They were strong, too. Made with biocompatible titanium that was specially engineered to stay in the body for sixty years instead of the usual twenty, Turn’s legs were also alloyed with 4% aluminum and 5% vanadium, the latter giving them about 50% more strength. All in all, it meant he’d have to be hit with a sizeable rocket or run over by a tank for the legs to take much of a dent, although both of those events would most likely kill him before that. That was the thing, Turn thought as he glanced out the window of the Puma – he was still human, and still capable of feeling…even if his legs were not.
“Look alive!” a shout came from the front of the helicopter and Turn quickly looked up to see Frank holding his fist up in the air. “There!”
At the shout, Turn looked out the large bay door and saw a small opening of some kind down below, although it looked a lot more like an old and abandoned mine shaft. Further off there were a few old and rusted derricks sitting on one edge of what could only be called a sizeable-pond, the only other modern feature being a large white cylindrical holding tank of some sort, maybe for natural gas, a crumbling-down shack its only company.
The helicopter circled about, avoiding the large derricks further afield before settling down onto a long corridor where the trees had been cut away, almost as if a landing strip had been laid down. Ronnie immediately began motioning out the large bay door.
“Head toward that cave entrance,” he shouted over the sound of the helicopter’s rotor blades.
Eight men in the helicopter did so, leaving just Frank and Ronnie behind. Chargin’ Charlie was the first out, leading the men with his M240 machine gun raised up high in front of him, and then the super soldiers with Fred thrown in for good measure. Turn looked back to see Ronnie staring at him.
“Go,” he said, pointing his drawn gun past Turn and toward the cave entrance, “we’ll be back here in 10 minutes – that’s all you need for this hole.”
Turn nodded, got up and was at the bay door a moment later. He jumped from the helicopter and it immediately began to lift off.
13 – A Nest of Grays
The night was quiet and still and dark as hell. Turn switched on his night vision and quickly picked out the other seven men, all huddled up ahead behind some trees and bushes that fronted the cave. One of them – Robbie by the look of it – waved him over.
“Don’t look like much, do it?” Charlie said when he’d drawn near and they were all together.
“Like some dank-ass cave out in the middle of nowhere,” Fred replied, two lengthy bullet belts slung over his shoulders and trailing down toward the Colt AR-15 Commando XM177 Assault Carbine in his hands, extras the men had…just in case. Turn looked at him and frowned slightly – neither Fred nor Charlie had ever fought the Grays before…he didn’t know how they’d hold up. As if in answer to his thought, Sammy stepped forward, that deep African-American voice of his booming out.
“Just like we briefed on – two teams, side-by-side all the while.”
“This cave complex ain’t supposed to be much more than half a mile deep, if even that,” Bobbie said, spitting a good-sized gob of chewing tobacco down on the forest floor.
Tommy laughed, and Turn had no doubt those crazy eyes of his were darting about under those goggles. “Look at the size of that landing strip – reinforcements could arrive at anytime.”
He nodded back behind them and Turn looked to see a straight-on line of nothing, no trees, no bushes, no boulders or anything else that was much higher than a foot. It looked natural enough, but that was probably just because this particular base had been used for centuries, maybe longer.
“Could be coming now, what with all this yappin’ we’re doin’ outside their home,” Robbie said.
“He’s right,” Charlie said, “move out!”
The men broke, just like that, falling into the prearranged teams. Charlie, Turn, Sammy and Tommy took up the left while on the right Fred, Bobbie, Robbie, and the quiet Paul grouped together. They were only fifty yards from the cave entrance, a low-rock overhang on a small hill set before a larger ridge. There were old stumps and moss and rotten limbs piled around, and it seemed as if a mist was in the air just before the yawning maw that was its entrance.
“Corporal,” Sammy said, quietly as both teams continued to advance, their guns up and sighted up on the cave entrance, their nerves taut.
“Let’s wake ‘em up,” Tommy said in response, then motioned upward with his arm, although it was more out of habit than any need, “two on either side, near the stumps and logs.”
“Got it,” Charlie said a moment later, while at the same time Turn said “see it.” Both men’s guns fired off one of the rocket-propelled grenades mounted on their side and a moment later there were twin explosions about halfway up the hill along the side of the cave entrance where the stumps and the logs had been. Both sent up a shower of sparks, something that’d be unusual if the men didn’t know that the sensing and perimeter security guard devices were located there, or at least had been.
“They’re onto us now,” Bobbie laughed.
“Then keep a lid on it,” Fred said over his shoulder. While the six super soldiers may have been the real brains and muscle behind the operation, it was still the two newbies calling the shots.
“I’d keep a lid on it if you weren’t so–”
Whatever insult Robbie was about to hurl Bobbie’s way was cutoff as a large turbine-like sound started from the cave entrance, or at least somewhere within, and quickly grew in pitch and frequency and volume, until the lights burst on.
“Shit!” Charlie said up ahead, then ripped the night vision goggles from his head at the same moment everyone of the other med did the same.
“Down!” Fred shouted next, gaining a bit of his senses back, and right as he dove down to the brush beside him. It was a good thing, too, for at just that moment some kind of rocket or something shot out and exploded right near where he’d been.
The others did the same, and the rockets – there were actually four shooting forth – all landed where the men had been or had been going. Still, the men had been far enough away that they were only showered with dirt and branches and leaves as the missiles impacted upon the forest floor. And that’s when Turn saw them.
“There!” he shouted, putting his arm up while pushing his M240 machine gun up with the other, getting it up over the small dirt mound and pointing at the Gray right there at the cave entrance, just inside, the earthen walls illuminated now by the floodlights shooting outward, blindingly so, but not so blindingly that Turn couldn’t see the thing’s face, and what he hoped was fear in its eyes.
“Light ‘em up!” Charlie said, and a moment later the men did so.
Turn was the first to get a shot off, or at least he liked to think he was. The Gray he’d pointed out was in his sights and he pulled the trigger and saw the bullet hole appear in its head. Greenish-ooze began to seep out – not blood, Turn knew, but that vat liquid they used below Dulce – and the thing fell forward.
A shudder went through Turn’s body. He’d killed them before, but he never got over how strange it was, how…different. When you killed a man you could see his eyes roll up or flutter shut or just the life go out of them. When you killed a Gray…nothing.
Sometimes he didn’t think they were dead, for there was never any expression in those faces, never any ‘humanity’ in those black orbs they called eyes. But they were dead, he knew, and that was what made all the difference, and why he’d know they’d win eventually, because they could be killed.
“Look alive!” Sammy shouted ahead of him, knocking Turn from his thoughts. He blinked a few times and focused his attention back on the cave entrance, and was surprised by what he saw.
“They’re on the run!” Tommy shouted in glee from beside him.
It was true – there were just three dead Grays in the mouth of the cave and the lights were beginning to dim, although they weren’t going out completely.
“Into the rabbit hole, b
oys,” Charlie said with a laugh, and once again Turn admired him for his bravery, his courage, and his blind-stupidity. The men did as well, for they gave a ‘hell-yeah’ and started forward.
Fred’s group was moving ahead slightly faster than Charlie’s, mainly because Bobbie kept jumping up ahead, his enthusiasm to kill the aliens outweighing his sense of safety. Fred was able to hold him back, but they were getting out of formation because of it.
“Pick it up,” Sammy said, and he pushed forward ahead of Charlie.
Charlie didn’t protest, and a few moments later the men were at the cave entrance, the dead Grays at their feet, the lit-tunnel open before them. The mouth only went a dozen feet before hitting the back wall, although the tunnel itself twisted to the right. They reached that turn and started around it.
“Damn!” Sammy shouted, then fired three short bursts. The Gray that’d appeared ahead of them fell to the floor, followed a moment later by its head, shot off at the neck.”
“Whoo-ee!” Bobbie laughed, then whistled too for good measure. “Love it when that happens!”
Charlie and Fred gave him a strange look as they reached the creature, and got their first real good look at the things they’d only until that point heard about.
“Damn those eyes are lifeless,” Fred said, and Charlie nodded.
“So’s their souls,” Paul said, the first words out of him since they’d gotten off the helicopter.
“Why the hell’d that one just stand there and let itself get shot to shit like that?” Charlie said, his mouth hanging open in surprise and his eyes darting from one super soldier to the other.
“Thought he could get me,” Sammy replied, looking at the two ‘commanders’ of the mission.
“He didn’t know that Sammy, Bobbie and me ain’t susceptible to that mind attack crap,” Tommy said, in a serious tone for a change.
“That’s why you all need to stay close to us,” Sammy said, looking at the others but especially at Charlie and Fred. “Stay close to us and you’ll be fine.”
The men nodded and they started forward again. The lights were still on, some kind of dull-yellow orbs built into the side of the tunnel, which was now beginning to turn to metal, the walls at least.
“How far’s this thing go down?” Robbie asked no one in particular as they kept on moving.
“It’s a shuttle port,” Paul replied, “could go on for miles.”
“You said a half mile outside there,” Charlie said, turning to Paul.
Paul shrugged. “It’s hard to say, though the intel on this one said–”
“Shut up!” Turn said as loudly as he could without shouting. “Listen.”
The others listened, then the super soldiers looked at one another and their eyes went wide.
“Get down!” they shouted as one, then dove for the sides of the tunnel. Fred and Charlie did the same, their training taking over for any lack of understanding, and a moment later a ‘whooshing’ sound of some sort could be heard.
“Robbie!” Sammy yelled at the same moment some kind of UFO flew over their heads.
“Got it!” Robbie shouted back, and he did, his M203 China Lake model grenade launcher pointing forward and ready. He hit the button and the thing fired to life, shooting out after the UFO as it was just reaching the turn to the tunnel entrance.
“It’s not gonna–”
BOOM!
The missile-like grenade hit the side of the tunnel entrance just as the UFO darted to shoot out of it, cutting-off Tommy’s words. The missile missed, but the rocks that flew out and the other shrapnel didn’t, and the men all clearly saw the thing shudder and flinch and look like it would crash…but it didn’t.
“C’mon!” Turn shouted, rising up faster than the others with the help of his cybernetic legs.
He was also able to dash down the tunnel before his companions were able to take a few strides. The legs allowed him to reach the tunnel entrance to see the UFO shoot out down the landing strip the Grays had for it, then upwards…and right toward Frank and Ronnie coming back in the Puma!
Not that it mattered, he quickly saw, for the UFO was still shuddering and now shaking and about to drop at any moment. It gave a valiant effort trying to pull itself up toward the helicopter – which was over the treeline and still a hundred yards further on, Turn now saw – but it failed miserably. All at once the lift seemed to give out of the craft and it dropped to it’s right, the same side that’d been damaged in the tunnel blast, and then clipped into the tall Douglas Fir trees that were standing there. The sides dented and sparks and smoke flew out from the spaceship, but it didn’t blow and it didn’t disintegrate. Instead it fell to earth and landed with a resounding crash, something that could probably be heard for miles.
“Damn!” Fred said, and Turn looked over to see him there, panting from the run down the tunnel. He looked back and saw the others would be there in another few moments.
“Looks like that shot of yours did it!” Turn yelled, and just as Robbie reached them. He raised his arm up and pointed toward the trees where there was a small plume of smoke rising and nothing more.
“Well I’ll be damned!” Tommy shouted. “I thought for sure you were gonna keep up that near-perfect record for misses.”
Bobbie spat out a large wad of tobacco. “Like you’re trying to keep that perfect record of not getting’ laid?”
“Alright, alright!” Fred said with a laugh. “Let’s get out there and give those boys a hand.”
He pointed toward the helicopter, which was beginning to land a short distance from the crashed UFO, though still on the landing strip.
“What about the tunnel,” Paul said, stopping them all as they were about to rush forth, “what if there are more?”
“He’s right,” Charlie said, then looked to Fred, “you and your boys stay here and head back down that tunnel a ways, see if there’s anything there.”
Fred frowned, but nodded – he didn’t want to miss out on the action, but he didn’t want an unnecessary risk at their backs either. He’d seen enough of what unguarded tunnels had done to his platoon of men back in ‘Nam.
The others headed toward the helicopter, Sammy leading the way again with Turn and Tommy and Charlie close together. They put their night vision goggles back on and ahead of them saw that Captain Frank Burchak was getting out of the helicopter’s passenger seat. He waved at them, then looked over at the crash site, got the rest of the way out of the craft, and began to close the door.
“What’s he doing?” Tommy said, shock in his voice, his tone serious. “What the hell is he doin’ gettin’ out there alone!”
“C’mon!” Sammy shouted, then started to run forward more quickly.
It was too late. Frank was walking forward and had just about cleared the helicopter when he jerked to a stop, as if some invisible hand had suddenly grabbed him. Even with the night vision it was clear, the look of terror on his face. He had no control over his arms or legs, but his face took on a twisted look of terror as his body slowly began to rise off the ground.
Inside the helicopter Ronnie sensed what was happening and flipped off the helicopter’s rotors, but he knew it was a futile effort as soon as it was done. Ahead of him Frank’s body spun around so his face was looking straight into Ronnie’s, the look of terror evident, his eyes pleading for some kind of help that could never come but which his mind wouldn’t let him believe.
He screamed, but it was a short burst of sound before his head turned back against its will and his body shot upward face-first into the spinning rotor blades, still moving at more than 500 feet per second. Blood drenched the helicopter’s window and all Ronnie could see was a curtain of blood.
Turn gritted his teeth. “C’mon!” he shouted, then took off, his cybernetic legs carrying him the hundred yards to the helicopter in just seconds.
“Shit,’ Sammy said as he and the others began running, hoping to get there in twenty seconds, and before the Grays still alive in that crashed UFO coul
d do the same to Ronnie as they’d just done to Frank.
Turn reached the spot where Frank’s body lay, the head and face gone down almost to the neck. He narrowed his eyes and focused on the spot where the UFO had crashed.
There! He saw it in his night vision, two forms moving–
He couldn’t move, his limbs were stone and ice and locked in position. He felt a tingly sensation, then his feet left the ground. Guess that 20% finally caught up with me, he thought.
“Not so fast!” Tommy shouted, picking up his pace and running as fast as he could. It was fast enough, and when he was within ten feet and Turn was within inches of the rotors, the power of the alien’s telepathy attacks faded altogether.
“Three!” Turn shouted, his voice now back, for he’d been trying to shout all the while that there was another alien, he was sure of it, for no Gray he’d ever heard of could use that much mental energy while rushing away as fast as those two he’d spotted had been.
“Fire in the hole,” Charlie said matter-of-factly, then pulled the trigger on his grenade launcher twice in quick succession. There were two ‘thwumps’ back to back, and then a moment later twin explosions in the trees where the two Grays Turn spotted had been running.
“Where’s the other one?” Sammy yelled.
“There,” Turn said, locking onto it, and raising his gun up to nearly point at the men that’d rushed up to save him. They jumped out of the way and Turn fired three quick bursts from his machine gun, then looked where he’d fired to see a Gray’s head explode in a shower of ‘blood’ and brains near the cave entrance.
Turn lowered his still-smoking gun and looked at his companions, many on the ground from jumping out of the way.
“Fucker,” he spat, and the men began to laugh.
14 – Debriefing
“Well men – that nest of Grays is cleaned out!”
There were only nods to Ellis’ words, for the men were tired and what’s more, the realization that they’d lost one of their own was finally beginning to sink in.
Dulce Base (The Dulce Files Book 1) Page 6