Max Arena Read online

  Elsa directed her glance through the smashed portal and noticed the soles of a pair of boots on the edge of the shadows in the courtyard. ‘What happened to…?’

  ‘Like I said,’ Max cut-in, ‘he shot me and there was no way he was going to shoot me again, let alone you or the kids, so I showed him the door.’

  ‘That’s enough,’ the foreign voice interrupted. Elsa looked across to note the owner of the command as the tallest and broadest of the four intruders. ‘We’ve got orders to bring you back with us, unharmed.’

  ‘You’ve already botched that,’ Max replied, ‘and I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying here with my family and if you want this to turn out differently, you’ll have to ditch your rubber bullets and put real ones in to even stand a chance.’

  ‘I don’t think you appreciate the seriousness of your situation,’ the gun-toting man pressed.

  Max’s gaze burned into the man’s. The black clad intruder nervously shuffled his stance, while remaining firmly behind the cover of his gun.

  ‘I know exactly why you’re here,’ Max said in a low voice, ‘and if you think you four and your other two men out in the living room are enough to apprehend me, then it’s you that doesn’t appreciate the seriousness of your situation.’

  The team leader of the assailants flicked his gaze towards the door leading into the living room, then back at Max.

  ‘Good move,’ Max added. ‘I’d reassess my options right now too if I were you.’

  ‘You’re coming in with…’

  ‘No,’ Max shot back firmly, a slight rise in his tone. ‘Get on the phone to your boss and let him know if he wants to talk to me, he can come here. I’m not leaving my family. Now get out or I’ll put you all through the window.’

  The team leader held his ground, his eyes looking Max up and down, a myriad of options clearly scurrying through his mind. ‘Okay,’ he finally said. ‘You sit tight. My guys are stepping out to cover the perimeter while I get some advice.’

  Max did not move, his stance still unflinching. One by one, the four intruders backed out of the bedroom and through the smashed glass doors. As they retreated into the darkness, two of them picked up their unconscious colleague and dragged him away.

  It was not until all sight of the four intruders had disappeared that Max moved and when he did, he immediately climbed across the bed and enveloped his entire family in his arms.

  * * *

  Four hours later, the thin light of dawn crept underneath and around the edges of the curtains in Millie’s bedroom. Max watched the light gradually brighten, his night time vigil coming to a close. Looking sideways, he beheld Elsa and Millie, snuggled together beneath the covers of the adjacent single bed, peace gracing their features as they slumbered. Then, looking down, Max’s gaze wandered across their son, Jason’s sleeping face. He too lay oblivious to the growing turmoil. At least for now, they were all safe because any minute, that would likely change.

  Then Max heard a sudden flurry of rustling approaching the bedroom door. Swiftly rising from the bed and still dressed only in his boxer shorts, he padded soundlessly across the room to stand against the wall and beside the door frame. The rustling stopped and a rapid knock rapped at the door. Elsa’s head snapped up. Max raised his finger to his lips and held out a raised hand. Elsa kept quiet and fixed her gaze on the closed door.

  ‘What?’ Max said to the back side of the door.

  ‘We’ve got to go, now,’ came the urgent reply, the voice familiar as the team leader of the intruders.

  ‘Like I said,’ Max started, ‘I’m not going anywhere without my family.’

  ‘You’re all coming. We’ve got a plane on the tarmac, ready to fly you all to Canberra.’

  ‘Why Canberra?’ Max asked.

  ‘You said you wanted my boss to come here,’ the voice replied, the urgency still evident, ‘well, he can’t, so he’s sent his jet up for you to go to him. Okay?’

  ‘Who’s your boss?’

  A muffled profanity sounded behind the door before the man continued. ‘The Prime Minister of Australia, which makes him your boss too and believe it or not, he’s on your side.’

  ‘He’s not my boss,’ Max returned, ‘and right now, there’s only four people on my side. Me, my wife and our two kids. Everyone else, the jury’s out.’

  ‘Come on! We’ve got to go, now!’

  Max cast a glance to Elsa who wore angst all over her face. Something was wrong.

  ‘Why the rush?’ Max asked.

  ‘Something’s happening on the street.’

  ‘What do you mean something?’

  ‘Some sort of military exercise or…I don’t know. All I know is there’s blokes with guns running all over the streets out here and I’ve got orders to get you and your family onto a plane and out of the way, so come on!’

  Max turned back to Elsa and gave a single nod. She nodded back. Max pulled the door open to reveal the team leader, anxiety clawing at his features. It was clearly not the time to squabble. Max turned and rushed to the bed, scooping both children up into his arms as though they were weightless. By now they were awake, but not very certain of their surroundings, so when Max picked them up, they compliantly curled into his arms. Elsa followed Max through the door, still in her own pyjamas and Max in his boxers.

  ‘There’s a Land Cruiser out the front,’ the black-clad gunman said as he led them through the apartment and out the front door. ‘It’ll take you straight to the airport with two other cars in escort. You’ll be safe with us.’

  Emerging onto the footpath, Max halted and looked around. He heard a scream from somewhere down the street. Elsa pulled up close behind him and they both looked in the direction of the distress. Then breaking glass sounded from the other direction. Then tyres screeched on a nearby corner and the sound of a car accident ripped the morning stillness apart.

  ‘Come on!’ the team leader called out, holding the back door of a white Land Cruiser open that was parked just down the street from them.

  Another scream sounded from a different direction. And then another from somewhere else. Then Max heard footsteps, running. Turning around he saw a young man sprinting along the footpath towards them, having exited from the adjacent apartment block stairwell. Then another young man appeared ten or so metres behind him, also sprinting. Fear twisted their faces.

  ‘Get behind me,’ Max said simply to Elsa.

  Elsa did not hesitate. Quickly she slid around behind Max’s form as he slipped the two kids down to the ground to wedge them between his legs and his wife’s. Two of the black clad intruders appeared from the opposite side of the car with their hand guns drawn and aimed at the running men.

  ‘Stop!’ they yelled. The two young men did not stop. ‘Stop or we fire!’

  Still the two young men ran, their running motions wild and desperate. Sporadic screaming and smashing windows now emanated up and down the street and across the neighbourhood. Max clenched his fists, his gaze fixed on the first young man, but already prepared to confront the second as well. Crouching slightly, he readied to tackle the first one head on. The black-clad gunmen continued to shout and threaten them and then the situation changed, completely and utterly.

  From the stairwell of the adjacent apartment building that the two young men had emerged from, two other figures appeared. Max saw them come into view over the shoulder of the second running man and he instantly knew what was happening. Meantime, the black-clad gunmen were taken totally by surprise, their attention shifting immediately from the two young men to these two new figures, disbelief causing their aims and their jaws to drop.

  ‘What are they?’ Elsa whispered from behind Max.

  ‘They’re dead,’ Max replied. ‘Get in the car.’

  The two young men sprinted past Max, unhindered by him or the gunmen. Now Max had a clear view of the newcomers and he immediately began sizing them up. They were essentially humanoid in form, but very tall. Max stood at six feet and three inches and even fro
m where he stood, he could tell these beings were easily two to three inches taller than himself. They were also powerfully built, their heavily muscled arms and legs moving fluidly as they ran after the two young men.

  However, most striking was their skin, its texture ruddy and gnarled, like driftwood on a storm swept beach, but it was the colour. Black. Not jet black, but iridescent black, the metallic sheen making them glisten in the early morning light. They also wore what looked like some sort of silver body armour with matching helmets and utility belts around their waists on which hung some small implements. To say they were aliens was obvious, but that was not Max’s first thought. His mind turned immediately to defence. He was the only thing standing between these creatures and his family and nothing, absolutely nothing was getting past him while he lived.

  ‘I’m not leaving you,’ Elsa said from behind him.

  ‘Get in the car,’ Max shot back, his voice quiet and firm with no edge of fear. ‘You’ll be safer there.’

  ‘No, we won’t,’ she replied.

  One of the black clad gunmen finally found the nerve to speak, shouting as aggressively as he could at the beings.

  ‘Stop or I shoot!’ he shouted, his gun wavering in the face of the two loping creatures.

  Max no longer had time to urge Elsa to move. He fixed his sights on the first creature. That was where he would start, but not where he would finish. The creatures ran on.

  ‘I mean it!’ the gunman continued shouting. ‘I’ll shoot!’

  Then suddenly the first creature pulled up, his arms spreading out to the sides. A gurgled grunt sounded and the second creature stumbled to an abrupt stop behind it, issuing its own incoherent grunt. The first creature stared straight at Max, frozen in place. Max stared back. No one moved.

  Then the creature grunted again and gesticulated in Max’s direction. The second one also peered closely at Max for a few seconds before erupting into a series of grunts and gurgles as well. By now both creatures were pointing at Max and waving their arms around, their alien language much more energetic now.

  ‘What are they doing?’ Elsa asked.

  ‘No clue,’ Max replied without shifting his focus, ‘but they’re pretty jumpy. Maybe they’re worried about the guns?’

  ‘I doubt it. They’re looking at you. Not at these other blokes with their guns out.’

  Then the first creature pulled one of the implements off its belt and grunted into it. After a few more grunts and gesticulations, it reaffixed the implement back onto its belt.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Elsa started, ‘but why do I get the awful feeling that he just called in reinforcements?’

  ‘Come on!’ the team leader’s shout sounded from behind them. ‘Get in the car now! While you’ve got a chance!’

  ‘I’m not getting in that car,’ Elsa said.

  ‘And I’m not making you,’ Max answered. ‘Whatever these things are, we’re all fronting up to them together out here.’

  Max felt Elsa’s hands rest on his shoulders from behind. He could also feel his kids arms wrapped around his thighs. It was all the encouragement he needed. Then a new sound kicked in.

  Running feet, slapping on the footpath came from behind Max. He quickly flicked a glance over his shoulder and saw three more of the aliens emerge from the driveway of the apartment block up the street. Then a similar noise came from across the street. Four more creatures were now charging over the road towards them.

  ‘Get in the car!’ the team leader raged, his desperation matching his flushed face and the veins ridging up his neck.

  Max ignored him and looked around. ‘Get in the arch,’ he instructed his wife, pointing to the pedestrian entry into their apartment block. It was a bricked pathway fronted by a concrete arch about three metres wide and eight feet high. Either side of it, the fence was well over six feet high. If he positioned himself in the middle with his family behind, he could oppose the creatures two at a time at most and they would struggle to get around behind him. It would have to do.

  Elsa pulled the kids through the arch and deep onto the path to allow Max to stand a few metres in front of them.

  ‘What are you doing?’ the team leader shrieked.

  ‘You look after yourself,’ Max replied without looking at him. Instead he looked around at the nine aliens that had essentially surrounded them. The team leader by now had drawn his own gun and was backing up into the space in front of Max on the footpath. His two colleagues were doing likewise, so now Max had them as human shields in front of him.

  ‘I’d put your guns away and save your skins,’ Max said to the gunmen. ‘They’re here for me. Not you.’

  ‘My orders are to bring you in,’ the team leader said. ‘Not let these gorillas take you first.’

  ‘Your guns won’t be enough.’

  ‘Let’s find out about that,’ the team leader snarled back, his upper lip curling.

  Max turned to his family. ‘Crouch down and stay low,’ he said. ‘These blokes are going down shooting.’

  Elsa nodded and pulled the two children in tighter, huddling them close on the ground at the same time. Max turned back.

  The nine aliens held their ring around the gunmen, but were ever so slightly closing in tighter and tighter. At this stage, none of the creatures had tried to present a weapon. Meantime, the team leader held his aim on the creature directly in front of him.

  ‘Aim for the heads!’ he shouted to his men. ‘Single shot into each one!’

  The creatures continued to close.

  Elsa covered her children’s faces with her arms and bowed her own head.

  Max stood as firm and as tense as a bear.

  Then a gunshot sounded. The team leader had fired his pistol, the report deafening. The creature he was aiming at dodged sideways with lightning reflexes, the bullet whizzing across the street. Then the other two men also fired, but their targets also dodged out of the way. The team leader fired again, but it was too late. The creatures moved with frightening speed and agility. In a split second, all nine aliens had converged on the three men and buried them beneath a mass of writhing, glistening bodies.

  Max stepped back a pace, completely helpless to prevent the assault. Seconds later, the aliens straightened and three of them dragged the three unmoving men further away down the footpath. Max could not tell if the men were alive or dead. It didn’t matter because now it was his turn

  With the bodies out of the way, the nine aliens regrouped in front of Max, tightly knit and poised. Max held his ground, his feet planted at shoulder width and his arms tensed by his side, fists clenched and knuckles white. His gaze flicked back and forth between the alien faces staring him down. The creatures’ bright blue orbs inside their deeply cowled eye sockets betrayed nothing. Then he noticed a jitter in the eyes of the one on the far left, its features slightly more twitchy than the rest. Max bore his gaze into its face, seeking to force an error and he got what he wanted.

  The creature suddenly lunged forward out of sync with the rest, its arms reaching ungainly forward. Max let it come and then let fly with a savage, straight left punch, smashing into its face and sending it reeling backwards to the ground in a crumpled heap.

  The remaining eight creatures watched mutely as their fellow soldier was brutally felled. They then returned their attention to Max and collectively shuffled around the circle, filling the gap of their fallen comrade.

  Max continued to eye them off. No additional weaknesses showed, but at least he had marginally improved his odds. Then without warning, the two directly in front of him charged forward. Max met them with quick fire, straight right and left punches to their faces. Both aliens pummelled backwards. Then two more waded in from either side. A simultaneous side kick to the right and driving punch to the left dispatched both of them.

  Five down. Four to go.

  Then all four remaining aliens lunged forward, their long arms scrabbling to gain a hold of Max. Max in turn swatted the gaggle of limbs away and let fly with a fl
urry of lethally directed blows from both his hands and his feet and in mere seconds, the four aliens lay in an unmoving ring of bodies around him.

  Max quickly surveyed his victims. They were all out for the count. He turned to find his wife and kids peeking up at him from their huddle.

  ‘You okay?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Elsa said.

  ‘Did you beat the bad guys?’ Jason asked meekly.

  The sound of more flapping feet rattled from both sides of the street.

  ‘Not yet,’ Max said. ‘Stay with Mummy. She’ll protect you.’

  Elsa tried to smile. Max turned back to the street and looked about. He counted at least fifteen more of the black, loping creatures, all converging on him. Clenching his fists again, he summed them up.

  They attacked in groups of two or three, restricted by the arch around Max. Elsa struggled to absorb the battle, but it was clearly one sided. Max held the upper hand the whole time. Her husband’s body transformed into a whirling blur of fists, elbows, knees and feet, all of his blows connecting with sickening accuracy and power. Fighting relentlessly and without pause, the conflict lasted maybe a few minutes, but it felt like much longer to Elsa. Despite wanting to shield the children’s view of the fight, she found herself unconsciously watching it and allowing Jason and Millie to also watch their father pummel the strange, hapless creatures, their little, upturned faces filled with a mixture of fear and wonder.

  Max spun one last time and launched a right foot into the head of the last creature, sending the alien spinning violently away to crumple into the gutter. It was over. Max looked at the carnage surrounding him. Still standing firm in the mouth of the arch in only his boxers, he had not a scratch on him. He did not bother to count the number of felled aliens, but if had, he would have needed more fingers and toes.

  ‘Is it finished?’ Elsa asked.

  Max continued to scan the street and the surrounds. Then he saw them. Still more of the creatures lurked around corners and behind cars up and down the street. Slowly they emerged from hiding and began to cautiously shuffle towards him.