Su Kutcha is Born (Chapter 4)

Captured

Linda landed her pod in the Rowan’s shed she climbed out of the vehicle and locked the machine up she had her hand on the handle preparing to go outside but changed her mind and turned back to her pod and grabbed two guns out from under her seat. She opened the door and stepped outside and headed toward the house. It was hotter than usual for Imaginess but after being raised on earth she had become used to this kind of heat.
The back door to the house was locked and she knocked as hard as she could but there was no answer. She was just raising her gun to shoot at the lock when a humming sound from behind her caught her attention. She turned around just in time to duck as a hover board dived in her direction and slammed into the door. The machine sputtered and sizzled. The door had broken free from the crash and she pushed the door open and stepped inside. The place was a mess she lifted her guns slightly higher and pointed them at various objects in the room that could be hiding one of the creepy aliens. She heard a sound coming from the basement and headed toward it hoping that it was Rowel and Sira gathering weapons to fight with.

The girl had hurt him but hadn’t succeeded in killing him. He slid himself out of the steaming hover board and fell lightly to the ground. He saw the girls retreating figure heading down a hallway. He looked around and quickly calculated his surrounding trying to find the next good place for him to hide. He heard voices outside and saw a group of people armed heavily with guns walking down the street. If they saw him he was dead.
He turned back in the direction the girl had disappeared too and limped after her.

Linda slipped down the hallway as quietly as she could and opened the door to the basement her heart was pounding in her ears but she hoped could still make out some movement from the basement. She hoped it wasn’t any of the creepy creatures as she started her way slowly down the stairs. As she got closer and closer to the last step she tightened her grip on the guns.
As she reached the bottom she looked and sighed with relief when she saw Rowel and Sira strapping on a slew of gadgets. “Oh thank Kohath it’s only you.” Sira jumped and Rowel spun around pointing a gun in her direction and then lowering it when he realized it was only her.
“Don’t scare us like that Linda.”
“Sorry.” She squinted skeptically at the gadgets he was strapping on. “How can you be sure these things are safe?”
“He picked up a small device off one of the work tables and handed it to her. “This is a Trat Detector. It’s the only object down here that’s run on trat fluid which the Venusians can’t control because their blood is heavily coated in it. This device will help us locate the objects that have aliens hiding in them.”
“Has that thing detected anything?”
“Yeah one or two the problem is that there’s no known way to draw the creatures out of their hiding places so the only solution is to destroy their hiding place. We’ve lost a couple of good pieces of equipment that way.” He handed her a Transportation Belt. “Here you should suit up just don’t put anything on that hasn’t been scanned first.”

The girl had joined two others down in the basement and their loud voices floated up to him. A weak call filled his senses. It was one of his comrades and he was dying. He knew the call hadn’t reached the Imaginese ears since it was so high pitched and most alien creatures where hard of hearing. “Where are you?” And even though he had shouted he knew that it hadn’t reached the Imaginese ears as much more than a whisper.
“It doesn’t matter.” Came the high-pitched reply. “It’s too late to save me.”
“Where can I hide?”
It took a minute for the reply to come back and his comrade’s heavy breathing reached his ears. “The guns…at the bottom of the stairs…” His breathing was coming heavier and heavier as he spoke. “Already been checked…won’t…be…suspected…” A final breath filled his ears and he knew that his comrade was dead. A cry filled his lungs and he screamed at the top of his lungs. Anger filled his veins and vowed that these aliens would not spend another day on this planet. What was it that his comrade had told him at the end? Right the gun. He slipped down the stairs and in no time at all he was safely tucked inside the gun.

Teesha and Shanti sat quietly on the couch watching as their mother poured the man another glass of water. It was his fourth one since waking up and his big hands had nearly swallowed the cup he was holding.
“How long have your son and daughter been gone?”
Peka glanced at the door worry lines creasing her face. She had pushed one of the couches in front of it after they had left and had been waiting anxiously for the rap that would indicate that her son had returned.
“I’m not really sure Jasper.” She said turning her attention back to the man in front of her. “It might take them awhile to scan all the items they needed to grab. We can’t be certain.”
“I hate to say this Peka but you might need to consider…” He was interrupted when the code was rapped out on the door she stood up and raced to the door “Come help me move this couch.” She shouted in Jasper’s direction “Hurry!” He jumped up and together they lifted the couch out of the way just as Rowel pushed the door open and Rowel, Sira and Linda tumbled in onto the floor.
“Thank Kohath you’re all safe.” Peka gasped running and embracing them as Jasper replaced the couch in front of the door.

Oh how sweet! The hugs, the kisses, the tears. It was enough to make him sick. But one very important little fact kept him from throwing up and giving himself away. The girl had switched the gun to her two back hands and now he was aimed directly at a young girl who couldn’t have been much older than 3 or 4. Perfect!

The couch was back in place and Jasper straightened. The family was embracing in the middle of the floor and the two little girls had run up and were trying to get into the center. He sat back and thought of his own family. His wife and 16 year old daughter had been killed in the Martian war 15 years ago and times like this he thought the pain would never go away. He caught Shanti at the back of the crowd and smiled. Shanti was so much like her.
He turned to grab his water off the table when a flash of metal caught his eye. He turned in time to see one of the girls shift the guns that she was holding in her hands to her two back arms.
A shot rang in his head and in his minds eye he could see his daughter sliding to the floor a victim of his own gun. It had been an accident sure but it didn’t make it any easier. Now as he looked down at the little girl the gun aimed just a little above her head he could hear the gun shot echoing in his head. He didn’t care how much control the girl had on her gun accidents happened he had to do something.
He walked over to the girl and picked her up placing her on her big brothers shoulders. There now she was safe from harm. That’s when he heard the gun shot. At first he had thought it was just in his head but when he saw the looks on everyone’s face he knew he hadn’t imagined it. Then the pain shot through his body and he could feel the blood dripping down his legs. He stumbled back his vision going blurry and he felt himself hitting the floor.
The last thought he had before he hit the ground was: “I’m finally going to get to apologize to my little girl for pulling that trigger.”

It all happened so fast that it took Rowel a minute to figure out what had happened. One minute Jasper was lifting Shanti onto his shoulders the next minute Jasper’s lying on the ground dead and the shot from the gun is ringing in his ears.
Rowel pulled Shanti off his shoulders and placed her on the ground. He shuddered as he realized that Jasper had saved his little sisters life. Rowel knelt down to the man and felt for a pulse but the man was already dead.
Anger boiled in Rowel as he looked up and met Linda’s stricken eyes. “What happened?” Terror filled Linda’s eyes and she held a gun out to him.
“It went off but I didn’t even have my finger on the trigger.” The anger was stronger now as Rowel stood and snatched the gun out of Linda’s hand he dropped it on the ground, aimed his gun and 5 shots later the gun was nothing but a pile of steaming debris.
Rowel shot Linda a final angry glance than turned back to Jasper scooped him up and placed him on the couch covering his head with a blanket.
Rowel stood there for a minute staring at the covered body. His hand tightened on his gun. How dare these creatures come here and kill these people. No matter what anyone thought the Imaginese people were not weak and there was no way he was going to let these aliens get away with this. “I’m going out there.”
“What?” His mothers cry came from across the room. “Rowel you can’t.”
He turned to look at her “What I can’t do mom is let these aliens take advantage of us. I can’t just sit here waiting for them to come here. I need to help.” Without another word he scooped up his other guns off a chair and left the house.

Linda was stunned speechless by the unfolding of events that had just happened. Rowel was going to get himself killed and it was all her fault. She may not have pulled the trigger but it was her fault for not checking the guns and Rowel knew that.
Sira was on the other side of the room gathering up her guns as well. She handed two of the guns to her mother. “Dad will be home soon mom, don’t leave the house and if any of those aliens come use them. I’m going out there.”
“I’m going with you.”
Sira looked at Linda surprised. For a moment Linda thought she would say no but she just shrugged and strapped two more guns to her belt. “Whatever!”
Linda ran and strapped on her guns in record time and followed Sira out the door 5 minutes later.

The war went on for what seemed like hours. The Imaginese were strong but not as strong as Mercians and Venusiens they were easily losing. But for one who had never fought before besides in training Linda was doing perfect. She and Sira had gotten split up hours ago but Linda had barely noticed
Suddenly one was on her, a Mercian his wicked smile challenging her to attack him. She charged for him he dodged she stopped suddenly almost losing her balance she spun around to face his teasing grin and she knew full well that if he really wanted to he could easily overcome her. She went for him again but suddenly she was on the ground. It was the strangest thing, it was a like strike from somewhere inside her. Like a sudden heat strike. She lay on the ground curled up in a tight ball her eyes clenched tightly together. She heard laughter coming from above her. She opened her eyes to see the Mercian staring into her face. She knew what had happened she had learned it when she was studying other planets.
Mercury had the powers of heat they could even control you’re body heat. The Mercian picked her up and threw her. He was standing over her about to finish her off when a shot from behind stopped him. The creatures face filled with surprise. And Linda heard the sounds of air hissing from the creature’s suit. A moment later he started screaming as the super cold air of Imaginess hit his skin. He writhed on the ground for a couple seconds more before lying still.
Linda stood up and brushed the dirt and bugs off of her she had landed in a nest of sorts and her whole body ached from the jolt. Tiny bugs crawled around her and into her socks and hair but she hardly noticed she was so blinded by her anger towards these mocking creatures that was threatening her people’s very existence.
Exhaustion was catching up with her and she wasn’t sure how much more she could take. She dropped to her knees a couple of her guns slid out of her hands but she was too tired to pick them up. The more her body relaxed the more dangerous it was. Her arms were sliding back into their pouches and her muscles refused to listen to her brain as she tried to force herself to pick up the guns again.
Movement to her left caught her eye and she turned to see another Mercian stumbling in her direction his chunky suit making it difficult for him to walk. Adrenaline coursed through her and she forced herself to extend her arms and pick up the guns. As her hand closed on the first gun pain shot up her arm and through her body. She dropped the gun quickly and fell to the ground clutching her arm. The alien came and forced her to her feet clamping a collar around her neck as he did. Another wave of heat coursed through her and she instinctively pulled her arms in to protect them.
The pain passed and she noticed the alien had cuffed her hands behind her back. She tried to get out one of her other arms but try as she might she couldn’t. Then it clicked with her the collar around her neck locked her arms inside her. The Mercian threw her over his bulky shoulder, dragged her to one of the pods and threw her into one of the seats she was to tired to struggle and slumped into the seat where he threw her. She was too tired to think to tired to worry and before she knew it exhaustion had over taken her.
She woke up to a gentle humming when she opened her eyes she was in complete darkness. It took her a moment to realize where she was. She tried to get up but realized her hands were still tied behind her back. She tried to get loose but the bonds were too tight. She tried to get her other arms out but soon discovered that they hadn’t taken off the collar. She slumped back against the cold stone floor then pushed her self up onto her knees from there she found she could easily stand up. She pulled herself to her feet and tried to pull herself to her full height but smacked her head on the low ceiling when she was only halfway up. She felt herself hit the floor and then all was silent as she once again entered into sleep.