The men of the posse climbed from their vehicles and checked for injuries. Other than a burst radiator on a truck that had hit a tree, they were all in reasonable shape for men who had lost their leader while in pursuit of a UFO. The cloud of dust that had jumped from the road was gone. While none of the men could give a definite reason for dust to act oddly, they could all see the intense light coming from the direction of the house the sheriff said was the probable place the bad guys would go.

That was enough to get the men walking in the right direction. Most of them suspected the dust had something to do with the UFO; some sort of esoteric attack meant to frighten them.

Grumbling among themselves as they walked, they built indignation into outright anger. They were not a bunch of backwoods yokels to be frightened by stage magic; they were men tired of getting the poor end of the stick.

In pairs or on their own, men entered the woods beside the road and use the trees for cover as they neared the driveway to the house.

Stolen novel; please report.

Gunfire from further down the road told the men they were in the right place and that the fight was not over.

The light grew brighter as they closed on the house, still too far in the woods to see the home or the source of the light.

Two of the men on the extreme left of the line neared the gully and saw movement. Using the experience gained from hunting in the barrens, they crept to the edge of the gully and saw the aliens. Enough light filtered through the trees that the men could distinguish small shapes walking about the bottom of the gully, performing errands the men could not understand.

In unison, they began firing their guns at the aliens, working bolts as fast as they could to take advantage of the surprise. It was an exhilarating moment as they aimed and fired, repeating the movements in a ballet of death.

The first suggestion that something was wrong was when none of the aliens ran for cover. The next alarm was when the aliens, still standing, faced the flashes of the guns and raised their hands in a pointing gesture.

Too late, the men realized their mistake. The earth about them burst apart as the aliens blasted the men to particles.