Take Me Home

Panic

Nick watched Kevin squirm in his seat across from him when the other man came and he felt slightly uncomfortable.

“I'll just be a moment, if you'll excuse me.”

He stepped outside and he could just barely hear them talking but didn't care to listen.

Take me home, Nick….I want to go home…

His head shot up at the sound of Brian's voice and his heart began pounding faster. Taking slow shaky breaths, he held his head as he started trembling. Memories were trying to surface and he pushed them away, pushed them back to the corner of his mind where they'd been locked up.

“Are you sure it's him?”

Kevin’s voice sounded distressed. Nick moved closer to the door to get a better listen, his ear pressed near the door jam.

“It's your cousin. We have him down in the infirmary. Something is happening to him. He passed out in front of us and hasn't woken.”

Nick felt his own breath catch in his throat. Brian was in danger. He was out looking for him and it was all his fault. He suddenly felt the door move and was knocked to the floor, Kevin looking down at him in surprise.

“What are you doing?”

Nick got up and tackled Kevin to the ground. Kevin was strong but he didn't really fight back.

“Stop him!” he shouted. Nick managed to get away and ran, ran as fast as he could. He had to find him before something terrible happened. Brian was sick and it was his fault. He could hear people shouting behind him but did not stop. He ran and ran.

I'm coming to get you, just hold on…

He hoped Brian could hear him wherever he was.

***********************

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU LOST HIM?!”

Kevin flinched at the sound of Sienna’s voice. She slammed her hand down on the table and threw her chair aside, causing it to crash angrily into the wall and splinter. Kevin cowered in front of her.

“Your Highness-”

Her expression suddenly changed, and she smiled sweetly, pressing her hands together and tapping her fingertips against one another. The only sound in the room was her boots clicking on the floor as she paced, thinking.

“I'm sure it was a mistake, right? I mean-you wouldn't…purposely let him escape, would you? Because that would be most unfortunate after the deal we made. It would be simply terrible if something happened to everything you've built here for these survivors.” she said sweetly, her voice dropping low. Kevin was trembling. He didn't dare stand, he stayed in his spot near the table as if she were a bomb set to explode any moment. He knew what he was dealing with. He'd seen it before. The destruction she caused.

“N-never, your Majesty. I have my best men looking for him. We have Brian hidden, there's no way he will find him.”

He looked at the floor, feeling bad about the situation because all of this was his fault. Everything that had happened, the war…..all of this was his fault. Nick and Brian didn't realize just how big all of this was. It was bigger than the both of them, and they had gotten caught in it because of his mistake. He'd been in charge of keeping Nick safe. He'd failed.

There were explosions happening all around the base and Kevin ran, looking for his father who was in charge of the American division of Earth’s army. They were being attacked.

“Hurry, son! Come on…we have to go!”

“Dad….wait!!!”

He couldn't keep up, he felt himself getting out of breath but he couldn't lose his Dad. There were people running in every direction. Finally they came to stop in front of the infirmary.

“Take your cousin….” his father begged. His cousin was crying, his blue eyes big with tears as he coughed. He was trembling, burying his face into his cousin’s shoulder.

“Come on, Brian. It's going to be okay.”

Brian kept crying, as things crumbled around them. He was so pale, so thin and frail but they could never figure out why he was always sick.

“Dad?” Kevin called. He didn't see his dad anymore through the smoke. He tried his best to shush the small child in his arms, tried to keep calm for him. His shoulder was soaked with tears.

He almost didn't see the other boy in front of him, nearly tripped on him in the smoke.

“Where's your parents?” he asked. The boy was different than any other child he had seen on the base. He had a mop of blonde hair, and big blue eyes. He wasn't crying, just standing there as if he were waiting to be found. The base shook, walls around them crumbling. Miraculously, nothing fell anywhere near them. It was as if a unknown force was keeping them safe.

“Kevin!!!”

He heard his dad finally, and took the boy’s hand as part of the wall gave way. The boy didn't protest at all, he just seemed to know to go with him. Brian suddenly grew quiet and still. It was then Kevin knew that he had discovered something special. Something he'd never encountered before.

“Where did you find-” his father shouted, but another explosion silenced him.

“Never mind. Take them and run! Keep them away from them. Whatever you do, don't let them have those kids!”

Kevin nodded and took the boys, running. He managed to get away, but his father didn't make it. His father was killed in the attack that night, leaving Brian and Nick in his care….

Kevin knew he had been stupid and he hated himself for it every day. Every day he worried about them when Brian had left. He wished he had told them the truth.

Every day he lived was filled with regret.

He hoped one day things would change.

***********************

“FIND HIM!!!” Sienna screamed at her soldiers, watching them scramble to follow her orders. She sometimes wondered why she just didn't do it herself but why get her hands dirty when the soldiers would answer everything she told them? They were pathetic anyway. As long as she could get Nick, she didn't care who she killed along the way or how much blood was spilled in the process. Nick was a valuable piece to her conquering Earth once and for all, to destroy the Human race.

Soon everyone would know not to go back on a deal with her planet.