Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
GRACE
" I don't think the things plunging to Earth were meteorites after all," I shouted to Mike and the others as we worked together swiftly, albeit slightly hectically, to bring some order to the chaos unraveling all around us.
A nervous film of sweat was beaded across Mike's forehead and nose. His eyes were wide with shock as if he hadn't really fully processed what was going on. To be fair, none of us had. This bone chilling terror was something that up until this point — I'd only seen similar circumstances in the movies — on a blockbuster action film or something — but never in real life.
"Mike?" I glanced downward.
Mike was crouched on the ground, sitting in a patch of grass just off the sidewalk. He was rocking himself back and forth consolingly. His arms were draped over his head, and he had tucked himself into a tight little ball. He looked tormented in every sense of the word.
I slowly went down to my knees and placed my hand on Mike's back, giving him an encouraging pat. "Mike? We have to go and help others. There are so many more injured out there who need us?—"
"I can't do this." Mike lifted his head and met my gaze. His chin began to quiver with distress. He shook his head remorsefully.
He stared at me with immense fear shimmering in his eyes. Seeing Mike — our leader — like this made me want to give up and shatter into a million pieces. I couldn't give up, because I was a public servant — an emergency responder and people needed me… needed us as a team to help them in times of trouble.
I cupped my hands over Mike's shoulders and firmly squeezed them, giving Mike a resilient nod.
" Yes, you can do this," I said to Mike, hoping he would tap into some of my resolve. "Don't let yourself fall into the trap of a defeatist attitude. We are trained for emergencies?—"
Mike gave me a disparaging glance. "Not of this magnitude."
I was about to press on with my pep talk when David jogged up to us. He was panting hard and sweating profusely.
He had stripped away most of his heavy fire gear and was now just wearing the t-shirt with our ladder unit logo on it. The collar was completely soaked through with sweat. He had dirt caked around his temples and left cheek, and his left elbow was bleeding.
"What the fuck are these things?" David asked, his eyes enormous, his pupils dilated, dread etched onto his masculine features.
Mike stood up. He looked like he was willing to pull himself together, but his hands were still shaking immensely.
"I don't know… but I'm worried about my family…" he trailed off as his voice cracked and emotional turmoil seemed to take over.
I took his hands and gently squeezed them, staring into his eyes with resiliency. "I'm sure they are safe. I'm sure they are hiding out, waiting for you to return to them — but for now — we have to figure out a way to fight back against these monsters."
"They're… fucking aliens… " David said, glancing with panic over his right shoulder before turning his attention back to us. " Aliens. "
I shook my head in disbelief. "I know. I don't know what's happening in the world right now."
"This shit isn't real." David pushed his hands into his temples and groaned, shaking his head violently. Then he began pounding his flattened palm into his forehead. "Wake up, David. It's all just a bad dream. Wake up, you fucking idiot."
"Unfortunately, it's not a dream," I told him regretfully. "You are wide awake. We are here with you, and we are all a part of this."
I didn't want to have to comfort David, but as much as I hated to admit it, we needed him. David had a fighting spirit like no other — and if anyone had a viable shot at taking these wicked machine beasts down — it was him.
"How did they even get here?" I exclaimed as we stood in a semi-circle, watching others from our unit scrambling to help the injured.
"The aliens?" David looked at me.
"Yes," I shrieked. I was starting to feel lightheaded. "I mean I know they came from the sky but how ?—"
"They curled themselves up into balls," Mike said, stepping forward, and suddenly looking defiant and immortal.
He clenched his hands into tight fists. At least he was physically and mentally coming back to us. Meanwhile, I felt somewhat tragic myself. My emotions came rolling in like cresting waves yawning and sometimes crashing to the shore. There was nothing I could do to stop the way they ebbed and flowed.
"I saw a few of them," Mike continued breathlessly, staring fiercely straight ahead. He licked his lips and stared out into space as if he were in a trance or being controlled by a higher power.
"What are you talking about?" David frowned, shaking his head impatiently as he gazed at Mike expectantly.
Mike brushed trembling fingers through his hair. "When they landed, they were curled up into a ball. I saw it when they unfolded themselves. They had these weird blast shields covering themselves all around, like in a circle," Mike explained. "That's how they survived the impact."
"That explains why we thought they were just giant rocks pelting at the ground," I said.
"Well, whatever they are and however they got here, they are going to fucking kill us," David said.
A little girl carrying a tattered, pastel pink blanket was standing near David when he said that. She began to wail with fright. Her cheeks were dirty and when she cried, her tears stained her face with translucent streaks that ran down the grime caked to her cheeks.
" David," I hissed through clenched teeth, and I cut him a reprimanding look to boot. "Don't talk like that right now."
I knelt in front of the little girl. She had light brown hair that was slightly disheveled. She was wearing an ivory white pajama dress and she was barefoot. Her little fingernails were painted blue. She looked like she had just fled from the safety of her bed. She was also alone.
"What?" David exclaimed, shrugging at me defensively. "It's true anyway."
"You're not helping," I said, scowling at him before focusing back on the little girl. I stroked her hair and tried to sooth her. "Where is your mommy?"
"I don't know," the little girl squeaked.
Fresh tears pooled in her eyes and glistened as they slowly rolled down her cheeks.
"Caroline?" A frantic woman's voice cut sharply through the midnight air. "Caroline, honey? Where are you?"
The little girl jumped from my embrace and started running for her life toward the shouting woman. As soon as she got to her, the woman scooped up the little girl in her arms and began spinning around with her, hugging her close and sobbing.
"Well, I guess she found her mom," David said and rolled her eyes, droning sarcastically. "What a happy ending."
I stood up and glowered at him. "You can be such an impossible asshole sometimes, you know."
"Guys, please stop bickering and come help me," Mike cried urgently.
As embarrassing as it was, unfortunately Mike was used to hearing me and David arguing. Most of the time, he took it all in stride and he was patient with it — but now wasn't the appropriate time for all that drama shit.
I turned my head and noticed that Mike was trying to defend himself against two of these weird, slender, metallic colored aliens. They had black slits for eyes. Just looking at them sent a shiver of cold jogging up and down my spine.
I raced to Mike's side. Unfortunately, we didn't have many weapons at our disposal and had to kind of make do with what we did have. You could technically turn anything into a weapon if you were desperate enough.
A few other members of our ladder unit began helping the neighboring paramedics put the critically injured people into ambulances and whisk them off to the hospitals that would undoubtedly be overcrowded by now.
David rushed up behind us. He was wielding a full fire hose in his hands and a fiery expression. He roared. The veins in his neck bulged. He looked crazy as he twisted on the pump to the fire hose nozzle.
Water began to spray out with a thousand pounds of violent force against the gruesome aliens that were clustered all around Mike.
David's quick thinking had done the trick — at least for now. The aliens were pushed backward, repelled by the enormous force of the water. They went flying, covering their heads, and flailing their arms and legs like cockroaches through the air.
David was screaming animatedly with an enormous grin curled at the edges of his lips. He looked almost deranged as he continued to drench the aliens. Mike stumbled backward, panting hard and soaked to the bone. His gear hung loosely from his arms and legs and dripped from his hair and clothing. He was completely water-logged, but he was alive.
"Wow," I said in awe. "That was incredible, David."
"I thought I was impossible ," David said with a smirk.
I wished I could slap it off his face, but he did in fact just save our commander.
"Don't be snarky," I said. "Just shut up and take the compliment because its rare."
"I can't be the hero?" David chuckled.
" All of us need to be the hero right now," Mike said. "There are more of them coming. We can't fight them off fast enough as they ambush us from all fucking angles."
I had a fire axe in my hand. I was clutching it with all my might. I wouldn't hesitate to sear it into one of these alien brains if it dared to get too close to me.
A few seconds later, another alien-looking man leaped into the picture. I was immediately astounded by him. He was… huge. He had to be easily seven feet tall, maybe more. He was sculpted with defined muscles from head to toe. He wore warrior battle armor, black in color.
His skin was as dark as the night sky. His dark teal eyes met with mine and made my heart pound. There was a certain warmth and protection about him that I couldn't explain.
I wasn't afraid of him. I didn't understand how I knew it — but I just knew deep inside my soul that he wasn't here to hurt me like the other aliens. He didn't look like them either. He moved around like a human — a man — not an alien, but he didn't look human, so it further deepened my confusion about him.
He had short, dark teal hair and when he stepped into the illumination of a glowing streetlamp, I realized that his skin wasn't dark — but bronze instead. He was lean, but still muscular enough to keep me fascinated and fixated on him. His armor made him appear bulkier than I thought he probably was underneath.
He was… beautiful. I couldn't pull my eyes away from him. He moved around swiftly, attacking the other aliens who were attacking us. He made it look easy.
Once the wave of assaults near to us died down, the alien-man approached us. He was breathing hard. His dark teal eyes wandered across our unit.
"You all are firefighters, yes?" he asked.
He spoke perfect English. I was surprised. I didn't know how he did it, or where he came from. He had a heavy accent, but I couldn't place it. Obviously, he was well-educated if he could talk to us in our own language. He clearly wasn't from Chicago — or this planet for that matter.
Mike took a step forward. His shoulders were lined up protectively. He glared at the alien-man with rising defiance. "It doesn't matter who we are. Who the hell are you ?"
"I am Tarax of Telanis," the alien-man said with a serenity about him, pointing to his chest.
"Well, Tarax of Telanis, " Mike said scornfully, "we have a lot of work to do here so?—"
"Mike," I whispered under my breath. I was fascinated by Tarax. I wanted to hear more.
Mike gave me a befuddled glance. "What?"
"Let him talk," I said, thankful that it was dark out and the shadows hid my blushing cheeks.
"We are here on a mission to aid in the rescue of humans who have been injured in these brutal attacks," Tarax explained.
"Aren't you an alien too?" Mike asked cynically.
Tarax shook his head and briefly closed his eyes. "I think you misunderstand," he began again more diplomatically than Mike had before. "I… we are not the enemy."
"Who is…we?" I asked, glancing around the street with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.
"Me and my Space Knights crew," Tarax said.
" Space Knights ?" David quizzed with a baffled expression.
"Yes, Space Knights." Tarax nodded.
He seemed so innocent in his explanation that it made me find him even more adorable somehow. I couldn't explain why I was so attracted to this alien. It probably had something to do with the fact that he was a smoking hot hunk — but he also had kind eyes.
I took a curious step closer to him.
David wasn't having it. He took my arm and tried to yank me back toward him instead. "What the fuck are you doing , Grace? Don't go near him."
"He's not going to hurt me," I whispered back and shrugged David's hand off my arm.
"We have a base station on Mars," Tarax said, glancing down at me and giving me his full, undivided attention through those piercing teal eyes of his.
I was completely captivated. "You're on Mars? Really?" I stared up at him, unblinking.
"Yes, we have a base on Mars." Tarax nodded again. "We were flying near Earth's orbit when we saw the warship descending toward Earth's atmosphere. That's when we swooped into action, formed teams of our robo Knights to join us and came down here. My team and I were assigned to Chicago — and now here we are."
"Yeah, that's a great fairy tale and all but unfortunately this is real life," David shouted from behind us. "We're under attack by terrorists, clearly."
" Alien terrorists," Mike added as if he couldn't believe the words were coming out of his own mouth.
I didn't take my eyes off Tarax. I found myself basking in his presence. "You don't need to listen to him," I said. "They're just jealous because they don't have all the special equipment and skills to fight off these aliens like you do."
I said it low enough so that they couldn't hear me. I had no idea why I was behaving like this and so enamored with this bronze, alien-man.
"We just want to help," Tarax informed again.
I nodded, smiling up at him. "It's okay," I whispered softly. " They might have trouble believing you, but I do."
Why did I say this to him? I had no idea. I couldn't make any sense of this, or why I would take this stranger — this alien-man's side over the people I'd worked with for years. I'd be cautious and keep my wits about me — but something inside my brain told me to at least give him a chance to prove himself.