CHAPTER ELEVEN

8

Let me give you an advice.

Next time before you board a train, make sure it's the right one.

Well, assume you are in a very big hurry, let's say because you're late for an important meeting, or you need to get home for your favourite TV show really fast.

Or maybe there's just a horde of bloodthirsty aliens chasing you, trying to shoot your damn head off.

Whatever of these situations is the case, let's just say you will be really stressed.

Now, you're at a train station and one of the trains is just about to leave. You're not sure it's the right one, the one you need, but the doors will close any second and you know you can't wait for the next one. So, what do you do?

You may think it doesn't matter what train you take, you might think you can just get off at the next stop, if it's the wrong one, or you may just not think at all. But whatever you do, take a moment to consider what the risks are before you board the train. You might find yourself in an even worse position than before.

Take Marina, John, Sarah and me, for example.

A few moments ago, when we were attacked by a bunch of aliens and managed to flee into that train station at the Canadian border by the skin of our teeth, we didn't stop. We didn't hesitate and we didn't take a moment to consider the obviously enormous risks we took by entering the only train in there. Well, to be honest, there wasn't much time for it. Two of us had almost died, the aliens were still shooting at us, the whole place shook from explosions and smoke and rain made it impossible to see how long it would take our enemies to follow us. But now I wish we hadn't made that mistake.

Making mistakes is human, I know.

Bad thing we're not human at all, or at least the majority of us isn't. Marina, John and I are supposed to be smarter, quicker and overall just way more cautious. It's exactly these mistakes that should differ us from the earthlings. We shouldn't be senselessly running around from one disaster to the next, as we have been for the past week.

We should know better than that.

The Mogadorian loudspeaker announcement has convinced me of the opposite, though. We obviously don't know better than anything.

By no means did we escape the Mogs, we just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Trying to get out of this mess, all we managed to do was to bury ourselves deeper in it. The situation just keeps getting worse and worse.

Because up until now, the biggest group of Mogs that has ever been thrown at us was never more than sixty or seventy. This time, though, it's not just a few Mogadorian soldiers attacking.

It must be an entire army.

I stand up from my seat and gulp. Hundreds of heavy footsteps echo from the walls, literally making the whole train shake. Telling by the sound of it, they can't be more than four wagons away, probably less. The noise of their metal boots stomping on the floor as they march in step is as precise as a metronome, getting louder the closer they come.

Like a slow, steady clock, counting down to our final fate.

Beside me, Marina lets out a sudden, loud whimper and immediately presses her hands on her mouth, as if to prevent any more sounds to escape it. Compared to the rest of us, she had a rather sheltered life until the point we met up. She's not used to situations like these. To be honest, she looks like she's about to faint any second, and the more she tries to hide the fact that she's scared as hell, the more obvious it becomes.

I think about turning around to her, looking her deep in the eyes, maybe hugging her. I want to comfort her, to tell her everything's alright even though nothing is alright. I want to let her know she's not alone. That we will always be there for her.

That I will always be there for her. That I do remember that moment in the US military base a couple of days ago, every single part of it. And that most of all, I remember the kiss.

I'm not sure why I don't, though. I'm not sure why I just keep looking straight forward, pretending I don't see the pleading looks she gives me, that I don't notice that special tone in her voice every time she talks to me, that excited smile when I'm around. I'm not sure why I'm acting like a stupid idiot all this time.

Because, like the stupid idiot I am, instead of sharing my thoughts with her, I just step forward, away from her, and ignore the frustrated sinking of her shoulders.

Disappointment. Mistakes. Shame. What's next?

I bite my lip and look out the window. The storm clouds have darkened the sky outside, and all that is visible from the landscape are dark meadows, blurred by our enormous speed.

It's far too late to get off the train now; we're already going more than 180 miles per hour. Neither can I teleport us out, it would definitely kill us at this speed. As a matter of fact, we have no other choice but to finally stand our ground fight.

Despite all my hate and contempt, I've got to hand it to the Mogs, their strategists are nothing but brilliant. They understood that we only have a chance, when all the remaining Garde fight together. Each of us is irreplaceable. Each of us has to play his or her own part to defeat the enemy, there's no other way. Without the others we may still be a threat, but that's nothing compared to our combined power.

So, instead of directly facing us all together, they split us apart first. They tracked us down and cut our group into pieces, just when we were so close to reuniting every living Garde.

I exhale fiercely and vigorously walk down to the middle of our train wagon to get a better overview. Maybe I can find something that will help us fight the Mogs.

The walls are probably matt white usually, but now they seem rather grey, with the rain and the clouds blocking most of the sunlight, making the late afternoon appear like the middle of the night.

We're in the last car of the train, with nowhere to fall back to. At the one end of the car, John and Sarah are standing side by side. They have their backs turned to me, watching the door to the next wagon, from where the noises of the approaching Mog horde are getting louder and louder.

"We could try blocking the door somehow," I shout over the sound of the Mog army. John thinks about it for a moment, then nods.

"I'm on it," he shouts back.

The door itself looks heavy and solid enough to withstand the Mogs for a while, as long as they don't decide to just blast it away. The only problem is there is nothing around we could use to block it with.

"Maybe you can use the seats," Sarah suggests. John shrugs and with a loud crack he rips out an entire seat row from the ground with his telekinesis. He levitates it over to the door and places it so that the door can't be opened.

"That should work," he says, and while he proceeds to rip out more seats, I turn back around to look for more things that could be useful.

What draws my attention is what's at the other end of the car. I haven't noticed ventilation shaft before, just a few feet away from it there are the two other passengers sitting next to each other. Well, it's not exactly an emergency exit, but at least it leads out of the train.

I smirk, even though I don't feel like smirking at all. It's a crazy thought, but maybe all hope is not lost yet. The smirk is far too small to crawl through, not even big enough to stick my head, but if we could somehow enlarge it…

Marina has followed me to the middle of the wagon and stands next to me.

"Got something?" she asks and I shrug.

"Maybe," I say without looking at her. I'm still thinking about how to make the ventilation hole bigger. There might be something useful in one of our Loric chests.

"I don't know, maybe we could try the emergency break," Marina suggests and hesitatingly points at a small red device at the wall. Dumbfounded, I stare at it for a second, wondering how the hell I didn't think of that before.

"Well, it's worth the try," I say after a while and reach out for the small lever.

"Hold on to something!" I yell over my shoulder, then press it

I duck my head and close my eyes, expecting the train to stop with a jerk.

The seconds pass and nothing happens. I slowly open one eye, then the other. I let go of the lever and turn back around to Marina.

"Nothing," I say and sigh. Maybe the hope that the emergency stop would actually work had really been there for a few seconds, but, as really often lately, we're not that fortunate. The train keeps driving at the same speed as before.

The only thing that I caused by pressing that lever is a malicious laughter, coming out of the loudspeakers.

"Exactly how dumb do you think we are?" the deep Mog voice roars through the train. "You puny little creatures are so damn ridiculous. If our big leader could see you pathetic scum right now, there would be no stopping him from crushing you into pieces."

Hundreds of scornful voices from the Mog army join the announcer in laughing at us, making me flinch. I blush and fiercely walk back to John and Sarah keeping my head low. Marina follows right behind me, even more ashamed than me.

The worst thing is the Mog announcer is right. We did play this whole thing terribly bad.

Once we got separated by the Mogs, it was way too easy for them to trap us. We made so many mistakes at so many occasions, all they had to do was jump at the opportunities and strike.

And now, they finally have us cornered up in this damn train, and we're out of options. All I can do is curse our recklessness. It makes me sick how careless we've acted, considering what's at stake. If our Cêpans were still alive, they'd smack us in the face.

I clench my fists so hard I can feel my fingernails cut into my skin. What were we thinking? The people of Lorien put all their trust into us, and all we do is screw everything up. We got a second chance, and what did we make out of it?

We're just not up to our enemies, even though we should be. Who else if not us?

But the Mogs literally anticipated each and every one of our moves, as if our plans were as transparent as glass. It began in that park, after we hadn't heard of them in a while. They had known exactly where and when to ambush us, as if they had kept track of us all this time. I don't know why they let the rest of us go back then, I'm sure they could have just come with another ingenious plan to get us all at once, but apparently they settled with just capturing Six and Nine.

And… And killing Ella.

The anger about her death rises inside me again. For Marina's sake, I have tried to hold it back until now. She still believes Ella might be alive, somewhere out there, and I didn't want to destroy her hopes. But keeping all my emotions locked away inside is heavily wearing me down. It's just too much to hide it all.

Whatever we do, the Mogs are always a step ahead. It's like they know exactly what we are going to do before we even know it ourselves. And now there's no way out, it's either fight or get killed.

I grit my teeth and think about what life was like less than a week ago. Back when I was Vishnu, and the only people I ever saw were at the occasional visits by General Grahish Sharma and his soldiers. It was a peaceful way of life, with hardly any worries or duties. In all the time I was all alone I almost forgot what I'm actually here for - here, on earth.

I am here to prepare, to survive, to defend myself and the other Garde for as long as it takes. I… We are here to get ready to show the Mogadorians the Loric won't be defeated so easily.

And it's about time we start striking back.

The sudden determination I have at these thoughts pumps new power through my body. I stand next to John, getting into a fighting position. All muscles tensed, we wait for the Mog army to enter through the door. It's hard to keep my knees from shaking, as the Mogadorians come closer and closer. I can already hear the clicking of hundreds of guns, as they prepare to blast anything in this wagon to pieces.

They can't be far away now.

But the four of us against a whole army? I've never even seen this many of them at one place. Marina told me how Six battled against an entire horde of Mogs at the lake near Santa Teresa, and that she defeated them all by herself. Well, Six isn't here right now, and no one of us has much experience in fighting Mogs.

And Four of us, that's counting in Sarah, who basically won't be of any help at all. The best thing she can do is not stand in our way. I wouldn't want any civilians to be hit, I bitterly think.

As if on cue, Marina silently asks "What should we do about those two?"

With a jittery finger she points at the two other passengers in the car. The hoarse undertone in her shaky voice doesn't surprise me; I'm not feel any better myself. Marina has never been good at hiding her feelings, and right now, it's like she's about to explode from fear. Even though I'm terrified to the bones, too, I lay my hand on her shoulder as confidently as I can. She tenses at first, but I can tell it calms her down in a way. And having her so close kind of calms me down a bit, too.

It's not enough to stop my hands from uncontrollably trembling with fear, though.

I clear my throat and force myself to focus. There are things that are more important right now.

I glance at where Marina is pointing - the two other passengers in the back of the car - and raise an eyebrow.

It's a girl and a boy, both about two or three years older than me. Even though I don't recognize them, I get the feeling that I've seen them somewhere before.

When I look at them, the guy shyly turns away, but the girl holds my gaze. She has shoulder-length, black hair and a round, almost circular face. The most remarkable thing about her, though, are her big, round eyes. They seem a bit too large for her face, but they make her appear younger than she actually is.

As we stare at each other for a few moments, a strange feeling inside me stirs. Looking into those deep, red-bluish eyes, I feel some sort of odd pull, like an invisible force urging me towards her. Suddenly, it's like all my strength is drained out of me and my whole body goes numb.

My hand powerlessly slips away from Marina's shoulder, and icy shills run down my spine.

I try to look away, but I somehow can't get myself to.

What the hell is going on?

I take a deep breath, but the overcoming need to come closer to the mysterious girl doesn't go away, it just grows bigger and heavier. As if pulled by an invisible rope, my body begins to lean forward towards her, and I don't know how long I can hold myself back. I don't even know if I want to hold myself back.

I force myself to concentrate, but the more I try, the more I feel myself overwhelmed by the girl's sparkling eyes.

I open my mouth, but no sound comes out of my dry throat. My vision is blurring, making everything but the girl's shimmering eyes seem far away and unimportant.

Now that I think about it, why should I actually try resisting the overcoming urge to come forward? I mean, the situation can't get much worse right now.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I see Marina uncomfortably shift her weight and frown at me. She says something in a worried tone, but I can't understand exactly what. It doesn't matter anyway.

One after the other, I can feel my thoughts turn silent and fade away, until there's just one left: the one that's telling me to get closer to the two strangers.

I take an uncertain step forward without even noticing. I've never seen eyes like that, so pure and clear, I could spend hours just looking into them. Their colour is fascinating; not exactly blue, I'd say, no, they're rather some sort of purple…

I suddenly lose my balance when the train makes a sharp bend to the right. Dazed and distracted as I am, still lost in the girl's eyes, I don't realize what's going on. I don't manage to catch myself and bump my head against the wall, which makes me lose eye contact with the girl and rips me out of this trancelike state.

I blink a few times in confusion about what just happened. I can still feel the girl's eyes on me, the grip around my mind. It feels like I just woke up from a strange dream, and now I'm trying to figure out what it was about. I lean against the wall, my head feeling like it's stuffed with cotton.

"They're Mogs," Sarah suddenly whispers and brings me back to reality. I stare at her for a second, my mind trying to make sense of what she just said.

"Sure, Sarah? They don't look much like Mogs," John whispers back, as I regain my balance. Marina gives me a concerned glance, but I just shrug and smile, trying not to show how messed up I'm feeling right now. She scowls, then turns back to the two strangers. The girl is still watching at me, but I don't make the mistake of looking her in the eyes again.

Mogs, that must be it. Sarah is right.

The first thing my Cêpan Reynolds taught me about our enemies was to never look them straight in the eyes. Guess now I know why.

The thing is Reynolds always told me it would be a horrible experience, that I'd have visions of my biggest nightmares if I'd ever make that mistake.

Well, I'm still not sure about what just happened, but it definitely wasn't a nightmarish vision; that's clear. In fact, it actually was quite calming and pleasant, and that's exactly what scares me the most.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Sarah says to John. "I spent enough time in that stinky Mog prison know what they look like. And those two definitely are Mogadorians."

"Yeah, I think so, too. But these two are different than any Mog I've seen before," I agree.

"Okay, if those are Mogs, why didn't they attack us yet? They could have just took us when we entered the train, or any time after us, but they're just sitting there without really doing anything," John points out, still not convinced.

"It could be another part of their strategy," I say. "Maybe they're just here to distract us from the real threat."

"In that case, we shouldn't let them distract us," Sarah urges. "The Mog army will be here any moment. Get your things together, guys, there will be hundreds of Mogs here in a couple of seconds, two more won't really matter."

I have to admit she's right, even though I can't shake the feeling that those two here are not who we assume they are. Or at least not the girl.

I glance at her for one last time, but she isn't looking at us anymore. Her head is tilted towards the window as she watches the dark landscape pass by, not paying us any attention.

The boy sitting next to her takes out a tiny white cell phone from his pocket and starts typing on its little keyboard. Unlike the girl beside him, he actually has some resemblances with the Mogs I know. His face has the same sharkish features, the same, pale skintone. The cell phone's display enlightens his head for a second, some of the tattoos that cover every Mog soldier's skull are visible through his short, black hair.

A sudden sound, coming from the door to the next wagon behind us, startles me. Something crashes against the door, and I realize the Mogs are here.

"It's blocked," a Mog yells, and the rest of the army responds in a chaos of uproar, screams and shouts. The noise of the Mog army, their footsteps, the clicking of their guns and their rattling respiration, it all arrives at its maximum in an ultimate crescendo.

My heartbeat ticks along to this final clock, so loud and fast, it feels like my chest will be ripped apart any second.

And just as the whole thing reaches its highlight, all the noise suddenly stops, as if it was sealed off, when the last announcement comes out of the loudspeakers. All of a sudden the train is so silent that I can even hear the rain drumming against the windows.

"Well, well, well, would you look at that. The pathetic, little creatures have started to show some initiative, isn't that cute. Got bad news for you kids, it's way too late for that. Nothing can stop us, so stop wasting our time and just give up already. Because you're nothing more than that: a waste of time. Only a shadow of the strength and pride Lorien once had.

So, for the sake of your ancestors, I hope you put up a good fight. Well, on second thought, that would be too much to ask. For the sake of your ancestors, try to die without peeing yourselves," the announcer says and snickers.

The entire train is still completely silent, no one makes a sound. I don't dare to exhale. Maybe I can hold up time just like I'm holding up my breath. Not very likely, but if you have a better idea, feel free to tell me.

Through the big iron door and the seats that are supposed to block it, I can hear a commander bark orders in the cruel Mogadorian language.

Then everything turns back silent again. The only sound I hear is my heart pumping faster and louder than ever.

The Mogs are waiting in the next wagon, ready to shred us to into mincemeat. And all that separates us from them is this mingy iron door.

I'm about to turn around to be ready when our enemies break through it, just as the stranger girl suddenly stands up from her seat.

"It's now or never," she says to the guy, who nods and types something into his phone. The girl quickly glances at us, then nods at her companion and takes a few steps backwards, ducking behind a seat row ten yards away from the back wall of the wagon.

I raise an eyebrow, trying to figure out what she's hiding from, when I suddenly remember our theory about them being here just to distract us. Well, if that's their plan, it's definitely working.

But what if that's not quite it. I mean, what if their real purpose is not to just keep us busy? More than just sitting around and observing us? What if their true role is to actually initiate the assault like some sort of vanguard, to weaken us before the big army takes us down?

Whatever case, it's best to take them out right now, instead of waiting for them to make a move first.

Just as I come to this conclusion, the guy reaches into his coat pocket and takes out a small, round object. A tiny, red lamp is blinking at its side. That suspiciously looks like…

"A bomb," Sarah speaks out my thoughts and I awaken from my rigidity.

At this point, I don't even want to mention the fact that we had the chance to deal with those two all this time but failed to take it. It was so ridiculously predictable that we would got caught in the horns of a dilemma again, I don't know if I should laugh hysterically or just cry.

Both, probably, but there's no time for that right now. In a couple of moments, we will be toast if we don't do something soon.

Hundreds of bloodthirsty Mogs, waiting to shoot us to pieces from the one side. Ever since the invasion of Lorien, they've been wanting nothing more than to kill us, and now that they're almost at their goal, they sure as hell won't let a couple of train seats hold them up. I can almost picture them, one Mog soldier next to the other, their ugly faces screwed up into grotesque grimaces when they realize they are so close to finally hunting down their long awaited prey. They must be fighting over who will get to enter our car first, who will get to shoot the first bullet, who will get to kill first. The thought of having us trapped here must make their mouth water.

And from the other side, there's a Mog with a bomb, about to blow himself and the whole wagon – which unfortunately includes us, too - into bits. He squeezes the small, round bomb in his hand, which immediately begins to glow. The surface becoming transparent, showing some sort of countdown in the centre of the small device. 10, 9, 8, 7…

Marina takes my hand and squeezes it, and I hardly even notice. I'm too shocked and stunned by the hopelessness of the situation to react to anything, and I can feel the others are going through the same.

And what would it matter, anyway. Whatever we do, it wouldn't change a thing about the god damn situation we got ourselves into. It wouldn't change a thing about the fact that there is a gigantic horde of Mogs right outside that door. And it wouldn't change a thing about the bomb in this very wagon.

All our gifts from the Loric, all the abilities and skills we obtained over the years, it's all for nothing. They can't change the fact that in the end, no matter how hard and brave we fight, we will be desperately outnumbered and get overrun.

Because, eventually, one day, even hope has to die. And we, the last free Garde, will be buried and forgotten with it.

The last three seconds of the bomb's countdown run out and I hold my breath, preparing to get blasted away in the explosion.

This is how we die, in a train on a planet so far away from home.

2… 1…

"NOW!" The girl cowering behind the seats shouts at the guy, who reaches out and throws the bomb.

This is it. Game over. Goodbye world.

I watch as the small, round device flies in a wide arch across the wagon, as if it moved in slow motion, watch as the countdown hits zero and the bomb turns red, right before it's about to explode.

And then I gulp so hard it hurts deep inside my throat.

Because I can't believe my eyes. What I'm seeing just doesn't make sense.

Because the guy didn't throw the bomb at us.

He threw the small, red thing at the back wall of the train car.

In a daze I watch as it erupts in an enormous, flaming explosion and with a deafening bang it rips a hole into the train's wall, just big enough for a person to escape through.


Hey everybody!

As you may have noticed, I haven't updated in quite a while, and I think I owe you all an apology for that. I have absolutely no idea what took me so damn long to finish this chapter, probably my own laziness, which I am really sorry for.

I honestly hate to keep you people waiting, so sorry, sorry and sorry for that.

But it's not always easy to find inspiration to just write a whole chapter, and as most of you are writers yourselves, I'm sure you can relate.

So, I hope you guys were at least satisfied with today's chapter, be sure that more is coming, I'm just not quite sure when ;)

But until then, have a wonderful day, and thank you for reading my story :)

By the way, if you haven't, you should definitely check out 'The return of Lorien' by 'I wish I could be Number Five'. It's a beautiful piece of creativity and eloquence, and it deserves way more reviews and following. You won't be disappointed, I promise.