Title: Astropithecairos - Pt1
Characters:
Tina Manos - 18yo College Student
John Manos - Tina's Dad
Vivan Manos - Tina's Mom
Donna Benson - 18yo Best Friend
Brian Benson - Donna's Dad
Deanna Benson - Donna's mom
Scene: Out in the back yard of the farm
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Tina Manos and her best friend Donna Benson were lying on their backs in the dark watching the shooting stars of the most recent meteor shower. They shrieked and giggled with each bright streak that crossed the sky. As time went by and the peak approached, there were many long tracers crossing the sky brightly.
Suddenly, one of the streaks became more than a streak. The girls watched as it grew into a very bright ball of light, then streak across above them, to land just over the nearby hill in a huge pyrotechnic display. The girls hear the boom and saw the bright light of the explosion.
"Was ... was that a shooting star?" asked Donna, looking at Tina. "A whatchamacallit, a meteorite? You know, when they hit the ground?"
She looked over toward the hill, where the light was rapidly fading. Now there was no light in the sky other than the stars and the slow-moving lights of high-flying airplanes as the shower had passed.
Donna's eyes suddenly got wide. "Don't your neighbors live over that hill?" she asked. "I hope they're OK!"
Tina stands up and says excitedly, "Stay here for a minute, I'm gonna get a coupla flashlights and we're gonna go and find that thing. I think NASA or something will pay us money for it. Besides, we have to check on the neighbors too."
Tina ran inside for a few minutes to return with 2 very bright torch type flashlights. She gave one to Donna and hurried off across the fence toward the dimming glow of the impact.
The two girls easily ran up the hill, then over the fence and into the neighboring farm's property. With their flashlights they quickly spotted the dissipating plume of dust that the impact had kicked up and followed it to the spot.
"Whew," said Donna, "it's nowhere near your neighbors' house. It just squished some of their crops, whatever these are. Are these soybean plants? Anyway, what's it look like?"
She pointed her flashlight toward the impact point, where there was a ring of no plants. Taking a few steps closer, they could both see that there was a shallow crater in the ground about six feet across, and 10 feet deep.
"Huh?" Donna wondered. "Where's the rock?" Sure enough, there didn't appear to be any kind of meteor in the center of the crater. "Did it bounce or something?"
Tina shined her bright torch into the pit, there were many sparkly shards left of the impactor, but nothing the girls could pick up or carry with them. Tina scanned the area, the only things visible, were inside the bright circle of light her torch produced.
Suddenly, Tina stops for a split second. On the edge of the woods, high up in a tree ... she thought she saw something. It was really strange. She could have sworn she saw a large ... thing with wings and a tail ... then it seemed to vanish.
Tina says in a soft whisper as she points, "Donna? Di ... did you see that?"
The 2 girls could hear the rushing flap of large wings as something seemed to fly along the edge of the large field.
"I dunno, I didn't see anything, but I heard ... sounds like you got some big owls around here," Donna said, pointing her flashlight near where Tina was pointing hers but not seeing anything.
Donna shrugged and went back to pointing her flashlight at the ground, trying to see where the meteorite had bounced to. She caught a glint of reflection and went over toward it, leaving Tina, who was still trying to spot the bird.
"What is this?" she said, approaching the glittering object on the ground. "Some kind of crystal?"
Tina turns and shines her light on the object. It glittered brightly and reflected sparkles off in all directions and colors of the rainbow. It apparently was hollow. Without warning, Tina feels the rush of air come up from behind her and feels the wind of its wings. Something is on her back and shoulders. It has her ... she screams as she stumbles to the ground. It bites her on the back of the neck. Tina whirls in time to see a bird like thing with a monkey tail on Tina's back. IT looks up at her ... it's eyes glowing red in the beam of her flashlight.
Donna screamed. "Omg .. what ... what is it? Tina! Let go of Tina!"
She was yelling at the creature and flailing her arms wildly, but afraid to come any closer. Suddenly, whatever it was let go of Tina and jumped straight upward into the darkness with a soul chilling screech. Tina crumpled to the ground after it had almost lifted her in the air, sobbing in fright.
Donna ran to Tina. "Tina! Are you OK? What was that? What did it do to you?" She stooped down and put her arm around Tina's shoulders.
Tina rubs the back of her neck and brings it into the light. There's blood on her hand from where the thing got her.
Tina says as she crys, "It ... it ... bit me. That ... thing bit me on my neck."
Tina could feel ... something spreading through her from the wound. She gasps out, "I feel ... funny though. Like ... it stung me or something."
Donna held up Tina's hair and looked at the back of her neck, trying to hold her flashlight up. "It's hard to see, but it doesn't look like you're hurt a lot," Donna said. "Can you walk? Let's get you to the neighbors' house. It's closer than your house. I forget what your neighbors' names are though." She tried to help Tina to her feet.
Donna helps Tina to stand up. Tina's head begins to buzz. She feels weak in the knees. Donna helps Tina toward the neighbor's house. Again, without warning, the sound of rushing wings is heard loudly. Tina and Donna can feel the rush of air from the creatures wings. Donna feels it land on her shoulders and a sharp bite on her neck. Donna screams as Tina falls weakly to the ground after Donna let her go to fight off the creature.
Donna knew what Tina felt like now ... it felt like her body was reacting to some kind of poison or venom; it felt like she had suddenly gotten a fever and her heart was pounding.
"No ... what is it ... got to get to the house ..." She held onto Tina's hand and tried to struggle toward the farmhouse, which wasn't very far now.
Somehow, the two of them managed to make it, despite feeling like they were growing weaker with every minute. They climbed the front porch of the old three-story farmhouse and knocked on the door and rang the doorbell until someone answered.
"Can I help y --" said a middle-aged man before seeing the two girls in their weakened and bloodied state. "Oh, Lord have mercy! Aren't you Tina from next door? What happened? Come in and let's get a look. Martha! Get the first aid kit! It's Tina from next door and her friend!"
Everyone can again hear the rapidly approaching rush of wings. The girls panic and screech. They manage to tumble in the door and slam it shut. Something with weight bangs into the wood of the door with a loud thump.
The man gasps, "What tha ... what was that?"
Tina gasps out, "It's ... it's a thing that bites! It bit me and Donna on our necks."
The couple see the blood and the bruising marks of the bites on the backs of the girl's necks. The man looks out the window, but can see nothing.
He turns and says with conviction, "Gol darn it, I'm not gonna let no critter like that bite my neighbors, nor attack me on my own front porch!"
He walks to a case and opens it. From it, he removes a simi automatic shotgun. He opens a drawer and removes a large curved magazine and loads 30 shells into it from a box labeled '3 1/4 inch - exploding ordinance 50 Cal'.
Martha gasps, "Tom, what are you planning to do with that awful thing? You know it's a combat weapon and not a hunting weapon."
He slips the 30 round magazine into the slot and pulls the slide back.
He replies softly, "This is war Martha, an I intend ta win."
He attaches a flashlight to a clip on the underside of the weapon, then opens the door and walks out onto the porch. The sound of the women whimpering is the only sound he can hear.
He steps off of the porch and slowly shines the light around, methodically scanning for ... what ever it was. He turns and looks at the door. There was a blood splatter and cracks in the thick wood where what ever it was had hit. He smiles as he thinks to himself it served the critter right.
He hears the approaching sound of wings and spins just in time to get off 3 shots in rapid succession, before a large, heavy object smashed into him. He feels pain as he is knocked violently to the ground and skids for several feet from the force of the impact.
It takes a few minutes before he can catch his breath, the feted smell of what ever it was on top of him filling his nose. He managed to push it off of him as the girls opened the door and screamed.
The creature looked like a bat-winged monkey with fangs. There were spots and designs on it's wings that glowed slightly in the dark.
Martha gasps out in concern, "Tom?? Are you alright? Did it hurt you?"
Tom replies, "No, Martha, you worry too much."
The girls giggle nervously as they help Tom to his feet and back into the house. Martha and Tina drag the creature into the den to get a look at what it was in the light.
As they shut the door, an unearthly screech can be heard and several loud rushings of flapping wings outside the door, before silence once again reigns. They all look at one another in wide eyed surprise.
Tom comments, "Seems they didn't like me killin their friend here."
They all look to the small chimpanzee sized monkey creature lying on the floor. It had 3 very large, gaping wounds in its torso that were oozing a glowing silver/blue fluid where Tom had shot it.
Donna looked at it in fear. "Wh-what is it?" She looked at Tom in panic. "There're more, aren't there? What are they? I thought it was some kinda bat! But that's not a bat! And what's that stuff? Is that its blood?"
"Easy, Donna dear," said Martha, trying to daub at the bites on the back of Donna's neck with a cotton ball soaked in alcohol. "Hold still so I can get you bandaged up like Tina."
"But ... we gotta call somebody!" Donna shouted. "Tina's family -- they gotta be warned to stay inside! My family! Our friends! The police! Maybe the Army!"
"And we can do that in just a minute, dear. We just need to make sure the bleeding's stopped and it doesn't get infected." Martha finished bandaging Donna's neck. "There we go. Now, do you need to use our phone, or do you girls have those little cell phones that everybody seems to have nowadays?"
"Oh yeah! Tina! Call your folks! I'll call home too." Donna got out her cell phone and started pressing buttons.
Tina gets up from the chair Martha had her in, she realizes something strange. She looks down at her clothes. The jeans and her top were beginning to be ... too large for her?! Her bra no longer fit either and she could feel her feet flopping around inside her shoes as well.
She looks up at Donna with wide eyes and says with fear in her voice, "Donna, I think ... I have a problem." She pulls on the waist band of her jeans showing they were several sizes too large for her. "These fit perfectly when we went out to watch the meteor shower."
Martha says reassuringly, "I don't think that's possible dear. I have some of my daughter’s old clothes ... going back to where she was just born. I saved em ya know .. mother's do that." As she looked Tina over and saw she might just be right.
Donna looks at Tina and realizes, she's actually ... younger some how ... maybe ... 11 now ... if that was at all possible.
"No really, Mom, I swear I'm not making this up; it was some kind of weird monkey-bat thing," Donna was saying into her cell phone. "We're at Tina's neighbors' house. Their names are Tom and Martha ..." She paused and looked around until she saw a sign on the wall that said "The Larson’s," with the names of the whole family arranged like a tree. "Larson. Yes, Mom, Mrs. Larson did first aid and got us all bandaged up. But be careful and don't go outside ... no, we're staying inside too ... yes, we're trying to call people, but I called you first -- Tina, why aren't you calling your parents -- TINA!"
Donna looked at Tina and dropped her phone. "Oh my g ... what's happened? You look like ... like you did when we were 11! What's going on?"
"What the h -- what the Sam Hill's goin' on here?" asked Tom. "First we got some kinda monkey bat things that bite people an' now the girls that got bit are gettin' littler. I'm callin' the sheriff. Maybe the ambulance too."
He went to the telephone on the wall and started dialing, keeping an eye on the door and windows and holding his rifle with one hand.
"Um, Mom, I'll call you back," said Donna and hung up her phone.
Tina's clothes were way too big for her by this time. She looked like a little girl playing dress up in her big sister's clothes. Her jeans fell to the floor along with her oversized bikini panties. Her top made an adequate although way oversized dress.
Tina rummages in the pockets of her now too large jeans and pulls out her cell and dials home. "Dad, this is Tina ... we're over at the Larson’s ... yes dad I know we said we would stay in the yard. Dad ... Listen to me!! Something crash landed in the Larson's field ... I don't know from where ... Dad shut up for a minute and listen ... this is very important!” Tina stomps her foot and sighs in exasperation.
She rolls her eyes for a second before she continues, "Dad, we saw a ... meteor crash land in the Larson’s soybean field. We went to check on them in case they got hit. Yes dad ... I know that ... but anyway ... there are these ... flying monkey things that bite. They bit us ... yes dad .. we're alright ... sort of. Mrs Larson bandaged us up ... but dad ... dad ... listen to me dad .. I've got a real problem. Yes dad I know that ... " Suddenly, Tina screams out, "Dad!! Listen to me ... call an ambulance ... I'm shrinking ... I look like an ... 11 yo now. If you must come over ... drive ... those things will attack you. Hurry. Bye." She closes her cell
She turns to Martha and says shyly, "Umm ... Mrs Larson ... I do need a change of clothes ... kinda badly."
Martha puts her hand to her mouth as she realizes ... there’s no mistaking Tina has shrunk a whole lot since she arrived. She takes Tina by her hand and leads her upstairs.
"That's right, Sheriff, you know me, an' you know I wouldn't lie to you," Tom was saying into the phone. "I done shot one, an' I could show it to you if you were here. It's messin' up our livin' room carpet with its blood. I guess it's blood anyway; it's kinda blue an' shiny. But there's more of 'em out there flyin' around, an' God only knows where they gone now. That's right; there's two, maybe three more o' the critters. An' they bite, so if you see 'em, take cover or shoot 'em, I say."
"No lie, Ashley," Donna was saying into her cell phone, "it was some kind of monkey bat thing, and Tina's neighbor shot one with his gun, and it's lying dead on the floor right here. I'm looking at it! Here, I'll take a picture of it with my phone. Check it out. Isn't it gross? And it bit Tina and me too! Tell everybody, OK? Look out for these things! OK, bye."
She hung up. She adjusted her bra a little bit while nobody was looking. Was it feeling a little loose? Or was that just her imagination, being fed by what was happening to Tina?
Outside, the sound of 2 cars arriving can be heard. the doors slam and feet on the porch. Tom opens the door and literally pulls the 2 men and 2 women inside and slams the door. As soon as the door bangs shut, the sound of rushing wings and 2 loud thumps and a soul chilling screech is heard.
Tom says softly, "That was a close one. You shouldn't have come. those things bite .. and apparently cause people to shrink."
Tina's parents both say at the same time, "Where's Tina? Is she all right?"
Tom takes John, Tina's dad, by his shoulder and says softly, "As far as we can tell, the only physical injury ... are the bite marks on her neck. The other symptom, I'm not so sure how to tell you or Vivian. Donna here hasn't seemed to have been effected yet. Not sure if she will be."
About that time, Martha came down stairs escorting an adorable little girl dressed in a pink and white overall romper with little pink bunnies all over it. She had on a puffy sleeved Top and pink tennis shoes with a white rubber tip and matching cute little pink bunnies all over them.
Tina says excitedly in a cute little girl voice, "Dad, Mom, those things are horrible. They bit me on the neck."
She runs up to Vivian and shows her the bandage with small red blood spots on it.
Vivian holds the little girl at arms length and says, "Who .. who are you little girl? I've never met you before in my life, although ... you do seem very familiar."
Tina gets wide eyed as she says in a gasp, "Mom ... it's me ... Tina."
Martha says with awe in her voice, "It's true Vivian. That's Tina ... I watched her change with my own eyes."
Everyone stairs at Tina for a few minutes before turning their gaze to Donna. The far off and rapidly approaching sound of many sirens can be heard.
"No, really, Mom, Dad, I'm fine," Donna was saying as her parents checked out the bandaged bites on her neck. "Wait, why is everybody looking at me?"
Martha asked, "You don't feel ... strange at all, do you, dear? Are your clothes feeling loose or anything? After all, you did get -- bitten."
She looked at Tina, then at Donna again.
"Well ... I still feel ... weird. Like I have a fever or something."
The sirens outside got very loud, then they stopped. Flashing lights were visible through the curtains covering the windows. "My b -- ... umm, some of my clothes might feel a bit loose, I guess. Unless it's my imagination. But Tina!" Donna got down on one knee and hugged her friend. "Tina, you're so little! What's going on? Am I going to get that little too?"
"Looks like the sheriff an' the ambulance is here," said Tom, looking carefully out the window.
There were soon footsteps on the porch, then suddenly two gunshots rang out. About that time, loud yells were heard.
"What? Are they back?" asked Tom, throwing open the door and pointing his weapon skyward just in time to see another of the creatures swooping down toward the ambulance crew. The Sheriff fired his gun at it, Tom fired too, bringing the creature down in a huge messy splatter.
"Get inside! Everybody! Dunno how many of 'em there are!" The sheriff's voice could be heard, "I don't know what the hell that thing was ... but it ain't happy now. Mike?? Are you all right? It didn't bite you did it Rick?"
A voice replied, "Nope, that's some hellatious shooten Tex."
Several voices could be heard agreeing.
Once everyone was inside and the door closed again, they evaluated the damage.
"Did that thing bite anybody?" Tom asked.
"So this is the one Tom shot?" the sheriff asked, looking at the dead creature on the floor.
"It either bit me or scratched me with its claws," said one of the EMTs from the ambulance.
"Oh, Mike, let me look at that," said the other EMT, a black-haired woman.
"Yep, Joe, that's the one," Tom said to the sheriff. "What do you reckon it is?"
"Well now Tom, this is a new one on me," said the sheriff, while Donna's father looked at the creature more closely.
"I think you did get bitten, Mike," said the female EMT. "It's not bad, but you heard the sheriff tell us when he called us that the animals have some kind of poison. Do you feel OK?"
"It does feel like some kind of poison, Sue," said Mike, "the way there's a feeling of burning or inflammation spreading through my bloodstream. This is probably not good. But if we have a dead one, maybe we can take it in to the hospital and they can make an antidote."
Donna's father had been examining the creature on the floor.
"Without some kind of dissection I can't say for certain," he said, "but I don't think this organism is related to anything I know of. Sorry. Brian Benson. I'm a biologist with the university. This organism superficially resembles a primate of some type, and its wings may somewhat resemble those of a bat, but its skeletal structure is completely different from both of those, and its eyes and teeth are nothing like those of any mammal I've ever seen. There might be something to Donna's story about a meteorite."
Tina says in a really cute voice, "Can I say sompin?" Everyone suddenly notices Tina, she blushes softly and says, "It bit me first ... and in about half hour, I'm about as big asa 7yo. I still feel ... really funny all over ... an this outfit's startin ta get ... sorta big on me."
The Sheriff looks at the little girl and says softly, "Tina? OMG! It is you! You look exactly like you did when you were 6 or 7. You mean the bite of this thing shrinks people?"
Donna says shyly, "It must, My clothes are getting to be too big for me now."
The sheriff says, "Where exactly did this meteor land?"
Donna points and replies, "Out in the south part of the soybean field by the old mill."
Joe stands up and says, “Tom, I can't make you come, but I need you to give Rick one of your assault rifles so we can go and check it out."
Tom goes to his cabinet and removes a 552 assault rifle with an Acog scope. He loads a 30 round clip and grabs several boxes of ammo for his weapon and the 552.
He hands ammo and the weapon to Rick and says, "Ok, I’m commin too. That thing packs a punch. Don’t hold the trigger, just tap it ... make it fire in bursts or you'll never hit anything."
Rick says quietly, "I'll remember." The 3 men leave.
"Yeah, my clothes are definitely getting loose now," Donna said, holding her jeans up with one hand. "I wasn't sure at first, but now, there's no way around it."
"Donna, I remember you looking just like you do now when you were 12," said Donna's mother Deanna. "And if I were seeing you for the first time, I'd say you were about a 12-year-old girl. What is this? Flying monkeys that bite people and make them younger? Brian?"
"I don't know, Deanna," said Donna's father. "I'm not one of those UFO nuts, but all I can say is ... that creature is not from this world. I wish I could sequence its DNA or at least look at some of its cells under a microscope. If it has cells. So I really don't know what its capabilities are ... or its weaknesses. Except for what we already know ... bullets seem to kill them."
"I think I'm gonna need smaller clothes soon, like Tina," said Donna, a look of fear in her eyes. "Mommy?" she asked Deanna. "Am I gonna turn into a baby?"
Deanna looked back with a worried and helpless expression. "I don't know, Honey," she said. "I wish I knew. But I'll take care of you ... I'm your mother. I'll do whatever I can."
She hugged her daughter, who was starting to cry.
Martha walks over and pats Donna on her hinny reassuringly as she takes her by the hand.
She coos softly, "Well, sweetheart, Aunt Marty will just have to take you up stairs and get you some clothes that fit. I have lots of em in all sizes. I kept all of my daughter's stuff when she got married and moved."
She leads Donna up the stairs.
Mike says softly, "Umm ... people. I think I have ... a real problem too."
They turn and look at the EMT. His clothes had begun to hang on him loosely. He looked like he might have been about 14.
Brian said with exasperation, "We have to get a sample to the lab at the hospital. I must know just what we're dealing with ... and find a way to fix it."
Meanwhile, out in the field, the three men were searching for evidence.
"Yep, this here's where the girls said the thing fell outta the sky," said Tom, pointing at the crater, in the center of a circle of flattened and burned soybean plants.
"Donna said there was some kinda crystal thing not far away from it," said Joe, the sheriff, scanning the area with his flashlight. He saw a glinting reflection. "Yep," he said, getting closer. "That's gotta be it." He picked up a piece of a white crystalline material that looked as if it were part of a ball roughly a foot across. "I've seen meteorites before sometimes, but none of 'em like this. Looks kinda like a big hailstone, but it's not made of ice. Here's another piece of it." He picked up another fragment.
"Now, wait a minute, Sheriff," said Rick, the deputy, "Put those two pieces together. Look at that. There's a piece removed. If it broke from the impact, wouldn't it be shattered into a million pieces? Instead, it looks like it hit without breaking and bounced over here ... then something broke out from inside."
"But if it was those critters in there," said Tom, "how'd they fit in that little thing? Each one of 'em's bigger'n that, and there's a bunch of 'em."
"Maybe they grew," said Joe.
Just then Tom looked skyward, aiming his rifle and flashlight as if he'd heard something.
"What is it, Tom?" the 2 other men said at the same time.
"Quiet," Tom whispered. "Thought I heard ..." He turned off his flashlight. "Turn off the lights. I think the light gets their attention."
"But how're we gonna see if they come?" asked Rick in a whisper.
"He's right," said Joe, whispering too. "They came right after we pulled up with all the flashing ambulance and police lights. What's more, you saw those things. Their wings glow. Look for that. Let's get these crystal things back to the others."
Tom gathers as many of the pieces as he can carry. Fortunately, he had grabbed a knapsack one of the EMT's had emptied on the floor when they arrived. He filled it to the top with shards, then began to slowly move back towards the farmhouse with the other 2 men following close. The 3 could hear flapping of wings and an unearthly screech every once in a while.
Just as they had reached the porch, Tom swings his weapon up and fires. There is a horrid screech and Joe was splattered with the strange blue/silver glowing goo from one of the creatures. It fell heavily on the steps and lay there twitching.
Rick grabs the mutilated corps and drags it into the house as Tom and Joe watch the dark sky for more of the creatures. After the door was shut and locked, The men realized, there were now 2 babies and 1 very young boy in the room. They all had on adorable little girl outfits, 2 of them obviously in diapers.
Martha says, "Tom, we have children now. It’s true, tha bites of those things cause em to shrink. Their minds are still tha same, but their bodies are babies."
Joe gasps as he comments, "Well, I'll be a ..."
Brian says with authority, We have to take at least one of these things to the Ambulance ... I need to get it to a lab."
Tom and Joe nod together.
Joe says softly, "Gather what you need. Me n Tex here'll cover you while you load it. I think the Lab at the Hospital is the best we can do though."
Bryan gathers one of the corpses as he replies, "That will do. I need to make some genetic inquiries ... maybe see if we can find an antidote."
Rick says, "Umm ... Sheriff? One of these ... shards in here ... is talkin. Sounds ... like ... English even, with a hard accent."
Brian turned to the female EMT, who was looking after her now very young partner, and said, "Sue, what if we use the ambulance? That'll get us to the hospital fast, and we can put everybody who's affected in there, along with one of these creatures."
Sue nodded.
Brian said to his wife and Tina's parents, "We should all be able to go. I'm worried about Donna, and I'm sure you're worried about Tina. If there's any hope for them, the hospital is the first place where it'll be."
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Pt1 - Continued Next Post
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