They all fell fast asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows. No one even changed their clothes. The stress was taking its toll. Rob woke up once in the middle of the night and lay there listening to absolutely nothing. Not a noise, inside or outside. He wasn't sure if it was comforting or not. He lay thinking about what might become of them and trying to wrap his head around this whole unbelievable situation. Eventually, he drifted back to sleep. The next time he opened his eyes, he could just see the sun starting to peek over the horizon.
He looked around the room and saw Lucas already awake and sitting at the desk looking out the window. He walked up behind him and the two of them stared into the quiet city.
“No one out walking around yet,” Lucas noted.
“I wonder where they all sleep at night?”
“With how weird this place is? Wouldn’t surprise me if they just power down in a corner somewhere.”
Rob laughed. “Yeah, I can totally see that.”
Carolyn wandered into the room through the connecting door, rubbing her eyes and stretching. “So are we going to head back to our truck and see if we can locate wherever the other trucks are going? And maybe figure out where the ships are taking off from?”
“I was going to suggest maybe we just get ourselves back out of here, we can all head back to my place, and pretend like none of this happened, but if you want to do your suggestion I guess it's a functional, more responsible alternative,” Rob said, sighing.
“We should get going as early as possible. I'd like to be out there when that alarm goes off. See if it's triggering something.”
Lucas got up and went into the other bedroom where Jilly was still sleeping. He picked up a pillow and tossed it at her. “YO, girlie, let’s go.”
Jilly rolled over with an uncharacteristically grumpy face. “It’s barely light out,” she protested, grabbing the pillow and pulling it over her head.
“Yes, but we want to be downtown when the alarm goes off.”
“You go ahead. I’ll catch up.”
“That’s not how it works.”
“UGH!” She reluctantly sat up, yawned, and threw the pillow back at him.
She looked down. “OH, great. I slept in my clothes. Yuck.”
She rolled out of bed and started looking around for her shoes.
They each got ready to go and headed out into the darkened hallway.
They took the elevator down to the lobby and grabbed some granola bars and bottled water for breakfast, tucked a few extras into their backpacks, and headed out.
Outside it was already starting to get warm as the sun slowly crawled upward in the eastern sky. The birds hopped about, complaining in the trees that lined the street. People had started strolling down the sidewalks, smiling and chatting about nothing to each other.
Rob checked his watch. “It's 6:45, fifteen minutes until the gas release and sirens.”
“Make sure you have the bandanna handy to minimize breathing the crap in. The last time it happened, I about threw up. It was so awful,” Carolyn reminded everyone.
They all rummaged through their backpacks and came up with a face covering that Frankie had provided them with. They wrapped them around their necks as they headed down the street towards the center of downtown. They weaved in and out of the people as the crowds began to grow. They couldn't tell where they were coming from. Some were coming out of buildings, some were coming from alleyways, others were slowly leaving the local park.
As the top of the hour drew near they noticed a low flying aircraft coming in from the east. It definitely was not a design any of them had seen before. As they stood watching, a large white cloud of gas came out of the pipes on the underside and started blanketing the city. With every pass, it moved closer to them. They ducked into an alcove in front of a store.
“This isn't going to protect us very well,” Lucas pointed out.
Jilly tried the door handle and it opened and they piled in and quickly closed the door behind them. They stood watching out the window as the aircraft passed right overhead. As the cloud encompassed the people outside, they all stopped what they were doing and stared at the sky. The cloud of gas started to seep under the door and Carolyn grabbed a towel that was laying on the counter and stuffed it into the crack along the bottom. They could still smell it but it wasn't enough to make them gag. As the aircraft made its last pass and took a steep banking turn, an incredibly loud siren went off.
The sound wasn’t just loud—
it was piercing.
Like it was drilling straight into their skulls.
All four of them covered their ears and backed up away from the windows. The siren continued to scream for what seemed like a minute then went silent. All of their ears were ringing.
“What the hell was that?” Lucas asked, working his jaw and trying to pop his ears. “And why did we never hear this outside the wall?”
“No idea,” Carolyn said, wiggling her finger back and forth in her ear, trying to make the noise go away faster.
“Wow,” Jilly winced. “That was louder than the last rock concert I went to.”
“When did you go to a rock concert?” Lucas wanted to know.
“Last year. I went with Jenny. I told you all about it.”
“No, actually, you didn’t, but it’s beside the point right now.”
“Look,” Rob called, pointing out the window. The people had stopped staring at the sky and most of them went back to smiling and chatting. But a small number of them had gathered in a group and were walking, blank-faced away from everyone else.
“Those guys look just like they did the first time the gas came out of the ship,” Jilly said. “They look like zombies again.” She ran to the door and pushed the towel out of the way with her foot and pulled it open.
“Wait!” Rob tried to grab her. “You don’t know if it’s safe yet.”
But Jilly was gone and heading over to the group. Lucas bolted out after her. “What are you doing?” he called, trying not to yell too loudly. He caught up to her and grabbed her arm and pulled her back to the sidewalk. “I swear girl, you’re going to get us killed one of these days.”
“But look,” she insisted. “They look just like they did before. But only some of them.”
It was true. Small numbers of people were grouping together and all the groups were walking in the same direction. No hesitation. No confusion. Like they’d been told exactly where to go, winding through the affected who had started going about their meaningless business.
Carolyn and Rob gathered with Lucas in the safety of the door alcove. “Should we follow them?” Carolyn whispered.
“I would guess so,” Lucas replied quietly.
They peered around the corner and made sure no one was watching and then started following the group. As they walked, other blank-faced people joined them.
“Why, oh why, do things keep getting weirder?” Rob asked as he hurried to keep up with the others.
The farther they walked, the more people joined them. They wound their way towards the outskirts of the city then turned towards the highway.
“That's toward the airport,” Rob said under his breath.
The four of them kept about a block behind the group. When they headed out onto the highway Carolyn became concerned that they were getting too far away from the truck.
“I think we should go back. We don't know how far they are going and for all we know it could be miles and miles until they get there. Then we'd have to walk back. We should get the truck. We can head out this way and if we can't find them we can be pretty sure it'll happen again tomorrow and we'll be prepared.”
“I second the motion,” Rob said.
Jilly looked completely crestfallen. “But we need to see where they are going.”
“We will,” Carolyn assured her. “But we need to do it safely for us. We can't follow them to who knows where with no way to get out quickly and with no protection.”
Jilly sighed deeply. “I guess you're right.”
They watched the wave of people move away from them and slowly disappear and they turned and headed back downtown to retrieve the truck. Nothing had changed since yesterday. There were still masses of wandering people, nodding and smiling. Functional enough that they were cooking food, gardening in their yard, taking care of themselves but not actually aware of any of it.
After what seemed like forever they got back to where they parked. They slipped into the parking garage over a low back wall and found the truck just where they left it. They took turns changing back into their fatigues in case they had to pretend to be with the military again and after hauling themselves up into the truck, they slowly drove out of the garage and onto the street.
“Do we go back to the hotel or try to follow the affected people?” Jilly asked.
“I think we should at least see if we can locate where they were headed,” Lucas said.
“Yeah,” Carolyn agreed. “That’s probably a good idea.”
“And what better way to do it than to drive around hoping we don’t get caught?” Rob said. “But hey, carpe diem, right?”
“Exactly,” Carolyn said, reaching behind her and patting him on the knee. “Now you’re thinking right.”
“Not because I want to. It’s because if we don’t figure something out, this is going to be our life from now on.”
They drove carefully, the affected barely noticing the truck as it rumbled past. The highway the others had taken stretched empty for miles. Carolyn paused at the top of the ramp, studying the road, then drove down and crossed all the lanes to bring the truck tight against the center divider. She kept it there as they continued, trying to stay as unnoticed as possible.
A few miles later, they saw one of the shuttles heading into the sky.
“LOOK, LOOK!” Jilly cried, pointing out the window. Carolyn stopped the truck and they all watched a gray and blue craft about the size of a small plane lift straight up into the air, hover briefly then take off like a rocket into the clouds with almost no sound and disappear.
“Holy crap!” Lucas said. “What was that?”
“Whatever it is, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Rob said. “But I’m pretty sure it’s coming from the airport.”
“Should we keep going?” Lucas asked.
“I think we should try to get a little closer, then find a place to park and see how close we can get,” Carolyn said.
“That's a good idea,” Jilly agreed.
Carolyn pulled off under an overpass, steered around a fence, and parked behind a large cement pillar a couple hundred feet from the road. She suggested they carry their rifles this time, since they had no idea what was ahead of them. She pulled four out of the back and handed them out. “Remember, if we run into any military people, let me do as much talking as possible.”
They all agreed and, after locking up the truck, started walking. There was rotting trash and broken-down cars everywhere. No affected, because apparently this was too depressing even for them. Jilly announced several times how badly it smelled until Lucas shoved her shoulder and said, “We got it.”
It wasn’t long before they reached a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire at the edge of the airport runway. There were several planes parked in front of hangars along one end but no sign of movement anywhere. They kept walking, staying close to the fence line where they could hide in the overgrown weeds. Halfway down the runway Lucas suddenly spotted movement near one of the terminals. They hunkered down and watched. It was soldiers working next to a large craft almost as big as a passenger plane. It had three levels and the workers were loading boxes into the lowest compartment while others hurried up and down the ramp. It had a very otherworldly feel, with no wings and only a row of lights along the upper edge.
Rob checked his watch. “This must be one of the ships Manny said he could see. It should be taking off in about twenty minutes.”
“It looks like someone made it out of Legos,” Jilly said. “It’s so angular.”
“That’d be an awful lot of Legos,” Rob pointed out.
They watched as the commotion around the shuttle grew. Then suddenly Rob's stomach lurched. “Look over there. See what's coming around the corner?”
Everyone’s focus shifted, and they could see a line of slack-faced people being led out of the terminal and towards the ramp. They shuffled along, and when they reached the long black incline, they continued without hesitation, right up and into the craft.
“Oh my god,” Jilly stood up and started backing up. Lucas grabbed her and pulled her back down.
“No matter how bad it seems we gotta stay hidden. And hush.”
“I knew it. I just KNEW it,” Rob said. “They’re abducting us.”
“But why? Is it going to be like the twilight zone episode where they end up eating us?” Lucas asked, “I really liked that one but I didn't want to end up living it.”
“You think aliens flew a billion miles just to have a snack?” Carolyn asked. “There’s got to be more to it than that.”
“Why don't we just stroll over there and ask them?” Rob suggested more sarcastically than he intended.
“And why is the military helping them? I don't get it. How are they selectively not affected by the gas?”
They watched more than a hundred people file into the aircraft, moving down the aisles until the seats filled. As the last person in line entered, the door slid shut and the ramp was rolled away. All the ground support staff gathered up any equipment that was in the area and headed towards the terminal. The lights on the edges of the craft flickered on and if you looked closely you could see the entire thing start to vibrate ever so gently. A cloud of dust began to rise off the ground and a passing breeze sent it drifting towards the four of them as they watched in both utter fascination and abject horror.
With barely a sound, it lifted into the air and rose higher and higher, completely defying any conventional rules of aerodynamics. They watched it until their necks were completely craned back as far as they could go. It stopped moving and began to turn and tilt its nose upwards and then shot into the sky and disappeared.
“Can I just go on record that I said this was going to happen?” Rob said, his voice shaking slightly.
“We don’t know where they’re taking them,” Jilly said, trying to lighten the mood.
“Well, maybe they’re taking them on an ‘out of this world’ vacation so they can sit on a beach on a distant planet, climb a mountain on a rocky moon, or, better yet, go shopping and try the local cuisine on a multinational space station. But I didn’t see anyone with luggage, and somehow, no matter where they’re going, I bet it’s a one-way trip.”
“What are we going to do now?” Lucas asked. “How are we going to figure out where they’re going and why they’re being taken there?”
“I have no idea,” Carolyn admitted. “So right now, I think we need to get back to the hotel and regroup. Then we need to get word to Frankie and let her know what we’ve discovered.”
Everyone was in agreement so they made their way back along the fence and through the stinky neighborhood until they got to their truck. It didn't take them long to get back on the highway and head towards the hotel.
The ride was completely silent as each of them tried to make sense of what they saw in their heads.
“What if they DO want to eat us?” Jilly finally asked.
“That only happens in movies and books,” Carolyn assured her.
“How do you know?”
“Because that’s what they taught us in the military. If an alien race came and tried to take over Earth, it wouldn’t be because we were good to eat. It would be because they were assholes and wanted the real estate.”
“If it was only for the real estate, they wouldn’t be taking the time to hypnotize us and haul our human asses off the planet. They’d just kill us, scoop up our bodies, and move in.” Lucas realized he wasn’t helping the conversation, but it was the best he could come up with—and it made more sense.
No one had any answers so the truck settled into silence. They reached their exit off the highway and cut across all lanes and followed the ramp up onto the overpass then into the neighborhood until they got back to where they started this morning. Carolyn pulled around the back and parked the truck out of sight from the street.
Natalie and Manny were waiting for them at the door. “Oh, thank heavens you’re all right,” Natalie said. “We were worried about you when you weren’t here this morning, but hoped you’d just left early. What happened? Did you find out anything?”
“So much more than we wanted to,” Rob said, and went on to explain the gas, the alarm, following the affected people, and what they eventually saw at the airport.
“Well, what in tarnation are they doing taking us away?” Manny wanted to know. “Are they gonna take us all away? What happens to us who ain't bothered by their gas?”
“We don't know,” Carolyn said. “But we've got to do something to figure it out.”
“Any ideas?” Natalie asked.
“Nothing that isn’t dangerous, but at this point, it’s just as dangerous not to do anything.”
Rob winced slightly. “What dangerous thing are you thinking about?”
“We’re going to have to go back to the airport, get on one of those transports, and find out where they’re going and what they’re doing with us when they get there.”
“Are you out of your mind? Just who do you think is going to be crazy enough to get on one of those things on purpose?” Rob blurted.
“Wow! Really? I mean, really, WOW!” Jilly was obviously beyond excited. “I’ll go. I’ll do it. This is right up my alley. I always wanted to be a spy! I mean, I always wanted to be an astronaut, too, so this is like double wonderful because I can be an astronaut spy.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Lucas cut in. “No way you’re going up in a spaceship. And besides, there’s no way you could keep your mouth shut long enough to fool anyone anyway.”
“That's not true! I can pretend as well as the next guy!”
“You cannot! Remember that time when...”
“Children!” Carolyn snapped. “This is not helping. We need to formulate some sort of plan that’s as safe as we can make it. Arguing about it isn’t going to help.”
“I was thinking maybe I should try to contact Frankie and friends now,” Rob said. “Is there a computer in here that still works?”
“Well, there’s one behind the desk, but I never turned it on since we started staying here. I didn’t think it would be any use,” Natalie explained.
“I might be able to use it.” He headed over, turned it on, and worked on getting it to the point where he could contact Frankie’s people. The familiar motions calmed him just a little.
He had deliberately opened a program on their computer in case he needed to contact them from somewhere else.
Meanwhile, Carolyn and company were throwing around ideas. “I can infiltrate the group of people helping load the shuttles,” she said, “and try to find out what’s going on. I saw at least three of them go in right before it took off, so I can try to get on board as well. It would help to have at least one more person with me, though.”
Jilly sat on the couch with her arms folded and looking particularly grumpy. “Well, I would do it, but Mr. Safety Sally over there thinks I’m not capable.”
“I didn't say that. I'm only trying to protect you.”
“Well, thank you very much, but I don’t need your protection.”
“You're not old enough to know what you need.”
To prove his point she stuck her tongue out at him.
Carolyn closed her eyes briefly. “Are we finished?”
“Maybe.”
“Good. So, like I was saying, I’m open to other suggestions, but I just don’t see how we’re going to figure anything out without actually going where they’re taking the people.”
“I think you’re right,” Natalie agreed. “But how will you get back?”
“They have to be making return trips,” Carolyn said. “If I can get on, I should be able to come back the same way.”
“You definitely should not go alone,” Lucas said. “In case you get into trouble. You need back up.”
“I agree. But we can’t both pretend to be crew. Whoever goes with me would have to go on as a passenger.”
“I’ll do it,” Lucas said, firmly. “And we should do it tomorrow morning. The sooner the better.”
Jilly glared at him, and he glared back.
Rob came back to find everyone staring at one another. “Did I miss something?”
“Apparently, Carolyn and Lucas are going to get on the shuttle tomorrow morning and fly off into space, and that’s the final decision,” Jilly said, crossing her arms again.
Rob felt his stomach sink. He hadn’t really thought they would do it. It felt like a suicide mission, and he was sure they would never come back. But from the way everyone was looking at him, he could tell the decision was final. There was nothing he could say to change it.
So he told them about his computer conversation. “I talked to Ethan back at the compound,” he said. “Everything’s okay there. I gave them an update on what we found, and he’s going to pass it along to Frankie. They want to help, but honestly, I don’t think there’s much they can do right now. We got through that barrier by pure luck.”
“Well, if we’re really going to do this,” Carolyn said, “then we need to give ourselves every advantage. Are there any small walkie-talkies around here? The ones we have are huge.”
“I’m sure I saw some in the supply room,” Natalie said. “The managers probably used them to keep in contact with maintenance workers.” She hurried off with a slightly worried expression on her face.
“We’ll need some way to communicate with each other,” Carolyn explained. “I don’t know how far these will reach—certainly not as far as outer space—but we’ll keep in contact with you as long as we can. Hopefully Lucas and I can keep in contact with each other, too, wherever we end up. We’re also going to need some sort of weapon for Lucas. I’ll be able to carry a small sidearm since I’ve seen the other soldiers with them. I’m sure Frankie left one in the trunk that I can use, but I don’t know if it’s safe to give Lucas one. I doubt they search the passengers, but we can’t count on that.”
A few minutes later, Natalie returned with four small walkie-talkies. “Found them in the supply room. They look old, but they seem to work.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Lucas said. “I’ll wear a pair of the cargo pants so I can carry a knife and one of those tiny tool kits in a pocket.”
“That’s a good idea. Keep thinking like that.”
“I’ll go through the stuff Frankie sent with us and see if there’s anything else small I can bring. You never can tell what you may need.” As he got up, Jilly jumped off the couch at the same time.
“Go ahead! Go get yourself killed. You only care about yourself anyway. You're going away just like mom did. And you'll never come back. Just like mom did! And I'll be all alone. But you don't care. You're only thinking about yourself! Just like mom did!”
Her voice broke completely at the end. With tears running down her face, she turned and ran toward the elevator. Lucas started after her, but Natalie touched his arm. “You go out and get ready. I’ll look after her.”
Lucas hesitated. “Shouldn’t I be the one to talk to her? She’s partly right. I wasn’t thinking about how it would affect her if I went to play hero.”
“She’s mad and hurting right now. And scared. She’ll only keep taking it out on you if you try to tell her she’s wrong. I’ll go. I’ve raised five daughters, so I have some understanding of what a girl her age needs.”
Lucas looked like it physically hurt to agree, but he nodded. “Thank you. Just when I think things can’t get much worse, life finds a way.” He hung his head and headed out back to the truck.
The others sat looking sad. “Now, now. No long faces,” Natalie said. “Go and get the things done you need to do, and it’ll all be okay. Shoo.”
Reluctantly Carolyn and Rob got off the sofa and went to get things ready for tomorrow. Neither was feeling as optimistic as they were a few minutes earlier. Natalie took the elevator upstairs to Jilly's room and knocked softly on the door.
“Go away!”
“Jilly, honey, it's Natalie. Can I come in?”
“No.”
Natalie opened the door anyway. Jilly was lying at the foot of the bed, her forehead resting on her crossed arms. “I said go away.”
Natalie sat down next to her and touched her back. “I know it’s hard to understand,” she said. “I know it’s scary.” Jilly sniffled.
“Lucas doesn’t want to leave you. He just wants to keep you safe. If it means he has to go out and do something dangerous so you don’t get hurt, then that’s what he feels he has to do.”
Jilly lifted her head. Her face was red and tear-stained. “I can take care of myself! And what about me wanting to keep him safe? Why doesn’t that count?”
“It does,” Natalie said gently. “But big brothers… they carry that responsibility whether it’s fair or not.”
Natalie brushed Jilly's hair away from her face where it was stuck to her cheeks. “No matter how old either of them gets, the brother feels like it's his duty to make sure anyone younger than he is, is taken care of.”
Jilly sniffled some more and wiped her nose on her sleeve as she sat up. “He's been doing that ever since our mom left us. Every time we went to a new foster home he made sure I got the best place to sleep and he always let me eat first when there were places that didn't really give us enough food. That's why I want to do something for him. I want to show him that I can take care of myself and protect him too.”
Natalie smiled. “He knows all of that, honey. But it’s not going to stop him from making sure you don’t get hurt. There’s no way he would ever let you do what he’s doing, so the best thing you can do is tell him you’re proud of him and that you know he can do it. I promise you, there’ll come a time when you’ll be there for him when he needs you, and he’ll find out just how strong and capable you are—even though I know he already knows that.”
“Do you think so?”
“I know so. Now go wash up and let's help everyone get ready so this crazy plan can work.” She gave Jilly a much-needed hug and kissed the top of her head.
“Thank you,” Jilly said as she relaxed into her arms. “I know Lucas can do it. I know he can save the world.”