Patrick's+Group

= = =Destroy All Humans=

By Patrick Elwood, Patrick Zediker, Brian Lynch, and Steven Parenti
In 2335 A.D. an explosion rocked the earth. Mankind was almost annihilated from the planet. There were few survivors. Those who sought shelter made it, but those who were caught in the blast died instantly. The epicenter of the explosion had not been determined, and all we knew for sure was that the bomb had not come from Earth. In South Dakota three people hid in a bomb shelter deep inside the Black Hills. They were there at the perfect time, almost as if they knew what was going to happen. Pete, Maria, and Jason all found each other in this bunker. All of them were relieved to discover that there was plenty of food and water.

Pete and Maria had recently become good friends. They both worked at the Pentagon and had met a few months ago at a top security meeting. Pete was over six feet tall with thick red hair and pasty white skin. He walked with a funny gait and wore mismatched suits that fit his awkward personality. Maria was his complete opposite. She was barely five feet tall with long wavy dark hair and tanned skin. She was smart and glad that she could talk to Pete about her recent findings of intelligent life from space.

The recent discovery of recorded conversations less than a light year away had made the government nervous. They wanted to be prepared for any possibility including the safety of the planet. A few specialists had attempted to decode the messages using a combination of ancient languages and were frightened by some of its details. The CIA had commenced plans to protect top government officials if an invasion occurred. Most government workers, including Maria felt that it was unnecessary. She was only 24 years old and hadn’t been in her job very long so she did as she was told. They put her in charge of repairing and assigning safe bunkers to important people. That was how she knew about the Black Hills Bunker.

Jason had lived in South Dakota his whole life, and loved exploring every inch of the Black Hills. After pollution had depleted most natural resources, the government had declared all forests off limits to civilians. As soon as he graduated college he became a government forest ranger just like his father and grandfather before him. Most of his high school friends joined the military to be part of the first space fleet, but Jason never desired to leave. Jason had been popular in school because of his athletic talents and tall frame, but preferred to be alone. He would spend days in the forest never beholding another human being. That is why Jason knew something was wrong when one day a hovercraft landed in the clearing. A government official wanted details about the ancient military bunker. Jason led them to the place, but they were quick to get rid of him. Within days the place had been rebuilt, secured, and stocked with supplies. They vanished before Jason could get any information about why they were there, but he heard strange sounds and found unusual prints around the caves near the area.

Jason, Pete and Maria were lucky. They were safe and had all found the bunker just as the first mushroom cloud appeared on the horizon. They didn’t have long to think about the fate of their friends, family or even the planet. Right now they needed to prepare for survival. The three of them searched the bunker for radios or any other machine used for communication, but discovered only a set of computers with the keyboards smashed and monitors broken. They were puzzled by this especially since this had been a secured facility over the past few weeks. Jason did not like the idea that the computers had been ruined, but he knew that he had heard strange noises in the mountains and nothing had made a lot of sense.

Pete and Maria were busy trying to fix the damaged parts, but weren’t having any success. Jason had a strong feeling that there was more to what he saw. They continued combing the bunker for emergency supplies. Jason was examining a row of lockers when he found something that sent a chill down his spine; it was an arm of some sort. It was a long green arm covered in scales with a deadly looking claw at the end. His instincts told him that it was not human. Unsure of what to do or say Jason left the arm alone and opted not to tell Pete and Maria.

Pete had been uncomfortable all day and was relieved when Jason and Maria finally decided that there was nothing more they could do and they should get a good night’s sleep. “It’s almost over” he kept telling himself. Pete closed his eyes and waited until he heard the slowed breathing that indicated that the others were deep in sleep. He got up and went down the hall to collect a few items required to keep up the disguise. He also needed to hide any evidence that his crew had left during the initial landing. His arm needed mending, but it would have to wait. Communication with his command unit was first on his mind. He stayed up most of the night, and then quickly slipped back in bed before the others noticed.

Days went by as Jason struggled to wrap his mind around what kind of life form the arm belonged to. He did not want to think about it, because the consequences only frightened him. He still had not told the others of his discovery, due to the fact that he didn't want to worry the others. Fortunately the three of them got along rather well. They passed the time playing board games, reading, and even watching movies on an old DVD player that they found. It was only when they started speaking of the explosion that they had differences.

Both Pete and Maria believed it was all a tragic accident. They spoke about how paranoid the world governments had become and that they probably attacked each other in a panic over some misunderstanding. Jason may have been out of touch with world news, but he definitely had other ideas. He had seen and heard strange things in the forest for a while and believed the Earth must have been attacked. When he exchanged ideas with the others, they laughed at him or quickly changed the subject. Jason knew that this was the only way he could account for the strange events in the forest, the explosions, and the mysterious arm. He was certain that alien life forms had invaded the planet. Pete and Maria found Jason's theory to be ludicrous, but Jason imagined they were giving him the standard government run-around so he kept most of his thoughts to himself.

Three weeks had gone by and still no sign of life or rescue. The three of them continued daily functions but were getting bored and restless. Pete had been especially anxious. He had heard nothing from his unit and had no idea if the plan had worked. They had spent millenniums trying to find their way back, and now they were finally home. The planet wasn’t the same, but it was still home. I t would be theirs again, once the humans were exterminated from the planet. They had murdered his people after all. He had become close to Maria in the months that he had gone undercover. Maybe the mission could be modified to keep a small number of the human race alive. He wanted to ask, but hadn’t had any communication since the explosion. It was the middle of the night when Pete finally had a chance to mend his broken arm. It had fallen off during his landing in the forest, because he had miscalculated the gravitational forces of the planet. He had preserved the arm in a special chemical and waited until the time was right to attach it back to his body. He tried to keep covered as much as possible, but enjoyed the chance to escape the tight skin he had used for his disguise. He was just about finished when he heard a noise from Maria or Jason. Jason had woken up after a bad dream and heard something in the distance. He got up and walked around the bunker, stopping as he went to listen for unusual noises. He turned a corner and caught a glimpse of Pete holding the arm he had previously found. There was something different about Pete, he was taller and his face looked oddly stretched out. As Jason continued to watch Pete he noticed something moving around under his skin. Like a coat Pete's skin slipped off revealing this green scaly monster. Afraid for his life Jason ran to wake Maria, but when he got to her she was already awake.

Without explaining he seized her hand and dragged her down the hall toward the main door. She was terrified and confused. They reached the exit door, and Jason began the sequence to unlock the door's security system. His only thought was escaping the thing that he knew would be after them, but Maria begged and pleaded with him not to open the door. "The radiation!" she screamed. "What about the radiation?" She knew it was dangerous and possible deadly to leave so soon after the explosions. "There's more than radiation to worry about!" Jason said very firmly. "What do you mean? If we go out there, we will die!" Maria yelled "If we stay here we will die!" Jason lowered his voice. "Listen to me, I saw Pete and he is not what he seems to be." Maria just stared at him with a confused look on her face. She had worked with Pete for months, and knew him well. She was not sure of what was going on or what Jason was babbling about. "Look I don't know who you think you are, taking me out of my room in the middle of the night and telling me that Pete is some kind of.... monster!" She paced back and forth trying to think. "And to top it all off, now you are trying to take me out of the bunker where we are sure to die!" Maria screamed. "It is for your own good!" Jason exclaimed.

Then there was a pause followed by a low scream, something that they had never heard before. Jason turned around and started to put the code in again. Maria was demanding to know what that noise was and what Jason knew. Jason couldn't take it anymore, "Shut up for two seconds while I put in the stupid code." Maria was in no mood to argue so she shut up. The door slid open and then a blast of wind came rushing in over their bodies. They quickly felt sick and vomited at the same time. The air and trees were blanketed in grey ash and the sky was a strange shade of orange. "Oh my God, what is happening?" Maria uttered.

"Quick we have to keep moving and get far, far away from here." Jason said feeling ill, but he knew the forest and knew of places where they could rest and hide. "Why?" Maria asked as they started to run. "Because I saw Pete holding an alien arm that I found the other night, and then he transformed into this beast. That is when I came and got you!" Jason yelled. Maria just looked at him. She still couldn’t believe that the person she had worked with, the one she had chosen to come to the bunker with, could be a monster.

Jason and Maria had been walking for many hours when Jason spotted something moving in the distance. "Wait here", he told Maria, "I'll go check it out." She waited for five minutes before she started looking for him. She saw him walk in what seemed to be a cave. As she got close, Jason jumped out running for his life. "What is happening?" Maria yelled after him. "Wait for me!" Just then this creature that looked a little like a human, but with a hunch back and green scaly skin, jumped out at them. It looked at Maria and said with a real raspy sick voice "You are not alone." Then the creature ran back inside. She started after Jason to see where he went. She found him, but wasn't ready for what she saw. He had shot himself with a pistol. She was now all alone feeling confused and sick.

She decided to return to the cave. She realized she had the pistol in her hand. The one she had picked up from Jason's body. As she was walking back, something big came out of nowhere and attacked her. It stood over her but said nothing. She fired six shots in him before she realized it was Pete. It was hard to tell that it was him. He was very big now with a hunched back and one very big arm. The other arm was small, green, and scaly.

He began talking to her in a voice that almost sounded like a gargle. "The bomb came not from this planet but far, far away. My race lived on this planet for millions of years. You might call us a species of dinosaurs. Only you thought we were a stupid race without intelligence. Your history books do not talk about the species that developed intelligence and explored space." Pete continued, "A small group of us left this planet on a ship to explore the universe. We've finally come back after millions of years, and what do we find? None of our kind has survived. Nothing is the same as when we left. Humans have taken over the Earth and have destroyed almost every ecosystem. Humans are responsible for this and must be stopped. "Maria was confused by what Pete was telling her.

"My people found that you humans were destroying our race, and destroying the Earth too. Humans have turned it into a garbage dump which is affecting the rest of the galaxy." Pete had waited a long time to tell her this. "You can choose to believe it or not, but it is happening. Humans destroyed our race and the planet that we loved. We need to destroy the humans and make the planet ours again."

"Our plan was to get rid of all humans with a few of your own bombs, but it did not work. You and Jason survived. We are here to finish the job. You have no way of surviving". Maria fired one more round into Pete's head. He stood up and screamed very loudly. Maria took this chance to get away. She ran as fast as she could back to the cave and went inside. Her heart was pounding and her thoughts were all scrambled. She heard a soft gurgle noise. As she came around the corner, she saw hundreds of aliens. They all looked just like Pete. She turned and ran out of the cave. She pleaded with Pete to save her. She reminded him that she was the first to hear their conversations from space. Pete grabbed her by the arm, and brought her back inside the bunker. The only thing that could be heard was the faint sound of a scream. The aliens had destroyed all humans.

The year was now 2385. “Tell me again, about the war with the humans. Please Grandpa Pete?” Little Kaz asked as he was getting ready for bed. Pete had told the story many times, but it still bothered him. He was a scientist, not a soldier anymore. He recently had discovered something that was important. He needed to tell somebody and soon. “Not tonight Kaz, I may have a different ending to that story soon.” Kaz scrambled into bed after complaining for a few minutes.

Pete went into his office and called up an old friend. Instantly the wall in front of him turned into a 3D image of his friend Jack. Jack had been the Leader of the operation to destroy all humans. “What is so important Pete?” John asked. “I’ve been reviewing the samples of rocks at the geological dig. I’ve found something, evidence that the human history books were not all lies.” Pete continued, “It seems that there is now proof that a meteorite was the cause of our race’s extinction and not the humans fault.” John was silent for a while. “Are you sure?” he asked. “Yes, the human race didn’t evolve until millions of years after our people had been destroyed. We were wrong!” Pete looked weak and small.

As he fell asleep his thoughts went back to the war. "Why are you doing this" Maria was asking him. "Once we rid the planet of human life it will be ours again. Just as it once was and should've been." Pete had answered her. He awoke, and looked at the fossil in his hand. It was a footprint of a human boy.

He knew what needed to be done. He decided to call back his friend Jack, there was no answer. Pete decided that he couldn’t wait, the guilt was bothering him. He quickly went to his lab and was ready to reveal what he had kept a secret for so long. "It's time to fix what I did, what we did." He said to himself. With just a few buttons pushed two secret doors flew open and inside lied what he had kept a secret from his people for so long, back at the end of the war.

In this secret part of his lab was a tube filled with a liquid that prevents aging and freezes life forms. Pete looked at it sadly, but with hope. Inside this tube was Maria. She was still alive but in a deep coma. Pete knew that it was time to wake her up from her long sleep. He also glanced at a small test tube inside the capsule marked “Human Male DNA.” He would wake her up and give the human race a second chance.