Skeleton Wars (7 page)

The helicopters had also been ordered to fly
back to Moffett Airfield. They had been replaced by two F-15 Eagles
from the 144
^th
Fighter Wing at Fresno Air National Guard
Base. An MQ-1 Predator drone from the 163
^rd
Reconnaissance Wing at March Joint Air Reserve Base in Riverside
was also sent to the scene. Although this unmanned aircraft was
armed with two air-to-surface Hellfire missiles, its mission was
capturing live streams of the events that were taking place at the
battlefield. It was feeding the videos directly to the US National
Military Command Center in Pentagon. The whole action was thus
being watched live by officials at Pentagon and other US Military
Command Centers.

Before entering into the howling wind, the
SEALS changed weapons from Airburst firearms to double edged swords
and large diamante shields that could protect the whole of their
bodies. Apart from intercepting attacks from projectiles, the
shields could also be used as bludgeoning weapons against the
skeletons. When in the wind, the soldiers occupied the gaps between
the tanks to avoid being blown away because the tanks were acting
as their wind breakers. Others went on to anchor themselves to the
tanks by fairly long chain straps just in case the wind became more
disastrous. Those that went far away from the tanks copied the
skeleton’s style of running in the same direction as the wind to
maintain balance.

The wind had reduced in strength because
there were a few remaining skeletons. This served in favor of the
SEALS since they could then fight well with the skeletons without
facing much resistance from the wind. Soldiers from each side were
swinging their swords in the best way they could in order to slash
their adversaries. Sounds from these swinging swords filled the
place as they constantly hit each other. The skeletons would have
been better at fighting with swords than humans but the shields the
soldiers were using could not let any sword reach them. Instead the
SEALS were successful in cutting the skeletons at some
instances.

After fighting with the SEALS for a duration
of twenty minutes, the remaining skeletons decided to give up. They
stopped attacking the human soldiers and rushed to the armored
cars. They pulled out the two scientists and wrapped them in their
body bags. They took them alive without dissecting them because the
soldiers could not permit them to do so. They ran away from the
scene towards the Pacific Ocean in which they dived out of sight.
The SEALS tried to run after the whirlwind but their heavy personal
armor could not allow them to move faster. The two F-15 Eagles and
the Predator Drone were able to follow the wind until it
disappeared into the ocean but they never attempted to shoot into
it.

Although they had not rescued the two
scientists, the SEALS team had a reason to celebrate. Thirteen of
the twenty five skeletons had been shattered into fragments. The
broken bones of these skeletons had been scattered around the area
by the wind before it left. A Utility Military Plane from Plant 42
Palmdale, an aircraft manufacturing plant in the Antelope Valley,
landed at the site. All the broken bones were loaded on it and were
flown to the home of the US Army Medical Research and Materiel
Command at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. Research on these
bones was later carried out by US scientists in order to determine
their origin. The two Pave Hawk helicopters together with four
others returned at the site to help in the rescue and evacuation of
the wounded soldiers.

A water search was initiated immediately
especially in the area where the wind had been seen dissipating
into the ocean. Multiple government agencies were eventually
involved in trying to identify the ghosts’ underwater cover. Though
the ocean had remained calm throughout, all US warships were
ordered to keep a distance away. Civilians and the policemen who
had thronged the coast were restrained from going near the ocean to
avoid similar mistakes that had occurred at the coast of Oregon
during the first raid.

Deep down in the ocean, after the arrival of
the last small aircraft, the airship started planning to leave. The
ship rose through the water silently, causing neither a whirlwind
nor a cyclone. When it came out of the water surface, it was
reflecting a very bright dazzling light which made it impossible to
be viewed by the naked eyes and even through the finest binoculars.
All the fighters that tried to fire missiles at the UFO were faced
with multiple failures in their weapon systems. The few that tried
to move closer to it had all their computer systems failed
completely and ended up crash landing into the ocean. The Us Army
further tried to fire surface-to-air missiles at the ship from the
coastland, but none survived the hot laser beams that were being
emitted by the airship.

Initially, it was flying slowly but when it
reached 100 feet from the water surface, its speed increased. It
started flying hypersonically until when it disappeared in space
without being intercepted by any manmade plane. More still, it was
totally invisible to both radar, satellite and other detection
methods and therefore when it entered space, the army lost track of
it.

On reaching planet Ghostia, the airship
landed amidst cheers from the skeleton warriors who had lined in
the Ruthst Square to see the scientists that had been brought from
earth. The skeletons of the five scientists who had been dissected
before being brought to Ghostia were removed from their body bags
and forced to march out of the airship first. The other two living
scientists went out last. The ghosts were surprised to see the two
living scientists walking out of the aircraft. Those at the back
had to stretch their necks to see them properly. The most excited
were those who had left earth thousands of years before. They
wanted to determine how man had evolved through the ages. Among
them was Lord Ghost himself. He could not help hide his happiness
and as Professor McDonald walked passed him, he forced him to stop
for a moment. He gave him a strong handshake and said, “Welcome to
Ghostia, sir.” “You shall always be remembered by man and the
ghosts as the first humans to reach the planet of the dead.”

The seven scientists were then separated
according to their professions. The physicists and computer
scientists were taken to the armory on the last two floors to help
in the manufacture of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. These
missiles were to be used against distant countries that would try
to rise against them. These ICBMs could be armed with either
conventional or non-conventional warheads, depending on where they
were going to hit. The nuclear physicists were also to be used to
devise ways through which the ghosts were to take control over the
world’s nuclear stockpiles which the ghosts feared most.

The microbiologists were added to Lord
Ghost’s team which was manufacturing deadly pathogens which the
ghosts were to use as Biological weapons against humans. The
microbiologists had been ordered to engineer slow killing bacterial
spores which would inflict untold pain on the victim before killing
them. These pathogens were to be used as the last resort in case
humans tried to defeat the ghosts.

The five slain scientists were to retain
their helmets. These helmets had replaceable fluids that were
supplying nourishment to the brain and the whole head region via
small tubes that had been incorporated within. Without these
fluids, their brains would stop working and the scientists would
feel much pain before dying slowly. Limiting the supply of these
fluids was the only way the ghosts could control these scientists.
The two living scientists were promised to be taken back to earth
at the end of the mission. But if they failed to comply, a torture
team had been set up by Lord Ghost to check them! Professor
McDonald was given the privilege of heading the microbial team but
he was to work under close surveillance lest he sabotaged the whole
process.

After working hard for some good days Dr.
Christine fell sick. She had been infected by the pathogens they
were culturing. It was a trying moment for Prof. McDonald as he
watched his wife falling and rolling over the ground in total pain.
She was crying out loud whilst holding onto her swelling tummy. Her
screams attracted Lord Ghost who was by then in a nearby room
supervising the work of the other scientists. He rushed into the
building only to find her isolated on the ground.

By then, an antidote for the infection had
not been made and she was destined to die. Lord Ghost knew this and
hence ordered his guards to rush her to Arcacidia and kill her from
there. They knew that her soul was to be attracted into Arcacidia
to be dressed into her new eternal skeleton. By killing her from
there, it would be easier to follow her up as she came out of the
tunnel. They would then bring her back to the laboratory to proceed
with her unfinished business.

The guards put her onto a stretcher on which
they were to carry her out of the facility. Prof. McDonald was not
aware of their plans but he could not let her suffer to that extent
yet he knew that she was going to die by all means. As the guards
walked passed him, he grabbed a gun from one of them and used it to
shoot her twice in the chest. She died instantly and the guards
dropped her down. They immediately aimed their guns at the
professor and they were ready to dismantle his brains if it were
not for Lord Ghost’s intervention. Knowing the loss he had
registered, Lord Ghost could not let them kill him because he was
the one in charge of the whole process.

The professor was given the benefit of the
doubt and was forced to return to work. However, Lord Ghost could
not hide his anger. He put more pressure on the scientists and
forced them to work for longer hours in order to complete the
weapons in time.

According to the war plan Gen. Cov’s
committee had executed, attacking all the countries on earth at
once was not only going to be costly but it would also be
impossible for them to win seven billion humans at once. Instead,
they had planned to attack the United States first and then use its
military advantage to subjugate the other countries. Their first
task was to use their advanced computing skills to switch off and
then take control over the world’s communication and computer
networks. Without proper means of communication, humans across the
globe could not be able to mobilize and stand against their common
enemy.

The warriors had been divided into four
divisions. The first division was made up of infantry skeleton
warriors only. These were to arrive on earth first by means of Lord
Ghost`s magical powers. The second was the Air Force division which
was to move to earth using the small and medium-sized aircraft. The
large airships had been left for the third division. The fourth
division was the reserve force which was to remain on Planet
Ghostia.

Each division had been assigned a different
mission to execute. The infantry skeleton warriors were to be
dispersed in all major urban concentrations in the US. They were to
keep running on the streets and perform minor attacks on both
civilian and military installations with an aim of causing
confusion in the country. The ghosts expected the US to respond to
the attack with all her military strength, only to be taken by
surprise by the arrival of the second division. The aircraft of the
second division were to engage the US Air Force in an aerial combat
and an anti-ship warfare with the US Navy. Computer specialists
also attached to the second division were to wage an electronic
warfare against the whole world in order to take over the world’s
communication networks. The commander of the second division was to
be Roth himself.

The large airships of the third division were
to be loaded with different sets of equipment which their engineers
were to use to assemble ballistic missile launch centers on earth
and laboratories from where they were to perform their clandestine
experimentations. All the scientists, including Prof. McDonald and
the others who had been brought from earth were to be relocated to
earth to work in these laboratories. Lord Ghost was to command this
division himself. He expected to find when man had already been
defeated by the first two divisions.

Gen. Cov had volunteered to stay on the
planet to command the reserve force. He had chosen Gen. Path to
stay with him as his deputy. The reserve force was to retain a
quarter the amount of all weapons the ghosts had manufactured. The
reserve force was to be on standby, waiting for a call from Lord
Ghost or Roth in case the attack went out of their expectations.
Its second role was defending the planet and the palace, just in
case Lord Ghost`s opponents chose to use that opportunity to
overthrow his government.

When time to leave had come, the underground
facility was opened for the first time since its construction. The
triangular aircraft rose out of the facility, one at ago, and
soared into the skies. They started performing aerobatic shows in
the air which attracted the attention of the ordinary ghosts who
had been quarantined in their residential areas. The warriors also
marched out of the underground facility and paraded in the Ruthst
square. They went on chanting different slogans which were praising
Lord Ghost, his deputy Roth and their commander Gen. Cov.

Immediately, the warriors of the second and
third divisions started boarding their respective aircraft. Those
of the first division remained in the Ruthst Square waiting for
Lord Ghost to tell them what to do. Lord Ghost climbed to the
platform and stood in front of them. All of them kept quiet and
looked at him as he performed his charms. He raised his one arm and
pointed at the skies. All of a sudden, a black cloud appeared on
the sky directly above the area where these skeleton warriors were
standing. The cloud started extending downwards until when it
covered all the warriors.