Chapter 30
As I climb down the fire escape, the crackling flames spread to the inside of the building. My legs wobble as I run down the stairs to the next platform. In my head the Grey Ones’ screams replay. Even though I know it’s only in my imagination, I find myself looking above my head to be sure they’re not coming. “They’re dead.” I whisper to myself when I reach the bottom platform, but their screams continue to play over and over like a broken record player.
The ladder jolts when I land on top of one of the rungs. I bounce on the stuck ladder until it drops like a ride at an amusement park; coming to an abrupt stop five feet off the ground.
I let go of the rung and drop to the sidewalk below. My calves ache when I hit the ground feet first. My exhausted body rolls over my feet. I breathe heavily as I lay on my back. My chest rising quickly as I struggle to even my breathing. The grey clouds above have begun to rain down heavily, drenching my exposed skin. I don’t mind though. We figured out how to beat them.
With a wide smile I turn my head to the side, only to realize that I am surrounded by chewed on body limbs. “Argh!” I shriek. My tired arms shake as I push off the blood stained streets. Suddenly, a loud explosion comes from inside of the building behind me. I need to get out of here.
“Isabelle! Over here!” Kay shouts. Her black skinny jeans have a wide hole in the knee that wasn’t there before. She must have torn them while running away. When I shift my eyes up towards her face I notice that her once black and green biohazard shirt is now covered in black blood and dirt.
I look her up and down for any wounds as I walk closer to her. Besides the alien blood and dirt, she appears to be okay. “What happened?” I ask, pointing at her disheveled clothes.
“Oh, one of those bastards made it on the roof with me. I was ready though. Shot it in between the eyes with my sawed-off shotgun.” She says, revealing the gun tucked in the holster on her side. She continues proudly, “Then, while it was clawing the pellets out of its face, I threw my body into it, shoving it over the ledge and straight into the fiery pits of Hell.”
With a short laugh, I reply, “Good work.”
When we begin to walk side by side towards the intersection, Travis runs out from behind the corner building, followed by Justin. “Belle, are you okay?” He calls out.
“I’m fine. We did it Travis. We figured out how to kill the Grey Ones!”
“Yeah, we did. Come on, let’s find Ty.” He says reaching for the walkie-talkie on his waist. “Travis to Lilly. Do you read me?”
Instead of Lilly, we hear Jace’s voice immediately respond, “Hey Travis. You guys need to get back to the warehouse right away.”
“What’s going on?” He responds quickly, worried.
Jace’s voice cuts in and out while he replies, “Billy – helping, Heather. I – help.”
Travis and I exchange glances. His eyebrows shoot up; He must be realizing the same thing I am. My concerns about Billy are right. I rip the walkie-talkie from his hand. “Did you say Billy was helping Heather?”
“Yes. Get back n..,” His voice cuts out before he can finish.
“Jace?” I say quickly into the walkie-talkie.
Nothing.
“Jace?” I say again.
Nothing.
“We need to get back to the warehouse.” I say, passing it back to Travis.
Is Billy one of them? Or, is he human? Either way, we need to hurry. Jace could be in trouble. And if they get away, too many unanswered questions will remain.
“Wait,” Justin says while looking around the street, “Where’s my brother?”
“Who’s your brother?” Travis asks. He’s never been formally introduced to Leon. Or Kay and Justin.
“Leon.” He replies. He keeps throwing his head from side to side in search of his brother. His brother whose body burnt up in the fire with the aliens.
“Justin. I have to tell you something.” I say stepping forward.
His head shakes quickly, like he already knows what’s coming. “No, he can’t be.”
“I’m so sorry. I found him, but it was too late. He’s dead.”
His eyes fill with tears before blinking them away. With his jaw locked, he replies, “How?”
“His throat was cut open.” I say bluntly. There’s no point in sugarcoating it. He would keep asking for more details. I would do the same if it were my family.
Tears begin to well up in his green eyes; his green eyes that were identical to his brothers. As his back turns to me, he begins to sob uncontrollably. Kay attempts to comfort him, but he steps away before she can. His walk becomes a pace the longer we wait.
Travis, eager to return to the warehouse, is the first to speak. “Justin, I’m sorry that you lost your brother. But right now, the best thing that we can do is get back to those tunnels and prevent anyone else from dying.”
He stops pacing, his body stiff, and looks over at him. I recognize the look in his eyes, he wants revenge. It’s one I’ve seen many times on the faces of broken people in our broken world. He nods his head and says through gritted teeth, “Let’s go.”
When we reach the Bullseye Room Travis takes the lead. His back posts up against the wall, next to the entrance. We wait in silence as he listens for any commotion inside. As his hand wraps around the silver doorknob, he nods at me. I aim my reloaded pistol past his shoulders at the door.
He swings it open.
There’s no one there.
Travis walks in first, pointing his rifle from side to side. I slip in the doorway right behind him with my pistol still drawn. I glance from the obstacle course wall beside me, to the emergency lights on the other wall. A few yards ahead is the steel chair where Heather was sitting. The chair is empty; no Heather, and no rope. Did Billy succeed in helping her escape?
We keep moving quickly until coming around the first wall of the obstacle course. A few short yards ahead, Heather and Billy are tied together. Their heads have black duck-tape wrapped tightly around their mouths. Billy looks up at me. His huge glasses are gone, showing his once brown eyes are now golden circles outlined black. Like Heather there’s a vertical pupil straight down the middle.
So I guess this answers our question. Billy is one of them. Whatever they are.
“Son of a bitch tried to attack me, but broke the walkie-talkie instead.” Jace’s voice catches me off guard. He walks up behind us, his arms and green shirt are covered in blood. The red blood looks wet. Fresh.
“You said he was helping Heather?” I ask, shifting my eyes back to the prisoners. We’ve spent the last week with him. If he wanted to kill us, then why didn’t he already?
“Yeah. After the Grey Ones took off after you guys I ran inside of here to get Katie. That’s when I caught Billy in here with a dagger and flame thrower.”
Dagger. Flame thrower. Who would have given him those weapons?
“He was helping Heather get untied from the chair, and by the time I realized what he was doing it was too late. They tried to burn me with the flame thrower, but that’s when Katie showed up. While I fought off Billy, she snuck in and gave Heather a shot in the neck. But, his must not have been strong enough because he woke up while I was talking to you on the walkie-talkie. And the rest you know.”
Billy’s skinny neck has smeared blood across it. Human blood. He wouldn’t have helped any of the Guerrillas, and Heather’s was black. Could he have been helping the Grey Ones? Would he have killed for them?
“Did you do it? Did you kill Leon?” I ask, holding his stare.
His gold eyes appear almost like liquid as the color swirls around his long pupil. The black tape wrinkles when he grins widely behind it. He looks at Kay and Justin, still smiling, and nods his head up and down slowly.
“Oh, hell no.” Justin says angrily. He runs up to him and begins pounding his huge fist into his cheek. He only gets a few hits in before Travis pulls him off.
“There’s no point. He can’t feel it.” Travis shouts, trying to calm him
down.
“What do you mean he can’t feel it?” He shouts. His face has flushed red, and his body trembles in anger.
“Look at him. He doesn’t even wince in pain.”
Justin stops trying to get past him and stares at Billy. The red marks on his face from his fist have already faded. His split lip is beginning to heal over.
“What the hell are they?” Justin asks loudly. His dark green eyes are wide as he stares at the mysterious person before him.
“I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say they’re aliens.” Jace laughs nervously.
“What? But what about earlier when we all saw Heather messed up from Katie?”
“They can heal themselves. We believe that’s also how they change their eye color and skin color.” I say, remembering how Heather was able to heal the bullet wound in her knee.
“Wait, what are you talking about skin color?” Kay asks. She steps forward, grabbing onto Justin’s muscular arm. This is the first time I’ve seen her scared.
“Their skin is green, black, and scaly. It’s like a reptilian.” I reply, staring at the tied up enemies. Searching their faces for the real them.
“How? How are they able to do all of this?” Kay asks, her eyes glued on the tied up pair.
“I have no idea.” I say with my eyes glued on our prisoners. “But they do.” I tuck the pistol back into my waistband and pull out the dagger from my thigh holster. My hand grasps tightly to the red handle of my lucky dagger as I step towards Billy. His swirling gold eyes glare at me without blinking my whole walk over.
“If I take the tape off of your mouth will you answer some questions?”
He mulls it over for a second then nods. The sharp blade from my dagger cuts the tape around his head. The sticky side gets stuck to pieces of his brown hair when I rip it off quickly.
“Thanks Belle.” He says. He moves his lips from side to side, like he’s swishing something in his mouth.
I spike the tape on the ground and lean in close to his face. My voice drops, “I would beat you until you’re real skin is showing if I believed for a second you would feel it. And don’t call me Belle.”
“I can feel it. But, I can also numb the pain and make it heal.”
“How?”
He shakes his head with a grin. I thought he was just some shy kid looking for his parents, but that was all a lie.
“She said something earlier. About taking the healthy ones. What did she mean?” I continue, pressing him for answers.
“Oh she did, did she?” He looks over his shoulder at Heather. Her body twitches while she begins to wake up. Whatever drug Katie shot them up with was a lot stronger for her. She moans quietly and rolls her head from side to side.
His eyes move back to me as he adds, “Let’s just say you humans should be scared of us.”
“Why would you kill Leon?” Justin shouts, his voice unsteady.
“You’re the one who let him die. You let him be the one setting up that trap for the Grey Ones.” Billy says defensively. “Besides that, he wasn’t of any use to us.”
“Because he wasn’t healthy?” I ask.
“Exactly. Just like your friend, Rhett.”
“What are you talking about? Rhett died from his diabetes.” Travis yells angrily.
“Ha. That’s right…” Billy says with a smirk.
The memory of Rhett lying in a pool of his own blood flashes through my brain. Billy’s loud sobs weren’t real. How did we not see it before? Rhett didn’t die from not having his insulin. Billy killed him.
“And the Grey Ones that attacked that night. You were the one who left the door open, weren’t you?”
“Yeah, I was really hoping that they’d take Travis out. Would have made my life a whole lot easier.”
“What do you mean? And why would you want Travis taken out? I thought you wanted the healthy ones. Unless…” I trail off when the thought hits me.
“Unless… I’m not healthy?” Travis asks.
“Oops, I’ve said too much.” He replies quickly. His eyes widen as he presses his lips together, like he has a big secret.
“Enough of this. Let’s just light them on fire and call it a day.” Travis shouts. What Billy said, or didn’t say, must have gotten under his skin.
“Not yet.” Katie says. She has climbed up the ladder and is closing the hatch door. Her eyes are red and puffy, like she’s been crying, and her hands covered in red blood. She closes the tunnel door quietly, carrying a box in her hands. As she walks towards us, I realize the box in her hands is the black medical box from the Radio Room.
She drops it on the table and says, “I need to collect samples from them before you turn them into ash.”
“Why do you think fire will work?” Billy asks. His eyes are glued on Katie and the supplies she brought.
While she pulls a few medical supplies from her bag, setting them down on the table a few feet away, I say, “We don’t. But it seemed to work on your friends out there.”
Without uttering a word, Katie walks over with a small package. The wrapper crinkles as she takes out a needle. The sharp end pierces into his neck, pulling blood into the vial attached. After getting two samples from him, she moves onto Heather and repeats the same process. When she’s finished getting the blood samples she places the glass vials carefully in a container. Billy continues to stare at her, watching her every move. Once they’re safely placed inside of the black medical box, Jace reaches for the flame thrower still sitting on the floor.
“Wait.” Billy says quietly. With a calm voice he continues, “That won’t kill us but it does suck to heal from. Let us go, and I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
“Ha! Yeah… right!” Jace laughs loudly. His head shakes in disbelief as he continues, “You want my gun too?”
“We won’t run away. We need you.” He replies, looking him in the eyes.
“What do you mean you need us?” I ask curiously.
“Let us go and I’ll tell you.”
A half smile forms on his thin lips while he watches me think it over. We can’t untie them. They can heal themselves and numb pain. Then I remember when Heather spoke Latin to the Grey Ones lurking outside. It’s like she was calling out to them for help.
“Tell me something first.” I say, staring at him.
With a wide grin he asks, “What?”
“How do the Grey Ones understand you guys? I’m assuming they do since Heather spoke to them earlier.”
The smile on his face disappears in an instant. He licks his lips, like they’re dry, and replies, “I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
“Is it the wires we pulled from their ears?” I ask. I can tell my questions are making him uncomfortable. He twists and turns in the chair, trying to break free from the rope. Watching him struggle I continue, “Hm, I think we got our answer.”
“Let me go.” Billy replies angrily while jolting his body from side to side. His pale skin begins to darken, becoming green and black scales.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” I reply as I begin to walk towards the tunnel. Calling out over my shoulder to the others, I say, “Come on, they’re not going anywhere.”
“Wait! If you let us go, we’ll let all of you go.” He shouts, in a last ditch effort.
I spin and around and laugh, “You’ll let us go?”
“Yes.”
“Well, wouldn’t that require you to have us? From what I can see is that we have caught you.” I spit out. I am so angry with Billy. He is the reason that we have lost so many. And to think, I felt sorry for him. I force a smile and open up the hatch door. While everyone else begins to climb down the ladder, I stare at the scaly beings tied up.
As I step down on the first rung, he shouts, “Fine. Don’t let us go. They’ll be here soon. And then you will be the ones begging for your lives. And sweet little Ty’s.”