I don't know what I expected, I knew it would have big eyes from the shape of the mask but the sight of those luminous orbs, completely sky blue except for the odd shaped pupils, similar to a frogs, was as surprising as the rest of its features. There was no discernable nose, just two slits for nostrils while its mouth was small, filled with tiny rounded teeth. I don't know what these creatures ate but I doubted it was meat. After such a vicious battle with them, their appearance was off kilter with their fighting style. It didn't look cuddly by any stretch of the imagination, but chained up, uncovered, gasping for air, it looked helpless. J.D.'s bullet left a grisly hole in its cheek. 

            "Fred, put the mask back on, it's suffocating." I said, my voice softer than I anticipated. Did I feel sorry for the murderous alien? Fred wore the same uncomfortable look on his face, wedging the mask back in place. The alien wasted no time erasing our reservations.

            "Do you think to pity me, you vile beasts? The Catrawa readies to lay waste to this pit." The beast comment was insulting enough but I caught the shuffle of his legs at the mention of the Catrawa, as if saying the word made him uneasy. What or who was a Catrawa and why didn't our newly hardwired brains translate this one word?

            "What's a Catrawa?" J.D. rumbled from the window, keeping his eyes on the outside.

            More shuffling, the alien hesitated to answer. "The Catrawa will destroy you, we will find the cipher to this plague of monsters and wipe the world clean for our taking."

            "Do you know what happened here before you arrived?" I asked, crossing my arms, wondering how much information the alien would give without torture. "Did you know we would be here when you landed?" The alien swung to me, I could sense those strange eyes searching my face. For what? It started to emit more hacking coughs, no, not coughs. The alien laughed at us.

            "You mean you do not know how your world fell? What piteous creatures you are." It continued that awful grating laughter. I wanted to strangle the asshole. Fred caught my eye, a deadly light in his gaze.

            "Can I bring the pain now?" 

            J.D. snorted, glancing over his shoulder. "You? Where did you learn torture?"

            "Video games." Fred answered with complete confidence.

            "You said this Catorama person or whatever is readying to lay waste, as in presently about to rain destruction?" I pressed, ignoring them, leaning closer.

            "The Catrawa is moments away from erasing this fallen city." The alien hissed, lunging at me so our faces were a bare inch apart. "I hope you have enjoyed your unnatural existence, beast, because it is at an end."

            I shoved him back, heaving to my feet. "We need to get out of here!"

            "No torture?"

            "Fred!"

            "Alright, alright, women and children to the life rafts, let's roll on out." Fred grabbed a few items from his torture equipment to shove in his battered back pack, as J.D. wrapped an arm around Wolf Girl's waist, throwing the duffel bag o' guns over one shoulder to haul everything outside. I started after them but paused, turning back to the alien. Leave him to rot, my brain screamed, but there was another emotion too. The bastards tried to kill us, but we ate them first didn't we. Before I had a concrete decision in my head, I knelt at the knot of chains, working the alien free. It tensed as I yanked its bonds away.

            "Why do you do this?" It rasped. It didn't move to attack or flee, too confused to act. I wish I had some witty quip or moral statement ready but it wasn't my style.

            "I don't know." I held up my hands to back away. "Truce?" The alien remained tensed up, I couldn't tell if he was going to spring at me or bolt until I heard the others yelling for me outside as an ugly humming noise filled the air. The alien shuddered.

            "Truce, monster, though if we survive this, do not expect mercy should our paths cross again."

            "Ditto, asshat," I muttered, stumbling backwards out of the building, as the alien shimmered and vanished. He had an ace up his sleeve the whole time. "Son of a-"

            "Li!" Fred grabbed my arm, hauling me into the street, "We have a problem." He pointed skyward, where the alien ship vibrated, bolts of lightning spitting from its edges.

            "Oh, that can't be good." I had a sinking feeling in my chest. We were so hosed.

            A whistle rent the air, followed by a loud clang. "You ladies going to stand there waiting for the world to end?" J.D. stood next to an open man hole cover, easing Wolf Girl down in the sewer. Fred and I shared a glance before rushing over. I threw myself into the hole, landing in ankle deep water. The smell of sewage was present but faint, and nary a rat in sight. Fred thumped down next to me, catching the bag of guns J.D. dropped on his shoulders with a grunt. The soldier brought up the rear, sliding the manhole cover back into place, leaving us with the barest filtered light from the holes in the lid. Ahead and behind us lay damp darkness.

            A light clicked on, one of the halogen flashlights Fred snagged from Wally world, casting glimmering shadows on the walls. J.D's face was so far from the light all I could see were pin points reflected in his eyes, the vague outline of his face as his voice rumbled through the sewer.  "We need to move, try to get as far away from the sewer openings as we can." 

            We splashed forward in silence, the building hum above us playing hell on my nerves. The flash light bobbed with each step. We didn't see the zombies until they loomed up in front of us, going straight for Wolf Girl.

            "Shit," Fred barked, seizing the closest one to swing it into the others. The close quarters fighting was not ideal for swinging my messed up machete, afraid I would catch one of the others. I swung fists and kicked trying to fend them off until I heard Wolf Girl's cry of pain. I launched at the corpse attacking her. In seconds, I yanked the zombie's head off its shoulders, chucking it at another one before crouching in front of her as she cradled her arm to her chest. A large bite mark bled heavily from her forearm.

            Panic and guilt lanced through me. This was my fault, all my fault. How could I bring her here? Fred and J.D. tore into the remaining zombies as I hugged her shoulders. How long before she turned? Would J.D. kill her? Could I make her like Bert and Ernie? How could I think like that? I couldn't cry, I didn't have working tear ducts, but the guilt was strangling. She was just a little girl. The sewer pipe began shaking, the humming sound overhead turning to a roar. The remaining zombies stopped their attack, scrambling away. Fleeing like spooked animals. Dirt rained down as cracks started forming in the walls. Fred staggered up to us.

            "What happened?" He braced himself against the wall as the water started to slosh on its own around us.

            "One of them bit her." I forced out, hugging her tighter, wondering if any of us were going to survive what was coming down from the sky. J.D. pounded up to us.

            "Come on, I found something." When we didn't rise fast enough, he hauled us up, taking Wolf Girl from me in an all out sprint, leaving us to bring up the rear, Fred's flash light casting intermittent illumination as we pumped our limbs to keep up with him. J.D. vanished.

            "Where the fuck did he go!" Fred yelled, his voice drowned out by the escalating roar surrounding us. It was so loud we almost missed the shout from the darkness, leading us to a room splitting off from the sewer line. We dove inside, huddling in beside J.D. who caged Wolf Girl in his massive arms, protecting her from the raining debris. The flashlight shook in Fred's hands, his face and clothes streaked with filth and zombie. His eyes were stark in his face. I couldn't blame him, he'd already come back from the dead once today.

            Hunched this close, I could hear Wolf Girl's whimper, snaking a hand under J.D.'s arm to cup her face. He shared a tense look with me before staring into the dark, his face calm. I silently promised myself I would find a way to fix her, if I had to force feed her alien brains I would fix her.

            The sewer exploded.

****Wipes sewer water off face* Gross. Don't forget to vote!***