Episode 2 Cry
As the vehicles drove into town, Yuji noticed a strange thing that looked like a nest on top of the building. As they drove through the town, he also saw green orbs that contained the bodies of the Blue's victims.
He also felt something on his shoulder and realized that Cissnei had fallen asleep against him. This caused him to blush. Meanwhile two members of the team, Joey and Katharine had gone looking for supplies. Looking inside an old grocery store, they found the shelves almost bare. They did however see another green orb inside the store. As Katharine searched the store, Joey looked in the back room and found several boxes containing water and cans of food. While outside, Yuji and Cissnei sat with Keith and Marlene. The sound of the wind rustling through the trees caused him to become alert.
"You stay that uptight for too long and you'll ruin your health. Pretty soon there won't anything left of you," warned Joey.
"Try and get some bed rest. A little sleep might do you both some good," he advised.
"What's that, a joke?" questioned Yuji.
"You two want one?" said Joey as he handed Yuji and Cissnei a flip-top can.
"You two better eat it now," advised Keith.
"Once they come out it will be too late for regrets," he continued.
"So how long has it been like this?" Yuji asked.
"Let's see, it has been like this as long as I can remember. I guess they first started appearing, I don't know, something like 15 years ago," answered Keith.
"Keith!" shouted Marlene
"What's the problem? The kids just woke up. Of course they want to known what's going on around here. Wouldn't you?" he replied indignantly.
"We haven't been ordered to fill them in. Now go relieve Minnie on watch," ordered Marlene.
"Humph! The operation doesn't go as planned, so the elites have to take it out on me. That's great," muttered Keith as he got up and took a can.
"Your wish is my command, ma'am," he sarcastically replied as he departed.
"Operation? What's that?" questioned Cissnei.
"Our team was to recover everybody in the building while you were all asleep," filled in Joey.
"Unfortunately the Blue became active around the installation and changed our plans a bit," explained Chris, another member of the team.
"Had it been a zero harvest, the evac team had orders to abandon us here," concluded Joey.
"With all that Blue activity it was lucky that we got the seven of you out of there," he finished.
After hearing this Yuji and Cissnei's eyes widened with anger.
"Lucky huh? Will that's not the way we feel being suddenly waken and nearly getting killed without any warning, without any idea of what's going on!" they shouted.
"Is that what you call lucky is it, when the hell did I ask you to wake us up!" shouted Cissnei.
"Look around. Do you think I wanted to wake up to this? Did you actually think you where helping us, did you?" hollered Cissnei.
"Would you kids pipe down! They might hear you," ordered Malcolm another member of the team.
"And what if they do? How can you be so calm? Can't you understand what it's like waking up alone in this place?" Questioned Yuji.
Marlene stood quit for a moment and then spoke.
"It's unknown how long the Blue have actually existed. The first confirmed sighting came in 2017. That was fourteen years ago."
After hearing this, Yuji and Cissnei calmed down and listened. Then Marlene continued with her story, "At first it was thought that they were a biological weapon that some rouge nation had developed, but we soon learned that they were very different." After pausing for a moment she continued, "Their ecology shattered all of our current conceptions about biology. After that point, they not only fed on organic matter but inorganic matter as well, turning it all into functional energy. When modern civilization was at its peak, they must have found this world to be the perfect feeding ground. Almost in a blink of an eye the Earth was overrun and turned into a planet of death. I suppose to them humans where merely an annoyance like insects crawling on their food. By themselves our bodies are a minuscule source of energy for them so they wrap us in tight cocoons. When the number is large enough, they feed," she concluded.
Yuji and Cissnei gazed in horror at a green balls and gulped.
"But the Blue do more than eat and multiply every time we try to attack them they change like to evolve to protect themselves," explained Joey.
"The battle lasted longer then we have anticipated and people began to gradually run out of places to hide. The Blue had turned the planet into their nesting grounds and there was no choice but to escape into outer space," continued Marlene.
"Outer space?" inquired Yuji.
"That is where we live now beyond our orbiting satellites in a space station called Second Earth," finished Marlene.
While the conversation was going on outside, inside the truck Minnie was talking through the radio to their leaders.
"Sleepers recovered seven names: Yuji Kito, Cissnei Hurdara, Cody Richardson, Sasuke Kuonji, Kamica Moshra, Tyson Yamato, Jin Lee."
"With the exception of these seven, the rest of the sleeper population was lost to the Blue," said Minnie.
"Our team has suffered losses. We lost two members in the recovery," she continued her report, "Requesting instructions with rendezvous point with recovery vehicle. Our location is J.P.E 204."
"Coordinates have been sent and received. We await for your arrival over and out," replied Command.
"Copy that. Transmission terminated," answered Minnie.
While this was going on, Keith who had always had feelings for Minnie, had taken off his armor and now snuck up on her. In the past they had shared an interest in each other. He gently removed her armor leaving her only showing her chest. Putting his hands under her arms he gently began to rub them up and down her breasts then planted a kiss on her neck.
"Heehee stop it you animal," she giggled at the affection her boyfriend showed for her.
Back outside, Marlene began once again. "The surviving humans organized themselves into combat units to resist the Blue, the higher command began to research on how to exterminate these creatures and in 2031 Second Earth finally began operations to take back the planet," finished Marlene.
"So what your saying is saving me, Cissnei and the others was all part of the plan?" questioned Yuji
"Saving you?" said Marlene in a cold way. "You two have got it all wrong. You two and the others just happened to be the samples we recovered. It's nothing more than that," she finished in her steely tone.
"What Samples?" asked Cissnei.
"Our orders are very specific to wait for the recovery vehicle and travel to a spaceport and return to the station," explained Marlene.
After pausing for a brief moment she asked them a question. "So have you two heard enough?"
"Have heard enough? What are you crazy?" blurted Yuji
"This is nuts. Who's the one who gave you that order? Why do we have to go into outer space with you and what do you people want?" demanded Cissnei.
"You won't be getting those answers from me. That's your problem," Marlene said in a cold, uncaring way.
Walking forwarded Yuji grabbed Marlene and shouted in her face. "No, didn't you hear her? She wants answers NOW!" he shouted.
"Listen, Yuji and I went to sleep to cure our illness. Why couldn't your team just leave us alone? If we had known, it would turn out like this, I would have…" she began.
"You would have rather died, is that it?" cut in Marlene
Robert overheard this and was about to step in when his wrist bracelet flashed red.
"There's a Blue out there! Everyone to your stations!" he commanded.
Out of a building came a hissing Blue that had pincers.
Braking free of Yuji, Marlene ran for the truck. Just before entering, she turned to them and spoke. "If you two want to die, I won't stop you but first it's my duty to make sure that the both of you get up to the space station. Until then, I'd appreciate if you both stayed alive." With that, she entered the truck.
"So what have we got?" asked Chris as he fired.
"It's a Chopper, Kid," said Malcolm as he fired.
"Pin it down!" yelled Katharine.
Keeping up an intense barrage, the Blue could not move. It hissed as it tried to figure out which one to attack. Suddenly one of the trucks doors opened as the doubled piloted Shrike prepared to attack. Keith quickly pulled back on his shirt. Then he grabbed the controls, smiled and awaited the attack.
"Time to run a systems check?" said Joey his eyes afire with battle lust.
"Will have to take are chances," replied Keith as he maneuvered it forward.
The Shrike moved forward and got right in front of the Blue. In a flash, it grabbed its pincers and forced it to the ground. As it struggled to brake free another door opened and Marlene's Shrike entered the fight. Marlene aimed her gun and fired. The blast hit the Chopper's core and exploded. Yuji and Cissnei just stared in shock at what had just transpired.
The next day the team was on the move. Yuji, Cissnei, Marlene, Malcolm and Robert sat in the jeep. While Katharine drove the tuck carrying Minnie, Joey, Keith, Chris and the other sleepers. There was a sudden beep and Marlene looked at her wrist communicator. She then looked up and saw a strange jet above them. Yuji shielded his eyes to watch the jet descend. On board the jet, Yuji and Cissnei began to nostalgically hum a song that had once been very popular in their time. As Yuji looked out the window he gasped.
"Cissnei you may want to look at this," he said as his lips began to tremble.
Cissnei looked out the window and began to shake with fear. The once buzzing metropolis was now in ruins. Most of buildings were destroyed and some other larger building now had huge nest on them.
"Have I really been asleep four 22 years? Even after all that time my mom and dad wouldn't be that old and they still could be alive?" thought Cissnei
Yuji was thinking along the very same lines about his parents. His thoughts then turned to his best friend, Takeshi.
"Knowing Takeshi, he is probably riding around out there somewhere," he thought miserably.
A few hours later, the air jet began its descent to an island airport. The airport was now a hive of activity. Several trucks began to move to a spaceship and load up sleeper capsules. Standing guard over the proceedings were four armor shrikes. Two were red and the other two were tan. The ship Yuji was on landed gently down. Then the two of its compartments opened up. Out of the left end came the truck and from the right end came the jeep. Cissnei and Yuji gazed around before Cissnei asked a question.
"So Robert, why this airport? Why here?" she asked
"One reason is that Blue don't swim, at least as far as we know. So out at sea all we have to worry about is Blue attacking from the air, Cissnei." answered Robert.
Yuji gazed up at the sky when suddenly Robert's shout brought him back to reality.
"We're behind schedule. Load that transport into the cargo holds as it is," ordered Robert to Katharine.
Katharine gave him a thumb up and increased speed. Robert then got back into his seat. While inside the truck Keith wasn't so happy.
"It looks like were riding with the luggage again," he said moodily.
"Don't be so gloomy Keith," said Chris.
"Shut up!" yelled Keith.
"Hey Cissnei," asked Yuji, as a fork lifter carried several sleepers out of a jet.
"Sleepers like you and Cissnei recovered from other areas. There were a number of similar facilities all over the country," answered Marlene.
"Hey stop this car stop now," yelled Yuji and Cissnei in unison.
Malcolm put his foot on the brakes and the jeep came to a halt. Cissnei and Yuji jumped from it and headed to the sleeper capsules.
"Come back here now!" Robert yelled after them
Yuji and Cissnei did not listen.
We're not the only ones who were here brought after all, they thought as they ran towards the capsules.
Marlene got out and took off after them. Robert then turned to Malcolm and said, "Move out!" and then drove on.
Suddenly and without warning, the ground gave a lurch, slamming Yuji and Cissnei to the ground.
"What's that?" yelled Robert
Suddenly cracks stared to form where Katharine was and the truck began to sink into the ground. Katharine tried to back out but more ground gave way causing her to slam her head into the glass. Blood splattered against the windshield and Katherine lay motionless. As the ground further gave way, inside the truck Minnie lost her balance and cracked her head against the wall. In the back, Chris was trying to secure the sleeper capsules when one fell lose and crushed this hand.
Chris pulled his crushed and bloodied hand from the capsules. Ignoring the pain, he ran up to the front of the truck to check if his sister, Katharine, and Minnie were okay. To his horror, when he got to the front Chris saw that his sister and comrade-in-arms were both dead. Chris removed his sister's body from the seat and closed her eyes. He then laid her down gently to the floor. He did the same for Minnie. Then the grief became too much for him and he broke down and cried.
Meanwhile, on the back of the truck, Keith yelled, "Hey ease up!" The truck lurched about.
Outside the ground began crumble and out of it came a giant beetle.
"What the…?" started Robert as it hissed.
"It's a Blue," said a flabbergasted Marline.
Quickly the four armor shrikes roared into action. The two red armor shrikes charged the attacker, while the two tan ones turned and got ready to attack.
From inside truck, Joey saw what was going on and cursed.
"Oh shit!"
"What the hell is going on up there?" yelled Keith
"We got a Blue!" Chris yelled to Keith as he clutched his broken hand.
"What how did they get here?" asked Keith
"There's no time. We gotta do something!" yelled Joey as the shrike roared to life. As they broke through, Keith saw the Blue.
"Ahhha!" he screamed as the monster hissed menacingly.
"Oh no," said Robert as he watched what was going from the jeep. He turned his head to Malcolm and began to issues an order. "Malcolm get over there now!" he roared
"I'm on it Chief," he replied as jeep drove forward.
Suddenly the two tan armor shrikes fired two cables from their arms. Likewise, the two red ones did also. The cables attached to its hide and held fast.
"How are they coming at us from sea?" Marlene muttered obvious puzzlement.
Marlene saw Yuji and Cissnei as they stood just outside the battle zone, routed to the spot with terror.
"Damn them," Marline swore has she ran over to the panic-stricken teens.
"Snap out of it, come you two! come on," she yelled.
This snapped Yuji out of his fear and into action. "That's right Cissnei, we've got to wake the others."
"Right," she replied
Yuji and Cissnei quickly ran over to the forklift just as the driver dismounted and ran to get a weapon.
Meanwhile the armor shrikes were having difficulty holding the Blue. It hissed as it tried to break free from its captors. Joey and Keith were having trouble trying to get free from the truck.
"Will you quit dicking around up there!" hollered Keith.
"The trailer is lurching around too much. We're stuck!" Joey yelled back as Keith
Meanwhile Cissnei and Yuji had just reached the fork lift. Yuji and Cissnei stared to bang uselessly against it.
"Wake up!" yelled Yuji as he pounded a sleeper capsule.
"Wake up, come on you got to get out of there or you're all be dead!" screamed Cissnei
"What are you two doing? Get away from there NOW!" Marlene hollered.
"No way, Cissnei and I have had enough of being alone in this freaking place. Do you understand me?" he yelled.
Cissnei slammed both of her fists against the sleeper capsule and screamed, "I don't care who you are. Please just wake up!" she cried
Marlene had enough. Grabbing Yuji she pulled him right in front of her and slapped him.
"You two have got to stop. This is hopeless. We cannot resituate them down here!" she said in a harsh voice
Then she switched it to a gentler voice. "Come on," she beckoned.
Yuji and Cissnei took a look at the sleeper capsules when suddenly a shadow fell over them. Looking up, Cissnei and Yuji saw what looked like a giant, flying preying mantis flying overhead.
At the same time, inside the ship, two pilots were starting the take-off sequence when the monster flew at the cockpit. Extending one of its razor-sharp claws, it smashed them into the cockpit. Blood splattered all over the glass as one of the pilots was impaled.
Down below, the ground continued to give way even more as another tank beetle emerged. Near the two red armored shrikes, the ground shifted, causing the shrike with the gun to lose balance. As it stepped back, it crushed the jeep that Malcolm and Robert were in. Robert and Malcolm gazed in shock as the metal foot came down and crushed the jeep along with Malcolm. Robert was ejected from the jeep and landed on the runway before coming to a grinding stop. The shrikes were having trouble restraining the tank beetle as it struggled to free itself from its captors.
Meanwhile, back at the truck, Joey and Keith had gotten free. "Chris where's Minnie and Katharine?" Keith yelled.
"There both dead!" sobbed Chris as tears ran down his face.
"What? Minnie? NO!"
Keith turned to the tank beetle, his eyes full of hate.
"Joey get me in closer to that thing. We can't shoot it but we can still use our arms to smash this bastard!" He roared.
"Keith, man I don't know?" said a worried Joey.
"Shut up and do it. This monster is going to pay for what it did to Minnie!" He thundered
"Alright," he said.
Switching to attack mode the shrike roared to life and charged the Blue.
"This one is for you, Minnie!" Keith yelled as the shrike closed in on its target.
Turing around the Blue roared as the shrikes arm came flying to it. Extending one of its claws, it rammed and pierced the shrike's armor. At the same time, the mechanical arm slammed into its core, killing the thing. Joey felt the air leave his lungs as the claw slammed into the shrike. Quickly he pulled out the arm and retreated from the Blue. The monster fell to the ground with a thud. Suddenly two more tank beetles appeared, causing the forklift where Marlene, Yuji and Cissnei were to collapse.
"We have to get out of here! Move!" yelled Marlene
Running over, Cissnei tried to pick up one of the sleeper capsules.
"Yuji, give me a hand here!" she called
Yuji quickly ran over and grabbed the other end and together they pick it up. Inside the truck, Robert climbed into the driver's seat. Gathering what was left of his strengthen he kicked a hole through the glass while simultaneously starting the truck. Robert was in terrible shape. His left arm was broken and his face had a gash in it causing blood to cover his left eye. Driving the truck he backed it out of the hole and headed to Marlene, Cissnei and Yuji. Joey followed along in hot pursuit. Yuji and Cissnei looked up to see Robert drive right beside them.
"Get in!" he ordered
Quickly Marlene, Cissnei and Yuji got in carrying in the sleeper capsule. In a flash, the truck was off again. The flying Blue saw what was going on and took off after them. As the Armored Shrike and truck raced for the open cargo holds on the retrieval ship, Chris gazed out and saw the Blue gaining on them.
"Man-eater coming at us from the rear!" he yelled.
The man-eater opened its many mouths and let out a hiss. Suddenly the truck's back opened and Marlene appeared with her Shrike at the ready; aiming the shrike's gun at the approaching monster. The first shot damaged one of its mandibles. The second shot hit the other. The third shot hit its core, causing it to explode. The creature fell to the ground with a final hiss.
Once entering the retrieval ship the engines gunned to life. Up in the cockpit Marlene was at the controls readying it for take off. Cissnei and Yuji came up to her.
"Hey, hold on a minute," began Cissnei.
Suddenly the ground caved in more. This caused the other sleeper capsule to sink in to the ground. Yuji gazed in horror.
"It can't be!" cried Cissnei.
"It can't!" sobbed Yuji.
Both of them broke down and started to cry. In a few minutes the ship was flying away from the destroyed airport. Gazing down Marlene instantly figured out why the Blue had been able to attack them.
"There, that's how they did it. They came through an underwater pipe." Looking down, Yuji and Cissnei saw Blue moving through an underwater pipe.
Meanwhile, in the cargo hold, Joey was crying.
"Keith, Minnie, Katharine," he sobbed.
"Joey," called a voice.
Looking up into the battered armored shrike Joey saw a badly damaged Keith.
"Don't worry Pal, I'll get you out of there," he said.
After freeing Keith, Joey examined him. All of Keith's ribs appeared to be broken and he was bleeding intensely.
"Where's Minnie?" he coughed
"She's dead," answered a crying Joey.
"NO!" yelled Keith
Braking free of Joey, Keith stood up and walked over to Minnie's body. Grabbing her tightly, he began to sob.
"Minnie! No, please don't leave me," cried Keith as he cradled her. With those words, Keith died.
Chris was holding Katharine's body, as he sobbed over the death of last family member.
Robert just sat in the driver's seat and grunted from the pain. In the cockpit Marlene flew on sadly. Yuji and Cissnei was still shocked by all of the death they had witnessed.
"If I known this was going to happen perhaps me and Cissnei would have been better of dead? No I won't go down without a fight. Not to them and I'll do anything to protect her," he thought to himself.
As they left the smoking airport behind them they failed to notice some strange ships heading towards it.
