Anthony DeCosmo - Fusion

Nina dropped to the ground for cover as she saw the bombs fall at their target, which they hit perfectly. The center of The Order’s farm disintegrated in an explosion that began in golden flames and morphed into a cloud of brown and black. The thunderclap of the strike reverberated across the country club grounds and to the surrounding Kansas plains. The impact tremor caused a gray, dead tree not far from Nina’s position to crash over.

As the remaining pieces of the main structure collapsed into a pile, the buds on the tendrils bulged and rocked as if something trapped within tried to escape the embryos. Muffled cries-some animal-like, others closer to mechanical whirs-called from the field of dead.

Nina brought the binoculars to her eyes and delighted in the death throes of Voggoth’s children.

A shower of soil and biomass fell over the wasteland as the explosion faded. As Nina watched, she spied something amazing. There-surrounded by the brown earth and sickly tendrils of the dying farm-a bachelor’s button with its blue, starburst-like flower stubbornly refusing to yield its piece of land despite the encroachment of The Order’s sinister vines to either side.

A kernel of life surviving in the midst of death incarnate.

The roar of the F-15 swooping low to survey its handiwork drew Nina’s eyes to the sky. The plane’s wings rocked quick in a secret salute to its spotters and then banked hard and climbed. Nina saw missiles under its wings-the cockpit-the pilot steering her aircraft…

“You guys need a little help down there?”

Nina radioed Jon Brewer who responded, “Damn straight, Ghost Rider. Tear em’ up!”

Trevor sat in the forward seat controlling the gunship’s armaments. Gunner and pilot both wore night vision goggles.

Nina swerved the ship around searching for targets.

“Hold.”

She responded to Trevor’s order and held the craft steady.

The rapid-fire cannon whirled and bullets flew. Two enemy soldiers and the parked car they hid behind shredded to pieces.

“Starboard! Starboard!”

Trevor turned the gun sights to his right at Nina’s warning. A trio of Redcoats stood inside the windows of the electronics outlet, apparently thinking the darkness provided cover.

The ‘copter’s gun fired again. Glass smashed, parts of the store’s ceiling fell, and the aliens broke apart…

The F-15 fired its afterburners and sped east hurrying to return to friendly skies.

“Nina! Captain!”

“What? Huh?”

Nina shook away her trance and saw Vince packing up his targeting gear.

“I said, Voggoth’s boys are getting agitated over there. We should bug out before they figure the bomber must’ve had a spotter.”

“Yeah. Okay, um, yeah,” she regained her composure. “Move out to the south then hook east. Move it!”

Nina and her team withdrew from the Kinsley Country Club without incident, moving a mile south before following Country Road 30 east for about five miles. There they stumbled upon a dented but still working Dodge Ram with a cab on the back. Two badly-picked at corpses lay on the road alongside the truck, including one with a hunting rifle in his or her hand.

The canines and gear rode in the back, the Dark Wolves crammed into the crew cab up front, and they traveled north all afternoon with the occasional stop to take cover.

Early that evening one of the blob-like Chariots spotted the Dodge and opened fire with The Order’s equivalent of a machine gun. The team attempted to evade the airship on the streets of the tiny hamlet of Lewis, Kansas. The Chariot gave up the chase when Vince Caesar-behind the wheel-worked his way among the silos and cargo trailers of a cattle feed storage and distribution center.

After abandoning their car for lack of fuel the Dark Wolves proceeded north on foot. That night the team camped at the edge of Coon Creek outside of Garfield. Vince built a small fire and they boiled jerky in tin cups to try and moisten the meat. It did not work. They ate it anyway.

As dinner finished Nina sat against a tree and stared out at the field and the sparkling heavens above. She had never taken much interest in astronomy but could knew how to find the big dipper, the North Star, and a few others not because she held an interest in the universe, but because such points could serve as navigation aids.

On that night, however, she tried to see something more up there. She scanned the lights scattered on that black tapestry. She tried to comprehend that many of the armies who invaded her planet eleven years ago came from some of those stars. She wondered why the idea of alien invaders had not knocked her off balance during those first days when even the most veteran soldiers struggled with the idea of fighting monsters and extraterrestrials.

A cool breeze billowed across the field causing the rows of knee-high grass to bend and sway. Behind her the men sat around a dim fire and talked about the mission, what might be happening on the front lines, and sentiments for back home.

She heard Bly make a joke about how he should have been an accountant instead of a soldier. Caesar replied that he could not imagine being anything else. Maddock said he had a dream one night about being born a circus clown to which Bly offered a series of remarks that led to good-natured insults and a laughter.

Nina wondered about her dreams. She rarely had them. Or, at least, rarely remembered them. Often times she woke with emotions fresh in her mind but no idea about the substance of her sleeping fantasies.

She closed her eyes. The breeze draped over her. Her mind drifted…

“And where would we have lived?” Trevor asked.

“Hmmm,” she smiled. “Well, Philly of course.”

“Because that’s where you worked?”

“Well, I mean, I was a cop, you were-“

“A car salesman. I know, I know.”

“Philly is a great place. Lots of things to do. We could go to the zoo. Catch a Phillies game. Stroll through the museum.”

“Now that’s a funny image,” he laughed. “You and I, strolling through the zoo. After all we’ve seen I think a couple of giraffes would be kind of anti-climactic.”

“This is a different world,” Nina whispered. “A world where I’m not a soldier, and you’re not a leader. It’s a dream world. We’re we could just be together. No responsibilities.”

He put his hand on her cheek.

“That’s a lovely world. A wonderful dream.”

She wrung her hands.

“And after tomorrow, you get to dream it. I won’t remember enough to want to dream.”

“Memories make us who we are. Take them away, and you change the person…”

Nina’s eyes snapped open. A feeling of warmth mixed in her heart with frustration; frustration that something important was stripped from her.

Her words-spoken seemingly by another woman-replayed, “This is a different world. A world where I’m not a soldier, and you’re not a leader. It’s a dream world. We’re we could just be together.”

Nina checked herself and considered. Could it be true? As far back as she could remember she had only wished to be a fighter. It encompassed all she was. Her reflexes, her eye for battle, her instincts-all smaller parts of the greater sum of a soldier. And she had never considered any other possibility. Sure, she had faked her way through school and kept her true self hidden, but never had she denied the fabric of her person.

Now she wondered-is there more?

Nina shook her head.

Now is not the time to think of these things.

For a soldier, confusion could prove deadly and she found more confusion in her heart than ever before.

She pushed hard. She pushed hard to kick any doubts-no, not doubts. Hope. Hope for being more. For having more in her life the way Denise had given her more. Having a daughter had not made her any less of a soldier. In fact, she accomplished more in the years with Denise than in all the time before. Denise gave her a reason to fight other than instinct. A real purpose.