Final Exam by Rob Astor (free novel 24 .TXT) 📕

Xack to roll to his side. The world moved in slow motion. Xack saw his dad charging at the aliens. He tried to yell. Xack couldn’t make a sound.
Purple and green energy blasts struck Andy, instantly burning charred holes through his body. Carol screamed as Andy fell. Tandem raced forward in a rage. A blast struck Tandem in the left shoulder. Tandem spun to the ground, holding the wound. Carol and Jessica fell next, hit squarely by alien gunfire. Xack’s heart stopped, the emotional pain now purely physical. He tried to reach out to them with his left hand. Everything blurred. Blackness surrounded Xack.
* * *
Consciousness returned in the form of pain. Xack’s head pounded. His eyes refused to focus right away. He was being dragged by his arms, legs limply sliding across a smooth floor.
Sounds were jumbled confusion. Xack heard voices, begging, pleading. There were screams, crying, and shouts of profanity. He heard thudding sounds. The sounds of struggling. The sounds of fighting.
When Xack’s vision cleared, he discerned he was in a corridor of some large building. Dusky light filtered through windows. There were people everywhere, being herded by figures clad in black. New Zimlliaan soldiers!
Memory rushing back, Xack fought to pull his arms free. He couldn’t get his feet to secure a grip on the floor from his position. As Xack struggled to stand up, backward motion kept him from getting loose. A soldier held him firmly by the wrists, dragging him. Xack remembered he was wearing his hoverskate uniform. If only he could get one hand free….
The journey ended with Xack being forcibly pulled up and shoved through a set of open doors into a library. He fell, stopped mid roll by his backpack. Scared, battered figures stood around, or sat in chairs at tables. Others propped themselves against stacks of books, or sat on the floor in secluded corners. Confusion, whimpering, and angry shouts filled his perceptions.
Slowly, Xack stood. Every joint ached from the stun blast. He’d barely gained his balance when a larger male tackled him, embracing him. “Oh my God, you’re alive! Lo, Xackster’s alive!”
Xack realized it was Tandem who was holding him. He wrapped his arms around Tandem. “You were shot.”
“Just a flesh wound. I’ll live.” Tandem broke the embrace first, leading Xack back toward the juvenile section. Logan regarded Xack with his usual scowl, sitting against the wall. Logan’s glasses were bent slightly, his chin and cheek bruised, scraped and crusted with dry blood. Xack wondered if Logan wished Xack had been killed instead of stunned.
Before Logan could say anything, Xack looked up to Tandem who was holding a hand across his injury. “What’s happening? Where are we?”
“We thought you’d tell us.” Logan’s words were bitterly cold. “You knew everything else.”
“I told you, they didn’t land here in my reality.”
“Cut the bullshit.”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
Logan stood, lunging for Xack. He placed his hands against the shorter guy’s chest and shoved with all his strength. Xack reeled backward, stumbling and falling to the floor. “Lo!” Tandem shouted at him, placing his body between Logan and Xack.
Logan greeted Tandem with a look of hatred. “He knew! He knew! I don’t want to hear anything about parallel worlds!” Logan turned away, setting himself heavily back in his spot near the books.
Xack stood, unsure. His chest was tight and a lump formed in his throat. Tears brimmed his eyes. “It’s my fault,” he said softly, cautiously approaching his brother, taking a seat between the two.
Logan glared at Xack a second before turning away. Tandem leaned against the bookrack, his face pale and beaded with sweat. “I should never have come here,” Xack continued. “I put you all at risk. Endangered your lives. All because I missed my family. All because I was so selfish to want to come home.” Xack’s head lowered and his tears were no longer restrained.
Tandem sat beside Xack, putting his arm around him. Logan’s expression softened slightly. “You’re such a little cry baby.” He sighed, looking at Xack. “Look, we missed you, too,” Logan said. He placed his arm around Xack as well. “It’s been so long since you’ve been gone. There’s been a big hole in our family. Mom and dad were never quite the same. I haven’t seen them so happy since you came home.”
“It’s my fault they were shot.” Xack wiped his eyes.
“No, it’s not.” It was Tandem who spoke. “Whoever these aliens are, it’s their fault.”
Apprehensively, Xack continued. “Where I come from, I didn’t know what happened. Everything was empty by the time I came back. People were just gone.”
“If it’s true….” Logan chose words carefully. “If you really came form some other world, what happened? What’s going to happen?”
Xack paused for a moment to get his emotions under control. “The New Zs came here to take over the planet. They want the water. Most of the land they want to convert into huge agricultural colonies. Some cities are spared. They build them up as spaceports to trade with other planets.”
“What about the others?”
“I don’t know. Some were attacked. People were taken away. We know some were used as slave labor. I guess the rest were killed.”
“Who’s ‘we’, Xack?” Tandem asked.
“There are pockets of resistance. People fight them.”
“Is there any chance we can survive?” Logan’s intense curiosity hinted deep concern. Perhaps for he and his brothers. Perhaps for the entire world.
Xack nodded. “There’s a military project. They set up a defense system of impenetrable force fields. Slowly, we were sealing off places to keep the New Zs out.”
“So, there is a chance.” Logan’s voice was as soft as a whisper.
“Where are we?” Xack glanced between Logan and Tandem. “What’s going on?”
“They brought us to the college,” Tandem explained. “They didn’t say anything.”
“They’ve got everyone separated,” Logan added. “I saw the youngest kids taken to the gym. Most of the adults were put on their ships.”
Xack glanced around as he listened, realizing there were only males in the library. “Where are the girls?”
“I didn’t see where they went.”
“I guess they don’t want us to breed.” Tandem’s tone was dry.
Xack looked at Logan, his breath caught in his throat. “Is…. Is Jessica…?” He couldn’t finish.
Logan turned away. “She was killed. So were mom and dad.”
Xack’s tears returned in silence. I should never have left Albany.
Time passed agonizingly slow. Tandem gradually fell asleep. Xack stayed next to Logan, dazed. For the first time since coming to this parallel world, Xack regretted leaving Rob and his friends. In all the times he’d been injured, they were there to cover for him. Rob never let anything serious happen to Xack. Xack missed that protection now, now when he truly needed it.
When Xack broke the silence, his voice was soft. “Lo? What happened to me? Where am I in this reality?”
Logan looked down, biting at his lower lip. “It’s not really important.”
“I don’t have amnesia or something. Please… Tell me.”
“We had a big fight,” Logan began slowly. “It was something stupid. It was always something stupid.” Xack remembered a fight. He remembered how he wanted to run away to Uncle Mike’s the next day. In his reality, Xack didn’t.
“The next day, you were missing. You never showed up at school. None of your friends knew where you were. Mom and dad were really freaked out. The police issued an Amber Alert. Everyone searched for days. It was like you vanished without a trace.”
Logan paused. Even in Logan’s profile, Xack could see the pain. “Finally, we got a call. To go identify your body.” Tears rolled down Logan’s cheeks. “We were so sure… But, here you are.” Logan pulled Xack close, holding him tight, crying. “I was so glad you came back home. Everyday, I’ve wanted to tell you how sorry I was for that fight.”
Xack held him. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “It’s okay.” When Logan pulled back, he smiled, taking his glasses off to wipe his eyes.
“Do you remember when I was little?” Xack asked. “Those were happy times for me. I really missed having you take care of me when mom and dad worked late hours. I looked up to you like a hero.”
Logan grinned, chuckling nervously as he placed his crooked glasses back on his nose. “I guess I really let you down.”
“I think you wanted me to stay little forever. So you could take care of me.” Logan was surprised by Xack’s insight. “You never really said what you wanted to do in college. But, I always thought you’d make a good teacher. You liked all the little kids in the neighborhood.”
“You know, I did think about being a teacher from time to time.”
Xack leaned his head in the crook of Logan’s arm. “Read me a story.”
Unsure at first, Logan gave a shrug. Xack needed him. Logan leaned forward far enough to take a book from the shelf in front of him. He smiled. “This one was always your favorite.” Logan began reading Winnie The Pooh And The Thousand Acre Wood. Xack listened, content. His pale blue eyes grew heavy. The comfort of Logan’s voice put him to sleep.
* * *
Xack woke to the sounds of yelling. Voices demanded to know what was happening. “Where are you taking us?”
Fully alert, Xack raised from his place against Logan. Tandem and Logan were awake as well, watching the New Zimlliaan soldiers as they pulled and shoved people through the library’s main entrance.
“Let’s try not to get ourselves hurt,” Logan said softly to Xack and Tandem. Logan reluctantly stood. Xack and Tandem followed suit. “Stick together.” Logan’s command was soft. He walked forward without prompting from the black uniformed aliens.
Xack’s heart raced as he traced Logan’s footsteps. He imagined all sorts of New Zimlliaan interrogation techniques. Xack knew from Rob the New Zs were capable of scanning a person’s mind. If they peered into his and saw where he came from and how he came here, Rob and the others could potentially face worse trouble. He wished he could explain it to Logan and Tandem. He wished desperately he had Rob’s telepathic ability.
As the trio of brothers approached the entrance, Logan held his hands up in an effort to display submission. Xack and Tandem did as well. They were waved through, given a less severe shove than many in front of them.
The prisoners were led to the cafeteria. Here, the girls and the children were reunited with the male captives. Bins were set out holding supplies pilfered from campus vending machines. Faceless helmeted New Z soldiers hoarded the limited supplies, distributing them as they saw fit. Everyone was given