EnEmE: Fall Of Man (11 page)

“Yeah it’s me, bro,” Max said, looking down from the culvert, projecting a more down-to-Earth attitude than I’d seen from him since we were kids.

“H…how did you find us here?” I managed to stammer in disbelief.

“It was an accident…” Max started.

“Your brother here saved my bacon from a pack of those alien infected soldiers, Bradley,” Hauer interrupted appreciatively.

Max looked modest for the first time in years.

“It was nothing,” said Max. “I heard a ruckus; I clocked the guy that looked weird.”

“I’d be dead if it weren’t for him,” Hauer added matter-of-factly.

I was silent. My mind just needed a minute to process it all. My douche bag of a brother was suddenly a life-saving hero. I guess it’s true what they say-- an intergalactic alien invasion can bring out the best in people, or something like that.

“I’m sorry, Jace,” Max said flatly, pulling my attention to him.

“Why?” was all I could manage. The new Max was causing my head to spin.

“For all the years we didn’t talk,” Max said. “For being a dick. For judging you and pushing you away and bickering over petty shit that doesn’t matter. We should have been brothers. We should have been there together for Dad.”

The fact that my brother would talk about these deeply personal things in front of strangers shook me.

“It’s okay,” I managed. “We should have tried to be more understanding with each other. I’m sorry, too.”

With that Max hopped down from the top of the culvert. Smiling, he stepped forward and extended his hand.

“Let’s not waste any more time on the past. We’re moving forward as new men,” he said.

I shook his hand, which he immediately used to pull me in for a tight one-armed hug. I didn’t fight it. We both fought to hold back tears welling in our eyes, not wanting to look unmanly in front of all our new military buddies.

After the quick embrace I stepped away from my brother and looked up at Hauer.

“So how do we get into the hospital?” I asked.

“Oh, you sure have missed a lot, Detective.” Hauer replied. “Get on up here; we got something to show you.”

Max only looked at me and grinned, refusing to give away any intel on what Hauer was referring to. My rag-tag band of survivors and I climbed up the steep grassy embankment that the culvert jutted out of.

As we crested the top I was speechless with confusion at what I saw. Again. Twice in almost as many minutes.

People. Hundreds of them. All huddled together in groups outside the hospital entrance and parking garage. And vehicles. Buses, cars, campers. Motorcycles. And for some reason, a lot of people that looked like Elvis.

“Elvises?” I muttered the query.

“Yeah, a whole tour bus full of ‘em that were headed to Burbank for some festival,” Hauer explained with a chuckle. “Elvis impersonators and fans. We got at least two from every era of the King and even a couple of female ones to boot.”

“What?” I replied, unable to hide the fact that the craziness of the day was about to make my head explode.

Hauer finally gave it to me simply, likely worried that if he didn’t my brain would blow out all over his uniform.

“Kiebler and I were able to find an old comm radio in the hospital and got it working. We’ve been broadcasting intermittent messages on the CB signals just in case someone could hear us, telling any survivors out there where they could gather and build a resistance.”

Kiebler stood nervously in the background as she listened to Hauer explain. When she heard her name, she gave a nervous, half-hearted wave. Despite the horrible situation the world was now in, she was proud of herself for being able to help. It was cute.

Then she saw Lacy, who she still knew as only her receptionist. “Oh my God! Oh my God! Lacy!” she exclaimed, rushing forward and grabbing the red-headed host in a strong embrace. “I’m so happy you’re alive. I’m so glad you made it!”

Lacy looked at me nervously, and then awkwardly toward Kiebler as she pulled away.

“Thank you,” she said, almost robot-like. “You as well.”

Kiebler picked up on the difference in Lacy right away – she was a psychiatrist, after all. They looked at each other and then at me awkwardly. That was something I was going to have to explain soon, but right now I needed to focus on talking with Hauer.

“What are we going to do with these people? How are we going to organize?” I asked.

Hauer slapped a hand on my shoulder.

“Glad you asked,” he said with a demented grin. “I need you to gather these folks and get them out of open view. Move them and their vehicles to the parking garage. That’s where we’re going to begin organizing as a group and figure out the pecking order. Freeman and I are going to take a small group and start camouflaging this place using some of the debris, so that the building looks uninhabitable.”

“That’s a great idea…” I stammered, “but I really need to fill you in on what happened while we were away. The people with me…and Alvarez…”

“Was a good man and irreplaceable,” Hauer responded firmly. “He was a hero and will be remembered that way. Right now, I need you to stand up and be a good soldier; you can debrief me on your mission after we get this done.”

“Okay,” I agreed reluctantly.

As Hauer walked off toward Freeman and a handful of other folks I didn’t recognize, I turned and walked toward a gathering of half a dozen Elvi, one of them with a very large set of boobs.

With the help of Kiebler and the rest of my group, we were able to gather the motorcade of survivors. We moved them all into the vast, multi-levelled parking garage that had once served doctors, patients, nurses and visitors.

Hauer and his team started constructing the camouflage barrier wall. It was made of rubble and left a foot and a half gap between the barrier and the actual wall of the hospital. From the street, the wall of debris would obstruct the view of the real hospital, making it look like damaged and crumbling. People could hide in the narrow space between the debris and the building during an emergency to fire on the enemy from one of the gaps in the barrier.

Hauer showed up in the parking garage with his team about five minutes after those gathered started getting antsy. It was almost time for us to start talking to them.

“I need to talk to you,” I said to Hauer in a hushed tone. “There is some info that you need to be aware of.”

Hauer looked at me with mix of concern and curiosity. He motioned with his eyes to a corner of the parking garage.

The information concerned more than just me and Hauer, so I motioned for Lacy and Kiebler to join us. It was time for me to explain all of this craziness. I looked up and found Freeman. Hauer looked at him, too. Everyone’s expression changed as they realized that this would be a serious exchange. We huddled in the corner away from the ears of others.

In a few moments I explained everything that had happened-- finding Earl’s house, how I had met Lacy, who had turned out to be a host for the alien Kexa, and our rushed skirmish and escape from the Tenachai forces.

They took particular interest in Lacy’s story.

“I don’t believe it!” said Kiebler, reaching out as if she was about to hold Lacy’s face, then drawing back. “I don’t believe that the girl I know is gone.”

Kiebler’s eyes welled up with the beginnings of tears, her emotions spilling out. As she struggled against them, Hauer took over the conversation.

“You mean to tell me that you brought one of these alien hosts back here to our only shelter and compromised the safety of all of these people?” Hauer said angrily, the volume of his voice increasing with each syllable.

“No, just listen,” I said in a hushed tone while looking around, trying to defuse the hostility as well as the growing interest of the other survivors nearby.

“Look at this,” I said.

I grabbed Lacy’s shirt and lifted it enough to show the signal jamming device on her belt, much to her surprise.

“It’s a device that jams the Tenachai signals,” I explained. “This is what keeps them from seeing what
she
sees and it can stop them from converting survivors into host soldiers.”

Hauer and I stared at each other long and hard in silence for a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity.

“I can show you how to make them,” said Lacy, cutting though the momentary tension.

A few moments later Hauer climbed a ladder to the top of the largest nearby motor home, closely followed by Freeman, Lacy, Kiebler and me.

He stood for a moment looking out at the faces. Some of them looked desperate, dirty and pleading. Others looked worried or insecure. Still others were angry. A large number were in shock.

“Everyone, my name is Master Sergeant Hauer. My friends and I have had no rest in nearly 48 hours, combating these enemy insurgents, and securing this building to serve as a headquarters for the human resistance in this area. I know we are all eager to get settled into a safe place, get some food in our stomachs, and get some rest. This building will provide more than enough for us and any additional survivors that we may come across. I would ask for your patience, as we begin to allocate rooms for each of you to sleep in. We’d ask that those who came in motor homes or buses that have running water and food to stay in their motor homes for now until we get the rest of the people situated. We’d like to also ask that those able to live in their vehicles temporarily take turns on sentry duty, keeping an eye out for the enemy.”

“Who is the enemy?” one tired looking man asked.

“Yeah, what’s going on? Who are the enemy supposed to be?” said another. “I saw my own grandmother carrying one of those crazy rifles. Am I supposed to believe she’s some sort of sleeper terrorist? There’s no way.”

Hauer took a deep breath.

“No, at least not in the way you mean. In fact, we’re all sleepers.” He explained cryptically, looks of confusion passing over the faces in the crowd. “ It’s going to sound crazy to many of you, but I can say unequivocally, thanks to my own first-hand experience with classified information, that what I’m about to say is true. Some of you may have suspected it, but been afraid to say it. If you haven’t figured it out for yourselves already, our enemy is an alien race from outer space.”

Gasps broke out among the crowd, quickly settling into a disturbing hush. People were either waiting for Hauer to elaborate or holding their breath in horror.

“These aliens are not only here to invade the Earth, but to decimate the population. They see us as nothing more than battle drones and a food source, the way we see cattle. They have visited us before and altered our DNA, so that each and every one of us is an unwilling sleeper agent, one that they can activate with a radio signal, taking away our free will and making us a willing soldier in their mission. This is what is causing the bizarre behaviour in your friends and loved ones, and there is no way to reverse it that we know of.”

Mutters and gasps broke out among the group again. Hauer paused a moment, looking sideways at Lacy, then at me. Our eyes locked and a message without words passed between us. It was a look that said, “You had better be right about this.” I nodded. Hauer turned back to the group.

“Through our intelligence and the efforts of LAPD Officer Bradley…” Hauer gestured toward me with a roughly pointed finger. “…we have been able to determine that within this alien race, called the Tenachai, there is a division. That although they share a hive knowledge, they have individual personalities and opinions. Inside their own ranks there is a group that has diverged and sympathizes with the human cause. We have one here…”

Hauer gestured toward Lacy, but before he could explain any further details, questions began to erupt from the crowd.

“You mean you’ve got one of them here? What if it reports back to the rest?” cried a skinny and sickly looking old man.

“All the host soldiers feed info directly back to the hive…” Hauer began to interject.

“Take her and string her up as an example to the rest!” yelled a rotund woman, every quarter of her body jiggling with each vehement word.

I felt the need to step forward and defuse the situation.

“She’s on our side, folks. She’s here to help and stop….” I interjected.

“Who the hell is that guy anyway?” an Elvis impersonator hollered. “I don’t know him. Who’s to say he isn’t one of them, too?”

“Wait, wait!” a voice called above the quickly forming mob.

Hauer and I began to exchange nervous glances.

It was Brian, pushing his way through the crowd. Alex, carrying Levon, and Braden, carrying Wendy, were right behind him. Brian worked his way to the front and elevated himself by standing on the step mounted onto the side of the camper.

“Wait! People, listen. I’ve seen this man in action and I know he’s one of us. He saved my family, and others,” Brian yelled out to the crowd.

“What about the red-haired witch?” the grizzled old man shouted again.

A brief look of surprise crossed Lacy’s face when she realized he was referring to her. It quickly returned to a neutral, but unimpressed, stare. I felt like there was more emotion going on behind those dark eyes than the alien let on.

Braden climbed onto the step and stood up on his toes to get a few inches over the crowd.

“I’ve seen both of them do more than their share to help us. Lacy is the reason that this child and I are alive today. She’s helped keep us alive since this craziness started, and both she and Jace have kept us alive long enough to get back here and give the resistance the information that it needs to fight back!”

“I don’t care,” another voice shouted. “I don’t want any alien watching me and reporting to the mothership.”

Before either Hauer or I could respond, Braden tore in, much to the surprise of everyone in our camper-top collective.

“Then go!” Braden yelled. “That goes for anyone else who feels the same way. We’re with Hauer and his crew. We’re the ones who found shelter, and we’re the ones who invited you here. You answered our call for survivors. If you don’t like the way we choose to live in this world now, you have the free choice to leave and take your chances out there. But I promise you’re going to wish you had a whole army of resistance led by these people to help you instead of going up against the Tenachai yourself and dying alone in the streets.”

Silence fell over the crowd.

“Can’t you see?” Brian chimed in. “This is the kinda shit that’s been holding the human race back since the dawn of time. Who knows, maybe when they altered our DNA they also changed something in our brains that would cause this as well. We need to stop fighting over our differences. Race, religion, color, even human or alien, we need to get past this and work together on the same side or we’ll be extinct.

“I know what side I’m on.” Brian then pointed upward, directly toward me. “I owe this man my life. If not for him, half of us would be dead. My family would be dead. I have no question in my faith for this man. With my own two eyes I saw him commit one of the bravest acts of my life. Single handed, he stepped right in front of a platoon of Tenachai, not the host soldiers that we’ve all seen, but real alien foot soldiers and a giant, nasty ugly beast leading them. This thing must have weighed 3 tons. It was massive and growling….”

In front of him, Alex looked him in the eyes and cleared her throat, reminding him not to get lost in the memory, but to get to the point while he had the mob’s attention. The crowd was enthralled, silent and hanging on Brian’s every word. He paused.

“…anyway. There he was, in a firefight. He didn’t run. He walked right into the middle of Hell. Calm. Sure. Showing no fear. He simply picked up one of the alien’s own rifles, levelled it at the monster and blew its brains out. If it wasn’t for his actions, then none of us, my family included, would have made it back here alive today. Doubt all you want, but I know what I saw and I saw a great man. I know what I want, and I know who I want to follow. That man -- Detective Jace Bradley, the bravest man in the world.”

The crowd erupted into cheers.

Hauer looked at me sideways.

“You really do that?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I admitted, “but I ran like Usain Bolt after.”

“Regardless, it sounds like you did good work out there,” Hauer replied matter-of-factly.

I smiled, looking down at the crowd and motioning for the cheers to die down.

“Looks like I’m gonna have to make room for a co-commander of this outfit,” Hauer said with a smirk and a friendly slap on the shoulder.

A ghost of a smile passed across Lacy’s lips before her face went blank again. She stepped forward and addressed the group looking firm, confident and serious. Her Tenachai signal jamming belt was in her hand and she held it aloft for all to see.

“This is a radio frequency jammer. It is made from scrap metal and a cell phone. This can block the Tenachai signal so you will not be transformed into one of their drones. I can show you all how to make one.”

A few minutes later our crew came down the ladder and were beginning to divvy up the most pressing assignments. Lacy waded into the crowd and began explaining how to make the signal jammers. Hauer took Kiebler and me aside.

“Braden and the rest can help Lacy with the signal jammers. After that speech I don’t think anyone’s got the balls to jump her, even if they disagree with her presence. Freeman and I are going to take a small group and finish off some more of the camouflage wall. I need you two to go inside and inspect the rooms and start assigning them. Group families that came in cars together first and help them start getting moved in. Lacy’s group will join you when they are done. We’ll follow along and help get some grub running in the cafeteria.”