by J. Thorn
A mushroom cloud had formed on the horizon, and Maya knew instantly that it must be over Centennial Park. And then it hit her. She could see the city. The dome was gone. And so were the obelisk and the massive spaceship that had been connected to it.
“Is that—”
“Centennial Park,” Maya said. “That’s where it came from.”
“Where the obelisk is?”
Maya shook her head. “Was.”
High, light clouds floated across the morning sky and birds flew in tight flocks from east to west. Maya scanned the sky in all directions, but saw no sign of the spaceship or the flying aliens.
“He did it.”
“Who?”
“Jack. He destroyed the engine—took down the dome.”
“What does that mean?”
Maya ran back into the house. Her mother hurried after her, calling her name and asking her for some sort of explanation. But Maya ignored her, rushing up the stairs and back to her room.
She threw all of her clothes and things into her bag, and then made sure she had water, a protein bar, and her loaded handgun. Then she went back downstairs to where her mother was waiting.
“Talk to me, Maya.”
“Mom, you need to go and pack a bag.”
“What for?”
“We need to get out of here. We need to get my kids.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Did you see what happened? The dome is gone!”
“Exactly. And do you really think an alien invasion took place only in Nashville? Do you think the rest of the world has been watching this like a Hollywood movie? They’ll be back, and when they return, it won’t be pretty.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yeah, well, we’re not going to be around here to find out. Now, go pack a bag.”
Maya looked over to see her mom standing with her arms crossed. She shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Maya’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“This is my home. I can’t leave.”
Maya walked over to her mother and took her hand.
“Mom, this is just a place. Okay? You can get another house.”
Her mother shook her head again, more firmly. “This isn’t just a place. Your father and I lived in this house our entire adult lives. I’m not leaving.”
Maya went to say something else, but her mother cut her off.
“There’s nothing you can say that will change my mind.”
Tears filled Maya’s eyes. “Mom, please.”
“I’ll be here when you get back. Have faith. Go get your kids.”
Maya hugged her mother, gripping the back of her shirt tightly as she cried into her shoulder. Then, she walked outside and her mom followed, staying on the porch while Maya headed to the pickup truck. She threw her bag in the passenger seat, then looked back towards the patio. She wanted to ask her mother once more to come with her, but realized that it wasn’t going to happen.
“Get your kids. I’ll see you when you get back.”
Maya wiped her eyes and nodded. “I love you.”
“And I love you.”
Maya ducked into the vehicle. She took a deep breath, stealing one last glance at her mother. Her mom waved, and Maya blew her a kiss.
She pulled out of the driveway, taking off and crying as she avoided one more look at the house.
7
Ignoring the interstates, Maya headed north on Highway 258. With the dome down, she knew the interstates would be crammed with emergency crews trying to get into the city. She’d seen some flashing lights on the back roads, too, but nothing that would slow her down.
Gerald lived on the other side of the Tennessee-Kentucky state line in the town of Bowling Green, which was about an hour’s drive in normal conditions. But, with few people on the road, she was able to drive faster than she ever had, holding at around 90 miles per hour. The quicker she could get there, the sooner she could put him in his place and get her kids back. As the sun dropped below the western horizon, she turned on her headlights and the high beams, hoping a curious deer wouldn’t meander out into the highway.
She drove with the air conditioning cranked, which raised a chill on the back of her neck as she pondered what she would do once she got to his house. The safety of Maya’s children came first. But she couldn’t just ignore what he had done. And the kids needed to know the truth about their father. She’d done well to respect Gerald, even though there had been times when she’d wanted to curse him out or even hit him. She would never have done anything like that with the kids around, but things were different now. Laura and Aiden had seen how Gerald had treated their grandmother when he’d come and snatched them from her home, and they’d understand why their mother wasn’t putting up with the bullshit anymore.
She barreled around a slow bend, easing off the gas and leaning forward to get a better look at what was ahead in the darkening twilight. A quarter mile up the road, several vehicles stretched across the highway, blocking it. They appeared to have been parked that way deliberately. Men stood in front of the cars, but from what she could see, they weren’t armed.
Scanning the area, she hit her brakes and tried to decide whether she should take another road which cut across the highway in front of the blockade or stop and see what this was all about.
One of the men smiled and waved as she slowed down further on approach, clicking off her high beams.
You’re being paranoid, Maya.
She came to a stop about five feet in front of the vehicles, but kept her doors locked and her truck running. A large man with shaggy blonde hair who was wearing a Kentucky Wildcats shirt approached her door. He wasn’t carrying a gun, and she didn’t see one bulging underneath his shirt or in a holster on his waist. Maya dropped her window.
“Good evening.” The man grinned, and she could see he had several gold teeth.
“Evening.”
“What’s a pretty thing like you doing out here by yourself?”
That’s not a great way to start a conversation, Maya thought. She gripped her steering wheel with both hands.
“I could ask you the same, even though you’re not alone. Why do you have the road blocked?”
“We’re locals. Wanted to keep tabs on who’s coming through. White House was a quiet little town until a few days ago.”
“There were a lot of quiet towns a few days ago. But I promise you that I’m not a thief or a looter. Now, if you wouldn’t mind letting me continue on my way?”
The man’s smile widened, and she thought she saw a sparkle in his eye, although it could have been a reflection of her headlights. He looked past her, trying to see what she had in the passenger seat.
“You pack light. Where you headed?”
“No offense, but I don’t see a badge on your chest, nor anyone else’s.” She used her index finger to point at the other men standing around with their hands in their pockets and their eyes fixed on her. “I don’t have to answer to anyone. Now, again, if you’d please let me pass.”
The man clicked his tongue. “That ain’t no way to talk to a man. Kinda rude. Wouldn’t you agree, Rodney?”
The waif of a man who had to be Rodney stepped forward. He wore a gray shirt with sweat stains under each arm and had greasy, dark hair.
“I’d say so, Gill. I can’t say I like the way she’s talking to you one bit.”
“Not one bit,” Gill said, staring at Maya.
Maya sighed and looked quickly into her rearview mirror, calculating how far back she’d have to floor it in reverse before she could turn around and speed off down one of the side roads, then jumping back on 258 ahead of the roadblock or going straight through to the interstate and north on 65 to Bowling Green.
Sweat collected on her brow as she looked back at Gill, keeping the others in her peripheral vision. Her right hand reached for her bag on the passenger seat, knocking it to the floor and grabbing the pistol beneath it. She fumbled the grip, and by the ti
me she’d raised it, she’d heard the clicks of metal on metal coming from outside.
“No way, sweetie,” Gill said.
Maya looked up. Every man had a pistol or a rifle pointed at her, and she felt cold steel. Gill had reached through the open window and touched the sharp edge of a buck knife to her throat.
“Get the fuck out of the truck.”
With their guns still aimed at her, the men led Maya inside White House High School. They escorted her through one of the side doors and then stopped.
“Cover her eyes,” Gill said. “We don’t need her knowin’ the way.”
Rodney pulled a bandana from his back pocket and wrapped it around her eyes. Maya coughed at the closeness of him, his breath reeking of chewing tobacco and cigarette smoke. She gagged, trying not to think about what he’d done into or with that bandana.
Someone grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along as they walked deeper into the school. Maya could smell sour milk mixed with bleach, two odors common to most schools even during times when people maintained the buildings.
They walked, taking several turns. She heard the thunk of someone hitting a door’s push-bar followed by a hiss as it slowly crept shut behind her. Suddenly, a pair of hands shoved her in the middle of her back as Gill ripped the blindfold from her face.
Maya stumbled forward and looked around, her eyes adjusting to the eerie darkness of the school’s gymnasium, a space that would normally have been bright, loud, and smelling like teen spirit. Several women sat in the bleachers to her left. Instead of cheering for the varsity White House basketball team, they now looked down at the tops of their shoes, not even bothering to make eye contact with her.
One of the men slapped Maya on her right butt cheek and she jumped. She turned around to see Gill grinning, nudging her toward the bleachers.
“Get that cute little ass up there with them.”
Maya glared at the man. Touch me again, and I’ll kill you.
“Go on, girl. Get.”
Unblinking, and looking only into his eyes, Maya walked to the stairs before turning away and climbing the bleachers. She sat at the end of the second row, away from the other women.
She looked back at the bedraggled group of women who couldn’t even bother to make eye contact with her and then at the men, wondering how she’d gotten herself into this situation—and how she was going to get herself out of it.
8
The men laughed as they moved out into the hallway. They remained where they could keep an eye on the women, but clearly wanted to talk about something where they couldn’t be overheard.
“Pssh. Hey.”
Maya turned toward the whisper, seeing one of the women trying to get her attention but not that of the men. She wore her long, brown hair in a ponytail and was using her green eyes to signal for Maya to join them. Maya looked down at the woman’s bulging, pregnant belly.
Glancing at the open door leading into the hallway, Maya saw that the men appeared to be arguing with each other, nobody paying attention to the women inside of the dark gym who didn’t seem to pose a threat to them. Maya scooted down the bleachers until she was sitting with the other women.
“What’s your name? I’m Alice.”
Maya hesitated as she looked into Alice’s eyes and saw the same fear and apprehension that had been rolling around in her own stomach. They had all been captured and brought here against their will.
“Maya. I was on my way to pick up my kids until these assholes showed up.”
“Nice to meet you, Maya.” Alice said.
“What are you all doing here? Did they force you in here at gunpoint, too? What are they planning to do with us?”
“There’s no time for that.” Alice used her right hand to caress the underside of her bump. “You’ve got to get out of here the first chance you get.”
“How?”
“I’m not going anywhere. You have to leave.”
“What? No. I’m not going to leave you all here for those animals to do whatever they want to do with you.”
“There’s no time to explain. We have to get you out of here so you can get help for the rest of us. It’ll be way easier to get one woman out rather than a whole bunch. Besides, most of us are married to those assholes—you’re not.”
“I won’t leave a pregnant woman here with these monsters.”
Maya looked around as one of the men in the hallway yelled an obscenity at one of the other men. “You need to come with—”
“Shh.” Alice turned her eyes down, looking away from her.
Maya looked over and saw the men walking back into the gym. Despite the shouting of a few moments ago, Gill now led the smiling and laughing men back inside. When he saw Maya had moved closer to the other women, he wrinkled his nose and stuck his chin out.
“Hey, why are y’all talking to her?”
“They weren’t,” Maya said. “I was just—”
“I don’t believe I asked you. I believe I was talking to my wife.”
“It’s all good, sweetie,” Alice said to Gill.
A cold feeling crept up from Maya’s stomach as she attempted to make eye contact with Alice. The woman stole a glance, but then averted her gaze.
“No more Chatty Cathy. Get your ass back down to the other end of the bleachers,” Gill said to Maya.
Maya scooted back down, never taking her eyes off the estranged woman.
Maya sat with her elbows on her knees and stared at her feet, unaware of how many hours had passed. All of the men had gone back outside except for the skinny guy, Rodney. He stood in front of the door cradling a rifle in his arms like a woman would a nursing infant, with the barrel pointed at the floor but in a position where it could be brought up and fired quickly.
She looked up to see Rodney staring at her, a grin stretched across his pockmarked face. Maya turned away, but out of her peripheral vision she could see that he was still leering at her. She needed to leave before the monsters came out.
“Oh,” one of the women said.
The others gathered around but none daring to say another word.
Maya glanced over to see Alice clutching her belly. The pregnant woman grimaced and leaned over. Maya hurried up to her.
“Hold up, now,” Rodney said, coming over.
“What’s the matter?” Maya asked.
“It hurts,” Alice said. “Something’s wrong.”
“What do you mean?” Rodney asked.
“Look, I’m an EMT,” Maya said. “Take me to a room with some privacy so I can have a look at her.”
“No way in hell. Gill would be—”
Alice screamed and toppled onto her side, and Maya happened to be in a position to catch her and keep her from smacking her head off the bleachers.
Maya looked at Alice’s stomach and then to Rodney. “We have to do something.”
The man swallowed, sweat pouring down his face as he looked from Alice to the door and back again.
“Go get Gill,” Alice said to Rodney. “Please.”
“But he said I wasn’t supposed to leave the—”
“Now!” Maya screamed.
Alice winced as if the command had caused her physical pain.
Rodney swallowed, shook his head, cursed under his breath, and then jogged to the door.
“Take care of her.” Rodney threw the words over his shoulder at Maya. “Don’t let her fucking die, or—”
“Go!” one of the other women screamed at him.
When Rodney disappeared into the darkened hallway, Maya turned her attention back to Alice.
“Look, you’re going to be okay. Just tell me—”
“You’re damn right I’m gonna be fine.” Alice sat up and inhaled deeply. She removed her hands from her stomach and wiped the sweat from her face.
“You were faking it?”
Alice nodded. “You have to make a run for it. Right now.”
“What are they going to do when they come back and see that you were faking it? Wh
at will Gill do?”
“Honey, I’ve been playing Gill long enough. He’ll never know I was faking it. Now, quit trying to have sympathy for us and get the hell out of here. On your way to get your kids, just let the first cop or soldier you see know what’s happening here. You have to.”
Maya looked around at the other women. They smiled and nodded at her.
“Go, girl.”
“Hurry, please. Tell others.”
“Don’t let them get you.”
Maya made eye contact with them before responding. “Thank you. I promise I’ll send the police here to rescue you.”
“I know you will. I can see the truth in your eyes. Now, go.”
Maya gave the woman a quick hug and nodded at the others. Then she jumped off the bleachers and ran for the door on the opposite side of the gymnasium.
9
Maya slammed the push-bar louder than she should have and found herself in a hallway. She looked both ways, seeing double-doors at one end of the hall with light shining through their narrow glass panes. Her breath quickened and she ran toward them, trying to keep her steps light and as quiet as possible.
When she made it to the doors, she discovered a thick chain wrapped through both handles with a padlock hanging from it. She yanked on the chains, but they didn’t budge, and the padlock looked industrial. Maya scanned the hallway again, trying to find something to break down the door or smash the padlock with, but she saw nothing useful.
“Shit.”
As she stood with her hands on her hips, trying to think of a way out of the building, she heard several voices. Footsteps slapped against the tile floors.
They know I got away.
Maya ran down the hallway to her left, moving as fast as she could away from the voices and oncoming footsteps. Lockers ran the length of the hallway on both sides and the classroom doors had all been shut. She pumped her arms and ran until she reached the opposite end of the hall. When she had, she leaned against the wall and caught her breath.