“Son, we fuckin ourselves with ’is. We need ta go.”
“I thought I heard something,” Tish said, materializing into view.
“Get down,” I said. I’m not sure why, because no one could see us unless they were mere feet away. “Let’s just wait here for a second, figure out what we do next.”
I was beginning to feel guilty for dragging everyone on a potentially deadly wild goose chase. It’s not exactly like there seemed to be any other better options, where there was so much upside, but I knew Sam was likely right. The Order would’ve surely made this place a priority. Still, I didn’t want to give up on it. Not yet. We were so close, and we had already risked a lot getting there. I decided I would try to mitigate our potential losses. I would move up alone and see what I could see. Sam and Tish could hold back and cover the rear. It sounded good.
I told Sam and Tish my plan. Tish told me that I was going to “get them killed.” For Sam’s part, it was apparent he wasn’t thrilled, either. “You do what you need ta do. We got yer back. You get killed, ’ough, it on you.”
“Good enough,” I said. It wasn’t. I’m not sure what I expected from Sam, but he was colder than the blistering winds. That coldness was new. I was apparently fucking up. Still, I was drawn to the place.
It soon became apparent there had been a firefight at the base. Just outside the main complex housing the radar dome sat two vehicles; they looked to have been shot up to holy shit. The main complex seemed to have received its fair share of damage, including the main door barely hanging on to its frame. At least three bodies were sprawled just outside the main entrance, plus at least one more lying near the vehicles. To the right of the main building were several smaller buildings, one of which was the source of the fire.
I crept towards it. My curiosity like a bug attracted to the brilliant orange light of a bug zapper on a warm, summer’s night. I wished it was warm or summer. I hoped I wasn’t walking towards a bug zapper, though.
While the object—the object rather than the building was on fire— was heavily damaged, there was enough of it intact to know it was some sort of mobile radar. Initially, it seemed innocuous. On further inspection, there were clear signs it wasn’t as it initially seemed.
I covered my face as I moved closer to the fire. I quickly swiped at the side of the object, wiping away some of the char, before quickly backing away. What I was seeing didn’t make sense. I moved back in for another quick swipe. I had uncovered three small blocks of stenciled red lettering in what appeared to be Russian.
I heard crunching snow near me. Before I had put any thought at all into what I was getting ready to do, I had called out. “Sam… Tish?”
There was no reply. Not immediately anyway. Then two quick shouts in what I believed to be Russian, soon followed by thuds of trampling feet in the snow. I hustled away from the burning dish, cut my headlamp, and hoped the blizzard would obscure my presence enough to make it back to Tish and Sam.
My rifle was unslung. I had pocketed my bright GPS and was guessing my way back to Sam and Tish.
I had taken maybe fifteen or twenty strides when I heard pounding steps from behind me. First, there was one and then another, flying past. They were heading in the direction of Sam and Tish. Fuck it, I thought. I took off in the same direction. I still had a ton of the repellent on my jacket. I couldn’t remember if Sam and Tish used any of the tubes we had or not. I quickened my pace.
Sam cursed. “Don’t shoot. William is still out ’ere.”
Tish cried out. Sam cursed again. There was rustling just ahead. More footfalls surrounded us. I flicked on my headlamp and took aim at what I assumed was a Gray on top of Sam. I turned the rifle around, gripping it by the barrel, and lashed out at Sam’s attacker. He went down with a sickening crunch. Two quick shots and a feminine scream could be heard just a few feet away. “Get off me,” Tish said. She had apparently taken care of her attacker. From the crunching snow around us, more were near.
Gunfire opened up from somewhere near the fire. Several supersonic pops could be heard overhead. “Shoot back,” Sam pleaded.
“Shoot, where?”
“In the damn direction you came,” Sam said.
My fingers were frozen. It was hard to tell if my exposed fingers were even touching metal because they were so cold and swollen. With some effort, I managed to pull the trigger. It bucked to beat hell, but then nothing. It had stopped working. Sam was peeling off round after round downrange, but for whatever reason, my gun just stopped. “You got ta keep pullin the damn trigger,” Sam said, exacerbated.
“Fuck,” I said, feeling stupid for thinking every rifle was automatic.
Not knowing how many bullets were in my gun, I shot slowly. Between shots, I could hear the shuffle of feet all around us, not to mention the howls. I had never heard a Gray do that. I wasn’t sure why they weren’t attacking. I didn’t know if it was because of the strong smell of the repellent I wore, or if the snow had shorted their senses. I took a couple shots at ones who managed to come too close to us. I didn’t know if any of the bullets had found their target or not.
A knock of a diesel engine could be heard over the din. It came from somewhere to the south of us. Powerful lights flicked on. The vehicle crossed over the road that split the base. It stopped near the burning dish. I knew because I could no longer see as much of the glowing fire.
The howling of the Grays became more intense.
“Shut ’em fuckers up,” Sam said.
“I can’t see them to shut them up,” I returned.
Grays aside for a moment, we were lying in the middle of the road. There was a large berm of snow to our right, the remnant of keeping the base’s roads clear of snow. “Other side of the snowbank,” I said as I stumbled through the rough snow, before sliding down the side of the berm. Tish and Sam toppled over soon after.
“Shit,” Sam hissed.
“See what you’ve done—”
“Yell at me later, Tish,” I whispered. “We got bigger problems.”
“Yeah, like shootin at ’at damn truck up ’ere. Shoot at the lights. And dammit, Tish, you gotta help, girl. You can’t just lay ’ere. We need you.”
We expended several shots in the truck’s direction before the snow berm exploded with return fire.
“The Grays, son. ’Ey honin in on us. We gotta take ’em out, or we finished.”
“Fuck,” I said, both because of what Sam had said, and that my rifle was out of ammo. I had brought an extra magazine but didn’t know how to load it. As most always, Sam knew I needed help. He grabbed the mag and the rifle and quickly alleviated my issue.
A second or two, maybe, after Sam handed me back my rifle, two things happened at the same time. The diesel sped by our position, a fiery payload in tow, and something landed not more than a couple feet away.
“Goddamn grenade,” Sam yelled.
There was an explosion, alright, but it wasn’t from a grenade. Screeching howls filled the night. Footfalls came closer and closer. Couple that with withering gunfire from the south, and we were just straight up fucked.
Sensing movement behind us, I turned to see a Gray standing over Tish. Sam lit him up with two rounds to the face and head. It fell in a heap on top of Tish. She screamed, her arms flailing as she smacked and pushed at the dead Gray.
More footfalls could be heard from behind us. “They’re flanking us,” I said as at least five Grays, maybe many more, came running at us from behind. The sound of gunfire seemed to be getting closer from the opposite side of the berm, but I wasn’t sure if I was imagining that – imagining the worst. We had more pressing issues, anyway.
I had managed to take out a Gray who had charged from the side. More withering gunfire. They were advancing on us. I couldn’t see them, but it made sense that they would. “Concentrate on the Grays, Sam, those bastards shooting at us are advancing,” I said.