by D F Capps
They crowded in next to Sean in the back seat. Both of them looked him over as they got in, but he couldn’t see anything through the chrome coating on the front of the helmets. The booming sound had stopped and the bright flashes in the night sky had also come to an end. He began to wonder exactly what he had gotten himself into when the car slowed and drove carefully around another saucer-shaped thing stuck sidewise in the ground.
Once back on the dirt road they sped up.
Chapter 62
“We need to secure the other two large saucers before we go into the base,” Ryan said. “Can’t have them coming up behind us.”
Diane glanced to the north where the two remaining transport saucers landed. “No, we can’t have that. Let’s go.”
People still in need of Zeta Grey flash guns picked them up from where the small bodies had fallen. Others raced into the large saucer, emerging armed with the weapons.
Diane led the group north to find the next saucer. They moved noiselessly through the low brush. The size of the saucer made it visible from two hundred yards away, even in the relative darkness. They approached in a crouch, looking for patrols or sentries. So far, there weren’t any.
The Chinese fighter craft flying above had disbursed most of the Zetas. As they got within fifty yards of the saucer Diane saw flashes of light. Flash guns, she thought.
She worked her way closer to the saucer. The Zetas were involved in a deadly flash gun fight on the other side of the transport saucer. Diane led the charge out of the brush firing at the back of the Zetas.
Caught by surprise in a crossfire, some of the Zetas fell before they realized they were in the middle of two firing lines. Diane’s mind was jumping faster than she could move, her heart raced, and her breath was rapid as if she had run a mile at top speed. She aimed and fired the flash gun in rapid sequence. In her peripheral vision, some of her teammates fell to the ground.
Is this it? she wondered. Dr. Cowen’s question about being willing to die in combat drifted through the back of her mind. She had been so sure she would prevail flying in combat that actually dying didn’t have a real feeling to it. Now she wasn’t so sure.
Finally the last Zeta dropped to the ground. Eight of her teammates were on the ground, killed by the Zetas. Diane cautiously walked under the saucer, scanning the edge of the brush for any more Zetas.
Clay stepped out of the brush.
“Appreciate the assist,” he said. “Saucer to the north is secured.”
Helen came running up to Clay.
“The one to the south is, too,” Diane said.
Clay and Helen hugged, awkwardly, it turned out, because of the size of the helmets.
“Then let’s finish this quickly,” he said. “Most of them are already inside the base.”
Diane smiled at seeing the two of them together. “I know.”
Clay went up the ramp and into the saucer with Helen and Diane right behind him. The two tall Grey pilots were aiming flash guns as Clay pressed the kill button on his weapon.
“He who hesitates . . . ” he said. “Time to go inside the base and find out how bad it is.”
Diane’s group formed up with Clay’s group and they all headed for the mine entrance. Two small Greys stood guard, one on each side of the mine.
“This is the tricky part,” Clay said. “Getting close enough without being killed.”
“Not really,” Diane said. She looked around and found a stone the right size. She picked it up and handed it to Clay.
“That’s an old trick.”
Diane chuckled. “Not to them it isn’t.”
Clay took the stone, waited for the Greys to look to the side, and threw it off to the right of the mine entrance. When it hit, the two Greys turned and fired into the brush. Diane and Clay fired, killing the two creatures.
“It’s a good thing you hung on to these things,” Clay said. “Without them we wouldn’t stand much of a chance. I thought we should turn them in so they could be reverse engineered.”
Diane turned to look at him. “And now?”
He grinned. “We have enough for everyone in the squadron with plenty left over for research. Good call.”
Diane led the group into the mine entrance. Where cameras had been mounted, large divots of rock were now blasted out. They found eight dead Zetas lying next to the wall, obviously hit by the particle beam cannons. The cannons themselves were gone, having suffered the same fate as the cameras. The Zetas had used the vaporize button on the flash guns.
Farther into the mine was the blast door. A huge hole had been cut through the door by a particle beam weapon.
“The vaporize button on the flash gun?” Helen guessed.
“I don’t think so,” Diane said. “Too precise. Besides, I don’t think these things have enough power to cut through high density materials like the blast door.”
Diane stepped through the hole in the door and checked the security station. Only fragments of the table, chairs, and other equipment remained. So far no human bodies had been found. Either the security team withdrew, or the Zetas had simply used the vaporize function. It was hard to tell.
They moved on through the second damaged blast door, down the smooth hall, and into the elevator lobby.
“Which floor?” Helen asked.
The echo from the smooth walls was interfering with the sound-based communication system, but it was tolerable.
“Yeah,” Clay said. “The Zetas will be waiting for the door to open. Then they’ll blast us with the flash guns. No way.”
Diane paused and thought for a moment. “Actually, I like the elevator idea,” she said. “We go down the stairs. When we’re ready, someone sends the elevator down to the floor. When the Zetas are all looking at the empty elevator, we fire. Simple.”
Ryan stepped forward. “I can send the elevator.”
He looked like he was in a lot of pain from the capsule impact, added to the shark bites.
“Good idea,” Diane said. “You stay here. We’ve got this.”
Diane led the group down the stairwell. She took a quick glance through the safety glass in the door. Four Zetas were walking toward the elevator in the main residential hallway. She nodded to Clay, who waved his arm out into the open center of the stairwell. Ryan waved back from above. Clay came over and gripped the door handle, ready to pull it open. Diane kept glancing through the glass.
“Almost there,” she said. “Now!”
Clay yanked on the door. As it flew open Diane and two others fired into the hallway. The four Zetas fell, but eight more ran in from the other hallway. Flashes back and forth left all the Zetas and three of Diane’s teammates dead. Mad Dog was screaming in pain, missing most of his arm.
“My arm! It’s on fire! I’m burning!” he shouted.
Diane checked the stump sticking out from his shoulder. It was cut clean and cauterized. Her heart was aching at the personal losses taking place.
“I’ve got him,” Helen said. “Go get those bastards!”
Diane led the group down the hall. “We have to get to the armory,” she said.
Clay was right behind her. “Why?” he asked. “These are better.”
Diane shook her head. “Flashbangs.”
Clay smiled. “I get it.”
They worked their way down the hall, around the corner, and into the security office. Four more security officers lay dead on the floor. Clay opened the door to the armory.
“Everything’s still here.”
Diane looked around. “Of course—they know guns are useless. Get the flashbangs.”
They handed out boxes filled with a dozen flashbangs per box. Each teammate took and carried a box under arm. Once the twenty-four boxes were divvied up, they moved on.
The team methodically cleared the residential level, room by room. The residence rooms were empty, no people and no Zetas. Diane motioned them over to the stairs leading up to the operations level.
As they climbed the stairs, the sh
arp crack of a particle beam weapon echoed down the stairwell. The closer they got to the operations level, the louder the sound grew.
“The Zetas are cutting through the blast door into the OPS center,” Diane told her team. “We have to hurry!”
She glanced through the safety glass in the door. No Zetas in the alcove. Ryan had finally caught up with her. She and five teammates slipped into the alcove with their backs against the stone wall. Diane took a quick peek around the corner. No Zetas there either. The whole group rapidly made their way down the hall to the main corridor. Sneaking up to the corner, she took another quick peek.
The main corridor was packed with Zeta Greys. She could hear gunfire from the main control room, probably shooting through the expanding hole in the blast door. Not going to work, she thought.
Clay held up a flashbang. They were ready.
Diane held up three fingers, two, one, and then pointed to the hall. Ten people rushed into the main corridor, pulled pins, threw flashbangs and ran back into the adjoining hall. Diane knelt down and peered around the corner to see what would happen. Flashbangs clattered down the main corridor, drawing the attention of the Zetas. The closest Zetas used their flash guns in vaporize mode to shoot the skittering canisters before they could go off.
Oh crap! Diane thought.
The Zetas started running at them, flash guns in hand.
“Run!” Diane shouted.
The hallway was too long and the group was too slow reacting. The Zetas were going to round the corner with their weapons in vaporize mode. None of them was going to make it. Clay pulled the pin on a flashbang and dropped it on the floor near the wall as he started to run. Diane followed his lead, pulling pins and dropping flashbangs as she ran.
Her mind raced. We’re doing what the Zetas expect us to do: We’re running. What won’t they expect?
“Stop!” she ordered. “Turn to face them, but lie down on the floor. Fire as soon as you see them.”
The first flashbang went off just as the leading edge of Zetas rounded the corner. The first dozen or so Zetas were stunned and disoriented, dropping their weapons and covering their eyes. They staggered in every direction, hindering the rest of the Zetas from moving quickly into the narrow hallway. As the next batch of Zetas pushed through the crowd, the second, then the third flashbang went off.
Diane’s group opened fire into the mass of staggering Zetas. They were bumping into each other, tripping over fallen creatures, and stumbling into the walls. It was working—the Zetas didn’t expect to see them lying on the floor.
And the flashbangs were working, too. Throwing them from a distance gave the Zetas too much time to react. She repeatedly fired her flash gun into the stunned crowd of Zeta Greys. Clay and Ryan started lobbing more flashbangs over the group of Zetas falling to the floor. The canisters fell into the pressing mass of Zetas pushing around the corner from the main corridor, exploding in the crowd and disorienting all of the creatures.
“Now! Get up and attack!”
Diane and her teammates stood and attacked, some firing their flash guns while others pulled pins and threw flashbangs over the heads of the Zeta Greys. The flood of Zetas pressed relentlessly toward the hall. Flashbang canisters ricocheted off the far stone wall of the main corridor and fell into the fumbling crush of creatures. Carefully, Diane and her group stepped over the accumulating bodies of Zetas, fired into the mass of stunned creatures, and threw flashbangs over the heads of the crowd.
The Zetas that were still functioning were at the far side of the stunned aliens, unable to see what was happening. She saw three Zeta Grey heads sticking up above the others.
Tall Greys, she thought. They can think, analyze, and give orders.
“Aim for the tall Greys,” she ordered. “Those are the ones in charge.”
Because the small Zetas were all the same height and their heads were so large, none of them could get a clear view of the situation, and the flashbang canisters fell to the floor almost unnoticed. The three tall Greys turned and ran.
Chapter 63
Sean looked at the huge saucer that sat across the road in front of them. As they got out of the car, he could smell a strange odor in the air. He took several more photos and then walked forward, following the four people in the chrome suits. He stopped when he saw the first dead alien and took another set of photos. It looked just like some of the depictions of short Grey aliens in the code word documents.
They’re real, he thought. That’s when it dawned on him: The electromagnetic shield. It wasn’t for incoming warheads; it was to stop flying saucers. But they were already here. How much worse was this situation going to get?
* * *
The loud crack of the particle beam cannon stopped as the remaining Zetas rushed toward the center of the battle. Diane, Clay, and Ryan pressed themselves against the stone wall, allowing their teammates to move forward and throw the canisters they carried. The main corridor was filled with rapid flashes as Diane and her team crawled over piles of dead Zetas, pushing the battle to the heavily damaged blast door of the OPS center. Finally the last small Zeta fell to the floor, dead.
“The three leaders ran this way,” Diane said.
Clay and four others followed her down the wide hall to the intersection where two smaller passageways split off—one to the right, the other to the left. The passageways were empty. Diane felt a flush of warmth inside her suit and thought, The dry ice is gone. Three to five minutes before we pass out from heatstroke.
Which way? she wondered. Diane looked right, and then left. The passageways lead to the particle beam cannon rooms, but the cannons had all been destroyed by fire from the saucers, coming from the outside.
“Outside,” she said to herself. But at this level it was a shear drop outside the cannon ports to the valley below. There was nowhere to go. She looked at the door to the stairs. Up or down? The lower level cannon ports had the same problem—shear outside drops—so up. The top of the mountain was rounded, allowing the Greys to walk out of the cannon ports onto the rocks outside, where they could be rescued.
Diane raced to the stairwell door, glanced through the safety glass, and pushed the door open.
“Which way?” Clay asked.
She looked up the stairs. “They’re going up. It’s the only way they can get out of the base.”
Clay looked confused. “There aren’t any doors up there.”
She shook her head. “The cannon ports must have all been blasted open. They can crawl out through them.”
They climbed the stairs to the next level, watching for any sign of the tall Greys. Sweat poured down Diane’s face, into her eyes, and down into the legs of her flight suit.
“We can’t take our helmets off without revealing our position and subjecting ourselves to Zeta Grey mind control,” she said.
Clay breathed out hard. “We’re going to have to split up.”
Diane shook her head. “No, it’s too easy for them to pick us off. Let’s stay together.”
Clay shrugged. “Then which way?”
Diane looked around. “Give me a chance to think.” She closed her eyes, calmed her mind. In the far reaches of her awareness she could sense the three tall Greys, communicating mind-to-mind. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, willing her mind to ignore the heat inside her flight suit, the sweat in her eyes, and the fluid building up around her legs.
“Up,” she said. “Top level.”
The six of them raced up the stairs. At the top landing Clay took a quick look through the safety glass and yanked the door open. They sprang into the passageway, aiming the flash guns to each side. Nothing.
Diane closed her eyes again and tried to sense where the tall Greys were. She turned slowly to the right, then to the left. She was aware that they were close, but the right seemed to be just like the left. There wasn’t any difference. So what do I do? she asked herself. Flip a coin?
Then it dawned on her: There was a third passageway, just around
the corner from the stairwell.
“This way.”
They ran down the narrow hall to the set of steps at the end. Diane held her flash gun steady as she slowly climbed the eight steps to the upper landing. The blast door was partially open.
“They figured out how to get the blast door open,” Clay said.
She nodded. “You got any flashbangs left?”
Clay shook his head.
“I’ve got two,” one of the others said.
Another member of the flight crew stepped forward. “I’ve got one.”
“And I’ve got another,” a third member said.
Diane stared at the flashbangs they held in their hands. “That’s it? Four?”
Clay nodded. “All at once?”
Diane glanced at the open blast door. “They could be gone already. Try one.”
Clay took a flashbang, pulled the pin and tossed it around the door and into the room. There was a very bright flash, and then nothing.
“The flashbang got vaporized, so they’re still in there.”
Diane jumped across the opening, forcing her back to the wall next to the door. She rotated the collar on the front of her flash gun for wide angle.
“Okay. All three flashbangs at once: three, two, one!”
Her team pulled the pins and threw the flashbangs around the blast door. As soon as Diane saw the first of the flashes vaporizing the flashbangs she swung her arm into the doorway and pressed the vaporize button. The second and third flashes from the tall Greys rapidly followed the first and happened just before the flash from her own gun discharged. Diane sprang into the doorway pressing the vaporize button again.
Parts of two of the tall Greys that hadn’t been vaporized fell down the pile of rubble, while the third one struggled, missing an arm and part of its torso. Diane rotated the collar to narrow beam, aimed, and pressed the middle button. The last tall Grey tumbled down the rubble and rolled out onto the floor among the debris from the battle.
