Death From Above

The helicopter flight to the Pentagon, was long and silent. Amelia didn’t have much hope of being able to step foot inside, but she held on to the hope that they could appeal to someone important enough to let them speak. The fact that the strange suited agents at the Airforce base, claimed that no one should know about the asteroid did little to help this hope, however.

Upon arrival, there was something very strange. There was no one there to question their landing, or even greet them. The landing pad was empty. It was even absent of any other helicopters. Amelia, Teagan, Aaron, and Dr. Hubowski all shared a glance between each other that said more than what words alone would say. Something was wrong. They stepped out of the helicopter as the engines whirred to a stop. Marcos Hubowski looks to Teagan and gives her the best job for her.

“Stay here, we’ll be back shortly.” He was short and to the point, in giving her the order.

“Fine,” She snapped back. She didn’t like the idea, but this was more stress than she was used to. Amelia looked back at Teagan for a moment.

“It’s going to be ok.” Amelia didn’t consider her words the most comforting, but she hoped Teagan would at least listen. All Teagan did was nod, as she sat back down on the helicopter.

After approaching the Pentagon, the situation didn’t improve. There were no guards, people, or anyone. The doors were open as well. It was unnerving at best. Aaron held the gun in hand. He didn’t even remember bringing it, but he was glad he did.

Amelia couldn’t help but consider the fact that the Xiza were somewhat behind this. However, evidence of anything was lacking. Amelia and Aaron walk through the doors shoulder to shoulder, while Dr. Hubowski follows behind. Inside, there was no one. The place was empty and quiet. They would quickly begin to make their way down the hall to see if they could find someone, anyone, who could help.

They searched room after room. Empty offices, empty meeting rooms, empty bathrooms. The entire place was lifeless. The three of them were getting less on edge about searching. There was no people, but also no sign of a threat. Aaron still carried the gun, but no longer held it ready. Amelia was opening each door they came to, trying to find a sign of anything. None of the doors were locked. Even the high security doors were wide open.

Finally, after searching for what seemed like ages, they heard talking. They rushed towards where it was coming from. Aaron was back on edge with the gun held tightly, Amelia was close behind him with Hubowski following her. The voices came from a large presidential meeting room, with monitors on the wall that showed the location of the Xiza spaceships. The voice that was talking sounded like the president. When they rushed into the room, they saw the president. He was sitting there staring blankly giving a speech that almost sounded recorded and insincere. Next to him was the Air force general staring just as blankly. Everyone else who had a part in the meeting, was laying face down on the table. The three of them were too stunned to speak. It almost didn’t seem real.

Amelia looked around at everyone laying on the table, she breathed heavily trying not to have another mental breakdown here. Suddenly, when she looked at the president with more focus, she saw a couple of strange wiggling appendages touching his head on his temples. The appendages seemed to come from behind his back. Suddenly a large shape would appear from behind his back, as Amelia silently gasped and her eyes widened. The shaped looked exactly like the monster that a prisoner onboard the Xiza ship. However, this one stood upright. The tentacles touching the president’s head came from its back. The scaly skin, reflecting what little light was shining from the monitors. It’s red pupils burning through them as a low snarl came from its snout.

“Vreksus…” Amelia barely muttered out as fear began to grip her.

“Thank you, for delivering the coordinates for the Xiza’s ships. We couldn’t have done it without you.” The voice came from General Jackson. He continued to stare blankly and lifelessly as he spoke more. “We compromised your planet’s defenses long ago, hoping to find them before they could ruin our plan.”

“W…What plan?” Amelia asked, trying to get a hold of her self. Hoping to get more answers out of the Vreksus.

“The asteroid would destroy your world and your defenses, while we waited underground. We would emerge when the world was reformed and feast upon the scattered remains of your people. We did not seek your extinction. Simply that you exist to feed us.” The General’s voice carried the grim message in a monotone fashion. “We do not like your world’s climate, however, so we sought to reshape it.”

“You can’t do this. The Xiza will save us. That’s what they set out to do.” Amelia spoke with the hope that the Xiza will somehow intervene here.

“No. It is already to late,” the president’s voice stated. “I have already given the order to fire.”

With that, the heavy realization set it. The Vreksus had been using their telepathy to control General Jackson this whole time, and now they had the president. With the president, they had access to the nuclear weapons. The monitors in the room spelled out the rest. It showed a computer image, tracking the already fired nukes. The nukes targeting multiple locations. These multiple locations being the positions of each Xiza spaceship.

“No!” Amelia called out, almost by impulse. She fell to her knees and felt herself gasping for air, as the realization of hopelessness overtook her in the moment. Aaron would handle the news of certain doom a bit differently. He raised his gun deciding to at least try to fight. He quickly fired off a couple of rounds at the Vreksus.

The large extra-terrestrial beast growled loudly as one bullet grazed his arm and another one hits his shoulder. The president was lifted into the air by the tentacles that held his temples, and he was then thrown across the room. The Vreksus jumped and landed on the table, taking it’s stance on all fours. General Jackson remained standing there for a moment, before he fell to the ground lifeless.

Aaron wasted no more time in firing at the beast once more. Amelia got back to her feet once more, and as the beast jumped and landed mere feet from where they were standing, she began to run. Marcos Hubowski would waste no time following after her, heading down the hall they came from. Aaron, however, stood his ground and continued to fire the gun. He fired until he emptied the clip, as the beast took several hits. Then, with a massive backhanded hit, the Vreksus knocked Aaron back into the wall.

With a howling growl, the Vreksus tore into the hallway and ran after Amelia and Hubowski. The stomping gallop getting louder as it raced to catch up with them. Amelia’s new enhanced body helped her to run longer and faster without tiring, however, Marcos was not so fortunate. He had to run on adrenaline alone, and he wasn’t necessarily in shape.

Amelia looks back to see him breathing heavily and getting tired. She knew that simply running wasn’t going to be enough to escape this thing. She also wasn’t sure if Aaron was alright or not. Despite her worry for both of them, she wasn’t ready to give up yet.

As she was trying to think of a plan, she spotted a couple of what looked liked secret service agents and a small group of soldiers. It was as if they had just arrived and were expecting something. It was likely that they knew about the threat. They took position in the hall, and aimed their weapons at Amelia and Hubowski. They both stop in their tracks and Amelia points behind them.

“It’s coming this…” She was suddenly interrupted by the beast flying around the corner. He slides on the floor as he makes his turn as the wall stops him. He then continues running full speed up the hall on all fours. Amelia and Hubowski didn’t even have to communicate anything to each other, they knew they had to get out of the line of fire. They ran behind the line of soldiers, and as soon as they were clear, the soldiers open fired on the creature.

Bullets riddled the vreksus. The beast recoiled and howled out as the bullets seemed to hurt him. Its blood sprayed out as some of the bullets pass through him. The vreksus then jumps and bounces off the wall and leaps towards a soldier. He lands on him, knocking him over. It slashed the soldier with its claws, and then sent a tentacle to another one. The tentacle grabbed the soldier by the head, and just like that, the soldier changed. He suddenly began to open fire at the others. The others unfortunately hesitated to fight back, since he was their friend and a few of them were hit. Finally, one of the agents shot the soldier and aimed his gun back towards the beast, who closed in on him faster than he could react. With a slash, the agent went down, and his gun went sliding across the floor.

Amelia couldn’t believe what she was seeing. There wasn’t many of the soldiers left. While the Vreksus seemed hurt, he wasn’t slowing down very much other than slight signs of weakness. Amelia looks down at the gun that slid across the floor, and she quickly reached down and grabbed it. She then places a hand on Marcos signaling to him that they should run. With a nod, he followed her.

They ran until they could see it anymore, and searched frantically for the door they entered in. The gunshots soon stopped. They didn’t know if the Vreksus or the soldiers had won, but they didn’t plan on hanging around to find out.

They found the exit after running in silence. The only sound was their labored breaths as they ran. Marcos a bit more labored as he trailed behind Amelia. Before they could reach the door, the loud howling growl of the vreksus echoed throughout the hall as it galloped faster than they could run. As Amelia turned around to attempt shooting at it, the creature jumped and tackled Hubowski. Amelia gasped and hesitated to fire. She didn’t want to risk hitting Marcos. However, as the creature sunk its claws into Hubowski’s back, he looks up at Amelia.

“Run, Amelia!” Marcos Hubowski pleaded with her. The words coming with fear and pain in his eyes. His face suddenly freezing up as blood began to drip from his mouth. Amelia decided to heed her boss’s final wish, and she sprinted for the door.

She burst through as quickly as she could running towards the helicopter. For a moment, she thought she was safe. This was not the case as the vreksus burst out the doors shattering them. It gallops after her, faster than she could run. She heard Teagan screaming loudly, from the helicopter as it’s engine were starting up. Amelia knew only one thing. She wasn’t going to outrun this.

She held up the gun and twisted around. If she was going to die, it would be fighting. With a sudden courage that dwarfed the courage she felt on the ship, she aimed the gun at the beast. It leaped towards her as she fired off a shot. It lands on top of her and she falls back. Her head hits the pavement and the weight of the beast is on her. She didn’t have time to react to the impact. Everything just faded to black.

To be continued…