Chapter 18

Tosha stands, looking around, watching the fierce battle rage around them.

Marshall pulls her down hard just as an explosion happens just twenty or so feet away. The sudden blast forces Marshall to cover Tosha with his body as dirt and debris fall all over and around them.

Marshall hisses harshly.

"What the hell you trying to do? Are you trying to get your ass shot off?" Machine gun fire is zipping close to where they are and Marshall knows they are going to have to move quickly.

The rumbling clatter of the tank and the random firing of the cannon keep Marshall and Tosha's heads down.

More explosions close by and Marshall has had enough; he stands drawing the 9mm and just as he is about to fire at the gunner on the tank, Tosha pulls him down.

"What were you going to do, Marshall? Were you just about to shoot that man?" Her voice is a forced whisper and angry sounding. "He is one of the good guys, you can not kill him. That would change the outcome of all of this. Now, where are we so we can get the info we need and get home again?"

Marshall pokes his head up for a second, looks around, then pulls back down just as a stray bullet zips past him. He looks up again and without warning shoots one of the cannibals. The being falls with almost complete silence.

"We are here and we need to be way the hell over there according to the Major." he points across the compound to a small rickety looking building not far from the largest building in this compound.

They shield their eyes for a second as a beam of light strikes the larger more important looking building illuminating it from way above the clouds.

Tosha shades her eyes, as she looks into the sky then fumbles for her communicator. She opens its cover with a flip of her wrist it hisses loudly. Stunned she looks at Marshall.

"It has never done that before. I cannot contact our ship. We are stranded here!"

Marshall looks up over the rubble they are hiding behind, checks the amount of ammo he is carrying and hands Tosha the extra clips for the carbine.

"Get a grip, Sweetheart; we are supposed to be over there. Then over there we will be. Let's move NOW!"

He jumps up taking Tosha roughly by the arm.

"COME ON!!" he shouts.

Running, stumbling and sometimes falling, they begin to cover the distance from where they were to where they need to be. Moving through the shadows and under the cover of both friendly and not so friendly gunfire. They have encountered no resistance.

On the ship, The Major struts into the control room glancing around as if he has some unknown information. He looks at the main view screen.

"This is what I feared most. They are here already. I fear…" he pauses for dramatic effect, sighing heavily, "the princess is dead. That human has allowed her to be killed."

One of the crew looks up suddenly and with out thinking blurts out "How can you say that?!? She is our Princess, she has to be alive; she just has to be!!"

The Major flashes him a hard cold stare.

"Has there been any contact with her?" His voice hard and cold full of hatred for the man who would dare question him. "Has her communicator even been activated?" He looks around the room making eye contact with each of the other officers. "She is a casualty of war. She is DEAD and we MUST evacuate NOW before the enemy ships get locked INTO orbit and ONTO us. Do you UNDERSTAND, Ensign?" The words boom around the room.

The Captain who had been very quiet throughout the Major's rant, slowly stands, stretches and rolls his head on his shoulders as stress relief.

"Major, excuse me. But I am still the commanding officer on this craft. And we as a unit will continue to scan the surface for the Princess and her companion until we find them or we find their remains. That is not a request but an order. Do you understand?"

The Major turns away from the Captain.

"We must locate the human with her also?" He sighs heavily then lowers his head and briskly walks towards the door. It opens as the Major gives a harsh look to the Captain, who is paying him no attention, and walks briskly from the room. ~~~

Marshall and Tosha race across the open areas of the compound, desperately trying to reach the rundown shed that supposedly contains the information gathering device.

Marshall slides in behind several pieces of reinforcing steel and Tosha is soon to follow.

"Just a few more feet, Marshall, and we are home free. There has to be a way to signal the ship from there. Especially since the Major was so adamant about us being here to get this information packet." Tosha’s words come with small clouds as the cold air turns hot breath to vapor.

Marshall eases up to the doorway of the shed, turning to watch were the screaming shell from the tank is exploding in the near distance. Just as he begins to open the door, automatic rifle fire pushes him headlong into Tosha knocking her flat on her back.

Tosha opens fire on the shed quickly emptying the clip on the .9mm carbine. She begins to scramble for a fresh clip at the same time she is trying to move Marshall off of her as one of the alien gunmen opens fire on them again from the doorway. Luckily for Marshall, the polymer armor he is wearing deflects the attacker’s bullets.

Almost instinctively Marshall points the pistol in the direction of the door, firing quickly and rolling off of Tosha as he does. Driving the alien back, Marshall is shouting for Tosha to get up and run for cover. As they stand more shots ring out and Tosha falls to the ground as if some one grabbed her leg and threw her down.

The screaming whistle of yet another tank shell is heard as Marshall throws himself on top of Tosha covering her from what sounds like the shell coming down right on top of them.

Tosha whimpers a bit as Marshall lays his weight on her.

The shell strikes the shed sending tiny pieces of wood and other flaming debris raining down on and all around them.

"Oh my Gods, Marshall!" Tosha exclaims, as all her hopes for finding the information storage device and possibly their way off the planet go up in so much smoke and flame. Now what are we going to do? We have lost our window of escape. The Major would know we would do everything in our power to reach this spot and now…" Her voice trails off as she begins to cry.

Marshall looks around to see how safe they are. Realizing they are pretty much out in the open, he takes Tosha’s arm and says "Come on, we have to go, We’re sitting ducks here."

As she stands, Tosha’s leg again goes out from under her and she falls. She grabs for it in pain letting out a sharp cry of anguish.

Marshall cannot figure what is wrong; knowing the skintight polymer armor she is wearing would have protected her. He picks her up and races for the cover of a huge metal pipe. Once there and making relatively sure they are safe he begins checking her leg. To his amazement there is a small fingertip sized hole in her armor just where she says she is hurting. He removes the piece of armor covering her thigh and sure enough she has been shot. Quickly he tears a piece of the shirt he is wearing apart and wraps Tosha's leg with it to try and stop the bleeding. The wound is not actually much if any more than a flesh wound but Marshal wants to be sure it does not get any worse. Marshal soothes her mind and then goes about inspecting this piece of her armor. His armor deflected all the shots fired at it; so why didn’t hers? Pulling his pocketknife from his coat pocket, Marshall tries to cut his own armor. The knife does not even leave a mark. He then places the blade against Tosha's armor and as he draws the blade across it a thin piece of the armor is cut away. Puzzled, he tries again with the same results.

"That fuckin' bastard!" Marshall exclaims through clenched teeth. "That son-of -a -bitch was hoping to get you killed. This whole fuckin' thing with the shed was a set up. He had your armor replaced with plastic and…." Marshall stands quickly bumping his head on the top of the pipe. Making a growling sound he walks out. One of the cannibals that is trying to escape runs by as Marshall draws the pistol from the shoulder holster and fires one shot, striking him in the head.

As the cannibal falls a small object skitters from his pocket. At first this does not even draw his attention. But when the sound of a static break comes from it, Marshall does take notice. He picks it up and puts it in his coat pocket.

"One thing is for sure Tosha, we cannot stay here. From the looks of things, this place is due for a high speed come apart and I don't want to be here when that happens." He looks around for an avenue of escape when he sees their way out.

"Hold tight, I will be right back."

Starting off slowly and trying to stay as low as possible, Marshall covers a short distance to where the vehicle is parked.

It's an old Chevy Blazer S-10. There looks to be a lift kit under it to allow room for the 18 inch extra wide all terrain tires. All the rear windows are replaced by heavy metal. The windshield is lined with heavy screen on both the inside and the outside. The back seat is laid down and there is a sun roof style opening in the roof. Extra lights are everywhere and most important is the keys are in it and there is almost a full tank of gas.

Marshall fires it up and finding reverse, backs it up to where Tosha is hiding in the pipe. Quickly he is out of the 4x4 and has Tosha lying in the back. Shifting into first he sidesteps the clutch and the truck lurches almost painfully. Then smoothes out and smoothly takes them away.

Marshall shouts back to Tosha. "Well, so much for a high-speed getaway." He laughs

As they cross the compound looking for an opening in the concrete and steel wall that surrounds it, they attract the attention of the Cannibals who are also trying to escape.

Tosha stands and begins firing taking out the ones who are close enough to become a problem. Even though Marshall keeps shouting for her to get down knowing her armor would not stop a pissed off bumblebee let alone a bullet.

Bouncing around and taking fire, they finally find a hole large enough to drive through in the wall. As they head for this hole, they seem to be attracting someone else's attention too.

The tank turret turns as the Gunner tries to lock on.

The blazer skips across the six or so hastily paced sandbags that were supposed to act as a barrier and runs over the three cannibals who were hoping to stop them, crushing the unlucky flesh eaters under its weight.

The tank locks on and the cannon is readied to fire.

The blazer reaches the wall.

The cannon is fired; the shell whistles as it heads for its intended target.

Marshall notices he has not shifted and is still only in second gear. He then shifts the blazer's transmission into third. The Blazer begins rapidly picking up speed and easily fits through the opening in the wall.

The shell explodes into the wall, sending concrete and flame into the air and stopping the few remaining cannibals from escaping this way.

Tosha joyously shouts "We made it we made it! Marshall, do you know how close that was. We were almost killed!" She crawls between the seats of the truck and into the passenger side seat. She smiles at Marshall as they travel along this winding road.

Up ahead, off in the distance there is the flicker of several lights.

Marshall stops the Blazer and turns off the motor. He gets out and listens.

"What's wrong, Marshall?" she quizzes him.

"Shhhhh" Marshal replies. "I think we have company coming in a very big way. We are going to have to get off this roadway and find a place to hide out till daylight."

A few minutes off the road they find a thick grove of trees and bushes.

"We will stop here for the night, Tosha. Go lay down back there and get some rest. You need it, being wounded and all."

Tosha does go the rear of the blazer. After moving around quite a bit she coos "Marshall, I cannot get comfortable; can you help me for a second please?"

Marshall agrees to help and crawls between the seats to see what has to be done.

As he nears her, Tosha flips back the duster she has been using as a blanket. She takes Marshall's hand and places it gently on her naked tummy as she reaches up to kiss him deeply.

Sounds of beings enjoying each other fill the air until early morning when both collapse in total bliss.

Marshall is the first one to wake. He dresses quietly and steps out of the truck to relieve himself. Remembering he picked something off the ground the night before, he reaches into his duster pocket and looks at it. It’s a cell phone; quite old but it is holding a charge. He wonders where this came from. He wonders what is wrong with Tosha's communicator too. Maybe he could use parts from both to get a signal to the ship?

The silence is broken as Tosha calls for Marshall to return to her. Seems he has not quite satisfied her pent-up urges quite yet.