“Uh-oh…”
“Major?”
“Major Hargrove and is team are in a fire fight!” Major Preston reported, “I’m getting their coordinates… stand by, Colonel, I’ll send them over in a moment.”
Griffin smiled as he glanced back at Beverly and armed the transport’s weapons system, “Better take your seat in back, Bev,” then he glanced over to Preston, “We can lay down some missile fire to help them out!”
“Colonel,” McKenzie smiled, “Weapons free!”
Beverly strapped down behind Benny and Jen and held on.
Preston pressed his comm link, “Attention: Saratoga crew, stand by for incoming fire support!”
The radio crackled the nervous voice of Lieutenant O’Reilly, “Affirmative. Major! Good to hear your voice,” the man’s Irish accent boomed.
Griffin flew the transport low from the north and lowered the ship’s nose, “Target locked! There’s about twenty slime jobs firing blaster rounds at three human subjects that appear running toward Hargrove’s team!”
“Fire!” McKenzie ordered.
Griffin pressed his firing sequence on his controls, sending two missiles from each side of the ship. They impacted the street and building, hitting their targets dead on. Green goo blew away from the three running humans as Major Hargrove laid down rail-shot at the alien creatures from his ground position.
Hargrove waved his arm at his team, “Move out! Let’s get them safe, people!”
Three of his men jumped the make-shift rampart of cars and debris they’d put up around the Saratoga’s perimeter.
Rail-shot continued to ring out as the three marines ran to the three making their way to them.
Hargrove let out a shout of victory, “YEAH! Go get ‘em, Colonel!”
The transport flew low over the remaining aliens and ignited the ship’s thrusters, setting the aliens a blaze.
Griffin flew the ship in a circular pattern until he was satisfied that no aliens moved below.
Major Preston’s voice came over the comm link, “Major Hargrove, Major Preston, do you read? Over.”
Hargrove’s voice crackled over the radio, “Affirmative! I read! Thank you for assisting us! There’s a parking lot just to our west that you can set down at. We’ll meet you there. Over.”
Preston nodded as a smile crossed his face, “10-4, Hargrove. We see it.”
Griffin gently settled the ship onto parking lot then powering down the ship’s engines and systems.
“We’re down,” Griffin smiled as he glanced back toward Bennie, “Let’s go check their status.”
Everyone unbuckled their harnesses and made their way to the ship’s side exit. Snaggletooth was first to reach the airlock and opened both airlock and outer doors together.
General McKenzie helped Trudy from the short-winged craft, then followed her down.
Bennie was next to jump down and offered a hand to help Jenny gently reach the ground.
Calvin Jones ran up to the ship, “Bennie! Jen! Wow, it’s good to see you guys!”
“Uncle Calvin!” Bennie exclaimed. “Gawd, we missed you!”
“Yeah, well, there wasn’t much time to miss any of you,” Calvin teased.
“Hey, watch it, Unc!”
“Oh, I am watching it,” Calvin chuckled.
Major Preston and Colonel Griffin hit the parking lot right behind Beverly.
“Listen up, everyone!” Griffin shouted, “General McKenzie, the floor is yours, Sir.”
Everyone gathered around to listen as they waited for Hargrove and his team to make their way from the barricade to the transport.
He cleared his throat before speaking, “Everyone should understand the gravity of our situation. We saw destruction at every city from Mexico to Seattle. The devastation is on a global scale.
“It’s apparent that we’ll never regain the world we once had. This destruction may very well last for centuries. The aliens fled and left our world in ruins. But we must not give up. There is still a war we must fight. Our survival depends on eradicating our world of any aliens we know were left behind.”
Major Hargrove, Captain Hodges and Lieutenant O’Reilly arrived at the transport with an escort of five marines.
General McKenzie paused as he looked over making eye contact with Hargrove and Hodges, “Nice landing, guys! Well done, well done indeed.”
Hodges folded his arms with pride and smiled, “Thank you, Sir. I was just doing my job, Sir!”
McKenzie nodded his answer, “It is men like these, that will help usher in a new day for all mankind. A day that we can proudly say we are human. There is a lot of work to do.
“First and foremost, we must ensure this perimeter is secure. I can see, from our approach to the city, that you’ve done well in forming a barricade. But we will not survive long if we are held out of the main city. There is food and water we need, but we must advance our line.
“Teams must be sent out to eliminate the current alien threat. They will fight us. They will continue to perform their job, which is to remove the threat of Humanity from the Earth. We must NOT let them win! We WILL not let them win!”
Cheers rang out.
The three marines that had jumped the line returned with Matt, Tonya and Sly.
“Sorry to interrupt, General McKenzie,” Matt shouted through the crowd, “I mean, don’t get me wrong, inspiring the troops is vital an’ all, but we’ve got a situation!”
General McKenzie nodded, “Speak your point, man!”
“We have to formulate a rescue team. Luella and Jim are stuck behind the enemy lines!”
“Those are Freedom Fighters, right, son?” McKenzie asked with his hands planting on his hips.
“Yes, yes, we’re all Fighters of the Keepers of Freedom!”
McKenzie turned to Hargrove, “Major, arm these citizens and form an assault squad. Get those team members back!”
Major Hargrove saluted, “Aye-aye, Sir!”
Before charging off, he took the weapons from the three marine escorts and handed them to Matt, Tonya and Sly. “Here’s a start. I trust you know how to use these?”
Tonya examined her blaster rifle and smiled. She clicked the power unit on and the safety off, “A blaster rifle? Awesome! Yes, yes of course!”
“Good. Hargrove,” McKenzie ordered, “You take point on this, got it?”
Hargrove and the others gathered fresh weapons and headed back to the line as they formulated a strategy.
General McKenzie’s voice rose above the commotion, “I want the Saratoga gone through. Collect as many weapons and ordnances as you can. Get another team assembled to strip the forward turrets off her and mount those guns over there,” McKenzie pointed.
The crew broke up into teams to complete their assigned tasks.
“Major Preston,” McKenzie shouted once more.
“Here, Sir!” Major Preston stood by with a quick salute.
“I want you in charge of this base camp. Work with Beverly and get us a team to inventory our food staples. Set up a mess camp. We need to ensure we keep our strength up, and a good meal will do that as well as boost troop morale.”
“I can cook a pretty mean camp stew,” Beverly nodded.
McKenzie smiled down on Beverly, “I’m sure you can. Anything you can think of, have at it.”
“Yes, Sir!” Preston snapped another salute and went off to carry out his orders.
“Sounds good to me, General,” Beverly nodded as she rubbed her palms together.
Bennie and Jen stood near the General while Trudy and Snaggletooth listened on.
“What do you want us to do, General,” Bennie asked. “There must be something we can help with.”
McKenzie turned to Bennie and Jen, “There is, Son. We need to find a place to talk,” turning to Trudy, “You two, Trudy and Snag, we can use your help. Go inside Saratoga and get us an amp station moved out here. I want several multi-connects available so our men can quickly charge up when needed. Can you han
dle that for me?”
Snaggletooth smiled as he glanced between Trudy and McKenzie, “Sure thing, General.”
“Calvin,” McKenzie said as he turned to Jones, “Work with Preston and Beverly on the camp for now. Once Titus and Trudy get the accelerator set up out here, you can start doing what it is you do best, keeping us all amped up.”
“You got it, General,” Calvin trotted off to catch up with Beverly.
He pulled Trudy as he trotted off, “C’mon, let’s catch up with the others headed for the Saratoga.”
Bennie and Jen held hands as they walked with the General.
“I know we do have a lot to talk about,” Jenny said before she doubled over with pain.
“Jen! Are you alright?” Bennie grabbed her arm, keeping her from falling.
“Yeah, ahh, yeah, I think so. I need to sit down a minute.”
McKenzie helped Bennie set her down on the curb, “You take as much time as you need, Miss Jenny.”
“I-It’s the growth enzyme. It’s accelerating the baby’s development… That’s why… there’s… so much… pain… Ahhh!”
Bennie held her by her temples and closed his eyes. He brought up a self-amp charge for the two of them, comforting Jenny.
“Th-that’s a little… better… it’ll pass… in a moment or… two.”
Once Jenny had absorbed the golden glow she relaxed in Bennie’s arms.
“It’s okay, Jen. Just rest a few more minutes.”
“No… no, there’s no time to rest. Eva says there isn’t much time left, not much at all.”
“Eva is telling you this?” Bennis asked.
“Yes, our baby is speaking to me, Bennie and she has a message for us.”
Chapter 4
Town Car
En Route to Seattle
January 17, 2068 12:15
J stepped on the gas and sped down the freeway. His self-amp charge allowed him to weave around the stalled cars.
He wiped the sweat from his brow as he glanced over to Nadine, “Whew, I’m startin’ to run low over here.”
“We can try to bring up another self-amp charge…”
J interrupted Nadine, “No, no, I mean this car is running low on juice. We’re gonna have to pull off the freeway in tha’ town to find us a fuel station.”
“Take the next exit,” Nadine advised.
“That’ll take us to Southcenter,” J nodded, “We should find a place pretty close off the freeway.”
The town car careened toward the freeway exit, narrowly missing several stalled cars. The passenger door along the guardrail and the car slipped by the last obstacle as it exited onto the main road.
“There!” J exclaimed, “That wasn’t so bad now, was it?”
Nadine’s white knuckles told a different story, “Yeah, umm, okay, J… thanks for showing us your skillset n’all, but…”
J chuckled, “Now, Nadine, it wasn’t that bad…”
Kurtis peeked his eyes over the front seatback, “Yeah, umm, no, that was horrible!”
J glanced back at the pale, Kurtis, “Nah, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
Nadine pushed on J’s chin, making him face forward, “Just keep those pretty eyes on the road, m’kay.”
“Yeah, sure, sure thing,” J continued to chuckle, “Sorry, I can’t resist, you know how it is, really-really.”
“Yeah,” Nadine said, continuing to hold him by his chin facing forward, “Eyes…”
J glanced down the road, “Ah-ha! There’s a power station now,” J turned the car right and into the driveway.
He pulled up to the electrical pumps outside the station’s awning and powered the car off.
“Just hope we can get power to the pump, now,” J nodded before swinging his door open.
Kurtis and Nadine both exited the car and stretched their arms high into the air.
Nadine stepped over to the driver’s side and popped the electrical charging port door open.
J pulled the power cord from the pump and plugged it into the charging port, “See if there’s a breaker inside, Kurtis, yeah, that’d be great.”
Kurtis folded his arms and stood at the front of the car, “How about you go do that yourself, J? Huh? How come it’s always me?”
“Because if you go do this, that’ll mean you’re all that much less irritating to me.”
Kurtis unfolded his arms and strode off toward the abandoned building, “Humph! Always me doing the menial…”
Nadine rolled her eyes as she watched Kurtis kick the ground as he moved towards the building. When he was nearly to the door, he almost tripped and fell.
“Will he ever get it right?”
“No, I don’t think so, Nadine, I really-really don’t think so.”
J looked around, holding his hand to shade his eyes form the glaring sun that had broken through the thick black clouds.
Nadine also shaded her eyes as she joined J at gazing to the sky, “That’s really odd, J. What do you make of it?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know at all, Nadine. All at once, all that soot and smoke starts to clear?”
A sizzling sound caught their attention. The shimmering noise echoed across their eardrums before they stepped away from the filling station pumps.
A beam shot through an opening in the thick, black clouds about fifty feet from them. Where it hit the ground, the blacktop bubbled and liquified instantly.
“Look out!” J shouted.
The beam traveled across the pavement as the smoke-darkened sky gave way to an intense light.
Nadine tripped on the pump island and fell to the ground just as the beam of light hit the front of the town car. As she scrambled away from the advancing beam, her left arm briefly passed through the blinding light.
Nadine’s flesh sizzled and popped. Her screams filled J’s ears. She rolled away from the burning light as other bursts of light ripped holes through the black smoke-filled sky.
The metal of the town car melted under the powerful beams, nearly slicing it in two before it erupted into a fireball.
Kurtis fiddled around in the back of the store and flipped on the power switch, then came out of the store entrance.
He watched the station pumps explode from the combination of the power surge and the sun beams heating them. Kurtis ducked to avoid several large pieces of shrapnel flying toward him. The chunks of hot metal crashed into the storefront and fell to the ground near Kurtis.
J dove for the ground under the pump station awning, “What the hell’s happening!?”
Nadine held her arm. Her cyborg internal parts sparked where the powerful sun beam had vaporized her left forearm.
Gasping at the horror of her missing arm, she glanced between it and the powerful beams of light that continued to melt the pavement around them. After a few moments the strange phenomenon faded away.
J stood up and watched the last of the sun beams vanish. He ran over to Nadine, avoiding the blazing fire that used to be the Lincoln Town Car.
“Are you alright, Nadine?”
Nadine shook off the emotion of losing an arm. J helped her stand, “Does it hurt? Can I get you anything?”
“Thank you, J,” Nadine calmly answered, “I turned off my pain receptors. It doesn’t hurt at all, just alarming! What the hell just happened?”
“I don’t know,” J answered as he watched Kurtis cautiously make his way from the storefront, “But we’ll not survive if we’re out in the open and that happens again!”
Nadine fiddled with her damaged arm, “I don’t think being inside will make much of a difference, J… now that our transportation is destroyed, what do we do?”
J rubbed his chin, “I don’t know, just give me a minute to think!”
Kurtis spat at J’s answer, “Well, you’re normally a pretty smart fella, but do I have to tell you how to do everything? Jeez, man, get with it already!”
“J,” Nadine said, interrupting Kurtis, “for the first time in my clone’s existence, I can say I
truly am scared!”
“It’s gonna be okay, Nadine… Really-really.”
“Well, this place is like all the rest. Deserted. How about we find us another ride? We’re still a twenty-minute drive or so from downtown. It’d take a lot longer on foot.”
Kurtis looked around J’s shoulder and nodded across the street, “We’re in luck!”
J turned and saw the used car lot Kurtis pointed to and nodded. A wide smile grew across his face, “Kurtis, I gotta say, you really-really can have your moments.”
Kurtis beamed and puffed his chest, “Just never mind that, already! We need wheels. There are some wheels! Jeez, do I have to tell you everything?”
Nadine pushed Kurtis from the burning gas station behind them, “Remember, Kurtis, keeping your comments to yourself will go a long way towards us actually letting you ride with us…”
“Okay, okay,” Kurtis frowned as Nadine pushed him once more, “You don’t have to get your panties in a bunch!”
The three quickly made their way across the street. J looked up and down the two rows of cars.
“Seeing anything in particular, J?” Nadine asked, still cradling her stub of an arm.
J grew a wide smile and nodded, “Yeah, I really-really do,” he said, taking off toward the car lot sales shack.
Nadine and Kurtis followed close behind.
“You gonna fill us in anytime soon?” Kurtis spat.
“In due time, my man, in due time,” J answered as he opened the lot’s key board.
Picking a set of keys, J turned and headed out onto the lot.
“What was that, anyway?” Nadine asked.
“I’m not sure, but I think it might be solar radiation or something. Whatever it is, it’s not good!”
Nadine held her cyborg stump up and waved it at J, “Gee, ya, think?”
“Sorry about your arm, Nadine,” J said stepping through the car isles.
Coming to a stop at a rugged-looking, all-black H1 Hummer military edition truck. J slipped the key into the lock and opened the armored driver’s side door.
“Now this,” J swept his arm through the wide cabin, “This, is a utility vehicle. And a half!”
“Nice choice, J. You do have good taste,” Nadine nodded, “This will do us nicely.”
AMP- Aftermath Page 3