by Wendy Knight
But now…
“Pharmacy’s just up ahead. I can’t believe we came this far and saw no Garce.” Enika bounced on her toes. She reminded Phoenyx of the old Enika, before the invasion. Before the atomic bombs that had backfired spectacularly. Before most of the population had been wiped out and the country had fallen.
The world had fallen.
Before the news had gone off the air, before the electricity had been cut, she’d seen footage from other countries. They’d been hit as hard as the US had. The Garce didn’t care about key populations or how best to cripple the country. They were unstoppable and moved too quickly. They had an insatiable hunger, and there were millions of them. They had taken everything down before there was even time to fight back. After all, it was impossible to live on a roof forever, and half the time the Garce figured out how to get up there anyway.
In all actuality, Phoenyx was amazed that she was still alive. She had no idea how. Especially with stupid moves like the day before when she’d nearly died for a potato. And the fact that she’d been fighting Hemochromatosis for years before the first invasion. She hadn’t had her blood tested for months, but so far she was still surviving. She didn’t have much medication left, though. She’d been trying to make it last as long as possible.
Like she thought maybe the end of the world would just go away and doctors would all come back.
Cole knocked out the broken panes of glass with his gun so they could get in without risk of getting cut or scratched, and Phoenyx ducked through, twisting herself like a pretzel so the remaining jagged edges couldn’t reach her. Enika, smirking, reached through and clicked the lock, pushing the door open and waltzing in like she was queen of the store.
It had been looted, but not completely, and it was clear to see why. The bodies still rotted on the floor, blood splattered around them. Instantly, Phoenyx raised her gun.
She and Cole swept the store, but it was clean — no Garce, no Pys. Safe.
She barely knew what that word meant anymore.
Phoenyx grabbed some reusable grocery bags and started filling them up with everything she could hold — pain reliever, antibiotic ointment, bandages, medical tape — basically anything she’d wished she’d had over the last several months.
Enika went for the food still neatly in boxes and not moldy, thanks to preservatives. There wasn’t much, because when the looting had taken place, people were starving and went straight for the food, forgetting about the medicine that would save them later.
Cole hit the pharmacy, which was harder to get in to. He had to shoot the lock off a door and Phoenyx immediately crouched, waiting for Garce to attack.
They were drawn to noise.
But they didn’t. No attack came, no monsters sprang from the shadows. Slowly, she rose and met Enika’s eyes over the aisles.
No Garce.
They worked quickly and silently. Phoenyx’s hands shook, the trembling worse with every passing second. It wasn’t safe to stay in one place so long. They needed to get out, back to a roof.
“I got everything I recognized.” Cole reemerged with his bags full. “Now we just have to make it back to the neighborhood without anyone seeing what we’re doing and taking it from us. No problem. We should have brought backpacks.”
“Why don’t we wear backpacks?” Enika asked. “That seems like a smart thing to do in the middle of a double invasion.”
“They slowed us down when we ran from the Garce,” Phoenyx said automatically. “Remember when that Garce caught the hook on Keven’s bag and nearly tore him apart? We stopped after that.”
“Oh yeah…” Enika shuddered. “Good point. Let’s go home.”
Since home was wherever they made it, they chose somewhere at the fringes of the neighborhood at a house with a roof that would be impossible for the Garce to get out on, since they couldn’t twist the way humans could, and they wouldn’t be able to claw their way through the vaulted ceilings. That way they ran into no people either, because sometimes people could be as bad as the Garce.
Or worse, actually.
The house was small, two bedroom, two bathroom, but they had picked it for its roof, not its square footage. Phoenyx organized their treasure and hid it in the cupboards, but kept it in bags in case they had to run. Although running with an armful of grocery bags and a gun would be super awkward.
Enika curled up on the couch and drew. Eventually, Phoenyx went to watch her because Enika was truly talented, and it was like watching a masterpiece being created in front of her eyes. Before the invasion, Enika had done most of her work with bright, bold colors. This one was muted, more grays and blacks and dark blues. It was breathtakingly beautiful, but sad.
Like Enika had lost her light.
* * *
THEY SPENT THE NEXT several weeks that way, gaining more and more confidence in this new world the Pys had offered them. They didn’t see them often, and always at night.
Hunting.
Inside the neighborhood, the remaining humans started forming a hierarchy and tried to figure out how they should all go about rebuilding their lives. Not a government, per se, but maybe a committee. Phoenyx’s mother, of course, was on it.
The woman loved her power.
Cole stayed out of it. They rarely went into the neighborhood except to leave messages for Keven, should he return. The committee said everyone had to contribute and everyone had to have a job, even what few children had survived, but they didn’t know what jobs there should be, and Cole had very little interest in their rules and orders. He had Phoenyx. He would build his own life with her, their own family. Enika could be their ruler. She was bossy enough.
Although that bossiness had saved them many times. Which was why she could be in charge.
She appeared through the door, carrying fruit for dinner and she scowled at him like she could read his mind. He rearranged his face, the picture of innocence. “They’re calling a town meeting tonight after the sun sets.”
Phoenyx looked up from her book. She was sprawled across the couch, her head on his leg and had been so immersed in her book she hadn’t stirred for hours. His leg had fallen asleep eons ago, but there wasn’t a chance he was moving, not while she was so at peace. Not while he could watch the emotions play across her face as she read and memorize every one. “That’s a weird time to call a meeting. They’ll have to use candlelight and as far as I’ve heard—”
Enika cut her off. “Not the humans. The Pys.”
Phoenyx sat up abruptly, her long dark hair tumbling across her shoulders, brushing Cole’s arm like silk. “What?”
Enika shrugged. “They didn’t say. Sawyer just dropped by to let us know. He says it’s mandatory. Also, he’s super hot.”
Cole raised an eyebrow. “And way too old for you.” He remembered Sawyer from before. He was an all-star on the college track team. He’d held a clinic once for their high school, and Phoenyx had raved about it for weeks.
“He also has a girlfriend. Savannah, remember? Doesn’t make him any less hot.” Enika grinned wickedly.
“I guess we should probably go then.” Cole stood, trying to regain feeling in his legs.
Phoenyx gnawed on her lip. “I don’t like this. And we haven’t had dinner.”
Dinner. They had three meals a day now. And snacks. Not long ago, eating every two or three days had been heaven.
“Maybe they’re going to tell us they killed all the Garce and are leaving now,” Enika said hopefully.
Phoenyx sighed. “Yeah. Maybe. I guess we won’t know until we get there. We can check to see if Keven’s alive while we’re at it.”
“They’ll probably have one in his city, too. There won’t be a reason to come to ours.” Cole was worried about Keven, but not as worried as the girls were. He’d grown up with him and his family. They were survivalists. They built guns for fun and spent their weekends in the desert blowing stuff up. Keven was fine.
“Fine,” Phoenyx set her book reluctantly on what rema
ined of the coffee table. “Fine. But we eat first.”
Enika’s art was plastered all over the fridge, just like when they were kids at home. When she’d started winning awards, their mom had framed them. But they had no frames here, and no one felt right about replacing the family photos with her drawings, so she stuck them on the fridge. He had to fight his way through her art gallery just to get inside to where she stored the fruit.
He listened to them both chatter while they chopped and diced. The Garce had gotten all the animals, so protein was scarce, but the Pys had given them nuts of all kinds and beans. And grains, but no one knew how to use those to make anything edible.
They laughed, too, which he never thought he’d hear again. Phoenyx didn’t scream in her sleep anymore, but she did sob. At least during the day, though, she was a semblance of her former self. He’d missed that laugh.
The sun was setting when they left, locking the house as they went. Enika had found a key under a fake rock in the yard and since they had so many valuables inside, they locked it every time they ventured away. Of course, if someone wanted to get in badly enough, that wouldn’t stop them. There were always windows.
He and Phoenyx both had guns, but they were holstered. They hadn’t needed them for weeks, and it was more of a comfort thing now. Still, he made sure it was loaded, just in case. Enika had given up on her search for a weapon. “When the right one comes along, I’ll know.”
Most girls her age were looking for boys. She waited on a weapon.
They hadn’t ventured out after dark before. Honestly, it was a stupid move. Maybe the Garce weren’t a threat anymore, but there were still bad humans. He was relieved when he could see the glittering metallic lights of the Pys in what had once been a park in the middle of the neighborhood. Everyone else in town was already there. He spotted Melina and Cherish, and steered Phoenyx in the opposite direction.
Aylin lit up as soon as Phoenyx walked over, and rocketed into their path. “We have something very exciting for you,” she purred, huge metallic blue eyes literally sparking. “I can’t wait for you to join us.”
Phoenyx cringed away, and her hand found Cole’s.
“Aylin!” the bigger one snapped.
“Akit, you said—”
“Enough.”
Finally, the taller one had a name. Although tall was an understatement. She was bigger than Aylin but still almost a head shorter than Phoenyx.
Sighing sadly. Aylin rose back into the sky and hovered next to Akit, who glared hard at Aylin before she turned the force of her smile onto everyone below them. “We have a gift for some of you. One that is beyond anything in your wildest dreams.” Her voice was like a lullaby, soft and soothing, lulling Cole into a false sense of peace and comfort. Around them, everyone buzzed. Phoenyx squeezed Cole’s hand tight as foreboding coiled in his stomach.
“We are women,” Akit started. “We are beautiful. And we are immortal.”
“And humble,” Enika muttered.
“We can give that gift to the women among you. You, who have lost so much and continue to fight, deserve this gift that we can bestow upon you.”
Phoenyx sucked in a breath, eyes widening to the point she thought they might fall out of her head. “What?”
“Only the women?” Someone called. A man, of course. Cole strained to see him through the crowd, but there were more people here than he remembered seeing in the last several months combined. They must have been gravitating toward the Pys where it was safe, while he, Phoenyx, and Enika were out in their own little world.
“Yes. Our DNA has proven to not meld well with your male population, and for that we are truly sorry. But why should we deny this gift to those of you that can use it?”
“She says gift a whole lot,” Enika said under her breath. “Seriously, we get it. It’s like Christmas.”
Phoenyx gnawed on the inside of her cheek, and Cole understood. This didn’t feel right. The foreboding had uncoiled in his stomach and now hissed and snapped angrily.
“We don’t ask that you decide now. Go with your loved ones. Talk about your options. We have handouts with more information.”
Handouts? The fluttering aliens passed a stack of pamphlets to those nearest them and asked that they pass them around, and all Cole could think was that they had no electricity, no running water, and somehow the Pys were creating brochures?
His brain stuttered at the thought, like of everything the Pys had just said, that was what he should be focusing on.
“Please read these throughout the night. We will stay nearby. Feel free to ask us your questions and gather all the information provided to you.”
The brochure met Phoenyx’s fingers and she took one numbly. It was laminated, smooth under her touch and full of bright colors and pictures of the Pys, but not Akit and not Aylin. Different ones, so breathtakingly beautiful it put everything Cole had ever known to shame. The tattoos around their eyes sparkled, their wings more silken than even Akit’s. Phoenyx seemed to barely be able to tear her eyes from their faces to read the text.
Cole had no problem, though. “Eternal life. You could live forever.”
“Why would anyone want to live forever?” Phoenyx asked distractedly. “When everyone you love is growing old and dying?”
“Only I would. You two would have each other forever.” Cole pointed at more text that Phoenyx didn’t read.
“It doesn’t feel right,” Enika said, startling Phoenyx out of her trance. “And it’s not like we can read reviews on Yelp or anything.”
“No one in their right mind would volunteer for this without more infor—” Phoenyx started when someone in the crowd interrupted her.
“I want to do it!”
Thank goodness it wasn’t her mother or sister.
“Me too!”
Cole ran a hand through his hair and stared as more and more women volunteered. The men around them varied from alarm to jealousy to pride. It was baffling. Before the invasion, most of these women wouldn’t even buy temporary hair color without reading a thousand reviews and talking to everyone they knew about it first. Now, they barely glanced at the paper in front of them.
Cole watched Phoenyx, trying to gauge her reaction, read the thoughts she had tucked carefully away in her head. She said nothing.
What if she did? If she turned into one of them, would she still want him? Would he lose her forever? His heart constricted in his chest. He couldn’t ask her not to do it. Not when it meant immortality. No sickness, no weakness. She could fight the Garce. No more running or hiding. He wouldn’t fight her on her decision for that reason alone, even if it meant losing her completely.
“Are you going to do it?” he asked softly.
“What? No!” she gasped.
Relief flooded Cole’s soul, and he released a breath he hadn’t realized he held.
Chapter 6
FROM WHERE SHE FLUTTERED IN THE street, Aylin’s face fell and some of the light died from her wings.
Enika didn’t notice, didn’t even look at the hopeful aliens above, “Me neither,” Enika said firmly. “This is too weird.”
“You would look like us,” Akit said, spreading her arms wide. “You would be beautiful.”
“You have eyes,” Phoenyx snapped. “You can clearly see how beautiful she already is. She doesn’t need your help.”
“Yes…” Aylin said slowly and looked to Akit for help.
Akit smiled and pumped her wings. The air snapped and cracked and sparked around her, creating waves of wind that blew back the people around her. “But can you do this?”
Phoenyx ached. Flying — what human didn’t dream of that? Of having their own wings? It was why they were obsessed with birds, and planes, and why little kids flew kites and grown men played with drones.
They all craved the sky.
“Come, come with me.” Akit was suddenly there in front of her, hand out and wings beating, pulsating, and Phoenyx could barely see anything else. Akit darted behind her
, moving so quickly Phoenyx didn’t have time to follow, and grabbed her around the waist. They rose into the sky, high above the houses and the broken roads. Phoenyx screamed, but Akit held tight, her wings carrying them easily into the air.
Phoenyx could see everything. The freeway in the distance with cars sitting empty, doors open, some torn from their hinges. The storefronts with their broken glass windows and vines twining up and around their doors. Utah was a desert, but a confused one. Their winter had been heavy and lasted way beyond spring. The invasion had come through the rain of April, and summer had been mild, as far as Utah summers went. Fall was still holding tightly, even in October.
It was at once terrifying and exhilarating, being so high. When she ran, she sometimes dreamed she could take flight if she only went a little faster. Everyone thought she was such a speedy thing, but she was never speedy enough. Of course, if they knew why she ran so hard, they’d think she was crazy.
Akit carried her over the city, her huge wings pumping effortlessly like Phoenyx wasn’t extra weight at all. For a second, she closed her eyes and imagined what it would feel like if these were her wings and she was flying on her own. She held out her arms and tipped her face to the sun and dreamed.
Enika, though, was screaming. Her terror reached Phoenyx from clear up in the sky, and she tapped Akit on the arm. “I need to go down now.”
Akit breathed in her ear, the silken blue strands falling across Phoenyx’s fast. “Are you sure? Are you sure you couldn’t do this forever?”
Phoenyx let her eyes take in everything below them again. She could see clear to the horizon. In the distance, maybe the Antelope Island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake? There seemed to be—
Holy crap, it was their ship.
“Yes. I need to go down. My friends need me.”
She’d expected an argument, but none came, and Akit obediently flew them back to the ground, dropping Phoenyx on her feet. “This could be yours,” she said quietly, pumping her wings so the air brushed Phoenyx’s messy hair away from her face. “Consider wisely.”