Chapter Text
The first sign that there would be trouble, is the fact that there were a lot of people desperately moving in the opposite direction of our car. The second, that all of them were screaming. The third was the distinct sound of gunshots coming from ahead. Jim pulled over, opened the door and got his rifle, while I had to make do with just getting out of the car and trying to get a good look at what was going on. Trying to push past the people running with a barely-healed arm was not doing me any favors. Unfortunately, the screaming and the gunfire were joined by another sound. One that I still firmly remember.
That bug monster that killed those two officers was back. After spearing an innocent nearby, the creature bellowed again, the noise making the nearby windows rattle. Jim took one look, and immediately shot at it with his rifle. Just like last time, the bullets didn’t do much damage unless he hit the head. The creature tried to shield itself with its bladed forelegs, taking a few steps back. Jim was ready to aim another shot, maybe this one would even do it. Then another one of them crawled over a nearby wall…then another…then another. There were a lot of them. Looking at Jim, he and I both had the same thought, though only I gave voice to it
“RUN LIKE HELL!”
Taking off, I ran through the alleys, trying to get around to a place where the things wouldn’t see me. Turning to look behind me, I saw that two of them were following me, screeching and snapping their mandible…jaw…things. Taking a few turns, I kicked down the door of the first building that caught my eye, and hid behind one of the tables. The creatures turned, and looked inside the building, following after me. Although, lacking line of sight, they didn’t seem to know where I was. Their feelers twitched around all over the place, while I held my hand over my mouth, desperate to make as little noise as possible. One of them knocked over something. From the sounds of it, it was some kind of display stand. The creatures started making noises at each other, probably freaking out about the sudden noise. Eventually though, something else seemed to happen, causing them to lose interest, and they walked out, probably looking for prey they could see. After waiting for a few minutes to make sure they were really gone (and to make sure I wasn’t having a heart attack) I looked around and saw the store I had run into.
“Kendo’s Gun Store…how the hell is this in California?” looking at the selection, it seemed like it was mostly hunting rifles. A few shotguns, a revolver or three. Picking up one of the revolvers and some ammo, I had to sit down to load the damn thing. “Stupid arm…’handguns are more convenient’ my ass” bitter mumbling aside, I got it loaded, and carefully stepped outside. The street was abandoned, and worse yet, the noise had stopped. No gunshots, no civilians…even the bugs had stopped screaming.
The unsettling quiet was interrupted by an unsettling noise: my phone blaring out a ringtone. The shock got me about as much as getting hit by one of those bugs, and it took me a bit to get it out of my pocket, answering without even checking the number, “what the hell do you think you’re doing?!” whisper-screaming into the phone is something I’ve had to learn how to do
“Oh, thank god you’re alright” Jim cried out, “these damn things are everywhere. Me an’ a couple of others are holed up in a department store, but that barricade’s not gonna hold, and there are dozens of those bugs around the place. You gotta get out of dodge. Call the national guard, let ‘em know what happened here, and come back with something big!” he continued, rapid fire, while I just had to listen. I’d only known this guy for a few weeks, and he saved my life, and was more than willing to do it again, at the cost of himself…
“Not a chance, soldier. Hold them off as long as you can, and I’ll…think of something” hanging up after that, I took stock. A single revolver, a handful of spare bullets, and a broken arm, against dozens of giant bug monsters.
Not a problem.
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“Come on, pick up, pick up…”
It took a while to get through the proper channels, since I had to get my ID from the car, and make a few statements to the guy screening my calls (Kyle really didn’t deserve what I said to him…mental note: get him something for the Christmas party, show there’s no hard feelings) before getting on the official line with Mark, “Emily, thank God! I’ve got some info on that picture you sent me. I did some digging, and I’ve narrowed it down-”
“Mark, we can’t deal with the research right now, we’ve got a situation that is actually Monarch material. The California National Guard needs to be mobilized to New Nanlot, and we need them yesterday” I told him, and his hesitancy to respond made me hopeful he was writing this stuff down, “uhm…I mean, it might take a bit for me to get them to take it seriously, but I’ll see what I can do… what’s going on?”
Sighing, I told him the tale. The bug creature that attacked me had gotten some friends, the town was under attack, large amounts of them, people hiding in a store, as much as I could get in a few breaths, “alright, I got it. I’ll see what I can do, but it might take some time. If those people are in as much danger as your partner thinks, you might have to do something to keep those things off them” cursing, I realized he was right. It could take a while for the cavalry to come, and they would only be greeted by those bugs. Looking at the revolver I had on me, I sighed again. Had to figure something out.
Unfortunately, time was not on anyone’s side here, so I just steeled myself for a particularly ruinous decision, “they’re just animals, Em…you can do this, they’re just animals” heading to a nearby car, I just hoped those youtube videos about hotwiring didn’t lie to me.
…god, what the hell am I doing?
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James Michaelson got the feeling, sometimes, that he was too damn nice for his own good.
Being surrounded by people, injured, crying, scared out of their minds, with only a few rounds left in his rifle, and these big bastards trying to break down the doors, walls, windows, and everything else, all pointed to the spirit of generosity biting him square in the unmentionables, as his dad would say. Try as he may, Jim could not think of a more terrifying moment in his life. Being shot at by other people on the other side of the world suddenly seemed a lot more digestible than staring at monstrous insect eyes and slavering mandible-jaw-things ready to tear him and these people apart.
The worst part is, if it was hunger, these things would have started dragging away the four or five of them he’d dropped. He’d seen on a nature documentary that insects didn’t really think much about killing and eating each other, so why weren’t they biting?
It’s almost like they were deliberately seeking out humans and other living creatures. That thought was followed by a thunderous CRASH, as the poor, long-suffering barricade was finally shattered, as the creatures started to make their way inside. they were moving slower than one would expect of victorious predators, which was a good sign. The bad sign was, the civilians were backed into a corner, while Jim had to deal with three of these things bearing down on him all at once. Quick on the trigger, he fired two rounds into the one most to his left, nearly dropping it, while the last three went into the head and torso of the middle one. At that point, the one to his right bit down on the rifle, breaking it in half. Jim had no choice but to back off, grabbing a nearby chair…well, part of one, and swinging it at the creatures. The hit staggered it, but it returned and sliced at him, putting a long gash down his chest. Thankfully, he was back-pedaling, so the cut wasn’t too deep. Unfortunately, he still was hurt, and the creatures were advancing.
“Come on, you ugly bastards! you want to eat? Come and earn it!” he cried out, striking one on the head, sending it back. Taking another step forward, he felt a massive spike of agony in his left ankle, causing him to stumble and fall. Looking, he saw that the one he’d shot in the head, despite most of its skull being missing, had chomped down on his leg. Some of the creatures were content to move past him, while two others, excluding the one on his leg, stared him down, chittering and screeching at him. Trying to strike at them, Jim couldn’t muster words of defiance. He’d always thought he’d be able to give off something good like that in his final moments…sadly, it seemed the bugs were going to get the last word, screeching and raising their claws when…
Loud music started blaring from outside, and the creatures immediately snapped to look at it. It was a big truck speeding down the street, blasting some rock music at top volume, with…Emily driving! Jim only got a single glance at the driver, but he was 100% convinced it was her. The creatures screamed and wailed, diverting attention from the trapped people to her, stampeding after her, leaving only the one on death’s door. Struggling to get his foot out of its mouth, one of the citizens, some woman in her sixties or so, only missing the tiny hat and the walker, came up to the pair of them and smashed the thing in the head with a chair. She kept hitting it until it didn’t have a head so much as a goo pile, before Jim got up, “thank you, ma’am” he offered quickly, before quickly dialing Emily. She didn’t pick up until three or so rings
“Little busy here Jim!” was her immediate response. Jim let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, “you are one crazy asshole, you know that right?” he asked, almost laughing at the absurdity of the situation, “you are not the first to tell me that, and this goes well, I’ll share a drink with you over not being the last. I’m just gonna give these guys the run-around for a bit, then I’ll double back for you guys, get you out of there and wait for the big guns…however long that takes. Just make sure you keep them safe and out of the wa-BZZT” the call was suddenly cut off, and Jim felt his heart stop.
“em...emily, come on, you still there? Emily…EMILY!”
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My thoughts caught up with me. I was driving, talking with Jim, keeping these bug bastards away from the people who weren’t already dead, something came up and…now I’m here, in a strangled wreck of a car, my arm hurts, my head hurts more, and I can feel injuries all over the place. Staggering out of the truck I stole; I saw the culprit. One of those things had gotten in front of me, and took the brunt of the impact. My car was totaled, but so was it. The damn thing was still struggling to move and snap at me, but with how mangled its body was, and the exoskeleton being covered in so much green, I barely saw any brown, it was clearly not going anywhere.
Fumbling, I managed to get my pistol out, and loaded the chamber. After fumbling around with it, I aimed directly under the thing’s chin…or where the chin should be, before firing until it was empty, and the thing finally, mercifully, stopped moving. Taking a deep breath, I tried to keep moving, but my legs were screaming at me, so hobbling was all I could manage. Not enough, since I could hear the horde still coming after me. Snapping jaws, skittering legs, slicing pincers…they were close. Turning to look at them, I managed to get two bullets in before the creatures got too close, and I had to focus on running.
The damn things were fast, and though I had a head start, that was vanishing. Snapping at my heels, literally, in the case of the smaller ones. Adrenaline was the only reason they weren’t actually eating me, but that didn’t mean I was really winning the race. Their snapping jaws and clicking legs kept getting louder, and like some bimbo in a bad slasher flick, I had to turn around and see how much ground I lost. That single lapse in concentration caused me to trip, and promptly faceplanted. That hurt, doubly so since I landed on my bad arm. Hissing, I just grit my teeth and closed my eyes, waiting.
The creatures were on me in an instant, but they didn’t all attack at once. After a moment’s confusion, I opened one eye, and saw the creatures were divided between advancing to…eat me (fuck, even thinking about that nearly made me piss myself) and snapping at those trying to do so. That reprieve lasted long enough for one of the bigger ones snapping and clawing at the others around it, getting closer, jaws caked in saliva, raising its arm blades, before… it collapsed, a hole in its head. The creature slumped over, and the beasts looked confused, before the sounds of gunfire started in earnest, and the bugs that didn’t die started freaking out, trying to flee or eat each other. I managed to see one dragging away a dead body before getting shot.
Managing to get on my feet, I saw trucks, jeeps, and soldiers deploying, shouting orders and a bunch of other bits of military jargon that blurred together in my head, until one of them approached me, offered a brief nod, “Agent Ramirez? Mr. Russel informed us of the situation. Speaking plainly?” he sighed, “can’t say how glad I am that we found anyone alive here, from what he told us” he admitted, before guiding me over to the medics, “we’ve got most of them on the run, bu-,” he was interrupted by this god-awful sound coming from the truck’s radios, the military’s radios, my phone, just about anything that could transmit audio. It wasn’t that weird song, but a loud, painful bellow. it seemed to last an eternity, before dying out with a strange, vibrating rumble. After it ended, and a brief few seconds of confirming that I hadn’t gone deaf, I turned to see the others were getting their bearings too, and making sure the equipment was still working. The CO that pointed me towards the medic’s was starting to giver orders again, when he was interrupted a second time with a black blur and a loud SPLAT.
Looking down, the chase, the head injury, and everything else today finally won, and it was joined by my lunch. A crow had just…fallen out of the sky, and landed painfully on the ground. The other soldiers looked up and subsequently moved for cover, as more birds fell dead, landing on the ground. One of the bugs that was a little slower on running keeled over as well.
“What the…hell?” one of them wondered, before the bodies around them started to dissolve into…that red dust again. They weren’t even there for a full second before the dust cloud, which seemed to be coming from all over the town.
“never seen anything like this…it’s moving against the wind” one of the seniors said, while the others just wondered, some of them aloud, “what the…where the hell’s it going?”
“…the sea?”