Call to Arms

It took a moment for us to recover from the sudden, loud shot, and then Molly's screams of fear spurred us into action. Everyone clamored to pick up what weapons were ready and scrambled toward the back of the store and the commotion.

There were squealing noises coming from the back of the store and the hair on the back of my neck rose.

"It's a trap!" came Kelly's shout as we neared. "Go back!"

Some others stopped, but Devon, Eddie, and I continued to charge forward.

"What happened?" Eddie called out.

We arrived in time to find Dallas on the floor, a length of rope coiled around his ankles and a headless xenomorph scant inches away from him, sinking slowly into the floor in a puddle of its own blood.

Behind the decapitated alien was the statuesque form of my alien, staring us down. Eddie uttered a few choice expletives and Molly was whining, but I heaved a sigh of relief at his arrival.

"What the fuck is that?" Eddie shouted.

"Another alien," Devon answered. "Also dangerous."

"Go! Just go!" Dallas called, stripping the rope from his legs and scrambling to his feet.

Kelly left her daughter long enough to help pull him up and then he and the other civilians all headed for the door. I stepped aside long enough to make sure they all passed by without incident, though the xenomorph in question was dead and Wolf hadn't yet raised a hand against them.

Except, apparently, to tie Dallas up and use him as bait.

This is why I told everyone to stick together.

Just as I went to join Wolf and scold him for his behavior, someone barked out a command.

"Freeze!"

Out of sheer habit, I froze when commanded: no one said that unless they were pointing a gun at you. I put my hands up and slowly turned around to see who it was.

Earl and Scotty were both there, shotguns raised. Their trigger discipline was awful.

I was standing between them and Wolf, irritated that by the fact that they thought they were tough shit with a couple of guns in their hands. Devon was off to the side, flanking them in preparation to disarm.

"Hey, put those down before you shoot an eye out kid," I demanded, using my chin to point toward the door. "Go join the others!"

Earl said, "Are you crazy, lady? Do you not see the giant alien behind you? Get down!" and raised his weapon higher.

Both he and Scotty were ready to fire, their fingers on the triggers, their hands shaking and fucking up their aim.

Terrified out of their minds, trying to play the heroes anyway. It would have been commendable in any other situation.

Behind me, Wolf's shoulder-mounted cannon whirred to life.

"I know. Put the guns down, though. He's on our side. You see that one on the floor?" I asked, slowly pointing at it.

They glanced at it.

"Those are the bad ones. So, please, lower your weapons before something bad happens." I was trying to keep my voice even, desperately pleading with Devon to make his move.

He'd noticed Wolf was preparing to retaliate, holding back because he and I were there, attempting to de-escalate. If the two of them made one wrong move, they were going to be blasted into oblivion, so he tried to sneak up on them a little faster.

The two hesitated, but wouldn't put down their rifles.

"Please," I said. "Before he kills you."

Devon struck, yanking Earl's shotgun away and using it to bash Scotty's hip and make him stagger. I rushed forward and disarmed him, breathing a sigh of relief.

Though Earl opened his mouth to protest, Devon slapped him upside the head and said, "You two could have almost died. Don't say another word, just take your damn shotguns and go somewhere safe to hide."

Nodding, the two sheepishly took back their guns and ran out the back.

"Thanks for not killing them right away," I said to Wolf, walking toward him.

Just then, Devon slammed into me, knocking the wind right out of my lungs. We both hit the ground at the same time; my head smacked against the rack of camouflage jackets we were tangled in, filling my vision with stars.

However, I could just barely make out the two xenomorphs that had dropped from the ceiling in a whirlwind of teeth and claws. One landed where I had been moments ago, now bearing down on us, and the other had dropped on top of Wolf. He threw it off of him and chased it toward the front of the store and out of sight.

Devon managed to free himself before I could and he swung his rifle up, firing it twice in succession. The drone was close enough that both shots were point-blank to the chest and skull, blasting through the hard, chitinous exoskeleton.

It dropped dead at our feet just as I was able to pull the rack down and stand up next to Devon.

I pat his shoulder and grinned. "Hey, you got one!"

"Yeah. Am I part of the cool kids' club yet?" he snarked.

Opting to ignore his obviously rhetorical question, I checked for Wolf but he wasn't anywhere I could find him.

"Where'd he go?"

"How should I fucking know?" Devon said. "Do I look like an idiot's keeper?"

More shouting came from near the front of the store, interrupting my response. The two of us wound our way through the displays, shoving aside anything that wasn't nailed to the floor.

"Get this thing off me!" someone was begging.

The voice sounded like one of the teens, but I couldn't pinpoint which one. After finally navigating to the entrance of the store where rain hammered against the windows, I stopped short at the sight of a drone on top of one of the boys.

He was on his back, and the creature was hunched over him with its tail held high—poised to strike.

"Hey!" I shouted at it while waving my arms.

However, it wouldn't pay me any attention with a perfectly good victim already beneath it.

Devon dropped the muzzle of his shotgun and ran straight past me without pausing and, in a feat of grace and strength I hadn't thought possible for him, missile drop-kicked the xeno in the head. It squealed in surprise and went flying off Dale.

Devon landed right on him.

"What the fuck was that?" I asked as I stepped over the two of them, unable to conceal how impressed I was.

All Devon croaked out was, "A mistake."

The drone writhed around on the ground for a second, but I wasn't about to give it any time to recover. I was on top of it in seconds, driving my sword deep into its skull. It went all the way through to the floor and I wrenched my blade free.

Though the drone didn't get back up, Devon and Dale did.

"Get out of here!" Devon shouted, shoving the kid toward the door. "Meet up with the others, we'll be right behind you."

Dale didn't have to be told twice. The door chime signaled his exit and Wolf dropped down next to us, scaring the shit out of Devon and nearly giving me a heart attack as well.

"Don't do that!" I huffed, smacking his arm in retaliation.

All he did was huff at me as if it amused him. One of his shoulder-mounted cannons was hanging limply by a wire.

Hissing drew our attention to the front of the store. A xenomorph had crawled up on the checkout counter, perched atop the register with its tail curled around it. As we turned to face it, it uncurled its tail and rose it to strike, sizing us up with its lips drawn over its teeth.

Wolf growled and a pair of wrist blades sprang from his gauntlet and I raised my sword, as well. Devon sighted his rifle and we were ready for a fight.

With its slavering fangs bared, the drone bent over, its leg muscles coiled to pounce. Devon and I tensed and Wolf chittered a warning. Not for us, but for the drone. It was outnumbered and outmatched.

It didn't give a shit.

Squealing, the beast launched at us from the counter with a powerful spring. Devon fired and the drone jerked, giving Wolf enough of an opportunity to drive his wristblades through its midsection. Not enough to kill it, that tail came arching around to slash at Wolf, but I lopped it off with a well-timed swing.

Wolf spun around and hurled the drone through the air, then fired with his only working cannon. The drone crashed through the front window in a spray of glass and acid, landing outside in the rain.

We waited. Water sluiced through the broken window and pooled on the floor, flooding the area in seconds. Outside, the drone didn't move or stand, and inside, all was quiet. A few things clattered from their displays and we whirled around, but as silence descended again, we were finally able to relax and dropped our guards for the time being.

It was just the three of us in that store—no xenos, no hybrid, no danger.

I exhaled in relief and smiled at my boys. "Excellent teamwork."

Wolf nodded in agreement.

"Alright," Devon breathed, shouldering his shotgun as he made his way toward the door. "Let's get out of here. We have to catch up with those guys before they get too far."

"I'm sure they'll be fine. The sheriff is with them and they're all armed to the teeth. We have to go help hunt down those aliens so this can all finally be over," I said.

After a deep inhale, Devon looked away and said, "Hassan says they're going to order an airstrike."

For a moment, what he said didn't register. I could remember Devon arguing with Hassan while Wolf tended to his wounds. Had it been about the airstrike?

When it finally hit me, I turned to face Wolf and started to walk back out the door. "Will you follow us?" I asked.

He studied me for a moment, then glanced at Devon before finally nodding and applying his cloak. Satisfied, I turned and ran outside with Devon in the lead. We were instantly drenched after just a few seconds in the rain, but we kept running in the direction Devon had seen Dale take off.

"You decided to wait until now to mention something?" I hissed at him.

"I was trying to come up with a plan before I said anything about it so no one would panic. Then all that shit happened in there too fast," came his reply.

"Where are they?" I scoffed, deciding to move on.

What was done was done. All we could do now was hurry and hope that we made it to them in time. Those civilians knew the city better than we did, so maybe they'd know a fast way out of it.

"They can't have gotten far on foot, not with that kid," Devon pointed out.

We ran a few blocks and found ourselves in the middle of an abandoned caravan of army-grade vehicles. My breath stuttered in my throat and I pushed away the gut-wrenching fear that came crashing back down on top of me.

[The deserted camp—blood on the rocks—nightmarish creatures chasing us back down the mountain—we should never have been in those woods.]

/Not now,/ I berated myself, clenching my eyes shut and taking a few cleansing breaths.

"How long has the guard been here?" I asked, looking around.

"Not very long," Devon mused. "It's only been a couple of hours since I called for their arrival."

I clicked my tongue. "They showed up just in time to get slaughtered."

"I don't think they all died," Devon said.

"They had to have been ambushed," I surmised. "How much time did you buy for us, talking with Hassan?"

He checked his watch and all the while we were jogging through the streets. "I didn't get us much time at all. I wanted him to set up a checkpoint and have everyone examined for infection, but, well . . . they're just gonna destroy this place."

"When, Devon?"

"I don't know! I had to end the call before I could negotiate!"

I put my hands up to ease him. "Alright, alright. Sorry. Where did those people go?"

The roar of an engine answered my question. Devon and I shared a look, then took off through the carnage until we saw a tank moving through the streets. It turned around a corner and I let out an irritated sigh, running my hand through my wet hair.

"Well, what now?" I huffed.

My partner said, "They need to know what the government has planned," with arms tightly crossed over his chest.

I nodded. "Call Eddie and see if you can warn him."

Devon took out his phone to make the call.

Wolf landed next to us with a heavy thud, no longer in his cloak. This time, he didn't startle us. I motioned to his shouldered weapon, which was making an awful whirring sound and clicking.

"Your thing's broken."

He yanked off the no-longer functioning cannon and discarded it, then detached the other one when the mechanism continued to make angry buzzing noises.

He spent a short moment fiddling with it until he could use it as a handheld weapon. It charged up with a similar sound to the bomb he'd used for the airplane and then he fired a test shot into the ground.

It left a sizeable crater and I looked up at him and asked, "When am I going to get one of those puppies?"

Holding it at his side, Wolf didn't answer my question—he probably thought I meant real puppies, the big oaf—and instead indicated down the road to the only well-lit building in the whole city.

It was like a beacon in the night, and if I listened closely I could hear the faint sounds of angry xenomorph screeches somewhere off in the distance. The warning siren had finally stopped, at least, but the noises were still barely audible over the downpour.

"Should we go there?" I asked, consulting both of the boys. "What is it?"

Devon responded, "That must be the hospital. It's the only place that would have power at this time, right? The backup generators to keep people alive and shit. There's gotta be so many people stranded in there right now."

"Sitting ducks," I growled. "The xenomorphs would never pass up a fucking buffet like that. Let's go."

However, Devon didn't move from his spot. I gave him a once-over and noted the despair glistening behind his eyes.

I dropped my shoulders and asked, "Devon, what's wrong? Do you have a different idea?"

He put one hand on his hip and rubbed his head with the other, his voice shaky and exasperated when he spoke. "What does it even matter at this point, Nichole? It's not like we can . . . we can't save anyone anymore. Not a single person."

My heart broke at the sight of his dispair.

"We don't have the time anymore," he continued. "This whole city is going to go down in flames and we have to get out of it before that happens."

At first, I was ready to argue against him, but I couldn't bring myself to. The fact that it obviously hurt him so much to admit that we had to give up and save ourselves was enough for me to agree. He hadn't come to this decision lightly and had probably been agonizing over it ever since he spoke with Hassan.

Wolf waited, surprising me with his patience. I could only imagine that he understood the gravity of the situation and needed to know more.

Needed us to take the helm since it was our people who were blowing shit up now.

Devon wiped his mouth and walked over to us, but took me by surprise and actually addressed Wolf. "Hey, big guy, our government is going to wipe this place off the map soon."

The big guy gave a single nod of understanding.

"I don't know how much time we have, but I know it can't be a whole lot. We need to think about getting out of here or else we're gonna go down with this city," Devon continued.

Wolf tilted his head from one side to the other, chattering idly to himself. Whatever issues the three of us had at the beginning, they seemed to not be a problem anymore and I took a great deal of solace in that fact.

"The bomb is probably going to take out the entire town and the surrounding forest so it should destroy every last one of those bug things. Instead of focusing on them, we need to focus on escaping," Devon finished.

After regarding Devon for a moment, Wolf cast a sidelong glance at me, then nodded and lifted his arm to access his personal computer. He punched in a few commands and then a hologram of his ship appeared above it in red light.

"You'd get out of here on your ship?" Devon inferred.

Nodding, Wolf turned off the hologram and let his arm drop.

My mind shifted to the hospital, a nagging feeling in the back of my head. Then, I recalled that we had taken a helicopter ride to the hospital. We wouldn't make it to the ship on foot, but if he could maybe bring it to us . . .

"Can you remotely pilot your ship?" I asked Wolf, spinning around to look at him.

He answered positively.

Devon asked, "You think he should bring it here to town? Is it even small enough to land in the streets?"

Wolf looked around, then said "no" in his language.

Devon deferred to me for a translation.

"No, it's too big. But we can head to the hospital and have him bring it there to meet us," I pointed out, gesturing toward the practically glowing building. "He can land it on the helipad on top of the hospital. Otherwise, we'll never make it to his ship on time."

"Wait, if the helicopter is there, why couldn't we take that instead of his ship?" Devon whined.

I crossed my arms and gave him a deadpan look. "Do you know how to fly one of those things? Because I sure as fuck don't."

Even in the dark, I could see him blush. "Well . . . no. I guess not."

"Well, there you go. There wouldn't even be a guarantee that it would still be there. Someone else might have used it to flee already or it could be away on an unrelated delivery or something."

Sighing, Devon relented. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Fine, let's go. Now."

With a grateful smile, I took the lead and started off toward the hospital, following the big blue street signs. Wolf didn't bother making himself invisible as he jogged alongside me. Considering everything that was going on in the city, it didn't seem like it would matter much. The streets were mostly deserted after the curfew, anyway.

I couldn't read the big guy's emotions through that mask, but it kind of seemed like he was unbothered by the fact that someone was trying to blow us all up.