-S&H-
Stanley and Henry sat in their car, enjoying some pastries from a local bakery in the inner party. As they chowed down on their snack, they received an alert on their receiver, forwarded by the Ministry of Love.
"Up! Paycheck time!" Henry said.
"Hell yea-" Stanley was interrupted when his radio picked up a distress call.
"WE NEED ALL AVAILABLE UNITS AT THE SOUTHEAST OUTER PARTY BEACH AT ONCE! THE SITUATION HAS GOTTEN OUT OF HAND! WE ARE REQUESTING ASSISTANCE FOR A CODE RED BREACH OF SECURITY! OVER AND OUT!"
"Holy shit." Henry sputtered with a hint of excitement. "I've never had to deal with a code red before."
"They said all available units. We're not available. We have a job to do, or else O'brien's gonna slit our throats."
"Look, we can get that done in a snap-"
"Which is why we should focus on that task."
"What I'm saying is that we can just pick her up and then go help with whatever's going on down at the beach, before dropping her off."
Stanley sighed. "Fine. But when O'brien slits my throat, I'm gonna bleed on you!"
The two then drove off to pick up Julia. They had the battering ram and handcuffs ready, but when they arrived and got out of their car, Julia immediately burst out of her house and desperately embraced Stanley. This caught him off guard, and he nearly fell over from the sudden running embrace.
"OH, THANK BIG BROTHER YOU'VE ARRIVED! PLEASE, WE MUST GET TO THE MINISTRY OF LOVE SO THAT THEY EXPEL THESE TREACHEROUS THOUGHTS FROM MY MIND!"
"Hold your horses, lady! Also, back off!" He said as he placed a hand on her face and pushed out of her hug. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, ma'am, but we need to make a quick stop to help our co-workers before we get you to Minluv."
Julia was baffled and mortified by this revelation.
"N-no. No no no, you NEED to take me there right now! I-I've been having these thoughts lately, and they scare me. I NEED THEM OUT OF MY MIND NOW!" Stanly placed a hand on her back as she began to hyperventilate.
"Hey, take it easy. We're just making a pit stop. Something else just happened to come up, and we need to deal with it. In the meantime, just do whatever calms you down."
"C-can I sing the national anthem while we drive…?"
Stanley corrected himself. "Do whatever else makes you calm down."
"Come on, let the girl sing," Henry said. "The beach is only a ten-minute drive away. It'll be fine!"
{5 minutes later…}
Stanley slammed his head on his steering wheel and Henry covered his ears and quietly begged for mercy as Julia sat in the back seat and squealed the national anthem completely off-key. Julia didn't even enjoy listening to herself sing, as each time she started from the beginning, she only got more and more uneasy as her thoughts continued to flow out of control. The horrible squawking finally reached its end when they reached a cliff overlooking the beach.
"Okay. We're gonna handle whatever's going on down there." Stanley said. "You stay put."
"Y-yes sir!" Julia exclaimed.
Stanley and Henry then marched out of their cars carrying guns while Julia patiently waited in the back of the cop car. At least until her thoughts began to stray again. Julia clutched at her head and curled into the fetal position as she was overcome by a raw, visceral feeling of something being terribly wrong. The worst part is that she actually agreed with what this sensation had to say. She did find it strange that this was somehow so important that these two wouldn't immediately take a traitor like her to the ministry of love to be fixed, and it was odd that they would trust her to simply stay put and not bother taking her with them to keep her guarded at all times, and she was curious to know why she could hear people screaming down on the beach.
And so, Julia very slowly reached for the car door…
But was interrupted when she saw five long, winged figures rise up into the air. Those five then became ten, and those ten became twenty, and those twenty became one hundred, and soon there were enough of them to block out the setting sun. A few of them dropped down following the sounds of gunfire, but the rest remained airborne. Suddenly, a few of them swooped down towards the parking lot, allowing Julia to get a closer look at them as she saw the giant dragonflies swoop down towards every car in the parking lot.
Julia screamed as she saw a big, red stinger pierce the ceiling of the car, nearly impaling her skull. The stinger retracted and then rammed through more parts of the ceiling. Eventually, the constant prodding ceased as Julia was left in a car with a roof that resembled a fine swiss cheese. She saw the creature peek into the car, and just like that, time seemingly stopped for her. She felt adrenaline rush through her veins, her joints tighten, ready to pounce at the nearest object, sweat trickle down her back and face, her nostrils flare up, and her pupils dilate as she rapidly looked around for anything to defend herself with before zoning in on a police baton in the front seat. She had to time this perfectly, or she would be dead. So waited for the giant insect on the roof to stop checking for her in the spot it was looking in, then carefully grabbed the baton and positioned herself underneath one of the holes, just out of sight. As soon as she saw its eye poke into it, she rammed the baton through the hole.
Thick, yellow blood spewed everywhere as the creature screamed and howled in pain, while also releasing a horrible-smelling mist that prompted Julia to cover her mouth. When she saw more Meganula come towards the car, however, her hand and jaw both simultaneously dropped and her skin went pale as she recalled something she read in one of those banned Science books that she and ******* used to read together.
Pheremones: A chemical substance that is produced and released into the environment by an organism that affects the behavior and psychology of other members of their species when exposed to it.
Julia clutched the baton for dear life as all the pheromones that the injured Meganula released drew its brethren in, who began to rip at her car while unleashing blood-curdling screeches until suddenly, they were all scared off by a volley of bullets from an automatic rifle held by Stanley. He and Henry quickly climbed into the car and Stanley began driving as quickly as he could.
"CHANGE OF PLANS!" Henry said while wiping red and yellow blood off of his helmet. "ALL THREE OF US ARE JUST GONNA GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE AND HOPEFULLY NOT DIE!"
"I THOUGHT THE THOUGHT POLICE WOULD BE ABLE TO HANDLE SOMETHING LIKE THIS!"
"BITCH, WE WERE TRAINED TO DEAL WITH HUMANS, NOT GIANT BUGS," Stanley stated. "WHAT THE HELL MADE YOU THINK WE WERE PREPARED FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS!?"
"I… I…" Julia stuttered as she wondered why she assumed that the thought police could handle a situation like this when they couldn't even stop her from remembering HIM. "I don't know..."
Stanley gritted his teeth as he looked in the rearview mirror and saw that some of the Meganula were carrying Meganulons in their arms. Stanley made a hard left, driving off the beaten path briefly before getting back on the road with minimal additional damage to the car. Stanley hoped that he could stop the Meganula from chasing them thanks to the thick foliage… but didn't realize yet that Meganulons have high arboreal mobility.
The trees rustled and shook as the Meganulons leaped through them. One Meganulan smacked another in the head when she got distracted by a bird, and the pack soon leaped down lower to the ground, one of them landing directly onto the car. Henry screamed and fumbled for his gun, but was taken by surprise when Julia started jabbing it off with the baton she had on her until it jumped off.
"Damn girl," Henry remarked. "You looked just like Lady Truth there!" Julia blushed and held the baton close to her chest, herself surprised by her bravery and skill. "What's your name by the way?"
"W-why do you ask?"
"Seems like we're gonna be together for a bit, so we might as well get to know each other."
"I… J-Julia. M-my name that is. It's Julia."
"Henry."
"Stanley." He said as he veered to the right to dodge another Meganula that suddenly jumped down.
"Julia, take this!" Henry tossed Julia an automatic rifle. Her eyes widened as she held it firmly in her hands. "Now open your window!"
Julia did as she was told.
"FIRE AT WILL!" Henry shouted. Julia then cocked her rifle outside. Her aim was unsteady and she struggled to get to grips with the pushback of the gun, but she was able to take out a few Meganulons, while Henry mowed through at least twelve of them before both parties ran out of ammunition.
Once they realized that they had run out of bullets, the Meganulons went in for the kill, and all remaining Meganulons began diving headlong into the car, forcing Stanly to push the vehicle to its limits. Henry and Julia closed their windows before Stanly slammed his foot on the gas pedal and they sped off at 100 miles per hour, just barely avoiding the attacking Meganula, and even running over an overzealous one that lunged at them from the front. With this act, they managed to make it out of the foliage and into a nearby section of the town mostly abandoned after multiple bombings from Eurasian forces.
They drove up to an abandoned apartment building and hid out there, expecting the swarm of Meganula to come looking for them. However, after several minutes with no activity, Henry looked out the window and saw that the Meganula swarm that was just hunting them had stopped, seemingly losing interest in the group of three. Stanley and Henry took off their helmets and wiped some sweat off their foreheads, relieved. Julia however, not acknowledging the culture shock of seeing the faces of two thought police, was left worried for the safety of the people.
Ignorance is not Strength. Ignorance is a weakness the party uses to keep the people under its tyrannical thumb. You know this to be the case Julia. So why deny it?
"We have to get a warning out there!"
"Hugh? What are you talking about Julia?"
"We have to warn the people in the outer party. Those things are headed right for them. If we don't stop them, they could kill everyone!"
"How do you know that warning people will help in any way though?"
Say it.
"Because Ignorance is Weakness! If we let them know what's coming, at worst, they'll just think we're crazy, but best case scenario, they'll evacuate, arm themselves, hide, warn others, and more!"
"One problem though," Stanley said. "We probably won't be able to reach MinTru before the bugs get to a populated area. How are we gonna get the message out there?"
30 minutes later…
Stanley stared forwards blankly as he drove through a major metropolitan area while muttering to himself.
"When I was eight, I wanted to become a thought policeman so that I could protect people from the thought criminals running wild in our streets, threatening to destroy society. Fast forward twenty-four years. I now know that there aren't nearly as many thought criminals as the news made there out to be, and my lifelong dream is left in the garbage as I spend most of my day just talking about comics with my partner. Fast forward another five years, and I'm…"
"ATTENTION ALL RESIDENTS OF OCEANIA! THERE IS A CRISIS INBOUND! GIANT MONSTERS HAVE ATTACKED SOUTHEAST BEACH AND ARE CURRENTLY MOVING RAPIDLY TO THIS DISTRICT! CONTACT YOUR LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND TELL THEM TO ARM THEMSELVES AS HEAVILY AS POSSIBLE, THEN EVACUATE TO THE PROLS!" Henry shouted into a megaphone while standing atop the car.
"IF YOU CAN NOT EVACUATE, ARM YOURSELF WITH ANY AVAILABLE FIREARMS! IF YOU HAVE NO FIREARMS AVAILABLE, HIDE OUT WITH A FRIEND OR FAMILY MEMBER YOU KNOW WHO DOES!" Julia shouted into a megaphone while standing atop the car.
"Doing… This…" Stanley groaned as he slowly drove through the street while Henry and Julia rode on top of the car, all the while constantly looking over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being chased by other thought police, only to be reminded that most of them were drained of their energy, eaten alive, melted by acid-spitting starfish, or a combination of any of the three.
Having said that, most people in town still ignored them, assuming that they had just gone insane, as was the worst-case scenario that Julia predicted. Julia had hoped that their words would eventually get through to the people, or at the very least that the telescreen in the police car or the many telescreens around the city would pick up on what they were doing and at least take what they were saying into account, but unfortunately, even if everyone suddenly decided to start following their instructions, it would be too little too late as a fleet of flying objects in a cluster formation suddenly blotted out the sun. The people of the outer party, assuming these to be bomber jets, began performing their usual bombing drills. However, these protocols would not help them, because these were not enemy jets, but Meganula, and they were not dropping down bombs, but Meganulons.
Julia and Henry jumped back into the car and Henry sped off once again, avoiding several people and vehicles that refused to pick up the pace, even as Meganulons and Meganula dropped down onto cars and ripped them open like a lobster shell to get at the juicy, meaty human center. Instead of running away, the citizens curled up, crouched down, and covered the backs of their necks with their hands. Julia watched them, shocked at just how stupid these people were. And yet, something in her compelled her to join them, like a parasite demanding that she join the crowd, even as she watched the Meganulons rip them to shreds. However, the parasitic urges were silenced by the roar of the car engine as Stanley rammed into a Meganula, its blood splattering against the windshield. Stanley quickly turned on the windshield wipers while checking to make sure that nothing was approaching from behind.
"Well, THAT didn't work!" Stanley shouted, "Time for plan B: Get to the inner party before we die!"
"Yeah, that sounds good!"
Julia looked out her window. With the parasitic urges mostly expunged, she took in the true carnage happening before her very eyes. She felt the urge to vomit as she watched people being ripped apart and eaten alive, and being sucked of their energy until they are left as little more than withered, motionless husks. Then she screamed as she saw buildings crumble in front of them.
Meanwhile…
-O-
O'Brien marched past several other workers as they scrambled from office to office with mountains of documents held in their arms. O'Brien eventually reached the stress response department, comprised of ten people dedicated to analyzing threat reports and sending out the proper response to them. O'Brien grabbed one of them on the shirt, hoisted him out of his seat with one hand, and violently pressed him against a wall while glaring into his eyes.
"What the hell were you thinking!?" O'Brien growled. "Why didn't you idiots call the Ministry of Peace to deal with this!? Now, thanks to your incompetence, those creatures made it inland! We could lose control over the entire outer party because of you morons!"
The man clutched in O'Brien's fist whimpered pathetically. O'Brien ground his teeth as he dropped the quivering office worker. He then summoned a group of cops.
"Room 101," O'Brien growled, horrifying everyone in the room.
"W-which one sir?"
"All of them."
The department screamed as they were all dragged out of the room by the thought police while O'Brien straightened his suit and used a pocket comb to fix up his frazzled hair. He then called upon one of his assistants to give him a damage report. He took a swig of some wine while she reported how much damage was dealt.
"We've sent out 30% of our forces to handle the monsters. Only two of those units are still alive now. Less than one percent of them. 2,000 civilians are dead and counting, and last but most certainly not least, 2.5 million dollars in property damage have already been calculated."
O'Brien was fuming. He knew that doublethink couldn't help him here. Even if he could convince his assistant or even himself that they had more soldiers than they did, he knew double-think wouldn't change physical reality. Deep down, even he knows that no matter how much you say that 2 + 2 = 5, even if you convince everyone in the world 2 + 2 = 5, if you take two apples and add two more apples to the pile, you will only have four apples.
"Should I send this to MiniTrue so they can fix these typos?"
"No. Burn that report. Tell MiniTrue that the report isn't in yet, and GET THE MINISTRY OF PEACE ON THE DAMN PHONE!" O'Brien roared with uncharacteristic fury. Suddenly, he was interrupted when he got a phone call.
"WHAT IS IT!?"
Meanwhile…
-S&H&J-
"O'Brien, we're returning to the base. Though you probably already knew that because of the telescreen." Henry said. He then leaned away from the phone when O'Brien exploded at him.
"WE HAVEN'T BEEN WATCHING THE TELESCREENS BECAUSE WE'VE BEEN TOO BUSY CLEANING UP THE STRESS RESPONSE DEPARTMENT'S MESS!"
"Oooookaaaaay… anyway, yeah, we have someone with us here that got us out of a jam. Her name is Julia, no last name given."
"WHAT!?"
"Yeah, I think you should hire her honestly. She's a great fighter, she's pretty loyal to the party… I think-"
"THROW HER OUT! FEED HER TO THE BUGS! KILL HER AND FORGET ABOUT HER! SHE'S SUPPOSED TO BE EVAPORATED BY NOW! GUN HER DOWN THIS INSTANT!"
Suddenly, a Meganula swooped down and shoved its stinger through a door. Julia screamed as the Meganula roared in her face, its pincers ripping at the door until it was ripped off entirely. It then stuck its stinger into her and its tail started to glow white as it slowly drained Julia's energy.
"STANLEY! HENRY!" She screamed.
"We have a problem. I'll talk to you later." Henry hung up. "JULIA, HANG TIGHT BACK THERE!"
Henry tossed her a pistol and she shot out a window to hit the Meganula. However, the weaker bullets from the pistols could not penetrate the Meganula's exoskeleton fully like the assault rifle rounds. Stanley was forced to ram the bug against a building, killing it, but then had to stop when another building crumbled Infront of him, creating a pile of rubble that blocked the road ahead.
"FUCK! WHAT DO WE DO NOW!?"
Stanley looked around, making sure that all the Meganula were gone.
"We're gonna need to take the scenic route. You guys ready?"
Henry and Julia nodded as they drove off towards the alternate route to the inner party.
Meanwhile…
Many of the Meganula, having finished collecting energy, flew back to the deep blue sea from whence they came, their tails flowing with energy. They dove down into the ocean towards a massive, hibernating creature larger than a building. They all shoved their stingers into it and unloaded all their stored energy into the creature. Thousands of them dove down to give their stored energy to the sleeping giant, swarming around it like bees covering the hand of a foolish human who stuck it into their hive. Eventually, all the Meganula dispersed and swam back to the beach. As they sat on the beach and allowed their wings to dry, the water behind them began to rise as a pair of purple, draconic wings burst out of the water. Meganula and Meganulons alike cheered for the arrival of their queen: Megaguirus.
Meanwhile…
The night was still and quiet. Stanley, Henry, and Julia were grateful that the Meganula and Meganulons weren't nocturnal, but unfortunately, neither were they. They had just escaped the city when they collectively agreed that they would find a place to sleep.
"So, let's go over the plan," Julia said. "We'll each sleep in shifts, with one of us keeping watch while the others are sleeping. Once the person keeping watch gets tired, they'll wake up the person who slept the longest to keep watch next."
"And if we see something hostile…" Henry pulled out a pair of handguns. "Shoot to kill?"
"You should also probably wake us up, but yeah, shoot to kill."
"Hey, can you maybe NOT wave those around while I'm fucking driving?" Stanley snapped.
Henry swiftly slid the guns back into their holsters. "Sorry. So, anyway, who's keeping watch first?"
A few minutes later…
"Of course…" Henry grumbled as he sat on a log in front of a campfire, stoking the flames and resting his head in one hand. His helmet sat next to him, the one-way mirror used as a visor wiped clean of all the chunky, yellow blood that had gotten all over it.
He sighed before looking up at the stars. The tiny little stars glimmered in the night sky. All his life, he was taught that the party made everything. The sky, the Earth, the people, the sun, the moon, and the stars. But never before until today did he feel the need to ask why. But today, all he could ask was why. If the party created everything, why would they create those monsters? Why would they create death? Why would they create thought crime? Why would they create the stars? Was this punishment? What did the people do to deserve this though? Most people were good, well-behaved citizens, so why are they suffering in this way? Henry was uncomfortable with these questions but didn't stop himself from contemplating them. This would probably be the only time he'd be able to think about this.
As he sat there and thought for a while, however, he noticed something in the sky. His heart stopped when he realized that it was a Meganula, and quickly went to warn the others, when suddenly, an enormous Sonic boom rippled throughout the forest, awakening everyone and everything in the forest at once. Stanley screamed and Julia silently jolted awake.
"HENRY, WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING!?" Stanley screamed, covering one ear. "DID SOMETHING EXPLODE!?"
"Th-there w-was one of those d-dragonflies, I think, a-and it flew overhead, and there was a loud noise-"
"Uh… guys?" Julia muttered.
"Henry, slow down. What was that about a dragonfly?"
"Guys?"
"I-I don't know what I saw. Looking back, it was huge! Like, big enough to cover the moon!"
"GUYS!?" Julia pointed upwards at a swarm of Meganula following behind the giant that flew overhead.
"SHIT! GET TO THE CAR!"
Everyone grabbed all the food and weapons they could carry, then Henry and Julia jumped into the back seat and Stanley slammed down on the gas pedal. However, he soon realized that the Meganula weren't heading toward them, but toward the inner party.