Destin destroyed four more of the pods before one of the alien fighters realized what he was doing. Adrenaline poured through him when they turned toward him and Mason. Gritting his teeth, he continued firing at the two pods.
“We’ve got company,” Destin said, wincing when Mason turned the corner between two buildings.
“I see them,” Mason replied, accelerating.
“Yes!” Destin shouted.
“Ouch! What the hell happened?” Mason asked, taking another corner. “Bogies at eleven and two.”
“The Trivators are figuring out what we are doing and two of their fighters took out the Drethulan fighters heading for us,” Destin replied, swiveling to eleven o’clock and firing before turning to the one at two o’clock. “We’re making progress!”
“Don’t count your eggs yet, boss man. It looks like the alien chicken just hatched a new batch,” Mason said, watching in dismay as the sky filled with the falling pods. “I hate fucking alien chickens.”
* * *
*.*.*
* * *
Prymorus threw his vidcom across the room. Retris still had not returned with the Raftian and the Jawtaw, and the Drethulan commander refused to listen to him. He told the male that he didn’t have troop placement yet, but the Drethulan was overconfident.
“Sir, what are your instructions?” one of the warriors asked, standing at attention.
“Bring the human child you found to me,” Prymorus ordered.
“Yes, sir,” the warrior said, turning on his heel.
Prymorus walked over to the opening and stared out. Drethulan pods fell through the atmosphere. He watched several explode before they reached the ground. His fingers tightened on the doorframe and he stepped back when two Trivator fighters flashed low overhead. The building shook from the explosions outside. Dust and loose debris rained down from the ceiling.
He watched the warrior walk back from the freighter. A struggling human boy fought to escape. Loud curses escaped the boy and he flashed a look of resentment at Prymorus.
The moment the boy was within striking distance, Prymorus backhanded him across the face. The force of the blow knocked the boy off his feet and he fell several feet away, stunned. Pulling his laser pistol free, he pointed it at the boy’s leg.
“Struggle again and I will blow your leg off,” Prymorus stated in an icy tone. “Do you know a human named Destin Parks?”
The boy raised a trembling hand to his busted bottom lip and nodded. Prymorus reached down, gripped the front of the child’s shirt, and yanked him back to his feet. Dirty tears streaked the boy’s face and his eyes shone with fear.
“You will lead me to him,” Prymorus ordered. “If you try to escape, I will kill you slowly, do you understand?”
“Ye… Yes,” the boy whispered. “He’s… Destin isn’t at the tower. I heard… I heard talk that he went to the base.”
“The Trivator base?” Prymorus asked.
The boy nodded. “The one near the lake,” he replied, pointing a shaky hand in the direction of most of the explosions.
Prymorus glanced toward the east. He started to turn toward the warrior when the male jerked in surprise and fell forward, dead. Prymorus’ gaze locked on a human male holding a weapon against his shoulder. Next to him was a Trivator.
He started to reach for the boy to use as a shield, but the Trivator and the human male both opened fire at the same time as the boy fell to the ground and started crawling for cover. Prymorus lifted his laser pistol, returning fire at the two males who dove behind a partially collapsed wall. He briefly caught a glimpse of two of his men lying near the building across from him.
The other members of his team returned fire only to be cut down in the crossfire as more humans rose up out of the rubble. Prymorus quickly realized that his forces were outnumbered when additional explosions peppered the building and the freighter. He turned and dove through the entrance of the building behind him.
* * *
*.*.*
* * *
Beth gripped the wheel and turned it sharply, sliding around the corner. She fought the grin when she heard her grandmother release a line of swear words that would have almost made the men blush. She took the next left, then crossed between two buildings under construction and across the deserted roadway.
“Well, there’s one way to clear the roads. All you need to do is have the aliens attack again and even they clear out,” Mary said in a dry tone as she held onto the armrest. “Killing us before we get to the tower won’t help the cause, Beth.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Beth replied, easing off the gas pedal. “Do you see any more of those pod things?”
Mary leaned forward and tried to see through the windshield. “The Trivators are picking them off pretty good now. I don’t think there are quite as many falling as there were before.”
“I hope they get them all,” Beth replied, taking the next right and an immediate left. “We made it.”
Beth turned right into the underground parking lot. The tires screeched on the smooth concrete when she followed the line around to the bank of elevators. She pulled to a stop and slid the gearshift into park before turning off the engine.
“Well, at least your driving is getting better,” Mary remarked, opening the door and stepping out. “You didn’t hit anything this time.”
“Richard and Troy have been helping me,” Beth replied with a grin, opening the driver’s door and getting out.
“Mason’s apartment is this way,” Mary said, turning and hurrying to a set of doors with a sign stating authorized entrance only.
“I never understood why he wanted an apartment in the subbasement of the building,” Beth remarked, waiting while her grandmother pressed her palm to the access panel.
“He hates heights and said he has a better chance of rising from the rubble than falling to the pavement,” Mary replied with a wave of her hand for Beth to go ahead of her after she opened the door.
“How do you know that?” Beth asked with surprise.
“I may be old, Beth, but I’m not dead, and Mason is a very good-looking man,” Mary replied with a twinkle in her eyes. “What do you think I do when you’re working nights, sit at home and knit?”
“You don’t… Oh!” Beth hissed out in surprise, staring at her grandmother’s back with her mouth hanging open.
“You’re catching flies, honey,” Mary retorted, opening the door to Mason’s apartment.
Beth snapped her mouth closed and shook her head. How could she have not known that her grandmother and Mason…. She blanched and shuddered.
“That’s just nasty,” she muttered at the thought of them getting it on. “I didn’t think old people could still – and with Mason! Wow!”
Beth hurried into the apartment. It was sparsely decorated, but Beth could see small signs of her grandmother’s touch. Releasing a long breath of air, she turned and strode down the hallway.
“Can you reach the top shelf?” Mary asked when Beth walked in the door.
“Let me find something to stand on,” Beth replied, spying a chair in the corner. “Move aside.”
Beth grabbed the chair and dragged it over to the closet. Climbing up on it, she turned and looked along the shelf. A neatly folded blanket, a couple of hats, a shoebox, and….
“Massage oil?” Beth asked, glancing down at her grandmother’s upturned face.
“Don’t look under the blanket,” Mary instructed with a straight face. “That’s where he keeps the sex toys and the bondage straps.”
“Yew, Grandma!” Beth replied, grabbing the shoebox and thrusting it into her grandmother’s outstretched hands before jumping off the chair. “You know you have totally damaged me for life.”
“Well, it’s about time you learned about the birds and the bees,” Mary sniffed, not bothering to hide her grin.
“I don’t ever remember seeing any bees or birds with massage oil and sex toys,” Beth muttered under her breath, shaking her head in disbelief.
Mary took the box over to the bed and opened it. She briefly rummaged through the box before she held the ring out to Beth. “You hold onto this,” Mary said. Beth nodded and slid the ring into her pocket while Mary put the lid back on the box. She handed the box to Beth as well. “Here, if you can put this back up on the shelf.”
Beth took the shoebox, climbed back on the chair, and replaced it on the shelf. Jumping off the chair again, she returned it to the corner while Mary closed the closet door. Beth strode back toward the front door, wincing when the muted sound of an explosion nearby shook the building.
“Let’s get out of here. Sula said she saw the building in flames. I don’t want to be buried in it,” Mary replied, pulling open the door to the apartment and motioning for Beth to go through first.
Beth stepped out into the hallway and turned when she heard frantic footsteps. Jason was running down the corridor toward her. Behind her, Mary closed the door to Mason’s apartment.
“How bad is it?” Beth asked when Jason drew to a stop in front of her.
“Bad,” Jason responded, reaching out to grip her arm. “What are you guys doing here and where in the hell have you been?”
Beth winced in pain when Jason grabbed her sore arm. “Ouch, let go,” she muttered, pulling her arm away from him. They all hurried down the corridor, talking as they went. “Sula and I were attacked at the base last night by a couple of badasses known as Waxians. I took a minor hit, but Sula was hurt pretty badly. Anyway, there was a meeting this morning; Sula was looking for something important, Mason had it, some weird French dudes predicted the attack, and the tower is supposed to become the next inferno so we’ve all got to get out.”
Jason stopped, looked at her with a strange expression, then shook his head, and began moving again. “Troy and Justin are up on the roof. We have weapons set up there. Richard’s organizing the ground troops. I was heading to join him when I saw you enter the garage area,” he explained.
“We’ve got to get back to the base,” Beth said. “There may be information that can help defeat the Drethulans.”
“I thought you said they were Waxians. Who the hell are the Drethulans?” he demanded, pausing at the door leading out into the garage.
Beth tossed back the long braid that was starting to come loose and sighed. Trying to explain this was almost as bad as learning about all the different countries when she was in elementary school.
“The Waxians attacked us at the base, but the pod things are the Drethulans. They are supposed to be working together,” Beth explained as she opened the door.
“All I know is they are aliens and I’m fucking tired of them pissing on us,” Jason retorted with a disgusted expression. “Sorry about the f-bomb, Mary.”
“I’ll let it slide this…,” Mary started to say before her voice faded on a shocked hiss and she staggered backwards, clutching her chest.
“Grandma!” Beth cried out, reaching for the older woman when she started to slide down against the wall.
“Shit!” Jason said, lurching to the side as laser fire swept past them. He slammed the heavy metal door shut. “There are two of those creatures in the garage.”
“Lock… Lock the garage down,” Mary whispered in a pain-filled voice. “Key… The keypad. Hit nine-one-one.”
Jason turned and punched in the code. The door immediately locked and he saw the large, thick metal door to the outer entrance that led to the street lower as well. The aliens didn’t realize until it was too late that they were trapped. Beth knelt next to her grandmother, trying to stem the flow of blood from her chest.
“Oh, shit!” Jason whispered with a touch of horror in his voice as he stared through the thick glass window in the door.
“What is it?” Beth asked, glancing at him with tears in her eyes.
“These things… they… they’re changing. We’ve got to get out of here,” Jason replied in a hoarse tone.
“We can’t move her. We’ve got to get help for her,” Beth said with a shake of her head.
Beth was vaguely aware of Jason glancing down at her and her grandmother. Her blood-covered hands trembled as she put pressure on the wound. Her grandmother reached up and gripped her hand.
“Go, child. I’m not going to make it,” Mary whispered.
“No!” Beth cried out in a shaking voice. “I won’t leave you. Jason, you’ve got to help me get her up. We can go out through the service elevator at the end to the infirmary.”
Jason jerked back when the door started to glow when one of the Drethulans fired on it. The other creature was trying to burst through the outer door to the street. Beth watched him shoulder his weapon and bend to slide his arm around Mary’s waist.
“No,” Mary hissed in pain.
“You heard Beth, Mary, we aren’t leaving without you,” Jason stated.
Mary pressed her hand against Jason and shook her head. “I can feel death coming for me, Jason,” she whispered in a strained voice. “Get my granddaughter out of here and keep her alive.”
“Mary…,” Jason muttered, but he could see the light beginning to fade in the older woman’s eyes.
“Do you have one of those little bombs you like to carry with you?” Mary asked in a barely audible voice.
“No, Grandma, please… no. You can’t leave me,” Beth cried. “Please… Oh, god… please….”
“Take her, Jason. Promise me…,” Mary whispered as Jason slipped the small, round explosive into her hand. “Promise me….”
“I will,” Jason murmured, sliding his arm from around her waist and touching her cheek in sorrow and regret. “You’re an amazing woman, Mary.”
“We’ve fought hard. Don’t give up,” Mary replied, leaning weakly back against the wall. “Go, Beth. I love you, honey. I always will. I’m in here if you ever need me.” Mary weakly pressed her hand to Beth’s heart.
Beth sobbed, clutching her grandmother’s hand that was weakly pressed against her heart. She shook her head violently when Jason reached down and wrapped his arm around her waist. She wanted to fight him. Instead, Beth held onto her grandmother’s hand until it slipped free.
“Noooo!” Beth cried, sobbing as Jason half carried, half dragged her down the corridor to the service elevator. “Noooo!” she screamed in pain, her gaze still locked on her grandmother’s peaceful face. “No!”
Pain and grief tore through Beth. She would have never made it to the elevator without Jason. She stumbled, her eyesight blurred by tears. Jason activated the lift and pulled her inside. They both watched in grim horror as the door at the other end broke free from the hinges and long tentacles retracted and reformed until the two Drethulans were once more in an almost humanoid form.
She watched her grandmother’s head move slightly before Beth closed her eyes when a brilliant flash, and then an explosion, shook the corridor. The doors to the lift closed before the wave of heat could hit them. When they did, Beth collapsed to the floor in uncontrollable sobs.
22
Sula applied another bandage to one of the human soldiers that was brought in. All around her, she could hear explosions and feel the building tremble. She ignored the fear pulsing through her. It had nothing to do with her and everything to do with Destin.
Patch and Chelsea were quickly overwhelmed when the wounded started coming in. Sula took over the waiting room, working on helping those that were not in critical condition. She turned when the door opened and another man staggered in, his arm wrapped around a wounded soldier that looked too young.
“Mason!” Sula exclaimed, hurrying over to help him when he lowered the man into the last available chair. “Where is Destin?”
“Fighting,” Mason replied. “We came upon this kid and he needed help.”
Sula nodded, relieved to know that Destin was still fighting. She looked at the young male when he moaned and leaned his head back. A thick piece of metal protruded from his upper thigh. This one would have to go to Patch and Chelsea.
A pod la
nded not more than two hundred meters away and the door burst open. “Ah, shit! Damn it! Another one’s hatched,” Mason groaned, staring out the doorway.
Sula watched in horror as the Drethulan spilled out of the capsule. Instead of being in a humanoid form, it was in its natural one. It immediately started digging, trying to disappear beneath the soil to escape the gunfire aimed at it. Mason swung the gun on his shoulder around, and with a loud yell, he burst through the door after it, firing as he went.
Her heart in her throat, Sula hurried over to the door. She gripped the handle and stared out the doorway. The sky above them was difficult to see for all the smoke. The building across from medical had been hit and was on fire. Trivator fighters were still engaging the Drethulans. There were fewer pods opening. Most were destroyed before they made it to the ground.
Horror made everything feel hazy for a moment. Sula refocused when Mason and two Trivators aimed a burst of gunfire at a section of ground that was moving near the pod. Mason and two Trivator warriors turned in a tight circle when the ground stopped moving. Sula’s lips parted when she saw the ground buckle a short distance from them. One of the Trivators twisted around as the Drethulan erupted from the ground behind them. Sharp tentacles struck out, hitting the man in the side.
“No!” Sula cried out, seeing the man fall and the Drethulan strike him again. “Mason, look out!”
Sula started forward. She was unaware of even moving until she was running toward Mason. Her hand wrapped around the Mylio-batoidei baton stuck in the back of her jeans. Another creature suddenly appeared and Sula flung out her arm, shooting out a wave of energy from the baton just as the creature struck Mason in the back.
The wave sliced through the creature’s tentacle, severing it. As if in slow motion, Sula watched Mason’s large body stiffen for a moment before he fell forward. Swinging the baton around, she snapped the band of energy across the creature’s neck, nearly decapitating it. The lone Trivator turned his weapon on the first Drethulan, riddling its body with a burst of laser fire until it collapsed.