EINSTEIN'S GATE

EINSTEIN'S GATE - Part 4

SURVIVORS

The Army encampment was completely destroyed. Not a single vehicle resembled its original design and most were simply left as partial assemblies of useless, charred metal hulks in the night. Smoke wafted across the park where they had set up their position, from the few small fires that were still burning. The silence was remarkable.

The men who fought here used everything at their disposal, including bazooka rockets and mortar rounds. It became apparent to those who subsequently were killed, that these alien invaders utilized a technology to protect themselves, but whatever that technology was, no one was able to spot it.

Amidst this scene of defeat, something stirred. Two men shifted the wreckage of one of the trucks so they could crawl out of the small space created by the sandbags they had taken cover behind. Bill Oakley and Joe DiMarco were still alive!

"Man, am I glad to get out from under all that!" said Joe. He was looking himself over to be sure he was all there.

"It looks like we're the only ones that made it..." Bill observed. He didn't feel good about that. "We hit them with everything. What happened?"

"I'd say a few years or more of scientific achievement than we have." Joe started looking through what was left of the camp. "C'mon. Let's see what we can grab that'll keep us alive and get out of here before those guys come back! We know our guns won't do any good, but we need rations and canteens full of water. And we gotta find another unit!"

"Do you think anyone is left?" Bill wondered.

Joe handed Bill a canteen he'd just found. "Gotta be. Here— take this flashlight, too. See if you can find some extra batteries... and we should probably keep down!"

As they rummaged around, Joe came across a walkie-talkie. He extended the aerial and keyed the microphone switch. "Baker 25 to Able Station. Come in Able Station..."

His call was met only by static. "Baker 25 to anyone, come in..." He waited, but could hear only more static. Bill returned with his arms loaded.

"I found batteries and another canteen. C-rations, too. Extra clips for the Thompsons."
"The guns are just noise-makers now. Unless they start running around naked, which I doubt."
Bill wanted err on the side of caution. "We should take them anyway."
Joe looked at the walkie-talkie in his hands. "Yeah, maybe so. I can't raise anyone on the talkie. Huh! We may be civilians again!"

Joe could see this thought did not set well with Bill, more gloom added to the doom they were standing in.

"C'mon... get a grip. If we're here, chances are someone else is too. We just gotta find them."
"How do we do that without running across those guys?"
"We'll just have to play it by ear," Joe said. He was being off-hand about this whole thing, but it was all a front. He felt if he could make Bill think this wasn't going to be so hard, he'd feel better and that would help out the two of them.

"First, we get out of the city. In a couple of days, the stink is gonna be immense. Listen, I know this city like the back of my hand. We can do this, okay?"

It worked. Joe could see that Bill was coming around. They gathered up what they had and decided to prowl around for more. When they had enough in their backpacks, Joe set the route and he and Bill started out.

In another part of the city, an incredibly large vehicle moved slowly down the street, approaching Herald Square. The noise it made was horrendous— it was eating cars that blocked the street and anything else that was in the way.

A door in the service area behind Gimbel's opened and Nancy stuck her head out to have a look. She was very cautious and completely in the dark as to the racket that came from a couple of blocks away, but she figured it might help disguise any noise made by their escape.