Slither - Edward Lee [73]
"You mean like that little one in the pot house? And I just saw some more in that creek, little tiny things."
"Them's the worms I mean."
"But-but . . . but Ruth said she saw some worms ten feet long. That ain't true, is it? Tell me it ain't true."
Jonas grinned through gray teeth. "It's true. Them little tiny things in the creek? They grow fast, and they grow big."
"Not ten feet!" Slydes protested.
"Oh, shit, man-they get bigger than that."
The information wasn't what Slydes needed to hear.
"The big ones are the worst, 'cause they need to eat more. They dissolve your insides, brother, and then suck it out. That's what they eat. They choose smaller people to lay their eggs in, and bigger people to eat." Jonas's brow popped up. "And you're a pretty big guy, Slydes. So what I'm sayin' is you gotta get your ass off this island right now. Get Ruth off too. And leave. Now While you still got a chance."
'I'm taking you with me, get you to a doctor back on the mainland."
Jonas shook his head. His yellow finger trembled when he slipped a reefer from his pocket and shakily lit it up. "It's too late for me. Get out before I change more, 'cause you know what happens then?"
"What?" Slydes croaked.
"I'll come for ya. I'll try to infect you. Watch." Jonas coughed wetly into his hand, then showed it to his brother. Amid the wad of appalling phlegm, several of the yellow things twitched. Jonas picked one out and popped it between his fingers. "This one here, it ain't got a worm in it 'cause it's one of the ones that changes you. That white stuff inside."
Slydes saw white strings in the slime.
"It changes your cells or something, to make you a better host." He popped another one. "Ah, here's one. Here's a fertile one. See, Slydes, some of these things have the white stuff, and some of 'em have worms. This one's got a worm. Look."
Slydes could barely do so ... but he looked anyway. In the dab of muck hanging off his brother's fingers, he saw the tiniest bright pink worm wriggling away.
"How do you know all this stuff?" Slydes asked.
Jonas's head tilted at the question. "I think because I'm changing. The more I change, the more of the worm's instinct I get in my brain, I guess." Jonas scraped the crap off his hand and got back to his reefer. "Get out of here now, brother ... before I try to infect you with the same shit."
Crazy, Slydes thought. It's crazy.
But he knew now that it had to be true.
'Shh!" Jonas bid. "Listen...."
Slydes stood still.
He could hear something rustle, and when he looked through some trees, the brush was stirring.
It was stirring a .lot.
"Go!" Jonas whispered. "One of 'em's coming."
When Slydes saw the pink shine roving beneath the brush, he ran like a madman.
(II)
"Report?"
The major had called them into the security room. He appeared perturbed, but then, he generally did.
"Early this morning we investigated the first structure, where members of the third party have set up a field lab of some kind," the sergeant replied.
"I know, Sergeant. We all saw that on the monitor last night. They look like they're examining something in there. Didn't the colonel order you to find out what they're examining?"
"I did that, sir." He's already in a bad mood. Now it's going to get worse. "They're examining the subject."
"Our subject?"
"Yes, sir."
"Our worm, you're saying? They've found samples of our worm?"
"Yes, sir. And the examples of the motile ova. They were newborn hatchlings."
"Were the members of the party infected during the process?"
"I can't say for sure, sir, but they didn't appear to be."
The major leaned over the table. "Corporal, punch up the camera we have installed there."
"Yes, sir." The corporal put it on the main monitor. "She's in there again, sir." On the screen, the same slender woman was back inside, at the worktable.
'She's in there a lot," the major noted. 'You're sure you found progeny of the subject in there? Are you sure it wasn't something else?"
it was our worm, sir," the sergeant offered. 'They're replicating well, all