Chapter 31

I dropped to my knees beside the woman and started to examine her. I first checked for a pulse, starting with her throat and then her wrist. When I found none, I didn't know what to do. The woman was an alien. Did she even have a pulse like we did? Then I dropped my head down by her face to see if she was breathing. I didn't hear or feel any breath. I decided that I had to do something. I started CPR.

It worked. I tried not to hurt the woman, treating her just as I would a child. Having no idea of what her internal anatomy was like, I had to guess at how much force to exert with my compressions of her chest and how much air she needed to take in. I just did what I thought was best. Thankfully it worked. The woman was breathing after a few minutes and I was able to find a weak pulse in her neck. By that time Melody and Helena were with me. I left when they took over.

I found that Vicky had taken charge of things while I'd been working on the woman. She had sentries at either side of us, standing on the back deck of their Argo, with their carbines at the ready. She also had two sentries posted up on the sand dune, scanning the terrain facing inland. The sentries were Karen, Samantha, Eleanor, and Christina. Emma was with Rebecca. They were dealing with the child / woman that had been struck in the shoulder with a rock and then clubbed. Lizzy came over to help Melody out. She brought a medic pack from the medical Argo. That left Vicky standing with her rifle, watching over everything. I walked over to talk to her.

"How are you doing?" I asked automatically when I got up to her.

"Sore," Vicky stated bluntly. "This rifle kicks like a mule and it wasn't really designed to be fired from the standing position, even if I was braced against the ROPS and supporting the weapon over the frame. I probably have the mother of all bruises on my shoulder."

"Sorry," I said in reply.

"Don't be," Vicky answered with a pained shrug of her shoulders, "it was my fault. So, what about you? Are you okay?"

"I'm pissed," I responded angrily, "at myself and my stupidity."

"It wasn't your fault," Vicky stated sympathetically, "We had very little information to go on and we had no idea that these people were on the beach or that they'd panic and run right into the hands of those hulking bastards."

"I still fucked up," I stated with a heavy sigh, "and I compounded it by pulling my pistol again and blasting away with it like I could hit something with it. I was just plain stupid."

"Well," Vicky responded with a sigh, "you won't get any argument out of me about that. It was dumb going for the pistol, but again it's not really your fault. You saw something horrifying and when you acted, you reacted without thinking. It happens! After all, none of us are really trained for this kind of shit. It takes time and exposure to harden up and get with what you need to do when it happens. Even the best trained soldiers in the world needed to be blooded. Don't be so hard on yourself. I'm certain your mother will give you an earful when you get home."

Vicky said the last with a smile and I knew she was right. I wasn't trained for this, but it didn't matter. If I wanted to lead my family, I needed to get with it. I just sighed and shook my head and went to check on the women that we'd stumbled upon. Before doing that I walked over to my Argo and grabbed my carbine. I'd left it there when I'd bailed out. I changed out the empty magazine and put on a new one. Vicky watched silently while I did it.

All the children turned out to be women. They all were no more than four feet tall. They all had red skin, four breasts, and a long, thin tail that ended in a small 'arrow' point. They also had small bumps on their foreheads. They looked like devils. In addition to pitch black nipples, they had black lips, black finger and toenails and long straight black hair, and other than a short loin cloth that hung between their legs, they were naked.

The first one to be hit was dead. She'd been bashed by the first barrage of rocks and then bashed by a club. She'd been the one carrying what I'd thought was a fishing pole. It turned out to be a light weight trident made from a stick. The trident portion looked to be sharpened bones that had been tied onto the end of the stick. It looked primitive, but effective. I picked it up and took it with me.

"How are they?" I asked Rebecca when I got to her.

"Both unconscious," Rebecca replied soberly without looking up from what she was doing. "Both have head injuries that I won't be able to really evaluate here. This one has a broken shoulder. I've immobilised her and I'm giving them fluids. We'll be transferring them to stretchers in a few minutes and then we can go. Unfortunately, without more information on them, I don't know if I'm helping them or hurting them."

"Did our 'benefactors' provide you with a tablet," I asked pointedly, "with the medical vehicle."

"I didn't even think to look," Rebecca admitted looking annoyed with herself. "I just grabbed the basic pack and ran."

"I'll go have a look," I offered, 'and see what I can find."

It only took me a couple of minutes to find it. It was in the first storage partition on the storage pod. I brought it to Rebecca and she thanked me. In less than a second she had it open and she was scrolling through the information that was there. After another minute, she looked up at me and smiled.

"They might look alien on the outside," Rebecca said with a grin, "but internally they're not much different from humans. With this I'll be able to at least make them comfortable until we get home. I know they gave us a load of equipment, but I really don't want to stay out here over night. The sooner we get out of here, the better I'll feel."

"Well," I grunted in reply, "we leave when you're ready. Is there anything I can do to help?"

The question didn't get answered. Just then, the report of a rifle filled the air. At its sound, I whirled my head about looking to see who was firing. I spotted Vicky heading towards the dunes. Then I spotted Karen down the beach where we'd entered it. She'd turned at the sound of the report as well and she'd seen Vicky running. It looked like she was going to take after Vicky as well. Instinctively, I shouted at her to stop. Then I looked over my shoulder and spotted Samantha doing the same. I shouted to her to stop as well.

"Both of you," I yelled at the top of my lungs, "stay where you are and keep your eyes on the terrain in front of you. Don't move unless we call for your help."

Then I ran, hoping that the girls would do as I had told them.

I made the dunes in a few seconds and found Helena, Christina, and Vicky all staring through their scopes at the grasslands in front of them. As I got there, Vicky squeezed off a shot. The big rifle made a hell of a lot of noise up close. It also made a hell of a mess when its round hit. Out on the grassland was a group of animals milling about under a clump of trees. One of them had just been lifted off its legs and tossed backwards amongst its fellows. That caused a bit of a stir.

I took up my binoculars and had a look. The animals looked familiar. They looked like hyenas but they were huge. They were about the size of what a lion would be back on Earth. The pack was pacing back and forth trying to keep under cover of the trees. I quickly noted that there was a second dead one much closer to our position. One of the girls must have dropped it. A quick count told me that there were at least ten more.

"What do you think?" I asked Vicky, lowering my binoculars.

"I shot what I think was the pack leader," Vicky informed me, keeping her eye on the scene before her, "or at least I think I did. It was the biggest critter in the pack, so right now I think they're trying to figure out what to do now. We're not safe though. Personally, I don't think they'll turn and run."

"So we're going to have to kill a few more." I said thoughtfully, as I gazed out towards the milling animals.

"Probably," Vicky admitted with a sigh. "I don't think we have much of a choice."

"Do you want my help?" I asked without hesitation.

"Right now they're just out of range of the carbines," Vicky informed me, "so an extra weapon isn't going to help much. I'm going to have to do most of the shooting. Why don't you get everyone ready to leave?"

"That sounds like a plan." I responded and then headed off to do just that. As I did, Vicky brought the rifle to her shoulder again and squeezed off another round.

There wasn't much for me to do to hurry people along. The two alien women had been loaded onto stretchers and those stretchers had been secured onto the medical trailer. They were covered with blankets and a canopy was positioned over their heads. It made me think of the old helicopter scenes in the series 'MASH'. Between them sat Melody. From her spot in the trailer she could keep an eye on the two women and the intravenous drips that Rebecca had hooked up to them.

I quickly passed the word about what was going on. Rebecca told me that they were ready to go and I nodded to that. Unfortunately, there was one thing that I felt needed to be done before we left. I wanted to deal with the other woman's body. I didn't care about the other 'beings'. Maybe it was because they looked so different from us, but the dead alien woman was another story. Unfortunately, there really wasn't any time to bury her. I paused for a moment and then made my decision. I told Emma to pull the cover off of the trailer Karen was towing. We'd take the body with us and bury it back at the settlement. It was the only thing we could do. Thankfully, Emma was with me on it. While she removed the trailer cover, I went and gathered up the body.

I quickly wrapped it in a blanket and carried it over to the trailer. The body weighed no more than fifty pounds. It felt like a child in my arms. It made me pissed again, at myself and at our so called 'benefactors'. Boy, would I love a chat with them. Once I got to the trailer, I laid the body in it and then pulled the cover back in place and secured it. I told everyone to mount up and to get ready to go. I then turned and trotted back to the dunes, to where Vicky and the two other girls were still standing guard. As I got there, Vicky squeezed off another round. Out on the grasslands a yelp rang out. Silence followed it.