The Rain: The End by Marietta Standlee (good summer reads TXT) 📕

down right as Colin takes the other into a chokehold. I turn, holding my green blood dripping knife, and ram in into the Gorongiath Colin is holding—aiming for where I think his heart is. Unfortunately, other than a small grunt of pain and a few green blood drops, nothing happens. God dammit. We need to capture some aliens and have the professor dissect them, so we'll know where their internal organs are and how to kill them effectively—the gloves need to come off.

Hopefully the President already has scientists assigned to this task, I make a mental note to find out and ram the knife into the struggling alien's throat, which I know works, it just takes more finesse because Colin is still holding the alien by the throat and I want to avoid slicing my fiancé's hand.

The third Gorongiath is up and out of his chair by the time we turn towards him, he has his gun out, aiming it straight at us. He blinks sideways like a lizard, watching our approach warily. His gun alternates between Colin and me as we hone in on him from different sides. The alien is unsure on what to do, and it's his hesitation that saves us. As one we jump at him and he finally decides to shoot at Colin, but it's too late. My body's impact throws the weapon out of his hand just as he pulls the trigger, and the shot goes wide.

Colin dives to the side nevertheless and is getting back on his feet just as I grabble with the alien pilot. Colin pulls him off me by his shoulder, the alien's fist flies out, hits my fiancé in the face and knocks his head sideways. But Colin doesn't let go of the struggling pilot, who is no match for him. Still the alien fights with all he's got.

I step towards the struggling men, knife raised, unable to interfere just yet. Suddenly, the Gorongiath cries out and swings himself forward, impaling himself on my knife, before I can lower it.

Colin and I glance at each other, speechless. What just happened?

Our pilot convulses a few times, before he lays still, eyes wide open, leaving no doubt he's dead.

"Now what?" I ask disbelieving, neither Colin nor I have the faintest idea how to fly this spaceship.

"Got to find Vren." Colin suggests.

An apprehensive glance at one of the two windows, confirms, we're a lot closer to Europe than we were before the scuffle. Concerned, I follow Colin out the door, into the hallway.

Since neither he nor I know how to fly this thing—or fly period, we have to find Vren. The only one left who does. Lucky for us the ship is not that big, but unfortunately for us, the other doors are all like they were at the space station I was held prisoner not too long ago. The doors are imbedded inside the walls—impossible to distinguish for us.

"Any idea how to use their tablets?" Colin points towards his arm, indicating the little handheld computer devices the aliens use. I don't and slowly begin to wrap my mind around the enormity of our predicament.

"Vren." I call out desperately.

"ren.... ren.... en...," echoes off the walls. Goosebumps rise on my skin; this is a nightmare. Yes, I'm prepared to die for our cause, but not like this. Not blown to smithereens in a spaceship crash. Nobody will ever know what happened. Nobody will know about Ka's treachery.

And I'm sure the conniving alien is behind all this. I remember the expression on his face when he bid us goodbye; he knew he was sending us to our deaths.

Suddenly I hear a whooshing sound behind me, as one Colin and I spin, while I hold the knife defensively up. For a second nothing happens, but then a blood green hand appears, inside the doorway we just passed, and then another. Somebody is pulling themselves out of a room. Colin and I sprint forward and recognize Vren. Her eyes are glassy and filled with pain, a terrible gurgling sound comes from her mouth, along with green bubbles, blood, indicating injury to her lungs.

"Viv." She manages through her tablet.

I kneel beside her as she struggles to lift herself up. Gently, I pull her head into my lap while Colin looks for the source of her injury.

"Too late.... dying" The translator announces.

"Vren, I'm sorry." Tears form in my eyes. Even though I don't know her very well, she and Ka saved my life.

"No time.... Ka...." Her eyes are filled with pain, but not just physical pain, it's the pain of someone who has been betrayed by a person close to them.

"Don't trust... Ka." She manages.

"I know." I nod.

"Vren, how do we land this thing?" My practical Colin asks.

Her eyelids flutter left to right, accompanied by a rattling, heaving sound, warning me that her lungs are filling with fluid. She's drowning in her own blood. If she were human, I would attempt a tracheostomy, but again, I have no idea about her physiology; I can't do anything for her besides holding and trying to comfort her.

"Auto.... pilot." She manages with her last breath before her head rolls to the side.

Gently, I put her down on the floor. Thoughtfully, I stare at the dead body by my feet. Her last revelation still puzzles through my mind. Did Ka orchestrate all of this? Why?

Colin raises an eyebrow at me. His eyes are full of the same questions going through my mind. We're still missing too many pieces from this puzzle to even try to guess why Ka did this.

Chapter 2

A slight tremor goes through the ship and Vren's words about autopilot come back to me.

"Do you think the alien pilot left it on auto after they killed Vren?" I ask hopeful.

"Let's go find out," Colin suggests with his usual arrogant smile, the one exclaiming he's way too important to die this kind of inglorious death. I sigh and follow him back towards the bridge.

With trepidation, we make it back to where we started; luckily, the doors