by C. O. Amal
“Well there is nothing to eat for today or any other day to come unless we go for supply.” John said. Anger is trying to take over him.
John really hate calling Willy each day when they have to go for a supply run. John went near the fortified window and slowly took away the chairs and other material used to fortify the window and door. He slowly opened the window and looked outside. Even from this distance from the second level he could see almost all the surrounding places. The mall they are going for supply run is in a distance. It can be clearly seen from this distance. Its board read Hoffman’s Mall.
Willy finally woke with rubbing his eyes.
“John, what time is it?” Willy asked still sleepy.
“Eight thirty.” John answered. “Ok we need to be quick. I haven’t seen any wolfdogs, but we can’t hope much on that. We should go now while we have a chance.”
“Ok, let me get my coat.” Willy left the room to get his coat.
Willy found his coat on the table in the kitchen. He wore it and walked toward John.
“Ok let’s go then.” Willy said.
John nodded and they both pushed away the sofa sitting across the door. They slowly opened the door and moved out of the house. The stairway is covered in snow. Snow fall haven’t stopped since December. John and Willy slowly climbed down the stairs while looking for any dangers. They finally reached the yard of the three story building. Unusable cars are everywhere on the drive way. Snow has covered up to the front window of the cars. Rest of the cars’ body is under the snow. Nobody to clear the snow for a year.
They slowly walked around a building and finally entered what left of the road. Road is not visible but it can be assumed since trees are on both sides of the road. Snow fall is heavy since last week. They walked about half an hour to reach near the mall. Moving is difficult through this now. Snow layer isn’t hard, if you walk feet will go deeper into the loose snow, not to mention the difficulty during driving a vehicle through this thick snow.
They slowly opened the door of the mall and got inside. Supplies are neatly stacked on shelf everywhere inside the mall. Nobody has been here in the mall for some time. No sign of survivors. Willy and John quickly take the necessary supplies in a trolley. Fresh water, canned goods, chips and so on, they took several of everything.
“We haven’t seen Wolfdogs for weeks. Do you think they all are gone?” Willy asked.
“I don’t think so. Do you remember what the news lady said? These Xhilarians are colonists and are experimenting on humans. I don’t think they are gonna let us go. They will hunt every last one of us. We haven’t seen other survivors since last September. I do think that we will be the last survivors.” John said
“I really hate living in that small apartment. We really need to move to some place safer than our apartment. Do you have any plans for that?” Willy asked.
“Currently I am not thinking about it. We survived this long in that small apartment. May be the enemies think no one will be inside small apartments. They may be looking in bigger better safe places.” John said.
“But think about it. We lasted this long. There could be survivors like us all over the world. May be there will be even small communities hiding from those animals. If we found such a community, we are saved. Do you really think these supplies last forever? We really need to find alternative sources of food fast.” Willy said while placing a cartoon of tomato sauce in the trolley
“You’re right about that…” John couldn’t finish it.
Suddenly the place filled with sound of an aircraft. Willy and John looked in the sky through the glass wall. A moment later they saw the origin of sound. It’s an enemy ship and is moving slowly. The exterior of the ship is silver in colour and there are two big guns attached both sides of the ship. The ship is moving towards the mall. A shriek sound came from in front of the mall. Willy and John looked in front of them with frightened eyes.
There are about ten wolfdogs, all running in the mall’s direction.
“Move to the basement.” John whispered frightened.
Willy followed John. They silently moved to the exit door on the back of the mall. Wolfdogs howled sharply. The creatures haven’t noticed them yet. Willy and John reached the basement and closed the basement door behind them. John opened the small window near the ceiling a little, enough for them to watch outside. The wolfdogs are moving away from the mall. They are running to the Los Angeles city. The space craft is nowhere to be seen. It must also have moved in the same direction.
A moment later a loud explosion happened from the back of the mall in safe distance. John opened another window and looked through it. It seems that the ship have crash landed on the ground and the ship is on fire. Willy also came near the window and looked at the scene. A moment later something fell from the sky on top of the enemy ship and then the ship exploded into pieces. John looked up with excitement. Two aircraft is flying through the sky at high speed.
“It’s our military.” John said.
“Thank god, we are saved.” Willy said.
“We should wait until noon. Those wolfdogs may be out there.” John said.
“Ok.” Willy said back.
In the distant horizon the two military aircraft fly away in battle formation. Fire consumed the remains off the exploded ship.
Chapter 47
Pseudovilla, Green Planet
In the morning two trucks, full of soldiers, rushed in the direction of the sunrise. Roads are covered with thick layer of mist and liquefied water vapour fell on the trucks’ front window. Driver switched on the wiper and it immediately starts wiping away the water. In the tablet in front of the driver the current course is clearly depicted. They are about 10 miles away from Pseudovilla. No wolfdogs are on sight, they must be away.
After half an hour of drive, the trucks reached a hilly path. The road is winded along the hill like a big snake. Both sides of the road is covered by mountain ranges. Driver stopped the truck on top of the hilly road. Some soldiers got outside and watched the scenery in front of them through the binocular. Sun’s rays are blazing hot here even in this morning hour. In front of them, below the hill, is a big town. The town is filled with buildings, all multi storied. They have reached Pseudovilla.
“We will go on foot from here on.” Samson said.
Soldiers nodded and everyone slowly climbed down the hill. A tablet computer showing the direction to the target building is strapped to Samson’s wrist. Samson followed the direction and the soldiers followed Samson and James. Suddenly a hum sound came from near one of the building. Everyone ducked and Samson looked through the binocular in the direction from where the sound have arisen. Then they saw it. Two ships are moving above the buildings. Samson looked more closely. They are enemy ships, all wearing the Xhilarian logo and are silver in colour.
The ships fly away in the distance without noticing the humans. After the ships are out of sight soldiers stood up. Samson, James and Stuart leaded the soldiers slowly in the direction of Pseudovilla town. After sometime Samson stopped moving and takeout his blue print of the sewer.
“The sewer starts somewhere here. Look for manhole near this place.” Samson said to everyone.
Everyone start to look for the manhole. They even looked under the pile of leaves on the side of the road.
“Sergeant here...” One of the soldier finally called out.
Everyone looked in the soldier’s direction. Samson and James went near the soldier and found what the soldier was pointing at - the manhole. Samson and one soldier take all their might to remove the lid of the manhole. Once the lid is removed Samson and one soldier slowly climbed down through the side ladder. The sewer stench with the waste water. Other soldiers followed Samson.
“Follow me. According to the map this path leads directly under our building. Prepare your gun at the ready. We don’t know whether they have booby trapped under here. So we need to be alerted.” Samson said.
All nodded in agreement and everyone f
ollowed Samson. They walked about fifteen minutes and they have reached an intersection. We go right. Samson said. Everyone nodded and followed Samson. With each step they have taken the stench of the sewer water is increasing.
“Oh man. This smell is really bad.” One of the soldier commented.
“Well if they have said this earlier I would have brought a face mask.” Another soldier said.
Samson stopped near an exit and gestured at everyone to prepare. Everyone brace for anything to happen. They have reached their target. Samson slowly climbed the ladder and takeout a stick camera from his pocket. He slowly passed the stick camera through the hole in the manhole’s lid. He switched on the tablet strapped to his wrist. The tablet quickly began to show the scene taken by the stick camera. The place is empty of creatures. He rotated the camera several times and none of the images showed any enemy activity.
“Ok everyone. We move in 3, 2, 1… go...” Samson said while opening the lid.
Everyone quickly climbed out of the sewer into the back of the building.
“Thank god. We are at the back of the building.” James said.
“Ok, move in formation.” Stuart announced.
The seventy men team slowly moved to the back door in battle formation, gun at the ready. Several soldiers stood by the corners of the building to watch out for any enemies. They detected none of the creatures. One soldier slowly opened the door. Lucky for them the door wasn’t locked. The door immediately leads to a stair. Soldiers slowly climbed the stairs. A moment later they have reached the second level of the building. Stair directly leads to a corridor and there is also a stair on the side which presumably leads to third level. A part of the team climbed the second stairs and moved to the third level silently. James and Samson leaded other soldiers to the second level corridor. They slowly winded a corner and reached in front of the building. James slowly moved in the front line.
Suddenly two Xhilarians came out of nowhere. Samson’s and James’ eyes met theirs. The creatures’ hands quickly dropped to their waist to retrieve the gun. But the James and another soldier fired at the creatures and they immediately went down. Plasma bolts exploded on the wall after cutting through the Xhilarians. The whole place seemed to be silent. Usually a gunfire immediately draws the enemies’ attention. But now there is no sound to be heard. James slowly moved near the dead creatures. Two other soldiers followed James. Samson and rest of the team checked each rooms in the second level.
James and team detected none of the creatures. They walked near Samson.
“This building seemed to be dead silent. Do you think they left this place?” James asked.
“I don’t know. May be they have.” Samson said.
Suddenly a loud explosion happened from third level. The explosion immediately followed by soldiers’ screams. Stuart and team is in pain. Then it happened. One of the ship have begun firing at the soldiers on the third level from outside. Every shot dismantled the walls. James and other soldiers start to fire at the ship. The ship quickly decreased altitude and start to fire at James and his team. Someone from above throw a magnetic flash grenade at the ship. Two flash grenades immediately gets attached to the ship and beeped. A moment later the grenades exploded. The ship quickly went down. It crashed on the ground and within seconds the ship caught fire. The ship then exploded with a loud sound. Everyone ducked. The fire must have caught the fuel lines. Soldiers smiled with excitement.
James and team moved to the third level through the stairs in the opposite direction from where they have climbed. Samson and team moved in another direction. James slowly climbed the stairs. They have reached third level. James and team turned a corner and saw Stuart, Samson and other soldiers on the opposite side. James slowly walked toward them. But then something beeped from the side walls. James looked at the walls. They have been walking absent minded. James somehow cut through a laser line. A moment later the place where James and team were standing exploded. Part of the building crumpled.
“No!” Samson ran to James but he was too late. James along with one part of the building collapsed to the ground.
Chapter 48
Pseudovilla, Green Planet
James’ and two other soldiers’ mutilated body fell on the ground on top of the crumpled parts of the building. Samson, Stuart and other soldiers rushed forward. The part of the building from where the explosive exploded is crumpled into pieces and a part of corridor is missing. Below Samson could roughly make out the fallen soldiers’ bodies.
“No, this isn’t happening!” Samson mumbled.
Suddenly two more enemy ships fly toward the building and when they reached near the building both ships opened fire. Laser shots cut through everything. Soldiers fired back. Two, three, four, and five soldiers went down, all of their chest have a wide hole. Some soldiers threw magnetic flash grenades. Only some grenades made their target. The grenades exploded with a loud bang. On ship went down. Other remaining ship continued firing.
Suddenly more ships came toward the building from the distant horizon.
“We are trapped. Retreat back to the sewer.” Samson commanded.
Everyone rushed out of the building. They reached just in time when all the ships began to firing at the building. Soldiers opened the manhole and got inside the sewer. One by one every last one of the soldiers got inside the sewer. Suddenly two of the ships landed near the manhole and about fifty Xhilarians rushed toward the sewer with big laser guns in their hands.
The building fully crumples to nothing. There is only dust left in the place where the big building stood. One soldier quickly armed two flash grenades and threw them out through the opened man hole. The grenades exploded in mid-air. A bright light covered the whole place indicating successful explosion. Soldiers can’t tell how many creatures have went down, but they are sure that a lot of creatures have died.
Suddenly one of the creature with two knifes in both hands jumped onto the manhole. It reached exactly on top of the concrete layer. Soldiers quickly opened fire. But the creature masterfully dodged each hits and rushed at the soldiers. Soldiers fired in all direction desperately. Some of the shots hit the creature on the leg and on stomach but before that the creature have sliced opened the throat of five soldiers. Clearly a suicide fighter. The creature finally fell down.
“Everyone run to our initial location.” Stuart yelled.
Soldiers ran through the sewer at maximum speed they could muster. More creatures jumped on to the sewer. Some creatures opened fire inside the sewer to the retreating soldiers. Sewer wall vibrated when each shot hit the wall. Some soldiers fired back. There is about ten or more Xhilarians inside the sewer. Only fifty five human soldiers left now. Creatures are gaining on them.
The soldiers finally stopped running. They have reached the exit. Three soldiers climbed the stairs to secure the location. Other soldiers turned toward the incoming Xhilarians and fired. Xhilarians fired back from the protection of the wall.
“Let’s burry them.” Samson yelled.
Everyone nodded and all fired at the roof of the sewer just above where the Xhilarians are standing. Dust covered the entire area. Soldiers fired a few rounds more, a moment later the roof with the ground soil collapsed on top of the Xhilarians. A tragic end to the creatures. Cry of the creatures lost in the sound of collapsing sewer.
“Everyone quickly get outside.” Stuart yelled.
Everyone quickly got outside, one by one. When everyone was outside they all ran to the direction of their trucks. Suddenly everyone stopped. In front of them is a battalion of Xhilarians all carrying big laser guns in their hands. Soldiers quickly trained their gun on the creatures.
“Surrender or die.” One of the creature said through a device.
“Fire at will.” Samson yelled.
Soldiers start to fire at the creatures. The Xhilarians also started firing. Everyone including Xhilarians ran in all directions never taking their finger off from the trigger. Soldiers changed magazine in fluent motion
. More creatures went down. About the same number of humans also went down. Xhilarian soldiers are fast. One of the Xhilarian who is carrying a sword is slicing every human in its way. Samson fired at the creature. But the creature is dodging all the shots. Stuart also came to fire at the suicide fighter. Samson’s and Stuart’s shots danced in the air. The creature almost dodged every shot but finally a shot ripped one of the leg of the creature. The creature stood in one leg and then threw the sword in Stuart’s direction. Stuart quickly stopped the sword’s movement by blocking it using his gun. Samson quickly shot down the creature. Suddenly a howl came from beyond the buildings.
About fifty wolfdogs are running at the soldiers. Soldiers desperately fired. They are being surrounded by enemies in all directions. Soldiers gathered in a circular formation pointing guns in all directions.
“Surrender or die like a worm. We promise you, it will be quick.” One of the creature said.