The New World: Crimson Winter

by Andy Skrzynski

  Andralec’s fear level spiked to a new record. Oh no! It must have gotten to his Halo Pack Why didn’t he listen to me?

  Activating her boosters again, she dove and watched her powerless brother tumble toward the ground. I can’t let him hit the rocks!

  She swooshed toward him. “I’m coming!”

  The Clearing of the Battlefield

  After killing several more aliens and finding no more targets for her reapers, Hoot pivoted and searched for her robot friends. She gasped. Andralec trailed her brother as both streaked toward the ground.

  She raced toward them. “Somebody, save them!”

  Hound Dog’s voice pierced her ears. “Hoot, watch out! A pack of snatchers is headed for you! Tiger! Help her!”

  Icy adrenalin shot through her veins as she fumbled in her quiver and grabbed two reapers. She drew back the string and locked her aim on the closest target. After releasing the shaft, she immediately reached for more as green lasers showered the attackers from above and to her sides.

  Most of the aliens tumbled and collapsed, but two continued to charge. Hound Dog yelled. “Tiger, take the left one; I’ll take the right!”

  Quickly nocking her reapers, Hoot tried to steady her aim. As she drew on the string, her eagle screeched and swooped one of the monsters. The unearthly beast swiped its paw, and her pet blared a horrific cry.

  Hoot screamed. “Slasher!” Spinning and falling to the ground, the injured bird tried to flap its wings but whimpered in pain.

  Her nightmare had come true. Don’t let Slasher die!

  The snatchers closed rapidly and leapt high in the air. Terrified, she held her breath and ducked.

  Frozen in a crouched position, she shut her eyes and awaited her fate. Was she and her pet about to die?

  The familiar pops and sizzles of lasers scorching flesh broke the momentary silence. A searing pain shot across her back as a powerful force flattened her.

  Hound Dog’s frightened yell filled her headband. “Hoot! Are you alright?”

  Skeeter’s screams followed. “Sis, are you alive?”

  She slowly pushed herself off the cold soil and opened her eyes. Slasher flopped around and continued to whimper.

  Willing herself to her feet, she stepped over the carcasses of two snatchers and hurried to her eagle. A broken and crumpled bone of its left wing protruded through her pet’s bloody feathers.

  Hoot fumed as she stroked her eagle’s crown. “You’ll be alright, Big Boy. Don’t you worry.”

  Hound Dog rushed to her side. “Are you okay?”

  Tears flooded her eyes. “No! I’m not! Stay here and watch Slasher.”

  She pulled away and marched toward the mountain, looking for her robot friends. Off in the distance, Andralec stood over her motionless brother, sprawled on the ground near a cluster of trees and a mangled snatcher. They must have killed Havoc.

  With pain swelling in her heart, tears spilled over her cheeks while she stared at the never-ending onslaught of aliens. Anger last felt when her older brother died raged within her soul as she yelled at the top of her lungs. “No more!”

  Hoot gathered her strength and stood firm with her legs spread shoulder-width. While she lifted her arms skyward, her head and entire body began to vibrate.

  She slowly turned toward the largest wave of aliens charging toward Andralec. Widening her eyes, she let go. Suddenly, hundreds of the vicious monsters crumpled and writhed in anguish.

  A moment later, the force of her sonic wave obliterated their bodies into tiny specks of copper that floated to the ground. As strong winds whipped Hoot’s hair, she turned toward another huge horde of the fiendish invaders. Again, she unleashed her translucent force and blasted them to Hell.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  Water’s Gift

  The Pflugerville Office

  Stunned, Salty sat at the edge of his chair while watching the young woman annihilate horde after horde of aliens with her invisible blast. Though his battledrone had effectively bombarded the invaders with paired lasers and missiles filled with nitric acid, nothing came close to the success of Hoot’s extensive devastation.

  When thousands of unearthly beasts fled to escape the young woman’s wrath, an increasing number of moletrans lit up the area. Struck by the sheer magnitude of one person’s power, his eyes remained frozen to the screen. Where does she get such strength?

  Bertha’s excited voice raced from the speakers. “Sir, it appears as though the moletrans are picking up all of the snatchers in the area. There have been over ten thousand moletran instances in the past five minutes. China’s reporting a similar event in their region. The aliens are leaving!”

  She went silent for a moment, then screamed in jubilation. “Sir, we’ve got it! I’ve downloaded the coordinates.”

  Salty yelled. “Speedy, did you hear that? Go ahead and deliver that package, now!”

  Two agonizing tics passed before he replied. “It’s on its way. Look at the moon!”

  Scowling at the view of the glowing orb on his screen, Salty smirked under his breath. “Hope y’all like our little present. Consider it a taste of our Texas hospitality.”

  The Battlefield

  Exhausted, Hoot fell to her knees. She quickly scanned the mountains but couldn’t find any live snatchers. Where did they go?

  Her deceased brother’s voice soothed her. Calm down, Hoot. You’re gonna be okay.

  She broke down and cried. “Fox, where are you? I miss you so much.”

  Hound Dog’s voice crashed her concentration. “Hoot, are you okay?”

  As he gingerly helped her rise, grave concern knifed her heart. “Where’s Slasher? Is he okay?” She struggled for a breath of air.

  Her friend draped his arm around her waist. “Don’t worry. Proto’s taking him to Aluki to see if she can fix him up and set that broken wing. Come on, something’s about to happen.”

  Hound Dog quickly guided her to a clearing. “We’re supposed to look at the moon. There it is!”

  He pointed at the faint glow through the break in the clouds. As she stood next to her man with their eyes glued to the sky, thousands of colorful moletrans continued to flash all around them.

  After a few labored seconds, an enormous ball of flames exploded in a blinding flash near the moon’s outer rim. Within that instant, all of the bluish-white columns vaporized. The snatchers they were transporting plummeted through the air.

  Thoruk yelled. “Everybody, take cover.” For what seemed like several minutes, hordes of screeching aliens splat the ground all around them.

  When the last had met its demise, Ukes and Skalags gingerly emerged and converged around Hoot. As they cheered and thanked her, she spotted Andralec approaching with Havoc in her arms.

  She ducked the crowd and raced toward the androids. As she neared, she hollered. “Is he dead?”

  Tears trickled down Andralec’s face. “No, the trees broke his fall, but he incurred significant damage. I inserted his spare Halo Pack, but he’s still not right.” Havoc’s right eye twitched as he forced an awkward smile and wiggled his fingers as if to wave.

  Holding back the sudden urge to chuckle and cry, Hoot extended her arms. “Let me help you.”

  “That won’t be necessary. He’s broken but not too heavy for me.”

  A large contingent of Ukes and Skalags surrounded the three of them. As the air brimmed with excitement and the clamor of many people sharing experiences, Caru and Zo stood silent and stared at each other for a long time.

  Every kind of drone imaginable zoomed high in a celebration of loops, spins, and dives while firing their lasers in a fantastic display of colors. The crowd broke out in a chorus of oohs and aahs. Several minutes later, Bertha and the other aircraft slowly descended and hovered overhead.

  Salty’s voice penetrated the noise. “We did it! That was the alien ship. The invaders are dead!”

  While most of the people cheered, Hound Dog hugged Hoot. She cringed in pain. “Ouch! That hurts!”<
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  “What’s wrong?”

  “Not sure. Feels like a cut or something on my back.”

  “Let me look.” Hound Dog stepped behind her.

  When he examined the area, she felt a sharp prick and a tug. “Aah, what are you doing?”

  “There, I got it! Lucky you were wearing your new gift.”

  “What do you mean.?”

  “Look what I found stuck in your coat.” He extended his hand.

  In his palm rested a long, curved claw, stained with blood. “If it wasn’t for that titanium mesh, that snatcher would have sliced you up pretty bad.”

  “You’re probably right, but fortunately I’m still alive, and they’re dead.”

  As she examined her newfound source of war stories, Tradulka hollered. “So, what in the world was that mystery HNO3 stuff.”

  Tiger’s voice shot from one of the drones. “Nitric acid. When your tainted arrows or the missile’s shrapnel struck any of the alien’s arteries or veins, the mixture of HNO3 with their copper fluid instantly set off an aggressive chemical reaction. The resulting brown gas flooded their circulatory systems with more bubbles than it could handle. The pressure on the heart quickly increased until it burst, leaving one dead monster.”

  After several cheers began to die down, Storm yelled above the clamor. “So Salty, tell us about that explosion by the moon?”

  “We believe it was their spaceship, the one that controlled all those moletrans they used to transfer the aliens from place to place.”

  “If that’s the case, why didn’t you knock it out sooner, or did you just want to watch us squirm a little?”

  “We were waiting on the coordinates to its locations. Believe me, once we got them, Speedy immediately sent our little gift.”

  Thoruk queried. “How did you blow up the ship?”

  Speedy blurted. “Good ole H2O — lots of it. We should be thankful Spider grabbed that shiny alien communicator from the snatcher before she died, but we’ll save that story for later after everybody gets some rest.

  Thoruk boomed. “That’s a wonderful idea. Salty, why don’t you and your Texas contingent come to Ukkiville in a couple of days? I know y’all might be too exhausted down there after such a fierce battle, but we can finish this discussion and celebrate together.”

  The admiral laughed so hard he could barely stop. “We’d be thrilled to get away from our desks and breathe some fresh air. I’ll think of it as a refresher of what the world was like back in the 1800s. I might just leave my drone running outside your door so that the hum reminds me what year we’re really in.”

  After the ensuing laughter died down, Tiger spoke out. “You can count on us being there. We can share everything we’ve learned about the aliens before the celebration.”

  Their commander chuckled. “Yeah, I want to try some more of Queasy’s moonshine. It’s been far too long since I’ve had anything quite so good.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  Messing with a Hornet’s Nest

  The Pflugerville Office

  When the Ukes and Skalags began to disperse, Salty rose from his chair and stretched. His aching muscles relaxed as he sighed.

  He knew all too well how lucky he and his friends were to have escaped the aliens’ wrath. Despite all his soothing words, he also wondered if they had seen the last of the vicious invaders.

  Sitting down, he looked at the screens hanging from the wall. For the first time in days, everything appeared calm in China, but a dark emptiness filled the screen for his battledrone. “Bertha, where are you?”

  “Searching for stray aliens and muclones.”

  “Strange, your cam is blacked out.”

  Her sexy voice sounded more soothing than usual. “I thought you’d like a bit of peace after what you’ve been through.”

  “That’s nice of you. Is this your way of lulling me to sleep while you plot my demise?” A wry grin crept across his lips.

  She chuckled. “Not in the least. Besides, if I decided to do you in, I’d choose cremation. It’s easier to dispose of the evidence that way.”

  Her smiling image appeared on the screen and winked. “I’ve enjoyed getting to know you better. You’re not nearly as humanoxious as Speedy.”

  “That’s good to know. I want to thank you and your BAT friends for what y’all did for us. I’m not sure we would have survived without your assistance.”

  “Thank you. I’ll pass your appreciation along to all of the members. You are correct in your assessment. While there were times when your chances improved, in the end, the odds were insurmountable. If we hadn’t cracked their communications algorithm and found those coordinates, your continued existence was doubtful, to say the least, but who’s keeping track? Fortunately, we don’t have to deal with those aliens anytime soon.”

  “Let’s hope so. We gave them plenty to chew on.”

  Bertha remained silent for a moment, then responded. “Ah, yes, they have plenty to mull over, as many of you Texans are prone to say.”

  “Hey, your Texas lingo is improving. Maybe we could become buddies, like Skeeter and Andralec.”

  She laughed. “Don’t push your luck.”

  “I see you’ve changed your appearance. You’re quite the attractive AI. I like the short lime hair and yellow-striped outfit.”

  “Thank you for noticing. I thought the bright colors would fit best with the festive mood after slaughtering those pesky invaders. I’ve been getting fashion tips from Andralec.”

  “It’s perfect.” He lifted the cover to an attractive cedar box on his desk and retrieved a cigar. He extended his arm toward the camera. “Do you smoke?”

  “Now you’re getting silly. Is there any way I can be of assistance while you relax?”

  “Well, it would be nice to help our Ukkiville friends dispose of all those dead bodies.”

  “Say no more. For the next couple of days, I’ll control all available drones and search their surrounding areas. All aliens and muclones found, dead or alive, will be incinerated. We’ll save a couple of the bigger snatchers for further studies. No unwelcome creatures will survive our search, Sir.”

  “Excellent.” He paused for a second. “Given what you’ve surmised of our friends, what’s the probabilities of the Ukes and Skalags getting along in the coming months?”

  The Trail to Ukkiville

  Hoot clung to the alien’s bloody claw as she stood next to Hound Dog and scanned the area. Thousands of dead bodies smothered the ground between her and the upper slopes of the mountains. The devastation reminded her of the battlefield after her older brother died saving her life more than a decade ago.

  She closed her eyes and whispered to a faded image of Fox. “If not for you, I wouldn’t be standing here. I miss you so much.”

  A tear streamed down her cheek, and Hound Dog wiped it with his finger before it could fall to the earth. He peered into her eyes. “You gonna be okay? We’re about ready to head home.”

  After struggling to pull herself together, she hitched a ride on top of Terminator along with a few friends, old and new. While it was nice that Puppy Eyes volunteered to take her home in his ‘armored chariot,’ as he put it, worrying about Slasher consumed her.

  Her stomach churned. I hope he’s okay. He looked awfully bad.

  To her side, Andralec mentioned something about the aliens. What did she say?

  She looked at the robot. “Where do you think the snatchers came from?”

  “Difficult to say, but the odds overwhelmingly suggest another planet or moon somewhere else in the universe. I don’t think we’ll have to worry about them for some time to come.”

  “What do ya mean?”

  “Think about it. If you need fruit to keep from starving and there’s two apple trees nearby, one with a large hornet’s nest hanging from a lower branch, and the other without, which are you going to choose?”

  Caru’s eyes widened. “Ah, that makes sense. There’s easier prey on some other planets to choose from.�
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  Hoot sighed. “Sounds good to me. I hope we never see them again.”

  Zo quit looking at Caru for a moment. “What doesn’t make any sense is why didn’t the aliens fire back at us?”

  Mumbling gibberish, Havoc moved his fingers. His sister leaned over his head and reached around him. “This is for your own good.”

  She pulled his Halo Pack and turned back to look at the Skalag leader. “That’s an excellent question. My considerably intelligent assessment is that the primary mission was to harvest organs and spinal fluid. As such, their spacecraft was geared toward supporting that goal. It’s conceivable that they had few means of offense to support an attack.”

  A puzzled look spread across Thoruk’s face. “That doesn’t seem too smart.”

  “If you think about it for a moment, they may have been here for decades, maybe even centuries with no resistance. Why would they worry about humans or anything on Earth?”

  He shook his head. “Well, my less than considerable intelligence isn’t sold on that one.”

  Hoot scooted closer to the android. “After being around Andralec a lot, I’m inclined to trust her judgment.”

  The robot leaned back. “That’s a new one for you. Thank you.”

  Rolling his eyes, Thoruk smirked. “It’s unlikely we’ll ever know the truth.”

  He looked at Zo. “We would like for you and your people…,” he motioned toward the Skalags walking beside the Ukes behind Terminator, “…to consider staying with us around Ukkiville for the next few weeks — longer if you’d like. Volunteers, including all of us, have already prepared to share our homes with you and your clan.”

  The Skalag ruler seemed taken aback as his eyes shifted from one side to the other. “I don’t know what to say.”

  Shaking his head, he grabbed Vra’s hand. “We’ve hated each other for decades. Why would you invite us into your homes?”

  The Uke leader smiled. “Maybe, it’s a good time to stop hating and fighting.”

  Shocked and confused, Hoot stared at her leader. While the thought of helping their longtime enemy after such an ordeal sounded like it might be the right thing, the Skalags were still the ones who killed her brother and lots of villagers over so many years.