After the Flood.Conclusion

After the Flood.Conclusion (written and GMed by Keith Craig)

Alexa Barnham- photographer (Sawyer)

Estella (aka Estel) Avery- Botanist (Bill)

Dr Gretchen Levard (Nathan)

Henrietta (aka Hen) Posch- Zoologist (Jen)

Mark Lockhart- Forensic Scientist (Alex)

Estel questioned Mark, “Did you ask them about their 1952 test results they did on the fungus?” Another call only pissed off the secretary, who tried to be polite, “Nebraska isn’t the only state dealing with flooding. I’ll research your request and get back to you later.”

While Hen used her phone to check Cardona’s social footprint (Facebook, SnapChat, etc.) without success, Gretchen helped lead deputy Sgt White lay out a county map on the hood of his cruiser to begin evaluating the extent of the needed quarantine. Estel researched wind patterns from a week ago when the mushroom spores probably spread, “Mostly east, southeast of here for 20 miles but if it got up into the Canadian Jetstream, we’re talking across state lines!”

All suspected Cardona, “He knows more than he’s telling. Christ, he could be the one who removed their brains! Scary enough that he took Martin and his wife Kristen, but little Amanda and Zachary too?” Which got Estel more worried about having the man hold Fluffy, “There’s a security camera on the porch. Can we access the recordings to see if he did anything to Fluffy?” Alexa took her into the master bedroom to access the computer where she found security folders arranged by dates. Motion detection activation with no audio. Luck that Cardona chose to leave when Gretchen and Mark entered the house. “There he is, putting Fluffy into our SUV before waving to the cops and driving away.” Alexa squinted closer, “That’s a regular Nebraska license plate on his sedan, not an official government plate! Who is this guy?!”

Alexa scanned back to May 1^st when Deputy Buck made the hospitality check. “There he is pulling up, climbs the porch, delay probably to knock before opening the door to enter. There he is again, returning to his car to call. Yep, at least an hour before Sgt White and the others arrive.” Per Mark’s mention the family’s date-of-death was probably 5 days earlier, Alexa opened the April 28^th folder: 9pm when headlights blind the security camera. Can just make out the image of a man wearing a fedora. “Too hard to tell but Cardona wore a similar fedora.” The man approached the porch, disappeared from sight, but soon returned to stand by the trunk of his car. An hour later, the farm’s screen door opened again but no one was visible. Suddenly the man at the car plucked a metal cylinder from the air and put it in his trunk. FOUR TIMES! “Are those drones?! Where did those cylinders come from?”

Outside, Mark and Hen noticed flashes of (blue/pink) lights to the northeast. And that’s when they could barely hear distant grunting sounds. Hen recognized it as the warning bleats of white-tailed deer. And that’s when the bleating became almost human screams (animals in fear). Silence. With binoculars, Hen saw over a dozen deer prone of the ground. She urged Mark and deputy Saul Davidson to join her in investigating. Each deer had a triangular hole in its head. Mark was convinced, “Aliens! The color flashes were the same colors as the mushrooms in the video.” Hen scoffed, “Bioluminescent fungi.” They agreed to do an autopsy. The deputy walked back to get his car to transport a carcass to the field lab tent.

Meanwhile, while Estel retrieved a survey drone from the back of their SUV, Alexa convinced Sgt White to put out an… “What do you call it? Oh yeah, APB.” She leaned into his squad car far enough to see the retrieved info about Cardona. Once ready, Estel pestered Alexa to fly the drone towards Jermiah Titus’ farm, “Didn’t he mention mushroom fields north of his farm?” Alexa flew it north to the 4-mile limit of the radio control. More dead patches but no standing mushroom stalks. Alexa suggested, “It’s out of range but Cardona’s house is 25 miles south. We could drive closer to get a look.”

Autopsy: At first Hen dismissed the nodules on the deer skin as “common deer warts.” Until Mark cut one open, releasing spores! Hen gasped, “It’s spreading thru the wildlife too!” Mark rapped on the deer skull expecting a hollow sound; nope. The triangular hole in its head leaked brain matter and fungal roots. Cutting its belly open revealed fungal infestation. Hen removed some fungal growth to test. One petri dish burned under fire; another dish of fungal stem left alone soon withered and died. [extreme] Mark cut into the head and puzzled why the path of the triangular entry wasn’t straight. Having just arrived, Dr Levard offered, “Almost like a curved claw.”

The sun had already set. They didn’t know what they faced but the doctor knew enough to grab the Mattingly shotgun displayed over the fire mantel. Estel entered the barn to retrieve a handheld spray pump filled with weed killer. “Let’s take the deputy’s car with its side-mounted spotlights.” Deputy Davidson drove them towards Cardona’s residence: 25 miles as the crow flies but 50 minutes on back country roads. They stopped a mile short to launch the drone for recon: Cardona’s sedan was parked in the driveway of a small house. A large generator out back spewed smoke to indicate it was running. Gas cans laid nearby. “Electricity but no lights on in the house.”

The deputy drove up to the house, “I can only question him, I cannot arrest Cardona without a warrant.” Cardona answered the knock and stared into the deputy’s flashlight still wearing his sunglasses. “There is concern about your affiliations with the USDA. Would you mind coming in for questioning?” Gretchen added details, “Yeah, like you last worked for them in the 1940s.” Isaac realized, “I forget how short-lived you creatures are.” Alexa blurted, “You’re on camera. What do you mean ‘you creatures’?!” Isaac tried to warn them, “Just walk away. Me and my… associates…will contain the situation.”

Gretchen looked thru the window and saw cables and metal objects inside. Hen tried to reason, “How did this get out of hand? Why the Mattinglys?” Isaac’s answer of experimentation unnerved everyone. Made worse when Isaac removed his sunglasses to reveal pitch-black eyes. And when he removed his hat: the top of his scalp missing to expose wiggling antennae!

[Sanity check!] Saul fainted. Alexa shuddered when he realized the antennae didn’t register in his camera monitor; he grabbed the deputy’s gun from his holster.

Isaac spoke as if his news was natural, “We’ve been studying your kind for thousands of years. We introduced the fungi to your world. We harvest the infested human brains to speak with the fungi itself.” And that’s when Estel tried to spray him with her weedkiller. Isaac easily sidestepped, “Please don’t get this human suit wet. Your flesh is not that durable. I’m just an agent; would you like to meet our scientists?”

He led them into a back room where they found a cannister hooked up to a large machine. Something(s) lurked in the shadows as they heard buzzing from the cannister. A frightening voice, “I must kill, infect others.” And that’s when they heard telepathic voices in their own heads, “We retrieved that brain from one of the Blighted Ones. A human completely taken over by the fungi.” And that’s when the light pulses from the cannister revealed the shadows as something winged, holding…space guns. [Sanity check]

It was as if Alexa was talking with her best friend Zachary wearing his Herbie Husker mascot outfit as she spoke to the voice in her head, about how good life is. Estel shrieked as she realized the aliens brought the fungi. She heard “Yes, your planet offers ideal conditions for its growth. Your cold winters to kill it off if it gets out of hand. But we don’t want to kill it; we want to study it.”

Estel had enough and ran out screaming; her intent to spray the generator outside to short-circuit it and bring an end to the madness. Except, the winged alien creature stooped over deputy Davidson with a proboscis inserted into his skull stopped her in her tracks! Two solid hits and she was down.

Hen ran after Estel; she got to the door just in time to see the alien jab a claw into Estel’s shoulder and begin dragging her into the house. She froze in fear.

Alexa was too mesmerized by it all. She listened as the winged alien offered, “Cardona tells us you are also scientists. Would you like to see our world? Do you have a way to travel thru space? We can hook up the original Cardona if you’d like to speak to one of your own.” Cardona was still stuck in the 40s as he asked about World War II. “Is Roosevelt still president?”

Gretchen was revolted when she realized the smaller cannisters nearby were the Mattingly kids. She nodded when Mark whispered intents to destroy the place. Mark spoke up, “If we are to travel thru space, then humans need to refuel with gasoline. Do you have any?” After a long pause, two alien creatures left to gather the mentioned product. Another alien scientist offered entertainment as he stood over Estel’s body…and inserted a thin probe into Estel’s eye socket to then suck out her brain that flowed into an empty cannister.

Amazing how Gretchen and Mark watched as if it was something natural. And that is when the gasoline was delivered. And Mark lifted the can to his mouth (protected by the hazmat suit he wore) as if to drink from it. Gasoline splashed onto the floor. And that’s when Hen’s eyes lit up as she saw opportunity: she flicked her cigarette lighter! WOOSH!! Fire streaked across the floor and even up Mark’s suit.

Mark’s saving grace was the ‘swimming pool’ of sweat accumulated in his suit that pushed the fire away enough for him to escape his suit with only minor burns as he then jumped out a window. Gretchen used the distraction to raise her shotgun, and mercy killed the kid’s brain cannisters before running towards the door. An alien made a lucky swipe of Gretchen, cutting her throat. The alien Cardona gave chase, swinging at but missing Hen. Hen ran for the car only to realize…no keys! Meanwhile, the winged aliens used Estel’s body as they tried to beat out the flames.

Alexa also ran…she remembered to stoop over deputy Davidson to retrieve the car keys. Mark dove into the backseat as Hen started the car. With Hen behind the wheel, she peeled out flinging gravel behind the cruiser as they sped towards Lincoln. Alexa kept her camcorder focused on the burning farmhouse as they sped away. Flying alien creatures couldn’t keep up.

EPILOGUE

Mark resigned his forensic job and took up needlepoint as a hobby.

Alexa petitioned her bosses for severance pay before moving northeast to Boston to melt into society; are far from the central plains as possible.

Hen collected Alexa’s videos before she left. She tried to write a full report; damn how the alien creatures didn’t show up in the videos. Why wouldn’t anyone believe her? Why are those men in white uniforms always checking in on her in her padded room?

Newspaper headlines weeks later questioned “Where did all of the Hooper residents go?”

BACKGROUND per Keith

“I based the fungi on The Blighted Ones from the MiGo realm. Their ‘kiss’ was a deadly form of mono that rapidly spread the fungus throughout Hooper. The Migo eradicated the populace of Hooper to hide not only their presence but that of their experiments that got out of hand. But there is always another flood season coming.”