The sky had started to go darker, and it had been about two hours since Ryan, Virgil, and Della left the hideout, and all that I had been doing while waiting for them was pedaling the power source gently to power the communication system. I must had been feeling very restless since I was checking my watch about once in every fifteen or twenty minutes, and there were still no signs of the Morse code machine receiving any texts, making me to be more worried about them.
Then again, I also wondered if the efforts to make a makeshift version of the communication machine had not gone well as planned, as they technically had to make it from scraps in the first place. When I thought about it, I recalled that there were no kinds of any scrap materials available to be used inside the second hideout staff's office, unlike the one in the first hideout which would perhaps be one of their difficulties. And besides, they could probably even still in the process of assembling the power source.
As I continued pedaling, I saw that most of the others there, including Jonathan and Captain Quentin seemed to be still sleeping as they were either leaning against the walls and had their heads down or just laid down on the ground with their heads resting on their bags. There were however, two people who were also still had their eyes wide awake. They were none other than Kyle and Fiora.
When I looked at them more thoroughly, I saw that Kyle was standing guard on one of the corners of the platform with her bow and arrows, and her eyes focused on the foggy street below as well as the exposed railroads. Meanwhile, Fiora seemed to be just sitting inside one of the train cars. Since they seemed to be occupied by their own task or thoughts, they did not look like they would approach me.
However, shortly after Kyle turned to me and looked at me for a little before she started to approach me. Strangely enough, Fiora went out from the train car and also approached to my direction almost at the same time as Kyle did. Both of them became closer to where I was and eventually came to me, as well as sat beside me before finally starting a conversation with me, with Kyle being the one who started it.
"Are not you starting to feel numbs in your hands?" Kyle asked me, as she put down her archery equipment on the ground.
"I do actually…" I responded to her, "but if I stop, then we will not know if they are trying to contact us."
"Then, do you mind if I replace you for a while?" Fiora asked me in her unique tone.
"Well, if you want to…" I replied, with a bit feeling of relieved, "just do not pedal it too fast."
Fiora nodded as a sign that she understood it, as I let her began to pedal the power source, replacing me. In an instant, I realized that it was just her second time to actually talk to someone at the hideout again. I looked at her as she continued pedaling the power source, and somehow I could catch few hints of her hiding something behind her seemingly forced smile.
After seeing her like that, I had to admit that it was indeed very difficult for me to notice that things were not quite right with her. Nevertheless, if Jonathan was accurate regarding his suspicions against her, then it was all but here mere act. Then again, he was technically present not far from her even though he was sleeping, which could also be the cause for her uneasiness assuming that she was aware towards him.
"I hope they did not encounter the bulky aliens there…" Kyle sighed.
"Yeah…" I replied her heavy-heartedly, "Especially since we had not checked the next station right after it."
"Come on…" Fiora responded as she chuckled, "You should not worry too much. We should trust them with that."
Somehow, Fiora's voice soothed me a bit, even though maybe it was all just her act. I had thought about her for some time then, and the only possible explanation if she was indeed not a good person was none other than because she was a member of another group of survivors. Probably the kind of groups where they would not think twice to eliminate others as long as they could live like the ones that I had encountered back at the bridge.
If that was the case, then it would make her some sort of a spy in our hideout. Assuming it was true, perhaps she was waiting for the moment when everyone at the hideout let their guards down, and initiated a surprise attack on us. Then again, I had yet to see if she was willing to fight the aliens together with the rest of us. Fortunately, up until the very moment there must be at least a couple of persons to guard the hideout whenever the rest of the others were resting.
Kyle on the other hand, seemed to have more kicks in herself than what people might think when they first met her. For a thin young woman with perhaps only a little bit above 5'5, one might think that she would be just a burden in terms of surviving together. However with what I had experienced so far directly with her, I had to admit that she was in fact an invaluable survivor, especially back when the alien aircrafts stormed our hideout, she landed two clean shots of arrow to an alien's face.
Aside from her excellent skills in archery, she could also move swiftly when she was on her bicycle, and even proved to be a great partner when I asked for her assistance in moving away various things at the second hideout, as she was able to do it swiftly. Last but not least, unlike Fiora, she did not seem to care much about her looks.
Not too long after that, something important happened that resulted in me ending myself in comparing those two ladies – the Morse code machine received something in a form of dashes and dots on the rolled paper tape. I immediately looked closer to what was written on the paper tape, to see if it was indeed sent by the other three from the second hideout, or rather from another party which was almost obviously unlikely.
- .... .. ... / .. ... / .... ..--- .-.-.- / .- -. -.-- --- -. . / -.-. --- .--. -.-- ..--..
That was what the paper tape showed us. Thankfully, I had not also gone alongside with them as there would be no one that was currently awake who could translate the code beside me right away, even though I had to do it one alphabet and/or character at one time. Suddenly, a very familiar voice spoke out the whole sentences written in the code from behind me, surprising all three of us.
"This is H2. Anyone copy?" said the familiar, heavy Russian dialect voice.
In reflex, I turned to my back in an instant, and realized that Jonathan was already there standing and paying attention to what was written in the Morse code. At first, I was not sure what the word 'H2' would mean. He supposed that it was probably their abbreviation for 'Hideout 2' or 'Headquarters 2'. I nodded, and was about to type something to them when he suggested that I wrote what he said to me.
"Wait. Try to write 'This is H1. Loud and clear.'" Jonathan said to me.
- .... .. ... / .. ... / .... .---- .-.-.- / .-.. --- ..- -.. / .- -. -.. / -.-. .-.. . .- .-. .-.-.-
I tapped the Morse code as careful as I could, not wanting to make a mistake in delivering our message to them in the slightest. He also mentioned that all we had to do then was just to wait for the return of one of them. At first I was rather confused on why he had not expected for all of them to come back to the first hideout.
However, I realized that since the second hideout technically had been established, at least few of us must definitely be also there and guard it. I also noticed that by that time, the sky had almost gone completely dark, since the two lamps that were already lighting started to get brighter in my eyes.
"Okay, so you want me to tell them to send someone back here or-" I said to Jonathan, before he cut my words.
"No, no need." He responded quickly, "I have a good feeling Ryan would have an idea what to do next…"
It was as if he had known Ryan's way of thinking, as I believe it was not until ten minutes before Ryan started to show up from the nearly completely dark and foggy surroundings on the railroad. As he had arrived on the platform again, he immediately told us that everything had gone well and according to plan, except for one unexpected situation.
I frowned in reflex to what he could mean by the unexpected situation, and I realized that both Kyle and Fiora also showed similar expressions as well. Jonathan then took a guess if it was about the three of them encountering the bulky alien, yet somehow they managed to take it down.
Right after he took his guess, I briefly turned to him with half disbelief in my mind as I thought that the chance would be very low for that to happen. However to the very least of my expectation, that was exactly what had happened to them right before they arrived at the second hideout.
Ryan told us that some time after they had departed from the first station, they noticed a large rectangular hole on one of the railroad tracks, leading to the street below. He confirmed that I had already warned them about it before they departed from the first hideout. Right after they had passed the railroad hole, they noticed that there was a silhouette of a large creature standing right in the middle of the railroad tracks.
At first, they could not see the creature clearly as the dense fog covered their sights and making it more difficult for them to look at the creature more clearly. However, as it also appeared to move closer, they eventually began to be able to look at it with more details.
The first thing that they noticed was that the creature carried a large single edged cleaver with one hand. As the creature was getting closer, they also noticed that, unlike the ones that we had already been familiar with, the bulky alien had a left hand instead of a mace-hand, and carrying some sort of a pouch in a large size. The last things that they noticed were its fin ears that appeared to be a little larger and wider compared to the ones that the regular ones, as well as its slightly taller and seemingly more built body.
Just right after they had identified some features about it, the creature suddenly stopped moving. Initially, they were not sure on what to do, however since the sky had started to get dark, they forced themselves to continue on moving. Then, after about two or three cycles forward, something unexpected happened.
It was the creature suddenly rushing to where they were very quickly, before it jumped in a swift and attempted to cut them with its cleaver. They were very fortunate, as all of them fell from their bicycles right before the cleaver reached their distance, missing them perhaps less than half an inch from the edge of the cleaver blade.
Shocked, Virgil and Della left the bicycles and rushed for the second hideout after Ryan told them to let him be on their backs to guard them. In an attempt to stall the bulky alien, Ryan threw the nearest bicycle towards it. It proved to be useless however, as it very easily cut the bicycle in half as it was flying towards its face. Then, perhaps it was angry because of what Ryan had just done it jumped swiftly again to him and tried to cut him in half. Fortunately, Ryan lifted another bicycle just in time to guard himself against its cleaver, cutting the bicycle in half again.
With Ryan holding the front half of the bicycle, he rushed back to the remains of the second platform and climbed up there. As soon as he had his attention back to the alien again, he realized that it seemed like it had its attention locked to him. At that point, he was very confused as he could not fire my submachine gun without the possibility of alerting the other aliens, while the half remains of a bicycle would not do as much as good either for him on the platform.
Suddenly, the alien jumped to him and across the rectangular hole. In reflex, Ryan threw the bicycle remains to it, seemingly hitting it on its face, and sent it falling down to the street below, with a thudding sound. He also said that it must have taken him several minutes staring blankly down to the street, before he could stand up again and continued heading for the second hideout.
Soon after Ryan finished explaining the unexpected event that fell upon them, Jonathan asked him if he noticed the alien's facial features. Ryan admitted that he did not remember much, except for the fact that he noticed the alien had two larger holes on the middle of its forehead compared to the usual ones, and that its eyes were significantly more slanted, albeit with the same colors as to the usual ones.
Jonathan only nodded once slowly as a response. I noticed that Kyle, Fiora, and even Ryan showed frowns on their faces, indicating that they could not understand the reasons behind his question. On the other hand, unlike usual I had a suggestion on why he had asked about it.
I remembered that back at the hospital Jonathan, Fiora, and I forced ourselves to crawl out from the hospital's main entrance despite the fact that the very same kind of alien was nearby. At that time, I had absolutely no supposition at all except to assume that we were very lucky that it did not notice us.
When I thought about it again, since Ryan told us that it had very slanted eyes then perhaps it had something to do with its poorer sights. However, to compensate its nature of having very limited sights, it had larger nostrils on its forehead and therefore giving it more sensitivity towards smell, as well as larger ears which granted it a higher sensitivity in its hearings. I also realized that so far, that type of alien also seemed to be far more active once the night has fallen, as opposed to the usual ones who were more active during the day.
"Jon, I think I-" I said to Jonathan, wanting to notify him that I understood before he cut my sentences, again.
"Yes. Thank you, Travis. I appreciate it…" Jonathan responded, smiling a bit as he cut my sentences off.
I explained to the rest of the others about more or less the nature of the bulky alien that I had realized so far. When I finished, everyone was on agreement with what I had told them while Jonathan did not say anything or even showed any signs of disagreement towards me. However, Kyle then asked something that I had not known.
"Okay, but how are we supposed to fight it then? What could its weakness?" Kyle asked.
"I… do not know… gravity, maybe?" Ryan responded, chuckling a bit.
Jonathan responded by saying that gravity was in fact a rather good possibility for its weakness. Everyone showed confusion on their faces again, and unfortunately I was also among them. He continued by saying that he had two possible explanation regarding it.
His first explanation was that if we were to think that they came from a place where gravity was lower than earth or even could be considered null, than perhaps they had not gotten used to the gravity on earth. Therefore, just for them to trip and fall to the ground might already be quite a pain for them, let alone to experience falling down from a considerable height on the same unfamiliar planet.
His second explanation, although quite related to the first one was that he somehow had a feeling that the alien wore, or rather had some sort of its own natural mechanism for gravity controller or booster on both of its foot. He continued by asking Ryan if he noticed if the alien fell head-first, body-first, or foot-first, to which Ryan responded that it seemed like it was upper-body or neck-first.
From what Ryan had said, Jonathan supposed that if the alien had fallen foot-first, then perhaps it would not be dead thanks of its gravity controller, although it might still sustain very serious injuries. Kyle asked him on what it had to do with its falling, to which he answered by mentioning that the alien jumped towards Ryan very quickly, suggesting that it seemed like it had received some sort of a boosting from its feet. The same controller or booster would also in the end, help it to adapt to unfamiliar gravities.
"So, uh… the controller on its feet acts like some sort of insurance for them that they would take less injuries in foreign planets with different gravities?" Kyle asked Jonathan, making sure.
"Yes, you can more or less see it that way." Jonathan responded.
"If that is the case… then perhaps we can also make those types of aliens unable to move if we…" Kyle said, before pausing for a while, "cut both of their feet?"
"Providing that we have the sufficient amount of resource and weapons, yes." Jonathan answered.
With Jonathan's yes on his answer, it seemed like the doubts that had been clouding everyone for a brief moment finally lifted. By that time, the sky had gone completely dark, and when I looked at the time it was already 07.25 p.m. Since I believe that we needed to send one or two of us to the second hideout, I asked towards everyone there who would be willing to.
"Okay, and now we need to decide on who will go to the second hideout." I said to them, before asking, "So, who will be willing to go?"
"I will go." said another familiar hoarse voice from behind us.
When I turned my head, I realized that it was no other than Captain Quentin who had just said the words. However, he also wanted one more of us to come along with him. At first, I thought that he was going to pick either me, Jonathan, or Ryan with him.
I was quite surprised when he mentioned that he wanted Fiora to come with him to the second hideout. She however, did not show any signs that she was against it nor she also showed any signs of disagreement in her face. With the two persons to go had been decided, Jonathan stated few more things regarding our plans to evacuate the rest of the other survivors on that night.
He said that it was a good thing that we came to light about the weakness of the bulky alien. However, with that in mind, we also had to in fact tighten up our guards since that would also mean they could detect our presence from further distance away, especially during the night when they were the ones that were more active.
Another important thing that he mentioned was none other than the great challenges that fell upon us who were going to capture few of them as bait for the others. If we were going to direct the rest of the survivors on the street by using the speaker and then the light to guide them to our hideouts, then it would also definitely attract the bulky aliens towards there.
What was more was that we had to assume during the process of evacuation, the survivors would most likely rush to the hideouts, creating a massive uproar in the process which again, would attract numbers of bulky aliens, if not also aircrafts due to significant differences in their thermal sensor readings. It would mean that those who were going to capture the aliens were to rush to the street immediately when the survivors had started to escape to the hideouts, and wait until they had evacuated there.
During the process, there were bound to be some of the bulky aliens to come and attempt to take down the evacuating survivors. Since we had to prevent them from nearing the survivors by all means, we would also have to use our firearms, but only if there were no other options.
Should that be the case, then the rest of the others who were going to fight the aliens inside the concrete jungle should also go down to the street and prepare for imminent battle. If not, then we would just capture few of them one by one, and brought them to each of the concrete jungle rooftops to prepare them as bait.
With that in mind, I immediately suggested that the ones to go and catch few of the aliens were me, Jonathan, and Kyle. I was very relieved when no one seemed to be reluctant of my suggestions. Shortly after that, Ryan suggested that the ones to go to fight the aliens were him, me, Jonathan, Captain Quentin, Kyle, and Della. Since Della was not there, Captain Quentin told us that he would convince her once he arrived on the second hideout. As for the division in the concrete jungle, both Jonathan and Captain Quentin told me to focus on the first building until all of the aliens there had been wiped out.
Everything had been settled, and everyone started to prepare themselves for the next large step we were going to make. We divided our ammunitions, picked up the right set of firearms and tools, ate our dinners, and evacuated the children and the caretaker to the last train car.
As all of us had finished all of our preparations, I took a couple of long deep breath as I closed my eyes. I opened them up again, and saw my watch to realize that the time was exactly 08.00 p.m. The great fight was just right ahead of us, and I was none other the person who would soon initiate it…