Invasive Bugs

Early mornings were hard enough without alarms blaring in your ears, waking you from whatever sweet dream or twisted nightmare that was occupying your subconscious mind. For Jacob and his crew however, it was just another tuesday. Life on the front lines of an alien bug invasion was more anti-climatic than people would probably think. Almost every morning they were awakened by the alarms going off, indicating that some part of their defences had been attacked or even breached, and it was their job to push the big bad buggies back to the holes they crawled out of. It’s not that their job was without danger or adrenaline fueled fights, they often came back covered in blood and bug guts, but when you do the same thing day in and day out without any advancement, it becomes mundane.

So when their morning was once again greeted by the blaring alarms, Jacob and his crew climbed out of their bunks and started gathering their gear. Every single person in his crew slept in their clothes for the simple fact that this happened more often than not. Jacob didn’t even pay that close attention to the radio broadcast anymore, only listening to the location and the severity of the situation, the rest of the broadcast just faded into the sounds of the alarms. Jacob had just jumped down from his second row bunk as the emergency broadcast came on, but this time something sounded different with the guards voice, it was panicked.

“Breach in the northwest quadrant, bugs tunneled in from below, code red, I repeat code…” and the broadcast was cut off and went to static. In his two plus years of being in this bug infested wasteland, never had he heard a code red call. These soldiers here were veterans of war, people who had seen horrible things and were surprised by nothing. For them to call a code red meant they were in for something extremely bad. Jacob wasn’t the only one in his crew to recognise the severity of their situation either, every single face staring back at him, awaiting his instructions.

“Where is Commander Alaina?” Jacob said just as the power went out. They were in complete darkness for only a few seconds until the emergency lighting came on, providing just enough light for everyone to barely see each other. Jacob heard their commanders door open and close as a figure walked through the darkness towards him.

“She’s not in her quarters sir” said Jackson as he came into view. It wasn’t uncommon for her to wander the halls in the middle of the night when she couldn’t sleep.

“Alright guys, looks like the bugs choose to bring the fight to us this time” Jacob said as he finished strapping on his vest and reached for his rifle. “Gear up and move out.” Jacob couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right, that he was missing something, but for the sake of his and his crew's sanity, he kept it to himself and treated this call as any other.

They had barely made it out of their sleeping quarters and into the hallway when an explosion rocked the building, causing the emergency lights to go out and the sound of burst water pipes echoed throughout the building. Soon after, they could hear gunshots somewhere in the north part of the building followed by screams. Jacob halted his crew and signaled them into formation. He had only seven other elite soldiers under his command, Jackson, who took lead alongside him, Warner and Froman taking one side while Otero and Munoz took the other, leaving Toni and Pearson covering the rear.

They slowly made their way down the hallway, guided by only their flashlights attached to their weapons to guide them in this windowless building. The sound of leaking water fell all around them as the block walls echoed the sound all around them. Jacob decided their best course of action was to head to the armory, which wasn’t too far from where they were to see if they could find a couple of night vision goggles to help them out first, then make their way to the fight from there. Strange sounds coming from the corridor up ahead brought the crew to a halt. ‘Bugs in the building, great’ Jacob thought as they listened for more movement. These bugs were no joke; easily seven feet tall and over three hundred pounds, they had a look similar to a common flea, which doesn’t sound too threatening until you’re face to face with one the size of a grizzly. The noise ahead disappeared, but a new one quite a ways back was coming up behind them, so Jacob got his crew moving forward once again. They were almost through an intersection between two hallways when Munoz had his feet yanked out from under him as a bug dropped from the ceiling, grabbed his leg and pulled him down the intersecting hallway. Munoz opened fire on the bug as he was pulled down the hall and Froman broke formation and sprinted down the hall after him. Before Jacob could say anything, Pearson and Toni started opening fire down the hall behind them at a couple of bugs following them. Jacob ordered Warner and Otero to keep an eye on their sides while Jackson focused ahead. Jacob took up a position in the center of their group so that he could assist where needed. Just as Jacob looked back to check on Pearson and Toni, who had apparently taken care of the bugs following them, another bug came from the other side, getting close enough to Warner before he could put it down, and grabbed him by the legs and pulled him to the ground. Warner was still firing when he got pulled off his feet and in a stroke of luck, one of the stray bullets just happened to hit one of the fire sprinklers, causing it to start pouring water over them.

Instantly, the bugs halted their attack, let out a horrible high pitched screech, and bolted back away from the water pouring all over them. Jacob couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Warner, who knew your horrible aim would save us one day” Jacob laughed as a plan started forming in his head.

“Toni, you and Otero go see if you two can find Froman and Munoz. Apparently these things don’t like baths, so one of you keep an eye on the water lines in case one of them catches up to you” Jacob said as they made their way down the hall. Now they knew why these bugs loved this wasteland out here, water was rare and you had to dig down quite a ways just to find any. They finally found a weakness. They waited for a short while until Toni and Otero showed back up with a wounded and bloodied Froman hobbling on one leg between them. Otero just looked at Jacob with a grim look and shook his head side to side. Everyone knew what that meant and not a single one of them asked about it.

“Warner, are you able to walk on your own?” Jacob asked.

“Yeah, I believe so sir” Warner said as he finished wrapping his leg with a shirt sleeve, blood stained from his knee to his ankle.

“Ok, Warner, I want you up here with me shooting sprinklers. Otero, I want you in the middle helping Froman keep up while Toni and Jackson take the sides and Pearson the rear. Lets see if we can make it to the armory” Jacob said. The group fell into formation as they slowly made their way down the hallway. They only encountered a few more bugs along the way, but the sprinklers going above them kept the bugs at a safe enough distance and prevented them from following them. Before they knew it, they were greeted by a locked door to the armory. Jacob broke formation and went and pounded on the door.

“Let us in” Jacob yelled as he pounded on the door. Jacob waited for a moment or two and was about ready to hammer the door handle with the butt of his rifle when he heard the lock click. The door swung open quickly as a couple of soldiers poked out with their rifles, covering each side of the hallway.

“Quick, get in” said one of the soldiers after glancing down the hall and moving back into the room. There was temporary battery powered light in the room which blinded Jacob and his crew who had become accustomed to the dark hallways.They helped Froman over to a cot and laid him down, only then realizing just how bad he was tore up. Warner’s leg looked a little worse then he previously thought as well.

“What in the world is going on out there?” asked one of the soldiers who opened the door.

“Bugs made it into the building, turns out they have a severe dislike for water. We’ve been shooting the emergency sprinklers to keep them at bay.” Jacob said. The cage door leading into the armory opened and out walked Captain Alaina.

“It’s about time you guys get here, I was beginning to wonder what happened to you” Alaina said.

“Just another tuesday ma’am.” Jacob said.

“Where’s Munoz?” Alaina asked as she started scanning the room.

“We got ambushed and a bug dragged him off, Froman went to help and was the only one who made it back.” Jacob said calmly. It wasn’t that he didn’t care for Munoz, but after seeing so many people he knew and cared for die, it had desensitized him to the pain, and their captain was the same way. Alaina reached for her own dog tags as he told her the news and whispered a short prayer, something she did anytime they lost a member of their crew.

“So what did you have in mind to pay back those bugs?” Alaina asked.

“Well we found out they hate water, so I say we make our way to the breech, shooting every sprinkler in sight until we find a good spot for some target practice” Jacob said.

“Get resupplied then and let's head out.” Alaina replied. They got more than enough ammo and a few pairs of night vision goggles before heading back out, leaving Froman and Warner, despite his arguments that he was fine, with a couple of the soldiers and headed out to sweep the building. It seemed to take forever to cover every corner of the building, but they managed to put down every last bug left in the building before making it outside to the breech, where the battle was all but over.

What actually happened

A couple of months ago, my in-laws discovered that their three dogs had fleas, and after very thorough baths, a good brushing and some spray to deter what fleas we couldn’t drown in the bath, the dogs were finally able to relax.