Chapter 10- Cure
Abby came straight back after talking to the doctor, she joined the others as they were debating on how to save Stephen.
"Can't we run some more tests and find a match for the venom somehow?" Claudia asked.
"That would take too long. He's dying." Abby said convinced this was the best option.
"No, the only way to shortcut the process is to collect a pure sample of venom from the creature that bit him." Nick said agreeing with Abby. "I refuse to let him die." He added looking at Avery. He knew how close they were, it was nothing romantic just a brother and sister kind of love.
Claudia looked at him as if he was mad, "how the hell are we going to do that? Ask it to fill a specimen jar?" She said sarcastically.
"In a way" The side of Nick's mouth pulled up at the side as if he said this, as unsure of his method as the others were.
"Oh, come on." Connor said catching onto his meaning.
"No. It's the only option." He told them. He picked up a radio from a table in front of him. "Ryan, Ryan are you there?"
There was a small crackling before the captain replied "First line's clear. Moving into second bunker." He said.
"Have you seen the centipede yet? If we lose it Stephen's dead." Nick said but before Ryan could answer he added "On no account let it return through the anomaly. Repeat, do not let it go back." He let the radio go quite and turned to Connor. "Find me something that will do the job."
A look of shock crossed his face quickly before Connor turned away. Avery joined him knowing he had no idea what to look for.
"You're not a screw-up you know." Avery said walking next to him.
He looked towards her slightly and gave her a small smile, half believing her. "Yeah." He said softly.
"It's true. Dad may not be the most… open person about his feelings but he likes you." She said nudging his shoulder.
"Thanks, Avery." His smile widened as he nudged back.
"My pleasure. Now where are we going to find the things we need?" She looking around.
"You know what we need?" He turned his head towards her as they continued walking.
Avery looked towards a medical tent and saw a few zip lock bags containing ice. "No, but I have an idea. Come on." she gestured and they ran towards the tent, who knew how long Stephen had?
After a bit of fiddling they managed to get the bags tied around Nick's arm with some duct tape. Avery hoped what the packed behind it wouldn't get punctured to.
They enter the storeroom where Ryan and his men were standing guard. They walked through the ripped fence into the room containing the anomaly. Avery waited as they went through, deciding to stay with Connor and see if there was anything he missed in his database.
"Okay what do you remember?" She said on a chair beside him. His laptop was propped open on a metal table. It was quite sturdy despite being underground for what must have been at least a decade.
"Okay the creature was supposed to live of dead leaves and not be poisonous." Connor said quickly scanning over his website.
"It's not your fault so think. I know you're smart so use that brain of yours. Paleontologists cannot get everything right from a couple of million year old fossils." She reprimanded.
"Okay, okay. The creature is obviously an insect from the carboniferous, and from where most of its fossils were found it must have been..." He trailed off and his eyes widened slightly. He quickly spun out of his chair and rushed towards where Cutter was staring at the anomaly.
"Must have been what?" She yelled rushing after him after seeing a slight gleam in his eyes.
"Professor! I'd forgotten. Arthropleurid, they were supposed to be burrowers, so look for a hole, in the floor, in the walls, anywhere." Connor said going back through the fence. He and the soldiers start looking for a hole in a room covered in bunkbeds. Avery figured the bunker must have been an old world war two bunker, having the amount of supplies and beds it had.
Their torches shined brightly over the room reaching all the corners. Avery searched with new vigor, knowing this could be the last chance of finding the creature.
Connor finds it behind a pile of junk and turns around pumping his fist down before calling out. "Cutter! I found it!" He shouts happily. Cutter rushes into the room and starts chucking away more of the junk. "I was right, it is still here."
He looks back to see Claudia grinning widely "Good work" she tells him. The soldiers stayed behind them, guns trained on the large hole in case the creature came out. The hole was large and could easily fit one of the larger soldiers if they crawled through it.
Cutter reached inside to feel how deep it could possibly be. "How deep could this be?" He asked Connor.
"umm…A creature that size? 50 feet, maybe." Connor said.
Claudia squatted beside Cutter. Looking at how extensive the hole was. Her head snapped away when Cutter said "All right, fine, I'm going in."
"Not without me." Avery said kneeling next to her father.
"That's crazy." Claudia said drawing their attention towards her.
"I'm going to come too." Connor cut in. Cutter paused. He looked towards Avery then to Ryan. Ryan considered it for a moment before nodding.
"Aye." Nick said with a nod and a wink of his eye. The boy was growing on him.
"Cool, okay umm…" Connor slung his bag onto the top of the bunk next to him and turned to Abby. "Look, if I don't come back, you can have my Star Trek Next Generation top trumps."
"I'll treasure them." Abby told him.
Connor then changed his mind and turned back to look at her "you know what, on second thoughts, maybe you should bury them with me." Abby gave him a confused look which he missed as he turned to Ryan.
Nick handed a bottle to the pair. "Here, put this on your clothes. It's turpentine. Bugs hate it. All right?"
They nodded and headed to the hole. Cutter went through first, followed by Ryan, Connor then Avery.. Avery look back to see Claudia crouched by the tunnel entrance. They just managed to squeeze through the hole and Avery had no idea which way they were going. It felt like they were getting deeper underground, but they could have been going up for all she knew. The walls crumbled with dirt and long brown roots stuck out from every direction.
"I won't have a panic attack. I will not have a panic attack." Connor kept muttering in front of her.
"Connor. It's okay to be scared, just use it to push yourself through. Okay?" Avery said softly. Connor looked back at her and she gave him an encouraging smile before they continued on
Connor climbed out in front of Avery and grabbed her hand to help pull her out. They came out the other end into an area that looked like an old factory. The walls were made of concrete and a large structure of steel girders reached towards the tall ceiling.
"Could it really have climbed up there?" Connor asked looking up at the top of the structure.
"Let's find out." Nick said. He placed the torch onto a steel barrel next to the hole and walked behind the corner to a set of stairs. Ryan took the safety off his gun and moved to head up first, but Nick stops him by the shoulders.
"Claustrophobia and vertigo on the same day. This is, um, fabulous." Connor said looking up at the cavernous ceiling.
"Whatever happens, don't shoot until we've got the venom." Nick told Ryan as they climbed up.
As they reach the top story, Avery noticed a fence around the platform at the top, keeping people out, but there is a hole in it, which Nick, Ryan and Connor go through. Avery stops and notices a sign hanging off the twisted ruins of the fence. "Dad." She calls out holding the sign up. The sign warned that the area contained electricity, and had the words 'Danger of Death' written below a triangle with someone getting electrified. Avery really hopped it wasn't a forewarning of what might happen.
They walk around long tin tubes looking for any sign of the creature. It stays hidden until Connor knocks over a metal stool. They notice a movement and a flash of grey and look up to see the arthropleurid climbing down one of the pipes. It rears up above the group, antennae swing wildly about. They briefly touch Nick who steps forward in an attempt to antagonize the insect. It rears back and lets out a chitter.
"Come on." Nick urges lifting his forearm up towards the creature. It chitters again and lunges forward. As the long mandibles at the front of its head wrap around his torso two flaps at its mouth open us and a long tube like the ones mosquito have comes sliding out and punctures the bag in Cutter's arm.
Arthropleurid releases Nick and he stumbles back. Connor picks up the stool he tripped over earlier and starts to hit the creature before Ryan pushes him back. Ryan shoots the creature but the bullets mostly missed as the creature moved its upper body side to side. The ones that did hit had little effect apart from making it angry. Green blood splattered out of the two bullet holes that managed to hit. The Arthropleurid lunges at Ryan and knocks him back, but doesn't bite him. It rears back from him, turning towards Connor and Avery.
The Arthropleurid grabs hold of the stool Connor thrusts at it and pulls it out of Connor's grasp.
It became jammed in the arthropleurid's mouth and it tried to get rid of the stool by thrashing around. The stool accidentally hits one of the electrified areas, electrocuting the arthropleurid. The stool clatters to the ground as the creature sways, its head blacked from the electricity. It stumbles back and doubles over backwards falling off the top of the girder. Avery rushes over to the side to see it crash its head on the stairs, then hit the ground. It lay motionless as the guys took a couple of deep breaths before Nick and Ryan start to laugh in relief, Connor was mildly shocked that he saved the day. Nick passes Ryan his gun and pulls back his sleeve, revealing the plastic bag full of arthropleurid venom.
"Let's get this back to Stephen." He says walking back to the hole. Avery stands next to it as Nick and Connor climb through. Ryan motions for Avery to follow but she stays where she is. "You go back without me. I'm gonna stay and make sure the arthropleurid doesn't come alive again."
"You sure." Ryan asks looking towards the arthropleurid. "Maybe I should stay with you?"
"No go back and get some men. I'll be fine."
Ryan looks at her skeptically. He slings the gun off from his neck and passes it to the younger girl. "Do you know how to shoot?" He asks her.
"Surprisingly I do. Stephen taught me how to a long time ago. We go shooting at the range on the weekend sometimes when one of us gets a bit tense." Ryan nods at her then exits through the tunnel.
When he disappears she walks towards the arthropleurid and crouches beside it. She nudges it with the tip of the gun. When she sees it makes no movement not even a twitch she lays the gun on the ground beside her. "Why are you showing up? And what do you have to do with my mother?"
Later in the day Stephen sat up in bed, reading a book and looking a lot better. Claudia enters with Avery who just came back from minding the creature.
"Hi." Claudia says.
"Hi." Stephen replied glancing at Avery. She looked at him briefly then looked away as she walked towards the window.
"How are you feeling?" Claudia asked.
Like I gargled with sand and slept inside a tumble dryer.
Claudia let out a little laugh before coming to the matter she came for. "So, tell me about Helen."
"What about Helen?"
"You saw her."
"I saw her? When?"
"In the tunnel. That's what you said."
"I… I was gone, you know. I don't remember anything. I was probably just seeing things." Stephen
"Yeah, probably." Claudia said. Avery could hear the clear suspicion in her voice. She smiles as Claudia looks at her and leaves when she notices Abby.
"What was all that about?" Stephen asked.
"You really can't remember a thing after you were bitten? None of the things you said in the ambulance?"
"What did I say?" Stephen said catching on that he might have said something he shouldn't have.
"Oh, just stuff. I just thought some of it might of stuck, that's all." Abby looked for any sign of recognition in his eyes.
"Was it important?"
"Nah, nah. No, not really." Abby dismissed. She sends him a forlorn look when he turns back to his book.
"Thanks for looking after me, Abby." Stephen says looking back up. Abby pats his arm then leaves feeling like Avery needed to talk to him more.
Avery stands at the window a bit longer biting at her bottom lip.
"Are you angry at me or something?" Stephen asked her. She still continued to stare out the window refusing to look at her. "Look if I said something I shouldn't have… I'm sorry"
"No you didn't say anything." Avery turned and sat on the bed beside him. "I'm sorry I didn't come earlier. I just couldn't see you that close to death."
"Hey, it's okay." Stephen says placing the book down. He gave her a quick hug, noticing her eyes had started to water.
Avery pulls out of the hug and picks up the brown hardcover book. "Is this the one I got you for Christmas?"
"Yeah. I thought I might as well finish it while I'm stuck here."
"Don't worry you'll be out in a few days." Avery said nudging him with her shoulder.
"Yeah. Hey did I really see Helen?" Stephen asks her taking the book back.
"I'm not sure. But if you did, where was she all this time and what does she want?"