Chapter 25

I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I knew I couldn't keep the others in the fight for any longer than was necessary. The fight was going reasonably well, considering this was the first time we'd been confronted by the Yeerks. I watched the others retreat as I ran in to assist Ferdie, leaping towards the nearest Controller. He fired his Dracon at me but missed, hitting an abandoned car. Shattered glass flew into the air behind me.

Suddenly –

"Help! Someone!" A cry! I paused, my teeth inches from one of the human controller's neck. He lay on his back, I stood on top of him.

"Help me! Get me out of here!" The voice again! It reminded me of being back on the spaceship. Faint – to faint form human ears to pick up – but nearby. The Securitas van! I hit the Controller with the back of my frying-pan paws, knocking him cold. Ferdie, with a short burst of speed, ran towards the other human-Controller, leapt, and using his excellent eyesight and depth perception, bit down hard of the man's arm. The Controller cried out in pain, and dropped his Dracon beam. He doubled over, clutching his arm, then slumped forward weakly as he lost a lot of blood.

--My god, I hope I haven't killed him!-- moaned Ferdie.

--Never mind about that now, Flawless!-- I replied. --Find the others.-- I looked around frantically, then aught sight of Asha behind the dumpsters. She was shrinking, growing short sandy coloured fur. She was becoming a gerbil.

--Morph something small, like your ferret.-- I called to Ferdie. I looked at the van. With the excellent night-sight of the leopard, I could make out the shadowy shape of a person behind the tinted glass. A girl! She was crying, banging frantically on the window. A trap? I wondered. A human-Controller acting as prisoner to tempt us from saving her? No, I decided. It was highly unlikely she was part of a trap. This battle had been the result of an ambush – the Yeerks had attacked us – not laid a trap, hoping we'd walk straight into it. We'd had no choice about the situation.

--Philip!-- I shouted. --Where are you?--

--Disabling the helicopters!-- he said. I watched as he repeatedly rammed, with his huge horns, the underside of one of the helicopters. I would have smiled if I'd had a mouth. 'Disabling' was certainly a euphemism.

--Well, I need you to do that to the Securitas van, if you don't mind! No more injuries if we can help it – there's something else for us to take care of now!-- He backed away from the helicopter – inside which was an unconscious Visser Five, knocked cold by Philip's battering – and turned his attention towards the front of the van.

--The back doors!-- I corrected. --And not too madly – there's a girl inside!--

--A girl?-- said Philip. --What are you taking about?--

Suddenly, it clicked. --That second alien – Barnod – didn't he say something about there being five humans?--

--How should I know!-- yelled Philip, but he hit the back door of the van anyway, with horns like two curved battering vans. I guessed the ox's eyesight wasn't all that great, since Philip kept missing the doors.

--This girl – she must be the fifth human the Andalite mentioned!-- I guessed the Skrit-Na, or whatever it was that had kidnapped us, had been examining the girl at the time Eramas the Andalite rescued us. Now she was in the hands of the Yeerks. I shuddered. God only knew what she's been through.

All of a sudden – Wham! The back doors of the Securitas van broke off their hinges, slamming into the van with a clatter. I leapt into the truck – I was smaller and more agile than Philip's ox.

--Keep an eye on the Visser,-- I told Philip.

The inside of the van contained two little cubicles, each about two feet square. The walls were thick steel – designed to hold even the most violent of prisoners. Both had thick bolts on the outside of their door. The door of one was half open. I could see spare Dracon beams and other scary looking weapons piled up inside. The door of the other was looked. I could easily hear the girl on the other side, shouting and screaming for help.

--Hold on!-- I called out. I didn't know if the girl would hear – or understand my thought-speak. I didn't know what she'd think of an army of animals coming to rescue her either. But I hoped, considering that, she too, had been abducted by aliens, that this event would seem almost normal by comparison.