by Paul Moxham
“They’ll be taken to where the rest of the prisoners are,” Frank stated.
“We’ll have to rescue them,” Lucy said.
“What? I thought we put that matter to rest,” Frank said.
“What if it were Mike?” Derek asked.
“What do you mean?” Frank replied.
“What if Mike was one of those prisoners? Would you try to rescue him?” Derek questioned.
Frank nodded. “He’s my friend.”
“Well, those two are our friends,” Lucy said. “If we don’t save them, what are we fighting for? Logan would never turn his back on someone who was willing to help, and I’m not going to either.”
“Me neither,” Derek said.
“Me too,” Molly said.
Frank ground his teeth at the hardheads, searching desperately for any way to change their minds. He leaned his heavy head against the wall. “No, I have no idea how we’ll do it, but I guess we can attempt a rescue.” He peeked through the glass pane, making sure the hangar was still empty. “Come on, let’s get going.” He slid over to Lucy and Derek. “Remember, you can only survive for so long in that hatch, so wait until the last possible moment, okay? With any luck, we’ll be back within half an hour.”
Lucy wrapped Molly in a bear hug. “Take care.”
Derek patted his sister on the shoulder. “Keep safe.”
Molly sniffed something back and managed a smirk. “Will do.” She put on her helmet once more and, holding the silencer in front of her, waited for Frank to climb out of the Striker. Once he was out, Molly followed, and soon the two of them had reached the hangar doors.
No one said a word until they disappeared from view. Once they were gone, Lucy rolled her eyes at Derek. “Let’s see how easy it is to slip into the hatch.”
“Okay,” Derek said simply, doing his best to hide his trembling hands.
For the next five minutes, the two of them practiced climbing in and out of the hatch. They had just finished getting out for the third time when Lucy froze, face glued to the window. Four Seods emerged through the hangar doors and strode toward the Strikers. “We’ve got company.”
Derek hurried over. He was silent as he watched the Seods split into two groups. One group went over to the far side, while the other group headed toward them. “We better get ready.” He hurried back to the hatch and climbed in.
Lucy hesitated for a few moments while she ascertained where exactly the Seods were heading.
Derek lay down and waited for Lucy to do the same, but she didn’t. “What are you waiting for?”
“We can’t close the hatch too soon, or else we’ll run out of oxygen.” Lucy glanced toward the door of the aircraft and waited for the footsteps to reach it, but they didn’t. Listening closely, she caught hushed snippets of conversation as the Seod fighters examined the Striker next to them.
She sat down and waited for the voices to come closer. It took ten minutes, but finally, she heard footsteps right next to the door, and just as the door slid open, Lucy pulled down the hatch. The hatch closed just as a Seod strode into the aircraft.
The two were silent and as still as mice as they heard another Seod follow the first one into the aircraft. Lucy tried to breathe slowly and quietly, but her heart was racing a million miles an hour. She had no idea how long the Seods would stay in the Striker. She just hoped that it wouldn’t be too long, for there was no telling how long the two of them could stay cramped in the small compartment with only a small amount of oxygen.
Chapter 16
After reaching the back of the relatively small cave, Logan sat down. As his brother joined him, he balled his fists. “Do you have any thoughts on how we can escape?”
Kenneth frowned. “I thought you did. Why did you wink at me before if you—”
“I just didn’t want to discuss anything right there in case that Seod can speak English.”
Kenneth furrowed his brow. “I see. Well, apart from trying to convince that Seod to come in here so we can knock him out, I don’t know.”
“Hmm, I don’t think he would fall for such an old trick like that,” Logan said.
“What do you suggest then?” Kenneth asked.
Logan reached into his pocket and pulled out a silencer. “I know it isn’t much, but I have this.”
“You can say that again,” Kenneth muttered. “I mean, sure, it can kill some Seods, but how many are there in this base? And how many of them wear those protective suits?”
“It’s still better than nothing,” Logan argued. “Besides, can you think of a better suggestion?”
Kenneth shook his head. “It looks like we’ll have to rely on your crazy plan. So once we get out of here, where do we go?”
Logan thought for a moment. “I wonder what the Seods were doing with that rocket thing back in that cave.”
“It looked like they were getting it ready for something,” Kenneth said. “Hey, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Logan nodded. “They’re going to shoot it through that hole.”
“And into the atmosphere,” Kenneth said. “If only we knew what was in it.”
“It doesn’t really matter,” Logan replied. “After all, it can only be good for them and bad for us. I did see some green liquid being poured into the rocket, though. I wonder how that fits in.”
Kenneth studied the door at the front of the cave. It seemed to be bolted into the wall and looked sturdy. “So, what do we do about the door?”
“Well, this gun might have something to say about that,” Logan said, studying the exotic silencer. “From what I’ve seen, it’s pretty powerful, though I have no idea what type of ammo capacity or charge this thing has. We’ll just have to use it sparingly.”
“If we try shooting at the door, wouldn’t the Seods hear and investigate?” Kenneth said.
“What’s your point?”
“So what do we do about them?” Kenneth replied.
“Do you have a better plan? If not, shut up and get ready!”
~*~*~
Molly tried to keep her hands from shaking as she held the silencer up against the back of Frank. She was petrified as much by the cold weapon in her hands as of all the Seods milling around. Most of them weren’t wearing the white suits, and they didn’t look as scary.
It wasn’t as though she had gotten used to the faces of the Seods, but as she had seen their faces in numerous books in school, it wasn’t as though their faces frightened her. She was more scared of the Seods wearing the white suits as she couldn’t tell if they were staring at her or not because of their helmets.
With Frank’s directions, the two of them cleared one hallway after another, but it seemed to her like they were no closer to the armory than when they’d started. Frank didn’t seem perturbed, though he had gotten frustrated when they had to take a detour to avoid a group of Seods, all sporting olive-green clothing and engaged in a pretty heated discussion.
Finally, after trekking for ten minutes, Frank elbowed Molly. “We’re almost at the room. Turn right when we reach the next intersection.”
Molly turned right half a minute later. At the far end of the long hallway was a single door. It was guarded by two Seods dressed in olive-green uniforms.
“Through here,” Frank said, pointing to a door on the left.
Molly followed him into the room. Frank closed the door and switched on the light. They were in some kind of storage room. “Frank? What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t expect for there to be two guards,” Frank muttered. He closed his eyes and thought.
“What do you mean? Were you only expecting one?” Molly asked.
Frank nodded. “This will require a change of plans. I was going to try to knock the guard out, but I can’t take on two of them.” He winced at the searing pain in his legs. “You’ll have to aim the weapon at them and tell them to put their hands up. I can then grab their weapons.”
“But what if they don’t understand English?” Molly asked.
>
“They will. Like I said earlier, before anyone is sent to a new planet, they have to learn the main languages. And, with the process we have, that doesn’t take long.”
“Why can’t you hold the weapon and do the talking?” Molly asked.
“If they see me, a human, holding a weapon, they’ll be suspicious. No, you’ll have to do it.” Frank gingerly opened the door and peered out. All was quiet. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
The two walked down the hallway and toward the guards. When they were still a fair distance away, the guards didn’t take any notice of them. As they came closer, one of the Seods frowned and reached for his silencer.
“Now!” Frank muttered.
Molly whipped out her silencer from behind Frank’s back and aimed it at the guards. She tried to tell them to put their hands up, but as the second one grabbed his weapon, her mouth dried up and she froze with fear. She couldn’t move and she couldn’t speak. She watched in horror as the guards aimed their silencers at them.
Frank quickly grabbed the silencer from Molly and, pointing it at the closest guard, fired. He collapsed to the ground as the other guard fired his weapon. Green bolts flew back and forth.
Frank clutched his arm in agony as the guard crumbled to the ground, collapsing next to his companion.
“Are you all right?” Molly asked, looking on in horror as his blue blood dripped onto the clean, white floor.
“I’ll be fine.” Frank tore apart his shirt and wrapped it around the wound. He glanced toward the guards, who were lying in pain on the ground. “I’ll put them out of their misery.” He fired a green bolt into the chest of each Seod.
Molly watched in horror and disbelief as the Seods muttered a final groan, and then, in a puff of smoke, they vanished. “What the …” She stood still in horror as she gazed at where the Seods had been moments earlier. Nothing except a few spots of blue liquid could be seen. “What the heck just happened?”
Frank thrust open the door to the armory. “Come on, we don’t have time to waste.”
Molly took one more look at the area before she followed Frank into the massive square-shaped room. It was divided into two sections. On the left were rows and rows of silencers, so many that she couldn’t even count them, while on the right were all sorts of explosives. Small ones, big ones, circular ones, square ones. There was also what appeared to be an upgraded version of the silencer.
Molly clutched the heavy handgun with two shaking hands and eyed it from all sides.
“Be careful with that,” Frank called, noticing that the teen was aiming the weapon at him.
“Sorry.” Molly put the weapon down and hurried over to Frank. “Is there enough here to blow up the aircraft?”
Frank frowned. “No.” He gazed around the half-empty room. “Usually there is a lot more stuff than this.”
“So what do we do?” Molly asked.
“Ah, well, let me think.” Frank studied the explosives on the shelf. “We do have enough to make a loud noise and cause some disruption, but if we’re going to make this aircraft crash, we’ll have to cause a chain reaction.”
“And how would we do that?” Molly asked.
“The missile room. It’s the only way.” Frank nodded to himself. “That’s the only possible way. But we’ll have to be careful. Too many explosives and the aircraft will crash before we even have a chance to get away.” He started stuffing the explosives into his pockets. “We won’t need many, especially if I place these up against the actual missiles.”
“But how will we escape then?” Molly asked, worried.
“Don’t worry.” Frank grinned. “I’ll set a timer, giving us enough time to escape.” With his pockets full, he went back to Molly. “Let’s go to the missile armory.” He sniggered when he caught sight of a white suit. “I’ll put this on. That way, you won’t have to pretend I’m a prisoner.”
Frank quickly changed. A few minutes later, the two of them hurried down the hallway. Reaching the end, they veered left. Frank took three steps before skidding to a stop. Ahead, at the far end, a group of Seods were charging their way.
Molly frowned as she saw that the creatures were dressed in blue suits. “Why are they dressed like that?”
Frank didn’t hesitate. “We’ll have to retreat.” He hurried back to the turnoff and went the opposite way.
“Who were they?” Molly questioned. “Why were they wearing blue and not white?”
“They are the elite. The best of the best.” Frank’s cheek twitched as another group of Seods in blue body armor marched down the hallway to their left. “This is not good. Not flippin’ good at all.” Frank dashed down another hallway.
Molly glanced back and saw one of the blue Seods. She whispered to Frank, “Someone is following us.”
Frank quickened his pace. “Come on, let’s hurry.”
The two hurried down the hallway. They passed a couple of Seods sporting the olive-green underwear, and even they looked at them strangely as they passed.
“Something’s not right,” Molly muttered.
Frank zagged right and then left in an attempt to lose the Seod in the blue suit, but the alien had a predator’s single-minded focus. Without warning, he swung up his blaster and picked up the pace. Not waiting any longer, Frank uncovered his own silencer and opened fire.
Green bolts shot toward the Seod, hitting the blue suit around the chest but not appearing to do any damage. The Seod knelt down and opened fire.
Green bolts flew back and forth and one of them hit Frank’s arm. His silencer crashed to the ground. “Run!” Frank shoved Molly away.
Molly ran down the hallway, which was now devoid of anyone.
Frank reached into his pocket and pulled out a small circular device. After pushing down the small button on one side of it, he tossed it toward the blue Seod.
As soon as the device hit the ground, white smoke flared out of it, shrouding the hallway. It quickly enveloped the whole area, making it impossible for Frank to see more than a foot in front of him.
Kneeling down, he felt around the ground for the silencer he had dropped. Finding it, he tucked it between his belt and waist and hurried in the direction Molly had gone.
After reaching her, he led the way to where the prisoners were being held. As he approached the door, he spotted a Seod in a white suit.
Frank fired point-blank at the white-suited Seod and the creature fell to one side. Frank opened the door. Molly was right behind him as the two of them entered the medium-sized room.
Molly counted at least forty humans in the room, and they were all seated around a strange-looking table. They appeared to be engaged in some kind of argument. They looked up but didn’t say anything.
Frank and Molly took off their helmets and the humans smiled.
Lieutenant Davidson gaped as he recognized them. “This is a rescue mission? How the hell …” He winked at the general. “I told you they were good.”
Loreto smiled and hurried forward. “I’ve never been so relieved to see anyone in my life.” He patted Frank and Molly on their shoulders. “I don’t know how you managed to rescue us, but when we get—”
Frank smiled grimly. “It’s not a rescue. At least, not as you would have liked.” He peered back through the door. The white smoke was slowly dissipating from the hallway. He turned back to the prisoners. “I only have one weapon, so you’ll have to find your own way out of here.”
One of the older guys sporting a filthy and tattered US Army shirt jumped up and roared, “Those chucklenuts have plenty of weapons, so let’s use them! Hooah!”
As a thundering chant echoed throughout the room, Frank slipped to the side, and the men rushed to the door.
“Get revenge another time,” General Loreto shouted. “If you want to escape, then we need to take the hangar. Frank, lead the way, but let us do the heavy lifting.”
Frank laughed without mirth and popped his head out of the detention center and into the hallway. The smoke ha
d completely cleared, and he was sure that even though no one was visible now, it wouldn’t be empty for long.
“Put your helmet back on,” Frank said, turning to Molly.
As Molly did so, Loreto looked at Frank. “Where are you going?”
“To the missile room,” Frank replied, stepping out into the hallway.
Lieutenant Davidson snagged his arm. “Why bother? Let’s just get out of here and blow up the hangar in the process. That’ll ground them for a while.”
As the entire group made their way along the hallway, Frank answered, “I didn’t come all this way just to put this thing in dry dock for a bit. We’re going to light it up so hot that the Seods will see the blast from their home planet!”
Frank paused at the end of the hallway. “The hangar is to the left. Good luck.”
Frank and Molly headed right and were surprised when the group, after having a quick chat, followed them.
“I thought you wanted to escape,” Frank said.
“The mission comes first,” Loreto stated. “And from what I’ve seen, you’ll need every bit of help you can get.”
“I can’t offer you any suits, but …” He trailed off as two Seods in olive green came around the corner.
Chapter 17
The Seods stopped in shock when they saw the humans. They went to grab their weapons, but by that time, the human wave of soldiers were upon them.
Frank pried his eyes off the bloodbath and just continued stalking down the hallway, stopping when he reached a door on the left. Two young soldiers, dripping in blue alien blood and shouldering new weapons, rushed up. They stacked up against the door and flicked him a thumbs-up.
“No, wait. We might get lucky here.” Frank gently popped the hatch and peered through it. A large group of Seods were lounging around on several sofa-like cushions and gossiping.
Frank turned to the others. “There’s plenty of firepower in there. If we act fast, we can grab a few loose weapons.”
The general smirked like a hyena. “Betcha dollars to doughnuts this is their Quick Reaction Force. Let’s do it.”
