by Paul Moxham
They passed a number of machines that looked as though they hadn’t been used since the attack. He also saw three vehicles that were being worked on by two mechanics.
As they passed several guards and stepped into an office, Logan didn’t know who these men were, but he felt confident he was in the right place.
“Boss, we have visitors,” Baldy announced, staring at a large desk chair that was facing the other way.
Logan and Xavier waited patiently for the chair to swivel around. Logan had no idea what the boss would look like, but as the man faced them, his expectations were blown out of the water.
~*~*~
Kenneth watched as the man walked closer and closer. He was dressed in some sort of uniform and carrying a briefcase. He glanced back at the others. “Stay here and keep the doors locked.”
After grabbing the shotgun, he climbed out and walked across the road. He pointed his weapon at the approaching man. “Stop! What do you want?”
The man, clearly exhausted, looked at Kenneth with pleading eyes. “Please help me.” He stumbled and fell down.
Despite the blood-stained clothes and his untidy appearance, Kenneth recognized the uniform of the United States Army. He glanced back at the teenagers as he lowered his weapon. “Help me.”
Derek and Molly hurried over. Brushing her blonde curls away from her face, Molly gazed at the man. “Is he alive?”
Kenneth felt the man’s pulse. “Barely.” He looked at the briefcase that the man was clutching. Now that he was right next to him, he realized it was unlike any briefcase he had seen. Before he could take a closer look at it, the man stirred.
“Are you all right?” Kenneth asked as he helped the man stand up.
The middle-aged man brushed his left hand up against his forehead where blood was dripping. “I’ve been better, but I’ll be okay.” He tried to walk but stumbled again.
Resting on his knees, the exhausted man looked up at Kenneth. “I need to get to Sparks. Can you take me there?”
“Why do you want to go there?” Kenneth asked.
“My commanding officer is heading there.” The man paused as he coughed up blood.
Molly looked at Kenneth. “We need to get him to a doctor.”
The man shook his head. “No. Not yet.” He tried to stand up. “I need to see General Loreto immediately.”
Kenneth gazed at the numerous wounds and realized that a silencer had hit him. He took out his pistol and quickly looked around the landscape. “When did you last see the Seods?”
Derek sighed as the man coughed up yet another load of blood. “You really need a doctor.”
“No, I just have to—”
“Oh no!” Molly jumped back. She pointed to the tree line where two Seods had just emerged.
Kenneth narrowed his eyes at the creatures. They were about five feet tall and dressed in white, just like all the other Seods he had seen. He still didn’t know what kind of material it was, but it was unlike anything that they had on Earth, that was for certain. It was shiny, flexible, and so tough that bullets just bounced off it.
The helmet thing that they were wearing, which was almost like a motorcycle helmet, had some kind of visor that covered their eyes. This, coupled with the uniform, meant that it was impossible to see what they actually looked like.
He was torn from his thoughts as he realized that the two Seods had their silencers drawn and were hurrying toward them. “We need to get out of here.” He and the teens dragged the man into the vehicle as bursts of green flew toward them.
Kenneth hadn’t studied physics in high school, but from the conversations that he had heard in the last couple of weeks, he knew that these weapons were capable of firing bursts of particle-beam energy. These bursts, which he had nicknamed green bolts, were always green. Humans hadn’t fully developed this type of technology, but it was obvious that the Seods had perfected it.
Kenneth rushed around to the driver’s seat and climbed in. He had to duck as a green bolt smashed through the window, flew past his head, and then smashed through the other window.
After starting the engine, he pushed down on the accelerator. The vehicle burned rubber as it headed down the road. Looking in the rearview mirror, he could see that the Seods were still pursuing them. They were still shooting, but fortunately, the green bolts missed their target as Kenneth swerved back and forth.
“Hold on back there!” Kenneth bawled over his shoulder at the teenagers, who were staring through the back windshield at the Seods.
“We need to go faster!” Molly screamed.
“Put your seatbelts on!” Kenneth squeezed the wheel until his knuckles burned white. “It might be a rough ride.” He pressed the accelerator down hard against the floor. Fortunately, there was quite a number of bends in the road, which meant that after a while, their pursuers were no longer in view
As the Humvee traveled over the thick snow, Kenneth was glad for the chains, especially when he had to brake and turn. Even with the chains he had to be careful. If there was ice on the road and the vehicle was going too fast, no matter how good the chains were, it would be all over.
As they got closer and closer to the summit of the mountain, Kenneth realized that he couldn’t just lead the Seods to Doug’s. It’d be suicide.
“Are you all right back there?” Kenneth asked, glancing in the rearview mirror. As he still couldn’t see any Seods, he stopped the car. He breathed a sigh of relief. “Looks like we lost them.” He turned around in his seat and gazed at the teens. “Are you all okay? Nothing hit you, did it?”
Molly shook her head, the color slowly returning to her pale face. “But we need to get to a hospital fast. This man isn’t going to survive much longer.”
Kenneth took a closer look at the man. He looked pretty bad when they had first seen him, but he looked even worse now. “There might be a hospital in Carson City, but the chances of finding first aid there is pretty slim. Besides, we’d have to turn around, and I can’t do that with the Seods on our tail.”
“But what are we going to do?” Molly asked.
“We should be at Doug’s shortly,” Kenneth replied.
“What good will that do?” Derek questioned. “He isn’t going to have anything that’ll help us kill any Seods.”
“Probably not, but I can’t think of anything else we can do. I have no idea what the Seods want from him, but I’m going to do everything I can to save him before I give up.” He restarted the car, and after confirming that the Seods were still no longer in view, he resumed driving. As he reached the turnoff to the village a few minutes later, he slowed down and glanced back. “At least we know that they can’t run as fast as a car.”
“Maybe they decided to get into one of their aircrafts and search for us that way,” Molly suggested.
“I hope not. Anyway, we’ll soon be at Doug’s place.” Kenneth drove up the road toward the village. However, a few moments later, he gripped the wheel hard and did a U-turn. “Duck!”
Molly looked toward the village and her face went pale as she saw three Seods running down the main street. As a green bolt just narrowly missed the car, she and Derek ducked down.
“How’d they catch up so fast?” Derek panted.
“They didn’t. They must be another group,” Kenneth replied as he pushed down on the accelerator. The vehicle roared down the road. He had no idea where he was going to go, but one thing was certain: they couldn’t stay where they were.
~*~*~
Logan had seen plenty muscled men in his travels, but nothing like this. The guy looked as though he spent every waking minute training at the gym. Bulging through his blood-stained, white cotton t-shirt were the biggest muscles that Logan had ever seen.
As the man stood up, Logan saw that he was wearing khaki-colored cargo pants that were a size or two too big.
“What brings you here?” the man asked in a deep voice.
Logan’s eyes drifted upward and into the clear blue eyes of the friendly lo
oking man. From his tattoos and crew cut, he assumed that the man was ex-military, just like him.
“I need men with guns,” Logan stated.
“A straight talker,” the man said, pondering. “Hmm, you and I should get along well.”
“We need help taking down Sanchez,” Xavier stated.
“How did you hear about us?” the man asked.
“We met a guy yesterday who told us that someone was running a group in one of these warehouses and targeting Sanchez,” Logan said.
“Does this guy have a name?” the man asked.
“Peter. I don’t know his last name. He’s young, has a crew cut—” Logan said.
The man looked at Baldy. “Is that the man who came on that mission with us last night?” As Baldy nodded, the man continued speaking. “Bring him in here.” As the bald man hurried out of the room, the man turned to the two of them. “I’m Hogan, by the way. But people call me Muscles.”
“So, Muscles, you ex-military?” Logan asked.
Muscles nodded. “Only did one tour though before I got shipped back home due to injury. You?”
“Did a few. So did my friend,” Logan said.
Muscles seemed impressed. “We could use you guys, if you’re legit.”
Just as Muscles finished speaking, the door opened and Baldy returned. Right behind him was Peter.
Logan smiled. “Good to see you’re still alive.”
Peter frowned and turned to Muscles. “What did you want me for?”
Muscles pointed to Logan and Xavier. “Do you know these two?”
“Barely,” Peter answered. “Why?”
“Can they be trusted?” Muscles asked.
Peter stared at Xavier and then Logan. “I don’t think they’re working with Sanchez, but—”
“Trust me,” Logan interrupted, “I’m not.” He turned to Peter. “I came here because I heard that men like you, with a fighting spirit and determination, wanted to wage war against Sanchez.”
Muscles raised his hand in defense. “I don’t want a war. None of us do. We just want to see that things are made right. Carlos Sanchez is a cold-blooded murderer who deserves to be locked up in prison, but we can’t win the fight if we can’t trust those who we are working with.”
“How can we convince you that we want what you want?” Xavier asked.
Muscles sat down at the desk and riffled through some maps. “I think I might have just the thing for you. Ah, here it is.” He glanced at his watch. “There’s a boatload of goods due to arrive at this pier in just less than two hours.” He handed Logan a slip of paper that had an address written on it. “I was going to pass on it due to another mission, but if you want—”
“If we get those goods, will you help us?” Logan interrupted.
“If you succeed, I’ll trust you,” Muscles replied.
“I don’t need your trust,” Logan stated. “I just need your help.”
“With what?” Muscles asked.
“There’s a woman by the name of Lucy Thorn being held against her will in The View,” Logan began. “And—”
“And you want my help getting her out of there,” Muscles interrupted.
“Yes, she’s my fiancée,” Logan said.
“Ah, I see.” Muscles swiveled around in his desk chair as he thought. “The View is fiercely guarded. A couple of my men tried to get in there but were gunned down near the entrance. I bet you didn’t know that they’ve got two machine guns set up by the front entrance.”
“No, I didn’t know that,” Logan admitted. “But it doesn’t matter. I’m not going to just walk away. I love Lucy, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get her, with or without your help.”
“We’d appreciate your help though,” Xavier said. “We’re just the two of us, but you’re an army.”
“Hmm, I wouldn’t call us an army. We have forty or so good fighting men here.”
Xavier frowned. “I heard Sanchez was fighting a ton of men.”
“Oh, I just make up one section. All up, we number in the hundreds, but we’re spread out across the city in small cells, each usually operating independently without knowing a thing about the others. It’s an old, but highly effective guerrilla warfare organization system. Sanchez doesn’t know where we’re going to strike next, so he has to spend endless resources patrolling the streets. And more time spent patrolling the streets means less time pillaging the rest of the city.”
The door suddenly opened and a middle-aged man appeared. “It’s time to go, boss.”
Muscles nodded. “I’ll be there in a minute.” He turned to the others. “Get me those goods and you’ve got a deal. If you don’t, don’t bother coming back.” He glanced at Baldy. “Take a man and go with them. Help them out if you can, but don’t do anything suicidal.”
As Muscles walked out of the office, Baldy turned to Logan and Xavier. “You heard what the boss said. So, you up for the challenge?”
Logan nodded without hesitation. “I’ll do whatever it takes. Oh, by the way, have you spotted any Seods around here?”
Baldy shook his head. “Not for a week or so. From what my contacts told me, they’ve retreated into the mountains.”
“Good. It’s one thing going up against humans, but if I had to go up against both, I’m not sure what I’d do,” Logan said.
“You’re telling me.” Baldy sighed, thinking. “This city was pretty much in the thick of things as you might have been able to tell. With all the soldiers stationed at that big military base on the outskirts of the city, we had quite a fight. A good many men died, but we succeeded in driving the Seods back from the coast.”
“How’s that possible?” Logan asked. “I thought the armor that they wore was impenetrable.”
“It is, mostly. However, the military discovered a weak spot and so, under the cover of thick fog, nine to ten thousand soldiers attacked the camp they’d set up on the outskirts of the city.” Baldy hesitated for a moment as he relived the experience in his head. “The battle waged for more than two days until the Seods fled.”
“I wonder what the weak spot was,” Xavier wondered. “Hey, maybe it was the fog. Maybe that’s why they won. The Seods weren’t able to use their aircraft to shoot for fear of hitting their own people.”
Baldy nodded. “Yes, that also helped.”
“How many men survived?” Logan asked.
“Just over a thousand. They headed up the coast in pursuit of the Seods and that’s when Sanchez decided to take control.”
“I see. Well, that’s good to know. Hopefully the military will come back soon,” Logan said.
Baldy nodded. “But in the meantime, we’ll have to fight.” He stood up. “Let’s get some weapons and a vehicle for you. Then the two of you can show me what you’re made of.”
Chapter 10
As the Humvee tore down the snow-covered road, Kenneth decided on a plan. It was risky, but as there was a chance that the Seods could be waiting at the bottom of the mountain, as he was sure they’d have some kind of communication device, they couldn’t keep on driving. All it would take was one good shot with a green bolt and their vehicle would no longer be of any use to them. He glanced at the others. “I’m going to stop in a minute or so. Once I do, get out.”
Derek frowned. “Why?”
“If we can make the Seods follow the Humvee and not us, we’ll have a chance to hike back up the mountain to Doug’s. However, this will only work if the Seods don’t notice that the vehicle stopped.”
“What about the man?” Molly asked.
“Leave him with me.” As the teenagers puckered their lips, Kenneth concentrated on the road ahead. The turn was coming up. If the plan was to work, everyone had to be quick. Before he knew it, they had rounded the bend. He braked and yelled out, “Now!”
The teenagers threw open the door and climbed out. As soon as their bodies hit the ground, Kenneth gunned the vehicle.
Snow churned as the Humvee thundered down the road. As the next turn
approached, Kenneth glanced back. The Seods were nowhere to be seen. It was now or never.
He slowed down as he approached the bend and braked hard as he rounded it. As the vehicle stopped completely, he knew that he only had a matter of seconds before the steep incline made it head down the hill by itself.
After grabbing the map, he threw open the door and climbed out. He pulled the passenger door open and dragged the man out of the vehicle.
Luckily, due to the snow, it wasn’t a hard fall, but there was nothing else Kenneth could have done differently. He grabbed the briefcase the man had been holding and shut the Humvee door as it started moving.
After dragging the man behind a bush, he sank down and waited. As the seconds passed and the Humvee started to accelerate down the hill, he hoped that the plan would work.
The seconds dragged on for years, but then, finally, he heard a scuttle as the three Seods raced by him. He was afraid that if they turned around, they’d see him, but they didn’t. Clearly they were deceived into thinking they were still in the Humvee.
Knowing that they’d eventually discover what was going on, he turned to the man. As he opened his eyes, Kenneth spoke. “Sorry for the bump back there. We had the Seods after us.”
The man hurriedly glanced around. “Where is it?”
“Where’s what?”
“The briefcase. Where is it?”
Kenneth reached over and went to hand it to him, when he realized that it was unlike anything he had ever seen. It felt light and was about the size of a laptop. The handle, as well as the outside material, was made of something that he had never seen before. It suddenly hit him that it looked almost like the same stuff that the Seods were wearing. Except, this was harder. He turned to the man. “Where did you get this?”
“My men and I stumbled across an alien ship while on patrol. I managed to sneak inside and grabbed the first thing I saw. I don’t know what it is, but get it to the general.” The man stopped speaking as he coughed up blood.
“Where was the general heading?” Kenneth asked.
