SODIUM Trilogy Part One

by Stephen Arseneault

  I didn't want to take credit from the girls for their crossfire, but it was my one dead-on shot that had convinced the demon to turn and run. It was the one right thing I had done on the trip, and I wanted a little pat on my back for it, even if it was me doing the patting to myself.

  Up until that day I had been a curse on the outing: always getting injured, always with a negative attitude, always complaining. But I had blown a three-inch hole in an alien machine earlier that day, possibly saving us all with my one quick thought and move. I thought it perhaps time for me to emerge from the swamp of negative personality I had lived most of my life in. It was in fact, past that time.

  We kept just enough wood on the fire to keep it burning low. The light from it was good and the heat from it warm, but we did not want it to attract attention. The night was calm, as were the woods surrounding us... up until about 3 a.m. That was when our newest sighting began.

  Several owls could be heard hooting out warnings during the normal quiet. I took Allie by the arm and gestured in the direction the sounds had come from. She replied in a low voice that it could be our demon, or possibly just one of the predators that lurked about, hunting at night. Many of the animals in Yosemite were nocturnal.

  I kept a close lookout for signs of the demon in that area. For an hour there was nothing. But the demons were on the hunt that night, and it was us who were their prey. The red, demon eyes of an alien machine soon made themselves known as they peered through the woods. I scrambled to wake Bull and Susi.

  We stayed low behind the rock wall we had constructed, peering intently into the woods. The eyes just stared at us as if in a contest of wills. Then, just as suddenly as they had appeared, they were gone. We waited patiently for their return, but they did not reappear. So Bull made the decision to be the aggressor; we were going to walk the perimeter line of the woods.

  My reasoning mind was not happy with the idea of scouting for the demon, but for some reason I volunteered to go along. The girls stayed crouched behind the wall as Bull and I made our way across the clearing before us. I was apprehensive and constantly turned my gaze from side to side.

  When we reached the edge of the woods, Bull stood quietly staring into them for several minutes. The calm and quiet of the woods now somehow seemed sinister. I fully expected a rock to emerge from the darkness, striking me in the face at any moment. I began to shiver from the intensity of the situation and the cold night air.

  I was then startled by the sound of splashing water. Bull had thrown a rock into the lake to see if it would draw attention. It did not. I chastised him in a low voice, to which he replied that sometimes with a predator you needed a diversion; they would be wary of any other activity that was close by.

  We began a long, slow walk along the tree line, peering constantly into the darkness that lay beyond. Just as we reached the halfway point of our journey, Bull turned and placed his hand out. In the distance of the deep wood, we could see a single red eye moving to the left. The demon was moving around behind our camp.

  I pleaded with Bull to return to the security of our block wall, but he had another plan in mind. Suddenly, in a quiet sprint, he headed into the dark wood. He was intent on circling in behind the demon before it could do the same to us. I shook my head in disbelief as I quickly and quietly followed after.

  It was madness, chasing into the dark woods after an alien machine. Bull carried his .45 and I my trusty bat, but the alien had a nearly unlimited supply of anything that could be thrown. I was not looking forward to confronting it. We were at a disadvantage, fighting an enemy we did not know.

  For the better part of twenty minutes, we worked our way in and behind the slow moving machine. It continued to work its way toward the left side of the camp. Bull moved silently, like a lion in the tall grass, while I followed clumsily behind. It was not long before I stepped on a large branch, causing it to snap, almost sending out an echo through the dark wood from under my foot.

  The red eyes spun around in our direction. Bull and I stood still. For several minutes the demon peered toward us. I stood in plain view, holding my breath, only concealed by the darkness of the night. The demon took several steps toward me and then stopped. It continued to stare for several minutes, waiting for a foe to emerge. I stood frozen, frozen in fear, my breaths slow and steady, my bat held firmly by my side.

  After almost a minute of quiet, the demon again took several steps toward me. It then stopped and turned slightly away, peering into the darkness from where it had come. Bull waited patiently behind the cover of a large tree, his weapon by his side and at the ready. The standoff lasted several more minutes before the alien machine again continued on its previous path.

  I wondered if perhaps their vision in the darkness was no better than ours. It was difficult for me to conceive of an alien race that could travel the stars but who did not have the power to see in the dark. It was an ability I was ever so glad they did not have or for whatever reason could not use. I took in a long breath as the alien moved away.

  I stood motionless for several more seconds before being able to take my first step, terrified that at any moment I would again give away our position. Each foot probed the forest floor gently in front of me before bearing any weight. My confidence slowly began to return.

  We followed the alien machine for another half hour before it stopped and slowly turned toward the camp. It moved to a position just short of the tree line and began to probe around in the pine straw for items that could be thrown. Over the course of another half hour, it amassed a pile of several hundred projectiles. We watched quietly from the woods behind it. Again, the fear built up in me, as only thirty meters of wood stood between us and our nemesis.

  The demon began to quietly take the stones it had gathered and to gently toss them into the clearing that separated the woods from our campfire. I was unsure of its purpose until Bull whispered it was likely seeding the grounds in front of it before attempting another rock-throwing advance.

  I marveled at the intelligence the alien machine displayed. It was above and beyond my thinking, making me ever more thankful for the accompaniment of my friend. Bull had a way of figuring out people's plans before there was an impact. He would then plan for his own actions to counter whatever was coming his way. He was one of those people who always seemed a step ahead and always played to win.

  We watched quietly from behind as the demon rolled fist-sized stones out into the open grass. Every few seconds Allie would pop up her head to scan the clearing, each time from a different position behind the rock wall. Once the demon picked up its final stone, I clinched my bat tightly. The time for action was about to begin.

  When the alien machine took its first quiet step into the clearing, Bull decided to make his move. Without warning, he sprang forward, yelling at the top of his lungs. Shots rang out as he closed on his target from an angle where his misses would not continue on toward the girls.

  Several rocks flew in our direction as Bull continued to charge. The machine, caught off guard, then turned and sprinted further out into the clearing. Allie was ready with a barrage of her own. The demon, caught in the crossfire, made a hard left and headed back toward the tree line. The girls held their fire, as they were unsure of our location.

  The red eyes then turned in my direction as the beast moved into the treeline. Bull continued to fire whenever he thought he had a shot. The demon raced directly toward me.

  Terror filled my every thought. Was this it? Had my time finally come? Was I to be a victim of man's first encounter with aliens? The robotic menace bounded through the woods with an effortless rhythm. It was as though it was an experienced beast in its natural habitat. And I was its targeted prey.

  I was standing behind a tree with my bat held high as the red-eyed demon approached my position. My arms shook as I clenched the bat with every ounce of my strength. I gritted my teeth as it flashed into view.

  I brought the bat down hard and was rewarded with the feeling and
sound of a deep metallic crunch. The noise of the encounter echoed through the woods. For a moment the galloping alien machine faltered, almost missing a step. But it quickly regained its footing and continued its sprint into the darkness of the trees, disappearing as quickly as it had come. I stood, still shaking, with my bat at the ready should it decide to turn back my way.

  Bull followed in chase, running past my position with his .45 aimed in the alien's direction. He vanished into the blackness of the forest before two more shots were fired. I watched, listening, waiting for a sign my friend was still alive.

  Five minutes of fear and anxiety passed before he began to emerge from the darkness. He stopped beside me, placing his giant hand on the back of my neck before shaking me lightly and smiling. He then gestured back toward the camp.

  I let out a deep sigh and shook my head as I contemplated the encounter. We walked back into the clearing and toward the girls. I reasoned at that moment hunting aliens was not a job I had the skill to undertake or the nerve to handle. But Kyle was still out there. And I had every intention of finding him and setting things straight. I smiled as I glanced down at my trusty bat. My effort had instilled the tiniest bit of confidence in my unnerved psyche. That confidence was short lived, fading before we reentered the firelight.

  Chapter 11

  * * *

  Only minutes after Bull's rampage had begun, it was over. He had chased the demon from the vicinity of our camp and I had contributed. We collected the rocks from the open area, tossing them toward the lake, before returning to the comfort of the fire and settling in around its warmth. I continued to shiver from shock as we talked of what had just happened.

  My nerves were frayed and I was suddenly nauseous. I stood and stepped quickly into the clearing beyond our rock wall. I bent over and violently threw up what dinner I had left in my stomach from the evening meal.

  Even though terrified, I had acted bravely when the moment of need had arisen, but I was no warrior. The remains of the rabbit and fish spread out on the tall grass before me told of my true stature. I stood upright and slowly walked to the lake's edge to clean off my humiliation.

  When I returned to the campfire, Bull again placed his hand on my shoulder and then began to tell the girls of how I had taken my stand in the face of danger. I had stood firmly, in plain view, without giving away our position. I had then given the demon a pounding with my bat as it attempted to flee. I could tell he was genuinely proud of his little friend. It was an added boost of confidence I was desperately in need of.

  As Bull continued to tell the girls what had happened, he reasoned that perhaps his actions had been foolish, but he felt as though he could no longer sit idly by while we were being stalked. He thought the demons might leave us alone if they found us to be too aggressive. It was a gamble. We hoped beyond reason it would somehow pay off.

  When we had again settled down, I realized there were still several hours left in the night. We would remain vigilant, watching and waiting for our enemy to return. Our fears were soon realized when a set of the red, demon eyes again appeared deep in the woods. We watched intently as again the alien began its test of wills. This time, Allie had formulated a plan of her own.

  I was told to move over toward the left end of the clearing. I was given instruction to jump up and down and to make noise. I would be a distraction to the demon as Bull and Allie attempted to crawl through the tall grass to the tree line on the right. They would then slip quietly through the woods, coming up behind the alien beast as it continued to watch my strange behavior. With luck, they would open fire and put an end to the demon's existence.

  It was a bold plan and I was to be the bait. As I stood and walked out into the clearing, I again began to get the shakes. My nerves were unraveling, and the adrenaline coursing through my veins only added to my condition. When I reached my target spot, I laid my bat down in the moist night grass and then began to do jumping jacks.

  I could not fathom what mechanical thoughts were going through the alien's brain as it observed my bizarre behavior. I called out numbers as I completed each move. For several minutes I kept the alien's undivided attention as Bull and Allie slithered quietly away. When they had reached the tree line, I stopped and instead began to sing.

  The demon continued to stare in my direction as I gave my best rendition of Camptown Ladies. I was a horrid singer and had a sudden thought of the alien turning away in disgust, but it continued its stare. When my rendition had ended, I then picked up my bat and began to stretch as I belted out the national anthem. Strangely, I began to feel a sense of pride that brought a calm to my nerves.

  I lived in what I believed to be one of the greatest nations the world had ever known. We were a free people who believed in justice and liberty. We had our issues, but being pushed around on our own soil was not one of them. I then began to look directly at the alien machine as I recited the pledge and pointed my bat at it in a taunting manner. For a brief moment, I had the urge to begin a charge into the woods of my own.

  As I began to lean in the beast's direction, its eyes suddenly shifted to its left, to where I would have expected Bull and Allie to be. The red, demon eyes then turned back in my direction and suddenly began to grow in intensity; it was coming my way. I lifted my bat, screamed at the top of my lungs, and then began a charge of my own before three shots rang out from its left. The red eyes then quickly turned away and again disappeared into the darkness of the wood.

  Twenty minutes passed before Bull and Allie emerged from the tree line. The demon had gone. It had stopped briefly on a small rise, looking back as a silhouette for only a moment before turning and continuing away. Bull and Allie had followed just long enough to convince themselves it had indeed gone.

  We did not sleep for the remainder of the night, as we each spent the final hours staring out into the darkness of the woods. The red eyes remained unseen, and as the first light began to break, I felt a genuine sense of relief. Our night of terror had finally come to an end.

  As the predawn light began to glow, I once again picked up Bull's fly rod and headed over to the lake for an attempt at some breakfast. We would need it. The clouds from the day before were now completely gone, and the stars were once again shining in the dimly lit sky.

  We told Bull and Susi to return to their sleeping bags, where they could sleep in for an extra hour before the sun would begin to show. It was an attempt to return the favor Bull had given me earlier. I wasn't sure if it would do any good.

  The hour gave me enough time to reel in a few extra fish, giving us a hearty meal for breakfast. After I gutted and cooked the catch myself, the others joined me around the campfire. When the fish had been consumed, we began packing up for our next leg of the hunt for Kyle.

  Before leaving, we took a few minutes to talk about what we might do when we next encountered the demons. That's when I sprang my ideas on the others. We could set up different traps as we got closer to where we thought they might be. We would then attempt to lure them into the traps, giving us an advantage in our fight.

  In my growing confidence and boldness, I offered to be bait for at least one of the trap ideas. Bull looked at me curiously and asked where this new guy had come from. I didn't know what to say, so I just gave him a shrug. My compulsive behavior was turning away from fear and toward the cockiness I sometimes showed. In my younger days, it was a trait that usually appeared just before I got myself into trouble. It was a lesson I could never seem to learn.

  We slipped on our packs and started back down to Frog Creek toward the east end of Lake Eleanor. We would follow the lake around to Eleanor Creek and then Eleanor Creek to Cherry Creek. We would then continue up Cherry Creek and cut over to Woods Ridge to the southwest of Cherry Lake. We thought that would take us right to the area where I had seen the meteor fall several nights before. It was also the direction the alien tracks had consistently taken.

  Frog Creek brought with it a half-mile stretch of steep canyon walls on either
side. The canyon could only be accessed from one end or the other, so we were confident there would be no sneak attacks along the way. As we hiked the rough terrain along the creek, I ran idea after idea through my head. I daydreamed of how we might make use of the particular area we were in. I looked for loose boulders that could be rolled downhill or logs and trees that we might be able to somehow turn into snares.

  The further along we walked, the further into this deadly game of war I fell. I pictured myself as the triumphant hero, standing on top of one of the demon machines I had just pummeled with my bat. The press would be all around me, snapping pictures, and the ladies in the crowd would all be fawning and giving me flirtatious smiles.

  I then asked Susi about her camera and was reminded she had used all her film on our group pictures from much earlier. She had the business publicity photos Bull and Allie would need, so she had used the last roll on images of general scenery. There would be no pictures of an alien scout to show to the world.

  As I trudged along at the back of the pack, I was so into my little head game that I didn't notice the visitor coming up behind us. It was a grizzly, and it weighed in at six hundred fifty pounds. Bull just happened to glance back in my direction in time to see it coming up from behind.

  As I continued to walk along, all into my little daydream, I looked up and saw Bull aiming his bow at me with an arrow at the ready. I stopped for a moment, and then turned to look behind me. The grizzly stopped while still fifteen feet away before standing and letting out a fierce roar. The bear stood seven feet tall and had jaws that would easily fit around my head.

  In a panic, I tripped over a root while looking back at the bear. I fell back on my pack, fumbling to keep a grip on my bat. By the time I had regained what little composure I had, both Allie and Susi had moved to a position behind me with their weapons drawn. A 9 mm and a .22 were no match for the grizzly, but Bull's Kodiak bow was made specifically for that purpose.