Aquifer: A Novel (41 page)

“Come on, George,” Wayne said as he bent over to pick up a large beach ball. “We’ve ignored the kids long enough.”

The two men waded into the water, divided the children into teams and began playing a modified form of water volleyball.

After several minutes of raucous fun Jason again screamed at his sister, “Sally, there’s a water moccasin behind you!”

“Yeah, right!” she replied sarcastically without even turning around.

“No, really!” he insisted. “There’s a real water moccasin this time. It’s swimming straight at you!”

“Stop your teasing Jason. Dad said to stop,” she protested.

“Sally!,” Jason yelled.

George, who was standing next to Sally turned around and to his horror realized that this time Jason was not joking. The other children also turned and saw the snake swimming toward Sally. The girls screamed and began running from the water.

*

Inside the motel office the yelling and screaming caught the attention of the motel manager. He cocked his head, went to the window, which he opened, and then stood there listening for a moment. “I’ll be right back Myrtle,” he said to the receptionist. “Apparently some of our guests can't read.” He exited the office door, turned down the footpath and headed for the gravel bar beach.

*

Without thinking, George took two steps toward the snake, reached down into the water and grabbed a three-foot-long water moccasin by the tail. He yanked it out of the water, whirled it above his head and flung it up onto the riverbank.

Wayne Alder dashed from the shallow water onto the shore, grabbed a large rock, ran up to the now retreating snake and smashed its head.

All the children screamed and yelled as they ran from the water. They, along with George and Wayne, gathered around the dead snake to inspect the frightening monster.

In the deep water on the far side of the river, “V” shaped ripples stirred the surface of the water from something swimming upstream, underwater. The rippling lines turned obliquely and headed directly toward the unsuspecting group gathered around the dead snake just a few feet from the water’s edge.

Suddenly a half dozen adult aliens emerged from the river and charged the group. Panic ensued. The screaming children ran from the water’s edge and hastily headed in the direction of the motel, but not before one of the aliens had grabbed Sally in its mouth.

George picked up part of a large tree limb that had washed up onto the gravel bar and swung it like a baseball bat, pounding on the creature that held his young daughter. After several blows the creature dropped the girl and turned on George.

Wayne yelled at the other children, encouraging them to run as fast as they could. At that moment, Jason turned to see his father facing the beasts alone while his terrified little sister lay injured on the ground. Quickly he dashed to his father’s side to help him as he too wielded a club made of a driftwood tree branch.

George knew that he was no match for the creatures, but he hoped that he would be able to bluff them into retreat. “Jason!” he yelled to his son. “Get your sister to safety - now!”

Just then the alien that was stalking George latched onto his right arm with its jaws and lifted him into the air. Frantically George beat on the animal’s head with the club he held in his free hand.

Then two other aliens surrounded George, blocking his view from Jason and the group, but it was quite evident from their actions and sounds that George would never be seen again.

“Dad! Dad!” shouted the boy tearfully, instinctively knowing that there would be no reply.

The motel manager, running down the tree-covered path from the office to the river, had just arrived at the towel-covered sign at the edge of the gravel bar, and froze. The surrealistic sight before him was incomprehensible. He witnessed the alien’s attack and momentarily watched in disbelief, unable to grasp the significance of what he was watching. Nothing in his life had prepared him for such a sight. Then, when the understanding finally sank in, and fearing for his own life, he madly raced for the office.

Breathlessly, his heart pounding as if it would explode, the manager burst through the office door and shouted at the receptionist, “Myrtle, get me the Sheriff, now!”

*

The phone rang at Sheriff Aker’s office.

“Sheriff Akers here . . . What?!”

He slammed the phone down then rushed to the gun cabinet where he grabbed a shotgun and two boxes of shells. Major Reid, who had been sitting across the desk from the Sheriff, stood with a quizzical expression on his face.

“If you’re serious about your investigation,” blurted the Sheriff as he raced for the squad car, “you’d better come with me.”

*

At the gravel bar one of the aliens began stalking Jason. Before the terrified boy could make his retreat, the creature pounced upon him and pinned him to the ground.

Wayne desperately tried to get the alien’s attention in an effort to rescue Jason but he was immediately slammed to the ground by the creature’s massive tail. The alien reared its head with jaws open wide, ready to lunge for Jason, trapped beneath its foot.

At that moment there was an ear-splitting blast from a 12-gauge shotgun and a bloody swath of the alien’s under belly was laid open. The alien writhed in pain, letting out a groaning roar and released its grip on Jason. Two more blasts belched in quick succession from the shotgun.

Quickly the motel manager, with the shotgun in his hand, grabbed Jason’s arm and helped him to his feet. Then he and Wayne helped Jason and Sally in a hasty scramble up the hill toward the motel. The aliens retreated to the river and swam for the other side.

*

The Sheriff and Major Reid burst into the motel lobby of the River’s Edge Inn, which at that moment looked more like a triage center than a motel. There was blood and gore everywhere. Thelma wailed George's name while rocking her bloody children.

“I gut-shot one of those things,” the manager announced when he saw the Sheriff entering the office.

“Where are the creatures now?” demanded the Sheriff.

“They crossed the river, climbed the hill into the woods and headed toward town. My guess is they’ll be there directly,” replied the manager.

=/\=

C
HAPTER
F
ORTY
-T
HREE

Eminence

Twilight settled around the home of Jewel Lewis, an eighty-five year-old woman who lived at the edge of town. She sat in a rocking chair on her front porch in the cool evening air. Beside her was a large glass of sweet tea. She slowly rocked, chewed tobacco, smoked a corn cob pipe, and with a paring knife, peeled potatoes from a pan resting in her lap.

Though her hearing was sharp, Jewel’s eyesight was failing rapidly due to large cataracts that clouded her vision. She had lived in Eminence all her life and could not understand why folks from the “City” wanted to ruin their beloved town.

She was peeling and rocking when suddenly a twig snapped. It sounded to her as if someone was walking on the gravel path beside the house. She wasn’t expecting company, of that she was sure. The woman removed the pipe from her toothless mouth and cocked her head, listening, while continuing to chew her wad of tobacco. After a moment she turned her head and spit tobacco juice over the porch railing to her left.

On the ground below the porch was an adult alien, fifteen feet in length. It had been quietly walking on all four legs searching for prey when the tobacco juice landed in the middle of the graveled footpath barely a foot in front of it. Startled, the alien froze, blinked several times, then cocked its head. Spitting neural-toxin at its prey was something that it did to others; but having something else spit at it was unexpected.

After a few moments of listening but hearing nothing more, Jewel was satisfied that she must have been mistaken. She returned her pipe to her mouth and once again started rocking and peeling potatoes. Her mind reflected upon happier, younger days. Without even realizing it she subconsciously began to softly hum a song she had loved from her youth. The corners of her toothless mouth happily turned up as she managed a mischievous smile, enjoying a happy moment that the tune brought to her memory.

The alien cautiously took another step on the graveled path, its weight crunching the pea gravel beneath its feet. The wary creature immediately froze in position.

Jewel stopped rocking and set the pan down. With great difficulty she got to a standing position and slowly hobbled the two tiny steps to the porch railing, removing her pipe with her right hand as she went.

“Who’s there?”

She stood there leaning upon the porch railing, listening for a moment. Slowly she chewed her tobacco. Not hearing anything she spit over the railing again.

This time the tobacco juice landed on top of the creature’s head. It crouched back, blinked, and shook its head. Though the aliens had an acute sense of vision when looking straight ahead, their peripheral vision was extremely limited and Jewel remained outside of the creature’s field of vision. The alien’s ability to hear was also quite rudimentary, inasmuch as it had no ears.

Jewel stood on the porch by the railing while the alien, on all fours, was on the ground below her. Each of them attentively listening but neither of them sensing the presence of the other.

After a moment of hearing nothing, Jewel shuffled back to her rocker, picked up the pan, put the pipe back in her mouth and continued peeling potatoes.

Again she heard the crunching sound. This time, she not only put down the pan of potatoes and stood, but she started down the porch steps. Reaching the bottom she turned and hobbled to the corner of the house. The alien sensed her coming and scurried to hide in the bushes that formed a property line hedge. Jewel rounded the corner but saw nothing, though even if the creature had not hidden, Jewel’s cataracts would have preventing her from seeing it clearly anyway.

The alien, completely obscured in the bushes, peered out through the leaves with one eye observing the woman.

Jewel surveyed the scene, standing just a few feet from the concealed alien. Then she removed her pipe, turned her head toward the bushes and spit again. This time the tobacco juice landed squarely in the alien’s eye.

Enraged and frightened, the terrified alien erupted into a panicky escape. It tore through the thick bushes making a terrible racket as it departed. The bushes jostled and thrashed but the alien never emerged into view.

Jewel, seeing the bushes sway and jerk, scratched her head in puzzlement, returned her pipe to her mouth, shrugged her shoulders and began to hobble back to the porch. As she did she muttered out loud to herself - “Darn cats!”

*

Clifford, a large burley man, was working on his car in the driveway beside his home, a few blocks from the center of town. It was almost totally dark so he used a drop light to work. The car’s hood was up and Clifford was bent over the engine block, having climbed nearly halfway into the engine housing. He mumbled to himself from under the hood of the car: “This stupid thing! Why is it that interchangeable parts . . . won’t?”

At that moment his wife opened the front screen door and called, “Clifford, I said it’s time for supper. Git on in here and wash up now. Supper’ll be cold and I’m fixin’ to put the kids in the tub so they can get to bed.”

Clifford raised his head from inside the engine housing and answered her, though he spoke mainly to himself. “I’ll be there directly, just have to tighten two more bolts. Go on without me.”

He returned again to his work as the screen door slammed shut.
Wives
, he thought to himself,
they just don’t understand what it’s like to have to stop when you’re so close to finishing a project. Why do they always have to be so impatient? And this is just a little project. Heaven save us from the wrath of our womenfolk if we ever get involved with a lengthy project.

Inside the home Clifford’s wife and children had already started to eat. She knew he wouldn’t be coming. She and the kids were used to eating supper without him when he was in the middle of a project, which seemed to be more and more frequent these days.

Clifford fumbled with a wrench and dropped it. It bounced down the engine housing onto the ground and rolled to the far side of the car. “Well Hell’s Bells, can’t I do anything right!” he said to himself.

With great effort he backed his oversized frame out from under the hood, stepped onto the ground and over to the far side of the car. Then he bent down to pick up the wrench. As he did so an alien sprang from the bushes and pounced upon him. They both landed with a heavy thud behind the car. There was scuffling for a second or two. Then silence – followed by the crunching sound of what was unmistakably the sound of bones being cracked by powerful jaws.

*

Clayton, Welton and Larry were exiting Opal’s café when they heard a scream from the corner. They turned to see a woman being attacked by a full-grown alien standing on its hind legs in front of the corner drug store.

“They've escaped the caves!” gasped Clayton.

Mass hysteria set in as people fled from aliens of various sizes that swarmed the street. No one had seen them arrive. They just suddenly appeared - everywhere.