Call Me Martin

The tall, lanky deputy lowered his rifle and stepped back behind the remaining fence posts.

Ari felt a chill run down his back. There was something disturbing about the Sheriff’s last words, Things will take care of themselves. He looked at Martin who held the makeshift rocket launcher steady.

A police radio crackled. The Sheriff grabbed a walkie-talkie from his belt.

“Adams.”

“Johnson,” The voice crackled. “We have a 10-33, Caucasian female, 5’8”, about 150 pounds, wandering near Red Hill.”

The Sheriff squinted and looked around at Martin, Ari, Sherman and little Amber.

“Is she part of the Bus 28 Group?”

“10-4.”

“Bring her to Zero Point.”

“The barn?”

The Sheriff rolled his eyes.

“The only one in town, Johnson.”

“10-4, ETA three minutes.”

“What’s ‘Red Hill’?” Rebecca asked.

The Sheriff took a deep breath.

“It’s where THEY stay when they’re not on the hunt—a 70-foot high hill that is the color of tomato sauce just before sundown.”

Ari glanced at Martin and called out to the Sheriff.

“Was that hill always there?”

The Sheriff narrowed his eyes.

“Since I’ve been alive.”

Ari nodded.

“So, that’s where they hibernate?”

The Sheriff glanced at Rebecca.

“Sounds like you’ve been briefed, son.”

Ari motioned to the five deputies behind the fence posts.

“What is this really all about, Sheriff? Why are you collaborating with creatures that feast on your fellow man? Don’t you have a germ of honor?”

“I have plenty of that!” The Sheriff blurted, raising his Magnum. “It’s about survival, the survival of my family and my men and their families.”

“And none of us have families, right?” Ari snapped.

“I have a daughter,” Rebecca said.

“I have a mama,” Sherman shouted.

The Sheriff frowned.

“My people come first. That’s the always been with us.”

“So, you trade our lives for your own, right?” Rebecca scowled.

The Sheriff shrugged.

“I can’t worry about the whole world.”

“What are they?” Ari asked. “Demons? Creatures from some other realm or world?”

“We don’t know,” the Sheriff answered. “We do know that they came to our locale 60 years ago. My grandfather was the sheriff back then. At first, there were cattle mutilations, then there were missing children, a lot of missing children. There were sightings; people who claimed that they saw these things flying above the road. My grandfather’s brother-in-law published our town newspaper. He was the one that came up with the idea of communicating with these things. And he did. He tracked them to Red Hill and made contact. Once he realized what they were all about it, he and my grandfather struck a bargain with them. We would provide them with food and they wouldn’t harm us or any of our kin. The only problem is that once they tasted human flesh, there was no turning back. At first, we turned over the bad guys to them; drunks, biker gangs, you name it. Then, we found hitchhikers and eventually had to come up with ways to bring more food to the table, if you know what I mean. And that’s where you all come in. You’re not the first and you’re not the last so don’t take it personally.”

“Nothing personal at all,” Ari said, tapping the rocket launcher.

A pair of headlights danced over the frame of the entrance to the barn, followed by the pulsating red and blue lights of a police car that slid on the gravel. A large bald deputy jumped out and ran around to the passenger’s side to escort a blonde woman into the barn.

Ari’s eyes sunk when he saw it was Charlene. Her blonde locks were matted and pasted to her forehead. She was pale and walked with a limp. She moved like a plane crash survivor, her small green eyes glossy as if she no longer inhabited her own body.

“What happened to her?” He whispered, turning to Martin who still held onto his end of the rocket launcher.

“They took her,” Martin said, his voice low and stoic. “And they used her.”

“Oh, my Lord,” Ari said.

The Deputy guided Charlene to an empty area just in front of the nearest fence post. No sooner had he released her, before she collapsed in a heap.

Rebecca hurried over and squatted down next to Charlene and reached her hand out to take her pulse.

Charlene breathed erratically, hey eyes wobbling.

Rebecca looked down at Charlene’s torn shirt and bare midriff.

“Woo.”

“What is it?” Ari asked.

Rebecca looked up.

“Is she pregnant?”

Ari looked at Martin and motioned to the makeshift rocket launcher.

“Can you hold this just for a minute?”

“No problem.”

Ari moved quickly, ignoring the hateful stares of the deputies. He dropped to his knees next to Rebecca.

“I didn’t think she was…”

Rebecca motioned to Charlene’s abdomen.

“Her belly’s extended.” She reached down and carefully felt Charlene just below her navel.

Charlene cried out and grimaced.

Rebecca shook her head.

“She’s bleeding internally.”

Charlene’s eyes fluttered open and she looked up Ari.

“I’m so sorry I left you.”

Ari lowered his head.

“We all do what we have to do.”

“They messed me up really bad, Ari,” Charlene rasped. “They tore me up inside.”

Rebecca looked up at the Sheriff.

“We need to get her to a hospital, now.”

The Sheriff shook his head

Ari got to his feet.

“You’re okay with letting her die?”

The Sheriff shrugged.

Ari looked over at Martin who cradled the rocket launcher in his arms. He glanced at the Sheriff and hurried back to Martin.

“Sorry, Martin. I know how heavy that is.”

“No worries.”

Ari slid his hand under the aluminum pole.

“We don’t want to drop it unless they make us,” He said loud enough for the Sheriff to hear him.

Just then, Martin’s head pivoted slowly to the barn’s entrance. There was nothing other than the rotating red and blue lights reflecting on the dark gravel and the narrow road below.

“What do you see?” Ari whispered.

Martin seemed to sniff the air.

“We have company.”

Ari froze. A dark shadow fell over the entrance to the barn. It was as if the temperature had dropped 20 degrees. Suddenly, the entrance was blocked by an enormous black shape. The Sheriff and the deputies backed up against the wall. Rebecca looked over her shoulder and dropped to her knees to pick up her bow and arrow.

The thing moved slowly and deliberately into the barn. It towered close to nine feet tall, the top of its end coming within inches of an overhead light. Its entire body was black and shiny like an insect’s. Its head grew out of a long, thick torso. It had a number of black bubbles that appeared to be eyes. Its mouth was a gaping hole, with several rows of teeth, some curled backward like a shark’s. A pair of wings bounced on its back. Four long, tentacle-like arms, two short, two long moved in sync. It turned its massive head to reveal gray-white horns that rose and curled backwards.

Ari felt his skin crawl. The creature embodied every nightmare he’d had as a child. It was every monster who had awoken him in the dead of night, forced him to sleep under the covers and instilled an obsession with checking under his bed that lasted to the present day.

Ari turned away, gooseflesh rising on his arms. He looked at Martin who was as still as a statue.

Little Amber backed towards a fence post, her eyes wide. She looked toward Martin and was about to move when Rebecca shouted.

“Stay! Don’t move. Don’t even breathe.”

Little Amber nodded.

Rebecca drew her bow all the way back, grimacing and ejecting saliva from the corners of her mouth. The arrow cracked through the air and bounced off the creature’s chest.

“What are you doing?” Ari asked.

Rebecca leaned over, panting and shaking her head.

“There’s no way to stop it.”

The creature turned and moved slowly toward her.

“Fuck that,” Ari said. He looked at Sherman and Martin and carefully moved the fence post onto his shoulder. Sherman came behind him, but Ari shook his head.

“No, get down. Don’t stand behind me. That cement is going to fly out.” Ari clicked the lighter. The flame reflected off Martin’s dark glasses. “Hold it steady.” He aimed the rocket launcher directly at the creature who was slowly closing the gap between itself and Rebecca.

Ari shook all over as he lit the fuse. It had happened quicker than he expected. The rope caught fire and an explosion, louder than a thousand firecrackers, rattled his bones. A plume of gray cement spewed over Ari’s shoulder just as the hiss and crackle of shrapnel pummeling its target came from the creature.

Although it was within two feet of Rebecca, the creature halted. The horns on its head brushed against a light fixture.

“Fuck!” Ari exclaimed, his ears ringing. “I missed. How could I miss?”

“No, you didn’t,” Martin said, easing Ari’s hands off the rocket launcher and letting it fall to the dirt. “Look just below the top of its arm.”

Ari pushed his glasses back and squinted. Although the creature had no discernable neck or shoulder, there was a bulge where its arm joined its torso. A spiral of oozing yellow-green circles appeared just below the bulge.

“What is that stuff?” Ari asked.

“Blood,” Martin answered. “And what bleeds can also die.”

Ari looked over at the other fence posts and down to the paper bags full of combustible fertilizer that were stuffed in the gym bag.

“I wish we’d had more time.”

Martin nodded.

Suddenly, the creature’s numerous black eyes trained directly on Ari. It paused, seeming to think and, perhaps, decide on its next move. Several long, stringy tendrils dangled from the area just below its gaping mouth. They swung ever so slight in Ari’s direction.

“I’ve never seen that before,” The Sheriff remarked.

“Yeah,” Ari said, “I doubt anyone ever thought of turning a fence post into a bazooka.”

“It don’t matter,” the Sheriff grinned. “It’s got you now.”

The creature’s enormous head suddenly rotated towards Little Amber. A thin stream of hot, steaming drool cascaded down the creature’s lower jaw. Its tendrils lifted and fell.

“Oh, God,” Rebecca said, biting her knuckles.

“It wants the child,” Ari whispered.

The thing moved slowly in little Amber’s direction. Its wings partially extended for a moment, brushing against the fence posts and stirring up the dust near its hooves.

Little Amber screamed and looked toward Martin. “Martin!”

Just then, Martin took a step forward and spoke in an unusually, loud resonant voice. “Leave the girl alone.”

The creature continued to close in on Amber. She looked in both directions but there was no place to run. Her path was blocked by a thick support beam.

Martin stepped forward, his footfalls crunching on several of the fragments from the rocket launcher.

“I said, LEAVE THE GIRL ALONE.”

“Oh, man,” the Sheriff said. “I should have brought my camera. Say goodbye.”

The creature paused and looked down at Martin who was now within a yard of it.

“Martin!” Ari shouted. “Get back here.”

Martin removed his sunglasses and looked up into the eyes of the monster.

“I warned you. One last time, leave her alone!”

Ari grabbed his forehead.

“Martin, are you’re out of your mind?”

Just then, the creature’s two large arms moved quickly, its long, claw-like hands, with many, many fingers locking onto to Martin’s arms.

Little Amber screamed as the thing lifted Martin up and hurled him against the wall. The entire barn shook as part of the wall gave way, leaving Martin to sail through the air and land in the field some 30 feet away. Swirls of dust blasted the inside of the barn. Sherman dropped the flashlight and covered his eyes with his good hand.

Ari grimaced, his heart sinking, every bit of hope draining as he looked out through the large gash in the barn at the foggy path created by the flashlight beam.

“Sorry, Martin,” he whispered. Martin’s fedora and ghost-white mask lay several feet beyond the gash in the wall.

Little Amber shrieked as the creature descended on her; four feet, three feet, two feet…The creature stopped, its tendrils lifting. Its head pivoted toward the gaping hole. Its many eyes seemed to dilate as if it saw something that it could not understand.

Ari followed the creature’s gaze through the hole in the barn. Swirls of sawdust twisted in the foggy cone of light, settling on the tall grass and broken boards scattered in the foreground. Something moved. It stirred and sat up in the tall grass.

“Martin?” Ari whispered, wanting to believe that somehow, after being hurled clean through a barn wall, Martin was still alive.

Sherman wiped tears from his face with his good arm and squatted down to peer out into the night. Rebecca leaned forward, her lips parting, her eyes narrow as slits.

Just then, the creature who had so confidently tossed Martin aside, turned completely to face the hole it had created in the back wall.

Ari’s jaw dropped open as a dark form moved into the light. It wore a knee-length trench coat and marched forward with a determined stride of someone or something that had no fear.

The form stood in the doorway. Though it wore Martin’s trench coat, black turtleneck shirt and black gloves, it was not the Martin Ari had come to know in the past 24 hours. It had a man’s body but the face of a monster, a creature with white, scraggily hair, red, glowing eyes and a face and head covered with blue-gray nodules, deep groves, a patchwork of black veins and twin holes for a nose.

“Martin?” Ari asked.

Martin nodded.

“Sorry to shock you, Ari, but without the mask, I don’t think you all would have stayed on the bus.”

The creature looked at Martin, its tendrils flaring. Its wings opened and closed.

Martin shook his head.

“I really feel sorry for this thing. It’s going to learn a very harsh lesson about the universe.”

Ari held up his hands.

“Martin, please, just run.”

Martin looked at Ari.

“It’s my turn, now.” Martin walked forward, yanking off his gloves to reveal two large hands with long black nails that curled inward. Like his face, his hands were covered with blue-gray nodules dark groves and a patchwork of black veins. He closed on the creature, lowering his head and keeping his red eyes glued to the creature’s eyes.

Martin’s voice reverberated through the barn as he walked steadily towards the creature. “The first mistake you made was to think I’m human. Newsflash, I’m not. The second mistake you made was to think you could actually hurt or even kill me. You can’t. The third mistake you made, and this is the big one, was to think I would actually care.” Martin waved his hand over his face and body. “WE have one thing in common-we’re not winning any beauty contests.”

“Wow,” the Sheriff exclaimed, glancing at his deputy. “I know I should have brought my camera. This guy is insane and...”

Just then, the creature lashed out and grabbed Martin’s arms.

Rebeca screamed.

“No, Martin! You should have run.”

Martin glanced at Rebecca and smiled through a mouth of white, pointed teeth.

“Nah, not today, I have to work. I have a mess to clean up.” Martin’s smile faded as he looked up into the creature’s many eyes. “Can’t lift me, can you? I’m pressing down with my feet and it will take you and your army to pick me up. It’s time for me to take you to school. Lesson one—don’t fuck with something that is immeasurably more powerful than you.” Martin paused to take a deep breath. He jerked his hands free with a sound like a nutcracker breaking a crab shell.

The creature shrieked, its cry as loud as Ari’s rocket launcher.

Martin quickly grabbed the creature’s two large arms and glared into its many eyes.

“I warned you. I told you to leave the girl alone.” Martin gnashed his teeth and growled as he pulled down with all his strength. The creature’s arms detached from its body, spraying yellow fluid in all directions. Rebecca covered her face. The Sheriff and deputies plastered their backs against the barn walls.

“Holy shit!” One of the deputies shouted.

The creature’s head moved back and forth, steaming saliva dripping from its teeth. It seemed to want to scream but it was too shocked.

Martin glanced at Charlene who lay on her back, her head propped up on Rebecca’s thigh.

“Not bad for a little guy.”

“That’s impossible,” the Sheriff said.

Martin looked at the creature.

“Lesson two; all hunters know that they too can become pray.” Martin drew his arm back, formed his hand into a virtual razor and plunged it forward through the creature’s outer shell and into the soft, mushy flesh beneath. He drew his arm out, holding a pumping white organ with long, yellow strings. He held it up to the creature. “And I didn’t think you had a heart.”

The creature collapsed, its black wings folding over it like a giant bat’s.

Several of the deputies looked at each other and ran out the front of the barn.

“Pediss, Groner, where the hell are you going?” The Sheriff called out.

The deputy named McNeil, who had pointed his rifle at Ari, threw the gun down and joined the other deputies.

“McNeil!” The Sheriff shouted. “Get back here or you’ll be back to slaughtering pigs.”

“Any day,” McNeil yelled. “That man, or whatever he is, is a lot meaner than these monsters!”

Little Amber stood quietly in the corner, her eyes wide, her jaw dropped open.

“I knew it!” Sherman shouted, walking over to Martin to give him a fist-pump. “You may not be pretty, homeboy, but you are the MAN!”

Martin smiled and brushed the creature’s body parts off him.

The Sheriff nodded.

“It ain’t over.”

Martin nodded.

“Music to my ears.”

“What are you?” Ari asked, stepping over the blackened fence post that he had used as a rocket launcher.

Martin turned to Ari.

“I’ve been asking myself the same question for the past five years.”

Ari shook his head.

“That thing threw you against the barn wall with enough force to shatter every bone in your body. Then you tore its arms off and ripped its heart out like it was child’s play. What are you, Martin?”

Martin looked Ari in the eye.

“I’m a monster, a really mean one when I want to be.”

“You’re a superhero,” Sherman said.

“No, Sherman. I’m not a hero. Heroes take the high ground. I don’t. Heroes bring the bad guys in in handcuffs. I bring him them in in pieces.”

“All this time?” Rebecca said. “Couldn’t you have done something sooner?”

Martin walked over and squatted in front of Rebecca who sat, cradling Charlene.

“I wanted to, believe me, but I don’t make a move until I know what I’m dealing with. Wars have been lost and nations have fallen because they didn’t obey that rule.”

Rebecca looked at Charlene.

“You could have saved a few lives.”

Martin glanced up at the Sheriff and back at Rebecca.

“I’ll make up for it now, when the rest of the gang gets here.”

“How do you know that?” Rebecca asked.

Martin motioned to the barn door.

“That creature’s shriek was a distress call.”

Charlene struggled to lift her head off Rebecca’s lap. She looked toward Martin.

“I’m sorry.” Her head fell back and her eyes rolled to one side.

“Forgiven,” Martin whispered.

Rebecca reached down and felt Charlene’s jugular vein. She gently nudged Charlene’s head off her lap and leaned over to put her ear to her chest. She lifted her head up and frowned.

“She’s dead.”

“I know,” Martin said. “I can see, smell and hear things that you could never.” Martin stood and looked at the Sheriff. “Your deputies are wise.” He reached inside his trench coat and pulled out a long, blue pen. He held it up the ceiling and clicked the pen. “Like I said, ‘I clean up messes’, but I don’t work alone.”

“What is that?” Rebecca asked.

Martin put his pen back.

“It’s like a radio, but it operates on a frequency that doesn’t exist, at least not on paper.”

Ari walked over to Martin.

“How did this happen to you?”

“I got a job with a man named Lester Jennings when I was in high school.”

Ari squinted.

“Lester Jennings, that physicist?”

“Yeah. He consulted for that oil company that caused the big spill in the Gulf of Mexico. One of the damage assessment teams found sphere seven feet below the floor. The sphere was the size of a bowling ball and constructed of an unknown alloy and had a totally alien inscription. It was clearly not from this Earth. Jennings brought it to his lab in Long Island, New York and hired me to handle the day to day stuff.”

Martin paused to look at his hands.

“Jennings should have waited to decode the inscription on the sphere, but he didn’t. He was determined to open it and study its contents. He used every laser available until one day, he breached the surface and got to the core. He found a substance inside which was never meant to be found. It had the consistency of glue and changed color when exposed to light. He experimented with it and wanted to see what happened when he exposed it to living tissue.” Martin shut his eyes. “The effect was dramatic. A small, single-celled organism was completely altered, even at the molecular level. That wasn’t good enough for Jennings, so he started testing the stuff on rats.”

“Oh, man,” Ari said, rubbing his forehead. “Let me guess.”

“We looked for the rat one morning and found it had not only broken out of its cage but had gnawed a hole through a three-inch metal door. Jennings was afraid of the stuff. He put it at the bottom of an indoor swimming pool because it had melted through a thick ceramic container.”

“You fell in?” Ari asked.

“No, I was pushed.”

“By Jennings?”

“No, by a local street gang that been after me for a while.”

“Bastards,” Ari said.

Martin looked Ari coldly in the eye.

“Don’t worry. None of them are around to brag.” Martin glanced at Rebecca. “The change was instantaneous.”

“Did it hurt?” Rebecca asked.

Martin nodded.

“There are dimensions of pain that no man can describe but it affected me in many ways; physically and intellectually. I can run more than 70 miles per hour, flip over an SUV, bore through a concrete wall, leap onto the roof of a two-story building. When I get mad enough, I can punch a hole through a tank. All five senses are like a wolf’s. can also hear thoughts, your thoughts,” Martin looked down at the mangled creature. “And they’re thoughts.” He looked down at his hands. “I have done some terrible things, killed more people than these creatures ever did, cleaned up a lot of messes that our government would rather not touch. Like I said, I’m a monster.”

“You’re no monster,” Little Amber said, walking around the dead creature and standing in front of Martin. “You protected me. Monsters don’t protect me.”

Ari looked over at the Sheriff who stood dumbfounded, his jaw slackened. He turned back to Martin.

“Sometimes it takes a monster to destroy a monster.”

“Thank you,” Martin said.

Rebecca got to her feet and squeezed Martin’s forearm.

“No, Martin, THANK YOU for saving our lives.”

The Sheriff lifted his magnum.

“Let’s see how he handles being out numbered.”

Ari rolled his eyes.

“Why didn’t you follow your deputies?”

The Sheriff frowned.

I don’t need a Jew lawyer to give me directions.”

“Shh,” Martin said, putting his forefinger to his lips.

“Did you ever decipher that inscription on that sphere?” Ari asked.

Martin nodded.

“It was a warning, a warning not to open the sphere because the substance inside had created a race of super soldiers that destroyed an entire world.”

“And you’re one of them now,” Ari said.

Martin looked towards the barn door and shed his trench coat. He tossed it to the area where the deputies had stood.

“Get behind the posts.”

Ari, Sherman, Rebecca and little Amber quickly moved to the walls. A roar of flapping wings shook the barn. Three black forms moved through the door way while another moved through the gash in the rear wall.

Little Amber screamed.

“Dinner time!” The Sheriff shouted.

“No, thank you,” Martin said. “I’m not hungry.”

Two of the creatures pounced on Martin, their wings crashing against the rafters and shaking loose a cross beam.

Martin leaped up, his own head hitting the roof. He dropped down on the two creatures, slicing into them with karate chops. His first blow split one in half. His second blow severed another’s head. Yellow fluid sprayed everywhere, drenching Martin’s shirt.

The two remaining creatures seemed less confident. They looked at their three dismembered comrades and back at each other. The creature which had entered the barn through the new hole had a gray blotch on its chest.

Martin looked over at Ari.

“Looks like your Molotov Cocktail gave it some body art.”

“Look out, Martin!” Rebecca shouted.

Martin whirled around in a blur to see the creature descending on him. He began to pummel its chest, his hands passing completely through the creature’s outer shell, leaving pulsating fist-sized gashes of yellow fluid. Martin hoisted the creature up and body slammed it the ground. It splattered like an insect on a windshield.

“My God,” Ari said.

The creature with the discolored chest stepped back towards the hole in the back wall.

“I think it knows when to give up,” Ari said.

The creature shrieked at Martin and rushed through the door, its wings spreading out as soon as it cleared the barn.

“It’s going to get away,” Rebecca said, hurrying to Martin’s side. “You can’t let it get away. It might be a female and spawn more of these monsters.”

“Too late,” Ari groaned. “It’s air born.”

The Sheriff laughed.

“Tough titty.”

Martin casually walked towards the hole and paused in front of a fence post.

“You want to pull it out?” Ari asked.

Martin reached one hand down to the middle of fence post and pulled it out of the dirt as if it were a stick in sand. He moved towards the hole and looked up at the black bat-like shape against the sky.

“It’s way too high,” Ari said, shaking his head.

Martin nodded.

“I always wanted to see how far I could throw a 75-pound, concrete filled fence post.” Martin stepped through the hole and reached his hand all the way back. He took a few seconds to aim and flung the post upward with all his might. The fence post screamed through the night, arching up. He waited for a moment and listened as a shriek echoed in the distance. A tiny, bat-like creature was illuminated by starlight. It twirled around like a bird with a broken wing. It finally sailed directly overhead and free fell towards the road in front of the barn and landed with a thud and a crunch.

Martin went back into the barn. The Sheriff stood, open-mouthed as he surveyed the parts of creatures scattered across the floor. He looked at Martin and suddenly jerked his Magnum up.

“Let’s see you dodge bullets!” The Sheriff fired right into Martin’s chest, once, twice, three times.

Three small, glowing purple circles appeared on Martin’s chest and abdomen along with a sucking sound.

“Ouch,” Martin said, “That stings.”

The purple circles shrunk and disappeared, leaving only three holes in Martin’s shirt.

The Sheriff’s shoulders hunched, his smoking gun dropping onto the dirt. He nodded and raised his hands but suddenly reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of diamonds. He inched forward toward Ari and Rebecca and extended his palm.

“They give us diamonds every year. We don’t know how or where but there’s a million dollars’ worth right here. Please, help yourself.”

“So, there’s the rub,” Ari said. “I knew there was more to it than survival.”

The Sheriff smiled.

“Where do you think all that food came from? We’re a small town, probably the richest town in America.”

“So, you did all this for money?” Rebecca asked, her eyes blazing.

The Sheriff shrugged.

“Pays the bills. Built me the best house in this part of Iowa.”

“You bastard,” Rebecca said, walking towards the Sheriff. “You let them kill children, boys and girls who were so pure, so beautiful.”

The Sheriff smirked.

“You think I care about someone else’s brats?”

Rebecca froze. Her face turned to stone.

“You fucking bastard.” Rebecca dropped to one knee and came up with a sharpened pool stick. She bounded forward and drove the pool stick right into the Sheriff’s belly. He screamed and collapsed as Rebecca pulled the pool stick out.

Blood gushed from the Sheriff’s gut, spilling onto the ground. His head fell back in the dirt, his eyes fluttering. Rebecca stood above the Sheriff and plunged the pull stick right through the middle of his chest. He coughed blood out through his mouth and nostrils.

Martin looked up at the roof of the barn and back down to Ari.

“We have company.”

Ari’s jaw dropped open.

“I thought there were only five of these things.”

“There were,” Martin said. “But that is not what is going to be landing outside.”

There was a loud rumble like approaching thunder. Sawdust floated down from the roof of the barn.

“Son-of-a bitch,” Ari said, looking up at the roof. “What is that?”

The thunder was now directly overhead and all around the barn. Ari walked forward towards the entrance, his heart pounding in his chest, his neck throbbing. Whatever was coming, he hoped that Martin could take care of it. Was it an invasion?” Ari thought, rubbing his chin.

Just then, a large black metallic shape descended but a few yards in front of the barn. Ari backed up and looked over his shoulder at Martin.

“They’re here.”

Martin nodded and walked past Rebecca who still held her blood-soaked pool stick. “Loose the stick,” he said in a loud whisper and joined Ari near the entrance.

A loud engine whined as many footfalls hit the gravel. More than a dozen figures moved through the night and into the barn. They were men, black uniformed men with black helmets, opaque visors and a full complement of automatic rifles, RPG’s, body armor and menacing side arms.

Several red laser beams played across the wall.

Martin looked at Sherman and Rebecca.

“Everybody, stay very still.”

Just then, a trio of unarmed men strutted in. One wore a black leather trench coat. He was tall and thin with salt and pepper hair and gray eyes the color of a summer storm. The other was a very large boned, bald black man with a dark green uniform and two stars on each shoulder.

The man in the leather trench coat looked around the barn, his cold, gray eyes locking on Martin’s. A long scar ran across his forehead and snaked its way down his hard, angular face.

“Drexel Cole,” Martin announced.

The man named Drexel Cole nodded.

“Martin Dorian.”

Martin motioned for Ari and the others to follow him out the door. Little Amber caught up to Martin holding his fedora, gloves and mangled mask.

“Martin. Martin.” Amber said. “Here.”

Martin took the gloves and fedora.

“Thanks, Amber. I don’t need the mask. I have plenty.”

The gravel road and surrounding fields were filled with Chinooks and other helicopters and scores of soldiers.

There was a brief exchange of gunfire followed by foot falls and crackling radios.

“The real cavalry,” Martin said to Ari. “Or rather, the rest of the clean-up team.”

“What are they?” Ari asked. “CIA, NSA?”

“They are called, ‘the mechanism,’ but you won’t find them on any government roster.”

“Black ops,” Ari nodded.

“More, much more. And I work for them now. They give generous bonuses.” Martin looked at Ari and Little Amber. “But not this time.”

Drexel Cole walked over to Martin, his hands in the pockets of his trench coat. He looked up in the sky and down to the ground. He turned to Martin.

“Great job. We had to erase a few of the deputies. They resisted.”

Ari pondered the term ‘erase’ and grimaced.

The large black man walked over to Drexel.

“Perimeter is secured. We have 300 hard men on the ground.”

“Good job, General.”

Ari looked Drexel Cole.

“There’s something in the lake.”

“We know,” Drexel nodded. “Larvae, we assume. They secrete a pheromone that draws animals and insects in.” He turned to the General. “What do you think, fuel-air bomb detonated at 20 feet?”

The General shook his head.

“Much better to use a low yield, 300 kiloton Nuke. We’ll vaporize the town and surrounding area.”

Cole nodded.

“Make it happen.”

“There’s also a 70-foot mound where they hibernate,” Rebecca said.

Cole motioned to the General and nodded.

“What about the townspeople?” Ari asked.

Cole looked Ari in the eye.

“What about them?”

Martin drew close to Ari and patted his forearm.

“Best not to ask questions,”

Ari nodded.

“I get it.”

Martin reached down and took little Amber’s hand. He drew close to Drexel Cole.

“I have a request.”

The General rolled his eyes.

“Here we go again.”

“I wish to forfeit my bonus for one request.”

“Go on,” Cole said.

Martin got down on his knees in front of Little Amber.

“Do you want to go to Chicago or do you want to stay with me?”

“STAY WITH YOU!”

Martin stood up and looked from Cole to the General.

“I want to adopt Amber as my daughter.”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” the General said. “She’s…”

“Black?” Martin asked. “Is that the issue? She’s black and I used to be white?”

“No, it’s just that…”

“Oh,” Martin said, “it’s just that I’m some grotesque monster, right?”

The General exhaled through his nostrils.

“Martin, you’re 21. You don’t exactly live a wholesome life. You work for us.”

Martin walked up to the General.

“I am not asking you. I am demanding. This girl was on her way to the abyss—foster homes, the streets, thugs, pimps, crack houses, jails, prisons, STD’s and finally, a tag on her toe at the county morgue. Do you know want to hear more?”

Drexel Cole looked down at Amber.

“Do you want Martin to be your father?”

Amber nodded and grabbed Martin’s hand.

“Yes.”

Cole looked at the General.

“Make it happen.”

Martin took Amber’s hand just as Rebecca walked up and stood close to Ari.

Rebecca gave Martin the thumbs up and turned to Ari.

“I can’t go back to my old life. My daughter thinks her mother died seven years ago. My husband is probably re-married. If you don’t mind, I’d like to get to know you better, Mr. Roth.”

Ari looked into Rebecca’s dark blue eyes and smiled. He reached out and squeezed her hand.

“There is nothing more in this world I would want more, Rebecca, but we can’t ignore the 800-pound gorilla in the room.” Ari turned to Drexel Cole. “What happens to us—me, Rebecca and Sherman?”

Cole glanced at Martin.

“Normally, you disappear, forever. We have special locations around the world. There are many people who get caught up in the messes we clean up—like valuables being swept up by a big broom. You’d rather not throw them out but…”

“Yeah, shit happens,” Ari said, looking Drexel Cole in the eye. “I’m a lawyer, recently disbarred but I’m still useful in some way. And Rebecca’s a cop.”

Drexel Cole looked Ari coldly in the eye.

“You want to join us? Think you can just fill out an application?

Ari swallowed hard.

“No, but…”

Martin motioned to the rocket launcher and Rebecca’s homemade oversized bow and arrow before turning to Drexel Cole.

“They’re both incredibly resourceful, much more than I was when I was human. They not only turned basic household items to weapons, but they performed an emergency surgery to stop Sherman over there from hemorrhaging.” Martin paused to look at Ari and Rebecca. “These are two potential soldiers, the best I’ve seen.”

Drexel looked down at Amber for a moment who continued to hold Martin’s hand. He turned to Martin.

“The important thing is that you bonded with them in a way that you normally don’t. You know my policy and you kind of deviated from it.”

Martin nodded.

“If it meant saving them…”

Drexel Cole looked over at the General who stood with his arms folded.

“General, we’re going to veer away from protocol just this one time. Find a place for these two.”

The General looked over at Sherman.

“And the boy?”

Martin glanced over his shoulder at Sherman.

“He wants to be a Marine.”

Cole nodded.

“If he can make it through boot camp, we will take him in. We have ex-Marines, ex-Green Berets, ex-Navy SEALS. But he needs to know as do your ex-cop and ex-lawyer also need to know, you don’t retire from the Mechanism.”

Martin turned to Ari and Rebecca.

“You heard him.”

Ari put his arm around Rebecca.

“I think we can live with that.”

Cole looked Ari in the eye.

“’Live’ is the operative word.”