Intruders (Book 2): The Awakening

by Tracy Sharp

  Another creature lurked slightly behind the T. rex, its greenish-gray skin strangely smooth and unmarked by spots or stripes. The head more rounded, and the eyes black. The face flat, with inset nostrils flaring.

  I froze and Chrissy stopped with me.

  My stomach plummeted and my heart began hammering against my chest.

  The thing lifted its head and its teeth chattered, froth dripping from between the shard-like teeth.

  I turned to her and mouthed: run!

  She spun and ran in the other direction while I picked up a rock from the display and whipped it at the creature as it turned toward her.

  “Hey, ugly! Over here!”

  The head turned back to me and it snapped its teeth as it took a step forward.

  I whipped another rock. It landed with a weird, muffled thud between its opaque eyes.

  Glancing down the hall, I saw that Chrissy was gone. I whipped another rock, hitting the thing in an eye.

  It screeched, and I ran. I ran so hard and fast that I hardly felt my feet hitting the tile.

  A forest of strange, prehistoric trees and plant life stretched ahead of me and I headed into it, moving between large, exotic flowers and huge, leafy plants. The fear exploding in me was so great that I felt like I could jump out of my skin and just keep on running until I disintegrated into nothingness.

  My bladder was so full that I knew I was going to piss myself.

  A light went off in my head.

  I yanked down my pants and pissed on the fake floor of the display. I let out just a little. Then I ran a few yards away and did the same.

  Yanking my pants halfway up my thighs so I wouldn’t trip, I ran across the corridor and let more piss go. Hysterical laughter bubbled up my throat. I giggled, the sound only coming out as a faint whisper.

  There were no sounds of claws tapping on the floor or shrieks of rage. The creepy bastard was going after Chrissy. Maybe I was too much trouble for it. She was easy pickings.

  I ran across the corridor and headed back, stopping to piss on the other side of the plant life display. The lizard couldn’t be far if it was looking for Chrissy. It was likely sniffing and listening just a little ways from the carnivores exhibit it had been hiding in.

  Hoping I wasn’t alerting the rest of the lizards, I stage-whispered, “Hey asshole!”

  I headed back in that direction and stepped between the T. rex and the Oviraptor, yanked my pants down and let go of the rest of my urine.

  The sound of chattering teeth floated up from down the corridor.

  I stepped behind a large, fake rock, crouching, and then I slid my boot knife from its sheath and waited.

  The tapping of claws clicked against the tiles as the thing came back through the corridor toward me. A low, rumbling growl gurgled upwards as it approached, and then a rattled, frothy hiss.

  I tried to stop shaking, but it was pointless. Instinct told me to run. Every cell screamed at me to get away from the thing that moved toward me. The thing that would drag me into some deep, underground hole, and do things so atrocious to me that I would pray for death. Things far more terrible than any nightmare.

  The sound of its reptilian feet leaping onto the display almost made me scream. I bit down on my bottom lip to stop from crying out.

  And then it was sniffing, quick little puffs of air, only feet away from me. Deep grunting sounds from within its chest sounded from right behind the rock. Then it moved toward the T. rex, where I’d left a puddle of piss.

  I listened as it sniffed and heard wet, little splashy batting sounds as it explored the puddle.

  Despite the clawing terror in my belly, I felt a smile lift the corners of my lips, and another hysterical giggle-whisper almost bubbled out of my throat. This time, I bit the insides of my cheeks.

  That’s right, you fucking creepy thing. Get your nostrils good and pissy. Take a nice, long whiff. Get it all up in there.

  Confused, it ceased to move or make any sound. The silence stretched, and my heart thudded so hard I was sure the thing would hear the panicked thumping against my chest.

  I strained to listen. Nothing. I heard nothing. What the hell?

  Then a shadow stretched over me, and without looking up, I knew that it was right over top of me.

  Please, please, please, please, please… Oh, God, please, anything but this thing. Not this way, please. Don’t let me die under the ground in the dank, wet earth, surrounded by half-eaten bodies of the still living but mostly insane victims.

  Please…

  Hot, alien breath moved over my hair and pushed my bangs into my eyes. The smell of meat long gone bad hit my nostrils and my stomach jumped into my throat. I willed myself not to gag. A bead of sweat stung my eye, but I didn’t dare to blink. I didn’t dare to breathe. Some of its drool had slipped between its teeth and dropped onto the floor of the display right between my hands.

  Greenish-gray skin and weird black eyes moved down in front of my face, and the claws of an arm came down on the rock in front of my face. They looked almost like talons. Shiny, wet talons.

  Still, I didn’t blink. I didn’t breathe.

  The sound of a short little intake of breath, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the nostrils flaring. The smell of my own piss wafted out at me.

  The thing must’ve put its nose right into it.

  A sharp jab of glee went through me. The piss had done its job. The thing’s superior sense of smell was confused.

  Slowly, it moved away, and I held my breath a little longer.

  I dared to blink.

  It moved back to the puddle of piss, patted it some more, and then moved away. I heard the thump-click-thump-click and it stepped off the exhibit and back onto the floor, and then the clicking of the claws as it moved up the corridor toward the prehistoric plant life display.

  I took in a long, slow, shaky breath and let it out quietly as I listened to the thing sniffing out the next piss puddle.

  I waited a while longer, until it was finished with my urine and had wandered far up the corridor to some other display, and then I went looking for Chrissy.

  She was watching for me from inside the jaws of the enormous megaldon’s mouth, peering out from between teeth that were at least half her size.

  When our eyes connected, she gave me a huge, nervous smile, and I gave her one back.

  When she climbed out and padded quietly up to me, she frowned, and mouthed, I really have to pee.

  I grinned. “First, let’s find the others.”

  I took Chrissy’s hand. We backtracked our way toward the lobby. Everything was so quiet. I imagined this was how every day was for Chrissy and how terrifying that had to be when deadies and crawlers were everywhere. Why is it so quiet? I thought. The horde of deadies had to have been at least twenty deep.

  Nothing Rye and Daphne couldn’t handle, but lizards were with them. I really hoped the silence wasn’t because my friends couldn’t get away from the crawlers. Over the last few weeks, I experienced so much loss that I was afraid I would become immune to the emotion. The gnawing in the pit of my stomach told me different. I genuinely cared about these people. They had to be safe.

  Griffin was the first person I saw when we made it back to the lobby. He was kneeling over a deadie, examining the body.

  “Zoe, where are you?”

  Daphne’s voice brought a warming feeling that shook off the chill of winter whipping through the open doors. She was standing in the middle of a pile of deadies.

  “I’m here,” I said.

  Daphne ran to me and hugged me. She bent down and wrapped her arms around Chrissy’s neck. “I don’t know about you, but damn, I’m glad you’re alive.”

  Chrissy mouthed, I’m Chrissy.

  “She’s deaf,” I said.

  Daphne hugged Chrissy tighter.

  “Okay, now that the love fest is out of everyone’s system, we probably should get the hell out of here,” Rye said, wiping blood from his machete on the sleeve of a deadie�
��s flannel shirt.

  “What happened out here? Where are the crawlers?” I asked.

  “Well, a truck raced by. Someone was laying on the horn. The aliens must really hate the sound of car horns ’cause they shot out of here like a bat out of hell. And then, we went all bad ass on the dead,” Daphne said.

  “They’ll be back,” Rye said. “We need to go.”

  “There’s still at least one in here. Chrissy and I tricked it and got away,” I said.

  “How in the hell are the dead not dead?” Griffin asked, still giving the body a once-over.

  “I don’t know, but there are plenty more to fondle out there,” Rye said. “Let’s go.”

  Daphne rubbed her fingertips. “They didn’t get that far away. I feel it. Griffin, run.”

  Griffin fell back onto his butt just as the crawler swiped at his head. Its claws clicked together as it grasped air. Griffin rolled out of the way, but the alien lunged for him, snagging the sleeve of his jacket. Down feathers flew in from the sleeve like fine snow. Griffin got to his knees just as the crawler was taking another swipe at him.

  “Duck,” Rye said, swinging the machete. The blade connected with the crawler’s arm, severing it. Green liquid spewed from the crawler like a broken fire hydrant. Rye grabbed Griffin by his backpack and dragged him toward the door. The crawler tilted its head and unhinged its jaw. A tongue that looked like a dangling rope swayed in the air. And then there was a clicking sound.

  “What’s it doing?” I asked.

  “We have to go now,” Rye said, helping Griffin to his feet.

  “It’s calling for help,” Daphne said. She grabbed my hand. I had a hold of Chrissy. We ran out of the museum.

  “Fuck,” Rye said.

  The Mercedes was in flames. There wasn’t much left except for the frame.

  “Hank?”

  We left Hank in the car when we went into the museum. We figured he would be safer there and it would be one less body for us to keep up with.

  Daphne called him after me. “Hank?”

  Nothing.

  I ran to the car, but couldn’t get too close. The heat from the flames was scorching. Tears blurred my vision. Guilt punched me from every direction. Why did we leave him in the car? I should have never left him.

  “Is that him?” Rye asked.

  I wiped the tears from my eyes just as I heard the first bark. Another bark. I saw a blur in the alleyway next to the museum. “Hank.” I ran toward him and fell to my knees. He licked the tears from my cheek. “Never again will I leave you.” I gave him head scratches as he tried to wag his tail off. “Come on. There’s someone I want you to meet.” Hank walked beside me, rubbing his head against my thigh.

  Chrissy ran to Hank and started scratching him under his chin.

  “He likes that and on top of his head too,” I said. “But we’ve got to get to somewhere safe. The crawlers are everywhere. We’re sitting ducks out here, guys.”

  “All right, everyone is accounted for. Now, we need a vehicle,” Daphne said.

  “That.” Rye pointed to a white school bus with the words High School for Environmental Studies written on the side of it.

  “Really?” Daphne asked. “A bus?”

  “It’s a good idea,” Griffin said, stepping between them. “It will give us a comfortable place to rest without stopping.”

  Rye smirked at Daphne.

  Chapter 13

  “How far do you think this thing will get us?” I asked, looking out the grime-covered window. In the distance, flames swirled around the museum, engulfing history in their destruction. For the last few weeks, I was too busy trying to survive to realize that the world was being erased right in front of me.

  “Not far,” Rye said. “It all depends on how much gas is in the tank. These things get less than ten miles to the gallon. Even if the tank is full, we’re not going too far.”

  Griffin moved to the back of the bus. He dug through his backpack and fished out a laptop and a handful of candy. He offered a piece to Chrissy. She smiled. It wasn’t that “kid at Christmas” smile, but it was enough to remind me that even though the intruders were stealing everything from us, they still hadn’t robbed Chrissy of her innocence. She took a bite-size candy bar and settled back against a seat.

  “Rye, come back here,” Griffin said. “My laptop has about six hours of battery life left. I only have one backup and I want to save that. We need to figure some things out.”

  Rye looked at Daphne. “You got this?”

  Daphne let out a deep but brief chuckle. “I fought my way out of a lizard nest and survived an all-out attack by those sleestaks. I think I can handle driving a bus.”

  “First Star Wars references. Now Land of the Lost. Why couldn’t I have met you when I had a home to invite you back to? We could have binged-watched The X-Files.”

  “I never got into The X-Files. Too unbelievable,” Daphne said.

  Rye laughed.

  “Rye,” Griffin said.

  Hank hopped into the first seat on the opposite side of Daphne as soon as Rye left. He pressed his nose to the window. A thin fog spread across the glass. His tail wagged. Hank didn’t care that the view was of total destruction; he was happy to be riding in a vehicle. I wondered if his family used to take him on Sunday afternoon rides through the country, or maybe to the dog park.

  Daphne tapped the steering wheel with her fingertips and hummed “I Wanna Be Sedated” by the Ramones. Chrissy had dozed off. Rye and Griffin were in the back, figuring out how to keep us alive. And there was peace in the air. Even with the world burning around us, I felt safe. I felt comfort. I liked these people. I would risk my life for this group. This was my family now.

  “The Ramones,” I said, taking a seat behind Hank.

  Daphne stopped humming. “I’m impressed. No offense, but I thought you would like Justin Bieber or something.”

  “Really? Do I look like a Belieber to you?” I opened my ski jacket and showed Daphne the Clash shirt I was wearing underneath all the layers of clothes.

  Daphne smiled. “Zoe is a punk rocker.”

  “The Ramones are good, but I prefer the Sex Pistols,” I said.

  “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you? So, tell me, what did you do before this close encounter of the fucked-up kind?” Daphne cringed. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have used that word.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Really? I listen to the Sex Pistols. Do you think that’s the first time I’ve heard the word fuck?” I shook my head. “Before this, I wanted to become a hairstylist. At night, I cleaned at Ripley College.”

  “Think you can do anything with these split ends?” Daphne pulled at her brown hair.

  “Well, I can’t fuck it up any more than it already is.” I smiled.

  “That’s for the Bieber comment, right?”

  I nodded. “We’re even. How about you?”

  “I just took a job as editor-in-chief at the Observer. Before that, I worked as a reporter for a small paper in Virginia. Writing about the one stoplight in town going out was okay, but I really wanted to write novels.”

  “Let me guess, post-apocalyptic thrillers?”

  Daphne laughed. “Close. Space opera.”

  “You think we are going to get out of this alive?” I asked.

  “I say we have a pretty damn good shot. All of us are pretty stubborn. If worse comes to worst, we’ll just throw Rye to the aliens. We’re faster than him, and we need Griffin for his brain.”

  I chuckled. “So, what’s the deal with you and Rye?”

  “If you haven’t noticed, lizards and rotting corpses are trying to kill us. I don’t think there’s time to build a relationship with all that going on.” Daphne paused. Her facial expression turned to one of someone biting into sour candy. “He sort of saved my life after I escaped from the aliens. I owe it to him to keep him alive now. And believe me, he makes it a hard job.” Daphne’s face turned from sour to a smile. “He is cute, though, in a hipster kinda way.�
�

  “Zoe, come back here,” Griffin said.

  “Well, it’s been nice, but looks like I’m being summoned to the principal’s office.”

  “Remember, loose lips sink ships.”

  Daphne winked at me and started humming again. I liked her a lot. She was an older version of me. The feeling shook something that I had repressed. I’d never see my blood family again. My sister Kelly, her husband Derek, or my niece Jessica. I shook off the grief as fast as it came on. Instead of sadness, I chose to fill my body with determination. I was damned sure their names would never be erased like history around us. Once this was over, and rebuilding began, I would tell everyone I met about them.

  “I swear it wasn’t me smoking in the bathroom,” I said, taking a seat beside Rye.

  “Huh?” Griffin asked.

  “Never mind. What’s up?”

  “Did Barrows say anything else to you when you were in the alien lair?”

  For a moment, I didn’t answer. An image of Dr. Jason Barrows, or what was left of him when we found him, flashed through my mind. His Buddy Holly glasses. His mouth gaped open, trying to spit out words. The absolute look of terror on his face.

  “Zoe?” Rye nudged me with his shoulder.

  “No, he only said ‘pocket.’ That’s where I found the flash drive. That’s where I got your name from.”

  “What was on the flash drive?” Griffin asked.

  My mind went blank. All I could see was Dr. Barrows in the hive, begging for death to come swiftly. Hive! “He went underground twice before the invasion. He noted the hive-like structures. This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment attack. The aliens had been planning it for a while.” It all started to come back to me. “I think he was in the Adirondacks. He found bones.”

  Griffin stopped me. “In New York?”

  “That’s what was on the flash drive,” I said. “He dated them back to the Pleisto…or something.”

  “Pleistocene. Jake found bones in Argentina. We dated them back to the Triassic period,” Griffin said.