MOTHERS

◙twenty-six◙

The alien named Lola—the de-facto leader, it seemed—had sauntered off to a random room and locked herself in. Lorelai perceived a heavy surcharge of stress from her. She'd been massaging her temples and huffing and puffing every few minutes, as if something was plaguing her mind, disturbing her on the inside. She didn't come off as the sharing type, and with all her siblings off on a mission to kill the remaining humans in the lab, she might have needed space and time to herself. To regroup, reformulate her plans.

The instant the door closed behind her, all four human women let loose all their tension. Esme crumbled, Auryn cried, and Tegan dropped her bolder than most act and sat on the floor, her butt resting a bit too close to a puddle of blood for Lorelai's comfort. Lorelai herself remained attached to the wall, not trusting herself to keep her balance.

"Okay," said Tegan, after a collective moment of silence, of gathering their thoughts and strength and coming to terms with their apocalyptic situation. "How the fuck do we get out of here? Out of this?"

"Well, they're having issues," said Auryn, between sniffles. "Lola mumbled about how they blew a few fuses or something. They must have triggered some kind of back-up system, since all the lights turned on and the doors opened."

"The blind guy," said Tegan, gesturing towards the stairwell. "He can control electronics or some shit, yeah? That was the impression I got."

Esme cleared her throat, wrinkling her nostrils at the decaying arm that she spotted near her wedged shoes. She stepped away from it and crossed her arms. "Probably, but I think he can't control this back-up system, if that's what this is. Maybe it's not controlled by the lab? It's connected to somewhere on the outside?"

Auryn raised a finger to the air. "Solar powered. A lot of back-up generators are like that, especially in the city. One of the better laws Dictator D put into place recently." She snorted, wiping her nose. "Well, the only better law he put into place, period."

"So does that mean all the doors are open?" Tegan glanced at Auryn, who seemed to be the most knowledgeable in terms of technology. Lorelai recalled she'd once mentioned something about a degree in electro-mechanics, back when they were first leaving the lab. "Including the exits?"

Auryn nodded. "Most likely. The generator would turn everything back on. And I'll bet that's why that Lola chick is so distraught. The other guy must have told her he couldn't fix this, and now they have to scramble to kill everyone before they get out. Before anyone spills the truth..."

"So we gotta go," said Lorelai, still struggling to find her voice. She'd nearly fainted, she'd thrown up, lost her balance, and couldn't speak properly. This experience was taking a toll on her more than anyone else, and she wanted, needed to leave.

"Right, but how?" Esme motioned at the stairs. "How do we escape them, sneak past them? There's four of them, four of us, and they're... they're aliens. With powers and tentacles and tails and laser beams—" she heaved, bending over to set her hands on her knees and take several deep breaths. "They'll know we're trying to get out, they'll sense it. They sense everything."

"But now's the time to do it," said Lorelai, flattening her hand to the wall, ignoring the shivers crawling down her legs. "With all of them distracted, and with one of them clearly under pressure... we can catch them unawares. They wouldn't expect us to defy them, right? They wouldn't expect us to try to break free, not after the display of strength they've shown. Not after," she waved frantically towards the hallway and the bodies littering its floors, "this."

"She's not wrong," said Tegan, turning to face Lorelai, looking her up and down. "But we'll bump into them, guaranteed. We'll have to talk our way out of this, explain why we're wandering around... and that won't be easy. It's likely not all of us can make it out, guys."