The Unlikely Defenders

by Scott Haworth

  Neither Shawn nor Karen could think of anything to say.

  Barry turned to address Karen. “I have a flight to catch. I’ll expect your decision when I get back from the conference,” he finished calmly. He exited through the front door and closed it gently.

  “What the fuck was that?” Shawn asked rhetorically. He had nothing personally to compare it to, but he felt that it was the oddest reaction to adultery that he had ever heard.

  It was six days later before Shawn saw Karen again. He had called her incessantly and even stopped by the scene of the crime a few times. She had not answered or made any attempt to respond to him. Seemingly out of the blue she had called to arrange a meeting. Although Barry was still out of the country, she told Shawn to meet her in a park rather than her house.

  “Hey,” she said with a small smile. She was a little early for the meeting, but she found Shawn already sitting on a park bench.

  “Hey?” Shawn responded indignantly. “I don’t hear from you for a week and that’s what you’ve got to say.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, lowering her eyes. “I had a lot to think about and I didn’t want you… influencing it.”

  “What’s there to think about?” he questioned.

  “I’m staying with Barry,” she said simply. She felt that it was best to get the unpleasantness over with as quickly as possible.

  “What!” Shawn yelled, genuinely shocked by the statement. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Shawn, it was fun while it lasted, but it’s over now. It was a fling. It was exciting sneaking around and everything, but I’ve got a good thing going with Barry.”

  “What, his goddamn money?” Shawn screamed. A woman walking nearby with her child shot him a dirty glance which he ignored. “I’m not exactly poor.”

  “You will be shortly. I have a feeling your job security has turned to shit recently,” she said. She had meant it to sound funny, but neither of them laughed.

  “Then I’ll get a new job. We can move away from Menlo Park and start fresh. We can…”

  Karen silenced him as she brought her hand up to his cheek. “Sweetie, it’s over. You don’t have to keep fighting like this,” she said. She turned sharply and began to walk away.

  “But… I love you! It wasn’t just a fling. Flings don’t last eight months. I know you don’t love him, you can’t,” Shawn shouted desperately.

  Karen turned back with a forced look of sadness. “Of course I don’t,” she said, her voice bordering on condescension. “But that doesn’t mean I love you.”

  His heart sank as she turned and continued to walk away. Given the way she was walking, Shawn was sure that she knew he was still watching her.

  Sean Altmann’s squad started to take fire as soon as they reached the outskirts of Washington D.C. Up until that point they had met no resistance whatsoever. With their objective in mind, they had pushed deeper into the nation’s capital. The members of DEW squad became uneasy as the number of energy impacts against the side of their vehicles increased. The alien weapons were not powerful enough to pierce the reinforced armor of their Humvees. Nonetheless, the sheer intensity of the barrage forced them to stop three blocks away from the White House. They killed twenty Kessiams and took no casualties as they quickly made their way to Pennsylvania Avenue.

  Their advance stalled as the DEW squad got close enough to see the grounds of the White House. They had maneuvered right across the street from the front entrance of the mansion. The gates were gone as was quite a bit of the perimeter fence. Beyond that the front lawn was covered with aliens both alive and dead. The elite team of Secret Service agents had exacted a heavy toll on the alien invaders. They could only do so much though. Thousands of the creatures were slowly approaching the building.

  “Jesus Christ,” Sean mumbled as the squad stopped at the far side of Pennsylvania Avenue. “That’s a lot of bugs.”

  “A lot more than we can take,” Captain Mitchell agreed. He waved for the radioman to come towards him. “Get on the horn and get some gunships over here ASAP.”

  “You think they’ll be able to get a sortie out here?” Sean asked skeptically.

  “For the President? They goddamn better,” Mitchell answered.

  “A flight of Apaches is already inbound, Captain. The Secret Service called for them,” the radioman said after a moment.

  “All right, let’s make a line along the broken perimeter fence. Spread out but hold your fire. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves yet,” Mitchell commanded.

  The squad complied and jogged across the street without incident. Within seconds of taking position the first Apache attack helicopter appeared on the scene. Unfortunately, it emerged by crashing into the White House lawn in a fireball. A Kessiam fighter ship zoomed past the DEW squad’s position. Three more helicopters were on its tail. The aerial battle was out of visual range without a few seconds.

  The sound of another explosion was followed by the return of the three attack helicopters. They hovered in place and took aim at the swarm of aliens. Careful to avoid the building, they unleashed a fury of rockets into the crowd.

  The DEW squad cheered as explosions ripped through the enemy position. Their jubilance was short-lived. A cavalcade of tiny flashes from the ground indicated that the Kessiams were returning fire. The center helicopter’s rotor was knocked off by the enemy fire, sending the aircraft plummeting the short distance to the ground. The other two Apaches broke off to the right to avoid the ground fire. Dark smoke was billowing out of one of the aircraft. The undamaged helicopter turned sharply and zoomed back across the grounds with its cannon blazing. At the end of its attack run a small explosion erupted towards the back of the Apache. It spun around making several 360 degree revolutions before crashing into the ground not far from Sean’s position. A large piece of the helicopter’s rotor went flying through the sky and landed squarely in the center of Captain Mitchell’s head.

  “Fuck me!” Sean, who had been only a few feet from Mitchell, said.

  “Sergeant!” the radioman yelled from down the line. “What are your orders?”

  Panic shot through Sean as he realized that he was now in command. For a moment he said nothing. Out of the many thoughts shooting through his head he suddenly focused on the tiny Medal of Honor. He was filled with disgust as he thought about what he had done in Iraq so many years before. This time has to be different, he told himself. He pushed his fear aside and made his way closer to the radioman.

  “Any chance we’ll get another air strike?” Sean asked

  The radioman did not bother to make the request over the radio. “No, Sarge. That sortie only came out because it was the White House. The Air Force still has its hands full.”

  “Where the hell is first battalion? They weren’t that far behind us.”

  The radioman put in the appropriate call before responding. “They’re bogged down about six blocks east of here. They’ve engaged a large enemy force.”

  “Tell them the White House is about to be overrun. They need to get their fucking asses over here, now!”

  The radioman relayed the message although he cleaned it up a bit. He nodded his head as he received a response over the radio. “They say two platoons are inbound to our location. E.T.A. is fifteen minutes.”

  “We don’t have fifteen minutes!” Sean growled. He looked back at the swarm on the front lawn of the White House. The helicopter attack had decimated their ranks, but there were still hundreds of the creatures left, slogging closer and closer to the mansion. “All right everybody, listen up. We need to slow them down. On my command we’ll run about a third of the distance between us and them and lay down some fire. Drop everything but your weapons and some spare energy packs. This is our fallback position.”

  “What the hell good is that going to do?” the radioman asked. Sean was not an officer, and so he felt comfortable speaking more freely with him.

  “The bugs are attracted to military targets. I’m betting that t
hey’ll find a bunch of directed energy fire to be more of a threat than the Secret Service,” Sean replied.

  Sean stood up followed by the rest of the squad. He looked left and right at the small number of combat veterans. Many nodded reassuringly to him. Had they been anywhere else in the world fighting against any human enemy, many of them would surely have protested Sean’s plan: a handful of men crossing open territory to attack a vastly superior force. This was no ordinary situation. In front of the very symbol of the United States, every soldier there knew the tremendous stakes. Like the pilots in the helicopters, they were willing to take an extraordinary risk to defend the White House.

  Sean thought about yelling “charge!” or letting out a Banshee scream. Instead he merely turned towards the swarm, nodded his head and started running. He ran fast and hard until he arrived at the designated area of the lawn. He flopped down onto the grass and was relieved to hear the impact of every other man in the squad.

  “Open fire!” Sean yelled.

  He brought his energy rifle up and started to fire into the horde of aliens. The veteran soldiers, aided by the deadly accuracy of their advanced weapons, dropped dozens of aliens before the swarm made any reaction. The swarm effectively split into two groups. The half closest to Sean’s position turned around and began to advance towards the DEW squad. The rest continued their assault on the White House.

  Sean popped out his expended energy pack and quickly clicked a new one into place. With half the swarm distracted and energy impacts starting to hit near his position, Sean decided it was time to go. “Fall back! Fall back!” he shouted over the noise.

  The squad retreated in good order laying down covering fire as they went. As such the trip back to the perimeter of the White House took much longer than the trip forward. The squad took up their original positions, albeit with two less members. Sean was surprised. He had expected to lose more of the men than that.

  “Hold your fire!” he yelled as the remaining squad members began to target the swarm. The humans had fallen back much faster than the aliens had been able to advance towards them. They were in range of the DEW squad, but Sean knew that they would be getting a lot closer. There was no reason to waste ammunition. “Wait for my order and conserve ammunition. If you get your hands on one of their weapons feel free to use it. They don’t seem to need to be reloaded.”

  The squad member to Sean’s immediate left set his rifle aside and pulled one of the Kessiam pistols from behind his back. He had picked it up earlier as a souvenir. Another squad member ejected the half spent energy pack of the discarded rifle and placed it in the dirt beside him.

  Sean ordered the squad to open fire as the Kessiams crossed into optimal range. Their casualties were mounting, but the insects did not slow their advance. They returned fire and within minutes only Sean and two other squad members were left manning the line. The humans knew the end was near, but they made no attempt to disengage. A strange euphoria washed over Sean. He accepted death, but it was not his time to die.

  A mortar round exploded in the group of Kessiams. It was followed by several more explosions and the familiar sound of small arms fire. Sean turned back in time to watch as forty soldiers with traditional rifles ran across the street and spread out along the fallen perimeter fence. The overwhelming sound of gunfire was music to his ears. He was in the process of loading his last energy pack into his rifle when a young lieutenant flopped down next to him.

  “Took you long enough, sir!” Sean said.

  “Sorry, you know how traffic is this time of day,” the lieutenant joked. “Plus some of us poor schmucks still have to use guns that fire bullets.”

  “Bullets?” Sean asked, acting as though he was only vaguely familiar with the word. He fired a few energy blasts at the swarm. “That must be terrible! Like the fucking dark ages.”

  The lieutenant looked out at the swarm of aliens. They were quickly being cut down and some were starting to turn and flee. “Don’t worry,” he said as his eyes surveyed the number of enemy weapons that were scattered on the ground in front of him. “I think we’ll be upgrading real soon.”

  Sean smiled as the low rumble of Humvees emanated in the distance. The rest of first battalion was on its way.

  “Private Altmann,” the colonel said as Sean entered his tent. “Come on in. At ease.”

  Sean walked to the center of the tent and clasped his hands behind his back. It had only been three hours ago, but the attack on his convoy already seemed like a distant memory. His sadness over the loss of his friends was secondary to his happiness about being alive. “Thank you, sir. May I ask how Sergeant Murphy is doing, sir?”

  The colonel was pleased to see that the condition of the wounded sergeant was the first thing on Sean’s mind. It reinforced everything he had already been told about the brave young man. “He’s in surgery right now. I hear he’s expected to make it though.”

  “That’s good to hear, sir.”

  “Private, I called you in here for a number of reasons. Obviously I wanted to personally congratulate you for your act of heroism. In addition to that I believe I have an excellent opportunity for you.”

  “Sir, I didn’t really do anything heroic,” Sean answered honestly.

  “Cut the false modesty bullshit. The press is already going crazy over this incident. It’s the largest single day casualty figure of the entire war. However, out of this tragedy we have a glimmer of hope. Five insurgents killed by a brave young private facing impossible odds.”

  “But I didn’t do it…” Sean began. He paused as he realized that the colonel was going to offer him some perks. “…alone, sir. Private Wagner helped out… a little,” he concluded. At that moment he committed fully to the lie and felt no guilt. If there was a chance to get out of Iraq he knew he had to take it.

  “The dead don’t make for good heroes anymore. Too depressing. You on the other hand are going to be shipped stateside immediately. You’ll start with the morning news programs at first to ease you in. Then you’ll move on to the tougher venues. By the end of the week I expect the story from this incident to be you, not the casualties.”

  “Just like that, sir?” Sean asked eagerly.

  “Just like that. We’ll have our public relations people brief you before your first interview of course. The false modesty is fine since it makes you look humble, but avoid any talk of Private Wagner, or any of the others for that matter,” the colonel concluded.

  “I think I understand, sir,” Sean replied. “I’m the hero.”

  Chapter Nine

  Tex surveyed the two dozen or so alien corpses in front of the school. He let out a disappointed sigh. “Looks like we’re too late to join in the fun.”

  “Don’t count on it,” the default leader of the newly combined militia group said. “From what I heard there was a lot more of these things attacking the school than this.”

  The militia leader cautiously made his way to the door with his hand firmly gripping one of the Kessiam pistols. He was one of the few militiamen who had upgraded his weapon. While there had been many opportunities, most of the Texans were still carrying shotguns or rifles. The leader peaked inside and saw nothing in the immediate hallway. He gestured for the others to follow him as he entered the school.

  The humans made their way through the halls of the school. Jeffery had not yet fired his rifle, but he clutched it so violently that his knuckles were white. The gun gave him some amount of comfort. However, given how little experience he had with firearms, the gun offered almost no practical protection. Since he liked to stick close to Tex, Jeffery was one of the first to enter the school’s gymnasium. He loosened his grip on the rifle as he surveyed the terrible scene before him.

  The gym was littered with dead. Several dozen bugs were laying motionless near the entrance. Farther back there were over three hundred human bodies mostly centered in the far corner of the gym.

  “Mother fuckers slaughtered them like cattle,” said one of the militiamen,
his voice cracking.

  As Jeffery took a closer look at the carnage he decided that the militiaman’s comment was not entirely accurate. About half of the adult bodies had firearms lying next to them. They had clearly been trying to defend themselves. The macabre scene was amplified by the positioning of the human bodies. There were three distinct rings of corpses. The outer ring was mostly men, the middle was composed of women and closest to the corner were a pile of children. Jeffery knew instantly what had transpired. The armed men had tried to fight off the aliens while the women had used their bodies to shield their children.

  Screams from other parts of the school warned the militiamen that the fight was not yet over. The group exited the gym and ran down the hall until they reached an intersection. The leader split the team into three groups to clear the three halls. Jeffery and Tex were ordered down the hall to their right.

  Tex was twenty feet down the hallway before he remembered how worthless his partner was. “Dammit, Jeff. Bring your gun up to your shoulder like I taught you. You ain’t going to shoot any of the critters like that!”

  Jeffery complied, but before he could apologize one of the classroom doors swung open. A young boy ran out of the room and threw himself against the opposite wall of the hallway. Three Kessiams emerged right behind him with their weapons leveled. As they noticed the two adult humans they whipped their pistols around.

  Everyone fired at once. The bullet from Tex’s rifle smashed through the skull of the nearest alien. Two of the Kessiams had targeted Tex. Both of their rounds struck the man in the chest. The third alien’s shot was directed at Jeffery. In his eagerness to fire the alien had not taken the time to aim. The energy projectile passed harmlessly by Jeffery. Jeffery’s bullet never left his gun’s chamber. His eyes grew wide as Tex and one of the aliens began to fall to the floor.

  Jeffery did not know why his rifle had not fired. He guessed that it had something to do with the safety latch. Despite Tex’s earlier lecture on the topic, he had no idea where the safety was located. As the thoughts ran through his head he noticed the small boy who was cowering against the wall. A surge of adrenaline rushed through Jeffery’s body.