Scolopendrphobia

The hot, humid night air clung to Lieutenant Terrance Crowder like a damp sheet pulled too soon from the dryer. He swallowed the pill down dry. He’d gotten so used to it that it was something he did daily without thought. The doctor swore they were helping, but he didn’t feel it; still, orders are orders.

He checked his plate carrier vest, slung his rifle, and strapped his helmet on. The plate carrier provided protection against standard firearms but did little against the energy weapons of the enemy.

The platoon was waiting for him in the ruined lobby of the bombed hotel they’d taken shelter in. They’d lost contact with the company days earlier and were doing their best to get back to known friendly territory. Traveling by night, they were usually able to avoid the cold-blooded enemy who grew sluggish as temperatures fell but seemed to favor no rest period. Tonight, however, the continued heat worked against them.

“Gerson, keep an ear on the comms. You hear even a peep on today’s freq you let me know right away. Hasni, take fourth squad, rear guard. I’m with first squad. Pilot, you’re point. Anderson, you’ve got the map, with me. As fast and quiet as we can; don’t bunch up, eyes and ears open.”

“Lieutenant, you think we’ll run into any bugs tonight?”

A shudder ran down Crowder’s spine, and he turned to look the questioning Private Gerson in the eyes. “It’s still about thirty degrees, so I’d say that’s a strong possibility. It’s warm enough that they’ll be busy…and fast.”

Pilot leaned over to the private carrying the radio. “Thirty degrees is probably ninety in your freedom units,” she said.

“Eighty-six, but thanks for educating the dumb Yank, corporal,” he said, keeping as straight a face as possible.

She sighed. “You’re no fun any more. Can we trade Gerson in on a new Yank?”

“How about,” Anderson said, “we quit picking on the Yank, you Aussie git.”

“That’s enough.” Crowder stood. “Let’s move out.”

Pilot moved to the door at the rear of the hotel, checking the alley before waving them on. They moved through alleys and side roads, the former resort city dark and silent…ominous.

Anderson walked beside the radioman. “How did you end up in His Majesty’s army, Gerson?”

“I was in uni at Teesside when they attacked. No way to get home, but I wanted to fight, so I signed up and they took me, no questions asked.”

“And you ended up in infantry, hunting bugs in South America. Welcome to the clusterfuck.”

Pilot held a hand up, calling the platoon to a halt, then moved her hand down parallel to the ground, signaling them to take a knee. With her left forefinger she touched the brim of her helmet.

Crowder nodded and moved forward to her position. “What do we have, corporal?” he asked, in a whisper.

“Bug convoy left, and another two bug vehicles right blocking the road. Unless we can find a way around this area, we’ll have to fight our way through.”

Crowder turned to face Anderson and pointed at his palm. She came forward to join them. “Is there a way around here?” he asked. “Somewhere we won’t be spotted crossing this dual carriageway?”

Anderson unfolded the map they’d found when they first landed. It wasn’t a military map, but it was good enough. GPS had stopped working the day of the first attack, and paper maps and compasses were once again king.

“Unless we want to go back, we’re stuck,” Anderson said. “The bugs have control of the jungle here, and anywhere we try to go around we run into the sea or the open square where the bug ship is.”

“Right. You two stay here and keep watch.” Crowder moved back and signaled for the squad leaders to join him.

When they had assembled, he got them up to speed. “Convoy sitting still on the left, two vehicles blocking the road on the right. We’ve got two LAWs remaining, and a six-lane dual carriageway to cross with no cover.

“With one, we take out the lead of the convoy; make it harder to get moving. We use the other to take out the vehicle on the far side of the carriageway. We’ll have to rely on grenades for the vehicle on the near side.”

“It’s a big kill zone,” Hasni said.

“How much smoke do we have?” Crowder asked.

“Five or six,” Hasni answered, “unless you want to include the CS canisters and launcher we snagged from the police station.”

“Oh, I do. After we figure out which way the wind is blowing.” He held up a hand. “And before anyone says it, bugger Geneva. I don’t think it applies to alien bugs and even if it did, I’ll take the fall. Hand over the launcher and the canisters.”

He took the belt of canisters and slung it over his shoulder like a bandolier before taking the launcher and loading in the first round. “So we’re clear: fire the LAWs, toss the smoke, I’ll start laying down CS, and we cross all-out, spray-and-pray.”

The squad leaders returned to their squads and passed on the plan. The two remaining LAWs were brought forward, the soldiers carrying them setting up at the edge of the building where Pilot and Anderson were keeping watch.

When Crowder raised his shaking hand, all eyes were on him. When he dropped it, the first LAW fired, then the second, the booms of the exploding vehicles echoing around the buildings. Smoke grenades were tossed, even as the beams of the bugs’ energy weapons began to cut into the corners of the buildings.

Seeing that the smoke was drifting to the left, Crowder ran forward and began lobbing the CS canisters toward the convoy. “Go! Go! Go!”

He could just make out the creatures’ vile shapes in the smoke: giant centipede-like beings that made some part of his brain screech and hide. He kept loading and firing CS canisters at them, even as he screamed in uncontrolled fear. Tears blurred his vision, but he didn’t need to see well to fire gas canisters in a general area.

Their movements became erratic, and some of them fell to the bullets of his soldiers, and still he fired the CS launcher and screamed. The bright blue beams of the bugs’ energy weapons stopped, and so did the sound of small arms fire. Crowder had run out of breath to scream and was trying to load another canister but couldn’t find one in the bandolier.

A hand gripped his sleeve and pulled at him. “Let’s go, Lieutenant. They’re all dead, but more will be here soon.”

That unfroze his feet and he began to run, dropping the now useless anti-riot gun. In the broad median he saw a troop that had been cut in two by an alien energy beam. The burned-out radio next to the mangled corpse made it easy to identify as Gerson.

Crowder keep running, catching up to the platoon who were still moving toward their objective. Anderson still had hold of his sleeve but let go as they came up on the rear squad. “Sir,” she said.

They returned to the head of the formation, with only Pilot in front of them, still on point. Anderson looked at the Lieutenant, still shivering and tears still running down his face. “You made it through, sir,” she said. “Is your head back in the game?”

Crowder nodded, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself. “Thanks, sergeant. I…can’t help it.”

“We know, sir, we know.” She elbowed him. “And yet you keep leading us right through them.”

“Not like I have a choice.” He thought about the pills he had left…four. When he ran out, would it actually be worse?

“Now we know another weakness of theirs,” Anderson said, “CS.”

“I couldn’t really tell, but it seemed like there were hundreds of them…but that’s probably the phobia talking.”

“There were about thirty.”

“And we hit them all?”

“No, we hit a few, including the four by the barricade, but the CS took the rest of them down.”

They continued, moving one block at a time, avoiding the bug patrols and sticking to the alleys and side streets. Crowder trotted up to Pilot and signaled a halt.

“It’ll be light soon, and bollocks-hot. The resupply depot should be close.”

“About four kilometers, I’d guess,” Pilot said.

“We’ll head there and see if the bugs left us anything. Hell, if it’s still standing, we might have taken it back already. If not, there’s warehouses there to take shelter in for the day.”

“Yes, sir,” Pilot said. She turned toward Anderson and pointed to her palm to let the sergeant know she needed the map.

Crowder left them to it and took a knee, taking deep breaths and trying to think of anything other than centipedes.