Darkest Days

by N. W. Harris

  “Looks like everything’s under control,” Athos said from behind him.

  “Thank the gods,” Pelros said under his breath. He turned around. “Uncle… General Athos.”

  “Report,” the general calmly said.

  “This green entity seems to be corralling us toward the coliseum,” Pelros replied. “We’ve brought the animals up to the holding cages, though I’m not sure how we can use them to our advantage at this point.”

  “Are there any humans left?” Athos asked.

  “Only a handful of loyal slaves,” Pelros replied, glancing nervously at the approaching green flames. “But I suspect a few of the enemy may have escaped our attack with the mirrors. They could be coming up through the inside of the ship, though I doubt there are enough of them to pose any real threat.”

  “We should be ready for anything,” the general replied. “The green enemy wants a final conflict between the humans and our people; at least that’s what I gathered by what it said.”

  “I have soldiers blocking all the emergency stair accesses leading down from this level,” Pelros said.

  “No surprise,” Athos said, looking over at one of his senior officers.

  “He is a good leader,” the old officer said to Athos. “We hope that is enough and the gods act in our favor.”

  The pop of primitive human guns erupted near the base of the coliseum, accompanied by the shouts of soldiers.

  “The soldiers must not have gotten those emergency stairwells blocked in time,” Athos said.

  Pulsing sounds of plasma rifles firing came from inside the dark lower level of the coliseum. Pelros felt the blood run from his face.

  “Is it possible the humans have plasma rifles?” he asked.

  “Sounds that way,” Athos said. “The enemy’s way of giving the few humans who survived a chance at killing us. It’s leveled the field for a good fight. Perhaps this enemy is not unlike ourselves.” Athos looked at the approaching green wall. “This battle may be for its entertainment.”

  “We should lure them into the coliseum,” Pelros suggested. “Then we can use the animals against them.”

  “Excellent idea,” Athos said. “I’ll go make sure the gates are manned and ready to open. You get those humans onto the coliseum floor.”

  “Yes, sir,” Pelros replied, saluting his uncle. He wanted to feel like they had a chance, but as he rushed to the coliseum, he couldn’t shake the pessimistic feeling that the violent end of the Anunnaki race was imminent.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Light filtered into the stairwell, the slit between the sliding door and its jamb growing wider. Shane pushed it back far enough for them to slip through and led the way out. Yellow sunlight shined down a straight hallway that ended at the outside of the building. He could see Anunnaki passing beyond the arched exit, about fifty yards from the stairwell door.

  “We’re in the shadows,” Anfisa said. “They won’t see us.”

  “Must be hundreds of them out there,” Petrov said.

  “Thousands,” Tracy replied. “They’re all out there.”

  “I think this is the first floor of the coliseum,” Jones observed.

  Two Anunnaki soldiers entered the end of the hallway and walked toward them.

  “He ordered us to guard the emergency escape stairwell,” one of them told the other as they stepped into the dark interior of the building. They held the barrel of their weapons pointed down, like they hadn’t noticed the intruders.

  Shane started to order everyone back into the stairwell to hide, but saw a green glow coming from just beyond the door. Its eerie light reflected on the shiny red armor he and his friends wore.

  “They need to be eliminated quietly,” Shane whispered. “Or we’ll have the rest of them on us all at once.”

  He saw the guards stop. They were deep enough into the building to see the backlit intruders. They raised their weapons—Earth rifles they must’ve harvested from Atlanta.

  “Who’s there?” one demanded. “Where did you get operational armor?”

  “We found it below decks,” Jones said, stepping forward. “Not sure why, but these suits had power, so we donned them.”

  “Remove your helmets,” she ordered, sounding suspicious. “Identify yourselves.”

  Jones pulled his helmet off and stepped closer to the soldier.

  “I’m Juris, captain in the Shock Troop guard,” he replied, sounding calm and honest. “This is my squad. We’re returning from patrol.”

  The soldier’s eyes widened, and she took a step back and pointed her rifle at his head.

  “Very convincing,” her male counterpart said, stepping closer with his rifle aimed. “Drop your weapons and remove the armor, or I’ll shoot him in the face.”

  Apparently tired of having the guns pointed at his exposed head, Jones rolled to the left, across the hallway. The guards fired their rifles, and bullets ricocheted off the red armor.

  Two blasts came from the shadows behind Shane, bolts of plasma that passed through the Anunnaki. The warm, yellow sunlight bathing the ship’s city outside the building showed through the softball-sized holes in their chests. Plasma bolts killed in such a unique way. No blood wept from the edges of the wounds, the flesh perfectly cauterized. Furthermore, the plasma burnt through its target without resistance. The guards weren’t pushed around by the impact as they would be if hit by bullets. This allowed them to stand there a moment until their muscles went slack and they slumped to the floor.

  Shane turned to see who’d fired the shots. A small square over Laura’s helmet displayed a live video feed of her face on the inside of his visor. He’d never witnessed so much hate in a person’s expression. She loathed the Anunnaki, and had no problem following Greenie’s bidding and killing them all. She saw him staring at her, and her expression softened.

  “Don’t think that could’ve ended any other way,” she said. “On a lighter note, I’m able to use the armor to hold my gun.” She raised her weapon, holding its stock with the left hand of the armor, the side where she had only half her arm.

  “Here come the rest,” Steve said, taking aim.

  “We can’t stay here,” Kelly snapped. “We have to go into the coliseum.”

  “They’ll have the advantage if they can shoot down at us from the seats above,” Jones said. “We’re better off taking them on out there, in the city.”

  “No,” Jules said. “She’s right. Into the coliseum or Greenie is going to torch one of us.”

  Shane could tell by the tones of their voices that entering the stadium was not their idea. It was another order from Greenie.

  The light coming down the hallway grew dim, blocked by soldiers coming to investigate the blasts they’d no doubt heard.

  “Into the coliseum,” Shane said. The decision made him sick, but he couldn’t risk losing anyone to Greenie.

  Without further hesitation, Jones nodded and turned down the corridor to their right. Shane kept his weapon aimed at the silhouettes approaching from outside.

  “Go, go,” he whispered, pushing his squad past him.

  Following the last of his red-armor-clad friends into the corridor, Shane walked backward and kept his gun aimed. Once he could no longer see the Anunnaki coming down the hallway, he turned and followed his people. Greenie illuminated a solitary light ahead, letting them know they headed in the right direction.

  They passed under the light and walked down a long corridor shrouded in darkness. Night-vision technology in their helmets allowed them to see, and Jones led them along at a jog until they encountered large sliding doors that looked big enough to drive a tank through and strong enough to stop one that tried.

  “The coliseum is just on the other side,” Jones said, pressing his gloved fingers into the vertical seam where the doors met.

  “Don’t think we’ll be able to open this,” Steve said, stepping up to help the captain, “even with our armor on.”

  Shane looked over at the control panel on t
he side of the doors and saw a flash of green. The doors disappeared into the walls on either side. Bright sunlight blinded him for an instant, then his visor adjusted to protect his eyes. Before them was the vast arena floor, with a wall of seating rising above and around it.

  “I can’t imagine a more impossible place to make our stand,” Steve said, looking up at the seats rising above them.

  “Or more fitting,” Jones dourly replied. “These coliseums are at the heart of the Anunnakis’ violent nature. In these stadiums, the people’s bloodlust is cultivated and respect for other species is scoured from their minds.”

  “I feel like we’re early Christians about to be fed to the lions,” Maurice muttered.

  “Yes,” Anfisa replied coolly, “but they didn’t have these.” She patted her gun, then thumped the breastplate of her armor with her fist.

  “Good point,” Steve said, forced cheer in his tone. “These ain’t pitchforks and togas.”

  The sounds of Anunnaki coming down the corridor behind them drew Shane’s attention.

  “Clear the door,” he ordered.

  They split up, taking positions on either side of the opening. Keeping close to the wall of the arena, Shane and his friends aimed at the door and waited for the Anunnaki to come spilling out. The sounds grew louder and then stopped. He knew they were just inside, and figured they suspected he and his friends waited to ambush them. Instead of Anunnaki soldiers rushing out to attack, a loud rattling echoed across the arena, and a heavy chain gate dropped from the top of the doorway, blocking their escape.

  Gun barrels poked through the chains, the Anunnaki searching for a target. Panicked shouting came from above them. Staying against the arena wall, Shane looked at the seating rising on the other side of the coliseum to see hundreds of the Anunnaki pushing through the doors and spilling into the seats. They ran in like they were being pursued.

  “Greenie,” Jules said, pointing above the top of the coliseum.

  The green wall of fire grew up behind the round building, pressing against the exterior walls.

  “It’s forced all the Anunnaki into the stadium,” Steve said.

  “It’ll keep pushing them,” Kelly dismally added. “It’ll push them against us.”

  “We’ll have to slaughter them all if we want to stay alive,” Jules said.

  The stadium seats above them filled with Anunnaki fleeing Greenie. At first, they didn’t seem to notice the humans who were clad in red armor and hiding in the shadows of the arena wall. After they spilled down to the seats on the bottom row, twenty feet above Shane’s head, a few Anunnaki soldiers saw the humans and aimed their weapons at them.

  Those soldiers told the ones nearby. Within a few seconds, most of the enemy turned their attention to Shane and his friends.

  Metal scraping on metal drowned out the shouts from above. All around the perimeter of the arena, doors slid aside, revealing dark chambers beyond.

  “Not good,” Kelly warned, lowering her aim and shifting her gun back and forth to cover the openings.

  The hair rose on the back of Shane’s neck. Out of the darkness came all manner of beasts making a cacophony of horrible sounds. The creatures were all alien, and the only trait they shared was they were bigger than any predator on Earth and seemed to be starving. They gazed toward Shane and his friends with what he could only assume was voracious hunger lighting up their eyes.

  “Stay close together,” Shane ordered. “I don’t think most of these animals will survive a plasma blast.”

  Anfisa and the others who were on the other side of the closed-off opening they’d come through darted in front of the gate. The Anunnaki behind it fired their weapons, and bullets ricocheted off red armor. Anfisa and her group returned fire, blasting the Anunnaki with bolts of plasma. They joined with Shane’s group, and all weapons were aimed at the approaching predators.

  “There must be fifty of them,” Maurice said, sounding worried.

  “Steady,” Shane replied.

  Noticing the other animals entering the arena nearby, some of the beasts turned on each other. With Jurassic-sized teeth and claws, they tore huge gashes in each other’s flesh, some covered with scales, some thick bare hide, and some fur.

  “Don’t fire until they close in on us,” Shane said. “We need to conserve the charge in our plasma rifles.”

  “Greenie won’t let us run out of juice,” Jules replied. “Not until we’ve killed every Anunnaki in those stands.”

  Shane sweated, and his armor reacted by bathing him in cool air. This was just the beginning of the battle. If they managed to eliminate these monsters, they’d still have to fight the armed spectators who were cheering above them.

  The predators who didn’t attack each other charged at once, seeming to try to beat each other to the meal.

  “Hold,” Shane said, a tremor in his voice. He waited until the animals were fifteen yards away and shouted, “Fire!”

  A barrage of plasma blasted from their weapons, each finding a home in the flesh of a charging beast. The predators flipped head over heels, sliding on the sandy arena floor. Shane fired again and again, as did his friends. Within moments, all the beasts were dead and the arena fell quiet.

  He looked up at the Anunnaki. They seemed stunned, staring down at the carnage with wide eyes. Then shouts started, a crescendo of rage and heartache over losing their beloved beasts. The guns pointed toward Shane and his friends.

  “Take cover,” Shane instinctively said.

  But there was no place to hide. He dropped to his knee and aimed his rifle up at them. A single shot came from above, and he heard the round bounce off someone’s armor next to him. Then the Anunnaki began shooting at once. Weapons fire drowned out the other sounds in the coliseum. The bullets hit Shane’s armor, knocking him off his knee and onto his back. He rolled over and returned fire.

  “There are too many of them,” Petrov shouted.

  “Our armor will hold,” Jones said. “Just keep shooting.”

  Movement above caught Shane’s attention. He glanced up in time to see a massive rectangular platform tilting over the wall of the arena.

  “Run,” he shouted, pushing to his feet.

  He made it three steps before a shadow blocked out the sun. Shane dove, knowing the platform was falling toward them. The floor of the arena shook when it landed, and a cloud of sand billowed up, blinding him.

  Shane rolled to his feet and scanned through the dissipating sand, searching for his friends.

  “Is everyone okay?” he inquired, only able to count six people in red armor pushing to their feet nearby.

  “Damn, that was close,” Steve said.

  “Headcount,” Shane ordered.

  “On it,” Tracy’s tense voice said through the speakers in his helmet. “Everyone, sound off—say your name.”

  All the while, bullets pinged on Shane’s armor and caused bits of gravel to erupt from the platform that lay ten feet from him.

  “Maurice.”

  “Laura.”

  “Anfisa.”

  “Kelly.”

  “Steve.”

  “Petrov.”

  “Jones.”

  The dust cleared and the identifier in Shane’s visor showed each of their stunned faces as he looked at his friends. After the captain spoke, no one else said their name.

  “Damn it,” Tracy cursed, concern thick in her voice. She rushed around the platform, firing her plasma rifle up into the stands as she ran. She came around the other side. “They’re gone,” she said with disbelief.

  “Gone?” Shane blinked, having trouble comprehending what she meant.

  “Dead,” Tracy replied, her voice cracking. “Crushed.”

  A bullet struck Shane’s helmet, causing his head to tilt sideways. He hardly noticed, stunned by the sudden loss of so many of his friends. Another bullet struck his breastplate, pushing him back.

  “Take cover against the platform,” he said, afraid he’d lose more. “Return fire.”
r />   “I’m going to kill all you bastards,” Tracy shouted, her shock over losing Jules seeming to transform into rage.

  They backed against the platform, firing up into the stadium. Anunnaki along the walls dropped dead as the plasma bolts seared through them. Anger boiled in Shane’s blood. Greenie wanted him and his friends to execute the Anunnaki, and now he had the motive to do it. He hated these aliens who’d killed their parents, and hated them more for killing his friends.

  Through his murderous anger, he noticed the panicking Anunnaki pressing down toward the lower level of the seating above.

  “Greenie is pushing them toward us,” Anfisa said. “It’s closing in.”

  He saw it. The green wall closed like a noose. Flashes of brighter green showed where the aliens couldn’t get out of the way in time and were turned to ash. It pushed the Anunnaki off the upper and outer rows of seats and toward the arena, to Shane and his friends.

  “Good,” Laura growled. “It’ll make them easier to kill.”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Leaving Pelros in charge of ensuring the humans were corralled into the coliseum, Athos ordered his other commanders to get the rest of the soldiers up into the seating where they could shoot down at the enemy. Pushing his way toward the massive round building, he recalled the nightmare he’d had where he’d watched his beloved nephew die in the hands of the human slaves. It had happened in the coliseum, and he prayed to the gods that the dream was brought on by stress and not some terrible premonition.

  “Hurry,” he shouted, seeing the green wall press in on his people. “Into the coliseum. The only chance we have at survival is to kill the humans.”

  This strange enemy clearly had a twisted sense of humor, making them have their final showdown with the humans in the building where the Anunnaki had made sport of pitting lesser species against each other. With the predators they’d moved to the coliseum and the Anunnaki shooting down on the humans from the seats above, he doubted they’d survive for long. What would the green entity do once Athos had destroyed the humans it had sent to attack his people? He feared it may decide to exterminate the Anunnaki anyway and still hadn’t figured out a way to stop it. For now, he needed his people to believe they had a chance; he needed them to fight for their lives.