Chapter Nine: Radio

When she finally came to, she found herself lying on the floor. She couldn't see anything. The room was bathed in darkness. She slowly got up, reaching a hand in front of her. Her hand came in contact with something that was cold to the touch. She pulled at it, but it wouldn't budge. She moved her hand around the walls of the room trying to find an exit. There were no windows or doors. There was nothing. She was trapped.

"Hello!" She yelled. "Get me out of here!" She was banging against the metal keeping her in. Then the room was suddenly bathed in light. She saw she was in a cell and across from her was a man trapped in his own cell. He lay unconscious.

She heard steps approaching. Then an X-borg made his way in front of her.

"Let me out of here." She told it. He raised the staff, jamming it into her stomach. The force pushed her back against the wall. Then there was darkness again. She heard a grunt coming from nearby. Holding her stomach, she slowly got up.

"Where am I?" she heard the man say. Quickly she hushed him.

Whispering, she said, "Don't yell."

His eyes opened wide, he recognized her voice. "Where are we?"

"I don't know." She answered. "They came out of nowhere. They grabbed me and injected me with something." She brought a hand to her neck. "Please tell me you have them."

He furrowed his eyebrows, confused for a second before realization sunk in. He frantically touched his wrist, then patted his pocket. They were gone.

"They took them." He told her, banging the metal bars. "They know who we are."

She let herself fall to the floor. "It's just us here. Maybe the others got away. Maybe they're fighting back."

"There were too many. They could have been caught off guard just like us. They could be-"

"Don't." She turned in his direction even though she couldn't see him. "Don't finish that sentence."

"It's not a coincidence. They didn't just happen to find two rangers." He told her.

She knew he was right; these monsters must have known who they were and how to find them. There was a huge possibility that they had found the others too. "Why are we still alive? Why not just kill us?"

"I don't know. I don't know, Dana."

Gia ran as fast as was humanly possible. She didn't stop until she reached Taylor's house, where she knew Emma must have been. The house was a pile of bricks. Where the door once stood, Gia could make out a hand sticking out from under the ruble. Slowly she began to remove the debris. When all the pieces were gone, she found Emma unconscious. She could hear a faint cry coming from underneath her. She moved Emma so that she lay on her back and found Matt sobbing and unharmed. She took the boy in her arms, rocking him back and forth.

She reached out a hand toward Emma, trying to find a pulse. She let out a sigh of relief as soon as she found it. Then she lightly shook Emma, hoping she'd wake. The sound of X-borgs making their way down the street caught her attention.

She looked around, her eyes landing on two trees that had fallen on top of each other, creating a barrier. Looking at Matt, she said. "I need you to run over there as fast as you can and stay down."

Matt shook his head, grabbing on to her arm tightly. Gia couldn't leave Emma, but she also couldn't risk a fight and have Matt get hurt. She looked at Emma then rolled her back to the position she was originally in. She piled the debris back on top of her, leaving room for her to breath and careful not to hurt her further. As soon as she was sure the X-borgs wouldn't see her, she picked Matt up and ran towards the trees with him.

"Emma." The little boy said as they ducked down.

"She'll be okay." She reassured him. Then they saw the X-borgs. The streets were empty of people. They had all started to hide once the invasion had begun.

Gia had to pull Matt back down as he tried to stand up. "Monsters." He told Gia.

She nodded. "You have to stay down." Then he started to move toward his house. "Matt, stop."

"I can help." He told her. Their movement must have caught the attention of the X-borgs because they turned toward them. A Bruiser with the X-borgs took aim at them ready to fire. Gia grabbed Matt, hoping to shield him from the blast.

She heard an explosion but didn't feel anything. When she looked up, Noah stood in front of her, crossbow in hand. Noah had blocked the attack and blasted the Bruiser and X-borg to pieces. He demorphed before Matt had a chance to see him.

"We have to go. More will be on their way." He told Gia. She nodded in agreement and pointed in the location where she had left Emma.

Noah quickly began to remove the ruble and lifted Emma bridal style, he motioned for Gia to hurry. Matt freed himself from Gia's hand and ran.

"Matt!" she called, running after him. He made his way toward the shed in his backyard, that had` managed to survive the attack. He opened the door, ran inside and just as quickly ran back out with a box in hand.

He ran to Gia, saying. "We can go now." She looked at him in bewilderment but didn't say anything. All four of them started to make their way to the Ranger base.

"You're a Ranger?" Sandy asked her brother surprised. They had just gotten back from the school. Preston had knocked out from the pain and they had put him in another room where Tensou was looking at his wound.

Troy nodded. "You were never meant to find out this way." He told her.

"I don't think I was ever meant to find out Troy." She said, arms crossed.

Before they could keep arguing, Jake walked in with his mother in arm. "You're okay?" Troy asked happily.

Jake nodded, then looked down. "My brother," he began. "He didn't make it."

"Jake, I'm sorry." Jake helped his mother into one of the chairs nearby.

"He died protecting me." She whispered.

Jake bent down, looking his mother in the eye. "It wasn't your fault, mom."

"I was supposed to die. Not your brother. I'm the one that's sick. I'm the one that has weeks to live. A mother isn't supposed to outlive her children." She cried. Jake hugged her, holding her tight to his chest. In less then a day his life had turned upside down. He held the tears that threatened to fall, back.

He looked up at Troy and Sandy. "I'm going to take her to get some rest. Noah went to look for Gia and Emma." He got up with his mother, taking her to another room.

"Troy, our parents," Sandy said, reaching for her phone.

"It's no use. The lines are down." He told her.

"There has to be a way to contact them." They heard people walking into the base and when they turned around they saw Noah carrying Emma. Gia and Matt walked in behind him.

Troy ran over, taking Emma from Noah. "What happened?" he asked.

"I found her like that. I think she hit her head." Gia said. She kept glancing at the box in Matt's hands.

"I'll take her to Tensou. We need to find a doctor." He told them. "There's a lot of injured people out there. If the X-borgs don't kill them, their wounds definitely will." Then he walked off.

"Where's Jake?" Gia asked.

Sandy answered before Noah could. "He's in one of the rooms in the back with his mom. I think you should give them a couple of minutes before you go in." Noah had told Gia what had happened and understood they needed space.

Troy walked back into the room. "Tensou said Emma should be up soon." He looked at Matt then up at Gia. "We need to find his parents. They're probably worried sick."

"That's going to be tough considering there's no way of communicating with anyone," Noah said.

"Hey, what's that?" Troy asked, pointing at the box in Matt's hand.

Gia shrugged. "I have no idea, but he won't let it go." She got on her knees, in front of Matt. "Matt, can you tell me what's in there?" She asked him, pointing to the box.

Matt shook his head. "I can't." He said. "It's a secret."

Gia looked up at the others. "See. He won't even tell me."

Suddenly, a beeping sound emerged from the box.

"Uh, guys?" Noah said.

"Matt," Gia said slowly. "I need you to put the box down." She reached out a hand to take the box from him. Matt hugged it to his chest, refusing to let it go. The beeping continued. Finally, Matt opened the box and reached inside. In his hand was an object that resembled a watch, he pressed something on it and a voice could be heard coming from it.

"Eric?" It was a man's voice. "Eric? Are you there?"

Gia looked at Troy. "Eric. That's Matt's dad."

"It must be some sort of radio," Noah told them.

"Eric if you can hear me, listen. You have to hide. Don't fight. Not yet. I can't get in touch with the others. They took-"

Then Matt pressed another button and the voice cut off. "You weren't supposed to hear that." He said.

"Matt, what is that?" Troy asked. Instead of answering, Matt put it back in the box and closed it.

"I think-I think it's a morpher." They turned around to find Emma leaning against the wall.

Gia ran to her side. "You shouldn't be up."

"What do you mean a morpher?" Noah asked.

"I think his dad might be a ranger too."