My Year Abroad

Chapter 31

Jordan and Megan followed closely behind Cameron. The wolves seemed shook up by Cameron's presence, but they were smart enough to stand down. Once they were far enough away from the corpses they continued their feast.

"Is it really okay to turn our backs like this?" Megan asked.

"Look around, and you should have your answer," Jordan replied.

Witnessing the towering Cerrullians frozen in place, and scattered along the ground Megan's focus was redirected. Hearing about aliens was one thing, but seeing them was another. Jordan's investigation seemed to be on the frozen woman.

'Why would reptiles need breasts?'

They spent a few minutes examining the aliens before leaving the barrier. The minute they exited teams were sent down to clean up the scene. Given the damage a complete fix was impossible, but disposal of the foreign objects was.

A team swept the area for any remaining tech as the ship transported the corpses. The top priority was tracking Cameron's movements, and retrieving the frozen subjects he left behind. Enki had his drones trailing behind Cameron at a safe distance.

With Enki's focus split, the approaching stealth jets were noticed late. By the time the alarm was raised only half the job was done. They managed to get personnel back on the ship but at the cost of leaving things behind. The chimera corpses were exposed on the mountainside along with the fried stabilizer.

This was indeed an error on their behalf, but the top priority was delivering their tribute. When the jets swept the area they witnessed their mothership dissipating the clouds. Chasing them was out of their reach still, but their recon below was fruitful.

"We encountered the UAP, but couldn't engage. You need to send every cleaner in the sector to these coordinates." The pilot radioed before circling back.

In a neighboring city, the officers who confronted Cameron remained hospitalized. They only recently awoke and went through a strict interrogation. To ensure no stone was unturned Murphy's team handled the questioning.

The officers described the chase in great detail, but the ending perplexed them. There was a time gap in their story, and when investigating the satellite feed it was corrupted. They missed the chase but witnessed the officers sleeping in the street for half an hour.

They expected to track their next location with the troopers' assistance but came up short. That's when a call of unusual earthquakes came through, and jets were sent out to investigate. This was enough to get back on the road, but the UAP sighting expedited their trip.

"Show us in route, and set up roadblocks five miles in each direction." Murphy relayed.

Arriving at the base of the mountain was Murphy's team. They exited the vehicle with agent Garrett running point. Shades on at night seemed redundant, but they could see things hidden to the human eye.

One of the other features was night vision making navigating the rocky terrain a breeze. Once they found the ram's corpse it wasn't long till the first battle scene was unveiled. Chimera's weren't an alien species but still resided on the index.

"Have you ever seen something like this?" Garrett asked.

"Only in mythology," Murphy replied.

"Hybrids aren't out of human capabilities, but this is." Mika pointed at the piles of rubble.

"Science has come a long way, but that's only from their mistakes," Murphy stated.

"What do you mean by that?" Omar asked.

"He's referring to the dire wolf recovered in Utah." Mika squatted down to examine the chimera's jaw.

'There's no way he's human.'

"I thought that place was a hoax." Omar searched the perimeter.

"That's the silver lining of this kind of work. No one ever believes their stories." Garrett smirked.

"It does make our jobs easier," Murphy stated.

'Having them intact like this will do wonders for Kurt's work.'

"We need to get these to S4 right away," Murphy announced.

"I'll put someone on it," Mika replied.

"No I need someone I trust handling it. Take Omar with you, and get back with a report in the morning." Murphy ordered.

"Yes sir." Mika motioned at Omar.

'Just the two of us?' Omar eagerly bagged up the chimera.

"While you're there get some rest, and review the dossier once more," Murphy took photos of the scene.

"You need to sleep too," Mika stated.

"And I will, but only when this place is cleaned. Thank you for the concern." Murphy smiled.

From above the sound of a chopper descending could vaguely be heard. Mika assisted in attaching the precious cargo before being airlifted out. The moment Mika was secured in her seat she looked down at the sight.

This wasn't the first siege held upon the Earth, but it was the first on US soil since Nome. Even then their actions were discreet. A ground attack on this scale was unprecedented, and Mika couldn't help but ponder the cause.

'Why are they fighting here? I know the breachers can lead to advancements in society, but they are already beyond us. Maybe they want us to themselves? That theory just brings more questions than answers. I should be at his side, not Garrett.' Mika clenched her fist and looked down once more.

'We got bigger problems to worry about right now. How are we gonna cover this one up?' Mika sighed at the decimated mountainside.

"What's wrong?" Omar investigated.

"Nothing," Mika replied while checking on the cargo.

'She's always talkative with the others, but I get the shortest responses. I wonder if I upset her in the academy. Even if she doesn't like me there's something wrong I can feel it.' Omar motioned the pilot to switch to another channel.

"I know we're just colleagues, but if something is wrong you can talk to me. We're supposed to be a team remember?" Omar was too embarrassed to meet her gaze and just stared out the window.

"There's just so much to do, and we get sent back to base," Mika stated.

'She actually responded.' Omar turned her way.

"If you ask me there's more to it than that, but if you don't wanna tell me it's okay. Just know I have your back no matter what." Omar rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Thank you." Mika smiled.

'And she smiled.'