"Invaders Must Die" (Nature)

=Chapter 11: Invaders Must Die= As Annabelle and Bertie gained closer to Camp Hackley, they could tell that something was wrong. There didn’t appear to be any sign of life or any movement at all, and the spotlight was pointed in an odd direction.

“I still don’t see anything!” Bertie told her, as they watched from behind the safety of a small hill/large mound.

They continued to watch for several more minutes, before hearing a car approaching from behind them. “Bertie, listen!” Annabelle grabbed his arm, as they rolled over. They breathed in as much as possible, trying to keep their chests flat.

The vehicle came into view – it was a pickup truck. Annabelle recognised it instantly. “Elliot…” She remembered it being the vehicle which he was kidnapped in. “Elliot!” She jumped to her feet, producing her knife and running over to the car. The passenger door opened as, much to Annabelle’s surprise, Elliot casually hopped out, “Annabelle!” He rejoiced and ran over to his sister.

As he went in to hug her, she stepped back, looking him up and down, “You’re… You’re here? You’re ok? You haven’t been traded off?” She was confused, “What’s going on?”

The door on the driver’s side opened, as Sonia slowly slipped out with her hands raised, approaching Annabelle. “Who… Who is this?” She asked Elliot. “She’s the one who… Saved me,” Elliot lied, putting a look of shock on Sonia’s face. She quickly returned to a solemn before Annabelle could work out Elliot was lying.

“Save you? Oh,” Annabelle quickly withdrew her knife, holstering it again. “Thank you,” she nodded to Sonia, “Thank you for not being a scumbag and trading him in. Thank you for rescuing him. I’m grateful to you,” Annabelle sounded appreciative, which only made Sonia feel even guiltier.

“Annabelle! Look!” Bertie called out, as she rushed over to him. Sonia immediately dropped her hands and approached Elliot, “You didn’t tell her the truth? Why?” She was even more confused than Annabelle.

“Because it’s true. You did save me, Sonia. You could have traded me in, but you didn’t. You drove us all the way back here. You are my savoir,” he smiled gratefully at her.

Sonia smiled affectionately at him, moving in for a kiss. Elliot pulled back from her, “No. I’m sorry, I can’t…” He turned away from her, as she brushed his fringe out of his eyes, “Why? What’s wrong, Elliot? Is it your sister? Is it my age? I thought you didn’t have a problem with that?” She sounded confused yet upset at the same time.

“No, it’s just… I don’t love you, Sonia.” This she agreed with, as she titled her head back, then forwards again, “Well obviously. That doesn’t stop us from at least giving it a shot though, does it?”

He looked gravely into her eyes, “It’s not that I don’t love you because I hardly know you… It’s that I love someone else. Someone very special to me,” Sonia at first looked into his eyes confusingly, before turning around and facing Annabelle, “Oh god… Your stepsister?” She sounded grossed out.

Elliot was even more grossed out as his eyes widened, and as he threw his hands out, shaking his head, “Oh Christ no! No! It’s not her! It’s… Well it’s this girl I met at fifteen-years-old… We knew each other for eight years before the apocalypse. I found her again two years in… Her name is – was – Olivia… And I love her, Sonia. I still love her. Every single night, I have the same dream. The same future that will never happen. I see my daughters; I see Lucy, I see Alice. But then I look across the table, and all I see is an empty chair… Then I wonder where she has gone. But then I remember what really happened…” He began to tear up, as he wiped his eye, “That’s why I don’t love you Sonia… We had our fun. But now, I’m all about keeping my group alive.”

Sometime later, the four of them began marching on the camp. They knew it was extremely risky, but they had to get inside nonetheless.

“This is a stupid idea. We’re gonna get slaughtered!” Bertie was marching slower than the others, fearful for his life. “Oh relax and stop pissing yourself already! We’ll be fine!” Annabelle demeaned him.

“So,” Elliot tried talking to Sonia, “Project Zodiac… What other ‘missions’ were there? You haven’t told me about all twelve of them yet,” He was partially trying to distract himself from the fact that he was on a suicide mission, but was also genuinely curious.

“Well, there is one that stood out amongst the rest… I didn’t trust you all that much when I began telling you about Project Zodiac, but I think you’ve earnt the knowledge now. Promise that it’ll stay between us though, ok?”

Elliot was suspicious because of this request, but nodded anyway.

“Alright so,” Sonia began, “A last resort plan was put into place. After all of the twelve missions had been planned out, work began on a secret thirteenth mission. I have no idea why they chose to take the route which they did for it, but I suspect it was something to do with colonising a completely unclaimed area… And believe me, no one has claimed this area before.”

Elliot nodded, prompting for her to continue telling the story. “Obviously, all twelve of the Zodiac signs had been used up by the first twelve missions. Therefore, the ‘team’ behind it got really creative and named the thirteenth mission Zodiac Base One.” Elliot laughed slightly, “Well, that’s creative.”

“Zodiac Base One was the hardest mission to build out of all them… It was more difficult to build than even the Gemini,” she paused for several seconds as memories of the Gemini came flooding back to her. “Sonia, you ok?” Elliot noticed this.

“Huh? Oh, yes, yes, I’m fine. Anyway, where was I? Ah, right… Because of how difficult it was to build, over 355 government grant requests were filed… Not even a quarter of them were accepted. Had all 355 of been accepted, taxes could’ve skyrocketed by as much as 65% in every single country. VAT would’ve gone up; toll charges would’ve gone up. Even an Internal flight could’ve ended up costing even a thousand A.U.D. So, the team had to come up with a plan and fast. They put all the resources they had for this mission on board a rocket. This rocket… It went far, let’s just say that.” Sonia ended her story there, but Elliot was desperate for more.

Before he could request anything else, bullets began ricocheting off the ground and the landscape around them. Elliot and Sonia hid behind a large rock formation for cover, as Annabelle Bertie ducked behind an old car.

“Where did that come from?” Elliot shouted over to Annabelle, who shrugged. Looking over at the camp, Elliot still couldn’t see anyone.

“It must’ve been the camo guys I saw earlier!” There was fear in Bertie’s voice, as he crawled under the car. “No you don’t you little pig shit!” Annabelle pulled him back out again. “Listen to me! You need to become a man!” Annabelle scolded him, as Bertie still had a look of terror on his face.

“Listen buddy, you’re in your Early 20s. I myself am only 20-years-old. You’re even slightly older than me dammit! Stop acting like a child! Grow up, and be a man!” She pulled out Olivia’s revolver, but all the ammo was inside the camp still, therefore it hadn’t been reloaded it. “Dammit!” She slipped it away again.

“Hey, Elliot!” She called over to him, as he began returning fire with his pistol, “You got anything spare?”

He looked around him and searched himself, but he only had a couple of stones on the ground around him – he didn’t even have a melee weapon anymore.

“Here…” Sonia sounded lethargic, as she handed Elliot her pistol, “There’s a rifle in the truck…” She began getting drowsier.

“Sonia? What’s wrong?” Elliot noticed something wasn’t right. He rolled up her sleeve. “Jesus Sonia! You’ve been hit!” He saw a bullet hole in her arm. Twisting it slightly, he found an exit wound further up. “That could’ve ruptured your vein…” Elliot sounded worried, but Sonia had no problem with dying anymore, “I’ve lived my life, Elliot… I-I’ve been to Space even. Probably the last person to do so,” She winced.

“Annabelle!” Elliot called over to his stepsister, “Catch this and cover me!” He threw Sonia’s pistol over to her as it slid the rest of the way to the car. Annabelle picked it up, returning shots instantly. “There’s one there!” Bertie noticed a soldier crouched just to the side of the gate.

Annabelle spent several seconds aligning her shot, “Gotcha!” She grinned and pulled the trigger, but the bullet collided with the metal barrier, “Ugh!” She crouched back down again.

“Annabelle! Get ready to cover me. I need to go to the car! There’s a sniper rifle and a med-kit in there!” Annabelle noticed Sonia clenching her other arm, and worked out that she had been shot. “Alright! I’ll cover you! Go!” Annabelle exposed herself slightly, shooting at the gate. Bertie pulled her back, “Wait… Let me do this.”

She looked bewilderingly at him. “You?” He nodded to verify his request. “It’s time to be a man…” He had taken his words to heart. “Good luck,” She handed him the pistol, as he nodded at her. He ran as fast as he could towards the brush just off the side of the road, shooting at the Camp all the way. The gunfire had now been drawn to where Bertie was hiding. Annabelle watched as the bullets chopped the grass, Bertie lying down to narrowly avoid them. She turned back to face Elliot who had made it to the car. He pulled the door open and jumped right in, ducking just barely under the windshield.

Some bullets collided with the open door whilst others hit the bonnet, and some even the windshield. Elliot fell back out of the truck again with the sniper rifle weighing him down. He leant back in to pull the medical kit out of the glove compartment. Picking up the sniper rifle, he wedged it in the crevice between the open door and the side of the main part of the car itself. He couldn’t get a clear shot, as his movement was limited. Instead, he hopped on to the back of the pickup, dropping the bipod down on the roof, aiming towards the gate again.

“Easy does it,” he had the guard just to the side of the gate in his sights now. “Bingo!” He pulled the trigger. Through the scope, Elliot watched as the soldier’s head blew off into nothing but red liquid. “You have invaded my Camp! And I say, Invaders. Must. Die!” Elliot shouted, as he began shooting into the camp again.

But then, he ceased fire. Through the scope, he noticed a familiar face stepping outside of the gazebo – it was Zach. He could clearly see Elliot. He smiled, waving at him. But this was not Zach.

Elliot couldn’t believe his eyes. While Zach was wearing jogging bottoms on his lower body, his upper body was still exposed – Revealing his full metal chest…