The Journey of St. Laurent, Chapter 28

Author’s notes:

Ok, I’ve start laying out some things for Micro Flash Fiction. I could use some more 140 word entries though (actually any entries would be great.), if you’re inclined. Thanks to everybody that’s submitted something so far.

As usual, I’ve appreciated everybody’s comments from the last chapter and from the flash fiction piece I posted. You folks keep me going.

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.

Also, I’m getting the itch to whip up a new theme for the blog. I guess you’ll find out soon enough how that goes.

Chapter 28 – Time to Die

The green skinned bastard from space opened its thin lips and spoke in a language I didn’t understand.

I clenched my jaw and gave the alien the most loathing stare I could muster. I scowled with such hateful focus that I half expected heat rays to shoot out of my eyes and fry the smug look right off its face.

The extraterrestrial murderer wrapped up whatever it was yammering about. I didn’t understand a single word of it, but from the look on its face and the tone of its voice, I was pretty sure the speech went something like, “I am going to kill you, you pathetic weakling. And then my friends and I are going to kill every member of your puny, cretinous race. And there’s nothing you and your stupid, fragile kind can do to stop us.”

Every piece of me just wanted to tear the alien apart.

It made that strained laugh sound again and then I can’t be sure, but I could have sworn it said, “Good bye.”

I pushed back onto my hands and knees, all the while glaring at the alien.

It raised it’s mitten gun thing a bit higher.

I braced for the impact and hoped it would kill me quick. _The longer I have to deal with my failure the better._

The alien narrowed its huge eyes and twisted violently to the right a quarter turn.

The jerky motion was chased by a crack of thunder.

_No, not thunder._

The alien let out a high-pitched wail and grabbed at its right shoulder. Its eyes widened.

I turned to see what the alien was looking at.

A light flashed. Quickly on its heels was another thundering rifle report. I couldn’t see much, but I could tell the shooter was lying down and had red hair.

The alien’s wailing cut short. It stumbled back a couple of steps, then turned and staggered for the UFO.

_I’m not letting you go._

I brought a knee up under my chest. The craft wasn’t far, but I could catch the alien if I got a move on.

I hadn’t even stood up completely when the side of the alien’s neck exploded in a spray of purplish red blood and alien parts. Before the alien could fall to the ground, a second hole ripped open in the side of its green head.

The alien collapsed like a sack of potatoes. A very messy sack of potatoes.

I shuffled over to the alien corpse.

It was definitely dead, but blood was still flowing from the head and neck wounds in little spurts. It didn’t look like the shot to the chest or the shoulder had penetrated the black jumpsuit.

_Weird._

For I heartbeat, I was a little hesitant to move the corpse around. I half expected it to spontaneously heal, jump up, and grab me by the throat. On top of that I didn’t know if it had buddies inside the ship.

A few seconds later no new aliens poured from the UFO door, nor did the ship take off. _It must have been alone. That’s weird, too._

With the alien dead at my feet, I considered desecrating it’s body. Maybe kick it around a little. Or maybe a lot.

The spurting had stopped and the blood was quickly drying on the hot sand glass.

I nudged it with my foot. _Sure enough, the first two shots didn’t penetrate._

A female voice boomed behind me. “That’s right, Bitch!”

My heart skipped a beat. In the sheer weirdness of the moment, I had forgotten the shooter.

London’s breathing was labored, like she’d been running. “Didn’t see that coming, did ya?”

“I can honestly say I don’t think that thing or I expected you to swoop in to my rescue.”

“So what do we do now? Kick it around a little?” She looked down at the dead extraterrestrial.

“You know, that was my first thought too?”

London was pretty had a pretty light complexion anyway, but the gory sight made her go even more pale. She turned away and looked back toward the freeway. “Shouldn’t we at least take some of its stuff?”

“Do you know how to use it?”

She shook a little and did not turn back to the body.”No. Can they track it?”

“I don’t know. Probably.”

“Then let’s just get back to the freeway before more of them show up.”

Despite the mess, she was taking the whole episode really well. After all, when she shot that thug called D she checked out mentally a while. This time she was visibly shaken, especially after seeing the kill, but she was putting up a brave face and pushing on.

I was amazed at how well she was stepping up to do what needed to be done. Plus, I was kind of grateful she had pulled my fat from the fire again.

We walked about half way back before all the emotion and adrenaline caught up to her. She doubled over and vomited.

I slipped the gun from where it was slung on her shoulder and laid my free hand on her back.

She heaved quite a bit but not much other than stomach juices came up.

“Its alright, London. You’re doing fine. That was just the adrenaline and excitement talking.”

I noticed her hands shaking as she straightened back up.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her arm. “So gross.”

“You know that’s the second time you’ve shot someone before they could shoot me.”

“Yeah, but it was a lot easier this time.”

“And remind me again where you learned to shoot like that?”

“I don’t think I ever told you the first time.”

“Still-”

She shrugged. “Before the divorce, my Dad owned a ranch. I was raised shooting varmints.”

I gave her a smirk. “And did you always do it while lying with your face in the dirt?”

She was still shaking, but she seemed to be getting control. “It’s called shooting prone. And it’s actually the easiest way to shoot accurately. I didn’t want to chance hitting you, but maybe you would have liked to try out your bullet catching skills.”

“Well, I suppose thanks are in order then. For not shooting me.”

“You know. Anytime.”

We found Michael staring at the horizon and sitting on the edge of the blacktop.

He did not look well. His eyes had dark circles under them and tear stains marred his cheeks.

I couldn’t say that I blamed him. This was a lot for a kid to take in. Plus, we weren’t exactly prepared with food and drink. We were dehydrated, dirty, sunburned, and flat out exhausted.

Still, we were supposed to meet with their father a ways down the road, and we didn’t want to stick around to see if the aliens came back.

London gave Michael the most encouraging speech she could dredge up and we took to the road.

We walked next to the oncoming traffic side so that we wouldn’t be missed by London’s father if he came looking.

I don’t know how long or far we walked. At some point I picked up Michael and let him ride piggy-back. The sun finally gave up and set. The air cooled significantly. It felt good to be out of the heat.

A few cars and trucks passed by, but all of them sped up and flew by when they saw us.

London and I talked and joked as best we could, hoping to keep our own spirits up and to keep Michael from giving up entirely.

Up ahead, we heard the bouncing of a heavy vehicle.

London elbowed me, which was all she could manage, as she was carrying what was left of our stuff. “You know, yesterday already seems like another lifetime.”

The bouncing noise came closer became bouncing and squeaking and headlights. Well, headlight actually. And that one headlight was pretty dim.

As soon as it saw us, it screeched and skidded to a stop. It was dark and I could not see the whole vehicle. Still, from what I could see, it had to be the most hideous RV on the planet.

Michael screamed “Daddy!” and wriggled down.

The door popped open and a grizzled old cowboy with a thick mustache, a big hat, and a checkered shirt jumped out.

Michael ran over and the cowboy scooped him up.

“Another lifetime.” I let out a sigh. “And I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.”

---

Keep Reading! Chapter 29 is here.