Tony and I continued across the bridge towards our friends in the apartment complex. As we crossed, I glanced upwards towards our second floor window, hoping to see any sign of life. There! Through the glass, I could discern a face staring back at me. As we drew closer, I recognized it as Susan, her eyes widening with realisation. Similarly, my heart skipped a beat, she was alive! I felt emboldened, I had a reason to fight, something to hold on to and give me hope in these dark times.
Sue opened the window and called out to us. And honestly, I was overly pleased that she put my name first.
"Arven! Tony! Thank God you're alive!"
"Same to you" I shouted back. "But we can talk more comfortably once were safe. Are there any Vakarians in the stairwell?"
"You mean those creatures?" she asked, quizzically. "One tried to get in a few minutes ago but Dave pushed it over the banister."
"Cool. We'll be right up. Stay where you are!"
"Oh no, I was going to pop to the shops for sweets, maybe see a film. But if you say stay..." Susan chided.
"Point taken. But you know what I mean." I said ruefully.
"Course I do. But watch the barricades, Dave should be almost finished."
The Vakarians were less prevalent than in the college, it seemed. For whatever reason, they had focused their attacks on the campus first. Perhaps they were targeting areas of dense population first. I shuddered at the thought. This wasn't a battle of skill as the Vakarian had said. The Vakarians were taking every advantage to maximize our casualties. So much for their cherished honour. You know, I've never really liked a bully, but until now, I didn't have the abilities or the courage to fight back.
We quickly came around the building without incident, and entered the tower to my block. The ground floor apartment was open, the door having been forced open. From what little I could see through the doorway, the place had been ransacked. Above us on the first floor landing, Dave was sliding furniture across the span of the stairs. Tony and I rushed up and clambered across the couch, to relative safety.
"You went with my zombie plan?" I asked Dave.
"Yeah, but it was all Sue's idea." he answered, returning to reinforce the barricade.
"There was nobody around downstairs so we might have broken in for extra supplies" said Susan, who emerged from our apartment. Caught up in the moment, I threw my arms around her cordially. I was slightly surprised to feel her returning the hug.
"I'm glad you're alive." I said, softly.
"Well, someone had to take charge while you were gone." she said, smiling at me. We released each other slowly, before I continued.
"What makes me the leader?"
"Just look at you. This is your survival plan, you've obviously fought your way back here..."
"Well that could have been Tony." I said, modestly.
"Tony needs one of us to kill spiders in his room. It was you."
"Oi!" Cried Tony, indignantly.
"Just try and deny it!" Retorted Susan, as we all laughed, enjoying a brief moment of normality.
As we continued urgently shoring up our defences, I kept thinking about Sue's words. Had I really become the leader of the group without realizing? Sure, I was the one forewarned about aliens, but that in itself is not criteria to lead. The rest of the group seemed to trust me implicitly, but I didn't understand why. Was it simply because I had a reputation as a crazed doomsday prepper, or were they just content that they weren't the one leading us into an in-winnable war? In essence, had I just eaten the last slice of a cake nobody else wanted to finish? A cake which I was expected to to replace, but an army of genocidal butchers stood in our way? That... got away from me somewhat actually.
With the defences completed, we returned to the living area for a quick snack before the inevitable battle. It had been hours since Tony or I had eaten. As we ate, the conversation turned to how we had each survived, and what I had learned from the Vakarian.
"So, Dave killed the one in the hall. And that was the only one you saw?" I asked.
"Not quite." replied Susan. "We saw a couple more enter other towers, or walk by, but we kept quiet here and nothing else noticed us."
"Good. Very good."
"For now! But we can't stay trapped here forever!" Interjected Sarah.
"Yeah. We need action." said Tony, obviously trying to impress Sarah.
"If you want to wander out there and bring the fight to them, be my guest, nice knowing you. But our best bet is just to survive." I countered.
"We don't know the extent of the catastrophe." explained Susan. "If the Vakarian is to be trusted, it's a worldwide invasion, and we've lost anything with a battery. No phones, satellites, transport. The best weapon our armies have are rifles, assuming they're not using the fingerprint ID tech."
"My dad has a gun." said Tony, curling his mouth into a smug grin.
"And it's sixty miles away." countered Susan. I couldn't help but smile myself as the grin was wiped from Tony's face. Susan continued. "And we don't have enough countywide to be effective anyway. Even if things are different abroad, we're in this for the long haul now."
"There are no quick fixes or easy solutions. Nobody to come and save us. We are on our own, and we have to fight. Smartly. Take every advantage we can." I added.
"Nobody to save us? But you've just told us all about this Doctor of yours. The one who taught you about alien shit. Why can't he help?" spat Sarah.
This was a question I had been asking myself. The Doctor bounced around the universe saving people. Surely Vakarians perverting the course of human history would warrant an intervention. Unless this was always supposed to happen.
"Maybe he thinks we're not worth saving." said Tony, still siding with Sarah.
"No." I said firmly. "He wouldn't abandon us."
"But he has! You said it yourself!" shouted Sarah. "We're going to die!"
"Please. Keep quiet, we don't want to alert the Vakarians." Susan pleaded.
"What's the use? It's futile!" Sarah continued to wail. This was what I was afraid of. I wasn't strong enough to lead. I didn't have any answers, not really. I'd gotten lucky killing a Vakarian and suddenly I was in charge? I couldn't do this. There was no point in it....
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