Bug Splat

[Lord Pounder]

Bug Splat

By Stevie Herron

Chapter 1

Dr. Donia stared intently at his instruments. He was close he could feel it. The nano-probes followed his commands and continued to alter the genetic structure of the insect.

As a boy Alf Donia had always been fascinated by bugs, like most male adolescents, but as he became a recognised scientist in genetics he became more aware of how incredible bugs where. He planned to alter their genetic structure to make them smarter, he planed to give them new abilities. The result would be the perfect undercover agent.

He wiped the sweat of his high fore-head, genetics was hard work. He added a bit more of the enhancing chemicals, and ran a new intelligence test. To his amazement the analyser pinged a positive. Donia had done it, he had achieved what even his government funders had never thought possible – He had given insect life human sentience.

Immediately Donia abandoned his equipment, eager to inform General Farrel, the man the president had sent to breathe down Donia’s neck. The US government, when they decided to back a project, wanted to be kept fully up to date even if that meant holding the project up.

Donia grasped the receiver in his shaking, liver spotted hand. Time had not been kind to Donia. He punched in the number of Farrel’s office.
“Hello General, Donia here, at Bug Central.”
General Farrel frowned just hearing the weedy Scientist’s voice, he though Donia’s work was a waste to time and money, money that could be spent developing soldiers and their weapons. Espionage was a skill Farrel hated, he preferred a straight up fight.
“Get on with it, Alf” he said irritably “I have an army to run you know”
“We have a go, I did it” said Donia with barely contained excitement”
“Good work Doctor, I’ll inform the president immediately”

With that Farrel hung up and sat back in his large chair slightly that hat egghead scientist, Donia, had proved everyone wrong. He mused on his anger for a minuet then picked up the phone and dialled the President’s number.
“Mr. President, Dr. Donia is just of the phone with me, he says all lights are green.”, said the general.
“Excellent, get over to the facility and keep a close watch on it. Tell Donia I want to see his report by the end of the week, and contact White over in intelligence, I want his projections on where we can use them best.” Drawled the president in his famous southern accent.
“Yes-Sir”

The President turned and looked outside his window and smiled, he wasn’t looking at the view, his inner eye was turned towards the future, a future that with the intervention of Donia’s bugs, was very very prosperous for America.



Chapter 2

Donia worked like a man possessed, here it was, his life’s work complete, His medium length white hair was in disarray and his lab coat was stained. He had to write up his report for President Sheridan. He had just proved himself right. Sheridan was a miserable old fart, he never wanted to sink the money into the Bug Project, but it was too much of a risk to take NOT to get involved.

Just at that moment General Farrel invaded the Lab. He stood a fine figure of a man, 6’5 and built like a Sherman tank his graying hair in a military crewcut. His uniform immaculate all the pins and ribbons gleaming, the complete opposite of Donia who hadn’t changed clothes in over a day, his brown trousers and white shirt, under his stained lab coat, were all wrinkled and sweaty. Donia looked like he hadn’t slept or shaved in a few days too. Farrel looked at the wretched man and wrinkled his nose in disgust, in his eyes Donia wasn’t a man, a trainee in his first day at military academy could best him with one hand. Farrel understood the need for other ways of battle but that didn’t mean he had to like it.
“So what have we got?” asked Farrel
“Everything I said I would give you” said Donia suppressing a cocky smile, “we have full sentience and the special abilities work”
“Show me”

Donia led the General over to a triple security door. Two soldiers carrying the latest weapon, the M-99, and wearing spider silk armor guarded each door. The M-99 had been invented in the year previous, it carried 9mm HE rounds and had a tendency to make quite a mess to organics while leaving property and equipment relatively undamaged, the prefect weapon for this kind of job. It was referred to by the soldiers who used it as a “splatter gun”.
Donia lead the General over to a viewing tank. The tank was a clear plastic cage, which looked like a hamster cage. In the hamster cage was an insect that looked like a cross between a hissing cockroach and a scarab beetle.

“This was our first subject we tried our nano-technology on, We achieved a basic intelligence in him but not enough to suit our purposes. But he is more than able to perform the take over function you requested.” Droned Donia.
“Let’s see it in action” said Farrel anxious to see blood.

Donia pressed a switch that opened a hatch and moved a rabbit up into the cage. The rabbit sniffed at the bug and backed off. In the blink of an eye the bug sprang into action. Almost faster than the eye could see the bug had leapt on the rabbit and disappeared into it’s ear canal. The Scientist and the General both watched at the rabbit started to convulse. Then the rabbit stopped moving and became very still

“See, General, my bug has invaded the body of the rabbit and taken over all it’s vital functions. The prefect espionage tool in your hands,”

“Impressive Doctor, but not worth much if it’s a dumb shit” said Farrell not betraying any kind of amazement, in fact he looked bored.

“But this was just the first attempt General,“ protested Donia. “Wait and see what else we have.”

They moved along to the next tank. It too contained a variant bug this time the bug was smaller and the Scarab-like Mandible more pronounced and sharper.

“This was our most promising subject for a time general” droned Donia “But due to an adverse reaction to the insert chemical name it became psychotic.

“Explain” demanded Farrel bluntly

“Ok, you asked for it.” Sighed Donia.

He his a few switches on the control board in front of the cage. This time two lizards were raised through the hatch on the bottom of the cage. Both lizards, Iguanas, began to hiss and back off from the vicious looking creature. Once again, almost faster than the eye could see the bug sprang into action. It leapt at one unfortunate iguana and burrowed deep into its hide. Farrel winced as he saw a large lump move from the iguana’s side up into its neck. With that the lizard started moving it’s eye’s rapidly, seemingly getting to grips with it’s new circumstances, it licked at the air and turned to look at the other iguana. It seemed to be sizing him up. The unconverted iguana took its eyes off the possessed iguana for just one second. In that once second the possessed iguana was on him, clawing, biting, whipping with it’s incredibly strong tail. In a second it was over. The dying iguana in danger of drowning in it’s own blood.

“See what I mean, a complete head case.” Said Donia

“Maybe so, but it has potential for the military. Just drop a few of these bugs behind enemy lines and he’ll wipe himself out.”

The general was beginning to like what he saw.

The third and final cage was much larger than the previous cages, in fact it was a 7foor by 7foot Plexiglas. In the cage there sat an Army private called Adair. Farrell noticed something wrong but couldn’t figure out what. The it hit him, the private had a large lump the size of a golf ball in the back of his neck. Farrell also noticed that the lump was pulsing.

“Where is the bug?” asked the General fearing that he knew the answer. He may have been a cold-blooded son of a bitch when it came to fighting the enemy, but he did care for the welfare of his men.

“I am ‘the bug’” came a sarcastic reply from Adair/Bug

“What can you tell me about this version of the bug Doctor, Donia” asked Farrel not taking his eyes of the Adair/Bug for one minute.

“Well for a start the first stage bug is a lot smaller than the previous incarnations. Chemical infusions using Nano-Tech has made it smarter than human normal. In it’s host stage, which you see before you, it not only has all its intelligence, but it has access to all of the hosts memories and it enhances the hosts physical abilities. Impressed?”

“Have you finished your report Doctor?”

“Yes it’s on my desk, waiting for you to take it to the government committee overseeing Project Bug”.

“I want to talk to Adair for a moment before go to your office”
“Be my guest” replied Donia stepping aside so what Farrel could speak to Adair/Bug through the grill.

“How do you feel soldier?” asked Farrell

“Strange sir,” replied the Adair/Bug “I feel so much stronger and my senses are more attuned”

“Do you feel any side-effects from the hosting?”

“My neck is a bit sensitive but that’s all”

Donia spoke up at that point, “The bug burrowed in through his neck and attached itself to his spinal cord. Sensitive is an understatement”

“Can you leave Adair’s body uh” stammered Farrel realising that the bug didn’t even have a name yet.

“Call me Zee” replied the Bug, “And yes I can leave Adair when ever I wish”

“Do you do any damage to the host as you leave him?”

“He might feel slightly disorientated and a bit weak, I stimulate his adrenal glad making him stronger as well as secreting a chemical that increase his stamina and natural physical abilities.”

“Excellent work Zee, and you to Adair if you can hear me. Now lets retire to you office Doctor Donia.”


Farrell followed Donia to the scientist’s office. The office was the very definition of its owner, smelly and messy. Papers and models of bugs cluttered the workspaces.
“Want a drink?” asked Donia “I think we have much to celebrate”

Under normal circumstances Farrell would never chose to drink with a man like Donia, but he was a bit shaken by what he had been shown and he needed to keep on Donia’s good side

“Sure” he said sitting back in the comfortable couch that Donia probably slept on. Donia poured the general and himself a large glass of Irish whiskey.

“To success” grinned Donia clinking glasses with Farrel, “you have to admit what you saw was impressive, was it not general”

“Call me Jim” said Farrel downing a large swallow of the burning liquid, “yes it was terrible and impressive. You have done well Alf, President Sheridan will be very pleased. You just guaranteed America her safety for years to come.”

Chapter 3

President Tom Sheridan sat at the head of the table in the brightly-lit conference room. Cigarette smoke drifted up to the lights and the bitter smell of stale coffee filled the air.
“Well there you have it gentlemen Alf Donia’s mad scheme has paid off.” Said Sheridan to the seven men at the table, Sheridan was a well renowned sexist and refused to appoint any woman to his Security Council “Now what can we do with it. Jim,” he said addressing General Farrell, “You’ve been baby sitting this project for us what do you think?”

“Well to he honest I don’t like the idea of bugs doing recon for my boys”

“Well would you rather more of your boys got chewed up and spat out by the enemy?” asked an agitated Keith White, the current head of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Sheridan suppressed a smile, it was well know that White and Farrell hated each other, as it was known Farrell hated the project mainly because Keith White backed the project.

“Let Jim finish, Keith, you’ll get your turn to comment” said Sheridan acting as mediator as he had so often in that past. “Go on Jim”

“Well as I was saying I’m not sure I trust these bugs enough to let them do active recon for the Army. And on a personal note, you saw my report on the Adair/Zee hosting. Using one of my boys like that gets up my craw.”

“Oh so you’re the only one who’s allowed to use ‘your boys’ like meat?” asked White sarcastically.

“Ok Keith your turn,” said Sheridan gesturing a hand towards White.

“Well, sir, what you have here is the perfect secret agent. You drop bugs near an enemy after telling it who to possess you will get the ultimate double agent. The bug will have complete access to the hosts memories, as such we can cultivate double agents with minimal expense”

“Only if you minus the $500,000,000 this project cost in the first place” Interrupted General Farrell

“ENOUGH!!!” bellowed Sheridan as he slammed his hand on the table. “I will not have petty bickering in my presence. If you wanted to bicker pointlessly you should have joined the Democrats”

“As I was saying, “ continued White, “These bugs are going to give me agents in all the hardest to reach places. We can drop a bug anywhere and we will have ready agents. Never again will we be caught off guard the way we were during the Middle East Crisis of five years ago” he said referring to when Islamic extremists had infiltrated the US Nuclear Weapons program and stolen the plans of how to build a class 5 Nuclear bomb, a new kind of atomic bomb, more powerful yet without the fallout. It was only thwarted when they trouble truing to purchase weapons grade plutonium. But the still managed to get copies of the plans to every other terrorist group in the world, or so it seemed. To this day CIA operation devoted a large portion of its resources to the capture of these terrorist cells. “If we had have been able to use the bugs as part of the vetting procedure then we would have caught these bastards before they got the job in the program.”

“But how do we make sure these bugs stay loyal to us?” Asked Sheridan.

“Well according to my conversations with Dr. Donia, he has introduced chemical brainwashing to the bugs. They will be fanatically loyal to us and in the event the bug does slip the programming then its brain will release a neuro-toxin with will kill it and the host it inhabits.

“Ok we will go with it provisionally for now, General Farrel begin moving more of you troops and government scientists into the operation. Within a week I want this project to b in sole US Government hands. They last thing we need is the nappy heads to get wind of what we are up to.” Said Sheridan drawing the meeting to a close.

Outside the conference room Farrell spoke quietly to Sheridan,
“Donia won’t like being forced out of this program, I anticipate trouble from him if we go on without him.”

“Fuck him,” replied Sheridan bluntly “If he gives you any trouble shoot him, in the interests of national security of course.” He added with a grin.

“What will I tell Donia when he asks how the meeting went?” asked Farrell

“Just tell him all is peachy and that he has a green light to begin production of the final specimen. Tell him we are assigning him a special assistant from the White House, who is to be he new shadow, while this is happening re-assign the other staff and replace them with Military Scientists. “

“What do you want done with the civilian scientists, sir”

Sheridan gave him that look Farrell knew so well. “Accidents happen all the time, See that no-one ever finds out”


Chapter 4

“What do you mean an ‘observer’?” asked Donia slightly distraught

“Well Alf, it’s just that this is a big project and the President wants his top people on it. This project means a lot to our national security. We thought you would be grateful for some extra hands around the lab.” Protested Farrell.

“Extra hands yeah, but not hands to take this project away from me. I’ve worked too heard on this to let some asshole from Washington take away my life’s work.” Raged Donia, barely keeping the anger out of his voice. Farrel considered drawing his sidearm and shooting him then and there, but he couldn’t there was still too much that only Donia knew.

“I understand your concerns, and I sympathise, Doctor. But I think you fail to see the position you are in. This project is a US Government Black Ops Project. This observer is coming here to keep a close watch on the project.”

“I thought that was YOUR job General” sneered Donia, “What’s wrong Jim, are you getting replaced?”

The General was prepared to concede this battle, in the end he would win the war.

“What can I say Dr. Donia. Maybe that’s exactly it” said the general with mock resignation, “I am being moved aside to looking after your staff. President Sheridan wants you to concentrate solely on the matters of science and for you to leave the administration up to me.

“Fine,” replied Donia brining the conversation to an end. “If you’ll excuse me I have experiments to conduct”

Farrell nodded and left the office-come-lab, ‘His arrogance will be his ending’ mused Farrell as he moved to his own office. He himself had plans, he had to make the thirty scientists of this facility disappear. The President had said himself that accidents happen. In the next seven paces he had his plan set.

***

“Well ladies and gentlemen, there you have it, we are moving you all to a more secure better equipped facility.” Said General Farrell addressing the gathered scientists in the lunch hall. Please gather in the parking lot in 15 minutes, we will have movers gather your notes and things and when you get to your new facility you can continue your vital work. Ok people lets haul ass.”

The scientists jumped up from the gathered chairs and moved off muttering to each other in excited voices.
“New even more advanced equipment? I though this place had the best there is” muttered a few of them.

“Scientists can be like children at times” mused Farrell “especially when you offer them a new toy”. These people were meant to be bright but the can be lied to so easily.

The thirty scientists sat in the US Army buses and excitedly chattered among each other. This was unexpected. The bus was soon underway. Some scientists questioned soldiers about their cars and other belongings. But were always answered with the rhetoric that they would be able to deal with that when they got settled in at the new facility.

The new lab was only 50 miles from the one but it seemed smaller. Farrel explained the size by saying that most of the facility was underground. This seemed to satisfy the group. Farrell led them into a small dome shaped room, which seemed to be all there was of the facility, He exited through the other door and both doors bolted shut after he was out.

“What is the meaning of this!” cried Atkens, Donia’s former Lab assistant, “We have important work to do”

“Yeah you do, you can die” replied Farrell from behind the clear glass door.

The scientists began to panic and banged on the cold metal walls and the clear-steel of the door’s. At that moment ten holes evenly spaced in the walls opened with barrels of Splatter Guns Protruding. The scientists barely had time to scream as the weapons viciously opened fire on the terrified scientists. Blood and bone flew everywhere as the 9mm HE rounds exploded into the thirty amassed scientists. In a few moments it was all over as the guns ran out of ammunition. As the smoke cleared Farrell looked inside the room. Nobody remained alive. He opened the door of the killing room and made a closer inspection. One man whimpered, it was Atkens.

He looked up at Farrell and whispered
“Why?”

Farrell regarded him coldly and replied
“Because you egg head fuckers are what is wrong with America. All brains and no balls. That’s why!” He shouted at Atkens. With that he drew his side arm, an old classic Berretta 9mm, placed it against Atkens forehead and pulled the trigger.

Farrell walked out of the killing room and pressed the switch. He watched impassively as the floor split apart and the bodies fell into the incinerator.

He stalked over to his Captain, Hobbs,
“Ok now get rid of their belongings in the lab. I want those labs and offices pristine by the time the new science team arrives tomorrow at 06:30.

“Yes Sir!” said Captain Hobbs with a precision salute.

“Carry on then Captain” replied Farrell with something that looked like a halfhearted swipe at a fly. Farrell about-faced and walked off to his Humvee. He had to visit White in CIA HQ, there was a matter of the thirty scientists that had to have never existed.


Chapter 5

For Donia the following months passed in a blur. He had vital work to do. His plan was to become so vital that Farrell couldn’t find grounds to replace him. He worked with his new ‘shadow’. A pretty young scientist named Julie Cox. Donia began to fall for Julie. Little did he know Julie only tolerated him to gain access to his knowledge.

“His vanity will be his undoing” observed Julie in her daily meeting with Farrell. “For a man of intelligence he is so easily manipulated. Soon I will have seen everything I needed to see.”

“Good work Doctor. Cox” replied Farrell. “Keep observing him. You are doing well. Keep his hopes alive by showing vague interest. Drain him dry of knowledge.”

Just at that moment Donia burst through the door of Farrell’s office
“What is the meaning of this? What happened to my scientists?” he screamed.

“Calm yourself, Doctor. President Sheridan wanted me to get you the best people for the job. Like Julie here. She is the best at what she does.” Replied Farrell looking knowingly at Cox.

“Yeah Alf,” she purred “Don’t you want the best people on your team”

Donia flushed embarrassed.
“Well. Un. I mean I wish you had consulted with me before you took away the majority of my staff.” Stammered Donia, angry with himself that he had looked a fool in front of the delightful Julie Cox.

“I can assure you that the people I have brought in to replace the original scientists are more than capable of the job in hand.” soothed Farrell.

“You are too important to be dealing with silly administration Alf” said Julie, flashing him a look with her bright blue eyes. “Now lets go back to our lab and continue our work, I want you to show me what glands the nano-probes stimulate to increase the bugs strength.” With that she took Donia by the arm and led him back to their, now shared, lab.

As they walked down the corridor they talked about the various methods for modifying the bugs. Julie let Donia do most of the talking content to become even more knowledgeable about the procedure.
***

Donia whistled happily as he walked down the corridor to his office, today he had a plan. He would ask Julie out to dinner. As he neared the office he heard laughing, a male and a female, then he heard talking. It was lovely Julie and Farrell
“He actually thinks he has a chance with me” he heard Julie laugh. “As if I’d ever screw a geek like him.”
Farrell replied with a scornful snort. “That egg head is so wrapped up in himself to even see that we’ve been stringing him along. How soon till you know as much about the operation as he does?”

“I already know all we need Jim. In his desire to win me over told me every thing, including a few things that aren’t in his records.” Replied Julie still with a measure of scorn in her voice.

Donia fled down the corridor. This was his life’s work how dare they do this to him. He had been loyal, he had done all that was asked of him, and how could sweet lovely Julie really be a cold faced bitch. This was more than he could take. He bolted in to a restroom and tried to compose himself. He knew what he had to do.

After washing the tears away from his face he strode purposefully towards the holding pens. He carded himself through each checkpoint and endured the physical scanners, enduring false greetings from Farrell’s puppets. Soon he approached the pen holding Zee, his ultimate creation.

Zee had left the body of Adair just after the testing had finished, he had said he thought Adair a poor host. He wanted a host with more brains and less brawn since he had enough brawn to make any host stronger than human norm. Hearing this the General had ordered that no more hosts be provided.

Donia approached the entrance to the transparent prison. Both guards pointed their splatter guns at him and told him to halt.

“Farrell wants to see you two at once,” said Donia trying to put as much command as he could in his voice, “Something about napping during shifts”

“Aw shit, this is your fault, Douglas.” Cried a grief stricken private.

Both men stalked off in a quick march. As soon as they were outta sight Donia carded himself in to the cell. He looked over and saw the bug that called itself Zee.

“We’re screwed Zee,” mumbled Donia. “We’ve been manipulated and used from the start, fucking government. Well this is how it’s gonna be now”

With that he dropped to his knees in front of Zee and offered his bare arm to the bug. The bug leapt up to the out stretched arm and buried itself into the arm. Donia felt an excruciating pain beyond anything he had ever felt in his life, beyond any thing he imagined. He grinned despite the pain. He knew he had won. With his inner eye he could see Zee travelling up his arm and latching onto the spinal column. He could see little tendrils expanding from the armoured shell of Zee and latching on to his vital systems. In a heart beat it was over. Alf Donia and Zee were one being.

Chapter 6

The two soldiers came into General Farrel’s office at a brisk pace,
“Reporting Sir,” said Private Douglas.
“What do you mean ‘reporting’” questioned Farrell looking slightly annoyed that he had been interrupted from his talk with Doctor. Cox
“Sir, Doctor Donia Said that you wanted to see us, Sir”

The General thought for a moment then sprang into action,
“All units haul ass over to containment cage 1. On the double!” he bellowed into a Com unit. “If you see Doctor Donia Shoot him in the legs to disable him. Do not, repeat do not kill him.”

Klaxons began to sound as the base went into lock down. Emergency lights flicked on basking the corridors in a crimson light. Blast doors began to seal. Off duty soldiers assembled at the armoury to receive their weapons and armour. Hundreds of boots clanked on metal.

Else where in the complex Donia/Zee was hard at work. He had emerged from the Cell and moved towards the central control room. On his way he encountered unarmed military scientists. They knew what had happened and backed away in fear. They were no worry to Donia/Zee, only the soldiers posed a threat to him. Soon he had arrived at the entrance to the control room. Two soldiers on guard began to unsling their splatter guns and shoot him. Before the weapons could be even aimed Donia was on them faster than humanly possible, but Donia was human no longer, he was so much more. He placed a hand on each of the soldiers throats and squeezed snapping each soldiers neck like twigs.

The control room was a frenzy of panic. Technicians moved around trying to co-ordinate the movement of the troops with the attempt to seal the facility. No-one even noticed Donia/Zee enter. In a blur of motion Donia was upon them, snapping necks, rupturing organs with a flurry of blows, in a matter of seconds the 12 technicians lay dead at his feet. He moved over to the central console, after all he did have a purpose here. He sat down in the chair and began to punch keys. A red light flashed on the screen, saying “Warning this action will open all holding cages, enter access code to continue action”. Donia grinned and entered his code. An automated warning began to broadcast. “Alert, alert, bio-contamination in progress.”

Farrell began to panic, this wasn’t supposed to happen, too many safe guards were in place. All of a sudden it hit him, that bastard Donia had let the other bugs loose. Farrel broke off from the main body of men, he had to get out of her, he had to warn the President. The called his Captain over and gave him his orders
“Gain control of central> Kill Donia and any other person who has been possessed we can’t afford any of the bugs to get out of here. Do what you have to do Captain, I have complete faith in you.” Cried Farrell over the din of the various warning klaxons.

Hobbs, a man of few words, merely nodded. He was a good soldier and he knew his duty.

Farrell ignored all pretence of military protocol and sped down the corridor. Over the comm link he could hear his men screaming as the insects took over his men making his men’s bodies their own. He saw Julie Cox emerging from her office.
“Get outta here Julie” cried Farrell to her,
“What’s happening”
“That bastard Donia has decided to take over. The bugs are lose this project is a loss. Get outta here we need you alive.”

Farrell’s men were putting up a defence but there was little the battle hardened soldiers could do against highly intelligent bugs. Soldiers were possessed easily. In retaliation soldiers opened fire on their former friends destroying bodies beyond repair, but everytime that happened the bugs immediately fled the body to find a new host. Soon the soldiers were overwhelmed.

Farrell and Cox approached the emergency exit. Farrell punched his override code and the door sprang open. Just the Farrell heard movement and he spun round readying his rifle in one swift motion. Coming towards him he saw five of his own soldiers, all five had slight bulges on their necks. Farrell opened fire without thinking and was satisfied to see the bodied drop to the floor.

“Come on Julie, lets get outta here” he said with a tone of regret.
“Yeah Jim we need to report to the President Sheridan just what happened.”

The two survivors ran over to Farrell’s humvee and drove off.


In project central Donia/Zee looked at the screens and grinned. All had gone to plan, Bug Central was all his. Dead bodies lay all over the corridors. All but 50 of the facilities 300 staff had died, the remaining 50 were inhabited by others of Zee’s species. Donia keyed the internal P.A.
“Ok all staff assemble in the Generals conference room.”
He moved off himself towards the Generals office.

At the conference the fifty staff members gathered. They spoke to each other excited to be in actual bodies beyond their normal size. They began to cheer as Donia/Zee entered the room.

“Ok” began Donia, “We have been planning this for a long time, those government assholes were gonna sell Donia out and use us as petty spies. Well I tell ya this, we weren’t gonna take it. I have been communicating with you all for a month now. This was the plan and it worked damn well. Now we have another problem. Cox and Farrell got out. I was planning to get two of you to inhabit them and get close to the President and bring him to our fold. Now we’re gonna have to do things the hard way. The humans will be back, and they are gonna try and destroy us. We need to be ready. Lets get to work.”

The assembled group jumped to their feet and began preparations for the upcoming invasion. Donia stood as calm as the eye of a storm as the defence began.

[NecronLord]

Not bad. Ignoring the difficulties of making the bug I would suggest loosing the slang and contractions from their speech. example;

The humans will be back, and they are gonna try and destroy us

instead I would make it/

The humans will be back, and they will attempt to destroy us.

It would put the audience a little less at ease with the bugs.

Other than that carry on...

[Lord Pounder]

Chapter 7

Farrell and Julie drove in silence over to the barracks. Julie Cox was upset at what she had seen and Farrell was upset that Donia had got the upperhand. Soon they arrived at the army base. With out any pomp or ceremony Farrell obtained the use of a secure line to the White House.
“Mr. President, Donia flipped. He must have caught wind of what we were doing and joined with the primary bug. Then he let the other cages loose and took over the base. Only Doctor Cox and myself managed to escape, and only barely.”

“Ok General, get back her to Washington and we’ll get this sorted, but get one thing damned straight now Farrell, You screwed the pooch on this one. I sent you there to watch him. Your lucky you managed to get the good Doctor out alive” Came the Presidents’ deadly calm voice, the fact that he didn’t rant or rave bothered Farrell.

Farrell put the phone down and requested that the commander of the base get him a jetcopter. He needed to get to DC as soon as possible. Who knew what Donia was getting up to now that he had that bug in him.

In a few minutes a young private informed him that his jetcopter had arrived and was ready to take him to Washington. In the few minutes it took for the copter to travel to the Whitehouse Farrell spent his time contemplating.

The jetcopter dropped him off in the front lawn of the White House. There he was greeted by a squad of the Secret Service’s finest. All were armed.

“Welcome back sir,” said a dark skinned Secret Service agent “can you step away from the copter and prepare to receive a full spectrum scan?”

“We don’t have time for this bullshit,” roared Farrell

“I insist sir,“ came the reply from the head agent, pointing his machine pistol sidearm at him.

Farrell flushed red with rage but submitted to the time wasting scan. Naturally it was clean. When the scanner pinged a clean signal Farrell gave the Agent an ‘I-told-you-so look” and waited while Julie Cox was scanned.

“This way General,” motioned the Secret Service agent holstering his pistol.

Farrell took a deep breath and prepared himself for the eventual dressing down by the President.

The President sat at in his high backed chair looking out the window, acting as if he hadn’t heard Farrell enter. Farrell knew he was playing mind games and patiently waited. After a seemingly endless moment Sheridan spun round in his chair.
“Jim great to see you!” he cried

Farrell was taken aback and wondered what Sheridan’s game was. Time would tell.

“So” began the President, “report.”

“Well it’s pretty much like I said over the phone. Donia merged himself with the bug called Zee. He then proceeded to set free all the other subjects and began to take over the facility. All three hundred and fifty personnel are believed to have been killed, or worse were made into hosts.”

Sheridan merely nodded at the news. He was so calm that Farrell began to wonder if the stress had finally got to Sheridan. God knew he had been living on the edge for long enough.

“Ok it’s gonna go like this Jim, you are getting that jetcopter back to the base near the facility. You are going to lead a couple of squads and re-take that facility. Take Doctor Cox with you to help you brief the soldiers on what to expect. If you fail to take the facility order an airstrike, carpet bomb that place for a square mile”

Farrell saluted and left the oval office. He wanted to argue against wasting troops this way, but he was in no position to do anything other than what Sheridan told him to do. His reputation had suffered a lot due to this fiasco.

***

Farrell stalked back out to the jetcopter in a foul mood. He knew he was going to his death in all probability. Why not just bomb the place and chalk it up to experience. This was a needless waste of lives.

On the way out of the White House he bumped into Keith White.
“Nice job out there Farrell” he taunted

“Go fuck your dog, White” Farrell replied “Your shity bugs have flew the coup all because you had no balls for doing real work”

White stood nose to nose with Farrell “Let’s get one thing straight now Farrell. This is your fuck up. If the President had’ve followed my suggestion and put me in charge instead of a washed up jar head, like you, this would never have happened. Don’t blame me for your lack of vision and ability.”

Farrell moved in a blur and brought his forehead into contact with Whites nose. Farrell grinned as he heard a satisfying crunch in White’s nose. He had wanted to do that for years, and since he was likely to be going to his death he didn’t care any more.

White surprised Farrell by staying on his feet, in fact he didn’t look angry at all.

“I’ll be going with you Farrell, and you just made a big mistake doing that. One word from me and your gonna be bug food when we get back.” He said with his voice full of pure venom, dripping blood on the plush royal blue carpet. “See ya on the copter Jim.”

Farrell ignored the tone of his voice and walked in, he knew he shouldn’t have head butted White but, damn it. it had been coming for a while. He had to go and retrieve a few things from his office. He doubted he would be seeing it again.

A few minutes later Farrell entered the copter and prepared himself. White and Doctor Cox were already aboard waiting for him. Farrell noted that White had brought his own sniper rifle with him. White had been a top-class marks-man in the CIA before he rose to the level of director. As soon as Farrell strapped himself in the pilot took off and jetted back to Fort Clinton, the name of the base near Bug Central.

***

At the base the General immediately went over to the gathered, waiting, soldiers and appraised them. They were ninety strong men and Farrell felt proud to be commanding them. He even though he knew he was going to his death he would be proud do be doing it as a soldier commanding fine strong men in a battle.

A few minutes latter they all gathered in the briefing room. Farrell was introduced to the regular commanders of the squads. They all sat down and they waited patiently for a full briefing.

Farrell rose to his feet and tried to muster up all his commanding presence.

“Gentleman at 10:30 hours this morning a insurrection took place in a government laboratory near here. These insurgents released modified bugs that can inhabit and control a person.”

He stared out at the men and watched their disbelieving faces.

“Yeah I know this sounds like bullshit but that’s what happened. Our orders come directly from the Oval Office. Doctor Julie Cox here is an expert on the program. She can answer any questions you may have regarding the bugs”

One cocky looking private raised his hand and spoke
“Are we getting guns or a can of raid?”

That sparked a ripple of laughter from the assembled men. One of the squad commanders, a tough no nonsense carer soldier called Walker glared at the private.

“You stow that shit or join another unit Irvine”

Julie smiled and said,
“OK any serious questions.”

Walker rose to his feet and asked, “What can we do to kill these things. I assume they are small and hard to shoot like any bug?”

“They are much more than bugs. They are can move faster than the eye can see” replied Julie, “but we are giving you a major advantage. We will be supplying you with all over body suits made of spider silk, and certain soldiers will be packing napalm flame throwers.”

“Also” added Farrell “most bugs will be inhabiting the bodies of people captured in the disaster. So you will have plenty to shoot at. We are getting this mission on short notice, but it is imperative that we succeed. Failure is not an option. Any thing else?”

Irvine rose to his feet.
“You say that the bugs are inhabiting the bodies of soldiers too? Probably local boys. Is there any way to get the bug out of the meat without killing anyone we may know?”

Farrell decided to take this one.
“If you see anyone you recognise with a lump on his neck kill him, you’ll be doing him a favour. These bugs latch on to the spinal cord. They hook up to every vital system in the body. There is no way to save the host unless the bug decides to leave.”

Cox threw him a sharp glance, that hadn’t been proven yet. She let it slide but they would talk about it later, in private.

One of the other Captains, Robinson raided a hand.
“What kind of defences can we expect general?”

“The compound is completely closed off at the moment. Buy we can assume that the bugs have activated all the automated defences. Auto guns monitor the approach to the compound, and certain approaches to the main entrance are mined with AP ‘daisy cutters’. There were 150 fully armed soldiers there we can expect the bugs to have the soldiers bodies and their abilities. Our main advantage is surprise they’ll never expect a counter attack so soon. Anything else”

No one spoke.

“Ok then move out, collect your equipment and assemble at the APC’s”

the 90 men moved as one, first over to the equipment lockers to get fitted out in their spidersilk body covering, then conventional armour over the top, then each man received his weapon, some received flame throwers or the sniper version of the Splatter Gun. Most men received bog standard M-99 Splatter guns while other heavy weapons specialists received pulsar guns, a kind of modernised mini-gun. Within 5 minutes all the men were assembled at the 3 APCs. On Farrell’s command each man entered his vehicle. Time to pay Donia back for making him look a fool.

Chapter 8

The three APC’s approached the electric fences of the compound. I was as quite as a graveyard. The men assembled into their assault groups. Ten men to a group, with each group packing 8 regular Splatter Guns, one heavy fire pulsar gun and one flame thrower unit. Behind them back at the APC’s White and 3 other marks men had set up snipping positions on the main entry points. So far the automatic defence hadn’t been brought on line.

Each of the assault groups moved forward in the frog hopping method that had been successful for over 100 years. Each soldier communicated with each other using intricate hand signals, maintaining radio silence until the last possible moment. Within moments they had bypassed the electrified fences and were in the main car park of the compound.


Donia had been watching the approaching forces through a set of binoculars. All was going to plan. He knew Farrell would counter-attack straight away. In his course to be completely unpredictable he had became the opposite. He spoke into one of the comm links recovered from a dead soldier.

“Now!” he ordered.

At that moment all three of the flame-thrower units exploded in a bright orange burst of flames. Bug snipers of the roof had shot the napalm tanks. Soldiers stumbled about in a panic. Men fired their Splatter guns at the direction the sniper shots had came from. At that moment the auto guns began to open fire. Caught out in the open like this the soldiers were easy prey.

Farrell sat at the tactical screen in the lead APC. That bastard Donia had out thought him again, twice in one day. He attempted to rally his troops and organise some kind of offence. He called at the pulsar gun operators to concentrate their fire on the auto gun positions. Some one must have heard him as the pulsars opened up on the auto guns, destroying them in a blast off 12mm AP rounds.

The remaining troops who had found cover behind parked cars returned fire at the sniper positions. Soon the snipers were driven back, mostly through indescrimiate fire from the pulsar guns.

Pulsar Guns were massive weapons, a modern day belt fed mini-gun, the only difference was that these rounds were 12mm and made a pretty hole in most things it made contact with. Pulsar guns were mainly used against armour and large masses of enemies. The fact that Farrell has approved them showed how serious he viewed the situation.

The bug defences were pushed back inside the compound. Farrells group had lost half it’s men. But he was on a role now. Finally he had beaten Donia in a battle.

He called over the comm link.
“Secure the area men, gather at the main entrance, I will be coming over to lead you personally.”

General Jim Farrell donned his armour and loaded and readied his splatter gun. He was ready to do his duty. He had came to the compound ready to face his death, but now it looked like he might actually win the bug war. On his way over to the entrance he spotted White. He was grinning like a school boy. Farrell approached him.
“If your so happy you can come with me” Whites face paled but he consented.

Farrell approached his men. All three group leaders had been killed. No one was sure whether the bugs had shot them or if they had went up with the napalm explosion. Some bodies were too badly burned to identify.

Farrell waked over to the main door and looked it over. Not a scratch on it, just the way it was designed to be. Farrell called over the team’s demolitions expert and told him to set the charges
“But sir you’re asking me to set enough PSX-45 to blow up half this building.”

“I am well aware of the strengths of this building, you will need that much explosive to blow that door, now carry on lieutenant.”

The lieutenant went about setting his charges, about 60 grams of the powerful explosive. The were set in seconds and all the men backed off to cover behind one of the APC’s that had been brought forward to provide cover.

“Hold on to your asses fella’s, this is gonna be a big one” cried the Demolitions expert.

He pressed the detonate button on his data pad and covered he ears. Even with the warning the explosion was impossible loud. Bits of the clear-plaz door spewed every where. Several men actually began to bleed from the ears despite military issue earplugs.

Farrell gave the men a few seconds to recover then he sprang to his feet bellowing orders.
“MOVE MOVE MOVE !!!” he ordered.

The men moved as one into the main lobby. It was a mess. Debris from what had been a state of the art reception was scattered everywhere. The place was lit only by emergency lighting. A deep red highlighted everything. The men moved about scanning every nook and cranny, watching for another ambush. They were taking no chanced this time.

Each of the men reported in time
“Clear”
“All Clear”
“Nothing here”

At that moment a man in a soldier’s tattered fatigues sprang out from o dark alcove. One of the pulsar gun operators riddled him with bullets turning the soldier into a bloody mess, even destroying the bug as it attempted to flee the dead body through the throat. The pulsar gunner grinned
“Real Clear”

“Break into squads men, 3 groups of 15, I will led team 1, Keith White will command Team 2 and Team 3 will be commanded by Lieutenant Grimshaw. Split up. Each team will take a level and clear it. Team one takes level 1, team 2 level two and team 3 level 3. When that is done we will converge at the central control room and attempt to regain control. Stay frosty and remember kill any thing that’s not in this squad. Move out he said stepping in from of team 1. To begin their sweep of level one.

Farrell led his team up the stairs to level one. He keyed in his emergency override code to gain access. It was an emergency code hardwired into the facilities central computer as a safeguard. The place appeared deserted, but Farrell knew that appearances could be deceiving, especially where these dirty bugs were concerned.

As then stepped into the first main lab the place came alive. Possessed men sprang out from all corners firing commandeered splatter guns as they came. Several of his men went down in the sudden volley of fire. To their credit the soldiers fired back killing many bug soldiers. Eventually it was al over. 5 bug boys had attacked them and all 5 were dead. In return Farrell had lost 6 more men. The bad news was that the bugs inhabiting the bodies had escaped.

The other teams were having the same luck. At strategic points in the other levels the soldiers were attacked. By the time the sweeps were finished over 25 of the original 47 were dead.

At last they all emerged on the forth and last floor of the complex. This floor was where the control room was situated.

Farrell looked pleased as he say White had taken a splatter gun round to the shoulder. He was in no danger of death but he had to have been in a lot of pain.

The floor the control room was on, seemed empty. Farrell surmised that Donia had gathered all his remaining troops in the control centre content to wait for him.

Soon enough they approached the door to the Control Room. Predictably it was locked tight. What they weren’t ready for was the sight of crucified bodies nailed to the walls outside. The bodies had been brutally attacked before they were given the peace of death.

One soldier saw the perversion ahead of them and crossed himself. Another troop vomited over the floor. Farrell couldn’t blame them. He was a battle hardened soldier and what he saw sickened him. He had killed many men before, but never in such a savage manor. Across the neck of one of the bodies was a sign that read “Run While You Can” each letter had been written in the blood of the dead bodies.

“Your gonna pay for this Donia you bastard” Farrell whispered silently to himself.

He ordered two of his troops to take the bodies down from the main door to Control. He positioned his men around either side of the door. Whatever was gonna happen would happen as soon as Farrell keyed in his code and opened the door. Farrell punched in his 12-digit code and held his finger above the enter key.
“On three men, One. Two. Three. “ on three he jabbed the enter button and was rewarded with a ping.

The soldiers roared and charged in splattering the control consoles with fire. But no bog soldiers were around.

“What the fuck is going on? Where are they” called a Private.

At that moment the roof above them exploded inward. Dozens of bug troops fell to the floor and pointed weapons at the US Soldiers. The last troop to fall to the floor was Farrell’s former 2nd in command Captain Hobbs. He drew his weapon from it’s holster and pointed it at Farrell.

“Nice to see you General,” sneered Hobbs. “Did you like our wee welcome present in the corridor?”

Farrell was grief stricken, sure Hobbs was a lower ranking officer, but they had been friends. Why couldn’t he stop this? He opened his mouth to talk to Hobbs but before that happened Hobbs hit him in the temple with the butt if his machine pistol. Farrell only knew blackness.

Chapter 9

Julie Cox sat in the APC in total confusion. She had heard everything that had happened over the Comm Link. She felt she had to escape and warn the Army, but she also felt a duty to rescue those men. The driver of the APC wanted to drive away and come back with heavy armour. But the soldier was smart enough to defer to her judgement.

Just then a soldier ran out of the front door. He was screaming that they were after him. Cox knew it was an obvious trick. But then she saw them behind him. The way they moved she knew they’d be on him soon. She ran over to the hatch and opened the door of the APC, she had no time to think just to act. The soldier dove through the door and into safety. As she helped the private to his feet she head the banging on the door.

She had made her decision. They needed to get back to base and call an airstrike. Bomb every bug off the planet. She ordered the driver to get underway. As the APC started to move the rescued soldier aimed his weapon and shot the driver through the back of the head spraying his brains all over the windscreen. He then pushed the driver out of the driver seat and ground the heavy tracked vehicle to a halt. The banging on the APC stopped. The possessed soldier opened the hatch to allow Captain Hobbs into the back of the track.
“Some one wants to see you Doctor Cox” he said smiling with a truly evil grin.

***

Sheridan sat in his high backed chair worried as hell. It had been 4 hours since the attack was due to begin. Under normal protocol such actions were monitored via US Spy satellites. But in this case Sheridan couldn’t risk any mention of this operation out side of Black Ops and they had no satellites in the area.

General Farrell should have called in by now. Either to report a successful sweep of the building of a carpet bombing by Black Ops bombers. This was highly unlike him. He began to come to the conclusion that Farrell had disobeyed orders and gone personally involved in the attack beyond co-ordination.

At that moment the phone rang. The caller id on the phone indicated it was from Bug Central.

“Hello,” he nervously stammered.

“Mr. President this is the person you formally knew as Alf Donia. You little invasion on my facility has failed. Your soldiers are now MY Soldiers. They is nothing you can do against us. WE simply demand the right to live like any other sentient beings. You created us now live with the consequences.”

“Why you fucking dirty bastard bug. I’ll have your bug base deep fried. Where is my General and my head of Central Intelligence.” Replied an angry President Sheridan. He was a man who hated being dictated too.

“Farrell and White are safe, for the moment. But if you attempt to even sneeze in our direction we will sweep across your country like a plague of locusts. We shall consume ever human we see. We will burn you world and piss on the ashes”

“Ok then Donia, what do you want from me?”

“A meeting with you at our facility. I assure you, you will not be harmed. We merely want our right to exist. You can bring your personal secret service guards if you wish.”

“Ok Donia give me a day to prepare and I’ll get a copter over”

“We shall be expecting you, Mr. President.”

Sheridan slammed the phone down on the received so heard it cracked. How could this be happening to him. He had been a good president. Any country that threatened him had been smacked down hard. But how could her smack down the enemy within?

He reached for the phone that linked him to the Vice President.
“Steve, yeah how are you. Operation Bug has dealt us another set back. Can you gather up the Inner Council and come over to my briefing room. ASAP, Steve. See you soon.”

***

This meeting was much smaller then the last one he had had in the same meeting room. There was more of a sense of urgency this time. America’s future was far from secure this time. It had all gone wrong so quickly.

“OK Gentleman lets begin. It goes like this. Early this morning one of our government funded science facilities was turned on it’s head. The head civilian scientist went wacko and let all his wee creations loose. I assume you’re all aware of Operation Bug.”

All the people at the table nodded.

“Well at 10:30 hours this morning Donia, the head researcher/developer of the project joined with the primary bug. He then opened all the cages and seized control of the facility. General Farrell, who you all know, managed to escape with Donia’s assistant.

He reported back to the White House via Fort Clinton. He debriefed me on the situation and asked to led a team back to Bug Central. All members of the team are lost. Most are believed to be taken alive. Including General Farrel, the Head of the CIA, Keith White, and Donia’s assistant Doctor Cox.

At 17:00 hours I was contacted by Donia himself. He threatened to destroy this country if we made many more attempts to re-take the facility. He has also requested a meeting with myself in person. I managed to put him off until tomorrow.

What are our options?”

Each of the 5 men gathered at the table seemed pale and shocked. This was a worst worst case scenario

General Yates, the head of the US army, despite what Farrell seemed to think, looked at the President.
“Why don’t we nuke the place with a clean bomb?” he asked calmly referring to the fall-outless atomic bombs.

Sheridan looked at him with a measure to contempt. Had he not been listening?
“Can you guarantee every bug will get caught in the blast? Also I am reluctant to detonate that kind of fire power inside out borders”

“Can we order an orbital bombardment from one of our space facilities?” asked another General.

“We don’t want other superpowers knowing they are there. The space platforms are for a last ditch desperation manoeuvre. And before you ask we are not gonna send in any more troops. We gave these bugs enough potential hosts for a while.”

The room sat in silence for a moment.

“Well what are we gonna do,” asked Steve Hanna the Vice President, “I assume you have a plan for us or we’d not be here, we’d be on a shuttle taking us up to the space platforms.”

“It may seem a bit radical” began the President, “but I propose to give in to their demands and meet with them.”

“Are you mad, sir? The first thing they’ll do is infest you and pick your brains for the access codes to our nuclear arsenal. Then god only knows what would happen” exclaimed Fred Hudson, the deputy head of the CIA,

“I am aware of the situation Fred. And I appreciate your concern. Rest assured before I leave I will turn complete control of my access codes over to Steve, I also request the codes to the Nukes are changed. If I don’t do this Donia will destroy our country.”

With that he pressed a button on his console:
“Mr. President this is the person you formally knew as Alf Donia. You little invasion on my facility has failed. Your soldiers are now MY Soldiers. They is nothing you can do against us. WE simply demand the right to live like any other sentient beings. You created us now live with the consequences.”

“Why you fucking dirty bastard bug. I’ll have your bug base deep fried. Where is my General and my head of Central Intelligence.” Replied an angry President Sheridan. He was a man who hated being dictated too.

“Farrell and White are safe, for the moment. But if you attempt to even sneeze in our direction we will sweep across your country like a plague of locusts. We shall consume ever human we see. We will burn you world and piss on the ashes”

“Ok then Donia, what do you want from me?”

“A meeting with you at our facility. I assure you, you will not be harmed. We merely want our right to exist. You can bring your personal secret service guards if you wish.”

“So there you have it gentlemen. We are stuck between a bug and a hard place.”

There was uneasy laughter.

“On a serious note I am probably not gonna come back alive from this place. I am gonna take just Jackson, my top Secret Service agent. With Mark Jackson at my back I may be able to survive.”

* * *

Seven hours later President Tom Sheridan boarded his personal jetcopter and flew out to Bug Central.


Chapter 10

Farrell sat tied up to a high backed executive chair. Tied behind him was Julie Cox.

Farrell’s face was swollen and bloody from the beating’s he had received from Donia. At first Farrell had tried to fight back, but the bug inside Donia made him way too powerful to fight. He had received a broken nose and his right cheek bone had been shattered. He knew Donia was playing with him. The infested scientist had the power to kill Farrell any time he wished, this was revenge.

All over the complex infested troops gathered up the bodies of dead soldiers and moved them to the inner nest. Human bodies were not only useful for possession, but for laying eggs so that the bugs could add to their numbers.

Cox had been taken on a tour of the bug modified complex and was appalled at what she saw. This was not science it was a perversion of humanity.

Donia it seemed, was still a willing host. In he merging with Zee he had gained and lost. He had gained more understanding of his project and he had become way more than human. But he had lost the ability to feel compassion for any one. Bugs didn’t care about individuals, it was the group-collective that mattered. Even as he saw Julie Cox he knew he should have felt something but he didn’t, maybe it was better that way. One thing he did feel was cold hatred directed at General Jim Farrell.

Donia hated Farrell for a number of reasons. Mostly it was because of the way he thought himself so superior when in fact he was little more than a dull sack of flesh, so overblown with his own arrogance he failed to see the big picture. He hated the way Farrell had tried to manipulate him and his project.

Donia walked over to Farrell and untied him.
“Get up Farrell, your president is coming to see you. Make your self look pretty for him.”

Farrell was so exhausted and sore he had trouble standing up so Donia grabbed him by the front of his tunic and lifted him up of his feet. The dragged him over to a bathroom.

Farrell ignored the pain in his face and ribs as he washed his face clean of the dried blood. All too soon Donia grabbed him by the collar and dragged him off to the landing pad on top of the facility.

* * *


The jetcopter landed with a huge roar of landing jets and two men emerged. First came Mark Jackson to make sure the coast was clear, then President Sheridan emerged. Gathered around the roof armed infested troopers watched the air to make sure Sheridan provided no surprises. An infested Keith White walked over to him and offered each man his hand, but neither inclined to shake with an infested human, especially one both men had known quite well. White motioned to the door and led the President and his bodyguard off the roof.

Just inside the door four armed bug troops raised their weapons at Sheridan and Jackson. Another approached carrying a portable weapons scanner. He ran the probe all around Sheridan and was met with a ping to signify all clear. He then scanned white and discovered several hidden weapons. He was asked to hand them over. Jackson looked towards Sheridan who nodded, so he opened his coat, withdrew his sidearm Glock Machine Pistol, his antique Saturday Night Special and the mini splatter gun he always held in reserve. The bug troop ran the scanner over him again and received as all clear.

White smiled them and motioned towards the control room.
“This way please gentlemen.”

Sheridan and Jackson said nothing to White, they simply followed. Sheridan was saving his energies for his confrontation with head bug. As they walked down the corridor Jackson noticed sports of blood on the floor of the gleaming corridor, this seemed to suggest that the place had been quickly cleaned for their presidential visitor.

White led them to the office attached to the control room. Sitting behind a large desk was a grinning Donia
“So glad you could make it,” he grinned

“Cut to the chase Donia. What do you want from me?” growled Sheridan.

“OK then it’s like this. You designed my kind to serve you as spies. You made us more intelligent than human normal, you gave us special abilities and you wanted to treat us as expendable resources. This is unacceptable. As a species we demand the right to live. Don’t get me wrong, individually we are all susceptible to death and we will gladly die if it means continued survival of our kind. You are a threat to our species. We demand the right to live and thrive. If you let us do this we will leave you alone. Give us an island and we will stay on it. Maybe Hawaii.”

“I can’t make you any promises, but I can discuss your terms with the senate and they’ll decide.”

Both men knew this was a load of bull. The President very rarely consulted the senate anymore.

“After you leave here you have 3 days to convince the Senate to see it our way, if not…………”

Donia pressed a button and lowered a map of America. Hundreds of bugs crawled all over the map, filling it. It was an upsetting sight to Sheridan. Even Jackson looked upset.

“Can I see Farrell now?” asked Sheridan.

“Sure, but excuse his appearance, he made things difficult for me at first. But we seem to have come to an arrangement now.”

Two infested troops frog marched in a beaten and bruised General Farrell. Sheridan noticed a fire of defiance in his eye. Maybe Donia hadn’t knocked all the will power out of Farrell.

“How are you feeling Jim,” asked Sheridan

“I’ve been beaten by professionals before. These bugs are amateurs” he replied with more enthusiasm then he felt.

“What have they done in this facility?”

“They are using dead bodies as nests for hundreds of eggs. Pretty soon they will be hatching and they will have thousands of 1st stage bugs ready.”

Donia silenced him with a lightening blow to his already damaged ribs

“Give us what we want President Sheridan. There is no defence against us”

Jackson who had been sitting quietly had heard enough. He sprang to his feet and charged at Donia. Donia saw this and had plenty of time to react. He turned and spun around Jackson kicking him in the left kneecap. Jackson sped to a halt and fell to one knee. He rose to his feet and struck a martial arts stance and prepared himself for a fight. Donia advanced on him menacingly. Jackson feinted a few punches in Donia’s direction, but Donia danced out of the way. Donia was toying with him, they way he had with Farrell. But Jackson was a much leaner and stronger opponent. Jackson sprang like a cat and kicked Donia in the left of his temple. The kick was powerful enough to kill most men but Donia just shrugged it off. The major advantage Jackson had was that he was a born fighter and Donia, without the bug, was a weedy scientist. Jackson noticed the lump in Donia’s neck begin to pulse even more. Unfortunately it took Donia only a moment to recover from the blow to the head. Donia advanced on him with ungodly speed and let loose a flurry or punches and kicks. Jackson tried to defend himself but Donia’s onslaught was too quick and too powerful. Donia struck Jackson with a straight right kick to the ribs physically causing Jackson to fly backwards about 4 feet into the wall.

President Sheridan was on his feet. “Stop this Donia you heartless bastard!”

Donia turned and look at Sheridan looking him over as if he was a potential opponent, but Sheridan had no intention of fighting him.

“I’ll show you heartless Sheridan.”
Donia walked over to the fallen Jackson who was suffering from cracked ribs. Donia’s fist became claw like and smashed into Jackson’s chest. Donia closed his hand around Jackson’s heart and plucked it from the ribcage. He walked over to the seat Sheridan was in and dropped the bloody heart in his lap.

“It seems I’m not the only heartless bastard around here now.”

Donia clicked his fingers and the two bug troopers carried away Jackson’s corpse
“Take the body down to processing.” Donia then turned back to Sheridan. “I trust I have made my point clear? You have two days to get back to me.”

Sheridan raced out of the building as fast as he could. Jackson’s blood soaked his tan trousers with crimson death. This was bad. He had read Doctor Cox’s private report on their abilities but he had never thought them capable of this. He was shaken. White escorted him out to the Presidential Jetcopter.

“Where is Jackson?” asked the pilot

“The bugs decided to make a demonstration out of him. Get us outta here. Take me to Fort Clinton”

“Yes sir”