Acheron Chapter 8 – Duck Season, Rabbit Season
A/N- This creatures life cycle is like a virus, a virus attaches itself to a host cell, implants its DNA then falls off and dies, the cell is then forced to create more virus's, and the newborn's burst out of the cell, killing it. Gestation is based on the type of creature being born and the metabolism of the host, hypersleep puts a person metabolism to a near standstill and anyone brought out of it abruptly would have a suppressed metabolism thus causing gestation to take longer. Dshell99 "I'm an effigy A parody of who I appear to be Put your flaming torches under me" Natalie Merchant Effigy. Warnings: Violence and Death.
As Mr. Jorden lay upon the table dead, the splatter of his blood on all the nearby equipment, Nazz gently led his wife out of the Med Lab while Edd removed his bloody lab coat, then went across the hall to operations. Entering the room he found the person he was looking for quickly, "Major, we need to talk."
The Major motioned for Edd to follow him into his office, "What's this about Doctor?"
"It's about Mr. Jorden," Edd began as they entered the office.
"How is Russ doing?" The Major closed the door behind them, "I heard he's finally woken up."
"He's dead sir," the Major was noticeable shaken by the news, pausing a moment at the door to look Edd in the eyes before he moved toward his desk, "Apparently the creature laid an egg or something inside the man."
Spinning around he motioned with his arm violently as he pointed at Edd, "How didn't you notice this?" He wheeled his chair around and sat in it, trying to calm himself.
"The embryo showed up as a tumor on our last scan, so I must conclude that it used some sort of virus to implant it," Edd expression told the Major that he was still clueless as to how it really happened. Edd recalled the conversation he had earlier with Kevin and Nazz over lunch about the Major's plans, "I would suggest quarantining that ship, do not allow anyone to enter it or to even get close to it."
The man rubs his hand down his face, "I will take your suggestion under advisement once the security detail returns."
Edd sank into the seat in front of the desk, "What have you done?"
"They are taking a payload of explosives to the crash site, their orders are to destroy as many of these "Eggs" as possible then seal the entrance to this cavern Mrs. Jorden has told us about."
"You've put them all in danger," Edd said exasperated with the man who sat before him.
"You're over reacting Doctor," the Major looked confident in his plan, "They will be wearing their riot gear, which includes a face plate, so if these things do attack them, they will have a hard time getting to them."
"I hope you're right about that," Edd let out a brief sigh as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "There is the more pressing matter at hand of finding this newborn creature before it does who knows what."
"Though I agree we need to find it, I don't see what it can do to us."
"I am going to assume it has the same acidic blood as its parent, so follow me here ok. If this thing falls into a fan that is positioned over a key area of the Atmosphere processor, we could have any number of problems on our hands, which could include a thermal nuclear explosion."
"I see you're point," the Major pushes the intercom button, "Sarah could you come in here?" A moment later the doors opens and his blonde hair assistant enters the room, "Sarah I'll need you to organize everyone in the garage for a little town meeting."
"Yes sir," She responded and headed back into the main room of operations.
"Doctor," The Major stood and motioned toward the door.
As they walked down the hall Edd looked into the Med Lab where Nazz was currently cleaning up the mess from Mr. Jorden's death. The body of the man still laying on the table, covered in a black cloth, the intercom was heard overhead, "Attention all residence, a mandatory town meeting has been called, please proceed to the garage for the Major's address."
Entering the garage Edd could see that some of the closer residence had already shown up, "What the hell's going on here Major?" Ang calls out as she came out from behind the counter of the supply shop.
The Major tried to calm her down, motioning with his hands as he spoke, "Now settle down Ang, you'll be getting everything we know shortly, just like everyone else."
Sy storms over to the Major with a wrench in hand shaking it in his face as she spoke, "Where's our damn ATV huh, your guys still haven't brought it back."
He moved the wrench out of his face with the back of his hand, "That vehicle is on its way back here as we speak, one of Kevin's men is driving it here, but it will take time." Frustrated but satisfied with what she was told, Sy backed off with a huff and joined Ang back at the desk sitting her wrench down.
During the twenty minute wait for everyone to show up the Major went over the search plans with his first and second officer. They refined it from what they had done only hours before, and conferring with Edd on what they knew about the creature along with asking for supplies for the hunt from Ang. When the last of the maintenance crew arrived, Kevin took his place beside Edd, "What's happening?"
Before Edd could respond the Major begins, "Good evening everyone, I know it's been a rough day for us all but we have some unfortunate news." He clears his throat and continues, "A short while ago Russ Jorden died from complications due to the parasite that had attached itself to him." Chatter at the news arose from the crowd and a few questions were asked over the chatter, "Apparently the organism laid some sort of egg in him before it died, the diagnostic equipment did not register this as anything more than a tumor, so unfortunately the medical staff was unaware of its true purpose." The Major seemed to debate with himself for a second on how much information to disseminate to them, "Russ died as the creature, umm, came out of,,, him"
The crowd went into an uproar with questions about safety and whether there were more of these parasites, "Came out, what the hell do you mean came out," Ang asked with a mix of emotions on her face, fear, disgust and confusion.
"People, people please calm down," the Major yelled over the chatter as he motioned with his hands, "We are taking steps to ensure your safety. But right now we need to concentrate on searching for this new organism the good Doctor here let escape." He motioned for Edd to step forward, "Doctor if you would be so kind as to tell everyone what to look for."
Edd steps forward and clears his throat, "The creature is serpentine, approximately two feet in length from head to tail, and beige in color. Please be careful if you find it and try and contain it, we do not know what defenses it might have other than its acidic blood."
Edd steps back, "Thank you Doctor," the Major turns and address's the crowd again, "If you all will be patient we will assign you to search teams in a moment, once assigned please see Angela for your supplies. Kevin, I leave the processor in you and your team's capable hands."
An hour later and Kevin had his team of forty people plus three teams of three ready to search the atmosphere processor. The plan was for half of the group to start at the top of the complex while the other half started in the sublevels, searching floor by floor, and meeting somewhere in the middle. With the aid of low tech motion trackers they used to hunt down rodent nests, they begin their search, "This is fucking bull shit," Nat spat as the teams dispersed.
"Sorry man," Kevin clapped him on the shoulder as he went to join Bridget and Bethany to begin his search of the lower levels.
"We just don't got the gear for this shit," He looked at the flimsy net that was in his hands. He was right though, groups that didn't get a net got a cattle prod and vise versa and only a quarter of the groups had a motion tracker.
"We just got to make due man," Kevin stated as he lead the two ladies toward the stairs that lead down to the sublevels as Nat headed toward the elevator with Big Ed and Jonny in tow to begin his search at the top floor.
Reaching sublevel three Bridget turns on the device in her hands and sweeps it back and forth as the quite but constant ping from the device told them it was working. "It's clear," she said as Kevin leaned over to her and looked at the screen to confirm this.
"This way," he waves them down a corridor that was lined with pipes running along the wall. The trouble with most of the areas in the APP is that it is dimly lit, being a fully automated plant means that there was no permanent personal assigned to it other than the maintenance team coming here for repairs occasionally. So the company in their grand wisdom decided that minimal lighting was all the place really needed, if more was required for a job they would bring along a portable set of lamps that were placed on a tripod. The background noise of the plant in operation was a low steady hum as it separated waste from the atmosphere, split and combined atoms to create a breathable air mixture.
Each junction they came to they would sweep with the motion tracker but found no movement, each step took them deeper into the complex, "Anything," he asks his two companions.
Bridget shakes her head, and Bethany replies in a whisper, "These things don't have much of a range."
"But if the little fuckers hiding between the pipes it's our best chance at finding it."
"To bad we didn't have enough for everybody," Bridget stated the obvious as she swung the device toward another corridor.
"They'll just have to keep their eyes peeled then," Bethany retorted, the motion tracker signals that there was movement with a quiet bleep and indicated the direction and distance of the movement.
Bridget points down the corridor and mouths that way to Kevin, the three of them slowly moved forward trying to stay as quiet as they could so they didn't scare the animal away. Slowly the counter reached zero meters and the direction was pointing toward the wall to their left, pulling out his flashlight Kevin started to look between the pipes that lined the wall starting from the top and working his way downward.
Bethany puts her hand to her chest as a mild discomfort was felt there but dismisses it, "You alright," Bridget asks and Kevin shushes them as he gets down on the floor to look at the bottom pipes.
"I'm fine," she replies quietly and readies the net, Kevin reaches his hand under the pipe at the bottom having seen movement but was unable to see what it was. Reaching further in as a sharp pain hits Bethany in the chest and she groans softly.
"Quiet," Kevin calls out silently, and was abruptly bitten by a rat, "Ow," he calls out as he retracts his hand.
"You alright?" Bridget asks as Kevin rolls over shaking his hand and looks up in time to see a spear like tail slam forward and through Bridget's back and out her chest. Bethany cries out as the pain in her chest become unbearable, Kevin scrambles to his feet and takes Bethany's hand to guide her back, at first he thought it was fear that made her cry out. Slowly backing up trying not to draw the attention of the creature, Bridget was lifted off the ground and into the air by the protruding tail where the creature had been laying in wait for them on the ceiling, nestled between the pipes that rain overhead. Bethany screams again and Kevin looks down to see her chest unnaturally contort as though something had slammed into it from the inside. The creature overhead grabs Bridget by the shoulders and roughly extracts its tail as its jaw opens slowly and a hiss could be heard from the creature, once fully open a pharyngeal jaw shoots out and slams into the back of Bridget's head killing her instantly. Dropping the body to the floor it descends to the ground and takes Kevin's measure as Bethany goes into convulsions landing on the floor between them as one more slam to the chest send blood flying and a new creature is born.
Kevin slowly inches away as the grown monster no longer noticed him but paid attention to the newborn. His foot hits the motion tracker that had fallen to the floor, and he closes his eyes for a split second as he mouthed shit. The creature looks his direction and hisses threateningly but did not move from its place guarding the newborn, it slithered up the body of the adult positioning itself on its back and made a series of calls to the elder. The creature turns and disappears into the shadows once again. Kevin slumps on the floor for a second as his legs gave out from the fright. Willing himself up onto his feet he runs for the stairs and up, up, up hitting the evacuate button when he finally saw one and his training kicked in, signaling the others to leave the area.