When They Come

Alex groaned. She was laying on a soft surface with a gentle cover over her. She felt herself breathing. Breathing. She was alive!

She didn’t hear any monitors beeping. So she wasn’t in a hospital. Good. What she did hear was someone else’s soft breathing. John? Addir? Had Addir died? Was he ok? Was John ok? Where was she?

Alex opens her eyes and saw sunlight shining through shiny windows. Her bedroom windows! She was home! She smiled and slowly sat up. She was sore. Oh, so sore! But she was alive! They had made it.

Alex scanned her surroundings and saw John, dressed in normal clothes, asleep in one of her chairs. And someone sound asleep on a blowup mattress. Addir. He had a cover over him so Alex couldn’t see if he was still a hybrid. But she could look at herself.

Trailing her eyes down to her arms, Alex saw her glossy black arms. She was still a hybrid. Her cells had beat out the destructive cells of the Saimiens, but not the non-destructive ones. So that meant…Addir was still a hybrid too.

Alex sighed scrubbed at her face. She glanced down at her clothes and saw she was in cleaner clothes. And she felt clean. Her mom had probably washed her. She asked herself: what now? She’d survived. Lived to tell the crazy tail of how she saved the entire planet. It made her silently chuckle. It was like a dream too good to be true.

Alex picked up a stuffed bunny she had on her bed and threw it at John. He awoke with a start and looked around quickly, assessing the situation as if he was still in danger.

He then looked to Alex and smiled. “Hello sleepyhead,” He said softly. “Feeling better?”

“Much,” Alex said, stretching. “Thankfully, I don’t feel like my entire body is on fire. And that knives are slicing at me. Or that poison is in my veins.” She said simply.

John have her an incredulous look. “Ouch,” He said with a quiet laugh.

“Thank you for carrying us to the escape pod,” Alex said earnestly. “It was very brave of you. You could have booked it and left us to die. But you didn’t. So thanks,”

“I would never leave you,” John answered gently. “I said till the end, right?”

“Yeah,” Alex sighed. “How long have I been out?”

“About twenty four hours,” John answered. “I wouldn’t blame you for it though. Going through all that, not an easy feat,”

Alex ran a clawed had through her hair and sighed. “I think…Cassandra might have made it out,” She said quietly.

John started. “What?” He said quietly.

“I saw her stagger out of another side door. You saw how all the rest of the Saimiens dropped like a stone so quickly. Cassandra was alive even then. She must’ve made it out in another escape pod,” Alex explained.

“Great,” John huffed, slumping back into his chair. “Now, we’ll have to deal with ‘Hybrid Ice Queen’ when we get back to school,”

“Key word, ‘when’,” Alex pointed out. “Right now, we have freedom! To do stuff and relax. Because we deserve it! To heck with tests and Cassandra, just, chill. We’ve had enough nerve-racking situations,” Alex said with a wink.

Addir stirred and turned over. His dark eyes opened and he observed Alex. He scanned her for injuries before sitting up. Alex and John looked to him silently, waiting for him to speak.

“We’re alive?” He breathed.

“As alive could be,” Alex chuckled.

“And you’re ok?”

“As fit as a fiddle!”

“The ship?”

“Destroyed,” John replied. “It was vaporized. No debris. No evidence. All except our badges, suits, and weapons,”

Addir sighed and sank back on his bed. “Good,” He murmured. “What now?”

Alex smiled. This was gonna be an awesome new start at life.

End