Page 2 of Made For The Alien Warrior

“Do it now!”

Symphony stared at the bright fluorescent light clinging to the hospital ceiling. Regret dug into her chest and caused a tear to slip down her cheek.

She wanted to weep for all the experiences she never got to have, all the places she never got to see, and all the people she never got to meet.

She’d spent so much time in the lab at school that having a social life hadn’t even entered the picture. While her peers were out drinking, smoking and making out on Friday nights, she was measuring chemicals and running tests.

Symphony couldn’t help but feel she’d wasted her time. Despite the effort she put into school, she wouldn’t be able to use her degree or leave a mark on the world of bio-chemical engineering.

Maybe she should have been like those girls in her dorm, spending most of her time chasing guys rather than sticking her nose in books. Here she was, dying at twenty-two—never kissed a boy and never had sex.

In all fairness, boys weren’t lining up to get an amputee naked, but she’d never know because she never put herself out there…

“Stay back!”

The first jolt of electricity hit her chest.

Her mouth fell open. She gasped as her body arched off the bed and crashed back onto the mattress, causing the cot to rattle.

“Again!”

The cold metal plates slammed against her body and the electric jolt caused stars to dance in front of her eyes.

At that moment, the strangest thing happened.

The stars started falling.

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, sir!”

An electric buzz zapped the room and sparks fell from the lights. The doctors bent over, arms raised to protect themselves. Nurses shrieked in fear.

At that moment, a hot, white light blasted into the room. It released an energy pulse that shattered the heart rate monitor.

Glass sprayed like water from a hose. Doctors flew back, colliding with the wall. The smacks of their bodies on concrete sounded horrific.

Am I supposed to walk towards that crazy light that just tried to kill everyone?

Symphony dug her fingers into the bed. She’d been relatively accepting of the end before, but that was when she thought death would be peaceful.

‘Just walk towards the light’, everyone said in movies and in Internet forums. They said the light was a soft, gentle glow. It beckoned. Caressed. It didn’t shoot through the ceiling and knock out everyone in sight.

Groans filled the room, coming from the direction of the fallen doctors. Symphony shrank back as the light charged toward her like a hungry monster.

No, no, no.

The light continued to rush forward, ignoring her silent pleas for mercy. It consumed her whole. Heavy prickles hit her flesh and caused a white-hot pain to slash into her body.

She opened her mouth and screamed.

Was the light supposed to hurt like this? And if it was the light that led into the afterlife, why did it affect the doctors too?

The light pulsed, getting stronger and stronger until it burned to open her eyes. Symphony squeezed them shut, fighting the tug on her body. She didn’t want to go with this light. She didn’t want it to take her.

But it was stronger than she could ever hope to be. Symphony’s heart sped up, thumping hard against her chest as she waited for the light to destroy her.

It didn’t.