Event: A Novel

by David L. Golemon

  Collins, his face filthy and body hurting, closed his eyes. “There was no luck on the analysis of the chemical in the cage tanks that reduced the creature in ’47?”

  “No, it’s not even an acid that we can tell. We did identify a minuscule amount of an agent that is found here on earth in the largest of the three tanks. Alkali, it was alkali-based, but that’s a base, Jack, not an acid,” Virginia said as she patted his leg. “I wish I had better news.” She straightened and looked from Jack to Everett and placed her hand on Carl’s shoulder. “Lisa…” Virginia started to say, then stopped, putting a finger to her trembling lips. “She… saved my life, Carl,” she finally said, then turned away.

  Everett looked at Jack and nodded, as he finally heard it officially.

  “Wait a minute,” Jack said as he struggled to his feet. “Virginia, what in the hell is potash anyway? Is it used for planting or something?”

  Virginia swallowed and stared at Collins with a questioning look.

  “It is, well, lime, potash, they’re both used as soil enrichment, they’re both alkali…”

  “Did you test alkali against the exoskeleton?” Jack asked.

  “No, we only found trace amounts in the one canister…”

  “In the tunnels, I was about to die at the hands of one of those beasts when it stopped suddenly. I couldn’t figure why it didn’t attack me through the remains of the hardware store that had fallen through to the tunnel. I looked around me and I must have been in the garden section of the store, fertilizer, plant food… and potash.”

  Virginia didn’t respond at first.

  “It was an entire pallet of potash, Virginia. The fifty-pound bags were all busted open and the stuff was everywhere. That’s why the beast didn’t come after me, and when it got some of the stuff on it, it flew into a rage, rolling in the dirt and slamming into walls, and then I dropped it with a few rounds. They penetrated its weakened armor because it was dusted with the stuff. Dammit, Virginia… the potash!”

  “Alkali,” she said to herself. “Alkali was the catalyst that allowed the acid to work in the cages!”

  THIRTY-TWO

  At the confluence of the small range where the edges of the mountains joined together and formed the small valley that Chato’s Crawl sat in, the combat engineer company from Fort Carson was beginning their evacuation as the special ordnance section wired the remote firing trigger and placed the portable antenna that would send a signal to the fifteen-megaton neutron warhead buried a quarter mile beneath the target area. The remote sending unit, sitting in the back of the engineer’s Humvee, would now be placed under the orders of Jack Collins, who was in total control since the death of Colonel Sam Fielding.

  “That does it, Captain,” the communications technician said to Captain Reggie Davis. “The antenna is hot. Now all you have to do is enter your code to arm the device.”

  Davis had done this over a hundred times in simulation and knew the procedure by heart. But as he lifted the transmitter that would send the signal down the shaft and arm the weapon, he knew this was the first actual nuclear device he had ever activated.

  Davis punched into the transmitter, which was no larger than a handheld calculator, 1178711 code 1T2 actual and pushed ENTER. As he watched, the small window at the top went blank, then showed in red letters, Code accepted. Fielddevice 45145 activated. Davis swallowed and held his breath, then pushed ENTER again.

  Armed.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here and inform base camp they have a live nuke on their hands.”

  As they were the last two in the target area, they were alone as they climbed into the Humvee. Davis climbed into the right-side seat and let the COMM tech take the wheel. He reached into the back and brought out a black case, making sure to keep his hands away from the telescopic antenna attached to the side. He clicked open the box and made sure the remote detonating device was working. In the window at the center of the box was the word Activated. The keyboard below was live, and all the triggerman had to do was enter 1T3 and raise the clear plastic cover, then push the red flashing button. Then all hell would break loose underneath the sands of the valley. Captain Davis closed the case, checked the antenna once again, and carefully replaced it in the backseat.

  “Okay, let’s go, and hope they don’t have to use this godforsaken thing.”

  The technician gunned the engine and started speeding across the valley toward the base camp.

  Site One, Base Camp

  The Pave Low III settled onto a high ridge. It would have to stay put and be refueled when the other helicopters returned because she was now nearly empty. Jack ran to where they had placed some backup command radios and started asking everyone from Washington to Nellis about the location of large amounts of alkali.

  “Niles, I’m not even sure, but it may just weaken the animals’ armor enough for the X-rays and gamma rays that the neutron bomb releases to penetrate and kill them. As it is right now, the bomb won’t get them all. I need that stuff before they make a run for freedom.”

  No one knew what to do about getting the quantity they needed to them in time. Jack slammed the microphone down onto the table and bashed it a few times in frustration. He ran a hand through his filthy hair and looked up in anger.

  “Let’s get a team together and go gather what we can from the remains of the hardware store,” he said to Everett.

  Billy, who was sitting in the shade with his mother and Tony after seeing Hal into the first aid tent, overheard what was being said at the communications table. He stood and shrugged his mother’s restraining hand off and approached Jack.

  “M…. M… Major?” he said, tugging at Collins’s armor.

  “What is it, Billy?” Ryan said, trying to get in between the boy and Jack.

  “Alkali—will that hurt those things?”

  Jack turned and looked down at the boy, then quickly lifted him to the table. “That’s exactly what we need. Do you know where we can get some?”

  Billy looked from Jack to Ryan. “Only a whole big lake of it. But Gus told me never to go there. He said I could get really hurt by it.”

  Jack couldn’t talk; he didn’t know how to pursue his questioning.

  “A lake?” Ryan asked.

  “He means a dry lake bed, it’s called Soda Flats,” Julie said as she stepped up to the table and took Billy’s hand. “And he was supposed to stay away from there; the damn place is clearly marked as a danger.”

  Everett took the map from Virginia as she ran up to the group after overhearing Billy. He quickly spread it out on the table. “Where, son, where is the lake?”

  Billy half closed his eyes as he found Chato’s Crawl, then ran his finger east. “Here, right here,” he said as he jabbed his finger onto the map.

  “God, it was right in front of us the whole time, Soda Flats, looks like about three miles in diameter,” Jack said. He quickly ran his own finger from the dry lake bed south. He jabbed hard at the confluence of low hills that marked the funnel end of the valley and where the engineers were placing the bomb. “Goddammit!”

  “We can’t catch a fuckin’ break!” Everett said loudly as he turned. “If the animals are afraid of this stuff, Jack, they’ll head straight for the back door and won’t go anywhere near the damn alkali.”

  “The cattle, the cattle have to be moved!” Jack said as he reached for the radio.

  Valley Forge, Valley Forge, do you have indication of movement on GPS ground sensors? Over,” Ryan called from the open rear hatch of the Pave Low III. At first Ryan got only dead air, then the AWACS finally reported: “Negative ground contact at this time. Valley Forge will advise, over.”

  As Collins and the remaining members of the tunnel assault teams watched from a ledge just sixty feet from the recently destroyed Site One base camp, Everett held up a map and explained where Soda Flats was. They didn’t notice the beast watching them from its high vantage point in the rocks. It was badly wounded. Blood coursed down into its thick hair, matt
ing it together as it dried in the sun. The mother leaped from the rocks toward the unsuspecting group of soldiers.

  Sarah and her team had just crawled from the large hole and into the battlefield of the crash site. She removed the night-vision goggles and tossed them aside, breathing in the fresh air.

  Sarah saw the creature just as it jumped. She brought her weapon up and fired, knowing as she did she was too late.

  The large animal struck Collins with its shoulder, sending him over the ledge from which they had been scanning Soda Flats. It then landed and swiped at Mendenhall, catching him in the chest and flinging him into Everett. They both crashed to the ground as if they were made of nothing more than paper, leaving a fine mist of red that swirled in the air as the animal moved again. The Talkhan raised her head and roared, catching the pilot and copilot of the Pave Low that had ferried Collins and his team from the town with one blow of its massive claws, decapitating both. She then turned to leap at two Blackhawk pilots who fired point-blank into its exposed back. The beast turned with lightning speed and grabbed one of them by the head, squeezing until the pilot’s skull exploded under the pressure, the body falling onto his bleeding copilot.

  The creature turned to the spot where Collins had gone off the small ledge and had landed on another outcropping of rock instead of falling a hundred feet to his death. The Talkhan easily hopped down, fully intending to finish what it had started. Standing over the major’s still form, it brought its right set of claws up to swing downward, and its tail, with venom dripping from its stinger, rose into the air, then suddenly something small and almost insignificant jumped onto its back. It hesitated for a split second, then easily reached back and pulled the screaming Matchstick off and angrily tossed it over the cliff. But the small alien’s attack hadn’t been in vain. It gave Everett and the remaining soldiers enough time to get over their shock and start firing at the beast.

  Bullets ripped into the mother from all directions. Some bounced off and one even grazed Collins on the forehead, but others found damaged places in the already battered armor of the mother Talkhan. It staggered backward and lost its footing, trying in vain to straighten as more rounds tore into its armored skin and found soft spots. The tail swung in a slow arc, trying to strike something, anything. Finally it made a last lunge toward Sarah and its antagonists as it stumbled one last time and fell to the ground, unmoving.

  A moment earlier Gus had been unable to control Mahjtic. As soon as they saw what was going to happen to Major Collins, the alien, without a moment’s hesitation, jumped from the old man’s arms and leaped onto the Destroyer’s back in a show of pure hatred. Gus had seen it all as if he had been watching outside of his own body. He remembered his own screams as the mother had grabbed the little being and thrown it off the cliff. Now he just went to his knees and placed his hands over his eyes.

  Major, Valley Forge is broadcasting; they say they have something moving on the valley floor.”

  Collins turned to look at his second-in-command, wincing as he did from at least two cracked or broken ribs.

  Collins looked at Sarah. “You stay until Gus is out of here; nobody gets near Matchstick unless it’s someone from the Group, clear?”

  “Yes, sir, nobody will touch them.”

  Collins and Ryan turned away, and with Everett helping them they climbed back into the base camp. Jack went to the Pave Low ramp and took the headphones from the 101st sergeant who was already holding them out.

  “This is Site One Actual, what have you got exactly?” he asked, wincing at the pain in his ribs.

  “Site One, we have an intermittent contact bearing on heading 445, moving east at a high rate of speed. Contact is larger than previous targets, repeat, larger than previous targets. It comes shallow then goes deep; we lose it at that point until it comes shallow again. GPS confirms from remote sensors. Contact is definite and now is being joined by at least ninety smaller targets. Over.”

  “Roger, Valley Forge, Site One will advise,” Collins said as he quickly tossed the headset to Ryan and turned, and, in pain, ran for the cliff overlooking the valley. Ryan looked at Everett and followed.

  Sarah left Gus and Matchstick and climbed the cliff face and joined them at the edge, wondering what they were looking at.

  So far they hadn’t seen any indication of movement from the sand and scrub below. When Jack locked his eyes on the prone body of the mother, he saw a few underdeveloped eggs that had burst from her abdomen wounds, and that started him thinking.

  “How big around was that hole we came across near the diner?” he asked, still looking at the dead form of the parent Talkhan.

  “Twenty-three, twenty-five feet in diameter,” Everett answered, following Jack’s eyes to the mother.

  “Too big,” Jack mumbled.

  “What do you mean ‘too big’?” Sarah asked.

  “Look, this has to be the mother. It’s larger than the ones in the tunnels, the tail and stinger are more developed than the smaller ones, and if I’m not mistaken, those are eggs. That hole we saw down there was too damn big for this animal. Whatever made that hole is huge, much larger than this creature.”

  “God, I didn’t see it,” Everett said.

  “What in the hell do we have out there now?” Jack said.

  As they watched, they saw the sands below the mountain about two miles distant shimmer and start jumping and vibrating, creating an eerie blurred effect.

  “What the fuck?” Ryan asked no one. “Look!” He pointed to the right. “Who in the hell is that?”

  Collins looked but didn’t see it at first. Then he hobbled over to one of the tables and started slashing reports and other equipment from it until he found what he was looking for. He grabbed the binoculars and turned and focused on the thing that was kicking up dust to the west of where the AWACS said the target was.

  “Damn, is that the engineers? They were the only unit east of us, correct?”

  “They reported in about ten minutes ago. They confirmed Orion was active,” Ryan said.

  “Shit, get on the radio, Ryan, and warn them off, they’re heading right for whatever that is down there!”

  THIRTY-THREE

  The White House Situation Room

  The president was standing and drinking a glass of water when General Hardesty leaned over and saw the remaining command element at Site One as they were gesturing wildly at something below in the valley. Then his attention was diverted by the frantic call from Ryan in Arizona.

  “Mr. President, something seems to be happening,” he said.

  As the president turned toward the large monitor, the general turned up the volume on the radio frequency.

  “It’s huge, Site One, and it’s breaching now!” they heard the call from the AWACS.

  “For God’s sake, what now?” the president asked the room, but they all were busy standing and pointing at the remote camera relay from the valley.

  The sight was one that all who witnessed it would never forget and would in the years to come haunt their nightmares. The undiscovered male breached the surface of the valley floor and shot into the air fifty feet, trailing dirt and sand in its wake. The multicolored armor plates of its neck were caught in the rays of the sun and sparkled, sending reflections of deep bloodred against the purple of its body armor. Then suddenly at least eighty or ninety of the smaller offspring shot up and out of the desert floor, mimicking the male. They formed their arches on both sides of the larger Talkhan. The animal was huge. Collins estimated from head to foot it was at least thirty feet fully erect. The male Talkhan hit the top of its arc and gracefully curled and rolled and entered the desert hardpan on its back and disappeared beneath the splash of sand and rock, quickly followed by the others.

  “God, they’re headed right for the Humvee,” Jack said. “Ryan?” he called.

  “Can’t raise ’em!” Ryan called while still holding the headphones to his head.

  As everyone from the valley, the White House, and the Event Ce
nter watched, the male surfaced again exactly in the path where the Humvee was speeding back to Site One. It sent the vehicle into the air 150 feet, paying it no more attention than it would a small bush. The beast roared as it started its fall back into the soil. The Humvee crashed hard back to earth; the entire armored vehicle was now upside down and crumpled.

  “Site One, this is Valley Forge. Target has changed aspect and is moving toward sector 327. Repeat, target is now moving toward sector 327,” the AWACS reported.

  “Roger, sector 327,” Ryan said. Jack was already heading to the Pave Low where Ryan had a map laid out on the ramp. Ryan quickly circled the area in red marker. “Goddammit, Major, the bastards are making a run out of the valley.”

  “Right for the funnel, into the last line of defense,” Jack said as Everett joined them. “Contact Niles and relay to the ranchers to get the cattle moving.”

  “Then let’s get ready and blow the crap out of it,” Everett said.

  Jack thought as he looked below at the line of collapsing tunnel as the beast ran for the eastern gate of the valley, quickly followed by its siblings. His eyes went to Sarah and the others.

  “Gentlemen, the remote trigger for the weapon is in the Humvee,” Jack said simply.

  “Then we better go get it,” Ryan said.

  It was Everett who knew what Jack already did. Carl turned and watched as the surviving tunnel teams and Event personnel were covering the remains of the three pilots killed in the mother’s final attack and helping the fourth, who was lying on the ground bleeding to death.

  “Jesus Christ! Can we get a break here?” Carl said for the second time that day, then looked to the sky in frustration.

  “Is someone going to let me in on what’s going on?” Ryan asked.