A Small Gray Dot

I stood, reloading the mini from the ammo stash inside my jacket. There was no time to put it into its holder so I stuck it in a pocket. Talbert started to get up. I pointed the .357 at him and moved over to where Morgan still sat, her head weaving in a circle. From the corner where he’d slid when Duncan tackled him, Slim groaned and began to sit up.

“I’m taking Morgan, and we’re leaving,” I said softly. “If you want to stay here and wait for Henderson, help yourself. He’s one of them too, and I imagine he’s not going to be thrilled about this.”

The guys held their guns on them while I got Morgan to her feet. She wobbled like a top and started to collapse. I caught her under an arm, holding her up. She said something, her words slurring badly but I was able to make out “dickless sonofabitch”. I almost smiled. I lifted up her chin and studied her eyes. She was almost unconscious but she was mad and still trying to fight. I had a feeling that if he was anywhere near her when she came to, Talbert was in for another cussing out and a possible kick to the balls.  At the moment, though, she wasn’t going to be able to walk, let alone run. She was fairly small so I got her across my shoulder.

Duncan stared at me. “Hey, man, I’ll carry her if you want.”

“I’ve got her,” I said. I knew he was just trying to spare an “old man.” I smiled. “I’m not as old as I look.”

One of his eyebrows went up. “Uh, how old are you?”

“Thirty-two. Okay, let’s get out of here.” We certainly didn’t have time to stand around talking about my age.

He looked surprised but he nodded.

I looked down and noticed our two leftover Molotov cocktails. The nitwits had brought them in, too. There were also three strange objects lying there. They were black and vaguely gun-shaped. I’d never seen anything like them but guessed they were weapons. Talbert and Slim must’ve taken them from the aliens once they saw the one I’d killed. Odd. There had been ten – eleven counting the one I’d killed out in the hall – but they’d only had three weapons between them. I began to wonder if they were really fighters but it was something on which I could speculate later. I turned to the guys.

“Get the cocktails and those… whatevers… and come on, we’ve got to get out of here.” I didn’t hear any running footsteps so the sounds still coming from outside may have muffled the gunfire but best to get moving.

Duncan nixed the funny guns. “Leave ‘em. Whatever they are they don’t work. They pointed them at us and I think they tried to shoot but nothing happened. They’re either out of ammo – or broken.”

I nodded and headed for the door past the leather chaise were Morgan must have been resting because her jacket was lying there. I picked it up, tossed it to Duncan, and maneuvered around the remains of the Binqua. Lem scooped up the cocktails as he went out ahead of me. Duncan picked up one of the odd weapons anyway, and he and Percy followed us out. I supposed he wanted a souvenir. Lem headed down the hall. He obviously knew the stairwell’s direction so I followed him since I’d been unconscious when taken to the room.

We passed a room where I glanced in and noticed a table stacked with rifles. That indicated the Binqua had more than those funny guns of theirs. They had also acquired a number of ours. There wasn’t time to do anything about those.

We came up on the alien I’d killed in the hall, and behind me I heard, “Wait!” Talbert came limping from the room followed by Slim, who was rubbing the back of his head. “We’re going with you!”

I shrugged and kept going. I didn’t care whether they came or not. I wasn’t there to save them. Lem threw open the door to the stairs and started down. I clattered behind him followed by Percy and Duncan who were followed by Talbert and Slim.

We got to the bottom where Lem opened the door cautiously and peered out. He stepped outside and motioned to us. We went out hugging the side of the building. The noise had died down out front but as we hustled down to the corner I could see flickering from still burning fires.

Someone shouted something in a strange language and Talbert whispered, “That’s Mr. Henderson! He really is one of them!”

I shifted Morgan to get a better grip, and eyed him. Idiot. If we made it out, I’d deal with him then. I turned towards the fence. Going up the hill through the strand of trees was our only choice. This was taking longer than I wanted. I hoped they were all concentrating on the fire and not watching the monitors. Morgan hung limp on my shoulder. She was wearing a long sleeved shirt so I trusted she wouldn’t become too cold because I wasn’t going to stop to get her into the jacket.