by N. W. Harris
On all sides of the coliseum, citizens, sailors, and soldiers pressed against each other, trying to get through the arched openings and away from the green wall. Their eyes showed panic, but they behaved admirably, not descending into anarchy and trampling each other to escape death. He followed the last soldier in, glaring back at the green wall that crossed the plaza surrounding the round building.
“You may herd us like animals,” he said, hoping the green entity could hear him, “but you’ll not cause us to behave as such.”
Athos climbed the steps to the first level of seats, and his soldiers stepped aside so he could get to the arena wall. He looked down at the sandy floor just as a handful of humans entered, clad in Anunnaki armor. He heard the secondary gate drop, locking them in the arena.
“Those plasma rifles will give them the advantage,” a lieutenant standing next to him said, sounding concerned.
“I don’t think it’ll be enough to keep them alive,” Athos replied. “Release the predators,” he shouted.
The order was repeated around the first row of seats and passed down to the soldiers who manually operated doors that held the beasts in their cages. His pulse raced when he saw the animals come out, the thrill of the games getting to him even though he knew the stakes were much higher than the monetary bets that were usually placed between spectators.
The humans fired their weapons at the predators when they charged, and the animals were no match for the bolts of plasma. Athos knew he had to take advantage of their distraction to find another way to kill them.
The podium at the edge of the wall was detached from the building, able to float the aristocrats out over the arena floor when the ship had power. If they could move it, he knew it had enough mass to crush the humans, even with the armor they wore. It had rollers underneath, so there was a good chance they could push it out so it would fall to the arena floor.
“Kill the humans,” Athos shouted. “Shoot them.”
The Anunnaki aimed their primitive guns at the humans and fired. Bullets rained down into the arena floor. He doubted they’d have much effect against the armor, but he hoped it would keep them distracted.
“Push the podium into the arena,” he shouted, ushering the Anunnaki off and behind the large block of metal and stone.
They rushed to the back of the podium and leaned into it. At first the massive block didn’t move, but more citizens and soldiers joined, apparently comprehending his intention. The podium moved.
“Yes, that’s it,” he shouted.
The massive block advanced slowly at first, but once they got a piece of it over the edge, it became easier.
“Push,” Athos urged the people on.
The podium slid out over the arena until most of its mass was over the edge, and then it flipped as it fell toward the humans.
The boom resonated against the coliseum, and the sand rose in a white cloud. Athos rushed to the edge and looked down, waiting for the dust to dissipate so he could see if the humans had been crushed.
The air cleared, and Athos saw only half the humans remained. They looked at each other, seeming stunned. Turning their plasma rifles upward, they began firing into the stands, killing his soldiers.
“Stay low,” he ordered. “Keep shooting at them.”
He hoped the metal bullets would break down the armor if enough of them found their target. The humans rushed for cover next to the fallen podium and returned fire. Athos was pushed from behind and almost fell over the edge. He looked back and saw the green wall pressing down the rows of seating, incinerating his people. The discipline they’d maintained to this point eroded, being burned from one side and shot from the other too much for them.
“Stop,” Athos shouted desperately. “Stand your ground.”
He knew they couldn’t; they’d be burned if they did. Death awaited them if they fell over the wall to the coliseum floor. They ignored him, rushing down until they pressed together so tightly the people along the wall began toppling over. Athos dropped into a control box at the edge of the arena wall, saving himself just before they pushed him off.
Athos’ soldiers and the citizens he’d sworn to protect spilled over the edge, dropping to the coliseum floor, and there was nothing he could do to stop them. Between the leaping people, he could see the green wall coming closer, burning those who didn’t move fast enough. When it was two rows of seats away and there was no one left between him and the green flames, Athos rolled out of the control box and stood on the edge of the arena wall.
The humans were backed to the center of the arena. The bodies of the Anunnaki piled up around the walls, forming a soft landing for those last few who continued to leap to escape the green fire. Plasma bolts hit many of them before they had a chance to jump, their limp bodies bouncing and then rolling down the hill of corpses.
He looked over his shoulder and saw the green wall right behind. Athos held his weapon across his chest and jumped. He hit the soft bodies of his dead and dying people and rolled down the pile. Coming to his feet, he rushed to the edge of the fallen platform for cover and aimed at the humans. He fired his weapon, pumping bullets into the helmet of the closest one. The human turned and fired back, and Athos leaped out of the way, taking cover behind the platform.
“Uncle,” Pelros said, grabbing his arm and pulling him to his feet.
“Commander, thank the gods you’re still alive,” Athos replied, holding his nephew’s shoulders.
“Yes, sir,” Pelros said. “And I’ve got this.”
Pelros held up an earth gun with a large pipe for a barrel.
“What is it?” Athos asked.
“It fires explosives,” Pelros replied. “But I’ve only got six rounds.”
“We’d better make them count,” Athos said, taking the belt of fist-sized projectiles from Pelros and following him to the corner of the platform.
Chapter Forty
“Stay down,” Shane shouted, barely able to hear his own voice over the gunfire. “Keep your backs to each other.”
Bullets pelted them like raindrops in a hurricane, the force of the impact pushing them around. The armor held and they fought back, firing bolts of plasma into the Anunnaki who survived the fall off the wall and ran toward them. The first lines of Anunnaki who fell appeared to be soldiers, but then what he guessed were the civilians came next. He saw little kids fall off the edge, mothers wrapping their bodies around infants as they leapt, like they were trying to sacrifice themselves to save their children. It horrified him to think some of them may be innocent, but every Anunnaki who appeared old enough to carry one had a gun. They were shooting at Shane and his friends, and he had no choice but to shoot back.
The aliens charged in a disorganized panic, the green wall of fire having pushed them off the seating and onto the coliseum floor. The fire burned hundreds of them, and many more died from the fall. The rest, Shane and his friends slaughtered.
There was so much death and carnage, he felt like he might vomit in his helmet. He maintained control, determined to keep the few survivors under his charge alive.
“My armor is starting to fail,” Steve said. “The shielding reads thirty percent.”
“Mine too,” Maurice echoed.
“Stand your ground,” Shane ordered.
They didn’t have a choice—there was nowhere to run.
Kelly fought on his left with the ferocity of a cornered beast. Jones was beyond her, and Steve was on his left. Maurice had his back to Steve’s.
“Greenie’s crossing the arena toward us,” Laura reported. Her back was to Shane’s, and she fired in the opposite direction.
“I see it,” he said, wondering if it intended to kill them all.
A whomp sound came from near the edge of the platform that had fallen and killed his friends, and Maurice exploded.
“Maurice!” Tracy screamed.
Shane looked over and saw the gentle preacher’s son had been blown in half. It looked like the grenade had gotten jammed betwe
en his breastplate and hip armor.
“They’ve got a damned grenade launcher,” Steve said, his voice horrified.
“Take them out,” Shane ordered, dropping to his belly and firing at the place where he thought the round came from.
Another whomp came from the opposite side of the platform, and an explosion consumed Steve, dropping his motionless body ten yards away.
“No, damn it,” Shane shouted, blasting the spot where he saw the grenade come from. “Everyone, on your bellies.”
He hoped to make them impossible targets. Another grenade landed between them and blasted Shane’s side. His visor reported his armor’s shielding was down to five percent, barely protecting him from the explosion. Green flashed through the arena, and the information displayed on his visor vanished.
“I’ve lost power to my armor,” Jones reported, his voice muffled by his helmet.
“Me too,” Kelly said.
Shane pushed up to his knees, his armor no longer assisting his movement.
“We’re screwed,” Laura said, panic in her tone. He looked back and saw her pushing her helmet off with her good arm.
Then he noticed the gunfire had stopped. For a moment, the arena was silent, everyone confused by Greenie’s move. The green wall of fire continued its slow path across the arena floor, closing in on Shane and his friends from all sides. Anunnaki shouts broke the silence, and the crowd of aliens was pushed inward. They pointed their weapons at Shane and his friends, and he knew they had to be pulling the triggers, but no bullets came and the guns remained silent.
“It wants us to fight them with our bare hands,” Anfisa concluded, taking off her now-cumbersome armor. She dropped to her knees next to Steve’s body, staring at him with a mournful yet angry expression on her face. “Why doesn’t it just kill us all and get it over with? Why is it toying with us?”
The same questions burned through Shane’s mind. He glanced at Kelly, relieved she didn’t appear injured.
“Take off your armor. It’ll just slow you down,” he ordered, his voice cracking. “Get ready for a fight.”
They shed the useless red suits, but held onto their plasma rifles, ready to use them as axes against the enemy like Jones had taught them. Although thousands of aliens were killed, hundreds of Anunnaki still survived, and they were pushed across the arena, closer each second. When they were twenty yards away, he could see the terror in their eyes. They feared the humans as much as they did Greenie, maybe more. One of them, a male who looked much like Jones minus the scar, ordered a charge. Next to him stood the Anunnaki they’d captured from the downed transport and held prisoner.
“By the gods, they’re still alive,” Jones said, casting a desperate glance up at the sky. “This is how it ends? Must I fight both my son and my brother to the death?”
Shane put his hand on the captain’s shoulder. Jones looked at him, and the melancholy in his expression faded.
“We need you, sir,” Shane said.
“And you have me,” Jones replied.
Shane could see in the rebel’s eyes that he told the truth. Even his love for family could not trump his loyalty to his cause.
“Greenie is right in punishing them,” Jones said more stoically. “But it is not in killing you.”
“Or you,” Shane added, trying to grin.
Jones’ brother repeated the order. This time, it echoed around the closing ring of Anunnaki. Ten yards away, the ones on the front line glared at Shane and his friends. Screams came from the back of their ranks as those who couldn’t get out of the way burned.
“Keep your backs to each other,” Shane shouted. “Greenie is killing them from behind. We can still survive this.”
“Charge,” the Anunnaki in the front shouted.
They rushed toward them, and Shane raised his rifle over his head to stop three guns being swung down on him at once. He kicked the center attacker in the chest, crushing his fragile ribcage and sending him crashing into those behind.
He twisted the plasma rifle, pushing their weapons off. Then he released one end and swung it around like a baseball bat, hitting them in the heads. They dropped, and he swung into those forced forward to take their place.
Jones fended off the first attackers next to him, but the next wave pushed him back. Shane couldn’t help the captain; he had too many Anunnaki to fight. He beat them off and glanced over just as Jones’ brother brought his weapon down on him. Shane struck down the Anunnaki like they were blades of grass. When he swung his weapon around, he saw the captain’s son shove the barrel of his rifle into Jones’ chest like a spear. He caught a glimpse of Pelros’ face, and it was filled with a lifetime of hatred.
Shane swung his rifle into Pelros’ back, breaking his spine. The alien’s eyes went wide, like he couldn’t believe he’d been hit. Then he went down. Before Shane could attack Jones’ brother, he had to turn on five Anunnaki who tried to bash him with their guns. He stopped the three on the left and saw the green wall one row of Anunnaki behind them. The other two swung their weapons into his ribs. Shane folded in pain, uncertain if his bones were broken.
Adrenaline helping him to recover, Shane swung his rifle up through the attackers. Greenie swallowed those behind them, and he stood panting with no one else to attack. The green wall of fire stopped its advance.
Shane looked left and saw Jones’ brother standing two yards away. A green wall of fire encircled the alien. No one could touch him, but he couldn’t attack them either.
“We’ve won,” Laura said with a dismal tone when he looked around toward her side. “They are all dead.”
“Except for this one,” Petrov said, stepping two feet from Jones’ brother, only the green wall of fire between them. He raised his rifle and swung it down at the alien. The portion of the weapon that contacted the green glow vanished into a puff of ash.
Tracy knelt on the ground and stared at the platform that had crushed Jules, tears sliding down her face. Anfisa stood over Steve’s body, looking down at the dead linebacker’s blank expression, her face pale with shock.
Shane’s vision blurred. He’d been through so much with these friends, and he and Steve were tight even before their parents were killed. Shane had been certain Greenie wouldn’t allow them to be killed. Now, he doubted any of them would live. He looked around the twenty-foot-in-diameter green fire cage he and his surviving friends were trapped in. His eyes stopped on Kelly.
She returned his gaze with sadness heavy in her expression. Her rifle hung loose in her hand, covered in the blood of all the Anunnaki she’d smashed.
“What now?” she asked, sounding desperate for an answer.
“I don’t know,” he said, looking back at the last surviving Anunnaki, who still stared at Jones’ and his son’s bodies lying on the ground next to where Shane stood.
He hated the Anunnaki for what they did to everyone’s parents, and hated this alien for helping to kill Jones. But he hated Greenie even more.
“What gives you the right?” Shane asked sternly.
Shane’s friends all looked at him, as did Jones’ brother. Not having asked the question of any of them, he looked up at the hole to the sky above them.
“What gives you the right?” he shouted angrily.
Greenie didn’t respond, and Shane’s friends studied him with concern. He could see it in their eyes, they needed him to lead them out of this situation. They needed him to keep his head, but he was at a loss for what to do.
“Oh, God,” Laura said. “No.”
She jumped left, and Shane saw what startled her. A green glow on the ground followed her. A similar glow appeared under all his friends—under everyone except for Shane and Jones’ brother.
“Don’t do this,” Shane demanded, panicking. “Don’t take them.”
He tried to push Anfisa off the green glow, trying to step on it to keep it in place. It followed her.
“Shane,” Kelly said, desperation in her voice.
He took her into his arms,
holding her close
“I won’t let it,” he said angrily.
Green flashed up from the ground and engulfed his friends. Kelly was aglow too, and though he held her against his body, he felt no heat from the green light.
“I love you,” Kelly whispered, pressing her lips to his.
There was a snapping sound, and she vanished. Shane stood there alone, his arms empty. All his friends were gone. Only the small piles of ashes remained, the evidence of more murders committed by Greenie.
Shane screamed, letting out the rage and pain bottled in him. He tilted his head to the sky.
“Why?” he pleaded.
His legs turned to jelly beneath him, and he dropped to his knees. Cradling his face in his hands, Shane wept. Hot tears burned his eyes and cheeks. He cried for Kelly, for his friends, for his father, and for everyone else who’d died. Greenie had killed everyone, and he knew it would kill him next, but he didn’t care.
Raising his face from his hands, he wondered why the evil being had kept him alive. Was it watching, reveling in his suffering?
“Does it give you pleasure to cause us pain?” Shane whispered.
Movement to his left caught his attention. Jones’ brother stood nearby, trapped in a cylinder of green fire. The alien looked away from his dead brother and at Shane. His expression was blank, like he was overcome with shock.
The green wall separating him and Shane dropped away. The alien blinked at Shane, seeming uncertain how to proceed. Shane rose to his feet and stood a few feet from the Anunnaki.
“He must die,” a soft female voice said. “He is a general in the Anunnaki military, responsible for the enslavement of billions and the death of even more. He is why your father died. Kill him now.”
Shane glared at the Anunnaki general. The pain over losing his friends transformed into rage. The alien looked back at him, the devastation in his expression when staring down at Jones and Pelros fading into a stoic face Shane was familiar with. The same one Captain Jones wore most of the time.