Dactets are Among Us
It was a normal day in space. In fact, it was just like every other. Max SoKowski looked out of his dorm window to see the blackness of space, the tiny white stars, and of course XGI7. XGI7 was formerly known as "Earth" until some psycho had to drop seven XGI specimens on it. On June 28, 2020, Max's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great ancestors evacuated "Earth" and came to live in space. These specimens killed more than five million people. These specimens were wide as thirty feet, and were six-teen feet tall. They were very agile and destroyed buildings with acid spray.
I wonder if the experiments have been alive for the last one thousand twenty-six years? Ever since that incident we had to start life in space, but right know he had to go to class.
His first class was with Griffin Christmas. Christmas was his teacher, and Max had never trusted him. Griffin had been talking about this "plant 102" thing and said that he was going to test it on a rat or something.
His dorm was a small room with a cot, and water bubbler. Max's floor, walls and ceiling had black lines that stuck out about half-an-inch. In between the black lines, was also black. Then he looked at his clock saying it was 0650 hours. "Time for class." he said.
Max changed his clothes, and put on his favorite muscle shirt, noticing in his mirror, he did have big muscles. He wasn't fat, but he sure had big muscles for a four-teen-year-old. Max stared into the mirror.
Where did I get these big muscles? Who did I inherit the blonde hair from? Who were my parents? How did they die?
After staring into the mirror, Max put on his shoes and left. The next room he was in was the dorm hall. All of the rooms off of the dorm hall were dorms. Max went down the hall when he saw his best friend in the colony, David Gilford. " Hey Max. What's up?" David said in a calm mood.
"Nothing. Just heading to class. Heard that Griffin was showing us an experiment?"
"Yeah. I saw it. That madman had a lot of ideas up his sleeve."
"Well I better get going. See you later Dave!" With a wave, David was gone.
* * *
Max just sat himself down in class waiting for Griffin.
What could this "plant 102" thing b-
Max's thoughts were cut off by Griffin's voice "Hello clazz! Today I am going to perform zomething on zanother animal, and make zit blozzom!
What the heck is blossom?
Christmas took out a rat in a cage and explained what Plant 102 was. Then he put Plant 102 into the rat's water. He gave the water to the rat and spoke "Zoon you will zee ze rat get infected by Plant 102!"
The rat started to drink the water when it stopped. It stomach expanded when-
-Splat-
Tentacles came out of the rat in every direction as Griffin smiled. "Zee? I told you ze plant would blozzom! Ze rat is still alive, but zit cannot control the tentacles. Zoon it will loze control over it'z whole entire body."
Max stood up abruptly as Griffin was facing the class and his hand pointed at the mutation. "Dr. Christmas!" Griffin nodded. "Could this thing get smarter?" Griffin nodded. "Can they infect humans?" Griffin nodded. "What are these called."
Griffin put his hand by his side to take out his space gun. "Dactets." Griffin held down the trigger to charge the gun. He opened the lid to the cage very quickly and fired. He missed and the dactet broke the cage while Griffin charged the gun. He let go and fired again. The dactet was agile enough to climb into the vent. "Zokay...Everybody come down... Ze dactet is no harm zat all. Yez zat is right." Griffin said sarcastically.
Max stood standing up and shot a look from the vent to Christmas. "I don't believe you...You said they can infect humans. Why don't you care!?"
Griffin put the gun on his desk and walked toward Max. "You want to look for the dactet! Zo ahead! Zee zif I care!" Max make the line on his face straighten out. Max walked out the door followed by the whole class.
* * *
Max was walking back to his dorm with the crowed when he saw David. "Saw the experiment and it ran into the ventilation duct." Dave's mouth dropped and his eyes widened.
Max cut off David "They're capable of -".
"Yeah. I heard."
"So what are you doi-" David was again cut off by the lights shutting off, and heard the loud speaker go on, followed by a crunching sound.
" This is human dactet!" Everybody turned to the loudspeaker. A loud rumbling sound cut off the dactet "We are setting a cra-". After that, the lights were back on. David stared in awe.
"I don't believe it... First Earth, now a space colony!" Max looked at David and nodded. "That gun Griffin used...the space gun...Dave do you think if we shot a gun, could it put a hole in the wall?" Dave put his hand to his chin and thought.
" I don't think so..." Everyone behind Max gave a breath of relief. Everyone knew that Max was sent to the Watcher. In the Watcher's office, was a coded door that had an M-16 above the pass code. Then Max spoke.
" I have an idea." Who cared if the whole colony was to become a mess. There were about twenty kids going with Max knowing that they would not get in trouble. "There is only one intercom in the colony and that is-"
-Crash-
Max fell back, he hit his head and was knocked unconscious.
1 week later...
Max opened his eyes and stared up to see a bright light. The second he saw it, he knew he was in the infirmary. Max sat up to see Dr. Kodak. "Doctor...What happened?"
"Max! David, David what is his last name?"
"Gilford. David Gilford." The doctor kept swaying in her chair, but her eyes widened.
"Mr. SoKowski!" The doctor said in a surprised mood. "You have been in a coma for one week! I don't believe you remembered his last name! Well anyway, David saved your li-" The doctor was cut off by Max.
"I need to stop the dactets..." Dr. Kodak stood up.
"We have been fighting them while you were out. There was one other nurse...Oh yes, Nurse Betty, but she...blossomed. More than six hundred people died in this sector of the colony. The dactets could have made it to the other three..."
"Is David all right?"
"I don't know... But if it hadn't been for him, you would have..." Max closed his eyes and nodded for a second. Then Max got up and Dr. Kodak grabbed his shoulder. "Max take this." He turned around and saw the doctor holding a silver case. She opened and he saw it was a .227 assault rifle. Max had used a gun before, but he couldn't snipe at all. Max put on the strap around his neck, and the doctor handed him a Beretta with four clips. "You can shoot, right?" Max nodded.
"What if I run dry?" Dr. Kodak looked at him and held up her first finger mouthing the words "one sec'" when Max put the Beretta in his pocket just enough so he could still see the butt. Dr. Kodak came back with a space gun.
"There are charges all over the colony. You can charge the gun all you want."
"Thank you." With a nod, Max was out the door.
As he exited, he noticed that some sort of greenish fungi, or some type of weeds had overrun the colony. There was also an awful smell. Max held the assault rifle and headed to the main hall.
-BamBamBam-
When Max heard the noise, it urged him to run to the foyer. Max saw the dactet approaching...
David!
Max fired at the creature, and Dave saw that Max was firing at the monster. Dave ran under the stairs clutching his wound.
-Ratatatatata-
Finally the dactet died, and was sent to the floor. "Max," Max looked at the dactet and heard the raspy voice of David Gilford. Max turned his head to look at his friend and came rushing toward him. "Uhhh...Max...I lost a lot of blood," Then there was a pause. "I won't-"
"Shut up. Don't say things like that. You are going to be fine. Listen we will get out of here. You saved me, so I'll return the favor." Max picked up David and carried him to the infirmary. He lay him down on the cot to get some rest as to what the doctor said. Before leaving, Max left the space gun next to David.
Max was back in the main hall and started walking up the stairs to the Watcher's room. After Max was up the stairs, the smell got much worse, so Max put the .227 in front. On the second floor was one platform that led to one hall. Across from the platform was a glass window.
Max walked down the hall when he had a decision. He could go left, right, or up. Obviously if he went right or left, he would end up back here. "Ah what the hay!" Max headed right to explore the rest of the floor.
He edged against the wall when he heard slow footsteps. He let go of the .227 and took out the Beretta. Max took the greasy clip and loaded it into the gun. Then he held the gun with two hands and pivoted into the hall.
Oh my Go-
Max's thoughts were cut off by the scream of the dactet as it rushed toward him. Sticking out of the man's hips was a pair of tentacles allowing it to run. The man must have been dead because he did not moan or move. Plant 102 had taken control of its body. Max took aim and-
-Bambambam-
The lead pierced the dactets skin but did not make it through the body. Max pivoted back to hide. He took one breath and went back into the hall, but the dactet was gone. Max put the handgun back into his pocket and held the assault rifle. Slowly walking down the corridor trying not to trip over the weeds, he made it to the other end.
Max peered around the corridor to see nothing. He walked down the hall to notice that there was a glass wall to his left. Max continued down the corridor and looked around the other end. Nothing. But the smell was unbearable. Dactet.
What if they already started to produce bizarre creatures?
Then it happened. Max's imagination went wild. Giant spiders, ants, skeletons. Max slowly walked down the hall when he heard something crawl.
-Tic tic tic-
Nothing on the ground, and the darkest spot in the corridor was, was...
Ohno the ceiling!
-Thump-
Max ran back to the glass hall when-
-Screech! -
Max ran into another dactet.
OhnoOhnoOhnoOhno
-The glass-
It came to his mind. The glass! Max took out both guns and fired at the glass. It broke and without thinking, Max jumped twenty feet to the ground.
When he landed he crouched and felt his leg give in. "Ahhhhh!"
* * *
David heard the yell of agony as he awoke. He sat up, and he noticed that his wound had been covered up. "Doctor Kodak! I must go after Max." The doctor was still rocking back and fourth, but she was looking the other way. Then she slowly turned her head to look at him and noticed that she was not Doctor Kodak anymore. She was Doctor Dactet.
Time seemed to freeze just so he could get a glance at her face. Her grotesque face was all green, and her mouth was starting to decay. One eye hung out a little bit when there was a gurgling sound and then-
-Splat-
A tentacle pushed out her eye, and the eye went flying across the room when time seemed to flow again. "Get away from me!" David looked to the right to see-
The space gun!
With his right hand he picked up the gun and held down the trigger. "Let's see if this can fix your face!" He let go of the trigger and the pulse was shot from the gun, and the force sent David to the wall.
-Wa Bam! -
The creature exploded sending the greenish slime throughout the whole room. But one thing did not explode. David walked to the thing and found it being a diary. He flipped to the last entry which was today, June 27, 3026.
* * *
No... This cannot be...
After reading the passage, David dropped the diary, and he started to weep. "No! I won't believe it! I still of other things on my hands! I have to save Max!" David grabbed the space gun and shoved it into his pocket. Then he ran out of the infirmary.
* * *
After Max jumped, he quickly looked at his leg. Nothing. He got up and took the .227 and waited for the dactets.
David better be all right. If he isn't, I might be the only one left. I have to survive.
-Wa Bam!-
Max heard a noise and started walking back to the infirmary.
Maybe David is okay. Maybe there is a chance.
He started walking toward the infirmary when-
-Crash-
Max looked back to see the remaining dactets jump, breaking the rest of the glass. This time the dactets seem to evolve or something. They seemed to get bigger.
Max took the assault rifle and started firing. The bullets went through their bodies crashing into the wall. He kept on firing when of them fell. He started running down the infirmary hall when the door opened.
"Max!" David said. "Get down, Now!" Max got down covering his face as David charged the gun and let go of the trigger. A ball of light was shot out of the gun at an incredible speed, exploding the monster.
"You survived! What happened to Kodak?" Said Max as he got up.
"Dead. She already blossomed."
"Oh. I understand. Listen. There is an emergency shuttle. Griffin once said that- "
"Who zed my name?" Max looked towards the middle of the foyer as he recognized that voice. Griffin Christmas.
"You. You got everybody killed. You're responsible for this!" Max gave him a disgusting look, as he took out his handgun. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot you!"
"Want me to zell you zomething!? You want to zo who made Earth become zone az XGI7? Zaunt to?" Said Griffin as he walked toward Max with his head down. "Zaunt to!?" Max slowly nodded. "My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great ancestors did it! And you zo what? Want to zo who killed your parents!? I did zit!"
Max took a step back and shook his head. He took his gun and pointed it at Griffin. "I swear you will die, before I get out of here." Max put the gun back down in his pocket. "Right now you are going to get us out of here."
"No. I zill not. Zever. I'll go my zay, you zo your zay." Griffin said.
Max gave him the eye as he said "Fine. Just for now." Griffin started walking to his room while Max and David started heading up the main stairs.
Once up there, there was another pair of stairs. "Dave, you go left. In ten minutes, we come back here." David took out his watch and set the timer while Max did so.
* * *
Max walked up the winding stairs when he got to the top. There was a wall to his left, where David would be, and to the right was a corridor. Max started walking down a corridor when he noticed a door to his left.
He went up to it and it opened.
That smell!
The smell was intense and Max didn't want to hold his nose. The whole entire room had been filled with weeds, and a greenish fungus. There were also round pods that could of been-
No... This cannot be! Eggs!
Max gripped the .227 tightly. He searched the room and found a body. He was probably infected, and he had died, and cannot blossom.
Or could he?
He quickly searched the body and found a clip and a key card. The key card read: 341. 341 was probably a room, and this was probably the card to open it. Now here was another thing he had to do before escaping. Destroy this room.
Max stepped out of the room and heard the loud, slow walk of a dactet. Max edged against the wall and took out the handgun. He quickly slid a greasy clip into it and was ready to kill the dactet. He looked at the wall and did what they did in that Watrix movie.
Anything they do in the movies, I can do.
He looked at the wall and side flipped into the hall. While still in the air, he noticed that the tentacle was coming out of its ear, and the person was definitely dead. Time seemed to slow down as he was in the air, as he pumped lead into the body. Max landed with a crouch and continuously fired at the monster. After about ten rounds, the monster went to where all bad things go.
* * *
David went up the winding stairs and came to the top. He came to the first door, but it was locked. The door also read: 341 Weapons Storage. He continued down the hall when he heard a scream. A scream of a man. A scream of pain.
He went running down the hall and found a man. A man in his early 30's. He checked his pulse, and he was still alive. "Hey get up," David went down on the floor. "Wake up." Then the man's eyes opened.
"Huh? What are you doing?" The man said as he sat up.
"Just trying to get out of here. Are you infected?"
"Yes," said the man as he stood up. "Get out of here. I'm nothing. I'll blossom anytime now!"
David sighed. "I understand. Do you know where a gun charger is?" The man pointed to one. "Thank you."
David started to walk away when the man spoke: "Hey kid," as David turned around. "Take this." David walked towards the man, and he took out an MP70 Specialized Handgun. "Oh yeah, this too." The man took out two clips for the gun, each with eight-teen bullets.
'Thank you," said David as he loaded his gun. He continued down the hall when he came to the gun charger. He started charging it while thinking about the diary.
It can't be true. The dactet got to her. I don't believe it.
After charging the gun, he checked his watch saying that it seven minutes had passed, so he ventured down the hall.
* * *
The man pointed a gun at Max, " How do I know you aren't one of them?"
"Trust?" said Max as he shrugged while the man put down his gun and looked at him.
"Listen, I'm a gonner. I'm infected and I've been badly wounded. But first I want to say I've seen it! The dactet that started it all. The rat dactet. About one week ago, Griffin unleashed a new type of species. That same day, I was in the Watcher's room when the rat got to him. I managed to stay alive for that one week. That rat can affect people much quicker because it was the one that got infected by the original Plant 102. And that is when it used the Watcher to speak. It said 'We are setting a cra-
-Screech-
"There it is that is it!" Max whipped out his .227 and Beretta. The man put away the threat gun, and he took out a
Good Heavens! A .357 Colt Python!
"Crud! Only one round!" The man took aim, and time seemed to freeze before the shot was fired. The monsters' legs were tentacles that extended four feet. They were stable enough for it to walk. Then the rat's head came next. Who knows where the bottom half went. Its mouth was open, and its eyes glowed majestically. They glowed a greenish glow, like no other. Tentacles extended from its head and were flung all around. One of them seemed to have greenish goo coming out of it, which is probably the virus.
-Blam!-
The bullet went through the monsters' eye and did not make it through the back of the monsters' skull. However, the bullet pushed the monster against the back wall. They knew that it would still live longer. Much longer.
It screamed in agony. The monster was stuck and if it got down, the back of its skull had to come off. "That was it. That was the monster. It's not dead," as the man said that, he coughed and it there was blood.
"Why don't we kill it?" said Max as the man crouched down.
"Bullets won't work. The space gun might. Listen, we could blow this thing up. After all they are setting a cr cough. I'm dead. Jupiter. Life there. Near Red Spot. Colony...Go boy..." The man handed him his empty gun and his abdomen did not rise again.
* * *
One minute. David started walking back when he noticed the man. He was on the floor. He twitched.
Bad time. He is going to blossom any second now. Better kill him before it comes after me and more shots are needed.
He lowered the gun and charged the gun. He was thinking about what he was doing. He said he was infected. So I should kill him. The shot was ready and-
-Wa Bam! -
Body segments of the man were all over the corridor when his watch started beeping.
I've got to go.
He walked down the hall when he came to the stairs. He walked down them after thinking about what he did.
Maybe he was having a nightmare. May be he was just having a spas attack. Is that even real? The diary. It can't be true. I can't be-
"Hey Dave," David tilted his head toward Max. "What's wrong."
"Nothing. Nothing at all. What did you find?"
"Some clips, a Colt Python. Don't get your hopes up. It's not loaded. I also found a card that reads 341. I didn't see the door for it. Did you?"
"Yeah. I did. I also saw a man. He was about to blossom. So I killed him."
"I saw it. I also saw a man. He got it pinned against the wall from the bullet."
"What is it?"
"The leader. The leader dactet. The rat that escaped."
"Oh. How about we go opposite ways?" Max nodded.
"One last thing. The man said there was a colony. Near Jupiter's red spot." David sighed.
"I won't make it." Max's eyes widened.
"Why? Are you infected."
"Yes...I read Kodak's diary. When she was infected, she wrote her last entry. It said that she was infected, so she infected me."
"I don't believe it."
"I don't want to. But I think it could be true. You know what to do if I get worse. Right?" Max slowly nodded.
"I'll get a vaccine. There must be one." After Max said his last word, there was a siren.
"Warning! Warning! Self-destruct system has been activated! Please evacuate colony. Warning! Warning! Colony is in collision with XGI7! Please evacuate colony!"
"That is what the man was trying to say! They were setting a crash course to XGI7! We've got to get out! David, come with me!"
David nodded.
* * *
They went up the left side, and immediately saw 341 written onto a door. Max took out the card and slided it through the scanner. The door opened and they went inside. There weren't any dactets, and this appeared to be a storage room for weapons.
They both went up to the walls, they each grabbed a backpack, a Colt Python, Berreta, some clips and a space gun. They also got a knife hopefully never wanting to use it. Then they saw it. A flame-torch. They left and started sprinting down the hall. They went down the winding path when they came to an elevator.
They went inside and were taken to the Shuttle room. They waited patiently when the soft hum of the elevator stopped. The made it. They were in the shuttle room. They ran to the shuttle, and they saw him. The man that started it all.
Griffin Christmas
"Zo. You made zit zhis far. Good job. Good job ze the both of you." After he said that, the boys took out both assault riffles. "You want to zoot me? Zo ahead! But you zill zever get out!"
"Give us the code!"
"Fine. I'll zive you the code zif you survive the zinal zest of zurvival."
-Crash-
Max and David looked behind them to see the mother of them all. The one that started it all. The rat dactet. The back of its skull had been ripped off and brain tissue covered it up. Its exposed brain also wrapped itself around the top of the monsters' head. The monster was more human-like than before, for its legs were now actually legs. It also had muscular arms that could easily break one of these walls. Its head was now on top of the body, and the rat seemed to control it. Meaning that it is still alive, but Griffin was right. It did get smarter.
Both boys took out their assault rifles and fired wildly at the dactet. The dactet started walking towards Max when he took out his Colt Python. He fired and it pierced the monsters skin.
David was looking at Max in awe.
What can I do? I can't do anything. It's too big.
Then it came to his mind. David quickly took out his bag and saw the space gun. He took it and charged it. It was then set and-
-Wa Bam!-
The shot blew off one of the monsters arms'. David looked carefully at the monster.
Oh no. It's growing another arm!
Max continuously fired at the monster. He ran dry on his Colt so he took out the .227. He fired madly, and he started running back towards the shuttle. Every now and then the monster would flinch, but that seemed like forever.
What is Griffin doing right now? Oh no! That double-crosser!
Griffin was getting into the shuttle and was going to escape by himself. "David! Get Griffin!" David must have heard because he stopped firing and went to the shuttle.
Max then thought of the man.
That's it!
Max looked through his arsenal of weapons and saw the space gun. He charged it and let go of the trigger.
-Wa Bam! -
The ball of light blew off the other monsters' arm. But it started growing back. Then he noticed a tentacle come out of the back of the monster. He saw the tentacle rise into the air and the green liquid coming out of it.
Plant 102!
David was inside of the shuttle and saw Griffin at the controls. "Griffin," Griffin got scared by his voice. "What are you doing?"
"Ezcaping. You are zoing good with ze experiment. Yez, Yez, Yez! Very zood!"
"Are you going to get us out of here?"
"I zold you. Zif you zurvive the experiment. Oh yez, David?" David still looked at Griffin. "I have zomething to zell you. Um...You are infected. I'm zo zorry to zay.
"I already knew." He turned around and walked out.
Max was running out of ideas when he saw that this room led to another corridor. He ran over there, and leaned against the wall. He looked through the arsenal and saw the flame-torch. He dropped the .227 and put the flame-torch's strap around his neck. He edged against the wall, and he heard the soft walk of a dactet. Other dactets couldn't make it to this area.
Could they?
He gripped the torch and pivoted into the room and saw what he never wanted to see. His best friend infected. "David! Try to fight! Don't let it get to you!" David walked slowly toward Max.
"Mmaaxx! I'm loosing hearing! Help me!" David wobbled toward Max and tentacles coming out everywhere.
-Thump! -
There was a loud noise, loud enough for David to hear, and he turned around slowly to see the abomination of a rat. David jumped onto the back of the dactet while he also yelled. "Max! Bring it down! Torch it!" Max looked at his friend for one last time and pulled the trigger.
Fire came out of it and caught the monster on fire. He continuously held it down until the monster fell, and skin started pealing off of it. The monster started dying and it let out an ear-piercing scream. He kept the trigger pulled when he was out of gas. He looked to see David's bag. Max ran to it and picked it up.
He looked through it to find two sub-machine guns. The dactet started lurching towards Max. He loaded both guns and pulled both triggers.
-Ratatatatatata-
Lead marks were made on the monster when it gave another scream. Then Max saw something stand up in the flaming mess. It was all black and it was caught on fire. Tentacles rose out of the anonymous figure and dove back into the monster. Max looked around for a fire extinguisher.
There!
Max ran towards the red can and held it. He went up to the mess and started putting out the fire. After that he lay the can next to it and examined the dactet. It was lying there. Its arms were still very little and it already started to burn away its internal organs. However, there wasn't any sign of David.
David. He saved my life a few times. What a good kid. What a gullible kid.
Now there was Griffin. Max had to get rid of Griffin. He walked into the shuttle and saw Griffin at the controls. "Zood for kid. You zurvived ze final ztep in ze zurvival tezt. Congratz to you. I've got thiz zuttle ready to go. I zon't know zow to pilot it, but I can auto-pilot it to the colony near Jupiter."
"Tell me when you're done."
"Zokay." Max sat down next to him and thought about David.
What happened to you? I know your dead, but where is your body? You helped me out in the tough spots. I helped you once. I'm no good friend. I have been so selfish. I'm sorry Dave. You should be right here with me...
I am...
Huh? Who said that?
Talk to me in your thoughts, Max. I am here with you.
Where? I want to see you again!
I am outside. Give Griffin to me. I have a surprise for him.
Okay.
Max sat up and went to Griffin. "Done yet."
"Yez. Max ZoKowzki. I am."
"Good." Max opened the shuttle door and threw Griffin out. Then he saw an abomination bigger than the leader dactet. Then he watched David kill Griffin in the pain that was needed to set him straight.
"Warning! Warning! Self-destruct system has been activated! Please evacuate colony! Warning! Warning! Colony is in collision with XGI7! Please evacuate colony!"
The shuttle started to hover and he had escaped a nightmare come true. He looked back to see the colony collide with XGI7 and the colony exploded.
Maybe I'll find someone like David on the other colony! Maybe David is still with me, but I just don't know it. One thing is, I'll never know...
Fin