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Devil Seed

By

Gemma the Ice-Wolf

13

Eight days later...

Northridge Hospital

Saturday 7:45pm

The hospital was quiet that day. Every now and then a nurse, doctor, security guard or disgruntled patient would pass through the hall. Aaron cocked his eyebrow at the sound of footsteps in the distance. No one came by. He was sitting on one of the sofas positioned outside of the operating room. His attention turned to the feeling of someone leaning against him. He glanced to his right seeing Mia curled up on the opposite side of the sofa, her head leaning on his shoulder. She had fallen asleep shortly after her parents took Cody into the operating room.

They had arrived with Gary and Tracy. Moments ago the two had left to get everybody something to eat. Cody's operation would take a long while but, all of them had promised Cody they'd be there when he came out. The operation was estimated to go on for at least fifteen to eighteen hours. It was going to be a long night for all of them.

Mia stirred in her sleep with a sigh. She was so worried about Cody right now that she had worn herself out. Aaron couldn't help feeling sorry for her. Her little cousin whom was the closest thing she had to a sibling was in a life or death struggle and there was little anyone could do right now except wait. When Mia settled down again Aaron draped an arm around her and pulled her closer, trying his best not to wake her. It was all he could do right now.

Secord Residence

Saturday 7:47pm

Cain sat at a computer in the upstairs office trying to keep himself busy. With Aaron out on personal time, and Terry and Spike on patrol, things were quieter than he would have liked. He decided to pass the time by going through some of the recent reports and sightings that had been coming in since before they had arrived. As he made his way down the listings he noticed a very off beat pattern. Every now and then there would be a sighting of a large unidentified creature, approximately the size of a bull being seen in the local park at night. He wasn't sure what to make of it say that it might have been a new carrier breed. Then again all of the known breeding facilities were destroyed two years ago. It could have been just a fluke. Just to be safe he figured he'd best give Terry and Spike the heads up.

He was about to reach for the phone when Lisa came into the room. She had two coffee mugs in her hands and offered one to Cain.

"Thank you." he said.

"You seem anxious." said Lisa.

"Maybe I am. The others are out, and I'm stuck here. Not much fun sitting around by myself. I guess I shouldn't complain too much though. You've done more of this than any of us."

Lisa sat down in one of the chairs across the room.

"Yes, I'll admit it is rather tedious. But if I hadn't done it, the four of you wouldn't have had half the information you needed for your missions."

"It got interesting just a few minutes ago."

Lisa didn't say a word. She left Cain to continue.

"While I've been looking through the sighting reports, I found one that shows up after every ten or so. It's not like the rest. The only thing that's different about each one is the persons who report it. No two are alike."

Lisa nodded.

"That is strange. Does it say where the sighting takes place?"

"Yeah. It's at one of the parks downtown. I was just going to call up Terry and Spike to check it out."

"It sounds rather suspicious, don't you think?"

"True, but at the same time I can't help thinking that there's something lurking about over there. Best not to ignore it."

Somewhere in Northridge

Saturday 7:55pm

Guns ‘n' Roses "Mr. Brownstone", blared through the speakers of the armored truck as Spike pulled it up to a street corner and put it in park. Terry was in the midst of finishing a large box of onion rings. The two of them had started going out on patrol two hours ago. So far they had picked up nothing on the radar systems.

"I think these things are getting wise to us." said Spike. "We haven't seen jack since we got started."

"Maybe we wiped them all out with that operation that Aaron and Cain did." Terry said with a mouthful of food.

"No way. These things breed like flies. There's probably hundreds of them, we just don't know where to look."

Terry looked at Spike with a rather disgusted expression. Spike noticed this rather puzzled.

"What?"

Terry set the onion rings in a bag between their seats.

"What?" Spike asked again.

"You know exactly what. You know how I feel about flies. Especially the breeding part. Killed my appetite."

He finally propped his feet on the dashboard and crossed his arms with a harrumph.

Spike chuckled. "Sorry bro. Forgot about that. You shouldn't be eating a huge meal while we're on patrol anyway. We're liable to see things far worse than just a few flies. Don't need ya spewing in the midst of it."

The two sat silently for a moment. Spike grinned to himself. Secretly he had remembered that Terry hated flies. Ever since they saw their first dead body. It had been on one of their first assignments inside a warehouse. Terry was the first one to see it and threw up in a corner of the room for fifteen minutes. Spike ended up walking him outside. It wasn't pleasant for any of them but, for Terry it was because of the hundreds of maggots and flies in the room crawling all over the corpse. A few of the fellow agents tried to label him with the name "Fly Boy". Aaron, Spike, and Cain put a stop to that immediately. Still, Spike did tease him now and then but, he never laid it on too thick.

It was around 8:15 that the silence was broken by Terry's cell phone. The low hum coming from his jacket pocket. He pulled it out and answered.

"Yo, talk to me." he said trying to sound goofy.

"Terry, this is Cain."

"Hey Cain. What's up?"

"Change of plans for your stakeout tonight. We need you two to check out some suspicious activity near Canoga Park."

"Right, we'll check it out."

"Call in if you find anything."

"Will do. Later."

Terry hung up and put the phone back in his pocket. Spike was already starting the engine when Terry mentioned who it was on the other end of the line.

"So where to?" he asked.

"Canoga Park." Terry answered. "Weird stuff going on over there I guess."

Spike looked at him a little surprised.

"That's about ten minutes from here."

"Right. I just hope we don't run into something big. I don't need anymore crap right now. Got all I could take after the chunk of metal in my leg."

Spike pulled onto the street and headed left at the light.

"How is your leg by the way?" he asked taking a quick glance at Terry.

"It's completely healed thanks to super science. We recover from injuries a lot quicker."

"Yeah. Just don't do anything stupid okay. I don't want to have to drag you to safety."

Canoga Park

Saturday 8:32 pm

The armored truck pulled up to the park and stopped just short of pulling on to the grass. Terry and Spike climbed out with shotguns at the ready and left the engine running. They didn't want to run the risk of any targets getting away. Even if it turned out to be a false alarm it was better than running into more trouble than they needed. Spike had the safety running on the truck so no one could try driving off with it.

There was a pond in the middle of the park that spanned at least thirty yards by Terry's memory and it was four feet deep. Something had him rather concerned though.

"Where are all the ducks?" he wondered aloud.

"Probably somewhere sleeping." said Spike. "Ducks do that you know."

"Dude seriously, there are no ducks in sight. They're not by the trees, they're not in the water. I don't even hear so much as one solitary quack."

"Why the hell are you so concerned about ducks that swim in the local pond for?"

Terry had a grim look on his face. Now Spike knew why he was worried. The two slowly approached the pond, keeping their shotguns trained on the water. If anything jumped out they'd be ready for it. Standing at the edge, Terry looked into the water, his reflection showing due to the street lights nearby. It was all he could see.

"Think there's anything in the water?" asked Spike.

"Well, I doubt it. We've never run into any aquatic carriers in the past. I think it would be rather silly to see one now."

Terry froze and turned his head at the sound of water splashing. He didn't have time to react as something clamped down on his leg and started pulling him into the water. Spike grabbed hold of his arm, hanging on tightly whilst firing at the water. Terry did the same tossing his gun aside afterward to hold on to Spike. Spike pumped another round into the chamber and fired at the water again. Whatever had grabbed Terry, released his leg and disappeared into the water again. Spike pulled him a good distance away from the pond before helping him back to his feet.

"You okay?" asked Spike.

"Just shook up, and pissed off."

Terry started marching back to the truck. Spike wasn't sure why but, he was certain he had reason to worry. Terry had a tendency to think irrationally at times. When he jumped into the truck and came out again with a pair of hand grenades, Spike knew exactly what he was thinking. Before he could even get a word out though, Terry had already pulled the pins.

"Get back Spike."

He threw the two grenades into the pond, shouting as they detonated.

"Die you piece of shit!"

A tower of water erupted from the pond, raining down over everything for at least ten yards. Terry looked at Spike with a satisfied grin. Both of them were now drenched. Spike just shook his head with a grin.

"If it's still alive in there, it ain't happy." said Terry.

"You crazy idiot." Spike laughed. "That was really excessive."

"Got the job done though didn't it?"

Spike shook his head.

"I'm not jumping in there to find out. Come on, let's go radio in to HQ. They'll have to do a clean up."

"Be sure to tell them they'll need a few divers."

The two laughed as they started back to the truck.

"I just wonder what Cain's reaction to this will be." Spike chuckled. "That thing had to be twice the size of an alligator."

"Kinda looked like one now that you mention it." said Terry. "Hopefully it‘s the only one we‘ll ever see."

A sudden splash coming from behind the two broke their conversation. Both knew what it was, and just as quickly as they turned around the new massive carrier charged at full speed snapping at both of them. The creature was around ten feet long and three feet high. It's wet fur hung off it's body like seaweed and had two large tusks hanging out of it's mouth. It otherwise looked like a normal carrier.

Terry reached for his sidearm, a 9mm Glock, and fired three rounds at the beasts head. The creature let out a blood curdling shriek and turned its direct attention to Terry, snapping at him with its massive jaws. All Terry could think to do now was run. The carrier giving chase and bounding with incredible speed.

Spike could only watch as Terry started running across the park and down the street with the carrier hot on his heels. Of the four Terry was the fastest runner. But even that might not be enough now. Quickly jumping in the drivers seat of the truck, Spike pulled away and started driving down the street after them. He grabbed the radio receiver just as the tires hit asphalt.

"This is scout unit 3327. Anybody out there, respond!" he yelled.

"Roger that 3327." came a voice. "What's going on Spike?"

"We have a running carrier heading down West and Tether Blvd. I'm in pursuit. We need this area blocked off now."

"Roger that. Where's agent Terry?"

Spike couldn't believe they were asking him that.

"He's running."

"After the carrier?"

"No! It's running after him!" he shouted.

Terry, meanwhile, was busy trying to keep a distance between him and massive carrier chasing him down the street. Three blocks later he turned left and ran past a group of street punks out for a nightly car jacking.

"Out of the way!" Terry shouted while plowing through the group.

Seconds later the carrier ran through knocking a few of the punks over and continued to pursue the one that had shot it in the face. Terry turned left again at the next street corner. At the rate he was going it wouldn't be long before the carrier caught up to him. Then he'd be in real trouble. He was starting to slow. He'd never had to run this long at his full speed before, and the fact that he had eaten too much prior to the carrier didn't help matters. The roar of the creature did however, and with that he picked up his speed again.

He rounded another corner and took off as fast as he could. One thing he noticed was that the beast wasn't very good at cornering. It actually had to slow down before it turned and started chasing again. If he could just keep this up he might have a chance of getting away. Then he and Spike could finish it off. This of course would prove difficult if not thought through well enough. Quickly turning down an alley, he ran up to the nearest fire escape ladder and jumped. Grabbing hold, he climbed up and started running up the fire escape. Once at the roof of the three story building he stepped up to the ledge and looked down. Below him, the carrier had come up to the building and started circling, looking up every so often to snarl at Terry.

"Yeah, that's right ugly." he taunted. "I'm up here. Now what are you gonna do about that?"

The creature padded up to the building and placed it's front paws on the wall, then started climbing up like a spider. Terry suddenly found himself in a bind. It wouldn't take long for the carrier to reach him, then he'd be in an insurmountable amount of trouble. Thinking quickly, he started running across the rooftop to the next building. Without stopping he jumped and landed on the neighboring building, then proceeded to the next. The carrier was already on the roof the first building by the time Terry jumped to the next one. It reared its head back and roared as it started charging after him again.

"Damn it!" Terry cursed. "Why is it that every time I am about to do something stupid, no one stops me?"

Stopping at the edge of the building, he looked down and then behind. The carrier was gaining on him quickly. Needing no other coaxing, he jumped down to the lower building feet first. He then headed to the front of the building where a canopy hung above the entrance. Counting to three he jumped down and fell through the canopy, tearing through the tough fabric and hit the sidewalk on his rear.

"Ow, shit!" he yelled. "That always works in the movies."

He didn't have long to think that over as the carrier started climbing down the front of the previous building, snarling at him.

"Oh yeah. You make it look so easy." he said before taking off at full speed down the street again.

The carrier leapt down to the sidewalk and continued pursuit.

Spike meanwhile had lost sight of Terry and the unknown carrier just after they turned up the street leading back to the park. Neither of them were nowhere to be seen and he was starting to get worried. Reaching into his pocket, he took out his phone and dialed Terry's number. Two rings later it picked up.

"I'm a little busy here Spike. Can we discuss this later?" came Terry's voice.

"Nuts to that." said Spike. "Where the hell are you? You both just vanished."

Terry sounded somewhat out of breath.

"Oh, I just figured I'd take the scenic route, you know? Give the carrier a little exercise before it devours me. Maybe we can teach it fetch the paper later."

Normally Spike would have laughed a bit, but Terry's life was in jeopardy now. This wasn't a laughing matter and his patience was wearing thin.

"God damn it Malloy! Just tell me where you are!"

"I'm heading back to the park now. Think you can make it?"

Spike pushed the accelerator all the way to the floor.

"I'm half way there now. Hang on little brother."

Terry hung up and put the cell phone back in his pocket as he made a sharp turn around end of the block and started running for the park. He was starting to feel a little sick from all the running he had to do. It was either that though or get eaten alive. That didn't bode well in is mind. For the time being he was able to keep a distance from the carrier. The sounds it made pushing him further and further. He actually felt rather silly running from the thing, but he wasn't exactly equipped like he was when he had the Diamond Hide to tangle with. This beast was a new breed all it's own. Neither he or Spike had seen carriers living in water before. And this one was a fairly decent runner on land to boot.

"Just a couple more blocks Terry." he said to himself. "Then you can throw up all you want."

His dinner disagreed as he felt a bit come up his throat and go back down.

"Oh God yuck!" he shouted. "I do not want to my food making a return appearance right now."

Coming up to the next street corner he headed directly across the street, ignoring the traffic lights and nearly getting run over by the only driver around. One more block to go and he'd be safe. At least he hoped so. The carrier was starting to catch up, which made Terry push himself all the harder. As long as he was able to stay ahead he'd be alright. He could hear the beast gnashing it's teeth, it's massive claws hitting the ground with a loud thump thump, thump thump, like it was pounding the concrete.

"Why did I have to throw grenades into the pond?" he asked himself.

Suddenly an idea popped in his head. Reaching into his jacket pocket he took out a single pineapple grenade and pulled the pin. He then tossed the grenade behind himself and continued running. Just as the carrier passed over it, the grenade went of. Terry stopped and turned around. He was able to make out the carriers form lying on the ground just as the smoke started clearing. Seconds later it stood up again and snarled at him.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" he shouted as he turned and started running again, the carrier charging after him.

He wasn't far from the park now. Knowing Spike, he'd already be there. Hopefully he'd have figured out some way to kill the beast on his tail. The real question was, what if they couldn't kill this thing. What then?

Moments later he was running just outside the park. Making a sharp right he started back to the pond where they first found the carrier.

"Come on Spike." Terry muttered through gritted teeth. "Where the hell are you?"

His prayers were answered when he heard a truck engine roaring closer and closer. Seeing the headlights in front of him Terry made a desperate move and ran straight for the truck. Just seconds before making contact with the truck he dove to the left, leaving the pursuing carrier in the trucks path. With a mighty roar the creature was struck head on. Spike slammed on the brakes, the truck dragging mud and grass under its massive tires. The carrier was flung back and rolled several feet before coming to a stop just inches from a nearby tree. Spike stuck his head out the truck window shouting at the creature.

"Yeah! Take that you son of a bitch! Nobody messes with my bro and gets away with it!"

"Damn right!" Terry added. "Piece of shit! Maybe next time you'll know...better?"

Terry's eyes grew large when he saw the carrier slowly trying to stand up. Spike opened the door of the truck and jumped out with a twelve gauge shotgun in hand. Casually waking up to the massive beast, he rested the barrel on its head.

"Why don‘t you play dead now?" he muttered whilst pulling the trigger.

A loud bang rang out through the park and the carrier let out one last shriek before finally collapsing dead on the ground at Spike's feet. Cautiously, Terry walked up beside Spike and looked at the large monster he had been running from.

"Think there are any others?" he asked.

Spike shook his head.

"Don't think so. If there were I think they'd have jumped out after the grenades like this one did."

Terry nodded.

"Good point."

"I'm surprised. After all that running you didn't..."

At that moment Terry lurched forward and started throwing up on the grass just inches from Spike.

"Spoke too soon." he said shaking his head with a grin, just as the hazmat crew arrived on the scene.

Northridge Hospital

Sunday 4:43 am

Aaron slowly awoke to the feeling of someone gently shaking him. He didn't know who till he heard the persons voice. He had only heard it once before but he recognized it as Mia's mother. He slowly opened his eyes, giving his vision time to adjust. Mia's mother stood over him and Mia who was once again asleep with her head resting on his shoulder.

"Aaron?" Mia's mother said softly.

"Oh, hi. What time is it?"

"It's about a quarter to five. I just came to tell you that the operation is over and it was a complete success. We'll be wheeling Cody to recovery in a few minutes."

Aaron smiled.

"That's great."

She turned and headed for the twin doors to the operating room.

"You'll wake Mia and the others for me won't you? I have to go back now."

Aaron nodded.

"Sure thing. I'll take care of it."

Once she left Aaron turned to Mia. He put an arm around her and gently rubbed her arm. A moment later her eyes slowly opened.

"Hey." said Aaron.

Mia smiled.

"Hey to you too."

"The operation is done. They're wheeling Cody up to recovery now. Your mother came out to tell me."

Mia's smile grew wider.

"That's wonderful." she said kissing him on the cheek and putting her arms around him.

Aaron put an arm around her and the two of them stood up. He looked to the sofa across from them. Gary and Tracy were passed out, Tracy on top of Gary with his wings around her. Mia looked to Aaron and smiled again.

"Let's give them a few more minutes. It'll be a little while before we can go see him anyway."

Aaron looked into her eyes and smiled back.

"Sure." he said.