Invasion (The Alien Wars #1) (26 page)

“So you know that the Seods can’t swim,” Derek interrupted.

George nodded. “A group of them passed through here two weeks or so ago, heading northwest.”

“Where were they going?” Kenneth asked.

George sighed. “I don’t know. There’s a
rumor
that they have a base in northern
California
.”

“A base?”
Molly asked. “You mean one that they’ve built since landing here three weeks ago?”

“No, I don’t think so,” George said.

The others frowned and stared at the man as he explained. “From what I have been told, there’s some mountain in the north of the state that is littered with dead bodies.”

“What do you mean?” Molly asked.

“I know it sounds pretty wild, but if the
rumors
are true, hundreds of dead people surround this mountain.” George paused, as though imagining what it would be like. “I spoke to some soldiers, ah, what day was it? Hmm, three days ago, I think. They were heading in that direction to check out the
rumor
.”

“What’s the name of this mountain?” Derek said.

“
Death
Mountain
is the only name I have heard it being referred to. If I were you …” George paused and looked at the three. “I wouldn’t head in that direction.”

Derek turned to Kenneth. “What do you think?”

Kenneth stood up and paced back and forth. “I don’t know. It seems far-fetched. I mean how could these Seods have a base here on Earth? Surely someone would’ve seen or heard about it.”

“What about Area 51?” George said.

“That’s different,” Kenneth said with a shrug. “That’s just a conspiracy theory. There’s no substance behind it. Next you’ll be telling me that the reason ships and planes go missing in the Bermuda Triangle is because there’s a Seod base there.”

“The idea isn’t so far-fetched,” George said. “There could very well be a base in the Bermuda Triangle, as well as Area 51. Take my thoughts as you will. It’s a brand new world out there and while some of the
rumors
will be true, there will, of course, be ones that aren’t.” He glanced at his watch. “I’m going to have an early night.” He stood up. “There are some rugs in my boat if you don’t mind going down to get them.”

“Thanks, we will,” Kenneth said. “Are they in the cabin?”

“Yes, on the right-hand side, just after you walk down the steps,” George said.

With a nod, Kenneth took the flashlight and headed down through the trees.

Logan
knew waiting was the only thing they could do at the moment, but now that it was so very close to zero hour, the tension in the room had increased.

Almost everyone was sitting on crates and staring at the ground as they thought about the night ahead. Only Muscles and Jet seemed like their normal selves as they talked about times gone by.

The alarm on
Muscles’s
watch beeped and he stood up. “Action stations, men.”

Everyone stood up, and after each grabbing a weapon, they were on their way.

Xavier and Peter watched the others head for the service elevator. Once they were safely in without any trouble, Xavier turned to Peter. “Let’s check out the generator.”

They walked toward a large room with a closed door. A sign on the door read: “No Admittance.” Xavier realized it was locked, so he got out his pocket knife and jimmied the lock.

Within ten seconds, it was open. The two men strolled in and looked around. The generator stood in the middle of the largely bare room. It hummed away and lights flickered here and there on various controls.

“Should we place the explosives now, in case something happens later?” Peter asked.

“After we do a thorough check.
You do the inside, I’ll do the outside.” As Peter nodded, Xavier left him and headed outside once more.

It didn’t take long to ascertain that there weren’t any men about, and so, feeling the urge to go to the toilet, he found a corner and relieved himself. Before he was finished, the sound of footsteps started to approach. He quickly zipped up his jeans and turned around to scan the area. He saw no one.

Wondering if he’d been mistaken, he walked back to the generator room. He was just about to round the corner when several shots rang out.

Pulling out his pistol, he hurried forward, only to stop and gaze in shock. He stared at the generator room as Peter, with blood pouring out of his chest, fired three shots at a group of heavily armed men that were dressed in khakis and hiding behind a car.

As the generator door slammed shut, the men hurried forward, firing into the door.

Xavier grimaced as he heard bullets thwacking against the door. Luckily, the door was thick, and none of them seemed to penetrate.

As they pounded against the door, Xavier quickly thought of what he could do. There were only four of them, but there could be more somewhere else. It was the uncertainty that worried him. Was this just a random patrol, or had they somehow been told what was about to happen?

It looked more and more as though Jet was right, and there was a traitor. If so, it clearly wasn’t Peter. Deciding that he couldn’t just stand still and let Peter die in a pool of his own blood, Xavier raised his AR-15 and flipped the safety off.

He squeezed the trigger, and the weapon jammed. Cursing, he was forced to hide behind the corner as one of the men glanced back in his direction.

Xavier didn’t want to make any noise, so he just stood there, waiting for the man to rejoin his comrades who were trying to force the door open.

But he didn’t. Taking hold of his M-16, the man walked toward Xavier, his footsteps echoing loudly over the asphalt.

~*~*~

Derek awoke feeling cold. Sitting up, he noticed that the fire was down to just embers. He cursed and stood up. As he did so, he heard something. Wondering what could be making noise at this time of night, he glanced around. The humming grew louder.

It wasn’t coming from across the water.

Something red shot down from the sky and hit the bushes near the tea house. With a start, he realized it was a Seod aircraft.

Another burst of red shot through the darkness. He realized that red bolts were deadlier than green bolts, judging by the shower of debris sent up by the former with every hit. One shot would likely mean death.

“We’re under attack!” Derek sprang into action. He ran from person to person and shook them awake as more red bolts hit the surrounding ground.

Kenneth took one look up at the sky. He couldn’t see much, but enough to realize that they were facing a Striker.

As a red bolt smashed the fireplace, sending brick fragments flying through the room, Molly screamed. Derek and Molly disappeared into the bushes, heading for the boat.

“We can’t fight what we can’t see!” Kenneth shouted to George, who had hesitated as he searched for his shotgun.

“But—” George cried out.

“No buts! Come on!” Kenneth ran into the darkness as several bolts hit the walls of the tea house, blowing through the structure with ease.

George followed and soon the two of them had reached the teens.

“Did you get the briefcase?” Derek asked, looking toward Kenneth.

“Shoot!” Kenneth glanced back at the tea house. There was still nothing to be seen, but as the roar of the aircraft was quite loud, he knew the Striker had to be right overhead. “I completely forgot. Do you have a weapon in the boat, George?”

As George shook his head, Kenneth muttered and cursed. “I have to risk it.”

“What?” Molly said, confused. “You can’t go back up there.”

“I have to,” Kenneth said. “That briefcase could be the deciding factor in this war against the Seods, so I have to take that chance.” He turned to George. “If I don’t come back within five minutes, get the hell out of here, okay?”

As George nodded, Kenneth turned and hurried up the hill toward the tea house. He had to get to the briefcase before the Seods found somewhere to land.

As he approached the stone walls, he noticed that the red bolts had stopped. But as he could still hear the hum of the Striker overhead, he clung tight to the wall.

Why was it hovering in the sky? Why didn’t it land somewhere? These questions puzzled him, but as he reached the open doorway of the tea house, he found out the answer. In the dying glow of the fireplace, he saw two Seods standing side by side.

Kenneth was shocked. It was one thing to avoid the red bolts, but quite another thing to avoid the aliens. He couldn’t see much, but it was evident they were searching for something.

Realizing they hadn’t found the briefcase gave Kenneth hope, but then he remembered that he had stowed it behind a bush. And that bush was right next to where one of the Seods was standing.

Kenneth realized he had to attract the attention of two Seods in the next few seconds. There was only one thing for it. He stepped into the doorway of the tea house and whistled.

~*~*~

Logan
wanted to check out the sky lobby on the fiftieth floor, so instead of going all the way to the top, they stopped at the sky lobby and got out.

It was pretty clear to him as he glanced around that Sanchez hadn’t been using the lobby for some time, as it was very messy. Hurrying back to the elevator,
Logan
glanced at Muscles. “What floor are we getting off?”

“Seventy eight.
We don’t want to be too close to the action just quite yet,” Muscles replied.

Logan
nodded as the doors slid closed and the elevator began to rise once more. He watched the number above the door head past fifty five and continue to climb.

Suddenly, without any warning, the elevator halted and the lights went out as the power died.

~*~*~

The two Seods
swiveled
around and spotted Kenneth in the glow of the fireplace. Not waiting to see what would happen, he turned and stumbled down the path, with the creatures in pursuit.

Hearing one of them closing in, he attempted to slide down the rocky slope. One moment he was in control, and the next he was tumbling down the slope.

Fortunately, there was an even patch of rocks at the bottom and he stumbled to his feet a few moments later. Glancing upwards, he realized he had only gained a few seconds.

Hopefully that’d be enough, just as long as George was ready to set off. He raced to the sandy shore where the boat was. Stumbling past the bushes, he emerged from the undergrowth and froze in shock. The boat was gone!

He glanced left and then right to make sure that he was in the right place. He was. Everything was just the way he had left it just a few minutes earlier. All except for one thing—the boat was no longer there.

As the full impact of what had just happened set in, he heard a rustling of bushes coming from the right and he glanced at the ground, searching for a rock.

After picking up the biggest one that he could see at a glance, he hurried to the nearest bush. He bent down and waited for the Seod to show.

Maybe a rock was a crude weapon, but it was better than nothing. He was in a desperate situation, but he wasn’t one for giving up without a fight. He was all alone on an island with two Seods and a craft hovering overhead, and if that wasn’t enough to scare him, there were probably more Seods on the mainland if he did choose to try to swim to shore. But since he wasn’t a good swimmer and the water would be freezing at this time of
night, that
was out of the question.

He’d just have to rely on the element of surprise. The bushes parted, and without waiting a second longer, Kenneth slung back his arm and let the rock fly out of his hand.

Xavier’s brain raced as he thought of what to do in the darkened parking garage. He heard the men calling to each other and imagined one of them would soon pull out a flashlight.