The sergeant had been driving for two hours before he felt it appropriate to break the silence. Beth was staring out her window the entire time. She had ceased crying, and speaking as well.
“You were on the ship?” the sergeant started cautiously. It was a long moment before Beth answered. The sergeant wasn’t sure whether she heard him or just didn’t feel like responding at the time. The sergeant was about to let his attempt at a conversation die when she began.
“We had gone to a concert, Mike and I, that is,” she began slowly.
“Mike Talbot? The one who brought the alien commander back?”
“The very same.”
“You know, a lot of people blame him for bringing this destruction upon us. They say if he hadn’t abducted their commander, they would have never come and wrought this devastation.”
“What do you think, Sergeant?” Beth turned to look squarely at the sergeant to gauge his response.
“I think they were coming no matter what. They weren’t parked out there to catch some rays.”
“Well, you’re definitely right, Sergeant. They were coming no matter what. If anything, Mike’s actions may have actually bought Earth a few more precious days. The aliens are very full of themselves. They would constantly tell me about their plans to conquer the universe; and how they had done this to countless planets before our little dot in the Milky Way was targeted.”
“You used to talk to them?”
Beth had to remind the sergeant to keep his eyes on the road as he glanced over at her.
“Yes,” she said as a shiver ran up her spine. The mere thought of being so close to the creatures, so foreign and strange had, at the very least, been unsettling. “Unlike Mike and Deb.” She had to pause momentarily as the mention of Deb made her voice crack. The sergeant reached over and gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze. Beth flinched a little, but it wasn’t altogether unwelcome.
“Like I was saying,” she began again as she cleared her throat. “Unlike Mike, Deb and the thousands of other people on that ship, I was more like a guest than a prisoner.” And for the next three hours, she told her experiences to the sergeant. The sergeant was familiar with Mike’s side, at least most of it. The military had been briefed on his narrative.
Beth’s part had been, for the most part, ignored. And the military’s version had been sanitized until it was very antiseptic and fact-based only. Beth’s account had been full of emotion and pain. As an eyewitness account it was fascinating.
It was approaching the wee hours of the morning before the sergeant even remotely began to feel the effects of the preceding day. Fortunately, their destination was quickly approaching. Beth had begun to wrap up her saga when she noticed the signs.
“We’re going to the Kangamangus?”
“Yeah, it’s the safest place around this area. No one will bother us here… At least not military. We’ll regroup and head into Massachusetts a different way, a way that shouldn’t be guarded.” The sergeant contemplated telling Beth how he planned to approach the state, a quick glance at Beth convinced him it would fall on deaf ears. She was fast asleep.
The sergeant’s mind had been wavering all day on whether he had taken the right course, or could have done anything differently to save Deb. He saw the pain in Beth’s eyes and knew it would be a long time before she ever let the memories of the day slip on by. The sergeant hoped that she didn’t hold him responsible for the death of her friend. He knew he would always be a constant reminder. So now what? Was the big question.
Even if he could get Beth into Massachusetts safely, and that was a big 'if' because his unit also knew the unguarded routes back into the state; more than likely, they would have to cover quite a few of them in the days to come. He couldn’t go back to his family since they were probably being watched and who knows? His commander had, more than likely, already visited his house and told his wife and parents what happened.
There were, most likely, two versions. Either the colonel told Mr. & Mrs. O’Bannon that he was a hero and had died in the line of duty or that he was a traitor to his men. Either way, it wasn’t good news. The colonel could have spared his family the shock of being a traitor, he thought. But there was always the chance he could slip by the defenses and get to his family. Then what? If he were still alive, he obviously didn’t die a hero’s death.
Furthermore, the colonel knew that his father came from a long line of military career men. He would never tolerate traitorous behavior. If the colonel even suggested that, O’Bannon would be in more danger from his parents than from his men.
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave.” It was the only cliché he could think of but it fit. He pulled the truck over into one of the most remote camping locations that the state park had to offer. He wanted to ponder his multiple dilemmas a little more but sleep now had a firm hold and it wasn’t about to let it go.
Beth, meanwhile, dreamt a thousand dreams but they all revolved around one theme. She dreamed she had finally made it back to Mike’s open arms, but he wasn’t waiting for her. No matter how fast she tried to reach him, Deb kept beating her to his warm embrace. Her heart swelled when she realized Deb was okay, only to be deflated again when she realized Mike wanted Deb and not her. A thousand times, in a thousand dreams, she ran and every time was beaten out by her friend.
Beth woke with a start when, on the last embrace between Mike and Deb, Mike had pulled away with blood on his hands. “It’s not mine,” he said as horror began to contort his expression. Deb dropped to the ground as Mike pointed his finger, dripping with blood, squarely at Beth’s chest. “You did this!” he screamed.
Sweat gleamed on her forehead, and she quickly wiped it away as she noticed the sheen of frost on the windows. The sergeant’s head was against the driver’s side window. It didn’t appear that he would be waking up anytime soon. Beth took the opportunity to check out her surroundings and find a suitable place to relieve herself.
After having taken care of nature’s call, Beth decided to explore her surroundings. She had been cramped in the truck for the better part of ten hours and had no desire to get back in it right away. Besides, it continually reminded her of Deb, who was someone she didn’t want to think about, at least not right now.
She meandered down to the river and marveled at its beauty. The water shone in the morning sun and the sound was beyond soothing; she found it hypnotic. She thought Deb would have loved this place and that was all it took to snap her out of her reverie.
“Beautiful isn’t it?” the sergeant said as he approached from behind. Beth turned in surprise, ready to bolt, before she realized who it was.
“Yes it is.” was all she managed to answer. Beth’s suspicions piqued as she wondered if the sergeant had tracked her to this place, until she noticed the plates, dishes and pans he was carrying.
“These dishes don’t look like they’ve been washed in days,” the sergeant said as he noticed where Beth’s gaze had landed.
“They haven’t,” she said coolly as she brushed by him and headed back to the truck. The sergeant didn’t understand her distance, but then, he often admitted to his friends, he had no clue what made the female mind tick.
He took in the breathtaking scenery for a moment and continued to wash the dishes. Freezing water or not, he was starving. He hadn’t eaten a bite before his shift yesterday and that seemed like a lifetime ago. Well, the more he contemplated it, it definitely was a different lifetime ago.
When the sergeant returned, he noticed Beth had rummaged through the back of the truck and started preparing food for breakfast. He didn’t say so, but he was grateful.
“Here, put the pans over here. I’m going to make pancakes and bacon,” Beth announced as she looked up into his eyes warmly. The distance she exhibited before seemed to evaporate. The sergeant mentally shook his head; she only reaffirmed his theory.
“I didn’t mean for you to cook breakfast,” he commented.
“I know. I just wanted to do somet
hing nice for you, for all you’ve done for us. I mean, me,” she added quickly. He noticed her tone soften as she caught her slip. He quickly spoke before she had too much time to dwell on all the tragic events that had transpired.
“I can take care of breakfast. I was a cook for a local diner before I enlisted in the National Guard.”
“No that’s fine, I’ll take care of it,” she said weakly as a tear welled up in her eye. The sergeant knew he was in trouble from that point on; his heart was melting. Beth was one of the most achingly beautiful women he had ever seen and she was in distress. It was almost like a fairy tale, but he reminded himself, in this tale, he wasn’t the prince. And for only the second or third time in his life that he could remember, he felt envious of another person. He stooped down to wipe the tear away from her cheek and Beth flinched, as if she were expecting a slap.
The sergeant stood up quickly. “I…I’m sorry I…I just wanted to…ah… I just thought…” Beth just looked at him questioningly, the tear still rolling down her face but now her eyes took on the look of anger. And pissed off, the sergeant thought, only added another aspect to her beauty.
“I like my bacon crispy,” he said as he walked away. He had no clue what else to say. He felt like Beth’s eyes were boring a hole through his back, she quickly turned to the task at hand. She lit the small gas grill that she and Deb had acquired a thousand miles ago at a local Ace Hardware Store.
She was shocked by the sergeant’s move, but she couldn’t deny the electrifying sensation it created on the surface of her skin. Her cheeks were on fire and she thanked her lucky stars that the sergeant had turned tail and ran. She knew from past experience her cheeks were blazing red. They ate breakfast in silence, afterwards the sergeant went to the river he made a triumphant return an hour or so later, carrying a couple of fish he had snared out of the river with a makeshift net.
“I caught us a couple of trout for lunch. I hope you’re not a vegetarian.” He winced inside as the words came out. How could he be so thick? They had just eaten bacon and pancakes for breakfast. Beth stared at him like he had gone out of his mind, but she thought it was cute anyway.
“Yeah, I’ll eat fish,” she stated. “But I’m not cleaning them.”
“Not a problem” he said as he sat down on the cooler next to her. “I did that down by the river; I didn’t want to gross you out.”
“I’ve seen a lot worse.”
“Uh yeah, I guess you have.” Dumb! Dumb! Dumb! He mentally slapped his head with his fist. “Listen,” he started hesitantly. She looked over at him with her beautiful, hazel green eyes. He hesitated. He wasn’t sure if he should keep going or not. She kept staring at him, waiting for him to continue, another millisecond and he thought he might lose his nerve. Thank God, he thought, as she saved him the trouble.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said as she held his gaze. “I know you were just trying to show some kindness. I guess this whole thing has me kind of shell-shocked. I don’t really expect any sort of warmth from people, at least not right now. You just took me by surprise, that’s all.”
“Thanks for letting me off the hook. So much has happened in the last twenty-four hours, I’m not sure which way is up.” Then, for the first time, she truly realized what this man had given up for her and Deb. Emotions that were long buried and reserved for another welled up inside her. Before she knew what she was doing, she leaned over and kissed him.
Now it was his turn to be shocked. But he didn’t pull away. The kiss lingered for a few seconds. Beth slowly eased her head back, before she leaned in full tilt, grabbing the back of the sergeant’s head, pulling him close. Any closer, he figured, and he’d be on the other side.
The sergeant felt a brief moment of remorse for his act of infidelity, but it was inexplicable; he was drawn to the woman like a moth to the flame. And, knowing her penchant for getting in trouble, he figured that would be the way he went out. But right now, however, that was okay.
They made love for hours on a musty, old blanket. The snap in the air only electrified their exposed skin. And for the briefest of times, Beth never thought once of Mike.
Chapter 40
Indian Hill
Paul had gone back to his office when he discovered he would not be able to get any information from the cave-in sight, that, however, had not stopped his constant questioning for new knowledge.
“How bad is the cave-in?” Paul slammed his hand on top of his desk so hard that the private in the outer office jumped.
“Sir, we’re not sure. It’s impossible to get close because of the small arms fire.” Paul looked at the man with murderous intention.
“Small arms fire from whom?” Paul demanded.
“We aren’t sure, sir. And…”
“I want answers.”
“Sir, I have no answers. The only thing I know for sure is that Major Salazar and his team were in the tunnel when she blew.” Paul’s stomach turned; he couldn’t afford to lose his second in command. He relied on Salazar’s expertise and handling of the troops immeasurably. The captain noticed the change in Paul’s demeanor. He pressed on.
“Sir, for good or bad, we have to believe that the major or at least some of his men are alive.” Paul looked on questioningly.
“Sir, there is a small battle going on down there. I believe it’s Major Salazar and his men against whoever detonated that bomb.”
“What about getting some men down there and helping out?”
“Two things, sir. First off, that whole tunnel is now structurally unsound. Do you want to risk any more men down there? And the other is that you can’t see two feet in front of you in there. It would be impossible to know who you were shooting at. We could cut our own men to ribbons and not even realize it.”
“Captain, I want full guard details on both sides of that tunnel. I want every man that comes through that tunnel unarmed and restrained until we sort this mess out.”
“And Major Salazar? Should he come through?” Paul couldn’t believe that his friend and second-in-command had anything to do with this whole affair. Sure, they had their differences, but nothing that would accommodate treason.
“Bring him here immediately, unless he requires medical attention.”
“Unarmed sir?”
“Everyone, Captain. Get to it, now!” The captain saluted and headed out the door. Paul was left to reflect on the events that led up to the whole scenario.
The National Guardsmen had assimilated very well into Paul’s unit. Sure, there was still some suspicion regarding them, Paul had done his best to alleviate the worst of it. He made sure that the men were evenly distributed throughout the unit and none of them had too much in the way of high security positions, although he allowed for that to change.
Some of the men had very skilled positions previously when the Earth still made sense. It made no sense at all to waste that talent. Sure, some of them despised what Paul had done, and others fell easily into the routine. Military was military after all, and that’s what some people needed--the attention to detail and the discipline that was inherent with that philosophy.
***
When the baby had come back parentless, many grumblings had surfaced and not all from the Guard unit. Some had not liked the dogma associated with it. There was no easy way out of that one. The events of that day had spread like wild fire throughout the Hill. The fact that Paul had intended to kill those people in cold blood was not lost on anybody.
Most realized the wisdom of the decision, and had to, even if with great difficulty, accept the reality of it. To let those people go, was tantamount to suicide. Secrecy was security. But still others would never come to terms with their leader’s actions. To them, there was no justification for murder, not even self-preservation.
In those people, Paul felt the trouble began, although that wasn’t the only front he was battling. Rumors also spread, “From God knows where,” Paul muttered. One was that the aliens were providing amnesty to those who gave
themselves up. Those acquiescent ones would be given wonderful places to live out their lives, safe from the wrath that would be brought to bear against those that bore arms against them.
Where that information came from, Paul had no idea. Every conceivable area of bandwidth was scanned by Paul’s highly skilled radio men. If they received a peep about anything like that, he would have most certainly heard about it. To those few bad seeds who began the rumor, the rot had already taken hold and started to infect.
Sure, who wouldn’t want to get out from living underground and safe from the highly trained and dangerous enemy? Yeah, it sounded like a great deal. Problem was, it wasn’t true. The people that gave up were far more likely to end up on the dinner table than be set up in some seaside resort. Most knew the fallacy of the rumors and the damage they could inflict. Information was the key to dispelling the myths and Paul had made sure to disseminate as much of it as was possible without making it look like propaganda.
Still it persisted and apparently festered, judging by the day’s sabotage. What did they hope to accomplish? Sure, blowing the tunnel would be harmful but not to any extreme. Most of the food had long since been removed from the grocery store. In fact, plans had been laid to close the tunnel to prevent anybody from finding the entrance to the Hill and to relieve the guard details who monitored the site twenty-four/seven. Guard duty was important but there were still other very valuable jobs that could be performed. So what was the reason? What was the point?
It was nothing more than a hastening of the plans already in effect. Paul sat at his desk with his elbows resting on the surface, his hands folded over each other. He slowly lowered his head down when suddenly, his head shot back up with the dawning of a thought. Diversion, it was a diversion!
“Damn it!” Paul exclaimed. “Private! Get in here!” It was an amazingly quick response, but the private was already on the move when his colonel began to shout.
“Get Colonel Sal..” He corrected himself. “Get Captain Baker up here, fast. And on the way out, sound the general alarm.” The private nodded at all the right times, but understanding did not come so quickly. He knew about the tunnel and the measures the colonel had taken to contain the situation, so why the alarm? The alarm only meant bad things. Right now, the private wished he hadn’t eaten that second bowl of oatmeal this morning. It was sitting in his belly like a lead weight.