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Then, everything stops. We’re flung through the air to what’s literally the shit side of the place. Poor Stacie because of my body landing on hers after she hits the mess. Others slam into me and I curve a little to protect her from their weight.
I’m crushed and can’t keep from resting full on her. “I’m sorry, Stacie,” I say but she’s not listening. Instead, she’s looking up, or rather, to our left where the toilet area is.
I look to see what’s got her interest and am stunned to see the entire area torn away. A rush of fresh air blows in, replacing the stench. I breathe in deep, then cough. Clean air makes the sewage seem a thousand times worse.
Someone in the crowd shouts, “We’re free!” and runs for the opening. People jostle us, crawling out from under our bodies as they scramble for the opening. A warning booms from the overhead speakers until the voice breaks up and stops. Soon, only us and a few others are left. Snapping out of my amazement, I grab Stacie’s arm. “Let’s go.”
Stacie follows, thanks to my pulling on her as we scramble over the dead. I push aside my horror and head for the gash in the wall. Leaning back, keeping me from exiting, she digs in her heels. “I don’t want to go. We don’t know what’s out there.”
I stare out as people keep running in all directions. Several disappear after climbing up and over rocky hills. The entire area’s rocks and soil appear volcanic but not actively so. Another cool breeze blows in. It’s not cold, but I’d like to have my jacket from home. I open my mouth to agree but crackles echo through the room, drowning out the faint moans from the injured. After searching for the source, I spot sparks coming from where the gun is in the ceiling. “I think their laser might be malfunctioning.”
Stacie looks up as I point. “Shit.”
My jaw drops. It’s the first profane thing I’ve heard her say. “Right? We need to jet and now.”
She resists. “People are injured, Jess. They need our help.”
I grab her face and make her look at me. “We’re not doctors. Not even nurses and if we were, we have no way to help them.”
Tears fill her eyes and she nods. “Let’s go.”
Stacie exits first with me following. More black landscape stretches out in front of us. Gray footprints mark where everyone else went. Those prints scatter in all directions but most go towards one place. “There. Everyone is running to those small mountains.”
“Okay.” Her eyes are a little wild. “I’m sure God will provide.”
“Of course he will,” I respond and begin a slow jog there. My feet land solidly on the ground with each step, so I relax about the strata underneath the surface. I’m not a runner at all and as we make our way to the mountains, breathing becomes tougher with every few yards. I stop to cough and check to see how Stacie is doing. She’s lingering behind me, looking back at the ship every so often. “Are you all right?” I manage to gasp out.
She looks from the ship to me, and back to the ship. “What if we’re making a mistake?”
“I don’t think we are,” I wheeze, bending over to put my hands on my knees.
“What if we were meant to stay there and help however we can?”
I lift my chin and squint. Shadows move in the ship. Now that I’m stopped and staring at the vessel, I can tell it resembles a large mushroom dome with a side torn off. There’s a deep gouge in the ground where the ship skidded. Various metal pieces glint in the sun.
“There’s one of them,” Stacie hisses.
I check where she’s pointing and sure enough, this person emerges from the hull. It’s a tall man slash alien with paper white skin, fuzzy cherry red hair, and a monstrously split skull. “Holy shit,” I manage to gasp.
He turns to someone behind him. I can’t tell who from this distance, before looking at us again. Like dummies, we’re standing there until he lifts his arm and points. “Run!” I cry and bolt for the mountains again.
I run harder than I ever have before now, my legs and lungs burning. I fight the urge to stop after every step, scared to lock back. I dive over a small hill, which is a fancy way to say my knees weakened and I fell to the bottom, but whatever. After I claw my way up the other side and over another hill, I catch my breath, wondering where the hell Stacie is.
A low hum fills the air like a physical thing instead of a sound. The sun goes dark and as I scramble up to peek over the hill’s ridge, I see why. An old-fashioned oval of a spaceship hovers over the damaged mushroom. In an instant, several more of the UFOs surround the crash site.
My heart stops because there’s Stacie lying motionless at the bottom of the hill in front of me, her long, dirty blonde hair splayed out around her head. One of the smaller UFOs lands near her and but she doesn’t move. I want to drag her away from the danger, but am paralyzed with fear. A person comes out from one of the silver ships and hurries to Stacie. Clearly a he, the bronze male kneels next to her. He puts one hand on her neck and another on her forehead for a few seconds before nodding. Another man comes out of the ship, then a woman. The three surround Stacie before the first man picks her up like she’s weightless. They take her into the smaller ship.
I let my body slide down the slope again, not sure what I should do. Go back to the pale aliens? Follow Stacie and the bronze aliens? Continue to the mountains? I can’t tell the difference between the good guys and the bad. Maybe they’re all bad. Before I can decide, the vessel with Stacie inside lifts off. Another UFO like it hovers over me before landing at the bottom of the hill where Stacie was. I crab walk to the side, away from all the aliens as more UFOs swarm the sky. Several of them land, surrounding the crashed ship.
Hurrying, I keep going down the ravine even as more of the bronze aliens leave their ship. Crawling over a couple of boulders, I crouch down, sneaking the briefest of peeks from behind one of the boulders. Even more of the gleaming brown aliens come out of the vessels surrounding the mushrooms. Most go into the crashed ship through the gaping hole. Others walk around the site. The genders seem to be a mix, but male or female, they’d blend in at any gym.
I look up when there’s a slight hum. A couple of the silver spaceships still in the air over me skim to the mountains where everyone else ran. One ship veers off to my left and no one is going to my right. I’m tempted to go back to the crash and see if the new aliens can take me home. I stand, brushing off my pants and t-shirt.
Flashes of light and popping noises fill the air as mushroom ships appear and fire on the silver vessels. I take a deep breath in, then cough. Great. They’re fighting. I kneel, hoping none of the UFOs shooting at each other has Stacie inside. The ship hovering over me earlier is back in the air. It lingers for a few seconds before zooming on to the mountains.
Everyone in the air seems to be focused on the mountains or the crash, and I’m taking the chance to escape both kinds of space people. I take off down the ravine for the purple forest to my right. Everywhere I touch scrapes the black dust enough to show the gray underneath, so I try to stick to rocky surfaces as much as I can. I’m positive they’re all advanced enough to see through my puny efforts to throw them off but I have to try.
And then what? What will I do when I’m in the crazy colored forest? I don’t know and only put one foot in front of the other until I stumble, rolling down a gently sloping rocky cliff. Every part of me aches, even my closed eyes as I lie there. I listen for the UFOs but can’t hear them. I sigh, my breath rasping in the dusty air.
