Exodus

by Kevin McLaughlin

  “Shit, seriously? He’s the company commander for one of the Army units guarding the alien ship. They put him there after his ‘valiant’ killing of enemy soldiers during the first attack. I just figured the guy was a grade-A asshole. You don’t kill people who are surrendering. Hang on, I think I’ve got the file on him somewhere.” He pulled out a tablet from his pocket and tapped the screen a few times. “Easy enough, I’ve got the name of his superior here. Let’s see if I can reach him.” He motioned to me for the phone again and I handed it to him. I guess there wasn’t much call for the new iPhone when you had technology fifty years ahead of everything on Earth.

  “Colonel Richardson, this is Lt. Colonel David Jackson, how are you, sir?” He nodded a few times and made noises of assent. “We’re doing just fine here sir, Ka’thak is doing an excellent job of keeping things in line. Listen, I’m calling to ask after one of your men—a Captain Kyle Vincent? He and I had a short introduction after the first attack by the terrorist forces, but I haven’t seen him around since. I’d like to discuss the raid with him. We have some information that he may be interested in learning.” More nodding. “You aren’t sure where he is at the moment?”

  “What?” I said, a little too loudly. Jackson made a slashing motion across his throat, an indication for me to be quiet.

  “Yes sir, I understand sir. I appreciate your assistance very much. If there is any way I can be of service to you, please do not ever hesitate to reach out and ask.” He hung up the phone and handed it back to me.

  “The colonel says that Vincent is scheduled to be at his company command center. Luckily for us, it’s not too far.” Jackson looked at his commander. “I’d like to go have a chat with him, if I may.”

  “I’m going too.” The words were out of my mouth before I realized that I had said them.

  “Alex…” Jackson started.

  “What, you think that you’re going to get anything out of this goon? Didn’t you nearly shoot him the last time you two met?” I put my hands on my hips and looked pointedly at Jackson.

  “You’re not a combat specialist. If this guy is the real deal and he’s the one organizing this shit it could get very real, very fast. I love you, sister, but I can’t afford to have you trodding underfoot if I get myself stuck in a shit storm.”

  I scoffed. “Who shot the bad guy last time?” He was silent. “That’s what I thought you said. Look, you’re going to need somebody who speaks the language. You’re not going to get a single piece of information. Let me do what I do best and we can make the visit a productive one.”

  Jackson made a noise in his throat that sounded suspiciously close to a growl.

  “She has a point, David.” Ka’thak chimed in. “Regrettably, I will be unable to join you. I’ve been away from my people more than I should have been already. I must remain here, but I can spare a couple of guards.” He tapped a claw against a display and minutes later two hulking alien soldiers arrived. I grinned and inclined my head to each in turn. Danger be damned, it felt good to show up at the bad guy’s hideout with two huge bodyguards. They nodded at Jackson and dipped their heads low to Ka’thak.

  Jackson reached into a pocket on his armor and pulled out a handgun. He checked the chamber and then handed the gun to me. “My old sidearm from the Air Force. Ka’thak has let me keep it on me as something of a good-luck charm. It’s still in good shape. I keep it clean and operational.”

  I looked at the weapon dubiously and took it. After Turuk, I never wanted to fire a weapon ever again, but I wasn’t stupid. This was still a war after all, and war didn’t care about your comfort zone.

  We chose to take separate transports. The soldiers climbed into their single-person fighters and took off, flying a circling pattern above us. Jackson and I hopped into an alien light ship and followed suit. As we flew I watched Jackson. I could see that this was personal in some way for him but I wasn’t exactly sure.

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “No.” He kept his eyes ahead.

  “Is that an actual ‘no’ or a ‘fuck off Alex because I’m uncomfortable talking about it around my soldiers?’” I smiled as I saw the corners of his mouth twitch.

  “It is distinctly a ‘fuck off Alex’ because you wouldn’t understand.”

  “You’re right, I won’t. But I can try. Look, we have some time before we make it anywhere near Vincent. Chances are that the guy will see us coming a mile away and bolt before we even get the chance to interrupt him. If we do manage to find him, I need information. I can’t persuade him if I don’t have data.”

  He stayed silent for a full two minutes before replying. I could hear the guards in the rear of the ship sharpening their weapons and speaking softly to each other.

  “It’s a lot, Doc,” he sighed. “In the past half-year, I’ve gone from a guy just trying to do his job to a full-fledged leader in the military of an alien civilization. That by itself is fine, but the fact that my mission is now under threat—I’m tired. I’ve been on duty for more days than I can even remember. I’ve almost died horribly more than a couple of times. I’ve watched my brothers and sisters in arms be brutally murdered. And now Ka’thak’s sent us to go have a chat with the man who might very well be responsible for all of it.”

  I didn’t say anything. I found that sometimes it was better to be silent and let the person in front of me talk it through themselves.

  “I only spoke to the man for a few minutes Alex,” he continued. “We met because he threw a live grenade into a small room where I had enemy troops preparing to surrender. That grenade could have easily killed me or any of my men and this son of a bitch laughed it off like it was a joke. You don’t do that shit Alex. You don’t toss a grenade into a room full of people surrendering. You sure as hell don’t do it when you know there are friendly soldiers in the room with them.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. A brief expression of pain passed over his face and his knuckles whitened on the controls.

  “You didn’t do it,” he stated.

  “No, I didn’t, but I am still sorry. You’ve been out there risking your life while I’ve been sitting pretty in offices for most of my day. You’ve been asked to push the limits of your body and your mind. You’ve made more life changes in the last half-year than most human beings would be able to make in their entire lifetimes. It’s understandable that this is taking its toll.”

  More silence. I was about to change the subject when he spoke again.

  “…I’m scared, Alexandra. You know how we’ve just been plowing through—staying focused on the mission was keeping me sane. Now that’s been derailed. There aren’t any guarantees anymore. Hell, I don’t know if I’m going to be alive tomorrow. I know it’s part of the job, but—goddamn. It’s a lot.”

  I reached out and touched him on the shoulder. “We’re going to get through it, my friend. One more battle, one more enemy. Let’s go kick his ass.”

  20

  Alexandra

  We arrived at Vincent’s command post a little less than an hour later. Tensions between humans and aliens were running high. The aliens’ seemingly endless patience with our people was understandably running thin, and the humans posted near their ship were definitely getting the vibe. Everyone we passed looked nervous, anxiety showing in their eyes.

  When we approached the door to Vincent’s office, Jackson pulled his weapon from its holster and the guards did the same. They lined up, Jackson and one soldier on the right side of the door, the other guard on the left. Jackson knocked on the door and waited. When no answer came, he tried the doorknob and found that the door pushed open easily. He kicked the door open and the soldiers followed. I stood back as they swept the room systematically.

  “Clear!” Jackson shouted.

  I followed after them and flipped on the light. The office was destroyed. Papers were thrown everywhere and drawers from filing cabinets and the desk were ripped open. The desk chair lay several feet away as if someone had thrown it i
n their haste to get out. The computer was smashed in, the handle of a hammer left sticking out of the monitor. It looked like someone had grabbed as much as they could and bolted. I tried a locked drawer at Vincent’s desk and one of the alien soldiers pried it open with a claw. It was empty but there were clear discolorations to the wood as if a sheaf of papers had occupied the space for a long time. The alien soldiers looked at Jackson.

  “He knows we’re on to him,” Jackson announced. “He’s running.”

  Jackson turned and bolted down the hall. The guards accompanying us looked at each other and followed. I took a second to try and memorize as much of the scene as I could then sprinted after them. When I arrived outside I saw a large black SUV speeding toward the gates of the base. Jackson fired off a few shots at the car but it was already too late. The vehicle was too far away. We all turned as an MP drove up in his truck. Jackson ran in front of it and held up a hand. The truck screeched to a stop and the officer jumped out.

  “What the hell is going on?” he demanded.

  “Lt. Colonel David Jackson. Get out of the truck.”

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, species betrayer?” the MP snarled. Clearly, not everyone was trying to be friendly to us. On hearing the insult the alien soldiers’ heads snapped up and they returned the gesture. As they did the MP jumped a little and held up his hands.

  “Take it easy, take it easy. Fucking lizards,” the man muttered. The soldiers snapped their jaws at him and jerked their heads. The MP tossed the keys to Jackson and ran, presumably to report the theft of the vehicle to his superiors. Jackson and the soldiers climbed in the truck.

  “Are you coming?” he inquired, holding out a hand.

  “Not again,” I muttered to myself and got in the truck with them. The aliens arranged themselves against the cab of the truck and I saw their claws tighten around the edge of the truck’s windows. Jackson pounded the roof.

  “I swear to gods that if one of you vomits on me again there will be hell to pay for it!”

  I burst out laughing. Thankfully, the truck we were riding in still had a top on it so our chances of getting alien puke on us were relatively small. The SUV was almost too far away for us to see but Jackson’s keen eyes and the alien’s night vision kept us steered in the right direction. I squinted from the passenger seat and saw a dark shape emerge from the drivers’ side of the SUV.

  “Down!” I screamed. Shots rang out as someone aimed back with a pistol. The side mirror of the truck shattered and I heard one of the guards hiss in pain as a bullet seared across their side. They thumped the top of the cab twice and urged us to keep driving. Jackson pressed the gas pedal to the floor and I felt the rear wheels starting to slip as we veer off the road in pursuit. The vehicle shook so badly I thought I was going to lose a tooth.

  The SUV started weaving back and forth through thicker and thicker brush. I heard metal screech as the aliens dug their claws deeper to keep from being knocked off. One of them pulled out a pistol and shot into the dark ahead of us, making the tail lights of the SUV wiggle. Jackson was having a run-on mumbled conversation with himself—or was it into his radio? The answer came when the truck burst onto a major road, narrowly missing a larger convoy. I clapped my hands over my ears as the eighteen-wheelers blared their horns for us to get out of the way.

  Vincent’s car drove straight across the road and into a clearing. The guards unholstered their guns and let loose a volley of shots at the SUV as it executed a wide turn to the left. Our truck had far less of a turning radius and took longer to follow. By the time we had him in our sights, he was almost across the main road again. Jackson swore next to me and gunned the accelerator. We managed to find a small opening in the traffic and crossed the road again only to find that Vincent was pulling to the right, creating a wide arc back towards the traffic.

  For a moment I was confused—why was he repeating the same tactic? There were thick woods on either side of us—there was no need for him to keep crossing the highway. He could easily lose us in the forest. Then it hit me. In high school, I had toyed with the idea of becoming an anthropologist instead of a social worker. One day I was reading an article on the hunting habits of early man and found that there was archeological evidence of Cro-Magnon man copying wolf tactics when hunting dear and other large game.

  Vincent knew he could lose us in the forest but also knew we could follow on foot. His car would run out of gas eventually and he was no match for two alien soldiers in the middle of the night. There was no food or shelter out here for him. Vincent was trapped. Rather than try and lose us in the woods ahead, he—oh, shit.

  “STOP!” I shouted and Jackson slammed on the brakes. The truck skidded in the dirt, narrowly avoiding a rollover thanks to Jackson’s defensive driving skills. The soldiers on the cab barked their anger at the change in direction.

  “What is it?” He turned to me. His eyes were wide and his teeth bared. He looked like a wolf who had just lost its prey. Or an alien.

  “The town,” I panted. “David, he’s running. There is nowhere else.” Jackson stared at me, uncomprehending. “He has to get to the nearest town and disappear,” I repeated. “If we hurry, we can cut him off, but only if you get on the road.” We sat facing each other for what felt like an eternity before he blinked, nodded, and set the truck on a path to join the other traffic heading away from the ship’s construction site.

  We swerved into the road after him, ignoring the shouts and honks from the drivers. David took a hand off the wheel and pressed on a small disk near his temple that I hadn’t noticed before. He murmured a few words and the soldiers hanging onto the truck’s cab thumped the top of the roof twice. Ah, a radio. He then grabbed the standard-issue radio off of his belt and spoke into it.

  “All units, all units, be on the lookout for a black SUV, license plate Charlie Foxtrot Alpha, six nine zero. Possible officer in distress.”

  A chorus of acknowledgment answered.

  “You really think they’re going to hold him if they find him?” I asked, but David’s mind seemed to be elsewhere. He reached into a pocket and handed me a small tablet about the size of a smartphone.

  “In there is a directory. Would you mind pulling up Vincent’s personnel file?”

  “Sure.” I tapped through the directory until I saw the personnel file for Captain Kyle Vincent. Though I had not met the man, he looked the very definition of a psychopath in his personnel photo. “What do you need?”

  “His address.” David kept his eyes forward, jaw set.

  “It’s not too far from here, about seven miles down the road. Want me to give you directions?”

  He nodded and pressed on the disk at his temple again. “I need a flyby,” he said and read off the Captain’s address. I turned my head at the sound of two approaching alien fighters. They screamed past our truck and flew in a wide circle. The ships boomed as they accelerated away from the site of Vincent’s house.

  “It seems the Captain stopped home after all. His SUV is sitting a few hundred yards away from his house. There are lights on inside. Let’s go pay the man a visit, shall we?” Jackson said, a predatory smile lighting his face. I leaned out the window and turned towards the soldiers, giving them a nod and a thumbs up. They chirped and shouted their excitement.

  We were going on a hunt.

  21

  Jackson

  We pulled into the dirt and gravel driveway and indeed saw Vincent’s SUV pulled to the side of the path. It looked like it had been abandoned; the lights were still on and the driver's door hung open. As we approached the vehicle I sniffed and smelled that the car was still on, its engine rumbling faintly into the night air. My guards and I inspected the car first, ensuring that the man himself had vacated the area and that there were no further dangers.

  I opened the rest of the car doors and took stock of what lay before me. Two duffel bags sat in the back seat, one clearly packed ahead of time—it was zippered and neatly organized—and the other thrown
together. On opening the hastily stuffed bag I discovered many of the items that had been missing from the office. Papers were folded in halves or quarters and shoved into pockets. In the larger compartment of the bag, I found folders and flash drives.

  Alex hung back like she was waiting for instructions. A flash of frustration ran through me. If she didn’t know what her place was in this kind of mission, she shouldn’t be here.

  “Alex, would you mind staying with my friend here for a few minutes and taking a closer look at what’s in the car? If the Captain left in as much of a hurry as I think he did there is undoubtedly something valuable in here,” I said.

  She looked at me doubtfully but agreed. The alien soldier gave me an equally dubious look but nodded. I hated to lose one of my people, but it was necessary. I also felt confident that two of us could handle one man with limited firepower at his disposal.

  The other soldier and I approached the house, guns at the ready. Though I lacked the aliens’ physiology, I had picked up their habits and turned my head toward any sound in the forest louder than a mouse. Vincent’s house was a single-story ranch typical for the area. I nodded to myself. One floor, easier to search. No other buildings on the lot.

  When we reached the house I motioned for my comrade to wait behind me and I kicked in the door. I cleared the room and called the soldier in after me. The house was just as destroyed as the office. The kitchen cabinets were thrown open and dishes lay in pieces on the floor. The living room furniture was kicked aside and upon taking a closer look at the entryway I saw scuff marks. There had been a struggle here.

  I jerked my head up at the sound of my comrade sniffing loudly. He motioned for me to take the other side of a doorway into what looked like a home office. Inside I could see a desk with bookcases behind it. My companion entered the room first and shouted an all clear. That’s when I smelled it. Metal. I shut my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Not metal, but blood. Human blood.