Alien Response Command #2 – Is there a Doctor in the House? 

The Lamplighter Bar, Oceanside, California 

The Lamplighter Bar, just outside Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California, was very typical. From the outside, it didn’t look like much. It was a plain square building covered in faded white stucco. Above the two worn, large wood-paneled doors, an even older neon sign with the name shone brightly into the somewhat deserted neighborhood. 

Once you got through the battered doors, you entered a medium-sized bar with tan-colored wood paneling all around. There were quite a few tables scattered about in an almost haphazard way, with some older chairs paired with them. Off to the side was a brand-new jukebox that looked out of place among the much older décor. A few feet to the left of the jukebox was a dartboard hanging next to a small blackboard used for keeping score. 

If you moved a few more feet to the left of the dartboard, you would see a large, recessed area with a pool table in the middle. Surrounding this area were all the essentials needed for playing pool, including cue stick holders and small circular tables for drinks. The pool table itself had seen better days, but still looked usable. 

However, the long U-shaped bar in the middle of the area dominated everything else. It was made of highly polished dark wood that contrasted with the lighter wood of the walls. There was a slightly off-color overhead bar glass rack above the bar, also crafted from a darker wood. Around the bar, there were at least two (perhaps three) different types of barstools. 

The only other thing that was noticeable was the back wall, which was covered with pictures of soldiers plastered everywhere along it. This was obviously a memorial to fallen comrades. 

Although local civilians occasionally visited the bar, it was clearly a military establishment. Flags and various military memorabilia were scattered throughout. Additionally, on any given day or night, at least ten to fifteen military personnel would be there, drinking, playing pool, or darts. 

On this particular Thursday, three members of the highly trained Alien Response Command (ARC) were in the bar, unwinding after a tough day of training with the Marines. Two of the members, Wyatt “Grip” Parker and Sonny “Spider” Williamson, sat at a table next to the pool table, drinking their beers and watching their third member, Fred “Wink” Donaldson, play pool. 

Both Grip and Spider were fairly tall, standing just over 6’3”, and while their heights matched, little else did. Grip was extremely muscular, built like a football linebacker, while Spider was rail-thin with gangly limbs that seemed almost delicate at first glance. However, both men were much more than they appeared. Each had undergone advanced training of various kinds, with Spider actually becoming a Navy SEAL. They were both driven to succeed in everything they did, which ultimately drew the attention of ARC and led to their recruitment. 

The last ARC member was Wink, who was completely different not only from his teammates but from everyone else at ARC. Wink was a wiry, muscular young man of small stature, standing just under 5 feet 6 inches tall. 

His father was stationed in Japan with the Army his entire life, and it was there that Wink developed a love for three things: the Army, technology, and martial arts. As a result, he joined the Army right out of high school and quickly excelled, becoming a technological expert. Additionally, he had been studying an obscure, little-known martial arts style since he could walk and had become an expert at it. No one at ARC had ever been able to even touch him in hand-to-hand combat. 

Additionally, Wink excelled at anything involving eye-hand coordination. Whether it was darts, frisbee, or pool, Wink was nearly unbeatable. 

On this fine day, Wink was once again fleecing some young Marines who thought they could beat Wink at a game of pool. However, their pride got in the way, and the large Marine currently playing against Wink hadn’t even tried to make a shot against the phenom that was Wink. In fact, for the last twenty minutes, no one other than Wink had taken a shot on the table. He had already run the table three straight times without missing a shot. 

“Eight ball, corner pocket,” Wink said as he lined up his last shot. With that pronouncement, Wink shot the cue ball, bouncing it off two different side bumpers of the table and barely nicking the eight ball, causing it to drop into the corner pocket. It was, to those watching, an almost unbelievable shot. In fact, it was probably too good a shot, as one of the Marines watching noted. 

“Yo man, what the hell was that? No one makes a shot like that. No one.” The six-foot, heavily muscled Marine declared as he walked up to Wink. “What do you think you’re doing, typing to cheat a Marine out of his hard-earned money?” 

Wink just smiled a little smile and replied, “No cheating involved, my friend. I’m just that good. Now, please pay up.” Wink held out his hand. 

The Marine, who now towered over Wink, smiled a somewhat cruel smile and slapped Wink’s hand away. “No, I think you’re going to pay me!” He then put his large, calloused hand on Wink’s shoulder and started crushing it. 

Wink sighed as he looked at his two teammates and raised his eyebrows in a questioning way. Spider and Grip looked at each other before glancing back at Wink and giving a slight nod. 

With that acknowledgement, Wink smiled and looked up into the startlingly blue eyes of the Marine trying to intimidate him, “Please remove your hand from my shoulder.” 

The Marine laughed back at him, “Or what?” 

Almost before he could finish his question, Wink reached up, grabbed the Marine’s hand with his own right hand, slid his left hand under the Marine’s elbow, and then twisted the Marine’s wrist and arm, causing the Marine to yelp in pain and fall to his knees. Wink now stood over the Marine, pressing down on his trapped arm and forcing him toward the ground. 

Wink then leaned in and quietly whispered to the trapped Marine. 

Meanwhile, the other three Marines, sitting at a different table watching the pool game, quickly stood up and took a few steps toward their injured comrade. However, before they could get too close, both Spider and Grip moved to block their way. 

“Whoa, whoa there, young bucks. Just slow down. You really, really don’t want to do this,” Grip smiled as he tried to calm things down. 

The Marines looked at each other before spreading out slightly to prepare for a big fight. “Oh yeah? Who’s gonna stop us? You and the beanpole here?” 

Spider turned to look at Grip and asked, “Are you going to let him call you a beanpole?” Grip laughed and responded to his oldest friend, “I think he’s talking about you.” “Really? You think so? Because, I mean, he was looking at you when he said it.” Grip frowned as he responded, “No, he’s talking about you because…you know.” Spider looked shocked. “Know what? Man, I’m…” 

Before Spider could finish, the Marine yelled out, “Shut the hell up! Either move aside or fight!” 

Grip and Spider exchanged a questioning look, then Spider replied, “Oh, we’re not trying to step in and save our friend. We’re trying to save you, young, bold Marines. We don’t want to see you get hurt.” 

“Is that right?” replied the biggest marine, who stood about six feet tall and was impressively almost as wide as he was tall. He then moved to push Grip out of the way. However, Grip saw the push coming and quickly stepped aside, as did Spider, causing the muscular marine to stumble forward. 

“OK, man, it’s your funeral,” said Spider as both he and Grip took another step to the side. 

Seeing that the two ARC Operators were letting them through, all three Marines turned their attention to Wink, who was still holding down the fourth Marine. “Let him go, asshole!” shouted one of the Marines as they crowded around Wink, who just smiled at them. 

Off to the side, Spider just shook his head and turned to Grip. “Six.” 

Grip, who was carefully watching the marines, replied, “Eight.” 

“Done,” Spider replied as the two ARC Operators turned back to watch the action unfold.

Wink, almost in slow motion, pushed the marine he had by the wrist to the ground and then, ever so abruptly, pushed his shoulder out of its socket, then released the marine, who yelped out in pain. 

This caused the other three marines to charge Wink. 

The first to reach him was the largest, most muscular one, who threw a haymaker punch at Wink’s face. Unfortunately for him, Wink took a small step to the side, letting the punch fly past his face. Then, as the marine’s momentum carried him forward, Wink grabbed the passing arm, trapped it at the elbow, and threw him into the wall behind him. The crash echoed throughout the bar as the Marine collided with the wall and then slumped to the floor. 

Barely had that been completed when the second marine tried to reach in and grab Wink. Again, Wink barely moved to the side, putting the marine right behind his right shoulder. Wink then jammed his right elbow into the marine’s solar plexus, causing the marine to lean forward as all the air exited his lungs. Then, before he could recover, he spun to his right, grabbed the back of the marine’s head, and forced it into his left knee, which rose to meet the marine’s forehead. Three Marines are now down. 

The third Marine, seeing his friends quickly subdued, became more cautious. He took a step back and threw a kick at Wink’s head, which, if it had landed, would have caused severe damage. However, Wink had anticipated the kick and lowered his left arm toward the floor, then fell to the ground, supported by his left arm and leg. He quickly extended his right leg out and swept the marine’s right leg out from under him, causing him to crash hard to the floor. Before the marine could recover, he was on top of him and delivered a punch to the temple, knocking him out. 

Wink looked up at his two teammates and saw a wildly grinning Spider turn to Grip. “That’s six. I win, now pay…” Before he could finish, Wink smiled and punched the unconscious marine again. 

Wink then stood up and walked over to his teammates. “You were saying?” Then he reached over, grabbed his beer, and took a long drink. Sighing, he calmly addressed his friends as he walked back to the moaning, downed Marines. “Stop betting on the number of punches I’ll throw, guys. It’s starting to piss me off. Now, let’s help these Marines back to their feet.” 

Just as they began helping the downed Marines to their feet, all three of their comm devices went off. Grip was the first to check his device, quickly reading the message, then turned to his teammates. “Gentlemen, we need to go. That’s a level one recall. We have to report immediately.” 

With that, all three ARC team members left the bar, with Spider tossing a few twenties on the bar to cover their drinks.

A small Warehouse on Camp Pendleton Marine Base, 

Oceanside, California 

Camp Pendleton is a large Marine base in southern California. It spans 125,000 acres, boasts 17 miles of coastline, and features a diverse landscape that includes beaches, mountains, and canyons. There are many buildings on the base, each serving its own purpose. The building Wink, Spider, and Grip headed to looked just like any other warehouse on the base. They even stored a substantial amount of equipment for the Marines. However, at the back of the warehouse, there was a small office guarded by what appeared to be two Marines but were actually ARC soldiers. 

After checking the IDs of the Wink, Spider, and Grip, they were all buzzed into the office. They stepped into what looked like a typical officer’s office and headed toward a maintenance door in the back. When they opened it, they found a solid metal door set a few feet behind the door they had entered. Next to it, at head height, was a small scanning station. Grip walked up to it and 

leaned into it, getting a few inches from the device. The device quickly performed a retinal scan, and as Grip leaned back, a small light above it turned green. 

Both Spider and Wink did the same thing before the door slid open, revealing a normal-sized elevator. They all walked in, and Wink turned back to the door and said, “Deck 12, forward torpedo bay.” 

“Funny Wink. Now press the damn button,” Grip said as he hid his smile, and the elevator began its nearly 40-second descent. 

Less than 10 minutes later, all three team members were gathered in a small briefing room, waiting for an officer to arrive. 

They exchanged some small talk while waiting, only to be interrupted when the door opened, and an officer entered. “Don’t bother getting up, gentlemen,” said the Major as he walked to the front of the room. “You won’t be here long.” 

He turned on the large monitor behind him. “We have a code blue in Minnesota.” A code blue was the ARC term for Alien incursion. 

“We will need you to head there eventually, but first we need you to head into San Diego.” The Major pressed a button on a remote he was holding, and a picture of a middle-aged South Asian man, possibly from India or Pakistan, appeared on the screen. 

“This is Dr. Jayaram (Jay) Patel. He is on our payroll as a consultant. I need you three to swing by, pick him up, and then head to Minnesota.” 

He pressed another button, displaying an overhead view of Crawford, Minnesota. “Once there, you will hook up with Echo squad and guard Dr. Patel as he examines some of the aliens. Questions?”

It was Wink who answered, “What about the rest of our team, Major?” 

The major turned off the monitor and replied, “They are too far out to get there anytime soon, so it’ll just be you three. That’s why you’ll be working with Echo squad. You should be able to join your teammates later in Crawford. Anything else?” 

There were no further questions, so the Major gave his final instructions: “Leave immediately and get this doctor to Crawford, gentlemen. There will be briefing packets for you all on the flight to Crawford. Dismissed!”

Office of Dr. Jayaram Patel, 

San Diego, California 

Dr. Patel stepped out of patient room 102 and into the hallway of his medium-sized medical practice. He was an average-sized man, in his forties, with caramel-colored skin and rather distinguished-looking grey hair. He had a thin mustache and a carefully manicured beard. During his time at the clinic, he was well-dressed, wearing high-end clothes and shoes, all of which were covered by a white lab coat. 

He co-owned the practice with four other doctors, although he was the primary physician there. This was mainly due to his medical accomplishments, as Dr. Patel was one of the leading bio molecular scientists in the country. Despite his high achievement, Dr. Patel still enjoyed working with patients at his clinic and, as a result, declined several offers from prestigious institutions to continue doing exactly what he was doing—serving as a general practitioner. 

As he headed to his office to see who his next patient was, he was stopped by his primary nurse, Susan Collingswood. “Doctor, there are three military men in the lobby asking to see you immediately.” 

Dr. Patel sighed as he seriously considered not talking to them. However, he was reasonably confident that they wouldn’t take no for an answer. “It’s OK, Susan, please send them back to my office.” He then headed into his office, closing his door behind him, and sat down behind his desk, wondering what the soldiers would want. 

He didn’t have to wait long as Susan opened the door and stepped aside while Wink, Spider, and Grip entered the office. “Will there be anything else, Doctor?” Susan asked, giving Dr. Patel a penetrating stare. 

“No, Susan, that will be all. Please close the door.” 

As she exited, Dr. Patel turned toward his unwanted guests. “What can I do for you?” 

“Doctor, we were sent from ARC. We have a Code Blue, and you have been tasked with assisting us,” replied Wink, who had been chosen to speak to the doctor since he seemed the most unthreatening of the three ARC Operators. 

Dr. Patel understood exactly what they meant when they said ‘Code Blue’ because he had been a consultant for ARC for several years. He was approached at a scientific conference by some government recruiters who wanted his help investigating some little green men or something. He would have dismissed them except that they were paying a lot of money, so he signed on with them, thinking that if they wanted to waste their money, he might as well help. 

Over the next two years, ARC sent him a few questions about Molecular Biology, and he answered them as best as he could, but he never imagined they would send soldiers to his office. This was NOT what he signed up for.

Dr. Patel looked more closely at the three soldiers crowded into his office and decided that he’d better be firm yet understanding with them. “I’m sorry, young man, but I’m not going anywhere with you. I have a business to run and patients to take care of. I can’t just run off with people I don’t even know to God knows where. I have responsibilities here!” 

With that announcement, Dr. Patel stood up and gestured for the ARC team members to leave. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m afraid I will have to ask you to leave so I can get on with helping my patients.” 

None of the ARC team members moved except for Grip, who moved to block the door. Wink remained calm as he answered the doctor, “I’m sorry, Dr. Patel, but you really do need to come with us. Not only did you agree to this when you signed on with us, but this is a matter of national security.” 

Dr. Patel harrumphed his reply, “Really? You need my help with some little green men? Look, I was more than willing to write a few papers for your group and take your money, but I can categorically state that there is no way I will take off with you. Now I MUST insist you leave!” 

Wink just smiled in reply and pulled out his phone. “A moment, doctor, please.” He dialed his CO’s number in ARC. All Dr. Patel heard was Wink’s side of the conversation. 

“Yes, sir… We are at the good doctor’s office now… Yes sir… No, he is refusing to leave… Yes, sir, I explained that… Yes, sir.” Wink then held his phone out to Dr. Patel. “Our Commanding Officer would like to speak to you, sir.” 

“Fine,” exclaimed the now agitated doctor. “We’ll get right to the bottom of this.” He grabbed the phone. 

“Who am I speaking to?” 

The voice on the other end of the line also sounded very annoyed. “This is Major Kenneth McConnel. Am I speaking to Dr. Jayaram Patel?” 

“Yes, I …” 

The Major continued, “Doctor, did you or did you not sign an exclusive contract with us three years ago?” 

“Yes, I did, but…” 

The Major ignored Dr. Patel’s response, “And have you been cashing our checks every month for the same past three years?” 

“Well, yes, but again…” 

“Then what’s the damn problem, doctor? You took our money and signed our contract. Legally, you have to, or the consequences could be very severe.” The Major sounded pissed.

“I can assure you that I have no intention…” 

Again, the Major interrupted him as he sighed, “I’m sorry, doctor, but I really don’t have time for this. Please check your computer.” 

“What? My computer?” Dr. Patel was confused by the request. 

“I said take a look at your damn computer, RIGHT NOW!” The Major’s voice rose to a loud growl at the end. 

Dr. Patel was so distraught by this that he quickly pressed the space bar to activate his computer screen. What he saw shocked him to his core. “How did you get these? I mean, they’re not…” 

He was again cut off. “I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to go this far, doctor, but you’ve forced my hand. Either go with the men in front of you, or I will release all of this to the public. You have 10 seconds to decide.” 

Dr. Patel swallowed hard as he realized that all of this could ruin his entire life. He looked pleadingly at the other three men in his office, and seeing no compassion in them, finally lowered his head and sighed, “OK, ok. I’ll go, but can we at least put it off until the end of the day?” 

“No. Now hand the phone back to Sergeant Wink.” Dr. Patel did as he was asked. 

Wink smiled ruefully as he took the phone back. “Yes sir…we will leave immediately…Thank you, sir.” He hung up and tilted his head, gazing at the now-sweating doctor. 

“Shall we, sir?” Wink said as he stood and pointed toward the door. 

“Yes, I… OK… let me talk to my nurse first, OK?” Dr. Patel asked. 

“Certainly,” he replied as Grip opened the door. 

Standing just outside the door was Nurse Susan. “Doctor, are you OK?” 

Dr. Patel smiled as he left the office and gently spoke to his head nurse, “Yes, Susan, I am quite fine. Please cancel my appointments for the rest of today…wait. Make that for the rest of the week. Also, forward all my calls to the service and notify the other doctors that I’ll be out.” Nurse Susan looked confused and worried as she glanced at the three men standing behind the doctor. “Don’t worry, Susan, this is just a government emergency, and these men are here to help me get to the emergency.” He leaned in close to the nurse. “It’s all very hush-hush, so mum’s the word, alright? Now we have to go.” 

Dr. Patel, followed by the three ARC Operators, then left the office, heading toward a waiting helicopter down the street.

ARC Base, 

Helena, Montana 

After multiple helicopter and aircraft flights, as well as a one-hour drive in the back of a darkened van, the three Beta squad members and Dr. Jay Patel arrived at the ARC base, hidden in the mountains around Helena, around 4 am. The three men were immediately taken to the armory, where they collected their equipment. Meanwhile, the doctor was led to a different room for a brief overview of what he could expect. 

Although somewhat surprised by the revelation that he might actually meet some aliens, he was reassured by the fact that he had written numerous papers on this for ARC and had researched to the best of his abilities about the procedures to follow. Dr. Patel had no questions (other than those he thought the men would not answer), so after this quick briefing, he was led to the flight line and whisked into a dark, all-black, and quite menacing Black Hawk RK Helicopter. 

The other three Beta team members were already on the helicopter when the doctor boarded and took a seat opposite them. He immediately started nervously looking around, inspecting everything inside the helicopter. 

The three Beta Team members exchanged glances before Wink leaned forward and said to the doctor, “First time on a Helo, Doc?” 

Dr. Patel answered while fiddling with his seatbelt, “Yes, yes, it is. I mean, I’ve flown before, but never on a helicopter.” 

Wink smiled reassuringly, “Don’t worry, Doc, it’s a piece of cake…at least until we land.” 

“Wait. What? What do you mean until we land? What happens then?” Dr. Patel looked extremely worried. 

Wink smiled as he replied, “Well… do you get airsick, doc?” 

“Do I what? I mean… what?” The Doctor looked even more worried and confused. 

At that point, Grip leaned to the side, grabbed a medium-sized case, and said, “Don’t worry about it, Doc. Here.” Then he handed the case to the doctor. 

Dr. Patel took the case and asked, “What’s this?” 

“Not sure,” Grip replied. “They just told me to give it to you.” 

Dr. Patel opened the case, quickly reviewed its contents, then closed it and set it down. The three ARC Operators again glanced at each other before Grip asked, “So what is it?” 

After finally attaching the seatbelt halves, the doctor cracked a fleeting smile. “It’s just a kit used to examine biological specimens.”

“You got all that from looking at it that quickly?” Spider asked with a hint of disbelief. 

“What? Uhmm, oh sure. I mean, I designed this so, uhmm, yes, everything is there.” At that point, the helicopter was buffeted by a wind shear that caused the craft to gain almost fifty feet suddenly. 

Dr. Patel gripped the side of his seat tightly. “Is the helicopter supposed to do that?” 

Spider just casually leaned back into his seat, “Yeah. Don’t worry, Doc. Helo rides are a little bumpier, but we’ll be fine.” 

As Spider closed his eyes, Grip reached out and handed the Doctor a small bag. “Here, Doc.” “What’s this?” 

Grip also leaned back into his seat and closed his eyes, saying, “Barf bag. Just in case.” 

Seeing two of the three men closing their eyes and resting, Dr. Patel turned his attention to Wink, who was fiddling with some medium-sized device. Trying to get his mind off the rocky flight he was on, the doctor decided to strike up a conversation. 

“So, what’s that?” he asked, pointing to the metal device in front of Wink. “This?” Wink replied as he adjusted something. “Well, this, Doc, is Bob.” 

“Bob?” Dr. Patel looked extremely confused. 

“Well, that’s what I named him.” Wink shifted the device around, still closely examining it. “This piece of fine equipment is called a Switchblade. Basically, it’s a highly advanced drone that we use for reconnaissance.” Wink put the device down and picked up a sophisticated touchscreen. “It does have a fragmentation charge on the end of it that can be used once to kamikaze the drone, but hopefully we won’t have to use it that way.” 

“Ah. So, you control it through that pad?” The Doctor felt better now that he could concentrate on the conversation he was having. 

“I do. Now if you look here…” The two Helicopter passengers carried on their conversation for the rest of the 35-minute flight. 

City of Crawford, five minutes after the Echo team battled with the REZ. 

After patching up Herc and E-Z, Echo squad gathered in the front room of the house to discuss the events of the past 10 minutes.

Fitz started the discussion, “We found one ET by the car, which was blasted out down the street. There are two KO’d ETs in the next room, and the last ET bugged out down the street. That’s four total. Did anyone see any more?” 

E-Z grimaced as Sandy fiddled with his hurt shoulder. “I only saw four of them coming up the street. Herc may have seen more since he had a better look from the top floor. Is he up and around yet?” 

Sandy kept prodding E-Z as he answered, “No, he’s still out. It’s not too serious, but one of those bolts hit him in the helmet, knocking him out. It’ll be a few minutes until he comes around.” 

E-Z motioned Sandy to stop as he stood up. “OK then. The good news is that I think we’ve accounted for all of the aliens. The bad news is that the one that got away will probably bring back reinforcements. Anyone disagree?” 

There was complete silence before E-Z continued, “Right. So, here’s what we’ll do. We’ll split into two groups. Jolly, Sandy, and I will high-tail it back to the far side of the park and notify command that we’ve found some aliens and that they are hostile. Fitz and Tig will stay here with Herc, examine the aliens as much as they can, and wait for Herc to wake up. Once that happens, they’ll move to the blue house next door. “ 

He waited to see if anyone had questions. Seeing none, he finished, “Our primary rally point will be the blue house. The secondary rally will be the point where we entered the park. Anything else?” 

Before they could break, Fitz spoke up, “If I may, sir?” 

“Yes, Fitz, what have you got?” 

Fitz spread out the map of the city of Crawford he’d been looking at. “I think our secondary Rally point should be somewhere other than the Park. That is a LOT of open ground to cover to get to that Rally point.” 

E-Z frowned as he considered what Fitz said, saying, “I take you have a better idea?” 

“Yes Sir, I do.” Fitz pointed at the map. “Two blocks away, there is a police station. I figure if there’s any resistance still around, that’s where it will be. Plus, most police stations are much more defensible with a lot of weapons available.” 

E-Z considered it as he began gathering his equipment. “Fine. Primary Rally next door in the blue house, and Secondary Rally two blocks over at the police station. Let’s make it happen, people.” 

With that pronouncement, Jolly, Sandy, and E-Z took one last look around the house and headed out the back door. Tig and Fitz began examining the aliens.

A few minutes later, Jolly, Sandy, and E-Z ran back across the open area in the park and reached the spot where they first entered Crawford less than thirty minutes earlier. They continued for another 100 yards before stopping and taking out their Communications Equipment. 

“ARC one. Echo one. How copy?” E-Z anxiously waited for a reply, which came back almost immediately. 

“Echo one, ARC one. Sit rep.” ARC command was requesting a situation report. 

“ARC one. Four Echo Tangos engaged.” Echo Tangos stood for ETs (which most ARC Operators used to refer to aliens). “Echo Tangos have hostile intent. I repeat, Echo Tangos are hostile.” 

“Echo one. Do you have any WIA?” ARC command was asking if any ARC Operators were wounded. 

“ARC command. One combat-capable WIA. Three enemy WIA. Sending data packet now with audio and visual of Enemy Tangos.” E-Z slid a memory stick into his communications tablet, which automatically downloaded the pictures and videos they had taken of the REZ. 

After a few moments, ARC command responded, “Packet received. Echo one, wait for further instructions.” 

The half squad settled back down and kept a watchful eye out for any more enemies nearby. After almost five minutes, the Communications device activated: “Echo one. ARC command.” 

“Echo one copies.” 

“Echo One. Beta Squad inbound with a VIP. ETA 10 minutes. Assist VIP with Echo Tango examination. How copy?” 

E-Z frowned as he looked at his two members, who also had a dismayed look on their faces. “Roger, ARC one. Echo copies all.” 

With that, E-Z hung up the call and turned to his two team members. Jolly said what all of them thought, “Great. Now we get to babysit some REMF while he takes pics and TikTok videos of himself posing with the ETs. This sounds like fun.” REMF was a derogatory term that stood for Rea Echelon M-F***er. Someone who wouldn’t know real work if it stood up on its hind legs and bit them. 

E-Z smiled as he was thinking the same thing. However, they had a job to do. “I understand, Sergeant, but we’ve been given orders. Jolly, head over to those trees fifty meters to our left. Stay in line of sight and provide overwatch.” 

“Copy,” replied Jolly as he took off at the slow half-run that all Operators use. 

E-Z then turned to Sandy and smiled. “Let’s go ahead and polish up our gear so we look pretty when the staff weenie arrives.”

Meanwhile, less than 500 meters away, the three members of Beta Squad—Wink, Spider, and Grip—along with the somewhat green-faced Dr. Patel (the abrupt helicopter landing had indeed caused the doctor to throw up) —were walking at a slow pace toward the rendezvous with Echo Squad. As all do when entering a hostile environment, the three members were joking around. 

“So, Grip, you think these aliens might be related to your girlfriend?” Spider asked his best friend. 

“Nah. Too cold up here for Maria and her family.” Grip said with a smile as his eyes kept scanning all around. “Besides, I’m pretty sure these aliens are here to take you back home.” 

All three men chuckled, though an undercurrent of nervousness lingered in their banter. Wink decided to try talking to the doctor, who looked even more nervous than they were. Before he could, Wink’s comm unit beeped. “Hold up, guys, incoming message.” 

Everyone immediately stopped and dropped to one knee, except for Dr. Patel, who just kept his eyes down and kept walking, before Spider took a couple of steps toward him and gently put his hand on the doctor’s shoulder. “Easy there, Doc. We’ve got a message from command coming in. Let’s just sit down here and take a break.” 

Dr. Patel looked relieved as he sat down. “Thanks.” Then he took out his canteen and took a quick drink of water. 

As he was doing that, Wink’s eyes widened as he saw the incoming video message. Finally, he paused it and looked around. “Guys, you’d better come see this. You, too, Doctor.” 

A few seconds later, they all gathered around Wink as he replayed the video command had sent them. It was the same video that Echo team had sent, showing the aliens (which command had now dubbed the REZ) that Echo squad had fought. 

“Oh wow,” said the surprised Spider. “Real aliens. Man, that’s something.” All three of the Beta team members looked somewhat shocked. 

“Can I see that, Sergeant?” asked the doctor, pointing to the Communications tablet. “Uhmm, sure, Doc,” Wink replied as he handed the tablet to the doctor. 

The doctor stared intently at the recording before rewinding it and watching it again, pausing it at certain moments to enlarge the screen. After a few minutes, he looked up at the Operators and sighed as he handed the tablet back to Wink. Then he turned and began to walk away. 

Wink turned to his teammates with a questioning look on his face before asking Dr. Patel, “Uhmm, Doc. What do you think?” 

Dr. Patel stopped, slowly turned around, and faced the highly trained ARC Operators. He sardonically smiled and raised his right eyebrow before giving a one-word reply, “Fascinating.” He then turned back around and kept walking.

Wink looked back at Spider and Grip, who also appeared perplexed, before Spider finally chuckled, “Oh, I get it.” He raised his voice as he began walking after the Doctor, “That was a Spock imitation, right, Doc? Good one.” 

Spider and Wink then also took off after the doctor, walking to catch up and pass him as they completed the last few meters to their rendezvous with Echo. 

At the Edge of a park 

Outside of Crawford, Minnesota 

E-Z sat facing the town of Crawford, his entire body tense, hoping that whoever they were waiting for would arrive faster. He didn’t like having his squad split up with enemies nearby. He’d already spent over 15 minutes waiting here for their rendezvous with Beta squad, and every second felt like one too many. His thoughts were interrupted by a communication from Joly: “Echo one, I have eyes on Beta Squad.” 

E-Z turned to look in Jolly’s direction, “Roger that, Jolly. How far out?” 

The reply was immediate: “Less than 50 meters.” 

E-Z then switched his comm device to the ARC all-frequency channel. “Beta, we have you on visual.” 

Grip reached up to trigger his own comm. “Echo copies with four friendlies.” Grip was letting Echo squad know that there were four people in their group. 

“Copy,” E-Z replied as he stood up to let Beta squad know his location. 

Less than a minute later, Grip was shaking hands with E-Z and introducing everyone. Of course, the ARC Operators all knew each other, but it was a surprise to Echo squad that the fourth person with Beta was a doctor. 

“So, you’re here to do exactly what, doctor?” asked the curious E-Z, who was Echo (and now Beta) team leader. 

The doctor looked at E-Z with a confused expression on his face. “Wait. You mean you don’t know?” 

E-Z smiled as he shook his head, “That’s the way it sometimes works in the military, doctor. The right hand sometimes has no clue what the left hand is doing.” 

As the doctor took in this new information, Grip responded for him, “He’s here to examine one of the ETs you found.” He paused and looked around, “Did you guys really find an Alien?”

“Well, officially, I guess we’re supposed to call them non-human entities, but we saw four of the alien bastards and ended up smoking them.” E-Z motioned for Jolly to come join them. “I’ll fill all of you in on what happened while we head back to the rest of Echo Squad.” 

He motioned for everyone to start moving.” Let’s go, standard diamond formation, Echo in front, Beta to rear. Doctor, please stay close to me.” 

As the combined squads returned to Crawford, E-Z moved closer to Beta squad to update them on their new enemies. It only took a few minutes to reach the back of the house, where the rest of Echo squad was waiting for them. 

Blue House, north side of Crawford 

As the combined group of ARC soldiers, along with a not-too-enthused doctor, came into the backyard of the blue house where they were supposed to meet the rest of Echo squad, E-Z motioned for everyone to drop and stay quiet. For some reason, his “sixth sense” had gone off. There was something that didn’t seem right. 

Grip glanced at Spider and Wink, silently asking them, “What’s going on?” Neither replied as they scanned the area intensely, looking for any bug-eyed aliens. 

The doctor was more direct. “Captain, what’s…” he started to ask before E-Z shushed him, then turned to Jolly and Sandy and signaled for them to circle both sides of the house and meet at the front door. E-Z then pointed to his watch and held up one finger, indicating that they would enter the house in precisely one minute. 

As they slowly took off in different directions, E-Z turned back to the Beta squad members, signaling them to come closer. 

Once they were all beside E-Z, he spoke softly, “OK, here’s how we’ll do this. Since I’ve been here before, I will lead. Then, Standard entrance, Spider left, Grip right. Wink, you open the door, and then you have our six.” He turned to Dr. Patel. “Doc, you stay in front of Wick, and if we say duck, you duck. Got it?” 

Everyone nodded, and then the Operators double-checked their weapons. 

Finally, the minute passed, and E-Z gave the signal for Wick to open the sliding glass back door. 

This scene played out eerily similar to the house entrance less than an hour ago by Echo squad. Except this time, the front door was quietly opened, and Jolly and Sandy proceeded to check the house.

A few brief moments later, the entire squad met in the front room after searching the bottom floor. E-Z signaled Jolly, Sandy, Grip, and Spider to search upstairs, while he, Grip, and the doctor waited in the front room. 

It only took a few more tense minutes for Jolly, Sandy, and Spider to search the upstairs bedrooms and then come back downstairs into the front room, where E-Z was quietly talking to the Doctor while Grip kept watch out of the front room window. 

Spider turned to E-Z, “There’s no one upstairs. Nothing looks out of place.” 

E-Z frowned and looked into the distance for almost thirty seconds before he responded, “OK, we’ll move to the house next door toward the intersection. That’s where we initially fought the aliens. Sandy and Jolly will lead us to the back door since they’ve been there, followed by me, Spider, Wink, the Doctor, with Grip being the tail end Charlie. Questions?” 

There were none, so the group hurried out the back door of the blue house, across the backyard lawns, and to the back door of the neighboring house. They regrouped and entered the house once again, just like before. After entering, they split up again and, after a few minutes, searched this house too, but still did not find the missing three members of Echo squad. 

When they all gathered in the front room after the brief search, E-Z was already there, talking to the Doctor while looking down at the carpet. “I’m telling you, Doctor, I fought that thing right here. I stabbed him at least three times. There should be some blood on the ground, right here!” The spot E-Z pointed at was utterly free of any signs of blood, alien or otherwise. 

The Doctor lowered his case to the ground and bent down to open it. He looked around for a moment before pulling out a handheld scanner. “I believe you, Captain. How long did you say you were gone from here?” 

E-Z furrowed his brow as he thought. “Perhaps twenty-five to thirty minutes.” 

Dr. Patel nodded as he turned on his scanner and ran it over the area on the carpet where -Z had fought the alien. “Depending on what chemicals they have access to, that might be enough time to erase some signs of the blood.” His voice trailed off as he looked closely at the scanner before lowering it to the space where the carpet met the wall. He quickly reached into his case and pulled out what looked like a metallic syringe. Then, using the scanner to pinpoint something between the wall and the carpet, he used the syringe to pry down into the space and then extracted a little bit of metallic liquid. 

He examined the liquid before holding it up for E-Z to see. “Did their blood look something like this?” 

E-Z leaned over and examined the syringe. “Yes. That’s exactly what their blood looked like.”

Dr. Patel nodded as he set the scanner down, grabbed a different medical device, and plugged the open end of the syringe into it. He then turned on the scanner, waited a few seconds, and when it beeped, he looked closely at it before muttering, “Damn.” 

“What?” asked the intrigued E-Z. 

“There’s not enough material to get a complete workup on this blood. Where else did you say you fought these aliens?” E-Z led the doctor to the other spots in the house where the aliens had been attacked. 

As the Doctor and E-Z went to examine the area by the front door where the aliens had been shot, Spider turned to the rest of the squad. “Let’s set up a perimeter. Sandy, Jolly, head upstairs; Grip, take the other front room; Wink, the rear. I’ll take the front.” 

As everyone left, Wink turned to Spider, “Do you want me to deploy the Switchblade?” 

Spider paused briefly before shaking his head no and saying, “Not right now. I don’t want the ETs to know we have that capability.” 

“Roger that,” Wink replied as he headed to the back of the house. 

A quick five minutes later, E-Z and the Doctor returned to the front room, where Spider was busy watching down the street. “Spider, gather everyone. It looks like whoever cleaned this place up did an awfully good job.” 

As Spider left to gather the rest of the troops, E-Z turned to the Doctor, “What exactly do you need, Doctor?” 

Dr. Patel shrugged and said, “Preferably a full body. Short of that? I don’t know. Maybe body parts?” 

E-Z smiled and shook his head, “Any ideas how to get that, Doc?” 

Before Dr. Patel could answer, the rest of the troops started walking back into the front room. When they were all there, E-Z spoke, “The good news is we couldn’t find any signs of a struggle, so I’m pretty sure the rest of Echo squad was able to high-tail it out of here before the ETs came back. The bad news is we have no idea where either they are, or the ETs are.” 

E-Z pulled out a map and laid it on a table as the rest of his team gathered around. “If Echo squad had to leave here, they would have fallen back to the blue house, which we know they didn’t. Which means they probably headed to the secondary rally spot at the police station.” He then pointed to a spot on the map. “Which is right here, a little over two blocks away, just to the south.” 

As each soldier memorized the route to the police station, E-Z looked around the room. “We’ll stay pretty close together with me, Jolly, and Sandy in the front. Grip, Spider, Wink, and the Doctor will follow ten meters behind us. When we get close to the police station, Wink will launch the Switchblade and recon the area before we approach it. Questions?” 

“What’s our ROE?” asked Grip. He wanted to know what their Rules of Engagement were. 

“If it ain’t human, fire at it, but be damn careful, we still haven’t seen any civvies, and Echo squad is still out there. Now let’s move!” 

Crawford, Minnesota 

Half a block from the Police Station 

It took the newly formed Echo/Beta squad a little over ten minutes to get within half a block of the police station as they moved cautiously toward their objective. 

As they rounded the corner onto 3rd Street (the street where the police station was located), the team noticed that about a block down, in the middle of the street, right before you reached the police station, there was what looked like an abandoned fire truck parked in the middle of the street. 

E-Z immediately motioned for the team to move to the right side of the street and take cover behind the shelter of the garage, which extended into the driveway. After everyone had taken up positions behind him, E-Z grabbed his binoculars and peeked around the corner. He examined both sides of the street and everything he could see around the Fire Truck. He spent a good two minutes monitoring the area before he put the binoculars down and leaned back around the corner. 

He whispered to the rest of the squad, “I don’t see any aliens, civvies, or the rest of Echo Squad. The good news is I didn’t see any blood or damage to any cars or houses either.” The rest of the squad listened intently as E-Z pulled out his computer tablet, examined it for a second, and then continued, “This street goes east for roughly another block before another street breaks off to the 

south. Thirty meters past that is the front of the police station, then 30 meters beyond that is another street cutting to the south.” 

He held up his tablet for everyone to see. “We will advance up this street along the side we’re on, hugging the houses. Once we are close to the rear end of the Fire Truck, we will stop and examine the surrounding area. This is Objective number one. If we do not see any aliens at that time, we will move to the rear of the Fire Truck. This is Objective number two. From there, we will move around the side of the Fire Truck, facing the left side of the street, until we reach the front of the Fire Truck. This is Objective number three. From there, we will pause to determine our best course to the Police station. Any questions?”

After a few seconds of silence with no questions forthcoming, E-Z motioned for the squad to move out. It took less than a minute for them to reach the area directly across from the rear of the Fire Truck (Objective 1). E-Z, Wink, and Jolly all looked down the street, eyes straining to see if any Aliens or anything unusual were hiding there. Meanwhile, Spider, Grip, and Sandy looked to the rear with equal intensity, ensuring no one snuck up on them. 

After a minute of this, E-Z turned to Jolly and Wink and asked, “Anything?” Both of them shook their heads no. Then he turned to Grip. “Anything to the rear?” Grip had already turned to Spider and Sandy, who had also shaken their heads no. “Negative on contacts.” 

E-Z took a deep breath and motioned for Jolly and Wink to run to the rear of the Fire Truck, parked in the middle of the street. After they made it and peered around the other side of the Fire Truck, Wink motioned for the rest of the squad to cross. All of them made it across the street to the rear of the Fire Truck without any issues, including the out-of-his-depth Doctor whom Grip was watching. Everyone was at Objective 2. 

Once there, E-Z motioned for Jolly and Wink to proceed around the massive truck toward the front. Once there, they stopped and looked around. After a few seconds, they motioned back to E-Z for the rest of the squad to come up. 

A few more seconds had the Squad strung out alongside the truck, with Jolly in the lead, followed by E-Z, Spider, Wink, the Doctor, Sandy, and Grip bringing up the rear. They all paused for a second and examined everything around them, then Grip reached back and touched Sandy’s shoulder. Each one in turn (including the Doctor), touched the shoulder of the man next to them until Spider touched E-Z. This was a nonverbal way of telling them that nothing had been seen. 

After Spider tapped him, E-Z turned to Jolly and leaned in to whisper, “Position secure. Go ahead and glance around the front of the truck.” 

Jolly slowly leaned around the truck and glanced down the street. He looked for only a second before quickly leaning back around the truck. He pointed the first two fingers of his right hand to his eyes. This meant he had seen something. He then held up four fingers, indicating he had seen four enemies. Finally, he put his left palm flat, brought the first two fingers down to his palm, and moved them back and forth, mimicking walking, then raised them to the sky. This indicated that the four enemies were aliens. 

E-Z nodded and turned to Wink. He held his right arm out horizontally, then quickly raised it straight up. This was ARC’s hand signal to launch the Switchblade drone. 

With rapid, practiced movements, Wink took the controller out of his backpack . Then he handed it to Spider before finally reaching behind him and pulling out a long, thick tube attached to his backpack. 

He quickly took 3 steps away from the squad, set one end of the tube on the ground, and pointed the other end almost straight up. He then looked around to make sure everyone was clear, then looked away as he pushed a button on the tube’s side. 

A silent whoosh sounded, and a long, thin object flew out of the tube. Before it reached more than twenty feet in the air, two blade-like wings snapped out (hence the name Switchblade), and the drone’s silent engine kicked in as it gained altitude. Spider, having done this hundreds of times with Wink, quickly moved forward, handed the controller to Wink, and took the tube from his hand. Unfortunately, the Switchblade was a one-use drone. It could not return to its controller. 

Returning to the truck’s cover, Wink used the controller to raise the Switchblade slightly, gaining a full view of the area around the police station. 

What he saw was the police station set between two adjacent streets. The right-hand street went down a block and then turned right (heading back west). Along the right side of the street were a few businesses. At the end of the street was another company and a small grassy area. 

Along the middle stretch of this area, between the streets, lay the police station at the northernmost end, with a small building nearby. Just south of it was a medium-sized park. At the end, next to the police station, was a small house. At the far end of the park were two houses. Along all four sides of the park was a sidewalk. At the end of the center section were larger business buildings. 

Finally, along the left side of this area was another street that dead-ended at the park’s boundary. There were business buildings along the end and left side of this street, although a couple of the buildings may have been personal houses, as there were yards around them. 

However, by far the most interesting thing Wink saw was the aliens. He saw them spread out across three separate areas at the end of the street. After zooming in and taking a few videos and pictures with the Switchblade, he put it into a holding pattern and attached the controller to his belt. He then drew out another tablet and motioned for the rest of the squad to gather around him. 

He quickly brought up the pictures he had taken of the area, showing the alien locations. “As you can see, it looks like the Aliens have gathered into three distinct groups. One along each road and another group in the center of the park. They all appear to be moving toward the Police Station. I couldn’t get an accurate count, as some of them are moving into and out of houses, but each 

group has roughly four ETs.” 

He then paused as he swiped to another picture, this one a close-up of the westernmost group. “All of the aliens appear to be the same ones you met earlier, Captain, except for this big sucker here.” He pointed at one of the aliens that looked much larger than the others. “This sucker looks really big. Almost eight feet tall.”

He then looked directly at E-Z. “I also checked the surrounding streets and didn’t see any activity.” 

E-Z pursed his lips as he quickly thought of a plan. “You say they’re all headed towards the Police Station?” 

Wink nodded, “It appears that way. They’re all headed North.” 

“Listen up, everybody, here’s how we’ll handle this.” E-Z looked around to make sure he had everyone’s attention. “We will split into two groups. Sandy, Jolly, and I will be Group Alpha. We will head back around to the rear of the Fire Truck, then proceed to the south side of the street we’re on. From there, we’ll head along the street to the street corner. Our goal will be to reach the alley on the right side of the AO (Area of Operations). Either we’ll move through the building at the corner or swiftly move around the corner and duck into the alley.” 

E-Z then motioned to the final four people. “Team Bravo will be Grip, Spider, Wink, and the doctor. You three will remain here. Once the Alpha group gets to the alley, we’ll peek around the corner. I’ll signal the Switchblade, and when I do, Wink, I want you to arm the Switchblade and then crash it into the Big Ugly dude. At that point, Alpha will fire on the rest of the ETs. When we draw their attention, the four of you will haul ass to the Police Station. Once there, you will cover the Alpha team as we haul ass to the Police Station. Got it?” 

“Affirm,” replied Bravo Group . 

“Questions?” E-Z looked everyone in the eye, saw no questions or doubts, and motioned for Jolly and Sandy to follow him. 

It didn’t take long for Alpha Group to reach the corner building. As E-Z peeked around the corner, the building that was next to them looked like a barbershop. There was a door less than a meter away, propped open. 

E-Z turned to his teammates. “Door. Right side. Already open. Follow.” As they nodded in acknowledgement, E-Z peered around the corner again and waited until it looked like no Aliens were looking in their direction, then swiftly moved around the corner to the door and into the barbershop. He was quickly followed by Jolly and Sandy. 

They all crouched down and strained to hear anything. After a few seconds without being fired at, E-Z peeked out the window next to the door and saw that the aliens were still slowly advancing toward them. He motioned to Jolly and Sandy, “Check the back,” then turned to watch the aliens. 

Perhaps thirty seconds later, he heard a hiss and turned to see Sandy standing in the doorway at the back of the room. Sandy pointed behind him. “Doorway to alley.”

E-Z nodded and, with one last look at the aliens, quickly headed to the rear of the barbershop. As he entered what was obviously a storage room, he noticed Jolly had already opened the door to the alley. E-Z headed to the door and stepped into the alley, followed by Jolly and Sandy. 

They quickly advanced to the end of the alley next to the street. E-Z peeked around the corner again, then quickly pulled his head back and looked up at the sky. He raised both arms to the sky and crossed them. Then he abruptly pointed his right arm at the aliens. This was the signal for Wink to launch the Switchblade at the aliens. 

He turned to Jolly and Sandy. “I think one of them saw me. Weapons check, then get ready to Lock N’ Load on my command.” 

Wink, who had been waiting for E-Z’s signal, immediately put the Switchblade into a steep dive, aiming at the large alien. He then spoke to the rest of his team. “Get ready to run.” 

The Doctor, meanwhile, looked terrified, so Grip leaned over and whispered to him, “Don’t worry, Doc. Just run as fast and as straight as you can. I’ll stay between you and the bad guys, OK?” 

Dr. Patel nervously smiled and nodded. “Thanks.” 

The Battle for the Police Station 

As with most battles, the second battle with the REZ began somewhat chaotically. The almost completely silent Switchblade drone dive bombed down on the heavily armored REZ like a swooping hawk. Wink armed the explosive in the front of the Switchblade almost ten seconds before it crashed down right on the head of the armored REZ. The blast knocked down the huge REZ and caused the other three REZ close to him to instantly fall to the ground. 

Unfortunately for them, as soon as the Switchblade exploded, all three of Alpha Group moved around the corner and began firing at the downed REZ. Because they were all lying down, they were much easier to hit, and all three of the aliens took hits from Alpha’s massed fire. 

At the same time Alpha rounded their corner, Beta Squad came out from behind the Fire Truck, running full speed toward the side of the Police station. Unfortunately for them, the group of aliens in the center section of the area, in the park, had instantly raised their weapons to fire when the Switchblade explosion went off. At first, they directed their fire at Alpha Squad, but seeing Beta come running out from behind the Fire Truck, they switched their fire to them. 

It was a long shot, but the REZ squad moved with military precision, slowly walking toward the ARC Operators as they fired. The amount of firepower they put out was impressive, and most shots missed. With that many shots fired, some were bound to hit, and they did. Spider was winged in the arm, and one bolt hit right in front of Wink, causing him to trip as he struggled to keep moving. 

However, the worst damage was to Grip, who took a bolt to his right leg. The impact was so hard that he was knocked backward and landed on his back. 

Luckily for Grip, the Doctor, whose body had been shielding Grip from the incoming fire, saw him fall and immediately stopped to help him back to his feet. With bolts zipping past them, the Doctor put one arm under the injured Operator and lifted him back to his feet, and they both started moving as fast as they could toward the safety of the Police Station. 

After hitting the downed REZ and seeing the second group open fire on Beta, Alpha Group shifted their fire to the second group of aliens. Although none of the aliens were hit, the incoming fire caused the REZ to dodge and take cover, further reducing the accuracy of the fire directed at Beta. This allowed all of Beta Group to reach the cover of the side of the Police Station. 

Once there, Wink immediately went to the far (east) side of the building and peered around the corner to watch their backs. Spider did the same for the west corner, peering around to the edge of the building to get a better sense of where he and Grip would need to lay down covering fire so that Alpha group could cross over to them. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Patel set Grip down, who was cussing up a storm by then. The doctor just smiled as he examined the bolt still lodged in the leg. After a brief examination, he looked Grip in the eye. “It doesn’t look like it hit the bone or an artery.” “Did you notice if the bolt had barbs on the end?” 

Grip grimaced as he replied, “I really didn’t have time to look, Doc, but I’m sure if you glance around, you’ll see some bolts stuck in something.” 

“Yes, you’re right,” said the chastised doctor as he scanned around, finally seeing a few bolts stuck in a planter a few meters away. 

“OK, I can see a couple of them, and neither has a barb on the end. So, I should be able to pull this one out and…” Before he could finish his sentence, Grip just grunted, pulled the bolt out himself, and casually threw it away. 

“Or you can pull it out,” said Doctor Patel as he began to patch up the wound. 

Alpha was still laying down fire to keep most of the Aliens pinned. At this point, they weren’t really trying to hit any of the Aliens but were just trying to keep their heads (with their gigantic bulbous eyes) down. After about a minute of this, the fire coming back at Alpha group was becoming intense, so E-Z shouted, “Fall Back.” Both Jolly and Sandy quickly moved back to the cover of the alley, and E Z gave the aliens one last look before he too moved further back into the alley. 

“Head back to the Barbershop’s back door. We’ll exfil through the front door. Then head to Beta Group.” Almost before he finished speaking, both Jolly and Sandy jogged back to the door, followed by E-Z. 

A few scant seconds later, all three ARC soldiers were stacked up next to the front door of the barber shop, facing the police station. 

As Jolly looked out the doorway, he waited until Grip (who by now was back on his feet) looked over at them, then motioned that they would move out on a count of four. Grip turned and said something to Spider, then both brought their guns up to their firing positions. They silently counted to four before they began firing at anything that looked like it might move. 

As they did that, Jolly led the rest of Alpha team out the door. 

Apparently, the aliens were either surprised that Alpha group would move or were behind cover, so they took very little fire from the aliens as they crossed the street, and no one was hit by stray bolts. 

E-Z was the last one across. As he stopped to catch his breath, he took a look around. All seven of his men (he now included the Doctor as part of his team) were spread out along the Police Station’s brick wall. Although a few windows were scattered along the wall, there was no entrance to the building here. There were two small grassy areas, 5 meters by 5 meters, a few meters in front of this side of the Police Station, surrounded by asphalt sidewalks. 

He took out his tablet and again examined the area around the police station. He saw that along the west side of the station, where Spider was currently keeping watch, there were about seven meters of wall, followed by the station’s back entrance, then another seven meters. Immediately next to that was a house attached to the police building. It too had an entrance on this side. 

Along the east side of the building, which Wink was covering, there was a setup identical to the one on the east side, except that the entrance was much larger, as this was the main entrance to the station. The house attached to the east side of the station extended only halfway to the west side. There was also a small store about 5 meters from the police station. 

After reviewing this map on his tablet, E-Z quickly decided that entering the Police Station from the west side would be far more tactically sound, since the small store would block the aliens’ line of sight to the front entrance. 

Since most of the soldiers, except for Wink, were close to him, E-Z did not have to raise his voice to be heard. “Listen up.” He glanced around to make sure everyone was paying attention.

“We’re going to enter the Police Station from the front, by Wink. Standard stacking upon entry. Order will be Jolly, Sandy, Spider, me, Wink, the doctor, with Grip as tail end Charlie.” 

E-Z looked closely at Grip. “How are you doing?” 

Grip smiled and replied, “I’m slowed just a bit, but still combat-capable.” 

Although the answer was what E-Z expected him to say, he still had to ask. “Good.” He turned to the rest of the squad and commanded, “Let’s go.” It only took a couple of seconds for E-Z and the team to reach Wink, whom E-Z briefed on the plan. Then, after allowing another few seconds for each squad member to do last-minute weapon checks, the team quickly moved around the corner of the building, heading to the front door. 

Because the Store in front of them obscured their movement, the squad reached the Police Station’s front door without incident. They stacked up outside the door and waited for the last man, Grip, to examine the area. Seeing nothing amiss, he reached over the Doctor and tapped Wink’s shoulder. In response, Wink tapped the shoulder of the squad member in front of him. This continued down the line until Sandy tapped Jolly’s shoulder, letting him know the entire squad was ready. 

They entered the wide-open front door of the Police Station and immediately began a fast yet thorough search of the building. 

While the rest of the team searched the building, Grip paused to close the front door. The lock looked broken, so Grip looked around for something to barricade the door. Spotting some filing cabinets nearby, he turned to the Doctor and said, “Doc, give me a hand with these cabinets, would ya? We need to block the door.” 

The Doctor set down the Medical Examination case he was carrying and moved to assist Grip, who asked, “What if we need to exit the station? Won’t these block our way?” 

Grip huffed as he moved a large file cabinet toward the door. “Doc, if it comes to that, we’ve probably already lost. Plus, there’s another exit in the back.” They continued piling office furniture in front of the door as the rest of the team completed their initial sweep. 

Spider and E-Z emerged from the back area, where the prisoner cells were located, and turned to Wink, Jolly, and Sandy, who had completed the search of the front area. E-Z said, “The back is all clear. Up here?” 

Jolly turned to Spider and Wink, who both shook their heads no. “All clear up front, although I really gotta wonder what happened here. There doesn’t appear to be any sign of a struggle. Also, no signs our guys were here. If they had been, I’m sure they would’ve left a message of some sort.”

E-Z sighed. “Agreed. Spider, you have back door security.” He turned and raised his voice so that Grip and the doctor could hear. “Grip, you and the doctor have front door security. Everyone else, spread out and search for anything useful. You have 60 seconds. Move!” 

As Spider moved to the back door and carefully checked the street outside, the rest of the squad (minus the doctor and Grip) began searching the front of the building for anything useful. After a minute had passed, E-Z shouted, “Time. Spider, anything from the rear?” 

“Negative,” came the reply. 

E-Z turned to Grip. “Any movement out front?” 

“Negative.” 

E-Z looked around and, noticing no windows facing south, turned to the rest of the squad. “We need to move south. We’ve got to get the Doctor access to one of the aliens.” He motioned to the front door, now completely blocked by a mass of furniture. “Since the front exit is blocked, we’ll head to the rear and stack on that door. We’ll exit the building and head south. I think I saw an entrance to the house attached to the police station a few meters south of here. We’ll aim for that and enter the house. Questions?” There were none, so the squad quickly moved to the rear door. 

As the doctor began to move, Grip reached over and grabbed his arm, startling the wide-eyed doctor. “Aren’t you forgetting something, Doc?” 

The doctor looked around before stuttering, “No… No, I… I don’t think so.” 

Grip smiled and reached down to grab the doctor’s medical case, then held it out to the abashed doctor. “Oh yeah, sorry.” Dr. Patel grabbed the case and headed to the back door. Grip smiled and mumbled under his breath, “Rookies.” 

The tension in the room was high as the squad prepared to exit. They knew they were heading straight toward the aliens and would likely come under fire. Still, it was for moments like this that they trained, so E-Z just took a breath and said, “Execute.” 

The squad exited the building in the same order they had entered, with all shouldering their weapons, ready to fire on anything out of the ordinary. Jolly, in the lead, swept his weapon in front of him, searching for any enemies. He made it all the way to the front door without seeing or hearing any aliens. He paused at the front door, turned his head to the side, and whispered to Sandy behind him, “Door.” He then moved a few steps further south and went to one knee. 

Sandy immediately went to the front door and tried to open it. It was locked. He turned to E-Z, who was next in line. “Locked.” 

E-Z replied, “Break it.”

Sandy nodded and pushed his gun, held by its strap, down to his right side. As he stepped back to crash into the door, a bolt suddenly thudded into his arm. At the same time, Jolly shouted, “Contact front,” and opened fire. 

E-Z immediately moved next to Jolly, went to one knee, and opened fire on the aliens, who were almost directly south of them, slightly hidden behind some metal trash cans. Meanwhile, Spider moved up to Sandy, grabbed him, and threw him back to Wink, who was standing behind him. “I got the door!” he shouted as he lowered his shoulder and rushed into the stout door. 

The door shattered like it was made of balsa wood, and the large soldier plowed through it. Spider immediately moved further into the house as Wink pushed the cursing Sandy through the front door. They were quickly followed by the doctor and Grip, who both barely missed being hit by a mass of deadly bolts fired by the enraged aliens. 

Finally, as some of the alien fire was coming increasingly close to E-Z and Jolly, Grip shouted, “Last in.” This signaled to E-Z and Jolly that they were the only ones left outside. E-Z quickly emptied his magazine and stood to head into the house. He shouted, “Moving and Changing…” 

Before he could complete that sentence, he was violently hit by two bolts that crashed into his rear rib cage. E-Z grunted as he stumbled forward and would have fallen had it not been for the quick-thinking Jolly, who quickly stood, caught the dazed E-Z, and raced to the front door, with bolts hitting everything around them, although almost miraculously missing both of them. 

They stumbled and fell through the front door as the enemies’ bolts crashed into the door frame. Jolly moved into the front room, saw a sofa, then pulled E-Z onto it. Jolly looked at E-Z’s face, scrunched into a grimace of pain, and reached to grab the injured commander’s jaw, forcing him to look at Jolly. “Where are you hit?” 

E-Z’s eyes refocused as he stared at Jolly. “Right rear rib cage.” 

As the rest of the team quickly searched the house they were in, Jolly said, “Grip, door security,” then gently rolled E-Z onto his right side and began examining him. Grip moved to cover the open front door. 

The first thing Jolly noticed was the two half-broken bolts sticking out of E-Z’s flak vest. As he looked closer, E-Z wheezed, “I don’t think they penetrated. However, I’m pretty sure they broke a few bones in my rib cage.” Jolly pulled the two bolts out of E-Z’s vest and closely examined both. Neither of the tips had any blood on them, so Jolly motioned for the commander to stand up. 

“Agreed. But you still need this wrapped.” Jolly looked around until he saw the doctor. “Doc, can you come over here and patch up E-Z? I’m pretty sure he has a few busted ribs.” 

As the doctor hurried over, Jolly took a look around. The house they were in was small and divided into three areas. The front room was on the left, and a dining table dominated the center. 

Lastly, the right side of the room was the kitchen, with a window overlooking the sink to the south. There appeared to be a back door directly across from the front door. 

As the doctor began binding E-Z’s ribs, E-Z gave orders. “Grip, front door security, Spider. Back door security. Sandy, go to that window over the sink and keep an eye out to the south. Wink, head downstairs to the basement. Then… ahhh… dammit, Doc, watch out. That hurt.” With a final tug of the Ace bandage, the doctor completed the binding. 

“Sorry, this needs to be snug.” The Doctor finished bandaging E-Z’s cracked ribs. 

Everyone was on high alert, their senses frayed by the ongoing battle. Consequently, when Wink popped back into the room from the staircase to the basement, everyone jumped. “Hey, E-Z, ya gotta see this.” 

“See what Sergeant?” E-Z shifted his Vest down to completely cover his bandage. 

“Uh, it’s kinda hard to explain. It’d be better if you and the Doc just came down here.” Wink turned to head back down the stairs. “And, Doc, don’t forget your science kit. You’re gonna need it.” 

E-Z motioned to Dr. Patel to grab his case as he headed toward the staircase. It was a typical staircase leading down to a small, somewhat cheap cellar. As E-Z descended the stairs, he heard the doctor following him. 

E-Z stopped at the bottom of the stairs and tried to make sense of what he saw. Everything had been moved to one side of the basement, which was now dominated by a slimy green pool set in the middle of the room. To top it off, one of the aliens appeared to be floating in the pool. 

Before E-Z could bring his gun to bear on the alien, the Doctor reached across E-Z and put his hand on E-Z’s gun, pushing it down. “Captain, don’t. I need a live specimen.” 

E-Z turned to the doctor with a glare in his eyes. “Understood, Doctor. However,” he leaned in close so only the doctor could hear what he was about to say, “But don’t EVER grab my gun again. Just tell me what you need without touching my weapon. OK?” 

If the doctor was put off by what E-Z was telling him, it didn’t show. He just nodded and walked past him toward the Alien. 

Once he got close to the pool, the Doctor got down on one knee, opened his scientific case, and began extracting devices. He appeared to be in his own world as he began to examine both the pool and the alien in it. 

Seeing as there was no pressing danger down here, E-Z turned to Wink. “Stay here, just in case that alien wakes up. I’ll head back upstairs and set up our defense.” 

Before he left, he turned to the engrossed Doctor. “Dr. Patel?” The doctor seemed too preoccupied to notice he was being spoken to, so E-Z stepped up to him and touched him on the shoulder. Dr. Patel barely acknowledged the tap. “Yes?” 

“How long is this going to take, Doctor?” asked E-Z. 

“Hmm, with this amount of data to gather?” The Doctor inserted some sort of device directly into the alien’s arm. “It could take years to go through all…” 

E-Z cut him off. “You have ten minutes, Doctor. Then we are leaving.” 

For the first time, the Doctor turned to look E-Z directly in the eyes. “Ten minutes? I need at least two hours to do a proper…” 

E-Z cut him off again. “Doc, there are hostile Aliens up above, remember? You have ten minutes. Now move!” E-Z then nodded at Wink before heading upstairs. 

Wink moved a bit closer to the pool and leaned over Dr. Patel’s shoulder. “So, Doc., need any help?” 

Upstairs in a Quaint Little house in the town of Crawford 

Grip had positioned himself at the front door of the house, trying to look through the small window in the middle of the door to see as much of the front side of the AO as he could. However, the window was small, which restricted his view. He could see the house across from him and a small bit of the park to the south, but that was it. 

He turned to let the rest of the squad know that his line of sight was limited when a bolt crashed through the window where he’d just been looking out of. It was quickly followed by six or seven other bolts in quick succession, forcing Grip to take a step back to avoid being hit. 

Almost simultaneously, the window around the sink on the south side of the house crashed as multiple bolts smashed into it. Sandy was not as lucky as Grip and was hit by two bolts at the same time in his left shoulder, knocking him back into the kitchen and penetrating his armor. 

At the back door, Spider was also hit by a few bolts fired at the open door. Even though Spider was knocked back a few feet, none of the bolts penetrated his armor. However, all three soldiers were knocked aside from the area they’d been assigned to guard, allowing the aliens to bum-rush both the front and back doors. 

This was the scene E-Z saw as he came up the stairs to the first floor. As he took in all three of his team members stepping back from the entrances, he realized the biggest threat came from the back door. Spider had been hit, but it appeared that Grip had not. This was reinforced by the sound of Grip firing his gun through the shattered window of the back door at some unseen aliens. 

Spider, however, had ducked around the corner and was busy pulling a couple of bolts from his armor. E-Z couldn’t hear or see Sandy, so the choice was clear as he moved to reinforce Spider at the back door. 

Just as he arrived next to Spider and glanced around the corner, E-Z saw two aliens peeking around the door’s corner. He instantly opened fire, and both heads ducked back around the corner. E-Z was unsure whether he had hit either of them. That gave Spider enough time to get back into the battle, and he thumped E-Z on the shoulder to let him know he could take over watching the door. 

E-Z spun quickly to his left around Spider, who had stepped into the spot E-Z had occupied a second earlier. He then took a few shots out the door, more to keep the aliens back than to hit anything. 

E-Z then looked around the first floor and saw Grip still firing outside. As his gaze swept the kitchen, he saw Sandy lying next to the big dinner table, feebly trying to pull the bolts from his shoulder as blood pooled beneath him. E-Z tapped Spider to get his attention and said, “Sandy’s down. Cover me!” 

Spider replied immediately, “Roger. On three.” He double-checked his gun, then began the countdown. “Three, two, one. Go, go!” He peeked his gun and head around the corner and began firing short bursts out the door. It was a good thing he did, as just as he began firing, two more aliens pushed their way through the door, firing as they entered. 

Spider adjusted the aim on his HK and switched it to full auto, centering on both aliens’ center mass and hitting both multiple times. One fell to the right, away from Spider, but the second alien managed to fire a few shots at the running figure of E-Z as he crossed in front of them. He was hit and fell at Spider’s feet. 

Three of the shots hit E-Z just as he jumped and slid across the dining table. Two of them barely penetrated his armor, causing minor wounds, but the third bolt hit E-Z in his right hip, penetrating far enough to smash into E-Z’s ilium (hip bone), fracturing it and causing E-Z to cry out, “Crap!” 

However, E-Z’s momentum was so great that he slid across the table, fell off the far side, and landed next to the injured Sandy, but luckily put him out of the line of fire from the back door. 

Spider, having dispatched two of the aliens, quickly ducked back around the corner and did a speed reload of his HK. Once reloaded, he was about to peek around the corner with his gun, but as he did so, a barrage of bolts landed in the wall next to him. One of them tore off a chunk of the wall and blew it right into Spider’s face. Although the damage was minimal, it caused Spider to lean back around the corner. 

Before he could clear his eyes, three more aliens rushed through the door. That would probably have been it for Spider if Grip hadn’t seen the whole thing from across the room. He instantly brought his MP5 to his cheek and swung it toward the back door. Flipping his selector to full auto, he aimed at the three aliens next to Spider and hit all three. 

This allowed Spider to step back a couple of paces and clear his sight. He then looked across at Grip, who was still firing at the aliens at the back door, and raised his right hand to let him know he was OK. Just as Grip was about to signal back, a storm of bolts crashed through the front door, hitting Grip and knocking him forward. 

Seeing this, Spider yelled, “Wink. We’re about to be overrun! Get your ass up here!” Spider then dove to his left, behind a large lounge chair, and rolled to face the corner by the back door. Just as he landed, a couple more aliens peeked around the corner and opened fire around the room, spraying their metallic bolts everywhere but not hitting much. 

E-Z, meanwhile, was grimacing on the floor next to Sandy, who was still trying to pull the two bolts lodged in his shoulder out. Knowing he didn’t have much time and hearing Spider yell out, E-Z reached into a side pocket of his backpack and grabbed a small ampule. He opened the packet it came in and jabbed it into his hip, which was now causing him considerable discomfort. E-Z knew the quick morphine hit would dull the pain long enough for him to at least try to help the rest of his team. 

Before he did that, he knew he’d have to help Sandy, who was now bleeding profusely. He pulled himself next to the wounded soldier, reached into his backpack for the same type of ampule he had just used, opened it, and injected Sandy in the shoulder. Sandy relaxed almost immediately, and E-Z then pulled out some combat gauze from the same section of the backpack. He put his right hand on Sandy’s shoulder, next to the two bolts, and looked Sandy in the eyes. “This is going to hurt.” 

Sandy nodded as E-Z grasped the first bolt with his left hand. “On three. Three, two…” Then he yanked the bolt out as hard as he could. 

“Awww, dammit. I thought you said on three!” yelled Sandy as E-Z tossed away the bloodied Bolt and reached for the second one. “One more,” yelled back E-Z. 

“OK, but this time on… CRAP!” Sandy screamed as E-Z yanked out the second Bolt and then quickly applied the Medical Gauze (which also contained clotting agents). 

While E-Z was patching himself and Sandy up, the aliens were not relaxing and charged through both the front and back doors at the same time. As they did so, Spider reached around and opened fire full auto with his HK, hitting a couple of the aliens. 

The group would probably have been completely overrun had Wink and the Doctor not shown up at that point. Seeing Spider deal with the Aliens entering through the back door, Wink and the Doctor swung their weapons toward the front door, where Grip appeared to be down and out. 

Both were armed only with Service Pistols, but both knew how to use them, and they opened fire simultaneously on the Aliens charging through the front door. 

Even though they were only handguns, both Wink and the Doctor emptied their 15-round mags into the aliens, then reloaded as quickly as they could and kept firing. It was an impressive display of firepower. 

However, even that probably wouldn’t have been enough, as Spider had taken some return fire at the back door that had hit his HK multiple times, knocking it out of his hands. As he fumbled to draw his service pistol from its holster, he looked up to see an alien aiming one of their crossbolt shooters directly at his forehead. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to draw his gun in time, Spider said a last goodbye to his parents. 

At this point, E-Z had finished patching up Sandy and brought his own HK416 to bear. Although still lying down, he had a direct line of sight under the dining table to the legs of the three aliens entering through the back door. He immediately opened fire, hitting at least two of them and causing them to fall. Luckily, one of the two he hit was the one aiming at Spider. 

However, E-Z was hit again, knocking him onto his side and causing him to lose his gun. Spider was also hit, but the bolt didn’t penetrate his armor. Spider rolled over to hide behind the Chair again. 

Sometimes, battles can be strange places. It can be all chaos and loud noises, and then suddenly, as if God himself had come down, it became completely quiet. No guns firing, no grenades going off, no yelling of commands, just silence. This is exactly what happened as the ARC Operator stopped firing, when it appeared all the aliens were down. 

Wink, reloading again, slowly walked up the last few steps to the first floor and shouted out. “Squad check. Spider?” 

Spider reached over to grab his HK. “I’m fine.” 

Wink turned to face the Doctor, walking up behind him. “Doc, you OK? Are you hit?” The Doctor was also reloading his weapon. “No, I’m good.” 

Wink kept scanning the room and spotted E-Z and Sandy under the table. “E-Z, you good?” 

E-Z looked down at the bolt sticking into his front armor, then pulled it out as he replied. “I’m injured but good to go.” He looked over at Sandy. “Sandy is WIA and out, though.” 

Wink turned to the Doctor and motioned for him to head over to E-Z and Sandy, then asked his final teammate, “Grip, you there, man?” He waited a second, then asked again, “Grip. Reply.” 

Still hearing nothing, Wink held his gun out in front of him and headed toward the front door, where Grip had been standing and guarding it. After a few steps, he saw Grip lying on his stomach a few feet from the door. He ran over as fast as he could, shouting, “Spider, take a look out back and make sure no more of these ETs are coming. I’m going to check out the front door.” 

Spider stood and cautiously moved toward the back door as he yelled back, “What about Grip?” 

The reply was short, and that brevity conveyed the seriousness of the situation. “He’s out,” was Wink’s reply. 

As he stepped over his friend, Wink quickly scanned outside and, seeing no aliens charging toward him, kicked the door shut and backed over to Grip. He went to one knee and quickly looked down at Grip, expecting the worst. However, his initial glance revealed no major wounds, and he saw no blood. After taking one more quick look outside, he reached down and rolled Grip over onto his back. Another quick glance revealed no wounds on Grip’s front and no blood. 

However, there was a large dent in the front of Grip’s helmet. Seeing this, Grip gently loosened the helmet and checked Grip Skull. A pretty big knot was forming, and it also appeared to be bruising pretty badly. Wink gently began probing the wound, not paying attention to anything else. 

It was at this point that Grip came to and opened his eyes. Wink didn’t even notice, so focused was he on Grip’s head wound. Grip just smiled and said, “Wink, why are you touching my face? I mean, I like you. I really do, but do you think this is the time or place for this?” 

Wink smiled as he continued probing the wound. “Shut up, asshole. I’m trying to see if any of your teeny-tiny brain leaked out.” He leaned back, stood, then put out his hand to Grip, who grasped it and slowly stood. 

“Grip is up,” shouted Wink. He turned back toward the door and glanced outside again. 

While this was happening, the Doctor reached E-Z and Sandy. Both were awake but injured. The Doctor quickly examined them and, seeing the bolt still sticking out of E-Z’s hip, reached over to pull it out. E-Z stopped him. “Leave it in, Doc. If you pull it out now, I’ll probably pass out, and I need to be awake.” 

E-Z then yelled, “Spider, what’s happening out back?” 

Spider briefly leaned out the back door, looked around, then ducked back in. “Looks clear out back.” 

E-Z motioned for the doctor to help him stand. Once on his feet, he turned to Wink, who was intently staring out the front door. “Wink, what’s the situation out front?” 

Without taking his eyes off of something, Wink replied, “We got a problem here, E-Z.” 

E-Z frowned as he hobbled over to the kitchen and peered out the broken south-facing window. “What cha got?”

Wink motioned for Grip to go look outside. He pulled his head back inside very, very quickly, then looked at Wink and nodded. 

“I got four or five hostile ETs heading our way from the south side of the park. ETA thirty seconds.” Wink looked down at his weapon, ejected his mag, and checked how many bullets he had left. 

E-Z then glanced out the window and confirmed what Wink had seen, as there was indeed a group of aliens heading their way. Taking a look around the room, he saw that his squad was in no shape to continue the battle. So, making a quick decision, he started giving commands. 

“Alright, listen up.” He turned and slowly walked back to Sandy. “Spider, keep an eye out the back. Wink, come over here and give us a hand with Sandy. You and the Doc will have to buddy carry him.” E-Z paused, looking down at Sandy to make sure he was at least partially awake. He was. 

“Grip, you OK to be tail-end Charlie?” E-Z looked at the big man, who still appeared somewhat woozy. 

Grip just smiled and gave a thumbs-up as he replied, “I’m good.” 

E-Z then turned and began limping quickly toward the back door. “We’ll exit through the rear door, head directly across the street, and then back to the Fire Engine. From there, we’ll exit the AO. Spider will lead, followed by me, then Wink and the Doc, with Sandy supported. Grip will be in the rear. Our goal is to leave, NOT get into another firefight. Questions?” 

There were none, as the ARC Operators and the Doctor left the house. They were lucky the aliens did not pursue them, and they were able to get about a block away before the Doctor yelled, “Dammit!” 

E-Z turned back to the Doctor. “What?” 

Dr. Patel looked back toward the city block they had just left. “I forgot my Science Kit. We need that data.” 

E-Z just smiled. “You want to go back and grab it, Doc? Cuz I don’t think those aliens are going to take kindly to that. No, let’s take the L and get back.” The group kept walking.