Ascendance

17

I can hear gunshots and shouting. I see the Leader materialize in front of me. He's furious, almost snarling at me. He picks me up with his tentacle, hanging me upside down. This is going to give me a bad headache. Wonderful.

"So you're the one who's been killing all my men, ruining my plans, and all." He spoke, looking at me like a bug under his feet.

"What about it?" I ask him. I can feel the blood rushing to my head. Everyone has a gun pointed to his head. The Leader shrugs, looking at them.

"If you shoot me," He starts off. "I will fucking snap her in half."

"What do you want with my daughter?" Sofia and Karenina yell at the same time.

"Her family is the reason I am here on Earth. Her family helped capture me and use me for your government's experiments." He shouted. "I want the Founder to come here to see this woman die."

"Erika wasn't even born when you were captured! How can you blame her for Alberto's mistakes?" Brendan shouted. Everything was starting to look blurry.

"Let her go, Akenath!" A voice boomed, everyone dropped their weapons and turned to face the voice. It was the Founder.

"Let her go, it is me you want, anyway." Alberto was walking up to him. I think I'm starting to feel sleepy. That's not good.

"I want you to watch her die!" The Leader shouted. "Just like you watched when they tortured me!"

"She has nothing to do with me. The girl was never raised by my son or her biological mother. She had no idea you even existed until you took her family." The Founder spoke to him. "It wouldn't harm me to see her die."

"What?" I manage to shout at him. I'm hoping that he doesn't let this monster kill me. I'm reaching for my knife in my boot but I'm finding it increasingly hard to focus on anything with my blood going to my head.

"Fair enough." The Leader threw me. I hit the wall and I felt where my shoulder popped out of the joint.

"Fuck!" I shout out.

"Erika!" Brendan and my parents/mother ran to me. I look at him, my head ringing. This isn't good. I managed to get up. "We need to get out of here." I tell them.

"Code Black, do not let anyone escape!" The Leader shouted at the building as the doors of the rooms shut. Great, he had no intention of letting any of us go, myself included.

"What are you trying to do?" Alberto, the Founder, asked him. The Leader started laughing maniacally. He started to turn into that form we had encountered him.

"Did you really think I was going to make it that easy for you all?" His voice sounded heavy and distorted. "No!" He stabs the Founder in multiple places with a tentacle. The Founder gasps and hits the ground, blood splattering everywhere. "Which one of you is next?"

They started to shoot at him. Black goo splattered everywhere. The Leader started to throw spikes from some part of his body. A spike hit Ruth in the chest and she fell down, blood coming from her mouth. One nearly hit my head but it caught my bun, which I was able to free from the spike.

"Ruth!" Lexi shouted and I ran to her. I checked her pulse. She was gone. Shit. Shit. Kyra had a spike impaled in her forearm.

"Don't rip it, you'll make me bleed out." Kyra was telling Lydia. She managed to throw a few fire spells at the Leader. I noticed that he was melting a bit in the aftermath. Zander was putting new rounds into his rifle and Brendan was shooting him. The Founder had invisible strings coming from his hands and wrapped them around the Leader. He grabbed the strings and threw the Founder at the wall. Maybe he'd stop if he was able to get what he wanted- me. I find the set of throwing knives from my boots and throw one right at the Leader's neon blue eye.

He screams in pain and looks in my direction.

"I guess the Founder is dead, so that leaves me to be the future Founder or something." I was twirling the knife in my hand. Not a bright idea, but I'll blame it on the concussion.

"Erika, what are you doing?" Kyra asked me in disbelief. Well, it might work. Maybe.

I can hear gunshots and shouting.

"Don't do it, Erika!" Lexi exclaimed.

"You're right...but I feel like you're baiting me..." The Leader was walking closer to me. "But I don't think you're smart enough to do that..."

Well, that's where he fucked up. I am. Hopefully, even if I ended up dying, my family and my friends would be rescued and be safe from this alien motherfucker.

"Well, can't end the Diaz line if one person, a woman no less, is still alive, can you now?" I asked him, smiling.

"Erika..." Karenina was grinding her teeth.

"Find out how to escape. And get Kyra medical help." I told her. "I love you." I told my parents. "And thank you, Karenina. For giving birth to me."

"Erika!" My mom shouted in distress.

"You're right." The Leader ran towards me. I started to run. Maybe the rest of them could find a way to escape or something. I wasn't sure if I would make it or not but I wanted all of this to stop, regardless of the cost. I noticed that some of the doors didn't fully close. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing.

"I will fucking kill you, Erika!" His voice boomed at the halls. My heart was beating fast and heavy and I was running out of breath. I could feel a stitch on my side but I wasn't able to stop. I couldn't if I wanted to live anyway. Run, Erika, run! I was telling myself.