A Past with an Alien

CHAPTER 23

IRIS

My head hurt, and I felt like a heavy weight was on top of my body. When I opened my eyes, I saw Hector's face. He was back in human form, and smoke came from his whole body. Then I remembered what had happened a while ago—the loud explosion.

Even now, the blast still echoes in my ears. My chest was pounding nonstop, but I realized I was still alive.

"Hector!" I called out to him and tapped his cheeks. "Wake up!" He was on top of me, and we were both lying on the ground.

He moved away and shifted himself to the ground while still lying down. I sat up and noticed that he had been badly beaten. He had saved me from the blast a while ago, and I owed my life to him.

I jolted when someone stood up. I noticed a rush of electrical charges from the dark atmosphere around me. The man, too, wore armor, although it was half-damaged, just like Hector's. He looked around like he was lost, and I recalled that he was part of Hector's team.

"Hector, wake up!" Smoke had filled the air, and I had inhaled much of it.

The scent is overpowering, like burned cable. Added to that was the eerie silence that enveloped me. More of Hector's teammates were rising. The sound of electrical charges rushing to their damaged armor scared me.

I moved backward when Hector jolted and sat up as if he had awakened from a nightmare. "Cap... where is Captain?" he screamed.

He stood up, stepped forward, and looked around, looking confused. He didn't notice that he was already in his human form and wearing ordinary clothes.

"I'll save the Captain," he said, but he was not in his right mind.

I stood up too. Was Hector talking about the man who always saved us a while ago?

"Erier, he is gone," a female voice said. They had a woman with them. She was tall and slender. She, too, had damaged armor, and electrical charges were coming out of her body. "He sacrificed himself for us."

"No! That's not true." Hector's voice was hoarse. "I'll find him,"

"Shut up!" Another male voice startled me. The guy's hair was long, and he looked much older. He went to Hector and grabbed him by the collar. "He sacrificed himself for your failure."

"NO! It's not true," Hector burst out.

The man with long hair pushed him away. Hector sank to the ground and sobbed. I felt sorry for him. The Captain he was talking about died for them. He was a hero. I sat beside him and curled my arms around his shoulder.

Then suddenly, I thought of Albert. My body started to tremble because all I knew was that we left him inside the house when we escaped. I kept thinking that the house had just exploded. I burst out crying and joined Hector. Albert was gone too.

"Captain," I heard another male voice say. "Can you hear that?"

I listened too, and we could hear something due to the eerie silence. Were the sounds from animals? The sound was getting louder and louder.

"Erier! Take that girl and get out of here," the long-haired man ordered.

The woman walked closer to us and helped him stand. I stood up as well.

"Take her far away from here." The woman's face glistened with tears. "We'll take care of this."

I panicked as the sound grew more audible. It was like the growl of a bear and a tiger combined—the scariest sound I had ever heard. Through the smoke all around us, I saw a moving silhouette. When a tail emerged, I confirmed that they were monsters. My chest pounded hard again, and I forgot about Albert. He was already dead.