by Ben Hammott
Patting at the flames on his chest that were lapping his face with burnt hands, Kline dropped to the floor when bullets raked across his legs, cutting through flesh and splintering bones that provided him with a fresh source of agony. Spying the faded movie screen drapes which he might be able to use to smother the flames consuming him, he dragged his burnt, tortured body toward them.
Gibson turned his weapon and slammed the stock at the girl's head. Apart from jerking her head to the side, it had no effect.
Emily looked at him savagely and scolded him in her soft, little girl’s voice, “Bad man.”
Shocked by the little girl’s actions, Spenser moved to the side so he wouldn’t hit Finnegan and aimed at her head. Distracted by screeches from above, he, Gibson, and Foley tilted their heads to the worrying shrieks and spied children leaping from the gantry to join the fight.
As Kline crawled into the stage curtains and grabbed at them, setting them alight, Emily jumped to the floor.
Shocked by the carnage the little girl had dealt upon his comrades, Foley tried to focus the flamethrower back on her. Laughing, as if it was a fun game, Emily ran in a circle around him and leaped over Simpson’s burning body.
Gibson and Spenser fired at the dropping kids, but they were upon them before they were hit. Before Eric landed on the stage, he savagely kicked Gibson in the face with enough force to send his nose cartilage into his brain. As Gibson collapsed, Eric snatched the man’s assault rifle and turned it on the soldier with the flamethrower. A short barrage of bullets ended Foley’s life.
Sofia and Tommy handled the last soldier.
Tommy dropped with a thud in front of Spenser, a distraction for Sofia landing softly on the boards behind him. In one swift movement, she pulled the man’s pistol from his holster and shot him in the head. As he fell to the floor, she aimed at the burning man writhing in agony by the flaming curtains and also ended his life. Walking around the corpses, she stopped at the edge of the stage and shot Simpson in the face, bringing an end to his pain.
Eric walked over to the blinded soldier who had fallen to his knees. He placed the barrel of the rifle against the back of his head and pulled the trigger. As the man fell to the floor, Eric dropped the weapon and turned to the emergency exit door when it sprung open, and Jacob and Dominic entered.
Jacob called out a warning. “We must leave! Reinforcements are coming.”
Dropping the soldier’s gun, Sofia waited for Emily to retrieve her teddy rucksack, and then together, they followed the boys off the stage.
Emily slipped her bag over her shoulders when they rushed for the exit and out of the burning theater.
*
Back in the control room, shocked faces stared at the screen displaying the feed from Gibson’s helmet camera depicting the carnage the children had inflicted on the trained soldiers.
“How is that even possible?” uttered Troy. “They are children, and they weren’t even armed.”
Frustrated by the loss of more of his men, the colonel grabbed the mic and contacted Team Bravo, who was heading for the theater to tranquilize the infected kids and explained the situation. “The six missing children are infected and have just exited from the west side of the movie theater. I want them shot on sight. They may look like children, but they are not, they are monsters. Your comrades hesitated, and they died for their mistake. Your orders are to kill them all. If you don’t, you’ll suffer the same fate as your dead comrades.”
“Understood. Heading there now,” replied Lieutenant McNally.
Blightburn switched off the mic. “That’s a bit rash when the children can still be saved. They can be subdued with tranquilizes and brought here to have the parasites removed.”
“I’ve lost enough men due to your soft tactics. You’ve seen how savage they are and how quickly they can move. Bravo Team has one tranquilizer rifle, which is all but useless against six of them.”
“We can send more,” argued Blightburn.
Colonel Jennet scoffed. “And how long will that take? They could reach the town’s outskirts and be in the forest by the time that’s been arranged. No, we can’t take the risk. We’ll do it my way from now on to ensure no more of my men are killed and to prevent the infected from escaping. If you don’t like it, you can go crying to the President, but don’t expect him to take a different view than mine with what’s at stake. Better we lose a few innocents than to risk the aliens spreading into the wider population.”
“I doubt their parents will see it that way.”
“Casualties of war are to be expected and make no mistake that this is what we have here, a war of humans vs. aliens. My aim is to ensure we are the victors by whatever means necessary.”
“You may be correct in your soulless assumption, but I’m still sending in the tranquilizers.”
The colonel shrugged. “Do what you must, as will I.”
“Which is exactly what I plan on doing,” stated Blightburn.
Colonel Jennet stormed from the trailer.
Blightburn scanned the video screens to see where the rest of the teams were when one of them changed to static.
Noticing a flashing icon on one of his three monitors, Yuri tapped it with a finger and looked at the information that appeared. He spun his chair to face Blightburn, who had turned to him. “We’ve just lost radio contact with Team Zulu.”
“Patch me through to them.”
“There’s no point. Addison’s radio is dead, and the camera feed has been cut.”
Blightburn scowled at Yuri.
Sighing, Yuri switched the main comms to Addison’s radio.
“Team Zulu, report your status.” On receiving no response, Blightburn repeated the request. “Addison, report your status and location.”
The radio speaker remained silent.
“As I said, his radio is dead.”
Blightburn looked at Yuri. “Track Addison’s badge.”
Yuri pressed a few buttons on his keyboard and switched the tracking program to the main screen. Blightburn ran her gaze over the icons distributed on the overlay of the Devil Falls map; each was marked with an identifying number. To keep track of her teams in the field, every INSECT badge was fitted with a radio tracker. “The numbers mean nothing to me, which one is Addison?”
Making a mental note to add names to the signals, Yuri checked his list and then made Addison’s icon flash.
Blightburn peered at the blinking dot on the east side of the town. “He’s not moving, which is a concern.”
“That’s the old industrial estate,” informed Yuri. Further examination revealed Addison’s exact location. He zoomed in so Blightburn could see. “He’s in the abandoned ore processing plant. I’m sending the drone there to see if we can detect the rest of the team.”
While Yuri typed Addison’s coordinates into the drone controller to send it there automatically, Blightburn pondered the unmoving dot for a few moments. “Zoom out again.” When Yuri had done so, she tapped the nearest dot to Addison’s position. “Who is this?”
Yuri glanced at the identifying number and checked his list. “Alison Kramer. She’s with Sierra Team.”
“Connect me—”
“—She’s patched through.”
“Control to Team Sierra, we have a situation you need to check out.”
“Kramer here, Control. Awaiting your instructions.”
“We have lost radio contact with Team Zulu. Addison’s tracker is showing him at the ore processing plant directly east of you. I need you to go check on their status. Addison has been stationary for the last few minutes so he might be injured, dead, or infected.”
“Understood Control. Will switch to open comms when we arrive at the location.”
“And Alison, proceed with caution. We have already lost Team Tango to the Xtros, so if they have been compromised, you’ll have five well-armed infected to deal with. I’ll send you what backup I have available.”
“Understood, Control.” Kramer turned to
her team, who had been listening in. “This could get a bit hairy. Stay focused and alert as there’s no knowing what we’ll find when we get there. If Team Zulu has been infected, I’ll tranquilize as many of them as I can. Everyone back to the truck.”
“What if they attack us all at once?” asked Bradshaw. “Infected or not, they are still our friends.”
“Shoot to incapacitate them until I can hit them with a tranquilizer, but if it’s them or us, don’t hesitate to take a kill shot.”
When everyone was on the truck, they headed east. Kramer glanced up at the drone flying past overhead and was thankful they would have eyes on the situation.
*
With the drone’s camera view now on the main screen, Blightburn watched it speed over Team Sierra’s truck, houses and streets until it stopped and hovered over the ore processing plant. When Yuri switched to the thermal imaging camera, she was surprised by how many heat signatures there were; twenty-two in total. Five gathered around a side entrance, and the rest grouped around a larger white blob. I don’t like the look of that.
Yuri concurred. “I think I’m picturing the same as you; another alien cocoon surrounded by infected animals and perhaps the missing townsfolk.”
Blightburn was worried. “If it is a second cocoon, it’s imperative it’s destroyed before another of those large aliens hatch and gather spores. We still haven’t dealt with the last one yet. Two of them on the loose would double the chance of this thing spreading wider than we can handle. The colonel’s already chomping at the bit to fire his damn missiles that would see the area and everything within it obliterated. If he hears about a second cocoon, he’ll likely enforce his protocol and take charge.” She turned to Troy. “How many soldiers do we have remaining on the base?”
Troy consulted his tablet. “Difficult to say for certain as the colonel took what he thought he needed, but around twenty is a fair estimation, Lieutenant Henshaw is in charge.”
Blightburn stared back at the heat signatures. “Hopefully that will be enough.” She turned to Charlotte. “Have them armed with everything we’ve got, warn them what they’ll be facing, and send them to back up Team Sierra. Also, inform Henshaw to take flamethrowers, thermite charges, and grenades. Once the threats have been eliminated, they are to burn every infected corpse inside, both human and animal. When that’s done, I want the building raised to the ground to ensure not one cell of anything alien survives. As Colonel Jennet said earlier, the time for soft tactics is over.”
Charlotte left to carry out her orders.
“Does your stance on hard tactics extend to the infected children?” asked Kathryn wearing a concerned frown.
Blightburn sighed. “If it’s feasible to make an exception, I will. But given their ability to take down everyone that threatens them, it doesn’t seem likely.” She made radio contact with Team Sierra. “Joan, hold your team outside the processing plant and shoot anything or anyone that tries to leave; no exceptions. We believe there’s another alien cocoon inside. Backup is on its way. When you have joined forces, enter and eliminate all threats. Nothing is to survive. We are sending you the live thermal image feed from the drone to your tablet. Use it to pick out your targets. There are five heat signatures positioned around the west side entrance, which we believe to be Zulu Team waiting in ambush. Shoot to kill.”
“Um, understood Control,” confirmed Novak hesitantly. “Eliminate all threats and shoot to kill.”
“Backup will be bringing thermite explosives to destroy the corpses and burn the building to the ground. I’m counting on you to ensure that it’s carried out.”
“Yes, Control. Understood. Pulling up to the refinery now.”
CHAPTER 50
Team Bravo
Jogging along the middle of the street heading for the movie theater to support Team Tango, Team Bravo eavesdropped in on the communications between Control and the other teams in the field.
“Did Control just say children killed Tango team?” asked Raithby, hoping he had heard wrong.
Lanier jerked his head and weapon to movement and relaxed at seeing the tabby cat that had jumped onto a garden wall and curiously watched them. “He also said they look like kids but aren’t. What the hell does that mean?”
“It means they are infected,” uttered Baxter. “Controlled by one of them Xtros inside them.”
“I know it’s going to be hard with some of you having similar aged kids of your own,” said Lieutenant McNally, “But if you get a shot, take it, or you might never see your families again. Tango team faltered, and it cost them their lives. I don’t want any of us making the same mistake.”
“Bravo Team, Team Tango are down. It’s up to you now. The infected children are heading in your direction,” informed Yuri. “Turn next left to intercept them.”
“Received Control,” confirmed McNally.
They turned into the side street and glimpsed the kids crossing swiftly from one alley to another that ran between the industrial buildings. The soldiers sprinted forward, but when they reached the alleyway, there was no sign of the kids. Jackson took point and cautiously led them forward.
Halting at a forced open door, Jackson poked his head in and gazed around the large warehouse. Footsteps slapping on the mezzanine floor directed his attention to the ceiling. He turned to his anxious teammates. “They’re inside. Upper level.”
“Then unless there’s a fire escape, they are trapped,” commented McNally as he entered the warehouse. His gaze around the space littered with rotting wooden crates, packing materials, an old forklift truck, and a few pieces of rusting machinery, picked out the two metal staircases at each end of the room. “O'Brian, Jackson, you head up the steps at the far end, and we’ll take the nearer ones.”
They split up and cautiously, Lieutenant McNally led Raithby and Baxter up the nearby steps, their soft placed boots barely making a sound on the treads during their cautious ascent. At the top, a long corridor divided the two rows of offices filling the mezzanine. Identical to each other with a door and a large panel of glass to prevent the windowless rooms from being more claustrophobic, they started their search.
The attack came when they were a quarter of the way along the corridor. Distracted by the teddy bear bag controlled by a small hand reaching from behind a desk, when its head turned to look at them, they failed to detect the real danger behind them.
Eric and Jacob ran along the small conference table, sprung off the end, and smashed through the window. Showered with glass shards, the soldiers had no time to react. Baxter staggered and slammed into the opposite glass partition when Jacob crashed into him. As claws attached to the child’s fingers raked across his throat, he watched a cute looking girl appear from behind the desk. Smiling, she waved one of the teddy bear’s paws at him. A spray of blood on the glass obscured the surreal vision. Grasping at his throat, Baxter slouched to his knees.
Caught in a half-turn when his attacker struck, Raithby elbowed the small boy in the face, knocking him to the ground. He staggered back and raised his weapon. Behind him, Emily picked up a shard of glass. Hearing the crunch of glass underfoot behind him, Raithby spun to face the new threat. Before he had finished turning, Emily stabbed the sharp shard into his stomach and dragged it down at an angle, ripping through clothes, skin, and organs. He stared at the girl in disbelief that someone so small and cute-looking could have done such a thing. He jerked to the side when his rifle was tugged from his hands. With his guts bulging through the rip in his skin, he turned to the boy aiming at him. He was dead before hearing the sound of his own weapon ending his life.
Backing away, McNally witnessed the bullets ripping through Raithby’s skull and then his small killer when his comrade collapsed to the ground. He raised his rifle when a little girl stepped through a doorway and looked at him and aimed it at the three merciless children; the boy with the weapon would be first. His finger moved to the trigger.
Sophia moved across the metal roof struts, stopped above th
e soldier, and without any concern for her safety, she stepped off the beam. McNally squeezed the trigger. Sophia grabbed the rifle barrel before she landed on the floor and aimed it down. Bullets shattered McNally’s foot. He tugged his rifle to free it from the little girl’s grip, but she held on and was dragged into him. Claws grew from her small fingers as she raised her hand and stabbed them into his neck. She gripped his pierced windpipe and yanked on it. McNally staggered into her when the gristly organ refused to tear.
Sophia released her grip on his weapon and windpipe and backed up to join her friends.
With one hand covering his torn throat, McNally raised the rifle with the other.
Hurried footsteps on metal treads coming from the far end of the corridor, prompted Jacob to react. He lunged at McNally, snatched the rifle from his weakened grasp and slammed the butt into his head with enough force to crack bone. He turned away as the man fell to the floor.
Having heard the gunshots, Jackson and O’Brian arrived on the mezzanine fully prepared for battle. All they saw were their dead comrades and blood-splashed walls and floor; there was no sign of the children responsible. On full alert and with their eyes and weapons searching for danger, they systematically searched the offices as they made their way to their fallen comrades at the far end of the long corridor.
Soft footfalls and the scrape of a chair or table leg across the floor halted them. They turned their eyes and weapons to the doorway ahead the sounds had come from.
Jackson glanced at his dead friends and then nudged O’Brian and whispered. “Let’s not take any chances. Shoot through the walls.”
O’Brian nodded his agreement and entered the office on his left. The powerful weapon would easily punch bullets through the flimsy drywall partitions to reach the room the sound had originated from. He nodded at Jackson, and as one, both sprayed bullets through the offices. Drywall fragments, glass, and dust filled the area before them, and desks and chairs were ripped apart. When their weapons ran out, they stared at the destruction. Through the settling dust and collapsing sections of drywall, they peered through to the office where the sounds had come from and glimpsed movement.