Banshee Screams

by Clay Griffith

  Overheating and out of control, the ship began to lose altitude. Debbi's angry scream roared in Stew's ears as she lost the last shred of tenuous control over her craft.

  Olivares grabbed the rocket launcher and shoved Stew aside. He heaved up the weapon and barely finished sighting before squeezing the trigger. The margin was too fine. He knew that. He could hardly tell where the monster ended and the Stallion began. He had merely aimed for the monster's bulging head.

  There was no choice. If the creature hit the ground again, it would be gone and their chance would be lost. And Temptation would be down another Ranger.

  They might be down one Ranger anyway.

  The missile was true and the explosion filled the sky. There was an unholy shriek that pierced eardrums and brought everyone's hands up to muffle it out. Olivares and Stew could no longer see the ship or the monster in the confusing, smoky blackness.

  Then something fell. Stew could just make out the cable snaking down after it. The Rangers were on their feet and running for the edge of the roof.

  "Oh God," Stew sobbed, white-knuckled and hunched forward. "Debbi!"

  The mass impacted the ground, throwing up another cloud of dust. When it began to clear, the limp form of the creature lay sprawled over the town square. A single cheer went up as ecstatic Rangers relished their victory, but then immediately quieted as they all searched the sky for their missing comrade.

  Out of the smoke cloud above came a high rumble of thunder as the Stallion erupted up and out. Debbi had somehow righted the ship and hit the accelerator. The ship skyrocketed, heeling hard over to the right. Damage was evident on the left side. Plating was ripped off and broken wires sparked.

  "She's gonna crash!" Ringo shouted.

  "Come on, Debbi!" Stew yelled as the Stallion bucked and shuddered. "Hold onto it!"

  Debbi knew she was in a bad way. The ship barely responded to commands. Everything was sluggish and the pedals felt like mush beneath her feet. She knew that there wasn't enough control left to attempt a landing in the heart of town.

  She was already in a steep bank and she let it go, aiming the Stallion for the town walls. If she could make the sandy flats beyond, there was some hope of walking away.

  She let guts and instincts take over, pushing all she could out of the laboring Stallion. She gave it encouragement and as much power as she could eke out of the failing engines. The readouts in front of her were blinking on and off, signaling catastrophic damage to the electrical systems. If they failed before she landed, she was dead. She struggled with the stick to straighten out the ship.

  A yellowish slime coated the main window where a gigantic tentacle had flopped over it. She could barely see through it. The dark outline of the town vanished beneath her, signaling she was over the desert.

  It would have to be enough. She couldn't tell which direction she was heading, but it didn't look like there was anything living below her. Hell, she'd be happy as long as she didn't land on the infirmary.

  Damn, Ross was going to be pissed.

  She let up on the throttle and allowed the ship to begin its descent, keeping the nose up for as long as she could. Once it dipped she'd lose speed rapidly and plummet to the ground like a stone. She had to keep wind resistance on the bottom hull. She wound her arms around the stick and pulled back on it with all her might.

  "Come on!" she screamed at the ship. "Keep your damn head up!"

  The ground was rushing up too fast. She cut the throttle entirely and heaved back, firing the hover-nodes beneath the ship to cushion the impact. She couldn't tell if they were working, but she prayed they were. It might mean the difference between living and dying.

  "Don't fail me now, Hoss! One more inch! Get your big fat head up!" Her last word was an angry bellow.

  The nose rose a bit more and then she was down, slamming into the sand in a flurry of dust that made the Worldstorm look like a sneeze. Her head snapped forward and then back, the light dimming and stars erupting. She felt the ship sliding sideways, but there was no way to stop it. All controls were dead. She was just along for the ride now.

  "Don't roll on me, baby," she pleaded, clutching the arm rails for dear life.

  Suddenly the forward motion slowed and then ceased all together.

  "Holy c-crap!" Debbi shook so badly her teeth were chattering. She laid her aching skull back against the seat's headrest.

  "I'm alive," she whispered in amazement.

  She sat there for a while. There was no strength in her limbs at the moment. She sucked in great gulps of stale, arid air. It finally dawned on her she smelled smoke. She fumbled for the release on her seat restraints. Successfully performing that simple function gave her the motivation she needed to get moving. She reached for the door. It wouldn't open.

  Damn it.

  Debbi tried the explosive bolts, but they didn't fire.

  She searched for the manual override, flipped open the panel and began to crank the metal handle. It took what seemed like hours.

  Good thing the ship isn't engulfed in flames, was her morbid thought, or I'd be toast.

  Sweet air filled the cabin as the door slowly rumbled open. Her muscles burned from their furious strain, but she continued to crank until the hatch was open wide enough to crawl through. She landed in a pitiful heap on the hot dust, slumping to the ground.

  Shoving herself to her feet, she stumbled away from the craft in no particular direction.

  She heard a rumble to her left. A cadre of Rangers was zipping toward her on their speeders. She waved at them, signaling that she was all right. They surrounded her in a flurry of sand and excited shouts.

  Ringo leaped off from behind Miller and reached her first. He grabbed her arm. "Dallas, you okay?"

  "I'm fine, Ringo." His thrilled cry stabbed into Debbi's throbbing skull, but it wasn't enough to wipe the cockeyed smile from her face.

  Miller was suddenly on her other side. "You had us going there for a bit, Dallas, you crazy woman!" He had a hand under her other arm to make sure she remained upright.

  "I'm all right." His concern took Debbi by surprise. She squeezed his shoulder. "Thanks."

  Her eyes scanned the group for Stew. She saw him at the back of the crowd. She lifted her hand and shouted his name, but he turned his speeder bike and headed back to Temptation's gates.

  Olivares approached her. "That was some pretty fancy flying."

  She grinned briefly at the praise. "Seat-of-the-pants. I don't recommend it." Debbi's eyes remained on Stew's departing form. "Is Stew okay? You know, the Ranger with you on the roof."

  Olivares nodded. "He's in one piece, if that's what you mean. But I get the feeling you might want to have a talk with him and soon."

  Debbi regarded him curiously, but she was distracted as the rest of the Rangers swarmed around her.

  "So, did we get it?" she asked them.

  "I think so," Miller answered. "It looked dead to me."

  "What do you mean you think so? Didn't any of you go down and check?"

  Ringo looked at her incredulously. "You're kidding, right?"

  Miller retorted, "How the hell did you want us to check it? Poke it with a stick? Look, it was dead. It wasn't moving."

  "Maybe it's just stunned," she said. "Ever think of that?"

  Miller threw up a dismissive hand. "Even with Stew's piss-poor shooting, we kicked its slimy ass. It ain't getting back up again, trust me."

  Debbi snorted, rubbing the back of her stiffening neck. "Let's head back and see if it's still there. It damn well better be. I'm not going through that again."

  Olivares folded his arms. "Don't worry, it's dead. It didn't have a head anymore, and most things, xeno or otherwise, have a hard time getting around without one."

  "I'll give you a ride back." He gestured with his thumb to the speeder he rode in on. The rest of the Rangers were already breaking up and moving off to their vehicles.

  Olivares was about to head for his bike when his gaze shifted off Debbi
and toward the horizon. His hand went up to shade his eyes. "What the hell is that?"

  Debbi turned around and felt her stomach bottom out. A large dark cloud was approaching. It was moving far too fast to be a natural weather pattern. Debbi took a step back and came abreast of Olivares.

  "Oh, what is it this time?" Miller groaned, more angry than afraid. He threw his hat down in the dirt in frustration. "Sweet Josiah, can't we get a break around here?"

  "Let's go." Debbi pulled on Olivares's arm. "Everyone, back to Temptation. Now!"

  The cloud undulated oddly, like it was alive.

  Olivares quickly straddled the speeder and made room for Debbi on the back. The rest of the Rangers were already mounted and gone in a swirl of sand. Debbi and Olivares were hot on their heels, racing the cloud.

  It quickly swept past them and cast its dark shadow over the town. The flapping of wings could be heard, hundreds of them.

  A new plague had arrived.

  Chapter 24

  The sky darkened as the Rangers raced for Temptation. Debbi yanked out the binoculars and craned her head upward, ignoring the sharp stab of pain it caused. She trained the glasses on the black mass above her. Thumbing the zoom, it jumped into clarity.

  She wished it hadn't.

  She saw a carpet of batlike creatures, moving as one, all red eyes and yellow teeth. They screeched and lunged at each other in a wild but controlled flight. She had never seen anything like them before.

  She looked down and watched as the ground ahead of them turned black as night as the mass blotted out the fading sun. Praying they would just keep moving, Debbi dropped the glasses down and hung onto Olivares's back. Maybe they were migrating.

  Please let them be migrating, she intoned in a silent mantra.

  The pack of speeders swept through the open gates. They were promptly ditched as soon as they made headquarters and the Rangers pulled their guns and trained them upward, watching with wary expressions.

  There were still a few people wandering the streets in defiance of the curfew. They too were gazing upward at the strange sight, pointing.

  "Is it going to rain?" a young girl asked her boyfriend as they strolled down the street.

  "I don't think so." The young man shook his head and looked up with confusion. "What is that?"

  Debbi waved frantically at them. "Get off the streets." She had a very bad feeling about this.

  Suddenly, Ringo shouted and she jerked her gaze back up. The cloud fell apart. With the zeal of a hailstorm, the creatures dove straight down toward them. Their shrill screeching filled the air.

  Gunfire sounded as Rangers opened fire. Townspeople screamed and ran. Swarms of the creatures plummeted to the earth and swooped down on Rangers and citizen alike.

  The young man with the girlfriend screamed as several bat-creatures clutched onto his head and back. The girl ran in terror as two more chased her.

  Olivares tackled the girl and rolled with her across the street until he was close to a door. One creature swooped past, just missing them both. Olivares pulled her up and shoved her inside, quickly slamming the door behind them.

  Debbi ran to the boyfriend and used the butt of her gun to sweep the black things off him. They hit the dirt where they crawled on wing-bound claws, hissing through blood-drenched teeth. Debbi spun her gun up and fired. They blew apart.

  "Inside!" she yelled. "Everybody inside!"

  People ran. She grabbed the young man and pulled him under the sidewalk awning outside headquarters. He was sluggish and in obvious pain. She heard a sound above and pushed the boy over to Stew as she whirled her weapon up.

  A bat-thing jumped at her from its hiding spot in the rafters. Her stream of fire took it out and it flopped against her. She kicked its decimated body aside and turned back to the boy. Stew was dragging him inside. Debbi followed.

  She slammed the door just as more of the creatures whizzed past outside. Through the window, she saw Fitzpatrick running toward the office with blood streaming from his left forearm. She swung open the door. He barreled past her and she shut the door again. Fitzpatrick fell to the floor. Cass, who had been on office duty, came from behind the desk and helped Debbi prop Fitz against the nearest wall.

  "Damn! I just got this thing fixed!" he snarled through clenched teeth, a hand clamped over the gushing wound in his arm. He stared at Debbi with glassy eyes. "What are those things?"

  "I don't know." She tied a tourniquet around his arm and then wrapped the gaping quarter-inch hole just above his wrist. She turned to Ringo, who also had taken refuge in the office. "Get on the radio up top. Alert the emergency network. Tell people to stay in their homes."

  Ringo's terrified face pained her. She was about to rescind the order and go herself when Ringo shook his head.

  "It's okay. I'll go." He swallowed a few times and gulped in more air "I'll go with him," Cass offered.

  Ringo's color came back a little at that and he looked up at the old Ranger with gratitude.

  Debbi nodded her thanks. Her muscles felt like mush suddenly and she had to put a hand out to the wall to steady herself. She moved back to the window and looked out. Hundreds of the bat-things were still airborne, but she also saw some crawling on the outside of buildings and hanging beneath the sidewalk awnings. There were two just outside the office door, clinging to beams in the overhang. They were about a foot long and reddish green in color. On the surface, they resembled bats with their membranous wings and grasping clawed hands and feet. They had large eyes. Their mouths were frequently agape and strange tubular tongues flashed in and out. They had long, fleshy ratlike tails that whipped like snakes and thin, pliable fans of bone spreading up from the backs of their heads.

  Stew stood beside her, pale and grim. He pointed across the street. "Look over there."

  Just visible in the rapidly fading light, one of the creatures wiggled into a small hole in the side of the mercantile. Then it was gone. She saw Ngoma inside the front window of that same building, but he wasn't looking her way.

  She fingered her comlink. "Ngoma, you read? Ngoma!" There was nothing but silence. "Damn, his com must be out." She waved her arms to attract him to no avail.

  "He doesn't see you, Dallas," Stew said in small voice, fear all too evident in his tone as he watched more of the creatures disappear into the same hole.

  "Yeah." She stepped to the door.

  Stew whirled, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. "You can't seriously be thinking of going over there?"

  "Someone has to warn him."

  Stew shook his head vehemently. "I'll go."

  "Look, maybe we don't have to go outside. Let's just see if we can get his attention. Cover me."

  Wiping the sweat from his face, he lifted his Dragoon in trembling hands, clenched so tightly they were numb. He tried to quiet the pounding of his heart, but he couldn't. It roared in his ears. Suddenly, Debbi was shaking him.

  "Stew!"

  He looked at her with wide eyes, his mouth moving but forming no words.

  "Stew, you okay?"

  He offered a rough nod. He knew in his heart he should shake his head and tell her the truth. He couldn't take it anymore. It was too much. It never stopped.

  Debbi's eyes narrowed in confusion and then squeezed his arm. "Stew, just make sure none of those things get in here, okay? I'm going to attract Ngoma's attention." She held up her pistol. "If this doesn't work, nothing will." She moved to the door. "Now get ready."

  He stepped up behind her and trained his weapon at the top of the door, willing his limbs to stop shaking for just a moment. He wasn't going to let Debbi down again. She must not know he almost got her killed. Otherwise, why would she allow him to watch her back?

  Debbi crouched and eased the door open. She aimed and fired off a shot that struck the boardwalk right in front of Ngoma.

  The Ranger flinched and looked down and then up to lock eyes with Debbi. She closed the door quickly and motioned through the window with quick hand signals ab
out the danger surrounding him.

  He nodded and gestured back to those inside with him. They disappeared from view.

  A loud boom rent the air and the lights inside the office went out. The room plunged into murky shadows.

  "Transformer must have blown," Stew said.

  Debbi spat out a curse. "Some of those things must have flown into the relay station."

  "Intentional?"

  "I doubt it. Get the lanterns."

  There was a scream behind Debbi and she spun around. Fitzpatrick held his left arm and stared at it with wide terrified eyes.

  "Oh God, oh God," he babbled. "My arm!"

  Debbi ran to him, trying to comfort him in the darkness. "Easy, Fitz. It's okay. We'll get you to the Doc soon as we can."

  Stew returned with glowing lanterns and set them about the room.

  Debbi's eyes dropped to Fitz's arm. It hung down like a limp rag, bent backwards at the elbow. It hadn't seemed broken before when Debbi tied the tourniquet on it. Her mouth twisted into a sickened grimace.

  Fitzpatrick's scream became a shriek. Debbi touched his arm to try and ease it back into its proper place, but it collapsed over her hand like warm rubber, barely holding its form. There was no bone inside the flesh. Debbi's throat filled with bile and she struggled not to vomit.

  Fitzpatrick's eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped over, mercifully unconscious from the pain and shock.

  "Oh dear God," she mumbled and sat back for a moment, gasping with revulsion. Her eyes traveled to the young man she had rescued. He had been bitten on the head, shoulders, and back. He had been oddly silent since he had been brought inside.

  He lay on his stomach with his face turned toward her. His eyes stared with the remnants of unabashed terror. His skull sagged like a tired balloon. The upper part of his shoulders and neck collapsed like melted wax. His mouth gaped reflexively in an imitation of a dying fish.