Jason whistles low. “Well…um…”
I raise an eyebrow, waiting to hear what he is struggling to say.
“That’s not the worst thing in the world.”
“No. The worst thing in the world would be being separated from my mom during an alien invasion. Now that’s the worst thing in the world.”
“Good point. The worst thing in the world is not knowing whether my mother and little brother are still alive.”
I nod, agreeing with him. “My parentage registers this much.” I press two of my fingers tight together. “In everyone’s lives right now.”
He presses his fingers together as well. “And this is how much anyone cares about me getting kicked out of the University of Texas.”
I feign surprise. “What you? Kicked out of school? No, you don’t say.”
He opens up a small gap between his two fingers. “Aww, look what you’ve gone and done.”
I giggle softly, not wanting to disturb anyone else, or wake anyone who has already fallen asleep. “I’m sorry. It doesn’t mean anything to me.”
“Even my dad stopped caring about that after the invasion.”
“I’m very interested to find out what it takes for a Senator’s son to get kicked out of college.”
“A lot of things.”
I raise my eyebrow at that.
“Let’s see…” He tilts his head to the side as if in thought.
“Wow, are you serious? You’ve done that many things?”
“It was a prank gone wrong that ended up being the last straw.”
“Last straw?” I can’t imagine the idea of getting kicked out of college.
“It had something to do with eggs and saran wrap.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad. It’ll be a mess, but it’s cleanable.”
“Not so easy when the saran wrap is wrapped around a car.”
“Huh?”
“On a hot day.”
“I don’t get it.”
“And the car happened to belong to the President of the school.”
“Wait. What?”
“And it caused over ten-thousand dollars’ worth of damage.”
“You have got to be kidding me.”
“They were supposed to put the saran wrap on first and then egg the car. Not the other way around.”
I frown. “And you actually participated in this?”
“No, I happened on the scene just before the President. But it still was helluva funny.”
“I still don’t understand. Why would you get in trouble for something someone else did?”
“It was my fraternity brothers. Someone ratted us out, but the snitch couldn’t pinpoint who had actually done it. When I came on the scene,” he raised a shoulder, “I was taken into custody.”
“But you told them you didn’t have anything to do with it right?”
“I did, but it didn’t matter. The police wanted me to tell them whose idea it was. They were going to get expelled.”
“And you didn’t?”
He frowned at that. “Of course not. I’m not a snitch.”
“But at least you could have stayed at school.”
“That’s what my father said. He was pretty pissed that he had to come and get me.” Jason chuckles. His smile is bright and stretched across his face, showing the dimples that I like so much. “He said my opponent would bring this up when I’m running for some kind of political office.”
I glance over to Ken. He’s still busy studying the map, his face set in determination.
“Jokes on him,” Jason adds. “I won’t be running for office in this lifetime. I won’t be marrying a girl from a nice influential family and I won’t be having model, pristine children.” He takes a look at his dad. “I won’t have the perfect life he’s been grooming me for since I was born.”
“Yeah, this screwed up everything.”
“I don’t even think he’s accepted it…all this. He has some crazy idea that when we get to D.C. there will be some kind of government. That we’ll be able to beat back the aliens and all of this will be a distant nightmare.”
“There’s nothing wrong with thinking that. I’m wishing for the same thing.”
“But you’re a kid. You can think that way.”
Kid.
“I’m not delusional. I know Earth is pretty much ruined. But there’s nothing wrong with me wanting to believe that this is all some kind of bad dream and I’ll wake up at home, in my own bed with my mother making me eggs and my dad giving me guilt money. That doesn’t make me a kid.”
He leans on me, pressing his shoulder against mine. “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t have the right to say that to you.”
Wade rustles in his sleeping bag and turns our way. “You okay, Sin?”
“Yeah, go back to sleep. I didn’t mean to wake you. I’ll keep my voice down.”
Wade gives us one more up-and-down once over and, determining that Jason isn’t about to hurt me in any way, he turns back around and settles in his bag.
“See,” Jason whispers. “He protects you.”
Wade can protect me from some things, but not against the one thing I’ve always feared.
A broken heart.
Chapter Fifteen
April 22nd, 2012: Day 31
“Shh…don’t say a word,” a harsh voice whispers into my ear. A hand is placed roughly over my mouth as he says it. A million things come to my foggy mind all at once
The Tanners have me.
Where is everyone?
Should I scream?
Should I try to get away?
Should I keep my mouth shut?
My eyes fly open. My vision is all blurriness and darkness. I can’t make out anything except for the ceiling, with its lines of pipes and electrical wires. I try blinking away the last effects of my sleep. As my vision clears I turn to my right to where a body is pressed against mine. My face is just inches from the back of a head.
No, I want to scream. I have to get out of here. I reach out for my samurai sword. I can get to it quicker than I can get to the guns that are in my backpack. I try to keep myself calm as I wrap my hand around the handle. The person lifts their head and turns to look at me.
It’s Jason. His eyes are wide and round. “The aliens are here,” he whispers in a rush.
If at all possible, my heart beats even faster. I can’t catch my breath. I’m grateful for the hand he has over my mouth, for it holds back the gasp I let out.
Aliens? Here?
I let go of the sword. And grab his wrists, pulling his hand away from my mouth. Free, I turn and adjust my eyes to the darkness. Everyone else is still in their sleeping bags. The whites of their eyes are like flashlights in the dark.
I have so many questions for Jason, but I don’t dare to open my mouth to ask him. I don’t want the lizards to take me to wherever they are taking other people. I don’t want to be killed or eaten or have anything else done to me that they’re doing.
I just want to go home.
And then I hear it. The heavy steps of someone walking above us. The steps sound like they could be anyone. How do we even know what aliens sound like?
Stomp, stomp, slide.
Stomp, stomp, slide.
Stomp, stomp, slide.
Like that.
A tail is sliding on the floor behind them. That’s what the difference is.
I need to get out of here.
Unrelenting and unforgiving, I can’t think of anything else. Doom hovers above my head like a dark cloud, dripping dread on me like rain.
I fumble for my zipper and pull at it. I need to get it down.
Jason places a hand over mine, stopping me.
I don’t want him to stop me. I feel trapped, unable to move. I can’t breathe.
“I have to get out of here.” I don’t even recognize my voice. It sounds panicky, scared and crazy.
“Shut her up,” Ken says from a few feet away from me.
The walking above us stop
s.
“Please,” I plead in a low tone. “I have to get out of this bag. I can’t breathe.”
“Hold on,” Jason says. “When they leave.”
No. Now.
I want to scream but I squeeze my eyes shut. I keep quiet and hold my breath. Tears make a slow tickling path down the sides of my face. I let them fall, resisting the urge to wipe them away. I have to stay still.
I have to.
I can’t tell how much time has passed so I listen to Jason’s breathing, counting each one.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen…
Stomp, stomp, slide.
Stomp, stomp, slide.
Stomp, stomp, slide.
That’s good, I say to myself. It’s leaving.
Each step it takes is closer to the outside. Away, I pray. Go away.
Fifty-two, fifty-three, fifty-four, fifty-five, fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight…
Silence.
Jason’s breathing stops. My breaths stops.
It’s gone.
I hold my breath until my lungs burn. Only after I hear Jason breathing again do I dare to. I don’t bother counting anymore. There’s no need.
I don’t move. No one moves. We all lay there as if in a catatonic state, wondering how long it will take them to leave the area. After what seems like hours, there’s finally movement.
Ian rises and stretches quietly. “So what’s the plan? Stay here until we’re sure they’re gone?”
That sounds like a good plan to me but I don’t say anything. I want to stay here, lying next to Jason. Although I’m not counting his breaths anymore I’m still listening to him breathe. I want to snuggle closer to him. I want him to put his arm around me and tell me everything is okay. I know that I shouldn’t be feeling or thinking this way, but I can’t help it.
“That would be the smart thing to do,” Ken says.
“What about using the toilet?” Shayla asks. “I have to pee.”
I didn’t have to before, but now I do too. “Me too.”
After I unfasten my zipper I roll to my feet. Shayla does the same thing.
“Hold on,” MJ says. “Shouldn’t we sweep the building first? Make sure they left?”
Jason grabs his gun. “I’ll go.”
Wade reaches for his. “Me too.”
After they leave I slip on my new boots. “Are you coming?” I ask Mia as she starts to get up.
“No,” Ken says. “Two at a time. We don’t want to draw attention to this building. Two will go unnoticed. Anymore and someone is bound to do something stupid to get noticed.”
“Mia and I are next,” Ms. Burgess says.
We’re all in agreement as we wait for Jason and Wade to come back. Finally, Wade and Jason drop down through the hole in the ceiling. “All clear,” Jason says.
I reach from my backpack.
Before I can even get my hand in it all the way, Ken says, “Leave the gun here. I don’t want you to shoot Shayla by accident.”
“But shouldn’t I take a weapon?”
“Take your sword. I don’t want you guys using the guns until after we can properly train you on them.”
“Sure.” I put my bag down and grab my samurai sword. “Are you bringing your knife?” I ask Shayla.
“Naw. I’ll let you protect me while I pee.”
I climb up the makeshift stairs behind Shayla.
“Keep your eyes and ears open and don’t make any noise,” Ken warns, as we make our way through the opening.
I nod.
Once we’re up the stairs, we make our way to the bathroom we’ve used the night before. It’s not really a bathroom. It’s what used to be the bathroom. The toilet is gone. It’s somewhere near the front door, but the hole is still in the ground and two of the walls are still up.
“Oh, my God,” Shayla exclaims as we approach. “It smells like holy hell.”
She isn’t lying. My eyes begin to burn as the raw sewage seem to assault them. I squeeze them shut and use my free hand to rub them. “Jesus, this place stinks.”
“You want to go first?”
“Naw, you first. I’ll stand watch.” I open my eyes. They still burn like crazy, but until we pee and go back to the basement there’s nothing I can do about it.
“You won’t let the aliens sneak up on me with my pants down, will you?” she teases.
I rotate my wrist, making my sword swish through the air in front of us. “They don’t stand a chance.”
She giggles. “You know, two months ago I would have never believed anyone if they told me that you have a bad-ass streak in you.”
I cut the sword through the air, this time using some fancy footwork. “In my head I see myself as a super hero, crime fighter, sex-bot, and karate master.”
Shayla bursts out in a chuckle that she tries to cover up with her hand. “You’re a hot mess.”
I kick out at an imaginary target. “Wha-cha.”
We make it to the door and, despite our free spirits, I kinda want to throw-up from the smell of raw sewage.
“Wait here,” Shayla says as she passes over the threshold.
Nodding I take my stance with my back to her.
“Sin,” she calls out in a whisper.
I turn to glance at her over my shoulder. She’s staring at me with wide-eyes and fear written all over her face. “Don’t leave me. Promise me that you won’t leave me.”
“It’s cool. They checked. We’re safe. Otherwise Ken wouldn’t have let us come up here by ourselves.”
“I don’t care what Ken would and wouldn’t do. Promise me.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
“Thanks. I needed to hear that. I don’t think I could have peed otherwise.”
I give her a smirk and turn my head as she starts to pull down her pants. I hear the steady stream of her relieving herself and then…
Stomp, stomp, slide.
Oh no…
My breathing picks up. So fast and hard that the air doesn’t seep into my lungs before I exhale. I swipe my gaze from left to right. I can’t see anything besides a torn-up church. Office furniture is thrown about, some of the walls are caved in, everything is out of place, but I still can’t see what’s coming my way.
Stomp, stomp, slide.
They’re here…
My heart is beating so fast that I think it will explode. Between that and not being able to catch my breath, my head begins to spin. Sweat seems to pore off my palms, making the sword slippery in my grasp.
Stomp, stomp, slide.
Shayla’s stream of urine stops.
Shayla.
I hear her pulling up her pants.
“Shayla,” I say with my voice in a mixture of a whisper and whine. I’m scared to say anything louder.
Stomp, stomp, slide.
My left.
I peer in that direction, lifting my sword, pointing it to whatever will come at me. It shakes in the air, my hands almost too unsteady to hold it.
Stomp, stomp, slide.
Shayla approaches my back. “Your turn.”
Stomp, stomp, slide.
“Something is here,” I choke out.
She inhales sharply and steps back, away from me. Only after I feel the tug on the back of my shirt do I realize that she has me, pulling me with her. I take a slow deliberate step back and then another, letting her guide me as I keep my eyes peeled for them. We move to the far corner of the room. All the while the stomp, stomp, slide comes closer and closer, louder and louder.
Briefly I wonder if they can hear it in the basement. They have to. Will they come up and save us? Could they even risk it? I don’t think so. We’re on our own until the aliens leave.
I know we’re at the wall when Shayla stops abruptly and she leads me to rest my back on the wall. We’re standing side-by-side, but I get the feeling that I should stand in front of her. I’m the only one with a weapon. So I do.
“No,” she whispe
rs. “What are you doing?”
“I have a sword.”
“Yeah, one that you’ve been having for all but five minutes.”
“Shhh,” I hiss.
After a blink, it’s there, blocking the entrance. A lizard, green and scaly. Eight feet tall, rippling muscles, staring at me with yellow eyes with black, diamond-shaped iris.
How can a lizard be muscular? My mind screams.
I whimper as it stares down at me, its breathing heavy.
A warm rush of urine travels down my legs.
Shayla’s scream seems to pierce through me.
“You will submit to us.”
Oh, God, No!
In two strides it’s at us. It reaches out for me and all I can focus on are the claws, three black claws, almost like talons, coming closer to me. Instinctively I cringe away from it. But those claws keep coming toward me.
With a “swish” of my sword I swing as hard as I can. It glides through his skin like through butter. A gush of warm liquid sprays me in the face and torso.
I’m not the only one who is surprised by what I’ve done. The lizard stares at his arm with pure shock. I’m in pure shock too. Not that I’ve done it, but that I’ve taken his hand clear off.
Before I can over think about what I’ve done, I take another swipe, this time at its leg. It’s not wearing any clothes, besides some kind of utility belt, so aiming for its knee is easy. The lizard roars as the sword passes through it, making him buckle and fall to his left.
I take a bold step forward and, as it’s falling down, I bring the blade of my sword down across its thick neck, separating its head from his body.
“Oh God!” Shayla cries out.
“I killed it. I can’t believe that I killed it.” My eyes are focused on the ooze instead of blood that’s dripping from my sword and hand.
“We have to get back to the basement.” Shayla rushes past me, but I grab her arm stopping her from leaving the room.
“We can’t. If there are any more aliens, we’ll lead them straight to the others.”
She pulls her arm out of my grasp. “They have guns. They can kill them!” She runs through the door, leaving me to stare at chopped up lizard.
But I have a sword.
Just as quickly as she leaves, Shayla comes back, screaming. “There’s another one!” She runs past me and to a small window on the back wall.
Against The Darkness (Cimmerian Moon) Page 16