Chapter 2

They continued to Midgcar in silence. Jim was elated from the latest information, but wasn't showing it, in case the information proved to be wrong, and his family were still dead. Not to mention, there were many rogue monsters in the grasslands in between towns and cities. Although in recent years many had been killed off by ALIEN, there was still a fair amount around. He and Danny had already fought a couple as they got closer to Midgcar, which was a splendour to see. Buildings stretched up to the heavens, a shade of green, grey and black, mixed and glowing, were set around the city. The biggest building was ALIEN headquarters, which seemed never to end as it held its place firmly, looking down with pride at its smaller comrades below. The sun, beaming down brightly, seemed to make the glow and mystique of Midgcar even more intense. As they got closer to the city, the smell of industrialisation became prominent. When they finally reached the gates of Midgcar, two bulky guards stood in their way. Jim wondered how his family had gotten past the guards, whether they had made it past at all …

One of  the two guards noticed them and beckoned them over.

The guard who beckoned them over placed a suspicious eye on them before speaking in a gruff and distrustful tone that was to be expected in such times. "Have either of you seen the progress of the battle of Kalm? We noticed you came up from that way."

 Danny could see Jim getting angry and elbowed him in the stomach.

"Yeah." Said Danny, sounding very calm considering his hometown had been destroyed, and most of his friends killed. He thanked fate that he didn't care in the slightest about his mother or father. "It's over. The battle's been over for a while. Kalm has been burned to the ground."

"That's right." Said Jim as he gritted his teeth, his anger dampened a bit by Georgio's news, but still burning strongly.

"Good." Said the other guard, "Shall we report it to president Rufus?"

The first guard shook his head. "We'll wait, we have our duties to perform, and besides, he probably already knows." He focused his attention back to Danny and Jim. "I assume you have valid ALIEN Identity Cards? As long as you show us those, we can let you in."

"Oh I'm sorry…" Apologised Danny, he drew his sword silently, marvelling at how well the cloak he was wearing concealed it. "We have none!"

Danny slashed the first guard with perfection, the guard gasped, went to clutch his chest, but then fell to the floor, dead. Jim hit the second guard with his sword whilst he was distracted and confused, also killing him. Alarm bells began ringing from inside Midgcar as Danny and Jim pried the gates open, the camera above the entrance had seen everything, the two rebels hadn't noticed it until this point. They couldn't run back now, so they ran in, gunshots rang out, guards stood at every exit and quickly formed a circle to surround them, in the same manner as the army outside Kalm had done. Danny got a strong feeling of déjà vu and didn't need to think why. The guards glared and held their guns up at the intruders.

"We're in trouble." Mumbled Jim, eyes scanning the scene for exits, but all were clogged up with guards, almost as if something like this had been expected. Déjà vu came over him.

"I'm aware of that…" Replied Danny quietly.

Both backed up as the guards came closer, guns still pointed directly at them.

""Who are you?" Asked one of the guards and stepped forward, assuming the leadership role.

Danny and Jim didn't answer; they just stared blankly at the ground.

"Tell me!" Demanded the guard and aimed the gun at Danny, ready to fire.

"Kalm survivors." Mumbled Danny, thinking this would be a bad time to die, not that they looked like good bets for surviving anyway, but if they played for time then maybe...

"Survivors? Ah, so Kalm has been destroyed?" A grin was now on the guard's face.

"What do you think, idiot." Jim said, his anger returning with a flourish at the wrong time.

The guard's smile disappeared. "Fire!"

"Shit!" Cried Danny and held his hands up as the guards began to fire, the two warriors then blacked out. They would wake up again, though it wouldn't be for a few hours.