Shadows

by Brian Whiting

  “Where are you going?” Timmy blurted out.

  “Believe it or not, I am helping coordinate the global response effort. I’ve got cargo craft that need their next destination coordinates.” Zeek walked toward the door and stopped before exiting.

  “Look, I’m not gonna lie, we could use you,” he said. “But I understand why you disappeared like you did. So either stock up on supplies and disappear again, or get your hands dirty… It was good to see you.”

  Zeek stopped at the door as he considered saying more. He figured there wouldn’t be a better time. “We should have forgiven him. Yeah, he was a butt sometimes. But he was always there for us, and we all turned our backs on him.”

  Timmy looked at Zeek. “Well, he treated some worse than others, didn’t he?”

  Zeek shut the door, leaving Timmy in the tiny underground conference room alone with his memories.

  Timmy stood up and followed Zeek to the main TIC room. He stood there for a moment eyeing the many personnel communicating in earpieces and walking around with purpose. He looked at the main screen, onto which a map of Japan popped up. Then he eyed the exit door off to the side, still ajar.

  Another minute went by and Zeek turned to see if Timmy was still there, but Zeek was gone and Timmy returned to his self-imposed duties. There was a lot to do.

  ***

  The truck barreled down the dirt road at a very dangerous speed. It turned and slowed a bit as it rounded a corner near a very hilly area. The roadway was blocked off due to vehicles parked this way and that in a traffic jam. A newly worn dirt road adjacent to the main road wove around trees, boulders, and over creeks, as the truck approached a recently damaged but maintained UEF safe zone in Virginia.

  As if on cue an overhead double-wide container hovered above their heads, heading toward the interior of the safe zone. The truck slowed at it approached an outer gate and was let in after the guards scanned their IDs into a computer. It was not uncommon for safe-zone occupants to be let out of the zone to scavenge for property and useful items.

  Shortly after passing into the safe zone they sped along a cleared roadway toward the landing site. The occupants of the truck pulled out assault rifles and put on hooded masks.

  “Remember, shoot only who you have to shoot.”

  The truck approached the site where the container ship was hovering a foot off the ground while its front end lifted higher and higher, causing the cargo to slide out the back and touch the ground. The ship then began to edge forward as the cargo slowly slipped out of the container onto a pallet. As soon as the first pallet exited the container, another came right behind it assisted by gravity. The landing field had several workers who were already moving the first pallet via forklifts to a nearby tented location.

  The truck crossed a row of bushes by driving over and through them to get to the landing field.

  “There will be four pallets, hurry up, we are running out of time!” The second pallet slid of the back and rested unharmed on the ground.

  The UEF alarm blared onsite. But it was too late; the truck had come right up against the third pallet and came to a stop. The men exited the truck and jumped onto the cargo container, which rose into the sky quickly, leaving a third of the men still on the ground. The fourth pallet was still in the container ship.

  The pilot trembled as the barrel of an assault rifled butted up against the back of his head.

  “Fly us to these coordinates!” The leader handed the pilot a small sheet of paper.

  One of the other men on the container was following a particular wire along the edge of the container to a location under the dashboard on the ship. With a tool set he brought with him he removed the cover and the entire box inside and tossed it out the back cargo ramp, allowing the device to fall onto the ground as the container began its trip to the designated location.

  The occupants of the shuttle settled in on the floor quietly as the leader took the empty co-pilot’s chair and relieved the pilot of his sidearm.

  “I promise I will not kill you if you don’t cause me any problems.”

  The pilot nodded tentatively, eyeing the numerous armed men in the cabin area behind him.

  “What’s your name, pilot?”

  “Noah.”

  Chapter 8

  Giants roam these parts

  At first, Alex thought the air smelled wrong, too strong, too vibrant. He attributed it to being an alien planet without much thought. His body felt alive with energy, and he was eager to bound forward to storm the castle.

  There was sound of weapons fire in the distance, Alex could almost count the number of rounds fired.

  “They are passing the guard tower,” Alex said, as he looked over toward Jeremiah.

  “How can you tell?”

  “You can’t see them?” Alex asked while his eyes were glued down range.

  Jeremiah lifted his head above the shallow berm. Far in the distance near the ground, he couldn’t see the assault team move forward to the capital building.

  “No, who could see that far out?”

  “I can see them well enough to know exactly where they are going.” Alex said still watching.

  Alex could hear someone approaching from behind. He turned around to see a pair of Gothans quietly approaching from thirty feet away, weapons held low in their hands. After several moments they approached on foot as Alex and Jeremiah lay prone on the ground, hiding behind a small berm.

  “They have taken the tower. You both are cleared to move up. Please, if you want to be allies, do not kill any children you happen to come across or people wearing strips of your EVA suit.”

  “I have to be honest with you, you’re all small children in our eyes.” Jeremiah stood up with what he called his personal his heavy Thean rifle at the ready. Alex stood up as well, his assault rifle loaded and also ready for use.

  Jeremiah began a modest jog up the center road toward the capital building. Alex was directly behind.

  “You know I’m just a pilot, right?” Jeremiah attempted to whisper.

  “Yeah, keep jogging.”

  Alex noticed several Gothans cowering within small bolt holes dug into the ground; occasionally, they would pass a waist-high building made partly out of rock and what seemed to be metal alloys of some sort. However, as far as they could tell, most of the dwelling space seemed to be relegated underground. He was sure he spotted a child within one of the passing holes in the ground, though it could have been a hairless cat.

  Alex watched a perimeter tower with interest as they approached, still a minute or so away at their current pace. He knew it was supposed to be the last allied tower still occupied, the others had been overrun. Alex was amazed he wasn’t breathing hard by now. He did notice he now still had a natural tendency to breathe with his lungs, but certainly not like he would have been if he were running before they changed him.

  About two hundred yards past the guard tower, a group of six Gothans dashed out of a bolt hole to attack the tower. Alex raised his weapon and fired off three rounds after he came to an abrupt stop. The rounds zinging by Jeremiah as he threw himself on the ground and covered the back of his head. Alex was so confident with his sight and aim, despite the closeness of the rounds, he was confident Jeremiah was not in any real danger. He knew his mind had been messed with because he never would have done that before.

  A quarter mile away, two of the six Gothans were struck by Alex’s rounds. The force of the rounds caused massive devastation to their small bodies, and those struck were killed instantly. The overly loud sound of large-caliber Earth weapons being fired startled every Gothan in the area. Anyone who had been watching carefully but at a distance now fled in terror as the giant humans fired off what must have seemed like massive cannons.

  Alex began to move again and picked up the pace as the remaining four approaching Gothans scattered in various directions. “C’mon, get up!” he barked at Jeremiah as he jogged past him.

  Jeremiah picked up his weapon and was
now running to catch up. Alex approached the chest-high guard tower and kneeled on the ground.

  “I feel scared, you have mighty weapons,” one of the Gothans inside the guard tower stated plainly.

  Gs Ho Tae approached from behind, looking at Alex and Jeremiah. “As you approach the building you’re going to see a few of those turrets you saw inside the mother’s cargo bay. You need to take down those weapons, or we don’t stand a chance.”

  “Where is the communication equipment?” Alex asked.

  “I am going to have to bring it out to you, we will have to secure the building first.”

  In the background, the last holdouts in the capital building were waging war as a heavy exchange of gunfire began.

  Without a moment’s notice, Alex bounded forward at a sprint, eager to see if he would wear out and need to catch his breath. Jeremiah struggled to keep up while wielding the heavy weapon behind him.

  A chest-high building projected out and obscured his path. He jumped over it and continued running. There was some kind of natural boulder blocking the remaining distance as he stepped on one, two and then three buildings clearing the obstruction. He was sure part of a bolt hole collapsed as he stepped over it on the second building. As soon as he cleared the boulder, he came under fire.

  His right arm began to sting terribly, and he ducked behind the nearest building as he began to pick out targets at various distances. He readied his weapon and rounded the corner of the building, shooting off several rounds in the process. He watched without much care as many Gothans dropped instantly after being hit just once. It almost didn’t matter where they were hit.

  Then it felt as if someone had hit his face with a rock, and he cowered behind the building again. Reaching up he rubbed the sore spot where the latest Gothan round hit his face. A welt was forming quickly but it didn’t break the skin. Alex plucked out a round that got stuck in the leather of his boot. If he had to guess, it was the size of a .16 caliber round. When the rounds zipped by his head, they were high-pitched, like flies zooming around.

  Jeremiah appeared on the other side of the street having cleared the obstacle. It was clear he was breathing heavily.

  Alex poked his head out as a torrent of small rounds came zipping by his head.

  Jeremiah poked his head and weapon out and fired off several shots, striking Gothan buildings and bolt holes.

  Alex bounded forward about fifteen steps and slid in his tracks to a stop as he eyed not one but four turrets facing his direction. He screamed in pain as he was hit several times in his right arm and back. The pain was much worse this time and felt deep. His right arm already dripping blood. He scurried behind the nearest building. Jeremiah had a good angle and took a shot at one of the turrets, turning it into a pile of molten metal.

  Alex continued to watch Jeremiah as several Gothans appeared behind him, seemingly out of nowhere. Alex raised his weapon and fired one round, afraid to fire more out of fear of hitting Jeremiah as he was directly in the line of fire. One of the three Gothans collapsed instantly. Jeremiah turned just in time to kick one squarely in its chest, and Alex could almost hear a large number of bones breaking under his heavy kick.

  The other Gothan reached out with its right arm. Alex watched as four razor-sharp metal-edged bones extended out between its knuckles. The three-inch claws bored deep into Jeremiah’s calf as he fell back, crushing the Gothan to death when he landed. He rolled over and pulled off his belt.

  Alex sprinted across the small road over to him. The turrets unleashed a hail of gunfire in his direction. But Alex was fast, and they weren’t prepared for him to bolt across the roadway.

  Jeremiah pulled some of the EVA material and put it directly on top of the wound as he cinched down on the deep cuts using his belt. Alex kneeled down next to him as he watched Jeremiah take care of himself. Glancing at the crushed Gothan its head gravely deformed, Alex picked up its hand; the four blades were only partially extended and had naturally receded back into the hand. He carefully pulled on one of the bone blades. The bone itself was smooth and ivory in color; it came out from a small cavity, almost like a nostril except much thinner, set between each pair of knuckles in its hand. The bone came out freely when Alex applied only a small amount of force. The metal edge was not natural and looked molded to the bone somehow.

  “Now we know what happened to the EVA suits,” Jeremiah grunted.

  “Are you gonna be OK?”

  “How the hell would I know? I just got stuck by some crappy alien. If I had to guess, I’d say my legs are gonna fall off because of some alien virus, other than that I’m doing ok, you?”

  Alex smirked. “Sheesh, you’ll be fine. Can you continue?”

  With some effort Jeremiah stood on his good leg. “Let’s switch weapons, I can’t carry the extra weight.”

  Alex and Jeremiah switched weapons, and Alex handed over a few magazines of ammunition and bandaged his own arm. Alex took a moment to realize that he wasn’t breathing again. Such a weird feeling, he thought. Alex slowly peered at the corner with the alien weapon pointing out, and one of the turrets opened fire.

  With calm practice, he sighted the turret in the iron sighted reticule and pulled the trigger even while rounds buzzed by his face mere inches away. The tiny star shot out and turned another turret into a molten mess. Alex fired two more rounds at the Gothan that had escaped and made a dash toward the building. Each round missed, it was like trying to hit a jumping bunny from two hundred yards away.

  Alex fired three more times, all misses as it disappeared before it reached the building.

  Alex continued to eye the corner and waited for the last visible turret to open fire, but it didn’t. Alex shot at it anyway just to be sure. The last one must have panicked and ran. He thought.

  Alex walked back toward the large boulder obstruction they had previously jumped over and waved those waiting to move up to their position. “It’s clear,” he yelled.

  A pack of thirty-five Gothans approached cautiously. Meanwhile, Alex checked on his bandage and kept an eye out for other surprise attacks. Another five minutes later they were surrounded by Gs Ho Tae’s people.

  “You really mean to tell me that tall building right there, there’s nowhere for me to fit?” Alex asked with an expression he was sure was lost on the Gothan’s.

  “Well, on the fifteenth level from the ground, there is an open expanse that rises to the ceiling. If you could scale the outer wall you can enter from the top, but I’m not sure how useful you be there, it’s not exactly a critical area. We are going to try and take it from here, I think.”

  Jeremiah gave Gs Ho Tae his earpiece. “If you hold it to your head, I think you might be able to hear us and we you.”

  The Gothan had to give up the use of gis hand while gi held it to gis ear. Alex could tell that gi could clearly hear Alex speak via the datapad attached to his chest.

  Without saying a word, the small pack of Gothans bounded for the capital building. The sound of gunfire still came from within.

  Alex sat down next to Jeremiah, as that was as good a place as any to wait it out.

  “You’re really going to sit here?” Jeremiah asked.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “They are our only hope to make contact with our ship, assuming it’s still functional. If I could, I’d be scaling the wall right now.” Jeremiah handed Alex his sidearm and its two full extra magazines. “No way you’re going to scale that wall with the big hunk of metal on your back.” He pointed to the Thean weapon.

  As Alex spoke, he had to remind himself to breathe in so he could talk and wondered if Jeremiah had to do it, too.

  “Go, already!” Jeremiah nodded his head and threw out his arm to nudge Alex.

  “Yeah, I guess I am going. Thanks for your concern about my well-being and all.”

  “Oh shut up, and get our radios so we can go home.”

  “You know I’m your boss, right?” Alex asked, smiling, as he turned away from Jeremiah.

>   Standing up he walked over to the edge of their building. About three hundred yards away in Alex’s mind, was a seven-story building shaped like a volcano, shiny metal framing in various locations made it look like an upside-down tornado. Two vehicles the size of a grocery cart approached the building from the far side. A couple Gothans got out and ran in. Alex looked to the top of the building where his only entrance existed.

  The noise of gunfire erupted from his datapad. Alex took off at a sprint toward the building. He observed more than one Gothan dive into a bolt hole at the sight of him. At first, climbing the building was like running up a steep hill. Soon, however, he was making leaps and using handholds. He found that he could easily lift his weight even with one half-working arm. He didn’t remember the gravity being so light on the planet. Shouting and gunfire from the datapad was distracting but he was afraid to turn it off fearing he would miss an important detail. He kept climbing.

  He stumbled as someone took a few shots at him from the ground. The Gothan used a handheld weapon, and the rounds felt like someone was throwing marbles at his back by the time the rounds traveled the height and distance to where Alex was. Painful yes, but more annoying than anything. He used that irritation and made quick work of the remaining distance and climbed over the edge onto the roof.

  The roof was completely artificial, only now did he realize the last couple floors were all artificial. It resembled rock, but it didn’t feel like rock. It was an odd structural transition that was barely noticeable. Alex approached a large opening in the roof. It was about one hundred feet long and forty feet wide. Looking down Alex observed numerous Gothans scurrying back and forth, seemingly oblivious to his presence far above. The only other thing Alex saw was something that resembled an ancient but dead tree in the very center; it extended nearly three-quarters of the way toward the roof.

  “We are approaching the mighty room. Are you high above?”

  “Yes, I am on the roof,” Alex responded.

  “What do you see?”

  “I see a dead tree and about thirty Gothans running around. Some of them have weapons.”