Chapter 2 "The Battle For Houston" part b

... Growing impatient and to a rage, one of the soldiers dashes out the door of the house after the enemy. His friends with him tried to stop them but the soldier ran out without giving any warning. All the men can do is cheer him on and hope for the best. As the soldier charges the alien he releases a murderous yell. Un-nerved by the display, the figure remains squatting in the pathway. The gap vigorously narrows between them.

The rushing human leaps out to and try a tackle, but the alien propels out of it’s squat, meeting the soldier in the air. The enemy, being much stronger, turns the soldier around in the air, causing him to land on the ground hard on his back. The master alien is now on top of the human and has him pinned to the dirt.

The alien, still hooded, figure just stares down at the defeated human. Cries for help exit out the soldier’s mouth, but no one dares come to his aide. The enemy ends his rivals cries by reaching up and giving a hard punch to his nose. Blood rushes from the soldiers caved in nose to the dirt. The punch by the alien does not kill the soldier or make him go unconscious but instead silences and dazes him.

Unimpressed by the soldiers lack of matched skill the alien foe decides to end the soldiers suffering. It’s two large hands come out from it’s cape and reach down to the bleeding face of the soldier. It pulls the human to it’s hood almost like it wanted to see the fear in the man’s eyes. Finally, without remorse, the being snaps the soldiers neck, instantly killing him. The snap echoes from the man‘s neck all the way to the house. The echo factor strikes even more hellish fear into the last two human survivors.

As if things could not get worse, the figure rises from the soldier’s dead body. Knees semi-bent, back slightly arched, arms stretched out wide; if intimidation was this things job, it’s a job well done. The cloaked figure sucks in air fast enough that the survivors can hear it, then the alien releases that air in a mighty and terrifying roar. The roar was terrible, deafening, and could not be matched with any known beast of this world.

With it’s ceremonial-like roar complete, the alien master looks back over it’s shoulder to the house. It knows other people are still inside hiding and possibly watching. The enemy turns it’s cloaked body to fully face the house, readying itself to prey on the ones left alive inside.

The enemy figure slowly stalks along the stepping stones leading to the doorway in a taunting manner. It’s breath exits the hood on a chilly night like steam pouring out from a smoke stack. The hood, where its head should be, is fixed on the entry. This thing knows what it wants to do, will do, and has the confidence to make it happen.

The over abundance of smoke is beginning to thin out some, its fuel depleting. This has allowed for a beam of dawn’s light to shine threw. Inside the house a very dim, glimmer of light reflects off a shard of glass that hangs in a shattered window.

The cloaked being catches the glimmer from the corner of its hood, it turns to take notice of the light. The figure turns back to the door and quickens it’s pace. It seems as if the once calm and time taking enemy has changed, it now seems to hurry with more haste.

Quickly, the enemy enters the house. The last soldier dives for his assault rifle, wanting something with force to lay down this enemy. However, the alien swiftly pulls its sidearm and fires. Pop! A single energy round swiftly burns threw the soldiers chest, melting the humans heart to a stop. Electric sparks race around the side arm’s barrel, still pointed at the dead soldier.

The last survivor of the encounter, the volunteer, stands in a corner near crying, but refuses to do so. Afraid of the fate he is about to meet, he readies himself to make a last stand. He has courage and is determined to give this bastard alien every last ounce of fight left in him. Though, none of the man’s companions had the skill to defeat the master alien. The volunteer is exhausted, tired, and weak, however he has something that the enemy does not. This man has the will to live, the need for freedom, and the human spirit.

The hooded figure directs its attention to the final human survivor. It decides to holster its firearm, not out of mercy, but because it can see he is not trained military but unskilled militia. The alien creeps over to the man. It stops to stand face to face with the man, it is trying to intimidate the human, but he will not back down. The enemy fakes a punch to frighten the man, but he refuses to flinch.

The man is unsure of what to do. He knows he cannot stack up to the enemy’s strength or weaponry. He is a courageous man and he will stand there like a true man. He will take what ever the enemy dishes out, and has decided to put his fate into the hands of God.

The figure walks a circle around the man trying again to intimidate the man but cannot. The man is undoubtedly scared, but he will not compromise his beliefs or waver from his principals. The enemy completes his paces around the man and resumes facing him.

The alien master, who has killed all of the last survivor’s friends, is impressed with this human. Nothing the enemy has done has made the man show fear, disrespect, or cowardice. Even this evil and murderous alien can respect that in a lesser species. However, the fact that the alien has some respect for the man will do little in sparing his life.

Finished trying to taunt the man, it reaches out and takes hold of him by his neck. It tightens its grip and begins to choke him. He squanders for air, but will not give the enemy pleasure of an easy victory over him. The man uses both hands to try and break free, but it is just too strong. He begins gasping for air, his oxygen is depleting in his lungs and he can suck no new air in.

It lifts the man into the air with one arm and without strain. The man swings his arms about violently, hitting the enemy’s arm trying to make it break its grip. The enemy holds on without effort for the man is too weak. The cloaked alien releases a long and evil laugh, enjoying the torment its putting out. It finishes the laugh and speaks to the suspended man.

“Like your dead, you now rejoin their ranks. Your time, and your peoples, has met extinction. You are, this is all meaningless,” it says with a deep bass-filled voice in plain human English, they know our language!

The grip loosens a bit, the evil being no longer wants to choke the life from the man. Using its free arm, it upholsters its sidearm, raising it to the man’s temple. The volunteer closes his eyes. Tears he had held back so hard begin trickling down his cheek. The man comes to peace with himself as he awaits his death. Meanwhile, the enemy’s finger slowly wraps around the trigger of the weapon. The man’s doom is near, but the alien stops what it is doing and attention is drown outside the house.

Something is happening over the Houston battlefield. The whistle of fighter jet missiles whiz by and strike the fallen city. Cannon fire renews itself in the distance, rifles and machine gun fire echo across the landscape. Reinforcements have come. The military is trying to rebound, they are trying to take their city back. The city’s air raid sirens demonstrate this by sounding all around as they once did when the alien’s invaded Houston, but they now sound in honor of returning human military forces. God has decided to spare this soul this night.

The figure looks over it’s shoulder to see the commotion going on outside. It sees the sun rising up over the ashes of the city, morning has come. A horn of unfamiliar sound begins to play near the house. It’s a retreat call for the enemy.

“Hey!” the survivor calls to the enemy, “Being futile is being human.”

The enemy turns his attention back to the man.

“Go to hell!!!” screams the man.

With the few seconds the enemy gave to it’s prey was enough time for the human to gather some reserved strength. Using that strength, the survivor throws one last fist into the face of the evil thing choking him. His skinned up, bloody knuckles pushes threw the hood of the being making contact with its face. Spit and sweat fly from the impacting fist. The force of the blow also causes the being to drop the man, and he falls safely to his feet.

The once hooded being has now been disrobed from the ordeal and its face is revealed. Such an ugly creature. It’s reptilian like face closely resembling a common lizard with a bunched up snout and eyes like a cat’s iris in the daytime. It’s skin color is like that of an egg shell and has grey spots resembling the freckles of humans. Two fanged teeth extrude its mouth and many sharper teeth lay inside,

‘How ugly a thing,’ the man thinks to himself.

The horn summoning the alien retreat still plays loudly in the background. The alien knows that he must respond or risk being left behind, but it wants to claim its prey as well. It takes a last look at the human as if to say that this is not over between them. It then turns away and sprints out the door, disappearing into the woods and the morning fog. The human is safe, surviving another terrifying ordeal.

The sun is still rising, shreds of warm light land upon the survivors face as he lays on his back. The man is resting from his ordeals and the sun is aiding in his rest, but he is badly hurt. Fatigue and tiredness are settling in.

He can hear the cheering of fellow men in the near distance, a sign that they are surprisingly victorious tonight. That would make the first victory over the aliens since they invaded over two years ago. Even then, he lacks the energy to join in with them. Instead the man decides to continue to lay on the floor of this abandoned house. His eyes now grow heavy and he begins to pass out.

As he goes unconscious he can hear a voice coming towards him. He is to tired to be startled, but he does recognize it to be from a human woman. A human soldier none the less, so he does not bother responding. At least he hopes it is a human.

Just before slipping into unconsciousness he hears the woman’s voice again. She has found him near the doorway to the house, on the floor.

The woman asks him, “Sir!? Sir!? Are you alright?”

The man does not answer as exhaustion gets the better of him.

“Stay with us sir, you’re going to be okay. Help is coming,” she says to him and then screams to a fellow soldier, “Get a medic! We have a badly injured survivor!”

The female soldier looks down to him as he slips away into unconsciousness. His sight goes from a blur to eerie blackness. The last thing he hears is the woman asking him to stay with her.