500: An Anthology of Short Stories

Steve threw the two heavy canisters into his suitcase like a frenzied man. He had mere seconds to pack, so he grabbed only the essentials.

“Come on, come on,” he encouraged himself to hurry, “they’ll be here soon.”

Just then he heard the faint sound of a car engine coming down the lane to his cabin. Hurriedly he went to the front door, lugging the suitcase with him. He had his cell phone in his right hand when it rang, giving him a slight startle.

“Yeah?” he answered distractedly.

“Professor, are you ready? The car should be pulling up at your door momentarily,” the caller said.

“Yes, they’re here. We’ll be there in under an hour.”

Esther caught sight of Steve across the crowded room as he was escorted toward the lifts.

“Steve!” she shouted to catch his attention. The crush of bodies threatened to unleash her claustrophobia, but she calmed herself by breathing slowly, regularly.

Everybody in the room knew it would be mere minutes before they had to be underground to be safe, but there weren’t enough personnel to guide them all. Outside, a sudden loud vibration started, traveling through the concrete building and through their bones as if they were all made of thin paper.

Steve heard a faint voice calling his name above the multitude of panicked sounds. He spun around just as they reached the lifts, searching for the origin of the call.

“Professor,” one of his bodyguards said in a firm tone, “we need to get you to your lab now!”

Steve ignored him, continued looking for whoever had called him. Then he spied her at the very edge of the room. Esther.

“In a minute,” Steve answered the man curtly before he started to push his way through the crowd to Esther.

Outside, the fiery bombardment began in earnest.

Esther sighed in relief when she saw Steve coming towards her. She fell into Steve’s outstretched arms as he reached her; both clung fiercely to each other.

“I thought you’d already been taken to the lab,” Steve said in confusion to Esther, a deep frown of concern upon his face.

“I got separated from my escorts,” Esther informed him. “Thank God I saw you.”

“But don’t these idiots know that you’re paramount to our success against these invaders, that you’re the ‘charm’ we must use to defeat them?”

“Perhaps they do, but perhaps they are just as incredulous as you were when I first told you who I am,” Esther calmly explained.

Esther stepped into the glass chamber. As she did, Steve released the gas that would allow her to transform into her true shape. He still couldn’t believe that her chaperons had simply lost her. He refused to consider the consequences.

In place of Esther, there was now a creature of such beauty that the only word Steve could think of to describe her was “angel”. Except that she held a silver shield in one hand, and a flaming sword in the other.