by Chris Hechtl
Others hauled water or helped restock caches of ammunition, medical supplies, water, and food. All of the soldiers were cheered on with claps, hugs, and handshakes when they entered the mall or other building. Some had haunted looks, but they rallied despite their exhaustion. They knew everyone had to play their part. They smiled to their families. They also had a lot on the line.
...*...*...*...*...
Two hours before dark Shane brought his team in. Mateo and the others followed him. They had killed hundreds of aliens and lost dozens of people to do it. He hated it, hated the loss, but they hopefully had picked off some of the damn aliens. Enough to make it harder tonight. Most of their equipment had been recovered as well. The thing that sucked to him was he was glad of that and not nearly as hurt by the casualties as he thought he would be.
“Downtime folks. Try to get as much food and water and sleep as you can. Don't even bother with a shower if you can. Food and sleep are the important things here,” Mateo said tiredly as the crews off loaded wearily. They nodded and stumbled off into the mall.
...*...*...*...*...
Eddy saw Jerrica out on the inner perimeter and frowned in deep concern. He noted she was with a medical team, but she had her tablet with her. “What the hell is that girl doing?” he muttered.
Hernandez elbowed him. “Hey man,”
Eddy turned. “What?” he barked.
“Eyes on the prize. Worry about your daughter later. She can take care of herself.”
“Shit,” Eddy muttered. He looked out to see movement on the perimeter and frowned. So much for the aliens giving up and going home. He looked over his shoulder once more to his daughter. She looked up, seemingly sensing something or someone was watching her. He frowned, but only nodded to her when she caught sight of him. She gave him a jaunty salute and a thumbs up. He felt something, a slight upwards feeling that helped kick some of the cobwebs loose. He nodded to his team and returned his attention to the job at hand. He looked up to the tarp covering his shooter. Hopefully it wouldn't be needed.
...*...*...*...*...
“Gabe, Shell-game,” Shane ordered the big programmer. They had hoped that the aliens would pass them by, think of them as too tough a nut to crack but no such luck. Just before sundown they had started to see movement on the perimeter once more. He'd immediately pulled Bob's teams in and put everyone on red alert once more. The crews were grumpy but waking up and in position. Seeing the aliens on the perimeter again would do what the lack of coffee hadn't.
“Shell-game? Not Razzle Dazzle?” Gabe asked, fingers hovering over his keyboard.
“Shell-game. Let's see if we can draw the timing out,” he said. “Throw in some of your bots for them to chase around too. It should keep them busy,” he said.
“Or at least interesting,” Gabe muttered.
“We're playing for time here. Racing the clock. Eventually they are going to run out of food and either move on or break up.” He was hoping they would turn on each other soon. Or at least start eating their own. That would make for fewer aliens to swarm his perimeter.
“Okay...”
“Besides, Shell-game doesn't use ammunition or resources we can't replace. Just fuel and power.”
“And my boots,” Gabe muttered darkly.
Gabe used hidden speakers and heat lamps to draw the aliens away from attacking the North and Western perimeters. He did it randomly at first, letting them get close then flipping the decoys off and turning another further out on. Then he got into getting them to chase the decoys in a circuit. Finally a Gremlin Raptor got wise and stopped. It waited near a decoy until Gabe turned it on and then whirled, screaming. It tore it apart. After that the aliens stopped chasing the ghosts.
“It was worth a shot,” Gabe said.
“Hell, it was worth a laugh,” Hernandez said shaking his head. He hadn't been at all sure it was worth doing. All the effort to set it up. But seeing the aliens chasing their tails had made him feel a bit better. And it had also bought time.
“More importantly it bought us three precious hours,” Shane said. Time to rest, recover, and build up. “Now the bots. Can you handle them?” he asked Gabriel.
“What do you want? I don't think they'll fall for the same trick twice boss,” Gabe warned him. He waved a meaty hand at the monitor. The aliens they could see looked more than a little pissed.
“No, but if you sting them then retreat, sting with another bot on the flank and retreat you could tie them up a bit. Break up their coordination at least. Keep them off balance and unable to get organized and stage a full swarm attack.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Gabriel said nodding. “Neo, Leon, give me a hand here,” he said pulling the controls forward.
“Right,” they said taking up seats on either side of the programmer. “Fight and die time?”
“They aren't alive, dummy,” Leon growled. “More like fight till we're out of ammo then run like hell and get them to chase us right? Or shoot and scoot?”
“Something like that,” Gabe said finally feeling a little relief. Now he knew what Shane meant. They were buying time. He resented losing the robots, he'd put a lot of time and effort into the damn things, but if they kept them alive... hell they were just machines. He'd built them once; he could damn well build another. Or more than one.
They stung packs as they formed and fell back. Shane had them toss in a few UAV bombs. The bombs were small, hand size Molotov cocktail sized torches rigged to blow on impact. That tore up the alien staging grounds. The aliens fell into disarray on the Northern flank. He had them work on the Western a bit more, breaking up staging sites when they could find them.
“Got them chasing their tails there,” Hernandez said. He winced as Leon's bot tried a shoot and scoot. It retreated too slowly and was cut off and torn apart. The bot tumbled as a giant Hellcat batted it with a mighty swing. The video signal broke up from the impact and then reformed just in time for the viewers to see a brief image of claws and teeth before going dark permanently. “But not on the South Western end.”
“Can't be perfect everywhere every time,” Shane said patting Leon on the shoulder. “Switch to another bot or a remote view. Try some Shell-game tricks on them, see if they bite on that side,” he said. “See if you can get some UAVs out over them. Dive bomb them, piss them off.”
“Tried that already,” Gabe said, hands on the controls, a rictus of concentration on his face. “If the fliers don't knock them down, then the damn animals jump and swat them right out of the sky.”
“Okay, keep them higher up then,” Shane said nodding.
“Not happening, they are charging boss!” Leon said sitting up suddenly and pointing to the camera. A wave of aliens lunged towards the defenses.
“Shit!” Hernandez growled turning and bolting for the door. Shane was hard on his heels. “Gabe warn 'em of incoming!” he yelled into his mike.
“A little busy here!” Gabe said. He didn't look up as Leon leaned over him and hit the intercom and then slapped his hand down on the big red button for the klaxon.
A big battle erupted. Waves of aliens hit the Southern defenses but fell back in disarray after ten minutes of intense fighting. Shane noted the aliens were now feeding on their own wounded. Interesting. They'd killed and stripped the area of resources and were now turning on their own. Maybe it was because they didn't leave any of the aliens to eat that they killed? Apparently cooked alien wasn't on their menu. They were hurt and hungry. Good.
“So?” Mateo asked as he told him that.
“So, we hold out we've got a chance. They really are like locusts. If we keep on them, salt the earth like you said, we've got them by the balls. They'll burn out on their own if we can stay alive.” He realized they were probing the perimeter, looking for weaknesses. A sign of advanced intelligence. He didn't like what he was finding, but wasn't sure if it was for real or not.
The rest of the night passed in a bit of a blur. The aliens attacked here and there on the wall, prob
ing. Most of the time the lights or fire drove them off. A herd of Hell deer were driven across an electric fence, from out of the darkness. The fence killed or incapacitated the front rank. The ones behind stumbled or tried to leap over them only to leap into the fire from the humans. One or two survived to trot along the line of the moat, off out of the way.
Over time that tactic was tried over and over with the same or similar results. Soon they had a growing herd of alien herbivores milling about in the bright lights.
When the aliens tried to use the herd as cover, the more hungry members of their troop ignored their directions and instead turned on the herd. Kyle had them spray the entire crowd with napalm and then wait. When the killing was over and the predators begin fighting over the remains he had arrows lit. He grinned as they launched them into the tangled mess. Fire enveloped the whole knot of alien flesh. Savage grins spread around the human ranks as they covered their faces from the smell and smoke.
An hour before dawn explosions ripped into the alien lines. Gabe called in, a Global Hawk and a pair of armed military drones were overhead doing a firing run. Cheers erupted through the ranks as weapons fire rained down from above. They hadn't been forgotten.
After that the aliens slunk off before daylight.
Chapter 60
“Hon I've...” he stroked her thin emaciated fingers gently.
“You've got to go,” she said quietly, hands gripping his. He tried not to cry, her grip was so weak. Her eyelids were so heavy now; she could barely keep her eyes open for more than a minute or two. “I know honey, go out there and protect our family. All our families,” she whispered, voice drifting.
He looked up at the doc. The doc shook his head. The kids were crying quietly. He sighed, stroking his wife and then kissing her on the forehead. “I'll be back in a little while,” he said in her ear.
He patted the kids as he stopped by them. Nick hugged him fiercely. That got the girls to hug him. Awkwardly he guided them out into the hall. He stroked the girls' hair. He made his way to a nearby chair and sat. All three tried to climb into his lap.
“I've... look your mom is...”
“We know,” Trina sobbed holding his jacket tightly as she cried. He sighed, stroking her hair. “We know daddy, we know,” she said.
Jayne came over and patted Tori. The girl turned and hugged her. She oofed and then stroked the girl's hair. “You are getting so big! Come on kids. We'll look in on your mom in a bit. We'll make sure she's comfortable. Doc is here. He'll do what he can. Right Jer?” she asked looking at the doctor.
The young man bobbed a nod, adam's apple bobbing nervously. He looked like hell; he'd been dealing with the incoming wounded day in and day out since the siege had begun. He was used to it by now, but it was hell sometimes. Times like this. “I'll, that is, we'll do what we can to make her comfortable,” he said awkwardly. He frowned. “Wish I could do more.”
Shane looked up and caught his eyes. Jerry looked like hell warmed over. Hell, they all did. What little sleep he was getting was at his wife's side. It was terrible fighting a war on two fronts. By day and by night. At least for him he'd known this last terrible battle Jen would fight would be coming. Jerry and the other doctors were going through a hell of their own, fighting a battle with death with every patient that was rushed into them. A battle some inevitably lost. “Jerry we can only do the best we can do. We know that. Now,” he said stroking the kids' hair. “I've got to fight a battle. You three need to eat, brush your teeth, change and get ready for bed.”
“We'll be okay daddy,” Trina said kissing him on the cheek. He smiled softly, feeling his heart break and trying not to show it.
“I know pumpkin,” he said, voice husky. “Nick...”
“Take care of my sisters like a big brother should. I know, I promised mom,” the boy said, dashing tears. Shane smiled a crooked grin, patting his son on the shoulder and then ruffling his hair.
“That's my boy. You do your mom proud, both of us proud. Go on then, I'll look in on you and your mom when I can.” he waved. The kids reluctantly left quietly.
He sat there for a moment, staring at nothing then wiped his eyes.
“Boss,” the radio said. He sighed. “Boss,” it said again.
He keyed the mike. “Yeah, be right there,” he said.
“Do what you can doc, It'll be okay,” he said, patting Jerry's shoulder as he passed him by and moved off to the waiting battle.
...*...*...*...*...
“Boss, people are shaky,” Bob said tiredly. “We need to do something. Soon.”
Two days of unrelenting combat, day in and day out. Grinding combat. Grinding away at their forces.
General Drummans had promised some relief. He'd delivered a bit, they had fresh supplies dropped every day, and sometimes at night an F-18 or a drone would come by and make life miserable for the aliens.
Last night a B-52 had made a drop along the Canyon Springs area, damn close to the Plaza. The heat had been intense. The annoying thing was the light was driving the aliens off, but the heat was drawing in every alien predator for miles and miles around. It was a catch 22. One that they were slowly loosing.
So far the defenses had held. Held against the relentless onslaught. Oh, the outer perimeter had been breached a few times, but those aliens that had got in had been cut off when the breach had been closed by the backup forces rushing in. Then they had been slaughtered.
Casualties were high. Fatalities were bad. The casualties... if someone was injured they either patched it themselves and kept fighting or were carried off to the infirmary. Only a few fighters had broken under the strain. They were sedated and resting comfortably.
“Stand down for a couple of hours. An hour before sundown have everyone and I do mean everyone assemble in the mall or listening in through the intercom.”
“What are you going to do?” Jayne asked.
“One of Jen's fire side pep talks. It’s long overdue. What I'm probably going to do is stick my foot in my mouth up to my knee.”
“You mean your usual?” Jayne asked smiling weakly.
“Something like that,” he said with a tired shrug.
“This I've got to see,” Bob said with a tired snort.
“Funny.”
...*...*...*...*...
He looked out, surveying the crowd. It was packed shoulder to shoulder on both floors. Some of the people in the front were sitting or kneeling so the others behind them could see. Candace was there with her camera guy filming it. A teen was holding the boom of a microphone. He hid a grimace at that. He hated being on camera. He probably looked like shit. Oh well, no time to change. Time to charge. His hands tightened. He keyed the mike connected to the intercom.
“We're here today to talk about what we're all afraid of. If you look around, you'll notice, the aliens have been coming night after night, and yet we're still here.”
No one said anything and he nodded. There was a small rustle as a few people shifted in place. His eyes narrowed. “My wife has a saying. Where there is life there is hope. Hope for the future. For us and our children.”
He paused and cleared his throat. “This is our home people,” he said hoarsely, gripping the railing in front of him, leaning forward to project himself into their midst. “Our home! We can no longer sit quietly, afraid. We can no longer be AFRAID OF THE DARK!” he snarled.
“No more,” he thundered. “Not for me, not for any of us. “We've spent the past year hiding. That ends tonight. We're done retreating. They want to fight? This is our world, this is our home. We'll damn well break their teeth and claws on the concrete our people pour. Concrete and rebar Bob and his crews have sweated and bled to make sure is there for us all.” he nodded to Bob who nodded grimly back.
“Wayne and his crew have cleared what they can but all of you know this alien army has broken many places. Not here,” he slapped the railing. “We're the too big to swallow and I plan on ramming that idea down their throat sideways to prove it to
them.”
His eyes glowed and his jaw set as some of the militia cheered. Not enough though. Not quite yet. He felt something primal, an energy gathering around him. Around them all. “Not here, not now. We've got the weapons, thanks to Kyle and his people and the generous donations of the military and those of you who picked them up harvesting. We've got the tools thanks to Jesse, and the training thanks to Torres, Hernandez and others like them who have led from the front.”
“We can and we will do this people,” he felt a tug on his arm and looked down. Tori smiled up at him. He stroked her hair gently. Then Trina was there wrapping herself around his other side.
“We have to do this. For their sake.” He felt the presence of Nick and Jayne hovering beside and behind him. He looked back and nodded to each of them. Then he returned his attention to the watching crowd. He didn't even look at his image on the monitors all over the place.
“For eons our people have fought and died for a better future for our children.” He stroked Trina's hair. “Since man has first walked the Earth that has been our goal. Today is no different.” Cheers began to grow. He nodded.
His voice rose, pitching over the thunder of the crowd. “Today I say we take back what is ours! We take back our home. We take back the night! With one voice we will scream it to the world, we are no longer afraid!”
The crowd cheered, fist pumping and chanting “We are not afraid!” he held his hands out. Slowly they quieted.
“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s light up the night!” He pointed to the skylight above him. On cue the spotlights came on, lighting the area around the mall and then shining onto the tattered flag still flying above them all. It rustled in the night breeze and then caught, unfurling and snapping taught.
He felt a rush, felt it and felt that the others in the crowd watching felt it and understood. He watched as Ben panned the camera up to see old glory and then back down as the cheers grew into a thunder and then applause. It washed over him like a wave, removing his fatigue, removing his doubt, filling him with grim purpose. He nodded, hands out again. Slowly they quieted.