The Only

CH 30

The darkness was warm and comforting. I felt so far away from the apocalypse-ridden Earth. So far from the alien-infested aluminum disc in the sky; so far from the terrifying clinical medic bay my body was trapped in.

SLAM!! Crash!!

I felt the mask get ripped off my face and I sucked in the oxygen. I opened my eyes to see Timmy standing over me, smiling.

A doctor came up behind him, scalpel raised. Tim whipped around and punched him in the stomach, sending him flying into the wall. He slumped to the floor, dead.

Timmy rushed to the machine, slammed his hand down on a few buttons, and started toward Solketch. He ripped the wires off of him, electric shocks flying through the air.

Solktech's eyes flew open. "What?!" He jumped to his feet and grabbed Tim by the collar. He lifted Timmy off his feet, and my hand went to my belt.

I stood up quietly, unnoticed my Solktech. My army knife was in my hand, open. I threw it, the blade sliding cleanly into the general's temple. He dropped, releasing Timmy. Tim stood up and pulled my knife out of the lifeless body on the floor.

He handed me my knife as the second doctor grabbed a tool from the table. I threw a punch at it, grazing his right temple. Timmy ran to the machine and started unscrewing the glass tube, full of the blue smoke.

I grabbed a tool from the table, an instrument with a rotary wheel with spikes around it. I thrust it in the direction of the doctor, slicing open his shoulder.

"I got it," Timmy yelled, holding up the tube.

I moved to unhook Jesse. "Leave him," Timmy said. "He's too far gone."

I looked toward Jesse one last time, his lifeless body laying across a hospital bed. Solktech laid dead on the floor beside him.

The doctor gathered himself and came toward me again, his injuries slowing him down.

Timmy handed me the tube. "Run."

He pressed the button to open the door. As they slid open I ran out into the corridor.

Left. Left. Right. Left. Right. Right. Doors. I slammed my free hand on the button and the doors opened. Timmy appeared right behind me, running around the last corner.

The room was empty. The glass circle in the center of the room was glowing orange, a fiery color.

I stood in the center of the circle, while Timmy pressed buttons on the machine. He moved over to the wall where he pressed more buttons and spoke into the computer.

"Set sequence at T - 30 seconds."

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"No time." He answered. "Now."

He joined me at the center of the circle. The ship around me faded into darkness as the doors to the room opened and Tcheena himself burst into the room, with five guards at his flank.

The next thing I saw was ashes. The school grounds surrounded me, the alien ship far above my head. Timmy held tight to my right hand, the glass tube in my left.

The second mothership came into view, pulling in fast next to the first.

"Watch," Timmy said, smiling from ear to ear.

The feaster's ship increased in speed, not stopping at the pawn ship. They collided, the sound of the explosion blowing out my hearing for several seconds.

The ships destroyed each other, flames and gasses shooting into the atmosphere above us.

I smiled, finally feeling free.

"I set the self-destruct sequence," Timmy said, the pride obvious in his voice.

I set down the glass tube and put my hand on my hip. My fingers hit something metal and cold. I looked down at the three knives on my belt, my army knife, the one I got in Jacksonville, and the one I took off Tim when I knocked him out the first time Jesse and I escaped.

I pulled Timmy's knife off my belt and handed it back to him. "I think you deserve this."

He took it, smiling, and pulled me into a hug. "Thanks for the memories."