Secrets Beyond the Moon: Strangers from the sky

by NB Blackbell

  The minutes passed, and it was time for the groups to pile into their vehicles and head towards their allotted destinations. Each driver had a device in the car, and the layout was simple and direct. One would stay in the vehicle to protect the equipment and one would chop, while the last would light the head on fire. Jasper whispered to Nick, "I know we have a plan, and it seems like a great plan, but have we given it any thought how the aliens on foot may react to this device? We saw the ship fall out of the sky and crash; they didn't have much choice other than to lay there. They were stuck in the broken-down craft." Nick thought about what she said. "Perhaps they won't be as simple, but as long as we're careful, we should be able to control the situation. I need you to be extra careful. If anything happens to you, I won't be able to handle it." Jasper laid her head on his shoulder. "I promise I'll be conscientious."

  Nick ran his fingers through her hair, then kissed the top of her head. Jasper looked up at him, but before she could speak, he put his lips on hers and pushed her gently against the wall. She placed her hand against his cheek, "I promise I'll be all right," He frowned, "I needed to do that just in case I never got the chance to." Jasper let out a deep sigh and nodded, "We better go."

  The groups paused multiple times to deal with several ships that crashed due to the machine. Having fallen out of the sky, they were not that difficult to deal with. After reaching their destination, Jasper and the rest of her crew jumped out of the car. The men seized their axes and headed towards the bodies of the aliens. In the distance, they could see John and Jake doing the same. The aliens were everywhere throughout the streets. They weren't like the ones in the hovercrafts. Their bodies swung around fiercely, filled with anger, their tails swinging and beating against the pavement with a deep thump as it hit the ground. Jasper called out to the guys, "Be careful! Watch out for the tails!" Nick swung, hitting the first one right between the shoulder blades. Jasper poured lighter fluid over it and then lit it on fire. The shrieks coming from it were unbearable. Within moments, screams were coming from all over. The men proceeded, killing alien after alien. Jake jumped, after nearly being hit by a tail, "Damn it! That was too close." John's eyes were wide open. "You think that's bad! I'm terrified I'm going to lose a foot due to these claws." Faith quickly lit the head on fire, overseeing it as the head slowly burned. "Oh, this's gross!" she grumbled. John glanced over quickly. "Concentrate, Faith."

  Across the way, Larzo, Mark and Marcy stood listening to the surrounding screams. Marcy's eyes filled with tears. "They're so loud, I don't like this at all." Mark turned and stared at her. "Really? Do you think any of us like it?" In front of them, an alien lay, his tail swinging, ripping up the pavement each time it landed. Larzo ran over and swung his axe but missed, barely making it out of the way as the tail came at him. He turned and looked at Mark. "Holy shit! That was close." Mark ran over to help his friend. As he approached him, the alien swung up and took a chunk out of Larzo's neck. Mark froze dead in his tracks. Frozen with fear, he watched as Larzo fell to the ground. The alien reached over and ran his claws across Larzo's body, ripping him wide open. Mark watched as his insides hit the ground. Taking a deep breath, Mark brought himself back to reality. He ran over to the alien, keeping an eye on the tail as he swung his axe, hitting the alien right across the neck. The creature began to screech. As its head rolled off, it knocked Mark off balance. His mask came loose and fell to the ground. Mark panicked and reached for his gas mask, but before he could get it, the gas took hold of him. He fell to his knees and peered around; his eyes filled with tears. He began to scream, "I just want to go home. I'm never getting home." Mark grabbed his chest tightly as he cried even louder. Faith looked over and saw Mark as he hit the ground. "Oh my God, John! She screamed. "I think Mark's having a heart attack." John looked at Mark. "He lost his mask. We can't do anything for him now. Keep igniting them, Faith. If we don't keep going, that could be us next." Marcy became hysterical when she saw Mark hit the ground. She started to cry after she realized that she was the only one left in their tiny group. She ran towards Mark, clutched his axe and then headed towards another alien. Marcy thought to herself, I can kill it myself. Remember, just go for the neck. She swung the axe hard, coming down on the alien's head, cracking open the skull but not removing the head from the neck. Damn it! She thought. The tail swung at her, but luckily, she jumped out of the way. As she moved, she tripped over Larzo's body, causing her mask to fall to the ground. She stared at his guts that laid on the ground and at his lifeless body. Her attention turned to Beth. Oh my God, she thought as she ran her death through her mind over and over again. The effects of the gas had gotten to Marcy. She never thought of picking up her mask, which was lying on the ground. She got up and ran as if she was running towards someone or something. She was angry, her eyes filled with tears. John stopped what he was doing and chased after her. "Marcy! Stop! It's just the gas affecting you." Marcy turned, her face filled with anger and fear at the same time. John watched as her body slashed open right before his eyes. He looked around. It has to be the gas, he thought as he didn't see any aliens attacking her. She fell to the ground. Blood poured from her ripped open body. John hurried back to finish killing the aliens. "Sorry, Faith There wasn't any chance of saving her. Just concentrate, baby. We need to be focused, or that can be us." Faith took a breath and lit the match, then threw it on the alien's head. From that time onward, she looked at her group and only her group. "Don't worry about me, John, I'm here to do my job."

  Jasper ran towards the men as they travelled towards the next alien. This one was different. She recognized him. It was her father. She stepped up to him and crouched, but not close enough to get hurt. "Father, is that you?" The alien stared up at her. They hated speaking English, but in such a case, he made an exception. "Jasper, it's you? Save me. I'm not part of this. Anything I've done, I was forced to." Jasper's eyes widened. "Really?" she asked, hoping there was a chance. Nick reached over and pulled her up. "It's a trick, Jasper. Don't fall for it. Step back and let us deal with him." Jasper took a breath then stepped back. "Wait," she said. She looked at her father. "You need to know something. Jake and I are stronger than you. You may have bred us to fight for you, but we have a choice. I will fight till there are none of you left, and then I will go home as a human." She got up and turned her back. "Go ahead." She got her lighter fluid ready and lit the match, and when the guys were done, she lit her father on fire. Nick pulled Jasper aside. "Are you all right?" Jasper took a breath. "I will be when this is all over." Nick waved for John and his team to come over. As the group approached, he said. "Just touching base, I think it's important to take a breather when we can, even if it's just to get in touch with reality. The aliens don't seem to be getting up and running, so as long as we are careful, we can take our time."

  John let out a huge sigh. "We lost a few, Larzo, Mark and Marcy. It was gruesome. Two out of the three deaths were gas-related." Jake grabbed Jasper's arm. "Are you all right?" She gazed up at her brother. "We killed our father. He tried to play on my human emotions, but Nick didn't let that happen. I told him that we were stronger than him, and then I turned my back when it happened." Jake reached over and hugged her. "I'm sorry you had to do that. We'll talk more about it later when all of this is done." Jake turned and looked around, then took a deep breath. "I don't know about you, but I want to do this and get it over with. I need to find a way home." He smiled at Isabel, who was peering out the car window. The two groups got back to work, killing more and more aliens as the day passed. Sometimes they would pause and listen to a human scream they would hear and would bow their head in sorrow. Immediately turning and proceeding with her job, Jasper looked around and asked, "Have you noticed the fog has lightened? You can actually see a bit further. Do you think it had anything to do with my wish?" Nick glanced over. "I don't think so. If you wished for it, wouldn't it all be gone?" He swung the axe down on the alien's neck as he spoke.

  The head rolled towards Jasper. She started to squ
eal. As she jumped back, she poured the lighter fluid over the alien's head and lit it on fire. She took a deep breath then looked at Nick and Billy. "That was gross," Nick smirked. "I bet it was." John swung the axe, hitting the alien as it tried to come at him. Its head flew off and rolled past him. Jake tried to jump out of the way as the body of the alien fell back, landing right on top of Jake. "Holy shit! He's heavy!" Jake struggled to breathe as John tried to pull it off him, "Billy, hurry! We need you."

  Billy ran over to them both and pulled the body off of Jake. John's eyes widened. "Wow! They weren't kidding when they said you were strong. You okay, Jake? Anything broke?" Jake got up. "No, I may not feel great in the morning, though. Thanks, Billy. That bugger was heavy. He had to have weighed about five hundred pounds." Billy shook his head, "Felt more than that." The groups got back to work. John thought to himself as he proceeded to chop off the alien's heads. If we're having this much trouble, I have to wonder about the rest of the world.

  Hours passed, the two groups stepped aside to catch their breath. Faith looked around at the alien bodies that lay everywhere. "How many more can there be? There are so many of them all over the place." John wrapped his arm around her. "I don't know, but we must keep going till we're confident that we've won. I don't know about you guys, but that won't be till we see none with a head… or we see that our world is back." He kissed his wife on the forehead and motioned for everyone to get back to work. As they continued killing the aliens, Isabel and her daughter watched closely. Her daughter looked up at her and said, "Mommy, I don't see the head guy anywhere." Isabel looked over at her daughter. "You know what he looks like? How can you tell the difference? They all kind of look the same, don't you think?" Christie nodded. "But he has a different shaped head, and his neck is longer." Isabel pulled her closer. "You have a great sense of observation, my child." Christie shrugged, "He is the one who made this world, so I know he's still alive."

  Isabel stared out the window. "I'm not sure I understand how that makes a difference." Christie looked up at her mother. "If he were dead, your world would be here, not his." Isabel's eyes widened. "Oh, I never thought of that. So, we'll know when we see our world reappear." Reaching over, she kissed her daughter on the forehead. "You're such a big help. I've been trying to figure out how they built this world to start with. So, once the main guy's dead, we're home." Across the way, she could see Jake swinging the axe and coming down on the alien hard. "I sure hope they're all safe when this is done."

  Jake motioned for Faith to burn the head. John and Jake moved onto the next one. John swung his axe, but as he did, the alien moved. Faith stood ready to burn the head, but instead, the alien seized her, digging his claws deep into her stomach, and then again across her chest. John screamed and fell to the ground next to her. Jake swung his axe, hitting the alien right across the neck. "Nick, come here! We need you!" he shouted. Jake sat next to Faith and held her hand. Nick came running. "Move!" he shouted. "Out of my way!" Jake stood up and backed away. Nick lay his hand on Faith's wounds. He closed his eyes and prayed they would shut. Nick never understood what it was that caused the healing; he just proceeded to try every way he could to save her life. Blood gushed out between his fingers as he pressed on her injuries. Please let her heal, he deemed. Don't let her die. Minutes later, he heard her gasp. Faith's eyes were open, and tears were flowing down John's face as he looked over at Nick.

  "Thank you for saving her. I don't know what I would've done if I'd lost her." John peered down at his wife as she put her hand on his face. Nick took a deep breath, still unsure of how the whole thing worked, but thankful that it did. Faith sat up and clutched her shirt. It was shredded from where the alien had clawed her. John reached up and pulled his shirt off. "Here, put this on." He helped her up, but not before she noticed the tears in her husband's eyes. "Don't worry, I'm all right now. I'll be more careful from now on." He nodded as they all walked over to continue working. Faith now worried that her husband's attention would not be on his job.

  They fought for hours, bringing the aliens down. Their heads pounded from the screams the aliens let out, and with so many dying, it seemed to be constant throughout the day. Jasper crouched close to the ground. Nick walked over and squatted next to her. "All okay?" She looked over at him. "I'm glad you're okay. I don't know what I would've done if any of the people we have lost would've been you." He clutched her chin and looked into her eyes. "I'm all right, I need you to remember that." He ran his hand across her face. "You keep me going. I'm pretty sure I was put on this earth just for you; therefore, I better survive this, don't you think?" She gave a slight grin.

  "Yeah, I think you best." He stood up and looked over at the rest of the group. "This has been such a long day. Do these motherfuckers ever end?" Jasper stood up and peered around too. "What if we kill them all, and we still have to live here in their world?" Nick proceeded to look around. "Then we make the best of it. You and I will walk Buddy through the nasty green fog, across an alien-built park and remember that we kicked their butt" She giggled. "Only you can make me laugh in such a grotesque situation."

  Christie started to scream, "Mommy! It's him!" Isabel looked around and spotted an alien crawling away. "No way, you bastard!" She jumped into the front seat of the car. "Hold on, Baby." She turned the car on and stepped on the gas. The group stood in awe as she rammed the alien with the vehicle. Jake ran over and gasped at the front end of the car as he looked in. "Are you all right?" She nodded. "That's the head guy., he was trying to crawl away." Jake motioned for her to back up. Isabel put the car into reverse and pulled away. The group looked at the alien as he swung his tail, trying to hit them. "Stupid humans!" he screamed. Jake was surprised.

  "Oh, you can speak. We don't look so stupid now, do we? You're the one lying on the ground about to die." The alien squinted his eyes. "This will never be over, not until every last one of you is dead." John looked around at all the dead aliens and asked him, "Have you not looked around? It's your guys lying dead, and now we're standing over you. Any last words, asshole, before we kill you?" The alien turned his head and stared at Jasper. "You will never be human, go ahead and kill me. You will never own this earth. We will take you down, no matter what. You will always wonder what's next, and if you will ever sleep peacefully again." Jake swung his axe and came down across his neck. "Enough of that! I don't want to hear no more bullshit out of that mouth." His head rolled across the way.

  Jasper walked over to it before she lit it on fire. She squatted down next to him. "What do you mean, I'll never be human?" The alien laughed. "Kill me, you stupid human." Jasper stood back and looked at him. Then she poured the fluid over his head and lit him on fire. She glanced at Billy, who stood next to her. "What do you think he meant by I'll never be human?" Billy shook his head. "I don't know, but don't let him get to you. Look at him, he'll be dead in a few minutes, and you and I will have one less alien to deal with." Jasper smiled, "You're right." She glanced over at Faith and repeated, "One less alien." Faith smiled, "Let's get this finished, Guys. Do you see any more that need to be killed?" The group stood looking around. In the distance, they could see a few. "Over there!" yelled John. The group ran over towards them. Before joining them, Jasper glanced down at the flaming head. He wasn't quite dead yet. His eyeball twitched as he stared back at her. She got up and rushed towards the group. Her steps felt lighter every time they hit the ground. What the hell! She thought to herself as she stopped and looked around. The air around her felt strange. "Nick, what's going on?"

  Nick ran towards Jasper, the rest of the group followed. Jasper stood there in a daze. Soon everyone felt what she had felt. "What the hell is that!" said Nick. Faith grabbed onto John. "What's happening?" Nick grabbed Jasper's hand. "I'm not sure what's happening. Let's get out of here, we can continue this tomorrow." Each group jumped back into their cars. As they drove away, they opened the windows and let the air horns go off several times, so the others knew to meet them back at the hotel.

  Joh
n turned to Faith. "I sure hope they heard that." Faith shook her head. "Keep doing it just in case they didn't hear you." John resumed blowing the air horn out the window, hoping others would hear it. Jasper held Nick's hand tightly as Isabel drove. "So, you all felt that, too, right?" Billy turned around and peered at the back seat. "I did, it was like there was a vibration coming from the ground. Perhaps we're getting an earthquake or something." Jasper shook her head, "Maybe, but I felt it in the air too." Nick stared out the window. He could feel the change in the air, but he didn't know what it was either. "Let's just get back in one piece, and we'll worry about this tomorrow. As long as the devices are on, we're safe for the night. Tomorrow, we'll take down the rest of them." The group drove for about thirty minutes before pulling up to the hotel. As they pulled in, they leaned forward.