Earth: Population 2 (Paradise Lost Book 1) (11 page)

I scratched my head. “I don’t know. How hard are they to track?”

He shrugged. “I’ve never tried to track one.”

“Now’s a good time as any.” I watched the ship dive toward the coast. “Over there. Can you get us to that beach?”

He squinted then nodded. “That’s on the Cape. I can get us there, but any place by that large ship is swarming with Sparkies. It’s not going to be easy.”

“Who said life was easy.” My life had never been easy. I tapped his shoulder. “I’ve always wanted to visit Cape Cod. Come on.”

We climbed back down the hatch. I paused on the stairway, eyeing this producer’s display of hunting rifles. Gale raised an eyebrow as I pulled a smooth, wood-stocked Remington from the wall.

“I’m not stealing it. I’m just borrowing it.” Jeez. It was the end of the world and, as far as we knew, this producer could be dead already. Besides, wouldn’t he want us using his guns to save his butt?

“It’s not that. It’s just….” He trailed off like when Jay Dovetail had something to say that shouldn’t be said out loud.

“What?”

“You don’t strike me as the gun type.”

I laughed and shook my head. All of a sudden he was some expert on me? What exactly was the
gun type
, anyway? “I’m not. I used to hate guns. Let’s just say the apocalypse has inspired me.” I tested the weight in my arms. The kickback would hurt my shoulder, but I could pull it off.

“I think he stashed the ammo in the hallway by the kitchen.” Gale reached above me and pulled his own rifle from the wall. “Can’t hurt to have two.”

Counting the guns I already had, that was four. If only we had more people to hold them. “I think that will be enough.”

While Gale dug through the hallway closet, I opened a few of the kitchen cabinets. I wasn’t sure what to search for. Who stashed ammo in their silverware drawer? But, I felt as though I should be doing something to prepare.

I sorted through some party favors and tinsel and came across a small plastic box with a button on it. Every nerve told me not to touch it, but I pressed the button anyway. A car beeped from the garage.

Gale ran into the kitchen with two boxes of ammo.

“I didn’t mean to. I pressed the button by accident.”

He shook his head then stared at me like I was the luckiest girl in the world. “No way. I’d know that beep anywhere. You found the key to the Jaguar.”

“Well, at least we’ll die in style.” I gestured toward the door. Mom was waiting. “Let’s go.”

As much as I wanted to drive, Gale was the only one of us who knew where we were going. I handed him the key.

“Pete’s gonna kill me.” Gale opened the passenger door for me.

I assumed Pete was his producer friend. “Not if you save his life.”

“You’re right.” He waited as I slipped into the sleek leather seat then closed the door behind me like a gentleman. Could Gale be more perfect? No.

He rounded the Jaguar and slipped into the driver’s side. When he turned the key, the engine purred with a luxurious hum. Gale opened the garage by a remote on the key, and we sped down the drive.

I settled into my seat, watching the gates part before us. “So how long till we get there?”

He pulled onto the main road, and the iron gates closed behind us. “I’d say an hour.”

So we had a lot of time to talk. Either that or sit there waiting to battle an army of Sparkies, just to hijack a ship and fly into more. Best come up with conversation.

Too bad I fixated on one thing. “So, who are you hoping to find up there?”

Gale glanced over at me as if debating what to tell me. He sighed, focusing on the road as we turned a sharp corner. “Besides Pete?”

“Yes, besides Pete. Unless he’s the only person you care about on this world.”

“I have a mom, too, you know.” He ran a hand through his wavy hair. “And we didn’t part on the best of terms.”

“Why not?”

“She wants me to do this new superhero trilogy. She thinks it will skyrocket my career, maybe lead to movies where the Academy will nominate me for an award.”

“That sounds great.”

“You’d think so. Until you realize you have no life. Every waking moment is spent memorizing scripts, traveling to remote filming locations, and promoting your movies at press events.” He fiddled with the radio but all it played was static. “I haven’t even finished high school, and all my friends graduated last year. I feel like if I don’t fight now, my whole life will go by and I’ll be an old man who never went to a prom, walked on a college campus, or had a real job that could help the world.”

I wanted to tell him how much his movies helped me, but then I remembered I was supposed to be the opposite of a crazy fan. Besides, the last thing he wanted to hear was how good he was at acting and looking hot. I tapped my fingers on the passenger door, trying to think of the best thing to say. “I know how you feel. All my friends are going off to college, and I have to stay behind because there’s no one else to take care of my mom.”

Gale studied me with compassion then returned his gaze to the road. “Is she sick?”

“In a matter of speaking.”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s hard to explain.” I dug my fingers in my hair and pulled it out of the ponytail. Did I really want to get into this right now? Wasn’t I the one asking questions? Guilt snuck into my heart. Gale had told me his story. I owed it to him to tell him mine.

I took a deep breath. “My mom lost her leg in a car accident. She was working two jobs to support me, and she fell asleep at the wheel. After that, she was…different. She lost her jobs, got on disability, and never wanted to leave the house. Now she can’t even go down the stairs. I have to get her medication and groceries.”

“What about your dad?”

I paused. What would he think of me? Some trailer-trash-poor-girl sob story like he heard every day in the news? No matter. I had to tell him sometime. It wasn’t like I was about to pull some snobby rich girl act just to impress him. If he didn’t like the real me, then he could find someone else to fight the aliens with. “She had me as a teenager. Dad split after twelfth grade. My mom quit high school and spent the rest of her life trying to make ends meet. After she lost her leg, I spent all my life trying to make it up to her.”

He shook his head in disbelief. “I had no idea.”

“Yeah, well I don’t walk around with a sign on my neck that says
homeless, will work for food
. I have a job, you know. We’re doing fine.”

“You have a real job?”

I traced the fancy pattern in the leather seat. “Yeah, I’m a cashier at Save ’n Shop.”

He tilted his head and gave me the same look Jay Dovetail had when his first mate had found him a better ship. “Wow, that’s really neat.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. He sounded like he’d genuinely prefer working at Save ’n Shop to starring in movies. There was no doubt about it now. He was crazy.

“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. I mean, all I do is stand in one spot and ring groceries.”

“Yeah, but you have a job that’s helping the world. You’re an integral member of your community. Do you know what would happen if I tried to work at Save ’n Shop?”

I knew exactly what would happen. Paparazzi, girls, and moms with no shame would flood the register until no one could buy groceries at all. The store would be a chaotic madhouse. “Um. Not really.”

“Let’s just say I wouldn’t make it through my first day.”

“But that’s okay because you make your money doing movies, right?” A lot more than I would ever make. “You don’t ever have to worry about making your cash drawer balance or having an old woman yell at you because you broke her eggs.”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Julie. Here I am taking you to this decked-out mansion and complaining about doing movies for a living. You must think I’m some rich prick.”

Actually, I didn’t. I felt bad for him. He was just as stuck in his life as I was in mine. “Naw. You can’t be too rich if you eat SpaghettiOs for dinner.”

We both laughed, which lightened the moment. He rounded the corner, and our laughter stopped. Sparkies patrolled the highway, the white light from their tails shining like flashlights on the road up ahead.

“Turn off your headlights.” I whispered, ducking down behind the glove compartment.

Gale shut off the car and the lights. He sighed, running a hand through his thick hair. “What do we do now?”

“Can we go around them?”

“No. There’s only one road that leads to the beach.”

“How far a walk is it?”

“With those things running around? Too far. Unless you’re good at cross country.”

Scrap that. I glanced over the dashboard. Three Sparkies headed our way. I touched the glove compartment. “How fast can this thing go?”

His eyes sparkled with mischief. “Are you kidding me? It’s a Jaguar. We could easily break ninety before those guys know what’s coming.”

I grabbed onto my seat belt, glad I’d found the keys. I loved Ellen’s car, but it would never have pulled a stunt like this. “Run ’em down.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

TARGET AUDIENCE

Gale nodded solemnly then turned the key in the ignition. The Sparkies perked up their heads and their tails, turning in our direction. They lit up in the headlights like demon ghosts on the road.

I clutched the armrest. “If you’re gonna go, you’d better go now.”

Gale hit the gas, and we sprang forward. “Hold on.”

We accelerated, and the force pushed me back into the seat. I braced myself for the thuds that would come if we ran any of them over. Not that I would mourn their deaths. But the ride stayed smooth. The Sparkies jumped out of our way, and the road lay clear ahead.

We ripped down the highway, swerving around the abandoned cars. I pumped my fist in the air as adrenaline rushed through me. “Woohoo!” I turned around to look out the rear window. “We lost them.”

“For now.” Gale seemed less than impressed. “But they’ll follow us. We’ll only have about twenty minutes once we get to the beach.

“Let’s hope that’s enough time to commandeer the shuttle.” Did I just say commandeer? I wanted to slap my hand over my mouth. That was Jay Dovetail’s favorite word. I might as well spell out his name on my forehead with a big heart around it and stare at Gale with giant puppy dog eyes.

Gale glanced over at me and raised an eyebrow then returned to driving. Maybe I’d overreacted. So what if I used seventeenth century words now and then. That didn’t mean I’d watched all his movies a thousand times. I could have learned the jargon from history class.

We parked between two abandoned RVs so the Sparkies wouldn’t notice our car. Not that they could tell the difference between a luxury vehicle and the common cars people usually take to the beach. But they might remember our black Jaguar ripping down the road.

I shook my head. Me riding in a black Jaguar with Gale Williams at the end of the world. Boy, had everything turned upside down.

Holding our rifles, we snuck out and climbed the grassy dunes leading to the ocean. The smell of tangy seaweed and brine filled the air. The ocean roared in rhythmic waves in the darkness beyond the dunes.

I’d only been to the beach a few times in my childhood before Mom lost her leg. Vague memories of a crab crawling inside a red bucket and shoveling sand on top of Mom’s belly surfaced. A wave of nostalgia hit me. I’d find her. Even if it meant climbing inside that large spaceship up to my neck in Sparkies.

We crested the last dune, and the massive ship loomed before us, glowing iridescent green and red. The gear I’d seen from the mansion stood above us. A low hum resonated deep in my gut.

“Look! They’re draining water from the ocean.” I pointed to a tube coming right from the water. Because of the transparent nature of the ship, I could see right through the tube, watching the water travel up the pipe and into the ship. “Is that what they want? Our seawater?” Images of the oceans all dried up, leaving fish flopping around on bare sand, darted through my mind.

“I don’t think so.” Gale nodded to the right side of the ship. “Look over there.”

Water sprayed from a tube, draining back into the ocean. I shook my head. “What are they using the salt water for?”

Gale shrugged and looked over his shoulder. “Who knows. We don’t have time to postulate new scientific theories. Let’s look for that shuttle.”

I shone my flashlight down the beach. Waves lapped on the shore, the water catching the moonlight every now and then. I remembered the dunes in the sunlight with their green grasses and golden sand. In the pitch dark, they looked more like a haunted graveyard.

I stumbled forward on uneven ground and caught myself before I fell on my face. The sand had been churned up, like little kids had dug a hole in the ground to syphon water from the ocean into a small pool. When was the last time kids played on this beach?

“Gale, I think I found something.” I stepped out of the hole and followed swirls in the sand. They ended a few meters away, tapering off like the shuttle had lifted off.

Gale ran up beside me and shone his flashlight on my findings. “Looks like we missed our ride.”

Static echoed over the dunes behind us, and my pulse leapt into a frenzy. “They’ve found us.”

Gale took my arm and led me to the dunes. “Not yet, they haven’t.”

A dull glow emanated from behind the dunes. I backed into a wave, the water rolling around my boot. “You’re going right for them.”

“That’s the whole idea,” Gale whispered as he pulled me under a dune and into the long grass. I plopped down beside him, hoping there weren’t any spiders, mice, or snakes on the beach. The grasses covered us from head to toe, and we huddled together, my right side pressed against his left. He draped his arm across my shoulders and pulled me closer. He emanated warmth, smelling of woodsy aftershave.

His lips brushed my ear. “Shhhh.”

The static noise increased like a hundred broken radios all tuned to the same bizarre frequency as the Sparkies weaved down through the dunes. Their tails caught a stray grass here and there, setting off sparks that lit up the night. I cringed, trying not to remember the pain of their sting. I held my breath and focused on Gale’s warmth and the solidity of his body against mine. He’d always been a part of my world, but, in that moment, he was more real than ever. I couldn’t deny my urge to cuddle up against him, using fear as an excuse.