Crazy Cornelius & the Magic Pills Ch. 05

Although all were asleep, subconsciously all were alert, so when they heard noises approaching 11 pm, all snapped awake immediately.

"What's going on?" Faye whispered.

Alistair put his finger to his mouth indicating everyone to be quiet, then moving as silently as possible, they edged out of the four wheel drive. Danielle and Cornelius had also exited their vehicle and for once in his stupid life, Cornelius had realized how important it was to be silent.

"Do you know what's happening?" Danielle whispered as the noises came from a nearby hiking track again.

"No, but get prepared," whispered Alistair. "Get the gun."

Cornelius got the rifle and ammunition, irritating Alistair who would have preferred Danielle to handle the second firearm, but there wasn't much that could be done about it now. Alistair got his shotgun from the four wheel drive, along with the other items he had taken as weapons when they fled the house on Friday morning.

Handing the chainsaw to Gavin, the length of pipe to Erica, the axe to Danielle and the shovel to his wife he whispered, "Follow me, we'll go closer to see what's happening. Cornelius, cover me with the rifle."

The group moved as quietly as possible towards the trail, Alistair with the 12 gauge at the ready, where the noises could still be heard. As they edged closer, they could see through the trees what they were dealing with.

"Pygmies," whispered Danielle.

"Some sort of pygmy army wearing uniforms," Erica observed. She noticed that a couple of the pygmies stood taller than the others. "And a couple of larger pygmies too."

"Cannibal pygmies," whispered Alistair. "Sometimes attack is the best form of defense, so that is what we do now." He pointed his shotgun through the trees at the hiking trail. "Cornelius, take aim too, the rest of you cover us and run in when I give the signal."

Alistair again took aim with the shotgun, but fortunately glanced backwards and nearly had a heart attack. "Jesus Christ, don't point the fucking gun at me, you stupid bastard," he hissed at Cornelius, seeing that his son had pointed the high powered hunting rifle at the back of his head.

Cornelius changed the aim of his own gun to the same area his father was aiming the shotgun at.

"Now, on the count of three," said Alistair. "One, two, three, go!"

With that, Alistair fired his shotgun, the pellets from both barrels going through the tree tops with a thunderous explosion. A second loud bang was heard as Cornelius fired the rifle. Screams of terror were heard from the pygmies and the sounds of them running. There were more tremendous explosions shattering the quiet night air of the Blue Mountains as Alistair and Cornelius fired in the direction of the pygmies again, more screaming audible.

Gavin started the chainsaw which made an almighty noise, then he and the Hawkins family charged forward towards the hiking trail in the direction of the retreating pygmy army, the three women brandishing their weapons and yelling, Cornelius and Alistair firing two more rounds up the trail, the screams, yells and general panic of the pygmy cannibals fading into the background.

"That showed them, but they will let the aliens and demons know so we need to leave," said Alistair, as Gavin turned off the chainsaw and Alistair and Cornelius reloaded the shotgun and the rifle.

"We'll have to have a new system to drive through the night," said Alistair. "One drives, one sleeps, one navigates. Gavin, you're with Cornelius and Danielle, Erica, you're with us."

Erica and Gavin nodded, and leaped into their respective cars. Alistair and Danielle took the wheels, and the cars sped away into the night. With her mother falling asleep in the back seat, Erica acted as navigator as the car sped through the forests in the dark night.

Looking at the night skies, the moon high and bright and the Southern Cross highly visible, Erica could see the white, red and green lights of an alien craft high in the sky. Erica trembled in her seat as the UFO got closer. Beside her, her father had also seen the UFO and was wary of it but composed, contrasting with the terror of his teenage daughter.

Trying hard not to cry with fear, Erica knew that while so far they had eluded capture by the aliens and their demon, ghost, vampire and monster allies that their luck would surely run out soon. Would this be the UFO that finally got them, and took them away from Earth forever? In an hour's time, they could will be out past Jupiter, and maybe even Saturn depending how fast the alien spacecraft could travel.

Erica didn't want to live on a spaceship, she wanted to stay on Earth. But as Erica watched the UFO's lights in the night sky, she knew that she might well be abducted by a flying saucer and away from her planet and into outer space sooner rather than later.

END OF CHAPTER 5 -- TO BE CONTINUED...