Part 21: Reunited At Last
Alex leaned back in the captain's chair on the bridge of the Argathin vessel, with her hands clasped behind her head and her legs propped up on the console in front of her. The radar on the console in front of her was beeping steadily, but Alex wasn't paying much attention to it. She had her eyes closed, trying to fall asleep. But it wasn't happening, she was too hyper and energetic. She tried to sleep as much as possible these days. It was the only time she was able to see Mandy as she was supposed to be.
The violet figure that was Mandy's new form was standing by the bridge exit, calm and silent. Alex couldn't even tell where the mostly shapeless form was looking. It was rather creepy, but she wasn't about to say so. She was lucky to have Mandy back, she wouldn't risk making her upset or angry. They were together again... and best of all, they had to be approaching Earth some time soon.
"Y'know something Mandy..." Alex said. "I think I'm actually excited to get back to Earth. It feels like I haven't been back in years... and it's only been, like, two months." She chuckled. "I think mostly I miss Sam and Clover though... it'll be so good to see them again. And they'll be so surprised to see you too, don't you think?" Alex looked over at her energy-based friend.
The violet figure nodded slowly. "Yeah. And when they see you maybe they'll-" She stopped suddenly when the radar under her feet began to blink and red lights flashed around the bridge. "What the...!?" Alex sat up quickly and looked down at the radar. "Oh crap! Stop!" Alex slammed her hands down on the control panel quickly to bring the vessel to a stop.
"N... no..." Alex muttered softly. The radar had merely warned her about the sight she could now see far into the distance outside the front window. Massive Zardexian ships were orbiting around Earth, a thick wall of vessels that looked almost impenetrable. There must have been enough ships to coat the entire planet in laser fire... and enough Zardexians to hunt down everyone...
"Are we too late...?" Alex stood up numbly and walked up to the front window to place her palm against the glass. "Is... is it already over...?" She gulped sadly, tears stinging at her eyes. "N... n-no... Sam and Clover are too strong to die like this... they must have survived somehow." Still she didn't move, staring out the window. "Please... tell me you girls survived..."
She stood for several minutes, staring at the ships in front of her. She had enough supplies to turn around and go back to the Argathin world with Mandy, who didn't eat anymore. They could abandon this vehicle and make their way back to the village... live with everyone else like nothing ever happened here. If the human resistance was gone, they would have to. But she didn't know if they were gone... if she left now, she could be abandoning them all.
"I have to know." Alex stated resignedly, walking back to the captain's chair in the middle of the bridge. She sat down and scooted up to the pilot's console. "I'm going back to Earth... I promised Sam I would. And I'm not breaking that promise no matter what the circumstances." She revved up the ship's engines, narrowing her eyes at the Zardexian fleet between her and the Earth. "And there's no way to go but through..."
She pushed the engines to their maximum and sent the ship hurtling through the stars toward the Zardexian fleet. She gripped the wheel in front of her tightly, all business as the ships seemed to grow bigger... and bigger... and bigger still the closer she got.
Suddenly she blinked when she noticed a violet haze flying outside the window again, looking like a giant glowing manta ray against the dark space around it. "Mandy?" Alex looked around in surprise, but didn't see her on the bridge. She must have left to help her... perhaps to act as some kind of decoy. "Mandy... please, be careful."
Alex was a bit surprised to note that the radar showed a strange moving patch of static over Mandy's position. It looked familiar to her somehow, but this wasn't the time to worry about it.
The violet specter flew ahead of her as the Zardexian ships turned toward them. Alex could see their weapons powering up, but Mandy began to flash brightly as it flew straight toward one of the ships. It tore through the front of the ship, ripping it clear in half through the middle before emerging on the other side and turning like an air force pilot.
"Well, that'll get their attention..." Alex muttered as several other ships turned on Mandy, their weapons powering up. Alex bit her lip as they opened fire on the specter with massive lasers powerful enough to bring down a large building. They slammed into the shining violet energy; pushing it through the darkness away from them a ways before it righted itself and moved toward them again.
Alex noted that it looked significantly smaller than it had moments ago. "Mandy..." Alex growled, knowing if she was going to get through the fleet to Earth it would have to be now. "Please... be careful..." She pushed her ship to maximum velocity again and charged toward the open hole in the Zardexian fleet's grid around the Earth.
She kept one eye on the radar, seeing blip after blip appear as she moved within range of the fleet. Most of them were trained on the ball of static that moved across her radar, but she saw a few beginning to move toward her as she passed. She tried to speed up, but several streams of crimson red energy slammed into her ship, sending her hurtling around the bridge like a human pinball.
"Hugh!" Alex huffed as she slammed into the floor on her stomach. "Man... I wish I knew where the weapons on this thing were..." She tried to crawl back to the controls, but the ship rocked again as more laser fire ripped into the hull. Alex slammed into the controls with a heavy thud, gasping and grabbing her chest painfully. "Ow... damnit..."
Alex clung to the console for dear life as the ship rocked, battered on all sides. The lights began to flicker as she pulled herself painfully up to the console. She was surprised to find that the golden ship had gone into a spin, and was still moving toward the Earth just on its own forward momentum, since it didn't look like the engines worked anymore.
Alex gulped. "I'm gonna crash..." Alex tried to turn the engines back on, but the control panel wouldn't respond. "Come on you piece of sh-" She was interrupted when the ship rocked suddenly again, sending her to the floor with a loud thump. She heard a tearing sound in the hallway just outside the bridge, and she felt the pull of the vacuum of space reaching into the bridge.
"Door, door, door..." Alex crawled toward the exit quick and slammed her hand into the control panel, closing the thick steel door between herself and the hole in the wall. She pushed herself to her feet and stumbled back toward the console. Outside the ship she saw the pulsing violet specter move in front of her just in time to intercept a barrage of laser fire. They bore into the specter and sent it hurtling up against the hull of the golden ship.
"Mandy! Be careful!" Alex shouted. The violet energy moved away from her ship, but suddenly it slammed into it, sending it hurtling past the last line of Zardexians fighters toward the Earth. A few more shots were fired to intercept her, but the ship's momentum was now too great to stop as it entered the Earth's atmosphere and began to burn up from the outside, gaining yet more speed in its descent through the clouds.
Alex tried to activate the breaks, but the ship broke through the clouds in short order, opening up the rather beautiful orb of the Earth far below her. "Come on... come on!" Alex clung to the console, slamming her palm down on the breaks. She could hear the ship outside the bridge being torn up, and she could even see pieces of it flying past her outside the window. "Stop already!" She pleaded desperately.
She gulped when she realized it was useless. The ship was hurtling toward the Pacific Ocean with no way to stop or turn. Alex crawled back to the captain's chair and strapped herself in thoroughly, clinging tightly to the arms and staring out the front window. She blinked when she felt her hand brush over something. There was a small button by her hand that said something in a strange looking language.
"Please be an ejector seat... please be an ejector seat..." Alex pushed the button quickly. She gasped when the chair around her began to grow a steel cover over the front and around her legs, entombing her like a mummy in a chair. "Hey, wha-" Suddenly a barrage of cushions inflated, slamming into her and holding her in place. She was barely breathing. She knew the impact was coming... she could feel the fear rising up in her chest, a dread certainty that she wouldn't make it through.
Suddenly she felt the impact, and screamed in fear as the metal-wrapped chair was torn loose from the rest of the ship. The cushions sheltered her from any broken bones, but she was hideously shaken and her limbs felt like lead weights after being jerked around so much. Her back was bruised and battered as it'd been slammed into the backpack that still contained many cans of food and the precious anti-toxin. Her head was aching something fierce as well, jarred quite violently.
At least the vibrations stopped. She couldn't hear anything outside of her small shelter; it must have been both airtight and soundproof. She waited for a few minutes for anything else to happen, but nothing did. She could feel gravity pulling her forward... which meant the pod was fading downward. She had to be floating in the Pacific.
Alex tapped the same button on the arm of the chair again. The cushions retracted and she gasped when a wave of water began to rush into the chamber. She took a deep breath just before it engulfed her head, and quickly rushed to undo the safety straps. She could feel the pressure weighing down on her painfully, and there was barely any light for her to see by. The chair was sinking to the bottom and taking her with it.
She pulled herself out of the chair and quickly turned toward the light she could see shining far above her. The golden Argathin ship floated down past her as she swam furiously for the surface, pumping all of her limbs as hard as she could. The swim seemed to take forever. Her arms and legs ached and her lungs felt like they were burning. She could see the surface looming so close, but her chest must have been about to burst.
Finally she broke the surface and took in a massive gulp of oxygen, leaving the water up to her waist before sinking back down into it. She climbed back to the surface and panted heavily, treading water with limbs shaking from exhaustion. "I've gotta..." She coughed. "Find Sam and Clover..." She looked up at the sun and saw it lowering itself toward the Western horizon. "Pacific... this way..."
Alex turned and swam toward the East, hoping to be able to reach the land before her limbs gave out. She had no idea how far from it she was, but there wasn't much she could do about that. She just swam, pumping her aching arms and legs as hard as she could. The sun lowered toward the horizon further and further, until it was half-gone, but still Alex couldn't see any land anywhere.
She stopped moving forward when she could barely hold her chin above the water. Her limbs felt like they were barely moving in the exhausting and freezing ocean waters. "What's the damn point!?" Alex shouted to the sky above. Her tears were washed away as a small wave washed over her face, pushing her under the surface before she scrambled back up again. She could've dumped the backpack she supposed, but she'd promised Sam to return with the anti-toxin.
"Wh... why couldn't I j... just have been s-sucked into s-space?" Alex shivered in the freezing ocean waters. She was so tired; her limbs could barely keep her head above the water. "I don't wanna drown... I'm going to... find Sam and Clover..." She tried to propel herself toward the East again, but her limbs refused to cooperate anymore.
Finally her limbs fell completely numb and her head slipped under the water. She tried futilely to pull herself back toward the surface, but she didn't have the strength to hold herself up anymore. She felt herself slowly sinking down into the ocean's depths, staring up at the fading sunlight that glinted golden over the surface of the ocean.
Suddenly she felt something slide under her arm and haul her back up toward the surface. Her head broke through into the air and she gulped in the air greedily, leaning back against whoever or whatever had dragged her up. "Thank you..." Alex gulped. "I don't know how I could ever repay you for..." Alex turned slowly and blinked in surprise when she found herself lying against a smooth, slick gray body.
The dolphin chattered and clicked up at her, weaving its body in the water under her grip. "Wow... thank you." Alex said dumbly. It was easy to forget while the human race was on the verge of extinction and the Earth was in such a ruined state that it was still not yet a dead planet. There were plenty of creatures hardier than humanity who could take over once they were gone. And creatures the Zardexians couldn't get to in the middle of the ocean.
Alex stroked the back of the dolphin's head with her palm, leaning over its back tiredly. "Please... I need you to take me to land that way." Alex pointed toward the east. The dolphin looked at her hand, then clicked up at her again. "That way, please. I don't know how much longer I can hold onto you. I'm so tired..." Alex moaned pathetically.
The dolphin clicked and chattered, almost as if in confusion. Alex moaned and leaned across its back, shooting her hand past it's nose toward the desired direction. "Pleeaaase..." Alex moaned. The dolphin looked at her hand, then looked in the desired direction. It clicked again and started moving through the water, forcing Alex to cling weakly to its dorsal fin to keep from being thrown free.
The dolphin flew through the water at a brisk pace as Alex clung to it desperately. The sun vanished behind the horizon long ago when she finally saw the beach looming close in front of them. "Yes... thank God..." Alex croaked as the dolphin swam up toward the shore as close as it could. From there Alex treaded water until she could put her feet on the ground and walked up the beach on violently shaking legs. She collapsed to the sand face-first.
Alex turned her head to look back at the dolphin. "Thank you, friend..." Alex waved weakly. The dolphin chattered back and turned to dart into the ocean and out of sight. Alex sighed and let her head fall to the sand; her whole body going limp as she quickly fell into a deep, rejuvenating sleep. The darkness came and went without even a hint of dreams.
Alex pushed herself up, surprised to find that the sun was already at its zenith. "Wow... one sun." Alex pushed herself up slowly. Her muscles were screaming in protest after their exhausting effort yesterday, but she pushed herself up to her feet anyway. "This is Earth..." She smiled slightly. "I can't believe I started to miss it..."
She took a deep breath and started walking away from the water. She knew the cities weren't safe, there were crazy people of all kinds that dwelled within them. Those who were too crazy or stupid to leave the places where they lived most of their lives. She knew it wouldn't be easy to get through them, but Sam and Clover had to be somewhere, and she had every intention of finding them.
As it turned out, crossing the city of San Francisco was easier than she thought. Though it was far from pleasant. Every building in the city was a pile of rubble, with the ground itself torn apart in various places. Limp bodies and pools of blood littered the streets, as though just another normal part of the destruction that seemed to have engulfed the entire city.
"No... I am too late..." Alex walked through the city, looking around in horror at the endless carnage around her. There wasn't a single person alive, there weren't even any animals left among the wreckage of the city. It was like walking through an ancient dead city, but she knew this was far from ancient. This was recent...
Alex fell to her knees in despair. "Tell me... this isn't how the whole WORLD is..." She muttered desperately. She knew better than to hope though, if the Zardexian fleet had come in force, no human could've survived.
She sniffled, then looked up when she felt a soft wind brush over her body. It felt almost soothing, a gentle caress over her bare skin. She stood up straight, breathing through her mouth to avoid the smell of decay that hung over the city. She turned to follow the wind, letting it push her forward. She wasn't sure why really... but what else was there to do?
She stumbled forward blindly, driven by the winds at her back and the stench of decay so strong she nearly passed out when she breathed through her nose. The winds drove her onward, almost feeling comforting after spending weeks in the forest where the wind couldn't reach, and then the space ship.
She stumbled up a small hill as the sun dipped beyond the horizon and spotted a single intact tent at the bottom of the hill. She didn't see any signs of life, but there were also a few helicopters landed out front that looked like they were intact. They couldn't have just appeared here, someone had to fly them here.
Alex stumbled down the hill and approached the tent cautiously, pushing the flap aside to peer into the tent. The winds at her back died down as she gasped and stepped inside. Rows of people dressed in soldiers' garb were lying on long rows of beds. Some were still breathing ragged, shallow breaths while others lay completely still and silent. Her eyes scanned the rows until she saw a familiar mop of red hair.
"Sam!" Alex charged across the room and knelt down beside Sam's bunk, putting one hand on her forehead. She felt a bit cool, and her face was pale, but Alex could still see her chest rising and falling with her breath. "Sam wake up, talk to me!" Alex begged.
Slowly Sam opened her eyes with some difficulty. It almost looked like her eyelids were too heavy for her to lift. "A... lex..." She barely moved her lips as she spoke.
"I'm here Sam, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" Alex asked worriedly.
"T... toxin..." Sam replied softly.
"Toxin... right, I can help!" Alex whipped off her backpack and dug around for the vials. She blinked in horror when she realized most of the vials were shattered, spilling the precious liquid over the entire bag. "No..." Alex dug for a while longer, and eventually found three intact vials. She pulled one out and popped it open, then grabbed Sam's head and gently poured half of the precious liquid down her throat. "There... you'll get better."
"Give it... to the others..." Sam already sounded stronger.
"I don't have enough for everyone." Alex replied.
"Save as many as you can..." Sam told her. Alex nodded and stood up, looking around the medium-sized tent until she spotted Clover lying in a bed near the back. She rushed over and gently lifted Clover's head off the pillow to pour the remainder of the open vial into her mouth.
Clover coughed and opened her eyes weakly. "Huh...? Alex...?" She asked.
"We'll talk later." Alex picked up the last two vials and turned to scour the rest of the tent. She skipped past those people who weren't breathing anymore, trying to put them out of her mind as she searched for others who had managed to survive this long. She found a few and administered half a vial to each of them, including a boy who looked like he couldn't be over 18-years-old, a similarly-aged girl, and a purple-haired woman with a cold stare once she was able to open her eyes.
Alex looked for someone else, since she had half a vial left, but nobody she checked after that was still breathing. At last she sighed and gave up, dropping the remainder of the bottle to the ground and rising to her feet. "Guess I just took too long..." Alex bowed her head in respect for a moment, then turned to walk outside of the tent where Clover, Sam and the others were already waiting.
"Alex, I am so glad you showed up girl!" Clover wrapped her up in a tight hug, leaning against her since she was still a bit weak. "If it wasn't for you, we'd all be totally screwed right now..."
"I promised Sam I would come back, and I did..." Alex said.
"So you brought everything I asked you to?" Sam asked excitedly.
"Well... yes and no..." Alex gulped. "I have half a vial of anti-toxin left, and I brought an Argathin cannon that I think can hurt the Zardexians... but the ship I brought back is lying on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean." Alex sighed. "Even with all this stuff, there's no way off the planet."
"And with the Zardexians sure they won, they won't be coming back down even if we thought we could commandeer one of their ships..." The purple-haired woman commented. "They're probably long gone by now."
"So I guess that means we get to repopulate the Earth." Clover nudged the only boy among them with her elbow. "Lucky you kid."
"Eh...?" The boy's face turned bright red, but Alex stepped in to keep his head from popping with embarrassment.
"No, we don't." Alex told them. "The Zardexians haven't left yet, they're still in orbit. They're the ones who damaged the ship I came back in. If we can get up to them with the weapon I stole... take them by surprise..."
"And I suppose we're just going to swim through space." The purple-haired woman scoffed. "Even if they're still in orbit, we can't REACH them." She reminded Alex. Alex sighed and brought one hand up to rub her head in despair. She was right of course, they couldn't just hop in an elevator or something... but it was then that Alex realized Sam had been silent for a while.
"Sam? Are you okay?" Alex asked worriedly.
"Why are they still here?" Sam mused lightly. "It doesn't make sense, why are they still here? They've eaten just about everything on Earth..."
"Maybe they decided to try tuna for a change?" Clover shrugged. "Does it matter?"
"Tuna!" Alex snapped her fingers as she realized why the Zardexians would remain. "I think I know why they're still here! Because we forgot about the sea animals!" Alex pointed out. "There are still billions of creatures living in the ocean that we completely forgot about! A single whale could probably feed a whole lot of them!" Sam stared at her in surprise, then nodded in agreement.
"Of course, Alex is right. They're sticking around because there's still a good source of nutrition on this planet." Sam said.
"But since they can't breathe underwater, they're probably having trouble figuring out how to get to them." Clover added. "Giving us time to get up there and sabotage them somehow."
"Aren't we still forgetting an important factor?" The purple-haired woman cut in. "It doesn't matter what they do or why they do it if we can't get to them!"
"Calm down Madison, I have a plan." Sam said.
"Madison!?" Alex whirled on the woman with the purple hair. "Little bratty Madison!? Wow! You've changed!"
"A decade tends to do that to a person." Madison smirked.
"We'll fill you in on the way Alex." Sam set off toward the helicopter. Alex, Clover, Madison, and the two young teens exchanged curious glances and looked after her.
"On the way to where?" Clover asked.
"To relive some of our worst WOOHP experiences." Sam smirked. Alex and Clover blinked while the other three just looked clueless. Finally Alex gulped and let out a sigh. She'd been sure the frightening and harrowing adventures in traveling along WOOHP methods were long over with. It looked like there was one more ride though...
TO BE CONTINUED
Alex leaned back in the captain's chair on the bridge of the Argathin vessel, with her hands clasped behind her head and her legs propped up on the console in front of her. The radar on the console in front of her was beeping steadily, but Alex wasn't paying much attention to it. She had her eyes closed, trying to fall asleep. But it wasn't happening, she was too hyper and energetic. She tried to sleep as much as possible these days. It was the only time she was able to see Mandy as she was supposed to be.
The violet figure that was Mandy's new form was standing by the bridge exit, calm and silent. Alex couldn't even tell where the mostly shapeless form was looking. It was rather creepy, but she wasn't about to say so. She was lucky to have Mandy back, she wouldn't risk making her upset or angry. They were together again... and best of all, they had to be approaching Earth some time soon.
"Y'know something Mandy..." Alex said. "I think I'm actually excited to get back to Earth. It feels like I haven't been back in years... and it's only been, like, two months." She chuckled. "I think mostly I miss Sam and Clover though... it'll be so good to see them again. And they'll be so surprised to see you too, don't you think?" Alex looked over at her energy-based friend.
The violet figure nodded slowly. "Yeah. And when they see you maybe they'll-" She stopped suddenly when the radar under her feet began to blink and red lights flashed around the bridge. "What the...!?" Alex sat up quickly and looked down at the radar. "Oh crap! Stop!" Alex slammed her hands down on the control panel quickly to bring the vessel to a stop.
"N... no..." Alex muttered softly. The radar had merely warned her about the sight she could now see far into the distance outside the front window. Massive Zardexian ships were orbiting around Earth, a thick wall of vessels that looked almost impenetrable. There must have been enough ships to coat the entire planet in laser fire... and enough Zardexians to hunt down everyone...
"Are we too late...?" Alex stood up numbly and walked up to the front window to place her palm against the glass. "Is... is it already over...?" She gulped sadly, tears stinging at her eyes. "N... n-no... Sam and Clover are too strong to die like this... they must have survived somehow." Still she didn't move, staring out the window. "Please... tell me you girls survived..."
She stood for several minutes, staring at the ships in front of her. She had enough supplies to turn around and go back to the Argathin world with Mandy, who didn't eat anymore. They could abandon this vehicle and make their way back to the village... live with everyone else like nothing ever happened here. If the human resistance was gone, they would have to. But she didn't know if they were gone... if she left now, she could be abandoning them all.
"I have to know." Alex stated resignedly, walking back to the captain's chair in the middle of the bridge. She sat down and scooted up to the pilot's console. "I'm going back to Earth... I promised Sam I would. And I'm not breaking that promise no matter what the circumstances." She revved up the ship's engines, narrowing her eyes at the Zardexian fleet between her and the Earth. "And there's no way to go but through..."
She pushed the engines to their maximum and sent the ship hurtling through the stars toward the Zardexian fleet. She gripped the wheel in front of her tightly, all business as the ships seemed to grow bigger... and bigger... and bigger still the closer she got.
Suddenly she blinked when she noticed a violet haze flying outside the window again, looking like a giant glowing manta ray against the dark space around it. "Mandy?" Alex looked around in surprise, but didn't see her on the bridge. She must have left to help her... perhaps to act as some kind of decoy. "Mandy... please, be careful."
Alex was a bit surprised to note that the radar showed a strange moving patch of static over Mandy's position. It looked familiar to her somehow, but this wasn't the time to worry about it.
The violet specter flew ahead of her as the Zardexian ships turned toward them. Alex could see their weapons powering up, but Mandy began to flash brightly as it flew straight toward one of the ships. It tore through the front of the ship, ripping it clear in half through the middle before emerging on the other side and turning like an air force pilot.
"Well, that'll get their attention..." Alex muttered as several other ships turned on Mandy, their weapons powering up. Alex bit her lip as they opened fire on the specter with massive lasers powerful enough to bring down a large building. They slammed into the shining violet energy; pushing it through the darkness away from them a ways before it righted itself and moved toward them again.
Alex noted that it looked significantly smaller than it had moments ago. "Mandy..." Alex growled, knowing if she was going to get through the fleet to Earth it would have to be now. "Please... be careful..." She pushed her ship to maximum velocity again and charged toward the open hole in the Zardexian fleet's grid around the Earth.
She kept one eye on the radar, seeing blip after blip appear as she moved within range of the fleet. Most of them were trained on the ball of static that moved across her radar, but she saw a few beginning to move toward her as she passed. She tried to speed up, but several streams of crimson red energy slammed into her ship, sending her hurtling around the bridge like a human pinball.
"Hugh!" Alex huffed as she slammed into the floor on her stomach. "Man... I wish I knew where the weapons on this thing were..." She tried to crawl back to the controls, but the ship rocked again as more laser fire ripped into the hull. Alex slammed into the controls with a heavy thud, gasping and grabbing her chest painfully. "Ow... damnit..."
Alex clung to the console for dear life as the ship rocked, battered on all sides. The lights began to flicker as she pulled herself painfully up to the console. She was surprised to find that the golden ship had gone into a spin, and was still moving toward the Earth just on its own forward momentum, since it didn't look like the engines worked anymore.
Alex gulped. "I'm gonna crash..." Alex tried to turn the engines back on, but the control panel wouldn't respond. "Come on you piece of sh-" She was interrupted when the ship rocked suddenly again, sending her to the floor with a loud thump. She heard a tearing sound in the hallway just outside the bridge, and she felt the pull of the vacuum of space reaching into the bridge.
"Door, door, door..." Alex crawled toward the exit quick and slammed her hand into the control panel, closing the thick steel door between herself and the hole in the wall. She pushed herself to her feet and stumbled back toward the console. Outside the ship she saw the pulsing violet specter move in front of her just in time to intercept a barrage of laser fire. They bore into the specter and sent it hurtling up against the hull of the golden ship.
"Mandy! Be careful!" Alex shouted. The violet energy moved away from her ship, but suddenly it slammed into it, sending it hurtling past the last line of Zardexians fighters toward the Earth. A few more shots were fired to intercept her, but the ship's momentum was now too great to stop as it entered the Earth's atmosphere and began to burn up from the outside, gaining yet more speed in its descent through the clouds.
Alex tried to activate the breaks, but the ship broke through the clouds in short order, opening up the rather beautiful orb of the Earth far below her. "Come on... come on!" Alex clung to the console, slamming her palm down on the breaks. She could hear the ship outside the bridge being torn up, and she could even see pieces of it flying past her outside the window. "Stop already!" She pleaded desperately.
She gulped when she realized it was useless. The ship was hurtling toward the Pacific Ocean with no way to stop or turn. Alex crawled back to the captain's chair and strapped herself in thoroughly, clinging tightly to the arms and staring out the front window. She blinked when she felt her hand brush over something. There was a small button by her hand that said something in a strange looking language.
"Please be an ejector seat... please be an ejector seat..." Alex pushed the button quickly. She gasped when the chair around her began to grow a steel cover over the front and around her legs, entombing her like a mummy in a chair. "Hey, wha-" Suddenly a barrage of cushions inflated, slamming into her and holding her in place. She was barely breathing. She knew the impact was coming... she could feel the fear rising up in her chest, a dread certainty that she wouldn't make it through.
Suddenly she felt the impact, and screamed in fear as the metal-wrapped chair was torn loose from the rest of the ship. The cushions sheltered her from any broken bones, but she was hideously shaken and her limbs felt like lead weights after being jerked around so much. Her back was bruised and battered as it'd been slammed into the backpack that still contained many cans of food and the precious anti-toxin. Her head was aching something fierce as well, jarred quite violently.
At least the vibrations stopped. She couldn't hear anything outside of her small shelter; it must have been both airtight and soundproof. She waited for a few minutes for anything else to happen, but nothing did. She could feel gravity pulling her forward... which meant the pod was fading downward. She had to be floating in the Pacific.
Alex tapped the same button on the arm of the chair again. The cushions retracted and she gasped when a wave of water began to rush into the chamber. She took a deep breath just before it engulfed her head, and quickly rushed to undo the safety straps. She could feel the pressure weighing down on her painfully, and there was barely any light for her to see by. The chair was sinking to the bottom and taking her with it.
She pulled herself out of the chair and quickly turned toward the light she could see shining far above her. The golden Argathin ship floated down past her as she swam furiously for the surface, pumping all of her limbs as hard as she could. The swim seemed to take forever. Her arms and legs ached and her lungs felt like they were burning. She could see the surface looming so close, but her chest must have been about to burst.
Finally she broke the surface and took in a massive gulp of oxygen, leaving the water up to her waist before sinking back down into it. She climbed back to the surface and panted heavily, treading water with limbs shaking from exhaustion. "I've gotta..." She coughed. "Find Sam and Clover..." She looked up at the sun and saw it lowering itself toward the Western horizon. "Pacific... this way..."
Alex turned and swam toward the East, hoping to be able to reach the land before her limbs gave out. She had no idea how far from it she was, but there wasn't much she could do about that. She just swam, pumping her aching arms and legs as hard as she could. The sun lowered toward the horizon further and further, until it was half-gone, but still Alex couldn't see any land anywhere.
She stopped moving forward when she could barely hold her chin above the water. Her limbs felt like they were barely moving in the exhausting and freezing ocean waters. "What's the damn point!?" Alex shouted to the sky above. Her tears were washed away as a small wave washed over her face, pushing her under the surface before she scrambled back up again. She could've dumped the backpack she supposed, but she'd promised Sam to return with the anti-toxin.
"Wh... why couldn't I j... just have been s-sucked into s-space?" Alex shivered in the freezing ocean waters. She was so tired; her limbs could barely keep her head above the water. "I don't wanna drown... I'm going to... find Sam and Clover..." She tried to propel herself toward the East again, but her limbs refused to cooperate anymore.
Finally her limbs fell completely numb and her head slipped under the water. She tried futilely to pull herself back toward the surface, but she didn't have the strength to hold herself up anymore. She felt herself slowly sinking down into the ocean's depths, staring up at the fading sunlight that glinted golden over the surface of the ocean.
Suddenly she felt something slide under her arm and haul her back up toward the surface. Her head broke through into the air and she gulped in the air greedily, leaning back against whoever or whatever had dragged her up. "Thank you..." Alex gulped. "I don't know how I could ever repay you for..." Alex turned slowly and blinked in surprise when she found herself lying against a smooth, slick gray body.
The dolphin chattered and clicked up at her, weaving its body in the water under her grip. "Wow... thank you." Alex said dumbly. It was easy to forget while the human race was on the verge of extinction and the Earth was in such a ruined state that it was still not yet a dead planet. There were plenty of creatures hardier than humanity who could take over once they were gone. And creatures the Zardexians couldn't get to in the middle of the ocean.
Alex stroked the back of the dolphin's head with her palm, leaning over its back tiredly. "Please... I need you to take me to land that way." Alex pointed toward the east. The dolphin looked at her hand, then clicked up at her again. "That way, please. I don't know how much longer I can hold onto you. I'm so tired..." Alex moaned pathetically.
The dolphin clicked and chattered, almost as if in confusion. Alex moaned and leaned across its back, shooting her hand past it's nose toward the desired direction. "Pleeaaase..." Alex moaned. The dolphin looked at her hand, then looked in the desired direction. It clicked again and started moving through the water, forcing Alex to cling weakly to its dorsal fin to keep from being thrown free.
The dolphin flew through the water at a brisk pace as Alex clung to it desperately. The sun vanished behind the horizon long ago when she finally saw the beach looming close in front of them. "Yes... thank God..." Alex croaked as the dolphin swam up toward the shore as close as it could. From there Alex treaded water until she could put her feet on the ground and walked up the beach on violently shaking legs. She collapsed to the sand face-first.
Alex turned her head to look back at the dolphin. "Thank you, friend..." Alex waved weakly. The dolphin chattered back and turned to dart into the ocean and out of sight. Alex sighed and let her head fall to the sand; her whole body going limp as she quickly fell into a deep, rejuvenating sleep. The darkness came and went without even a hint of dreams.
Alex pushed herself up, surprised to find that the sun was already at its zenith. "Wow... one sun." Alex pushed herself up slowly. Her muscles were screaming in protest after their exhausting effort yesterday, but she pushed herself up to her feet anyway. "This is Earth..." She smiled slightly. "I can't believe I started to miss it..."
She took a deep breath and started walking away from the water. She knew the cities weren't safe, there were crazy people of all kinds that dwelled within them. Those who were too crazy or stupid to leave the places where they lived most of their lives. She knew it wouldn't be easy to get through them, but Sam and Clover had to be somewhere, and she had every intention of finding them.
As it turned out, crossing the city of San Francisco was easier than she thought. Though it was far from pleasant. Every building in the city was a pile of rubble, with the ground itself torn apart in various places. Limp bodies and pools of blood littered the streets, as though just another normal part of the destruction that seemed to have engulfed the entire city.
"No... I am too late..." Alex walked through the city, looking around in horror at the endless carnage around her. There wasn't a single person alive, there weren't even any animals left among the wreckage of the city. It was like walking through an ancient dead city, but she knew this was far from ancient. This was recent...
Alex fell to her knees in despair. "Tell me... this isn't how the whole WORLD is..." She muttered desperately. She knew better than to hope though, if the Zardexian fleet had come in force, no human could've survived.
She sniffled, then looked up when she felt a soft wind brush over her body. It felt almost soothing, a gentle caress over her bare skin. She stood up straight, breathing through her mouth to avoid the smell of decay that hung over the city. She turned to follow the wind, letting it push her forward. She wasn't sure why really... but what else was there to do?
She stumbled forward blindly, driven by the winds at her back and the stench of decay so strong she nearly passed out when she breathed through her nose. The winds drove her onward, almost feeling comforting after spending weeks in the forest where the wind couldn't reach, and then the space ship.
She stumbled up a small hill as the sun dipped beyond the horizon and spotted a single intact tent at the bottom of the hill. She didn't see any signs of life, but there were also a few helicopters landed out front that looked like they were intact. They couldn't have just appeared here, someone had to fly them here.
Alex stumbled down the hill and approached the tent cautiously, pushing the flap aside to peer into the tent. The winds at her back died down as she gasped and stepped inside. Rows of people dressed in soldiers' garb were lying on long rows of beds. Some were still breathing ragged, shallow breaths while others lay completely still and silent. Her eyes scanned the rows until she saw a familiar mop of red hair.
"Sam!" Alex charged across the room and knelt down beside Sam's bunk, putting one hand on her forehead. She felt a bit cool, and her face was pale, but Alex could still see her chest rising and falling with her breath. "Sam wake up, talk to me!" Alex begged.
Slowly Sam opened her eyes with some difficulty. It almost looked like her eyelids were too heavy for her to lift. "A... lex..." She barely moved her lips as she spoke.
"I'm here Sam, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" Alex asked worriedly.
"T... toxin..." Sam replied softly.
"Toxin... right, I can help!" Alex whipped off her backpack and dug around for the vials. She blinked in horror when she realized most of the vials were shattered, spilling the precious liquid over the entire bag. "No..." Alex dug for a while longer, and eventually found three intact vials. She pulled one out and popped it open, then grabbed Sam's head and gently poured half of the precious liquid down her throat. "There... you'll get better."
"Give it... to the others..." Sam already sounded stronger.
"I don't have enough for everyone." Alex replied.
"Save as many as you can..." Sam told her. Alex nodded and stood up, looking around the medium-sized tent until she spotted Clover lying in a bed near the back. She rushed over and gently lifted Clover's head off the pillow to pour the remainder of the open vial into her mouth.
Clover coughed and opened her eyes weakly. "Huh...? Alex...?" She asked.
"We'll talk later." Alex picked up the last two vials and turned to scour the rest of the tent. She skipped past those people who weren't breathing anymore, trying to put them out of her mind as she searched for others who had managed to survive this long. She found a few and administered half a vial to each of them, including a boy who looked like he couldn't be over 18-years-old, a similarly-aged girl, and a purple-haired woman with a cold stare once she was able to open her eyes.
Alex looked for someone else, since she had half a vial left, but nobody she checked after that was still breathing. At last she sighed and gave up, dropping the remainder of the bottle to the ground and rising to her feet. "Guess I just took too long..." Alex bowed her head in respect for a moment, then turned to walk outside of the tent where Clover, Sam and the others were already waiting.
"Alex, I am so glad you showed up girl!" Clover wrapped her up in a tight hug, leaning against her since she was still a bit weak. "If it wasn't for you, we'd all be totally screwed right now..."
"I promised Sam I would come back, and I did..." Alex said.
"So you brought everything I asked you to?" Sam asked excitedly.
"Well... yes and no..." Alex gulped. "I have half a vial of anti-toxin left, and I brought an Argathin cannon that I think can hurt the Zardexians... but the ship I brought back is lying on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean." Alex sighed. "Even with all this stuff, there's no way off the planet."
"And with the Zardexians sure they won, they won't be coming back down even if we thought we could commandeer one of their ships..." The purple-haired woman commented. "They're probably long gone by now."
"So I guess that means we get to repopulate the Earth." Clover nudged the only boy among them with her elbow. "Lucky you kid."
"Eh...?" The boy's face turned bright red, but Alex stepped in to keep his head from popping with embarrassment.
"No, we don't." Alex told them. "The Zardexians haven't left yet, they're still in orbit. They're the ones who damaged the ship I came back in. If we can get up to them with the weapon I stole... take them by surprise..."
"And I suppose we're just going to swim through space." The purple-haired woman scoffed. "Even if they're still in orbit, we can't REACH them." She reminded Alex. Alex sighed and brought one hand up to rub her head in despair. She was right of course, they couldn't just hop in an elevator or something... but it was then that Alex realized Sam had been silent for a while.
"Sam? Are you okay?" Alex asked worriedly.
"Why are they still here?" Sam mused lightly. "It doesn't make sense, why are they still here? They've eaten just about everything on Earth..."
"Maybe they decided to try tuna for a change?" Clover shrugged. "Does it matter?"
"Tuna!" Alex snapped her fingers as she realized why the Zardexians would remain. "I think I know why they're still here! Because we forgot about the sea animals!" Alex pointed out. "There are still billions of creatures living in the ocean that we completely forgot about! A single whale could probably feed a whole lot of them!" Sam stared at her in surprise, then nodded in agreement.
"Of course, Alex is right. They're sticking around because there's still a good source of nutrition on this planet." Sam said.
"But since they can't breathe underwater, they're probably having trouble figuring out how to get to them." Clover added. "Giving us time to get up there and sabotage them somehow."
"Aren't we still forgetting an important factor?" The purple-haired woman cut in. "It doesn't matter what they do or why they do it if we can't get to them!"
"Calm down Madison, I have a plan." Sam said.
"Madison!?" Alex whirled on the woman with the purple hair. "Little bratty Madison!? Wow! You've changed!"
"A decade tends to do that to a person." Madison smirked.
"We'll fill you in on the way Alex." Sam set off toward the helicopter. Alex, Clover, Madison, and the two young teens exchanged curious glances and looked after her.
"On the way to where?" Clover asked.
"To relive some of our worst WOOHP experiences." Sam smirked. Alex and Clover blinked while the other three just looked clueless. Finally Alex gulped and let out a sigh. She'd been sure the frightening and harrowing adventures in traveling along WOOHP methods were long over with. It looked like there was one more ride though...
TO BE CONTINUED