Behind him came a new sound. It was the purr of a cat. Only, it didn’t sound like a small feline. This wasn’t the house pet kind. Hal turned his head slowly and watched as a mountain lion pushed through the Velcro strip. The mountain lion was big, with fur that should have been tan, nearly white, if not for the knife protruding from its throat and the growing bloodstain at the front of it.
Andre.
This must have been the beast that turned him. Hal smiled, knowing his brave buddy had gotten one last lick in.
But he also knew this was the end.
The other monsters were in front of him, making their way slowly into the tent, but it would be this one behind him that did him in. Any second now, those lice would leap, and then he’d be like all the others.
He wasn’t ready to go out yet. He needed to go out fighting. Slowly, he lifted the pistol in his left hand and pointed it up at the mountain lion’s chin.
Its fur shifted and he heard the noise the lice made. Their cricket-like calling. They were going to jump.
He pulled the trigger and the boom was deafening in the small room. The mountain lion screamed and fell down dead, but not before its lice made their leap. Their final attempt at survival before their host hit the ground.
Hal watched in terror, knowing his head was their destination. This was the end.
Then something incredible happened. The ladybugs around him went crazy. The ones on his head flew to meet the cloud of lice head-on. The squeal of the lice was definite this time. He knew he’d heard it earlier. Now, they squealed for their lives as the ladybugs flew right into the black mist and found dinner.
Still, Hal waited to see if he was going to be infected. Surely, at least one of them had hit his head. He felt the movement there in his hair and he knew the pain would hit any second. He’d heard others scream as they transformed, but then it dawned on him that his head was covered with ladybugs. It was the bugs walking around, eating the cilantro, and now waiting to chomp down on any lice that might make it through their flying brethren.
Hal slid back toward the tree, closer to the ladybugs.
What must have been a hundred of the creatures now swarmed the inside of the farm, searching for fresh hosts, and the ladybugs had homed in on them now.
The ladybugs went crazy. They took to the air, all at the same time. They were so thick Hal couldn’t see. The air above him was black. Like a cartoon bunch of bees chasing after prey, this thick black shape soared through the air. Pieces of it broke off and landed on the heads, fur, and hides of all the animals and humans in the room.
Some of the creatures tumbled over each other at the tent’s entrance, propping the flap open, and allowing the ladybugs to fly out in search of more food.
Squeals went up around him as the ladybugs feasted on the lice.
The bear roared and swiped at the space all around him. Its claws swept the air, but it was too late. The ladybugs were all over him, and the lice screamed.
Dragging itself along the ground, the wolf howled and chomped at the air, but again, the ladybugs had already identified it as a target and were slamming into its fur.
The woman with the stringy hair hit her knees and cried out. Her head was covered in a helmet of red and black.
It was the most amazing thing Hal had ever seen or would ever see in his entire life. They protected him. They were fighting with him. They were hungry, and they’d found their cuisine.
Hal could do nothing but sit and watch the beautiful insects devour the monsters that had tormented them all night and had killed so many people in Clydesville. Andre was a fucking genius. If he hadn’t brought them up here, this may have never ended.
Thank you, God.
For a second, he was sad. As he watched the human hosts fall to the floor and the animal ones fight for their lives, he thought of all they’d lost tonight. There was only one way this would end for them. He’d have to kill them all.
He also thought of Susanna and Sheila. He’d been happy at the thought of finally leaving this planet and seeing them again. He hadn’t been thrilled to die, and he was afraid of the pain he knew he would feel, but he’d been ready to see them again.
Now, that would have to wait.
It took what Hal guessed was about thirty minutes for the ladybugs to eat all of the lice and their eggs. When they flew back to the tree, he knew they were done. Unfortunately for him, each body in the building was still infected. Whatever had infiltrated their bodies was still in there, and they were coming for him.
The girl with the stringy hair raised her head and lifted her chest up with her arms. She stared right at him and grinned.
It was his time to finish what his tiny buddies had started.
“Let’s do this,” he said as he put a bullet in the girl with the stringy hair’s head. She fell back to the floor.
This was the part he couldn’t handle alone.
As much as he didn’t want to do it, he was hit with the realization that he could quite possibly make it out of here alive if he had help. He shot the wolf and then the bear five times. He would run out of bullets before he could kill all hundred or so of these bastards.
He thought of Nitsy and her code word. He’d originally had no plan to use it, but those kids could help him stop these things from escaping. Hal smiled as he leaned his head back against the tree and yelled, “Family!”
In no longer than ten seconds, the office door burst open, and the sweet sound of gunfire filled his ears.
“It worked!” he yelled over the sound of the blasts. “The bugs ate the lice! Kill the hosts!”
And they did.
Like a video game come to life, these kids blazed their way through the farm and shot everything that was no longer human. Hal did his part and watched as the bodies hit the ground.
These kids might never forget this, but at least they’ll live to know they might have saved the world tonight.
The air smelled of gunpowder, the kids’ maniacal laughter filled his ears, and Hal smiled knowing he would finally rest tonight. The hosts would all die. Hal and his ragtag team of teenagers, plus Sally, had won.
32
The side of the bus read Carnal Cavity and Cyanide Super Soaker – Two Bands, One Nationwide Tour.
Nobody would be excited to see it. Not unless they were diehard heavy metal fans who kept up with the scene. It was a nice bus though. It was once owned by Greyhound, so it had the old fabric seats that now smelled like pot and karate dojo. Marijuana and sweaty feet.
Carlisle drove the bands around because his kids were all adults now, their kids were in high school, and his wife left him ten years ago for a younger man. He used to be in a band himself back in his twenties and he smoked medical marijuana now, so he figured why the hell not. Driving this bus wasn’t much more difficult than driving the camper he used to take his family up into the mountains in.
In fact, his family might have been a lot louder. These guys usually stayed up late either working on music or playing video games, but they only got really wild when they let groupies into the bus after a show. Carlisle had to admit, some of the women they picked up were even able to get him aroused, and that wasn’t easy to do nowadays. Then, some of the others were so skanky he was afraid he’d get an STD when they blew him a kiss on the way out.
“What a sweet old man.”
“Look at the old pervert watching.”
“He reminds me of my grandpa.”
The things these women said to him or about him should have infuriated him. They would have a few years earlier. He couldn’t remember when it happened, but at some point it was like a switch was flipped, and he stopped giving a damn. They could have said just about anything to him now and he would have shrugged it off. As long as he got paid and was able to think of things other than Angela and the young Russian stud she’d left him for, he was okay.