Earth Man (23 page)

High over the state of California he flew, dressed in biker gear, trying to think of ways he could help people. Yet it didn
’t strike him as bizarre at all. Danny was not a religious man, so faith in his destiny was not an accurate description but it was the best he could come up with. Danny had faith that wherever he was being lead, it meant something, it was important and he was glad to be part of it. Maybe that was the reason he was chosen; because he would accept the bizarre changes in his life so easily. There was no way he’d ever know for sure, he doubted the Earth would ever speak to him again. The planet did not care about what Danny had to say. The Earth had felt threatened by an alien virus and it created a solution, a natural vaccine to fight off the sickness. From the deer in the forest, to the angry bear, right up to the gunman at the border, all of it was part of his journey to being a hero.

A tiny voice in his head suggested he might have been chosen at random, that he was not special at all, but he ignored his doubts. The power felt too good, too important, to be given
away randomly. There was no room in his mind for fear; he’d spent enough time worrying. It was time now for him to take action, time for him to take the offensive.

EARTH MAN

Part 4

PASSING THROUGH SHADOWS

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

-
       
Robert Frost

Chem-X had taken every precaution necessary to hide the First, but the Second had found it anyway
, by picking up spores of scent in the dirt and garbage of California. The alien biology of the Growth called out to its own in a way humanity could not fathom and could not stop. The human clothing it had worn was torn and dirty, hanging off its mutating body in rags.

“
I have found her.” The Second said to itself.

Its concept of time was entirely
dependent on the host body it was in and by earthly time it had taken far, far too long for it to find its mate. The monster's newest body was fresh and easily manipulated and it changed the flesh as it approached the small building Chem-X was using as a front for its biological research. By the time it had reached the brick wall it had changed its bipedal form into something more like a spider; instead of two legs it had four insect-like appendages, with two more jutting from beneath its human arms. Skittering up the side of the building, the Second tore off the metal ventilation cover and threw it over its shoulder. The twisted metal vent cover bounced across the parking lot below, attracting the attention of a security guard. The Second was not afraid; it watched the human below, waving his flashlight back and forth. The Second moved quietly, the guard below had one of the human weapons that made the loud popping sound and the Second knew more humans would come if it was spotted. The duct was too small for a human but the alien easily squeezed through by breaking and remolding the bones of the human body it wore.

It slit
hered through the air conditioning vents deeper into the building, moving up toward the sealed penthouse where it knew the First was located. It had smelled the spores of its partner, in the air and in the dirt. The humans did not know that the First left its scent on them, invisible but easily identified by others of its kind.

             
The need to consume was the only real feelings the Growth ever had, but the bodies they infected could also affect them and the Second did not understand the growing need, the human-like longing, to find the First. All that mattered to their species was to feed and to grow, loyalty and companionship were new, dangerous emotions to it. Being so close was making the alien nervous and jittery and it did not know how to handle the human emotions or how to rid itself of them. The urge to spread that had pushed the Growth across the universe was powerful; it drove the monsters to become reckless and vicious. Patience had proven too difficult and the Second was tire of hiding from mankind.

As it crawled out of the ventilation shaft it began to quietly walk across the ceiling. There were humans below it, working in tiny square cubicles and it rushed across the roof as fast as it could
in silence. Making it into the hall, the creature could see the elevator shaft ahead. Before it could reach it, a scream echoed through the hall. The Second turned and hissed at the human woman who stood below it, paralyzed with fear. The woman was small and light skinned with thinning black hair, barely even a meal to the well-fed creature, so it turned back toward the elevator. Using its front legs to pry them open the doors it squeezed through and climbed up into the shaft leading to the penthouse floor. The woman had always been deathly afraid of spiders. She collapsed against the wall, her eyes and mouth stretched wide in absolute fear. Not much farther, it told itself, not much farther until they were reunited. Then their conquest of Earth could begin.

Danny and Dr. Glass had agreed to meet at the small, un
marked Chem-X building, which Dr. Glass had given him the address to only the night before. Everything had been very secretive and Danny had found the whole situation incredibly frustrating but he felt obligated. He`d already started spending their money; it was inevitable that he would at some point have to earn it. The doctor believed Danny should spend time with the creature they had in captivity and Danny had agreed. Although his new powers hadn`t shown him anything about the aliens yet, he believed it was worth a shot to try. He had no clue how else to track the alien that was on the loose, so he thought it best to start with the one imprisoned and work out from there. Danny had no idea as he flew into San Diego that both of monsters were already inside the Chem-X building. As he got closer he could see a giant white plastic bubble covering the spot where the building was and he was forced to land in a nearby street. There were crowds of people gathered and a couple had seen him drop in, but he ignored them. With his helmet on, they couldn`t recognize him anyway.

It appeared as if the Center for Disease Control had sealed off the building, but Danny wasn`t sure because there were people running in and out from beneath the plastic cover
. It was a bubble, but there were wide double doors in the front and everyone from firemen to office workers were being shuffled in and out. The police were trying to evacuate the building while the CDC people were trying to quarantine the area, with military men shouting at everyone trying to assert their authority. Danny slipped past them easily, moving in quickly as a stretcher was hauled out. The woman on the stretcher appeared to be in a state of shock; her eyes and mouth were frozen open and her body seemed to shake with terror. Danny managed to reach the front door of the building but six soldiers rushed across the parking lot with their guns aimed at him.

“
HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!” the Captain shouted.

United States Marines, Danny recognized their unifo
rms. Danny’s strange helmet made them nervous and suddenly wished he’d picked something more pleasant.

“
Get on the ground! Face down, now!” one of the other soldiers shouted.

Danny stepped back away from the door and raised his hands.
The animal abilities were still with him, he could pick them out and use them as needed and he found a familiar scent in the crowd. He scanned the chaotic crowd until he spotted Dr. Glass and he waved frantically to him. Wearing black wasn’t the right thing to do, he realized and he humorously thought to himself that perhaps it was time to get a set of colourful spandex costumes instead .

The soldiers were slowly circling him and shouting questions about credentials and who he was but the Doctor
ran to them and they lowered their weapons.

“
Lower your guns please! He is an employee of Chem-X! He works for us! Let him through!” Dr. Glass shouted.

“
Sorry, but no one is allowed in this building until we have further orders. The whole block has been locked down.”

Danny saw the Capt
ain turn to address Dr. Glass and as he did so the other soldiers lowered their weapons slightly. Danny waited until only one of them was still watching him and he slipped quickly and easily through the door into the small corporate building.

             
Obviously something had gone wrong and Danny now realized how out of hand everything had gotten so quickly. There were homes nearby; the facility was hidden in a heavily populated area. Although the building was only eight stories, the size of the quarantine and the massive plastic cover they`d put over it was going to attract a lot of media attention. Danny wasn’t sure where to begin. Then he remembered his cell phone and taking it out, he quickly called Dr. Glass. He wasn`t sure the soldiers weren`t going to storm in any minute so he headed for the staircase across the hall, passed the elevators.

“
What the hell happened?” Danny shouted into his phone.

“
Look, the Attorney General and the head of the FBI are coming to speak with me. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to talk. DHS has come down on us, Danny, along with a line-up of other government bureaucrats. They’ve discovered what I was hiding something here, something dangerous, and they came to shut us down. It’s going to get ugly, I’m afraid. I’ll probably lose my job.” Dr. Glass said matter-of-factly.

“
What is going ON, Doctor Glass? Inside here? Why are they sealing it up?” Danny asked angrily. “Did it escape? Is it loose in here somewhere?”

“
Danny,” Dr. Glass said calmly, “They are both in there. Two of them. You need to kill them both.”

Danny had already walked up two flights of stairs and he stopped dead in his tracks. The stairwell was small and clean and he tried to look up
to see if he could see anything, any sign of what danger might be waiting up there.

“
What the hell have you people done.” Danny said into the phone.

“
There’s no time for that now, Mr. Boyle. You need to handle this. It was what we chose you for. It is what we paid you for. Homeland Security is going to arrest me; the least you could do is prove me correct in believing in you. Only you understand the danger these things pose to life on this planet.”

“
Don’t worry,” Danny said angrily, “today is not the day the human race dies.”

Danny didn
’t know what to say after that so he turned his phone off and placed it back in his pocket. He winced slightly as it chimed as it powered down, the noise seemed to echo through the entire stairwell. Then the power went off and Danny was left in the dark.

              Ever since he’d snuck through the door he’d sensed the Growth within the building and even in the dark there was a sense of them all around. Danny wasn’t even sure which animal he borrowed abilities from, but the darkness did not impede him, even in pitch black his eyes were able to adjust. The two alien entities seemed to pulse with hostility somewhere above him, almost as if they were boils ready to burst. Their hunger tainted the air within the place, leaving a stench that Danny knew he’d never forget. Danny could sense the animals on the top floor as well; they seemed to react to him as soon as reached the penthouse floor.