Chapter 29
Attack of the Alien Plant
11 Years Post Apocalypse
Near a Distant Enclave. 70 Miles from the Fortress
The frightening, oppressive presence of darkness receded with the first sign of the morning sun and the faint beginnings of a sunrise. The two young fighters, trapped since the night before and expecting to die at sun up, failed to recognize the irony of this. No two people in the world were praying harder for rain, or at least a cloudy day. Sadly, the brightening sky was cloudless, the start of another beautiful, clear, spring day.
What had been a pleasant meadow a month ago, now smelled of old fires, smoke, charcoal, and an alien smell, what could only be described as fresh-cut grass mated with moldy cabbage.
“I'm sorry, Nicky. I really thought we could come out at night and kill this thing. Seemed like easy credits. Thought I could get that Galactic Market air-conditioner Mom keeps talking about.” The tall gangling 17-year-old boy, Darren, tried to control the frightened quaver in his voice. He struggled against the thousands of tendrils clinging to every inch of his body, making movement impossible.
In addition to being trapped since the night before, he had second-degree burns all over his body from using his pyrokinesis gift in an attempt to free himself. The tendrils holding him were made of something impervious to fire, something that also conducted heat very well. His friend, Nicky, had done a little better. The small dark-haired girl had used her telekinetic gift to dislodge and cut through the many tendrils surrounding her. But for every one she cut through, hundreds took its place. In addition, any tendril she cut with her telekinetically controlled knives would stick to her blades, quickly making them useless. She lay there, too exhausted to use her gift, or even move.
“Any luck with your cell phone?” she asked. Her own was clenched in her right hand. If she twisted her neck just right, she could just barely see the screen. “Mine keeps saying I'm out of range.”
“Mine's fried. Galactic Market crap,” Darren said. “I'm scared. I should have listened to Mom.”
Nicky didn't bother answering.
The house-sized alien, resting 100 yards away, slowly expanded with the sunrise. Its leaves unfurled, catching the early morning sun. Each leaf shone like a mirror, reflecting the sun's light. It was a beautiful thing to watch. The unfurling leaves slowly joined, forming a giant dish hundreds of feet across. The dish's function was to focus the sun's light and heat into a small area, say the size of the two young humans it had trapped nearby.
The rising sun revealed burnt barren surroundings. Everything for hundreds of yards around the alien had been turned to ash.
The two trapped fighters could already feel the heat dispelling the early morning chill, and knew it would soon be much, much hotter. Not even Darren's fire resistance would be any help. A few human-shaped piles of ash held what might once have been guns or armor, now melted to slag. By noon, the area surrounding the two fighters would be hot enough to melt steel.
At first, Darren thought the faint booming noise was from his racing heartbeat, but it quickly grew louder.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
They both twisted their heads in the noise's direction.
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A group of Tumtum, ogre-like giants came into view. They walked in step, moving like human soldiers in a line, one in front of the other.
When the first Tumtum stepped onto the burnt area, millions of tendrils came out of the ground. The Tumtum roared and struggled, but the alien plant's tendrils slowly brought it down. Then the next Tumtum followed, using the first as a stepping stone. Tendrils tried to pull the second one down too, but it appeared the alien plant had reached its limit. The second Tumtum walked over the first and, barely bothering to struggle, lay down in front of the first. The third Tumtum used the first two to get even closer to the alien plant. Then a fourth, fifth, sixth, each Tumtum moving that much closer to the giant alien plant.
“What the hell are they doing?” Darren asked.
“This may be our lucky day,” Nicky said.
The Tumtums kept coming. The tenth? Threw a large smoke bomb at the plant. A thick smokey haze soon covered the area, temporarily preventing the plant from focusing the sun.
The two humans felt noticeably cooler.
“Is it Ian?” Darren asked.
“No. It's that other guy with an army of Tumtums.”
“Wait, there's someone else?” Darren asked.
“No, dumb-ass. Course it's Ian.”
“Do you sense anything?” Darren asked.
“No. And that's creepy. Anyone strong enough to control that many aliens should have an overpowering mental presence. It's like whoever is doing this isn't even there.”
“Maybe you need to put stat points into the telepathy part of your gift.”
“Shut up.”
There was a loud roar as the remaining Tumtums made it to the giant stem of the alien plant and grabbed it, pushing and pulling it back and forth, until, with a loud cracking noise, it slowly came out of the ground like an obstinate weed, dying moments later with an unearthly scream. The plant, along with its tendrils, vanished. The two fighters were free.
With a groan, Darren pulled himself to his feet. He received an announcement from BG.
You let Ian Anderson steal your kill. Because you are a loser human who let Ian Anderson steal your kill, you get 0 credits and 0 stat points.
Note. If you kill that kill thief, Ian Anderson, you would get a minimum of 1,000,000 credits and many, many stat points.
“That's right, we were just about to kill that plant thing before he showed up. You're such a bitch, BG,” Nicky said.
“You got the BGgram too?” Darren asked.
“Obviously.” Nicky pulled herself to her feet. “Oh, my god! It's him!” She rushed forward to get a better look. Darren followed.
A Kitykity the size of a small elephant, with a tired-looking human dressed head to toe in armor on its back, passed the Tumtums and entered the hole in the ground created by the alien plant's death.
Ian, the tired rider, dismounted. He walked with a limp and moved like an old man. He held out a bag and signaled to his pet.
The ground around the hole seemed to ripple and move, and several bright silver oblong objects, each the size of an American football, floated up and into the bag.
“Alien seeds,” Nicky said. “Good thinking.” She pushed forward, trying for a better look.
“Here's a question,” Darren said, tagging along. “If an alien plant is killed, does it turn into an alien tree? Maybe it turns into a useful alien animal?”
“Ian!” Nicky shouted.
The man in the distance didn't respond.
Instead, an army of twenty giant Tumtums advanced on them. The sound of the giant alien's footsteps this close to them was deafening.
The two backed away. “We weren't going to kill you. Honest!” Darren shouted.
The twenty Tumtums glared at them. “ROAARR!” They extended their right arms and pointed.
“Are they pointing at our home? Did Ian just say 'go home'?” Darren asked.
Nicky tried to go around the one in front, only to have it move to block her. “ROAARR!” Once again, the Tumtums pointed in the same direction.
“Fine, be that way.” she backed up slowly. Before turning to leave, they could just make out the tired, old-looking man as he slowly re-mounted his pet and left, taking his Tumtum army with him.
Darren's cell phone started buzzing. “Now it's working? I thought it was broken.” He checked his somewhat scorched phone. “You went after that alien, didn't you?” He read, “Please call me back. I'm worried. I hope you die! Please don't die! Call me back, now!” He groaned. “Mom is going to kill me.”
“My uncle and brother aren't happy either,” Nicky said, checking her phone. “Hey, I look okay, right?”
“Suppose. Why?”
“I did my best to send Ian images of us doing things most guys find exciting. No response.”
Darren shrugged. “Maybe he's gay. Suppose I'd have a shot?”
“He's not supposed to be. I'm nothing fantastic, but I look decent and it's not like I'm too young or anything. Most guys around here would take me up on it. He could give me a ride on his pet, and then he'd ride...”
“His loss,” Darren said. “You know you could send me those images?”
“Fuck off.”