March 17, 2011 by Mark Lidstone

The Looking Glass – Killing Friends 4

For Robert Boyd

Before the war, Rob was a network technician with a very normal life. He had a wife, two kids, a white picket fence – the whole package. It sounded boring but it was all he’d ever wanted. He cherished every moment. Not a day went by where he didn’t tell his wife and kids how much he loved them, not a weekend where they weren’t together.

That was why he couldn’t leave.

When the attacks started, Rob stayed at home. Everyone he knew had enlisted, thirsting for the blood of the enemy. Not him, he had too much to lose. So he stayed to protect his family, someone had to.

October 25, 2020 was Rob’s 35th birthday and the day that commenced Earth’s destruction. Up until then, the war had only been fought in space. Troops would storm enemy ships like modern day pirates, clearing out the inhabitants and leaving the empty vessel to drift in the darkness of space. It was considered relatively humane and predictable and because of that, we got lazy.

They were sitting at the dinner table, Rob and his family, wearing birthday hats to entertain the kids. They all cheered him on as he blew out the candles on the cake his wife Doris had made him. He started cutting the cake, each person pointing out their desired piece.

The celebration was promptly interrupted when his front door was blown open. Time slowed down. He knew what was coming before anything had even entered the room. His family screamed as four giant monsters stormed the house. Immediately, Rob stepped in front of his family, shielding them from what was about to happen. The larger of the four gave orders to the others in an alien language and they readied their weapons. Before they could do anything, Rob charged them with whatever he had, swinging a large knife covered in vanilla icing. The soldiers were caught off guard and Rob quickly brought the blade across the throat of the smallest one, spilling its pale orange blood onto the floor.

His victory was short-lived, though, as the leader of the group grabbed him by the throat lifting him off of his feet. The beast whispered something to him in its native language, tightening its grip on Rob’s throat. With great effort, Rob lifted the knife and jammed it into the left eye of his attacker. It howled in pain, holding strong its grip on him. Behind him, his family cried and screamed for his release. The monster hurled him through the air with a scream. His body exploded with pain as he crashed through the wall, breaking most of his bones, and landing outside. He watched as hoards of aliens stormed the town, tearing through other houses as they had done to his. He heard the cries of his family as they were brutally slaughtered. Everything went dark.

—–

Once healed, Rob enlisted. It wasn’t hard to get in, after the ground attack the military was accepting anyone they could get their hands on. They injected him with a steroid used to manipulate his DNA. Upon being injected, each soldier was affected in a different way: some were given increased strength, others, faster reflexes. With Rob, it was his sight. When he awoke in quarantine, his body was sculpted to perfection and he could see things he never knew existed – colours they never told you about in school. They put a sniper rifle in his hand and dog tags around his neck. The tags read “Zaitsev”.

Now, he was lying on his stomach looking through the scope of his gun – his looking glass. Three dog tags were wrapped around his wrist. They read “Blimp”, “Luminous” and “Carbon”. Some of his closest friends. Each one killed in a surprise invasion three days earlier.

That wasn’t important now. What was important was on the other side of his looking glass. His cross hair floated on a hulking figure. The beast was cloaked but with Rob’s enhanced sight, he could see it just fine. Roughly eight feet tall with a gruesome scar where its left eye should have been. The scar brought back painful memories of the loss of his family.

The thing wasn’t alone. In the room were two human soldiers who had no idea it was there. Both of them from Rob’s squad – his friends. Without warning, it dashed at one of the soldiers, pinning him to the ground with its foot and readying its gun. Rob slowly moved his finger toward the trigger taking note of the markings on the side of the rifle. Forty-seven scratches, forty-seven kills, forty-seven steps closer to ending the war. He pulled the trigger.

The sound of the shot echoed off the walls, the bullet piercing the beast’s midsection, spraying blood onto the face of the pinned soldier. It fell to the ground with a loud thud and Rob carved another notch into his gun with a knife while gathering up his gear. He made his way to the room and helped his friend to his feet.

“Jesus Rob”, Burst said, “cutting it a little close maybe?”

“That’s alright, you needed your ass kicked.” he said. “Something’s got to keep your cocky ass in check”. Rob nodded towards the bloody mess still strapped into the chair. “Your brother OK?”

“No”, Burst answered, “but he’ll live. Help me get him out of here”.

“Do you have any idea how hard it was to track you down?” Rob asked while struggling to free his tortured friend. “I was beginning to think you were dead”

“I know” Burst replied. “I had to find him”.

“Yeah, I know. Next time, though, take me with you”.

The two soldiers picked up their barely conscious friend and dragged him down the hallway. Burst typed the code into the door and used a severed finger to disable the lock. It hissed open to reveal nearly a dozen soldiers, all heavily armed, staring down the sights of their weapons.

“Fuck” the two soldiers said at once, the third forcing out a low moan. Rob combed the room with his eyes, trying to find a way to protect himself and his friends. One of the monsters whispered something to the others prompting them to look around the hallway – they could hear something. Rob heard it too: beeping. The aliens looked around frantically trying to find the source. As one turned its back, rob noticed a blinking green light dangling from its armour. The aliens noticed it too. They panicked and tried to run but the beeping stopped and the light flashed red. The explosion covered the three heroes in diluted orange blood and entrails.

Behind the carnage stood a man that they recognized. He walked towards them, silently, with a grin.

“Can I get that back?” Carbon asked nodding towards to dog tags on Rob’s wrist.

“I thought you were dead” he said, tossing the tag to its owner.

“Me too” Carbon replied.

The four friends moved towards the exit. Passing by a crying security guard with broken legs and a bloody hand. He was struggling to reach for a button which would activate the emergency alarm. Burst put a bullet in his head and they exited the ship.

Rob looked up into the darkened sky. There were thousands of alien ships hovering, preparing for the next attack. There was no way for Earth to win this war, but he would fight. Somebody had to.