Carver Pike - Scalp

When the door finally caved inward, it was like an ant hill bursting. He’d once seen a crowd of cockroaches fall out of a cabinet in a filthy apartment in Nashville. They seemed to stumble over each other as the door was pulled open. The creatures outside fell the same way, like a black tidal wave of death scattering through the small space.

Then the door fell all the way to the ground, and whatever was outside got so excited to enter, chunks of the cinderblock wall came down too. The clicking and skittering sounds fell toward Hal like an avalanche coming to decimate him.

Hal’s first instinct was to run, but he gripped his gun handles instead, and he waited. The smart thing to do would be to close his eyes, but he couldn’t do that either. Not seeing was worse than seeing.

And what he saw was terrifying.

A bear with its entire snout ripped to shreds pushed through the opening. It let out a growl that made Hal piss himself. His bladder actually let loose and filled his pants. The teeth on the thing were huge.

Climbing over it, as if it weren’t a bear at all, was a woman with long, stringy hair. One eyeball oozed out of its socket and one cheek was ripped open, quite possibly by the bear, so now her muscle and teeth showed through the side of her face.

A wolf came through the opening and was missing a leg. It dragged itself through the bottom of the crushed wall.

Were they out there fighting each other?

It seemed entirely possible. Everything coming through the wall seemed totally destroyed but still hellbent on finding victims or… new hosts.

None of them had seen him yet. As all these monsters came piling into the building, they were lost. They didn’t know which way to go. Some of them were headed toward the office where Sally and the kids were hiding. It was time to be a hero.

God, if it’s my time to go, please make this as painless as possible and please bring me home to see my wife and my baby girl.

Hal closed his eyes and yelled, “Over here! You want some fresh meat? Come in here and get it.”

The room went silent for a second. Almost like the creatures couldn’t believe their ears, like they couldn’t believe the audacity of this man.

A cow pushed its way into the room. It almost got stuck in the entrance, but it fought its way through, and one of the door hinges cut into its side and ripped along the length of its body. The cow mooed, breaking the silence. The long gash that now ran along its side barely leaked blood, and the cow hardly seemed to register the incision.

It was the human woman with the stringy hair that approached him first.

Behind her was the bear. Then the wolf and two other humans. Hal couldn’t quite tell what sex the first one was. His face was so badly mangled, and the front of his body was covered in blood. He thought it must be a man. The other one was definitely a guy. A tall, skinny man with his left arm nearly ripped all the way off.

“I said I’m in here, you pieces of shit! I’m right in here! You want some fresh meat? Here’s your chance.”

Behind him came a new sound. It was the purr of a cat. Only, it didn’t sound like a small feline. This wasn’t the house pet kind. Hal turned his head slowly and watched as a mountain lion pushed through the Velcro strip. The mountain lion was big, with fur that should have been tan, nearly white, if not for the knife protruding from its throat and the growing bloodstain at the front of it.

Andre.

This must have been the beast that turned him. Hal smiled, knowing his brave buddy had gotten one last lick in.

But he also knew this was the end.

The other monsters were in front of him, making their way slowly into the tent, but it would be this one behind him that did him in. Any second now, those lice would leap, and then he’d be like all the others.

He wasn’t ready to go out yet. He needed to go out fighting. Slowly, he lifted the pistol in his left hand and pointed it up at the mountain lion’s chin.

Its fur shifted and he heard the noise the lice made. Their cricket-like calling. They were going to jump.

He pulled the trigger and the boom was deafening in the small room. The mountain lion screamed and fell down dead, but not before its lice made their leap. Their final attempt at survival before their host hit the ground.

Hal watched in terror, knowing his head was their destination. This was the end.

Then something incredible happened. The ladybugs around him went crazy. The ones on his head flew to meet the cloud of lice head-on. The squeal of the lice was definite this time. He knew he’d heard it earlier. Now, they squealed for their lives as the ladybugs flew right into the black mist and found dinner.

Still, Hal waited to see if he was going to be infected. Surely, at least one of them had hit his head. He felt the movement there in his hair and he knew the pain would hit any second. He’d heard others scream as they transformed, but then it dawned on him that his head was covered with ladybugs. It was the bugs walking around, eating the cilantro, and now waiting to chomp down on any lice that might make it through their flying brethren.

Hal slid back toward the tree, closer to the ladybugs.

What must have been a hundred of the creatures now swarmed the inside of the farm, searching for fresh hosts, and the ladybugs had homed in on them now.

The ladybugs went crazy. They took to the air, all at the same time. They were so thick Hal couldn’t see. The air above him was black. Like a cartoon bunch of bees chasing after prey, this thick black shape soared through the air. Pieces of it broke off and landed on the heads, fur, and hides of all the animals and humans in the room.

Some of the creatures tumbled over each other at the tent’s entrance, propping the flap open, and allowing the ladybugs to fly out in search of more food.

Squeals went up around him as the ladybugs feasted on the lice.

The bear roared and swiped at the space all around him. Its claws swept the air, but it was too late. The ladybugs were all over him, and the lice screamed.

Dragging itself along the ground, the wolf howled and chomped at the air, but again, the ladybugs had already identified it as a target and were slamming into its fur.

The woman with the stringy hair hit her knees and cried out. Her head was covered in a helmet of red and black.

It was the most amazing thing Hal had ever seen or would ever see in his entire life. They protected him. They were fighting with him. They were hungry, and they’d found their cuisine.

Hal could do nothing but sit and watch the beautiful insects devour the monsters that had tormented them all night and had killed so many people in Clydesville. Andre was a fucking genius. If he hadn’t brought them up here, this may have never ended.

Thank you, God.

For a second, he was sad. As he watched the human hosts fall to the floor and the animal ones fight for their lives, he thought of all they’d lost tonight. There was only one way this would end for them. He’d have to kill them all.

He also thought of Susanna and Sheila. He’d been happy at the thought of finally leaving this planet and seeing them again. He hadn’t been thrilled to die, and he was afraid of the pain he knew he would feel, but he’d been ready to see them again.

Now, that would have to wait.

It took what Hal guessed was about thirty minutes for the ladybugs to eat all of the lice and their eggs. When they flew back to the tree, he knew they were done. Unfortunately for him, each body in the building was still infected. Whatever had infiltrated their bodies was still in there, and they were coming for him.

The girl with the stringy hair raised her head and lifted her chest up with her arms. She stared right at him and grinned.