Apex

by Moon, Adam

  Then she levitated an empty bar stool. No one noticed it until she floated it towards her. Her hands were engorged with blood as she concentrated. A leg of the stool snapped in half as she struggled to control her powers.

  Some people murmured but the room went eerily still as Melanie performed her parlor trick.

  A fat, middle aged lady who usually kept to herself whispered, “Devil.” Then she yelled more loudly, “That is the work of the devil. Judgment day has come and we’re harboring a devil child. We’re all doomed.”

  The general walked up to her quickly and slapped her hard across the face. He said, “I will not allow hysteria here.”

  The woman was unfazed. “We must cast out the devil girl. When the rapture comes, we will be condemned because of this.”

  “Do you seriously believe that we were attacked with lasers by demons?”

  “Of course I do. What else explains it?”

  “It was aliens, you crazy old witch.”

  The fat woman laughed heartlessly. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  A thin man wearing only his thermal’s said, “I thought it was the government.”

  “The government does experiment with new technology, but we have nothing like those lasers. Even if we did, we wouldn’t deploy them on our own soil.”

  The woman interrupted with a shrill shriek. “The girl must be banished.”

  Melanie gently placed the bar stool in front of her and sat down on it, careful to keep her weight away from the side with the busted leg. “Why don’t you come over here and try to make me leave?”

  Scott stepped in front of her. His eyes turned pink as blood threatened to rupture vessels in them. He concentrated and was able to encase Melanie in a force field. He lifted her and the stool up by a foot.

  The bar was silent as a church mouse now. He dropped her back down and said, “I have an ability now too. So does our friend Jack and so do these nice people.” He pointed at Dan and Molly, standing near the front door.

  Dan nodded and Molly smiled impishly.

  The general said to everyone in the room, “If we come under attack, wouldn’t it be nice to complement our firepower with their strange abilities?”

  A woman behind the bar, clearly drunk, said, “So if we come under attack, these kids can unleash the power of flotation? Wow, color me unimpressed.”

  Dan’s hands lit up, the heat radiated throughout the bar. “We can do more than levitate things.” His hands went back to normal and Scott and Melanie counted their blessings. It wouldn’t help their case if Dan lost control again and torched the bar by accident.

  Jack’s mom whispered to Scott, “Is it true?”

  “Yes. Jack can teleport.”

  She shook her head in confusion. “Then why doesn’t he teleport here?” Clearly she was less interested in his abilities than she was in making sure he was safe.

  “When he doesn’t find you in Denver, he’ll come back to Ault.” Scott wasn’t sure if that was true, but he hoped it was.

  The fat woman screeched, “They’re all possessed. We need to get away from them.”

  An old man with gnarled hands moved towards the fat woman and grabbed her by the collar. “If you don’t shut up, I’ll personally lock you out. If it’s true about aliens attacking us, we might need all the help we can get. If that means we need to rely on kids and strangers wearing silly costumes, then so be it.”

  Only then did Scott realize he was still wearing his superhero outfit. He saw Dan look down at himself too, and Molly smiled when he shook his head. He’d never be able to show his face in town again after this.

  They looked ridiculous.

  Deserted

  The farmhouse was deserted. Jack yelled out for Scott and Melanie but they were gone.

  He searched for Dan and Molly, and then he remembered that the last time he’d seen his friends, the military was in their midst. Had the general decided to kill them? Had he decided to abduct them?

  More than ever, he felt alone in the world. His mom was dead and now his friends had abandoned him, or worse, were dead too. The world was on the brink of destruction, and he was starting to believe it deserved its fate.

  He’d seen hatred now. He’d witnessed senseless death and aimless fury. He’d killed people for no other reason than that they were near him. This world did not care for him and he was starting to think the feeling was mutual.

  His mom’s face flashed before his mind’s eye and he felt that familiar rush of anger flood his senses; anger at himself. He was truly worthless.

  But this time, he let the emotions smash his senses to a pulp like a tsunami. He wanted the fear and hurt and hatred to grow. He wanted to physically express them through his powers, if only to purge them from his heart.

  Maybe he’d feel better afterwards. Maybe not. But either way, it felt better to open himself up than to seal the poisonous feelings inside and let them fester.

  Plus, no one was around this time to get hurt.

  Tremors

  The bar rumbled. Glasses fell and smashed on the floor. Walls crumbled. A young girl screamed. Ault was nowhere near a fault line so this was something else. Maybe the enemy was approaching. Maybe the Earth was being torn asunder beneath their feet by the evil aliens that had already attacked them.

  Little did any of them know that a teenage boy on the outskirts of town had produced the seismic jolting by literally moving and depositing millions of tons of Earth. Little did any of them know that he was no longer in control of his abilities and that this would be just the first of many instances.

  The deafening screams that accompanied the rumbling was animalistic, fear inducing, and destructive in itself. They carried on the winds and it was impossible to locate their source. The windows cracked and their bones vibrated from it. The scream reached fever pitched even as the ground beneath them became still once more.

  None of them could know that one of their own was losing the battle against his own powers.

  Wave

  Commander Davok issued the order. “Send the troops. Let’s get this over with and move on as quickly as possible.”

  “Yes sir. The troops have been deployed, and not a moment too soon. They’re eager for action.”

  “I hope so. Should we release the Rancunts to help them?”

  “No way, sir. Just because we’re exterminating the humans doesn’t mean they should suffer such horrors as that. Allow them to die quickly.”

  “You’re right. The round-up of those damn Rancunts will just slow us down afterwards anyway.”

  Second in command, Fillo, breathed a sigh of relief. He hated those massive Rancunts. They scared the shit out of him and the troops alike. They were beasts they’d discovered on the first planet they’d attacked. They weren’t the apex species but the Greys were forced to contend with them anyway. Rancunts liked to eat and they were massive enough to require lots of meat.

  Twenty captured Rancunts were on ice in the cargo bay. The idea to bring them along was the commanders. He reasoned that if they came across a formidable foe, they could let loose the Rancunts on the poor planet and then just sit back and watch the mayhem ensue.

  It was a fine theory except that the Rancunts had killed hundreds of their troops so clearly the remaining troops didn’t appreciate sharing their ship with them. It was another way the commander had lost the goodwill of his men.

  “Did you send the troops in the gunships?”

  Of course. They’re armed to the teeth.”

  “I can only hope they have the sense to use their superior firepower to make quick work of this planet.”

  Fillo smirked devilishly. He knew the troops considered weaponry a last resort. They wanted to soak in blood for awhile.

  UFO’S

  Jack’s body felt like it wanted to fling itself to pieces. His consciousness wandered in and out of its own accord. He had lost control now, truly. His feet were dangling inches from the ground and his fists had balled up as the power wracked his b
ody with pain.

  The farmhouse was in ruins. There were craters where none previously existed and huge mounds of wet soil where flat land used to be.

  The ground shook mightily as millions of tons of earth vanished and reappeared hundreds of feet away. Pebbles and damp clumps of earth rained down on him, but that didn’t faze him in the least. If his power destroyed him, that would be just fine.

  He had nothing left to live for anyway. Everyone he cared for was gone.

  And then he saw something amazing. Several dark shapes floated down from the heavens. They approached the ground rapidly, growing in size as they got closer.

  They weren’t military. The military didn’t launch strikes from space, at least not that he knew of.

  They were alien ships, come to finish off what was left of humanity. He had no way to know if his hunch was true but it was a gut instinct and it felt right.

  These weren’t the friendly variety of aliens that Hollywood loved to portray in movies either. These aliens had ships with guns mounted to them. And one of the ships broke off and headed his way.

  It was surreal enough to shake him from his fury. His powers subsided just when he might need them the most.

  Invasion

  On the TV in the bar was an amazing sight. Kenosha, Wisconsin had come under attack by spaceships. They fired thick jets of laser light as they descended, vaporizing their targets, and then they landed abruptly.

  There were two on the screen, landing together. One crushed a car like it was made of papier mache. The other landed neatly but its guns were still blasting even as awed spectators realized their folly and tried to escape.

  They opened up and hideous beasts not unlike the Greys that most of them knew of from the movies, emerged from the bellies of the ships. Some of them were armed with lethal looking guns, half as long as their bodies, but most of them ran out unarmed.

  They all looked crazed and bloodthirsty.

  The person with the camera, filming them, took off running.

  Then the screams erupted. There were foreign noises like squelching and tearing, intermingled with those screams.

  The camera shook abruptly and an image of a blood smeared gray face strafed the screen. It shook again and then fell to the ground. The operator gargled and then fell on top of his own camera, blacking out the view.

  An alien yell of rage and victory resounded as the image went blue.

  An anchor, disheveled and covered in dust and sweat, appeared on screen from inside the news studio. He said hoarsely, “Arm yourselves, people. This is it. They’re everywhere. They’re hitting big cities and small towns alike. Defend yourselves.” Then he stood up, ripped his mic from his collar, and ran from the set.

  Scott looked incredulously at the general. General Parsons said, “This is what we’ve been dreading. We need to be ready when they attack.”

  A woman fainted; crumpling to the ground too fast for anyone to catch her, and a man on the other end of the bar clutched his chest and took a knee to steady himself. He whispered to no one in particular, “I guess they’re not the friendly variety then.”

  The sheriff tried to conceal the dark patch that was spreading rapidly on the crotch of his pants.

  A young man spread the window blinds apart and looked up and down the street. “They’re not here yet.”

  General Parsons said, “We need to be prepared, just in case.”

  Melanie asked the general, “How can you expect us to be prepared for that?”

  “They’re coming, girl. Either we put up a fight or we don’t. How we go out is up to us.”

  Dan said, “We’ll go out fighting then,” and Molly nodded her agreement.

  The sound of guns being armed and readied filled the little bar, like angry crickets.

  A guy said, “I’ll take the roof if anyone wants to join me.”

  Another guy said, “I’ll get to a rooftop across the street.”

  A teenage girl said, “I can take the kids down to the basement.”

  The general ordered his men to get outside and fan out. “No one fires before I do. Let them get as close as possible before engaging.” Then he looked at Scott and Melanie and said, “We could use your help.”

  First Contact

  Jack stood stock still as the black ship, half as big as an aircraft carrier, set down beside the dilapidated farmhouse. The ground shook as it settled. Rabbits ran off and snakes slithered away, frightened by the ship shaking their underground burrows.

  The sight of the fleeing animals soured Jack’s stomach. How many innocent creatures had been killed as he moved the soil earlier? Did they deserve to die just because he was angry at himself?

  He realized, now more than ever, what a bastard he had become.

  Before he got too wrapped up in self-loathing, an audible hiss reached his ears. He turned in time to see the huge ship open up and a legion of aliens emerge with overblown confidence, as if they already owned the place.

  He stumbled backwards and tripped over a clump of sod, falling on his butt. Just because he’d seen the impossible lately didn’t prepare him to come face to face with real, live extraterrestrials.

  They hit the dirt and then looked around, punch-drunk, like they’d expected to find more here than a destroyed house and a yard full of junk. Then they all turned to Jack and stared at him like maybe he had the answers they sought. Or maybe they just wanted to take their frustrations out on him. He couldn’t be sure.

  When a bunch of them threw their weapons on the ground, Jack’s heart filled with hope. Maybe they were peaceful.

  But when they rushed him like a raging river, with hate across their oblong gray faces, he knew he was a dumbass for being so optimistic. They were going to kill him slowly, intimately.

  He scrabbled to his feet and considered his limited options. But the aliens were faster than his thoughts. He had to forget about planning and just act.

  The closest alien was just a few feet from him when Jack teleported into the air above their heads. He watched from above as they all stopped in their tracks and looked around, confusedly. Then one of them spotted him floating above them and pointed right at him.

  The gesture shook Jack to his core. That pointing slender finger might seal his doom.

  A line of focused blue light zipped past his leg, a laser beam to knock him out of the sky. Then a dozen more beams sliced the air around him. He vanished and reappeared on the ground thirty feet behind them.

  The extraterrestrials fanned out and searched the skies with keen interest. They weren’t about to let him escape but that was ok because he had no intention of fleeing. His hatred now had an outlet. He was a hammer that had finally found the perfect nails.

  These bastards had come from space and he was going to send them all home.

  His body quaked and the scene flickered before his eyes. The Greys saw him again and started to run at him like starving men at a juicy steak.

  Jack laughed at them which only drew more laser fire, but that was a futile gesture. He was phasing in and out so rapidly that all the beams went straight through him like he wasn’t even there.

  He allowed his fury and fear and disgust to take over his senses.

  And then he let it out all at once.

  Anomaly

  “Commander, we’ve just spotted one of our ships in Earth orbit. It’s designation thirty seven. It’s surrounded by debris from the planet as well as hundreds of our soldiers. They’re all dead, sir.”

  “How did it get there? I didn’t issue an order to retreat.”

  “It simply appeared.”

  “That’s impossible.”

  “So was that chunk of city we discovered floating out here with us.”

  “Do you think the two are connected?”

  “Of course they are. Whatever weapon these Earthlings have at their disposal, it’s far beyond even our comprehension.”

  “What do we do?”

  “You’re the commander. You tell me.”

>   Davok sat in silence for a moment and then said, “How is the deployment going, besides that one hiccup?”

  “It’s a resounding success, sir.”

  “Then we stay the course. But just to err on the side of caution, send in the Rancunts.”

  “Where should I send them?”

  “Where was the drop zone for ship thirty seven?”

  Second in command, Fillo, pulled up a holographic screen and pointed at a region of the planet.

  “Send them all to that little town then. Let’s see if this weapon of theirs is quick enough to deal with twenty ferocious Rancunts.”

  Fillo smiled wickedly. These missions could get dull without a little danger to shake things up, and the Rancunts added that dangerous component in spades. “We both know it won’t be. This is total overkill. I can’t wait to see the destruction they wreak.”

  “It’ll delay our departure though.”

  “Only if we decide to pick up the Rancunts when this is all over.”

  “You’re right. Drop them and make sure the men stay away from the destruction. I don’t want to lose even more troops to those beasts. We’ll decide afterwards if they’re worth picking up again.”

  “I like the way you think,” the second in command lied. “But if we send a detachment of soldiers in, suited up with mechs to help guide the Rancunts, they’ll be well protected and they’ll be able to direct them to the population centers.”

  “Now that is overkill. Ok then. Do it.”

  “I’ll order them to capture that odd weapon if they find it too.”

  Davok nodded slowly. “We could do wonders with a weapon like that.”

  Fillo stifled a sneer. If it was up to the commander, the Rancunts would’ve run amuck down there, unhindered, and probably crushed that weapon before they had a chance to unlock its secrets.

  He ordered the remaining troops to load up the Rancunts and to suit up.