Beachhead Series Collected Adventures Volume One: Invasion Earth series box set

by Chris Lowry

  The man hadn’t shut up since they woke up in the boxcar together. That’s what he could remember, what the others said they could remember. Waking up to the train rocking back and forth, the clacking of the wheels on rail as it raced to wherever it was going.

  Jake didn’t know where he had been. There were faint memories, hints of them, nothing more. A lot of light. A lot of chrome. Pain. But nothing else.

  Not even who he was. He knew he was a human, knew he had been a child, had grown into adulthood, and that aliens took over his planet. He knew these things like knowing how to breath, or how to make his heart beat in his chest.

  It was instinctual, primal.

  But he couldn’t say what his last name was.

  Where he was from. What he had done before he woke up. Maybe he was a soldier. The guns the men in the squad carried looked familiar, had a familiar feel.

  Or maybe he was a weapons maker too. The blank spots in his mind were his alone. The Doc had plenty to say, most of it about the past, and their present situation. The girl just nodded a lot.

  Maybe Jake had some special knowledge and the humans wiped his mind so he wouldn’t fall into alien hands. He held that up to the light, twisted the thought around and examined it for a few minutes.

  He didn’t feel special or smart, or like he was the secret keeper for the human race.

  What he felt was tired. Tired of his head aching, tired of the looks of suspicion from the soldiers, and tired of not knowing.

  Why were they on the train?

  Where were they going?

  He stared into the darkness and waited to see if the stars winking on above would offer an answer, but they did not.

  At least the Doc was quiet, if Jake didn’t count snoring.

  None of the soldiers snored. He could feel them around the clearing, the presence of their bodies blocking off natural noise and insect hum, acting as breaks, but he could not hear them snoring or stirring.

  He envied them. Envied their ability to sleep so well. They must know who they are, where they were from.

  He wondered about the girl. Wondered about her story, and the Lt who he had taken an instant dislike to. The man just rubbed him the wrong way, with his squinty eyes and strong jaw, and unasked questions. Jake could feel them burning off the man.

  He sighed and rolled over, searching for a position where his head wouldn’t ache.

  White eyes stared at him in the darkness.

  “What?” he whispered.

  Steph shrugged one shoulder, the other trapped under her body, unable to move.

  “Do you remember?” she asked.

  He glared at her, shook his head, then realized she might not be able to see it.

  “No. You?”

  “No. He seems to remember enough for the both of us.”

  He sniffed and settled into the ground.

  “I don’t know if I want to remember,” she said in a voice so low he almost didn’t hear her.

  He didn’t answer. Because he knew just how she felt.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Bonney leaned against an oak tree and stared at the battered weapon in his hand. The M16 had more advanced versions since this one had been in service, but those were lost in the first round of fighting the invasion.

  The rest of the inventory was mopped up in laser carpet bombs that took out bases and armories.

  These were scavenged. From battlefields, from museums, from homes. He could list off three other types of rifles in his squad, including an AK-47 and a .306 Winchester.

  There were rumors about other weapons out there. The stuff they sent to Mars to fight in the first place.

  But common wisdom held the labs and places where those weapons were kept had been destroyed.

  So, the Doc was lying, he thought to himself.

  He rested the rifle against the rough bark of the tree and aimed into the clearing. Lt wished he had a night scope.

  It was hard to make out shapes, little more than darker spots of shadow on the ground. If the moon was out, it would be easier, but that was a double edged sword. If the moon was so bright he could see, then he could be seen.

  One of the shadows moved on the far side of the clearing, slipping into the trees.

  Lt glanced at the luminous numbers on the windup watch he wore face in on his wrist.

  Right on time.

  A second shadow disappeared three minutes later.

  Now he just had to wait.

  Nothing else moved in the clearing, the light snoring of the Doc carrying several yards into the trees.

  He didn’t wait long.

  Lt heard the hover car come in fast and low, the roar of the wind turbines scattering leaves and small branches as it dropped in over the clearing.

  The bottom folded open like a clam, dropping six Licks down onto the ground, weapons hot.

  Lt popped two while they were still in the air, aiming at the shadow of their heads backlit by the interior of the hoverjet.

  Babe shot one, Lutz got two more, so that only one was still alive when it landed.

  Lt lined up and sent a round through its snout at the same time Lutz took a shot from the opposite direction. The Lick head disintegrated from the top of its body, a geyser of fluid spraying across the clearing.

  Then Babe lobbed a Molotov cocktail into the hover jet.

  The pilot tried to escape, pulled back on the stick and roared a hundred yards away before the flames spread into the cockpit and cooked it. The twitching arms on the yoke yanked the hover jet into a dive.

  It plowed through the forest, leaving a flaming trail away from the clearing until it exploded, showering the horizon with orange red glowing flames.

  “Everyone up!” Lt yelled as he stepped out of the trees.

  Babe and Lutz detached from the trees where they had set up the counter ambush and kept their weapons on the three people on the ground.

  The soldiers were on their feet. Jake was too. Steph and Doc were slower, confusion causing them to move with arrested steps, as if they were still dreaming.

  “Lutz, get us a path through them woods.”

  Lutz took off on a double trot. The rest fell in line behind him, Babe corralling the three stumbling ex-prisoners in behind Danish.

  Lt brought up the rear, gun still up and ready.

  It would be nice if they had better weapons, he thought. But damn if they didn’t make good due with what they had.

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  He called for a rest five miles later. His watch told him it was 2:00 am, and they were wiped.

  His squad had been up and at it since four the day before, and two fights had left them tired as the adrenaline worked out of their system.

  “How did you know?” he heard Jake ask.

  Lt could feel him staring at him, feel them all looking at him.

  “Pray for daylight Chief.”

  “What happens at daylight?” the young man asked in the dark.

  “Then we can see what you’re up to,” Lt answered in a steely voice.

  The squad surrounded the trio. Jake could hear them trump to points around them, and settle onto the ground, even if he couldn’t see them.

  Watching us, he thought.

  He stared at the dark mound next to him, seated on the ground, her back to him, and the Doc next to her.

  No one said anything, and after a few moments, he could hear the steady breathing of the Doc, head slumped on his concave chest.

  But the soldiers didn’t snore. Didn’t move.

  At last, the sky to the east turned a shade of purple as violet infused light gave everything a gray cast.

  Jake couldn’t make out the faces of the men watching him, watching the others, not at first.

  Then the shadows dissolved as sunlight crept across the clearing.

  When it reached the toes of his borrowed boots, Lt stood up and whistled.

  The rest of the squad jumped to their feet and as one they advanced on the three figures in a tig
ht circle.

  “Up,” Lt commanded in a soft voice.

  Jake stood. Steph nudged the Doc, startled him awake and they both stood on creaking shaky legs.

  “Strip.”

  “Excuse me,” Steph huffed.

  “Your clothes. All of ‘em. Take ‘em off.”

  She crossed her arms across her chest, wrapping her hands tight.

  “I will not,” she fumed.

  “Look lady,” Lt snarled. “I know what you’re thinking. Six of us out here, strapping young men and you the only woman around. You’re afraid we’re going to take our way with you. But I’m here to tell you, that ain’t gonna happen.”

  He squinted at Babe and Lutz.

  “Is it boys?”

  “No Sir,” said Babe.

  “I don’t even like girls,” Lutz muttered.

  Babe shot him a look and he shrugged.

  “So, see, one of you is bugged. That’s the only explanation I can find. And when I find who it is,” Lt glared at Doc. “I think that’s going to go a long way to solve my trust issues.”

  Doc shrugged his shoulders and began to unbutton the frayed jacket he wore. He dropped it to the dirt, followed by his shirt, tee shirt and pants.

  He stood shivering in a pair of tight white briefs, gone gray through use and lack of washing.

  “All of it Doc,” said Lt.

  He made a motion with his head and Crocket grabbed the clothes and began turning the pockets out.

  “Next,” Lt invited while Crocket continued the search.

  Steph gave him a woeful look, eyes full of fear as she took off her jacket with ginger motions. Her shirt followed, then her pants until she was standing next to the Doc in her bra and panties.

  She glanced over at him, and he gave an encouraging nod, and together, they stripped to their bare skin.

  Leroy gave a huff of appreciation.

  “Shut it!” Lt commanded. “Turn around.”

  He made a spinning motion with one finger up in the air, Lutz and Babe leaning in to examine them as they did.

  Danish grabbed her fallen clothes and kneeled next to Crocket to go through them.

  “Satisfied?” Steph sneered.

  “Babe?”

  “I don’t see any marks,” the big man answered. “Nothing under their skin.”

  “I think we would know if we were marred with a tracking device,” said the Doc.

  “Yeah, but you likely wouldn’t tell us, no would you. Especially if you were collaborating,” said Lt. “When they’re finished, you can put your clothes back on.”

  He turned to Jake.

  “Now you Chief.”

  Jake dropped his pants first. He was bare underneath.

  “No shoes, no drawers,” Lt said in a low voice. “What did they do with you?”

  “I wish I knew,” answered Jake as he shucked his jacket and shirt.

  He spun around without waiting to be ordered, slow so they could examine him too.

  “Clear,” announced Lutz.

  Lt stood back while they bent to examine his clothes.

  “Here,” said Babe and held up the shirt.

  A tiny device shaped like a grain of rice was sealed into the hem of the ratty tee shirt.

  Lt held it up and examined it.

  “Did you know about this?” he asked but he didn’t expect an answer.

  “About it?” Jake snarled as he stared at it. “I don’t know what it is.”

  “Fascinating,” said Doc as he finished dressing and stepped forward. “May I?”

  Lt twisted it back and forth in the growing sunlight, then dropped it into Doc’s outstretched palm.

  “RFID,” he said as he studied it. “Radio Frequency Identification Tag.”

  “Things no bigger than a tick,” said Lt. “They could have put that in your skin.”

  Crocket and Danish stared at the tiny little device, hard to see in Webber’s hand.

  “I wasn’t feeling for anything that small, Lt,” Crockett confessed.

  Lt waved them forward, and they examined the clothes again, this time while the girl and older man were wearing them.

  “Can I get dressed now?” Jake asked, forgotten off to one side.

  He didn’t wait for an answer, but slid into his jeans and stood on one foot to put on his boot before switching legs for the other.

  He shivered as goose pimples popped out on his bare flesh.

  Babe used his rifle to fish up the jacket and pass it back to him.

  “We were using these in shipping before the aliens arrived,” Doc mused. “Looks like they repurposed it.”

  “Smart said,” Lt as he scanned the skies.

  He held out his hand. Doc clenched his fist around it.

  “Are you going to destroy it?”

  “Hell yeah, I’m going to destroy the damn thing. It’ll lead the Lick right to us.”

  “But,” Doc licked his lips and took a deep breath. “What if it led the Lick away from us instead?”

  Lt pursed his lips and squinted at the man.

  “How far do you think that stream goes?” Doc took Bonney’s silence for an invitation to continue. “We could stick the tracker to a branch and send it downstream. The aliens would chase it instead of us.”

  Lutz nodded.

  “Makes sense, Lt.”

  “I know it does,” Lt snorted. “I’m just wondering, that’s all.”

  “Wondering what?” Lutz asked.

  “If this is a feint to get our trust and set us up for something bigger later.”

  “If you don’t trust us,” said Jake. “You could just turn us loose.”

  Steph perked up at that idea, but the Doc just watched while he waited for an answer.

  “Can’t turn you loose yet,” said Lt after a moment of thought. “That’s just as good as shooting you out here. But the more I think on your idea, the more I like it. Let’s get it done.”

  Doc didn’t move fast enough for his taste though.

  “Come on Doc!” he barked. “Licks could be chasing it down right now, mad as hell we knocked their last ship out of the sky with a bottle of gas.”

  “And I’m out of gas,” said Babe.

  The Doc foraged for the right size branch, with a split in the end deep enough to lodge the RFID, the tossed it into the narrow stream.

  The squad and their three guests watched it spin and twist until it disappeared.

  Once it was gone, Danish took point and led them away from the clearing away from the stream.

  Lt brought up the rear, watching the three as they marched. Sooner or later, he was going to have to decide what to do with them.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  The Lick Commander stared at the radar display and watched a small dot move across the holographic image.

  The dot blinked in red, then disappeared from the topographic map that stretched from the floor to waist high in the middle of the chamber.

  His tongue darted out, flickered and disappeared back into his snout.

  “So, you see,” he hissed.

  He reached up and flicked off the human translator box he wore on a collar around his throat at her flicker of annoyance.

  The Nestmate had landed and demanded to see his progress. He showed her to the chamber, where they watched video of the attack, and the subsequent offloading of supplies.

  “You did not think to put tracking devices in the supplies?” she hissed at him.

  He bowed his head. His silence was answer enough.

  “An oversight,” she forgave him, and caused him to look up with his yellow eyes wide.

  His Eminence was not known for forgiveness, nor was he reluctant to punish even the most minor mistake.

  The utterance of his Nestmate was tantamount to treason.

  She stared at him, as if daring him to contradict her, or worse, report her on the intergalactic communicator.