Earth's Last Days: The Invasion-Chapter 136: Aleigha’s Plan

Aliegha placed the note she had written next to Merrick as he slept soundly and gathered her clothes, rushing into the bathroom to change. She made sure she had a bladed staff in each boot.

She replicated her specially made boots that had a hidden pocket to house the blades. If you didn’t know there was a hidden pocket, you would never know they were there, even if someone searched them for weapons.

Lately, she had been wearing ordinary boots and just shoving them inside. She wanted to make sure they were hidden this time, so she wore the ones she had designed before the Ramesians invaded Earth.

Once dressed, she stopped at the sleeping infant and kissed the little boy’s tiny forehead before leaving the dwelling.

Merrick was still sleeping soundly as she left.

Aleigha headed for the underground city. There was a hidden entrance that she had found back when they had to stay down in the tunnel city during the war with Commander Grev and his puppets. She was thankful that they were all on the same side now.

Once inside the tunnels, she turned her small palm lamp on and then walked down the long tunnel. It wasn’t long before she passed the hidden entrance to the city. She kept walking, though. She wasn’t heading for the tunnel city; she was going past it.

She could hear the dripping of water inside the tunnel. The small ping that each drop made each time it hit the ground made a small splash that echoed through the tunnels.

The only other sound was the soft slaps of her feet hitting the cement as she walked through the tunnel.

When she made it to the hidden tunnel that rose at an angle, she jumped up onto the ladder and climbed up, stopping halfway at a rusted vent grate. She pulled it open, then climbed inside, replacing the grate. There was a lock that didn’t work. She twisted it to make it appear that the grate was locked. She knew it was a useless security measure, but did it anyway.

On her hands and knees, she crawled down the narrow pathway that rose slightly near the exit to the outside. She had found that the vent went under the plasma dome’s metallic walls, unaffected by the shields.

When they were still hidden in the city, and she had found the tunnel, she remembered what Jada had told her about her escape from the trap set to hold Travis. When she discovered the vent, she crawled down it, hoping to find a hidden room or something that could help them escape if Grev found a way into the tunnels. It paid off. She found a secret way outside.

Aleigha pushed the open the grate leading outside. After she moved the brush and debris that hid the grate to the outside, she crawled outside the dome, then replaced the grate and pushed leaves and branches to hide the entrance again. She didn’t want anyone to know how to get inside the city. She knew that it needed to remain a secret.

Looking around her, she surveyed the area, determining the best direction to go to find the group outside the dome. She knew they shot at Seeran, but even from outside, it was easy to see he wasn’t human. This was a group of humans, not Ramesians or Kreq. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Aleigha had replicated a pocketknife, hoping that if it were discovered, it would be the only thing they found. She needed them to think she was just a helpless girl. She also wanted to detour them from locating her bladed staffs hidden in her specially designed boots. She would lie and tell them the pocketknife was her only protection.

With one last look at the entrance to her mate and her infant boy, she headed toward the ravine so she could make a wide arch to go back to the dome toward the east gate and the tents in front of it. She didn’t want them to know she was from inside the dome, and not just a wanderer coming across it.

Aleigha looked up at the sky. The moon was a small sliver, giving minimal light. She was thankful that it wasn’t full. She didn’t want to be seen as she left the dome and then circled to head back toward it. If anyone from inside the dome saw her, they would try to stop her. If those outside the dome saw which direction she really came from, it would be bad for her. They would think she was a spy. Technically, that’s what her plan was: to spy and get as much information as she could.

After a second thought, she decided that she wasn’t a spy; she was trying to defuse the situation. Council Leader Vorik was excellent at defusing, but she feared that in this situation, only a human could defuse it. She knew what she was doing was dangerous, but she felt that if she could do something to stop this new threat, it was worth her life and the future safety of her mate and infant boy. She hoped they would understand.

Ahead of her, not far away, was the ravine. She had to go down into it and walk through it to get around to the point she needed to come up the steep bank again and back toward the east gate. She hoped no one had seen her leaving the dome or where she came from originally. It would put a dangerous damper on her plans.

When she got to the edge of the ravine, she looked down into it. It was dark. She hoped she didn’t hurt something trying to go down it. With one last look behind her, she slid down the bank, reaching the bottom, then started walking in the direction that would take her to where she wanted to go.

She was thankful that it was all rock. There would be no footprints to show where she came from.

When she found the spot she needed to climb back up, she stopped and smeared dirt on her clothing and face. She needed to look like she had been outside the dome for a while, not just the hour or so it took her to leave the dome and travel to the point she was currently.

She stalled for a second before climbing the steep bank of the ravine. Once she climbed back out, there was no turning back.

"I have to do this," she told herself. "To keep my family safe, I have to try."

With the last bit of resolve, she climbed the steep bank of the ravine and turned toward the dome. She could see the tents in the distance. She found the perfect spot to exit the ravine. She just hoped it was worth it. She didn’t want to find that it was another Travis.

Once fully out of the ravine, she stood upright and brushed the dirt off her clothes. She heard the sound of the firing pin on a revolver. Her head snapped toward it to find a man only a few feet away from her, the gun held up, pointing right at her.

She looked him in the eye and froze, seeing the gun pointed at her. She stepped back on purpose, hoping she could slide back down the ravine to run if she needed to. It worked; taking one step back, she slipped, then fell forward. Using her hands to catch herself, she allowed herself to start sliding back down the ravine. The man rushed up and grabbed her by the hand, preventing her from falling down the steep bank.

"Sorry, I thought you were one of the green guys," the man told her, trying to pull her out of the ravine. "It’s dark. All I saw was a shadow coming out of the ravine."

"Do I look green to you?" she hissed. Angry that he pulled the gun on her in the first place. He could have ended her plans before they even started.

The man pulled her up and helped her stand upright. "Sorry, it’s dark out, and we’re a little skittish since we woke from whatever we contracted from them."

Aleigha froze, realizing how right Mia might be. "You were one of those flesh-eating people, too?" she asked. She wanted to clarify. "I can’t even eat meat because of that. I remember everything." She shivered at the memory of when she had been a zombie. She didn’t know if they called it that, so she kept her mouth shut on giving it a name.

Aleigha lifted the side of her shirt and showed the man her side where she had been bitten. "One bit me there, and next thing you know, I’m craving flesh and wanting to take bites out of people. I was vegan before all this, so it creeped me out, but I couldn’t help it."

The man nodded in agreement. "My name’s Steve. I’m the second in command of our group. We were all infected with that. We used to live in a hidden city. We found a map to a utopian city, and when we reached it, it was filled with flesh-eating humans with dark green, almost black saliva. It didn’t take us long to get infected ourselves."

Aleigha frowned. "I was alone. I was hiding in a tunnel system when I was attacked. I couldn’t fight them all off."

Steve smiled. "You are not alone anymore. I can take you to our leader. His name is Eric. He’ll let you stay with us."