Invasion

6

Maya lay on the bed in her childhood room, staring up at the ceiling. Despite using every breathing technique she’d learned from martial arts and meditation to try to calm herself, she couldn’t. Even keeping her eyes open didn’t keep her from seeing Gerald’s face.

She wanted to kill him. It didn’t matter anymore that he was the father of her children. Maya didn’t give a damn who he was. He had come into her mother’s home and taken the kids. Maya had custody of them, and even though the world had gone to shit, that didn’t mean he could do whatever he wanted. The days of her equally splitting custody with him were over. Whenever this thing ended, she would do everything in her power to make sure Gerald’s children never saw him again, whether that was through the court system or by putting him into a grave.

Maya exhaled and sat up. She wiped the sweat from her brow and pulled a hair tie out of her pocket. Slipping her hair into a ponytail, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and made her way to the empty space on the floor at the foot of it. If breathing steadily wouldn’t calm her down, then maybe exercise would.

She put herself through a rigorous circuit training routine, alternating between twenty reps of different exercises with only a ten-second rest in between each round. Maya channeled her anger into the movements. Sweat dripped down her face, and her body hurt. But it was the good kind of pain.

Maya was on her third round of push-ups when the ground trembled. It wasn’t intense enough to throw her out of her push-up position, but it was enough to make the China dolls rattle on top of the dresser. She pushed herself up onto her knees and breathed heavily.

“What was that?”

It had felt like an earthquake, but Maya had never heard of any happening in the Nashville area. Fear suddenly hit her, that it could have been something much worse.

“Maya! Get out here, quick!”

Maya jumped to her feet at the sound of her mother’s voice and ran out of her room.

“Mom?”

“I’m downstairs. Get down here!”

Maya hurried down the stairs to see that the front door was open. Outside, her mother stood near the steps, looking out towards the city. Maya followed her gaze.

A mushroom cloud had formed on the horizon, and Maya knew instantly that it must be over Centennial Park. And then it hit her. She could see the city. The dome was gone. And so were the obelisk and the massive spaceship that had been connected to it.

“Is that—”

“Centennial Park,” Maya said. “That’s where it came from.”

“Where the obelisk is?”

Maya shook her head. “Was.”

High, light clouds floated across the morning sky and birds flew in tight flocks from east to west. Maya scanned the sky in all directions, but saw no sign of the spaceship or the flying aliens.

“He did it.”

“Who?”

“Jack. He destroyed the engine—took down the dome.”

“What does that mean?”

Maya ran back into the house. Her mother hurried after her, calling her name and asking her for some sort of explanation. But Maya ignored her, rushing up the stairs and back to her room.

She threw all of her clothes and things into her bag, and then made sure she had water, a protein bar, and her loaded handgun. Then she went back downstairs to where her mother was waiting.

“Talk to me, Maya.”

“Mom, you need to go and pack a bag.”

“What for?”

“We need to get out of here. We need to get my kids.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Did you see what happened? The dome is gone!”

“Exactly. And do you really think an alien invasion took place only in Nashville? Do you think the rest of the world has been watching this like a Hollywood movie? They’ll be back, and when they return, it won’t be pretty.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yeah, well, we’re not going to be around here to find out. Now, go pack a bag.”

Maya looked over to see her mom standing with her arms crossed. She shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Maya’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

“This is my home. I can’t leave.”

Maya walked over to her mother and took her hand.

“Mom, this is just a place. Okay? You can get another house.”

Her mother shook her head again, more firmly. “This isn’t just a place. Your father and I lived in this house our entire adult lives. I’m not leaving.”

Maya went to say something else, but her mother cut her off.

“There’s nothing you can say that will change my mind.”

Tears filled Maya’s eyes. “Mom, please.”

“I’ll be here when you get back. Have faith. Go get your kids.”

Maya hugged her mother, gripping the back of her shirt tightly as she cried into her shoulder. Then, she walked outside and her mom followed, staying on the porch while Maya headed to the pickup truck. She threw her bag in the passenger seat, then looked back towards the patio. She wanted to ask her mother once more to come with her, but realized that it wasn’t going to happen.

“Get your kids. I’ll see you when you get back.”

Maya wiped her eyes and nodded. “I love you.”

“And I love you.”

Maya ducked into the vehicle. She took a deep breath, stealing one last glance at her mother. Her mom waved, and Maya blew her a kiss.

She pulled out of the driveway, taking off and crying as she avoided one more look at the house.