Abduction Revelation II: Truth Be Told (The Comeback Kid)

by Unknown

  You can imagine my shock. I can imagine yours.

  “Quick. We can’t talk here. We have to get to cover,” Tom said.

  I noticed that there was still laser fire ricocheting off the walls. Everyone seemed to be in a panic.

  “We got one of them,” Tom said pointing to the pile of parts.

  “What’s going on?” I asked as we ran further into the cavern. I could see other originals up ahead laying down a cover of laser fire.

  “I’ll explain once we’re behind the barricade,” Tom said.

  We ran down one corridor, turned right and ran up another. I was getting turned around and confused.

  “I hope you know where you’re going,” I said to Tom.

  “Fall back,” Tom called to the originals who were still keeping up a line of fire on the two remaining Warriors. As I rounded the next corner I saw a metal gate blocking the way. When Tom got up to it, I saw him hammer semaphore on it. The gate opened barely enough for him to slide through. One by one we all made it inside the barricade. Monroe was the last in as his smaller legs had kept him from keeping up with the rest of us.

  Once I got my breath back, I turned to Monroe and asked, “What in Sam Hill is going on here? Your Warriors are cyborgs? You conveniently failed to ever mention this.”

  I glanced at Caren and saw she was just as surprised as I. I bet you are too.

  Come to think of it, I don’t ever remember seeing one eat, drink, sleep or take a leak. Can’t say that I ever heard one belch, pass gas, or have the hiccups.

  There was never a need for you to know, Monroe looked sheepish. Even if you knew, what difference would it have made?

  I looked at Tom and asked, “Did you know they weren’t human?”

  “I suspected it, but now know for sure.”

  “Caren and I are dying to know why all of you are out here hiding in a cavern and now shooting at the Warriors?” I asked Tom.

  “We had to escape the Dome. What our bug-eyed, pint-sized grandson didn’t tell you is that the Warriors have gone rogue and want to exterminate all of us originals and our offspring’s. Isn’t that right, Monroe?” Tom turned an accusatory eye on Monroe.

  Monroe’s eyes turned downward, and his silence spoke volumes.

  “But where did you get the laser guns? I thought only Warriors had them.” I looked from Monroe to Tom.

  “A group of originals raided the weapons stockpile before they escaped. Luckily the Warriors didn’t know we were on to them, so we got away with it. You’re going to need one.” Tom handed me the weapon he’d been carrying.

  “So that freakish dream I had about you getting chased through the wasteland actually happened?”

  I was slowly getting my thoughts around the turn of events. This certainly wasn’t an hallucination.

  “Don’t know what you dreamt, but a few nights ago I was running for my behind from a bunch of Warriors. It was during a rain storm, and I fell into a slimy bog. Nearly got hugged to death by a skeleton and bitten by some rabid rats.” Tom shivered at the memory.

  “Yeah, that’s pretty much sums up the nightmare I had.”

  I turned to Monroe. “I bet you knew about this all along, didn’t you?”

  The Warriors were able to override the deactivation mechanism we had implanted in their circuitry. There was nothing I could do. They were in control.

  “What did he say?” Tom asked.

  I repeated what Monroe had said.

  I have their communication helmets with me.

  Monroe fished about in his pack.

  Here put these on. Monroe held the head gear out to Tom and Karen.

  They both snatched them. Their anger showing.

  “You sold us out big time bringing Tom-Tom into it, Monroe.” Tom was clearly miffed.

  I had no choice. The Warriors were threatening to execute everyone.

  “So better us than you. Is that it?”

  I had hoped to find another way, but the Warriors had taken control of the Dome and left me no choice.

  “So much for what has happened. We need to focus on what we’re going to do now,” Karen pointed out.

  “Yeah, what do you want to bet that they have sent for reinforcements by now,” Tom added.

  Monroe could only nod. Most likely.

  “So what can we do, Monroe? Is there any hope?” Caren ran her fingers through her hair.

  If we can get to it, there is a backup system to override their override on the Mothership. That could be our only salvation.

  “Well, we’ll just have to get back to the Dome and get inside the Mothership,” Karen said.

  “And how are we going to accomplish this?” Someone asked.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Trapped

  “So, what’s the plan?” There was a cluster of originals and offspring listening to the exchange.

  “We’ve got to be strategic about this,” Tom said. “More than likely there’ll be more Warriors showing up. Do we know where the other exits are?”

  “Yes. We’ve had time to map this place. Hang on a minute.” An original named Pete went to get a makeshift map.

  “Here, here, here and here.” Pete pointed.

  “That’s not too many to cover. We will need armed persons stationed at each of these exits. How many laser guns do we have?” Tom was acting like a real military commander. His Navy days were kicking in.

  “12.”

  “That ought to be enough to fire on them as they enter. With a bit of luck it will take them some time to find the entrances. Where do they each come out? We need to be able to get behind the Warriors and highjack one of their vehicles in order to get to the ship.”

  “Tom-Tom came in here.” Pete showed the location on the map. “This point brings you out lower down on the same slope. More than likely it’s been used as an entrance at one time or another.”

  “Can we get out that way?”

  “You’d have to blast through some debris, but with some luck you should be able to.”

  “No, that might alert them. Where do the other entrances come out?”

  “On the other side of the hill, but they’re ventilation shafts like the one Tom-Tom came in from. We have them mined.”

  “Well, we’ll just have to out flank and get behind them. We need to get going before the reinforcements arrive. Hopefully, only the two Warriors will be watching this entrance.”

  “Who’s going?” Karen asked.

  “I’ll go. Along with Tom. It’s better that a clone and an original go together as we can communicate should we get separated.”

  Tom nodded.

  “Monroe. How do we gain entrance into the Mothership?”

  My handprint is required.

  “Oh, great. What are we supposed to do, chop off your hand?”

  I will willingly sacrifice my hand. Or, I could accompany you.

  “No need,” Tom said. “You would slow us down with those short legs. There’s a roll of clear contact in the stationery supply room. We should be able to make an imprint of your hand.”

  “Perhaps we should start shooting from the entrance we came in as a diversion,” Caren suggested.

  “Good idea. You must have been watching some old war movies with Tom-Tom. Let’s get Monroe’s handprint and get going.”

  “Do we have any more of that explosive?” I asked.

  “That’s a great idea, Tom-Tom. Pete, can you go get it?” Tom asked.

  “What are you going to do if you meet the Warriors coming from the Dome?” Karen asked. She had her hand on Tom’s shoulder for reassurance.

  “We’ll do a big loop around to the west side going overland. More than likely, they’ll be coming from the east. Okay…It’s time to rock and roll.” Tom collected Monroe’s hand print, a laser gun, explosive and his breathing apparatus.

  “I love you, Karen,” he said, giving her a hug that she soon will not forget. “Just remember that if I don’t make it back.”

  I gave my Caren a hug too
and said, “See you on the other side. Give us 30 minutes and start your siege.”

  “Don’t forget sunscreen,” both girls said in harmony, as Caren handed it to me.

  “We will be in a vehicle most of the way,” Tom pointed out to the girls.

  “What if it should break down?” Karen said, while raising her eyebrow.

  I looked at Tom and we both shrugged our shoulders.

  “Yes dear,” we answered in harmony.

  Once out the gate, I followed Tom as we wove our way through a series of passages to the ventilation shaft.

  “Heavens to Betsy. That climb made my old bones ache and about gave me a heart attack.” I said once at the top. I was bent double while catching my breath.

  “Me too. Hang on. I’ve got to rig an explosive device. Here hold the gun,” Tom said passing it to me.

  “Where did you learn to do this?” I asked as I watched him manipulate the wires holding the vial in place.

  “Shit.” That wasn’t an answer I was expecting.

  I drew a deep breath as he fumbled and nearly dropped it.

  “Christ, when did you get so clumsy? You could have blown us to smithereens.”

  “Yeah. Sorry about that.”

  “You didn’t answer my first question.”

  “I or I should say we were in the Navy, remember.”

  “But that was a long time ago.”

  “Some things you never forget. Plus, one of the other originals was an ex-Navy seal. We found some old supplies that had been stored in the cavern for decades. Luckily, they were still functional.”

  I didn’t remember being trained on explosives. Monroe must have left that info out of my memory programming.

  Tom finally got the explosive device armed and we headed out. Evening was creeping in. Our shadows were long on the ground as we headed down a slope and circumnavigated the hill keeping as low as we could.

  As we got close to our destination, I heard the sound of laser fire. Hiding behind a rock, I did a reconnaissance of the area.

  “Damn. Looks like the first of reinforcements have arrived.” I pointed to where a group of Warriors stood.

  “But there’s one transport vehicle off to the side,” Tom said, indicated a little to the left.

  “I say we blow the Warriors to hell and steal one of their transports.”

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  The Warriors’ attention was focused on the firing coming from the cavern, so it was easy enough to get within range.

  “On the count of three. I lob and then we run for the transport.” Tom held up the vial. “One, two, three.”

  I watched as it made a graceful arc across the sky and landed right in the middle of the group of Warriors. We hightailed it in the direction of the transport.

  KA BOOM.

  The ground shook as pieces of Warriors flew through the air.

  We hopped on board the transport. It was bigger than the vehicles we used to travel to the caverns. It had an open air, flatbed behind the cabin. Sort of like a pickup truck from our time line.

  I hadn’t thought how we were going to operate it but somehow Tom knew, and we took off, leaving a cloud of dust. Behind us, we could hear shouting. I looked back and saw a couple of Warriors getting into another undamaged transport.

  “How fast does this thing go? You’d better put the pedal to the metal, Bro.” Laser beams began whizzing all around us.

  “There goes the element of surprise. They’ll probably radio ahead and tell them we’re coming. We can only hope we fool them with the entry point.”

  Tom reached down and handed me the laser gun. “Have you ever fired one of these?”

  “Now where or when would I have ever been able to fire a laser gun?”

  “Guess that was a stupid question. Well, there’s no time like the present to learn. Just hold it like a regular gun. There’s the safety. Press down on it to engage the firing mode. Then aim and squeeze, don’t pull, the trigger. Simple enough for a child. Get in back and cover our retreat.”

  “How do I get in the back?”

  “There’s an entry panel behind your seat.”

  I dislodged the panel and crawled through the opening into the flat bed. Sitting I could just see over the back panel. I held the laser gun steady, disengaged the safety, took aim on the Warrior’s vehicle, and squeezed the trigger. My first few shots would have scared a raccoon out of a tree, or would have if there’d been trees and raccoons. My next shot went way wide of the mark. Mind you, it was hard to aim as Tom was making all sorts of evasive maneuvers.

  Just when I thought we were going as fast as the transport could manage, Tom hit some open ground and hung a wheelie, without wheels, and we took off like Batman and Robin. Only we weren’t chasing the bad guys, they were chasing us.

  I kept aiming and shooting and missing. Dang, I was a sharpshooter in the Navy. What gives?

  Just then our transport took a glancing hit.

  “Holy shit.’ I reached for something to hold onto so I wasn’t thrown out and wouldn’t you know it, I dropped the laser gun.

  “Get the laser,” Tom yelled, seeing my predicament through the open panel hole.

  I just managed to grab it before it bounced out of the transport.

  I fired off another wild round. This isn’t going to look too good on my resume to become a Marvel hero.

  “Damn. We’re losing power. Their last shot must have damaged something. How close are they?” Tom shouted while working the controls, his hands moving rapidly as he tried to coax more power.

  “They’re about 500 yards behind but closing fast.” I shouted back. My eyes darted from side to side looking for a solution because what we were doing wasn’t working.

  “There’s an cluster of old trees up ahead on your right. Head for them. It could provide us some cover.”

  Tom altered course. Just when we arrived at the trees, chunks of wood flew off them as laser beams pinged from one to another. Thank God the Warriors were lousy shots too.

  I was starting to get the hang of the laser gun. Some of my recent shots were even coming close. Mind you, right now I was more in danger of hitting a tree and having it fall on us than hitting the other transport.

  Then I got lucky. Tom zigged, and the Warrior zagged. Perfect harmony. My direct hit must have damaged the controls because the Warriors’ transport started slowing down, as it spat smoke and came to a stop.

  We weren’t out of the woods yet, though. If our transport stopped now there was nothing between us and the Warriors. If we had to go on foot, the Warriors would easily catch us. I willed the transport on.

  Tom could see the Dome in the distance and corrected the course to skirt around to the west. The engine was beginning to cough and splutter, but we had left the Warriors far enough behind. About a mile from the Dome the engine died.

  “Looks like it’s Shanks’s Pony from here.” I collected the laser gun and we began walking.

  “This is probably a good thing. We’ll be able to slip into the Dome more easily without the transport. Hopefully, they’re watching the east ports,” Tom said, as we approached the Dome.

  “Good thing the girls remembered the sunscreen,” Tom remarked.

  No sooner had the words departed Tom’s mouth when a laser beam shattered a rock inches from my foot. We looked back and saw the two Warriors from the transport sprinting toward us. Their super human powers had enabled them to reduce the distance between us.

  “Shit,” both of us said at the same time, figuring to meet our Waterloo.

  To our complete surprise, two laser beams from the area of the Dome dropped the two Warriors in their tracks.

  We never would discover who had fired the lasers, but they most definitely saved our hides.

  There was no cover approaching the Dome, so it would have been easy to spot us if they had Warriors stationed at the ports. We made it to one of the ports on the west side and began walking up the tunnel. Once we got to the deporting platform w
e would only need to get to a transport booth and head to the Mothership.

  “Can you see anyone?” Tom had his back flat to the wall of the tunnel. I was peeking around the corner.

  “No, it’s all clear.”

  “No Warriors?”

  “No Warriors.”

  “This is too easy.”

  We entered the transport booth and Tom pointed to where we wanted to go. In a blink of an eye the door to the booth opened.

  “F*#k!” I was looking down the barrel of a laser gun.

  “Take it easy.” Tom was being shoved forward as we were escorted to the Dome’s control room by two Warriors.

  “When we realized you were coming, we confined all unnecessary personnel to quarters, so when you entered the transport booth we knew it had to be one of your kind.”

  The head Warrior had a smug look on his face. “It was simply a matter of rerouting the transport to here. Now, why were you heading for the Mothership?”

  Neither of us answered. The Warrior cuffed Tom about the head. “I said, why were you heading for the Mothership? I’ll not ask again.”

  Neither of us spoke.

  “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. It’s entirely up to you.”

  “It’s kind of hard to talk while being choked,” Tom managed to say.

  The Warrior released Tom and grabbed my right arm. He twisted it and I hear a loud pop. Pain shot through my arm as it dangled in an odd direction.

  “You son-of-a-bitch,” I bellowed.

  “We…”

  “Don’t tell them, Tom-Tom.”

  The Warrior then grabbed Tom’s left hand and proceeded to break his small finger.

  “You bastard,” Tom cried, holding his damaged pinky.

  “They’ll get it out of us sooner or later,” I looked at Tom. “We might as well tell them. We were going to steal it and use it as a weapon,” I lied, hoping to fool them.

  “Take them to Monroe’s quarters and station guards.”

  After they locked us in Monroe’s quarters I asked Tom. “Wonder why they believed us and are keeping us alive?”

  “The only logical explanation I can think of is that they plan to use us as bait.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN