The control panel in front of him beeped and two gold handprints appeared on the console. He put his hands on the prints and electricity ran up his arms and to his spine. His head shot back against the seat’s headrest and every muscle tensed in his body, his toes curling on their own. He clenched his teeth and yelped in pain.
His entire body was in a spasm.
His body relaxed and then began to vibrate, the seat along with it. The entire craft shook back and forth. His stomach lightened and a free-falling sensation took over.
“Whoa!” yelled Jaxx, his mouth open, his eyes darting back and forth.
The craft shot forward at an incredible speed, piercing through the pyramid as if it was invisible, and thrust forward into a spiraling tunnel. His back suctioned to the seat and wind flew into his face, rushing at him like the gushing waters at the head of a river. The tunnel twisted right and curled around, then turned left, up and down, and up and down like a roller coaster ride. At every turn, electric sparks shot outward.
His hands shook, though they were still planted firmly on the handprints.
The wind died down and the craft slowed. Up ahead was what appeared to be the end of a tunnel. It was a pinpoint of blue light, but nothing more.
“Where am I going?” asked Jaxx out loud.
Before he could get an answer, the craft bulleted forward and the tunnel around him exploded into a billion tiny pieces of white light and in front of him was the most beautiful planet in the galaxy—Earth. It’s brilliant blue glow and striking, wispy white clouds and green, brown, and white landmasses called to him.
He was home.
A voice spoke. “Thank you, Jaxx. We are on our way.”
“Who are you?” questioned Jaxx. And where were they on their way to?
“It’s Mya.”
“Take me to Mya,” ordered Jaxx.
A beam blasted from the ship’s nose onto a portion of the United States. The cockpit opened up and Jaxx gasped, his eyes going wide. This wasn’t what he meant by taking him to Mya.
A frigid cold engulfed his body and all air was sucked out of the craft. He put his hand around his throat, trying to get air, but couldn’t.
The beam jumped up from the ship’s nose and moved backward, encapsulated Jaxx, throwing him headfirst toward Earth and into Earth’s atmosphere. He fell through the clouds, his arms flailing and the cold rush of wind smashing into his skin.
A loud static pierced his ears and everything stopped. He jerked back in a startle, placing his hands on the ground.
He had landed. Shockingly, he was in one piece. Didn’t see that coming. He gulped down the cool, sweet air. How good it was to be back on Earth.
He was in a seated position, cross legged, and his hands were on a bed of rocks, and a body of water was before him. He was on a beach. This, however, wasn’t the ocean. It was a massive lake.
He looked around. He was on an island as water surrounded him. He could see shore on the other side of the lake, but how the hell was he going to get over there?
Swimming would be impossible, unless he wanted to die of exhaustion halfway. He slapped his hands together. He had Chi, but dammit, he didn’t like the idea of swimming.
He stood and walked over to the water’s edge. He put his hand in the water and pulled back. It was freezing.
He turned and lurched. A man was walking down a grassy hill and in his direction. The guy had on a buckskin coat, jeans, and a flannel shirt. He wore a cowboy hat. A gob of chew was under the man’s lower lip and he spat black saliva on the grass as he made his way toward Jaxx.
“Are you Jaxx?”
“Yes.” How the hell would he know who he was? Jaxx had never seen this guy before in his life.
He gave Jaxx a frightened look. “I can’t believe it.” He bent a few inches forward and took off his hat in greeting, then put it back on. The guy was a definite cowboy. “My name is Kip.”
“How do you know who I am?”
The man put his hands on his hip and spit on the ground. “I had a dream of you last night. Apparently, I’m supposed to take you across this lake and to the shore yonder.” The man pointed over Jaxx’s shoulder.
“You had a dream of me?”
He nodded his head and took the chew out of his mouth and threw it on the ground. He wiped his hand on his pants. “If these aliens hadn’t invaded, I’d have just let that dream go. You know?”
Jaxx pointed to the ground. “Aliens are here, now?” Were they on this island?
“Not here, at the moment. They were here not too long ago, but they went south.” He got on one knee and eyed the shoreline. “You see that smoke?”
Off in the distance were a range of mountains, but he couldn’t see the smoke. “I don’t see it.”
“Well, when you do, that’s where you’re going to go, I reckon. That’s Whitefish, but go in that direction, but not necessarily to Whitefish, okay? That’s what my dream said. So just follow the line to Whitefish and you’ll find what you’re looking for.” He picked up a rock and threw it into the lake. “Poor old Whitefish. They got hit hard, but they fought back and dagnabbit, I think they won, because when those bastard aliens flew over our town, I swear their ships were battered and beaten.”
“I’m in Montana?”
“As you live and breathe, son.”
“Is this Flathead city?”
The man laughed and jabbed the rocks with his toe. “Well, hell no, son. This isn’t Flathead city. I’m sure there is a Flathead city someplace on Earth’s map, but not around here. This here is Wild Horse Island on Flathead Lake. The cities around you are Elmo, Dayton, Landisfarne, Rollins, and a few more. But like I said, you’re not staying in any of those places, you’re wandering north.”
Jaxx huffed and looked across the water. Islands filled the lake and the blue sky made the lake and the calm waters look incredibly clear. Colorful brown, bronze, and gray rock littered the shoreline. “Do we have a boat?”
“Of course,” he snorted. “I didn’t just appear out of nowhere. It’s over there.” He tilted his head in thought. “Well, how the hell did you get here?”
Jaxx put his hands out. “I appeared out of nowhere.”
The man threw a dismissive hand and turned around. “A few days ago I wouldn’t have believed you. Nowadays? Who knows.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Follow me. We have a boat to drive. Let’s get going, right quick you hear? After I drop you off on shore, I can get back to my life.” He shrugged. “Well, whatever life I can get to. This invasion has been nothing but hell on us.”
“How bad is it?”
“Can’t be that bad if it’s just you that’s supposed to fix it all.”
Jaxx followed the man up a short incline, finding his feet on grass. “Is that what your dream said?”
“Yep. You’re going to fix this mess. You and some pretty strange children.”
The boat ride was calm, quiet. The wind blew through Jaxx’s hair from the motorboat’s open cabin. As Kip steered into the dock, he slowed the motor, and the boat’s gas fumes wafted to Jaxx’s nostrils.
Kip stood from his seat and pointed north. “That way to the one child.”
The one child? Jaxx didn’t question. It’s not as if Kip would know the name of the one child. It had to be Mya.
Kip butted the side of his boat against the dock and tied the stern rope onto a metal cleat on the dock, then the bow rope onto another cleat. He tightened and secured the line. He motioned with his hand. “Jump off. The dock won’t bite.”
Jaxx stepped up onto the dock. He held out his hand. “Thank you.”
Kip dipped his head and reached around to his back pocket, pulling out a can of chew. He opened it and dipped his fingers in it, pulled out a bog, and placed it under his bottom lip. He spit. “I got nothing else for you. You can get. I—” He stopped midsentence, glancing over Jaxx’s shoulder. “Well, lookie here. Maybe you don’t have to walk north after all.”
Jaxx turned around. A young girl, a
ccompanied by two adults, stood at the edge of the dock. Was that Mya? He walked forward, his pace quickening when he not only saw Mya, but to his shock and pure delight, there stood his nephew, Drew Avera, journalist extraordinaire.
His lips grew into a large smile, his pearly whites showing more so than they had in the last several months of hell. “Drew?”
“You gotta be kidding me,” said Drew, drawing his arms out wide. “Uncle Jaxx?”
They met each other and embraced. Jaxx leaned back and gave Drew a big pat on his back. “What in the heck brings you here?”
Drew gestured to the little girl next to him, her pure soul shining through her eyes. “Mya can explain.”
Jaxx bent down. “Hi, Mya. Nice to finally meet you.”
Mya pursed her lips. “We’re not done.”
Jaxx’s eyebrows came closer together. “We’re not done with what?”
“You closed the pyramid, but something is stirring. I don’t know yet what it is, but we need to find other children like me. You closed the doors to the bad guys. And they are now gone, but something doesn’t feel right, here on Earth. The rest of the galaxy feels right.” She shook her head, looking down. “But not Earth.”
“What is it, Mya?” Jaxx had the same suspicion deep in his gut. He had refused to listen to it on the ride to Earth, but it was there nonetheless. “There is a reason why I’m still here and alive, isn’t there. I didn’t complete the prophecy?”
“You did. Earth still has some clean-up to do.”
Jaxx straightened and eyed the woman next to Drew. “Your girlfriend?”
Megan jerked back. “No. God, no.” Her face was full of disgust. “I’m not with stoner over here.”
Drew clapped his hands together. “Right. Okay, shall we get going?”
Mya took Jaxx’s hand. “Follow me, Jaxx.”
“Where are we going?”
She shrugged. “Somewhere to find the other kids.”
They walked forward and down a path that followed the lake’s edge.
Jaxx imagined finding children with the same type of colorful glow Mya had. And then what? As always, life was going to inform him what to do next some time down the line. And as always, life was going to give him the heads up in full force like a solar flare from the sun.
But for the moment, things were good. He was with his nephew and a young woman his nephew’s age. Didn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out Drew had a crush on her. And this young girl, Mya, who now walked hand in hand with him toward the setting sun was something else. The purity of her soul filled him with a peace so deep and wide he was sure he could combat anything that came at him. He was Kaden Jaxx and he was embracing his destiny. But for now, there was a brief respite.
No worries.
No Kelhoon.
No Agadon.
No explosions and no deaths.
No evil smashing his beloved Atlanteans into the ground.
Just Jaxx with some good people, and Earth’s fresh air.
Epilogue
Kip drove his pickup truck past his ranch’s welcome sign. The gravel driveway cracked and popped as his wheels rolled slowly forward. He pressed his foot on the brake.
“Kip,” yelled his wife, her face frantic, her eyes wild. She waived her hands as she rushed out of their house. Chickens scattered and their golden retriever followed her, his tail wagging, his tongue hanging out of his mouth.
Kip stopped the truck and turned off the engine. He didn’t bother taking the keys out of the ignition as he hurried out of the car, leaving the door open. “What is it, Francine?”
She pointed toward their backyard forest, full of fir and pines.
Perhaps it was the fading day that had blinded him to the smoke rising from the trees upon driving onto his property, but he could now see it as clear as day.
“Something landed back there. No, it crashed.”
It sure as hell better not be those aliens. If so, that alien was in deep shit. He went back to his truck and pulled out a rifle from the cabin. He cocked it and slid several bullets out of a box and pushed them in his pocket.
“Stay in the house, Francine.”
She nodded and walked cautiously inside, shutting the door behind her. She’d watch from one of the windows facing the backyard. But that’s all Kip would allow her to do. Keeping her safe was way more important than satisfying her curiosity. He would check out the crash site himself.
He slapped the side of his leg as he rounded his house. “Here, Gunner.”
The golden retriever barked and ran by his owner’s side. Gunner licked Kip’s hand, barking again.
Passing the yard, Kip found himself stopped at the edge of the forest. Lights were shining maybe a hundred feet deep in the woods, and it wasn’t from fire. Smoke rose, but Kip could hear a hissing sound. Was that steam?
Kip took a step into the forest. “Come on, boy. Don’t just stand there. Let’s go.”
Gunner growled, pacing at the edge of the forest, refusing to go in.
“Alright, chicken-shit. Suit yourself.” Kip held his gun forward as he trekked on, his cowboy boots landing on moss and fallen needles. He didn’t make much sound, but in the quiet of dusk, every sound in the forest was like crashing cymbals.
He touched the bark on a tree and took several more steps onward, then halted in surprise. A large ship, clearly foreign to this world, was half buried in the ground, a long trail of dirt and fallen trees behind it.
It had crash landed, but it was far from destroyed.
The craft’s door was open and white ambient light poured out, highlighting the broken branches strewn around the ship. Steam lifted from the top of the craft like dry ice left out in the sun.
He held the gun tighter to his body, aiming it at the door. He inhaled sharply and gulped when he saw a large blue man lying face down on the ground just outside the craft.
He poked the blue monster with his rifle barrel then backed up, targeting the alien bastard. The Being didn’t move. Relieved, Kip took another step forward, squinting his eyes as he entered the craft’s belly.
More ashen-blue ET’s were on the craft’s floor, not breathing.
The cabin lights blinked to red and the cockpit flipped on. Several holographic images of Earth with points of light on several locations around the world extended from the console in front of the control stick.
An alien twitched, then another one. One grumbled, making metallic noises.
Kip backed up, then bumped into something. He twirled around. A big guy stood in front of him, his gray lips curling into a smile. He laughed like a chainsaw cutting through the hood of a car.
Kip pulled the trigger, his rifle sending a slug into the blue man’s stomach. Blood and sparks shot outward. The alien advanced forward, knocking Kip out of the way and toward the cockpit, yelling words Kip had never heard before.
Kip ran out of the craft.
Gunner was barking like mad as he ran alongside Kip.
Kip dashed around brush and jumped over a stump. He made it to his yard and quickly backed up, watching the ship’s lights change from white to blue. A loud roar and the ship lifted off the ground, breaking tree branches as it rose higher and higher.
Above the forest canopy, the trees swayed back and forth from the craft’s ion drives blowing air rapidly against them. Its engines ramped up and an orange fire blasted out of the back thrusters, propelling it forward at an amazing rate of speed.
Kip fell on his ass, his dog jumping on him and licking his face. He pushed Gunner away. Another ship lifted from deeper into the forest, and a third, and then a fourth.
The sky boomed and the crafts zipped across the heavens, disappearing south in a matter of seconds.
Kip stood. “Francine? Get in the truck. We’re going across the border.”
A back window opened, Francine white as a ghost. She’d seen the ships, too. “To Canada?”
Kip nodded and spit on the ground. “Yes, to Canada. No one ever attacks Canada.”
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He raced to the truck and jumped in, Gunner leaping and landing on his lap, then climbing to the back seat. The passenger door opened and Francine sat down, shaking like it was below zero. Kip turned on the ignition and put his foot on the gas. Gravel shot out from under his wheels as he spun the truck around and down his long driveway.
He didn’t know their names. He didn’t want to know their names. All he knew was some blue-skinned aliens, large as friggin’ black bears, had landed on his property. Where they went next, he didn’t care, as long as they didn’t follow him. They were Jaxx’s problem, his dream had told him so.
“Sure as sugar hope that Jaxx fellow is ready, because there’s more where they came from.”
He took a left at the end of the driveway, heading north.
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Ascendant Saga Collection: Sci-Fi Fantasy Techno Thriller Page 91