“Take us down. Now,” Gregor shouted.
Layla swung the bike left and right. She must’ve been searching for a clearing. Anything to get them out of the sky.
The croatoan riders hovered over Marek’s crash site, giving them a moment’s respite.
A reservoir appeared below. Layla dropped altitude. Ben followed suit. Flying yards above water, they blasted two white trails along its glistening dark brown surface.
Ben looked across; his face full of panic. He pointed to the side of his own bike. Through the roaring wind, Gregor detected an inconsistent tone. Ben headed for the edge, toward a building at the head of the dam.
Gregor carefully watched behind. Searching for the arrival of the croatoans over the trees. He grabbed Layla’s shoulder. “They’re not here yet. Do it now.”
Layla decreased their speed to a cruise and reached a grassy area to the right of the building. The bike reared slightly as she twisted the left grip, bringing it to a hover. She pulled back the handlebars. The bike dropped five yards and thumped against the ground.
Ben gently approached, his engine spluttering. Before he reached dry land, the bike nose dipped and entered the reservoir, spraying a thick sheet of water. He was thrown over the handlebars and splashed in, head first.
Ben quickly surfaced and flapped his arms around. “I can’t swim. Help.”
He was ten yards away.
“Hold this a minute,” Gregor said. He passed Layla the rifle, pulled off his jumper, and waded in, pushing off to a swim after a few yards. He grabbed Ben under one arm and started dragging him to the side.
“They’re here,” Layla said. “Hurry up.”
Gregor looked into the distance. Three bikes roared over the trees, advancing along the reservoir, heading directly for them. He staggered out of the water, dragging Ben by his side. “Head for the building.”
Layla ran for a faded red wooden door of an industrial looking building, Ben and Gregor followed. She jumped over a partially collapsed metal fence and walked through a patch of waist-high weeds. She reached out and rattled the handle. “It’s locked.”
“Out of the way,” Gregor said.
He carried on his forward momentum, roared, and slammed the bottom of his boot against the door’s midsection. It crashed open, revealing dark space inside.
A croatoan hummed into view, stopping at a hover fifty feet away, thirty feet in the air.
Gregor aimed and fired. His round sparked against the side of the bike.
A return shot thumped against the building yards away. Dust puffed from the stone wall.
“In. Now,” Gregor said. He quickly backed away, keeping the bike in his sights, slamming the door closed.
“All three of you. Stay exactly where you are,” an unrecognizable voice said through the shadows.
Layla held up her hands. “We’re being attacked. Haven’t you seen what’s just happened?”
A tall thin man, wearing a hunting jacket, stepped out of the shadows holding a crossbow. He aimed at Gregor’s face. “I saw you three arrive on alien machines. You’ve brought them to us.”
Chapter 28
DENVER FIRED HIS RIFLE, hitting the alien’s hand, knocking its own weapon to the floor. The alien leant down reached for the gun but Denver chambered another round and fired. This time the bullet struck its torso, but like before it seemed to activate some kind of temporal shifting ability.
While the alien phased in and out of vision, seemingly making it invulnerable to Denver’s rifle, Charlie dashed out into the road and grabbed Maria who stood there shell-shocked, her eyes already haunted by seeing Ethan vaporized.
“You go,” Denver said. “I’ll keep this fucker locked down while you get Maria somewhere safe. I’ll meet you back at Quaternary.”
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Charlie said from across the street. “We don’t know what the hell this thing is or can do. You understand me, boy? Get your ass to safety ASAP.”
“I got it, now go.”
The alien’s form flickered, phasing through the visual spectrum. While it was doing this it moved back to the craft. Denver reloaded his rifle and fired again. As he thought, the bullet went right through the alien and struck the metal surface of the craft.
Blue light continued to spill out of the doorway that acted as a ramp from the central triangular section of the craft. Denver looked over to see his dad and Maria head for the shadows of a half-collapsed hotel. They just hit the side when the alien spun to face them. It brought out a long tube, placing it on its shoulder. A rocket with more of that blue energy firing behind it shot out, striking the side of the decrepit hotel.
With a blast that made Denver’s ears pop, the remaining rubble of the structure collapsed in a huge cloud of smoke and debris. The single shot leveled the entire building. Denver’s heart seemed to stop as he waited for movement.
Come on, where are you?
He considered going over there, but the alien had dropped the tube and regained its square-barreled rifle. It walked down the street, firing at Denver’s position, each round booming like a cannon as the sound reverberated around the remaining buildings.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Maria wave at him. His dad dragged her away. “Go,” his dad shouted. “Get out of there, Den, don’t fight it, just run; go back through the forest’s edge.”
Denver nodded and waved his hand to urge them to get out of there before the alien saw them. Another round flew just over his head, the heat scorching his crown. That got his heart pumping again, and the adrenaline flowing.
He fired back at the alien making the beast stop in the street and take a knee behind a burnt out taxi, its chassis now mostly rust. Through the windows, Denver saw the alien attend to its gun, probably reloading. It was no more than twenty feet away now. Looking to his left, Denver spotted a narrow alley with a low wall at the end.
Taking the opportunity he dashed out of cover and dived into the alley. The expected explosion of the alien’s gun didn’t come. This didn’t make him feel any better. It made him feel like prey to an advanced and highly capable hunter.
He sprinted down the alley, holding the rifle close to his chest. He clambered over the wall, slipping where the smooth vines had broken through. Hitting the ground hard on his side, he gritted his teeth until the initial pain in his side dissipated. He stood and continued to sprint, taking just a quick glance behind him. As he reached the end of the alley and made to turn right out into a street that looked like the carbon copy of the one he just came from, he caught sight of the alien’s long agile legs come into view.
Holding the rifle with one hand now and using it like a relay baton he sprinted down the length of the street, dodging in and out of cars, piles of rubble and fallen buildings. Each time he passed an alley he looked down it to assess his position. When he came to the fourth one he ducked inside and made his way to the end, heading back to the first street, doubling back on himself.
If the alien was tracking him at least he’d be getting some distance and putting obstacles between them. When he came to the end of the alley he saw the alien craft a few feet back down the street.
Waiting for a moment with his back against what used to be a bank with its expensive marble wall covering, half of which was now charred with signs of war, Denver poked his head around the corner to look back down the alley. When he saw no signs of movement he stepped out behind the alien’s ship, kneeling in its shadow. He looked out beneath its cone-shaped nose that was a few foot off the ground.
The alien was still sitting in the shadow of the car. It appeared to be communicating with someone. Its sharp turtle-like snout moved up and down in erratic movements. It was definitely croatoan, but looked like some kind of genetically enhanced version. Way bigger, stronger, faster. And certainly better equipped.