David Golemon - Event

The team member it held in its right claw was dispatched quickly with a bite to the top of his head as it casually tossed the man aside. It threw the other scientist against an outcropping of rock, smashing most of the bones in his body.

After the initial shock of seeing the parent and its size for the first time, the few Rangers, Airborne, and Arizona State troopers opened fire on the animal. It easily dodged most of the flying bullets, and most of the projectiles that hit ricocheted harmlessly away after striking the hardened chest plates of the beast. The Talkhan sidestepped Dills's grenades as it leapt into the air and sank into the soil. It surfaced again in the center of the gathered policemen to quickly seize three troopers, one in its maw, the other two in its huge claws as they cried out in sudden pain, then disappeared with the beast below the surface. The others watched; a few, out of frustration, fired into the sand and rock in which men and animal had vanished.

Fielding grabbed a few of the remaining 101st personnel and set up a perimeter around the command tents. It seemed as if an hour had passed, when it had actually been only a moment since the attack had begun. Finally they heard the sound of rotors as the Apaches fought for altitude and climbed the mountain.

The ground once again exploded as the beast breached the surface twenty feet in front of the command tents. Fielding saw it first and fired a burst into the animal. The bullets bounced harmlessly off the armored chest and side as the Talkhan swiped at him. Dills quickly saw an opening and, without aiming, fired a grenade from the M79. The round exploded at the animal's feet, and it quickly turned and jumped through the air, landing in front of the state trooper, swiping at his chest and driving him to the ground, snapping ribs and breaking one arm. Fielding saw the animal's amazing leap and ran forward, still firing the M16. It swiped at Dills's prone form, claws barely scraping through his shirt as it missed. Then Virginia screamed as Fielding fired more rounds into the creature's back. It forgot about Dills as two of the bullets found the mark between the two plates that protected the animal's shoulder blades. It roared in pain and confusion as it turned from Dills and swiped at Fielding's still form. The huge claws easily separated the muscle, sinew, and vertebrae of the colonel's neck, sending his head flying thirty yards to strike the side of the forensics tent. The Talkhan immediately dove into the earth, again creating a soil eruption that covered most of Dills's agonized body. Then they all saw the wave as it sped for the COMM tent. As they watched, the battle started up again in the huge command enclosure, with Lisa-facing the Destroyer of Worlds, alone.

Gus grabbed Matchstick into his arms and ran for their tent opening. The sight that met his eyes stopped him in his tracks. Bodies were lying everywhere, mutilated and smashed, crumpled and discarded as easily as one would toss away dirty clothes. As he was looking at the scene of slaughter, the whine and zing of bullets sounded in his ears, bringing back memories of his taking fire in Korea. And then he remembered what he'd wanted to do back then and couldn't. But now he could, he thought. The bullets barely missed him as they thumped into the tent flap. He ducked and ran in the direction of the crash site. Mahjtic, sensing the thoughts of the old man, said, "Bug out, bug out, beat feet!"

The animal came straight up through the ground and into the tent's plywood flooring. Lisa was lifted up into the air as the wood cracked and separated. As she hit the ground hard, landing on her back, knocking the wind from her lungs, she came face-to-face with the mother as it roared, shaking its head and sending her mane flaring and slicing through the sides of the tent. She roared again, sending spittle mixed with the blood of Lisa's comrades to soak Lisa's fatigues and face. The animal cocked its massive head and looked with hate-filled eyes at the weak creature staring up at her arrogantly.

Lisa stood stock-still, looking directly at the animal as it stood before her. Drool slowly fell from its open mouth as it leaned forward toward the diminutive human. Lisa swallowed as the creature seemed to be looking her over, possibly smelling her. Her right hand slowly started reaching for the M16 that was caught between an upturned desk and a support pole.

It suddenly and deftly reached down and plucked Lisa up in both of its massive hands, its claws digging deep into her sides and back, and Lisa screamed in pain and anger. The mother Talkhan roared again as it looked at the woman in her clutches. Lisa yelled right back, partly in terror, but mostly because she knew her death was imminent and she was angry. With great effort against the pain, she worked her right arm free and grabbed for the nine millimeter in her shoulder holster. Seeing this, the Talkhan squeezed, sending two of the sharpened claws deeper and puncturing one of Lisa's lungs, as it brought her toward its gaping, mandible-snapping, tooth-filled mouth.

As blood flowed freely from Lisa's lips, she weakly brought the pistol up and fired three times in quick succession into the beast's face. She was so weak by now the recoil after each round almost made her lose her grip on the pistol. One of the nine-millimeter rounds caught the raging animal in the right eye, knocking its head back and making it reach for its wounded face. The claws of the right hand severed a main artery in Lisa's stomach as they tore through her body and the screaming mother dropped her to the floor. It covered the wounded eye and roared, shaking the ground and rippling the tent as if an internal wind had erupted. The Destroyer then shook its head and brought the powerful tail up, and instead of stinging Lisa, it smashed the tail into her skull with bone-breaking accuracy. It repeatedly slammed the tail down, trying to obliterate the small creature that had caused it so much pain and anguish. It finished by repeatedly stabbing the now mangled body with its stinger, sinking the barbed tip deeply into the naval signalman's remains.

As the Talkhan stood glaring one-eyed at Lisa's body, the tent suddenly erupted as hundreds of thirty-millimeter rounds exploded into the interior. A number of the armor-piercing shells found their mark, neatly punching holes into the mother. It roared in pain and stumbled forward toward the opening. Then another two rounds exploded into its shoulder and upper chest. It screamed in outrage again as it leaped and dove into the earth just outside the tent, taking most of the canvas front panel of the communications and command enclosure into the hole with it.

The three Apaches circled the camp and saw nothing but broken and lifeless bodies. Their thirty-millimeter chain guns turned and scanned the area of the crash site. Here and there men and women slowly stood and shook themselves off. Most were half-deaf from the loud explosions brought to bear by the attack helicopters.

Sarah had a horrible feeling. They had been unable to raise the crash site for the last half an hour, as they sprinted through the tunnel and up the mountain. Suddenly the radio crackled in her earpiece as they came shallow.

"I repeat, tunnel missions canceled, over."

Sarah bit her lower lip as she realized it hadn't been Lisa on the radio. But she couldn't wonder about her friend's fate just now.

"We have movement!" shouted one of the point men with the VDF device.

They stopped and the entire team brought their weapons up, and the laser sights pierced the darkness and ran off into the blackness settling on nothing. They waited. Finally, they saw movement, and then the old man suddenly appeared moving fast down the tunnel. He didn't notice at first he was being targeted as several laser sights settled on Mahjtic's wide eyes.