by M. A. George
CHAPTER 29
Aeron took the driver’s seat. I had to trust that he would know how to get us back to the ship—I certainly had no idea where to find it. Ewenami offered me the passenger seat as she climbed in the back. I did recognize that we seemed to be retracing our steps, heading back along the same highway we had used to reach the airport. I leaned my head back against the headrest, closing my eyes as I listened to the music.
The next thing I knew, I was awakening to the bouncing and jolting of the vehicle as we were back to driving through the boondocks, no road in sight. The view was incredibly beautiful—green hills and rugged mountains. I daydreamed as I looked out the window, wondering if Onontí could possibly be this beautiful.
“I’m glad you caught a little rest.” Aeron reached over to take hold of my hand. “I know you’re exhausted.”
“So are you,” I reminded him. “When are you going to get some sleep?”
“Eventually,” he shrugged. “When I’ve got you safely in the air.” He glanced over to meet my eyes momentarily, then returned his attention to the driving.
I turned his hand over in mine, noticing his knuckles were covered in little scrapes and scratches. I traced my fingertips over each one, restoring his smooth skin to perfection.
“Don’t worry about those,” he admonished me. “You shouldn’t be wasting your strength on me.”
I made a show of rolling my eyes. “You think I have something better to be doing?”
He chuckled softly, interlacing his fingers with mine. “Just don’t expend any energy unnecessarily…” He tried not to sound overly serious. “Just in case.”
My thoughts returned to the ominous grey ship, whereabouts unknown. I looked back out my window, trying to appreciate the scenery as I listened to the same CD we’d now heard several times. I turned back to face Aeron as it dawned on me that he probably wasn’t as into the music as I was.
“Are you getting sick of these same songs?” I asked apologetically. “I can try to find something on the radio…Or we can just turn it off,” I offered.
“No, I like the diversion.” He seemed to be speaking truthfully. “I’ll let you know if I get sick of it.” His warm smile told me that he wouldn’t speak up until my interest burned out. Granted, I would certainly have liked some variety in the soundtrack—but my stress level was always more bearable with background music.
I glanced to the backseat, where Ewenami was dozing silently. I returned to my reverie as I looked out the window, comparing the current view to my mother’s paintings of Onontí.
We kept bobbling along steadily, and eventually Ewenami perked up. Aeron relayed that we were getting close to the ship—it was just on the other side of the approaching hill. He traced a tight path through the trees around the base of the hill, then turned to the right to follow a small stream running through a narrow grassy valley.
Up ahead, I could see the dome of the ship just peeking above a cluster of trees. I was a little surprised at how relieved I was to see it—like I was returning home after a long journey. The trees started to thin out a bit as we approached, bringing the rest of the ship into clearer view.
Suddenly, Aeron gripped my hand tightly as he abruptly slammed on the brakes. I braced myself against the dashboard, then followed his wide-eyed gaze and immediately understood the reason for his alarmed expression. Parked next to the ship was a pickup truck—it was a nondescript beige color, but I would have recognized it anywhere. The shattered windows and blast marks peppering the paint job told me I wasn’t mistaken. I gasped as I realized the burly soldier was sitting in the driver’s seat.
Aeron threw it in reverse, whipping us around as he floored it back in the direction we had come. I turned to look behind us, terrified—but not surprised—to see the pickup truck following us, gaining speed. I opened the center console to pull out the handgun I’d stowed inside before entering the airport.
“Whatever you have to do,” I urged Aeron. “Just get us the hell out of here.”
Without a second thought, I climbed between the seats and met Ewenami in the far back of the SUV. She had already opened one of the weapons crates and pulled out a selection of guns.
I shrieked involuntarily as the back windshield suddenly shattered—thankfully, the shot must have hit between Ewenami and me. We crouched down, pushing one of the crates against the rear hatch, shielding ourselves behind it. Aeron was keeping us ahead of the pickup, but the rebel soldier was close on our tail. He was firing through his blown-apart front windshield as he drove. I traded my pistol for one of the larger guns, trying to avoid the blinding flash as I fired as rapidly as I could. For all the damage they had done to our practice targets, these fancy guns just didn’t seem to be wreaking the havoc on the truck that I was hoping for.
Over all the commotion, I heard Aeron shout for us to hold on. I braced myself in a crouched position as he made a hard turn, the car bouncing violently—it felt like we were driving off a short cliff. As he sped forward, I pulled myself up to resume the gunfight. Ewenami did the same alongside me, as the pickup followed us over the ledge.
We kept up the volley as the helter-skelter ride continued through the grassy vale. I was becoming increasingly irritated with my inability to accurately hit one man following closely behind us. But firing without being fired upon was harder than it looks in the movies. Not to mention the fact that every time his gun discharged, I had to divert my eyes or be transiently blinded by the flash. I was liking this newfangled weaponry less and less by the minute.
As my patience wore thin, I reached into the weapons crate to fish out one of the grenades. I gave Ewenami a questioning look. She nodded in approval—evidently she was as exasperated as I was, and neither one of us cared if we created an attention-grabbing fiery blast at this point. She provided cover fire as I rose up on my knees, channeling my inner Nolan Ryan to hurl the grenade through the gaping front windshield of the pickup.
The truck slowed its speed, as a quizzical expression crossed the driver’s face. I looked over to Ewenami, whose gaze was intently focused on the brawny soldier. I felt a miniscule twinge of pity for the man. He was about to depart this world, and his brain was too befuddled to even realize it.
My sympathetic thoughts were interrupted by the earsplitting blast that rang out in the valley, as flaming billows began streaming from the windows of the stalled pickup truck.
Aeron continued driving another thirty yards before he eased up on the gas and slowed to a stop. Ewenami and I sat up to stare at the pickup truck, now completely engulfed in flames. I still wasn’t a fan of the futuristic weapons in general, but the grenades were finding favor with me.
We sat watching in silence as the fire raged, panting to catch our breath. “I think the coast is clear,” I concluded once I was satisfied that no one could have survived the inferno. “It looks like we can head back to the—”
Before I could utter the word “ship”, a massive explosion erupted in the distance, the force of it shaking our vehicle. It was coming from well beyond the location of the burning pickup truck, and the rising cloud of smoke dwarfed the former blaze.
So much for discretion, I thought to myself as I gaped at the towering cloud of black soot and embers. And so much for seeing Onontí…
Ewenami broke into sobs beside me as she watched her only means of returning home go up in flames. I pulled her toward me gently to cry on my shoulder. I didn’t try to stop her tears, knowing her heart was breaking—she would never see home or the man she loved again.
Aeron crawled through the car to join us in the cramped cargo area. He knelt beside us, putting an arm around each of us as Ewenami wept and I stared at the devastated ship in disbelief. He silently held us for a minute, respecting Ewenami’s grief. Then he leaned over to whisper gently in her ear. She nodded in assent as she began wiping her eyes dry. I gathered he was recommending that we clear the area before anyone else—human or otherwise�
�arrived on the scene.
We scurried back into our seats as Aeron steered in the direction of the nearest road. As soon as we were in cell phone range, I dialed Sabela. It went straight to voicemail—evidently she was still in the air. I left her a quick message to call me ASAP, then moved on to tracking down a car rental agency in Great Falls. We would be way too conspicuous in the battered SUV. If we were pulled over, Ewenami could always confound the officer’s memory; but it would be preferable to avoid an incident altogether. Not to mention, we didn’t know if the rest of the rebels were on our track…Regardless, a change of vehicle would probably be wise.
I made the arrangements, then used my phone to locate a reasonable place within short distance of the rental agency to dump Dominick’s SUV. I fumbled with the GPS that I rarely had use for—Sabela was like my own personal GPS.
We pulled a few smaller weapons out of the cargo crates, then stopped momentarily to ditch the crates in an empty creek bed before we reached the main road. Aeron followed my directions when we entered the city, working our way to a park on the riverside. He backed the car into a parking space under some trees, then we grabbed our things and walked swiftly to the nearest bus stop. I made a mental note to have Sabela report the vehicle stolen when she called me back.
It felt like it was taking an eternity, but before long we were pulling away from the rental agency in a shiny new SUV—I had gone for durability rather than fuel economy, under the circumstances. I had tried to convince Aeron to let me drive, but he insisted I needed to keep trying to reach Sabela.
Actually, he had suggested I call my father…a proposition I shot down instantly. Yes, he would have to find out about all of this before too long—chances were, we would all be fleeing the country by morning—but I needed Sabela’s help to formulate a plan. Father would probably resist going anywhere, but there was no question we needed to relocate.
If the remaining rebel soldiers weren’t enough of a concern, the impending headlines about an alien ship found blazing in the Montana Rockies would certainly make life uncomfortable. Judging from the size of the inferno, I doubted any information identifying us specifically would survive. All the same, I didn’t want to sit around to find out who would come looking for us first.