Timeline: Present
Point of View: Claudia & Ralph
Location: Earth (Ralph's Apartment in Iowa)
Ralph had a couple duffel bags packed by 9am. One had a few pairs of clothes and several extra pair of underwear. Where would he wash the underwear, if they found everything destroyed on their way to West Virginia? He really had no idea. Hopefully “Mitchell” still had power and a running washing machine. The reality was that he still didn’t know what the world was like out there, which aspects of life were now a part of the past. He still felt like he was waking up from a bad dream, as cliche as that was.
The previous afternoon, after they’d sent the message to "the others" (as they’d taken to calling them), he’d spent a few more hours on Reddit before sleeping. There were threads upon threads of updates regarding the creatures, like living encyclopedias being built by the masses. The giant hive mind creatures were being called “popolac giants”, and this made Ralph smile, being a fan of the writer Clive Barker. The massive worm that they’d seen on the last video was being called a “grave digger” (it seemed the people of Reddit were more avid Resident Evil video game players than movie watchers, but he kind of liked “grave diggers” more than “tremors” anyway). The flying creatures, which had been seen very rarely, with no known footage other than distant shadows, were being called “cliff racers”, and there were entire threads dedicated to trying to figure out more information about them. The buzzsaws were, curiously, unmentioned, but Claudia had claimed she'd killed most of them, so they possibly hadn't made it to Earth.
The creatures also seemed to have many common features, despite being from different species. The grave diggers and the buzzsaws both shared the spinning teeth. They were both also multi-limbed, if one considered the front spikes on the worms as limbs. The all had numerous, small, mono-colored eyes. The theory was that the creatures saw in a different spectrum of light more suitable for their darker planet. The exception to the rule, however, were the popolacs. They were more unique, being a creature comprised solely of tiny little eyes, and the eyes themselves were nothing but little balls of fat fleshy bodies. Ralph wondered if, possibly, they weren’t originally from the red planet. There were other worlds, as Ctaolthost had shared. Was it possible that these creatures were moving across the planets, conquering them? The thought was somewhat alarming and frightening. He thought about the Alien xenomorphs.
There was also speculation about the impact "day" had on the creatures, given they weren't seen in the day time. Did the light from the sun hurt them in some way, or was it merely that the light hurt their eyes? Were they blind in the day, or did the bright sun destroy there eyes, much as the human eye could be burned from looking directly at the sun? Reading through the threads, Ralph hadn't found evidence one way or the other, only mountains upon mountains of theories.
Then there was the news. The creatures weren’t only in the states, and this he found particularly interesting. Somehow they’d used the portals they were creating to travel across the world. There were hive creatures in Russia, Germany, and across Africa. There were rumors that they’d popped up in China, but the government was remaining silent when asked to confirm. Militaries across the world were combating creatures as best they could, but the popolac creatures were somehow proving resilient against modern weaponry, and the grave diggers seemed to absorb the shells and bullets without apparent damage. It seemed their bodies were stronger than the organic flesh humans were accustomed to fighting, as if built of an armor not known on the planet.
There was much speculation around when countries may resort to using their nuclear stockpiles. This was particularly scary to Ralph, thinking that they could be caught in the middle of a nuclear attack at any moment. But wasn’t that the state of the world from before anyway, before the creatures even attacked?
His other bag had a few things he wasn’t ready to part with, like a few of his favorite novels: I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, The Damnation Game by Clive Barker, The Taking by Dean Koontz, The Stand by Stephen King (which felt a little too real these days), among others. They were the books he’d dedicated the top shelf of his bookcase too, many of them autographed. It didn’t seem right to leave them behind in a place he wasn’t sure he’d come back to.
He’d also taken some time to look around his apartment and think about the space, about the things he’d collected over the years. It was what humans seemed to do. They collected, increased their collection of things, and then they died. Those they left behind pilfer their things for things that they wanted to collect, and the rest ended up in a dump somewhere. The cycle of life continued.
Claudia, on the other hand, had nothing but what she wore as she waited patiently for Ralph to get ready. She planned to find new clothing once they reached their destination, and she no longer had anything of material value to her name anyway. She flexed her fingers into a fist. They were all she needed, and she was ready to go.
She’d already done the math. It should take them twelve hours to reach the address they’d been given in Charleston. They’d likely have to fill up on gas at least twice, but likely closer to three or four times. Factoring in time to stop would add at least another hour. This is with perfect efficiency. What would they see out there on the drive? Would there be blockades? Would the interstates be inaccessible in certain areas? Would they have to backtrack, waste more time?
They knew they couldn’t travel at dark. It was clear that, as of now at least, the creatures roamed the Earth at night. It was late in the fall. Temperatures were dropping, and along with them, the sun wasn’t in the sky as long. According to Google the sun was up around seven, and started it’s descent over the horizon around eight. She wanted to make sure they were inside a building long before the horizon turned orange. More than likely, they’d have to stop once, if not twice, on their trek. She’d been hopeful they could get there in a single day (pre-invasion, it was more than possible), but she had to be smart and prepare for the worst. She’d evaluate how much time was left first in Indianapolis. If they made it there early or on time, they’d continue on, and she’d evaluate again in Cincinnati.
She was thankful at least that Ralph had a vehicle. They’d either be walking or hijacking a vehicle if not. She’d done the math on that, too. It was a two week walk. With the rate of expansion for the creatures across the states… They couldn’t afford it to take that long. She wondered, not for the first time, who was waiting for them and what abilities they would have. She thought about the graveyard back on the Red Planet. She’d take Ralph there, with the others, when it was time. But she first needed someone with a certain ability. Once she found that person... then they could assemble an army, defeat the creatures, close the portals.
Then find and speak with Tegrex to hopefully put an end to the whole ordeal.
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It was a quarter to nine before they stepped into Ralph’s 2010 red Honda Civic. Claudia expected floor boards piled high with fast food garbage and empty soda bottles, but was pleasantly surprised when she opened the door. Aside from a few receipts in the door and sand ground into the mats, the vehicle was relatively well kept up. It did, however, have an old musty smell. Ralph didn’t seem to use air fresheners.
“I’d really like to drive,” Ralph said, as he opened the passenger side door. “It is my car.”
“Nope,” Claudia said as she sat. She adjusted the seat, shut the door, and fixed the mirrors. The wheel had the greasy feeling that older vehicles all seemed to to have. The feeling of being overly worn-in. “Ever thought about upgrading?”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Why?” Ralph asked as he buckled. “It’s paid off, drives nicely. I like this car.”
The dashboard glowed neon blue as Claudia started the vehicle, and she missed her Mazda hatchback, a gift from her parents after she’d graduated. “Whatever, dude,” she said, and she pulled out of the parking spot in the underground garage, the belts squeaking as she did.
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It was a ten minute drive through town until they hit I-80, which they’d take all the way to Davenport. Ralph was nervous about what that initial drive through town would reveal. He wasn’t necessarily scared yet (it was safe to drive during the day, after all), but he didn’t know what they’d see. How many bodies would be out there, lining the streets? Would they see other people? How soon until they’d see the military?
The answers came relatively quickly, as they re-entered the light outside. There was no one in the streets, and the cars were still sprinkled about the streets, unmoving. Claudia dodged vehicles, driving around them slowly and methodically.
“Keep an eye out for people, for movement,” Claudia said, and Ralph nodded.
As they got further from the apartment building, they started to see the bodies. They were everywhere, spread out across buildings like reptilian scales. Flies buzzed around the drying carcasses. There were bodies lying around the ground and in the grass, but most were spread out across vertical flat surfaces.
“Jesus,” Ralph said as they passed another apartment building splattered with bodies split in half vertically at the ribs. In the Reddit threads, they'd written about the first wave of attacks. It had started with a flood of popolacs that tore through buildings, locating men, women, and children sleeping in their beds, and ripping them screaming from their homes. They threw them up against the walls outside, rows and rows of hung carcasses, until they were satisfied that a city had been cleared. Then they moved on to the next city, and the worms and scouts wondered the streets at night in their wake.
This was good, in a way, this wave of attacks across the states. They’d be safe on the inside of those waves until they reached the frontlines of the swarm. Then they’d be squarely in the crosshairs. Ralph wondered if it would it be better to arrive later rather than early. He answered his own question. It almost certainly was.
“Keep an eye out for live portals,” Claudia said. She hadn’t seen one yet, and was curious to know how she’d differentiate one from the other corpses.
How will I know the difference? Ralph thought without saying.
Claudia imagined what it had been like for these people, as they passed a Walmart convenient store that had been open 24/7. There were still cars in the parking lot, and they, along with the building itself, were decorated with the drying corpses. There were hundreds of them across the parking lot, and she could imagine the smell of the skin and organs baking in the sun as the flies danced above and worms liquefied within. How quickly had this all taken place? How quickly had this wave of creatures broken down the city? Why were they outside? Were they trying to prepare for the coming onslaught? Didn't they know what was to come? Surely there were rampant news reports about what was happening in Colorado.
Thinking through it, though, she knew the answer. It was basic human ignorance, the most important ingredient for survival in a modern world. To these people, the end hadn't been near, couldn't be near. It had all just been bad shit happening somewhere far, far away. Bad stuff could never happen so close to home.
As they reached the end of town, they saw military barricades. Rows upon rows of concrete structures and metal fences, and splattered against them the corpses of soldiers in uniform, still split at the seam, ribs jutting out like hooks to hang their weapons. Claudia didn’t know the names for the different kinds of military vehicles, but she could tell they were military by the camouflage paint. Certainly some had driven away once defeat had been imminent, but there were many more that remained, flatted into pancakes or tossed and rolled in the ditches along the road.
There was a heavy pit in her gut. Yes, these were only humans using weaponry untested against stronger species of creatures. But how in the world could she expect to kill these creatures if such military might couldn’t kill them?
Projectile weaponry can’t break their skin. They’re built differently, have more essence within them to withstand what humans cannot. Chemical weaponry might be more impactful, but those weapons are outlawed and might not be tested on the creatures until it is too late. The essence you fight with is different, and this is why you can kill the creatures.
Claudia ignored the voice, continuing to ask unanswerable questions. How long until government militaries gave up on conventional weaponry and tried missiles and nuclear attacks? It had only been a week. As the wave proceeded across the remaining states, surely humans would resort to more destructive tactics.
Missiles, yes, likely. Nuclear weaponry might be used in some of the smaller countries, but the States will likely show restraint. Use of nuclear weaponry would render the land unavailable and harmful to any possible survivors, and thus they won't be bombing their own country. And with the creatures spreading across Europe already, efforts outside of the US will be focused closer to home. Don’t go to doom and gloom just yet. Focus on the primary mission on hand.
Yes, the primary mission. Find people with the abilities she needed to close the portals and return the creatures to their home planet. Then, find and speak with Tegrex. Thinking about Tegrex, she almost laughed at the thought that the invasion of creatures from the red planet might be what causes Tegrex's doom. Was this the true motive of Ctaolthost?
They weaved in and out of traffic as they got onto the I-80. Thankfully the interstate was more clear of vehicles, but here were still vehicles sprinkled across the interstate, and she had to drive around them. It slowed their top speed, which was closer to forty or fifty across the stretch so as to not collide with an unexpected obstacles coming over a hill.
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The drive to Davenport should have been only three hours long, and on a normal day they would have reached around noon. Instead they arrived just after two in the afternoon. They’d be lucky to reach Cincinnati, Claudia realized, but it was at least progress. So far they hadn’t seen a single other living soul, and that realization was haunting. It had been less than a week since the creatures opened that first portal in Colorado, and they’d already decimated towns several states away. Claudia expected to see missiles or fighter jets in the sky, some sign of an ongoing battle, but there were none. She figured this was because of the swift movement of the battle lines towards the coastlines faster than they could travel east.
She stopped at a gas station just off the interstate, trying desperately to ignore the bodies coating the walls of the building. She paid at the pump with a card because there didn’t seem to be a way to get the pump to work without one.
They left the gas station, again weaving through stalled and damaged vehicles, until they were on I-74. The sun overhead was over halfway across the sky overhead. Indianapolis was five hours away on a good day. There was a good chance they wouldn’t make it before dark.
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Claudia managed to drive a little faster, and they reached the outskirts of Indianapolis by a little after eight. The sky was already dark orange, and they were both anxiously quiet to get indoors before blackness descended. Claudia pulled into a rest area outside of town and she quickly parked. Ralph grabbed his bags and they were inside the building as the sky grew purple.
The only popolac they’d see that night didn’t show up for a few more hours after that. It was roaming the interstate, the impact of its footsteps rocking the building.
“If it sees us,” Ralph said from deep in the shadows of the building, “We’re so done for. Did I tell you about how they drug people from the buildings in the initial waves?”
Claudia knew Ralph was speaking out of fear. He was only saying things to pass the time, to focus on something other than his own fear. “It won’t see us. It’s safer out here, outside of town.”
“I hope so,” Ralph said, and was quiet.
The popolac continued to walk methodically down the interstate. Its purpose was unclear, but Claudia suspected it was patrolling, looking for survivors. For some reason, Claudia thought of a wasp. She’d been stung by one as a kid, having stood too close to its hidden nest buried underground. The puncture had swollen and hurt like hell for several days, and ever since it had happened, she’d unconsciously avoided that spot in the lawn. Her father had sprayed poison down the hole the next day and killed them all, but still, she was fearful of that area of the lawn ever since. She knew her fear was somewhat irrational now that the hive was gone, but it didn't matter.
When she awoke the next morning, she was still thinking about that wasp and the dead nest, as she hesitated to go outside and get back into the Honda, a mere half mile away from where the popolac had wandered the night before. Was she stepping into the nest? Or driving away from it? She didn’t know, but she didn’t have a choice. She felt like the scared little girl she truly was underneath the strong visage she’d sculpted for Ralph.