Crack

Melliburn walked slowly to the main door of the complex. There, the two guards (Clint and Burlock) waited for him with mildly amused faces. Meliburn had a reputation for humoristic remarks and entertaining gossip. He usually chatted a bit with the guards, and was rewarded by the feeling of safety he experimented. Noone feels safe around guards you are not acquainted with, especially guards with this weapons. He put down the package he was carrying before crossing the metal detector and was welcomed cordially. He was in the middle of a pun he had come up with during the morning regarding a chemical and a fat lady scientist working in the complex when the lights went out.



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The people in the complex referred to them as the Family. This was mainly because this is the name they sometimes used to identify themselves in the religious services they held in their meeting center. It was also said that the nickname arose after some rumors about them being just a conceptual cross between hillbillies and the Old Amish in every respect.




The Family kept to themselves. They were an agricultural community, with knowledge of agronomy and small electric generators setting them appart from savages. They had moved to the hills near the complex slowly since the price of the land dropped due to the building of the complex. Appart from being noisy, a thing that scared away most of the animals that were part of the diet of the previous owners, it was rumored that it was going to be a radioactive plant. A cheap one, the kind that killed plants and people some years after they were constructed. Besides, there were the soldiers.




The Family allowed, with just a slight twitch of their faces, the presence of people from the complex in their services, which were a mixture of science class, sermon and townhall meeting. Problems (From arguments to difficults in building) were solved in the light of the Reason of God. To the people from the complex that were in charge of keeping an eye on them, they seemed a reasonable folk, that paid no attention to the complex affairs. A peaceful community if it wasn't for their lust for hunting.



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Melliburn walked in the dark to where the package was. He pushed the button just as the flashlights on the guards weapons turned off. The flashlights turned off immedaitely.


-My nightvision is off!-said a guard.- Dr. Meliburn, are you alright?


Melliburn knew he had to hurry. The Pentone was everywhere. He might have impaired one with the shockwave, but the other four arms would be looking for everyone, and once he shot the guards and went out of the complex he would be the main target. He felt a pang of guilt, shot, and ran out. Fear was everything, except the little bundle of hope under his arm.

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First the power went out, and all became one. Rather, every part of what they were became individuals for the two seconds it took for the emergency power to restore the repeater antennae. And one of them had dissapeared. It was as if you realized that some of your memories and that the range of all your senses diminishes from one second to the next.

This was not normal. It took more than two seconds to die; not to receive a lethal injury, but to stop feeling and for your brain to stop sending signals. The part of the pentone that was in charge of the front of the complex tonight had been...erased. Obliterated. The Pentone moved to the front yard.

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The front yard was dark and empty save for one sad figure. The former Pentone arm was on his knees, rocking back and forth.

-I am blind. Blind, I am blind I'm blind, help me, I'm blind...

Melliburn shot him and kept running. The four other arms of the Pentone were coming. he couldn't see them but he heard their vehicles. He ran without looking back. he didn't have a chance of hitting one of them in these vehicles when the others were there. They knew exactly where to move, their formation for perspective was flawless.



He was at the foot of the first hill now. Any moment now his backup would get there. The noise from the vehicles was too close now. He turned and shot twice. The arms moved as he had seen so many times before in their trainig sessions. They shot him, surgically. Left knee, liver, right shoulder, left elbow. He collapsed immediately and screamed. He only felt red frustration before he fell unconscious. The bundle fell with him, with a soft plastic sound.

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After half an hour, the soldiers were still where Melliburn's body was.

-He couldn't have killed them all- Said a corporal

- Of course not!- Said Liutenant Trell- He didn't kill any of them. Look at their bodies.-

The Liutenant put his hands in his face. This was not supposed to happen. They were not ready yet. It was all over now, and it was his fault.

Corporal Gleen was running down the hill.
- I told you to come back with a wittness! - growled the Liutenant
-There is no one - said the Corporal - The Family is gone.