Alien Busters: Alien Hunting (Alien Busters Series Book 1)

by Safa Shaqsy

  “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  “R, activate security cameras until I get back.” I commanded the house.

  “Security cameras, activated.” R said.

  “And please make sure to update me with the footage.” I reminded. “Connected to your Inhab,” R said.

  “Thanks R,” I said, “Gotta go now,” and I left.

  Inside the institute in the main hall was where that day’s missions and locations were projected for every Alien Buster group, so in the morning there was a crowd of Alien Busters gathered around to see their missions for that day. Every group was randomly picked by the moderators and matched with their mission location.

  Kraig and Andie were standing in front of me; and I rested my hands on each of their shoulder, and peaked between them. “What’s our mission today?”

  Kraig turned to me, “Oh hey, Nat. Uh, we got area TF30.”

  “Area TF30?” Andie asked, shocked. “Are you serious? The area where split-jawed aliens hide?” I had no idea what he meant by split-jawed aliens, but I figured they were more dangerous than the last ones we killed in our last missions. “What’s with the splitjawed?” I asked Andie.

  “Aliens which have split jaws and don’t get me started,” Andie replied.

  Kraig shook his head, “It means we can be eaten up like fresh baked cookies.”

  I let out a nervous laugh, “Ha ha, good one.” Andie raised his eyebrows at Kraig, “She’s nervous, how cute.”

  I waved my hand, “I’m not.” The beeping sounded and we dispersed from the hall to the weapons room, where the employees handed us our weapons, ammo, Scahets and backpacks that easily weighed 75 lbs. We got out of the institute to the parked flars.

  After a few hours, we reached area TF30 and the group dispersed in the area. A few of them wished us good luck before leaving or gave us a salute. I was with the two guys, walking on the dry ground, searching for aliens with our guns in our sweaty hands. In that hot environment on the deserted land, it was extra hard not to faint after walking for long hours. We reached a land where sharp mountains formed a shape that looked like a canopy and a shallow river started where alien grass and trees grew from the moisture on the ground. I stepped into the river splashing the water beneath me with my boots, when I heard snapping sounds ahead of us.

  We turned to the source of the snapping and stopped as we observed in all directions. “Guys,” I said quietly. “I know,” Kraig answered in a whisper.

  Andie aimed at the air, ready to fire and turned to look back, “Do you think anything followed us?” He asked. I activated my eye scanner; from the hologram screen I didn’t see anything alive behind us, or in front of us. “We’re clear” I reported, “Let’s get moving.” We continued walking with care not to draw any attention with our heavy boots. But it was nearly impossible to tread silently and we made splish-splash sounds in the river every time we stepped forward.

  There was a large dome of formed alien trees and flesh that looked like some kind of alien’s hive, but before we approached it. I stopped them with my hand, “Wait. Look,” and pointed at the hive. They stared at the hive with shock.

  “Holy aliens,” Andie spat, and turned to face us, “Wait, we can’t go in there.”

  “Andie, we can’t go back,” Kraig said to Andie. Andie gulped, “Come on, Kraig. We don’t have to do this, it’s suicide.”

  I stepped back a few steps looking at the alien hive with terror.

  The guys turned to look at me, interrupting their argument. “Nat?” Kraig called.

  “No,” I shook my head, “We have to get back. And. Very. Quietly,” I said the words deliberately. “Why is that?” Kraig asked.

  “Because, we’re going to be attacked by split jawed aliens,” then I yelled, “Run!” Then we heard the sounds again, but this time too many of them. The aliens manifested from the hive in front of us and approached us with great speed.

  The guys turned to look at the aliens, “Shit!” We ran into the river. The heaviness of our suits made running frustrating, and the snapping sounds got closer, and closer to us.

  Andie screamed, “Can’t we shoot them?”

  “Shut up and run!” Kraig shouted at him.

  There were a few aliens that went in front of us by clambering up and jumping from one large sharp rock to another, then they jumped in front of us and opened their jaws in a display of aggression. That made us stop abruptly and we opened fire aiming at the wide opened alien mouth. They collapsed on the ground, green blood pouring from their heads. We ran again, this time we avoided tripping over the dead aliens, and the guys were shooting the aliens off the towering rocks around us.

  My breathing quickened, and my heart raced while running away from the aliens. I stopped to breathe, but I tripped and my palms hit the damp ground. I winch up my head to see the guys running away, not looking back. I heard snapping sounds behind me that made me turn to look back, when an alien leapt on me and opened its jaws. It had sharp teeth and a long tongue that tried to lick my face. I screamed as I tried to shoot it, but its tongue grabbed my gun and tossed it away.

  “No!” I screamed, trying to kick its face. But it was too far away, so I tried punching it on the head. It stared at me with its six eyes, as it tangled its tongue around my wrist and flashed its sharp teeth in my face. Gunshots rang out and the alien staggered back and collapsed on the ground with blood pouring from its face.

  Kraig grabbed my hand to lift me up as he screamed, “Come on Nat, run!” “Wait!” I sprinted back to grab my gun and followed them, but this time the aliens were pretty close. I pressed the Scahet while running and reported with shaky breath, “We’re being attacked by a large group of aliens. We’ll retreat from the mission!”

  “Team Nine, report your condition.” Gale asked through Scahet. “There was an alien hive of some kind, and now we are being attacked.” Kraig yelled in his Scahet, breathing rapidly.

  “Retreat from the mission. I’ll send the

  reinforcements. They’ll be there in a minute.” “We don’t have a minute!” I yelled to Gale, but he didn’t answer, “Hello? Gale, answer me!” I cursed under my breath.

  Andie grabbed something from his backpack. “What’re you doing?” I asked. “Distracting them,” he replied as he opened a pin from a tube bomb and flung it on the ground. After a few seconds, I heard an explosion, water, rocks and alien bits rained down on us. I covered my head with my hands, avoiding the splattered pieces. Most of the aliens escaped from the explosion and they cried out while loudly snapping their jaws. At least it bought us some time until the Hister (High Speed Copter) came to rescue us.

  “You did it!” I said to Andie.

  Kraig laughed and looked back, “You scared those bastards!” We stopped abruptly, when a few aliens jump in front of us, and snapped at us. When I turned to look around to see more aliens behind us, we were trapped in the middle.

  “Think fast!” Andie yelled.

  Kraig shot a few of them with his gun, “Just shoot them till the Hister comes!” We started shooting them one by one. Other aliens replaced the dead ones. Soon, we were outnumbered and one alien approached Kraig and bit his arm. Kraig groaned.

  “Kraig!” I called, and shot the alien off his arm. Something bit my leg, and dragged me back pulling my feet from under me and I slammed face-first into the ground. I was dragged through dirt and water as I screamed, “Help!”

  “Nat!” Andie called and he shot the alien on the chest and head. It fell on the ground, dead. I pressed on my calf with my hand as pain spread to my thighs and I whimpered. The guys helped support me and dragged me along with them.

  I walked on my injured leg as pain shot through it, and then I heard the Hister slicing air above. “They’re here…” I said softly, weakened by the pain. The guards in the Hister shot aliens as it landed on the ground, and we sprint towards it. Every step I took was agonizing. We got in the Hister and it flew upward, headed to the Adkad City.

  Chapter Three<
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  “An Alien Buster is responsible for their injuries and the institute will not bear any expenditures for further treatments.”

  ~Alien Busters Manual, section one, page 12 I sat on the bed in the infirmary. The nurse gave me a few stitches on my calf. Luckily the bite wasn’t deep because of the protection of the suit they wear called the Prohemis. After the minor stitches the nurse gave Kraig and I some painkillers to take every few hours and bandaged my leg. Kraig got stitches and a bandage on his arm, bragging about how unpainful it was to get the stitches.

  “Yeah, right” I said to Kraig, “I saw you crying.” Andie coughed in his fist, “Cry baby.”

  Kraig spread his hands, “Come on. It was a needle,” he said. My Inhab (Intelligent Hand Band) beeped and I pressed to open the screen. Footage of the interior of my house completely ruined, the sofa was bitten and large chunks of fabric were tore off. The dishes were broken and food was strewn all over the floor. There was only one thing that was able to do this. The alien. Anger surfaced, as I turned the screen off.

  “What’s the matter?” Andie asked me.

  I hopped on my feet and headed to the door, “I have to go,” I said in a rush.

  “Hey, Nat.” Kraig called.

  But I was already in the hallway and heading outside. That’s when I heard Gale’s voice.

  “Nathalie Jefferson.”

  And that made me swivel on my feet to look at his furious face contoured with red.

  “In my office, now.”

  I followed him into his office, and sat on the metal chair in front of his desk. He sat behind his desk and pursed his lips staring at me with his intense blue eyes, “This mission was messed up,” nodding his head, “Can you explain?”

  “We were walking on the shallow river and found an alien hive, I guess. It was some kind of an outpost ahead of us, but before we moved back, we were attacked by aliens.” I explained.

  He rubbed his face and said, “No, really. What happened Nathalie?” This time he was focusing on my words, like he knew I was hiding something.

  “What do you mean sir?” I asked and batted my eyelashes in the hopes to look as innocent as possible. He clutched his hands on the table, “What I mean, is that you lost focus. Is there something on your mind? Something that I probably should know about?” he asked.

  I remembered the alien that I was hiding in my house. That made me avert my eyes, so he wouldn’t look me in the eyes and know that I was lying, “Not, really. And it’s not like I had any other choice in the mission. It was either run or die.”

  “You could have reported to me when you first found out about the hive, Nathalie.” He scolded, “This thing that keeps your mind busy, whatever this thing is, it can cost us lives. You got me?”

  I finally looked at him, “But it wasn’t anyone’s fault.” I shot back. “I don’t want to hear it, okay?” He scolded, and pointed at me. “This is not an office job. We’re dealing with dangerous aliens here, so keep it together. For the sake of your coworkers and for the sake of your parents.”

  My heart ached when he mentioned them. “What’s that have to do with anything?” I spat.

  “Enough!” He snapped back, “You behave, or you’ll face the consequences. I’m watching you Nathalie.” My lips quivered, “Sir, I…”

  “Get out.” He dismissed me, by waving his hand.

  I tried not to tear-up while I left the office, but I couldn’t hold it back and I cried right there on the street. At home, I realized that my house’s interior décor was completely wrecked by the alien. “Alien?” I called, as I stepped on the broken plates, glass and squished food. I looked for the alien in my cluttered room and my crammed garage. “Alien,” I called, “come out wherever you are…” Then I heard purring behind one of the boxes in the garage. As I approached the box, something loomed beside some clothes tearing them up. It was the alien, veraciously tearing the fabric with its teeth. My parents’ clothes. “No!” I said aloud, and hurried to lift the alien up, pulling away the fabric from its sharp teeth. “Bad alien” I scolded, and it purred trying to bite my hands, but I pulled away just in time. “What has gotten into you?” I asked furiously and took a look at the ruined cloth. They were my only mementoes of my parents; at least I had something my parents possessed before they died. Something to remember them by, something to hold on to. But the alien just turned the fabric into shreds.

  My tears subsided, “That’s it,” I sniffed, “You’re sleeping outside. And if someone finds out about you, and kills you, I won’t care.” I carried the alien in my arms and walked toward the front door and when the door slid open, I tossed it outside on the sidewalk. The neighborhood was quiet that day and the sun was setting with a golden glow. There were no pedestrians walking on the sidewalks or neighbors sunbathing on their yard. “Good bye alien,” I said through gritted teeth, shutting the door behind me. That’s when I heard the screeching on the door, and loud purring that made me soften. “Toughen up Nat, it’s just an alien,” I told myself and sat on the sofa to watch my parents’ speech again. This time I turned up the volume, to muffle the screeching sounds the alien made outside.

  “If you only believed,” my dad said. If I only believed that aliens were mild. If I only believed that I could give an alien a shot and be like my parents who loved learning about aliens. If I only believed that I had the heart to continue their legacy and do what I was born to do. But, no, this alien deserves to be disciplined, and I’ll not in any circumstances give in to its glossy black eyes and purring. After ten minutes, the screeching became more of an exhausted cry. Then it stopped.

  My Inhab bleeped. It was a call from Andie, “Hey Andie.” “Nat, are you alright?” he asked. Andie was always the lenient and supportive one, when I needed him. Just like when I first became an Alien Buster, he never asked about my parents, though he knew they were dead. But somehow he understood that I didn’t want to talk about them, and brought me Znacks every time I got upset.

  “Yeah, why not?” I replied.

  “Um, I heard the conversation with Gale,” he started.

  I stopped him. “Andie, it’s fine. Really.” I interrupted, “I hate him sometimes, but I have to get over it.” “Cool, then. I’m coming and bringing some Znacks with me, so we can talk a little more,” Andie said. No, he can’t come in here. He’ll find out about the alien. “You don’t have to do that, you know,” I said. “I’m coming and it’s final. See ya paprika,” Andie said and ended the call. “Andie,” I called, but he couldn’t hear me anyways. I cursed to no one in particular. So I had to stash the alien again until Andie leaves, or I’ll be exposed and who knows what will happen to the alien and I when the whole city knows that their loyal Alien Buster, was hiding an alien in her house.

  I went to the garage and brought Clero (the cleaning robot) out to mop up the mess on the floor. After I activated it, I went to open the door where I found the alien sleeping, cuddling itself on the sidewalk. “Hey, wake up,” I called. The alien opened its eyelids. I shooed it inside and prepared two bowls of food and water. The alien started biting my boots, “Hey, stop that right now. And follow me.”

  It looked at me jumbled. “Come on,” I told it, and headed to my bedroom, the alien followed me in. I put the two bowls on the floor and instructed, “You. Stay here, okay?” and pointed at the floor. The alien sat down as it ate its food, not paying me any attention. I changed from my Prohemis suit to casual pants and a shirt and combed my short dark hair. “Now be quiet. I’ll come back to let you out.” I instructed, and locked the door with a pin code.

  “You have a guest.” R announced. It was definitely Andie. I breathed in and opened the door with a smile on my face. Andie was standing in the doorway with Znacks in an airtight bag. He looked different in street clothes.

  He entered and he noticed the mess on the floor as Clero cleaning the living room, “What happened here?” He asked.

  I should have told him it was the alien who did it, but I lied, “I think I got b
urgled.” “Burgled?” He repeated, with furrowed eyebrows. “Nat, this is a first class riot. Did you call the Zelea police?”

  I shook my head, “But, nothing was stolen. I figured, why call them if nothing was stolen, right?” “Oh” he said, “R?”

  “Yes, Andie?” R replied.

  “You’re a bad security system,” Andie grumbled. “Thank you, Andie,” R said.

  He shook his head, “Wow, you have to update her.” “Right,” I replied.

  I gestured for him to sit on the crumbling sofa, and we both sat down side by side. While he rested his elbows on his thighs and handed me the bag, “Look, I know Gale crossed the line there. That jerk. Anyways, just be careful. He’s looking for faults in you. You know what I mean?”

  Of course, I knew what he meant. That I could end up like my parents, sympathizing with aliens and that would upset everyone in the city, especially Dean Clarke, the president who reviled about aliens and wanted them completely wiped out. That’s why he started the Alien Busters Institute, to diminish all alien kind.

  “I know,” I said, clutching the plastic bag tightly on my lap. “Maybe I can’t understand how you feel about what happened to your parents, but I know it has been hard for you not to miss them every day,” he comforted.

  That’s why I kept their stuff in the garage, so I couldn’t miss them every day. Like those things will bring them back somehow and will fill up my empty life. Andie couldn’t completely understand what I was going through, because he had both parents. Even though his mom had lost a leg in one mission, he can still talk to them and be with them whenever he wanted.

  “Well, you’re doing your best. You’re a good friend” I said, and lifted the plastic bag to shake it, “And you bring me Znacks,” I added with a smile.

  He snickered, “I have a saying that says, if you’re having an unfixable rough day, eat a Znacks or two and all your troubles will go away.”

  “Wow, and you just made that up?” I teased. He raised his palms in the air, “Okay, this sucks. I can’t even make things up without getting busted.” I laughed, “Oh, Andie, Andie, Andie. You never learn, do you?”