Morningstar/Alignment by Keith Trimm (people reading books txt) 📕

Ramsey stood watching his men leave the plane holding tight to the webbing along side the fuselage of the plane. Once all the troops were gone he approached the ramp and fought falling out watching his men float to the ground. He immediately noticed something out of the ordinary as he scanned the scene before him. There were birds, or what looked like vultures gliding about his men slowly flapping huge wings darting in and out. He then watched in horror as his men were one by one being attacked by these creatures as they floated to the ground below.

He knew the plane was falling to the ground feeling it shake and shimmy as the plane made its death plunge. He reached over to a lever attached to the rail loading system and pulled it unlocking the pallets allowing them to freely roll out the back of the plane. Moments after leaving the plane, the chutes on the pallets caught air and slowed down their descent.

The plane was now empty and falling to the ground below. It was time to go Ramsey thought and stepped towards the ramp ready to jump.

All of a sudden something grabbed one of the hydraulic arms and pulled itself onto the ramp. It stood tall and dark, flapping its massive leathery wings behind it in the wind. With its two bony clawed fingers, it grasped the edge of the opening and pulled itself into the plane. It had the face of a canine with red eyes and thin gangly legs that held up its massive seven-foot frame.

Ramsey swallowed hard and using his well-honed reflexes pulled his M-16 machine gun from his side. With a three shot burst, he blasted the beast in the chest sending it falling back out the opening of the plane. It was now or never.

He attached his static line hook to the wire and jumped from the plane watching it fly away as he fell. The chute opened like a giant mushroom and he was yanked, slowed in descent. He held his rifle in a ready position.

From above, a second beast swooped down and hovered twenty feet off of Ramsey gently flapping its immense leathery wings. It matched Ramsey’s decent keeping an eye on him as he gently floated downward. Blinking its red eyes, the beast moved its head in closer and smelled the air around the man, flaring its nostrils in and out.

Ramsey examined the creature while keeping his finger on the rifle trigger. He sensed intelligence in its mannerisms and behavior, allowing the beast to come close enough to get a good close look in its eyes.

The creature then folded its wings and dove out of Ramsey’s view. He looked down and watched the beast power-dive two thousand feet below, gracefully landing among a flock of its own kind. Ramsey tried to maneuver his chute away from where the creatures were below, hoping to land in a safe place far away. His men were scattered along a five-mile stretch of land, armed only with their rifles and training to help them survive. He felt like they were fish in a barrel to these creatures and he hoped desperately that some of his men would make it to safety

Minutes passed and he was now two hundred feet above the ground and could see his men running along the ground being chased by the creatures. The pops of rifle fire could be heard from below like firecrackers on the 4th of July. At one hundred feet, he was able to spy an open section of land and pulled on his parachute chords to steer himself in that direction The creatures below herded some of his men into a large group surrounding them like sheep in a pen.

Ramsey clenched his teeth preparing his body to land hard on the ground below. Holding the parachute straps with both hands, he awaited the imminent impact only seconds away. The ground rushed up at him quickly. He was ready to slam feet first into the hard surface below. Closer and closer he came, his view filled with the green grass of the prairie.

He struck the ground hard rolling to a stop, tangled in his parachute chords. Unbuckling the pack, Ramsey scrambled to his feet pulling the M-16 from behind his back holding it in ready position. Spinning in a circle, he scanned the area looking for any threats, keeping the machine gun out in front. For the moment, he was alone. He then pulled a knife and cut away the chute from around him, allowing the breeze to carry it away. He stood alone, miles away from his men.

His hand reached to his belt and grasped the two-way radio releasing it from its snaps. He brought the radio to his lips and said, "Fox one come in, this is Fox commander, over." He waited for a reply scanning the horizon for any sign of his men. Again he said into the radio, "Fox one come in! This is Fox commander, over!" There was no reply. He needed to rejoin his men at any cost and took off running in the direction that he last saw his men from the air. Sixty pounds of gear on his back wore on him as he sprinted across the tall grass prairie towards his men. His throat was dry and his shoulder stung as the strap dug into his muscles.

One hundred and fifty yards into his run he came to a stop panting, trying to regain his breath. He buckled over with his hands on his knees ready to vomit any second. He saw out of the corner of his eye a shadow on the grass cross his path then dart away. He raised his head and swallowed hard as he saw one of the beasts circling above him like a vulture. His gun was in ready position with half of the thirty round clip left unspent.

Another beast joined and then another until there was twenty or so of them above him silhouetted against the bright sun in the blue sky. He again grasped his radio and made a plea for help. "Fox one leader come in! This is Fox commander I am under attack, I repeat, I am under attack!" He placed the radio back on his belt and held the rifle in ready position.

With the grace of a school of fish, the entire group of beasts came down from the sky like a tornado touching the ground. They landed with the elegance of a flock of birds completely surrounding him, blocking any chance for escape. They all stood tall and lanky with wrinkled brown skin and massive leathery wings. Their eyes all glowed red and they blinked with an odd curiosity as the beasts examined him.

One of them stepped forward and folded its wings behind its back. It cocked its head as if it were confused by the soldiers’ appearance. The nostrils on the beast flared and took a deep sniff. It took another step forward. Ramsey stood still, trying not to spook it waiting for it to make a move. He had fifteen shots left in the clip and another full clip on his belt that he could exchange in two seconds. He might be able to take out ten of them before he was ripped to pieces.

"Are you the Son of Man?" the lead creature asked in a high pitched whine.

Ramsey just stood dumbfounded looking into its red eyes. "What?" Ramsey asked, furling his brow.

"Are you the Son of Man?" it asked again in the same tone.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," he replied. "What the hell are you?" he asked the creature.

"You are not the Son of Man?" the creature asked with a single-minded curiosity.

"I am the son of my father if that is what you mean," he replied.

"The father?" the creature asked.

"This is getting pretty stupid," Ramsey replied raising his rifle to the creature. "Back the hell up!" he yelled and put his finger on the trigger. "Back up and let me out of here!"

The creature looked to its right then to its left. Looking back at Ramsey, it raised its wings and took a step forward. Ramsey let loose a three shot burst into the creature killing it instantly. It fell to the ground in a crumpled mass of flesh and blood. The surrounding creatures jumped on it and tore it to pieces devouring it mercilessly, twenty feet from Ramsey. Until now, he had felt he could control the situation and escape. Now he felt it was only a matter of time before he would meet the same fate.

The mass of blood and flesh before him sickened him and the smell of the creature made him gag. Another creature stepped towards him and he raised his rifle to greet it. It stopped and backed off. He now knew the creatures indeed knew fear.

From behind, he heard the rapid popping sounds of machine gun fire and the engine sound of an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) approaching. He spun around to see the beasts scattering and taking flight as the ATV approached, guns blazing. The mass of creatures took off like a flock of dove scared by the sounds of the rifle fire. The machine gunner took aim and took out one of the creatures’, thirty feet off the ground, sending it crashing to the ground only feet from Ramsey.

Ramsey waived his arms and got the attention of the ATV driver. The vehicle cut through the tall grass and stopped next to him allowing him to jump into the backseat. The ATV had two bucket seats in front, a bench seat in the back and a machine gun mounted behind the back seat. The vehicle was now filled to capacity with the addition of the captain.

"Are you alright captain?" the driver asked.

"I am now," he replied.

"We received your transmission sir, our radio is not transmitting. It must have been damaged when it touched ground."

"Is the other ATV running?"

"Yes sir, they are setting up a command post now sir."

"Let’s get there!" Ramsey yelled and the ATV spun its tires taking off towards the post.

Chapter 21

"Over here!" yelled the sergeant from across the command post. Tony helped unpack one of the pallets and scrambled to stack the supplies where the sergeant told him. The second ATV was used to haul the pallets to the campsite by use of a hitch on the rear bumper. Wheels dropped from the underside of the pallets allowing the pallets to be pulled behind the ATV. They had managed to locate a wooded area along a creek close enough to the drop zone for all the remaining men to collect.

"It’s the other ATV!" one of the lookouts shouted peering through his binoculars Tony paused and looked in the direction of the ATV and saw they were making good progress cutting through the tall grass. Behind them the winged creatures kept their distance, afraid of the fire from the machine gun mounted on the back.

Closer and closer the ATV drove growing larger in his view, humming louder as it approached the post. Fifty yards and closing the gap, the ATV began to bounce in a rut uncontrollably coming to an abrupt halt. Steam escaped from under the hood and the glow of yellow flames shot forth from the engine compartment. The soldiers jumped off the vehicle and made a dead sprint for camp leaving the ATV behind.

"Get some cover out there!" someone yelled and some of the men ran out into the field to assist those running for their lives as if they could sense something was wrong, the creatures dropped from the sky and swooped down on the men. Rifle fire popped from different areas and two of the creatures fell dead to the ground.

"Run!" Tony yelled as the men closed the gap, now twenty feet from the camp. The popping of gunfire and muzzle flashes filled the air all around camp.