A GIFT OF TIME

Episode 25

"what the f**k!?" Charlie panicked. 

"it's not happening is it?" I heard Tony's voice in the dark. 

"dad please tell me it's not happening?" Hailey fretted. 

"will you all calm down?" my voice echoed as I climbed down with candles and matches. 

"Danny you think the repulser would work?" I asked whilst litting the candles as I set them each on every places that could illuminate the room. With about 10candles the living room was still dimly lighted but was enough to make out the nervous faces in the room. 

" it hasn't been tested. We were waiting for the first wave" Danny replied as we got attracted to the city which could be seen from the large glass window. We saw the city's light go off. Row by row until we couldn't make out anymore light at the far end our gaze reached. 

"does anyone still question my stories of these aliens because right now they are here" I questioned feeling my throat ache. My eyes felt teary because reality was finally setting in. This is it. Everything I've been preparing for. No one had their hands raised so I assume everyone believes me now. 

"good. I want you all to be grateful because we are here and till our last breath we'll protect each other. No more family loses. Nicholas wouldn't have to lose his parents. I won't have to lose mine. Brian wouldn't have to lose his. We will fight and survive this together " I urged my voice hoarse as my voice threatened to c***k. 

" I won't lose you this time mom, dad " I said moving to my parents and holding their hands. 

" we won't lose you too love " my mom sobbed hugging me. I nodded immediately I released them. 

" Danny, Brian, Nicholas... Mr Stewart. I think we need to move to the engineering room now. We need to make the repulser work" I stated firmly and Danny nodded. I called just few but everyone followed to the engineering room. 

"I'm scared" Charlie's confession made me halt while others pass by me to the room. 

"I'm scared Claire. Maybe we were able to make few achievements. I mean, the past few days had been new and adventurous. As dangerous as it appears. I loved it but facing the real thing Claire. I'm freaking scared." Charlie explained his voice hollow and timid. I held his hand and look into his eyes. 

" back when the apocalypse started Charlie. You'll move to me and tell me. Everything will be okay if we just follow dad's normal slogan. Dad had a saying back then. He used to say survival is, base on strength, hope and believe. We hope for it, believe in it and fight for it. I am not sure this will work out this time either Charlie. I wasn't certain but I do hope and believe we'll survive and this... Is my effort to. You have nothing to be scared of brother. Trust me" I assured and he brought me into his embrace giving me a warm hug. We moved into the room which we had assigned to Brian and the other engineering guys. It was the workshop for making the repulser and other stuffs. I watch Nicholas and Brian try to start the strange machine. It started with the oozing of air and then I heard a loud whirling of fan. For 10 minutes the machine kept making different sounds and I couldn't tell why it wasn't working yet. 

"are you sure it's gonna work Danny?" I asked sounding quite doubtful. 

"it would. I'm certain. Just give it few more minutes" Danny implored switching on non-electric flashlight. 

"Holy s**t" someone which I suppose was Hailey exclaimed and I abruptly turned to the crowd which seem to have occupied the room than I apparently planned for. Everyone looked curious about what had happened and waited for her to give a reason for her sudden shout. 

"my phone isn't working. I charged it" Hailey's sudden panicking had me rolling my eyes. 

"my phone also isn't working either." someone I guessed was Nicole informed. 

"weren't you guys listening. Nothing's gonna work. Nothing's gonna work. This is the aliens first wave. They will take out our electricity before turning to our life sources." I explained trying not to make my annoyance so evident but it did tainted my voice. I turned back to Danny to see him struggling with something in the repulser. 

" I understand if you need more time Danny-

"it'll work trust me-

" we have actually kinda done it on our own and it didn't, Claire are you sure about this machine. I don't think it's a real one. What if you were wrong about the drawing?. I don't really believe it'll work Claire. If it would. So many engineers would have tried it-

"I doubt any engineers witnessed and survive the apocalypse Brian" I intervened shutting him up in the process. 

"this machine was built to create alternate pulse to the one's the aliens hit us with. It will even it out giving electricity in the process. I believe it'll work because. I've seen it work. I've watched it work. So I believe it'll work" I assured slowly folding my hands as I exhaled rapidly. Darn it, it was like 120 degrees in here. 

"maybe it just needs more time" it was Nathaniel that spoke. I made no reply but I saw few people head out of the room. I didn't know if I should be grateful because I was extremely heating up in the room. Mrs Evens, Charlie, Brian, Nicholas and I were left when a massive wave expelled from the machine and it whirl to live. The light slowly come back on the process. And Charlie squealed. 

"Holy s**t! it works!" Brian exclaimed staring at the lights like it was a miracle. No it was a miracle. Mr Stewart came in looking shocked and horrified. 

"this, is beyond science" he muttered and I chuckled moving to Danny to give him a toe curling kiss. "It works" I grinned immediately I pulled away from him. He was chuckling softly and he looked extremely contented. 

"you did it" I grinned. 

"no, we did it" He corrected hugging me tight. Everyone pretty much seem shocked about the electricity so there were chatters alot that night. 

"so we are the only place that's got electricity in the entire universe?" Tony asked sounding quite doubtful but extremely thrilled.

"I love you Claire" Tony playfully muttered making fake cries which make everyone chuckle. 

"I'm proud of you Danny" Mrs Evans muttered hugging Danny and I chuckled as he winked at me while facing me at the neck crook of his mom. 

"I'm so proud of you" My mom came running to me and I nodded. But suddenly my throat gone dry and it got harder to breathe. 

"Claire you okay?" my brother's voice sounded quite far or I was slipping of. Everything suddenly went blank. I opened my eyes to see myself in a wheat field extremely exposed to the sky. The moon was doing a nice job at illuminating earth and I could make out my little alien friend who I could tell was smiling with those small lips across the Field. For some kind of reason he had grown bigger, or taller. I sighed and started to walk through the field. He was walking to me as well and we met in the middle do the field. 

"glad you could make it". I don't know if I was glad about their arrival but seeing him there was a good thing I guess. 

"Claire" oh damn he knew my name or has he said it before. Can't really recall. 

"I'm very much glad-

" oh wait you speak English now? "I didn't hide the surprise in my voice. I didn't bother too because I was extremely stunned about it. 

" I have been studying your language for a while Claire. It should not be a surprise " he explained and I wish I could tell him he did not sound very much like him in English. 

"I am impressed on your progress against my uncle. He was enraged to realize you had one of his loyalties with you. He's preparing for bigger destruction Claire. He wants to have this world at all it takes even if it means destroying it. He brought what we Ghafils called drillers. It is one of our most advanced technology. They drill whatever they are programmed to. My uncle knew you would try to stop him when he start to drill the center of your earth. The most dangerous place for Ghafils. So, you must prepare Claire. My uncle is bent on not just wiping you out. But ruining your world. And about the Ghafil you hold hostage. Keep him alive. He's of so many uses to me. The drill will be dropped from the ship to a place not far from you. Lebahorn-

"you mean Lebanon?" I asked furrowing my brows in confusion and he nodded. 

"there it will be moved by our air transporter to the center of the earth. You must stop the drill or your world will lay in ruins before you know it. I cannot do much-

"I understand. Your might be stripped of your honor for betraying your kind. I know your help has limit. But I'm more thankful for this. Thank you for everything" I said feeling indebted to him. 

"I am sorry I couldn't help your soul. There is limit to my power. I am quite aware your soul weakens everyday-

" I won't ask of more. Making a better world for my family and my love ones. Is enough gift for me. Thank you " I said gratefully, I was kinda confused about the soul part though. He probably meant my heart. He nodded before I got whisked by the wind. Wow that's new I thought as I slowly opened my eyes to meet the sunshine creeping into the room through the small space left by the curtains. I stood realizing I'm in nothing more than my undies literally I was n***d because I wouldn't considered a black half-b*a and black lace panties. I hope it's mom who did the undressing. I thought moving to the curtains to make more room for the sunlight. I jumped to see Danny stirring from his sleep on the other side of the bed. Why hadn't I noticed there was someone on my bed. I thought trying not to make any noise as I tried to move back and get my clothes which was resting on the wing chair opposite the bed. I was doing a good moving closer to the wing chair when I stepped on pieces of broken glass. 

"ouch" I cried and Danny abruptly shot up looking straight at the door for any intrusion. 

"ow, ow, ow" I exclaimed from the pain I felt as I moved hastily to get my clothes since Danny was a little distracted but I was about getting them when I felt Danny's eyes on me. 

"good morning" I faked a grin but he was busy ogling at me. 

"do you mind, turning back?" I implored and he blinked himself to reality, nodded and turned while I put my clothes on. 

"why does mom has to take off my clothes for heaven's sake" I muttered through gritted teeth pulling down my tank top and getting into my hot pants. 

"I'm done now" I informed and he slowly turned to me. 

"Holy s**t you're bleeding" Danny half screamed rushing to me on noticing the blood prints on the marble tiles. I totally forgot I was injured. Thinking about it now I felt the pain slowly spreading throughout my leg. I didn't get to dwell on it for long. Danny swiftly lift me into his arms bridal style and took me out of the room. 

"she's awake?" Nicole's fruity voice had me turning to her direction. Oh Good. she had a bowl of fruits in her hands. 

"what happened to her?" Hailey asked now as blood dripped down from my injured foot making red droplets on the floor. 

"has Mrs Chadwick finished setting the clinic?" Danny asked and Hailey vigorously nodded yes. I watched as unsettled Danny hastily took me to the room mom had set up as the clinic after we arrive. 

"oh my goodness what happened to her?" my mom who was in a lab coat asked immediately I was led into the penthouse clinic and carefully dropped on the half bed. The clinic wasn't really a clinic but mom had managed to set the place up with few clinic amenities for minor injuries. We had bought plentiful supplies of drugs and first aid in case of accidents and minor health issues. There were three half bed in the room and between each are cabinets which most of the drugs are stored. And there is a shelf where other drugs and clinical equipment were kept. If you weren't walking down the house hallway to the place you would be convinced it's a real clinic. 

"probably got pierced by the broken glasses Brian promised to take care of last night" he gritted his teeth in anger at the last part and I could tell he was likely to beat Brian up if he showed up soon. Oh and there he is. My eyes widened in terror as Brian made his way in with Nicholas. Just like I suspected Danny slammed him against the wall holding the hem of his Hawaiian shirt. 

"hey dude what's wrong with you?" Brian frowned suddenly agitated at Danny's sudden action. 

"she got injured by the glass you f*****g broke last night you came to check on her man!" Danny spat and I sighed. 

"Danny let go" I implored seeing nothing but pure rage evident in his eyes. 

" he caused your accident Claire-

"Danny that's enough-

"He-

" I said that's enough! " I snapped and he let go, glaring dangerously at him. I can't believe he showed that aggression in front of my mom. He must have noticed because he suddenly pale out of guilt. 

" I'm sorry Mrs Chadwick " he apologized before turning to me but I averted his gaze and looked over to my mom who wasn't quite surprised at his overprotective act. 

"it's alright Danny. I totally understand you looking out for my daughter. But it's all an accident okay? You boys need not make big deal out of it" my mom softly scolded and he nodded forcing a smile for my mom. I didn't meet his gaze nevertheless. I just watched my mom dress my leg. 

"I'm really sorry Claire. I totally forgot about the class I was busy working on something with my dad. I'm sorry" Brian apologized and I could tell he was feeling remorseful about it by the sympathy he was expressing on his timid face. 

"it's okay Brian" I smiled meeting his guilty gaze before turning to Nicholas who was giving me a look I do not understand. He'd been giving me that look since the last time we talked and I just couldn't quite understand it. I turned away from him and watch mom made her finish touch on the bandage. When she was done Danny tried to move close and apologized but was interrupted by the sudden squeaking of the voice which I very much recognized to be my dad's. Not minding my wound I jumped on the floor and briskly run to the where his voice was coming from. It was their lab. Wow it was quite huge. Didn't have the time to make a quick examination as I quickly moved to my dad. 

"Dad" I called worriedly as I moved to him slowly as his back was turned at us. Danny held me a little but I nodded I was fine because I had just realized I had grab a stitcher from the clinic on my way to the lab. I slowly moved to my dad to pat him and he turned to us with a grin on his face. 

"oh guy's you're here. You will not believe the discovery I just made" my dad grinned grabbing my hand and leading me to a computer in one of the corners of the room. Turns out my dad was busy staring into the microscope when we arrived. 

"Honey you can not believe this" my dad grinned at my mom who had her brows furrowed in annoyance because my dad had literally scared us all. Turns out he was merely excited. 

"your Alien friend-

" Hero? What's up with Hero? "I questioned suddenly sounding worried but my dad put his hand on my shoulders and made me sit on a long stool facing a computer which had something I would have declared was red blood cells except it was green. 

" agree to let me use him as a live specimen-

" Hero agreed to be your lab rat!? "I asked shocked. 

" no no, I'm not hurting him. Internal examination was carried out on the dead alien which we are now preserving with liquid nitrogen. Though his brain is dead. I realized with Nitrogen their body can live up to 5years before dying as long as they get their essential nutrient. " my dad elaborated. 

" okay this sounds interesting " I muttered folding my arms and listening to my dad. Mrs. Stewart, Brent and I have been thoroughly carrying out some examinations on these species. They are amazing Claire. They are more biologically advanced than us. Since most of them are bad guys I basically base my research on you know. Destroying them" my dad clicked his tongue before deciding to continue. 

"their cells are round. Just like humans. Check it out" he turned my face to the screen as I looked at the objects floating on the screen just like red blood cells flow in fluid. 

"they have their own platelets, white cells and everything but the reason why they are different is. They are made up of Nitrogen. They are able to chemically use this element in everything. If they are injured with just enough nitrogen their cells repair and regenerate faster. I'll take that part later but just now I figured what is most dangerous to their cell " my dad paused meeting all our extremely audient gazes. He chuckled lightly and brought a test tube from the test tube rack. It held a liquid of green glowing green vial. 

" this is an active blood-

"an active blood you mean?" my mom asked a little confused. 

"their blood filled with liquid Nitrogen" my dad answered before dividing the blood into two with another text tube. Then he brought a small cylinder with a label ozone. He filled in a little into a dropper and moved to the test tube rack to take one of the two test tube which contained blood. My dad held it up for all of us to see before dropping a droplet inside the tube. And within seconds. It changes brown. 

"wow" Brian exclaimed watching as the tube turned darker to give a darker shade of brown. 

"and if you add a large quantity of Nitrogen. It revives it". My dad explained putting everything down to fill a pipette with what I assume was liquid nitrogen. He drained it into the brown blood and miraculously. It changed back to the glowing green. 

"trust me if my science teacher in fifth grade had done this much of a good job in science practicals. I would have chosen being a doctor" Brian chattered and I chuckled. 

"good job dad" I smiled knowing we had something against them. Might as well be used as a weapon. 

"where's Mr Anderson?" I suddenly got curious. 

"he's in the inner room running more test with. Hero-

" Hero? " I frowned wanting to move into he inner chambers which the door was half opened. Thinking about it now there was voices coming out from there. 

" dove I suggest you shouldn't go in there, he might be n***d" my dad advised and I stilled abruptly turning back and heading for the door.

"I have something to tell all of you by the way-

" Tanya already told us. About the drill right?" Brian asked and I nodded not really surprised Tanya got it out of me. I must have muttered form my sleep. 

" we've started working on it. Tony especially. Let's go and talk about it nevertheless " Brian notified and I nodded before all of them move out with me as the last person behind the long queue but before we moved into the hallway Nicholas abruptly turned and backed me against the wall before kissing me. Oh God! I thought as he invaded my mouth ignoring the loud thump of my heart against its ribcage. 

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