The Dark Beyond

Paul's Valley Part 2: Unwelcome Surprise

The next thing he knew he was being grabbed by the back of his shirt and yanked surprisingly hard and thrown out of the plane, just before it exploded. The force of the explosion sent him tumbling backwards, landing painfully on his back. Miranda landed not too far from him. "Are you okay???" She asked him, an intense expression covering her face. Nelson nodded slowly. The extraterrestrial craft shot a beam down on the fiery remains of the airplane, doing something that made the airplane appear to glitch out, as if in a video game, before disappearing. "What kind of technology is that...?" He heard Charles mutter from behind them. "Fucking Nightmare was in there!" Nelson shouted angrily. "No I got it for you," Miranda told him, pointing to the tree an unconscious Samuel was sitting against. "He's sitting on the suitcase that has it," she told him. "I tried to tell you but you ran too fast." "Thanks," he muttered quickly as he ran as fast as he could being sore towards Samuel. He carefully moved Samuel to the side and opened up his suitcase to reveal where he had hidden Nightmare. "Let's do this," he said to the blade as he picked it up. It seemed to glow with excitement.
That was when he heard screams behind him.
He turned around to see Charles and Miranda both get punched directly in the face by a the very same four armed alien that had been following him around, sending them flying in opposite directions. This time, it brought another alien with it. The second alien was shorter, not quite as muscular and bulky, but it's eyes were the same green. "How funny is it that I happen to run into you here," The alien said, seemingly sarcastically. "And that you're with that weak same girl as before." "I'm not weak," Miranda spat, sitting up, scowling. "I've been training and I'm allot better than I was before." Nelson analyzed her demeanor. She didn't seem afraid like she was last time. But she seemed to get allot colder and distant since she'd cried in front of everyone in front of his job. "Still weak human trash," the alien shrugged. "You know this bastard??" Charles asked, very clearly struggling to stand up. "It's been trying to make me into one of them," Nelson told him. "It?" The alien asked, "Wow. I thought we were closer than that." "You can't make me join you," Nelson said firmly. "We'll see," the alien merely said. "Okay. Go beat him up and take the blade. This will be your final test." The second alien nodded, popping its neck. "But to make this an actual challenge, you can't kill the humans. I know it's easier for you to kill so I need to make sure you actually put in some effort. Then you'll be an actual SpazKul." Nelson felt his arm tingle as Nightmare's 'personality' began to grow on him. He smirked just slightly. "We'll come and try then," he said tauntingly. Miranda frowned with concentration and lowered herself into her cat like stance. The alien grinned, and took out a metallic looking glove from the back of its armor, similar to what the first alien had used on Myrtle beach. After it put it on, it reached its hand out towards the Earth. The very ground around the alien broke in to pieces around it, lifting up into the air and floating around it. Charles and Nelson stared wide eyed at the technology. The first alien seemed to chuckle with amusement. "I see you're impressed with our basic technology." "Charles, you good?" Nelson asked him as the second alien began to approach. He looked like he was going to say something before he was pummeled by one of the big chunks of Earth the alien had floating around them. It growled deeply and flung all the remaining rocks at Nelson and Miranda. Nelson took a deep breath before sprinting towards the alien, jumping and sidestepping as best he could over the various rocks that almost slammed into him. He saw Miranda getting smacked into a tree in the corner of his eye trying to avoid the rocks. He frowned angrily as he finally reached the alien face to face. It immediately threw a hook at him, which I managed to block painfully with his free arm. He was unable to block the bottom two arms which both uppercutted his core. He scowled but remained focused and swung Nightmare at the alien's head. It ducked with ease and punched Nelson three more quick times, two on each side of his rib cage, and once across the face. He fell and slid a bit against the ground from the force of the punch before catching himself, sitting on one knee, dizzy. Blood dripped down his nose and from a cut on his cheek, and his sides were in extreme pain. By the time he stood up, the Alien was over him again, swinging its two right arms at his face. He managed to combat roll backwards to avoid it, albeit with great pain, and when he steadied him self, the alien was coming at him from up in the air, smiling nastily as it prepared to drop kick him. He braced himself.
Before the alien's armored foot could smash into him, Miranda came from the side and Superman punched the alien midair, knocking it down and sending it rolling into the lake before it could catch itself. "Come on," she said, "Let's both attack him. You might be half of them but I can still hold my own." "Him?" Nelson asked. "Do you see any boobs?" Miranda asked him, hinting at a smile. Nelson shook his head, managing a small smile back. The readied themselves as the alien walked nonchalantly out of the lake, dusting itself off. "Humans are so weak, I don't think I even need this armor," It said. The second alien didn't seem to be able to speak English as well as the first, and it spoke even more roughly, struggling with the syllables. He felt his senses beginning to heighten. His vision changed a little bit. Nightmare began to glow a bit more. He and Miranda charged and tag teamed it. The alien seemed able to dodge both of their impressive volley of attacks, though it struggled a bit. "Come on!" The first alien shouted. "I know you aren't having trouble with a gaggle of humans!" Gaggle? Nelson thought, amused. The second alien frowned and replied, "Its allot harder to not kill them than it looks." As it finished it's sentence, Miranda landed another punch across the alien's face. It scowled at her but before it could retaliate Nelson landed a powerful uppercut to its chin, sending it stumbling back. He smiled, and the alien seemed to lose its patience. It reached and grabbed a blade from some compartment in its leg. Miranda's eyes widened. It was a glowing blue blade, with blue static electricity flowing around it. It swung at Miranda who managed to dodge it but got caught but the kick it threw at her. She yelled as she was sent tumbling out of her control. Nelson's vision switched to full green as the alien swung the blade at him. He blocked it with Nightmare. The extraterrestrial metals make a strange metallic ringing sound as they collided. The alien tried to in turn punch at him with its two left arms, but Nelson blocked the bottom fist with his knee, and caught the top one with his free hand. The alien seemed surprised at him, and struggled to try to overpower him. "Keep that weak shit away from Nightmare," he said condescendingly. "I see," the alien said, "This all makes a bit more sense now." "Shame you won't have more time to think about it." The alien punched at him with its last free hand, the bottom right one. Nelson jumped and blocked it with his right knee, though the force sent him flying backwards. He landed easily on his feet. Miranda stood up beside him. She smiled at him. "That's so cool," she said, interest in her voice. "Let's hope it's enough for us to win." "You're really fucking good too," he told her. "I've only been training and exercising my entire life," she said. "My dad always said hard work can beat natural talent." "Sound like a good dad." The alien appeared to make a fake barfing noise. "You two can have your little love time later," It said. "After we get what we need." "Come on, Miranda," Nelson said, "Let's finish them." He and her charged the alien. The alien charged back. Nelson sliced at the alien, which ducked it but took a knee to the face from Miranda. It then tried to use the extraterrestrial glove that seemed to be able to control the Earth but Nelson noticed and sliced that entire arm off, leaving only three of its arms remaining. Nightmare seemed to glow with bloodlust. The blood from the alien was blue as it splattered the ground and it screamed a horrible, deep scream. With a glance at Miranda, together they step kicked it full force, and with his enhanced strength combined with Miranda's added power, they sent it flying far into the lake. "We did it!" She said excitedly, smiling genuinely at him for the first time in a long time. "Hell yea," he said. He felt overwhelming energy coming over him. Nightmare was definitely taking its hold on his personality. I need to finish this fast, he thought. If what that alien said was true, it may permanently alter my personality. "Well hats on to you two, or whatever you humans say," The alien said, it's arms all crossed. "Hats off?" Miranda asked, smiling. "You saw what we did your friend," Nelson told it. "You're next." "Yeah yeah whatever," the alien said dismissively, "You two teamed up and barely beat a rookie. Good luck trying to beat me. In fact, let me show you, very briefly, how good I can be, 100%." "Get ready," Nelson warmed Miranda. The alien clenched all four of its fists, and lowered its stance. "If you can actually not die, I might even give you a name to call me. Since we'll be seeing allot more of each other soon." "If you don't die," Nelson retorted. He and Miranda readied themselves. The alien rushed them with absolutely ridiculous speed for how bulky it was. It was all Nelson could do to keep up with how fast it was. He tried to slice at it with Nightmare, but before he could even move his hand he and Miranda were both being uppercutted directly in the chin, being lifted high into the air, at least seven feet. He felt himself go cross eyed. Oh my fucking God this dude is something serious!!! He thought painfully. He eventually crashed hard into the ground, Miranda tumbling beside him. Before he could even lift his head, the alien was already kicking both of them again into the air, sending them sliding into a tree, Miranda bumping into him. "S-sorry," she muttered, coughing up blood. "You alright," Nelson asked her worriedly. "Yea.." she said slowly, before coughing up more blood. "Shit." Nelson said, "You might wanna stay here. I can handle him." "We need to work together," she said, standing up shakily. "If I die.. so be it..." she stared at him with a sad smile. "'Least I'd be dying for a ... friend." "Not letting you die," Nelson said. The alien approached them slowly. "Come on," it said, "I haven't even warmed up." Nelson closed his eyes to try the deep breaths he took earlier, as briefly as he could. Nightmare tingled in his hand. He charged the alien. The alien suddenly took out four glowing blue blades, one in each hand. "Let me show you how to really fight," It said, charging him. Their blades clashed, the ringing sounds filling the entire area. With his extreme focus, he was very barely able to avoid getting sliced up, through blocking with Nightmare and jumping and bobbing and weaving, though the blades grazed his skin in various places. Eventually the alien hit Nightmare in an angle that cause it to fly up in the air, and proceeded to kick him hard in the face, lifting him in the air and making him forcibly backflip. He barely landed on his feet, and using all his concentration, he reached out to Nightmare, twirling in the sky, causing it to hover for a bit, then fly into his hand. He then jabbed at the alien who merely sidestepped and round house kicked him back into the tree. "Im trying really hard to take you seriously," the alien said, "But you're just too slow, human." Nelson lay there, all cut and bruised up, head ache and his ribs in excruciating pain. I might need another pill... he thought worriedly. He was afraid to take another one because he didn't want to lose his humanity. But he saw no other option.
That was when the second alien joined the first one, holding the stub where it's fourth arm used to be, dripping wet. It said something to the first one in their own native tongue, giving it the metallic glove. "Did you forget about me?" Charles suddenly said, coming from behind the trees. He had reinforcements with him. Samuel had even opened his eye, and had people helping him up. Charles held a rocket launcher, aimed at them. "You're gonna have to do better than a little rock to beat me," he said, grinning as he fired two rockets at the aliens. The missiles flew over Nelson and Miranda's head and towards the second alien who just failed to move out of the way in time. Both rockets smashed into it, lifting it up into the air before exploding violently. Charles laughed heartily. "Fuck yea!" He exclaimed victoriously, "It's raining aliens baby!!!" As he reloaded, two other people got Nelson and Miranda and carried them to some kind of vehicle. Nelson kept his eyes closed since he could tell they were still green, though just barely open enough to see what was happening. Charles fired two more shots at the first alien.
By this time, it had four different metallic gloves on, one with a red gem in it, which manipulated fire, another with a brown gem which manipulated the Earth around them, and two other ones: a black one and a blue one. The alien held out the black one and it stopped the two missiles mid air, leaving them hovering in the air in front of its hand. "You can call me Mari by the way," it said, grinning. Concerned murmurs amongst the reinforcements began to arise just before Mari sent the missiles back towards the military vehicles they were in. They exploded directly in front of the cars, sending them flying in the air.
******

"Nelson, wake up.." Miranda murmured, shaking him. He heard guns shots and explosions, and what sounded like a flame thrower in the distance. But mostly, he heard men and women screaming. He opened his eyes to find his vision had returned to normal, and Nightmare lie beside him. Miranda stood just over him. They were inside a cave, with a bloodied up Charles standing guard over the entrance, reloading his rocket launcher. "What happened?" He asked. "You passed out for a moment," Miranda told him. "They blew up our cars and we ran and took cover in here." "Son of a motherfuckin' bitch," Charles swore irritably. "I killed one of them, I just gotta hit the other one." "Thanks man," Nelson said to Charles, "You really gotta show me how to use one of those." Charles merely looked at him, frowning still. "I'm still not really fucking with you," he said plainly. "You're lucky I don't aim this at you. This is so my little sister doesn't get mad at me." "You gotta get up," Miranda said, helping Nelson struggle to his feet. He stood for a moment, but he fell over. "Damnit man," he frowned. "I got you," Miranda said. He glanced at her. She had bruises all over, her clothes torn and ripped and she was bleeding. She breathed heavily, and her scarlet red hair was stuck to her face due to a combination of both sweat and blood. "Are you okay?" He asked her slowly. She hinted at a small smile. "I guess," she muttered. "I just.. I don't know." "What's up?" He asked her. She shook her head. "It's fine," she merely said. "Just happy you're okay." "You don't have to watch over me," he told her worriedly. "You need to rest.." "I'm not worried about me," she said quietly. "What do you mean?" He asked her. Before she could respond, Charles exclaimed, "Fuck, here it comes!!" Mari had killed all the reinforcements, and approached them now, the extraterrestrial craft hovering just over its head. "Well this has been entertaining," Mari said sarcastically, and with a yawn. "I'll see you all later. Just wanted to stop by and say hello." "You're a smug bastard aren't you?" Charles growled. "How about I blow that smug look off of your face?" "You humans never learn do you?" The alien sighed as Charles shot his missiles at it. Mari merely sidestepped to dodge the first one and stopped the second one mid air. Charles grimaced. As the first missile exploded in the lake behind it, Mari remarked, "You're stupid to do this twice. I don't want this. Have it back." And it sent the missile right back at them. Damn! Nelson thought with a frown. I should have just stayed unconscious. Then I could have died in my sleep. Just then, Miranda jumped in front of him, her arms spread out. "Mir-Miranda...!" Nelson gasped, "What the hell are you doing???" "It's okay," she said, "I couldn't help either of my parents. But this way, at least I can try to save someone I care about." She smiled at him one last time before picking him up and throwing him to the back of the cave. She stayed where she was, however, arms outstretched. Perhaps she thought if she let it hit her up in the middle of the cave, Nelson could survive at the back end of it. Nelson stared in horror as the cave began to light up and the missile got that much closer. He cried out before the cave lit up in an explosion. The wind and force and heat from the explosion was so intense he felt himself fly and get stuck into the wall at the back of the cave. Tears flew out of his eyes just before they were forced shut. The last thing he remembered hearing was horrible screaming and and intense heat.