by Israel Keats
“I’ve popped a million aliens in games but never thought this would happen for real.” James waved his hands at the sky, which was black with clouds.
“I wonder what their planet looks like,” Sigrid said. “I wonder what they look like. Think they’ll be friendly?”
“Why would they fry all of our electronics if they wanted to be friends?” James asked.
“Because they don’t want us to lob bombs and ask questions later.”
James just shrugged. The fact of the matter was, even if someone out there knew what the Visitors wanted, it wasn’t like the rest of the world was going to hear about it any time soon.
The rain kept falling. They ate the last of their smashed sandwiches and cheese with smashed crackers. Eventually they all slept, but the cold woke them up before the sun came out. At least it had stopped raining. They had an energy bar each for breakfast and started out, biking slowly through the mud. James and Sigrid didn’t seem interested in talking, which was fine with Leo. Between his hands numb from the cold and his legs tired from all the pedaling, he wasn’t in the mood for it either. And while last night they’d spent hours sharing their thoughts on the Visitors, today Leo decided that was the last thing he wanted to think about.
Chapter 9
“I think I smell food,” James said after they’d been dragging their way through the mud for what felt like hours.
“It’s a mirage,” Sigrid said.
“Can mirages be smells?”
“I smell it too—someone’s cooking,” Leo offered. “I wonder if we’re close to that campsite.”
A few minutes later they heard voices and saw the shapes of buildings through the trees. They came up behind a big lodge where people were milling around outside. It was mostly adults, but there were a few kids running around too.
“There’s a lot of people here,” Leo said. “And they’re making breakfast.”
James stopped his bike, leaning one foot on the ground. He frowned. “I don’t know if I trust people anymore.”
“But they’re making breakfast!” Leo said.
“We can at least check them out,” Sigrid said. “From a distance.”
Leo didn’t know if they could trust anyone else either, but his hunger was bigger than his fear. They started riding toward the wonderful smells. They got off their bikes and leaned them against the cabin, then peered around the side.
“They seem friendly enough,” Sigrid said.
“None of them have weapons on them,” said Leo. “That’s a good sign.”
“Uh-oh,” said James. “They saw us.”
Sure enough a woman was walking their way, waving. “Hiya,” she said. “You kids alone?”
“We are for now,” Leo told her. “Heading to find our families.”
“Do you need something to eat?” the woman asked. Leo didn’t need another invitation. He walked over. James followed, and so did Sigrid after she let Sandy out of the trailer. In front of the cabin there were grills going. The picnic tables were full of people.
“Grab a plate!” the woman said, pointing to a stack of paper plates. Leo took one and got in line. Soon his plate was full of food. He grabbed a seat and started eating. The others sat with him, stuffing themselves. Even Sandy got to enjoy some table scraps.
“Thanks for this,” Sigrid said as the woman sat down with them.
“We need to use up all this food anyway,” she explained.
“Yeah.” Leo thought of the food at home going bad, and the food at the restaurant his parents managed. It would normally be a disaster but now seemed like a small problem.
The woman introduced herself as Mary Ellen. They gave her their names, but didn’t say where they were from or where they were going. Mary Ellen didn’t ask. Leo liked that about her.
“You’re welcome to wait things out here,” she said. “We’ll put you to work, is all.”
They could do worse, Leo thought to himself. But he’d have to talk to Sigrid and James privately. “We’ll work for our food, for sure,” he told her, gesturing to their plates.
After they were full, they helped wash down tables and pick up litter. It was worth a little labor to get a good meal, but Leo wanted to get moving. They still had a long way to go.
“So, are we staying or going?” he whispered to James and Sigrid as they hauled bags to the dumpster.
“Going. I want to find my mom,” James said.
“Yeah,” Sigrid said, “I’d like to make sure my grandparents are okay.”
Leo felt relieved. The people here seemed nice enough, but he knew he’d feel better if he could be with his parents again. “All right,” he said. “Let’s tell Mary Ellen.”
The three of them walked into the cabin where a small group was having a meeting. They had metal folding chairs in a circle in the middle of the main room.
“Hi, kids!” Mary Ellen said cheerfully. “This meeting is closed, but I can talk to you in about fifteen minutes, okay?”
“We just wanted to say thank you again before we head out,” Sigrid said.
“We’re going to go find our families,” Leo added. “But we really appreciate the breakfast.”
“Oh no,” Mary Ellen said, blinking. “You should stay. We’re going to be first, you know.”
“First for what?”
“The first to make contact with the Visitors,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“We’re working on getting a radio running again,” she explained. “We’re going to tell the Visitors we’re here and excited to see them.”
Leo looked at Sigrid and James. What was she talking about?
“It’s true,” a man added. “When the Visitors get our message, they’ll know we’re the ones for the first trip to our new home. We’ll set an example for everyone else.”
“You mean you’re waiting for the aliens to come and get you?” Sigrid said.
“Sure,” said Mary Ellen. “They’re going to take us to their home. Which will be our home from now on.”
“Um. Okay. Great. We’ll just go outside and, uh, watch for the Visitors.” Leo nodded at the others and they started out. The teens exchanged uneasy glances once they were out of sight. But when they looked up they saw two women blocking the door. They kept the big, friendly smiles plastered across their faces.
“Something tells me our new friends aren’t as excited as they should be,” one of them said.
Chapter 10
“Sure we are,” Leo quickly replied. “We hadn’t thought of that, but it makes sense.”
“Yep.” James nodded eagerly. “Can’t wait to see our new home.”
The woman narrowed her eyes. “Maybe you should wait inside.”
James charged for the door, ducking between the two women as they closed in. He slipped by and kicked the door open. He stumbled across the doorway, skidding onto his knees and yelping. One of the women reached for James’s shirt and yanked on it. Leo followed after James. He pushed the woman away and grabbed James by the arms, pulling him up. Sigrid was right behind them.
“I don’t like shoving people!” Leo hissed as they ran around the lodge and grabbed their bikes.
“You had to!” Sigrid said back.
James limped along with them. Leo could see his jeans had ripped and his knees were a little bloody, but he was keeping up with them just fine.
Sigrid looked for her dog. “Sandy!”
She darted toward them, zipping past the people in the yard. Leo and James got onto their bikes as Sigrid helped Sandy into the bike trailer.
Mary Ellen and another woman caught up with them as Sigrid zipped up the trailer.
“So you’re going to run away from salvation!” Mary Ellen shouted.
“I think we’ll be okay,” said Sigrid, jumping back on her bike. The three of them rode hard without looking back.
Eventually they realized no one was chasing after them, so they stopped to catch their breath. Sandy had whined back in her trailer for the fi
rst few minutes they rode, but after a while she had fallen into a deep sleep.
“You okay?” Leo asked James, who was panting.
James nodded. “Just skinned my knees. Not too bad.”
Leo climbed off his bike, suddenly thankful for the emergency kit on his bike. “I’ve got some ointment and bandages. Here,” he said. He handed them over to James, who sat on the ground and cleaned his scrapes as best he could. They were bleeding a bit, but he seemed fine.
After James was finished, they each took a long drink of water.
“How much longer do you think?” Sigrid asked Leo. It looked to be late afternoon. The sun would be setting in a few hours.
He pulled out the map from his backpack. Sigrid and James came over to peer over his shoulders.
Leo pointed to the campsite on the map. “We’re just past there.” He moved his finger to the location of the Air Force base. “That’s where we’re heading. If we make good time, we’ll probably be able to get there before the end of the day.”
“If we don’t have any more setbacks,” James said. “There sure have been enough so far.”
Back on the road, they were able to make good time. Leo and James each took turns on Sigrid’s bike to tow the dog so she could get a break.
“Hey, look!” James yelled. He took a hand off the handlebar to point. Leo was trailing by a few yards but saw as he passed.
cabot creek: 2 miles united states air force base: 11 miles
“Oh, thank goodness,” Sigrid sighed. Leo grinned. They would be there in another hour.
A few minutes later they road past a sign for the town of Cabot Creek. The town was small, split up by the highway running directly through the middle. Branching out from the highway were a convenience store, bait shop, and run-down hotel. Everything was deserted. They got off the bikes.
“Nobody here either,” James said. “I wonder if they went to the base too.”
Sigrid gestured to the convenience store. “We should take a look—see if there’s any food or water left.”
James looked uncertain about that. “Seriously? So now we’re just as bad as those looters back home?”
“Well, it’s not like anyone is around here waiting to buy the stuff,” Sigrid said. “Besides, we’ve been saying this whole time that nobody knows how long the power is going to be out. Who knows the next time we’ll get something to eat.”
James looked over to Leo, who shrugged. “We are almost out of food.”
“Fine,” James said. “But I’m not breaking anything.”
“Agreed,” Sigrid said.
James took off pedaling, calling over his shoulder, “And I call dibs on any candy bars!”
Sigrid and Leo laughed as they followed after him. Finally, things seemed to be picking up for them. Leo was so excited to get something else to eat that he almost didn’t notice the figure in the bait shop.
He skidded his bike to a stop. The store was dark on the inside, so all Leo could see was the outline of someone—or something—coming for them.
Chapter 11
All they could see was a shadow behind the light. The shadow had spindly legs and an oversized head.
“Guys!” Leo called, his body freezing up as the figure moved for the front door. “There’s something in there.” Sigrid and James stopped on their bikes, looking over their shoulders in the direction of the bait shop. Leo’s heart pounded in his chest. But as the door slowly opened and the figure stepped out, he realized it was an older man. Leo let out a heavy breath of relief.
“Well, hello there,” the man said. “Glad to see someone besides the Visitors.”
“Yeah, same here,” said Leo a little shakily. “Did your town get evacuated too?”
“Not too many of us here to evacuate,” the man said. “But the military did come through. I locked up and laid low.”
“Why didn’t you leave?”
“I ain’t leavin’,” he said. He gestured to the bait shop. “I’ve been living in the apartment above this store for thirty years now, and no Martians or soldiers are gonna take me away.”
“The Visitors probably aren’t from Mars,” Sigrid said. The old man shrugged. It was all Mars to him, apparently.
“If you don’t mind two-day-old sandwiches, I still have a few inside,” the man said. “They’ve been in a cooler and are all right to eat. But they better get eaten soon.”
“That sounds great,” Leo said.
Inside, they saw that the bait shop also sold sandwiches and snacks to the fishermen who used the creek. In fact, it was a lot more than a bait shop. You could buy a rod and reel, a tent, and camping gear.
The three of them split five sandwiches between them and a pint of potato salad. Sigrid had let out Sandy, who looked thrilled to have the chance to stretch her legs. The shop owner had a few cans of dog food, and he opened one up for her. Leo offered to pay for everything, but the old man waved away the bill.
“I would have had to throw ’em out in the morning. Glad they didn’t go to waste.”
“Thanks for everything, um . . .” Leo said.He realized he still didn’t know the man’s name.
“Wendell,” the old man said.
“I’m Leo. That’s James and Sigrid.”
“So y’all are heading for the old Air Force base then, huh?” Wendell asked around a mouthful of potato salad.
Sigrid and Leo eyed each other, still uncertain if it was wise to tell anyone else where they were going.
Wendell noticed. “Oh, come on,” he barked out with a laugh. “That’s where they took everyone around here. Where else would you be goin’?”
Leo cleared his throat, feeling a little embarrassed at being caught. “Uh, yeah, that’s where we’re going.”
“Our families are there,” Sigrid explained.
Wendell nodded. “Good you’re going after them then.”
After they finished eating, they decided it was time to keep moving. Wendell stepped outside with them to see them off.
Leo felt odd just leaving him there. “Ah, are you sure you don’t want to come with us?”
Wendell grinned so widely his eyes disappeared into the wrinkles around his face. “You’re nice kids. But I’ll be just fine here.”
They waved goodbye to him one more time before taking off pedaling. Eventually the sun began to set. Soon they spotted a side road that led to a tall wire fence and metal gate.
Leo grinned. “We made it.”
***
They crept closer to the fence, hoping to get a look of the place before they approached the front gate. There were mostly soldiers in uniforms walking around. A few medics too. Deeper into the base, Leo noticed people wearing ordinary clothing.
Leo felt his stomach flip as he recognized a familiar couple. “My mom and dad are here,” he said. “I think we should go in.”
“Here goes nothing,” James said and started toward the gate. The others joined him.
The guards spotted them approaching and stiffened, each placing a hand on their gun holster. One of the guards stepped forward. “Who are you and where are you from?”
They each gave their names. “Our families are here,” Sigrid explained.
Another guard jotted down their names on a clipboard. “How come you missed the rescue vehicles?”
“I was sick so I wasn’t at school,” James said.
“I had to check on an . . . elderly family member,” Sigrid said.
“I was out in the woods,” Leo said.
One of the guards eyed the bike trailer. “What’s in there?” he asked.
Sigrid’s eyes went wide. “Just my dog.”
The guard frowned. “Please,” Sigrid said. “She’s all I have. She’s very well trained. She’ll be good.”
The guards spoke quietly with each other for a moment, and then one of them headed into the base with their names. The other guard patted them down. He looked through their backpacks and didn’t take anything besides James’s slingshot.
“You missed evening mess, but you can go find your families,” he said.
The other guard came back for them. “All three of your families are here,” he confirmed. Sigrid grinned, and James laughed in relief. “Follow me,” the guard said gruffly, leading them through the large gate. They walked their bikes behind him and tried to keep up.
“Has there been any more news?” Sigrid asked. “Do we know anything more about the Visitors?”
“That information is classified,” he said. Sigrid shot a concerned look over to Leo and James. The guard seemed to notice their distress. He sighed and said, “Don’t worry. You’ll be safe here.”
But you don’t know that, Leo thought as he followed. Not really.
The guard led them through rows of tents that were each packed with people. He checked his list and pointed them each toward the tents their families were staying in.
“Guess we’re going our separate ways,” said Leo after the guard walked away. He realized he didn’t like the idea of being separated after all they’d been through together.
James gave a heavy yawn. He looked ready to fall asleep right then and there. Leo realized they all needed to rest and spend time with their families. “Let’s meet up tomorrow after breakfast,” he suggested.
Sigrid and James nodded, and the three parted to head off and find their families. As Leo wheeled his bike in the direction of his parents’ tent, he found himself picking up his pace.
Chapter 12
Leo heard their voices before he saw them. He dropped his bike on the grass beside the tent and ducked inside.
His parents looked exhausted, with dark bags under their eyes and limp hair. Their clothes were rumpled as if they’d been wearing them for days. Given how quickly people had been evacuated, they probably had been wearing the same clothes for days. He’d never been so happy to see them.
“Hey,” he said casually.
They looked up in surprise, and his mother’s face melted into tears. “Oh, honey, I was so worried about you!” She stood up and rushed over to hug him.
His dad stepped in and hugged both of them. He was crying too. Leo realized his own eyes were a bit wet. He sniffed and wiped them on the collar.