Read Online In A Universe Without Stars 1: Skyeater by J Alex McCarthy - Free Book Online

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into its original body trying to find somewhere to go. It slows as its efforts
becomes more and more meaningless. It eventually goes quiet as his second half
dies. Julio just stares at Kabus, a single tear comes out of the beast eyes.
    For
a second there, Julio actually felt sorry for the damned thing. One arm bigger
than the other, left leg twice as long as the other. It’s other half’s face
half merged into the originals. There are two small eyes, nostrils, and a weak
sliver of a mouth on his left check.
    He
guesses they die just a pitifully as we do. He looks up into the trees, a red
glow breaks through the canopy. He’s lucky the trees broke his fall, at least
that’s what he tells himself. There is no other explanation. There’s barely a
scratch on him.
     
    ---
     
    Cole
looks back into the alley, the dead grunt’s brother runs away. It glances back
and smirks at him.
    What
the hell? Is this a fucking game to them? His comrade just died. He shouldn’t have
any sympathy for them but its expression just came off as weird.
    “There’s
her place!” Erin and Arnold yell. They point to a complex among many across the
street. One of the tanks rolls up and the top opens. The captain climbs out.
His face is stern but his eyes are telling, he’s on the edge of breaking.
    “Citizens!
You need to follow us out! Los Angeles is lost.”
    “No!
I need to get my wife and my friend’s kid from the building over there, can you
wait?” Cole asks.
    “This
is the last rally point, we’re not going to wait long to leave, you have—“
    He
glances at his watch.
    “Five
minutes.”
     
    The
Bell’s apartment door is open, Cole, Erin and Arnold run in.
    “Thora!!”
Erin yells. They split apart and search the place. Cole goes straight to the
master bedroom. They’ll be here, they have to be . He opens the door.
    “Thora!”
    A
bipedal brown skinned alien carries an unconscious Thora and baby Neil. Its
triangular head stares at him. The thing stands up straight on its hind legs
like a human, its body oddly gorilla-like. Its whole body is humanoid, with
pecks, abs, two legs and two human-like arms holding baby Neil like a football.
Its two arm like appendages hang off its back like dead things. It has two
large black eyes that stare right at Cole.
    Cole
remembers back, it’s him. The thing he crashed into at his accident. It drops
Neil on the bed as Erin and Arnold run in.
    “Another
one!” Arnold shouts. SE6 hovers up to the window. It creeps toward them.
    “Wait!”
Cole yells. He wants answers, why is he here and why does he want Thora?
    For
some reason, Cole knows its gender, a male. A beam of light erupts from the
ship and Thora and the alien disappears into it.
    “ Nooo ! Wait!” Cole yells after it. It hovers back as Erin
runs and grabs baby Neil.
    “Thank
god…” She says embracing Neil. She starts to cry as he squeals like nothing
happened, grabbing at her curls. At least she still has him. A sudden influx of
gunshots and screams are heard outside.
    Outside,
a grunt leaps up and grabs hold of SE6, hanging off its wing. The ship lurches
backwards impossibly fast and the beast slips and falls. It grabs onto the
window seal of the master bedroom.
    It
pulls itself up, look inside and grins.
    Shit.
    Its
arm rips through the wall like paper as its hand grabs Erin and falls out.
    “Erin!!”
Arnold yells. He leaps out of the window after her, but the grunt catches him
in midair. In a boom, a tank round hits the grunt in the chest. He releases
Arnold and Erin slips hold of Neil.
    “ Nooo !” She screams. But Arnold does the impossible. In one
swift motion, he catches Neil and barrel rolls as he hits the ground hard. The
grunt lands on both feet right in front of him.
    Cole
looks out the hole in the wall, debris still settling around him. He has to
help them. He runs out the apartment.
    Inside
the tank that fired, the crew loads another round.
    “Hey!
We’re firing too close to the civilians sir!”