Chapter 11 – Revenge
The large door of the warehouse slowly slid open, and Aaron emerged blinking from the unlit storage area, peering outwards. In the distance was London, burning, with a few large spacecraft hovering above. He moved the door as quietly as he could, as he passed his view over the large empty parking lot with a few old trucks in it, scanning the area for signs of threat. Thankfully, nothing looking like it was standing in their way for a decent distance. He gave a sigh of relief and went back inside, to the opposite end of the warehouse. Around the back of the warehouse, he peered out of a window, back the way they had come. The large red creatures, hunting for humans nearby, were patrolling the still torn up ground. He shook his head, and Will's body caught the corner of his eye. Aaron gritted his teeth and stepped off the large crate he was using to elevate him towards the window. Will's body now had a sheet thrown over it, but there was no chance of burying him, not with the Aliens patrolling outside. He now went to where he and Josh had been setting up ready to leave, and he found him sat by himself, holding their last remaining pistol, and the 4 bullets they had scrounged together. He looked stern and angry, more so than Aaron had seen before.
"Hey man... Are you alright?" Asked Aaron, tentatively.
"How do you think I am? Really, after all that's just happened, how do you think I'm doing?" Replied Josh, his voice low and shaky.
"Look, I know we just lost Will," Aaron replied, "But now is really not the time to get sentimental, we need to keep moving if we are going to get to Dover in time"
Josh's face turned to look at Aaron, and his eyes were darkened and angry. "After what they just did to Will, you think we can just let it go?"
"Yes, yes we can" Aaron replied, kneeling down near his friend. "We need to survive, because if we don't keep moving, we will end up just like Will."
Josh looked away again, down at the floor "Then what? We just run and hide until this all blows over?"
"That was the plan all along, you know it was!"
"Fuck the plan!" Yelled Josh angrily, his voice reverberating around the metal warehouse. "I just watched Will die right in front of me because of those damn things, and we cannot let this keep happening."
"Oh, and what's your big plan? Take on the aliens and fight like some kind of action movie bullshit? Newsflash Josh, this is real life, not a game!"
"So God damn what? This is life, and we can't just hide from these things, we need to fight them! We need to take back our lives!"
"Josh," Aaron said bluntly "We cannot take this on ourselves, we will end up getting ourselves killed right away. How can we take on an entire invasion with 4 bullets?"
Josh stopped for a moment, frowning at Aaron's feet. Eventually, an idea clicked in his head, as he looked up back at Aaron's face. "Fluke said there was a swat team and everything in London, heavy armour, guns, all we need."
"They were all slaughtered, you heard what Will said over the phone! Body armour and guns do nothing against these things!"
"We have to try!"
"No Josh, we don't. We can't. Do you want to end up dead?"
"We'll all be dead if we don't deal with these things!"
"Fine, answer me this; what the fuck are you planning to do?"
Josh paused again, and took a deep breath. "We get into one of the ships, and once we can figure out how to operate it, we shoot the other ships out of the sky!"
"And how will you get onto the ship then?"
"Helicopter, there will be ones on roofs of hospitals, important buildings, all sorts. This is London."
"This is suicide, Josh. Don't be so damn overly dramatic, we cannot do this."
"Fine, if you want Will dying to mean nothing, by all means wimp out and go somewhere else. I want this to mean something, I want revenge." Aaron saw Josh's eyes glint with some unknown anger that he hadn't seen before. Aaron clenched his fists hard and stood up.
"Josh, please just let this go, come to Dover and everything will be fine."
"I'm going to try, with or without you man." Josh replied, coldly but determined.
Aaron frowned hard and walked away, back towards the main entrance, leave Josh to sit on the cold concrete floor, seething.
It was about 4pm when Josh was ready to leave. He was outside the front doors, looking to see if the road ahead was clear. He couldn't see any immediate problems, so he was sure he would be able to make it. He'd gone through some of the trucks and found one unlocked with the keys in the ignition, clearly someone was making a run on foot after they had run out of fuel. Josh had found a hose and a can, but had no idea how to siphon fuel from the other trucks. He tried to desperately suck out the fuel, but it was no use, and he leant against the large wheels, panting.
"Need a hand?" Asked Aaron, walking over, seeing Josh's expression.
"That'd... That'd be great..." Josh replied, out of breath.
Aaron leant down and took hold of the hose, looking at Josh. "When I give you a thumbs up, put the end of the hose into the can." He said, placing his mouth over the end of the hose.
Josh straightened up and held the hose, ready. Aaron began to suck the petrol out of the full but locked truck, draining it. Once he could feel the fuel coming towards his mouth, he gave Josh a thumbs up, and he pulled the hose out of the truck and into the can. Aaron released the pressure, letting the fuel pour into the can. They repeated this process several times with several trucks until the can was full. They poured it into the open truck until the tank was about full. Josh grinned as Aaron took deep panting breaths, now his job was finished. Josh looked around for any last supplies, before climbing into the driver's seat of the truck. Josh nodded to himself, and then looked out at Aaron, who looked back at him. The two were silent for a moment, before Aaron let out a long and deep sigh.
"Let me grab my things, I'm coming too."
"Yea right you are, I bet you wont."
"Dude, don't push me, I'm only going to make sure you don't get yourself killed."
"I know what I'm doing man."
"You're going to fight Aliens, no one knows what they're doing."
"Fair point. Grab your things."
It was now 5pm and the two men were loaded up and ready to go. Aaron had given Josh the all clear to go, but Josh had one thing left to do. He took Aarons phone from the chair next to him and dialled a number. Aaron looked confused but didn't stop him. The phone rang for a few seconds, before Josh said.
"Hey, Will, where are you?"
"I haven't made much progress, this place is jammed full of the things." came Fluke's voice down the phone "Where are you two, are you close?"
"Yea... We aren't coming to Dover just yet man."
"You're leaving me behind again?" He asked, exasperated.
"No, no nothing like that. We're going to take on the mothership and try and defeat the Aliens. You in?"
"Ha, good one, where are you?"
"No, I'm serious. We're going into London."
"Don't be stupid man. Where are you? Did you meet with Evans and Tyde?"
Josh paused for a moment, before slowly answering. "They... They were both killed."
Will's voice went dead, as the shock hit him. "They're... Both dead?"
"Yea man... Tyde was killed in Wales, Will died about 2 hours ago..."
"I... I cant... How?" Will's voice was shaky and in disbelief.
"I'll tell you later, but right now I need your help."
"Yea... Yea sure of course... What is it?" He responded, trying to shake himself back to reality.
"You can fly a helicopter right?"
"Yea, I took a course... Why?"
An hour later, and Josh and Aaron were approaching London centre, where the tall building began and open farm areas ceased. It had taken a long phone Call, but Will said he would meet them in London at St. Mary's Hospital, where Will knew they had rescue helicopters on standby. Will had found a Ford Focus and was headed back into London as they drove, most likely he was already there. Josh's truck was slow, but it was powerful, and would shield them from any attacks the Aliens would use for a short while. Josh was in the drivers seat, with his foot flat down on the acceleration, as they zoomed towards the centre. Aaron was holding the gun, mostly so he felt safer. As they began to see signs for the hospital, they began to catch glimpses of the Aliens in the distance, down roads and between buildings. As they turned a corner, two things came into view. St. Mary's Hospital was no more than 400 meters away. However, between them and the hospital were also two large red creatures, both moving towards the hospital. Aaron noticed a small car parked outside the hospital, knowing Will must have made it inside. The two Aliens must have heard him, as they were advancing, hands raised. Josh looked at Aaron and grinned widely, pressing harder on the accelerator, as the large truck gained speed. Aaron knew what Josh was going to do, and he frowned hard.
"Get down below the glass, more protection that way." Aaron said to Josh, as he ducked low out of the way of the glass. Josh made sure the truck was going the right direction, and did the same, only just peering over the top. As they got closer to the Aliens, the two men began to scream loudly, trying to encourage themselves. Their cry grew louder as they got closer to the red monsters, which heard the sound of the engine and slowly turned around. They weren't going fast enough, and one managed to fire a beam of red light in their direction. It hit the truck's left side, blowing off the tyre. The two men inside yelled louder, undetermined, as the truck jolted, but kept hurtling forwards. As the second creature began to fire a beam of light, the truck slammed at full speed into their two massive figures, splatting them on the front of the truck, shattering the glass, which flew into the truck cabin. Their giant bodies filled the window, and Josh slammed on the brakes. The large figures began to slide downward, their feet caught under the tyres. Their bodies were slowly dragged down below the truck, and the truck bumped and lurched, as it drove over them, and a loud splatting noise was heard, not unlike the sound of someone stamping on an orange. The truck began to slow down, and eventually lurched to a stop, only a few meters from the large hospital. Josh slowly moved upwards, peering back over. A shard of glass had cut his arm, but not badly, and he barely noticed it due to the adrenaline. Aaron seemed to be fine, and the two looked at each other, then in the wing mirrors. They saw the large bodies of the creatures laid out on the road behind them. They looked back at each other once again, and both cracked enormous grins.
"Now THAT was cool." Called a familiar voice from outside the truck.