Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (25 page)

CHAPTER THIR
T
Y-SEVEN

Eas
t
ern Seaboard Ground
Occupation - South
we
st
of Boston

The
Ground Troop C
ommander came out of his command module in time to see the guards tossing about what
looked to be a human, or at least what remained of him.

“Sub Ground C
ommander!”
h
e yelled. “I thought when you said we had captured a prisoner that you meant a
live
one
.
”

The
S
ub
Ground C
ommander walked out of the module
,
hoping that his over-zealous guards hadn’t taken matters into their own hands. He was visibly relieved when he noted that it was not the prisoner that he had spoke
n
of.

“No
, sir,
that is not the hu-man that I spoke of. The guards must have found a dead mammal
. 
And decided to make sport of it.”

“Well,
make sure they don’t do too much damage, the flesh will st
ill make a good meal.”

“Yes
, sir
.
”

“And bring me the live hu-man. He has much to answer for.”

The S
ub
Ground C
ommander motioned over to two of his guards standing over a quivering mass of humanity. Snot and dirt and blood covered the man from head to toe.

One of the guards grabbed the
man by the hair and yanked
him up. The man shrieked a high-
pitched cry.

“He is somehow even more repulsive than the rest
,”
t
he
Ground C
ommander stated. “Give him to the Genogerians when I’m done questioning him.”

The
S
ub
Ground C
ommander merely nodded.

The man shrieked again as he was thrust to the ground in front of the
Ground C
ommander.

“Please
,”
t
he man begged. With his hands interlaced and an expression of true
horror upon his face. “Please don’t eat
me, they forced me to come here.
I didn’t even have a weapon.”

“That seems to be
true
,
Ground
C
ommander
,”
t
he sub added. “The guards found him cowering in the woods a full
fifty
yards from the firefight.” The man was nodding vehemently in agreement with every word the sub-commander stated.

“Kill him
,”
t
he
Ground C
ommander stated as he began to turn away. “The shrivata (weasel) turns my stomach.”

“Wait
,
I have information
,”
t
he man-
thing groveled.

“What kind of informa
tion could you possibly possess
that would make me want to not kill you?” The
Ground C
ommander snorted and kept heading into his node.

“I know where there are more humans
—
many more!”
t
he man wailed.

“Get him
cleaned up.” The Ground C
ommander motioned to the guards, “He disgusts
me in his present state. And hu-man
,
if what you tell me isn’t worth the water they pour on you, I will have my guards strip you piece by ragged piece of your flesh while you are alive.”

The man shivered, but his eyes still betrayed a glint. A small smile flashed across his eyes
.

'
Bennett
once again you have saved your ass.
' He thought. '
These things might be brutes but
I've been
able to manipulate brutes all
my
life, it d
oesn't
matter to
me if I be
tray
my
people, what h
ave
they ever done for
me?'

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIG
H
T
- Mike Journal Entry 12

I
pushed
the
troops hard to put as much distance between
us
and the attackers.
We
had been able to slip out the back of the apartment building before the aliens could close their net. The added confusion of the exploding transport aided in
our
escape. But
I'm sure
the distress was visible in
my
face.

“He’ll make it out
,
Mike
,
”
Tracy
said
when
we stopped to catch our breath
, but it had sounded false
to me and to her probably as well.
Even from a half mile away the explosion nearly ripped
us all off our
feet. The sky lit up like a summer day, blindness shaded
my
eyes almost as quickly as the shadow
that
crept over
my
heart. If
we
had felt the explosion from th
at
distance how could anything
have survived at the epicenter?
I
turned and continued moving to put more distance from the new killing fields.
I
had
lost another near to
my
heart.
I
t was another notch in
my
ever growing lis
t of people I
would eventually avenge.

“Fuck
,”
I
whispered and pushed
my
pace a little quicker, the
squad
quickened with
me
. The aliens were sure to send more raiding parties out to check for survivors and nobody
including myself
wanted to be present when they showed.
And now with the colonel gone I had to add the burden of command, this night had started off great and gone down hill fast.

***

Drababan watched as his friend and the rest of the hu-mans escaped through the rear exit. His heart swelled when
he realized they would
make it.
A
fter
living his life in solitude for so many years
,
he had believed he could never develop feelings for any others. His soul felt good. Reality sunk in as he heard the activity in the front begin to reorganize after the transport had exploded. The Genogerians were more cautious in their approach, but approach
they did. Drababan for the first time in a long time decided he was not quite ready to die, but he also knew that having tasted freedom again he would never go back to life on the
Prog
erian ship. He worked fast with a knowledge
that was outlawed
but one in which he learned just in case of an eventuality along th
o
se lines, although what was happening now was well beyond anything in his wildest dreams, he had merely hoped for some
sabotage
, but this would do just fine. The alien rifle began to whine at an ear piercing shriek the moment Drababan put it back together.
He
began to sit to say his prayers as the rifle’s crescendo steadily grew. A small pop in Drababan’s neck changed everything, his eyes flew open, “
Gropytheon
and possibly Michael's God
wish
es
me to live!”
he yelled
. “They have shown me the way!” The rifle began to vibrate, the oscillations were becoming quicker and quicker. D
ee
could praise his God later, for now it w
as time to make a hasty retreat.
H
e bounded down the steps
,
five at a time, knocking one startled trooper unconscious long before he had been able to raise his weapon. D
ee
ran straight through two more troopers as he smashed through the rear exit. The first one knocked over got up on one knee and sighted in
.
H
e pulled the trigger the same instant the sun landed or so his senses told him. The shot went wide right,
another was not forthc
oming, Drababan was hurtled through space like a stone from a slingshot. What passed for a smile among
his race spread from ear to ear.

“It is as
his
G
od ha
s
promised
,”
h
e tried
to say but the wind ripped the words from his mouth. Drababan landed with an impact that would have made a small meteor jealous, consciousness nearly slipped from his grasp.

“Move or die
,” he muttered
. “
Move or die
.”
H
e pushed himself off the wet turf. “So much like home
,”
h
e mused
and
grabbed tufts of the wet sod between his claws. D
ee
shakily got to his feet and never looked back as he managed a staggering walk away from the devastation
of the feedback exploded rifle, now wishing that he had remembered to grab the radio before
escapi
ng.

CHAPTER THIRTY-
N
INE

Beth moved a quarter mile through the woods, always traveling south, but the going was slow and she was becoming fatigued quickly
.
L
ack of sleep, food, water
,
and the constant stress of pursuit were taking their
toll
.
I
f she
didn’t find help soon, she would not be able to make good on her threat to
Pegged
. She wanted to get back on the highway as soon as possible
,
but somehow
instinctually
knew that only death waited there. She had to break through the woods and find a neighborhood where she could take refuge for the night, the thought of a tall glass of ice cold water spurred her on.