A Hero in the Dark: 2nd Edition

Chapter 41: Beacon in the Chaos

I'm in New York, I think, though I've never been to the city before. I think it's the Statue of Liberty in the distance, but for all I know, she could be a trick of the light.

There're buildings destroyed, like a monster just took a bite out of the skyline, growing fires, and smoke rising into the sky, turning it grey. Broken glass is laid out across the streets, NYPD cruisers overturned, but worst of all, is the dead; a mix of civilians and police... all of them lying on the sidewalks. I wander through it all like a spectator of World War Two until I come to a park.

I walk into a throng of people, all of them shaking. Kids are crying while their parents try helplessly to console them. People are shouting, dogs are barking; everyone's staring the same way. I follow their gaze, and ahead there's a stage with several nations' flags on its back: United States, Canada, England, Australia, Italy, Japan... It's a metre off the ground, making him that much more apparent. He's like a beacon in the chaos, dressed in formal black robes, a girl beside him. There're dark circles under her eyes and a scar on her ankle. I almost can't believe it.

"Today marks a glorious day!" he cries, arms upraised, "the day that the Loric resistance has been defeated!" And that's when I see it: Nine silver amulets sparkle like trophies over his chest, like prizes to be won for killing children. No, this can't be happening... "All except two," he goes on. He eyes me, and I gulp, then a scream shrieks from someone I haven't seen in so long.

"SAM!" I cry, but he doesn't hear me. I try to run to him, but a hand seizes me too.

"Behold!" he cries, "the last of the Loric Resistance!" What?! No! There's no way! What about Malcolm? Adam? Henri? Pixie?! My heart sinks at the thought of the bunny dying. Please—not Pixie, not her. "Once we end them, the Expansion over Earth will begin!"

Sam and I stand side by side each other behind the bold dictator. Ella watches us struggle and does nothing. I beg for her to do something—anything—but she just doesn't. Mogadorians cheer and the crowd murmurs, shouts, cries, saying stuff like, "You can't do this!"

I wish I could help, but seeing the pendants around his chest, knowing that Sam and I are the last ones, that Ella won't help, it breaks the reality to me: I failed. I was never strong enough.

Setrákus nears. My struggles increase but it does nothing. He pulls out a gleaming sword, longer than any others. Sam whimpers, and in one fluid motion, he strikes it through his chest. "SAM! NO!" I scream, fighting desperately to get free to be by his side, but it's no use.

He turns to me, and only then do I still. My eyes are heavy of tears when I look up at him. Blood spills onto the old wood as the massive alien being raises a hand. I can't pull away; I can't do anything except cringe as he grabs my cheeks, his breath foul on my face. "You joined the wrong side," he speaks. "Now here is the result you get."

Finally, he lets go, and again, raises the sword. "St—Stop!!!" I shout. "Don't do this!!" I don't know what else to do. My gaze ignites in fear as the blade goes up, then down, and he sends it rocketing into my chest. Everything stops, and I wake up screaming.

I sit up so fast it hurts. I can't breathe, can't stop shaking, or clinging to the sheets... the sheets.

I'm in a bed that isn't my own, not mine or the bed in Yellowhammer. It's bigger, probably bigger than a king; I can't even reach the ends of it. Every wall is dark, grey, plain. There's a desk in the corner with nothing but a book and a glass of water. I can't see the book's title, but it must have a thousand pages—at least! "No..." This can't be happening. This can't be real. "No. No. No!"

The blanket's so soft, yet my nails still dig into it into me. They hurt, but the pain's enough to let me take the time to check my body. I'm wearing a dress, one that I'd never wear, the exact same dress that Ella wore in that nightmare—black all over. I know it goes down to my ankles without even leaving the bed. It makes my entire body itch, everywhere, but—

There are no holes. There's no blood on me anywhere. My stomach and back ache like it's that time of the month but I know it's not. A white bandage surrounds my middle, looping around me—from under my breasts to the middle of my spine. My thigh hurts most of all. It throbs when I don't move and feels to tear when I do, like something's tugging at it, forcing me to keep still. It burns and the pain is searing. Another bandage wraps around me there, thicker than the other.

The hell? Who dressed me like this? Who bandaged me? What happened? Where am I?! "Pixie?" She's not at the foot of my bed like she usually is. She's nowhere to be seen, and she doesn't come when I call her name. "Where are you?"

I start to panic when I remember Alabama. Lexa... What happened? Is she—? Did she die from the explosion? Did they kill her? What happened to Pixie? Where am I?!

I grip the blanket harder; it feels like a crucifixion. I bite my lip with the clinch, thinking, wondering, praying that I'm not where I think I am when the door—which is really a wall that opens like pistons—opens wide with a hydraulic woosh and one of them walks in. Lights turn on when he moves, but I pay no attention to them. If he doesn't prove where I am, there's someone else that definitely will, and I'm terrified of seeing him again.

I'm frozen, replaying every detail of that nightmare over and over no matter how much I try to shut it out. "Where—" I start but stop for a breath. "Where am I?"

"Beloved Leader suspected you would have questions," the Mog responds in an accent I don't recognize, as if we aren't enemies at all. "He sent me to retrieve you."

Beloved Leader. Setrákus Ra—he's here! No! He can't be. I can't be captured again. I can't be his prisoner, not again, please, not again... I think I'm having a panic attack, which is strange because they aren't that common for me. "What—Why would I listen to anything you say?"

The Mog doesn't falter. He turns to the exit andmerely spits: "because he has your friend."