The old city of New York was just a little way off. I could see the glint of the vine-covered buildings between the leaves.
Our main basecamp was less than a mile away.
With waning hope, I looked back to see each alien soldier armed with two weapons, one in each hand. There were no secondhand guns in this army. Every single one glinted like new. Some of them appeared to be laser powered; others looked like an old flamethrower I’d had the opportunity to fire in the past. Therewere several that looked like they fired bullets, but their barrels were large enough that I feared what might happen to its target.
Humans didn’t stand a chance.
They marched onward and I had no choice but to go along with them. By the time we finally broke free from the trees, I was nervously looking back and forth along the decaying streets of the old city. I saw a flurry of movement in the old bank building on the right side and I chewed the inside of my cheek with anxiety. For a fraction of a second, I could make out a face in the second-story window before it disappeared in the muck that covered it.
I wanted to shout at them to run, but I didn’t. Talyn grasped my upper arm and forced me forward. He was showing me off as if I was nothing but a war prize. Would they think I was on his side?
I couldn’t live with myself if they thought that.
He marched me forward into the middle of the street. I tripped on a piece of pavement, but he caught me before I fell. When he was finally satisfied with our position, he stopped and stood behind me. The army of aliens at his back stopped several steps behind us. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the humans wouldn’t stand a chance against a force this size.
I trembled with fear. Did he plan to kill them all?
“Your people are all around us. You will convince them to surrender if you don’t want them to die,” he whispered.
I tried to jerk away from him, but he was too strong for that. Unable to run or escape him, I did the only thing I had left.
“Please listen to me! Surrender to Commander Talyn. Please. He’ll kill you if you don’t!” I shrieked and Talyn slid his handaround my waist protectively. His fingers grasped at me, and I was unable to pull away. He squeezed so tightly that I could only pull in a shallow breath.
One person walked out of one of the buildings and when I saw who it was, a small beacon of hope blossomed to overcome my overwhelming dread.
“General Negan, please. Surrender. I’m begging you!” I wailed, and his face hardened. He stared at me with open curiosity, his gaze going back and forth from me to Talyn with growing hatred and I didn’t understand why.
“Traitor,” he finally said, his voice filled with complete loathing.
Time seemed to come to a screeching halt as he pulled a gun out of his jacket and leveled it in our direction.
The gun wasn’t aimed at Talyn. It was pointed right at me.
His betrayal struck me like a slap across the face. All my life, I had followed his directives. I’d trained to be a good soldier. I’d respected him and he’d shown me in a fraction of a second that none of that had ever meant anything at all to him.
He meant to kill me.
“Wait! General Negan, please. Give Commander Talyn your word that you will surrender, and he will let you live,” I pleaded.
Negan shook his head. “I’d rather be dead than a damn alien slave,” he spat.
He didn’t even pause before his finger squeezed the trigger.
I stood there frozen in shock as the gun fired. Talyn reacted first and grabbed me around the waist, forcing himself in front of me.His body jerked hard. His grunt of pain was audible, and I cried out knowing that he’d taken a bullet for me. He’d saved my life.
More shots came from the human resistance and a part of me shattered.
Talyn roared with rage and the aliens behind him answered with equal fury.
In an instant, the world ignited in a whirlwind of flame. The front-line alien soldiers were equipped with guns that spat great balls of fire. The thick decaying vines that encased the buildings all around us flared up like dry tinder and the accompanying scream from a human man that had been too close echoed with deafening horror.
The bank blazed red hot. It was mostly made of dry rotten wood, lighting up with ease. The metal décor around the door was reddening in color, glowing brighter with every passing second.
Negan and a group of people gathered in the center of the street in opposition to us. The ground was broken and unsteady, but they marched forward toward the aliens with what they probably thought was unending courage and fortitude.
It was foolish. There was no way for them to win this.
I wished they would just escape. I prayed that they’d turn tail and run, but they didn’t. Faces I’d known since I was a young girl stared at me with hatred so visceral that I hoped that a black hole would open and swallow me whole right in front of them.
