Jex

by Maia Starr

  “Unbelievable,” I said.

  “It seems the cyborgs are not the only enemy,” Jex said.

  “Humans have always fought against each other; it has been that way since the beginning of our species; I thought to this innovation would band us together against one enemy, but it seems I was wrong,” I said.

  “But your sister is not with them. Our mission is to find your sister and bring her home to Willow Springs,” Jex said.

  “But we have to help them. These people are like my family too. Who knows what these humans will do to them. We have to help them and get them back to Willow Springs,” I said looking at Jex intensely.

  He sighed. “If that is what you want, human, then that is what we will do. But you will follow my directions,” he said.

  “Fine. Whatever it takes,” I said.

  "Human, tell us where the human colony is and everything you know about their defenses. How did you escape?” he asked Jared.

  “This way,” he said as he pointed in the direction that he had come into the forest clearing. “It is just a large house, a lot like Willow Springs, but it does not have a wall the way Willow Springs does.” Jared went on and on telling us about the human colony and where the two prisoners were being kept as we walked through the forest. Our destination was two miles away. I was upset that this was taking us off task, but I knew that it was the right thing to do. Hannah would want it that way.

  “If it is a large house like Willow Springs, then I should be able to fly in and grab these two prisoners and fly out. It is the only way,” Jex said.

  “But they will see you. The way you look will bring all eyes to you. There is no way that you will go unseen,” I said looking at him, confused by his arrogance—that he thought he could just fly in and fly out like nothing.

  “That is where you and this human Jared come in,” he said.

  “What do you mean?” I said.

  “You two will create a diversion, drawing out everyone from the house, or at least making them look in that direction. This way I can circle around the back and fly into the area closest to the prisoners and take them,” he said.

  “What kind of diversion?” I asked.

  He stopped and opened a small compartment in his belt and threw out a square white block. “This kind.”

  “What is that?” Jared asked.

  “A bomb,” Jex said.

  Jared and I both stepped back.

  “Don't worry. It is quite safe until you activate it. It is not activated at all at the moment. It is just a block,” he said.

  “So what do we plan to do with these?” I asked.

  Jex put the block back in his belt. Then he squatted down to the ground and threw a square on the ground.

  “This is the house. We are coming up on it in this direction. Jared will you mark where the prisoners are kept,” he said looking at Jared.

  Jared marked the upper right-hand corner of the house.

  “Good. Then this is the plan. We continue approaching the house as we are. But when we get to this point, we will have to split up. I want you and Jared to go to the left around this way. You will place a bomb here in the upper left-hand corner of the house, but at least one hundred yards from the house. I will show you how to activate it and control when it goes off. You will just set it down and place it, and then you will walk back in the direction you came and set one one hundred yards out from the lower left-hand corner of the house. After you have set the bombs, you will come back to where we started. Then you will set off the bomb on the lower corner first. That will be my first diversion and allow me to fly around in this direction to the upper hand corner and get the prisoners. The second bomb will go off two minutes later in the upper left-hand corner, driving the humans in the opposite direction of where we are headed. The both of you will continue in the direction that we came coming back to this point where you will wait for me.

  “Okay, that is a good plan. We don't even have to get within one hundred yards of the house. Just show me how to do the bombs,” I said.

  “You are eager and brave, aren't you,” Jex said to me.

  “I am just in a rush,” I said not thinking of myself as brave but just wanting to get the job done so that we could go find my sister. Plus, it was a good plan. This diversion would work.

  Jex showed us both how to activate the bombs and then to set them off remotely with a small contraption with glowing blue and red lights that he handed to me. We continued walking until the house was in sight.

  “That's it,” Jared said as we knelt down behind the brush. We were still hidden in the trees. But the tree line gave way to a suburban area. The houses were spaced very far apart, and all of them were very big with massive gardens. But because of that, there were a lot of garden walls, garden sheds, and overgrown rosebushes to hide in. I could do this.

  “All right. It's time. I am going to go off to the right and around the corner. You do the same around the left and we should get to our destinations around the same time. Remember: do not set off the bombs until you have come back to this point and are already making your way back from the way we came,” Jex said.

  “Understood,” I said.

  He gave me a lingering look. I thought for a moment he was going to back out. He looked like he wanted to change his mind. I was surprised that he wasn't looking at me with lust and desire like he usually was; he was looking at me with something else. He was looking at me as though he actually cared if that something bad might happen to me. He was hesitating on giving me the task.

  “I can do it. Don't worry about me,” I said reassuring him.

  He straightened his back as though caught off guard that I knew what he was thinking. He shook off the look of concern and nodded his head. Then he went off in his direction and out of sight.

  “Jared, ready?” I said.

  “I can't do it,” he said. I looked at him and realized that he was sweating bullets. He was trembling. He was scared.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I don't want to be caught again. I had to go through a lot just to escape,” he said. I wanted to call him a coward, but there would be no use. I couldn't have him getting paralyzed out there trying to set up these bombs. I knew what I had to do. I had to do it alone.

  “Stay here. Don't make a sound until I return. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” he said.

  I took both bombs and quickly ran off in the direction to my left. I got as far as I could underneath the tree brush one hundred yards out from the house, but now it was time to turn and go into the residential area. I squatted down staring out at the house in front of me Saminah fifty yards. I watched it for any sign of activity. Who knew if any of the people from the human colony would be in this house as well. They were close enough together. I did not see any signs of activity, so I took my chance. There was a garden wall in front of me that was three feet high. I took a deep breath and ran without any cover toward the garden wall as fast as I could. Then I ducked under the wall. I waited and listened. I didn't hear any voices. I crawled on my hands and knees along the wall toward the house. Once I got to the house, I set a bomb on the outside wall. I peeked into the windows; there was no one in there. I was glad. I used the wall as cover and continued running until I got to the edge of the house. I had to set the second bomb, but there was no cover. There was nothing to run behind between this house and the next. I would just have to take my chances. I peeked around the corner of the house looking for any activity or movement. Then I saw someone. There was a Jeep driving down the road toward the human colony. I froze and squatted down against the wall, watching the Jeep. The three men inside of it were looking straight ahead towards the human colony. If I ran after the Jeep passed, they would still see me in the theaters. I hoped today her age because the longer I stayed, the longer that Jex was on the other side of the house and could be spotted at any minute.

  Finally, the Jeep drove out of sight. I took a deep breath and ran as fast as I could
toward the next house. But I had lost track of my sense of direction. Was this house aligned with the upper left-hand corner of the human colony? Something told me it wasn't far enough. I ran along the side of the wall and looked at another house, the next one in line. That was where I needed to set the bomb: the second one. I looked around and did not see any humans. But that did not mean they weren't watching. I took a deep breath and ran fast toward the next house. I made it. I set the bomb on the wall. Now I had to get back to Jared.

  “You can do this,” I whispered to myself.

  I left the second bomb and ran back to the house that did not have a bomb. I made it. I rounded the corner and looked at the next house in line, the one with the first bomb. But I was shocked. The Jeep was now parked in front of it. Shit. The men were inside that house. There was no way for me to get back to Jared.

  There was only one thing that I could do. But it was not what we had planned. I would have to set off the bomb that was supposed to be sent off second as the first bomb. This would draw the man out of the first bomb house toward the second bomb house, but straight toward me. But if I had it inside the house I was against it now they would move right past me towards the bomb. But I would only have a short amount of time to get back to Jared before everyone else came out of the colony to look as well. It was either that or run past this Jeep and the man in the house without them seeing me. Time was ticking, and I didn't want to leave Jex exposed anymore.

  I slid along the wall and found the back door of the house that did not have a bomb on it. It was opened. I slowly walked in, hoping there was no one there. I made my way to the front door of the house. From the door, I could run directly past the Jeep and the first house back to the garden wall. This was it. I had to do it. I unlocked the door and made sure that I opened it just a little. I didn't want anything to hold me back.

  I grabbed the detonator and set off the bomb that was directly behind me. It exploded with a loud deafening sound that caught me off guard as I went to the floor and put my hands on my ears. But I had to focus. I looked at the house in front of me and saw the three men run out of the house. They jumped into the Jeep and drove across the grass past the house I was in toward the bomb explosion. Now was my chance. I could hear shouting as people reacted to the bomb. I ran out the door directly toward the house with the first bomb. I made it just as people were coming down the road. But I didn't have time to stop to see if anyone saw me. It didn't matter. Perhaps they would just think I was one of their own running from the blast. I continued running and found myself crouched down along the garden wall. I was close. I was going to make it. I could hear more and more shouting all going in a direction away from me. This was good. I finally made it to the end of the garden wall and ran the uncovered area to the forest. Once I hit the tree line, I continued running. All eyes would be on that explosion in right now Jex would be flying in to get the prisoners.

  “You did it,” Jared whispered to me as I came up upon him.

  “Yes, but I did it wrong. Come; we need to get out of here, and fast because the second bomb is going to lead them right to this area. Go,” I said, whispering to him. His eyes grew wide as he understood that the plan did not go off as promised. He turned and ran in the direction that we had come. I was fast behind him. I hoped that Jex had the prisoners by now because the second blast was to diverge people from looking at the sky and seeing him flying around.

  “Wait, stop,” I said. It was time to detonate the second bomb. I took out the remote and aimed it in that direction. I pressed the red button. Boom! The second bomb went off. I turned it to Jared, and we continued running. We ran until we got to the point where we had made the plan. The drawing of the house was still there.

  “This is it,” I said. I quickly used my boot to wipe the plans away. Then we waited, but we didn't have to wait long. Flying low between the trees was Jex with one human in each arm. They looked startled. I sort of laughed to myself at the sight.

  Chapter 7

  Captain Jex Kailen

  I flew with one human underneath each arm back to the meeting point. But the whole time I was regretting this mission. The moment I separated from Helen, all I could think about was that I hoped that she was safe. It was all that I wanted for her. When I was trying to concentrate on breaking out the human prisoners, all I could think about was whether or not she was safe. What if she got caught setting up the bombs? I could not allow her to fall into any danger.

  So as I flew low between the trees with the humans, I could not wait to get to the spot where I was to meet her. I needed to know if she was safe or it would drive me crazy. Finally, I saw her standing next to Jared. Relief rushed over me.

  “Jex…” she said softly as I landed near them.

  “What the hell is going on?” one of the humans said as I set them down on their feet. They ran to Jared. I went to Helen's side.

  “Are you hurt? Are you all right?” I said as I put my hands on her arms and looked her body up and down.

  “I am all right. But we have to get out of here soon. I was not able to set off the bombs in the order you wanted; it was opposite. So it would lead them in this direction,” she said.

  “I understand,” I said as I pressed a button on my armband and called my lieutenant.

  “Lieutenant Baisen, I need you to send a ship to pick up three humans from the coordinates of my ship. Do you copy?” I said.

  “Copy, Captain. We have the coordinates of your ship. I will send a transport right now,” he responded.

  “Come on. We need to get back to my ship as soon as possible. There will be a transport to take the humans back to Willow Springs,” I said as I rounded up the humans and began to jog in the direction of my ship. Helen and the others jogged behind me as I lead the way. The entire time Helen and Jared were trying to explain who and what I was to them and that the Veruka really were friends to them.

  Twenty minutes later, we found my ship. We stood there as the humans caught their breath and tried to understand what was going on.

  “Thank you for rescuing us,” one of the humans said.

  “You are welcome,” I said. “But I didn't do it alone. These two helped as well,” I said pointing to Jared and Helen. I saw Helen look at Jared and Jared looked at the floor. There was something unsaid going on there. But just when I was about to ask, I heard one of our ships hovering nearby. It appeared over us and landed. The door opened.

  “Take these three back to Willow Springs. Helen and I are going to continue forward on the mission to find her sister. Listen to these humans; they were captured by a hostile human colony. I want them to tell everything they know to Lieutenant Hyrax so that we can add it to our list of possible enemies to defend Willow Springs against,” I said.

  “Copy that, Captain,” the soldier responded. Helen gave hugs to all the humans and said her goodbyes. Soon the ship was taking off into the air.

  “We need to go too, Helen. We cannot stay in this spot. We are going to have to find another direction to get to the cyborgs. We are too close to the human colony, and they are probably on their way in this direction now. I am sure that they saw that ship. Get in,” I said to her. She went into action and climbed into my ship. I followed behind her.

  Within a few minutes, we were in the ship as it hovered over the forest. Then I flew it above the tree line and past the shoreline to the water and then far out into the bay.

  “Where we going? I cannot even see land anymore,” she said.

  “Yes, that is exactly what I am trying to do. If we cannot see land, then those on land cannot see us, whether they are humans or cyborgs. Right now, we should be crossing the cyborg encampment if we are near land. I am going to go past it and then go to shore on the other side of it. That is where we will need to make our approach from. It gets us away from where we were before. We would have been sandwiched between the hostile humans in the cyborgs if we had stayed there. Now we will be on the other side, and the cyborgs will be between us and the hostile
humans,” I said.

  “Oh, good plan. The sun is starting to set,” she said.

  “Yes, I am still getting used to the short days that you have here on Earth. On my planet, the sun is out twice as long,” I said.

  “It is? Tell me about your planet. I still can't believe that you are here, aliens on Earth… But then again, I never thought cyborgs would take over Earth either,” she said.

  “My planet of Tivoso is beautiful. It is almost like Earth. There are tall trees and lots of plants and animals. We live in harmony with all of that. We live in tall towers; it is good for flying. But we also live along the ground at the base. Only the male are weredragons. The females cannot shift that way we can, and they are not like you human females on Earth,” I said.