Read Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure Online
Authors: Mark Tufo
Beth slowly moved around the tree she had been leaning against, sweat pouring in her eyes
.
S
he brought the rifle up, it seemed
simultaneously
to weigh a hundred pounds and nothing at all.
He
could feel his time running out, action was called for but of what nature he had not yet discovered. It was a good fifty yards away from where he stood to get to the dip in the green belt that separated south
and
north bound lanes
.
T
hat would afford him some measure of cover. Even though he was probably in the best shape of his life, that would still give his prey a good
seven
or
eight
seconds of his completely exposed back.
“It might be a crude trap
,” he muttered
. “But she snar
ed me by the short hairs. Fuckin’
bitch
.
”
In the unearthly silence that was route 495,
Pegged
heard the telltale cli
ck of a safety being disengaged. He bolted to his left for all he was worth as the sharp report of high caliber gun fired.
CHAPTER THIR
T
Y
- Mike Journal Entry 9
T
he
trip in the zodiac boats was a blur
.
I can remember the swell of the waves and the spray of the ocean on my face but little else. I tried in vain not to look at what remained of Boston off to my right, but I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame or better yet a rubber necker on a busy highway to an accident.
Though
this was no accident
,
not some huge nuclear melt down, this was a
deliberate act
,
an
atrocity committed by an enemy that I had alrea
dy resolved to fight with every
thing that I had. What else could I vow but that
?
The conviction left me empty, knowing that I could not do more than promise the complete destruction of an alien race or more likely my
own
death.
I got out of the boat
and took what I now kne
w was my last look at my beloved city
.
T
he
c
ommander’s accursed periscope could not truly prepare me for the devastation that was wrought
t
here. I wished I’d never seen it and then I could live my life in plausible deniability.
Well
,
I reasoned those
one-and-a-half
million Bostonians would have died no matter what I believed. It
wasn’t
to sa
y it wouldn’t have happened any
way, but I was
,
at th
at
moment
,
the sole reason that two major metropolitan areas had been destroyed. I hadn’t pulled the trigger
,
but I had definitely shown them where to shoot and because of that millions of my fellow human beings had perished. If I was ever given the chance to exact my revenge
,
I would hav
e to take my own life afterward,
knowing full well that I would not be able to bear the burden of the guilt, but to end my life now, pre-fulfillment was to cheapen the worth of those
who
had died for me. No
,
for now I would have to drag the guilt around until such
a time when I could hoist it on
to my shoulders and let it smo
ther me under its oppressive weight. The march to Walpole was surprisingly peaceful as a new wave of determination washed over me. I couldn’t see how anyone or anything could stand in my way. Drababa
n
walked up alongside.
“Hello
,
Mike
,”
h
e semi-hissed. The s
uddenness with which he came upon me startled me out of my new-
found resolve. I knew it was not Drababan’s fault any
more than it was truly
mine,
but that did little to ease the prejudice that welled up inside of me when I saw him. I bit back the words that threatened to tear from my mouth, the taste was pure bile. It was a long moment until I was able to come up with something more appropriate than
‘Fuck you and all of your kind’.
“Tonight is a good night for a march
,”
h
e added.
I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, I had been arou
nd the aliens for close on two years and I still had not a clue what they were really thinking. But I had the distinct feeling this alien from millions of light years away was attempting to do something very human. He was trying to draw me out of my obvious distress. I however didn’t know whether I wanted to thank him or shoot him.
Instead I answered,
“Yeah
,
not too bad.”
“How long until we reach this Indian Hill
?” he asked
.
“At this pace Drababan, we should reach there sometime mid day tomorrow.”
“Will the hu-mans, there be more receptive to my presence than they were on the sub?”
I thought carefully before answering. “Actually
,
Dee, probably less. Most of those folks at the hill are civilians, uprooted from their lives
,
losing almost everything and everyone they know to your masters.” God
,
I
would
have sworn
he was frowning as he looked down at me, maybe it was just a
trick of the moonlight. “Where
as the men and women on the sub are military and they knew the inherent dangers they were
exposed to when they signed up.”
“I will just have to prove my honor to them.”’
I know Drababan wanted the conversation to continue
,
but small talk was not what I had on my mind, I sped up my pace to pull away from him, again he surprised me, he understood the gesture and actually slowed his pace to increase the distance between us.
Eastern Seaboard
Ground
Occupation
- Location Southwest of Boston
“Sir
,
we have
lost
thirty-eight
G
enogerian shock troopers. And at least a quarter of our allocated supplies.”
“The
G
enogerians can be replaced
,
the supplies however are going to be a little more difficult
,” the commander answered
.
“
Sir,
we have captured one of the soldiers that was in on the assault
,”
t
he alien sub-officer added.
“Excellent
.
I was hoping for a late night meal
.
”
T
he commander snarled
. “Get as much information out of him as you can
,
then bring him to me.”
“At your command
,
”
t
he sub officer answered as he slammed his fist to his breastplate armor.
Dennis had been blown more
than
twenty-five
feet away from the explosion created by the gunships, only p
ure dumb luck had
saved his ass
and he knew it. He had landed squarely in the middle of a huge briar patch.
The gunney
had not been so lucky.
The gunney
’s travels through the air had been much shorter and he had landed well clear of the thorny plants and onto a small outcropping of exposed bedrock. Dennis more felt the patrol coming than heard anything, his hearing had not returned yet, if it ever would. Dennis rolled off his back
,
careful not to move too fast
in case
something was broken or out of alignment somehow. What
D
ennis saw both elated and scared the living shit out of him.
The gunney
was alive and about
fifteen
feet directly
ahead
. He could see
the gunney
’s chest rising and falling. And the thing that would give even the hardest soldier nightmares for life was the
six
G
enogerian soldiers
fifty
feet away and coming fast. The sheer size of the monsters made Dennis shudder involuntarily, add to that the bright red body armor they wore and the superior firepower they carried, Dennis could do little more than stare in horror.
The gunney
only had moments before they were on him. Dennis felt around for his
M-16
,
hoping to take down as many of them as
he
could before being overrun. It wasn’t anywhere within reach, he moved as fast as his battered and bruised body would let him
,
searching for his rifle. The soldiers now stood over
the gunney
.
Dennis could do little more than watch as the closest soldier picked up his
g
unney with one hand and thrust
his
near lifeless body over his head.
The primeval guttural sounds that emanated from the soldiers snout was almost as upsetting as the rest of the situation. Dennis’ hand somehow came in contact with his weapon as his eyes
were still on
the scene before him.
The gunney
was being tossed like a rag doll through the air from soldier to soldier.
The sheer agony in the eyes of the gunney told
Dennis bones were breaking even without his hearing. On the fifth toss
,
the soldier stepped aside and let
the gunney
land with a shattering thud almost exactly where the explosion had deposited him. Dennis had lifted his rifle and
was taking aim at the nearest shock trooper when he caught
the gunney
’s eye. He couldn’t hear a thing he said but the imperceptible shake of his head and mouthing of the word
‘
no
’
couldn’t have been any clearer. Dennis shook with rage and frustration.
The gunney
knew if Dennis fired his
M-16
it was as good as a death sentence
.
Dennis knew it too
,
but at this point that seemed trivial. Tears streamed down Dennis’ face as the soldier that had let
the gunney
drop picked him up by the foot and headed off to their encampment. Dennis didn’t move as his targets
got considerably smaller and then finally vanished over a low rise in the terrain. Dennis didn’t move for the better part of an hour, shock
was
set
ting
in
.
W
ith slow
deliberation
he got his body moving knowing that stagnation meant death and that would be no way to avenge his fallen comrades. That last look on
the gunney
’s face would be something Dennis would take to the grave.