2 days later…

Phrixus is currently in the Warren Air Force Base, reading newspaper headlines.

“The war is over”, “Red Confederacy completely disbanded”, “The VOA has occupied North Korea”, “Post-Confederate countries ending their involvement in the conflict”.

After two years of intense confrontation and skirmishes which resulted in the deaths of twenty-five million human lives, and the emergence of new cutting-edge technology, it will take time for many countries to recover from the damage done. Phrixus is glad the conflict is over, but the rise of insurrectionary groups across the globe worries him.

Colonel Ethan Carver calls him to a meeting “Phrixus, the VOA has recognized your efforts during the conflict, we were satisfied with your performance during your hard missions which proved to be important to the outcome of the war, for that you are awarded with The Silver Star.”

As he places the medal on Phrixus’s chest he salutes, and Ethan does the same. Phrixus will return to Venezuela in four hours as his services are no longer required but he will be called in certain cases in the future.

***

6 hours later… 4:37 pm…

A transport helicopter arrives near Phrixus’s lair, Valeria and Roberth are outside, excited for the return of their friend. He gets out of the helicopter carrying a large case with his pollaxe. Once he is out, the chopper leaves the area and the group greets Phrixus with big hugs.

“You magnificent bastard, that’s the last time you go on travels like that,” says Roberth.

“No more games of war for you, once is enough for a lifetime,” Valeria says.

“I missed you guys, it’s time to order a large pizza and a soda to celebrate.”

“Definitely, Laso and Dixy are eager to see you after such a long time,” Roberth adds.

***

One day later…

Phrixus is currently at his house with his family, talking about his hideout and how things will go now and in the future.

“…you have some kind of secret clubhouse in an almost-deserted industrial zone,” his father says. “Also, you are telling me the previous owner didn’t come to reclaim his or her property?”

“Yeah… something like that, more than two years and not a single complaint filed. He or she can come for it if they want it,” says Phrixus.

“Okay I’ve heard enough, I only want you to return to college and let’s return to our normal lives,” says his mother.

“Of course, it won’t be a problem. You should come to my little fort, there are a lot of things I want to show you.”

“As long you don’t cause any legal dispute…” says his father.

He wouldn’t leave his life of making “scraptures,” gunsmithing, metalworking, collecting trophies and pursuing criminals behind. He decided to maintain his secret base, and became a student by day and a huntsman at night, just like the days before the war everything was in relative peace…

***

Eight months have passed since the end of World War III, the major powers of the planet continue secretly developing, manufacturing and improving their technologies. Many nations are still repairing their damage with the help of the VOA while some of them are dealing with attacks from guerrilla parties. Most people have resumed their normal routines and lives, and they hope that their relative safety and comfort would continue.

But as some news headlines have said in the past, “We are not alone in the galaxy…”

Something fiendish coming from very far away, in the darkest corner of the cold and infinite vastness of outer space has found Earth, with a never-ending voracity and after a long journey… it has found its prize, to bring utter devastation… eradication.

1:58 pm, at Phrixus’s lair…

Phrixus is currently taking a nap after sending a few criminals to jail in the early morning and is suddenly woken up by Roberth.

“Alejandro, wake up now! You have to see what the news is showing.”

He yawns. “What? Another Red Confederacy 2.0?”

“I… I don’t how to describe it, you better see it for yourself.”

Heading to the main hall, he finds every news station on TV showing sensational headlines making the announcement: pictures of a gargantuan, alien life form captured from all kinds of telescopes. At first glance it looks insectoid in appearance, its visage is one terrifying and ominous at the same time. It is twice the size of the Moon, the most worrying fact is the reporters say the alien entity is coming straight toward Earth, judging by its movement pattern.

“What in the hellish infernal pits is… THAT thing?” Phrixus is awake now, and he understands why Roberth would have woken him for this.

“If aliens exist, I never expected them to be like that, I mean... at least if they were like little men with big black round eyes I could accept that but this... this is a child’s nightmare.”

“And it doesn’t look like the, ‘We come in peace’ they show in the movies. I don’t think that giant mutated cockroach would turn around and leave. We should prepare as soon as possible: weapons, supplies, all kind of essentials now!”

“Hurry! The scientists say by its current speed it should arrive to our planet in six hours. There is a worldwide unrest and ruckus at the arrival of our bug visitor. Many stores are closing until further notice, and a lot of commotion and tumult are in the streets now, the Internet, radio stations, TV, the spotlight is all about that thing, I’ll keep an eye on the events.”

Those six hours were very long for humankind, their leaders calling its people to remain calm while maintaining its military forces on maximum alert. The creature remains close to the Earth’s orbit and stays there indefinitely, from there it begins to send spherical-like objects to the planet, they look like cocoons of some sort, what they contain remains unknown…

***

9:27 pm…

“Breaking news, smaller versions of the alien near Earth’s orbit have been spotted in some countries in Asia, there are reports which claim the creatures have an aggressive predisposition toward people and attack on sight. They are coming from the skies via some type of transportation pods, it is advised to stay away from the hostile beings and report any presence of the alien creatures to the authorities. They are currently a threat to people. We are advised to remain calm and vigilant, in other news…”

The TV is then muted.

“I knew something bad would come from that thing, as far as I can tell they haven’t come to this hemisphere yet, but it could just be a matter of time,” Phrixus says.

“I’ve heard rumors that they aren’t unbeatable but are strong, at least the first ones that are coming right now, haven’t seen a single picture of what they look like yet.” says Valeria.

“Something worthy of a horror movie…” says Roberth.

2 days later, 8:45 pm…

The space alien now nicknamed by the general public as “Apophis” keeps sending spawns to Earth to attack and kill humans.

Phrixus is currently doing some reconnaissance work at the outskirts of its hideout just in case he spots any of the “Apophlings” crawling near his fort due to the recent reports of Apophis’s cocoons landing on the American continent.

Glad to have at least some moonlight to illuminate this barren place, Phrixus thinks. He shifts his attention to some woods. I swear I saw something stirring some dead leaves there…

He doesn’t perceive anyone beyond the trees using his ability to detect the nervous system of people or animals, but the sounds of crushed branches still continue. Following the sound, Phrixus sees an alien creature reveal itself. At first glance it looks like an outlandish cross between mammal and insect, like a crazy experiment that went wrong and then was drenched with nuclear waste to make it worse, its profile is one of a large, greenish-brown scaly dog with quills on its back. Its eyes are a bit small and completely blank with only a shade of light yellow. Perhaps the most striking feature is another pair of short front legs or appendages, it doesn’t look like they’re used for locomotion but rather for combat as they resemble a pair of nasty-looking double long folded spikes to puncture its prey. The creature unfolds its claws and snarls loudly at Phrixus with its huge mouth. One bite from that mouth could kill a man. Then it charges.

Only me and my trusty bayonet, I should have brought my pollaxe… thinks Phrixus, cursing his overconfidence at the situation.

The creature lunges forward with its spikes pointing at him. Phrixus quickly dodges the attack by moving aside and counterattacking with a slash attack to the back of the creature’s neck. The quills act like a protective cover, dampening the impact so it is only a shallow cut.

The creature rushes again with the same pattern of attack, trying to run through its foe with his large spikes, this time using the point of his knife. Phrixus tries to stab its thorax in order to manage a quick kill, he manages to score a hit but the blade only goes halfway through. The creature bites his arm and starts to aggressively gnaw it. Phrixus strikes again hard, and this time the blade goes deep to its ribcage, causing it to growl in pain. Breaking free from its grasp, it falls to the ground and tries to get on its feet. Phrixus dashes forward and delivers the coup de grace by another blow to the thorax, twisting the blade. This time the creature expires and lays dead, a purple-reddish fluid pours from its wound as he pulls out the knife.

“Damn thing bit me hard, gonna carry some bandages from now on.”

Before returning to his hideout he severs one of the large spikes of the creature to keep it as a souvenir and places it inside his backpack, then he takes a picture of the carcass with his smartphone to show Roberth and Valeria, after that he leaves the place.

37 minutes later…

Phrixus arrives at his hideout, he goes to the main hall where a medical locker is located. Roberth and Valeria are there watching the TV with news about the alien creatures.

“Man,” Roberth says. “What happened to your arm?”

He pulls out the spike from his backpack. “Does this explain it?”

“Wow… you fought against a Surma?” Valeria says.

“That’s what they are called? I was doing some surveillance activity over this district just in case and…” He pulls out his smartphone and shows them the picture of the creature. “This aberration showed up.”

Valeria inspects the severed spike. “Now this is something interesting to study, it looks pointy enough to make a spear by just attaching it to a broom.”

“Surmas, Surmaes, or whatever the plural form is are not our only problem,” Roberth says. “There is another type of beast along with them, I’ve heard they can be killed with bullets, assuming it is a good caliber.”

“I will have to install some movement sensors around the perimeter, I heard some intel about those things… they tend to hang out and congregate in rural or barren zones and in the wilderness where there are no people around,” Phrixus says. “We should be ready for them to venture to urban areas, I’ll prepare some traps to keep those pests away or at least to be alerted if they get close, in the meanwhile I’ll get some rags for these scratches.

Four days later…

10:18 am…

After setting up the last motion sensor near his hideout against any intrusion of “Apophlings” that could be wandering nearby, he returns to his lair and starts to spend his time creating sculptures of scrap materials and maintaining his firearms. Eventually he turns on the TV to see if there is news of interest about Apophis and his minions.

“On international news, a small horde of alien monsters assaulted a residential area in the Czech Republic this morning. It has been confirmed that one person has died, and several were wounded during the attack. The military quickly neutralized the threat. The VOA is studying the remains, and leading a joint global research effort about the alien creatures to learn their biology, anatomy, and weaknesses to prepare humanity to effectively react accordingly against this new hostile entity. This event also caused a sharp increase in guns sales in many countries. People interviewed said they feel this is the only way to protect their homes and families against the alien invaders, in other news…”

Phrixus has seen enough. He opens a cold can of soda and focuses on his work, preparing for the coming attacks. He wonders how Floyd, Vincent, and Sylviane are doing since his radio equipment cannot send calls, he hopes to receive a message about them soon.