by Jesse Wilson
“Uh, I think those headlights are moving closer, or is it just me?” Madison asked as she squinted.
“It’s not just you, and I don’t want it to catch up,” Quinn said and could only imagine just how it was moving in their direction. None of this made sense to him. He stepped on the gas and hoped that they would be moving fast enough for whatever was in that van to not catch up with them.
“We’re going back to the station to plan our next move, but I don’t think we should stay there long,” Quinn said mostly to himself. In a matter of less than an hour, everything he knew to be logical was turned on its head.
“Okay, we’ll head back to Goldfield, but we can’t stay there for long. I have a feeling this thing is just getting started,” Quinn said and stepped on the gas. Madison did her best to not look in the side mirror or think about what just happened to her son, but then she had a random thought.
“Is Quinn your first name?” she asked him. He glanced in the mirror again. The headlights were growing more distant.
“No, my name is Randall; nice to meet you, Madison,” he said, never taking his eyes off the road.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“What in the hell is going on out there? What is this?” President Carr said and slammed his fist on the black table as he and a group of men watched the television from a room under the White House. The president had watched the video that had no sound, a clip no more than two minutes long, for the sixth time and still didn’t understand what he was seeing.
“Sir, all we know from Dreamland is that the thing is an extraterrestrial being that was discovered in the Antarctic a couple of days ago,” a man in a black suit replied to him.
“I thought we had the intergalactic treaty to prevent stuff like this from happening?” Carr said and glared, frustrated as the video came to an end again.
“We do, but this thing isn’t with any of the council members. It’s apparently the equivalent of an alien dinosaur. It has no agreement, or likely any knowledge of any treaties. General Williams says he has a plan to deal with the thing, but I think Vegas is still lost. Sir, I don’t think we can hide the existence of aliens to the people anymore. It’s kind of on every news network in the world,” the man in black finished. President Carr hated the idea of being the first one to betray the plan that had been in place since the end of World War Two.
He could feel the stress of the job aging him as he sat there.
“Alright, we’ll let Williams do whatever it is he’s going to do, but if it doesn’t work, we’ll need to ask for help from the council. We won’t have any other choice,” the president said and stood up. He was tired of watching this video, tired of alien monsters. He turned and started to walk towards the door. It was time to tell the nation, no, the world, what he and the other major powers had been keeping secret for decades with misinformation campaigns.
“Jim, set up a press conference. We’ll need to go live in ten minutes. The world is about to have a bad day,” the president said to him.
“Tim, are you sure you really want to do this? We can still spin it as something else, you know?” Jim replied to him, standing up.
“We could, but no one would believe it. The public isn’t quite as stupid as they appear. It’s time to tell everyone, and if we can’t stop it, maybe we can at least save some lives. Get all the information Williams sent to us as something I can give to the people in thirty minutes,” the president said to him and walked out of the room, not leaving any time for a reply of any kind. The man in black followed him out.
“I’ll be done before then,” Jim said sighed as he picked up his phone and dialed a number. “Yeah, it’s me. The whole world is going to get briefed on the situation out west very soon. I just thought you should know that we may need to set up a long-distance call, so you should get started on that now,” Jim said into the phone. “Alright, I’ll talk to you soon. Turn on the television, any channel in about thirty minutes,” he said and hung up the phone.
“Okay, Sterling, let’s do this right. Lives are on the line,” Jim said to himself, and he got to work trying to put all the important information into one easy-to-read speech, not only for the president, but for everyone else too.
***
Chopper Number Five sailed over the black streets of Las Vegas. Chaos was spreading underneath of them. Fires were starting to break out as people began to panic. From up here, all they could see was the fire, but couldn’t hear any of the panic or smell the smoke.
“The farther away we get from that thing, the better off I’ll feel,” Bob said. He looked back and could see a green flash light up the night; it made his skin crawl. He was just glad that the crawling was all in his head.
“How far will we have to run, I wonder?” Heather asked to no one.
“I’m sure they’ll take care of this problem in a few hours; there isn’t anything to worry about,” Bob replied, trying to be reassuring, but he didn’t believe what he was saying. He was sure no one else did either.
“I should be back there. We all should. This is the story of the century. An alien dinosaur thing and all the newscasters are going to be getting this and not me, the one who broke the story and lives here,” Rose said, her voice tinted with anger.
“Oh, you just need to take it down a level over there. If we would have stayed, we’d be infected just like the rest of those poor bastards. Be thankful we have a nice ride out of here and don’t have to deal with the crazy down there,” Bob said in defiance. He knew a good situation when he saw it. Rose just rolled her eyes and stared back down into the dark. The cameraman had switched to a more portable camera. The finished product was going to end up looking more like a bad found footage movie, but it was better than nothing. He wasn’t even aware if the others knew they were still being filmed or not, but he decided to keep that to himself for now.
“Hey, guys, apparently, the president is going to address the country about the situation if you’re interested in hearing it?” Phil asked them and the others perked up. “All news channels. We need to tune it to CNN or something. We can do that from right here on this chopper, but the screen will be small. We have twenty minutes to decide on what we are going to do,” Phil said to them, but never took his eyes of the dark city below them.
“The power is out in Vegas. I say we just stay right where we are at and listen to it here,” Bob said and Alex nodded in agreement.
“It appears to be our only choice anyway,” Heather agreed. It really was the only choice. It was hard to remember that they were even in the air with nothing below them to look at. Only the noise kept them consciously aware of their situation. Twenty minutes in the dark felt like hours, but suddenly, Phil clicked on the external speakers.
“And Gentlemen, the President of the United States,” the announcer said and was obviously a few seconds ahead of schedule. The group listened on.
“My fellow Americans, today I talk to you as a citizen of the world and not just a leader. As many of you are aware, the great city of Las Vegas is under siege by something…strange. The news networks have been showing you pictures of the thing and telling you stories of horror by now, and I am here to confirm that it’s all true. This thing from the sky has been named Narbosaurus; it is an alien dinosaur. Yes, aliens are real. We’ve known about UFOs for decades, and this planet is, in fact, part of an interplanetary council. The truth is coming out, but right now, I want to talk to you about the monster.”
President Carr swallowed and almost couldn’t believe what he was saying himself.
“All the information we have right now is as follows. Narbosaurus’s blood and flesh is infectious. If you touch it, you will be infected by it. The best I can equate to this event is the behavior of any virus. The infected will seek to infect anyone it sees. Loved one or not, the infected will not hesitate to attack you. Do not attempt to fight. Run and hide; I repeat, run and hide. If you have a shelter prepared, go there now. Stay inside, lock your doors, turn your lights off, and s
tay quiet. This threat, as of right now, is uncontained,” Carr said, his voice deadly serious.
“We will keep you updated as much as possible with new information. America is under attack, and even if you are thousands of miles away from the threat, we ask you all to prepare, remain calm, and help one another out. In this time of crisis, we need to come together in a way we’ve never know,” Carr continued.
“Just in case the general public decides to not be generous and calm, I am declaring martial law until this threat is over. All movie showings, public events, elections, gatherings, and all unauthorized air travel is prohibited until further notice. Our borders are closed, and anyone attempting to leave or enter the country will be shot on sight. Curfew is at sundown every night. Every grocery store and hospital will be protected with armed guards. Food and fuel will be rationed. Details will be updated on that situation tomorrow,” Carr said, and his voice began to break a little. This was clearly something he did not want to be saying
“If you are hearing this on a camping trip, if you are away from home, stay where you are until sunrise then go home. Anyone caught out after dark can be arrested and detained indefinitely. Looters and rioters will be shot; this is your first and only warning. Remain civil to one another in this time of crisis. Good night America, and good luck.” Carr’s voice faded from the speakers, and there was a bit of silence before the DJ came back on the air.
“And, well, there you have it. They just declared martial law. Can’t say I’m happy about this, but as the man said, if you can hear my voice, you need to—” Phil shut the speakers off.
“Well, what should we do about now?” Rose asked. All of a sudden, being in a helicopter didn’t feel like the safest place they could be.
“We find a place to land and bunk down for the night,” Heather said to them as she looked out the window.
“I say we go as far as we can. If someone requests for us to go down, we’ll listen then, but until that happens, I say we just keep going on through the air. The farther away we get, the better off we will be,” Alex replied. He never was one to listen to the rules the government put down, and he wasn’t about to start now.
“I say we listen to whatever they might have to say,” Jeff said and pointed off into the distance. Two bright lights were in the sky rapidly approaching them.
“Oh crap,” Alex said as he saw them, right then wishing he never opened his big mouth.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“So this plan of yours, you really think it’s going to work?” Xule asked Bruce as they walked forward to a bunch of equipment he didn’t recognize.
“It was in a block of ice when we pulled it out, so we need to put it back. It doesn’t get more simple than this, wouldn’t you agree?” Bruce replied to him.
“Uh, I don’t know if you saw the situation, but it’s moved to its full form, and nothing here is going to stop it. You sure you want to do this plan?” Xule said, lifting up a strange-looking black cannon that was lying on the table and deciding that it wouldn’t work.
“No, it won’t, but this thing and you have a relationship. I know it can think, talk, and more importantly, be baited. In its current form, we don’t stand a chance. I think you can give us just the chance we need. You’re going to blast it in the face. Challenge it to one-on-one combat with this cryo gun. When it takes the bait, we’ll take it out in one concentrated shot. This threat will be completely over before you know it,” Bruce said with a smile.
“This is a stupid plan,” Sippy finally spoke up.
“This is the worst plan I’ve ever thought of, but right now, it won’t listen to anyone else; it’s either you or we give this planet up without a real fight. I know you don’t owe us anything, but right now, this is your home too, and you’ll stand with us or be infected just the same. What is it going to be?” Bruce replied.
Xule looked at the strange weapons again. “Fine, I’ll do it. I won’t like it, but I’ll do it,” he said when every part of him wished he was on that chopper right now with the people he’d met earlier instead of here.
“Alright, this here is the Cryotron 4000,” Bruce said, and Xule laughed as he looked at the thing that looked more like a backpack attached to a vacuum hose.
“Really? The Cryotron? Couldn’t you call it some a little less embarrassing than that?” he asked and laughed. Bruce wasn’t laughing.
“Hey, come on, I named it, you could show a little respect, couldn’t you?” he asked him and Xule just shook his head and laughed.
“Sorry, it could be the coolest weapon on this planet but still, when you call something a Cryotron, it’s laugh worthy,” Xule said, and Bruce just groaned at the pun, even if the alien didn’t realize he made one.
“Anyway, getting to the point, you wear it like a backpack. Have you ever seen…no, of course you haven’t.” Bruce was going to compare to a Proton pack, but it would have been a waste of time.
“Okay, it works like this. You put this part on and carry it on your back. The cable connects to the cannon, you press this button to fire, and only use it for short bursts. If you use it too long, the cryo core can overload and blow up, turning you and everything around you into a winter landscape. Now listen, we have a containment plan in place once we get him frozen before the sun comes up. Once that happens, all bets are off. One more thing. You’re going in alone. The element of surprise is a big deal here, so you need to do your best, do you understand?” Bruce asked him and Xule narrowed his eyes at the weapon.
“You can count on me. I will make sure that I get this done. I mean, sure it’ll look weird that I come up to it with a new weapon. That won’t be suspicious or anything, but yeah, this should work out just fine for me,” he replied and shifted his red eyes away from the weapon.
“Good, let’s get you suited up,” Bruce said as another green flash lit up the sky, followed by an explosion. Bruce winced; the last plane was shot down.
“No time to lose,” Bruce said and picked up the black weapon pack. Xule turned around and slid the metal straps over his arms. Bruce pressed a button, and they automatically tightened up. He let out a sigh of relief.
“What’s wrong?” Xule asked him and Bruce shook his head.
“Sometimes the metal straps overreact and cut people’s arms off; we haven’t figured out why yet, but it just does,” Bruce said to him but gave no indication if he was kidding or not. Xule’s eyes widened with shock for a second, but he shook it off.
“Well, whatever, how do we get to the thing?” Xule asked him. He hadn’t thought of it before.
“Thanks to the miracle of modern science, this thing is a jetpack too; we’ll be right behind you. Get out of here, soldier,” Bruce said and Xule’s eyes widened again. He had no idea how to use one of these things. He was just as likely to fly into the side of a building.
“Sippy, I’m going to need your help to fly this thing without killing ourselves. We’ll be fine,” Xule said to her.
“I’ll fly it for you, but fine is the one thing we’re not going to be. This is going to get you killed, infected, and even worse, get me deactivated,” she replied to him as she lit up, taking control of the jet pack.
“Don’t worry so much, you might overheat,” Xule said, knowing that if his unit was, despite being a machine, emotional on some levels. He had to reassure her everything was going to be remotely okay. His jet pack came to life, and within seconds, they were rising into the air.
“This is the worst idea,” Xule said as he felt his terror rise inside him. He didn’t even trust Nuridian packs like this. Alien technology didn’t inspire any kind of confidence at all.
“I agree, this is terrible, but we have no other choice, apparently. I mean, we could just fly away,” Sippy replied to him. Even in this darkness, Xule could see Narbosaurus lurking behind the veil of the night that wasn’t quite bleak enough to hide it.
“Xule, this thing is moving towards the heart of this city. It’s going to destroy it because it is fun. We ne
ed to move faster,” Sippy said to him in her electronic voice.
“I agree, full speed ahead.” Xule regretted those words the second he said them as the pack pushed him forward into the direction of the monster with a burst of speed that he did not expect.
***
Narbosaurus lumbered through Las Vegas unopposed now. The alien resistance had been weaker than he expected it to be. He didn’t care at all for the things these people called buildings as he crushed and walked through them. He was growing bored with all of this destruction when something came out of the darkness before it. It towered over him, and for a moment, he felt a small twinge of dread, stopping in his tracks to look at this thing.
He looked up at the tower and realized that it was just another building, just bigger; an odd-shaped, yet massive tower that he didn’t care for. He snarled, opened his mouth, and let loose his bright green energy from his throat. The beam slammed into and burned straight through the center of the tower in one strike.
Narbosaurus watched as the Stratosphere Tower bent then collapsed into the ground, sending fire, dust, and smoke in every direction. He closed his yellow eyes and focused his hearing. He smiled as he heard the screaming of thousands of people at his feet, but just hearing them wasn’t enough; he wanted to see.
He lifted up his arms. Two mouths formed in the palms of his hands that opened up and fired two equally bright neon green blasts of power into the buildings below. Those beams cut into the structures and started them on fire on both sides of the Vegas Strip.
Now he could see the horde of screaming people trying to escape from him. The maws on his palms closed and he simply stood there, watching the people run in terror. So afraid of the unknown; I need to alleviate their fear, the poor things, Narbosaurus thought, as he brought his left claw to his right wrist and sliced it open with ease. He had no need to cut himself, having control over his whole body, but this just gave anyone who was watching a great visual and horrible image. His equally black blood thrust out of the wound and sprayed into the air before him. He watched as the black rain fell upon the people. He watched as their bodies twisted for a few moments in agony then stopped.
