Survival

I opened my door and saw yellow. The bright yellow lights were flashing in the hallway, which could only mean one thing: danger. There were other females in the hallway too, bustling about and looking for their children, mates, and friends. I rushed back into my room and went into my wardrobe to grab my weapons. Once I was armed, I went back outside and headed for the nearest exit, which was the front door that led onto the beach.

“Do not panic! We are under attack by the humans. They are at the main entrance to the ship. Everyone, including warriors, please head in a calm but quick manner to the back of the ship. Do not look for others, just keep yourself safe. That’s everyone, head to the back of the ship,” Tobias’ voice came from speakers. The females turned around and started running past me, causing me to be knocked back against the wall. I stayed put until most of them had passed me, then went to the front of the ship. Out the nearest window, I saw a horrible scene. There were indeed humans there. They all were armed and slowly moving towards the main door that was always open. It was a reverse attack. Somehow, they had located our base and were now doing the exact same thing we always did to them. I stared in awe at the still wings on the ground that I could see nearby. There would had been children playing on the beach as they always did, and now they were surrounded by bloodied sand. A bit further away were more tattered wings, telling me that some elders were dead too. I could see mothers by the doorway too, and one was still alive. She was trying to roll away, but the gaping wound in her abdomen was stopping her from going too far. The humans were approaching her, and one shot her in the head, ceasing her movement forever.

“No!” I breathed, biting back tears. There was so much bloodshed… After all these battles of slowly picking off the humans, and now they had made up for it within minutes. I moved across a few windows until I was at one that had been modified since we had landed on this planet. Now it could be opened, so I did that and strung an arrow into my bow. I took careful aim at the human that had just fired his gun and let go once he was standing still. Once I knew that I had my revenge, I ducked down beneath the window, hoping that the humans wouldn’t see me. Bullets suddenly smacked into the side of the spaceship, and the glass shattered above my head. I brought my arms up and attempted to shield my face. Eventually their firing ceased and I slowly moved away from the broken window with my eyes shut.

“Marion? Is that you?” Sylus called out. I heard his footsteps getting louder and soon he was touching my head and pulling out shards of glass. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine,” I replied as more glass clinked onto the floor. I could feel it had scratched me, but it barely hurt.

“You need to get out of here. We’re at a huge disadvantage.”

“I know. There are so many dead out there,” I breathed, overcome with sadness.

“Okay, I think I’ve got most of the glass,” Sylus said, so I lifted my head back up, let down my arms and opened my eyes.

“Thanks,” I smiled before moving back to the window. I looked through the hole while keeping most of my head concealed and saw that the humans were now filing in to the spaceship. Half of them had already moved forwards and disappeared inside. Luckily we weren’t on ground floor, so we still had some time to leave. And then I saw her. Now that a group of humans were out of the way, I could clearly see Brienne. My heart skipped a few beats and my stomach hit the floor when I realised how still she was. I could barely see a trail of blood from her forehead that went down the side of her face, originating from a bullet hole.

“Marion! We have to go!” Sylus ordered, tugging at my arm.

“No! Brienne!” I sobbed. I collapsed against the wall, back into the sharp glass. They had killed her! The humans had murdered my friend!

“Let’s go!” Sylus yelled as he pulled me one last time, easily lifting me up with his strong arms. He was right. I had to go. I had to get vengeance for my friend. Those humans had to pay for what they had done. I tore out of Sylus’ grip and took off towards the stairs. They would only be a flight or two below me, so I’d get to them before I knew it. Sylus suddenly caught up to me and stopped me. “What the hell are you doing? We are fleeing, not fighting!” He started to drag me back in the opposite direction as I wailed, unable to control my excessive mourning for my friend.

“I have to!” I shouted, trying to break free. Sylus slammed my back against a wall and got in my face.

“Listen! The humans will be here any second now! We don’t have any time to waste! Snap out of it, be a true warrior, and do what’s best for our race!” he hissed. The shock calmed down a lot of my crying. “You are not going to go down there and try to fight them! Do you understand? I will not tell Tobias that you are dead, not today!” Toby… Sylus was right. It would be insane to go down there. I’d get my revenge one day, just not right now. After a calming breath, I looked up at his determined eyes and gave a tiny nod.

“Okay…” I whispered. Sylus nodded and freed me, gesturing towards a side hallway.

“This way. We need to get to the back exit as soon as possible,” he said. Together we ran down the corridors, seeing not a single Kasien. Behind us, I sometimes heard humans shouting, but they never seemed to catch up to us. Eventually we reached the other end of the spaceship, and Sylus smashed open the emergency exit. We used the door as a platform and took to the sky, flying away from our ship as fast as possible. Up ahead I could see the black cloud that I knew was the rest of the survivors, and we finally caught up to the back of the group. Tobias was up the front, leading the group away from the disastrous scene, and he took us to a new island. Adara was at the back with us, struggling to fly as fast because she was largely pregnant. She had confirmed it a few days ago, and I knew that this journey was taking its toll on her so, alongside her mate, I helped her as much as I could. It was the least I could do. Once we had landed, I sprinted across the land to Toby and flung myself into his arms. I wept, and he silently held onto me tightly.

“What happened?” he asked softly after a few moments.

“Brienne…” was all I managed to say. It was enough for Toby to understand, and he gripped onto me even tighter.

“I’m so sorry…” Toby breathed. It only made me cry harder. Those beasts had killed Brienne… I’d never see her again…

“Tobias, there are at least twenty children and females dead. A few elders have been reported as missing too,” I heard Sylus saying from close by. I squeezed my eyes shut, knowing that Brienne was one of those numbers. The image of her lying on the sand with that bullet wound would forever haunt me.

“How did they find us?” Tobias growled, showing me how upset he was about this.

“I really don’t know…” Sylus replied before sighing a little. “Look, I know Marion needs you right now, but so does everyone else. They’re panicking and mourning. They need their leader.”

“You’re right,” Tobias said after a pause. He then pushed me off him, placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me in my eyes. “I need to make sure we’re safe. I’ll also need warriors to protect the group. Can you be strong and help me?” I nodded and he gave a small smile. Tobias then went to the middle of the group and stood up on a boulder so everyone could see him. He gave a wonderfully inspirational speech about how we would survive this incident, how the humans would pay for the lives they had taken, and how we would find a new safe place to live. Afterwards, I felt reassured that we would make it through this tragedy. I didn’t know how Tobias would get us through it, but I knew he would.