As the couple processes their situation, the Commander limps into a coffee shop and sits down at one of the tables. Unsurprisingly, there are very few people at the coffee shop. There are only three other customers and one lonesome barista. They must have stayed in the shop when the countdown began. Every television in the cafe has the red countdown clock on it. The Commander allows himself a few moments to mourn, then he scans the room. The three customers and barista are all doomscrolling on their smartphones, the only electronics that seem to work.

  Barista: Whoa!

  Customer One perks up: What is it?

  The barista smiles with glee: People are heading to N.A.S.A.! They’ve got rockets to take us to the moon!

  Customer One: How are we going to live on the moon, though?

  Barista: Let me see. *She keeps scrolling*

  The Commander sighs. Humans could never outrun Wyverna, even if they escaped Earth. Suddenly, three strange people rush into the coffee shop. Two enter through the door, but one seems to have materialized from a customer’s phone.

  Webmaster: EVERYONE AGAINST THE WALL!

  Everyone, including the Commander, sprints over to the back wall and stands against it. Webmaster, Refraction, and Second Law stand in front of them.

  Webmaster: Ugh! There’s only five of you! Well, then…I will have to take one of you. We need a living human for something very*grins wickedly* important. Who will it be? Hmmm…

  Webmaster surveys the quivering people. Just as she is about to grab one of them randomly, one of the customers pushes the Commander forward.

  Customer One: Take him! He looks homeless anyway! Just leave us alone!

  Webmaster: I guess we have our man!

  Webmaster and Second Law forcefully grab the Commander by his arms and pull him out of the coffee shop. Webmaster then releases the Commander from her grip and seems to disappear. Refraction darkens and then vanishes. Second Law then begins to run, still holding the Commander’s arm. Then, she accelerates rapidly. The whole world begins to blur around them. Suddenly, Second Law stops. The Commander leans forward as she ceases moving. The two have arrived at the White House. A camera scans Second Law.

  Camera*whirs*: Access de….ni…deni…d…granted.

  A green light flashes and the doors of the White House open. The inside of the White House is crawling with Wyverna’s interdimensional allies. Many paralyzed staff members lay on the floor. Wyverna walks down the steps toward the Commander.

  Wyverna to Second Law: I see you’ve brought a specimen. Your timing was efficient, but it could have been much quicker. We’ve lost fifteen minutes already!

  Second Law: Fifteen minutes?! That is but seconds in other universes!

  Wyverna: But it is not that way here! *Wyverna walks up to Second Law and the Commander* He’s certainly not in peak condition. *Wyverna flicks the Commander’s wounds on his head and he grimaces* You could have found a more worthy specimen. Perhaps the strongest human on Earth would produce better blood.

  Second Law: All you said was ‘Find a human within twenty to thirty years of age!’ How was I supposed to know that you wanted the strongest man on earth?!

  Wyverna: Enough! This human is the one I’ll have to work with! Since you wasted precious time, I will have to get Dante to set up the experimental area within the next twelve hours. *Whispering to Second Law* The penalty for countering me is the Blank Room. Do not push my mercy.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  Wyverna grabs the Commander and drags him into what seems to have been a reception office.

  Wyverna*sarcastically*: This is where you’ll be staying for the next sixty hours. I hope it’s to your liking. If you need anything, there will be two of my colleagues outside your door. Have a good night!

  Wyverna slams the door and two guards are positioned outside the door. The Commander notices a skinny, frail woman sitting in the corner of the room.

  Emily: Who are you?

  Commander: I am the one that Wyverna plans to use.

  Emily puts her head against her knees and begins to cry. The Commander crawls over to Emily and tries to comfort her.

  Emily: It’s me! I’m gonna kill you! She’s making me!!!

  Commander: You have a choice. You don’t have to obey the the Empress.

  Emily: You don’t understand! She’ll kill my family if I don’t! She’ll kill me! I have to! I have to!

  The Commander sighs as he watches Emily sob into her hands.

  Commander: She hasn’t been feeding you, has she?

  Emily: No, she…she says that food is a privilege that I lost when I disobeyed her.

  A tear falls on the Commander’s face. The two of them sit in silence for a long time.

  Back at the hotel, Annelise is struggling to fall asleep. She stares at the spinning ceiling fan until morning. The hotel is silent. Cory wakes up to Annelise watching the fan.

  Cory: Did you get any sleep last night?

  Annelise shakes her head: I can’t sleep. Not with everything that’s going on.

  Cory nods in understanding. He gets out of bed and makes a cup of coffee. Annelise forces herself to get out of bed and gets dressed.

  Cory: You need to rest, Annie. You’ve been through a lot these past couple days.

  Annelise: I will rest, but staying in bed all day won’t help anything. I’ve told my patients that over and over again.

  Cory sighs: We don’t have any food except for a few coffee pods. How are we going to eat?

  Just then, someone knocks on the door of their hotel room. Cory unplugs a lamp and carries it with him to the door to use as a weapon. He slowly opens the door. A woman with a fake tan stands in the doorway.

  Cory: Who are you?

  Susanna: Wait? You’re serious? *She smiles with relief* I’m Susanna Beatrice. I was staying in a room a floor down from here, but everyone just…left. Including the staff. This huge crowd ran outside and headed for their cars. I’m pretty sure we’re the only ones left in the hotel.

  Cory checks his phone: It looks like habitable rockets are being set up all over the world. They’re heading to the moon. Maybe the others were going to try to board the rockets.

  Susanna: So…they’re trying to escape.

  Cory: I think so. If you hurry, maybe you can grab a spot on one before it’s too late.

  Susanna: Why haven’t you gone, then?

  Cory: There’s someone we’re staying for. Family.

  Susanna nods and pauses for a moment: I think I’ll stay, too.

  Cory: Don’t stay because of me. We’re complete strangers.

  Susanna: I’m not staying because of you. I always imagined myself dying at home. Even though I can’t get to my house in time…I’ll at least be on Earth, in the United States.

  Cory sighs: Well, good luck, Susanna.

  Susanna nods: Thanks. Also, I checked most of the floors. There are a couple of other people who stayed, if you need someone to talk to. Levi’s on the third floor in room 445A, and Tyler’s on the fifth floor in room in room 873B.

  Cory: Thank you.

  Susanna nods and walks away.

  Annelise: Who was that?

  Cory: Some woman named Susanna. She says that everyone except us and a few other people rushed out of the hotel to get on rockets off Earth.

  Annelise: Rockets?

  Cory nods: I guess everyone’s gonna try to escape.

  Annelise sighs: You can’t run away from your problems, especially if your problem is the Evil Alien Empress.

  Cory: I agree, but I’m guessing that their goal is just to buy some time for humanity.

  Cory pauses for a moment.

  Cory: Do you really think this will work?

  Annelise: Do I think what will work?

  Cory: Beyond’s plan.

  Annelise: I know it will. I’m sure of it. I just don’t know why it has to be done…in this manner.

  Cory smiles weakly: I don’t understand half the things that Beyond says. But maybe one day, it will make more sense. Maybe, then, we’ll know why he said what he said.