Thanks for being patient, everybody. I finally gave up on trying to make it “just right.” Hopefully it’s at least “good enough.”
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 37: Summer Camp Shock
The entire camp sprang into motion like a poorly organized beehive. People shoved each other and ran for their tent, vehicle, gun, or whatever else they thought was important.
London pointed to the screen. “Did you just see that?”
“Yeah, I’m just not sure if I can believe it.”
“What the hell was that? How did they do that?”
I shrugged looked around for Rhett.
He was gone in the shuffle.
Jex’s voice echoed commands over the PA system.
The crowd around the big TV scurried away. Its owner popped into the RV just long enough to strap on an attachment-laden AR-15 then set himself to cleaning everything up.
The “Technical Difficulties” screen disappeared and the two haggard analysts were back. Their faces were pale and one of them looked like he was about to throw up.
“Ladies and gentlemen.” The other commentator swallowed hard. “Today is a tragic day. The President of the United States is-”
The screen went black.
My stomach dropped. Dead? I looked around. The President of the United States, dead?
The RV owner was coiling up the chord to the now unplugged TV.
Shouts from the buzzing camp confirmed my fear. “…the President, too.” “…at least four more senators…” “…President’s dead…” “…how the hell did they get so many…” “What about the vice…”
I stared off into space. The President and who knows how many senators dead. The aliens don’t even have to have all that big of an army. They already had us in a panic. This’ll drive most Americans insane with fear. We’re screwed before we even-
London shook my arm. “Corbin. Corbin. Hey, are you in there?”
I shook my head. “Uh, yeah. Mostly.”
“What are we going to do?”
I looked around.
There was a group or a squad or whatever already standing in ranks over by an old orange pickup truck, just waiting for the go ahead to shoot at something. Everybody but London and me was figuring out where to go. A twelve-ish year old boy with a shaved head ran past carrying a shotgun and a machete.
Where the hell is he going to do with- I shook my head. Doesn’t matter. “I guess we find the first aid tent.”
“I mean about the President, and you know, everything.”
“I don’t know. I just don’t know.”
Without thinking, I grabbed London’s hand and started walking in the direction we had been headed before the broadcast.
The first aid area was only about twenty yards down, hidden behind yet another large camper. It consisted of two of those ten by ten shade coverings, a couple of tables, some boxes of supplies, and a cot. Someone had written first aid in magic marker on a box that sat on a table.
A radio crackled from a nearby tent. “…Senators Rick Haberdane of Oregon, Julie Nascent of Ohio, and Larry White of New York have now been reported dead as well. That brings the current total to fourteen senators and nine congressmen, along with the President and Vice President. It is unclear at this time whether any cabinet members have been murdered, so it is assumed that Secretary of State Beverly Caslon is now the acting president of the United States. There has been no official contact from the aliens yet, but it seems clear that they are responsible…”
How could they possibly have set all this up? Had they abducted everybody, one by one, or is this some kind of unstoppable murder weapon?
A man wearing green jogging pants and a tank top greeted us from behind the table. “How can I help you? Is one of you injured?”
“Actually, uh, Jex sent us to help you out.”
He flipped his hand like he was waving us away. “I don’t exactly need the help right now, sport. As you can see, I don’t exactly have a waiting line. And I think I’ll be able to handle whatever comes this way, anyway. And I have had several advanced classes through both the fire department and the Red Cross.”
Arrogant moron. I was betting that he had exactly zero field experience.
London squeezed my hand, and it was definitely an angry squeeze.
I wanted to slap him and detail some of the grisly things I’d seen and worked on in the Emergency room. Instead I decided to try to play it cool, for once. You know, before London slapped him.
“Maybe we could hang around a bit, just in case.”
He turned away from us. “Whatever. Just don’t mess with my supplies.”
London leaned over and hissed in my ear. “Why do they all have to be like that?”
“I think it’s a rule in the survivalist’s handbook.”
She gave a nervous chuckle. “I’ll bet it says something like, ‘Whenever you meet someone for the first time, do not introduce yourself or be helpful. Instead, be as big a jackass as you can. That way people you know can be shown how truly hardcore survivalist you are.’”
Three distant booms trembled the air. A wailing siren chased the explosions on a breeze. The seconds later, another louder boom shook the ground and the air.
My stomach knotted with the disgusting sensation of things going from bad to worse. “What was that?”
London pointed toward the hill. “I think that’s coming from the army camp.”
An uneasy murmur crawled across the camp as more bizarre noises wafted our way from beyond the hill. Were the aliens attacking the army? Did the army attack the aliens? There was no way to know what was going on over there. We simply had to wait.
And I hated the waiting, and had a nasty feeling that I was going to hate what came after the waiting even worse.
Out of the distant noises arose the distinctive whirring of a helicopter speeding our way.
The chop-chop-chopping sound increased.
Several of the campers around us brought their firearms up to the ready.
One of the helicopters that had passed overhead earlier whizzed over the top of the hill. This time it was flying much lower and faster. It cleared the camp in a matter of a second or two. Everybody caught a gust of wind from its rotors.
I spun around to see where it was going.
The helicopter turned sharply to follow the road back toward town.
A silver streak flashed through the air over head.
My heart skipped a beat.
The helicopter exploded in a massive crimson and silver ball.
The shockwave rattled my teeth.
Thick black smoke marked the path of the debris as it dropped from the sky.
Shouts and screams filled the air, as if the entire crowd had just realized that war with the aliens would not be a fun summer trip after all. It was going to be hellishly ugly.
The booming rat-a-tat report of the fifty caliber machine gun thundered in over the commotion of the crowd.
I jerked my head around just in time to see a UFO clear the top of the hill.
I clenched my jaw and wished I still had a gun.
Chapter 38 is here. Keep Reading!