Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (52 page)

“At least they’re polite
,” I said
.

“There’s that
,”
Brian said. “What now
?”

“Hi
,
everyone
,” I said
to the group. “Besides Spindler who most definitely is coming with me if I get out of here, the rest of you are free to come along or go outside and into the waiting arms of our distinguished hosts.

An old woman and an even older man shuffled
toward
the door. “We’re too old to play resistance fighter
,”
t
he old man said as he passed me by.

A young couple with a baby also got up to go out
.
T
hey never looked at me as they moved past Brian.

They had not traveled more than
twenty
feet from the shed when I heard the same booming authoritative voice. “None of them are him.” Blue streaks blazed past as the five people were quickly dispatched.

I turned away, my heart weighed heavily with the thought that had I not come here
,
they would still be alive.

Brian witnessed my reaction. “Not your fault
,
my man
.
W
e were all dead before
you got here. They just hadn’t filled in the time yet.”

There were more than a few sobs from the remaining prisoners, but no one else was heading for the exit.

“I beg to
differ
,”
Spindler chimed in. “Every single one of them would still be alive. That baby might have actually had a future, Mr. Talbot. The aliens promised us sanctuary before you killed one of their own.”

“As slaves, you idiot
,”
Brian yelled at him.

“I for one would rather be a live slave than a dead martyr
,”
Spindler said holding his chin high, like he was high and mighty.

“Well,
I guess that’s the difference between us then, isn’t it
?
” I said
coldly to him.
"and what makes you think you're held in high enough regard to become a martyr?"

“Puny hu-mans
,
send out more of you!” The voice said.

“He can’t be serious
,
is he?” Brian asked.

“Oh
,
I’m sure he is. They don’t have much in the way of a sense of humor.”

Spindler kept eyeing the door like it led to salvation and a cheeseburger.

“Go
,” I told
him.

He was looking at me to determine i
f this was a trick of some sort
and then actually took a step.

“But remember
—
” His steps faltered. “They said ‘none of them are him
’
.” They want one of us alive
.
A
re
you willing to bet your life on fifty-fifty odds? You know what happens when you assume
,
don’t you?” Spindler did not answer.

“You get shot with blue shit!” Brian said.

“Fifty-fifty odds
.
Y
ou can either walk out that door and hope they don’t fry your innards or you can throw your lot in with the human race.”

I
didn’t think
Spindler liked either option much, but there really wasn’t a third one coming down the pipeline.

“I’m coming with you
,” Spindler said
,
resignedly, his head dropping down.

“I had a feeling you’d see it my way.”

“Not sure how long our little stand-off is going to hold
,
” Brian said,
“
they look to be getting very impatient.
”

“At college
,
I once protested the use of animal hide for jackets, purses
,
and shoes. I mean mostly it was to get into this chick
’
s pants
,
but I did it all the same. I really did feel kind of bad that crocodiles were being used for boots, belts
,
and luggage
—
now I wish I
had a pair of those damn boots.
T
wo maybe
,” I said
,
thinking back longingly.

“Did it work?” Brian asked.

“Huh?” I asked “Oh
,
shit yeah
, they kept making shoes but I got in her pants
.
S
ure did.” I laughed.

“Well,
that’s all
that really mattered back then.
W
hat about now?” Brian asked.

“That’s rather juvenile
,
Mr. Talbot
,” Spindler said
.

“Wait until you really get to know me, it doesn’t get much better. And stop looking at the door
,
you already made your choice. Brian
,
we’re going to have to hope my friend thinks of something that gets us out of here. We hadn’t really planned for this contingency. I was going to kill Spindler and then sneak out tonight.”

Spindler
took
in a sharp
breath
of air.

I walked over to Brian to get a better idea of what we were dealing with. “Shit
,” I said
,
pulling my eye away from the crack.
“No
real chance of blasting our way through there.”

“Why you?” Brian asked.

“Why me what?” I asked him back.

“Why’d they send you on this little mission
?” he asked
.

“I volunteered
.
O
n reflection that doesn’t seem to
o
bright now.”

“Understatement,
my man.
Any idea how long your ‘friend’ might take?”

Brian fell into me as a giant explosion rocked our shed and the compound as a whole.

“It’d be safe to say now
,” I said
as I regained my balance and opened the door a bit
farther
.
G
uards were scurrying about
,
looking for th
e
new threat
.
S
ome had not left th
eir
post
s
but they seemed distracted. “You ready?” I asked Brian as I shoved some more
rounds into my pistol.

“Well,
I do have ‘to die’ on my bucket list.”

“I think we’ll get along fabulously
,” I told
him.

Brian took down two guards.
I was able to kill one with my less than climactic weapon. I was having blue beam envy.

“Do we keep pressing the attack?” Brian asked as the guards rallied.

“Not sure if we’ll get another opportunity!” I shouted over the din.

I was a few shots left of running out of bullets in my magazine. I had to get one of the alien weapons before it was time to reload. Blue streaks came off to our right side and into the exposed flanks of the alien
guards
.
T
hey were caught in a small crossfire.

“Way to go
,
Dee
,” I said
as we hid behind some pallets.
I quickly shoved rounds into the magazine.

Brian kept up a withering assault
.
T
he aliens still seemed reluct
ant to shoot our way, but did not hesitate to shoot in the direction from where Dee’s shots were ringing out.

Dee’s shots were becoming less and less frequent as they began to pin him down. “We’ve got to help my friend.”

“Did you just say ‘friend’?” Brian asked.

“It’s complicated.”

“You will tell me later.”

“I
will
.
P
romise.” I stood up and was staring straight down the g
iant barrel of one of those stupid ray
guns
,
but the guard didn’t fire. He had me dead to rights and yet I lived. “This is going to hurt you way more than it’s going to hurt me
,” I told
the guard as I blaste
d him twice with my heavy rounds.

“They’re not shooting!” Brian said excitedly as he kept
mowing
the guards down.

“I’ve noticed that before
,” I said
,
ducking down to r
e
load.
“
They won’t do much of anything without orders.”

“Sucks for them!”
h
e yelled
,
still blasting away. He had moved away from our hidey-hole and was heading right for the
guards who looked as stunned as I
felt
.

They started backing up, almost falling over themselves in a rush to get away from the crazy hu-man advancing on them.

“We
m
ight be puny!” Brian shouted
,
“
b
ut we’re not stupid!” He
blazed
away.

“Got you a gun
!” he said
turning back
toward
me.

“Well,
fuck this
,” I said
sticking the half-
filled pistol back into its holster. I
jumped up and ran to meet him. “In for a dime
,
in for a dollar
,” I said
almost like a prayer.

I grabbed the rifle, my heart crushing violently against my rib
cage
and
looked up to truly get an idea of the predicament we were in. It was not an enviable position. A small wall of still functioning Genogerian guards were in front of us and they had backed up
,
but they were not in total retreat mode. We were also in the open with clear firing lanes from us to at least three guard towers. There had to have been at least
fifty
or
sixty
weapons pointed at us, yet we stood.

“Spindler
,
let’s go!” I yelled. The uneasy det
e
nte did not break.

“Is it safe?” I heard him whimper.

“Sure!” I answered.

“That’s kind of
mean
,”
Brian said between heavy breath
s.

“Don’t worry
,
he’s kind of a dick.”

Spindler came out of the shed
,
followed by a couple of kids
who
couldn’t have
been more than eleven or twelve, a middle aged couple
,
and a young woman.

“This a good idea, putting everyone out here like this?” Brian asked.
He kept
his rifle at the ready.

“Sure.”

“
T
hat’s the same answer you gave Spindler.”

“I know
,” I said
,
looking around
for Dee. I could hear the high-
pitched whine of fighters as they streaked to our position. I looked up as death approached.

“What now?” Brian asked holding his ground.

If the fighter had serial numbers I would have been able to read them as it bore down.

“Will they fire so close to their own kind?” Brian asked.

“They give about as much a shit for the Genogerians as they do
about us
,”
I replied.

“I take it these are Genogerians then?” Brian asked, clearly confused. “What else is there?”

“There are two classes, the
smaller Progerians run the show
and they’re usually a different color.”

“Oh I thought he was just old. The commandant I mean, I saw him the first day I got here.”

The
Genos
were still not firing but we might as well have
had
a ‘drop bomb here’ sign on us. The guards were backing up, they knew what was going to happen.

“We’re fucked
,” I said
just as vapor trails came from left to right above our location. The fighter that was bearing down on us so diligently was now in a full out scramble to pull up as three stinger missiles
,
shot from the ground,
sought purchase.