30 Days a Soldier

Chapter 8: Goodbye

As close as they were to the vast black craft, not a sound could be heard from it other than the crackle of the lightning blazing atop of it. Even as they ran closer to the enormous alien craft and weaved their way between hundreds of fleeing civilians, it just seemed to grow larger and larger to the point where even though it was right in front of them, their minds simply refused to believe that it was real based on their perception of what can fly. You could almost taste the fear in the air, fear mixing with sweat, smoke and the strong current of electricity which charged the air around them, so strong was this current that their entire skin seemed to be tingling as if covered in ice.

Running on and feeling Sam's hand squeeze tighter around his own, the two of them with Cassie by their side were lit up by the blaze of bright blue and white lightning blazing into the sky around them from the curved dorsal hull of the vast transport, and then the bright orange and blue explosions of the tantalisingly small craft which was struck. Soldiers and emergency service personnel surrounded the entrances to the transport directing the fleeing Londoners into the sombre red lit abyss which lay within, and from there who knows where.

Hand left hand struggling with Cassie's lead as she reached into her dust covered blue jeans for her phone, Sam stumbled as she read a message she had just received before calling out "It's Mark...he's stuck on Fulham Road, he can't get to Hyde Park in time..." hearing her and understanding that Hyde Mark must be another evacuation site, John kept them both going even harder as the sound of gunfire and screams grew even more intense to their right. So bad was it that more soldiers were running across their path and into that direction and were it not for the thick smoke and the heavy press of refugees around them, then he may have seen what they were firing at, he just knew that whatever it was, the soldiers were likely losing which put them in more danger.

Heartbeat racing like a four stroke engine, the beats forcing pint after pint of adrenaline infused blood around his body, his reactions altered, sped up, John knew he had to make a decision. He couldn't explain it, but as they closed on the vast craft – the closest thing they had to a guarantee of safety – he had seen hundreds of fleeing refugees around him and the military personnel doing whatever they could to ensure their safety and he just knew that he couldn't run. For a man as selfish as John, a man who couldn't give a toss about the vast majority of humanity, who would only consider laying down his life for one person; it was totally out of character and was as if a veil had been lifted these past twenty minutes.

Slowing just before one of many vast entrances lining the triangular craft, a grooved ramp leading into the red lit corridors within, John brought them to a standstill. Turning to her brother with a quizzical expression on her face as refugees swept past their tiny group, Sam went to ask why he had stopped before she was interrupted by John as with an almost whispery voice he told her "Go."

As damaged as their hearing was due to the explosions they had not only been part of but were still part of, Sam still heard John enough to understand what he said, "No, you can't do this to me. You're coming too." With every word john could feel her trying to pull him with her, and to a certain extent he acquiesced if only to get her onto the ramp.

"I can't, not yet. It just wouldn't feel right to leave knowing that I can help here..."

"Help? You're no soldier and don't even kid yourself that you are."

For once in his life, John felt that it was time to be truthful, "No, I'm just the joke aren't I? The person nobody takes seriously? Every day the people who are supposed to care about me put me down without even a seconds thought. I thought that you would understand me most of all, would understand why I need to do this, so why can't you, why can't you see the real me?"