Pit Bulls vs Aliens (17 page)

Throughout the day, the soldiers also tried to forget what lay ahead and played in the snow as well. They made snowmen, had snowball fights, and even made ice cream from the snow.

As the heat rose during the day, it melted some of the snow, but not all of it. Over the next night, it accumulated even more. By the morning the shield was expected to rise, there was at least two feet on the ground and a huge bank of snow piled up on the shield.

The command center was moved north beyond the dye line, and the colonel watched with binoculars as the alien soldiers lined up behind the shield to await their next incursion. He smiled as he watched them stare up at the snow on the shield in confusion. When the alarm sounded and the shield rose, the snow came crashing down right on top of them.

At first they didn’t move. They just stood there covered in snow. Finally, they shook off the white powder and began to advance slowly through the knee-deep drifts.

The colonel had the men form the front line much closer to the shield this time, hoping to catch the creatures in the snow. He gave the order to advance. Jeeps sped forward and men rushed toward the enemy. It was working. The aliens were having trouble hitting anything with their weapons.

The colonel and Francisco had remained behind this time. The colonel stood up in the jeep watching the battle through his field glasses. He turned toward Dr. McNair and Sally, who were with the others behind the dye line, and gave a thumbs-up. “It’s working!” he yelled. “They’re actually shivering.”

The aliens still stood in the snow trying to aim their weapons, but the cold was definitely having an effect on their motor skills. Drivers steered their jeeps right into the snow, spinning and sliding in all directions as they bombarded the awestruck monsters with rockets and grenades. Then the jeeps would pull away before the aliens could react and circle around for another attack.

It was working better than they could have hoped. The colonel gave Francisco the word for them to join the battle. Francisco gritted his teeth and put the jeep in gear. They sped toward the scene.

The snowmakers continued to spit the plumes of powder onto the battlefield. Before long, the aliens noticed this as well and began targeting the machines. By midday, every one of them had been destroyed and the heat of the day was melting the snow fast.

By the afternoon, the entire area was a muddy mess, and the tides had turned. The aliens, no longer cold, began to hit their targets and the troops were forced to fall back. Most of the jeeps and soldiers were completely covered in mud, which had begun to dry into cakes on their skin, making it hard to move. The battle raged on until it became clear that the soldiers had little left to give, so the colonel gave the order to retreat.

Once all the soldiers and jeeps were past the dye line, the aliens simply turned to walk away. Their job was finished after all. They only needed to make the area safe for the workers.

Colonel Jamison watched as they disappeared into the forest. There were several straps across the creatures’ backs to support the frontal armor, but no real protection at all. “We have got to find a way to attack them from behind,” he said mostly to himself.

“Here, Colonel.” Sally offered bottles of water as the colonel and Francisco entered the command center.

“Thank you,” they both said.

“I’m sorry it didn’t work,” Dr. McNair said.

“I wouldn’t say it that way,” the colonel said. “It definitely slowed them down in the beginning. They sure didn’t know what to think of that snow. Plus, they were shivering.” The colonel smiled as he thought of the large creatures shaking in the snow. His smile quickly disappeared, however, when he thought about how many soldiers he saw fall this day.

“I don’t think we can round up many more snow machines,” Thomas said. He looked at Darren and Dr. McNair. “Is there any other way to produce that effect?”

“What about fire extinguishers?” Sally asked.

“We would have to get awful close to use those,” Francisco said. “I’d prefer something we could use from a distance.”

Major Strafford came into the command center with a severe cut on his arm. It had been bandaged in the field, and not very well.

“I’ll call a medic,” Sally said.

But the major held up his hand to stop her. “I’ll be fine. What are the losses, Colonel?”

“I don’t have that info yet,” the colonel said. Then he looked around the room and noticed it was much more empty than normal. “Where is everyone?”

With another report of high casualties, the colonel ordered all soldiers with young children to return home.

“Just the parents?”

The colonel looked up at Major Strafford, then at Thomas, Dr. McNair, and Darren, who seemed to be thinking the same thing. Captain Owens and General Echevarria had not survived the last battle; neither had Lieutenant Williamson, much to the colonel’s dismay. He realized now that the lieutenant was one of the bravest soldiers he had ever seen.

“What are you asking, Major?”

“With all due respect, sir,” the major said, “what else can we do here? It’s been almost two weeks and they have sent no replacements . . . again.”

The colonel thought about the question. It was a valid question to which he had no real answer. “What do you suggest, Major? Should we evacuate all of Mexico? Send them to the US? Then what? Send everyone to Canada? If they keep progressing through Canada, then what? That should liven up the immigration debate.”

The major didn’t laugh at the attempted levity. “I don’t know, Colonel. All I know is I’ve lost more men than I care to think about, and we still haven’t even slowed them down, much less made them stop. I realize losing men means nothing to you. I know that’s why they chose you for this mission.”

The tension was so thick in the command center it could be cut with a knife. Sally looked to Dr. McNair in shock. Thomas was unusually silent.

Dr. McNair broke the stillness. “Hey, we’re on the same team here, guys.”

The colonel stared at Major Strafford as his words sank home. He wondered himself if that might be true. He looked down at his bloody boots. He could only think about what would happen if they pulled out. How far would the aliens go? What was to stop them from killing everyone in North America, or even the world? What if they never stopped?

“Okay,” the major said, as if sensing the colonel’s concerns. “Are we getting any replacements or not?”

The colonel shook his head. “They want to reserve the remaining forces in case the aliens reach our border. They are considering reinstituting the draft. Russia and England have decided to sit this one out unless the aliens come to them. The Canadian Mounties have offered their assistance.”

The major let out a sad, hopeless laugh. “Well, that’s something. When do they expect the shield to rise again?”

“Tomorrow.”

The major stood and saluted. “Then I guess we better get ready, sir.” He turned and walked out.

The colonel sat motionless. He was being torn apart inside. A part of him knew they couldn’t leave, and another part wondered how he could ask men to stay and fight without a chance to win. He pulled out the cross on his necklace and stared at it as if it could provide the answers.

The SATCOM buzzed. “Colonel Jamison? Are you there? Pick up, please?”

The colonel walked over and grabbed the transmitter. “Colonel Jamison here.”

“Colonel, this is General Nickerson. I don’t think there’s any more you can accomplish there, but it’s your call.”

The colonel thought long and hard. He thought about his wife and grown sons. He thought about his friends and their families. He thought about Victoria.

“Benjamin, are you still there?”

“I’m here, General. Give me one more day.”

The general’s voice was calm but urgent. “Okay, Colonel, but then I will order you home. We have to consider the possibility that they will reach the US. We have to prepare for that contingency.”

“Understood, sir.”

“Hold on,” the general said, “there’s someone else here who wants to speak with you.”

That puzzled the colonel as he wondered who it could be. He listened carefully.

“Colonel Jamison? This is President Patterson. Can we stop them or not?”

The colonel smiled. A personal call from the president of the United States was indeed an honor, but hardly practical. “I really don’t know, sir. We’re giving them everything we’ve got, but it doesn’t appear to be enough.”

“What can I do, Colonel?” the president asked.

Colonel Jamison squeezed the transmitter and stared again at the cross still in his hand. “Pray, sir. You can pray.”

The hour was late so the colonel lay down to rest, but the demons wouldn’t make it easy. Every time he drifted off, he could see soldiers being killed by the aliens or female soldiers being carried off like prizes. It was early morning before sound sleep finally embraced him.

“Sir? Sir?”

The colonel finally opened his eyes. His whole body hurt as he tried to focus. The morning light was already flooding the command center, and he realized he had overslept. His view cleared and he saw the person trying to rouse him. It was Francisco.

“Sir, the new spikes have landed.”

The colonel sat straight up and jumped out of bed. They rushed outside. As least now they were clear of the dense forest, and the area in front of them was clear as far as the eye could see.

“Is everyone ready?”

Francisco shrugged. How could they be ready? They had few men and hardly any weapons left. He looked to the colonel as if longing for guidance, or possibly inspiration. None was forthcoming.

The colonel followed Francisco. The other commanders were with their troops, but Darren and the other two scientists—and Thomas—were waiting for him beside a jeep. He noticed a large black box mounted on the roll bar.

“What’s going on?” Colonel Jamison asked.

“We’re going to try something,” Darren said.

“Great. Hit me with it.”

Darren nodded. “I don’t know if it will work, but we’ve rigged several jeeps with these large speakers. I’ve converted the signal the aliens used to manipulate the sea mammals into audio. If we send it back to them, it might confuse them.”

“It can’t hurt,” Thomas said.

“I agree,” the colonel said. “It can’t hurt.”

A soldier rushed up to them. “They’re coming, sir.”

Everyone looked and saw the creatures coming through the line of trees into the clearing. The colonel gave the order to advance. He got in the jeep to drive himself this time. Darren reached over and activated the recording, and the speakers started blaring out the aliens’ own signal. Other speakers could be heard down each direction of the front line as more drivers did the same.

Francisco hopped into the passenger seat with a rocket launcher and nodded to the colonel.

As they sped away, Darren’s group stayed outside the command center this time since, for the first time, they could actually witness the battle. They watched as the distance between the aliens and soldiers narrowed. The aliens stopped running and looked at each other as the audio from the speakers reached them. For a moment it did confuse them, but only for a moment.

The earth erupted with the impacts from the weapons of the aliens and the rockets and grenades from the soldiers. Soon the air was filled with black smoke. Darren and the others watched with horror as jeeps were totally destroyed and soldiers fought to their deaths.

“Oh my God,” Sally said. “I can’t watch this.” She ran back into the command center.

But the men couldn’t turn away. Dr. McNair and Darren had never imagined how horrific war could be. Thomas was a marine and knew what it was like; still, nothing prepared him for this.

The battle raged on. Francisco and the colonel had evolved a strategy of moving as fast as possible to evade the enemy fire. After all, a moving target is harder to hit. It worked better than anything else, and the other military drivers followed the pattern.

Francisco reloaded the rocket launcher and held on to the roll bar beside the speaker. He aimed and fired a direct hit. The alien went down hard.

But as many successful attacks as the soldiers could muster, there were many more losses for each one. The aliens kept the momentum advancing toward the new spikes, which were only a hundred yards from the command center.

Then it all went south. Colonel Jamison’s jeep was hit. Both he and Francisco went flying through the air. They got up and started to run back toward the spike line, but they were soon pursued by two of the aliens, and they were gaining on them.

“Run! Run!” Darren shouted.

Sally stuck her head out the door to see what was happening.

“They’re not going to make it,” Dr. McNair said.

“The hell they’re not,” Thomas said. He jumped in another jeep and started the ignition. Dr. McNair jumped into the passenger’s seat and they sped away.

Suddenly Angel rushed out the door of the command center.

“Oh no!” Sally shouted. “Angel, come back! Please come back.”

Angel ignored her and ran in the direction of the jeep.

Thomas had been paying attention and sped left and right as he drove into the battle zone toward the colonel and Francisco, who were still making a run for it. As they got closer, Thomas realized he was too late; he wouldn’t have time to stop and pick them up before the aliens reached them, so he changed his plan. He got to the colonel about the same time as the first alien.

“Buckle up!” he yelled.

“Oh crap,” Dr. McNair said as he realized what was happening. He quickly fastened his seat belt just as Thomas rammed the first alien head on.

The alien went down hard and didn’t move. The jeep flipped several times and came to a stop upright. Francisco and the colonel rushed to help their friends. They managed to free the seat belts and extract Dr. McNair and Thomas, who were relatively unharmed.

As they turned to run, however, the other alien stood between them and their destination. The creature raised his massive arms out to each side in a display of power. He didn’t have his weapon, but he wanted to make it clear that he didn’t need it.