by Troy Snyder
“What’s going on?” Alexander questioned stopping in his tracks.
“I have no idea, this is the first time this has happened.” Manuel touched the wall, “It’s warm, what did you do?” he accused.
“Nothing, you were watching us the whole time.”
Alexander continued toward the large glowing rectangle at the end of the hall, he was followed by his men and Manuel. All along the blue continued to snake its way along with them lighting the room in its bluish tinge. When they reached the rectangle, it looked like just a glowing box. It stood near ten-foot-tall and six wide. Next to it was a panel of flashing lights and unknown symbols sliding across the small screen.
“Tony, you’re our technical expert, what is that panel and what is this thing?”
Antonio looked at the panel for a moment before replying, “Shit’s old.” He said at length.
“Anything else, it seems a bit advanced to be old.”
“It is.”
“Thanks. Your insight is always wonderful. Manuel, what is this?”
“This, my friend, is what the government wants. See those symbols,” Manuel said pointing to the symbols above the rectangle. “They say ‘Here rests Quetzalcoatl. Traitor’.”
“You expect us to believe a god is behind this?” Nate said gesturing toward the wall.
“No, not a god. There were no gods. When the people believed the gods ignored them, they weren’t. They left.”
“To where?” Alexander inquired.
“Home, I guess. The gods were many different races of advanced beings. One day they simply left.”
“Say you’re right, say this did happen. Why is this one still here and branded a ‘traitor’?”
“My people formed a secret society with the help of Tezcatlipoca, another god at the time; we are assigned to guard this chamber from all threats to ensure Quetzalcoatl stays asleep. For if he is to awaken it will be the end of our society and the people of the world will suffer greatly, he will destroy us. As for the ‘traitor’ part, my people say when the gods of old left, Quetzalcoatl refused. He wanted to stay as a god and rule the people. This is his prison.”
A silence fell over the areas the men digested what they just heard. Aliens. One was right behind the glowing rectangle in front of them. Alexander was wishing he could see it when a beeping drew his attention. One of the snaking blue lines had reached the panel on the wall and caused it to start beeping and a repetitive stream of words to flash on the screen.
“Manuel what’s that?” Alexander asked.
“No idea, none of this has happened before.”
The rectangle slowly started moving backward revealing a chamber behind. Gasps escaped everyone and they quickly stepped back and their hands shot to their weapons.
The chamber finally cleared of the blue block of energy that covered it. Inside was a sarcophagus with more of the ancient symbols. Alexander and Manuel entered the room cautiously.
“Manuel can you read this?” Alexander asked gesturing to the line of writing.
“No, it’s unlike anything I have ever seen, even different from the symbols outside.”
“Then how did you read who lay here?”
“That was in ancient Aztec. The symbols on the walls out there aren’t, and these,” he said, gesturing to the symbols, “are different as well.”
“Wait, I thought the Mayans controlled this area at the time?”
“They did, but our society was not limited by borders. With Tezcatlipoca's help we built this place in secret and kept it safe. This… I don’t know what this is.” He said gesturing to the writing again.
The two men eyed the sarcophagus warily. Alexander felt warmth behind him and turned to look.
“That can’t be good…” he said.
Manuel's eyes shot to the area Alexander indicated. “Madre de Dios…” he said making a quick cross gesture.
“I think we should move. Now.” He said as the light hit the coffin.
“Sí,” Manuel said nodding his head erratically.
Both men back peddled hastily from the room keeping one eye on the sarcophagus. As soon as they reached their men the sarcophagus began to change from the pulsating blue to a rapid flashing deep red. Time seemed to slow as the flash turned to a steady red and the lid of the sarcophagus split in half horizontally and began to open.
“Impossible,” Manuel whispered next to Alexander. His jaw was hanging open and he stared wide eyed at the sarcophagus. “He’s awakening.”
“And from what you told me he’s going to be a little cranky, especially after being locked up so long.” Alexander gave quick gestures sending his men in motion to take position behind the pillars leading to the chamber. Each pillar was only wide enough to cover one man, Alexander chose to kneel in the spot he stood, weapon trained on the sarcophagus.
Seeing the Demon Boys in motion snapped Manuel from his daze. He ordered his men to follow suit, but there were too few pillars to house all the men. The men without the shelter of the pillars felt extremely exposed in the back of the room near the narrow tunnel leading out.
A figure began to rise from the sarcophagus. It was silhouetted in shadow from the blood red light and smoke tendrils that drifted from the coffin and formed a cloud in the chamber.
“Aw hell no. I did not sign up for this shit!” yelled Trent.
“Hold your ground.” Alexander ordered.
“Oh, I’ll stand my ground, but I need, like, overtime or something for this shit! God damn aliens and ancient cults!”
They heard a deep voice coming from the chamber repeating the same words: Dok vi nie. The word repeated several times sending shivers down everyone’s spine. After five times of repeating they heard the voice again: ‘Language Scanned. Cerebral connection activated.’
“Lesser beings, show yourselves,” Came the deep voice from inside the chamber.
Alexander stood and without a second thought he announced loudly, “I am Lance Corporal Alexander Grayson Cooper.”
“Quetzalcoatl, God.” came the voice.
“Well it’s nice to meet you, but I’m sorry, I must ask you to turn around and get back in your coffin thing. I’d rather not hurt you.”
The figure that had been slouched stood to its full height near seven feet. “Hurt me? Ha!”
Just then an intense whistle shot by Alexander’s ear causing him to reflexively jump sideways to avoid contact. A second later there was an explosion where the figure of Quetzalcoatl was standing.
“Holy shit! What the hell man, I was standing right there!” Alexander screamed at Antonio.
“Maria is touchy,” Antonio replied shrugging his shoulders.
Before Alexander could continue to berate Antonio, a pillar shattered into shrapnel as a metallic arm shot through it. The thin tentacle like arm grabbed hold of Nate, who had been sheltering behind the pillar, in its three-pronged grip.
Quetzalcoatl stepped into the blue light revealing his features to everyone in the chamber. He was a tall thin being with green scaly skin. His face was slightly elongated and his eyes were like that of snakes. Feather like hair jutted out behind his head in a mix of red and yellow with yellow snakelike tails flowing down his back tipped with red. Alexander could see why he was called the snake god.
Quetzalcoatl hung Nate beside him and laughed a blood curdling laugh.
“I am Quetzalcoatl, a god. You cannot kill me,” he announced loudly to the chamber.
“Let’s see about that,” Nate said pulling the trigger of his pistol aimed right at Quetzalcoatl’s head.
Quetzalcoatl’s head gave a vicious jerk to the side, but he did not fall. Nate continued to fire until his clip ran dry then threw his gun at Quetzalcoatl’s face for good measure. Slowly Quetzalcoatl raised his head cracking his neck making a face in mock pain. Half of his face was covered in metallic material.
“I told you, you cannot kill a god.” He gloated as the metallic material on his face began to recede like water dripping down.
Without warning Quetzalcoatl clamped shut the claw around Nate’s head. It exploded into a spray of blood and brain matter, his body fell to the floor twitching. The tentacle began its watery recession into the back of Quetzalcoatl’s metallic suit.
“Fire!” Alexander screamed for all he was worth.
The chamber was lit up with the sound of gunfire. All in the chamber aimed toward the figure of Quetzalcoatl. Twice against the orders not to use explosives Antonio tossed grenades, each time whistling their decent and exclaiming ‘Boom’ when they blew, his mind fractured even more at the loss of his friend, his brother.
Alexander sprang forward and right from his kneeling position to flank this creature that seemed to be indestructible. His mind was blank beside the pure rage and hatred he felt for the creature. He carried a pistol after he ran out of rifle ammo and unloaded on his target while slowly approaching. When the gunfire let up where Quetzalcoatl once stood was a thick cloud of smoke. Alexander stood still for a minute before dropping his clip out of his pistol to reload.
Another tentacle sprang from the smoke grabbing Alexander by the throat. The voice of Quetzalcoatl from within the smoke froze his blood.
“None of you will make it out alive.” Quetzalcoatl laughed.
Chapter 4:
Alexander lie in bed, he couldn’t remember what woke him. He kept his eyes shut and his breathing steady feigning sleep. A constant beeping noise was next to him, his heart beat, so a hospital he surmised. The more he thought about it the more it did not seem like the cause of his stirring. No, it was not a noise; it was a presence that woke him. Something, someone, was watching him, but from where?
A nurse entered the room before Alexander could investigate. Still he lay there, attempting to keep his heart beat steady. Something was in the room and he knew it, but whatever or whoever it was gave no sign of where they lay in waiting. Was the nurse in trouble, was he? He stretched out with his senses, listening for any out of place noise in the room dominated by the beeping and rustle of the nurse going about her work, smelling for any sign of something other than the nurse’s perfume and the smell of cleaning products used in the room.
Alexander heard the click on the door shutting. He took this moment to risk opening his eyes only a sliver to look around the room. It was a large room with several beds, two others of which were occupied, his men, where was the other? He breathed a heavy sigh of relief inwardly to himself that at least some made it out of it alive, but his heart ached at the loss of Nate. Then a thought occurred to him breaking his train of thought and heart ache, how had he gotten there? The last thing he remembered was Quetzalcoatl’s laugh and the feeling of his throat being constricted by a metallic arm.
Caught up in his own thoughts Alexander did not see the chair move ever so slightly, but he snapped quickly out of his thoughts when he felt a presence closing in on him. He attempted to rise but the pain in his chest was unbearable. Lying back on his elbows he attempted to gauge where the presence was, before he knew what was happening a huge weight pressed on his chest pushing him back onto the bed.
Alexander tried to call out for help or warn his men, if they were even awake. Something pressed against his mouth stopping all sound, he was helpless.
Despair took hold as the figure emerged, the cloak that shrouded it fell away revealing a metallic face of rage. Armor encased the being, it had light blue shining eyes and an armor style unlike Alexander had seen. Its shoulders were broad and armored with circular plates; the same were on his elbows. The rest looked skin tight not suited at all for the size of the being, but it did not take away its ferocity.
The enraged face slowly melted, metallic like mercury, much like that of Quetzalcoatl’s, but instead of a snake like being this one was much different. It had thick brown hair falling down it’s back, its skin color was green, but not scaly like Quetzalcoatl’s and his eyes were normal, a deep brown. His nose was large and from what Alexander could tell its mouth was humanlike, but it was hidden behind a thick beard.
“Don’t scream,” it said.
“What?” Alexander replied confused at the creature’s gentle tone.
“Am I not speaking the right language? I am Raixo.”
“Ray-zo…?”
“No, RYE-ZO”
“Alexander. You may speak our language, but your accent is horrible.”
Raixo gently eased his weight off Alexander, smiling at the light joke.
“Keep it down you two, I’m trying to sleep.” Antonio’s voice came from the bed across from Alexander’s. He was staring right at them but made no mention of the big green alien in the room.
“That man drives me insane.” Raixo pointed out. “The first thing he tried to do was kill me as soon as he saw me. After I finally convinced him I wasn’t an enemy he’s been nonstop talking to me or asking me for things. By the way, what is a Betsy or a Maria?”
“Just ignore him. If you’re not an enemy, then who are you? Last alien we ran into was not too friendly.” Alexander’s tone was blunt.
“Ah, of course. Antonio said you are his leader. So, I waited until you awoke. You have been out for over a month in a comatose state. Your injuries from your fight with Quetzalcoatl were quite severe.”
“So, you know him?”
“No, I am far too young. I am only 100, however, my grandfather saw him before and my people tell stories of him, a warning.”
“Only 100? How long do you live?”
“Several hundred of your years, years on our planet are different, and with our medical advances we live longer. However, back to topic, I have questions that need answers. What happened when you entered the chamber?”
“Well nothing at first… I entered after my men and Manuel. As soon as I did I felt something pulling at me, as if trying to suck me into the ground. After that the floor started to glow blue and it made its way to Quetzalcoatl’s chamber and woke him.”
“I see, so you woke him without knowing.”
“Wait, what? How did I wake him, I didn’t even touch anything?”
“Your energy, you may have heard of it, spirit, chi, and those types of things. However, humans are not supposed to possess it in any large capacity. I have heard those that do are descendants of our cultures mixing before we left your planet. It must have changed since then. Your energy must be extremely powerful to have broken the seal on Quetzalcoatl’s prison.”
“I don’t understand if I had this energy why did it only appear now, and why did it wake him? It’s my fault Nate died?” Alexander could feel his stomach tightening. Was this all his fault?
“You have never been taught to use it. As for why it woke him, I suppose your energy intertwined with the latent energy in the room and overpowered it. My people can teach you to use the energy, but…”
His words were cut off by footsteps from outside the room. As quickly as he had appeared, Raixo melted away into nothingness hidden from view. The sound of boots drew closer and closer to the room. Several men, Alexander guessed. He attempted to recompose himself before the entered.
The door opened and a broad-shouldered man in a black suit entered carrying a briefcase. He was bald with a very prominent nose and had the sharp eyes of a hawk, and to Alexander he seemed, familiar. He quickly surveyed the room then gestured to the two men behind him carrying rifles and dressed in military uniforms to guard the door. Then the man shut the door behind him.
He walked over and pulled up a chair placing it next to Alexander’s bed. The man stared at him with hard eyes as if trying to break his will with only a stare. Alexander stared back calmly, unperturbed by the man’s gaze. He’d seen too much shit as of late to be put off by a man’s glare.
After a moment the man spoke, his voice was gruff as if he had been smoking all his life, or yelling.
“My name is Frank, as for the two men outside, they are also Frank.” The man said.
“I see, secret agent stuff. Did you come here in your flying car, or is that in the s
hop right now?” Alexander replied without hint of sarcasm.
“Cute. Now if we can get down to business. You recently had an encounter with an otherworldly sentient being is this correct?”
“Oh yes, the alien was so wonderful. We had tea and cookies. Our ‘encounter’ was quite wonderful. Wait, I know you! You were the one outside the base when we were being transferred to Mexico.”
“What happened?” the man replied without a hint of noticing Alexander’s angry tone to his revelation.
“A man of mine died before my eyes. Two others are lying in bed injured. I have no idea where the other is. I spent over a month in a coma. What do you think happened? We got our asses kicked.”
“The creature you encountered took an alien space craft from near where we found you, it left quite a hole in the ground. During his escape the being annihilated all of Mexico City. Where has he gone?”
“Oh, I don’t know, let me just call him up and ask him. Are you stupid? Even if I knew where he went, it’s impossible for us to chase him down. In case you forgot, he apparently has an interstellar space craft, whereas we have, what, a bottle rocket with wings? Say you catch him, what then? You just said he destroyed an entire city, what hope do we have?”
“Two weeks after the incident another alien craft appeared outside earth’s orbit. Several small alien crafts breached our atmosphere and landed throughout the world. Two of the ships were destroyed before touchdown could be made. However, several landed and fighting has broken out. You and your men have been called upon to dispatch the closest one in Alaska. Seeing as you have the most experience in fighting these beings you will be invaluable assets.
Your uniforms and weaponry will be sent to your room here. A transport truck will be waiting outside to take you to an airstrip to be transported to the site. Additionally, you will be given a new member to bring you back to some strength. Wake your men; you have a duty to perform. Here are you orders,” he finished opening his briefcase and handing Alexander a folder of papers with ‘CLASSIFIED’ written in bold.
