I know. But it always seems things like this end with an explosion.

At least they do when your involved Bert.

Now what did I ever do to deserve that sort of reputation?





Don't answer that.

When we went back towards the town, we went on foot this time. It was early morning and the sun was barely putting light over the mountains. Most of the valley was still covered in fog. If I had been there by myself, I would have been lost within the first 5 minutes of leaving the cabin, but Jim and Oliver knew exactly where they were headed.

The town was fairly deserted looking when we got there. There was a group of men sitting at the entrance of the city, and Oliver pointed out a few other sentries around the logging company. Oliver's house was on the outskirts of town and we decided to head that way for supplies and some weaponry. I had found out during the night that Oliver was ex-military and had some mementos from his army days.

We managed to get to the area without being seen, and we thought that we would make it when the first person stepped out of the neighbor's house.

No, nothing went the way we wanted it to.

The little boy was standing on the neighbor's porch, but it was set back away from the road and a good distance from Oliver's. At first we didn't think he was going to do anything but stare, then he started screaming. "Daddy, the dangerous men are here, Daddy!"

There was nothing to do but to run for it. Oliver yelled for us to head to the house and get the what we could. He was heading for the shed in the back where the good stuff was. We all knew we had only a few minutes before the town would be upon us. The house was facing out from the woods opposite of where we started, and the plan was to sneak back into them and eventually back around to the cabin.

The house was dark and it took us a few seconds for me to find my way into the kitchen. We had brought bags with us and it became a mad dash to clean out the cupboards of everything canned and non-perishable. I watched as Oliver unlocked the shed and disappeared into it, and shortly afterwards I heard Jim say that people were coming out of the house armed. After getting the bag as full as I could I joined him in the living room, only to be greeted by the first gunshot from the two running from the house.

We retreated into the kitchen where Oliver had come in. He was carrying two bags and gave one to Jim to lighten his burden. He then beckoned us to go out the back and away from the two outside. We made a mad dash for the woods using the house for cover. By the time we reached the treeline the two from the house had come around it and had started firing again.

I turned and shot them both. I hated doing it, but we couldn't have witnesses giving up which way we went. It surprised me how easy it was to take another's life and the thought sickened me. We managed to get back to the shed and at least now we had some provisions.

I was surprised when I saw what Oliver had stashed in his shed. He would have made Bert proud.

I didn't aim for an arm or a leg. I shot to put down. We made it into the woods and Jim expressed his unhappiness with me killing. Oliver pointed out it was necessary and started handing out his what he had recovered. In terms of guns there were three handguns, a shotgun, two more hunting rifles, and finally a M-16. There was plenty of ammo for each. There was also a case that made Oliver smile when we asked what it was for.

We were talking about what to do next and handing out weapons when we heard a noise. Someone was searching for us.

I had time to reflect on it all while awaiting my being cleared by the law. It was self-defense and had the situation been reversed I could blame them for doing the same. It bothers me that I left children without parents, but then what was going to happen to them was far worse than what I did.

The group that was following us was semi-large. And now I know that as soon as one saw us it was as if they all had seen us. The chase that followed was a blur of running, shouts, and gunfire. Oliver had taken his first bullet hole during that mad dash. He was fortunate that it was in his upper arm and he could for the most part continue.

The chase ended almost as abruptly as it started. One second they were shooting at us, the next they had turned and ran back for the town. It was as if they were content to let us stay in the woods for now as long as we left them alone. It was a few minutes after they left that we started hearing the bell ringing.

Group mind or single mind controlling the group.

We took a moment to bandage up Oliver and we slowly and carefully made our towards the noise. From a hill a little ways from the town we were able to see most of what was going on.

The townspeople where rounding up their children, roughly 150 by the looks of it, in the church yard. Jim identified the man in the front as the owner of the logging company. There were a getting the children all into a circle of men and women. The glint of steel could be distinguished in their hands.

At the time they were about halfway done rounding them up. It did not take me long to piece it together and I shared it with them. We had to do something and do it fast.

150 kids. That's a lot of PPE.

Yes it was, Jim was to go disrupt whatever it was going on outside the church and me and Oliver went to go to the warehouse. It was a long walk to get up to the logging company, but we managed it without trouble. We didn't hear any gunfire, so we assumed that Jim was not in trouble either.

The warehouse was still guarded. We made our way carefully towards one of the gates. It was then that Oliver looked at me, "Son, this is war. In war we don't worry about not killing the other side because they sure as hell not worried about the same. Jim doesn't understand that, but I do. I am going to pick people off of this gate and get the rest after me, you get inside of that warehouse and deal with whatever is there."

Before I could protest he was moving. I picked up the shotgun that I got from the gear bag, and double checked my jacket's packet to make sure all the shells were still there. I had this sick feeling I would need them all before the day way over.

No, he probably didn't make the wisest choice but then there wasn't much time for me to argue with him either.

A good plan executed aggressively now is better than a great plan tomorrow.

The plan was simple brute force, but fortunately it worked. It did earn Oliver quite a few more wounds though. Crazy bastard just started shooting up the place. The commotion pulled the guards off another area and I was able to get in. The back-door on the warehouse was likely abandoned after a few minutes and I was able to gain entry.

The place was dimly lit by skylights in the metal ceiling. There was quite a few large trucks parked on one side of the garage and shelves of equipment on the other. Sitting in an open area was the ugliest thing I have come across so far. It's looked like a giant slug and it was unfortunately looking right back at me. We just stared each other down for a minute before either of us moved.

A giant slug? If I had known I would've gotten a few of my experimental sodium rounds to you.

I had been wondering that as well. I hope we find out when H.S. checks in.

I say slug because that is as close of a description I can come up with. It became a game of cat and mouse. The creature tried to bite me whenever it came close enough, so I simply stayed away because I could move faster. I used the shelves and vehicles for cover as I took pot shots at it.

When it realized that I was too fast to reach and determined to kill it, it tried to flee. However, I managed to bring a shelf down on it trapping the thing underneath. It was then that the voice entered my head.

"Let us live human, and we will give you power beyond your imagination. Even now, that fool is bringing my brothers and sisters to this planet to overrun it. We will slowly take over the villages and then when it is too late, the cities and governments too will fall."

My response was to knock over some of the fuel in side and pull out a lighter. It roared in fury and struggled to lift up with fallen shelving. As I went to flick the lighter a wave of pain seized me and before I knew what was happening I was on the floor.