The Invasive 2: Remnants Page 7

  James kept his posture rigid as he stared down the mayor. At the last moment, he caved, deferring to the law enforcement officers.

  James motioned to one of his men, then to the group. A soldier unlocked the cuffs, eliciting sighs of relief from Angela and Bishop.

  Don smiled. “Well, there we have it,” he said.

  “Not quite,” James said. He got in Bishop’s face, and spoke through clenched teeth. “Stay away from the experiments,” he said. “It’s not too hard to figure out you’re not supposed to be somewhere, when there’s ten feet of electric fence, topped with two feet of barbed wire.”

  “You have my word,” Bishop said. Gah, he hated acting like such a wuss in front of Angela. But now was not the time to ruffle feathers.

  She rubbed his back and smiled at him.

  As James and his men drove off Big J property, Don introduced his officers. After they all shook hands and exchanged warm greetings, Don took Bishop, Colbrick, and Angela aside.

  “I know,” he said, “you’re all real good at sticking your noses in places, and solving things,” he said. “And we all thank you for that. Trust me. But what you don’t wanna do, is anger people who have more bullets than you. Keep on the straight and narrow for a while. I don’t want to have to fend off military again. Shit’s not easy, nor fun.”

  Colbrick spit. “Aw, come on, Mayor, you’re such a buzzkill.”

  Bishop winced. He so wished Colbrick would pipe down sometimes. “Promise,” Bishop said to the mayor.

  Yutu bounded out of the woods, and sat at the mayor’s side. The mayor reached down and gave the pooch a good pat.

  “Robert Jenkins was a friend of mine,” the mayor said. “A good man, he was a custodian for the courthouse. Hard worker, strong values. He could spin a good yarn, too. Yutu and I used to toss a Frisbee at town picnics. Great dog.”

  Bishop noticed Angela tearing up, and rubbed her shoulder.

  “Yes, I’ve heard nothing but good things about Mr. Jenkins,” she said.

  Yutu looked up at Angela and titled his head, as if he recognized the name. Bishop thought he probably did.

  Don adjusted his loose khakis, and headed back to the police cruiser. “We’ve got all kinds of mayhem popping up over the valley lately,” he said. “New invasives are showing up, not sure why or how.”

  Dr. Avery stepped forward. “It’s a combination of factors, Mr. Mayor. Dr. Werner and the military are experimenting on invasives. Some of these invasives are escaping, and their very presence in the ecosystem is drawing out whatever remaining invasives are in the wild.”

  Don’s eyes widened. “That’s a hell of a thing,” he said.

  “Yes, it is,” Dr. Avery said. “And the tags are beating faster. So keep an eye out, all of you.”

  The mayor tipped his hat, then got inside the cruiser. A moment later, all the vehicles were on their way out of Big J Ranch, and it was just the group, and Yutu.

  “Whew,” Angela said. “That could’ve been much, much worse.”

  “And where did Adah go?” Bishop asked. “If not for her…”

  “She’s probably helping Chris get our clients off the river,” Angela said. “I am so glad we have her. One of the best decisions we’ve ever made.”

  Bishop smiled. “Other than getting married.”

  “Right,” Angela said. “Of course.”

  Colbrick groaned. “Oh boy, I need to put on a pair of waders ‘cause the syrup is getting thick up in this joint.”

  Big J Ranch (91 BPM)

  Inside the lodge kitchen, the group poured over national forest maps.

  Angela cracked two beers for Colbrick and Dr. Avery, then poured herself a shot of tequila and knocked it back.

  Dr. Avery sipped his beer, and pointed at the maps. “What I said to the sheriff is the current prevailing hypothesis at Natural Corrections,” he said. “I shouldn’t be telling you this. In fact, we have strict confidentiality agreements, and I shouldn’t be working with you at all.”

  Dr. Avery sipped more of his beer. “The invasive have a sort of interconnectivity beyond general ecosystem neighbors…an evolutionary trait our species on Earth don’t possess. The conduit for them all appears to be the ‘rotten leaves’ as you have referred to them. After the first invasion failed and the valley turned to a war zone, the remnant invasive sort of hibernated in a way. Their movement slowed, their metabolism and desire to feed lessened. So they dug into crevasses, or holed up in deadfalls, their heart rate and breathing slowing to survive the downtime.”

  “Makes sense to these ears,” Colbrick said as he gulped his can of beer.

  “Right. Eventually, these invasive would just fade away and die. Something has to bring them back out of that stasis, or quasi-stasis. An agitator, if you will.”

  A light went off in Bishop’s mind. And not the warm, soft nightlight in your childhood bedroom. The sharp, clinical kind.

  “Agitation,” Bishop said. “Freaking agitation.”

  Angela furrowed her brow. “I don’t get it.”

  Things were starting to click for Bishop, and it felt good. “A combination of factors. You have the stasis invasive potentially dying off in the mountains and forest, right? Well, some of the remnants are captured. And the experiments by Dr. Werner agitate these invasive, obviously. And it is this agitation that is sensed by the rotten leaves, which then pass it onto the rest, like they do when they see prey. And this WAKES up the stasis invasive. Maybe not to the full extent, but it gets the juices flowing again. Now, imagine all this is going on, and a bunch of invasive escape from the containment centers.”

  Dr. Avery pointed at the area of Quadrant 6 on the map. “That has actually happened,” he said. “I can’t tell you the exact species, but it did occur.”

  “As expected,” Bishop said. “The invasive are not, and never will be, pets.”

  “So what is the net effect of the escapees?” Angela asked.

  “The escaped invasives are agitated as hell,” Dr. Avery said. “And they have a sort of life blood about them, an electronic impulse that increases the BPM on their collective habitability tags.”

  “Oh God,” Angela said. “And this wakes the wild invasive up even more.”

  “Yep,” Bishop said. “Think about it. It’s why we’ve seen the tags increasing BPM. If not for Dr. Werner’s experiments, most of the remnant invasive would probably be dead, or dying. We wouldn’t have the issues now.”

  Colbrick finished his beer, then crushed it with one hand like a frat boy at a keg party. “When I was smaller and dumber, a friend of the family had a house at the border of the Apex National Forest. This friend also had a dog, and a dog house. Well, the dog house lay at the edge of the woods, right at tree line in a meadow. That season, a bunch o’ hornets had taken up residence in the dog house, and kicked the poor pooch out. I’d been maybe 12 at the time. So I’d snuck out at dusk, and ran a hose into that dog house. And boy did those hornets come after me. But had I not stuck the hose in there and sprayed ‘em? Those hornets would’ve kept getting’ slower and slower until the first good frost killed ‘em off.”

  Dr. Avery’s eyes sparked. “That’s exactly how this works,” he said. “The government thought they were helping the Apex Valley and the planet by funding Dr. Werner and the military involvement. Little did they know that what they’re doing is having the opposite effect.”

  Angela took another shot of tequila, and slammed the shot glass onto the kitchen island. “And someone has to freaking stop it,” she said.

  Dr. Avery nodded. “I work for the best conservation group in the world,” he said. “Might even be the best in the universe, if that can be verified. They’ll make sure I have everything I need to infiltrate the containment centers and get ER17 into the highest density of invasives. Then we need to make sure a few of these invasives escape, if they live that long. And that’s really the biggest problem. I fought for an engineered delay in the bacterium, but was rejected by my superiors. I saw this scenari
o unfolding, the way any good science man can sense things a layman cannot. So now, time is not on our side once we infect the invasives. We need a little luck, too.”

  Colbrick gulped a fresh beer. “Welp, how ‘bout an internet petition?” he said, winking at Dr. Avery.

  Angela cracked up, and almost shot whiskey through her nose.

  “I like your spirit,” Dr. Avery said. “But an internet petition—”

  “—Doc,” Colbrick said. “It’s a joke.”

  “Ah, okay,” Dr. Avery said. “I get it.”

  Dr. Avery set aside his beer for a moment, and took it upon himself to feed a bone biscuit to Yutu. The treat was devoured in seconds.

  “I’ll contact my employer shortly,” he said, “and I’ll see if I can get the confidentiality clause nullified due to your history here with this situation. They’ll provide for us whatever we need, when we need it.”

  For the first time in a while, Bishop felt encouraged. “Awesome,” he said. “We could use the help.” As he sipped a glass of water, he wondered who exactly would pay for that help, and who would provide it. And if any strings were attached.

  There were always strings.

  Elmore Text Feed

  Snacks4U

  @RibbonsnSuch There’s a bunch of those things in the yard. They have a dog pinned down with their frequencies!!!!!!

  RibbonsnSuch

  @Snacks4U OMG, whose dog?

  Snacks4U

  @RibbonsnSuch Dunno. They’re trying to eat him, though. Jeremy is out there with a shotgun.

  RibbonsnSuch

  @Snacks4U don’t let him get close! They’ll paralyze him.

  Snacks4U

  @RibbonsnSuch OMG, they’ve got Jeremy. FUCK!

  RibbonsnSuch

  @Snacks4U Jody? Call me as soon as you can, okay babe.

  RibbonsnSuch

  @Snacks4U Jody?....JODY?

  Big J Ranch (94 BPM)

  Bishop’s phone rang, and he quickly answered. It was the mayor. After a brief conversation, Bishop began packing his guns.

  “Bishop?” Angela asked. “What’s wrong?”

  “Seals loose in Elmore,” Bishop said. “The mayor said at least a dozen. They’re looking for experienced hands.”

  Colbrick seized a six pack from the fridge, and headed for the door. “Well, hell yeah,” he said. “As long as there ain’t no leaves, I’m good.”

  Dr. Avery gathered up his pack, and his telemetry gear. Angela had duct-taped the broken antenna loose on his telemetry device.

  “We’ll take my rig,” Colbrick said.

  Elmore (99 BPM)

  Half a mile before downtown Elmore, the group had to move aside two wooden horses that had been set up as a barricade on the highway. An empty police cruiser sat parked on the shoulder.

  Weird, Bishop thought.

  When the group reached Elmore’s Main Street, Bishop’s jaw hung slack as he stared. Several trucks lay overturned in the street, flames pouring from the furthest.

  Colbrick did not shut the engine off.

  “What the hell did that?” he asked.

  “No seal can do that,” Dr. Avery said. “We’re dealing with a different species.”

  A moment later, the Elmore siren screamed in their ears. The siren had been erected next to the courthouse after the initial invasion, for exactly this kind of scenario.

  The bad kind.

  As Bishop scanned empty Main Street, he caught movement atop Wickerson’s Antiques. A small leaf creature arched its back, and flashed a multitude of colors, including a deep red that Bishop had learned was “agitation.” He thought about not telling Colbrick, then changed his mind.

  “I’ve got some bad news, Colbrick,” Bishop said. “We’ve got a rotten, 11 o’clock on the rooftops.”

  Colbrick turned to his left, and stared out the driver’s window. “Ah shit,” he said.

  “Guys,” Angela said, snapping her fingers to draw their attention from the rotten leaf. “There’s a bigger issue here. First, where in the hell did everyone go? Second, who, or WHAT flipped over these trucks?”

  Bishop surveyed the wreckage on Main Street. “There are only four kinds of invasives we’ve seen capable of this. First, we have the obvious fliers. Worst-case scenario…or maybe not. Next, we have Vastus. Now that might be the worst-case scenario. The seals cut down trees, not trucks. After that, we’re looking at the elephant-like rammer that got me good. And last, but perhaps not the most obvious: a group of adult pigras could work together to tip these trucks.”

  The engine idled, as Yutu paced in the cargo area of the Suburban.

  “What is it, boy?” Angela asked.

  Yutu paced faster, and emitted a strange combination of a growl and a whimper.

  Bishop checked the rotten leaf on the rooftop once more. It strutted along the ledge and flashed colors, like a mating dance.

  Bishop found himself hypnotized by it, and he thought Colbrick and Dr. Avery might be too. Shimmering waves of heat from the truck fire distorted the air above Main Street. Yutu kept up his pacing and whimpering, as a copy of the Elmore Standard fluttered down the empty street.

  Yet Bishop could not pull himself away from the leaf.

  Was this all a dream? Were the invasives really returning? He hoped that at any moment he’d wake up in his California king back at Big J.

  “Hey,” Angela said. “I need you all in the here and now. I doubt it’s Vastus,” she said. “And I doubt it’s the fliers. Too easy to spot. We haven’t seen an adult pigra outside of Quadrant 6, either. That leaves us with—”

  Colbrick’s Suburban rocked back and forth as the ground shook. Along the ledge, the rotten leaf stopped its bizarre display, and then regarded the group and chittered.

  WHAM!

  Something enormous rammed the truck, knocking the Suburban up onto two tires. The windows on the driver’s side crunched and imploded, spraying glass into the interior as the group shielded their eyes.

  Bishop heard the familiar snorting and huffing. No doubt a rammer. Bishop had almost forgotten what this particular invasive looked like.

  Almost.

  The enormous creature stood twelve feet high, with a bizarre, elongated mouth seven feet long. Its teeth were the size of kitchen knives, but much wider. It contained six limbs, like many invasives, and eyes with three independent pupils. A tag flashed on its neck at 96 BPM.

  The beast backed up from the truck, snorted twice, and charged.

  Colbrick jerked away from the driver’s side door and fired his sawed-off at the same time, but the invasive acted as if nothing had happened, and then rocked the Suburban onto two tires again.

  Dr. Avery fumbled with his telemetry gear. “Should’ve employed this so much earlier,” he said. “Do we get out? Are we safer in the car?”

  CRUNCH!

  The SUV slammed onto four tires once more, as the muffler jarred loose and clanked to the concrete.

  “The only thing protecting us right now, is the metal between us and it,” Bishop said. “You go out there, that thing will run you down.”

  Colbrick fired two more shotgun blasts at the invasive as it charged again.

  “Hold on!” Angela said.

  The passengers looked for anything to grasp onto, but there really was nothing but fabric or each other. This time, the charger sprinted from the passenger side of the truck, caving in the side doors and blowing out the glass in an earthquake blur. Bishop spit window particles and bits of tissue from the charger’s dislodged skin. The strong stench of a recently emptied fish tank filled the SUV.

  “Stay put everyone,” Bishop said. “Let it wear itself out.”

  Colbrick loaded the sawed-off, and opened his door. “I ain’t submissive,” he said as he ran hunched over to the closest flipped-over truck.

  Dr. Avery ran his hands through his hair. “He’s crazy,” he said. “Completely crazy and irresponsible.”

  Bishop tried to see where the invasive might charge from next, but all th
e damaged windows in the Suburban made it impossible.

  Stomping and grunting came from the rear. The creature slammed into the tailgate, sending Yutu careening onto the center console.

  The earphone jack from Dr. Avery’s telemetry device pulled loose, and the main unit beeped at 99 BPM as the rammer huffed and grunted out of sight.

  “Brace yourselves,” Bishop said.

  After a brief moment of respite, the rammer knocked the truck up on two wheels, this time from the passenger side. Bits of metal and other truck components tore loose as the charger dragged its bizarre head along the undercarriage.

  Angela grabbed Dr. Avery by the shoulder. “Now’s the time,” she said. “The vial.”

  Dr. Avery shook his head. “We need a higher density on invasive,” he said. “There’s no guarantee this animal will spread the bacterium to others.”

  More beeping emitted from Dr. Avery’s telemetry unit.

  “We’ve got more invasives, to the east and west,” he said.

  Angela grabbed Yutu by the collar, and kept him close. “Where are they all coming from?” she asked.

  “The experiments are waking up remnants in the national forest,” Dr. Avery said, “at a rate higher than I had hypothesized. Dr. Werner must’ve figured out something with the collars. Everything about the invasives, and their apex species is connected in ways we can’t comprehend. Yet.”

  A shotgun blast roared across Main Street, and then another. The stomping of thick keratin on concrete faded, replaced by boot steps.

  Colbrick appeared at the smashed and cracked window, smoking a cigar. “It’s gone,” he said. “Late for a date.”

  “There are others,” Angela said. She took Dr. Avery’s LCD readout and held it up to Colbrick.

  “Might be the seals the mayor was referencing,” Bishop said.