by Troy Snyder
Silver scaled armor covered his chest which made him even more snake like. A belt broke the scale features at his waist, and a large belt buckle of a snake with an open mouth and red eyes looked like it would strike out. The scale patter continued down his legs ending in boots that went from foot to knees with two snakes running up each one. His helmet was a full make of his face, but where the eyes were, two blood red crystals glared back at his enemies, the only color on an all silver suit.
The line of vehicles drew nearer as he continued his march forward. Sensing the men around him were about to act, Quetzalcoatl shielded himself with his captives and pushed his way past the line. Men in the uniforms that stood by the vehicles continued to follow him with the weapons trained on him, as he thought, they would not harm their own.
With a quick mental command, the door on the back of his ship opened forming the ramp. He tossed the people and supplies inside, none too gently and closed the ramp behind him. Turning to face the people who had the audacity to challenge him he took all the arms he formed and began to slaughter them with pent up rage. Some attempted to fire their weapons at him, but the bullets had no effect, bouncing off in several directions. Vehicles were flung as if toys, crushing people beneath. Many tried to flee from the slaughter but were caught and dispatched with ease.
One man braver than the rest ran toward Quetzalcoatl with his face contorted in rage. He let out a guttural cry and slammed his knife into Quetzalcoatl’s midsection. The knife snapped in two and fell to the ground with a metallic ring and blood dripped from the man’s hand. His face went from one of rage to pure fear. Quetzalcoatl grabbed his face with his hand muffling the man’s cries. He wrapped a tentacle arm around the man’s waist and one around his chest, and with a swift movement, the man was ripped into three.
Quetzalcoatl walked up to the man whose voice had been giving him commands. His device was now hanging limply in his hand and jaw was slack. He stood frozen in fear as Quetzalcoatl approached him, placing the previous man’s head into his hands. The man with the device fell to his knees. Quetzalcoatl walked away from the massacre not phased in the slightest; in fact, he quite enjoyed their feeble attempts to stop him.
Once again Quetzalcoatl opened the back of his ship, and as expected several people attempted to run off, but were caught in his arms. He loaded them back on board and shut the door behind him. Inside the people he had captured began to huddle in the corner of the storage area.
“I tried to be nice,” Quetzalcoatl said.
He took his supplies and climbed the ladder, closing and locking the hatch behind him. After the supplies were put away in the kitchen, Quetzalcoatl returned to his place at the cockpit. Several switches were flicked before grabbing the control and the ship began its ascent.
Above the ground Quetzalcoatl stared at the lesser beings below, once these had been his people, now they were nothing but impudent wretches. Anger flared in him again and he opened the two circular doors on each wing. With the press of a button the only ordinance available was fired. It went against all rules of combat, he knew, to use weapons such as this outside of ship to ship combat, but he was no longer concerned, these people were not worth honorary combat. Within a minute of the weapons hitting the ground, all of Mexico City had been razed to rubble.
Quetzalcoatl laughed maniacally at the wanton destruction. He reveled in the destruction of all he had once known and smiled to himself that he would return later to enslave all this world, but until then he had bigger plans. With a final look at the flames rising from the city he turned his ship toward his home, Stalass, with heart seemingly lighter after the annihilation of the city.
Chapter 6:
Antonio woke to the sound of someone leaving the room, the nurse. He reached under his pillow and produced the object he had been concealing. Adjusting his pillow so he could sit up, he eyed the gleaming silver circle. He twirled it around on his pointer finger and looked to the bed next to him at Trent. Trent had been the most injured of all the men, besides Alexander, he had several lacerations and almost all his ribs were broken, and on top of that, a major concussion, both legs broken, and torn muscles. It was unlikely he would ever recover fully.
Antonio stood up and walked over to his friend, he had known him for years, he and the others of his fire team joined together as friends. Nate was gone and now it looked as if Trent would not make it. He trusted Alexander with his life, he had known him longer than anyone and they were like brothers, but he could not sit here and watch his only other remaining friend slowly slip away. He clenched the silver bracelet in his hand until his fingers turned white, he would not, could not, lose another person.
“I won’t lose you too,” Antonio said through clenched teeth. He slid on the bracelet and let out a deep breath, “Concentrate your energy into the brace,” he repeated the words he had heard earlier.
For a moment Antonio became frustrated with himself producing no results from the bracelet, did he not have the energy? He let out another calming breath before picturing himself falling down the center of the bracelet. Soon he could feel the bracelet’s power flowing through him. He concentrated further, creasing his brow in determination; the watery metal took hold and covered his hand.
“Hang in there my friend,” he whispered. More so reassuring himself it would work than actually talking to anyone.
Antonio placed his hand on Trent’s forearm and closed his eyes in concentration. The metallic fluid slowly crept its way all over his still form. Once his entire body was covered Antonio put all his effort into sending his energy into the suit, healing Trent’s wounds, or at least he hoped he was.
Although Antonio could not see the healing was complete the suit reacted on its own. It began to retract itself back into the bracelet. The shear effort of the task drained Antonio beyond anything he had ever felt. His face grew pale and he breathed in shallow rasps. His head swam in dizziness and before he could grab on to something his eyes rolled back in his head and he hit the floor with a thud.
____________
“Jerk!” Brittany giggled lightly punching Antonio in the arm.
“Careful I’m driving,” he said smiling back.
“You don’t REALLY think I look funny, do you?”
“No, you’re the most beautiful and amazing girl in the world.”
“Good, otherwise I might just have to beat you up!”
They both laughed. Antonio and Brittany had been dating since freshman year in high school. They were graduated now and barely eighteen, but they were madly in love.
Antonio was watching the road, snow was falling in the mountains of Pennsylvania and he was being as careful as he could.
“Why do we have to go?” Brittany asked.
“The guys and I have been meeting up at the cabin since before high school, you know that. Besides, it might be our last chance to hang out all together for a while,” he replied.
Brittany’s face got serious. “Are you guys really going to do this? Join the military I mean,” her voice was barely a whisper as she looked down at her hands.
“Babe, I told you this is what we want, what we have wanted since we can remember. You have nothing to worry about.”
“Oh except for the fact you could be killed or hurt bad.” She stared out the window blankly.
Snow was falling harder around their truck. A steep slope fell to their left, the trees scattered all over were covered in snow. The road began to twist and turn through the mountainous area and the snow formed a blanket like fog covering over the land.
Antonio sighed, “Still mad at me?” He asked.
“Yes.”
There was a moment of silence before Antonio spoke. “Look in the glove box,” he said. “I wanted to wait for the right moment but this is as good of a time as any, nothing fancy, just the way we like it.”
Brittany eyed him warily but did as she was told. She reached in front of her and opened the glove box. Inside was the truck’s book and a black bag. She mov
ed the book aside and removed the black bag. She dumped its contents out into her hand. Her hands began to tremble at the sign of a small black box. When she opened it, the breath was caught in her throat, a gleaming ringed topped with a precious diamond stared back at her.
“Is this…?” The words came out shaky and she could barely breathe.
“It is. I love you, and I want to spend my life with you.”
Brittany caught her breath and settled the box in her lap. Her hands were still shaky, but she could not resist making a comment to mess with Antonio.
“Not very romantic, are you?” she said with a smile.
Her smile melted Antonio’s heart and he could not help smile in return. Brittany slid the ring on her finger and leaned over to kiss Antonio whispering “yes” in his ear. Antonio could not help look over to her to see her face, she was everything to him.
A horn blaring snapped Antonio’s attention back to the road; the fog had covered the headlights of the oncoming car until it was almost upon them. Antonio quickly reacted moving out of the way and continued driving. His heart was racing and he griped the steering wheel hard.
“That was close,” Brittany said.
“Yes,” he replied. “You ok?” He asked glancing toward her.
The conversation distracted Antonio just long enough, he did not see the turn in the road. A sign appeared right in front of him in a break of the snowy fog and he quickly tried to turn the wheel to make the curve, but the sudden shift of the tires sent the vehicle sliding on hidden ice underneath the light blanket of snow. Antonio tried to recover, but it was too late.
As the car was sent sliding off the edge of the road it began to tumble downward. Antonio’s head slammed against the steering wheel knocking him out cold, and the vehicle continued its downward tumble, only stopping after slamming hard into a tree.
“Babe…” Antonio called out from his haze.
He tried to shake his head clear of the dizziness and pain. Snow was lightly falling into the broken driver side window, but he was numb to the cold. He tried to blink his eyes clear but could not get his vision straight. Reaching out his hand he felt for his phone, finding it still in the dock on the dashboard. Going to his recent calls he found Alexander on top and pressed to dial.
“Hey Tony!” Alexander answered. “Where are you man, we’re all waiting on you.”
“Car accident, the turn before the cabin somewhere…” Antonio rasped. His vision cleared enough to get hold of the situation before the phone fell from his hand.
Next to him Brittany’s blond hair was matted with blood and she was not moving. Antonio reached his hand out for hers, she was cold as ice and did not respond to his shaking her.
“Tony? You there? I’m on my way!” Came Alexander’s voice from the phone.
“Brittany…” Antonio called to her. “Brittany!” He cried trying to wake her, his stomach turning in fear.
______________________
“Brittany!” Antonio cried, jolting awake.
“Just me,” Trent said trying to calm Antonio. “Dreams of that day again?” he asked, his tone soft.
“Yeah,” Antonio replied, his voice breaking, holding back tears.
“Sorry, but we don’t have time for it, we have company.”
Antonio got to his feet and both men stood there in their hospital robes listening to the sound of several boots approaching. The sound of the hard rubber soles of the boots clanking against the tiling drew closer and both men faced the door.
Frank entered the room and looked around; if he noticed Alexander gone he gave no sign, neither did the fact Trent was awake and well did not seem to register. He gestured and several men walked in with crates one after another. The room became a cacophony of noise, boots on tile, moving beds, crates sliding, and the grunts of effort. When it was all finally done the men filed out of the room as quickly as they came leaving behind a makeshift armory.
“Your uniforms, weapons, ammunition, and anything else you could want,” Frank said. “Will your commanding officer be joining us?”
Antonio looked at him unsure what to say, “Meeting us there,” he said trying to bluff.
“I see,” Frank replied in his monotone as if he expected it, “So be it, now on to the next part of business.” Frank made another gesture and someone else walked in, he seemed familiar to Antonio, but he could not recall from where. “This is Harrison O’Neil, your new recruit. Private James Conner will be joining you at the air strip.”
With that Frank exited the room shutting the door behind him. He left the three men standing in the room to discuss things amongst themselves. Antonio walked over to one of the cases and popped the latches with a click, completely ignoring the new face. The case contained uniforms and Antonio moved along, obviously not finding what he was looking for.
He searched several more cases containing, body armor, a myriad assault rifles, small arms, various sniper rifles and ammunition for everything. Finally, he found what he was looking for in three small cases in the corner next to where his bed had been. One case contained grenades, one c-4, and the other, c-4 detonators. He quickly got dressed in the make-shift armory that was once their hospital room. He grabbed no weapons they could see besides his three crates.
“Are you coming or not?” He asked.
Trent and Harrison hastened to get dressed in uniforms and body armor before searching around for weapons. While they did so, Antonio noticed an elongated case near Alexander’s bed that had not been opened. He walked over and picked it up placing it on the bed. The case was heavy and his mind raced to guess what was inside. Latches clicked as he opened it and for the first time that day his face lit up in a broad smile. He resealed the case and swung it onto his back and grabbed his three smaller ones.
By now the others had gotten dressed and suited up with body armor; Harrison carried a p-90 and Trent chose an m-4 along with several pistols, much more than necessary. Harrison grabbed extra ammo for everyone and the three men headed out the door.
As they walked down the halls Harrison eyed the two men, they seemed strange with their choices of weaponry, and the one he knew as Antonio did not seem to even carry weapons, just cases.
“Are we really going to fight Aliens?” Harrison asked.
“No,” Trent replied. “We’re going to fucking annihilate them.” His words were filled with barely concealed hate. The loss of their comrade must be the cause, Harrison thought.
“They destroyed an entire city in seconds, do you really think we stand a chance?”
“Yes.” Was the simple reply from both Antonio and Trent, with that they exited the hospital.
Outside the hospital it was a bright day and the sun beat down on them. Reporters were everywhere trying to catch a glimpse of the Demon Boys, whose name had grown even bigger surrounding recent events. Questions were shouted from every mouth trying to get a story or some piece of information they could use. Military police were all pushing them back and there was a checkpoint for people entering the hospital, no wonder there was near no one in there Antonio thought.
Three jeeps with machine gun turrets guarded an armored personnel carrier, the Demon Boys transportation. As Antonio looked around the area he surmised they were no longer in Mexico, but rather somewhere back in the United States. As he continued walking trying to get some sense of bearing as to where they were, a reporter reached past the blockade and grabbed Antonio’s sleeve to get his attention.
The reporter was quickly pushed back by a large military policeman, but Antonio intervened and let the reporter through. She was a small woman in a bright red dress and her brown hair back in a bun. Antonio looked at her and knew she felt he had put her on the spot, he regretted doing so, but it was too late, he acted on impulse.
“Uh…” She started, “Recent reports state that the Demon Boys were involved in the first alien encounter. The report goes on to claim the Demon Boys fought said alien. How do you respond to accusations that the Demon Boys started
this war and the subsequent destruction of Mexico City?” She asked.
“Didn’t,” Antonio replied.
The reporter seemed unsatisfied with the answer but continued anyway. “We have reports that the Demon Boys are being sent off to fight the aliens yet again. Are you more prepared this time? Will another loss cause another city’s destruction?”
The crowd grew silent waiting for Antonio’s response. He leaned in toward the reporter, who took a step back as if afraid he was going to strike.
“You got something in your teeth,” he said and walked away toward the personnel vehicle, thinking he handled the situation well.
The reporters face grew red and no one knew how to respond to Antonio’s detachment to the entire situation. The military policemen pushed her back in the crowd and continued to hold off the horde of people vying for answers.
Onboard the transport vehicle, the Demon Boys, if they could even be called that anymore, sat in silence as the door shut behind them and the vehicle began to move. For several minutes no one said anything until Trent decided to break the silence.
“Aliens,” He said. “I did not sign up to fight aliens.”
“What did you sign up for?” Harrison asked.
“Honestly, I didn’t sign up for any of this. I signed up for my friends.”
Harrison sat silent for a moment, “I signed up for my girl back home, Emma. Trying to make a life for us, but it’s hard being away. This shit I’ve got thrown into, I don’t know if I can do it.”
Trent looked to Antonio, he was going to do the same before the accident, try to make a life for himself and Brittany, now Antonio has been detached and a bit unstable. He decided it was time to confront him, “Toni,” He said causing Antonio to look up. “How long has it been?”
