Quest for Liberation

Chapter 1: Escape

While wandering around the darkness of my own mind I felt a sudden icy substance being splattered on my face. When I opened my eyes I realized that I had been captured, again. I was being held by two Poptues, while being screamed at by another in a language I could not understand. I spat at their feet and they threw me in a large cabin where they put the rest of their prisoners. Before leaving, they continued to curse at me in their language. I’ve had so many encounters with them that I can almost decipher their alien language. It was probably something along the lines of, “You are going to die here you degenerate scum!”

Over the past four years the Poptues had been capturing humans, like me, and many other species of aliens to keep them in camps meant for labor, and as a safe haven for the war. At least that's what they tell them. The Poptues started the war in hopes of gaining dominance and control over other planets and spreading their own species. However, in order to do that they need to destroy every other species in the galaxy. The camps were made so that the prisoners could build their weaponized vehicles and spaceships. When the Poptues decided that they no longer needed help from the prisoners, they killed them. I am aware of that because that was what they tried to do at the camp I was in. Only me and about ten other aliens escaped. The rest of the captives were killed.

Behind me were about 30 different species of aliens that crept out of their rusty beds to see what was going on. As I searched for a bed to lie in, I noticed the prisoners still staring at me. The fear in their eyes was so distinct that I could almost smell it. I wonder what they thought about while spending countless days in the cabin. When will I die? How will I die? What do they want from me? They were all thoughts that I once asked myself. From my past experience at Dorthal, I knew that the only way to stay alive was to escape the so-called “Viorp” camp. Viorp is Poptue for annihilation. As I laid in my bed I realized that without bravery, every alien in this cabin, no matter how strong, will die. And so will I, if I don’t escape this annihilation camp.

The next morning was the regular routine for us captives. We were shackled at our hands and ankles, and the Poptues escorted us to the dining hall. As we walked in a single file line, I noticed another alien prisoner being beaten by a Poptue. Containers of food and bags of milk had trickled out of his satchel. A purplish ooze streamed out from both under his mouth and from the open wound on his forehead. He had been caught stealing from the cafeteria. At my feet was a ring of keys that may belonged to the Poptue who was beating the alien. He must have crossed our path when he chased the alien and dropped it. I kicked it up onto my foot, reached down to grab it, and put it in my pocket. As we passed the weapon factory I noticed that there were large, completed tanks and ships. The Poptues didn’t need us anymore. I had much less time than I thought I’d had. While I was eating at the dining hall, an alien started talking to me.

“What your deal?” he asked me.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, how did they get you in here, with us.” He was persistent.

“I don't remember. And what do you mean, us?” I asked him.

“My name is Youga and I run this camp. I know prisoner here, and every prisoner knows me. I don’t know about you, but we are getting out of this hellhole.” I was glad that I wasn’t the only rebellious one at this camp.

“Hey I’m trying to get out of here too,” I told him.

“What makes you think you are eligible to join our little team?” he asked me. I reached out to shake his hand with my right hand. With my other hand I showed Youga the keys and the shackle. He smirked and I handed him the key to free himself.

“At any minute, the Poptues are going to show up with rifles to kill us all. We have to get out of here,” I told him. Youga jumped onto the table and made an announcement to the prisoners in a language I wasn’t familiar with. Half of them armed themselves with knives and the others hid. A few minutes later the Poptues busted through the doors with their weapons. I took my knife and attacked them. I charged at an unsuspecting Poptue and drove my knife into his back. Another one saw me, and I threw the same knife at him. The blade pierced his forehead and he collapsed immediately. I picked up a rifle and fired at the other Poptues. At the corner of my eye, I saw Youga slaughtering about five Poptues with his knife before picking up a rifle and killing more. The rest of the prisoners held their own and killed a significant number of attackers.

While I was distracted, a Poptue shot me in the leg. I screamed and fell to the ground. As a Poptue stood over me, ready to finish me off, he was shot in the head. Youga rushed to me, and helped me up. He signaled to the prisoners to move outside, and we hijacked the tanks. Despite being shot in the leg, I didn’t feel much pain. The adrenaline that pumped through my body enabled me to continue fighting without giving in to the pain I felt. We finished them off and ran outside. Youga and I took the same tank and drove through the camp, destroying any building important to the Poptues we saw. He destroyed most of the tanks and vehicles except for three spaceships. The spaceships were big enough to fit every prisoner at the camp. We celebrated as we escaped the planet.

“Ya know, what we did back there was great. We make a good team,” Youga said.

“Thanks.”

“Hey I never got your name.”

“Oh, my name is Zander. Zander Brooks.” In the distance we saw large ships heading towards the planet. They were Utopia ships, which were on our side. They must have been heading to the planet to finish off the Poptues. The war will soon come to an end.