Read Wormwood Dawn (Episode VIII) for Free Online Page B

will become.”
    “What were the four monsters that were with you when you found me?”
    “Ah, yes,” Maynard said. “They were once men. But when they died, they became the… larvae, so to speak. I was able to control their urge to build cocoons and keep them in their present form. They are much like the fungal humans in that manner. They are easily controlled when you can alleviate their urges.”
    “Did you stop them the same way you stopped yourself?”
    “No,” Maynard said. “I stopped my own change by repeatedly injecting myself with the blood of those who are immune. Those… like you.”
    Toby’s eyes went wide, and his heart began pounding.
    “But don’t worry, Toby,” Maynard said. “I won’t take all of your blood. I only need a little… at a time.”
     
    “So,” Toni asked. “Why send Eric and Jake back with Grace?”
    “I don’t want Jake out here straining too much. None of us have anything for him in case his blood sugar drops.”
    “And Eric?”
    Dan shrugged. “We might run into some humans who also saw the crash.”
    He turned to Toni, who nodded slowly. “Right,” she said.
    Eric wasn’t good in a firefight. Though he had few problems with killing the mutants or the dead, he had hesitated in a fight against other people. Toni had given him a tongue lashing for that. Dan liked Eric, but having someone with them who was unable to shoot people would be dangerous.
    “Well,” Cliff said. “Let’s hope they don’t run into any people.”
    Gena led the way, carrying a sidearm. Dan guessed it was a standard .45 or 9mm of some type—he wasn’t sure. He heard her and Cliff talk about their military experience. Gena was interested in Cliff’s time in Kuwait during Desert Storm. Cliff mentioned he was a part of something called “The Third Herd”, whatever the hell that was.
    It was about another half hour before they began to smell the signs of a crash, and see the faint glow of burning embers surrounding the downed chopper. At Gena’s signal, they all crouched down. Dan and Cliff both scanned the area with their scopes, seeing nothing but the heat from the crash.
    “It looks clear,” Cliff said. “How about you, Dan?”
    “I don’t see anything, but that—wait!”
    A man-shaped shadow crossed the bulk of the globby heat signature. He froze, wondering what the hell it could be. Surely the pilot and whoever else was left hadn’t turned…
    Or had they?
    “Movement,” Dan said. “Man-shaped, but cold and shadowy.”
    “Shadow people?” Toni asked.
    Dan shook his head.
    “What are shadow people?” Gena asked. “Something else we haven’t seen?”
    “We’ll tell you later,” Drew said.
    “Let’s keep going,” Dan said. “Slowly though. If those are the infected then we might be able to creep up on them.”
    Dan took the lead, heading toward the site slowly and as silently as possible. Behind him, someone stepped on a stick, cracking it with a loud pop. He could hear moaning ahead, as if the dark figures had head it. He turned back, seeing Drew gritting his teeth.
    Drew shrugged.
    “How many people were left on board when the chopper crashed?” Dan asked Gena.
    “As far as I know, just the pilot,” she replied. “Grace and I got out and Jacob got blown out.”
    “Alive?”
    Gena shrugged. “I doubt it. He wasn’t wearing a chute anyway.”
    Dan groaned. What a way to go; flying out of a chopper that was about to crash and splatting into the trees below. Maybe that was better than dying in a giant fireball. Maybe not.
    Dan raised his rifle, finding a few of the shadowy figures. Maybe he could pop them before they got there. His rifle was quiet enough with its large suppressor. It was worth a try. He centered the crosshairs on the head of one of the targets. When it stopped to turn around, he fired. The figure fell straight down, and none of the others had noticed.
    “Is that a Blackout?” Gena asked.
    Dan nodded, finding another one to drop. He fired