Prologue

John

It's been three days since the battle in the Dulce base and I think we're all still shaken up. It's not surprising really considering we almost got annihilated. We are currently staying in Nine's safe house and figuring out what our next move is. I still don't fully understand what happened during the fight with the Mogs. Whenever I think back, it was all too hectic to concentrate on anything but surviving …

Flashback

'It's nice to finally meet you in person, I'm Nine' Nine says to Six giving a slight bow.

I snicker and Six rolls her eyes. 'Guys, we can worry about the pleasantries later but can we concentrate on getting out of here right now' Marina says fidgeting and looking around the room nervously.

'I agree, let's go get that Agent Walker and get her to take us to our ship' Eight says and we run towards the entrance of the room. Bernie Kosar limps behind us so I pick him up and run with him in my arms.

When we get outside, Walker is still hanging from the light fixture by her belt. In trying to escape, she somehow managed to get herself stuck upside down. It's quite hilarious actually, despite the circumstances.

Red-faced from either fury or all of the blood going to her head, she shouts at us 'Let me down from here this instant!' Nine obeys and lifts his hand up. He levitates her until she's four feet off the ground and then lets her go. She hits the ground with a thud, knocking the wind out of her, but she's not down for long.

Before she knows it, Eight has got her arms pinned behind her back.

'You mentioned our ship before, take us to it if you like having the use of your limbs' Nine says with his voice dripping with malice.

'Okay, O..Okay, I'll take you there, but it's going to be heavily guarded. The other sections of this base are still functioning like they should be' she stutters, 'Setrákus Ra may have fled but there are still Mogadorian soldiers here to stop you along the way'.

I look around at the others; the wounds, the expressions, the exhaustion and make the decision.

'Now is not the time to find our ship, just like that was not the time that we defeat Setrákus. We have risked way too much already and now that we are finally together again, I don't want to lose anybody else' I say.

The looks of relief and agreement that meet me let me know I have taken the right call.

'So, how do we get out of here?' Sarah asks.

'I know the way back to the shuttles' Six says, 'We could ride one of them closer to wherever the exit is, but I was unconscious when they brought me in so that may just take us back to my holding cell'.

'I remember the way back, the only problem we'll have is finding a ride and a place to stay' Ella says.

'I've got the safe house sorted' Nine pipes up with a big smile on his face, 'Seriously, you guys will love it. Sandor also taught me how to hotwire cars. If we can get outside, we can hijack one of the government vehicles and be home free'.

Finally, not only are we stronger than ever because we are fighting together, but we are also working together as the team we were meant to. 'Okay guys, are we ready?' I say.

John

That's basically what happened after that. The only details I missed out were really Nine and Six smashing the ash out of some Mogs and a twenty hour car journey back to Chicago. It didn't take long for everybody to settle down in the penthouse. They all chose a room and were pretty happy to not have to worry about our responsibilities twenty-four seven.

Eight slept for the whole of the first day of being here, but he did get stabbed through the chest so that's understandable. Sarah's been acting a bit off lately. I think it must be the jitters from being in her first fire fight. At the moment me, Sarah, Six and Marina are sitting in the living room of the penthouse.

Six and Marina have been talking for the past ten minutes and Sarah's just been sitting in an armchair quietly with Bernie Kosar curled up asleep next to her. I know that Nine is in the surveillance room and Eight's jumping off the roof. That sounded more normal in my head. He's been playing pranks on us for the past half an hour. Every now and then we see him fall past screaming and it will make us all jump. We'll see him teleport in the room laughing and then he's gone again. He's quite the riot if you're not constantly on edge for any signs of trouble.

I decide I'm going to try and get some sleep, kiss Sarah goodnight and head to my room. I haven't been sleeping very well lately and I'm not sure why. It's probably because whenever I close my eyes, Setrákus Ra likes to plague my dreams. When I get to my bed I collapse onto it in a heap and I'm out within about a minute.

Sam

I awake to a dark, unpleasant room with the smell of stale sweat and blood. No, I'm not still in the government base; this is just the situation I seem to find myself in quite a lot these days. I sit up on the block the owners of this motel call a mattress and swing my legs over the edge. I rub the sleep from my eyes and walk towards the balcony.

I see my dad sitting on a deck chair looking up at the stars. He smiles warmly at me when I walk out and sit on the chair next to him. 'Hey' I say.

'Hi Sam' he replies, 'You've been asleep for quite a while, didn't get much sleep in your cell I'm assuming?'.

'No, it wasn't the most inviting place to leave myself completely vulnerable'. He sighs. I know he believes it is his fault that I'm mixed up in all of this and that he found me where I was. In some ways it is, but I couldn't imagine a place I would rather be.

If I hadn't found John, I would just be the weird science geek at a different school that wasn't destroyed by a battle of good aliens vs. bad aliens.

'It's not your fault you know? You didn't know they were going to abduct you. You couldn't possibly know that I was going to meet with one of the Garde'. He looks at the floor and then back up at me.

Then he casts his gaze back into the room and on to the mystery, the anomaly, the thing he has yet to tell me about.

'You have a lot to catch up on' he says to me smiling.

'So do you' I say smiling back. I look to where he was looking before, at the bed that was next to mine, and remember the one word he said about him when we were back at the wreckage of the Dulce base ... Adamus.