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My stomach sank, like it did during the ascent on a rollercoaster, making me assume the pod was lifting off. Dizziness overcame me and all of us prisoners swayed to the right like tumbling dominos as the pod must have taken off into the opposite direction.
There were a few moans and groans, mostly from the woman at the other end, before we managed to bring ourselves back into a kneeling position facing the wall.
A quick clacking sound, reminding me of chickens, made me think the aliens were laughing at us. Outrage blossomed inside my chest, but died just as quickly, suppressed by fear of repercussions should I voice it.
I don't know how long we traveled, but my ears popped as we were seemingly rising higher into the sky, and with it my fear grew. Where were the aliens taking us?
Suddenly we descended again, so fast, this time I swore I felt my stomach in my throat. A slight shudder went through the capsule and then bright light flooded us as the hatch extended.
"You lousy bastards, get your hands off me," a man yelled, in what sounded like a southern drawl, as he was pushed forward and into the pod with us.
I didn't see him, until he kneeled right next to me. His face was swollen and bloody, just like his clothes. He wore fatigues, but no relief flooded me that the cavalry had finally arrived, because he wasn't any better off than me.
"Any idea where they—ouch!" An alien whipped him over the head like they had done to me and I added a quick, "Shh", for good measure.
The hatch closed again, green light enveloped us, and my stomach dropped while my ears popped as the pod rose once more.
This process repeated itself until two of the four walls in the pod were filled with kneeling people.
By then my thighs were cramping, my knees hurt like hell and absolute exhaustion was crashing over me. Theboy to my right had slumped against me a while ago and I feared I would soon do the same to the soldier on my left.
My eyes were burning from shed tears, my head hammered with pain, and my stomach was cramping because of my uncomfortable position.
I had never been this tired before in my life and I figured it was a result of the adrenaline rushes and crashes as well as from my mind needing to shut down to stop thinking about where we were being taken and why.
This time my ears popped even more and a heavy pressure encircled my chest like a vise. We were still ascending.
To have something to do and to occupy my mind with anything but having to think about our destination, I counted the little black dots in front of me. I came to eight hundred forty-nine, when the pod lurched forward and I hit my head against the wall. Losing the spot I had last counted and the number in my head.
I yelped in pain.
"Are you alright?" the soldier asked.
Blood trickled into my eyes and I blinked a few times to get it out. The simplest gesture of wiping my eyes was denied to me, bringing back the hopelessness of my situation, and tears ran down my face, washing the blood away.
To answer his question, I shook my head.
The aliensmade some irritated clicking sounds and waved us up and forward. I tried to get up, but my legs were cramping and shook from kneeling for so long. The soldier next to me gave me a contemplative look. Regret mixed with anger at our situation turned his lips down; he was a man of action, one used to helping, but he couldn't. He couldn't simply reach down and help me up, and neither could I stretch out my hand to him.
An alien pulled him along and the soldier snarled at him. It was a vain gesture, the alien didn't even care, he just pushed him forward. Another alien pulled me up by the hair and I winced, but at least I was on my feet. Wobbly, but walking.
The kid wasn't so lucky, as soon as he was up, he sank back down. Another alien kicked him and something inside me exploded.
"Leave him alone you freaking coward," I yelled, pushing forward and against the alien to stop him from kicking the boy again, who had barely managed to get on his feet.
A fist hit my stomach so hard, I collapsed to the floor, panting for breath like a fish on dry land.
"You cowards."
From the corner of my eye I barely noticed the commotion as the soldier rammed into an alien to come to my aid. I dry heaved, tasting bile while dizziness overcame me.I had never been hit in the stomach before, not like this. Briefly I wondered if somebody could die from this, but at that point I didn't care any longer.
Three aliens railed on the soldier, who kicked out and bent at his waist, managing to swing an alien over his back and into another. I wanted to cheer for him, but I was too busy trying not to suffocate.
Some of the other prisoners stood up too, the female soldier and police officer rushed forward to help the male soldier, still battling the three aliens.
Just as I managed to regain my breath, the kid stumbled over me, his head hit mine and I saw stars. Somehow he and I managed to get on our feet, just as ten more aliens rushed in with something akin to cattle prods in their hands. Blue light flickered out when the first prod came down on the male soldier's side and he went down like a felled tree.
The police officer was next and then the female soldier. They lay in a motionless heap on the ground, while the three aliens who had been initially attacked by them, kicked at their still bodies.
