The Lack of Bravery That Saved the World

The Last Few Hours

Tramon called his brother after dinner and learned that Toya still had not been located. He agreed to meet Ceasar at the main intersection in front of the Repository. It had only been two hours since she was last seen. Ceasar questioned Arlen and Arlen insisted that he didn't know where Toya was. Ceasar had already checked with her friends and they said that they had not seen her since she left her after-school job at the Ark.

They were standing outside of the store deciding where to look next when Dev walked out with his bird food. Dev knew Tramon through Peyco and knew Ceasar well enough to nod at. He could tell that the brothers were upset. They asked if he had seen Toya and showed him a picture. Dev said that he hadn't been outside very long and had not seen her, but he would help them look for her.

The three men were deciding where to split up when Ceasar's telecom rang. It was a message from Saeena that said urgent and come to hospital. Ceasar assumed that it was about Toya and texted her back that he was five minutes away. Tramon and Dev decided to follow to make sure he found Toya.

While riding to the hospital, the three men could tell that something was terribly wrong. People were running and screaming out of the hospital entrance. It took twice as long to get into the hospital bay because of the panic and fear in the hallway. Soon Ceasar was diving and shoving to get through the exiting crowd, with every step his own fear was growing.

Tramon was trying to get information from the fleeing people and no one would even stop to talk to him. These where people he had known his whole life and they were so scared they were blindly thrashing through the halls. Tramon and Dev had to help several people back on their feet who were being trampled.

When Caesar made it to Saeena, she quickly told him that it wasn't Toya. She explained that something was infecting employees in the hospital and appeared to transfer like electricity. They had locked the last patient that had been infected in the only rubberized room that they had.

Caesar worked for the Energy and Sanitation Plant and carried rubberized gloves and boots on his tram. He ran outside to get them. Once he made it back inside with all the equipment he had, Saeena show him the way to the room that contained the alien. He had hoped that he may be able to save the person in the room.

From the door of the room, it was obvious that the last victim was not alive. It looked like the alien exploded from the victim. The was blood and exposed body parts. Caesar could see some internal organs and even bones that appeared to be from the rib cage. In the upper half of the body, Caesar could see an odd throbbing. It almost looked like the patient was breathing, but the pulsing was a blue flickering color and was moving from side to side in the body. He did recognize that the alien had some the same properties that electricity had.

By now, Tramon and Dev had made it to the door and stood with Ceasar. The men immediately started putting on the gloves and boots that Ceasar had brought. All the employees in the hospital had fled and the halls were deserted except for the three men and Saeena. Saeena was crying.

Ceasar forced Saeena to leave, reasoning with her that she had to get to the kids. She was begging him to go with her and he kept telling her no. Saeena finally stopped arguing. She new that Ceasar was not the type of man to walk away. She kissed him, said a fast prayer with him and ran down the quiet halls and out of the hospital.

Ceasar opened the door, he understood that the alien could not travel on the rubber walls or floor. He slowly walked through the door towards the top half of the body. Ceasar was talking to the other two men the entire time. He was explaining that they needed a way to transport the alien to the outside of the ship. He showed how he was able to touch the body with the large plastic pliers that he had and the alien could not travel up the pliers or get past his insulated gloves.

Tramon left and returned shortly with a large plastic trash can to put the top half of the body that contained the alien in. There were not enough gloves for Dev, so he stood farther back and watched while the two brothers struggled to pick up the remains of the body that contained the alien and deposit it in the trash can.

Once they had the lid on the plastic can, they lifted the can onto a gurney. They all three ran with the gurney down the halls towards one of the ports so they could throw the container off of the ship.

Around the last corner, the gurney got caught on a floor tile and jerked to a stop. The plastic can flew off and landed in the floor, spilling its grizzly contents. The weakened alien began to search the floor for metal so it could travel to an energy source. It was gaining strength by the second. It's pulsing and bubbly blue light was moving faster and faster. It was apparently feeding off of a small amount of energy in the floor.

The three men looked at the end of the hall and could see the open door to the exit pod. It was only forty feet away. They had to stop the alien before it devoured everyone in the ship. Already it had learned so much. They had to get the alien the forty feet into the pod.

Ceasar looked at the other two men, "Tell my family I love them". There were tears in his eyes.

"No!" Tramon yelled. "I can go, I don't even have a family yet!" He immediately thought of Peyco.

As the two brothers were talking, Dev quietly reached out and touched the shoulder of the body. The alien quickly slid into Dev. The electric shocks it caused felt like it was biting him on the inside.

The two brothers were in shock. Quiet, mild mannered Dev had simply made the choice, with no discussion or hesitation. At last, he had had the courage to take action. He knew that he was saving so many people and was grateful for the second chance, even if it costed him his life.

Dev began running the forty feet to the exit pod.

It was hours before Arlen confessed to them what he had known the entire time. Toya was playing in the back of the exit pod and probably just fell asleep again.

He had no way to know that it was the same exit pod that Ceasar and Tramon had shot into space with a high voltage alien and a human hero.