“Once again,” said Brett, visibly annoyed. “I’m just a vet. You’re asking me whether or not we’re being invaded by aliens? Seriously?”
“Is it possible?” asked Ryan, ignoring his protests.
Brett sighed. “Isn’t anything possible? It’s far more likely that something was in stasis beneath the soil, but, yes, sure, why not, let’s assume it’s aliens. They have to exist somewhere, right? Maybe Aaron is right, and this is a biological attack in order to terraform the planet.” He had sounded serious for a moment, but slowly the sarcasm crept into his voice. “Two weeks from now, our planet will be covered in green fungus and Oscar the Grouch will become our new overlord. Look, guys, whatever this is, it’s a hundred per cent terrestrial. The fungus is thriving in our atmosphere, which means it must have come from here. An alien life form would likely need a set of conditions so completely different from ours that it would be incomprehensible. Organisms grow and adapt to suit their environment, not the other way around. They evolve in sync with the unique biomes they are born into. The chances of our Earth being in any way compatible for an alien lifeform is extremely unlikely.” He sighed and rubbed at his temples. “Christ, you’ve got me talking about aliens like it’s a real possibility. This is not aliens. It’s dangerous as hell, but we are going to sit tight and wait for help, okay? Once it arrives, someone else can figure it all out. What I can tell you is that if we catch it, we’re screwed. This rabbit has no insides. For all intents and purposes, it was dead when it attacked us. The fungus has ravaged its central nervous system and reduced its biological imperatives to just one thing – attack.”
Aaron licked his lips, finally showing fear instead of awe. “Because attacking means spreading the fungus, right?”
Brett exhaled. “Sean wasn’t trying to hurt you, he was trying to infect you. We need to make sure nothing gets in here. No more rabbits, no foxes, and most definitely not Sean.”
Ryan looked over at the windows, realising that curtains weren’t going to be enough.
“Help me get this up against the window.” Ryan grunted and fought with the fridge, which he had dragged out of the kitchenette. He could wave goodbye to his deposit after the mess he’d made of the floorboards. Twin gouges ran all the way across the lounge like a set of railroad tracks. The fridge was currently snagged on a wire leading to the lamp on the console table.
Aaron moved the lamp and its wire out of the way, then helped his brother slide the fridge up against one of the two windows in the lounge. Fortunately, the cottage wasn’t large, which meant there was a decent chance of barricading themselves inside with the meagre resources they had. The master bedroom’s window was now blocked by a heavy oak wardrobe, and the small window in the kitchen was locked tight and secured. Upstairs was less of a concern, but they had double-checked all of the windows anyway.
Morning had passed and it was now afternoon. Bright sunshine crept in through the slender gaps between the curtains and through the window diamond set into the top of the front door. The diamond was their portal to the outside, and Ryan stared out of it regularly. Nothing seemed to be on the driveway, but somehow that made things worse. Where the hell was Sean? What was he doing?
“Tom should definitely be back by now,” said Brett, lining up kitchen knives on the counter. Only a couple of them were long enough to do any real damage.
“Something happened to him,” said Aaron, sitting on the big blue sofa. “What other explanation is there?”
Loobey was on the smaller beige sofa, sipping from a bottle of water. He had managed to catch his breath, and a smidge of colour had returned to his cheeks. “There isn’t another explanation,” he said. “Who knows how many infected animals are out there? He could’ve been attacked by anything.”
Aaron turned away from the fridge, now in place by the window. “Like what?”
Brett left his knives and folded his arms. “Stags can be territorial. Highland cows can trample you to death if you rub one up the wrong way. Even a fox can give you a nasty bite – especially if their inhibitions are impeded by a rapidly growing fungus. Hell, a rat can kill a human being if it’s determined enough. Graveyards are full of dead idiots who thought it was a good idea to pet something fluffy. We’re in the wilderness. It belongs to the animals, not us.”
Aaron’s head dropped. “What if Tom’s just hurt? He could be out there somewhere, praying for help.”
Nobody argued. Nobody spoke.
The cottage was barricaded as well as it could be, which left them with nothing to do but sit and wait for something to happen. With any luck, that something would be help arriving. Tom was a grown man. They had to trust that he could reach the village one way or another.
Brett took a seat on the large sofa and began tapping at his phone. “I still don’t understand what’s happened to this thing,” he said. “I’ve had it on charge for the last thirty minutes and it’s still not switching on.”
“Hold on a sec,” said Aaron, and he disappeared into the back bedroom. He reappeared a moment later, holding an iPad. “I charged this before Ryan and I set off.” He held the power button on the top and waited. And waited. After another moment, he tutted and placed the tablet down on the kitchen counter. “It won’t switch on either. Loobey, try the TV.”
Loobey leaned forward and grabbed the remote, which had miraculously stayed on the coffee table since their arrival. He pointed it at the small flat screen in the corner and pressed a button. A nearly undetectable flash of light, but then nothing. Loobey
