Feel free to read the first part from the last writing challenge. I've included a recap just in case.
Word count: 1934 (including recap)
Recap
Aliens invaded Earth on the 13th of January. The first bomb was dropped over City L at 8:25 am. A man (code named: K), a school girl (Bella), and a college student (Joel) had escaped in a vehicle of alien origin. Come nightfall, or upon moonset, whichever you prefer, they had decided to return to the city centre. This was in the hope that UNA soldiers would have recaptured the centre and/or put their base there.
23 minutes later, they ran for their lives.
“Just thank the god you believe in that a podgy alien is doing the chasing,” K said humourlessly. Whilst under the shore a heart neared asunder, a reflexive wince and a limp could not keep secret the cramp in his calves. Beside him, Bella ran breathlessly red-faced in her school shoes. Her feet recoiled with pain every time she made contact with Main Street.
“You are going to think this very inappropriate,” Joel said in between his breaths. “But running for our lives is kind of fun...”
K grimaced. He found no amusement running under moonlight through bombed out streets, atop human carcases and through the smell of napalm in the air. His ears attested the ongoing bombing of al paradiso. The war witness shed a tear. In one instance, he loathed himself for parking a mile away, and in another he put his head down and made a mental note to address the importance of escape plans from here on in. K slowed to a walk and looked back at the persistent bastard. He then stopped... bent down and rested his hands on his knees; this being the universal gesture of a man tired after a sprint and/or perhaps a man who has given up...
Bella came back to K. “What’re you doing...? You can outrun an obese alien for gawd’s sakes...”
“Duck...” K whispered.
“What?”
“Duck!”
K lifted up the metallic pole he had stopped in front of and swung like a baseball player over Bella and smack into the alien’s jaw. K kicked the beast whilst bearing his chest. He vented his frustration with an unintelligible lion-like roar.
A fiddler bathed in moonlight on a roof nearby stopped playing to his wife. The fiddler smiled wryly then resumed with his wife on the piano.
K sent Joel on a sprint to fetch their ‘car’. Bella took the helmet off the soldier and wore the oversized thing herself. The two walked fifty yards when they heard a roar behind them. The obese monstrosity ran -on all fours now- like a bear. K and Bella ran as fast as their hearts, bodies and minds would carry them. It was no use, K realized. This time it would catch up with parking space for a bus to spare.
There was a fork in the road ahead. Left led to the alien spaceship. K tore off his shirt and tied it to the pole/bat. He took out a lighter and lit the shirt on fire. With so much napalm in the air, it lit like a flag. K ran down the right path of the fork; he was sure the ‘bear’ would chase the light.
“Stay left Bella,” K said. “And run fast.”
Some way into street, K ran alone with the burning flag. He looked over his shoulder before he stopped. Adrenaline shot through to his eyeballs and his heart rate hit 180 bpm. His limp was cast aside as he ran full tilt.
The flag had lit up the entire street and shown the ‘bear’ the child veering left. The beast surmised that it was more likely to catch the child and also use it against the adult male. It relaxed to its initial bipedal motion.
K turned a sharp left back onto Main Street. He felt light, agile and fast with noradrenalin pumped into his muscles. He was chasing the ‘bear’ who was chasing the girl.
I’m supposed to be running away from you, why am I now chasing you...
All hope left him once K saw the double-decker bus lain on its side blocking off the junction. Their vehicle had been parked behind the bus. Joel kept it helplessly floating above the bus. Bella jumped onto the bonnet of the car in front of the bus... everything slowed down; K watched the ‘podgy obese bear’ like alien reach for the child. On instinct K did the only thing he could do. He threw the pole with the burning shirt at the bear....
The torch spun through the darkness steadfast upon its designated route. Its victim uttered an almighty roar; it fully expressed pain, pain, and more pain.
K grabbed the school girl with the soldier’s helmet on, lifted her onto the top of the bus and then safely on to the ship. Only when they had gotten onto the ship did K let go and fall away into the corner.
Through the open hatchway, Bella looked at the burning figure of the shadow that had so ardently chased them. She then looked at the crumbling figure in the corner. Joel in the pilot seat also looked at the beast roasting like it was on hellfire. On the rear view mirror, he saw the inconsolable thirty year old figure in the corner...
K shed tears like the Indian monsoon shed rainfall.... he tried desperately to think of a prayer... any prayer... he could not comprehend the events that would have followed had the ‘bear’ been able to reach the child.... he trembled with fear.... flashes of a lost loved one filtered through uncontrollably as if it were poking him with a stick.
…
The bombing continued sporadically through the night. K leant back on the –yet as unnamed- space cruiser on the 139th floor of Building A Plus. The building's foundation columns stood firm but the walls on all four sides of the 139th floor had crumbled away. The air system pumped in excessive oxygen to counter the altitude problems. The ceiling lights still functioned here and there. On the horizon K saw the sun rising above the ocean. Thunder crackled, lightening struck and rain fell on most parts of the city. Most of the city was still shrouded in darkness as he sipped tea from a company branded mug.
Joel sat on the floor edge as he marked/updated a tourist map. He didn't need the binoculars he had found to see on the going obliteration of City L. The Alien air force was on an airship two miles to the south of the city and their ground troops had camped a mile west of this position. Joel saw thirty vehicles make their way along the A13 highway into the city. Pockets of resistance were littered throughout City L. A rebellious school here and a –defend to the death- hospital over there. UNA soldiers were camped on the outskirts of the city, near the beach.
Bella wrote her diary on the back of scrap office paper/letters. With great effort she attempted to jot down the thoughts traversing her mind. Holding a pen is hard, she wrote, not because I’m afraid or feel numb, which are both true, but because my hands are blackened, bruised and ripped in places...its K I feel sorry for... I don't know his story but I’d like to... He is tall, but slender and weak framed... well happy thirteenth birthday to you... oh you forgot did you, so did I...so did I...
K looked through his binoculars and bit into a day old sandwich. There was a buzz in the air like a jet approaching. K closed his eyes. The sound appeared to be omnidirectional. He opened his eyes. From the east, a UNA Jet hounded by three smaller sleeker alien spaceships were coming in his direction...
...
The Lf53 fighter jet had Building A plus in its sight. The pilot had her finger on the red eject seat button. She hoped the PR material from the Tower’s launch was more than a boast. With shaky fingers she zoomed onto the building. She saw a man drinking tea with sandwiches. “Good God man. Get the fuck out of the building!”
…
“Joel, Bella get in the vehicle,” K said calmly.
“And what’re you going to do?” Joel asked.
“I’m determined to finish my tea!” K replied raising his mug.
That’s it K... you can do this... just be calm about it all...
K drank tea before he took another bite out of his sandwich. Alarming emergency red lights came on as the building mainframe computer automatically switched on. The ground shook. Shutters came down on all four sides. K’s heart took on a life of it’s own when the Glass walls came down behind it.
“Warning! Unidentified Flying Object’s crash absorbed on thirty third and thirty second floor. Please brace for emergency shock absorbers in five seconds. In the event of computer failure please remain calm. Lifts will remain operational. Please do not use lifts. Warning! Emergency services call has resulted in failure. Warning! Secondary Crash absorbed on thirty ninth floor. Emergency shock absorbers are engaged for level seven magnitude! Warning! Thirty third floor has weakened by twenty three percent. Code three point four will activate in fifteen seconds... ”
The building’s emergency sirens then came on. A second set of shutters came down to cover all four sides. The staircases had already caved in. The shutters were blocking the only way out. K took an axe off the wall and put it in the ship. He then shut the door and settled in the co- pilot seat.
“Warning! Prepare for controlled disintegration of floors. No human life detected on floor thirty. Floor disintegrate in three seconds. Human life detected on floor thirty one. Floor thirty two. Floor thirty three. Floor thirty four. Floor thirty five. Controlled disintegration successfully carried out where possible. Warning! Building is still unstable. Foundation three will begin scaling Building A plus in five seconds.”
K got out of the vehicle with axe in hand. He drove at the bottom left corner of the eastern shutters to no avail. After two more strikes he resigned to the fact presented to him: they were trapped. He shouted to within his lung’s limit. He struck the gate with the blunt axe. He looked at the western gate. It suggested no escape route. There was also something wrong with the air system. Air was being sucked out of the room.
“Warning! Oxygen control software malfunctioning. Leakage detected on the 139th floor. Oxygen level dropping. Human life detected. Please evacuate premises immediately. Warning!”
After a minute, K felt the effects of asphyxia which lead him to drop to the floor.
“Get to the lift...” K said in the final throes of consciousness. K saw one of the kids make a dash for the lift... Enveloped in darkness, he could hear the ‘whish’ of the sprinklers being turned on to douse a fire a hundred floors below...
Thank you god, he thought, resigned to his darkened fate...
He then heard the ding of a lift door opening.
“Come on buddy... ‘Joel said smilingly as he dragged K’s body into the lift. “Come into the light...”
When K awoke he found himself inside a lift. The children were merrily playing cards.
“Where to next captain?” Joel asked.
K turned over on his back, inhaled a lungful of air and stared at the ceiling. “Downstairs...Pilot’s alive... I think… we need to help her.”
K breathed in…. and he breathed out… there was life enough in him to care to live yet. He realized that now…
Fin
