Remembrance
I remember as a child being told by my grandmother Ruth a tale she once told me about a strange little man who lived as a hermit in the middle of a desolate field. His only shelter against the elements was a rickety old shack. Never once did he stray from his dank little shack. The local people took care of his needs so there was no need for him to leave. I often wondered if he was sick or enfeebled with some crippling affliction that rendered him incapable of leaving his shack. She never told me, all she’d say was “It was the least they could do for him.”
There was a special reason the little hermit could never leave his shack. He was the keeper of a great and terrible secret; every twenty-nine years the secret that he keeps tries to escape. When the planets are aligned and the elements here on Earth are in chaos they break free. The “they” with which I speak are creatures not from above they are not E. T’s. They come from deep within the earth’s inner core. They are the next step on the evolutionary ladder and must be contained.
One night not long ago an explosion blew the Hermits shack to bits sealing the pit he gave his life to guard. The rest of my grandmother’s stories about the Hermit were vague. I wanted to know what would happen now that the Hermit had been killed. Had the collapse of the structure really buried the creatures or where they quietly biding their time?
I left my grandmother’s that summer and went home to return for the start of school. Little did I know that would be the last time I saw my grandmother alive, she died of a stroke that winter.
The next ten years seemed to blink by, today I am 21 and a junior in college where I am pursuing a doctorate in Folklore, Myths & Legends because I believe there are fine slivers of fact hidden in them and it’s my job to seek the truth. I received a letter from my family’s solicitor informing me that I had inherited my grandmother’s antebellum home. My grandmother, being the control freak that she was, insisted I be there in person to claim the house.
It felt strange being back here with her gone, although I could feel her presence draped around me this did nothing to put me at ease in fact it was a little unsettling. I loved my grandmother but she was not an affectionate kind of person and could be down right intimidating when she wanted. I was already ill at ease to start with, now I have to deal with whatever awaits me in this envelope. Letters from lawyers are usually not the types of things I like to deal with. I know that once I open this envelope there’s no going back. I’ve got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach; the nasty paper cut I got trying to open the damn thing was a sign the worst was yet to come.
Inside was a letter telling me where I could find everything I’ve ever wanted to know about the Hermit. It was buried under the tomato plants in the rear garden. I dug into the earth until the tips of my fingernails raked across something metal. It was an old hope chest the key had been place inside a plastic bag to protect it from the elements and taped to the bottom of the chest.
I took the chest into the living room and unlocked it. There were books dating back hundreds of years, each one chronicling each time the creatures broke free and how they were contained. It was intense reading so much so that I needed to take a break and get some fresh air. But there was no air to be had; the South was in the middle of a swelter with no relief in sight. The local pools and watering holes were filled to capacity; anyone not fortunate to have been there early sought relief from the heat in the movie theaters. I chose the coffee shop in the mall to unwind and keep cool. I ordered a frozen coffee then nestled myself into a booth where I continued reading.
I had just come to the part that explained what happened to the remnants of the Hermits shack when I noticed tiny little bugs coming out of a utility closet. There must have been thousands of them but no one seemed to notice them but me. I picked my feet up off the floor and rested them on the seat next to me and watched. The tiny creatures bore their way into a person through their shoes. The people seemed to titter a bit than acted as if nothing had happened they just carried on drinking empty cups of coffee and staring blankly at nothing.
I walked along the tabletops until I’d reached the counter adjacent to the utility closet. There were millions of them bubbling up from the ground. Those stupid bastards had built this mini-mall right on top of the pit the Hermit guarded. I needed to get back to the house, back to the books to find a way of stopping them. The pod people don’t seem to like what I’ve found; they converge around me and try to knock me onto the floor. I feel like I’m trapped inside a friggin’ role-playing game.
I’m jumping from table to table trying to make my way to the door. One of the pods is wheeling around in a pretty fancy wheelchair; the motorized kind. I grabbed a pot of coffee and hit her over the head with it so that I could use her wheelchair. The blow didn’t even seem to faze her she just kept crawling over to me. I jumped in the chair making damn sure my feet never touched the ground then grabbed a broom leaning against the wall. It wasn’t easy navigating and swinging the broom like a bat to keep them at bay.
The shoppers outside the coffee shop seemed unaffected but I wasn’t taking any chances. I threw that chair into high gear and got the hell out of there. I use the remote to open the hatch to my SUV. I climbed out of the chair then pulled it inside my truck. I had a feeling I was going to need it. I high tailed it back to my grandmothers and tore through the rest of the books. According to the books, I needed a lead lined suit with lead- lined hood, lead lined gloves and lead lined boots. Where in the hell am I going to get any of this stuff? One the very last page of the last book I was told where I would find these things. The Hermit had given these items to my grandmother shortly before he died. She hid them behind the armoire in her bedroom.
Inside the right pocket of the lead lined suit where instructions on how to kill and contain the ones that have escaped. I was to fill a water spray bottle with the contents from the nest of these creatures. Spraying them in the eyes is supposed to drive the creature from its host body then once the creature has left its host, I’m supposed to tag and bag then drag them back to the pit. I don’t want to do this! I didn’t ask for this opportunity!
I don’t know if I can do this but I don’t have much choice it’s not like I can just go to the police with this. They’re gonna look at me like I have a screw lose and they’d be right. I must have a screw loose to go ahead with this. I hope the medieval looking thing works; I’ve no desire to join the pod people.
It’s late now and the mall should be closed by now. I have to figure out a way of getting inside the coffee shop without setting off any alarms. I drove around to the back of the mall in search of its main power cable. I can’t even operate a VCR how the hell am I supposed to know which cable to cut? One potato, two potato, three potato, four, my mother told me to pick this one right over here but I choose this one right here. Sweet Jesus if you’re listening I could use you help right about now ‘cause here goes nothing. Fucking hell, a total blackout-- this should be fun. I rolled back to my truck and got the things I’d need once I’m inside the coffee shop—three portable halogen lights, a pick ax, and a, water spray bottle.
It was unnaturally cold inside the coffee shop and there was this annoying din coming from the utility closet. I panned the lights around the shop there were millions of these things all over the place. I was scared shitless and wanted to be anywhere but here but I’ve come too far to bail now. I dug down deep to summon the courage to continue and I prayed like hell that this suit does what it’s supposed to do and that’s keeping those little buggers from getting inside. I set the lights up and went to work with the pick ax to dislodge pieces of the chrysalis that I needed to put inside of the bottle mixed with bleach.
I’m no dummy I brought five bottles with me, God knows I don’t want to have to come back here any sooner than I have to. I loaded up the bottles gave them a good shake then went to work spraying the ones that hadn’t found a host. They made a horrible shrilling sound as I sprayed they dropped to the floor and died. It took me all night but I got all of the ones I found in the coffee shop and I sprayed the nest to stop anymore from coming. I was exhausted by the time I was done the only thing I could think about was soaking in a nice hot tub then going to bed but there was still work to be done. I had to spray the perimeter of the house and property to make sure they would drop dead before getting to me. When I was done I was too exhausted for a bath so I took a quick shower instead then went to bed tomorrow I have to hunt the ones that have already taken a host body.
It was virtually impossible to get any sleep even though I was totally drained emotionally and physically. My dreams were inundated with images of what lie ahead for me. Unable to sleep I got up and prepared myself for combat. I modified the Hermits protective gear to fit. I stuffed cotton into the boots to keep my feet from sliding around inside. My pant legs were shoved into my boots then sealed them off by using industrial strength duct tape. I did the same for my shirtsleeves; shoving down into the lead lined gloves. I sealed my face mask so that nothing could get in and infect me. I constructed a makeshift tanker out of an old plastic petrol jug. I cut a nice length of hose to use its nozzle for maximum spray range.
It was the crack of dawn; with a little luck there’d be none of them out stalking about but if they are, I’m ready. I needed something large enough to hold and disperse the mixture---getting what I needed could be tricky. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and a chill ran through me. I knew before even looking that some of them would be out there waiting for me no matter how much I wished they weren’t I opened the blinds and saw them just standing there outside of the perimeter that was treated with the mixture. I rigged a plastic gas can to my back and inserted a hose and nozzle to take them out with. I checked and re-checked everything before I stepped out of the house; everything had been laid out for me in my dreams. One by one I aimed, fired and took all twenty of them out.
They didn’t shrill or try to get away they just stood they like lambs to the slaughter; even I knew this was a set up. I walked around and collected what came out of the host and threw them into the back of my truck. In a few hours the people who were used as hosts would recover with no memory of what happened to them. The clock was ticking; I packed my truck with everything I was going to need and a little of what I didn’t. This was an all or nothing proposition and I was in it to win.
I drove to the local firehouse this being such a small town there aren’t more than five men on duty at any given time so if I played my cards right taking care of them then stealing the pumper should be a piece of cake. I found them asleep in the bunkroom. I walked over to the first two guys all five were fast asleep. I pulled back their eye- lids and gave each eye a squirt. The shrilling sounds the creatures made woke the others. I had to shut them down before things got out of hand. I drew my grand mother’s old Colt .45 and motioned for them to back into the corner. Then I tried my best to explain to them what was going on in the time allotted, which wasn’t much.
“You guys just saw what happened to your friend. That thing lying there next to them is dead. In a few hours your friend will be back to normal.”
They just sat there, gob-smacked while I taped their wrists behind them. “If you’re not one of those things I’ll give you the solutions to take away the burn and apologize.” I wasn’t taking any chances they all looked normal but I had to make sure. One of them managed to free him self and tried to get away. I tackled him then squirted the mixture into its eyes. Earplugs should have been apart of the protection pack-- that shrieking is enough to make your ears bleed. Two down, three to go; out of the three two were infected that last guy was normal. I poured the neutralizing solution into his eyes and offered him a choice: Either come with me and show me how to operate the controls on the Pumper or you can stay here and hope that the next person that you come in contact with is really a person and not another walking bug pod. He chose the former.
I still didn’t trust him so I left his wrist bound while he explained how to run the pump panel. The safest place for him right now was with me besides I was going to need his help whether I wanted it or not. I poured the chrysalis mixture into the pumpers’ water tank then sprayed the perimeter to see how well it worked. I bagged the bugs then set my plan to rid the town of them in motion. In rural communities like this a siren there are sirens installed to alert the town of emergencies and draw them to the Town Center. It was sunrise; I’d be able to see them all. In case of emergency the town has a siren that can be heard throughout the small town by all inhabitants; it summons them to the town center. I parked the fire truck smack dab in the parking lot of the center and waited for them to come. Everyone showed up, it was a sneak attack on my part. I hosed all of them down and saw the bugs that were tiny when they infected the host were now the size of the host.
They poured out of the backs of the host and died. I bagged them and took them back to the nest where I buried them. I am now the keeper of the pit and for as long as I’m alive it’s my responsibility to keep the records of what happened. I will see to it that they never forget!
