Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (30 page)

Paul nodded in agreement. Paul in his elation to see Mike had almost forgotten that Dennis had been missing in action. “Shit
,
Dennis I thought you were dead
,” Paul said
turning
toward
him.

“It was close
,
Paul. They got
the gunney
, used him like a
hacky
sack
,” Dennis said
,
forgetting his earlier elation in a matter o
f a heartbeat. Grief threatened
to overwhelm him as he placed his hand over his face.

“Let’s go back to the Hill
,
Dennis
.
W
e’ll get those wounds checked over
,” Paul said
,
placing his arm around Dennis’ shoulder.

“Paul
,
I’ll be right in, I’m going to go get my squad
,”
Mike said.

Paul acknowledged him with a nod of his head.

Frank was walking over
after
issuing orders to his men
.
He
welcome
d
Dennis back
,
a huge smile spread across his face to see his friend returned from the dead
and
safe and sound
;
his earlier
morose
replaced with
joy
. So fixated on the scene in front of him
,
Frank never saw the three Genogerians coming through the broken glass pane windows in the front of the store. Rifles firing, Frank was
shot repeatedly
,
a s
mall smile forever frozen on his face even as his insides oozed out of the foot and a half long gash across his back. Dennis was first to attack
and
bring his weapon to bear, the short staccato sound of the
M-16
breaking through the eerie silence a
s Frank fell to his knees
. Mike wheeled, rifle at the ready as the nearest of the insurgents fell in a heap. Multiple rifles now took up the call to arms, at least a hundred or so rounds had found their mark. The second shock troop to die was split down the middle like an over ripe banana, his comrade close behind in death.
T
he damage had been done
though
. Paul ran to Frank’s crumpled
body hoping beyond hope he
would be alive
.
I
f Frank had any final words they would be forever lost, he lay still
,
the smile of seeing his friend still upon his
face
. Paul wanted to weep, Dennis fell to his knees and did
;
the events of the last
ten
hours finally taking their toll. Mike knew better than to try
to
console either man, both would grieve in their own way. Mike turned, his barrel still smoldering, and headed off to get his Marines before the inevitable happened and the Genogerians returned, time was of the essence.

***

Tracy and the troops were even now making their way across the
Main Street
and coming in
to the mouth of the parking lot. They had taken defensive position when the firing had erupted and were now seeing what the din was about now that it was once again quiet. Mike walked over to meet them, his rifle now slung over
his shoulder. Weariness set
in now that they had made it back, what came next surprised him more than anything had in a long while. Tracy came up and punched him square
i
n the jaw,
staggering
Mike back.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
s
he yelled.

The
M
arines around her stopped, mouths hanging open
.
E
ven those closest to
Frank stopped to stare at th
e
new development. Mike would have answered but he feared she may have shattered all the work the alien hyper-chamber had corrected, that and the fact he was still in shock from the blow.

“Are
you trying to get yourself killed!? Is that what you want? You don’t have that right anymore
!”
s
he shot at him
.

Mike still had not managed a viable defense
.
A
nd if he didn’t react soon she would finish what the Genogerians started.

“The right?” Pathetic but still words, the effect was instantaneous and it did not have the desired effect he was looking for. Tracy became enraged. Her steel gray eyes almost
smoldering
.

“The right!”
s
he reiterated. “I’ll let you know when you
can die. You’ve taken my heart and I’m not in any rush to get it back
,” she said
as she punched him mercifully on the shoulder this time, but it was by no stretch of the imagination a pulled punch. Mike knew he would suffer some bruising.

“I love you
,
Mike, like I’ve loved no other. Maybe it’s because of how crazy the world has gotten and how many
loved ones I have already lost.
I can’t take losing someone else I care for. I won’t let it happen
again
.
N
ever again.”
S
he
finally broke down, tears streaming from her eyes,
ineffectual blows now hitting his arms. Mike grabbed her and pulled her close, partly to keep her from hitting him but mostly to just reassure her that he was in fact alive and well. There was something about th
e
woman he couldn’t quite put his finger on
.
H
e wasn’t sure if he was quite in love with her yet, but he was rapidly approaching
it
and just because she reached there first did in no wa
y diminish what he felt for her.
I
f anything it only strengthened it.

The squad streamed around them, at least
attempting
to give them some semblance of privacy
.
B
esides
,
they wanted to see if they could get the
ir
hands on some of the alien weaponry strewn throughout the parking lot before the rest of the detachment
already
there took everything. Relationships were cool and all
,
but that didn’t compare to the shock rifles.

Tracy’s sobs subsided somewhat, her face buried in Mike’s chest.
He
lifted her face so that she was looking at him.

“You’ve never looked more beautiful
,”
Mike said as he kissed her
and for the briefest of moments e
verything around them dissolved;
the chaos, the carnage
,
the stink of death
—
replaced with the wonder and need of a new love. Mike’s hear
t ached with the thought of what he had put her through.

“I promise I will never do anything that stupid again
,”
Mike said fully meaning it, but never the less as time would point out,
he was
lying
through his teeth.

CHAPTER FO
R
TY-SIX

Beth nearly swooned when she looked into the living room, a small family of three had been strung upside down.
Multiple deep cut wounds criss
crossed all of their bodies so their entrails were
left
dangling to
the floor. It looked like some version of a piñata from hell, grimaces of pain and
suffering
were forever etched upon their now taut mouths. The youngest appeared to be no older than
nine
or
ten
, of w
hich sex was impossible to tell.
T
hough they were all nude
,
the mutilation was so severe as to make identification impossible. Beth struggled to hold on to the precious water she had just drank and for all appearances it looked like it was going to be a losing battle. Beth had turned and was heading for the door before she lost her precious cargo, when she heard a deep and menacing growl
. It was coming
from somewhere in
the shadows off to her left
from
what appeared to
be
a hallway
leading
most likely into a study or
spare bedroom. Beth figured this was probably at one time the family pet, but now it looked like the family was more dinner than companionship.

“Scruffy
,
want to taste some
f
uckin’
lead?”
s
he said as bold as possible wh
ile also
trying to suppress throwing up. She was rewarded with a growl that was considerably closer, but she was no closer to
f
i
n
ding its location in the near darkness the shadows of the house were affording her new adversary. She wanted to back away and get out of th
at
circle of hell, but she knew if she fell
,
the dog would be on her before she could pull the trigger and the rifle would be useless if it got t
o
o close. The dog growled again almost as if it could read her thoughts.

“Well,
one things for sure
,” she said
. “You aren’t a
C
hihuahua.”
T
he rumblings took on an echoing effect in the small antechamber.

Beth kept backing up
, doing her best to not run in
to anything, the dog
’
s growls becoming louder
.
S
he could hear its toenails on the tile, but how could that be she wondered to herself, that would mean the dog was no more than ten feet from her and she still hadn’t seen it. Fear started to rear itself in Beth’s psyche.
Maybe it’s the demon that hung this family up
. A dog was an acceptable threat right now, a spawn of
Satan
was not. And then her fears were instantly inflated and deflated as the dog passed through a brighter spot in the hallway. It wasn’t a demon
,
per se, but it was by far the largest dog she had ever seen. It’s massive head
even
with Beth’s chest.

“Jesus
,”
s
he let out involuntarily.

Spittle hung from it’s gaping maw, teeth bared in an insanely large mouth, one with which Beth was sure could take her arm off in one bite. Beth unsteadily raised her rifle, she had no intentions of becoming anyone’s dinner. The dog stared at her savagely, it
s red-rimmed eyes locked on
to her own. One was the hunter and one was the prey, but for the life of her
,
Beth didn’t know which was which. Beth sighted
on
the monster and pulled the trigger, fully expecting the loud noise in the small confines to make her head ring like
the bells of
Notre Dame for at least a few hours. She heard nothing
,
save for the
settling
of the now turned-off water pipes. The dog was no
where in her sights
.
I
t
leapt
and slammed into her shoulders. The
rifle clattered to the floor uselessly. Beth could only
hope that a ripped out throat wouldn’t hurt too much, her mind
working overtime
.  She
figured she would only be conscious for a minute or so while the dog ate her alive. She slammed on the floor with the full weight of
Cerb
er
us on her chest, white
,
s
hooting stars of pain floated through her eyesight as the air was forcefully pushed out of her body. The white stars began to turn brown as she fought valiantly to hold on to consciousness.