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Special Teaser
Ωmega pt 3
The Slime Thickens
JULY 4th
Onarga HQ.
Like most fourth of July’s it was hot. The upstairs air conditioner barely kept the place cool, which made the crisp taste of the Orange Crush even more sweet on Josh’s lips. It had been a lazy day so far, an exception to a hellacious week. They had watched the small parade go by at 11 and had since been watching movies. Well he and Ryan had been watching. Becky had the day off and Kevin and Janice were both doing paperwork. Kevin was down at Becky’s desk while Janice sat conspicuously hovered over her laptop at the small table upstairs. Josh still wasn’t sure what to think of her. After the bust at Best, she was a lot better, but just as he began to warm up to her, she would turn cold as ice, placing her in his “bitch” category.
“You know today’s a National Holiday, you should be taking the day off,” He commented rejoining Ryan watching Independence Day.
“Unfortunately incompetence doesn’t, so I can’t,” her eyes never left the screen.
“Are you calling us incompetent?”
“Are you calling the destruction of a several thousand dollar grain bin competence?” She finally looked up.
“Only on Thursdays,” Josh smiled. Janice groaned and returned to her papers. On the screen, President Whitmore was finishing up his speech to the pilots. Josh’s mind was still on Janice. I’d Hit I, he thought, but he wasn’t quite sure if he was being figurative or literal. The sounding alarm cut his thoughts short.
“Damnit, this is the best part,” Ryan lamented, turning off the TV before heading downstairs where Kevin was waiting.
“Well what do we got this time?” Josh asked heading towards the locker.
“Uncle Sam,” Kevin deadpanned.
“You’re shitting me,” Ryan declared. “There’s a ghost Uncle Sam on the loose?”
“No, dumbass. It is the fourth of July and I will be damned if I am going to do paperwork all day. Now, get in the car. We’re going to the park.” He pointed at Janice, “You too! You could use some fun.”
“I’d show her some fun,” Ryan leaned over towards Josh.
“Only on Thursdays.”
***
Near Dusk
As the light began to fade, the four slowly made their way to the Ecto O1 to get their lawn chairs. It wouldn’t be long before the fire department began to launch the traditional fireworks. They passed by the cordoned off area that was once the jungle gym.
“So what did you think of our little celebration?” Kevin asked Janice.
“It’s no
“Your getting good, Janice. I could barely detect the sarcasm there,” he responded.
BANG!
The small explosion made them jump.
“Nothing like the sound of illegal fireworks,” Josh contemplated then finished off his soda.
“Hey Josh
remember the time we took the ecto over to that store
in
Kevin cut him off with a forcefull throat clearing and a nod toward Janice.
“Yeah….” Ryan tried to save “that was some ghost I tells ya.”
Janice glared at him.
“Oh Fuck,” Kevin moaned.
“What?” the others asked in unison.
“My family,” He said as his uncle approached him.
“Heeey there sport,” Russel Geesler’s voice reminded Kevin slightly of Will Devane’s only slightly higher pitched.
“Hey Russ,” Kevin said as Russ practically crushed his hand.
“I see ya got your girlfriend with you,” he motioned to Janice. The fire in her eyes was instantaneous.
“I AM NOT HIS GIRLFRIEND. I am a member…”
“That’s not
what he told me,” Russ flashed a
“Hey!” Kevin said preemptively backing up, “I said no such thing. I’m not that stupid.” His response was met with a glare.
“You could have fooled me.”
“Well I gotta go get a pretzel for the misses. See
ya Sunday at the
“BYE Russ,” Kevin exhaled.
Russ turned around, “You two lovebirds behave yourselves tonight.”
Kevin just shook his head, after all he had heard similar remarks his entire life. That’s what uncles were good for.
“Is all of your family like that?” Janice growled.
“Mostly. You sure you don’t want to delay your flight on Saturday so you can go to the reunion with me on Sunday?” Kevin feigned sincerity.
“I don’t think so.”
“Shame.”
By the time they reached the Ecto O1 the sun was almost gone. Its last light was being refracted off the atmosphere in a pale red glow. Stuffed amongst the equipment, Kevin and Ryan pulled out the aged lawn chairs.
“Think it will top last years?” Ryan asked.
“I dunno, that was pretty kickass,” Josh replied. “Especially when they caught the soccer field on fire.”
“Take me back,” Janice groaned. She was practically doubled over and pale. It didn’t take a genius to see she was sick.
“You alright?” Ryan asked.
“We tried to warn her not to have the enchilada special,” Josh proclaimed.
“Shut up,” Kevin was serious.
“Take me back…now!”
This was not good. In a few minutes the climax of the day, a giant array of explosives would fill the sky, and they had to deal with a sick (literally) bitch.
“Fine,” Kevin tried not to sound angry. “I will take her back. You two save the parking space.”
“Well at least we know now she’s human,” Ryan laughed as the wagon drove away.
***
Kevin had no more unlocked the old bank’s door than Janice rushed pat him to the bathroom.
“I really hope the door is soundproof,” he said to himself, grimacing at the thought. He stood by the front window watching and listening for the first hint of artillery. Half, more than half of him told him to go, enjoy the night. Leave the bitch to puke alone. The other part of him was more chivalrous. He should make sure she was all right. Somebody should be there for her. But as the sky lit up with the first boom of fireworks, he was less certain that that person was him. He gritted his teeth and approached the downstairs bathroom.
“You ok?” he asked gingerly. Trying to tone out everything else.
“I’ll be fine,” she said in between bouts of things not best described. “Just go.”
“You sure? I don’t have to see the fireworks,” Kevin asked trying to mask his anxiousness to get the hell out of there with a layer of seriousness.
“GO DAMMIT!”
That was all he needed.
***
“Fuck Yeah!” Kevin exclaimed almost primitively. Fireworks had that effect on people. His exclamation joined the chorus of ‘ooo’s’ and “ahhhhhhs” As the small town sky lit up in a rainbow of sparks and explosions.
The ground rattled again as another mortar was launched. A small ember was its only identifier, until it exploded in a brilliant green starburst.
“Damn,” Josh said.
The Milstead Farm
West of Onarga.
It was the best place to be on the Fourth of July. Thomas Milstead sat in his expansive from yard with his family, where they could see the fireworks from three cities, depending on the weather of course. His kid ran around sparklers in hand, as the explosions rattled the skies. Cornfields surrounded the house. It was dark except for the amber illumination from a sodium vapor light that hung on the farm shed.
It was going to rain. He could smell it. The air had already acquired a chill and he was glad he had brought out his flannel coat.
To the east a green starburst lit up the sky, but the glow didn’t fade. Suddenly the scent of approaching rain was mixed with something more awful…and dark.
“Daddy, daddy, LOOK!” his seven-year-old daughter yelled pointing towards the field.
“Jesus,”
Thomas said standing up out of the chair. “Georgia,
“Donate to help fund next years fireworks!” the fireman said carrying around an empty aluminum can. It was intermission. Or as some liked to call it The Calm before the Storm. The firefighters took this time not only to ask for money, but to set up the big finale.
Had it not been for the break, the guys might not have felt the beepers buzzing in their pockets.
“Dammit!” Josh exclaimed in frustration, getting up.
They grabbed the chairs and headed to the Ecto where a printout from the onboard computer was waiting. Kevin looked at it. His eyes widened.
“It’s Uncle Sam’s ghost isn’t it?” Ryan asked.
“No,” Kevin looked up, “Its another slime pool.”
***
“DAMN, that must have been some fertilizer,” Josh remarked as they pulled up to the Milstead Residence. To their right, the field was illuminated with an eerie green glow. In the distance the loud explosions signaled the end of Onarga’s Fourth of July. They assumed the ground was covered with slime, but it was hard to tell amongst the corn. Corn that was almost ten feet high.
“Well I guess we now know another use for ectoplasm, the corn must have absorbed the energy,” Kevin mused as they stopped at the lawn/field demarcation.
“Well duh,” Ryan smarted off, “even I knew that.”
Kevin raised an eyebrow as a middle-aged man in a flannel coat and John Deere cap came out towards him. His young daughter scampered a few steps behind fixed by the sight.
“You must be the Ghostbusters,” he called out.
“Well if we must, we must….” Kevin stopped the joke as he realized no one would actually get it.
“
“I don’t think that corn is corn anymore,” He said as though it was the discovery of the century.
“He’s right,” Kevin confirmed, “with as much PKE as the crop absorbed, I highly doubt it’d be safe to harvest it.”
“What do you plan to do?” Milstead asked.
“What we do best,” Ryan grinned, “set things on fire.”
“
“Oh my god! Where’s my baby?”
Thomas grabbed Kevin, “Dammit you better find her, and find her fast.”
Kevin looked at the menacing wall of corn. Could this get any worse?
Then it began to rain.
***
Ryan was
grateful for the rain and the cold. Otherwise he would have probably suffocated in the jungle
that was once a cornfield. He trudged
along carefully through the rows of corn proton gun in hand. He
paused to check his boots. Kevin had claimed that
enough energy had gone into the corn so that the slime would no longer be
corrosive. Ryan checked anyway.
~Any luck Ryan~ Kevin’s voiced hissed over the radio.
“Nope, just more corn,” Ryan replied. “Josh?”
~She hasn’t made her way back out.~ Josh replied from the top of the ecto, waiting with the top mounted cannon on manual. Just in case.
Kevin had a bad feeling about this. Not just the standard ‘I have a bad feeling about this’ but a real sense of dread. He imagined he would have had goose bumps even if it wasn’t cold and rainy. “This could take forever,” Kevin radioed.
~Found her~ Ryan said.
Or not.
“It’s alright,” he said trying to be comforting. She had just kinda appeared in front of him. Ryan held out his hand, mostly to make sure she wasn’t some kind of evil ghost. She took a hold of him like a vise. She was real enough, but now to get the hell out of there. Luckily all he had to do was make a 180 and start walking.
~Is she ok?~ Kevin asked.
“Yep,” Ryan replied.
~Good.~
“I cannot wait to get outta this field so we can start blastin the shit out of it” Ryan said, completely oblivious to fact he was walking by a seven-year old.
~Sometime corn just needs to lay the fuck down!~ Josh added.
~Thanks Chuck~ Kevin added.
Almost there Ryan thought. Almost out of the suffocating corn, then a few blasts and I can get out of the rain. He smiled at the comforting thought. A rustling sound that emerged shortly after sent a chill down his spine. The Raptors again, he thought as he spun around to face the sounds source. Nothing. The noise had stopped, Ryan's heart beat still raced. He barely noticed the increased strength of the grip on his hand.
“Did you hear that?” He asked the girl hoping he had imagined it.
She shook her head in confirmation.
“Damn,” he replied turning around. “Oh shit.”
“Uh Kevin,” He spoke into the radio.
~You too?~
“Yep,” Ryan said staring at a newly formed wall of corn blocking his path. “I think the corn heard me.”
~How the hell could that be?~ Josh asked.
“Its corn, duh. Its got ears.” Ryan looked at the wall of corn. He heard the rustle again. He closed his eyes and spun around.
He was surrounded.
By corn.
“Uh Kevin… Now what?”
~Do you know which direction the house is?~
“Fuck”
~Dammit Ryan….Look up. Josh, fire your proton gun so he can get a sense of direction~
Ryan looked up. The sky to his left lit up with orange and blue.
“But what about the corn wall?”
~What do you think?~
Ryan smiled, “See ya on the other side…I mean, not that side, but you know..”
~Shut up and go!~
Ryan looked down at the girl. She still was trembling.
“Can you run fast?”
“Uh yes,” she replied softly.
“Good, now stay close to me and I will get you to your daddy.” He sighed, the second time dealing with a kid in a matter of weeks. Lucky him
“Alright, time to pop corn,” he yelled.
And fired.
***
“Its been too long,” Josh said out loud.
Even from on top of the Ecto O-1 Josh could barley see what was happening above the unnaturally tall corn. The only clues that something was wrong was a visible rustling of corn and the orange and blue flashes. He wiped the rain off the bill of his cubs hat. He had to do something. He had to think.
“Hey Mr. Milstead…”
***
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” Ryan yelled as calmly as he could, swiping through the monocotted demon corn with an intensified stream of protons while trying not to slip in the watered down slime. Georgia Milstead was close behind. It had been far too long. They should have been out by now. The moving corn, rain, and darkness all had worked together to divert him. There wasn’t much he could do besides fire, run, and scream. So he did.
“Ryan!” He heard in the corn nearby.
“KEVIN?” he replied.
“Over here!”
Ryan followed the voice and walked into a small circular clearing Kevin had made by wildly shooting to keep the corn at bay.
“Ryan!” Kevin paused. “Please tell me you have the girl.”
“Thank god,” Kevin sighed. “Now get over here and help. If he go back to back and create a circle we might just be able to get out of this.”
“If we do, I am never eating corn on the cob again,” Ryan exclaimed joining Kevin.
“Bullshit,” Kevin called out.
“Well I really do like my corn on the cob.”
Something changed. Ryan could have sworn the corn had stiffened (Stiffened he chuckled to himself) almost as if it was afraid. It was then that rustling was overwhelmed by a tremendous roar.
“Now what?” Kevin thought.
~Here comes the cavalry!~ Josh whooped through the radio. As he did Kevin noticed the headlights.
“If he doesn’t run us over, this might just work,” Kevin said as the combine broke through the clearing. Josh was leaning out the door, firing while Thomas Milstead steered the big green machine. Milstead stopped the combine in front of the busters
“I can’t fit all of you in here,” He said. Already the corn was trying to close in on them.
“That’s
fine,” Kevin said helping
“We will?” Ryan asked.
“Unless you want to stay?”
“All right,” Milstead declared, “Best get ready cause I am haulin’ out of here.”
Ryan got on the right side of the machine, Kevin the left, while josh clung on the ladder for aerial support. The whole machine clattered to life and pushed forward. The corn let out shrills as it was harvested. The large tires, easily found traction amongst the now mud mixed slime and it wasn’t long before they broke the corn barrier.
“Why isn’t the corn following us?” Ryan asked Kevin.
“I’d imagine its like a focused repeater. It is bound to that specific area and can go no farther.”
“We’ll that makes things easy for us,” Josh said setting his neutrona wand for an even wider stream.
By the time the field was clear, the weather had worsened. The period between lighting and thundered warned of the imminent storm.
Kevin
checked his watch,
“I guess I should thank you,” Thomas said, “Though now I have an empty field, a terrified daughter, and a slime covered Combine.”
“Uh, Kevin?” Ryan asked nervously.
“I know,” Kevin sighed, reshouldering his pack.
“What?” Thomas asked.
“Hope your combine is insured,” Joshed smirked.
Onarga HQ