Creepers Chapter 9

Chapter 9
Weed Control

Vanessa was nude, bound head to toe in living barbed wire. The creepers would constrict a notch after each breath. She tried to scream but was mute. An obnoxious, persistent sound broke through the silence of her terror. Her eyes popped open to her bleeping alarm clock. She looked down her sheets were twisted tight around her chest and arms. Damp with perspiration but relieved to be out of the nightmare she sat up.
It was five AM Vanessa rubbed the sleep from her eyes brushed her hair back, stood up and slipped out of her pajamas then padded into the bathroom. After a quick shower, she threw on a pair of jeans and a clean tee shirt, grabbed her backpack and went down to the kitchen.
Calvin was sat at the table, a huge glass of orange juice in hand, reading the Wall Street Journal on his laptop. He was wearing a clean pressed uniform. The sight of him took some getting used to. Like most people, the image of a cop in uniform complete with sidearm caused a surge of apprehension or relief: depending your circumstances. But a glance at his rugged good looks and warm smile and she felt nothing but affection for a man whom she still knew very little about.
He got up as she came into the room, “Good Morning. You sleep okay?”
“Yes, except for an awful dream.”
“I never dream, don’t know why, would you like some coffee or orange juice?”
“Orange juice now and if you have a go-cup I’ll take some coffee with me.”
“Sure.” He poured her a large glass of juice. “Here you go, there’s some bacon, toast and scrambled eggs on the stove, if you’re hungry.”
She took a sip of her juice. “Thanks, wow, this is the best orange juice I’ve ever tasted.”
“Thanks, I picked the oranges yesterday, chilled them overnight and squeezed the juice this morning. Fresh is always best.”
Vanessa buttered a piece of toast and helped herself to some eggs and a couple strips of bacon.
After she finished, they filled two car mugs full of coffee and stepped out into the still of a redolent predawn. The tree frogs had ceased their all night pleas for mates, the birds yet to abandon their roosts. Even the insects were still at this hour. She climbed into the Hummer thinking one forgets what other times of day are like; dawn’s tranquility was worth the sacrificed sleep.
They drove in silence for about twenty minutes until Calvin was forced to come to an abrupt stop: the highway ahead was blocked by a wall of thorn studded vines as thick as a man’s thigh. “Damn.”
Vanessa looked east then west, all she could see was a mass of green, alive, moving, growing unbroken to the horizon. “My God, I’ve never seen anything like this. Its cells must be dividing as fast as bacteria to have grown so fast.”
I’ll call Phil Weston: he’s the State Attorney General and tell him we can’t get through.” Calvin picked up his cell, scrolled through its list of numbers and placed the call. “Hello, Mr. Weston? This is Sheriff Musser, not so good sir, we have a problem: the highway has been overgrown by these plants. It’s blocked Sir, between mile markers 45 and at least 60 north of the Kingston overpass. No sir, I can’t see any breaks in the growth in either direction. It’s a solid mass of twisted green, thorns the size of spikes and blossoms as big as basketballs. Yes sir, as far as the eye can see. Yes, of course that’s fine, appreciate it, I’ll pull back a few hundred yards park my truck and wait for him. Thank you, see you soon.”
Vanessa asked, “Well what did he suggest?”
“They’re sending a chopper over to pick us up, should be here in a few minutes.”
They stood in the middle of the highway staring at a tangled botanic wall that spread off into the horizon east and west of the freeway. As the sun crested in the east, they could see the bramble was at least eighty feet high in places. How deep it was, was anybody’s guess: a mile, maybe more, it could have covered everything from here to Imokalee for all they knew. As they watched, they listened to it grow, as thousands of new leaves flipped open and white petals unfolded to welcome the dawn.
Creepers reached out everywhere like tentacles, searching in slow motion, for what no one knew. They were studded with thorns that looked like bloodied swords. Melon sized blossoms made this overnight jungle, appear to be populated by thousands of severed heads, ghost white but face-less. The limbs and trunks of native trees snapped beneath the weight of the parasitic vines, it sounded like distant small arms fire.
Everything was being crushed beneath this green, rolling wave.
An overpowering sickly sweet smell hung in the still morning air. Calvin looked to the sky. It was going to be an overcast morning the horizon to the north was thick with storm clouds as the sun tried to punch through.
They waited for twenty minutes before they heard the thump-thump-thump of the chopper. The Bell Jet Ranger swept in from the northeast flying low over the forest of vines.
The pilot sat down a hundred yards from where the road was blocked. Calvin grabbed Vanessa’s hand and the two of them ran as most people do, hunched over beneath the rotor blades, fearing decapitation, even though the blades flashed fourteen feet above the ground.
They climbed into the back, were handed helmets to put on and told with sign language to buckle up. The pilot lifted off at a step angle and headed north.
A man in a dark suit said over the headsets-which were voice activated. “Good morning. I’m Steve Rose, FBI. We appreciate you two getting up so early to join us on. I understand that you’re a botanist Miss Fullbright. So what is your assessment of the situation?”
“I don’t know what to think of it, I have never seen anything like it. But I can tell you one thing: burning it will not work.”
“Well, I’m afraid that’s not my decision. I’m just here because the Maximum Security prison over in Imokalee has been completely overgrown, nice to meet you Sheriff.”
Calvin nodded. Agent Rose extended his hand. His grip was strong but he could tell the big man was not someone to be taken lightly. “We tried to get to the prison but it was impossible, the entire staff from the warden down is missing. We assume the prisoners are trapped alive in their cells. Ninety percent are condemned men, but it’s going to be a slow painful death now for all of them. The pilot cut in, “Here we are. Seems the army got the tanks in after all. This should be interesting.
They sat down in the middle of the highway a hundred yards from all of the activity. There were six tanks lined up spaced twenty yards apart facing the wall of creepers. A dozen soldiers were milling around a man in a blue suit. Calvin recognized him as the governor, a man he had not voted for but had no particular reason to dislike. Calvin was an independent and had simply preferred the other candidate who had been a former prosecutor. The four of them walked up to the edge of the group and were ignored. Finally, an officer, who by his oak leafs Calvin knew to be a Major came forward. Morning, I’m Major Isaacs, I’m in charge of this operation. You must be Sheriff Musser and Dr. Fullbright. They all shook hands. Vanessa looked at the tank nearest her. “So what are you going to do with the tanks Major?”
“Well we’re not going to try blowing a path through it if that’s what you’re thinking. The governor wants us to try a controlled burn. The tanks have been equipped with flame-throwers.”
“What about the fumes? These plants are extremely toxic, burn them and a cloud of smoke could endanger thousands of people.”
“I agree. We did some tests, as I’m sure you did. The leaves have over sixty toxic substances. The vines and blossoms contain another dozen or so. The wind this time of day usually blows to the east, everything east of here has already been overgrown the people are either evacuated, dead or missing We have three fire trucks on standby in case the fire gets out of control and we have enough gas masks for all of us. Of course, we were hoping you and your lab would be able to come up with some type of herbicide or genetic answer to killing this stuff off. I assume you have not.”
“No, we’ve only had a few days and . . .”
“No need for excuses Doctor, I realize it could take months to engineer something powerful enough to fight this botanical infestation. How these plants were created I don’t know, but I’m beginning to suspect terrorism but it’s irrelevant now, we don’t have months, weeks or even days. Something has to be done now, today. Yesterday we tried spraying an acre of it with five hundred gallons of Agent Orange. It’s nasty stuff, believe me, I saw what it could do in Vietnam, but it didn’t even phase these plants, we might as well have sprayed it with Miracle Grow.”
Another officer came over and informed the Major that they were ready to begin the operation. Kim and Calvin were asked to stay where they were. The Major picked up a radio, gave the order and all six tanks simultaneously sprayed hundred foot arches of flames at the towering wall of green before them. The flaming liquid adhered to the leaves and caused them to burst into flames but the vines and trunks of the creepers seemed to have a natural flame retardant. They appeared singed and blackened but they did not burn. The blossoms wilted and dropped off like dead leaves but the vines though seared looked undamaged. A toxic cloud of smoke formed above the flames. It was from the leaves, pollen and blossoms, the only things that seemed to be burning. After several minutes of continuous flame throwing, the Major ordered the tanks to cease-fire.
Everyone stood back as the wall of fire quickly died down, then the sky opened up and a steady rain put a merciful end to a mission doomed to failure.
The Major walked back to where Calvin and Vanessa stood shaking his head and cursing. “Well Doctor, looks like the ball is back in your court. Would you mind taking some samples of the branches we tried to burn and let me know what you find? We need to find a weakness that can be exploited. There has got to be something that will kill this stuff.”
Vanessa forced a smile. “I’ll see what I can do.” She got her pack out of Calvin’s truck and the two of them approached the still growing thicket.
Calvin had brought a pair of bolt cutters in case he had to cut through anything thicker than a man’s finger.
Vanessa pulled on a pair of thick work gloves and selected a singed but still living vine. Calvin clipped it off with the bolt cutters. She coiled it up like a length of barbed wire and sealed it inside a Tupperware box.