Day 8: Hero of StrangerVille (Finale Part 1)

Even on my day off I am an early bird riser now since I joined the military. My internal alarm clock wakes me up at around 6:00am. This could be a good thing. I need to go out and find more possessed townsfolk. I’m curious if this first round of vaccine have the same reaction as it did on my mom last night. Even though it didn’t cure her, it did change her somewhat. It looked like it helped my mom take some control.

I don’t work today again. It must be fate. I can use this day to sneak back into the secret lab and concoct a stronger vaccine as well as gather the conspiracy theorists and others together to stop whatever that alien thing is inside.

As I stare outside my bedroom window, I also think about going public with this because as soon as the military catch on to what I am doing, they’re going to try and shut me up. I am probably putting my parents in danger as well right now. I know they’ll back me up 100% and I think the conspiracy theorists will as well.

Joie stayed overnight again. She wants to see this through with me and I love her for that. Did I say love? I did. I am in love with this woman. We only met less than a week ago and I’ve fallen for her. It is only appropriate we go out first. She has already accepted going on a first date when this is all over. I wake her up.

We walk around town around 7:00am to look for anyone else who could be in this possessed state of mind. Mom eventually snapped out of it last night around midnight and she actually remembered this time being in the possessed state. That’s one thing that did change with this vaccine. Before, she had no clue she was possessed.

The streets of StrangerVille were pretty quiet this early, but we finally came across the woman my dad mentioned to me when we first arrived who he thought was disabled but we quickly found out she was possessed. She had no recollection of him when we saw her at the bar. Now I wonder if I throw this vaccine on her if she’ll remember anything when she does snap out of it?

There’s also a cowboy who was moving close ahead of her in this same possessed state. He noticed me right away when I arrived, but didn’t do anything. He stopped and stared with a big grin on his face. I wonder if mom had a connection with that thing inside the secret lab and it’s onto me? I have to move quickly.

As I swiftly grab the jar, the woman moves faster towards the cowboy as if she is going to stop me from doing anything. Luckily, I was faster and make my move. I open the jar and splash it in the cowboy’s face. He shakes his head in confusion, but then goes back to the possessed state of mind. Almost the same reaction as my mom.

This lady is next, but she is aware of what I have and about to do and she begins to move towards me, arms reached like in those zombie movies. Joie does some quick thinking of her own and distracts the woman and gets her attention. This is why I love this woman so much.

I open the jar and as I throw the vaccine that is inside, the possessed woman tries to dodge out of the way without success. She wipes what she can off. I think the alien thing inside the secret lab has more control over this one. She stares at me with even a bigger grin and begins to move towards me again.

Time to get out of here.

Thankfully, we could run much faster than the woman could walk and we zigzagged through the streets so she couldn’t see where exactly we were headed, which was back home.

I tell Joie that I need to get back to the secret lab and rework the vaccine. She replies she’ll hold down the fort and let my mom and dad know that progress is in the making. If mom goes back into the possessed state before I can get this new vaccine, we could be in real trouble as the alien thing might take control of any of the possessed and try to stop me.

This means I also need to be careful inside the secret lab. The alien thing knows I have been there. I sneak in once again through the back of the lab, hazmat suit in a duffle bag. As soon as I make it in, I suit up.

I’m able to work one of the machines that’s not in the basement where most of the spores are. I don’t want the alien thing to detect I am here. There’s still spores in the room, but they look dormant and not as alive as the ones in the basement that seemed to have already hatched.

I reconfigure some numbers and add more spore samples that were collected from Joie. The monitor lights up. Using test tubes, I mix some of the spore samples from different spores instead of just using samples from one spore. The stronger I can make this vaccine, the better.

Something new is happening. The samples I have mixed together and put in the machine is now glowing. I hope I am on to something. Either that or something horribly wrong is going to happen. I have to think positive on this and continue recalculating numbers on the monitor.

The creation of this new vaccine took more hours to produce than I was hoping. Thankfully, my mom was doing okay when I got home. It was a little before 3:00pm and Joie says I need to get food in my belly before doing anything more.

As we’re eating, mom says she remembers becoming possessed last night and she had no control over her body.Whatever was controlling her was looking for something, for someone.

This got me thinking. What if I try to vaccinate my mom now before she becomes possessed again? It’s something to try. I didn’t grab any syringes this time, so I ask mom nicely if it was okay if I pour this on her. I didn’t want to splash it all over like I did last time. She just wanted it to be over. When she’s ready, she closes her eyes and I pour the vaccine on her.

It seemed to work. At least according to mom she says she doesn’t feel the presence of what was inside her head anymore.

I did some more thinking during the hours of creating this new vaccine as well. This might need to be an inside job and not involve the rest of the town. Not yet. I don’t know if I can fully trust the conspiracy theorists.

I think my dad would love one final job before he fully retires. And since he did become a police detective back in Newcrest, he might find this interesting. Mom was infected and should have the opportunity to help stop whatever was controlling her. And Joie. She’s already my sidekick. My partner in crime. She’ll want to follow this through to the end.

Yes. Us four will finish this tonight.

I head to the military base. There, I look for masks of any type we could use for the secret lab. There’s no way I am going to be able to get three more hazmat suits for them. I’m able to find head gear that looks like would be used for black ops. These will work and I steal three of them.

It’s around 7:00pm when we make our way to the back of the secret lab. I put my hazmat suit on while my family, I consider Joie family now, put their face masks on.

Something in my head tells me that if the vaccine worked on my mom, maybe it can do some damage to this alien plant thing. As my family watches, I pull whatever spores I have left in the hazmat suit and begin creating more of the vaccine from the exact machine I used before since the calculations should be the same. I didn’t have much left, so I decided to try a new approach and typed in a duplicate sequence into the machine. It works. I ask my family to look for something to pour this vaccine into other than jars that are laying around. In the same room, dad finds these red spray machines. Perfect. Things are going our way.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see this woman in a red dress and black silk hair. The same one from my dream I had days ago. We all see her. Mom says that’s who the voice in her head was looking for. That person. Her name is Bella. The woman in red looks at me and smiles. Within a blinking moment, she disappears. What was that about we all wondered.

Focus. Back to the task at hand. As the vaccine duplicates, I begin pouring it into the containers my dad found and hand them to each of my family.

I prepare them for what they are about to encounter and we must stick together.

With sprayers in hand, I tell them all to surround the area the alien thing on all sides. As my family dispurses, the alien creature grows angry and tries to spit some type of liquid on me. I’m guessing to make me possessed. Thankfully, I am wearing my hazmat suit. I yell to my family to watch out for any liquid and don’t get it on them.

My turn. I point the nozzle of my spray at the alien plant thing and pull the trigger and watch the vaccine fly at it.

I can also see my family doing their best below the platform. But I also see the alien thing brought backup. Those who are possessed have made their way to the secret lab as well. I even see some military personnel possessed. They are trying to stop my family. This is not good.

I shout out below they need to be careful and defend themselves. I’ll do what I can from up here.

I chant a victory as the alien thing lets out a loud wailing cry and tries to devour me…

A purple haze forms around the alien thing which signifies it is dying.

We won!