by Safa Shaqsy
One can always fill the emptiness in their heart by adopting a greasy alien creature as a pet. My team and I searched area GH80 for aliens. That time we were accompanied by our other team members, Pam, Isabel and Frank to make sure that we didn’t screw up the mission. It was morning and the temperature was at its highest. I was dehydrated and lightheaded, plus my armor, tactical gear and all the guns we were carrying made this mission more difficult than I was used to. My chest heaved as if I had run miles and was soaked with sweat from head to toe. I don’t know how long we walked… hours, maybe. I was behind the team with Andie. Kraig was ahead of us with the rest. We walked in the deserted area until we reached a land that was filled with wide leafless trees. They were at least twenty meters tall and ten meters wide. That was my own estimation of course, but there was something different about these trees. They had holes, like some kind of doorways, and the trees had a hint of ashy gray. When I got closer to one tree’s jagged surface, a green greasy liquid leaked from the inside and I figured that there was something inside those trunks.
Danger. I felt goose bumps all over my skin. Pam studied the trunk as she touched the greasy liquid and stared at her friend Frank. She seemed to know what was going on too.
“I have a hunch that this tree is not just a tree,” she said to all of us.
“Should we inform Gale?” Kraig asked Pam. Pam shook her head, “No. I’m going inside to see what the hell is in there.”
Frank mouthed, “No.” Isabel looked at Pam with worry, “Pam that’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard. What if Gale finds out?” she scolded.
Andie was behind me looking at the tree, when he turned to look at Pam he said, “You can’t do it.” Pam squinted her eyes like she was daring him. “Watch me,” she said.
Isabel and Frank looked at their friend with wide eyes as she walked to the tree trunk and started climbing. “Kraig, do something!” I snapped, but he just stood there watching Pam.
“Pam, don’t do it!” Isabel yelled at Pam, who wasn’t listening. Frank carefully watched how Pam was climbing the tree trunk. He was muttering something. Maybe it was a prayer. Or he was just cursing.
I was about to press the button on my Scahet to call Gale, but maybe he was already watching us. He had the access to our Scahets and sometimes he randomly picked up a time to watch and hear us. He always picked bad times to spy on us and when we needed him most he was away and needed to be called.
Pam climbed a few meters to one of the holes in the tree trunk. She stopped and looked down on us, waving to sign that she was okay. I felt my stomach twisting. I closed my eyes. I couldn’t watch any longer and I didn’t want to hear her body hit the ground. I felt a warm hand clutching mine. I opened my eyes to see Andie holding my hand and his face filled with worry. “I’m fine” I whispered, and pulled my hand from his.
I jerked my head up to look at Pam, who was peering in the hole. Don’t fall, don’t fall I prayed. Everything was still until I heard someone shrieking. My heart raced. It was Pam waving to us, trying to say something.
“Pam what’s going on?” Frank asked Pam, who was terrified and rigid. Then there was another loud shrieking. This time it wasn’t human and it came from inside the trunks. The ground shook underneath our feet and ashes fell on us from the trembling trees.
“Pam, get the hell out of there!” Isabel shouted, but Pam was shaking with the tree trunk as she was clinging to it. The shrieking sounded again and it made my ears ring, which made me collapse on my knees. The sound was vibrating inside me, vibrating into my hands and legs, making me feel nauseous.
I heard someone yelling at me “Nat, get up right now!” I looked up and it was Andie. He pulled me up with his hand, trying to get me away from the tree. “Pam!” I said, “She is up there.”
He shook his head. “She won’t make it!” he shouted back. I looked at the others, they were moving away from the tree and jerked my head up to see Pam screaming and crying, clinging to the tree for her dear life. Suddenly, she stopped crying and her hands that were clinging to the tree, slipped from the fierce shaking. She fell down and I saw her body flying for moments. Before she hit the ground, I covered my eyes with my hands and screamed “No!” I heard her body hit the ground and cried in my hands. I was afraid to see her body so I turned around, uncovering my eyes to see Andie pulling my hand to run with them.
We ran away from the trees, heading in the opposite direction and the ground kept on shaking. Isabel was crying so loud as she ran with Frank and Kraig ahead of us. I turned to look back and saw a flock of flying aliens chasing us down. I panicked and screamed.
“Don’t look back!” Andie shouted, holding my hand tighter as we ran.
A land with caves and rocks appeared ahead and I screamed, “Guys, we can hide there!” The aliens were right behind us but we only had to run a few meters to reach the land. I heard a guy’s scream and my heart skipped.
I turned to look at Frank who was snatched by an alien.
“Fraaaank!” Isabel screamed as she looked back. He screamed and shot the aliens belly. That made the alien cry and release Frank, but before Frank hit the ground another alien came and snatched him up. It carried him to the land ahead of us and dropped him on the rocks. He was screaming and when the screaming stopped I knew he was died. I gasped, trying to hold back my tears.
We stopped to shoot a few aliens down as we sprint to the land, dodging and passing caves to search for a hiding place. Kraig stopped beside one rock, waving his hand for us to go. We ran to where Kraig stood and he pointed to a hole in the wall. Isabel, who was shaking and crying, got to her knees and crawled inside. I got to my knees and crawled behind her while the others followed our lead. The size of the tunnel was wide enough for us to crawl inside but it was dark and the stench was strong.
We finally stepped inside a cave that had a dome-like ceiling. The walls were covered with blue substance that illuminated the cave. The air was humid and smelled like alien flesh. Isabel was still whimpering and shaking madly.
Kraig got to her and placed his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. “You’re going to be alright.”
She nodded and sniffed.
I pressed my Scahet to call Gale, “Gale, are you there?” I called, “Gale!”
Kraig pressed his Scahet and called, “Gale, we need help right now.”
“He isn’t picking up?” Andie asked Kraig.
I saw fear on Kraig’s face when he slightly shook his head to confirm that Gale didn’t answer.
“Crap” Andie uttered.
“It seems like we’re going to stay here for quite a while,” Kraig said.
Andie shuddered, “What should we do now? Ca, ca, can’t we go out after we lost those aliens?” I shushed him with a hand and tilted my head to listen to the aliens shrieking above the cave, “You hear that? They’re still here.”
Isabel shrieked but then Kraig covered her lips with his hand “Trust me, we don’t need any more attention from those aliens,” he whispered to her. “So please, be quiet.”
She nodded as Kraig carefully removed his hand from her mouth. Andie was looking at the ceiling in astonishment. He examined every stone in the wall and touched the blue substance with his fingers, looking at me, “What is this place?”
I turned to Kraig for explanation, he was also checking out the cave. I searched in the dimness for any clues and stumbled upon some kind of a doorway. “Is that a doorway?” I asked everyone and they all turned to look at it.
Kraig turned to look at me and raised his palms, “Uh, no. You’re not going there.”
“Yes, I am. I never agreed to be an alien buster to play it safe,” I replied.
“This is not a game and we have to be careful,” Kraig said.
“He’s right,” Andie said, beside me.
Isabel crossed her arms, like she was feeling cold and said, “Is there going to be aliens?” with a strained voice. “Maybe,” I replied and averted my eyes. I couldn’t see the blameful look on her
face and it wasn’t my fault that her friends got killed, was it? Somehow, I blamed myself for not helping her friends out. I should have done something. Maybe they would have survived.
Isabel’s face twisted in anger, “Do you want us killed?” she shouted and started weeping again as her voice echoed off the cave walls. Kraig shushed her.
Andie and Kraig looked at each other in concern. “Fine, I’m going there by myself” I said.
“What?” Kraig snapped, “You’re not going there until we get help.” I felt my head was on fire from fury, “Yes, I am,” I said and started towards the doorway, but Andie’s hand grabbed my arm stopping me.
“Don’t do it,” he said. That made me more furious with him for not supporting me. I smacked his cheek, making his face look in the other direction, “You said you had my back,” I hissed.
He held his cheek looking at me with remorse. I walked to the doorway, holding the gun in my hands and pointed to the emptiness in front of me. I turned on the flashlight for a better view and walked carefully on the lumpy ground. The sound of dripping water, echoed in the cave and a few drops fell on my hair at the doorway. I entered to what seemed to be another cave.
This other cave had substance like fleshy spider webs. It was everywhere, in the corners, on the ground. The stench was much more dense here. I covered my nose and lips to stop myself from gagging. I focused the flashlights on the top of the rocks to see large eggs covered with those webs. Lots of eggs, and I guessed they were aliens’ eggs.
I carefully got closer to examine one with my hand. But as I got my hand closer to one egg, I heard something behind me. My body stiffened. I turned around to aim at whatever was behind me.
Andie flinched and raised his palms in the air, “Hey, it’s me,” he in a low voice.
I let out a breath, and lowered my gun to my side “Crap. You scared me,” I said. “Sorry?” he said.
“What made you come here, anyway?” I asked.
He dropped his hands to his side, “Look, I worry about you, Okay?” he confessed.
“I don’t need your help” I replied. “I know you. You say you don’t need help when you do” he said, “And why do you always exclude people who want to help you?”
I wanted to tell him because I didn’t need anyone’s help and I preferred doing things alone, but I just stared at him. “This isn’t the time for a warm conversation.” I said and indicated with my head towards the eggs.
He finally noticed what’s around him and looked at the cave. He got closer to where I stood and examined the egg, “Aliens’ eggs.”
I nodded, “They seem to be hiding their eggs inside caves,” I explained.
He side smiled, “We got it,” and looked at me with relief. “Do you know what this means?”
I shook my head with confusion. “What are you talking about?” “We could tell Gale about this. When we get back we could tell him to instruct the other teams to plants bombs in these caves to kill as many aliens as they could,” Andie said, with wide excited eyes.
This made me think about Star when he was a lost baby. What if his egg was destroyed? I wouldn’t have found him and taken into my home to care for him as my pet. What about those eggs? They all carried infants in them just like Star. I felt a heavy pain in my chest and took one step backward, “You’re not serious?” I muttered.
His shoulder stiffened when he saw the anger in my face. “Nat, this is our way in,” he explained, “We would be called heroes.”
I saw the pride in his eyes and the way he talked all business like. I could have despised him for saying those things, but he was my best friend and deep down I knew that it was the right thing to do. But why did the right thing seem so wrong?
I shook my head in disappointment and covered my Scahet so Gale won’t hear. “If only Star can hear you. He would’ve chomped your hands off” I whispered. He froze, acknowledging what I’ve said to him.
“I didn’t mean to,” he tried to apologize. “You were doing your job” I shot back, but he looked at me disbelieving. I wasn’t convinced that we should kill those infants. His mouth opened, like he was about to say something, but I walked away.
Kraig and Isabel were sitting on one boulder, and when I entered they both stood up. Isabel looked more stable than she was when we got in.
“Good news, Gale was online. He said he has located us and he’s sending a Hister to pick us up,” Kraig said. Gale was online? Is it possible that he heard our conversations? “Good” I said. My mind was muddled worrying about what I saw back there in the other cave.
Kraig leaned closer to look at me, “Nat” he called. I snapped back, “Yes?”
“Did you… find anything there?” he asked.
Andie came closer to Kraig , “No. We didn’t find anything,” he lied, as he looked at me with care. I gave him a faint thank you smile.
Chapter Six
“An Alien Buster should constantly watch out for their other team members. If one got distracted and a colleague got injured, the Alien Buster will be evaluated.”
Alien Busters Manual, section seven, page 15 We got out of the cave and dashed to where the Hister landed. I looked at the sky to check if it was clear from the aliens. The Hister was parked in an empty area away from the caves. My team and I entered the Hister with the help of the guards inside. When the Hister rose to the air, I grabbed the handle for steadiness.
One guard searched for our other team members, “Where are the others?” He asked loudly, his voice muffled by the engine sound.
Isabel looked at him and shook her head.
“They didn’t survive,” Kraig said out loud.
The guard nodded in understanding, “Is any one of you injured?” he asked.
I had flash backs of Frank and Pam’s bodies, falling to the ground and I felt sick in my stomach.
“No” Andie answered.
“Okay, but when we reach the city, you will be expected to go directly to the infirmary for a thorough scan,” the guard instructed.
“Okay,” Kraig replied, “But are we called for interrogation?”
The guard shrugged, “I don’t know, but Gale seemed pretty mad. Good luck.” My heart raced and I started sweating inside my suit. In our institute, interrogations were called whenever anything went wrong on a mission. Like death of a team members, breaking the rules of the Alien Busters or worse, if anyone was discovered to have an alliance with aliens. What if he heard my conversation with Andie, did that mean that I’ll be expelled? What about Star, who will take care of him if I’m sentenced to jail? They can punish me by killing him. They could kill Star.
My legs felt wobbly. I hurried to sit in one of the seats, and placed the gun beside me. I wished I could take off my mission suit, because it made me feel claustrophobic and like I couldn’t breath. Kraig sat in the other seat beside me, like he knew what I was thinking.
“Remember in Soplea, when I was messing with the toilets?” he started, “Placing froth cubes inside the toilets, and when someone flushed the toilet, it was a foam disaster?”
I turned to him, “You called it cold lava,” I said and arched my eyebrow.
“Yes, and it was genius” he started, “The froth stayed for days and the students couldn’t use the restroom.” I burst into laughter, “And you got punished for days, scrubbing the toilets,” I said, “And I was surprised that the headmaster was surprised by your action.”
Kraig smiled proudly, “They couldn’t believe a dark, handsome guy could do such thing.” “And you had to stay in my house for days, so you could get away from your parents. You said they couldn’t stop talking about the incident,” I said. After the froth incident, Kraig stayed with me and he was the worst cooker ever. He couldn’t even get soup right.
“But what happened after that?” he asked. “You went home after a couple days and everyone forgot about it after a while,” I said, and I knew where he was heading.
“And that happens every time. When things went wrong, it gets back
to normal after a while, or maybe better,” he said, and grinned.
“You always have the right thing to say.” I said. “You’re the only Nathalie I have. So, I kinda have to,” he joked, calmly.
I snickered, and shook my head. “I’m just teasing you,” he said, “And remember, when you’re ready to tell me what’s going on, I’m all ears,” and arched his eyebrows.
I froze, surprised by his suspicions. I should have told him everything to silence my mind from all the worries. It was really hard to keep this secret from him. But it was harder to lie to him. Kraig was my best friend and despite my fears of being reported, I had to tell him, right? That was the right thing to do for the sake of our long friendship and if he knew that I told Andie about this before him, he would feel insulted, like I favored Andie over him. Here, there was no right or wrong. It was either gray or gray. If I told him, I would save our friendship but he might report me and Star and I would be in trouble. If I didn’t tell him, and later something happened and he knew about it, it would jeopardize our friendship. Either way, it was all gray. I sighed, confused of what to say, “Kraig it’s…” I stuttered, “I mean I can’t...” and shook my head.
“Okay, you can keep this secret you have,” he comforted. “But, if you ever get in trouble because of it, trust me. I will not just scold you and tell you I told you so. Because I’m always right. But I’ll help you as well, until you get out of trouble. And when that trouble ends, you’ll get in some other trouble and you know what it is?”
“Umm, no,” I said.
“You’ll have to drink the soup I make as a
punishment for not telling me earlier.”
I laughed, “Deal,” I said. I turned to look at Adkad City from the window; we were almost there.
We arrived at the infirmary and the nurse checked us for any injuries. Luckily, no one was injured and she called us to go to Gale’s office. As we walked in the hallway to Gale’s office, Andie turned to me with wide worried eyes, as Isabel and Kraig walked ahead of us.
“If we get interrogated,” he whispered, “we should lie.”
