Fallen Star (Project Gauntlet Book 1)

by Richard Turner

  Black brought up her pistol, but hesitated to fire. The terrified man held in the bird’s beak blocked her from getting off a clear shot.

  With a sickening, wet snap, the bird bit right through the man’s arm. The man dropped to the ground, writhing in agony. Blood sprayed like a fountain all over the floor.

  Maclean held his MP7 straight out like a pistol and let go with a sustained burst of fire. The rounds struck the bird in the stomach. Red patches of blood stained the animal’s feathers. It stepped back, dropped the severed arm from its bloody maw, and turned to face its attackers. The creature lifted a leg to move, but died a split-second later when Sheriff Black fired her pistol, hitting it squarely between the eyes.

  Maclean ran to the injured man’s side and pulled him back from the bird. He looked back at Black and said, “Fetch Mrs. Norton, before he bleeds out.”

  Black nodded and ran off.

  Maclean yanked off the injured man’s belt and wrapped it around his arm, just below the bloody stump. He looked into the man’s green eyes. “What’s your name?”

  “Doug, my name is Doug,” he replied through gritted teeth. The injured man’s face was already pale. He was minutes away from going into shock.

  “Okay, Doug, my name’s Jim, and I’m going to count to three and then pull this belt tight. It’s going to hurt like hell, but it’s going to save your life. Ready?”

  Doug nodded.

  “Three,” said Maclean, yanking hard on the expedient tourniquet.

  Doug let out a moan before blacking out.

  “Pick him up and follow me,” ordered Mrs. Norton, as she gave the wound a quick check.

  Maclean gathered up Doug in his arms and followed Norton back to the classroom she had set up as a temporary triage station. Several smaller children, standing in the hallway, screamed out in fright when they saw the bloody stump hanging down by Doug’s side.

  “Parents, round up your children, and please keep them in the gym from now on,” said Black to the stunned people.

  A red-haired woman bolted from the crowd. “Doug! Please God, please don’t let him die.”

  Black grabbed hold of the frantic woman and held her in her arms. “It’s okay, Kerry, He’s lost an arm but Doug’s going to be all right.”

  Maclean gently placed the man’s body on a couple of tables that had been pushed together.

  “Dear Lord, save my husband,” cried Kerry. Tears ran like a river down her slender face.

  “Kerry, what was Doug doing outside of the gym?” asked Black.

  “He went in the hallway to have a smoke.”

  “That’s it. No one leaves the gym from now on.” Black let go of Kerry and let her walk to her husband’s side before stepping out into the hallway.

  Black steered the onlookers back inside the gymnasium. “Everyone, inside. No one is to come in or out from now on. Please. We’re going to keep the doors closed from now on for your safety.”

  Maclean looked at the blood on his hands and clothes. He turned to face Black. “I’m going to wash up. Do you happen to know if there are any former army engineers with us?”

  Black nodded. “I think so. Let me find him.”

  A couple of minutes had passed before Maclean emerged from the bathroom, looking somewhat better. Black was standing with an older African-American man with a sizable belly that hung over his belt.

  “Sergeant,” she said, indicating to the gentleman, “this is Tony. Tony, my friend here would like to talk with you.”

  “Sir, my name is Sergeant James Maclean. Were you by chance a combat engineer in the army?”

  Tony shook his head. “No, sorry, I was a construction engineer.”

  “Close enough. One of those creatures got in and attacked a man. Now we have to be prepared for the very real possibility that more of those animals will find their way in here. So here’s what I want you to do. Draft whoever you need, and build me a redoubt in the far corner of the gym. Anything you don’t use, I want to be piled up against the doors to help slow them down.”

  Tony glanced around. “I guess I could use the bleachers and some of the gymnastics equipment.”

  “That’s what I wanted to hear.”

  “What are you going to do?” asked Black.

  “I’m going to head back up onto the roof and help your son and Tracey keep these creatures from getting too close to the school.”

  “James, what if you can’t? Then what?”

  “Then we’ll join you down here, and make our stand from behind the redoubt. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  “Take care of my son for me.”

  Maclean grinned, darkly. “He’s probably taking care of me.”

  Chapter 49

  Sweat trickled down Grant’s face and into his eyes. He tried blowing the sweat away, but it didn’t help. Grant wanted to shake his head, but that would have drawn unwanted attention from his captors. He resigned himself to the discomfort, and kept on sawing away at the rope behind his back.

  “How much time’s left?” Carter asked his boss.

  Max checked his watch. “Five minutes.”

  “Want me to walk back to the entrance and see if I can see the women?”

  “Good idea.”

  Max tapped Grant with the toe of his boot. “Don’t even think about trying to escape while he’s gone.”

  “Never crossed my mind,” he replied without looking up. With only one mercenary left to guard him, his chance to escape would never be better. Grant furiously dug at the rope. Within seconds, he could feel the bonds in the rope breaking. The next thing he knew, his hands were free. Behind his back, he rubbed his aching wrists, trying to get the circulation flowing again. Grant watched Max pace, and tried to determine his best chance to strike.

  A light shone down the tunnel.

  Grant silently cursed his luck. Carter was coming back.

  “Well, did you see them?” Max asked Carter, as he came into view.

  Carter shook his head. He seemed to be having a hard time standing on his feet.

  “You okay?” asked Max.

  “Yeah, I wasn’t looking at what I was doing, and bumped my head on a low-hanging support beam,” replied Carter.

  The hair on the back of Grant’s neck went up. Something about the way Carter was acting didn’t seem right. He readied himself to fight, or run, if he had to.

  “Let me take a look at your head,” said Max.

  Grant saw he wasn’t being watched and got up on one knee. The familiar mix of fear and adrenaline raced through his system.

  Without warning, Carter lashed out and hit Max in the chest, sending him flying onto his back. Max hit the rocky ground and let out a muffled moan. His pistol landed farther down the tunnel in the dark.

  Grant jumped to his feet and shot his right fist as hard as he could against Carter’s head. Pain shot through Grant’s hand when his opponent’s head didn’t budge a millimeter. It was like punching a granite statue.

  Carter turned his head and smiled, coldly, just before hitting Grant across the face with the back of his hand.

  Stars flashed before Grant’s eyes. His knees buckled. Before he could stop himself, Grant dropped back against the wall and slid down to the ground. He took in a deep breath and shook his head to clear the fog. When Grant looked up, his heart skipped a beat. Carter was gone. General Nagan stood there, looking from man to man, apparently trying to decide whom to kill first.

  Max moaned as he rolled over and crawled along the old train tracks, trying to find his pistol.

  Nagan hissed and drew his pistol. He took a couple of steps toward his quarry, and brought up his weapon to finish him off.

  A sturdy-looking piece of wood lying on the ground near Grant’s feet was the only practicable weapon he could see. He grabbed it in his hands, stood up, and hauled back on the wood like a baseball player.

  “No! Please no!” begged Max, as Nagan towered above him.

  With all the strength he could muster,
Grant sent the wood flying onto the side of the general’s head. With a loud snap, the wood broke in two on contact with the alien’s thick skull. Nagan let out a cry and reached up for his face. By pure luck, Grant had hit the general on his injured side. Before Nagan could recover, Grant brought what was left of his bat down onto the general’s hand, knocking the phase pistol free.

  Grant and Max saw the pistol fall and rushed to get it. Grant, however, was faster on his feet and scooped up the weapon. He moved back away from Nagan and Max. “Both of you, up against the wall.”

  “Don’t be a fool,” said Max. “You have his gun. We can make him take us to the other alien’s ship. Think about it; the rewards you would receive would be beyond measure. A man like you would do well in my organization.”

  “I already have a job,” replied Grant.

  Nagan stood there, holding a hand to his face. Blood seeped through his gloved fingers and down his body armor.

  A deep growl echoed down the tunnel.

  Grant’s guts dropped, as a saber-toothed tiger walked out of the dark and strode toward the men, clearly looking for its next meal. It was a long as a modern-day Bengal Tiger, but had two razor-sharp teeth jutting down from its upper jaw.

  “For God’s sake, kill it,” said Max.

  Grant brought up his arm and aimed the phase pistol at the creature. He lined it up with the center of the animal’s body and pulled back on the trigger.

  Nothing happened.

  Grant yanked back on the trigger three more times, before yelling at the big cat and hurling the pistol at the animal’s head.

  The weapon went flying harmlessly over the top of the tiger’s head. It stopped for a second and looked at its prey before opening its mouth wide and letting out a thunderous roar.

  The sight of dozens of sharp teeth was all it took. All three men turned and ran for their lives down the tunnel. Fear drove them on. They had gone less than fifteen meters when the tiger struck. It dove at Nagan’s back, scratching and clawing at his body armor, trying to grab hold of its victim and bring him down.

  In the dim light of the tunnel, Grant saw Max struggling to keep up. All of a sudden, Grant felt the ground give way under his feet. Too late he realized that he wasn’t standing on the rocky floor, but an old tarp that had been spread over a hole. He struggled to grab something—anything—which would stop his fall. It was no good. Grant was hit by Max as he fell into the hole. The two men fell into the dark. Above them, Nagan and the tiger tumbled into the opening and joined them.

  Seconds later, Grant hit a pool of cold water and sank until his feet touched the bottom. He pushed up with his feet, broke the surface, and filled his lungs with air. The space was nearly pitch black. Grant felt around with his hands and found that he was in a wide and deep tunnel, three-quarters filled with water.

  “Did anyone else fall in here with me?” he asked.

  No one answered his call.

  Grant slid along the wall and discovered an old ladder, built in to the wall, situated almost directly under the hole he had fallen though. He scrambled up, grabbed hold of a wooden beam, and hauled himself out of the water. He crawled through the hole and sat down on the floor of the tunnel.

  Light…he needed light. On all fours, Grant scoured the floor for something he could use as a torch. His fingers bumped into something hard. He picked it up and held it close to his face. In the dim light filtering down from above, Grant saw that it was an old miner’s hat. The kerosene lamp on the front of the helmet looked to be in good shape. Grant unscrewed the reservoir and took a whiff. He smiled when he smelled kerosene. Now, all he had to do was find a way of relighting the lamp. Grant placed the lamp down and continued his search. He soon found some old canvas and the end of a shattered pickaxe. Grant poured a couple of drops of kerosene onto the canvas, picked up his pickaxe, and began chipping away at the metal with a sharp rock. It didn’t take long for sparks to fly. Grant bent down and kept striking the metal in his hand, until several sparks landed on the canvas and caught light. He blew gently on the flames until the cloth was fully alight. Grant moved the burning canvas over to the lamp and lit the old wick. Right away, light spread through the tunnel. It wasn’t as good as a flashlight, but it was better than nothing. Grant placed the old helmet on his head and looked around. He was standing in a tunnel that disappeared into darkness, farther in. He looked up and saw the hole he had fallen through and was amazed to see how far he had fallen. Grant looked up and down the tunnel, but there was there was no sight of Max, the general, or the tiger.

  He knew he had to stop Nagan from getting away. Nothing else mattered. Grant walked down the tunnel into the never-ending darkness.

  Chapter 50

  “What do you think?” Elena asked Nadia, as she looked at the myriad foot and paw prints leading into the mine.

  “At some point today, three men, General Nagan, and a large animal of some kind went in there,” replied Nadia. She was having a hard time keeping on her feet.

  “Those look like giant cat prints to me. As much as I don’t want to, I guess we’ve got to go in there, if we want to accomplish your mission.”

  Nadia nodded, removed a portable light from her belt, and handed it to Elena.

  They walked inside the tunnel. It didn’t take them long to find Carter’s dead body. From the way he lay on the floor, it was easy to see that his neck had been snapped in half. Elena turned her head away, when she noticed that the cat had taken a large bite out of the dead man’s body before carrying on down the tunnel.

  “Do you still have your pistol?” asked Elena.

  Nadia patted the weapon on her belt.

  “Okay, then, let’s go.”

  They carefully skirted the massive hole in the floor, and kept on moving down the tunnel. When they came to the end, they found their plan to carry on into the depths of the mine had hit a dead end. Without power, there was no way to work the rusting elevator the miners had once used to take them to and from the bottom of the mine.

  Elena shone her light down the elevator shaft. The wood-and-metal frame of the elevator shaft looked to be intact. Elena looked back at Nadia. She doubted the alien could make the climb to the bottom without falling. Elena wasn’t certain she could make it, either.

  “Let me take a seat for a minute,” said Nadia. Her voice was growing weak.

  Elena helped her sit down on an overturned ore cart. “Are you still reading your ship?”

  Nadia held out her scanner and nodded. “It’s in a cavern, five floors below us.”

  “I still don’t know how you flew it in here,” said Elena, looking at the size of the elevator shaft.

  “I didn’t come in this way. There’s an old airshaft on the other side of the mountain that I used.”

  “I’m not an aeronautical expert, but an airshaft surely isn’t wide enough to allow a ship to fly down it.”

  “My ship is an experimental one. If need be, I can adjust its mass for a limited time. That is how I was able to make my way through the shaft and down into the mine.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.” Elena placed a hand on Nadia’s arm. “Look, I’ve got, to be honest here. In your condition, I’m not sure you’re going to be able to climb all the way down the elevator shaft to the bottom.”

  Nadia opened a pouch and retrieved a slender silver tube. “I was saving this for the end.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m too badly hurt to carry on without dulling the pain. This injection contains a powerful narcotic and is only meant to be used as a last resort. Unfortunately, as it helps me deal with the pain it also saps what little strength I have left from my body.” Nadia placed the tube against her neck and pressed a button on its side, injecting the medicine straight into her bloodstream. She closed her eyes and sat silently for close to a minute before opening her eyes and standing. “Come, Elena, I don’t have much time left. Let’s climb down to my ship and rig it for detonation.”

  Elena hesitated. �
�Did you say detonation?”

  “Yes. It’s the only way to ensure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.”

  “By that, I take it you mean General Nagan and us?”

  “That is correct.”

  “At least you’re still being straightforward with me. Since you seem to be in better spirits, and you’re heavier than me, you can climb down first. I’ll follow your lead.”

  Nadia got to her feet, walked straight to the elevator shaft, and placed her foot on one of the aged wooden beams. When she was sure it would take her weight, Nadia began to climb down into the bowels of the mine.

  Elena waited until Nadia was on her way before crossing herself and climbing down the shaft. She had never liked heights. Now, making her way down a mine shaft, with only Nadia’s bobbing light below, Elena’s mind saw things in the shadows that made her skin crawl. A broken piece of wood became a snake waiting to strike. A cobweb held a hairy spider, bigger than her fist. Elena tried to block the discomforting images from her mind and hurried to catch up with Nadia. She couldn’t wait to feel the hard ground under her feet.

  Chapter 51

  The sound of three gunshots echoing in the distance caused Maclean to sit straight up. He jumped to his feet, and ran to join Sam and Tibeluk, who were using the drone to look to the north. “Did you see anything?” he asked the youth.

  “No. But I think the shots came from the trailer park. I didn’t see Mr. Johnson with the rest of the people downstairs. I think he decided to stay where he was and defend his home.”

  “Is he a good shot?”

  “When he’s sober, he’s not too bad,” said Tibeluk. “Hopefully, he hasn’t had a drop in a day or so.”

  Another shot rang out.

  “Well, whatever’s happening, he’s not giving up without a fight.” Maclean waved at Hayes. “Have Reba fly the drone over the trailer park?”

  “Will do,” replied Hayes.

  “Stay here and keep a lookout, while I see what’s happening,” said Maclean to Sam.