CHAPTER SIX
Time passed. Jake's watch had been confiscated, so
had Jess'. The clock in the room was out of sight. Marie yawned after
several minutes. Then Jake yawned. Then Jess.
"What are the odds that Aliens drink coffee?"
Jess asked.
There was a sudden explosive crack, as though the
entire sky had erupted into thunder and lightning at the same time.
It was powerful enough to shatter the windows, and the sounds from
outside became sharper suddenly.
Everyone ducked instinctively, letting out a yelp
of shock. The wind howled for a moment, and then settled. There was a
very low, slight hum, almost too low for them to notice it.
"What's happening out there?" Jess
whispered.
"I don't know if I want to know." Jake
admitted.
"Should we just leave you here, then?" A
voice asked smugly.
All three of them jumped, nearly levitating off
the cot. They dove toward the bars in shock. "Pierce?"
Pierce was standing in the doorway with a pump
action shotgun slung across his back, and a strange device in his
hand. It took Jake a few moments to realize it was the exact same
device they'd found sketched in Eddie Sisko's notes, the same device
that his brother had drawn.
Zack pushed past Pierce. He had a baseball bat in
one hand, and in the other was the keyring. He came running over.
"Come on guys, it's a jailbreak."
"No guards?" Marie asked.
"Zack was right, they don't have enough in
here to cover the windows." Pierce shrugged. "I was under
house arrest once. The GPS band they put around your ankle is
impossible to get out of. They don't need to watch you, just the
tracker." He lifted the device. "Of course... we've got a
way around that now."
Zack found the right key and quickly got the cell
open. Pierce unslung the shotgun and handed it to Zack, who held it
awkwardly, but without fear. Nobody who lived any part of their lives
in the country had a great fear of guns. Jake had spent a weekend
shooting rabbits and birds that found their way into the vegetable
gardens with his air rifle before he was ten years old, like most
kids born in Curtis Creek.
Pierce beckoned Jess out of the cell and held up
the Gizmo. It was the first time any of them had gotten a good look
at one. It was a foot long, all chrome-silver and it had buttons on
the handle. It was round and stubby, more like the handle of a
fishing rod than a weapon.
"Don't tell me it's an actual working
lightsaber." Jake deadpanned.
Pierce gestured for Jess to come out of the cell.
She did so, and Pierce turned her around. He had her put her hands on
the bars, and bend forward, leaning her up against the cell door.
"Okay." Pierce said gently. "Now tilt your head over,
all the way... that's it." Jess followed his directions, till
she was braced against the bars, looking sideways at Jake under her
arms. "Now, brace yourself, Jess. This is gonna be a little
weird."
"What is it?" Jess demanded, spooked.
"What's happening?"
Pierce lifted the Gizmo, and pointed the tip of it
at the back of Jess' head. "It's okay, just relax..." He
pressed a few buttons, and the low background hum seemed to change
pitch slightly. Jake, and Marie hissed, each pinching the bridge of
their noses, as though something painful was hitting them, but
neither of them felt any pain.
Jess hissed in a breath sharply, and Jake came
over closer to her, checking what Pierce was doing. Her left ear was
pointed down, and from that ear came a few drops of blood... and a
small trickle of something that looked like mercury.
As Jess straightened up, Zack came back from the
door and tossed Pierce the shotgun. The footballer caught it expertly
and took over guarding the door, passing the device over to Zack on
the way. The move was done smoothly and without words, and Jake
suddenly realized that they'd done it before.
Zack turned on the metal detector, and waved it
over Jess' face. No reaction.
"No Implant." Jess whispered, as though
trying to convince herself. "It's gone." She paused for a
moment, and then whooped, rubbing her ear. "It's gone! I'm
free!"
Zack nodded. "Yup. Now we gotta hurry."
Marie and Jake quickly assumed the position that
Jess had, and Zack waved the Gizmo over both of them, pressing the
controls.
~oo00oo~
The feeling was strange. It was like something
cold and wet was pressing against my ear, but it was pressing from
the inside.
I could feel it in my sinuses, the way you do when you go swimming
and you get water in your ears.
My ear itched like crazy, and part of me was
worried about whatever the material itself was, and what it might be
doing to me. But too much of me was just feeling... free. I never
felt the Implant there. It wasn't like a collar around my neck, or
handcuffs or anything, but when it was gone, I felt like I could fly.
Zack and Pierce had it all worked out. One of
the cars behind the Town Hall had been prepared. The doors were
unlocked, and the keys in the ignition, just waiting. The parking lot
was behind the Hall, where the Sheriff's Office was, and we went
right out the window.
The strange humming sound had become white
noise to me. I only noticed it when it started to fade. The further
we got from the Town Hall, the quieter it got. The Aurora was still
going strong, and it seemed to grow brighter, the motions of the
cloud suddenly becoming fierce like a storm around the top of the
Clocktower, the highest point in town, and the apex of the Town Hall.
Jess didn't let go of my hand for more than ten
seconds during our escape, and I was glad.
~oo00oo~
"You ever seen anything like this before?"
Jess hissed.
"Twice, last year. What? Didn't I tell you
about it?" Jake retorted sarcastically.
Curtis Creek was still a ghost town, but now there
was sound. The glowing sky had turned angry, the constant humming
like a dull roar coming from the air itself.
They were the only vehicle on the road, Zack and
Pierce in the front, the other three in the back
Pierce drove at top speed until they were well
away from the centre of town. The background hum started to fade a
little and Jake couldn't help the look back at the Town Hall. Every
light was on, the only lit up building they could see. Small dark
figures lurked in every doorway, burning black eyes watching them
drive away.
"Where are we going?" Jake asked.
"The Clinic." Pierce reported. "We
gotta ditch this car."
They drove without another word for a few minutes,
out of the sight of the Town Hall. The sky above looked less savage
here, but it didn't make them feel better. Pierce pulled in behind
the Clinic, where his Jeep was waiting, door unlocked, keys in the
ignition. Zack and Pierce took the driver's cab. Pierce handed the
shotgun to Jake, and the two of them traded a curt nod.
~oo00oo~
It was strange. I still despise Pierce, if only
for what he did to Jess... but he had really, truly, honestly saved
our lives, and set us free. He had no Implant, he could have kept
going, holed up somewhere for the duration. But he came back.
I was so tired I was seeing three of
everything, almost having hallucinations, but Pierce got us all
moving again. Heroic bastard.
~oo00oo~
"They're not coming
after us." Zack reported. "I think we're safe."
"Safe. Right."
Jess said sarcastically.
"We got a few minutes
at least. Once they find out we're gone, they'll still have a few
streets to search for us now that we're free of the Implants."
"Any ideas on where to
go?" Jess asked finally.
Silence.
"Away from town."
Jake said finally. "But stop before you reach the Dead Zone."
That was good enough for
everyone else.
"I got a place to go,
if you're willing." Pierce piped up. "Because the last two
times we were all together on the road with me in the driver's seat
we pretty much ran over whatever the Aliens were done with."
Nervous laughter.
"He's right, though."
Jess said finally. "Are we done with this town?"
The question was a good one.
They all had families, some sleeping, most missing, a town under
siege, and no clue when or if they'd be coming back. Those that held
the town hostage knew their names and addresses, so it would be safer
for them to run.
"Aliens in Curtis
Creek." Jake said finally, his voice tired. "God, even when
I thought... I was trying to convince the Mayor, but he already knew.
And he sounded so... right, when he cut our arguments apart. Even
then, even us,
we didn't really believe it."
"How did you do it?"
Marie asked Zack in awe. "Where'd you get the Gizmo?"
Zack and Pierce traded a
proud look, and Pierce began the story. "After Zack broke me
out, he told me what Jake saw, and we knew we couldn't go back to
Zack's house. It made sense that if Zack and I didn't have Trackers,
then they'd have to find us the old fashioned way. So with my dad out
turning over rocks looking for us, I figured we had a chance to go
back to my house. I know the alarm code, and where the keys are
hidden. After that, we had to figure out what to do next. We both
wanted to come save your miserable skins, but we didn't know how to
get you out with the Implants in you."
Zack took up the story.
"Well, that drawing in Eddie's notes, of the Gizmo? After we
escaped, I finally showed it to Pierce, and he recognized it."
"I did." Pierce
confirmed. "I thought it looked a lot like a toy that I played
with as a kid, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized
that I only had one memory of the thing."
"Your father."
Jake said, still sounding exhausted.
Pierce blinked. "That's
right. How'd you know?"
Jake waved a hand vaguely.
"Because it's the only thing that makes sense." He said.
"Your father agreed to cooperate, as long as he could guarantee
you were safe."
Pierce nodded. "When I
was a kid, I think about five years old, my dad brought the Gizmo
into my room and played checkers with me while he had it. I remember
because my nose started bleeding a lot during the game." He
tapped the sketch of the device in his hand. "I never saw it
again, before or after that."
"That's why you don't
have an Implant." Jake said. "Because your dad got it out
of you that day when you were a kid, just like you did for us
tonight."
"It also explains why
my dad tested me with the metal detector after the Plane."
Pierce nodded. "He was checking to make sure they hadn't put it
back." For a moment, it almost looked like he was going to
laugh. "Ever since we did the X-Rays, I've been wracking my
brain trying to figure out why I was the only one on the plane that
was left alone."
"Jake, what does that
mean for my dad?" Zack called to the backseat. "I don't
have an Implant. Is my dad working for them too?"
"Could be, but I don't
think so." Jake assured him. "Mayor Grady said that the
Greys had 'quotas to meet'. My guess is they want a fixed number of
us for something, and once they've got that number, they don't much
care about whoever gets left over."
Jess got them back on topic.
"So?" She pressed. "You remembered the thing in the
drawing, and then...?"
"Well, there are only
two or three places my dad actually hides anything." Pierce
said. "He's the Sheriff, so he has criminal records, guns,
things nobody else should get to. I didn't know what was in them, but
I knew he had lock-boxes in his office, and his private office at the
house."
"So you went looking."
Marie guessed.
"Two locked cabinets in
the house, one in the Sheriff's Office, right next to the jail cells.
We played the odds and tried the house. Took a while to get into
them." Pierce nodded. "I honestly couldn't believe it when
we found the Gizmo in my dad's locked desk. It was in the house all
this time. All that work, and we had the proof two doors down from my
bedroom!"
"You and me both."
Jake commented darkly.
Zack picked it up from
there. "We didn't know how it worked, and all we knew of it was
Pierce's ten year old memory." He took a breath. "So we...
experimented."
"Do we want to know?"
Pierce took that one.
"Probably not, but Zack will no doubt tell you anyway."
Zack piped up. "We
agreed that if we made it to Tracy's house and didn't have anything
from another world waiting for us when we got there, then it was
probably safe to hold onto the Gizmo."
"Makes sense."
Marie offered. "If the Implant is a tracking device, then that's
what it's meant for, but we don't put tracking devices into all
our toys."
"Tracy's house. You went straight there,
huh?" Jess commented. No venom, no anger, just confirming the
fact.
Pierce met her gaze seriously. "I wasn't
going to test the thing on you." He waved the Gizmo. "We
were learning how to use this damn thing by pushing buttons and
seeing what happened, and... Tracy was the only one in town I knew
who would let me in her bedroom window at three in the morning."
Jess made a sound of disgust, but didn't push it.
"What happened then?" Marie asked,
moving it along.
"I tried it out, pushed a button at random,
and... Tracy started sleepwalking."
Jess turned instantly and sent a look at Jake. He
nodded. It wasn't a coincidence that their entire town was walking in
their sleep a few days before. The Greys had been testing.
"Which means that everyone who was
sleepwalking that night had an Implant." Jake nodded. "Another
mystery down."
"Not so much. Why didn't we sleepwalk?"
Jess demanded. "We were assuming it was because we were still
awake when it happened, but if Tracy let them in, she was awake."
"I think the Gizmo is
used to control the Implants themselves, up close and personal."
Pierce offered. "The difference between having a light on and
pointing a high-powered torch. We spent a few minutes pushing
buttons, and the people with Implants in Tracy's street started to
sleepwalk. This is a pretty freaky
little toy. I sent Tracy walking into the walls, face first, for ten
minutes until we found the right buttons." Pierce explained.
"Then her ears started bleeding mercury, and she just... woke
up."
"Where is she now?" Jake asked.
"We made another copy of the photos and
showed her. She flipped, and told us to leave. Last we saw her, she
was packing. I think she was planning to wake her parents and get
them all moving. We told her to come with us, and she found that to
be hilarious."
"She didn't want to come with us, so
we made a run to all our houses and grabbed some stuff, then we came
back to the station. The rest you know." Zack finished.
Zack's comment made Jake
suddenly aware that the Jeep was packed. In the back were five
backpacks, all stuffed full enough that they were bulging. Jake
recognized them on sight. Zack had packed a bag for each of them.
"You went to our houses?" Jake repeated. "Are they..."
"We grabbed food, some
clothes... I don't know how long we'll be in hiding, but I know we
can't go home until this is over." Pierce said. "There was
nobody at any of them. I'm sorry guys, there's no sign of any of our
families at home."
Zack slugged Pierce's
shoulder, and Pierce sighed. "Fine. We found my dad hanging
around Zack's place. We tried to drive away... He took a shot at our
tires and..." He looked to Zack, seeking help.
Zack sighed, looking
miserable. "It was my fault. I was driving. I saw him shoot and
I just reacted."
"You ran him down?"
Marie exclaimed.
Zack squeezed his eyes shut.
"I think I killed him."
"Well, that explains a
few things." Jess nodded.
Pierce reacted. "What
do you mean?" He demanded, his voice cold and hollow.
Jake answered him. "Pierce,
your dad's okay. He and the Mayor came back to our cell, breathing
hellfire and demanding to know what happened to the Gizmo. Your dad
was seeing stars, but he was walking and talking."
Zack sagged in relief. "He's
okay."
Pierce was smiling too. "My
dad's alive."
Marie looked to Zack. "He
was waiting at your house?" She questioned.
Zack nodded. And looked at
his shoes. "The house was empty except for Tanner." He
whispered. "My dad's bed was empty. I don't know where he is."
Sympathetic silence. Of the
five of them, four were now missing their entire family, and Pierce's
only relative in town was a willing servant of the ones that hunted
them.
Jake bit his lip. "Ben
knew. My kid brother's been out with the Greys every night since
before Doug Gunn came back." Pierce met his eyes in the
rear-view mirror. Pierce and Jake were the only people they knew with
collaborators in their family.
Long silence.
"We just have to make
it to dawn." Zack said finally.
~oo00oo~
They drove for the better
part of an hour, doing the best they could to be away from everyone
in town. They spoke a little, sorting out ideas and plans. The only
one who didn't was Jake. He was dead silent.
"What are you thinking,
Jake?" Jess asked finally.
"It saw
me." Jake said finally. "I saw its eyes. It saw me, and
they were waiting at my house." His hands were shaking. "I
don't know what's scarier. The idea that these things exist at all,
the fact that out of billions of light years they came to Curtis
Creek... or the fact that they know
my name!"
Silence.
"They know all
our names, now." Pierce said quietly.
~oo00oo~
Well outside town, at the
edge of the widest, deepest part of The Creek, really more of a river
at that point, there was a small one room shack. It was about the
size of Jake's bedroom, with small windows made from salvaged car
windows. There was one door, and the walls were made of wooden
panels.
There were empty places for
mounting fishing rods on the walls.
"What is this place?"
Marie asked.
"Old fishing shack."
Pierce said. "Me and a couple of seniors used to come here years
ago, but they left town long before..." He hesitated. "Well,
before.
I was a junior then, so..."
"I wonder if they made
it out." Zack wondered.
"They left years ago."
Pierce shook his head.
"Right. After flying a
billion light years and putting tracking devices in all our heads for
more than ten years, I'm sure that moving two hundred miles to the
left would make them safe." Marie shot back.
"Well, I honestly don't
know if anyone in town even remembers it's here." Pierce
shrugged. "It seemed as good a hiding place as any."
The shack was rectangular,
and had fishing rods leaning against the narrow back wall, with bunk
beds on the longer walls, each bunk long enough to accommodate one
person. Two bunks along each wall, and little room for anything else.
"Four bunks, five of
us." Jake said. "Which works out. One person should keep
watch at all times."
"Agreed." The
others chorused.
Jess swept a hand over her
bunk, kicking up a cloud of dust, and tossing aside a handful of
cigarette butts, two empty beer bottles, several dead matches, and a
few condoms. "Pierce, what the hell did you guys get up to in
here?"
Pierce looked back
innocently. "Well, obviously those things got here after I
stopped coming to this place."
Jess made a face at him, and
everyone started picking a bunk.
"I'll take the first
watch." Jake said. "I couldn't sleep anyway."
~oo00oo~
I couldn't believe it
when I cracked open the backpack full of stuff Pierce had grabbed for
me, and I found my journal inside. He's a bully, but recent events
have proven I may have misjudged him. A little.
The first thing I thought
when I started writing a Journal years ago? I was scared that I
wouldn't be able to think of anything to write in it. I really wish I
had that problem tonight.
In all the movies, the
school football team grabs some weapons and goes driving back into
town, gunning down the bug-eyed monsters until they've saved the
world. And as much as I'd like to think we could do that, I know
there's no chance. I don't even know where my brother is.
The others have been
pretending to sleep for a few hours, while I found a seat on the
front doorstep and wrote down everything that happened since this
morning.
~oo00oo~
Jake reacted to the sound of
footsteps, and jerked around, coming to full wakefulness. His hand
went automatically to the shotgun across his knees, but the steps
were coming from inside the shack. "Hello?"
Zack stuck his head out the
door. "Don't shoot." He said lightly. "It's been an
hour, and Jess figures that you must be dead on your feet. I'll take
the second watch."
"Has it been that
long?" Jake checked his watch, provided by Pierce to replace the
one his father had taken. "Huh. Some guard I am."
"You've got a lot on
your mind." Zack said forgivingly.
Jake rose from the step and
stretched with a groan. He passed the wristwatch and the shotgun to
Zack. "If you feel like you're gonna fall asleep, come get one
of us."
"I will." Zack
promised.
Jake headed back inside and
paused. "Zack?" He said quietly. "Thanks for saving my
life tonight."
"You'd do it for me."
Zack said immediately, and the two best friends shook hands, making
their way to their respective posts.
~oo00oo~
Jake came into the fishing
shack and found everyone asleep. The bunks were almost all occupied.
The one Zack had used was the lower one on the left. Jake limped
toward it, so tired he was seeing three of everything.
The bunk opposite him
shifted as he sat down. Jess was the only one awake. She looked at
him silently, and he met her eyes, patting the space next to him on
the bunk.
Jess rose and slipped over
to join him. "Are you okay?" She whispered, mindful of his
ex-girlfriend sleeping opposite, and her ex-boyfriend sleeping less
than six inches above.
Jake yawned. "Nope."
Jess nodded. "I should
have taken the first watch." She said apologetically. "I
should have let you sleep after everything you've been through."
"You went through it
too."
"He wasn't my brother."
Jess whispered, putting her arms around him, hugging him sideways as
they sat side by side.
Her arms were warm and soft,
and Jake was so exhausted he could barely move. Her arms alone were
lulling him to a rest he hadn't felt in days. "How does this
end, Jess?"
"I don't know."
Jess admitted.
"We can't hide here. No
matter what Pierce says, you can't keep a secret in Curtis Creek...
well, unless you're the Town Council. Someone in town must know about
this shack." Jake yawned, trying to think. "We'll have to
move again soon."
"We will." Jess
promised.
"Pierce will want to go
back for his dad." Jake yawned. "The Sheriff is dangerous,
so don't let Pierce leave without us."
"Already taken care
of." She told him.
"We figured it was...
what? Two thirds with Implants? The other third... The Greys will
move on them..." His voice was drifting.
"Shh." She shushed
him. "Just for now, just..." She stroked his hair, gently
pushing him to lay down. She sat at the head of the bunk, and
shifted, laying his head down in her lap. She sat back against the
wall of the cabin, holding him as he finally gave in, eyes drifting
shut helplessly.
"I'm so tired."
Jake whispered miserably.
She bent down to lay a soft
kiss on his lips. "I know. Just rest, Jake." She crooned to
him quietly. "Sleep now. Dream of the moon. Just sleep."