Runner's Moon: Yarrolam (22 page)

            She felt him press a kiss to her hair.

            “Thank you,
t’korra.
”

            Cherron stared at the creatures standing in front of the doorway. It was impossible to tell what they were thinking. Were they confused? Angry? Or watching to see what the humans would do before taking that next step? “What are they waiting for? Why aren’t they doing anything?”

            He didn’t have to answer her. An Arra raised a pseudopod-like arm holding a long, silvery bar. It pointed the object in the sheriff’s direction and fired.

Chapter 31     

Retaliation

            From the moment he pulled her into his arms, Yarrolam could breathe again. The suffering he’d endured these past hours at the whim of the Arra was pushed to the back of his mind.

            She’d helped him persevere, feeding him her strength and conviction through their connection. Although she may not be aware of how strong their bond was, it enabled him to face the torture his captors meted out to him. Face it and endure it, without caving in or begging for mercy, as they’d hoped he would. As they’d expected him to.

            Fingertips lightly grazed his shoulder. Despite his human appearance, Jebaral knew any wounds he’d sustained were still tender and raw, and would evoke more pain if they were inadvertently touched.

            “How many are there? Do you know?”

            Yarrolam paused to think. How many had accompanied his two captors? “Six. There are six of them.” Six full-sized Arra, which could easily become twelve or more if the creatures felt they needed the numbers. But the Arra also knew, as did the Ruinos, that by splitting themselves from one main body into two, their strength was also halved, as well as their size.

            Cherron gripped him tightly and turned her head to see what would happen at the rear of the hall. Her fear was barely tangible. A mere wisp of acridness cloaked her. With them reunited, he could sense her wariness and sense of purpose reemerging. She was prepared to fight, and that both pleased and terrified him. She had neither the weapons nor the strength to face the Arra when they attacked. And they would attack. It was a matter of when, and of waiting for them to make the first move.

            She adjusted herself in his embrace. The movement sent out her faint lilac scent. Unable to resist, he kissed the top of her head.

            “Thank you,
t’korra.
”

            “What are they waiting for? Why aren’t they doing anything?”

            He started to answer her, when he saw the Arra raise its weapon to fire. He yelled for everyone to get down and shoved Cherron onto the floor, lying on top of her to protect her. At the same time he heard others cry out a warning. A buzzing hum filled the room, and several chairs exploded when the ray hit them.

            “Yarrolam, it’s time to retaliate,” Jebaral whispered
sotto voce.

Yarrolam nodded. “I’ll take the one with the tube ray.”

“We’ll surround and take down the rest,” Simolif joined in.

Yarrolam sensed Cherron about to protest. “Stay here,
t’korra,
” he ordered her. “Stay here and stay safe.” Before she could retort, he shifted into his Ruinos form and extended his teeth and claws to their full length.

A thunderous rumble came from overhead. The building shook like a wet dog, and debris rained down over them. Yarrolam felt Cherron jerking his arm, urging him to duck for cover.

Fissures split the walls with the sound of lightning. People shrieked with fear as the low growl quickly grew louder, until its reverberation filled the room. Another ear-splitting crack, and the roof detached itself from the town hall. Everyone stared in disbelief as the upper portion rose into the night sky. Above it, a rectangular shape hovered, showering the area with golden rays. Lighting everyone and everything like a miniature sun.

“They’re going to try to scoop us up!” Simolif yelled. “We have to stop them!”

Rising to his feet, Yarrolam roared in defiance and launched himself at the creature with the weapon. The Arra appeared to anticipate his charge, but they weren’t prepared when four other Ruinos leaped at them.

One hard slash with his right hand separated the tube from the Arra. He kicked it out of way, and the metal weapon rattled as it flew across the floor. Jumping onto the creature, he proceeded to hack at the being, sending chunks of the alien spewing as whitish fluid boiled out of the thing’s wounds. Yarrolam was vaguely aware of the other Ruinos doing the same to their targets, when there came several loud explosions. He paused for a micro-second to see two men in uniform firing their weapons at more of the creatures coming through the door.

“I think you miscounted!” another man remarked. He also carried a pistol, which he emptied into one of the arriving Arra.

“Those fuckers are dividing!” one of the uniformed men shouted.

At least a dozen more Arra swarmed through the doorway. Yarrolam felt Cherron’s warning. Pushing himself away from the severely wounded Arra, he dropped to the ground and rolled, ending in a crouched position as he scanned the room. Incredibly, he heard Cherron yelling at the townspeople. He stared in astonishment as she got to her feet and lifted one of the folding chairs.

“What are you waiting for, people? Grab a chair and go after those things!”

“Cherron! No!” He tried to warn her away, when she charged forward, aiming for the nearest Arra.

* * *

            Cherron watched as the Ruinos flew at the Arra and began savagely attacking the creatures. The Arra made high-pitched squeals as they tried to disengage the beings going after them with claws and teeth. The two Ruinos women used their wings to beat the Arra about the upper portions of their bodies, while also slashing at the things with the claws on their feet and hands that were longer and thinner than those on the males.

            The doorway brightened as more Arra arrived. Cherron backed up until she felt a presence move beside her.

            “They have us surrounded,” Sarah announced. The woman raised her voice and repeated it for the others to hear. “They have us surrounded! They’re going to close the net around us!”

            “Sarah, what are those plate things they’re holding?”

            “Plate things?”

            Cherron pointed to one of the new, smaller Arra as it shuffled around the periphery of the room, keeping next to the wall as it slowly made its way further into the room. On the opposite side of the doorway, another Arra was also circling them, going in the other direction. Then another. And another. Each one carried a shiny gold disk the size of a large dinner plate.

            “They’re going to try and get around behind us,” Cherron told her. “Those big ones are keeping our mates occupied! Sarah, we have to do something!”

            “I agree, but what? We don’t have any weapons!”

“Then we make our own.” Lifting one of the folding chairs, Cherron hefted it with the legs pointed outward. “What are you waiting for, people? Grab a chair and go after those things!”

She was aware of Liam’s cry for her to hold back, but she knew he wasn’t aware of the extent of the Arra’s attack. Turning to the closest creature, she ran straight at it and rammed the chair’s legs into the thing’s middle. The impact was like punching a pillow, but she knew she couldn’t stop. Pulling back, she slammed the chair a second time into it at chest-level. Two of the legs hit the disk, and she heard a satisfying crispy crackling sound, that reminded her of nacho chips.

            Taking a deep breath, she screamed and charged again. There was the brief resistance, as though she was puncturing a giant marshmallow, then the legs hit the wall behind the creature. Stepping back, she watched as the crippled alien gradually melted.

“Hit the plates!” she heard someone shout. The noise grew in intensity as people became motivated to defend themselves, picking up more chairs and attacking in blocks.

Sarah slammed her chair into the next Arra, catching the thing’s disk the first time. The Arra screeched as it tried to push the chair out of itself. Picking up another chair, Cherron joined her. They both kept pressure on their chairs, until the Arra was pinned to the wall behind it. When the creature stopped flailing, they let go and stepped away.

Behind her, she saw others also using their chairs as makeshift spears. There had to be at least two dozen more of the smaller Arra weaving their way into the building, each one carrying one of those disks, but they were vastly outnumbered by the townsfolk.

It wasn’t long before the barrage was over. The army of shorter Arra lined the walls. The creatures writhed in pain. A few made pitiful peeping noises. Whitish pus spread across the tile floor as the Arra tried to extricate the chairs from their bodies, without success. They were too injured to do anything but lie there in little glowing puddles.

Cherron looked toward the door. The Ruinos stood over the remains of those they’d attacked. Breathing heavily, Liam glanced at her, then down at the slime and gore coating his body.

Outside, the glow had disappeared. If there had been any more Arra, they had vanished. Overhead, the spotlight and the space ship blacked out, leaving everyone in the dark. There was no mistaking the feeling the enemy and the ship were gone.

Making her way over the slippery remains, Cherron reached for him, but he backed away.

“I am covered in—”

“I know, but I don’t care, Liam,” she stated, and wrapped her arms around his waist. After a moment’s hesitation, he embraced her.

“Is this all of them?” a man called out.

“Must be,” someone responded. “It looks clear outside.”

“Don’t count on it,” Liam announced. “You can bet at least one or two of them remained behind to see what the outcome would be. When they realized things weren’t going the way they intended, they retreated to their ship.”

“What were those plate thingies?” another woman asked.

“Those were absorption disks,” Simolif told them. Sarah had joined her mate, as had Hannah.

Thom kept an arm around Tiron as she kicked one of the smaller Arra. “What do those disks do?” he wondered aloud.

“If they had been successful in surrounding us, the disks would have frozen us in place, preventing us from moving. In short, they would have immobilized us,” she told him.

“Like shorting out the nerve endings?” Cherron interjected.

“Exactly,” Liam said.

“It seems those big ‘uns you Ruinos went after were meant as decoys.” Sheriff Klotsky squatted in front of a pile of steaming remains. He turned to Cherron. “If you hadn’t gone after the smaller fry, we could all be sitting in cages up on that Arra mothership.”

A wave of pride and love poured into her. She smiled up at Liam. “The feeling’s likewise.”

“I don’t believe it.” A woman brushed hair from her face. “How did we manage to defeat them?”

“They don’t expect you to fight back,” Simolif answered. “They expect you to be too fearful. They expect panic and token resistance, but no coordinated efforts to repel them.”

Cherron chuckled. “I wouldn’t call what we did a coordinated effort.”

Liam hugged her. “You attacked as a whole. It was enough.”

“But they were just sacks of pus!” one man pointed out. “How could these flimsy things be terrors of the galaxy?”

Cherron saw the Ruinos shoot the man dark looks. “Don’t let their appearance deceive you,” Tiron tightly replied. “They have intelligence, they have powerful ships, and they have weapons.”

“Are they coming back?” a man questioned. It was clear by his tone he was still afraid.

Thom sighed loudly. “Unfortunately, I believe they will.”

“They tried to use a diamond-like weapon against us a few months ago,” Compton added. “They brought these disks with them this time. Chances are, they’ll reconnoiter, find another weapon they can get use on us, and try again.”

“All the more reason why you aliens need to get your green asses out of town as soon as possible!” a familiar voice yelled.

“Too late, Emil!” Klotsky bellowed. “They know the Ruinos are here. Even if Jeb and the rest of them move to another town, or retreat to the middle of the Flatlock National Forest, those pus balls won’t know they’ve gone. They’ll come back here. You can bet your
white
ass on it!”

“So what do we do, George?” Milton asked. “How do we protect ourselves?”

The sheriff glanced at Thom, then at Jebaral. Jebaral took his cue and answered the man.

“Stay vigilant. The Arra are after us, not you.”

“How do we know they won’t come after us Earth people?” a man standing next to Emil inquired.

“You’re too weak,” Liam replied. “Your bodies are too soft. You wouldn’t be able to withstand the conditions on other planets. Or survive on them.”

“Or survive their torture,” Tiron murmured, almost too soft for them to hear.

“Hey! Murtaugh!”

A man standing by a far wall stepped forward. Sheriff Klotsky pointed a finger upward.

“Tomorrow, when you put the weekly edition to bed, I strongly suggest you find another way to explain what happened here,” the sheriff suggested with a deadly serious tone. The big man turned to address the rest of the townspeople. “All of you! Seriously consider what happened here, and ask yourself, do we want the news media sniffing around? Do we want the attention of the whole world breathing down our necks? Because if you’re considering it, don’t forget the Arra are watching our communications. You tell them what they want to know, and they’ll squash you without a second thought. If we blab we’ve been inundated with aliens from outer space, you’ll just be painting a big round target on yourself. They may not be after us personally, but they may have no qualms about wiping us from existence, either.”

Murtaugh gazed upward as he adjusted his glasses. “I don’t know about you guys, but that was one hell of a wind gust that hit us. Or maybe it was a freak tornado. Best everyone get home and check to see if there was any other property damage.” That being said, the man made his way through the debris and left.