“I know what you’re hiding,” Roy shouts. “I know what NASA hired you to do. I saw everything on your precious tablet. I know all about you, Mr. Military.”
Fassbender reaches for his gun.
Quicker than I can react, Hugh aims his pistol at Fassbender. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he says.
Fassbender backs away. He puts his hands in the air.
I walk near him, taking my own pistol out.
“What’s this about the military?” Hugh asks.
“So now you all know,” he says, grinding his teeth. “Guess you were going to find out, eventually.”
“Find out about what?” I ask.
Roy’s eyes are buggy. “He’s not a scientist. He was sent from the military,” he says.
Fassbender’s eyes shift toward mine. Without warning, he grabs my wrists. Forcing them down, he kicks upward, knocking my head back.
He takes my gun and forces it to my head.
“Everyone back off. I have strict orders to get the alien back to Earth for further analysis,” he says.
Fassbender’s arm bars my neck. The brisk barrel sends chills down my spine. Pain strains my shoulders as he subdues me.
I feel weak. I feel powerless.
And, somehow, all I can think about is the alien.
Roy clenches his fist and shouts. “No fucking way.”
“You betrayed us,” Hugh says, eyes watering. “You knew we were walking into a trap.”
Fassbender forces the barrel against my temple harder. “We all have our orders,” he says. “Now, lower your weapons. I have an alien to catch.”
Their eyes fall on mine.
“Just do what he says. Let him leave,” I say, panicked.
Hugh lowers the gun.
Roy drops his.
I clench my hands around the photograph of my parents. “Fassbender, they dropped their weapons. Let me go.”
Fassbender laughs and forces my hair back. He throws me to the ground, gun pointed between my eyes. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he says, grinning.
He’s going to kill me.
I try to move, but his finger tugs the trigger. Eyes shutting, I hold the picture near my heart.
I hear the firing pin strike, the blast blowing out my ear drums.
But I don’t feel the bullet enter.
I roll my head to see the indent in the ground near my ear. He missed.
But as my vision adjusts, a massive brute walks to edge of the compound. Within a split second, we lock eyes.