TJ hissed but Ali shook her head, "I have to go back, I don't want them to notice my absence when they discover Mary's absence." Ali had gotten used to the sounds the aliens made and was now able to distinguish what they were trying to say.
So Ali walked out of the room as TJ picked up Mary. Ali went to the left and toward the entrance of the orphanage while TJ went to the right in the direction of the basement.
It only took her five minutes to get back to her tent. Just as she pulled the blanket over her shoulders and grabbed the mug, the flap of the tent parted and three men stepped inside. Two of the men carried guns; soldiers. But the man in front shocked Ali so much that she almost dropped her mug. Standing in front of her, with dark, cold eyes was Trae.
Trae narrowed his eyes as he looked at Ali and then said, without any hesitation, "Shoot her."
Ali felt her blood run cold as she gazed up at Trae. She felt herself start to shake as one of the soldiers looked at Trae then back to her. Where they really going to kill her? She didn't bring any aliens with her so she was all alone on this. But she felt relief rush through her as the soldier said, "Sir, she's just a kid."
"No she isn't. She is evil, she must be killed!" Trae shouted.
"Sir, we will not allow you to hurt her. There is no proof that she did anything," the soldier said.
"Get out, then!" Trae said, "I need to talk to her." The soldiers looked uncertain and gazed at each other uneasily. "I'm not going to do anything; I just want to talk to her alone."
One of the soldiers muttered under his breath, obviously not trusting Trae's words, but he had no choice; he disobeyed one direct order, he knew that he couldn't disobey another. Ali watched as the two soldiers turned to leave and waited until the flap of the tent closed before turning her eyes back to Trae. She smiled darkly as Trae glared back.
"So—" Trae started to say, but then Ali spoke.
"Don't think for a second that I spared your life before because I liked you. I mean, that was the reason at first. I actually thought I cared for you, that you were special and important to me. But, no, there's more to it than that. The real reason was because it was too easy to kill you then and I was hoping that I could have a little more fun," Ali said. Her eyes flashed greedily, as though contemplating what would be the best way to kill and make it interesting at the same time.
"You may have everyone else thinking you're a harmless little girl, but you can't fool me that easily," Trae said, not taking his eyes of Ali.
"I don't expect to," Ali replied, "In fact, this couldn't work out better in my favor. While you spend all your time trying to convince everyone that I'm evil, I will slowly bring your numbers down."
"Go ahead and try it, I have over one hundred men under my service right now!" Trae replied.
"I don't intend of attacking your men out in the open; that would be a pretty stupid move on my part. No, I plan to lure them into the Hive. Only a few at a time. I just got back from working on an experiment, actually," Ali said with a smile.
"An experiment? What are you talking about?" Trae asked. He had only thought of Ali as a child who had managed to get included among the aliens, but she was a cunning and crafty individual. His father had a lot of notes about the alien's intelligence, they were supposed to be wicked smart and able to figure a way out of any situation, Trae wondered if Ali had somehow obtained the ability to think as the aliens did. He realized that he had underestimated her and he hoped that he wasn't too late.
"Oh Trae, I can't tell you," Ali's voice said, cutting into his thoughts, "That would ruin the surprise!" Ali said with a laugh, "But you might want to check your numbers and see if anyone is missing." She left the statement hanging in the air but the expression on Trae's face told her that he knew what she meant, "Anyway, this will be more fun, I was hoping it would be. I was thinking of starting off with three men and then bring more and more. I can't wait!" Ali squealed and laughed happily as she thought about the ways to lure the soldiers into her trap.
"I won't let you!" Trae shouted.
"Just try and stop me!" Ali shouted back.
The flap of the tent suddenly opened and a soldier came running in, "Sir!" the soldier shouted before stopping in front of Trae, breathing heavily.
"What is it?" Trae asked, "Can't you see I'm busy!"
"It's Mary, sir," the soldier replied, "She's gone missing!"
Trae turned to look at Ali but she quickly turned away from him.
"Leave solider," Trae said and the soldier saluted before exiting the tent. As soon as he was gone Ali burst out laughing.
"You did this, didn't you?" Trae asked as he grabbed Ali's slender shoulders and spun her around to face him, "What kind of monster are you?!" Trae yelled as he shook Ali.
Ali kept laughing, her eyes sparkling malevolently. Trae couldn't take it anymore, holding on to Ali's shoulder with one hand, he reached for the pocketknife in his back pocket. Taking out the knife, he brought it down in a quick arc, slicing Ali across her throat.
The laughter instantly died in her throat and her eyes widened in shock as she stumbled back, away from Trae. She clutched her throat as black blood poured out. Trae heard a sizzling noise and looked down at his knife. It was glistening with Ali's blood and was starting to smoke. Trae dropped the knife in surprise as the blade began to melt away.
Ali leaned over as her blood poured out of her throat and splashed onto the ground. The ground let out a loud hiss as her blood began burning into it. She fell to her knees as the world began to spin. She felt around until she found the blanket that had fallen from her shoulders. She grabbed it and ripped a strip off and quickly pressed the piece to her throat, forgetting for a moment that her blood would just eat through it. The blood wasn't really gushing out so Ali guessed that the knife hadn't hit her jugular. But she knew that she had to get out of here as quickly as possible, or die. Struggling to her feet, she started to make her way to tent's exit, swaying slightly as she did and held both hands to her throat. Trae was still standing and staring at the spot where his knife had burned away. Ali raised her hand, which was covered in blood, and running at Trae, slashed him in the chest. She could hear him yell as her blood began to eat away at his skin but she didn't linger much longer. Gathering her strength she hurried out of the tent.
One of the soldiers standing by the entrance to the tent shouted something to Ali but she didn't pay attention to what he was saying. She ran out of the compound toward the orphanage, not caring if anyone saw her. She got about halfway there when she started to get dizzy. She fell to her knees again as the world grew black. She tried to take a breath but could only taste blood. She tried screaming but all that came out was a gurgle as blood dripped out of her mouth. She felt herself slipping into darkness and she tried to stay conscious, but couldn't focus as the world went dark around her.