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Infestation 2008, Chapter one: Contact
Posted By: Spencer Gregoire<spencergregoire@sbcglobal.net>
Date: 22 October 2008, 1:56 am
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Chapter one: Contact.
S.W.A.T team leader David Gorier sat inside the truck, along with the rest of his team. They were on what would turn out to be the most horrifying mission of their lives. But that bit of information would not occur to him until it was too late.
"So," Gorier finally broke the silence, "any questions?" He had briefed them, but the details were not very clear.
"Yeah," replied one of the newer members, the SWAT helmet masked his expressions, but his tone carried concern with it. "What exactly is causing these disturbances?" The team leader was hoping to avoid that question; it was clear from the reports that they were not facing a common situation. Several 911 calls came, the worried voices poured details into the operators ears. Were it not for the sheer numbers of calls, all concerning the same thing, the matter may have been dropped. Apparently, the citizens were being attacked, and in the background, horrifying, inhuman screams resonated through the line.
"We don't know for sure," the team leader tried to be as vague as possible; he did not want to get his men too worried. Then again, they deserved to know all he did. "We suspect it's some sort of robber, breaking into houses. There was a car sent to investigate. But we lost contact with the officer." Gorier paused and thought to himself, how could one person be causing this? How could those agonizing, inhuman screams be explained? "Personally, I expect multiple people, crazy and dangerous." He considered telling them more, but then decided against it, his point had been made. "Just be ready for anything.
The SWAT truck came to a stop, the five man team got out of the back, then headed to the first house. Grolier peered out over the front yard; the sun was just beginning to come up. The rolling hills and multicolored tree leaves, it was beautiful. The brick laden pathway was damaged; the house had a deeply faded color to it. Several windows were broken. Something caught Grolier's eye, not an object but a motion. Something in the window held its position, and then vanished. They were being watched. His pulse quickened, he wanted to go. Even with his full loaded assault weapon, body armor, and five-man team, he did not like the situation one bit.
"You ok sir?" The voice alerted the Captain that he was standing still; his nervousness was not setting a good example. He scoffed, trying to appear in control, and then continued, his men were not convinced.
"I don't like this Captain," his voice betrayed a wealth of fear, and anxiety. The Captain shared his feelings, but nevertheless they had a job to do.
"We have a job to do, let's clear this house, then report on our findings." After his orders registered they were again on the move. The made it to the door, a faint crash nearly sent Grolier into a panic, but he composed himself. "Ok, Mathews," he motioned towards the man carrying the battering ram. "Break it," Mathews nodded, braced himself, and then smashed the heavy metal pole into the locked door. It flew open. "Tackins, Franzina, Move up. Everyone else get their back, Mathews you bring up the rear." The Team complied, soon they were inside the house, nothing moved. Furniture was strewn all over the place. What the hell happened here?
"Clear," The team moved from the foyer into the kitchen. Grolier peered to his right; an office type room was filled with upturned desks, and couches. Behind Grolier, to the left, was an open room. He guessed it was the living room; there were clear signs of struggle. He nearly turned to run from the house, for everywhere, was the splattering of blood.
"Hey Cap, you hear that?" A soft squishy noise brought their attention to the ceiling but nothing was there, more noises appeared. It sounded like someone was scaling the wall, with very wet and sticky suction cups. But, it could not be a stationary sound. One of the sounds grew louder, and then dissipated, the hairs stood up on his neck. He felt goose bumps; fear and anticipation nearly paralyzed him. These noises exhibited signs of the Doppler Effect, a clear signal that something was on the move. In that moment, he nearly had enough, he felt like he was going to wet himself.
"Where is that coming from?" It was not a noise the Captain had heard before. But something had to be making it, he grew even more nervous.
"All around us sir, second level if I were to guess." The Captain heard something crash, the team turned to the right side of the house. Their flashlights illuminated a target, a target that made Grolier's blood run cold, it was vaguely man shaped, but looked like a completely different species. The center of the creature's chest was swollen, out from the swollen area came several short tentacles. The Head was defiantly of human origin, but it looked infected, the skin seemed to have expanded, and rotted slightly. The head was tilted unnaturally to the side, as if it was no longer needed. From the neck, several small tentacles jutted outwards. One arm was normal, but the other one had a large tentacle protruding out from the wrist, ringed with multiple tooth-like protrusions on the end.
"What the hell is that thing," came a terrified cry from Franzina, there was no way to answer that question. However, that creature was definitely the cause of this disturbance. Before Grolier could respond, the horrifyingly mutated creature ducked behind some cover. Then a rifle clattered to the floor, The team leader turned to discover that Mathews was on the ground, a small spider-like monster, about a half of a meter in diameter, had latched onto his face. They were under attack.
"Stop cussing and shoot something." Franzina would have complied, but he was on the ground to, the mutated human had come back, and he brought another half dozen ex-humans with him. He was down to himself, and two other team members. Grolier aimed his M4 assault carbine at the lead creature. He pulled the trigger; the rounds hit the creature head on, in the upper torso. The resilient creature slowed from the force of the rounds, but did not scream, or yelp. It showed no sign of any pain what so ever. Seemingly unaffected by short burst, the creature let loose an ugly snarl, and quickened its pace towards Grolier. Grolier flipped the fire selector to full auto, and then filled the rapidly closing gap between the two with lead. The ex-human absorbed the rounds like a sponge, and then began to slow. Finally, just as it came to within melee range, it fell to the ground.
It was useless to try to fight all these contacts, there were far too many. Grolier had to warn everybody. He was a dead man, but as much as he would have liked to go down swinging as apposed to waiting behind a locked door for his inevitable demise, he had a duty to tell of what was to come. This enemy was vicious enough, if the masses were not ready, they would not stand a chance. He dove for the nearest door, and then locked himself inside the closet; the creatures were close behind him. They pounded on the other side of the door. Horrifying screams cut deep into his ears, lashing a thrilling sense of fear throughout his mind. He picked up his transmitter with his shaking hands and yelled into it.
"Contacts, lots of them, can anyone hear me, please respond." There was nothing for a moment. Grolier watched through the keyhole. One of his team members, Mathews, got up, tentacles protruded from his wrist, his skin was tinged tan with spots of swollen, rotting flesh; he had become one of them. The sickening reality set in, the small spiders; they infect humans and mutate them. Grolier could see the door starting to give way. "Someone, anyone, respond now!" another few terrifying moments passed, and then a voice came through.
"How can I help you?" The voice was calm, considering how frantic Grolier was coming across.
Melissa was surprised by the man's frantic speech, he spoke again. She recognized him as Captain Grolier
"Contacts…lots of them, they ….not human, I repeat… Not Human. Please, send everyone……. Be advised, they infect….. Humans, they …mutate them." The channel went dead.
"Sir, Captain Grolier, respond, what is going on over there?" There was only static. One thing was clear to Melissa from the report; the situation was far from handled. She composed herself. She got up from her chair, and walked calmly to the commissioner's office. She opened the door, and then, once she knew he was there, Melissa spoke. "Sir, SWAT team alpha made contact." She paused; searching for the right words, then spoke again. "Sir, I think you need to listen to this."
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