Area 51, Groom Lake, Nevada

8:15 PM

One corridor after another, terrans were scrambling to get above ground. Soldiers fought and fired, and zombies attacked them, but they were weak against terran magic. Blood spilled from the zombie’s eyes continuously; it’s hard to imagine that they could see. We kept going and avoiding most of the commotion, Jaruka led the way, making people step to the side, and I was actually glad we had an alien on our side. A big one too.

I was also admiring Reba’s new outfit in between runs. She said she hated it didn’t go with her style, but I loved it. I had to feel the fabric, sort of a cross between silk and leather and embroidered with silver Nordic runes. She didn’t know why or how, but I had a hunch.

God I wanted her outfit. So modern. So sleek. And the ponytail? So… cute.

“Were here,” Scott said at last. We suddenly stopped as Jaruka peeked around the corner and pulled back.

“Two guards at the door,” Jaruka whispered. “I’ll take them out while you two distract them.”

“Distract them?” Mike asked. By crazy coincidence, the base shuttered again, making the lights flicker. Reba squeezed my hand. Jaruka looked back and I saw him smirk.

“Scream like drunken sailors,” he yelled and ran into the corridor. It took Scott and Mike a second to get it and run through screaming like idiots. Reba stayed behind me as I peeked around.

One guard was down with a bullet through his head. The other dropped after Jaruka took his gun and swung it like a baseball bat to his head. Then the familiar zombie screech came. “Shoot it!” Jaruka yelled. Mike stepped forward and I looked away hearing three shots go off. “Clear. Move girls.”

We ran and stopped behind Scott.

“Care to say why we had to do that?” Scott asked him.

“No reason,” Jaruka smirked. I suspected that he wanted it for his entertainment.

Mike and Jaruka went to either side of the door with the General’s nameplate stuck to it. From what Scott described of him, I imagined this guy was an absolute, self-centered prick with an off-centered taste in collectibles.

Mike looked at Jaruka, “I’ll use the flashbang I just got from a guard,” and held up the grenade, about to pull the pin.

“No need,” Jaruka said. Dreadlocks got in front of the door and kicked it just like in the movies, but he flinched, forgetting he wasn’t wearing shoes.

He rushed in and yelled, “Clear!” We all entered; Mike closed the door. I took a gander of the room, the weapon-covered wall, and the nautical themed wall. The back was a window overlooking the underground base, but from the huge shockwaves earlier, the glass panels were shattered. I looked up at the hole in the ceiling; the alien ship kept on shooting.

“You weren’t kidding, Scott, this guy is a total whacko,” I said in awe. “Not even a single picture of him for Deryl to work with.”

I heard Jaruka speak in his own words, going straight for the weapons wall. He broke the glass window with the busted rifle and retrieved what he had originally set out for. I didn’t believe that he would carry that item at all.

“A sword? Really? I thought you were joking,” I blinked. “We risked our lives just for that?”

Jaruka slung the sword over his back. “Lady, this sword is everything about me. I’d die if I lost it.”

I didn’t know what to say on accounting I didn’t understand what he meant. Reba came to me and whispered, “I think it’s a sentimental issue.” I wondered what the real reason was behind the sword.

I spotted Scott rummaging through the desk, frantically searching for the laptop he had spoken of. The last drawer on the bottom right held it and he sighed with relief. He slammed it on the table. ”Now to destroy it. Mike, let’s strap it with a grenade.”

“Why destroy it?” Mike asked.

“Because I want the copy of my parent’s files gone. I can have Deryl move the originals to a secure location.” I thought of several ways to destroy it. I volunteered a fire spell, I even asked Reba if she could remember the name, but she backed out quick.

I heard a click then a hum of a small machine coming from Jaruka. The alien held an alien rifle, bigger than all the others on the wall. He caught us talking, looked at the laptop, and said, “Don’t look at me; I’m saving my ammo for worthy targets.”

“Are you always an asshole?” Scott asked.

“I’m in a state of utter anger and stress, kid, this is not how I usually act. Most of the time I’m a really nice guy.” I somewhat doubted that.

“Ah, guys,” Reba said, already distressed. “The tattoos are disappearing!” Reba’s body showed a steady flow of tattoos loosing their glow. I looked at myself and it happened to, Scott and Mike included. We were quiet, letting Jaruka understand my explanation of the phenomenon. The familiar short burst of energy flowed through my spine and black light vision died.

Welcome back, Arana.

Energy streams flowed from my chest and on the desk, solidifying to Arana’s red-tailed hawk form. She shook her head and sighed, “Still not used to that.”

Scott’s totem came next, forming next to him. ”Ouch,” he joked. Keeji saw Jaruka, screamed like a girl, and hid behind Scott. “Please don’t let him eat me.”

Mike’s was next. His totem formed into a cute and fluffy snow rabbit on the desk next to Arana. It grumbled while lying on its side. Mike went up to the animal, poked it, and it said, “Don’t do that. I’m having one horrible migraine.” Mike said his apologies.

Reba’s experience was the opposite. I figured she heard a voice in her head as she screamed and backed into the nautical wall, knocking down some priceless artifacts. Light flowed from her chest and collected right before her. I remembered it was a leopard like she had said, from the body shape to the gold-like fur color and black spots. For a second I felt envious of her totem, I always loved those animals at the zoo. The gorgeous animal finished, it opened it big glowing eyes and shivered. “What such relief from the stuffy cage,” it said, or she said.

Reba was still scared and she actually used a toy sailboat for a weapon. The leopard did nothing. Even if they had some hostility, that didn’t mean that everything had ended. We still had to escape. The leopard spoke first, “Do you like the clothes I made for you? You should be happy for them. They will last for a couple of hours on your mana, but good enough to protect you. And that is exactly why I’m here for—to protect my host. And if you don’t trust me, your own totem, then you don’t trust yourself.”

Strong words. Reba said nothing.

Wait, totems can make clothes out of mana?

Just then, Jaruka’s sudden outburst jolted me to yelp. Jumping, hollering, and blathering unknown words, I assumed he was flipping out from our magic and the totems. He in fact didn’t care about us; he was looking over the prison with a huge smile of satisfaction. Turning around, I gasped.

Aliens. Lots of aliens. Looking for him.

The calculations of human mobilization were wrong. It was like they expected us to arrive, or were preparing for a civil war on their own kind and we disrupted their preparation. No matter, our weapons and magic were too much for their ballistic weapons.

There were four gun platforms—Commander Kantra and I were on the fourth. With our shield at maximum, we plunged into a collapsed underground structure. The last known coordinates of Jaruka said that he would be there. Once inside, the gun platforms including mine opened fire on any human infantry.

Each gun platform can hold up to twelve soldiers, but always diversifies classes. Shadow walkers flew out and attacked solo humans, both a quick death or death by phasing through solid surfaces, killing them instantly; wizards used various defensive and fatal offensive spells, one had to use a black hole spell on a five-man battalion; sword masters stood ready in case they were ordered to fight on the ground; gunslingers fired with their weapons and the mounted gauss rifles; summoners used the rubble and debris to create constructs, taking out large groups of humans. I personally stayed in view, wearing battle armor to protect me from their bullets. A benefit to wearing it helped me use my telekinesis without conducting headaches. I took the liberty of collapsing a floor above twelve soldiers with my mind, but waited until the mutants left. My warriors made me proud none of the mutants were hurt because of how easily they were spotted, it was strange that they didn’t turn into zombies. I heard high-pitch screeching from several humans. It told me that we didn’t have much time before things got worse.

One thing was certain—those stories from the Archives about humans turning into zombies were true.

“Make sure we have clearance, Jaruka is around here somewhere!” I yelled. My helmet’s HUD was uploaded with Jaruka’s location prior to leaving. I was looking down a mile of demolished prison cells, some with inmates still locked up. The GPS directed to look behind me.

“There he is!” At long last, we had found our man. It felt so invigorating to punch Kantra in the thigh to change his attention on the fight. He told the others on the platform, resulting in hollering in happiness. “Irna, concentrate your fire on any advancing humans to the underground site!” The Endeavor’s firing rate increased and the structure shook.

Corporal Jaruka Teal stood in a hanging office of the south wall. The Halcunac jumped and waved his arms like a lunatic to get our attention. Once we hovered closer, the mutants backed away with faces of awe. The animals with glowing eyes were peculiar, thinking they have a deeper purpose with the mutants. Clamps ejected and grabbed to any undamaged columns. I was able to here Jaruka yell, “What took you so long?”

“Politics—hate ‘em to love ‘em,” I answered. My suits power output was increased, enough for me to jump off. Kantra didn’t bother stopping me while following along with a couple others. I landed on both feet and looked at Jaruka towering over me. A switch on my wrist computer released my helmet and folded into a collar. I breathed Terra Firma’s underground stale air. “And you know me, I keep my promises. Do you forgive me?”

Jaruka let his rifle fall and picked me up for a hug. His strength could’ve ruptured the suit if he wasn’t cheering and crying. Up and down I went, it felt nauseating, but I could relate—I would feel the same if I had taken the survey job. Good enough to make amends. Then he let go and cheered for the others coming off the platform.

“Kantra! Aren! Virakull! Toss! Man, I’m so happy to see you guys,” he said, trying so hard to speak five different languages, primarily Kantra’s.

“Don’t press your luck,” Kantra said after ordering a gunslinger and wizard to secure the office. The humans didn’t seem to want to interfere.

Remembering Jaruka’s language skills, I produced a small device, a collar with two prongs on opposite ends, from my suit’s pocket and held it up to him. “Take this, my friend. You tongue sounds sore.”

Jaruka took it. “Indeed. It’s hard enough to speak these people’s language without fainting from exhaustion.” Universal Translators, hybrid technology of both technological and magical, are a strict standard to bridge language barriers. Without it, society could crumble. Jaruka wrapped it around his neck and clicked the buckle to activate it. The prongs went straight for his ear holes for outside translation for the user’s language. The collar reads the vocal cords as Jaruka speaks his language and with strong magical runes, translated to every person's language within a hundred mile radius. He coughed, "Finally."

Peering at the mutants, it was not hard to recognize them from Sketch's projections. The animals were something else. "Were they with you in that transport?"

“Yes, but not the totems.”

“Totems?”

“I know it sounds weird but it’s complicated…”

I cut him off with my hand, “Hold that thought. Hand these to each of them.” He was about to ask why but I didn’t let him, it was too important for questions. He rolled his eyes and approached the mutants.

I watched the mutants be very cautious of Jaruka. It seemed logical they all would trust him; three out of four did. The one with the dog was the last to receive a UT once a woman talked him into it. It was slow for all four to put them on, the blonde one suffered a mild panic attack hearing us talk. The long haired one with the furry white creature in his arms spoke first.

“Wow, I can hear everybody speak English,” he said.

“They’re called Universal Translators,” Jaruka informed him. “And have some respect, Scott, you are standing in front of my boss.”

“I know that from his suit, Jaruka. Seeing an actual Grey isn’t making me feel comfortable,” Scott rolled his eyes. I ignored their quarrel.

“Alright. I’m Captain Brill Secambre of the battleship Endeavor part of Nova Company,” I explained.

The young woman with brown hair waved her hand with a nervous grin. “H-Hi.”

“First off, thank you for staying with Jaruka for company. He’s a good man and grateful. Aren’t you?” Jaruka nodded slowly. “Our plan is to rescue Jaruka and leave, but something else came up. My superior wants an audience with you four because you are the closest to trustworthy witnesses as we can get.”

That was the last thing Denverbay made me promise: to bring back living mutant witnesses to the ship. I hated the idea, but orders are orders.

Jaruka coughed, “Wait, Brill, no. Not happening. They’re not coming with us.”

“Yes, they are. Denverbay said so.” An explosion from inside the base rocked the office and platform. Fire burst upward and out through the hole. The gunslingers happened to take out a suicide bomber. “Long story short, your intel is vital for your people’s future! Everybody on the platform now! Move! Move! Move!”

I jumped on first and watched the rest come aboard, reactivating my helmet. My men were first, then Jaruka before taking out three humans with his rifle. The mutants jumped on one by one. What surprised me was the “totems” transformed into energy and entered their masters, something most intriguing. For the sake of storage I figured; the platform was getting crowded. Scott was the last on but requested us to destroy an object on the office’s desk. Time was minimal so I ordered a wizard to blow the office and its contents to rubble. I never asked Scott why. Everybody was in and the platform unclamped itself from the beams.

Our platform and the rest followed out through the hole and headed straight for the Endeavor. I told the mutants to stay down no matter what. Up above, the fight was intensifying. Human vehicles fired constantly, while my men took them out with one plasma blast. Zombie infantry went full force but were taken down by gunslingers, sword masters, and sorcerers. I felt sick watching it all.

My shoulder was tapped. The young brown-haired woman standing over me said, “What about the others? Will they get rescue?”

“You four are priority, the rest we cannot trust,” I responded.

She nodded, “That’s just not right.”

Just when Jaruka mouthed off at me why the mutants really had to come, a gunslinger screamed, “Captain, starboard point, human with Vyrokan property!”

I looked in that direction. The area had a regiment of sorcerers crippling a mortar team near an aircraft hanger. I used my helmet’s HUD to zoom in, and then became rather scared. I saw a human female with blonde hair much like the one with us, but dressed more formally. Jaruka blared that she was the notorious Agent Jessica Baine. She was struggling with a weapon at waist level connected to two glowing white boxes. Further zooming in, the woman cackled with bloodlust.

“Oh no,” I said, realizing what it was. “EMP Cannon! Change shield to…”

The heavy cannon charged and fired a straight beam of electromagnetic energy at our platform. I felt side effects on my suit’s systems, overloading the computer. The platform shuttered and started spiraling out of control. My instincts prompted me to grab hold a support bar. Soon my men were falling off, then Jaruka, then the mutants in random directions.

I cursed as it crashed.

The intense drop in gravity obliterated my balance. There was no time to strap myself down on the platform, on top of that, asshole Kantra bumped into me and made it worse. I screamed and flailed my limbs until I hit something hard. I felt myself fall again, bounce, and stop. Groaning and feeling all kinds of hurt, I shook my blurry vision away to notice I crashed onto a human vehicle, a Hummer, after rolling off a two-story metal roof.

“That’s gonna be sore in the morning,” I groaned.

I got out of the car to catch the platform still hurtling out of control, flinging passengers off. I saw Scott and Katie go one direction, Mike and Reba another direction, and my friends in another. I could hear all of them screaming through the gunfire. I palmed my rifle, checking the ammo for several plasma bullets left. I ducked cautiously to look for a safe way to get to the platform, but I was blocked by human soldiers.

Gunfire rang out and bullets dinged off the vehicle’s hood, making me duck for cover. Then I heard a charging sound and the Hummer was pushed away like careless scrap metal by a column of lighting, coming from that annoying weapon. Jessica wielded the technology in one hand and her pistol in the other.

First, I wanted to leave, except the platform was destroyed. I hate those things. Then Jessica came and screwed me over again. Suddenly, I felt hungry for food, and also hungry to take that bitch down. One score to settle before leaving. “Now it’s my turn,” I muttered and ran after her.

Jessica reacted slowly as she juggled the two weapons, first going for the pistol, then thinking greedily, aimed the cannon at me. I knew that cannon from Vyroka museums. That heavy weapon wasn’t designed to kill living tissue, only circuitry and levitate objects with magnetism. I also saw a Marine carting the generator barrels. I laughed; no wonder Alavas Industries discontinued it three decades ago. Without my HUD, things had to be winged. I aimed down my rifle’s sight and shot at the generators. The Marine was toast, Jessica dropped the cannon to run, and the barrels exploded covering a wide area in harmless steam.

Keeping my rifle close and ready, I stopped and looked over the smoke for Jessica. “Come on out, Jessica, I know you want me, the shot on the platform was to make me stay. Show yourself!” I yelled.

The smoke was blown away by the desert wind but several plumes remained. I calmed down a little to open my senses for better concentration. All my attention was directed to my hearing, and the UT’s prongs improved it. Hearing the gunfire and the laser fire, it was hard to hear subtle sounds. But I could, just barely.

Gravel rustled behind me, the click of a pistol’s magazine, and a very quiet hiss; she was silently raging no doubt. Those dainty feet weren’t hard to pinpoint. It was right to tap into moves I studied from the shadow walker division. Using stealth and light footing from no boots, I used the smoke for cover, losing her sight of me. Jessica came running out, aiming her gun in every direction. I sidestepped and darted as she fired too close to me.

“Come on out you fucking coward,” she growled. She fired three shots in three random directions, none close to me. “I knew I should’ve run a metal detector on you for transmitters. Your ship’s beacon was destroyed. I destroyed your comm. device. Just how the hell did they find you!?” She was so distressed; she could have ripped my head off and mounted it on a wall.

I attacked her like a balaldas. With a growl and a big elbow punch to Jessica’s exposed side, she went flying ten feet away. “It’s called nanobots. Get with the program!”

Oh yeah, payback was on my side.

I scurried after her before she reached for her dropped pistol. I grabbed both of her legs, dragged her, and flung her body the other way, she landed hard on the ground. “My time bitch.” Jessica got up and pulled out a pocketknife, but I punched her gut to make her let go of it. “That’s for the Lunar Spear!”

She cried out in pain, but it didn’t deter her fighting. As short as she was, she sideswiped me at the neck, and nearly knocked me off my feet. I countered with a jab at her throat. “That’s for the truck.”

Keeping up with her fast moves as she attempted to hit me in the groin, I made three more contact punches with my fists as hard as stone; her shoulder, her left thigh, and her ribcage. “That’s for the bullet wound!”

Taking account of her exposed back, I went for a double fisted drive to her spine, but mysteriously, she recovered fast and dodged the blow, then controlling her weight she whirled around for a roundhouse kick to my jaw. Scott’s roundhouse did nothing compared to that. I felt dizzy for a bit but ran back into the smoke. Jessica went for her gun and whipped around for a shot. I was too fast for the chick, coming against her side from the smoke. She didn’t notice the shine of silver flying past her vision.

Her scream was like music.

Jessica fell on the ground, clutching her right arm. Only it was the stump of her upper arm, oozing and squirting with warm blood. What once a hardened human bent on torturing me until I die, now whittled down to an injured animal. No vice or belt will stop the bleeding. “That’s for treating my sword like junk!”

In my right hand was my katana. It gleamed from the laser fire, the blood dripped from its razor sharp edge. It had been a long since I had last used it, and my katana, I hoped, was relieved that it wasn’t forgotten.

I shook off the blood the best I could and sheathed it, but I wasn’t done with Jessica.

I came to Jessica’s writhing body and with one hand I clenched her thin neck, nearly choking her. My strength was enough to pick her up into the air. Her feet were inches from the ground. The pain prevented her from kicking me. She saw the raging hate in my eyes, and I saw fear in hers for the first time. She tried to speak and get out of my grip with her free hand, but I squeezed harder.

“And this is for the kiss.”

I head butted Jessica so hard her skull cracked, she died with a frozen face of freight.

I let go of her body as it flopped on the dirt. Blood oozed from a line down her forehead. “And good riddance,” I growled. I gathered up my rifle and made my way to the crashed platform, hoping my ticket to freedom was still good.

Area 51, Groom Lake, Nevada

8:37 PM

Roll, Katie, roll! Arana said in my head.

Fast reaction took hold, making me pack myself into a ball. Arana huffed and told me to relax my body. I didn’t understand why, but I did and met the ground knowing why. My reinforced terran body protected me, but I still screamed feeling rocks and metal under me. I stopped and whimpered.

Get up now! Arana ordered.

“Give me a second, I think I broke something,” I complained.

You didn’t, nothing’s broken. Get moving!

I was already getting a headache from her. I was homesick, I still wanted to leave the base, and those aliens were our only chance of escape.

I rolled onto my belly, shook my head, and used a spare tire to support me as I got up. I cried a little when I saw that my clothes dirty and ripped. My tail had taken most of the fall, it was covered in bloody scratches and dirt patches. I wondered if they would make tail socks anytime soon?

I had landed behind an aircraft hanger, the biggest one around, and there was plenty of cover from the fight. I ducked after hearing a huge explosion from far away involving a Hummer and bolts of lighting. I looked around, hoping to find Scott.

He was far from me, he was already getting up. Scott shook his head and took a few seconds to catch his breath. In between breaths, I heard him talk openly with Keeji in his mind. “Oh thank God,” I muttered and started to walk towards him. A shadow came around, and my heart stopped, I had to hide.

Agent Roland appeared. In no time flat he had kicked Scott in the chest. I clenched my jaw shut to keep from screaming. A couple kicks later Keeji came to the rescue, bearing his fangs on him, but Roland was quick to react and shoved a taser in the poor dog’s stomach. Again, I clenched my mouth to not scream.

“This is bad. Scott is gonna die if we don’t do something,” I shook my head.

Katie, don’t be a hero. Keeji is getting up and… shoot he’s tased again. I could feel Arana’s frustration.

I’m a terran. I have magic. I had to save him. One spur of the moment idea popped in my head while watching Roland, and my confidence took over. I felt Arana disapprove.

“Arana, what’s the Gaelic word for electricity?” I asked her.

Katie, I…

“Just do it, Scott’s getting creamed!” We came from the same mind, right? She had to listen to me. She relented and coughed up the word. I took five quick breaths to calm my mind and gather my courage. Wishing that I wouldn’t screw up, I went after Roland.

I charged my mana the best I could. Both of my hands glowed with the Celtic tribal tattoos. Roland’s back faced me and he still kicked Scott repeatedly. “You’re not leaving, freak!” He yelled. “Now where’s that frail girl of yours?”

I ducked and wrapped my arms around Roland’s left thigh. I yelled, “Right down here,” and focused with all my might. “Leictreachas!”

Mana transformed and the air around me electrified. My arms transferred raw electricity into Roland’s body and he screamed, convulsed, unable to push me off. I had my eyes closed the whole time.

I settled and let go after smelling charred cotton and skin. Roland mumbled then leaned over to fall unconscious to the ground, his clothes still smoking from the lightning. “Wow,” I gasped from shock. Scott’s attention darted between Roland and me, petrified that I could do that. Keeji shook his head, looked at the damage, and gave a flattering congratulation to me.

“Yeah, I fought without freezing!” I yelled. I felt Arana rolling her eyes. “I hope I didn’t do too much to him?”

Scott got up rubbing his sore chest. “Remind me not to piss you off.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I laughed a little.

A zombie came through fighting a huge red alien. The zombie fought like an animal, trying to bite the alien’s arms in any way that it could, but the alien kept on punching away. The alien had had enough and in a second, the zombie turned into a dark grey statue from shadows seeping from the alien. The dead zombie dropped and shattered into black dirt clumps and sand from the red alien’s giant fist. “Too easy,” the alien smirked. The translator was still on me and I was overwhelmed that he could speak in such fluent English without problems. He spotted us, “Come, the captain has a dropship coming. We must move before the next wave comes.”

We nodded, it was good that the aliens were on our side, but what troubled me was the reasoning. We followed him as things got worse.