“You’re just going to leave a fellow soldier here to die, and his wife too?”
“Pardon, sir?”
“I was a Ranger, did a tour in Afghanistan, felt like my country turned its back on me then, and now you’re going to do the same to me now, and my wife too? Where’s the honor in that?” It was all bullshit. I wasn’t even sure what a Ranger was.
“Fuck … okay, get in.”
“First I get my wife.”
“Okay, hurry.”
“Thank you, soldier.” I turned to leave, but stopped and asked him, “What’s going on here?
“It’s an invasion. An alien invasion.”
ZACK
Something grabbed my shoulder. I jumped and spun in that direction. It was Cynthia. She jumped too. “Shit, I’m sorry. You scared me.”
“It’s okay, I’m sorry too. What is that thing?”
“I’m not sure. I think its what that monster came out of though, looks almost like a spaceship, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, I mean I’ve never seen a real one before, but I guess that’s kinda how I’d imagined one might look. This one looks like it came from underground though, as if it pushed right up from underneath the college.”
“Yeah, I think it did.”
“We need to call the police, the army, a dog catcher, whoever is equipped to deal with that thing, and Mikey, poor Mikey, we need to find him.”
“Fear not, I’m here.” I turned back to the pod, Mikey was peeking his head around from the other side, a big smile on his face. “It was a bitch to find you in the dark … This thing is super cool, we should shoot the scene in front, turn the movie into a sci-fi flick, instant production value and all.”
“Are you okay?” Cynthia asked him.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Mikey pushed past the pod to stand next to us. He let his eyes roam over it. “This is amazing, look at those lights, the technology, this must be one of the things they were talking about on the radio.”
“The radio, you heard some news about what’s happening?”
“Yeah, when I was in my car, cutting eyeholes in the black sheet, which I’ve since lost on my way here. Dropping a black sheet on the ground in pitch black isn’t conducive to finding the damn thing again. So making a sci-fi movie makes sense, since we don’t have your costume anymore.” He ran his hand over a section of the circuit. “That thing is hot.”
“We’re not continuing with the movie shoot,” I said.
“You concerned about the improvisation? What if you play the alien? You don’t have to panic about coming up with lines then, you can just grunt and shit.”
“I’m not playing an alien, plus we’ve seen something far more suited to that part.”
Mikey spun to me, a smile beaming again. “You saw an alien, didn’t you? It came from this pod, didn’t it? Tell me you saw it. I need my camera.”
He moved to push past me. I stopped him by placing my hand on his chest. “First of all, your camera is fucked, broken, no use.”
“You’re joking?”
“No. If I were joking I’d tell you making a sci-fi movie at this very moment was a good idea. Second, you don’t want to get anywhere near this monstrous fucker.”
“It was that scary?”
“Yeah,” Cynthia said. “It wasn’t the cute Disney kinda alien.”
“Wow, so this is really happening. An alien invasion, that’s cool, man.”
“Mikey, what did you hear on the radio?” I asked, sighing, losing my patience.
“I was listening to some tunes when a news broadcast interrupted them. They were only able to get out a few words before the radio died, which was when the quake hit, then it came back live for a moment, before it cut out again, that time they were only able to get out a few screams.”
“What they did say?”
“Mainly, ahhhhhh, noooooo.”
“Not the screams, the words, you idiot.”
“Sorry, they said something about pods popping up out of the ground in the UK, France, some other places, and that they believed it would happen here soon, I guess they were right.”
“We need to get somewhere safe,” Cynthia said as she grabbed hold of my hand.
“She’s right, how did it look outside, Mikey?”
“It was clear, I didn’t see a soul … or any aliens.”
“Good. Let’s get to your car, where do you think would be a good place to drive to?”
“I need to check that my family is safe.” Cynthia’s grip tightened on my hand. “Our house has a massive basement, my mom is one of those coupon whores, she has so much food stored down there. I have no idea why she does it, we could afford to buy every item in the store five times over but the stored food would come in useful now. I mean, we don’t know how long this thing will last for.”
“My parents are on vacation,” I said as I swallowed. “In England.”
“I’m sorry,” Cynthia said. “How about you, Mikey?”
“I only have my dad, he was going to a poker game tonight.”
“Do you know where?” Cynthia asked.
“Yeah.”
“We’ll pick him up and then head to my house. Is everyone okay with that?”
Mikey nodded. I said, “Yeah.”
Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash.
The alien’s long arm reached over the top of the pod and its three nails dug into Mikey’s face as he screamed. He was yanked over the top of the pod and out of our view.
I turned and pulled on Cynthia’s hand. With the light from the pod behind us, we were able to move quicker than the dark should have allowed, but the floor was slippery with all the water. I almost fell, twice. Then Cynthia did, dragging me to the floor with her.
I landed on my butt; she was on her stomach, her face under the water. I pulled her from the drink and looked over my shoulder. The alien was squeezing past the pod, munching something in its mouths, blood running from all the corners and onto its shiny body.
I got into a crouched position and helped Cynthia to do the same. She saw the alien too, and screamed. I got us both back upright and dragged her forward again. Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash. There was no doubt the alien was chasing us.
We turned the corner back into the room we’d planned to shoot the movie in. It was pitch black … it was also a dead-end. I ran to the far wall and placed my back to it. I used my free hand to pull Cynthia next to me, so her back was to the wall too.
The silhouetted form of the alien came into the room. It scanned its big bugged eyes around the space. They locked onto us with no trouble. I made a decision at that moment that it was able to see in the dark.
It charged at us. Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash. I pushed Cynthia from me. I heard her impact with the water. Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash. I slid my back along the wall, in the opposite direction to where I’d pushed Cynthia. The alien’s snapping jaws hit the brick where I’d just been.
My head hit one of the many pipes, and in a dizzying rush of wooziness, I fell to the floor myself, landing on top of Mikey’s bags. The alien roared. I reached my hand under the water, felt for the opening in the bag, and reached in.
The alien’s claws wrapped around one of my legs and I was lifted off the floor, water dripping from me, and toward the monster, swinging back and forth, upside down.
It was just positioning me to bite my head off, its mouths wide, and the smell raping my insides with a rotten odor, when I stabbed the knife into one of its big eyes. The ball popped goop in my face and it screamed agonizing vocalizations that cut into my head.
It let go of my leg. I splashed down onto the floor, a horrible pain shooting through my body. I was facedown, my head under the water, my lungs filling with the stuff. It tasted horrible, dirty, old iron-like. I spun onto my back, jackknifed, spat water from my mouth and stabbed the knife into the alien’s leg.
It pulled back from me, but couldn’t get far enough away to stop my next a
ttack. The pipes clanged on its back as it wailed and clutched at its injured eye, choosing to ignore the wound in its leg.
I stood, and rammed the knife into its chest. It kicked out and its foot connected with me. I took off into the air, the knife still stuck in its chest, and stopped when my back hit the hard surface of a wall.
I splashed down again, the wind completely gone from me, an ache throbbing through my whole body. I was on my hands and knees in the water when I heard the Splish-Splash, Splish-Splash, moving toward me. I looked up in time to see both of its hands clapping together toward my head.
I ducked under them, and they smashed together, a whip-like sound cracking the air. I stood, my legs going in an odd direction, the water and the dizziness equally to blame. I didn’t fall. Well, I did, but I managed to stay upright by grabbing hold of the knife in the alien.
I pulled the blade from its chest and had to duck again as it swung one of its hands at me. The claws cut into the wall behind me, sending rubble and dust flying. When I came back upright I stabbed once more. I’m not sure where I hit, but I felt the oily goop hit me.
I wiped it from my eyes then jumped into the air, the knife held above my head, it was the only way to reach its other eye. I was falling back downward when the point of the blade went in and burst the ball.
The alien screamed again, clutched at the latest eye to go bye-bye, and turned from me. It was all over the place, taking a few steps in one direction, then changing course soon after, to only do the same again.
I jumped into the air once more, was able to get enough height to land on its back. I wrapped my legs around its body, interlocked my feet, and I threw the arm that didn’t have the knife around its massive neck, to stop me from sliding off.
I stabbed the knife into the top of its head. It removed its hands from its eye and tried to reach around to pull me from it. I think if it weren’t for the tight space, it would have been able to manage it. I made sure it didn’t have a chance to carry me to a place it would have enough room.
I stabbed again and again and again. Its blood was spurting on each withdrawal of the knife, its shrieks crying out, loudly, on each penetration of the blade. It was frantic, waving its long arms in every which direction, chipping more rubble from the walls, from the roof too. Water was splashing all around us; my face was covered in its stinking blood.
It dropped to its knees. I just kept stabbing the knife into the top of its head. It fell to its chest, part of it going under the water, my wrapped legs doing the same. I stabbed some more. Its arms flailed, looking like it was trying to swim away. I just kept stabbing until it stopped moving.
Once it had, I unhooked my feet, rolled off its back onto the floor, into the water, and then wiggled my feet free, before kicking myself away with the use of its dead body. My chest was rising and falling faster than a porn star on a dick. I was soaking. Water and alien blood had drenched me. I was freezing too. I began to shiver. My teeth started chattering.
Something grabbed me from behind, at my shoulder. I jumped up and raised the knife. It was Cynthia. She was just as wet. I lowered the knife and then threw it from me, disgusted by how easily I had turned into such an animal. “Sorry,” I said.
“Don’t worry … Are you okay?”
“Maybe.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Yes, but I don’t think it’s anything serious.”
“I’m freezing.”
“Me too.” I moved to her and held her close. We both just stood there in silence for a while, shaking. “We need a change of clothes.”
“I got changed into my costume in my car, my other clothes are in the trunk.”
“You wouldn’t happen to have anything in my size, would you?”
She laughed, but her chattering teeth cut her off. “Sorry, I don’t think so. I have an idea though. Aren’t there some glass cabinets in the corridor, close to the stairwell that leads to the basement? They have those mannequins with the football team’s uniform on and the cheerleader’s too. We could grab them.”
“Okay, let’s do that. I need to warm up soon.”
It took awhile but we managed to find our way out of the basement and the corridor that contained the cabinets. If it weren’t for some light coming from a fire that was shining its glow through one of the windows, we wouldn’t have been able to see anything.
“What’s burning out there?” Cynthia asked.
I moved to the window, placed my nose up against it, and my hand over the top of my eyes to shield from glare. “Shit.”
“What?”
“The cars in the parking lot are fucked. I think the one that’s on fire is Mikey’s.”
“Dear God, Mikey.” I turned around, Cynthia was crying, leaning on the lockers next to the cabinets. “That alien killed him, didn’t it?”
“I think so.” I walked to stand next to her and placed my hand on her shoulder. I didn’t think so. I knew so.
“We’re going to die, aren’t we?”
“No.” I wasn’t too sure about it myself. I swallowed and then I shuddered at the thought. I didn’t want to die; I guess not many sane people do. I tried not to think about all the accomplishments I had planned to claim and how I’d not even have a chance of achieving them. It felt like the world was going to shit before I’d even had time to enjoy it.
I moved from Cynthia, picked up a garbage can that was full of paper. I waved her to move farther away. She did and then I swung the can into the glass of the cabinets. They smashed easily enough, knocking over some of the football trophies inside.
I pulled at the mannequins until they fell onto the tiled floor. I tugged the cheerleader uniform off first, then the football outfit. I placed the cheerleader uniform at Cynthia’s feet, she was sobbing into her hands, then I went back to the cabinets and removed some towels that had our college’s emblem on.
“Zack, is it over?”
“Is what over?” I asked as I handed her a towel.
“The world. Is that it, no more college, no more parties, no more sex, no more anything?”
“I’m not sure, but it looks that way.”
“I don’t want it to be that way.”
“Neither do I.”
“I had plans. I had a clearly defined path that I was going to follow, things I wanted to do. I was going to be happy, for fuck’s sake.” She pounded her fist into a locker.
“I did too … Dry yourself, please.” I removed my top, paused at my trousers, concerned about my size, considering how cold I was. I removed them anyway, my underwear to, then I kicked my sneakers off and pulled my soggy socks from my wet skin. I wrapped the towel around myself, it was only big enough to cover my top half, but it was better than the soaked clothes.
Cynthia wiped her nose clean of snot. She picked up her towel and used it to dry her tears, before she dropped it and undid her shirt. I couldn’t help but stare at her breasts, how she was spilling from her bra. She dropped the shirt, shimmied her skirt off, and then did the same with her panties, before kicking her shoes off.
I took a deep breath when I saw her pièce de résistance. It was the first pièce de résistance I’d ever seen in real life. The others had just been in my fantasies and on porn sites. I made sure I studied it for as long as I could without her noticing. I tried to hide my disappointment when she covered herself with the towel.
“I’m still freezing,” she said. “Zack, could you hug into me, warm me up?”
I was very concerned about the fact my cock was hanging free, and the look she gave it as she asked the question, but I slowly moved toward her anyway, hugging her into my towel the best I could. Feeling her leg resting against my penis was too much for me to take, for my member to take, I felt blood start to pump into it.
“Thank you,” she said into my ear with a little whisper. The feel of her breath on my skin was enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and my cock to do the same.
“Wow,” Cynthia said. “You must be th
inking the same thing I am. Let’s just do it, Zack. It might be the last fuck we both have.” It would be my first, but I didn’t want to say.
She grabbed me, both of her hands behind my neck, and kissed me, deep. Her tongue danced with mine. I moaned as her lips kept mine open, so she could probe deeper. The towels fell from us both.
I stopped the kiss. “We can’t,” I said, cursing myself in my head. I picked up the towels and handed hers back as I wrapped myself in mine. She looked confused, and just as disappointed as I felt. “It’s not that I don’t want to, trust me I really do. I’ve thought about this moment so many times, every time I’ve seen you, but it’s not safe here. When we get somewhere we know we’ll be okay then we’ll do it. I’m sorry.”
“I understand. I’m not sure what came over me.”
I knew what almost did, but chose not to make the joke. “It’s okay, these are very odd times, and there’s heaps of strange emotions flying around at the moment. We’ve been through something very unique, and not to mention piss-your-pants terrifying.” I got the football uniform and started to get dressed. Cynthia picked up the cheerleader outfit and did the same.
Once we were both dressed I couldn’t help but laugh. The top was massive on me, so baggy. Cynthia chuckled too. Her outfit was way too small. The skirt was short enough to show her butt cheeks, her beautiful butt cheeks, the top was only just long enough to cover her nipples, her kissable nipples.
“We look like idiots,” she said.
“I’d have to agree.”
The sight of her was still enough for me to want to throw caution to the wind and get down to some freaky-times. I didn’t have to fight back the urge though, the alien that charged through the doors at the other end of the corridor, throwing lockers behind itself as it headed toward us, was enough to do that. I grabbed Cynthia’s hand and dragged her into a run in the opposite direction, the direction we’d just come from, the basement.
We raced down the stairs that led into the basement as fast as we could, the light from the fires outside was only enough to light the top few steps, after that our feet were everywhere. I almost tripped over on the last one. When my bare feet hit the cold water on the floor of the basement, the frigidity attacked my body again.
ALIEN INVASION Page 16
