Monsters Win Wars: A Novella (7 page)

“Oh shit.” Henry said. He ran to the door,
flung it open, and found two dead commandoes lying on the ground. A
flash of blue plasma shot past his head, and he turned to the side.
Emily sat crouched behind the door, the plasma pistol smoking in
her hand. She was breathing hard, and she lowered the gun.

“Oh my god.” She said, staring at the person
she’d almost hit.

“Emily.” Henry ran over, and they
embraced.

“I’m so sorry.” Emily said.

“That’s okay.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” She
asked.

“I heard there were troops here. I couldn’t
leave you alone here.”

A soft warm smile creased her face. She
kissed him, and said, “Thank you.”

“No problem.” He took her hand, and pulled
her up off the ground.

“So where do we go?”

“One second.” Henry took his radio from his
pocket, and called Aric.

“Henry, are you alright?!” Aric asked.

“I’m near the infirmary with Emily.”

“Henry, there is a large contingent of
commandoes heading that way right now.” Henry and Emily could hear
dozens of footsteps marching on the cold metal, and they were
getting louder. “Find cover. I’m sending some of our troops down
immediately.”

“Yes sir.” He put the radio in his pocket.
Emily picked up a rifle from one of the dead soldiers, and they
left.

They started down the hallway that Henry had
come, but stopped when they saw an Earth commando turn the corner
at the end, the sound of his comrade’s marching not far behind.

“Over there!” One of them yelled. They fired
a green plasma blast down the hall. Emily and Henry moved out of
the way, and ran down to the infirmary.

They opened the door, closed it behind them,
and ran toward the back. There were a few large metal cabinets that
rested against the wall. They were knocking them down to the ground
to use as cover, when the door to the infirmary was kicked in.

“Freeze!” said a commando, as he fired a
warning shot that sailed between them. They dropped their rifles,
and slowly turned around. There were six soldiers, all pointing
their plasma rifles at the two rebels. One of them began to speak
into a walkie-talkie.

“We have Patrick. Repeat we have
Patrick.”

“Roger.” Said the voice on the radio. “Ask
him the location of the president.”

“Where is the president?”

Neither Henry nor Emily knew what to say.

“Where is the president?” The lead solider
asked again. The other soldiers were fidgeting, their eyes
constantly searching for any sign of the saurian troops.

“He’s…” Henry began. “He’s…not here. He’s on
a shuttle to Venus.”

“Stop lying!” The solider barked. “We know
he’s on this ship!”

“I’m telling you the truth.”

“You’re lying!”

“I swear that’s where he is.” Henry said. He
kept peaking over at the infirmary door, hoping to see some of the
saurians there.

“Stop lying!”

“I’m not lying!”

The lead soldier walked over to Emily, and
fired a plasma blast just inches from her head. He held the smoking
barrel to her head.

“Please no!” Henry begged.

“Tell me where he is!”

Emily slowly mouthed “no.”

“He’s on the shuttle!”

“I’m gonna count to three.”

“I told you where he was!”

“One!”

“He’s in the radio room!” Henry spoke
quickly. The solider still hadn’t removed his gun from Emily’s
head.

“Where is that?”

“Its-” A howl from one of the soldiers
interrupted Henry. Everyone in the room turned in time to see the
green and black blur make its way to the soldier that held Emily
hostage. He fell quickly.

The other soldiers began to fire about
wildly, their plasma blasts bouncing off the walls. Henry ran to
Emily, and pulled her to the ground. They ducked their heads, and
didn’t look up until the sound of rifle fire ceased. It was a sight
that could’ve come from any of a dozen different battles fought in
the last six months; a handful of black-suited government troops
lying dead at the feet of an unarmed saurian commando.

“Get up you imbecile.” Rand said. He had
tears under his eyes, and blood on his uniform. They did, and Rand
immediately stepped forward, and grabbed Henry by his throat.

“What were you thinking?” the commando
asked.

“Let him go!” Emily said.

“I had to save her.” Henry said. He could
again feel the claws pressed down on his skin.

“You pathetic piece of shit!” Rand growled.
“You were going to throw away everything you’ve worked for!”

“Was I supposed to just leave her here?”

“Yes!” Rand said. “Don’t you understand?! You
are the face of this revolution! When it is over, you will be the
hero who is swept into office!”

“I did what I needed to do.”

“You’re a hazard to yourself.” Rand’s grip on
his neck tightened.

“Rand, let him go!” Emily shouted.

“Maybe If I broke your spine…” Rand said.
Henry’s eyes went wide. “It’d be much more difficult for a cripple
to do something stupid. And the sympathy from the public.” A thin
smile spread across Rand’s face. “You apes love to worship your
victims.”

A wad of green plasma whizzed past Rand’s
head, and they could hear Emily shout, “Let him go!”

Rand turned to see Emily’s angry brown eyes
staring at him behind the barrel of a smoking plasma rifle. The
saurian snarled. He threw Henry to the ground, and lunged for
Emily. She fired off a few shots, none of which hit Rand, before
she felt his claws come down on her arm. She screamed as the blood
began to gush out from the gash that ran from her shoulder to her
elbow. The rifle fell to the ground.

Henry lay on his side, trying to reach for
the plasma pistol he still kept in his pants. He pulled it out, and
aimed. Rand was holding his claw to Emily’s throat.

“Put down the weapon.” Rand said.

Henry’s eyes went wide. He knew he had a good
shot at hitting Rand, but he didn’t want to risk hurting Emily.
Again Rand said, “Put down the weapon!”

Henry obeyed. Rand sliced Emily’s throat
open, before dropping her to the ground.

“No!” Henry said, scrambling to the place
where Emily lay on her side, bleeding onto the floor. He took her
in his arms, as she stared up at him. He watched as the light
slowly left her eyes.

“You should’ve killed me when you had the
chance.” Rand said. Henry looked up at him, anguish and rage clear
on his face. “Don’t get so upset. I’m sure they’re plenty of women
who’d be glad to be the president’s plaything.” Henry reached for
the blood-stained rifle at Rand’s feet, when the saurian slammed a
green foot on it.

“You can’t beat me.” He said. “I’m-” Rand’s
words were interrupted by a howl of pain. His eyes went wide, and
he collapsed to the ground. A large gash ran down his back.
Standing behind him was Aric, red saurian blood dripping from his
fingers.

He stared down at the corpse, and said, “You
were my best solider. But you could never play well with others.”
He turned to Henry, and asked, “Are you alright?”

“Why did you help us?” Henry said. He looked
over at Rand. “He told me that you didn’t need my help to get rid
of Sallis.” Aric’s expression remained blank, as he began to
explain.

“Your solar system is rich with minerals and
materials that people from my world would pay good money for. I
wanted it.” Aric’s voice had lost its warmth and friendliness, and
had instead become cold and clinical. It was as though a façade had
been taken away, and Henry was seeing the real Aric.

“But this system was inhabited, and we had to
consider dealing with the locals. Rand’s initial suggestion had
been to simply wipe you out. He was always very direct. You can
attest to this.”

“He was a psychopath.” Henry spat.

“A psychopath on your world, a model citizen
on mine. We have very different values, but that’s beside the
point.

“We knew the native population could provide
cheap labor, but forcing them would cause problems. It always does.
That was when we sent the probes out, to survey your system, gather
materials for us to study and research.

“You’re a very dramatic people.” Aric said.
“Romantic. Sentimental: a large emphasis on pathos. This wasn’t too
surprising, such traits are very common in mammals. I’d heard of
planets with intelligent mammalian species, but had never visited
one myself. Neither had Rand. It was a shock to both of us. Our
species is more solitary, yours more social.

“We discovered that the system had recently
been taken over by a less than popular administration, and that a
ragtag group of freedom fighters were trying to take it back. Our
plan had been to back up your revolution, thereby not only gaining
the trust of the new government, but that of the people as
well.”

“I’ll never let you do this.” Henry said.
Emily’s body still felt warm in his arms. “I won’t allow my people
to become your slaves.”

“Then we’ll do it by force.” Aric said. “The
army I brought with me was small on purpose. We wanted it to still
feel like a small revolution. But at the touch of a button, I could
have millions more summoned, with ships that make your most
advanced dreadnoughts look like scrap-heaps. It will be tedious,
and there will be much more blood-shed and violence, but your
people will live under our boot no matter what you do.

“But if you play along with us, you will help
to facilitate this change. It will take longer, maybe a few
decades, and it will have to be under the guise of government work
projects. You’ll also need to emphasize the importance of
inter-species interaction, and the value of opening relations with
extra-terrestrial beings.”

“No.” Henry shook his head. The world around
him was spinning, and he felt like he could throw up.

“Whether you like it or not, your race
belongs to us. But you have the power to make it easier for them,
and us. You are after all, the savior of the people.”

“Rand was right.” Henry didn’t look up;
instead keeping his eyes on the face of the woman he loved. “You
are worse than death.”

The rebel leader stood up, and carried
Emily’s body to one of the hospital beds along the wall. He laid
her there. Behind him, he heard Aric lifting up Rand’s corpse.

“I have to go around the ship, and help to
collect all the bodies.” Aric said. Henry refused to turn and face
him. “The enemy troops are all dead, but they tried to sabotage the
engines. Nothing too serious; they’ll be fixed by morning.

“I doubt they’ll try a direct assault again
for some time. With this humiliating defeat, we have brought them
to their knees. Another month and you’ll be in office on Earth.

“You have until then to decide, or we will
decide for you.” Aric then left the room, leaving Henry alone with
his thoughts and his grief.

Edward Punales is a writer and student. He
has written the short fiction collection,
Symphony of
Humanity
. He is a life-long fan of fantasy and science fiction,
and has written several stories and books under the pen name,
Edward Lange. Starting in early 2015, he abandoned that pen name,
and began writing and publishing under his real name. He lives with
his family in South Florida.

Author site:
edwardpunalesauthor.blogspot.com

Email: [email protected]