by Jay Morris
She knew they had a lot to talk about and it was better to be dealt with right now.
“Darnell, I have something to tell you.”
He looked at her, he already suspected, “My mom and dad?”
She nodded, “they were killed.”
His gaze hardened and his jaw set but his voice had a slight tremble in it
“Was it Tucker?”
“No, God No” her words were quick, “there were raiders, they killed them and several others too.”
Darnell looked away as his fears became reality,
“If they had stayed home, not followed Tucker to that damn lodge they would be alive right now”
Amy tenderly laid her hand on his cheek,
“No, no...Darnell, listen there was nothing anyone could have done. They fought back, we all did, and the raiders paid for it.”
Darnell nodded “okay” he closed his eyes,
“So who is left? Just you?”
She hesitated then spoke carefully,
“Well, Lucy and Johnny, Karen Morena, Carl and a couple others, I don’t know if you remember them, Gina Hardy, she’s Lucy’s age, maybe a year older and Diane West, did you know her?“
He ignored the question,
“What about Rico and the L.T.? Where they killed in the raid too?”
“No they were killed when we attacked a big band of the monsters.”
She looked down and said
“Along with Janey and Elaine, Johnny’s sister?”
Darnell was looking outside as his comrades carried the wounded soldier in and helped him up on the counter. Darnell was going to ask something so Amy cut him off,
“Dar, there were others, so many others, it was terrible.”
Finally Darnell got the chance to ask what he really wanted to know, he wanted to know about the murderer of his sister,
“What about Tucker? Is he dead too?”
She looked down, unable to get the words out, her silence spoke volumes.
“Figures” he said. “Where is he? Hiding?” he asked.
He stepped away from her, taking the rifle down from his shoulder. She reached to him, put her palms on his chest,
“PLEASE Darnell, don’t, he isn’t here.”
Just then there was an uproar behind them, Amy turned around to see the door to the store room was open and the Major and his two healthy soldiers were pointing their weapons at the little gray alien and the three children hiding behind him. He held his arms out to each side, Amy was struck by the obvious intent to protect the kids.
“NO!” she yelled as she made her way over to the door, “I didn’t get a chance to tell you, he is friendly!”
“FRIENDLY?” the Major barked. “We lost more than thirty people yesterday fighting the damn aliens and you say he is friendly?” Amy had made her way past the soldiers to stand in the doorway.
“Yes Major, he is friendly, now please lower your weapons.”
The Major thought about it for a moment then nodded and made a patting motion with his left hand, his soldiers lowered their rifles.
It took over an hour for her to explain what had happened, how Tucker had spared the alien (at which time Darnell snorted something about killing people and saving aliens). She showed them the drawings, and Lucy explained that he loved Tang and Gina explained that he had little gray people in his head, well, more or less.
“Incredible” the Major said.
“Bullshit” Darnell added.
“Easy soldier” the Major snapped.
He rubbed his chin, deep in thought, Amy could hear the raspy sound of his hands on his three day beard.
The Major decided that they would wait and see what the others had to say when they got back from their attack. He was incredulous that the group had been attacking the alien ships since the day after they landed. He did not believe Amy’s claim that Tucker and Johnny had destroyed an entire fire base as well as another two vehicles. Nor did he believe that Tucker had attacked another fire base on his own.
“Lady, I think maybe your friend is spinning yarns, maybe he ‘saw’ the fire bases but attack? Much less destroy one? No way.”
Amy stared at him in disbelief
“Just why Major, would Tucker lie about something like that?”
The Major looked at her, his cold blue eyes examining her in detail,
“Well, from what Corporal Livingston has told me he is a psychopath and a murderer and from what I know, someone like that lives in a fantasy world, hell he may actually believe it himself.”
Amy didn’t know what to say, she wanted to defend Tucker, at least a little but Darnell was standing right there and she didn’t want to say anything that might upset him.
She looked to one side and saw that the soldier who had remained outside with the wounded man was actually a woman, her uniform was an odd blue color and didn’t look like the green ones she was used to. She was short and looked very ethnic, her shoulder length dark hair was pulled into a pony tail, without her helmet she looked small in her uniform, like it was swallowing her. She was squatting in front of the gray, using a stethoscope to try and listen to the little aliens chest but he kept gently grabbing her wrist and turning it over to look inside the end of it, much to the delight of Gina and Lucy who were taking turns wearing the woman’s helmet.
Amy realized that she was missing someone, she went into the room and found him hiding under a blanket. She brought him out and introduced him to the Major and Darnell,
“Gentlemen, this is Bob, we don’t know his real name and he doesn’t speak, but he is a very brave little boy.”
The Major knelt down and looked him in the eye.
“I can see that, I don’t think I have ever seen a braver young man.”
He put his large, calloused right hand on the little boys shoulder, “Son, I am very proud to meet you.” The little boy wrapped his arms around Amy’s leg but didn’t seem too upset.
The rest of the introductions were finally made, in addition to the Major and Darnell, the woman was actually a Doctor, her name was Mary Young Deer and was a member of the Cherokee Nation as well as the U.S. Navy Medical Corps. The other soldier was small and slight, he was nervous and twitchy the way a bird might be when it is on the ground and there is a cat roaming about. His name was Gill Vano, he had been stationed at someplace called Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. The wounded man was another army Special Forces man by the name of Josh Turner, he was a sergeant, white guy, early thirties and despite his wide shoulders, thick neck and muscles that strained against his shirt, he was dying. His internal injuries were severe and Doc Young Deer had whispered to her that she didn’t expect him to make it to dark. She kept him pretty well medicated and he was constantly drifting in and out of sleep.
The Major gratefully ate one of their MREs as he recounted a horrendous story of their battle the previous day. Their column was heading west on highway 50, trying to hook up with another mixed military unit operating out of the Wayne National Forest in Ohio, when they were assaulted by three of their hover tanks (he called them).
“The damn things crushed our vehicles like they were paper mache’, they targeted our tank first, and the Abrams was pulverized before they could get off a shot. But one of our Humvees was actually an Avenger, it had a surface to air rocket launcher mounted on it and the alien ended up exploding in flames right above the Abrams tank they had just destroyed.“
He went on to say the fight went on for only 15 minutes, his people had dismounted and their small arms fire had one of the alien tanks on fire, but the aliens had broken off the attack when the last vehicle had been destroyed.
“It was a big old deuce and a half loaded with food, ammo and water, the driver had tried to cut cross country to get away from one of the alien tanks but the other cut it off.”
The Major described it like someone had used a rolling pin on a truck made of play-dough. Turner had been thrown from another vehicle when it exploded after being cut in half
by one of the alien tanks. Livingston had told them about the lodge so they headed North, cross country only to find the lodge had been erased, that and the wreckage of the alien fire base. They had assumed that another army unit had taken it out. Amy harrumphed and said something about
“Told you that was Tucker.”
That was when the little gray got up and quickly waddled to the door and tried to get out.
“What’s he doing?” Darnell asked .
Amy went to let him out before he did himself a mischief, trying to go out the ‘in’ door. The Major, Darnell and Amy followed the gray outside, and there slowly, shyly coming out of the woods were a dozen little grays, each one wearing a robe in one of several shades of gray. Lucy, Gina and Silent Bob joined them since they had escaped the watchful eye of Doc Young Deer. The grays all in a bunch patting each others face and shoulders. The two girls dove right in and immediately became the center of attention. The grays seemed very interested in the little girls’ hair in particular, that and the excessive number of fingers they had.
“I’ll be damned” the Major said.
After a few minutes all the little aliens approached Amy and The Major, in unison they bowed and held their hands in front of themselves, palm up. Then they scurried to the building, all trying to enter the Visitor center simultaneously through the exit. Some kept patting the wall next to the door in a vain attempt to get it to open on its own. Lucy and Gina were giggling in the swirling gray mass, and before the Major could even ask Lucy yelled over the silent, shuffling aliens,
“I think they want a tea party!” Gina, always helpful, added “We might need more Tang!”
Amy was carrying Bob on her hip as they went inside, she paused and looked over her shoulder, wondering what was going to happen when the others returned. Not long after that, Josh Turner, U.S. Army quietly died from wounds suffered in combat with an alien invader. The soldiers carried him outside and Airman Vanu and Cpl. Livingston dug a shallow grave for him just inside the tree line, far enough away from the building that were it destroyed, his body would probably be unaffected unless their trajectory just happened to coincide with his resting place. The soldiers came inside, all except the Major who stood at the silent mound of dirt as if he were expecting it to speak to him. Perhaps to explain why he had died, or why the Major himself was still alive.
Day 39, Continued, Command Area, Vehicle 1-3
Supreme Director 1 was talking to Director 10 and Director 20. He wanted, no, needed their input. Director 10 was irascible and at times abrasive but he was tough as they come and Director 20 was exceptional. She was clever and ingenious. He was going to raise her to the vacant slot left by the now deceased Director 8. The campaign against the vehicles of the Indigenous Aggressives had been going very well but every time he thought he had the winning strategy the monsters were able to show yet another way they could kill. He had ordered all the assault vehicles to return to their respective Pods, then he shocked all the Directors by ordering all pods to gather in groups no smaller than 3 so their defenders, armed technicians and designated type 1 assault vehicles could support one another. Furthermore, at the new Director 8s suggestion, they were preparing to launch a system of re-tasked observation satellites in to near planet orbit. With these they will be able to monitor any large movements of Indigenous Life Aggressives.
“Insistive-Statement-Factual Composite : {
Status-Continued-Deaths-Da-Na-Unacceptable,
Status-Continued-Losses-Da-Nah-Vehicles-Unacceptable,
Status-Lethality-Indigenous-Life-Aggressive-Quantity-Estimate (1.0-delta)}:”
The other directors stared at him, they were silent and they were flashing confusion so he went on.
“Insistive-Query-Protocols-Original-Required-Composite :{
Biotech-Indigenous-Micro-Application-Indigenous-Life-Aggressive-Extinction,
Biotech-Indigenous-Life-Vertebrate-Application-Da-Nah-Defense};”
Still the others do not react, except strangely by a faint tint of fear across their faces and chests. Something was wrong but Director 1 could not understand it. After a few moments he asked,
“Insistive-Query-Directors-Motivation-Silence”
It was the new Director 8 who spoke, her voice was not timid nor did she avert her eyes.
“Permissive-Query-Respectful-Supreme Director 1-
Composite :{Pod-Locative-Consolidation-Da-Nah-Negative,
Biotech-Indigenous-Micro-Da-Nah-Negative,
Biotech-Indigenous-Vertebrate-Da-Nah-Negative,
Protocols-Original-Quantity-Relative (>1.0) };
He stared at them, what was she implying? That he was no longer Da-Nah? He had been Supreme Director 1 slightly more than one planetary rotation and they question him so? He lashed black in anger, swirling crimson eddies made him look like the images of the ancient Da-Nah from the records.
“Statement-Factual-Composite :{
Supreme Director 1 (THIS),
Da-Nah-Extinction-NOT-ACCEPTIBLE,
Insistive-Query-Conditional [Original-Conditional->Protocols-Original-Required],
Insistive-Query-Broadcast (Director 1, Director Enumeration (8, 10)
Statement-Factual-Conditional
[Directors-Command-Acceptance-Negative->Directors-Re-tasked] };
With that, he cut off communication. Did they not understand the gravity of the situation? They were his best, most capable but if he needed to replace them he would. Da-Nah would not become extinct, this colonization will not fail!
Day 39, Continued, West Virginia Welcome Center
Amy and Doctor Young Deer spent the waning hours of the evening with the children and the aliens. The new arrivals were learning how to draw and stick their tongue out at the same time and they all seemed to absolutely love Tang. The Doctor was making a valiant attempt to study the aliens and take some notes but it seemed they were much too excited to sit still long enough. When the girls and Silent Bob started to yawn and finally wind down the aliens seemed to mimic them even as far as to yawn when they did. Eventually the grays went to sleep on the floor as close as they could be to the children and all over each other.
The two women, from so different back grounds found they had much in common, both had been married and both had lost a child to the monsters before the invasion. As their conversation went on for several hours over some GI issue instant coffee, Doctor Young Deer asked
“So, you and Darnell, huh?”
Amy shifted a little uncomfortably then said
“Well, yeah we were, for a while any way.”
Mary prompted her for more and for some reason Amy felt she could trust her so she related the truth as she saw it. As the night grew late, Amy could tell something was bothering her, and finally asked her what was wrong. Young Deer looked abashed, uncomfortable as a kid with their hand in a cookie jar. “What?” Amy asked, resting her hand on the woman’s and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
Young Deer let out a long breath, looked around to make sure they were not being watched then whispered,
“I am supposed to let the Major tell you about it in the morning.”
“Tell me what?” Amy whispered back.
“We are leaving tomorrow.”
Amy was confused “That’s too bad, but why the secrecy?”
Young Deer swallowed hard,
“The major says we have to join up with some unit and for us to do that we will need the truck and the Hummer if it gets back before we leave.”
Before Amy said anything Young Deer went on
“We will need your food, medical supplies, weapons and ammo too.”
Young Deer was ashamed but she cut Amy off again before she could protest.
“Darnell has gotten permission from the Major to take you with us” she paused “just you.”
Amy was shocked, they couldn’t just take everything could they? And what about her kids she can’t just leave them. When Amy started to rapid fire her protests in a cold cascade Young Deer shook he
r head.
“Amy, I already tried everything you are saying, the Major is adamant, he says military needs outweigh individual ones.”
Amy’s head was swimming, this could not be happening, kept running through her head. Finally she came to one conclusion,
“Mary, I need to go for a walk, clear my head, will you keep an eye on the kids?”
Mary Young Deer looked at her trying to figure out what Amy was thinking but couldn’t, so
“Of course, take all the time you need.”
Amy nodded, then hugged her, saying a heartfelt “Thank you.”
She took a rifle and left the Welcome Center.
Day 40, 2:15 AM
The Humvee was crawling down the side of the highway, staying out of the open as much as possible. They were averaging only slightly more than 12 miles per hour and twice had to stop for extended periods while alien traffic was nearby. Something was happening, but none of them could figure out what. Twice they saw sets of three large alien vehicles cross their path, once it was heading North and was only visible with binoculars but their dust cloud was easily distinguishable. The other time it was uncomfortably close, crushing their way South-East across the highway only 50 yards from them. What was strange was that in both convoys the smallest vehicles were missing, that question was answered only a few minutes later. Three identical vehicles were traveling in a line along a county road that intersected the highway. They all looked at each other in confusion, Tucker scratched his chin and said “No clue”, but Diane had a theory,
“They’re looking for us.”
That didn’t set well with anyone and that was why a two hour journey at 55 miles per hour had turned into a 12 hour travail.
At long last we were getting near our destination, only three miles to go or so, nerves were flayed, stretched thin by the aliens and the emotional loss of Carl Weir, all of us were looking forward to a shower and some food. Diane was driving, I was riding shotgun, Tucker was asleep in the back, and Karen was sitting up close behind me, talking quietly to keep exhaustion at bay and the driver awake. The headlights were off and our speed had been reduced accordingly, Hell I thought we could walk there just as fast. Suddenly Diane leaned forward and peered ahead into the night. She whispered,