They had the minibus, so that was a plus, but armed soldiers could prove to be a bit problematic.
Dave stopped the minibus at the base and put it in park. “We’ve arrived at our destination. Please check your seat for your belongings as we won’t be coming back,” Dave announced like some tourist guide as he exited the minibus.
Paige’s Angela gathered her belongings, and Paige grabbed her backpack. The guard from earlier came and waited at the guard box. “IDs,” Officer Riley asked. If he liked their upgrade, he didn’t comment on it.
“All weapons remain outside the base,” he said, spotting Paige’s sword again.
“What?” Angela huffed in outrage. “We need these to protect ourselves!” She pulled her gun from her robe pocket, and the soldier didn’t look pleased. That made two of them. If Paige had learned anything from today, it was that one could easily adapt to anything and accept even an armed mother in a pink bathrobe as a new normal.
“Ma’am,” Officer Riley started, but Paige cut him off. She really didn’t need this to turn into a scene.
“Mom, let’s just listen to him,” she pleaded in a calm voice.
Although she agreed with her mother, Paige felt very naked and vulnerable without her katana safely nestled inside her a side pocket on her backpack, with the handle sticking out ready for her. It had been the key to their survival, so far. Even though she would never admit it out loud, she kind of liked having it. She wished she’d gone to a martial arts school and learned how to properly fight with it.
All that aside, however, her sister was far more important to her than a sword. So, if the nice soldier guy asked her to lose the blade, she was going to do just that.
Still a bit irked, her mother complied, but their drama wasn’t finished yet. Officer Riley started going through her mother’s bag, pulling some strange things out of it in the process. While they were on the road, Paige had warned her mother she could only bring one bag inside the base, but maybe she should have been more specific.
“Did you really need to bring all this random stuff?” Paige asked in exasperation.
“They are not random!” Paige’s mother argued. “We will need it all!”
Somehow, Paige highly doubted that.
Her mother snatched the bag of dirt out of the guard’s hand and held it up protectively. “Be careful with that. It traveled through space to get here,” she said, inspecting it. “That’s for my daughter.” Her grip on the teddy tightened.
Willow hadn’t had or needed a teddy bear for years, and Paige still couldn’t believe her mother had dashed back to her room while the institution was overrun with crazy, infected people to get it.
The officer looked at Paige, and she shrugged. Her meaning was clear—she couldn’t deal with her either.
Sighing, Officer Riley motioned for them to pass. Dave went through first after he got his bracelet, but when Paige and her mother stepped up, the officer narrowed his eyes. “I’ll be watching you two,” he warned, putting the same blue bracelets on their wrists as before.
They both nodded in unison, and followed the next guard. As they walked, Paige noticed that a group of kids were lined up and getting on planes while another group of kids were sent away and headed towards them.
“Why aren’t those kids getting on the plane?” Paige asked the guard, scanning his name tag. Briggs.
“Because their parents aren’t rich enough,” Briggs snorted.
“Sorry, sweetie. We aren’t rich enough either,” Angela admitted.
We’re going to have find another way to get on one of those planes. Paige thought.
“Is there an extra few free seats?” Paige asked sweetly.
Briggs laughed. “You’re not going anywhere with those blue bracelets on. Those are visitor bracelets, and unless you’ve got a few hundred grands to pay for the seats, you’re not going anywhere.”
“I wish we had a few hundred grands.” Paige said.
“Me, too!” Briggs replied nodding.
Briggs was way chattier than the other guards, so Paige decided to get as much information out of him as possible. Knowing what she was doing, Angela and Dave stayed quiet. “What do the red bracelets mean?”
“It means those kids’ school covered the costs of their rescue here. But getting on the planes is an additional fee. If your name’s not on the list, you’re not getting in, or in your case, not on the plane. The kids who have red bracelets and aren’t on the list have to wait on either their parents or the school to get them so they can leave the barracks. They’re under our security now,” Briggs explained.
Paige knew her mom wouldn’t be able to sign Willow out because her records stated she was in a mental institution. All parental rights were with her dad.
Dave might have a problem getting Peter out. Paige wasn’t even sure how he’d managed to sneak himself in in the first place. AJ’s parents were in England. Getting out wouldn’t be a walk in the park.
Briggs opened the door then proceeded to show them to the same room where Willow and the rest of the gang were being held.
“Thanks, Briggs.” He’d been more helpful than he knew.
Once inside, Paige stood beside her mother. “What’s with the teddy, Mom?” she asked in a hushed voice.
Angela looked at her with confusion. “What? Can’t a mother give her daughter a gift?”
When all this was over, and they reunited with their father and going to the spaceship, Paige planned to find a nice corner just for herself. She wanted to sleep for a week or two. Nobody could judge her for it after the day she’d had.
Looking around the room, Paige noticed there were drastically fewer children here compared to before they left. Luckily, AJ was sitting in the corner with Willow and Peter.
Thank God, Paige sighed in relief. Paige couldn’t help but feel relieved, lighter somehow, seeing the three of them together and safe. Dave had a similar reaction next to her.
“I started to freak out there for a moment,” Dave told her quietly. She understood what he meant completely.
“Me, too,” she replied in the same manner. “But they’re still here.”
That moment of bliss didn’t last long before her mother began to freak out, yelling across the room. “Get away from her!”
Who? What? Paige was confused.
Before Paige or anyone else could stop her, Angela screamed and ran toward AJ, Willow, and Peter in the corner.
“Get away from her!” Angela repeated, screaming at the top of her lungs as she lunged at AJ.
AJ looked terrified and obviously didn’t know what to do. That wasn’t how Paige wanted those two to meet.
A guard inside the room managed to subdue her before Paige could. She yelled at Paige for not being able to control her mother.
“Ma’am calm down, or I’ll be forced to restrain you,” the guard warned.
Paige didn’t want that to happen, so she tried as well. “Mom, what’s going on? Calm down. They’re going to kick us out if you don’t stop.” She spoke quickly, hoping some of it stuck.
Angela was still trying to reach AJ, and Willow still standing wide-eyed next to him only agitated her more.
“He’s a Shadow! He’s a Shadow!” Angela repeated over and over. “Get away from my daughter!”
Paige looked at AJ for clarification, but he looked just as confused as the rest of them.
“See!” Angela continued with her rant. “He wants you, Paige! He wants you!”
Mortified to no end, Paige blushed and felt her cheeks burn. At that moment, she wished someone would just bite her, so she could die in peace.
This is so not the reunion I had imagined, she thought to herself. But her life usually didn’t go her way.
“GET AWAY FROM US!” Angela yelled. She struggled with such force, even the guard had difficulties controlling her.
Paige knew she needed to calm her mother down and fast, or they were all screwed. If the guards locked them up some place, they could never leav
e.
“Mom. Mom,” Paige called out until Angela focused on her daughter. She still glanced at AJ, as if she expected him to attack, but she mostly looked at Paige.
“AJ will help us get out of here,” Paige said.
The guard gave Paige a strange look, and she wanted to bite her tongue for making a slip-up. The damage was already done, so she continued as if everything she said was for no other reason than to placate her mother.
Even during this strange commotion, Paige noticed how much the female guard looked like her mother. They couldn’t pass for twins, but they were the same height and body type.
And that was a very strange thought to have in those moments, but Paige stored that knowledge in her mental vault, refocusing on the new disaster at hand.
“He’s on our side,” Paige tried again. “Look, he’s been watching Willow and Dave’s brother Peter this whole time while we were out getting you.”
The whole gang nodded, including AJ, confirming her words were true but her mother was not so easily swayed. As usual, that was unfortunate for Paige.
“Paige, we can’t trust him. He’s one of them,” Angela insisted.
“No. I’m not,” AJ interjected surprising both of them. “I could never harm Paige,” he added sincerely.
Paige’s heart did a little dance.
“But the Shadow Man...” her mother argued back, but AJ interjected.
“You mean this guy?” he asked, tapping his head. “He doesn’t control me. I turned him around.”
* * *
“So, you think I’m turned around?” Francis asked a bit amused.
“Sure, you are. You’re like a kitten, gently purring inside my head,” AJ joked. He loved teasing the alien.
“Be careful, AJ. Kittens have claws.”
“Aw, that’s adorable. You’re trying to be funny. Keep up the good work, though, and maybe someday you’ll be a real boy.”
“Stay away from that woman. She is dangerous,” the alien said.
“Sorry, Francis. You’re breaking up. Bad connection,” AJ thought, banishing the annoying voice to the back so he couldn’t hear him anymore.
AJ knew that wouldn’t last long. He always returned, but for now, he needed to focus on the here and now.
* * *
Paige couldn’t tell if AJ was simply going with it, playing her mother in order to calm her down, or if Paige was missing some vital piece of information to fully understand this conversation. Either way, because ignorance was bliss sometimes, Paige decided to go with the flow.
“See,” Paige added, in support. “All is good.”
“How can that be?” Angela asked in an accusing tone.
AJ struggled. “I don’t know. He talks, I ignore him, so it’s all good.”
“But that’s not possible,” Angela argued, shaking her head.
“A lot of things aren’t possible, ma’am, like infected or aliens, yet here we are.” AJ’s words calmed her mother a bit, but she still looked at him suspiciously.
“I’ll keep an eye on you,” she warned, and AJ nodded as if grateful she allowed him even that much.
My life is so weird, Paige thought.
“Ok, if this is settled, I actually need a minute with you,” Paige told AJ, and he nodded again.
They moved away from everyone else, but Paige could still see the moment when Willow and her mother embraced for the first time after so long apart.
“I missed you so much, Mom,” her sister cried out while Angela tried to calm her.
“I know, honey, but you did everything right. I’m so proud of you.”
Feeling too emotional herself, Paige refocused on AJ. “Sorry about my mom,” Paige said, wasting no time on an apology. She shook her head as if there were no words that could explain.
“It’s ok,” AJ replied instantly, smiling to reassure her there were no hard feelings.
Paige was grateful, but she didn’t agree. “No, it’s not. I really don’t know what came over her. But good thinking. You actually managed to dodge a bullet.”
Maybe quite literally, Paige thought before remembering that Officer Riley had confiscated Angela’s gun away before entering the base.
“Like I said, it’s all good. Don’t worry about it,” AJ replied casually, but there was something more there that Paige couldn’t quite decipher.
She was just about to ask him if everything was really ok when he started speaking again.
“So now that you got your mother here, what’s the plan?” AJ asked, changing the subject.
Paige wished she knew, but she didn’t. He was right, though. They needed a good plan. Unfortunately, there was no textbook or manual for the end of the world, even though Paige wished there was at the moment.
* * *
AJ was glad Paige was back at the base, alive and safe. Parts of her looked a bit worse for wear, but God only knew what she had to do to get to her mother.
A mother who somehow knew my secret, AJ mused.
Paige kept looking at him without speaking, so he broke the silence. ‘‘You know what a plan is, right? A detailed proposal for doing or achieving something,” he recited, and in return, Paige rolled her eyes.
“I know the definition, thank you very much,” she said.
Even though it was delivered with a bit of hot air, AJ knew it was all for show.
“So, what is it?” he asked.
“The plan...” Paige started.
“Hey, guys,” Dave said as he joined them. “Are we talking about getting the hell out of here? Because I don’t think we have a lot of time.”
AJ was reluctant to admit it, but he was right. There must have been a reason those airplanes had landed and almost half the children were gone. Likewise, AJ didn’t want them to find out firsthand what that reason was. They needed to get out of there and fast, but then what would they do?
“You’re right,” Paige replied to Dave. “We need a way to get out of the base.”
Dave looked like he wanted to say something, but Paige beat him to it. “We can simply walk out,” she added, waving with her blue bracelet. “But everyone else is screwed.”
AJ looked at his own wrist. Red bracelet.
Even though AJ, Willow, and Peter weren’t technically infected with the virus, they were still tagged with red bracelets. That meant they couldn’t leave the base unless the military decided to move them someplace else. He wasn’t eager to discover what the military considered to be the appropriate accommodations for the likes of him.
“Ok, but even if we get out of here, then what?” AJ asked. “Where would we go, and how?”
“To Maryland,” Paige answered. “My dad is waiting for us there. He’s working for NASA, and he’s getting us a ticket out of here.”
AJ frowned. She was being rather vague suddenly. “Wait, wait,” AJ said abruptly, raising his hand. “Tell me I connected the dots wrong. When you say ‘NASA’ and ‘a ticket away…’” He pointed to the ceiling. “Do you mean...?” He left the sentence unfinished because he felt ridiculous even thinking about it.
“Yes,” Paige replied. “We’ll be leaving the planet.”
He felt as though his mind exploded, and by the look on Dave’s face, he was hearing about this for the first time as well.
“That is absolutely bonkers, man,” AJ exclaimed.
“What the hell, Paige?” Dave yelled.
She looked around, making sure no one was paying attention to them. “Calm down,” she urged. “That’s the only way, ok?”
AJ tried to understand, but his mind was still racing.
“Besides,” she continued, “it’s not like we can hide from this virus anywhere on the planet.” Her voice hitched at the end.
When she put it that way, he saw her point.
I wanted to be an astronaut as a kid, so happy birthday to me, AJ joked to himself.
“Dave,” Paige said, looking into his eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, but I thought you wouldn’t believe m
e.”
He looked at her incredulously. “Paige, spaceships are literally covering the sky. I think I could have handled it.”
“They are now,” Paige countered.
Frowning, Dave nodded. “Point taken.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” AJ interrupted their little moment. “Did you say spaceships?”
“Oh, yeah, man,” Dave replied, patting him on the back. “We’re in the middle of an alien invasion.”
AJ should have been more surprised, but having Francis inside his head made that impossible. Deep down, it didn’t surprise him at all.
“Ok,” AJ replied. “So, we go to Maryland. How?”
Paige was quick to answer. “Well, Dave got us a minibus, so all we need is to find a way out of this base.”
“You mean, out of this maze that was built like a fortress and is surrounded by armed soldiers?” Dave deadpanned.
“Yup, pretty much,” Paige replied, shrugging.
“Oh, ok, easy peasy,” Dave said.
AJ chuckled despite himself. They were all silent for a few moments, thinking about how to pull a Mission Impossible out of their asses, and AJ had nothing.
“Francis? Wanna pitch in buddy?”
His newest friend ignored him.
There was a brief moment a while back when Willow handed him a bracelet that was supposed to have magic powers or something like that. He’d hoped that would mean he wouldn’t be able to hear Francis anymore. But even with the damn thing on, his companion—or more like the worst roommate ever—never left him. And he was sure that bastard would stick with him until the end.
Maybe a lobotomy could change that...
“Why don’t you try it and let me know how it goes,” Francis said, actually teasing him.
“So, any thoughts on my little problem?” AJ asked again.
“Catch the Seedling and take your place next to me.”
AJ suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. “Whatever, I think you’re a rotten friend anyway!”
Inhabitable (Invasion Survivor Book 2) Page 7