Fenris Perrywinkle: The Great Galactic Duel

Chapter V: A Rescue, a Revelation, and a Missed Opportunity

The sight of the dead soldiers all around us makes me want to yak my lizard breakfast all over the desert sand. Amanda seems to have things pulled together; no big surprise there. She is busily scavenging the carnage for supplies.

I look down at my hands to see that they're still shaking pretty bad. My breathing has finally slowed down, but I still feel like my blood is boiling inside my veins. I suddenly revert to my five year old self and crumble to the earth in tears. I'm pretty sure I've just been 'bad' and I feel terrible.

I hope Amanda isn't watching me weep like a baby. This is embarrassing.

Nope. I feel her hand on my shoulder. "You're alright, Fenris. You wouldn't have done it if they had left us alone. It was an 'us or them' situation. You're alright."

I look up at her with my reddened eyes like a small child. I must look so pathetic right now. "What happened, Dr. Vincent? What did I do to these poor men?"

Amanda takes a long breath and sits down beside me. "I didn't see much."

I'm not letting her get away with that. "What did you see?"

She wipes her nose on her sleeve and sniffs a couple of times. "You were standing in the air radiating energy bolts everywhere."

That rhymed. Usually I love a good rhyme. Not this time.

"I was... I was... ". I can't seem to finish sentences right now.

She nods. "You were flying. Or at least hovering. You definitely defied gravity."

We sit together in silence as that revelation sinks in. I can fly? I can radiate energy bolts? What else can I do? Am I the last son of a doomed world way out in the cosmos somewhere? Do I need a costume of some sort? What am I going to call myself? Which country am I going to represent? Maybe I won't be beholding to one country, maybe I'll just defend the whole world! I wonder if girls will dig this? I'm going to be famous! I'm going to be rich, get invited to all the best parties, and date super models! I'm going to have lots and lots of sex!

"Fenris. You're drooling."

I'm an idiot. I'm never getting laid. I'm some sort of monster. Monsters don't get chicks – they get stabbed in the face.

Amanda stands and takes me by the hand. The skin-to-skin contact brings me back to reality. "Come on, we've got to get moving. I'm sure there are more soldiers coming."

We find a jeep that still works, throw a bunch of food rations and clothes in the back, and take off in the opposite direction that the military came. I look over at Amanda as she drives. She wears a pair of scavenged aviator sunglasses and has her hair tied back in a ponytail. She looks calm and relaxed as she drives swiftly through the desert. I'm so glad she's here. She's my hero. She's my Rambo.

"Take your medication, Fenris."

And a multitasker! She's keeping us alive and reminding me to take my medication. Do any of you wonder why I love this woman? I just want to hug and kiss her all the time.

The sun begins to dip below the horizon. Breathtaking purples and oranges paint themselves across the clouds in the sky. A peaceful and beautiful end to a day that's been anything but.

A white rectangle opens twenty feet over our heads. Little Green pokes his head over the glowing opening. "I'm sorry, Champion Fenris, but we're out of time."

Amanda and I float upward out of the moving jeep toward the cloaked ship above us. The military vehicle decelerates and comes to an abrupt stop in a bed of cactus.