Three unmarked vans pulled up outside of the abandoned secret laboratory that lay in a crater atop the Strangerville Mesa. The first van contained two medics and in the back was medical equipment. The second van had 4 men in it and metal crates in the back. The third van contained 5 individuals: Dr Jon Cornelius, David Wright, Peggy Chalke, Corporal Jess Sigworth and Mayor Ted Roswell.
Cornelius started organising the group and assigning them their tasks.
"Dr Sands. Set radio frequency to channel 12. If I call a medical emergency down there, initiate full quarantine procedures. Mr Putney, have your team bring those crates down to sub-level 2 and then get back up top quickly so you don't risk spore infection. The rest of you...with me."
Cornelius, Jess, David, Ted and Peggy made their way through the lab with the logistics team following behind. Jess looked around the place. "I've never been here; my army buddies told me about the chaos that went up here but...wow. It's so desolate!" she said.
"This is just the surface, Corporal. Wait until you see what lies beneath" replied Cornelius.
The small group went through the set of electrically locked doors and went down another level.
"Jeez, Cornelius, how big is this place?" asked Roswell.
"Much bigger than it would appear from the outside, Mr Mayor. We've still got 2 more levels to descend." responded Cornelius.
They reached a point where the keycard needed to be used again. Cornelius gathered his team together and gave them another briefing.
"From this point onwards only those who have received the vaccine can proceed. Mr Putney, please leave the equipment crates here and leave for the surface. Peggy, monitor our progress from the control room and pay attention to the toxicity levels in the Mother plant chamber. We only have a limited amount of time to defeat the creature before it ejects more toxins and the chamber becomes uninhabitable."
"Will do, Cornelius" Peggy replied.
Cornelius opened the second electronic door and the assault team went through it and down more stairs to the deepest level.
Sigworth and Roswell were astounded by what they saw in the lowest part of the lab: Strange plants that writhed and gibbered in their containment cages and a strange purple glow to the room itself.
"My God, Cornelius! What kind of crazy ass stuff has been growing in my town...under our feet?" exclaimed Roswell.
"Something your military and scientists had no right in meddling with, Mr Mayor" Cornelius replied.
"So which one's the Mother plant?" asked Sigworth.
"None of them: That thing is far bigger and more terrifying. I hope you have your courage with you, Corporal, because we are all going to need it. David; let's open these containers and get the weapons"
"Weapons?" asked Sigworth.
"Yes. These sprayers will fire a jet of liquid that is the vaccination in its purest, most concentrated form. In the laboratory is kills the plant cells we took as samples."
David opened up the containers to reveal 4 large strangely shaped devices that looked like a cross between a flamethrower and a fire extinguisher.
"Everyone grab one and follow me" said Cornelius.
Through the thick vines that crept and pulsated along the corridor they went until they got to the final, locked door. Cornelius swiped the keycard once more and the doors parted to reveal the alien monstrosity that lurked beyond.
"Oh my God! That's the bastard that's been destroying my town!" exclaimed Roswell.
"It sure is" David replied.
For this next part I recommend turning your speaker volume to loud.
The team stepped into the chamber and went up the raised platform. The creature turned to face the humans and twisted it's tentacles as if poised to swat the intruders.
"YoU hU-mAaNs HaVe ReTuRnEd...ThE oNe NaMeD cOrNeLiUs...YoU cOnTiNuE tO dEfY MeEeEeE!"
"Your reign of terror over Strangerville and its people is at an end, Mother Plant!" Cornelius cried out.
"Do we blast it now?" asked Roswell.
"Form a ring around it and start firing from all directions!" yelled Cornelius and the team got to work.
They aimed the blasters at the plant, Cornelius aiming for the "head" and the others attacking the roots. Jets of green liquid shot out and the effect on the plant was like concentrated acid; it was burning the plant's flesh.
But initial success was tempered by the arrival of possessed Strangerville residents who lumbered towards the assault team. The Mother plant was also striking back, swatting its tentacles at Cornelius and his team in an effort to snare them. More and more spores were being spat out by the flowering part.
David had to quickly swing round away from the plant to stave off an attack by a possessed resident. He didn't want to use the spray on a human so he swung the blaster at the zombie to knock him to the ground.
"COME GET SOME, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Yelled Roswell as he fired the blaster at the plant. "YEE HAW! I haven't had me so much fun since Pork Chop Hill!"
But Roswell was under attack from one of his residents; the possessed Tre Stern. "Tre! It's me, Ted! Snap out of it man!" he said but Stern was unmoved.
"yOu HuRt MoThEr!" Stern exclaimed in an unearthly low voice before launching a physical attack on Roswell.
Jess Sigworth noticed that the infected were starting to attack the team so she put down her blaster and ran over to where Roswell was and flung Tre Stern off of him, before returning to her own station where more infected were gathering around her.
"I'LL FIGHT THE INFECTED OFF WHILST THE REST OF YOU KEEP SHOOTING THE CREATURE!" she yelled.
Peggy's voice could be heard over the speakers in the chamber. "Infection level now at 40% Cornelius, and rising!"
"Acknowledged Peggy...keep firing, team. Jess, keep the infected at bay, we've almost got them on the run!" yelled Cornelius. "DO YOU SEE, CREATURE? YOUR EFFORTS ARE FAILING!" he cried out to the Mother Plant.
"YoUr DeAtH iS iNeViTaBlE, hU-mAaAaN!" the creature called back.
Already Sigworth had managed to subdue a number of the infected attackers and some were now in retreat.
"Cornelius, the infected seem to be leaving!" she cried out to him.
"The creature's hold on their minds is weakening! Come on, everyone, one final attack!" he called out to his team.
David and Jess kept firing until their blasters were empty, then they turned their attention to keeping the infected humans from stopping Cornelius and Roswell.
After another minute of fighting the Mother plant Roswell called out to Cornelius. "Cornelius, I'm all out of weedkiller!"
"Alright, join David and Jess and keep the infected people well away from me!" Cornelius replied. Not long afterwards, he too had run out of chemical but he had one more trick up his sleeve.
The Mother plant could see he was unarmed and lurched towards him, trying to consume him as a Venus Fly Trap would. But Cornelius reached into his blazer pocket and pulled out a hand grenade which contained concentrated anti-plant medicine in it.
"You want to eat something, EAT THIS!" Cornelius yelled at the Mother plant before throwing the grenade right into the middle of the stamen.
The grenade hit its target and broke apart, covering the stamen and pistle with the chemical. The Mother Plant reared up and let out a deafening shriek and a jet of green light shot out of it, going all the way up to the ceiling.
The creature then fell back down to the ground, lifeless. The glow it emanated had gone. Cornelius let out a sigh of relief as unearthly pollen rained down on the chamber.
"Looks like the infected townsfolk have all left" commented Roswell.
"The hold the Mother Plant has had over them is broken." said Cornelius. "Now we can get back and start curing them of the sickness" Cornelius replied.
"Is it...over?" asked Sigworth.
"Yes it is, Corporal, yes it is." he responded.
David approached Cornelius. "So...you did it." he said.
"We did it, David. And, yes, it would appear the Mother Plant is dead."
"I know it wanted to conquer the Earth and reduce humanity to being mindless slaves but could there have been another way to deal with it...through a peaceful appeal to reason?
"No, David. Absolutely not." Cornelius replied. "Let's all go home"
Cornelius and David didn't say a word as they ate breakfast. Today was a big day: The descent to the lowest levels of the secret laboratory. They had the protective suits, they had a plan in place to explore those depths and now was the moment of truth, the final search for answers. After they had eaten and cleared away the dishes, they packed the HAZMAT suits into hold all bags and gathered any other useful items for the trip. Before they stepped out the door, Cornelius turned to David. "Are you ready for this expedition?" Cornelius asked David. "Primed and ready to go, Cornelius." he replied. Cornelius nodded. "Then there's no time to delay" he said as he picked up the car keys and headed to the door. They left the house and locked up before heading to a parked Ford Bronco that belonged to the DPR. However, the two men noticed that the skies above Strangerville were a particularly sickly green colour, more so than in recent days. "I...
From the journal of Doctor Jon Quayle Cornelius. Things have become worse: Since breaching the locked level of the secret laboratory things back in Strangerville have become more serious. The mysterious pods all around town have all opened and strange, alien plants have sprouted. The plants resemble the ones we discovered in the lab but, perhaps more ominously, the sky has turned a sickly pale green-grey colour. I fear we might be running out of time to discover and prevent the threat that is trying to engulf us... "Cornelius! Come here! Those strange purple floating spores we found at the lab...they're in your bathroom!" exclaimed David. Since the semester at Britechester had finished, David had moved out of the halls of residence and had moved in with Cornelius so he could study the alien plants better. However, he didn't think they would be actually inside the house. "They're in the lounge as well, David. In fact all over to...
"I AM SICK TO DEATH OF THESE GODDAMN VINES!" "David, are you alright?" "Yeah, I'm OK, Cornelius...we've got more vines in the kitchen sink. I'm telling you they're growing out of the sinks, the shower and even the John with more frequency." "I've been asking around the town and it seems the entire Strangerville plumbing system has been compromised." "I don't know how you remain so calm about all this, Cornelius. Things are getting worse around here!" "What's the point of getting over emotional about it? It clouds my judgement." "Yeah..." said David, resignedly. "Well, time to clear this crap out...again!" David cleared out the kitchen vines and Cornelius dealt with the ones in the bathroom. The vine infestation of the plumbing was now a daily occurrence and as this affected the whole town the locals were becoming increasingly despondent. Many blamed the army for not deali...
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