Stargazer

Untitled Part 18

Robert barely had his boots on when someone came charging through the door looking for him. He had changed out of the Air Force duty uniform and into a green and grey Army uniform. His boots weren't as polished as he would have liked but that was a concern for peace time. He followed the corporal to a waiting Humvee that took them to the post hospital.

"She woke up screaming this morning. You could barely understand her. The only thing that she said that made any sense was 'You can't blow it up'," the corporal said as they rode the elevator to the intensive care unit.

The elevator opened to an empty nurse's station. He followed the sound of shouting to the end of the hall were two armed men stood in front of a door. A massive orderly was pushing against the door with all his body weight while the nurse was trying to talk the woman into opening the door. She tried reasoning with her and she tried threatening her but nothing worked. The woman stayed barricaded in her room.

"Mrs. Anderson, we can't help you if you don't open the door. Just open the door, please," the nurse said in a calm, soothing voice.

"They killed them, my children, my husband. There's nothing you can do to stop them. It's too late. It's too late!"

Robert watched as the nurse signaled the orderly to try pushing against the door. The door finally gave way after he pushed with one of his large shoulders. Robert stood in the doorway as the nurse and the orderly entered the room. He held her down as the nurse injected Mrs. Anderson with a sedative. The woman went limp and the orderly carried her back to her bed. He removed the broken leather restraints that were attached to the bed and replaced them with new ones.

"Nurse, is this necessary?"

"Take a look around and you tell me."

"I need to ask her a few questions."

"Ask quickly because she's going to be high as a kite pretty soon."

The nurse left as Robert made his way through the debris. He stepped over food trays and IV poles. He nearly slipped in a puddle of water that was near the pitcher she knocked over. He righted a stool and placed it next to her bed.

He got a good look at the woman and a realization hit him. This was the woman that he and Peter saved a few days before. She was skinny and beat up but he recognized the terror in her eyes as she looked around.

"Do you remember me?" Robert asked the woman in the bed.

"You were in the tank. You helped us."

"Yes I did. I want to keep helping you. Can you please tell me what happened to you and your family."

"We woke up that morning to the sound of gunfire. It was like they were waiting for us. My husband went to get the car started and he was shot coming out of the door. My son went after him and he was killed as well. I tried running with my daughter but I lost her after the building blew up. I went looking for her but I couldn't find her. That's when I saw them. Their eyes were cold and lifeless but when one of them looked at me-." Mrs. Anderson stopped to choke back tears. "I felt a pain in my head, like someone had it in a vice or something. Then everything went dark for a while. When I came to I was standing in a line in front of a police barricade. There were aliens all over the place and they were using us as a shield.

"The police didn't want to fire on us. They were yelling for us to get down but I couldn't move. I tried to move but my head would hurt, like they were overriding my consciousness. I did things. I saw things." Mrs. Anderson began crying uncontrollably. She fought against the restraints that kept her from scratching her face.