"So, you and Nina, you were, like, friends and lovers, huh?"

  "That’s right, yeah."

  "I’m jealous. It sounds like you two were happy. I mean, really happy."

  "Yeah."

  "Tell me some more. Tell me about the Nina you were in love with. I want to know her."

  He smiled and much like showing compassion, sharing the stories of the months he had spent in love with Nina Forest helped return some calm to his heart. She had always had that affect on him.

  So they laid there together in the glow of the Chem Lamp while the howls and screeches of monsters played in the distant background of the Hellish city. He kept his arms wrapped around her and they closed their eyes and he told stories of the woman with whom the Major had much in common, yet so much more that was not.

  Eventually, slowly, exhaustion overpowered the tales and the two fell asleep.

  Their clothes never came off, not even a kiss, only his arm draped over her in half a hug. Yet she had never felt so close to another person in all her life.

  They fell asleep together, two human beings on an alien planet yet they were not alone.

  – With their bags packed, the two travelers prepared to leave, hoping to reach the rendezvous point before dark. However, Trevor first needed to tend to one task.

  He left her and walked into a small room with one window and toilet facilities that offered a smell even more unpleasant than the other smells of the decaying city. Once positioned above a basin that must have been a urinal, he opened a strategically-placed zipper on his battle suit and relieved himself while Nina waited several rooms away.

  He looked out the window, one of the few intact panes of glass in the entire city. It offered a view of the downtown area. He saw crisscrossed roads lined with the remains of eaten, burned, and other wise destroyed trees.

  Stone felt a tremble. He had been feeling those trembles all morning, yet not seen anything. He worried it might possibly be a Goat-Walker on the prowl.

  In any case, at least brilliant rays of sun bathed downtown making for a glorious clear morning. Perhaps they could make good time today. Perhaps The glow of the morning sun went black, his view out the window obstructed.

  By an eye.

  A big black and white eye surrounded by gray, tough skin, staring in directly at him through a quarter-inch of fragile glass.

  Then the eye withdrew, replaced by some sort of huge arm or fist or ball of claws or something. Whatever it was, it cocked then rushed toward the window.

  "Oh…shit."

  Trevor zipped and ran.

  "We’ve GOT A PROBLEM!"

  The window smashed in as a colossal appendage the size of the entire room crashed into the wall, obliterated the office, and pushed all the way through to an inner hall.

  Trevor barely escaped the strike. Crossbeams and dusty powder-the Chaktaw’s version of drywall-billowed around him but he did not stop even as the vibration tried to knock him from his feet.

  Nina met him and together they raced further inside the office complex as another heavy strike rattled the building to its very foundation.

  "What was it? What was it?"

  "I have no idea! Just run 'cause whatever it is it’s as big as this building!"

  They ran along a tight, dark hallway. A porcupine-like thing saw them and disappeared into a side room. They paid it no mind as they navigated by the light of their flashlights and the occasional ray of sun beaming in from splintered windows.

  Those beams, however, flickered between light and dark as the massive creature circled the building, searching for them by punching through walls.

  "Stairs! We nee to find the stairs and get out of here," Nina shouted the obvious.

  An entire section of the corridor collapsed. A gust of fresh air blew inside with dust riding along; dust from a new hole stretching several yards from the outer wall, through what looked like an old conference room, and into the inner hall.

  Trevor and Nina ran along the fourth floor. The thing that had punched the hole had to stoop to peer in at them.

  With a quick glimpse, Trevor’s mind categorized it as a rhinoceros, except it stood on its rear two legs. Its arms were thick and ended in massive claws. One big horn grew from the center of its forehead and two more adorned the side of its skull. The black and white eyes of the creature looked dazed, almost hypnotized.

  As the dust cleared, the monster spied its quarry. A humungous arm cocked back.

  Trevor and Nina raced for a door at the end of the hall.

  A locomotive-sized arm speared the building once again, obliterating walls-including a support pillar-and passing through the corridor three yards behind the fleeing humans.

  Chunks of the sixth and fifth floors collapsed down onto the fourth, partially and temporarily capturing the giant’s arm. The creature let out an annoyed grunt in response. The bright morning sun shown in from above with only a handful of crossbeams and roof panels to obstruct its brilliant glare.

  A chain reaction rippled across the fourth floor as it started to collapse, the floor buckling like an ocean wave, spitting wood and metal beams in a series of pressure-driven explosions.

  Nina reached the door first and held it open for him. The collapse nipped at his heels while the weight of his back pack and gear slowed him enough that he might…not…make…

  Trevor jumped through the open door into the stairwell. Nina timed her own pivot perfectly and avoided the disintegrating floor in less time than it takes to blink an eye.

  While large shards of the building collapsed, the stairwell and its protective walls stood tall like a chimney surrounded by the burned ruins of a wooden home.

  With the door shut behind them, the stairs went dark but the loud sound of smashing and crashing dominated the hollow acoustics of the chamber.

  Nina pulled her flashlight and surveyed their surroundings through a cloud of dust.

  "Down, huh?"

  He nodded his head as he caught his breath.

  The top of the enclosed staircase exploded away and light from the sky burst in. Pieces of the building materials-both large and small-fell like rain. Fortunately, the larger pieces missed the refugees.

  Apparently, the Rhino creature had batted away the roof above the stairs as well several flights.

  "What is this friggin’ thing?" He allowed the slightest hint of panic to creep into his voice, primarily because he realized they would need an attack helicopter to scratch it.

  "Run! Down!" Came her answer.

  The remains of the destroyed upper floor chased them down the stairs.

  "They’re indigenous to this Earth! But they’re not aggressive! They’re herbivores!"

  Another tremendous, thunderous explosion of brick and dust and metal erupted above. The rhino had swung again, taking out another ten feet of stairwell and sending more debris falling. The thing was ripping the staircase shaft apart floor by floor with each swing of its arm.

  As they jumped to the bottom floor, the entire shaft collapsed, the stairs falling together like a collapsing accordion…just as Trevor and Nina knocked open the exit door at the foot of the towering giant.

  It searched the ground with its big, glazed-over eyes. Trevor saw a massive, heavy, thick animal with a body that appeared nearly armor-plated. He was no longer so sure that even an attack helicopter could do the job.

  Realizing that the thing could easily step on them with one of its humongous, round feet, he ran out onto the street with the aim of finding another building in which to hide, but he quickly found himself in the wide open with the closest cover dozens of yards away.

  At that moment, he realized the Major was not with him. She had waited behind at the giant's feet, just outside the now-blocked stairway door. He saw the massive hostile looming above her. Its eyes looked down at the puny being standing between its feet.

  "Nina!" He screamed, expecting to see her squashed.

  On the contrary, the creature turned away from her and locked its eyes on Trevor. It ignored the easy kill and took a giant step in his direction. The ground rumbled.

  "Oh…oh…Christ."

  Another big giant step.

  As Trevor turned to run he absently took note of Nina raising her rifle and aiming it toward the back of the monster. If not for the shadow threatening to step on him, he would have laughed at the sight. He did not expect this monster to feel the impact of a rifle round.

  Bang.

  The Rhino stopped in its tracks and hovered. Its glazed eyes blinked, looked about, and blinked again. Then the creature dropped to all fours. Not a collapse, but into what appeared to be its natural walking position. Yes, very much like a rhinoceros.

  As it did, something fell from its hide. More specifically, something big and black dropped to the ground like a lifeless sack. Trevor could not see anything more.

  The rhino creature stumbled side to side, actually shook its head as if it had just awoken, and then adopted a very docile attitude. Indeed, the thing looked at a loss.

  Much to Trevor’s amazement, it calmly walked away without giving him a second glance. Its heavy feet thumped with every step, but suddenly seemed no more threatening than a kitten. Albeit a gigantic kitten.

  Trevor wiped the sweat from his brow and joined Nina who casually slung her rifle and examined the black sack-like mass that had fallen from the rhino-creature, apparently after she had shot it.

  That black mass was insect-like with six legs or arms or whatever as well as several antenna-like strands. It was slimy, gross, and nearly as large as a Volkswagen.

  "What the Hell is that?"

  She did not take her eyes off of the dead creature as she explained, "It’s a type of parasite. Sort of latches on to something and takes over, like driving a car."

  "Oh."

  There was more. She hesitated to tell him. Not due to fear of him; last night had chased that away. No, she hesitated for another reason. Indeed, she looked worried.

  "What? What is it?"

  "These things…Trevor, I think they come from wherever it is Voggoth comes from."

  She let that sink in. He saw the picture painted by what had just happened.

  "It was sent to stop us. Maybe Snowe filled in Voggoth that we were on the run."

  She corrected, "It was after you. Like, I’m of no consequence. Voggoth must have a pretty good idea where you’re headed, and he sure doesn’t want you getting there, you know?"

  Even in the bright sun of a fresh new morning the abandoned Chaktaw city took on a new feel of danger. If Voggoth had targeted him…personally targeted him…

  "We’d better get going," he said.

  They spent the next hour moving carefully across the metropolis passing sagging buildings, decayed parks, and empty homes. Along the way, they shot two ghouls and avoided a swarm of Land Jellyfish but otherwise made it to the far side unscathed.

  Eventually, they left the city, stepping over bones and messy biological piles as they walked northeast with the river to their right. They still had a long way to go before they reached their destination, but the city had been a turning point in their understanding, a turning point in their humanity. Truth had a way of doing that.

  Trevor Stone and Major Nina Forest continued their journey across the ruined landscape of an alien Earth, and left behind the ghosts of the haunted city.

  28. One Moment

  After leaving behind the massive city in the valley, Trevor and Nina followed Jaff’s directions and veered in a more easterly direction. They spent the morning working their way through foothills and avoiding the steeper mountains.

  After a trio of Mutants interrupted lunch, the travelers pushed on, passing a mountainside village and then the ruins of a walled compound, both of which were waypoints provided by Jaff.

  Early that evening, they arrived at the meeting place.

  In contrast to the cities, villages, and valleys they saw along the way, the final destination lacked flair or intrigue. Jaff, it seemed, had directed them to a quarter-mile long crater, blasted or dug in a plain so dull and lifeless it nearly qualified as 'wasteland'.

  For some reason, nature had seen fit to drop this open and dusty void in the middle of what Trevor expected to be the rolling hills of upstate New York. Perhaps a catastrophe-natural or otherwise-had robbed this stretch of its fertility.

  Off in the distance, he saw the continuation of the mountains, but their journey had come to an end, at least for the time being.

  "Do you think that Chaktaw lied to us?" She asked as they worked their way down the rocky western edge of the huge hole.

  "We’ll know if Fromm doesn't show up in a day or two. For now, we need to find somewhere to hold up. The sun will be down soon."

  "And if he shows up you-" she stumbled on a patch of dusty gravel. Trevor grabbed her arm and steadied her. She then finished, "You have something to give him? To tell him?"

  "You're not in much of a position to ask questions," he said with a little spice of anger minced with his words. "Put it this way. Let's just hope Fromm is a reasonable guy. If he's smarter than I have been the past few months, we might have a chance of staying alive." Trevor then pointed toward an opening mixed among the jagged rocks, boulders, and sharp ledges of the ravine's wall. "There, look."

  Not just one opening, but several, most with collapsed entrances, however. As they approached, they found a smooth, almost ramp-like path.

  "Must have been an outpost," she said as they both spotted additional paths at various spots around the gully.

  "Looks more like some kind of shelter to me," he said. "Probably a place they retreated to when the invasion began."

  "To hide from us," she admitted. "And the others."

  "You know, that’s another thing I don’t get. Why is it the organized armies fight each other? Wouldn’t you do better to team up?"

  Stone remembered on his world when three of the invading forces had combined to try and assault his fledgling community. The result had been the Battle of Five Armies.

  "For the most part, we've stayed out of each other's way, except for a few skirmishes here and there over resources."

  "Except," Trevor corrected, "When you teamed up to attack the home world’s army."

  "Yes. That happened a few times. Once in a while we got word to send out a force here or there to hit the Chaktaw and to expect support from Geryon air ships or maybe Duass artillery."

  "You’re being used, Nina. Your entire race. All the races here, I guess. Some one wants you fighting each other and the only time that some one is willing to have you make peace is when it’s to get at the Chaktaw. The guys who own this planet. The same way it is on my Earth. Didn’t your leaders-your Trevor, The Committee-didn't they ever wonder why?"

  "I told you how most of us got here. It's easy to judge now, but you weren't around when people were starving after the civil wars, or homeless, or lost everyone. You didn't hear-" she stopped, considered the irony of what she had to say, then went on, "You didn't hear our Trevor Stone promise a new world, a chance at glory, a chance to start over."

  Trevor thought about that. He did not require his bank of genetic memories to recall a destitute Germany in the 1930s falling sway to promises of a new world, of glory. Of course, he also realized what role that meant he played.

  "They lied to you, Nina. The universe is moving you around like pawns."

  Either she felt berated into silence or stifled the urge to argue, but whatever the reason she said no more for some time, following him around quietly as they examined the caves in search of a home for the night.

  Eventually they found one that fit their needs. From the outside, the pile of rocks covering the entrance made it appear to be something of a talus cave, but inside they found a well-sculpted cavern that seemed more sandstone, albeit not of natural creation. Regardless, a solitary Chem Lantern lit and heated the sphere-like cavern. They unrolled their sleeping bags and stowed weapons and rations in separate corners.

  Nina mixed two chemical compounds on a small flat plate. The plate sizzled for several minutes allowing them time enough to heat a couple of meat tubes. Trevor sarcastically told her that on his Earth they called them "hot dogs."

  Nina replied, "On my world we call them franks."

  The two paused for three seconds then burst into a fit of laughter.

  After dinner, Trevor asked to hear more about Sirius. She took his hand and led him outside. There were no clouds overhead. The stars shined bright, one most of all.

  "There…look…see the blue-white star just next to the three ones…yeah, there."

  It was bright and beautiful, glittering like a precious jewel. As he gazed at the shimmering flicker he felt a shiver, probably from the cool breeze blowing over the crater’s rim but possibly from the realization that he looked upon mankind’s first home.

  "So far away," he pondered.

  "Eight point six light years."

  "Eight point…wow. So what I’m looking at right now is you almost nine years ago. What were you doing nine years ago? Were you still on Sirius or were you here already?"

  Nina thought before answering, "I was still on Sirius, fighting in the Unification War. I think it was about this time eight years ago or so that I learned to fly. Oh yeah," she smiled. "I remember because we all got in this big bar fight. I mean, we were young and stupid then."

  He looked over at her. The Major’s eyes remained glued to that flicker of light in the sky.

  "I should have never come to this place. But we…"

  She stopped.

  "Go on. But you what?"

  "But we were convinced you were the man who would build an Empire on this planet."

  Nina stopped talking and walked inside with her shoulders slumped, perhaps thinking she spoiled an otherwise pleasant moment. Trevor followed and they sat around the Chem Lantern.

  After sitting in silence for a minute, he said, "I remember saying to my Nina that maybe the invasion was about how dangerous mankind is, maybe some power in the universe needed to wipe us out. Well maybe I was right after all, only it isn’t just humanity that’s a threat. It’s the Chaktaw and the Hivvans and the Geryons and the rest."