Thunderbirds Are Go
The Halloween Collection
2022 Edition
By Lee Homer
Disclaimer: All rights reserved. I don't own Thunderbirds and any of the characters involved. You know the drill. We're back for another collection of tales of the weird, the depraved and the paranormal. I hope you enjoy these stories and Happy Halloween.
Sinister Cover-Up
by Alan Tracy
I can't shake the feeling that we didn't belong during our last call-out. It happened late one night and John had been tracking an unlisted aircraft that had gotten into a bit of difficulty during its flight. It was peculiar in the fact that it had no official credentials and EOS couldn't find the relative flight information. It appeared to be heading for the States as it took a sharp turn over Brazil. The problem was that it was trying to avoid a Cyclone, but it wasn't so lucky. Within minutes, John could hear the pilots issue a Mayday over their radio as their panicked faces floated over the holographic projector. They had been struck by lightning and were now going to crash with no way to eject. He followed its path until a red danger symbol appeared on his global holo-map. The jet had crashed on the outskirts of Itabuna in Northeastern Brazil. The city had been evacuated for the most part, but those living on the outskirts witnessed the plane come down.
We came into the story when John reported the incident. I remember we had just finished dinner when Dad informed us of the situation. He didn't know what to make of the unmarked jet but decided that we should assist in the rescue effort anyway. Scott flew on ahead in Thunderbird 1, while Virgil, Gordon and myself suited up in Thunderbird 2. We took off a few minutes later, as John gave the three of us a detailed description of the jet. Something about it troubled him. He figured that it could be nothing to worry about but to stay alert just in case. When we arrived, it was like looking at an inferno below. Thunderbird 1 had already landed close to the wreck, but we could see that Scott was trying to find out what was going on. We soon touched down alongside his Thunderbird and we quickly joined him at the military barricade.
The man he was arguing with wore plain black tactical armour and dark camouflage trousers. The men behind him, wore identical uniforms as they scoured the streets with high-tech scanning equipment and other scientific instruments. The clicking sound of a Geiger counter echoed in the trees behind the cordon, as numerous military figures swept through the forest surroundings. The officer at the cordon hastily issued Scott a warning to leave, but my older brother wasn't backing down. Multiple fires raged about us. People were still in danger. How could these guys ignore all of that?
"Look, pal! We're here to help the injured! You can't stop us from helping. Look at the carnage around here!" growled Scott.
"You have one chance to return to your crafts and leave!" the officer threatened him. "This is a restricted area. Leave now or face the consequences!?"
I could see the veins begin to bulge out of Scott's forehead.
"Are you out of your mind!?" he snarled. "I'll contact Colonel Casey at the GDF and see what she has to say about all of this?"
Virgil grabbed Scott by the shoulder, pulling him to one side. We all huddled around once we were out of the guard's earshot.
"I don't like this at all, Scott. I don't think we should this further," he muttered.
"But we can't just fly away as nothing has happened," Scott protested. "We've got a job to do. People need our help."
Gordon and I agreed with Virgil, but Scott couldn't let it go. He was right though. Instead, we all agreed to go about the rescue more covertly. Climbing aboard Thunderbird 2, we assembled two small, firefighting pods which could head down the smaller streets towards some of the fires. Multiple streets had been damaged by fallen debris, trapping people inside their homes and vehicles. Gordon and I operated the firefighter pods while Scott and Virgil assembled the lifting equipment. Virgil donned his famous heavy-duty grab claw arms, while Scott got to work on shifting some of the debris. We made sure to stay well away from the creepy military cordon as we worked. We didn't want to get shot on site or anything.
An hour elapsed since our arrival and we had managed to shift the majority of the debris. Several people were injured, but we were able to deliver them to the waiting paramedics who were already standing by. Gordon and I put out nearly all of the individual fires, but before we could return to the pod, a loud blood-curdling scream drew our attention. It came from a small street which backed onto the dense forest. The Military hadn't been through there and the section of woods hadn't been cordoned off. We pulled over to see if we could hear the scream again, but as we disembarked the pods, we found ourselves standing in the middle of a dark empty street. The ambient sounds of the emergency services echoed in the gloom, but that was it. We glanced at each other, adamant that we heard a scream.
"I'm sure it came from here," said Gordon. "What's going on?"
"I don't know," I replied. "But I know I don't like it. It feels like we're not supposed to be here."
Suddenly, the scream came again only this time, it was coming from across the street towards the woods. Gordon called out to them as we dashed across the street.
"We're coming! Keep calling out to us!"
The screams persisted, allowing us to zero in on the terrified resident. We found ourselves in a small backyard which felt completely swallowed by the woods. As we searched the property, we found a man hunched in the corner of the yard, trembling in fear. He didn't speak a word of English, but the fear in his eyes told the story. As Gordon knelt to assist him with an assuring smile, the man began to chant something at us in Brazilian. Now that I've translated what he said, I can tell you what he was trying to say. He told us that he had seen something with large red eyes glare at him from the darkened woods. His son went out to chase after it, but he never came back. He now feared that whatever it was that glared at him had now grabbed his son. We got him to show us where he had seen these eyes. Reluctantly, he pointed us in the direction. I didn't like this one bit, but we now had a missing person on our hands. Using the flashlights on our suits, we set off into the trees, keeping together as we moved.
It felt so oppressive and sinister in there and I couldn't work out why at the time. It felt like a dozen eyes were watching us with each step. You know, the typical creepy woods scenario. Gordon called out periodically for the man, despite not being given a name. We made it part way in until the snapping of twigs caught our attention. Something was moving in the trees behind us. I turned in the direction of the sound but could see nothing. We shook it off, trying hard to battle the dark shroud that enveloped us, but that was only the beginning. I could see a small dark shape dart amongst the trees as it circled us repeatedly. Gordon saw it too and together, we tensed at this bizarre situation. Gordon grew mad at the bizarre shape as he tried to scare it off. He figured it was an animal out on a hunt, but what happened next proved that it was anything but. The small figure perched up onto a rock and studied us in the dark. Two large red eyes tore through the black veil as the creature locked eyes with us. A weird unearthly clicking sound emanated from it as if it was trying to call out to something. Curious, I shone my light on it and saw the most terrifying thing I had witnessed in years. It was an alien. There's no other way of describing it. It resembled your average description of a Grey alien, only it was small, hunched over like an ape and had red, scaly skin. Its eyes were large and bulbous much like the grey, but they shone a brilliant red. It sported 3 long claws on each hand while the ones on its scrawny, feet clasped the rock it was perched on. It let out a snake-like hiss as the spikes on its back angled upwards.
Before we could react, we turned to see a second pair of red eyes emerge from the dark. There were two of them now, and we were in danger of being surrounded. We had no choice but to abandon the search, taking off through the trees and back towards the neighbourhood. I felt guilty at the fact that a man was still missing, but my gut told me that we were too late to save him. These beings had probably killed him. As we kept running, we could hear the two beings converse with each other in a series of rhythmic clicks and hisses. I believe that they were going to coordinate a plan to finish us off. These two beings were predators. They moved through the trees after us, feeding off our fear and adrenaline. Wherever they came from they didn't belong there. The first glint of light emerged through the trees as stumbled over bush and shrubbery. I lost my footing and tumbled, smacking my arm against a boulder. It hurt so bad.
Gordon helped me up and beckoned me to keep going. We eventually made it to the man's backyard right where had started. He had long gone by the point, leaving us alone. As we made it into the yard, we both stumbled, falling flat on our backsides. We breathed a sigh of relief when Scott and Virgil appeared from the street. Both of them were concerned that we hadn't contacted them, but the reunion was short-lived. All four of us watched in disbelief as the two aliens emerged from the woods. They stood there at the threshold of the woods, staring us down with intimidating glares. The glow of the street lights bounced off of their shiny red skins as the creatures took an aggressive posture. We should have run, but fear and horror had paralysed us on the spot. What were these beings going to do? Were they going to attack? Virgil believed he could take them on with his heavy-duty lifting arms, but I could hear the hesitance in his voice. He was just as frightened as the rest of us.
A sudden sound freed us from our trance as the heavy sound of boots on concrete thundered towards us. A squadron of heavily armed soldiers emerged from the darkness. The two alien beings hissed before darting off into the trees once again. The darkness extinguished their glowing red eyes. The armed men wore the same black tactical gear as the men we encountered earlier. They trained their stun rifles at the woods and unleashed a hail of bullets at the trees. We got out of there amongst the large crackle of gunfire, but as we did, I overheard one of the men speak into his holo transmitter.
"This is unit 4, calling unit 1. We've found them! Moving in to contain the cargo!"
The four of us burst out into the street, pausing for a moment to gather ourselves. As we did, Scott explained that in our absence, they had recovered our fire pods before searching for us. The black ops military unit had also noticed our disappearance and started to suspect something. The sound of gunfire and shouting crackled in the distance for some time as we just sat there in the street and hugged each other for a while. When we calmed down, we agreed it was time to leave and that we had all seen enough for one night. However, as we were about to return to the Thunderbirds, we were ambushed by a squadron of black op's military troops. We noted the guns that were raised at our heads. I honestly thought we were going to die at that moment because we had seen something we were not supposed to. The head officer, the man who had told us to leave at the cordon, stepped forward. His eyes locked with Scott's, as he ordered his men to lower their weapons.
"International Rescue. I think it's high time we had a little talk don't you think?" he said in a deep intimidating voice.
Scott stepped towards him, clenching his fists; "Tell your lackeys to back away from our machines. We were only doing our job, which is more than what we can say for you!"
The dark-clad officer smiled. "Brave words, kid, but I remind you that you're speaking with a Government official. This was a top-secret operation which you stumbled into without permission. By rights, I have the authority to detain you and impound those machines of yours."
Scott raised an eyebrow; "But?"
"But under the circumstances, We're going to let you go with a warning," he continued. "However, let me make this clear to you boys. You didn't see anything and you keep your mouths shut, do you hear me? We know the location of your base and believe me, I can stamp it out should I see a reason."
"We work with the GDF," Scott growled.
"I own the GDF!" barked the man. "General Casey works for. If you talk about what happened here, I will know about it and I will throw all of your arses in jail! International Rescue will be finished. Do we have an understanding?"
I could see that Scott wanted to punch the man, but Virgil stepped in to diffuse the tension. He agreed with the officer's demands.
"Yeah we hear you, pal," he said. "Come on, boys. Let's go home."
The men pulled back, allowing us to pass. He stood there with a menacing look in his eye as we climbed aboard our machines and took off from the area. As we flew home, we all agreed not to mention this to anyone at the base. I know Scott though. He was itching to tell Dad about the whole ordeal. Looking back at the incident, I believe that the cargo jet was transporting two Alien beings to an undisclosed location. The plane crashed, allowing the two beings to escape and what we stumbled into was an attempted cover-up. An elaborate plot to hush the witnesses and discredit those who tried to report the incident, us four included. Wait a minute, what if that man's missing son wasn't killed by those beings? What if that menacing officer and his men shot him before he could spill anything!?
I don't know. It's not worth thinking about, but I know I'll have nightmares thinking about the what ifs if should we have handled things differently. I don't think I'd be here today.