JUNE
Lexion was facing the ceiling of the hangar, which was more than just a great distance from our heads. Alec and me joined her in the search for the generator, not knowing what we were looking for. But Lexion did, and she’d found it. She leveled her arm at a little red flashing light. She fired a blast of green laser. She hit her target and sparks flew. More of the lightning flashed in midair again, enough to cause Alec and me to cover our eyes. When we removed our arms from our faces we were confronted by a massive spaceship that filled the space of the massive hangar. It must have been the size of a small battleship.
BRAD
We hit into each other in midair. I grabbed onto Sara and held her close as we started to plummet toward the trees below us. I was about to tell her I loved her when we smashed into the branches of the trees. We tumbled through the foliage, bouncing off the wood, possibly cracking ribs, and cutting ourselves for sure. We hit the ground, both of us battered, coughing, moaning in agony, Sara on top of me, the blood from the wounds in her side running onto me.
“Sara, are you okay?” She tried to answer but could only cough, so she nodded instead. The barrel of a rifle pressed up against her temple. I turned my head to see who was holding the weapon, my whole body aching from the movement. It was a soldier.
He lowered the rifle. “You both scared the shit out of me ... I heard one of the aliens roar, then you two landed, I almost shot you ... Let me help you up ... Shit, she looks cut pretty bad ... I can help you both. I know a great hiding place ... I’ll take you both there ... We’ll be able to fix her up ... You too, buddy ... No one will find us there ... It’s practically invisible.”
ZACK
The door opened inward and an alien fell into the corridor with us. It had its hand locked to a guy’s throat. I placed the barrel of my rifle to its head, so I knew I’d not miss, so I knew I’d not hit the guy, and I fired. Blood splattered us all; the alien fell, dead, right on top of the guy. I heard him cry out from the weight of the monster. Cynthia and me pulled the monster from him; he was covered in the black blood when he stood. He was taking in gulps of air when a woman, carrying a small child, walked to stand next to him.
NINA
A young black man and a very attractive young lady stood, each holding rifles, in the corridor the door had revealed. The guy was dressed in a lab coat, the girl in all black, just like what Kent was wearing.
“Thank you,” Kent said to them.
“It’s okay,” the girl said, with the most gorgeous of smiles beaming.
“I’ve not seen you two before,” Kent said as he wiped some of the blood from his eyes.
“We don’t work here. I’m Zack.”
“And I’m Cynthia.”
“I’m Kent, and this is Nina and Freddie.”
“Nice to meet you all,” Zack said as he held his hand out for Kent to shake.
Kent shook the hand and said, “I figured you worked here, because of the uniforms. How did you get in the base, was that your car we saw at the entrance?”
“No, we were in the basement of our college. One of the aliens attacked us, but missed. It smashed through a wall that opened into the base.”
“I don’t know what idiot built this place next to a college, but if I ever meet him, I’m punching him in the face.”
Freddie laughed. I smiled. Cynthia winked at me.
“So,” started Zack, “you both work here?”
“No,” said Kent. “Well, I kinda do, it's a long story.”
“What’s the plan?” Cynthia asked Kent.
“Since there’s a car parked outside, that could mean there’s more people here. We go and find them. Prepare ourselves for the long haul, the fight that’s ahead.”
JUNE
“We can use the communicator to send a message to my people. We must hurry, time is running out.” Lexion walked to, what I can only guess was the rear of the ship. She pressed some controls there and a ramp started to lower. We all stepped back from it as it slowly started to drop, steam hissing from the sides as it did.
“Can you believe this?” Alec said. “We’re about to board a fucking spaceship. The guys at the comic convention would be so jealous of us right now.” I didn’t say anything, I just held his hand, and when the ramp lowered, we followed Lexion onto the ship.
We seemed to be in another hangar, or loading bay, at the rear of the ship. Lights were flashing in the vessel, so I took that as a good sign. It surely meant it was in working order, that Lexion would be able to send her message.
“Does this thing fly?” Alec asked, as we followed Lexion through a door that hissed open when we approached. I figured we were in an elevator of some kind, which was confirmed when Lexion told it to take us to the bridge, but it felt like it was moving sideways not upward or downward.
“I’m not sure, it depends how much of the damage the humans have been able to repair,” she said.
“Will the communicator be in working order then, what if that was damaged?” I asked, my earlier confidence plummeting, seeming misplaced.
“It will work. We received a message from the ship many years ago. It was gargled, didn’t make much sense, as if the user didn’t know how to work the communicator. Most likely one of the human scientists trying to figure out how to use the device, so unless they have messed with it, it should be in working order.”
The elevator came to a jolting stop, almost knocking Alec and me off our feet, not fazing Lexion. The doors hissed open and we stepped onto the bridge of the ship. Three chairs facing control panels, all of them facing, I guess what you’d call the windshield.
Lexion raised her biomechanical arm and pointed it at one of the chairs. “Stay here!” she commanded us, as she slowly stepped toward it.
“What is it?” Alec asked.
“Hush!” I said as I squeezed his hand tight enough for him to say ouch.
When Lexion was facing the front of the chair, she lowered her weapon. “It is one of your soldiers. He is dead. Shot by your Earth’s bullets.”
“How the hell did he get in here?” I asked.
“We have no time to ponder that,” Lexion said as she rushed to a control panel on the wall to the right of the bridge.
“Do we still have enough time to send the message?” Alec asked, as Lexion started to press buttons.
“Barely,” she answered, not taking her eyes off the task she was performing, frantically. Alec and me stepped closer, watching her hands work over the buttons, sometimes turning a few switches.
Hissss.
Alec and me turned to the rear of the bridge. Lexion kept pressing buttons. A large door had opened. A man and woman were standing there. The man had a rifle to his shoulder. The woman looked injured. Her foot was bandaged, so was her side. She wasn’t wearing a top, only a black bra, and shorts with foreign words stitched on them.
The man fired the rifle before I was able to warn Lexion. The bullets cut into the control panel, the communicator, sending sparks flying, and causing a little fire to erupt.
Lexion jumped from the panel, pushed Alec and me behind her, raising her weapon as she said, “You idiots! You have destroyed the communicator. I will not be able to send the message now.”
“That’s the idea,” the man said. He fired again. The shots hit Lexion in her stomach. She dropped to the floor with a clang, blood pumping from her at an accelerated rate.
“Noooo!” I screamed.
Alec and me ran and knelt next to Lexion. I raised her head off the floor and rested it in my lap. “Are you okay?” I asked. “What now?” I added. “What do we do?” I finished.
“You …” she was struggling to get the words out. “You prepare for the second wave of the attack. The masters are coming.”
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