Alpha 9

by Rebecca Bosevski

  “And what are we supposed to do with it now?” Both the Whisky’s asked in unison. One had only crossed out the number eleven on his jacket, the other had most of both his name and number scribbled over, the letters remaining spelled Sky.

  “We take it with us,” Zulu said “Don’t tell me you don’t want to. We all have the same bank of memories, we have seen people with dogs, how they treated pets, don’t tell me you don’t want those things too?”

  “Alright,” Alpha said, flatly. “We take it with us, but if it even slightly gives away our position, it has to go.”

  “It won’t,” Zulu said. “Don’t you see? It was whimpering up there for who knows how long.”

  “So?” Kilo asked.

  “They didn’t care about the noise it made, the rubble it moved. The sound of the dog brought none of the Annoronians forwards.”

  “He is right,” Alpha said, standing and taking a few steps in front of the pile of debris. “We take the dog, carry it until it can move on its own. Now let’s get going.”

  They took their positions behind Alpha. Zulu hoisted the dog over his shoulders again so that his face rested by his cheek. The dog’s hot breath tickled Zulu’s ear, it’s breathing slow but steady.

  They swiftly and silently jogged towards the intersection. The statue Bea had told Alpha to look for stood proudly in the middle of the intersecting streets. It marked where they would enter the park and be at most risk of capture by the Annoronian Drones. Bea had warned that the park held traps for the rebels, but with no other way to get to the Museum Station entry, they sped across the vacant intersection and to the entry of Hyde Park.

  “This is crazy,” Kilo said in Alpha’s ear. “We should go around.”

  “We can’t,” Alpha replied, pointing past him. “The buildings around the park are either collapsed and piles of rubble, or are near enough to it that our attempted pass through them would bring them down on top of us.”

  Kilo’s brow furrowed and he glanced down either side of the park’s entry. “But how do you know that she is telling the truth? We thought Doctor M was helping us too.” Kilo’s words came after the last of the group joined them at the entry of the park. The large trees offering them ample protection with their sizable branch span providing an almost black shadowed area for them to regroup.

  Bravo Two's doubts of Doctor M came back, sounding so similar to Kilo. Was Alpha making another mistake that would lead others to capture or death?

  He pushed the momentary doubt away. There was no other choice.

  “She is a Bravo Two,” Alpha said, looking at the barely visible face of Kilo. “She is an exact duplicate of our Bravo Two.”

  Kilo’s brow softened and the corner of his lips rose on one side.

  “Oh,” he said, raising his eyebrows. “So, through the park then.” He took a step inside the park, Alpha falling in beside him.

  He thought of Bravo Two and what could be happening to her. Hopefully they had not processed her and the others yet. He thought about how Kilo looked at him now and wondered what it was he knew.

  Alpha felt a connection to Bravo Two that differed from the loyalty he felt towards the others, but he couldn’t place the emotion. He had felt something similar stir in him with Bea. He knew he could trust her. His gut told him he could. One thing he knew for sure was that if they didn’t make it through Hyde Park, Bravo Two would be lost to him and that he couldn’t accept. So, he stepped faster along the path through the park, overtaking Kilo in the lead.

  They followed the path silently, the low breathing of the dog the only noise to be heard. Alpha threw up his arm halting the team when he saw the fountain ahead.

  A team of Bea's rebels had been captured at the fountain. Some died in the trap laid by the Annoronians, the others probably wished they had. Like them, the females refused to be kept below, they too were made for war and couldn’t imagine hiding while the others were fighting.

  “Look for any sign of a trap,” Alpha said, crouching down to get a different perspective on the situation.

  Sky knelt beside him. “I can see something strung between the minotaur horn and the tree over there,” Sky said, pointing across to the tree line. “There, look a light. Maybe it is a motion sensor with a dial back to their lab or ship or whatever?”

  “Kilo look for something we can use to check for the sensor,” Alpha ordered.

  Kilo moved around the trees trunks, careful not to pass too close to the fountain. “I found something,” he whispered to Alpha. Both Alpha and Sky moved over to where Kilo had begun digging in the soil.

  “What are you doing?” Sky asked

  “I found where the sprinklers used to be connected,” he said, digging at the grass with his hands. “This is where the line should start. It has to be here somewhere under the years of growth.”

  “Help him search,” Alpha said to Sky as he too knelt beside Kilo. They dug around in the grass and dirt, when Sky pulled up a tube they knew they had found it. They pulled along it, until they found the end. Its connection still attached but filled with a clump of dirt.

  “If the line is clear then when I turn on the system the water passing across any beams should illuminate them but not set them off. They would be made to ignore things like water, otherwise the rain would set them off every storm.”

  “Great, you clear the connection, I’ll inform the team when we see the beams we move fast. We don’t know if the water will hold,” Alpha said, then headed back to the others waiting in the shadows of an enormous tree. Zulu sat in a well in the root system, the dog in his lap, awake and panting.

  “In a minute the sensor should be visible and we will have to move fast to get through. Zulu, you think your little pet will let you carry him now that he is awake?”

  “I’m not sure, but I’ll try, and his name is Blue.”

  “Blue?” Alpha questioned. “Why Blue?”

  “It fits,” he replied.

  “Well, Blue it is then. So, carry Blue and get through the fountain. Don’t drink the water, Bea said it could be contaminated. When you get past, to the right will be a covered section, we regroup there. Ready?”

  They all nodded and Alpha gave the signal to Kilo who had cleared and connected the hose to the water line. Kilo turned the handle all the way to one side and waited. The squeak of the pipes leading to the tap could be heard through the dirt. They hadn’t been used in years.

  There was a rumble and then a hiss as a small squirt of water sprung from where the hose was connected. Kilo wrapped his hands over the leak, some of the water leaked through his fingers.

  Suddenly the water sprung from the grass ahead in tiny fountains. As the moments passed, the fountains grew into sprays, and the central stone fountain joined them too. Water spouted from the top and over the three figure points. The sprays around the fountain gained height and as Kilo expected, illuminated the rays of sensors crisscrossing around the fountain.

  “Go,” Alpha called to the team and they all took off ducking and weaving in between the rays of orange mist the sensors made as the water passed through them.

  “They are lasers,” Zulu said, sliding under one on bended knee, Blue resting atop his shoulders comfortably. “That’s why they look like that, the lasers are burning off the water that hits them.”

  “Kilo, get over here,” Alpha called, noticing Kilo remained by the tap. “Hurry before the water stops.”

  “I have to hold it; the connection is rusted,” he said, squeezing tighter so that the water escaping drizzled over his fingers rather than sprayed past. “When you are all clear I will come though, I am watching the sequence, if the water stops, I can still make it.”

  “Okay,” Alpha replied. “But make it quick, we are not leaving anyone behind, got it?”

  “Yes, Sir?” came Kilo’s cheeky reply. Alpha smiled at him then moved to hurry the rest of the team through the lasers.

  They all moved quickly under and over them, but Zulu found himself stuck between two
moving lasers. They crisscrossed in front of him, one catching on his sleeve and searing off a corner of fabric.

  “I can’t get through,” he said, looking to Alpha, Blue still draped over his shoulders.

  “You can,” Alpha said, moving under a laser to get closer to him. “Watch the beams, when they cross and span outwards there is a moment that both are open enough for you to first throw Blue through then you can dive after him.”

  “Are you crazy? It will come down and cut us in half,” he cried out, panicked at the prospect.

  “It won’t, trust me. I will stay right here, when I call go, you throw Blue through, I will catch him. Then on the next pass, you dive forwards towards me, keep your legs straight until the last moment.”

  “I can’t,” he said again.

  “You will, and that is an order,” Alpha said, pointing at the solider in front of him. “Pretend there is a hole about this wide that you have to dive through.” He used his arms to form a largish circle. “Picture it as a solid wall with only that hole. Keep your legs straight and when your feet are through then bring them over so that you roll under this beam towards me.”

  “Zulu nodded, but his eyes were wide with worry.

  “Ready,” Alpha began. “Set…go.”

  Zulu threw Blue through the beams, he smashed into Alpha’s chest, the musty smell of him itching his nose. Regardless, Alpha held him securely against his chest, safe from touching any of the beams nearby.

  When the beams opened again Zulu dove forwards, closing his eyes, the lasers fanned out then closed in towards Zulu’s body. Before the lasers overlapped, Zulu’s feet passed their path, one of the lasers skimmed over the sole of his boot, slicing a sliver of the rubber that wafted to the dirt like a feather on the breeze.

  Zulu rolled into Alpha and he pulled him up before they continued through the maze of laser beams. When they were both through Alpha looked for Kilo.

  “Move it Kilo,” Alpha called out to his teammate. Kilo let go of the connection allowing water to spurt from the nozzle. The sprays of water shrank to barely cover the lasers. Kilo took off at high speed and Alpha watched in awe as he moved under and over the lasers faster than any of them had. As the connection exploded free from the tap, Kilo ducked under the last laser and stood beside Alpha. The water disappeared and the lasers became invisible again.

  “That was amazing,” Alpha said to Kilo, patting him on the shoulder.

  “I watched you all,” he said, a grin ear to ear. “By the time you all got through I knew what path I would take.”

  Alpha smiled and they moved to under the structure and out of sight.

  “Everyone good?” Alpha asked, looking to each of his team. They all nodded. Thanks to Kilo’s idea they were all able to pass unscathed.

  “The section there,” Alpha said, pointing through the vine-covered structure to a portion of grass spotted with shimmery orange tile. “We have to pass around it to a cross road then on further into the park.”

  They all filed in and took off around the outside edge of the odd tiled grass. When they reached the crossroads, they had to snake their way through dozens of upturned cars and buses. A wall between the sections made during the war, he didn’t know by which side. They made their way through, careful to keep an eye out for any other traps laid by the Annoronians.

  Blue growled beside Zulu.

  “Shut that thing up,” Sky spat, looking through the gap between two buses that lay on their sides. “It will draw their attention.”

  “Wait,” Zulu said. “I think he knows something.

  “He is an animal, what could he know that our super senses hadn’t picked up on yet?” Sky replied, turning his back on the gap he had been peering through. “It’s a dog.”

  There was a scream followed by a gurgle and Whisky’s head landed at Sky’s feet.

  “No!” Alpha cried out.

  Sky stood frozen, looking into his own eyes, still wide with terror, but all life gone from them.

  “Everyone back,” Alpha called. “Victor, grab Sky. Pull him back.”

  Sky wasn’t moving, he couldn’t take his eyes off the head resting at his feet.

  “Come on man, move it,” Victor said, grabbing Sky’s arm and pulling him towards the stack of crushed cars where the others waited.

  “Did anyone see what happened?” Alpha asked, looking to each of his team.

  “It was a trap,” Tango whispered. “Whisky couldn’t get through where he was and climbed up over the yellow car that blocked him. When he took a few steps something shiny and silver swung across in lightning speed and his head went flying.”

  “Another trap. Great, so how do we get past?” Zulu asked, patting Blue on the head who sat happily beside him.

  “Blue,” Alpha said.

  “Blue what?” Zulu replied.

  Alpha looked at the scrappy dog at Zulu’s feet. It panted heavily but made little noise. It’s big dark eyes shone brightly up at him.

  “Blue growled before it happened. Were you near Whisky when he died?”

  “Not really,” Zulu said, kneeling before Blue and scratching around his neck. “I was about to step out through an opening, though.”

  “Maybe he knew something was there. We should test the theory.”

  “Wait, test it how?” Zulu asked, standing and moving slightly over Blue. “We are not sending him out there.”

  “No, we are not, but if we let you lead, with him at your side, he might react the same way if you are about to step through into another trap."

  “And what if he doesn’t alert me, then what? I become the next decapitated duplicate?” Zulu replied, sliding his finger across his neck simulating decapitation.

  Alpha smiled. “We won’t let that happen. Look, here,” Alpha said, grabbing a tire that hung loosely from its rusting rim. “We will toss items out first, and then again any time he growls, if there is a trap, it might set it off and we can go around.”

  “I don’t like this,” Zulu said

  “You don’t have to like it, but you do have to do it,” Alpha said, standing a little taller. He was the leader, they had made him so, and though he wasn’t always in agreement with their decision, he was going to do whatever it took to get Bravo Two and the others back. “Let’s go, here tie this around Blue’s neck so you can lead him,” Alpha said, pulling a rope free from the boot of one of the crushed cars and handing it to Zulu.

  Zulu made his way through the cars, taking the same path he had before. Blue again growled when he reached the place he had earlier. Zulu stood to the side, using the makeshift lead to pull Blue back too so that Alpha could pass with the tire in hand.

  Alpha rolled the tire though the gap between the cars. When the tire had rolled barely a meter there was a whoosh of air as an enormous metal ball crashed down onto the tire. The tire sprung from under the force and flew out at lightning speed, smashing into the windscreen of an upturned bus. The chain holding the ball tightened and the ball rose back into the dark sky above.

  “Did anyone see what set it off?” Alpha asked, straining his heightened vision to try to see a wire or switch that could have triggered the ball. “Pass me another tire,” he said without looking back, waving his hands frantically behind him until a tire was placed in them. He laid the tire down on its side and knelt behind it.

  “Kilo, give me a hand will you?” he asked, and Kilo came to kneel beside him, placing his hands next to Alpha’s on the rim of the tire. “On three, push,” Alpha said still not taking his eyes off the space ahead.

  Alpha counted down and they pushed the tire, their strength more than enough to send it sliding quickly across to the gutter at the other side.

  The ball didn’t fall.

  But when the tire hit the gutter it bounced off, lifting to about a meter higher and down came the metal sphere again to try to crush it. The edge of the tire squished under the weight of it, and when the chain tightened again lifting slightly, it too sprung out at speed.

  �
��Get down!” Alpha called as the tire smashed into where they stood. The tire hit the car frame beside Kilo’s head and bounced off towards the open space again bringing the ball down.

  “We have to go now,” Victor called, pointing behind them. “I hear them coming, they know someone is here, setting off this trap.”

  “Everyone, go low, if you keep to the ground the ball won’t fall,” Alpha instructed as he pressed himself to the gravel and began his crab like slide across the road.

  The team followed him, all of them trying to keep as low as possible. When Alpha reached the gutter on the other side he didn’t stand, he slid sideways to make room for the others to meet up with him.

  Footsteps echoed on the breeze. Lots of footsteps, all of them walking in perfect time and getting closer.

  When all but one of them had reached the gutter, Alpha looked back at Zulu still waiting with Blue, but he wasn’t holding the rope. Tango was.

  “It is the only way to get him across without setting it off,” Zulu said from the other side. “When you get up, I will lay him down, then you pull as fast as you can, sliding him across the road.”

  “What if he stands up?” Tango asked, wrapping the end of the rope around his hand as he readied to stand with the others.

  “Then he will die,” Alpha answered “Now on my mark, all of us will slide over the gutter staying as low as we can before standing up. Ready, go!”

  They all did as they were told and as a result the ball didn’t drop. They quickly grabbed the rope as the footsteps grew closer.

  Zulu laid down Blue and called for them to pull him across. Blue howled as his body twisted and slid over the gravel. Tango quickly pulled him clear before he would have hit the gutter.

  “Now you Zulu,” Alpha said as he saw them approaching.

  They looked like an awkward disheveled marching army. Their clothes a mix of tattered suits and uniforms. Alpha made out what looked like a chef, and another police officer. They might have been human, but under the control of Doctor M, they would stop at nothing to capture or kill them all.