Extraterrestrial Invasion: Annihilation

Chapter 10: Conned

The boys swam into the depths to avoid being seen by the aliens. They had to take off their spacesuit in order to descend, as the buoyancy was holding them back. After several seconds, they could not hold their breaths anymore and had to go back to the surface.

"Are they gone?" Jason said.

Suddenly, they felt hairy limbs grabbing them by the collar. When Jason opened his eyes, he saw pure horror. Colonel Rick had caught them, and he looked especially hungry when he stared at Jason.

"Delicious meal," Colonel Rick hissed.

"No! No!" Jason begged. "Please don't eat us!"

"Hahaha!" the colonel laughed and brought Jason to his jaws, but the sound of someone clearing his throat stopped him.

"Pardon me, Colonel, but the general will not be pleased if he finds out you ate the test subjects," Lieutenant Frank, a space human, said.

"It's simple, you just have to keep your mouth shut!" Colonel Rick barked.

"No, the general will be on my side."

"Are you asking to be killed?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Lieutenant Frank warned, and the soldiers pointed their weapons at the colonel. "Technically, you can't kill me without the general's order."

"How dare—"

"Let's return to our main subject, shall we?"

"You better be careful—"

"Yes, I will. Now, why don't we go back to the Annihilator and show the general our catch of the day?"

Colonel Rick grunted, but he let go of Jason. The soldiers dragged the boys into the spaceship and they flew back into space.

***

The people who were abducted from Rosewhite School were classified into groups. First, they divide by gender, then by physical appearance. The rest were so complicated that each group only consisted of one person. The people were put into isolation rooms and were each tested in different kinds of ways.

Mr. Jones, the math teacher, was thrown into a narrow room and locked up for days without food or water. In the end he died of dehydration.

Ms. Ashlee, the science teacher, was forced to drink gallons of mercury, a substance much worse than ink. She died within an hour.

Josh and his gang (Ralph, Fred And Timothy) were separated. Josh was put into a room where the air was sucked out. He passed away due to depressurization.

Ralph underwent an operation, which was not really an operation since they took his organs and did not return them. His remains were cremated.

Fred was electrocuted to death to see if humans were resistant to electric shock or not, and it turned out to be the latter one.

Timothy's blood was drained from his body until his death. The blood samples were used for experiments.

Dozens of students were tested with different kinds of pathogens, and they were all dead within a week.

Mr. Wells, the PE teacher, had his limbs amputated while he was conscious with his voice cord removed.

Mrs. Lily, the history teacher, was drowned and revived again. Eventually, they got tired of her and incinerated her alive.

These were a fraction of the sufferings they endured.

***

A spaceship docked with the Annihilator. Colonel Rick had ordered the soldiers to chain the boys' neck and wrists so they could not escape again. The soldiers dragged them through the interior of the spaceship and into the Annihilator. Don's lifeless body was carried inside a cage, his limbs bound by electric handcuffs.

"Why are you doing this?" Jason said, struggling against the restraints.

"Shut up!" a soldier shouted at him.

"Why?"

That earned him a punch in the face. And it taught Eddie a lesson too, because he stayed silent throughout the remaining journey.

They entered the Annihilator and was amazed by how spacious the spaceship was. Its length could stretch from London to Paris and its width was miles long. Humanity could never build this kind of giant, at least not yet.

Colonel Rick and his unit went to see General Kenneth. He opened the door only to find the general playing the game and not focusing on their mission.

"Ken!"

"What the—oh, you've caught them."

"Yes, shall we proceed?"

"Yes, yes, go on." And he continued playing.

"Wait, isn't that PUBG Mobile?" Jason said.

"How-How did you know?" General Kenneth turned around.

"Of course I know, I used to play it."

"Um, okay. We'll make a deal," the general said. "You boys teach me tricks on how to win the game and I'll spare you from the experiments."

"No way!" Colonel Rick shouted, pulling the chains. "You can't let that game distract you! Right now we need test subjects! You can't just go off and spare one or two!"

"If I tell them to help me with the game, they will!" the general said. "Right, boys?"

"Yes, yes, of course," the boys answered, not missing the chance to save their lives.

"You see?" General Kenneth told the colonel. "Now off you go."

Before he left, Colonel Rick gave the boys a warning.

"If I ever catch you running away again, you will become my food," he threatened.

"Nah, they won't escape," General Kenneth said, and he slammed the door in the colonel's face.

"Um, before we start, can you please take off our cuffs?" Eddie asked, and gave Jason a wink.

"Oh, right, yes." The general pressed a button on the remote control and the chains released themselves.

Suddenly, Jason kicked the general in the crotch and Eddie punched him in the face. The general fought back by grabbing Jason's arm and pinning him to the floor. Eddie grabbed something that looked like a pole and strangled the enemy, but he snatched him by the neck.

Unfortunately for the general, Jason managed to headbutt him in the chin and he fell down, screaming in agony. The boys beat him up but he was stronger. He struck Eddie in the stomach and smacked Jason with the pole.

"This—" General Kenneth showed them a red button in the controls, "—is to ensure your failure in escaping." And he pressed it.

He hit each of them again and chained them. Then he smacked their heads with the pole and they passed out. The last thing Jason saw was Colonel Rick entering the room, and he was famished.