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

I can't keep my eyes off Colin in his finest gear. Even though we are militia, for this event, we're decked out like military Commanders, and my Colin is a sight for sore eyes. With the almost black jacket and the white dress shirt underneath accentuated by the red cummerbund, he looks breathtakingly handsome. The white hat seems to sharpen his face's edges even more and puts just the right amount of shadows on it to make my knees buckle.

"You're beautiful," he tells me with a proud smile.

For me, I can only hope my white hat covers up some of my more hideous bruises along with the elaborate makeup which, to my surprise, Briggs brought with her. I'm also forced to wear an abhorrent long midnight blue skirt and high heels, both of which I despise. My feet already hurt, and I've only worn the stupid things for thirty minutes while waiting for the others to get here.

"You're beautiful," Colin repeats with awe in his eyes. His pupils dilate the way they do when we're alone. Just looking into his eyes, I know with absolute certainty that the man loves me with all his being, and that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I can only hope my own eyes convey the same message to him.

Once everybody is assembled, I have to give kudos to our group, we do clean up nicely, even though all of us look about the same, except the colors of the uniforms vary, depending on the military branch, but the women among us all have the same problem I do, a long skirt and high heels. Hopefully, we won't need to fight.

Colin receives an incoming text message via his tablet. His face scrunches up before he looks me in the eyes; worry is written all over his face.

"What now?" I demand to know.

The happy chatter stops as everybody focuses on Colin. "It's from Admiral Farnsworth; he has no idea how, but Ryan and Jason escaped; all the guards were killed. His ship is somewhere in the middle of the Pacific, so it's safe to assume the boys are still on the carrier somewhere, but he wanted to keep us in the loop."

A shudder goes through me and a hint of foreboding, but I'll be damned if I let that rain on my party, so to speak. I shrug my shoulders, "Well, he better find 'em then." I say with more bravado than I feel.

Colin gives me a probing look, letting me know I'm not fooling him. But there is nothing we can do about Ryan and Jason right now; we're not even on the same planet. Neither one of us wants to ruin the party for the others, plus several of our group have no idea who Ryan and Jason even are.

"Let's go; we don't want to be late," Briggs says with a false smile.

Outside two Gorongiath greet us, also in red, regal uniforms, decked out with their chest chains. Loathing for us exudes from their entire body posture; they don't even try to mask that they don't want to be here with us, let alone be our guides. So much for team building, I think snarkily. I'm not sure if they despise us because we're losing in all our categories or because we're humans. Either way, I really don't care because honestly, I can't stand these creatures, and neither do my teammates. Since we're enemies, it's probably better not to form any bonds with them, anyway.

The Gorongiath lead us through an array of corridors and up an elevator towards the building's roof, where a spacecraft awaits us, to take us to their home planet Koboyotan, where the party will be held.

The flight only takes about an hour, and when we're told it is actually one of our pilots flying the spacecraft, we clap in appreciation and slap Briggs on the shoulder. Once we land, I recognize the distinct oval structure of the Council building.

Our reluctant guides take us down the glass-tube elevator. I watch amused as my fellow party-goers eyes stare in amazement as they take in the artfully painted walls. Depicting nature scenes of the Gorongiath planets. The way the elevator moves makes it seem as if the paintings came to live, and I wonder if I looked just as star-struck the last time I was here. Or was I too worried to enjoy the amazing technology these alien creatures possess?

We go down only a couple of floors this time; it makes sense that their ballroom, or whatever they call it, is located on one of the higher floors. The elevator stops, the doors open, giving us a view of a large room, filled with Gorongiath. Without a word, our guides leave us to fend for ourselves.

A huge balcony is straight across from us, giving us an unobstructed view of the spectacular metropolis. From here, at night, it looks like any budding city on Earth. Millions of lights sparkle in a myriad of colors and shapes. Spaceships fly this way and that, giving the view the otherworldly feeling, it deserves. A stark reminder of where we are.

A large buffet has been spread out against one wall to the right of us. Since we still don't know, if our bodies are compatible with their food, I guess we'll not partake.

People mill all about, adorned in their finest clothes, reminding me somewhat of a mix between a Greek fashion for the females and more normal, suit-like clothing for the men. With the exception of military personnel, who, like us, wear uniforms. The tablets on our forearms go crazy with the chatter from all the aliens mingling about, preventing us from comprehending even a single sentence.

Here too, the walls seem to pulsate with dimmed lights, illuminating everything and giving off an almost candlelight like atmosphere. The women are dressed in all colors imaginable, adorned from top to bottom with what appears to be fine jewelry. Not a finger