The Journey of St. Laurent, Chapter 27

Author’s note:

At long last, Corbin is back. Again, I’m sorry this took so long. I’m chock full of excuses. See the latest post on my wife’s blog for one of them.

Also, a while back I made a politically charged video for youtube. I’ve recently been going the rounds with a commenter about it. I’d appreciate it, if you have the time and inclination, to check it out and let me know what you think, one way or the other. Am I up in the night, or am I right? Here’s the video: Theft & Taxes

Thanks to everyone who comments and corrects my typos and cheers me on. You are all wonderful.

For those of you who haven’t read any of the Journey Of St. Laurent before: You are now reading an online serial pulp novel. If you didn’t start at the beginning, you may want to do so. Chapter 1:  Down By The Bay. This serial is the sequel to my first novel, Oasis.

Chapter 27 – Go For A Swim

The sound was warbled, but it was definitely the sizzle of the ship’s terrible weapon preparing to fire.

I pulled and kicked against the water as hard as I could. Every inch I could get further down might make a difference.

The cool water wrapped around me and swept away at least one layer of the oily sweat and grime that builds up when you drive a convertible in scorching hot weather. It would have been quite relaxing and refreshing if I wasn’t so scared for my life.

And then it hit.

Through my closed eyelids, I could tell that the world around me was suddenly brighter, like I was in a tanning booth without eye protection.

The shock wave pounded the water which in turn pushed against me from all sides. It felt like a full body punch.

I held on as best I could, but it still knocked out some of my precious air.

Along with light and pressure, the water flashed hot. Hot enough that if it were a hot tub, I would never put my head under, and I might not even get in. I didn’t want to think about how hot it was at the surface.

I kicked all the harder and prayed I could stay down far and long enough to avoid getting cooked alive. Without drowning, of course.

My body was already calling for air. I fought the urge to suck in and kept swimming down.

The further down I went, the faster the water was moving. It pushed and pulled and swept me away, and I couldn’t tell in which direction. To be honest, for the moment I didn’t really care where it went, as long as it dragged me away from the blast site.

Within of seconds, my lungs and brain switched from calling for air to screaming.

The water around me still felt warm, but was mixing with and getting swept away by the current.

Is it still too hot up there? Have I drifted far enough?

It didn’t matter. I had to surface or drown.

I got my legs under me and pushed down, only the silty floor I had expected wasn’t there. I started to panic.

My wet clothes restricted my movement and weighed me down. My lungs burned for that breath of fresh air.

I thrashed toward the surface with the same fury I had dived down.

The water got hotter and my head finally broke the surface.

I coughed and sucked in a couple breaths before my wet clothes and the current pulled me back under. I didn’t even have time to get my bearings.

The next time I came up I caught sight of the beach. It took a couple of minutes to fight my way free of the undercurrent, but I finally got to where I could touch bottom.

As soon as my feet were under me again and stable, I looked around.

I had washed quite a ways from the spot where I had ditched the Jeep. The fast undercurrent that had nearly killed me had also probably saved me from a third degree scalding or worse from the alien blast.

The UFO was about a football field and a half away, hovering low over the charred Jeep. It made a great throbbing and whooshing sound.

For the moment I stayed close to where the shelf dropped down under water in case the UFO decided to chase me again. The thought of jumping back under was not terribly appealing, but now that I had a chance to catch my breath, maybe I’d be okay.

The silvery craft floated just a bit away from me and away from the water, lowered itself, then landed on the rocky beach.

Well, not exactly landed. It just kind of hovered there a few inches above the sand and rocks.

It occurred to me that standing in waist deep water and staring with my mouth open was not great cover if whatever was inside looked around at all.

The nearest trees or even tall grass were halfway between me and the ship and a good deal inland. However, there was a four-ish foot tall boulder on the beach about thirty feet away.

That’s as good a hiding spot as I’m going to find.

I splashed out of the shallows and onto the beach, then lumbered as fast as I could over to my chosen cover.

I collapsed with my back to the boulder and listened.

With the stress, physical exertion, and deprivation of oxygen I had just been through, the rock and sand felt surprisingly comfortable. Added to that was the hypnotic rhythmic sound of the UFO.

All of it together almost made me want to take a nap.

There’ll be plenty of rest later.

The UFO made a new whirring noise for a few seconds, then returned to it’s old sound.

What is it doing over there?

I waited as long as my patience would hold out, then I rolled to my right and chanced a peek over my shoulder.

A door was open in the side of the UFO, and an alien was out of the craft, circling the Jeep. The alien looked just like the one I had seen leaving the White House on television. Heck, for all I could tell, it might have just rushed from D.C. to chase after me. It’s skin was bright green, and it was wearing a black jumpsuit with a purpley-gray belt that had two mitten-looking things hanging from it. I wasn’t close enough to see any better detail.

The sight of it threw a whole pile of thoughts and feelings back into play.

I rolled back and plopped down. It made me sick to think of what kind of a sham deal the president had worked out with these murderers. It made me sad to think about the attack on Phoenix that I saw on TV. It made me furious to think about what the green bastards had done to Kayla, Jenna, and the new baby.

Now is my chance to strike back.

I didn’t have much of a plan. I’m going to run it down, tackle it, punch it, then beat its head against a rock until it stops moving.

I didn’t bother to check which way it was looking, or if more had appeared. I simply sucked in a deep breath, jumped up, and sprinted for the alien.

I had either underestimated the distance or overestimated my ability. It was a good deal farther away than I could sprint. It didn’t matter. When I couldn’t sprint, I jogged until I could pick up the pace again.

I was lucky, I suppose. The alien was leaning over the front passenger seat examining something.

The closer I got to the burned out Jeep and the alien, the harder the sand got. By the time I was less than twenty yards away, the ground was downright hot and solid. And suddenly a lot more slippery than I could have imagined.

So slippery that my left foot hit the ground and skidded out and away from me. My momentum carried me forward and I slapped down face first onto the sand.

If the alien hadn’t heard my approach, it definitely heard my fall.

Ouch.

I got a good, if brief, look and feel of the ground. It was hard and smooth, like a sheet of glass, but with rocks sticking out here and there.

The alien bolted for the other side of the Jeep, reached for its belt and slipped on one of the mitten-looking objects.

I scrambled to get my feet under me.

The alien raised its hand palm up and sneered at me with its thin lips and big freaky eyes. A little gate popped open on the underside of the mitten.

I instinctively threw myself down and rolled to the right.

The alien’s techno-mitten-gun-thing made a chirping noise and somewhere behind me I heard a patch of sand glass and rock shatter.

My mind raced. I had dodged the first shot, but now I was on the ground, and I doubted if the alien would miss again at this range.

The alien made a noise that sounded something like a laugh and took aim.

Now I’m going to die? Because I slipped and fell?

The thought of it really pissed me off.

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Keep Reading! Chapter 28 is here!