SODIUM:1 Harbinger (18 page)

As Scott’s head began to bob around and his face winced the red demon turned back and proceeded to walk back past the mother ship and along the ridge in the other direction. This was the turn of events that we needed. With any luck the others would be waiting and would get the drop on the damaged demon, once again cutting down their numbers.

As I watched the mother ship once again begin to rotate its eyes the damaged demon disappeared around the ridge to my right. The red demon then disappeared around the ridge to my left. My remaining task was to wait for the gunfire to begin.

As I sat down in my brushy hideaway awaiting our attack I noticed something moving in the rocks just above the mother ship. I only got a quick glimpse of it, so I was unsure of what it was. Was there a third demon? Were we still way outnumbered?

My growing dread turned into pure excitement when I saw two human figures running up the hill behind the mother ship. It was Craig and Kyle! Kyle was alive! In my elated state I poked my head up just in time for the mother ship’s eyes to stop rotating and focus directly on me. I was had. At that same moment the sound of gunfire could be heard from the other side of the ridge. The assault had begun!

The demon mother ship then began to stand fully up which gave it a height of 15 feet. It was much larger than its demon offspring and my bat would only be able to reach its legs if I had to fight it.

It lifted one leg slowly in my direction. This was the first time I had seen it move and a chill suddenly went down my spine. I realized that this thing could be just as quick and agile as the smaller ones. And it could fly…

At that same moment a thunderous explosion went off just behind the mother ship. The large boulders that had once been its protectors suddenly became its demise. One of the boulders slid down into the ship pinning two of its legs to the ground. The mother ship was thrown hard onto its side.

The blast also sent a concussion wave in my direction, knocking me backwards onto the ground. I lay there stunned for several seconds before the fog began to clear from my head. Somehow Kyle and Craig had gotten hold of dynamite and had managed to use it against our biggest foe. I could not imagine what poachers would be using it for, but I was glad they had it.

As the mother ship struggled to free itself both Kyle and Craig ran back down the hill to set Scott free. Luckily, Scott had been tied to a large tree facing away from the blast. Once Kyle and Craig had Scott freed, they began to make their way east around the ridge towards where the others were. They were just moving out of view when the red demon came sprinting back towards the mother ship.

I turned and ran back down through the brush gully I was in and began to make my way back around to our new camp. I had not heard any further gunfire so I was hoping the others were successful in their assault. If so, we now had everyone free and we could get out and let the proper authorities handle the rest.

I felt proud of our accomplishments as I ran through the woods towards our camp. We were heroes. All of us. And the world was going to know of our battles and our victory over these intruders.

As I made my way into camp I heard more gunfire and immediately pulled Bull’s binoculars to look for the others, they should have been coming back towards me. Instead what I saw was Bull and Susi laying on their backs and Allie crouched behind a tree with her 9mm. I saw her reach around the tree and fire off a round. I then heard the sound a second or so later.

This new demon had some type of a weapon that the others did not have. I could see a wave go out from it that slightly distorted the air. When it reached the tree, which Allie was behind, it would blow bits of bark off of it. The battle lasted less than a minute as Allie was knocked backwards onto the ground, just as the others. The red demon immediately moved over to her and sprayed out a red mist.

I then scanned the ridge heading back around towards the mother ship. Once again I got that feeling of dread when I came across Kyle, Craig and Scott also lying on the ground motionless. I had no way of knowing if they were dead or only unconscious. I wondered if perhaps the red mist was what had been used to drug Scott.

I moved my gaze over to the mother ship. I could see that with its one free leg it was busy chipping away at the boulder that pinned it down. It was not out of the question, that if it were able to get free, it could then repair itself. It could still leave with all its treasure… including my family and friends.

As I moved the binoculars back towards the others I was stunned. The red demon had picked up Allie and Susi and was walking with them towards the mother ship. Instead of having the normal panic arise in me a great anger was welling up. I was not going to sit idly by while my friends and family were abducted. Not this day.

So, I put into play the only plan I had. I pulled out Allie’s signal mirror that I was still carrying. I began to flash the red demon with it from my position on the lower ridge, several flashes later my efforts were rewarded. The demon stopped, looked at the reflected brightness around it and then turned its red devil eyes slowly towards me.

The red demon stood still for almost a minute evaluating its situation. It then carefully set Allie and Susi on the ground and turned fully towards me. I continued to signal away at the mechanical devil until it began running at me in a full sprint.

I had a hundred yards to cover to get to the gully. It was a straight shot and slightly downhill. My timing would have to be perfect if I was to lure the red beast into its own trap. It was my only alternative as my armaments were Susi’s pea shooter .22 and my trusty bat. Neither of which was worthy of going up against the red demon.

I gripped my bat tightly in one hand while I continued to signal with the other until my nerves said it was time to go. I ran like I had never run before and I reached the top of the gully just as the red demon topped the ridge into our camp. This time I just waved my bat and shouted obscenities at it.

The demon once again began its full pursuit of me. I slid down into the gully ever mindful of the tripwire and began my run down through it. The demon closed fast and was about to enter the gully after me just as I was approaching the rope.

I reached my bat down and banged on the wire setting the trap in motion just as the red devil entered the ravine behind me. The rocks tumbled in after it with gravity now being my friend. I reached the rope in full stride and clinched it with both hands while still attempting to hold my bat.

I could not get a firm grip on the rope with the bat and my broken hand. My hands slid down the rope as I attempted to secure my grip. I had tied a knot in the end of the rope and when my hands had slipped to that point of no return, my grip on the rope held. I was propelled upwards and to the right in the most beautiful arc that I could have ever imagined.

My swing and my angle were perfect as I swung up and exactly onto the top edge of the gully bank, 15 feet above. As I landed I turned to look at my pursuer just in time to see that the rocks were not gaining on it fast enough. It was going to outrun the avalanche and come out the other end of the gully unscathed.

It glanced up at my position just as it approached and I got the feeling that if it could have smiled at me it would have. The thing was too fast and the trap was going to fail. Without thinking I spun around and heaved my bat directly at it as a last gesture of defiance.

The world went into slow motion as my bat turned end over end heading right at the red demon. For an instant my panic returned as the bat came in too low. But low was just what I had needed. The bat struck just in front of the demon and bounced perfectly up into its leg that was just about to touch the ground.

The demon lost balance as the tip of one of its other legs skidded just up under a large root. The fast motion once again returned as the demon shuddered and then fell hard into the gully. The fast rolling boulders quickly overtook the fallen alien and began a relentless bashing of it.

The legs were the first to go followed quickly by the body and then followed quickly again by the inevitable green fog. This time I was uphill from the demon and had a prime viewing angle of its entire ending. I squatted as I watched the red devil melt away into nothingness, once again that feeling of great pride overwhelmed me.

When the fog had dissipated I climbed down into the gully to retrieve my precious Hillerich & Bradsby S44. This time I was a bit saddened as the rush of boulders had taken a large chip out of the knob on the handle end of the bat. But I still loved my alien killer and I would keep it with me for the rest of my life.

My thoughts then turned quickly to the others as they were still in need of rescue. The mother ship’s attempt at freeing itself also needed to be stopped. I reached the summit of our camp and once again donned the binoculars.

A smirk shown on my face as I saw that it was still chipping away at its granite captor. I headed towards the mother ship at my fastest pace with the intent of ending its attempted escape. I hoped to once again make mankind the dominant species on this hill.

After my 1000’ run I arrived at the mother ship, mostly out of breath. I slowed to a walk. If the ship could have seen me it would have seen that I had a determined look on my face and a very ill will.

The ship continued its chipping and had managed to almost have its second leg free. It was lying on its side with the flat top facing towards me. The one free leg was endlessly pecking away at the boulder that held it. The ship could not see me with its eyes, but it knew I was there.

I had to stay at enough of a distance and at such an angle that it would have difficulty flinging rocks at me. It was still deadly, but without seeing me its aim would not have any accuracy.

As I thought about how I might permanently disable the beast I stood behind a tree. That strategy was to prevent it from getting in a lucky shot if it decided to attack. I picked up a small rock and tossed it at the demon ship. The rock hit the top with a metallic thud. Just as I had anticipated the demon arm came whipping over its top while flipping around a knife like blade. But there was nothing there for it to cut.

Next, it tried to grab a rock to throw, but its pincers were evidently damaged. The rock came loose and went straight up into the air as it attempted to fling it. It gave me just the break I was looking for as it showed that I could approach it with impunity.

Short of me getting within three feet of the ship it had no other defense against me. It was my time to shine and to put an end to its mission. I threw several more rocks at it as hard as I could. Other than making small dents they didn’t have enough velocity to do any real damage. I next picked up a stone the size of a bowling ball and ran towards it, heaving the stone at the flat top.

The larger stone made a bigger dent and drew the arm back around blindly to slice at me. But I was still not doing enough damage as it immediately went back to its chipping away. I then pulled out Susi’s .22 and emptied the rest of the clip into it. That only left five quarter inch sized holes in the top as it did not slow down its relentless attempt to free itself.

Since the mother ship was unable to defend itself by throwing rocks I walked around and climbed up onto the boulder that it was desperately trying to free itself from. It tried to reach me with its blade, but I stayed just out of its range.

I once again picked up a grapefruit sized stone and this time I heaved it at the point where the free leg attached to the body. The stone again made a small dent, but this time it had an added benefit. It reduced the range of motion the leg had available to it.

Using my rocket of a throwing arm I picked up and heaved another and then another large stone at the leg’s mounting point, each hit reduced its mobility a bit further.

The ship was now having difficulty getting an effective swing at its captor boulder. I moved back around to face the top and tossed a small stone at it to retest the leg’s range. It flipped the leg with the knife blade over the top, but this time it stopped short of coming around fully.

I now had free range to swing away at the top of the mechanical invader without the danger of retaliation. I made several large dents as I swung away at the flat surface. I watched as the free leg spun up in my direction repeatedly trying to get at me.

On its third swing I had the timing down and I took a swing of my own back at the leg. My trusty bat once again hit a home run as the tools at the end of the leg were mangled beyond usefulness. On my next swing I took out the mobility of the first joint shortening the leg to only two sections.

I stepped closer with the next swing taking out the second joint. The ship then stopped flipping its stump of a leg around as it was an obvious waste of energy. I stepped up and brought the hammer down on the final joint bending it over and making it unable to move more than an inch or two.

As a last attempt at saving itself the ship began to rock back and forth violently using its two trapped legs as leverage. I stepped around to the other side and brought my bat down hard on one of the remaining joints. A crunching sound could be heard as the second leg went silent leaving it only one last pinned leg with any movement.

The ship continued its attempt to rock so I brought back the bat and hit my final home run of the game. I broke the final leg clean in two and the ship then rolled over upside down onto its top. It was now free from its captor, but it had no legs to right itself.

The eye ring then spun around until the eyes were facing me. The ship then began to vibrate and I was sure I was about to get fogged. I turned and ran 50’ away and then turned back to watch. If need be I would move even farther once the green fog began to cover the area.

The pride once again welled up in me as the battle was finally over. I could now go and check on the others to see if they were OK. But I could not leave until I saw the mother ship disintegrating. I stood and watched patiently for a fog which never came. I was tempted to go back up to the ship, but I thought that maybe it was just trying to lure me in and fog me along with itself. I stood, frozen in my decision making, the ship’s vibration soon turned into a smooth hum.