by Ben Hammott
Sullivan almost dropped the boy when a white Xtro crawled from his neck. Drowsy from the sedative, it was slow to react when Sullivan swatted it away with the back of his hand. It landed on the road and was promptly squashed by the patrol car running over it.
Sullivan turned to those in the patrol car when they sped by on the heels of the girl and gave Mason a reassuring nod that he was okay.
As Emily neared the rear of the truck, Dominic dropped through the hole in the roof. He dragged the quadbike free from its precarious perch in the side wall, and as if it weighed no more than a plastic toy version, threw it out the back.
Unaware of Sullivan’s predicament, Colbert halted his climb along the side when the boy driving looked at him in the wing mirror. About to dash forward and make his move, Colbert was distracted by sounds behind him. A glance back revealed the cause; the quadbike was being dragged back through the side. Wondering who was responsible, Colbert turned back to the matter in hand. Wondering how the boy would react, Colbert edged forward, reached for the door handle, and opened it.
*
Emily glanced up at the quadbike sailing overhead and then jumped onto the truck’s rear fender as Dominic dived out after it. She glanced up at Sophia and Eric leaping from the top of the vehicle and, gripping the tailgate, turned to watch the quad strike the patrol car.
Rickmeyer cursed as he tried to avoid the quadbike flying toward him, but to no avail. The quad struck the bonnet, rolled up the windscreen, and bounced off the roof. It hit the road with a crunching of metal, sending fragments outward before tumbling to a stop.
When Kathryn knocked out the cracked windscreen with the butt of the rifle, Rickmeyer cursed again when two kids landed on the dented bonnet. The boy dived at him and pressing strong fingers painfully into his neck, tried to slip them around his Trachea. Feeling the boy’s fingernails slide across the front of his spine, Rickmeyer grabbed hold of Eric’s hand and tried to tug his fingers free before his throat was ripped out. Unconsciously pressing his foot down hard on the accelerator, the patrol car shot forward.
*
Sharing his view on the road ahead and the soldier’s progress, Jacob bided his time until the man opened the door. As soon as the catch was released, he barged it open, ripping it from Colbert’s grasp. Jacob grabbed his arm and, with surprising strength, pulled Colbert’s head and shoulders inside as he turned the wheel toward the edge of the road.
Finding his head pushed back outside, Colbert glanced at the tree about to contact with the door. Unable to free himself from the boy’s firm grip, he changed tactic, punched the boy in the face, and lunged inside. The window shattered when the edge of the door struck the tree, spraying glass into the cab. Colbert groaned when the door slammed against his legs and grunted in pain from each blow the boy continually rained at his head. Caught off guard by the powerful strikes for someone the boy’s size, stars danced before Colbert’s eyes. He elbowed Jacob in the face and shoved him out of the driver’s seat onto the floor. Colbert grabbed the wheel with one hand while pressing a foot tightly against the boy’s chest to keep him down, and pulled the tranquilizer dart from his pocket. As the truck slowed, he leaned toward the struggling boy and narrowly missed being sliced across the face from the piece of broken window Jacob had found. He stabbed the syringe into the boy’s neck, pumping the strong sedative straight into his artery. He removed his foot from the boy’s chest and dodged the weakening attempts of Jacob to slash him open while he sat back to let the sedative take effect.
Feeling its host grow limp and unresponsive, the Xtro emerged from Jacob’s neck, scampered onto the dash, and directed its annoyance at the human responsible.
Surprised by the white color of the Xtro, Colbert quickly recovered when it puffed up, and its hairs stiffened into spikes ready to infect him. He grabbed a sliver of glass from the seat and plunged it into the alien’s body with enough force to skewer it to the dash. The Xtro deflated like a punctured balloon and struggled for a few moments before life left it. Colbert brought the truck to a halt and climbed out to see how the others were doing.
*
Sophia attacked Kathryn, but with her balance ruined by the car spurting forward, she stumbled through the glassless screen. Kathryn shoved Sophia aside and into the back for Mason to handle, and grabbed the wheel to prevent the speeding car from crashing.
Mason, who was coming to Rickmeyer’s aid, found the rifle he had aimed at Dominic, knocked aside when the girl barged into him.
Sophia rolled off Mason onto the seat, regained her footing, and attacked him. Careful not to cause the girl any harm, Mason dropped the rifle. He grabbed her by the shoulders to pin her arms to the side and held her against the back of the seat. She squirmed like a fish freshly plucked from the sea.
A gunshot rang out. Saved by Kathryn’s erratic steering, the bullet aimed at Mason’s temple, grazed his cheek. Mason turned his head and looked at the little girl hanging on the back of the truck with the weapon looking large in her small hands aimed at him. He swung the struggling girl to put her between him and his cute-looking would-be killer.
Emily altered her aim onto the woman in the passenger seat and tried to keep her in view as she and the car she inexpertly steered swerved from side to side.
Unaware at the weapon trying to home in on her, with one hand on the wheel, Kathryn grabbed a tranquilizer dart, removed the cap, and stabbed Dominic in the arm. When Rickmeyer felt one of the boy’s hands weaken its grip, he quickly yanked it free and gasped for air. Kid or no kid, his life was in danger. He grabbed the boy’s head and slammed it against the door. He pulled the remaining hand from his throat and grabbing the dazed boy, shoved him onto the dash.
Kathryn grabbed his arm with her free hand. “Careful. What are you doing? And take your foot off the gas before we crash.”
Fighting the groggy effects of the sedative trying to overwhelm him, Dominic lunged at Rickmeyer and clamped teeth on his wrist.
“Push him out before he kills some…” Rickmeyer screamed and looked at the source of his pain, Eric biting him, and then the stationary truck. He yanked his foot from the gas pedal that he wasn’t conscious of pressing down and braced himself for the unavoidable impact.
In her hast to avoid the imminent collision, Emily dropped the gun when she swung into the back of the truck. The front of the patrol car struck with enough force to concertina the front into the engine block and lift the rear wheels off the ground.
The force of the crash shot Eric out through the screen and on a deadly collision course with the back of the truck. Emily leaped out, plucked Eric from the air, and landed on the crumpled bonnet.
Having braced himself for the crash, Mason recovered quickly. He grabbed Kathryn’s tranquilizer rifle from between the seats where it had fallen, aimed it at Emily, and fired.
When Emily dropped to her knees to avoid the dart, she noticed the alien vacating its groggy host. She placed Eric gently on the bonnet, grabbed the Xtro, and dived into the car. She dropped the Xtro into Kathryn’s lap and raked claws across Rickmeyer’s face as she flew past and collided with Mason reloading the rifle. She barged the weapon aside as she punched Mason in the head and followed through with a chop to his throat. Gasping for breath, Mason lashed out at Emily, catching her a blow around the side of the face that knocked her onto the seat.
Although Kathryn screamed when the white alien landed in her lap, she didn’t panic. She grabbed one of the two remaining tranquilizer darts, de-capped it, and stabbed the needle into it, almost stabbing herself in the leg in the process. She watched the debilitating fluid drain from the syringe into the creature and held its impaled form up as it struggled to stillness. She turned to Rickmeyer and noticed the deep scratches on his face, but he seemed unconcerned as he stared at the alien popsicle she held.
“What you going to do with it now?”
“You have your lighter?”
Rickmeyer fished his lighter from his pocket and handed it over.
&n
bsp; Kathryn flicked it to flame and held it below the Xtro until it had burnt to a shriveled lump.
“Could do with some help back here,” uttered Mason, struggling to hold Emily at bay. “She’s feistier than any woman I’ve met.”
“Hold on. I’m coming.” The bent frame meant Kathryn had to barge the door open.
“I’ll go check on the others,” said Rickmeyer, climbing out.
Kathryn opened the rear door and looked at the girl Mason was struggling to secure. “Emily, it’s Kathryn. I want to help you.”
Emily stopped struggling and looked at Kathryn. Recognition crossed her face before the alien parasite within her regained control. When her eyes flicked to the syringe Kathryn held, she reacted violently. She kicked out at Mason, catching him a blow to the face, and dug fingernails into his wrist, freeing his grip. She turned on Kathryn with an unnatural hiss of rage that shocked her.
Mason lunged at Emily and shoved her face-first onto the seat. “Trank her now before she gets free again.”
Kathryn placed the syringe against Emily’s arm but held off pricking her skin.
“What are you doing?” asked Mason, amazed at the force need to hold the small girl down. “Inject her!”
“This is the last one I have. If I inject her, the Xtro will leave her.”
“Then inject in straight into the Xtro, but hurry.”
Kathryn swept Emily’s hair from her neck and felt for the telltale lump of the Xtro controlling her. Hoping it worked without causing Emily any harm, she pressed the needle tip through Emily’s skin, into the Xtro, and depressed the plunger until it was empty.
“She’s getting weaker,” stated Mason.
Concentrating wholly on the lump in Emily’s neck, Kathryn observed it moving and watched it half crawl out before becoming still. Using the syringe to pierce the Xtro, she lifted it out and exited the car. She used the deputy’s lighter to obliterate it from existence. She turned to the sound of footsteps and saw Colbert and Rickmeyer approaching.
“Did you get the girl?” asked Colbert.
Mason climbed out of the car holding Emily in his arms. “We have her.”
“And her Xtro?” enquired Colbert.
“Destroyed,” informed Kathryn. “As is the one that had control of Eric.”
Rickmeyer lifted Eric’s still form from the bonnet moments before a whoosh of flame shot from the engine compartment.
“That makes five,” said Colbert, looking at the flames. “We are missing one.”
“Dominic,” declared Kathryn, gazing around for the boy. She spotted him jumping down from the top of the truck and opening the cab door. “There he is!”
Realizing things were going awry, the alien controlling Dominic changed tactics. Concealed on the truck roof, it watched its siblings fail to defeat the humans. It was all left up to it now to ensure the spread of its species. He jumped off the truck, opened the cab door, and grabbed Emily’s bag. Hearing that he had been spotted, he fled along the road.
“Has anyone got a dart left?” asked Kathryn.
“I have one.” Mason handed over his rifle. “It’s loaded.”
Kathryn raised the rifle and took aim as Dominic veered to the right; He was heading into the forest.
The others almost held their breaths in suspense as the boy almost reached the trees. Three strides, and he’d be gone.
Keeping the boy in her sights, Kathryn let out her breath as she squeezed the trigger and fired.
The boy stumbled when the dart struck his neck.
Colbert, Mason, and Sullivan sprinted for the boy who disappeared into the forest.
Colbert drew his pistol as he reached the point where Dominic had entered the trees. With no darts left, if it came to it, he would shoot the boy and the Xtro that crawled out of his corpse.
They spotted the boy a short distance away. His steps faltering and erratic.
Colbert raised the gun and aimed at the boy's head. He halted squeezing the trigger when the boy fell to his knees.
They rushed to him as he collapsed to the leafy ground.
Mason picked up a short branch as Sullivan turned the boy onto his front. They all stared at the bulge in its neck, moving towards the cut. When the white alien emerged, Mason knocked it to the ground. Colbert stamped on it and ground it into the earth until nothing was left but a gooey smear.
Mason picked up Dominic, and they headed back to the others.
Noticing a flash of color a short distance away, Colbert spotted Emily’s teddy bear bag. Wondering why the boy had thought it so important to retrieve before he fled, he went and picked it up. When a glance inside revealed the black Xtros, he closed it up and rushed back to the road. He threw the bag into the flaming patrol car and watched the last of the aliens burn.
Colbert joined the others by the roadside, where the children had been moved to a safe distance before the flames reached the fuel tank and exploded.
“Is that it now?” asked Rickmeyer as Dominic was placed beside his friends. “All the Xtros are dead.”
Colbert shrugged. “As far as I know.”
Kathryn knelt beside Emily, her face a picture of cuteness in her forced drug-induced slumber. She pulled up her top and rested a hand on her stomach. The wriggling of the hybrid worms she expected to react to her touch was not forthcoming. A further examination revealed no telltale shapes of their forms and only the single puncture wound on the back of her neck. After examining Dominic, she stood and turned to Colbert. “I’m not certain, and they could be knocked out by the tranquilizer, but I didn’t feel any of the parasites in Emily or Dominic. There was a white Xtro in some of the kids, so that might be the reason.”
Colbert glanced at the sleeping children. “There was a white Xtro in the boy driving the truck, also. Hopefully, for some reason, they were only possessed by these new Xtros and not the parasitic hybrids. If so, it will save them a lot of pain.” He directed his gaze up at the drone that had been observing what all hoped had been the final battle and contacted Blightburn.
“That’s it, I think. The kids are safe, and the Xtros that controlled them destroyed.”
“Yes, we saw. Well done all of you. The reinforcements—a tad late, I know—are almost at your location.”
“Kathryn thinks the kids may not be infected by the hybrid rootworms. Might be something to do with the white Xtros controlling them.”
“That is good news. The kids will be brought here to have them checked out and, if needed, have any alien hybrids inside them removed. Is there anyone else in your group that needs medical attention?”
Colbert glanced around at the weary unit. “Deputy Rickmeyer has face lacerations that need attention, but apart from a few scratches and bruises, the rest of us are fine.”
“Good to hear. I, we, the country, owe you all a great debt. We’ll debrief when you return to base.”
“Understood.” Colbert ended the call.
All eyes turned to the crashed vehicles along the road when the patrol car’s fuel tank exploded, sending debris into the sky that rained down, clanging on the tarmac.
The sound of a vehicle directed their gaze along the highway. It was not the reinforcements they had expected, but a single truck.
Parker steered the vehicle around the smashed quad and then toward the group of people standing at the edge of the road a short distance away from the burning wreckage of the patrol car and a truck.
“What do you think happened here?” uttered Parker.
“Aliens,” stated Richard. He wound down the window as they approached the group watching them and noticed the five kids lying on the verge. Their rising and falling chests indicated all were alive.
Parker pulled to a halt level with the group.
Richard looked at Colbert. “Everything okay?”
Colbert nodded. “As okay as it can be given the situation.”
Richard nodded knowingly.
“You see Sullivan along the road?” enquired Mason.
“
I’m here.” Sullivan climbed out of the rear of the truck carrying Tommy. He glanced at his friends and was pleased all had survived their alien encounters and placed Tommy beside the other drugged children. “Can we please go home now?”
Colbert grinned. “Yes, I think we can. Blightburn wants a debrief when we return to the airbase, and then I’ll arrange transport for us to leave.”
“We could join Richard on his cruse for a bit of R&R,” suggested Sullivan.
Richard snorted. “No thanks. I’m glad you all survived, but I’ve had enough of your company to last me a lifetime.” He turned to Kathryn. “You, though, are welcome to join me.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll have to decline.”
“Guess I’ll be on my way, then. Goodbye Colbert. He nodded at Mason and Sullivan before turning to Parker. Drive on.”
As Parker drove away, the reinforcements came into view.
EPILOGUE
Having cautiously wandered down from the hills on a circuitous route, Digger arrived at the airbase to find the alien threat had been neutralized. After informing Blightburn about what had taken place at Shaft 2, he collected his fee and headed back to town and the Pick and Hammer bar to celebrate.
*****
Resting on the grass with two female chimps grooming him, Boris was contented by the attention. With regular meals, an ample supply of fresh fruit, and visiting humans to keep him entertained, he was happy with his new life in the zoo. Even though a large male called Jethro had soon made his dominance known, the other males had welcomed him into their group. He lifted his head at the new influx of visitors gawping at them through the bars: it was easy to believe they were in a cage and not him, and briefly wondered when Richard would come to visit him. He turned his head to let the prettier female grooming the right side of his head and sighed with pleasure.