Blue Through the Grey

I awake from deep sleep in my empty dorm. Reilly and Noah weren’t saved, no one knows where the alien’s took them. I smooth back my hair rub out the wrinkles in my grey sweatpants. I look on the nightstand where a small tube sits, inside contains a simulation of the weather outside. Rain, no snow, just rain. Soon the rain will turn into ice and make travel worse than it already is. We gained a few extra people in the Battle of Sanctuary, the people we gained balance out the people we lost. My father and Marlene still don’t understand that we killed innocent people, they think everyone working for the aliens are our enemies. Hell, they don’t know that the people they work for are aliens. The door to my room slides open quickly and in walks dad. He smiles and holds out his hand, he has a sandwich. I swing my legs over the side of the bed, stand up in agonizing pain, and knock the food out of his hand. His smile fades.
“What the fuck is your problem?!” He bends down to pick it up.
“That was a rescue mission. We were there to get Reilly and Noah, but instead we murdered hundreds of people!”
“They murdered BILLIONS of us, Jennifer!”
“That’s not the best excuse dad. If we kill our own people, we’re no better than them!” I’m screaming now. He puts his hands on my shoulders but I pull away. “No. You can’t just do that and expect everything to be fine!”
And then he shoves something into my stomach, something sharp, something painful. We look each other in the eyes and I realize something. This is not my dad, my dad died in the explosion back at that camp. This is an imposter, I can finally see through his disguise.
“Sorry, Jennifer. I really am”
“You...you...Bastard” I fall to the floor, holding my stomach, trying to keep all the blood inside. I feel it ooze through my fingers and eventually drip onto the tile flooring. I watch him walk out and that’s it, everything goes black.

“Jennifer!” Someone is calling my name. “Jenn, get up. C’mon, you’re fine!” It’s Marlene. She’s wrapping up my stomach and directing David to shoot at something. She helps me to my feet and and tosses my arm around her shoulder, it’s blurry but I can make things out. We’re quickly moving down the hall, gunfire around every corner.
“What..What happened?” I ask, barely making the words out.
“Someone on the inside, Jennifer. It was your dad...but not really your dad. An alien using your dad’s body as a host. He had a secret army in here. We’re evacuating to our sister station”
I go limp for a few seconds but David smacks me, making sure I’m still alive. We’re suddenly shooting upward, evac elevator. The ground starts opening up and I feel the drops of rain slide down my face. Seems like 2.5 seconds but my whole body is now soaked. The elevator comes to a halt and the wind is blowing harder than I can process. I hear the blades of a helicopter wooshing through the midnight sky. Marlene helps me in and then David follows. I press my head against the window and take deep breaths.
“Dad...where...is...he?” I know where he is, he’s dead. But something in the back of my head says otherwise.
Marlene pets my hair. “He’s gone babygirl”
I look out the window and watch the rain fall on the base that was once a save haven for everyone.
“Don’t worry about the others, they’ll make it out” She gives me a reassuring smile.
I’m out again. When my eyes open, I’m staring at a white ceiling. I try to move but something stops me, a tube in my left arm. It’s an IV. I lean up but I instantly stop. The pain is too much to handle.
“Hey” A man says, I’m assuming he’s a doctor. He’s tall and tan. His name badge says ‘Finn’
“Am I dying, Doc?” I smile.
“Nah, you’ll be fine. A stab wound is the least of your worries nowadays. You’ve been through hell”
“Yeah...I have” I look away, holding back tears. I don’t want to appear weak.
“It’s okay to let your feelings out. My whole family was murdered before Marlene found me” He swallows hard.
“I’m sorry Finn” I try to smile but the pain in my stomach is too much. So it comes out a half constipated awkward smile.
“It’s gonna hurt. But your wound should be healed. We got our hands on that alien tech” He takes the IV out of my hand and tells me to stand. I do so, almost falling but he catches me. How does he still look this good?
“Thanks” I say, kinda whispering it. I clear my throat. “Thanks for not letting me fall on my face”
“Anything I can do to help. Marlene wants me to show you to your dorm”
He leads me down a bunch of winding halls and then presses a bunch of buttons on a door. It slides open and there inside is Emily, Jessica, and Evan. Finn helps me sit down on the bed. They all just watch me, they have something on their minds but no one wants to say it.
“We thought you were dead” Emily says, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear.
“It’s gonna take more than that to kill me” I say emotionless, staring at the floor. That’s not true though, I’m already dead inside, I died long ago.
“I’m glad your back. We need to talk strategy” Jessica says, sitting beside me. I forgot her boyfriend was captured.
“Jess. I want to find them too, but right now...we need rest”
“How can you say that? YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY’RE DOING TO THEM!”
“It’d be best if they were dead” I choke back tears.
“I’m sorry, Jenn. I just need to know if Noah is okay”
“He’s an alien, he know’s what he’s doing” Even though I slept for three days, I’m still tired. “I don’t care about the innocent anymore”
“Huh?” Emily asks.
“This is war” I clinch my fists. “They’re gonna fucking pay for what they did to us”