Both men glanced over at where the redheaded pilot stood by the wall, staring down at the helmet in his hands.
“We had a disagreement on the mission, sir. I didn’t feel like dying.”
Top’s eyebrows went up, and so did mine.
“Well, okay, then.” Top grasped his shoulder and then gave it a hard pat. “I’ll debrief you when we arrive. For now, try to relax.”
“Sir?” Rylen said before he could walk away. “Still no sign of Jacob Tate or Remy Haines?”
Top’s face fell. “No, son. I’m sorry. And it seems First Lieutenant Thompson is unaccounted for, as well.” Linette.
Again, my chest collapsed and I had to reach for Rylen. I just couldn’t believe this was reality. How had it happened? I hated that we would probably never know.
Seconds later, we were surrounded by what was left of our group. Devon, Shavontae, Texas Harry, New York Josh, Short Matt, Skinny Mark, Officer Sean, and J.D.
“Where are Remy and Tater?” J.D. asked, looking around.
I caught Devon giving him a hard shake of his head, and I had to press my lips together as the whole group froze, turning to look at me in shock.
“They didn’t make it,” I whispered.
J.D. covered his mouth and his eyes watered as he moved to hug me. I let him, closing my eyes against the looks of shock.
“We can’t find Linette either,” Josh said.
“What?” Shavontae yelled. They’d been roommates.
A sobering sensation fell over our group.
“Maybe they’re together?” J.D. said in his sweet, hopeful voice.
I shook my head, and whispered. “I hope they’re dead.” This made J.D. cringe, but the others nodded. I knew they were thinking what I was—that it’d be better to die a quick death than to be captured, tortured for intel, or used as experiments. I didn’t want to think about it. I couldn’t. Tater wouldn’t be able to handle it, mentally, and Remy was so kind and tender-hearted. I hated to think of how it would affect her emotionally to be in that position.
As for Linette . . . she could probably take on the whole Baelese Army. But as tough as she was, and as much grief as she gave me, I wouldn’t wish it on her.
A side door to the massive garage opened, and a man in an Air Force uniform of navy blue marched in with five guys in Army camo behind him. Top came forward and shook his hand. A hush fell over the room.
“I’m Colonel Latham. Welcome to the outskirts of Anchorage.” He paused to look over our quiet ranks. “It’ll be a tight squeeze, but you’ll all fit in the bunker. We brought six vehicles, and we have to move quick. We’ve got a small group of local DRI at Elmendorf base—they’re scouting north of the city right now—but they’re diligent.”
Just the mention of DRI gave me the shivers. Disaster Relieve Initiative was what the aliens called themselves while they were taking over Earth, masquerading as humans pretending to help people back on their feet, to fight against the “unknown enemy”. But they were the enemy all along. It was DRI who shot my grandpa right in our living room. It was DRI who called for Captain King to bomb the innocent people of towns, killing my parents and Abuela. And it was DRI who gave women shots to cripple their reproductive systems, me and Remy included.
All I wanted in life now was to help find a way to stop them, and to use my paramedic skills to keep humans healthy enough to win back this Earth. Knowing Colonel Latham had an entire team here, humans just like us, gave me hope. If there were cells of people like us all over the world, it was just a matter of time until we could fight back. And when the time came, I would be ready.
