by Adam Moon
David sat at the desk chair as Stacey took a seat on the edge of the bed. The pleading, sad look in her eyes was too much for him to bear so he opened the vial and downed it in a single gulp. The serum burned for a second and then he felt faint. He felt his heart race. Then he blacked out.
Memories
His dreams were odd, like they were being dreamt by a stranger. They were so vivid and yet so foreign. When he woke up he was sobbing like a child. His throat was raw and his eyes burned but for the first time in recent memory, he felt whole. And then memories came crashing back, confusing and enlightening him at once.
Stacey looked into his eyes and asked, “Did it work?”
He couldn’t answer her. His emotions were raw and untethered. He felt like he could break into a million pieces. He remembered training, and sure enough, Murphy was right. He had volunteered for it, even the tortures and memory modifications. But somewhere along the way, he’d concocted a bizarre theory that had nothing to do with reality. In his crazed, memory wiped mind, he was a prisoner being forced to do the bidding of hidden tormentors. But the reality was that in the beginning he was utterly ecstatic about the program. And what made it even better was that his dad had developed the program and personally ran it. His dad was Murphy. And the woman looking into his eyes with such pity in her own was his younger sister, Stacey. It made perfect sense that Stacey and Murphy were so angry with him. They’d been worried sick when he ran off.
He might have been upset that his father had subjected him to the horrors of the program except that he now remembered just how vehemently his dad had tried to talk him out of it. And once he insisted on joining, his little sister followed right after him.
When he tried to coerce memories of his mom forth he suddenly realized why his father had always kept them so close to him. They had such a tight bond because his mom had died of breast cancer when he was very young. His dad, being a military man, had no choice but to drag him and his sister with him wherever he went. And in exposing them to a military lifestyle, he’d molded them into soldiers before they’d even grown old enough to enlist. David became a Ranger and Stacey joined the Marines.
And then the implanted memories washed over him. They didn’t affect him the way his buried memories did, though, probably because they felt so alien.
There were exactly thirty six aliens already on the ship when it tried to abduct him, and he had specs on all of them. They were all dangerous but some of them more so than others.
He blurted out, “Get me a pen and paper. I’m going to list the aliens according to their threat level.”
Stacey gave him a little pad with the logo of the hotel on it and a pen. She picked up her now cold coffee and was about to take her first drink of it when David grabbed her arm and slowly pried the cup from her. He said, “This might be poisoned.” He splashed the contents on the sidewalk outside the door.
Stacey gave him a disbelieving look so he explained, “Number three on the list employs a strategy whereby it just kills every damn thing around it. It will poison the water and contaminate the food supplies. If it gets real adventurous it might even deploy nerve gas of its own design.”
“Why would it do that? Won’t it die in the process?”
“It doesn’t care. It’s going to be hard to stop it. It’s a sneaky bastard. I just hope it hasn’t gotten far, but if it made it this far, you can bet that everything you can eat or drink has been tampered with.”
She sat on the bed and watched as he wrote out his list. He didn’t have names for the individual aliens so he referred to them descriptively.
By the time he was done, Stacey was shaking with anticipation. She read through the list and asked, “The aliens with lines through them are the ones we already killed, right?”
“Yep.”
“Which of them is the highest priority?”
“Number one and three pose the greatest danger. We already killed number two – he was the tall skinny one with the little fat friend.”
“Good. You wrote here that number one will try to make contact with his home world. Is that really so dangerous? Maybe it just wants to get back home.”
“If it does make contact or if we allow it to escape, its people will arrive and we definitely don’t want that. Its people will destroy our whole planet for the hell of it. We have to go after it first.” He was surprised by the change in his tone. He spoke with authority, like a highly trained military soldier. His thoughts were crystal clear if somewhat muddled by the influx of additional information. He felt truly alive. In fact, he felt like a newer, better man.
Stacey asked, “Where do you think it went?”
“If I had to guess, I’d say it’s on its way to Florida.” It wasn’t a guess, though. The answer came at him like a bullet and he didn’t think twice about it.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because they have a space program. They’ll have the technology and equipment for it to make a ship. And if the tech is too archaic for it to get home it’ll design a way to contact its people. I don’t know any specifics but it will be the end of mankind if we don’t kill it first.”
She stared off into space. Until this moment it hadn’t dawned on her that they were in any real danger. She assumed her training and fortitude would be enough to take the aliens out one at a time, but number one on the hit list was not going to make it a fair fight and number three was going to try and single-handedly poison the planet.
She snatched her radio to relay the info to Murphy. Then she looked at David and asked, “Is that all you remember?”
He stared at the carpet, ashamed. “I remember everything. I’m sorry Stacey. Tell dad I’m sorry too.”
She clapped him on the back. “It all worked out in the end. In a way I’m glad the ship targeted you or else you might have never reached out to us.”
Gunner woke up just as Stacey stepped outside to use the radio.
David smiled at her and sat beside her on the bed. “I took the serum. I remember everything.”
She yawned and leaned forward to hug him around the waist. “Then lock the door and get into bed with me.”
David turned to face her. “Stacey’s outside radioing Murphy. I remembered everything, including the stats on the aliens. We’re in a race against time. Don’t be surprised if we pull out of here in the next five minutes to try and get ahead of the danger.”
“Five minutes might be long enough,” she said as she pulled her shirt off.
David stood up and rubbed his temple for effect. “I have a wicked headache from the serum too. Can I get a rain check?”
She smiled. “I waited for you for six months already. A few more days isn’t going to kill me,” she said as she slid her shirt back on.
Stacey walked in at exactly the right time because she just missed seeing Gunner topless but mostly because the moment she came inside a huge creature cast its shadow as it rushed past the window. Whatever cast it was snarling loudly.
David said, “If I’m not mistaken that was number twenty one that just ran by. You’re lucky you weren’t in its way when it ran past or it would’ve eaten you alive.”
And then they heard Buddy barking from next door. The shadow crossed halfway across the window but from the opposite direction this time. The creature had come back when Buddy made his presence known. Buddy would be its next meal if David didn’t intervene.
He grabbed an M4 from the desk and quietly opened the door. The thing was a foot taller than the doorway and twice as wide. It had reptilian skin but other than that it resembled nothing from Earth. It had a mouth as big and round as a dinner plate with a row of teeth set inside that circled its entire gaping maw. The teeth were sharp but they looked like they were made of wood or horn. The top of its head was a single lidless eye as big as a basketball. It had pupils on four sides and one on top. It sort of hovered above the ground. It had a skirt made of some kind of shell-like material that covered its trunk. A thick flagellum came from ben
eath it and whipped around like a helicopter rotor, keeping it afloat. If he got in the way of that rapidly whipping flagellum it would cut him to pieces but it was also its main weak point so he slowly shoved the M4 through the door and aimed for it. The thing started to rip into the door to get to Buddy, and Felix too, when David opened fire, tearing chunks out of the muscular rotor. It turned to face him but he’d already immobilized it. The flagellum flopped around splashing a thick brown sludge all over the place like a Jackson Pollock painting. When it came to a complete halt, the creature fell two inches onto its shell-like skirt. It flailed about but David had it at a disadvantage.
Stacey put a hand on his shoulder and calmly said, “Don’t kill it. We haven’t sent back a live specimen yet.”
For some reason he couldn’t quite put his finger on, he wanted the thing dead even though it was no longer a threat. He aimed for the big rubbery eye and ran a line of fire through it and then down across its body. It stopped flailing. It was dead.
Stacey didn’t chastise him for disobeying her. In fact, she seemed to be partly relieved that it was dead too. Felix burst out of the hotel room, saying, “What the hell, man! Can’t a guy get any sleep around here?” Then he let the sight of the dead alien sink into his sleep deprived mind. It was just bizarre enough that it didn’t quite register on first inspection. He apologized. “Sorry. Thanks for saving my ass.” He looked around David and saw Stacey and Gunner. “Oh, hey guys, I’m back.”
Stacey smiled. “I gave David the serum. He’s back too.”
David realized she was right about him being back. He felt like a totally different man. He had acted on pure instinct and far more quickly than the girls had. He was pretty sure that he hadn’t fired a single errant shot, even when shooting the lightning fast flagellum. He felt wired, like he was seeing and breathing for the first time. He felt alive.
Felix reached past the dead alien and patted David on the chest. “It looks like you got your skills back just in time to save me. Thanks.”
Buddy came bounding out of the room, yelped at the sight of the alien, and then jumped up at David. David hugged him in midair and let Buddy lick his face. He could tell Felix the truth; that he was actually saving his dog, but that would hurt his feelings so he kept his mouth shut. Plus he now remembered Felix and his memories were all good. Felix was kindhearted and easy to get along with. Those types were indispensable in times of crisis because they kept the team levelheaded. He said, “Glad to finally be of some help.”
Felix smirked. “When your training comes back to you you’ll be mad that you spent the past six months without it. You were a badass, dude. I can’t wait to see what you’re capable of.”
He was right. David felt it already. He put the rifle down and turned to Stacey. “We can drop this alien off with Murphy (it still felt weird calling him dad) and then we should head straight through to Florida from there.”
“That sounds like the smart move to make, given the dangers alien number one poses to the Earth.”
She held her radio up and Murphy’s voice issued from it. “Is everything alright? I told you to lay low for awhile and get some rest.”
“We tried but trouble found us. Dave took the serum. He knows everything. We’re coming in with the alien he killed. He can talk to you when we get there.”
“You can’t all come back this way. Despite the nuclear strike, the majority of the chatter we’re hearing is still north of you. You need to keep going. Leave the carcass and I’ll send a chopper to retrieve it.”
“We have to head south anyway. There’s an alien that will be heading that way and we need to stop it. It’s the most dangerous of the bunch.”
“David told you this? If he did, then I accept it as gospel. How is he anyway?”
“He seems fine.” She looked at David and shrugged. “I think the serum worked.”
“Thank God for that. I can’t wait to see him.”
“Okay then. We’re coming to you. We need to restock so make sure supplies are ready for us.”
She clipped the radio to her belt as Murphy said, “I’ll see you soon.”
David crinkled his eyebrows. “I always assumed Murphy was his last name. What kind of parents would name their child Murphy Cole?”
Gunner put an arm over his shoulder. “I think your dad has a cool name.”
“I suppose you’re right. It’s just weird that he has two last names.”
It took all of them to heft the huge alien into the back of Felix’s Humvee. They had to break off a piece of its shell-like skirt just to make it fit. To their surprise the thing didn’t stink like a fish market. It actually had a somewhat pleasant if musty scent, even in death.
Gunner and Felix took the lead truck and Stacey and David took up the rear. David considered asking if he could ride with Gunner – he had a lot to talk about, and she probably did too – but he worried that doing so would hurt his sister’s feelings.
South
He was somewhat relieved that they were heading south, even though just an hour ago north was the only home he knew. But the nuclear strikes had surely wiped his home off the map. The resultant fallout from radiation poisoning would’ve made them sick, and might’ve killed buddy outright, the closer they got. It was a bit of a blessing that he took the serum when he did because a hundred miles north of them was most likely a no-man’s land.
They crossed the border into Illinois and immediately saw a car in a ditch on the side of the road, in flames. Felix slowed down to check it out but Stacey radioed over and told him to ignore it. A burning car was not normal which led them to believe that it could’ve been alien related but they had a mission that superceded a lone attack. Plus, it might be a trap to make them stop.
David mulled over what would be the most sincere way to apologize to his sister for what he’d done but he knew words weren’t enough. He had to prove to her that he wouldn’t abandon the family again. That would take time, though, and he wasn’t sure just how much time they had left.
Stacey made a final call to Murphy to let him know to avoid eating or drinking until they could be sure their water and food was safe. It was no stretch that the mass-murderer alien might have made it through Illinois already, and if so then nothing was safe to consume.
They sped through to the compound without incident.
Murphy already had a transport truck waiting to take the alien carcass to the naval base when they arrived. He also had a cache of weapons waiting for them, as well as plastic sealed food and bottled water. As they exited the Humvees two men gassed them up. This was going to be an even quicker pit stop than David had imagined.
Felix and Gunner loaded the weapons into their now empty truck as Murphy led David and Stacey inside for a final talk before they headed south.
He sat behind his desk and his adult children sat opposite him. He said, “Good work so far. How many are left?”
David said, “There are about thirty left but there are only two that absolutely need to be taken out now and only one that could actually succeed at ending life on Earth as we know it. We know it will try to build a ship or else build some sort of communication dish to contact its people.”
“It’s safe to assume its people live far away from our solar system. Since we know that’s the case, a communications dish will do it no good. The signal would take too long to reach its planet.”
“I don’t know. My intel feels right. Maybe it has far more advanced ways of communicating than we do. Perhaps it can communicate instantaneously with its planet. I don’t know any of the specifics.”
“I thought you knew everything about them.”
“I only know their motives, strengths, and weaknesses. I don’t know the details beyond what it takes to track them and fight them. I know that it will try to communicate home because that’s the intel I would need to track it if we were pitted against one another.”
“Well we’re in luck. An odd report came in half an hour ago about a plane crash.”
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“Oh shit! If it hijacked a plane and got far enough, we’ll never get ahead of it.”
“It’s okay. It appears as though foul play was involved but the plane went down in a small town called Sturtevant in Wisconsin, just north of us. I’ve issued an order to ground all further flights and to increase security at every airport within two hundred miles of here. If it’s heading south, it’ll have to make do on land.”
“Maybe we should hop a flight just to be sure we get there first.”
“No, the military has reign over the skies until this threat is over. It’s our job to fight them on the ground.”
Stacey spoke up for the first time. “Who is going to patrol the area after we leave?”
“I just heard that twenty five hundred drones are being shipped to us. We’ll be able to survey the area pretty well. Felix and Gunner will stay behind so that I have a team to send out if I see anything strange relayed back from the drones.”
David opened his mouth to object but he knew the mission was more important than his connection to Gunner so he refrained from speaking. If they were to be split evenly then he would be separated from Gunner or from his sister. Either way, he didn’t like it.
Murphy added, “I told Gordon and Olaf to wait for you guys. They stopped in Kentucky. I’ll send you their coordinates. Go get that alien bastard.” He paused and rested his elbows on the desk. “Welcome home, David.”
“Thanks.” He wanted to call him dad but not today. Maybe next time.
Before they left, Stacey made him a copy of David’s list so he had something to work with. Murphy was hunched over his desk, scouring the page. “I’ll get a copy of it to all applicable parties. Thanks for this. This alone could be a game changer.”
That last sentence made David feel better about himself.
Stupid Mistake
Gunner was mad about being split up which warmed David’s heart. If she’d been blasé about it, that meant she didn’t care.
