SODIUM Trilogy Part One

by Stephen Arseneault

  It glanced up at my position just as it approached, and I got the feeling that if it could have smiled at me, it would have. The thing was too fast, and the trap was going to fail. Without thinking, I spun around and heaved my bat directly at it as a last gesture of defiance.

  Chapter 16

  * * *

  The world went into slow motion as my bat turned end over end, heading right at the red demon. For an instant, my panic returned as the bat came in too low. But low was just what I had needed. The bat struck just in front of the demon and bounced perfectly up into its leg that was just about to touch the ground.

  The demon lost balance as the tip of one of its other legs skidded just up under a large root. Fast motion once again returned as the demon shuddered and fell hard-forward into the gully. The fast-rolling boulders quickly overtook the fallen machine and began a relentless bashing of its body.

  The spindly legs were the first to go, followed quickly by the half moon body and then followed quickly again by the inevitable green fog. This time I was uphill from the demon and had a prime viewing angle of its entire demise. I squatted as I watched the red devil melt away into nothingness. Once again that feeling of great pride overwhelmed me.

  When the fog had dissipated, I climbed down into the gully to retrieve my precious Hillerich & Bradsby S44 from further up the ravine. This time I was saddened, as the rush of boulders had taken a large chip out of the knob on the handle end of the bat.

  My thoughts then turned quickly to the others, as they were still in need of rescue. The mothership's attempt at freeing itself also needed to be stopped. I reached the summit of our camp and once again donned the binoculars.

  A smirk shone on my face as I saw the ship was still chipping away at its granite captor. I headed toward the mothership at my fastest pace with the intent of ending its attempted escape. I hoped to once again make mankind the dominant species on Woods Ridge, and on all of Earth itself.

  After my thousand-foot run, I arrived at the ship mostly out of breath. I slowed to a walk. If the ship could have seen me, it would have seen I had a determined look on my face, and a very ill will.

  The ship had continued its chipping and managed to have its second leg almost free. It was lying on its side with the flat top facing toward me. The one free leg was endlessly pecking away at the boulder that held it. The ship could not see me with its eyes, but it knew I was there.

  I had to stay at enough of a distance and at such an angle that it would have difficulty flinging rocks at me. It was still deadly, but without seeing me its aim would not have any accuracy.

  As I thought about how I might permanently disable the beast, I stood behind a tree. I picked up a small rock and tossed it at the demon ship. The rock hit the top with a metallic thud. Just as I had anticipated, the demon's arm came whipping over its top while flipping around a knife-like blade. But there was nothing there for it to cut.

  Next, it tried to grab a rock to throw, but its pincers were evidently damaged. The rock came loose, flying straight up into the air as it attempted its fling. That event gave me just the break I was looking for, as it showed I could approach it with near impunity.

  Short of me getting within three feet of the ship, it had no other defense against me. It was my time to shine and to put an end to its mission. I threw several more rocks at it as hard as I could. Other than making small dents, they didn't have enough velocity to do any real damage. I next picked up a stone the size of a bowling ball and ran toward it, heaving the stone at the flat top.

  The larger stone made a bigger dent and drew the arm back around to take a blind slice at me. I was well out of its reach, but I was still not doing enough damage, as it immediately went back to its chipping away. I pulled out Susi's .22 and emptied the rest of the clip into top. The result was five quarter-inch-sized holes that did nothing to slow its relentless attempt to free itself.

  Since the mothership was unable to defend itself by throwing rocks, I walked around and climbed up onto the boulder that it was desperately trying to release itself from. It tried to reach me with its blade, but I stayed just out of its range.

  I once again picked up a grapefruit-sized stone, and this time I heaved it at the point where the free leg attached to the body. The stone again made a small dent, but this time it had an added benefit. It reduced the range of motion the leg had available to it.

  Using my rocket of a throwing arm, I picked up and heaved another and then another large stone at the leg's mounting point. Each hit reduced its mobility a bit further.

  The ship was now having difficulty getting an effective swing at its captor boulder. I moved back around to face the top and tossed a small stone at it to retest the leg's range. It flipped the leg with the knife blade over the top, but this time it stopped short of coming around fully.

  I now had free range to swing away at the top of the mechanical invader without the danger of retaliation. I made several large dents as I swung away at the flat surface. I watched as the free leg spun up in my direction repeatedly, trying to get at me.

  On its third swing I had the timing down, and I took a swing of my own back at the leg. My trusty bat once again hit a home run as the tools at the end of the leg were mangled beyond usefulness. On my next swing I took out the mobility of the first joint, shortening the leg to only two sections.

  I stepped closer with the next swing, taking out the second joint. The ship then stopped flipping its stump of a leg around. I stepped up and brought the hammer down on the final joint, bending it over and making it unable to move more than an inch.

  As a last attempt at saving itself, the ship began to rock back and forth violently, using its trapped legs as leverage. I stepped around to the other side and brought my bat down hard on one of the remaining joints. A crunching sound could be heard as the second leg went silent, leaving the ship with only one last pinned leg having any movement.

  The mothership continued its attempt to rock, so I brought back the bat and hit what I thought would be the game winning run. I broke the final leg clean in two. The alien vessel then rolled upside down onto its top. It was now free from its captor, but it had no appendages with which to right itself.

  The eye ring then spun around until the eyes were facing me. As I stared into their evil red glow, the ship began to vibrate. I was certain at that moment I was about to get fogged. I turned and ran fifty feet away before looking back to watch. If need be, I would move even farther once the green fog began to disperse.

  The pride once again welled up in me, as the battle was finally over. I could now go and check on the others to see if they were OK. But I could not leave until I saw the mothership disintegrating. I stood and watched patiently for a fog that never came. I was tempted to go back for another swing, but I thought it might be trying to lure me in and fog me along with itself. I stood frozen in my indecision. The ship's vibration soon turned into a smooth hum.

  I was then in shock as the thirty-foot-diameter half-domed machine began to slowly lift off the ground. I had not thought at all about its ability to fly! As the ship reached a foot and then two feet, I ran at it with my bat raised, bringing down what I hoped would be a final blow directly to its eyes. I knocked out one, but the ship continued to lift slowly upward.

  At four feet I took another swing, this time only denting the outside edge. I began to panic as the ship was getting away and I had no way to stop it. I took another wild swing and then another, each time only denting the outer edge as it moved ever higher.

  As the ship lifted to eight and then nine feet, I could no longer reach it. The demon invader had kept one last ace up its sleeve and was now about to leave the game with at least a tie hand. It turned its last good eye down toward me as it continued slowly upwards. I let out a loud yell of rage at the beast and called for it to come back and fight.

  But this was a machine. It had no pride to overrule its programming. I dropped to my knees and watched in horror as the ship continued to slowly clim
b. The hum became more and more uniform with harmonics. I feared my prize was getting away.

  Just as I had given in to the fact that it was escaping, I was shaken by a multitude of gunshots coming from behind me. It was Bull, Allie, Kyle, and the poachers. They were emptying everything they had into the slowly rising craft. Susi, no longer in possession of her .22, stood behind and watched. The poachers each had rifles that packed a good punch, and my cohorts were all firing what ammunition they had remaining from their handguns.

  I was overjoyed to see my sister and my friends seemed to be OK and they were making one last attempt to bring the ship down. Hole after hole opened up in the mothership as the team moved ever closer with their deadly accurate fire.

  The demon ship then began to wobble. I looked up in excitement only to suddenly realized I was directly beneath it. As the wobbles grew, the others changed clips and continued their relentless barrage. Bull ran out of .45 slugs and turned to his Kodiak bow and his final two arrows. He pulled back the bow and fired the first arrow, but the ship's wobble made the arrow skim off the surface and into the air beyond. He pulled out his second arrow and walked up under the ship, now thirty feet in the air.

  He pulled back on the bow, aimed for directly under the remaining eye, and let loose his final arrow. The hum immediately stopped as the arrow entered the ship's hull and impacted something substantial. I reached out and grabbed Bull's arm, pulling him backward as the ship dropped straight down.

  It landed with a metallic thud and crunching sound on the rocks that had previously held it down. Bull and I had both fallen backward, just missing being crushed by the fallen alien craft.

  I then grabbed his arm once again and told him to get moving as the fog would be coming. When we reached forty feet away, the green mist began to spray into the air around the mothership. This time however, the cloud was much larger and was spreading faster than with the smaller demons.

  We continued to run, moving back to almost two hundred feet before reaching safety. We all watched as the alien craft quickly disintegrated in the green mist. A great sense of relief came over me as I looked around at the others as they watched.

  We had defeated the invaders. Our war was over. And although we might be bruised, tired, and hungry, we were all still alive. Our harrowing ordeal, at least for the time being... was over.

  Chapter 17

  * * *

  The seven of us sat quietly for twenty minutes, looking at the area where the alien craft had once been. The green fog had faded, leaving no trace of the once-thirty-foot-diameter ship. I was the first to stand and to walk toward the barren circle that remained. The vegetation around the edge was wilting from being in contact with whatever the green fog was.

  I looked back. Bull, Allie, and the two poachers were getting up to follow me. Kyle and Susi stayed behind and remained in a long embrace; it would be difficult for them to leave each other’s side for the remainder of their lives. I had a good feeling there would be no more arguments coming from either one.

  I walked up to where the ship had crashed down and looked around for any evidence it had ever landed. There was none. The ground was clean. Gone were the spindly legs that had been separated and gone were the bits and pieces I had pummeled with my bat. Other than the disheveled boulder from the dynamite explosion, all signs of existence of the mothership were gone.

  I turned to Bull and told him I thought we should search all of our battle areas for any evidence we could find. After all, it would be difficult to persuade anyone outside our group that we had encountered aliens at all, especially if we had nothing to show for it. The people around Roswell, New Mexico, had already experienced that.

  We scoured the area around the mothership, but came up empty. Every rock was flipped, every shrub checked under. Even the stacks of samples the alien machines had gathered were gone in the mist.

  Craig and Scott soon decided they just wanted to leave. Without evidence, they did not want to be associated with any alien-sighting claims. And they didn't want to be caught up in any poaching investigations. They had families to feed back at their homes. So they left when it became clear there was nothing left to be found.

  The rest of us made our way around to where they had destroyed the damaged demon and again scoured the area, looking for any remains. Other than a bare spot on the ground where it had spread its fog, there was no sign anything had been there.

  The small, triangular tracks the demons left were not something that would be lasting. It could also be argued they were man made and our whole story was nothing but a hoax. We needed something physical to show the world we were not just some glory hounds who were out looking for fame. The world had more than enough of those.

  As we walked, I told the others of how I had lured the red demon into its own trap and had triumphed over it with a lucky throw of my bat. I then told of how I had been watching as Kyle and Craig blew the large boulder over onto the mothership, pinning it underneath and knocking me backward. And finally, I told of my struggle to disable the mothership: how even though it was taking a lot longer than I wanted, it was such an adrenaline rush to be pounding on it with impunity.

  Bull was sporting a continuous half-grin as I relayed my encounters. He was proud of his friend and relieved everyone was safe. The others joined in their praise.

  I told of how much I was in disbelief when the mothership lifted off and moved to just out of range of my bat. I told them they were being gathered up and taken to the ship when I began signaling the red demon. They had later awakened one by one as the mist from the red demon had worn off.

  We again looked over the area around where the damaged demon had been defeated, and once again came up with nothing. With no evidence to gather, we made our way back toward our packs. Kyle then told us of his encounter with the bear and how he had slid down over the ledge to a spot just out of its reach. He said he knew something had come up and surprised the bear, but he had no idea of what it was. All he knew was the bear was losing badly and it was not because of us.

  When the bear carcass fell over the ledge and knocked him off, he thought it was all over. He had clung to the largest part of the bear as he fell down into Rancheria Creek. He could only imagine he had survived the drop because he landed in about five feet of water while still clinging to the dead beast.

  Landing on the carcass and in the water had been just enough to keep him from death, but it had given him a severe concussion. He had floated down into a shallower section of the creek and come to rest against a rock with his head out of the water.

  He remembered getting up and walking. He had moved back up the creek, but he had no idea how far he had gone or why he had gone in that direction. Craig had found him wandering around not really knowing where he was or where he had been.

  After we had let Craig and Scott go, they had a run-in with one of the demons, with Craig barely managing to escape. Scott had been captured. Craig had no idea of how to combat the demons on his own, so he was headed back toward help when he came across the wandering Kyle.

  Kyle said they had talked for several hours before deciding to come back after the others. Craig had a stick of dynamite in his pack he would use for fishing while they were out poaching. He said it was much easier than carrying a fishing pole and standing around waiting for them to bite. You would light the fuse, toss it into deep water, and wait for the fish to float to the top. He called it mountain-man fishing.

  Kyle and Craig had tracked the demon back to its camp, but had arrived a day after our last gunfight, so they had no idea we were even around. They reasoned we had probably gone back to get help from outside the park.

  They had hatched their dynamite plan while waiting in the trees after they had discovered the mothership. It was hoped the blast would lift the boulder up higher, allowing it to drop onto the alien craft, fully destroying it. The red demon had almost caught them in the open when they were trying to work their way around behind the ship.

  When it t
urned out to just be pinned, they decided to grab Scott and run. I had not seen the red demon continuing on past the mothership when I was headed back to our camp, so I had no idea they would be needing a warning. I was hoping we would all be able to leave or at least all make an assault on the mothership and the last demon together.

  I told them when I looked through the binoculars and saw the red demon had knocked them down, I somehow instantly knew what to do with my rope-swing plan. I told of how I had swung around and up onto the gully ledge just perfectly, even while clutching my bat with a broken hand.

  When we returned to camp we collected our things, and I took them over to the gully and once again told of my victory over the red demon. When I looked back on the week’s events later, I thought about how lucky we had been at so many different turns and about how the whole thing could have gone very badly for us from the beginning.

  After rising to my own heroic level, I no longer attributed any merit to the Minhafa story. I was convinced it was just dumb luck it had leaped to my defense when I had destroyed the first demon. It was more likely the demon was interrupting the lion's dinner plans than the mountain lion had come to my rescue. I finally reasoned since it had not shown up during any of the other battles, it was not watching over me; there was no animal spirit guide, only my imagination.

  After exploring the gully and finding nothing, we made our way back to the two previous battle sites to explore. We once again came up empty handed. The green fog strategy was thorough and left nothing behind.

  We sat at the last site along Cherry Creek as the sun was setting. We would have to camp out for one more night before making it back to civilization. The danger of an alien attack was over, of that we were certain. We would finally rest for the night in peace.

  We gathered wood to light a fire, and Bull managed several trout from the creek. After eating, Bull and Allie went for a short walk, as did Kyle and Susi. It was the first time they were able to have time to themselves since Kyle had gone missing, and I was no longer in fear of being alone.