 
AVP Retribution

Peter Stevens

AVP Retribution

Peter Stevens

Copyright 2007 Peter Stevens

Smashwords edition

All characters in this book are fiction and any resemblance to any person, either living, or deceased is purely coincidence.

Owned and distributed as an eBook by http://www.nicholashalls.co.uk written by Peter Stevens.

No part of this book shall be used in whole or in part without the writer's express written consent.

This book is FREE do not pay for this book.

As the holder of this book you may lend or give it away freely on condition that no content has been changed or altered in any way.

[More Aliens, more predators, more humans than ever before in one massive AVP war. Following on from AVP Requiem and joining the Weyland/Yutani corporation that leads us to the alien series. This story connects all of the Predator, AVP and Alien series together in one mighty war]
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many thanks go to my family first for believing in me and encouraging me to finish the story. Thanks to Sian for the cover design and ideas. Thanks also to my son Nicholas for lending me money in times of need. Also thanks to my youngest daughter for helping me with ideas and situations used in the book. Your help and support is greatly appreciated.
Prologue

Twin stars shine brightly in the blackness of space, the first similar to our sun in size but a much brighter bluish/white and considerably older. The second, smaller, duller in colour than its brother, dark blue, but still as hot as it drifts along on its journey around the galaxy. An orange and red planet orbits the twin stars in the not too hot, not too cold, zone where its able to support life. This planet used to have a moon but not anymore, now it has a ring of asteroids where at some time in the planets past some unknown disaster tore the moon apart. The spinning planet below spread the moons debris around it to form the ring. Electricity flashes and sparks silently in space as an arrow shaped ship becomes visible. The huge ship heads towards the alien planet enters the atmosphere of this strange world. There is no heat discharge or friction as the strange ship slides gently into the unknown gasses that support life here.

The huge alien craft races over an emerald ocean underneath an orange and yellow sky towards a shining alien city. The ships shape changes as huge rams drive the two outer arms of the craft open out to form a trident. It slows as it crosses over the city then turns left, lowers the final thousand feet, and settles gently onto a landing gantry that opens and expands to fit the ship's new three pronged configuration. The engine noise dies as it settles to the ground and a huge door slides up. Bright light shines through from behind the door.

Shapes begin emerging from the light as a dozen tall alien figures appear one by one in a storm of lightning and electricity. As they leave the ship, dreadlocks swinging behind them, carrying their trophies but without their weapons, or masks. They are each greeted by smaller versions of themselves, their sons, eager to hear of the hunts and see the trophies. The reunited families chatter and laugh on the gantry for a minute then they disappear into separate elevators and are gone. A lone predator child is left standing on the gantry, eager for news of his father who followed this ship to earth. He starts toward the ship but an elder, the clan clan-leader, appears as a flash of electrical sparks and lightning in front of the boy as he turns off the invisibility shield that hides them in battle. His blue grey dreadlocks and cloak the sign that he is the leader, bravest and eldest, of this clan. The boy bows his head and makes quiet clicking growling sounds that are the language spoken by these beings.

In his guttural, clicking and growling the elder tells the boy that his father was killed dishonourably during a battle on the distant planet called Earth. The elder predator pulls out a small, bronze coloured, hexagonal device and activates it. Four small arms extend out from the central body of the device and light up as a holographic image of the boy's father appears, made from red lasers, without his bio mask and facing an alien/predator hybrid in battle. The image changes to show a wider angle of the scene as a small ship appears. The small ship speeds towards the two warriors at speed but from fifteen thousand feet above them. Another small point of light leaves the small ship and falls towards the fighters below as the ship that released it turned and headed back. The smaller point of light falls towards the town centre below until it hits and bursts into a storm of light and chaos. A mushroom cloud forms and extends upward and outward as the elder predator turns off the holographic projector. Putting the device away the elder looks at the youngling while clicking his sorrow.

The boy was silent for a moment then bowed again. He muttered his thanks to the clan leader for bringing him this news about his father then quietly turns around and leaves for an elevator. Satisfied that the boy had gone back home, the elder predator turns and heads back into his ship. The ships huge door closing behind him as he activates his invisibility cloak and disappeared.

The boy rode the elevator down a level then he stopped it. He left the elevator and went towards a smaller, single person ship that was waiting on a smaller gantry in front of him. He entered the ship, went to the pilot seat and strapped himself in. Without a pause he pressed a series of buttons, he was angry the coward humans had used a bomb as his father was killing bugs.

Outside to the rear of the smaller ship the engines stir to life. A series of gears and hydraulics engage to lift the gantry up above the floor. Four smaller claws on either side of the craft released and the ship lifted effortlessly in the sky and headed out over the city towards his home.

He would take this ship if he could but this ship is small and won't get him to Earth for five more years. As he nears his home he spots the ship he will use, similar to his fathers ship this one belonged to his fathers father, his grandfather.

It had the old kind of engine that created a wormhole big enough for one ship; he could be there in just over two days. If he owned one of the new quantum ships like the clan ship he'd been at he would be there in a day. Seeing the ship and his home on the ocean side of the alien city the young hunter turns this small slow personal transport to land near the craft he wants. Now he needs to get some of the face grabbing, spider like impregnator aliens to spread panic on this his first full blown hunt alone. One of his friends could, and probably would, provide some of them he thought. Leaving the small ship the young hunter entered his home where he put on his mask, belt, spear, net gun and plasma caster. Taking them out to his grand father's ship and stowing the items in allocated holders he went back for his disc, shuriken, spear gun, spare spear, sword and some laser mines. He went back in a third time for a medical kit and energy cells before calling a friend on his home communicator for a favour.

Now the ship was ready he took some food, water, air, and other necessary items and loaded them onto the larger ship. He made sure he had all of the items and supplies he'd need and walked over to the pilot's chair. This time to prove his courage and honour and most of all to get revenge on the humans that had killed his father from a distance. Cowards he said softly, he would make them pay all right he thought as he lifted off.

The ship lifted off effortlessly and he headed towards the distant mountains. After flying over the peaks he turned the ship sharply around to land in a clearing in the canyon behind the mountains. Another ship similar to his appeared in a shower of electricity and lightning as another young hunter strode down the ramp of his ship. His friend was pushing a cart with four small flasks carrying one of the alien face huggers in each. Stowing the flasks inside the escape pod the young hunter closed up his doors, started the engines and took off heading straight up. As his ship climbed up and out of the atmosphere it shimmered and vanished before starting the long voyage to earth.

Two miles from the mountain landing site the clan ship appeared in a flash of lightning and electricity. The ship hovered two thousand feet above a strange yellow and purple forest before turning towards the canyon. It ship closed its distance to the canyon and hovered for a minute then turned the headed up following the smaller ships path.
Chapter 1

Maddison Heights, 110 miles South East of Olympia, Washington State

Population 823

The TV on the wall in Wills' bar was playing a news report from the west coast, "Weyland industries share price dropped dramatically after the death of it founder, CEO Charles Weyland, threatening thousands of job losses. Japanese company the Yutani Corporation have made an offer of one hundred and thirty million dollars and a merger to help the ailing company." A man sitting at the bar asked the barman to change the channel as he sipped his beer. The only other people in this small bar were a young couple in the corner booth who laughed and prodded each other playfully. A middle aged couple sat at a table talking quietly, and two locals playing pool.

The couple sitting at the table opposite the TV were talking about the news. "It's all a rip off; I told you someone would get rich during this so called credit crunch and Andrews is the one doing it," the short fifty's balding man says.

"Stop moaning Roy," replied the plump forty nine year old brunette woman sitting with him, "It doesn't affect us anymore and your job is secure now that Weyland has been bought out. I don't really know why you are moaning or what you're worried about?"

"Come on Dawn, house prices are falling but the cost of living is going up, it doesn't add up. Look at the Yutani Corporation they are giving away millions to own a now worthless company. If Charles Weyland were still alive Yutani wouldn't be allowed anywhere near to our research on what is left of Razorback point. Our new boss Andrews Lets them in with a sixty five million dollar deal and I bet they're going to try to throw us all out. There is something there not telling us about this so called merger, it's not right."

"Like I said, now the Yutani corporation is merging your job is safe at Weyland." Roy was about to speak again but his wife held her hand up "no more, drink up and let us enjoy what is left of this holiday without you moaning about some Japanese woman becoming your boss."

"We wouldn't be here now if I hadn't been ordered to take the time off but okay I won't mention it again," said Roy as he finished his drink. He winked at his wife and said "Consider the matter closed, do you want another drink or shall we have an early night under the stars instead?"

"You want to sleep on the porch tonight?" Dawn smiled punching him playfully on the arm then said "An early night sounds fun, come on then I'll race you to the cabin."

Dawn finished her drink and they both get up to leave, turning back towards the bar Roy said "goodnight Will" and waved to the barman, "See you tomorrow evening."

"Yeah have fun you two, sweet dreams" replied the barman as he continued his conversation with the man at the bar.

The couple leave the bar arm in arm and walk past the last few houses of the small town then down a country lane towards a woodland area to the left and a cabin and lake to the right. The night air still and crisp as frost begins to form on the cabin roof and in patches on the grass. The sounds of night animals and insects are the only sounds as the couple walk towards the cabin near the shore of the lake. Stars shine brightly in the night sky and as Dawn looks up she sees a flash of fire and says "Shooting star, make a wish."

Looking up Roy sees the final flash of the shooting star as it crashes and burns through the atmosphere. Heading east to west he shrugs as they enter their cabin for the night. The couple don't hear the object as it crashes into a hillside a few miles down the road from their cabin.

20:40pm four miles from Maddison Heights

A gentle breeze blew in the peaceful night air as a newly formed crater sent tendrils of smoke into the night sky. A small cylindrical metallic object battered, burned and scarred lay in the ruined hillside. The quiet of the wilderness broken as sounds of movement came from within the object. At first scratching clicking and then hissing sounds as the metal casing melted from within. The acrid smoke poured into the night sky to disperse in the breeze.

An opening formed in the top of the burned and dented container. First one then two, three, four, then all eight long bony alien fingers crawl out of a smoking hole in the side of the object. A spiderlike alien creature emerges from the broken capsule and drops to the ground with its long whip like tail slithering behind it. A second then third, and fourth, alien climb slowly out of the crashed remains. One by one they drop to the floor and race silently away into the night.

21:30pm

"Mm that was wonderful" gasped Dawn after a twenty minute bout of lovemaking, "lets come here again in the summer, I'd love to see it when it's hot, full of flowers and life, during the summer."

Roy came here because of the quiet and the end of season hunting; tomorrow he was meeting with Abe Garner who'd agreed to take him out hunting. "Yeah why not, after all it's quiet, no worries or hassles and aren't you glad we left our phones at home?"

Dawn nodded "Oh yes" she smiled and reached for her dressing gown, "Cigarette before bed?" she asked and Roy nodded as she got up "Outside though, we don't want a fire in here now do we?" reaching for her clothes she got up and headed to the bathroom "two minutes, I just need to use the bathroom."

The air outside was cold and still, a slight frost had covered the ground in the cold cloudless night. The only sounds coming from night insects as Roy and Dawn leave the cabin and walk arm in arm towards a picnic table next to the woods to smoke their cigarette. A slight breeze moves only the smallest bushes, nothing else but the crickets made a sound.

"You know they ordered me to take this holiday because of the takeover bid by Yutani" said Roy as they sat down at one of the tables near the lake. "They want a lot of us out of the way during the initial audit," taking two cigarettes out of the packet he passed one to Dawn and lit his one before handing her the lighter "they don't want me talking."

"We agreed that you wasn't going to mention it again while we are on holiday, anyway what are they hoping to find?" asked Dawn now intrigued by her husband's revelation "Is it anything to do with that incident in Antarctica?"

"Of course it is, Lex was the only survivor of that and she is in hiding" Roy took a long drag of his cigarette. "She has some sort of alien technology and then there is that scar on her face. She won't say how she got either the tech or the mark but she babbled something about aliens," he trailed off thinking that maybe he'd said too much already.

"Alien technology, what does that mean?" Dawn asked.

Ignoring his wife's comments Roy frowned at the sudden silence and said, "Listen. Not even the insects are making a noise." leaves and twigs crunched in the woods and Roy looked left towards the darkness of the trees "what was that?"

"Probably an animal looking for its supper lets go back it's turned creepy all of a sudden." Dawn looked frightened and kept looking at the trees "come on Roy let's go back now."

"Just listen" he said, the night noises of the woods were gone and it was now completely silent. Roy got up and walked towards the woods, another sound this time scurrying moving quickly to his right "there is something out there." He took a final puff from the cigarette then flicked the butt into a puddle near the trees. Looking at his wife he motioned her to stay there and entered the tree line trying to peek into the darkness of the trees. A dog began barking in the distance making the only sound coming from the town they'd not long ago left. His eyes now adjusted to the gloom as another twig snapped in front of him. He started to turn back to his wife as a blur caught his attention in front again. He didn't have time to react as he saw a hand shape flying towards him. It grabbed him with long bony fingers that reached around the sides of his head. A foul smell filled his nostrils as the creature settled over his face. He felt it wrapping a long snakelike tail around his neck which tightened almost cutting off his air. He could feel something like a soft finger pushing into his mouth and down his throat as he passed into unconsciousness.

Dawn heard the commotion and stood up trying to see where Roy had gone. She walked around the table and heard a noise behind her like a scraping on the leaves. Looking back she spotted too late as another of the spiderlike creatures leapt at her. She tried to scream as it attached itself to her head as she fell over on to the grass unconscious. A third alien ran past the now comatose couple to head toward the small town beyond the picturesque scene of the lake and its holiday home. The dog continued to bark in the distance, getting closer, and the alien creature stopped for a moment to listen to the approaching animal. Creeping towards the cabin where Roy and Dawn were half an hour ago the alien coiled its tail up underneath its body. An Alsatian came running down the same lane the couple used barking at the unseen but sensed threat.

Using its tail to power it the creature launched itself out towards the approaching animal. With no time to react the dog was caught before he saw the beast and collapsed to the ground with the creature settling onto its face. As the creature wrapped its tail around the dog's neck the sounds of the night returned slowly to the night.

At the same time a fourth alien had entered one of four caves on the eastern side of the town. It scuttled up the wall of the cave as it sensed an animal deeper inside. It crawled across the roof upside down heading toward the heat of its body and the scent of its prey. Passing a larger cavern and entering another smaller tunnel the alien headed deeper into the cave until it spotted a huge grizzly bear that was hibernating here. The alien approached quietly and leapt onto the face of the bear as it was asleep in the corner. Settling into position with its tail around the bears neck the spider like alien delivered its deadly egg. Insects began chirping and singing as the normal sounds returned to the night.

Weyland Industries, 21:30pm Columbus Ohio

The lift door opened and a Japanese business woman carrying an aluminium briefcase entered the hall leading to Mr Andrews's office. She was fifty seven years old but her make up made her look at least ten years younger. Her pale face framed her bright red lips and striking green eyes as she looked around the corridor. Standing at five foot seven in her three inch heels she looked around then saw the secretary she needed to speak to.

She walked straight over to the desk by the double doors and said "I am Sakura Yutani here to see Mr Marcus Andrews."

The secretary nodded to the woman and picked up her telephone, her name badge said Samantha Hastings. "I have Miss Yutani here to see you sir" she said to Mr Andrews on the other end. Andrews was now the chief C.E.O since the death of the companies founder Charles Weyland, she listened for a minute then replied "Yes sir" and set the phone back into its cradle, "Mr Andrews will see you now" she said to the waiting woman.

Miss Yutani walked over to the double doors leading into the inner meeting room as the doors open from inside and Marcus Andrews Steps out.

"Miss Yutani, it's a pleasure to meet you" said Mr Andrews as he extended his hand. About five nine tall dressed in a white shirt, dark blue pinstripe trousers and a blue and silver tie. At fifty nine years old he wore his grey hair swept across as if to hide a receding hair line.

Shaking his hand Miss Yutani replied sarcastically "Yes I'm sure it is, I've been eager to meet the person who has delayed this merger for the last three years" she smiled thinly.

"Would you like a coffee, tea, or a cold drink before we start?" Andrews asks as is polite to do so.

"Yes please I'd like a green tea if you have it, no sugar thank you."

Andrews turned to ask his secretary to get the drinks "Sam a black coffee and a pot of green tea please."

"Yes sir it's on its way," Sam replied as Andrews motioned the Japanese woman into his office and closed the door behind them.

Andrews returned to his chair behind the huge oak desk and looked back at the Japanese woman as he sat down. "Well now you have control of Weyland industries how do you propose to dismantle it?" Andrews said sarcastically as he indicated she sit down. He was clearly not happy about this merger so soon after his boss's death. He didn't want the Yutani Corporation getting hold of the alien technology they already had. Mostly though he didn't want someone else telling him what to do, especially a woman, he was now the boss of Weyland Industries. He didn't want this meeting because he didn't want to loose the company he loved.

Miss Yutani laughed, "Dismantle it, whatever gave you that idea?" she smiled again "Yutani industries doesn't want to dismantle this company, now that we have joined forces we will call the new company Weyland/Yutani, like I said it is a merger." She held up her hand as Andrews started to say something else, "Hold on Mr Andrews we each have information or technology that we need to combine to enhance the human race. We will make a nice tidy profit and it would make us the biggest space and robotics company in the world, we need to share information we each have" she paused for a second then added "I'll get right to the point, I'd like to meet one of your former employees," she reached into her briefcase and pulled out a folder. "I need to speak to Miss Alexandra Woods; she was at the Razorback incident of 2004."

"Razorback incident, I don't recall that or a Miss Woods, I'm sure we....."

"Razorback Ridge Whaling station on Bouvetoya Island, Antarctica" she said sharply.

"Ah yes, I'm sorry I should have known you'd have something on file about that." Mr Andrews looked embarrassed as he'd heard about Yutani's spies, "As to Lex Woods she disappeared a few months after the incident, we tried to debrief her but she kept talking about dinosaurs, no, it wasn't dinosaurs, she said they were," Andrews looked at his computer screen and opened a file, "serpents, that's what she called them." He laughed, "She was also babbling about some kind of alien but..." Andrews tailed off after seeing the stern look his counterpart gave him.

A soft knock on the door to the office and it opened, Sam walked in with a tray of coffee for the new owners of this company. She placed the tray on the desk between the two and left closing the door quietly behind her.

"She disappeared because you didn't believer her," Yutani said "in fact you tried to have her charged with the murder of her boss, that's why she disappeared, she was telling the truth as you will soon find out Mr Andrews."

Andrews looked shocked but answered quickly "oh we believed her, but we had to make it look like we didn't because she was holding back information. She told us half of the story Miss Yutani; we wanted to know the full story."

"Okay that aside we still would like to brief her if that is possible." Yutani looked over at Andrews as she poured her tea from the small pot.

Mr Andrews stirred two sugars into his coffee and took a sip before answering the woman "we would as well but like I said she disappeared shortly after the events of 2004. She emptied her bank account, moved and changed her name, I wish I could help you there but we simply do not know where she is"

Sakura Yutani placed her cup on the desk then opened her briefcase to take out an A4 sized folder "Alexa Woods changed her name to Alice Wilson then she moved to France. We believe she must have changed her name again, we don't know what to, but our spotters say she might be in London now."

The Japanese woman looks up as the phone on the desk began to ring. Andrews looks at the Japanese woman who indicates that he really should answer the ringing telephone. "Excuse me a minute would you," picking up the receiver and pressing a button he said "yes Sam"

The secretary said "sorry to interrupt your meeting but its Silverleaf sir, they say it's urgent."

"Put them through," he turned to Miss Yutani who smiled, "You might want to hear this as well." Andrews pressed the speakerphone so Miss Yutani could hear the conversation.

"Bob, its Markus what is so urgent that you need to interrupt this meeting?"

"I'm sorry sir but you did say to tell you if we got anything weird on any of the telescopes or radar, and, well we got something."

"Go on" said Andrews looking at Miss Yutani trying to read her "we're listening."

"We'd been watching the last death throes of a supernova near the Helix nebula and we got a contact at eight forty pm, tonight. We didn't pay it much attention at first as it was a small object about two meters long. It entered the atmosphere and burned up, we thought it was just space debris so we ignored it. Then we focussed on another distant star and we picked up and, well, all I can describe it as is a shift in the light coming from the star we were studying."

"What like some kind of atmospheric disturbance?" asked Miss Yutani.

"Who is that I don't recognise your voice?" asked Bob.

"It's ok Bob; meet Miss Yutani of the corporation that has funded you for the next five years." Answered Andrews

Silence for a couple of seconds then Bob continued, "Pleased to meet you Miss Yutani, It was and it wasn't like atmospherics', it was in a sense that the light shifted but it wasn't because the disturbance moved through space. We tracked its movement through space for twenty minutes but then lost it to the horizon."

"So what are you saying Bob? Is it an atmospheric phenomenon, you make it sound like a flying object?" asked Andrews.

Bob laughed "That's the kicker Marcus, its altitude was thirty five miles high, in space! Its rough size would make it around eighteen meters across, a roughly elongated triangle shape and it seems to be in a stable orbit."

Miss Yutani leaned towards the desk and asks "this object, did you see it on optical or radio telescopes?"

"At first it was the radio telescope that picked up the shift. It was like a glass bowl full of water was slid in front of the stars thirty miles up, but we're looking at the bottom of the glass. We tried optical telescopes but saw nothing. We looked again at the radio and it was just going over the horizon but still there. We ran a trajectory and followed the object on its next orbit. We have a clear image from the thermal and infra red cameras."

"Send us all the data you have Bob, I'll come out to you with Miss Yutani, we can continue our meeting on the private flight." Andrews looked at Miss Yutani who nodded her agreement, "its ten minutes to my plane shall we go?"

"Ok, I guess I'll see you in a couple of hours," said Bob and was gone.

Andrews and Yutani gather their bags and files then both of them open their cellular telephones to make their calls as they prepare to leave the office.

55 minutes later 48,000ft

Sakura Yutani and Marcus Andrews face each other in deep conversation while sitting in the cabin of the private jet owned by Weyland Industries. Both had a glass of water in front of them and files were open on the seats beside them as they talked.

"The first detailed recorded incident we had was from 1987, here is the file of all of the incidents we've recorded so far," said Andrews as he handed over a thick folder. "A crack commando team was sent into South America to observe rebels in the area and gather Intel. Shortly after we lost contact with the team so we sent in another commando unit. Only one of the second team survived with a civilian he rescued on the way. The survivor a Major Dutch said that an alien was hunting his team. They were killed one by one until Major Dutch found a weakness in its vision. During a fight the creature was mortally wounded and it activated a small nuclear device destroying the equivalent in rainforest of twelve city blocks." Andrews picked up a glass of water and took a sip. Miss Yutani flicked through the file and listened as Andrews continued.

"The second time we encountered it was in 1997 we sent our best agent, code name, Peter Keys masquerading as an NSA agent. This predator was hunting in Las Angeles during the drug wars of the late ninety's. We have some technology that was left behind by the predator but a Lieutenant Mike Harrigan of the LAPD claims he followed it after wounding the creature. Harrigan claimed he followed the creature aboard its spaceship and during a fight he says he killed it. He also says that this animal could disappear at will and a dozen others, his ship mates, appeared around him to carry the body away. One of the other aliens then gave Harrigan a flintlock dated 1703 and he realised then that they've been here before and would be back."

"Peter Keys and his team successfully tracked the animal by pheromones; he claimed the creature could bend light and become invisible. However Mr Keys was killed by the predator in the same slaughterhouse that we got its mask from. Shortly after that is when Lt Harrigan claimed he killed the hunter aboard a ship that left Earth immediately after. Harrigan also claimed that the hunter's ship had a kind of trophy wall full of alien and human skulls."

"There are other reports, scratchy at best but incidents in the gulf during the gulf war, and Afghanistan have reported finding men hanging upside down and skinned. Some were beheaded and others had their spines ripped out but all of them have one thing in common. Those hunted carried some sort of weapon or were involved in war, Vietnam, Korea, the Falklands, the Gulf, and Afghanistan. All have reported either finding mutilated, decapitated, or skinned victims. It hunts as I've said using technology that enables it to become invisible, we also believe it sees our body heat to target us but is also capable of seeing in other spectrums, although we aren't sure about this." Handing her some photographs he said "We have found a spear javelin weapon of this hunter, a damaged shoulder wearing plasma type cannon it uses and half of a computer it wears on its arm, which incidentally is also the nuclear weapon it activated in South America and more recently in Razorback ridge."

Andrews got up and went to a cupboard on the jet, he opened it and pulled out a huge golden mask, "This creature has remarkable technology and we also found this with the damaged shoulder cannon in the slaughterhouse," said Andrews as he showed Miss Yutani the hunters gold coloured mask. He held it over his face to show her it was much bigger than a human head. "I had it brought here as I called for the flight." He turned it over to reveal two black rectangles in place of the eyes and below that were four groups of two buttons making a small square where the mouth would be.

Miss Yutani takes the mask and inspects it, pressing a button inside, nothing. She holds it over her own face like she was wearing it, nothing visible through the eyes. She inspects the holes in the side where, she suspected, something plugged in. "It's remarkable where did you get this from?"

Andrews smiled "Peter Keys and his team tracked the predator for three weeks, every two days it visited a slaughterhouse, this thing seemed to like the taste of beef. It was there that Lt Harrigan attacked the alien and wounded it. We found the mask intact and we found the shoulder weapon which had been hit and damaged by his shotgun. We also found the spear a few blocks away in an alley with half an arm, computer and the hand of the hunter alien."

"Is that why you asked your lead scientist at Silver leaf to report anything unusual?" Miss Yutani said after a moment.

Andrews smiled and nodded, "It was Alexa Wood's report from Razorback Whaling station that made me tell Bob to report anything strange, even a small glitch in the system. In the last three years nothing of consequence has occurred. Now we might have a chance to capture one of these predators, if there is a ship up there, our robotics division really wants some of this working alien tech." Andrews looks at his watch, "Thirty minutes till we land, then it's a thirty minute drive. Then we'll see whether we have something or not, another drink" He asked?

"No thank you, all of this is certainly is a lot to take in Mr Andrews, however now it is my turn." Andrews sat back in his chair and listened as the beautiful Japanese woman continued. "Firstly, when we land I've arranged a helicopter to meet us at the airport, it will get us to Silverleaf in ten minutes." She smiled "Secondly Miss Woods reported a huge ship that appeared next to her and the fallen alien hunter, yes?"

Andrews put down his fresh drink and nodded as Sakura Yutani handed him her A4 sized folder about half an inch thick. Andrews thumbed from the back towards the front as the Japanese woman told him what she knew.

"That ship left the atmosphere and was heading out into space, we tracked it as it headed out to Saturn but something must have happened on board. We don't know what, but a smaller piece broke off of the larger ship and returned back to earth. We detected an explosion on board and shortly after the smaller ship crashed in the mountains near Gunnison County, Colorado. The town is now gone but there were a handful of survivors, they reported bugs, giant bugs that attacked and fed off people. Some of the people were carried away to a nest they believed the bugs were building in the sewers. All survivors reported that the bugs bled acid when shot or cut."

"Within a day state troopers and the local sheriff were begging to be evacuated. By day two the town had gone to hell and almost all contact had been lost. There were a few survivors that told of an invisible creature that hunted and killed the huge insect like creatures. It had a plasma firing cannon on each shoulder and wore a mask." She said tapping the mask on the table between them. She reached into her bag and pulled out another A4 sized folder, as she took out some photographs out of the folder she said.

"One of the survivors reported that when one of the shoulder cannons the alien hunter was using was damaged he discarded it. The other shoulder cannon must have had a problem as well however the hunter took it off of his shoulder and turned it into a hand held gun of sorts. We have this plasma gun in full working order," she said as she handed him the photographs of the shoulder cannon/pistol.

"Unfortunately the US government ordered the Air Force to drop a nuclear device on the site. The blast destroyed the nest alright and the hunter and his tech except this. The survivor who picked it up showed us how it charges and how to fire it. He said he picked it up when the hunter was fighting what appeared to be the leader of the bugs, he saw the hunter use it so he tried and killed several of the bugs before escaping in a helicopter."

"We have studied it, x-rayed, MRI, ultrasound, and even put it under a microscope. From what we've learned about the materials and power system we are now working on new technologies to help us get into space and to help us detect these hunting trips these aliens seem to like. It will also help you with your robotics as the power used by the devices is generated by friction in the atmosphere, it self energises."

Andrews whistled as Yutani got a second envelope out of her bag and showed him a report of the elemental properties, the power generator and other schematic drawings. "We think it draws friction and electrical charge from the atmosphere and pumps it into a central chamber where it's spun to a super high speed and another unknown element is kind of sprayed into the spinning electricity, lasers are fired as the central chamber is heated then opened to explode the charge out as a high intensity, high heat plasma discharge."

"This is why our companies have merged Mr Andrews; our future is your robots and our space travel. Together we can find and identify these unknown elements in space and recreate this alien technology."

Andrews put the photographs and reports on the table next to the mask. He smiled and said "our robots could man the first deep space probes within two years. If we can catch this predator and his ship we can reverse engineer the drive system and travel further, faster than we ever dreamed possible."

"That's the plan" answered the Japanese woman "This planet is too small now for the amount of people on it, we need to get the human race up and into the stars. Our future is to find new homes and new elements to progress and enhance our lives for the good of all mankind," to Andrews it sounded like a well rehearsed speech but he liked the woman and her honesty.
Chapter 2

23:00 pm Maddison Heights, Washington State

Roy opened his eyes and felt disoriented and confused. He realised slowly that was lying in the woods. He sat up and looked around at his surroundings; it was night still and cold, his breath steaming out in front as he tried to remember how he got here, "Dawn" he called. He couldn't see his wife; he couldn't remember anything except, "Smothering" he frowned, shook his head and got up. Looking out from the trees towards the tables where he talked with his wife, how long ago, he didn't know? It was dark but he could see there was a little snow on the grass and mist drifted past in patches, there, she was lying apparently asleep on the grass near the edge of the trees, "Dawn" he got up and called again as he approached her.

Damn he was thirsty; he thought as he rubbed his throat and tried to swallow what felt like sand. He noticed marks around his wife's throat and neck as he bent down to wake her "Dawn" He said more urgently this time and she responded, she moaned, moved her head and opened her eyes to look up at him.

"What?" she asked, "where am I, what happened?"

"Camping, I remember leaving the cabin for a cigarette but that's it until I woke up a few minutes ago in the trees," he said looking around at the trees and lake.

Dawn looked at her husband then said "I really need a drink, I remember something about not being able to breath, like I was suffocating.... What are those marks on your neck?"

Roy reached up and felt the welts on and around his neck, "You have them too" he said reaching to help her to her feet, "let's get back to the cabin."

They walked back to the cabin in silence as they each tried to remember what had happened earlier in the evening.

They passed a dog that was lying on the ground near their cabin but paying it no attention, "I remember a shooting star" said Dawn as they entered the cabin. They both headed for the kitchen and each grabbed a bottle of mineral water from the fridge. Five minutes later they were both eating bread dry from the packet and slices of cheese cut from a block. Roy stopped eating for a minute while he took a long drink from another bottle of water; he put the bottle down next to him and winked at Dawn and cut another large slice of cheese. He coughed and held his chest as pain exploded from within. Wide eyed he looked at Dawn as a crunching sound came from his chest brining more pain. He lurched forward, dropped the knife and grabbed the table with one hand and his chest again with the other.

Another crunching sound from his chest and he screamed again as the crimson of his blood spread across his chest. He fell against the back of his chair his chest pushing outward with a last crunching sound as a snake like creature emerged from his exploded chest. Dawn screamed as Roy fell sideways off of his chair and the creature burst completely out of his chest, ran across the floor and disappeared into another darker room.

Dawn got up feeling sick with the smell of blood and death and felt the first wave of pain. She heard another crunch, this time from her chest, as she screamed and she fell back onto her chair. She just saw it happen to her husband so she knew what was coming and screamed again as her chest leapt forward and blood sprayed from her. Another crunch and a second alien exploded out of her body and followed the first alien into the darkness as she fell dead on the kitchen floor.

The dog had been up for a few minutes and hearing the commotion it had come up to the back door and sniffed. He whined softly at the smell of blood and then howled in pain as his chest suddenly hurt. Howling and barking in pain the dog fell over on its side as the third alien busted out of the animal and entered this world covered in the dog's blood. Silence fell again to the cabin as the three small aliens had found a way outside into the night. Two of the snakelike alien creatures headed east to towards the caves and the one headed south east into the woods.

01:00 am High Earth orbit

The window of the young hunter's ship showed the earth from thirty five miles above it. The beautiful blue ocean and white fluffy clouds that sped above the green and brown continents that passed underneath his view. As the planet turns and the ship speeds round in its orbit the hunter presses buttons and flips switches. A clicking snarling sound from the predator and sounds of electrical beeps as more buttons and controls are pressed on a console. A humming sounded as red light flares into life on the top of a pyramid shaped emitter above a hexagonal control pad on his left. The hologram showed the view of earth drawn in red laser, and then zoomed closer to the land as its image flew over North America. Scanning the land ahead it flashed a bright yellowish white light in the distance and zoomed into the area of the flash. Another series of button presses and the image changed to another spectrum, this view showed the land as shades of blood red and black. Two all too familiar shapes of chest bursting aliens came into view, bright white on the red display, oblivious to the watcher as they fed on an animal below. Moving the image more to the east the hunter spots a third chest bursting alien as it began to grow into the fearsome creature he would be hunting later. Moving the image again he looks for the fourth alien that he knows is down there. Zooming the image out he spots the fourth creature as it leaves a cave to the east of the small town. Closing in to the creature he sees that this one has the distinct head and body of a young, but still growing, queen.

Let the hunt begin he snarls, he turns off the hologram and presses a combination of buttons on his right hand control pad. The centre console lights up flashing through the odd symbols of the alien language. He enters the co-ordinates into the ships computers and watches the image of the earth shifting as small ship leaves earth orbit and enters silently into the atmosphere.

The young predator pilots the ship down as fast as he dare else he will be detected by the humans primitive radar. He lowers to ten thousand feet towards the hillside where he spotted the insect like warriors he has unleashed on this small town. He has their signal displayed to a screen on his right so he slows his ship and drops lower to the ground. He knows he is cloaked and invisible to the humans he intends to hunt as well as the acid bleeding aliens. He flies the ship to a hill near a small town and hovers above a clearing at about three thousand feet. He immediately scans the surrounding area for any people, any signs of life. One signal bleeps to life of a lone man aiming a gun at some unknown animal. Pressing another button the screen shifts to the blues and reds of a thermal image. A flash on the screen and the man silently jerks back with the recoil of a fired rifle.

He scans the hills around the lake and spots an ideal hiding place for his ship, a large cave going down into the ground at the base of the hill. The caves mouth facing up to the sky with a small town a few miles away, making a perfect hiding place for his ship while he prepares for the hunt.

The ship, safe in the cave and invisible to humans, grows silent as its engines are shut off. Inside the young predator gets his bio mask, spear, and plasma cannon ready. He turns to a console presses three buttons and a poker chip sized disc slides up from a hidden compartment, taking the disk towards the pilots chair he inserts it into the console. Pressing some more buttons and sliding his talon finger across touch sensors he programmed the disk. Then he turned to the console above his head and activated another set of controls. A small pop and whoosh could be heard as the disk was fired out of the front of the ship, up and out of the cave to a thousand feet up. Turning invisible as it went, out and up, this eye in the sky would alert him if anybody came within two miles of his ship. Looking again for the aliens he knows are around the young hunter sees that they are intent on making a nest in the caves that he spotted the maturing queen enter.

Two miles east of Devils Bluff, Maddison Heights, Washington State

Abe Garner was fifty five years old and semi-retired after making his money at the poker tables of Las Vegas. He loved to hunt his dinner and was often at his second home in the small town of Maddison Heights to hunt deer in the winter. He had camped overnight and started early on the hunt at four thirty yesterday morning. The breeze was slight and the morning was quiet and still. He had to get something for his troubles as he had orders from his friends in town for some decent fresh end of season steaks.

Unaware that he was being watched he spotted a fair sized adult deer coming out from some trees directly in front of him. He froze and aimed his rifle at the animal a hundred feet away. The deer looked over at Abe as it smelled him but too late to move. The boom from his gun still echoing around the valley as the deer fell down on its front knees mortally wounded. Abe crossed in front of the animal and closed to twenty feet away, he aimed again this time for the animals' temple. He loaded a bullet into the guns chamber and fired again killing the deer instantly. He breathed out at last then put the rifle over his shoulder, walked towards his kill, and drew out a huge knife.

After an hour he'd gone back a mile for his bike and finished cutting the steaks for him and his friends. He had packed enough meat for the next three months into the side bags on the bike and his rucksack. It seemed a shame to leave the rest of the meat but by the time he got back the flies would have blown their maggots onto it. Other animals and birds would have been there for a free feast as well so he turned away.

Movement in the trees to his left caught the corner of his eye and he spun around. Nothing, he looked closely at the tree line for any small animals and then noticed how quiet it had become. Nothing there, he said to himself "must be getting jumpy in my old age." He turned back to the bike having finished with his packing and stepped on to it. Putting on a pair of sunglasses he plucked from a pouch on the petrol tank and kicking the starter the engine roared to life. Reaching into his jacket pocket he took out a mobile phone to call his wife to say he was coming home. He took a last look back to the tree line that had spooked him, dropped the bike into gear and made the back wheel spin up dust as he pulled away.

Riding slowly because of the early hour, the load in the saddlebags and his rucksack, and he had a meeting at ten thirty. He turned a bend in the dirt road just in time to see a jet black roughly man sized beast disappearing over the next ridge. Its long black tail following as quickly as it did, he stopped the bike and listened. "What the hell" he said to himself quietly "I've got to stop talking to myself when I get spooked." He pulled away again heading home, glad that the road went to the left away from where the black thing went. Going over a small hill he saw, too late, another black beast in the road right in front of him, this one bigger with sharp looking claws, wicked teeth and a shorter but ridged bony looking head. He sped up intending to run it over but the creature was lightning fast and leapt over Abe and the bike. As he rode underneath it he saw the beasts' razor like tail flying towards his chest. He felt the sharp stinging pain as the point of the tail entered his chest and venom of some kind worked its way into his blood. He crashed the bike and rolled just before it hit the ground. Abe felt dizzy and nauseous then he nearly blacked out as he hit the ground sliding. He rolled over once then stopped with a bump against a series of small rocks, pain exploded through his arm as it snapped. He almost passed out, and he wished he had for the last thing he saw was the black insect like creature there next to him, dripping its slimy spit into pools by his face. The strange insect like creature lifted its lips to reveal rows of sharp looking teeth. Opening this nightmare black mouth he saw a second smaller mouth with razor sharp looking teeth. He didn't have time to scream as this second mouth flew towards him and smashed into his skull above his eyes.

Watching the man set off on his machine the predator checked his computer. A holographic image of the man on the bike appeared from about five hundred feet above. Switching from the blue of thermal imaging to a red view the image followed the man along the track and over a ridge. He turned left with the course of the track and stopped as a full grown drone bug raced over the ridge in front of him. He'd seen one of them, the predator snarled. The man continued on his machine riding away from the warrior straight towards the other waiting beast, the queen. The predator watched as the man was killed and then carried back towards the alien's new found nest.

He watched the alien as it ran through trees, down slopes, and up over ridges towards its nest. The hunter's eye followed its journey up into the caves that were once the small towns' only income, the old abandoned gold mines. He watched the animal as it headed into the second largest of the tunnels in the side of the mountain. He tapped in some commands in to his computer and used the sky spy to scan the area around the gold caves. He spotted another of the aliens carrying another human on its back heading for the same caves before bringing the device back overhead.

The young hunter stood up on the branch of the tree where he was watching from and scanned the area again with his arm computer and mask. Satisfied that the warriors didn't know he was there he jumped to the ground. Upon landing he turned to his computer and entered some more commands. After a few seconds sparks and lightning as a small, Frisbee sized disk like object appeared in front of him. He took it from the sky and it shrunk into itself to make a smaller poker chip sized disk which he inserted back into his arm computer.

Changing his vision back to thermal he turned and headed back to his ship, happy his plan to get his revenge on the acid bugs, and especially the humans that killed his father, was working. He would make the humans pay with their blood and pain and he would take many trophies on this hunt.
Chapter 3

06:00am Silver Leaf, Nebraska

Sakura Yutani looked at the data from a print out and referenced them with the computer she was sitting in front of "It could either have left or landed; you say that you lost the signal two and a half hours ago so we need to figure out what it wanted, why was it up there?" asked Miss Yutani.

Andrews remembered something and turned to Bob Hollister "Tell me Bob, last night when you first called me you said an object entered the atmosphere and burned up did you not?"

"Well yes but it was just debris," answered Bob. "There's a lot of rubbish up there probably knocked out of its orbit by this other craft we have been watching."

Andrews turned to the computer next to him, "What time was it?" he asked "did you get any data on the debris entering the atmosphere?" he opened files and folders until he found last nights logs.

"It was just after eight thirty last night, the dome was open we physically saw it just North West heading Easterly," said Bob while he was at his own computer screen. "There that's the data" he clicked again to print the data "why, would it be important?"

Miss Yutani was next to the printer when it spat out the first pages, "it could be, but supposing it wasn't knocked out of orbit but dropped from orbit, with something on board." She leaned over, picked them up, and scanning the pages she asked "could we extrapolate a trajectory from this data?"

"Plotting now on the projector, this data says the object was about two meters long, big for debris" said Andrews as he'd also found the data and was running its code through a simulator on his laptop.

"It isn't just nuts and bolts up there," said Bob "at first we thought it could have been something dropped from a shuttle mission or a dead satellite."

All three looked at the projector screen in the centre of the consoles where Andrews and Bob sat. Yutani walked over to stand between them and they all watched as their computer generated debris flew into our atmosphere. Its tail burned hot and bright as the friction from the atmosphere heated it by the sheer speed of its descent. The blip on the screen turned from fire into just a blip again as it had entered the atmosphere properly, cooling in the cold high air. As it descended the computer generated camera angle shifted and moved to a position above the object. Following it down the computer overlaid the generated landscape with a map as they headed across western Canada for Washington State. A river appeared, long and winding from the North West, big and fat but filled with islands of all sizes. As they got closer there was one small town Olympia, appeared on the overlaid map near the end of the lake. The object flew directly over the river, past Olympia and slammed into a hillside a roughly a hundred and twenty miles south east of the town.

"Will this give us an exact fix?" said Andrews.

Bob nodded studying the overlaid map.

"We need to get a team out there now," Andrews said as he got out his cell and walked towards the back of the room. He called back to Bob "find out if there are any other towns there, it looks remote but you never know."

Bob punched the data into his computer and the readout was sent to a printer nearby. Walking over to the printer and picking up the paper Bob said "there is a small town there, hang on," he searched for the information he needed "it's called Maddison Heights, with a population of just over eight hundred."

Miss Yutani likewise had made a call on her mobile; she only said a few words, "strike team, I'm sending you the co-ordinates now, finish, prep, and go," then hung up and turned towards her laptop.

Andrews also on the telephone said "I'll send you the location now, make sure objective one is maintained then move out" he hung up and went to his computer to send the location of the crashed object to the other man.

"We need to quarantine the area, nothing gets in or out without us knowing about it" Miss Yutani said as she picked up her briefcase.

"There is only one road going in or out so quarantine shouldn't be a problem" Andrews answered as they said goodbye to Bob.

06:00am Maddison Heights, Washington State

The early morning air was crisp as a slight breeze stirred the bushes and trees around the house. The front door opens bathing the pathway in light and a fourteen year old boy emerges. Peter Barnes is slim, five foot four inches tall, short brown hair and blue eyes. Was leaving his home, zipping up his coat and pulling the hood tight around his face, to go and help his father at the bakery. His dad had started at four am and asked Peter to be there by six. Ok so he was going to be fifteen minutes late he thought as he walked along the path to the road.

He turned right towards the main road through town where his father has his shop. Peter looked around the trees ahead as the breeze had died down, and so had everything else it had seemed. No birdsong, no animal sounds, it was creepy. Peter crossed the road and looked either side of him, he saw nothing. As he was walking along he heard a car door shut from behind him and relaxed at the normal sounds. He heard the engine start up and a car backed out into the road, he heard a honk then another as the driver tried to get his attention. He turned around and saw a big black insect twenty feet away with a long curved banana like black head. The creature looked at the car coming up the street. It swished a long dangerous looking tail and turned to Peter who turned to face the beast. It stepped into the road, hissed, and leapt at Peter, who, in one movement, dived right and then rolled to avoid the insect and car coming at him. The bug landed a few feet away and turned to face Peter again as the car slammed into it. The impact sprayed yellow liquid over the front and top of the car as the insect bounced over it. The cars motion shattering the black insect as it went half over and half under the car.

Peter had jumped to his feet and ran towards the driveway of a neighbour his heart racing. Not noticing the yellowish splash across his forehead but hearing a cracking and splashing sound he turned back to see the insect cut in half. The strange creature's head had bounced over the roof of the car dripping its yellow blood over the front and windscreen. With its body smashed on the bonnet and windscreen and the legs going under Peter knew it was dead. The driver managed to slam on the brakes as the acid blood burned its way through the thin metal of the car and started to melt through the engine. The head of the alien had skidded across the window and roof of the car and flew off the back crashing to the floor. Acid burned through the windscreen and dripped onto the driver's legs. He screamed as more acid melted through the roof and melted through his head and most of his torso cutting off his scream. The car continued its momentum for a few seconds, turned left and hit the kerb before collapsing in a smoking pile. Peter, scared and shaken, looked on for a moment as the car continued to melt and then he ran all the way to his fathers shop.

As he got close to the shop he noticed that the light out back wasn't on. Now he was near to panic after what he'd just seen by his house. He approached the front door and listened, he could hear birds and other normal town sounds, a siren in the distance was getting closer. All of his senses were alert as he went to the side of the building then headed for the side gate. He went through heading to kitchen where his dad made the bread out the back.

The siren got louder as it passed then quieter again as it headed away, then the siren stopped. Peter froze thinking about the scary insect and the car. Stepping silently through the gate he froze at a sound, he pushed the hood of the coat away from his ears and strained to listen. Padding feet and a small bell sounds as a cat came from the back garden towards Peter. He relaxed a little as he called "Sabre" a stray cat he feeds some nights with milk, meat scraps and bread.

The cat ignored him today, as it does sometimes, and ran past him out into the road and away up an alleyway opposite. Peter continued into the back of the building and found no lights or sounds coming from the bakery. The doors were locked still and nobody answered when he called to his father through a letter box. It was now six thirty and the town was starting to come to life.

He waited for another fifteen minutes and then started his journey home again to see if his father had passed him. He didn't rush, and after all he didn't want to walk past that car. He wondered about the sirens, what was that creature? Could he remember it enough to draw it, maybe, well he would try until he got it right, as soon as he got home.

He listened all the way home for it to go quiet and still like it did earlier. By seven am he was turning back into his street. He was relieved to see a tow truck, the sheriff's car, fire engine, and an ambulance by the tarpaulin covered remains of the melted car. He approached the group of officials and asked the sheriff what had happened.

"We don't know son, hell of a mess" Answered the sheriff quietly.

Looking over at his house the boy had to say something "I know what happened sir" Peter started "I was here but I was scared and I ran after it happened."

The sheriff, Ian Carmichael, a man of nearly sixty years, six foot two and two hundred pounds looked down at the boy and nodded, "ok son" he said as reached for his notebook and pen, "tell me what is under that cover, if you were here you will know."

Peter glances at the covered remains, "it is what's left of a car sir, melted with the driver melted as well, and in the road you found parts of a black insect, a big insect." He gasped not expecting the words to rush out like that.

"Tell me your name son, where do you live?" Ian asked.

"Peter Barnes, my dad owns the Baker shop on Fenton Street, I live there," he pointed down the road to his house on the other side of the road. Sheriff Ian wrote this down as the boy continued more calmly now "I left at six to help my dad at work, as I got up the road I heard a car honk its horn behind me so I turned around. Standing by that tree," he pointed again "was this big black insect with a long sharp tail, it jumped towards me and I dived out of the way. I rolled over and got up to see as the car hit the insect. It was cut in half by the car and its head bounced over the roof, I think its blood must be acid because that's what melted the car."

Ian nodded "you have a nasty on your head there son is that new?"

Peter reached up, he vaguely remembered the stinging but he ignored it as he was scared, "do you have a mirror?" he asked as he spotted a wing mirror on the sheriffs car. He walked over and saw a jagged welt of a new scar on his forehead, "yes its new, it must have splashed me" he looked down "I didn't realise"

The paramedic went to his ambulance and took out his medical kit. He went to Peter and offered to look at the wound on his forehead. "Let me see," he said as he opened a sterilised packet, "It looks clean, you said you got splashed by the insects blood, I'd say it missed you" He motioned the sheriff over to have a look, "look at the wound on Peter here and look at the drips we done from the bugs head. A tiny drop of this acid made a hole through the manhole there, if it had splashed you it would have burned through, this must have wiped you as it flew past. You were very lucky son"

"I ran to my dads shop because I was scared there might be more of these things. When I got to my dads shop it was empty, no lights on, no one there," said Peter, "sheriff, have you seen my dad?" he asked.

"No I haven't son, I will keep a lookout though as things like this aren't right in this town this or any morning." Sheriff Ian looked at the wrecked car and sighed, "Abe Garner has not arrived home this morning either" he said to no-one in particular.

"He is always staying overnight in the mountains though," mused Joe the driver of the fire truck who'd been watching the unfolding story with interest, "he's out hunting and promised me some decent fresh end of season steak," the man said as he leaned on his truck.

"Hold that thought" the sheriff said to Joe. Turning to the boy he asked "Is your mother home Peter?"

Peter nodded that she was.

"Go home I will come over and talk to both you and your mother in twenty minutes ok."

The boy nodded again, turned and walked the ten yards to his home. Ian watched until he saw the boy walking up a driveway then turned to Jo "where did Abe go? Did he tell you where he was going to get steak at this time of the year?"

"Abe said he was going North East up near the Devils' cave those spelunkers use in the summer. Why's that sheriff do you think it has anything to do with this?" Jo motioned at the covered wreckage still in the road.

"No I don't, if Abe is out in the hills then he might have seen or disturbed some of these insects, if that is what they are." He reached for the radio he carried on his belt, "Mary you there, over"

Almost immediately the voice of Mary his dispatcher came back to him "go ahead sheriff, I'm here, over"

"I'm out on Redmond drive can you tell Billy to come out here Now and take over," Ian had asked Billy to be here ten minutes ago, "I need to get some people out to Devil's Bluff as well can you round up a posse, I'll be there in an hour, over."

"Billy left ten minutes ago so he should be with you anytime now, I'll call Brent and his brothers see if they can get anyone else to help, over"

"Thanks Mary, ah I think that's Billy coming now, over and out." Ian watched the deputy's cruiser coming up the street. As he pulled to the kerb another car turned the corner behind him stopped then two men got out and approached the small group.

Billy got out of his car and walked towards the sheriff, he was six foot four tall and two hundred and fifty pounds of muscled deputy. He glanced over and frowned at the tarpaulin covered wreck, "busy morning eh?" he asked in his deep voice,

"Never seen anything like it before that's the gods honest," sighed Ian, "look Billy this is an unusual scene, whatever you do don't touch the yellowish liquid, it is an extremely potent acid. Wait until the forensics has taken samples before anything is disturbed, divert any traffic away from this road. Seal it off until we got it cleaned up understood."

Billy nodded and started to talk into is radio, satisfied Sheriff Ian Carmichael turned towards the new arrivals "I'm glad to see you two, Billy here is taking control so report anything to him. Be careful of the yellow stuff it is some kind of acid but gather as much as you can." he said to the forensics guys. "Also there is a, well I think it's a head under the tarp, be especially careful with it and take it back to the morgue, I want it preserved," he then turned and headed towards the boys house.
Chapter 4

08:00am

Half an hour later Ian left Peter Barnes house, got into his cruiser and looked again at the picture of the beast that Peter had drawn. "What the fuck are you?" he said as he put the picture down on the passenger seat and pulled away. He made the twenty minute ride back to the station thinking about the morning's events. This case was weird, giant bugs, acid for blood, missing people. The day had defiantly started badly, he decided that it was a lack of coffee to blame and drove a little too fast. As he turned into his station he saw two soldiers walking into the stations front door. "What now," he muttered to himself. Unless that bug is an army creation he thought, "Army creation, a fucking mutant, ha" he laughed to himself.

Mary Taylor was thirty nine but told everyone she was thirty six. She was fairly good looking with long brown hair but dressed like an older woman. With a wicked twinkle in her eye she stood up "good morning boys," she said with a grin "are you here to answer my prayers'?" She stood with her hands on her hips and winked.

The soldier in charge was only twenty five and even he blushed "ma'am we are here to see Sheriff Carmichael."

"Oh relax boys, I'm only teasing. The sheriff will be here soon, he just pulled up as you came in the door," she said with a wicked twinkle in her eye then smiled as the front door opened and Ian walked in, "Ian" said Mary "Brent and some boys are on their way over and these two handsome young men would like to see you," she indicated the soldiers by the counter.

"One moment please," Ian said to the soldiers, "I'll call you into my office in a few minutes, please have a seat."

"Yes sir" said the higher ranking soldier as he and his colleague turned to the seats by the window.

Walking into the back of the station Ian went straight to the filter coffee machine and poured a large cup, Mary came over looking concerned. "Everything ok Ian, you look worried."

"Just in need of caffeine, any thing strange happening here while I was gone?" he asked.

"No it's been quiet so far, jenny Garner called again asking if we'd seen her husband, why, are you expecting trouble." Mary asked and glanced at the soldiers.

"Maybe, look I'll tell you about it later on. I'm not sure what the G.I's want either but if Brent gets here before I'm finished with them tell him to wait in the diner I'll meet him in there as soon as I can get away from these two."

She nodded and smiled a bit relieved but worried still, it wasn't like the sheriff to spook easily but she could see his mind must be racing, he looked worried.

"Give me exactly two minutes to sit down then tell them to come in." Ian opened the door to his office and sat behind a big oak table. He took a sip of the hot coffee and for the first time this morning it felt like things were turning normal again. He turned the computers monitor on and moved the mouse to activate the screen. As the monitor glowed to life he opened the desk drawer and pulled out a small digital recorder.

Reaching under the desk he pulled out a thin wire attached to a small jack plug and connected the pair together. He turned the device on and watched the screen as he coughed, he could see it was ready to record at the click of a mouse. Reaching under the table again he placed the recorder and wire into a small shelf. Satisfied he sat back and took a sip of his drink, good it was cooling down, he thought as he sipped more coffee and again looked at the drawing of the insect Peter had made.

09:30 am Maddison Heights

The sheriff walked into the diner across the street and immediately saw Brent Walker, his brother Art, and their neighbour Will, at a table near the door. "Coffee for us Pam," he said to the woman behind the counter as he approached the table. Shaking hands with each of the three men in turn Ian took his hat off and sat down. "Brent" he said to a tall thin man "what have you heard?"

Brent let out a puff of air and looked out the window, "weird shit man, something about an acid bleeding monster insect that killed Trent Davies. The same beast almost got the bakers kid, something about the army turning up and Abe going missing into the pot hole we call Devils' Bluff." He looked back at Ian "that about cover it Sheriff?"

Ian nodded solemnly and added "some of it, there was an animal the boy who was almost killed was Peter Barnes. He said the insect was like a big, I mean man sized big, black insect with a long head and a sharp tail." He reached into his jacket pocket and took out the drawing from Peter Barnes then showed it to the three men at his table, "This is what he drew." The beast was standing upright on its back legs, jet black with sharp teeth, claws and tail. The head was elongated and curved like a banana except it ended in fangs.

The sheriff spoke as he put the drawing on the table, "the animal was in Redmond avenue, off Fenton, Fenton is the road to Devils'' Bluff. Abe Garner was supposed to be coming back from there at eight o'clock this morning but still hasn't shown up," Ian looked at each man for a response but they just nodded and waited for him to continue. I'd like you three to go out to the cave have a look around the area and see if you can find him. Take guns as there might be more of these out there," he indicated the picture on the table, "and these," he handed Brent a two way radio "I'll be on channel fourteen, don't go in the caves and don't try to be heroes, just report back anything out of the ordinary okay?"

The three men nodded as the sheriff continued "I just had a visit from the Army as well. It seems that they know something has happened and they have reported to me that some of their friends are on their way here to help with a contamination, whatever that means. They didn't say anything else so be careful while you're out there and watch each others backs."

"Did the soldiers say what time their friends would be here?" asked Brent

Ian shook his head "No just that they'd be here later today."

The men left the diner at the same time and all shook hands again as the three trackers went to a sand coloured pickup by the kerb. The sheriff headed back to the station across the street, he heard the pickup start up, then pull away down the road as he entered the station.

10:00am Wills' bar

Situated sixty yards down the road from the school and on the eastern edge of town Wills bar was one of three in the small but growing town. The owner William Cartwright lived there with his wife and two teenage daughters. He'd moved here with his family five years ago having been left the bar in his uncles will. William, called Will by the regulars, stood on the back porch calling for Benji their three year old Alsatian he bought as a puppy to guard the place. Where was that damn dog he wondered as he turned back to the bar to prepare it for the afternoon's customers?

He wasn't worried as the dog usually went for long excursions around the lake and always came back to the bar in the afternoon. Will hadn't seen him since last night when it ran towards the lake at around nine o'clock after the tourist couple left. Picking up a broom he swept debris on the floor into a small pile then went to get a rubbish bag from the back room. Opening a drawer he heard a noise out on the back porch and presumed that his dog was back from whatever adventures it had been on out in the wild.

"Benji you little shit" he said as he went to the porch, "where the fuck have you be..." he stopped mid sentence as he was greeted not by a dog but a huge dark brown almost black insect. It was standing on all four legs like a dog and dripping its spit all over the decking as it turned to face him. "Fuck" he said as he ran towards the bar to get his shotgun that he kept underneath it.

Hearing the door crash and splinter behind him he turned in time to see the insect. It had smashed the door off its hinges and was stepping over the splintered remains towards him. He was glad his daughters were at school and his wife was shopping as they wouldn't want to see this nightmare.

The insect stood there drooling on the floor watching the man as Will stepped left and the insect followed baring its teeth. Will moved to the right and the creature moved with him. Keeping an eye on the creature Will leaned over the counter and grabbed the shotgun as the insect's tail shot forward and slammed into his chest. Will felt like he'd been punched in the chest by the strongest man in the world and fell back on the bar trying to breathe, dropping the gun on the floor. His vision blurred and he felt dizzy and nauseous and almost passed out.

As he crashed forward to the ground he felt strong hands grab hold of him. He was dragged out of the bar and out onto the porch where he could see a large blurry spider like creature climbing up the stairs towards him. The man fell unconscious as the spider like creature climbed up onto his chest and crawled forward to settle over his face. It grabbed his head with its eight bony fingers as it wrapped its long silky tail around his throat, the bigger insect picked him up properly and carried him out towards the trees near the lake.

He didn't hear as his wife pulled up in the four by four to bring the supplies in. He also didn't see the other, larger black insect as it headed past them running on two legs towards the front of the bar he'd just been dragged out of.

"Will" called Jenny his wife from the car "come and give me a hand with the supplies." Jenny got out of the pickup and went to the back door of the vehicle, opening it she called again "Will, come and help me."

Hearing a noise behind her as she picked up a box she thought she'd try to tell him off for not answering "Damn you William Cartwright at least answer when you're spoken to," she said turning to face the sound behind her. What she saw made her drop the box of supplies she'd taken out of the back of the car as a big black thing approached snarling and baring its teeth. She could see it dribbling its spit as it approached and she screamed as the thing opened its mouth and its smaller set of teeth extended. It opened and closed its smaller mouth then rushed the woman who screamed again as its smaller inner set of teeth smashed into her skull. Picking up her limp body the nightmare creature ran towards the trees where the brown insect had gone a few minutes before.

11.00am a mile from Devils' Bluff

Brent stopped the truck near the end of the dirt track that lead the last two miles out to the hole in the ground known as Devils bluff. Abe's bike was laying on its side, dented, broken, and half buried where it crashed this morning. The ground a few yards to one side was scuffled and broken in places as if in a struggle. He also spotted small pools of some sticky resin like substance and spots of what looked like blood. Brent called in to report this to the sheriff and then the three men returned to the truck and drove over the ridge towards the cave.

Five minutes later and Brent and Art walker stood with Will Iseley by the pick up as they prepared and loaded the guns. All three men had a rucksack with food, water and first aid kit, and all were trackers that had a lot of experience finding lost tourists out here in the summer months.

"We'll all go east, twenty meter spread, and sweep the area to the cave, eyes and ears open," Brent said as he pumped a cartridge into the shotguns chamber. "We'll close together again when we are in front of the outcrop over the cave," everyone nodded "lets move."

They spread out, Brent in the middle, Art on his left, and Will on his right. When they were far enough apart they moved forward across the rough terrain, going over ridges and through trees. They walked for ten minutes keeping their eyes on each other as well as the land around them. The three men stopped for water and Brent called the sheriff to report their progress again before they continued on towards the bluff.

Crouching on the branch of a tree an invisible, deadly hunter watched as the three humans approached. Three orange, red and yellow silhouettes of people in the blue aura of thermal imaging were the only animals for miles. The men were spread out but still they were easy prey. The hunter jumped to the ground one hundred yards ahead of the approaching trophies and went to the right circling the men as they approached.

Will whistled and Brent signalled Art to stop before they looked back at Will. Standing by a tree he signalled that he'd found signs that some one had come through here recently and headed the way they were going.

Brent reached for his radio to call the sheriff and turned back to call Art to him. He saw his brother standing there open mouthed as a big red stain formed on his chest. He fell forward onto his face dead as electricity flashed and flared behind him. A long shiny bronze and polished steel spear appeared in Art's back, Brent scanned the area beyond and either side of where his brother was killed.

The three men were in a line leading away from the hunter, he knew this was going to be easy. Throwing his spear at the back of the man closest to him he then ran right. He saw the middle man of the three facing his companion as his spear passed through his chest. He drew out his spear gun and fired on the man that was in the middle of the trio a moment before.

Seeing a flash of light Brent dropped low and a dart of some kind flew at high speed where his head had been a second before. He rolled to the right and tried to look for an enemy but saw nothing. He got up and ran for Will who was also looking everywhere wildly.

The young hunter was relieved at the confusion he had caused and saw the man on the right looking around. He drew out another, larger barrelled gun and fired at the human.

Will was hit by a net that flew him backward into the tree he found the tracks under. He was pinned to the tree as the net started getting tighter until it was too tight to move, then it started cutting into him. Brent too stunned to move he didn't see the predator come up behind him but heard the electrical discharge as the hunter became visible. He spun round trying to bring the gun up but too late as the hunter grabbed the gun in one hand and punched Brent in the face with the other.

Brent flew back and smashed his head into a rock, stars and lightning flashed in his eyes as he almost passed out. He saw a metallic mask looming over him and screamed as the predator drove its wrist blades into his neck. With one swift move upward Brent's head was separated from his neck and body. The young predator howled in his glory and revelled in his revenge firstly and secondly because it was his first trophy of the hunt.

The young hunter didn't bother with his invisibility shield as there were no more humans around. His eye in the sky would warn him of anything approaching, human or alien. Three drove up and three died he thought as he grabbed the spear in Arts back pressed a button and the spear retracted into its self. Putting the weapon on his back he grabbed an ankle and dragged the corpse over to the tree where Will was pinned. The man was a mess the net cutting deep into his body almost slicing halfway through him.

The predator then went round the back of the tree and unhooked the net to release the dead body. It slumped to the ground with a squelch as blood spurted out from the many cuts his net had made. Using his wrist blades he cut their belts and packs off before throwing them away. He reached into his belt and took a glass tube of bright blue liquid. He took off the lid and poured the contents over the decapitated body of Brent and the almost diced body of Will. Making a hissing sound the two men's corpses dissolved into nothing. The hunter activated his arm computer and a small device slid out of the side. Attaching the glass bottle to it he sprayed the body of Art with the blue liquid and scans the body with his red laser. Arts clothes began to dissolve before his skin melted as well.

Five minutes later and Arts' skinned body was hanging upside down from the tree dripping blood onto the ground below him. The young hunter turned away, shimmered, vanished as he headed back towards the cave and the safety of his ship.

00:30 pm Wills Bar

Ian Carmichael had been called to Wills bar by Joe Morris one of the local drinkers. Joe told him that the back door had been smashed off and both Will and his wife Jenny were nowhere to be seen. Jenny's four by four stood open in front of the bar with a bag of supplies strewn on the ground. Ian was greeted by Joe as he walked out of the bar carrying an opened bottle of beer, "morning sheriff" said Joe not realising the time.

"Afternoon Joe, was it you who called this in?" Ian asked as he looked around Jenny's jeep.

"Aye sheriff, this is how I found the place I haven't touched nothing but the inside is better than this" Joe pointed towards the bar he'd just left.

"Didn't touch anything eh Joe, where did the beer come from?" Ian smiled as he turned away from the man.

"Aw sheriff I left the money for it on the bar, I thought Will would be back"

Ian was inspecting the floor where there was a pool of sticky clear resin like substance near the car. The dropped supplies and a splash of what looked like blood next to it, "you say inside is better than this what do you mean?"

"Take a look sheriff, the back door has been smashed off and there is more of that sticky white shit everywhere."

Both of the men walked over to the door and Ian turned to the other man, "how long have you been here Joe?"

"I left work at twelve and came straight here, found this like you see it and went inside where I called the station," Joe said before taking a long drink from the bottle.

"Wait here Joe this is a crime scene so I will be closing the bar as soon as Billy arrives."

"You need me anymore then sheriff, I mean I might as well get some beers from the store and go home if I can't sit in here?" the fireman said indicating the bar.

"We need a statement so wait here for me Joe, at least until Billy arrives. If you see anything call me I'm only going to take a quick look."

Joe nodded as the sheriff went into the bar then finished the beer he was holding, putting the bottle down on a table on the porch he sat down to wait.

Going inside Ian saw two smashed tables, a shotgun on the floor and more of the sticky resin in a pool near the bar. It looked like something had been dragged through it towards the back where the door was lying on the floor. The door frame was smashed and Ian noticed what appeared to be scratch marks in the wooden frame.

He looked out the back and studied the tree line before walking through to the front of the bar.

14:00pm Granger Road

Ian was just leaving Abe Garners house where he'd spoken to Abe's wife Brenda about his disappearance this morning. Billy pulled up in his cruiser as Ian walked out of the bar and headed towards his cruiser. Both men nodded to each other as Billy parked his car in front of Ian's.

"Busy morning so far Ian" said Billy as he got out of the car.

Ian laughed "for sure Billy what brought all this on all of a sudden?"

"Something for sure is weird this morning, any news on Abe?" Billy asked.

"He still hasn't come home yet so I sent some people out to Devils' Bluff this morning." Ian looked and felt tired and rubbed his jaw as he continued "they've not checked in for nearly three hours but I'm going to give them another half hour before I put them down as missing as well."

"What about I get two dozen men to go out there now, we can take a look around as well as try to find them?" Billy volunteered.

"Get a statement from Joe here first then send him home and call up a clean up crew to shut this bar down."

Billy nodded "then we go out to the Bluff?"

"I'll be getting dark by the time you get there in numbers Billy, if you're sure you want to go out there then meet me in the diner at half three." Ian had been looking at the sky expecting rain but turned back to his deputy, "I've got to go and see Brent and Arts mum and then I've got to stop at Will Iseley's house. They have to know that we've lost contact with their sons and husbands out at the bluff, it's all I've been doing today is visiting families of missing people."

"I hear you sheriff" Billy said, then asked "what did the soldiers want this morning?"

"They stopped by to ask about the town, it was strange, I have it recorded if you want to listen before you go out to the bluff. They asked if everything seemed normal." Ian Laughed "they asked about any missing people and other strange questions. Then they said there are more soldiers coming here but they didn't give a time when they'd be arriving." Ian thought for a minute then said "I tell you what round up your posse and tell them to meet us at the diner at four. Then head back to the station and ask Mary to let you in my office, the recorder is in the top drawer. I'll tell her you're coming in and I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Yes sir" answered the deputy "I'll get as many as I can to go out there tonight, do you think the soldiers are taking people from the town or they know something that is?"

"Maybe Billy, listen to the tape" Ian tapped the deputy on the shoulder and opened his car door "I'll be there as quick as I can."

Billy talked to Joe for ten minutes and took notes to what he found. As Joe headed home Billy got into his car and picked up the radio. He changed to channel eight and said "Walter you by the radio over?"

Static as Billy looked around at the normally peaceful town "This place has gone to hell" he said before keying the mike again "Walter are you there over."

Billy started the car intending to drive over there as his friend answered the radio, "yeah Billy I hear you, it was bad timing is all, what's up deputy?"

"Bad timing what were you in the can or something?" Billy laughed "over"

"Not this time boss Rob forgot his damn keys again, had to let him in."

"Walter I need to get a couple of dozen people to come with me out to the bluff this evening, can you and Rob round up some willing bodies?"

"Yeah sure what's happened over?" asked Walter.

"Long story Walter, get your people over to the diner for about half three. I'll be there as soon as I can and I'll explain."

"Roger that boss, diner three thirty, I'll get Rob on it now and I'll make some calls as well over."

"Thanks Walter I owe you a beer or three, see you in a bit over and out." Billy pulled away heading for the station, he wanted to hear that tape now.

15:30pm

Orange, red and yellow human shaped blobs appeared in the blue of the thermal image as the predator watched the town from the safety of his ship. He'd sent his spy in the sky over the town ten minutes ago, more to look for the aliens than the humans, but at the moment there were only around fifty bugs he'd spotted around the caves to the east of town.

The queen hadn't left since he'd first seen her this morning and the hunter knew that by now she would have matured and would be laying the first of many eggs in her cave so he decided to watch the humans for a while.

He moved his eye over a building on the edge of town and so far had seen about fifteen men pull up in their vehicles and enter the building with guns. Maybe they were coming out to him which would be a grand battle. More of their cars stopped in the car park opposite and another ten men entered the building he looked down on.

His sky spy was almost three hundred feet above them as he watched so he pressed some buttons on the console to his right and the sky spy lifted up to five thousand feet and circled around the town heading towards the main road out towards the next big town over a hundred miles away. Changing its vision mode he watched the aliens as they attacked people out walking and animals in the wild before taking their bodies back to the nest in the caves.

Changing back to the blue thermal for a last look at the people gathering with their guns he spots four helicopters, two large Lorries, two cars, three smaller trucks and an APC. The convoy was moving from the distant town along the road to this town. Clicking he brought the sky spy back knowing that some human soldiers were now heading this way.
Chapter 5

16:00pm Sheriff Carmichaels' office

Ian stood in the middle of two dozen arguing men, "hold on," he shouted getting everyone's attention. "We are not just going to start shooting anything that moves or throwing grenades all over the place." He almost shouted over the crowd as they began talking again, "QUIET" he shouted, all eyes turned to him and mouths closed as it went quiet again in the office. "I want an orderly search for the missing people, guns are ok but NO grenades going off. We'll kill each other that way for sure." He looked around all of the faces in the room and satisfied now that he had their attention he continued. "There are over eight hundred people in this town and just today eighteen people that we know of have either gone missing or been killed for sure. We know these people; they are our friends and neighbours so it is up to us to help go out and look for them." Some of the group nodded as he continued "all went missing at the east or south east end of town and we know that there is something out at Devil's Bluff so that's where we'll start."

Jed Harris was the local butcher, a man of thirty seven years, cropped greying hair and stocky build. He was a fitness and karate instructor at the local school, "It's getting dark soon sheriff, we've got to take something for our own protection." He stated the obvious; "If you say no guns then I'm going home and having a beer." A few others nodded in agreement.

"Jed, hang on there big guy, I never said no to guns, I said no to grenades. We can't just go chucking them out in front of us there will be an accident," Ian was tired, he'd been out since six am. He'd answered about ten calls from the wives, husbands, or children of the missing people. He had visited three of the areas where people were reported as missing and only got one, fairly unbelievable, story, from young Peter Barnes. Most of the other disappearances today were reported by wives or parents of people who went out towards the gold caves or Devils Bluff. He picked up the folded drawing Peter had drawn this morning; god was it that long ago? "This is the beast that killed Trent this morning" He held up the drawing and hearing a few disbelieving gasps he added "Its real, we picked up the remains this morning out on Redmond. If you still don't believe me go down the morgue because we've got its head on ice. Better still take a look at Trent's car, or what's left of it."

Ian passed round a dozen photographs, images of the ruined car, Trent's' remains and the remains of the insect, "this bug was going to attack Peter but he got clear just before Trent's car ran over this thing. This insect bleeds some kind of acid; it melted away all the missing pieces of Trent and his car that you see in the photographs"

"So what is it and where the fuck did it come from?" asked Jed solemnly.

"I heard there were soldiers here today" said Joe from the back of the room, "Is it one of their fucked up experiments? There must be more of them out there if one got killed in the road this morning and other people have vanished since."

Before Ian or anyone could reply the sheriffs' telephone rang, picking it up Ian said "Sheriff's office, Ian Carmichael speaking" he recognised the voice on the other end of the line, then "yes sir, we are going out there now."

Everyone else in there was straining to hear what was going on, who was speaking on the other end of the line. Ian made notes and wrote a name down while he listened.

"Yes sir, I just don't think the boys will be that happy about it that's all, we're ready to leave now and you call to tell me this. Its bullshit and you know it." After almost a minute of listening Ian only said two words, "Yes sir," then hung up.

He looked at the expectant crowd who were dying to know what the call was about, it sounded official. "That was the Mayor," he said quietly at last "He has received orders from Washington DC no less that a special task force assigned to a," he looked at his notes "A Mr Peter Keys of the NSA will be arriving soon, Mr Keys has a team on route and will prosecute any body who goes out to Devils Bluff" He looked around the room "He said we'd be walking on physical evidence and will be prosecuted for disturbing the scene of a crime."

"Its bullshit man" said another voice from the back of the room.

"I'm going home then and getting a beer," cheered Jed.

As people started leaving the sheriff's office they looked up, they could hear a helicopter but couldn't see it. In this terrain it could be miles away as the sound would carry between mountains and through valleys.

At last every one was in the road, including Ian, looking around the sky for the source of the noise. Just then Mary pointed off to the North West as Three double rotor Chinook helicopters and a silver Alouette came over the hill, "there they are there are four of them," she laughed as everyone else looked at the mighty flying beasts as they grew closer, larger, and louder.

The lead Chinook lifted its nose as it drew close to the parking lot on the far end of the road. It slowed and lowered gently to the ground, as soon as it touched down the huge door at the back of the craft cracked open and lowered to the floor creating a ramp. The engine sound died down but didn't stop as two dozen soldiers ran down the ramp and formed into two lines. The soldiers lined up on either side of the Helicopter as the engines idled. A jeep with four officers drove off the ramp and parked in front of the crowd. The pilot throttled up the engines and the huge helicopter was airborne again before the door had fully closed.

The other two Chinooks were further back behind the leader as it landed and were hovering steadily at a hundred feet. The silver Alouette circled the town as the Chinook on the left of the formation edged forward a bit quicker than the one on the right and lowered to forty feet. The door on the side of the craft slid open and six black ropes were thrown out. Before the ropes hit the ground six men in black and grey uniforms slid down to the ground. Then twelve holdall bags, tied two at a time on each rope, slid down and were taken off by the guys on the ground. Then a final six men slid down to take up positions with their comrades. The back door of the craft lowered and the huge machine lowered to ten feet quickly, slowed, and then settled to the ground, two huge crates were pushed off and twenty more soldiers got off. The helicopter lifted up and moved out of the way to let in the third machine in the formation. This helicopter, like the first, settled gently to the ground and opened its back and side doors. Out of the back six big pine boxes were pushed off of the Chinook on trolleys, followed buy five men in suits and sunglasses. Out of the side doors more holdalls and smaller boxes were passed out to the waiting soldiers.

As the huge helicopters double rotors picked up enough speed and power two eighteen wheel Lorries came around the far corner. Followed by two black Cadillac's, with dark tinted windows, then three more trucks and a bus. The Lorries pulled into the parking lot and stopped near the line of soldiers, their air brakes hissing as they were applied. The sedans stopped behind the lead lorry their mirrored windows made it difficult to see the occupants inside. Finally the bus headed for the back of the lot as the silver Alouette landed where the Chinooks had.

Three men got out of the silver helicopter and walked towards the sedans and the waiting towns' folk. Halfway across and one of the men says something to his colleagues and they split up heading towards different trucks. This man, Ian noticed, was about two hundred pounds, thirty five years old and clean shaven, he was wearing a blue checked shirt and black jeans.

All of the doors on the first car opened at once and four heavily armed men got out, the two from the front of the car shut their doors. From the back emerged the strangest looking people to get out of such a car, the first, a man, was about thirty, one hundred and fifty pounds, wavy mousey brown hair and dressed in jeans, trainers, a red shirt, and a white lab coat. He was holing a laptop and looking around nervously, he said something to his companion, and she smiled and nodded. She was maybe fifty five, plump and oriental looking. Like the man she also carried a computer and wore a lab coat.

The second car opened its doors just as the man spoke to his companion, two men gout out of the front, tall, muscular, suits, sunglasses and guns. They shut the front doors of their car and opened the rear doors for the occupants. Two scientists in their twenties, an American man about fifty and a thirty year old oriental gentleman in a dark pinstripe suit.

The oriental man spoke into a radio device he was holding, "set up Echo Base and enforce quarantine," he then turned to the approaching sheriff and motioned the man from the silver helicopter to join him.

"I'm the sheriff here," he started to say but was cut off by the oriental man, and the noise of the soldiers shouting as they unpacked and set up the camp behind them.

"Sheriff" he said and held out his hand, they shook hands as he continued "I am Kenzo Yutani, I am here merely as a medical observer. You need to talk to this man," he turned to indicate the American.

"Sheriff, I am Peter Keys" said the blue shirted man as he opened his I.D. "I am an N.S.A. agent here to assist the C.D.C and the army in their investigation of a possible contamination out at Devil's Bluff"

"Contamination of what?" asked Ian not quite believing the man, "and what's the N.S.A and C.D.C's interest here."

"About eight months ago we visited a small town in Peru, they reported giant insects." He paused to see the reaction, "we found out that there was a certain combination of chemicals that would cause these insects to mutate and grow. The chemicals were dumped as toxic waste in a nearby cave. We believe there have been chemicals dumped in the caves on the Bluff, we also believe it's the same mix of chemicals that caused the mutation in Peru. As to the agency I represent well I'm here to make sure that these insects don't create a hive. If they get a foothold here they could become unstoppable and eventually kill all life on earth. We have been given the authority to quarantine the area, no one comes in, no one leaves, without our say so."

To most of the town folk there it seemed as good an explanation as any. To Ian Carmichael it still didn't sound or feel right. "Okay we've seen one of these insects, do you know that when cut they bleed some sort of potent acid?" he asked.

Feigning surprise Peter Keys said "no, this must be a new mutation, excuse me one second." He took out a cell phone walked away to call Miss Yutani's private number to say that they'd arrived and to stall for time with the town's people.

While Keys was making the call Ian looked around at the activity in the car park as the soldiers made their camp.

"Did you believe that bullshit our new friend here was coming out with?" asked Billy quietly.

Ian almost laughed out loud at his deputies' comment "what makes you think its bullshit?"

Billy motioned the sheriff to walk away from eavesdroppers so he could say what was on his mind. They moved a safe distance away and turned to watch the new medical and army facility set up in the towns' car park.

"You know as well as I do that no chemicals or toxic waste has been dumped out there. No Lorries have come though town and that is the only road out there."

"You know Billy I thought the same thing but then I thought that helicopters could have brought any waste like that from the north east." He looked at Billy then shook his head, "someone would definitely have heard them though."

"I still want to take some of our people out to the Bluff, without them knowing." Billy indicated the soldiers "I just want to take a look out there because I don't think the insects are there. It doesn't feel right all the attacks were on the east side, if the insects aren't at the bluff then maybe they're at the old gold caves?"

"Ok I don't have problems with that but go early tomorrow morning as its getting light. Be careful and don't let them see you go, a bit later I'll head out of town to see how well its been quarantined."

"They probably just got a road block out there and that's' it" Billy was looking over at the diner as he spoke, "want a coffee, I'm buying?"

"Hell yeah, it's about time you got the coffee in," Ian said grinning.

Billy started to turn as he laughed at the joke but Ian was studying a group of soldiers who were setting up what looked like a model aircraft. "What do you make of that?" he pointed and asked.

Billy looked over to where the sheriff was looking and saw the group building a model aircraft they had unpacked from one of the crates. About twelve feet long, definitely aeroplane shaped but without wings, the men working on it were at the nose end connecting wires and inspecting circuitry. Another man was setting up a remote controller onto a tripod while four others were opening a long box from which they were unpacking the wings.

"I've seen them on discovery channel, it's called a Predator drone, a remote control spy in the sky," he said "They fly them over war zones to get an idea of the enemies' locations. It looks like they are getting it ready to fly now though."

"Shall we stick around to watch the show?" asked Ian as Keys approached them again.

"I'll get the coffees and bring them over," Billy said as he turned and crossed the street.

17:00pm Echo base

Sheriff Carmichael and Billy were in the bases command post, designated Echo base, a camouflaged and netted tent. They were looking at three TV screens that showed the views from the cameras on board the now airborne drone ship. The first image was in normal colour, it showed the hills and trees of the landscape around the bluff as you'd see it if you was there.

The second TV was blue, it was the same image as the first but there was only the occasional flash of orange, red or yellow as animals ran or flew past. The third display was the same as the first two images but again it was in a different spectrum. This time it was the green hue of night vision, with black spots where there was orange in the thermal image.

The remote plane flew towards the cave entrance at about two hundred feet. Its onboard instruments continuously sending back data to the government officials in the tent. As the craft approached a tree line Billy asked "what are they in the trees, can you get closer with this thing or zoom in?" The image on the screen showed a darker shadow amongst branches on the largest tree, Billy couldn't be certain but he was sure that the shape hanging there was red.

The soldier who controlled the remote ship looked up and replied "we'll have to circle around and drop altitude to a hundred feet but yes we should be able to zoom in on that area." The pilot looked at Keys who nodded. Using the joystick he held the soldier put the UAV into a turn and pointed its nose down to loose altitude.

Ian spotted something in the corner of the image as the small plane turned away from it. He looked around at the others but no one else seemed to see the shape as it disappeared from view so he never mentioned it. They all watched quietly as the pilot continued to turn plane so that they could look into the trees that Billy had pointed out.
Chapter 6

17:05 pm Devils Bluff

Silent and invisible the hunter watched as a small primitive flying machine appeared if front of him about a mile away. His vision allowed him to zoom on to the approaching object and his mask had analysed radio equipment and multiple spectrum cameras. Opening his arm mounted computer he pressed a series of buttons and looked back at the flying machine. The image panned back to the normal view and he changed spectrums to study the area around him. Pressing again on his computer a small disk the size of a poker chip slid up out of its hidden compartment. He took out the disk pressed a sensor button and the size of the disc expanded to nearly Frisbee size. He let go of the disk to watch it hover in front of him, activating his arm computer again the disc began its ascent as it shimmered then vanished but the blurred outline could still be seen as it climbed up to a thousand feet.

Jumping through the branches of the trees the hunter made his way swiftly to his right. He headed away from the plane, he had hoped that he was out of sight of the cameras on board but wasn't too worried. The hunter would soon be approaching his blood ritual and this hunt might just prove he was worthy of the clans mark. When he took them back the trophies they would honour him he was sure of that.

He stopped on the branch of a tree and studied his surroundings, changing light spectrums and viewing the same areas in different lights. There weren't any humans or animals around. A few birds maybe but most of the local wildlife was still hibernating.

The white aeroplane was about five hundred feet away and two hundred feet up. The hunter headed to his right as the plane started turning, it was circling around! Worried now that he'd been spotted the hunters' shoulder cannon swung up from his back and around to face front. Three laser lights activated on the side of his mask and fell on the back of the remotely controlled craft as it flew away from him. A whine and a flash as the cannon sent a storm of plasma crashing into the plane breaking it up into a thousand pieces.

The hunter looked at the image displayed from his silent and invisible eye in the sky. Changing spectrums he knew there wasn't anything around that could cause him any trouble so he activated his computer and a few seconds later the disk appeared as it lowered in front of him. Taking the disk he reprogrammed it to fly out to the town.

17:05pm Echo base

"What the hell?" said the camera operator as all three screens turned to static, "we lost the feeds sir"

"What's going on, talk to me people I need that eye in the sky" Keys had a pretty good idea of what happened. He leaned over, turned off three recorders then took the disks out and placed them in a wallet.

"Its gone sir, all contact has been lost, it's as if it lost power and crashed or exploded in mid air sir," said the pilot "whatever happened it's gone now."

At this Peter Keys and Kenzo Yutani left the tent and walked the short distance to the nearest of the waiting Lorries. Some steps had been placed leading up to a door in the back of the trailer. Ian watched Keys and Yutani as they disappeared through closing the door behind them.

Ian looked at Billy who was smiling "come on sheriff let me buy you that coffee now" he indicated the diner opposite and they both left the tent. Stepping onto the road Ian says "you were right about the bluff Billy but it seems that even our new friends here are spooked by it as well."

The car park looked a blaze of white, orange, red and blues in the computer generated imaging system on the flight deck of this ship. The hunter had sent his own spy in the sky and was now looking down at the prey walking here and there as they carried out their duties. He watched as two walked away from the central hub and disappeared into a room of some kind, shielded so he couldn't see them. Two more people left the hub and went across the road to a building, he could see them sitting down.

Changing his focus back to the box the others entered he zoomed closer to the box and changed spectrum, nothing. He changed spectrum again, nothing, he tried another, the image turned green but he could see five or six fuzzy pink blobs on the screen, they all were looking at something and talking.

No audio, he presses some buttons and got static, he pressed more and got less static and a bit of garbled sound. Clearing up the sound and distortion until finally, he heard a voice.

"Do we tell the sheriff about this?"

"We might have to, we don't want another Harrigan?"

"Oh yes him, he called it pussy face," said a laughing voice "don't tell him anything about the bugs, or too much about the hunter. I guess we will find out soon enough though if it is a hunter out there. That image from the UAV just isn't clear enough."

Two blobs moved to the end of the room then disappeared into a heavily shielded area. The hunter snarled and shook his head, his smaller dreadlocks flying around stiffly. Pressing some buttons on a control panel to his right he activated a holograph displaying the cave and area around it. He changed spectrums and set it to alert for movement in the alien view then turned his attention back to the humans in the town.

Ian was sitting in the café with Billy; after eating they'd both had cups of coffee and were talking quietly to each other about this new development. "There is something else out there with these insects," said Ian as Billy finished his coffee and poured some more. "Did you see the thermal image from about thirty seconds before the loss of power?"

Shaking his head "did I miss something," asked Billy.

"As the remote approached the trees, where you asked them to get closer, I saw something moving to the left, it was, or could have been man sized"

Billy shook his head "I missed it and Keys took the disks into that trailer."

Nodding Ian added "there is something going on here and I'm inclined to think it's maybe an experiment gone wrong. The centre for disease control, the army, and the national security advisory, there are too many questions," he mused. "Ask Jed Harris if he'll go with you in the morning then ask the Dawson boys, the Andersons and anyone else you can think of might go with you. Don't get too close to that tree line but have a look around at first light even if you circle around the Bluff and look down on it from the other side."

Billy nodded "Its seven thirty pm now, I'll go talk to Jed and the others, I'll get them to meet me over on Fenton street at five am. It'll be dark still so we'll have a bit of cover."

"Good, I'm going home soon but I'll be up at four, call me as soon as you are all leaving," he said tapping his radio, "I want you to be in contact at all times."

As they both left the diner they saw Keys emerge from the trailer lab in the car park, "Sheriff" he called over to Ian and waved. Ian lifted his hand back to indicate he was coming over to the agent.

"Go now and don't forget to keep your radio on at all times." Ian said to his deputy, "be careful." Billy nodded and walked over to his cruiser while Ian turned, crossed the street and approached Keys.

"Mr Keys" started the sheriff.

The man smiled "call me Peter" he said "I'll need to ask you and your partner some questions."

"I've sent Billy home and was going home myself in a minute," Ian felt tired but knew it could be a long night, "but if you need me now then I can tell you anything Billy knows." He looked at Keys who seemed to calm, to confident and maybe a little arrogant.

Walking towards the Lorry trailer Keys continued "I've read your reports about the day's events, not exactly run of the mill are they? Nearly twenty people missing or dead so far," he didn't let Ian answer "I've also been studying the maps of this area, you have the huge pothole you call Devil's Bluff out to the North East but I need to know about the caves to the east, they don't appear on standard maps or tourist information, why not?" Going up the small set of steps to the trailers door Peter listened to the sheriff as he entered a code to open the door.

"They are too dangerous, two of the caves collapsed almost thirty years ago, killing over fifty people." Ian answered, "The caves are natural and were thought to contain gold, but only a small amount of gold was ever found before two of the caves collapsed and killed everyone inside at the time. I believe a family of bears reside there now." They entered the trailer and Ian was surprised at the technology inside, computers and screens along the left hand side with chairs for four operators. On the right there was a radio, an electron microscope, test tubes, and other electrical equipment Ian didn't recognise. A scientist at one of the computers looked at Ian and nodded. Another scientist had got readouts on the microscope and was feeding the results into his computer.

"Coffee or something stronger?" asked Keys.

Ian nodded at the man and nodded "coffee, black, two sugars."

Keys nodded to one of the scientists as he poured their drinks and stirred in the sugar. Handing the cup to Ian Keys sat at a computer at the far end of the trailer, he opened the CD drive and inserted one of the disks he'd taken from the tent, Ian sat at the computer next to him sipping his coffee, "we may be facing two separate issues here Sheriff, I'm authorised to tell you a bit of what we think is going on" said Keys.

"Don't tell me," said Ian "One of your experiments to create a super soldier went wrong and escaped, now its here threatening to kill us."

Keys laughed, relieved at how wrong the sheriff was, "I wish it was that simple," he said, then told the story of LA in 1997. "This alien is here hunting us for sport, it has supreme stealth capabilities making it virtually impossible to see." He opened a file on the computer, another film played this time showing a street scene with points of white where knees, elbows, hands, head and feet should be. "This is a pheromone signature of our hunter, he's on safari, anywhere there are guns, wars or conflict." Next he played the thermal recording from earlier in the base tent, he paused the disk and pointed out the creature Ian had noticed earlier. Then switched the image spectrum to a white and grey image, the hunter, visible in green, was clearer but still a bit blurry as the image was frozen in time as he leapt from the tree.

"This is the creature we are after, the bugs we don't know about but we think maybe they either mutated here or the alien hunter could have brought them here to hunt. We can't let either species make their home here because if we did it would mean the end for us." Stopping the disk he turned to Ian to wait for a response.

"An alien" Ian said at last, "or maybe two, that's not what I was expecting" he looked around at the lab and its occupants. "Why are you telling me this now?" he asked realising that he was beginning to like this man a bit more for his honesty.

"We don't want you to go out there, or send anyone out there and do anything stupid. We never told Harrigan what he was up against and he lost his partner, another officer, and two dozen civilians were killed before Harrigan wounded then killed the creature."

"So you are going out there to kill it or capture it?" asked Ian.

"We don't think we can capture it," Keys said "we are going to try and kill it. During the first ever reported encounter in the '80's the only survivor claimed that the hunter when wounded activated a nuclear device of some kind so his tech didn't fall into our hands. The blast destroyed enough of the rain forest to cover twelve city blocks."

Ian studied the man trying to read him then said "we're not going out to the bluff, nor is anyone from the town, you've got my word on that."

"Glad to hear it sheriff, and rest assured that we're here, guarding the town tonight sir. We have a crack team heading out to Devils' bluff and another team will be heading over to check out the gold caves as well, both are leaving at around eight tomorrow morning."

Billy should be back by eight thought Ian as he shook hands with Keys, said goodnight, and then went home to his wife, what a day he thought as he drove home making a mental note to get up and call Billy at five.
Chapter 7

Friday January 24th 05:00am Fenton Street

"Sheriff are you there over" Billy asked while standing next to his cruiser with four other men.

Static for a second then "yeah I'm here Billy I was just about to call you, where are you, over?"

"Fenton Street, I got Herb Dawson, Jed Harris, Walter and Rob Anderson with me, we each have a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, over."

"Change of plan Billy, there is something out at the Bluff but I need you to go over towards the old gold caves east of here. That's where the bugs probably are so be careful," said Ian, "Keys admitted there was something else at the bluff but I'll tell you about it when you get back, over"

"Roger that boss, we'll get to the end of the road in half an hour after that we'll check in every fifteen," Billy said while looking at all of his comrades, "we're heading out the gold caves now, over and out." The men climbed into the deputies' car and it turned around to head in the opposite direction.

Half an hour later they pulled up to a huge boulder near the caves where Billy stopped the engine and everyone got out. They went to the back of the car and each slung their rifles over their shoulders and pumped ammo into their shotguns, "It won't get light for another couple of hours" moaned Jed, "what is out here, a wild goose chase that's what's out here."

Six minutes later and they were at the last climb up to the caves, "come in sheriff, over" Billy said, one hand holding the radio and the other hand holding his loaded shotgun. While he scanned the horizon he thought it strange that there was no sound. No birds or insects or other normal noises, just the wind in the few scattered trees.

"Here Billy are you at the caves yet, over" Ian's voice came across the radio Billy was holding.

"Roger we are approaching the caves, all is quiet, maybe too quiet, its spooky, no bird, insect, or other animal sounds, over." Billy replied as he scanned the area around him.

"Just be careful all of you, over"

"No worries there sheriff, over and out," said Billy who then put the radio back into the holder on his belt. He turned to his friends "no heroics, we're just here to look around for signs of these insect things."

"What are the signs Billy?" asked Walter looking nervous.

They walked up the steep slope leading to the caves, three openings to ancient caves and the two newer tunnels. Two of the caves had been sealed by rocks from the collapse over thirty years ago. Five men spread out in front of the three available openings and used torches from various pouches, pockets or holders and shone them down the tunnels.

"Better take a look here guys," said Herbert on the right and in front of the second biggest opening of the caves, "Is this right or is this wrong?" He pointed at the cave which was about fifteen feet wide with about nine foot roof clearance. The town's historical maps of the area had shown the height of this cave to be around ten feet.

The others moved to his position and all shone torches down the second largest tunnel, they saw what Herb meant, ten yards inside the caves the walls were covered in a black, a shiny black and not the grey of rock, but jet black kind of resin. It looked like this resin had been dripped all over the walls, left to set, then had more resin had been pilled on top.

They approached it cautiously, everyone on edge now and straining their ears for any sounds in the morning darkness. Nothing, it felt like they were in a tomb. Billy bent down to the resin and brushed it with three fingers, "It's dry, kind of smooth but textured like sandpaper."

He looked up at the others and heard movement in front of him. He fired his shotgun into the darkness of the tunnel, nothing, and then turned to his friends "we vote, go in now, or come back in numbers."

The five men looked at each other uneasily it was Jed Harris who answered "I say we go and get better guns and much better torches." He shone his torch down the tunnel and was sure he saw something move, he moved the beam around but found nothing.

"Do we all agree?" asked Billy.

"This place is creepy, it's too damn quiet," said Walter "no bird sounds or anything at this time of the morning and I keep hearing something move down there." He said as he lit up the tunnel with his torch. They all saw movement and five guns ready to fire pointed the same direction as the torches caught a blur of the thing that jumped up at Rob Anderson. Something attached itself to his head, another blur and Walter also had a spider like creature attached to his face.

Billy, Jed and Herb fired their shotguns down the tunnel then the three remaining men dragged their fallen friends out of the cave. They shone their torches down the cave again and saw some liquid dripping from the ceiling of the cave into a growing puddle on the floor. Slowly a big black shape lowered down to the floor and unfolded to stand up. The man sized beast they realised was the same insect Peter Barnes had drawn. Its long curved head faced them with its teeth showing, and razor sharp looking claws, and tail.

Three shotguns fired at once exploding the insect like creature as it hissed at them, its blood spraying back harmlessly. Three shotguns were either pumped or reloaded quickly and pointed into the cave.

"You two watch the cave and I'll take Rob down the hill first, and then I'll come back and cover the cave while one of you takes Walter." The men nodded "then we'll get the fuck out of here and them to the hospital," said Billy, the other two nodded stunned at what had happened but not taking their eyes off the dark tunnel.

On the way back up the hill he'd called the sheriff to report the morning's events and told him to meet at the medical centre in forty minutes or so. Twenty five minutes later they were almost back to the town with two extra, unwanted passengers. The creatures were a light brown and mottled cream in colour; they had four long thin fingers on each side of a ridged but flexible body, and a kind of lump on it back that could have been an eye. On either side of the base of the body were two sacs that appeared to breathe with its victim. The creature had a long thin muscular tail that it had wrapped around Walters neck.

They drove mostly in silence but Herb, who was in the back seat with the creatures, was staring at the animals all the way back, he didn't want them getting on his face. They pulled into the town's new medical centre car park and stopped in front of the main entry way. Herb got out quickly, as did Jed, and they called for help. An orderly rushed out with a wheelchair and he gasped when he saw the creatures in the back of the car, he retched and almost threw up. "Another chair out here now," he shouted over his shoulder as he approached the car, "what the hell happened?" he asked Jed.

Jed ignored him as another orderly rushed out with wheelchair. He went to the other side of the deputies' car and gasped with shock at the men in the back seat. He composed himself quickly and got on with his job. Both orderlies lifted the stricken man out of this side of the car and onto the chair. The creatures on both victims gripped a little tighter with their fingers and their tails slid around their victim's necks to tighten more.

Rob and Walter were wheeled up to the medical facility of the town but were stopped by Peter Keys who called from the road next to Billy's car. "Hey, stop, our base will be better equipped to deal with this," he called out and looked over at Billy. Billy looked at his friends in the wheelchairs and nodded to Keys who called in the jeep to drive them across town.

Billy followed the jeep and called Ian to tell him to meet him at the army compound. He parked the car next to the jeep then followed the men over to the second trailer. A platform on the back of the trailer lowered to horizontal then slowly lowered to the ground.

Once the men were on the platform it raised up to the bottom edge of the trailer. An inner door slid up and into the top of the trailer allowing the soldiers to push the wheelchairs inside. Billy walked into what looked like a hospital operating theatre, no scratch that it is an operating theatre, he thought. He looked around the white room and saw anaesthetic bottles near the top end of a slab of aluminium. Heart rate monitors, the trolley with all the scalpels, forceps, and other surgical tools. Computers were in alcoves with centrifuges and microscopes along one wall.

A double door swung open towards Billy to reveal two beds and similar monitoring machines, Rob and Walter were lifted onto beds and monitors were attached to their chests by the four doctors that were inside this mini hospital.

The beep, beep, beep of the monitor told the doctors here that the men were alive and seemed to be healthy. Blood pressure and then blood was taken from their arms and placed into a centrifuge to split the blood for further analysis. Computer programs were activated and a bar lowered from the ceiling on a mechanical arm to settle two feet off the bed where a bright blue light came on, the bar moved along down the bed shining its bright light from Walters head to his waist.

The computer displaying the results as the light bar moved back up his body, the operator stopped the image over Walters face. The display clearly showing something going into his throat "what the hell is that?" asked Billy as he pointed to the tube in his friends throat.

One of the doctors looked at the monitor and said "well your friend seems to be perfectly healthy," he tapped a key on the computer to try and enhance the area Billy pointed to. "Normal blood pressure, he is breathing so maybe this thing is feeding him oxygen, keeping him alive through that tube"

Just then Sheriff Carmichael came into the room and looked closely at both of his friends lying there with strange creatures attached to their faces. He nodded to the doctors and Peter Keys and turned to Billy "what the hell Billy, I told you not to go in there." He said trying to sound disappointed in his deputy inability to take orders.

"We didn't sheriff, we got to the caves and all shone our torches in," he explained in detail about what they saw heard and encountered in the second largest cave up there.

When he was finished it was Peter Keys who stood up and asked "where exactly are the caves, can you put their location on this map?" he unfolded a map of the town showing fifty miles around it. He held out a pen to Billy who took it and turned the map to face him. Billy then marked the turn off points and roads to the caves they'd not long ago left.

He drew a rough sketch of the cave openings and indicated the cave where they'd killed the insect. He told Keys that was where they found the extra passengers they were now at the hospital with. Keys fed the map into a scanner and put the map on the computer screen, overlaying the newly scanned map he got satellite images of the area and sent the co-ordinates and details to a waiting strike team.

Turning to the two doctors taking readings of the condition of their new patients Keys said "get them things off of these people now," and pointed to the men in the beds.

Nodding one of the doctors answered "yes sir" then he turned to get a scalpel and what looked like surgical pliers. He used the pliers to grab on one of the creatures fingers and then held the scalpel just underneath one of the spider's knuckles. He made a small cut and its yellowish blood spurted out onto the scalpel and splashed the doctor's hand.

Dropping the melting blade the doctor screamed as the acid burned away at his flesh dissolving the base of his thumb and the webbing between that and his index finger. His thumb fell of to land next to another smoking puddle of acid that was now cutting a hole through the trailer to drip onto the ground below. The stench of its blood and the burned flesh of the doctor making another of the doctors retch as two others rushed to their colleagues' aid.

Ian and Keys walked over to the smoking hole in the trailer and as Ian bent down he picked up the scalpel with the melted off blade. They both saw another hole where the acid that had burned the blade continued to burn through the floor.

The doctors thumb all but melted now except for a bit of bone and the nail end tipped back and fell into a third hole in the floor. The doctor had also dropped the pliers and Keys nudged them to see if there was more acid as the metal tips of the tool dissolved into nothing.

Looking into the first bigger hole Keys swore "shit, even this small fucker has that strong an acid."

"No wonder Trent Davis died underneath the bug this morning. It has a wonderful self defence mechanism. You don't dare kill it as this fucker sprays this acid shit over you to finish you off properly."
Chapter 8

08:20am Maddison Heights

This end of town was quite busy as an army lorry carrying a dozen troops and five special ops went rumbling down the street. One of the special ops soldiers sitting in the cab had opened a glass partition and was giving the briefing on the journey to the caves. A special order he'd received ten minutes after receiving the original order to kill the bugs had been rescinded. "We are now ordered to catch one of these insect things, Yutani is offering a sizeable reward if we get one safely out of this area." He passed around a copy of the picture that young Peter gave to the sheriff. "We need to catch one of these and if we do we'll never have to work again." He passed around a photograph of the face hugger still attached to Walter Anderson.

"What the fuck are these?" asked one of the soldiers holding a photo while he crouched by a bag.

"Pretty damn dangerous sons of bitches but they are the bugs before they change or cocoon into the black things. Be careful as they seem to bleed some kind of potent acid we have to be extra careful," said the officer "we will kill if we have to but catch if we can, it really depends on how many are down there."

"Great" said the highest ranking of the ordinary soldiers, "I could have been enjoying a barbeque on the beach in Hawaii but now I gotta go out hunting these bloody bugs."

"Stow it soldier now listen up" the leader said sharply, "Major Gibson here will continue the brief," he nodded to his second in command who was riding in the back of the trailer, then shut the partition and faced forward.

Gibson continued the brief "these things are in some caves to the east, we have no idea whether it will be tight for space in there, but it will be dark in there." He looked around at the men now that he'd got their attention "we have some new tech to try." He slid a box out from under the bench he was sitting on and opened the lid. Two bulky looking boxes each with a foot long tube attached on one side and a handle and controls on the other. "These," he continued "courtesy of Weyland industries, are portable motion trackers."

He got one of the devices out of the box and pressed some buttons on the front. "Go on" he said to the man next to him "wave your hand in front of it." The soldier next to him waved his arm and the box whistled and whined in response to his hand moving in front of it, "it works a few ways, the first by detecting minute vibrations in the air or changes of air pressure. It also detects chemical variations from within the oncoming air. Put it this way if you were running from our left to our right you would be moving the air in front of you, displacing it, this" he said patting the device "picks up that rush of air and any chemicals or pheromones that travel on it."

"We have two of these" said Gibson while tapping the motion sensor "two high pressure flame throwers, and two hardened mesh steel net guns. The rest of us will have our M4's. Millington and I have got M203 grenade launchers as well. We all have torches but we'll have to draw short straws whoever gets to carry the trackers, flame units and nets."

"If these fuckers bleed acid will our body armour be useless out there?" asked a soldier near the back of the truck.

"Good point and thanks for reminding me," continued Gibson "we also will be wearing a new, prototype armour, this new vest has been tested with sulphuric, hydrochloric and a variety of other known acids. We are certain this creature's blood will not penetrate it but be careful any way. We haven't tested it with their blood and we will be issuing the new armour to you when we get to the caves, any questions?"

08:45am Echo base Maddison Heights

Two doctors were in the room with Rob and Walter Anderson. They were checking readings on the machines and taking notes while a continuous beep sounded from each of the monitors attached to their patients. The doctors had taken x-rays and ultrasound they taken skin samples from the aliens back and some of the acid blood that spurted out of the wound.

"I think it's time for a smoke, you coming" Asked Grey the eldest of the doctors. At fifty nine years old he always thought he'd be retired by now and living on his retirement fund on some golden beach.

"One of us has to stay in here all of the time," answered Tim who passed his exams and training almost six months before, he now considered himself to be lucky to be employed by the Yutani Corporation.

"Yeah I know but what they don't know won't hurt them," said Grey with a grin as he went towards his jacket to get his cigarettes. "Any way what is going to happen, nothing that's what, and where are they going to go? They've been like this for a couple of hours so come on you can have one of mine?" He shook his packet and left the room saying "come on Tim or would you rather be alone with these two?"

"Come on Grey that isn't fair Keys said we're not to leave them alone."

Grey laughed "Keys isn't here though is he and these two aren't going anywhere are they? Come on man think about it a quick smoke, we'll be gone a few minutes tops."

Shrugging his shoulders Tim said "fuck it, what the hell," looking back at the two smothered people Tim also went out of the door saying, "be good you two, I'll be five minutes." As he closed the door behind him the creature on Rob's face shuddered, twitched it's breathing sacs and moved its fingers one at a time, its long tail unwrapped from the young man's neck and it dropped to the floor to crawl away into a recess.

A few seconds later the second alien, like the first, shuddered and unwound its tail then dropped to the floor where it crept slowly to its final resting place under the bed its victim was laying on.

A minute later Rob opened his eyes, feeling sick, extremely thirsty and weak, he tried to sit up which sent a flash of pain through his head. Rubbing his fore head he sat up slowly and looked around. He was connected to wires and monitors, he was in hospital.

He looked to his left and saw his father on the gurney next to him "dad" he said as he watched his father move his head, open his mouth then he slowly opened his eyes.

"Wha...," Walter coughed "What happened?" He asked groggily "where am I?"

"I can't remember what happened," replied Rob "I need a drink though."

"We don't have a medical facility like this in our town." Walter said looking around "we must have been taken to a city hospital," he said as he looked at the equipment he was connected to.

"I don't think so, well not unless we've been unconscious for days" he said coughing again and looking at the tubes in his arm and the monitors next to the bed.

"I remember passing the army as we left town, could we be in an army hospital somewhere?" Rob tried to remember what happened after leaving the town, "where were we going?"

"I'm not sure, I can remember we were going out hunting or looking for something but that's it. Where we were going or what we were looking for I really couldn't tell you." Walter looked around at his son and added "I remember passing the army as well."

"Where are the damn doctors I really could use a drink?" said Rob looking over to the door.

Walter coughed then said "I hear you son, I really need something to eat as well as a drink, should we call out for someone?"

He was about to shout for some assistance from any doctors or nurses nearby but instead he cried out and clutched his chest at the sound of a crunch. The pain was unbelievable, another crunch and a red patch spread across his chest. A third crunch and Rob screamed as more blood appeared then a final crunch as small teeth tore his chest and clothes to shreds, a small snakelike creature emerged from his chest.

His father watched stunned as he heard and felt a crunch in his own chest, then a second crunch and a spreading bloodstain across his own chest. Moments later as Rob and Walter Anderson had died the two alien creatures found the hole in the floor where their egg layer burned an exit for them earlier. Squeezing through the small hole the small slimy blood covered creatures dropped to the floor and ran under cars and behind boxes as they headed for the trees and open country side.

The pair of doctors ran in a minute later to find the gruesome remains of the Andersons slumped back on their beds with their chests exploded outwards and a blood trail leading to the ground through the hole burned there earlier when Dr Omodou had cut the spiders' finger.
Chapter 9

09:00am Gold caves East of Maddison Heights

The truck full of soldiers had parked next to the big rock Billy had parked at earlier. Eighteen soldiers, officers and the driver had donned the new acid proof vests, helmets with lenses extending over the soldiers right eye, and a bulky looking back pack. All were busy getting their assorted weapons ready. One of the officers, Lieutenant Yates, was moving the motion sensor around towards the caves he was also holding a nine millimetre pistol in the other hand.

Major Gibson walked over to Yates "sweep the area to the woods as well." He said pointing south "then sweep west, Wilkes is going to sweep North and East. We'll regroup before moving out" Yates holstered his gun and saluted the Major, then took out his pistol and resumed his search with the motion detector in the direction he was ordered.

"Ok I want two lines front and centre" Gibson said to everyone. "Yates is going to be our point man, with Wilkes covering our six," He looked around at everyone "they are our eyes and ears so we protect them at all costs. You and you," he pointed to one of his men and a soldier "you take up the flame units and leave your subs in the flatbed." He chose another of his men and another soldier to carry the net guns.

"The rest of us watch every where behind as well as in front. No heroics we don't know what to expect." He tapped the receiver in his ear a couple of times then pressed the button on his radio. "Yes sir, capture is the mission, hold on sir."

"Regan, your camera isn't working" He said to the last of his men.

Regan tapped the camera on the side of his helmet with his hand, "any good?" he asked.

After listening to his ear piece Gibson said "almost it came and went."

Regan rapped the camera with the butt of his pistol twice.

Gibson was told the camera was good and he gave the ok to Regan as he listened to his commanding officer. He was briefed again on the radio about the need to capture one of these things for the corporation.

"We copy that sir, we're to capture and return, over and out" he clicked the radio off then said "saddle up people we move out, Yates take point," he pointed to a soldier with the net gun and another with a Heckler and Koch G36 sub machine gun "you two cover him. Then I want two flame units and then the rest of you." He pointed to the soldier with the other motion sensor, "cover our six let's move out people."

With Yates in front the men moved forward up the slight incline towards the old gold mines. Moving right towards the second biggest cave they were after. The men hiked for a few minutes until they saw the largest of the cave openings in the ridge above them, "hold on men" said Gibson "motion sensors three sixty full sweep."

The two men with the sensors swept slowly left then right, up towards the cave and behind them. Corporal Wilkes was moving his sensor down behind their position and his detector started buzzing and whining. Everyone looked at him except Yates who kept a lookout in front.

The sensor kept its buzzing and whining going for another ten seconds then stopped for three seconds before buzzing again. Every available gun pointed to where the motion sensor pointed at the tree line to the south west.

Yates kept his sweep of the area to the caves and still not a peep, "still clear in front sir shall we make for the caves?" he asked back.

Gibson looked up towards the caves, yes there he could defend, "up to the caves everyone, keep an eye on the tree line you four," he pointed to the group of soldiers nearest to him, "move out."

They all nearly ran up the hill and saw the cave they wanted immediately. The cave was covered with a black resin artwork that now seemed to grow out of the walls. Its strange ridges, lines and curves, gave it an almost alien skeletal boniness to its look and feel. Yates went to the entrance and swept the cave, still nothing, he looked back at Wilkes who was just sweeping the tree line his sensor whistling again.

All of the guns turned towards the woods as a deer burst out of the trees and turned sharp right to disappear over the next ridge, relieved the men looked at Wilkes who had lowered his sensor.

"Wilkes, sweep the trees" Called Gibson.

Wilkes started and immediately lifted the sensor to point towards the opening the deer came out from. It was silent again and most of the men relaxed, a couple even laughed at getting so easily spooked. It was then that they realised how silent it had become, no bird or animal sounds came from the surrounding country, and it was as if every animal was either playing dead or in hiding.

Yates activated a shoulder mounted, high intensity torch whilst looking into the cave, the design of the black resin structure was on all of the walls and the ceiling; it led off down the tunnel but disappeared into the gloom and darkness.

"Are we going in there?" one man asked from behind him.

"That's the plan soldier, do you have a problem with your orders now?" he asked.

"No sir, just say the word, point, and I go." He'd kept the flame thrower pointed down the tunnel.

Looking at the flame thrower Gibson says "light it up in there."

The soldier with the flamer nodded and aimed into the cave the small blue flame at the front end barely visible as the soldier pressed the trigger sending a stream of fire into the cave.

"Ok, stay icy people don't get jumpy on me, torches on and head in there, slowly," he nodded to Yates who again led the men.

The passage was long and narrow, not an inch of it was without the extra layer of black resin. The cave stayed straight for two hundred yards then widened out to a larger cavern. The roof lifted up away from them up to about twenty five feet, it would have been a bit higher if not for the new substance that covered it now.

Fourteen bright torches shone around the cavern and only showing the black of the new decoration. Two of the torches settled on deeper black of tunnels leading away from the cavern deeper into the mountain. "Sir we got two possible routes now," said Yates while moving the motion sensor between the two.

Gibson pointed to four men, two carrying machine guns, one carrying a flame unit and the last being Wilkes. "You four go back to the entrance and cover our rear, stay in radio contact at all times." He nodded to the men as they turned to go back along the tunnel.

Turning back to his point man "pick a tunnel," he said to Yates.

Yates looked at the tunnels in front of him and slowly moved the sensor across each tunnel. The motion sensor was silent as it pointed in the left hand tunnel, and a slight squeak as he passed the right hand tunnel. Decided now they were going to catch one of these things they headed down the right hand tunnel. They were perhaps thirty yards in when the tunnel widened again, "hold up" said Yates as his sensor beeped, "something ahead," he scanned the area as torches shone around the wider and higher cavern.

Gibson reached for his radio, "Wilkes you there over,"

Static hissed then Wilkes replied "yes sir we've just arrived at the entrance and have a contact moving towards us on the sensor, over"

"Copy that, if it is what we're after down here try and net it, but make sure it isn't a deer or one of us," said Gibson into his radio then added "over."

Yates had continued into the cavern and was sweeping in front of their position. He hadn't pointed it behind them because he didn't want to pick up his own team that were headed back to the entrance. Now though he was walking around the side of his team and pointed the sensor down the tunnel they'd just come from. Straight away the sensor went wild, beeping whistling and almost screeching, everyone spun round to shine torches back along the tunnel. Something small and fast moved in the gloom.

"What the hell was that?" asked the soldier with the flame unit, he looked around at his colleagues and another movement caught his attention. He shone his torch at the tunnel ceiling as he saw a black shape unfold from the ceiling it was hiding in.

All torches focused on the black nightmare shape as the creature dropped to the floor and bared its dripping fangs. Gibson stepped forward and tapped Regan on the shoulder as he said "use the net and we're out of here."

Regan flicked the safety off and aimed at the black thing, he fired and the bug was immediately rolled up into a ball in the net. The man with the flame unit had nearly fired as the net gun went off. The boom of the net gun still echoed around in the black enclosed space. The alien had been flung back by the impact of the steel net but sharp claws and teeth turned the net into shreds as it got up to face the men again. It hissed and opened its jaws and a smaller separate set of teeth come out of the mouth, the new mouth opened, then snapped shut as it slid back into the dark mouth.

Flame fired down the tunnel at the beast and surrounded it for a brief second as a face hugger jumped onto the face of the flame thrower carrying soldier. He fell over and continued to hold the trigger down on the flamer sending jets of fire around the cavern. Everyone crashed to the floor as fire roared above them, two of the soldiers scream as they were caught in the blast and badly burned. Their cries quickly muffled and they are silent as two face huggers leap on them in the darkness.

The flamer went quiet and a hissing sound filled the air, torches went this and that way as Gibson tried to see in the gloom. Seeing Regan with an alien thing on his face he fired two short bursts down the tunnel the creature was in. He was rewarded with a screech as he hit his mark, he fired a longer burst spraying hot lead into the tunnel. Other guns raised as Gibson grabbed his radio out to call the men at the cave entrance. Hearing a sound he held up his hand and said "quiet" to his men, he heard the dull thud, thud, thud of machine guns being fired in the distance. "Report" he shouted into the radio "over."

Static came back from the radio then more gunfire, a soldier next to him jumped and opened fire down the tunnel the first alien had been burned in, he emptied the clip into the darkness but no screams or hisses, Yates pointed the motion sensor down the tunnel and got faint whining and buzzing, "that's probably the other team" he said not convinced himself.

The radio crackled to life as Wilkes came back on "Sir, Sir don't use the nets they are useless, over."

"Yeah we just found that out over." Gibson looked around the room and motioned Yates to cover their route out of the caves, missing the reply from Wilkes he said "were aborting the mission, wait for us there, over."

"Roger that sir, one of those things tore Jenkins apart and Henderson has one of them smaller things on his face but we think we're clear now, we killed two of the mother fuckers as well, over."

"Yeah we had a little fire fight too but we're on our way out now. Check in every minute and keep your eyes open, over." He put the radio back into his belt and put in an earpiece, the other end of which he plugged into the top of the radio.

"Yes sir, we'll hold this position and check in every minute, over." the reply sent directly into Gibson's ear whilst motioning Yates to guard the rear this time, as they leave.

Gibson thumbed the radio and simply said "don't shoot us over and out." He pointed to the man carrying the net gun, "drop that piece of shit and grab Regan."

The man immediately dropped the useless net gun and went to where his friend lay, he undid the straps on his friends pack and the flame unit then threw him over his shoulder in a fire mans lift. Gibson pointed to the soldier with a G36 and motioned him to take point then said "let's move out people."

More gunfire sounded from the entrance sounding louder as the men filed into this tunnels entrance Yates at the rear and the motion sensor silent. They had moved for five minutes and were about to call on the radio when Gibson heard Wilkes voice in his ear, "sir it's all clear out front but we're getting a lot of motion in the cave, we're not sure if it's you or something else, are you all running, over?"

"No were going slow with the wounded, we're back to the fist cavern where we sent you back over."

"We aren't moving but something down there is, we are just outside the cave and preparing to use the flame unit into the tunnel, over."

As he was talking Gibson tapped Yates on the shoulder and said "check the front."

As Yates moved forward the sensor went wild, screeching and whistling as a huge black beast came out of the shadows straight at him. Two other aliens had detached from their wall hiding places and struck at the gun men to the side of the group as a big black armoured insect struck Yates with its tail almost cutting him in half.

Gibson saw the armoured warrior bend forward and shatter Yates skull with its razor sharp inner mouth. He fell forward dead as the beast turned and hissed to Gibson. He raised his gun toward the bug and pressed the trigger slightly before another of the aliens smashed his arm with sharp claws. His hand falling to the floor a second before his gun does.

A remaining soldier fired into the dark wildly and was rewarded with an ugly sounding screech. He turned the gun back toward the sound and was knocked to the ground from behind. He hit the floor hard, rolled, and saw an alien tail smash into his arm and side. He screamed at the double pain through his arm and ribs and nearly passed out as it was torn out again. He couldn't focus properly but he saw a black shape leaning over him, he felt something warm and liquid dripping on his neck then sharp claws picked him up and he passed out.

Wilkes had tried the radio for another five minutes before turning to the only other man there, an ordinary, nineteen year old, very scared looking soldier. He was holding a flame unit in one hand and a G36 in the other "I say you grab him, I'll cover and we fall back to town."

"You grab him" said the teen soldier "I'll puke if I touch that," he pointed to the face hugger with his gun.

"Ok" said Wilkes dropping the motion sensor, "this thing is useless now anyway." He undid the straps on the net gun from Henderson and removed his pack and weapons. Then he effortlessly picked up Henderson and threw him over his shoulders. Turning to go the young soldier fired a last blast of heat into the caves and followed Wilkes down the hill.

Wishing he'd dropped the flame unit for the motion sensor, young private Smith covered every angle at every sound. He saw the truck up ahead and gave Wilkes a moment to catch his breath, they listened. It was absolutely silent, no animals, birds or even wind, not a sound on this clear, crisp January morning.

They both turned to go the last bit down to the truck and heard a crunch of dirt ahead, they moved forward slowly. Smith covered them front and rear with the machine gun as they edged downhill. Moving apart five feet the men crept around some rocks as they headed for the truck. Smith saw a big, black, bug like insect apparently sniffing the truck while another turned to look directly at him. Firing his gun a second before the huge creature leapt forward he saw its skull explode in a shower of black and yellow. Splashing on the side of the lorry and some grass the blood burned anything it touched sending acrid smoke into the air. The second bug had approached Wilkes who was trying to take out his gun but still carrying his fallen friend.

Face to face with the creature it hissed and bared its teeth. It was drooling thick clear looking slime all over the floor as it stared at Wilkes. He tried to back up but the bug stepped forward with him, it opened its mouth and a smaller mouth came out snapping its teeth shut before sliding back inside. Wilkes jumped then jumped again at the sound of Smiths gun going off at close range. The bug flew left and died as its acid blood mostly flew away from him. Its blood splashing the grass and smoking where it dissolved everything it touched.

Wilkes spotted smoke coming from Hendersons back and turned the man over as he laid him on the ground. The creature was still attached to his face, its two sacks were breathing rhythmically as if giving the man oxygen, "I say we leave him here," Said Wilkes at last "They seem to want him and if we leave him here maybe we'll get back to the town alive." He went to the back of the truck and got a machine gun, slapping in a clip he cocked it and motioned to Smith to get in the back and cover.

"We can't just leave him" Smith said shocked.

"Don't argue, there must be more of them in the cave and they could come over that hill any minute so I say get you're arse in or I'm going without you."

Smith looked at the fallen man as two more bugs appeared next to the rocks they'd crept around a minute ago. The bugs hissed at him and stepped forward swinging their tails behind them.

Smith backed towards the truck watching the insects creeping approach. He heard Wilkes as he slammed the clutch down put the truck into first and revved the engine "move it soldier now."

Smith nodded at last and climbed into the back of the truck, he aimed and shot a full magazine into one of the bugs. He picked up another magazine and reloaded his gun quickly then looked up. The other bug, and Henderson's body, had gone. He then resumed his aim at the hills as the truck turned and drove away from the big rock "god help you now soldier," he muttered as Wilkes drove them back towards the town.

10:30am Orchard Road School

A bell rings inside the town's school and a minute later the two front doors fly open and the children run out. Aged from seven to seventeen they spread out across the field to enjoy their break. All are wearing their coats in the chilly morning air and some teenagers drop their coats to form goalposts while they run about throwing a ball. A group of older boys wandered over to the trees intending to disappear into them to have their usual daily smoke and gossip.

"C'mon Deke you know she likes you right?" said Richie a stocky youth whilst getting his cigarettes out of his pocket.

Deke laughed and took a smoke from his friend, Jesse and Craig followed them into the trees as they usually did in the morning break. "You going to ask her out Deke" asked Jessie lighting the cigarette for his friend.

"Hell yeah she's hot" replied Deke laughing "I'm going to take her out in my car up to the bluff and make her sing."

They all gave high five's as they headed for their usual spot, a small clearing about thirty yards in where they could have a joint without being seen by anyone at the school. A few minutes later they entered the small clearing and Craig held up two fat hand rolled cigarettes, "freshly picked yesterday morning" he said as Deke took one of the joints then lit the end.

Deke held the smoke in for a minute then coughed and blew the rest. He winked at his friend and took another long drag before passing it to Richie. Craig took a second drag of his smoke and passed it to Jesse at the same time.

"Nice weed Craig you the man," said Richie before taking a long drag and holding the smoke down for as long as he could before coughing out plumes of the bluish smoke. Jessie took a smaller drag and blew the smoke straight out then took another, longer, deeper drag and passed the hot cigarette back to Craig.

Richie took another deep drag and passed the joint back to Deke as they heard a branch snap off to their left, taking a drag Deke stepped over towards the sound and tried to peer into the gloom. He had no time to react as a hand shape flew at him hitting him squarely on the nose, as the boy flew back he felt something like a snake wrap itself around his neck and strong fingers grabbed either side of his head. Hitting the floor he struggled for a second then passed out as he felt a finger pushing into his mouth and down his throat, the still smoking joint burning the grass where it landed.

Looking at their fallen friend with horror Richie is the first to speak "Jesus what the fuck is that?"

Hearing another noise above them the three remaining boys look up as a black shape flashes past over them. They hear it land and spin round to see a large dark brown almost black insect. It had a long banana like head, sharp tail, claws, and teeth. It stood like a dog on all fours snarling at them as it drooled its clear spit onto the ground. They stared too scared to move as it opened its nightmare mouth to show another smaller mouth. Another noise to their left and they saw another insect but this one was jet black and stood upright on its back legs.

The black insect picked up Deke with the creature on his face and threw him over onto its back. Deke's body landed between four bony stick like protrusions on the things back that kept his body in place as the bug ran back to the nest. Jesse was nearly crying as another face grabbing creature hit him and he knew a black thing would take him away as well as he felt the hideous creature settle on his face. Craig and Richie face the brown insect as it darts forward and jabs Richie in the ribs with its tail and strikes with its smaller set of teeth into Craig. The beast hearing the children thirty yards away turned, leapt across the clearing, and headed towards the sounds.

Eddy Benson ran over to the trees to get the ball and as he picked it up movement to his right caught his eye. Dropping the ball and stepping back away from the huge muddy dark brown almost black insect that stepped out and looked around at the kids. Girls behind Eddy screamed as one of the eight fingered aliens leapt out from the trees to land on the boy. The creature settled over his face and wrapped its long tail around his neck. Three more black insects charged out of the trees and the children scattered some entering the school as the bell sounded to end their break. At least twenty children were hit by the alien's tails, claws or teeth and fell to the ground as more black bugs came out of the trees to take them away.

Dozens of teachers and pupils were at the windows and were watching as the bugs carried the fallen children away back into the trees. Five minutes later it was quiet in the school field again as the head teacher called the sheriffs station to report the disaster. She put the phone down then went back to the window and saw two of her pupils walking towards the gate.

Sian Carver was sixteen and had been to see the doctor at the towns' medical centre. Her boyfriend Stuart Miles had bunked off the morning and gone with her for moral support. Oblivious to the disaster they now walked back towards the school chatting and laughing. They'd both heard what sounded like screams as they turned into Orchard road and they heard the bell ring to end the break as Sian asked "did you hear that, was that someone screaming?"

"I heard the bell and something else, I doubt it was someone screaming unless someone is being bullied or tortured in the school" said Stuart.

Sian laughed "maybe the teachers are forcing the younger kids to eat the dinners now."

Stuart laughs as they cross the road and approach the school gates, they could see the cars in the car park and the trees behind the buildings but nothing else as they went in through the gates. Looking up at the school they see pupils and teachers at the windows staring out at them. The schools front doors opened and the head teacher called out to them "come on don't hang around get in quick before they come back."

Looking over at the head Sian and Stuart back up a step as one of the black insect things appeared on the roof and walked down the wall towards the woman at the door.

"Shut the door" Stuart shouted and waved to the woman as he and Sian back up towards the gate.

Their head teacher sensing something above her now looks up as the insect slashes down with its tail to stab the woman through her stomach. Lifting its tail up it pulls the former head teacher out of the building and up to its face. Jumping to the ground it flicks its tail to drop her on the grass then bent forward and picked up the limp body, the black thing turned and hissed at Sian and ran towards the woods with Mrs Rollins nestled on it's back.

Sian and Stuart turn and run out of the school and back to Stuart's house where they saw no more of the strange beasts.
Chapter 10

Noon, Echo base Command tent

Peter Keys was talking to a group of twenty soldiers that carried an assortment of strange looking machine guns. One soldier carried what looked like a box with a long barrel and another man carried what looked like a rocket launcher. Ian Carmichael wondered what the devices were as he left his office and crossed the street towards the man in charge. Keys nodded tapped his ear and said a last few words into the radio then turned and walked toward the approaching sheriff. Ian watched the group of men as they boarded a truck and a jeep and then pulled away towards Devils Bluff.

"Sheriff how's things around the town?" asked Keys as the man approached.

"Not good I'm afraid, we've got another dozen missing people and the school called just before eleven reporting insects killing or taking over twenty children and the head teacher. The school has sent everyone else home and it's closing until the bugs are gone" said Ian as he glanced around at the men.

"We are setting up automatic sentry guns, patrols and have groups heading out to surround the town. Were starting regular patrols through town but we can't let anyone leave until the quarantine has been lifted," said Keys.

Changing the subject Ian said "I heard about the team you sent to the gold caves, have we got a serious problem?" The truck had returned an hour ago and the sheriff had asked Pam in the diner to keep a lookout for its return and to report anything strange. She'd telephoned him almost immediately and told him that there were only two men in the returning truck.

"What did you hear?" asked Keys relieved that the sheriff hadn't asked about the newly departed team as two smaller remote control model planes took off and headed out following the lorries that had left five minutes ago.

"Only that there were just two survivors," the sheriff answered glad of the tip from Pam.

Keys smiled grimly and nodded, "yes, as I just said there are more of them than we first anticipated," he motioned Ian to follow him to the trailer, "I've called in two special forces units and five hundred armed men to guard the town while we prepare to destroy the nest."

"When will they get here?" asked Ian.

Keys ignored him and went up the steps to the lab where he entered the combination to the door, it cracked open and they entered the air conditioned lab.

Keys turned back to the sheriff and said "they'll be here tomorrow morning."

Ian finally asked "and the team that just left?"

Keys smiled as he knew the question was going to be asked "we're going to try and find the invisible hunter that destroyed our UAV." He activated four monitors and turned back to the sheriff "if we can we're going to try and catch it, ask it why it hunts us like animals."

Ian laughed, "so what changed, yesterday you was going to kill it and now you want to catch it." Ian didn't let the man answer "the other man with you is Kenzo Yutani, son of Sakura Yutani of the biggest space travel company in the world." He looked around at the tech in the room, shrugged his shoulders and said "they've just taken control of the biggest robotics company as well and to end it all we have a fucking alien, here in this town, you want its ship and its technology for Yutani."

Keys smiled and nodded, "Miss Yutani funded this army to protect you all so yes if there is any technology retrieved all data and materials will be shared between the US government and the Weyland/Yutani Corporation. This hunter is extremely violent and will probably kill you before you even see it coming," he rolled over an office chair "take a seat and enjoy the show." He pointed to the monitors displaying images from two remote controlled planes as they flew low and slow. Two of the images were normal colour images; the other two monitors displayed the unmistakeable blue of a thermal image. "We are going to make history when we get this creature and its ship, and think of the advances to us. This new technology means better medical equipment as well as the space travel and robots flying deep space missions and who knows what other advances we'll make."

"All this for new technology, but at what cost" asked Ian as he turned to watch the monitors.

00:45 am Two miles from Devil's Bluff

The truck and jeep pulled off the dirt track and stopped before the base of a ridge leading up to the Bluff. One of the officers got out of the jeep and started to scan the ridge and surrounding area with a motion sensor while the rest of the men got out of the jeep and truck. Five minutes later and everyone had got packs slung over their shoulders, guns and other odd looking weapons were loaded and made ready as the group made their preparations to go hunting.

The officer, now carrying a large four barrelled weapon, pointed to five of the men, "you men go on ahead, you're designation is one, standard deploy, we want you to draw out this hunter. We won't move until you call us in, we are designated as Lead." He turned and pointed to another group of five, "You flank left, you're designated two," and a last group of five was told to flank right and designated as three.

"Eyes and ears sharp, if we can get this thing to show itself then we have a good chance of catching it for the company." He let that hang in the air for a moment then told the men to move out as they heard the buzzing droning sound from their two remote aeroplanes. Turning to face the direction they'd come from the officer lifted the binoculars to his eyes and scanned the distance.

He spotted the two remotely controlled craft almost straight away as they were flying at treetop level, occasionally lifting to clear a slightly higher tree. The two craft separated as they approached, the first heading slightly left and rising up to about five hundred feet as it flew over their position. The second plane had turned to its right and it had begun a slow circle around so it could see its twin up above and in front. Unaware that they were being watched the men moved forward in their units towards the Bluff. The officer raced to the top of the ridge and watched the first drone as it flew overhead. He scanned the area in front of him with a pair of bulky looking binoculars. He then scanned behind him and spotted the second drone as it was finishing its turn. Heading towards him again now as it resumed its course behind and below the first UAV.

The first group in front of him had moved forward and were now heading into a small wooded area. He pressed some buttons on the binoculars and saw the image change to the blue of thermal. Focussing on the first group of men the officer got out his radio, "one this is lead, come in over," he said into the radio while watching the area in front of, and either side of the group.

"One here sir over" came the crackly reply.

"It looks quiet from here but don't be fooled, keep your wits about you and use different imaging whenever you can, over"

"Roger that sir, Anderson has the thermal on now, over" was the reply as the group emerged out the other side of the wooded area to look across at the hillside sloping gently up away from them. Anderson saw more rocks and a few clumps of trees scattered here and there as they headed towards the top of the next ridge.

"Copy that soldier and report anything unusual, if you need to kill it, kill it, but use the nets if you can, over and out." The officer turned to go back down the ridge to the remaining five men. "Five meter spread people, move out." He said to them as he placed the radio back into his belt. He picked up the long tube like weapon that was a prototype smart gun which fired self aiming bullets. The remaining six men spread out and approached the ridge their leader had just come down from.

Three teams of five moved towards the huge cave that was their destination. Another team of six trailed behind them, all men thought they were silent, none of them knew that they were being watched from above.

00:55 Devils' Bluff.

Inside his ship and safe the young hunter watched the group of men as they got out of the truck and jeep. He activated a holographic display and a red light sprang up from inside the console as an image of the surrounding land appeared in miniature on the display. He pressed some buttons and the image zoomed closer from its vantage point in the sky and settled on a group of men approaching from in front. Zooming out a little he spotted another two teams, one to the first teams left and one to the right. He changed spectrums until he was satisfied that there was no one else around.

The hunter snarled and clicked in his own language as he spotted the two remote planes coming towards his position. He wasn't worried as he'd placed traps and motion detectors of his own in the area covering the caves entrance. He activated the computer on his arm and saw the image from his eye in the sky change to show the unmanned drone ships as they approached.

He moved his remote eye towards the UAV and accelerated it towards the small plane. He could see a group of men below as he moved his remote drone towards their sky spy. One hundred yards away and closing fast the hunter rammed the fragile UAV with his remote ship sending it crashing to the ground below.

Stopping his remote and turning it back to face the men he watched as they looked left and right. One of the soldiers lifted something to his face and spoke into the device, the hunter activated the sound on his remote, "...just crashed sir, over" he heard the last bit of their communication. Static hissed back at him until he adjusted the frequencies, "... here, stay sharp and report anything unusual, over and out."

Watching as the group moved forward again the hunter snarled again and got up from his chair then went to his weapons attached to the wall. He selected a spear gun, a sharp looking Frisbee like disc, his net gun, spear and his small plasma caster; he then put on his bio mask and left the ship.

He went out of the cave using a small tunnel to his right that would lead up to the surface four hundred yards to the right of the approaching group. Once outside he used his arm computer to turn invisible then checked the soldier's position again. Happy they were out of range he headed towards them.

13:00 A mile from Devil's Bluff

Jenkins heard a crashing and scraping of metal sound from above and looked up to see the UAV as it shattered in mid air. The remaining piece then nosedived into the rocks twenty yards in front of their position, he called a halt to his men then got out his radio, "Jenkins to Anderson come in over" he said while scanning the area in front.

"Anderson here over" came the answer followed by static.

"We lost the lead UAV, it just crashed sir, over"

"Copy that Jenkins we saw that from here, stay sharp and report anything unusual, over and out." Static hissed again as he put away the radio.

Jenkins looked at his men and signalled them all to move forward again. Knowing that they were getting close to an alien hunter he was scared and excited at the same time. As they approached the smashed remains of the UAV he heard another more distant crashing sound, he looked behind him just in time to see the second remote control plane as it too crashed to the rocks. Looking around for the groups of soldiers either side of him he almost jumped as his radio squawked.

"Son of a bitch, we lost both UAVs now," said Anderson. "Everyone stop, track all areas with thermal and night vision as well as using the motion detectors, over"

The three leaders of each group all replied saying they were ready. Davis on the group to the east of Jenkins position reported movement to his right that stopped but said it was probably a small animal going underground.

The three groups looked around at each other nervously and Jenkins signalled to the men to keep their eyes open and use the tech they'd been given. Sweeping the area from the right across the front and round again to the left he looked puzzled as the motion detector issued a whistle and buzz then fell silent. He looked in the direction he got the signal but could see nothing, lifting the heavy thermal binoculars he again scanned the area in front.

What was that he thought as he looked again at the area where the motion sensor had beeped? He tapped the mic button on the radio then answered when it clicked back twice. "I got movement on the motion sensor up ahead about two hundred yards" he said to Anderson. His men all heard the radio chatter and looked ahead with their eye glasses in place.

"It's on the move," called one of the men to his right, "heading west."

Using two screens split into three inside his mask the predator watched the four groups of humans and two air spies. He scanned the two remote planes then drove his remote eye into each of the planes sending them both crashing to the ground. Certain he couldn't be seen he went from tree to tree going around to the right to make a trophy of those that waited behind.

Leaping to the floor on this low gravity planet was easy, he was young, fit and fast. He was in front of, but to one side, of the nearest group when he heard one of them call out. He froze immediately and watched a man as he pointed a device in his direction, zooming in with his vision he scanned the device fully. The readouts inside his mask said that it seemed to be a kind of primitive motion sensor.

He waited unmoving and watched the man as he swept the device around and away, crouching on the branch he activated his arm computer. His remote eye was working but its systems were failing so he looked at the men who were scanning the area and babbling in their strange language. Turning to his computer again he moved the device lower and into their field of view. He heard the human machine buzz and whistle so he manoeuvred it away from him at about human running speed. The group of men in front turned to follow the remote, as did their friends who were also running towards his distraction. The predator clicked and laughed at their stupidity and headed away from them low and fast, still heading right as he intended to circle the leader and come at him from behind.
Chapter 11

"It's heading towards the cave" shouted Jenkins to his colleagues around him and on the radio he held, "moving fast over."

Anderson's group had also picked up the motion on his sensor and started moving towards the target "keep the same distance but all teams follow, "he said as he lifted his gun "use your thermal and report anything over and out."

"Copy that, out" said Jenkins as his team moved forward.

"Copy that, out" came the reply from Edwards who lead the last group.

"It's moving right and damn this fucker is fast, run." Anderson ordered them all and the three units as one started running. Going perhaps three hundred yards the group all heard the cracking of tree branches then a grinding, scraping metal sound. The men halted as one as in front of them and about two hundred yards out they saw a plume of smoke arise from a newly formed gash in the ground. Electricity and lightning flashed in the small crater the crashing object made.

The hunter looked down on a group of five red, yellow and orange blobs in the blue hue of his thermal vision. He changed to the dark sky and white land vision as he scanned the area then he changed to the red vision he used to spot any approaching aliens. Crouching behind a rock he turned off his invisible shield and scanned everywhere behind himself for the ultimate prey he knew would come. Switching back to thermal he stood again satisfied that he was alone here. He watched the approaching men as he checked his systems. They were spread out and heading up the small hill to his left. Taking out his disc shaped weapon he held it over his arm computer and it whistled softly and lights flashed around its edge. Placing it on the rock in front of him he entered commands into his computer and used the laser sight on the side of his mask to lock on to three of the targets around the outside of the group.

He took out the spear gun and picked up the disc then activated his cloaking device, his camouflage rendering him almost invisible. Leaping over the rock he threw the disk towards the group in front and lifted the spear gun to aim at the fourth man there. He fired twice its needle sharp double pronged spear tips hitting the human in the chest as his disc hit the first of the men cutting his head off cleanly. Landing hard he froze and watched as his disk decapitated the other two men it was programmed to hit. The last man left was the leader in the middle and the hunter knew from his scans that his weapon was dangerous. Some kind of smart technology, he detected tiny motion sensors on each of the projectiles in the belt during his first scan.

Gun shots sounded from the teams he'd sent running towards his remote behind him. It was distraction enough as the Human also looked towards the sounds from his men. He leapt right and ran around the man and leapt again to mask his running sound and landed five yards to the humans' left hand side. Turning off his invisible camouflage he leapt again and landed next to his prey. His wrist blades extended with a screech of metal and he drove the razor sharp twin blades into the neck of his newest trophy. Gunshots sounded again behind him and he wished he had his eye in the sky; he scanned the area in all vision modes then took his trophies, picked up his disk and scanned the area in all visions again.

Five minutes later and he'd skinned and hung up the bodies and then activating his cloak he shimmered and vanished. A blurry hunter shape walked away from the horrific scene on the ridge. He approached the location of the other soldiers more carefully now as he knew he could meet the other fifteen men that he'd sent chasing his sky spy, he would kill them all if he got the chance.

14:30 quarter of a mile from Devils Bluff

Ten men stood around the crashed remains of the hunter's sky spy as another five approached from behind. Edwards bent down to study the strange markings and design of the object "nope I never saw anything like it before," he said looking at his colleagues.

Davis ordered the man carrying the motion sensor to cover the area to their east where he heard the insects were making their nest. Looking at the silver disc he said "any one want to play Frisbee?"

Edwards looked up at the man and said sharply "this isn't funny soldier."

Calm as ever Davis looked at the man and explained what he meant "look at it this way sir. If I'm standing here and you are all blindfolded but you have a motion tracker and you have to track me. But I'm a sneaky bastard and I throw a Frisbee, which you then follow with the motion tracker, is that a bit clearer as to what I meant?"

Edwards stood up and looked at the faces around him as Jenkins and his group approached "sorry I guess I didn't think about it that way, which also means that the hunter is behind us now." Lifting his radio he said "two to lead come in over."

Nothing, no answer so Edwards lifted the radio to his lips again but never made the second call. The motion tracker whistled and buzzed at the approaching insects. About thirty bugs had erupted from the trees fifty yards away and immediately the men started shooting as the bugs hissed and ran at them. More insects appeared in the trees as Davis realised he had an M203 grenade launcher underneath his machine gun. He lifted the barrel and fired his grenade into the trees. The explosion felled a tree and the group heard the insects screech as they were killed by the blast, and more screeching as the tree fell on another. Twenty four of the remaining bugs raced for the group again and seven were cut down as they tried to dodge the barrage of hot lead flying at them. One insect jumped and was ten yards away when Jenkins killed it in the air with his machine gun.

It's momentum carrying the dead insect forward to land hard and slide on its belly. The alien rolled and eventually flopped over at their feet bleeding it acid blood harmlessly onto the dirt. Two of the group were carried away by more of the creatures that came from behind. Jenkins was knocked to the ground by one of the face grabbing things as it leapt from the back of a dying bug.

Twelve remaining men formed a circle and were aiming their guns in every direction. "One to lead come in over" they all looked worried as two of their friends had been taken screaming and probably killed. Or, like Jenkins, who'd fallen with one of those things attached to his face. Static came back across the radio and he changed frequencies to try Echo base "Edwards to base come in over"

"Maybe they got killed by them," said a thirties looking soldier as he pointed to the remains of the bug near his feet. Davis quickly reloaded his grenade launcher whilst watching the tree line.

"Okay they aren't responding, I now have lead and say we fall back then report to base from the trucks. We weren't meant to see these things out here."

Firing blindly into the trees where the beasts had jumped out at them they headed back towards the trucks that they'd left near the dirt road, unaware that another deadlier hunter was approaching them.

Keeping a look out in all directions they moved across the open land quickly. They'd moved nearly a hundred and fifty yards when a motion sensor whistled. As they stopped they heard a rush of air and one of the men collapsed dying with blood pouring from a deep cut across his throat. The motion sensor going silent as whatever set it off had stopped moving.

"What the fuck," Edwards nearly screamed "what happened?" he asked the men with him. Six of the group shrugged and continued scanning the area with motion sensors, thermal imaging and light enhancing goggles.

All of the men were alert but no one had seen the creature they were here to catch. Another rush of air sound and another of the men collapsed with a shiny, slightly bronze looking bar sticking out of his chest "motion sensors sweep and report"

"Nothing east" a man shouted as he turned to the south.

"Its' the hunter again, he's playing with us. Both shots came from in front of us. I want a sweep of the area starting with those trees over there." Edwards pointed to the tree line to their right whilst getting his radio out "Edwards to base come in." A whistling and beeping sounded from a motion sensor and all guns pointed to the tree line. Something was moving past from in front to their right then another rush of air and Peterson dropped the motion tracker and fell to the ground with the top of his skull cut off.

The ten men left fired whatever weapon they were holding or picked up and fired towards the area that the creature was heading. Re-loading quickly Edwards said "head for the trucks, we need backup," then ran forward and to the left away from the direction of the attacker. A burst of plasma fire chased the group smashing into the back of one fleeing soldier then two more plasma bursts killing another two.

The predator watched the fleeing men then scanned the area around him, it was quiet. Checking all vision modes he relaxed and turned off his invisibility cloak. He approached the corpses and retrieved the spear tip from the chest of a man. Tying rope to the dead soldier's ankles the hunter got the other two dead men and dragged the three corpses over to the trees. He used his wrist blades to strip their jackets, packs and belts. Then he scanned the area in all visions again as he threw their packs and clothes away. He took a glass bottle out of his belt and inserted it onto a small device he detached from his wrist computer. Standing up the hunter sprayed the three corpses with the light bluish liquid and almost immediately their trousers and skin started to smoke and melt. Three red lasers turned on from the side of the hunters mask and the beam moved up and down one body. Then he scanned up and down along the second and third body searing and stripping the remaining clothes and skin away to leave a red, bloody corpse. He again tied their ankles then leapt up to the lowest branch and leapt again to a higher branch. Standing on the branch he pulled the three corpses up and hung them upside down then left them dripping their blood onto the ground below.

Scanning the area for the bugs again the young hunter took the heads he wanted for his trophies and jumped up into a nearby tree. He scanned the area in all vision modes then took out the tools he would use to clean and polish these new souvenirs.

With the trophies cleaned and in a bag on his belt the hunter scanned the area again and saw three alien bugs step out from the trees opposite. He looked around his position but there were only those three that were now running towards him. Arming the plasma caster the hunter fired at the lead bug killing it instantly. Another three aliens ran out from the trees so the hunter fired two more blasts at the onrushing creatures and extended his spear. His plasma bolts cutting in to one of the front aliens leaving just one more in front. Firing again and one of the rear aliens explodes as the first alien gets within twenty five feet and leaps to attack the hunter.

Bringing up his net gun the hunter fires and steps to his right before dropping the gun. The hunter leaps at the trapped alien as it crashes to the ground and stabs his spear into its head. Turning to face the other two the hunter sees another three leave the trees and he activates his lasers. He locks onto three of the remaining five aliens and fires. Three more aliens crash to the ground so the hunter fires another blast at one more and de-activates the plasma cannon. Eager to finish the fight the hunter runs towards the last alien with his wristblades extended as the beast swings its sharp tail towards him. Blocking it with the blades the hunter jumps right and slashes down towards the aliens head. The bug ducked under and lashed out with its sharp claws as the hunter dodges it slash. Seeing two face huggers emerge from the woods the hunter feints left, runs right and slashes down with his wrist blades across the aliens spine. Activating the plasma caster again he fired two blasts exploding the face huggers from thirty feet away as the remaining alien swung its tail towards his chest.

Grabbing the aliens tail the hunter smashes down with his wristblades cutting it off. He leaps again up over the bug and brought its own tail down smashing it into the aliens head. Scanning the trees again the hunter relaxes a bit before taking two of the alien skulls to clean later.

It would be dark soon and getting his dropped weapons and the trophies the hunter returns quickly to his ship. Once there he places two human skulls onto his trophy wall. He placed his disk into its holder and the plasma caster on its rack. He took off his mask and snarled and clicked at his computers, all of his sensors inside and around his ship showed it was quiet outside. A flashing light on his console caught his eye but he dismissed it shaking his head and clicking to himself.

He spent the next thirty minutes cleaning and polishing the alien skulls before placing them on his trophy wall.
Chapter 12

17:00pm Echo base

Seven men got out of the truck as Keys approached, "Just seven return out of twenty, shit, what happened?" he asked.

Edwards approached and told the story as they walked over to one of the new buildings that had been erected during the day. The car park lights showed the desert colours of rock and moss in the fading light. The six survivors followed Keys and Edwards to debrief in the new command post. None of the men had commented on the three other newly erected buildings in the car park, or the new faces that had appeared around the base while they were away.

Inside, after a forty five minute debrief, Edwards and the other six men were taken to the other building to clean up and eat in private then they were driven out of town towards Olympia in one of the trucks.

Keys looked towards Kenzo and said "we have a hunter and some bugs, so we send two hundred to the hunter first and then two hundred more to the caves at first light."

Kenzo Yutani turned on a monitor and typed into the keyboard "we know he's in that cave," he said "we have to trap him." A satellite view showed the hunter entering his cave. "This cave leads down to the bottom of the Bluff cave, we lay a trap for him there." Kenzo said pointing to the smaller cave the hunter had entered a second before.

"Ok, so how do we know if he hasn't got multiple entrances to the cave, can we cover them all?" asked Keys.

Kenzo entered more commands into the keyboard and a website opened to show the bluff cave. Clicking a link brought up a detailed map of the cave and surrounding area. "It is the only entrance big enough to let this hunter in and out, except for the main entrance but I don't think he'll be coming up through that."

"We can't fail," said keys "not again."

"We won't Kenzo," he smiled and went to a locker in the back of the command post. Taking out an aluminium briefcase he went to the table to open it. "We have another new gadget to try out" he added lifting up an odd looking gun and a power lead.

Shaped similar to a normal six shooter but with a couple of buttons, a dial, a bigger wheel, and three barrels. Kenzo plugged one end of the power lead into the handle of the gun and then plugged the other end into one of the available sockets that powered the computers. "This will render the hunter visible and unconscious with one hit, we have tested it on horses, cattle, then elephants and finally on a rhino." He handed the weapon to Keys "the device is kind of like a Taser but with added kick. We can deliver different volts of AC current or for a real headache we can deliver AC current to a hundred thousand volts, plus inside each point is a powerful sedative kind of like a horse tranquiliser."

"How many of these are here now?" asked Keys.

"The four hundred soldiers that arrived today brought one hundred of them. I brought this one with me so we have one hundred and one." Kenzo smiled and started for the door, "I will demonstrate, follow me."

The dark January evening was crisp and clear, the base in the car park was a hive of activity as boxes were moved, bags were filled and carried and soldiers of all ages and ranks went about their business. The two men walked towards the other three shelters that filled the corner of the car park directly opposite the diner.

"Shit, he must live in that fucking diner." said Keys as Sheriff Carmichael came out and crossed the street heading towards them.

"Mr Keys" called Ian, "can I have a word."

"Certainly sheriff, how can I help?" Keys asked smiling.

Ian approached the two men and noticing the case he got straight to the point "this creature you are hunting, if it is only one hunter and a few bugs why did a few hundred more men turn up this afternoon and why have I not been informed about any progress from you?"

"We've been busy sheriff but if you'd like to follow us I can brief you on the way." Keys motioned towards the newly erected buildings "how was your day sheriff?"

"It's been mostly quiet all day, in fact, compared to yesterday, it seemed almost normal again" said Ian. "Another nine people have been reported as missing, are we in danger here tonight?"

"I don't think so," said Keys "we'll have two hundred men watching the entrance routes into town, roads and dirt tracks. We've set up motion sensors, laser fences, automatic motion tracking sentry guns and we'll have regular patrols throughout the town." Holding the door open for them Kenzo entered then Ian with peter Keys following, "we have another three hundred men coming here tonight, trust me we will know if something in the woods farts in our direction."

19:00pm Fenton Road East side of town

Picking up Becky five minutes ago Adam had left her Eastern Rise home then drove past the school on Orchard before turning into Fenton and the road out to Devils' Bluff.

Adam Hart was a month away from his seventeenth birthday and had been dating, against her father's wishes, Becky Soams for nearly three months. Tonight he'd asked her to drive out into the mountains for a few drinks and some privacy. He didn't know that there would be a road block manned by the army but as he turned the car around Becky looked back at the soldiers then said to Adam "why don't we go over to the school and head through the woods on foot."

"What about the kids that were killed there this morning?" Adam asked.

Becky shrugged her shoulders and said "I don't know maybe its mass hysteria or hallucinations brought on by drinking poisoned water. Whatever it is I don't think there are giant insects or killer viruses in this town."

"Okay so what about your dad seeing us?" he asked.

"You worry too much" said Becky as she jabbed him in the ribs, "come on you want us to be alone don't you?"

The boy nodded smiling and ten minutes later Becky and Adam entered a tree line behind the school. After five minutes of teasing and chasing they turned west then headed towards the roadblock. "Why do you think they are there?" Adam asked about the army.

"I don't know and I don't care, they aren't going to lock me up tonight. I don't believe there is an outbreak of disease either, nobody has been sick and as for giant man eating insects I don't believe that either."

"I know it's really weird they just turn up today out of the blue, shut the school and say we can't go out at night. Hell they ain't keeping me in" he grinned at Becky "at least not tonight."

"Shh" Becky hushed him "it's gone really quiet." They stopped and both listened to the night. Nothing, no animal sounds, no insects, it was really creepy and Becky kept thinking about huge insects "I'm scared, let's go back."

Adam nodded and they turned around to go, hearing a branch break behind them they ran not looking back. Leaving the tree line Adam slipped over and cried out. Becky stopped, looked all around then turned to Adam to see him lifting his hand from a pool of clear looking slime. "What the fuck" he said dripping the oozy substance and looked up at Becky as she screamed. Adam half turned as he felt something warm and wet dripping on his neck but was stopped halfway by the insects smaller set of teeth as they punched into his head.

Too afraid to move Becky watched in horror as the huge black insect like creature bared it's teeth at her then picked up her boyfriends limp body, threw him over its back and ran back into the trees. Becky turned to run but another insect was running toward her from the school, thirty yards away from the insect she turned and fled into the trees.

She ran for a minute through the trees but the insect was too fast and she was knocked to the ground by another beast as it jumped onto her back. She screamed as she felt sharp claws digging into her shoulders and thighs. She felt something sharp punch her in the small of her back. She immediately felt dizzy and almost threw up at the slime and ooze dripping on her as the thing stepped over her. The last thing she remembered was strong hands lifting her up, a bump and speed as they raced through the woods into the night. The trees became a blur as the creature raced through them at high speed with the unconscious Becky on its back.

19:15pm Eastern Rise

Sian was sitting in the kitchen at Stuart's house and had been since this mornings attack at the school. "It didn't register this morning in the doctors but now I've thought about it, it all makes sense."

"What do you mean?" he asked as he made her a cup of hot chocolate and watched the portable TV.

"The people in the doctors, haven't you been listening?"

"Of course I have" he winked as he poured water into their cups "they were talking about people they know going missing and the black things that got Mrs Rollins."

Sian sighed as Stuart stirred the chocolate and passed her the cup "yes the black things, where do you think they came from?"

"I don't know but my dad should have been home twenty minutes ago and I'm getting worried because he always calls if he is going to be late." Stuart went into the front room and looked out the front to see if his headlights appeared in the road.

"Shall we go out to look for him?" Sian asked.

"Not with them black things out there, I'm not going out" Said the boy.

"Great, thanks, and how am I going to get home?" she asked not happy at his sudden revelation.

"Well that's what I wanted to see my dad for we'd have given you a lift home as it would have been safer in his car" he looked out the window again but saw no headlights.

Sian looked at the boy as the front room window exploded inwards. Stuart dived behind the sofa to avoid the flying glass as Sian jumped dropping her cup of chocolate on the kitchen floor.

Stuart looked up to see one of the black insect things turn to face him, its lips snarling as it showed its teeth. The black mouth opened and a smaller set of sharp teeth slid out, opened then shut and the small mouth slid back inside. The creature seemed to be dribbling a lot of clear looking spit as it stepped in Stuart's direction. Stuart stepped back but the insect leapt knocking the boy over again and landing on his chest. It opened its mouth again and its smaller teeth shot out smashing into Stuart's head.

Sian screamed and ran out of the back door she headed for the back gate where she would be a block from her house. She ran as fast as she could through the gate and across the road following a route she'd gone down every night for the last eight months. She'd left all of her things at Stuart's house but couldn't go back for them now. As she ran she heard a screech from somewhere behind and she tried to run faster, almost there she could see the lights on in her house. Good someone was home and she ran across the next road getting closer to safety with every step. Suddenly she was knocked over from behind by one of the black things and she hit the ground hard, her arm snapping as she landed on it awkwardly.

Screaming in pain she tried to call her parents as the black thing leaned close to her face. Dribbling its spit on her as it hissed then backed away from her slowly. Sian thought she might get away as the black thing moved until she saw the smaller eight legged thing with a long tail running across the lawn from her house towards her and six more of the insect things appeared looking into other houses in the street.

She screamed again as the spider like creature leapt towards her landing over her face, she reached up to try and grab it off her as she felt its tail slither around her throat and strong fingers pull it closer to her face smothering her in its fierce grip. She felt something trying to open her mouth and she passed out as the black insect threw her limp body over its back and headed towards the nest.
Chapter 13

19:20 pm Orchard Road

"Did you hear that?" asked Corporal Walton looking around at the five men with him. He was about forty year's old, short grey hair, one hundred and eighty pounds and bright blue eyes. "Well" he asked again "did anybody hear that."

"Hear what" asked Jones who was passing and stopped his patrol to grab a drink from the table the men were sitting at.

"Didn't hear anything boss" came another reply from one of the men sitting with him.

"I thought I heard a scream" his comrades shook their heads "this shit gives me the creeps, give me a stand up fight any day. Rather that than waiting for those big ugly motherfuckers to come for us."

"We got the sensors and drone guns online sir there ain't no bug getting within a hundred and fifty yards without us knowing about it." Jones indicated the woods across the road from their position.

"Are you fucking stupid or what?" Jones stepped back at the comment from his superior "didn't you see the pictures that were passed around, insects, fucking great big black insects and what are insects famous for doing."

Jones shrugged his shoulders and shook his head looking at the other men sitting with the corporal. Feeling uncomfortable at the sudden outburst he put the cup down on the table and stepped back.

"Insects don't just lay one egg soldier, they lay eggs in their millions, it's not one or two that bother me Jones it's the rest of the fucking family." Walton got up and looked at the private "better get on with your patrol" he said picking up his gun and loaded a magazine into it.

As Jones walked away one of the men sitting at the table smiled and said "usually it's a queen that lays the eggs, the rest are soldiers or drones."

"Yeah that's what bothers me as well," Walton said sitting down again "if there isn't a queen the where did these fuckers come from?"

"If there isn't a queen one of the males usually changes sex and becomes the queen." The usually quiet Parker said, and then added "that's what I read anyway."

"Quiet," Said the man who spoke earlier "listen to the night"

The five men listened at the sudden lack of noise from the wild. The only sound was from the wind in the trees and the patrol heading away from them. Two other men stood up and aimed their guns at the tree line opposite them. Walton got his radio from the table and called the patrols, "all units report in over."

He was about to call again when a reply came back "Jones here nothing to report sir, over."

"Wilkins here, nothing to report, over" the radio went quiet and Corporal Walton said to his men "eyes front, you two go thermal," he said to the two men aiming at the woods. Turning to the two seated men he said, "you two go night vision, stay sharp if anyone sees anything keep calm." Into the radio he said "Zack, report in over."

Walton tried the radio again but no answer still, he was about to radio base when Parker whispered, "movement sir ten-thirty, on night vis"

"Echo one to Echo base come in, over." Walton placed his radio on the table then put on his night vision glasses; he lifted his gun with one hand and picked up the radio with the other as a reply came in.

"Go ahead echo one we copy over," the other two soldiers turned off their blue thermal imaging goggles and switched to night vision.

"Echo four hasn't reported in yet and we've got movement at check point five a mile from the school over," Walton replied whilst keeping an eye on the creatures in front.

"Roger that Echo one, we'll have a UAV overhead in thirty seconds, stand your positions a team is on its way to you now, over."

"Roger that base, we can see something in the woods but it's not clear, whatever it is it seems to be keeping out of range of the sensors. At this distance I'd say it could be your bugs, over." Five men watched as shapes blurred past two hundred yards out, too fast to see clearly as black shapes in the green glow flashed past from left to right and back again.

A buzzing droning sound grew louder as the UAV came down to about a hundred feet. Sweeping over the men it headed towards the running creatures they were watching. None of the men noticed as two of the hand shaped creatures with long tails leapt from tree to tree towards the men and above the sensors until the radio crackled again.

Walton jumped as his radio burst into life, "Echo one this is base we have movement in front of you about thirty yards, small but headed your way over"

"Thirty yards, shit" Said Parker "I can't see anything, hold on, yep got them they're in the trees."

Everyone aimed into the trees and saw the rapidly approaching creatures "Wallace and Harvey watch the bugs." Two men lowered their guns to watch the things in the distance Harvey and Walton fired at the smaller oncoming spider like things. "Copy that base we got them, how many out there over" he fired again.

"The UAV counted six plus the two smaller ones, we're coming back around for another pass then we're going to follow them over"

"Copy that base out." Watching the creatures leap from branch to branch none of the men noticed the bug that approached from behind with its tail curved over its body like a scorpion. Stabbing Walton in the back the Alien smashed left then right knocking Parker and Harvey to the ground. It stabbed again with its tail stunning Wallace as Vasquez turned to look at the monster behind him.

The hellish creature drooled its clear slimy looking liquid and opened its mouth to show silvery black sharp looking teeth. The creature then opened its mouth fully to reveal another smaller sharper looking set of teeth inside. Vasquez started to bring the gun around as the smaller set of teeth shot out to punch a hole in his head.

Two of the face hugging aliens jump onto two of the fallen men as the rest scuttle past them heading towards the houses and the town beyond.

19:30pm Echo base

The cameras in the UAV displayed into the command post where Keys, Kenzo and Ian watched as the men were knocked to the ground. Two of the smaller creatures leapt onto two of the fallen men as the others ran past heading to the town beyond. The alien who'd killed everyone then picked up a body at his feet and threw it on his back. The UAV circled around again and tried to follow the faster alien but lost it as it headed towards the old mines, the creature was just too fast.

"We know where it's headed and in the morning we'll sweep the land from here to the mines with two hundred men," Keys said looking to the sheriff for approval.

"Sounds good but as it has been quiet all day does that mean they come out at night and if they do what are we doing to protect the town tonight?" Ian looked from Keys to Yutani, "you don't say much either Mr Yutani."

"I am here for the technology of the hunter only, this" he gestured to the cameras displaying the UAV image as they flew over the old mines, "this is none of my concern but I have ordered another squadron of special forces to arrive within the hour to help protect the town tonight. I hope that this will help to satisfy you with the safety of the town."

A little stunned at this new information Ian thought for a minute then said "okay that would help, how many of your patrols haven't called in?"

"Only the three patrols that you heard earlier, the insects aren't using the roads and they don't set off the lasers so we assume they see the beams, we have two hundred out there now and another hundred will go out to support them when they get here but we can not watch every inch of land and some might get in," Yutani said to the sheriff. "We don't think that there are many of them yet but there could be double our original estimates," Yutani smiled at the sheriff "which is why we are going to kill them before we go after the other one." Kenzo held up his hand as Ian started to speak, "they are both dangerous threats for different reasons, the bugs or insects will attack man, woman or child. The alien hunter will only attack people who are armed."

"If they are Insects then could there be millions of them coming soon right?" asked Ian finally. "I mean insects usually have a queen and she lays millions of eggs, right?"

Yutani looked to Keys and said "Mr Keys is your expert Sheriff, I'm sure he could tell you better than I could."

"Yes" said keys "if there's a queen then there could be millions. Did you read about the death of Charles Weyland a couple of years back?"

"Vaguely, didn't he die on some expedition to the south pole or something?" Ian tried to remember the details as Keys continued.

"An island near Antarctica not the south pole and there was one survivor. It wasn't in the news but the survivor told of these insect like creatures that bleed acid, sound familiar?" Ian nodded as Keys continued "the survivor also reported that these creatures were about man size and there was one huge leader, an egg layer or queen or whatever you want to call it, if it is a queen then yes there could be millions." Keys looked to Yutani as his cell phone rang.

Kenzo answered in Japanese, listened for a minute, and replied again in his native language then hung up, putting the cell in his pocket he said "they are here." Keys and Yutani stepped out of the command tent with Ian following.

Looking up into the dark night sky Keys lifted a small radio off of his belt and said into it "ground units make a space and light them up."

Sounds of shouted orders, trucks moving, and running echoed across the base then searchlights lit up the sky reflecting off of the clouds at three thousand feet. Popping and hissing came from the corner of the car park where it met the open land as red flares were lit. Light poured into the sky from the flares and more search lights that had been lit in a huge circle marking a landing site. Ian also looked up at the sky to see faint black dots appearing in the distant reflected light as a hundred men parachuted in.

Rumbling sounded from the north east getting louder, Ian's radio crackled as the sheriff's deputy Billy called in. "Sheriff you there over?"

"Yeah I copy Billy what's up over?" asked Ian whist still looking at the sky.

"I'm out near Abe Garners house on Granger and you are not going believe this sheriff but there a half a dozen trucks and what looks like three more Chinook helicopters headed this way over" Billy was sitting in his cruiser and watched through binoculars as the headlights came over a rise in the road a mile away heading towards the town from Olympia. Billy could also make out three sets of double rotors as the huge helicopters flew above the convoy.

"Copy that Billy we're expecting them, report back to me at the army base now over," Ian could see the lights of the approaching helicopters as they rose higher then split going in opposite directions to circle the camp.

"Roger that sheriff, I'm on my way now over and out." Ian turned again to look up as parachutes filled the sky at different heights, all of the men spiralling down to land in the car park and get out of the way for the next man in line. He heard the helicopters now and saw light in the distance of the convoy of trucks carrying soldiers to help guard the town.

With the last of the paratroopers on the ground the first Chinook came in to land in the cleared out centre of the car park. Its huge back door dropping down to reveal more soldiers and more boxes of equipment crammed tight into the back of this huge craft. The small army base was getting bigger by the minute as soldiers ran here and there with ammo, guns, armour, and other supplies for the new arrivals. Ian watched the helicopter unloading its cargo, close its doors, then lift into the sky heading due south. The second helicopter moved in slowly and landed in the same spot as the first and it too unloaded its cargo, men and equipment, onto the car park before it took off heading after the first Chinook.

Billy said he'd seen three of the double rotor helicopters and trucks coming through town and Ian looked around expecting to see a third Chinook settle to the floor. Instead he saw two helicopters smaller than the Chinooks as they split apart and landed, one at a time, on either end of the clearing used earlier by the paratroopers. Relieved and smiling Ian, Keys and Yutani walked over to take a closer look at the fully loaded, fully armed, Apache gun ships that now sat in the car park with their rotor blades still spinning as the engines whined down.

Both seats in the helicopters were occupied by a helmeted pilot and gunner one of which saw Ian looking at his craft and signed ok as his cockpit lifted up to let the men out. Four men climbed down from the two huge machines and walked over to the pair of men standing with Ian.

"Major Riley and Major Grant reporting for duty sir" said the six foot two pilot of the first helicopter "we're fully armed and ready to go as we refuelled en route."

"I'm Peter Keys of the NSA in charge of this operation," Keys then indicated the Japanese man next to him "this is Mr Yutani and Mr Carmichael is the sheriff here," Keys said to the men shaking their hands as the other two pilots introduced their selves.

"Major Evans and Major Ince reporting for duty sir," said the other pilot as they all shook hands.

"Gentlemen please follow me we need to brief you about the situation here," Keys said as he led the new comers to the command trailer with Yutani and Ian following.
Chapter 14

20:00pm Fenton Street

Two groups of six soldiers walked past the bakery, owned by Peter Barnes father, about ten feet apart. Their guns were ready and aimed in all directions as they approached the store. The deputy's car drove past them on its journey back to town. Lights were on in other windows in the area and all seemed quiet as the men kept to their four hour patrol. They'd all heard the stories told to them by their superiors but none of them believed it. None of the survivors of the other missions returned to the ranks, they were driven out of town as soon as their briefings were finished.

The leader of the first group held up his hand and made a fist, all of the men in both groups stopped as one covering every angle around them. "Listen" a soldier said. It was usually quiet in this quiet part of town but the leader thought he'd heard something behind the convenience store. He pointed to his eyes then pointed behind the store "night vision on let's take a look around there." He pointed to the back of the shop and two men went forward first crouching a little while moving forward to quickly cover the area. The leader and another went two seconds after followed by the last pair, the second group watching their backs as well as forward as they moved along the side of the shop following their comrades.

Looking around the delivery area at the back of the store the men couldn't see anything out of place. The leader stopped again and turned to face the land beyond the area. He was scared, something felt wrong, he couldn't put his finger on it until someone behind him said "it's too quiet listen you'd at least expect to hear something in the night from out there." He aimed his gun out towards the land his night vision goggles giving it an eerie green glow, nothing moved or made a sound.

A twig snapped off to the right and twelve guns swung towards the sound, "movement in the trees three o'clock, shit is that one of them?" asked a private. All of the men spotted the creature by the trees. It seemed to be studying them, watching them.

The creature bared its teeth and swung its long sharp tail then turned and ran away into the night. Another sound from behind and gunfire exploded into the night as two men fired at an approaching insect. It crumbled to the ground as machine gun fire tore it apart. Its acid blood hissed and burned on the ground and trees where it splashed. Acrid smoke filled the air and the group of soldiers looked everywhere covering a possible attack from any angle.

The leader took a radio from a pouch on his belt and called in to report this, "Echo nine to base we have confirmed contact in sector twelve, behind the convenience store on Redmond, over."

"Roger that Echo nine there are more troops heading your way, ETA three minutes," came the reply "we need you to confirm the sighting, over."

"Yeah we copy, we got one confirmed kill and there was another one in the trees near our position, over." Another sound from behind them and all hell broke loose as an alien leapt from the roof of the store onto the backs of two men that shot its brother. Its teeth flashed into a skull killing the man and its tail lashing at other men nearby. It knocked over another four men and stabbed into the leader's chest with its disabling venom. The leader immediately dropped the radio as it asked for a report again, he felt dizzy, hot and he passed out.

Gunfire again and a screech as one of the soldiers who was almost knocked over in the first attack killed the bug that had jumped onto the group. More acid blood spraying onto the legs and body of two of those knocked to the ground.

More shots as another two attacked from the trees but the remaining soldiers killed them quickly and from a distance. One of the men picked up the squawking radio and replied "Evans to base we have men down over."

"Base here, backup is two minutes away, hold your positions and keep the wounded or dead safe, over"

"Copy that base ETA is two minutes, over and out."

The men studied the body at their feet, they looked like insects, long curved black heads, bony tough body, and sharp looking claws, tail and teeth. One of the soldiers poked at the body with the business end of his machine gun then a gunshot again invaded the night as the man put a bullet into the aliens head. The men heard a truck pull up at the side of the road and two men turned in time to see four of the insects as they attacked again. Two of them leaping from twenty feet away they landed in the middle of the group knocking three men to the ground as the other two beasts ran into the rest. One of the soldiers tried to raise his gun to shoot the creatures but dropped the weapon and screamed as a tail punched through his neck.

Footsteps sounded as sixteen more soldiers ran around the corner in time to see two of the bugs disappear into the night. Shots again as someone fired after the creatures they'd briefly seen but no sound came back except the echo of the shots. "Hold your fire" shouted the Sergeant as he studied the scene.

Twelve men were in this group but after counting the fallen or injured men twice he only counted four living soldiers. "You and you check for survivors" he pointed to two men. "Everyone else cover us all areas, are any of them wounded?" Looking from man to man he saw an arm move and went to the man's side. Sergeant Joyce gently turned him over, his other arm looked broken by the way it flopped over when it moved and the man screamed in pain."How many other live ones?" he asked.

One of the men he'd picked answered "Two Sir the rest are dead."

Turning to another officer he said "Call it in we've got four missing, two wounded and the rest dead."

"Yes sir" replied the lower ranking man who turned then called in to base to report as he looked at the carnage and blood all around him.

It was quiet again now but the whole town must have heard the gunfire. Joyce hoped that no civilian came out here curious as to the noise. The stink of cordite, human and insect blood and acid burned flesh was too much and two of the group ran back around the corner. Sounds of the men throwing up echoed back to the soldiers that remained behind the store. They all heard distant gunfire from another unit somewhere else in town and they all wished the men better luck than this group.

22:00 pm Echo Base

Billy and Ian left the trailer that they'd used to monitor the towns patrols. rReports had come in from eleven of the town's people about missing friends, children or parents and two of the patrols had been under attack. "An eventful night so far" Ian said as the pair headed towards the sheriff's station.

"Yeah and another eight or nine hours of darkness means it could get worse." Billy looked back at the base they'd just left, "do you believe Keys and Yutani? All that bullshit about helping us kill these things."

Ian laughed "yeah I got the impression that they aren't that keen to kill any of them, they want to catch some of the bugs and they especially want to catch this alien hunter thing."

Billy nodded as they headed into the station "I can understand them wanting this alien hunter because of its technology. Its those insects that I don't understand and where the fuck did they come from? No one has explained that, fucking mutated in a mixture of chemicals I don't believe that for a minute."

Shaking his head Ian looked at his deputy "nor I," he said "in fact I think that they are scared of the fucking bugs, Yutani didn't even want to talk about them he said he was here for the hunter only and Keys could only speculate as to why those things are here." Ian hadn't told Billy about what Keys had said earlier but only because he didn't really believe the man, Ian knew that Keys knew more about them than he told Ian.

"Could this hunter have brought the bugs or even come after them?" Billy said as he poured them both a coffee before entering the Sheriffs' office.

"What?" asked Ian wondering how much Billy really knew.

Sitting down the deputy said "I mean yeah what if the bugs came here first and this hunter followed them, he is here for them but we are stuck in the middle."

"Area fifty one, Roswell, Maddison Heights, nah I don't buy it. We've been searching for proof of life on other planets for years now you're suggesting two turn up at once and right here smack in the middle of our small town!" Ian said before taking a sip of his coffee, he didn't believe Keys explanation of how the bugs arrived here either.

"Okay so maybe it is a coincidence I mean I don't think the bugs are clever enough to build a spaceship but we don't even know if the hunter is killing bugs. We know he's killing our people and we know the bugs are killing our people. We need to know how many bugs there are and get everyone else warned or out of the town."

"Getting people out will be hard with the quarantine in place," said Ian as the phone on Mary's desk began to ring before Billy could reply. Ian stood up and went over to answer it. He talked on the telephone for a minute then put the receiver down, "we're going out again."

Billy got up, picked up their coffee's and walked over to where Ian was. Ian turned around took his cup and said "that was peter Barnes, he said he could hear screams from some soldiers and from some of his neighbours."

"Drink up, let me grab some things and we'll go out there, hell there's no way I'm going to sleep tonight." Billy said putting his cup down and he went over to his desk, opened a drawer and took out a key. Opening a cabinet behind his desk he took out two MAC10 machine pistols a belt and some magazines for the guns.

Twenty minutes later the sheriff drove along Redmond Street past the place where this morning there was carnage. The road now seemed quiet as they pulled up at Peters' house. No lights were on and the place seemed deserted even the night seemed still and deathly quiet. Leaning through the open window Billy pointed his gun around as he looked into the night, "seems a little too quiet Sheriff" he said all business now.

They got out of the car Billy with a MAC10, Ian with a shotgun. Looking all around they headed towards Peters house. Billy was right thought Ian, it is quiet. Getting to the front door they heard a window break across the street "do you smell that" Ian asked "It's like this morning the acid."

Billy nodded fully alert and keeping one eye on the road and street he knocked on peters door. About to knock again they heard a hiss from across the street and both turned to see a big black bug in the road near their car.

Ian fired and saw the acid spurt from a dozen holes in the creatures head just above its evil looking teeth. Another three bugs came across the street towards the two men and Billy knocked again as he fired at the nearest of the three nearly cutting it in half. Its two companions hissed and both creatures leapt at the two men. Ian and Billy both fired again killing the creatures in the air, Billy dived to his right to avoid the flying acid bomb but Ian wasn't as young and the dead bug knocked him to the ground as it fell.

Out of the corner of his eye Billy saw movement and turned to see two of the face hugging creatures running towards him, pulling out his other machine pistol Billy killed one of the smaller creatures before it leapt towards him but missed the other as it leapt onto a screaming Ian, silencing him as it settled on his face.

Billy re-loaded the other machine pistol, moved over to the front door and banged again. The door opened a crack and a woman peeked through then asked "who is it?" she asked through the gap.

Billy looked round quickly "it's the sheriffs' deputy maam, it's Billy" he answered as he looked from the door back to the main road where it had got quiet again. "I need to come in now please"

Mrs Barnes could see it was Billy and beckoned him in after opening the door a bit more. Closing the door quickly she asked "what are they? Those black things I mean."

"We don't know, I need to get upstairs first and call for help" Said Billy

Billy moved them upstairs and into Peter's room where Peter was watching outside from his window Billy could see the scar he'd got from the acid blood earlier. All the lights were on downstairs but off up here, Billy took out his radio and tried calling the army channel "this is deputy Chaveas I need immediate assistance on Redmond we've been attacked by the insects and the sheriff is down, call Peter Keys he knows us over?"

"This is Echo base sir a patrol is near you now and on its way. Mr Keys isn't here right now but we'll also let him know over" answered the same young soldier that was operating the radio when he and Ian left the base over forty five minutes ago.

"Roger that Echo base what's their ETA over" Gunshots sounded from outside making everyone jump. Billy moved to the window and saw eight men in the road moving as one towards the sheriffs' car "come on he said to the woman and her son "we've got to get to the car if we can, you can both stay at the army base tonight."

The radio crackled as the army base reported an imminent arrival of its patrol unit. Billy looked up the road to see the headlights of the truck that had just came into view a mile away as they spoke.

"Roger that Echo Base they're here over and out" said Billy as he loaded a fresh clip into both of his guns and made to leave.

"It's our house we can't leave," said the woman looking at Peter.

"Forgive me for saying it ma'am but it isn't safe here and for both of your safety I insist on you both leaving with me now," he looked at the woman and holstered one of the guns, "now." Mrs Barnes nodded and Billy led the way out of the room and down the stairs with Peter close and his mother right behind them both. The back window in the living room suddenly crashed as a bug jumped through it and Billy drew his Mac10 to aim, he saw a blur on the floor in front of him as he fired at the insect in their living room. Peter's mum screamed and was cut off suddenly, Billy turned to the woman as she fell with an alien attached to her face. Two more of the black bugs jumped into the living room and Peter just stared at his mother. Billy dragged him out of the open front door saying "we can't stay, there are more out the back and they'll get us as well if we do stay."

More shooting sounded from outside then screams from a man and screeches from the insects as bullets or teeth hit their mark. A loud boom echoed around the street as someone fired a grenade. The remaining creatures fled into the trees opposite as the grenade blew two aliens apart.

Opening the front door Billy saw seven armed soldiers approaching the house "Another squad is on its way ETA five minutes" The leader said looking at Billy as he said "You the sheriff?"

Billy shook his head "there is a woman inside we need to get her to the army base but be careful the back garden is full of bugs as well."

The young soldier pointed to three of the men to enter and bring out the woman then turned back to Billy. The three soldiers entered the house behind him and Peter just stood there looking at the body of a bug on the grass.

"Sheriff we need to get moving," one young looking soldier urged them.

Billy looked around to where the sheriff had been but his body had gone, "not the sheriff, I'm deputy Chaveas the sheriff was lying here with one of those things on his face." He pointed to the ground and looked back at the soldiers who were all scanning the street except for the man he was talking. More gunshots rang out from the house and further down the street.

"One of those bugs must have took his body sir, we saw one cross the road with something on its back. We shot at it but we're fairly sure we missed, we came down the road and more came out of the trees to attack us. We were eight men but Johnson got hit by some of their acid"

"Sorry to hear that" Billy said as they could hear the other truck turn into the street. The three soldiers that entered the house had reported no one else was there, no woman or body. "I think they are gone now anyway so let's get you back to town." He led the boy to the sheriff's car and the soldiers moved forward to let them go but stayed with them to provide cover. Moving around a dead bug they stared at its slimy black body, sharp claws and tail. They got to the car and Billy opened the back door to let Peter climb in.

"What makes you say they have gone?" asked the soldier. The truck stopped behind the cruiser and men piled off the back taking up positions around the area. Some of the men held strange looking guns and others carried odd looking boxes with a tube sticking out the front. Gunshots and an explosion sounded in the distance and everyone looked at the trees again.

"Listen" Billy replied climbing into the car, "you can hear the sounds of the night when they aren't about," he pointed to the black thing in the front garden "with those things around you can't because it goes dead quiet." He shut the door and opened the window.

"Thanks and be careful" the soldier nodded and moved back. He whistled and waved his arm at the other men who also gave the car room. It turned around then headed back to the army base in town with Peter Barnes in the back.
Chapter 15

22.45pm Echo base.

Standing over a printer in the command centre Keys turned to face Yutani and said "the simulators have all came out the same they say that these aliens will take over the entire state in about a month. If left unchecked then the United States could be completely devastated in under a year. This projection also states that if they carry on taking people at the rate they are at the moment the world could be destroyed in under three years," he handed a print out to Kenzo.

"The nest will be eradicated in the morning and as they are active at night mainly we are sending two hundred men at oh seven thirty." Kenzo looked for a reaction from Keys but got none and continued "its time I let you in on a little secret Mr Keys, as Weyland and Yutani are now one company you are entitled to know."

Keys smiled having had a hunch he wasn't told the whole story "know what?"

Kenzo motioned the other man to a side door in the trailer and they went through. The room was not large but well fitted out with four computers to the right and a living space along the left and in front of them. Kenzo turned on the monitors to the computers and the screens lit up with dark images of the inside of a cave. Tapping into a keyboard one of the displays changed to a green image that showed a cavern with a ceiling about thirty feet high. Something black raced past the camera in a blur and the camera moved slightly in the breeze of its passing.

"Is that inside the cave?" asked Keys more shocked now that he'd been kept out of the loop.

"Yes, I apologise for not telling you earlier but we couldn't risk the men knowing they were carrying these devices, we knew some wouldn't be coming back so everyone who went out there wore them."

"Cameras from the tactical head gear, would they still work?" Keys asked smiling.

Kenzo shook his head and opened a door next to the computers where he took out one of the soldiers jackets "this button second from the top is a camera, the manufacturer of this technology weaves wires into the fabric and we provide a power pack on the belt that makes contact just by touching it. Other wires in the stitching act like an antenna sending the signal here. We had to know what was happening inside the caves and we knew their tactical camera wouldn't work if the head gear was knocked of the wearer."

"So you sent those men in knowing that they'd probably die, how could you know that the cameras would work?"

"We didn't, these are all prototypes we hoped that some would survive so we also had backup cameras installed. The backups all failed except one, this one" Kenzo pointed to one of the computer screens.

"Where were the backups hidden?"

"In their weapons electronic sight, however three button cameras are still operational inside the caves and we've recorded some amazing footage. We now know that there is a queen in there and we are sure she is matured and laying eggs. We can expect them to attack in force tomorrow evening if left unchecked."

"Is there a backup plan for the morning?" asked Keys.

Kenzo smiled and clicked his mouse, the screen changed to show the desktop and Kenzo clicked on a folder which opened to show picture files. Scrolling down the screen Kenzo opened one of the files.

Keys didn't understand quite what he was seeing. It looked like a laptop computer, nothing special, silver in colour and totally featureless, not even a seam around the curved edges. He looked up at Kenzo, raised an eyebrow and after a moment asked "well, what is it.?"

"A catalyst, the picture you see is of a new material. Since the arrival of this hunter we have discovered new elements in the universe. We mined this from a comet we intercepted out by Mars. Just one ounce of this will cause an explosion of a thousand times the power of a single stick of TNT. We have sown two pounds of this into each uniform the soldiers wore out to the gold mines." Kenzo clicked another picture to display an army backpack exploded to show the insides. Kenzo pointed to a small box in the middle of the pack, "this is what will destroy the nest, we have armed the four suits inside the gold cave and we are sure the aliens don't know that they are there or what they are. This," he continued "is a kind of delivery system. There is a control unit inside that will inject a gram of uranium or plutonium into the dead body. Once in place the explosion from the suits will cause a chain reaction in the body and the plutonium or uranium will erupt causing a small nuclear blast big enough to destroy three of your city blocks."

Keys whistled, "And you have four armed to go off, what, at the same time or different times?" he studied the picture on the monitor but he didn't understand the tech.

"We will set them all off together sealing the gold mines permanently. The men that are in there are as good as dead anyway and as their bodies are two to three hundred yards inside the caves there won't be any fallout. It defiantly won't reach the town, especially as we are sealing up the entrance to the caves fifteen minutes before detonation."

"Okay so the insects are going to be wiped out tomorrow, what about the alien hunter at the bluff?" asked Keys. They talked about the raid they were preparing for the morning and both men started looking over the mornings plans when the call came in about the sheriff, his deputy, and the young boy they'd saved.

Keys stood up "I'd better go and greet them" he looked back at the Japanese man as he headed for the door, "how do we know whether we've killed all of the bugs?"

"Not much will be able to leave the collapsed entrances Mr Keys, any way we have satellite feeds watching the area. If any escape we will have teams nearby ready to kill any that do escape."

"What about the Apaches" asked Keys stopping at the door "can't they circle the caves ready to kill any escapees?"

"Yes they will be circling during the initial attack" answered Kenzo "but they will have to land before we detonate the bombs or the EMP will destroy their electronic systems."

23:00pm Echo base

Billy parked the cruiser in the road next to the base and got out followed by Peter. Keys stepped down from the trailer and approached and introduced himself to the boy. They walked towards the centre of the makeshift buildings in the camp and Keys said "these don't look much from the outside but they are very comfortable and you'll safe here for tonight. We can arrange it for you to be moved out to another town or city or we'll take you to stay with relatives, think about it tonight ok"

"What are those things Mr Keys, where did they come from?" asked Peter as he looked around at the base.

Keys looked down at the boy and said "you showed a lot of courage out there this morning Peter. As to what they are well to be honest we don't know what they are or where they come from. I can tell you this though we are here to stop them hurting any more people." Keys led him into the building and up some stairs where he showed them into a room big enough for a family of four.

"Can I have a gun so I can help kill them?" Peter asks.

"I can't give you a gun Peter but I can call for our doctor to look at your head young man," Keys said to Peter who shook his head no.

"No thank you I'm fine, I just need to sleep" Peter went to a chair, sat down, and started to cry. Peter missed his mum and dad, "kill all of the bugs sir don't let any of them live, I can help if you need it."

Keys walked over to a cupboard and picked up a telephone he pressed some numbers on the keypad and talked briefly into the hand set. Putting it down he looked back at the boy and said "you don't have to worry son we're going to kill them all. While you are asleep we're sending two hundred soldiers and enough firepower to wipe them out, if you need anything use this," he indicated the telephone "press nine and you'll call me direct." Peter looked back at him, nodded and turned away from the man to lay down on the bed.

01:00am Saturday 24th January Echo Base

It had been quiet for a couple of hours and the reports had stopped coming in about contact with the insect like beasts. Jonny Taylor was twenty eight years old, about a hundred and ninety pounds and unshaved. His patrol of eight had just returned to the roadblock at the end of Fenton road. As they entered the base another group of eight started their patrol. Seven tents big enough for eight men on bunks had been erected either side of the dirt track that led out to Devil's Bluff and a gate had been placed across the road to stop any traffic. "Catch some zed's people we go out again at seven," he said to his men before he went to the largest tent. The patrol split up as the soldiers went to their allotted sleeping quarters. His second in command, corporal Mallory, followed him into the command tent.

Sitting at a table between two other soldiers Taylor clicked on a radio and reported the end of a quiet shift, he'd started the night with Mallory at nine pm and finished the shift with the same man. Other patrols had not been that lucky.

"Coffee or Scotch" asked Mallory going to the makeshift kitchen area at the side of the table.

"Coffee, then and then I'm hitting the sack." He looked up at his friend and added "you should rest as well, we move out again at seven."

Leaving the command tent after their nightcaps Mallory said "I'm going to have a cigarette first then hit the sheets."

Taylor nodded and went into the last bunk tent on the right. Mallory walked to the edge of the camp smoking a cigarette and listening to the sounds of the night. He was careful not to walk into the path of the motion sensing drone guns covering the outpost. He'd seen these babies firing so knew they'd cut him in half if he crossed into their vision.

He could hear insects and other night animals in the wild as he smoked a cigarette. Dropping the last of the cigarette he crushed the hot end with his boot and looked around. He thought he heard distant gunfire and muttered "poor bustards'" to himself. He then turned and headed for the last tent on the left of the perimeter camp.

An hour later a noise woke Mallory from off to the right, muffled like someone struggling inside their tent then it went quiet again. He closed his eyes again but wrinkled his nose then opened his eyes as he could smell an acrid burning. Realising what the smell was he sat up and looked at his watch. Just after two thirty "shit" he said under his breath and reached for his pack of cigarettes, maybe another smoke outside would help him sleep.

The smell of burning was stronger as walked out of the tent in the combat trousers he slept in and a t-shirt. He took a cigarette out of its packet and lit up the smoke. Blowing the first lung full of smoke into the night air he walked towards the tent opposite where the smell seemed to be coming from. Hearing a crack in the bushes to his left he looked around as the drone gun there opened fire on whatever it was that moved if its field of view.

Turning to go back to his tent to get his gun he was smacked in the face and knocked to the ground. Feeling something slithering around his neck he opened his mouth to scream and felt something slide into his mouth and down his throat. Feeling pressure on the side of his head and all around his neck he passed out not hearing the commotion of his colleagues as they scrambled out of their tents with guns ready.

The drone gun had woken every one not on duty and ten men raced to the back of the camp site where the drone guns had fired into the night. The group stood around the fallen body of Mallory and one of them said "Shit, how the fuck did that get in and where there hell is Taylor?"

Taylor hadn't come out of his tent and one of the men that had just left his tent said "he is in there with one of these things on his face, looks like it got him as he was getting out of bed but I unzipped the door to get in."

"With Taylor and Mallory down that puts me in charge now," said Sergeant Holmes a small cropped haired man about thirty two, five six tall and a hundred and twenty pounds. "You call it in and get some back up, you three go with him" he pointed to the four men as he spoke.

The selected men went back to the radio in the command tent as Holmes turned to the others, pointing to two men he said "you two see if you can do anything, try to get this thing off him or something."

"The rest of you stay close, go in pairs, keep in contact and sweep the area with sensors. Scratch that, you," he pointed to one man, "come with me and you three, sweep the area with you two following, meet back here in five."

The men split up with Holmes and another soldier going around to the entrance to Taylor's tent, "look" Holmes said and pointed to a hole in the side of the tent near the front "fucker burned its way in there do you think?" he asked.

The other man looked over to the hole and then back to the sarge, "certainly looks like it, but if it's that small would the motion sensors pick it up. I mean do they only pick up a certain sized animal and if they don't detect these fuckers, well then we are all fucked."

Holmes nodded his agreement as they entered the tent. Immediately they could see their commanding officer half on his bunk with another alien over his face. Gunshots sounded from the road end of the camp and the two men left the tent quickly and ran around to join the others by Mallory's body. "follow us now, we need to stay together."

As they ran to the command tent Holmes shouted for everyone to meet him there. They got to the three men guarding the man on the radio as the shooting had stopped. Nine men aimed at the blackness of the night looking in all directions. "They are keeping out of range sir but they're out there watching us." A screech sounded from in front of them but a fair distance away. All of the men aimed towards the sound as a young soldier about eighteen came out of the tent.

"Backup is on its way sir" he said to Holmes "ETA nine minutes." Putting on one of the special helmets the young man turned the glass screen over his eye. Switching on the tiny heads up display the image had a digital read out showing the distance to an object, this time a tree, and enhanced the available light so he could see the two bugs pacing from left to right and back again in front of their position. Occasionally one of them would stop to bare its teeth at them or run forward ten feet then retreat again.

Four men went into the command tent and came out a minute later with helmets on and guns, soon everyone was kitted out and able to see the bugs. Holmes aimed through the electronic sight on his G36 machine gun and shot one of the bugs in the shoulder. At this range though it had no effect, not even hurting the beast. It just bared its teeth and turned to face him, "I wish we had one of them new smart guns they have at base."

One of the drone guns opened fire and they all jumped, aiming where the guns were firing. The men started shooting at the forty or fifty bugs running at them from the trees as the second drone gun to their left started firing as well. Cutting down the two groups of insects the drone guns fell silent again as another group of the black insects appeared in the trees just out of range.

They all watched as the bugs turned around and disappeared over the next ridge leading away from the group. None of the men spotted the four bugs crawling through the brush to their right, or the five smaller face huggers crawling slowly through the rocks and dirt. Holmes pointed to five of the men "you cover right, head back to Mallory, we'll cover left and keep on the radios, report any movement, go." Holmes said as he checked his magazine, the other soldiers also checked their weapons and magazines before they all headed out.

The two units split up and headed around to where Mallory lay, or where he should be laying. Nothing nobody heard a sound as whatever it was that got the body of their friend did it in silence. None of the men had time to react as six aliens attacked either killing or stunning before carrying the soldiers bodies away. Nobody from the group had time to fire a single shot as they were taken.

Five minutes later two trucks pulled up by the command tent. Thirty soldiers jumped out of the two trucks and spread out whilst they waited for orders. "Anyone here" shouted one of the Special Ops officers. The camp looked and was deserted. One tent was torn along one side and there were dragging marks in the dirt near the back of the camp.

"Roger that" said the spec ops man he then put his radio away and looked around once more "twelve men were here with another eight on patrol and none of them have reported back. We stay here for the rest of the night people so make busy and keep alert. I want four sides guarded now use the motion detectors and flame units for backup." He looked over towards the still smoking drone guns and ordered two soldiers to check their ammo.

Thirty soldiers spread out around the deserted camp, odd signs of a scuffle or spots of blood the only sign that anything was amiss. Four motion sensors swept all sides with nothing to report. The sounds of the night had returned as normal but none of the new arrivals had ever experienced a bug attack and wasn't sure what to look or listen for.

03:15am Eastern Rise, Maddison heights.

The early morning air was chilly as Charlie Soams left his house to look for his daughter Rebecca. She went to her room last night but must have left through the window to meet with the Hart kid. He was angry, she'd never stayed out this late before and he thought that she must be at an all night party somewhere.

Walking quickly he turned into Orchard road and saw the school he'd heard about yesterday morning. The kids killed or missing, killed by what some strange looking insect like creatures that, although he didn't know it, were now invading other areas of this small town. Gunshots sounded in the distance but that had been going on all night so he wasn't worried as whatever the soldiers were shooting at they weren't here.

Turning the collar of his jacket up the man reached into the deep side pockets and tested bringing the guns out without them getting caught in the material. Happy he could draw both pistols quickly he approached the school and saw the Hart boys car in the car park, "damn you if you think you're going to make out with my little girl in a fucking car," he muttered to himself as he walked over to the now obviously empty car.

If anyone was in this car the windows would have steamed up so Charlie looked around at the ground and woods behind the school. In the damp cold air there were no tracks he could see so he walked up towards the tree line taking one of the pistols out of his pocket as he went. Something on the ground thirty yards away made him walk over and all he could see was a dark icy looking pool in the grass. He bent down to look at the substance on the floor and touched it with a finger, a sticky, clear resin like substance stuck to his finger. Lifting his hand up streams of the stuff stuck to him and the ground as he lifted his fingers away. Charlie looked up suddenly as he heard a noise in the trees.

Charlie stood up and reached into his left hand coat pocket to bring out the other pistol. Movement in the trees caught his eye as something ran to his left. He turned and ran back towards the lone car in the car park. Reaching the car he turned back to the trees as four big black insects hissed at him. Firing the pistol in his right hand he killed one of the bugs as the other three disappeared into the trees again.

Fingers appeared silently on the roof of the car behind him. Keeping an eye on the tree line he was reloading a clip into the spent gun when he realised to late that something was there with him. The spiderlike creature leapt onto his face and wrapped its long tail around his throat in the blink of an eye. He could feel the thing settling onto his face and a finger like thing pushed into his mouth and down his throat as he passed out.

04:00am Orchard Road

Gun shots woke Mary Danson and her husband Bert, they looked at each other in the darkness, "what was that? It sounded like," Mary started to ask as her Bert shushed her.

"Listen" he whispered putting his finger over his mouth.

They both listened and could hear clicking like dogs claws on a wooden floor. They heard something hiss close by and a window in a neighbours house breaking.

Mary turned to her bedside table and opened the drawer, she reached in and pulled out a .38 police special, Bert seeing her get her gun also took his .38 out of his bedside cabinet. Being the police dispatcher Mary wasn't required to carry a gun. She felt safer though and went target shooting on Sundays with Ian and Billy. Bert usually went with her so he bought one as well to make it a bit like a competition. Although she was the better shot he mainly only went to keep her company. Both now armed she went over to the side of the window and moved the curtains slightly to look outside.

On the porch of their neighbours house was one of the black insects she'd heard about but until now hadn't seen. It was stood unmoving on all fours and looked in to the neighbour's living room window. They both turn towards the door and Mary motions Bert to close it then come over to where she waited by the window. A minute later he was by the window and she pointed to the insect below. As Bert looks out the insect appears to look in their direction and hisses. Bert saw the spit dripping from the beast's mouth as another larger black insect came out of the house with their neighbour. Chloe, the woman who had lived there for the last seventeen years, was unconscious on its back. Mary noticed that this bug was different it was a darker black and standing on two legs. It ran forward across the grass then leapt across the road and ran towards the trees behind the school opposite.

They'd both heard about the trouble in the school but felt that they couldn't leave their home. They had no where to go and besides Mary's job meant she had to stay in town despite the quarantine. Looking back to the neighbours they both saw that the smaller brown insect had gone. Another black insect ran across the road about twenty yards down the road and they closed the curtains and went back to the bed. Scratching and scraping noises came from their porch and listening to the noise Bert whispers "shall I take a look downstairs"

Mary shook her head "no" and looking around as another window broke further on down the road, "if we stay here and don't move they might not know that we are here" she whispered.

"That one on Chloe's porch saw me, I'm sure of it."

Bert was about to reply when they heard the clicking of the creatures claws on their porch directly underneath them as they sat on the bed. Mary checked the gun was loaded and Bert seeing his wife check her gun reached back into his drawer and took out six bullets, he didn't like leaving the gun loaded.

They heard the clicking sounds again downstairs and heard another window break in another house to their left. Frightened now with the insect on the porch Mary almost shot her wardrobe when the living room window smashed inwards. Quiet again for a minute Mary figured the insect must be in the living room with its carpet so it made no sound. Then it entered the hall where its claws clicked loudly on the wooden floor. Another hiss from outside and Bert got up and went to the window. Peeking out through the curtains he saw the smaller brown insect standing, as it had done on the neighbour's porch, drooling its spit and softly hissing. Whatever creature was downstairs it had found nothing of interest and now sounded like it was coming up the stairs.

Mary and Bert both face the door pointing their guns as the clicking sounds got closer. They heard it running along the hallway as it went into the back bedroom and Bert turned back to the window. Parting the curtains he saw the insect as it jumped up onto the porch roof and approached the window he was looking out of. Opening the curtain fully Bert shot at the beast hitting it in the chest and shoulder, barely noticing the wounds it hissed and continued approaching.

Mary had stepped up and fired two bullets into its head killing it instantly. The creature fell on its back and slid off of the porch roof. The couple watched in horror as the roof of their porch started to melt from the insects yellow acid blood as it burned everything it touched. Looking back towards the school Mary saw three more bugs as they ran out of the trees opposite.

Bert had gone back to the drawer to reload as Mary turned to him, "there are more of them out there now," she said "lets get the car and get the hell out of this town."

"What about our friends, your job, we can't just leave?"

"Our friends are probably dead and as to my job, hah this town is dead now we've been attacked by these insect things and if, and that's a big IF, if the insects get killed then we could come back but for now I want to leave."

"Where would we go Mary please this town is quarantined you told me that yesterday."

"Then lets get to the army compound by the sheriffs station, its got to be safer than it is here with these things running around" Mary said as she looked out of the window again. She watched as another dozen of the black insects ran back into the trees with people on their backs.

"Okay if we can get to the car we might make it but didn't you say that Trent was killed in his car by these things?"

Mary looked troubled and said "yes he was Bert but that doesn't mean we will be killed! We just need to drive a few miles and we won't try to run any of these things over like Trent did."

Neither of the arguing couple heard the door as acid burned a hole in the corner. A face hugger appeared squeezing its body in through the gap it had made and leapt up at Mary settling over her face as she fired her revolver hitting her husband in the shoulder. Bert spun around with the impact of the bullet stunned and in shock he didn't notice as another of the small eight legged creatures crept up the porch roof toward the broken window. "Mary" he cried as he saw the alien creature now covering her. Hearing a noise outside he looked towards the window as another of the face grabbers leapt through the window at his face. The bullet wound in his shoulder sending waves of pain through him as he tried to lift the gun and he screamed as the strange creature hit his shoulder before settling over his face.
Chapter 16

05:00am Echo Base

Keys and Yutani were in the lorry lab preparing for the mornings hunting and extermination program. Two squads of two hundred men were outside preparing to go on separate missions. One squad was going to the Bluff to try to catch the alien hunter while the other squad would attack the bug's nest at the gold caves. Keys answered the telephone as it blinked and buzzed for attention and spoke briefly, listened for a minute and then acknowledged the caller and hung up.

Turning to face Kenzo Peter Keys sighed and said "we lost another six patrols in the night which means a total of approximately a hundred and thirty two soldiers and forty eight civilians missing that we know about."

"So we have more than a hundred and seventy missing, in one night! The queen has been busy out there." Kenzo logged off the computer and stood up "we had originally estimated sixty taken over two days but this is almost three times that estimate." He took out his cell to call in more soldiers and then called his sister to update her on the situation.

Keys took out a pistol from the cupboard and put it into a holster on his belt with two spare magazines. He then walked to the door and left Kenzo talking to his sister as he went to call the brief. It was dark outside as he approached the men, someone shouted for them all to fall in to ranks. Four groups of fifty men formed in front of him and stood to attention.

Facing the men keys said "at ease men, I know that you have been briefed on what this hunter is capable of and what it is but I am here to remind you that we want this creature captured. Use your motion sensors and more importantly use the vision modes your helmets are capable of displaying especially thermal and night vision. For those of you that have it use the newer sense-tech system." He looked around at the men as he continued "if we catch this predator today we make history, we will have a new technology to enhance and enrich all of our lives." He looked around and nodded to the men "good luck gentlemen, go kick some arse."

Two hundred men cheered as they ran for trucks, a bus, and cars that had been brought here in the night. As the group pulled away from the car park and headed towards Devil's Bluff Keys turned towards the other group of two hundred men that were going to the gold caves. This group were busy packing bags and preparing for their fight. Keys knew that they had to wait for the bus and other vehicles to take these men out to the hills and caves to the east. These men would be leaving in an hour and a half to kill the bugs and clean out the nest. For now they were preparing their kit, cleaning their weapons, and eating in shifts.

Keys walked through the men nodding at some and saying good morning to others. Heading back to the trailer he needed to find out what Kenzo Yutani had planned for the bugs. As he got close to the trailer the door opened and the Japanese man stepped down onto the asphalt surface of the car park. He turned to face the approaching man as if he'd been expecting him.

"Mr Keys I have good news," Kenzo said with a smug look on his face "a thousand men are on alert and they're almost ready to move as we speak. They could be here by five if call them in now or three hundred could be here by noon."

"I think we have enough men here for now, let's see if the operations go to plan first," he looked at Yutani, patted the man on the shoulder, and added "come on think positive. If we catch the hunter today we will have two hundred more men to fight the bugs," he smiled at the serious looking Japanese man.

Kenzo seemed to relax and even smiled at Keys "ok let's talk about it over breakfast and coffee" he indicated the diner across the street that had become a twenty four hour diner since the arrival of the soldiers. Keys nodded and the two men headed across the road for sustenance before the fighting began. Yutani never mentioned that the three hundred soldiers were already en-route and due here at midday. He also never mentioned that as soon as he had the hunter's tech he would be leaving.

05:50am Two miles from Devil's Bluff

Two Lorries remained as the other Lorries, cars and the bus had headed back to town their tail lights getting dimmer with distance and dust. Fifty of the men, designated Alpha team, were heading left towards the side of the huge spelunking cave. The same cave the satellites had shown the hunter entering and leaving the after its battle yesterday. The brief had warned them to look out for traps and alarms as they had been given the task of tripping the trap this alien hunter had set. Carrying the latest motion detecting gadgets and state of the art, hi tech, imaging technology built into their helmets and new so called smart guns. None of the men realised that the imaging tech had already come from a bio mask left here almost twelve years ago by another hunter in L.A. All of the men carried the new type of Taser device designed for capturing this creature.

Shortly after the first fifty men moved out the next group of fifty, designated Bravo, headed directly towards the main cave. They also carried similar prototype motion sensors, imaging equipment and eight of the men also carried the new prototype smart gun. An odd looking weapon with a long barrel and four supporting rods that looked like it was hinged at the trigger end allowing it to swivel and self aim near the moving target. Each bullet was designed to seek out the pheromones all creatures emit. Fifty men remained as the third group split into two smaller groups, designated Delta, and Gamma. They followed the first two groups up towards the cave with the hunter's ship.

The remaining men set about getting the last of the packs and boxes open as the leaders and ten of the men stepped to one side. "Are we sure these suits will make us invisible to the hunter?" asked Jackson.

"Yes they were built using tech from another hunter like this one," answered Smith the highest ranking man there. "I can tell you this now and its all I know, this hunter has a ship in that cave." He looked around at the gathered men, and satisfied that he'd got their attention, continued "your mission is to follow Harding into the cave and set perimeter charges. We want to find his ship intact and ready for our scientists to reverse engineer the tech. If other hunters are there we're to catch or kill them but above all we have to stop that ship from leaving this planet. If it looks like the ship is going to leave blow the roof in on it, bury it so it can't leave. I'll stay here with twenty men to set up a camp here and you," he said talking to another man near him, "take the rest with you, when you get the all clear from Alpha team, you follow their trail. Alpha team will be laying in wait to trap this hunter when he sees and goes after the smaller delta team who are waiting a mile out. You will move in when the signal comes in from Alpha."

Jackson again spoke up "how do we know that there is only one of them, I mean what if we get there to find dozens more of them?"

"Intel said that satellite imagery has seen only one leaving and returning to the cave all day yesterday. Heat, thermal and other sensing equipment estimate the ship inside the cave to be a smaller, one or two person ship. These suits and helmets will hide us from any other hunters that might be inside or near the ship. We also have new tech to help us capture a second creature if one is here." He looked around at the men "any more questions?" he asked.

Twenty minutes later and Alpha team was almost a mile from the smaller cave that the hunter used. Approaching about sixty trees and using the glass eyepiece with its vision enhancement activated the leader saw the first trap the hunter had placed in the trees they had to go through. It looked like a metallic three pointed star on the side of the tree about head height and he held his arm up and closed his fist. All the men stopped as one as he turned and pointed out the device to the Major. The men scanned the trees and discovered another device further in the small wooded area.

To the right of the trees there was a drop off of about three hundred feet, to the left there was a similar drop but with a small ledge about ten feet down and leading around the trees. Major Dearbourne pointed to the ledge and gave the order to get down there and get to the end with rope. Three men moved to the edge and took off their packs before one of the men grabbed the rope and some crampons. He climbed down to the ledge and slowly made his way across. Fifteen minutes later the equipment was across and they waited for the last ten men to bypass the trees. Dearbourne had called in to report the traps in the trees and stood facing the cave he now couldn't see. He scanned the area with all of the vision modes available on his helmet, nothing there. It was quiet at this time of the morning and quite cold. The man's expelled breath seeming to hang in the still air.

The last of the soldiers had crossed and was just climbing up onto the path on the other side of the trees when the trap furthest from them in the trees went off. All men turned to see as a bug was cut to pieces by lasers coming from the hunters' star on the tree. Switching to the vision mode they were told they could see the bugs, Dearbourne saw the bright green outline of the insect as it fell into a pile on the ground. Its acid smouldering and burning any plants, grass or insects it touched.

"Keep an eye on all sides from now on I want every other man looking for the hunter. The rest of you look for bugs, that might have been a stray or it might have smelled something so there might be others."

The men continued down the hillside towards the next rise where they'd be able to see the cave's entrance. No other animals seemed to move but the sounds of the local wildlife were everywhere as the sun rose higher in the sky. Small insects chirped in the grass and early rising birds sang and whistled in the distance. The group got to the top of the next rise and saw down over the valley ahead. To the right and at the end of the valley was a dark oval shape on the ground, the main cave. In front of the group was a slope leading gently down to the black opening that was their target cave nearly half a mile away.

07:30am Devils' bluff

The hunter got up from the bunk he was resting in and sat at the main control panel of the ship. He knew it was early and he was about to get his breakfast when an alarm sounded on the console near to his head. Pressing some buttons the console changed and shifted underneath the console he was sitting at. A screen lifted up to display some trees and an alien drone being killed in one of his traps. If he'd switched the image to view other hunters like him he would have spotted the humans in their body heat masking suits. It would be light soon and he would head out towards the town about twenty miles away to see what his prey was up to. He'd retrieved the eye in the sky that he'd crashed into the hillside yesterday but without proper tools or parts it was beyond repair. Without another he had no way of knowing what was coming towards him.

He put his mask on and connected the control cables and his air supply then activated his arm computer. Pressing some buttons he programmed his smart disc to work off of the laser sighting on his mask. He placed the disc on his belt and made sure his weapons and camouflage systems were online. He made sure everything was fully powered before connecting his small plasma caster to his shoulder and grabbing his ceremonial spear. Ready now for the hunt the young predator left the ship and headed towards the smaller cave to his right.

As he walked towards the end of the tunnel he knew something was wrong. Something didn't smell right so he approached the cave entrance with caution. Activating his invisibility shield the young hunter edged towards the opening in the rock. Looking out of the cave using the familiar blue of thermal image he saw nothing unusual. Changing through the different vision modes he searched the area in each of the different displays and saw nothing amiss.

Activating his shoulder cannon and laser sight he scanned the area again and found nothing lurking around. It smelled funny now though it smelled like humans and fear. Cautiously the hunter moved into the entrance fully and looked around at the trees, bushes, and hills outside for signs of his prey. Somehow he knew they were there but he couldn't see them.

Moving back into the cave a bit more he thought he heard something off to the right and up a ridge. Not moving the hunter typed into his computer again as he spotted some orange blobs of humans coming over the rise almost half a mile away. The hunter used the zoom on his mask to look closely at the approaching men. He counted the small group and was ready for the battle that was coming for these unfortunate trophies. He snarled and left the cave thinking that these men were what spooked him a few moments ago. The hunter went straight to the nearest tree and leapt into the first branch while watching the group of men as they got closer.

Jumping from this tree he landed on a branch on the next tree and started to circle around the approaching the group to the right jumping from tree to tree. The hunter stopped having closed half the distance and studied the slowly approaching men.

For a group this size he would need to cause much confusion amongst them as possible. This meant firing his plasma caster as he ran and throwing the disc at the same time. He could take out half of the men in one hit and the rest would fall to the spear and disc. He activated his arm computer and was busy typing into the device when he heard something below and behind him. He spun around and saw nothing, changing visions he couldn't see the thing that he could sense was there.

A little worried now the hunter changed visions to allow him to see his own kind if they were hunting and cloaked. Too late he spotted the man aiming its weapon straight at him from below and behind. The man fired some kind of net at him knocking him off of the branch. As he crashed to the ground he felt stinging electricity surge through his body as another two humans fired their pistol like devices.

The metal of the net acting like a live wire from the mains the hunter screamed his rage as a third device fired more electricity into him. The hunter almost passed out from the fall, the electricity and the horse tranquiliser that he'd received a large dose of through the weapons the humans had shot him with.

Hearing muffled voices the young predator felt dizzy, heavy and couldn't focus on his screens. He passed out as other men came out of hiding to take their catch back to the army base. He didn't hear the commander of this group call on the radio that the primary objective had been achieved so quickly and for all other teams to continue with the next objective.

Major Sam Harding was sitting behind a large boulder above the cave that was known as Devil's Bluff, he was twenty eight years old, clean shaven with short cropped hair. Standing at five foot nine he wasn't the biggest man in the ranks but he certainly was the cockiest.

When the order to proceed with the next phase of the operation came through on the radio he was suddenly nervous about what awaited them in the cave. He'd heard the stories about this hunter alien and how it skinned or decapitated his victims. He had even heard that some of the victims had their entire spines ripped out of their bodies.

Standing up from his hiding place he called on the radio to his men scattered around the Bluff and ordered the mission to proceed. Forty nine men appeared from under bushes, behind boulders, up in trees and some had even buried themselves in the dirt. Moving towards the cave Sam called for the men with him to set up their equipment around the edge as another group on the opposite side threw their ropes into the hole in the ground.

Waiting for the order to descend into the cave the men stopped to watch as eight men set up tripods at eight different points around the hole. The eight men then placed what looked like machine guns on top of the tripods. After connecting the guns to metallic bottles and pointing them down into the cave the men stood back when finished and called on the radio that they were set.

Major Harding took his radio off of his belt and gave the order "this is it men, start the discovery" he called out before calling base to report.

Eight nozzles on the front of the six guns sprayed water into the huge cave that would be used by amateur explorers during the summer months. Looking into the cave Harding saw nothing unusual at first. Then he activated his eyepiece and looking back down the cave still appeared to be empty. He was about to call to his men to stop the spray when a flash of light caught his attention. Electricity and lightning flashed and sparked as if a huge electric generator had sent its tendrils of power around one corner of the cave.

Fifty pairs of eyes stared in disbelief as the hunters ship appeared below them in a storm of lightning. As the light display below stopped and the hunters ship appeared in all its glory fifty men cheered in their victory. "Bravo lead to Echo base, we have contact with the ship over," said Harding into the radio.

"We copy that Bravo lead continue and procure, over and out" was the reply from Echo base.

Ten minutes later all fifty men of bravo team were on the cave floor approaching the alien spaceship with their guns drawn and aimed at the craft. Harding held up his hand and closed his fist and everyone stopped. Sounds and movement off to the left as another twenty five men from Delta team came through the tunnel the hunter used to get to the surface.

All Seventy five men were now looking up at the alien's ship and Harding approached the new arrivals "send fifteen men to guard the entrance," he said to the man in charge of this group. The fifteen men went back along the tunnel to set up their own camp at the caves entrance. Turning to the rest of his men he said loudly "okay men let's get this tin can open for the company." Footsteps and shouts sounded as sixty men went to work looking for the door into this extra-terrestrial's ship.
Chapter 17

08.00am Gold mines east of Maddison Heights

Two hundred men in groups of twenty were spread out over half a mile and approached the gold caves alert to any movement. Gunfire sounded off to the right as one of the groups encountered some of the bugs. Seeing the cave entrance Sergeant Dovey lifted his radio and asked "who is firing?" Helicopters could be heard circling a mile away and getting closer.

"This is Harvey Sir we just saw and killed two of the bugs heading towards the cave from the North West. We've seen some these insects before but these were big fuckers Sir, bigger than the others we saw, over" came the reply.

"We copy that Harvey, stay alert and report anything, the choppers are out and ready as backup. All units listen up, we have confirmed sightings from the North West but Intel suggests that the bugs rest during the day and become more active at night. I want fifty men stationed outside the cave to cover all entrance routes, the rest of you men close in to my position, over and out"

Seeing the black resin covering around the second biggest cave Dovey checked the magazine in his gun and called to the group of men to his right "take point, we're going in."

The first group of twenty men went into the cave and all of them inspected the black substance that coated the cave walls and ceiling. Dovey and his group of twenty followed with a third group rapidly approaching behind. Torches mounted on shoulders lit the way and their machine guns pointed ahead into the tunnel, there was nothing to see except the black resin. After a couple of hundred yards the tunnel widened and led into a larger cavern, they could see and hear dripping resin as it fell from the ceiling. Harvey pointed his torch at the walls again and jumped at the sight of a man hanging in the resin. His chest had exploded outward and his dead face a grimace of pain. "Shit, that's Major Gibson; I came here on the transport with his group and was supposed to come out to the caves with them yesterday."

"Why didn't you pussy?" laughed a voice in the darkness behind him.

Harvey looked around but couldn't identify the voice so he said "I was called into the command tent to operate the UAV since I am one of the few people trained to do so." He looked back at his former c/o and more light from the other soldiers fell on the walls around. Several more bodies were hanging upright like this, all with their chests exploded outwards.

A beeping sounded from his left and all lights shone towards the man carrying the motion sensor. The device was pointing deeper into the cave and sixty guns, flamethrowers and men tried to pierce the gloom with their torches. Silence again as whatever moved in the distance stopped, the men all looked worried.

Dovey lifted his radio to report back to the men at the entrance and the man next to him was struck in the face and knocked to the ground, shots sounded as the man fired a burst with his gun while falling. The cavern was suddenly light up as a flame unit fired towards the middle. Every one of the men saw dozens of bodies hanging around the walls. Some were men but there were also women and children attached to the wall of this hell hole and all of them dead with their chests burst open from within.

Harvey and the men with him saw the creature attached to the fallen mans face and realised that the insects here weren't all big like the bugs. Taking out a sharp looking bowie knife Dovey tried cutting one of the fingers that was holding onto his leaders head. Yellow liquid spurted out from the cut and onto the blade, it dissolved into nothing, the tip clattering to the floor. Dovey threw the handle away as the creature tightened its grip on the man.

None of the men saw eight of the bugs on the ceiling edging their way towards the group. None of the men saw three smaller face huggers as they crawled around the edges of the cavern over bodies of previously impregnated victims.

As they went deeper into the cavern three more men fell with the alien creatures attached to their faces. One hundred and fifty men were now in the huge cavern but only four of them were down. Dovey reported this to the men at the entrance and told them to advise Echo base of the situation. Putting the radio away he spotted two tunnels leading deeper into the mines and called for one of his men to clear a path in the cave on the right and another to clear the left tunnel.

Another burst of fire exploded down both the tunnel on the left and right. Dovey ordered Harvey and sixty five men to follow the left hand tunnel. Then he and the rest of the men entered the right hand tunnel leading deeper into the mountain. It was quiet and there was a musty smell in the damp but hot cave, "It's like the jungle in Vietnam in here" said another voice from somewhere behind him.

"Yeah and what's that smell?" asked another.

"Quiet" said Dovey "stay cool and let's get on with the mission."

The soldiers entered the tunnel with a motion tracker and flame unit leading the way. Dovey ordered twenty five of the men to stay guard at the entrance to the tunnel leading out and another twenty to guard the two tunnels they were at. As they went deeper into the caves it seemed to be getting hotter and damper in the air. The musty smell got worse the deeper into the cave they went.

They were perhaps thirty yards into the cave when it widened into another huge cavern. Fire sprayed out from the flamethrower to light up this new cave. Like the tunnels it had the black resin on the walls and ceiling but unlike the rest of the caves it had two dozen or more ovoid shapes that seemed to be growing up out of the floor. Each object was about three feet tall, leathery looking with blunt tops that resembled urns turned over. One of the soldiers approached one of leathery looking objects while aiming his gun and torch at it. The thing appeared to change colour from the opaque brown, green of the others to a more transparent colour. After the soldier touched the surface of the ovoid a small bump appeared on it, then another as more raised spots appeared across its outer surface.

"What the hell is this" he said to his companions as the ovoid shape continued to change its transparency to reveal a tiny nightmare shape within. Neatly coiled and folded the creature within looked like it was made of some rubbery material. It looked like a huge, many fingered hand with long bony fingers curled into its palm and some sort of long rubbery coil underneath it.

The hand shape fluttered inside the ovoid and the soldier moved back a step. He watched in awe as the top opened outwards like four petals on a flower opening at high speed. Feeling brave again as nothing seemed to happen, the soldier stepped forward again and peeked inside the now open protrusion.

"Careful, don't touch anything" said Dovey from off to his right. He could see the thing inside pulsing and twitching as if struggling to breath. About to step back to fill the egg with hot lead the soldier jumped as the nightmare creature inside exploded out of the ovoid shape towards him. He felt the bony fingers grab his head and the long coiled tail snake around his throat. The smell was awful this close and the soldier opened his mouth to breath but creature pushed a tube into his mouth and down his throat as he passed out and fell to the floor.

Seeing the man fall with the creature on his face another soldier opened fire with his machine gun. Three of the ovoid shapes exploded clear liquid around the chamber and all of the men heard an evil sounding screech from deeper in the caves.

The motion sensors beeped and whistled from movement in front of the men. Sounds of metal sliding and clicking as guns were armed or re-loaded echoed around the cave. Torches shone down the tunnel in front of them and movement caught the men's' eyes, "stay sharp and kill anything that comes out of that tunnel" said Dovey.

"Holy shit," said one soldier to the right, "they're in the fucking walls."

Black shapes uncoiled from the walls and ceiling and gunfire could be heard from the soldiers in the caverns behind them. Dovey opened fire on a bug as it dropped to the floor in front of him its acid blood spraying away from the group as it screeched its last before it died. All of the ovoid shapes on the floor opened their petal like arms and fingers appeared on the edges. Dozens of the face hugging creatures emerged looking for victims. Two of the egg like protrusions exploded away from the men in the fire fight but the room was now full of men, bugs and face huggers.

"Retreat" Dovey called as two huge black shapes emerged from the caves in front of the men. Bigger than the other bugs that emerged from the walls and ceilings these new bugs appeared to have a tougher more armoured appearance. Dovey pulled a grenade from his belt, took out the pin and threw the bomb into the tunnel opposite. The explosion shook the cave and acid splashed from the creatures torn apart in the blast onto some of the remaining men. Screams and gunfire sounded in the cave as men were either splashed by acid or attacked by bugs. Some of the men just collapsed with creatures attached to their faces still firing their guns, killing some bugs, and killing their fellow soldiers.

Harvey's group had moved forward into the left hand tunnel and followed the same black resin as it went deeper down under the mountain. Curving around to the left slightly they came out into another larger cavern. Black resin poles and strings held up the huge extended stomach of the queen herself. Ovoid shapes were all over the floor of the room below the queen. The men watched fascinated as a huge tube like thing dropped an ovoid shaped egg on the cavern floor. There a black drone insect carried the newly laid egg to another part of the cave.

The queen swung her huge bony head around and looked at the group. Screeching at them she called all of her children awake as Harvey fired some grenades into her egg filled belly. The others fired bursts at the eggs and bugs as they heard shots fired from somewhere else in these caves. Ordering a retreat Harvey shouted at the man with the flame unit "burn it, burn every fucking thing."

Flames tore into eggs and drones as the grenades fired by Harvey exploded inside the queens' egg sac. Acid and birth liquid splashed out over the man with the flamer and dissolved his fuel tanks. The explosion seemed to rock the cave as more acid blood sprayed the room. Harvey and the others never stood a chance as they faced dozens of bugs and face huggers on all sides.

Dovey knew this mission had failed and now he prepared for the backup plan he was under orders to fulfil. Taking off his back pack he opened the top flap and activated the device inside. As he put the pack down he felt as if he'd been punched in the arm. Looking around he saw the snarling bug that struck him and smiled as he passed out. He knew that his device was now active and ready to receive the signal to detonate from Echo base. He didn't see the queen detaching herself from her egg sack and run past into another tunnel.

Fifty men at the entrance to the cave heard the gunfire and explosion and backed away from the cave to allow anyone inside to get out. "Report, anyone left report now before we seal the cave," said Major Sallis into the radio. He looked around at the men with him then said to two of them "set the charges now, we'll give them five more minutes if they're not here we have to seal them in."

The two helicopters that circled the caves had fired some rockets into the trees behind the group. Now they used their mini guns to kill anything approaching from outside the cave. Two burly looking soldiers approached the cave from the trucks. One of the men carried two satchel charges while the other carried a smaller bag which he placed just outside the cave. The man unwound a wire and threw the loop into the cave. He plugged the other end of the wires into the smaller bag, opened it and flicked two switches. The first man stuck his ordinance to the walls just inside the entrance and stepped back.

"All set" he said as the second man threw his satchel deep into the cave. Both men looked to Sallis then retreated back to their companions.

Sallis called two men to follow him and went over to one of the men carrying a motion sensor. He took the device and looking at the other man carrying the other sensor he said "sweep the area around us I'm going to check the cave." The other man nodded and slowly moved the device around and behind them. Sallis walked towards the cave pointing the sensor into the tunnel leading away, the two men with him aimed their guns into the same tunnel.

The device immediately beeped, whistled and whined and the three men backed away a step. Shining their shoulder mounted torches into the cave they could see shapes moving and hear gunfire getting louder as their comrades approached. Moving back to their team the three men resumed their aim at the entrance as first two then three men emerged backwards still aiming their smoking guns into the cave.

Two minutes later and twenty seven men had left the dark horror chambers that were the old gold mines. Everyone loaded their guns again relieved that they were still alive. Sallis had given the sensor back to the other soldier and pulled his sleeve back to reveal a device he wore on his wrist. Bigger than a standard watch but similar in shape and appearance. He seemed satisfied that everything was in order and rolled his sleeve back down to cover the device. "is that it?" he asked "twenty seven men out of a hundred and fifty."

The men looked at each other as the motion sensor Sallis had given back now started to whistle and beep again. Seventy seven men faced the caves with guns drawn as a lone soldier emerged into daylight. Shielding his eyes from the sudden glare he looked at the group aiming their guns at him. He was about to shout when a black sharp object struck through his back and emerging out of his chest. The bug that stood behind him stepped forward into the light and snarled at the men. It picked up the now limp man and turned his body to face it. The bug snarled again and bared its dripping fangs at the group of soldiers. Sallis opened fire cutting the top of the bugs head off and spraying acid blood all over the impaled man.

The insect collapsed to the ground dropping the smoking, melting soldier as it fell. More gunfire sounded as the group opened fire into the cave. Screams from the creatures sounded and Sallis took a small box out of his jacket pocket. He flicked open a cover then pressed the button underneath.

The explosion and flash from the cave shook the ground as the entrance collapsed in a cloud of debris and smoke. The men could hear a rumbling from deep within the cave as the stresses from the explosion brought down some parts of the tunnels. Satisfied they'd sealed the entrance to anything getting in or out the men cheered.

"Okay men lets' head back to base" he said as he reached into his jackets inside pocket and took out his radio. The men turned and headed back to the large rock below them where the Lorries were waiting to take them back to the town. The helicopter gun ships above also heading back to avoid the EMP from the coming nuclear blast that would seal these caves forever.

"Cardinal one to Echo base the package is home, over" Sallis said as he approached the lead lorry.

Sallis reported the situation on the radio as they ran down the hill.

"Roger that Cardinal one ETD fifteen minutes and counting over and out," was the reply from Echo base.

"Double time it men," Sallis shouted and all of the men boarded the remaining trucks. None of the men saw the sixty bugs leaving the biggest of the tunnels and heading into the tree line behind it carrying eggs.

Ten minutes later the trucks were heading towards town at high speed and the helicopters were landing as Sallis kept an eye on the clock. The men had to get to a safe distance from the bomb he knew was going to go off inside the cave. A few minutes later the trucks were at a safe enough distance, the helicopters had landed, and Sallis and the others heard a dull thump and felt the land underneath them vibrate and shake at the small nuclear explosion that had gone off inside the old gold mines.
Chapter 18

A huge arrow shaped ship emerged from behind the great gas giant Saturn. It passed above the rocky rings that surround the planet and two great arms on either side of the ship open to form a trident shape. Piloting the ship a predator presses some controls and clicks into a communicator by his side. He called one of his colleagues up to the flight deck to make a report. A minute later a door in the bulkhead slides open and the leader of this clan enters, his cloak and blue dreadlocks flowing behind him as he enters.

The ships pilot turns to the clan elder and activates a console next to him. Clicking in his language as he types on the console it shifts and changes to show a view of Earth. The image zooms in towards the western side of the United States and shows a group of men in the blue of thermal imaging carrying a stretcher off of a lorry and over to a trailer. The pilot enters some commands into the console and the image changes to the predator tech vision. The elder snarls as he sees the young hunter laying immobile on the stretcher as he is lifted into the human's trailer.

Angry now the clan leader snarls again and clicks his disgust at the young hunters' inability to follow orders. Wondering how he could get caught by such a primitive species. Pressing more buttons on the console the elder issues orders for his eight best to meet him on his smaller landing ship. He then calls for three more volunteers to go frontline to create a diversion to start the hunt early. He orders the pilot to set a course for Earth then turns and leaves the flight deck of the huge ship to prepare for a hunt of his own.

09.00am Echo Base

Watching men carry the stretcher into the high tech trailer Peter Keys and Kenzo Yutani congratulate the men on their capture. Keys picks up the ceremonial spear the hunter was carrying and tell the men to go and get some food and rest. Both men follow the incapacitated hunter aboard the trailer to analyse the tech he has on him.

Inside the trailer Kenzo calls his sister to tell her the good news and orders a crack tech team in. He wants them to look at the hunters' ship then he ordered a helicopter for himself and the new tech he'd taken from this hunter. He would personally take the hunters technology to his labs. Hanging up the telephone he turns to Keys "this day will herald a new future for all of the people of earth."

"Indeed" replies Keys looking at the unconscious alien, "we have been after this creature for decades and now we have one and his ship."

"A new era of stealth and space technology is the future Mr Keys. I will be leaving within an hour with this creature's technology intact. Although he is a lot smaller than previous reports suggest."

"How do you mean smaller?" asked Keys.

"Reports from the survivors of these hunters suggest that they are usually about nine feet tall. However I fear that the estimate of their size was bluff to make the survivors feel better about themselves" said Yutani.

"I've read the statements from survivors and agree, its human nature to over estimate the odds in a situation. Take a fisherman for example, one catches a ten pound Bass at a river but when he gets home he tells his friends it was fifteen pounds. Is that what you are suggesting happened with the previous reports?"

Kenzo nodded as he approached the tethered and unconscious body of the hunter. Reaching out to his mask he pulls a tube from the side and an unknown gas blows out of the tube like the blow hole of a whale.

Disconnecting the other tubes Yutani takes the Bio-mask off the hunters face and places it onto a bench next to its body. Both men look over the hunter disconnecting wires tubes and taking off his equipment and placing the items next to the mask on the bench. All except for the computer the hunter wore on one arm, and a bulky looking device on his other arm. There seemed no way to get the devices off that the two men could see. "I'll call another chopper to take him out when I am in the air" said the Japanese man as he packed the rest of the hunter's toys into a rucksack.

Thirty minutes later a silver Alouette had landed in the road next to Echo Base. A dozen men emerge with bags of tech to take out to the hunter's ship. Yutani briefs the men and they disappear towards a waiting lorry. Keys and Yutani carry the confiscated hunters' tech in the rucksack and head for the helicopter that arrived a few minutes before. Climbing aboard the chopper Yutani thanks Keys for his assistance and tells him to look after the ship. Keys nods and the chopper lifts off with Yutani and the young hunter's technology.

Keys turned around to head back to the trailer and sees young Peter Barnes approaching him, "hey Peter how are you holding out this morning?" he asks the boy.

"Yeah I'm okay Mr Keys" replies the boy, "I saw you this morning with the injured creature on a stretcher, can I see him?" he asks the agent.

Keys looks down at the boy and nods, "I don't suppose it would hurt young man, you know that this isn't the creature that attacked the town don't you?"

The boy nodded, he'd heard the reports of the hunters capture and other reports of hundreds of bugs. Now he'd decided he wanted to fight the insects that took and killed his family, "I heard it was an alien and I just wanted to see."

The older man smiled and led the boy over to the trailer the hunter was kept in, "this alien is very dangerous" he said as they approached the door "so we have to keep him sedated and chained, if he escapes he will kill us all, do you understand?"

The boy nodded and he watched as Keys entered the code to the trailer. The door clicked then opened and they both went in. As they entered the room with the hunter chained to the table the boy studied the unconscious alien. He was about man sized, two arms, two legs, and an overly large bony looking head with short looking black dreadlock type hair hanging down from the back. Its mouth was funny looking with what appeared to be two finger like protrusions on either side of its mouth. It had small deep set eyes and mottled cream, green, and brown skin on the arms, chest, and head. All it wore now was a kind of loincloth like shorts and a kind of netting shirt and trousers.

"So what do you think young man, a real live alien right here in your town, is that cool or what?" Keys asked smiling.

Peter nodded not really knowing what to say to Keys, he felt sorry for this creature all chained up. He'd seen films and knew that the doctors and scientists were going to operate on this being to find out about its anatomy. They would want to know the easiest way to kill it.

"Come on Peter we'd better go before we are caught here" Keys smiled and led the boy out of the trailer and told him to go back to his room in soldier's dorm. He watched the boy walk away then headed over to the command tent to find out how the teams out at the hunters ship were getting on.

Young Peter pretended to go back to his room but really wanted to go back into the trailer with the alien. He hid behind a truck and watched as Keys went into the big tent opposite the diner. Waiting for about five minutes he was about to go over to the trailer but he saw Billy the deputy that saved him last night. He was approaching the tent Keys was in so Peter decided now was the time.

Certain he couldn't be seen by anyone he made his way back towards the trailer. The camp was nearly deserted now as one team had gone out to catch this alien and most of them hadn't come back yet. Another team had gone to fight the insects that had nearly killed him yesterday morning and like the first team they also hadn't come back yet.

He got to the trailer door and looked around to make sure there was no one around to stop him. Then he ran up the steps to the door, entered the code he saw Keys put in, and was rewarded by a green light, a click, and he opened the door. He looked around again to make sure he hadn't been seen then went in. He didn't know why but he felt sorry for the captured alien and as he approached the table he saw the hunter open its eyes. It moved the mouth fingers and clicked in its unknown language, "I don't understand you" he said to the hunter.

The hunter clicked again and watched the boy, he tried to move his arms and legs but he was chained tight to the table and floor of the trailer. In his guttural voice the young hunter said in English "help me"

Peter stepped back "they said you'd kill me if you got away."

The hunter blinked then turned and lifted his head to look at the boy and again said "help me."

Peter surprised that this alien could understand and talk a little in English stepped forward a step and said "If I let you go will you help me kill the bugs?" He held up his picture and made a slashing motion across his throat then pointed at the bug. He pointed to himself again and made a stabbing motion towards the picture and then he pointed to the hunter.

The hunter nodded at the boy seeming to understand and laid his head back down on the metal table unable to move any further. He closed his eyes again wishing he'd taken the advice of his clan leader what seemed so long ago. Peter walked over to the tables with the computers and switched on a monitor, "great" he said to his self "they have been left on and logged in."

Clicking around the menu and looking at the installed programs Peter found what he was looking for and changed the door entry code. Turning off the monitors he opened the drawers in the desk to look for the key to the chains that held this poor creature on the table. He spent an agonising five minutes searching to no avail and even got down on his knees to look under the desks. Nothing, where could they be he wondered? He was about to give up when he spotted a box on the wall next to the door he'd entered when he came into the trailer. It was maybe his last hope to help the hunter out of his chains. Getting a chair he took it over to the box and inside he found a bunch of keys; he hoped one of them would be the right one.

The name on the padlock said ERA, so he looked through the bunch of keys until he found a key with the same writing. Damn it didn't work, he found another key but that didn't work either and there were only two marked the same as the padlock. Looking again at the bunch he noticed that one of the keys had a notch taken out of the top surface other than that it had no markings. He tried the key and it went into the lock easily and turned, hearing a click he looked down to see that the lock was now open.

Working quickly now the boy undid all of the chains holding the alien to the table and floor then stepped back as the hunter sat up and looked at him. He was scared now he'd disobeyed the man in charge of this base and released the creature that the men wanted to experiment on. Getting off of the metal table the hunter stood at about five feet nine. Although only five inches taller than him it seemed to tower above him as it approached. It reached up with its' talon hand and touched the mark on Peters head where the alien acid blood had splashed him and nodded his approval.

Feeling a bit safer now that the creature hadn't killed him Peter said "we can't leave yet there are too many soldiers out there. I'll look to make sure we can get away." Going to the door he put his ear against it and heard sounds from outside but none of them sounded close, "I'll look first then when I say we will go."

The strange alien seemed to understand and nodded at the boy in front of him as he turned towards the door. Opening the door a crack Peter looked out but couldn't see anyone near to them or even looking in their direction so he opened it further. Still nothing, it seemed quiet around at the moment and he stepped out onto the top step. Looking around the camp Peter was satisfied that they could escape quite easily from this compound. He looked back inside the trailer but the alien was pressing buttons on his arm computer, he shimmered and disappeared but the boy could make out the outline of the now invisible hunter.

"Wow" he gasped "I wish I had one of those, come on we should be able to get away, follow me." Peter turned and jumped to the ground "shut the door" he said to his new invisible friend and fled towards the back of the sheriffs' station with the hunter close behind him. No shouts and no alarm was raised as they entered the alleyway behind the station. Peter took a final look back at the army base and saw the deputy Billy coming out of the big tent with Keys. He and the hunter then headed towards his house on Redmond without looking back.

Stopping about a hundred yards past the Sheriffs' station Peter turned to look at the hunter as he became visible again in a flash of electricity. "That is so cool" said the boy to his new found alien friend "we made it, they don't know that you've gone so we can take it a bit easier from here on as we'll be hidden from the road."

Entering commands into his arm computer the hunter looked up at the sky and snarled and clicked in his language. Even if the boy or the soldiers couldn't see it he knew the clan ship was up there and coming to this planet. His computer had told him that much.

Tapping the boy on the shoulder the hunter indicated that they should circle around to the right and make their way to the hole in the ground where his ship was located. He needed weapons and he didn't really want to get any closer to the alien bugs without them.

"Devils' Bluff" Peter said nodding, "I heard them talking about it" he pointed back towards his house "we can get there if we go this way, I'll get my bike and we can be there in forty minutes." The boy and his new friend ran towards his house and the bike, Peter running as fast as he could and the hunter merely jogging.
Chapter 19

10.00 am Devils' Bluff

Major Harding stood at, what looked to him, like the door into the hunters' ship and took the radio from his belt. "Delta lead to echo base, come in over" He'd tried calling several times now but still received no answer "damn it where the hell is that relay" he shouted to his men. Looking up out of the cave he saw a man lean over the edge above him and wave, the man indicated his smaller hand held radio and held up three fingers.

Changing to channel three on his radio Harding pressed the button and said "where the hell is my feed?"

"Sir the drive up here must have damaged the circuits. We're working on it and could be ready anytime, over."

"Call base report our situation and ask if they want us to blow the bloody doors off of this thing" Harding was now getting frustrated. He needed to know whether they were to continue trying to open the ship or pull out. Two minutes later his radio crackled again and he heard the voice of the man he just spoke to.

"Sir the radio is fixed we have our orders from Echo base and we are to evac the area and return to base. A specialist team is on route, ETA fifty minutes, over."

"Copy that soldier round up your men upstairs and we'll meet you in ten minutes topside at the north end exit, over and out." Harding looked around at the men around the hunter's ship and shouted "ok people listen up" the men around the cave turned to face him, "we are on orders to RTB so grab your shit and get topside, double time people."

A mass of activity inside the cave as soldiers and Special Forces grabbed their guns and bags. They made their way towards the tunnel the hunter used to get to the surface. After ten minutes the cave was deserted and quiet again. At least until the techies arrived to open the door to the hunters' ship, Harding thought as he left the cavern without looking back.

He stepped out of the small tunnel into bright clear morning sunlight. He thought he heard three gunshots in the distance, but there had been a lot of gunshots and explosions over towards the gold mines. A couple of hours ago they'd heard loads of gunfire so he paid it no attention. They all had another thirty minute walk up to the trucks two miles away and he was tired having been awake since five am.

Ten minutes later and the walk back was getting tougher than the men thought it would be. None of them thought about going up hill on the way back and some of the group were straggling a minute behind.

Jackson felt un-easy as he'd also heard the three thumps but didn't think they were gunshots. He wished Harding would stop to listen to the desert instead of tearing through it on the way back. There could be bugs or other hunters there and they wouldn't know with the racket they were making now. That's why he lagged a bit behind with two of his friends. He reached into his pocket and took out the dead mans switch that would set of the charges in the cave. If needed he'd seal the alien ship inside Devil's Bluff until it could be dug up and looked at by the company.

Harding and the others stopped and turned to face Jackson and his friends, "come on double time it you three, take point and get moving" Said the Major "I want to be back in town for afternoon tea not supper."

Jackson stood still and lifted his machine gun to scan the area in front. The two men with him follow his moves and scan the area on either side as well. Instantly Harding and the others could hear how quiet it had become as the normal sounds of the countryside had now faded almost disappearing.

Looking at the soldiers in front of him Harding said quietly "motion sensors sweep the area." Three men lifted the devices they were carrying and covered different areas. Private Diego moved his sensor to the North West pointing at trees and was rewarded with a beep and whistle at the same time as Sergeant Landers to the South West. The group of men now pointed guns in two directions as Lieutenant Wang swept from East to North and South to West with no movement detected.

Diego's sensor stopped first but the group of men all watched the area where the sensor was pointed. Landers sensor continued for another minute then it too went silent. A few of the soldiers looked at each other puzzled as to what was going on and Jackson armed the dead mans switch he was holding still. The whistling on Diego's sensor started again and the soldiers facing the trees watched as three of the black insect like creatures erupted from the tree line and ran towards them. Two of the soldiers fired killing the first two bugs as the third beast leapt into the sky to dodge the flying hot lead. It had closed half the distance to the group as it landed and leapt again. The creature jumped and spurted its acid blood as it was hit by multiple bullets from eight of the soldiers. Its acid blood fell onto Diego and his motion sensor killing both the man and the machine as it melted through them both.

Landers had lowered his sensor as he turned to watch his comrades killing the bugs not realising that he had done so. He didn't see the burst of bright blue plasma as it ripped through his chest killing him instantly. Some of the men had barely turned as three more bright blue flashes of plasma burned their way through three more of the group. Almost at a panic the group were being attacked from both sides and six of the men fired blindly into the trees and open land in the direction of the attackers.

Six more of the group dropped suddenly with blood spurting from head or chest wounds and Jackson was glad he'd armed the explosives. With hunters on one side and insects on the other he lifted his machine gun as he saw what looked like a fast moving Frisbee as it cut through two men on his right. Jackson and the remaining men dropped to the ground or hid behind big rocks, bushes, or trees whilst firing at the bugs and invisible attackers. Sergeant Noakes had been waiting for a good test of the new smart gun he held and was certain he'd killed two of the insects, turning towards the invisible attackers he fired towards their position before hiding behind a medium sized boulder.

Screeches sounded from in front and to the left of the soldiers and Noakes looked towards the hidden attackers position to see two blue flashes streak from a boulder about fifty yards away and fly off to the left to hit an unseen screeching bug. He aimed the smartgun at the boulder and fired a ten round burst. Hearing a howl of pain and seeing what looked like a luminous green paint spurt into the air. A split second later the top of his head flew off and the man fell to the ground dead his finger depressing the trigger sending bullets from his smart gun harmlessly into the air.

Nine men were left trying to defend from insects and other unseen attackers. Jackson was now officially the highest ranking man and he still held the dead mans switch. The man to his left was peeking out towards the trees and shot at something moving away to the right. As he looked at the man on his right the man started shooting towards the insect attackers.

Hearing a howl he also looked from his hidden point towards the sound and saw a flash of two yellowish eyes twenty yards away on top of a large boulder. Blue flashed from where the eyes were and the man on his right was blown backwards with his head missing as the plasma bolt went through him.

Jackson fired towards the thing on the boulder and saw sparks flashing and lightning as a hunter appeared on the rock. Firing again he knew he'd hit the creature and saw its green blood spurting into the air and more sparks as he hit the golden mask. Ducking back behind the rock Jackson pulled a grenade off of his belt, took out the pin, then threw the small bomb over to where the invisible hunter was.

The explosion seconds later and a howl of pain rang out around the small valley. Bits of rock and debris rained down over the small group of humans and Jackson looked out quickly. Seeing nothing amiss he pulled another grenade and threw that towards the insects.

10:30am Devils Bluff

Peter walked around underneath the hunters' ship in awe at the strange design. It looked like an ice cream cone laid on its side with odd bumps, pipes and designs on the silvery coloured metal. His alien companion had, in his way, told the boy to wait then he opened a door and entered his ship. He was gone for perhaps five minutes when he reappeared at the door wearing a silver mask, a belt around his waist with round metal disks, and an odd looking silver backpack. He also carried two metal poles about two inches thick, two feet long and with razor sharp looking points, the hunter pressed his fingers into the middle handle on both sticks and they extended outwards to about six feet. Pressing again the hunters' spears disappeared into them selves and returned to the original size. "Hunt" the young predator said to the boy as he handed him one of the spears.

Peter took the weapon and tested its weight "wow" he said "it's really light." He moved the bar through the air testing its weight then pressed his fingers into the middle where the hunter had. He was amazed at how fast and smoothly the blades extended. He closed the spear and nodded he was ready to his new friend and they both ran out of the tunnel unaware of the charges that had been buried under the trail.

Red laser beams shone up to form the image of a dozen trucks loaded with men driving along the road towards the town. The device in the cockpit of the elder predator's ship showed the troops heading for the battle going on twenty miles away. The battle they were headed into when they heard that one of their clan was injured and another dead. Passing over the town at a thousand feet they saw another group if five trucks, two armoured vehicles, and a bus heading out of town towards the bluff. The ship had also picked up signs of an alien Queen, three warriors and sixteen drone aliens heading towards the group of humans and their comrades at the bluff. Another five hundred or so drones were heading towards the town. Seeing the young hunter with a small human he looked for a place to land, the pilot was eager to join the hunt his friends were now preparing for.

Seeing a suitable location perhaps a half a mile away he turned and slowed to swing the ship around. The ship lowered the final five hundred feet and settled down gently on a fairly large flat boulder. This ship carried eight crew members plus him all eager to join the hunt. He shut down the engines and made sure the ship was invisible then left the flight deck to get his weapons.

Peter and the hunter had left the cave two minutes ago and were running up the slope away from it when the hunter stopped and looked right. Peter running just behind stopped a split second after and also searched the land in that direction. He couldn't see anything except dust devils blowing in the distance over a flat rock.

The hunter clicked and snarled then shook his head as he saw the clan leader's private hunting ship land a mile away. The two strange companions turned and ran on towards the town. Gunfire and other sounds of battle drifted over the ridge in front of their position but Peter could tell it was a fair distance away.

Going over the top of the ridge the hunter stopped again and scanned the area in front of him in all vision modes. He could see humans aiming their guns towards the alien bugs. He spotted the elder and his friends who were perhaps a mile away from him and the boy. With the humans in the middle and aliens on the left this would be a glorious hunt. The hunter ran on with Peter close behind him, they had gone fifty yards when a huge explosion sounded behind them both. They stopped again as the ground shook with the force of the blast that sealed up the cave and his ship under hundreds of tonnes of rubble.

They both looked around as a huge cloud of dust appeared over the ridge they'd left five minutes ago. Turning back they headed once again towards the sound of gunfire and screeching bugs in front.

The hunter again slowed his pace and scanned the area where the bugs were. Peter watched as the backpack on the hunter moved and a short barrelled object swung out and over the hunters shoulder to point wherever the hunter looked. A blast of blue energy flew out followed quickly by two more and Peter saw one of the face huggers explode. The second plasma bolt hit an alien hit in mid air exploding it over the desert. A face hugger jumped on a human as the last blast of plasma took off the man's head killing him and the alien.

The humans were all dead here so the hunter turned off his invisibility cloak. As he did it nine more, taller, bigger versions of him appeared standing with them off to the right. There were more bugs in front and all of the newcomers had the plasma guns on their shoulders ready for battle. Peter looked at the new hunters around him and noticed that one of the hunters wore a blue cloak and had bluish coloured dreadlock type hair. The blue cloaked predator turned to face them and strode over to their position. Seeing the scar on the boys head and the spear he now carried he nodded to the boy as a group of alien bugs ran from the trees. Three warriors and four drones ran towards the group of hunters at high speed. The elder stepped forward then all of a sudden ten plasma bolts flew towards the insects. Some shots missed as aliens dodged the blast or jumped out of the way. One of the drones jumped straight at Peter who with one swift move jumped to his right. He extended his spear and brought the blade down as hard as he could across the aliens head. He watched as the aliens face fell to the floor with the rest of its now dead body crashing with it. The dead alien rolled over its momentum carrying it past the boy.

More plasma blasts sounded and Peter looked back at the oncoming insects. He watched in awe as they were killed quickly by plasma fire. The warrior bugs took a couple of direct hits to kill them but the drones seemed to explode with one shot sending streamers of acid into the air. One face hugger ran at the group, jumped, and attached itself to one of the hunters. The acrid stench was incredible and Peter almost threw up. Stepping back from the hunters he caught a glimpse of a huge insect coming through the last of the trees. The massive alien stopped to look at them then howled its rage. With only a small spear he could and would fight the smaller insects but this thing was huge at about twelve feet tall. Its long triangular, bony looking head rocked from side to side as it howled again. He looked round as the blue hunter put his spear through their fallen comrades head killing him mercifully, and the creature that was gripping his head.

The huge beast by the trees hissed and snarled at the group as it stepped forward. Peter heard the clicking and scraping of metal from his new friends as they took new weapons off their belts. He turned to them and as one they threw large razor sharp metallic stars at the queen alien in front of them. Like boomerangs they returned to the thrower. The stars, Peter could see, were like Japanese throwing or death stars with six retractable blades only much bigger. Throwing the blades a second time the weapons only slowed the Queens approach a little. She didn't seem bothered as the stars cut into or sliced apart bits of her big black bony head.

Two of the flying star weapons were smashed out of the way by the Queen. The hunters that lost their weapons charged her with spears extending as they ran. All of the hunters had spears drawn and some fired blades from their wrists into her chest. All of the hunters ran forward towards the nightmare monster that ran towards them. Peter held his spear extended and ready since he'd killed the drone. Now he ran forward with the hunters to attack the beast.

Ten hunters and Peter worked as a team and surrounded the alien queen as they slashed, stabbed or sliced into her. She spun around towards the elder her tail swinging towards Peter. He leapt over the tail slashing across her leg with his spear. She was getting weak and Peter could see she was about to fall as she smashed a hunter backwards with her arm. Peter was more worried about the wicked looking bony tail. It swished over his head and he ducked under it then spun around smashing the spear into it he'd neatly pinned her tail to the ground.

Jerking her body away from Peter the huge alien was distracted by the pain he'd caused her. In the instant it turned the clan elder had leapt into the air and brought his own spear crashing into the queens' neck. He caught her just under her bony head, almost severing it with a single blow. Another slash downwards and her huge head was completely severed from her now dead body.

The blue hunter walked over to the fallen queen and kicked at her head, he turned back to face the young hunter Peter had set free so long ago. Clearly angry he clicked and growled at the younger hunter for almost a minute. He then looked at Peter as his new friend explained to the elder what had happened and why. The elder strode over to Peter and pointed back at the young predator as he chattered to everyone here. Were they laughing Peter wondered, he was about to speak when the clan elder turned to face him sharply. His cloak and dreadlocks flew behind him as if blown in the wind. Peter felt a little nervous but not scared, he'd faced the insects and even killed one, and he had faced this big thing and helped to kill that as well. He stood straight and looked into the elders' eyes. He retracted the weapon and held up the spear his new friend had given him.

The elder placed his hand over Peters and gently pushed the spear back at him, it was his now he had earned it. He didn't realise but he'd also earned the respect of this alien hunter and his friends. Nodding at the boy and clicking in his language he turned back to the task as the hunters gathered trophies of the dead alien heads. Some of the hunters poured blue liquid from small glass bottles onto the remaining bodies. Peter watched fascinated as the liquid dissolved the bodies into nothing but a stain on the desert floor. The hunters turned and left to return to the invisible ship half a mile away. Two of the hunters carried the queens' huge trophy head and Peter was invited to go with them.

Inside the ship the hunter clan treated Peter with the utmost respect. For one as small as this boy who would kill a bug with the spear like he did. From the scar on his head he'd had a previous kill, apparently without a weapon! He was given a kind of netting that he wore over his shoulders, chest and legs. Adding a belt and smaller arm computer designed for a much younger predator Peter was shown the only basic function it had, he could turn invisible now. The elder gestured and clicked at the younger predator Peter had freed and he nodded. The elder then took the human boy up into the flight control room and gestured him to sit down. Doing as he was told Peter watched as the elder predator clicked at controls and pressed buttons. Almost immediately the console moved and shifted as a panel lifted up. The panel became a screen and Peter watched as the image, blue of thermal imagery, flew above a road. A truck filled with soldiers glowing orange, yellow, and red passed underneath heading out of town. The image shifted and they were looking down over the town from about two thousand feet. The image changed again and everything became red, the road, trucks and trees were red. No people could be seen now but Peter saw about sixty alien drones glowing white. They ran between and through houses and several smaller face huggers disappeared from view as they leapt through windows or ran through doors. Zooming the image back Peter could now see at least three hundred bugs in the trees to the east. Peter knew then that the town was doomed, nobody would escape these things. He looked up at the elder then nodded saying "let's kill these ugly mother fuckers."

The elder stood silent for a moment then nodded and turned of the display. He used a kind of radio and talked to unseen colleagues for another minute or so then shutdown the panels. He stood up and they left the flight deck rejoin the others Peter left a few minutes ago.

Entering the room where he had the arm computer fitted the young hunter brought over a mask roughly his size. It had been put together quickly from bits of other damaged masks. The young hunter placed the mask over Peters face and made a strap to hold it in place on the boys smaller head. Taking it off again the young hunter showed Peter the buttons inside and showed how he pressed the buttons with the fingers on his face. Peter put his tongue out to demonstrate how he'd try to press the same buttons. Activating the screens the predator placed the mask over the boys face and strapped it on, he connected two pipes to the mask so Peter now had vision and all spectrums the mask was capable of. After a few seconds Peter realised it filtered the air giving him clean fresh air through its unknown filters.

He could zoom closer into objects and zoom out again and he could hear much better as the sound seemed to vibrate directly into his head. Looking up at his new friends he used his tongue to change the vision modes from blue thermal, the red he'd seen the aliens in, a white view showing the ship and his friends clearer and more. He changed it back to the white vision he'd seen everything clearer in and shook his head to test its weight. Feeling like a true warrior now he decided that his town was dead and he would hunt with these creatures until every insect bigger than a scorpion was dead.

The hunters were ready again and would now head towards the town. They saw how many soldiers and bugs there were and so the clan leader had called the entire clan ship to land. He commanded every hunter willing to fight this great and glorious battle. Peter didn't realise how many there were until he was outside and he saw the huge clan ship off to his left. Another hundred hunters were running towards their position and the large ship took off going straight up.

As they waited for the new arrivals to get here Peter got used to changing the vision modes and he changed to the blue of thermal and scanned the hills in the direction they were headed. Seeing orange he zoomed in on a man as he came over a hill about three miles away, he carried no weapons and appeared to be staggering. The man clutched his chest and Peter changed to the red spectrum he saw the alien in as the man's chest opened and a smaller bug jumped free to run towards the tree line to the left of the man.
Chapter 20

11:30 Echo Base

Peter Keys was extremely pissed off, he'd shouted at everyone who approached him since the discovery of the hunters escape. He also suspected it had something to do with young Peter Barns and his disappearance some two hours ago. To add to his troubles he'd also lost contact with Beta, Delta, and Gamma teams out at the bluff. He had heard the reports of an explosion at the cave that held the hunters ship some thirty minutes ago. That would mean that there were more hunter aliens at the ship> He'd re-called the specialist team that by now should be approaching the end of the road but like his groups hadn't radioed in.

Walking over to the radio again he picked up the handset and dialled a frequency on the main set. "Echo base to National Guard Olympia come in over," he waited thirty seconds and was about to repeat his call when he heard a reply.

"National Guard Olympia we copy you Echo base how can we help?" asked the voice on the radio.

"This is NSA agent Peter Keys assisting the CDC at Maddison Heights, base designation Echo, there is an infestation and we need you to mobilise as many troops as you can and get here as fast as you can over"

"Roger that Mr Keys, I'd love to help you out there but all of our local boys were called out two hours ago by the Weyland/Yutani corporation. In fact they should be arriving there pretty soon as they were headed in your direction, err, three hundred men in Echo five sir another seven hundred should be there by five, Echo five are on channel five, over."

Keys checked his watch then pressed the button and said "I copy ETA imminent, Keys out." Switching to channel five he lifted the radio again "Echo five this is Echo base come in, what's your position, over?"

"Echo base this is Echo five our ETA to you is one minute, we've seen some strange shit coming through town as there seem to be these huge black insects everywhere over"

"Tell me about it when you're here son, over and out" Keys put the radio back on the table and left the tent to greet the new arrivals. As he got to the road he could see the trucks coming in from Olympia, Yutani told him there could be a thousand men here by five or three hundred by noon. He looked at his watch it was eleven forty two and twelve trucks pulled up with twenty five men on each plus their equipment and ammo.

"Peter Keys" an officer said as he climbed out of the first truck, other trucks stopped behind them and some went around the parked trucks to pull into the compound and unload. "I'm Colonel Gray" the man said as he saluted. He crossed over to Keys held out his hand and smiled. He was about forty years old, slim with brown hair and grey eyes "I apologise for not calling but Mr Yutani asked me to surprise you sir."

Keys laughed "I'll bet he did, good to meet you Colonel" he said as they shook hands "have you been briefed on the situation here?"

"Yes sir we have and like I said on the radio we saw at least a dozen bugs running through town," he looked around at the other soldiers as they were getting packs and guns off of the trucks they'd arrived in. "We would have shot at them but they were carrying people on their backs and running through houses and gardens"

"Any idea which way they were headed?" asked Keys.

"It looked like they ran towards the school and trees beyond, they seemed to be heading east," he shrugged his shoulders. "I was shocked at first I didn't expect it."

"Its ok soldier," Keys grinned "get your men ready to move out you've seen the bugs so I want you and all of the men you came with to head out on foot across town. Head for the school and kill all bugs whether they are carrying people or not. If they are carrying people and the people aren't dead, they soon will be, so make it merciful."

Gray nodded and added "there's something else sir" he motioned to the tent and they walked over. When they were inside Gray said "Mr Yutani called me twenty minutes before we arrived to report an alien space ship in orbit around the moon. He said that this ship came out of orbit and descended into our atmosphere to twenty thousand feet. Three small pods were fired out of the ship they were slightly bigger than a standard elevator. He said they tracked the pods as they crashed into the hills roughly a mile from the pothole you call Devils Bluff. Another piece of the larger ship broke off and landed here about an hour ago somewhere north east of the Bluff. The bigger ship disappeared somewhere we don't know where but we suspect it has landed nearby, satellites are searching"

"That's why we lost contact with the groups out at the Bluff," Keys said looking in that direction. He turned back to Gray "stick to the plan, sweep the town look in every house for survivors and send them back here, kill anything else."

Gray nodded and left the tent as Keys picked up the Radio and called for Major Dearbourne to report here, Dearbourne was the man who'd captured and brought the hunter in this morning. Keys knew that they had to secure the ship above all other priorities. Just then his cell rang and he looked at the display and said "Yutani," He pressed the button to answer and said "Miss Yutani how may I help you this morning?"

"Mr Keys we have a satellite feed on the town and surrounding area. We are seeing approximately eight hundred to a thousand bugs in the woods near to the school. Colonel Gray should be sending his men out to search and destroy the bugs as we speak, don't interfere with his plans." They talked for perhaps five minutes and Keys never noticed Gray, Dearbourne or the towns Deputy Billy entering the tent.

Gray spoke first after Keys hung up "sir the men are ready to leave" he gestured the cell phone Keys was holding "I guess she told you I am staying here with you?"

"Yes she told me, send the men then come back and tell my why your mission is so important to the company," he said then turned to look at Billy "what brings you here Deputy?"

"The town is nearly deserted, anybody not killed or taken by the insects have either locked themselves in underground bunkers or they've been brought here. There isn't a town any more, or a job for me here, so I'm kind of here as an extra gun, if you need one."

"Sure deputy we could use an extra gun around here, three hundred men outside are going to sweep the town now and I'm about to send another three hundred out to Devils Bluff on a search and destroy mission there, where do you want to go?" he asked.

"I'll take the Devils bluff route," replied Billy "do I get a machine gun and the same armour the soldier boys are wearing."

Keys laughed and nodded to the other man with them "this is Major Dearbourne, Major take Deputy Chaveas and get him kitted out then both of you report back here in thirty minutes." He looked at his watch again then added "round up another three hundred to go with you out to the bluff."

As the men left Keys checked his watch then called Mr Andrews to report this change of plans to his superior. Opening the flap of the tent to let in fresh air he watched as the men started heading towards the nightmare insect things in the town.

Five minutes later and Colonel Gray was back in the command tent talking to Keys, he'd told him the plan for the town should they be unable to stop the insects or hunters. He'd also told him of the plan to try and catch one of the face grabbing bugs for examination at Yutani's research facility near L.A. A specialist unit would be airlifted by helicopter and they are due to be dropped two miles the other side of the bugs by twelve, they were to approach the insects nest from behind as Gray's men approached from this side.

"So you are staying here to help the civilians?" Keys asked. Sounds of men from outside as they passed heading into the small town and other shouts as the first soldiers to leave were calling people out of their homes to warn them of the danger and to send them to the protection of the base.

"No sir, I'm heading out to devils bluff with the specialist teams that came back a little while ago. I need as many men as you can spare, we think the big ship has landed out there and we've got four missile launchers that we've programmed to lock on to their tech. We're now after the big ship if we can, if we can disable it we will if not we might have to destroy it and salvage what we can after."

"Just remember son" Keys said looking at the Colonel "if these hunters are trapped they set off a self destruct mechanism. What would a ship that size take out if one of their wrist computers will take out twelve city blocks?" He left that hanging in the air as he turned and went to the door. Looking out he saw the Major and Billy returning with a squad of men. "Your men are ready now" he said over his shoulder.

For the first time since he got here yesterday Keys felt totally alone, he looked around at the base of operations and suddenly realised that everything was going wrong and Yutani knew it. That's why he left as soon as he'd got the hunters tech he knew the bugs would over run this town and the soldiers here. All the company wanted was their new technology from the hunter and apparently now they want one of the acid bleeding bugs as well. The rest of the men would head out on two fronts of this war, on one side the acid bleeding bugs and on the other side the invisible alien hunters. With them smack damn in the centre and all of this carnage happened in just over three days.

Major Dearbourne walked over to Keys and said "Billy here is set and leaving now for the bluff with these men."

"Great news Major, Billy the look suits you" he said to the former deputy "keep your eyes open and stay safe I'll see you when you get back."

Billy nodded his thanks and the group of men and walked over to the waiting APC that was to take them out to the end of the road to Devils' Bluff. They turned away from the soldiers and headed for the trailer he'd been watching satellite feeds from with Yutani. Stopping briefly at a crate he picked out a G36 and two magazines before they both enter trailer to watch from there and discuss their options.
Chapter 21

13:00pm a mile from Devils' Bluff

Peter stood in awe at so many hunters standing there staring at him. Some were nodding their approval at the human boy that hunted like one of them, and now dressed like one of them. Marked by the acid blood and a confirmed kill of the ultimate prey they'd even heard about his actions that helped to bring down a mighty Queen.

A newcomer approached the elder with some equipment and the leader clicked and gestured to the human boy. Bowing to the elder to show his respect the hunter approached Peter and knelt beside him offering the new equipment. Peter saw a shiny new mask, made to his size, and one of the back packs like the others wore. Only this was smaller than theirs but just like the one his friend, the young hunter, wore. A gauntlet computer for one arm, and another gauntlet for his other arm. The new hunter helped him put on the new mask and adjusted it until it fit properly. Then the plasma caster was placed over his back and shoulder and the hunter showed him how to strap it in and connect it to the mask. Taking the basic computer off of his arm the new computer was fitted to his left arm and the new gauntlet on his right wrist had a set of razor sharp wrist blades that extended out a foot from his fist. Peter marvelled at how light this equipment was.

The huge hunter walked him to one side and showed the boy how to use the laser targeting device and activate the plasma caster. Peter nodded to his teacher and the hunter stood up reaching into a bag on his belt. He held up an object and switching vision modes Peter saw it was a smaller version of the bug. Using the alien mode vision he watched as the hunter threw the creature away towards the rock. Arming his lasers with his tongue and then the plasma caster seemed easy as Peter sent a blast out to kill the bug before it hit the ground. He then changed back to the hunters' vision and faced his teacher again.

As his plasma caster settled on his back the hunter nodded and laughed at the boys' skill. Even with this child's toy he proved efficient, maybe they should give him a disc as well. The tall hunter turned and reported this back to the elder as Peter stepped back into his place in front of the new army of hunters.

The elder clicked and gestured occasionally pointing at the boy but mainly pointing at the army base five miles up the road. Peter counted twenty seven hunters as they crammed into the ship Peter was in earlier, all of these hunters carried spears odd looking guns and different length wristblades. The ship lifted off quietly and headed towards the town. Peter knew it was invisible but he could see it clearly with the mask on as it lifted a few thousand feet in seconds then sped towards town.

The ship was back five minutes later empty except for the pilot. Another twenty seven fully armed hunters crammed in and it followed the same heading. Peter looked at some of the designs on the masks and they all had clans the special mark. They all carried the clans mark awarded for bravery in various battles. It looked like the letter T but the straight lines were curved like the blades on their throwing stars and some of the spears.

The group of hunters left on the rock were down to fifty including Peter, he looked up at the clan elder as he waved his extended spear in the air and pointed it at the town. The rest of the hunters waved their spears in the air and clicked their reply, Peter waved his spear, extending it as he lifted it, and shouted "lets go kill the fuckers"

The elder laughed as did some others who understood some of this primitive language. One by one they disappeared as did Peter activating his invisible cloak as he followed these creatures into battle. He was one of them now he realised as the young hunter he'd saved walked over to him. He also realised that soldiers were coming and they wanted to kill or catch one of his new friends. He wasn't going to let that happen, not now that he had the technology to kill the insect things.

His new friend pats him on the shoulder and clicks at him then says in slow broken English "we honour you skill, you prove well marked you be" he indicated the clans markings in the air and pointed to the others around them "and I marked will be."

The words and clicks were much louder and clearer in this new mask. Peter looked up at his friend and said "death to the insects" not knowing if he would survive the day as long as he killed a few more of them. He was scared but the technology he'd been given gave him confidence, he knew he'd kill more than a just a few if he could.

As they walked towards the town hunters went left and right to approach from different angles. Peter changed visions and saw the red that allowed him to see the bugs, then in the blue thermal image he scanned the country he knew so well. He changed again and stopped then zoomed in using a black and bright green vision and saw three men in trees directly in front about half a mile "stop" he called softly to the others and pointed at the trees in front.

They all looked and some nodded at his skill or instinct in seeing another hidden enemy before one of their own did. All of them taking cover behind rocks or jumping into the odd tree that were scattered about here. The hunters watched the humans in the trees in front of them. Were they watching them approach, were they waiting for them? Peter suddenly broke ranks and ran forward and left heading to one side and the men in the tree followed his erratic path. Now the others knew that these humans could see them even though they were cloaked.

The hunters with him had time to change positions to get forward and closer to the prey in front with the boys distraction. Peter locked on to one man with his lasers and engaged his plasma caster as the three men fell from their trees. The men were killed by three of the hunters that were close enough now that they used their spear guns.

The group moved forward again and crept closer to the tree line and ridge the men were in. Moving more cautiously now as they passed the red, completely skinned bodies that were being lifted into the trees. The hunters now finished with them they'd hang there for the birds to eat. Getting to the top of the ridge they looked over to see humans scattered across the terrain in front. Sending half of the hunters left and taking Peter and the others right the elder ordered six to stay here and move forward when it starts. Some of the hunters including the elder used the trees and jumped from branch to branch. The rest ran like Peter and the young hunter who stayed at his side aware of the debt he owed this boy. The elder had ordered him to protect and train the boy as one of their own until further notice.

13:15 Olympia road 15 miles north of Maddison Heights

The roadblock had been in place to stop anyone coming into or leaving the town during the quarantine. Sixty men were housed in tents scattered about the road as twenty men slept, ten patrolled the area, and thirty more guarded the road. Bored with nothing to do the men played cards at tables and drank coffee as nobody had tried to leave the town today.

Two of the soldiers walked towards Olympia just to exercise their legs more than anything else. "Would you rather be in the town fighting the bugs?" asked sergeant Giles looking at the younger soldier with him. Sounds of gunfire had been coming from the town for the last two hours and seemed to be getting more regular as time passed.

"At least it's better than waiting around, what happens if the bugs attack us in force here?"

"There are too many available bodies in the town for the bugs, why would they come all the way out here?" said Giles "besides satellite images confirmed that nothing has headed in this direction since the sheriff the other day, or the trucks going into town earlier."

Neither of the men saw the hunter's troop carrier land about a mile away to the west, then take off again a few minutes later, as they continued walking away from the roadblock. Looking back at the tents Giles said "we'd better get back to the others we don't want to go too far."

The men turned to head back to the roadblock as the hunters ship passed overhead at five thousand feet. Neither man saw the invisible ship but they both felt the rush of air as it passed overhead.

Giles looked up but saw nothing and as they approached the roadblock again the troop carrier flew over a second time to deposit another load of the hunters that would soon approach this temporary roadblock.

13.30pm Orchard Drive School

Twenty soldiers faced the school on the east end of Orchard drive, the trek through town saw nearly two hundred people coming out to their shouts. Some headed for the army base and some said they had shelters they would use, until the army gave the all clear.

On the way over here a few gunshots could be heard but they were quick bursts and two of the units reported contact with the insects. Major Foster looked across at the wooded area behind the school then took his binoculars out and scanned the trees. It looked quiet but it also looked dark and dangerous, he was about to radio the other units when several men stepped out from the underbrush to his right about twenty yards away. Slowly men appeared on both sides of the original group until almost three hundred men appeared from out of the town behind.

Foster held up the radio and called to his men "all units close up and lets' go" almost three hundred pairs of boots echoed in the quiet afternoon as the soldiers crossed the road, then the field that was used for sports and exercise during a normal school day.

The town was almost deserted and behind them now as they approached the tree line. The school had been closed since the deaths of the children and head teacher yesterday. Most of the town had tried to leave then but were stopped at the road block and turned back to the town. Arriving at the trees Foster stopped and tried to search as deep into the woods as he could before moving in. Everyone here knew what they'd encounter as they had all been briefed and seen the insects on their way into town. Only a hundred of the men immediately around Foster knew their real mission "ok men its time to go to work, lets' go catch one of these fuckers."

Waving first to the right and then left all of the men entered the trees beyond the school. Before putting his radio away Foster called Echo base to report their situation. Moving his machine gun from its sling Foster saw a black shape about fifty yards away as it darted to their right. Placing the radio in his belt Foster turned on the electronic night vision scope on his gun and searched the area he'd seen the creature running.

"I've got movement" a soldier to his right said as they crept forward again and everyone aimed where he was pointing. "Cover every angle people and use night vision on your helmets" he added.

Small glass squares closed over the soldiers faces as they activated the night vision and heads up displays built into their helmets. Someone on the right started shooting and the woods erupted with forty or fifty bugs jumping and slashing at the soldiers. Foster shot two of the bugs before he saw one of the face huggers attach itself to a soldier near him on the left. Activating a private link to twenty of his friends he told them to grab the body of the fallen man and follow him out and back to base with the alien creature on the soldier.

Shooting at the bugs seemed easy as their heads were no match for these armour piercing bullets, acid blood or not. Foster made his way left and found a dozen of his men shooting into the trees while four other grabbed an arm or leg and carried the alien covered man back towards the school. Turning his radio to channel six he said simply "Echo base this is Echo eleven, mission objective one achieved we need an exit, over."

Eighty men broke away from the shooting and went to defend the body their friends were carrying back to the town. The other soldiers didn't notice the departing men as they were busy shooting at the attacking bugs. Foster led them out of the woods and back across the school field towards town. Halfway across the field he heard some of his men begin shooting again. He turned to see two black insects following a hundred yards back. When Foster and his group stopped the bugs stopped, when he moved, they moved. Foster stepped forward and shot without aiming at the bugs, he saw a spark as his bullet ricochets off the bony structure on its back. The creature hissed and opened its mouth. Its smaller, inner mouth extended out slowly and the small mouth opened and snapped shut again before disappearing back into the creature's larger mouth.

Foster fired a quick burst aiming at the bug and was rewarded as its' head exploded. Its acid blood sprayed onto the trees behind it as its body crashed to the ground. The trees and ground immediately started smoking where the creatures' blood had landed and burned its way through. Using the radio again Foster called again "Echo base this is eleven where's our exit, we're coming out of the school and need that evac over." Gunfire still sounded from in the woods, an explosion as a grenade was thrown.

The radio operator at base replied twenty seconds later "we copy you Echo eleven, trucks are en route and should be there within ten minutes, dig in and hold your ground for now, over."

"Roger that base kick them in the arse for me and get them here quicker if you can. We're holding at the school gate with the sample, but running low on ammo, over and out." Foster resumed his watch on the woods and the insect that remained up near the trees watching them intently. It was soon joined by another, then another, and soon there were six more of these insects at the trees. Some ran on all fours like dogs and were a kind of dark brown, almost black colour and the rest were jet black and ran on two legs like humans.

The insects just watched the unmoving group as the sounds of gunfire and screaming from the woods was starting to subside. From where he was positioned Foster could hear a group of soldiers off to the right were still shooting at these things. Three men ran from the trees towards Foster and the others but a huge insect at least three feet taller than the black ones came out of the trees behind them. Its angular bony head turning to the men and baring its teeth as it swung a wickedly sharp looking tail behind it. This bug was bigger and seemed to be a kind of leader as it hissed at the smaller bugs. The new leader bug watched Foster and the smaller insects stepped back and bowed their heads. This new bug jumped with incredible speed and landed on the backs of two of the fleeing men. It stabbed its tail through the back of a third man as its claws dug into the shoulders of the pair it landed on. Smashing one mans skull with its inner mouth as they crashed to the floor.

Foster fired at the huge insect as did most of the other soldiers, except the ones carrying the alien covered man. Bullets seemed to bounce off of the tough bony outer skeleton barely slowing the creature, someone fired a grenade at it and they all ducked as the charge exploded at the insects feet.

The creature still came at them though it was clearly injured as it now limped on its left leg. Foster and the others backed up across the street as a jeep, two trucks, and the APC came around the corner. A soldier was standing at the M60 machine gun attached to the jeep and began firing short bursts at the oncoming alien. The jeep stopped next to the group and the M60 fired continuously at the huge black thing. After about fifty rounds went into it from the M60 and another couple of hundred rounds from the eighty odd men of echo eleven, the creature crumpled to the ground dead. Its acid blood sending up acrid smoke where it burned whatever it touched. Then four of the six insects behind up near the trees ran back into the safety of the woods as another two aliens were torn to shreds by the gunner on the jeep.

Some of the men quickly placed the body of the soldier with the alien on his face into the lead truck and climbed in to the back. Foster got into the jeep and the rest of the men filled into the remaining trucks as they turned and left the area to complete their mission. Foster smiled as he knew he'd get the sample back to the base as one of the Apache helicopters flew overhead. It fired rockets and missiles into the trees behind the school before strafing the same area with its front mounted mini-gun.

Twenty minutes later and the poor soldier with a spider like insect attached to his face was being wheeled into another medical trailer. Similar to the trailer that two of the bugs had escaped from the other day. God thought Keys, had he been on the go for nearly three days straight with only a few snatched hours of sleep in between. Ordering four soldiers to guard the trailer and let no one in or out without his say so he left and headed for the luxurious trailer that had been Kenzos' until he left. He needed a couple of hours off and he was taking the time off now before the seven hundred troops Yutani was sending arrived.
Chapter 22

Devils' Bluff 15:00pm

Peter and the young hunter walked over to the ridge to look down on any approaching men or insects. They'd encountered a few men on the journey who were killed quickly and silently by the other hunters with them and then hung up after they'd been skinned. Peter didn't really want to kill these men but he knew that they wanted to catch this species to do their experiments on it. They wanted its technology and they wanted to know the easiest way of killing it! That thought made him mad, these hunters had already helped him kill the things that were killing the town so why would anyone want to hurt them? His family were now dead, he had no brothers or sisters so he had no one, except maybe his auntie, his mothers' sister. He hadn't seen her for five years and barely remembered her, would she even recognise him he wondered. Except for this group of alien hunters he had no-one so he considered them to be his family now and he'd fight to the death with them if that meant killing these insect like creatures.

The boy hadn't seen his father for almost three full days now and he last saw his mother being attacked by the smaller spider insect last night. He suspected that the insects had taken his dad as well and now he just wanted them destroyed and he wanted to do some of the destroying.

Looking around the next valley he saw nothing unusual in the thermal vision except the dozen or so orange men coming over the opposite ridge. One by one the men disappeared behind rocks and Peter moved back. He adjusted the zoom to close in to where the men had been and saw cold blue and black outlines of approaching men. He changed the vision to red and saw a similar image, then changed again to a white view and saw the men a lot clearer. As he looked around the land in between them he saw another six or seven similar groups of men approaching from the town.

The young hunter with him indicated that they'd circle to the right and take out the humans there while the others prepared for a full frontal assault. Peter and the young hunter made their way around to the right. They took up positions in some rocks looking over the hill leading up here. Peter looked back at the ridge he'd came from and saw other hunters disappearing behind rocks, into holes in the ground, or up into trees to await the humans arrival.

Zooming in to the soldiers nearest to him he saw the deputy Billy dressed up like a soldier. Peter indicated that this human was to be his kill and no one else's, he hated Billy for leaving his mother to the bugs. The hunter with him nodded and pointed to the other man to Billy's right to say that Peter kill him as well as the one he'd chosen.

The boy nodded, engaged his plasma caster, and they waited for the Elder to start the battle from their hiding place now fifty yards from the approaching men. His companion getting out a sharp looking disk the size of a dinner plate the young hunter activates his laser eye sight and grabs his sword. Half a minute later the Elder howls and fires his plasma caster at the leaders from his vantage point on top of the ridge and Peter and his friend jump over the rocks to run at the approaching group. He fires at one man and locks onto another as he sees Billy lifting his gun to point towards the side of him. Firing again he jumps right as Billy fires blindly towards where he was a moment ago. He ducks behind a tree in time to see his companion jump the last few yards to land in the middle of four of the six remaining men. Peter fired his plasma caster at the man the hunter asked him to kill and stood in front of Billy turning off his invisibility shield. With the sounds of gun fire, plasma fire, and screams and howls coming from the other hundred men scattered across the valley Peter smiled behind his mask.

"Billy its Peter Barnes, don't shoot" he said loud enough for the deputy to hear even from behind his mask. Looking around the deputy saw the blurred edges of another invisible warrior behind him, the group of men with him were all dead.

Looking back at the boy and lowering his gun Billy said. "Peter Barnes, shit, Keys said it was you that had helped the hunter escape"

"The insects are all I want to kill Billy, because they killed my family, now I hunt them instead of them hunting me," he said. "They gave me this" he pointed the spear at the deputy in front of him and pressed the middle, the spear shot out to full size going through Billy's armour and chest.

Shocked by the sudden impact of the spear impaling him Billy dropped the gun to reach up to the spear "why" he asked dropping to his knees.

Peter looked down at the dying man and said "you let my mother die, we could have gone back in there with guns but you let her die so I blame you. I have to kill you to prove my honour in battle to my new family." Pressing the middle of the spear again Billy lurched forward as the spear tore out of his body. The spear shrunk in on itself as the man hit the floor a second later. Using his masks vision modes he could tell he was dead, satisfied Peter activated his invisibility shield again.

The battle behind them over and silence returning to the valley the young hunter walked over to peter. Reaching around him he changed some settings on the back pack and nodded at the courage and skill his new human friend possessed.

The hunters took heads off of some of the fallen soldiers and cleaned then polished their skulls before mounting them on armour or spears. The rest of the bodies were either dissolved or skinned and hung in trees nearby. The young hunter with Peter took Billy's head and showed the boy how to clean and polish its skull before handing the trophy to the boy. Taking the skull Peter admired the curves and polished surface of his trophy. Wearing his spear on his back as some others did Peter placed Billy's skull onto the spear's point to wear over his shoulder.

Finished with their clean up the hunters once again head towards the town a few miles away. Peter didn't know it but he was being watched by the elder and his advisors next to him as they moved forward.

The elder admired his courage and skill in battle whether it was humans or bugs and at the moment he felt that he could easily run or lead a hunt with the best of them.

In the distance the group could hear the rhythmic thump as helicopters approached from town. Changing vision modes and activating his targeting laser he looks for the Apaches he'd seen in town yesterday. Switching finally to thermal imaging Peters lasers immediately lock onto the distant craft. Turning off the laser Peter could see the pilot and gunner flying the machines he could also see the heat of the jet engine at the back as another helicopter appeared behind the first. Peter zoomed out again happy to see that they were nearly two miles away as he and his companion head towards the trees ahead where the young hunter placed some traps two days before.

Major Grant looked down at the onboard computer and keyed his onboard radio "something just locked on to us at eleven o'clock it's gone now but a laser just lit us up from two miles away.

"Roger that Major keep your eyes open and arm all weapons," Riley had seen the red laser that locked onto them and headed in that direction "ready rockets for a barrage into those rocks up ahead." Changing channels he called to the other Apache on their right "Alpha one to Alpha two come in over"

"Two here over" answered Major Evans piloting the other gun ship.

"Hang back and cover our arse something ahead targeted us with lasers" said Riley "we're going in for a closer look over."

"Roger that one were drifting over," Evans indicating he was stopping to the other pilot as he lifted the nose to slow his forward motion. Using the onboard communicator he called his gunner "Major Ince ready all weapons and give me a full sensor sweep of the ridge at twelve o'clock a mile and a half out."

"Confirmed sir our weapons are hot and sensors online," Ince answered as he was arming the systems and activating the cameras and microphones as he spoke.

Alpha one moved ahead as the second craft slowed to hover over a mile from the ridge in front. The downdraft from Alpha two's rotors sent dust and debris in mini tornados on the ground three hundred feet below them. The huge fully armed craft hovered on the spot as the first helicopter flew forward towards the rocks where Alpha one saw the laser shining up at it from below.

Entering the trees Peter lost sight of the approaching gun ship and ran forward to a clearing to watch as it flew directly overhead. Four rockets fired at the rocks behind where he'd locked onto the helicopter with his lasers. Four blasts from plasma cannons raced over Peters head going towards the hovering helicopter that was behind the first. Rockets fired from the tubes on the small wings of the Apache and flew into the clearer land to the boys left. The four plasma bolts the hunters fired hit the helicopter in the centre of the rotor support and engine. The helicopter lurched and its nose pitched down as the rotor blades snapped off under the pressure. The huge helicopter tipped forward and nose dived into the ground below. The explosion as its fuel tanks ruptured sending a fireball into the sky. Pieces of metal and shrapnel flew all around the area and sparked off of the rocks as they hit.

Apache two never saw the plasma bolts but he saw the other helicopter hit and nose dive into the deck below it. As their helicopter went down Riley turned his gun ship to the left and dived at the ground to gain speed. Flying into ravines and using the ground as cover to avoid the hunters below. He caught a glimpse of two groups of hunters below him that had turned off their invisible shields. He picked up speed as he flew over the same ridge Peter used twenty minutes ago. Flying the ship out a mile Riley climbed up to a thousand feet sure he would be out of range of their weapon and turned to face the enemy's position.

Telling Grant to arm the Mavericks he would fire the four missiles they had into the land and that small woodland area in the middle. Aiming his helicopter at the intended targets he ordered Grant to shoot all missiles. Four smoky streaks shot forward from the wings on this the most feared mobile weapon in history as Riley dropped down to five hundred feet. A flash to his left and he watched as electricity flashed and flared on the horizon. A strange looking ship appeared heading towards him at high speed. A flash on the front of the ship and Riley never had time to react as the hunters transport ship fired its forward plasma cannon. The plasma bolt tore through the helicopter killing Grant instantly, and Riley called a Mayday in the few seconds before the burning wreckage of his helicopter slammed into the ground behind Peter and his friend.

The boy cheered at the fall of such a mighty machine as it was this machine that sent a missile towards him a moment ago. He barely had time to get behind the rock that shielded him from the explosion as sharp stones bits of trees and metal shrapnel flew around him. Like the others Peter had de-activated his invisibility shield and now like the others he disappeared and headed towards the town again.

The group of hunters would usually hunt alone but this clan knew how the humans operated with their cowardly nuclear devices. The ship that killed the second apache helicopter flew over their position. Seeing they were safe it then headed straight up to dock with the huge clan ship that was looking down on their progress from forty miles high. Peter and the hunters neared the ridge looking down on the road to the town.

16:00 Echo Base

Peter Keys was in the trailer that had cameras covering the battles every angle. He sat there watching the monitors as the men around the base moved equipment to the back of the base. They were setting up motion detecting automatic machine guns mounted on tripods on the perimeters. Security cameras and drone guns would watch and guard the area where bugs were seen patrolling ten minutes ago.

He'd had a couple of hours sleep and was woken by gunfire as soldiers shot at the bugs outside. Another burst of automatic gun fire echoed through the trailer as another soldier quite close by shot at an unseen attacker. Keys got up and walked over to the G36 he'd taken earlier then went out of the trailer to see how the new patient was getting on.

Entering the other trailer Keys looked around at the doctors and scientists inside. They were either looking into a kind of coffin on the floor or typing on keyboards and clicking the mouse on their computers. The coffin was nearly seven foot long, three feet wide, and stood about four feet tall. The sides were made of some kind of steel alloy. The top was thick bullet proof glass and inside the coffin was the unlucky soldier laying on white cotton bedding and pillow. The unfortunate man was still wearing the spider like alien creature over his face. Keys studied the man for a minute then approached one of the doctors at a computer "how is our patient doing today doctor, what can you report?"

The man jumped as he hadn't seen Keys enter the trailer or approach. He turned back to the computer to save the document he was working on and said "sorry sir I didn't see you come in. The patient is stable the alien attached to him seems to be giving him oxygen and keeping him alive. We have also discovered on the x-ray that this creature is feeding the man something else."

"What do you mean feeding him something, like water or air or what?" Keys asked puzzled as to what the doctor meant.

"Well none of them," answered the doctor who clicked open a folder on the computer and clicked one of the pictures inside, "these x-rays were taken in sequence every 10 seconds. I've put them into a slideshow to show you what I mean." He pointed to the first picture "this dark object here I thought at first was an anomaly or dirt on the lens, it happens," he said looking up at Keys, "anyway if I show you the slideshow you will see the smudge moving down the man's throat." He clicked to play the pictures in sequence and Keys watched as the black smudge moved deeper down into the man's throat.

"So what is it, this black thing I mean?" he asked.

The doctor looked up at Keys, shrugged his shoulders, and said "It's a bug I think. One of the big black bugs is now growing inside him. These x-rays were taken when he first got here," closing the picture and selecting a different folder he opened another picture. Putting both images side by side he pointed to the black smudge again "This x-ray was taken ten minutes ago, could that be an egg or some kind of embryo?"

Keys could see the snakelike alien in the x-ray, curled around in a foetal position with its tail forming around it. The head wasn't formed as the head of the beasts he'd seen outside. The rest of this small creature wasn't like its bigger brothers either, at least not yet it wasn't, Keys thought.

"Its size has quadrupled since it's been in there and we think it will soon be coming out that's why we put them into this box."

"Mr Keys, you'd better take a look at this" said one of the doctors around the box, Keys walked over and looked down as the spider like alien had detached its self from the man and crawled down towards his feet. Finding no escape the creature simply flopped forward onto its belly, twitched and then died.

Keys peered into the box at the dead alien "can we get that out of there and examine it but seal the box up again after?"

The doctor that called him answered "yes we can," pointing to another man he nodded and the younger doctor pressed some buttons on his side of the box. The magnetic seals released and air escaped the box with a hiss. The doctor who called him went to get an aluminium tray they used for organs and a pair of forceps. He reached in and gently picked up the dead alien with the tongs. Lifting it out of the box he placed it into the tray before nodding to his colleague to close the box again. Pressing the buttons on the end again Keys heard a faint hum as the lid shrunk down with the pull of the electro magnets.

The doctor had turned the face hugging alien onto its back inside the organ tray and poked about at the middle of the creature with a long pointer. He moved flaps of skin and revealed the tube it had inserted into the man's throat. We need pictures and video of this so we'd better setup over there," the doctor pointed to the operating table that the hunter had been tied to earlier.

Moving the tray over to the table two of the doctors went to drawers to take out a digital camera and camcorder. As they turned to go back the remaining doctor at the coffin said "shit, he's awake," and pointed to the man inside the box.

Keys and the others raced over to look in on the soldier trapped in the box, one of the doctors pressed a button on the side and asked "how do you feel, do you remember anything?"

The man looked up at the voice and shook his head, "nothing, no wait did someone hold a pillow over my face? I could use a drink though," he coughed.

Keys smiled "can he hear me?" he asked the doctor who nodded and looking down at the man Keys asked "what do you remember son?"

The man thought for a minute then said "we left Olympia this morning and were heading into that small town a few hundred miles south east. There were a few of us," he frowned trying to recall what happened "that's it that's all I can remember, can I get a drink soon? I feel fine otherwise." He coughed again and held his chest briefly.

"Are you sure you're ok?" asked Keys "what's wrong with your chest?"

"Its nothing just a bit of indigestion, must have been something I ate earlier on the way out," he said trying to remember when he'd last eaten.

Suddenly the soldier pushed his shoulders back into the bed and pushed out his chest, reaching up to his chest he flopped back limp again as the pain subsided. He looked at the men outside his box and screamed as the tee shirt at his chest spread red with his blood. He dug his shoulders into the bed again and lifted his chest as more pain exploded from within. The doctors outside recording on the video camera and taking photographs they would later send to Yutani.

A second later the soldier screamed a final time as his shirt ripped and his blood splashed onto the glass above him. The small chest bursting alien bared its teeth at the group and climbed out of the dead soldier's now dead body. The creature couldn't find a way out of this box and paced around and over the dead man. Bending forward the small bugs inner teeth shot out to try to pierce the man's flesh on his arm. Not even cutting through the alien needed to feed to grow so it climbed back onto the soldier's chest and its small teeth shot out again as it started to feed on the open wound of the corpse of the man that gave birth to it.

Five minutes later gun shots sounded again from closer outside. Keys stopped watching the alien feeding and turned to the doctors, "call me as soon as something happens, I need to find out what is going on out side," then he turned and left the trailer.
Chapter 23

16:30pm Five miles from Echo Base

The clan elder approached Peter and the young hunter with him below the ridge line they had already looked over. He checked the young hunters backpack then checked Peters and saw the changes to the power settings the younger predator had made to the equipment. Clicking and snarling the elder spoke to the young hunter at length then turned back to Peter. He nodded again before turning and striding back to the group he'd ran with across the land.

The young hunter was staring at Peter and the boy felt a little uncomfortable. After all he was human and this clan wanted to kill all of the humans as well as the bugs. The hunter clicked and got Peters attention back then he indicated that he and the boy were to circle around to the right and create a diversion. The elder and the others would then come over the hill with their plasma casters, discs, and shuriken firing at anything that moved.

Looking back over the ridge to get an idea of where every one was positioned Peter turned back to the hunter and nodded he was ready. The pair set off at a run along and under the peak that hid them from the human soldiers on the other side. Peter had guessed about three hundred men, some with high calibre weapons, waited and watched from down there. Peter and the hunter were going to go as far around as they could. Once in position they would attack the nearest group of soldiers making as much noise as they could. The young hunter stopped and went to go up to look over the ridge. They both froze as two soldiers came up over the ridge about six feet to their left.

The radio on the soldier's belt came to life to announce the withdrawal back to town of all troops. They had to guard Echo base as there were insects attacking on three sides and taking victims for new hosts. The two soldiers, oblivious to the hunter and Peter, ran back across the ridge to join their friends heading back to base.

Peter looked over the ridge and watched as a five trucks, the APC, and a bus pulled up on the road the other end of the camp. Men raced with their kit or equipment for the trucks and bus to get a seat for the twenty minute drive back to Echo base. Some of the men would be walking as there wouldn't be enough room for them all in this convoy. Soon enough the trucks, APC and bus were headed back fully loaded with about eighty men left to wait the thirty odd minutes for the trucks to return for them, or start walking.

Using the blue thermal image Peter zoomed in as close to the distant men as he could. He saw the now familiar yellow, orange, and red of a human body heat signature and he turned on sound in his mask.

"No fuck that," said the man in the hidden speakers in his new mask, "we either wait or walk and I don't want to wait here with them invisible things coming at us I'd rather get back now."

Peter smiled amused at the apparently lone man talking to himself until he heard another voice "yeah and go straight out to fight the fucking bugs!"

"Bugs, fucking invisible aliens, what difference does it make we're screwed either way," said the first man.

Peter was confused as he only watched one man but heard two as they chatted about their situation. He changed vision modes, red first, nothing, both of the men had disappeared. Changed again to white he saw the previously invisible man as a black hole in the white surroundings. Zooming out again he counted another thirty invisible men amongst the eighty odd visible men down there. They appeared to be waiting for the trucks to come back for them.

Stepping back Peter tried to tell his friend about the unseen men that were down in the car park but the young hunter didn't understand. Peter turned off his invisibility shield and pointed to himself and the men down below. Activating his cloak again the boy indicated himself and thirty more men down there. The hunter spun around to look over the ridge again changing his vision modes. At first he saw nothing but changing his vision modes again the hunter scanned the area and he saw the hidden soldiers. Opening his wrist computer he pressed some of the buttons and then chattered and clicked in his language.

The young hunter motioned Peter to wait and continued his scan of the remaining humans down by the road. Stepping down from the ridge the young hunter turned off his invisible shield and Peter also de-activated his. A few minutes later Peter almost jumped as the clan elder and his second and third in command appeared next to them just below the ridge. The elder immediately chattered with the young hunter and pulled out a round device which he shook twice and six wickedly sharp looking blades shot out of the shuriken type weapon. Turning to face Peter the elder held the weapon out to the boy and indicated he target three at a time before throwing the device.

Peter nodded thanking the elder and bowing his head as he took the new weapon the hunters had given him. The elder clicked his approval at the respect the boy showed him and reached down to Peters arm computer. Opening it for the boy the elder pressed some buttons and told the boy to activate the targeting lasers on his mask. Peter turned on the lasers and saw three lines appear in his vision to form a triangle and move wherever his eyes looked. The elder then pressed some buttons on the shuriken and stood up nodding and clicking down at the boy.

Holding the weapon as the elder had Peter shook the device and the blades retracted into its body to make the innocent looking round device. Shaking it twice more and the blades shot out ready to be thrown. Satisfied that the boy was learning fast the elder chattered to the young hunter for a moment then disappeared with his colleagues leaving Peter alone with his friend once again.

The young hunter indicated that he would move around to the right to approach the men from that side. Peter would then head straight forward and to attack when he did. Peter nodded his understanding to the hunter and said "then we kill some more of the fucking bugs right?"

The young hunter nodded once then turned, disappeared, and ran around to the right. Peter activated his invisibility shield and went straight over the hill to approach the humans over half a mile away. He didn't know where the other hunters were but he knew they would be all around him.

Flicking between thermal and the white vision he saw the invisible men in front. Peter studied the humans, they hadn't seen him with their sensors or the devices they wore over their eyes to enhance light and change spectrums. They were idling around waiting for the trucks or chatting in groups about football or something they saw on the telly. Peter took out the shuriken he'd been given and shook it to extend the blades as he approached silently. He saw a blue flash off to his right as the young hunter fired into a group of men to the rear of this group. Peter immediately activated his lasers and scanned the area. Locking onto three of the soldiers in front he threw the weapon as hard as he could towards the men. The blade flew straight and true to the three marks and Peter cheered as it tore through their heads or necks.

Peter was almost knocked over by the force of the returning weapon but he caught it and regained his balance. He locked onto three more unfortunate men and threw the shuriken as hard as he could. All around him plasma bolts and disks flew from all angles into the groups of soldiers that had not seen the hunters approaching.

Gunshots sounded but the shooters were quickly dispatched as hunters swept through the remaining few men. Peter switched through the different vision modes and was certain no more of the invisible men remained. He and all of the other hunters had targeted them first. Now, as the last of the remaining men fell to a spear through his chest, Peter de-activated his targeting lasers and turned off his invisible shield as he snapped the blades of his new weapon into its body and placed the weapon onto his belt.

His tongue ached but he was getting used to the operation of the mask and extremely light weapons. Other hunters turned off their invisibility cloaks as they surveyed the area. Bodies littered the floor everywhere he looked and blood had splattered over rocks and plants. All of the hunters were busy getting trophies or pouring blue liquid over the corpses, dissolving their bodies into nothing.

Peter walked over to the six soldiers he had killed and saw three with their heads cut off completely. The other three had either one half of their heads cut off, or in the third mans case, a hole in the chest where his blade had passed through. He walked over to one of the men's heads and picked it up as the elder approached from one side. The boy turned still holding the head and the elder screamed and clicked his pleasure at seeing this human boy following in their traditions of the hunt. He'd even blooded himself with his kind's blood that he had killed with great skill.

The elder held out his hand and Peter looked down at the head he was carrying. He lifted it up and the elder took his trophy while chattering to the others. Every hunter stopped to watch as the elder clicked and growled while pointing at Peter. Reaching up to his helmet and taking off the small laser targeting device the elder shone his laser over the skull a few times. Putting the laser back onto his mask the elder then took a kind of glass straw where it sucked off the remaining skin and blood. Taking out a small gun like object with a disc on the end the elder began to polish the skull. A few minutes later and Peter was given the cleaned and polished skull. He placed it above Billy's skull on top of the spear he now wore on his back.

Clicking again at the boy the elder took a glass bottle out of his belt and poured the contents on the remaining bodies. Satisfied that the area was clean the group of hunters headed down the road towards town at a walk turning invisible as they went. Peter was hungry and took some chocolate bars he'd found in dropped packs and raced after his new family stuffing the bars of chocolate into his belt. Taking off his mask he could see the darkening sky and smell the fresh air again. He hadn't realised how much the masks filtered air and he reached down for a bar of chocolate. Without the masks enhanced vision Peter didn't notice the young hunter as he walked over to the boy until the electricity flashed and he became visible again. "Hey" said Peter with a mouthful of the chocolate "are you hungry?" He could hear helicopters in the distance but paid them no attention.

The young hunter clicked, stopped walking and took off his mask, looking at his new friend the hunter took the bar of chocolate Peter offered. Peter indicated it had an outer protective shield which he pulled off first then he bit into the sugary treat. The young hunter tore off the outer wrapper and tossed it away. Holding the bar up to its mouth it kind of sniffed it and felt its texture with its finger like mouth tusks. Opening its mouth the hunter took a small bite from the chocolate, chewing once the hunter howled and spat the horrid tasting stuff onto the ground as Peter laughed hysterically. The hunter snarled and clicked as he threw the chocolate over his head to land on a rock behind him. "Don't like it that much then?" Peter asked.

The hunter shook its small stiff dreadlocks and clicked then he reached into his own belt. He took out a small cube of what looked to Peter like a sugar lump sized piece of beef jerky. The hunter put the cube into its mouth and chewed seeming to relish the taste, taking out another cube he offered it to the boy.

Taking the strange dark brown cube Peter sniffed it and moved sharply away, it smelled like rotten eggs. Watching the hunters' reaction Peter takes a small bite from the corner. Chewing on the foul tasting cube Peter suffered its taste and took another small bite.

He finished chewing the jerky the hunters ate and wrapped the rest of the cube in the chocolate bar wrapper for later and placed it in his belt. The young hunter with him seemed to smile as electricity flashed in the air all around the pair. Six adult hunters appeared and then the elder appeared and clicked at the young hunter who quickly put his mask back on and clicked back at the elder.

Peter put his mask back on and said sorry to the elder who clicked and spun away from the pair turning invisible as he walked away. The other adults turned to follow the elder and one by one all of the hunters turned invisible as they continued their trek, now at a jog, towards town.

The hunters had encountered three more groups of men on their journey towards the town. He was amazed to watch the hunters kill in so many different ways. Some used disks, some using the shuriken and others firing twin pronged sharp looking spear tips out of a gun. Almost all of the hunters carried and used the wrist blades, spear, and plasma caster as their main weapon.

Watching the land using the mask's enhanced vision Peter didn't realise it was fully dark outside now. Soon the hunters reached the ridge that overlooked the town below. With the road pulling left around some rocks and then turning right straight after it led on into town half a mile away.

Peter and the others studied the town in all vision modes. Then Peter remembered Keys saying that Yutani had ordered another seven hundred troops to be here by five. Looking around and using the zoom Peter looked at the base he'd left this morning. Look at him now, he thought, a hunter with these aliens and all because he saved one of them. Taking the shuriken out of its pouch on his belt Peter held it while watching the soldiers milling about the base the occasional sound of gunfire echoing across from the left.

The clan elder called all of the hunters to attention and every one turned to him as he clicked and told the hunters their role in the coming battle. Peter was starting to understand the gestures and some of the clicks he'd heard before and tried to remember their meaning then. Watching the elder as he approached the young hunter and him, he clicked and gestured towards the town, and to the pair. Peter nodded when the elder had finished and said "yes we go" then bowed again as he thought he should do.
Chapter 24

18:00 Echo base

The four doctors in the trailer were watching the alien as it changed and grew after feeding on the body of the dead soldier. Soon there wouldn't be any room in the coffin as it was visibly changing size while one of the white coated men recorded its progress on the camcorder.

One of the other doctors said "it won't fit in there soon if it keeps growing at this rate."

"That may be but where will it go, I doubt it would be strong enough to break open the electro magnets in this box," said another as he tapped the lid.

The alien tail smashed up into the glass barely scratching it and the doctors all jumped back. It started to struggle inside the coffin it was trapped in and all of the doctors backed away not sure of the containers strength.

The doctor filming stepped closer and looked at the black insect lying on the smashed remains of the soldier. The creature hissed and bared its teeth as it turned its elongated head towards its clawed hand. Holding its hand up to its face its smaller inner teeth shot forward taking a finger from its own hand. The yellow acid from its wound spurting out as the alien moved its hand from the left side of the box up to its head then along the top of the box. The alien shifted its position and moved its hand down the right side of the box dripping its potent acid along its seams.

The doctors watched horrified as the box filled with smoke and the black shape bashed at the mattress and floor underneath it with its wounded hand sending more yellow acid burning through the man, pillow, mattress, and metal of the coffin. One of the doctors called Keys on the radio as they all backed away from the box.

"Eleven hundred soldiers and a hundred and forty civilians are all that's left Kenzo. Call in some transport choppers to lift us out and then nuke the nest," said Keys into the radio from the command tent. The radio operator looked at him and shook his head.

"We lost the signal sir I doubt he heard you."

"Damn" said Keys handing the mic back to the operator "find out what happened and get them back as quickly as possible."

"Yes sir" the operator nodded as another message came through.

"Mr Keys this is doctor Hong, are you there, over?"

Taking the mic back again he pressed the button and said "Keys here how's everything going with our patient, over"

"Sir the alien grew very quickly after it finished feeding, and it err, it just bit one of its own fingers off. It's melted the bottom of the trailer out, sir its free it escaped." The man said then remembered "over."

"Fuck" Keys said aloud and looking around the tent nervously "which way was it facing or headed did you see over?"

"No sir we didn't see which way it went but it isn't full grown yet it's about half size over."

"Roger that doctor, stay inside we've got bugs attacking from the east, over and out." Keys gave the mic back to the radio man then told him to guard the camp like everyone else here. He missed the reply from the doctors but didn't care this town was officially screwed and it would take a miracle to save it.

More gunfire from outside and Keys picked up the machine gun he'd found earlier and went out into the cold, cloudy and damp early evening air. Scanning the camp he went to one of the crates near the jeep and opened it. Seeing what he wanted he reached in he pulled out one of the helmets with the HUD on the side. Feeling better he clipped on a belt and attached the helmet to the batteries in the belt then swung the eyepiece over his eye.

Gunfire sounded behind him and he jumped before spinning around as he aimed at the noise. The image in the heads up display had already been set to night vision where you could see the beasts. He was about twenty meters from the east fence and the drone guns. Straight away he spotted the muzzle flash from one of the drone guns as it fired forward into the night. Screeches were heard and soon there were men at the fence shooting as another group of the insects attacked. More shots, a scream from his right and new gunfire sounds added to the first as the night exploded with the sounds of the guns.

Looking around the camp Keys thought he saw movement out to his right and spun around aiming in that direction. Movement again more to the left and gunshots from the men in front now as they seemed to be surrounded by the insect like creatures. Keys saw one headed towards him and fired a short burst into its weak skull killing it instantly. He'd killed two more before he spotted one of the smaller spider like aliens climb up on a fence in front of him and it started to coil its tail underneath as it prepared to leap. "No fucking way," said keys as he emptied the magazine into the aliens flesh. Re-loading his gun he called to some of the men near him who'd also been shooting at the insects.

Keys had a radio built into his helmet and he could hear the reports of aliens rushing at them and then running away. It was as if they were testing our defences and fire power. Walking to the centre of the car park where the helicopters were parked before they were destroyed Keys saw the group he wanted to be with, the Special Forces group Yutani sent in.

From behind the group Peter Keys watched as a dozen blue fire balls erupted from the ridge leading to Devils bluff. The plasma bolts shooting into a group of the insects below their position. Another blast then another and Keys clearly saw the retreating bugs as the flashes of plasma exploded their bodies.

Keys knew there were over a thousand soldiers here but he didn't know how many insects there were. He'd heard the reports of the hunter's ships and had no idea how many hunters there were either. "Fuck" he said again then turned to the Special Forces men and said "we've go a battle on two fronts now, insects there," he pointed East "and hunters there." he pointed to the ridge. "We need to defend it properly, get men on the roofs anywhere they can or even on boxes. Set up barriers do what ever it takes to keep us alive tonight. In two hours Yutani's plane will have landed and he can answer his phone again then he can call in the evac."

"Sir the base is secure we have barricades set, drone guns placed, sentries posted and even people on the roofs and boxes. We have the G36 sub machine gun, a prototype smart gun, grenade launchers, mortars and rockets. We have satellite feeds telling us that there are nearly a hundred hunters out there and one of them seems to be human. We can also report that there are a lot more bugs than first estimated. Our Intel suggests that some of the bugs were hosted in animals and that's why some run on all fours. Best guess at the moment is maybe a thousand, maybe more," said a young soldier next to him.

Keys looked embarrassed "sorry I guess I was thinking aloud there."

"Its ok sir just relax we got your six."

"I'm glad about that soldier but tell me something," he asked "who's got your six?"

More gunfire sounded towards the trees where the bugs attacked before and another drone gun sounded. The insects again ran forward and back trying to dodge bullets by leaping and dodging around trees and rocks. Keys felt uneasy about the quiet hunters out there but he knew that they were watching now. "How long will the drone guns last?"

"They each have a two thousand round magazine so it really depends on how many bugs try to get in," the soldier had been watching the tree line but looked back at Keys, "do we know how many bugs there are sir?"

"Not at this moment soldier there seem to be different kinds, some run on all fours, some run on two legs, some are bigger." Keys pointed towards the back wall facing the trees and said "set up some mortars and blow the fuck out of the trees there," he nodded to the soldier and walked towards the north wall.

Doctor Hong sat down at the back of the trailer they were sealed in and watched the video of the bug as it escaped its prison. The smoke from the acid blocking the camera from recording which direction it went. The other two doctors had been looking into the hole the alien made and crawled out of, "that's what the gunshots were for the soldiers saw it come out from under the trailer and shot it," said one of the men.

"I hope so, it was one mean looking son of a bitch, I wouldn't want to meet one in a dark alley," said the other as they sat down with Hong.

Starting the recording again none of the doctors notice the clicking, scraping sounds as a face hugger climbed up into the hole in the floor and entered the coffin, It scrambled to the end then turned over and climbed onto the glass. Lying upside down it began to secret its acid through its moving fingers and tail onto the glass. It melted its way slowly through the lid to gain access to the room.

None of the doctors noticed the smoke appearing over the coffin as a hole appeared in the surface. With the glass slowly melting away the acrid smell soon reached the men. Looking up they saw the blur of a face hugger as it leapt up at Hong. Both of the lab technicians looked at the doctor knowing what the creature was doing to him. They turned to look at the coffin as a second face hugger launched its self onto another of the men. The last man stared in horror for a second as more alien fingers appeared at the hole then he jumped up and ran for the door. He'd opened it a crack when the third creature landed on him knocking him onto the floor behind the door. Wrapping its tail around the technician's throat the alien settled into position as the man fell to the floor.
Chapter 25

19:00 Echo base

Keys looked at the terrain towards the ridge with high powered, light enhancing, binoculars. Seeing nothing worrying he swings around to watch the East side again. He listens to the incoming reports from around the camp and tries to look where the reports come from. People had been surprised by face hugging aliens, some landed home, and some didn't or were shot. Some of the men had been splashed by its blood. More reports came in from the east where the insects attacked mainly but the soldiers reports were sometimes that the man beside him would just fall over, dead.

Spotting a light or flash up on the ridge Keys called over to the men below "any of you guys got one of them guided weapons I could fire off at the ridge up there."

Major Dearbourne looked up at Keys and smiled "I might just have what you need Mr Keys," he said as he kicked off the lid of a long box at his feet.

Keys looked down and grinned then said "a giant green straw."

The Major laughed "that my friend is an M72 light anti-armour weapon or LAW launcher. It fires a sixty six millimetre, unguided, one shot round. We have ten more of these so we won't waste them." He stopped unpacking the tube weapon, looked up at Keys, winked, and then added, "we also have four British Javelin guided missiles."

"Don't just stand there man get one up here I got a target that needs shooting up on that ridge." One of the soldiers with Dearbourne climbed up onto the boxes Keys was standing on and stood up. He reached down as the Major passed the rocket weapon up. Keys pointed to an out crop of rocks just under the ridge and the soldier nodded "you'd better get down from the boxes sir, because of the rockets exhaust." By the time Keys looked up again the man had extended its length, activated its systems, and was now aiming at the rocks on the ridge.

Fire and hot exhaust gasses blew out of the back as the rocket flew out of the other end. It streaked out and up towards the rocks straight and true the smoke billowing out of the back to show its path. Seconds later the rocket hits the rocks exploding its charges that would drive it through armoured tanks. Instead the missile buried its self into the rocks then exploded properly sending dust and rocks into the air. Keys saw flashing electricity in three areas and they all heard the howls of the hunters up on the ridge. Blue plasma streaked towards the base and Keys watched as it sped towards them. It was going high Keys realised as it flew through the man that had fired the rocket, his headless body falling off the boxes to land in a pile at the end.

"Give the ten other rockets out and give soldiers with them pairs of these," Keys said holding up his light enhancing binoculars "tell them to scan the area and fire, then double time it back to the radio tent immediately after firing."

A group of hunters looked over the army base below and scanned the people and weapons they carried. They watched as blades flew into the men killing one here or there silently. They watched as the humans shot at the bugs killing some of the drones but missing most of the face huggers. Explosions sounded as the humans fired small bombs into the trees trying to kill groups of bugs.

One hunter had seen a man get onto the boxes in the centre and scan the area. He watched as another man got up there as the first pointed in his direction. The man on the box reached down and picked up something as the other man climbed down. The hunter zoomed in and scanned the device with his mask and detecting it to be a weapon. It flashed and as its projectile hurtled towards him he leapt off the rocky outcrop and landed on the ground below. As the missile buried its self into the rock above his head he turned away, a split second later it exploded killing two of his friends in the blast.

The hunter ran forward towards the cover of some trees. After leaping onto a branch of the nearest tree he turned to look back at the rocks he was on seconds before. His two friends had been killed by shrapnel in the explosion and another had been thrown off of the rocks. Smaller sharp stones and pieces of metal flew into his body causing his invisibility cloak to malfunction as he fell. The surviving hunter activated his lasers and plasma caster and locked onto the man who'd shot the missile. He fired a blast of plasma as he turned back to help any others injured or hurt by their attack.

Peter watched the human attack on his friends and activated his plasma caster and lasers. The young hunter grabs hold of Peter's shoulder and shakes his head no. He indicated the boy watch and as Peter turned back he saw the plasma bolt leave the trees below the destroyed rock and strike the man that had fired the missile.

Zooming into the army base Peter watched as a group of soldiers in the middle of the camp ran out towards the guarded sides. Zooming out again he studies the remaining men in the centre firing guns and mortars then zooms back more, switching vision modes to see the insects Peter sees three white spider like blobs in the trailer he'd freed the young hunter from so long ago.

Two hundred yards from Echo base now and heading forward again Peter and the young hunter approach the army base from the right. Peter could see the other hunters edging forward along the bumpy ground to his left. All of them were ready for battle with spears and swords drawn. Most had their plasma casters and wrist blades extended and ready. The boy marvelled at the different shapes and lengths of the wrist blades carried by these alien hunters. Some were almost dragging on the ground they were so long, Peter looked down at his new blades and extended them as he took the shuriken from his belt with his other hand. Extending the blades on the throwing star Peter hid behind a rock as he saw the orange and red of a human looking in his direction from the base. He heard a shout as the man there saw something and three others joined him, locking on to three of the men with his laser targeting device Peter prepared to throw his deadly star.

Peeking out from behind the rock Peter saw another man lifting a tube up to the man he'd first seen and zooming in with his mask the boy sees it is a kind of rocket launcher. He knows, he's seen them in films so he makes sure he has locked onto this man alone and launches his weapon at the distant soldier.

Watching as his death star flies out towards the man now aiming in his direction Peter sees as the star smash through his head. The impact knocked him backwards off the boxes as he fires the rocket harmlessly over the boys head to explode a few hundred yards behind him up the ridge. Catching the star and diving behind the rocks again Peter heard the gunfire from the soldiers who were with the rocket man and bullets ricochet off the boulders and rocks around him. A dozen plasma blasts hit the base full on as the hunters with him fire at the soldiers in the army base now the only people left in the town.

Running right towards the young hunters' position Peter sees that the soldiers that shot at him had been killed. Nobody else looked in his direction as the pair intends to use the diner opposite the base. Peter had eaten here often, or grabbed the odd coke in the holidays when tourists were about, he thought as he also approached the back of the diner.

Switching quickly to the alien vision mode Peter scanned the area around him and saw a dozen bugs about six hundred yards away. All of the bugs had seen him and were heading towards him at speed. Arming his plasma caster Peter killed three of the bugs before they were halfway to him. Locking onto the last three Peter threw his star as hard as he could at the remaining bugs. Seeing the head fly off the first bug Peter almost cheers. He watches as the second bug spotted the weapon heading towards him and dodges at the last second. The bug smashed its clawed hand down onto the blade shattering it.

Peter is now left with a plasma caster, the spear and his wristblades as weapons. He decides he might need the plasma caster later and de-activates it knowing the young hunter has his. Taking the spear off the back pack Peter places his trophies on the rock next to him and watches the approaching bugs. Eighty yards away now it slows as it nears his position and Peter can see two smaller spider bugs on its back. "Shit" he mutters to him self and watches as a plasma charge bursts out of the young hunters shoulder cannon near him to tear through the face huggers and alien killing all three with one shot. Two more plasma blasts kill the remaining bugs as they approached. Relieved he turns to his friend and gives him the ok signal then as one they both turn to face the diner and the soldiers, and sounds of gunfire beyond that.

Keys and Dearbourne were watching the second rocket launcher as it prepared to fire at the hunters. Suddenly the man that was aiming the devastating weapon flew backwards firing the rocket harmlessly into the air. Aliens were still attacking but on two sides now and the hunters were attacking a third side as plasma bolts ripped through the ranks of soldiers in front. Stopping a passing soldier he said "you go get every able bodied man and woman out here to help protect whoever is left. Give them guns and a little training but don't waste ammo." The soldier nodded and ran to the three structures they'd built to house the soldiers but now held the civilians from the town. Keys turned to Dearbourne and two others "come with me we have to try the radio and call for that fucking evac again."

As Keys spoke two of the LAW launchers fired their missiles off the southern guarded end towards the hunters. A third rocket was fired off the east side into some trees killing four of the black insects. Machine gun fire sounded from everywhere it seemed and the smell of cordite and blood filled his nostrils. They all saw three of the bugs killed in a mortar blast and Dearbourne turned to another of the soldiers and said "go get a Javelin we'll see if they will lock on to the hunters," before following Keys to the radio tent formerly known as the command post.

Entering the tent Keys looked in horror at the mess it was in, the sides of the tent had been torn to shreds. The radio and other equipment smashed and scorched from the yellow acid still visible in pools around the place. "Fuck we can't even call for evac" Keys said at last.

"Yes we might still be able to, what about the sheriffs station they got a radio" Dearbourne said at last and turning to one of the soldiers with him "go get another twenty five men, heavily armed I want two of them flame units and five smart guns the rest with their G36's."

Two more rockets fired into the positions the hunters' plasma blasts had come from. Howls of pain and anger reached back to the base as they killed some of the invisible warriors. About thirty of the hunters had stayed back to deceive the soldiers into thinking they were all there about two hundred yards out.

The rest of the hunters including the elder stayed hidden and didn't aim or shoot at anything as they approached the south east side of the army base. The fact that bullets were going over his head and the rockets were fired to a position behind him led the elder to assume that they hadn't been seen by the soldiers trying to kill them. The elder changed visions as he frequently did and saw about thirty aliens leaving the cover of some trees and approaching their position from the left. Clicking into his mask the other hunters with him turned to watch the aliens as they started running towards the small group. Gunfire sounded from the base and he knew that the soldiers were shooting at the bugs as well as them. As one the group took a pair of discs, or shuriken weapons, off their belts and threw them at the bugs. Half of the attacking aliens fell to the first wave of blades but the rest never slowed their approach.

Extending his large spear the elder ran at the insects with his spear raised and howling a war cry. His kin followed extending their spears or long wrist blades howling as their leader had. The fight was short with six of the hunters and sixteen bugs left the elder leapt at the black aliens as one of them also leapt up. The elder swung his spear while in the air and smashed the head of the bug into its shoulders as his friends also slashed and cut at the other insects. Landing hard the elder thrust his spear forward to impale another oncoming alien stopping it dead as it slid up the blade. Quickly retracting it to release the mortally wounded beast the elder extended the spear again as he swung it up and into another alien's head killing it instantly. Retracting his spear the elder jumped forward again and landed between two aliens he then grabbed one by the throat and the other alien was killed by his extending spear as it entered the aliens' shiny smooth forehead. Holding the alien by its throat the elder howled and snapped the creature's neck with a sharp tug downwards and lifting his knee up into its chin.

Guns fired from the base, now behind him, and he spun around as plasma fire burst into the shooters. The hunters covering his group fired again at the base and the elder ran for the chain link fence. He could see a wall made of stacked boxes that were on the edge of echo base. Using his communicator he called for the advance of those covering their charge forward. A split second later he watched as the thirty hunters two hundred yards away release their deadly plasma charges into the base proper. Some hit people, some hit boxes but the elder was delighted as he saw the armoured car hit by plasma then explode as its fuel erupted. Looking back he saw another thirty leave the cover they were in and start their forward march towards the base.

The elder and the hunters with him leapt or climbed up onto the boxes to look down on the remaining men in the army base. About two hundred faced along the east side intently shooting at the bugs. Another two hundred was supposed to be watching this side but many had been killed by the plasma bolts from his covering team. A small group of men left the central tent and headed away from him towards the first of the buildings that started the town. The elder seeing the confusion amongst the men jumped into the middle of a group of ten soldiers near him and slashed and cut with his spear until no more remained standing.

Three bugs appeared on the crates to his left and his plasma caster fired three rapid fiery blue plasma bolts into them. Their heads exploding sending acid blood showering onto a dozen humans below.

Peter had just stood up on the roof of the diner when the APC exploded in the army base ahead. Hearing the screams of men caught in the blast he watched the men running confused not knowing which direction the fight was in.

"There you are Mr Keys" says Peter quietly to himself as the man he'd met at the army base earlier left the radio tent with a group of soldiers. They ran right heading towards the sheriffs' station or town. Peter ran along the roof to watch where they were headed. He wished he still had the shuriken as he knew he couldn't take on thirty armed men alone, even with this technology.

Looking over the edge for a way down Peter heard a shout from a soldier in the base looking up at him. The soldier flew backwards with the impact of the spear tip that cut his heart in half. Through sheer reactions the dead man depressed the trigger trying to shoot at Peter as he fell back dying. The man's bullets sent flying harmlessly into the air above his head. Peter immediately ducked behind the small wall around the roof then peered over as more soldiers looked up, this time not directly at him. Showing just his eyes above the wall he zoomed in to the soldiers and activated the recorder so he could hear what they said.

"... know but something must be either up on the roof or inside the diner," said one man as he scanned the roof quickly.

"What makes you say that? The hunters are over that side of us and alien bugs everywhere else, hell this could have come from any direction," replied another.

"I saw him hit, he was looking up to the roof," the soldier said looking up along the roof again, "he was about to fire at something and he flew backwards as he was hit with that metal bar," the first man said pointing down at the fallen man, "it could only have come from that side!"

"We'd better get a squad up there to check it out then. Even leaving them up there as spotters may not be such a bad idea to cover us here."

"Go round up some men and get to it," said the first man again as he turned and went towards the sounds of guns and mortars still pounding the trees.

De-activating the recorder Peter moved back out of their sight and went towards the back of the roof where he scanned the country and houses around. In the alien vision he saw about forty aliens approaching from a mile away. Calling to the young hunter with him he pointed out the aliens and indicated that soldiers that would also come around to these stairs.

The hunters that had stayed up on the ridge approached the compound slowly. A man with a bulky looking weapon pointed it up towards the ridge they had been firing from a few minutes ago. He scanned the area and looked at the soldier with him, "nothing there sir, this won't lock onto anything." He aimed the Javelin missile around trying to find them and locked onto a group of twenty aliens as they left the tree line. Firing the missile he watched the vapour trail from its rocket as the missile smashed into the group and exploded, nothing remained of the insects except for the huge smoking crater in the hillside.
Chapter 26

21:00 Echo Base

He crossed the roof to look over at the army camp and Peter spots a dozen men as they run for the corner of the building. Changing back to red vision he sees the aliens are also a lot closer. They should meet round here Peter thinks and waits with his spear retracted in one hand and wrist blades extended on the other. Watching from the other end of the roof the young hunter signals to Peter that the soldiers are almost there. Also carrying his spear and shuriken the young hunter extended his plasma caster. Deciding that it would be prudent Peter also extended his plasma caster and watched the aliens as they spot the humans.

Gunfire sounded from below as the soldiers' spot the alien rush then screams and screeches as men and aliens are killed. Peter sees an alien leap up towards him and fires his plasma caster killing the beast with its deadly blue fire. The insect falls from the sky and one unfortunate soldier screams as he is splashed by its blood. Peter not noticing the small burn appearing across his mask as a small drop of the acid hit him. He stood watching the smaller face huggers as they jumped at the men underneath him. Peter ignores them and turns towards more of the smaller spider like aliens approaching the diner as the soldiers were killing the remaining bugs. Firing his plasma caster twice he hits both alien and human as the young hunter fires at three more. He then throws his disc after locking on to the last three aliens. Missing one of them Peter kills it quickly with his plasma caster.

Satisfied that there were no more aliens Peter changed his vision to the blue thermal to try and see how many men were left below. Moving stealthily closer to the edge of the roof he peers over to see ten men below approaching the steps and looking up. Backing away and crouching behind an air conditioning unit Peter indicates their location to his friend who also moves his position to the immediate right of the entrance to the stairs the men were at.

Four men were coming on to the roof now and Peter saw the hunter jump up and to his right off of the roof. His spear already slashing downwards, Peter didn't see as his friend kills three soldiers before landing at the bottom. Peter darted out stabbing one man with the now extending spear. He slashed another across his belly spilling his guts with his wrist blades. One of the soldiers was aiming down towards his friend and Peter blew off his head with his plasma caster. The last man on the roof turning as Peters spear entered his throat. Dropping his gun the man fell forward as Peter retracted the spear to its smaller carrying size. The move ripping out the soldier's throat as it his body splashed Peter with his blood.

Looking down the stairs Peter sees that there are no more soldiers alive except for the three men with the smaller spider like alien masks. Changing vision modes Peter watches as his friend smashes his extended spear into the backs of the face huggers and through the human skulls. Looking up the hunter lifted his spear over his head and howled his excitement at such a fight.

Copying his friend Peter raised his spear and tried to mimic them by howling his war cry of "death to the insects," before going back down the stairs to attack the base proper.

Leaving the empty sheriffs' station Keys hears a howl from across the road at the diner, then, was that someone shouting? He knows that the hunters have arrived at the base when he see's the carnage around this end. "Come on, back inside," he said to the men with him, "take up defensive positions inside but lets keep an eye on that roof over there," he indicated the diner before turning and entering the station he was about to leave. The others that had gone outside with him followed him quickly back inside and immediately took up positions in the windows.

Looking across at the army base Keys saw the blurred forms of hunters as they leapt over fences or boxes on the southern end of the camp. Blue plasma hurting his eyes as it flashed past at the other end of the base hitting men or machines. There couldn't be many left down there now Keys thought as he glanced towards where the insects were. The radio traffic had died down as men fell dead to bug or hunters. Flashes and sounds of gunfire echoed all along as the insects still kept on coming at them. Keys could see his men firing their mortars towards the aliens in the trees. He watched in horror as they were cut to pieces by a huge blue cloaked hunter that appeared in a flash of sparks and electricity by them. Then he turned towards the men fighting aliens and disappeared once again his eyes flashing as he went.

Behind the sheriffs station fifty hunters appeared coming along the road towards the army base. Peter realises that these were the hunters that left in the elders troop carrier earlier on, when he'd been given the new mask and tech.

Dearbourne looked at the hunters outside "is it completely lost?" he asked Keys.

"I think so," replied the man not looking at him, "there are hunters in the base killing anyone with a gun and there are hunters on the roof of the diner," he indicated the dark building opposite.

"There are more of them coming in through the town," one soldier says behind them. As Keys and Dearbourne look round he shrugs "you can see them from that office."

"Surrender to the invisible hunters?" said Dearbourne shrugging his shoulders.

Keys looked up at him and nodded "it may be our only option, no evac tonight and we are over run by these hunters with their superior technology. Not to mention the acid bleeding bugs are still in the town." Keys paused for half a minute then continued "we'll watch from here until we see any approach and then we'll go out old west style with our hands held high and no guns or weapons of any kind"

Dearbourne nodded and left to tell the others the way it had to be, at least they might get out of this nightmare alive.

Peter and the young hunter placed laser mines on the side walls of the diner then went back to the stairs. Peter went up first and after getting to the top he peered over just as one of the hunters appeared. Two more hunters appeared and killed a group of soldiers firing a mortar at the aliens. Looking over at the sheriffs station he saw the soldiers in the window and wanted to kill Keys him self for allowing the insects to live for so long.

Moving forward Peter watched as more invisible hunters ran through the base killing any who even looked threatening. They used every weapon they had Peter even saw a man killed by a net as it dug into boxes behind the man cutting through his body as it tightened up.

Peter had scanned the area in all vision modes and for now it seemed quieter than it had been. The battle in front had subsided as the hunters killed the remaining soldiers with their blades and plasma blasts. Hunters appeared, in flashes of lightning and sparks, all around the base. On boxes, the roof of the sheriffs' station, all around the camp and two appeared on the roof next to Peter who now stood up and appeared in his own storm of electricity and lightning on the roof of the diner.

Looking across at the station Peter sees the men in there approaching the door and behind them he sees another fifty hunters appear as they approached from the town. He turns to head for the stairs as the young hunter grabs him around his waist and jumps off the roof to land in front of the diner. Almost winded in the unexpected jump Peter adjusts his string clothes and belt then stands up straight as Keys and the other soldiers leave the sheriffs station with their hands up.

Peter Keys sees the smaller boy covered in blood, wearing a mask, and carrying a spear. Then he notices the razor sharp looking wristblades which were also covered in blood. The boy reaches behind him to place the spear on his back and then he takes off the mask to stare at the group of men he didn't recognise except Keys.

"Peter, I thought the bugs had taken you," he lied "help us, tell your friends we meant them no harm."

"Ha, you lie" Peter Barnes laughed "you tried to catch them, you attacked them with your rockets and your guns so now you can face me in battle," he said extending his wristblades.

Feeling a strong hand on his shoulder Peter turns to look at the young hunters golden mask. He realises that Keys chained him up and stole his weapons and technology so this was his fight. Nodding to his friend Peter turned to Keys as his wristblades retracted and smiles as he said "your fight isn't with me, it's with him." He pointed to the young hunter as he stepped around to the right, to the other men with Keys he said "you men may yet live but I'd advise you keep out of the way," he warned them as he stepped back.

The men around Keys stepped back towards the station they'd just left giving him room as he faced the hunter he'd had captured this morning. Reaching up the hunter disconnected the tubes on its mask and took it off slowly. Dropping it in the dirt at his feet the young hunter roars and extends his wristblades as he faces the man he recognised from this morning.

Keys looked around wildly and said "I'm not armed, I haven't got any weapons so I can't fight this," he indicated the hunter in front of him.

Peter threw his spear into the dirt at Keys feet then aimed his plasma caster at the man. Fight or else Peter thought as he placed his mask on again, he suddenly needed to scan the area. Looking around for aliens he was relieved to see none as he change to thermal to watch Mr Keys die.

The young hunter paused to let Keys pick up the spear. Keys had barley stood when the hunter struck a swipe at the humans head with his blades. Keys ducked and saw the razor sharp blades a little too closely and stepped right holding the spear at an angle to his body for protection.

Swinging blindly Keys tries to hit the hunters head but he simply bats the spear down and punches the man in the face. Facing the young hunter with a bloody nose Keys swings the spear again at the hunter. Blocking the swing again the young hunter punched Keys again in the same place. Dropping the spear Keys flew back and hit the road hard. He felt a little dizzy from the bump in the dirt and looks where the hunter was a second ago. He'd gone he looked around quickly not seeing him and went to get the spear. Bending down he grabbed the spear then looked up as the hunters blades tore into his chest. Ripping forward the hunter shattered the man's collarbones on either side of his neck and lifted the blades clear. Keys screamed as the pain tore through his chest and shoulders, if he tried moving his arms, pain tore through him again.

The hunter stood over Keys and roared again as he took his small glass bottle with blue liquid inside and activated his arm computer. A small device slides out of the side and the hunter takes it and attached a glass bottle to it. He sprayed Keys with the blue liquid then went to get his mask. Plugging in the mask he activates the three targeting lasers and using a wide beam scanned the melting liquid he sprayed on the man. Keys screamed as smoke began pouring from every part of his body. His clothes and flesh melted leaving him skinned alive and writhing on the floor in agony.

The hunters cheered as Keys died an agonising death on the floor and Peter walked over to the skinned man. He picked up his spear then he again changed his vision to the alien view. Seeing insects jumping on the boxes and killing hunters Peter watched in horror as an alien jumped towards the elders back. Aiming his wristblades he fired the twin blades into the jumping alien exploding its head and knocking it backwards away from the leader of the hunters. The elder spun around just in time to jump out of the way of the falling, acid bleeding, bug. Peter fired his plasma caster at two more of the beasts as they prepared to leap onto hunters. More of them had changed to the alien view and twenty plasma bolts fired in all directions as the group seemed to be surrounded.

The hunters grouped together covering all angles and again it was the human boy that had spotted the danger. This time though he'd saved their leader from the acid bleeding bugs. Some hunters stepped forward and threw their discs or shuriken whilst firing their plasma cannons. The blasts of blue energy smashing through the hoard of insects they now saw coming over the boxes and roofs. Other hunters fired at more alien bugs as they came through the town. The group all fired together at the oncoming hoards and edged towards the diner.

Peter found himself moved towards the diner and found he couldn't see what was happening behind him. He could hear the screams as bugs jumped on the weapon less soldiers and now facing forward he saw one of the bugs cut to pieces in the laser mine his friend had placed earlier, he readied his plasma caster. Seeing more bugs behind he fired twice as others around him fired at the six insects about to leap over the mine. All of the aliens exploded and one plasma bolt shot harmlessly into the ground sending up a shower of dirt. Moving around the diner the elder and others facing the dead army base fired a dozen blasts each at the oncoming aliens. Peter and the others saw another sixty or seventy bugs cautiously striding towards them. He and another fired two quick bursts each and the others reacted firing two and some firing three bursts. Peter fired again and tried again as strange symbols appeared on his mask seeming to reduce in numbers. He tried to fire again and the counter reset but no plasma fired from his canon. Watching the aliens approach and the reducing counter Peter extended his spear ready. He was confident he could kill with it just as easily if he aimed for the insect's weak head. The strange numbers seemed to take an eternity to count down as his new family continued to fire at the aliens.

Plasma fired from his right as a dozen more bolts leave the hunters plasma casters to decimate the insects in its devastating fire. Damn Peter wanted to kill as many as possible. He would soon learn to de-activate the caster to charge it faster but for now the symbols were almost gone and he prepared to swing around the hunters to shoot more of the bugs. He retracted the blades of his spear and holding it still as the symbols in his display stopped and one bigger symbol appeared, then another, and another. The three symbols flashed twice and disappeared and Peter hoped the shoulder gun he wore was ready to shoot again.

A dozen plasma bolts appeared from the town near the sheriff's offices killing the bugs that were approaching them. Thirty remaining bugs turned to face the newcomers as they fired again killing every bug that remained. Peter looked over that way and changed vision modes in time to see another thirty hunters striding towards them. He retracted his plasma caster as the sounds of plasma fire from behind ceased, the three symbols flashed again then disappeared one at a time.

The new group of hunters that came through the town greeted the clan elder and spoke to him briefly. Then they greeted the other hunters and finally greeted Peter showing him great respect. Still in the alien vision mode Peter changed to the white vision that showed these people and their technology and he saw the huge mothership these people came here in. Hearing a plasma blast from behind, Peter changes his vision to the alien view and ran around the group of hunters to see another two or three groups of the beasts climbing over the boxes. Smiling inside the mask the boy activates his plasma caster and waits for the beasts to get closer stepping forward as the insect's approach he locks onto four of them and fires four quick blasts killing the beasts. He smiled as another bug jumped at him and extended his spear, stepped forward, and swung it down over the head of the big black insect alien. Another approached and with all of his strength he jumped left then rolled right before jumping to his feet again and impaling the bug on his spear as it was about to grab him. Before the bug could grab the spear Peter retracted it turned his wrist a bit and extended it again so the sharp tip penetrated through the bottom of the alien's mouth and out of its head, retracting the spear again the creature fell to the ground dead.

More aliens scattered into the woods as the hunters fired blast after blast of plasma killing the last of the visible aliens. The elder turns again to Peter and clicks, snarls, and growls at the others around them. As one all of the hunters bow to the boy as the young hunter walks over to stand with him. The elder pulls two tubes out of his mask releasing the gas into the night air. Then, reaching up with both hands, the elder takes off his mask and howls at the pair.

The young hunter reaches up and takes off his mask and howls like the elder as Peter reached up to unplug and take off his mask. He roared as loud as he could and thought he heard laughing amongst the hunters but didn't realise how his actions had been watched by the whole clan, and admired.
Chapter 27

The elder looked at the young hunter and clicked and shook his fist as if angry with him. Then he turned to the boy and his clicks seemed to soften, after all this boy had saved many of the clan this day. First he'd freed the young hunter, then he'd fought and saved others, including the elder, and the young one standing with him he'd saved a few times. Walking around the pair the elder takes a sharp twin bladed sword off of his belt and cuts the head off of the alien that Peter had killed last. Cutting the end of its sharp tail off the elder then snaps off one of the fingers and turns back to the pair. The elder looks at Peter and holds up the alien tail and finger then showed the boy the yellow acid blood in the tail. Peter nods as the elder dips the talon into the acid in the tail and looks again at Peter holding the talon out. Peter turned his head to one side and waits for the sting as the elder draws the clan's symbol on his cheek. Stepping back the elder snarls and clicks at the boys' courage and the other hunters howl again.

Peter feels invincible now he'd been marked, the stinging going away as he watched as friend was marked the same. When finished all of the hunters cheered or roared waving their spears and swords in the air. Peter felt truly honoured as the elder and the young hunter placed his mask back on. Peter copied placing his mask back on and the elder clicked and approached the boy again. Seeing the new acid burn in the metal he pointed the mark out to the clan and using the aliens finger marked Peters mask with the same symbol he wore on his cheek.

Peter at first didn't understand the double mark but he would ask the young hunter before they left. The elder talking to another hunter clicked and one of the clan on his left picked up the alien head carrying it for the boy onto the ship. Peter never moved and the elder came back to him and pointed to the ship then pointed to space. Peter didn't understand until the elder pointed to town and opened his hand putting one finger down at a time then his hands lifted out sharply indicating an explosion. Peter nodded walking up the ramp with the elder into the hunters ship with the others disappearing as they went. Peter also activated his cloak as the huge door slid shut behind them.

Walking with the young hunter through the ship Peter was taken down corridors and in lifts until they arrived at a familiar sight. They were stood on the deck of the elders' personal transport as the huge clan ship lifted off the ground and hovered over the town at two thousand feet. The young hunter indicated that Peter take his mask off so he did and was rewarded with sweet fresh air in the cabin of this ship, the elder having filled it with air for the boy and his stay on their home planet.

The young hunter shows Peter the console and activates a display showing the bugs in the forest below. Scanning the area around the hunters picks up signs of the face huggers and remaining bugs, zooming in the hunter locates the second nest this town didn't know about and entered the co-ordinates into the computer.

Three pods fired out from underneath the ship the first hitting the centre of the crater that was Devils' Bluff. The second landing in the centre of the town they'd just left and the final pod landed in the middle of the new nest in the forest near the gold caves. The hunter's ship shot forward and up as it sped out of our atmosphere and was almost sixty miles up when the three pods detonated. Three mushroom clouds lifted into the atmosphere totally destroying the town and surrounding land for almost fifty miles around. All three mushroom clouds were clearly visible from Olympia.

Peter watched the three flashes and knew that everything he ever loved was now gone. The town he grew up in was dead, his family was dead, and even now he still wanted to kill the bugs. He still wanted his revenge on the alien creatures that had destroyed his life. The young hunter scanned the area for five hundred miles around the town but found no more of the bugs. He watched as the Earth, his home, shrank in the huge window at the front, he watched the moon fly past as he sat in front of the window of the alien hunter's ship.

The earth shrank to a dot in the distance and he felt the ship shudder as two huge rams draw in the two retractable arms on either side of the clan ship. The pilot engages its light engines as the hunters on board activate its invisibility shield. The ship vanishes as it travels faster and faster through space on its journey out of our solar system. Peter reached into his belt and took out the protein cube he'd tasted earlier. It didn't taste that bad and hadn't made him Ill but it did give him energy so he finished it. Eating a chocolate bar next he wished he'd asked for water but was to tired to get up now and finished the chocolate as the stars blurred into streaks in the window. Different coloured nebula flashed past them as the ship lurched and picked up more speed. Then Peter Barnes the fourteen year old human on board an alien vessel laid down to sleep in front of the huge window with the vibration and hum of the engines calming him.
Epilogue

Peter had worked out that he had been on the hunters ship for about sixteen hours he'd slept for nine of those and for the last seven he had nothing to do. He was grateful the hunters had taken him with them. He saw the explosions that destroyed the town and surrounding countryside. One of the hunters had brought him the cleaned and polished alien head but now he wished he had something to do. There wasn't anything to look at outside the window either as it was mostly blackness and the odd star. He'd seen more space than any human in history and had watched the Earth grow smaller and disappear. The last thing he saw out the window was the great ringed planet Saturn as they headed out of the solar system.

Time doesn't mean anything now he thought as he looked around the ship again. He could hear noise, noise of the engine, noise of hunters dropping equipment and a noise that sounded to him like huge heavy metal doors closing.

He'd looked at the door to try and open it but he didn't understand the language the readouts displayed so he just sat there. He decided to ration the chocolate as he'd only taken a dozen bars and four of them were gone now but at least the cube food the young hunter gave him didn't make him I'll and besides the taste he could get used to it, after a time.

Lights flashed on a panel next to the door and it clunked, something hissed and the door slid open to reveal the elder, the young hunter and another of these strange aliens carrying a tray. Peter stood up and approached the trio as the other hunter placed the tray on the deck where he was sitting when they came in. The elder turned to him, pointed to the tray and said in broken English "take it."

Peter nodded and looked at the tray, there was a bowl with some of their food which looked like the cubes his friend had given him and a jug of water and two cups. Taking another drawing he'd done of the bugs almost three days ago Peter showed it to the elder as he said "we hunt bugs soon?"

The elder clicked and indicated that they would hunt the bugs soon enough then indicated that the boy should eat and drink first.

"Thank you" Peter said as he bowed then went to the tray.

The elder clicked in his language at the young hunter for a minute then he and the tray carrier walked out of the room the door shutting behind him as he left.

The young hunter took off his mask and placing it next to Peters he came over and sat with him. He poured them both some water, they each took a cube and ate in silence. The steady hum of the engines and other ships noises seeming to get louder in the silence of space as the hunters ship sped towards its unknown destination. For the boy who was born in Maddison Heights some fourteen years ago he realised that he was now further away from Earth than any other human in history had ever been before.

Peter suddenly needed to use the bathroom and tried for five minutes to get the boy hunter to understand his need. The young hunter at last caught his meaning and indicated that Peter should wear his mask. He then led him out of this ship and through the mothership towards their toilets. Peter had seen this ship from outside so he knew how vast it was. He didn't expect to see as many of the hunters, female hunters as well, he thought. Could be their wives or mothers and some more of the children like his friend he walked with now. Only a few of the hunters were wearing their masks. Everyone they passed stared at him intently and chattered and clicked in his direction. Peter felt a little bit like an actor walking along the red carpet at his latest films premier, he would miss Earth.

Heading back towards the ship filled with air Peter was amazed to see a trolley being pushed that held four canisters of some cloudy liquid. Inside each of the canisters was one or two of the eight legged face grabber aliens that Peter hated and he stopped to look at them. He approached the tubes as one of the face huggers tried to attack him. It was stopped by the acid neutralising liquid inside the tube and the glass that was strong enough to stop it getting out.

Peter now realised that it was this hunter race that had brought these alien things to Earth and killed his family, the town and all of the soldiers that had been there to help. Looking around at the young hunter Peter thought was his friend he decided that he would learn the ways of these people. Then he would learn where the insect things came from so that he could destroy them all with the hunters own technology.

Returning to the elders' air filled ship Peter walked over to the tray and poured another drink. He picked one of the protein cubes and sat at the window at the front of the ship so he could look where they were heading. Taking his mask off he chewed on the cube and sipped at the water as the stars in front shimmered and the ship lurched slightly as it slowed down. The stars out the front window moved left as the huge ship turned right.

After about an hour the young hunter checked the readings on a console near the window then he signalled Peter to put his mask back on. Walking over to the door they left the elders ship and headed down a long corridor. The young hunter activated some buttons on a console and a door slid up into the bulkhead. Peter walked over to a large window looking forward as a planet came into view in the distance with two suns glaring brightly behind. He watched in awe as the new planet grew larger as they approached. He could hear and feel the vibration as the two huge rams moved the outer arms of the ship out to form the trident shape he'd seen on Earth. As the huge clan ship entered the atmosphere of the planet he could see clouds and an ocean. Continents flashed past on the planet he would be living on for the foreseeable future. They headed across an emerald ocean underneath an orange and yellow sky towards a shining alien city on the horizon. As they approached Peter could see the strange angular structures these creatures used for houses, shops, and space ports. Flying over the city Peter could see what looked like fields of strange trees and even stranger yellow and purple flowers, approaching the landing gantry.

The elder approached Peter as the ship settled to the ground and beckoned him to follow as they left the window and headed back to his smaller ship. The elder and another predator put on their masks as they entered his ship with Peter and the young hunter. Peter felt the smaller ship detach from the mother ship as it headed out towards a large building out past the city, Peter wished his mum and dad could see this, his new home.

END

Story Copyright 2007 http://www.nicholashalls.co.uk

Alien & Predator characters copyright 20th Century Fox, all rights reserved.

Other books by Peter Stevens

The Shapeshifter Chronicles

Volume 1, Anyone. ISBN 978-1450575553

Volume 2, Anyone Else. ISBN 978-1451512250

Volume 3, Anyone & Everyone. ISBN 978-1466418189

Volume 4 Anyone Coming. Due early 2012

All books available on Amazon as paperbacks

Also available for Kindle, I-pad, I-phone, Android phones and tablets from Smashwords and the Kindle store.

