Invasion (The Alien Wars #1) (34 page)

For a brief second,
Logan
caught sight of a face as someone peered down from the passenger side of the helicopter. It was Lucy.

“No!”
Logan
cried out in agony and desperation as he watched his one true love get farther and farther away from him for the second time.

~*~*~

Kenneth stopped what he was doing and shined the flashlight at the slanted eyes in the bush. It was a scrawny mountain lion.
One that clearly hadn't enjoyed a full meal in a while.

He dropped the branches that he had collected and walked
away,
heading to the left of the campground, but the eyes followed him.

He
fantasied
about climbing a tree, but he had to get back to the teens. He walked off, faster than before, in another direction. It took all his willpower to keep from sprinting, which would only force the creature to strike.

Kenneth knew that he would have to take his chances and run back to the campsite, hoping that the fire would ward the animal off. He twisted around and around, trying to spot the glow of the fire, but he couldn’t. Sweat beaded down his neck, despite the cool air. If he didn’t get to the safety of the fire, he might not survive. Frantically fishing in his pockets, he found everything but his pistol.

Which he left back at the camp.

“Son of a …” The mountain lion’s rumbling growl and frenzied drooling cut him off. He spun around and saw that the yellow gleam in its eyes were bigger. With a start, he realized that the animal was closing in.

If he continued standing where he was, the predator would be on him within seconds. He had to flee now. Not knowing if he was going in the right direction or not, he dashed off into the darkness, using the flashlight to light up the ground in front of him.

With a final hungered growl, the animal stalked after him. The faster Kenneth ran, the closer the paw slaps behind him grew.

Kenneth prayed that he was heading in the right direction but every tree looked the same. If he was to survive, he’d have to get lucky.
Really lucky.

He pushed past branches and leaped over logs, his heart pounding. If he could grab a good, strong stick, he might be able to fend the thing off, but if the ravenous mountain lion got so much as a single bite of his leg, then that would just doom them all later. Now was sure as hell not the time to be bedridden.

Kenneth risked a glance over his shoulder as the growling suddenly stopped. He slowed to a jog. “Where the hell did you go ...”

He spun his flashlight around like a baseball bat just as something lunged from the bushes to his side. The big cat didn’t make a sound as its paws slammed against his chest and threw him to the ground. The only light went out as the lion’s drooling jaws clammed down on the flashlight in his hands.

Kenneth rolled with the fall and bounced off the enraged creature as it heaved chunks of
aluminum
and spit out battery acid. That might have bought him a few precious seconds, but the growl chasing after him sure seemed to have a note of rage between the hunger pains.

Kenneth spotted a slim gleam of light shining through the trees. He crashed through the undergrowth and ignored the branches slashing his face. With the last of his breath, he popped out of the
treeline
and caught sight of the campsite.

Kenneth gasped out as he ran toward the fire, “Molly! Derek!”

The teens sat up as he approached. “Grab a branch and wave it around!” Kenneth reached for his backpack.

As he fumbled inside for his pistol, the teens each grabbed a stick that was alight at one end but cool enough to hold at the other end.

“Wave it around!” Kenneth shouted, still trying to find the pistol.

As the mountain lion circled the campsite, a little cautious now but far from defeated, Derek took one side of the camp and waved his glowing stick around while Molly took the other side.

Kenneth finally found the pistol and, gripping it in his hand, glanced around to assess the situation. He didn’t want to waste a bullet if it wasn’t necessary. He snatched a stick from the fire, waved it about, and stomped his feet. The animal continued to circle a little closer, red eyes gleaming as it searched for a shadowy approach.

“We can’t go on like this forever,” Derek muttered.

“What are we going to do?” Molly asked.
“
Agh
!”
She cried out as the mountain lion threw caution to the wind and lunged.

As Molly backed up near the fire, she tripped over a log and landed flat on her back. Kenneth
leveled
the weapon and squeezed the trigger. With his pounding heart bouncing his arms around, the bullet spat up the dirt a good yard in front of the animal.

The mountain lion gave a confused yelp and sprinted faster, right over Molly as she cringed and covered her face. Without so much as a parting growl, the creature kept running and raced back to the
treeline
. Kenneth kept his weapon pointed after him until his fatigued arms finally gave out. He dropped his knees to catch his breath as Molly slid close to him.

“Thanks, Kenneth.”

“Do you think it will come back?” Derek asked.

“Probably not,” Kenneth replied.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to get back to sleep,” Molly said, sitting down. “And if I do, I’ll probably dream about mountain lions attacking me.”

Kenneth smiled. “If we build up the fire really big, I’m sure that will scare the lion if it does choose to come back.”

“I’ll help get some more branches,” Derek said.

Molly stood up. “I’ll go too. I don’t want to be left by myself.”

“Okay, we’ll all go.” Kenneth took the pistol and flashlight and headed in the opposite direction of the hungry creature.

~*~*~

Logan
stared in frustration as the police helicopter continued to ascend. Suddenly, the aircraft started to descend.

“What’s happening?” Jet asked, surprised.

Logan
shook his head. “I don’t know, but—”

“Look! The tail rotor stopped,” Xavier yelled.

Muscles barred his teeth. “What a piece of luck for us.” He glanced around, and spotting some tables and chairs, he hurried over to them. The others followed. They hid behind the furniture.

As the helicopter touched down, everyone checked their weapons to make sure they were working properly.

“What’s the plan?”
Logan
said.

“Take out the pilot. Once he’s out of the way, Sanchez will be stranded on the roof,” Muscles said.

“But he still has Lucy,” Xavier argued.

“You’ll have to rescue her then,” Muscles replied, watching as the pilot climbed out of the machine. He glanced at
Logan
. “You and Xavier have one minute to get to Lucy. After that, we’ll open fire on the pilot.”

Logan
nodded as he and Xavier ducked down and skirted around the tables and chairs, past a number of empty crates, and toward the other side of the roof. He looked at his watch. He had thirty seconds left. He glanced at Xavier. “Cover me.”

Xavier nodded. He watched as
Logan
waited for the pilot to climb up a small step ladder and examine the tail rotor before he bent down and scurried toward the helicopter.

Xavier waited for the commotion to start. He didn’t have to wait long. Shots punctured the silence. He watched as
Logan
threw open the door to the front seat and grabbed Lucy.

Lucy seemed to be struggling with someone.
Logan
reached into the machine and fired a shot. As more shots erupted at the rear of the helicopter, Xavier spotted the pilot leaning against the side of the machine, one hand clutching his chest. The other held a pistol.

Bullets thwacked against the metal of the machine and pierced it. Xavier watched in horror as drops of liquid dripped out.

A shot to the left of him made Xavier spin toward
Logan
. Sanchez stood at the front of the helicopter with a pistol in his hand. Not wasting time, Xavier pelted the area with bullets. Sanchez ducked before disappearing into the blackness.

Xavier waited, his heart racing, as
Logan
and Lucy rushed away from the helicopter. At the same time, the pilot slumped to the ground. A second later, a bullet tore into the machine where the liquid was dripping.

A massive boom ruptured the area. The helicopter exploded in flames. Debris flew everywhere. The force of the blast threw Logan and Lucy to the ground.

“Hold on!” Xavier ran to them and helped Lucy to her feet. “Are you all right?”

Lucy slowly nodded. “I think so.”

Logan
looked at his fiancée. Her dress was dirty and blood dripped from a wound on her forehead, but she was alive. He clutched her tightly, not wanting to let her go. “I missed you so much.”

“Watch out!” Xavier yelled. Sanchez, bloody and battered, emerged from the smoke and flames and stalked towards them. Xavier pushed Logan and Lucy to the ground and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened. It was empty.

Sanchez opened fire. A round tore through Lucy’s arm. She cried out in pain.

“Run!” Xavier shouted out as he tried to get away from the madman.

Sanchez limped after Xavier, only to pause as Muscles, along with the rest of the team, emerged from the darkness and opened fire.

The bullets smacked into Sanchez’s legs and arms and he crumpled to the ground. Muscles strode forward and fired twice more.

Sanchez released his grip on the pistol and his head sunk to the ground.
Logan
, still holding Lucy, advanced to the fallen body.

Muscles kept his finger on the trigger as he approached. He picked up Sanchez’s gun and put both weapons in his pocket. Everyone stopped a few feet from the body.

“Is he dead?” Xavier asked.

“Looks like it,” Muscles replied as he knelt down. He wasn’t one to gloat, and even though he knew Sanchez had been a cruel man, he felt sorry for the way he had died. It would have been nice to get some closure on why he had done what he had.

He frowned. Sanchez was clutching something in his hands. Muscles reached forward and grabbed them to pull them apart.

Sanchez opened his eyes and grinned. “See you in hell.”

Muscles ground his teeth when he noticed a steel pineapple in Sanchez’s hand. The pin was out, but the spoon hadn’t been released. As Sanchez gave a final sigh and his eyelids closed, he opened his palm completely.

Muscles glanced up at the others, who appeared to be frozen in shock. “Run!”

Jet hesitated for a brief second, but Xavier grabbed him and fled.

“I love you, son!” Muscles cried with an eerie calmness.

A second later, the concussion bowed the rooftop. Everyone got knocked to the ground by the force of the explosion. After a few moments, they stood back up.

Jet, his expression one of shock, stumbled toward the gruesome scene. His body was tense as he saw the bloody remains of his father. “No!” He ran toward Muscles, whose lifeless body was lying next to Sanchez’s.

“Wait!” Xavier tried to grab hold of one of Jet’s arms, but the teen pushed him away.

“Let me go!” Jet screamed as he hurried to his father’s body. He knelt down and took hold of his wrist. As he cried out a few moments later, the others decided to let him have some space.

Logan
sighed. “What a horrible way to go.”

“Are you okay?” Xavier asked, glancing at Lucy.

Lucy bobbed her head as she shared a glance with
Logan
. “I’m all right now.”