Second Chances (54 page)

Little Nora Fen's pet spider rat panicked as the insects started to boil out of the holes. It bit Nora and then fled. She rubbed her hand and then chased after it. Her siblings followed, eager to catch the rat as a game and to keep it from getting killed by a dog or cat.

Janet had been reading to one of the kids in the great room when a scorpion came out. She saw an armadillo pounce on it and sighed in relief but the relief was short lived when more and more insects and other things came out of the hole. She gulped back a scream and lunged to her feet, carrying Fernando with her as she escaped. The other kids took one look and followed, wailing in terror.

More people reacted to the invasion and scrambled to get out of the area. Several animals were killed, swarmed by the alien insects. Pete and Jolie came out of the radio room to see the insects. Pete swore and started to stomp on the bugs as they reared up. Jolie screamed, but then swung onto the offense as well, using a box to crush the things in hysterical fear. It took several blows, the things seemed to flatten themselves as her blows landed. “Die you son of a bitch! They are like cockroaches! They don't go down easy!”

“But they will!”

Anne screamed when they came close to her and the twins, smashed them hysterically with a broom. It didn't kill it, but it did make it back off.

Xena had been vacuuming one of the throw rugs when people and animals came rushing past her. She blinked in confusion and stepped to the side hastily. “Well gee! Thanks for not running me over!” she yelled over her shoulder to them. She looked back in time to see the wave of pursuing insects. She screamed, but instead of running she grimly moved forward and ran the first of them over with vacuum. She grinned when the wave halted, giving her time to grind up a few more. The mechanical noise maker and its headlight made the others run away. “That's right! You better run! We need a big ass can of Raid here people!” she yelled just as Cassie rounded the corner on her way to the infirmary.

Cassie saw the insects scuttling away and realized what to do. “Turn the lights on! Turn every light on! Someone get the flashlight and work lights on!” She screamed.

Lisa and Giles held her back, stomping on anything that came their way. But Hyu and Jeff heard her order and waved to Kamerin as they continued to stomp and swat at the marauders. The kid braved a bug on the wall to hit the light switch, not realizing that he or anyone could have called out to the computer to turn the lights on. He managed to flip the light switch on without getting stung, cringing away in fright. Candy grabbed him and pulled him to safety.

Word was quickly passed through the group.

Mitch and his group arrived in the great room to hear Cassie's order and see Kamerin flip the lights on. They saw the insects immediately retreat to the shadows.

“Computer, turn all lights on inside!” Mitch ordered, keying the radio transmitter on his throat.

“That will violate energy conservation...” the computer started to reply.

“JUST DO IT!” Mitch roared. The computer beeped and then the lights came in. “Brighter! I want it as bright as the system can handle!” He ordered. The computer flooded the base with light, making the animals retreat further into the shadows. Henry, Bill, Miguel and others timely arrival with handheld spotlights helped them drive the animals back or trap them until they could be hunted down and killed.

When people realized the initial danger was passed it was followed by exhausted relief. Mitch heard sobbing and looked over to see a couple kids cradled by Ester. Other people were assessing each other. “Anyone hurt?”

“Scared shitless,” Brian said grimly. “We're checking.”

“Get Doc. Cassie, triage here now,” Mitch ordered. Cassie nodded, clearly shaken but knowing she had to keep it together. “Anyone bit or stung get them to the infirmary folks!” he ordered, looking around. She nodded and began to move to the nearest knot of people. She reached out and touched Candy, and the woman looked up. She murmured something and Cassie nodded and moved on.

Chapter 29

Mitch rapidly assessed the damage and injured. He was still having trouble with his hearing He couldn't hear the sobs of people, but he could see the terror in their faces. A few people were shooting him accusing looks; these he couldn't face.

Ten people were reportedly bit or stung, another six or seven had hurt themselves in other ways and were on their way to sickbay. Doc and the others had their work cut out for them, Dora called in everyone with advanced medical training to help since Doc was busy. “I'll be there as soon as I check the barns,” Maggie said. “I could use some help,” she said. Walter looked up in alarm and then followed her out.

Once Doc had the situation under control and all the injured were in the infirmary, Mitch called a general meeting. The base was flooded with light. They were burning electricity recklessly he realized, but right at the moment he was fresh out of ideas on what else to do. Mitch had even lowered the temperature in the base to not only conserve power but to also hopefully stop the animals from coming up. The surrounding rock soaked up the temperature, it was keeping the temperature an even 50 degrees. A few people complained, but others told them to put a sweater on and deal with it.

Just about every adult was armed in some fashion. Most had some boots on, a few had duct taped their pants shut and had improvised armor on their legs and arms. All were grim faced, determined to kill anything with more than four legs that moved. Their eyes darted to the shadows and known holes.

“I am so, so sorry,” Candy said before Mitch could open the meeting. She shivered. “I didn't know getting rid of the armadillos would...would cause this.” She waved a helpless hand as Bill took her in his arms.

“It's not your fault,” Mitch said gruffly to her, patting her on the shoulder. He nodded to Bill. Jeanie was in her mother's arms; she burrowed in but then peaked out at Mitch with one scared eye. “We'll work together to get through it. One step at a time. Try to help the others though,” he said. Candy nodded. Bill looked grim but he nodded as well.

“Talk about kicking over an ant hill,” the Chief said, coming over to him. He looked about the room.

“Starting to wish you hadn't?” Mitch asked mildly.

“Something like that. I definitely wasn't expecting that sort of battle,” the chief said, shaking his head. “We were totally not set up for it. My fault.”

“It's the battles that you don't expect that get you in the ass,” the gunny said, nursing an arm. The SEAL looked at him with concern. Hodges caught the look and then frowned. “What?” He looked down at the arm. “Oh this? Something fell on me and I shook it off. Must have hit something hard and pulled a muscle,” he said, flexing his fist and then his bicep. He winced. “I've got a bruise but no bite marks.”

“Have Doc or Tina take a look,” the chief ordered.

The gunny nodded. “When they are free. And if Tina's all right,” he said. The chief nodded. “Right now, triage,” he said, indicating Cassie. Mitch and the chief looked in the indicated direction and then nodded brusquely.

“At least no one else was killed. And now we know. We've got to do something about this.”

“Definitely.”

“I think a lot of people are going to be sleeping with the lights on,” Brian said, coming over to Mitch. “Or moving into the factories,” he joked. He seemed a bit shaky by Mitch's rapid assessment but he was settling down.

“Damn it. One thing after another,” Mitch muttered. Brian eyed him. He shrugged and then settled himself down. He stepped to the center of the room and then cleared his throat. It took a second to get everyone's attention. “If I'm talking too loud, deal with it, I've got some hearing loss,” he said. The gunny grunted.

“We're in a pickle folks. What happened is we're sitting on top of what can only be described as an insect nest. Before you ask, Chuck is dead.” That got a mutter from the group. He waited it out briefly. When they settled down and expectantly looked at him for more news he nodded, face grim.

“Gina lost a hand. She's with doc, I know she lost a lot of blood. Arby was stung pretty badly; Tina was also injured. None of us expected the sheer number of insects down below,” he said, shaking his head. “I don't begin to understand it. What I am going to tell you is we're going to do something about it,” he vowed grimly.

“Do? We need to leave!” A voice in the back said, clearly scared. That sparked a mutter as people considered it.

Mitch monitored them by watching their faces. He noted some panic and deduced those people were in discussions about an evacuation. Mitch, however, refused to leave their home. “We're the new landlords folks; we're just going to have to find a way to evict them. Permanently if possible,” he said. Grimly the chief nodded.

“Besides, where are we going to go?” Janet asked, looking about her as she cuddled Tera to her hip. The little girl had her thumb in her mouth. Fernando was with his mother clinging to her side. Janet looked down, stroking the girl's hair, then up to the grim adults. “We can't go anywhere. It's winter. You know none of the other communities can take us in.”

“So much for it being safe here,” someone in the back said darkly. There were some grim accusing looks shot towards Mitch.

“Hey, we're doing what we can, with what we've got. No place is perfect, no place is completely safe. This is an alien world folks, deal with it. They've got predators and that giant Leviathan to deal with out there,” Jacklynn said, waving a hand. “Those things that attack from the air,” she shook her head and then stamped a foot. “I'd rather make my stand here,” she growled.

A few people nodded.

“Trust you to back him up,” someone else grumbled. Jacklynn's eyes glittered fiercely as she looked about, hands on her hips.

“Wait, there is a pest control guy, Bob something or other. I think he stayed in Copper Town,” the chief said thoughtfully, holding a hand up. Candy looked up and then nodded. She started to nod faster in enthusiasm.

“That's right!” Bill said. “We could sure use his help right about now,” he said.

“We'll find out and see if he makes house calls. Maybe he'll have a way to deal with it. Until then folks, everyone stick in groups. Work together to hunt the things down and squish them or spray them,” he ordered, looking at the military group. They nodded. “We're going to shut the heaters off totally to balance out the power, so don't whine about it. Help with the cleanup folks, wear gloves and heavy gauge clothes. If you are hurt, go to the infirmary, don't wait. I'll get back to you with more once I've checked on the wounded,” Mitch said. The others nodded as the meeting broke up.

------*------

Mitch checked in to the infirmary once he was sure there weren't going to be any more insects boiling out of the vents. Sandra gave him a look as he entered. “I'm fine honey,” he said. She nodded curtly, then went back to work, moving off to the surgery suite. From the look of her, she was set for surgery; hopefully, she had enough help. He shook his head. He knew from her set expression she hadn't forgotten or forgiven him for risking his life. He looked over to Tina.

“You're as bad as Nicole,” Dora accused, playing nurse. The medic snorted. She was sitting Indian style on the bed, picking plastic buckshot out of her legs and feet. Apparently she had a local anesthetic, Mitch couldn't see her digging into the skin with the forceps without it. She fished out another pellet, held it up, then dropped it into a metal tray with a tap.

“Teach you not to shoot yourself in the foot,” the gunny said, shaking his head.

“Tell your grandmother to teach you to suck eggs,” Tina said absently, not even bothering to look up as she went after another pellet. She used her fingertips to feel around the oozing wound.

“Anything broken?” Mitch asked.

“Just my pride and this outfit,” Tina said, using the squeeze method to work a pellet out to where she could get at it. Mitch winced at the sight. “And these boots,” Tina grumbled, holding up a boot.

“Yeah,” Mitch said, noting the holes in the boots. She'd cut the laces to get the boot off too. “We can do something about that later. See Selma and Anne,” he said.

“Definitely,” Tina said. She sat back, shaking her right hand. “I think I stepped too hard on my left leg, the knee is a bit swollen. I don't have many pellets there. I wish they were metal, a magnet could get them out,” she grumbled.

“At least you're alive to get them out,” the gunny said. “We lost Chuck.”

“I heard,” Tina said as Dora bit her lip. The girl dabbed at the wounds with antiseptic then sprayed biofoam in the small wounds that had been cleared. “Sucks. Bad?”

“Bad enough,” the gunny grunted. “It wasn't pretty,” he said.

“Spare me the details,” Dora muttered.

“Just think of the scenes from the Mummy with those insects and I think you'll get the idea,” the gunny said.

“Gee, thanks for the nightmares,” Dora grumbled.

“Shit happens,” the gunny said, shrugging. “We're lucky to get off as lightly as we did.”

“Arby bit up, I'm shot up, Chuck's dead, and Gina lost her hand. We've got what, ten people in here for bites and stings, a couple injured from falls or friendly fire. You think that's
light
?” Tina demanded.