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Chapter
Seventeen
 FIRE FIGHT 1975
An oppressive silence
surrounded the military observers and work crews as they waited for Schultz to detonate
the charges. Building underground bases took up all his time and thought. He had to know
what explosive formula to use on every type of rock. Any mistake could result in injury or
death. He sighed heavily and signaled to the others in the dimly lit tunnel that the count
down was about to begin.
...3...2...1...Everyone took cover as the explosion
reverberated through the tunnels. Rocks and dust puffed around them as they waited for the
debris and echoes of sound to subside.
The tunnel crew was the first to move forward. Schultz and
his equipment brought up the rear.
Instead of a tunnel expansion, they found a large cavern.
Schultz saw immediately it was not a natural formation.
Groups of tall grays with large heads and huge eyes greeted
them by tightening their long slender fingers around unrecognizable weapons and beams of
light exploded around them accompanied by screams of agony.
Drawing his weapon and firing shots into the largest group
of grays, Schultz and two others backed into the tunnels. With satisfaction he saw two of
the grays go down. Then he turned and ran. The other two survivors had already disappeared
down the tunnel.
Paul glanced behind him. The bodies of over sixty men were
mounded in bloody heaps on the floor of the cavern. Too late, Schultz met the emotionless
gaze of a gray as the weapon aimed at him released a beam in his direction.
Sudden burning agony tore across his chest as he fell to
the rocky floor. The alieness of the whole thing intensified the nightmare and horror. The
pain in his chest told him it was real as he plunged into the blackness of
unconsciousness.
XXX
Voices....voices; some far, some near, speaking several
languages. He understood most of them. "Who are you?" He was screaming, but
there was no sound. Faces in the fog whirling; strange faces, eerie faces with gray skin,
hypnotic black eyes, eyes with slit reptilian pupils, long arms and hands with
elongated fingers. There were beings all shapes and sizes. Some were human wearing
military uniforms.
The pictures cleared. He found himself in a tunnel with
several strange creatures standing in front of a large vat. Even at his six feet and six
inches, he could not see over the top. Rivulets of pinkish fluid dripped down from the
edge like the overflow of a wax candle. The smell was nauseating.
The creatures around him were waiting...waiting for him to
climb the ladder on the vat and look in. They wanted to look. He could feel it. Why?
A sense of dread filled him. He wished he could be anywhere
but here.
He slowly climbed the ladder and looked in. He recalled
pictures from childhood of witches' cauldrons. It seemed an apt description for what he
saw. The smell of death accompanied the sight of human and alien body parts floating in a
primordial, stinking, soup. He felt his stomach knot. He had to control it. He refused to
throw up in front of them although if he did it into the vat he doubted anyone would know
the difference.
Swallowing rapidly he descended the ladder. They were
looking at him expectantly.He knew they were gauging his reactions. Human emotions
fascinated them.
Others had joined them. Grotesque shapes like insects,
bats, lizards and a mixture of these creatures in one entity were studying him with
intense glee. Stinking fluid dripped from salivating jowls. They were mixtures of dark
gray, black and red in color. All of them had glowing eyes with slit pupils. They smelled
like rotten eggs and they cackled as they watched him. They faded in and out of view like
ghosts.
"What do you want from me?" Then Schultz saw
them. Two men with strange black eyes and dressed all in black were standing behind the
group. They turned those eyes upon the others, which caused an immediate hush. Soundlessly
they opened a path for the two men.
Obviously in command, they came forward and towered over
him Their eyes were of human size, but consisted entirely of black pupil.
One of them spoke. "The two of us and others like us
have been here since the beginning. We will win; and do you know why we will win, human?
You don't know how to obey the instructions in the Bible you read. That is why!" The
men threw back their heads and laughed. The others joined in.
The sound was deafening. It echoed through the tunnels
making Schultz's head hurt.
The images whirled around him. Soon he was encompassed in a
fog filled with distant voices. He wanted desperately to wake up, but he could not.
Chapter 18
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