Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (35 page)

“Sampson?
” she said
laughing. “That’s fine for now, but you sure as hell better not do that when we get to the Walpole sign. Sampson’s tail wagged as they began to move again. Hopefully in the direction of food. His belly was beginning to rumble and he didn’t like that one bit.

***

Pegged
burned with a fever of hatred and death. All reason
was
smoked out of him. He had become something more and less than a man. He had faculty enough to know he was losing his humanity but not enough
reason
to care. He didn’t just want to kill the girl, he wanted to destroy her, to mash her into so fine a visceral mess that she would be undistinguishable from anything that had ever walked the planet.
H
e had been to
the
h
istory museum
, he knew some extraordinarily strange creatures had once roamed the
planet
. He laughed, as small pieces of
red
ribboned phlegm dislodged from his lungs and hung from his bottom lip. He did not rest, he did not eat, he did not drink. He knew the pace would kill him, but she would die first and in such a manner that would earn him a spot high in the realm
of hell
. A
place
that had been
seemingly more real with each passing day, spurring
him ever closer even when
he
had thought his quarry had
indefatigably
escaped. He was close, he could smell her as one of the strands finally broke and landed on a sign he
never
saw
.

CHAPTER FIFT
Y
-THREE
- Mike Journal Entry 16

At
three
am
,
f
ive hundred
,
Marines,
s
oldiers and
m
ilitia streamed out of various hidden exits along the eastern side of the Hill. Tracy had been put in command of her men plus a small squad giving her a total of fifty for containment
on the left side
.
I
wasn’t sure if th
at
was a blessing or not.
I
had been tasked with leading the vanguard into the heart of the enemy encampment and that was infinitely more dangerous than the flanking units
,
but now she would for the entire battle not be anywhere in
my
field
of vision. If somehow her position was overrun
I
wouldn’t even know until the planned fall back
twenty-five
minutes after the first volleys were launched. Paul had seen to it that Tracy would be on the outskirts of the major fighting with a small prompting from
me
, but now
I
wa
s not sure if
I
liked
it
any
more than if she
was at
my
side.

“Mike
,
you there?” Paul asked as he readjusted his ammunition
belt
“She’ll be fine
,
Mike. I talked with her, she’s as tough a warrior as they come.”

“That obvious?”
I
asked.

“Dude
,
I’d have to be blind to not see what was
going on in that head of yours,
and even then I’d probably be able to
feel the oppressiveness of your psyche
.
I need you here and now
,
Mike, these troops need you here and now. We’re going to hit them so fast and so hard, they’ll still be scrambling for cover when we head back. They’ll never even get the chance to try
and
outflank us. You with me?”

I
nodded in agreement,
my
unease for the moment
, at least,
abated.

At five
am
,
all of the fighters were in position
.
T
he cue to unleash hell
would be
the distinctive whoomp as the first round of mortars made their way into the heart of the alien camp.
Our
soldiers had positioned themselves a mere
twenty
yards from the ring of
Geno
guards
surrounding
the
ir
camp. From there
,
it would be another long
fifty
yards to the fringes of the
ir
newly erected barracks
.
A
nd Blackburn Hall, host of many a school dance
,
now converted into the command center for the insurgents.

“I want everything that
moves in Blackburn Hall dead
,” Paul said
to his sergeant.

“I just want everything dead
,”
h
is sergeant answered back.

Paul nodded in agreement. “The hall first.”

“Understood, General
,”
t
he sergeant said as he quickly moved off to relay the info.

On another prompting from me I had convinced Paul to up his pay grade fro Colonel to General.

“He’s a good man. He’s one of the corporal
'
s from the Guard unit
attempting
to take the grocery store
,”
Paul told
me
.

I
grunted an acknowledgement.

“He likes to set his shoes on fire every night
,” Paul said
,
testing
my
alac
r
ity.

“I’m with you
,
Paul
.
I was just checking my extra magazines.”

Paul nodded, pleased to know
I
was beginning to hone in
on the task at hand.

At 5:4
2
the sun made its debut
,
followed closely
by
the launching of nearly
fifty
mortars. Molten death spread from the sky, explosions rocked the new day. Small arms fire blistered, the nearest guards were cut into pieces as lead flew down field. Dazed Genogerians stumbled out of
their
barracks only to die where they stood. The
iron rich
smell of blood mingled deeply with
the
acrid smell of smoke.

Paul stood up. “
Sergeant
,
now
!” he shouted
over the din.

The sergeant nodded.
“Charge
!
”
h
e bellowed
,
his booming voice carried over the
chattering
M-16
s
and then at once drowned out as
three hundred
men and women stood and screamed their fiercest battle cries, racing across the small field
separating
them from their objective.
I
noticed with satisfaction some of the aliens
were
so compl
etely overwhelmed by the charge, they
actually dropped the weapons they were carrying and began to retreat.

“They’re fucking running!”
I
shouted.

Not knowing how
I
could have been heard over the cacophony, Paul answered.

“Well
,
that’s gotta be a first.” As if he were sitting in his parlor watching
a
cribbage match.

I
just grinned as
I
let loose another full magazine into the backs of
the
enemy. But some did not run
.
E
ven with the surprise attack and the retreat of a good number of the
aliens, the Hill soldiers were still outnumbered almost two to one. The distinctive blue streaks of death struck several of the soldiers around
us
, screams of agony were threatening to overtake the war cry. Some of the less experienced people began to hesitate as the threat of their own impending deaths loomed larger than it
ever
had. But as Paul streaked to the forefront
,
the charge was brought anew. The human wave crashed around and through the aliens
’
first line of defense. Some stopped to more intimately express their feelings for the aliens. Half-dead aliens had nothing more to look forward to in
this lifetime than the snarling wicked faces of their opponents as they were repeatedly shot, stabbed and sometimes bludgeoned until at last
, merciful
death found them. The staunchest defense the aliens could muster was around the perimeter of the Blackburn
H
all. Paul slowed the charge down as he checked his watch,
six
minutes had passed since the assault began, they had
four minutes
to attack and
fifteen
to withdraw before the enemy air support arrived
.
A
ny longer than that and the ships would be able to track and kill them as they tried to get back to safety. Paul was amazed at how quickly the aliens had got back under control, hundreds of them had taken up defensive positions in and around the hall protecting their superiors with everything they had. The superior firepower of the aliens began to take its hold as more and more of the Hillians
(Hill Residents for short)
died.
I
watched in rising horror as more and more of the troops around
me
fell. Paul’s leading unit had halted
its
charge and had also taken up
defensive positions, a stalemate looked to be the aliens
’
strategy, for they did not press the attack but merely laid down suppressing fire holding
us
off and in place. They knew help was on the way soon.

Another crucial minute ticked by, Paul’s attackers were stuck
,
unable to move forward or back. If they got up and ran they would be cut down before they could go twenty feet.

“Paul!”
I
yelled, “Call in more mortars!”

“We’re too close!” Paul answered, his voice nearly cracking from the effort of being heard over the battle being waged.

“Just a couple of rounds, I need some distractionary cover.”

Paul wasn’t sure what
I
was up to
and he
would
n’t have time to find out. If
I
had a plan
,
that
would be
good enough for him.