Invaded (IN NEED OF REVISING)

Chapter XXIII

Julianna

Music: Historic Soldier from Gradius ReBirth

Once the white smoke cleared, we could finally see what happened to the dragon. It was falling backwards slowly, and when its back touched the ground, it turned back into the human form. Then he just sorta disintegrated into thin air.

All of us instantly began celebrating. Heath and Jack did fist pumps and high-fived each other, as did Mackenzie and Eghosa. I was hugging anything that moved, pretty much, screaming, "We did it! We did it!"

Music: Escape to the Freedom from Gradius III Arcade

Once we all calmed down, another rumbling began, this time, from the building we were just in. An intercom voice called out, "Base will self-destruct in 1 minute."

"Okay... we should probably get out of here now," Elle said quickly.

The backyard fences were way too high for us to climb, so we had to go back through the inside. The base wasn't already beginning to explode, but none of us were taking any chances. Fortunately, we didn't have to go very far to reach the outside.

After we did get outside, however, Heath began freaking out a bit. "Where's Luke, and those two other tribe members?"

"Up here!" a voice shouted from above. It was Luke, flying with the two young men he had with him.

"I will never understand that kid," Mackenzie muttered.

"Guys, look!" Eghosa called out, pointing to the base. "It's beginning to self-destruct!"

Music: Fire Tripper from Salamander 2

Turning our attention back to the exploding base, we found a pleasing sight. Now explosions were beginning to burst from various places of the building. Screams of terror could also be heard from the inside of the building. Screams from people who didn't have a whole lot longer to live.

And then, finally, the base exploded into a gigantic ball of flame. Another huge cheer was let out from us.

"FINALLY! This stupid ordeal is over!" I screamed, wrapping my arms around Eghosa tightly.

"Can we go home now?" Jack asked.

"Eh, why the hell not?" Mackenzie laughed.

And so, the seven of us began the long trek back home. Well, home as in near the neighborhood right next to what used to be our middle school. We walked for approximately an hour and a half before Heath noticed something peculiar:

"I remember looking around here earlier and noticing the occasional tribe member going through the streets. Now, however... I don't see them anywhere around here."

"You think us defeating their boss had something to do with it?" Mackenzie asked.

"I'm not sure. Sam?"

Sam smiled. "I think a quick flight around the place will give us a better idea. C'mon, guys."

So we boarded Sam's hovercraft (which was weird for Eghosa and I, as it was our first time) and set out to see what we could find.

Heath

We started by flying around our hometown, finding out that sure enough, all previously existing tribe members seemingly vanished into thin air. Then we took it a little farther and did a flight around the entire state of Missouri.

After that, Jack said jokingly, "I wonder how the rest of the world is looking."

"Why don't we find out?" Sam smirked.

Jack then laughed at Sam, then realized he was serious.

So we went to a few other countries to see what they were like. I won't go into too much detail on every single country, but for the most part, they weren't as badly affected as the United States was. London got pretty screwed, though. France didn't seem to get affected at all, which led us to believe they didn't get attacked by the tribe at all.

"Lucky bastards," I muttered when we were flying away from there.

After that, we flew back to where we began flying and walked around some more. Eventually, we were able to locate downtown. But something was... different about it compared to when we last saw it.

It had seemingly repaired itself.

"Huh?" Sam asked when we arrived. "What happened here?"

"Maybe it was magic?" I joked.

"I know you were joking, but that could very well actually be the case," Mackenzie nodded.

After a quick go-through of downtown (and some dinner at Neighborhood Cafe), we found a random bench and hung around it (only Sam, Elle, and Julianna actually sat on the bench).

"We technically just saved the world. Freaking unbelievable," Eghosa said in disbelief.

"If only our other friends were here to experience this with us," Elle sighed, a daydream-ish look on her face.

A few minutes later, we once again began walking back to our destination. We started by crossing the street we were on. I was the last one to cross, and everyone else before me had no issues at all.

But as I was crossing, I noticed a large van driving quickly towards me.

I wasn't even given a chance to react.

Everything went black instantly.

Elle

Music: And Then? from Salamander 2

The sound of a collision erupted from behind us. "Uh, Heath?" Jack asked, turning his head around sharply. Heath did not reply.

"Uh, Heath?" I called out. That's when I noticed Heath's limp body on the ground and gasped. Jack gasped after I did, and then everyone turned their head one-by-one, saw Heath, and gasped as well.

"NO!" Eghosa screamed, running to Heath's body. For the most part, he looked fine, but a quick lift-up of his shirt revealed a big, bad, bloody spot. It wasn't terrible... yet.

As if it were a romantic movie, Eghosa lay over Heath's body, sobbing. The rest of us just stood by, silently.

It was not only an awful scene to watch, but also a bit awkward.

...don't ask why I'm doing this. Also, 2 more chapters left hype. Guess I know how I'm spending tonight...