Apex

by Moon, Adam

  They were the last of his men and not a single one of them was pleased to chaperone the Rancunts. The Captain was a female and he knew she was brilliant so he decided to level with her rather than try to trick her into accepting the mission. First, he gave her the little nuggets of intel he had about the weapon, like its location and its capabilities.

  He said, “This weapon is as important as the actual mission. We need it and I’m going to trust you and your men to get it. Guide the Rancunts towards the bulk of the humans and let them wreak havoc. As they distract them, find it and get back here.”

  “I don’t like it, sir. The Rancunts can’t be wrangled and you know that.”

  “That’s fine. Just set them loose and use the chaos to your advantage. This mission now has the highest priority. You are only to answer to me or the commander while you’re landside.”

  That got a little smile out of the Captain. Fillo knew she was probably already wondering if a promotion was in her future if she succeeded. He’d let her keep thinking that until she was victorious, if only to get her onboard with the mission.

  She turned to her men and ordered, “Strap in. I’ll fill everyone in on the way down.”

  The men looked pissed, but they obeyed her commands. They knew better than to ignore her.

  She said to Second in command, Fillo, “So then that means I’m third in the pecking order, at least until we move on.”

  He chuffed. “I suppose it does. I’ll let the rest of the ground troops know of your mission and also that you’re in charge should they need additional leadership.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  Her demand was ridiculous but he’d grant her wish for the time being. He could always reprimand her for her arrogance when she returned.

  Concessions could be made and protocol abandoned in order to get their hands on that weapon.

  He couldn’t help but wonder what new curveballs would come their way next.

  Mammoth Ship

  Jack woke up in a huge watery crater. Pipes jutted out, some of them gushing water and others sewage. He climbed out as quickly as he could, on shaky legs.

  The aliens were gone, as was their massive ship, the house and most of the surface land.

  He could feel bad that he’d just killed so many living creatures but the sight of those aliens with their barely contained hatred, steeled his nerves against feelings of regret for what he’d done. They deserved their fate.

  His clothes were pasted with mud and sludge but even though he now reeked he was glad his silly costume was somewhat covered up. He realized how ridiculous it was that he cared about his appearance in a time like this, but old habits died hard.

  Before he had a chance to marvel at what he’d accomplished, he saw several ships in the distance taking off from town. They shot straight into the sky and vanished. He couldn’t help wondering why they were leaving so soon. Had they already destroyed the town?

  But then, a few minutes later, a single ship, larger than the one’s that had just left, dropped down inside the town limits.

  He hated Ault, but not enough to abandon it to its fate.

  He started towards town when his legs buckled and he fell down on all fours. His breathing was labored and weak. His head was fuzzy and his vision was skewed. He knew deep down that unleashing his powers like he just had, was the reason he was depleted. But he had to muster the energy to go on or everyone he knew and cared for would die.

  Just because he found the inner resolve to soldier on, didn’t mean his body could obey the commands. The last thing he saw was the ground rush up at him. He didn’t feel the impact as his face hit the dirt.

  Momentary Reprieve

  Everyone in the bar let out a sigh of relief when the three alien ships that had set down in town suddenly took off into the air again. They must’ve decided that no one was around, or that they weren’t worth the trouble.

  The general started back towards the bar with his men in tow when suddenly, they ran back to their posts and disappeared again.

  A ship, twice as larger than any of the previous ships, landed with crushing ferocity in the little dusty town. It flattened buildings under its immense weight, missing the bar by a mere hundred feet. One of the general’s men was forced to find another encampment to avoid being crushed. Car alarms started singing their nerve wracking songs. A dog bayed in the distance.

  When the dust settled, the sight of the ship sent electric tingles up Scott’s spine and Melanie found that she was still holding her breath. Dan was shaking his head like he couldn’t believe it, but Molly just stood and stared in a fugue-like state.

  It was a good thing that the children were all in the basement because there was no doubt that at least one of them would’ve started to scream at the sight of the ship; it was that magnificent.

  A huge door opened on the ship, as large as the tallest building in Ault, and a detachment of robotic troops flew out and fanned out across town. Luckily, none of them made a beeline for the bar. Because they were robots, it was difficult to tell, but if Scott didn’t know any better, he’d say there was fear in their movements. They weren’t running towards anything, they were running away from the ship. Scott opened his mouth to say they should run before they discovered what had the robots so freaked, but he never got the chance.

  A deafening shriek of pure alien rage rattled their bones. It was animalistic and full of hunger. And then a green head as large as a Hertz truck appeared in the ship doorway. It was all mouth and teeth. It had two circular nostrils on top of its mouth, as large around as manhole covers, but it had no eyes. Maybe it would stumble around aimlessly, and they could easily escape. When it lifted its head to the sky and sucked in large gulps of air through its nostrils, everyone froze. Dan took Molly’s hand as they waited with baited breath.

  Then it turned its ugly head right at them and started running on four muscled reptilian legs. The ground shook as it approached and now one of the kids below ground did start to cry.

  Scott’s eyes turned pink as he tried to concentrate. Melanie’s hands became heavy and engorged. Dan’s arms started to glow brightly. It seemed like the people in the bar were now more afraid of them than they were of the giant beast coming to devour them.

  Dan kissed Molly on the cheek and then without a word, rushed from the bar.

  The beast was close now, maybe sixty feet away, when Dan sent heat right at its face. The beast didn’t even flinch. Dan’s arms started to glow more brightly until they were in flames. He sent direct flame at the monster, and his aim was true, but the beast didn’t stop. It shook its head and snuffled like it had an itch in its nose, but otherwise it was unfazed.

  Molly was beside him now, and she had a Buick hoisted over her head. She reared back with inhuman strength and launched the metal car right at the rushing monster. It hit it in the leg, giving off that unmistakable car crash sound of metal being twisted, and the beast stumbled, falling face first into the dirt. It was now just fifty feet from them when the general and his soldiers emerged and started to fire. The gunshots served only to anger the demon though. It got its legs back under it and jerked its head around at the gun wielding men.

  In a motion faster than any of them could’ve anticipated from such a large, cumbersome beast, it snatched a soldier up in its toothy mouth and swallowed hard.

  Melanie screamed and ran outside to help. Scott was hot on her heels. They weren’t accustomed to witnessing death yet, and certainly not a death so gruesome. It enraged them all.

  The bar emptied out quickly as gun toting townsfolk fired at the monstrosity.

  Its head swiveled this way and that as it looked for the closest meal.

  Melanie used all the might she could muster but all she could manage was to lift the beast’s leg up by a foot or two. Her powers waned and she was forced to stop. The beast seemed bemused by her futile attempt. It let out another animalistic, throaty bellow but there was a hint of humor in it, like it was chuckling.

  S
cott focused all of his energy at the monster’s head. If he could put a force field around just the head, then he could sever it from its body. But that head was larger than any force field he’d created so far. No matter though. If he could remove even half the head, that would probably be sufficient.

  His eyes turned pink, one of them popping a blood vessel, turning a crimson color.

  He concentrated on the head of the monster as it whipped about hungrily.

  The beast lunged forward and grabbed up two townsfolk in its gaping maw. It munched down on them, extinguishing their screams in an instant. Blood oozed past its teeth and down its chin as it swallowed.

  Scott’s concentration wavered in that moment, but he regained it and sent his force field out to slice through the creature.

  But the beast was shuffling around so fast, looking for more prey, that the force field missed its mark, cleaving off a chunk of its throat instead. Thick brown, sludgy blood erupted, splashing on the ground.

  The creature twitched in confusion and then it slipped in its own mess. Its legs went in opposite directions, sending it face first into the ground once more. It snarled and started to get back to its feet as Dan’s hands lit up and he sent flame at it again. The brown blood sizzled from the heat, as the beast flailed around angrily.

  With unnatural strength and resiliency, it made it to its feet again, anger and hunger written all over its hideous face.

  It started to run right at the bar since that was where the largest crowd of people stood. The soldiers made a wall in front of the crowd and fired with everything they had.

  The gunshots didn’t faze it this time. It barreled towards them like a freight train, trampling the general and his troops to death like they were nothing but marionette dolls. The screams and groans of the soldiers died as soon as the beast passed over them.

  Melanie stepped forward and held her hands out. Her fingers curled until her fists were balled up.

  The monster fell back to the dirt again, just a dozen feet from it’s would-be victims. But it hadn’t lost its footing this time. This time it was being pushed into the dirt by Melanie’s power.

  She tried to exert even more pressure. She heard a bone snap inside the beast which encouraged her, but it was just too big to crush. The best she could do was to hold it fast as the others tried to kill it.

  It’s mammoth head thrashed around biting the air furiously.

  The townsfolk concentrated their fire but some of the bullets barely made it through the thing’s leathery skin. Dan gushed fire at it but it didn’t burn.

  Scott’s eye was still pink from his last attempt, but he had to help. He told Melanie to hold its head still.

  “I can’t. If I stop concentrating for even a second, he’ll get loose and I don’t know how much more power I have.”

  Molly said, “I got this.”

  She ran right through Dan’s flame. She reached the beast, and when it snapped its jaws at her, she grabbed it by one of its huge lower fangs.

  It chomped down and she winced, but it failed to sever her hands, even after repeated attempts. Then she started to push its jaw down into the dirt. She held it like that, struggling against its thrashes.

  The townsfolk stopped firing, partly to avoid hitting Molly and partly because they were frozen to the spot by what she was doing.

  Dan started towards his wife but Scott said, “Stop.” He concentrated hard now, more to perfect his aim than anything else. He didn’t want to accidentally chop Molly in half.

  His other eye popped red and his body crumpled to the ground as a noise like rushing water came from the vicinity of the monster.

  Molly let go of the tooth and ran back to them. Dan grabbed her hand as he stared at the beast.

  The top of the monster’s head slid forward, away from the rest, and stopped before falling all the way off. A black brain could be seen inside and a stench not unlike rotten meat issued forth from it. The monster didn’t move a muscle. It was dead.

  Molly’s hands were mangled, but not beyond repair. Her bones were broken and blood trickled down her fingers, but she’d be ok. Dan fussed over her wounds until she demanded he stop.

  A whoop of jubilation came from several energized residents at once. It was infectious. Melanie helped Scott to his feet as everyone rejoiced in their victory. Several shots rang out as people fired into the air.

  But then the ground quaked and everyone stopped. They looked back at the ship just as several huge green heads appeared in the opening. There were more monsters.

  It had taken everything they had to kill just one, and luck had played its part too. There was no way they could kill more of them. They all knew they were about to die.

  Melanie’s voice broke as she said to Scott, “Put us all in a force field.”

  “I don’t have the energy anymore.”

  “Then we’re screwed.”

  Robot Fight

  Jack awoke to distant gunfire. He must have passed out. His legs were weak as he stood but he felt better.

  He felt the ground tremble and for just a second, had to check himself to make sure he wasn’t causing it.

  He heard an ear-bursting shriek like nothing he’d ever heard before. He knew with certainty that the shriek came from something that had just been deposited in his town by that huge ship he’d seen setting down. Although the shriek was distant, it still caused him to shut his eyes and hold his ears. The hairs on his arms stood erect. It was alien and it was angry.

  He started to walk towards town now, his pace quickening when he realized he wasn’t getting lightheaded anymore.

  How many times had he passed out today? His powers were clearly taking a toll on his health, but he had to push his fears aside and do something, anything, to help his town.

  He remembered his mother, and a grisly image came to mind of her being sliced in half by the alien tech and then being crushed beneath a fallen building. The image in his mind’s eye should have given him pause, but instead it galvanized his nerves and he started to run.

  He considered teleporting but it would be useless if it drained his energy. He didn’t want to arrive at a fight with no power left to help.

  The scenery around him flickered before his eyes and he had to consciously take control of his powers before they carried him away. The view solidified again, and he quickened his pace.

  He would kill every alien creature for what they’d done to his mom, and for what they had done to his species.

  But he had to get to the fight first. If this was some kind of last stand, he’d hate to miss it.

  A line of bright light shot past him that halted him in his tracks. He recognized it as the laser fire the aliens used before he’d sent them into space. But could any of them have survived what he did to them? He doubted it.

  And when he finally saw where the shot had come from, he knew he was dealing with something altogether different.

  A couple hundred feet ahead of him stood a metallic golden colored robot.

  It started to run at him and then it left the ground and flew towards him at lightning speed. Its gun had a serrated edge and Jack instantly recognized it for what it was. It doubled as a sort of sword.

  The robot was upon him before he could react. He flinched as it brought its gun-sword through his midsection at an angle. The sword went through, so that meant his super tough flesh was no match for the strength of the robot or the might of its sword.

  He waited for the pain to reach him and he wondered what it would be like to die from such a horrific wound. His only solace was that he’d probably bleed out before he hit the ground.

  But nothing happened. When he noticed the scenery flicker before his eyes, he knew he’d done it again. He had subconsciously phased in and out to avoid being sliced.

  He wheeled around on the robot. It still had its back to him, sure of its victory.

  Jack teleported half of it into the sky and watched the lower half fall over. Fluid, dark and slick, gushed out of t
he lower half of the robot. Jack looked up in time to see the upper half fall towards him, and he was able to get out of the way at the last second.

  It fell with a sickening squelchy thud. It twitched and then it went off-line.

  But Jack was starting to have his doubts about it being a robot at all. He felt around inside the open cavity and when his hand came out with warm entrails, he knew this was a living creature in a mechanized suit of some kind.

  He found a latch and unhinged the faceplate. Inside was the mangled face of an alien.

  Jack stood up and stumbled backwards. He reached down and wiped his hand on the grass to get the alien gore off of it.

  He was lucky he’d seen the attack coming. He guessed that he’d be dead right now had his powers not intervened on his behalf. He was pleased to find that he wasn’t getting faint because he had a feeling there were more mechanized aliens in town and he’d need to be on his A-game if he was to survive.

  But mere survival wasn’t all he had on his mind. These bastards killed his mother. He would have his revenge on as many of them as possible before they killed him. If he could take them on one by one, he’d have a chance. If they ganged up on him, especially in those super fast robo-suits, he was screwed.

  He felt that low rumble of Earth beneath his feet again so he left his handiwork behind and took off at a trot.

  Stampede

  Scott yelled, “Run,” but all that did was draw the attention of the big ugly dinosaur-like monsters.

  As soon as the first one charged them, the others followed closely behind. But they weren’t just following the leader; they were trying to beat it to the prey. And there was a seemingly endless supply of the things.

  Blood trickled down Scott’s cheek when he erected an invisible force field twenty feet ahead of him. The first beast hit it at a frightening speed. It’s head made an audible cracking sound and twisted to the side. Scott almost screamed out of pure elation when it fell on its belly and twitched. But it recovered before its fellow beasts caught up to it and it started to gnaw on the transparent wall. Scott felt the gnawing as though it was coming from within his own marrow. Or maybe he was just imagining it.