Invasion
Chapter 24

She sets the shuttle on course for Earth. Eventhough being in space was more fun and calmer than she thought, she’s excitedto return. It should be nice to step foot on the planet and feel gravity again,the normal way. Well, there’s really no “normal” way, is there? Everything’srelative. “Okay, guys. We are about to reenter atmosphere. Strap in and prepareyourselves,” the cosmonaut informs them. Takashi is still resting against thewall, sitting on the floor. “Baby, come on. We gotta sit down,” she tells him.“I am sitting down,” he says, still tired and not in the mood.” “Haha, comeon.” “Oookaaayyy.” “Come on, guys!” Sergey shouts to them, having already satdown. They each take one of the seats and strap in the damn seatbelts, causeit’s gonna be a bumpy ride. The electrical systems get a little haywirey again,but it’s just a glitch like before, so she dismisses it. It’s too late nowanyway. The shuttle starts to rumble and burn as they finally enter theatmosphere. “Hold on, guys!!!” The exterior layer breaks up a bit, small piecesonly, but it’s holding up. “Arrrreee yooouuu surrreee we’re okayyyy???!” Oliviaasks. “We--eee ss--hhould b--b-beee!!” she replies. They’re coming in fast,they have to be to make it in one piece, and even that’s not a guarantee. “Thisis it, baby!!!! Hahahahaha!!!” Andrei screams, half-crazily. They can finallysee the clouds in all their white fluffiness.

Things should start tocalm down right about now as they’ve successfully reentered. “Alright, ladiesand gentleman. We have made it past the difficult part,” the cosmonaut says, “weshould be landing soon.” The system continues to briefly glitch again, causingher to get a little frustrated. “Ay, come on. Just hold on a little longer,”she says to it. They’re almost there anyway, so she dismisses it. It’s just aglitch after all. “Where are we landing again?” Olivia asks, still shaking offthat part. “Moscow International Airport. We are going to use their landingstrip. It should be enough for a ship of this size.” “Oh, okay,” she replies, notreally caring at this point, too tired. They’re both just glad that it’s allover, finally. “What should we do after this?” she asks him. He chuckles, “Idon’t know. After all this craziness, I’m pretty much down for anything.Dinner’s on me, tonight.” “Hahaha, it’s a date.” They’re finally coming up onthe airport visible in front of them, though they’re coming in from a differentdirection and angle. She needs to turn the shuttle around to be in the rightposition. “Okay, ladies and gentlemen. Please hold on as we are about to make alanding soon,” she announces. She activates the landing gear and begins todescend a little, while turning to get to the right position. Takashi knowsthat thump anywhere. The sound of the landing gear going out, the sort ofhydraulic sound that it makes as it does so; the sound it makes as it grindswith the air… He clenches the seat handle tightly and braces himself, taking adeep breath. His muscles tense up a little. He doesn’t really know why, but hehates planes and flying in them, always has. It just makes him nervous andanxious. Yet he has no problem flying around on his own. Well, that’s adifferent experience, a different feeling, I suppose. She grabs his hand tocalm him down a bit. Though that’s something she remembers. “Why do you hateplanes?” she asks. “Shut up, just… Please, let’s just get this over with,” hereplies. She laughs, “Okay,” enthusiastically, trying to be cheerful. They’re stillpretty high up, still turning, though they can already see the ground below. “Sorry,guys. We have to circle around. From this direction, the tail wind is too fast.I would not be able to control the shuttle. Just hold on, we will be theresoon,” she explains. Seeing Takashi freak out over this brings back another memoryfrom the past.

At the airport, he wasalready worried and a little stressed at the prospect of getting on board aplane. “Hey, relax,” she said to him. He calmed down a little, “Right…relax.”He took a deep breath. They were waiting at the gate for boarding, which wasonly a few more minutes away. “I think this is gonna be fun,” she told him.“Yeahaha, should be. Why did we pick Moscow again? It’s soo far, which means along plane ride.” “Haha, why are you afraid of flying again?” “I don’t know, Ijust…I hate planes, okay? It’s not really the flying.” “Attention, passengers,Gate 17 for Flight 42 to Moscow is now open. I repeat, Gate 42 for Moscow is nowopen. We will now begin boarding for the Moscow flight. Passengers please haveboarding passes ready before the gate. Thank you,” the announcer announced. “Oh,shit,” he said. “Please try to relax. Come on.” The line was a bit long andthey decided to wait until most have passed through. It wasn’t like they wererushing anyway. Most of them were Russian, going back home to see family andfriends, but there were a few other nationals too, mostly Americans. “Come on,let’s go,” she said seeing that most people have gone in. She grabbed her bluedenim jacket and backpack, put the jacket on over her white Japanese hamburgert-shirt, and went in line. Takashi, trying to calm himself down and relax, gotup more slowly. He put on his green, military-style jacket over his light greenchemistry t-shirt, and then grabbed his bag. He took another deep breath beforejoining her in line. It was like everything started to warp slightly, hisreality. Everything seemed to be against him, plotting his downfall. Well, notreally that different from his experiences in his life, but somehow it was. Itbeing midnight didn’t help at all, with everything dark outside. She held hishand to try and relax him. And for a while, it worked. Looking at her gave alittle reprieve from that feeling. “Good evening, guys. I just need to see yourboarding passes,” the gate attendant said. “Huh?!” he was shocked from hervoice. His mind was wandering. “Uh, I need to see your boarding passes,” sherepeated herself. “Yes, of course. Here you go,” Olivia gave both of theirs,“Sorry, he’s a not a fan of flying, haha.” “It’s alright, we get that aroundhere from time to time. Sir, I can tell you that it’s completely safe.” “Haha, I’msure it is,” he replied. “Alright, here you go. Enjoy your flight.” “Thankyou.” With that out of the way, they entered.

They had to go throughthat long corridor that leads to the door of the plane where they were greetedby the cabin crew. Finding their seats was no big deal, though with the crampedspace and lots of people, it made it difficult and annoying. After puttingtheir bags on top, they took their seats. The captain announced their flightplan and they prepared for takeoff. The takeoff was unnerving for him too. Hekept holding Olivia’s hand tightly, shaking. And eventually they were off theground. “Sweetie, relax. Everything’s gonna be okay,” she told him. “I know,”he said, still worried, “just let me handle it, okay?” She chuckled, “Okay,” shakingher head. And pretty soon the plane was on its way to Moscow.

They were already hoursinto their flight. Olivia checked her TV screen for their flight path, checkinghow much longer they’ve got. “See, only 2 hours left,” she said. “2 hours…Great,” he replied, “why is it still so long??” It also didn’t help that theweather outside was pretty bleak, with rain and thunderclouds about. Maybesitting at the window seat wasn’t such a good idea for him. It didn’t seem likea good idea, even though it was his decision to do so. He was surely regrettingit by then. “Why don’t you watch a movie?” she grabbed a magazine from the seatpocket. “I don’t know, it feels weird with the tray open. When are they gonnatake it??” “Relax, they’ll be here. Just calm down.” She turned around to see thecart was actually behind them on the corridor, just a few minutes away fromtheir seats. “See, it’s coming.” “Yeah, they may look close, but it takes themawhile to actually get here, just so you know.” She stopped reading, turned tohim, and grabbed his hand. “Baby, relax. Please?” she smiled. He looks at hertoo, and then nods, calming down. Suddenly the plane started shaking,encountering a minor turbulence. “Ohhhhh, shit!” The cart shook a little bit too,but it’s just another day at the office for the flight attendants. Theypractically experience this almost everyday, it became second nature. “It’sjust a turbulence, completely normal,” she tried to calm him down. He sloweddown his breathing and relaxed. “I know, I know. I’m…I’m fine,” he smiled. “Okay.”She resumed perusing through the in-flight magazine. He looked out the windowagain and saw the lightning zipping by through and among the clouds. They weresitting at the window seat near the left wing of the plane, and of course hismind, at his heightened state, saw the illusion of the proximity of thelightning to the wing. What if itactually hits it?? We could fall, he thought. That obviously didn’t helpwith his current state and he closed the shades to avoid seeing it and calmedhimself down. He took another deep breath.

The cart finally arrivedat their seats and offered to take their tray away. “Yes, please,” he said.“Thank you,” she said. She stowed them away and asked them if they would wannarequest something else. “Can I get you anything else?” she asked. “I would likesome peanuts, thank you,” Olivia told her, “baby?” “I would like some peanutstoo, thank you. And, uh, I would also like some milk, please.” “Of course, sir.I will be right back.” “Thank you.” Finally he could put his tray back up,making it a little bit more spacious again. He could finally stretch his legsagain without having to worry about hitting the tray and knocking the food overor something like that. He felt free-er. “Oh, finally. That feels good,” hesaid, “haha, getting peanuts on a plane. Like in the movies, huh?” “Hahaha, Iguess so. I’m glad you’re more relaxed now.” He actually wasn’t, not really.“Yeah well, distractions help. But in the end, they’re still just distractions.Once it breaks, once it unravels…everything comes flooding back, and then youfeel everything again…” he told her. “True, but it doesn’t have to. Distractionshelp us to forget about it for a moment, but it’ll still be there. Don’t justget rid of it or forget it. You have to…accept it. Accept that it’s a part ofyou. And then you let it go. Acceptance is a very powerful thing,” sheexplained. “Yes it is. Ohh, I know. Trust me. Too bad that’s something I cannever do.” “That’s what you think…until you do it. When you accept who you are,you’re gonna be happy, you know?” He looked away, trying not to think about it.(Thinking about it usually just makes it worse) But he knew she was right, hecould feel it. Yet somehow he still couldn’t do it. He wasn’t ready. The stewardessfinally came back with their peanuts and a glass of milk. “There you go, guys.Is there anything else I could help you with?” she asks. “No, that’s okay. Thankyou.” “Alright, enjoy.” He was happy to finally receive his milk and peanuts,but that meant he had to lower the tray again. “Great,” he said sarcastically. “What’veI been telling you? Don’t think about it too much. It’ll only worry you. Justlet it flow.” “That’s nice. Right…” He opens the bag and quickly starts eatingit. “Slow down,” she said. “I’m sorry, they’re really good. And it helps withthe…with the nerves, you know.” After finishing, he took his time drinking themilk, enjoying it. He then turned on his TV screen to see what’s on. He doesn’treally watch anything during flights, the few that he has, he usually justflips through the screen over and over trying to not be bored. This flight wasno different. He flipped through the many options and just saw what’s there. Evenif he did watch something, he wouldn’t have really watched it watched it. Theconstant loud background noise always makes sure that you basically can’t hearanything through the headphones. The brightness is never right and is alwaystoo high. But hey, it’s good to pass the time it seems. Though that time, hepassed on that. He felt tired and would rather sleep, which he did, giving thenow empty glass to a passing stewardess and closed his tray back up. Coveringhimself with the blanket, “Wake me up when we’re actually closer,” he told her.“Haha, sure. Sweet dreams.”

The shuttle’s rumblingsnaps her back to the present. She turns to Takashi to see him still trying tocalm down. The rumbling does not help at all. After turning around, the stripis now directly in front of them and in the right position. “Alright, here wego!” Alexandra says. And again, he grabs hold of Olivia’s hand, tightly. He’santicipating it, waiting for it, when the wheels make contact with the ground. Thump!!“Oh, shit!!” he shouts. His grip on her hand tightens even more. She turns tohim, but just smiles, happy, enjoying the moment. Even though it’s starting tohurt a bit, she’s okay with it. Coupled with the air brakes deploying, it makesthat kinda grinding sound as it hits the air. Oh, he doesn’t like that. Not onebit. After a few seconds, they finally slow down to normal ground speed. “Ladiesand gentleman, welcome to Moscow.” He’s still shaking and breathing quickly. “Baby?It’s okay. We’re here. Haha, can I have my hand back now?” she tells him. Heturns to him, still shaking a little, “Right, sorry.” “It’s okay. Calm down,it’s over.” He nods, “I know, trying. Just give me a minute.”

Alexandra follows thepath of the road to the docking area and stops. But of course they don’t dock,it just feels better to be closer. I suppose it does. She unbuckles herself andheads back to the rest. “We have finally arrived. Shall we go outside andcelebrate?” she asks them. “Yes, please. Let’s go outside,” Takashi says. “Da,let us egress,” Sergey adds, unbuckling. “Oh, by the way, you guys can take offyour EVAs now.” She herself is wearing the standard orange cosmonaut suitunderneath, the Russian flag on her left shoulder and the Roscosmos logo on herupper-left chest. She then opens the door and activates the slide. Andrei andSergey jump out and slide down first. “Woooooo hoooooo!!!” they yell out. Oliviathen walks up with Takashi. “Are you okay, my friend?” she asks him. “Yeahaha,just…just need a few more minutes,” he answers. “If it’s okay, I think I’m justgonna carry him out,” Olivia says. “Of course. See you guys on the ground.” Shethen slides down, “Whooooooo!!!!” “Alright, come on. We’re gonna levitate out,okay?” “No2, it’s okay. I wanna slide down. Should be fun,” he says, smiling.“Are you sure?” “Yeah, let’s do it.” “Okay. You first.” “No, together.” Shenods and they hold hands before jumping out and sliding down. “Woooooohoooooooo!!!! Yeah!!!!!”

It feels nice to hit thatasphalt, to feel gravity and step on the ground again—well, technically it'snot the ground ground, but close enough—and the feel of the wind on theirfaces, the breeze…also amazing. “Lucky the blizzard didn’t hit this part oftown, huh?” Olivia says, “otherwise that landing would’ve been, well,impossible.” “Yes, I agree,” Sergey nods. “There was a blizzard??” thecosmonaut asks. “Yeah, the aliens changed the weather on a certain part of thecity to slow us down. They made it snow and caused a blizzard,” Takashiexplains. “Shit,” she replies, it’s unbelievable. Takashi grabs Olivia by thehip and pulls her over. “So where to now, boss? Hahaha,” he asks jokingly andgives her a kiss. “Hahaha, I don’t know. Anywhere but here, I guess. It’s toobad about all these people who died though. And it wasn’t even because of thealiens.” “Yeah. When you’re fighting scary alien creatures, you forget thathumans can be evil too,” Takashi adds. “Do not worry, my friends. We willrebuild…we have to,” Andrei tells them. “Let us go,” Sergey says. After muchdeserved pats in the back, they start walking to replace an entrance to theterminal. But the shuttle then has another bout of electrical malfunction,bigger this time, causing all manner of rumbling to it. “Ah, what is wrong withher??” the cosmonaut asks. She runs back to check the wirings underneath, maybeit’s still damaged. The shuttle rumbles faster, it looks like it’s gonnaexplode. “Argh!!” she exclaims having been electrocuted. Andrei runs over tohelp her up and gets her out of there. The others join in to help, taking heroff his hands. He turns back to try and fix it himself. But the rumbling thensuddenly stops and everything inside shuts down. “Well, at least it stopped,”Takashi says. “Andrei, you okay?” his friend asks. He nods gently beforeturning around to give him a ‘thumbs up’.

“You alright?” Oliviaasks her. “Yes, I am unharmed,” she replies. “You sure? That looked like anasty shock.” “I am fine. Just, damn, that hurt like a son of a bitch, haha.” Herright hand is a little burned, but she’ll be okay. She stands back up and saysto Sergey, “What is wrong with your friend?” They all turn back to him to seewhat she means. He’s just standing there looking all weird. “Everything alright,man?” Takashi asks. “Yes, I…I just felt strange for a mom--- Arrgghh!!!” Ican’t even begin to describe the shock that they feel and are now expressing bywhat just happened all of a sudden. Something has pierced through his chestwith a surge of electricity. “Andrei!!! NooooooooooO!!!!!!” Sergey screams forhis friend. A bundle of electricity appears behind him from the shuttle,forming into the queen. Andrei starts to dissipate and is finally absorbed, infront of their very eyes, transforming to electrical energy flowing through hertentacle. It then steps out from underneath the shuttle into the open, itsheight concealed by it, now standing upright, tall, huge, and furiously infront of them. They did just destroy her ship.

“Alexandra, where are allthe weapons?” Sergey asks her. “Inside the shuttle…” she answers. “Shit!” “Whatdo we do?” Olivia asks quietly. It then gives a loud roar, sparking electricityas her tentacles spring outwards. The shuttle behind it explodes in sparks fromher energy in an excellent fireworks display. “Run…RUUUNN!!!!” It startsrushing to them. Takashi motions his hand and levitates a nearby luggage carand throws it at her, slowing her down a little, but not by much. Seeing itineffective, he quickly runs the other way to join the others. He jumps andtries to fly, but is too weakened and tired to do so, only succeeding to levitatefor a few seconds. It smashes the car away and continues its pursuit of them,no hesitation. They enter the airport through one of the doors and hastily runup the escalator heading to one of the waiting areas. It smashes through thedoor, shattering the walls and nearby window and jumps up to their floor.“Guys, just go. We’ll hold it off,” Olivia says “Nooo!!! We stick together!!!”Sergey disagrees. “Goooo!!!” As it approaches, she jumps and punches it in theface with an energy burst. Takashi follows through with several of his own,successfully knocking her back a few meters. Olivia then slams it back down tothe lower floor. She crouches at its chest, and they have a stare down, “Whywon’t you just die?” she says. It just growls at her. She gives it another goodpunch to the face, but it grabs her and throws her to through the ceiling inretaliation. Takashi grabs and leans against the glass railing, tired. It roarsat him and uses its tentacles to rip the concrete from the walls and throws itat him. He dodges it, barely, as it breaks the railing and falls down. It jumpsup and stands menacingly over him. “Well, what are you waiting for??!?!?!” heyells at it. It grabs him and picks him up. He psychically head butts it,sending out an energy wave. Course he was too tired for that to actually doanything. Olivia then emerges from the ceiling, smashing through it, and ramsthe queen, sending them all through the glass door and into the waiting area. Takashislips from the queen’s grips and flies off at the last second to avoid beingcrushed, landing on his back at the lower corridor. He looks up then lowers hishead, breathing a sigh of relief.

Sergey and Alexandraalready went down the set of escalators at the waiting area, heading furtherinto the airport to the main area. Sergey and Alexandra reach the main areaand, feeling tired, decides to rest on one of the row of chairs available. “Doyou think they made it?” the cosmonaut asks. “Do not doubt them, they are avery tough bunch,” he answers, having faith in them. They can hear the boomsand crashes from their fight from here. But they’ll be okay; at least that’swhat he’s hoping. They have to be. You twobetter make it here, he thinks to himself. “So what do we do now? How arewe supposed to kill that thing without our weapons?” she asks. “I do not know,Alexandra,” he replies. He’s still reeling in from his best friend’s death.Even now he still can’t believe that he’s gone. For the first time in a longtime, a tear flows from his eyes to his cheek. Unable to hold it in anymore, heeventually bursts into tears. It’s hard seeing a friend lose a friend. Thecosmonaut doesn’t know what to do, so she just sits there. Though she doesn’twanna just do nothing either while her friend is in distress. But what couldshe say?? “Sergey? Sergey! Listen to me, my friend. I can see that it is veryhard, seeing him die like that. But we have to focus right now. He would nothave wanted us to give up. He would have wanted us to finish the mission and killthat, that thing…and save the world. I am sorry, I am not very good with this.But what do you say? Shall we finish this for Andrei?” she extends her hand tohim in an effort to get him back. He’s fighting it with everything he’s got,trying to snap out of it. He knows that that’s what they have to do, and heknows that they have to finish this. Instead, right now he’s reminiscing histime with Andrei when they were in the Russian Armed Forces.

It was near the end ofthe second Chechen war in the North Caucasus Region. As part of the RussianGround Forces, Sergey and Andrei were sent in to the city of Grozny, along withtheir regiment, to deliver the final blow to the separatist movement. Russiawas already winning against them, having already taken back control of most ofthe region. Speaking in Russian, “Why looking so gloom, my friend?? We’re aboutto win this war! Let’s rock,” Andrei said to his friend. Sergey still looked asserious as ever wearing his light green camo military uniform, a standard ofthe Russian Ground Forces. Over it he wore a dark green flak jacket. Though hewasn’t wearing a helmet, instead was wearing his usual bandana. “Sergey, what’swrong??” “Hmmm,” he snapped out of his contemplation, “oh, nothing. It’s justthis war…it’s caused nothing but thousands of unnecessary deaths anddestruction.” Andrei leaned forward to his friend, “Well, that’s why we’rehere, right? We’re gonna stop all that. We can’t change the past, but…we canmake sure that it stops here and doesn’t continue further.” Hearing hisfriend’s speech did snap him out of his slump as the signal lighted up. “Alright,men!!! This is it!!! Get ready!!!” he yelled to his unit. The helicopter landedin the middle of Zavodskoy City District and the ramp opened for them todeploy. “Aaaarrrgggghhhhh!!!!” they screamed as they ran out. As soon as the helicoptertook off, it wasn’t even far above the ground yet, it was immediately shot downby a rocket launcher and explode. “Nooooooooo!!!!!” the captain screamed forhis fallen comrades. Immediately they encountered plenty of insurgents shootingand yelling at them. They took cover behind the plenty of debris scatteredaround the area. “What’s going on?? I thought they surrendered!!” Andrei asked.“It doesn’t matter! Shoot them!!” he ordered. The city was basically a wastelandnow because of the war, what with thousands of civilian casualties and hundredsof destroyed buildings. They successfully managed to pick them off and finally advance.“Command, we are advancing!” he updated. “Roger that, captain. Head over to theGrozny City Towers, you know your mission. Over.” “Command, wait. There arestill lots of enemy soldiers about. I thought they told their forces to standdown?” “….just follow your orders, captain. Remember the mission. Over andout.” “Yes, sir,” he said, annoyed. With that, they made their way there,paving a way through the chaotic and random militants along the way. On theway, they passed many victims of the senseless violence and destruction. Many houses,buildings, and apartments were also destroyed, reduced to rubble. Seeing allthat firsthand brought about those mixed feelings again for Sergey. He didn’tknow what to think or feel. But he was a soldier. He had his orders and had tofollow them. Though that doesn’t mean he was indifferent to everything. Hestill had a conscience. But he couldn’t think about it too much. Like hisfriend said before, all the more reason for them to finish this as soon as theycould. He shook it off and focused on getting to their objective so they couldend it. He was dead set on it. Though he didn’t know what they were reallythere for. If he did, would he have done things differently knowing full wellwhat the consequences were?

As they approached thetowers, they were surprised by the lack of resistance in this part of town.Only a few actually fought back, the rest either let them through or were just sittingdown out of the way, talking and smoking. “Just go through that gate, we’vebeen waiting for you guys” one of them even said. He was confused by what thatmeant, but continued on. Parts of the towers were already destroyed and one ofthem was burning, engulfed in flames. Though the main tower was relativelyunharmed. At the entrance gate, they were surprised to replace that the mayor andthe military commander were already waiting for them, alone and unarmed. Ofcourse they were suspicious of their motives, not releasing their sights onthem. Sergey and Andrei approached them carefully, “You monsters. This endstoday,” Sergey said. “Of course, captain. As per the agreement,” the mayor toldhim. “Then why didn’t you tell your forces to stand down??! They kept shootingat us and destroyed one of our choppers! Killing a few good people.” “Yes,unfortunately not all of our men agreed to the terms. A few of them defectedand formed their own scattered group. But I’m sure it was nothing that youcouldn’t handle,” the commander spoke. “Urgh!” he stepped closer to him, angryand pressing his gun to the commander’s cheeks. “We cannot control them.They’re a bunch of delusional maniacs.” “Like you?” “Captain? Captain! Let himgo,” command spoke to him, “that’s an order, captain. Remember your mission.” Hegrit his teeth before finally releasing him, reluctantly. “Now, captain.Tomorrow morning you and your team will give safe passage to the mayor and allthe high-ranking officers and escort them to the nearby village of Alkhan-Kala wherean airlift will be waiting. Is that understood, captain?” they explained. “Withall due respect, sir, you should just send an airlift here,” he suggested.“That area’s too hot for extraction. As you’ve found out, some of the militantsare still active. Just do as you’re told, captain.” “With all due respect, sir, you should’ve warned us about thedefectors too.” “We didn’t know too, captain. Now I suggest you stop wastingtime with this chitchat and focus on protecting yourselves and the package.That’s an order. Command out.” “Yes, sir,” he held his tongue. “So what are wedoing?” Andrei asked him. The captain looked at him before turning to the mayor,“We have to get inside. Start walking, now,” he told them. The thought of workingtogether, worse, protecting the verypeople who caused all this mayhem and chaos disturbed him. He didn’t like itone bit, but what could he do? He had his order and his mission.

With that, he gathered withAndrei and his men and conveyed to them the plan. The tower area was too bigand wide to cover with only ten men, so they would cover the front and mainentrance while Sergey and Andrei stay with the mayor and the officers inside. “Thereare only a few defectors, low-level. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem,”Sergey explained, “understood??” “Yes, sir!!” they answered. “Good, let’s doit!” They took positions around the entrance while the captain and his friendescort the good mayor and the commander inside. Inside, the lobby interior wasunharmed and still looks amazing to their surprise. It had a big crystallinechandelier in the middle of the room with a round table below it, decorated withan assortment of flower arrangements. On the left side was the reception deskand office, while at the far back on the corner-right was a gathering area forwaiting guests filled with comfy armchairs and tables with complimentarydrinks. There was also a window to view the towers’ small garden in the back. Theywent past all that and headed straight for the elevators to the left of thewaiting area. He pressed the button to call it. “Still beautiful, right? Thiswhole place used to be beautiful like this,” the mayor spoke. “Yeah, until youguys came along and destroyed everything,” Andrei said. “We know what we’vedone, Lieutenant. That’s why we’re doing this. It’s enough. I actually lookforward to the day where we don’t have to shoot at each other anymore,” heexpressed his regret. “Get us out of here, captain, and we will do what we canto try and give back what we took. To rebuild,” the commander told them. Ding!The elevator bell rang. They entered and headed for the top floor. All of thehigh-ranking officers were held up there. From the top, they could seeeverything, providing a bird’s-eye view of the city. The place wasn’t badeither, from the carpeting to the walls and decoration… Not a bad place to stayin, if you could look past the overturned tables, barricaded doors, andrearranged furniture. The outside was no different, what with it mostlydestroyed or in flames. They led the soldiers to their private suite where someof the officers lay. There was a dead body on the floor to the side, coveredbut you could still see the bloodstains. Another one was directly in front ofthe other one. “What happened here?” the captain asked. “Like we said, noteveryone agreed to this surrender. And one of my friends had to pay the pricefor our ignorance,” the commander said with a regretful tone, “lots of peopledid.” Only then that the soldiers realized that maybe it was genuine. Theyreally have regretted this war and all that it had wrought upon their countryand people. Though a little doubt remained, it was then that they realized thatthese “monsters” were human too. Even with all the evil they’ve done, they werepaying for it then.

“So what’s the plan then,captain?” the mayor asked. “We’re gonna stay here for the night while commandprepares the airlift. Then tomorrow we take you to the village of Alkhan-Kalawhere you can be safe,” he answered. “Are you serious?? We still have to wait one more night??!” oneof the officers said. “Unfortunately, yes. These are not my orders. There’snothing we can do,” he explained, “don’t worry, we will protect you guys untilthen.” Reluctantly, they agreed—as if they had a choice in the matter anyway. Beinga suite, the room was quite big and luxurious. The bed alone had moredecorations than the flowers or the room itself. It sleeps two comfortably. Andthen of course you’ve got the TV area, the dining room, the balcony and thesmall patio. Holy shit. They even have an extra bed or two for guests. Well,not really, but technically it was their tower at that time and they could dowhatever they want. “You two can sleep…wherever you want, it doesn’t reallymatter,” the commander told them, “we should rest for tomorrow. Are you sureyour men can handle everything downstairs?” “They’ll be fine. They’re thebest,” he said to him. He nodded, trusting the soldier. Sergey then went out tothe balcony to look down. “Men, is everything quiet?” he radioed them. “Yes,sir. No activity so far. We’ll keep you posted,” he replied. “Roger that. Overand out.” When he came back inside, Andrei was kinda flirting with one of the womencommanders. Really?? was all he couldthink of. He cleared his throat. “Captain,” he saluted, “I was just talking toour lovely young friend here.” She had long black hair and was wearing fullmilitary outfit, clothes, and skirt. She was clutching her beret, nervous ofwhat could happen. And him flirting with her did not help. Her face was whiteand clean, covered in fading make-up. “Well, that’s enough talking for today.Focus,” his friend and captain said. “Yes, sir.” It didn’t look like he wasgetting anywhere anyway.

As they went away, Andreimotioned a phone call to her and she just looked confused. “Okay, that’senough. What’s wrong with you??” “Hahaha, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gottado, right?” he replied. “This is no joke, Andrei. We’re still at war, and wehave a mission. So can you please get your head out of the gutter and focus?” Sergeytold his friend quietly. Andrei’s expression went away and he got a little bitmore serious. “Sorry, boss. Was just fooling around. I know why we’re here.I’ll shape up, promise.” “Just…” he sighed, “I just need you on this, okay?We’re still in hostile territory. I just wanna make sure that everyone makes itout alive.” “We will,” he grabbed his friend’s shoulder, trying to reassurehim. He was pretty tense. Well, being in the middle of a war would make aperson tense, but this was a little different. He was battling his own demonsthat day, his mixed feelings about the war and these people. And how the hellare they supposed to protect 50-something men and women?? His face was quitetense, trying to keep it together. “Hey, Sergey. We can handle this. We alwaysdo,” he smiled at him. The captain nodded, regaining his composure andconfidence.

At nightfall, most ofthem had already fallen asleep. The lieutenant was feeling pretty tired too,but he couldn’t leave his friend alone to stand watch. Sergey was standing bythe window, looking out as the glow of the moonlight shone in. The full moonwas big and bright, its alluring glow attracted his attention. “Captain?Captain??”

“Hmm?! Yes, sorry. Whatis it?”

“I think we should getsome rest too. We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

“I know, but we still haveto make sure that everything’s okay. What if they come back while we’reasleep??”

“Thenthe men will handle it. Like you yourself said, they can handle it.” Sergey wasobviously very tired too, he really wanted to accept his friend’s offer,but…some part of him still felt uneasy. “Men, any activity at all?” he radioedthem. “No, sir. Been quiet all night. A few of us were thinking of hitting thehay, actually. Two of us will be up of course. We’ll take shifts,” the sergeantanswered, “but it looks like there won’t be too much trouble, captain. Maybeyou should get some rest too, sir?” Reluctantly, “Understood. Perhaps I will, sergeant.You guys have a safe night. And inform us as soon as anything happens asit happens. Understood?” “Of course, sir. Have a good night, sir. Out.” “So?”Andrei asked. “Alright, you’re right. Let’s go rest,” he put his arm around hisshoulder. “I’m sorry if I seem very tense on this mission,” he apologized. “Myfriend, you don’t need to apologize for anything. It’s okay,” Andrei reassured.“It just feels weird. Everything feels weird. The war’s finally coming to anend, and here we are helping the people who started it all.” They went to theadjacent room to the extra beds. It was nice. “It is strange. But it’s just theway it is. I try not to think about it too much. We just do what we can, right?”“I guess you’re right. These two beds are extremely amazing…and comfortable. Idon’t think we’re allowed to sleep here,” he said. He then quickly jumped on itand lied down. It felt good after a day of fighting and stress. “Good night, captain.”“Good night, my friend.” Andrei dropped his gun and collapsed onto the otherbed too.