Page 39 of The Alien's Major Dilemma

"Major Marissa Ozark."

"High school mascot?"

"Miners."

"What's the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?"

"African or European?" Sergeant Burke swallowed a grin and Major Lafferty nodded.

"Can you walk?"

"I'm willing to try," she said, and let the men behind her pull her arms back and into a set of restraints. It wasn't personal, it was procedure, and she was doing her best to be helpful. "We need to get Cooper."

She could still feel him in the back of her mind but she couldn't focus enough to talk to him and he wasn't helping.

"Cooper's the one that grabbed you?"

"It was a cultural miscommunication and I had talked him into coming back to base with me when we were taken prisoner. There should be a record of the call."

The Commander nodded and two of the men guarding the door took off while they pulled her to her feet. Every ache and bruise made itself known as they started to move out the doorand down the corridor. Nobody was around to try and stop them aside from the robed bodies that lay where they'd fallen and Marissa knew they wouldn't be getting up again.

She heard the shouting down one of the halls before Cooper contacted her.

I don't think they're happy carrying me, he said wryly.

Marissa tried to turn her head to see what was going on but stumbled forward instead.

"Burke," Major Lafferty snapped.

"On it, boss," Sergeant Burke said before he spun her around and lifted her over his shoulder without missing a step.

"Damn, Burke, try not to make me lose my lunch," Marissa protested when her stomach hit his shoulder.

"You puke on me, I'm making you do my laundry for a month," he retorted.

They turned a corner into an opening that looked like it had just been installed via explosives and plunged into a corridor lit almost entirely by the lights they were carrying.

"What was wrong with using the front door?" she asked.

"Our key didn't work," Burke answered. "Thought we'd do them a favor and make a new one."

Major Ozark had a million questions but sat on her urge to ask. She'd find out what happened once they were out of danger. If she ever found out. There'd been a strange lack of suppressed fire on their way out and she wondered if they were running into an ambush.

All the lights went out and she fought the scream rising in her throat. The bouncing lights as they ran though the series of caves had been eerie and nauseating but the sudden absence of anything had her fighting to get away.

Sergeant Burke dropped her and she landed on her hip and shoulder, her arms screaming in agony behind her. She struggled to her feet, certain she wasn't screaming, but terrifiedof the frantic panting she could hear echoing off the walls around her.

Strong hands grabbed her arms and pulled her to her feet while someone called her name.

Marissa.

Cooper's voice rolled through her brain like a cool breeze and she could breathe again.

"Talk to me, Major Ozark," Major Lafferty was saying inches from her face. "We're almost out, are you hurt?"

She shook her head and gulped. "I'm fine, Sam. Get me out of here."

He turned her and propelled her forward, his hand holding her bicep to keep her moving in the right direction, and suddenly they were running into the brightest lights she'd ever seen. Her feet hit a metal ramp that started moving while her eyes adjusted to their surroundings.

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