David Golemon - Event

"Come on," Ryan yelled to the troopers. "We have to try and get these people away from here and set up some kind of defense."

"How in the fuck are we going to fight these things?" Dills screamed back.

Ryan looked around, then had a thought, a quick moment of clarity. "The roofs!" he screamed. "Get these people to the roofs of these buildings... now!"

The Blackhawk was in the air just two minutes after Ryan had made the frantic radio call. Other Blackhawks were coming in from the crash site bringing more troops onto the scene.

"What did the lieutenant say, Major?" asked Mendenhall, screaming over the roar of the helicopter.

"All hell's broken loose, they've sustained a lot of casualties, both civilian and military." Collins looked from the sergeant to Sam Fielding. "He said they've been overrun."

Mahjtic and Gus exchanged glances. The small alien sat next to Billy, who was looking out the side window.

"Your mama will be alright," Gus said, watching the boy.

Billy turned and looked at the old man, then at the Matchstick man. His eyes were all that were needed to express his feelings about what could be happening to his mother. The small alien closed its eyes, the vibes making clearly evident where responsibility lay for the nightmare around them.

As the helicopter approached town, it was joined by six more of the Blackhawks that had been sent from the 103rd Special Aviation Battalion out of Fort Hood, Texas. It made them feel a little easier knowing they were packed with airborne troops from the crash site, leaving the crash site with a skeleton security force, which Collins didn't like.

"Look at that!" Fielding said, pointing out the window.

Below was a sight that amazed them all. Ryan had managed to gather the remaining survivors and get them safely to the rooftops of the town's buildings. The townspeople, three or four surviving reporters, state troopers, and only a few soldiers were high on the large steel awning of the Texaco station, the remains of the hardware store, which sat at a crazy angle after most of it had collapsed into the ground, and even on the flat and false-fronted roof of the Broken Cactus. More soldiers were on the flat roofs of the Ice Cream Parlor and Snake Farm. These were also firing into the trenches that surrounded all of the buildings.

"Jesus Christ, it looks like Custer's last stand!" Fielding yelled.

The firing had ceased, and the' town lay quiet. The troops were now deployed around the buildings, but the activity of the animals had ceased. There had been no attacks for the last ten minutes. Still Collins had M60 machine guns placed on each of the buildings in case the animals returned.

"Report, Mr. Ryan," Collins said as he gained the roof of the Broken Cactus.

Ryan, looking dirty and bloody, stepped forward, holstering his nine millimeter as he did. He looked a lot older than he had this morning.

"We lost at least ten state troopers." He cleared his throat and looked around and lowered his voice. "Twenty-five or thirty of the airborne troops, we haven't had a chance to count yet, but I think I've only counted ten or so left." He looked at Fielding, who just clenched his teeth. "They fought like hell, Colonel, trying to get these people to safety. The state men also, they didn't die for nothing. God, Jack, maybe twenty or twenty-five civilians were taken in the first assault, mostly the remaining reporters, and... it's just a god-awful mess."

Fielding removed his sunglasses and harshly rubbed his eyes. He turned from the devastation of the town and slapped Ryan on the shoulder. "Isn't much like the navy, is it, son?"

Ryan lowered his eyes and shook his head.

Billy was standing behind Collins and shifted positions looking at the faces of the survivors, and that was when he saw his mother. She was treating one of the soldiers leaning against the building's waist-high false front.

"Mom!" he screamed, and ran into her arms.

Julie reacted immediately to her son's voice and gently laid the soldier's head against the wall and ran to her son.

"Oh, God, I was so worried about you, baby, are you alright?" she asked, crushing him into her chest.

Gus, who was carrying Mahjtic under a sheet he had removed from his cot, smiled. The small being mentally felt the relief flood through the old man.

"What about these animals?" Collins asked, unzipping the vest armor from his chest, letting in some needed air.

Ryan looked from his boss to Sam Fielding, then reached over and patted Billy on his head. He looked into Julie's eyes a moment, seeing the relief she was expressing because she had been near a panic during the operation to get everyone up top. Then he looked back at Collins.

"They're straight out of a fucking nightmare, Major. Fast, strong, and you're damn lucky the freakish bastards stopped their attack and went away, because these sons of bitches can jump. They took down one of the news choppers from almost two hundred feet." Ryan stepped closer and whispered to Collins and Fielding so Billy couldn't hear. "They're definitely eating the ones they take, Major, we all saw it."

The hookup between Washington, Event Group Center, and Chato's Crawl had been hot for the last ten minutes. Niles was holding his own against the top military leaders of the country in defending the actions of the 101st and his ground teams.

"As I stated, Mr. President, there was nothing that could have been done to change the outcome of this first engagement. The animals hit us while the ground teams were still in the process of evaluating the situation." Niles paused for a moment. "The tunnel assault elements are being organized now."

The president turned to face the director of the CIA and air force general Max Hardesty, chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

"Okay, I'm sticking with Compton and his team as to recommendations on how to fight these things. Now, and most importantly, Operation Orion will only be ordered as a last resort. Understand, gentlemen, no nukes unless you have my specific authorization."

All the directors of the national security staff nodded their compliance.

"Now, what does Major Collins need to"--the president held a finger up--"one, rescue all the civilians in that town?" He held up another finger. "Two, what equipment can we rush in there to help fight these damn things?" Then he held up a third finger. "And number three, what course, other than nuclear weapons, can we use to contain these things if they escape the valley?"

General Hardesty stood and went to a large back-projected map of the western United States.

"Mr. President, we have brought in elements of the Seventh Aviation Battalion from Fort Carson, Colorado. They just arrived on-site." Hardesty drew a line down from Colorado to Arizona. The plasma in the screen reacted to his finger, and a red line traveled the length of the map from Colorado to the Superstitions. "We will have ten Apache gunships on station in a little over an hour. They will provide cover for the four MH-53J Pave Low Ills that have just arrived from MacDill in Florida. They will be used to airlift the civilians from the town. Collins and Sam have come up with a plan to lift them directly from the building rooftops. The Pave Low is basically a huge flying gun platform with large enough cargo facilities. We believe four will be enough to evacuate all collateral personnel out of the town."

"What about containment?" the president inquired.

"There we are committing a number of F-15 Strike Eagles and F-16 Fighting Falcons for use in ground assault. They will be loaded with type-N Bunker Busters and standard cluster munitions that should give the burrowing bastards something to write home about. If we have to, we can ring the entire valley with bombs. We are scraping anything we can package, Mr. President, and will have more as soon as we can get them online. We are also airlifting a squadron of Paladin tanks for cover if and when the tunnel teams go in."