Eva hoped the same guy would be on duty at the makeshift barrier to the guarded subdivision. He was. She kept her Glock buried in a leg pocket on her pants, her MP23 on the floor of the delivery truck, tucked partially under the seat. She didn’t want the weapon to be seen, but also didn’t want to have too hard a time retrieving it if she needed it.
It took a few minutes, but she convinced the makeshift guard, Kase, to go get their mayor or president or alcalde or whatever they wanted to call their leader. He ran off.
The woman with the baby still held the old 22 on them, but Eva got out, not showing any fear of the rifle. It probably wasn’t even loaded right, although it wasn’t hard to load a 22. Eva went to the back of the truck and signaled for the woman to follow.
The woman hesitated.
“I’m not going to bite,” Eva said.
The woman still didn’t move.
“What’s your name?” Eva asked.
Nothing.
“Fine. I’m going to call you Penelope. I love that name. I know it’ll get shortened to Penny, but I’m okay with that. That’s what I’m going to name my first little girl.”
Still nothing.
“Penelope, come back here and look at this. Please? I’m not going to hurt you or your baby.” She diplomatically left out that if that had been her intention, both the woman and the guy with her would be dead and Eva would be wreaking whatever havoc she wanted to.
“Penelope. Woman to woman,” Eva said.
“I’ve seen women do terrible things,” the woman finally replied.
Eva sighed. “I’m sure you’re right.” She reached into the back of the truck. “Fine, I’ll bring it to you.” She pulled a case of six tins of baby formula and a large bag of diapers out. She brought them to the woman and set them at her feet.
“How do I know that baby food ain’t poisoned?”
Eva’s Glock came out, the muzzle jammed in the woman’s neck under her chin before the woman could do anything. Eva pushed it hard and tears came to the woman’s eyes.
“Now I’m sick of your lack of trust. If I wanted to hurt you, you’d be dead before you even knew what was coming. Take the stupid baby stuff and leave me alone,” Eva snarled.
“I’m sorry,” the woman sobbed, her toughness gone. Eva pulled the gun away from her neck but kept it pointed at her. The woman sobbed and dropped the rifle, the baby cried also, its cries quickly becoming screams. The woman fell to the ground next to the rifle and tried to comfort her baby. Eva knelt down and put her arms around her.
“I’m sorry,” the woman cried again.
“I know,” Eva said soothingly. “I know. I’m sorry, too. You can trust me. I needed you to understand that.”
The woman nodded and clung to Eva, the baby crying between them. Eva cried with her.
“Aww, it’s a Kodak moment,” Kase said, having returned with several other men. Some of them laughed.
Eva helped the woman with the baby stand up. The woman wiped her tears and whispered, “Madison.”
“What’s that?” Eva asked.
“Madison. That’s my name. Madison.”
Eva kept an arm around Madison. “Tell one of these guys to pick this stuff up and put it where you want them to.” She smiled.
Madison smiled a little also.
“Okay.”
Madison turned quickly all business as she ordered Kase to pick up the two boxes and carry them back to the shack they used for a guardhouse.
“Not too many people get on Maddie’s good side,” one of the newly arrived men said, his voice a rich baritone timbre, his hair perfectly combed and gelled, his skin tanned. He looked like a movie star. He could be one, Eva thought. This part of Hollywood wasn’t a place for poor people.
He reached his hand out to Eva and she took it, while he gave her a winning smile of perfect teeth. Eva knew how to use her looks to manipulate others and she wasn’t about to allow it to happen to her. She had to remain in control of the negotiations.
“I come in good faith, but if you do anything to cross me, my partner and I will bring down a world of hurt upon you and your people. Are we clear?”
He didn’t even flinch.
“What if I had snipers in the hills who simply took you out. No muss, no fuss.” He still smiled.
“Then those who sent me, the ones who own this truck, might follow and no one in your community would be left alive. We mean business, but there’s only one enemy here, and it isn’t human.” She smiled as broadly as he did.
“I’m Tom,” the man said. “How can we help you?”
“Don’t ask too many questions,” Eva said, her voice business-like.
“Okay.”
“All the supplies in this truck. Food, medicine, diapers, in exchange for a home along the foothills for a few weeks. And no questions or interference.”
“Is it okay if I take a look?” Tom asked.
Eva nodded.
He went to the back of the truck and looked inside. Eva and a few of Tom’s men followed.
“Weapons?”
“No. Sorry.”
“I understand,” he said. He turned to face Eva. “If I say no?”
“Then we’ll just go find another community with more common sense.”
“Please, Tom,” Maddie said from behind them. Tom glanced back at her with a flash of anger.
“A house. All to yourself?”
“Preferably.”
“I got room in my place for her,” Kase offered, having returned from his chore.
Tom looked at him earnestly. “You got room?”
Kase looked excited. Eva wasn’t. He swallowed. “Yes, sir.”
“Good.” Tom turned away from Kase and back towards Eva. “We’ll ask the Widow Brennan to move out of her place temporarily and into Kase’s. She’s got a good spot, right along the trails that lead to the Observatory.”
So he’d seen the alien ships flying around up there also.
“One condition, though,” Tom added. “You can’t fire rockets or anything from the house. The aliens have left us alone and we plan on leaving them alone. You can use the house for a few weeks, but please don’t make us a target.”
“You have my word,” Eva said.
She glanced at Kase. He looked most disappointed.
“Now that no one can listen in and we aren’t packing or running around like crazy people, what exactly is our plan, ma’am?” Juan asked as they unpacked into the widow’s house what little they had brought. Mostly clothes, food, and water.
It was a nice home. The widow must have been well heeled.
“Watch,” Eva replied.
Juan stopped and stared at her. “Okay. I’m watching.”
Eva laughed. “Not me. Them.”
“We just watch?”
“We just watch.”
“And if we get caught?”
“We don’t get caught.”
“That’s our plan?”
“You questioning my tactical strategies again, Juan?”
“Never, ma’am.”
She laughed again. “You’re the best, Juan. Thanks for taking a chance in saving me.”
She thought she saw him blushing.
Eva started with the tank top and neon green shorts, just like she’d told her boss. Early morning run, the sun trying to peek through the cloud cover in the distance. It was actually a good morning for a run. It was a shame stupid aliens had to go off and ruin the Earth. It could be a wonderful place.
As soon as the sun climbed higher, she knew it would be completely hidden by the pervasive cloud deck, caused by dust kicked up from the uncounted numbers of meteors that struck the Earth. She didn’t understand the physics required to move a meteor, but she’d seen spaceships or aircraft or whatever the alien planes were appearing and disappearing out of nowhere. They must have some amazing technology.
So she enjoyed her run while she could, enjoyed the crisp morning air, and enjoyed using her muscles. She still believed one thing she remembered from going to church as a child; her body was a temple. She knew she had to take care of it. Besides, running felt good.
A few miles into her run, she took a path that she guessed led to Griffith Observatory. The guard barrier she came across, three guards in black uniforms with strange looking weapons standing behind the barrier, confirmed exactly where it went. She ran right up to the barrier and one of the guards there. He smiled at her.
“What’s going on?” she asked, making her voice sound as incredulous as possible.
The guard shrugged and smiled. One of the others came over.
“Forbidden,” the second guard said.
It was only obvious. The barrier. The guards. A sign with ‘Forbidden’ written on it in several languages.
She played dumb.
“But why? I love jogging along the cliff road. It’s so exhilarating!” She actually managed a giggle when she said ‘exhilarating’. Her shameless acting embarrassed herself.
The alien guard raised his hands in frustration. “I apologize,” he said. “Maybe another day.”
“Okay. I can still run around the other paths, right?” she asked hopefully, almost pleadingly.
The guard nodded. The first guard grinned.
“Okay. I hope I didn’t bother anyone.” She finally saw the surveillance camera. What good would a checkpoint be without one? “Am I on camera?” she asked and started waving at it. She bounced a little while she waved, wondering if alien men were just as gullible as human ones. The men at the barrier certainly seemed to be, although guards were generally not chosen from the highest rated cadre of soldiers. But these were aliens. Who knew?
She ran off, doing about a ten-mile loop. Her legs were sore when she got back to the house. The widow had stored several fifty-five gallon drums of water and Juan helped Eva tap into one so she could take a bath. They warmed up some of the water over a fire in the fireplace, and it felt good to soak.
When she came out, Juan gave her two protein bars for lunch.
“Very funny,” she said.
Juan shrugged. “We need to ration.”
She ate her protein bars.
She took different routes the next two days, but always made sure she swung by the first guard barrier and said hi. They quickly grew accustomed to her.
She saw more guard barriers but didn’t approach them. No sense wasting flirtation on too many people. Better to focus.
The placement of the barriers impressed her. They prevented even glimpses of what was going on on top of the hill where Griffith Observatory stood, and after her third day of running, her third approximately ten-mile loop, her legs complained bitterly and she worried she was wasting her time. She couldn’t see anything and other than leering stares from three guards, had made no contact. As Juan pointed out regularly, their food and water wouldn’t last long, and then they’d have to barter for more or drive all the way back to Palmdale.
She lay in the tub for hours.
The fourth morning, she slept in a little and her feet protested going into shoes. She stretched longer than usual, reluctant to head out, but knowing she had to. She’d gain trust by being regular. She just didn’t know how many ten-mile loops she could do every day. Maybe she’d tell the guards that the next day was her rest day. Surely they’d understand that. She wasn’t sure how much of what else she said they understood. Sometimes their answers didn’t make much sense.
But that morning, a white sports bra and neon pink shorts day, she hit pay dirt and was glad she hadn’t listened to her protesting body. Someone joined her on her run. A distinguished looking man in a white, lycra-like shirt and black running shorts. And he came onto her trail from one of the trails that she knew led to Griffith Observatory.
And he spoke English.
First contact.
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