Invasion Chapter 1 Part B

Chapter 1 Part B

The weird man hovering in mid-air looked down at the children on the playground. His lip-less mouth split open in a happy wicked smile right before a purple laser shot out of thin air, hitting a blonde haired girl with pigtails, turning her into dust. Chris and Dani ran towards their children as everyone began to scream and run away from the happy man with the purple laser.

The alien man kept firing purple blasts on the helpless children as Chris ran to get to Tom-Tom. She could see her son, through the grey ashes that used to be children, running toward her and Dani, holding on to Angel’s hand as he dragged her behind him. Chris heard Dani and Angel screaming each other’s names in the chaos as they tried to reach each other. Chris didn’t make a sound as she ran; her main focus was to get Tom-Tom and take him to safety.

Chris was ten feet away from reaching Tom-Tom, when Angel got hit by a purple beam, turning her into dust.  Chris watched Tom-Tom frown and turn all the way around, more concerned about Angel than his own safety. He glanced back at Chris as she screamed, “NO!!!!” And then Chris watched her only son turn into dust when a beam hit him right in the middle of his chest.

Chris’s legs turned into rubber and she collapsed on the ground, inhaling Tom-Tom’s ashes when she gasped in a breath of air. She could hear Dani screaming, as well as the screams of the other mothers and fathers, who had to watch their own flesh and blood become dust.

That’s when Chris looked up into the sky, at the happy weird man, still sitting in thin air. His metallic blue eyes locked on Chris as tears streamed down her face. The air around the man began to blur again as it moved up and then down, shielding the awful, inhuman being in the invisible space craft. The loud buzzing noise erupted all around the playground again, but Chris was too numb to cover her ears. After the buzzing noise faded, there was only the sound of the mourning wails coming from the parents that were left behind.

Chris opens her eyes, calming her heartbeat. She dives back further in her memories to that black day; about getting a hysterical Dani off of the ground, glancing at the sky, waiting for the man to return, and collapsing fifty yards away from the park unable to go home without Tom-Tom. That’s when the buzzing noise happened again. The buzzing noise got so loud and so close that Chris had to drag Dani close to her, force her to the ground, and cover both their ears.  A tremble went through the ground as if some beast landed hard beside the two shaking women. Chris raised her head off Dani’s shoulder when she heard the loud whoosh of air and saw a slim, alien woman wearing some kind of filmy dress emerge out of another invisible space craft.

Rage, hot and powerful, filled Chris’s body. First, she lost her husband to some little tramp and now some kind of alien killed and took her son away, too. Chris jumped up from the ground and started running towards the alien woman.

“YOU! How could you do this?” Chris screamed and then pushed the slim alien hard to the ground. “You took him away from me! He was mine, do you hear me? MINE!”

The alien’s oval, violet eyes widened as she shook her head and tried to crawl backwards to get to the safety of her ship. Chris jumped over the alien and landed behind her to block her escape.

“You’ll die. All of you, including that male, metallic eyed-demon, will die for what you’ve done!” Chris growled getting low to the ground, getting ready to pounce on the female alien.

“I no kill,” said the alien, her speech broken and slow as she struggled with the unfamiliar language. “I help. Me no want death. Only life.”

“It’s too late to live,” Chris said in a cold voice. “I want your death.”

“No…I can…help with…what the word?” the alien asked, staring at Chris, begging her to let her live.

“Revenge? You’re one of them! Why would you want revenge? You’re almost the same coloring as the man who killed my son and you must be part of his species,” Chris said crawling towards the alien, like a spider about to eat a big, juicy fly.

“I am, but I no want same things. Want to be safe. Enjoy water on planet…not take it from you,” the alien said.

Chris stopped advancing toward the alien.

“Take it?” Chris asked growing interested. “How?”

“First, destroy the young ones. They would be future of planet, yes?” the alien asked uncertain of her attacker’s sudden change.

“Yes, go on,” Chris encouraged the strange alien.

“Then take away all males…males are stronger, yes? Good for hard labor. That leaves all females weak, helpless, and will make good slaves to Water People…my people,” the alien explained.

Chris stared at the alien for a full minute and then asked, “And you’re willing to help me and my friend? You’re willing to help save other people?”

“Yes, but hurry.  Must make you and friend safe before Second Wave approaches. Come,” the alien said, standing up.

Chris stood up out of her crouch and noticed a cut on the woman’s arm from where she pushed her hard to the ground. Her arm was bleeding, but it wasn’t blood; it was water. The alien followed Chris’s gaze, moved her hand up to cover the cut, and then removed her hand. The cut and the water that oozed out were gone.

“I am Nareek,” Nareek said.

“I’m Chris and that’s Dani,” Chris said walking past Nareek to help her sobbing friend up from the ground. “We’ve just seen our kids destroyed by your people. Don’t expect either of us to be too nice.”

Chris snaps out of the memory as Nareek’s voice comes on over all the Warrior’s headsets.

“Captain, approaching transport. Shall I fire on the bridge?”

“Yes, fire on the bridge and disable the transport without hurting our guests. Begin to warm up the force shield for transmit,” Chris orders.

“Copy, Captain.” Nareek said.

There is silence for a second before Chris feels two jerks as red hot laser beams are fired at the Aquarian’s transport air craft. Chris imagines the two red beams being blasted at the bridge, where two male Aquarians will be sitting at the controls. She can imagine their oval eyes becoming wide right before the lasers hit them, killing them and several officers on board, in the blink of an eye. She smiles at the thought.

“Captain, transport is going down. Force energy shield up, running, and ready to be transmitted on command,” Nareek said.

“Copy, Nareek. Stand by for deployment.” Chris commands.

Chris nods to all of the Warriors to let them know it’s time to go, as she unbuckles herself from her seat, and begins to walk sideways to the far wall where the Warrior’s circlets are kept on the InvisiJet. She goes to a cubby hole that says “Capt. C. Reynolds” and reaches inside it.

Chris pulls out two large, silver circlets that look like wrist protectors. They’re actually her weapons. She slips the circlets over the copper bracelets, making sure the bracelets are exposed among the silver, as she reaches back into her cubby hole.

She then pulls out a small inhaler, which she places in a small pouch on the front of her uniform, making it easy to get to, just in case things go bad. The Warriors have named the inhaler the Evening Star. One breath out of the Evening Star and you die a very unpleasant death. In Chris’s mind, a painful death is better than what would happen to you if the Aquarians take you alive.

“Nareek, open the ramp for deployment.” Chris commands.

“Copy. Opening ramp.”

The ramp of the InvisiJet lets out a soft hiss as it lowers, letting cold, roaring air outside, in. Chris knows the air is breathable, even though it’s cold. However, the uniform keeps her body warm, pressurized, and keeps her from turning into a red splotch on the ground once she jumps out of the InvisiJet.

“Group One, deploy!” Chris commands to all the Warriors.

Twenty Warriors run past Chris and jump out of the InvisiJet. Dani is the last one to jump out as she casts a quick glance at Chris before leaping from the aircraft. She knows what Dani’s look means and chooses to ignore it as she watches her friend dive head first towards the Earth. Chris waits, for what seems like an eternity, before she hears Dani’s voice.

“All of the enemies are starting to retreat inside the transport ship, Captain. Ground infantry aliens have been destroyed and the outside perimeter is safe for the rescue of our guests,” Dani says, breathless.

“Copy. Good work, Lieutenant and Warriors of Group One. Group Two, deploy.”

Chris is the first to leap out of the aircraft, knowing everyone will follow her lead without hesitating. As Chris descends towards the ground head first, her arms glued tight to her sides, she watches the display on her face mask counting down the number of feet before impact.

1500 feet...1400 feet…1300feet…

Chris thinks about how many Warriors will be dead or injured that she will have to deal with after this mission is completed. Will it be people she knows and respects? Will they be Privates, Sergeants, or Corporals? How old will they be? Will anyone, besides herself and Dani, miss them?

1000 feet…900 feet…800 feet…

Chris empties her mind. She can’t think of her Warriors dying when she has bigger, more pressing, concerns. At five hundred feet, Chris gives a voice command to inflate her uniform with air, which will act as a balloon, slowing her descent.

At a hundred feet from impact, Chris can see the strewn bodies of Aquarians lying on the ground as Group One continues to attack the Aquarians that are trying to hold the perimeter around the downed transport ship. Thankfully, the ship keeps emitting grey/green smoke everywhere, giving the Warriors decent camouflage. From Chris’s bird’s eye view of the battlefield, she can see that Group One is in tight formation, slowly advancing on the ship as they push the Aquarians back onto their downed vessel, securing the surrounding area for when Chris and the other bring out their “guests”.  Also, Chris can see that no Warriors have been injured thus far.

Chris sighs in relief on the inside; there are no dead warriors. That means everything is going well. Ten feet from the ground, Chris gives a command to deflate her uniform. The air deflates fast and Chris falls to the ground, flipping at the last second to land in a crouch, letting the impact run through the balls of her feet and up her legs.

Chris stands up, turning in a full circle, to get a better look at her surroundings on the ground. The Rockies are a distant bump in the horizon, there are small dips in the ground she thinks might offer some cover if things get nasty, and she notices a light frost on an overgrown sunflower field nearby. Chris decides the area is flat enough for a fight, even though there are not too many escape routes.

Chris looks up at the grey, overcast sky, relishing the fact winter is coming fast. She knows the Aquarians don’t like to pass near the Rockies during winter, even though the winters are dry. They like warm weather with water close at hand in states like, California and Florida. However, they still must transport their human “cargo” from one coast to the next and that is what Chris has been waiting, and planning for, the last six months.

“Nareek, transmit force shield to Group Two,” Chris commands. “Group Two, at my command, activate your weapons for assault on the transport ship.”

“Copy, Captain,” reply all of her group members.

Chris keeps looking up at the sky and then sees a giant ball of green energy heading straight towards her. She doesn’t move (even though she knows the energy blast is going to hurt like hell) as the ball approaches her. She catches the energy ball and forces herself not to scream as the ball’s power is absorbed by her spinal connector. She raises the ball in the air and feels the pain in her body lessen as the energy is spread to all the other Warriors holding up their hands to take some of the energy, too.

Soon, the ball of green energy is gone, leaving Group Two glowing bright green like a nuclear experiment gone terribly wrong. The force shield’s power burns through Chris’s veins, but she is used to this kind of pain and walks towards the transport aircraft where the Aquarians have sought temporary refuge from the Warriors onslaught.

“Group Two, activate primary weapons. Kill all aliens on sight,” Chris commands. “Activate primary weapons, code: 22LG.”

The silver circlets on Chris’s wrist burn a brilliant red and transform into two lasers that float in mid-air above her wrists. She twists her hands, so they are palms up, and the lasers drop into her hands. Chris takes in a deep breath and runs forward, followed by her handpicked team. She takes careful aim, thinking about the harmless humans inside, as she fires at some of the Aquarians guarding the escape hatch near the back of the ship.

The aliens fire lasers at Chris, too, but she avoids the blasts with ease, knowing that her handpicked team will take out aliens that she doesn’t kill herself. In battle, Chris trusts these women with her life and they all know each other’s moves. Chris kills three Aquarians in quick succession and she is the first one through the escape hatch. She sees a surprised male Aquarian with dark green metallic eyes in a work crew’s uniform. She doesn’t even blink when she fires and kills the unarmed alien at point blank range. She moves deeper into the ship, searching for more enemy aliens. She spots two more unarmed Aquarians and kills them, too, as she hears the familiar clomp of boots coming from above that she knows doesn’t belong to any of her Warriors .

“Group Two, split up! Find our guests and when you get the chance tell me their location when you find them. They should be below deck somewhere. Go!” Chris commands, splitting up from her group to apprehend the reinforcements coming from the upper levels.

Chris grits her teeth, dreading this part. The arriving reinforcements are not the helpless workers she killed, but deadly fighters wearing the same type of uniform Chris has “borrowed”. They’ve been trained to kill since they could say their first words and these are the ones who will kill the majority of her Warriors if anyone gives them the chance. That’s why she suggested they split up; if the group were to stay together, her Warriors would die and Chris doesn’t want any Warrior to be killed. She would rather fight and die alone than risk the lives of her Warriors.

“Activate secondary weapon, code: 12EP,” Chris commands.

The lasers fade and a small bulb, shaped like a flower petal, appears and floats above her wrist. It’s a powerful explosive; one of her own designs. Chris picks up the bulb with two fingers and flings it towards the stairs, just as the uniformed Aquarian fighters reach the bottom of the staircase from the upper floor. 

Chris flings herself to the floor, covering her head with her arms, as she feels the floor under her tremble from the powerful blast. A burst of fire rushes past Chris’s body and she closes her eyes out of reflex, even though her face mask will protect her eyes, nose, mouth, and skin from the fire.

Chris stands up slowly, looking towards the stairs that are steaming in certain places. She can hear an alien moan in pain, somewhere near the top of the stairs, and Chris grits her teeth, not allowing herself to feel anything for the beings that have taken over the planet. Chris takes a minute to look around, making sure all of her group members are gone, before she heads upstairs.

Chris moves with cautious movements up the stairs to secure the upper floors. She steps over torn uniforms and puddles of hot steam that used to be the “Water People”. At the top of the stairs, she activates her primary weapons again moving forward as she listens for her enemies.

The upper floor Chris is on is a long hallway with multiple single entry doorways that can branch off into different directions. Chris knows that the bridge is two levels up and the floor she’s currently on is what would be considered the ship’s barracks. She also knows a lot of these “doorways” lead to dead ends, creating a perfect trap for the Aquarians to attack you. It’s one of the dirty tricks Chris has learned from her enemies, the hard way, over the last three years. 

Chris hears aliens moaning and follows the sound, squatting low to the ground, pushing her body close to a wall to add some protection against an attack. She turns her head around a corner and sees two Aquarian fighters lying on the ground. Chris notices the water-blood trail that indicates that the two fighters dragged themselves away from the blast, but they were too late to escape the blasts destructive heat.

Chris watches as the Aquarian’s skin drips off their faces, resembling old, lumpy milk being poured out of a milk carton. The heat from the blast damaged the thin layer of skin that holds water inside their bodies in order for them to survive. Chris aims for their heads and kills both of them quickly, ending their misery. She then moves down the hall to find more Aquarians to kill. Chris moves past the doorways, double checking them to make sure they are all clear before moving on. Chris stops at a doorway just as she hears one of her Group members come on over her headset.

“Captain, we’ve found them,” says Sergeant Alicia Benet’s voice. “They are on the lowest deck. Our guests are locked behind a door, but I’m overriding the computer’s system right now to get to them.”

“Good. I want you to send out extra Warriors to set up a perimeter around the surrounding area, Sergeant. I’m above you, securing the upper decks. I’ll be down as soon as I’m finished,” Chris said.

“Copy, Captain.”

Chris looks around the corner of the doorway she paused next to and almost takes a laser blast in the face. Her reflexes are good though, as she ducks and rolls to the other side of the doorway at the last second. She gets on her knees and fires two tentative blasts before ducking behind the wall again. Red, green, blue, and yellow lasers blast past Chris, hitting the far wall. She knows that there is various Aquarians hiding down the hallway and they have to be taken out fast.

“Activate secondary weapon, code: 12EP,” Chris hisses.

The explosive flower petal appears again above her wrist. Chris turns her head, peeking out from behind the wall, and five different lasers fire towards her. She ducks behind the wall again as she holds the explosive in her hand. She counts to three then throws the petal hard and fast away from her. She flattens herself to the floor and feels it tremble again as orange flames spill out of the doorway. Chris hears a shocked cry of pain and then there’s nothing. Chris raises her body up back into a squatting position and peeks once again into the burning “doorway”. It was a dead end and all the aliens hiding in it are no more.

“Captain, I’ve just entered the prison chambers on the lowest deck and I ordered some Warriors to guard the perimeter inside the ship. However, you might want to hurry securing the upper levels. You’re not going to believe this,” Sergeant Benet’s voice said dryly.

Chris allows herself a small second to close her eyes, wondering what new and wondrous horrors are waiting for her below deck, before she opens her eyes and moves on. She secures the last two upper levels fast, thanks to her Exploding Petals. Chris triple checks all of the levels again to be sure all of the Aquarians are dead and, finally, she heads below deck. Chris passes multiple water puddles that used to be aliens, but she also notices red smears covering the floors in wide streaks. Chris swallows hard, trying not to think about preparing and burying bodies when they all return to base.

When Chris reaches the lowest level, she sees Sergeant Benet standing guard next to a large iron door with a huge diagonal line cutting through the middle of it. Helping Sergeant Benet keep guard on the level is Private Nelson. Sergeant Benet is a dedicated Warrior that always follows Chris’s orders, is someone Chris truly trusts, and has been fighting for three years straight. Private Nelson has been a Warrior for a year, she’s timid, but knows how to wield a bow, and is someone thinks she can trust over a long period of time. As Chris walks to both women they come to attention and Chris nods to them.

“Sir, we haven’t moved our guests out yet. We want you to make the call on what we should do with them,” Sergeant Benet said.

“Did our guests survive?” Chris asks, wanting the Sergeant to get to the point.

“Yes…kind of.”

“Are they or are they not alive, Sergeant? They can’t be ‘kind of’ alive,” Chris snaps.

“You have to see them, Captain. I wasn’t sure if you would want us to evacuate them or not in their present condition,” Sergeant Benet said.

Dread fills Chris’s body. Even through Alicia’s voice distortion chip, Chris can hear fear, anger, and disgust in her voice. Chris stands up taller and prepares herself for the worst.

“Let me in so I can determine what to do, Sergeant.”

“Computer, override section F. Override code: 2945857,” Sergeant Benet commands to the ship’s mainframe computer.

Acknowledged, Override code accepted.

Chris walks into a cavernous dark room with dim green lights lining the walls that give the room no light and no real definition about how vast it must be. She can smell human excrement and bile, even through her mask’s air filter. Chris hears people moaning, crying, and begging: for help, for food, and for death. And then she hears a small, thin voice crying out for her mother that is no longer alive.

Chris takes in a sharp breath, hearing the child’s voice. She didn’t know any children had survived the First Wave. Hope fills Chris’s chest. A child! There are children on this transport!

Chris moves forward and then stops when she hears a groan coming from her right. She looks over into a small metal cage to see a naked man. He’s chained hands and feet, to the floor and ceiling of his cage, making his body form an “X”. He has long, disheveled sandy blonde hair. He also has a full beard that is golden brown. Chris moves her eyes lower to look at his body and has the sudden urge to flee the room.

She sees he has been tortured. For how many years, she doesn’t know. The skin on his body, arms and legs have bright red puncture marks along with some silver scars that have healed a long time ago. There are burn marks on his legs, hands, and arms; maybe from some form of punishment.

His body is also covered in green, purple, yellow, and blue splotches from being beaten. On top of all of this, Chris notices the way his ribs protrude under his skin. He is so skinny, that she can see each broken rib he has, while his legs are nothing, but skinny sticks holding him up. Chris closes her eye, steadying herself. She can’t stand to think of seeing kids like this man. She knows she can’t take seeing anyone else like this; they are living skeletons!

“Please, no more beatings,” the man said in a gruff voice, as he notices Chris standing in front of his cage. “Just kill me. If you have any mercy in your body, you’ll kill me.”

Chris feels her resolve to stay in this room solidify. She has to get them out of this hell hole. She came here to do a job, and dammit, she’s going to do it.

“I’m not here to kill you. I’m here to rescue you. I’m here to take you somewhere safe,” Chris said.

“Since when do the Aquarians keep their promises?” the man spits out.

Chris doesn’t answer him: she only knows one Aquarian that keeps her word. Instead of answering the man, she leaves the room where Sergeant Benet and Private Nelson are waiting for her orders.

“Sergeant, send out for some members of Group One to come down here. We’re getting these people out of here. Nareek, lower the InvisiJet to the ground. We’re bringing our guests home. Private Nelson, you will be in charge of recording how many of our guests there are. Forget names and ages for now. We can wait for that,” Chris commands. “Nareek, radio to base and tell the Launderers to drop everything and prepare separate baths. If they give you any excuses tell them it’s a Priority One from me and the penalties will be harsh if they don’t do as I say. Also, deactivate our force shields.”

“Copy, Captain,” Nareek said. “I land and ready for loading.”

“Captain, Lieutenant Dani is coming inside with five of her Group members,” Sergeant Benet said.

“Excellent. Computer, open the prisoner’s doors,” Chris commands.

Unable to Comply.

“Bull shit,” Chris growls and goes back into the room to override the system.

It takes Chris five minutes, with a lot of swearing, before she navigates around the alien’s trinomial code. Thanks to Nareek, Chris knows most of the mixed combinations. With a loud, resounding bang, the cage doors open. Chris runs to the skeleton man’s cage, activates her primary weapon, and fires at the chains, releasing the man. Chris runs forward and catches the man before he can hit the ground. She picks him up into her arms, judging that he weighs less than ninety pounds, as she carries him to the door.

“Where are we going?” the man groans, holding on to Chris with frail arms.

“To the moon and back,” Chris answers.

“Sounds nice. I hear the moon’s great this time of year,” the man said.

Chris can’t help it; she smiles behind her expressionless face mask. He’s funny and he has a southern twang to his voice, which is different, but nice.

“You should try moon surfing. You shouldn’t try it until you have on some clothes, though. You might get a moon rash,” Chris said.

The skeleton man in Chris’s arms laughs weakly and says, “Finally, an Aquarian with a sense of humor.”

“I’m not Aquarian. I’m human,” Chris said and watches the man’s sky blue eyes widen. “Lieutenant, bring some sheets for crying out loud. I’m sure these people don’t want to remain naked and cold.”

“Right away, Captain.” Dani said and runs off to get some blankets.

“Captain, huh?” the man asks. “What military branch are you from?”

“Does it matter?” Chris asks. “There isn’t a United States anymore. Hell, there’s barely even a world.”

“Touché.”

“Here, Captain. I’ll take him,” Dani said, holding out a blanket in her outstretched hands.

Chris nods and moves the man into Dani’s arms as if passing her a newborn child. She turns away to go get the other men, women, and children as another Private follows her with an armload of blankets.