“Why are they still here?” Alpha asked himself as the others came to stand with him.
“What do you mean?” a Tango asked, the name Rod penned on his pocket.
“They took most of the female population in the war, the majority of those below are like us--duplicates. So why are they still here? Why not take the females back to their home planet and repopulate there?”
“I heard that the birth is terrible for a human,” Rod replied. “That if they last until term, they are split open by the alien foetus during labor. The alien foetus shares its circulatory system with the surrogate.”
Alpha Nine narrowed his eyes at Rod, unsure what he meant.
“They invade the surrogates’ main veins. When they are born, the veins are stripped free with the foetus, the main arteries once giving them both life, then only serves the alien child, and it doesn’t serve it long, either. So, one human surrogate will only give them one alien child, at best.”
A chill swept over Alpha Nine.
“Are you okay, Sir?” Rod asked, placing a hand on Alpha’s shoulder. “You look pale.”
“Alpha, report. What is wrong?” Kilo asked from beside him, but Alpha had zoned out, overtaken with the horrific image.
All he envisioned was Bravo Two, and she was screaming in pain as an alien baby ripped its way out of her body.
A sharp pain exploded across Alpha’s cheek and knocked him to the ground.
Kilo stood over him, eyes wide.
“What happened?” Alpha asked, rubbing his stinging face with his hand. Kilo reached out to help him to stand.
“You spaced for a moment, I had to slap you.”
“You did what?” Alpha asked, looking at the team that had formed around him, all of them equally on edge.
“You wouldn’t respond,” Kilo replied. “Hitting you seemed like a good way to wake you out of whatever day dream you were in.”
“It wasn’t a dream,” Alpha said, relaxing and walking past the others towards the alley's opening. “It was a nightmare, and it is one we have to stop from becoming a reality, so fall in the lot of you. Let’s go get them back.”
They did as they were told, taking formation behind him and Kilo, they stepped towards the opening of the alley ready to take on the world--or what was left of it.
Alpha stopped at the opening, his eyes fixed on the building Doctor M had taken them to. It sat behind a scattering of trees but it’s illuminated stone walls shone out like a beacon. Several men still loitered around the front of the building, their dark silhouettes crossing in between the trunks of the trees.
“Keep to the shadows, and follow me,” Alpha Nine whispered to the group, filing in behind him.
Alpha scanned the area again, the building to his left was clearly abandoned years ago, its large arched windows were all smashed, and a decaying curtain swayed in the breeze from one of the upper windows.
Across the road there was a line of trees that could provide them with some cover, but their trunks were tall, the branches few and only protruding from the tops. They would only shield one or two of them at a time.
The building to his right was his only other choice. Though appearing also abandoned, with its white stone surface it slightly glowed and would draw attention to their movements should they try to pass in front of it. It was too risky.
Alpha shot across the street, silent and at super speed. Kilo flew to his side where they shared a smile before they both took off to the next tree trunk. The others followed closely behind, moving between the trees in twos and threes.
They came upon an intersection; the way ahead was devoid of trees but had many dark buildings providing shaded areas for them to take shelter. The first was a library.
Alpha wondered if there were still any books left inside and what they could tell him about this world, or what it used to be.
He dropped the thought then ran. He made it across the intersection and stood against the cool stone wall. Across from him another building sat in a heap of twisted metal and cement, another victim of the war they were too late for.
Alpha took a few steps then stopped when he saw that next to the heaped mess of destruction a church stood perfectly intact in all its beauty. The large stained windows shone and almost came alive in front of him. Never had he seen something so beautiful.
“Look,” he whispered to the others who had joined him against the cold wall of the library. “This is the world we were supposed to see.”
“It is beautiful,” Kilo added. “But we should move on, we can’t stay this exposed for long, they will see us.”
“Agreed,” Alpha said as he took off hot footed past parliament house and an old hospital, stopping in front when he reached another pile of debris.
Something in the rubble moved.
Alpha watched where the small bits of stone and wood shifted and fell to the ground in soft rumbles. He waved his hand behind him so the others would halt against the front entry of the hospital and not draw the attention of whatever or whomever was atop the building's remains. The smell of disinfectant lingered in the air.
“Do you think the hospital is still active?” Alpha asked Kilo in almost inaudible whisper. “It has a different smell to the other buildings, but there are no lights.”
“I don’t think so, it looks pretty dead,” Kilo said, looking up at the silent building. “But whatever is on that pile is alive, and if it is an Annoronian or Drone we are in big trouble.”
***
Bea sat bolt upright when Armond made his way into her room. “So what did the newbie have to say that made you think he stood a chance at saving his females?” he asked, plonking down on the chair opposite her. She stood and paced the room.
“We have to get to the lab they escaped from,” she said barely loud enough for him to hear. “We have to get the samples.”
“Like hell we do.”
“Those samples can repopulate the Earth,” she replied, turning to stare him down. “It is not a request. Ready the others, some of Alpha Nine’s group will lead us back there.”
“But the aliens, they have the Drones and their scouts.”
Bea rolled her eyes before turning to face him. “And you will be the perfect scout to patrol the area leading up to the Opera House. Tell the others to meet me at the ladder in five minutes.” She turned her back on him, making it clear the conversation was over.
Armond was the perfect choice to keep watch for the Annoronians, and he wouldn’t hesitate to take them down either, even if it cost his own life. Alpha’s were good like that.
She opened the bottom drawer of her desk and sat down in her large leather chair. The draw took some effort to pull out all the way, the years down in the dank sewers had corroded the rails.
“Come on you stupid…” She grunted as she gave it a final pull and it screeched open all the way. She reached towards the back and clicked a hidden metal clasp. The back of the drawer flung forwards a little and she grabbed it at the top to pull it down towards her, revealing a hidden space.
It would easily go unnoticed by anyone rifling around in her things, she could barely open the drawer far enough to press the clip. She reached inside and pulled out an old-style radio. The speaker on the front had a layer of fine dust, but nothing that suggested it had gone unused for any real length of time.
The mouth piece attached to the side came away as she lifted it from its hiding space and knocked on the partition that had hidden it.
“Crap,” Bea said as she picked it up, hand shaking slightly with indecision, and inspected the twisted cord for damage. It was still connected.
She placed the radio on her desk and held the mouth piece up. Twisting the knobs the static increased until she settled on the frequency and pressed in the button on the side of her mouth piece to send her message.
“Come in, Doc.” Bea spoke softly through the mouth piece, then released the button to await a reply. None came. She fiddled with the nobs again and repeated her call.
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“I have found it, what you have been looking for,” Bea said into the mouth piece, hoping to gain a response.
“Are you sure?” came the voice on the other end, strained and not entirely impressed, it crackled over the ancient speaker.
“Yes. We didn’t even have to look for them, they found us,” Bea replied, hopeful to finally have the leverage she needed. “They will get us in.”
“We will intercept, thank you, your service will not be forgotten.”
“It better not be.” Bea turned the knob back to the start and stashing the radio away in its secret spot in her drawer.
This better be worth it, she thought as she looked at the desktop in front of her. A map of Sydney city laid out atop it, several locations crossed out. The labs that had fallen, the facilities lost.
“This has to be it,” she muttered, standing and drawing a circle around the Opera House. The Doctor can have her pods. With the Bravo Two samples and the embryos, we can begin again, away from here, away from her.”
Bea headed to the ladder and the new duplicates that would take her to the lab. A cold chill swept over her and she paused for a second, wondering if she was doing the right thing.
“Does the death of so many warrant the salvation of the human race?” she asked herself. Two of the few children born in the underground ran past her, oblivious to what was going on around them.
“It has to,” Bea finally said as she rounded the corridor and saw Ben and his team waiting, ready to take her to salvation.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Alpha scanned ahead again.
“How do we get past without whatever it is seeing us?” Alpha questioned.
The others stood still as statues behind them awaiting instruction. They were made for this, made for the war. They might have missed the first battle but Alpha was leading them to a much more personal one. They too felt a connection to the others they had awoken with. And they would stop at nothing to get them back.
“Instead of trying to sneak past, let’s try to draw it to us,” Kilo said, the moon catching the glint in his eye.
“How?"
“We make some small noises, toss a few pebbles ourselves, see if we can get whatever it is to come down, then we disable it.”
The rubble moved again. Alpha’s back hit the wall as Kilo shoving him clear. A boulder landed where Alpha had stood.
Kilo whined, his arm held tight against his chest and as he shifted, he bared the deep gashes the rock had made on its way down.
“Here, Kilo sit,” Alpha said, grabbing Kilo by his shoulder and moving him to within the doorway of the hospital entrance. “You,” Alpha said, shooting a glance at Victor Ten in front of him, or Vic, as he was now. The tor and 10 had been crossed out with the marker pen. “Take point, tell me if anything else moves up there.”
“Yes, Sir,” he replied, but Alpha had already looked back to Kilo. Alpha pulled out a strap from his pants pocket, one of the bandages they had collected within the Trials. He tied off Kilo’s arm at the shoulder to slow the loss of blood and pulled down Rod next to them.
“Hold his arm above his head. Stay there until I get back,” Alpha spat.
“Where are you going?” Rod asked, taking hold of Kilo’s wrist and stretching his arm high above his head. Kilo winced again but Rod appeared not to notice.
“He needs more than that scrap, I am going inside to get something to stop the bleeding, then we are getting past this rubble and into the park. Hold him here, I will be back.”
Rod nodded. Alpha took off into the hospital, he could feel the eyes of the others in his group, but he didn’t care. Kilo was another teammate hurt trying to help him, trying to save him. That boulder could have taken off his head.
Alpha rushed through the empty corridors, his steps were silent, but in his haste, he almost didn’t see them in time. He pulled up scarcely before an open door, inside two voices argued in almost whispers.
Alpha focused to listen to what the squabble was about.
They were not Drones. Bea had told him that Drones were like the men they saw at the Opera House. People stripped of their desire to be people. They still feel all the emotions of a human, like the fear they showed when Alpha and his team broke down the wall, but they can’t act on it without the say so of an Annoronian, that is why the cop gave up so easily when Doctor M arrived.
“It is mine,” one said to the other.
“No it is mine,” the deeper of the voices said.
Alpha peaked around the doorframe in a blink and saw them sitting under a hospital bed. She had to be no older than six and he not but ten. Between them on the floor was what Alpha recognised to be a chocolate bar. He had never tasted one, but the memories he had been provided showed it was not very nutritional but enjoyed by many none-the-less.
“Give it here,” the girl said followed by a thwacking noise.
“Ouch,” he cried out too loud for Alpha’s liking.
He took a chance and stepped into the doorway. They both froze.
“Please, don’t take us, we don’t want to go,” the girl cried.
The boy moved in front of her, blocking her from Alpha’s view.
“No, no, no,” Alpha said, kneeling. “I am not one of them. I have a hurt friend, I am looking for some wadding and bandages.”
“Don’t trust him,” said the females squeaky voice. “He will take us and we will be lost like the others. I don’t want to go.”
“You will not have us,” the boy’s strong voice replied.
“I just want some supplies, look you can trust me,” Alpha said, pulling his knife slowly from his boot.
The boy jostled backwards, knocking the little girl onto her side, and Alpha saw her face more clearly. She had a nose of tiny freckles that glistened in the light that shone through the window across from them.
“No, look,” Alpha said, piercing his finger with the tip of his blade. “See? Red.”
The boy squinted then settled and moved a little forwards, keeping the girl behind him.
“There are bandages there,” the boy said, pointing to a small cupboard beside the bed. “Take what you need and go.”
“Thank you.” Alpha stood to get to the cupboard.
The boy wasn’t lying, inside was a plethora of bandages, wadding, disinfectant solution, and even a stitching kit. Alpha grabbed at it all, shoving the supplies under his jacket. With a sickening thump, something connected with the back of his head. It pulsed in painful bursts and the contents of the cupboard blurred.
He brought his hand to his head as he turned. The boy stood behind him with a metal bat in his hand, a red spot splattered on its shiny metal surface.
Instinct took over, Alpha grabbed the knife from his boot and lunged. It slid between his ribs like sliding through water. The boy hunched over and gasped into Alpha’s ear. He shoved him off, the boy’s body falling to the ground, green blood oozing from the fatal wound.
The girl screamed. Alpha hit her once and she fell to the floor silent. He wiped off the knife and then took her hand. He pierced her finger with the tip. A small red bead formed on its end. Breathing a sigh of relief, he gathered up the supplies, threw the girl over his shoulder, and headed back to the group.
“What took you so…” Kilo trailed off, trying to pry his arm free of Rod.
“I picked up a stray, killed an Annoronian boy, too,” Alpha said as he dropped the girl into Rod’s lap and taking Kilos arm. “Take her back to the others, she shouldn’t be out here. They can keep her safe.”
“Yes, Sir,” he said, hoisting her over his shoulder he took off silently back towards the trees and Phillip Alley.
“Alpha you are bleeding,” Kilo said, raising his other hand to try to touch the drop of blood trickling down Alpha’s forehead.
The others stepped in and took over. They grabbed the supplies form Alpha and in less than a minute they had them both cleaned, stitched and in Kilo’s case, bandaged too.
“How are we going t
o get past?” Kilo asked. “We still don’t know what is up there. While you were gone, we heard a sort of whimper, it could be a rebel caught in the debris?”
“I’ll go check it out,” Zulu Three said, stepping around them to begin a climb of the mountain of debris.
He took each step up the mound with perfect precision. A few meters up Alpha lost sight of him. There was a rustle from above and a few smaller bits of rubble bounced down the pile. They all waited and watched the darkness above the pile. An oomph echoed down followed by a howl.
“What was that?” Victor asked, as he scooched in beside Kilo to try to get a better look. “Sounded like some kind of animal.”
“Shh something is moving closer,” Kilo hushed back. “Do you see?”
The figure was hunched and rounded more than Zulu, its movements were awkward. Almost fumbling backwards as it made its way down towards them. When the light finally illuminated enough for Alpha’s eyes to see him he rushed to his feet to help.
It was Zulu climbing down, but he had something resting across his shoulders, something large and furry.
“What the hell?” Alpha asked, taking a hold of his arm to help him the last few steps down.
“It was stuck,” Zulu said, referring to the creature on his back. “The poor thing couldn’t move; I couldn’t just leave it there.”
Alpha helped lift it off his shoulders. His hands slid through the soft fur to grasp the thin bone beneath. When he and Zulu laid it down Alpha didn’t stand to step away. He had seen this creature in his mind, he searched for the word to describe it. Its chest moved up and down slowly with each breath it took, and its tongue hung loosely from the side of its mouth. The black fur shone in the little light that surrounded them.
“Wow,” said Kilo from beside him. “It is a dog.”
“A Labrador,” Alpha added as the knowledge surfaced. “One of the smartest of the breeds. It can be vicious too, so be careful.”
“It won’t hurt us,” Zulu said, moving to the head of the dog to brush his hand over the creature’s ears. “When I reached the top and saw his head peeking out from the rubble he looked at me like I was the best thing he had ever seen. When I started to remove the rubble holding him, he relaxed and let me free him. He was too exhausted to walk after I got him free. I had to carry him. He is okay, just tired I think.”
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