When Worlds Collide (MxM)✔

Chapter 25 - The Facility

The Terrans stood, mouth agape, at the slaughter before them. Pink blood puddled from the fallen Twilups, with some struggling to get back up as they fought their inevitable fate.

Kade emerged from his hiding spot, ready to rejoin the two and hurry back to the capital, when he was grabbed from behind and dragged into the foliage. He tried to let out a scream but was cut off as a cloth was stuffed into his mouth.    

"Kade?" Aino called, missing what had happened but having heard the noise.

Kade struggled harder when pressure was applied to his neck and head as he was held in a sleeper hold. He fought bravely to stay awake, but he inevitably passed out.

The next thing he heard was a buzzing sound. A bright, green light flashed behind his eyelids, and he slowly opened them.

"I'm telling you, it spoke!" A man was arguing.

"Then it was probably another human trapped here too!"

"Its hair was weird, and it had markings like an animal!"

"Are you sure it wasn't tattoos and a weird hairdo?"

"It was huge too! With weird ears! And there was another one with it, with fangs!"

"You're acting paranoid now. Just hurry up and haul him through the portal so we can get the hell out of here and let someone else figure it out."

Kade's wrists were tied behind his back, but now, so were his ankles, and his mouth was gagged. He wiggled his hands to see if he could loosen them but was caught by the guy in the polo shirt.

"Hey! Watch it!" The man warned, holding his hand up like he was about to smack him. "I'm already in enough trouble for letting you escape before. Don't give me a reason!"

"Are we not taking the plane?" Lucy mourned as everyone gathered around a seven foot tall spinning ball of light. "It might fit."

"No Lucy, the plane won't fit inside the facility room." Isaac, the bearded man rationalized. "Not unless you want to crush us all."

She stared at the ball with a huff. "Then who goes first?"

"I know." Kade was roughly picked up off the ground and dragged toward the light by none other than Peter himself. Before he could fight or make a noise, the army man tossed him into the portal.

The smell of ozone consumed his senses, and his whole body felt like it had static running through it. He went weightless within the light, and blindly flopped around, spinning in place until he thudded against the hard steel floor.

The green glow of the portal illuminated the familiar room. Kade recognized it all. The steel walls and floors, the sterile white lights above, and the radiation-proof glass window with onlookers watching from the other side.

The people looked confused but remained safely on the other side of the observation deck. Meanwhile, the rest of the group arrived from Terra, stepping from the portal one by one.

A robotic voice cut over the buzzing noise. "Closing portal."

The lights dimmed, and then the portal shrunk until it flickered into a small, suspended spark within the circular frame.

Peter and the others dragged their equipment behind them, setting the bags beside the door as it was pushed through decontamination. One by one they went through, seeming to have forgotten about Kade.

Peter spoke with one of the main scientists. Then three more came in through the doors and picked Kade up so he could be processed separately.

He was sprayed down, dried off, and stripped of his clothes, in that order. His clothes were shipped off to be tested somewhere else in the facility. He was then given Khakis and a shirt and left to sit in quarantine.