The Light: The Invasion Trilogy Book 3 (15 page)

Chapter 28

Laura stumbled into the darkness of the backyard. There were no lights, only the moonlight reflecting off the high steel wall circling the communal. She moved along a clapboard fence, pulling Katy behind her and searching for a place to hide. She knew Francis would return soon, and she needed to be gone. When he found Taurine, he would report her, then the Deltas would come. She crept along the fence, wending her way through an overgrown garden, deeper into high grass and away from the homes along the street.

The tall and solid wall reflected back at her mockingly; she wouldn’t be able to escape this way. A noise in the house startled her. Someone was pounding on the locked door—they would find Taurine soon. She needed someplace to hide, to get as far from here as she could. She pressed against the clapboard fence, searching the boards. She found loose panels and pried at them with her bare hands, scraping her knuckles until they bled. A board came loose. She pulled it free and worked on the one next to it, finding it easier to pull away.

Laura stuck her head through the hole in the fence, searching until she was sure the way was clear. Quickly, she whirled back and guided Katy through the opening ahead of her. She scrambled through just before a beam of light began searching the backyard. She could hear Francis calling out for her, shouting her name, making promises she knew he wouldn’t be able to keep. Laura took one last chance, reached through, and was able to stack the loose boards back over the hole. They wouldn’t pass a close inspection, but right now, in the dark, it may be enough to conceal her route.

Straining her eyes, she searched the neighbor’s backyard. Less than fifty feet wide, covered with tall grass, and an overgrown garden at the back, it had a similar layout. She squinted, spotting a dark shadowed area in the corner—a large garden shed. Laura clenched her jaw; it could work… it
had
to work. She ran across the yard, dragging Katy behind her, imagining a swarm of Reds already storming the house, finding their dead witch, and releasing the hounds into the yard to search for her. There would be no sparing her now, no second chances.

She tried to think of the brief survival lessons on evasion they taught her back at the base—what to do if they were attacked, if the Deltas got into the base and she had to escape. Back then she had a rifle and they taught her to use it, but even the military instructor training them knew the rifle would be her last resort. It was drilled into her that her best defense was to hide, and that’s exactly what she would do now. She approached the garden shed and found the door locked with a pin. It was easily removed, but she would have no way to re-lock it from the inside. The door would open freely without it.

The door slid open like a barn; she dragged it just enough so that she could slip inside. She guided Katy in behind her and let the barn door slide shut. Moonlight shone in through a small skylight placed in the roof and a row of smaller windows in the front. She looked around the space, gasping and out of breath. Her eyes watered as she tried to focus on the room in front of her. Laura crept over the wooden floor of the small shed and past a rusted garden tractor parked in the center. In the back was an assortment of garden tools and burlap feed bags. Laura pressed in between the bags and sat Katy on the floor.

Laura flinched when she felt a static pulse through the knowledge cap. Her hand gripped it and she pulled and tugged, trying to remove it. The thing was solid, gripping her skull tightly. On the far wall, she saw a workbench, and near it was a large tool chest. Laura knelt close and pressed her face against Katy’s. “Stay here, hun. Momma has to do something.”

Silently, Katy nodded her head. Laura forced a smile and kissed her forehead then crept across the space to the bench, feeling the static increase in her head. She knew it would have to be removed before they found her or crippled her with the cap. Finding a flat-tip screwdriver, she pried at the metallic device until her scalp bled, but the cap refused to move. She began to panic as the pressure in her skull increased. She searched the walls and saw a string of jumper cables hanging from a hook.

Taking the cables, she moved back to the garden tractor in the center of the room and lifted the tractor’s seat, finding a small 12-volt battery right where she hoped it would be. She began breathing heavily, feeling the rush of pressure from the cap as it blocked the fear of what she was about to do. She connected the ends to the tractor battery then placed the negative on her cap. She looked in the corner where she’d left Katy, smiled, and then touched the positive clip to her cap.

There was no explosion or arc of electrical sparks like she expected; just the pain of a sledge hammer coming down on the base of her neck. She fell backwards and tumbled to the wooden floor. Instinctively, she reached up to touch her sore head and noticed the plate was gone. She found it on the floor beside her, the surface of the gold plate scorched where the electrical connection was made.

She lay on the floor, her cheek pressed against the dry boards. Katy ran to her side and palmed her face. “Are you okay, Momma?” she whispered.

Laura reached up and held the girl’s hand. “I’m fine now.”

There was a noise from outside, a splintering of wood that she knew was the clapboard fence. From her angle, she could just see under the sliding door and watched as heavy boots stomped through the yard in her direction. A bright light passed over the door, breaking through gaps in the shed’s siding. She sat up and pulled Katy onto her lap, letting her eyes search the small space for a place to hide. Panicking, she knew it was hopeless; they were sure to find her.

Backing away, she scooched into the feedbags, pulling them in front of her. She heard hands grab the door, the wood clacking as something attempted to open it. The door slid partway before a distant explosion paused its motion. Laura heard human screams and gunshots followed by a man’s voice shouting challenges. Holes appeared in the door where bullets pierced the wood, and a blue flash filled the gaps with light.

More gunfire and explosions covered the sounds of human screams. Laura crept toward the door and peeked out. An alien soldier in a blue uniform with red sleeves lay dead. Another was sitting against the clapboard fence a distance away, its hands grasping its bleeding chest. Laura slid the door open and looked out, seeing bright flashes of explosions over the rooftops of the homes. In the space between the houses, a man was kneeling as he held a pistol and was firing into the street.

She watched as blue bolts raced around him. The man stood his ground, covering groups of fleeing civilians who had previously lined up to enter the transports. Laura called to Katy and lifted the girl to her chest. Now was her chance; she would mix in with the fleeing group and leave with them. She ran through the yard, racing along the side of the house. As she drew near, she saw more uniformed men with rifles squaring off against the aliens. She turned and ran into the street. Just before she reached the man with the pistol, she watched as he was hit in the chest by a blue bolt, his torso melting under the flame of it.

The man fell back, his body hitting the ground. Laura watched his pistol slide across the pavement. She rushed toward the body, quickly scooped up the weapon, and tucked into the waist of her pants as she ran past him. Holding Katy tight, she found her way into the mass of fleeing civilians and tried to disappear into the group. It was chaotic, all of them running for a distant gate at the end of the street. Seeing the soldiers, their soldiers, fighting back against the aliens, she thought of Jacob. Laura tried to search the human faces for her husband, hoping he was alive and safe.

Running closer to the gate, she saw the uniformed men exchanging fire with the red-sleeved soldiers, the men desperately trying to create an exit for the civilians to escape through. The Deltas were clustering and stampeding into the opening, trying to plug the gap. A small car raced through the gate from outside, charging directly at the horde of Deltas. Bodies broke and were tossed aside as the car hit them, knocking several back and creating a wake of death in its path. The car reached the center of the horde and screeched to a stop. The Deltas swarmed and piled onto it before the car exploded into a blinding fireball. The blast knocked Laura back, the blinding flash pushing a shockwave over the crowd.

The crowd of civilians broke up and scattered, panicked men and women breaking in all directions. She followed a group of women behind a house. Holding Katy to her chest, she struggled to keep up with them. Laura didn’t know where they were going, but she didn’t want to be alone, and she wanted to get away from the frantic fighting at the gate. She was rocked by a round of deafening explosions and felt the ground shudder.

“The wall is down!” a man ahead of her screamed, pointing to the far off structure. As he’d said, Laura could see that a large hole had been punched into it. Engulfed in bright yellow flames, the skeleton of a large fuel truck rolled through the breach.

The crowd turned and headed for the breach, desperate for a way out. Laura felt a hand grab her as a man’s voice called her name; she turned and stared into the face of Francis. She reeled back, keeping Katy away from him. He held his hand out to her and said, “Come with me, there is still time to escape.”

Laura backed up, not speaking and shaking her head.

“It’s okay. I understand why you did what you did,” he said, looking at her with compassion. “Please, this is all getting out of control. I have a transport; we can escape together.”

An attack helicopter flew in close overhead, flying low over the group. The civilians ducked and cheered as the small aircraft made a gun run against the orb in the center of the community. As Laura stood and looked toward it, she let a smile cross her face.

“Are you enjoying this?” Francis shouted at her.

Laura stepped back and turned toward the breach, trying to catch up with the group. Francis again reached out and grabbed her arm, this time pulling her back violently. “You’re coming with me!” he said sternly.

Katy gripped her neck tightly and began to scream. Laura was spun back so quickly she lost her footing and was tugged into the man. He looked her in the eye, putting his face close to hers. “I’m not giving you the choice; you’re coming with me.”

Laura let her right arm drift to her waist while still struggling to pull away from Francis. She found the pistol and grasped it tightly. She tugged and broke his grip. He lashed out and smacked her face with the back of his hand. She felt the sting and tasted the blood on her lip. She paused and glared at him. He held a stone expression. “Come. There isn’t time.”

Laura shook her head and raised her right hand. Francis saw the pistol, his eyes going wide. “I always knew my end would come this way,” he said.

She squeezed the trigger, hitting him in the chest. His hands reached up at his light-blue robe, the blood seeping between his fingers. He dropped to his knees and eyed up at her. He shook his head and stared down at the grass. People ran past them, rushing for the breach in the wall. Laura backed away as he reached out his blood-covered hand. “It didn’t have to be this way.”

It was just then that Francis lunged for her. Laura stumbled back and again pulled the trigger. She watched as Francis’s head snapped back with a hole in the center of his face. She suddenly felt weak in her legs, and Katy felt very heavy against her chest.

A large woman stopped beside her. “Come on, keep going; we’re almost out.”

Laura looked into the woman’s hard eyes. The lady was dressed in civilian clothing; dirt and blood coated her forehead. She was husky and had the look of a leader, her black and gray hair tied back, scarf hanging loosely from her neck. The older woman traveled with several other young girls as a group, like a family. Laura nodded and turned to follow her.

As they got closer to the gate, men rushed through to greet them from several open-backed trucks that sat parked in the breach. Helicopters raced overhead, dodging the bolts of blue plasma as they provided supporting fire to the men on the ground. Ahead, a man was standing in the high grass, directing the loading of vehicles as another man rallied soldiers to press on toward the battle near the orb. Laura stayed close to the woman, letting her lead the way to safety.

“Clem,” the husky woman shouted to one of the soldiers. Laura stopped and stood close with the others. The man glanced back then reached out and hugged the woman. “Ruth! I thought you got it back at the warehouse.”

The woman shook her head. “I should have. I was knocked out when our truck rolled, and I woke up here.”

Laura pushed past them and grabbed the man’s oilskin coat. “I remember you,” she said. “You were at the cabin; you left with my husband. Do you know where he is?”

Clem pursed his lips, looking at her and the young girl on her chest. He nodded and pointed at the far off gate where the battle still raged. “He’s in there, leading the fight.”

Laura turned and looked back, seeing the waves of Deltas and Reds rushing at the men dug in on the line, fighting against them as waves of helicopters roared overhead.

Clem put a hand on her shoulder. “Come on, we need to get you all out of here.”

Chapter 29

The transport moved forward on a cushion of air, rocked back with the shockwaves of nearby explosions. Rogers was sitting by Karina’s side, directing her path through the maze of rallied soldiers. The nearby men—some hiding in the woods; others, survivors and remnants from Meaford—had answered the call. Every unit and militiaman within fifty miles had come out of hiding to join the fight, all of them coming together in one last stand against the alien base.

James was standing in the open hatch, wearing one of the red-sleeved uniform jackets over his own uniform, running a heavy machine gun. He dropped back into the hatch just as a splash of blue harmlessly bounced off the surface of the hovercraft.

“You sure we’re safe in here, and wearing this shit, Karina?” James shouted, hesitating before he climbed back out of the hatch.

The guide was busy driving the vehicle and didn’t answer. Looking through the large, view-screen display, Jacob could see the chaos outside. All types of civilian and military vehicles were rushing by them on all sides. Columns of advancing troops were firing into the open gate as they moved forward. He even saw helicopters from some hidden base had joined the last-ditch fight against the invaders.

“This vehicle, and the Ursus’ uniforms, have thermal shielding; highly effective against the Ursus’ rifles,” Karina finally said. A burst of rounds pinged and crunched against the side of the transport, followed by a blast of sparks and smoke popping from a console on the bulkhead. “Unfortunately, we were not prepared for your high-velocity projectile weapons.”

“Well, that was stupid,” James laughed.

Jacob was also wearing one of the Ursus’ jackets. It had the feel of smooth synthetic leather; it was light and seemed to shrink and adjust to the occupant’s size. They’d used shoe polish to cover the red-striped sleeves in hopes that an excited soldier wouldn’t put a bullet into them. The pock-marked and blood-stained front of Jacob’s jacket reminded him that these coats wouldn’t work against a good old fashioned rifle. They’d procured the enemy armor, but the rifles were useless to them. Somehow tuned in to the alien DNA, their own human bodies were unable to activate them.

She shook her head, thrusting the vehicle forward, narrowly missing a car racing into a Delta horde at high speed. “The last time we visited this world, the most advance projectile we faced was a musket or a spear.” The craft rocked as it collided with a truck; she corrected course and directed it forward. “We would have expected your weapons to evolve with your technology—lasers or other energy-based weapons—but you humans have embraced your primitive projectiles.”

James laughed loudly, loading another belt of ammo into his M240. “Hell, yeah!” he shouted. “We love guns.” He stood and climbed back into the turret, firing long salvos into the Delta horde.

Jacob watched on the view screen as a column of small cars raced directly into the Deltas and exploded in the center of the mass. Karina ducked as the view screen filled with the devastation, the explosion temporarily washing out the display. Rogers righted her, putting her back on the controls. “Militias,” Rogers said, pointing to the craters left by the car bombs. “They are not to be fucked with.”

She put her head down, working the throttle and veering to the left to allow more of the car bombers to pass by her. “I will never understand your people’s call to violence. Why not just leave? Even if you win here, you cannot win everywhere.”

Rogers grunted. “Look who’s talking. Those men out there fighting have had everything taken away from them.
Your
people created this, not ours. You said it yourself; if we leave, they’ll cull this area with The Darkness. Maybe we can stop that.”

“You are only delaying the inevitable. The exodus has begun; there is no way for you to win once our main forces arrive. This is a waste of both of our people,” Karina protested as she watched the slaughter in front of her.

Rogers looked up and saw they were now at the stalled front lines. Ahead of them, men were exchanging gunfire with the aliens at long range. In the distance, he could just make out the glow of the alien orb. “Okay, this is close enough. We can move out on foot from here.”

With that, Karina broke the craft from its hover. Slamming a control arm forward, the vehicle anchored hard into the ground outside and came to rest, grinding against the earth below them. James’ machine gun continued to rattle away, spilling hot brass into the compartment. Duke paced and growled below, snapping at the man’s boots while Karina used a control panel to drop the rear ramp. Jacob lifted his rifle close to his chest and checked the action. He turned and followed Rogers out as the big man moved Karina ahead of him into the open battlefield. The sounds of war were louder outside, the air filled with the zipping of rounds, yelling of men, and the stench of burning explosives and gunpowder.

Overhead a Blackhawk passed by at high speed, gunners firing from the doors. The bird banked hard, making a dangerously close pass while the door gunners bled rounds into the last of the Delta lines. In front of the horde, the remnants of one of Meaford’s remaining rifle battalions were in close, engaging The Darkness at point-blank range.

“They teach you about close air support at your Star Fleet Academy?” Rogers said, smiling at the helicopters racing overhead. “I notice you turds don’t have any air defense.”

She shook her head. “Like I said… spears and muskets. But you can trust me when I tell you that our main forces will have such things. These skies will not be safe when the exodus arrives.”

Rogers moved around the side of the hovercraft; he squatted and waited for the others to catch up then peeked around the corner. Just as Karina had said, the defenders appeared to be pulling back. Off to the right was a series of loud explosions that rocked the ground and lit the sky to the east in balls of orange flame. He turned his gaze and pointed to a section of the alien wall, now crumbled and twisted. “That would be Clem. Right on time, opening another exit.”

Jacob stood and used the optics of his rifle to look in the direction of the blast, seeing the bright fireballs of exploding semi-trucks laden with explosives. The wall was peeled back in an open breach. Transport trucks raced through to gather the fleeing civilians. He searched the mass and could see long columns of approaching survivors. Jacob held his breath and prayed that Katy and Laura were in the group.

“You okay, Jake?” Rogers called back to him.

Jacob lowered his rifle; he closed his eyes, feeling his muscles tighten. He swallowed hard, knowing that they were exacting a hard revenge for everything that had been done to them. “On it, boss. Let’s get this done,” he said, pulling his rifle into his shoulder.

Rogers slapped James on the shoulder, the latter now having switched out the heavy machine gun for a carbine, Duke by his side and ready to move. “Lead us out, James,” Rogers said.

James grimaced and stepped off, running ahead at a jog with Duke beside him. Rogers led Karina ahead of him as they fell in with pockets of other soldiers advancing forward. The team ducked down a narrow street and headed for the main road that would take them in the direction of the orb. Jacob followed with his rifle up, covering the way. The Delta resistance had been broken; any of the remaining black-eyed creatures were now separated into small pockets and easily cut down by the approaching soldiers.

The Ursus were nowhere to be seen. The way ahead appeared clear, with an empty street all the way to the orb. “Where the hell are your friends?” Rogers barked after they’d reached a narrow street flanked by small cookie-cutter homes.

Karina stopped and looked ahead pointing. “They will set their final defense in the landing ship.” She turned back to Rogers. “Please… you must give them the opportunity to submit.”

Rogers shot her a hateful glare. “Like the one you gave us at Meaford?” He turned and signaled for James to press ahead into the quiet neighborhoods.

Along the route, the men stopped to pound on doors while others provided security. Along the outer walls, they could still hear heavy fighting as The Darkness drew toward the fighting in the community. Soldiers were working desperately to evacuate the last remaining civilians from the community, showing them the way out.

Jacob passed by the fleeing civilians, checking every face as the people passed. He was still surprised at the way the base fell and the inability of the invaders to put up a solid defense. “Karina, where is everyone? You must have more than this,” Jacob asked her as she trudged along beside him with her head down.

“Only two legions came down with the lander; we rely heavily on the witnesses for defense,” she said. “Your people have killed many of the Ursus in the field.”

“Why haven’t they sent reinforcements?” Rogers asked.

She stopped and rubbed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. “When our Messenger was killed at the reception ceremony, it brought great shame on this communal. Not only that, but it brought great attention on our failures. The council decided to write this place off, determining the population too dangerous for habitation. There will be no reinforcements.”

“You know, I was the one that tagged that fruit cake,” James grunted, overhearing the conversation.

She looked at him, puzzled.

“Your Messiah character, that was me,” James boasted proudly. “Easy shooting too. Right through the brain bucket. Split the dude’s grape wide open then punched two more into his chest for good measure.”

Karina turned away, horrified. “When you killed the Messenger, you took away the communal’s means of negotiation; only the Messenger has the privilege to settle for peace with the local population.”

James laughed and spit on the ground near her feet. “Some luck, huh?” He grunted and moved away, not expecting a response.

Uniformed men were bounding forward, moving tactically toward the final perimeter near the outer edges of the orb. James guided them through what appeared to be an alien motor pool divided into cubes. The nearby soldiers were swiftly moving the last pocket of survivors to safety through the maze of heavy rock barriers that separated sections of the motor pool from other areas while Jacob’s team moved into an empty bay that overlooked the front entrance to the orb.

No longer glowing, Rogers noted the dull object’s hatches and exits were sealed. A small balcony that ran along the roof of the object revealed small groups of the Ursus soldiers. They appeared to be randomly engaging the men on the ground with pot shots. Rogers quickly fell back into cover beside the others. An organized unit of combat engineers was moving ahead, supported by a Stryker vehicle, its 30mm gun blasting away at the sides of the ship.

Suddenly, the main hatch of the orb fell back. The void quickly filled with a large vehicle equipped with a massive turret that opened up with its main gun, destroying the Stryker with waves of plasma. The vehicle drew fire as it raced down the ramp to engage the engineers on the ground. The red-sleeved soldiers used the frenzied action to try to gain momentum. They poured out of the orb, firing at the dug in soldiers surrounding them.

“You must stop this,” Karina pleaded with Rogers. “Pull back! This fight is already over.”

Rogers shook his head. “No, we have to end this place and keep them from creating more of the Deltas.”

Karina’s eyes couldn’t grow any wider. She grabbed at Rogers, pleading with him to stop the killing. Ignoring her, he turned away. A group of soldiers ran to their position and knelt down next to Rogers. A sergeant leaned in close to report. “We have all of the survivors located. These are the last of the enemy holdouts; we finish them off and were clear to egress. The captain wants to know if there is anything your scouts can do to assist us in assaulting the craft.”

Without warning, the enemy fire intensified. Another hatch opened and a second assault vehicle rushed out of the orb, leading a wave of Ursus into the open. A soldier escorting the reporting sergeant was hit with splatter from the blue plasma; his face vanished in a hot flash. Rogers drew the other soldier deeper into cover before rising up to return fire.

Jacob watched in horror as a group of civilians were caught in the open. A man sprinted to the barrier, carrying a child in his arms. A Red directed several pulses at the man, narrowly missing, yet causing the man to trip and roll to his back. The Ursus concentrated their fire in the man’s direction as he scrambled to get his child into cover. Jacob jumped over the barrier he was hiding behind, James yelling for him to get back. Under intense fire with the blue bolts raining down on them from elevated positions, Jacob made it to the forward cover. He rose up, firing rapidly to suppress the aliens on the catwalk while screaming for the man and child to move.

Watching them get to cover, he tried to escape himself by crawling to a corner of the low wall then rising up again to fire back; this time his luck ran out and he was hit in the flank by a blast of plasma. He tumbled back, the air knocked from his lungs as he rolled behind the stone barrier. The Ursus’s armored jacket held, but he felt the blazing heat against his skin under his left arm.

The fire to his front stopped with the Ursus assuming he was dead, angering Jacob even more than being shot at. He clenched his teeth and checked the action on his rifle then rolled out of cover. He spotted the Red, now focused on his team. Jacob centered the cross hair and squeezed the trigger, proudly observing as the side of the alien’s helmet exploded outward.