She expected to hear weapons fire, but nothing emerged from inside the building. The interior of the building was filled with silence. Celeste stepped inside, followed by Tara and Harper. Green light invaded Celeste’s vision. She listened carefully again, but there was nothing. She found herself standing in a large square-shaped room with a table on one corner and some chairs. But that was it.
“Where is everyone?” Tara asked.
Harper walked up to the table, which had a console, but nothing else. “There is no one here. Are you sure this building had the humans?”
“I am sure,” Tara said, but she was trembling.
Had the DNA scanning device given an incorrect reading? Had Phog bombed the buildings with the humans? Celeste hoped not.
“Maybe, they were in one of the other buildings,” Celeste admitted.
“Impossible,” Tara said, sounding more confident this time.
She pulled out her device and scanned the room. “Look at these readings.”
Celeste and Harper leaned over her shoulders. The device was still registering human beings within this building. Celeste glanced around the empty room again.
“Is there some kind of space field preventing us from seeing them?” Harper inquired.
“Phog, are you able to use your sensors to narrow down on this building?” Celeste said, through the comms link. “Other than the three of us, are there other humans here?”
“Yes, my sensors detect five additional beings in the building,” Phog reported. “But the sensors are picking up the readings from beneath the surface.”
That explained why the DNA scanning device had failed to detect the humans properly.
Celeste looked at the floor. “Quick! Look for a hatch.”
They spread out over the square room and began searching the floor. The green light on the ceiling didn’t help to make their search any easier.
“I found it,” Tara yelled, from one corner of the room.
Celeste ran over to Tara as she pulled on the hatch door handle on the floor. It opened outwards to reveal a set of steps. Celeste went down slowly first, reached the bottom and found herself in a dark room. Tara and Harper joined her. She heard sniffles against the wall. Tara found the switch and turned on the lights. Against the back wall were five humans, each of whom were chained to the wall. They had restraints over their mouths and shackles on their hands and feet. It was three older women, one young man and a young woman.
“We need to get them free,” Celeste shouted, as she darted over to the wall.
Hearing her voice, a few of the humans began to move their bodies against the wall. As they approached them, some of the humans began to cower in fear. They opened their eyes in disbelief. Celeste figured they must have thought they were dreaming.
“We are here to help you,” Harper announced, as she walked over to one of the women. “Sylvia, it is so good to see you again.”
Sylvia must have recognized Harper because she tried to mumble something through her mouth restraint before Harper pulled it off.
“Harper …,” Sylvia whispered. “What … what are you doing here?”
“Use your phasers,” Tara said, as she fired it to break the shackles off one of the older women. She then pulled off the mouth restraint. The older woman nearly collapsed into Tara’s arms. Tara managed to lift her back up on her feet and let the older woman lean against the wall.
Celeste managed to free both the young man and woman. The frail young woman seemed to be around Sephim’s age. Celeste looked at the young woman in the eyes. “Are you Clark’s sister?”
Celeste was surprised when the young woman understood her and nodded. “My name is Samantha. I cannot believe he sent you all to rescue us. Where is Clark?”
Celeste struggled to control her emotions. Clark had told them the truth about her younger sister. Everything he had done was to protect her. It was sad he wasn’t around to know that they had been able to free his younger sister. She tried her best to keep a brave face in front of Samantha. “We need to get everyone out of here quickly.”
Phog’s voice came through the comms link. “Celeste, you need to hurry. Sensors spotted ships on their way to the prisoner base.”
By now, they had managed to free everyone. Tara began to lead them up the steps. A few of them were very weak. More than once, the older women nearly lost their grip and fell. If not for Harper, they would have fallen back into the underground room and injured themselves. Eventually, they all managed to climb out into the room.
Samantha looked around. “Where are the aliens?”
Then, Celeste turned to the five of them. “The Rekvok species are on their way back. We managed to destroy their base, which was where they have been holding you prisoner. But now we need to run away from here. Can you all do that? If we slow down, they will catch us again.”
She hoped the five of them would be motivated to get away from their captors. Sylvia, Samantha, the young man and the two older women all nodded. They looked so tired and frail. All of their clothes were dirty and washed off. The women’s hair were greasy and thin. Celeste didn’t know what the Rekvok had been feeding them, but it didn’t seem to be much. She felt for each of them. They must have suffered a lot under the brutality of the Rekvok. The only thing she was certain of was that Samantha must have been held the longest in that underground prison. Celeste wasn’t able to tell if they would have the strength to make it away from the prisoner base in time. However, they didn’t have any options left.
“Follow me,” Celeste said. “Harper, cover the rear.”
“They will be reaching soon,” Phog warned.
Celeste led them out of the door and then out of the prisoner base. A few of them stopped in fear when they saw the burning buildings. The fires were still bright as ever. A lot of smoke was now rising into the night sky.
“Keep moving,” Tara shouted. “Just follow her.”
Celeste kept moving. They had left the perimeter of the base, but she knew they weren’t far enough yet. Then, she heard a scream, and glanced back. One of the older women had stumbled on the ground. She was clutching her knees. Harper and Sylvia helped her up and began supporting her to walk. The older woman was now limping. Celeste held onto Samantha’s hand tightly as she continued to lead them away from the base.
“Run!” Phog ordered through the comms link. “The Rekvok ships are nearly at the base.”
“Start running now,” Celeste yelled and began to run with Samantha.
It was the first time she had run so fast. Her legs were stubborn, but she willed herself to keep running. Finally, Celeste came to a stop behind some trees. She was exhausted. It had been difficult to keep running while holding onto Samantha, but Celeste had been scared the young woman might trip and fall on the ground. Surprisingly, the young woman had been able to keep up with her.
“Everyone get down!” Tara shouted.
The moment Tara said it, Celeste heard the sounds of the Rekvok ships flying over them.