Earth Man (25 page)

It suddenly turned its back to Danny as if he were inconsequential. D
anny froze in his tracks. The sudden change in tone, the body language, all of it changed so rapidly that Danny was unsure of what to do.

“
Yes.” Danny replied, anger in his voice.

The creature was too unpredictable; one moment it was furiously attacking
him, the next it was leaning peacefully against the plastic cell wall. It was causing Danny to constantly pump adrenaline as his fear jumped and spiked, then bottomed out again. Concentrating his will, he focused his power on his own body and tried to calm down his rampaging heart. Danny was getting twitchy and restless and he knew it made him careless, so he kept his distance from the monster.

“
It was smart to send your servants first, to weaken us. Torture us. Did you learn enough about us? Taking the mother from me for so long. Delaying our conquest. That only made us MORE HUNGRY.” The Second snapped.

Its mouth stretching wide revealing shifting, changing white fangs.

“
Keep us apart. Keep us weak. We who are one.” It said, striding toward him.

As long
as it was talking, it was not attacking him, so Danny ignored the aching bruise on his back and circled around the creature. The Second kept itself between Danny and the First, close enough to reach him if it wanted to.

“
You know what Chem-X was doing?” Danny bluffed. He wanted to sound tough and in control.

“
Oh yes,” the alien replied calmly, “I have been here a long time. Hiding in the shadows of the continent you call Africa.”

Its face was suddenly placid and contemplative, but Danny was not fooled by
its human expression. Its black flesh squirmed on its own, no matter how human it acted the flesh revealed its true nature. Even its breathing was not real; it was an act, nothing but a mockery of life. The Growth had no need for air.

“
Humanity. So weak. Yet so adaptable. And so full of
ideas
.”

One black hand seemed to constantly caress the plastic cell, it never moved far enough away to give Danny a second chance at getting to the incineration button.

“She had a form once. Like mine. Black flesh. Our favourite. Strong.
Fast
.” The Second slurred the end words of its sentences and a monstrous tongue licked its lips. There was a force, an instinct pushing Danny to attack it, every movement of its body was disturbing and angered him.

“
You did this to us!”

T
he Second leaped at him and Danny barely got out of the way. Before he could reorient himself he creature was back beside the cell again. For a moment it looked as if the Second was going to leap again, as its muscles tensed up Danny prepared himself. Instead the alien closed its eyes and let its arms go limp.

“
So peculiar, time. So much of it lost. What a burden time is, tied to the flesh and pulling us downwards. Stretching on and on as the meat wastes away.”

Danny had no idea what t
he alien was talking about, so he simply ignored it. He had no interest in the history of the species or what it had experienced, not anymore. If there had ever been a time when Danny would have listened that time was long gone. Now all he wanted was to destroy the things.

             
The aliens had been here long before he got his abilities and he resented that. With more time, he could have been better prepared, or perhaps the Growth would not have been so strong. The Second was obviously insane, its behaviour was far more erratic than the last one Danny had faced. The Growth had come to Earth to conquer and instead one major corporation named Chem-X had somehow brought them to a standstill. Danny felt stupid for trusting them, all along they’d known what was going on. He’d taken money from them in good faith and now he wondered if he’d ever really know the cost of that mistake.

There
were cameras in two of the corners of the room, recording everything that had happened. Once again Danny was glad for his helmet, he didn’t want to know what could happen if the internet got a hold of that footage. Chem-X had been playing with fire and now they’d just gotten burned. Danny couldn’t help but feeling he had been manipulated all along. They must have known the aliens would eventually reunite, that the Second would come and find its partner. Dr. Glass had said nothing to him. Glass had made it seem as if they wanted to learn from Danny’s experience when all they’d wanted was another piece on the chess board.

             
Danny clenched his fists together in anger and he moved toward the Second, but before he could attack he heard something with his enhanced senses. He could smell the metal and rubber, sense the fast moving bodies. Armed men, soldiers, heavily armoured, were coming up the building stairwell fast. When they’d open the stairwell door a gust of wind had caught their scents and pushed it ahead of them. The smell of the men rolled into the room and the Second caught it as well. The military had arrived in the form of six armed and angry United States Army men.

              Phil Morrison sat with his feet dangling over the side of the bed, wearing only his undershirt and blue briefs. Wiping the sweat from his face, he shook off the remnants of sleep. He’d been dreaming; something terrible and dark and frightening enough to wake him from an afternoon nap. Downstairs his ex-wife Monica was puttering around in the kitchen. Phil was long past the point of chastising himself over their affair; he’d been sleeping with his ex-wife occasionally since the day they met and regardless of whatever title they gave their relationship, he knew it wasn’t going to end any time soon. Phil wasn’t the kind of man to lie to himself or regret his choices, in fact the reason he hadn’t married Linda was to keep his affair with Monica. They’d been terrible living together, but they had a passion for one another that never seemed to fade.

The day after was always awkward f
or them and Phil immediately set his mind to getting out of the house as fast as possible. Just as he knew without a doubt they’d sleep together again, he also knew the day after meant a fight. Monica was going to feel guilty and want to hurt him for it. Any moment her sex buzz was going to fade and all the things she’d held back from saying earlier were going to come pouring out of her like a machine gun barrage. Then it would get ugly between them and they wouldn’t talk again for a few months. Her guilt would make her more abrasive and condescending. As he gathered up his clothes he glanced at the clock. He’d only slept for a half hour which meant it had only been about forty five minutes since they’d had sex last. That meant she still might be in a good mood, Phil thought as he pulled on his socks. Once she changed, once Monica let loose, Phil knew it would be hours before he got back on the road.

             
Phil buttoned his beach shirt as he crept down the stairs. The television in the living room was surprisingly loud and Phil didn’t think Monica would hear him. He picked up his shoes but stopped when he heard the news alert.

MILITARY PERSONNEL HAVE TAKEN UP POSITION AROUND THE BUILDING AND THE CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL HAS URGED ALL CITIZENS OF SAN DIEGO TO KE
EP THEIR DISTANCE. . .

             
Phil slipped his loafers on and grabbed the door handle.

“
Philip!”

It was Monica in the next room. Phil let go of the door handle and angrily kicked off his shoes.

“Come in here please.”

AMATUER VIDEO TAKEN FROM ACROSS THE STREET
SHOWS A MAN ENTERING THE BUILDING AGAINST THE ORDERS OF ARMY PERSONNEL. .

             
Monica stood in front of the fifty two inch flat screen they’d bought together years ago. She wore a pink slip under a long blue housecoat, the straps for which were in her hands. When she motioned Phil into the room, she did not look at him but used her housecoat straps threateningly.

“
Come here, Phil!” She said playfully. Her kindness caught Phil off guard and he stood next to her apprehensively, dragging his feet like a petulant child.

“
Is that Danny?” Monica asked, pointing at the screen. She’d frozen the image, which meant she’d upgraded her cable package. Phil didn’t see a control in her hand and he was puzzled by how she’d controlled the television.

“
Look at the screen, Phil. Is that guy Danny?” Monica said, pointing directly at the television. The image was taken off a poor resolution video, but it was easy enough to see a man in black motorcycle gear slipping into what appeared to be a dental office or mail center. When the scene changed to a shot of the same building but from a farther, wider angle, Phil leaned forward and squinted to see it better. The entire building was covered in a large make-shift quarantine bubble.

“
Go back.” He ordered Monica.

She just held up the controller, as if it was obvious they were watching a live news report and she couldn
’t rewind it.

“
It’s hard to be sure. This is from the news?”

“
Yes. This is live, I think.”

“
It could be him,” Phil said, scratching his chin, “hard to say with the helmet on.”

“
I’m sure that was Danny.” Monica stated.

“
Yeah? How can you be sure?” Phil asked.

“
How long have we known Helen and Danny? Almost twenty years. I’d recognize that man’s ass in a pair of jeans or leathers any day, Philip.” Monica answered.

She placed her hands on her hips and looked Phil dead in the eye; he knew there was nothing he could say in response.

The news broadcast finished and it left Phil deeply troubled. There was no doubt Monica was right. It was Danny and his gut instinct told him he had to go. The danger that had followed Danny since their trip had reached him in the city, a heavily populated American city at that.

THE EXACT NATURE OF CHEM-X CORP
’S ROLE IN THIS INCIDENT, IF ANY, REMAINS TO BE SEEN.

“
Danny must have been going to see the guy from Chem-X.” Phil said.

“
So it is him? Holy shit Phil! What the hell had Danny gotten mixed up in now?”

Monica turned the television off and marched toward the kitchen.

“That boy is getting himself into some major shit, Phil.” She said over her shoulder.

“
How far away is that?” Phil asked, running for his shoes.

“
That building? Across the city. Why? What are you going to do, run to his rescue?” Monica shouted from the kitchen, Phil could barely hear her as he yanked open the front door.

“
Yeah something like that.” He replied.

“
Well do up your pants first, hero.” Monica said, appearing in the doorway behind him.

Standing on the front step, Phil looked down and saw the top bottom of his pants was open, showing his belly
and briefs. As he buttoned them up, he leaned over and kissed his ex-wife passionately. She pulled away, shaking her head, but he saw in the corners of her mouth the trace of a smile. Sucking in his gut, he tucked in his shirt and ran for to the car. Monica waved him off with the back of her hand.

“
Same bunch of fools they were in high school.”

              Danny could hear all twelve pairs of combat boots as they rushed up the emergency staircase. He could hear the fabric of their clothes rustling together, the clinking of tiny metal parts on belts and buttons, even the hushed whispers of orders as they took up position in the dark. There was only a moment left before they burst through the room and Danny wasn’t sure what to do. All he could think of was what it would look like to them; a man in a weird helmet talking to an alien butcher. With their fingers on the trigger, there was no reason for them to hesitate.

“
Look I can help you.” Danny suddenly said.

Why he didn
’t know but he didn’t think it could hurt to offer the thing a chance. Perhaps somewhere inside it there was still some bit of humanity that he could appeal to. The six soldiers took up positions around the room and the monster just watched them, patient as a viper.