Marked

The next morning, she woke up to someone knocking on the door. She kicked free of her blankets and managed to startle Hector awake in the process.

“Wha--” he said, throwing an arm over his eyes.

“Someone’s at the door.” She explained. She reached for the first item of clothing on the ground—Hector’s shirt—and slipped it over her head.

Once she’d smoothed down her hair, she cracked the door open an inch. Outside stood one of the officers. His brown uniform, which by code needed to be kept neat and pressed at all times, was unusually unkempt today. His shirt was even haphazardly tucked in.

“All pilots are to report to the deck immediately.”

“Okay,” she said, closing the door as soon as he’d moved on to the next room.

Hector was already sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes. Rachel’s cheeks flushed as memories of the previous night came rushing back but she shoved them down and tried to focus.

“What was that about?”

“They want us to report to the deck. It sounds important.”

“Let’s go then.”

“You go first. I need to wash up and then I’ll meet you there. I won’t be long.”

.........................................................................................

“Remember the flickers last night?” Hector called out, waving his hand for her to hurry. She shaded her eyes so that she could see him against the glare of the sun which seemed to be overly bright this morning.

Pushing against the many closely packed bodies cramming the deck, she finally reached him.

“Yeah, what about them?”

“Well Copenhagen’s not sure what it was. They keep saying stuff about a wave of energy over the ocean or something and he wants everyone out doing practice and near their aircraft just in case.”

“Do you think it has to do with Nicolas?”

“I don’t know, maybe. He didn’t seem overly worried when I talked to him. And he said it was just a precaution but you know what happened the last time someone said that to us.”

“Yeah, it turned out to be E-91. Should I find my mom? She’ll probably tell me the truth.”

“You could try. But they’re not letting any of the pilots off the deck, you know, just in case anything happens. Check it out, even the older pilots are out here, the ones they kept saying were too old to fly now.”

She scanned the crowd and sure enough, it seemed like every pilot she’d ever seen and then some were divided amongst the several ships.

“Hey, any clue what this is about?” It was Juan who spoke, emerging from the eastern end of the ship, a cup of water in each hand.

Hector took one and downed it. Rachel politely declined hers and took a seat beside him on a bench. The two brothers delved into a conversation of speculation and strategy while she tried to tune them out to keep her from freaking out completely.

And as the day progressed, the people grew bored. The sun shone down on all of them, exceptionally warm for a winter day on the Atlantic. There was no breeze and no clouds. Just a clear blue sky that stretched on for miles.

Around noon, Petra spearheaded a movement of packed lunches down every aisle of the ship. Still, nothing happened and the tension only grew.

At least the food brought a break to the monotony.

Juan, Hector and her sat near the railing, chatting while they ate.

“Yo, what if it was the outsiders? What if they’re getting closer to tearing down that invisible shield?”

“I don’t think so.” Hector said. “People watch that shield like it’s a spiritual entity. They’d have seen something by now.”

Another round of practice was starting, a different group this time. The jets roared to life and sent a whiff of jet fuel their way.

Juan grimaced and wrinkled his nose.

The jets zoomed into the sky and their drone became a familiar background noise, secondary to the chatter all around them.

“Okay, well, just in case we all die today, I need to show y’all something.”

Juan dusted his hands on his jeans, pulled out a small, black and white photo of something and waved it in the air.

Sunlight rippled across it, making it hard to see what it was.

“What’s that?” Both Rachel and Hector moved closer to study it.

“What the hell, Juan?” It was Hector who discovered what it was first. As he shot his brother a look of utter confusion, Rachel struggled to make sense of the picture. There was an oval-shaped something with a tiny, bean-like object inside it.

“You got a girl pregnant!? Now? At a time like this?” Hector was fuming. His face reddened and Rachel worried he might strike Juan.

“Oh my, God, you are as dumb as you look.” Rachel blurted.

Juan grinned and shrugged, unaffected. “What can I say? The ladies love me. And it was not my bad, not this time. That girl said she was drinking some shit that wouldn’t let her get pregnant.”

“And you believed her, you big knuckle-head?” Rachel asked.

“Well, why not? Who’s crazy enough to want a kid at a time like this?”

“Oh, Juan, you got a girl pregnant.”

“You’re an idiot.” Hector grumbled, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Hector, unlike his brother, had been prepared last night. And she was glad. It was a mean time to be welcoming babies into the world.

“Come on, if Nicolas or the outsiders kill us then the kid dies with her. Problem solved. But at least I’ll die happy ’cause I got laid. Not like St. Rachel over here who is probably still a virgin and you,” He jerked a thumb toward Hector, “Who hasn’t gotten any in months. Maybe that’s why you two are always so grumpy.”

Rachel’s cheeks reddened. She wished she could tell him he was wrong but that was something private between Hector and her. Instead, she leaned forward and snatched the picture out of his hand.

“It doesn’t even look like a baby. It’s tiny--like a kidney bean.”

“It’s as big as Juan’s brain.” Hector said dryly.

“You’re just jealous I got laid.”

Someone screamed. A few gasps caused them all to jerk in their seats and turn to what everyone was looking at.

The group of six aircrafts that had been partaking in a drill had suddenly lost control and were now spiraling towards the waves. They didn’t trail smoke—nothing seemed to be apparently wrong with them. Except that they were falling out of the sky like birds with no wings.

A collective gasp traveled across the crowd. One by one, the six jets plunged into the water, moving so fast that the impact tore them apart. In the sky, still drifting down, two soldiers had managed to eject from their seats but the others hadn’t made it out in time.

There was a flash of something in the atmosphere. Was it the smoke from the newly-crashed jets? Was it the glare of the sun? There was no way to be sure but moments after the flash, it became evident that the halo that usually surrounded the ships was beginning to disintegrate as if it were slowly being peeled away.

She saw Copenhagen out of the corner of her eye cup his hands around his mouth and shout. “Sound the alarm! Prepare for attack! Now!”