by J. C. Diem
I took the radio, expecting to be blasted for being wrong. “I’m here.”
“How certain are you that Las Vegas is their intended target?” Sanderson’s tone wasn’t exactly friendly but it wasn’t as hostile as I’d expected either.
“My dreams have never been wrong so far,” I said by way of a reply. My certainty became more fragile as I sensed the ship coming to a stop. I had a sinking sensation as it began to lower. “But they might have been wrong this time,” I amended.
A tense silence descended as we waited for news.
Minutes later, General Hart’s voice came over Higgins’ radio. “Sanderson, do you copy?”
“I’m here.”
“I’ve just received word that a city in Arizona has just been surrounded by the yellow vapour. It appears that the vampire’s dream was a false lead.”
Hearing the sneer in his voice, I bristled. Sweeping my senses towards the city that had just been ringed by a deadly layer of gas, I went still as tens of thousands of lives were snuffed out.
“I’ll redirect the planes towards Arizona,” Sanderson said wearily. “Hopefully, we’ll arrive before the aliens can convert the entire town.”
I grabbed for my companion’s radio and spoke. “Don’t bother,” I cut in before he could make any further plans. “I’m pretty sure they just blasted the town to pieces. The ship is already on the move again, heading north this time.”
“Are you saying they killed everyone instead of converting them into clones?” General Hart demanded. “Why would they do that?”
Gregor spoke to General Sanderson. He came through loud and clear to me but probably not loudly enough for the humans to hear him. “This could be a ploy to divide our forces. By attacking several cities and forming a ring of poison around them, they could be attempting to make it seem as though the citizens are under attack.”
Sanderson relayed the information to all who hadn’t heard Gregor. “They’ll expect us to send soldiers to assist the civilians who, according to Natalie, are already dead,” he concluded.
“It would be a waste of both your resources and your time,” Gregor added, this time directly into the radio. “By using this tactic, there is no way for us to know which city is their actual intended target. Fortunately for us, Natalie was sent an early warning.”
General Hart snorted loudly enough to make me wince. “You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t put much faith in a monster’s dreams. The ship isn’t heading anywhere near Vegas and we have no way of knowing whether the civilians in Arizona are really dead or not.”
“Are you completely stupid?” Geordie yelled. His voice was several pitches higher than usual from his outrage. “You’re going to fall for the Viltarans’ ruse!”
“That’s a chance we’ll have to take,” Hart said coldly. “I’m redirecting the troops to Arizona until we receive advice that another city has been targeted.”
“I believe that would be a mistake,” Sanderson said. His tone was also cool but towards his fellow officer rather than the undead.
“I don’t answer to you, Sanderson. President Rivers has given me her backing and I am in control of our troops,” Hart said, ending the discussion.
We listened in as orders were given to turn the planes around. While I wasn’t absolutely positive that my dream was going to come true, I’d learned to trust my instincts. The fact that the population of the latest city to come under attack had been destroyed backed my gut feeling. The Viltarans were already lowering their ship to launch another cloud of gas. I waited for the sensation of over two hundred thousand human lives winking out before telling Higgins what I’d sensed.
The corporal hastily updated his boss. Our plane began to angle back the way we’d come and I was suddenly standing in the aisle. Blinking at me in astonishment, Higgins opened his mouth but I was already on the move before he could ask me how I’d gotten past him.
The cockpit door opened at my knock and the co-pilot backed away warily. “What are you doing in here?” he asked. His voice quavered slightly.
“Ignore General Hart’s orders and head for Las Vegas,” I instructed the pilot.
Glancing over his shoulder, he was immediately caught in my snare. “Yes, ma’am.”
Before the co-pilot could protest, I bamboozled him as well. He took his seat as the pilot corrected our course. Angry questions were fired through the headset from whoever was in charge of air traffic. Both of my minions ignored them.
Suspicious stares from the closest soldiers met me when I closed the cockpit door and turned to face the passengers. “The Viltarans are trying to lead us on a wild goose chase by attacking random cities,” I explained. “They’re not leaving anyone alive so it would be a waste of time to try to save them.”
Sergeant Wesley’s radio squawked and news came through of the second city somewhere to the north being surrounded by the toxic gas. “So, I take it we’re heading for Vegas?” Wesley asked when the radio went silent again.
“That’s the plan. Does anyone have a problem with it?”
“I don’t,” General Sanderson replied through Wesley’s radio after the sergeant relayed my message. “I agree that we should stick to the original plan and continue on towards Vegas.”
“Roger that, General,” Wesley replied.
Higgins politely stood to allow me access to my seat. “How did you get past me?” he asked when I was settled in again. “I didn’t even see you move.”
“You’d be surprised how fast I can move when I want to.” The truth was, I didn’t know how I’d gotten past him either. It had almost seemed like I hadn’t moved at all and had just appeared in the aisle.
During the time it took us to swing back around and cross the country to Nevada, the alien spacecraft evaporated half a dozen more cities. All up, several million lives were extinguished without a single loss on their side.
Feeling slightly ill that I’d been unable to stop the carnage, I wondered if fate was going to blame me for their deaths. If it did, I could only imagine how horrible my punishment would be.
“Are you alright?” Higgins asked. He kept his voice low to avoid being overheard.
“Not really.” He impatiently nudged my arm with his elbow when I didn’t elaborate further. “The Viltarans just finished off an eighth city,” I told him quietly.
“How many civilians have they killed now?” He strove to keep his tone even but it was a struggle. I imagined he felt almost as impotent as I did.
“Around five million, give or take a few thousand.”
The corporal went rigid in shock and an expletive escaped him. Flushing at his momentary lack of control, he mumbled an apology. I waved it away then concentrated on the ship when it began to move again. Finished with placing its decoys, it headed directly towards the city my dreams had warned me about.
A sinking feeling settled in the pit of my stomach when I suspected we weren’t going to make it to Vegas in time. The spacecraft was moving far faster than us and we were still fifteen minutes away from the airport. Not all of the soldiers had obeyed General Hart’s orders and several pilots had continued on towards their original goal. The planes at the front of our small aerial convoy began to land with precise choreography. I’d overheard a soldier say that a military air force base towards the north end of Vegas was our intended destination.
“The spaceship has picked up speed and it’ll reach the city in a few minutes,” I said to my escort.
Higgins relayed the information to his commanding officer. Sanderson’s reply was heavy. “Roger that, Corporal.”
We’d almost made it to Vegas then the alien craft began to sink lower in the sky in preparation to shoot toxic gas around its true target. “They’re about to fire their gas gun,” I said to Higgins. “You’d better tell the pilot to abort.” I’d been holding the mental reigns of my hypnotism over both pilots and let them drop so they’d be able to respond quickly to the warning.
Leaping out of his seat, the soldier used h
is radio to warn his comrades to veer away from the city and to find an alternative landing site. Pounding down the aisle, he burst into the cockpit to alert our captain. Our plane immediately swerved away from the coming disaster. Moments later, the sky darkened even further as a yellow cloud of vapour formed right before our eyes. The spaceship momentarily became visible during the process. Awed soldiers pressed their faces up against the glass to view the gigantic black spacecraft before it disappeared again.
Despite my warning, one of the pilots wasn’t able to veer away in time and flew directly through the gas. The plane went into a nosedive as the pilots, and everyone else on board, expired. Even through the billowing cloud of deadly haze, we saw the explosion as the plane collided with some buildings. Dozens of citizens and tourists died instantly in the collision but maybe they were the lucky ones. At least they’d be spared from the terror that was about to rain down on the city.
I was almost afraid to search for my friends. While they could conceivably survive being mangled in a crash, I quailed at the thought of any of them suffering such a horrible ordeal. Taking a mental breath, I sent out my senses and found all six vampires safe and sound on the ground. I sagged back in my seat in relief. My only regret was that Sanderson was probably also still alive and well.
My relief was short lived and disappeared completely when the spacecraft finished firing its ring of death then shifted towards the centre of Vegas. It lowered and began to disgorge its passengers. My dream proved to be accurate as every killbot and Kveet imp on board hit the streets and began to spread out in search of victims. The ravenous clones would feed very well this night. The surviving humans would quickly be transformed into a clone army.
Only two thousand soldiers had managed to land safely in Vegas before the ring of death had sealed them inside. Sanderson and my friends were cut off and the Viltarans weren’t about to let any more soldiers into the city this time. The odds were definitely not in our favour.
·~·
Chapter Nineteen
Staying well clear of the billowing cloud of fumes, our pilot landed on the highway to the south of the city. Two more planeloads of soldiers had opted to trust my information that Vegas was the intended target and they landed behind us. Instead of the ten thousand troopers that had been on their way to assist us, we numbered just over three thousand. A third of our small force were trapped outside the city that we’d been sent to defend.
The emergency ramps were activated and the passengers lined up to slide down the steep chutes. Higgins went first then turned to catch me when I rocketed down after him. He pulled me to my feet and I moved aside to allow the next soldier to disembark.
I was surprised at how quickly the heat was already fading from the desert now that night held sway. Australia had vast deserts of its own but I’d never had the misfortune of visiting any of them. I was a city girl at heart and always would be.
The myriad lights of Vegas had almost disappeared behind the curtain of yellow gas. A whiff of rotten eggs drifted to us on a breeze and most of the soldiers dry heaved. Higgins peered at the toxic cloud almost forlornly. “Our people are confined inside the city and we have no way of reaching them,” he said softly. “They’re going to be annihilated if we can’t get inside and help them.”
His radio buzzed and he unclipped it from his belt. “This is General Sanderson,” the general said and Higgins waved his fellow soldiers to silence. “I need a status update. I saw one plane go down somewhere in Vegas. How many more landed safely?”
Sergeant Wesley responded to the question. “The rest of us made it, sir. We’ve landed on the highway to the south of Vegas. What are your orders, General?”
“Find a way into this city,” was Sanderson’s succinct reply. “I will contact General Hart and advise him that Natalie’s intel was correct. The aliens have sent in thousands of robots and clones, too many to count with any accuracy. I’ll get him to redirect the troops and send them to assist us.”
Instead of drawing back high above the clouds to watch the carnage from afar, the Viltaran ship hovered just above the city. I wasn’t a mind reader but I had a hunch that they were staying close so they could guard against human invasion.
We’d managed to use hazmat suits to enter the town in Texas but that wasn’t going to happen this time. The scarlet eyed extra-terrestrials weren’t going to allow us to come to the rescue again. If they spotted anyone trying to enter by foot or in vehicles, they’d blast them into nothingness. We had to find a way into the city that would keep the humans safe from the deadly gas and also somehow sneak past the watchful eye of the patrolling aliens.
Panicked soldiers milled around in confusion. None were willing to step up and take charge. Moving away from the plane, I crossed the highway. If we didn’t do something to help Sanderson’s men kill off the robots, Vegas would soon be lost. It wouldn’t take long for the entire country to be overrun with freshly minted human imps once the vapour evaporated.
Standing with my back to the once bright and now obscured city in the distance, I stopped at the edge of the road. Soldiers had blocked the traffic in both directions and a long line of vehicles was already beginning to build up. Motorists honked their frustration but they were going to be in for a long wait.
A guardrail had been erected to stop the unwary from leaving the road and from driving into a deep gully. Leaning against it, I kicked a stone and tracked its progress to the ground below. It echoed strangely when it landed and I leaned further over the railing to peer downwards. Directly below my feet, twin concrete pipes sat side by side and protruded slightly into the gully. A runnel of dirty water sluggishly oozed from the one on the right. Turning around, I followed the direction they took and saw the billowing yellow cloud in the distance. Chance had led me to this exact spot, so I had little choice but to believe that the conduits would lead us safely to our destination.
Sprinting back to the plane, I grabbed Higgins by the shoulder to get his attention. “I think I just found a way to get your soldiers safely into Vegas.”
“Show me,” he demanded eagerly.
Taking the lead, I jogged back to the side of the highway and pointed down at the pipes. He leaned over the railing to examine my find. They weren’t exactly large and anyone who climbed inside would have to hunch over, but it was better than trying to hold your breath and sprinting through the deadly cloud.
Higgins called several more soldiers over and they examined the proposed route. “What the hell?” Sergeant Wesley said with a shrug. “We all gotta die some time. I’d rather go out choking on poison than have my legs gnawed off by an ugly little alien gremlin.”
Taking Higgins’ handgun from the holster on his waist, I fired a shot into the air. Soldiers whirled around with their weapons raised but they were too well trained to open fire on me. Higgins took his gun back, shaking his head at my risky move.
My shot had the desired effect and everyone gathered around to hear what I had to say. “I know I’m the last person any of you wants to trust right now but we need to get into Vegas asap. These storm drains should be safe and if we hurry, we might arrive in time to stop everyone in the city from being turned into clones.”
I’d never been particularly persuasive before but every man and woman who met my eyes nodded in agreement. Higgins was right behind me when I jumped down into the gulch. He would have broken both legs if he’d attempted the leap and instead slid down the steep incline. His flashlight came to life and pierced the darkness of the tunnels. “Which one should we use?” he queried.
Following my instincts, I chose the left tunnel and leaped inside. It was bone dry and I doubted any runoff water had travelled down this chute in years. The pipe was smaller than it appeared from the outside. I was only average in height but I still had to duck to avoid banging my head. It was going to be a miserable journey for anyone who was over six feet tall. I just hoped the tunnels would lead us deeply enough into the city that the soldiers wouldn’t be poisoned whe
n we eventually emerged on the other side.
Rats fled from our approach with squeaks of annoyance, scurrying into pipes that were too tiny for us to enter. Our force of a thousand humans and one lone vampire traversed down the main tunnel. It ran in a fairly straight line until it eventually opened up into a wide chamber. I’d known by the increasingly noisome smells that we were closing in on the sewage channels. It came as no surprise to see a small river of brown water rushing by several feet beneath us.
A narrow walkway ran alongside the waterway and I jumped down and edged my way along it. We were almost beneath the outskirts of the city now but the route had just become far more complicated. I wished I had one of the handy monitors from Viltar, not that it would have had access to a map of this world’s sewage systems.
Allowing my instincts to take over, I continued down the walkway. Up above, I sensed a plane approaching. Sending out my senses in a wide sweep, I picked up on several more planes heading in our direction. General Hart has apparently seen reason and had ordered his soldiers to change course for their original target.
Once the planes landed, more troopers would follow behind us. Even when they were added to our ranks, we’d still be badly outnumbered. Even a few thousand reinforcements would help to make a difference in the coming war.
“How do you know you’re going the right way?” Higgins whispered, interrupting my train of thought. There was enough space between us and the others that they couldn’t overhear us.
“I don’t,” I told him. “I’m just following my gut.”
Higgins wasn’t reassured by my answer. “Well, I hope your gut knows where it’s going.”
So do I, I thought but kept my uncertainty to myself.
·~·
Chapter Twenty
One of the soldiers had the foresight to mark our route with a strip of black tape on the grey concrete walls. Large black arrows would point the way for those who were about to land and would shortly be following us.
