Epilogue
An army never fights without its leader.
The leader's final, ear-piercing shriek was the signal for rest of the army to abort. By noon that day, there wasn't a living alien left in New York City. By sundown, the skies of the entire world were reported all clear. The aliens had left.
The gang had spent the six hours following their terrifying ordeal in an isolation chamber set up by the US Army. It was a bacteria free zone, where they spent the time slowly regaining their hearing, which had been temporarily taken away from them by the leader's powerful shriek. They spent the time in the arms of one another - Chandler holding Rachel, Joey holding Monica, Ross holding Phoebe. They were all silently coming to terms with everything they had been through. They all were glad it was over.
After their hearing returned, and they were cleared to leave their isolation chambers, the gang spent another four hours in questioning. They told the army officials that they had overpowered the leader, and used his own blade to kill him. The truth just seemed too risky to tell; the last thing they wanted was for Chandler to become the subject of military science projects. They never spoke of Phoebe being channeled either. They just wanted their lives back.
The news of Sgt. Ford and the doctors' deaths shocked them all. They of course, just like the military, didn't have a clue about what had happened in that hallway after the alien closed the doors. They were busy trying to save their lives.
None of them knew that at that very moment, Steven Goldberg was driving south in his beat up Chevy pick up truck, heading toward the sparsely populated area of Eastern Kentucky, right in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. In his passenger seat was a small plastic bag, which held the only active sample of the Lorenez virus left on Earth. The world wouldn't live in safety for too long…not if Steven had anything to say about it.
The gang finally returned to their broken apartments at sunrise the next morning. Ross and Phoebe's place had been hit the hardest. Every window had been broken, most of their dishes smashed, and all of their furniture had been cut up. Monica and Joey's place was hit the least. The aliens that rescued their friend had destroyed the closet, and the main window had been broken from where they all had entered. Chandler and Rachel's place would need some repairs. The windows were shattered and their living room was a mess. Luckily, the bedrooms had been left alone, which the couple took as a sign to hit the sack, and not for sleeping, as per usual for the two of them.
A month after that final night in the hospital, life was almost back to normal. All the apartments had been repaired, with some improvements, which the girls found to be fabulous. Joey's celebrity status reached all new heights, and the offers to star in action movies just kept rolling in. But Joey was already committed to another film, one Chandler was writing about their whole adventure with the aliens.
The publicity Monica got was free advertising for her restaurant, where business began to boom after the whole incident. "Monica's" was being franchised, and branches were being opened up all across the country. Inspired by the romantic heroics of Chandler during that final showdown, Rachel wrote yet another erotic novel. It sold more than all of her other books combined. She surpassed Nora Bing as the queen of women's written erotica. Opportunities to make money came Ross and Phoebe's way just like they came to everyone else, but they both decided to decline them. They agreed their lives weren't meant to be in the spotlight. They loved being normal people - hanging out with their friends, living in their humble apartment, and teaching at the local high school.
The six of them had survived the worst of times. But somehow, someway, they found the courage and the strength to save themselves, each other, and the world.
Now they were living their dreams. And they deserved every minute of it.
The End.
That's it. That's the end of Hidden in the Sky. I hope you all enjoyed the fanfic, because it was a blast to write. I even left the ending open, because after having some talks with some of the fans of this story, the idea of a sequel based upon the stolen Lorenez Virus had come up. But right now, since I am back in the writing mood, my focus will be on finishing All the Deadly Sins. I hope you guys enjoyed the story, and the ending. Drop a review and let me know how you felt about it.