The Hunter, The Dragon And The Smokey Mountain Angel
Chapter 26

Julia turned down the road that led to her home. Her mailbox was just ahead and the spectators and cops were gone. The radio was already reporting on the “Angel Sighting,” at the local Waffle House.

Her phone buzzed. It was a text from Andrew. It read:

1:00pm and we are packed. Cars lining up and down the highway, again. Thanks!

There was a emoticon at the end of the text of a smiley face with its tongue sticking out.

Julia pressed the Speech to Text button and replied to his text:

You invited me. If you can’t stand the heat... JK. Sorry, miss you. Call me tonight, I’m goanna crash–

Julia slammed on her breaks!

The black SUV in front of her suddenly stopped. Julia blew her horn but several men in dark suits opened their rear doors and started for her.

She placed the gear shifter in reverse but another black SUV pulled up behind her. She was ready to run over the man approaching her driver side door in order to escape but he flashed a badge and called her by rank, “Captain Anderson, we are with Air Force intelligence. We are not here to harm you. Please place the vehicle in park and come with us.”

Julia didn’t know what to do. She waited for Light Reader to say something but he remained silent. Then the moment passed where she could have flown away. She rolled down her window and said, “So you guys know my name and rank after all.”

The man frowned and said, “I’m sorry for any inconvenience Captain but I can’t answer any questions or comment on your situation.”

“You just told me that the Air Force knows who I am and I guess you know where I live.”

The man dropped the professional tone and said, “Julia, there is a lot you still don’t understand. My CO is ready to give you a full briefing.”

“Where is my son?”

“Julia you are in great danger. We know you visited us and our friend last night but what you don’t know is that we were attacked soon after you left.”

“Who attacked you?” Julia asked.

“We are on High Alert due to the stunt you pulled. The attacker was highly camouflaged. We believe the attack was only a test of our defenses. It just so happened that the back up security inside the ventilation systems you breached had automatically engaged when you left. The ventilation system instantly locked down when a second intruder tried to enter as you had done.”

Julia hesitated then asked, “Who is it?”

“We think it was the same one who was holding our friend in the cargo hold.”

“Did they make it to,” she made air quotes, “Our friend?”

The man bit his lower lip and shook his head no. “I see that you have a lot of questions too. If you come with us, I promise that all your questions have answers. We have a few more questions of our own but this isn’t an interrogation. You are a hero, a top–secret hero but a hero. Maybe not so top–secret now but we know your loyalty is with us. Things are happening on a global scale. The UN is preparing for an invasion.”

Julia’s eyes went wide. This confirmed it, she had sensed an invisible ship above her home and she remembered the story of what Sapen had done to Louis’s world.

Did Light Reader replace a way to tell the Air Force about the other worlds like Earth?

Julia looked at the man, unlocked her door and the man opened it and asked for her keys. Julia hesitated then gave him the keys and in turn, he handed them to another man waiting behind him. Then he led her to the first SUV’s passenger side back seat.

Julia sat in her seat, put her safety belt on and she watched as the man parked her smaller SUV in her drive way, just a few yards ahead and then the SUV behind them picked him up. Then they all started for the mountain where Light Reader was waiting.

The sound of the SUV’s tires changed from street to gravel and Julia looked up. Since she had gotten into the SUV she had been going over and over all the things she knew and the men with her had all remained silent.

All her dreams and worst nightmares had been true. Horrors, designed by some AI in a man suit, were happening to whole populations and others like her, on other worlds. And now, it could be starting here.

The driver flashed his lights and a red light in the distance returned his signal. Julia imagined that there were snipers hidden in the field brush all around them. This little tourist town, with all its elaborate attractions, had no idea that the real action was happening right here.

Had they been out here all this time?

“There’s a fluctuation in air pressure.” The passenger said.

“We’re going up a mountain,” The man sitting next to Julia said dismissively.

“These readings don’t match the previous readings when we descended this mountain.”

“I don’t have anything on radar,” said a voice over the mounted radio.

“Nothing on infrared,” said the man in the passenger seat.

Then the trees began to sway and the wind blew faster.

“Are we scheduled for any weather events tonight?” asked the man next to Julia.

“No sir,” said the man in the passenger seat.

Julia could hear her heart pounding in her ears. Though the men in the SUV sounded calm, she could feel the tension in the cabin rise. Everyone was on hyper alert.

Julia

Julia looked around then realized that no one had called her name, it was Light Reader. She thought,

Light Reader, I think we are in trouble.

Julia, I know you have had a hard year and trusting is a difficult thing for you but I will need your complete trust and faith in me.

What’s going on? She replied

The hunter has decided to make her move. I can see what is happening through the dozens of humans around you. I told you that there is one more transition you are about to undergo and this is it. The Hunter doesn’t’ know it but she is about to create the greatest weapon, the only weapon besides me that will defeat her plans to bring Sapen here and end your world as you know it.

What weapon?

You! Light Reader replied.

Julia thought of her son. She could die, but if she kept her world from going through what Louis’s world had experienced then her life was worth it.

She thought,

I’m ready to die.

There was a long pause before Light Reader responded. Let’s pray that won’t happen but it will be like death and rebirth for you. I know what she has planned for you. She has something we need, and when the time is right, I will take her victory and turn it into sudden defeat. I need to use our connection to erase your memory of me and the inner layout of this mountain. This memory wipe I’m about to do will only slow her. She is very powerful with technology. She cannot know all I am aware of about Sapen, for now. She hasn’t had access to her computer since the crash, so I don’t think she knows about the new data that downloaded the very moment we crashed. After your transformation, I have a surprise for her.

The wind picked up. The man in the passenger seat said, “I don’t see anything but if there is something out there it would be here.”

He pointed to something Julia couldn’t see and the man sitting next to her said, “All units fire on those coordinates!”

The sound of a motor engaging made Julia turn around and look behind her. Twin gun turrets with rocket launcher rose out of the roof of the SUV behind her.

Julia will you follow my plan?

Julia watched as the machine guns began auto–shooting. She thought,

No matter what happens to me, you help my son and Andrew get through this. You do whatever it takes Light Reader. Do you promise me?

I give my word.

Julia relaxed and thought,

What do you want me to do?

Just concentrate on one thing... That’s it remember your sons face. Think of every detail you see in your memory.

Gunfire exploded from the mountainside as two rockets launched from the SUV behind them. A green flash lit the sky above them and a beam of light struck the rocket, making it turn and then continued down into the SUV following them. The shockwave from the second rocket exploding above them rocked the SUV Julia was in. A split second later, the SUV behind them exploded in a ball of green and orange fire!

Julia heard nothing as her mind drifted into darkness.

A grating voice, like that of an elder woman said, “Boys, you have something I have been stalking for a long time now.”

Bullets from snipers hidden in the hillside struck the empty space above and to the left of the SUV. Other tracer rounds ricocheted in angles above them. A quick burst of green light from the empty space sent more than a dozen Laser beams into the mountainside and all at once, the gunfire stopped…

Then the SUV’s engine cut off and the breaks locked down. Everyone’s safety belts snapped as they flew forward by the sudden loss of momentum!

Julia’s eyes opened. She looked around. A sense of panic began to take over. She didn’t know where she was or how she had gotten here.

The three men in the SUV with her all pulled out their side arms. The man next to Julia said, “Julia we will not give you over!”

“Oh, you better hand her over. One way or another she is coming with me,” said the woman over the radio.

Julia’s mind felt numb as it raced to catch up. She didn’t know what was going on. She remembered eating breakfast with Andrew and having to leave. Then she remembered being pulled over, the man next to her had said something about the mountain. She had chosen to go with these people but she didn’t know why.

The SUV’s engine started again and they began rolling forward.

“Why are we moving again?” asked the man next to Julia.

“I’m in control of your vehicle. Give me the angel and I’ll let you three live,” said the woman with the strange voice.

“We are not giving you, or anyone else Julia!” the man next to her said.

Julia felt courage in his words even as she wondered why they referred to her as an angel. Her memory was a patchwork of confusing ideas and images. She didn’t know why but she was sure the woman was talking about her and this man was ready to die for her. Julia said, “I’ll go with her. I don’t want you dying for me.” She tried to recall what was so important about her that would cause three men to give their lives for her.

“You should listen to her,” said the woman over the radio.

“We are soldiers,” The man next to Julia said as he gave hand signals to the person in the front seat.

The man in the front seat tapped on something in his lap and put up three fingers.

The man next to Julia nodded and said, “All right lady, perhaps we can work something out. Just stop the vehicle and we will come out with our hands up.”

“I’m past your delay tactics. I respect your courage and my master would be very– disappointed if I operated inefficiently with his assets. Your deaths will be counted as necessary.”

“The SUV sped up the hill but it didn’t turn with the road. Julia screamed as they flew off the side of the mountain. She felt weightless and then a blue light surrounded the SUV. The engine died and the power went out.

Julia looked out the window and saw that they were hanging in midair. There was something familiar about that light. It looked like something out of Star Trek.

Julia looked up. A black wedged ship, a little bigger than their SUV uncloaked. A long hose with tentacles dropped from the rear of the ship, tore Julia’s door off, and tossed it into the forest below. Cool mountain air rushed in as they tried to pull Julia away from the door. Shots rang loudly from inside the cabin but the bullets bounced off the tentacles. The tip of one arm opened and shot three darts, one for each man and they instantly collapsed. Then the separate tentacles folded into one arm and turned its attention on Julia.

A flash of light came from the mountainside and Julia turned to see a missile streaking towards the ship above her.

Julia kicked at the probing arm but it twisted as it shot toward her like a snake and wrapped itself around her body.

The humming sound from the blue light changed as the SUV tilted, so that Julia’s door faced upward. Julia pushed against the tightening arm around her abdomen and saw that one of the guns the men had dropped had lodged in–between the headrest and seatback. She strained as she leaned forward but the gun was just out of reach. Then the blue light surrounding the vehicle vanished. For one moment, the SUV seemed to float above the mountain. Julia breathed out all the air from her lungs, she stretched forward again and her fingers gripped the handle of the gun, and the SUV dropped.

Julia cried out as she watched the three men, still asleep in the SUV fall. She quickly tucked the gun under her armpit as the tentacles retracted, pulling her inside the rear of the ship and held her to the floor. The ship made a sharp move to her left. Seconds later, she heard a distant explosion followed by the sound of a missile passing just outside the door.

Then she flinched at a stinging sensation in her neck and she knew no more.