Gail picked up one as well. “We have these and a few grenades. From these windows we have good lines of sight down to the street. I say we stand and fight.”
Ives smiled. “All right, then. Now that they know we’re here, we don’t have to be inconspicuous anymore. We can set up barricades and put men at advance positions to watch the cross streets. I’ll see about shutting off the sprinklers and the alarm.” He looked up at Carl, who was standing by the stairwell door. “Gather as many as you can in the lobby,” he said. “We have work to do.”
28
TIGHTLY GRIPPING THE gun Rick had left her, Kate pulled back the curtain and peered out between the slats of wood barricading the window. She couldn’t see her front door from her position, but someone was definitely standing outside of it. They’d tried the handle, and now Kate didn’t know what they were doing.
The last news report she’d seen before the stations went off the air had shown a new type of alien, one covered from head to foot in an armored suit and wielding an energy weapon. The clawed aliens had been bad enough, but they were essentially animals. They were reckless and not at all subtle in their approach. Their behavior was predictable, and if one had a defensible position, they could be defeated without too much trouble.
These new alien soldiers were intelligent, and they were spreading across Faris, finishing the job the clawed aliens hadn’t been able to. And now one was at Kate’s door. Or was it just another person, fleeing the carnage, trying to find an empty house to hide in?
Unfortunately, the small window in the front door was boarded over. Unless her visitor stepped back from the house, Kate wouldn’t be able to see if it was friend or foe.
The handle shook again. Kate was about to withdraw from the window and move to the garage. She’d get in her car and prepare to flee. Something moved across the street, and she paused. She pressed her eye back to the gap between the boards. It was one of the alien soldiers. It looked briefly in the direction of Kate’s door then turned and tried the door of the house across the street. Kate now knew it was an alien soldier at her own door. Otherwise, the other one would have reacted differently.
The alien across the street opened her neighbor’s door—it appeared to have been left unlocked—and looked inside. Something seemed to catch its attention, as it adopted a defensive stance and raised its weapon.
Another alien came into view from Kate’s right. She suspected it was the soldier who had been at her door. She let out a breath and watched the two aliens enter the house across the street.
They re-emerged a few minutes later and stood facing one another, as though they were talking. One of them gestured at Kate’s house. They slowly walked across the street. It was time.
Kate grabbed the few items she had out in the living room and ran through the kitchen and into the garage. She heard the sound of an energy discharge and knew they had blown her door handle off.
Kate got into her car, buckled her seatbelt and quietly closed the door. Simultaneously, she started the vehicle and hit the button that opened the garage door.
She put the vehicle into drive and sped out as soon as she knew the car would clear the door as it went up. Kate turned away from the city center and drove as fast as she safely could. In her rear-view mirror, she saw the alien soldiers run out into the street just before she rounded the corner.
Kate continued away from the city, avoiding the main road. She took a side street that she knew ran all the way to the edge of the city. This area was populated by large homes with driveways and garages, and the streets were wide and relatively free of cars.
As she reached the edge of town, the traffic grew thicker. The side road she was on would end in another mile, and she’d have to move onto the main road. Others, it seemed, had had the same idea, and traffic was backed up as they waited to merge onto the highway.
Kate sat in her car, staring at the back of the vehicle in front of her. Two boys were in the back seat, and they would occasionally turn around to look at her. Did they have any idea what was happening? Did they know how much danger they were all in, sitting there, boxed in by other cars? Kate kept shifting her focus from the car in front of her to the rear-view mirror, watching for any commotion behind her. If they were attacked now, there were enough people behind her that she would have some forewarning. She didn’t know what she’d do with that information, but she supposed the only option would be to abandon the car and run.
The traffic inched forward, and after another ten minutes, Kate could see the highway. It was backed up as far as she could see. If the aliens chose to strike at that moment, they would be able to kill hundreds with little effort.
She saw a car turn left, away from the highway. She knew it would take hours to even get a few miles from the city. It was too dangerous to just sit there.
She merged her car into the left lane and turned. She followed the other car down a series of side streets. According to the map guide on console, it appeared to be a warren of neighborhood streets. Where was that other car going? She followed it for a while until it finally stopped. She slowed and pulled up behind it. A woman got out of the driver’s seat and walked back to her. “You should have stayed on the main road,” she said as Kate rolled down her window.
“Why?”
“Because I played a hunch that might not pan out.”
“What do you mean?”
“This neighborhood is at the edge of the city. Beyond the woods there are farms. I thought if I could find a way into the woods behind the houses, I could drive down a hiking trail or something, get out into the fields and stay hidden.”
“Some of them have to have open backyards.”
“That’s what I’ve been looking for. I’m just sorry you followed me. If you get stuck here because of me….”
“It’s okay,” Kate said. “I’ll help you look, all right?”
“Sure.” The woman smiled and held out her hand. “I’m Jenny.”
Kate reached through the window and shook her hand. “Kate. You’re alone?”
“Yes. I tried to meet up with my brother and his family, but their house was already empty.”
“I’m sorry.”
Jenny smiled. “I’m sure they’re okay.” She straightened up and looked around at the houses. “I’m trying to find a gate wide enough to drive a car through.”
“All right,” Kate said. “I’ll be right behind you.”
They retraced the route they’d already driven before Jenny turned down a side street they hadn’t yet explored. After passing a dozen houses, she stopped. Through the window, Kate could see her pointing.
She got out and joined Jenny on the sidewalk. Together, they walked up to the gate. Kate boosted Jenny up with her hands so she could look over.
“No back wall,” she said.
“Is there a lock on the gate?”
“Yes. But the gate’s just wood. We could smash through it.”
Kate looked back at their vehicles. “Mine’s a bit heavier. I’ll give it a try.”
As Jenny stood clear, Kate backed up into the driveway across the street. She turned off the airbags and the collision avoidance system. She yanked on her seatbelt to lock it in place then mashed her foot down on the accelerator and sped toward the gate. A second before she hit, she closed her eyes. The crash jolted her in her seat, but she didn’t stop moving. She slammed on the brake and opened her eyes. She was through.
She pulled forward and watched as Jenny’s car drove through the broken gate and pulled up beside her. Jenny rolled down her window and smiled. “We’re almost there,” she said. “Your car still drive all right?”
“It seems to.”
“Let’s get into the woods. Then if you have any problems, we’ll move your gear to my car and go together.”
Kate nodded and waited for Jenny to take the lead. The woods were a popular recreation area; they were regularly maintained and kept clear of brush. The two of them had no problem maneuvering their cars betwe
en the trees, and before long they found a hiking trail that, according to their maps, led to the edge of the woods and the farms beyond.
As she drove, Kate felt the tension of the past few days begin to subside. She would make it through this. Rick would make it through whatever he was doing as well, and they would be reunited. She knew her certainty was nothing more than wishful thinking, but she didn’t care. It felt good to have hope again
29
A FLASH OF blue light surrounded the freighter, and Sullivan was in hyperspace. He immediately came to a full stop. If the device worked and hyperspace collapsed, he didn’t want to travel too far from Earth.
Beside him, Frank Allen nodded then disappeared. Sullivan knew he had gone to distract the hyperspace entities and give him a chance to set off the device.
Sullivan leaned over to the alien cylinder on the passenger seat. He entered the code to arm it and was about to repeat the code, as Allen had instructed, when something pulled him sideways and over the back of his seat. Sullivan flew across the freighter’s cockpit and landed hard at the base of the rear wall.
Shaken but not seriously injured, he sprang to his feet and cast about for his assailant. The cockpit was empty. He took a step toward the alien device, but something hit him again, this time on the back of the head, knocking him face-first into the floor.
Sullivan rolled onto his back and stared up at the enraged face of the entity that had taken the form of Liz Wagner. The features of the woman he recognized quickly faded away, however, and he was left confronting a black, shapeless mass.
Half a dozen squid-like tendrils grew from the sides of the entity and thrust toward Sullivan. He rolled to the side, avoiding all but one of the tendrils. The one that did hit seemed to pass into his flesh without leaving an entry wound, and an ice cold chill ran through his body.
The shock of the pain and the cold made him squeeze his eyes shut. He waited for another attack, but when none came, he opened his eyes again and looked up.
A second entity was there. It flattened itself and grew wider as it placed itself between Sullivan and the first entity.
“Frank?” Sullivan said.
A tendril came out from the second entity and seemed to gesture toward the device.
Sullivan got to his knees, but the cold pain was still pulsating through his body. In that instant, he knew Kate had been wrong when she’d theorized that the entities’ attacks were only psychological and unable to truly harm him. Here in hyperspace at least, they could and would kill him. He staggered to his feet and stepped over to the device.
He paused. He hadn’t completed the arming code. Had enough time passed that he had to start over, or should he continue where he left off. He shook confusion from his brain. Whatever the Liz entity had done to him, it was affecting him on more than just a physical level. Perhaps there was a psychological component to the attack after all.
Unsure of where in the arming sequence he had left off, Sullivan decided to start from the beginning. The pattern Allen had given him was top right, left, bottom, bottom right, top. Or was it top right, left, bottom, bottom left, top?
Sullivan glanced back at the two entities. They had merged into a single, pulsating mass. Sullivan thought he could vaguely tell where one ended and the other began, but he didn’t know which was which. Either way, Allen was in no position to help him remember the correct sequence.
Sullivan entered the first sequence, repeated it then hit the larger button in the middle. He waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened. He had gotten it wrong.
He didn’t hear anything, but he felt a change in the energy behind him. He turned. A third entity had appeared. It rushed toward him, waving its tendrils. Three of the tendrils sank into Sullivan’s chest, and he felt a pain unlike any he had ever experienced. It was even worse than when the Liz entity had stuck her hand into his heart, and he never thought pain like that could be rendered insignificant by comparison.
Sullivan lurched his body back to try and pull himself away from the tendrils. He fell against the front console, slid down it and landed on the floor. He watched this new entity approach the alien device and study it for a moment.
After apparently deciding that it hadn’t been armed, it turned back to Sullivan and stretched itself over him.
Sullivan knew he had to move or he was going to die. He had no weapons to fight this thing, but if he could just get away from it there was a chance Allen would be able to come to his rescue.
Sullivan pushed back the pain and willed himself into action. He crawled to his left, jumped up to his feet and grabbed the alien device. He bolted past the entity threatening him. He felt a tendril lick his calf, but it was a glancing blow and added little to the pain he was already suffering. He darted out of the way of Allen and the Liz entity as their struggle sent them back and forth across the rear of the cockpit and finally reached the hatchway leading aft.
He ran down the short corridor where the crew cabins and galley were located and into the large cargo hold of the ship. An entity—he didn’t know if it was the same one or not—was already waiting for him.
Sullivan stepped back. He took the alien device out from under his arm and held it in front of him. He circled around the entity as he began entering the arming code. The entity lunged forward. Sullivan had enough space to avoid the attack, but now his back was against a wall.
Sullivan looked back down at the device to finish entering the code, but the entity struck again, forcing him to abandon the sequence so he could jump out of the way and cross to the far side of the cargo hold.
He typed in the last part of the code and hit the large button. Nothing happened. At least now he knew the arming code did reset itself if there was too long a pause between entries.
The distraction required to make this discovery had cost him, however. He felt an icy pain in his ankles, and the next thing he knew he was on his back. The device rolled away from him, and the entity quickly batted it to the far side of the cargo hold.
Sullivan knew he had missed his chance. Unless Allen managed to do something to help him, Sullivan would never get to the device before the entity finished him off. Still, he would go down fighting.
Sullivan got to his feet and brought up his fists. He knew punching this creature would do no good, but it felt wrong to die with his hands at his sides. The black mass vibrated slightly and charged forward. Sullivan jumped out of the way, but another tendril grazed his ear. The cold pain radiated from his ear and into his brain, but he kept his feet beneath him and his fists up as the entity prepared for another strike.
He pictured Kate in his mind one last time as he readied himself for death.
30
A LARGE EXPLOSION lit up Commander Pickett’s cockpit. He looked up from his controls. The Izumo was gone. He and the other remaining fighters from the Vigilant had been battling wave after wave of alien fighters. The large alien ship had been sending them out without restraint now that their enemy was too scattered to be able to organize an attack every time the shield went down.
Even so, a few odd missiles had managed to sneak their way through, and the hull of the alien ship showed light damage. It hadn’t seemed to slow them down, however, and the losses to the defenders had been severe. Pickett knew Lieutenant Kern had bailed out of his damaged F-66, but he didn’t know of the man’s fate beyond that.
He looked back down at his display. His F-66’s computer was tracking just thirteen friendly fighters but twenty-two alien fighters. The battle seemed all but lost.
Pickett banked his ship to engage the nearest enemy. He had only a handful of missiles remaining, but his thirty-millimeter cannons still had a couple hundred rounds left.
He fired a half-second-long burst at the enemy fighter. The small explosive rounds didn’t need to score a direct hit to damage a ship, and this time that feature proved decisive. The alien fighter swerved out of the way and would have missed the rounds by half a meter if they hadn’t exploded, sending shr
apnel flying into the side of the enemy ship. It damaged the alien fighter enough to affect its maneuverability, and Pickett swept back around to finish it off.
Another alien ship dropped down from above Pickett and executed an elaborate maneuver that put it behind Pickett’s F-66. Pickett banked left into the wreckage of the exploded fighter, hoping to miss any significant debris but also put some distance between him and his pursuer.
The alien pilot didn’t blink, however, and stayed with Pickett, risking hits from the wreckage. A warning light began flashing, and Pickett looked down at his console. His canopy’s structural integrity had been compromised. He had avoided a full breach, but another hit by even a small piece of debris would crack it. In his pressurized flight suit, he was safe from a small crack or hole, but anything larger would force his ship to automatically eject him.
Pickett didn’t have time to worry about it, though, as the enemy fighter behind him launched two missiles. His fuel was getting low, but Pickett doubled his thrust, leaving the missiles behind. He watched them explode harmlessly then fired the upward-facing burners on the nose of his ship and flipped around to face his enemy.
Upside down relative to the alien fighter, he fired his main engines again. This stopped him momentum, and the alien fighter rapidly closed on him.
Pickett fired his cannons at the oncoming ship. Firing from an almost stationary position allowed him to aim more carefully than usual, and the explosive rounds tore through the front of the alien craft and detonated inside it. The ship exploded, but its momentum kept it coming toward Pickett. He fired his nose burners to flip his ship again so his cockpit canopy wouldn’t take a direct hit from the wreckage.
Sullivan Saga 3: Sullivan's Watch Page 13