SUICIDAL MISSION

Elijah jumped as hard as he could.

Then he landed on the jelly pillow and crashed into the egg, sending both Elijah and the egg tumbling to the ground. Elijah groaned softly, feeling his joints ache. He let out a long breath, lay down for a minute, and slowly sat up.

The light that had soared into the sky no longer existed as the egg fell to the ground. The young man approached the egg, which was lying not far from him. The egg was not broken, though it looked fragile from the outside, the color was semi-transparent, the size was quite large—probably about three feet high.

In Elijah's mind, it was possibly the core of the Orb. Perhaps the egg was the core of their power or resources. His index finger tapped the egg, touching its smooth surface. Elijah embraced the egg and took a deep breath. He was going to blow himself up, hoping it would stop the alien attack from the Orb.

Something moved inside the egg, making Elijah gasp in surprise. He brought his face closer to the egg and squinted. Suddenly, he saw a tiny face from inside.

"Geez!" Elijah let go of the egg.

It was definitely a face, like a human's. Not like the ants that had attacked earlier. Was this another creature? Or perhaps some kind of supreme power source for the ants, so it had evolved differently from its kind? That's what Elijah thought.

"There's no time," Elijah said, dismissing the assumptions in his mind.

It was the umpteenth horror scene for Elijah that night. He tried to get the rhythm of his breathing under control and went back to the embrace of the egg. Although in his heart Elijah thought, how could an egg be the power core for hundreds or thousands of creatures down there?

"Whatever you are, I'm sorry you can't be born into my world," Elijah said softly.

Just as Elijah was about to press the detonator button, he heard something. It was a soft scraping sound, and then, from the other end of the room, a creature different from the ants appeared. It climbed up some kind of ladder from below, and its eyes widened as it saw Elijah cradling an egg.

It was a very beautiful and amazingly shaped alien, in Elijah's eyes. A slender body, as if wearing a dress of crystal stones that rustled as they rubbed against the ground. A pointed face, a pair of feline eyes, a sharp nose, and tiny lips. The bad thing about the creature was the hair. It was tentacles, even growing out of its back, milky white like intestines.

The long tentacles instantly entangled Elijah, but the young man clutched the egg tightly. Elijah felt that his hunch was right, that the egg was something very important. For the ten-foot creature shook Elijah to break the embrace, slamming Elijah repeatedly against the walls and floor.

Minutes passed, seemingly too long for Elijah's suffering.

"Ah, shit," Elijah groaned in a semi-conscious state.

His body was covered in wounds and blood flowed from his lips and nose. The tall creature said something Elijah didn't understand. Its voice was that of a strangled woman, and it sounded hoarse.

It jabbed Elijah with electricity and made Elijah fight as hard as he could, making his teeth chatter. Elijah even lost some of his teeth from the painful electric shock.

But Elijah was just as stubborn and would not let go of the egg. The creature brought Elijah's body closer with its tentacles, and now they were almost face to face. As soon as the creature grinned angrily and showed sharp teeth behind its tiny lips, Elijah shoved the bomb into its mouth.

"Adios!" Elijah pressed the detonator.

*

"No! No!"

Lucy screamed in rage as she saw the rest of the Deformity caught by the ants, their arms and legs brutally severed in seconds. Screams of pain and blood splattered over the bodies of the ants as they shoved the bodies of the Deformity troops into the Orb.

The woman unleashed a windstorm, blowing the ants away and dropping the bodies of their colleagues, who were already unconscious and nearly bleeding to death. Lucy ran to save the other Deformity members.

"Lucy! Stop!" shouted Seth.

Ash's palm unleashed a powerful burst of fire that drove the ants away from them. Fred immediately grabbed Lucy's body and pulled her back to her original position. Lucy screamed in frustration and anger.

Calvin created a wall of ice crystals that temporarily sheltered the Seth team for who knows how many minutes. For the ants were out there, clawing and biting at the ice, trying to break in from the outside.

"FOCUS, LUCY!" Seth shouted angrily.

Tears were already streaming down Lucy's cheeks, she was crying loudly. "They're our friends! Seth!"

"We already know the risks of this mission. Don't ruin it! And they're fully prepared for the consequences!" Seth grabbed Lucy by both shoulders and shook her hard. "And so is our team!"

"Elijah," Josh muttered as he looked up.

Although only the ice crystal ceiling was visible, Josh knew that Elijah was at the top of the Orb. And that made Josh's heart so sad. He knew he was going to lose Elijah that night. To make Josh's heart even sadder, Elijah was about to celebrate his 17th birthday.

Calvin grabbed Josh's shoulder immediately. "Are you okay, Mate?"

Josh just nodded.

"We never know what life will be like after death, but... we have to keep fighting, even if this is the end. Agreed?"

"Yes, sir."

"Fred, once they break through the ice, throw Josh to a safer area. Bone will lead the way with Calvin and you distract the damn thing! Run as far as you can," Seth ordered. "I'll try to get inside."

"You're not going to make it in one piece," Bone said.

Seth replied, "I have to try. I'm afraid something will happen to Elijah."

And derail their mission.

That was Seth's greatest fear.

If all the deformities in there died for nothing, it would be very difficult to fight back. Meanwhile, it was just one of the many orbs that landed on Earth.

"No!" Josh shouted. "Don't throw me anywhere, I can help you!"

Calvin nodded. "I'll take care of Josh."

"Are you ready?" asked Seth, and the others said yes. Then Seth gave the signal with a quick nod. "Now!"

Calvin stomped out the ice crystal dome that protected them, then Bone made walls of earth-like passages. One led to the entrance of the Orb, the other away from it. Seth ran to separate himself from the team, but Lucy followed the man instead.

"Someone should have Lucy's ears checked if she survived," Ash muttered.

Fred hovered in the air, checking the condition of Seth and Lucy as they tried to get into the Orb's entrance. He threw the bodies of the ants to get away from his two comrades. Meanwhile, down below, Bone and his colleagues worked together to kill the thousands of ants that surrounded them.

From the top of the fifteenth floor of the building, Fred saw ants falling. His body shot up and saw Bernice and Lucas trapped. The man immediately grabbed the bodies of Bernice and Lucas and brought them down.

Fred's breath caught and sweat poured down his forehead. He looked up. "My energy is drained. I can't fight anymore."

"Hang in there, Fred! We can make it!" Bone shouted.

"For a few minutes!" Ash replied, laughing.

Bernice could no longer control herself. All around her, thousands of ants were ready to tear her apart, making headache-inducing crunching noises. The girl clenched both hands in anger. Both of Bernice's arms were raised forward with open palms.

"BASTARD!!!" screamed Bernice.

At first it was just a light breeze, then a small wind swirled in front of Bernice and grew stronger. The rest of Seth's team began to float and cling to each other. Bernice created a devastating tornado, so powerful that it could endanger the others as well.

The ants around her were swept away by the wind, some even caught in it, and their body parts began to scatter. Bone immediately held the legs of his comrades to the ground, all of them bent over from the force of Bernice's wind.

"How can that be? Deformity doesn't have that much power!" yelled Calvin.

"She's not wearing wristbands!" retorted Fred. "She's out of control, she's too angry!"

"Bernice can get us killed!" Josh tugged on Lucas' shoulder. "Calm her down! Lucas! Hurry!"

Lucas tried to break free of the ground that was holding his legs together. Then he crawled over to Bernice. Even as Lucas held both of Bernice's legs, the girl stood tall, sweeping through the army of ants without flinching. At worst, Bernice was consumed by the emotions in her soul and was in a trance.

"Bernice! Wake up!" shouted Lucas.

With difficulty, Lucas stood up and immediately hugged the girl from behind. Bernice's body was shaking and Lucas continued to hold her.

"It's me, Lucas! Settle down, Bern!"

The giant tornado began to calm down and gradually disappear, then Seth's team attacked the other ant troops who continued to try to push them away. The way into the city seemed safe, as there were no more ants there.

"Bone?" called Fred. Bone gave his friend a quick look. "Take them away," he continued.

"What?"

Fred suddenly threw the bodies of Bone and Elijah's friends away. Then Calvin created a wall of ice crystals to keep them from returning to the battle arena. Bone cried out in anger and ran toward the ice crystal. He pounded his fist until it bled.

"FOOLS!!! You fools!!!" Bone howled in despair.

A faint thud came from the top of the Orb. Then came the loud explosions that shook the ground. The powerful explosions bounced Lucas, Josh, Bernice and Bone off perimeter of the Orb.

They all groaned in pain and coughed at the thick smoke around them. Then the rubble of the building fell to the ground. Josh tugged at his friends' arms, and they ran as fast as they could to escape the danger.

Bone looked at the bracelet on his wrist; it was twelve o'clock at night. Their mission had been successful, even if he had lost all his comrades-in-arms.

Lucas cried loudly as he shouted, "Elijah!!! Elijah!"