The Armageddon Over Earth

Part Thirteen

“AAAHHH!” Nathan yelled at the top of his lungs as the metal shard was ripped out of his leg, his entire body was tense and was uncontrollably shaking due to the excruciating pain in his leg. It was one of the most painful experiences of his life, even more so than the wound on the right side of his stomach. “Hold still, I need to make sure that all the metal is out of your leg.”  Doctor Wiśniewski said while prying open the gaping wound and flashing a torch at it, searching for any shiny metallic objects. After that she added antibiotics to it before enclosing it in bandages. “You should make a full recovery. I removed any metal from your chest and back before you were conscious and you have major burns on your neck as well as a severe wound on your side, unfortunately you will be left with some scars however that should be the least of your worries since you managed to escape with your life. Any normal person would have died. You‘re very lucky to be alive. Now you must rest” The doctor injected him with a sedative before he gently fell asleep.

Nathan went into a deep sleep, while asleep he dreamt of Vector and the Militia. He saw himself, standing on Earth in a field in the middle of nowhere. The sun was shining down on him and he felt the immense heat being projected onto his skin. He looked up into the sky and raised an arm to shield his eyes from the sun. He noticed that he was grasping something in his hand, it was a standard military knife, the blade glistened in the sunlight and he could see his reflection in the shiny metal. In the reflection behind him he spotted a Vector soldier, he spun around to find himself face to face with the creature. It had no weapon however the Vector raised its giant hand, its fingers must have been 20cm long with razor sharp claws at the ends. It flicked its hand as if taunting him. Nathan didn’t need to be told twice; he raised his knife and lunged towards the Vector soldier, plunging it deep into the Vectors stomach before twisting the blade for a deadly stab.

Black blood started flowing out of the hole that Nathan had just created in the Vector soldier’s stomach. He attempted to remove the knife from the Vector however it wouldn’t budge. With more force, he yanked at the knife again and he managed to rip it out of the Vector only to see that the blood was not black but had turned red. As he looked up he saw Devin Hofland, his friend from Norway, the man who was so much like his brother stood there with a hole in his stomach as blood poured out. Devin collapsed to the floor, all the while keeping his eyes interlocked with Nathan’s. He was looking at Nathan with sad and scared eyes, the very eyes his brother had just before his death. The very eyes that haunted Nathan to this day.

Nathan awoke, jumping from his bed before immediately collapsing due to not being able to hold the weight on his injured leg. He was sweating and breathing rapidly. He tried to climb back onto his metal bed but was unable to, everyone else was asleep. Nathan looked around at his surroundings, a dim light lit from the ceiling projecting just enough light too inspect the room. He still didn’t know exactly where he was, he knew he was on the Armageddon but didn’t know what lied outside this room.

He had seen about half of the Armageddon yet the room where he was situated seemed unfamiliar and he never realised that the Vector were keeping prisoners. He saw Kasia Wiśniewski, his fall off the bed must have woken her as she started to get up and walk towards his bed. She helped him to get back on the bed. “Are you OK?” she asked kindly and genuinely concerned. “Yeah I’m fine, I guess I just had a nightmare and fell off.” He replied trying to act casual however Kasia could tell that whatever he dreamt about really disturbed him. But before she could question him he spoke. “So why are you being kept here? How did you get here? Are you slaves?” Nathan asked curious as to why the Vector would want any humans since the Vector were far more physically imposing than humans and humans wouldn’t nearly be as efficient at manual work meaning they must not be here as slaves like some of the rumours were saying.

Kasia sighed seeming sad and as though she missed the Earth which was perfectly understandable. “I was captured by Vector scouts two months ago in Warsaw, my home. I was injected with something and when I woke up I was in this room. The Vector would come in and start asking me about human diseases and resistances as well as weak points in their ‘armour’ which I assumed they meant skin.” She looked at Nathan before looking to the ground, she continued. “At the start I refused to give them any information about anything but after a while they...They started torturing me, they cut my arms and made me bleed until I passed out” She lifted up the sleeves of her white shirt stained with blood, presumably Nathan’s. As she lifted her sleeves she revealed scars on her arms from where she must have been cut. Long white streaks ran up her arm and stopped just below her shoulder. “Eventually I gave in and started telling them what they wanted. I...just couldn’t take it anymore”

She started to cry and Nathan put an arm around her to comfort her. She felt ashamed at her actions and couldn’t make eye contact with him. Nathan spoke calmly and reassuringly, “It’s not your fault. I’m sorry this happened to you” He felt sad for her and guilty that this was happening without the Militia having any idea of it.

Nathan looked at Kasia, he didn’t realise how pretty she was, beautiful in fact. She was not very old, maybe twenty seven, and had dark brown hair that was tied in a pony tail behind her back. She was quite small however still very slim and of course covered in blood from all of Nathan’s injuries. Her brown eyes were fantastic and Nathan found himself gazing into them. Nathan then realised that he cared for this woman and would do everything he could to free her from this prison. He thought it was the least he could do for saving his life.

If he didn’t despise the Vector before, he certainly hadn’t changed his mind. He was horrified that they tortured humans for information. He swore to himself than the next Vector he saw he would kill.

Aware that Kasia was extremely upset he quickly tried to change the subject. “So why are all these other people here?” He looked around at the sleeping humans. He thought about how they could sleep with the constant rattle. Then he wondered what the rattle was, was the Quicksilver firing on the Armageddon? He became confused at why they would do this; surely the Armageddon’s shield was functional again. He quickly got distracted by Kasia’s response to his question.

“These are the people who the Vector view as valuable or a danger to the Vector race. Somehow these people could be used to aid the Vector or be a threat to the Vector because of the information they know, some are even being used to damage the Militia. For example over there is a woman who knows the launch codes to a missile field on the Earth’s surface. Those missiles could seriously damage any Vector ships, the only reason she is alive is so that the Vector can use the missiles to damage Militia forces. They are trying to cripple the human militia by any means necessary, and I’m afraid to say that it’s working. Anyway, why are you here? I saw you wearing Militia uniform, what were you doing here?”

Nathan thought about this for a moment, recalling the events that led him to where he was now. “I’m not sure, I...I think... that-” Nathan’s sentence was cut short by a Vector entering the room. It looked hostile and it was heading straight towards them.