After Fate Fell

60 • NINE

1 year, 3 months, and 21 days after it all
•NINE•

Being held captive in West Virginia for as long as I was sucked, but at least I know where a whole fleet of Mogadorian ships are.

We're on a flight from Windhoek to Pittsburgh, what will finally be our last flight on this planet, but we'll still have another trip to make, one that will last much longer than this little 15 hour flight. I have to admit I don't like flying, but I think I'll be able to tolerate the trip home, due to the circumstances.

The ships in the mountainside in the Mogs' old base in West Virginia were a slew of different types, all used for different purposes. Many of these were designed for battle, smaller ships to zip through the sky and aim fire at enemies (meaning us) on the ground, and a few larger ones that were made to fly higher in the sky and do more damage. But there were a few ships that weren't meant for battle, they were made for traveling not low or high in the atmosphere, but for leaving it. These ships brought the Mogadorians here to Earth, and endured a long trip from the planet Mogadore. These are the ships that will take us home. One of them, I mean. I just hope that at least one still remains there.
Nobody sleeps on the flight, even though we may all be exhausted, we aren't thinking about rest right now, we're only thinking about one thing: We're going home.

The car ride through the desert was a blur in my mind, I guess because it all looked the same, sand everywhere just as it had been for however long we were in the dry, barren land of the Namib. It was a squeeze fitting us all into one car, but we didn't care, nobody minded. Just a few days earlier we had thought we might be stranded out there to die. Any way out was fine by us.

My mind turns to Lorien, the world where I spent the first years of my life, the place I still call home after all these years. I'm ready to be there again.

Somehow, I drift off to sleep, dreaming of home.

//

We rent a car from the airport, where we'll take south past Pittsburgh and into West Virginia.

We stop at a grocery store and stock up for our trip home. It takes multiple carts full of all kinds of food, but we finally get it all loaded into the car.

"We should stop in Morgantown, I heard it's party USA there," I joke.

"The last thing on my mind right now is partying, Nine," Six says, glaring at me.

//

The drive starts off hilly and eventually we're in the mountains, but I don't mind. I'd take the rolling green mountains over the shifting sands of the desert any day.

After Morgantown, there's a few more little towns and then we're into the heart of West Virginia, where there's nothing but the mountains towering around you on all sides. These mountains are nothing like the Himalayas, but I'd say they're just as beautiful. I shudder though, because as beautiful as this place is laying out before me, it's starting to remind me of my years in captivity.

The radio eventually goes to static as I know we've entered the radio quiet zone. I remember hearing about it somewhere, I can't remember. Apparently there's a huge telescope that searches for radio waves out in space that would otherwise be masked by manmade waves here on Earth. Around it is an area of land about fifty miles in all directions, where radio waves are strictly limited. No wi-fi connection, no heating up your food in the microwave, no listening to the radio. I would say I can't imagine life within the quiet zone, but then again, I did live around here once, it wasn't my choice though.

It's funny that the telescope was searching for things out in space, doing research or whatever, but hundreds of alien ships flew right by and into these very mountains without detection.

//

We're getting close, I know it. And I'm happy for it. The country roads are making me sick. We turn down a street which has a faded sign reading "Hawk's Nest State Park". The beaten road curves down through the hills, we're descending into a valley in the park, and I catch a quick view of the river.

"We take this road for a ways further and then we have to walk the rest of the way," Six says from the passenger seat as Sam drives.

"Yeah, I remember this part," Sam says as he carefully drives down the narrow road.

After what seems like an eternity, we finally make it to the point where the road comes to an end and we have to get out of the car and walk along the dirt path the rest of the way.

We grab what we need from the car, all the food we just bought.

The walk is exhausting, especially with all the extra weight of our luggage, but none of us complain because we all know without a doubt that this is worth it.

Six leads the way, because although a lot of us have been here before, she knows this place best, she's the one who drew the map for Sam and John to follow to make it to the cave when she was going to find Marina in Spain. That was when they found me and freed me from the cave, and I finally reunited with the others. I hadn't realized how important reuniting was to me until I was finally along with the others, riding alongside them, sleeping alongside them, hiding along with them, but not for long because we were finally ready to fight.

We near the cave, and I can feel the mix of emotions hanging in the air between us all. Fear, exhaustion, worry, but also hope and excitement of what's to come. Somehow, I feel all of these at once, and I feel weighed down and lifted up at the same time. I just hope once we leave the ground, I won't be weighed down by all that we lost here. Because we lost too much on this rock of a planet. Too much.