SODIUM:1 Harbinger (19 page)

I was then for a moment in shock as the 30’ diameter half domed machine began to slowly lift off the ground. I had not thought at all about its ability to fly! As the ship reached a foot and then two feet I ran at it with my bat raised and brought down what I hoped would be a final blow directly to its eyes. I knocked out one of the eyes, but the ship continued to lift slowly upward.

At four feet I took another swing and this time I only dented the outside edge. The ship was getting away and I had no way to stop it. I took another wild swing and then another each time only denting the outer edge as it moved higher.

As the ship lifted to eight and then nine feet I could no longer reach it. The demon invader had kept one last ace up its sleeve and was now about to leave the game with at least a tie hand. It turned its last good eye down towards me as it continued slowly upwards. I let out a loud yell of rage at the beast and called for it to come back and fight.

But this was a machine and it had no pride to overrule its programming. I dropped to my knees and watched in horror as the ship continued to slowly climb and the hum became more and more uniform with harmonics. I feared that my prize was going to get away.

Just as I had given in to the fact that it was escaping, I was shaken by a multitude of gunshots coming from behind me. It was Bull, Allie, Kyle and the poachers. They were emptying everything they had into the slowly rising craft. The poachers each had rifles that packed a good punch and my cohorts were all firing their handguns. Susi stood behind while watching as I had her .22.

I was overjoyed to see that my sister and my friends seemed to be OK and that they were making one last attempt to bring the ship down. Hole after hole opened up in the mother ship as the team moved ever closer with their deadly accurate fire.

The demon ship then began to wobble and I knew it was time for me to get out from under it. As the wobbles grew the others changed clips and continued their relentless barrage. Bull then ran out of .45 slugs and turned to his Kodiak bow and his final two arrows. He pulled back the bow and fired the first arrow, but the ships wobble made the arrow skim off the surface and into the air beyond. He pulled out his second arrow and walked up under the ship, which was now 30’ in the air.

He pulled back on the bow, aimed for directly under the remaining eye and let loose his final arrow. The hum immediately stopped as the arrow entered the ship’s hull and impacted something substantial. I reached out and grabbed Bull’s arm and pulled him backward as the ship dropped straight down.

It landed with a metallic clang and crunching sound on the rocks that had previously held it down. Bull and I had both fallen backwards, just missing being crushed by the downed alien machine.

I then grabbed his arm once again and told him to get moving before the fog came. When we reached 40’ away the green fog began to spray into the air around the mother ship. This time however, the cloud was much bigger and was spreading faster than with the smaller demons.

We continued to run and everyone moved back to almost 200’ away before reaching safety. We all watched as the alien craft quickly disintegrated in the green mist. A great sense of relief came over me as I looked around at the others as they all watched.

We had defeated the invaders. Our war was over. And although we might be bruised, tired and hungry, we were all still alive. Our harrowing ordeal, at least for the time being… was over.

Chapter 14

The seven of us sat quietly for 20 minutes, looking at the area where the alien craft had once been. The green fog had faded leaving no trace of the once 30’ diameter ship. I was the first to stand and start walking towards the fogged area. The vegetation that had not dissolved was wilting from being in contact with whatever the green fog was.

I looked back. Bull, Allie and the two poachers were getting up to follow me. Kyle and Susi stayed behind and remained in a long embrace, it would be difficult for them to leave each others side for the remainder of their lives. I had a good feeling that there would be no more arguments coming from either one.

I walked up to where the ship had crashed down and looked around for any evidence that it had ever been there. There was none. The ground was clean.

I turned to Bull and told him that I thought we should search all of our battle areas for any evidence we could find. After all, it would be difficult to persuade anyone outside of our group that we had encountered them at all, especially, if we had nothing to show for it. The people around Roswell New Mexico had already experienced that.

We scoured the area but came up empty. Craig and Scott then decided that they just wanted to go home. Without evidence they did not want to be associated with any alien sighting claims. They had families to feed back at their homes. So, they left when it became clear that there was probably nothing left to be found.

The rest of us made our way around to where they had destroyed the damaged demon and again scoured the area looking for anything alien. Other than a bare spot on the ground where it had spread its fog there was no sign that anything had been there.

The small triangular tracks the demons left were not something that would be lasting. It could also be argued that they were man made and our whole story was nothing but a big hoax. We needed something physical to show the world that we were not just some glory hounds out looking for fame.

As we walked I told them of how I had lured the red demon into its own trap and had triumphed over it with a lucky throw of my bat. I then told them of how I had been watching as Kyle and Craig blew the large boulder over onto the mother ship pinning it underneath and knocking me backwards.

And finally, I told of my struggle to disable the mother ship. How, even though it was taking a lot longer than I wanted, it was such an adrenaline rush to be pounding on it with impunity. I told of how much I was in disbelief when it lifted off and got just out of the range of my bat.

They had awakened one by one as the mist from the red demon had slowly worn off. They told me about how that particular one had some type of weapon that would send out a concussion wave. When it hit you it was like running into a wall.

As each of them was knocked hard to the ground the demon would come up and spray its red mist, effectively knocking them out. I told them that they were being gathered up and taken to the ship when I began signaling the red demon.

We once again looked over the area around where the damaged demon had been defeated and once again we came up with nothing. With no evidence to gather we made our way back towards our packs. Kyle then told us of his encounter with the bear and how he had slid down over the ledge to a spot just out of its reach. He said he knew something had come up and surprised the bear, but he had no idea of what it was. All he knew was that the bear was losing badly and that he knew it was not because of us.

When the bear carcass fell over the ledge and knocked him off he thought it was all over. He had clung to the largest part of the bear as he fell down into Rancheria Creek. He could only imagine that he had survived the drop because he landed in about five feet of water still clinging to the bear.

Landing on the carcass and in the water had been just enough to keep him from death, but it had given him a severe concussion. He floated down into a shallower section of the creek and had come to rest against a rock with his head out of the water.

He remembered getting up and walking. He had moved back up the creek, but he had no idea how far he had gone or why he had gone in that direction. Craig had found him wandering around not really knowing where he was or where he had been.

He said that after we had let Craig and Scott go, they had a run in with one of the demons with Craig barely managing to escape. Scott had been captured. Craig had no idea of how to combat the demons so he was headed back towards his home when he came across the wandering Kyle.

Kyle said that they had talked for several hours before deciding to come back after the others. Craig had one stick of dynamite in his pack that he would use for fun if they wanted a good fish dinner while they were out poaching. He said it was much easier than carrying a fishing pole and standing around waiting for them to bite. You would light the fuse, toss it into deep water and wait for the fish to float to the top.

They had tracked the demon back to its camp, but had arrived a day after our last gunfight, so they had no idea that we were even around. They thought that we had probably gone back to get help from outside of the park.

Kyle and Craig had hatched their dynamite plan while waiting in the trees after they had discovered the mother ship. The red demon had almost caught them in the open when they were trying to work their way around behind the ship. It was hoped that the blast would lift the boulder up a bit higher allowing it to drop onto the alien craft, fully destroying it.

When it turned out to just be pinned they decided to grab Scott and run. With no one else to rescue it would be best to just leave and let the authorities mess with the aliens as they would be much better equipped. I had not seen the red demon continuing on past the mother ship when I was headed back to our camp so I had no idea that they would be needing a warning. I was hoping that we would all be able to leave or all make an assault on the mother ship and the last demon together.

I told them that when I looked through the binoculars and saw that the red demon had knocked them down I somehow instantly knew what to do with my rope swing plan. I told of how I had swung around and up onto the gully ledge just perfectly, even while clutching my bat with a broken hand.

When we returned to camp we collected our things and I took them over to the gully and once again told of my victory over the red demon. When I looked back on the week’s events later I thought about how lucky we had been at so many different turns and about how the whole thing could have gone very badly for us from the beginning.

After rising to my own heroic level I no longer attributed any merit to the Minhafa story. I was convinced that it was just dumb luck that it had leapt to my defense when I had destroyed the first demon. It was more likely that the demon was interrupting the lion’s dinner plans than it was that the mountain lion had come to my rescue.

I reasoned that since it had not shown up during any of the other battles it was not watching over me, there was no animal spirit guide. I was also convinced that it was not because of luck, but was instead because of my determination. I had crafted my own heroes patch and figuratively sewn it onto my shoulder for all to see.

After exploring the gully and finding nothing we made our way back to the two previous battle sites to explore. We once again came up empty handed. The green fog strategy was thorough and left nothing behind.

We sat at the last site along Cherry Creek as the Sun was setting. We would have to camp out for one more night before making it back to civilization. The danger of an alien attack was over, of that we were sure. We would rest for the night in peace.

We gathered wood to light a fire and Bull managed several trout from the creek. After eating, Bull and Allie went for a short walk as did Kyle and Susi. It was the first time they had time to themselves since Kyle had gone missing and I was no longer in fear of being alone.

They all returned after a short while and we bedded down for the night, completely exhausted. The red tarps were once again over our heads to keep us dry from the morning dew. We slept in silence and our sleep was deep and well deserved.

The Sun was coming up over the first ridge before anyone stirred the following morning. It was a two hour hike up the creek to Cherry Lake Dam where we hoped we would find the use of a telephone. Bull would call his Sacramento friend and arrange to have us all picked up as no one was interested in hiking the rest of the way out. I was excited with the thought of telling the world of our encounters and triumph, and especially of my own heroics.

As we walked along I began discussing with Bull about which stories we would tell first. Certainly my luring the red demon into one of its own traps was a highlight. The crowds would be wowed by my heroics on that one. I chatted endlessly as we walked.

As I talked, Bull would just occasionally nod and the others remained largely silent. All the glory that was to be was swirling endlessly around in my head. We were just approaching the dam when Bull put out his hand in the now all too familiar stop gesture. He turned slowly and sighed.

He told me that they had all discussed the topic of telling the world. With no evidence to speak of, they had all come the conclusion that it would be best to just remain silent. They just wanted to return to their lives and forget it had ever happened.

If the aliens came again it would be the Army’s problem not theirs. They would volunteer to help at that time if needed, but until and unless that time came… they just wanted to go back to their homes and their lives, they wanted to move on.

I threw my hands up and clasped my fingers behind my head in a show of disbelief. This was such a huge moment in time for us all, and for all mankind. I begged and pleaded with them to support me in telling our tale, I questioned how they could not.

But one by one they shook their heads no. I was about to come apart. How could I tell anyone anything without them backing me, without looking the fool? We all hiked quietly for the last half hour up to the top of the ridge.

Bull was able to persuade the operators at the dam to let us make a call to Sacramento. Within an hour the outfitter had rides heading our way. Our adventure was over. Bull told him that while the trip was a great idea on the surface, there were just too many things that could go wrong.

After a few close calls it was decided that he did not want to take anyone, who may not be fully prepared, on such a rugged journey. Bull promised to come back out in a few months to give him a full briefing and to discuss other possible joint ventures. I knew then that the Yosemite Sportsman Package would never be sold.