Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (27 page)

“What’s done is done
,” I said
, sadness in every syllable. In a
few moments I had caught up to the rear guard.

“That your house
, sir?”
A soldier
asked
, condolence in his tone.

“Not any more
,
private.”
I tried
my best to not show how much it had rattled me. I didn’t stay with him for what was to come next, I was sure it would be some sort of apology that I had no desire to hear.

My street ended
in a cul-de-sac that
abutt
ed
Cobb’s pond, which
wa
s directly across from the
S&S
parking lot. In the winter the
pond fr
o
ze
over
and bec
a
me our personal skating rink
—
the Bruins would be proud
—
but in the summer it wa
s a haven for nesting mosquitoes, they were
a
b
light but
nothing like what I had just seen through my binoculars.

“How many
?
” Tracy whispered as she crawled to my position.

“At least
fifty
from what I
can
see
but I can’t tell if any
more
of them are behind the store or in it for that matter
,”
I answered.

“Has The Hill been compromised
?
” she asked
, fear creeping around the edges of her question. She knew as well as I did that if Indian Hill was gone we would become a roving band of marauders with no base and no supplies.

“No, they wouldn’t have gone so quietly, but it scares the living
shit out of me that they’re this close
,
this quick
.
S
omething or someone gave us up. But if they knew the true strength of the hill and its armaments they would have sent ten times the amount of soldiers they’ve got here now.” Truth was in my words but also hope, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure of what I said but I would have been willing to bet on it.

“Do we skirt around and come in from the back
?
” Her words surprised me until I realized that she had probably seen the schematic of Indian Hill and would know as well as anyone its many exits and entries.

“No
,”
I answered matter-of-factly
.
E
ven if I thought that my plan
didn’t
involve some folly, I was ready to exact
some small
amount of reven
ge for the hole that had once been
2
Cobb Terrace. “This is what I want you to tell the men.” I picked up the binoculars as I laid the plan out for her. Guns would be blazing soon
,
but for now I was content to shoot my wrath through the curved glass I was staring
through
.

***

Dennis
’
breaths came in short ragged little bursts as he hunched over to catch his wind. He didn’t see how he could possibly beat the aliens to the Hill but he would die before he gave up trying. He had been in the throes of his fourth big attempt to gulp air when he heard small arms fire erupt about a half mile from his location.

It starts
,
h
e
thought as he
qu
affed down his fifth breath and began his final run into the fray.

***

“
Colone
l
,
you’d better get in here!” Frank said talking into the intercom system. Paul entered the observation post before Frank could release the talk button.

“Who sent men out there!?” Paul half screamed as he heard the tinny sound of assault weapons firing over the monitor speakers.

“I can only guess the firing is coming from across the street
.
I can’t see
them with our camera angles but that is where the aliens seem to be sheltering themselves from
,”
Frank answered. “They’re not ours
, sir
, t
he compound is in complete lock
down.”

“Whoever is
firing caught them by surprise
and they know what the hell they’re doing
,” Paul said
smugly as alien after alien fell to the ground, unsure of which way to direct their fire. The bullets seemed to be coming from all directions at once. Death reigned from all around. When the aliens had finally coalesced enough to get orders and return fire, the attackers ceased.

“They’re playing Indian
,”
Paul quipped.

“What?” Frank asked looking up from the monitor.

“Hit and run, Frank.
T
hey laid down as much devastation as they could and they most likely melted back into the woods behind Cobbs pond.”

“Who the hell is it
, sir
?” Frank asked incredulously.

“Oh
,
I think you know
,”
Paul answered, a huge smile spreading across his face. I’m going to catch some shut eye.”

“Now?” Frank asked
,
barely able to suppress his curiosity.

“Wake me in about an hour. I’m sure the aliens will be sufficiently lulled into thinking the attack is over by then.”

“What the hell is going on out there?” Frank asked
,
grabbing the monitor by both hands
,
wishing he could peer around the edges of the image he was viewing.

CHAPTER F
O
RTY-THREE

Tracy shuddered as she watched the place they had just moments before evacuated, light up like a Christmas tree, albeit a blue one.

The noise was deafening even from their perch t
hree
hundred yards away, the blue rays ripped through every piece of vegetation they encountered. Cobbs pond hissed when a
misplaced
round struck,
for
a brief moment,
lighting the pond up from underneath.

“That’ll give the fish something to talk about
,” I said
,
sitting down next to Tracy after taking stock of our munitions and health
;
unfortunately I pondered, in that order. I wasn’t quite yet done ex
acting my revenge on the cold-
blooded bastards and if I ran out of rounds early, I was
almost
willing to use my knife. I was
not
quite that insane
yet
.

We watched as a half dozen advance guards slowly approached what they presumed to be
our final resting place
.

“
Sir,
do you want to take them out?”
Corporal
Hawthorne asked.

“No,
that would just give our position away
,” I said
handing him my binoculars. “Look over at the parking lot, their leader in the blue armor, th
at’s just what he’s waiting for.
A
s soon as we start firing, he’ll probably call in an airstrike
. No,
we’ll just lay low, let them think they either evaporated us or we took off because of their superior numbers. Why don’t you get a little shut eye, it’s gonna be a long night.”

“Yes
, sir
,”
t
he
c
orporal
answered, never fully taking his eyes
off the snouters as they probed the area we had fired from.

Having not found anything but a few remnants of cloth the guards began to head back to the relative safety of their makeshift defensive positions in the parking lot. Not more than a minute after the guards left three heavily armed alien fighters flew almost directly over our hiding spot. Next time we would have to hit and run a lot quicker, the fighters would be on alert now for any type of insurgence. That and I was sure that after the dozen or so snouters that we killed
,
reinforcements would be on their way shortly. While those around me began to doze I couldn’t keep my eyes off the enemy
.
A
s each peaceful minute went by
,
I could watch them visibly begin to relax
.
I
t was in their posture and the lax way the
y
held their weapons
,
scanning the entire area. And why shouldn’t they, they had superior numbers, superior weapons and complete control of the sky. Every visible sign of relaxation in them only agitated me that much more.

“Well,
fuck them
,” I said
as I grabbed a small satchel and skulked back from whence we had come. Nobody noticed my departure
or
if they did they may have noticed my maniacal gaze and decided it was better to not say anything. The going w
as slow, I might have been half-
crazed
,
but I knew enough to stay low
.
T
heir commander
,
at
least
,
was still vigilant and on a consistent basis picked up what I figured was their version of binoculars an
d scanned the area for any tell-
tale signs of impending violence. For my better and his worse he never saw me coming.

***

Frank went to Paul’s quarters and was truly surprised that Paul had indeed grabbed some shut eye. Paul had just sat up and was rubbing the cob webs out of his eyes.

“It’s been about an hour
,
Paul
,” Frank said
,
needlessly realizing tha
t this was the reason Paul had
risen.

Paul never looked up as he began to lace up his boots. “Frank
,
get me ten men.”

Frank was slightly taken back. “For what reason
,
Paul?” Although he already knew the answer.

Paul finished lacing up his right boot and looked up. “I’m going to bring him back here.”

“Paul
,
I don’t think you should go
.
I’ll get the men and I’ll lead them back here.”

“Frank, he’s right outside our door, I’m going
to get him
,”
Paul answered, not leaving Frank any room for
maneuverability
.

Frank realized
any
further
argument wouldn’t l
ead to any
thing favorable answered
,
“Fine
,
but I’m coming with you.”

“You’ve got five minutes, meet me by the west exit
,” Paul said
bending back over to get the left boot done.

Four minutes later ten heavily armed men and Frank came to the exit
.
Paul had been there at least three minutes waiting.

Frank wondered if he had
run
to get there, but if he had he wasn’t breathing heav
il
y.

“Did the
Major
brief you?” Paul asked the assembled men. A few
,
Paul knew
,
had been battle tested
,
but a few of the others had th
e wide-
eyed stare of those who were about to come face to face with their worst fears.