Disclaimer: The Invaders, its universe and characters belong to their legal owners, who unfortunately aren't me. This is an unofficial fanfiction that is not officially endorsed in any way. It was written solely for enjoyment and I make no money with it.
David Vincent would never hurt a child. A human child, at least. When the young Mike is held back in the burning greenhouse, David doesn't hesitate before running to his rescue.
November episode of David Vincent's monthly death, alternate ending for The Spores.
Written for the Killing a character once a month of 2021 AO3 challenge, with the following prompt:
11. "Fire" - It seems to simple, but actually writing about a fire can be a struggle. I challenge you to do so. Make it classic, a fire in the old house. Or put your own spin on it, maybe a gun that shoots fire? Maybe it's work? Private?
This story is also available on AO3.
As the three boys ran from the shoot-out, Earl came to an abrupt stop.
Archie pulled him by the sleeve. "What're you doing? We can't stay here, it's dangerous!"
The three of them glanced back towards the men fighting by the greenhouse, just in time to see one of the strangers fall, obviously hit by a bullet, glow bright red and vanish.
Among the shocked gasps of his friends, Archie pulled Earl again, even more insistently. "Come on!"
But the other boy shook his head. "I've left Dad's keys in the hophouse, he's gonna kill me if I don't bring them back! We've got to go back!"
"Are you crazy? We can't go into the middle of a gunfight!"
Mike's gaze went between the two of them. On one hand, he had no desire to return to the greenhouse, what with the fighting men and the scary plants –whatever they were. On the other, Earl's misty eyes tugged at his heartstrings. Despite how Earl had treated him earlier, he was his friend.
"I'll go," he sighed; at once, Earl and Archie cleared off without further ado.
Mike shook his head and ran back, trying to avoid the shooters' attention. "Who's the chicken now?" he muttered as he sneaked into the greenhouse.
David Vincent would never hurt a child, but as he filled up the whisky bottle with gasoline, he didn't see the aliens spores growing in the greenhouse as children. They were a living weapon, literally bred to destroy and supplant humanity. When Ernie Goldhaver had wished for a bomb, David hadn't thought twice about it.
With the police sergeant's eyes trained on Tom Jessup and David's own attention turned to making the Molotov cocktail, neither of them noticed Mike get into the greenhouse. Intent on destroying the spores if he couldn't bring them as proof of the aliens' presence, David threw the incendiary device at the glass building, and within a second, flames engulfed it.
Alien spores weren't children in his eyes, but David would never hurt a human child. For a horrifying second, when Mike's yell of panic resounded among the crackling of the blaze and the shrieks of the spores, his breath caught in his throat. Then determination replaced guilt, and he sprung forward.
"Don't let Jessup escape!" he urged Ernie before darting to the side out of their enemy's view, then into the greenhouse.
The draught when David opened the door fanned the fire and singed his hair; raising an arm to his nose to filter out the smoke, he dove into the inferno. At first, Jessup didn't noticed him and continued firing at Ernie through the broken glass panel. Good, David could concentrate on finding Mike. He stepped forward, peering through the flames and the smoke to look for the now silent boy.
On the other side of the greenhouse, a girder buckled under the heat and in a screech of metal, fell onto a row of planted spores. The creatures didn't have time to scream before being silenced for good.
But David's only concern was for the human child. He walked around a combusting bench, barely sparing a disgusted glance to the spores soon to be consumed. The growing aliens, however, didn't know he was an enemy: sensing a person come closer, they redoubled their cries for help. Alarmed, David had to promptly crouch behind the table before Jessup turned around and tried to smother the flames with his jacket. And where was the kid?
To his relief, he soon got the answer as he saw Mike cowering under the next bench, eyes shut tightly and arms wrapped around his legs, Earl's keys clenched in his fist. Though the air was more breathable near the ground, burning shelves threatened to ignite the child's shelter.
David threw a stone at him to catch his attention, only getting a whimper in response; after the second attempt, Mike finally looked up, and his eyes widened with hope. Smiling encouragingly, David motioned for the boy to join him. Mike nodded and made his way on all fours –only to stop in front of Jessup's legs.
Before David could react, the alien pulled the child up and held him threateningly in his grip. David rose to his feet and glared. "Let him go."
"Carry the spores outside and tell Goldhaver to stop firing, and the kid lives," Jessup retorted.
David didn't immediately react, the shadows of the flames the only movement on their faces, before he slowly grabbed the nearest crate of planted spores. He didn't have a choice, he had to save the child.
But it didn't mean he'd give up. Jessup motioning with the gun towards the greenhouse door gave him an opening: David slammed the crate at his hand, forcing him to drop the weapon, then at his face. With a sob of relief, Mike wriggled out of his captor's grip and dashed out of the greenhouse.
David punched Jessup into burning shelves, and the alien screamed in pain as his clothes caught fire. But Jessup wouldn't give the humans a chance to capture spores as proof. In a last gesture for his people, he threw himself at David and squeezed him tightly.
For a brief second, David felt the heat of the dying alien surpass the fire around them. Then the two enemies, embraced in their final struggle, turn an incandescent red and immolated into a puff of smoke.
When the fire finally died out, Ernie couldn't find a single trace of David or Jessup's bodies. And for the first time in over a year, he automatically reached for his –sadly gone– bottle of whisky.
THE END
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Last update: 30th November 2021.