The Brain Invaders

Chapter 24

Zach explained that the government had genetically engineered the sea slugs to crawl into the heads of enemies.

“They embedded a microprocessor in each slug. That’s how they planned to control the enemy soldiers,” Zach said. “This black box is the controller.”

 “Let me get this straight,” Cassie said. “The government, our government, made these things, put some kind of chip in them that would allow them to control the enemies.”

“Basically, yeah,” Zach said.

“Do you know how stupid that sounds?” Cassie said.

Zach explained that according to the secret files he read, a ship carrying the sea slugs on a secret mission vanished without a trace. They suspected it sank but were never able to confirm that. Only a few people knew about the mission, and those people mysteriously died in a fire while working in the laboratory where the sea slugs were made a short time after the ship had vanished. 

“So your uncle’s ship found the wreckage,” Kate said.

“And the rest is history,” Zach said. “Only somehow the sea slugs evolved into something no one could have imagined. They became able to control humans on their own, without the help of someone pushing buttons on a controller.”

I couldn’t imagine being able to control an enemy’s mind with the tap of a few buttons without the enemy even realizing it. Zach said the slugs were much smaller when they were made in the lab. He said one could have easily slid in through a human ear. They obviously grew over time in a habitat they weren’t even designed to live in.

 “Wow,’ Ryan said. “Freakin’ implanting microprocessors in human brains and using the slugs as a delivery system. The government was way more advanced in warfare than I would have thought back in the day. So that’s why they were camouflage.”

 Zach opened the box and pointed to the lid. “This is what we need to do.”

There were instructions on the lid. It said, “For emergency exit: 20-8-15-13-1-19.

“Hurry,” Kate said, looking around at all of the people sleeping. “Before they all wake up”

Zach looked at each of us, like he was waiting for a nod of approval.

“We don’t have anything to lose,” I said. “We are those men’s only hope.”

Zach ran his fingers over the buttons. He punched in

20,

8,

15,

13,

1,

19.

I took a deep breath. All of the people were still asleep, but the two men we had knocked out and tied up were beginning to stir.

“Should we spray them and knock them out again?” I asked.

“Better not,” Zach said. “The sea slugs need to be able to respond to the radio signal.”

“What if the men get awake before the sea slugs are out?” Ryan asked.

“Let’s hope they don’t,” Zach said. “For their sakes.”

The short, fat man was becoming more alert. The other man with funky black glasses and big ears wasn’t stirring as much. We watched for the slugs to emerge.

“There’s a head,” said Ryan, pointing to the short, fat man. “It’s coming out of his mouth.”

The man’s mouth stretched as the slug’s head emerged. The tentacles quivered and I just wanted to puke.

The slug was half out when the man woke up. His eyes screamed and he gagged. He struggled to free himself from the ropes but he couldn’t slip out of Ryan’s knot. I can’t imagine waking up and seeing and feeling something crawling out of my mouth. It was gross.

          I kneeled beside the man, trying to calm him. “It’s gonna be OK. Promise. But we’ve got to get this thing out.”

          He whipped his head from side to side, trying to shake the slug out of his mouth.

“Should I pull it out?” I asked.

“Better let it come out on its own,” Zach said.

          Suddenly, as if to escape his terror, the man passed out.  

“The other one’s coming out,” Kate said.

I looked at the man with the funky glasses. Thankfully for him he wasn’t awake.

We watched, waiting for the sea slugs to get completely out of the bodies. All of us, except Cassie, were doubled over in pain. And we were pretty quiet. But the silence didn’t last long. The people in the room were waking up, waking up to this nightmare. A nightmare we couldn’t stop.