Alien Hunter

by Bryson, Karen M.

  What if he kills Gunner, JoJo, and Nico too, and it’s all my fault?

  As much as I want to communicate with Falcon again, it’s not worth the risk. I’m not the only one who would be in danger. I’d also be risking the lives of my friends.

  So I lie in bed and try to process everything myself. I’m supposed to be a leader in some resistance movement for a cause I’m not sure I fully understand yet. I don’t have a choice in the matter, and I’m not supposed to question any of it because it’s my destiny.

  And I thought my aunts, with all their hippie-dippy psychic stuff, were nuts. What Nico told us borders on the insane.

  And yet I believe him.

  He has a way of saying things that is so convincing. Or maybe it’s his serious demeanor. It’s hard to doubt someone who looks so certain about everything he says.

  What does it all mean for my future? Is being the leader of a resistance a full-time job? Does it come with benefits? What about sick and vacation days?

  Will I able to have a family someday? A husband? Children?

  And what about my parents? Will I ever find them? Will I be able to have contact with them?

  When the sleep finally hits, I’m thankful that my mind has stopped working overtime, letting me fall into a restful slumber.

  “Jericho, wake up.”

  I jolt upright, my heart still pounding from the nightmare I was having. JoJo is lightly shaking my shoulder.

  “Are you okay?” Her eyes are filled with concern. “You were moaning pretty loudly.”

  I blink several times, then take in a few calming breaths. “It felt so real.”

  “What did?”

  “My dream. We were attacked. Near the train. Falcon and his feathered friends found us.”

  “Feathered friends?”

  “The other soldiers he’s always with. Haven’t you noticed they all have bird names? Hawke, Wren. Jay.”

  “They’re code names. For the program. Mine was going to be Starling.”

  “I kind of like that.”

  “Well, I like JoJo. They were trying to erase everything about me. My memories. My personality. My identity. Even my name. You know what? Screw them. They can’t have any of it.”

  “They were just about to kill us. In my dream. Right before you woke me up. Falcon pointed a gun right at me. He . . .” My voice cracks before I can finish my sentence.

  He didn’t remember anything about me. Falcon had no idea who I was. He only had one thing on his mind. That was to kill me.

  I blink back tears as I remember the dark look in his eyes. And the blank expression on his face. He wasn’t human any longer. They had succeeded in making him nothing more than a killing machine.

  “It was just a dream,” JoJo says. “We’re fine. We’re safe.”

  For now.

  We haven’t made it to the train station yet.

  “I wonder what time it is.”

  She shakes her head. “I have no idea. Being underground, you lose all sense of time. There’s no way to tell whether it’s day or night. When they brought me to the base, they took my cell phone away. Guess I’m never getting that back. I don’t wear a watch. Your guess is as good as mine on the time.”

  “Maybe I can figure it out another way,” I tell her. There’s a clock inside of my trailer on the brand-new microwave oven. That reminds me that I never did thank Nico for all the renovations he did. “Give me a few seconds.”

  I close my eyes and take in a few deep breaths. Then I do my best to relax. I wait for several moments until the desert near my trailer comes into view.

  Daylight is just starting to peek out from the horizon. “It’s early morning. Maybe five thirty or so. The sun is rising.”

  “That’s way too early. Back when me and Doug were still together, playing the club scene, we wouldn’t get up until well after noon.”

  When I don’t immediately see my trailer, I wonder if I’m remotely viewing the right place. I do my best to zoom in and search the area.

  A feeling of dread completely overtakes me when I notice an area of scorched earth. As I zoom in on the spot, my breath catches when I realize exactly what I’m seeing.

  A pile of burned rubble and ash where my trailer used to be.

  I swipe at a teardrop as it escapes down my cheek. They really have taken everything from me.

  “What is it?” JoJo’s voice interrupts the viewing session.

  “Nothing,” I tell her as I wipe the moisture from my eyes.

  “Gunner’s right. You’re a terrible liar.”

  “What do you know about Gunner?” I snap before I have a chance to censor myself.

  “Chill. Geez. What’s eating you?”

  “They burned my trailer to the ground. I inherited it from my grandfather. It was just completely renovated.”

  Her eyes widen. “Wow, that sucks.”

  “Let’s get out of here.” I rise from the bed and grab my backpack. I don’t even bother looking in the mirror or doing anything with my hair, even though I’m sure it’s a mess from such a restless night’s sleep.

  Gunner and Nico are already in the kitchen, making breakfast, when JoJo and I arrive.

  “What happened to your hair?” Gunner’s eyes are fixed on my fright wig.

  “It’s a new style. Do you like it?”

  “I put two of those hair things in your backpack for you. The ones you always use to put your hair in a ponytail. I thought you might need them.”

  “Thanks.”

  I reach into the front pocket of the backpack and grab one of the hair ties. I slip my hair into a quick ponytail. As weird as I feel about what’s happening between JoJo and Gunner, I can’t deny the fact that they both care about me.

  “We’ve got about an hour’s hike before we hit the train station,” Nico says as he places a bowl of oatmeal in front of me.

  I get an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach as that horrible dream replays in my head.

  I can’t shake the feeling that something really bad is going to happen when we get to the train station.

  I force myself to eat the oatmeal in front of me even though I don’t have much of an appetite. I know I’ll need the calories, and I don’t want to waste food.

  Once we’ve all finished eating and have cleaned everything up, Nico asks us if we’re ready to go.

  Why do I feel like a death-row inmate getting ready to make the final walk to my execution?

  Gunner pulls me aside as the four of us make our way out of the post. “What’s going on?”

  I shake my head. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

  “I am worried. I always worry about you, Jericho.”

  As I tell him about the vision I had of my destroyed trailer and the details of my horrible dream, his face turns pale. “I knew I should have brought a gun.”

  I frown. “Why didn’t you?”

  “I had an RBG ready to go. Nico wouldn’t let me bring it.”

  “RBG? Is that some new brand of firearm?” Over the years, I’ve heard Gunner talk about a variety of different guns. But never an RBG.

  “Really big gun,” he clarifies.

  “And you actually followed Nico’s orders and left it at home?”

  “He knew I had it in my backpack. I didn’t tell him about it. He made me remove it from my bag and leave it behind. He said: ‘Live by the sword, die by the sword. Violence begets violence.’ Then he made me remove it from my bag and leave it behind.”

  “I’m scared,” I admit.

  He nods. “I know. I am too.”

  “Do you find it weird that someone as big and scary-looking as Nico is such a peacenik?”

  “If it’s really your destiny to be a leader in this new consciousness movement, just promise me that you’re not going to make me eat kale and bean sprouts and sing ‘Kumbaya’ around a campfire.”

  I give him a dramatic eye roll. “We’d better go. I don’t want Nico and JoJo to get too far ahead of us.”

  He b
locks my path. “Wait. One more thing.”

  When I turn to face him, I notice how uncomfortable he looks. Like a cat with a hairball that’s getting ready to vomit. “Spit it out,” I urge.

  “Are you okay with me and JoJo?”

  I frown and pretend like I have no idea what he’s talking about. “What do you mean?”

  He coughs nervously. “With . . . um . . . me . . . and JoJo . . . the two of us . . .” I’ve never seen Gunner so distressed. Tiny beads of sweat are forming over his eyebrows.

  “Spit it out.”

  “I like her,” he says finally.

  “That wasn’t so hard, was it?” I give him a sly grin.

  He shakes his head. “You’re incorrigible.”

  “And you still love me anyway.” I grab his elbow. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  Chapter Nine

  My heart starts to pound as we get closer to the bright lights coming from the train station.

  Nico stops and turns to face us. “Our pathway to the base camp is directly across from where we’ll be entering the station. It’s a straight shot to Central Operations from there. Only three miles. It shouldn’t take more than an hour. The hard part is going to be getting through the station safely and undetected.”

  “How are we going to do that?” Gunner asks.

  “The train is scheduled to make a stop for two minutes. We’re going to crawl under it while it’s stopped.”

  JoJo turns to me. “Roll up your pant legs right now. I don’t want you to get stuck again.”

  She makes a good point. I roll up both legs of my pants. JoJo does the same. The guys are wearing dark jeans that have less of a chance of getting caught on anything.

  “There’s no other way for us to get to the base camp?” I ask.

  Nico shakes his head. “Not unless you want to walk to New Mexico or California and then double back. That’s the length of this train line.”

  When the pathway we’re on comes to an end, we’re standing in front of a rickety wooden ladder that’s affixed to the cave wall. The entrance to the train station is several stories above us. Apparently, we have to climb the scary ladder from hell to get there.

  “Do we really have to climb this thing?” Nothing like stating the obvious.

  “Our timing has to be perfect,” Nico says. “Remember, we only have two minutes to get through the station underneath the train while it’s stopped. You don’t want to get caught underneath a train that goes two hundred miles an hour when it starts up again.”

  That gives new meaning to the term road pizza. Or in this case, we’d be track pizza.

  “I’ll go first to set the pace. JoJo, you follow. Then Jericho. Gunner, take up the rear.”

  We all nod in agreement.

  Nico starts his ascent up the ladder without another word. He’s so skilled and so athletic, it’s like watching a professional mountain climber scale a sheer rock face. JoJo follows. She’s nearly as skilled as Nico. Their climbing seems effortless.

  I struggle a bit more with my ascent. Not only because I lack strength and stamina. I also didn’t realize until this very moment that I’m afraid of heights. Apparently so much so that I’m frozen in place halfway up the ladder.

  “What’s wrong?” Gunner says from below me.

  “This is really high up,” I yelp.

  “Don’t look down.”

  “Too late.”

  “You need to keep going,” he urges.

  My limbs are shaking. I’m afraid I’ll fall. And if I do go down, I’ll most likely take Gunner with me.

  Gunner quickly makes his way up the ladder so that he’s nearly on top of me. His feet are just one rung below mine. His body is acting as a barrier for mine.

  “Just take it one step at a time,” he tells me. “I’ll be right beside you. I’ll make sure you don’t fall.”

  Even though I’m still trembling, I do my best to continue the climb. I have to admit, having Gunner as a shield does make me feel better.

  Once I’ve finally caught up to JoJo, I begin the relax a little. Just a few more steps and we’ll be able to climb out of the cave and into the station.

  “Ready?” Nico shouts down to us.

  “All set,” Gunner yells back.

  “The train just stopped. Let’s go.”

  It takes a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the bright lights inside the station. It helps that we’ve emerged underneath the train, so it reduces some of the glare.

  There’s only a few feet of clearance for us to crawl underneath the train. Although the vehicle doesn’t look like any train I’ve ever seen before. It looks like something out of a science-fiction movie.

  I follow JoJo, crawling on all fours. Even though I’m slithering as fast as I can, Gunner keeps knocking into me.

  It’s a relief when we finally make it to the other side, but then we’re greeted by another ladder that we need to climb down.

  Thankfully, going down is a little easier than it was climbing up.

  I want to do a little dance when my feet hit solid ground again, but my jubilation is extremely short-lived.

  There’s a gun pointed at my forehead.

  Four soldiers have their weapons pointed directly at us. Falcon and his feathered friends. Just like my dream.

  Now what?

  “Do you really want to do this?” I ask Falcon. “Do you really want to hurt me?”

  Stone-cold eyes stare back at me, unfazed. Not even a hint of recognition. They did it, didn’t they? Cleaned the slate. Completely erased me from his memory.

  “How did you find us?” I ask.

  “You need to come with us.” Hawke has his gun pointed directly at Nico’s heart.

  We’re not going to do that. Nico doesn’t say it verbally, but I can read his thoughts as he projects them at the soldiers.

  For several moments, it’s a standoff. The soldiers with their weapons drawn. The four of us refusing to go with them.

  Put down your weapon. Nico tries to control Hawke with his thoughts, but he’s resisting. Put down your weapon. This time, on Nico’s command, Hawke’s hand begins to tremble.

  It’s a battle of wills.

  Put down your weapon. Nico mentally repeats the command several times.

  Hawke’s hand is shaking so badly he’s having difficulty holding on to his gun.

  When it finally slips from his grasp, Nico kicks the weapon into a darkened area of the cave.

  Hawke furrows his brow in confusion and stares at his empty palm. It’s as if he can’t figure out why he dropped the gun and why he isn’t making the effort to get it back again.

  Jay, the soldier standing next to Hawke, moves the barrel of his gun back and forth between Nico and Gunner, trying to cover both of them.

  His eyes have turned wild with fear. One of the many things I’ve learned from Gunner is that you never want someone who is frightened pointing a gun at you.

  “What did you do to him?” Jay motions toward Hawke, who is still staring at his empty hands.

  Put down the weapon. Nico has now directed his ninja mind tricks at Jay.

  Jay doesn’t seem to be as receptive as Hawke was. His eyes look crazed, and he seems to be freaking out.

  Put down the weapon.

  Two gunshots go off. Nico slumps to the floor.

  Before I fully understand what’s happening, Falcon shoots Jay right in the temple. Then he spins around and puts a bullet in Wren’s head.

  “Are you with me or against me?” Falcon points his weapon directly at the center of Hawke’s chest.

  Hawke is shaking uncontrollably. It takes several seconds before he’s able to spit out, “With you.”

  I hurry over to Nico and crouch down beside him. It’s already too late to do anything to save him. He’s dead. Dark black liquid is pouring out from the wound, staining his shirt.

  I never got the chance to thank him for everything he did for me. Now I never will.

  “We’ll give peace a chance later,”
Gunner removes the firearm from Jay’s dead hand and slips it into his waistband. “Right now, we’re getting armed and dangerous.” Then he takes the gun from Wren’s hand and gives it to JoJo. “Have you ever fired a weapon before?”

  JoJo rolls her eyes. “Of course I know how to shoot a gun. I grew up in Compton.”

  As I swipe at the tears that are streaming down my cheeks, I feel someone come up behind me. I know immediately that it’s Falcon. The intense connection we shared is back. I’m not sure why or how, but it’s as powerful as ever.

  Falcon kneels next to me and whispers in my ear, “We need to get out of here. They’ll be coming for you. Coming for us. When a super-soldier is wounded or killed, a beacon is sent out so that they can find us. They don’t want us falling into enemy hands.”

  I turn to face him. “I thought they erased your mind. Erased your memories. Erased me from your life.”

  “They did wipe me. Cleaned the slate. They erased you from here.” He points to his temple. “But not from here.” He places his palm over his heart.

  Then he reaches into his pocket and removes my pendant. “I needed to give this back to you. That’s why I came.” He places the chain around my neck and clasps it in place.

  “Is that the only reason you came?” I stare into his eyes. “To give me my necklace back?”

  “You know it’s not.” When his gaze meets mine, I shudder.

  “We only have a few minutes before they get here.” He helps me up from the ground. “We really have to go.”

  “Not so fast.” Hawke has a gun pointed directly at the back of JoJo’s head. “You’re not going anywhere.”

  “You don’t want to do this,” Falcon says. “We’ve been compromised. Think about what that means.”

  “They’ll just wipe me clean. You’re the one who’ll be decommissioned.”

  The two men glare at each other, neither of them backing down.

  Two shots go off, and Hawke slumps to the ground. Falcon looks as surprised as I am.

  Gunner stares at the weapon in his hand. “I killed him.” His voice is shaky, and he has a dazed expression.

  “That’s what guns are for,” Falcon replies simply.