One World

Part 12

Garret stared at the ruined city before him, his thoughts returning to Gabriel for the umpteenth time. He blamed himself for abandoning him and leaving him in the clutches of the Ardanians.

Yet he would not give up hope of being reunited with his friend.

The rebels knew that there was an Ardanian underground base nearby, and that was probably where they had taken Gabriel. Unfortunately, despite their attempts to track the aliens, they were unable to discover its exact location.

I wonder where you are now, Gabe, the grim-faced mercenary asked himself over and over again as he gazed at the ruins of the abandoned city, over which the first rays of the rising sun had just appeared.

It was dawn, and Garret wondered if their leader was still alive, or if their enemies had executed him for his notorious defiance.

Together with the other survivors of the attack, he tried to find a way to free Gabriel, even though he knew that such a task was almost impossible.

To infiltrate a fully manned alien base, not knowing exactly where it was, how many soldiers were inside, or what equipment they had, was nothing short of suicide.

Still, he continued to monitor his surroundings, hoping for fate's favour. Perhaps an opportunity would present itself.

No alien ship had taken off since yesterday, which was the only good news. If Rag'ell decided to transport Gabriel to his mother ship, all would be lost. As long as they remained on Earth, there was a chance, however slim, that the rebels would rescue their fearless leader.

Everything was quiet, dead quiet. Not a soul, not even a rat running around looking for scraps. And there were thousands of them in the depths of the city. Garret knew this very well, sometimes they would crawl over him in his sleep.

He took one last look around and was about to return. Ardanian patrols would occasionally be seen here during the day and it would be pointless to risk meeting them.

The shards of broken lamps and shattered windows crunched under the soles of his heavy army boots as he passed burned-out houses and the ruins of human dwellings without noticing, until he finally reached the entrance to the underground garage of the former trading centre.

This was where the rebels had found their temporary hideout.

Among other things, the store's storerooms contained food supplies that had miraculously survived the ravages of the marauders before the last of the city's inhabitants had left.

He walked past the parked car wrecks to the back of the underground garage where the maintenance rooms were. 

For a moment, he paused at a trio of young men who seemed to be exploring the abandoned department store in search of more food and other useful items.

He wished them good luck before heading straight into one of the larger rooms to see Eric.

The blond programmer barely noticed Garret as he continued to work on deciphering their only remaining Ardanian communicator.

The room contained many screens and a control panel with buttons, apparently it had previously served as a security office, controlling the mall's long deactivated security cameras. It also smelled strongly of mould and mustiness.

"Any news?" The grizzled mercenary asked.

Without looking up, Eric replied, "Alexa showed up with some other survivors."

"Really?" Garret brightened, the news pleased him. She was pretty and brave, so he was genuinely happy that the young woman had survived. "How is she?"

"A bit shaken up, but fine," Eric replied. "And Michael's back too, with the ones who left earlier."