Chapter 153: Chapter 151: Marriage, the Sacred Bond
"Damn it, why can't we just kill that thing?!" Bill clenched his gun, poised to fire at the walking infected.
Just then, Jon interjected, "It's futile; their true form is the alien worms. If you kill the host, the worms will escape and simply infect someone else."
"Tell me something I don't know! What can we do about it?" Bill exclaimed in frustration.
Jon's lips curved into a faint smile as he replied, "You have to annihilate the worms along with their host, of course."
No sooner had he spoken than Jon extended his palm, from which a flame began to rise. Before Bill could voice his astonishment, Jon launched the inferno at the infected, instantly immolating them. Their screams of torment filled the air as they were reduced to ashes.
Bill, Starla, and even Killer stood in stunned silence. Jon's actions had shattered their preconceived notions of reality.
With the infected dispatched, Jon turned to depart.
"Wait... wait, where are you going?" Bill called after him, his earlier outburst now a source of regret. Jon's extraordinary abilities offered a glimmer of hope against the monstrous threat.
"I'm off to swindle some money elsewhere," Jon quipped, departing without a backward glance.
Bill, in a sudden panic, wished he could retract his previous behavior.
"Hold on, don't go, I was just kidding!" he pleaded.
At that moment, Luke gestured with resignation and addressed Jon, "Stop teasing them. What's your plan?"
Luke understood Jon wasn't one to harbor resentment over a few harsh words; he must have something in his mind.
Jon, unbothered by the earlier exchange, revealed, "I've pinpointed the alien's exact location. It's in that house over there. I'm going to destroy it."
Their gazes followed Jon's pointing finger to a nearby house.
"Oh my God, that's our home!" Starla gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.
The alien had taken possession of Starla's husband, Grant, and had made their home its den.
"Starla, you must realize by now, that thing is no longer your husband. It's something entirely different," Bill said, trying to prepare her for the truth.
When the local police first detected something amiss with Trent, they were unaware that Grant had been overtaken by an extraterrestrial entity; they suspected a viral infection, which led Starla to intervene.
But her actions changed nothing. Had she not interfered, the officers who attempted to confront Grant would have met their demise. Grant, now impervious to bullets, possessed the strength to cleave a person in two with ease. His combat capabilities far exceeded what conventional weapons could manage. Indeed, in the original plot, the alien's demise by explosion seemed more a convenient plot device than a plausible outcome.
Given the alien's history of decimating countless species across the cosmos, it was unlikely to be so easily dispatched by mere explosives.
"I know..." Starla's voice trembled, then she turned to Jon, "Please, Jon, no matter what, you must not let him suffer!"
A chilling, unnatural laughter suddenly permeated the air, causing Bill to shudder. He instinctively clutched his gun, on high alert.
A figure on the ground began to stir, sitting up slowly. It was a middle-aged man in a police uniform. Bill's expression soured; he recognized the officer as another victim of the blood worms, who had been lying unconscious.
The officer rose to his feet, and Bill, without hesitation, aimed his gun.
"Hey, sweetheart," the officer addressed Starla, his voice devoid of any warmth.
"You know darling, marriage is a sacred bond," he continued.
"What?" Bill was perplexed, finger on the trigger, but Starla's hand stopped him.
"I'm sorry... for wanting to strangle you. I lost control; I never intended those actions!" the officer spoke evenly, yet his words were laced with regret.
Jon grasped the situation instantly. The alien, now inhabiting Grant, was manipulating all the infected humans, including the officer before them.
The entity had not only seized Grant's body but also his emotions. Upon possessing Grant, it experienced love for the first time, but its innate bloodlust prevailed, leading to the earlier confrontation.
"I didn't want... to harm those animals, didn't want Brenda to become... a vessel. It's in my nature, isn't it? How can you fault a being for acting on... its nature? I wanted to confess, but I feared you'd stop loving me. I've never known love before, Starla!"
The officer's agitation grew with each word, and he took a step forward. Bill immediately positioned himself between Starla and the threat, his gun trained on the officer, while Starla retreated behind him.
The officer's voice now betrayed his anger: "Why... why do you trust him?! Why choose sides without hearing the full story?!"
"Why do you speak like Grant?!" Starla demanded.
"Because I am Grant!" the officer contorted, "I'm your husband, to whom you vowed to honor and obey. So leave that man and come to me! You've always needed my protection, and you certainly don't have the courage to leave me!"
His voice escalated with fury, and he lunged forward in a reckless charge. But in that instant, a hand rested on his shoulder.
A jolt ran through his body, and the officer felt an innate terror.
As an ancient being with millennia of life, the alien had an acute sense of danger.
He turned slowly to face Jon and asked, "What... are you?"
The alien, through its control of the infected, including Grant, was aware of Jon's use of hellfire to exterminate its kind.
For the first time in its long history of carnage, the alien experienced fear.
"Feel it for yourself," Jon declared, his eyes ablaze. His hand on the officer's shoulder ignited, and in moments, the officer was consumed by flames.
"Ahhhhhhhh—"
The middle-aged officer's screams echoed as he was incinerated to ash.
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