Chapter 18

“Heels off, everyone.” Donna spun the wheel, and her car fishtailed around a curve in the rough road.

Weightless for a split second as the car hit a bump and bounced sideways, the three Lannits in back jostled together. When they returned to solid ground, the spinning tires caught. The ride turned back into something less than a trip aboard Sputnik, and the women reached down and removed their shoes.

“Done.” Susy said.

“Anyone back there a strong runner?” Donna glanced in her rearview, Roy was having a hard time with the poor road and the distance between them grew. The jeep seemed to be right on his tail.

“I ran track in high school.” Sally looked down at her bust straining the fabric of her dress. Her boobs jiggled every time they hid a pothole. “Well, I was. My body has developed since.”

“Adeline?” Donna eyed the great big box of a building housing the pumping station behind the trees. It grew steadily as they drew nearer.

“No,” Adeline squeaked. She had never had a body for running.

“Okay, here’s what’s going to happen.” Donna wiped her forehead and quickly returned her hand to the wheel. Uh oh, her fingers were moist. She tried to think cool thoughts. She couldn’t have Patrick lose his focus now. “I’m going to pull up in front of that building. Patrick and I are going to get out, grab some tools from the trunk, and make a run for it. Hopefully, before the people behind us can see what’s happening, we’ll be out of sight.” She checked the mirror again. The other cars had disappeared behind a curve. That was a good thing. They needed distance. “Then, Susy, you’ll take the wheel and the three of you will turn around and drive right past our pursuers.”

“Right past them?” Susy didn’t sound sure.

“You’ll be fine. Just use whatever space is available in the parking lot to go wide. You’ll be by them before they know it.” Donna set her narrow chin in determination. Of course, she had no idea if any of the plan would work. But best to keep that to herself. “Then, you’ll drive back to town. Hopefully, Roy and the jeep will follow. When you’re in town, try to let Sally out so she can run to the hotel for help. My husband Mark will be there, and so will the military.” She gave them the room numbers.

“What about the police?” Adeline trembled listening to the plan.

“Forget the police.” Donna could just make out the open space of a parking lot as they neared the pump.

“And while Sally’s getting help?” Susy wondered at how odd it was that she was taking orders from this woman now. She had to admit, Patrick had found himself a smart girlfriend.

“You and Adeline drive away from town. Try and get the other cars to follow you.” Donna swerved the car into the small dirt parking lot. Her hand moved to the parking brake. “Okay, everyone, hold on. Here we go.”

“Yeehaw!” Roy bounced the car over another depression in the road. The whole thing shook around him. Months ago, he would have been sure his mother would kill him for the way he was treating her car. Now? What was she going to do about it? “You having fun, Davey?”

“David Riles!” David stared out the windshield with that goofy grin on this face.

“Yeah, buddy, I can’t see them either.” Roy squinted ahead. He’d been having so much fun backroad driving, he hadn’t really noticed how far behind they’d fallen. He floored the pedal, but it just caused some spinouts. Well, it’s not like his mom’s car had any muscle. He looked behind and saw the women trailing them in their jeep not five feet back. “What do you think the broads behind us want?”

David looked over his shoulder through the rear window. “Danger.” He stared with some intensity at the blonde driving the jeep.

“You scared, Davey?” Roy chuckled. “They’re women. We can handle them.” Roy could smell his body odor in the car. “I’ve got my trusty magic sweat going full throttle. I...” They rounded a bend in the road and Roy gripped the wheel tighter. They had entered a small parking lot next to that large, cube of a building. To his left, Patrick’s girlfriend’s car sped in the other direction, trying to sneak past them. “Son of a bitch.” Roy stared, but couldn’t see Patrick inside with the glare of the car’s windows.

The jeep behind them swerved to its left. Roy stuck his head out of the window and watched as Patrick’s car and the jeep raced toward one another. There was a sickening crunch of steel and glass.

“Patrick!” David suddenly found himself sitting in a strange car in the middle of the woods, watching a jeep and another car perform an awkward collision two-step. He had a feeling that something had gone terribly wrong, but couldn’t quite place what it was. And then a thick fog of confusion swept over his mind.

“Well, shit.” Roy stopped the car and got out, some twenty feet from the crash site. Steam wove into the air from the crumpled hood of the jeep. The damage on Patrick’s car was mainly to the front driver’s side. A brown-haired woman jumped out of the passenger side of the jeep and ran headlong toward the lake. She moved oddly, like her legs would turn to Jell-O if she didn’t reach the water in time. She was completely silent. “Patrick? You okay?” Roy took a few cautious steps toward the wreck, leaving David in the idling car behind him.

“We’re all pretty far from okay.” The creature Smith, still posing as Abby, stepped out of the jeep. Its right arm seemed to wiggle and retract as it stood upright, army issue heels digging into the dirt of the parking lot. “Why are you here? You all looking to visit Mother?” Abby turned her cold eyes on Roy.

Suddenly, Roy wasn’t so sure his sweat would conquer this woman. She seemed ... very strange. “My friend is in that car.” Roy took a step back.

“Your friend?” Abby’s voice carried a faint mocking sneer. “Well, let’s fetch him. I’ll send you all to mother, and let her sort this out.” Abby walked with great deliberation toward the crashed car in front of her.

“All?” Roy didn’t like the sound of that. He took another step back toward his mom’s car.

“Mom? Mom, wake up.” Adeline shook her mother, who groaned. The front windshield was cracked, and the driver’s side window lay in small pieces all over Susy’s lap. “Mom!” Adeline looked out the cracked windshield at a blond woman in a khaki uniform walking toward them. The woman should have been pretty, but something in the set of her face was wrong. And the way she walked, with her pelvis forward, seemed quite out of place. Adeline didn’t want to be in that spot when the woman arrived.

“Addy?” Susy hurt all over. She blinked her eyes, but couldn’t quite focus. She felt her daughter’s hands on her, tugging at her breasts and shoulders. “Not ... you too.” Susy thought Adeline was trying to take advantage of her mother, but then realized she was being moved out of the driver’s seat. “Let me just rest, for a second.”

“No time, Mom.” Adeline struggled pulling her mother out of the way. She seemed to be even thicker than Adeline remembered. Once she’d dragged Susy far enough, Adeline climbed over her. Crossing Susy’s breasts was like traversing a mountain range. Her mother moaned beneath her, but Abigail focused on getting behind the wheel as quickly as possible. The blond woman was only fifteen feet away now. She turned the key and the engine rolled over, but didn’t roar to life. The woman drew closer. “Come on, come on.” Getting killed by a crazed military woman seemed a fitting end to this trip home. She wished she was still safely back in her dorm at school. She turned the key in the ignition and the car didn’t start again. “Please.” She turned the key one more time.

The engine turned over in the wrecked car, but didn’t start. “Maybe we better get going.” Roy sank his bulk back into the driver’s seat and watched the woman approach Patrick’s car. Whatever she had planned, it wasn’t good. His mouth dropped when the woman got within five feet of the car and her right arm inexplicably lengthened like melting taffy. The woman’s hand now dragged in the dirt. But, now that Roy looked, he couldn’t really call it a hand anymore. His stupid friend sat silently in the passenger seat as Roy watched in horror. The wrecked car’s engine finally ignited, its wheels kicked up dust and rocks, and it spun a little half circle away from the pursuing blond woman.

“Not Patrick.” David offered the most obvious truth. He could see into the car and there were three Lannits, but Patrick not among them. Adeline drove, with her eyes wide, and her lips compressed together. Susy leaned against the passenger window. And Sally slumped sideways as the car’s momentum threw her unconscious body across the backseat.

“No ... I don’t see him either.” Roy craned his neck to look back at the building. He just caught a glimpse of a blue dress disappearing through the steel door. He looked back in front and saw the damaged car tear out of the parking lot. The blond woman gave chase, but slowed to a standstill in a cloud of dust as the car darted back the way it’d come. “It’s not like he’d come all the way out here to end the sweat thing...” Roy turned it over in his head, deciding whether to follow the car. “ ... and then just go back home.”

Abby turned toward the young men still in the parking lot. It pulled its khaki jacket partway off, but couldn’t get it past the elongated right arm that dragged in the dirt again. So, it tore the jacket off. The thick fabric ripped like it was nothing. It then shredded its shirt, bra, and skirt. It walked toward the boys in only its tights, hoping the body it had stolen would be enough to distract them.

“Holy shit. I have the strangest boner.” Roy stared out the windshield. The woman was incredibly pale and vulnerable looking, with small breasts that rested high on her chest. But her movements were off. It was like looking at an elaborate windup doll set loose upon them. And that arm seemed to have nearly liquified. Roy shivered.

“Go.” David hit the dashboard, and the thump resounded around the car. “Go, go, go.” He hit it harder, and the molding cracked.

“Yeah, let’s take door number two.” Roy put the car in first and jammed the pedal. He aimed right at the abomination. They closed the distance fast and the woman hit the hood, rolled up, cracked the windshield, and then tumbled over and off the backside of the car. Roy turned the car toward the building and drove as fast as he could. He had to tilt his head to look around a green smudge on the windshield. The woman lay motionless in the parking lot behind them. A smile crept over his face when he realized he’d finished her off. “Let’s stop Patrick.” Roy pulled up next to the large steel door. He could see its lock had been forced, and it stood ajar a few inches. He got out of the car.

“Patrick,” David agreed and got out of the car too.

The water’s edge ran right up to the side of the building, just beyond the parking lot. Roy looked out over the lake and saw what looked like large bubbles rise to the surface. The iridescent balls seemed to grow larger as they headed their way. Roy didn’t like the look of them. “Let’s get inside.” Whatever they were, he hoped they’d be gone when he returned to his car.

Together, the friends entered the pumping station.

Sweat trickled down Donna’s neck as they moved past a labyrinth of pipes. The whole place hummed with the raw power of a beating heart. She looked over at her boyfriend, who was carrying the duffle and saw the sweat on his forehead. But she didn’t need to see it. Not really. It was already having its effect on her. Their mission shrunk in her mind, pushed by visions of Patrick’s hard, lithe teenage body.

Quite curious that the members of the dominant species were piling into the pumping station. Axcix knew the building well. She had relied on it to reliably distribute her changes to the population. She had even augmented here and there where needed. Confident but cautious was her mood. She ordered her sentinels to take up positions in the water around the area.

Oh, and her faithful Smith was on its way to explore the inner workings of the place. That was ... acceptable. It knew to be careful in that place. All of Axcix’s focus fell to the building. All her other concurrent projects forgotten for the moment. What would these wayward humans do? Everything about the day’s events was quite stimulating.

“Help me lock the door.” Roy didn’t want that creepy naked lady following them into the building. He huffed and puffed, his great belly heaving as he scanned the steel door. The lock was busted on the inside, too. “Shit.”

“Shit,” David echoed.

“Don’t just stand there like an idiot, look for something to bar the door with.” Roy rushed to the side, looking between two tall metal boxes. He looked back at his friend who stood there like an idiot still. Then, Roy had an idea. The boxes weren’t bolted to the floor.

The door rattled to Roy’s right as if someone was testing it. Roy’s pulse quickened. He reached up and pulled at the box. It was really heavy. “Help ... me...” He couldn’t budge the thing. The door shook again.

“Yes.” David walked over, put his hands on the edge of the box, and with a great effort pulled it down on the floor right in front of the door. The boom of the falling thing joined the constant thrum inside the place. The door banged against the box, but couldn’t move more than an inch now.

“Good.” Roy sighed. They’d have to figure out a way to get out of the place later. After he’d stopped Patrick and stolen his girlfriend. Cautiously, they wove through the maze of pipes, looking around every turn to see what had become of Patrick. “They’re probably setting up traps or something. I saw this sort of thing on Buck Rodgers once. Keep a sharp eye out, Tonto.”

“Kemosabe.” David followed his friend into the hot, steaming room.

She couldn’t help herself. She knew it was crazy. Who knew what was after them? And they only had a little time to kill the thing in the lake. But still. Donna stuck her tongue into Patrick’s mouth while she tore at his trousers. She pulled him a little farther into a corner, hiding them down a dead-end alley behind a large, rotating piston. There it was, her hand grasped his raging member, and she shuddered with anticipation.

Patrick pushed at her heavy breasts, breaking their kiss. “Wait ... it’s the sweat.” He watched her sink to her knees. “We have to ... aaaaahhhhhhh ... Donna ... I can’t think ... straight.” He wove his fingers through her red hair and leaned his head back against a cold masonry wall as she greedily sucked on his cock.

“Mmppppphhhhhhh.” Why couldn’t she just wait until after they’d saved the world? Donna’s loss of control had never been more evident. And she’d never cared less. She worked her neck muscles hard as she bobbed on him, turned her face with every thrust. A cloud of pleasure surged through her as she thought about how vital this young man was. And how she was about to drain him. Empty that vitality right down her throat. No, that was wrong. She needed it in her womb.

“Donna?” Patrick watched her rise with hunger in her eyes. Her soft, freckled face looked anything but innocent at the moment. He let her seize his dick with her left hand and lead him farther into the shadows. “We ... have to...”

“It’s okay ... as long as you’re quick.” Donna turned to the wall, lifted her dress, and pulled her panties to the side. She stuck her ass back at him in the most undignified way. “Put it in ... please.” Her lip trembled as she stared at the gray wall. Then lightning shot through her. He was inside and all was right with the world. His hands took up their familiar positions on her hips and she let him take charge. She so very much liked when the teenager did with her as he pleased.

The slaps of their bodies together joined the rhythmic sounds of the machinery all around them. Both were now completely lost. Lost in the labyrinth of the place, and in their own impulses.

“You feel ... extra ... tight.” Patrick wondered if their mission had somehow primed her pussy for him. Or could it be the excitement of the moment.

“Oooohhhhhh ... gosh, Pat. I miss it ... so much ... when it’s not ... in meeeeeeeeeeeee.” Her face went slack, and her fingers pressed harder into the wall. They were in such peril, but all that mattered was the purity of the orgasm that ran the course of her brain.

A faint sound played at the periphery of Roy’s perception. It danced around the rush of water through pipes and the thump of the giant pump. It had a slightly different rhythm than the louder machinery, and seemed to be accompanied by a high-pitched wail, like steam escaping from a valve. “Do you hear that?” Roy wondered if that disfigured woman had somehow gotten in the front door. Was she somehow making the discordant sounds? He didn’t think that possible, but he shuddered all the same.