by Nelson Angel
Nate doesn’t look like a human anymore. His left hand is not there and part of his face broke. The skin is not there anymore, so he can see the organic material of the alien inside the container of a human form held together with skin.
“If I knocked you down with a chair, I can also hurt and kill you, alien.”
Jack is in no condition for a fight, but he is alone now. He doesn’t have any other option.
“Do you really think that I’m scared of you, human? I know all about you. All your weaknesses. I can squeeze you like you do to roaches. This is going to be fun, very fun. But tell me, why did you choose to be here, outside the house? Do you think that I can’t handle the sun? Or the air, maybe?”
Jack is trying to position himself in a better way for a fight.
“Nope. You also don’t sound intelligent now, alien. I came outside to destroy the antenna. That way you can’t talk to your race.”
Nate laughs out loud.
“That’s the reason why you came outside? Did you forget the antenna is on the roof? And it doesn’t matter at all if you destroy the antenna. I already communicated the success of the last attack and we are in preparation for the last phase of the plan. Your ending is inevitable.”
“If so, why are you taking so long to attack me? Maybe you are afraid?”
Nate shows on the remaining part of his face that he is determined to kill Jack. He runs in Jack’s direction to attack him.
Jack is able to get out of the way while at the same time, he hits Nate with the metal pipe. He notices that Nate felt the hit, so he believes that he has a chance.
Nate throws a punch coming from the other side of the hit that reaches Jack. It was a hard punch and Jack felt that weird feeling again. He remembered about the poison and realizes that he needs to be more careful, not letting Nate touch him.
This time, it is Jack who attacks Nate. He fakes throwing a hit with his pipe from one side, but turns to the other side immediately. It works. He reaches Nate again on the side spot he reached before.
Nate doesn’t like this.
“Listen to me, roach. I’m going to eliminate you slowly and painfully.”
This time, Jack shows confidence.
“You are talking too much. And everyone knows that when somebody talks too much, it’s because they are afraid. Come on, alien. Show me what you got.”
Nate walks slow and steady in Jack’s direction, trying to read Jack's reaction to know how and where he will hit him.
Jack walks backward, avoiding any contact with Nate due to the poison.
Nate throws a punch with his left arm, so Jack uses the pipe to protect himself. But it’s a fake punch and Jack is hit by Nate's right-hand punch.
Jack feels that horrible feeling again, but it seems to be stronger.
“Can you feel that, Jack? I put a lot of poison there for you. How do you like that?”
Jack is trying to keep up. It’s difficult because that last punch hit him really hard. But he doesn’t want to show that to Nate.
“That’s the best you’ve got? I felt something, but barely. Calling us an inferior race made me expect more from you.”
Jack is not feeling well at all. But, on the other hand, he doesn’t want to show that to Nate.
Nate is smiling. He knows that Jack is not good.
“I told you that I would kill you slowly and painfully. Ready for more?”
“Bring it on.”
Jack knows that he is not going to last long. He has an idea. He walks toward the branches and pipes that he saw before.
“Running away, roach? Now that I’m enjoying all the fun? Come back for one more round. It will be really painful. I give you my word.”
Jack is thinking how he can do some damage on Nate. He had an idea, but he needs to be alert and really lucky.
“Is this for today or I will need to wait longer?” Jack shows anger.
He looks to his side and behind trying to position himself in the correct place that he thinks is the best place for his plan.
Nate notices Jack looking around.
“Running out of space to run, roach? This is not finished yet. It will end when I decide to end it.”
Nate looks over-confident about this fight. But this is exactly what Jack wants to happen. He needs Nate to play his game. It’s risky but he believes it will work.
Jack laughs aloud.
“Come on. An alien being beaten by a roach? What will your friends up in the spaceship think about you?”
Nate can’t hold it in any longer and shows all his frustration and anger.
“This is the end. I promise.”
Nate runs toward Jack with open arms, ready for the last punch. By the time he gets close, Jack turns to his right. Nate is expecting that move and also turns, but to his left.
Nate is expecting one more movement from Jack. But Jack doesn’t move at all, and Nate projects his body with all his strength against Jack. At the last second, Jack gives one step to the left, making Nate miss his body and goes into the branches pointing straight to him. Nate realizes that he made a terrible mistake because he knows that he will end at the branches. But he also decides that if he dies, Jack dies with him.
Nate changes his strategy, and instead of hitting Jack, he is sure that he touches Jack's body as much as he can. And this is what he does.
Jack was able to avoid the hit but not the touching from Nate. His plan was risky but successful. He sees Nate’s body being punctured by all those branches knowing that this will end Nate’s life. But he also feels Nate’s touch and all the poison delivered by that touch.
Immediately, his legs fail him, and he falls. It’s difficult to coordinate any movement, and even breathing becomes an impossible task. The sensation is terrible.
His consolation is watching Nate on the branches dying due to the wounds.
“Not so smart for a superior race, hmm, alien?”
“Smart enough to kill you as I promised, roach.”
“I told you, if I can’t talk to Jenn, you would not talk to the mothership.”
Nate is cusping blood and looks confused.
“You didn’t say anything to me.”
“I told you when I was leaving the studio, before breaking that chair on your head, remember now?”
“Like I said, everything is going as we planned. There’s nothing you can do to stop us. Nobody can stop us.”
“But, at least, I stopped you. You will not see this plan going through.”
Nate shows a lot of pain and also shows that he’s not recovering from the wounds. He knows that what Jack is saying is true. His last words escape with his final breath:
“Neither do you.”
Jack is relieved to know that he died.
Chapter 17: Jack’s regrets
Jack is there, in the center of the yard of Nate’s house, on the ground, on his knees. He is incapacitated. He doesn’t feel his legs. He tried to move them, but it feels like his legs are not attached to his body.
It’s getting harder and harder to breath. He feels that his lungs are giving up, not capable of bringing air inside anymore.
The pain in his body is incredibly excruciating. He feels the effect of the poison delivered by Nate from every single attack that he’d tried to avoid but could not.
At that same instant, he notices a black substance, like powder, falling from the sky. He raises his head to see what’s happening, and he observes that the ships in the sky are releasing the powder. He also sees animals tumbling on the ground and then falling dead. It’s starting with the small ones and going up to bigger ones.
He knows that pretty soon he will be affected as well. On top of all this, he notices that it is getting more and more difficult to think. His thoughts are non-associated anymore.
But he has one last thing that he wants to do.
He pulls out a picture of Jennifer that he keeps in his wallet for a last look of the person who he loved and loves so much but was never capable of say
ing this to her and, because of that stupid stubbornness, he will never be able to.
He still feels tears rolling down his face, and at that moment, he regrets not being close to the only person he loves.
His arm starts to fall while he looks at the picture and sees it falling away toward the ground.
He feels that life is fading away.
His vision is getting more and more blurry. It’s getting dark, black, like he is alone on the planet.
He looks for the picture, but he doesn’t find it. His head is not obeying anymore.
He is not smelling anything anymore. Everything got quiet. Nothing to hear.
He doesn’t feel air in his lungs.
He wants to keep his eyes open, but they’re closing by themselves. It’s all black, quiet, alone.
Everything becomes nothing…
