Fatal Reaction, Battle of the Hunted

by M A Hollstein

  “Go get some sleep,” Mike said. “The sun will be rising soon. In the morning, we’ll pack up supplies and figure out where to go from here. If they return before then, I’ll wake you.”

  Hiro didn’t argue with him. He knew he’d be useless without sleep. In his youth, he was able to go days without sleeping and still function. Growing old was a real bitch. Hiro nodded his agreement. He’d rest up for the morning. He trusted the sheriff to watch his and his granddaughter’s back. However, he brought his gun with him just in case. If one of those alien bastards made it into the restaurant, he wanted to be prepared.

  Hiro walked over to where Yuka was sleeping on the floor in the far corner of the kitchen, curled up with a supply of kitchen towels. He lay down next to her, resting his head on a bag of flour, using it as a makeshift pillow. He was so tired; the bag of flour and hard cold floor didn’t faze him. He closed his eyes and immediately fell asleep. His dreams were filled with visions of the dark demons with glowing reptilian eyes that were now roaming the earth. He tried to see what the demons looked like, but could only see their eyes.

  ***

  Bill bounded down the concrete steps, two at a time, with as much speed as he could muster. When he landed on the bottom step, he peered around the corner of the building before walking out into the open on the concrete path. No one was around. Everything was quiet.

  His eyes zeroed in on the ray gun. Amanda had been correct. It appeared to be the same weapon, that looked like a prop from a science fiction film, that he’d seen the first aliens they’d encountered, The Order, use in the hospital. Right before his very eyes, he’d witnessed a man reduced to nothing but a pile of ash.

  With a mixture of apprehension and excitement, Bill knelt down and clutched the gun in his hands. It was lighter than he’d expected. It didn’t feel like a real gun. It felt more like a toy made of aluminum. Bill’s eyes were drawn to a pool of blood on the sidewalk not far from him. He followed the sticky mess with his eyes and noticed that the blood was also splattered on the side of the building. He wondered if the blood belonged to the good aliens or the new arrivals that they called the Scourge.

  Bile rose in Bill’s throat. He fought hard to force it back down. Under the fluorescent light of the security lamps along the sidewalk, there was a trail of blood leading all the way to the edge of the building. Bill looked back over his shoulder in the direction of the staircase to the apartment. Everything seemed quiet. Clutching the foreign ray gun, he followed the trail.

  If the ray gun had been used, there’d be ashes. Not blood, he thought. Unless this gun was different from the one he and Amanda had witnessed. Maybe the blood belonged to one of The Order. Knowing he should go back inside where it was safer, Bill ignored his gut and followed the trail of blood to the end of the building. He peered around the corner and stared out into the parking lot. All was quiet. He then looked for the blood, but it disappeared somewhere into the grass to the right of him. He looked around the grassy area and wandered over to the bushes near the building. When he lifted his head, he noticed something in the dark near the dog run. Or at least he thought he did.

  For a moment, he stared at the dog run where he’d been burning the infected bodies over the last several weeks while trying to keep the apartment building clear of disease. A rustling in the bushes near the apartment, below Amanda’s bedroom window startled, him.

  Bill held the ray gun out in front of him, even though he hadn’t a clue how to shoot the damn thing. There wasn’t even a friggin’ trigger.

  What the hell?

  “Who’s there?” he growled, trying to sound tough while walking closer to the shrubs. “I’ve gotta gun. Don’t do anything stupid!”

  There was more rustling coming from within the bushes. Bill stopped walking and poked at the foliage. He thought he heard a moan.

  Gathering his courage, Bill pulled back a portion of the shrubbery against the building. Sitting on the ground was a man covered in blood. His back was leaning against the building.

  “Hey,” Bill said, holding the gun so the man could see it. He recognized the white-haired man with the pale, waxy skin from earlier. He’d been one of the aliens of The Order. He and Amanda had witnessed them cleaning up dead bodies and scoping out the apartments and abandoned stores. It appeared they were moving in. From what he’d been told, if he didn’t bother the aliens of The Order, then they wouldn’t bother with him either.

  “You don’t look so good,” Bill said, stating the obvious.

  The man tried to move, and Bill took a couple of steps back. “Don’t try anything. Just wanna help you.”

  Blood dripped down the side of the man’s head. He opened his mouth, and a thick dark substance poured out over his bottom lip and ran down his chin to his neck. Again, the man tried to move. This time he managed to get to his feet but stumbled backward a couple of steps. He leaned his backside against the building for support.

  Bill’s eyes grew large as he realized the source of the blood trail on the pavement. The man was missing his left hand. He held his arm close to his chest.

  “Oh shit!” Bill felt the blood drain from his cheeks as his face went pale. He undid his belt, and with one hand, he pulled it through the loops, taking it off. “Let me help you.”

  The alien looked from side to side. With his back to the wall and the thick bushes to his side, he had nowhere to retreat. He suddenly crouched, in a defensive stance similar to that of an animal ready to attack. He kept his hurt arm cradled against his chest.

  “It’s okay. I’m going to use my belt as a tourniquet. I’m trying to help you. You’re bleeding out.”

  The alien’s black eyes grew large. He bared his teeth and began to hiss.

  Bill held up his hand, realizing the alien probably didn’t understand English. Susan and Liam, the two scientists from The Order, had been living amongst humans for years. They’d been studying us to prepare their people on how to blend in. However, since the infection wiped out most of humanity, there was no reason for them to worry about blending in. This man may not understand he was trying to help him.

  There was a sudden crunching noise behind Bill. It sounded as if someone was stepping on dried leaves. Clutching the gun in his hands, Bill slightly turned his head, afraid to take his eyes off the hissing alien.

  A towering figure, dressed in dark clothing, with an oversized hood covering the top portion of its face, was standing within the dog run. Bill’s heart raced. Scourge. He looked again at the bloody alien whose eyes were wide open, unblinking, and staring at the other alien.

  “Shit!” Bill cursed, aiming his gun, hoping to figure out how to work the damn thing. He turned his back to the alien of The Order. He no longer felt threatened by him. They shared a common enemy, Scourge.

  The Scourge, crouched, matching the stance of the other alien. Bill felt his stomach clench with apprehension and his heart began to pound in his chest. He held the gun in front of him, clumsily running his right hand over the shaft. His palms were sweating profusely. This gun has to have some sort of trigger, he thought. But he wasn’t feeling anything. He prayed that he’d figure something out.

  The Scourge let out a strange array of clicks that reminded Bill of the sounds he’d heard dolphins making on nature shows. Goosebumps encompassed his flesh as he listened to the ornate sounds echoing around him. The alien of The Order, hissed in return, baring his teeth. A loud rumbling growl, similar to the infected, resonated from the chest of the Scourge. The hood slid back enough to expose glowing golden eyes. Unlike the eyes of the infected, the pupils were elongated and reptilian in appearance.

  “Shit!” Bill cursed again. His hands gripped the gun.

  The Scourge leaped over the fence of the small dog park. It was now standing at the edge of the pavement near the parking area. The Scourge continued to make strange clicking sounds.

  “What the hell?” Bill whispered. He wondered the alien was communicating with other Scourge. He hoped not. Bill was too afraid t
o take his eyes off the Scourge to look around.

  What if we’re surrounded?

  The alien of The Order didn’t move. He stayed in a defensive pouncing stance and hissed again, eyes still trained on the danger in front of them. Bill slightly turned his head and noticed the thick black substance still oozing from the alien’s mouth and dripping from his chin.

  With a sudden animal-like leap, the Scourge flew in their direction. Bill’s heart jumped into his throat as if he were watching this in slow motion. The alien of The Order charged at Bill, knocking him out of the way. Bill fell hard on his bottom, knocking the wind out of him, and somehow the ray gun went off, shooting a bolt of bright blue energy into the sky.

  The Scourge, missing his target, crashed into the side of the building, but with quick cat-like reflexes, his feet had made contact, and he did a backward flip.

  Bill rolled onto his side, picked up the ray gun he’d dropped, and got to his feet. The alien of The Order rushed in front of the Scourge again, blocking him from Bill. The two of them were locked in hand-to-hand combat. They crashed to the ground, hissing, and growling.

  Fumbling with the gun, Bill tried to get the damn thing to work again. The two aliens were moving so quickly. He didn’t want to accidentally shoot the alien of The Order, if could ever figure out how to fire the stupid gun.

  The alien of The Order let out an earsplitting shriek, as the Scourge pinned him down, and viciously ripped a chunk of flesh from his neck. Blood sprayed from the wound.

  Unable to fire the gun, and figuring it was too late to save the alien of The Order, Bill decided to make a run for it. He bolted around the building. Running past the staircase leading to Amanda’s apartment, he thought he heard a crashing sound behind him.

  Not turning around, he stayed on the path, hoping to lead the Scourge far away from Amanda. He kept running down the cement sidewalk behind the apartments. He was now behind the C building, and Amanda lived in the G building. There was another loud sound behind him. It was closer than before. In his mind, he pictured the Scourge, carefully stalking him, waiting for its opportunity to pounce, taking him down.

  Once he reached the end of the complex, he scrambled up the hillside that led to a canyon where the coyotes roamed at night. He’d rather risk his chances of running into a pack of hungry coyotes than the Scourge, any day. He wasn’t sure where he was going to go, but he hoped that if the Scourge continued to follow him, Amanda would be safe.

  Chapter 3

  Susan entered the break room and poured herself another cup of coffee. She filled up her thermos to the top and screwed the lid back on.

  The humans weren’t as scientifically advanced as The Order, they were light years behind, but she praised them for the invention of caffeine. Caffeine was something she’d never experienced until earth.

  Susan shook her head, closed her eyes, and in her mind, she continued to devise a plan to conquer the Scourge. Liam had tried to convince her to eat something live for her brain to work at full capacity. Susan was a half-breed, just like the majority of The Order. There were very few purebreds left after many hundreds of years of interspecies breeding. However, she prided herself on not being Scourge. She did not need to eat live creatures to function. She could eat them, sometimes she even craved them, but she was stronger than the Scourge blood running through her veins, and she was proud of it. She was not weak.

  Just then, Liam pushed through the break room door carrying a blue and white shoebox. He set it down on the round table in the center of the room and ran his fingers through his sandy blonde hair. Liam had been sent to Earth along with Susan to study the humans when searching for a new home for The Order.

  “I’ve got something for you.” Liam grinned. Grinning was something he learned from studying human behavior.

  “What is it?” Susan approached the table when she heard small little peeping sounds.

  Liam lifted the lid from the box. Little yellow and brown chicks were inside. The peeping became louder.

  “Get them out of here!” Susan barked, grabbing the lid from him and replacing it on the box.

  “You need to eat!” Liam snapped back at her.

  Susan glared at him. Another human trait they’d both learned. The Order was void of facial expressions. It wasn’t that they didn’t have the capability, they just didn’t use them. Everything was expressed through words or tone of voice. The facial expressions of humans were something that the Scientists of The Order had been studying. They found them quite interesting and an effective way of communication. However, at the same time, they could easily give away what one was thinking to an enemy, if not careful.

  “I don’t need live food,” she said, her stomach and brain telling her otherwise. Since arriving on Earth, Susan began eating the food of the humans, which is why she’d been battling weight gain. She’d never been heavyset before. No one on their planet was overweight. Every time she had a craving, since living amongst the humans, she ate a sandwich, cake, candy, pizza, or whatever was around to try to squelch the hunger. Liam was tall and lean. Even though he professed not to eat live animals very often, Susan believed he was lying.

  “The Scourge are here,” Liam stated.

  “I’m aware.”

  “We need to stop them,” Liam continued. “If we don’t, they will continue to enslave us. They will devour everything on this planet. Our mission to escape slavery and to find a new home will be for nothing! So eat!”

  Susan threw him another human look. She scrunched up her nose and squinted her dark brown eyes. “If I eat live, I’m no different than the Scourge!”

  “You are a half-breed. You are not Scourge. The Scourge cannot control themselves. They eat everything that is not Scourge, and they will begin with the humans. You can control yourself, but you must still feed your Scourge blood in moderation. If you don’t, you cannot work at full potential to defeat them! We still have a few hours until sunrise.”

  “If we survive these few hours, we’ll have more time to prepare.”

  “If we survive… It’s only a matter of time before they find us.”

  “How’s the boy?” she asked. Benjamin had survived being infected with Scourge DNA when they’d tried to taint the food source to ward off the Scourge. Benjamin was the only known human they’d come across to have become ill and survive. The full breed Scourge communicates with one another telepathically. Half-breeds do not have that ability. Somehow, Benjamin developed a telepathic link to the Scourge.

  Susan, Liam, and a group of select scientists have been studying him in the underground bunker created by the government. The U.S. government had them release the Scourge DNA to the public with the hopes to save the human population when they’d learned of the Scourge. Since they were unsure of the reaction, which unfortunately turned out to be fatal to the majority of the population, a select amount of people were hidden in this underground, top-secret facility before it had been released.

  Susan and Liam, being half-breeds, and unable to become infected by the virus, were the only ones directly handling Benjamin. The humans were observing through a two-way mirror. The boy probably wasn’t infectious. However, they didn’t want to take any chances and have an outbreak underground.

  “The boy is still sedated.”

  Susan took a sip of her coffee. “Let me know when he comes to.” As soon as the Scourge ships had arrived, Benjamin had become vicious; biting, growling and thrashing against his restraints. They were unable to communicate with him. To stop himself from hurting himself, or possibly giving away their location telepathically, they decided to sedate him. They weren’t sure how strong his connection to the Scourge was. All though Benjamin was not aware of where they were keeping him, they did not know if his telepathy could be used as a beacon to draw the Scourge to him.

  Liam glanced at the box. “Eat…”

  “Get out of here!” Susan growled, pushing the box toward him.

  Liam snatched off the lid and grabbed a fluffy yell
ow chick from the box. It squirmed in his hand as he squeezed it. Looking Susan directly in the eye, he shoved the little bird’s head into his mouth and with a loud crunching sound, bit down hard on its neck. Not blinking, holding her gaze, he tore the head off the little chick and began to chew. Blood dripped from his lips and hand.

  The scent of blood and the peeping of the frightened chicks still in the box made Susan feel hungrier than she’d felt in a very long time. She could even hear the fluttering of their rapid heartbeats.

  “You repulse me,” she hissed.

  “You can’t fight genetics,” he replied.

  “Maybe not,” she said. “But unlike you, I can control my urges.”

  Ignoring the comment, Liam pushed the box of baby chicks in her direction and smeared the blood on his chin by wiping it with the back of his hand. Without saying another word, he turned, dropped the rest of the bird’s body into the trash, and walked out of the break room, leaving Susan alone with the terrified chicks.

  Fighting her genetics, refusing to give in to them, Susan placed the lid back on the box, grabbed her coffee, and left the break room to check on Benjamin. She wanted to put as much distance as she could between her and the live food.

  ***

  Ronnie, the leader of the Crusaders, a biker gang he’d started with survivors that he deemed worthy in Southern California just after the virus hit, sat upright in bed. Two of his newly acquired women, Sandra and Molly, one brunette and one redhead, were sound asleep, one on each side of him.

  Straining, Ronnie listened. Something had woken him from his deep sleep. He and his gang had stayed indoors since the arrival of the new ship. He wanted them to wait until the right time to strike. He wasn’t quite sure what they were up against, but as he told his brothers, he wasn’t afraid of any little green alien bastards. They’d better keep off his turf if they knew what was good for them.

  Crawling out of bed, Ronnie opened the bedroom door and walked to the kitchen. His head was pounding from the amount of alcohol he’d consumed earlier. He stood by the sink piled high with dirty dishes and accidentally knocked over a glass that crashed against the plates making a loud sound. His head felt like it would explode.