HOME | DD

Description
Hedges Trimmerman, the groundskeeper at the military research facility enjoyed his job.  Since his years spent in Tennessee during the Civil Rights, he had always appreciated the fact that once the white man finally decides to PAY a black man for labor, at least a brother can rely on him to pay on time for the most part.  And there was no shortage of menial tasks in the northern states for a willing black man to perform for cash.  Since starting his contract with the US Army back in 1982, he had been witness to precious little at this facility other than the constant rotation of armed guards posted at checkpoints in the area and the occasional limosine carrying some high level government official.  To be fair though, he had very little time to pay attention to very much else other than simply working his majic to keep the surrounding foliage at bay.  As he had once put it, Mother Nature had always been poised to reclaim the kingdom.  A good groundsman's gotta be there to keep that bitch on her toes and keep those same toes off of the lawn.

He had been caretaker at a few different places in a few different climates before finally settling down and taking the job in Maine, but he had never before seen plant-life grow anywhere near the rate that he seen over the years at this place.  At first, he thought that it had something to do with the mineral-rich waters flowing down and around the hills in the rural area, but after a while, he began to notice that the explosive growth of the brush was relatively localized.  It was almost as if the earth itself was compelled to expose whatever weird experiment the Army had cooking behind the beige-colored bricks of the enormous research facility.  But with his own security clearance on the grounds being next to 'none', Hedges had no choice but to stick to the devil that he knew: the introspective tedium of lawncare.  Of course he could still speculate about the strange, new devil that he was certain that the science-types inside where investigating.

On the day that the siren sounded, Hedges had been dilligently trimming the branches of a set of trees that were threatening to split the fences along the southern edge of the compound.  Hedges stops to watch as the sliding steel doors of the facility and thrust open and a scrambling wave of men and women in white lab coats pours out.  The sounds of their frantic screams is heard clearly, even over the natural-disaster-caliber volume of the emergency sirens.  As he watches, frozen in shock, he sees the flow of science types running through the doors give way to a smaller flow of individuals limping as well as an even smaller number tumbling and sprawling right there on the tarmac, to be trampled under the footfalls of their  panicked colleagues.  He also noticed that a few of the white labcoats had large splotches of 'red' tainting the cleanliness of the garments and.. oh, Jesus..!  Is that woman missing an arm..?!

With a wide-eyed gaze, Hedges follows the main body of scientists as they approach the first checkpoint at the main gate.  From that distance, he sees his buddy, Corporal Bright shouting into the reciever of the hardline phone in the booth.  Within seconds, the corporal exits the booth and waves to a few of the other soldiers standing a ways off, who come running to respond to the growing catastrophy.

As if in a waking dream, Hedges watches as the four soldiers unhitch their automatic weapons from their shoulders, form a line and open fire on the group of people running toward them.  As the scientists fall one after another, the grounds keeper can't help but notice that none of them had even attempted to stop the hail of bullets that mowed them down.  In fact, none of them even slowed down since leaving the doors of the facility and the wounded--my God... The wounded continued advancing; almost welcoming the bullet that would erase the madness and bear them on the cool wings of oblivion to someplace far from here.  It was as if they had each decided that death at the hands of these soldiers was still a reasonable alternative to whatever test-tube disaster they were trying to escape.  "Oh Lord, no--gentle Jesus," Hedges huffs to himself, procuring a small athsmatic inhaler from his uniform pocket.  "White people can't never NOT go batshit crazy..sweet Jesus no.."

He doesn't have long to wait before he sees what the scientist thought was so horrible.  Or at least he thinks he sees it.  Before the soldiers had even had the need to reload their rifles, Hedges sees the mist pouring through the doors.  It was actually mor like a 'wall' made of mist had decided to fall, billowing outward in all directions at high speeds like recent fallout from a silent explosion.  As the cloud of dense grey expands to wash over scientists and soldiers alike, Hedges would swear that there were shapes in the mist; big ones, too.  Around the edges of the areas already covered by the mist, he also thought he could see smaller shapes darting around hungrily as well--smaller than foxes, but shaped too nightmarishly to be confused with anything non-threatening.
Seconds later, Hedges himself is engulfed by the mist.  Even though his life had been spent with some degree of animosity for the white people in his life who had always treated him like they were just a little better than he, in the Mist his screams rose louder and longer than any of them.  His hoarse voice soon became a juicy rattle before joining the dull silence that now surrounded him.  He didn't even get a chance to get a look at the creature that ultimately did him in.  The creature however, did get a look at the tree branches growing over the groundskeeper's ruined head.
What a charming location to lay my eggs, the spiderlike creature thinks to its asexual self.  The trees accept the prized spawn as only a willing accomplice would.

Description
Hedges Trimmerman, the groundskeeper at the military research facility enjoyed his job.  Since his years spent in Tennessee during the Civil Rights, he had always appreciated the fact that once the white man finally decides to PAY a black man for labor, at least a brother can rely on him to pay on time for the most part.  And there was no shortage of menial tasks in the northern states for a willing black man to perform for cash.  Since starting his contract with the US Army back in 1982, he had been witness to precious little at this facility other than the constant rotation of armed guards posted at checkpoints in the area and the occasional limosine carrying some high level government official.  To be fair though, he had very little time to pay attention to very much else other than simply working his majic to keep the surrounding foliage at bay.  As he had once put it, Mother Nature had always been poised to reclaim the kingdom.  A good groundsman's gotta be there to keep that bitch on her toes and keep those same toes off of the lawn.

He had been caretaker at a few different places in a few different climates before finally settling down and taking the job in Maine, but he had never before seen plant-life grow anywhere near the rate that he seen over the years at this place.  At first, he thought that it had something to do with the mineral-rich waters flowing down and around the hills in the rural area, but after a while, he began to notice that the explosive growth of the brush was relatively localized.  It was almost as if the earth itself was compelled to expose whatever weird experiment the Army had cooking behind the beige-colored bricks of the enormous research facility.  But with his own security clearance on the grounds being next to 'none', Hedges had no choice but to stick to the devil that he knew: the introspective tedium of lawncare.  Of course he could still speculate about the strange, new devil that he was certain that the science-types inside where investigating.

On the day that the siren sounded, Hedges had been dilligently trimming the branches of a set of trees that were threatening to split the fences along the southern edge of the compound.  Hedges stops to watch as the sliding steel doors of the facility and thrust open and a scrambling wave of men and women in white lab coats pours out.  The sounds of their frantic screams is heard clearly, even over the natural-disaster-caliber volume of the emergency sirens.  As he watches, frozen in shock, he sees the flow of science types running through the doors give way to a smaller flow of individuals limping as well as an even smaller number tumbling and sprawling right there on the tarmac, to be trampled under the footfalls of their  panicked colleagues.  He also noticed that a few of the white labcoats had large splotches of 'red' tainting the cleanliness of the garments and.. oh, Jesus..!  Is that woman missing an arm..?!

With a wide-eyed gaze, Hedges follows the main body of scientists as they approach the first checkpoint at the main gate.  From that distance, he sees his buddy, Corporal Bright shouting into the reciever of the hardline phone in the booth.  Within seconds, the corporal exits the booth and waves to a few of the other soldiers standing a ways off, who come running to respond to the growing catastrophy.

As if in a waking dream, Hedges watches as the four soldiers unhitch their automatic weapons from their shoulders, form a line and open fire on the group of people running toward them.  As the scientists fall one after another, the grounds keeper can't help but notice that none of them had even attempted to stop the hail of bullets that mowed them down.  In fact, none of them even slowed down since leaving the doors of the facility and the wounded--my God... The wounded continued advancing; almost welcoming the bullet that would erase the madness and bear them on the cool wings of oblivion to someplace far from here.  It was as if they had each decided that death at the hands of these soldiers was still a reasonable alternative to whatever test-tube disaster they were trying to escape.  "Oh Lord, no--gentle Jesus," Hedges huffs to himself, procuring a small athsmatic inhaler from his uniform pocket.  "White people can't never NOT go batshit crazy..sweet Jesus no.."

He doesn't have long to wait before he sees what the scientist thought was so horrible.  Or at least he thinks he sees it.  Before the soldiers had even had the need to reload their rifles, Hedges sees the mist pouring through the doors.  It was actually mor like a 'wall' made of mist had decided to fall, billowing outward in all directions at high speeds like recent fallout from a silent explosion.  As the cloud of dense grey expands to wash over scientists and soldiers alike, Hedges would swear that there were shapes in the mist; big ones, too.  Around the edges of the areas already covered by the mist, he also thought he could see smaller shapes darting around hungrily as well--smaller than foxes, but shaped too nightmarishly to be confused with anything non-threatening.
Seconds later, Hedges himself is engulfed by the mist.  Even though his life had been spent with some degree of animosity for the white people in his life who had always treated him like they were just a little better than he, in the Mist his screams rose louder and longer than any of them.  His hoarse voice soon became a juicy rattle before joining the dull silence that now surrounded him.  He didn't even get a chance to get a look at the creature that ultimately did him in.  The creature however, did get a look at the tree branches growing over the groundskeeper's ruined head.
What a charming location to lay my eggs, the spiderlike creature thinks to its asexual self.  The trees accept the prized spawn as only a willing accomplice would.