Them-2 Chapter 35

Chapter Thirty Five – Near Pikeville, Kentucky

Huck and Horse waited patiently for the trap to be sprung. They were at a College in the scenic little town of Pikeville nestled deep into the Kentucky Mountains. They had taken refuge inside the Allara Library and were looking through a large glass window at the walkways and lawn below at the remains of a fresh killed deer placed as bait for their trap.
The giant ants were becoming rare and seldom seen during their expanding search for survivors. They had noticed as they drove through Pikeville in route to other destinations, several foraging ants and decided it should be as good a place as any to try to catch one of the creatures alive. The scientist’s experiments were on hold until they obtained a live specimen to work with.
Several hours later their patience was rewarded. One of the giant ants crawled up the steps towards the deer carcass and hesitated as if it smelled a trap. For a few minutes it poked the carcass with its antennae and moved its ugly head from side to side checking the air currents.
“Let’s go!” Huck yelled, running down the short stairs to the unbroken front door. Just inside the door they had left a Coleman cooler full of thin jars filled with a mixture of halothane and isoflurane that the scientists insisted should put the creature to sleep. Huck grabbed several of the jars and rushed outside with Horse right behind him.
Huck glanced to his right to make sure the Bradley was in position. It was parked on a small ledge above the library with the tailgate down. Several soldiers with squad automatic weapons (SAW’s) stood by just in case the ant didn’t go down as fast as Tappy predicted it would.
They pulled protective masks down over their faces and advanced towards the creature, which was just beginning to carve the carcass with its deadly mandibles. When they got to within twenty feet, they threw the fragile glass jars and watched as they shattered against the ant’s armored side. The creature reacted immediately, rearing up on its hind legs and waving its head back and forth, seeking the source of the disturbance.
Huck and Horse threw more canisters. The giant ant started crawling towards them. For a second it stopped and started shivering as if it had hit a freezing cold spot, then it started shaking as it tried to continue up the walkway. Within seconds, the large rear, or gaster started dragging the concrete then the middle segment or mesosoma collapsed. The ant’s giant head continued to move back and forth for a few seconds then it too dropped with a loud thud onto the concrete walkway.
Huck and Horse cautiously walked closer to the creature. Up close it was hideous, a nightmare in the making and a putrid odor could even be smelled through their protective masks. Huck signaled for the Bradley to move into position to load the creature. A wench like affair had been installed on a flatbed trailer, which was being pulled behind the Bradley.
It took half an hour to load the heavy creature, which must have weighed well over a thousand pounds and more time to secure it to the trailer. As a precaution, heavy-duty cable was wrapped around the entire body, especially the legs, and tied to the trailer railing. They encountered another ant as they drove down the mountainside to the main road. The automatic weapons quickly killed the lumbering beast.
In less than half an hour they had the monster safely locked up in an observation room designed for dangerous lab work. Huck and Horse carefully removed the cables tying the legs together. Huck argued with the scientists earlier about keeping the creature tied down but they insisted that it had to be free to live as normal as possible if they were to get accurate results. Tappy insisted that even this huge brute could go into panic then shock and their capture would have been for naught. A very strong set of chrome bars separated the room in half so the scientists could enter without personal danger.
“First thing I’m going to do is take a shower,” Horse stated. “If I smell half as bad as you do it may take a day or two.”
Huck smiled. He realized the smell was similar, if not identical, to the aroma inside the bottle he had taken from Beth. This provided strong evidence that the green slime originated with the ants and was being used by Moses and his group of fanatics. Moses had a good thing going for him with this scam.
“How do you know the thing isn’t dead?” Huck looked at the eager face of Tappy. “We used several bottles of that stuff you gave us and I don’t think its breathing.”
“As I mentioned before, insects don’t have lungs; oxygen and other gases like carbon dioxide pass through their exoskeleton through tiny valves called spiracles,” Tappy explained. “Insects also lack closed blood vessels; instead, they have a long, thin, perforated tube along the top of the body called the "dorsal aorta" that functions like a heart, and pumps haemolymph towards the head and driving the circulation of the internal fluids. The nervous system consists of a ventral nerve cord that runs the length of the body, with several ganglia and branches along the way reaching into the extremities of the appendages.”
“And?” Huck grinned.
“And, I just saw one of its antennae move.” Tappy winked back. “Can’t get more scientific than that.”
Huck started to leave but spotted Kayle quickly entering the lab area. She looked very disturbed and almost ran into a desk in her hurry to reach them. “They’re missing!” She yelled.
Huck glanced at Tappy then back to Kayle. “Who’s missing?”
“Caitlin and Jacob.”
“Did you ask DARMA where they were at on the base?”
Kayle shook her head. That should have been the first thought to come to her. DARMA kept track of everyone inside the complex whether they liked it or not.
“DARMA do you know where Caitlin and Jacob are hiding?”
The voice of the computer filled the air. The two children are not inside the base.
Huck was immediately alert and concerned.
“That’s impossible!” Kayle blurted. “Where are they?”
The children left the base at 14:34 hours.
“How did they leave the base?” Huck asked.
They left by normal bipedal means.
“You mean they just walked out the front door?”
That is the normal way that humans progress from one point to another.
“Where did they go?” Kayle almost screamed.
My sensors to not extend beyond the perimeter of the base.
“How could two children just walk through the front door?” Tappy joined Kayle in a sudden rush of panic. “And why would they leave?”
It is easy for anyone to leave the base when the main air lock is unsecured. As to what urged them to leave, there is any number of contributing factors.
“Shut up, DARMA!” Tappy screamed. “I wasn’t talking to you.
“Our security team constantly monitors the area,” Colonel Grace stated. “They should have seen the children when they left or should at least have video recordings on file.”
Another thought came to Huck. “DARMA is Lieutenant Prestano on the base?”
Lieutenant Prestano is in his quarters. From zero eight hundred until sixteen hundred hours this date is his off duty time.
“Call him and have him meet me in the security center.”
By now they were all in a semi state of panic. They left the lab area and ran as quick as they could to the security center located several levels above them. As they burst through the door to the center they noticed the place was empty. No one was manning the television monitors.
“Where is the security officer who is supposed to be on duty, DARMA.” Huck was out of breath. Before the computer could respond, Lieutenant Prestano entered the room still tucking his uniform shirt into his pants. He had obviously been communicating with DARMA also.
The officer in question is in the male washroom. His vital signs indicate that he is under the influence of unidentified mental incapacitates.
Huck rushed to the toilet just off the main room. The guard was lying on the floor next to one of the stalls. He was unconscious and not responsive. There were no signs of physical trauma. Tappy bent over and smelled his breath.
“He’s been drugged.”
“His pistol is missing too,” Kayle added.
They rushed back to the security monitoring station.
“DARMA, please show us the video recording of the main entrance at the time the children left the base.”
For several minutes there was no traffic coming or going through the large door. Suddenly, four people came into view. Kayle and Jacob were in the lead with Kathay Watkins right behind them. A few paces further back; Elizabeth Mallone motioned for them to continue. She waved the guard’s pistol in her hand. Before they were beyond the effective range of the monitor, Beth turned and gave them the finger. She knew they would see her on the recording.
“She was supposed to be watched at all times!” Tappy yelled, glancing in hostility towards Lieutenant Prestano.
Huck glanced at his watch. The time was nearly six thirty. “They have a four hour lead. They couldn’t have gotten far in four hours.” He turned to Lieutenant Prestano. “Call the MP Duty Officer and see who was with Beth. She could not have escaped unless something happened to her security. You need to find them. Also, call the infirmary and have medical personnel come and look at the officer in the bathroom.”
“The ants will get them!” Kayle was biting her lip. “Is that girl nuts?”
Huck replayed the tape again, paying very close attention to it the second time around.
“Look closely at their foreheads,” he told the others.
“They have that green slime on them,” Tappy suddenly blurted.
“Notice she also has the old leather bag that we found her with. Obviously, she’s been planning this move for a while. The slime will probably keep them safe for the time being. Unfortunately, if she makes it back to Holy Moses, we have a hostage situation.”
“If she took the bag and bottles of slime, she may have taken other things,” Colonel Grace noted. Everyone glanced at him with curiosity. “Our guards may be under the influence of the same mix of chemicals we used to put the ant to sleep.”
“Will it harm them?” Huck asked.
“Depends on the dosage she may have given them,” Tappy replied. “The fact that the man in the bathroom is still breathing is a good indicator that he did not receive an overdose.”
“Why take Kathay Watkins?” Joey Prestano asked. “Wouldn’t she be more of a burden and a physical threat than the children?”
“Two reasons I can think of right off,” Kayle answered. “First, she’s the daughter of the new President of the United States, a good bargaining chip. Second, she may be a gift to Moses, perhaps a peace offering. Elizabeth didn’t look or act like the roving apostle type. My guess is she was out recruiting under duress.”
“You mean this Moses guy…” Lt. Prestano did not finish the question after seeing the look on Kayle’s face.
“Yeah, he likes them young.”
“It’ll be dark in less than an hour,” Huck muttered. “They could be anywhere in the area.”
Another thought entered his mind. “DARMA, did the person we identify as Beth have any communication contact outside the base?”
Communication between subject Beth and response Iggy was made at fourteen ten hours this date. Location of contact was 37 degrees, 47’38” North, 80 degrees, 18’13” West.
“Physical location?”
White Sulfur Springs, Kentucky, USA.
“Do you have a voice log of the communication contents?”
I was ordered to erase all voice log notations.
“Do you remember the conversation, DARMA?”
Press override, code A13-CH295-K92:2 and erased log will reactivate memory.
Huck did as the computer ordered. Within seconds they heard the voice of Beth talking to someone by the name of Iggy. She advised him that she had been held at the base and had hostages with her. She asked that Burt, whomever that was, pick them up at a given set of coordinates, which were less than a mile from the complex entrance.
“So, she was met by someone and taken to White Sulfur Springs,” Lt. Prestano stated. “We going to mount an expedition to get them back?”
Huck glanced at the faces around him. He was just as concerned for the safety of the children as they were, but he had also taken courses in hostage negotiation.
“They hold all the cards right now,” he stated. “First thing we need to do is establish communication with them and determine what it would take to get our people back. We also need to find out just what and who we’re dealing with. Their strengths, weaknesses, needs, goals, and so forth. We simply can’t charge in there and kick ass and take names. Not with the children being used as shields.”
“Who’s going to inform Allison Watkins,” Tappy whispered.
“My job.” Huck glanced at the anguished faces around him. “We’ll get them back.”
“I’ll tell Allison,” Joey Prestano stated. “I feel like I let her down as it is.”
They all knew that Lt. Prestano was not responsible for Beth’s escape, but they also knew that he and Allison Watkins had grown close.
“I need a shower,” Huck muttered, the putrid smell of the ant coming back to his nose.