Survivors

Luke didn’t remember much, if anything very clearly of the trip back to the base. Some beating wings, the rushing of air, hazy flashes of ground whooshing past him, but that was about it. The next proper memories he had were of Holly and Joe standing over him looking concerned and holding his shoulders down, really hard. He then felt a bolt of pain from his leg that was white hot, he heard himself start to shout out, to scream in pain, and then mercifully he passed out again.

For the next few days Luke felt like he was drugged up to the eyeballs, which was the feeling he should have expected really, because that’s exactly what he was. He felt unbelievably groggy and he couldn’t really tell the difference between being awake and being asleep. Sometimes he thought he was awake but everything moved way too slowly, and then way too fast, but there was always a strange sense of unreality. On a few occasions he was dimly aware of someone else in the room with Holly or Joe.

“Bretnel?!” He’d murmured “Bretnel” and then he’d remember Bretnel was dead so who could it be. But his befuddled brain wouldn’t let him think about it for too long before it drifted off again into blackness or bizarre images of rabbits wearing clown hats while eating plates of tiny foxes with a plastic spoon.

It was five days later when Luke finally came round with something like a clear head. He looked round the room. Holly was asleep in a large chair next to his bed. She looked tired and grey. He was going to speak but decided she looked like she needed the sleep and his questions could wait. He tried to sit up but found it was too much effort without using his elbows as a lever. As he pushed he suddenly felt a pain shoot through his thigh. He cried out before he could stop himself. His cry wasn’t very loud or very long but it was enough to make Holly wake with a start.

“Luke” she said leaping to her feet and dashing to his side, “Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, yeah” he said smiling somewhat painfully. Holly beamed at him. “How long have I been here” he asked.

“Just over a week”

“A week” he echoed, shocked.

Holly suddenly looked very serious. “It was really bad Luke. We honestly thought you were going to die, If it hadn’t have been for Jack you probably...”

“Sorry!” interrupted Luke “Who’s Jack?”

“Oh god I forgot you don’t know do you. Jack’s the man who saved you”.

“Saved me?” Said Luke confused.

“Yeah” replied Holly. “He’s been looking after you. He got the shrapnel out of your leg and sowed it all back up again and everything. Don’t you remember?”

“No, not really”.

“If it hadn’t have been for Jack I don’t think we would have even found you. He called out to us and by the time we got to you he’d already got a tourniquet on your leg and was bandaging it up”.

She sat smiling at him but for some reason it all felt a little awkward and a silence began to grow. “I’m glad you’re feeling better” she said after a while.

Luke looked down at his leg, it was wrapped in a large white bandage that went from just above the knee all the way up his thigh.

“Jack says he thinks it was some of the animal DNA that saved you” said Holly almost absent mindedly.

“What?”

“He said that some amphibians and reptiles can heal themselves really quickly. He thinks that’s what helped you to survive”

“So he knows about that does he, about what Bretnel did?”

“He knows some of it” replied Holly, and then she grinned “Apparently, we’re famous”.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh Luke there’s so much to tell you!”

“Then tell me”

“Are you sure you’re strong enough”

“For god’s sake” snapped Luke “Just tell me!”

Holly looked hurt.

“Please” said Luke forcing and unconvincing smile.

“Okay, but if you start feeling tired tell me, and I’ll stop. Okay?”

“Okay. I will”

“I’ll try and tell you in some sort of order so that it makes sense. Okay here we go… Jack is a soldier from what they call the Human Free State”.

“You mean there’s somewhere that the Aliens aren’t in charge?” asked Luke incredulously.

“Yeah!” replied Holly excitedly “It’s a great big island about a hundred miles off the coast. Isn’t it fantastic”

“It is… but how?”

“Well apparently way back when the Aliens first attacked and all the armies around the world were getting wiped out there was this general who managed to pull things together a bit. He got the people fighting again and even though they couldn’t really hurt the Aliens in a big way they were able to slow them down and hold them off for a while”.

“What’s this general’s name?”

“He’s called Harman. He runs the HFS now. Apparently he’s brilliant. He managed to get loads of people onto the island along with all the weapons they could save”.

“Save?”

“Yeah, Jack says the Aliens targeted anything big and destroyed it in the first few days of the war. Almost all the planes, tanks, subs and missiles were blown up. Anyway this General Harman formed a bit of a base on the island and the Aliens just left them alone. Jack figures that there can’t be anything on the island that the Aliens want. He reckons that in the early days the Aliens could have wiped them out if they wanted to, but didn’t because they just couldn’t be bothered. It’s a bit like our old camp. They only came after us when they needed some more slaves. They don’t need the island or the people so they just leave them alone”

“You said “could” have wiped them out, what about now?”

“Oh Jack says the Aliens could still destroy the island if they wanted to, but they know they’d take casualties if they did”.

“They’ve got energy rifles haven’t they?” said Luke remembering the man in the clearing.

“Yes” replied Holly “How did you know?”

“I saw this Jack bloke firing one at the Aliens, it was rubbish”

“That’s what Jack said, the ones Bretnel gave us are loads better. That’s part of the reason they came looking for us”.

“Looking for us?”

“The patrol we met was one of five that were sent out to try and find us” smiled Holly “I told you we’re famous”.

“Why.. How..?” Asked Luke, even more confused now than he had been.

“Like I said, loads of military people from all over managed to get to the island. Some of them were some of the people who used to work with Bretnel. They weren’t as brilliant as him and weren’t able to take a lot of kit with them but they did manage to build some new energy rifles from scratch. Apparently they’ve built some really powerful ones that are way too big to carry, but are great at protecting the island. They just can’t get the little ones to pack the punch of the ones we’ve got”. Holly paused “Why are you frowning like that?”

“How did they know to come looking for us?”

“Well, apparently they’ve set up some tracking stations and have been able to get some of the satellites back on-line. They can’t see that much, but they could tell that something or someone was attacking the Aliens quite successfully. So they decided to try and find out who it was”.

“Then what?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well did they want to find us to help us or just steal our weapons?”

Suddenly someone spoke from the doorway causing Holly and Luke to jump.

“We wanted to help you, and warn you”

Standing in the door was a tall muscular looking man with a dark tanned face. He still had a plaster high on his forehead and his singed hair had been closely cropped, it was Jack.

Luke was taken aback for a moment that he’d been overheard, but then as he usually did in these situations he came out fighting.

“What makes you think we needed your help? The other night it looked to me like you needed ours!”

Jack looked grimly at Luke.

“Yes we did need your help, and if your help had turned up about fifteen minutes earlier perhaps half a dozen of my friends wouldn’t be dead now”.

Luke coloured with embarrassment and there was an awkward pause. Eventually Luke muttered “I’m sorry about your friends”.

Jack sighed and forced a half hearted smile.

“Shall we start again” he said “I think we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Captain Jack Brown of the Human Free State Defence Force”.

As he said this he walked forward and held out his hand. Luke took it and shook. Jack was surprised by the strength in this fragile looking boy’s grip, he still couldn’t quite get his head round just what these kids were capable of. He’d seen it with his own eyes and even been carried in the claws of one in the shape of a giant eagle across a mountain range but it still was hard to believe.

Luke looked at Jack as if he was trying to make a decision about him, but all of a sudden it just seemed like too much effort. Lukes face went pale and his head began to swim.

“I think I need to lay down” he mumbled.

“I told you not to overdo it” warned Holly

Luke slumped onto his pillows. Holly nodded at Jack and they went to leave. Just as they got to the door Luke suddenly spoke “You said warn. What did you need to warn us about?”

Jack hesitated for a moment and then said “We think the Aliens are about to find you”.