to say. The alien had come out of nowhere. She was all of a sudden very grateful to have a gun in her hands.

  “Let’s go,” Will said.

  Natalie stumbled after him. She followed him into an alleyway and pulled out DaVinci and checked their location. The portal was in the park across the next street.

  Natalie emerged from the alleyway into a gravel carpark. Will had crouched behind a black car, he waved Natalie over. She instinctively ducked her head and hurried over to him. He pointed to his eyes and then over the bonnet of the car towards a park. The park was immersed in a ghostly blue light, a telltale sign that a portal was near by. Though Natalie couldn’t quite see the entrance, because of the thick, old gum trees.

  “Smart slugs, huh?” Will whispered.

  “It would appear,” Natalie replied.

  Will met her gaze, a curious look in his eyes. Then his eyes flicked away and Natalie watched his features morph into dark rage. He was looking past her at something in the alleyway.

  Natalie shifted the gun uncomfortably. “What is it?” She whispered.

  Natalie turned and her eyes widened. There were lights bouncing off the walls of the alleyway. The flashing of police lights on the main street. Her call had gone through.

  11

  Will shoved the silver gun’s strap over his shoulder. He hadn’t bothered to listen to the Doc’s explanation. He’d taken the gun and left her. He had to go through the portal, right now. Before the police found it and blocked it off.

  Will gripped his gun until his knuckles were white. He ran steadily, keeping his head low as he approached the park. He reached the entrance of the park which surrounded by road, sectioning it off. Will ducked behind the thick, white trunk of a gum tree. The blue light of the portal coated the park in an eerie glow. Will could smell it in the air, like burnt rock. The dead grass crunched under his feet. He scanned the park through the sights of his gun. The coast was clear. He ran forward and The portal came into view. It stood tall and shimmering beneath a cluster of low hanging branches.

  Will couldn’t see any aliens at the entrance but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. He pointed his gun and sprinted up to the portal and through it. His skin prickled and his stomach dropped.

  Immediately, the smell hit Will. It smelt like rotting flesh and smoke.

  He’d been transported to a swamp. Plants twisted in on themselves and gelatinous liquid pooled around their bases. It was lit with a sour, orange light from like two dim suns in the brown sky.

  Will kept his gun raised and took a few more steps into the world. The atmosphere was thick but he could see a slight path through the pools of liquid and jagged, black rocks. He pushed himself to keep running, keeping his mind focused on what had to be done. The people of Quuorn needed help and some slug aliens needed killing.

  There were prints in the path that didn’t belong to a slug. Will clenched his jaw. He wished he had his flask to stop his head and heart from pounding so hard. The path grew wider and then opened up into a clearing that drew up into a
hill. It was drier here, the atmosphere was clearer too. Will could see the hint of a black structure on top of the hill. He checked the battery of his gun, it was half full. The atmosphere would cover his approach, unless the slugs used heat sensing or another unique sense Will couldn’t account for. He sprinted up the hill. The structure was made of the black boulders Will had passed on his way from the portal. They were arranged in a spiral pattern that reached upwards into a cone shame. Everything was dripping with green slime. This had to be the place.

  Will slung his gun over his shoulder beside the other and tried to find a grip on the rocks. The slime made it impossible for him to pull himself upward. Frustrated, Will began to circle the structure, looking for a way through. Finally, he found a root growing out from a crack. He grabbed it, and pulled himself upward onto the first level of rocks. Any wrong move would lead to him slipping and falling. He walked slowly and then dug his hand between two rocks, using their pressure against each other to act as a grip.

  Every inch Will gained was torturous. He couldn’t be quick or he would lose his footing and slip back to the ground. He grew more and more frustrated. Every time he paused his progress to assess the situation he thought about the Doc. He couldn’t help but think that she would find a better solution to this problem.

  When he finally got to the top he was dripping with sweat and slime. The top of the structure was open, Will crouched down and looked into its depths. Below, he could see thirty or forty slug aliens. On the far side were lines of cages but Will couldn’t see into them.

  There was also something happening in the middle of the pit. A man was lying on the ground and three of the slugs were arranged around him. Will shifted his gun to look through the sights. He looked down at the group in the middle. The slug aliens were circling the paralysed man slowly. They were either getting ready to eat him or were praying to him, Will had no idea. He didn’t care. He lined up one of the slug alien’s bulbous heads and pressed the trigger. The head exploded in a mess of green and blue gunk. Will grinned, finally feeling some of his frustration ease.

  How did that taste slug boy?

  There was silence and stillness for a few seconds and then a chorus of screeching began. Every single one of the slug aliens moved into action. They circled the pit like cattle and then they began to climb.

  “Alright then,” Will murmured.

  He shifted his aim to an approaching slug and let off a few shots. It fell backwards off the wall and into the pit. He kept firing. But every slug that fell back was replaced by two more. Will quickly ran out of battery and switched guns and then ran through that battery as well. He wasn’t even making a dent in the numbers. The slugs were almost on him now. He stood and pulled his pistol as well as his knife. A group of tails shot towards him. He slashed at them and jumped out of the way of another. He almost slipped but righted himself. Most of the slugs were on the top of the wall and Will couldn’t keep track of the tails. He fired a few shots and then lost his footing. Will tumbled backwards into empty air and then hit one of the rocks, hard. He slid downward and scrambled to grab ahold of something. He fell off another level. Will dropped his knife and pistol as he fell. All he could do was cover his head with his arms and wait.

  Somehow, when he hit the ground, nothing felt broken. Will pulled himself to his feet and squinted up towards the top of the wall. The slug aliens hadn’t followed him. Will searched the ground for his weapons. Something hit him hard in the back of the head. He fell onto his knees with a grunt of pain. All he could see were a pair of dirty runners and then another blow hit the back of his head and everything went black.

  12

  Natalie watched the police car turn off the main road. It was heading towards Tom’s house. She followed it with Wolfgang at her heels. She had no idea how to feel about the arrival of the police. She hadn’t meant for her call to go through, or had she? The look on Will’s face when he had seen those blue and red lights had unnerved her. But surely having more people looking for Tom and his town, couldn’t be a bad thing.

  Natalie hurried back to Tom’s street and jogged over to the parked police car. The police were standing outside of their car, looking at Will’s car. She could see it was a man and a woman, the woman was taller and leaner, and the man older and hunched.

  “Hello?” She called.

  Their heads turned in sync, she waved frantically at them.

  “Hello, I’m the one-”

  The woman leapt into action. She pulled her gun. “Stay where you are!” She yelled.

  Natalie stopped dead in her tracks. Wolfgang ran a few paces ahead and began to growl, putting himself in-between Natalie and the policewoman.

  “Restrain the mutt,” The male cop warned.

  With the gun on her and the town empty but for her and the cops. All the old stories she’d heard about police came back to her. She also wasn’t white and though most prejudice was now directed at non-human life forms, old prejudices died hard. No human ever seemed to truly embrace other humans, no matter the similarities. Natalie’s skin felt hot, her stomach sick.

  “Please,” She said. “I called you. My name is Dr. Natalie Kyle. I work for the Scientific Portal Research, Melbourne Division.”

  Wolfgang growled.

  “Enough Wolf,” Natalie said.

  Wolfgang lingered for a moment longer and then sat, his eyes still trained on the police officers.

  The man shot a look at his partner who lowered her gun.

  “Do you have some identification?” He said.

  Natalie nodded. She was in that moment, grateful that Will had taken her gun from her.

  “Yes, if I can reach into my pocket, I’ll retrieve it.”

  “Is that dog going to bite me if I walk over to you?” The man said.

  Natalie shook her head.

  The man strolled over, favouring his left side. He smiled at her but it wasn’t kind. “ID.” He said.

  Natalie eyed his partner, who still held her gun. She slowly reached into her pocket to grab her I.D badge.

  Wolfgang sniffed the man’s legs.

  “Watch it dog,” The man muttered.

  The policeman took her ID, he was close enough that Natalie could read his, Frank. Frank made a show of reading her ID carefully.

  “Alright darlin’. What seems to be the problem?”

  Natalie spoke through clenched teeth. “The town is gone-”

  “What do you mean gone?” He asked.

  The female cop walked over, her ID read Hannah. She looked Natalie up and down and didn’t holster her weapon.

  “Gone. They’ve been kidnapped and this little boy Tom, whose house this is -”

  “Kidnapped? A whole town, kidnapped?” Frank glanced at his partner, who raised her eyebrows.

  Natalie pressed her lips together. “Yes. A portal appeared in Quuorn some 24 hours ago. Since then, it appears that whatever inhabits that portal has been taking the people-”

  The police stiffened and their eyes became razor focused on Natalie.

  “Portal? Where’s the portal?” Hannah asked.

  “You should’ve said this was a portal matter. Where is it?” He said, forcefully.

  “I understand that portals are valuable finds in your field but-”

  “Are you saying we aren’t gonna do our jobs?” Hannah interrupted.

  “No, but I do think you should hear about the nature of these portal aliens. It’s important that we act quickly and rescue the towns people and Tom-”

  “Where is the portal?” Frank repeated.

  “I can take you to the portal.”

  The police partners laughed.

  “It’s far too dangerous for a civilian.” Frank said. “Just tell us where it is and we will get this thing shut down.”

  “What about the people inside?”

  “We can’t break treaty lines, you’re a scientist, you should be well aware of that.”

  “But the town, there’s children.”

  “We’
ll do our best. But we can’t start an extraterrestrial war over a few country folks.”

  “But-”

  “Leave it to the professionals, darling,” Frank said, with a smirk.

  Natalie struggled to hold her composure. She needed to get the police out of here so that she could get back to her research. There had to be something that could shed some light on this situation. She had no doubt that Will needed her help and even if she had probably ruined their trust forever, she was going to help whether he liked it or not.

  Natalie forced a smile. “It’s four streets over. On a residential street like this. Called Shephard Crt.”

  “Was that so hard?” Frank turned to his partner. “Let’s go.”

  They returned to their cruiser, got in and drove off, without another glance at Natalie.

  The police would find out soon that the portal wasn’t on the made up street Shephard Crt. But maybe she had bought Will another half an hour to get out.

  Natalie, now alone again on the dark, abandoned street of Quuorn, let out a heavy breath. Will had been right about the police. She felt childish and stupid for even considering trusting the authorities. She’d seen the look in the police’s eyes, they weren’t going to call the portal in. The black market in illegal portal passage was real.

  If Natalie could just find something useful in her research. Then maybe she could find a way to help and this situation might still work out. A part of her was desperate to get inside the portal and see it. She could then take samples and put together the mystery of how it all worked. A panicked determination sent her back inside of Tom’s house.

  She almost slipped on the slime in the hallway. Its trail stretching out in front of her, glistening and green. The lights were off and the rooms silent. She swallowed her unease and headed for the stairs. She could feel Wolfgang’s hesitation as he sniffed at the doorway.

  “It’s okay Wolf, we’ve got to help Tom…and Will,” She said.

  As grateful as she had been that Will had taken the gun earlier, was equal to how much she missed it now. She hurried up the stairs, trying her best to avoid the trails. They’d been back here and they hadn’t bothered to cover their tracks this time.