~~~4~~~
Pain, brutal and unforgiving burned through his shoulder in electric waves. Webbing like long fingers down his back to play havoc with his ribcage. Just breathing became a major challenge and with every gasping breath his vision blurred. Moving seemed to be a futile option at that point. But he'd never been one to give in quietly.
With the small amount of energy he possessed, he reached up to feel his face. His brain felt like it had out grown his skull and he was ready to find his face swollen like a pumpkin. Instead he only found a large gash above his eye that screamed out when he gently probed it. He could tell the wound had already begun to clot, but not before making a mess of his clothing and the spot of the floor he'd collapsed on.
Rolling over onto his back with a loud groan, Michael stared up at the smooth surface of the Granolith. His head spun as though it had been used as a piñata, remaining motionless he allowed himself a brief moment to assess his current predicament.
They'd made a huge miscalculation on the last planet, or someone had sabotaged them. In his gut he already knew the answer and it was up to him to ensure there wasn't a repeat. It was a miracle the Granolith was still in one piece, seeing how the weaponry aimed their way was far more advanced than anything he'd ever seen.
Turning his head to the side, exerting more energy then it should've he quickly located his other companions. From his position he could see they were all breathing and that was good enough for him. For each of them to get onto the Granolith before being taken out, was just plain dumb luck.
Surviving on luck wasn't going to last long.
Hearing a grunt, Michael looked over to see Ant struggle to push himself off the ground, his arms shaking at the exertion. "You good?"
Ant grunted again. Large and intimidating, his friend was a man of few words in a literal sense. Michael was the only one who knew why he never spoke and if their other two companions ever found out they'd be in for the shock of their lives.
Moving cautiously across the chamber, Ant slumped on the ground next to Michael with another grunt.
"Don't waste any energy on me right now."
Ant snorted before placing his hand on Michael's shoulder. Soon warmth replaced the pain and Michael sighed in relief. Knowing how much energy his friend had just wasted, Michael stopped him when he went to place his hand on his forehead.
"It's just a scratch." Ducking his head out of the way, Michael got to his feet. The room spun as his feet moved on their own accord to keep himself upright. Swaying a few times in an attempt to compensate.
He wanted a reminder of what happened when he let his guard down for even a second. After the last seven years, he would've thought that particular lesson would've been engraved in his head. The few times he'd gotten sloppy, even for a millisecond, people died. Who else could honestly say they were responsible for entire planet's extinction? Forced into a game of cat and mouse, he was beginning to wonder if there was an option of winning.
As soon as the room stopped spinning, Michael erred on the side of caution and moved slowly to the console located in the center of the chamber. He wouldn't be doing anyone any favors by pushing his body past it's limit. Placing his hand against the screen, he waited for the flashing lights to do whatever it was they did.
Soon a grid materialized on the panel, at the same time information appeared on the left. Typically in the past, the Granolith would produce their current location and pertinent information needed for survival. For example, whether or not if the planet was compatible to their genetic structure.
It was always an added bonus, knowing if a planets atmosphere would kill them the split second they took a step out of their little flying ship. Other little facts, sometimes helpful sometimes not, would also be provided. A person never knew when small trivial facts would come in hand.
Michael's immediate frown only darkened as the Granolith started spitting out information. Feeling Ant at his side, inching closer as each new piece of data appeared, Michael felt moisture form on his brow.
"Can't be right." Muttering mostly to himself, Michael touched the screen. Swallowing against the pressure building inside his chest, Michael willed the stupid machine to erase the screen clean. No matter what he did, nothing changed. "What the hell!"
Really pissed now, Michael took a step back and was ready to fix the Granolith's problem the old fashioned way. Nothing wrong with a little good ole fashion aggression once in awhile. But before the sole of his boot could connect with anything, Ant gently pushed him out of the way before taking over.
Much more adept with technology, Ant's large, cumbersome hands moved like lighting across the screen. His expression going from perplexed to annoyed to panicked, didn't ease Michael's apprehension.
"Well?"
Looking up from the screen, Ant's deep brown eyes were troubled as he shrugged. Pain rippled across his face expressing more than any words could.
"Earth." His breathing turned ragged as his hand went to instinctively to run through his shoulder length hair. "No, it has to be wrong."
His brain wasn't programmed in a way to allow him to even consider their current location could be Earth. Something must've happened during their desperate escape. Maybe one of the blasts from the attack hit the consol, making act all wacky. Perhaps he was still out cold on the ground dreaming this shit up, he'd had stranger dreams. An idea came to him.
"Where's your handheld?" Holding out his hand waiting, Michael looked over to their companions. "Any idea who set the coordinates?"
Shaking his head, Ant handed over the small black object. Scowling, Michael pushed on the screen a few times. His expression only darkened as his eyes scanned the screen. His jaw clenched, as he started breathing deeply through his nose.
Whether it was his shaking hand or the deep growl in his throat, Ant was quick to the rescue the devise before it was broken into a million pieces. Technology never survived long around Michael.
Michael paced while he tried to find reasons as to why they were on a planet that no longer existed. With everyone of Ant's grunts, Michael felt his insides clench. Sneaking a look over at the large man, Michael knew it didn't matter how many times Ant tried to make sense of the data.
"Well?"
Ant could only blink, pain deep in his eyes.
"What ever happened to Earth exploding into millions of billions of particles?" Casting a glance over at the other two companions, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "And how did we end up here? Someone had to tell this hunk of junk where to go."
His voice bounced off the walls, making an uncomfortable Ant look over to ensure they didn't have an audience. Typically, Michael had an unnatural hold on his temper. It hadn't been an easy adjustment for him to hide his true feelings and emotions. For a guy who thought of himself as an emotionless stonewall, his friend never knew just how readable his expressions had been.
Through the years, Ant had seen first hand what it had cost Michael to become the savior the rebels of Antar believed him to be. If there was ever a person who deserved an emotional break down, Michael was a prime candidate. But not here, not now.
Stopping Michael in mid-rant, with only a shake of his head. Ant placed a calming hand against Michael's chest.
"This is bullshit. I can't do it. I won't do it."
Swinging his eyes to narrow in on their companions was the only thing Ant needed to do to stop Michael from saying anything more. There was a greater mission at sake.
"Fine. Whatever. Earth still exists." A look of disgust rolled across his face. "From what I heard, nothing good ever happened here anyways."
Minutes after the walls stopped shaking, Maria found herself still crouched in the hallway with a terrified puppy shivering in her lap. Shards of glass from pictures and light shade from above littered the carpet around her.
With a slowness caused by shock, Maria looked around her home wide eyed. Never in her life had she been through anything like this, and that was saying something. The inside of her apartment was trashed. It wasn't just a few items from shelves falling to the ground, it had been an entire shelving system being ripped from the drywall and hanging on with only one screw.
Trying to pry Spaceboy out of her lap, Maria was forced to carry him with her as she took a careful step around the glass on the ground. The loud sounds from the outside world filtering in weren't helping to ease the little fur balls nerves. Not that Maria could blame her little baby, the blaring sirens were rubbing her raw and she didn't have the super dog hearing.
The living room looked as though some Frat boy had thrown a raging party there for a few hundred drunks. Both lamps on her end tables were in pieces. Half the pane of glass from the large picture window behind the couch was missing. And her poor TV, it sickened her to see how un-reparable it was.
"What the hell?" Her legs were still shaking, as a loud bang on the front door startled her.
"Maria?" Mr. Snell, her elderly next door neighbor voice yelled through the thin door. "You in there?"
Hurrying to the door, she tried to put the dog down, only to give up at his urgent whining. "Mr. Snell? Oh my god, your forehead!"
Ushering him inside, Maria ignored Spaceboy's unhappiness of being dumped onto the ground. "Are you okay? Do you need to sit? Let me get you a bandage."
"Calm down." His voice sounded strong as he answered her back. "I spent twenty years in the Marines and ten living in California, I'm not as brittle as I look."
"I'm sorry." Her first aid kit already in hand, Maria stood ten feet away feeling stupid. He was almost eighty years old, standing calmly in her doorway, while she was younger and theoretically stronger and her knees were still knocking together.
"Don't worry about it." His voice was calm and oddly helped Maria get control over her runaway nerves. The corner of his mouth lifted before speaking again. "Ms. Leary in 2-B refuses to come out from under her kitchen table. Something about after shocks not getting the best of her. I stopped by to make sure you're in one piece."
"I am. My apartment on the other hand." Shaking her head at the mess, Maria set the kit down.
"You're lucky. The two end units caved in." Mr. Snell's typical no nonsense attitude was softened by the pain in his watery blue eyes. "Have you checked to see if your phone was working yet?"
"Ah, not yet." His logical thinking made no sense in her world of mayhem. Her brain was still mourning the loss of her precious television. Spying her over sized purse just inside the doorway, she hurried to it and started to burrow her way through all the crap she kept. Her hands were still shaking when she tried calling Kyle.
A robotic voice filled her head. Something about the circuits being down. Not really comprehending, Maria hit the end call before trying again. The same voice mocked her. "Guaranteed coverage my ass." Forgetting herself, Maria looked up at the older man, her lips forming into a O. "What I meant to say -."
"Maria, military for twenty years, remember? Trust me if that's the worst you got, I'll still consider you a lady."
Breathing in a deep breath, she nodded. "I have to be honest, I've never been in the middle of an earthquake before."
"I wouldn't really say -." A dark look paced over his weathered features. "Most of the apartments still have water, but electricity's out. If I were in your shoes, I'd be checking in on your store."
Crap! It was the last thing on her mind. Oh, who was she kidding? It hadn't even been a glimmer in her mind. How could something that had been life and death the day before, not even score the next?
"Right." But her mind went straight to Kyle and Jim. She needed to make sure the two people who had stayed by her side were alright. "I should go."
"If I may?" Mr. Snell had been backing his way out the door before stopping. "Just a few suggestions. Walk, don't drive. People don't really think clearly after something like this. Take water with you. And you may want to change."
Looking down at her outfit, Maria noticed for the fist time she was still wearing her outfit from the previous day. Her blouse was completely untucked, and both garments were wrinkled from a nights sleep. Looking even further down, her feet were still bare.
"I'll keep an eye on your place while your out." Giving her what she assumed could pass for a smile, Maria nodded numbly. For years Mr. Snell had been the head of their apartment unit's crime stoppers. A group of fuddy duddy's, who she always felt were really doing it so their spying on their neighbors suddenly had a purpose. .
When the door closed, Maria couldn't help herself and tried Kyle's number one more time. When that didn't work she tried the Crashdown, then just for giggles 911. None of the attempts went through. It was creepy, knowing how within minutes everything went from normal to apocalyptic. No power. No water. No freaking phones. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the situation was severe.
She didn't even want to think about how bizarre it was to have such a monumental experience happen after her recent unsettling dream. Thank goodness she'd majored in bizzaro during High School. Her survival instincts slowly kicked in as the desire to drop to the floor, into the fetal position while hyperventilating diminished.
She needed a game plan. Mr. Snell was right about people going bonkers and she didn't want to get caught up in the hysteria. Her gut told her she needed to find Jim and Kyle. That heading to her store could wait, because honestly what could she do on her own if something were to happen to that money pit?
Carefully making her way back to her bedroom at the end of the hallway, Maria gathered her shoulder length blond curls up into a ponytail. Practicality was the name of the game. She would need to forgo fashion for comfort. Searching her dresser for a pair of cargo pants she'd bought at the second hand store she couldn't help but remember when she'd bought them. The purchase was a complete waste of money she didn't have, but something deep inside her told her to get them anyways.
Pulling on a simple black tee over her head, she scouted the pile of shoes on the closet floor for something sensible and with good support. The task took a little longer than it should've, but the last thing she wanted was blisters on her feet.
Ten minutes later she was ready to go. A backpack of supplies over her shoulder and Spaceboy on his leash Maria let out a shaky breath before leaving the safety of her home.