Symbiote Read online

  “The parasite isn’t really anything of the sort. It’s symbiotic. It doesn’t control your mind, it gives it what it wants in exchange for life. Not to worry, Detective, soon I can find one for you as well.”

  Detective Hall stopped twisting her body and lay still on the ground. Her eyes opened, glowing green in the headlights. She had a calm demeanor. Collected. She stood sluggishly and turned to face Detective Markov with a blank expression coming over her face.

  “There,” Agent Brown remarked. “It’s done.”

  29

  2000 Hours – Day 3 – 2 Miles Northwest of Mill Valley, CA

  Detective Markov backed away from his partner, shaking his head in disbelief. Karen couldn’t have succumbed to that thing. She was too strong, too stubborn. Agent Brown beckoned her with his free hand to join him. She obliged, ambling over to him in a robotic fashion. Agent Brown muttered something to her in that clicking language and she responded in kind.

  Well aren’t they chummy? Markov thought.

  Markov didn’t understand what was being said; he barely knew what was happening at all. All of a sudden Agent Brown is one of them, Karen lost her mind to the parasite, and Markov had a gun trained on his chest. He could hardly think of a worse five minutes in his entire life. To be fair, a few moments came to mind, all of which involving Karen, but he’d always had her on his side. Now, he was truly alone.

  “Karen!” Markov screamed. “I know you’re in there somewhere. You have to fight it!”

  “It’s too late, Detective,” Agent Brown replied.

  Karen stood stone-faced beside him. She was truly gone. Any semblance of her former self was completely masked behind those terrifying green eyes, glowing slightly, reflecting light back toward him like a predator of the night. Markov’s knees about gave out. He stumbled backward and placed both hands on his head, willing himself to find a solution to this mess.

  “I can’t let you leave here,” Brown continued.

  Agent Brown raised his gun and cocked it. He leveled it on Markov’s chest and prepared to fire. Markov’s hands fell to his side and he stared at the weapon in horror. In all of his nightmares he’d been able to fight off the demons and murderers and all manner of terrors. Now he stood in the middle of a deserted highway with no weapon and no way out, his partner complicit in his own demise.

  Detective Hall put a gentle hand on Brown’s and when he regarded her she shook her head. She said something in the alien language and he handed her the gun hesitantly. She seemed to have a strange power over him, like she had with Neil Meriwether on the rooftop. For a moment Markov believed she might still be on his side. He believed she was in control and her conversation with Agent Brown was a farce. He believed it right up until Karen raised the Beretta, took her stance just like Markov had taught her, and fired.

  •

  Agent Brown shifted the Suburban into drive and pulled away, Detective Hall sitting aloof in the passenger seat. He couldn’t have planned it better himself. The loose ends were tying themselves off for him, all several days before the invasion was to begin. They’d penetrated multiple layers of government all over the world and that was just with the first wave. Soon, the armies of Parnax would descend on Earth and they would make it their home.

  “Where to?” Karen asked.

  “I’ve secured a base of operations for us in San Francisco. We can lead the invasion from there.”

  “We?” she asked.

  Agent Brown regarded her dubiously.

  “Yes, we. I have been here the longest and it is my right.”

  “Do you know who I am?” Detective Hall asked in the alien language.

  Beads of sweat rolled down Agent Brown’s face. Had he stumbled upon a General of the Parnax Army? He maneuvered the Suburban around a bend in the road. They were riding along a cliff face now, only miles from San Francisco. The first wave had landed years ago, with stragglers crashing down here and there. Mostly, they were foot soldiers. Agent Brown took his orders directly from the Secretary of Defense, who’d been inhabited six months earlier. The Secretary was a Captain of the Parnax Imperial Guard, hardly a high ranking official in the grand scheme of things. A true General would be unheard of at this stage of operations.

  He returned his gaze to her. Could it be?

  “My lady, I apologize. In that body, there was no way to know.”

  “Silence,” Karen said.

  She regarded him with confident ice blue eyes and brushed her short blonde locks out of the way, smirking to her right side. Agent Brown had never met a General and didn’t know what to expect. Who would have known one would inhabit a specimen as frail as Detective Hall. His body would have been a more appropriate vessel. Her gaze encapsulated him and he lost track of the road.

  “I don’t know about you,” she said, unfeeling, “But I’m not much of a swimmer.”

  Detective Hall gripped the steering wheel and jerked it to the right, sending the black Chevy Suburban crashing into the steel barrier and over it down the rocky cliff face. Agent Brown’s eyes widened, betraying his fear. He knew that the regenerative effects of the parasite wouldn’t be any match for a fall that far. Agent Brown’s eyes darted around the interior of the vehicle, looking for a way out. Looking to cheat death. He regarded the detective, who smiled like she was going down a roller coaster.

  That bitch, he thought before the Suburban crashed into the jagged rocks.

  30

  2025 Hours – Day 3 – 1 Mile Northwest of Mill Valley, CA

  Detective Markov put pressure on his shoulder where the bullet had struck. Karen shot him on the left side, missing the heart by several inches. Karen didn’t miss. That gave him small comfort as he trudged along the road dripping blood to the asphalt in crimson droplets which appeared black in the darkness. Markov couldn’t believe his partner shot him. Even on the off chance she missed on purpose, that still meant that bitch shot him. He only had half a mile to go until he hit Mill Valley. There had to be a small hospital there where he could get stitched up.

  Markov’s pace slowed as he lost more blood. He became dizzy and wavered, staggering to the left a few paces into the center of the road. He clenched his jaw and steeled himself, fighting back the pain. He asked himself what Karen would do in the same situation. Probably swear a lot and see if she could jog the rest of the way into town. And people thought he was hardheaded.

  A pair of headlights appeared behind him, coming up over a hill. Markov waved his bloody hand out in front of him and stood in the center of the street. Red and blue lights flashed on the top of the police cruiser as it approached. Detective Markov ran toward the vehicle, which came to a sudden halt not ten meters from him. Two young cops exited the vehicle, each with their hands on their weapons, ready to pull them if they needed. Markov fell to his knees in front of the cruiser, illuminated in the dual pair of headlights, and raised his right hand over his head. His left hung useless at his side.

  “I’m Detective Yuri Markov, SFPD,” he said groggily. “I need medical attention.”

  Detective Markov collapsed headfirst into the pavement. The officers ran to his side, radioing for medical. Sirens rang out into the night as the ambulance approached. The rest was a blur as emergency medical personnel put pressure on his gunshot wound, padding it with gauze and asking him useless questions like his name and age. He remembered telling the officers about the parasite, warning them that the meteorites were coming. The fools didn’t know what was headed their way and he’d be damned if he were the only person who knew. He continued warning the EMT’s and officers until he lost consciousness as they loaded him in the back of the ambulance.

  •

  1300 Hours – Day 4 – Mill Valley Hospital

  “How are you feeling, champ?” Captain Riggs asked in a voice ill-befitting him.

  Detective Markov attempted to sit up in his hospital bed but found the effort too strenuous and laid back down. The Captain pressed a button on a remote control and the head of the bed tilt
ed up using several motors. He had no way to tell how long he’d been there. Had the invasion already begun? Was Karen alive? So many questions.

  Several monitors beeped away, displaying numerous vital signs and information that Markov couldn’t understand. His mind had one track and anything else was an unneeded distraction.

  “Where’s Karen?”

  Markov’s mouth was dry and his voice came out hoarse. The Captain handed him a cup of water and he reluctantly took a sip. As he swallowed, a shooting pain ran from his left shoulder to the tips of his fingers. He winced and sat the cup down on the bedside table.

  “Easy, now. She’s still missing. I assure you Yuri, we’ll find her. You just rest now.”

  She was still missing? What about Agent Brown? Detective Markov shot the Captain a serious glance. He bore a look of concern that was unbefitting of him. His gray suit looked more like something he would have worn to a funeral than to visit a subordinate in the hospital.

  “How long was I out?”

  “More than twelve hours. You deserve the rest, Yuri. If you’re up to it, I’d like to ask you a couple questions before I take off.”

  Markov nodded, jaws clenched. He would want to know who shot him. The circumstances.

  “Do you remember what happened last night?”

  Detective Markov told him what happened after he left the station, but neglected to mention a few of the details. How could he tell the Captain that his partner had shot both him and a Federal Agent? If she ever did turn up, she would be thrown in prison, regardless of what was going on in her head. There was something he did tell the Captain that he’d later regret. Markov warned him about Agent Brown and the invasion. He told him he had to find Karen or Brown alive so they could manufacture a defense against them.

  The Captain listened to him in silence, never interrupting. He didn’t take notes, which struck Markov as odd. When he was done Captain Riggs nodded and remained silent for a moment, closing his eyes as though in prayer. When he opened them once more Markov had a sick feeling in his stomach.

  “Thank you, Yuri. You’ve told me what I needed to know. Rest now, Detective.”

  With that, the Captain turned and left the patient room.

  •

  Outside the room Captain Jeremiah Riggs leaned his back against the off-white wall. He looked up at the fluorescent light and a tear welled up in the corner of his eye. Detective Markov was like a son to him. He’d never told him that. How could he? He had certain duties as his boss that prevented him from getting too close to any one cop.

  How could he tell them they found a black Chevy Suburban at the bottom of a cliff not hours before? That fingerprints quickly flagged a match with Detective Hall and one Colin Brown, a decorated veteran of the United States Army? How could he tell that man he had lost the only thing that meant something to him and that the Captain was about to take something more?

  Captain Riggs stumbled down the hall, nodding to the doctor from the Psychiatric Ward as he passed. He shook his head as more tears began to flow down his wrinkled face. He couldn’t believe this was how it was going to end for him. For a man that had given everything to the force.

  31

  0805 Hours – Day 6 – Mill Valley Hospital Psychiatric Ward

  “I’ll listen after you take your medicine,” the cute nurse said.

  Detective Markov raised the small plastic cup to his lips and deposited two oblong blue pills, chasing them with an equally small cup of water. He hated the pills. They made him lose his train of thought and feel numb, that is if he felt anything at all. Markov scratched his itchy facial hair. A few days of growth was never enough to reach that soft stage of his beard.

  The day before, he’d tried to warn the other patients about the impending invasion force. Some of them even listened to him. He didn’t know whether that meant his memory was validated or if he truly was insane. Today, instead of warning everyone about the parasites, he watched reruns of Full House on the thick Cathode-Ray television in the corner of the recreation room.

  Markov adjusted the shoulder sling attached to his left arm and sat on the tattered brown couch next to the nurse’s station. Nurse Carpenter would listen to his story, but he had a feeling she’d chuckle with her friends over a beer after work. Still, she was the only one who would listen and she was cute. At least the pills hadn’t taken that away from him.

  Captain Riggs had been by the day before to check up on him. Markov didn’t like the look he gave him. It wasn’t enough that he watched him lose his job, now he had to see him here. That was the only time he took comfort in knowing what was about to happen.

  The world had gasoline poured into every crevice, and soon someone was going to come by with a match. Markov didn’t know when it was going to happen. Maybe one day, maybe a week, maybe a year. It was coming, though. And for the first time since being locked away in there, he didn’t mind that he wasn’t the one who had to lead the charge. Markov saw firsthand what they were capable of. He knew the Earth didn’t stand a chance against them.

  Markov ignored Nurse Carpenter and moved to the comfy red chair closer to the television. The familiar opening theme of Full House was beginning and he didn’t want to miss it. The show gave him a sense of nostalgia to his youth, when he’d watch the show looking for his house in San Francisco. He never did see it. Patients shuffled around him, occupied with the voices in their heads or the incomprehensible conversations between each other, each looking for a way to voice their own demons and each failing to find an audience that understood.

  Epilogue

  0001 Hours – Day 7 – Near the Rings of Saturn

  Countless jagged rocks plummeted through the vacuum of space on a collision course with Earth. They were using Saturn’s gravitational field to slingshot toward Earth, pushing forward their expected arrival date. They numbered in the millions, maybe more but impossible to know for sure. They kept enough distance from each other to avoid collision, making a long procession into the darkness. The purple sheen to the meteorites occasionally glinted green through the pores of the rock.

  Up ahead, the pale blue dot lay in their path. At last, they would have a world they could once again call their own. At last they would find new hosts. Each species they encountered made them thirst for more, to desire a more perfect form. For eons they’d spread throughout the galaxy and for eons more they would travel. Until they merged with every species; until their genetic code was unrivaled in the galaxy.