by Peter Glenn
The screech of another alien alerted me that I was no longer alone. I couldn’t see it yet, but I knew it would be just around the next corner, or at the very least close by. That sound had been too loud.
I scanned the room, intent on finding more ammunition. But I couldn’t see anything of use. Maybe there were bullets mixed in with the gore down there somewhere, but I wasn’t expert enough to find it.
And I was running out of time.
The nearby alien screeched again and rounded the corner, teeth and claws gnashing and flying through the air in my direction.
“Take that!” I cried.
I let loose a bullet, aiming for the creature’s head. The bullet exploded into the alien’s skull, sending a hail of bone and brain in a wide arc, coating the nearby wall. The beast thrashed and fell to the ground a moment later.
But that wasn’t the last of them. A series of screeching noises told me I would soon have more company, and I was down to only four bullets. I had to make them last.
Three more aliens came bounding around the corner, gunning for me with their twisted claws. I shot the first one in the head, dropping it like I was some sort of expert. I was getting better with this gun, that was for sure.
The other two kept coming, and I found myself backing away from their advance as I struggled to fire off another two rounds. These slammed into the closest one’s chest, sending it staggering backward but ultimately not stopping its forward momentum.
I freaked and fired another round. This one smashed into the closest beast’s front foot, taking it clean off. The alien was still alive, but without one of its feet to keep it upright, it fell to the ground, quickly forgotten as its friend trampled over it. I was okay with that. I could take care of it once I’d felled the last one.
That last alien raked its claws through the air and hissed at me. This one seemed more intelligent than the last ones somehow. More sentient killer, less outright destruction.
I squeezed the trigger, but nothing came of it. I was out of ammo. The rifle was spent.
Damn.
The alien lurched forward, making a swiping motion at my chest. I danced backward and swung at it with the butt of my rifle. If it was out of ammo, at the very least I could use it like a bludgeon. Rifle and claw met in the air, forcing each other backward. The alien stumbled, but ultimately kept its footing.
It came at me again, slashing at me with both of its clawed hands. I once again brought the rifle to bear, but I could only block one of the blows. The other hand raked across my unprotected side, slicing through parka and skin alike, leaving behind a series of nasty gashes.
Pain seared up my side, though not as much as I expected. I jammed the butt of my rifle into the creature’s mouth, and it reared backward, giving me time to come up with a plan.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another rifle nearby on the ground. I couldn’t tell if it was loaded or not, but it had a rather large bayonet on the front.
The alien made another swipe at me, this one aiming for my head, so I ducked under it and rolled, snatching the other rifle as I came back up.
A strange knocking noise caught me off guard. It had come from behind me, I was sure of it. Was there another alien there? But what kind of alien made a knocking noise?
I ignored it and faced down the alien. The thing came at me again, claws ripping through the air. I swiped at its nearest hand with the bayonet, slicing through bone and flesh and tearing it apart.
The alien screeched and roared but kept advancing.
That strange knocking sound came again, and once more, I ignored it, though a strange, nagging voice in the back of my head said it could be my doom.
I rushed the alien, coming in under its guard and thrusting upward with my bayonet in the same motion. The blade cut into the alien’s chin, coming up through the base of its mouth and severing its wicked tongue.
Once more, the alien howled and reared backward, but I was on it before it could get free. I slashed at it again and again, cutting wide swaths through its chest and leaving behind another trail of alien blood and gore in my wake.
I cut and cut, but at some point, the beast stopped moving. Panting, I looked down at the thing. All that remained of its chest was a bloody mess. It was well and truly dead.
“Gonna take more than that to get me, bitch!” I screamed at its dead body, raising my fist triumphantly in the air.
With a big grin on my face, I scanned the room. Off near the other entrance, I could see another five or six aliens waiting for me. They weren’t advancing like the others, but I knew it would only be a matter of time.
And I’d need more than a bayonet when they did come.
I looked in the chamber of the rifle in my hands. Good. It was loaded. Maybe one bullet missing. But I’d need a few more. I scrambled over to where a particularly large knot of dead bodies lay and spied my salvation within: an ammo box.
The thing was full to the brim with the armor-piercing shots I’d been using, as well as a few grenades. Those would sure come in handy.
I grabbed a fistful of ammo and two of the grenades and made my way over to the far side of the room.
When I got close, the aliens made their advance.
I threw one of the grenades, and it went a bit wide. It managed to blow off one of the alien’s arms, but other than that, it did nothing. I threw the other one, adjusting my aim. This one landed right in between two aliens, sending them both flying through the air in a bloody arc as it went off.
Once more, that strange knocking noise came from behind me. Was it that one alien I’d left alive with only one foot? I wasn’t sure what else it could be.
I fired off a few rounds into the mass of alien flesh heading my direction and spun around to search the room, but there was nothing there. The one-legged alien had somehow disappeared.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on edge, and I spun back around. It had been a trap, I was sure of it.
And now the aliens were on top of me. I fired round after round into their mass of limbs and claws, but it was too late. I felt a wave of pain as one of their claws raked my chest, then another as a talon ripped into my rifle arm.
I dropped the weapon—my only hope—in frustration as pain shot up my arm. I shouted and pounded on the closest alien with my other hand, but it was no use. I was done for. I closed my eyes and waited for the end to come as one of the aliens wrapped its giant head around my own. I could feel the heat of its breath all around me and smell the rot.
This was it. It had been a good run, but the aliens were too much for me. I was done for.
I thought about closing my eyes, but I decided to greet my end with my head held high. No one could have survived all that.
The alien’s mouth closed around me as two sharp pinpricks tore into my neck; the thing’s teeth.
So long, cruel world. It’s been a good run.
Pain seared through my neck, then stopped just as suddenly as two blinking lights appeared in front of my eyes and everything went dark.
2
“Aww, hell,” I said to the air around me.
Slowly, I removed the virtual reality helmet and gloves and set them on the kitchen counter next to me. That had been one hell of a game. Alien Invasion V was so much better than its predecessor. If I ever got the chance, I’d have to thank the game developer personally.
That strange knocking noise came again right as something on my leg buzzed. The game was over now, and I’d disconnected from the equipment, so I knew it had nothing to do with that anymore. So what were they?
I felt around on my pant leg and found the familiar weight of my phone waiting there for me. The leg buzz must have been my phone telling me I had a missed call or a message. But it was late. Really late. Who would have called me at this hour?
As desperately as I wanted to check it, I had to deal with that bizarre knocking noise first. Which could only belong to my front door. So I had a phone call and a visitor. I was popular tonight.
How odd.
“Damian!” a woman’s voice rang out from the other side of my door.
I let out a huge sigh of relief. Thank goodness it was Mei and not LaLuna.
Mei was my best friend. Had been for years. She was also a dragon, though she normally took human form. I’d saved her once when she’d been kidnapped, but truth be told, it was usually her saving me. And tonight would likely be no different.
LaLuna, on the other hand, well, she was my fae girlfriend. Heavy emphasis on the “was”. Or at least, I was pretty sure it was all in the past after the way I’d acted earlier this evening. I guess I didn’t know for sure, but if I were her, I’d drop me.
But enough about the past. I had to answer the door.
“Come on, Damian. We know you’re in there. Don’t make us knock down the door!” Mei shouted.
Her voice was loud enough I worried she’d wake the neighbors. And the last thing I needed was another noise complaint. It’s not like I had the money to move or anything. I could barely afford this place as is. And it was on the cheap end.
Wait a second. We? As in, more than just her? Just who had she brought with her, anyway?
My shoulders tensed as I made my way over to the door. I peered through the little peephole in it, trying to make out who was on the other side. I could clearly make out Mei’s features—all green hair and black clothes with faintly glowing emerald eyes—but I couldn’t quite see who was out there with her.
Oh well. She wasn’t going to stop until I let her in, and like I said, the last thing I needed was another noise complaint. I’d already had three of them in the past year. I was positive one more would get me an eviction notice.
I muttered a few words about meddlesome women to myself and opened the door.
“Just so you know, I heard that,” Mei said, grinning at me from the hallway.
“Ugh,” I moaned. I wasn’t sure how to follow that, so I left it at that and beckoned for her to come on in.
“Don’t mind if I do,” Mei said with another smile.
She patted my cheek a few times and waltzed into my apartment like she owned the place. Which I supposed was possible. She made way more money than I did, and I knew she owned a few properties besides her bar. It wouldn’t really shock me to learn my apartment building was one of them.
That’s just the kind of thing she’d do to “protect me”.
I’d be pissed at her about it, but truth be told, I needed the protecting. I was bad at money, and late on my rent more often than not.
“Mei, how nice to see you,” I said with a fake smile.
A smallish man that had been mostly hidden by Mei appeared a moment later, beaming up at me as he entered my little apartment. He was wearing a red beret and a black and white striped shirt. He was also sporting a tiny moustache. Nice touch.
“Mon ami!” Sevin said. “I came the moment I’d heard! I’m so sorry.”
As he walked past me, he put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly. It didn’t feel as patronizing as I thought it would have, which was nice. Mei was patronizing enough for both of them.
“Good to see you, too, Sevin.” I gave him a weak smile.
Sevin was another of my friends. I hadn’t known him quite as long as I had Mei, but we still went way back. The two of us had been regulars at Mei’s bar for about as long as anyone. Sevin was a gentle soul who was a clairvoyant, although he usually couldn’t tell the future for more than a few minutes or an hour or so. He’d been getting better, though, and his predictions actually meant something occasionally now. I remembered when the best he could do was predict the next song to come on the radio.
Simpler times, those.
He was also an insufferable Frenchman. He’d been born in France, although his parents had moved him to the US when he’d been like six months old or something. Still, he did everything as “French” as he could, even using some of their language and speaking in a snooty French accent.
My face paled. If both Mei and Sevin were here at this hour, then I could only assume they’d heard about “the incident”. That’s how I was referring to my date with LaLuna earlier this evening.
And I really wasn’t in the mood to talk about it.
“So, how are things?” Mei asked. “Mind if I sit down?”
I motioned toward the couch on the far wall. It was stained in several places, and the springs were on their last legs, but it was still functional. And that’s what counted.
Mei took a seat on the couch, eyeing it dubiously as she sat with most of her body over the edge, like she was afraid if she let herself sink into it, she’d never come back out. And honestly, given the state of the couch, that was possible.
Sevin sat next to her, plopping down like it was no big deal. The couch groaned as he practically fell into it.
I stared straight at Sevin, and he gave me a sheepish grin as if to say that none of this had been his idea.
Now that, I could believe. He was generally non-confrontational.
“Things are great. Just great,” I lied, turning my attention back to Mei.
I took a seat in my gaming chair. It was black, with nice, big armrests and a big, fat cushion underneath. The one decent piece of furniture in my entire apartment. It had been a must have not long ago, since gaming was pretty much my only hobby other than drinking. But now that I’d experienced the thrill of VR, well, I’d have to rethink my gaming setup.
For tonight, though, it’d suffice.
“So, let’s cut to the chase. Why are you here? What did you hear and who told?” I asked, scanning both their faces.
Mei looked wounded and put a hand over her chest. “Can’t a friend just check up on another friend every once in a while?”
“Sure.” I snorted. “But you’re not that type of friend. You never leave the bar at night unless it’s an emergency. Spill.”
“Pfft,” Mei balked. “I assure you, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I rolled my eyes at her and groaned. “Fine. We can just sit here in silence, then.”
We sat there in silence for several moments, everyone afraid to make a move. I had my arms folded in front of me, Mei was glancing around like she didn’t know what my apartment looked like and had suddenly taken an intense interest, and Sevin was being as still as possible.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a grimace cross Sevin’s lips. He was cracking. I pounced on it. I leapt from the chair and got right into Sevin’s face. He backed away, looking like a frightened rabbit. “All right, Sevin. What gives? What do you know?”
“Moi?” he said in a raspy voice. A bead of sweat formed on his forehead, and he looked like he was about to swoon.
I nodded and kept staring into his eyes. “You.”
“I… I…” Sevin licked his dry, cracked lips and shrank even further against the couch. “I mean we, umm… we heard about… about the… the date.”
“Oh, brother.” I backed away and headed back over to my gaming chair. “So this is exactly what I think it is, then, isn’t it?”
“And what would that be, Damian?” It was Mei’s smooth voice that answered. Sevin still looked too frightened to do more than stutter.
I gave her a haughty glare as I folded my arms in front of me again. “An intervention.”
Mei huffed. “No, moron. We came here to support you! Not that you couldn’t use one.” She folded her own arms and returned my condescending glare.
Hers was better.
“Support?” The word felt foreign on my tongue.
“Yeah, you know? As friends? We are your friends, idiot.”
My mouth hung open. “But you’re all friends with LaLuna, too, and if she told you, then–”
Mei rose from her spot. “We can be friends with both of you, dunderhead. Besides, you were my friend first, so if I had to pick a side—not that I do, mind you—but if I had to, it’d be you.”
“R-really?”
I was still unused to having
people care about me. Or at least, unused to believing that they really cared about me. Outside of my mother, of course, but that was its own ball of wax. One that I was staying far away from at the moment. That was the last thing I needed right now.
Anyway, my seeming inability to recognize and accept that people might care about me in more than a passing manner was part of what had led to tonight’s disaster. And now it looked like I was going to get to relive the whole thing with an audience.
Joy.
“Yes, Damian,” Mei said in a smooth, smothering tone. She sounded almost motherly in a way. “We really do care about you, and I, for one, didn’t want you to suffer alone.”
My tongue felt thick and raw in my throat. “I… I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you will let us help you, mon ami,” Sevin pleaded. He was smiling at me once again.
“Are… are you sure you want to listen to my ramblings? I mean, you could both be at the bar enjoying what’s left of the night. Are you sure you want to waste it on me instead?”
“Damian.” Mei walked over and put a hand gently on my shoulder, looking into my eyes. “I assure you, the last thing either of us thinks right now is that you’re a waste of time.”
The words gave me some slight comfort, and I felt the tension I’d been holding onto start to leave my body. Maybe this was a safe place after all. Maybe they really did mean well. Maybe.
“Oui, monsieur. You are a friend, not a waste,” Sevin added.
I glanced over at him and flashed him a smile. Good old Sevin. He was a better friend than I deserved. “Thanks, mon ami. That means a lot.”
For a moment, I thought Sevin was going to swoon again from my using French with him, but he just beamed at me instead.
“Now,” Mei said, returning to her seat. “What happened? All LaLuna would tell us was that you weren’t feeling well. So please, what went wrong?”
I let out a long sigh and slumped against the chair. “I really should have known better from the start, seeing as today is Valentine’s Day and all. Holidays never seem to go well for me in the relationship department. Remember Fei Xhi and the Chinese New Year episode?”
