Nate fixed his eyes on a little wooden farmhouse. For the few seconds it was in his field of vision he wondered how long it had been since someone had lived there. He wondered if a farmer had kept his family there and harvested wheat for a living. Some of the grass they were flying past looked like it had wheat mixed in with it. It seemed to him like a huge waste. They were struggling for food in Sangent before it fell. They had to recycle poop to get nutrients. There were thousands of acres of wheat out here completely abandoned that someone could collect and make bread out of.
Nate looked across the cab out the passenger window and saw a two lane highway growing closer and closer to them. After a few miles they were riding on a cement road instead of trailing through the abandoned fields. Nate saw a few buildings up ahead inching over the horizon. He guessed it was a little town even though he could count all the buildings he saw on his fingers. There was a gas station, a post office, and one large metal warehouse. The other five buildings looked like they had once been people's homes.
Ford slowed them down significantly as they entered the town. There was debris all over the road. Nate thought it looked like a tornado had gone through the area recently, but without people around to clean it up it could have been years ago. Nate wondered how many more houses there used to be in the area. He imagined there was at least enough rubble for at a couple more.
An ant had gotten caught in a piece of twisted metal roofing when the Sarsaul came through. It was bleeding out and shrieking. Nate hadn't seen any Sarsaul living or dead since they left Sangent. They must have been getting close now. Ford turned the vehicle hard to the left. Radcliff leaned out the window and popped the ant in the head with his pistol silencing its cries for good.
The maneuver put them right up against the wall of the warehouse. Ford followed along the wall until they were clear of the building then turned the corner. They were right on top of them. Ford slammed on the brakes and skid to a stop less than thirty feet from a hoard of Sarsaul milling about the backside of the metal building. Nate heard the gears crunch as Ford threw the truck into reverse and smashed the gas pedal into the ground. Nate kept his eyes forward while Ford was frantically watching his mirrors. In an instant they were back around the other side of the warehouse and the enemy was out of sight.
“What the hell?!” Wallace yelled from the back.
“We found them,” Ford said through clenched teeth.
Radcliff reached across the console and clicked off the music.
“Do you think they saw us?” Nate asked.
Radcliff raised a hand and shushed him.
“Stop,” Radcliff ordered.
Ford hit the brakes. They were already back to the highway they'd followed into town. All three of them locked their eyes forward. They sat for several intense minutes staring at the corner of the warehouse for any sign that the aliens were going to attack.
Nate gasped when they saw the Sarsaul start to move. But the Sarsaul only showed them their backs. The aliens were continuing north seemingly oblivious to their pursuers. Nate let out a huge sigh of relief. He hadn't realized it but he was leaning so far forward his face was almost touching the back of Ford's head. He slumped back down into his chair and took in several deep breaths.
“That was close,” Ford observed.
“Too close,” Radcliff agreed. “Now that we've caught up with them we need to be more careful. Follow them, but go slow. Keep your distance. We won't be having any more close calls.”
“Yes sir,” Ford replied.
Ford gave the Sarsaul a five-minute lead before he started creeping the truck forward after them. The Sarsaul were practically following the highway now. In the flat terrain Nate doubted they'd lose sight of the aliens again. He hoped that meant there wouldn't be any more surprises.
Ford closed to a distance of about a hundred yards. The Sarsaul still weren't taking any notice of them. Nate glanced down at the dashboard. They were only going fifteen miles per hour.
“They sure aren’t going anywhere fast,” Nate said. “If this is a retreat why are they just walking home like this? Shouldn't they be going faster?”
“I don't really think it's in the Sarsaul's nature to retreat from a fight,” Radcliff said. “I bet they were pretty much done with the killing by the time our guys got there. They're probably just full from gorging themselves on our people.” Radcliff frowned.
Nate was sorry he'd asked. It seemed like Radcliff was right though. There was no urgency in the way the enemy was moving. Nate watched them stroll along ahead of them through the front windshield. There was no pattern or formation to their march. They just looked like a shapeless blob pushing slowly ahead. It reminded him of the crowds of people milling about after work lazily making their way home. There was never much of anything to do at anyone's apartments other than watch mandatory television programs, so nobody ever seemed to be in much of a rush to get their living quarters. Nate imagined the Sarsaul had nothing to look forward to at their home either but the next battle. He was able to sympathize with that. He was afraid that was what his life was going to boil down to now that he was following in his father's footsteps.
The truck hit something. Nate thought they'd hit a speed bump for a moment before he remembered they were on a highway. The sound was all wrong too. Instead of bouncing a little with a thump there was a crunching sound followed by a splash like running through a puddle.
“What was that?” Nate asked.
They hit another one. The same nasty wet sound followed, but he saw what it was this time. A hornet had fallen behind the pack and collapsed in the road ahead of them. The truck went right over it. Nate imagined it popping in a splash of blood under the tires.
“It looks like they’re running out of steam,” Ford observed.
The aliens in front of them were fading fast. In under five minutes Nate saw ten of their soldiers fall from exhaustion. The rest of the horde didn’t stop or acknowledge the hornets and ants that were falling from their ranks. They trampled them and left them behind. Ford ran them over one by one.
Three of them had fallen together. Running over them caused the truck to rock back and forth as the Sarsaul painted the bottom of the truck with their metallic blood.
“Are you just trying to hit them all?” Nate asked.
Ford smiled. “I gotta make sure they’re dead,” he said smugly.
This continued on for about an hour. It made Nate cringe almost every time. He knew he should be happy that the Sarsaul were being thinned out so they'd have less opposition on their mission, but Ford was fishtailing the truck constantly, making sure he hit every single Sarsaul he could. Between that and the noises, Nate was getting nauseous.
“Damnit!” Ford yelled. “I missed one.”
“Ford!” Radcliff screamed.
The truck was less than twenty feet from the back end of the Sarsaul swarm. The aliens had stopped completely, but Ford hadn't. Ford would have plowed right into them if Radcliff hadn’t spoken up when he did. He threw the truck in reverse. Nate's stomach jumped into his throat as they spun out into a one eighty less than ten feet from the enemy. As soon as he got the truck facing the right way, Ford slammed it back into gear. The engine groaned and roared as he flung them back the way they’d come.
“Ford, where the hell did you learn to drive!?” Wallace cried.
“Are they following us?” Nate asked between bile flavored burps.
Ford checked his mirrors and let out a sigh of relief.
“No, they didn’t seem to notice at all,” he replied.
“I don’t like this,” Nate protested, “They don’t care that we’re here. It feels like they want us to follow them.”
Ford turned the truck back around and parked it a hundred yards from the alien mob.
“He’s got a point,” Ford suggested.
“Sarsaul aren’t like us,” Radcliff explained, “They don’t have self-preservation instincts. That’s part of the reason they’re so dangerous. They
’ll throw thousands of their soldiers away for a tiny piece of land. I gave up trying to understand them a long time ago. It could be a trap, but I’ve never seen the Sarsaul do anything like that in all my time fighting them. They just do things. Once they start doing it they won’t stop until it’s done. This group is going somewhere. They won’t do anything else until they get there as long as they don’t consider us a threat. So we keep following our orders and find out where they’re going. Just stay back here until they start moving again.”
“Well, I’m going to get out and stretch my legs then,” Jesse said as he pulled her harness up.
“I guess I could refill the gas tank while we wait,” Ford mused. “It’s getting a little low.”
“Might as well all get out while we’re at it,” Wallace said stretching out. “Man I’ve gotta take a huge shit.”
Nate followed the others out. Radcliff leaned back in his chair and kept his eyes ahead, watching the Sarsaul for any changes.
Nate made a few laps around the truck to stretch out his legs, keeping as far as he could from Wallace and his smell. Ford was busy pulling gas cans out of a compartment on the side of the truck between the wheels. Jesse was playing with her scoped rifle. He did his best to steer clear of her too.
Once his legs were satisfied with their walk he leaned against the side of the truck watching the Sarsaul. He couldn’t tell what they were doing. They just stood there. A few of them were milling about aimlessly, but for the most part they just turned their heads side to side looking around. Some of them looked their way, but their eyes never rested in any one place for long. It made him think of a flock of birds sitting on the ground.
It occurred to him that he should probably help Ford with the gas. The containers looked pretty heavy.
“Check this shit out,” Jesse said as she sauntered up beside him.
She pressed the sniper rifle into her shoulder and leveled it at the mass of aliens standing around in front of them. Nate’s eyes went wide. Before he could open his mouth, she fired. The silencer made the gun sound like a rush of wind. Somewhere in the midst of the Sarsaul one of their heads exploded.
“Nice shot!” Wallace cheered. “See how many you can get in a row.”
Jesse slammed the shell out of the firing chamber and pulled the hammer for another shot. She fired again. Another head popped. Radcliff suddenly appeared beside her, out of nowhere. His left hand was on the rifle. He pushed the barrel up into the air and disarmed her with a thrust of his right palm.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Radcliff growled.
A scream went up from somewhere in the mass of Sarsaul. A group broke off from the whole and started moving towards them. They moved slowly at first, but after a few steps they were charging at full speed.
“Get in the damn truck!” Radcliff ordered. “Ford get us moving!”
“Yes sir!”
They ran as fast as they could back up the ramp. Ford dropped the gas can he was using. Fuel spilled all over the ground and the front of his armor. The others were much faster than Nate was. Ford got the truck moving the moment Nate's left foot touched the ramp. He barely caught hold of the door to keep from being thrown out the back. He strained to pull himself into the truck with one hand, but wasn’t strong enough to pull himself up against the momentum.
Radcliff grabbed Nate's free hand and threw him in. Nate rolled back against Radcliff's legs. He looked up and saw Radcliff pull the pin out of a grenade and throw it at the front of the charge. The grenade hit the lead runner square in the chest and exploded before it hit the ground. A shower of blood and body parts blew onto the other chargers. It slowed them down just enough. Radcliff slammed the door shut and hefted Nate to his feet.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Nate screamed between heavy breaths.
“I just--” Jesse started.
“There’s no excuse for that kind of stunt. Don’t even start,” Radcliff growled.
“I’m sorry…” she said.
“You do shit like that, you get people killed. The dead don't care much for sorry. You’re not getting this back until you need it,” Radcliff said throwing the rifle up into the cab, “I just can’t catch a break around you. I let my eyes off of you for two seconds and you go and do some stupid shit like that.” Radcliff sighed.
“It won’t happen again sir.”
“That’s what you said last time…” Radcliff groaned. “Can we just finish this mission already? It’s not that complicated. Just sit down and wait until it’s over please.”
Radcliff climbed back up to the front and took his seat.
“Looks like you went and got yourself grounded again!” Wallace laughed.
“Shut up, asshole,” she replied.
The aliens chased after the truck for about fifteen minutes before finally giving up. Ford stopped and turned the truck around once the Sarsaul gave up the chase. Nate made his way back to the cabin to see what had happened. Ford and Radcliff were staring silently ahead and didn't acknowledge him at all when he joined them.
There must have been over a hundred Sarsaul sprawled on the ground in front of them. They'd collapsed from the exertion of chasing them. Fifty or so ants and hornets were turning back to rejoin the rest, abandoning the others to finish dying. What really surprised Nate wasn't the number of dead aliens left in their wake, but that the Sarsaul had very nearly kept up with them. Ford had been flooring it the whole time. They'd covered at least fifteen miles in that space of time. It was no wonder their pursuers collapsed. There was no terrestrial creature that could have made a dash like that and survived.
Once the Sarsaul had shown their backs for a few minutes Ford started following them again. He ran over dozens of bodies, but he wasn't cheering about it like he had before. Nate wasn't even sure he was hitting them on purpose anymore or if they were just in his way. The group they were following lost members all the way back to the main force. By the time the Sarsaul that chased them away rejoined the rest only a handful were still standing.
They didn’t take any more stops.
Chapter Seventeen
Around five o’clock in the evening, the Sarsaul turned west and started following a one lane gravel road. From where Nate was sitting, it looked like the road wasn't even big enough for the truck they were in, let alone two-way traffic. Nate was glad for the change of scenery though. They were getting closer to the mountains. There were trees, even a few squirrels. They were going so slowly now he was able to get a good look at most of the things they passed now. He watched a squirrel fill his cheeks with nuts and another one run up a tree as easily if he'd just been running along the ground.
The road got more crooked as the hills got too tall and steep to go over. It slowed them down even more than it did the Sarsaul they were following. Each turn they took it looked like the Sarsaul were getting further ahead of them. Nate was almost hoping they would lose them. The tall hills with their steep faces were slowing them down so much he doubted they'd be able to just spin the truck around and run if the Sarsaul turned on them now.
“This looks like a gauntlet,” Ford observed. “It doesn’t look like a natural formation. This road was dug out of the rock like this to make us move slowly through here.”
“You’re right,” Radcliff replied. “This was probably man-made. Probably a campsite or something originally. It looks like at one time there were weapon placements up in the rock faces. See that little cave up there?”
Radcliff pointed up at a shallow cave about thirty feet above them on the left side of the valley. Nate saw what Radcliff was saying. He even thought he got a glimpse of something metal sitting up in the hollow space shining back the light of the setting sun. Nate got the sense they were being watched.
“I’m guessing this used to be a safe-zone the Sarsaul captured and moved into,” Radcliff continued. “These hills are probably full of tunnels connecting all of the defensible positions. Keep your eyes peeled.”
“I don
’t like this,” Ford protested. “Isn’t this good enough? Can’t we just tell them they stopped here?”
“They might just be taking us through here to throw us off the trail. This valley might just come out on the other side of these hills. We don't know what we're looking at here. We can’t leave until we see a base.”
“If this gets ugly, I’m blaming you,” Ford sighed.
The road started to angle steeply downhill after the last turn they made. They were crawling forward now. Ford had to ride the brakes to keep them from hitting the walls. It felt like they had gone way down before the road started leveling out again. Nate guessed it must have been at least five stories down from ground level. The road wasn't winding so much anymore as it was going around a series of switchbacks downhill. Nate couldn't even see the Sarsaul anymore. The reddish stone of the walls completely blocked everything other than the short strips of road between the turns from view.
They made one last turn around a face of rock with three hollows carved out into it. Then the road just stopped and opened out into a vast flat valley. It looked like it was almost a perfect square at least three miles across to the far wall.
Nate thought it was almost a pretty place. There were some trees down in the bottom of the valley along with a waterfall from a man-made lake that had fallen into disrepair up on the plateau beyond. The waterfall made a small river that flowed down into a pit on in the back left corner of the valley. It looked like there had once been a small town here. There was rubble and foundations left behind that suggested that at one time there had been dozens of structures in the area. The ruins of houses took away from the prettiness of the place. It was just another monument to the Sarsaul's destruction of the human race.
It was starting to get dark. The sun couldn’t reach down into the valley. The western rock face was already casting huge shadows over the expanse and the ruins. It looked like the sun would set right at the top of the waterfall any minute.
Nate hadn't been looking for aliens because he was distracted by the scenery, but he was suddenly aware that there wasn't a single ant or hornet anywhere to be seen. It sent a chill down his spine. They'd lost them. It was like they'd just vanished.
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