Ancient Astronauts

The Noose Tightens

A tear slid down Alyonna's cheek. She didn't know why she was suddenly sad. It felt as though a hole had suddenly opened in her heart, rapidly growing wider and wider. The tears flowed in synchrony with the ache in her chest. She began to sob.

Peter reached out a hand. Aly turned hers over and grasped it fiercely. She was glad he was here. He'd come by earlier in the day for one of her regular checkups and she insisted that he stay, both for his safety and her sanity. She needed a friend right now.

She considered Sgt. Batts to be one, but his idea of comforting someone was, "I've lost thousands of men. You've lost one. Get over it." Aly knew he meant well, but that was seriously not the right thing to say to Sheila.

"What is it, Aly?" Peter asked in a voice full of concern.

"I don't know," Aly choked, "Something's wrong. Something's very wrong, Peter. It's like something that was in my heart isn't there anymore."

Peter held her hand more firmly. Something terrible was happening. 

The radio on the coffee table crackled, "Calling all units, Second Chance is under attack by locals. I repeat, the town is under attack. Report to your battle groups immediately!"

"That's Admiral Kepler's voice," Peter said. Hastily he grabbed the radio and handed it to Aly.

She waved a shaking hand for him to make the call.

"If I do it," Peter said hastily, "They'll ask why a damn obstetrician has a military radio!"

Alyonna snatched the radio from his hand and took a few deep breaths to compose herself.

"Admiral Kepler. This is Angel Bird. Come in admiral."

"I copy Angel Bird. Go ahead."

"What is Hans' status?" She asked in a shaking voice.

The line was silent for a moment, "I don't know Angel Bird. Main Street and the administrative district are overrun. Communication to and from that area is garbled to all hell. Too many things happening at once."

"Was he there?" Aly asked, the hole growing wider. Her chest felt leaden.

"He was, Angel Bird. But don't worry, I've mobilized the M4's and C14's for an assault on the occupied area. The Kentucky commandos went haring off with Lt. Smith and Laptop against orders. Something about bypassing the fences using the river boats."

"Hurry Admiral. Please!"

"We're doing everything we can ma'am. Stay put."

"It seems like everyone is telling me to do that these days." Alyonna sighed when the line went silent.

"Because it's good advice?" Peter suggested. Aly rolled her eyes at him like he was Captain Obvious.

"I'm not so sure it is," Sgt. Batts said from the window.

Aly and Peter got to their feet and went to the window. Hundreds of yellow eyes stared at them from the forest. Sgt. Batts made for the door. Then the eyes disappeared.

No, not disappeared, Aly realized. Crouched down in the undergrowth. Hundreds of shapes swarmed from the foliage, crossing the gravel road like wraiths.

"On your feet, you cocksuckers! The enemy is upon us!" Lemuel Batts bellowed, jumping into one of the 50 caliber machine gun nests, "Not one of the stinking devils gets in the house!"

The simple, easy to understand orders of a seasoned NCO resonated with the troops who leapt to action. Those who were sleeping ran from their tents, some without shirts or shoes. The first of the lizard creatures to pop over the wall had its head blown off by a sniper on the roof, yet dozens more followed.

The Hill House yard rang with the flat, fast sound of heavy caliber fire, the smaller, sharper cracks of small arms, and the screams of the wounded and dying, human and lizard alike.

One of the machine guns went silent as one of the creatures made it over the sandbags, unsheathing enormous foot long claws. 

Aly leapt back with fright as the soldier manning the gun sailed through air, crashing through the window. He lay on his back on the floor, head lolling without direction, face slashed open in three even incisions.

It was Sgt. Batts.

The lizard creature crawled through the shattered window hissing and spitting. It's long hands and feet moving easily over the shattered glass on the floor.

Aly's heart rate slowed. The tears burned cold against her cheeks. Anger, the most focusing of emotions, soured through her. The lizard barely had time to back away before the revolver Hans gave her came up.

She knew Hans always said to go for a double tap to the chest except against professionals who wore body armor, but this creature wasn't human and appeared to have some kind of thick, bony plates on its torso. She flicked the nose of the revolver up in a perfect grip and fired three shots at the creature's head. One missed, while the second careened off the side knocking the cranium into line with the third which penetrated an enormous eye and put the light out behind it for good.

The creature slumped forward onto the body of its opponent, blue blood oozing from its eye socket.