Niki wanted to say to Trevor, "Buddy, I think, for the first time since we got here, we might be in some real trouble."​

     Only she couldn't...

     because Trevor was no longer there.

     Niki could no longer see him anywhere.

     It was only her now.

     Wherever the fuck we are, I fucking hate it, she thought.

     Because now, directly overhead, a warship hovered.

     And it wasn't a warship proudly representing any government or corporation.

     It, in fact, looked like a warship made out of other warships.

     Refuse bounced off its surface before continuing to the ground.

     Niki took one last look around for Trevor.

     Nothing. Fuck!

     Except for those too wounded to crawl away, Niki found herself alone amongst the flames and the wreckage that she, herself, had helped to create.

     Where in the fuck did everyone go so fast? Niki asked herself, even though her instincts had been screaming the answer to that question to her all along.

     They'd gone underground.

     Niki's instincts told her an entire community existed beneath her feet.

     How to get to them, though.

     She hid under a pile of flaming garbage, doing all she could to keep the flames from touching her.

     She scanned her surroundings yet again, although, this time, she wasn't looking for Trevor. She needed a question answered.

     How was everyone getting below the surface of the ground?

     At first, she saw nothing...

     but then she began to catch them.

     They didn't look like holes leading underground, at first. They looked like piles of garbage or mounds of dirt.

     Looking closer, though...

     No, Niki could see how they could all be holes, gaps in the Earth, passageways to whatever existed below Niki's feet.

     Niki scoped out the nearest hole from where she hid. It looked like a tarp spread over someone's belongings, but, upon closer examination, Niki saw that the tarp didn't look exactly right.

     Somehow, it looked like something staged.

     A wide and thin and light sheet of refuse drifted from the sky like a parachute.

     I'm not going to get a better chance than this, Niki figured.

     She dashed for the tarp, hoping that sheet might hide her.

     She got under the drifting piece, all right.

     She even got past it before it drifted all the way to the ground...

     but that's when the warship's transport ray got her right in the back.

     It didn't paralyze her, she could still wriggle like a skewered insect, but she couldn't break free from the ray, either.

     The ray caused her to rise.

     She decided it was a waste of time and energy to struggle.

     Instead, she readied for battle as she rose into the dilapidated warship.

     Whoever or whatever greeted her would be in for a fight.

     Good-bye for now, Trevor, she thought. You are my partner, and I will not leave you behind. I will come back for you, I promise.

     The ray stopped only when Niki was completely inside and the hatch of the vehicle had, once again, closed and sealed. 

CONTINUE