Chapter
17
Brian’s point of view
“Nick, I don’t know what to do. I really don’t,” I sighed.
He was crying again. I patted him on the back.
“No matter where we go, they always find us! I can’t escape!” he
sobbed into his hands. “And you’ve been dragged into it too!”
I pawed at the scratches on my forehead, “It’s no big deal, man.
I’m fine!”
“Yeah, but we can’t stay hidden forever and I’m scared they’ll
kill you guys as well!”
“Nick, as long as Tohja’s around, I think we’ll be safe. He’s just
as sneaky as the other Kindorians and he keeps a constant eye on us!” I
reassured. “Look, Jen’s smart. I’m sure she’ll figure something out,” I
insisted. “Now come on. You should really get something to eat.”
“I’m not hungry!”
I sighed, “Nick, you haven’t eaten all day! You’ll make yourself
ill!”
“I don’t care!”
I gave up and left him alone to his thoughts.
After about a week, being confined was driving us mad. We agreed
it had been long enough to assume it was safe to go outside for a while. We
split up into small groups: I went with Leighanne, Kevin went with Kristin, and
Nick went with AJ and Howie. We decided to go shopping since the mall was
pretty spacious on a day like today.
AJ’s point of view
“Ah, nice to be back outside again, huh, guys?” I commented.
“Sure is!” Howie replied.
“Uh huh,” Nick mumbled.
“C’mon, cheer up, Nicky!” I shoved him playfully. He just shot me
a dirty look.
“Geez, sorry, man! Just trying to lighten the mood!” I retorted.
“Then don’t!” he snapped.
“Just leave him alone for now,” Howie whispered.
We managed to drag him into the nearest clothes outlet, but he
just stood around mainly. Back outside, I started to seriously worry about him.
“Nick, are you still upset?” I asked.
“No, I’m extremely angry, so if you wanna avoid a punch in the
face, I suggest you leave me alone!” he growled back in reply.
Nick’s point of view
AJ backed off under my angry glare. I turned around and continued
walking. When I realised, the others weren’t following. I stopped and looked
back at them, and they just stood there, looking at me in a concerned way.
“What?!” I moaned.
“We’re leaving you alone!” Howie answered.
My attention was distracted by something running at us from my
right. I looked over to see and alien charging at me, holding a gun.
“NICK, LOOK OUT!” Howie yelled as the Kindorian fired a few shots
off at me.
I ducked, covering my head with my arms. I couldn’t see anything,
but when I chanced a look, I saw AJ lunge forward and try to punch the weapon
out of the creature’s paws, and failing. The alien then turned to AJ and hit
him over the head with the butt of his rifle. AJ stumbled backwards on Howie.
The alien didn’t stop there, he jumped forwards at AJ and brought his paw
slashing across AJ’s face, leaving three scratch marks on his face, and
knocking him out cold.
It was in that split second I decided on something very important.
I was tired of running. It was time for me to turn around. It was time for me
to fight back. I could feel my blood boil as anger surged through every part of
my body.
Now it was their turn to run!
Howie’s point of view
I looked on in horror as the alien slashed AJ’s face. AJ had
fallen onto me so I instinctively caught him as he fell unconscious. The
Kindorian roared angrily, obviously fuming due to AJ interfering. He raised his
rifle to hit AJ again, but it was suddenly ripped from his grasp. It looked
sideways in surprise, and I followed his gaze.
I barely had time to turn my head when Nick screamed blue murder
and hit the Kindorian over his head with his own rifle as hard as he could. The
alien fell backwards under the blow and slid a few metres over the smooth,
varnished floor. Nick threw the gun away and started running towards the
creature. The bewildered thing stood up and began to run away from Nick!
I carefully placed AJ on the floor and called for the bystanders
to help him. The rushed forwards to oblige, and I ran off after Nick.
The alien took us on a wild goose chase around the mall, sending
people scattering in fright, then quickly changed direction and headed for a
fire exit. He rammed the door and stumbled outside. Nick, who didn’t even
change his pace, slammed his way through the door too. I managed to catch the
door before it closed, and stumbled through. There was another door ahead just
about to swing shut and I dived at it. I regained my balance outside and
shouted,
“Nick, wait…….”
I stopped dead in my tracks, and so did Nick. We were greeted by
at least half a dozen Kindorians, with their guns raised and aimed at us. We
automatically put our hands up. We’d walked right into their trap!
“Let’s kill them and get out of here!” one of them suggested.
“No,” another protested, pushing the other’s gun sideways.
Stepping towards us, he continued.
“Lieutenant Kaarn wants a word with this one first!” he claimed
pointing to Nick.
“What about this guy?” asked a different Kindorian, referring to
me.
“I don’t like to waste bullets, but we can’t just let him go!” the
Kindorian, who seemed like he was in charge, replied.
He walked behind me, but I was too scared to move to watch him. I
felt a blunt object hit the back of my head and I fell into a dark void.
Nick’s
point of view
“We’ll just have to bring him along!” the Kindorian concluded.
I gasped as I watched Howie crumple to the floor. Howie’s pain
stricken face was the last thing I saw before I was bludgeoned senseless
myself.
***
