Howard looked between the front seats and couldn"t believe his eyes. At least a dozen of the creatures like the one he"d seen back at the farm were racing toward them. One of Dave"s shots found its mark, causing one the creatures to somersault to a standstill. The others dodged to avoid its body.
Ann stuck her head out the window and screamed for Dave and Tre. They finally stopped firing and scrambled into the Bronco a Dave at the wheel and Tre opening the hatch and diving into the back. Ann grabbed Dave"s rifle as he shoved the truck into gear and floored the accelerator. The heavy SUV lurched into motion just as the creatures reached them, one of them actually bouncing off the grill before being run over by the front wheel. Another one timed the perfect jump and landed on the hood. It struggled to find purchase with its smooth hooves against the smoother steel before it lost the fight and slid off.
As the Bronco accelerated, the creatures, now behind them, started to fall back. Ann stuck Dave"s rifle out the window but he grabbed her arm to stop her. "Don"t waste the ammo! We got this. We"re good." The truck reached the end of the alley and Dave made a hard right onto the main street. He checked the mirrors and slowed the vehicle to safely weave through abandoned cars on the main road.
"Everybody all right?" Dave looked into the rearview mirror at Howard.
Howard squeezed Emily"s arm and she smiled at him and nodded.
"Are you in much pain?" the woman next to him asked.
"I"m doing okay, I guess."
She offered her hand to Howard. "My name is Soo Kim." The handshake seemed absurdly normal considering a pack of aliens had just chased them and n.o.body in the car except him seemed to find that strange.
"I a.s.sisted Dr. Wilson in your surgery."
"What surgery? You"re going to have to bring me up to speed."
"You had a bellyful of those little critters," Dave said. "Soo and Jake pulled them out and saved your life."
"They survived though, and flourished." Soo pointed over her shoulder at the rear window. "As you could see."
Howard looked down and put his palm on his abdomen again. "You"re saying those things were inside of me? That"s why I was hurting so bad?"
"We counted eighteen after we removed the embryonic sac. Each one was about the size of a quarter." She put her hand on his arm. "Do you have any idea what those creatures are and how you were impregnated with them?"
Emily yanked on Howard"s sleeve. "Minnie says de were demons."
Tre scoffed and continued to stare out the back window.
Dave pulled the Bronco up to the curb across the street from a small grocery store a few blocks away from the hospital. "Hey, let"s save catch-up for when we"re off the streets and safe."
He killed the engine and they quickly got out. Dave produced a set of keys from his pocket and opened the front door. It was gla.s.s but had heavy steel bars as burglary protection. The windows did as well. They hurried inside and Dave locked the door behind them.
He peered between the paper signs on the door, looking for movement outside. "Everybody stay down, keep quiet."
"Any follow?" Tre asked.
Dave shook his head. "Don"t think so. I...wait, there"s a few. Crafty b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."
Howard looked over the display case in front of the window and saw three of them down the street. They trotted at a casual pace, stopping once in a while to sniff the air. They slowly approached the Bronco and stood on their hind legs to inspect the interior. The inside of the grocery was dead quiet; Howard could hear the creatures outside clucking and snarling.
After what seemed like an eternity, they moved on down the street. Dave exhaled and came away from the door. "That was a close one. I probably should have parked farther away from the store." He set the AK on the counter and rubbed the back of his neck. "We came across this place yesterday. It"s as safe as anything around. I found the keys on the owner in the back and there"s plenty of dry foods and bottled water to last us for a while."
Howard was completely out of energy. He leaned up against the wall and slid down to a sitting position. Ann handed him a bottle of warm water and he drained half of it in one pull. Soo rustled around in a bag and gave him a couple of painkillers.
Dave pulled up a folding chair and sat next to Howard. "We can hold up in here for a day or two to get our s.h.i.t together and help you rest up ." He glanced at the others then back to Howard. "In the meantime, you wanna fill us in on just what in the holy h.e.l.l is going on?"
Howard drained the rest of the water and shifted his weight, trying to get comfortable on the concrete floor. "I"ll tell you what I know but I"m just as confused as you guys. I"ve seen those things before. Well, just one actually. It was on a small island off the coast of Antarctica. I"m not sure, but I think it must have been in a s.p.a.ceship we found." He paused and searched the faces of his audience, waiting for one or all of them to laugh. n.o.body said a word.
"I"m a convict. I was sentenced to life on an island prison camp where we came across this ship, underground. I"m guessing it probably crashed a long time ago. I don"t even know how that thing survived."
Dave shook his head. "With all due respect, Howard, are you out of your G.o.dd.a.m.ned mind? Did you hit your head or something?" He glanced at Soo.
"I know it sounds crazy but it"s the truth. You"ve seen them yourself. Do they look like anything of this world?"
"He"s got a point," said Ann.
"It killed some people on the island and almost got me before a woman and I fought it off. We trapped it in a shed and burned it to the ground. In the process it stabbed me with that big stinger and must have, I dunno...planted eggs in me for some reason. Doesn"t make much sense."
"It was probably a reproduction defense mechanism," Soo suggested. "It could have sensed it was in mortal danger and wanted to plant eggs in a host before it died. That could be the way they reproduce."
"Gross." Ann stared at Howard"s stomach. Tre nodded in agreement.
Howard cleared his throat and looked at the floor. "That"s only half of it. I can"t say for sure, but I think the pandemic started from the ship too. Must have been some old germs or something floating around in there. It wiped out the whole prison camp population except for me and two other guys. For some reason we were immune."
"If you were stranded on an island way down there, how in the h.e.l.l did you get to Jamaica?" Dave asked.
"I have no idea. After I was stabbed by that thing, I lost consciousness and woke up after my plane crashed up in the hills. I can only guess they were flying me back to the States to figure out why I didn"t get sick. I found a town, ran into Emily, and you know the rest."
Howard put his arm around Emily. "I"m sorry, you guys. I brought the germs with me. If I"d have died back on the island none of this would have happened."
Ann perked up. "Hey, if he brought it with him then it"s probably just here in Jamaica, right? What if everybody back homea"
"I"m sorry," Soo interrupted. "Not with the rate this disease spread. Think of all the people flying in and out of the country. It would only take days for this thing to spread across the planet. They may be better off in some areas, maybe they were able to set up quarantines, but I think it"s probably this bad everywhere."
"I think she"s right, kid," Dave said. "The cavalry would have arrived by now."
Ann"s face fell. She quickly got up and stormed to the other side of the store.
Tre sighed and stood up. "I go talk to her."
"This isn"t your fault, Howard," Soo said. She offered him a thin smile.
"There"s one thing I don"t understand," Howard said. "If those things were small enough to fit inside of me just a couple of days ago, how did they get so big so fast? And how many are there?"
"They"re multiplying like rabbits, that"s how," said Dave. "They grow up fast. Real fast. And there are way more now than what started out. You counted, what, almost two dozen when you pulled them out?" he asked Soo.
"That"s right, and by the end of the day only half of those survived. The bigger ones ate the little ones."
"There must be hundreds out there now, and growing," Dave said. "All h.e.l.l broke loose late that night after the operation. Some schmoe who thought he was in charge because he was the last standing member of the government confiscated the things."
"He said he wanted to study them," Soo added.
"Well, whatever he wanted to do with them, it didn"t go as planned," Dave continued. "They killed him in his trailer sometime during the night and probably ate him. We"ve seen plenty of that since."
Howard nodded, thinking of Reg"s disemboweled corpse. He"d seen it too.
"Sometime in the early morning they busted out of there. Probably no more than two or three of them but they went on a killing spree. Plenty of sleeping bodies in thin tents and sleeping bags close by. Some of the refugees with guns and twitchy trigger fingers panicked and started shooting. It was still dark out and plenty of people probably got hit by accident.
"A couple fires started from who knows what and before you knew it, chaos ruled. We managed to hightail it out of there in the truck and get to safety."
"What about Minnie?"
"She was killed yesterday," Dave said. "We were outside the hospital, trying to find a safe way in when a pack attacked us. Ann, Soo, and Emily were here in the store." Dave stared over Howard"s shoulder and his eyes glazed over.
"Coming to find me," Howard said.
Dave nodded. "She knew what she was getting into. She insisted. We almost fought "em off but those c.o.c.ksuckers are relentless. One of them got Minnie and Tre went after her." Dave glanced over at the corner of the store where Ann sat with her head in her hands. Tre leaned over her, speaking softly into her ear. "If I hadn"t pulled him back, Tre wouldn"t have made it either. I knew it was no use..." His voice trailed off and he looked at his hands.
"It"s been a long day for everybody," said Soo. "Let"s all get something to eat and some rest." She held out her hand to Emily. "Come on, honey. Do you want to help me fix dinner?"
Emily scrambled to her feet and followed Soo. Dave started to stand up.
"Hey," Howard said. "I just want to say thanks. Really. For everything. Not just the hospital but for me and Emily back in Boone"s Run."
Dave nodded slightly. "Don"t mention it."
"What I said before, about being a convict..."
Dave held up his hand. "I"m a marine, not a cop. But I like to think I"m a d.a.m.n good judge of character. Twenty years in the corps helps you get a sixth sense about people. I don"t give a s.h.i.t about what you did to get locked in the can so just forget it. Are you going to make me regret it or can I trust you?"
Howard nodded.
"All right then. Besides, that little girl really took a shine to you so you can"t be too scary."
Howard chuckled. "Yeah, she"s something else."
"Come on," Dave held out his hand. "Let"s see if we can find you some decent clothes and get a bite to eat." He helped Howard to his feet and they joined the others on the other side of the store.
Six.
Howard felt a tickle on his nose and swatted away what he thought was a fly but turned out to be a hand. His eyes shot open and he sat up, wincing and grabbing at his stomach. Emily fell back, wide-eyed and startled.
"What? What"s wrong? What is it?" He looked around the dimly lit store.
"Sorry," Emily whispered. She scooted closer to him. "I was jus" makin" sure you were still breathin"." She held her own hand over her nose.
Howard"s shoulders sagged and he gave her a tired smile. "I"m still breathing, hon. I feel like I"m barely alive but I think I"ll pull through." He gently tugged on one of her braids. "Sorry to worry you. How are you doing?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "Fine."
Howard made out a lump of blankets at the end of the aisle and saw the bare foot of one of the women sticking out. He couldn"t tell if it was Ann or Soo. "It"s barely light outside," he whispered. "How come you"re up so early?"
Another shrug. She glanced toward the front of the store and spoke softly. "I keep hearing dem outside."
"What? Hearing who?" The store was quiet except for a low snore from the other side of the aisle. He a.s.sumed that was Dave or Tre. He was about to ask her again when he heard it himself. A soft sc.r.a.ping sound at the front of the store. He pointed in that direction and Emily nodded. He started to get up but she grabbed his arm.
"Don"t!"
"I"m just going to take a peek. We"re safe in here. Don"t worry."
Howard got up and stretched. He was sore and feeling a little weak but otherwise no worse for wear. A decent meal of mostly canned foods had boosted his energy and morale last night. Ditching the hospital gown was a nice change too. Dave slipped out after dark and commandeered a change of clothes from a shop down the block. He returned with a pair of cargo shorts and a yellow T-shirt proclaiming JAMAICA MON! in bold letters. He may now look like a tourist rube, but the clothes were clean and comfortable. Dave even snagged him a decent pair of sandals and guessed his size spot-on.
He went to the front of the store and approached the windows. Almost every inch of gla.s.s on the front of the building was covered in posters and signs. He smirked at the back of the handpainted poster announcing SALE TODAY. Judging by the weathered and faded paper it was printed on, the "sale" had been going on every day for years. He peered through a gap in the gla.s.s and his smile faded.
There were twenty, maybe thirty, of the creatures in the street out front. Several of them perched on the hood and roof of the Bronco, sitting perfectly still yet staring intently at the building. Others were slowly milling about, clucking and hissing at each other when they got too close. The rest were sitting in the street, watching the store like their siblings on the truck.
One crouched in front of the door, just inches away from Howard on the other side of the gla.s.s. It slowly ran the tip of its barbed appendage down the door over and over. The barb made a high-pitched squeal and each time left a deep scratch in the gla.s.s. It was an odd thing to do but the creature apparently comprehended the significance of the bars on the door and all the windows. Breaking the windows wouldn"t do any good, so it was content to just scratch the gla.s.s, perhaps sending them a message.
Howard found being so close to one of them unnerving and he took a step back. They were more hideous than he membered. His gaze shot upward as the ceiling creaked under the weight of something. They were on the roof, too.
"Hey, um...," he cleared his throat and regretted breaking the peaceful morning with his own voice. "Hey, we have a situation here, everybody. Probably a good idea to get up."
Dave inhaled sharply as his eyes fluttered open. He slowly sat up in his sleeping bag. "What"s the problem?" he asked in a thick voice.
The problem presented itself as the gla.s.s in the door shattered, spraying Howard with shards. He jumped back, just out of reach of the creature"s stinger. It hit the floor, sending concrete chips against Howard"s shins. The creature stuck its beak between the bars and squealed, filling the store with its awful, earsplitting cry.
Dave scrambled to his feet and grabbed the AK lying next to the sleeping bag. "Get back!"
He pointed the rifle at the door but held his fire, waiting to see if the bars would hold. More gla.s.s broke as additional creatures attacked the front of the store. Within seconds most of the gla.s.s was gone and the entire storefront was covered with the creatures, each one frantically clawing through the bars and squealing at the group.
Dave fired a few shots into the ma.s.s of attackers, killing one. It was replaced by another even before the body fell to the sidewalk. Unless his memory failed him, he now had eight rounds in the mag plus one in the chamber. One last thirty-round magazine was all he had left. The sudden death of their comrade hadn"t scared off the others and shooting them all wasn"t an option. They would need to make every bullet count once they left the store, but leaving was beginning to look like an impossibility.
"Everybody okay?" He glanced at the others huddled together in the middle of the store before again pointing the rifle at the creatures.
"We need to get out of here!" Soo shouted.
"You got that right. Every one of those things in town will soon know we"re here." Satisfied the bars would keep them out at least temporarily, Dave lowered the gun and went for his things. "We"ll try to get out through the back. It"ll be on foot so only take essentials."
Howard watched as the others gathered their bags and got supplies together. Other than his new change of clothes, he didn"t have anything to pack, so he scanned the shelves looking for anything small, but nutritious, to carry.
"Hey," Dave sidled up to him and spoke softly. He held out a handgun. "s.h.i.t"s gonna hit the fan out there. Do you think you"ll be able to keep up?"
Howard stared at the gun for a moment before grabbing it. It was the first time he"d held one since the shooting that felt like a thousand years ago. A sense of dread washed over him but he didn"t have time to dwell on it.
"Do you know how to use it?" Dave said.
"Yeah. I think I can figure it out."
"Make "em count. We"re really low on ammo."