One Family

Chapter 2 

The group was caught in a dilemma, to there north were the extermination
parties that they had been working so hard to avoid and to the south Aliens
were coming to investigate the silence of there fallen soldier. They could
not run, and they could not effectively hide. 

That left them with one choice. Fight.

David quickly moved into a crouch and indicated to the rest of the group
that they should follow suit. Marie crept slowly to the abandoned house of
to there left and David crept right and laid down beside a parked car. 

Catherine at a loss in terms of what she should do followed Marie into the
building with the children, and moved towards the back of the house out of
the line of fire.

Peter cradling his arm sat behind a car parked beside David's. 

All they could do is wait; they saw the slithering movements of three
troopers, moving quickly for such large creatures. They in a Y shaped
formation the third covering the first two about 20 meters back in order to
avoid ambush.

Marie slowly opened a window; She knew the first shot must count and for
the sake of their lives could not miss. The ambush had to be perfect. One
of these things had the potential firepower to kill all of them. Never mind
two or three.

David was thinking similar thoughts as he aimed at the rear target. He
noticed it had a harness with small alien emblems on it. Probably denoting
rank.

"NOW!" David screamed.

To shots wrung out. Striking their targets.

One fell dead. The commander with incredible reactions had turned towards
David. The shot rather then striking his head. Hit his shoulder. Luckily
the impact thew off its aim so rather then its plasma bolts blowing David's
head from his body the shots hit the building behind him. Spraying debris
back into the street.

David leapt back from the vehicle falling to the ground. "GO. GO. GO! He
screamed at Peter as he crawled for cover. He knew that once the surprise
wore off. The cover of the vehicle wouldn't last long.

Marie desperately tried to line up the 2nd soldier, who, with slightly
slower reactions was turning to fire upon her husband as well.

Peter dove after David cursing in pain at the jostling of his burn wound.

Both snakemen opened fire on the vehicle. Flipping it upside down with the
force of their combined firepower and nearly crushing David and his friend.

Marie took a shot and struck the back of the snake man soldier. It shrieked
with pain and turned and saturated the front of the building with fire.
Marie laid down and covered her head as the entire world came crashing down
around her. Pieces of drywall and glass pinned her to the ground. 

David to busy to realize her situation desperately ducked and weaved as the
plasma fire tore through the bottom of the vehicle and punched out through
the roof. The air was instantly super heated around both of them making it
desperately hard to breathe as they crawled away.

The aliens tired of this exercise and the commander made a sharp hissing
sound at his wounded comrade. The wounded soldier handed his commander a
small silver ball.  The alien flipped a switch and tossed it over the
vehicle. 

David saw it come soaring in. He knew what ever it was. I could not be
friendly.

He kicked the silvery orb in mid air desperately trying to distance himself
from it, and by one of those one in a million chances sent it flying back
just barely clearing the vehicle.

Both snakemen made high pitched hissing noises and began to slither away
from the car. But it was too late.

The blast was enormous. The car was sent flipping upwards over David and
Peter who were both laying on the ground. The vehicle imbedded itself
within the house wall. Peter and David being hit by the remainder of the
shock wave not blocked by the vehicle. Sent David and Peter skidding after
it. 

Marie was unburied. Her cover toppling off from off of her.  Saving her
life from the fiery explosion.

Nothing was left of the snakemen. Their equipment had disintegrated within
the small antimatter explosion and nothing beyond some traces of blood were
to be seen anyway. For the most part they had been vaporized by the massive
energy release.

Every one groaned in pain and exhaustion. Catherine walked out and helped
Marie get up.  Peter and David rose unsteadily to there own feet. Their
breaths had been knocked out of them and fatigue was evident in both their
faces.

But they had to go on. To stop fighting meant merciless death. 

David spoke haltingly to the others. "We have to keep going... if we go
back were dead for sure." 
"I want a look at that transport." Said Peter in reply. 
"NO! It's too dangerous, what can we possibly gain?" said Catherine. 
Marie chose to speak up. "I for one intend to learn everything about these
things I can. Especially if we can somehow figure out how to fly the damn
thing!

Catherine seeing David nod knew she was outvoted.

"Well I don't want to get close to those things...." She lifted the
children. "This seems to be all I can do anyway." 

None of her friends had time to console her on her usefulness. The death
squads were getting closer, and who knew how long it would be until the
aliens responded to the loss of there most recent squad.

Marie and David slapped in a fresh clip and began to creep forward. Peter
following behind. The pistol held in his good hand. Catherine followed a
"safe" distance back. Not wanting to be caught in a firefight.

David and Marie reached the boxy shape of the transport and leaned up
against its side. There seemed to be no windows except those at the front
of the craft and the rear had been opened.  Assumable to allow aliens to
unload swiftly.

Peter followed closely behind. David waited until he was beside him and
made a silent countdown with his hands.

3... 2... 1...

All three turned around the corner simultaneously ready to fire at any
living thing in the interior.

The transport was barren for the first 15 meters. Beyond this was panel
after panel of electronics gear. No buttons could be seen on them. But 3D
holographic displays were hovering above them. Showing maps of Edmonton an
the local area, The monolithic ship in the center of the city, and what
seemed like a status report of the ship.

There were two snakemen back to back. Their hands were placed on small
plates that were raised slightly from the controls. The fact that they were
staring intently at the displays and the constant hiss of alien
communications covered the sound of David's, Marie's and Peter's footsteps
had allowed them to come this close with out attracting the aliens
attention. 

Peter, David and Marie walked up to the two aliens their guns trained on
their targets.  The aliens remained so concentrated on there work that they
didn't notice the humans until the barrels were firmly placed against the
sides of there heads.

"You make one damn sudden move and you die fuckheads. Now put your hands on
your head" Said David. The aliens, although not being able to understand
the words, could understand his intentions clearly.

Both snakemen complied and placed their hands on their heads.  "Peter take
my spot here, I want to see if I can make anything of these controls." 
Peter moved up and placed his pistol on the snakemans neck.

David pulled away and looked at the screens. He couldn't understand the
writing but inspection of several of the maps proved interesting.  It
showed small holographic figures on the citywide map, and to scale maps of
the surrounding area with snakemen fighting against police and desperate
civilians.

He could see a strong hold of humans a few miles to the south. He
recognized it has a famous drug house "fortress" aliens had ringed it and
criminals used their weapons on deserving targets for the first time.
Police could be seen fighting side by side with them. He could see that
despite their co-operation they would not be able to hold. Icons that
obviously denoted heavy weapons were moving slowly closer as he watched.

Pictures of stupidity and selfishness contrasted this valiant battle as
looters rapped and looted on the outskirts of the city. Sealing their very
doom with there unwillingness to flee. 

Pictures of horror as the squads of snakemen and their tanks rooted out and
killed families that had barricaded themselves rather then fleeing. David
flinched as he saw a man and woman fleeing and being cut down by a small
circular tank analogue that hovered 5 feet of the ground.

Fires still raged through out the city. Remnants of the bombardment that
had destroyed the police stations and other centers of resistance.

The ones great downtown core of Edmonton burning, buildings toppling to the
ground. Flames sweeping the near by river valley and the once beautiful
botanical gardens smashed beyond all recognition. 

David could hear the screams in his mind. He watched as the city that he
had lived his entire life in died. Punching kicking, fighting to the last
breath. But dying, there was nothing he could do, and his heart filled with
rage... and with hate.

But... if there after all this horror there remained any doubt about the
fate of the alien captives it was ended when they saw the horrific display
of what was happening inside the hospital.  The snakemen had killed all the
security guards, and were now displaying their carnivorous tendencies upon
the wounded women and children. He screamed aloud in rage when he saw what
had happened in the maternity ward.

Crying, he turned to his two compatriots his eyes burning with a nearly
insane gleam. "Kill them"

Two shots rang out. They didn't even flinch when the blood splattered upon
them.