Invasion

22

As dusk turned to night, Maya watched as the Civic’s headlights came on and the dashboard glowed. Although they hadn’t been on the road for long, they hadn’t come across anymore people, gangs, or aliens. The inside of the vehicle reeked of the pine-scented air freshener dangling from the rearview mirror. She finally reached up and pulled it off the mirror, tossing it out the window.

“I hate those damn things.”

Cameron didn’t respond. She didn’t even turn her head to face Maya, so that Maya had to remind herself that the woman wasn’t used to trauma and high-pressure situations. She tended bar at a dive—a far cry from the day to day duties Maya had experienced as an EMT. That said, traversing the barren highways at night made Maya uneasy, and having a little conversation or sharing a joke would have made things more normal. If there was such a thing now.

The rural highway cut through fields, and the number of structures with lights on had dwindled. The longer this invasion lasted, the more Maya worried that they’d never get back to the way things had been. Even out here in the backwoods of Kentucky, folks seemed to be gone, hiding, or dead.

A few gas stations—their windows dark and pump nozzles on the ground—sat on opposite sides of the road at an intersection with a single traffic light hanging above it. Oddly enough, it was blinking yellow.

“How close are we?” Maya asked.

“Not too far.”

Cameron sat in the passenger seat with her knees up, staring out the window.

“It’ll be alright.” Maya flushed, feeling as though she was talking to her daughter. It was the kind of thing parents said all the time when they had no idea whether things would work out or not.

The woman continued staring out the passenger window, chewing on her thumbnail. The smallest whimper came from Cameron’s throat. She hissed out a breath, coughed, and then spoke.

“Fort Campbell. Gerald took your kids to the base. That’s where we’re headed.”

Maya leaned forward, staring hard into Cameron’s eyes but not saying a word.

“But please, don’t throw me out of the truck now that I told you that.”

Maya felt a knot in her stomach and the revelation made her heart flutter. Maybe Gerald had done the right thing, taking the children to the place that made sense as being the safest option.

Maya smiled. “Thank you. And, I won’t.”

Cameron smiled, but Maya could feel the fear beneath it.

“Look, we went through a lot of shit today. We’ll get a chance to regroup and maybe rest some once we get to Fort Campbell. Reconnect with people.”

Cameron scoffed. “Yeah, and I’ll be alone. You’ll have your kids. Gerald won’t want a goddamn thing to do with me. So, I’m going to be stuck by myself, no different than when I was at the house except for all of this.” Cameron waved her hand at the windshield as if to gesture to the mess the world had become before turning to face Maya. The woman’s eyes had teared up and her face was splotchy.

“You’re not going to be alone. I mean, damn, do you really think I wanna deal with Gerald’s bullshit all by myself?”

Maya thought she heard a slight giggle come from Cameron.

“Once we get there, you’re welcome to stay with me and the kids.”

“Really?”

Maya paused, realizing the words had come out before she had thought about them.

“Yes, really.”

Cameron grabbed Maya’s hand, then flashed a smile. “Thanks.”

As they approached a more densely populated area, Maya saw more buildings—all of them dark. A big blue sign stood on the right side of the road, welcoming them to Auburn, Kentucky.

“Ugh, I hate this damn town,” Cameron said. “Let’s get through here as fast as we can.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

Maya had loved Nashville. It was part of the South, but with a metropolitan feel. But these podunk towns in rural Kentucky frightened her. She’d seen both the best and the worst of people, and given what they’d seen on the highway, she was not interested in stopping by Auburn’s Tourist Information Center. Soon, they’d be at Fort Campbell, and that meant she’d finally be with her kids again. Maya pushed the gas pedal down and hoped to blow right through the town.

“What was that?”

That droning noise. Maya knew exactly what it was, and immediately checked her rearview mirror. Nothing. Yet.

“Stick your head out the window and get a look at the sky. Tell me if you see anything.”

Cameron did, unbuckling her seatbelt and sticking half of her body out of the window to look around. “Nothing.”

The hum grew louder, and Maya saw a spark in the side mirror. She spun her head around for an instant, seeing the pinpoint light at the tip of the spaceship—the laser weapon that they all had.

“Buckle your seatbelt.” Maya punched the gas. “Hold on.”

If only she’d been behind the wheel of her 65 Mustang. Hell, even the rig would have had more torque than this “fuel efficient” sedan. Maya practically pushed her right foot through the floorboards, but the Civic wouldn’t go any faster.

The light grew larger in her mirror and, as they came through Auburn’s town square, Maya had to slow down to swerve around abandoned cars and debris. The ship kept coming and Maya realized she wasn’t going to outrun it.

Just through the square and past a park, Maya saw a row of office buildings. She cut the wheel and swerved into the parking lot.

“Why are you stopping?”

“We can’t outrun that ship.”

Maya slammed on the brakes, bringing the vehicle to a sudden stop in the parking lot. She shut off the engine and unbuckled her seatbelt.

“Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“We’ve got to hide like we did in the woods. Hurry up before they see us.”

Shaking her head, Cameron unbuckled her seatbelt and hopped out of the car. Maya hurried to the door of the nearest three-story office building and pulled on the door, but it was locked. She scanned the ground until she saw a large rock. Maya picked it up and, taking a few steps back, lifted it over her head.

The droning sound had gotten louder, the ship less than a quarter-mile away now.

Maya threw the rock, shattering the glass front door. It was darker inside the building than it was on the street, and no alarm had sounded. She reached inside and unlocked the door.

“You’re bad-ass.”

Maya smiled at Cameron’s comment, but the expression quickly faded as the vibrations from the ship’s propulsion system began to work their way from her feet into her legs.

“Get inside. Now.”

Cameron followed Maya into the main lobby of the office building. It didn’t seem as though people had looted the place—they’d just left it behind. As her eyes adjusted, Maya saw stacks of brochures on the counter, trash cans overflowing with paper coffee cups, and a janitor’s mop bucket pushed against the wall closest to some elevators. Maya wasn’t so sure that hiding in a dark office building was their best move, but it was their only one.

“Should we stay here or go up?” Cameron asked.

Maya wasn’t sure. How far into the structures would these things go? They had infested the warehouse in Nashville. But now, if they suspected humans were inside a building, would they just blow the place up instead? Before she could reply, Cameron answered her own question.

“Up. If we can get to the roof, maybe we can see what the road to Fort Campbell looks like.”

“Good call.” Maya ran past the mop bucket and elevators, coming to a door leading to the stairs. She ran up one flight after another with Cameron behind her until they reached the door that opened on the top floor.

Cameron and Maya together opened the door, turned down a short hallway, and stood at the front of an open room full of cubicles. Private offices lined the exterior walls, several of them with their doors open. The side of the building facing the street was floor-to-ceiling windows.

Desks and chairs began to rattle then, and Maya felt a tingling in her teeth. Like a massive bat, the spaceship descended and hovered on the other side of those windows as if staring right at them.

“Get down!” Maya said as she threw herself to the ground.

Cameron landed beside her and Maya waited, the hum steady but the windows remaining intact. The ship was still there, but it wasn’t doing anything but hovering.

Maybe they’re not sure we’re in here.

The building shook suddenly, and Cameron grabbed Maya’s hand. “What was that?”

She heard the reverberation of the doors slamming against the walls in the stairwell.

“They’re searching the building. C’mon!”

Maya grabbed Cameron’s hand and ran to one of the open offices. Once inside, she shut the door, careful not to slam it. The women ran around the desk and slid the office chair out of the way. The space beneath the desk was large enough for both of them, so Maya went down first, then pulled Cameron down.

Cameron was crying, on the verge of hyperventilating.

“Close your eyes. Take deep breaths.”

Cameron did as Maya instructed, drawing in long, slow breaths. Maya held her hand, using her EMT experience to keep the woman calm while also trying to remain clear-headed. Maybe the aliens didn’t know what floor they were on, or maybe this was just a normal patrol?

Stay calm, Maya. Everything will be fine.

The stairwell’s door swung open outside of the office, crashing into the wall hard enough to make both women jump. Cameron’s eyes shot open and Maya covered her mouth before she could scream. She looked hard into Cameron’s eyes and the woman understood, then nodded. Maya pulled her hand away.

Heavy footsteps shook the floor, and then Maya heard the familiar hiss of the creatures breathing through their masks.