I can’t think of a word to describe what’s happening
before me. Carnage, mayhem, bedlam – they
all came close but missed something. There’s a certain level of…beauty to it. I chuckle at the thought
and then wince at the pain it sends through my side.
I mean,
think about it, we’re fighting plants. Golden, camouflaging plant monsters that
my job-turned-boyfriend created. Not to mention the plant monsters that were
once people.
That
thought sobers me.
I shift
in my seat and my bloody shirt remains plastered to the cuts around my waist
and stomach. Is the infection seeping through my bloodstream? Or did my
clothing act as a filter? So far from a lab, there’s no way to test.
I clench
my teeth. I knew the risks, I read the fine print. Of course, at the time, I
didn’t really think it was possible. And there was that sky-high salary to
consider…
The
closed windows of the car dampen the sounds of screaming, metal clinking, and
that god-awful squelch they make as they feed.
“Wanda?”
The
sound of my name jerks my gaze from the scene ahead to the person at my left.
Jessica is sitting with her shoulders hunched and her grip tight on the
steering wheel. She looks exhausted. The rush of spraying weedkiller and taking
down monsters like the heroine of some late-night sci-fi movie was undoubtedly
wearing off.
“What
are we going to do?”
The
thought crosses my mind that I could toss the teen and keep it moving. Jamie
wouldn’t appreciate it too much but, hell, he’s not going to like me by the end
of this either way. That fine print was very specific in what could happen if I
don’t do what is expected of me. A shame, as I really like him. I push away the
thought of sacrificing Jessica for now; I need someone to drive the damn car.
“Well we
can’t do much by gawking from here. Try to pull in as close as you can – slowly. I don’t want to get their attention.”
She nods
and gets the car moving with shaky fingers.
Where
are Jamie and Jane? Somehow, in the chaos, we got separated. Is he still with
his mother or did he go off to find his father? Why the hell did the Henley Henley
It’s not
long before the build-up of cars, body-parts, and plant sludge in some
sickening mix prevents us from going any further.
“I think
we’re going to have to get out,” Jessica says in a quiet voice.
No shit, Sherlock. I undo
my seatbelt and open the door. I let the pain overcome my want to slap the
teen. I need to find Jamie and then I need to get the hell out of here. All
those zeros tacked to my pay mean squat if I don’t live to spend them.
“Check
our supplies,” I tell Jessica. A good thing too, for as soon as the words leave
my mouth I feel a dull tingle on my hip. At first I think my leg’s gone numb
and my mind spirals in a panic toward thoughts of infection.
Then I
realise it’s my phone vibrating. I swallow my moment of fear with a bit of
relief and retrieve it. But the moment I see the number on the screen, that
relief quickly turns to solid dread and drops to my heels.
My
employer.
I steal
a quick glance at Jessica. She’s still fumbling with the canisters, testing
their weight. I duck down below the windows and answer the call. “Yes, sir?”
“You
want to explain what the hell is going on there?”
“Uh…”
“Don’t.
Just don’t. We’ve got enough of a headache trying to spin this into some movie
animatronics gone wrong on one end, while subduing any footage that leaks out
on the other. We want you out of there.”
No
problem with that. “What about the town?”
“That’s
not your concern. You’re a scientist, Miss Thompson. Secure the data and get
out of there.”
My brow
twists. “The data, sir?”
“James
Henley. We want him brought back.”
Shit.
With all the information Jane probably blabbed, there is no way Jamie would go
back to work on this. Not for TS Labs, at least. Genius yes, but the man was
sadly lacking in the Evil. To be
honest, a part of me doesn’t want to drag him back into it either.
He
almost lost his sister, possibly his Grandmother; who knows where his father
is? And, well…he wasn’t too bad on the eyes, either.
“There
isn’t a problem, is there, Miss Thompson?”
“It’s
just…in all this chaos, it’s a little hard to find Jamie. We have all of his
notes, couldn’t we adjust another-”
“No. The
adjustment created the interest, but it was his mind that created the
formula which made all this possible. We need him. Are you going to deliver?”
I
squeeze the phone in my hand, hoping to crush it and end this conversation.
Unfortunately, no HULK SMASH! for me.
Not even a merciful signal interruption.
“Wanda!”
Jessica’s panicked voice rings out as she realises I’m gone.
“Miss
Thompson?”
“Wanda,
where are you?”
“Is this
going to be a problem?”
I shut
my eyes. I knew the job, I knew the risks. I was supposed to watch Jamie, keep
him on task, push him in certain directions. But he managed to keep his
unauthorised experiments away from me, and there was no way the director would
overlook that fact.
It’s bad
enough his parents are AWOL. The parameters of my job are very clear.
Everything else has been a bonus. I open my eyes with a deep breath. “No, sir.
There’s no problem. I’ll bring him in.”
“Wise
choice, Miss Thompson.”
A
thought. I’m going to lose Jamie no matter what I do; even if he does live
through this, he’ll never forgive me. There is, however, a chance for me to
remain in the good graces of TS Labs.
“Sir?
There’s been an unexpected development.”
“You
mean besides the evil plants devouring an entire town?”
I roll
my eyes and manage to contain the sigh that builds up; I had that one coming.
“It’s the Henley
“What of
her?”
“She was
infected and Jamie bled the taint out, but there’s been some residual effect.
She can actually hear what the things are thinking.”
There’s
a pause on the other end as he takes in the information. “Some sort of latent
link between her and the things?”
“Possibly,
I haven’t had the time or opportunity to fully test it.”
Jessica
apparently remembers the car has another side and dashes around the hood. She
sees me crouching down, and I can tell by the look on her face her first
thought is that I’m more hurt than she realised. Then she sees the phone in my
hand and all concern for my well-being evaporates.
Not that
I can blame her.
“Bring
her in,” the director orders before hanging up.
Jessica
drops to her knees beside me. “Is it Jamie? Or mom? Are they all right? Where
are they? Have they found dad or Gran?”
I put up
my hand and squint as though I’m trying hard to hear someone on the other line.
“What? No, I’m losing you, I can’t – Jamie?
Jamie!” I call his name a few more times while my thumb slides over the power
button and holds it.
From the
corner of my eye I see the screen light up as it powers down and I move the
phone from my ear with a dejected sigh, holding it up for Jessica to see.
She buys
it and her shoulders slump. “Did you get any idea where they are?”
“No,” I
say as I push to my feet, “I only just picked up the call, it kept going in and
out. Say, can you still hear the things?”
She
stands and shifts her weight, like she doesn’t want to re-admit the insane.
“Come
on, kid, we haven’t got time for this! If you can hear them, then we can avoid
them while looking for Jamie!”
“It’s
all so muddled and crazy. I can’t make sense of it. They just want to eat and
keep eating and reproduce. I don’t think they have any real plans beyond that.”
“Okay,
so basic levels of cognitive thought that don’t extend past self-preservation,
that’s good.”
“It is?”
“That
means we don’t have giant people-eating plants that are also bent on
world domination. That’s good in my book.”
I look
around her. The creatures are following the road, veering off only long enough
to chase down any stragglers. They don’t seem to be in any rush. The main
street of the town isn’t too far off. We might be able to-
“Wanda,
look out!”
I turn
in time to see a lash of vines and leaves whip at my head, but not in time to
dodge them. Dozens and dozens of tiny cuts split open across my face. I recoil
toward the car, dropping my phone and putting my hand to my eyes. As I wipe
them frantically in an attempt to keep the blood out, I stumble in Jessica’s
direction. I can hear the desperate pumping and spraying of the weedkiller. My
vision clear, I stand behind Jessica and look toward my attacker.
Violet.
I’d
wondered where she disappeared to. Well, not really, but maybe I should have.
Where there was Violet, there was also…
“Tank!”
I grab
Jessica by her shoulders and pull her back just as the massive tree comes
bounding off the side of the road and toward us. It crashes into the debris of
cars that litter the path but they do little to stop him. He turns toward
Violet, maybe to check on her?
Don’t
know, don’t care.
“We
can’t stand here and spray this crap at them all night!” I snatch the canister
from Jessica and undo its nozzle. While Tank is tending to Violet, I empty the
contents onto the ground in front of us.
Jessica
stares wide-eyed, “What are you doing!”
“This is
low-grade stuff, they’ll adapt to it quickly and then what? We can’t kill them
but we can slow them down while we,” I toss the empty canister to the ground,
the edges of the liquid have reached Tank’s feet/roots, and grab Jessica’s
wrist, “run!”
I lead
her through and around the vehicles, trying hard to ignore the pain. We jump
over bodies, whole and in parts, duck under lashing vines and hurled home-made
Molotovs, all the while keeping an eye out for Jamie or Jane.
How the
hell did they get so far so fast? I steal a glance behind me to see Tank is
still determined to make a meal out of us, or maybe just drag me back to Violet
– she seemed to have a thing for Jamie, after all. But the mess and mayhem is
slowing him down. Good.
I look
forward again, still searching for Jamie, when Jessica stops short, damn-near
popping my arm right out of its socket. I round on her to ask, or really snarl,
just what her problem is – but her focus isn’t on me. Instead, she’s staring
slack-jawed at a group of plant monsters that are pounding against an RV.
I lean
close so that I can whisper, “What is wrong with you? We need to keep going!”
She just
keeps staring at the creatures. At one in particular. Is she listening to it?
It doesn’t seem to be attacking, but more…supervising. Can she hear what its
orders are? I open my mouth to ask her but she wriggles her wrist from my grasp
and takes a step forward. In a tiny voice, almost unheard over the destruction
around us, she calls out to it.
“Gran?”
