Chapter Thirty-Nine

Run to the hills
Run for your life
Run To The Hills
Iron Maiden

For a very long moment the four of them lay on the ground looking at the scattered remains of the building and Stargate with their eyes and mouths wide.  The sound of the explosion rang loudly in their ears as the dust gathered in their throats making them dry and tight. Heads shaking, hands waving to clear the dust away and the harsh sound of coughing came from all as they staggered to their feet.  Daniel felt like he’d been hit by an 18-wheeler having been slammed into Jack and Nick like that.  He moved his shoulder around in its socket to try and ease some of the pain there while he felt of his chest and torso hoping he hadn’t broken any ribs.

“Everyone all right?” Jack asked as he continued to take in the sight of pulverized Stargate.  The Big Question was; how the hell are we going to get home? But the More Important Question was; “What’s that moving in the grass?”

“What?” Nick said in a loud voice as he worked his finger in and around his ears trying to clear the muffled sound the concussion left him with. “What?”

“Get down!” Daniel shouted at his Son when he saw Jack raise the automatic weapon at his side.  Nick didn’t need to hear those particular words to understand them he just hit the deck. Jack fired into the tall grass just as the first of the big cats appeared. If Nick hadn’t gone down the cat would have landed on his back but now it was yelping in pain at the indignation of the bullets in its shoulders.  It had two huge tusks jutting from the sides of his face like a saber toothed tiger and the overhanging sharp fangs to match. The thing had paws that were bigger than Ares’ big mitts with claws to match. The cat was all black, even its eyes and whiskers were pitch.  They would impossible to see in the dark of night until they were right on top of you. “Run!”

Ares turned toward the moving grass, his first instinct was to fire off a few rounds of fireballs but they did not rise in his hands. Not here.  Being left with the gun he raised it and shot off a few rounds as he stooped and grabbed Nicholas by the upper arm to haul him back to his feet. “Get up!”

On his feet, Nick raised his weapon once more and turned toward the tall grass.  It looked alive as it fell steadily towards them in line sleek lines.  The four of them ran back toward the town the muffled ringing in their ears replaced by the wisping of the falling grass.  The cats were stealthy and the cats were patient as they stalked their prey from the cover of grass and trees.  The cats were also intelligent and soon the four men were met on the road by several of them emerging from the grass just up ahead. As the big cats started to pen them in the silence was replaced by low growls which grew into a round of caterwauling.   Standing tightly back-to-back and with no other choice the four of them opened fire on the cats surrounding them waiting to pounce.  The ringing sound of the reports did nothing to scare or deter the cats and neither, it seemed, did the sight of their dead and dying pride-mates.

Suddenly something swooped down from above and sharp talons ripped through Jack’s cap and grazed his skull.  The cats had been joined by a flock of birds, also pitch black, about the size of turkey vultures.  They had very sharp hungry beaks which opened as they dove in to get a nice taste.  It seemed that, somehow, they were also working in conjunction with the big cats around them; a planned aerial attack to support the ground troops.  Now they had a battle on two fronts. Daniel and Nick fired into the air trying to kill the birds but like the cats, against the veil of night they were nearly impossible to see.

“Come on! Keep moving!” Jack shouted as he fired clearing the path of Chimera in front of them.  “We have to get back to the town!”  The gun registered empty and Ares fired over Jack’s shoulder while Jack reloaded.  One of the flying beasts grabbed a hold of Ares’ raven locks and its talons raked his skull and sunk deep as they folded up in a vice grip to grab a chunk of hair and flesh.  Still continuing to fire at the cats in front of him Ares reached up with his free hand, grabbed the talons assaulting him and yanked the bird away. He cast it to the roadside and stomped on its neck with a loud crack.  If his powers were nullified by that compound he might be able to counteract Wolfgar’s spell and take control of the animals hunting them but instead he was reduced to fighting like a Mortal and he didn’t like it. Not one little bit.  The cats howled in pain and either fell dead on the road or limped off hurriedly back into the tall grass to nurse their wounds. How many of them went down before they reached the first buildings of the town they didn’t know but later each man would think that a dozen would be a fair number.

Daniel reloaded. Nicholas reloaded and so did Ares before they got to the first building which might offer safe haven if it weren’t a butcher shop that’s windows were already broken out and meat hauled off long ago.  The birds were a real nuisance as they swooped and squawked and sought to peck at exposed bits of flesh, they were good at targeting the firing hand of each man and they all suffered from being scratched and pecked on the backs of their right hands.  They were also a royal pain in the ass they kept the attention focused upward on the immediate problem rather on the ground where the real threat was clawing and snarling.

Eyes focused upward instead of down, Nicholas fired at the flapping wings of the nearest pecking annoying bird and hardly felt it when the razor sharp claws of the Chimera sank through his left calf.  He did notice when the leg refused to move at his command and he went crashing to the ground face-to-face with the hissing fanged beast. The cat reared back on its haunches and sprang at him from a distance of less than ten feet, Nick had just enough time to raise the gun in his upward and fire blowing the cat’s head off its sinewy shoulders and splattering him with bits of blood and brain. He tried to get up and succeeded but his leg wouldn’t hold him. “I’m down!” Nick shouted in dismay. Daniel ran to his aid but Ares pushed him away saying he had it and wrapping a brawny arm around Nick’s waist. That was just as well, Ares was the only one of them large enough to bear Nick’s weight and not be held back.

The smell of fresh blood permeated the night air and rose on the breeze to those waiting in the tall grass.  It called to the waiting pride and smaller creatures telling them that dinner was near.  From out of nowhere an unseen Chimera pounced landing square on Jack’s back digging its black claws deep as its tusk tried to pierce his skull and its dripping fangs searched out his neck. “Get it off me!” He cried out as he tried to protect his throat with one hand and bat at the creature with the other.  Daniel raised the gun but it was almost impossible to fire with certainty that he would hit the cat and not Jack. Ares dropped the gun letting it rest at his side by the shoulder strap as he grabbed for the dagger in his belt. Dragging Nick along for the ride he lunged the few feet between them and the attacking feline to plunge the dagger deep into the cat’s neck.  It jerked harshly causing its nails to sink deeper into Jack’s back and Jack howled out in pain. The other cats closed in and Nick began to fire at the moving shadows before the Chimera could fall away from Jack’s back to lie dead on the road.  Seeing the easy meal some of the birds broke off their attack to have a snack on the fresh kill.

“You all right?” Daniel shouted.

“Keep going!” Jack shouted back. The vest had done a good job protecting his vital organs from the cat but his shoulders and lower back were torn to shit. There was no time to tend wounds they had to find a safe place to hold up for the night.  The palace was closest but its doors were wide open, the cats would just follow them in.  They could get to the second floor or maybe find a room they could barricade themselves in for a while on the first floor.  The first floor was lined with ten foot high arched windows all the way around and eventually they cats would figure out that pretty stained glass was just as breakable as the plain ordinary glass.  The safest place was the church. With its big wood doors that still worked. It too had stained glass windows but they were at least twenty feet off the ground to start with and they had decorative wrought grates in front of them. Plus it had that full 360 view and a 25 yard kill zone all around. “Make for the church!”

Limping, wounded, breathless and drenched in sweat they stayed shoulder-to-shoulder and back-to-back as best they could as they headed toward the church in the center of the town. When the road narrowed as they reached the palace the cats began to spread out around them, almost as if they were backing off, and the birds ceased their kamikaze routine as they took the rooftops.  “What’s going on?” Ares asked.

“I don’t know but I don’t like it.” Jack replied.

The Chimera kept pace with them as they walked but they didn’t approach instead it was almost as though they were trying to herd them somewhere. They were easier to see now that they were in the open space of the village rather than on the path to where the Stargate had once been housed.  Their black eyes gleamed unblinklingly in the moonlight as they kept watch on their intended prey.  Staring down at the cats wondering what they were doing Daniel didn’t notice when Jack stopped and ran right into him. Jack let out a cry of pain as Daniel’s shoulder collided with his.  “Sorry.” Daniel muttered.

“Daniel?”

“Yeah?”  Daniel didn’t like the sound of Jack’s voice and he began to turn around.

“What the hell is that?”

“By the Gods!” Ares declared.

Perched not thirty yards in front of the church were three animals that almost resembled dogs if they didn’t look so much like lizards—or dragons—and if they weren’t roughly the size of polar bears.  They sat on their hind legs staring at the approached troop with the faces of demented wolves watching them with glowing red eyes. Instead of fur they had scales that could be any dark color, it was hard to tell in the moonlight, but they shined and glistened as they caught the silvery rays above and bounced an array of blue, purple, and green into the night. Their tails were long and slender like that of a lizard (or dragon) but they had great scales jutting out from the sides and from the looks of them they were pretty darn sharp. All in all they looked like the mythical Foo-Dog more than anything else. They were pretty bad tempered from what Daniel knew of Eastern Mythology.

It looked like the game had just been kicked up a notch.  The first thought was to find another direction to go in but all directions other than forward were blocked by the snarling hissing Chimera. Glancing back the monsters in front of them had begun their attack.  Someone somewhere might have yelled ‘BLITZ’ but if they did none of them heard it. All three of the huge animals pounced upon the group at once bringing them all to the ground as they fired off haphazard shots lucky not to hit each other.  The bullets made a distinct tink sound as they bounced off the bodies of the snarling beasts. Ares had no choice but to let go of Nicholas as one of the beasts flew at him and he ducked just in time to have the thing fly over his head landing close by. Near to the ground and level with the big cats one of the Chimera saw a golden opportunity and took it as it lunged for Ares’ face and exposed throat. The impact was enough to knock the Big Man the rest of the way off his feet and onto his back, he reached up just in time to grab the cat by the throat and keep it from sinking its teeth into him.  The tusks flailed back and forth and Ares kept turning his head to avoid them as he tried to both choke and expel the cat at the same time.  The cat was strong and wiry it dug its hind claws into Ares’ flanks and held on. When Ares tried to lift it up the claws sank in deeper ripping him open in long bloody streaks.  The big cat batted at Ares’ head with its front claws taking away chunks of flesh from his scalp and cheek.

Bang!

The cat collapsed on top of him.

Ares looked up amazed to see Daniel standing over him the weapon in his hand smoking. He’d laid the muzzle of the gun against the cat’s head and pulled the trigger.

“Don’t say I never did nothin’ for ya.” Daniel cracked and turned back to the battle at hand.

Nick might be on his knees but he wasn’t out and he fired from the low position at the cats creeping closer to them.  Jack and Daniel kept firing at the Foo-Dog creatures but they were having no effect the bullets just bounced off of their tough scaled skin.  Back on his feet, Ares took to punching the beasts with bare fists rather than waste any further time with the gun.  His blows were enough to make one of the beasts rethink its decision to snack on the God of War long enough for Ares to get the dagger out of his belt once more. The others had knives but they were at a disadvantage here as Ares’ knife was made for battle and theirs was better suited to opening cans and cutting twigs of wood.  Expecting the creature to come in for another round Ares stood his ground and waited. The creature struck out with its jagged tail whipping it over its head and slicing through Ares’ already wounded cheek. He struck back with the dagger slicing off the tip of the tail.  The creature snarled and barked its agony.

Jack was figuring out what Ares already knew; the damn things were bullet proof but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be harmed or killed.  Just the friggin’ guns weren’t going to be of any use to them.  Their knives were too small for this job but Jack had something that just might do the trick if he could get close enough.  He let the shoulder strap take the weight of the gun and caught the attention of the nearest beast. “Here doggie doggie.” He called in a sing-song voice which drew the attention of those with him as well as the other creatures.  Its ears pricked up and it tilted its head in Jack’s direction and gave him a stare from behind those glowing red eyes that almost said; you’re addressing me?  You’ve got to be kidding.  It seemed to assess Jack and found the danger to be minimal. It struck out in the same manner as the other creature with its tail but Jack ducked and it went whizzing over his head nearly missing Daniel.  Disappointed and upset at not having made contact the creature seemed to take it as a personal insult as it reared back, sank, low, and then lunged at Jack. Jack waited until the last second to dodge the attack, the animal landed on its feet, turned its head with its open mouth dripping with saliva and Jack shoved something into the open hole. “Get down!” He shouted.

The beast hacked and tried to cough out the obstruction as it began to stumble away from the group shaking its head violently.  Five seconds later it blew apart as the grenade in its throat exploded.  “Heh! Beat that!” Jack shouted in victory at the mess of innards and spray of blood left behind. They hadn’t come to Sengul expecting a big firefight but four grenades were standard issue on every mission.  Since they hadn’t come expecting a big confrontation none of them had a whole lot of extra ammunition with them and if they didn’t get into that church soon—hopefully there wasn’t yet another wild beast waiting for them inside—they were bound to run out of rounds.

Bewildered and confused by the explosion and the sudden loss of their pack-mate the two other animals backed off and seemed to silently assess the situation. Those glowing red eyes were sharply trained on the invaders as the Foo-Dogs lay low on the ground with their hind ends in the air ready to pounce or strike out with those whipping tails.  Behind them were loud hissing and in front of them snarling, either way they looked all they saw were exceedingly sharp teeth and claws. Overhead the birds continued their squawking and cawing.  The Chimera crept closer, Nick fired on them striking three and killing in short controlled bursts of gunfire.  The church was still a good distance away.

Jack was a brave and daring man to be sure and as such no one really wanted to attempt his feat and shove a grenade down one of the beast’s open mouth hoping not to get their arm taken off by those powerful snapping jaws.  Maybe they didn’t have to get that close.  “Give me a second.” Daniel said softly and reached into his pocket for his ever-present 5^th Avenue Bar. Opening it slowly and taking the grenade from his vest even slower he rubbed the chocolate all over the hand-thrown weapon before pulling the pin and tossing in the direction of the Foo-Dogs.  It bounced near the one on the left and landed near its front paw.  Just before the creature batted it away the chocolate scent came to its nose. It bent its head, opened its mouth and the grenade went off.

Another one down.

One more to go.  That would still leave the cats and the birds but they’d be better off than they were now in any event.

“Good thinking.” Jack commended.  He was in agony and if he didn’t get to lie down soon and take off the vest he thought he’d just fall down.  “Don’t suppose the other one will go for it.”

They didn’t have to find out. The remaining Foo-Dog took off for the woods without looking back.  After another moment the big cats broke off but didn’t run into the cover of the woods. Instead they lounged around the steps, doorways and streets of the town keeping an eye on the four men who’d put up such a strange and unexpected fight. “Self-preservation.” Daniel said absently.

“What are you waiting for?” Ares barked. “Get going.”  While they had the chance and with two of them wounded heavily they needed to get as far as they could before the cats changed their minds or the Foo-Dog came back with friends.  Getting a hold of Nicholas by the waist he started toward the church with Daniel aiding Jack close behind.

The Chimera may have given up. The Foo-Dog may have retreated. The birds were not so smart or so kind. They attacked the four men the entire way to the rugged church doors. They pecked, nipped and ripped with their talons, they even took letting go with great horrid rounds of bird-shit that plopped on them and splattered giving off the most god-awful smell any of them had ever encountered.  “That’s just rude!” Jack shouted up at them as he batted at them with one hand and tried to keep heading straight.  One of them, seeing a golden opportunity in Jack’s upturned face just couldn’t resist and let go a fresh hot load.  It hit Jack square in the eye and ran down his check. “Aw for cryin’ out loud!” He ran the hand that had been batting at the birds across his face before the crap could ooze into his mouth.

Ares pushed open one of the great doors with ease and they all went into the church. However, the door didn’t close fast enough to keep all of the birds out and three or four of them flew into the church to perch upon the statues and squawk loudly.  Settled Nicholas in the second to nearest pew he pulled the nearest one out from its place and shoved it up against the door, he did the same with another hoping he hadn’t just barricaded them in here with one of those cats or strange dog creatures.  Leaving the three men in the main church he went off to investigate the remainder of the building and secure it.

Not expecting to camp out or go exploring no one had any camping equipment and that meant to no lantern.  They did have small flash lights but they wouldn’t offer much light and they would no offer no warmth.  With the sun go the planet was cooling rapidly going from a balmy 82 degrees to something that felt like 60 and the night was still very young.  Daniel didn’t really like the idea of burning the pews but what choice did they have?  Rummaging around in the small room behind the altar he found parchment paper to start a fire with along with several long matches. He also found several very spindley chairs and thought they would burn better than the heavy pews and be easier to turn into kindling as well.  “Do you think we should stay here or move deeper into the church? The basement? There’s a small room back there,” he hitched his thumb back the way he’d come.

“Forget the basement,” Ares said, “there’s only way in or out, we’d be trapped down there if any of those creatures should get in here.”  At least if they stayed here in the main church they had the big heavy doors, a back door past the small room, and a door at the bottom of the bell tower to try and escape through. “Build your fire, Jackson. It’s getting cold in here.”  Much as one would find in a Catholic church there were several rows of candles in glass jars to be lit and prayers be said over. Ares took some of the long matches and lit all of the candles to bring more light into the old church while Daniel build a fire in the middle of the altar.

Jack stripped off his vest and shit covered shirt, used a clean patch to wipe his face and then threw it toward Daniel. “You can burn that too.”  He began sifting through the scant medical supplies they’d brought with them in order to clean and bandage his wounds. Just as he thought; the vest did a good job protecting most of his back but his shoulders and lower flanks were torn wide open. Nick was doing the same only he’d had to strip off his pants and was now lounging on the pew half naked as he tried to inspect the gash in his calf.  It was deep he could see the muscle severed in half there.   That wasn’t going to heal over night.

The fire burning nicely Daniel looked up at Ares. “You find a water supply?”

“Down in the basement there’s a kitchen.” Ares answered and began taking off his own shirt to get a look at his wounds.

A kitchen? Maybe there was some food down there too.  Just as he turned to make his way toward the basement one of the giant birds flew over head and took a dump on Jack’s head.

“That’s it!” Jack roared and everyone else tried not to laugh. “If someone doesn’t shoot that thing I’m gonna have a conniption!”

Ares obliged by drawing his firearm and plugging the bird. It fell dead to the floor of the old church.  “Dinner?”

“Ick,” Jack replied. “I’m not eatin’ that.”  He stomach rolled at the thought of fresh warm meat but pitched at the idea of eating those dirty birds.

Down in the kitchen Daniel came across several large pans and filled one of them with fresh water from the sink. He also found clean dishtowels and some small bandages that wouldn’t be of use to any of them but next to the bandages was a bottle of some Sengul product used to clean and disinfect cuts, he put that next to the pan and dishtowels.  Rummaging around in the cabinets he found canned goods and containers of dried grain and flour.  He found something that looked and smelled like tea and a small sewing kit.  Gathering up what he thought was edible along with the other items he stumbled back up the stairs and started doling it all out.

Some time later, wounds cleaned, stitched and bandaged and bellied full of Sengul food their hearts slowed down to a normal pace.  They were safe for the night though they could hear the animals prowling around out there it seemed they would go back into the woods when daybreak came.  Then what would they do?

“How are we gonna get home?”  Nick gave voice to the question hanging in the air like a thick blanket of fog.

“Eh, they’ll come looking for us eventually.” Jack said.  Under the circumstances it wasn’t very reassuring but it was the best he could do.

“Yeah and until then what do we do?” Nick asked.  “I’ve got…” he stopped, looked down and took count. “Two full clips, one half empty, four grenades and, well that’s about it.  What have the rest of you got?”

They took stock.  All together they had seven full clips, three half-empty clips and fourteen hand grenades.  It was nice but surely it wouldn’t last them a few weeks until a ship could get here and pick them up.  “Tomorrow we’ll just have to look around and see what we can find.” Jack said.

“They weren’t real big on guns, General.” Nick said. “In fact I didn’t see one the whole time I was here.  They had taser things the police used and clubs, they liked those.  What good do you suppose close range weapons are going to be on those things?”

The unvoiced answer was; not much.

Daniel had an ace up his sleeve or at least he hoped he did.  “Tomorrow we’re going to climb that mountain.”

“What the hell for?” Ares snorted.

“Because I’ve got a friend who lives on the very top and maybe he’ll be able to help us out.”  Well that was assuming little Adoy was still alive and animals hadn’t gotten him as well.  “If he can’t then we’ll just have to do our best to supply and fortify this place.”

“And wait weeks? While Wolfgar is back on Earth doing God knows what?” Nick roared.

“What else can we do?” Daniel countered.  He knew the same thing the rest of them did; what happened here on Sengul was just a warm-up. It was practice and nothing more.  The real show was going to take place in Altair Ain and it may well do so while they were stuck here. When they got home it could be too late.  Calla wouldn’t let that happen, she just wouldn’t, no matter how bad her condition was Calla would fight tooth and nail to the bitter end.  That thought made him proud and scared to death at the same time. While he was in a church he took the opportunity to say a little prayer; Hello, God, it’s me Daniel.  Please let Calla and my family be all right, please don’t let Wolfgar kill her while I’m gone or let her die from natural causes.  Please let her be alive and well when I get home.  Please let them all be alive and well. Please.

End of Chapter Thirty-Nine of
Golden Years
by Moon Mistress
a/k/a Lisa Beth Darling
Go to
Chapter Forty