Heritage (Under Revision)

Chapter 26 - Elena

“Alright, I say we hole up here for a while, shut the door and hit the lights and wait for them to get here, agreed? Ethan says to us all.”

“Agreed...” we reply simultaneously.

Leon crosses the room, flipping off the light switch as Ethan lifts a small lantern from a nearby shelving unit. We all follow him to a secluded corner of the room, taking a seat on the hard-concrete floor.

“And now we wait,” Stella says, taking a deep breath.

“That’s about all we can, and should do until Uncle Damien arrives with his platoon,” Leon says. I’m actually really excited to see him. I just wish the circumstances were different.

“It seems like the only time I get to see my brother is when there’s a dire situation that calls for his expertise. I have to tell you though, Damien’s going to come here balls out, ready for a fight. We need to prepare ourselves for what’s to come”, Ethan says to us all, his face shining in the dim blue glow of the lantern.

“Now is as good a time as any, I suppose,” I say to them.

“Well, first off, we’ll need to meet up with Damien and his squad as soon as they arrive. Let’s just hope we can make it to the hangar unnoticed. You girls are going to need to change your clothes, as beautiful as you both look in your current state,” Ethan says with a smirk, eyeing the hemline of my torn dress.

“I agree with Dad. As sexy as you look in that dress, and I do mean sexy, Stells,” Leon says, grinning at Stella slyly, ”

You’re going to need something better suited for combat to wear. Any ideas of how we’re going to get them some clothes, Dad? I doubt we can make it all the way up to the HabMods without being captured.”

“I have two sets of work out clothes and a pair of running shoes in my gym locker,” Stella says. “We look about the same size, Elena. But we do need another pair of shoes for you. Running in heels is harder than it looks.”

“I’m sure one of the other girls has a pair of shoes in one of the lockers. We’ll find something, no worries,” I reply, flattered that she compared our sizes.

“The gym is a good idea, Stella,” Ethan says to her, “It’s not far from here, and it’s on our way to the hangar anyways. If we stick together and stay in the shadows, we should make it there with no problems. Let’s just hope we haven t lost all of our troops.”

“Everything will be ok, Ethan. We’ll get through this...just like the last time. Our troops have been trained well; you know that. Even the new Cadets have more skills than most back on Earth. We just have to stick together, stick to the plan and kill those bastards before they can strike. To be honest,” I continue, looking at my son and Stella, “I’ve seen Damien in his element, and those Sekrids will be wishing they were dead once he gets here.”

Leon looks at Stella, giving a small smile and placing a soft kiss on her forehead as he pulls her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist comfortingly.

Don’t worry baby, I promise, I won’t let anything bad happen to you. I’d die for you, Stella,” Leon says, clutching her tightly to his chest. I’d die for all of you.

“That’s not going to happen son. You already died for us once tonight, let’s not push it any more,” Ethan says. After a moment, we all start laughing softly.

Even in times like these, he still knows how to make me smile.

I turn to Ethan and look up into my eyes. I can see that hard-edged look starting to form in the depths of his eyes, the same way it has a hundred times before during situations like this. But he looks at me and they soften once more as he pulls me into a tight embrace, holding me close.

We sit in silence for a while, none of us saying anything until Leon gets to his feet slowly with the help of Stella. He winces once as he rotates his entire arm, trying to loosen the stiffness still paining him.

“Dad, is there water anywhere down here? I’m thirsty as hell,” Leon asks.

“Yeah, son. Here...let me help you look. You ladies rest for a while, talk amongst yourselves,” Ethan says, getting to his feet and leaning down to kiss me quickly.

Ethan grabs the lantern and he joins Leon, searching the various shelving units in the expansive room.

“Stella?” I whisper, barely able to see her outline as the blue glimmer of the lantern faintly illuminates a corner of the room, bobbing up in down in search of rations.

“Yeah, Elena?” she replies. I scoot myself across the dusty floor, seating myself next to her in Leon s spot with my back to the wall.

“I wanted to thank you. If it wasn’t for you and quick thinking, and your skill, we’d probably be dead right now. Your determination to find Leon, your love for him...brought him back to us,” I explain to her, grabbing her hand and lightly squeezing it within mine.

“Elena, I didn’t really do much. You were brilliant with the armory keypad, the weapons. It was you who saved us, really.”

Silently, I wrap my arms around her shoulders in a motherly way and kiss her forehead. She lays her head on my shoulder and we sit in silence until the men come back, carrying two stainless steel canteens full of water.

“We couldn’t find any food, but we have water at least,” Leon says, handing Stella one of the canteens as Ethan hands me the other. They both look at me and Stella’s current state, turn to each other and smile.

After we pass around the canteens, we resume our positions, couple and couple, against the walls. We wait for Damien and pass the time-sharing stories from the past, recalling the days before the war.

“Ethan& I’ve always wanted to ask you...but I never had the guts...what was it like on the Zeus?” Stella asks, her voice barely a whisper.

I can feel Ethan tense up next to me at the mention, the ghosts of our past resurfacing.

“I...I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to off—” Stella says quickly.

“It’s ok, Stella. It was just a—” Ethan begins, but he’s cut off by a radio transmission sounding from the walkie-talkie on his belt.

“Ethan, this is Damien, do you copy?” sounds Damien’s voice from the small communication device as Ethan lifts it from his belt clip.

“Yeah, I’m here Damien, what’s going on?” Ethan replies.

“RAID Team 3 is nearly there, I’d say about thirty minutes, so gear up and get ready for rescue, out.

“Roger that Damien. We’ll be ready and armed, over and out.”

Ethan looks at all of us and grins as we sit down to formulate a plan.