Chapter 15

A knock sounded on the door. Lieutenant Abby Kerns depressed the button on the radio. “Colonel? I think our water shipment is here. I’m going to step away for a moment.” She released the button and the radio buzzed with static. There was so much interference in Portsmith.

“Message ... ceived ... care ... and out.” The Colonel’s reedy voice barely made it through.

Abby nodded, adjusted the garrison hat perched on her blond head, and stood. “Code?” she said to the delivery person on the other side of the door. There was no response. “Code?” Another three knocks. Abby let slip a half crescent of a smile. “I keep telling you guys, use the code. It’s not funny when you give me the silent treatment.” She walked to the door, her crisp skirt uniform moving stiffly on her hips. Those delivery boys were always trying to mess with her. They knew this was an odd assignment, what with all the rumors of Russian scientific experiments in the heartland and missing staff. She looked at her watch. “You’re also three hours early,” Abby said to the closed door. She put her hand on the knob, unlocked it, and swung the door open.

“Well, hello, former Lieutenant Kerns.” Abby’s doppelganger stood in the door.

It was like looking in a mirror. Everything was the same, down to the identical intelligence pin on their ascots. “What?” Abby gaped at the woman smiling her smile back at her. “Who?” She stood frozen.

“Me?” The mirrored Abby pushed Abby aside and strode into the room. It forcefully closed the door behind it and eyed the lieutenant. “I am the new Abby Kerns. I’m here to relieve the erstwhile Lieutenant Kerns of duty. You see, Axcix needs eyes and ears inside this little operation. Is there anyone else here with you?”

“I ... I...” Abby’s heart thundered like a military drum in her chest. Was this ... was this a Soviet trick?

The mirrored Abby stepped up to the real one and slapped her on the cheek. The sound reverberated around the small hotel room, layering over the static spilling from the radio in the corner. “I said, is there anyone else here with you?”

“What are you?” Abby rubbed her cheek and stepped back from the imposter. The slap had brought her out of her shock induced stupor. She bent her knees slightly and hiked up her skirt so she could better move her legs. She should have never let this woman in the door.

“Axcix calls me Smith. But you’re not looking for a proper name, are you?” Smith held up its left hand and its fingers merged and elongated. The flesh pulsed and twitched as it changed. “I’ve been reassigned to ... maintenance. I clean up messes.”

“Ew.” Abby felt her stomach roll with revulsion. “You’re some kind of Russian experiment.” She sidled to her right, making her way to the desk where her service revolver lay. She watched as the woman before her transformed her arm and hand into a writhing rope of flesh with a bulbous head on the end. A smell entered the room. A dark, primaeval scent that carried with it elemental promises. Abby’s knees trembled, and her pussy clenched spasmodically. Only a few more feet to the revolver, and then she would end this monster.

“Don’t worry, Lieutenant Kerns. While you will no longer be exactly ... yourself. You will be quite useful. You just need a little reeducation.” Smith stepped closer to the other woman. It could see Abby’s intent quite clearly. When the Army officer jumped for her weapon, Smith caught her with the snaking appendage in midair.

“Oh, God.” As Abby’s mind reeled, her body thrilled at the touch of the misshapen thing. The creature Smith spun her around in the air and brought her down on the bed. Abby struggled, but she could feel the appendage tightening around her waist. And then, to her horror, the head of it slipped under her skirt and tore her panties right off her. “You can’t ... aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh.” Fireworks exploded behind Abby’s eyes as what had once been Smith’s left hand sunk inside her vagina. Only crazed communists could come up with a plan so vile and ... beguiling. Abby closed her eyes tight and fought to resist the pleasures of the flesh that spread through her as the bulb plunged into her depths.

“Open your eyes, my sweet little thing.” Smith’s rope-like arm stayed wrapped around Abby, with the tip pistoning in and out of her. But the thing was so long now, that Smith was able to climb slowly onto the bed and look down at the beautiful lieutenant. “Do you feel it? You are becoming one with us. Soon you will swim in deep waters and feel the power of a great joining.” With her right hand, Smith tore open the front of Abby’s uniform, and ripped off the woman’s bra. Two firm mounds bumped on the woman’s chest in time with Smith’s pumping. Smith could remember enough from before to enjoy perfect breasts when confronted with them.

“You’re ... aaaaahhhhhhh ... sick.” Abby’s body shuddered with pleasure. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at her evil twin. “Never join ... you Reds ... I’m an officer ... of the U.S. of ... oooooohhhhhhhhhhh.” Abby had fooled around with her fiancé plenty, but he’d never unlocked her body the way this abomination did. Her muscles went rigid, she arched her back up off the bed, and her mind went into a frenzy. When she came down from her high, she found her hips were thrusting up to meet the ravaging member inside her, and she couldn’t do a thing to stop herself.

“Do you see now?” Smith, in its perfectly starched uniform leaned down to kiss its mirror image, in her torn and wrinkled khakis. “You belong with us. You all belong with us.”

“Ohhhhh, God.” Abby’s lips opened to accept the kiss from this monster of a woman. The dark copy of herself knew what it was doing with its tongue. They made out for a long time as the long appendage drove Abby to new heights of pleasure. After a while, they broke their kiss and Abby’s eyes tried to focus on the woman-thing above her. It seemed to be vibrating, its mouth hanging impossibly wide above Abby.

“Get ready to take ... the gift of Axcix.” Smith’s body longed to complete the process. To fill and claim this woman for their cause. Something dark and urgent drove Smith. It wasn’t instinct, it was a drive even more compelling and total.

“You’re ... augghhhhh ... not going ... to...” Abby knew what the thing was about to do. Despite the fact that it was screwing her with what had once been its arm, it was about to shoot its seed inside her. For a fleeting moment, she wondered where its balls were. And then, her body filled with the most delicious heat. “Soooo ... wonderfullllllll...” And then she shrieked out her most wonderful orgasm yet.

When Abby again opened her eyes, she could see the thing pretending to be her sitting by the radio. She sat up in bed, her breasts hanging out of her uniform.

“No, it wasn’t the water delivery. Just someone at the wrong room.” Smith’s left arm had returned to normal, and it looked perfectly like Abby again. It looked over at the real Abby, winked, and its face brightened in that half crescent smile.

“Something ... in the barn ... checking it out.” The Colonel’s voice broke through the radio’s static.

“Roger, that.” Smith said.

Without a word, Abby stood on shaky legs. She could feel Smith’s warm stuff leaking out of her. She straightened her stockings, which she knew were torn and did her best to button her uniform. She must look a sorry sight, but it didn’t matter. She wobbled to the door and out into the hall. Swimming. She needed to go swimming. Like a homing pigeon, Abby stumbled out of the hotel and walked west.

The long table near the back of the stacks was empty, but for Donna and Patrick huddled over an old set of plans. She traced her finger along a blue line. “So, the treatment plant is here.”

“Right.” Patrick adjusted his thick glasses and scanned the paper. “But where’s the source?”

“It could be a well ... or...” Donna scrunched up her freckled face as she thought, her glasses hanging just on the tip of her nose. “Not a well ... look.”

“Lake Ipuza Ikpi,” they said at the same time and looked at each other. Both of their brains working furiously.

“When David, Roy, and I saw the meteor. It was low in the sky, heading due west. We were here.” He pointed at a series of sewers and water pipes near the center of town. “The lake would be a logical landing spot. The meteor was coming in here,” he picked up a pencil and drew a faint line on the old plans, and the lake is a few miles over here. He drew an x on the lake and circled it. “Whatever it is, it’s there. I know it.”

“You’re right.” Donna nodded. She couldn’t say why, but she was sure of it, too.

“We need to go out there. Right away.” Patrick stood up. He suddenly realized that he’d defaced the library’s property with his pencil. That was no good, but the library, and every citizen in Portsmith had bigger problems, he told himself.

“Well, we’re not going to bicycle out there.” Donna took the pencil and tried to erase the marks they’d made on the plans. “Let’s circle back to the hotel and pick up my car.”

“And the blond women?” Patrick shivered, thinking about the feral, hungry look that the second military woman had given him.

“We’ll have to chance it.” Donna stood, looped her arm around his waist, and stuck the pencil in her purse. “Maybe we should get reinforcements. Your tall friend?”

“Right.” Hip to hip, they walked out of the library, leaving the plans on the table. They didn’t even consider what an odd sight they must have made. The cosmopolitan woman, and the eighteen-year-old teenager from a small town, walking like lovebirds for all the town to see. “We’ll get your car and swing by David’s house.”

“Will he be home?” Donna thought maybe they should ask Mark, too. But decided he’d probably be worse than useless. What an odd thought to have about her once-dashing husband.

“Yeah. He’ll be spending time with his mom.”

“Oh.” Donna thought that over. “Oooohhhhhhhhh.” The thought of that tall strapping lad giving it to his mother made her a little weak in the knees. She tried to clear her mind. They needed no distractions. They had important work to do.

“Um ... I’m not sure how to say this.” David sat in the back seat of Donna’s automobile as they drove through the woods.

“What is it?” Patrick put his elbow over the front seat and looked back at his friend. He caught David looking at Donna’s copper hair with distrust as she drove. “She’s okay. Whatever you tell me, you can tell her.”

David shrugged. He had to get it off his chest and the woman was his best friend’s girl. “My mom’s pregnant.”

“Congratulations ... wait ... I mean ... are you... ?” Patrick’s face turned beet red. He glanced at Donna and could see her blushing, too.

“My father isn’t the father,” David said in a hush. It felt good to tell Patrick.

“Are you sure? I mean...” Patrick counted on his fingers. “Since this all started, it hasn’t been that long.”

“I’m sure.” David smiled. It was good to get this out in the open. “She’s already getting big.”

“But that’s not possible.” Patrick was mystified by the timing. “Is it?” He looked to his girlfriend as they pulled into the familiar parking lot by the lake.

“I had a case once where a woman gave birth in little over a month from conception to delivery.” Donna found a space in the empty lot, parked, and turned the car off. “But that was demonic possession, and I don’t think that’s what’s going on here.”

“What is going on here?” David listened to the car pop and ping as it cooled.

“Meteors, strange changes in Portsmith across a wide range of citizens, Roy going evil –”

“Roy didn’t need much of a push.” David frowned.

“True, but still. I think it’s clear that what we have is something in the water.” Patrick adjusted his glasses and pointed out at the lake. “Something from another world.”

“That’s why we’re here?” David got out of the car and the others followed him. They ambled up to the edge of the lake. “This is where the meteor landed?”

“To the best of our estimations.” Donna folded her arms over her large chest and shivered. A cold breeze blew in off the mountains and gathered speed over the choppy water.

“So, what are we going to do?” David turned his head to the shore about a hundred yards to their left. A blond woman in a torn military uniform stumbled out of the woods.

“Investigate. We have a look...” Patrick trailed off when he noticed the woman weaving like a drunk toward the water. “That’s her. That’s the woman with the evil twin.”

“Miss? Miss?” Donna called out to her. The woman ignored them. “What’s she doing?” Donna whispered. The wind picked up and blew Donna’s red hair back over her shoulders. Waves lapped at the mud by their feet.

The three investigators watched the blond woman wade out into the water, which quickly rose above her khaki skirt.

“Look.” Patrick pointed out into the middle of the lake. Several large bubbles had risen to the surface. The bubbles were opaque, and seemed to have large, dark squirming animals inside them. The wind now howled around them.

“Hey, lady. Don’t go in there,” David shouted. But she ignored them and moved further out, now up to her chest in the lake. “Shit.” David quickly chucked his shoes and socks. He pulled off his shirt, and dropped his pants. “I’m going to go save her.”

“I’ll go with you.” Patrick unbuttoned his cardigan.

“Can you swim?” David looked over at him with a wry grin. He waded out into the water, heading for the woman who was now up to her neck.

“No.” Patrick rebuttoned his shirt.

“Then stay put. Get the car running. We might have to take her to the hospital.” David dove into the icy water and swam with powerful strokes.

Donna turned and ran back to the car. Patrick stood on the shore, helpless. He looked over to his right and his mouth dropped. Those large, ominous bubbles were headed right for him. Each was a half dome on the water’s surface, and the things inside seemed to be in a frenzy. At least they weren’t headed for David, Patrick thought. “David! The bubbles!”

David stopped his swim and treaded water. He looked to his right and saw the strange things headed for his friend. “Go! Get in the car and go!” David screamed. “I’ll take the lady out on the other side away from those things. Go get help.”

“Who should I get?” Patrick cupped his hands to scream above the sound of the wind in the trees.

“The police, dummy.” David turned and swam toward the woman again. He could now only see her little hat and some blond hair floating on the surface of the water. He moved as fast as he could. Both to save the stupid woman before she drowned, and to get out of the lake before those bubbles turned toward him.

“We’ll be back!” Patrick turned and ran toward the car, looking over his shoulder. The dark bubbles were now almost on the shore.

“Get in.” Donna pulled up next to Patrick with the passenger door hanging open.

“Go, go, go.” Patrick jumped in and slammed the door. He turned around and looked back as the car’s tires spun out and then caught, jerking them forward. The bubbles had rolled into the lot. There were four of them, and now that he got a close look at them, bubbles didn’t seem the right word. They were tough and rigid, showing no give to the ground below. This was both disquieting, and a relief. Patrick had been afraid the things would burst and spill their frenzied cargo out in the open.

“Are they still behind us?” Donna spared the quickest little glance in the mirror.

“They’re falling back.”

Donna took her foot off the gas and the car slowed.

“Now they’re catching up. What are you doing?” There was panic in Patrick’s voice.

“I want those things to follow us as long as possible.” Donna’s lips pressed themselves into a thin line, her eyes fixed on the road ahead. “You don’t want them turning around and going after your friend. Right?”

“Right.” Patrick gripped the back of his seat tightly and watched behind them. Their car sped up and slowed down several times. They’d traveled several miles before the balls stopped rolling after them and turned around. “You ever have a case like this? What do we do now?”

“Never had a case like this.” A grim look spread on her face. Donna gunned the car and drove as fast as the curving road would allow. “Now we’ll do what your friend asked. We’ll get as many policemen as we can and head back to the lake.”

“There’s a woman being attacked in the lake by ... um...” Officer McHenry looked back at his notes and rolled his eyes. “ ... a small team of bubbles.”

“Balls.” Patrick tapped his foot. Time was wasting. “I didn’t mean bubbles. Far out balls. And she wasn’t being attacked. We were. She was drowning, and my friend, David Riles, swam out to save her.”