SODIUM:1 Harbinger

by Stephen Arseneault

  Chapter 11

  _______________________

  The night passed quickly, and an almost quarter moon offered at least a modicum of light. At the first glow of dawn, everyone was up. We began our attempt to move our observation post closer. It was a mile hike along the back side of the ridge we occupied, then another half mile down into a tight valley, before we would once again approach their position.

  It took three hours before we began to climb the ridge closest to the demons. The final hike up the back side of the close ridge was difficult. The climb coming up from Woods Creek was a steep five-hundred-foot incline.

  As we stood at the base of the ridge, Allie caught sight of a demon coming our way. Luck was with us in that only our heads were exposed to its line of sight. We ducked behind a group of boulders and began to whisper about what to do. The beast continued in our direction.

  We were trapped. Any attempt to move from our current position would expose us fully and alert the aliens that we were there. We would again become the prey instead of the predator. We chose instead to stay and fight.

  I was positioned at the back to guard against the demon coming at us from behind. There was a narrow gap between two boulders and a high creek bank behind that, which would allow it to slip through. I was given the task of being the gatekeeper. With my bat at the ready, I was determined to fulfill my duties.

  Bull and Allie took position near the front. If the alien were to walk past our location and then turn toward us, they would be waiting to stop it with a barrage of lead. Susi took up the middle with her .22. After quietly staking out our defense, we waited for the demon to arrive.

  Minutes passed with no sign of our enemy. We dared not try to take a look, as it would risk our discovery. For me, patience was a thing not easily practiced when the stakes were so high. My nervousness again returned with a vengeance.

  Three additional minutes, a time that seemed like an eternity of anxious waiting, passed before the whereabouts of the demon were revealed. It had come to a position above us on the creek bank, moving almost silently along on its three spindly legs. We remained frozen in our stances as the alien machine walked by just above us.

  As luck was once again with us, we had not been seen. The demon was looking forward as it walked along the creek. We reasoned that perhaps it was on a routine patrol. Whatever its purpose, we were thankful we had not been seen. After another five minutes of silent waiting, the beast was gone from our view. We turned and hurried across the creek and began our climb up the ridge on the other side.

  As we approached the summit we stopped, knelt down, and began to crawl. There was plenty of cover to hide behind on our ridge, but only Bull and I went far enough to see the demon encampment. From what we were able to see through the binocs, they had been busy.

  There were animal parts strewn about, having been dissected and studied. And we were able to identify the poacher they had captured as being the one named Scott; he was bound to a tree. We knew him to still be alive, as we could see the occasionally movement of his head.

  As we continued to scan the alien camp, disappointment set in as we realized that Kyle was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he had just fallen into Rancheria Creek and had then been swept downstream. Perhaps his body had been jammed under a log or a rock by heavy currents. But until such time as we had evidence of his demise, we would not be giving up.

  We observed the camp and wondered why the demons had butchered the animals and not the human. We pondered that question for most of the day as we sat gathering intel for a potential future raid. Our binocs continued to serve us well.

  From what we could tell, the demons were busy cutting up specimens of the animal remains as well as gathering rocks and plants. We guessed they were studying whatever they came across and were no doubt cataloging it for return to whatever distant place they had come from.

  Every so often one of them would take a load of items and disappear behind the far side of the ridge. We knew then we would have to get a look at whatever was there. I volunteered to take a journey to see the other side.

  I would go down to Woods Creek and then follow it down to Crane Creek and finally to Jawbone Creek, around to the back side of the demons' ridge. It was a two-mile hike through sometimes steep terrain with many elevation changes. Only one of us needed to go, and I preferred that someone be me. It would leave my sister protected by Bull and Allie.

  We had not had a meal since the bear feast at noontime the day before. With our morning hike, I had worked up a significant hunger, but our dry goods had been fully exhausted. Bull offered up one of his poles so that I could attempt to fish along the creeks as I went.

  I contemplated my encounter with the demon from the night before as I walked. I thought that if I was one of them, and if I knew what I had done to one of their kin, I would be ready for a bit of retribution. A human for a demon, so to speak. And I would not have mercy on me either. Those were the things I thought of as I walked. They were not productive, but they kept my mind busy and off of the fact that I was becoming increasingly fatigued from the constant hiking and lack of food.

  When I reached Crane Creek, I assembled the fly rod and began to fish as I walked along the creek's edge. It slowed my progress, but the chance of landing food outweighed any immediate need to get to the other side of the ridge. I still had a six hundred to eight hundred foot climb up the back side of the ridge waiting for me, and I would need all the energy I could get.

  I was only five minutes into my casting when a big trout hit the fly. I had it out of the water and onto a rock in short order. As the trout flopped on the rock, I picked up my bat and bashed it in the head to keep it from escaping. I was so proud of myself for having reeled in the big fish so quickly that it took a moment for me to realize that I had nothing to cut it with. Bull and Allie had the hunting knives with them. My utensils consisted of a weak spoon, a tin cup, and a small pan.

  I sat looking at the fish for several minutes, trying to determine what to do. I found myself feeling almost completely useless as a woodsman. I then reached down, picked up the trout, and attempted to take a bite out of its side. To my astonishment, with a bit of sideways tearing with my teeth, I actually came away with a good-sized piece of flesh.

  At the same moment, I almost gagged because of the thought of eating the raw animal that I had just killed. But after removing the skin that I had torn off with the flesh, I found that it was not such a bad meal after all. The fresh trout had a good texture and a somewhat neutral taste.

  It took five minutes for me to eat most of the flesh from the trout. I did not dare go near the head, and I got a bit nauseous when I came in contact with any guts. But the protein was just what I needed. After the short meal along and with several minutes of rest, I found my energy beginning to return. I pondered that perhaps I would make a better woodsman than I had thought.

  As I continued my walk along the creek's edge, stepping from large stone to large stone, I glanced down the creek. I hesitated for only a moment to admire the beauty that the area had to offer. The pure blue sky, the fresh breeze, and the bright green foliage—it was all a sight to behold.

  I then returned my focus to the mission at hand. As I began to hop to the next rock, I took note of a movement downstream. It was a demon, and it was heading my way. I quickly looked to my sides and was dismayed that there was no natural cover available for me to hide behind or duck under. I dropped to my belly and continued my search as the beast moved in my direction.

  As a last attempt at hiding from the alien machine, I slid off the back of the rock into the frigid-cold mountain water. The cold bit hard into my calves and then thighs as I sank into a deep pool. I was up to my head in the icy mountain water, tucked between two boulders, exposed only from above and from back whence I had come.

  A minute of frigid terror passed before the demon was standing on the rock just over my head. It paused for a moment as it looked further up the creek, scouting for any intruders. I
was only feet away from the cold, metallic underbelly of my nemesis. The sharp implements on its appendages told of my undoing should it only look down from its stance above me. I shivered quietly in the stream as the demon continued its scan.

  In my fright, I managed to lose my grip on my bat. It bobbed to the surface in front of my face and was then pressed against the rock beside me. It was in plain view of the alien machine should it only take the effort to look down. The bat continued to float along the edge of the rock, pushed gently by the current in the deep pool. As it rounded the edge of the rock, it was swept into a fast current, which pulled it further down the stream.

  The beast then hopped to the next stone and continued its patrol. The frigid water and the fear of becoming known began to take their toll as I shivered uncontrollably, my head shaking enough to make ripples in the otherwise calm pool that held me. I dared not move so long as the demon was still in sight.

  As it moved further up the creek, I began to feel a sense of relief. I had not been discovered, I had not been taken captive, and I was not to be cut limb from limb. I had somehow stumbled into the only means of cover available to me, and I had managed to stay unseen. It seemed that luck was on my side.

  The demon then reached the rock on which I had caught and eaten the fish. It stopped, looking diligently at the remains I had carelessly left in full view. It picked up the fish head and held it out before its eyes, the guts dangling below it. As it studied it, coming to the determination that it was a natural kill, as there were no signs of cuts by tools, only tearing by teeth. After several minutes of study, the beast then dropped the carcass in the water and continued on its way up the creek.

  I had been lucky: lucky that I had no knife, lucky that my bat had not given me away or caught. When the demon was again out of sight, I moved over to the creek’s edge and emerged from the cold stream that had hidden me. I retrieved my bat from a shallow current before returning to the creek's edge. My journey would continue.

  It took another hour of hiking down Jawbone Creek before I turned to head up the ridge. The path up offered woods for cover, but I would have to move slowly to have the best chance of not being seen. As I climbed, I began to wonder if they had any type of automated sentry set up, or if there were any trip wires about. I watched each and every step, as I did not want to sound an alarm or set off some trap. I then wondered if they had perhaps mined the area to protect themselves.

  All of these scenarios were plausible. I reasoned that if I had been in charge of the camp, I would have done whatever I could to protect my perimeter. But perhaps these machines were not equipped for warfare. They certainly had not shown us anything other than the throwing of a rock or the use of a knife. It would stand to reason to have the minimum of armaments if your mission was only reconnaissance.

  I had made it about a third of the way up the back side of the demon ridge when I came to a large gully. It would allow me to hike with better cover. The gully at the lower end was ten feet across with eight-foot-high sides. It seemed that erosion had done me a favor, as it looked like a steady incline without all the rocks to step over.

  Since I was down in the gully, I would not have to worry about moving from tree to tree to keep myself hidden. It was a welcome relief after the previous twenty minutes of dodging and ducking. It was nice to step forward in a normal manner.

  As I neared the top and what looked like a good exit point, I stepped onto a branch and immediately had a wire pop up that had tension in it. I had been using my bat as a walking stick of sorts, and it had lodged itself at one end of the branch and was preventing the trap from being sprung.

  If I moved the bat or if I moved my foot, the branch would be free to trigger whatever surprise it held. I stood still for several minutes, looking for a way out of my predicament. The sides of the ravine were too steep to climb.

  I cursed myself for being so lax and for eagerly walking right into the ravine; it was an obvious place for a trap. With my eyes I followed the wire uphill to a tree that was bent over, and from there over to what looked at first like general brush and a pile of branches.

  Upon further study I could see there was a large pile of well rounded boulders stacked behind the brush. With the steep terrain, anyone who was unlucky enough to set off the trap would very likely be running for their life when the rocks came rolling down at them. I was positioned perfectly in their path.

  If I moved my foot and sprang the trap, I would not be able to get out of the way, even by turning and running downhill. I was in need of a better plan. An idea began rolling around in the back of my head, but I immediately dismissed it as being a bit too simplistic and downright crazy.

  After five long minutes of having no options presenting themselves, I came to the conclusion that the crazy plan was the only one I had. So, I gently but firmly gripped the wire and then picked up my other foot and set it down on the branch on the opposite side.

  I lifted my bat and the trap sprang fully. To my amazement, the plan seemed to be working. I was vaulted up into the air to the right of the avalanche of heavy boulders.

  For a brief moment in my mind I began to celebrate as I was lifted out of danger by the demons’ trap itself. That celebration came to an abrupt end when the wire slacked and I realized I was fifteen feet in the air. I was heading toward the tree the wire was attached to.

  I began to helplessly flail my arms and legs in an attempt to get control, but there was none to be had. I slammed hard into the tree, knocking the breath out of me. I then fell backwards down onto the hard ground and landed awkwardly on my already broken hand.

  The numbness that I had experienced a few days before quickly returned as I rolled downhill for thirty feet before coming to a stop in a clump of brush. I looked down at my hand, and this time I could see the broken bone trying to poke through the skin.

  The rocks continued to rumble on their way down the hill, and I was sure that the demons would be upon me in no time. But I could not move after having had my breath knocked out. So, I just lay on my side, looking at my broken hand while awaiting my inevitable capture.

  After fifteen minutes with no sign of the demons, I once again had my breath back. I was looking at my hand as it swelled. I had broken an arm when I was twelve and had watched as the doctor tricked me into sitting still while he set it. Allie had done the same when my hand had broken earlier. This time there were no tricks, and I would have to set it myself.

  I placed my hand palm down on a rounded stone and then quickly pulled at my finger joint. The pain was intense, but to my amazement the bone went right into place. I took a few items from my pack and made a makeshift splint, replacing the broken one that Allie had made. I took care to fully secure it before attempting to move on.

  As I glanced further up the ridge, I decided the demons had not been alerted by the springing of their trap. My mind once again settled in on Kyle. For the first time, I came to the realization that if they did have him, perhaps they were not intent on killing him. They were instead going to take him off world for further study.

  Scott would probably be in for the same abduction if that were the case. I took another ten minutes to get my composure back and then once again began my upward climb. My pace had been slow before being caught in the trap and had slowed to a crawl after. With almost every step, I stopped and looked to check for the next trap. I was back to my previous method of moving from tree to tree to lower my chance of being discovered.

  When I felt sure the area between trees was clear, I would move as quickly as I could to the next one. After forty-five minutes of dodging from tree to tree, I came upon an opening where the next tree line was a hundred feet away. The expanse was covered in foot-high grass and the occasional shrub, but offered no good place to hide.

  I was getting very near the summit and would have to use extra caution to move about. The lack of hiding places was an unwelcome sight. I stood behind the last available tree, scanning the opening and the next woods in front of me
.

  I contemplated an all-out run, but it was uphill and I knew I would be out in the open for much longer than I wanted. So, I settled in on crawling the distance on my belly. The foot-high clumps of grass and small shrubs would at least offer a modest amount of cover.

  I removed my pack and did my best to hide it. I was close to the top, and the pack was now a hindrance. There was nothing inside it I would need for my recon mission. I found myself wishing I had stashed it at the bottom of the hill by the creek before proceeding up.

  I got down on my belly and began my journey up across the open expanse. I was halfway across when I spotted a demon walking just inside the tree line. I froze where I was with little to shield my position. But the demon seemed preoccupied and walked past, staying in the tree line and looking forward as it went.

  I was astonished as it moved away from me. I could see that it had a giant hole in the back of its body. It was the demon I had shot with Bull's .45! My excitement soon faded when I once again realized that even with that kind of damage, the machine was still moving around as if nothing had happened.

  I lay in the grass for another minute, thinking about how difficult it would be for me to get another good swing at one with my bat. I then cursed myself for not having summoned Minhafa an hour before at the creek at the bottom of the hill.

  My position was too exposed, so as soon as the demon was at a sufficient distance, I stood and hustled to get to the tree line. I began dreading the thought of getting caught in another trap, as I had no time to look for it as I ran, sighing with relief as I reached the trees without incident.

  Once back in the wood, I took notice of another gully that had been largely filled in since it had long ago been created. It was well lined with heavy shrubs and a few trees, and it looked like an ideal spot to remain completely hidden if the need arose.

  The gully went 150 feet through the woods and up into the next opening. That marked as close to the summit as I would be able to get. I made my way into the shrubs, careful to not leave any visible signs of a trail as I went.

  When I reached the other end, I had a good vantage point for watching almost anything that happened on my side of the ridge. It was then that I got my first look at the alien spacecraft that had carried the demons to our planet.

  The ship was dome shaped on the bottom and was also supported by three legs, just like the demons. The legs each had three joints, and each joint was loaded with tools. It was thirty feet in diameter and sported the same flat top as its spawn. As I watched, I noticed a rotating band just under the top. Every fifteen seconds or so a pair of the same creepy red eyes the demons had would rotate past.

  I was looking for any doors or hatches or anything that looked like it could be used to load their bounty on board. There were no discernible lines on the exterior of the craft; except for three dome-shaped cutouts on its underbelly, it was featureless.

  From their positioning and spacing, I guessed there were five such cutouts, with two around the back of the craft where I could not see. On one side of the ship, there were stacks of what looked like animal parts, along with the other specimens that we had seen being carried around the back side of the ridge earlier in the day.

  Were they preparing to leave? Would they be taking Scott with them? And what about Kyle? I scanned the area. There was again no sign of Kyle. My heart sank as I thought about my friend not being there for the rescue and of how that news would affect the others.

  An hour after my observation had begun, a demon brought Scott around and secured him to a tree beside the ship. It was evident that he had been drugged, as his head bobbed from side to side as if he had just downed his twentieth beer. I guessed it made the job of his captors easier when there was no chance of escape with the state he was in.

  The demon then walked to the ship, putting a leg up into one of the dome-shaped cutouts. It then proceeded to put another leg in and when secured, it lifted its third leg and pulled itself up into the cutout. It was a perfect fit. The alarm bells then started going off in my head. Were there two more demons walking around that we had not yet seen?

  This information was huge, and I would want to get it back to the others as soon as possible—that and the fact that Kyle was not there. I dreaded being the deliverer of that bad news, but there was no alternative.

  When the demon secured itself in the cutout, it was almost a seamless fit. The rim that once outlined the top of its body was now imperceptible on the bottom side of the demon ship.

  The rotating eyes, which had stopped when the demon approached, were once again on the move, going around every fifteen seconds. With nothing more to see, I turned my gaze toward the animal parts and other gathered resources.

  After scanning them, I stopped and focused my eyes on what looked like a human hand. A chill ran down my spine as I stared at what I thought might be part of the remains of Kyle. I was not sure of what I was seeing at the distance I was, but I could not venture closer to get a better look, not without the risk of getting caught; it was time to return to the others with what I knew.

  As the ship's eyes rotated away, I slowly crept my way back through the brush. I waited a few minutes at the other end of my natural cover to make sure the damaged demon was not lurking about. I then stood and quickly moved from tree to tree until I once again reached the open area. This time, instead of belly crawling, I decided on an all-out run to get below. It was too steep of a downhill angle to move quickly. Half of the energy for each step was spent trying to slow myself down.

  When I reached the other tree line, I stooped to get my pack. When it was once again secured, I moved at as fast a pace as I could control. The steep terrain along with the many tree roots and loads of pine straw made for a slippery and dangerous trek.

  It had taken me more than two hours to get to the top of the summit, but only twenty minutes to come down. The sun was beginning to get low in the sky, and I did not want to be stuck out in the dark by myself. I continued moving at a hurried pace, as much as I was able.

  I was soon back around to the ridge where the others lay. The hike up to our new camp was extremely tiring, as I had been hurrying to make it back before dark. The last glow of the already set sun was fading fast when I finally reached them.

  I was out of breath and had to sit for a few minutes before I could speak. I told them that Kyle was nowhere to be found, but I did see what I thought was a human hand. This, of course, sent Susi into a sobbing depression.

  I gave her a long hug and whispered to her that just because I had not seen him did not mean that he was not still out there. It was all I had to offer. I then told of the mother ship and the five cutouts. We were up against a formidable opponent and would have to plan accordingly.

  The girls had been fast at work during the day and had gathered quite the stockpile of wild strawberries, gooseberries, pine nuts, and a number of different tubers. All were edible, according to Bull and Allie, and while some were not the best tasting, they all went down good. It brought a bit of satisfaction to the immense hunger I had been feeling.

  I was amazed that it was not too terribly difficult to live off the land if one knew what they were doing. I then briefly thought about the local Indians who had done it for centuries before being run off by the new Californians just before the Civil War. I was so used to buying everything in a can, bag, or box, or from a butcher, that it had never occurred to me that nature offered quite the bounty. It was all-providing if you knew where to look and how to make use of it.

  As I sat and ate, Allie continued to comfort Susi. I began to tell of my other findings. I told of the fact there were probably five demons, even though we had only seen three. I told of the fact they were gathering material and stacking it near their ship. I told of the poacher Scott and how he had been bound to a tree and seemingly drugged.

  I then told them about the trap I had almost been caught in and about how we would have to be careful with any approach of the summit; there were bound to be othe
r traps waiting. The alien machines were crafty, and we would have to watch our every step. We would also have to be wary on our hikes, as they were constantly on patrol.

  Bull was emboldened to hear I had not spotted any weaponry on the mother ship. It was only speculation on my part, as there was no reason to be displaying weapons if there was no imminent threat. But it gave us hope nonetheless.

  With Kyle still missing, we considered leaving. We could always get the authorities to come back to rescue Scott. But Bull was adamant about freeing the human hostage. He was not going to leave his fellow man to the mercy of the mechanical beasts. It was a trait I had always admired in my friend: he would always stand up for what was right, even in the face of ultimate danger.

  We talked for several hours, throwing out any idea that came to our minds. We finally came to a consensus that we first needed to reduce their numbers before considering an assault of any kind on the mother ship; that was, if we would be able to get close to it at all without it flying away.

  Our initial plan was to try to lure the demons away from their camp one by one. I liked the boulder trap they had nearly gotten me with, but there was no way we could move enough of the large rocks by ourselves without the proper equipment. The demons certainly had strength on their side for setting up something like that.

  We would need to be clever. And in order to lure them in, we would have to use ourselves as bait. I quickly volunteered as the piece of meat for whatever trap we came up with. After my day’s recon adventure and our battle planning, I was charged with adrenaline.

  But as Bull and Allie began to talk strategy with each other, my eyelids suddenly became like lead weights. The day’s activity, with only the trout and berries to eat, had left my body weary. I decided I would just rest my eyes for a few minutes as the others talked. In half that time I was fast asleep.