It did not embarrass Trevor to admit his feelings. 'Yeah. I do.'
'That’s great. You deserve it. Before, the two of you were all doom and gloom and ‘oh-my-god it’s the end of the world.’ Now you’re not nearly as much an asshole.'
'Danny, it kind of is the end of the world.'
'It’s the end of the world when we give up. Look at how we did against everything we’ve faced so far. Could of packed it in, instead we fought and what happened? We won.'
Trevor asked, 'So what do you think all of this is about?'
Danny considered his words for a moment-a rarity for him-and then shared, 'At first I figured this was all just, you know, a big invasion like Independence Day. After all I've seen I'm starting to figure we don’t know why it's happening. Maybe we’re stuck in the middle, like ants on the canvass of a boxing ring. Or maybe we haven’t seen all the pieces.'
A tease of a memory danced across Trevor’s mind. A memory from his dark nightmare in the clutches of The Order.
Something…
Danny went on, 'Maybe if we survive long enough we'll we find out. But damn, I look at this gate thing and I know there are some higher pay grades running this show.'
Trevor thought about the Old Man.
What is his pay grade?
Danny said to Trevor, 'Hey, curl up next to your honey and forget about this for a bit. Don’t worry, ole’ Danny’s here. I’ll keep a sharp eye out.'
Trevor hesitated.
'Go on, I gotchya covered.'
Stone followed his friend’s advice. He rested his carbine on a tabletop, grabbed another blanket, and rolled next to Nina. He slipped his arm over her shoulder and even though she slept, she wiggled closer.
Trevor listened to the gentle rhythm of her breathing. The sound calmed his nerves, put his heart at ease, and led him off into a quiet slumber.
– The convoy arrived mid morning. Stonewall brought a heap of firepower in the fifty-caliber machine guns atop Humvees as well as fifteen armed fighters: a mixture of professional soldiers and post-apocalyptic draftees outfitted in an eclectic collection of uniforms but all with sturdy boots and gloves.
First, they created hard points on the fringe of campus to control access to the area. After, Trevor flew Washburn to the countryside in search of farm supply centers. Ames (the older brunette with fiery eyes) and the young man named ‘Bird’ went off to find an 18-wheeler. Bird assured he knew how to get one started without a key. No one asked.
Trevor and Danny prepared a simple plan: blast the gateway to smithereens with an ammonium nitrate bomb delivered in a truck. To get that close they would need to distract the gateway’s guardians, a job for which Nina seemed well suited. Stonewall would command a reserve force while Trevor and Dante coordinated from a rooftop.
By nightfall, they gathered all the supplies and prepared for an assault in the morning. However, night brought a heavy snowstorm. After much consideration and consultation, Trevor decided to go ahead with the attack.
Before dawn-while the snow raged-Trevor parted ways with Nina and the other five members of 'Alpha' team. They drove south in Humvees off campus, then west, then back onto campus on the far side of the target area. There they waited in Palisades dormitory, practically in the shadow of the gateway separated only by a patch of brush and woodland.
Dawn shined on a cold day. Nearly a foot of fresh, powdery snow had fallen and more continued to drift to Earth.
Danny Washburn and Bird piled into the cab of a ROADWAY rig while a support team followed their truck in a Cadillac Escalade. Trevor moved to a good observation point on the roof of Cleveland Hall with Dante and Tyr at his side. The remaining K9s provided security on the flanks of the assault. Stonewall and his relief force of eight men with snowmobiles waited in reserve underneath Trevor’s observation point, using the Winnebago as their command post.
At 10 a.m. on December 17 ^ th, the first known human counter attack on a dimensional gateway began.
– 'Alpha team, go,' Trevor radioed.
Nina, Ames, and Casey moved, on foot, through the wooded area to Parking Lot X.
Despite the falling snow, the gateway continued to dispatch bright pulses into the low gray clouds, delivering more miseries to a planet already besieged by chaos.
The air around the abomination felt charged with unearthly electricity. The gateway’s sound added to its eerie ambiance; a constant hum, as if a child pounded a cord on an out-of-tune piano. The creatures inside the sphere wiggled and squirmed behind the opaque ball that hid their true features but conjured an image of maggot-infested meat.
Nina struggled with the sight and sounds of the gateway as some natural instinct urged her to retreat. She shook her head fast in an effort to subdue that instinct. A flutter of snow tumbled from her knit cap.
With new determination, she waved her arm forward. Alpha team engaged the two bloated, massive balls of vileness standing guard outside the hideous monument…
…Trevor watched as muzzle flashes announced the commencement of stage one. He worked the transmitter on his radio.
'Bravo team…punch it!'…
…Bird grinned as he drove the tractor-trailer. Washburn shared the cab and wore a headset radio. He spoke into the microphone, 'Roger that. We’re a go.'
The rig started its attack run, passing Hunter Hall. The piled snow grabbed at its 18-wheels causing starts, stops, and slips but they moved forward nonetheless.
'Yeah baby!' Bird hollered. 'Here comes the friggin’ mailman with a special god damn delivery for all you mothers!'
Washburn howled, 'Wooohooo!'
The truck gained speed as it entered Lot X. The massive gateway stood at the far end.
Washburn gazed at the hideous structure, the sight of which sapped his enthusiasm for the mission. He radioed, 'This is bravo. We’re making our run…'
…The two big balls of puss guarding the gateway rolled toward Nina’s assault team as fire from M4 carbines hit against their thick hides, causing no harm. The creatures wobbled over the powdery snow with their eyes searching and mouths working mindlessly as they fell for the ruse and pursued. Ames lobbed a hand grenade that exploded in a splash of dirty snow but barely slowed the creatures.
'C’mon, fall back,' Nina ordered according to plan.
The monstrosities followed the humans into the wooded area…
…Trevor watched from his position as the demon balls chased Nina, the sight of which filled his belly with unease despite being a part of the plan.
'Here comes the truck,' Dante pointed.
With its chase car following behind, the 18-wheeler rumbled toward its goal with a hearty pull on the horn that carried across campus…
… Nina, Ames, and Casey led the rolling balls of puss to the open ground between the wooded area and Pallisades Hall and straight at two 50 caliber machine guns atop idling Humvees, one of which operated by Rhodes.
As the monsters rolled into the kill zone, the heavy caliber weapons spat rounds at a furious pace. The fiends hissed. Vapors shot from holes punched through their sick bodies as the creatures disintegrated into chunks creating a horrid smell of rot.
The machine gun fire ceased, leaving both monsters broken into smaller pieces. More specifically, each ball had been broken into four equal pieces.
Nina stopped wiping snow from her pants and said aloud, 'How is that possible?'
Those eight balls of puss vibrated and stirred. Their edges smoothed; eyes and tendrils poked forth,
