ALIEN INVASION

by Hallett, Peter

  “Now we look like idiots for no damn reason, we’ll be soaking again soon,” Cynthia shouted over the splashes our feet were making, and the noise of the alien’s clawed feet made as it charged down the stairs to join us in the dark and cold.

  We made it to the pod, after taking more than enough wrong turns to get us lost a few times. The alien seemed to have had the same trouble as the Splish-Splash Splish-Splash had faded.

  I squeezed past the pod first and into its bright beam. I had to squint as I reached back around it for Cynthia’s hand. I pulled her through the gap and we started to run again. We jumped the dead body of the other alien, made sure we didn’t turn into the dead-end, and just aimed ourselves at the dark in front of us, the same direction we’d seen the first alien dash down when it had run past us before we discovered the pod.

  I looked over my shoulder. The light from the pod was fading into the distance. Whatever corridor of the basement we were running down was long. There could have been ways to turn off it, but the pitch-black was disguising them.

  Cynthia fell. I stumbled to one knee, water splattering up into my eyes. I dragged her up and she kept running. Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash. I looked over my shoulder. I could just about make out the silhouette of the alien as it headed toward us.

  Then I fell on my butt. I’d run right into something. Cynthia was to my left, in the same position. We both got up and I felt forward with my hands. It was a wall. We’d found the end of the corridor. It was another dead-end. Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash.

  I didn’t even bother looking to see how far the alien was from us, I just kept feeling around with my hands, this time over to my right, hoping they would leave the bricks, fall into some space, a hole, an exit for us. There was none.

  Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash. I moved to the left. I did the same thing at that side. I got the same shitty result. So I just grabbed Cynthia’s hand again and positioned us so our backs were on the wall we’d run into. Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash.

  The alien was closing in. “We’re fucked,” Cynthia said, sounding like she was crying again.

  Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash. “We’re not. Just do as I say when I say it.”

  Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash. The alien reached its hands out in front. It was almost completely consumed by the darkness now. It was hard to make out its form, but my eyes had started to adjust to the black enough to know it would soon be on us.

  Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash. It opened its mouths.

  Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash. “Wait for it!” I ordered Cynthia.

  Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash. “Wait for what?” she asked.

  Splish-Splash. Splish-Splash. “Now!”

  I pushed Cynthia to the left. I jumped to the right. The alien hit into the wall, hard enough for it to break through the brick. The corridor filled with light, then the sound of gunfire. I ducked low enough for half of my face to be under the water, I hoped Cynthia had done the same, I didn’t want her to get struck by a bullet.

  Something popped with a squelch and then the water next to me splashed. I felt something brush against my body. I risked raising my head from the water; the corridor was bright enough for me to be able to see what it was that had hit me, full detail. It was the head of the alien, all mangled and sloppy.

  I saw Cynthia; she was sitting with her knees held into her chest, her head hiding behind her arms. Then I saw more of her as the water in the corridor began to drain away. I turned to look at the hole in the wall the alien had made, it was outlined by broken bricks.

  Not far from that was a concrete wall, a hole in that too. It had smashed through two walls, not one. There was a space of a couple of feet separating the walls from each other; it must have hit it at a great speed to smash through both.

  The light that was shining through the hole was blinding, I’d gotten too used to the dark it appeared. My eyes were fuzzy, out of focus, but I was still able to make out the outlines of three soldiers, their rifles aimed at Cynthia and me. The alien must have smashed through the outer wall of the basement and through the outer wall of another tunnel.

  One of the soldiers stepped into the basement, his gun trained on me. “Who the hell are you?” he asked.

  “My name is Zack,” I answered quickly. I pointed at Cynthia. “That’s Cynthia.” He whistled, admiring the view I think. “Thank you for killing that fucker. I got one myself, it’s back that way, not far from the pod.”

  “What is this building?” he asked.

  “My college,” I answered.

  “Fuck me.” He turned to the soldiers standing in the other corridor. “Can you believe this shit? Some dumb motherfucker built a section of our base next to a damn college.”

  “What base?” I asked, as I stood and walked to Cynthia. She was still sitting on the floor, crying. I angled myself to try and cover her from prying eyes.

  “This is fucking retarded,” the soldier said as he stepped back out of the basement and into the corridor he’d entered from.

  I watched the three of them, as they spoke in whispers to each other, the butts of their rifles resting on their hips. I wondered why the power was still on in their building. I lost my patience after a short while.

  “Hey, what the fuck is going on? Why do you have power, and we don’t? Is it an invasion, those things are aliens, aren’t they?”

  The one I’d already spoken to turned to me. “Yep, those are aliens, no question. We have power because we’re the military; we have plans for this kinda thing. You’re obviously not a conspiracy theorist, are you?”

  “What now? What are you going to do with us?”

  “We’re trying to decide.”

  “Well, decide quicker, we’re both fucking freezing here.”

  “Okay, son, don’t get your panties in a bunch.”

  “You have to be fucking kidding me? I have a damn good reason to get my panties in a bunch. We’ve been attacked my damn aliens, I’ve stabbed one of the fuckers to death, and one of them killed our friend.”

  “We’ve lost friends too!” He screamed at me, before he turned to talk to the other troops again.

  “Are you okay?” I whispered to Cynthia.

  “I’m fine, I just … I don’t know what I am. In shock maybe, terrified for sure, and freezing even more so.”

  “Okay,” the soldier said. I looked to him. “First answer some questions. One, are there anymore of you back there?”

  “No.”

  “Two, did you see any other pods or any more aliens, other than the one you killed or the one we killed?”

  “No.”

  “Three, are you both dressed for a costume party or is that just how kids fuck nowadays?”

  I took a step forward and pointed at him. “I’ve had enough of your shit. Stop fucking around and help us.”

  “Like I said, don’t get your panties in a bunch.” He turned to the other two troopers again. “Get them out of there, we’ll take them with us. We’ll have to close this passageway when we’re back in the base, this one is compromised now.”

  “Thank you,” I said, moving back to Cynthia, exhaustion finally kicking in, my legs turning to jelly. The other two soldiers began to enter the basement. “We’re safe now, Cynthia.”

  “I wouldn’t bet money on it,” one of the soldiers said with a smile.

  NINA

  Freddie and me exited the closet. The flashlight Kent had was attached to his shotgun. He was loading more shells into the weapon. “Is it dead?” I asked him. Freddie just hugged into my leg, his eyes locked on the alien.

  “It’s dead.” Kent loaded in the last shell and racked the weapon.

  Freddie jumped at the sound and shouted out, “It’s fucking my ears.”

  Kent gave me a funny look as I comforted my little boy with, “Don’t worry, Freddie, it’s a good sound. It means we’re going to be safe from the monsters.”

  “It doesn’t,” Freddie said. “It means my ears will hurt. It means I’ll have a meltdow
n.”

  I flitted my eyes to Kent; he had a confused expression on his face. “Let’s get your earplugs, does that sound like a good plan?”

  “It sounds like a plan.” I went to the drawers next to Freddie’s bed, giving the dead alien a wide berth, and stepping over some of its dark blood. As I was rummaging through the top drawer I looked back to Kent, Freddie was holding onto his leg, he looked uncomfortable. I had to smile.

  I stepped back over the blood and put the plugs into Freddie’s ears. I gave him the thumbs up and he returned the gesture. He left Kent and grabbed my hand. Kent gave me a questioning look and nod.

  “He has a problem with sound sometimes, the earplugs help to settle him, block some of them out.”

  “Is he retarded?”

  I lost it. I’d heard that too many times, every time it pissed me off, turned me into She-Hulk in an instant. I screamed, “Don’t say that! No, he isn’t! You can’t use that word! He’s autistic! YOU! FUCKING! IDIOT!”

  “So, he’s retarded?”

  I slapped Kent. His head whipped to the side. He slowly raised it to me. “What’s got you all riled up?” he asked as he rubbed at his cheek.

  “You have, you dick.” My hand was stinging; the side of his face was red. I was shaking; I was pure rage at that moment, unable to turn it off.

  “You will have to explain, quickly though.”

  “You can’t say retard, it’s offensive, he’s autistic.” I wanted to hit him again. My hand had balled into a fist.

  “Dumb?”

  “No, you’re the fucking dumb one.” I took a step forward, dragging Freddie with me. “He has Asperger’s. He’s smart, very smart.” Freddie was staring at the alien on his bed, singing a lullaby to it.

  “He doesn’t look it.”

  “Well, he is.” I gritted my teeth, pulled my fist back from my body, ready to swing it into the idiot’s face.

  “So retard is offensive?”

  “Yes!” I spat the word at him, along with some gob.

  “When did this happen?”

  “A while ago. Where have you been? Have you not been paying attention to the world, it changes, you know?” I let a breath out, through my clenched teeth, and narrowed my eyes, picking a target to aim for.

  “It does, that’s for sure.”

  “And you have to change with it. You’re not an old man, so you get no quarter from me, you have no excuses.” I smacked him in the mouth with my fist. He just took it.

  “I’m sorry ... I’m old fashioned. Plus, I don’t get out much. I tend to keep to myself.”

  I fought back the tears that were welling in my eyes. I opened my fist. Tried to shake off the anger. I’d never hit anyone before. I’d shouted obscenities at them when they’d make a remark about Freddie, but I’d never got physical. I was shamed I’d resorted to it. “Okay, I forgive you, but don’t use that word again.”

  “I won’t.”

  “So where did you come from?”

  “Across the street.”

  “The house that looks like shit, the one that's falling down, the one that always has the curtains drawn?”

  “Home sweet home.”

  “I’ve never seen you before.”

  “Like I said, I keep to myself. I spend most of my time at work.”

  “Do you know what’s going on here?”

  “I sure do, it’s an invasion.”

  “There are more of those things just running around?” I pointed at the dead alien on the bed.

  “Yep, you can be sure of that.”

  “What now?”

  “You come with me, I’ll keep you both safe. We’ll have to go to my place of work.”

  “What good can that do?”

  “I work at a military base, anywhere that has a shit-load of guns is a good place to be right now.”

  “Um … okay, I guess.” I considered other options, the best ones for Freddie and me. There were none.

  “My pickup is in front of your house, we’ll take that. Stay close to me, both of you, okay?”

  “Yeah.” I picked Freddie up and held him into my chest, concerned he’d pull away from my touch, but he didn’t. He’d been assaulted by sounds; he’d have normally not let me anywhere near him. The fact he had, that meant he was petrified.

  “You ready?”

  I nodded.

  Kent moved to Freddie’s door, the shotgun to his shoulder, the beam of the flash aimed at the stairs. I followed, my heart racing, trying to keep my breathing calm and steady.

  Kent stepped down the first few steps. He fired two shots. I shut my eyes, and hugged Freddie in closer to me. I opened them when I heard a smash. I looked at Freddie; he seemed concerned, but calmer than me. He had a problem with showing emotions, so it didn’t mean much, he could have been far away from calm, it was too difficult to tell sometimes.

  “I got another one,” Kent said. “The bastard was crawling through your window. Well, crashing through it.”

  “Is it …”

  “Yeah, it’s fucked.”

  At the bottom of the stairs I looked over Kent’s shoulder and into my living room, the dead alien was on the floor at the foot of the window. I swallowed then followed Kent outside.

  The scream was loud. The fall was painful. Kent had pushed me back toward the house. I’d tripped over the step into the hallway and landed on my butt. An alien dropped down into my line of sight, looking as if it had come from the roof of my house.

  Kent aimed his shotgun at it, but quickly lowered the weapon. I think he was concerned about hitting Freddie and me. The alien lashed out with one of its long arms, its pointed and sharp fingers aimed at Kent’s head.

  Kent dropped and rolled under the attack. He came up to a crouch at the right of the alien and fired off two more shots at the monsters legs. One of the legs severed at the bend, and it fell to the ground.

  Kent ran to the alien before it had time to react to the missing limb. He placed his boot on the monster and fired a blast right into its face. The head exploded with a spray of slime. Kent signaled for us to join him.

  I got up, threw a quick look to Freddie, he had his eyes closed, and was holding onto me for dear life. Kent opened the passenger side door of his pickup and I got in, slamming the door closed as Kent ran around the front of the vehicle to join us, behind the wheel.

  “Shit,” I said as he started the engine.

  “What?” he asked. “Are you hurt?”

  “No.”

  “What is it?”

  “It’s Janice and Clarence.”

  “Who are Janice and Clarence?”

  “Our neighbors, we can’t leave them behind.”

  “I’m sorry to tell you this, but chances are they’re dead. You two are lucky to still be alive.”

  I refused to believe they were dead. Any chance they were still alive was enough for me. They’d helped me out beyond what anyone should do. They were good people. I wasn’t going to let anything bad happen to them. “But we don’t know that for sure.”

  “Not for sure but …”

  “Then we find out.”

  “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you … Point me to the right house.”

  I did. Kent hit the gas. He sped onto Janice’s lawn, smashing through her fence. Kent jumped out of the pickup; I did the same, giving Freddie another look. He was sound asleep.

  Kent raised the shotgun to his shoulder and started to work his way toward Janice’s door. I picked up my pace so I could keep up with him. Janice opened the front door, shock all over her face when the beam of Kent’s flash lit her.

  “Don’t shoot!” she screamed.

  “Janice, get Clarence, we need to get out of here.”

  “Nina, is that you?” she asked as she raised her hand to her eyes.

  At that moment Kent let loose with the shotgun, he had it aimed at a window on the top floor of Janice’s house. The window he’d targeted smashed and an “alien came flying out. It fell onto the roof of Janice’s por
ch then tumbled to the ground.

  It was on its feet quickly; Kent was loading in more shells. My heart skipped a beat. The monster swung a hand at Kent. It knocked the shotgun from his grasp. I backed away and shouted, “Janice, get back inside!”

  “Do what, dear?”

  The alien was roaring, she had no chance of hearing me. It was also running toward Kent. As it reached out for him, Kent slid, baseball style, between its legs. He came out at its rear, and stood, removing a knife from his boot as he did.

  The alien had locked its eyes on Freddie and me, and it was heading straight for us, ignoring Kent now. I turned and ran as fast as I could in the dark, making use of the headlights of the pickup to see my footing. That didn’t stop me from almost falling on my face, though.

  I had just rounded the front of the vehicle and was opening the door when Kent jumped from its roof. How he’d gotten up there so quick I’ll never know, but I was thankful he had. The alien was almost on us.

  Kent was on the alien, his feet on, what I guess were its shoulders, the knife he’d removed from his boot stuck in its chest. As the alien fell and landed on its back, Kent rolled from it. But he was soon back on top of the beast, stabbing the knife into its flesh until no movement came from it.

  Kent stood, wiped the blade on his trousers’ leg, and motioned for me to follow. So I did. He picked up his shotgun on the way back to Janice’s house. He was loading in more shells as I said, “Janice, get Clarence, we need to get the hell out of here, these monsters are dangerous, they’re killing people. They’ll kill us if we don’t go with this man. He can take us to a safe place.”

  She didn’t answer me; she had her eyes locked on the knife Kent had just placed back in his boot. “Son, what the hell are you doing with a knife like that?”

  Kent didn’t look at her, he was too busy loading his gun. “Killing an alien.”

  “That’s not what I meant. You do know I’m Jewish?”

  “I didn’t, but I’m part Jewish, did you know that?”

  “Then how in the hell can you carry a knife like that?”

  “What kinda knife is it?” I asked, curiosity getting the best of me. I started to tap my foot on the lawn; impatience also had the best of me. We were wasting too much time. We needed to leave, fast, before any more aliens showed up.