“Nick, I don’t know what to do. I really
don’t,” I sighed.
He was crying again. I patted him on the back.
“No matter where we go, they always find us! I
can’t escape!” he sobbed into his hands. “And you’ve been dragged into it too!”
I pawed at the scratches on my forehead, “It’s
no big deal, man. I’m fine!”
“Yeah, but we can’t stay hidden forever and I’m
scared they’ll kill you guys as well!”
“Nick, as long as Tohja’s around, I think we’ll
be safe. He’s just as sneaky as the other Kindorians and he keeps a constant
eye on us!” I reassured. “Look, Jen’s smart. I’m sure she’ll figure something
out,” I insisted. “Now come on. You should really get something to eat.”
“I’m not hungry!”
I sighed, “Nick, you haven’t eaten all day!
You’ll make yourself ill!”
“I don’t care!”
I gave up and left him alone to his thoughts.
After about a week, being confined was driving
us mad. We agreed it had been long enough to assume it was safe to go outside
for a while. We split up into small groups: I went with Leighanne, Kevin went
with Kristin, and Nick went with AJ and Howie. We decided to go shopping since
the mall was pretty spacious on a day like today.
“Ah, nice to be back outside again, huh, guys?”
I commented.
“Sure is!” Howie replied.
“Uh huh,” Nick mumbled.
“C’mon, cheer up, Nicky!” I shoved him
playfully. He just shot me a dirty look.
“Geez, sorry, man! Just trying to lighten the
mood!” I retorted.
“Then don’t!” he snapped.
“Just leave him alone for now,” Howie
whispered.
We managed to drag him into the nearest clothes
outlet, but he just stood around mainly. Back outside, I started to seriously
worry about him.
“Nick, are you still upset?” I asked.
“No, I’m extremely angry, so if you wanna avoid
a punch in the face, I suggest you leave me alone!” he growled back in reply.
AJ backed off under my angry glare. I turned
around and continued walking. When I realised, the others weren’t following. I
stopped and looked back at them, and they just stood there, looking at me in a
concerned way.
“What?!” I moaned.
“We’re leaving you alone!” Howie answered.
My attention was distracted by something
running at us from my right. I looked over to see and alien charging at me,
holding a gun.
“NICK, LOOK OUT!” Howie yelled as the Kindorian
fired a few shots off at me.
I ducked, covering my head with my arms. I
couldn’t see anything, but when I chanced a look, I saw AJ lunge forward and
try to punch the weapon out of the creature’s paws, and failing. The alien then
turned to AJ and hit him over the head with the butt of his rifle. AJ stumbled
backwards on Howie. The alien didn’t stop there, he jumped forwards at AJ and
brought his paw slashing across AJ’s face, leaving three scratch marks on his
face, and knocking him out cold.
It was in that split second I decided on
something very important. I was tired of running. It was time for me to turn
around. It was time for me to fight back. I could feel my blood boil as anger
surged through every part of my body.
Now it was their turn to run!
I looked on in horror as the alien slashed AJ’s
face. AJ had fallen onto me so I instinctively caught him as he fell
unconscious. The Kindorian roared angrily, obviously fuming due to AJ
interfering. He raised his rifle to hit AJ again, but it was suddenly ripped
from his grasp. It looked sideways in surprise, and I followed his gaze.
I barely had time to turn my head when Nick
screamed blue murder and hit the Kindorian over his head with his own rifle as
hard as he could. The alien fell backwards under the blow and slid a few metres
over the smooth, varnished floor. Nick threw the gun away and started running
towards the creature. The bewildered thing stood up and began to run away from
Nick!
I carefully placed AJ on the floor and called
for the bystanders to help him. The rushed forwards to oblige, and I ran off
after Nick.
The alien took us on a wild goose chase around
the mall, sending people scattering in fright, then quickly changed direction
and headed for a fire exit. He rammed the door and stumbled outside. Nick, who
didn’t even change his pace, slammed his way through the door too. I managed to
catch the door before it closed, and stumbled through. There was another door
ahead just about to swing shut and I dived at it. I regained my balance outside
and shouted,
“Nick, wait…….”
I stopped dead in my tracks, and so did Nick.
We were greeted by at least half a dozen Kindorians, with their guns raised and
aimed at us. We automatically put our hands up. We’d walked right into their
trap!
“Let’s kill them and get out of here!” one of
them suggested.
“No,” another protested, pushing the other’s
gun sideways. Stepping towards us, he continued.
“Lieutenant Kaarn wants a word with this one
first!” he claimed pointing to Nick.
“What about this guy?” asked a different
Kindorian, referring to me.
“I don’t like to waste bullets, but we can’t
just let him go!” the Kindorian, who seemed like he was in charge, replied.
He walked behind me, but I was too scared to
move to watch him. I felt a blunt object hit the back of my head and I fell
into a dark void.
Nick’s point of view
“We’ll just have to bring him along!” the
Kindorian concluded.
I gasped as I watched Howie crumple to the floor.
Howie’s pain stricken face was the last thing I saw before I was bludgeoned
senseless myself.