by Chris Hechtl
“Right.”
...*...*...*...*...
Gabe piped music out. Some of the crew grinned at the familiar sounds of the Halo soundtrack, Gears of War, and other songs they held near and dear. Songs like Commando “We fight for love”, Delta Force theme song, Blow Me Away, Top Gun, Queen, RAD's “Heart of Thunder”, Nickleback's “Hero,” Christina Aguilera’s “Fighter,” Minmei and “We Will Win” from Robotech, songs from Rocky and other films and even the climactic battle song from the end of the original Dune. Gabe really was a sci-fi nerd on steroids.
Anything to inspire people. And just for good measure patriotic songs were mixed in as well. Action songs to get the blood pumping and to stir people to action. More importantly to keep them awake and alert. Not that they needed it, with the adrenalin flowing like it was. One good look at the perimeter and it would wake anyone up. Wake them up and keep them awake. No one wanted to fall asleep with the swarm literally on the other side of the wall. Unfortunately more than one person was strained by the sight though. More than one just saw them coming more and more and felt like cracking.
...*...*...*...*...
“Can you believe this shit?” Hernandez asked as he picked at his MRE. The aliens had stopped throwing waves at the wall and were now spreading out, moving along the perimeter on both the North and South sides looking for an opening, a weak point to exploit. They didn't have much time; it was getting close to three AM.
“Yeah,” Todd said. “I am so...”
“Save it man,” Hernandez sighed. He was tired of the guy pissing and moaning and apologizing. “What's done is done. We knew they were coming. Now we just got to survive until daylight.”
“Yeah.”
“Which is in a couple more hours. I think, hell, I hope they'll back off an hour or so before sun up and we can get some down time.”
“I'm glad the defenses held,” Todd said.
“You and me both,” Hernandez said, getting off the truck and stretching. It had been a long stressful night and it was shaping up to be like that for some time to come. Throw in what the boss had planned and it was going to be insane pretty soon. Sleep was now a luxury.
“I'm going to catch some Zs. Wake me if they get close to a breach,” he said climbing into the truck.
“Seriously?” Todd asked shocked.
“We're going on the offensive the moment the sun's up man. I want to be able to kick ass, not stand around scratch my ass and yawn,” Hernandez growled, getting comfortable.
...*...*...*...*...
When the aliens got close to the moat they used sprinklers to spray gasoline on the surface of the water in the moat to drive them back. They kept the spray limited to only a few gallons of precious fuel at only the most critical of places.
Mortars and Fougasse cannons were used to break up clusters and to maim the large packs. So far they had managed to keep the chain guns and most of the heavy weapons in reserve. Air mortars launched Molotov cocktails over the heads of the aliens and into their lines. When they landed they burst into flames. Any aliens in the area splashed were lit by fire. They thrashed around, throwing the lines into chaos. The areas on fire were avoided by the aliens, causing more disruption.
“They are testing us,” Shane muttered. “Trying to scope out what we've got.”
“Jen is right, they are learning. A broad attack on the wall is hard. The gates are choke points. They seem to be using some strategy to look for weak spots,” Ross said grudgingly. “They haven't quite figured out how to avoid choke points, but they are starting to learn.” He nodded to a video of a charge that had been filtered into a narrow defile and then chopped into ribbons by a bank of Fougasse cannons in their faces.
“Yeah, that's what sucks about this. It’s a natural school for them. They've been using numbers to overwhelm others. Here they have to think. They have to learn and adapt. Darwin at its best. I'm not happy about that. I don't like the idea of them taking what they've learned and passing it on.”
“Let's make sure schools out for them, permanently, then,” Ross growled.
...*...*...*...*...
The gates became natural attack points since there was no moat in front of them impeding progress. Unfortunately none of them had a drawbridge; that had been discussed but then abandoned as unpractical. However they did have some other defenses in front and around the doors. Mowers and rotor tillers chopped up the small fry. Flame throwers drove them back.
Alien Fireflies occasionally flew over and they were dive bombed from the sky. SAMs took the aliens out. Bursts of CO2 from the fire extinguishers put out the flames. If they knew a run was imminent they activated the water sprinklers or lights facing the raider to blind it and turn it away.
Dozers and vehicles were strategically positioned around the inside of the perimeter, helping at attack points that were in danger of being breached. The plugs worked but each time they sucked up precious ammo and fuel. The vehicles had to shuffle from one spot to another all night.
Fire trucks and water trucks were either kept busy putting out fires in the perimeter or using ladders to spray a mix of oil and water out onto the 60 and 215 freeways. Some of the oil was from their precious stocks but some had been donated.
The freeway stretch was kept lit with fires all night. The air was thick with smoke, soot, and ash. The wind constantly changed direction, throwing the fire back and forth. Some of the thermite embedded in the napalm kicked off, spraying sparks all over the place. This kept the aliens dancing away and off balance.
When the area fires started to burn down and the lights from them faded the aliens tried to rush through. The fire fighters waited until the aliens were half way across and into the open and then opened up and sprayed again. When they got to the median, flares were shot out of improvised potato guns, lighting the entire swarm in a fiery blaze of glory and gore. Some of the guys and gals manning that perimeter were wearing sunglasses. Everyone carried a mask of some sort. More than one fireman was grinning like an idiot at the sight of the alien barbeque.
...*...*...*...*...
“This had better work,” Hernandez muttered as spears rained out from the shooter, then tennis balls.
The rain of spears had made the aliens jump about to dodge them. The tennis balls were sort of a lark, the aliens batted them about, not sure what to make of them. But when they sniffed the leaking gel that was dribbling all over everything, they wrinkled their noses and growled. Then another rain of objects came. These exploded, and the napalm within the strange spheres caught fire.
Eddy Newman loved how the aliens danced or exploded when set on fire. Just giving one a hot foot made him feel all warm and toasty inside. “That never gets old,” he said, as a hellcat spun about in impotent rage, back aflame. It roared in anguish, then stumbled as the heat and searing pain overloaded it's nervous system and its body shut down. Shane came up to the wall, took a look, and then nodded. He clapped Eddy on the back and then gave the tennis ball crew a thumbs up. They'd lobbed spears with the shooter, grenades, and then the napalm filled tennis balls. They were being called the Tennis crew, but he preferred Postal Express. Eddy grinned at his people. They were tired, more tired than they had ever been, but it felt good.
...*...*...*...*...
For the 215 front it was a hard fight until almost dawn, then the aliens retreated in a sudden ragged gush that left the defenders surprised and then cheering. The alien wounded hobbled behind the retreating pack. Ross reported that some, like adult Gremlin Raptors and Rexes were helped. It was odd that they did that, normally the aliens showed a complete disregard for each other’s health and would normally turn on an injured member. A few of the lesser aliens were torn apart in pack fighting.
The cheering spread as Gabe punched in the intercom to let everyone know that the aliens were in full retreat. The group grinned and smiled all around. Shane got his shoulder and back slapped. He didn't celebrate though; he knew it was just the beginning.
“They'll be back.
”
He hit the mike key and then the intercom. “Good job people,” he waited for the cheering to die down. “Good job. We survived the first round. Bob, all construction people and any volunteers get moving on repairing the defenses. I want the 215 crew to be relieved in ten minutes and then eat and stand down for a minimum of six hours of rest. Hernandez, Todd, Torres, Wayne, get your teams fed and two hours of downtime then we're going hunting just after dawn. Good work people. That is all,” he said clicking off.
You're serious?” Gabe asked looking up at him in disbelief. “You're really going out there?” he asked.
“You're nuts,” the British guy said behind him.
“No, now it’s our turn. Gabe get an ROV up in the air and track them. Get more than one. I want to know where the biggest concentrations go to ground now. We'll dozer the bastards right into the ground with Walt's toys.”
“Ah,” Ross said with a nod. “Smart.”
“The general wants a word boss,” Jill said, waving a phone. He looked over to her and nodded.
He went over and patted her shoulder as he took the phone. She looked up at him with bloodshot eyes. “Get some rest and food Jill. You look like shit,” he said.
“Gee thanks, you look about the same,” she said with a snort. He shrugged but smiled a tight lipped smile.
“General?”
“Is this Mall Six?”
“Yes. We've survived the night. Unknown enemy dead. Hundreds probably, possibly a thousand. I want to report that the aliens definitely have leadership.” He gave a quick sketched out report of the battle and had the Brit link the video bits he had saved to the General's intel staff for review. He was glad they had done that, people needed to know.
“We'll try to send in some support but I've got to check with higher. Hold on son. The Cavalry will be there. I hope.”
He shook his head as he hung the phone up.
“Are we really staying here? Shouldn't we run?” Jill asked looking up at him.
“There is nowhere to go. They will follow us. No, we stand our ground.”
He made his way through the mall to his trucks. Hopefully his team would be there and ready. He listened to the people as he walked. Some of the terrified people urged them to flee to the mountains, but there wasn't time. The fighters would now be rotating off the line to eat and rest. Bob's teams were already moving out to frantically reinforce defenses and add to them.
He got to his truck and found only half his team was there. Bobby nodded to him. Tater hefted his potato gun on one shoulder. Hopefully the rest of the team was getting the two hours of downtime he'd told them to get. They'd need it.
“This is strictly volunteers only folks,” he said hefting his own rifle. “We're getting some payback. We’re going to give them another hour to go to ground then Gabe's going to direct us to the biggest pockets. We're going to go in running and gunning. We'll ram vehicles through houses, use air cannons, blow them up, dozer them into the ground and use their guts as grease. Ready?” he asked.
Tater grinned as the men and women around them cheered.
“All right people. Shit and eat fast we're moving out in forty five or fifty minutes. Move it people!” He nodded to Hernandez as the soldier passed with his troop. They were already up and moving out. Good.
...*...*...*...*...
Canyon Springs plaza had held out, but was low on fuel, so Dave shipped them more. The lead truck had a cow catcher on it, it plowed through the debris and dead aliens to blaze a path for the other trucks to follow.
Fuel was a concern, as was water. Bob was scratching his head bald trying to figure out a better way to shore up the freeway side defenses as they reload the Fougasse cannons. He had wanted to create concrete barrier walls but they had run out of time. Now he was trying to do the impossible.
One of Dave's gals moving fuel barrels suggested filling half barrels with gas and explosives and then wrapping them in shrapnel and leaving them out on the battlefield. Wait until the aliens were passed them and then light them off, chewing holes in their ranks. He heard about the idea and ordered Jesse to see what she could do with it. Kyle and Jolie were too busy helping repair and resupply the guns on the wall to help much. They woke Eddy Newman and sicked his boys and girls on the project.
Torres, Wayne, and Todd headed out at eight AM to kill any aliens nearby. They chased off scavengers and burned any alien bodies they found. The teams were tired though, so they tried to rotate half off for down time around noon and then switched.
Those survivors who had held out until the last minute and had even survived the vanguard of the alien army were now fleeing in droves to the mall. They told stories of watching the battles in the dark, but then seeing the flag still flying defiantly near dawn. Some also told of being evicted by the swarm, of pulling out the back way when the aliens arrived. They had been fortunate to get to cover before the aliens had killed them. Apparently all focus was on Towngate now.
...*...*...*...*...
Doctor Phillips nodded to the Colonel and other representatives. “Doctor, how is it going?” the Colonel asked before they could get into their usual discussion.
“I'm not a military expert Colonel. From what I understand, well so far. They haven't breached our first layer of defenses yet. At least not for very long,” Phillips said, looking at Yan for confirmation.
“That's good. So you think you can hold out?”
“We're definitely going to try Colonel; there isn't anywhere else to go. We're surrounded.”
“Ah.”
“Unfortunately we don't have any hard numbers on the aliens. We do however know that the Gremlins are definitely the leaders. I've uploaded the material Mr. O'Neill and our other people saved for us. I believe he has also uploaded it to your intel department.”
“We've seen that as well,” Colonel Nash said with a nod.
“Yes, well, they also do not like citrus. We've definitely confirmed that.”
“I was wondering about that,” Doctor Roberts said, taking his glasses off. “The common hypothesis is that they are reacting to vitamin C. I believe however that is in error.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. After all, they eat Terrans and we have... um...” he looked embarrassed.
“We have vitamin C in our tissues you mean,” the Colonel said with a grimace. “True. I always told my wife I got enough eating a steak,” he said, joking weakly.
“True.”
“But that doesn't mean it’s not poisonous to them. It could be a concentrated dose,” Yan said slowly. “The vitamin C in tissue may be too low a dose to affect them, or it might be cumulative.”
“Who is looking into this?” the Colonel asked.
Phillips hunched his shoulders. Yan toed the carpet and then sighed. “Jen is. Or was.”
“I've focused on the bigger picture. Documenting the aliens and cataloging each species,” Doctor Phillips said defensively. “And well, I tend to get side tracked by other projects easily,” he admitted.
“We've planted citrus plants along the border. It’s been helping in the defenses apparently. The alien predators are using herds of herbivores as cannon fodder. But if they even smell the citrus plants they change course.”
“Ah.”
“We picked most of the town clean for us and the other enclaves.”
“How is Jen doing,” the Colonel asked as the others shifted. Suddenly everyone stilled and looked at the two Mallers.
“It’s not going to be long now,” Yan said sadly. “She's sleeping more and more and her vitals are not good.”
“I'm sorry to hear that,” the Colonel said soberly. The others nodded. “Please give her and her family our best.”
“Thank you. Her husband is the leader here. He's busy...” Yan shrugged helplessly.
“He's the leader?” the Colonel asked surprised.
“Former Marine,” Yan said with a small smile. “He's the reason any of us are still alive. Him and his wife. And others of c
ourse, no disrespect doctor,” he glanced at Phillips who shrugged.
“Yan is correct. Shane O'Neill is a good man. A great man. It’s terrible that he has to be away from her in this time. Especially at this time. But she made him promise to put the community first. He's... I've seen some of his combat footage. He's quiet something.”
“Combat footage?” the Colonel asked surprised.
“Yes. He's a field commander. A real lead from the front kind of guy,” Doctor Phillips said with a smile. “He's out there leading our men and women now, hunting the aliens by day before he has to come back to defend us when they attack tonight.”
“Wow,” Doctor Roberts said.
“I'm uploading everything we've got as much as possible, as often as possible, in case we fall. I'd like to do more studies but right now power is limited. I suggest someone else look into the citrus versus vitamin C question. Perhaps the vitamin C issue will have a cumulative effect as we mentioned before. Perhaps the predators will start to ignore us.”
“Anything is possible,” Roberts said with a nod. “However unlikely. I'll see if we can take a look. I did notice in the demographics that areas with high citrus concentrations have fewer aliens. Perhaps we can query those areas and find out more?”
“Um... yes, yes. I'll make a note,” the Colonel said with a nod. “I'll also see if we can get you some more support Doctor Phillips. We can't afford to lose all of you,” he said gruffly.
“Thank you,” the doctor said with a nod.
...*...*...*...*...
Crews worked feverishly to do what they could. Those people that couldn't do much either helped move materials manually, formed bucket brigades to move earth, or even manned exercise equipment rigged the alternators to recharge batteries.
Some helped cook or cut back on their own meals and gave half to the soldiers on the wall. Some wore improvised masks and hauled away the dead burnt aliens or tried to clean up their sticky blood.