CHAPTER EIGHT
The Jeep bounced under them
constantly, but with Maggie in the driver's seat and Pierce beside
her, none of them felt comfortable squeezing in.
"Hey, Jake?" Zack
said casually. "You know we're bouncing along a dirt and gravel
road in the middle of the night at an unsafe velocity while perching
on unsecured sacks of ammonium nitrate, many gallons of Diesel Fuel
and at least three dozen homemade fireworks, on our way to blow up a
building while keeping our fingers crossed that a UFO won't come and
blow us all up on the way?"
"And no seat belts."
Marie put in, her voice very small.
"Still safer than
riding up front with Maggie." Jake quipped.
~oo00oo~
In the front seat, Pierce
was looking over Maggie's Gizmo, turning it over in his hands. "How
long did the battery last?"
"I dunno." She
waved it off. "I don't know if it used a battery, or if it
broke, or if it just had to be near them, but it stopped making
sounds when I hit buttons." She looked over at him. "You
want to make it work." She said carefully, knowing the answer.
"You think you can go in there and free everyone."
"Well, probably not
everyone." Pierce admitted. "But maybe our families.
Something to think about. Might be a better plan than just blowing it
all up."
"What is the layout of
their cages?" Maggie demanded. "Do they even use
cages? I don't know, do you?"
"No."
"How many people are
already prisoner? How many guards do they have? How good is their
Alien Vision? Who else in town might be working for them? What sort
of weapons do they have? How do we get in to wherever they're holding
those people? When we get in, how do we locate your families
specifically? How do we get back out again? What kind of defenses do
they have?" Maggie demanded, rapid-fire. "I don't know, do
you?"
Pierce shrank down in his
seat. "No."
Maggie nodded. "This
plan ain't perfect, but it's the safest one, and the most likely to
work."
Pierce bit his lip. He hated
it, but he couldn't think of any compelling arguments against it.
Maggie's face softened a
little as she looked over at him. "You're young." She said,
not unkindly. "Too young to understand that most days, there
ain't no happy endings, only quick ones."
~oo00oo~
The Jeep approached town and
Pierce slowed them down quickly. There wasn't a lot in the way of
hills and mountains, so they weren't overlooking the whole town, but
the differences were obvious to them as soon as Curtis Creek came
into view.
When they had left, it was
dead silent, sealed up tight, and the only people moving were them.
In the hours they had been away, the small town had turned into a
warzone. There were fires burning in every vehicle they could see,
but only a few of the houses. There was no sign of any people, and
the fires burned unchecked, with nobody trying to put them out.
The only light visible came
from the fires that burned and the Aurora in the sky, which boiled
and rolled like an electrical storm... except it made no sound.
Maggie pulled the Jeep to a
halt and everyone climbed out. They were on the very edge of town,
where there were normally just a few houses, just a few vehicles.
There was no sign of anyone.
"Looks like they
targeted the transport." Jake said quietly. The others followed
his gaze over to the side of a house, where a motorcycle lay
destroyed on the ground.
Maggie was about to answer,
when they heard a familiar humming in the air. A Flying Saucer was on
the way. They followed the sound with their eyes. The Saucer was out
of sight and back the way they came.
"They're patrolling the
edge of town." Jess said, her voice low with fear.
"We try to double back,
they'll see us." Maggie said sharply. "There's no cover
outside of town, just a long straight bit of road. Sheer dumb luck
they didn't see us on the way in."
"She's right."
Pierce snapped. "We need to hide the truck, and we can't do that
out in the sticks. We have to go deeper into town, find a place to
hide."
Maggie waved the younger
ones away. "Kids, get outta here. I only need the Jeep, I can
take it from here. Go find a place to hide, and wait it out. With any
luck, you'll have the sun back in an hour or two."
Marie nodded. "It's
five minutes to the Festival Ground. Less if you know the backyard
routes."
"I'll go with Maggie."
Pierce volunteered. "It's my Jeep."
Everyone reached into the
tray of the Jeep and pulled out their backpacks. Jake took the
opportunity to grab Pierce's wrist and pull him closer. "Don't
let her hit the Town Hall. We have to figure out some stuff first."
Pierce nodded in agreement.
"Meet up at Tracy's house. There's a place there behind her
garage where I can keep the Jeep out of sight from anyone else. I've
used it before."
Jess was close enough to
overhear that and snorted in disgust.
~oo00oo~
The Jeep had pulled away
from them just in time to avoid the approach of the Saucer. The kids
that stayed behind had ducked behind the walls of a random house,
trying to be invisible.
The Saucer hovered in
mid-air for several seconds... before the humming dropped off to
nothing, and it slid across the sky inaudibly, toward the middle of
town. Nobody liked to admit it, but the Saucer was going in the same
direction as Maggie and Pierce.
"They might be
following the heat. They can travel between stars, they probably have
heat-sensors." Jess offered. "We don't have Implants, so it
could be they don't care about us that much. At least, not as much as
the Jeep."
Four of them clambering over
backyard fences was too much to go unnoticed this far from the middle
of town, but none of them dared suggest they split up.
In every street they passed,
there was damage. It looked like every vehicle had been targeted,
some of the streets themselves were torn up and mangled, power lines
were down and sparking all over the place.
Only one of the houses they
passed was burning, but it was burning out of control. There was
nobody around to watch, and the kids didn't stop to see if the people
in it had gotten out in time.
"That's the Crichton
place... isn't it?" Jess had called back. "I know their
daughter. She tried out for the debate team last year. Lost out by
one vote."
Jake was about to answer
when the low humming sound of the Saucer became audible again, and
they sped up, running across the street for cover. He was glad he
hadn't gotten the chance to speak. The source of town pride, their
closeness and sense of community, had suddenly become a danger. Every
house held someone they knew.
The houses became more
tightly packed, and the yards became narrower. They were in town now,
instead of skirting around the edge of it. Jess led the way to
Tracy's house. Jake had never been there before, but Jess had, and
she led the way. The house in question had a two car garage, instead
of the usual one, with a wide concrete driveway that actually
extended into a patio area. Wide enough that Pierce's Jeep could pull
around behind the garage, to a spot near a tree, putting the vehicle
out of view from the street and the air.
The Jeep was already parked,
lights off. As the four of them came over the fence, the doors
opened, and Maggie and Pierce got out.
"We waited for you."
Pierce said by way of explanation. "We didn't want to go in
until we had some idea of where you guys were... We saw Lucy
Crichton's place burning."
"So did we." Jess
confirmed as they all made their way toward the house. "Pierce,
is this a good idea? You've been here once tonight, and switched off
an Implant. The Greys may have been... interested enough to take a
closer look."
"They did."
Everyone jumped half out of
their skin and spun around. Tracy herself had come out of the garage
behind them. She was dressed in tough clothes, boots that were strong
but a size too big for her, and she had three carving knives from her
kitchen stuck through her belt. Her eyes were cold and feral, and her
hair pulled back in a tight bun.
She stalked towards them,
her feet making no sound on the concrete. "They came here, and I
don't know if they were looking for me, or..." She saw Pierce
and her face froze. She came forward with two quick steps and slugged
Pierce hard across the jaw. "You bastard!" She raged at him
quietly, trading volume for venom, and she moved in for another hit.
"Why?! How could you just leave like that?!"
Jess hauled her away from
Pierce and put her against the wall. "Get in line, sister. We
got bigger problems."
Tracy shoved Jess away. "Not
that. Jeez, how big an ego do you have?" She spun on Pierce.
"How could you leave
like that? You wake me up and then you just... Leave the rest of us?"
"He had to get us out."
Jess argued. "Pierce and Zack weren't messing with you, they
were trying to set three of us free. They have our families, and
Pierce's dad is working for them. It's not like we were off having a
party!"
Marie was studying Tracy's
eyes carefully. "Tracy?" She said quietly. "Where's
your
family?"
Brief silence. Tracy raised
one hand and pointed at the street, in the direction of the Town
Hall. Everyone went quiet, sending a quick look toward Pierce, who
had the decency to look ashamed. "I didn't scan them with the
Gizmo..."
Tracy was vibrating with
anger. "You could have done it. You could have given me my whole
damn family back. Instead, you dove out the window once you knew I
was awake. They came for me. They came to my house, and I hid in the
garage. My parents wouldn't wake up, no matter what I did. So I hid
in the garage and I had to watch them rise from their beds and just
march..." She squeezed her eyes shut. "I couldn't wake them
up. Two more minutes, you could have freed them all."
"I'm sorry."
Pierce offered weakly.
Tracy growled low in her
throat and turned away from all of them, stalking toward the house.
The back door wasn't locked, and with nothing else to do, they all
followed her.
~oo00oo~
Tracy went straight to the
fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, slugging half of it down in
two long gulps.
The others relaxed at being
inside again, grateful for at least the illusion of security. Zack
went to the front of the house and started peeking out the windows.
Everyone else gathered in the kitchen while Tracy told the story.
"Once Pierce left, I
tried to get my family moving." She explained. "They
wouldn't wake up. They were alive, they were breathing, they
responded when I prodded them... they just wouldn't wake up."
Her voice was more tired than anything else. "At first I thought
it was something Pierce had done. He'd hit a few buttons and snapped
me out of it, so I wondered it something he'd done had put them
under. So I went to try and find help."
Zack burst into the kitchen.
"There are people outside!" He hissed.
Everyone reacted except
Tracy. "They walk." She agreed. "It happens in groups.
Not long after Pierce left, I headed for a friend's place... but the
Saucers came over. Half a dozen of them, gliding over the town. When
they started shooting, I hid. They targeted the cars, the trucks,
motorcycles... anything that could get people away. The explosions
came over and over... and people woke up fast. The entire street,
people started running out their back doors. The ones that ran for
cars didn't get far. The ones that ran on foot..." Tracy
shivered. "The Saucer came, floated straight over them... and
they all stopped running. Dozens of people just... stopped running.
It was like being in a Zombie movie. They all just turned around and
started shuffling back toward the middle of town." She shivered
hard. "Never seen anything like it before."
Jess and Jake traded a dark
look. "We have." He said quietly, before turning back to
her. "Tracy... how many people kept running?"
"Maybe... fifteen?
Maybe? Lot less than half the ones that started sleepwalking."
Tracy told him. "They were the ones that don't have the...
whatever they are? Right? The ones like us?"
"Yeah." Maggie
said flatly. "The ones like us. You got rope?"
"In the garage."
Tracy nodded.
"I'm going to go get
some, see if I can secure the stuff in the back of the Jeep a little
better." Maggie told the others, and headed out the back door
into the yard.
"Doesn't make sense."
Pierce said finally. "Zack said that they could shut down my
dad's truck, plus Jake's house, at will. Just switch all the lights
off. Why are they blowing things up now?"
"How the hell should I
know?" Jake shot back. "It's not like they told me the
plan."
"So." Marie said
to Tracy. "What happened next?"
"Well, like I said, I
was looking for help, so I got out of the main street, away from the
explosions... and that's when it got really scary, because people
just started... leaving their homes. It happened on two different
streets that I saw. A whole street full of people would just walk out
of their homes... and line up at the corner of the street. They were
all in their nightclothes, and they'd just walk, two-by-two toward
the Town Hall."
"They're going street
by street?" Jake thought, drawing the map of the town in his
head.
Pierce nodded archly. "That
makes sense. They're in no rush, and they don't want people queuing
up wherever they're going, so they pull people in as more...
manageable groups."
Tracy wrapped up her story.
"When I saw the third street full of people lining up, I came
home... To an empty house. I looked for my mom and dad," Her
eyes softened, almost tearing up. "They were lined up with the
rest. I tried to pull them back inside. Didn't work."
Everyone shivered.
"I'm getting out of
town." Tracy said simply. "I was collecting food and stuff,
but after the trucks stopped coming in, there wasn't a whole lot of
food left. We cracked open the stores we keep in our garage three
days ago."
Jess was staring out the
window. "Tracy..." She asked suddenly. "Is everyone in
town going the same direction?"
Tracy nodded, eyes cold and
deadly again. "Yup. At least, all the ones I saw. They were all
headed for-"
"The Town Hall."
Tracy, Jake and Pierce all said together.
Jess turned on her heel and
stormed out of the house. She didn't stop marching until she reached
Pierce's Jeep. Maggie was tying down the bags of fertilizer when Jess
grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around. "Tell me you
didn't know!" She roared. "All the people taken prisoner
get marched two by two into the Town Hall! You were going to blow it
up!"
The Old Woman glared so hard
at Jess that the younger girl almost lit on fire. "You ever want
to see the sky again? You ever want out of this town? You want to
live long enough to see your next meal? What did you think was going
to happen? This ain't like the movies, little girl. Our town is being
rounded up like cattle. There are going to be some casualties!"
Jess glared right back,
teeth bared. "Are all
their prisoners there? My parents? Are they in there too? Were you
going to blow them up?"
Maggie said nothing, and
Jess hissed in her face, her hands going around the old woman's
throat. An instant later, Maggie struck, jabbing two punches into
Jess, just under her ribs. The girl gasped thickly, and reeled back
in pain. Maggie struck again and swept one of Jess feet out from
under her. The instant Jess was on the ground, Maggie planted one of
her crocodile-skin boots against her throat. "Never. Ever. Do
that again." Maggie growled.
Jake got between them, with
a courage he didn't really feel. "Listen, maybe we handle this
inside?"
~oo00oo~
"What happened?"
Marie demanded as they all trooped back in.
Jake looked at Maggie,
Maggie looked at Jess, and Jess glared at nobody, her face burning.
"Nothing." The girl said finally. "Nothing happened."
"Here's what I don't
get." Marie said after a moment. "Where are they putting
all those people? The entire town is walking in the front door in
groups... Why?"
"I don't know."
Jake confessed.
"Would there even be
room for them? I mean, everyone knows everything that happens, but
for the most part, when there's a Town Meeting, it's just one member
of each family. To have them all crammed in there at once..."
"Not all of them."
Maggie creaked. "Just over two thirds."
"Yes, but why there?
What's in the Town Hall?" Maggie asked again.
"Maybe we should pay
them a visit and find out?" Jake suggested.
"Maybe we pay them a
visit and put a stop to it." Maggie Gunn declared.
"Permanently."
Jess lunged for her again,
and the old woman moved, quick as a rattlesnake. Jess froze as the
barrel of a handgun suddenly appeared against her face, touching
right between her eyes.
"Stay out of my way,
little girl." Maggie said coolly.
Jess looked around for help,
and nobody moved.
"We can't let Maggie go
through with this!" Zack hissed.
"Well, I don't know."
Pierce put in carefully. "I mean... look around guys, this is so
much more... so much bigger
than us."
Zack glared at him. "So
what? Just blow it all up?"
Marie looked sick. "We
don't exactly have a lot of options here."
Jess glared. "Your
family is probably in there too!"
"Tracy said they take
people in sections." Jake tried to think. "So how many have
they got through so far?"
"I don't know!"
Jess snapped. "But I'm not blowing them all up just because I
can't think of anything else."
Maggie gave Jess a look that
would have stripped paint. "Every minute we wait, more people
get marched into that place, and don't come out again. If you kids
can't stop your caterwaulin', then give me the keys and beat it."
Tracy froze. "Everyone
stop talking right now!"
Her tone was such that
everyone obeyed instantly. In the four hours they had been away,
Tracy had been transformed into an urban survivor. They all froze,
not even breathing. After a moment, they picked up a low hum in the
distance.
Zack and Marie sprinted to
windows on opposite sides of the house, looking up at the sky.
"Here!" Marie
hissed, and ran back to the kitchen. "It's coming this way."
"Nothing this way!"
Zack answered her.
"They patrol, right?"
Jake demanded. "I mean, it's just in the area?"
"Yes, but they search
in a pattern." Tracy hissed back, checking her watch. "They're
coming back this way too early, and it's for a reason."
"What's it doing
here?!" Pierce demanded. "The whole town to study, and they
come here? Why? There's no..." He stopped talking instantly and
sent Maggie a horrified look. "No!"
"What?" Jake
demanded. "What?!"
Pierce reached over to the
bags and yanked out the metal detector. One wave over Maggie's face
was all it took to set it off. "You're marked!"
"Never said I wasn't."
Maggie growled back.
"But they..." Jake
squeezed his eyes shut, trying to figure it out. "But they can't
control you, obviously!"
Pierce let out a hiss of
horror and reached into Maggie's belt, yanking the older Gizmo. "It's
not the same thing, is it? It doesn't work like the one we got."
The Old Woman curled a lip
contemptuously. "There's a difference between being
mind-controlled and being chipped."
The humming dropped to dead
silence instantly, but they all knew it wasn't going anywhere. Pierce
spun and tossed his keys at Jake. "Get outta here! Don't wait
for me!" Pierce shouted and pumped the shotgun firmly as he
sprinted for the stairs.
Jake turned to Marie. "We
gotta get outta this house."
Marie pointed at Maggie. "We
can't take her with us."
Maggie shrugged. "Fine.
Gimmie the keys to the Jeep."
"Like
hell!" Jess snapped. "You'll never get close if you're
marked."
Thwapp!
Everyone froze. There was a
groaning, creaking sound...
The house erupted suddenly.
Tracy let out a squeak and ran for the hallway, trying to get to the
opposite side of the house. An instant later the flames became
visible and audible, exploding through the ceiling of the kitchen.
The Saucer had fired on the house, and now it was burning. Jake and
Jess ran for the back door.
Maggie got in their way, and
suddenly they both had a handgun pointed at them. "The keys!
Now!" Maggie roared.
Thwapp!
The ceiling suddenly caved
in behind them, and everyone ducked. Maggie was forced to dart aside,
throwing her free hand up to cover her eyes.
Jake grabbed Jess' arm and
hauled her toward the window, trying to keep the burning debris
between them and Maggie.
Maggie lunged demonically
through the flames, and brought Jake down in a tackle. Jess looked
back, uncertain.
"GO!" Jake yelled
at her, trying to fend off Maggie, and Jess dove for the window.
Zack came running through
the house, not willing to run out the front door into the open, and
saw Maggie and Jake wrestling. Jake was trying to get the gun off
her, Maggie was trying to get the keys off him. Zack didn't have a
clue what was going on, but he hauled the crazed woman off his
friend. "Whatever it is, handle it outsi-"
Thwapp!
The house warped again, and
Maggie rolled away from the two teenage boys as more of the house
collapsed on them.
From Tracy's bedroom window
on the second floor, Pierce aimed and fired. Then he pumped the
shotgun and fired again. For all the fear it created, and all the
firepower it carried, the Saucer was still only five feet across. The
simple concussive force of the buckshot was enough to knock it off
balance. Pierce fired again... and then again... until the Saucer
reeled like someone had punched it, and the flat aircraft turned
almost on it's edge, and crashed into the edge of the house.
Pierce felt the house
shudder, and the floor under his feet began to sag. Without pausing
to think about it, Pierce threw himself forward, and jumped out
Tracy's bedroom window. He slid off the roof as half the house
started to cave in on itself. He saw a flash of blue and jumped out
at the swimming pool.
~oo00oo~
Jake had made it out of the
house in time to see half of it come down, almost on top of him and
Jess. They darted back... and the Saucer collided with the house.
There was a sudden shudder that shook them both off their feet, and a
wave of sound and heat rolled over them...
And then Pierce fell feet
first into the swimming pool behind them, screaming like a banshee.
Jess and Jake looked at each
other with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"Did you see that?!"
Jake struggled not to shriek. "I mean seriously: DID YOU SEE
THAT!?"
Pierce burst up from beneath
the surface of the swimming pool with an explosive gasp, and both of
them rushed over to haul him out. The shotgun was left at the bottom
of the pool.
Pierce looked at the blazing
house, where half of it had been caved in from a crashing Flying
Saucer that he himself had shot down. "Well..." He gasped
out finally, shaking the water off. "There's something you don't
see every day."
Jake cast about suddenly.
"Where... Where are Zack and Marie?!"
Jess looked around quickly.
"They must still-"
Pierce bolted for the
burning building, not even looking back.
"PIERCE!" Jess
yelled after him. The footballer was already in the back door, as
flames spread across the rest of the house. Even from the backyard,
the heat was intense, and the smoke was thick enough to make them
gag.
"He ran in." Jake
hissed, paralyzed by the moment. "Should I go in after him?"
There was a loud bang as
something flammable caught light in the house, and both of them
ducked as debris rained out of the burning building. Pierce emerged
from the door with Marie over his shoulder. They were both stained
with soot, coughing furiously.
"Zack!" Marie
gasped out, almost coughing up a lung. "Zack's still in there!"
"I know." Pierce
gulped oxygen as the others helped Marie sit down gently. Pierce
ripped off one of his sleeves and dunked it in the swimming pool,
wrapping the wet cloth around his nose and mouth. "You gotta
run!" He told them. "They'll be here soon, looking for
whoever knocked down their Saucer." And with that, he ran into
the burning house again.
And this time, Jake got his
act together and chased after him. I
shouldn't have hesitated the first time!
He kicked himself, and ran into the fire.
"Jake!" Marie
shouted after him.
~oo00oo~
They found Zack quickly
enough. He was in the hallway, trying to push a fallen chunk of the
wall. The wall was laid across his leg, and a motionless Maggie
Gunn's midsection. Pierce and Jake ran over, hacking and spluttering
up smoke, and they wrapped their arms around the heavy debris, which
was already burning. The ceiling had fallen in, the flames licking at
their heels. Jake felt the fire jump out and bite at his arms...
And still the burning wall
wouldn't lift off the two of them.
Pierce put his whole body
into it, and barely managed to lift the thing an inch. "God!"
He roared, eyes streaming with tears from the heat and smoke. "We
need something to lever it!"
A figure emerged through the
smoke and held out a coat-rack. "Use this!" Tracy said,
pressing it into Jake's hand, and she took off running for the door.
Pierce didn't bother to call
after her, and put the lever in place. "Jake, you with me?"
Jake grabbed onto the lever.
"Ready!"
"Zack, is it broken?"
Zack winced and tested his
pinned leg. "I don't think so..."
The hallway caved him behind
them, and the roar of the flames grew louder. It was approaching the
point where they couldn't see anything through the thick, black
smoke...
"Now!" Pierce
roared, and they heaved the lever down. The wall lifted, one inch,
two inches...
Zack was able to get his leg
clear, and scrambled out from under the burning debris, running for
the door. He vanished into the smoke instantly.
"Zack!" Jake
called after him in frustration. Maggie was still pinned, the fire
getting hotter and more of the burning house falling down around them
every second. "Dammit, Maggie; wake up!"
The old woman was still, and
Jake suddenly noticed the blood around her midsection, where the
debris had landed on her... He let go of the lever and checked her
pulse.
"She had a pulse when I
got here!" Pierce roared over the flames and broke down
coughing.
"She doesn't any more!"
Jake shouted back and choked on the smoke himself. "She's gone."
Pierce released the lever,
and pried the handgun from between Maggie's fingers. "Then what
the hell are we doing in here?!"
Jake wanted to answer, but
couldn't speak, couldn't breathe, couldn't see... He felt a hand
grasp his wrist and haul him forward. The wall touched his hand and
Jake pulled back in shock at the flash of scalding heat.
A shock of cool air hit him,
and the grip around his wrist vanished. The roar of the flames faded,
and Jake fell to his knees, retching from the smoke that filled his
lungs.
"Jake!" A familiar
voice shouted and he felt arms go around him tightly. Little by
little, he managed to blink the grit out of his eyes, and found Jess
holding him. His arms came up automatically to return the gesture,
and they both shuddered for a while.
Tracy looked on as what was
left of her house caved in on itself. She didn't seem sad, just in
shock.
Zack looked miserable. "I
should have..." He coughed. "I thought you were right
behind me. I thought..." He broke down spluttering again.
Pierce was sitting on the
edge of the pool step, almost bent double, splashing water on his
face over and over. "Okay." He started to say, and burst
out coughing again.
Jake got there first. "We
lost Maggie, but we still have the Jeep. Do we try and do what she-"
Thwapp!
Too late they saw the
movement from the street, as two Greys came over the fence, aiming
their weapons at the kids. Everyone dove for cover. Jake and Jess
went for the Garage, Zack, Marie and Pierce went for the fence...
"Run!" Someone
shouted, though Jake didn't see who. The sound of the Alien weapons
chased them, and Jake peeked past the edge of the garage just in time
to see Tracy make a break for the far side of the house, making a
dive into the smoke...
Too
late.
Thwapp!
The goo splattered against
Tracy, catching her full in the back, and an instant later she
dropped, shrieking at a pitch that made Jake's hair stand up. The goo
sizzled and almost immediately, like the bike and the Bridge... Tracy
started to twist in on herself, her body being mangled by the weapon
from another world... Her suffering was mercifully brief.
Pierce came up with the
handgun and fired two shots, missed, and ducked back down as the
Greys fired back. The football player didn't bother to raise his head
again. "Get outta here! Just go! Run!"
"He's right!" Jess
hissed. "They're distracted now!"
Jake turned away from the
Aliens and ran as fast as he could with his skin smarting and his
eyes almost pasted shut from soot and tears. He still had one arm
around Jess, and she hauled him away from the backyard as fast as she
could.
They ran, and they ran, and
they ran and had no idea how far they would get, as nightmares waged
war on their friends behind them.
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