Chapter 7 - The Plane.

The tower of smoke was still billowing as Josh and Aaron rushed through the trees, a small wood was all that stood between them and whatever was happening. They pushed through the underbrush, Aaron hopping over each tree branch nimbly, Josh tripping a little now and then. When they finally emerged, they were met to a large amount of flames and smoke erupting from the middle of the tarmac. What looked to be the ruins of a basic six-man plane was now a smouldering pile of wings and flames. Josh and Aaron both stopped in their tracks, as their heads turned to see one of the alien creatures. It was 10 feet tall, a shade of deep maroon, with large hands the size of a man's body. Its long and thin appendages somehow supported its large hands and giant head, which was featureless except for one large eye that took up the whole of its face. Its eye was fixed on a small airplane hanger as it strode past the two friends. It raised a giant hand and pointed its palm towards the hanger doors. The palm of its hand began to glow, and then a beam of red-hot energy erupted from it and shot at the doors, severely denting them. The sound of this energy hitting the metal gave a loud 'Clang!' upon impact, and Josh and Aaron both took cover behind a large bollard. The peered around at the hanger, and josh noticed that the green flare was being emitted from the roof. Clearly the others but have been hold up inside, hiding from the great beast. Josh looked back to Aaron and said, plainly.

"We need to get inside."

Aaron nodded in agreement, and so the two began to creep around next to the alien, keeping bent double behind the barriers of the runway. The creature raised its hand once more, and shot another beam at the hanger doors. The doors began to buckle from the force, but didn't break yet. The creature seemed drawn towards the largest concentration of humans, and to the green smoke. Josh reached the edge of the barrier first, and spotted a small side door to the hanger. When Aaron caught up, he gestured to it and whispered to him.

"We need to get inside, Will and Tyde may still be alive!"

"Are you mad, how do we get pasted that thing without it spotting us" Aaron replied in a hushed tone. As he was about to answer, the sound of gunfire came from somewhere nearby. A group of three people were hidden behind the small control tower, and they'd leapt out and shot at the beast to distract it. Aaron squinted, and could make out one of them was Tyde. He was holding an assault rifle and wearing ballistic armour. Beside him were two other men, one with short brown hair and the other with mildly long blonde hair. Both wore the same armour a Tyde, and both had weapons similar to him. The giant alien turned and faced them, making no sound but the stops of his large feet. The three ducked back behind the tower, as the creature began to raise its hand and charge a shot. Josh and Aaron took this chance, and ran towards the hanger, quickly bashing open the side door. Inside six people, all dressed in combat gear met them. They all turned their guns towards them, but a seventh man came out from behind the wing of a small fighter jet and spotted the two of them.

"Glad you made it!" Called Will, waving his hand. "They're my friends, don't shoot!"

"Evans!" Josh cried out, walking inside. Evans was also wearing combat gear, and holding a large heavy pistol, and carrying plenty of ammo for it.

Will shook his head and raised a hand. "No time for hellos right now, we need to deal with this thing outside!"

One of the men who looked the most tough turned to Josh and Aaron, lowering his gun. "You were just outside right?" He asked in a deep gravely tone. "What's it doing?"

"It's being distracted by three people outside." Aaron said quickly, looking around the hanger at the one fighter jet.

"Alright, that's all the time we need." He said, turning to one of the women in the huddle. "Marie, get in the jet and arm the missiles, we need to bring that thing down, the bullet do nothing!"

Marie nodded and ran towards the jet, scrabbling up the wing and opening the unlocked pilot seat. She sat in and began to flick switches and buttons. Will ran over to Josh and patted his shoulder.

"Did you see Tyde out there, was he alright?"

Josh paused for a second. "He was shooting at the big alien thing, but didn't he say that bullets do nothing?"

Will nodded. "They have an extremely high body temperature, bullets just melt on impact, doesn't effect them wherever you shoot. It can disable their vision of you shoot them in the eye enough, but you need concentrated shots."

Josh nodded, accepting the fact that Will knew what he was doing.

"What's the plan?" Asked Aaron, looking at the jet, which was beginning to start up.

The man with the gruff voice turned towards them and said loudly. "We can't fly the jet, but we can point and shoot it. If Marie can aim the missiles at the beast, we can bring it down in one shot. But we needed that distraction to get the doors open and the jet lined up right!"

Will turned to them and nodded. "You guys need to come outside with me, we're going to provide another distraction for Tyde and the others."

Josh looked incredibly concerned, but Aaron nodded. "Alright, we're with you." He said, turning to Josh. "It's just like a raid, we need to draw its attacks so the nuker can kill it."

"Ahhh, I get you!" Said Josh, nodding and walking with Will and Aaron outside. They ran out and over to the barriers again, watching the large alien keep hammering away at the tower, the stone beginning to crumble.

Aaron turned to will and asked. "How are we going to do anything, we don't have any guns?"

Will took a smaller pistol from its holster and handed it to Aaron. "Now you do, and when I say, we shoot at it."

Josh tapped Will on the arm. "What do I do then?"

"Do what you do best, make loud noises and dance around."

Josh glared at him. "Human bait, lovely."

Will rolled his eyes, patted Josh's shoulder, and yelled "NOW!" at the top of his lungs. The three of them jumped up, and as Will and Aaron began to unload rounds into the aliens back, Josh stood up and began to yell.

"Look over here you big red bastard! Come and get us!"

The giant creature began to turn around at the sound of new gunfire and speech, its large eye turning and becoming fixed on Josh's flailing arms. Josh immediately stopped this and darted away as the creature began to charge up a shot. Just as it released its energy, Josh made it behind the stone bollard, which the creature shot at, causing red energy to spark off of it, and Josh could feel the searing heat. Aaron and Will continued to shoot at it, and Will saw the hanger doors being slowly pulled open by two men each, as the large muscular man was directing Marie, who was steering the jet forward gently. The beast opened its palm again and shot another burst at where Josh was hiding. Josh emitted a squeal as the burst slammed into the stone, crumbling it yet more.

As the jet started to get into position, the engines got louder. The great creature turned and fixed its eye on the open doors, turning its body, ready to destroy the large human weapon. Will, Aaron and Josh kept on trying to draw its attention with bullets and loud catcalling, but it was no good. The creature slowly raised up it's hand, ready to fire. All seemed lost, as the soldiers opening the door began to scatter outwards, but the creatures turned on them, firing large red bolts at them. Two men were instantly disintegrated before their eyes, leaving nothing but ash. The other two who had run left were quickly dispatched as well, before the alien's eye fixed on the two people by the jet, and its hard aimed right for them. Will cursed loudly, as all the plans had been ruined. The jet would be destroyed, and they would be next. The jet was lined up, but the missiles were still arming. There wasn't enough time.

From the other side of the runway, everyone heard a loud cry. Aaron and Josh turned their heads to look at who or what it was. Tyde had broken from cover, and was holding the rifle of the blonde haired man in his other hand. He ran out towards the hanger, both guns rapidly firing in the direction of the creatures face. He was screaming his loudest, trying to distract its attention. The bullets did the job, and the alien closed a lid over its massive eye, raising its other hand up to it, and emitting a low and echoing wail out of who knows where. It' other hand, which was aimed at the jet turned towards Tyde, who's face was a mixture of adrenaline fuelled madness, and utter bravery. The jet found it's positioning, and a missile erupted from one of the slots, shooting right at the alien. It made contact, and gave off a huge explosion, sending flames and shrapnel everywhere. The low wail of the monster was heard again, pain stricken, as its large carcass fell backwards, slamming into the tarmac, defeated. Everyone took cover as the flames and broken metal cascaded around the runway, shredding the guard tower to pieces, but the best was beaten. Everyone stayed huddled down as the smoke began to clear. As they all turned to look, they saw the monster laid dead on the tarmac, its torso totally demolished, and its large eye closed. There were sounds of cheering and cried of delight from Will, and the two men behind the guard tower. Josh began to cheer and fist pump the air in delight, but Aaron's eyes fell on another body, not the aliens, which too, seemed lifeless.

Tyde was laid out on the ground, both weapons freed from his grip, and a large chunk of twisted metal piercing his torso and right arm. The piece of shrapnel was almost the size of his entire body, and a large and thick part of the metal was dug into his chest, ripping it open and tearing through his ribcage. Will saw Aaron looking shocked, and followed his gaze until his eyes found Tyde's body. Things went into a blur for Aaron at that point, seeing the body of a friend dead made everything much more real. Before, it almost seemed like a fantasy, but not anymore. He heard Will give a loud and anguished cry of sadness; saw him running over to his friend's body. He saw him try and shake his arm, tap his face, and begin to emit sounds of pain he'd never heard the likeness of before. Josh stood next to Aaron, looking equally as shocked. They both seemed to realise now, that this was not a game, but it was real.