It was getting close to go time as the enemy started moving towards the van. The reptilian appeared to be giving orders to the Greys, which made sense. The big boy had to be the dominant species; Archie just couldn’t see it being the other way around. When they got about half way between their ship and the van, he crept out of the bush and made his way to the rear of the ramp. Not wasting any time, he leaned out of the cover, lifted the pistol and aimed at the back of the lizards’ head. He squeezed the trigger, and with a pop, the target fell face first to the dirt. Without waiting for a response from the other two, he ducked back behind the ramp and popped out the other side. Without hesitation, he fired two rounds into the big head of the Grey on the right, who crumbled to the ground as the large bulb on his shoulders disintegrated. Almost instantaneously, the second little alien started to fire some sort of beam weapon in return to the assault he had instigated. Fuck, I thought they were unarmed, he thought as he took cover. The sound of fizzling thuds hit the other side of the ramp as the Grey tried to find his mark.
Under the pressure of death if the beams hit him, Archie’s mind started racing. How was he going to get out of this? His opponent had an excellent line on him no matter what he did, and he knew that if he stuck his head around the side of the ramp that was giving him cover, he was going to kop one to the face… game over. He had to put any thoughts of dying out of his mind as he made his decision. If he stayed where he was the little fucker would kill him. No, sitting tight wasn’t an option. No more thinking, it was time to act. Archie leant out of the left side of the ramp and popped off two rounds before ducking back in to cover as fast as he could. He immediately leaned out of the other side and taking proper aim as he put two bullets right into the alien's face as it was still firing at the opposite side of the ramp. He was down; hell, they were all down.
Archie was leaning with his back against the ramp trying to catch his breath and thanking his lucky stars, thinking that he seemed to be a natural with the gun. It felt like an extension of his body. He had looked at his targets, lifted his arm and squeezed the trigger. Apart from the two rounds he’d used to draw the Greys attention to the wrong side of the ramp, he had managed to hit every target he aimed at. And he managed to not kill himself in the process. He decided that if he survived the night, he was going to buy a lottery ticket because clearly, his luck was in. For a few seconds, he sat there laughing.
The laughter didn’t last long, as a large scaly hand reached around the ramp and grabbed him by the face. Archie’s feet were flailing as he was pulled from his seated position and lifted into the air. The razor-sharp claws of the reptiles left hand dug deeply into Archie’s face and head. Blood poured from the wounds as the aliens’ grip got tighter. Kicking out with his feet, he couldn’t gain any purchase. He brought the pistol up to the head of his attacker and fired repeatedly but got only clicks from the trigger in return. The weapon had jammed. The realisation that his prey had just tried to shoot him in the head again, really pissed the lizard off, he hissed and squeezed tighter as though he wanted to crush Archie’s skull.
Archie felt the claws pop through the tissues of his head and start scraping on bone. The pain was unbearable as he realised that this was it, he was probably going to die, but he was far from giving up. Everything seemed to slow down as the adrenalin spiked in his system. His mind moved so fast that the world went into slow motion. Dropping the gun, he frantically reached for the knives. It felt like an eternity before finally, he found the grip of the bowie knife and pulled it from its holster. He jabbed it straight into the pit of his assailants left arm. The reaction was one of pure rage as the giant reptile bared his extremely sharp looking teeth and started hitting Archie to the body with his free hand. At the same time, the hand gripping his head got tighter.
All Archie could do was stab repeatedly at the enemy as fast as he possibly could. He knew he was doing damage because the blows that the reptile rained into Archie’s side were getting harder, as though he felt he needed to put this pesky human down before he got really hurt. The hits had become too much for Archie to bare as he couldn’t block any now. Initially, he’d been able to parry a few away, but now the punches were coming straight through his defences.
CRACK! The pain was immense and instant. Archie knew that he had broken at least one rib – probably several. Enough was enough. He had to get free, or he was a dead man. Bringing the knife over the top of the lizards left arm, he stabbed into the side of its cheek. When the blade was fully in, Archie pulled it directly towards him, opening up the creatures face. The injury that the move had caused had to really hurt the evil bastard. He repeated the process, but now he was stabbing at any part of the enemy’s head, hoping for a lucky hit. He seemed to find it when he sunk the blade in behind a small hole that he assumed was the ear. The shrieking howl was enough to tell Archie that he’d hit the mark good and proper. He tried to withdraw the blade, but it was stuck fast.
The reptilian monster threw Archie away from him. Landing on his back and breathing through his arse, Archie couldn’t get up fast enough to escape. The enemy was almost above him. Reaching for his fish knife, he managed to get a grip just as the lizard brought his big heavy foot back to give the floored human a good kicking. But he was too slow, Archie had him.
As the foot came through for the kick, Archie lunged forward and grabbed both legs. As he did so, he curled his body around them and in doing so gave the enemy less leverage to produce any more kicks. With the knife in hand, he stabbed up and into the groin area and twisted the handle. The blade went in easy as Archie found a soft spot. The hulking lizard arched his back and let out a deep roar that could have woken the dead. As he withdrew the knife, he ran the blade across the back of, what he presumed was the creatures right knee. He’d clearly cut the ligaments and tendons, as the reptile crumbled to the ground. Any thought of killing the human had disappeared, his own survival was now in doubt, and he started to crawl towards the ramp of his ship.
The creature was dead, and he knew it, but he continued to crawl away. Archie was always going to get to him before he got to the safety of the ship. Rising to his feet and grabbing the pistol, Archie removed the magazine and pulled the top slide back, releasing the stuck round and clearing the stoppage. Staggering toward the crawling monster, he replaced the clip and pushed it home. By the time he got to him, the lizard was at the foot of the ramp. The bowie knife was still sticking out of the side of his head, and there was a hole about two inches to the right of it. That must have been where Archie had shot him at the beginning of the firefight.
“Turn over you bastard,” Archie growled with malice. He wanted to get a real good look at the thing that almost killed him.
The reptile did so, holding his hands up as if in pleading for the human not to kill him. Fuck him, Archie thought to himself. Pulling the top slide back, he aimed the weapon at the big scaly, horned head and fired. It took three rounds to finally put the creature down for good.
7
Fishing Lake
West Midlands
England
Surveying the scene around him, Archie couldn’t believe what had happened. It had been mayhem with aerial dogfights, spaceships crashing into the lake, killing three aliens and two humans, and him, rescuing what he thought was an alien using a fucking rowboat. The boat! What an idiot! It still had the rifle in it. He could have done with using that just now, and maybe he wouldn’t have these gaping holes in his head.
Before he went back to retrieve the rifle, there was something he had to do first. Walking over to each alien in turn, he lifted the pistol and shot them all twice in the head, just to be sure they weren’t about to “jack-in-the-box” and surprise him again. After he’d shot the reptile, he put his foot against the things head, and pulled the knife free before he wiped the dark coloured blood on to its tunic. He cleaned the fish knife in the same way and holstered both on his belt.
With the adrenalin that had flooded his system subsiding, the pai
n in his head and face came to the fore. He was in absolute agony, with a burning sensation flowing through the wounds, as blood was ran down his face and dripped from his chin. He ran back to the van, and after having a rapid check on Blondies condition, he pulled out the med kit again. Opening a bag of saline, he poured it over his head and face in an attempt to clean the lacerations. The injuries burned even more as the fluid entered the gaping cuts, the runoff taking with it more blood.
Looking at himself in the vans side mirror, he saw the state of his face. He was smothered in bright red blood. Initially, he was shocked but quickly calmed down as he started sorting himself out. The head was filled with tiny veins and arteries and would invariably bleed a lot and generally make the casualty look like a shark had tried to eat their face when in fact there was really only a few small cuts. The injuries could be sorted out well enough, but the more significant concern was the possibility of contracting an infection from the dirty claws the creature had used to open him up.
The fluid alone wouldn’t be enough to clean the deep scrapes that ran from his hairline down to his cheeks. He needed to clean it up properly, so taking a dressing from the bag, he unwrapped it and covered it in the saline before running it along the length of each bloody streak. He needed to treat the cuts with antiseptic, but he didn’t have any in the kit. In a moment of madness, he wondered if the cream he used for the fish would work. Fuck it, I haven’t got anything else, he thought as he reached in the door and got out the fish care kit. As he applied the potion to the open wounds, he noticed that the lacerations were worse than he had first thought, and he knew at once they needed to be stitched up. Archie was in no doubt that he was going to have extensive scarring. The cream hurt like crazy as he smothered his head with the stuff, but what else could he do? It wasn’t like he could go to the Accident and Emergency Department and say he’d been attacked by a seven-foot alien lizard. They’d lock him up in a mental institution and throw away the key.
To make matters worse, the injuries to his chest had started to hurt as well, causing sharp pains as he breathed. The reptilian had definitely broken at least one, maybe two or three ribs. There was nothing he could do for that except self-administer morphine, but Archie knew that wasn’t even an option. He needed to stay switched on, and morphine made you groggy, slowed the heart rate and dropped the blood pressure. It could also cause unconsciousness and respiratory arrest. No, he had to just man up and take it.
Once he had sorted his ailments out as best he could, he made his way down to the boat to retrieve the rifle. With blood, sweat and saline running into his eyes, he bent down to pick the weapon up, and as he touched it, he seemed to get that flash again, this time more detailed. He knew that in his hands, he was holding an M4 Carbine, it fired 5.56 calibre rounds, had a telescopic stock, and was capable of mounting an M203 grenade launcher to the underside of the barrel. The flash showed him exactly how to use and maintain it, but Archie hoped that he wouldn’t need to do either. This instant upload or whatever it was, was really weirding him out. This was the second time he had experienced it, and he couldn’t explain why it was happening.
As he turned away from the rowboat, he noticed a body floating in the water, it must have been the guy he had shot as he rappelled from the helicopter. Wading out to about waist deep, he grabbed the dead man by the scruff of the neck and dragged him to the beach. There he searched him, taking both of his weapons and pilfering all the ammo the man had on him. Running back to the van, he threw the wet rifle in the back, grabbed the thermal imaging camera and made his way to the driver’s side. He had three weapons in the front with him; two pistols and the dry M4. It was time to get out of the area.
Putting the vehicle into first gear, Archie moved slowly along the dirt road towards the exit. He didn’t want to draw any unwanted attention to himself, so he kept the van in low gear and wouldn’t be turning the lights on until he got on to the main road. He was steering with his right hand while holding the thermal camera up to eye level with his left, without it, this short trip would have taken a lot longer. He could feel every little bump and rut the track had to offer. The van was tipping and bouncing all over the place as he edged his way closer to the exit. He knew that the vehicle's movements were being exaggerated by his heightened awareness, but it still felt as though he was driving over mountains when actually he was driving over stones.
Archie stopped the motor roughly a hundred yards from the gate, he needed to check that he wasn’t driving into trouble. Handbrake on, he picked up the M4 and slipped the carry strap for the thermal camera over his head as he got out of the van. Moving off to the side so that he could parallel the road, he used any shrubs or bushes he could find as cover as he continued edging his way slowly to the gate and the main road beyond. His clothes were still soaking wet, and he was freezing, yet he was sweating at the same time.
Not wanting to go straight for the exit, Archie decided to move about fifteen yards to the right of it and come out through the treeline to get to the main road on the other side. If the coast was clear, he’d go back to the van and get the hell out of there.
When he emerged on the other side of the trees, Archie realised he was farther away from the entrance than he had anticipated. He moved back in to cover, and slowly made his way back towards it. It wasn’t long before he heard something that stopped him in his tracks… voices, up ahead. Quietly, he raised the thermal camera to his eyes and turned it back on. After it had initialised, he began looking through the viewfinder to see two men carrying rifles. They were only about twenty feet away from his position and appeared to be talking. Very slowly, he got as low as he could and started to crawl quietly towards them.
Because they were carrying weapons, Archie knew they weren’t out for an early morning stroll. Looking through the camera, he could see that the only option he had to get the van passed them, was to incapacitate them. He only hoped that he wouldn’t have to kill them. The Karmic effects of what he’d already done were going to be a nightmare in the next life. This shit was really messing with his Zen.
He got to within ten feet of them and stopped, looked and listened. He couldn’t quite catch the whole conversation, but he did hear one of them say, “Some fucking civilian is helping the Pleiadian.”
Pleiadian? What the fuck is a Pleiadian? Archie thought to himself as he weighed up his options.
“The Draco War Lord is sending another crew in to wipe them out. ETA fifteen minutes,” the other one said.
He knew he had to get a move on as he edged a bit closer. Once he got to within five feet, he stopped again and listened. But heard nothing more. Because they had said another crew were on the way, Archie decided that he didn’t want to engage them with the firearms, that would be noisy. Equally, he realised that as much as he didn’t want to, he didn’t have a choice but to kill these guys. He sat there for a few seconds trying to figure out a means of subduing them both without either of them getting off a shot. Decision made, there was no other option; they were both going to have to die.
Laying the M4 and the camera gently on the grass, Archie prepared himself mentally for what he was about to do. It was really dark on the road, with virtually no light, but he could still see them with his naked eyes. He watched them closely as he slowly pulled the bowie knife from his belt. They were walking together, backwards and forwards across the opening to the dirt road. He sat stock still and held his breath as they made their way in his direction. Would they see him? What would they do if they did? Whatever. Archie would just have to be faster than them…
Nothing, they didn’t spot him.
As they turned away, Archie made his move. Standing up from the bush he’d been hiding in, and with his right hand, he threw the knife at the man on the left, hitting him in the back of the neck. He knew straight away that it had severed his spinal cord because the soldier just dropped like a sack of shit, completely unable to stem his fall as his face hit the dirt with a sickening thud. In the same instant, A
rchie dived from cover and rolled forwards towards to the second man.
As the soldier turned to face his enemy, Archie was already coming out of the roll, slightly to his left. He was on him. Putting his left leg behind the man’s, Archie used his forearm to smash him in the throat, making him fall backwards. As he was going down, Archie took hold of the guys left wrist and pulled up hard, forcing him to fall on to his right side. The instant the soldier hit the floor, Archie gave a swift, sharp kick to the centre of his back, making him arch. Then, still holding the left wrist, he forced his right hand into the front of the victim’s elbow and rolled his hand over the top until it was folded under the forearm. Simultaneously, he’d knelt on to his victim's kidney and neck, respectively. Once the arm was rolled sufficiently, Archie straightened his back and partially stood up. This caused the bones in the wrist and forearm to shatter while at the same time dislocating the shoulder. The soldier screamed aloud, but it wasn’t over as Archie pulled the arm out straight and snapped it the other way, across his right thigh, breaking even more bones. Throwing the shattered arm away in front of his body, Archie delivered a savage punch to the back of the man’s jaw, breaking it instantly and turning his screams to a whimper.
Now that he was semi-conscious, Archie dragged him into the bushes, where he gave his victim another whack, putting him out cold. Then he made his way back to the dead man and pulled his knife from the guy's neck and cleaned the blade on his shirt, the body twitching as he did so. After dragging him into the trees, Archie searched them both and took anything that could be of use. By the time he had finished, he had pockets full of ammunition. He also took the radio from the soldier he’d knocked out, slipped it on to his waistband and put the earpiece in his left ear.
Pleiadian Rescuer Page 8
