The engine burst to life with a roar, the blue flames sounding through the launchpad and rebounding off the ground as smoke billowed out. My seat started to vibrate and i closed my eyes, trying not to think of the massive bomb below me. "And.... liftoff!" i heard the announcer say, as if far away. I suddenly have doubt about the launch, even though i designed it. After a few minutes, i look out the window and see the ground far below. The comms suddenly flare up. I hear gun shots through the link. "Abort! I repeat, Abort, Orion! The re- bzzt bzzt They want to go!" I hear an explosion from the comms. "Abort to safe area, now!" A rough voice sounds "Give me the plans now!" "Never" The announcer answers. The comm cuts out. Just then, i feel a jerk and start floating in my seat. The engines cut out. A soft, robotic voice sounds in the cabin "Second stage, or continue abort procedure?" My voice gets stuck in my throat. "Second stage." I manage to say. I hear a clunk and pull up the camera as the interstage falls away. As the engines fire and i get pushed into my seat, i think of my family far below. Were they dead, or still alive, held hostage? I wish that none of this ever happened.
Three weeks ago....
I sat down with my family at dinner, outdoors. "Mom!" I call. Eventually, she stumbles out of the doorway carrying a massive tray of chicken parmesan, my favorite food. She sets the tray down on the table and sits down panting. Me and my dad look at each other, smiling, before we dig into our food. My mom says "Happy Birthday, Aaron!" "Thanks, Mom." I reply, looking up from my food. "Wow, Aaron, you're really starving. What did you do today?" My dad asks. I hold my hand before i swallow my bite and respond "Well, thank you for asking!" My mom looks at my dad. "Did you have to ask?" She says. I grin before responding "I finished the design of the upper stage engine. My simulations were having some trouble with the gimbal. I redesigned the gimbal to work with pressure feeding, so now it works!" Suddenly, we hear gunshots from across the street. I turn to my mom and dad and we dash inside, the sound of the gunshots echoing in my ears. Eventually, I gather the courage to peek out the window. Several men wearing black masks and body armor are standing in the street. My neighbors are lying dead around them. They start walking to our house. I quickly duck down and whisper to my parents "Get to the basement!" We run down to the basement and lock the doors. A loud bang echoed through our house and the basement shakes. We lock the door and cower in the basement. Using my computer, i pull up the security camera. The door has fallen over and is charred, and the men are walking in. "What do you think they want?" I ask my dad. "I don't know." They softly walk through the house, making no noise. One of the pulls up his mask. He has a dark, rough face with a brown beard and a long nose. "They're In teh basement! Knock down teh door!"The man speaks with a strong Southern accent. I grab my plans and laptop. Me and my parents slowly crawl along the basement. We hear what sounds like a battering ram, and the door flexes and creaks. I open the window and crawl out. We run to the car and start the engine. We hear the man shouting "They escaped, Get em'!" They dash out the door and start firing at the back of our sedan. One of the bullets fires through the windshield at almost hits my head. "Stop firing, yeh fools! We need them alive!" "Go, Mom!" I yell as she hits the accelerator, throwing us into the back of the seat. My dad hugs me, as we go hurtling down the road.
We pull up in front of the police station. A hundred or more people are clamoring around the doors, trying to get in. The loud blare of a siren rings through the cool night air, and we hear the crackling of flames from down the road. As we drove here, the landscape a blur, I noticed the fires. "This will never work." My mom sighs. "I know what we can do." I reply. I slide along the walls and quickly climb up into the station with my mom and dad. A second later, an explosion rocks the station, throwing me to the floor of the station. The window has been shattered and i dash out the room, holding my mom's hand. All the police are in turmoil, and they barely notice us as we quickly climb up the stairs and onto the roof. Twenty men emerge out of the bushes surrounding the police station, most of them wielding rocket launchers and the others with miniguns or rifles. The man with the beard and long nose seems to be orchestrating it. I see one of the men firing his rocket launcher at the station, and a second later the entire building shakes. "Hold yer fire, yeh fool! Our target is in teh, and he's no use to ush dead!" The man shouts. "But Jeb..." The man holding the rocket launcher responds. The bearded man, now known as "Jeb" does not respond. I signal to my parents to get off the roof, but it's too late. Jeb spots us. "See? There our target is, Gaben." They start attempting to climb the walls. We dash down into the elevator, and get out on the bottom floor. Suddenly, there is a loud crash and the door comes down. I scream "Get upstairs!" One of the police grabs me as I run. "They want you." She says with a growl. She motions to get upstairs. I grab my parents and we run upstairs. We jump into a helicopter, the policewoman already in the cockpit. I close my eyes as the engine starts with a whir and we fly off. I hear a woosh and see a rocket zooming past the helicopter. "Damn it!" Our pilot yells. She turns to the back. I can't see her in the dark, but I can almost feel her smile. "This flight may be.......rough." She says. With that, she yanks the joystick back and chopper rocks. I look outside, dizzily. Several streaks of light fly past the helicopter, just nearly missing the helicopter. After a few minutes, the helicopter evens off and I fall asleep.
