Thirty-three
Caitlin peeled her caterpillar's grip from a tree
trunk just outside Brighton Hollow, alert to the surrounding woods in the
dusk of early afternoon. The caterpillar trilled nervously when it sensed
humans within a few hundred feet. A bullet fired from half a mile away
could kill her as dead as one fired pointblank, and maybe even an arrow
from a shorter distance, if it came from behind. The hours of darkness
were safer by far to be out and about for her kind.
She went directly through the woods and took up
position near the vine-covered bus lying in a ravine off Troll Valley
Road. She sat with her knees drawn to her chin on a spot of green grass,
waiting for Rex and Doc, or for the hunters they might send to kill her.
Doc made his bold appearance before the sun had
dropped behind the hills. Rex followed by a short distance, carrying a
rifle and as alert as Caitlin for an ambush.
Caitlin stood. "Put the rifle on the ground, Rex
Logan," she called out. "Remember that I can hear better than you if
anyone else comes near."
Rex put the gun down without too much concern.
Caitlin walked down to the bus as he and Doc approached.
Doc took a sheet of paper from an inside pocket of
his jacket. "I have a message from the National Guard. They dropped
leaflets by air yesterday. Would you like to read it?"
"Just tell me what it says," Caitlin said quietly.
"It's a decree ordering all surviving local officials
to identify enslaved hosts of the alien insects and eliminate them by any
means possible. They've determined the insect to be not of this world and
engineered to exterminate humanity."
"Why?" Caitlin said, only mildly surprised to hear
what she had already suspected to be true.
"We don't know yet," Doc said. "It just wants us
dead. It has no other purpose for its existence."
"I don't blame you for hating me," Caitlin said, "but
I won't let you kill me."
"We don't hate you, Caitlin," Rex said gently, "and
we're not here to kill you."
"You're supposed to try.”
"Not necessarily. The leaflet says the hosts of
these creatures want to destroy the caterpillars as bad as we do," Doc
said gently. "Is that true?"
Caitlin brushed tears from her eyes. "Yes. I'd help
you if I could, but I don't know how. If I don't help the caterpillar, I
get hungry. It's an awful feeling, worse than just being hungry in the
ordinary way."
Doc's voice softened. "The National Guard tells me
in this paper that I'm supposed to ask a few questions, if you’ll help
us. The caterpillars store the nourishment they take very efficiently.
Do you know why?"
"I don't know why," Caitlin said.
"Can a caterpillar take another host if its host is
killed?”
"I don’t know," Caitlin said near tears. “I’ve never
seen it happen.”
“I don't like asking this question, Caitlin, but the
paper says to ask if you've considered suicide. They say if you do, kill
the caterpillar first so that it can't hurt anyone else."
Caitlin lowered her eyes and refused to answer the
question, but said, "Okay. I'll remember that."
"Do you think you can kill a caterpillar, if you had
a chance?" Doc said.
Caitlin answered without hesitation, remembering what
it had felt like to kick the old man's caterpillar against the side of the
wall. The caterpillars were not pets. They were not things to be cuddled
and protected. "I can kill them," she said. "It's easy."
"Have you met anyone else with a caterpillar?"
"I met an old man with a caterpillar in Orange City
last night."
"What happened?"
"His caterpillar attacked me," Caitlin said. "Mine
attacked him."
"How did the caterpillars react to one another?"
"They don't even notice each other."
"Do you wander alone by choice?" Doc said, no longer
reading the paper. "If you wanted to, could you team with someone else,
or a group of hosts with caterpillars?"
Caitlin thought about it. "Not me. Maybe others.”
"It’s happened,” Doc said gently.
She put her hands to her ears. "I don't want to hear
about children." Caitlin knew about the children.
Doc sighed and consulted his paper. "The National
Guard has killed a lot of caterpillars and their hosts. How do you feel
about that? Does it make you angry?"
"It makes me glad," Caitlin said. "Kill them all.
Kill me, if you can."
"You don't really believe we can," Doc said.
"You could shoot me if I'm not careful, but I’m
always very careful, because I don’t really want to die. I mean, maybe
the caterpillars will die before we do.
Doc eyed her unhappily. "You're looking healthy,
child."
Caitlin gazed at Rex, wishing he would
compliment her, wishing he wasn't so afraid of her. She wished he was
capable of falling in love with her like he had with Connie. He was with
Connie all the time now. They made love when they wanted, day and night.
They slept in one another's arms while she wandered the cold woods alone
at night. She could hardly contain her pain and bitterness.
She remembered what she had to tell them so as not to
be driven away from Brighton Hollow forever. "I won't let anyone hurt
you," she said. "I can guard Brighton Hollow. I won't let them near
town, I promise. If I can’t stop them, I’ll warn you."
"We thank you for that, Caitlin," Doc said, and for
once, he sounded sincere.
But Caitlin wished that Rex had thanked her.
"There will be trouble this fall," Doc said. "A lot
of people will be moving west from the coastal cities. They'll be moving
through this area."
She just nodded acknowledgement that she had heard.
It meant nothing to her.
Doc and Rex stared at her for a time. They were
uncomfortable in her presence. They had so little in common now, they
could think of nothing more to say to her. They had no more questions.
"We should leave now," Doc said. "I'm getting tired,
and it's a long walk back."
They turned away and left her standing alone. Rex
picked up his rifle and slung it over his shoulder. He walked with his
eyes to the ground.
Caitlin wanted to call to him. She wanted to invite
him to spend the evening with her. They could take shelter in the bus if
it rained.
But if it hadn't worked in the past, why did she
think it could work now? Besides, as soon as they were gone, her
caterpillar came hopping out of the underbrush. Trilling merrily, it
climbed onto her shoulders where it could better monitor its environment
and her reaction to potential victims. It had obeyed her wishes and had
not attacked Doc or Rex, even though she sensed that it was growing very
hungry again.
But things could not stay the same forever, or even
for very long. There weren't enough people in the world for that to
happen, and there were fewer every day since the caterpillars arrived. If
people from the cities arrived, that would be good, but only for as long
as they lasted.
