Chapter 60 Chapter 60: The Borg Spaceship

Lightning exploded all around him with a deafening clap of thunder, raising smoke and dust into the air from all directions.Several people were screaming - a man was hit suddenly, a girl.And that smell of burning, drowning out everything.The lightning quickly receded after a strike, but the light continued to shine through the clouds, and the rain began to pour down. Thomas hadn't moved when the first bolts of lightning struck, and there was no reason to think he would be safer in another place than where he lay.But after this raid, he scrambled to his feet and looked around to see what he could do or where he could run before the thunderstorm struck again.

The monster he had fought with was dead, half blackened and the other half gone.Teresa stood condescendingly before her opponent, and a jerk from the tip of her spear shattered the last "bulb"; its spark went out with a hiss.Minho fell to the ground, but was getting up slowly.Newt stood there, breathing heavily, inhaling and exhaling deeply.Frypan hunched over and vomited.Some lay on the ground; others—like Brenda and Jorge—still fought the monsters.Rolling thunder exploded all around them, and lightning illuminated everything in the rain. Thomas had to do something, Teresa was too far away; she was standing a few steps away from her dead monster, bent over, her hands on her knees.

We must find safe haven!he said in her head. How much time do we have left? Thomas squinted closer to his watch.ten minutes. We should go into those containers.She pointed to the nearest one, which still lay open like an eggshell cut in half, both halves of which must have been filled with rainwater by this time. He likes the idea.What if we can't close it? Is there a better solution? No.He grabbed her hand and started running. We need to tell others!As she spoke, they were already close to the container. They will understand.He knew they couldn't wait any longer—more lightning could strike them at any moment.By the time he and Teresa talked to someone, they might all be dead.He had to trust his friends to save themselves, and he knew he could trust them.

They reached the container when several bolts of lightning zipped from the sky and exploded violently around them.Dirt and rain were running everywhere; Thomas' ears were ringing.He looked into the left half of the container and could see nothing but a puddle of muddy water.A horrible smell emanated from it. "Hurry up!" he yelled, crawling in. Teresa followed him, and they didn't need to speak to know what to do next.They both knelt down and leaned forward to grab the far end of the other half of the container—the one with a rubber lining that was easy to grab.Thomas braced his waist against the edge of the container and pulled up, using all the strength in his body.The other half lifts up and covers down towards them.

Just as Thomas readjusted to sit down, Brenda and Jorge ran towards them.Thomas was relieved to see that they were safe and sound. "Is there room for us?" Jorge screamed over the clamor of the storm. "Come in!" Tereza yelled back. The two of them flipped over the edge and splashed down into this big container, packed tightly but still fit.Thomas huddled to the far end to make more room for them, holding the lid that was about to close—the rain was beating outside like a drum.When everyone was settled, he and Teresa put their heads down and let the container close completely.Aside from the hollow beating of rainwater and the distant blast of lightning and gasps, the inside of the container was relatively quiet, though Thomas still heard the same roar in his ears.

He could only hope that his other friends were safely inside their own containers. "Thanks for letting us in, lad," Jorge said when everyone seemed to catch their breath. "Of course," Thomas replied.It was completely dark inside the container, but Brenda was to his right, then Jorge, and Teresa at the far end. Brenda said: "I thought you would hesitate to take us, but this is a good opportunity to get rid of us." "Please don't say that," Thomas murmured.He was too tired to pay attention to what it sounded like.Almost everyone is dead, and they probably won't make it out of the woods.

"So this is our safe haven?" Teresa asked. Thomas pressed the little light button on his watch; they had seven minutes until the clock ran out. "Now, of course I hope so. Maybe in a few minutes these squares of earth will turn away and let us drop into some comfortable room where we can live happily ever after. Maybe not. " Click! Thomas yelped—something hit the container with the loudest bang he'd ever heard, a deafening crash.A small hole - just a gray glow - appeared in the ceiling of their safe haven, and water beads gathered and dripped quickly. "It must be lightning," Teresa said.

Thomas rubbed his ears, the tinnitus was worse now. "There's more lightning to come, and we're back where we started." His voice sounded hollow. I looked at my watch again.five minutes.The water ticked, ticked, ticked into the pool; the horrible smell still lingered; the roar in Thomas's head had subsided a little. "It's not what I imagined, bro," Jorge said. "Thinking we're here, you're going to convince your big boss to take us in and give us a cure, but we're hiding in a stinky in the bathtub waiting to be struck to death by lightning."

"How much longer?" Teresa asked. Thomas looked over. "three minutes." Outside, the storm was raging, with bursts of lightning striking the ground violently, and heavy rain pouring down. Another boom and crunch shook the container, and the gap in the ceiling widened enough for the rain to rush in, splashing and soaking Brenda and Jorge.Something hissed and steamed in too, and that bolt of lightning heated the outer layer of material. "We can't last much longer no matter what happens!" Brenda yelled. "It's even worse sitting here waiting to die!"

"Only two minutes left!" Thomas yelled back at her. "Keep going!" A voice started to sound outside.Faint at first, barely noticeable amidst the din of the storm.A kind of hum.Very low.The volume gradually increased, and it seemed that Thomas' whole body was vibrating with it. "What's that?" Teresa asked. "Don't know," Thomas replied, "but in our experience, it's definitely not a good thing. We'll have to hang on for another minute or so." The sound grew louder and deeper, now drowning out the thunder and rain, and the walls of the vessel shook.Thomas heard the wind whistling outside, somehow different from the wind that had been blowing all day, full of power, almost...artificial.

"Thirty seconds left," Thomas announced, suddenly changing his mind. "Maybe you're right, maybe we're missing something important, and I... I think we should check it out." "What?" Jorge replied. "We need to go see what's making that sound, come on, help me get this lid off." "What if a big bolt of lightning just strikes and burns me?" Thomas put the palms of both hands against the ceiling. "We're going to take our chances! Come on—push!" "He's right," Teresa said, reaching out to help. Brenda did the same, and soon Jorge joined them. "Almost there," Thomas said, "are you ready?" After getting a few positive answers, he said, "One...two...three!" They all pushed towards the sky, and their strength eventually became too much.The lid snapped off, flipped over, and hit the ground, opening the entire container wide open.The rain beat them sideways incessantly under the gust of wind. Leaning on the edge of the container, Thomas stared wide-eyed at what was hovering thirty feet above the ground, rapidly descending to the ground.The thing was huge and round, with flashing lights and thrusters burning blue flames.It was the same ship that came to save him after he was shot, the Borg ship. Thomas glanced at his watch, just in time to watch the last second, and then looked back. The Berg landed on its claw-like landing gear, and a huge cargo door in the middle of its metal hull began to open.