Banished To Earth Book One (32)

toward the monsters. Chase saw it too and grabbed Pry’s arm.

    “Wait, maybe that’s the Transit Authority, come to pull them out of there.”

  She smiled, nodding hopefully.

   The golden triangle sliced down silently toward the killing field. They lost sight of it once it disappeared behind the tree line. That was just as well. This was no rescue mission. Its sudden arrival did drive the monsters back.

   It seemed, for a moment, that the surviving soldiers were saved. But the apparent rescue was only an illusion, born from ignorance.

   Moments after the last monster retreated, a golden needle of light fired from the front of the craft. It struck the ground and spread like soupy lava. At first, it was sluggish. However, the instant it melted and smeared its first victim, it raced across the ground and through the forest and did not stop until it had emulsified every helpless man, never so much as singeing one blade of grass. Only until it had horribly ended every inch of living flesh did it dissipate, leaving behind a nightmare landscape of warped and twisted human flesh.    

   A dome of golden light swelled above the distant dark tree line. The craft rose, darted off toward the ocean and vanished instantly in the distance.

   The wind shifted as if on cue, filling the air with the stench of burnt human flesh. Yellow smoke, the evaporating remnants of its victims, billowed up from behind the distant ragged tree line.

  Pry sat by Tucker, still as a stone. Chase, frozen in shock and dismay, glanced down at Tucker. Pry looked over at him, just before he said, “Don’t worry, buddy, we’ll save you if they won’t.

   It never occurred to them that the Transit Authority would make an appearance, much less slaughter human beings with such ruthless disregard.

   “Mop up crew.” They heard a silky female voice say from behind them.

   They looked up at the same time and saw a beautiful, slender woman, maybe in her mid-twenties, leaning against a lamppost. Her hair was long and black, just like her skin-tight cat suit. Her eyes were dark and large but narrowed with obvious disdain.

 

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 “Now that was a show.” She said in an icy and detached tone, as she straightened and casually sauntered toward them. “Hi.” A smile spread across her face as she spoke, but it wasn’t warm and friendly, more like a crack in a windshield. “Call me Silhouette. And you have a monster at your side. Want me to kill it for you? Joking. I see what I see. Hunter Crychee thingy, cute and kinky. I like it.”

   “She’s my wife!” Chase boldly rose to confront this new threat.

   The new Hunter leered down at Tucker, “And he’s your boyfriend? Sure hope not he’s kinda cute too, but then,” she giggled, “we can always share.”

    Chase glared at her.

   “Don’t be so puritanical, you’re calling this vampire your wife. Now that’s dark and nasty.”

     Chase was starting to boil. He really did not like this new Huntress.

   “Just back off,” he said, his fist knotted and turning white.

    “Oh, so you don’t need my help, sitting out here exposed with nothing but a Crichee monster and an unconscious Hunter for backup. You sure he’s even alive?”

  “No. He’s not dead. The bullet went right through. Some soldier shot him; no doubt scared to death. Probably didn’t mean to hurt him.”

   “Yeah,” said Silhouette sarcastically, “’ cause sometimes bullets can tear through flesh and bone and do no harm at all.”

  “You said that was a mop-up crew.” He was trying mightily to ignore her snotty attitude.

   “That’s right. For some reason, you're a little baby out here. Didn’t you do your homework? And now you want to cheat off mine.”

    “Yeah, I do, we, we could use some help.”

  “Help!” She smirked, “You are a little baby. I could just kill the three of you, really put me ahead of the game. Be the smart thing to do, but maybe not. I watch your back, and you can wash mine.”

   Chase and Pry just stared at her, burning holes in her with their eyes.

   “All right, all right, the Transit Authority will not tolerate the unchanged resisting the monsters or the Hunters.”

 

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  “They weren’t resisting,” Chase yelled.

    “Well, the big boys thought so. The ‘less than people’ will learn soon enough. The unchanged can run, hide, but if they start playing Hunter, zap. They get smoked, just like those melted cheese soldier boys over there.’’

    Pry’s features knotted like a fist. “What is wrong with you?”

   The alien’s disapproval was not lost on her. “What’d I say, Crychee, they’re food to you.” Silhouette was truly puzzled.

   “Not food. People! “Are they not people to you?”

  The new Huntress pursed her lips and patted them with her right index finger. “Has been humans, that had their chance. Now we’re their chance, if we choose to give it to them. We, as in Hunters. We’re new people, the real people. I don’t know where you fit into all this. Killing you is our mission, but… something doesn’t feel right.”

   “I’ve already told you where she fits in.”

   “Yeah, well, this has become a bit more complicated. It’s the wife thing, whatever that is; I think it matters. To each his own and all that, but neither of you are just one thing. You’ve merged. I sense that now. You did the dirty, but something else, dark and deep, something more, something the Authority is not going to like. This will probably get you killed, maybe, even, all of us. You were supposed to kill her. If not you, then me, sooner or later anyway. But sooner? Don’t think so…We’ll see.”

   “Try it and I’ll gut you.”

      Silhouette stepped back, “You know I shifted up right behind you two a minute ago and neither of you noticed. Yeah, you do need my help. And I sure would like to know why you’re such babes in the woods. Gotta be a reason, and you’re not equipped. She’s wearing jeans a red flannel shirt, and hiking boots. And you got on a T-shirt, jeans and running shoes, nothing black.”

   She reached around to the small of her back and casually produced a pistol. Chase immediately shielded Pry and Tucker.

   “Can the heroics.” She sneered, aiming the weapon toward the pavement. Her finger squeezed. A bright red beam sizzled through the moist air. A vapour trail streamed behind it a millisecond before it instantly turned its target into a steaming puddle of asphalt.

 

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    “And not strapped, of course. You two really are babies, naked and harmless. You both might as well be prancing around in the moonlight wearing nothing but your birthday suits.

   That would be fun to watch. Anyway, old earth cloth is no defence against these charmers.” She said as she lifted her gun to her face and lovingly stroked it with her eyes