Looking around, Paige realized she could still see in abysmal lighting. She wondered if the virus had somehow upgraded her instead of making her sick because of what her mother had done to her all those years. That thought made her smile as she entertained the thought of being more than human.
What other upgrades would I get? Am I going to become a superhero like in my favorite movies? Oh, which character would I become? It would be awesome if I was the Scarlet Witch! I’d be able to blow up their spaceship!
They moved through the store, looking for a good place to hide. It was still night, and Paige needed to hide from the Shadow Men until daylight came.
They found a stock room in the basement. AJ closed the door behind them. It wasn’t a big area, and there were boxes lined up on the floor along the walls. They took a couple and sat on them.
It was dark in there, but she could make out the shapes of things in the room. Paige couldn’t get the image of Willow and her mother out of her head. Seeing them captured, feeling powerless to help them, broke something inside of her. That whole day, she’d tried her best to get to Willow and her Mom. She’d wanted to keep them safe. She’d tried to get to her dad, but ultimately, she failed.
Instead of being with them, she was now hiding in a basement.
With an alien, an enemy. She rebelled against her last thought because it was too cruel.
Despite her harsh words earlier, she didn’t see AJ that way. She’d majorly freaked out after learning the truth, but once her brain started to function again, the real truth was revealed. Paige didn’t feel unsafe with AJ. He’d proven to her many times over that he could be trusted. Just a half an hour ago, he’d saved her life.
“AJ,” Paige said, finally breaking the silence.
“Yes?” His reply was tentative, as if he was preparing himself for another freak-out. She couldn’t really blame him for it.
“Do you know how to get on the spaceship?” Paige asked, trying not to get her hopes up.
“Yes, I do,” AJ replied flatly.
Something felt weird with his tone, and she had to keep herself from asking questions because she couldn’t quite see his face. He was hiding it from her.
“Have you been up there before?”
“No, I’ve never been. But I’ll be there soon,” AJ replied, confusing her further.
“If you’ve never been there, then how do you know how to get on it?” Paige challenged.
“I’m sure I know how to get on it,” he said.
“Really? And how exactly do you know?”
“I just do,” AJ replied stubbornly, and Paige became beyond frustrated with him.
“I don’t believe you’re going to get my mom, Willow or Dave,” she snapped back. She could sense there was something he wasn’t telling her. She was sick of all the secrets and lies.
Paige knew he wanted her to remain calm, so maybe that was why he told her he would go to the ship in her place. They wouldn’t get caught. If that was the case, she needed to know now.
She got up when he remained silent. “I can’t do this with you. I need to help them,” Paige announced.
In a flash, AJ jumped up and grabbed hold of her hand. “Paige, stop. The Shadows will get you. Don’t you understand? Just stay here until the morning, ok?” he pleaded, a bit frantic.
He really is that worried for me.
“I want to find my mother and sister!” Paige was adamant.
“I’ll find them for you,” he repeated his promise.
“I can’t see how you can do something like that,” Paige countered. She wasn’t trying to be difficult on purpose. This was just too important to joke around. “‘I know’ isn’t an explanation. Give me a normal answer. Please,” Paige said, urging him to understand.
“Paige,” AJ started with a sigh. “How else am I supposed to tell you I know how to get there?”
That made her frown. “Just tell me how you know the way,” she insisted.
AJ looked at her long and hard, and even though it was dark, Paige could see the determination on his face. He would do anything to convince her that he was on her side. That somehow warmed her heart.
“All right,” he said in defeat. “I’ll tell you everything.”
Paige nodded, urging him to continue.
“They communicate with me. Actually, one of them communicates with me. I call him Francis. It’s a long story, but he tried to boss me around in the beginning, tell me where to go, what to do, but as it turns out, I’m not a very good listener. While he’s in my head, I know things. That’s how I know I can enter the spaceship—because he does. You can’t come, ok?” He said all that in one breath, and Paige needed a moment to process everything he’d told her.
“I have to come with you,” Paige replied after several moments of silence. “They’re my family.”
AJ shook his head. “No. It’s impossible, Paige.”
“Why is it impossible?”
“Because you don’t have the black mass in you, and I do.”
AJ has the black mass inside of him. How many truth bombs can one person withstand in a single day? Apparently, a great deal of them.
She sighed. “How do you know if you have the black mass inside you?” Paige asked softly.
It was obvious this was something he’d struggled with and had difficulties speaking about. She wanted to show him how grateful she was for everything he’d done for her and told her.
“I just know it. Francis told me. So, I definitely have it.”
“When? Why? Who’s Francis?” Paige blurted out, wanting to know everything.
“To be honest, I don’t know when it happened,” AJ practically whispered. She moved closer to him, gripping his hand, and he continued to speak. “It was like the voice just kind of turned on when I got infected with the virus at school. The virus worked like a switch, and when it entered my body, the switch turned on. Francis is the name I gave to the voice in my head.”
He’s hearing a voice?
“Was that what the virus was for?” Paige asked him next, trying to connect all the dots.
“The virus was intended to kill the humans and to activate the infected simultaneously,” AJ answered, his voice going soft and low.
“But why do they need it? Why do they turn humans into Shadow Men?” Questions were pouring out of Paige’s head. Suddenly, she was starting to understand so many things.
“I think your mother was dead on. They can’t function in the daylight. They need a human host. They basically live in the infected humans to be able to function during the day.”
Wow. Paige had heard and seen a lot of scary shit that day, but that chilled her right to the bone.
“They live in the infected humans?” Paige parroted, still having problems grasping that truth. “Why can’t they function in the daylight?” she wondered out loud.
“I’m not quite sure, but I guess it’s because of their surface,” AJ replied. “It reflects the light and blinds them. That’s probably why they avoid the sun, why they don’t come in the morning.”
It fit with what little truth she knew. It all made sense when looking back at her childhood. That was why it was safe to come out of the wardrobe when they were little.
That was why her mom let them be normal, happy kids during the day. There was no danger for them during the day. Now things had changed. The aliens had sent a virus, enabling them to inhabit a human’s body. No time of day was safe now.
Once Paige snapped back to reality, she noticed that AJ appeared sad.
“You know what I am to them?” he asked her suddenly.
Paige shook her head. “No, what?”
“A slave. I’m a slave to them. That’s what they’re going to do to all the people who are being transported up to the spaceship. The people will be infected, the black mass inserted into them, and they will work for the Shadow Men. They’re collecting people like you.”
That startled her. “What do you mean? Collecting people like me?”
“Those of you who have the golden aura around them. The ones that can save humans. They need to take the ones like you.”
“AJ, why didn’t you let them take me? If you’re one of them, then you must want to take me…” Paige could feel her heartbeat beating out of control as she spoke.
“It’s because you can stop it. It makes you different from the black mass. I won’t take you because I’m not like them. I don’t think like they do.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “They did this to me—I didn’t want them to do this to me!” She could hear the tears in his voice, even if she couldn’t see them. “Sorry,” he mumbled immediately.
“So am I,” Francis whispered.
“I know you said you just suddenly know all these things, but how, AJ?” Paige was aware she was repeating herself, but she couldn’t help it.
He pondered over that for a moment. “I think it happened during my sleep. I think the link between me and Francis stayed open, and I ended up inside his head.”
That made sense, in a completely terrifying way. “What else did they do to you besides making you their slave?” Paige asked.
AJ shrugged. “I sort of had an upgrade. I’m faster, stronger, and unbreakable. It’s pretty amazing, and the only good thing about this.”
“I think I’ve been upgraded, too. I can see really well in the dark.”
“She has been upgraded. The effect of the virus in humans is different than it is in Seedlings,” Francis told AJ.
Thanks buddy.
“I think you’re right. The virus works in a different way on Seedlings. A better way,” AJ explained.
“I didn’t say better,” Francis added.
“I know that’s what you meant.”
“Then would you watch the door, please? Because unlike you, I’ve not yet been fully upgraded. I really need to sleep,” she said, abruptly changing the subject.
Paige thought about that—not fully upgraded… She’d fought a man and a woman who were physically superior to her and still won.
“Yes, of course, but Paige—”
“No buts,” Paige interjected. “You need to know that I’m going with you, no matter what.”
There was nothing or no one that could stop her.
Chapter Sixteen
AJ waited until Paige was fast asleep to act. He knew she would be pissed at him, but despite her protests and arguments, this was something he needed to do alone.
This wasn’t some ego trip on his part. AJ had no interest in playing lone hero. However, looking at all the facts laid out before him, he knew this was the right decision. Going alone to the mothership would give them the best chance of leaving it as well.
“You’re making a mistake,” Francis warned.
“Shut the hell up. I’m not in the mood!” AJ snapped back.
Making sure not to make any noises, he tiptoed out of the storage room and out of the store altogether. Just as his feet hit the pavement outside, something made him pause.
He couldn’t just leave her like that. He worried she might assume he was taken and come looking for him. AJ couldn’t take that chance. He was about to turn back and leave her a note when something caught his eye.
A nearby sports store was broken into during the virus outbreak, but he still hoped something worth taking remained. After a few minutes of rummaging about, he was glad to be right.
“Sweet,” he murmured, looking at a brand-new, aluminum baseball bat.
It was super light, which meant Paige would have no problems using it. He hoped she’d smash some alien’s head with it. There was only one, so he left it for Paige behind the counter. After adding a personal note, he left for good this time.
AJ really hoped she would listen to him and stay, but if he learned anything from the last day he’d spent with her, you could never tell. Paige was wildly unpredictable, especially when someone was in danger. That only made him like her even more.
He made sure he stayed hidden while approaching the spaceship. It was still pretty dark outside, and the captured people were being transported up to the ship.
He could feel Francis trying to break in. It was like an annoying tingling sensation in the back of his head, but AJ’s mental walls were strong, especially now that he was a man on a mission.
“Sorry Francis, but this peeping tom show is closed for good.”
AJ told Paige he knew how to get on the ship undetected, and that much was true. However, slowly approaching it, staying clear of the black wave and looking out for Shadow Men made him rethink his actions.
Maybe he should just go as one of the captured. That way, AJ wouldn’t be closely monitored if he was just one of the faceless slaves, harvested for further use. Besides, if he simply let them beam him up, he would end up in the same place as Willow and Mrs. Moon were. At least, he hoped so.
The remaining people trapped inside the protective circle were too freaked out to notice a single guy walking inside, even if the black wave parted for him like the red sea.
Call me Moses from now on, he joked to himself.
AJ felt sorry for all those people because he knew what was about to happen to them. Still, he couldn’t dwell on it since he had more pressing matters. He reminded himself that he couldn’t save everyone. Paige was another story altogether, and that was what motivated him to keep going.
Ok, phase one completed and on to phase two, AJ thought to himself, waiting for the bright light to start pulling people up again. When it did, he made sure he was directly underneath it.
AJ hoped he wasn’t too late and that Angela, Willow, and Dave would still be human once he found them.
***
“Let go of me!” Dave struggled as one of the mindless, enslaved humans pushed him forward.
There was no mistaking where he was. Everywhere he looked reminded him of some sci-fi movie, but unfortunately, this wasn’t some fantasy. It was his real life. The corridor he was led through was definitely not made in Hollywood.
After he was beamed up to the ship, he couldn’t see Willow or Mrs. Moon anywhere, not that he’d had a chance to roam about. They were all closely monitored.
The corridor ended up in a vast circular space, and Dave was blown away by the sheer size of it. He couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed, impressed even, like he was just sightseeing and not being held against his will.
The architecture was just spectacular, and the dome above was incredibly beautiful and reticulated with some kind of black web that he felt compelled to stop and appreciate for a moment.
The humans who were still human were all huddled together in that vast room, crying out and begging for someone to help them, but then they came for them again. Dave noticed that those who struggled the most and tried to run away were immediately captured and then injected with something.
The Host approached and started pushing him again. He turned to the drone that shoved him along and punched him in the face with all his might. That didn’t even make him stumble. On the other hand, the hit Dave received in return knocked him straight to the ground, and his ears rang from the hard impact.
“Damn,” he mumbled, shaking his head slightly as he tried to restore balance.
While he was too busy impersonating a cartoon character, counting the birds around his head, the guy picked him up like he weighed nothing and put him back on his feet.
The black mass came out to play with him again, and he was once again sucked inside of it. Not long after, it was game over. He was injected with some kind of drug that left him feeling completely paralyzed.
Nice move, jackass, he chastised himself for the sheer stupidity of his actions.
The floor under his feet started to move, and he was carried away. He was perfectly still with no sensations inside his body.
The whole spaceship looked alive, as if it wasn’t completely inorganic. Pretty quickly, Dave realized he was being transported to another part of the ship. It was even bigger than it looked from the ground.
He
could hear people screaming but couldn’t find the source. As he was dragged along, he finally saw the source and wished he hadn’t.
In a series of rooms across from him were some kind of pods, and people were literally drowned in them.
When his alien escort dropped him, Dave knew his time on this Earth came to an end.
***
Paige groaned. She really needed to stop waking up like this. Her whole body ached and protested. She’d fallen asleep on the cold stone floor while her backpack acted as a pillow. Now every part of her that she tried to move popped and cracked like she was eighty years old.
She stretched a little, releasing some of the knots from her body, and she no longer felt like an old woman.
“AJ?” she called out, noting that she was alone in the storage room.
He didn’t answer.
“AJ,” she called out again, suddenly feeling uneasy. The worry almost seemed to crawl all over her and crept inside her heart.
He wouldn’t...
As it turned out, he most definitely would because she was alone. AJ was gone.
“Damn!” she cursed, equally angry at him for leaving her as she was at herself for trusting him not to.
I shouldn’t have slept while he was on watch. I shouldn’t have trusted him.
Despite everything, he chose to go without her. How could he?
Fuming, Paige picked up her backpack, threw it over her shoulders, and moved as quick as she could. She made her way upstairs to see what was going on outside, and relief washed over her. The morning light beamed through the windows.
The spaceship still hovered in the distance. It was a bittersweet moment. She still had the chance to sneak in, and she was happy for that, but she hated that she hadn’t dreamed the last twenty-four hours.
As she focused on her happiness to see the sun, she remembered what AJ said the night before. That sobered her up. The aliens had Hosts. There was no escape from them this time, not even in the light.
Looking around the store, Paige searched for a weapon or anything that could be used as one. Losing her sword and gun left her feeling vulnerable, so she needed to find something suitable. Paige quickly discovered she was standing inside a low-end convenience store. All they had were snacks. No knives, no swords, no guns.
Inhabitable (Invasion Survivor Book 2) Page 17