Read Earth Man for Free Online

fight.
    OLIGOCHAETA.HUMAN. ALL IS ONE.
    Suddenly Danny understood what the voice was saying. Araneae was spiders, Ixodida were also known as ticks. Oligochaeta.
    “ Oligochaeta.” Danny whispered to himself.
    A common earthworm. What did the y mean though? Why was it important? Danny opened his eyes and looked at his wounded arm. The bone had already grown back and he watched in amazement as the meat and skin re-grew over top of his skeleton. The moulting fluid worked as a healing agent, covering his wounds and regenerating them quickly. Danny had no idea if anything in nature could even heal that fast. It was like watching some kind of magical plant bloom before his eyes except he could feel the nerves and the sensations flooding through the new flesh. The paramedics and police burst into the room, waving flashlights in his face. As he held up his hand to block the light, the last pieces of his new hand knitted themselves together. The new bones cracked for the first time and the paramedics put Danny on a stretcher. All he could do is stare at his new arm, the skin pink and fresh. As they put him on the elevator they placed a breathing mask over his face. He moved the fingers on the newly regrown hand, marvelling as the muscles flexed for the first time. Danny held both arms up side by side and while they were mirror images of each other, there was clearly a difference in age between the two limbs. Then the shock set in and Danny fell back unconscious.

             
    When the hospital finally cleared Danny to leave it was Phil who came to pick him up. After what happened in the basement Danny and Helen both agreed that it wasn’t safe for the kids to come back to the hospital. They’d barely spoken about it and Danny had no way to explain it. People around the hospital started whispering about the guy with all the bad luck. Helen had missed too much work already and with Danny now unemployed, Phil volunteered to get him so Helen could keep her client happy. It seemed ridiculous to be building an oak wardrobe while her husband was in the hospital but her real estate clients wanted the houses ready in time for their potential buyers. It was a Wednesday anyway and the kids were off at school, whereas Phil’s son was off at college in Los Angeles.
    There had been a lot of questions about what had happened and what exactly th e creature was they’d found downstairs. But with all Danny had been through and his general lack of cooperation, the police decided he was simply an unlucky guy who’d happened upon a very sick individual. The Center for Disease Control had been called in to remove the body and they could find nothing that could pose a risk to anyone else. The corpse was long gone before Phil showed up and the hospital wanted to put it behind them as quickly and quietly as possible. They even went so far as to wave Danny’s single room costs, wiping it off the bill entirely. Danny said nothing as he got dressed, this time with a plain white t-shirt; his jeans had survived the encounter with the Third in one piece. Phil waited patiently for him to sign himself out and they walked side by side to the car. Phil opened the passenger door for his old friend who he’d known since high school. Although Danny gave him a strange look, still Phil said nothing.
                  Inside the old Volkswagen that smelled like a dirty hockey bag, Phil took off his hat and tossed it in the back. Putting his seatbelt on, Danny watched Phil rub his balding, short cut afro. It looked as if Phil was going to say something, but instead he turned the key to start the engine. Then Phil turned to him, scratching his stubbly beard as the words came tumbling out.
    “ Look are you going to tell me what the fuck is going on or not, man?”
    Dan ny was taken aback for a moment. “What are you talking about, exactly?”
    “ Look I’m not your wife or that dumb-ass doctor. I was there, Danny. I saw things, heard things.