At the sound of the door unsealing, Adan quickly got to his feet, turning toward the steel double doors that separated the main living area from the entrance hall of the bunker. Seeing him take a step toward those doors, Aura stood just as quickly, reaching out to tightly grasp his arm, pulling him back to her.
“What the hell are you doing?” she whispered.
“It could be Ilian,” he stated plainly, though matched her lowered volume.
“It could be them!” she warned urgently.
Before they could debate the question any further, one of the steel doors opened. It was indeed Ilian returning to them. Though he was now dressed in the hazmat suit, and struggling for breath as he nearly fell through the door. He only managed to hold himself upright at all by leaning heavily upon the door as his eyes turned toward them.
“Seeds... He’s coming,” he choked out before tumbling through the doorway and falling to the floor.
Somehow forcing themselves to only act rather than react, Aura and Adan took only a moment before moving their eyes to the small vial that sat on the coffee table in front of the sofa, containing three of the little black seeds.
Aura quickly reached for it, nodding to Adan as his worried eyes only took the briefest glance at where Ilian now remained on the floor, trying to desperately hold on to whatever consciousness he still could. Adan moved to open the other door as Aura followed, clutching the vial in her shaking hands.
Just as Adan pulled the door open, the door at the other end of the small entry way unsealed once more. A moment later they finally saw him: One of them now standing right there, a mere fifteen feet or so away from the two of them. At last they were seeing one of the true faces of the creatures who had spent that entire summer trying to wipe out their entire species.
Its coal black, pupil-free eyes looked even more surprised to see these two surviving humans there, than they had looked to see it. That momentary hesitation was enough to snap Aura back into that fight mode instead of flight. She uncapped the vial, launching the three tiny seeds toward their intruder, hoping upon hope that it would somehow save all of their lives, hard as that was to believe of such tiny things.
As the seeds flew toward it, Ilian used what little strength he still had after his ordeal to get back to them, and outstretched a hand back in the direction of his former comrade. The three seeds then exploded into the black toxin cloud that he had spoken only briefly of.
The intruder raised his weapon towards them and managed to get off one shot of a strange, glowing projectile in the direction of the traitor and his two human companions. A moment later though, he began gasping and choking, the toxins having reached his lungs. He collapsed in the other doorway, beginning to convulse. What Aura could only guess was blood then began seeping from its eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
It looked horrifically painful, but there was no time for Aura to even think then as Adan let out an agonized scream in the same moment that their enemy had fallen to the ground. Aura’s head quickly turned at the sound in time to see Adan painfully grasping his shoulder before giving into whatever intense pain that that projectile had caused upon finding its target. In seconds, he lost the struggle to stay conscious through that pain as he also fell to the floor.
Aura’s breaths came shorter and shorter as her panicked eyes darted between her three now unconscious or possibly dead companions laying around her. Though she couldn’t be sure if her inability to breathe was because of one of her attacks, which would be completely understandable at that moment. Or if it was because its body still lay in the doorway to the bunker, preventing the door from closing and sealing out the toxins from the blue poison permeating the air outside.
Trying to keep herself from losing consciousness as well, Aura bit back streaming tears and stepped over Ilian. She tried to move quickly toward the lifeless body of the creature who had come to kill them. Though, with her size, how badly her entire body was trembling, and how difficult it was to keep breathing at all, it still took her several long, terrifying moments to pull its body out of the doorway, allowing the door to finally seal them all in there, away from the poison outside.
Sealing the door still didn’t help Aura with her struggle to breathe much, as she was already deep inside the choking grip of that panic attack. Every second a struggle, she moved back toward Ilian and Adan. She looked down at Ilian and swallowed hard, before moving to Adan and leaning down to reach a shaky hand toward his neck. His pulse was weak, but still there, which barely helped stave off much of her attack.
She then crawled back toward Ilian to check for his pulse as well. Though, she truly didn’t even know if she could determine his well-being in the same way as a human’s. Especially after the painful and visceral reminder of how patently non-human he was. And that reminder was even more horrifying when she allowed another glance back at the other creature now laying in the entry way. After all, what that thing was, was also what Ilian was, at least inside.
She choked back that thought as she felt for his pulse as well. But with the pounding of her heart, she couldn’t be sure she was feeling their pulses or her own, in all honesty. All she knew for sure was that the first time since the world ended, she felt utterly terrified... And utterly alone.
When Aura was finally calm enough, or numb enough, to take a few breaths on her own, she made herself use what little strength she had left to try and get Ilian to the sofa. She knew the bedroom would be near impossible, but she also didn’t want to leave him there in the doorway. She told herself it was concern for his comfort, unconscious though he was. But she knew that it was even more likely because she could no longer bear to leave that door open, where she had a clear view of the thing laying out there in the entry way. Again, she tried to chase away her dark thoughts about Ilian’s true nature, now that she had finally come face to face with it, in a manner of speaking.
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When it came to moving Adan, she ultimately decided against it. Not only did she doubt that she even could move him in her physically and mentally exhausted state; but she was also afraid of whether or not she should even try to. She had no idea what kind of damage that weapon had done to him, let alone what it even was. And she’d hate herself forever if her actions caused any more pain, or anything worse, to happen to the man she loved with all her heart, despite the harsh words earlier.
The only other person who might be able to tell her about that weapon, or the extent of Adan’s injuries, was also unable to help right then. Though, Aura found herself once again wondering if ‘person’ even applied to Ilian at all anymore. She had known what he was, even before ever letting him make love to her. And she had still let it happen. Instigated it even. But somehow knowing what he was, and actually seeing what he was, were very, very different things in her head now.
And on top of all of those inner fears she was now dealing with, she also had to wonder if the dead thing in the entrance hall was the only one who had followed Ilian back. And if it wasn’t, then she supposed nothing she thought or felt right then would matter anyway. At least not once that door opened again, if it actually were to.
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Hours passed and day turned to night. And the bunker had still not received any other visitors from beyond. But Aura could not even feel relief over that fact. She sat stiffly on the recliner near the sofa, as she had done for the remainder of the day, not even moving to use the toilet or eat or drink. Her brain couldn’t even comprehend those sorts of needs right now. All she could think about at all, was the fact that neither Ilian or Adan had stirred once since the events of the afternoon. And with every tick of the clock, Aura felt what little hope she ever managed to hold on to, beginning to slip further and further from her grip.
It was nearly midnight before the needs of her body finally began seeping ever so slowly into the worries of her mind. She sighed heavily as she made herself stand to at least make a trip to the toilet, if nothing else. Though, just as she took a few slow steps toward the glass doors, she heard a pained groan coming from Adan’s lips.
She immediately turned from the door and moved to kneel down next to where Adan struggled back to consciousness. With a raspy combination of a whisper and another groan he spoke, “Did I get hit by a train?” he managed as she tried to help him to sit up, despite the very real pain he seemed to still be in.
“Not quite,” she whispered back as she leaned forward to place a soft kiss on his forehead, her eyes already tearing up again at the sound of the pain in his voice.
“So I actually did get shot by an alien then?” he continued as if every word just caused further pain.
“But you’re still alive,” she tried to assure him with another kiss to his cheek, her tears having since escaped her blue eyes with some combination of relief and despair over how much pain he was still in.
“Shit, an alien!” he exclaimed as he sat up more straightly, only to let out another agonizing wince at even that slight of a movement.
“The seeds killed it,” she assured in response to his sudden realization of all that had actually taken place that afternoon.
“Fuck,” he breathed, then added, “Ilian?”
“Still unconscious. On the sofa,” she added as she nodded her head in the appropriate direction, her hand still tenderly touching his back to help steady him.
“He got the sofa?” Adan replied with an attempt at humor, though that was a tough one to pull off with how much agony he was in, sure that many of bones in his arm and shoulder and possibly even others could very well be shattered right then. Or at least it felt that way to him.
Aura was caught a moment before realizing that it had been an attempt at humor, despite his current state. She just shook her head at that fact before replying, “I was afraid I’d hurt you even worse if I tried to move you.”
“It’s fine Aura. I think I have bigger concerns right now than having to take a nap on the floor.” He winced again as he attempted to reach for his injured arm and shoulder once more, only to immediately regret even that simple of a motion, and drop his good arm back to his side again.
“Shit, where does it hurt... the most?” she added as her eyes widened when she finally let herself look down at his left arm, which was completely discolored from what she could see below the sleeve of his t-shirt.
“The left?” Adan stated as though to shrug, though his injuries prevented such a motion.
“Your left arm you mean?”
“No pretty much the entire left side of my body, my shoulder, my chest, you know, that whole area,” he breathed the words, still letting his head lay back against the wall, his eyes closed tightly against the pain.
She shook her head again, “There’s not even any blood though. It’s like... “ she was at a loss for words.
“Like some freaky alien weapon that our little human brains can’t even make sense of?” he offered with another painful wince as he tried again to sit up more straightly.
“But if you’re in this much pain, you’d think there’d be blood, right?” she continued, still letting her eyes move over him, trying to find some evidence of where that strange projectile even actually hit him. But if its aim was at the upper left side of his body, she could easily guess what the alien had been targeting.
“I’m pretty OK with there not being any blood,” he stated wryly.
“Well of course I’m glad you weren’t laying here bleeding to death, but if there’s not blood, than doesn’t that mean there could still be like internal injuries? And aren’t those even worse sometimes?” Aura stated, her panic rising again, not that it had ever really subsided much at all throughout the day.
“Luckily I don’t have a lot of organs in my shoulder,” Adan stated, his breathing still strained.
“You said your chest too,” she managed, despite not wanting to concentrate on that fact.
“Well, if that thing blew up my fucking heart or lungs, then we’ve moved straight from virus wiping out the world, to alien invasion, to zombie apocalypse. Cause I’m pretty sure I’m still kind of breathing, anyway.”
“But there could be real damage, Adan. And Ilian isn’t awake to ask. This could be really bad,” she continued as her fear for his well being continued growing.
“Could be?” he attempted a smirk, “that’s the part of our current life situation that convinced you that things could be bad?” Aura only scowled back at him. Adan managed to make one more attempt at a smile, “Love you hon, but your bedside manner could use a little work.”
She then narrowed her eyes, “That wasn’t a sex joke, was it?”
“I guarantee it was not,” he let out a slight chuckle, which only caused more pain of course.
“But seriously, what if---” she began again, only to have him cut off her favorite path to that downward spiral she succumbed to so often.
“Seriously though, it is pretty fuckin weird that that thing aimed for my heart. It almost hit it even. And still, here I am, almost in one piece, almost,” he added, still pretty convinced that that description couldn’t possibly apply to all the bones in his body, as moving his left arm at all was impossible for him right then.
“And?” she said, not quite able to guess where he was going with that line of thought.
“I don’t know, Aura. I just know that if it was after Ilian, then it would have been using something that could actually kill the guy who can’t even get a needle through his skin, right? And if it was using that kind of weapon, then shouldn’t it have done a lot worse to me?” He paused a moment, debating on whether or not to continue, “I mean, we saw what their weapons did to humans on the news, on that first night. So, why didn’t it do the same thing to me, now?”