Earthly Invasion

== Chapter I - Unleashed Nightmare ==
My family and I were always extremely cautious when it came to diseases and parasites; bad luck seemed to follow us in that aspect, and parasites caused us great disgust, not to mention repulsion.
It's ironic, considering all of us pursued careers in Medicine and Biology, fields we found fascinating despite their macabre nature; exploring the insides of bodies, studying and researching diseases, and even, on occasion, conducting analyses within them, were unforgettable experiences.
I remember how my parents were extremely overprotective in this regard; for them, an illness was the apocalypse, and they felt they hadn't cared for me enough. Fortunately, I never had any problems with my own body, although the rest of the world was not so lucky.
Seven years ago, we were enjoying a family picnic inside… our house? yeah, a REAL picnic, something we hadn't done in a while. I remember my mother stumbled over the sandwiches, and as a precaution, we decided to discard them.
Our family had a complicated relationship with bacteria and viruses, especially my parents. I wasn't as scrupulous, and that day, even after cutting myself, I continued without disinfecting the wound, contrary to what I had been taught. Later, it almost became infected, proving that perhaps my parents were right.
In the news, there was talk of a new space mission to Mars after the discovery of alleged organic matter and signs of water on the planet. People on television expressed their fear and called for extreme precautions in the analysis of organisms. My parents strongly shared this opinion.
While my parents debated the issue, arguing that an analysis on a first mission could be dangerous, I was in my room playing with my dog. However, I noticed something strange outside the window: a worm. There was a fallen apple from a tree, and the worm had crawled into it through a hole.
Suddenly, multiple tiny limbs emerged from the apple, as if it were a mutation, and it quickly moved toward what seemed to be a colony of worms. It was quite a repugnant scene, but I continued playing with my dog.
I stayed a while longer until I got bored and decided to take my pet for a walk, as he was ready to do his stuff. While walking with him, I couldn't stop thinking about the strange scene with the worm and the apple, how it seemed to have carried the apple to its colony, as if it were a pizza delivery.
That scene stayed in my mind for a while, and at one point, I got so distracted that I didn't even notice the streets as I walked, which almost resulted in a traffic accident. I didn't know of any worms that behaved that way, and there were no records of such a thing in my mother's animal books. It was strange.
When I got back home, I searched for the worm colony to study their behavior, thinking it would be a good topic for my upcoming school presentation, which was only a few days away. When I found the colony, I spent a long time observing it, even until midnight. Somehow, these worms showed behavior similar to ants; they were highly organized, with specific units dedicated to bringing food while others expanded the “territory”.
I focused particularly on the worms carrying food; one of them had a bird, and I was amazed by the strength they showed despite being so small. However, this focus worked against me, as these worms seemed to be quite aggressive and carnivorous. I looked down for a moment, feeling a sting in my leg, and there they were: worms trying to pierce my skin. I quickly brushed them off and ran home, screaming the entire way.
These creatures not only had strange behavior but also hunted for their food. What concerned me the most was the wound on my leg, deep and made in such a quick and clean way that I was surprised I didn't faint from the pain. I called my parents, who were shocked to see the wound and asked me how I had gotten it.
It was then that I told them about the worms behind the house. My mother was puzzled because there had been no signs of worms there, not after their recent cleanings, which had occurred only a few days earlier. I took them directly to the colony, where my mother let out a scream that almost woke up the whole neighborhood.
My father didn't hesitate to bring a small flamethrower he had stored, and without thinking, he incinerated the entire worm colony. At that moment, I could only watch as my parents exterminated them, and I felt relieved.
Some time passed while my mother documented these events in her insect book. She was surprised for the same reason I was; those kinds of worms should not have been there. She also noticed a variation in their colors, something not seen in common worms.
Despite the revolting situation, my parents decided that this was a worthy subject for study. So we found one of the few remaining worms in the surrounding areas after the incineration, and they took care of analyzing it in their laboratory.
Meanwhile, I went to the living room to turn on the television and realized that all the channels were warning about a new worm plague spreading across the planet. So far, its danger was unknown, but constant analysis was being conducted.
Citizens were urged to stay in their homes and maintain a rigorous cleaning schedule, at least once a day, to prevent the worms from finding suitable survival conditions. These worms showed a strong attraction to warm and spacious environments. A global yellow alert was declared, the third lowest on a scale that ranged from green to black, where green was the lowest and black was the highest.
The world was bewildered by this news and the recent events. There had been no plague like this since the Second Black Plague, which had occurred centuries ago, and people had a bad feeling about the development of these events.
And their fears were not unfounded. The worms soon adapted to humid environments, making cleaning ineffective. At that point, the alert level changed from yellow to red. An unusual parasite was discovered that was not native to Earth but had been found years ago in the UCRP-2082 meteorite. However, it had never been thoroughly studied due to the risk of approaching it.
This parasite entered the body through the worm, which pierced the skin with what appeared to be spiral teeth, creating an opening through which the parasite entered its future host. These worms seemed to have surprisingly developed intelligence, allowing them to establish cooperative connections so the worm wouldn't die and the parasite could change hosts.
This information was exclusively revealed to the Russian population by the government days after the appearance of the worms. They justified this exclusivity as "prevention of civilian life" or PVF. Eventually, the information leaked to the rest of the world through a hack into the Russian systems.
After this leak, the world turned upside down; a new threat had emerged after so much calm, and it was alarming.
The specimen's mutation allowed for further study, which concluded that the only way to prevent them from entering homes was through salt.
This simple but effective measure convinced people, and they took it rather well, following every government instruction to the letter, although there were still those who didn't believe in all of this and disregarded the rules, they all died, but it was never known how..
The World Health Organization declared a state of maximum alert; a black-level threat loomed over the planet, and it couldn't be allowed to evolve.
Studies accelerated further due to this new warning, and thanks to this, it was discovered that the parasite acted like cancer, killing cells, but unlike common cancer, it released internal spores that consumed dead cells and replaced the old ones with new ones based on cellular information.
These astonishing behaviors resulted in the rejuvenation of the person.
The theory began to circulate that the government was lying, and this was not a threat, but a salvation; it was about eternal life.
People started to take to the streets, in a complete state of ecstasy in which they seriously claimed that these worms had rejuvenated them, encouraging all other people to do the same, and so it was.
The streets worldwide were flooded with people seeking worm colonies to let them enter their bodies, the elderly, adults, and even young people wanted eternal life.
That's when a new study came to light; the worms rejuvenated, but then they started a feeding process based on new cells, contradicting the rejuvenation effect.
But that wasn't all; the parasite and the spores it released spread throughout the body to the nervous system, where they cut internal connections, causing unimaginable pain, which would kill people from its intensity, or so they believed.
The parasite ensured the person's survival by accelerating the heart rate so that the person would have a heart attack before feeling the pain, and after that, new electrical charges from the nervous system would be sent to the heart. Thus, when the person woke up, they would feel nothing, as they had died during the pain and were revived afterward.
All of this was part of a highly organized plan by both the parasite and the worm. The worm would consume the internal organs after laying its eggs, and the parasite would control the host in the process, after their death, it would return to the worm, and they would change hosts.
This new information frightened people so much that when people in contact with the worms heard it, they couldn't do nothing but scream when they learned in detail everything that would happen to them.
And so the symptoms began; when the parasite first entered, people lost 10 or 15 years of aging. When it fed, they aged another 10 years, and this effect repeated until the parasite was satisfied, generally within a week.
When the parasite had no appetite, that's when the horror began.
The parasite traveled throughout the body thanks to a tail similar to that of viruses and bacteria, with which it detached from the worm, and the worm settled in the nearest organ, where it would lay its eggs.
The parasite would reach the brain, where it would cut nerve connections, not without first killing the individual. Then, it would revive them, and the eggs would hatch, starting the worm's feeding process.
A new colony developed in the unfortunate person, and due to their voracious nature, the worms didn't take long to eat the host's organs.
It was a slow and painful process, always leaving the vital parts for last, in this way, they kept their food alive.
People who had gone out to the streets some time ago experienced pain for weeks. Reporters showed on television how they begged for their lives to end, saying it was unbearable.
Furthermore, they showed how the skin peeled off after a certain period of time, and fully developed worms came out of it. These had incredible speed and headed towards the nearest person. They all carried the parasite, and all of this happened while the person remained conscious.
The infected screamed in pain, and the reporters watched in horror as the whole process unfolded, often vomiting. It was in this repulsive distraction that the worms took advantage to enter through the mouths of the non-infected individuals, starting the digestion process once again.
My parents were still unaware of this news; they had been focused on their research all this time, and living in the countryside, the television didn't grab their attention.
We were in our own world while the real one was unraveling, so I decided to inform them about the situation.
They couldn't believe how quickly the situation had escalated and that the worms had developed in such a way. But they explained to me that the specimen in their lab was still primitive, and freezing it was the only way to prevent it from escaping, arguing that freezing might halt the evolutionary process.
They returned to their lab, and time passed as several resistance groups were formed in response to the growing threat. The National Union of Global Republics, or UNGR, and the Anti-Parasite Counter-Cycle, both aimed to save humanity collectively, each with a common goal: to exterminate this threat.
While the world was sinking into the abyss, my parents and I decided to join one of the resistance groups that emerged in response to the increasing threat. We knew that fighting was our only option, even if the odds of survival were slim.
I joined forces with other individuals, each with their own stories of loss. We took refuge in a remote area, surrounding ourselves with salt barricades to keep the worms and the parasite at bay. But fear still lingered within us, as we knew that the invasion was never far away.
Meanwhile, my parents continued their frantic research. Every day, they brought back horrifying new discoveries about the nature of this nightmare. They found that the parasite had the ability to communicate telepathically with other infected individuals, allowing them to coordinate attacks and strategies. Shared dreams became more common, and victims reported terrifying visions of unimaginable things.
The parasite continued to evolve, becoming more resilient and lethal with each step. It could no longer be stopped by salt; it found ways to survive in even those hostile conditions. Humanity was trapped in a desperate battle for survival as the invasion inexorably advanced.
Despite our knowledge of the nature of the threat, we couldn’t found an effective way to stop it. Our hope was slowly fading, but for the moment, giving up was not a smart take.
Experiments and research continued, and months had passed since the supposed origin of the parasite in a meteorite was discussed. Recent investigations confirmed this information, but there was more. According to old studies, these parasites were first found in the rings of Jupiter and infected the members of the trip to that place. The cause of their death was never known, but it might have something to do with all of this.
We informed the shelter's general staff, who provided us with multiple perspectives and opinions, leading us to a conclusion: the parasites are organisms from a distant galaxy, not native to ours, and it seems that they first collided with Jupiter but are now here.
This conclusion was based on the discovery of a rare element not listed in the periodic table: lunar dust.
According to the hypothesis, this meteorite was a piece detached from a moon in the Andromeda galaxy, carrying with it previously unseen organisms.
This would explain the difficulty in finding a way to stop these parasites, not necessarily a cure; simple steps are still being sought due to their complex composition. So far, an untested method is freezing, proposed by my parents to the laboratory members.
Something else we noticed at that time was that the Russian government was the first to receive all information about the parasite worldwide. In other words, they learned about it before other nations. It was strange but not surprising; perhaps the carriers of the parasite had escaped from a specific location in Russia.
This led us to another theory: there are more undiscovered carriers. This last piece of information shocked everyone in the shelter; a new carrier sounded like madness.
It was then that we remembered the events from the news: a human lost their skin, worms came out, and they changed hosts. We also thought about the coordinated and strategic attacks of the worms, and then we knew the answer.
The human was a carrier of the parasite, just like the worms. We still didn't know in what way, but it was an important discovery.
Considering that the asteroid made contact with humanity 30 years after the first trip to Jupiter, and that 30 years later, after the second trip to Jupiter, it reappeared on Earth, it gave us clues that maybe it's a test object, something to test humanity or exterminate it. Something like the plagues sent by God according to the Bible.
But in this case, it wouldn't be God, but something else. We analyzed the news about the trip to Mars and realized that it hadn't concluded yet, which made us suspect that the parasites were likely intentionally sent, with one failed attempt and one successful, and that it was repeating on Mars.
It was a trap.
Something else had set a trap for us.
We all fell silent after this conclusion.
Suddenly, the parasites entered the shelter through their hosts. Every one of them, every dead individual, shed their skin, releasing more and more worms that went straight for the uninfected people.
Many people died, but I remember one specific case: there was a mother with her two children, aged 2 and 6, and she was pregnant with another child about to be born.
She pleaded for help, but the worms had already done their work. That's when those things heard the woman’s voice, and a whole colony headed towards her.
I remember nothing more than the children screaming.
Category:Weird