NightRacer

Chapter 12

The room started warping around Racer.

"What's going on?" he managed to say, and then everything went to black and white and turned upside down.

"Colonel, wake up!" somebody was saying, shaking him. A strong smell of medicine was coming from somewhere.

"What? What's going on?" Racer said. He opened his eyes and saw a skinny young man. "Who are you?"

"I'm Seventeen, EnforcerSeventeen. Sir, we're evacuating the facility. You have to come with me."

"Where is EnforcerOne? I mean, where is FireBreather?" Racer asked slurring the words.

"She's with another team. You have to come with me. We're under attack and have to evacuate this facility," the guy said.

Racer looked for his gun and com. "Where's my gun?" he asked.

"They put it in an armory, probably. We need to move!" Seventeen said.

"Wait, I need my gun!" Racer said, opening all the drawers he could find. "And my com, and my uniform."

"I'll find you a uniform, sir, but I can't get you a gun right now. We need to evacuate!"

Racer assessed the situation: he had a pair of shorts on him, and there were some slippers on the floor. The uniform problem was easy to solve: Racer grabbed a sheet from a bed and in one quick motion wrapped it around himself like a toga, then he stepped into the slippers—which turned out to be a little small—and followed Seventeen.

This is like a drill in boot camp, but with slippers, Racer thought, running carefully, trying not to step on the sheet. "Which way?"

They run through a corridor, then through another, and finally got to a garage with some trucks and wide military busses. The noise was deafening. The cars were getting out in a more or less orderly way, but there was a lot of chaos, people were screaming in their coms, and on top of that, a high pitch siren was driving everybody crazy.

"This way," Seventeen yelled, pointing to a sturdy looking communication vehicle. "Get in the bus and buckle up, sir. We're moving out in three minutes."

Inside were two sleepy Martian kids, one maybe fourteen or fifteen and the other a little older, strapped into their seats. They looked a little scared, but the expression on their faces changed to surprise when they saw an old guy wrapped in a sheet. The noise subsided when the door closed.

Racer sat down and leaned toward one of the passengers. "What's going on?"

"We're being attacked by the drones from orbit," the guy said in a frightened voice, pointing to the sky. "They've already destroyed the moon station!"

"How many drones are there?" Racer asked, looking for his seat buckle.

"We don't know. A lot! We received the orders to scatter."

Racer looked out the window. People were running and giving orders, but overall the evacuation process was moving on.

Seventeen came in and sat in the driver's seat. He was talking in his com. "Yes. Yes. Acknowledged!" he said, and he stepped awkwardly on the gas. The vehicle jerked forward, and everybody grabbed something, trying to steady themselves. Then Seventeen stepped hard on the brakes. Then he did it again. After a few lurches and hard stops, they finally managed to get out of the garage and onto the road. Racer's young neighbor leaned toward him and whispered, "He is not what you'd call an experienced driver."

Racer smiled at the guy. "What do you have in there?" he asked, pointing at the door leading to the other side of the bus.

"Food, water, supplies. Survival stuff, in case we need to camp in the grass. Feel free to go and look if you need something."