by Hatchett
A few miles further on, a sign indicated ‘Services’ and the opportunity to get a Starbucks coffee or some Marks and Spencer food. Mason was already aching from being cooped up in the car too long and decided he wanted to have some fun.
He pulled into the service area and drove towards the exit before stopping the car in the middle of the road and getting out with his colleagues. The Audi almost stopped in time but nudged the Jag before coming to a complete standstill before its occupants also got out.
An articulated truck just looking to pull out behind them hit its air horn, the big burly driver was clearly not impressed with the idiots in front of him blocking off the exit. Without thinking, he climbed down from his cab, ready to give them hell. When he looked up, he saw that there were seven of them, all around seven feet tall and built like brick shithouses so he jumped back into his cab, slammed the door and locked it quickly. It was the fastest he had moved in years and he was already out of breath.
The seven Laakuu looked around and noticed that other humans nearby had spotted them and were reacting much the same way as the lorry driver.
Mason nodded to his stormtroopers and they headed towards the buildings, pulling small metallic rods out of their pockets. The rods were the size of a ballpoint pen but once the small panel along their side was activated, they expanded to about a metre long and one end became a bright blue sphere.
The seven Laakuu strode forwards, brandishing their rods in the direction of humans, vehicles, bins and containers, and with each flick of the wrist, a blue flame arced from the rod to the chosen target causing it to explode. Human limbs and pieces of cars, vans and rubbish were thrown in all directions, raining down across the forecourt and beyond. The Laakuu had accessed a control panel on their sleeve to set up a personal forcefield to ensure that any debris heading in their direction was deflected a good couple of metres before it reached them.
‘’Gloves off!’ Mason thought to himself as he chased down one human with a couple of long strides and buried his three claws into the man’s head and picked him up like a bowling ball before throwing him into the side of the building. “Definitely more fun than the rods’, Mason thought as he put his away. ‘Time to get hands on.’ He ordered his team to dispense with the rods and to follow his lead.
The seven Laakuu entered the Mark’s and Spencer’s through the plated front windows, their personal forcefields blowing the glass inwards as soon as the two met. Humans were cowering in the aisles and behind the counters, but the heads up display inside the Laakuu helmets identified them wherever they happened to be hiding.
Mason took out what looked like a small disc from a pocket, the disc lighting up blue when it was held. Mason backhanded the disc like a frisbee and the disc zig-zagged down one of the aisles punching holes in the humans’ necks as it went, before returning and landing gently in Mason’s outstretched hand.
‘God, was this great or was this great?’ he thought to himself. ‘About fucking time we showed these insects who’s the greater species.’
“Where’s your fucking electricity now eh? You fucking scum.”
Mason watched as his stormtroopers dismembered a couple of humans, their bloodlust ramping up. They were moving forwards when one of the stormtroopers screamed and crashed to the floor, writhing in agony. The nearest Laakuu immediately stamped down and crushed the head of a human who had been holding a stun gun in his outstretched arm.
‘Have to remember that the force field won’t stop genetic material’, Mason thought as he looked to his downed colleague. The Laakuu was slowly getting back up, shaking his head as if to wake himself up. Mason walked across to him and looked down at the stun gun with interest. Electricity was still sparking between the two electrodes. Mason stood on the man’s arm, crushing it and causing the grip on the stun gun to relax. The sparks disappeared and Mason carefully lent forward to pick the object up. Avoiding the activation button, Mason prised the stun gun apart between his claws and looked at the internal mechanism. He noted and removed two 9-volt batteries then pressed the button to see if it still worked.
“Such a simple device,” Mason commented, “and this was what killed so many of us.” He dropped it to the floor and crushed it.
“Still fucking hurt,” the injured Laakuu noted.
“Better than being dead. Let’s finish this lot off.”
The Laakuu rampaged through the service area, killing anything that moved. Then they casually walked back towards their cars.
As they passed the lorry, Mason tapped on the side window. A bald head appeared before a forehead then a couple of eyes. The guy looked scared to death which pleased Mason no end.
“Get down!” he ordered, “otherwise I will have to cut your head off.”
The man quickly got down from the cab and couldn’t help himself but look around at all the carnage and destruction. He had been secretly filming some of the action with his phone and still couldn’t really believe what was happening.
“Turn on the video,” Mason ordered. The man did as he was told and pointed it towards Mason.
Mason took off his helmet, the video wobbling as the man jerked backwards in horror.
“Keep still, you worm!” Mason ordered before looking back at the camera lens.
“I am Mason. You have killed many of my brethren over the past few hours and now it’s our turn. You insignificant humans are no match for us and now you’re going to pay the price for your actions.” With that, he turned away and headed back to his car.
Before Mason had even started the car, the video had already been uploaded onto the internet and was about to go viral.
“Why did you let him live,” asked one of his stormtroopers.
“Something I learned from the history of human warfare,” Mason explained. “You leave one survivor to tell the story of the massacre.”
The two cars set off again and re-joined the empty Northbound carriageway of the A3; the pile up involving the Aston behind them had closed the road in both directions, the Southbound lane was full of stranded cars, with the people nearest the rest stop getting out to take more video of the devastation across the road.
Mason supposed that there were some positives about the internet and social media; whilst it helped the humans to communicate quickly, it also helped to spread fear and uncertainty even more quickly.
A few miles further along the road, the first of the news helicopters passed overhead, one of which switched direction and began following them, whilst the others continued on. The news helicopters were closely followed by what looked like military helicopters then a couple of Tornado GR4 jets streaked across the sky and past them as if they were all standing still. Mason continued up the A3 with one news helicopter in tow.
“Orb!” Mason commanded as he pushed the car faster and looked across at the news helicopter now flying level with him and just above the blocked Southbound lane, a guy hanging out of the side and filming everything.
The Laakuu in the passenger seat pulled an orb out of one of his many pockets, clicked a couple of panels until it lit up blue. The Laakuu then wound down the window, released the orb and watched as it shot across the gap between the speeding cars and the helicopter. The orb seamlessly entered the helicopter’s engine, transmission and fuel area situated behind the rear compartment and moments later reappeared and shot back to the car and the Laakuu’s outstretched palm before switching back to its original state.
The helicopter’s rotors slowed, and it began to lose what little height it had as smoke streamed from the two small holes made by the orb. People both in and out of their cars on the Southbound carriageway had witnessed what had happened and could see the smoke coming out of the rapidly descending helicopter. Many tried running for cover; others just stood still and awaited their fate. The helicopter smashed into a transit van at around one hundred miles an hour and erupted into a ball of flame which moved along the Southbound carriageway like a bouncing bomb, destroying everything and everyone in its pat
h.
By the time the wreckage of the helicopter came to a stop about eighty metres along the carriageway from where it first hit, there was hardly anything left of it except for a mangled mainframe. It had left a trail of destruction as all other parts of the aircraft had exploded out in all directions, shrapnel indiscriminately slicing into vehicles and humans alike. Many of the vehicles along the trail of destruction were on fire and there were loud explosions as fuel tanks erupted, spreading fiery fuel all around and causing more death to those who didn’t or couldn’t run fast enough.
“We need to get into a built-up area before those fucking jets come back,” Mason shouted above the roar of the car’s engine, as he pressed the accelerator further to get every ounce of speed out of the car.
At just under one hundred and fifty miles an hour, the two cars shot past the turning to the M25 motorway and on the other side of the bridge rapidly bore down on cars which had just left the motorway to head in the same Northerly direction as themselves.
An arsehole in an RS Focus jumped straight across three lanes to get into the fast lane but hadn’t accelerated to anything like the speed of the Jaguar or the Audi. Although Mason slammed on the brakes to try to avoid a collision, the best carbon brakes in the world wouldn’t have been good enough. The RS had managed to accelerate to around eighty miles an hour when it was hit by Mason doing around one hundred and twenty miles an hour; Mason’s front end was crumpled and the airbags erupted in front of his face but when they were clawed out of his line of sight, he was still vaguely heading in the right direction, cars on either side swerving to the sides of the road to allow him to pass, many bumping into other cars in their rush to get out of the way. The RS had not been so lucky. The sudden and ferocious hit from behind had broken the driver’s neck and he had died instantly, so he never saw the RS take off before hitting a car in the middle lane and careering off the road at a ninety degree angle, wiping out other cars in its path, before hitting the barrier and somersaulting over it and landing on its roof in a field.
All cars in the vicinity had slowed down, except for the Jag and the Audi. Mason spotted a black Range Rover Sport idling along in the slow lane and veered across to cut it off. The Audi followed as if attached to the Jag’s bumper and they herded the Range Rover to a stop on the side of the road.
Mason and the two guards with him got out of the Jaguar and approached the Range Rover, the driver and passengers struggling to undo their seatbelts to get out and away.
Mason arrived at the driver’s door as it opened and the occupant tried to get out of the car. Mason grabbed him by the neck and helped him on his way, flinging him towards the slow-moving traffic and watching as a lorry ran over the body with the screeching of hydraulic brakes.
Mason and the three stormtroopers got into the Range Rover and reversed before pulling back into the stream of rubber-neckers who were slowing down to see what all the fuss was about. The Audi took its position right behind the Range Rover and they drove more sedately with the flow of traffic heading North. Mason had decided that there was no way he could outpace the jets, so it was better to try and blend in with the other cars around him. He wasn’t wrong. A few moments later the two jets streaked past above them, so it was only a matter of time before more helicopters arrived on the scene they’d just left behind. At least they wouldn’t yet be aware that he was driving a different car.
40
While they waited for the arrival of Joshua, the group at Robert’s mansion in Ewhurst had searched the grounds and outbuildings before trying to clear the dead bodies as best they could.
They then got themselves a drink and something to eat and settled down in front of the TV to watch the news.
Robert’s condition was improving, and he was almost coherent. John stayed with him, letting him take regular small sips of water and making sure he stayed awake.
The group saw the first helicopter pictures of the aftermath at the service area on the A3, shortly followed by the video footage from the only survivor; a bald middle-aged lorry driver who was enjoying his new-found celebrity status. The news channel had paused on the picture of Mason looking into the camera lens and had added it as a picture in picture to the top right of the screen. The moving banners along the bottom of the screen screamed ‘Alien Invasion’ as more footage from people on the Southbound carriageway was shown, including the helicopter crash. It wasn’t long before there was footage of another accident further up the A3 so neither the news reporters nor the group were in any doubt that Mason and his team were heading for London.
It was the first time any of the group had seen a Laakuu in its full glory. “Ugly fucker,” Pete commented.
“Fucking scary more like,” Jimmy opined.
“Did you see all those blue objects flying around?” Hannah asked.
“Yeah,” Sam replied. “I guess our military will be taking a close look at all that.”
“Where do you think they’re going and what are they trying to do?” Daniel asked.
“I suspect they’re heading to London to cause as much mayhem as possible, even to try and reach the PM or Royal Family, or something along those lines,” Harry suggested. “Mason knows his way around the corridors of power so he will have a plan.”
“But how come it’s just a small handful of them?” Harriet thought aloud, “we can’t have killed them all overnight. Why haven’t they sent more down or sent down their UFOs?”
“You’re assuming there are more of them ‘up there’,” Harry pointed out. “We won’t really know until Joshua gets here. Talk of the devil,” he added as they heard the sounds of the helicopter’s rotors.
Harry, Harriet and Sam got up and moved towards the front door, opening it wide ready to accept their new arrivals.
A bound Joshua was pushed out of the helicopter and followed by four members of the Underground before making their way across the lawn to where the Harrys’ stood.
“Do you want us to stay or can you manage?” the first man asked as he approached. “Lots going on and plenty to do and all that,” he added.
“We’ll be fine,” Harry said, shaking the man’s hand. “I don’t think Joshua will cause us any trouble.”
The man nodded and with his colleagues turned back towards the helicopter.
“Welcome Joshua,” Harry said. “Let’s get you inside and take off those restraints.”
“That would be most welcome,” Joshua replied with a slight smile. “We heard over the radio that there have been a few incidents while we were on the way here.”
“Yes, it’s all over the news as well. Mason and half a dozen of your kind appear to have gone on the rampage and there are lots of questions which we hope you can help us with.”
“Mason is an arrogant fool,” Joshua explained. “I warned the Council time and time again that he was a liability.”
“The Council?”
“The Council of Elders. The twelve most senior Laakuu, the ones that make all the decisions.”
They entered the sitting room and Joshua stopped dead and stared at the TV screen in amazement.
“How come Mason is back in his original form?”
“That’s one of the things we wanted to ask you,” Harriet replied, helping to remove Joshua’s restraints.
Pete handed Joshua a glass of water which he gratefully accepted.
“I’m afraid we don’t have much time,” Harry explained. “We need to take you down to the concealed bunker straight away.”
With that, Harry headed towards the kitchen, Joshua following on behind, intrigued by what he was about to be shown. Jason, Andy, Sam, John, Daniel, Jess, Harriet, Hannah and Kate followed, the latter two holding concealed weapons in case Joshua tried something on. Only Pete and Jimmy remained behind in case anything approached the house and to keep an eye on the news.
When they reached the bunker, the lights automatically came on and Joshua sucked in a deep breath by the sight in front of him. He walked slowly into the room, look
ing all around like a child in a sweet shop.
“Bloody Hell. Most of this stuff isn’t allowed off the Mothership,” he explained.
“Just don’t touch anything before you tell us what it is and what it does. We wouldn’t want you getting any ideas. If you did, it would be the last thing you’d ever do,” Harry warned, pointing towards Hannah who was holding a pistol lined up on Joshua.
“I thought we were friends?” Joshua said, frowning.
“Allies for the moment, but definitely not friends,” Harry replied. “Now tell us what you see and what it is.”
Joshua spent the next forty minutes pointing at objects and explaining what they were for; the cryogenic chamber, the cabinets, the chairs, the communication devices, the tracking devices and, of course, the weapons.
Under very close scrutiny he approached storage cabinets which unfolded to his touch and revealed different devices. He explained what they were for and how they were operated. He showed them how to turn things on and off. He pointed out the rods, discs and orbs which had been used at the service area and on the news helicopter and he explained as best he could how they were controlled. He also explained what the various symbols meant, but there were far too many for them to remember. They focused on the ‘on/off’ and ‘open/close’ type symbols as a starting point and John got Joshua to explain how the chair in which Rob had been sitting worked.
With Jess keeping a close eye on Joshua and reading his mind like a silent sentinel sitting in her chair, they allowed Joshua to turn on and demonstrate some of the weapons, without actually employing them to cause any damage. They were all amazed that the rods, discs and orbs could levitate and move according to Joshua’s will. They each in turn tried to control the devices under the careful tuition of Joshua. Even he couldn’t explain how everything worked, he just knew how to operate them.
Joshua realised he was giving away many secrets but found that he was thoroughly enjoying himself, removing a burden which had been weighing heavily on him for far too long. Not once did he consider using these weapons to kill these humans. He was actually beginning to like some of them, especially the females, and his real aim was to bring Mason down. If these humans could do the job for him, then all well and good, as long as they didn’t turn on him afterwards. He would have to make sure he kept himself useful.