Surge Protection (The Sheffield Chronicles Book 1)

by Nate Castle

  Rather than walking like humans, they seemed to use their third third leg to jump and then land on their two outside legs.Their third leg appeared to be adjustable; it would extend further into the ground if they wanted to jump a further distance. Because of this, the creatures were able to move extremely quick, it was disturbing.

  Shelby and Noel were still peaking out the window of the Macy’s watching these creatures.Noel had mustered up the courage to refrain from crying anymore, and her survival instinct kicked in.

  “Do you think even if they can’t see us, that they can sense our presence?” Noel said.

  “Oh definitely, these things look very smart,” Shelby said. “I think our only option is to throw enough obstacles in their way to slow them down enough so that we can escape.”

  Noel’s next instinct was to pull the fire alarm. Her hope was that it would occupy the aliens enough to buy about a minute of time. A steady ringing sound echoed through the mall.

  “Follow me,” Noel yelled.

  They ran back down the escalator to a side door, not the same entrance they had come from. They made it to a fenced off area that said ‘Authorized Personal Only’. Noel hopped the fence without hesitation and reached an arm down to assist if Shelby needed help. The fenced off area seemed to have a control panel for every aspect of the mall: electrical, fire protection, water, heating, and so on. Noel located a panel that said ‘Waste’. She opened the panel and flicked a lever to the ‘Up’ position. A pump turned on.

  “Help me undo this hose,” Noel said.

  It was a yellow hose that looked like the ones used by waste companies to empty the contents from Porta-Potties. There was a built in ‘wrench’ attached to the hose valve, so with a little muscle, Shelby was able to loosen in enough to detach it.

  “Now stretch it out towards the parking lot,” Noel said.

  Shelby held the end of the hose that she had just detached and walked towards the parking lot. The hose, when fully stretched out, was 50 feet in length.

  “Ok now stand clear,” Noel said.

  Noel hit a button on the control panel and waste from the mall’s septic system starting shooting out the far end of the hose into the parking lot.

  “C’mon,” Noel said and starting running back into the mall entrance.

  “How did you think of that idea,” Shelby said as they were running.

  “My dad owned a septic company for a while. For whatever reason, when they do new construction of commercial buildings now, they don’t build a septic system, they just install a storage tank and then have the tank drained by a company like my dad’s once a month,” Noel said.

  They ran back to the bank of windows on the second floor of the Macy’s to and saw the same three alien creatures, now closer to the building then before. They were spinning their heads in a 360 degree motion, looking for the source of the sewage dump that Noel had just created.

  “Ok it looks like they are distracted at the moment,” Shelby said, “What next?”

  “We need to create at least two or three more distractions before we can slip away unnoticed,” Noel said.

  CRACK!!!!

  The glass from the windows they were standing next to shattered. Shelby and Noel’s reaction was to get as far away as possible. They ran in the opposite direction, looking back every five seconds or so. The creatures had demolished the whole front entrance to the mall now and were now hot on their trail.

  “Where’s Milo?” Shelby yelled.

  “He was with us upstairs, he must have ran the other way,” Noel said.

  The creatures weren’t far behind.

  “Go left,” Shelby screamed.

  They made a hard left turn and entered the first possible door on their right. They were now inside a Verizon wireless cell phone store. The room was dark. All they could do now was hope that they wouldn’t be found by the creatures.They didn’t dare look out the windows of the store yet, they stayed low.The sound of the creatures approaching was steady and then suddenly came to a stop.

  “Is it safe to look out the window yet?” Noel said.

  “Your call,” Shelby whispered back.

  Woof! Woof-Woof!

  Milo could be heard barking outside the store. The girls couldn’t help it, they popped their heads up just high enough to peak out the window and could see Milo running towards the three creatures. The shortest of the three, reached out an arm when Milo was within striking distance and grabbed Milo by the neck, lifting him off the ground. Holding the dog in this position, the creature tapped Milo on the back with its other hand, and Milo began melting until all that was left of the dog was a pile of fur.

  Shelby put her hand over her mouth to mute the noise that she wanted to release after seeing the dog get annihilated right in front of her eyes. The creatures were facing the opposite direction, with their backs to the Verizon wireless store. One by one, they all rotated their heads and appeared to spot Shelby and Noel. The girls were frozen, like deer in headlights. This stare down lasted for about one minute before the three creatures turned away and headed towards the exit of the mall. It took another minute before either one could speak again.

  “Did you see their eyes? One eye was deadlocked on us and the other one was twitching rapidly back and forth, almost like they were gathering information on us,” Shelby said.

  “Do you think they wanted to kill us, or just wanted to observe?” Noel said.

  “After seeing what they did to Milo, I think they were looking to kill,” Shelby said.

  “Then why didn’t they come into this store, they clearly saw we were in here?” Noel said.

  “One theory is that there are cell phones in this store and cell phones are the aliens’ weakness. They tried to disable all cell phones on Earth in the initial attack so that they could land here and not be harmed by the waves that the cell phones emitted,” Shelby said.

  “That seems a little farfetched, but who knows you might be on to something,” Noel said.

  11 WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT

  ..................

  THEY HAD BEEN IN THE air for an hour and forty-five minutes, and were over Cheyenne, Wyoming. They would passing be over Fort Collins, Colorado in about fifteen minutes and to Denver in another forty-five.

  Logan was now the copilot; they had been taking turns, so that Logan, Garrett, and Sal could all experience it.

  Hank said to Logan in a calm voice, “There’s someone or something following us.”

  He pointed to his radar screen. There was a red dot blinking on a complicated digital map.

  “What are you gonna do?” Logan said.

  “Well we can either keep going and hope we make it to Denver, but we will likely end up like the Odessa plane, or we can shut off our radar, pick up the speed a bit, and try to navigate manually,” Hank said. “Both options are a crapshoot, but our chance of survival is greater with Option 2.”

  “If it is an alien craft following us, aren’t they advanced enough to where they wouldn’t show up on our radar?” Logan said.

  “Yes and no. They might want us to see them on our radar for some reason. Or, they might be using one of our planes rather than their own,” Hank said

  “You think there’s any chance that it’s not an alien craft?” Logan said.

  “Unlikely. It’s an unwritten rule when you’re flying to give the planes around you enough space. This aircraft has been closing in on us for the past twenty minutes,” Hank said.

  “Ok let’s do it, shut off the radar,” Logan said.

  Hank flicked a switch and the digital map went black. He put his left hand on the throttle and pulled back slowly to increase the speed.He yelled back to Garrett and Sal, who were sitting in the cabin.

  “Strap on emergency chutes boys, we might have to jump out if this gets too hairy.”

  Garrett and Sal didn’t bother asking Hank what he meant, they knew right away that he wasn’t joking around. Had it been nighttime when these events had occurred, it would’ve
have been a lot more difficult than it already was. Logan strapped on an emergency pack also.

  “Obviously, my first choice is to land the plane, but if things get out of control we want to be prepared to jump out,” Hank said to the group.

  They were now flying at about 5,000 feet, so that Hank could have a better chance of finding a spot to land quickly if needed.The problem with shutting off the radar was that they had no way of knowing if the alien craft was still in the vicinity or if they had outrun it.Technology had become so advanced to the point where, when shutting off radar, a blocking mechanism was also deployed, so this plane wouldn’t show up on another plane’s radar.

  “I think we better turn the radar on for a brief moment to see if that craft is in the area,” Hank said to Logan.

  Before he even had time to flick the switch, a loud rumbling sound distracted him.The alien craft had just flown by overhead. It couldn’t have been more than 500 feet above.Hank and Logan had a clear view of the craft. Sal and Garrett ran into the cockpit to catch a glimpse.

  “Now we’ve got problems,” Hank said to group, but still seemed to remain calm.

  The alien craft, was smaller than expected, maybe the size of a school bus. It was chrome colored and seemed to defy all laws of physics, with its lack of wings and all the different geometric shapes that went into its design.

  Logan tried to speak but no words came out. Apparently the radar blocking trick had not worked.

  “Buckle up!” Hank yelled.

  He abruptly lifted the nose of the plane up and started climbing in altitude. The alien craft, still in front of them, stayed in their direct line of vision; it was climbing too. If someone were watching from the ground below, it would have seemed as if Hank were treating this plane like one of the Blue Angel trick planes. He continued to climb and then all of a sudden tilted the nose of the plane down.

  The purr of the engine cut out and they were now in a free fall.

  “WHAT——“ Garrett yelled, but couldn’t finish his sentence before Hank cut him off.

  “Relax, this is normal,” Hank said.

  “Relax? How am I supposed to relax?” Garrett said.

  The engine came back on, but not before they were 300 feet above the ground. Hank pulled the nose of the plane up once again, so that the plane was now flying forward.

  “I’m testing what that alien craft is capable of,“ Hank said.

  The alien craft was no longer in their line of vision, it must have been above them still.

  “From the looks of it, their craft might not be capable of changing altitudes as fast as we can,” Hank said.

  “From the looks of it, I’m sure their craft is capable of whatever the heck they want it to be capable of,” Garrett said, with a bit of sarcasm. He was still irritated that Hank had told him to relax.

  “What you’re forgetting is the fact that they aren’t humans. Maybe they can’t handle abrupt changes in altitude, the way humans can. You know how our ears pop? Maybe it has a more detrimental effect on them,” Hank said.

  Hank’s theory might have had some credibility. They flew for a few more minutes before they could once again see the alien craft ahead in their line of vision.

  “We’re going to repeat what we just did one more time, and then hope that buys us enough time to land before they catch up to us. Does anyone oppose?” Hank said.

  No one responded; this was likely their best option. Hank titled the throttle back, pointing the nose of the plane up once again and began to climb. This time he climbed higher than before, but did so at a slower pace, hoping the alien craft would reach the same altitude and not fall behind. It worked as planned, so Hank began another swan dive. The engine shut off once again and they were free falling.

  Hank worked like an artist, especially when considering the stressful situation they were in. He straightened the plane out when the engine came back to life and pointed to an open area in the distance.

  When they got closer, they realized it was a race car track.

  “If I’m seeing this right, we are gonna have exactly a quarter mile to stop this plane once we hit the ground,” Hank said.

  No sign of the alien craft yet. Hank pressed a series of buttons which deployed the wheels needed to land.

  “Let’s hope for the best!” Hank yelled. “3-2-1.”

  They hit the asphalt of the race car track, and a loud screeching sound followed.The landing itself was smooth, it was stopping the plane that presented a challenge.Normally, Hank would have approached the landing at a slower speed, but he had no time to waste today. Logan, Sal and Garrett all looked to be braced for an impact, as the plane sped closer and closer to the retaining wall on the racetrack in front of the grandstand seating. If Hank wasn’t able to turn the plane slightly to the right, they would crash into the wall. He was able to do just that. The plane came to a complete stop without hitting the retaining wall.

  “We have to get out of here, we are like sitting ducks!” Sal said, and he was right.

  They all quickly hustled around the cabin to grab their bags

  “Do we have any firearms?” Hank said.

  “I don’t think so,” Garrett said.

  “Who’s black bag is this,” Logan said as he held up a bag for others to see.

  “Not mine,” the others said one by one.

  Logan opened the zipper to the bag and his expression change.

  “I think this plane belongs to a drug dealer. There must be at least $100k in this bag. And two semi-automatic guns. I think the correct name for them is Uzis,” Logan said.

  “Forget the money, grab the guns let’s go!” Sal said.

  It was like something straight out of a movie; at the exact moment that they needed guns, they were sitting right in front of their face. Hank unhatched the cabin door and they quickly exited onto the racetrack.

  “This way,” Hank said, leading the way towards the grandstand.

  “They made it to the grandstand unharmed and were able to find shelter in a press box near the top. A rumbling sound up above, signaled that the alien craft had located their plane. The sound got louder as the craft got closer to the ground.

  “Stay down don’t make a sound,” Logan said. He was holding one of the Uzis, and had given the other one to Sal.

  The rumbling sound ended; they figured the alien craft must have landed, but they weren’t about to risk being spotted by looking up. No sound came from the craft for what felt like forever. Sal couldn’t handle the suspense any longer.

  “I’m going for it,” he whispered.

  He slowly crawled out of the press box, so he could check the status of the alien craft. What he saw was three aliens, two tall, one short. They were green and brown in color, the short one had the opposite color scheme. Sal jumped back into the press box.

  “We’ve been spotted. If we have these things we might as well use them,” Sal said, referring to the Uzis.

  This time he stood up and exited the press box once again with the gun pointed at the aliens. He shot twice, hitting one in the chest.The guy had good aim, you had to hand it him. By this point, Logan, Hank and Garrett, had all stood up, to watch Sal in action. The alien that had been struck by the bullet appeared to be neutralized for the time being. Where the bullet had hit, there was now a green substance shooting out of like a waterfall. Before Sal could celebrate though, the shorter alien reached a hand out to cover the bullet hole of the other one, keeping its hand covering the hole for a good five seconds. When the shorter alien pulled its hand back, there was no longer a hole in the other alien. Like magic, the bullet wound was repaired.

  “Oh shit,” Sal said. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to take these guys out with bullets.”

  Sal looked behind him and noticed a pit area behind the grandstand where they kept some of the race cars.

  “How many hours do I have left before I go into cardiac arrest again?” Sal said.

  “4 hours and 38 minutes, if that doctor�
�s prediction was accurate,” Logan said.

  “Ok I have a plan. Follow me to the pit area,” Sal said.

  This time Logan fired 10 shots from his Uzi at the aliens, hoping to slow them down a bit. He connected with three of the ten bullets. They ran down a flight of stairs and hopped a security gate to enter the racetrack’s pit area. They caught up to Sal who was standing next to a demolition derby car.

  “I’m going to drive this car onto the racetrack to keep the aliens occupied. You guys hop into this car and get as far away from here as possible,” Sal said as he pointed towards a Ford Mustang about 10 yards away.

  “Not a chance bud,” Garrett said.

  “Don’t make this difficult Garrett,” Sal said.

  “We are not leaving you behind,” Logan said.

  “This is the only way. Either all of us die today or just one of us. The chances of us making it to Denver in time to get me medical attention is next to nothing. This is how we’re going to do it, end of discussion.” Sal said.

  A moment passed where no one said anything.

  Garrett fighting back tears, finally said, “We had a good run Sal, I’ll see you in the next life.”

  Logan said, “Sal, you’re a real hero, we will be forever indebted to you, granted we make it out of this alive.”

  “Good luck boys, make me proud. I’ll leave you with this,” Sal said.

  He unclasped a silver chain necklace with a pendant of a stallion on it and handed it to Garrett.

  “It’s been nice knowing you,” Hank said.

  Sal walked toward the demolition derby car, and looked back to give the others a little wink. He started up the car using a multitool that he pulled out of his pocket.

  Garrett, Logan, and Hank ran to the Mustang; it was a bit trickier to start without a key. They watched as Sal entered the race track and gunned it towards the alien craft.

  12 X MARKS THE SPOT

  ..................

  LOGAN WANTED BADLY TO WATCH Sal attempt to distract the alien craft, but at the same time knew they had to leave. The reason Sal was performing this heroic act in the first place was in hopes of buying them enough time to escape.The Mustang presented problems for them. No one knew how to hotwire a car like Sal did, and after a little trial and error they gave up trying.