Desperate Measures

Chapter V

The gentle rocking of the train was soothing enough to make Barney want to close his eyes again despite his recent nap. He had been sitting on the floor of the narrow boxcar for what seemed like days. Knees popping, he rose to his feet and stretched with a yawn. He paced the length of the dark boxcar in hopes of returning feeling to his lower extremities.

For months now Barney had been trying to convince Dr. Werner and the others to make some sort of move against the Combine. The conservative Resistance leaders had seemed to be satisfied with small raids and technological research, but things had started to come to a head several weeks ago when the air quality in the city began to decrease rapidly. The Resistance was aware of the large atmosphere conditioning facility on the coast. They had very little information beyond it's location as it was heavily guarded but they knew it's purpose was modify Earth's atmosphere to the Combine's specific needs.

Barney grinned to himself. Kat's sudden appearance had given him exactly the leverage he needed. Werner had been looking for someone to send to the coast to investigate some new alien species. Barney had agreed heartily and then gently suggested a preliminary scouting mission on the atmosphere conditioning facility. Werner had taken the bait and approved the mission although he hadn't wanted Barney to go. It was quite a risk but he was the only one with high enough clearance to get them on and off the high security trains. Getting the time away from his Civil Protection duties hadn't proven to be as hard as expected. He had developed a sudden fever and hacking cough that was sure to keep him out for several days. His superior had simply sent him home with an offhand wave.

Returning to his corner, Barney sat, activated a glowstick and looked at his watch. It would be dawn soon and time to disembark. Kat lay curled on the floor across from him, her head pillowed on her pack. He studied her sleep-smoothed face by the pale light. When he had first met her, she had had the desperate, hollow look of a feral animal. After three days of rest at Resistance headquarters, she had lost some of the gauntness in her face and the wild look in her eyes. She also had proven to be intelligent, a quick study and a hard worker. She had given every indication of being capable member of the scientific team, but had yet to prove herself in the field.

Barney had been a bit concerned at first with her persistence in attempting to locate the CP officer called Lennox. She had hounded him about it until he was able to do a search on a Combine security terminal. Several names had shown up but the only likely match was an officer stationed outside the city. Kat seemed to realize that, beyond a suicide mission, she had little chance of gaining her revenge on this one man and by all appearances had turned her energies to a new focus. The Resistance had offered her a lifeline and she had latched on with determination.

Barney glanced at his watch again and reached out to gave Kat's shoulder a gentle shake. She sat up immediately with a sharp intake of breath. "Whoa, easy there. It's almost time to get off this thing."

Kat rubbed at her face and blinked owlishly at him in the light of the glowstick. "How much longer?"

"Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. We need to make sure we don't leave anything behind or the scan will pick it up and they'll send out squads." They collected the few items they had removed from their packs and checked over their equipment.

Barney turned to Kat as she checked over her M4. "I never had a chance to ask you what you found out about these things we're after."

She laid the weapon across her knees. "I didn't find out much. Dr. Werner told me that they seem to be something new, brought in by those portal storms we had recently. He called them antlions. They're all over the coast and they seem to be causing the Combine a lot of trouble. He thinks we need to try to figure out some way to use this to our advantage.

"I visited with a few of the Vortigaunts. I figured they might be able to tell me something, but I was disappointed. Only one seemed to know what I was talking about, or at least, he was the only one willing to talk to me."

"What did you find out?"

"Well, from what I could understand, there are two types of antlion. A worker and a larger leader. Kind of like social insects, with lots of workers and one queen. He drew me a crude sketch and these things even look like insects. He said they're fast and dangerous. They burrow into the soil and wait for their prey. Anyway, from the little bit he could tell me about their behavior, I suspect that they communicate with pheromones…"

"You mean by smell?"

"Yeah. He said the workers usually forage for the queen during the day. So I think that would be our best chance to get at one."

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Well, I need to have a close look at one of these queens. Preferably a dead one. If we can get a sample of the pheromone, we might be able to reproduce it and use it. At the very least, we might be able to create a sort of worker repellant."

"Okay, but how do we get at one if they're underground?"

"That's the easy part. These things need a lot of food since they're so big. Evidently the queens will feed on the workers if food is in short supply, which I'm guessing it must be, so we just need to provide a corpse. The hard part is that the queen is pretty heavily armored, but there is a weak point. We just need to figure a way to get her in a vulnerable position…"

"Wait a minute. I think we're slowing down." Barney stood. There was a definite change in the rhythm of the train's movement. "C'mon. We don't have too much time once they start to brake." They gathered up their gear and Barney flipped a switch near the door. It slid smoothly open, revealing an open landscape washed in the grays of a false dawn. He leaned out and looked towards the front of the train. In the distance, it was nearing an arch filled with a red scanning field. The train gave a sudden lurch and began to slow rapidly.

He turned to Kat, "You ready?" She nodded, her eyes on the still swiftly moving ground. Barney leaned out of the doorway and punched a code into the security panel mounted on the outside. The door started to slide closed. "Alright. Let's go."

X X X

By mid-morning, under an overcast sky, they were nearing the bluffs at the sea's edge. There was a mild breeze blowing inland carrying the scent of salt and decay. Kat scanned the flat landscape as they hiked along. Flocks of sea birds floated on the air currents. Up ahead there was a strangely uniform group of grayish boulders resting in the waist-high grass. Kat felt a tingle of suspicion run up her spine as they came closer.

She was about to say something to Barney when the boulders erupted from the ground in a storm of honks and snorts.

"Christ!" Barney shouted in surprise, raising his weapon.

"Wait! Don't shoot!" Kat reached out and pulled his arm down. The boulders resolved themselves into a group of bipedal, lumpy looking animals. They milled around for a moment in confusion. "They're harmless, for the most part."

"For the most part?"

The largest creature turned to face them. It erected a colorful fanlike crest around it's blocky head and bellowed at them as the rest of the group lumbered away.

"Well, as long as we don't piss off the matriarch too much. Like shooting at her, for instance." The matriarch bellowed again and shook her head violently, causing the leathery crest to boom and rattle. Kat dropped to her knees and turned her face to the ground. "Just try to be small and inconspicuous. They're not too bright. We just startled them, that's all."

Barney stared at her in amazement for a second and then imitated her unobtrusive posture. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Just give them a minute to move off and everything will be fine. It's all a big bluff. They're big, but they're herbivores. We used to hunt them on the farm. They're pretty tasty."

"Really? Like chicken?"

"No," Kat laughed. "Actually, it's a bit of an acquired taste, but in the middle of winter it was as good as filet mignon." She looked up, "I think we convinced them we're not a threat." The matriarch was moving off with an indignant air. Kat rose, brushing off her knees.

"How did you know that it was only bluffing? I mean, this one might have been a little grumpier than usual."

"No, if she had been really mad, she wouldn't have bothered with all the noise. Even these alien species are pretty predictable if you take the time to watch them. Animals don't like to take uncalculated risks. That's what makes humans so dangerous; we're unpredictable."

Barney gave a short laugh, "Unpredictable. I like that. You'll have to remind me to tell Dr. Werner that when we get back. It backs up my opinion that he could use a little unpredictability in his life."

"What do you mean?"

"The Resistance is stagnating. We need to do something to shake up the Combine and I'm hoping that's what this mission will start."

X X X

Kat lay at the edge of the bluff. Tucked into a narrow crevice in the ravine floor was the antlion carcass they had acquired earlier. Barney crouched across the ravine, above the carcass. They had been waiting for quite some time. Kat brushed the sand from her face again. The sun was starting to get low in the sky. If the antlion queen didn't return soon, they would have to wait another day. No sooner had she thought this than a cloud of seabirds rose suspiciously from near the entrance to the ravine.

Flattening herself to the ground, Kat watched the ravine entrance. A large creature came around the corner and entered the opening. It moved halfway up the canyon and came to a stop.

It was like nothing Kat had ever seen. It was big. Much bigger than she had expected. Like the smaller antlions, it wore heavy exoskeleton-like armor. Four powerful legs held up the segmented body and two smaller limbs were tucked in close to the abdomen. The head of the creature was mottled and came to a dangerous looking point. Several strange appendages decorated the hunched rust-colored body. They looked like five small decorative blue flags.

Kat waited, nervously gripping the rifle as the enormous beast hesitated suspiciously in the ravine. The blue appendages waved slowly as though examining the air. Finally, it seemed satisfied and moved towards the carcass. Maneuvering to reach the bait, it turned it's back, perfectly positioned. Kat put the scope to her eye.

As the Vortigaunt had said, the antlion queen lowered its head to feed and a gap appeared between the body and the head. Kat took careful aim. Everything narrowed down to the single unarmored point on the creature's neck. She drew in a deep breath and slowly released it. As she exhaled the last bit of air, she pulled the trigger.

A sharp crack rang out and the queen reared up onto it's hind legs with a gibbering wail. It swung around and charged towards Kat's location. Despite her elevation, Kat felt a thrill of fear. With it's sharply pointed limbs, the queen could feasibly climb the ravine wall. She dropped the rifle and lurched to her feet grabbing the M4 lying behind her. As she looked back down though, the creature was careening wildly around the canyon floor. It suddenly crashed headlong into the far wall and fell into a heap. It tried to rise but seemed unable to get it's legs to work correctly.

Kat looked across the ravine. Barney stood watching the queen's death throes. She yelled to him, "Go watch for the kids, I'll take care of mommy." He waved back in reply and started towards the entrance. Kat grabbed her pack and jogged along the rugged edge of the canyon and descended the narrow path that they had found earlier. Already she could feel the growing excitement of examining a new species.

Upon reaching the ravine floor and starting to cross to the queen, she was again struck by its size. When upright, it had to have stood about seven feet tall or more. As she approached it, Kat realized that it wasn't quite dead. It's legs twitched sporadically and it was emitting a deep, uncomfortably dissonant moan. She looked nervously towards the canyon entrance. The low groaning was sure to carry for quite a distance. She crept cautiously closer, aware that she had no idea where to find anything vital enough to kill it. The last thing she wanted to do was riddle the body with bullets and risk damaging something important. To her relief, the huge body gave a sudden convulsive shudder and went still.

Kat walked up to the dead queen, wrinkling her nose at the strong musky scent it gave off. She quickly tromped down a flat patch of grass and pulled a crude dissection kit from her pack. Spreading out an array of knives, scalpels, probes and sample bags and jars, she deeply regretted being unable to take the time for extensive notes and sketches. After a quick examination of the external features of the body she started the dissection. Carefully working her way into the abdomen, she quickly became fascinated with the bizarre alien organs.

Her study was interrupted some time later by the sound of gunfire echoing up the canyon. Dammit! She knew she was getting close to the source of the odor and what she hoped would prove to be the pheromones. She quickened her search, pushing unlikely organs aside as the firing continued. Elbow deep into the warm body cavity she suddenly found four tennis ball-sized glands. The odor was staggering. She hastily cut them free.

"Kat! Kat, get the hell out of there!"

She spun around to see Barney running along the edge of the ravine. Below him a group of antlions were rapidly approaching her position. He stopped to fire on them as they flung themselves at the steep walls. Several broke away from the group and headed towards Kat. She flung her knife to the ground and snatched up a bag. One of the slick glands slipped from her hands as she attempted to stuff them into the sack.

Jamming the bag in a vest pocket, she frantically grabbed for her weapon. Her hands, slick with yellowish gore, slipped clumsily on the grip. Backing towards the carcass, Kat fired on the closest antlion. It fell to the ground as two others launched themselves, whirring through the air towards her. She dodged around the queen's body as the workers crashed to back to earth where she had been standing. Peering over the body, she fired several short bursts at the two insect-like beasts as they circled the pile of organs she had discarded. They both fell easily enough from the damage of the bullets, but more were on the way. Kat continued shooting until she was nearly out of ammunition.

Ducking back down behind the queen's body, Kat quickly removed her spent magazine and pulled another from her vest pocket. She reloaded and took a couple of deep breaths. She could hear more of the workers buzzing and chittering on the other side of the body. They sounded close. Looking carefully from under one of the huge legs, she saw three more workers standing over the pile of organs. Kat ducked back, her brow furrowed in confusion. This certainly didn't seem like normal behavior. They weren't attacking nor did they seem to be interested in the organs as food. The pheromones, perhaps?

Kat's mind raced. It was time for a quick experiment. She pulled out the sack containing the three glands. Removing one, she tossed it across the ravine where it landed with a dull splat. The antlion workers immediately skittered towards it. Kat looked over the carcass. Even the remaining antlions near Barney's position had rushed over to join the others.

"What did you do?" Barney yelled down to her.

"I think we found our pheromones!" Kat stood slowly, feeling a wash of victorious excitement. The closest antlions turned to face her and arched their backs, flashing their patterned wing covers but made no move towards her. She edged around the body towards her equipment.

"Stay where you are! We need to take out the rest of those things or you'll never get out of there."

"No," Kat shouted back. "I don't think they'll attack. Don't do anything to get them agitated again." She quickly gathered up her equipment and the dropped pheromone gland, keeping a careful eye on the antlions.

Barney had moved along the edge of the ravine and now crouched above her position. "Kat, this is too risky."

She flashed a smile up at him, "I thought you were the one who was all for taking risks. Don't worry. If they make a move towards me, I won't take any chances." Before he could respond, she slipped along the wall of the ravine and moved towards the pathway on the opposite side.

As she suspected, the antlions simply watched her progress. The intense odor of the pheromone gland they surrounded seemed to overpower any scent she was giving off. She quickly reached the path and ascended as rapidly as possible. Reaching the top, she found Barney waiting for her.

"That had to be one of the… Oh my God! What's that smell?" He backed away, waving his hands in front of his face.

Kat grinned broadly, "Awful, isn't it? How about we call it Eau d'Antlion?"

X X X

By nightfall, they had located a sheltered spot to camp and some fresh water for Kat to wash up. The scent still lingered a bit but they both found it easy enough to ignore with the odor of woodsmoke and their meager meal drifting through the air. Over the small campfire, they discussed the day's events.

"So we just need to catch one of those trains back into the city tomorrow?" Kat asked.

"Not exactly. We have one more thing to do first. Remember the facility I told you about? The one the our train was heading towards?"

Kat nodded, "Yeah, the one that's changing the air quality."

"Well, we need to get there and have a look at it. It should be simple enough; just a straight-forward scouting mission."

Whew! I never thought I would finish this chapter. I took a little while to rework my overall plot, so I hope this feels like it's moving in an interesting direction.

Sulkdodds, thanks so much for the review. I know I've moved away from the CP angle, but I expect to be returning towards it in the future. I hope I haven't disappointed you.

As usual, let me know what you think. Comments, questions, constructive criticism, whatever. Thanks!