Taken Over

by Erica Stevens

  “No, it’s not.” I took hold of the hand she offered me, squeezing it tightly. I’d lost all my friends, I didn’t know what had become of one. But I’d just found a friend where I never thought I would and I was not surprised to realize that Jenna would be a good friend. “I’m glad we had this talk.”

  She grinned at me. “Me too.”

  CHAPTER 4

  It was harder moving through the dark, especially without a flashlight, but I felt strangely safer with only the moon and stars to guide us. It was stupid to feel that way, we had been attacked more than once at night, but I couldn’t help it. Though it was harder to see, we made surprisingly good time and reached the edge of Plymouth before daybreak.

  Lloyd consulted the GPS. “We can cut through Myles Standish; use the state forest as cover. It’s only seven miles but the terrain will slow us down.”

  “And we’d…” Jenna pondered softly, her eyes distant.

  I frowned at her, but it was Bret that asked the question. “And we’d what?”

  Jenna bit on her bottom lip, her shoulders were set tight, and then they slumped. “I might as well tell you,” she mumbled. I bristled, disliking the fact she had kept anything from us, especially after our talk earlier. “I wrote a note for my parents before I left. I told them that I would try to meet them in Plymouth at my Aunt Lucy’s house. If they’re still alive…”

  Her voice trailed off, the underlying hope beneath it nearly palpable. “Then they would go to your Aunt Lucy’s,” I finished for her.

  “Yes,” she breathed, tears shimmering in her bright eyes.

  “Where does she live?”

  “State road, it’s only four miles from the hospital, but…”

  “It’s on the opposite side of where we are,” Lloyd finished for her, his eyes narrowed on the display screen.

  “How opposite?” Bret inquired.

  “It will be five miles from the tip of the state park, apparently another four to the hospital after that,” Lloyd answered, his eyes narrowed on Jenna. His annoyance and impatience were evident as he stared hard at her, hoping that his military cold look would cause her to cave. Jenna shifted nervously, looking guilty and frightened, but she showed no signs of backing down. And I didn’t blame her. If I thought there was a chance my mother was still alive, I would do anything I could to get to her.

  “How far is it to the hospital from the tip of the state park?”

  “Three point nine.”

  Bret’s breath hissed out of him, I grimaced. Jenna tilted her chin up, her eyes narrowed slightly. “So it’s either another seven miles…”

  “Or another thirteen,” Lloyd finished.

  We grew silent; I could feel the tension in the air. “Well thirteen isn’t so bad,” I said softly.

  “That is not the mission!” Lloyd said sharply.

  “Lloyd…”

  “We were given explicit instructions on our goal, and our approach.”

  I was surprised by Lloyd’s insistence, but then again I had never been through boot camp, or military training. As far as he was concerned he had his orders and he was going to obey them. Jenna looked stricken; her eyes were wild with fear. “We were never told which route to take,” I said softly trying to make him see reason.

  “We were told to take the safest and most direct route possible. This isn’t even on course.”

  My patience was quickly unraveling. Jenna had a chance to see if her family was still alive, and we were going to take it. “Her parent’s lives…”

  “Our lives, the lives of many!” Lloyd interrupted angrily. “The needs of many greatly outweigh the needs of a few.”

  “Lloyd!” I said sharply, shocked by his words.

  His air of youthfulness vanished as he leveled me with a withering glare. My eyes widened slightly as I took an involuntary step back. “I am not the bad guy here. You are the one that wanted to do this mission, and we will do it.”

  “It’s only a slight detour.”

  “It’s a six mile detour along more populated roads.”

  I looked helplessly at Bret and Jenna. Bret was thoughtful, his hands clasped behind his back as he rocked on his heels. Jenna looked about ready to cry, but there was a growing air of fury around her. “I’ll go by myself.”

  “No one is going anywhere by themselves!” I told her. “Lloyd…”

  “This is not a democracy.”

  “We are not in the military!” I snapped at him.

  Lloyd’s jaw locked. “I am, and I have my orders.”

  “Enough!” Bret finally inserted. “We are not separating; we are not deviating from the mission. Part of our goal was to try and find survivors. Jenna has a lead on where we could find some. It is part of the mission Lloyd, it may take us a little longer, but it is still part of the mission.”

  I couldn’t stop the admiration and relief that filled me as I turned to Bret. I would have sat here and butted heads with Lloyd for hours until one of us just gave up or I completely lost my temper. Leave it to Bret to find reason and logic to use against the stubborn soldier, instead of anger and hostility.

  “We cannot leave here knowing that we chance leaving survivors behind,” Bret continued, his tone level and encouraging.

  Lloyd was silent for a few moments, thinking over Bret’s reasoning. “You’re right,” he finally relented. “We cannot leave the area without first seeking out the possible survivors.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief, Jenna let out a small cry of delight as she threw her arms impulsively around Bret. I bit back a smile at Bret’s look of shock and disbelief as he awkwardly managed to hug her back. “Address?” Lloyd barked out.

  Jenna was beet red and grinning brightly as she pulled away from Bret and rattled off the address.

  ***

  I was regretting our decision, regretting the fact that we were now standing on the edge of the main street in Plymouth staring down the tree lined roads. There were trees but they weren’t much coverage, and the two and three story buildings offered no protection from anything above. A few of the buildings had been destroyed. I didn’t have to ponder what had been capable of doing that, I’d been unfortunate enough to watch one of the larger octopus/tick/jellyfish things level the antique store our mother had been in the basement of.

  Apparently some of these buildings had stood in the way of one of the monsters, and some poor victim. I had no idea how we were going to make it down that street without being spotted. Lloyd was consulting the GPS looking for an alternate route, but everything seemed to be miles out of the way and we had already lost a day just getting this far.

  “Maybe if we wait till night,” Jenna said softly.

  “There is no cover,” Lloyd retorted.

  I studied the street, taking in the awnings, debris, and open doorways. I had made it down a street even more open than this once, and nearly been caught. Cade had saved me…

  I shut the thought forcefully down. My hands fisted as I continued to take everything in. There was no Cade anymore; I would have to save myself this time, and every time after this. We would have to save each other. No matter what, I wasn’t going to give up the hope of possibly finding Jenna’s parents. “We can do it,” I insisted. “Under cover of darkness, and using the buildings, we can do this.”

  “Bethany…”

  “Look,” I pointed to the street, to the piles of rubble, to the vast amount of stores and restaurants with their doors thrust open. “In daylight there doesn’t appear to be a lot of hiding places, but at night, under darkness, and hiding behind the debris, we can move swiftly through the town.”

  “Bethany,” Bret said again.

  Even Jenna was hesitant, fear shone in her eyes. “We can go back, go to the hospital first, and then try my aunts,” she suggested.

  “That will easily take another day or more,” Lloyd muttered, frowning at the GPS. “Damn thing is acting up.”

  “What’s it doing?” I demanded, the sharp edge of fear stabbing me in the chest
.

  He shook it, slapping it lightly against the palm of his hand. I glanced nervously toward the sky, but the large ship that had settled over Boston over as year ago was not visible right now, and the smaller ones didn’t seem to be about. It was hard to tell though; they were silent, and as fast as any racecar. I searched the woods, but birds still chirruped within the trees and thee was a chipmunk searching for an acorn as he dug at the base of a tree. There didn’t appear to be any imminent danger, but my skin crawled as Lloyd slapped the GPS again, shook his head and clipped it to his belt.

  “It won’t register any other route. We either double back or go through.”

  “Why?” Jenna inquired nervously.

  “Could just be a bad spot.”

  “Or it could be something blocking the signal or satellite.”

  “Yes,” Lloyd admitted.

  “Why do I feel as if we’re being herded?” Bret muttered.

  “The animals are still out, I think we’re relatively safe until nightfall,” I pointed out.

  “And then all bets are off,” Lloyd said softly.

  The day passed slowly, the movement of the sun seemed excruciatingly slow as it shifted position in the sky. I tried to rest, tried to sleep, but my mind would not shut off. I kept opening my eyes to stare down the street. I had sounded confident when I’d said we could make it down there. I wasn’t so sure anymore. The more I studied it now, the less hiding places there seemed to be.

  I stood up, suddenly unable to take sitting still anymore. Bret’s eyes followed me as I paced anxiously toward a scraggly looking pine tree and leaned against it. I didn’t want to look at the street anymore, but my eyes were inexorably drawn back to it. I felt as if I were missing something, as if there was something I wasn’t seeing.

  I frowned, trying hard to take everything in. I may have grown up nearby, but I didn’t know Plymouth all that well. For one thing it was huge, and for another I had hated to ride in cars after surviving the accident that had killed my father. I had not done the school fieldtrips to Plimoth Plantation, or the Mayflower II, so I probably knew even less about the town than most of the kids I had gone to school with.

  “Has the town always looked like this?” I asked Bret. “Minus the damage of course.”

  Bret studied the street for a long moment before shrugging absently. “More or less, I mean there were always more people and tourists moving about, but I’m sure it hasn’t been busy like that for awhile.”

  I continued to study the street; slowly it began to dawn on me what exactly was wrong with this picture. “There’s nothing left,” I breathed.

  Bret rose slowly to his feet, his forehead furrowed in confusion. I had thought that Jenna was sleeping, but one of her eyes popped open to stare at the two of us. Lloyd had been standing guard fifty feet away, but he came closer as he heard our words. “What do you mean?” Bret inquired.

  Horror flowed through me as I stared at the empty street. “There’s nothing there. Every other street we’ve come across, in every other town, has had something left behind. Bicycles, shoes, hell we’ve even come across shirts and pants, socks and underwear. There have been wallets, money, and change. There have been toupees and wigs; there’s even been a set of dentures.” That had been exceptionally gross and unnerving. “But there is nothing out there. There isn’t one damn thing on those streets except for debris from the buildings.”

  They were silent beside me, and then Lloyd let out a hissing breath. “You’re right.”

  “But what does that mean?” Jenna asked tremulously.

  I shook my head; I had no answer for that question. “They’re cleaning it up.”

  We all turned slowly toward Lloyd, nearly identical incredulous looks on our faces. Lloyd’s mouth was slack, his eyes wide as he gazed at the empty street in dismay. “Excuse me?” I asked quietly.

  “They’ve cleaned the town up; rid it of the debris left behind by us. Cleaning it so that they can…”

  “So they can what?” Bret’s question hung heavy in the air as Lloyd’s voice trailed off.

  “So they can move in,” I suggested. I had only meant it to be a lame joke, but I felt trapped beneath their horrified gazes as they swung slowly toward me. “Oh crap, you don’t think that’s it, do you?”

  “What else could it be?” Jenna wondered. “Why the hell else would they bother to come back and sweep the streets clean of all possessions. They don’t need the money, I doubt they want the wigs, and I’m certain they aren’t looking for dentures. We had all kind of assumed that they would just leave after they collected and killed as many of us as possible. What if they actually plan on staying after?”

  I recoiled from the thought, trying hard not to give way to the panic beginning to thrum through my veins. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that they might stay behind after they were done destroying us. They had rarely come to earth, even when they had been pretending peace; I hadn’t thought that they would consider staying now. They had seemed to openly disdain our planet, and it was more than obvious they only wanted us for our blood. They had spent little time here before all of this, but maybe that was only because of the fact that earth had possessed us repellent human beings as residents. Maybe they would like our planet a lot more now that it had been mostly expunged of our disgusting presences.

  Bret cursed loudly as he paced away. He ran a hand anxiously through his disordered hair as he cursed violently again. “I always thought they hated it here,” Jenna said.

  “There is another possibility,” Lloyd said softly. Our attention focused sharply on him as we waited breathlessly for any other explanation than the one I had offered. “It is possible that they cleaned the streets because they are using Plymouth as some sort of base for the area. It’s a large town, and it’s on one of the main routes to Boston from the Cape and surrounding areas. If people are looking to flee the Cape, and surrounding areas, many of them will come through here.”

  It took everything I had to keep on standing; I did need a pine tree to lean against though as I felt my legs begin to shake. “They wouldn’t want any human things littering the street, reminding them of our pathetic existence.” I was really beginning to wish that Lloyd would stop speaking. If he was right then we had just walked right out of the frying pan and into the fire. If he was right, then not only was our mission going to fail, but there was a good chance we might not escape from here. “This could be the lion’s den.”

  Yep, I wanted him to stop speaking. But I sensed he might be right. Sensed that they did intend to use Plymouth as a base, or perhaps some kind of storage area. It seemed far more feasible than the idea that the aliens might actually want to take up residence on our planet when all of this was over.

  “I’m sorry,” Jenna whispered.

  I swallowed heavily. “It’s not your fault,” I told her. “There was no way any of us could have known.”

  I waited for Lloyd to say I told you so, but to his credit, he didn’t. He strode away from us to consult the GPS again. “Still nothing,” he muttered, holding it up as he walked through the woods.

  I studied the street, the woods, and the surrounding area. “I don’t think they’re around. They might intend to move in, but I don’t think they’re here now.”

  Lloyd turned in another direction, stalking deeper into the woods. “Why?” Jenna asked quietly.

  I pointed to the seagulls and heron sitting upon the railings of a boat dock. A few gulls were circling high up in the sky, and a stray dog had appeared at the end of the road. It sniffed at one of the piles of rubble in search of some much needed food for its emaciated frame. Within the trees the squirrels, chipmunks, sparrows, blue jays, and robins continued to move about. “The animals always go silent when they’re near. They’re just as afraid of the aliens, and their creatures, as we are.”

  Lloyd stopped pacing to rejoin us. His eyes were narrowed as he studied the woods, the docks, and then the street. “We have to go now,” he said briskly. />
  “What?” Jenna demanded. “Are you crazy!?”

  “Bethany’s right.” He clipped the GPS onto his buckle and pulled the rifle from his back. “They aren’t here right now, the animals would know. We can’t say the same thing in another hour, or even another half an hour. We need to move now, and we need to move fast.”

  “Hell,” Bret breathed.

  “It’s still light out,” Jenna said softly.

  “It’s our best chance,” Lloyd replied hurriedly. “We have to move now when we know they’re not here.”

  “Oh crap,” I muttered. “Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap.”

  “Exactly. Stay low and move fast. Keep an eye out for anything unusual, and especially watch the animals. Let’s move.”

  I took a deep breath as I fought against the fear trying to take me over. It was now or never, and if we didn’t go now, there may very well be a never. Panic clawed at me, I gathered every ounce of courage I had, tightened my grip on my rifle and took a deep breath to steady my nerves.

  I fell in behind Lloyd, with Jenna close on my heels and Bret behind her. We moved swiftly into the open, spooking a few of the birds as we emerged from the woods. The sound of their startled flight caused me to wince involuntarily. I held my breath in preparation for some kind of attack, but as we reached the shadowy safety of the first building I inhaled a ragged, somewhat relieved breath.

  We had made it further than I’d expected in broad daylight, but there was still a long way to go. My heart hammered painfully, even in the cool September air I was beginning to sweat profusely. I wiped my forehead with the back of my arm, trying hard to control my shaking as Lloyd slipped from the alley.

  We moved swiftly down three empty storefronts before Lloyd disappeared into one of the open doorways. I was breathing heavily as I leaned against the wall inside the building. My eyes scanned over the bar, the stools, and the large glass mirror that highlighted the bottles lining the shelves. I stared at those bottles, amazed that they were still in one piece upon the shelves, and still so perfectly aligned. There were stools tossed aside, restaurant tables upended and splintered into pieces. There were even spots of blood marring the dark wood floors, and scratch ticket machine in the corner. The cash register was on the floor, the money had spilled from it and was scattered around the wooden floor before the bar. No one had touched the money; I did not go for it now. What was the point?