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Wendy shook off the dizziness as well as she could, pushing
off the wall and heading towards the sound of the door. The blow to the head
only added to the darkness of the hanger as she struggled to follow the rest of
the unit, feeling her way along the wall.
She heard the door shut as Captain Talassy followed the
other two members through, aiming her way through the darkness, feeling for any
crates or supplies stacked in her way. Her fingers found the cold, round metal
of a stack of culvert pipes. They made it easy to feel her way along.
She froze as she rounded the end of the stack and heard a
sharp intake of breath, a small voice choking back sobs. Even in her dazed
state, Wendy knew the sound. Barclay had hidden the girl in the pipes and then led
them on a merry chase as a distraction. Feeling her way around the corner, she
heard the scared breathing increase.
More shots rang from outside, and she turned towards them,
stumbling through the darkness, the glowing green light of the exit sign finally
registering as her hands found the bar on the door and she pushed it open,
almost falling onto the blacktop.
Barclay lay curled up on the runway some two-hundred yards
away, clutching his left leg. The other two members of the team and the man in
black were standing over him. Wendy felt a strong hand grip her upper arm and
help her upright as Captain Talassy looked down at her. He was holding his nose
with his other hand, trying to stop the flow from Barclay's strike. His nose
was turned at an odd angle and Wendy knew it was broken and would probably have
to be set.
Once she was steady, he let go and motioned to the right
side of her face. Lifting one hand, she felt the skin raw, with a few small,
sticky patches. She'd caught a good scrape from the wall when Barclay had
struck her, and she could feel her face swelling around the left eye where his
punch had connected. Still, she stood up straight and followed her superior
over to their downed traitor where the man in black was starting to fume.
"FUCKING BASTARD! THIS WAS AS SIMPLE AS IT GETS AND YOU
WORTHLESS SHITS HAD TO FUCK IT ALL UP!"
The night outside the hanger was bright, even with the
sliver moon and only the lights of the craft on the runway as illumination. The
man in black continued to swear as one of the small grey beings hovered up to
them.
It used its hands in wide gestures, as if trying to explain
something, but it never made a sound and its thin slit of a mouth never moved.
Still, the man in black seemed to calm down and nodded his head in response. Wendy
stayed behind Talassy, and was instantly glad to have him between them with the
man turned around again, his rage seemingly abated and a wretched smile on his
face. He pointed at Barclay and the Grey seemed to nod slowly. It waved back toward
a few others that were standing a few more yards away, and they nodded as well.
One of them held up a small device, pushing buttons. A new
beam of light burst into life from the side of the craft, illuminating Barclay
as the man in black pushed the rest of the group out of the way. Then the
wounded soldier was lifted from the ground and pulled up to the ship.
The man in black held up his clipboard again, drawing a pen
from a pocket and making a note. The smile never left his lips. Then the Greys
walked back to the ship and disappeared up the ramp.
In a flash, the craft was gone, along with all the people
that had been delivered in the semi, and the wounded soldier. The man in black
turned to address the group with an exasperated huff.
"Well, I had to make a quick substitution, but they got
their full order in time." As he talked, the lights on the runway began to
light up again, as well as the lights on the hangers around them. He smirked
and looked over at Wendy. "I must admit, when I saw the little girl on the
roster, I thought the woman would be the one to crack. I was surprised, Ms.
Hallowell. I will recommend we call upon you again."
Wendy felt her skin crawl, the dirty weight that had
oppressed her in the office room returning on her shoulders as he felt his eyes
roam over her from behind his glasses.
"The girl will be found in the morning, and probably
returned to her parents after they can't figure out how she made it onto the
base. I'm sure she'll never try to run away again. Anyway, thank you for your
service tonight. You are dismissed." He continued to smirk as he turned
and strode away into the hanger where the semi was still parked.
Wendy stood at attention until Talassy and the others turned
and headed back towards their barracks, and then she followed closely in their
footsteps.
She silently prayed they would never call on her for one of
these assignments again.
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I hope everyone enjoyed that. Feel free to leave comments below or to email me with any thoughts you had, if you liked/hated it, or anything else really. Next week we return you to our regularly scheduled blog posts. Thanks.
~ Shaun
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