Fly on a Wall
We sped away from the growing column of black smoke that belched fireballs from within its dark curtain. Lumps of black char and debris showered over the road, even as we were nearly a mile away by that time. My compadres where exhausted. I often forget the extent of their conditioning. It certainly isn’t weakness, though these specific individuals aren’t star athletes. What I’m saying is fully organic lifeforms need sleep and food.
“We’re gon’a need to ditch this truck, T.” Shalaly’qua was wiping her sweaty brow. “That shit went off like Pompeii. They ain’t gonna just shrug and go, ‘whelp, guess well just build a new one’.”
“We’re heading directly to Eugene Burnseid.” I glanced at Anders, who got the hint and brought up our route on GPS. “We will ditch it directly into the Lake.”
At this point I was trying to focus on leaving the area in the fastest manner possible, but I couldn’t help but notice Michelle was not doing well. She was talking to Tom in shallow breaths. Tom caught me looking in the rearview, “Hey, Michelle said she’s feeling faint.” She tried to deny it but was clearly disoriented.
“Why not clear a spot for her to lay down. We’re going to Eugene’s and, frankly, I’m not sure if he can help her but it’s all we have right now.”
“I could go for a can of Diet Coke.” She mumbled while heading down to the floor. Tom helped her down, continuing conversation with her.
Anders turned to me, “Listen, I don’t know what’s happening to her but, believe me, I want to help. I know Eugene has a laboratory at home. I know he will help us. He’s a good man, Tellurius.” I, of course, remained skeptical, not of his willingness to help as much as his ability.
“Look, your friend owns you an explanation as to why over one hundred half eaten corpses of former employees are at the bottom of a burning crater. I’m as baffled as you are right now over what he’s up to.” Anders sat solemn. “We’re going to have plenty of time on our trip.”
“Trip?”
“Do you think we’re going to just hang out at his house? You can’t go back, unless you are interested in sitting in jail.” He starts sweating.
“I-I’m not interested in that.”
“I’m on your side, alright? It’s going to be alright.” I tried to console him, but the realization that his life as he knows it is over was hard to take. He went back to sit with Michelle, who seems to be improving. She’s an older woman who just spent all night getting chased. She’s doing surprisingly well. It seems to me like she’s not out of breath due to exhaustion. I wonder what her blood work would tell us?
The sun hung behind the house as we pulled into the lakeside estate driveway. I approached cautiously on foot, looking into each window, moving slowly. If he were home, I thought, I would rather not spook him. There didn’t seem to be anything amiss as we made our approach. A Mercedes GLS 450 sat askew just before the front door. I reckon the driver was in a hurry to enter the building. I signaled to my friends and headed up the stoop to the door. It was eerie quiet when I tested the latch… Clack. It’s open. The large door creaked open and the quietness broke to the sound of an argument. I could hear two shouting voices echoing into the Foyer.
“Eugene?” Anders moved up from the back, “that’s him!”
“That assassin said he found the poacher. Assassins yell at their victims?” I wondered. We slunk through the dining room to a door on the far end, leading into the kitchen.
“WHERE IS IT!” – “I don’t know! Wheezing cough” – “You have NO idea what you have done!” – “I took some to my lab… I don’t know where it all could be!” – “You BRED it!?” – “Yes…” – “Soon, my partner will arrive. Then…”
Peering into the kitchen, we saw Eugene. He looked awful. His skin was sweat glistened and pale. He was slouched on the kitchen island counter top, shallowly shouting through labored breaths.
“You are going to take me to your laboratory and we are going to destroy them immediately!” He grabbed onto his neck yanking Eugene upright, “And then you’re coming with me.” He looked Eugene up and down, shaking his head.
Eugene scowled, “No…” He growled, “I won’t.” He threw his right arm up knocking the assassin off balance and scrambled to the middle of the kitchen island. He regained balance and dove in to tackle Eugene, who spun towards him plunging a kitchen knife into his gut. He screamed while shoving off the now mortally injured assassin and fled to the patio door at the rear of the Kitchen. He hobbled through the door and down a flight of stairs leading to a boat house.
I rushed over. “You’re not Grishna!” I pulled out the device we took from his associate, “You killed him, didn’t you!” He shouted through heaving coughs.
“Well, yes. I did. Though, he shot my friend dead and turned to do the same to me. It’s curious that an assassin would be surprised to find that another wound up dead!”
“ASSASSIN? I’m a PARK RANGER!”
“Uhh… excuse me?” I was definitely surprised though it makes sense in hindsight.
“Your friend, who is currently escaping, stole a creature from our Wildlife Reserve and, while poachers are a problem, they usually kill beasts that have some kind of market value. Instead, he stole a larva of one of our most aggressive invasive species and brought it into a realm with ample food and no natural predators.” The Ranger sat up slightly, leaning into a cabinet. “Our most logical conclusion was that he was some sort of psychotic terrorist. Then, I come to find that he is actually just a moron that tried to pass it off as a meat substitute.”
“He, Sir, is no moron! And besides, We already blew up the lab!” Anders cried from behind me.
“You know him? Yes, he is a moron and so are you! And, now, he’s a moron Dipheromorph.” The Park Ranger sighed, pulling his cellular device out. “Take this. You destroyed the lab? There is hope for you. You know now what could have been, aye?”
“Those monsters?” Tom peeped.
“They are just mature Dipherogon. There is no need to assign a morality to them. If you want to save your friends, take them to the consortium.” He glanced at Michelle. He laid still against the cabinet, no longer grasping his wound. From the pier an engine rumbled, it was Eugene preparing his cabin cruiser.
“Shit! Take Michelle to the boat and stop that maniac! I’ll dump the truck and meet you down there. Hurry!” I sprinted out of the front door, fumbling with the keys on my way to the box truck. It managed well across Eugene’s finely manicured lawn, tearing it up in the process, a shame for sure. The side of his house has a gentle slope to a seawall several feet above the water. With cruise control in place, I threw myself from the truck. Within a moment it tore over the seawall, launching out into the lake. Sprinting across the back yard, I could see Shay holding up Eugene who is face down on the ground, “Alright, time to go!” Tom brought the boat to full reverse from the dock as I crossed the gangway.
“Where were you heading?” I asked as I took a knee beside Eugene. As unhappy as I was with him, I can tell he was deranged.
He grunted, attempting to squirm out from under Shalaly’qua, who had him pinned face down. “My man asked you a question.” She wrenched down on his arm pushing her knee into his back.
“Ugh…! Okay, I was loading my research onto the boat.” – “…and?” – “and, that’s when I was attacked by that thing. I planned on traveling to my vacation home in Ft. Lauderdale.” I nodded to Shay to let him up. “I saw you on the cameras… I know you know about what was in the laboratory. I was there. I escaped through the maintenance shaft after discovering the nest and… Ernie’s corpse.” Ernesto Caruso was the Engineering manager of the laboratory complex, whose office we searched for the electrical panels. “I saw you in the service elevator bay. The Cameras went out shortly after an explosion. I assumed that you had not made it out. My lab was destroyed, my team with it. There was nothing for me here.”
“I can’t believe you left those people to die, Eugene!” Anders shouted.
“And do what, cause a panic and have a pit full of demons escape? I sealed them in. I did what I had to do.”
Anders had nothing more to say to him. He left into the cabin below, slamming the door behind him. “I’m taking you to the only place that will help, and it’s not your beach home in Florida. Hopefully this boat can take us to our ship.”
“You got a ship, T? like a ship ship?”
“Yes. This boat will not handle to open ocean.” Standing up from a knee, I yanked up Eugene, “Take him down below, would you?” I departed from them to find the ‘bridge’.
“Mike Hotel Naught Five Six, Felicity, Felicity, Felicity. Mike Hotel Naught Five Six, this is… uh,” I leaned back into the Captain’s Chair, searching for the name of the boat. “Pleasure Craft on Channel 16, Over.” I found it prudent to not broadcast the name of our ship over public marine communication, with a box truck from a recently exploded biotechnology laboratory in the water near the CEO’s residence’s empty dock. A few moments later, I received a response.
“Pleasure Craft, this is Felicity. Over.” a female voice responded, she sounded concerned.
“Felicity, please switch to Channel 71, over.”
“Roger, Pleasure Craft. Switching. Over.” – “Pleasure Craft, Out.” I changed the channel and hailed again.
“Felicity, this is Pleasure Craft, nice weather we’re having? Over.”
“Pleasure Craft, Is this a joke? State your name, over.” She seemed baffled, MH-56 is only marked on the ship, and there were no ships within sight.
“Felicity, send me your coordinates, over.” I patiently requested, however thin.
“Ohh... Aye Aye, Pleasure Craft.” The radio hung silent for a moment, “45.386, -85.498, Sir. Over.”
“Stay put, Felicity. I’ll call in eight hours for an ETA. Out.”