Ceres

6929

                                                  Ceres

                                                  EvilEgg

         Green slime swirls in the water around the rusty hull of a boat.  A giant fan hums quietly, gliding the boat over the water, and a cheap radio plays the final notes of an old outwater song.

         "That was Mal Mackenzie with 'Never Seen the Moon.'  We have news this morning, the expedition to Tatara was a complete success.  Before now no group has ever gone more than fifteen miles into Ceres' only continent but the New Lewis Expedition managed to place surveillance cameras nearly thirty miles deep into the Tatarian Jungle."

         The man adjusts his position, deposing the dog that had its head resting on his lap.  He has trouble moving his wooden left leg, so he uses his hands to lift it over his tackle box and two guns; a hunting rifle and a Kalashnikov.

         "The New Lewis Militia is asking all area Swamp Frogs to be on the lookout for a dangerous criminal who escaped arrest by diving from the city catwalks."

         The man cuts the fan off and stops the boat in a batch of water weeds.  Trees and bushes grow from a mound of mud a way in front of him.  A black form shuffles in the foliage.

         "Suspected thrill killer Derrick Dire is five-ten, one hundred and seventy pounds with orange hair and a goatee.  In his house the militia found traps of the same type that-"

         He turns the radio down.  Patting the dog to keep it quiet, he picks up his rifle.

         The boar digs in the mud with its tusks, eating roots and worms.  The man aims his rifle carefully and fires.  The boar jerks and splashes into the mud.

         Barking, the dog jumps out of the boat and splashes through the water towards the fallen boar.  The man takes a hand radio out of his pocket and says into it "got one.  A good size."

         "Nice, Adam," the radio says back.  "On our way."

         Propelling his boat with a pole and hook, Adam floats to the pig.  The dog yelps at him, wagging its tail as its master gets out onto the mud island.

         He wipes the stinging sweat off his brow and pets the dog.  "What are you so happy about, mate?  You didn't shoot it."

         Another fan boat comes in through the swamp grass.  Two men ride on it, one sitting at the rudder and the other standing, holding onto the canvas covered pillar at the center of the boat.  "How's it look?"  The man at the pillar asks.

         Holding the dead animal's eyelid open, Adam says "Good so far.  Let's haul 'em back."

         The man at the pillar gets out of the boat and wades toward Adam, greasing back
his stringy black hair.  The man at the rudder says into his radio "Jeff, you ready with that Stem?"

         Adam and the stringy haired man dump the pig onto the boat.  "Sato, this is Charlie, do you have contact with Jeff?"

         "I'm just a few paces away," the radio says back. 

         "Do you see him?"

         "Levi weeds.  Jeff!"  A pause.  "No answer.  We're at The Ring, I'm going to check it out."

         "Let's go," Charlie says.

An empty boat drifts in a circle of tall weeds.  A man holding a machine gun stands in a fourth boat.  "I heard splashing, he told me it was a croc headed in my direction but I never saw it."
         
"Was he in the water?"  Adam asks.

         "I don't know.  Matt, you collect Stem with him sometimes."          

         "Yeah," the stringy haired man says.  "He would stay in the boat and reach down into the water.  It's shallow enough here that he can get the good parts without getting in."

         "Then he fell out or was pulled out," Charlie says.  "Alright, we'll search these weeds first and then split off into two teams.  No one leaves his partners sight."

         They use their bill hooks to feel through the weeds, occasionally pulling up a log or a muddy mass of roots.  Spreading out, Sato and Adam shine their floodlights on the water and hummocks.  The dog walks the shallows near Sato, who studies the mud islands closely.

         Adam spits in the water, glaring at the swamp.  "See anything, Sato?"

         "Pig prints.  He did not walk this way."

         Adam sinks in his seat by the fan, staring at the dead boar in his boat.  Flies buzz around it, landing in the mouth and eyes.  Adam says "If I left this pig on that muck over there, how long do you think it would take for it to disappear?"
         
"Not long," Sato says grimly.

         Into his hand radio, Adam says "We're wasting our time.  When Swamp-Frogs go missing we don't get found again."

         "Yeah, I know.  Meet us at the ring.  We're going to get some traps, maybe we can catch what ever killed him."

         "There are more crocs than flies out here."

         "I don't think it was a croc, they make too much noise.  I think it must have been a jaguar, or maybe an emperor cray."

         "Wait for me a minute," Adam says to Sato. 

         Adam steps out onto the hummock, careful with his wooden leg on the slick mud, and limps over to a tree.  The dog leaves Sato's side and follows his master who takes out his knife and starts carving a J in the trunk.

         The dog looks at the bushes and starts to growl.  The hair on the back of Adam's neck stands on end.  "Sato?"  He whispers.

         "Back up slowly," the other man says, pointing his machine gun at the bushes.

         "What is it?"

         "Just do it."

         Adam steps back with his good leg, watching the bushes and holding tight to his knife.

         The dog snarls at the bushes, heckles rising.  Adam takes another step back and slips in the mud.  Squatter barks. 

A huge form smashes a bush.  Sato fires his machine gun and bullets tear into dull grey flesh.

"Shit!"  Adam screams.  The shelled giant lumbers toward him, hissing through razor sharp teeth.

Sato jumps out of the boat, spraying rounds at the monsters face.  Adam scrambles into his boat, hitting the accelerator as his face hits the boat floor.  The boat blindly rockets into a tangle of roots.

The dog howls.  Sato back tracks into the water as his bullet stream tears the flesh of the lizard.

"Sato, duck!"

Sato jumps out of the way.  Metallic booms echo over the water.  The monsters head splits, spraying gore.  A blue canvas floats on the water and Matt stands behind the smoking barrels of a gun turret.

"Is everyone alright?"  Charlie calls out, pointing a shotgun at the corpse.

"I'm alright," Sato says.  "Adam?"

Adam kills the engine and pulls himself to a sitting position.  "I'm alright."  He holds tight to the boat wall, his knuckles white.  "What the hell was that?"

"Serutokage," Sato says. 

Adam leans back in his chair, rubbing his face.

"They're terrestrial.  I've never heard of one more than a few hundred kilometers out from Tatara."

"Well let's cut it open," Matt says.  "See if it killed Jeff."

"Where's Squatter?"  Charlie asks.

Adam opens his eyes.  "What?"

"Squatter, where is he?"

"Aw, no," Adam says, then sticks his fingers in his mouth and whistles.

"Squatter!"  Matt calls.

"Damn it," Adam says.  "God damn it."

That night they finish carving the memorial into the tree Adam chose.

Jeffery O'Conner

PC 581-607

Brave man and loyal friend.

Charlie and Matt get started chopping at the giant lizard. 

"Do any of you still want the pig?"  Adam asks.

"I'll smoke it," Sato says.

"Alright.  I think I'm going home, if you all don't mind."

"It's fine," Charlie says.  "We can handle this."

Adam drifts through the swamp at a slow pace, sunken in his chair.  He stops at a floating dock connected to a wood and metal house.  He shines his flood light into the trees above his house.

He sits in his boat a moment staring at the massive spiked shell suspended between the trees, faded with age and cracked with bullet impact.  He spits in the water and says "I hope you're burning in hell.  You and that lizard, too."

He pulls himself onto the dock and limps to the door, his wooden leg knocking on the dock. 

"Adam," the radio sounds.

"Yeah?"

"Just telling you we didn't find anything in that lizard.  We're going to set some traps tomorrow." 

He drinks himself to sleep by morning, then he stays in bed all that day and most of the next.  Sato radios and tells him that the pig is ready and the Swamp Frogs are meeting, but Adam pleads hangover and goes back to bed.

By the end of the week he has a greasy beard and a nearly empty pantry.  Something pounds in his head.  He turns his entertainment radio on low.

"-on the endangered species list.  The small fish is just one of thousands of animal and plant species that can't compete with introduced Earth animals.

"But on the other hand there is one little blue eel in sector eleven-ninety-seven that's just not going to take it.  A Swamp-Frog employed by the Takifugu Research Facility was setting specimen traps in the water when the meter length eel swam up behind him and put another hole in his butt!  Infection set in almost immediately from the bite but the Takifugu Facility has a good medical team.  The eel is still at large."  The anchors laugh.

"That's not the only way this place can bite you in the ass," Adam says.  He takes a swig from a malty brew, letting the green booze burn his throat.

"Adam," his com-radio barks. 

He falls out of his chair, choking on the brew.  "Damn it!"  He shatters the mug against the wall.

"Adam, this is Charley.  Are you there?"

Adam turns the com-set down to a tolerable volume and answers "yeah, I'm here."

"I'm coming over."

"Give me an hour, I need to get cleaned up."

After strapping his leg on he showers in the stall outside his house.  Red flowers grow out of the trunk of a dying tree near him.  He picks one and takes it to the front of the dock where takes the lid off of a bucket and shakes the flower over it, letting the pollen fall into the water for the bait fish to eat.  He leaves the flower beside the bucket.

Thunder rumbles and rain droplets trickle through the gaps in the canopy.  Adam hears Charlie's boat before he sees it.

The older man brings his boat to a stop in front of the dock.  "Been a while, Adam."

"I know."

"Is that a Blood Willow?"

Adam picks up the flower.  "Yeah, I feed the bait fish with them."

"Explains why I haven't been seeing them lately if the fish eat them."

"Just the seeds.  I'm running pretty low myself, I'll have to go back to grinding scales, soon."

"That's what I use."

"So what's happening, Charlie?"

"I don't think we told you, but Satomiro found Matt passed out in his boat by the ring.  He damn near drank himself to death."

"Is he alright?"

"He had a hangover from hell.  We're going to have to keep an eye on him.  He'd been getting better."

"And then that thing with Jeff," Adam says.  "I don't think we belong here.  Even before I got my leg bit off.  I'm done with it all."

"What are you saying?  You moving up?"

"Yeah.  To New Lewis, or maybe a research lab.  There's always a job for Swamp Frogs there, only difference is you got a safe place to go back to."
         
'That's not the only difference," Charlie says.  "Other people tell you what to do.  Where to shit, when to sleep and wake up, and what to do for the money that you trade for the same food that you could catch yourself out here."
         
"Or be food to something else," Adam says, nodding toward his leg.  "There was no warning at all.  Thorn turtles don't even normally do that.  Just that something gave this one a mind to reach out and snap my leg off at the knee."

         "And you think it's better in the city?  How many times has that radio told us about some poor bastard dieing of food poisoning or falling off of something?  It's your fear making you want to let out.  I don't suppose I got a right to crack on you-"

         "Yeah, that's right.  Have you ever lost a leg, Charlie?  Do you feel pain in a part of your body that you don't even have anymore?  I'm getting the hell out of here, I'm not going to end up like Jeff."

         "This is what I'm saying, Adam.  You're not letting out because you want to leave, you're running on fear.  And folks like us, you and me, we don't get along in cities.  Mark me, you'll miss the swamp like you miss your leg."

         "The hell you say!"  Adam takes off his hat and slaps it down on the table.  "How dare you!"

         "I'm just telling you the truth, Adam," he says, holding his hands up.  "I'm not trying to minimize what happened to you, I'm just saying that a part of you will always love this place.  When are you leaving, Adam?"

         "I don't know," he says, sitting back down.  "A couple of days."

         "Well we might as well send you off right.  We got another gator before we took the traps down last night, we can-"

         The sound of blasts echoes over the water.

         "That was the M-60!"  Adam says.

         Charlie gets on his com-radio.  "Matt?"

         "This is Sato, I'm on my way."

         "No!  Wait for us, it could be thrill killers."

         "I'm not waiting!

         "Damn it!"

         Adam hobbles out of his house with his Kalashnikov and jumps into Charlie's boat.

         Rain pours in through gaps in the canopy.  Sato stands in the doorway of Matt's house.  Wood splinters outward from a line of bullet holes crossing the frame.  "He's not here!"  Sato calls.

         "How in the hell!  He shot out with his damn M-60!"  Charlie jumps onto the dock. 

Adam stands in the boat, looking around and pointing his rifle at the water.  "If a thorn turtle's shell couldn't- Christ!"  He sprays bullets into the water.

Charlie and Sato flank him, blindly unleashing an automatic stream and pumping out shotgun blasts.  "What the hell are we shooting at?

The water explodes under the boat, launching Adam into the swamp.  He screams bubbles and kicks with his good leg, not knowing which way is up.  Something splashes behind him and a hand grabs him by the back of his shirt.

Adam grabs onto Charlie like a drowning cat in the waist deep water.  The other man lets go of him and pumps out a blast towards a green mass. 

The form turns.  The eyes are like amber, branches grow out of the shoulders and head, but the face looks like Jeff.

"Mother of Mercy..."

The Jeff-creature reaches out and slaps the shotgun out of Charlie's hand.  Charlie jams his knife under the creatures jaw, but Jeff grabs the man's arm and swings him like a club at Sato, knocking him off the dock.

Charlie screams.  Adam rushes at the plant monster and grabs its arm.  The Jeff-monster grabs the back of his shirt with its other hand.  Creaking like a branch in the wind, Jeff rears back and tosses Adam out of the water, smacking him into the wall of Matt's house.

"God... Adam!"  Charlie yells.  The monster picks him up again, twirling the man over its head.  Charlie screams as something pops in his arm.  The monster tosses him away.  The Swamp Frog passes out before he hits the water.

Sato tries to climb back onto the dock where he dropped his machine gun.  Jeff yanks him back into the water by his ankle.  Sato kicks and punches.  Wooden hands clamp down on his head and hold him underwater. 

Over his own scream, muted by the water, he hears a familiar string of blasts.

The hands let go and the Jeff-creature staggers backward.  Sato splashes out of the water, gasping for air.

"Stay down!"  Adam yells.

Sato dives out of the way as Adam unleashes twin streams of liquid hell from Matt's M-60 into the monsters chest.  Bark and wood splinter away, the dagger rounds drilling a hole through the monster.  It stops moving and falls backwards into the water.

Adam drops the massive gun and slumps down against the wall, holding his ribs and shaking in the rain.

"Hang on, Adam!" Sato says.  "I've got to get Charlie."

Sato turns the unconscious man over and drags him back toward the dock.  Adam reaches out and helps him pull Charlie out of the water.  Sato opens the mans mouth, leaning over him to keep the rain out of his throat.

"God, he's not breathing," Adam squeaks.

"He's swallowed a lot of water."  Sato starts compressing Charlie's stomach.

"What do you need?"

Charlie coughs up a splash of water.

"Nothing," Sato says.

Charlie rolls over and starts choking.  Sato slaps his back.  "Cough it up.  Adam, are you ok?"

"I think I broke some ribs.  I feel like I'm about to shit out my own guts."

"What-" A cough cuts off Charlie's question.

"It looked like Jeff," Adam says, breathing hard.

"It couldn't have been."

"Jeff never would have hurt either of you like that," Sato says.

"That's what was left of Jeff," Adam says.  "It's a plant parasite, like the blood willow at my house."

"Something killed him and turned his body into a walking tree," Sato says. "Try not to move, Chuck.  Your arm is broken."

"So what the hell did he do with Matt?"  Charlie asks.

They all stay quiet for a second.  Sato says "What ever happened to Jeff, it had to have taken several days."

"Matt could still be alive," Charlie finishes.

"No way in hell," Adam says.  "That thing was trying to kill us."

"Maybe," Sato says.  "But maybe it was trying to take us, to do to us what ever was done to him."

"We need to look for him," Charlie says.  "I need a sling."

Adam helps Sato put Charlie's arm in a sling and they give him the machine gun.  Adam takes Matt's hunting rifle and Sato fixes the M-60 to the turret on Matt's boat.

"Anyone know what we're looking for?"  Adam asks.

"He had bark on him," Sato says.  "So it's from a tree.  Probably for reproductive purposes.  If we're assuming Matt's alive than there has to be something restraining him.  Look for thick vines or seed pods, or anything that looks like it hide a man inside."

"We need help," Charlie says.

"No one can get here fast enough to help Matt," Sato says.

"Matt's not the only one that needs help," Adam says.  "People disappear all the time out here.  There could be more of those things."

"Yeah.  Matt wasn't in the water and Jeff was.  That means something other than Jeff carried him off and God forbid they kill all of us.  Then no one's left to warn anyone.  One of us should get help."

"All three of us should get help," Adam says.  "I'll look with you guys for a few more hours but if we don't find Matt by then... I'm just going to assume he's dead and then I'm getting the hell out of here.  You two should come with me.  We can't stay here anymore, this is just insane."

Sato looks back and forth between Adam and Charlie.  "I agree.  Three men can't live out here.  It was hard enough with five."

Charlie says nothing for a second, frowning.  "Well there's nothing for me to do but go to the city with you two, but I don't know if I can stay there.  I'll sure try, you two are like my brothers, but Adam, I just can't agree with you.  I do belong out here."

They circle out from Matt's house, finding no trace until the sun starts to go down.

"That's it," Adam says.

"I'm not done yet," Sato says.

"He's not still alive, Sato," Charlie says.

"He could be.  There are meat eating plants that keep a live insect trapped for days."

"We don't even know that it needs him alive, Sato.  Why would it?"  Adam asks.

"Jeff had both of his arms and legs, and his head.  I suppose that doesn't prove he stayed alive for long, just that he was kept away from scavengers, but we just don't know, now do we?"

"I suppose not," Charlie says.

"Chuck," Adam says, exasperated.

"I'm not saying we search through the night.  We can hole up until morning."

"I'm not doing it!  Are you both idiots?"

"Fine, it's alright Adam.  We'll take you to your boat."

"Damn it, Charlie, we've stayed here too long already!  You two might not make it to morning!"

"Well I'll take that risk, Adam!"

"Matt didn't think twice about diving into the water when that turtle attacked you," Sato says.

Adam scowls, looking away from them.  "Well... I hope you find him."

None of them say another word on the way back to Adam's house.  Adam climbs up onto the dock. 

"Let me help you load," Sato says.

"Thanks."

Adam opens his door and falls backwards, pointing the rifle into his house.  "God!"

Two amber eyes look out at him.

Charlie tosses Sato the machine gun.

"Hold on!"  Adam says.  "Don't shoot, yet."

Very slowly, the thing walks forward on four thin wooden legs.

"Good God, it's Adam's dog," Sato says.

"Shoot it!"  Charlie says.

"I said no, damn it!  He's not attacking."  Adam pulls the lid off of the keg and tosses a bait fish to the plant-dog.  The animal struggles to bend its legs and reach down.  It takes a few tries for it to get the fish in its mouth.

"It's not moving as well as Jeff did."

"Come on out, Squatter," Adam says.

"Adam, be careful."

"I don't think he could hurt me if he wanted to, Chuck."

The dog rises slowly and moves stiff legged towards Adam.

Sato says "Adam, I think you should take Squatter to the research lab."

Not taking his eyes off the dog, Adam says "What will they do to him?"

"They will definitely dissect him, but they can radio for help and they need proof."

"I think he's already dying anyway, Adam."

"Yeah."  He pats the dogs head.  "Are you sure you're not coming?"

"I think we should check by the memorial tree," Sato says.  "Where Squatter disappeared, and between the tree and the ring.  That's our best bet."

"We'll leave tomorrow for New Lewis, we'll get there even before you do."

They cage the dog monster in a pig trap and cover it with a canvas. Adam shakes hands with Sato and Charlie.  "See you guys in Lewis."

"You be careful, Adam," Charlie says.

Adam sets off.  Charlie and Sato stay in Adam's house that night with the door barricaded and they add splints to Charlie's sling. The next day they set out with log drags and bill hooks.

During their first rest break, Sato stares at a cat fish, covered in boils, drifting in the shallows.  It tries valiantly to swim, righting its self every time the surface sees its belly, but a red eel reaches out from the darkness and drags it under without a sound.

Sato says. "Adam's right.  We don't belong here."

Swallowing a piece of pork jerky, Charlie turns on the radio.  A man with a twang in his voice sings about women.  "It's a damn sore way for it all to end."  He drops the rest of the jerky into the water and steps out onto the hummock, drawing his knife.

"Watch the bushes," Sato says.

"I remember."

Sato stands at the gun turret.  Charlie gets to the first 't' in "Matt" and Sato gets his attention.  "Charlie, there's something in the water."

Charlie puts his knife away and draws his machine gun.  "Well if it looks suspicious, shoot it!"

Sato aims the M-60 at the water and fires.  Red water shoots into the air and the shredded remains of an alligator float to the surface.

The men laugh.  "Well if there's anything left of it we've got dinner tonight," Charlie says.

Wood snaps.  A log flies through the air.  Charlie dives out of the way and the log smacks into the muck.

Sato fires randomly into the bush, pulverizing tree trunks and leaves.  Charlie jumps into his own boat and joins in.

"There!" Sato says.  A wooden shape stumbles backward under the rounds.  To the right another shape steps forward.

"There's another one!"

"God, how many are there!"

"Sato, look out!"

Sato whirls around, aiming his gun at the plant monster that appears behind him.  The monster reaches down, grabbing the side of the boat, and flips it over.  Sato hits the water, his hands sinking into the mud and into the jaws of a crab.  The creature pumps venom into Sato's hand.  He screams, running through the shallows and slapping his hands to his chest, trying to shake loose the little devil that has a hold of him.

Charlie turns the engine over as the monster approaches him, zipping off in a circle around the hummock.  "Sato!  Hang on, buddy, I've got you!

"Charlie!  Oh, God!"  He smacks his hand against the water, finally loosing the little monster.  He bites the wound as hard as he can, the only thing he can think of to lesson the venomous pain. 

Charlie weaves in between fallen logs and plant monsters, and his boat hits a submerged stump.  The boat tilts to the side, spilling the Swamp Frog.

"No, Charlie!"  Sato sees his friend fall into the water, the monsters converging on him. 

Something splashes in the water near Sato.  He looks toward his friends boat one last time.  "I'm so sorry..."  He turns and runs.

Charlie's radio sinks to the murky floor, playing the last chords of an old outwater song until the water shorts it out.
         
Adam doesn't sleep for the two days it takes to reach the research lab. 

         Morning light reflects off of white paint.  The lab, a rounded building, sits on top of a huge central pillar with a ladder leading up to it.

         Adam pulls up to the ladder.  He stays in his boat for a while, leaning back in his seat and letting his eyelids fall closed, but then he forces himself awake and uncovers the cage.

         The dog stares back at him, patiently waiting for another bait fish, but two bait fish lay dead at its feet.

         Adam takes his knife out.  "I'm really sorry about this, mate."  He reaches in and pokes the dog in the eye.  It feels like hard clay, having no tenderness usually associated with an eye, but the dog doesn't move and Adam decides that the animal is dead.  "Just as well.  I sure wouldn't want to live like that."

         He puts the canvas back down and stands up in his boat.  "Hey!  I've got something here that you all need to see!"

         He sees no signs of activity from the structure.

         "Damn it.  I'm not hauling this thing up there!"  He gets on the ladder and starts to climb.  The rusted off paint flakes scratch his palms and his wooden leg catches under the rungs more than once.  His ribs scream at him by the time he reaches the hatch at the top of the ladder.  He turns the wheel and opens it with out trouble.

         He smells mold from the darkness inside.  "Aw, hell."  He climbs inside.  The only light comes from the open hatch at his feet.  He sparks up his lighter.  "Hello?  Damn it all!"  Looking towards the ceiling, he screams "What the hell do you want from me!" 

         He puts the light out and crouches down, holding his face.  His eyes sting.  "Damn it.  It's alright.  I'll just go on to Lewis, get somebody there.  But..." where the hell is everyone at?  Jeff couldn't have been here, and he needs supplies to get to New Lewis.

         He finds pay dirt in an open closet in the same room; assault rifles.  Even a research lab needs an arsenal out here.  He loads a rifle up for himself and takes a box of glow-sticks. 

         The closet also has a radio, useless without a power source, but also several five gallon kegs.  He puts the glow-stick behind his ear and hoists up one of the kegs.  He hadn't brought quite enough fuel to get to Lewis.

         He sets the keg by the hatch.  He spots a pulley hanging from the roof above it but no rope.  He goes back into the closet.

         When he comes back out, with a blue rope corded around his torso, he finds a plant-man standing over the hatch, still wearing a tattered white lab coat.  He drops the rope and points the rifle at it.  "Can you understand me?"  He asks.  He feels his hands start to shake.

         The monster looks at him.  Adam glances at the keg at the monsters feet and shoots.

         The keg falls over, green liquid gushing from the bullet holes.  The monster kicks it toward Adam.

         The Swamp-Frog rolls out of the way and takes out his lighter.  He sparks a flame and tosses the lighter gently at the monsters feet.

         Flames roll up the monsters leg.  The monster's mouth opens wide and it starts to stomp the floor.

         The flames follow the spilled liquid on the floor, encircling the monster and spreading towards the closet.

         Adam shoulders the rifle and scrambles to the hatch, ignoring the flames.  He burns his hands as he climbs down through the hatch and his wooden leg catches fire.  He hangs onto the ladder, trying to kick out the flames.

         The flaming monster reaches down to him.  Adam ducks out of reach and climbs down, pausing long enough to pull the strap loose on his knee and let his flaming left leg fall to the swamp.

         He doesn't see the leg when he gets to his boat and he doesn't take time to look.  Things start to explode in the research lab.  He starts the engine and speeds away.

         "Damn it!  What the hell's happening!"

         He slows down but doesn't stop.  He looks at the two kegs beside his seat.  "I can't get to Lewis on this."

         He stops the boat and holds his rifle tight, trying to control his breathing.  "God help me."  He reluctantly creeps his boat back to the lab.  Flames and smoke ooze out of the side windows, blackening the entire left half of the building.  "Damn it."

         He stops his boat again once he's far away from the lab, sleep finally forcing its will on him.  He's thankful for the fatigue to replace his fear.  With the research lab in flames the only place where he can get enough fuel to get to New Lewis is back at his house.

         It's dark when Adam reaches familiar waters.  He kills the lights on his boat, not wanting to attract attention, but he sees another light in the distance.  He tries his radio again.  "Charlie, Sato, are you guys still here?"

         He gets no response.  He clicks the safety off of the assault rifle and takes his boat towards the light.

         He  recognizes Jeff's boat. In the floor of the boat he recognizes the clothes on what's left of a human body, ravaged by maggots and scavengers.  He covers his nose and mouth.

         "God... Sato.  I'm so sorry.  I'll send you off on my way out, mate."

         He kills the engine and uses his bill hook to push his boat the rest of the way to his house.  He winds the rope around the metal part of the bill hook and uses it as a crutch, in lieu of his wooden leg, and hops over to the back of his house.

         He has five kegs in the shed.  That makes six with his one left over.  He'll need at least three more, probably four or five for safety.  He carries them one by one back to his boat, hopping on one leg and a pole with a five gallon keg under his arm.  His ribs hurt him worse with each trip.  Sweat covers him by the time he loads the last keg into the boat and he collapses into his chair. 

         "Jesus..." he wipes the sweat off of his face.  He can get another keg from Jeff's boat, but he planned on using that to burn the corpse and would still need at least two more.  Jeff had a shed close to the water and probably plenty of fuel.  "Well he's not going to need it."

         It's a long trip through thick brush.  When it gets to the point where he can't see his hand in front of his face, Adam reluctantly turns on his flashlight.

         Every log and bush looks sinister in the small light.  The flood light would give more comfort, but the light can be seen for over a mile.  But nothing looks familiar in the weak light, even though he knows the area like the back of his hand.  "Where the hell am I?"  He decides to turn the flood light on for just a second to get his bearings. 

         He feels a chill when he lights up the area. This is where he lost his leg.

He kills the light.  Somehow he prefers the absolute darkness over looking at the place where he'd spent so many nightmares.

He would have died if they hadn't been there.  Matt got into the water first, leaving his gun.  He pulled Adam, screaming, away from the huge reptile.  Charlie and Satomiro got right up in front of the monster and fired on its face while Matt and Jeff tied off Adam's ruined leg with a belt. 

Adam clutches his stub of a leg, gritting his teeth.  It hurts more than it has in months.  But he knows where he is and Jeff lived close by.

The pain drops to a dull throb and Adam finds Jeff's house, with a shed right there on the dock.

He looks at his own overloaded boat.  He might have to loose the cage to fit enough fuel.  No problem, he'll just take the dog out.  He pulls the canvas off the cage.

The dog lay on its side, its legs outstretched in a sitting pose like a child's toy.  Its eyes seem duller than Adam remembers, and another new thing; two red flowers grow out of its side.

"Holy Christ..."  It's blood willow.  "You got that from the bait fish, didn't you, mate?"  He picks one of the flowers.  "I know that those egg heads in Lewis can figure out a way to use this.  Good boy, Squatter.  It's all thanks to you, boy."  He pats the dead animals head and puts the flower in his pocket.

He lights up a glow stick and leaves it laying on the dock as he takes out the cage.  He also uses his flash light to carefully study the surrounding plants and water.  Feeling safe, he opens the shed and starts rolling kegs into his boat.  He looks around again.

Green light reflects from two points in the foliage on the hummock.  Adam shines his flashlight at it and the reflections turn amber.  Partially obscured by the bushes, Adam makes out a gaping hole, oozing sap from the creature's chest.

Adam takes a deep breath.  "I see you there, Jeff.  You came home, didn't you, mate?"  He reaches down slowly and pops the cork out of one of the kegs. 

The Jeff-creature moves its leg, its whole body stiff.

"Jeff, I need you to stay where you are, mate."

The creature's body creaks as it takes another step.

"I mean it, Jeff.  Unless you're wanting to be put out of your misery.  I can do that, if you want."

The creature trips over a root and rolls over, waving its arms around like a dying cockroach.

Adam leans on the shed.  The heat stings his forehead.  "I could put one of the flowers in your chest.  But that won't be quick enough, will it?  It took squatter a couple of days, and if that M-60 didn't kill you then the rifle won't do more than chip the bark off of you."

He lays the rifle down on the dock and picks up the keg.  "I'm sorry, mate.  It's the quickest way I can think of."

He hops over to the fallen monster.  Jeff's expression stays the same as Adam pours the contents of the keg over its body.  "I'm sorry.  None of this is your fault, I know you didn't mean it, buddy."

He sparks up the lighter and drops it on the monster.  The fire spreads over its soaked body instantly.  The creature looks at its burning arms and opens its mouth in a soundless scream.  Rubbing his eyes, Adam looks away.  He leans on a tree and sobs. 

When he opens his eyes again, he sees three pairs of glowing dots.  He blinks the tears out of his eyes and turns back to his boat.  Two more of the monsters stand in the water and another on the dock.  "Oh, God."  He hops over the burning remains of the monster and dives into the water.  The monsters splash toward him. 

Adam reaches into his pocket and takes out the blood willow.  He won't get out of this alive, but maybe he can save himself from ending up like them.  He wads it up into a little ball and swallows it.
         
One of the creatures reaches for him.  He dives under the water and starts to swim.  A hand clamps around his ankle.  Adam thrashes and it drags him onto land.

         "Let me go, damn you!"  He grabs onto a root.  The monster jerks him loose.  Adam screams, some of his fingers broken.  When the monster drags him past a tree Adam wraps his arms around the trunk.  The monster pries him loose again and picks him up by the hair.

         Adam curses and screams for help as the monster drags him to the water.  The creature rears back and throws him, wrenching his neck.  He barely notices when he hits the water.

         He opens his eyes slowly, not seeing anything but feeling himself sink.  His limp hands touch murk.  Immediately something shoots out and wraps its self around his waist.  Panicked, Adam thrashes around.

         More unseen cords wrap around him, pinning his arms to his body.  He starts to choke.

         The cords pull him deeper, sinking him into the muck.  Adam senses something closing around him as he passes out.

         He wakes up choking, surrounded by darkness.  He tries to scream but vomits up water.  He thrashes around, still entangled, but he feels the slimy walls with his head.  "Help me!"  He screams.  "Charlie, help me!"  He kicks the wall until he's out of breath.  "God help me, God help me, God help me..."  He thrashes.  "Help me!"

         He kicks at the walls until he can't feel his foot.  He sees things crawling around in the darkness, even when he has his eyes closed.  He knows time is passing.  He has no way of knowing how long, he feints more than once.

          His leg hurts.  It's going to get infected with all of this moisture.  Is he still bleeding?  No, he can't be.  Jeff fixed him.  He looked like a tree.  "Where's Charlie and Matt?"  He asks.

         "You left them," Sato says.  There's not much left of his face and maggots fall out of his mouth as he talks.  "They never would have left you."

         "I can still find them."

         "The turtle's still out there," Jeff says.

         "Didn't we kill it?"

         "The turtle's always out there.  It doesn't matter how many times we kill it."

         A spiked shell rises out of the water.  They start shooting again and the world shakes.

         "Here's another one," Sato says.  "Get the saw."

         Jeff tosses Sato a buzz saw and it starts to squeal against the turtles shell.

         "Why are you doing that?"  Adam asks.

         "Careful there!  They could still be alive!"

         "Charlie?"  He looks around but he doesn't see Charlie.  Only blackness.  "I didn't mean to leave you."

         The darkness cracks with light.  The sounds get louder.  "Jesus, there's someone in here!  Get the crowbar!"

         The darkness cracks open, spilling light in.  Adam clenches his eyes shut.

         "Medic over here!"

         "Adam, say something!"

         "Am I dead?"

         "No, lets keep it that way."

         They saw the vines off of him and pull him out of a huge pod.  They put an oxygen mask on him. "It's not dead."

         "Yes it is, all of them are."

         "No, it doesn't matter how many times you kill it," Adam says.

         "Delirious," one of the men says.

         Adam looks around, his vision blurry.  "Am I a plant?"

         "No, Adam, they're all dead.  They're covered with those blood willows."

         Adam blinks hard and looks again at a thick, knotted tree in the water.  One of the monsters stands in front of it, unmoving as men in uniform poke at it and take pictures.  The red flowers sway as the men chop at the tree, seeds falling into the water.