Earth Man by Richard Paul Evans Read Free Book Online

hospital that is somehow connected. There are TWO things here, Danny! Something in the woods and another thing here, in the hospital. With you in the middle.”
    Danny knew what Phil was talking about but he was sceptical. Yet in the hospital hadn’t that voice from the woods talked to him, told him to reach out to the crawling things around him and show him how to heal? Had something been trying to protect him from the mutated monster?
    “ Angels in the forest, devils in the city. Men, women, life, death. It’s a two-sided coin.” Phil was so happy with his sudden brainstorm he finished off his beer and threw the bottle. The bottle smashed on the rocks on the side of the road.
    “ Whoops.” Phil said.
    “ What if you’re wrong?” Danny asked, looking down at the ground.
    “ What if it IS two different things and they are both demons?”
    Phil took out two beers, twisted the caps off both and handed one to Danny.
    “ Well if that’s the case, we’re all fucked.”
    Phil was laughing and Danny tried his best to see the lighter side of the moment. The best he could do was to give Phil a weakly reassuring smile.
    They finished their beers and spent a few more hours talking, trying their best to come up with a plan of action. Danny did not tell Phil everything and they made little progress, other than getting a bit drunk. There had been something between him, the voices and the insects in the room. Something in him had connected him to the spider. When they bonded, he was aware of its entire being and the energy within him latched onto it somehow. With the alcohol in his system he felt stranger than ever, the whole world seemed to be increasing in intensity and he could not seem to block it out. He could feel a tiny power inside him, growing bigger with each hour that passed.
    Danny ’s body had duplicated the abilities of the insects in the hospital morgue; his speed and strength had been increased for the brief time he was in danger. Without that ability he’d certainly have died. Even as he sat and talked with his friend he could feel a weird pull at the corners of his mind. There were things out in the world he was suddenly aware of, that his strange new power seemed to react to. He could sense a caterpillar tasting the sap of a nearby maple tree. A stray cat sniffed around a dumpster, wondering if the scent of the home it was born in could ever be found again. Accepting that reality was changing was one thing, accepting the core of his being was changing was far too much for him to handle. Sharing that would be like stepping away from his humanity, he felt as if verbalizing it would give it form and substance, but if he remained quiet perhaps it would all fade away. Danny was afraid of what was now inside him. If he told Phil and Phil saw it in him, saw that he had changed too, how could he trust Danny anymore?
    The guy in the hospital basement, his name had been Norbert. Danny felt terrible for the man and wondered if anyone in the world would ever look for him. Within a minute Norbert had turned into an alien ant creature, snapping and hissing at him. It happened so fast the man couldn’t have even known what was going on. If whatever was in that man was in him, then he was a danger to everyone around him. It seemed so farfetched, so impossible, that he couldn’t talk about it. It was too horrible to contemplate so Danny kept to himself.
    Phil tried to come up with some sort of plan but all he was really looking for was a way to cope with what he’d experienced. Danny simply nodded and agreed with his ideas until Phil sobered up and drove him home. Phil had given up trying to get any more out of his frind, in the end they’d decided to let Danny handle it. If anything happened he promised he’d let Phil know, but Danny wasn’t sure that there was much Phil could do.
                  When Danny walked in the house Morgan had just gotten out of the bath and she ran to him with soaking wet