Chapter Nineteen “Sacrifices” As they raced through the streets of Chilton they yelled to everyone they could see to get indoors and prepare to defend themselves. As they crossed through an intersection, Peter locked on the brakes and slid to a stop as he spotted a Police Car a block down to his left. He slammed the truck into reverse and then turned down the street and approached the vehicle. He blew the horn repeatedly and drew the attention of his buddy Clint, who was one of three Police Officers in Chilton. Clint came out from inside a residence where he had been taking an incident report. Peter jumped from the truck and ran to meet his friend as he approached. He told Clint about what had happened and told him the emergency network needed to be activated. He also warned him that the handgun carried by the Officer was useless against the Talisians. He explained how he had issued several kill shots onto an attacker and it only temporarily halted the Alien. Upon hearing this, Clint went to his car and pulled the standard issue shotgun from its housing. Peter advised him the shotgun would probably be useless as well. It could only possibly be effective in very close quarter battle, and if they were that close they would overrun the Officer. He needed a longer range of firepower. Peter grabbed his backup rifle from his truck and gave it to Clint. It was quickly agreed that Peter would take the girls out of town to his house. Clint would call in over the radio and report what was happening and have the emergency sirens activated. The activation was risky; it meant many citizens would take to the streets to find out what was happening. However, it was also normal for these same citizens to arm themselves when doing so, since the alarm was normally for a high level threat of danger. At least they would be on alert and possibly have a fighting chance. “Mr. President, I am at a loss for the proper words to express my sincere regret for what has occurred. The events of today are the result of a devious plan; to not only destroy the people of your planet, but to destroy my people as well. It has only now been revealed to me, what our true mission is …Our mission… our existence, is one of dishonor.” Zetchka proceeded to explain what he had discovered as a result of Drodek’s investigation into the Sixth Directive. He surmised the plan was derailed by the Talisian inability to land the Mother Ship on the surface. The implementation of the Sixth Directive would have released the hybrid mutation in every Talisian, rather than the limited amount that had transported by shuttles. He gave every detail and finally explained that, unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to stop the tragedy unfolding on the planet surface. Zetchka then informed the President that he had remotely released the security systems on the four shuttles which were on the planet surface. The shuttle systems would now be accessible to the humans with the entry of a proper code, which he then supplied to the President. The humans would have full access to the technology of the shuttle. Zetchka suggested they use one of the ships for scientific investigation into the technology, while using the remaining three for transportation needs. He informed the President that by entering the code, not only would the security system be released, but an interactive teaching program would assist the humans to learn to pilot the craft. It was the same program used by the Talisians to learn how to fly the shuttles. Zetchka advised the President that he would do everything he could to keep any ships on their way to Earth from arriving. He warned that it may not be possible to stop the arrival, so it would be in the best interest of the people of Earth to prepare defenses to fend off any possible future invasion. The Founding Order had thought of everything. Considering it would be multiple generations until the ship reached Earth, they had realized no one would have knowledge in operating a shuttle. The intended purpose of the shuttles was to transport soldiers around the globe and increase the infiltration rate of the population. Yes, the Founding Order had thought of everything….everything except for the possibility of a Lectin who would find dishonor in their mission. They had not considered the possibility of the Sixth Directive being revealed prior to their arrival on Earth. If the Mother ship had been able to land, and the Sixth Directive would have been implemented?...It would have resulted in catastrophic results. They had not thought possible the Sixth Directive being discovered and their true mission to be revealed….The Founding Order had thought of everything, but they could not have thought it possible what the Lectin did next. Kevin was out on the porch with his rifle in his hand as the truck slid to a stop in the driveway. A cloud of dust rose into the air in the truck’s wake. The alert siren had been blaring for nearly two minutes and Kevin could see from the look on Peter’s face that this time the siren was not a false alarm. “What’s going on Son?” He asked as Peter directed Heather to stay with the girls in the truck. “It’s the Talisians Dad…they’re killing people!...Where are the two staying here?” He asked as he brought his rifle into the ready position. “Haven’t seen them all day, think they took off right about sunrise.” Kevin responded. Peter pulled his rifle up and used the scope to look out through the valley. He was relieved to see no signs of activity in the area. He directed Heather to lock the doors of the truck. He and Kevin would then go through the house to be absolutely certain there were no Talisians lying in wait. After which, he told Heather to take the girls into the house. Kevin turned on the radio just in time to hear the announcement of an emergency broadcast. There were sporadic reports of acts of violence being committed by Talisian Visitors throughout the Country. It was unknown what had incited the violence or how many were involved. There were reports of injuries and deaths of humans, but there were no confirmations available to this point. People were being advised to stay in their homes and remain calm while the Authorities attempted to bring the situation under control. It was also reported that the President was in direct contact with the Alien Lectin Zetchka. There would be more information as it became available. Peter was about to recommend they try boarding up the windows and back door when they heard the loud sound of a car coming up the driveway. Peter checked out the window and was relieved to see it was Jake. The relief lasted only a moment as he saw Heathers reaction to the arrival of her husband. It was then that he connected the bruises on her face to her fearful reaction. He had thought the bruises had come from a Talisian assault, but now realized it had been Jake who had injured her. Jake was belligerent as he got out of the car. He cursed at Peter that he wanted to see Heather, and he wanted to see her now! Peter told him to go home before something bad happened to him. His warning was met with a violent response. Jake rushed at him, he quickly found that Peter was no longer the skinny kid from school. With two quick punches Peter dropped Jake to the ground. He stepped away, and told him to get in his car and leave as Jake got back up on his feet. Jake nearly stumbled as he opened the car door and pulled a beer bottle from on the seat. He again approached Peter and smashed the bottle against the bumper of the truck. He held up the sharp edged weapon and waved it towards Peter; threatening that he was going to cut his throat. He then threatened to cut Heather’s throat as well. Peter backed away from him while placing his hand on his pistol. He didn’t want to shoot Jake, but if given no other choice, he would. Peter was startled at the sound of the gunshot. Jake fell to the ground, screaming in pain he dropped the broken bottle as he grabbed his thigh. Peter turned his head to see his Father on the porch behind him; his rifle still directly aimed at Jake. “He will be ok, I hit him in the meat. Bring him inside and we will patch him up.” Kevin had little pity for the wounded bully.” He’s lucky I didn’t give him a head shot, for what he did to little Heather.” Kevin added. Peter bent down to help Jake up when he heard the sound coming from behind the house. He stood up just as the shuttles cleared the ridge and zoomed directly over his head. The two craft circled around the farm and lowered towards the landing area in the field across the driveway. Kevin suddenly burst from the house with Heather and the two girls directly behind him. He yelled at Peter to get in the truck and go. He tossed two bags into the bed of the truck which Peter recognized as his survival packs. One bag contained food and water to use in the event of an emergency. The second bag consisted of several guns, ammunition, and several knives. “I got him, you take the girls and get out of here!” Kevin ordered. “Dad you have to come with us.” Peter retorted. “No, I shot him…I can’t leave him here for them to slaughter…I will hold them off, take out as many as I can. You get them out of here!” He again ordered to his son. “Dad, I can’t leave you here.” Peter pleaded. “Peter, I’m 73 years old….you know what you have to do. You know where you have to go…and you know I can’t go there with you….It will be ok, I promise….get those children to safety, I’ve lived a good life, it’s the young who have to survive….it will be ok.” Peter knew what his Father was saying was correct, but it didn’t ease the pain as he got into the truck. “Jake, get on your damned feet and get in the house. There’s a rifle in by the staircase, get yourself set up by this window over here.” He said as he pointed towards the window to the side of the front door. Jake was a little hesitant until he heard the shrill screams coming from the shuttles as the hatches began to open. The pain in his leg magically disappeared as he got up and ran into the house. “Now go!...Get going!” Kevin yelled at his son as he took aim and released a shot towards the first Talisian who exited the closest shuttle. He then backed into the house and closed the door. Kevin and Jake took up positions at windows on each side of the door. They had a clear range of fire to the shuttles and began to open fire. Peter could only watch as the attackers surged towards the farmhouse. There were at least twenty of the Talisians in the group. Two of which had already been knocked to the ground by the gunfire. One of the fallen attackers once again rose to its feet and continued towards the house with the others. Peter looked in the mirror and noticed that several of the attackers had stopped before reaching the house. They were on their knees and appeared to be sniffing at the ground. They then released a terribly loud shrill scream. It was then that Corrine’s words from earlier resonated in his mind –“Mommy was bloody too”….they had stopped chasing Heather and turned on Mrs. Clark….the reason they stopped in the driveway was they were drawn to the puddle of Jakes blood. Kevin and Jake were releasing nearly continuous fire towards the Talisians. They had struck nearly every attacker at least once, and nearly all had continued in their advance. As they approached closer, several had now fallen to the gunfire and had not gotten back up. Kevin was beginning to think they may be able to kill them all when he was saddened to see another group of the beasts coming up the road towards the house. They must have traveled from town on foot, or perhaps another shuttle had landed nearby. It didn’t really matter. It had taken nearly all their ammo to drop the group already in the attack. He knew they had no chance to fight off the additional reinforcements. He also knew as long as they were attacking the house, it would give Peter and Heather more time to get to safety. With this in his mind, he would fight until he was out of ammo; and then he would fight them hand to hand. He yelled to Jake to hold his fire and try to save ammo until they were closer. There was no response to his order, and he quickly realized he was on his own as he sighted Jake creeping across the pasture behind the Talisian Shuttle. He had managed to sneak out the back of the farm house and made his way around through the barn. He was attempting to quietly sneak away from the assault without any attention towards him. Kevin eyed him in his scope and watched as he snuck over the hill and into the tree line. “You dirty bastard, I should have shot you in the head when I had the chance.” Kevin said aloud as he chambered a round and took aim at a Talisian who had just entered the kill zone. The radio was again chirping the emergency alert signal. Once again the voice of the Talisian Lectin came across the airwaves…Zetchka regrettably informed the people of Earth of what was occurring. Without going into every detail, he gave a brief overview of the deception of The Founding Order and their plan to conquer the Earth. He also told of the Hybrid mutation that was happening to his people on the surface. There was nothing that he could do to help them, the effect was irreversible and would eventually lead to death. However, in the name of the safety of the human population, Zetchka requested any Talisians who had not yet been affected, to terminate those that have mutated. It would then be necessary for any remaining Talisians to self terminate. All humans should consider any Talisian to be a lethal threat and should take all necessary actions to protect themselves. All Talisians must be terminated as quickly as possible. The sound of gunfire had been nearly continuous. As they approached the caverns the sounds had lessened and now had stopped completely. Peter remained hopeful it was due to the elimination of the Talisian attackers. His hope was dashed as they now heard the loud shrill screams of several aliens. It was the sound they made when they had a fresh supply of blood to feed on. As Peter removed his cargo from the back of the truck, he realized that his Father was gone.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 01:56:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015