Tremors: Generations

Chapter 3

The sun comes up. Sky comes changes from black to the morning colors orange, yellow, and blue. Clare's phone goes off playing the Reveille bugle call sound waking everyone up. "Alright everyone lets go." She said. "I'm up. I'm up." Says Nick. "5 more minutes" went Mason. "Mason, come on we got to go." Clare said. "Alright fine, I'm up." He foes. "Okay come on." Nick says he gets off the boulder they hear something close by one of the worms sounding strange. An almost shriek-like cry. "The hell was that," went Mason. "I don't know," Went Clare. 
   Not sounding far and sounding awfully close. "I think I see something moving up on those rocks over there," Clare says pointing out to the eastern rocky side not that far away about a 0.9 mile radius away from them. "I think I got binoculars in my bag I got from the car," Nick speaks and grabs them. "It's one of the worms." he says. "Let me see," Mason goes taking the binoculars. He looks through them and zooms in on the beast and sees the guts moving from the inside. "hey something is going on," Mason says. Clare takes it and looks through. She sees it too and speaks up of it, "Something is coming out of it." "I don't like that," Mason goes. "Well then we got to go," Nick says. "Clare sees the second creature on bipedal legs burst out there's three of them. "Crap there's those ones with legs," she says. Nick takes the binoculars and puts it back in his bag putting it back on running, "Come on, we got to go if we don't want those things on our tail every step of the way." he says. They speed up from a walk to a speed run for the mile. 
    They reach a road and follow it. As they fastly walk on the road they see reach the town it's been since yesterday they lost the car and walking in 110 degree weather they sweat their fluids out as they walk. Nick starts to hallucinate. In his head he sees things and hears things he feels trippy, the world to himself appears kaleidoscopic. A tune plays in his head,
   "Like galaxies and lightning. Rivers ever-winding. Our people are an infinite kind (infinite kind). There's trillions of impressions. Of "we", and if you question, "What's me?" You've only infinite minds. La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, La-la-la-la-la-la, La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la. You dream when you're awake. There's never a mistake. You're one with all of space and time." 
He sees his past memories from stargazing, to a stormy night in Solace then the rain lifting backwards in his head and in each drop of rain a smaller reflection of him is him. He meanwhile in the real world lost to his hallucination drops and Clare with Mason help carry him reaching the town and hurry and rush to the first thing there a store. 
    A vending machine having water she hurries to it and tries to get water in a rush and retrieves in the dim light store and runs back to Mason and Nickolas. She opens the bottle and Mason takes it and puts the opening hole of the bottle to Nick's lips and Nick swallowing feels water enter and a bit of air conditioning in the store. "You good." Mason says. "Yeah, I'm fine." Nick remarks. 
   "That's one way to make an entrance," A man said at the cash register in the middle of a window shining light of what was dim. Valentine McKee. "You walked here. Surprising graboids have haven't snatched you down their gullet yet." He spoke. "That's what those big worm things are right?" Asked Mason. "How do you kill them?" Asked Nick. Valentine spoke, "Woah, hey, one at a time. Yes they're called graboids and you're supposed to use explosives to kill it. Of course I had a friend that almost had a resident graboid here die by poisoning." As he spoke the trio stared at him. "So uh, you are?" Went Nick. "Valentine McKee surprised you didn't hear of me or my friends Earl or Burt we first encountered these things in 1990," He replied. "Well then you can help us see we seem to have a problem just a couple miles down at our town Solace, it got attacked by this legged like version of- "Did it have wings?"" Went Clare getting interrupted by Valentine McKee. "Wha- n-no. You mean they can fly?" A surprised Nick went. "Yeah what you're facing are shriekers. Their hermaphrodites, meaning they can replicate by eating enough food at mature growth. A friend of mine Earl faced these versions of the life cycle of graboids," said informing the 3. "Say, why are you still here if there's no one left?" Asked Clare. "Graboids are a protected endangered species and can't be killed unless endangering a town big enough to it to bring concern." Val spoke. "Solace is in danger 30 people well 27 were out of it right now. It may even have less right now as we speak." Nickolas went. "Well, I can't help you. I can't touch not even go a foot close of those things. Hell, I wouldn't go a mile near them. It's your problem." He spoke. "Please mister McKee sir- Val- Val we could use your help whatever can kill these things" pleading to Valentine went Nick. "Fine, I'll give you information how to but other than that I can't do much." He spoke to Nick. 
     He walks over to the Perfection map and takes it off the wall to place it on a table. "This is Perfection the town is spread out like a bunch of towns in a valley. The first graboid incursion happened in 1990 me and a friend of mine Earl Basset found these creatures killing the town. They hunt by sound, vibrations in the ground. Their second form the Shrieker Earl and Burt faced that one as Burt would the rest as me and Earl would stay out of the way. Anyways, shriekers the second stage are bipedal and have barely any bioacoustics when they do communicate they give a shriek emitting thermal heat to their bodies letting the rest of their herd know there's something to eat. They when they feed multiply." He speaks this information.
     Meanwhile back in Solace...
A shrieker enters silently as a person is out at the tower from earlier climbing out to replace the battery but the shrieker quietly dashes out snatching him up and killing off this man. Clare's boss the sheriff. 
     Back at Perfection...
"They hunt like a pack corner around the prey," he says. "Like Velociraptors" responds Mason. "Sure, the shriekers after eating and multiplying will in 24 to 48 hours shed their skin like a snake turning into their third form. The assblaster, or so said Fire Bird in a knack for a more serious name."
    Back in Solace...
The shrieker starts to shed and it molts its skin, the wings form, the head, grows in a sleeker form the legs a bit bulkier and claws longer.
    Back in Perfection...
 "The shrieker starts to shed and it molts its skin, the wings form, the head, grows in a sleeker form the legs a bit bulkier and claws longer." he gives them intel.
 "They are called this for the chemicals in their posterior to take off in the sky these are the winged versions their aerial. Like the shriekers hunt by heat. Avoiding these versions requires CO2 or aluminum coats keeping out the heat. So, keep quiet and hide your body heat." Valentine says to them. "Thank you," Clare says. "Hey, you might need more than feet to get your way back. Junkyard isn't far just walk a bit more down of perfection and at the end of the road to your right is the junkyard. There should be something there a car motorcycle or something to help you guys out." He says to them.
    So, they thank him and walk out heading to the junkyard. 
Trash everywhere from old tires to trash bags, and even nester's van still and only half of it still intact, a porta potty and other sorts of trashed items a broken box TV and papers. Nick takes one of them and reads it, "Local hero saves Perfection yet again. Townsfolk move out for unknown reason. Said to be a modified graboid of some sort. Was a lab to blame?" He speaks to himself reading it. "Look I found a car." says Mason. "I could hotwire it." Says Nickolas. A sound is heard and it sounds like its from the ground a harsh smell. A thing launches out small with ridged spikes on the side its mandible jaws open out at Clare and quickly finding an axe to her convenience grabs it axing the smaller found version of the graboid and another comes out having her do the same to it axing it with a third one from behind she and it are between by the axe's handle as it snatches to the handle Mason with a shovel throws like a dart killing the Grablette and as it dies Clare pushes it off her. Quickly as Nick hotwires the car and it turns on they all get inside the car and leave the junkyard and leave Perfection and goes back to Solace.