Charles Ordeal - Part 2

I'm awoken by the sound of banging on the door. I don't know when I fell asleep but I was enjoying my nap until I was woken abruptly by this sound. The knocking continued and I wondered what it was.

I approached the door and it didn't even take me a moment more to realize what was knocking behind the door. A laser blasted through the door and missed me ever so slightly. Terror ran through my mind as I wondered what my next line of action would be.

I ran to Franklin and tried to wake him up, but he wasn't waking up. Was he dead? There was no way he could be dead, not after all I went through to keep him alive.

I confirmed the fact that he was breathing and I checked his pulse, to which it was normal. I proceeded to wake him up as I didn't know how long the cylinder would remain at the other end of the door

"Franklin! Franklin! Wake up!" I said to him, tapping his body in the process. He squinted his eyes and shifted his position in response to his awakening.

"There's no time for this Franklin. The alien, it's here!" I screamed.

At that moment the door burst open and the machine rolled in. We were at the other room so it was still a ways away from us but if Franklin remained on the ground, it was going to get us eventually.

"Franklin, get up!" I screamed.

I dragged his body up and we proceeded to escape out of a window. We made our way to another building all the while with me supporting Franklin.

"I'm really sorry for making you do this." He said.

"Don't worry about it." I replied, all the while being extremely irritated by the fact I had to help this walking lump survive when I should be looking out for my own life.

We attempted to enter another house but all the windows were locked. The house had one of those glass sliding doors and it was also locked. The only way we were going to get in, was if I broke the glass, and I was sure the sound of shattering glass would attract that machine to our location.

What was I going to do? Should I look for another house or take the risk of breaking the glass and entering the building? Well, I didn't have time to think as I spotted the machine leaving the other building, rolling comfortably as it looked for its victims.

I scanned the area and I didn't see any other viable option for Franklin and I, apart from entering this house. The machine was already tracking us to this location so I basically had no choice.

I cursed the stars once more as I looked for something to break the glass. My reason for cursing the stars was because, if I were alone, I would have broken the glass and run another way. But lumping around a body with me was not going to offer me that privilege.

I found a bicycle laying around, I grabbed it and threw it at the glass. The glass shattered into a million pieces, the machine took note of the noise and strode towards the location where the noise originated.

I carried Franklin on my back and scurried into the house as fast as I could. He was weighing me down but I had to endure it if we were both going to survive this. I looked round the house and saw a staircase leading upstairs, I ran up the stairs with Franklin resting on my back.

There was a hallway upstairs leading to different rooms. I looked around for a bit and picked the one farthest from the stairs, the room at the corner of the hall. I opened the door and I dropped Franklin on the floor so I could catch my breath.

"Hahh... Haah." I panted as sweat dripped down my face. This kind of thing was really not for me.

"I'm really sorry for all this." Franklin said.

The feeling of irritation ran around my brain at the sound of this statement. But honestly, it's not like it's his fault for taking so much damage from that crash.

The giant machine shot at our car and the car was summersaulting. We at the back would have taken collective damage if a sacrifice wasn't offered so I used Franklin as a human shield at that moment to prevent us from taking damage.

I didn't do it because of the women, my reason wasn't even close to that. I did it because I wasn't going to incur injuries because of another person's incompetence. Why should I suffer when it was Karl that couldn't drive properly and failed to navigate us out of that machines path?

The car was tumbling and no one noticed it. Me pushing Franklin to the front so he would absorb most of the impact. Of course, I never expected to be the one ensuring his safety and now this whole thing has become a pain in the ass but what can I do.

I need to keep him alive just long enough for him to meet up with the others. Once he's with them I couldn't care less if he lives or dies and I'm sure neither will they. Because the hypocrisy of man is that, if I'm the one that doesn't return with him then all eyes are on me.

I'm the one that caused it, I was looking out for myself and I wouldn't help him. That's what they'll all think. They don't need to say it but I'm sure that's what they'll assume and their behavior towards me will change as a result.

But if he dies there, on their watch, it's just a sad occurrence. They won't think about whether or not he died because of their own incompetence, no, they'll just say it was inevitable and move on with their lives.

Everyone's looking for a scape goat, and I'm not going to be the one who gives them that. Eventually Mark and this his goody two shoes facade is going to fade away and he'll see how he really wants to save his own life while catering for the life of four others.

In due time frustration will set in. They will wonder why they have to share food with us when they are the ones who got it. They will wonder why they have to share a vehicle with us and keep us alive when they can be saving themselves instead.

You see, I believe in self-preservation and I'm sure in every human being that sense is there too. It goes down to our genetics.

Humans care more about themselves than any other person, so when the time comes to make the decision of self-preservation or saving someone else, I'm sure Mark is going to pick himself.

I'll be ready when that time comes. Ready enough to strike him down myself, or ready enough to leave him for the aliens to finish the job, all the while saving myself, because I assure you, I will survive this invasion.

My mind session was cut short as I heard steps. I peeked outside and saw the machine had turned into an arachnid. This was the moment of truth.