Jehm - The Awakening by Stan Stevens

Chapter 16

She hoped she was not too late.

Tenika sped up the rough road to the facility in the pickup she had acquired at the airfield. The flight had been the shortest leg. It was the road journey either end that had added the time. Time she felt she did not have. At last she arrived at the gatehouse, tall fences topped with razor wire extended either side into the distance. Beyond the gate she could see the numerous buildings of the facility, including various hangars. It was clearly a military facility. One of two armed guards approached her, the other watching both her and the barren landscape from where she had emerged from the comfort of the gate house.

"Can I help you Ma'am?" The guard asked straight faced but politely.

"Yeah..." she reached into her lap and produced the I.D. and badge she had made ready earlier. She new it was not a good idea to be reaching into a bag in front of wary armed guards. She held up her badge. "Special Agent Tenika Bradshaw, FBI. I understand Alexander Bowe is here. I'd like to talk to him." The guard scrutinised the identification. "I have come a long way," Tenika added.

"One moment, Ma'am. Stay in the vehicle please." He took her I.D. and walked back towards the gatehouse and exchanged a few words with the other guard before picking up the phone. Tenika watched as she waited. The guard spoke little, listening more and acknowledging what he was being told with resolute nods of his head. At last he put the phone down and strode back toward the car.

"I'm sorry Ma'am," he began, returning her badge, "Mister Bowe is unable to see anyone at this time." She had not thought what she would do if Bowe refused to see her. At least she was sure he was still there. She complimented Geek mentally for the accuracy of his information. Socially inept he may be, but he was good at his job. She dropped her badge into her bag and smiled at the guard.

"Then I'll wait," she said, putting the car into reverse. She backed the car a few yards down the road and pulled over to the side. Then she waited. For what seemed like ages she watched the guards going about their business. At one point one of the soldiers talked for several minutes on the phone while watching her. No doubt reporting to his superior, perhaps even Bowe, that she was still there. Within the facility she saw a small convoy assembling.

High above three vultures circled.

The Convoy began making its way to the gate. Tenika was sure Bowe would not be part of it. There was no fancy car depicting his status. Just a five tone truck with four humvees - two to the front and two behind. As the vehicles approached, the gate was activated and began to slide open.

Curiously, the vultures seemed to begin to descend.

Surely Bowe could not be much longer. Though she was not sure how she would attract his attention once he did show. Should she stand at the roadside flashing her badge? Should she block his path with her own car? The last thing she wanted was to get herself shot! Then her thoughts turned to Greg. She would not be home to tuck him in tonight. She had warned the baby sitter and arranged for her mother to take him. She hoped he would not worry. When she had spoken to him earlier that day she detected a concern in his voice. She had tried her best to reassure him, but who knows what goes through a young child's mind.

Her attention was brought abruptly back into reality by three objects slamming into the truck as it neared the gate. It was the vultures. Though they were not vultures at all - they were people.

The truck shook with the force of the impact, veered to one side and came to a halt. The humvees, too, halted. Soldiers poured out of the vehicles trying to see what had happened, but their view was still obscured by the remaining tarpaulin of the truck. The driver stumbled out of the cab unsure if it was about to explode or not, but was determined to get clear just in case. In a state of utter panic and confusion they circled the truck they were supposed to be guarding - the truck they were told would draw little attention. There was no confusion within the truck, the highjackers knew exactly what they were doing.

"You were right, Morden," said Yurisha, excitedly, "the shards are here."

"Did you ever doubt me?" Quized Morden, glancing over to the menacing figure of his staunchest allie.

"Never." She replied, with a look that all at once embodied determination, strength, confidence, and as much as an Aterrati was able, love.

"There are nine of them, three each. We are going to be unstoppable!" exclaimed Millias.

"We already are," commented Morden casually, breaking open one of the innocuous looking wooden crates. Millias and Yurisha broke crates open also. Casting aside the packing they each held two shards, still encased in their ceramic casings. Almost as one they smashed the shards together shattering the casings revealing the sinister glow of their contents. Watching each other they clasped the glowing shards and began to draw on their energy.

Outside the wide circle of soldiers cautiously closed in, assault riffles tucked into nervous shoulders, trained on the unknown contents of the truck. Two of the humvees had fifty calibre machine guns mounted in turrets, they too were pointed at the truck.

Tenika looked on in disbelief as the events unfolded before her. Instinctively she had drawn her pistol, though she was not sure how effective, if at all, her Glock 22 would be against what ever had hit the convoy. She watched as a strange glow illuminated the torn tarpaulin from within. It was a strange glow which seemed to feed on the fading evening light rather than adding to it. It was a glow she had seen before. A cold shiver passed through her as a shrill cry came from within.

"Now," began Morden, surging with the new energy passing through him, "we have some fun before we carry away our spoils and search out the next site." They reached out and tore down the remnants of the covering. The circle of infantrymen tensed, each one taking aim at the nearest target. The Sergeant took a step forward, his weapon still tight at his shoulder.

"You in the truck," he barked, "step down and put your hands on your heads or we WILL open fire." The tension was palpable. The uncertainty of the soldiers was in contrast to the excitement and confidence of the three highjackers. How could they be so calm, so defiant? Where had they come from? There was no aircraft in the air, there was no structure to jump from.

"Step down from the vehicle and lay on the ground" he barked again. The Aterrati looked at each other and in unison drew their swords.

"Shit," muttered the Sergeant, "I don't believe this." Glancing to his unit he shouted, "take 'em down!" Gunfire rang out as each man sent bursts of fire into the truck to put an end to this mad situation. Burst after burst hit home to its target, but the three mysterious figures still stood. The reassuring thud of rounds burying into their target was replaced by the bewildering sounds of ricochets. Were they wearing body armour? It did not look as though they were. Rounds were hitting their torsos, arms, legs, head, yet nothing penetrated.

"OW!" called Millias.

"Take the pain, Millias," grimaced Morden, "store it as anger. We will make them pay."

From Tenika's vantage point she watched events incredulously. She ducked instinctively as a stray bullet smashed through the windshield and whistled past her ear. This was not the place to be, she thought. Opening the door furthest from the action she crawled out, flopping into a heap in the sand. She could still hear gunfire raging, including the heavy machine guns on the humvees. She peeked over the car as one of the figures called out in rage.

"Enough!" Cried Morden furiously, leaping from the truck towards the nearest unfortunate soldier, his sword cleaving one man in half as he landed splattering his nearest comrades in blood. They staggered back at the horrific sight momentarily loosing their aim. Millias and Yurisha joined the fray equally enraged, vaulting in different directions, inflicting similar carnage where they landed. The soldiers fell back confused and demoralised, terrified. The sergeant could think of no tactics to bring to bear on this new foe other than to keep firing.

"Focus your fire, focus your fire..." he cried out in desperation. Magazines began to empty. One soldier's training went into automatic as his magazine drained. The empty clip dropped away as he reached for a fresh one, but as he reached up to replace the clip there was no weapon to replenish. He had not felt a thing as the tall female figure in front of him had hewn his arm clean off. He viewed his arm still holding his assault rifle with a detached sense of disbelief. He did not see the blow coming that detached his head.

"Yurisha," called Morden, "the weapons on the vehicles, they irritate me!" Yurisha immediately, obediently, vaulted into the air cartwheeling onto the nearest humvee smashing the large machine gun like a toy with her mighty sword. The gunner could not have been more scared than he already was. Yurisha put him out of his misery as she ran him straight through his chest with her blade. The last thing he saw was his killer glowering over him with contempt. The other gunner foresaw his fate and focussed his fire on his comrades killer. He tried in vein to keep a bead on his target as she leapt into the air once more. With the grace of a seasoned gymnast executing a skilfully choreographed floor routine she bounded to the second armoured humvee and executed the gunner.

Tenika found herself shaking behind her cover as she looked on in horror.

The two soldiers in the gate house had been firing from their vantage point, but recognising the futility now held their fire and did the only thing they could think of. The guard who had spoken to Tenika was on the phone once more.

"... we need assistance NOW!"

"Slow down soldier," barked the the officer on the other end, "tell me the strength of the force and how they're armed."

"Three of them, they're wasting us, send all you've got!"

"Hold on, three, what heavy weapons have they got?" The guard hesitated at the ludicrous answer he was about to give his senior officer.

"Swords," he blurted, "fucking great swords. Our weapons won't touch them... WE NEED HELP!" At that moment stray gunfire ripped through the gatehouse. Broken glass cascaded around him as he dropped to the floor for cover. His colleague fell to the floor beside him with a bullet hole in his forehead.

Tenika crouched behind the car not knowing what to do. She was trained for investigation not combat. She had weapons training, in fact she was a good marksman, though she had already seen how useless even military weapons were against this new enemy. She was even competent in karate and aikido, though she had an inkling that that knowledge too was irrelevant. Her heart sank as she glanced upward and saw two more winged figures above. This was not how it was supposed to end. She thought of Greg, how badly had she let him down. She looked at the weapon clasped in her trembling hand. She was out of options. Gunfire still rang out but it was sporadic and punctuated by cries of panic.

"Hello pretty."

She fell backwards and cried out involuntarily as she looked up sharply to see the figure she had heard referred to as Millias, towering above her.