Blue Through the Grey
Drone Contact
After we shoot one commercial fifteen times, they dismiss us. I quickly run back into my room and change into a warm wool sweater and then head for the elevator leading to the outside. I look up, watching the ground split open. It’s magical. The floor comes to a halt as it reaches the top. The small field is surrounded by trees and rubble from something, I’m not sure what. I take in a deep breath of cool fresh air. It’s crisp and I don’t even mind the cold burning my lungs. I lay down in the field and grab the grass in my fists. I miss the grass, I miss looking up at the stars, I miss what the world used to be. I jump up at the sound of a twig crunching in the treeline. I’m out here with no weapon. The figure emerges and wobbles towards me.
“Stop!” I yell. “Who are you?” He doesn’t reply, just makes some gurgling noises and continues to get closer. Then there’s a few more people walking out of woods and a few more after. Eventually there’s about twenty people, making weird noises. I call the elevator but there’s nothing, no movement. The figures are now in mid sprint and turrets shoot up from the ground and fire all around me. I fall to the dirt and cover my ears. There’s more of the people coming from the other side of the forest now. The weapons system takes them all out. The ground splits apart and out comes Marlene and David.
“What happened?” David asks as Marlene helps me to my feet.
“I don’t know. These things came from the woods” I say frantically.
Marlene walks over to one of the bodies and studies it for a good bit. “Infected. These are people infected with the virus when the attacks came. Looks like a stronger strain that rots the brain, makes them feral”
“C’mon, let's get back inside. I’ll go to the war room and scan the area to see if there’s anymore”
I sit in the dining room, sipping on flat coke. I was outside with no weapons, surrounded by those...ghouls. There’s a sudden buzzing noise and then the screens in the dining hall crackle to life.
“Fellow Americans” Marlene says. “My name is Marlene and I am the leader of the Ghost Colony. We are survivors underground. Those of you listening, the facilities you are in are not safe. The invaders are among you. Don’t trust them” And then it ends with me, Reilly and Noah shooting at little green men. I laugh a little, it looks terrible but it gets the message across. The screens flicker off and things go back to normal. Reilly drops down beside me with a plate full of beans and a cup of flat coke.
“Did it hurt when you fell from the mothership?” He smiles.
“Was that supposed to be romantic?” I ask, shoving food into my mouth.
“It was however you wanted it to be”
Then I kiss him. I kiss him for the people I’ve lost, I kiss him for the wounded earth, I kiss him for humanity. Most importantly, I kiss him to drown out the bad thoughts that plague my brain.
“What was that for?” He asks, pulling away. “I thought there was no time for this?”
Using my words against me, that’s what he’s good at. I can't be mad at him, I like him too much. “Shut up” I nudge him. “Probably the only kiss you’ll get”
We’re quickly interrupted by David. “Marlene wants to see you guys”
He leads us down a winding hall and into the War Room. “Ah, Jennifer, Reilly. The invader’s colony are watching it right now. I’d like to thank you for helping out. We also found out that the uh…”
“Ghouls is what I call them” I say.
“Hm, yes. We found out that the Ghouls are another wave of attacks from the Invaders” Marlene points to a screen showing a holographic map of the area. “There are Ghoul colonies nearby. We’re going to send a team out to kill them. I was wondering if you’d like to join? I understand if you don’t want to. You’ve done so much for us already”
“Yes. I’ll do it” Reilly says without hesitation.
“I will too” I quickly say after him. “Exosuits?”
“You’ll have them. We’ve equipped them with better weapons and even a force field if you need it”
We gather our gear and meet on the elevator. The Exosuits have an automatic body heating program, we’ll never be cold. The guns are better, and there’s a built in holomap. It’s me, Reilly, Noah and some other people. The others stayed behind to work on the perimeter defense. The elevator quickly speeds to the surface and the ground splits open faster than normal. It’s a quick evacuation. When we get to the surface, I know why. The ghouls have surrounded the place and the turrets are out of ammunition. Noah is the first to fire. Bullets are spraying and occasionally there’s blue blobs that pop up around a person. I’m guessing it’s the force fields. I try mine out as a Ghoul jumps towards me. It bounces off and hits the ground, vulnerable to my rifle. I press a button on my left hand and a pistol slides out of the arm and into my hand, all I have to do is pull the trigger, the Exo does the rest. The rifle automatically reloads and slides back into its holster while I use the pistol. The Ghoul’s are vicious and relentless. I look over at Reilly, he’s using two swords and slices through multiple enemies. Then there’s a huge explosion and it’s not from us, it’s from a drone passing by.
“Marlene” I scream over the radio. “Drone contact”
“Take it out!” She yells.
“RPG!” Reilly screams as he trails the drone through the air. It explodes in midair and comes crashing down towards the ground. We all cheer but our mission isn’t over yet. I hope those alien bastards grow to fear us.
“Jenn” Reilly says. “Let’s get going. If we don’t take out that colony, this place will eventually be overrun”
“Okay. Let’s go”
We take off and as soon as we reach the treeline, there’s another explosion. We all go flying back and smack against the ground. Our Exo’s all shut down and go into reset mode. We’re all stuck laying on the ground. I stare up at the sky, my ears ringing, I can hear the faint sounds of REBOOT, REBOOT, REBOOT, REBOOT COMPLETE. WELCOME TO EXOSUIT. I jump up to see the damage. Two of our men, dead, blown to bits. Marlene forgot to shut off some of the mines. There’s nothing we can do now, they’re dead.
“Jenn” Reilly puts his hand on my shoulder. “C’mon, we can’t dwell”
“We’ve lost so many people, Reilly. From the aliens and now from...us”
“Those mines were no one's fault, Jenn. Let’s go”
“Stop!” I yell. “Who are you?” He doesn’t reply, just makes some gurgling noises and continues to get closer. Then there’s a few more people walking out of woods and a few more after. Eventually there’s about twenty people, making weird noises. I call the elevator but there’s nothing, no movement. The figures are now in mid sprint and turrets shoot up from the ground and fire all around me. I fall to the dirt and cover my ears. There’s more of the people coming from the other side of the forest now. The weapons system takes them all out. The ground splits apart and out comes Marlene and David.
“What happened?” David asks as Marlene helps me to my feet.
“I don’t know. These things came from the woods” I say frantically.
Marlene walks over to one of the bodies and studies it for a good bit. “Infected. These are people infected with the virus when the attacks came. Looks like a stronger strain that rots the brain, makes them feral”
“C’mon, let's get back inside. I’ll go to the war room and scan the area to see if there’s anymore”
I sit in the dining room, sipping on flat coke. I was outside with no weapons, surrounded by those...ghouls. There’s a sudden buzzing noise and then the screens in the dining hall crackle to life.
“Fellow Americans” Marlene says. “My name is Marlene and I am the leader of the Ghost Colony. We are survivors underground. Those of you listening, the facilities you are in are not safe. The invaders are among you. Don’t trust them” And then it ends with me, Reilly and Noah shooting at little green men. I laugh a little, it looks terrible but it gets the message across. The screens flicker off and things go back to normal. Reilly drops down beside me with a plate full of beans and a cup of flat coke.
“Did it hurt when you fell from the mothership?” He smiles.
“Was that supposed to be romantic?” I ask, shoving food into my mouth.
“It was however you wanted it to be”
Then I kiss him. I kiss him for the people I’ve lost, I kiss him for the wounded earth, I kiss him for humanity. Most importantly, I kiss him to drown out the bad thoughts that plague my brain.
“What was that for?” He asks, pulling away. “I thought there was no time for this?”
Using my words against me, that’s what he’s good at. I can't be mad at him, I like him too much. “Shut up” I nudge him. “Probably the only kiss you’ll get”
We’re quickly interrupted by David. “Marlene wants to see you guys”
He leads us down a winding hall and into the War Room. “Ah, Jennifer, Reilly. The invader’s colony are watching it right now. I’d like to thank you for helping out. We also found out that the uh…”
“Ghouls is what I call them” I say.
“Hm, yes. We found out that the Ghouls are another wave of attacks from the Invaders” Marlene points to a screen showing a holographic map of the area. “There are Ghoul colonies nearby. We’re going to send a team out to kill them. I was wondering if you’d like to join? I understand if you don’t want to. You’ve done so much for us already”
“Yes. I’ll do it” Reilly says without hesitation.
“I will too” I quickly say after him. “Exosuits?”
“You’ll have them. We’ve equipped them with better weapons and even a force field if you need it”
We gather our gear and meet on the elevator. The Exosuits have an automatic body heating program, we’ll never be cold. The guns are better, and there’s a built in holomap. It’s me, Reilly, Noah and some other people. The others stayed behind to work on the perimeter defense. The elevator quickly speeds to the surface and the ground splits open faster than normal. It’s a quick evacuation. When we get to the surface, I know why. The ghouls have surrounded the place and the turrets are out of ammunition. Noah is the first to fire. Bullets are spraying and occasionally there’s blue blobs that pop up around a person. I’m guessing it’s the force fields. I try mine out as a Ghoul jumps towards me. It bounces off and hits the ground, vulnerable to my rifle. I press a button on my left hand and a pistol slides out of the arm and into my hand, all I have to do is pull the trigger, the Exo does the rest. The rifle automatically reloads and slides back into its holster while I use the pistol. The Ghoul’s are vicious and relentless. I look over at Reilly, he’s using two swords and slices through multiple enemies. Then there’s a huge explosion and it’s not from us, it’s from a drone passing by.
“Marlene” I scream over the radio. “Drone contact”
“Take it out!” She yells.
“RPG!” Reilly screams as he trails the drone through the air. It explodes in midair and comes crashing down towards the ground. We all cheer but our mission isn’t over yet. I hope those alien bastards grow to fear us.
“Jenn” Reilly says. “Let’s get going. If we don’t take out that colony, this place will eventually be overrun”
“Okay. Let’s go”
We take off and as soon as we reach the treeline, there’s another explosion. We all go flying back and smack against the ground. Our Exo’s all shut down and go into reset mode. We’re all stuck laying on the ground. I stare up at the sky, my ears ringing, I can hear the faint sounds of REBOOT, REBOOT, REBOOT, REBOOT COMPLETE. WELCOME TO EXOSUIT. I jump up to see the damage. Two of our men, dead, blown to bits. Marlene forgot to shut off some of the mines. There’s nothing we can do now, they’re dead.
“Jenn” Reilly puts his hand on my shoulder. “C’mon, we can’t dwell”
“We’ve lost so many people, Reilly. From the aliens and now from...us”
“Those mines were no one's fault, Jenn. Let’s go”