INCURSION - an ALIEN OMNIBUS

by Chris Lowry

  She grabbed his arm again and shoved him away from the table.

  “We don't have a second.”

  He clicked send while she dragged him and slammed the laptop shut.

  “Move,” she growled.

  The door at the far end of the car crashed open.

  Riggs crouched through the door followed by the Commandos.

  “Freeze!” he screamed.

  Jodi whirled around and whipped up her pistol.

  She popped a Commando in the chest and sent him sprawling into his teammates.

  She shoved through the door, firing over her shoulder and slammed it closed.

  She jammed Rob to one side as Riggs and the Commandos opened fire.

  Bullets peppered the metal doorway.

  Jodi clicked a fresh magazine into her pistol and pressed it to a bullet hole.

  She fired three rounds.

  “Run!” she screamed at Rob.

  They raced through the train cars, cracking doors open and slamming them closed behind.

  Startled passengers screamed and shouted as they ran past.

  Riggs and his men were one car behind.

  They ignored the passengers as they chased after Rob and Jodi.

  Rob hit a door but it wouldn't open.

  He kicked it, and shoved against it with his shoulder but the metal wouldn't budge.

  “Locked,” he shouted.

  The door behind them opened.

  Jodi emptied her clip through the doorway.

  Riggs and the Commandos fell back.

  “I don't know if I can hold them!” she yelled.

  The door behind Rob opened.

  He lost his balance and fell through.

  A pistol pressed up against the back of Jodi's head.

  “You won't have to,” said a baritone voice.

  Jodi held up her hands and let the pistol twirl down on an extended finger.

  A strong black hand reached out and plucked the gun from her.

  “Hello Freddy,” she sighed.

  Freddy stepped out of the car and pulled on arm up behind her back.

  He kept the pistol pressed into her head.

  He wasn't taking any chances with her.

  He was tall and lean, but muscular. His face was handsome, but his eyes were cruel.

  “Riggs,” he shouted. “I have them.”

  A rifle barrel peeked through the far door.

  Riggs ducked his head around and back.

  All clear.

  He strutted up the aisle of the empty car.

  “Classic pincer maneuver,” he gloated. “I love it when a plan comes through.”

  He nudged Jodi and Freddy aside, reached down and hauled Rob up.

  “Put your men on the car,” ordered Freddy. “Nothing gets on here, understand?”

  Riggs glared at him.

  “I know my job.”

  Riggs drew back a fist and punched Rob across the jaw.

  He sprawled on the floor, the laptop skittered away.

  Jodi squirmed to help, but Freddy jerked her arm higher and she stopped.

  “Contact Harris and let him know I succeeded.”

  He purposefully emphasized the word I, and Riggs bristled.

  Freddy ignored him.

  He shoved Jodi and Rob into the next car and left Riggs to clean up.

  22

  Jodi stood between Rob and Freddy her eyes burning holes into his skull.

  He smiled back, his teeth too white, his dimples too deep.

  “You look good,” he said.

  She glared harder.

  “Go to Hell.”

  He sighed and motioned her to sit in one of the empty seats in the deserted car.

  “I had hoped to keep this pleasant,” he said as he plopped in across from her. “What is that?”

  He nodded to the laptop Rob kept clinched against his body.

  “My notes.”

  “Open it,” Freddy flashed the smile again

  “No.”

  The smile beamed brighter.

  Silence was an effective tool used by salesmen and soldiers across the world.

  A lot of people are uncomfortable with silence, especially in the world today.

  A world full of humming electronics, and crowds and people. It's a constant background melody that people feel compelled to talk over.

  Breaking the silence was considered a weakness, and the first person to break it considered the loser in whatever imaginary battle being fought with words was happening.

  Rob glanced at Jodi.

  She shrugged.

  He looked back at Freddy and held the stare.

  “Please,” said Freddy.

  It sounded dangerous. Or at least it did when accompanied by the pistol that shifted in his hand.

  Rob opened the laptop.

  Freddy studied the screen.

  “Disconnect the connection,” he ordered.

  Rob pulled the phone out of his pocket and disconnected.

  He started to slip it back into his pocket.

  “I'll take that,” Freddy reached out and plucked the phone from his fingers.

  He started to reach for the laptop, but Jodi moved to block him.

  “You're interfering with official business.”

  “I am official,” he said.

  They stared at each other for a few moments.

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked softly.

  Freddy pulled his hand away and sat back in the seat.

  “We're going to meet a plane in St Louis.”

  “I asked you a question, Freddy.”

  The way she said his name hurt and he couldn't hide it.

  He grimaced and turned his head away.

  Jodi slumped back into her seat and crossed her arms.

  Rob watched the exchange and quirked up an eyebrow.

  “How do you two know each other?”

  “We were partners,” she said. “Emphasis on the were.”

  “Where's Anson?” Freddy asked.

  “Dead,” said Jodi.

  He grimaced again.

  “I'm sorry.”

  “Your boys did it.”

  “Not my boys,” he answered.

  “You're working for their side,” she snapped back.

  “There are no sides in this,” he sighed.

  “There is no right or wrong. It's just a difference of opinion. Everything always had to be black or white for you.”

  “For me?” she snarled. “For me? Don't push your prejudices on me. I was the one-”

  “I'm not going into it again. Especially here. Especially now,” he said and shot a look at Rob.

  “Then you shouldn't have started it.”

  “I finished it. I wanted to talk about it then, but you said no.”

  “No does not mean the end of it all. The end of everything. No just meant no.”

  “It meant more than that. It wasn't a question you ask every day.”

  “Can I venture to guess this isn't about me anymore?” said Rob.

  They ignored him.

  “I just said no to one question,” Jodi argued. “Not to everything else. You're the one who blew it out of proportion.”

  “I asked you to marry me,” snarled Freddy. “You said no. That was the end of the story.”

  “The end of that story, not the end of our relationship. I didn't want to get married, Freddy,” she put a hand on his knee.

  “Get married to me you mean.”

  “I don't ever want to get married. That didn't mean I wanted to be done with you,” she said.

  “You said no.”

  “You're wrong,” Jodi sat back in her seat again and frowned at him. “You've made up your mind and you're wrong.”

  “Maybe,” he said. “But I'm not wrong about this.”

  He indicated wrong.

  “But you are,” she said and shot him a sad look. It was full of pity and remorse. “You don't know the whole story. You're working on bad intel. You don't
know everything.”

  “And you do?”

  “I know what my orders are. I know the oath I took for my badge. And I know this man has a job to do for our country. I don't know all the details of his job, but I don't have to know. I have my orders.”

  Freddy laughed at her.

  “You're naïve. You don't even know what you're doing. Blindly following orders is going to get all of us killed. Not just our country, the entire human race. This man is supposed to negotiate a truce with our first alien contact. They are an invading force. Even he's too stupid to see how that will impact our world. If we let them in, they're going to destroy us.”

  “You're wrong,” growled Rob.

  “How would you know Mr. Crow? You've been brainwashed by the invaders to act as their puppet. You're going to play us right into their hands.”

  Rob tilted his head to one side.

  “I'm not brainwashed.”

  “What do you remember?” Freddy challenged.

  Rob scooted away and didn't answer.

  “Exactly,” said Freddy. “We know Mr. Crow. We've been watching you.”

  “Sounds like he's not the only one who's been brainwashed Freddy,” Jodi said.

  “He's not going to listen to us,” Rob said.

  Freddy hunkered down in his seat.

  “He's right. I won't.”

  Jodi started at him sadly.

  “You never would.”

  23

  Freddy watched Rob doze against the side of the train, his head bobbing.

  Both arms were clenched tight around the laptop.

  Jodi watched them both.

  Freddy tried to catch her eye, but she glanced away.

  A knock on the door startled Rob awake.

  Riggs leaned in.

  “They're here.”

  “Who?” Freddy asked as he stood and stretched.

  Riggs stepped aside to reveal two Nordes standing in the aisle behind him.

  Rob sat up rigid and glared.

  “Nordes,” he growled.

  Freddy took a step closer to the seat and blocked the way to Rob.

  “I thought we were catching a C-130 in St. Louis.”

  “Change of plans,” smiled Riggs. “Golden boy here goes with them.”

  Jodi shifted in her seat to block Rob.

  “Not happening,” she snarled.

  Freddy reached down and gripped her arm.

  He jerked her out of the way.

  “Move.”

  “No,” she squirmed. “Stop them Freddy.”

  Freddy struggled with her to pull Jodi out of the way.

  He stuffed her into the seats on the other side of the car.

  “I have my orders,” he shoved her down.

  Riggs grabbed Rob by the arm and leveraged him up.

  Rob struggled, but Riggs just pulled his arm higher behind his back and bent him over at the waist.

  The Nordes flanked him and put their rifles against his head.

  Rob stopped struggling. He held the laptop out to Jodi.

  “Hold this for me,” he said.

  She reached out and took the computer from him.

  Riggs let go of his arm and he stood up straight.

  The Nordes marched him down the corridor.

  Freddy peeked around Riggs to watch them go.

  “They're not taking any chances with him,” he said.

  “Not once you've seen him in action,” Riggs smirked.

  Jodi slammed the laptop against the side of his face with a loud crack.

  He fell into the floor and she stomped on his head to smash Freddy across the temple with the computer.

  “Crow!” she screamed.

  Rob ducked under the rifle barrel at the back of his head and jerked it forward.

  The laser fired and disintegrated the front Norde's head.

  Rob slammed his elbow into the second one's head while he kept pulling the rifle.

  The Norde picked him up with its other arm and slammed him into the window.

  It shattered.

  Wind screamed in through the opening.

  Rob rolled toward the door between cars and flipped off his back into the air.

  He caught the edge of the seats with his hands and toes and powered up to the roof of the car.

  The Norde aimed where he was, fired and missed.

  The laser cut the door in half.

  Three Commando's spilled through the crack, torsos smoking.

  Rob dropped on the alien.

  He cracked it across the face with his knee and rode it down to the floor.

  He ripped the rifle out of its hand, bashed its face with the butt and reversed the barrel.

  He blasted it through the head, and scanned the car with the sights.

  “Come on!” Jodi screamed.

  She fished her gun from Freddy's pocket and tucked his weapon into her belt.

  “Computer?” Rob asked.

  She held out the broken laptop to him.

  “Damn.”

  He pushed her toward the back of the car and wrenched the door open to the next sleeper car.

  The corridor ran down one side of the car, while little private compartments lined the other.

  The far door slid open and Nordes poured through.

  Rob shoved Jodi into one of the private compartments and sent a dozen laser blasts down the corridor into the advancing Nordes.

  They fired back.

  Bolts singed the air around his head, but Rob doesn't flinch.

  He drops to one knee, sights on the aliens and mows them down.

  Rob grabbed Jodi by the arm and propelled her ahead of him in the corridor.

  They tripped and staggered over smoking alien corpses.

  A bullet shattered a window next to Rob.

  Jodi whirled around and shot twice.

  A Commando dropped behind them.

  They kept running through the car until they reached the last door.

  It was locked, but there was nothing beyond but receding tracks.

  No caboose on this train, not even an engine facing backwards ready to haul it in a different direction.

  Just the tracks racing by underneath the carriage and disappearing into the distance.

  “End of the line,” said Rob.

  He turned around and ran back to the front of the car. He shouldered the door open and blasted away at the floor.

  He hit the coupling and with a screech of shearing metal the car dropped back as the train raced away.

  Jodi moved next to him as they slowed to a stop.

  The tracks were in the middle of a hill on the side of a river.

  Rob looked at the laser rifle then tossed it down the hill.

  “I wish we could keep one of those,” said Jodi.

  He reached out, put his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her face to his shoulder to shield it from the explosion.

  “It would come in handy.”

  Jodi glanced up and down the empty tracks.

  “What now?”

  “We go meet the cavalry. Again.”

  He hopped down on the tracks and started jogging. Jodi jumped down and quickly caught up.

  “You called the Grays?”

  “Not quite,” he huffed.

  “What do you mean, not quite?”