THEY CAME PART 14
I looked around at all the people in the shuttle with us. Their eyes were wide with fear. Couldn’t say I blamed them. I was scared too but my determination was overriding it.
The shuttle sped up, angling toward the sky. Since there were no windows, I couldn’t see how far we were from the ground. Finally, at one point, we leveled out and a loud click sounded releasing everyone’s shackles. I guess there was no need for them now that everyone was so far from earth. Now there would be more aliens than humans. Who would try to run away with those odds?
I could feel the shuttle move left and then right. It rose up again but just slightly. Loud clanks and whirring of gears could be heard from outside. A sudden stop jarred us almost out of our seats. We must be in the main ship now.
I looked to Doug and the others. He seemed even more determined than I felt even though this plan was ludicrous. What would they even do to us if we were found out? I doubt any of our group could pull off being smart enough to belong on the ship. I know I couldn’t. My heart pounded in my chest. This was insane. I felt like vomiting.
Doug placed his hand over mine where it sat on my knee, and I instantly calmed down. This had to work. We would make it work. There was no other option.
The wide door slowly lowered with a hiss. Several aliens approached the doorway but didn’t enter. Instead, they motioned with their hands for everyone to follow them. The captive humans stood and did as they were told. We played along and went with them. Doug was ahead of me so he would be able to let us know when to split off from the group.
From the shuttle, we entered an enormous open space. It was filled with hundreds of other shuttles. Countless humans filed out of them guarded by at least two aliens per group. All around stood even more aliens. These apparently were guards. They had heavy armor covering every inch of them and held guns larger than I had ever seen.
They ushered us all towards doors leading from the hanger to the inside. These inside halls were jammed packed with humans bumping into each other. I felt like cattle in pens for slaughter. The aliens left us to move on our own down the hall, so confident in their superiority that we wouldn’t try anything.
Doug had us move slowly towards the left wall that was farthest away from the hanger side. There were more doors but each one was locked. He motioned to one of our guys and then to a door further ahead. The man sped up slightly and pulled out some kind of device from his back pocket. In seconds, he gave a thumbs up.
We made it to him and the now unlocked door. Checking to make sure the aliens were not looking our way, we all slipped into whatever room lay beyond. Based off what I gleamed from our maimer back at the zoo, it should have been a storage unit. Lucky for us, it was.
As soon as we were in and the door closed behind us, lights flared to life. Crates made of some kind of metal filled nearly every inch of the room. There was barely enough space between them to squeeze through.
Doug looked to me. “Ok, you know the way. Lead us there.”
I nodded even though fear filled me. This was really happening. We were here. I was going to be able to save my sister and brother-in-law.
Taking a breath, I looked around. Above one of the crates was a vent. “There. We go up into there. Make sure to keep your minds guarded. Maimers will be scanning for stray thoughts.”
The crates were slick, but they had enough space between the ones stacked on top of them to give us a foot hold. We climbed to the topmost crate. It was so close to the ceiling that we all had to squat down. It was perfect.
One of the men took out a pocketknife and pried open the vent. I was surprised at how quietly he did that. Any loud noise could give us away. It was nerve racking, but patience had to take priority over speed.
Inside the vent was warm, a little too warm. You would think being out in space, everything would be cold but that was exactly the opposite here. They had an amazing heating system.
Once we were all inside, the last man resecured the vent just in case an alien came to inspect the storage room. Based on what I saw in the maimer’s head, we followed these ducts as far up as we could get. It was slow going and sweat dripped from all of us. We had to take breaks just to make sure we stayed hydrated.
We finally made it to the highest ducting and found a vent to exit from. Again, the guy from before removed it in near silence. Cool air hit us as soon as we were all out. The sweat quickly dried on our skin. An empty hallway greeted us running left and right.
It took me a moment to remember the path we needed but as soon as I had it our group headed right. Just as we were about to reach a turn in the hallway, a maimer turned the corner. It snarled at us, raising its hands into fists.
I quickly stood in front of everyone. “Go! I got this.” For some reason, the maimer focused solely on me. It allowed the others to run past.
That’s when our battle began.
