by Eric Johnson
“Sobbing? Do lizardmen sob?” he whispered, and reached out to pull the curtain back. “Get ready, Emmett.”
He whipped it aside and gasped.
“Help us. Get us out of here,” screeched a woman, and thrust her arms out through the bars of a large cage.
Tom jumped back, shocked to find humans. The smell of rotten tuna fish cat food and moldy peanut butter billowed forth as the prisoners rushed the cage bars. Twenty adults in all, they were just as surprised to see him as he was them. They pleaded for him to hurry and get them out. The lizardmen had stripped them of clothes. They were pale and sickly, with dark, sunken eyes. The cage was bare, except for a small curved basin on the wall that had a steady stream of blackish liquid flowing into it.
“They're not infected, but how?” Emmett asked.
“It doesn't matter. This changes our plans.” Tom pulled on the cage door, but it was locked. He called out. “Has anyone seen my dad? His name is Carl, Carl Stinson.”
The adults were in a state of shock and panic, unable think about who his dad was. One prisoner held her arms out through the bars, begging. “Food? Do you have any food?”
Tom opened his pack, thankful that the U-Mart attendant had insisted that he fill it with nuts and food bars, there was enough to share.
Emmett wasn’t interested in the adults, he was busy inspecting the ornate bowls. Picking up a hammer, he found it wasn’t as heavy as he thought it would be. “The aliens must crouch here to eat. They use the hammers to break open our skulls, and then scoop with their claws.”
“They’re coming,” Winston alerted. “They don’t look afraid.”
“We have to get this cage open,” Tom said desperately. “Look for a key, or anything that will open this door. We need them to help fight.”
Emmett looked around the room but could see nothing that might open the door. Then he remembered the purple crystal. He reached into his pocket and tossed it across. “What about this?”
Tom caught it and held it to the cage door. It opened.
Winston crouched in the doorway, and fired the laser spear down the hall at the attackers. The adults crowded out of the cage, tearing the tapestry down. They picked up the hammers and charged the door, pushing Winston out of the way. One grabbed the spear from his hand, stepped out into the hall, and fired at the lizardmen.
A high-pitched whine pierced their ears, as a silvery ball rolled down the hall followed by a buzzing and flash of light. Several of the adults rushed back in from the hall, like children fleeing from a dark room. One had lost an arm. There was no blood, only a charred stump remained, and he screamed in pain. Some adults moved to his aid. Others cowered back into the cage.
“Someone shut the door!” one of them yelled from the back of the room.
“They have lasers,” the man with Winston’s spear panted. “You kids, I don’t know how you got here but thank you for letting us out. We will take care of you.”
“You need our help more,” Emmett corrected him.
“Nonsense, I’m an adult,” the man replied.
Tom had heard this before and leveled his spear, pointing it at the man’s head. “Give it back to Winston. You’re in no shape to fight.”
Shocked by Tom’s action, the man handed the spear over and ruefully said, “It’s not my fault. I’m just trying to. . .”
“Yeah, be an adult,” Tom cut him off. “I got that. You don’t get to talk now. Quiet.” It was at this point Tom realized that he was in charge here. Not like he tried in his class room; not out of fear, but with rational thought.
Adults like to argue about how to handle problems, and they also like to know the details so they can understand situations. It helps to keep them calm. But they seem to act more like kids when faced with a crisis. And by the time they agree on anything, it often ends up being too little, too late.
“Everyone! Listen up!” Tom yelled. He had to tell them what was happening to get them to calm down, but no one listened. The adults were kicking and smashing anything they could get their hands on to make into a weapon. He fired the staff in the air and was surprised when the shot ricocheted with an almighty shriek. It got everyone’s attention.
“You almost shot me, kid!” a woman yelled angrily.
“Sorry,” Tom apologized. “Okay listen up. My name is Tom. You have been abducted by aliens and we are in space. Our plan is to take control of the ship so we can fly back to Earth. We may be kids, but we already know a lot about the ship and we’ve killed some of them. So, you need to work with us here. Does everyone understand?”
“We’re their food,” a weeping man sounded from the cage.
“I thought we were dead,” piped up another, “until you kids came along.”
“I expected to be dead already. The way they dragged the others out of the cage and ate them.”
“The screams were the worst,” another cried, “and just like you I begged to die rather than having my brains scooped out and eaten. At least now we have hope. Let’s take as many of them with us as we can.”
"I need clothes," wailed another.
“That’s right,” Tom emphasized. “That’s the plan.”
“Yeah,” another adult joined in, “so either we stay here and die or take our chances out there.”
They rallied. Taking the weapons, they had fashioned, they charged out of the room. Those in the lead were disintegrated the instant they hit the passageway. The others shouted a cry of defiance and continued the charge.
The three aliens in the hall fell to a hail of fists and feet. The adults took up the lizardmen’s weapons. The guns were shaped like little snowmen; a big round ball followed by two successively smaller ones. Grooves patterned across the middle were shaped for reptilian claws. The adults examined them, turning them over and round in their hands.
“I think I got it," one woman announced. The weapon was clumsy and awkward in her hands, she strained to hold it. “Looks like you can twist the end ball, it's kinda stiff but. . .”
Suddenly, the gun slipped from her hand, hit the floor and went off, disintegrating a large hole in the wall next to Tom. He yelped and jumped back, almost hitting his head on the ceiling.
“Don’t forget the low gravity,” Emmett reminded him.
“Yup, that’s the kill setting,” she blushed and picked up the weapon. “Misfires happen, Tom, sorry. Turn it to the right, big beam. To the left, small beam. Quite simple.”
That gave the adults ideas. Walls began to disappear until someone shouted that they could make a hole to the outside. That would spell instant death for everyone. No one wanted to be sucked out into space, and they immediately ceased firing. They also decided to only use the weapon to punch holes in the doors and gain access so they could burn the lizardmen.
“Aren't there more aliens?” one of them asked Tom. “Why aren't they coming to defend their ship?”
“The most I saw together was twenty, and we killed half of those,” Tom replied.
“What's that?” another adult shrieked.
This was why there was no resistance from the lizardmen. Down the hall, skittering across the floor and walls and ceiling, spider crabs swarmed towards them. There were several thousand coming after them, as if they were washing down a pipe like a metallic wave. The sight caused the adults to freeze, uncertain of what they were actually seeing.
Tom urged them to shoot. He kicked one adult to get him to snap him out of his daze. The adults didn’t know about the planting room. They hadn’t seen what he had, the horrors those spider-crabs were capable of doing with their cutting claws.
He was too busy rallying the adults to notice that there were lizardmen coming down the hall from behind.
In a sudden blaze of fire, the man next to him was vaporized and ducked to avoid a spider crab that sprung at him from the wall. He needed room to maneuver and blasted a hole in the wall. He yelled for the twins to follow him in.
The room was obviously a living space; there was a bed of m
ulticolored sand under a hot glowing lamp that shone down from the ceiling. A fountain on the side of the wall like in the prison cell, and next to it was some type of plant that was crawling with worms.
“Snacks?” Winston said.
“That’s how they make their beds,” Emmett laughed.
The smell reminded Tom of a pet store. All the comforts of a terrarium. He laughed at how much the lizardmen were like the lizards of Earth.
They stood ready and waiting to ambush any alien that passed by the hole.
Outside in the hall the human screams, lizardmen screeches and the clatter of the spider crabs ceased. It hadn’t taken long for the fight to be over. Though fewer in number, the humans had stopped the advancing aliens and were busily collecting weapons and armor.
In the direction the spider crabs had come from, the hall was largely vaporized, leaving a gaping hole that spanned two decks down. The lizardmen didn’t seem to use the wide beam setting on their weapons that the adults had selected; they were intent on saving their ship, the humans weren’t.
“For space traveling aliens they’re not too smart,” Tom smiled.
A cold breeze whipped down the hall and Winston exclaimed, “What’s that?”
“A defense,” Emmett surmised. “Lizards hate the cold. They are treating us as if we are like them physically.”
Tom laughed. He found it quite refreshing compared to the hot and still air of the ship. “Our species practically evolved in the cold. They don’t know us very well, do they? Let’s finish this.”
They went on, doing things they never thought possible. They came across a room of Earthly weapons. In the fog of battle, memory is often clouded and exact events cannot be recounted. There was no thought of how, they just did. There was no need to know why the lizardmen had come to Earth and taken so many. Now there was only revenge.
At a junction on the floor below the crew quarters Emmett grabbed Tom's arm. “Did you hear that? I think we are near to the room where Anidea was taken.”
Tom stopped to listen. Anidea's screams were barely audible over the shouts and clamor of the running battle. “I don't know how, but I do hear her.”
“She must have annoyed them into not eating her,” Emmett said with a wry grin.
Winston handed Tom a spear. “You can skewer one.”
Down the hall, black lizardman blood stained the floor, showing they were in the right place. They moved quickly to the spot where Anidea had been taken.
They heard a click from behind them and knew what it was before they turned. A lizardman emerged from a door and charged.
Emmett yelped but they knew what to do. They turned and ran.
Winston threw a spear at the lizardman as he ran, but missed. They blundered into a dead end.
There was no time to think, and like a cornered animal Tom turned to leap forwards, stabbing at the lizardman with his spear. The lizardman cooperated by opening its jaws to bite the weapon as he rammed the point right down its throat.
It gurgled in pain and shock, ripping the spear from Tom’s hands. The lizardman’s body flailed as it gripped the shaft and tried to pull it out, but the action only succeeded in tearing the back of its own throat. In one final desperate bid for survival it bit down and snapped the spear in two, but collapsed dying to the floor.
The trio stared at the twitching body for a second, but there was no time to stop searching. Tom tried the closest door. It opened and he looked cautiously into the room. “I’m going in. Be ready in case something comes up from behind us.”
Eerie sounds of battle echoed through the ship, making the twins nervous. They could also hear Tom grunting in the room. Emmett wanted to go in, but Winston made him stay and stand guard.
A long moment passed, then Tom emerged from the room dragging Anidea. “Help me. She’s heavy.”
Winston’s and Emmett’s tension dissolved into jubilation and they clapped each other on the back. Winston’s eyes welled up with tears and Emmett held back a smile; his face turning bright red.
They put their arms around her, hugely relieved that she was still alive. Maybe it was only a small victory, but it made them feel more confident that they could pull it off. They were going to capture the ship and return to Earth.
“I thought you were dead,” Winston blurted out, holding her tight.
Anidea half smiled and croaked, “It’d take more than a lizard bite to shut me up. I knew you guys wouldn’t let me down.” Then her body twitched and she passed out.
“We have to get to the bridge and finish them off. You guys carry her,” Tom ordered.
The spiral ramp to the upper floors wasn’t far; they rushed down the charred and battered hall. As they neared the ramp the strange odor that permeated the ship grew stronger. Lizardmen were nearby; from around a corner they heard the cry of what sounded like a wounded animal, causing them to stop.
Tom zeroed in on the sound, crouched and poked his head cautiously around the corner. Two lizardmen stood there, teeth bared in an expression that he couldn’t understand. These were the first lizardmen he had seen wearing full body armor inside the ship. They were larger than the others. They had to be the security team. This time they were in trouble.
In her unconscious state Anidea groaned, alerting the lizardmen to their presence. They reacted with surprising speed, lowering their weapons and charged to attack.
Tom pulled back. Winston fired as they withdrew down the hall. The shots didn’t seem to do any good.
The lizardmen fired. He turned and took Anidea from Emmett. Emmett wasn’t strong enough to move with her by himself.
“Tom!” Emmett yelped.
The lizardmen were faster and caught him. Claws wrapped around his arms. Large gashes ran across his face and blood ran down his chest. He gasped for help as he fought to break free.
The other lizardman pointed his weapon directly at Tom. There was no choice but to fight. He dropped Anidea and charged the one who held Emmett, taking advantage of the reduced gravity he jumped, sailing through the air.
The second lizardman fired, missing. He made it to his mark, jamming the gun into the lizardman’s neck between helmet and armor and firing. The lizardman’s head vaporized, and letting go of Emmett, it staggered back before slumping to the floor.
Winston shot at the second one, aiming for its head as Tom dove to cover Emmett.
The shot nicked its helmet, disintegrating part of its head in a shower of bone and lizard blood. Winston moved in close, melting the middle out of the lizard.
The wounds across Emmett’s face were deep and reddish purple with infection. He sounded like he was choking and Tom rolled him over onto his side and fished his finger in his mouth to clear his breathing passage. His tongue was swollen twinkie, his chest heaved and he gasped for breath, but he seemed unaware of it and smiled.
Anidea was now conscious, and crawled to Emmett to cradle him in her arms. “We have to do something Tom, he’s bleeding badly.”
“He’s poisoned like you were,” Tom replied.
Emmett hawked and spat, “I can’t feel my tongue.”
“Do something!” Winston yelled.
Coughing, Emmett said, “I guess I’m a commando now.” His body went limp. His eyes sunk in and closed. “Mom!” he shouted and lay still.
Tom held Winston’s head, looking to Winston and Anidea. “We know the poison isn’t fatal.”
“What are we going to do now?” Winston said. “We can’t carry them both?” He looked to the ceiling, and screamed. He fired and burned holes through the walls and ceiling with the alien weapon. A lizardman fell through the hole in the ceiling with its feet disintegrated, crashing to the floor in front of him. It raised its arms and hissed in defiance. Winston leveled his weapon, sobbing and yelling at the same time as he fired. “DIE! ALIEN SCUM! DIE! DIE!”
The lizardman melted, staining the rim of a newly formed hole in the floor.
Tom tackled Winston, and yanked the gun from his hands. “You hav
e to stop. You’ll destroy the whole ship. If you shoot through the hull, we’ll die!”
“I don’t care,” Winston struggled. "We’re done.”
“You never found your mom,” Tom said. “What if she’s still alive? When we get back to Earth, we will find her. Together. Help me get Anidea to the adults and then we will finish taking the ship.”
“I’m going to kill all of them and you can’t stop me,” he said, and scrambled for the other lizardman’s gun.
Tom pounced on Winston, hooking an arm around his neck dragging him to the ground. He strained, trying to hold Winston still, “I need your help. I need you to help me carry them to the adults. Then we can do it together. Right? You and me. We’ll go right to the bridge and we will finish what we started. We’re going to fry every last one of them.”
A muffled explosion echoed down the hall and the floor shook. A faint cry came from the direction of the explosion. “Run!”
Air roared through the corridors in the direction of the explosion.
“We have a bigger problem now,” Tom said, knowing what had happened.
Winston knelt down at Emmett’s side to pick him up. Emmett gasped for breath and coughed violently, then settled back into unconsciousness, breathing deeply.
Tom picked Emmett up and put him over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Working together they dragged Anidea toward the center spiral of the ship to go to the bridge.
The adults bounded down the hall toward them; only six remained. They looked even more ragged than in the cage. They were battered and bloodied, covered in green slime, and wore pieces of the alien armor.
“Where are the rest of you?” Tom asked.
“Who’s she?” one of them asked, ignoring Tom’s question.
Tom and Winston stared at the group, but before they could answer another adult said, “Never mind that, we need to get safe. There’s a hole in the ship. Come with us.”
Climbing the spiral to the top floor, the adults carried Emmett and Anidea. There was only one door and it was no obstacle for the adults, they removed it from their path in a flash of light.
