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

"Briggs?" He looks at her expectantly.

"Alright." She shrugs her shoulders. "Blake found out, okay?"

"How in the hell did he find out, and why didn't he tell me?" Colin thunders.

Briggs sighs. "I don't know how he found out. But he came to me last night and told me to be ready. We were hoping until the last minute that it wouldn't happen, but by the way, the meeting was going…" she drifts off, her eyes conveying her disbelief of the situation forced upon us.

"Anyway, we made a contingency plan." She attempts a smile. "And here we are."

"So, where is the original crew of this ship?" I ask.

If it wasn't so serious, I would laugh as Briggs lets out a long, exaggerated sigh. "They're subdued in one of the cabins."

"Let's have a chat with them," I suggest.

"Viv, what do you have in mind?" Colin asks, not willing to let me take this one step further before he knows what I'm planning.

This time it's me who sighs dramatically. "Maybe we should pay Quill a visit; maybe we can get the President's son back."

Colin mauls my words over, but I can tell by the look on his face he's skeptical. So, I hurry to explain, "Look, we can't afford to be at war with the President and the entire armed forces that are left. It's stupid. We're wasting valuable resources. If he wants his son back, we'll go get him."

"It won't be easy." Briggs cautions.

"They were going to take you up to one of the space stations that is still orbiting Earth." Bellows offers.

A smile plays around my lips as my mind keeps forming a plan. "How do you know?" I ask, while simultaneously Colin inquires, "Which one?"

"The President told me to take you to Commander Quill on a space station. He wanted to know if I'd have a problem with that." He grimaces depreciatively. "So, I lied and said no."

Colin nods. "Thank you, appreciate it."

Bellows smiles lopsidedly and punches Colin lightly in the arm. "You owe me."

"Don't I know it." Colin grins back.

"We need to find out which one." I think out loud, and all eyes come back to me.

"It's crazy to go there," Briggs warns.

"It's suicide." Derek offers helpfully.

"Sounds like a mission," Kat adds.

I have one condition, "No, first we need to take Colin back to the caves…"

"The hell we will." Colin interrupts before I can finish.

I put my hand beseechingly on his arm. "Look, it's better if just one of us goes if things go south…."

Again, he interrupts me. "If that is the case, then I should go."

Besides me not wanting him to risk his life, there is one other factor at play, "They still think you're dead, remember?"

"The President knows, and he was going to turn us both over to Quill, remember?" He throws back at me.

Our argument gets interrupted as Bellows clears his throat loudly. "Actually, I think you're right," he nods towards me. "I think McFarland only wanted both of you arrested because he knew that you would throw a fit, Commander." He looks pointedly at Colin, "Quill really wants her." He nods at me.

I tilt my head and eyebrow at Colin in an I told you so way, but he ignores me.

Instead, he doublechecks, "You're sure about that?"

Bellows confirms confidently. "Yes, Sir."

Colin looks thoughtful and is quiet for a few moments; I'm just about to start to tap my foot loudly to make him hurry up when his eyes meet mine, and he smiles deviously.

"Quill has no idea I'm alive. He has no idea who'd bring Vivian to him."

"That's what I've been saying," I mutter with impatience in my voice, wondering if he's getting old or why he's not coming around to my way of thinking sooner.

"Well, let's turn this ship up then and surprise Quill." Colin grins deviously.

"We still have to take you back and need to find out which space station we're going to," I say, sounding like I'm explaining something to a three-year-old.

"I'm willing to bet, we'll find all, but one station abandoned," Derek says, surprising me.

"Good thinking." I praise. "Let's take Colin…."

"I need one of your men's uniforms." Colin turns to Bellows.

"No problem, Ricks should be about your size," Bellows replies. "Ricks, strip."

"Isn't anybody listening to me? Colin, you're not coming." I spit. "One of us needs to stay in case this goes wrong; one of us needs to lead the militia."

He puts both of his arms on my shoulder, "Nothing will go wrong. Otherwise, I would make you stay back; this is a good plan."

"What plan?" I almost scream in frustration.

Colin looks at me and tilts his head a little to the side. "When did you become a chicken, marshmallow?"

Of all his stupid nicknames for me, I hate this one the most. "I'm not a chicken; I'm just being practical here. This is crazy, and you know it. We don't even have a plan."

Colin turns towards Derek, "Go."

Derek looks at me like I am a three-year-old that needs to have things explained to. "We'll go up there, tell Quill that we have you, do the exchange, take the aliens down, free you and go back home. Boom."

My mouth opens and closes like a fish on land. I'm speechless at the idiocy of the plan while Colin and Derek high five each other.

"Maybe we should have a contingency plan?" I wager.

"Whatever, Blake." Colin laughs at me.

I'm starting to get really irritated with him and the others. Everybody looks at each other as if this is the greatest plan ever. And all I can do is shake my head at their outlandish plan.

"Come on, chicken, what could possibly go wrong? This was your idea after all." Colin teases.

And that's when it hits me. I am becoming a chicken. This used to get me excited. This plan should be good enough for me; the rest can be improvised; we don't know yet what we'll walk into. There is not much sense in even trying to make any more plans beyond