Max Arena Read Free Page B

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 from 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