Read Online Dark Creations: Hell on Earth (Part 5) by Jennifer Martucci, Christopher Martucci - Free Book Online

thinking exactly that, Gabriel?  Give me a break!” Alexandra argued.
    Melissa didn’t know whether she wanted to burst into laughter or tears, or both.  The situation seemed surreal.  A farm filled with deranged looking men, some old, some middle-aged, and none looking even remotely capable of waging war against a race of super beings.  She hated to admit it, but Jack’s credibility was slipping with every second that passed.  She wondered whether perhaps her prayers had been answered, whether he’d lost touch with reality altogether, though in the deepest recesses of her mind, she intuited otherwise. 
    Her intuition was challenged further when she looked up and saw that an old man lumbered toward them, his bedraggled white beard catching the wind and fluttering wildly.  “Jack!  Is that you?” he called out.  His clothes looked dirty and disheveled as if he had not changed them in some time.  Melissa opened her mouth to speak, but Alexandra beat her to the punch.
    “Holy shit, you’ve got to be kidding me.  The men in your army don’t know what you look like?” Alexandra blurted out.
    A few snickers rippled through the group, but Melissa remained quiet.  The overwhelmingly anxious feeling that persisted was the only element that anchored her to her stoic expression.
    “Guys, this is Ed.  He owns this farm. I believe I told you about him,” Jack said then turned to the old man.
    Jack had mentioned Ed during their flight, but the information he’d shared had been limited.  He had told them that Ed was a former sniper in the United States Marine Corps, and that his sanity was now questionable at best.
    “Hey Ed!  Yeah it’s me,” Jack said almost affectionately and extended his hand to Ed.  “This is Gabriel,” he began introducing.  “He’s the guy I told you about, the guy I left to get.”
    Gabriel shook Ed’s hand and was his usual polite self.
    “How the hell are you?” Ed said as he pumped Gabriel’s hand enthusiastically.  “You came to help us kill these fuckers!” he exclaimed and his face deepened in color to an unhealthy magenta.  “We’re gonna slaughter them!” he continued, visibly working himself up with each word he spoke.
    Melissa cringed and glanced nervously at Gabriel. 
    “Yeah,” Gabriel said as he smiled thinly and nodded.
    “Okay Ed, o kay, let’s take it down a notch,” Jack said and patted Ed’s back calmingly.
    Jack then stepped away from Ed and approached Gabriel and Melissa.  He lowered his voice so that Ed couldn’t hear him speak.
    “Look I know he’s not really with it, and when I first met him I was thinking the same thing you are, but he’s not wrong about this,” he said to bolster their confidence.
    Melissa couldn’t speak for Gabriel, but she certainly did not feel inspired in the least by Jack saying he’d shared the same first impression she was experiencing.  There was also the fact that Jack had explained to them on their trip that he had met Ed after reading his ramblings online about a town that had been overtaken by aliens.  He had openly admitted to them that, at the time, he had been desperate to believe anything.  He had been searching for some kind of revenge, or redemption, anything that could make him feel as though he were avenging his wife’s murder.
    “Jack, are you sure you’re all right?” Gabriel asked. “I don’t want to sound like a jerk but I consider you a friend, and I have to tell you that this seems crazy,” he said and gestured to everything around him.
    “After you see what we’re going to show you tomorrow, you won’t have any more doubts about me, or the rest of us for that matter,” Jack stated confidently.
    “I hope your right, Jack , because we’ve come a long way, and took time out of our lives, even lied to be here.  I hope there is a reason,” Gabriel said.
    Jack took Gabriel and Melissa aside and said, “Do you guys really think that I would drag you ou t here if there