Chapter 43

The Second Mass were back on the road. It seemed the missions would never end, but at least it was what they were best at. Sitting idly by while the aliens were getting stronger, building weapons of mass destruction on their front doorstep, was not the Second Mass' style.

Of course, Matt wanted to come with them. Tom sold him some story about Lourdes needing to be looked after. It was sweet but Grace wondered how much longer Matt would fall for tricks like that. He was getting more and more eager to join them in these battles. He was a Mason afterall, he had that fighting spirit.

Doctor Glass was riding with Tom, she had joined them just in case there were any casualties. At least that's what she said; Grace figured Charleston had made her stir crazy and she was more eager than usual to get out on the front line.

"Up here."

Miles instructed Grace from the passenger seat as she carefully drove the truck along the pitch black road. He pointed to a glowing building in the distance, the only thing illuminated in a blanket of darkness. "The power plant."

As they approached the industrial buildings, Grace could make out the large turret looking structure with glowing lights pointing out of the ground, high into the sky. It had many sharp bits of metal and wires poking out, as if it had been thrown together, but it still looked stable and incredibly menacing.

They could hear the mechs from down the road, so they killed the lights and parked up a short distance away. Grace shivered as she hopped out of the truck and looked around, the cold wind hitting her. There was nothing but barren land and darkness for miles. It was lucky the rebel skitters had even seen what was happening here.

Red Eye had informed them that part of the facility was underground, accessible by caves and limestone fissures. Ben would be able to sense the entrance. It was anyone's guess whether the rebel skitters would show up after the attack on their camp. Hopefully, they wouldn't need them.

Whilst Lyle and Crazy Lee guarded the trucks, the rest of them headed for the caves. They were a short, muddy trek away, but to get there they had to drop into a medium sized hole in the ground. It was only a short drop, but enough to break an ankle if done carelessly. Weaver, Dai and Anthony hopped in first. Then Tom helped Anne lower herself down, followed by Ben. Pope dove in with ease, his boots hitting the ground with a thud, followed by Hal who helped lift Maggie down by her waist. Miles went next, holding his hand out to Grace to help her down. As she stooped down, she instinctively went to bat his hand away. She wasn't used to boys being chivalrous around her. Her brothers weren't the most gentlemanly, at least not to her, but then they knew she could hold her own.

She paused, realising that Miles was genuinely offering her a helping hand, and so she took it, enabling her to land softly on the ground.

"Thanks," she said, before realising she was still holding onto him. She released him, smiling awkwardly before heading into the caves after the others.

Dark and damp, the caves quickly got narrower and narrower. Holding her flashlight up near her face, Grace was suddenly glad she hadn't had much to eat for dinner that night, as the rough edges of the rock poked and scraped against her. She could barely turn her head, let alone run if something like those creepy crawlies suddenly decided to show up. She was actually somewhat reassured that Miles was behind her. She could sense him, hear his breaths and grunts as he squeezed through the crevices after her.

"This one's a doozy," she whispered to him as she wiggled through a particularly awkward gap.

Miles took in a deep breath as he struggled through it. "Almost regret having seconds of that delicious peach cobbler for dessert. Almost."

"Yeah right." She giggled. Firstly, the man didn't have an ounce of body fat on him. If anything the rocks would have been gently brushing his abs rather than a dessert belly. Secondly, she highly doubted the chef at Charleston was cooking them fancy desserts every night.

"Oh, you didn't get any cobbler?" he teased. "Guess you have to earn cobbler privileges."

"I'm guessing you've now lost any privileges you had, Sergeant Wray."

"We'll see." He was silent a beat. "You know, it's weird."

"What is?"

"The weapon we're here to destroy. It's pointed at the sky."

Grace winced as a particularly jagged bit of stone scraped her side. "So?"

"The Air Force was wiped out. The human race is pretty much grounded. So why's it pointed up?"

She had no answer. He was right, it made no sense. The only things flying around these days were the alien ships, and they couldn't mean to destroy their own ships. Unless…maybe they weren't the only things up there.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw a gap up ahead. She and Miles followed everyone out into the open where Ben was holding up a piece of paper in front of a large, smooth wall.

"The chamber's on the other side of the wall. It matches the layout."

"Alright, set it up," Weaver ordered in a hushed tone.

Dai and Anthony knelt beside the wall and began hooking up the explosives as Pope held up the torch for them and everyone else began readying their weapons.

But something in Ben's face told her something was wrong. He stepped up to the wall and placed his hand on it, sensing something. Then he pulled Tom aside and whispered something to him. She couldn't help inserting herself into the conversation.

"What is it?"

"It's him. The Overlord. He's here."

Grace breathed in shakily. The fish head who goaded her, tortured her in that cage, who ordered Karen to kidnap her brother and almost killed him.

"You okay?" Tom asked her, squeezing her shoulder.

"Yeah. I'm good," she lied. "Let's go in there and make sure he doesn't get off this planet alive."

A chorus of guns cocked around her as Dai and Anthony finished readying the charges.

"Fire in the hole," Dai warned them as they all stepped back to a safe distance.

Grace knelt down towards the back of the cave with her dad and brothers, fingers in her ears as she held her breath, waiting for the explosion. She felt a hand on her back, protecting her. Then, boom! She felt the rocks shake and crumble around her a little, felt the smoke tinge her lungs. When it was over, the hand gently removed from her back and appeared in front of her. She assumed it was her dad, but it was Miles, offering her his hand again.

She didn't take it this time. "I'm good." She steadied herself and got to her feet to see a door-shaped hole in the wall to the alien chamber. The group was already squeezing through it, one by one.

Tector, Dai and Anthony were the first through, followed by Weaver, Tom and her brothers. She followed through next, Miles, Pope, Maggie and Anne behind her. When the smoke cleared, an eerie orange hue enveloped her. It reminded her of the lights in the harnessing facility, the glow of the harnesses.

The bunker was huge with rusted metal walls encircling them. Draped down the centre of the chamber were hundreds of snake-like wires, surrounding a cylindrical, glowing chimney that led up into the massive turret above. It made strange, high-pitched noises that reminded Grace of the laser guns in those old Star Wars movies. She slowly walked over to one of the large, egg-like glowing pods that sat beside the wires, feeling a warmth emanate from it. She was reminded of the alien ship and how the walls seemed to be covered in these things.

There wasn't any more time to stand and gawp.

"Anthony, Maggie, get the C-4," Weaver ordered in a hushed but authoritative voice.

"Yes, sir."

"Tom. You take Ben, Grace, Hal, Maggie, Anne, and Dai to the left. The rest of you are coming with me to the right. We're gonna start laying out those charges and we're gonna meet back at the cave entrance. We're gonna blow this whole thing and the Overlord to high hell!"

"Okay, let's do it," agreed Tom, setting off to the right side of the chamber.

"Be careful," Miles winked at Grace, before following Weaver.

Feeling her cheeks get a little hot, Grace almost tripped over the wires spread out across the floor before Ben looped his arm around hers, catching her.

"Still not sure about him," he muttered to her as they followed after their dad.

Grace glanced back as they ran, watching Miles disappear behind the mess of wires with Weaver, Anthony and Pope. She suppressed the mix of confused feelings and tried to concentrate on planting the C4 with the others.

"Here we go again, huh?" Dai smirked at her as he knelt beside her and stuck the explosive on the base of the glowing egg, the wires dangling and twisting over it like veins.

"Can't go long before blowing something up, can we?" she joked.

He gave her a rare, cheeky smile they didn't see that often. Sometimes Grace felt like he only dropped that serious, fighter facade with her once her father disappeared, like he sensed she needed the comfort. It was a small gesture that made a huge difference to her. It still comforted her.

Sort of how Miles was becoming a comfort to her now. It was weird, she hardly knew the man, but she felt like she should trust him. Sometimes she caught herself, reminded herself to keep distant, but other times, like when he took her hand, she felt like he had always been with her. She kind of liked the idea of him protecting her, with his warm hand on her back, bringing her into safety…

"SKITTERS."

Her neck snapped towards Ben whose spine was glowing blue. Then, suddenly, Dai was gone. Grace spun around to see a skitter was holding him up high in its claws as Dai fired shot after shot, unable to get a direct hit while the alien shook him and evaded his fire.

"Dai!" she screamed, firing off her rifle into the skitter's scaly flesh. She ran towards it, bullets flying. She was vaguely aware of Hal and Maggie running over to help.

The skitter, unfazed, launched Dai high into the air where he smashed against the wall and landed with a bone-shattering thud.

"NO!"

Grace ran over to him as the monster scampered across the wall, bullets still firing. She knelt by his head, the blood leaking from his nose and ears, eyes wide and distant. He was gone.

No, no, no. This couldn't be happening again. She felt a sob about to escape from her throat when she got the wind knocked out of her by a large force. Another skitter had knocked her down. She screamed at it, looking frantically for her weapon, but the alien grabbed her and easily locked her in its long arms.

"Grace!"

Her father ran over, but he was distracted by another cry. Hal. Maggie. Ben. Anne. They were all interlocked in the skitters' unbreakable grasps. There was nothing they could do. She squirmed but the skitter held her tighter. She feared she would be squished to death if she struggled any longer.

"Professor Mason?"

A young, female voice came from behind Tom as he spun around, pointing his rifle towards the source. And in walked Karen.

Her lip curled in annoyance. "What an unpleasant surprise."