Invasion (The Alien Wars #1) (21 page)

“Do you think they found the branches inside the cave?” Molly asked.

Kenneth nodded. “They could hardly miss them.”

“But what will they make of them?” Derek said.

“I don’t know, but we can’t do anything about that now.” Kenneth reached into his backpack and pulled out a map. “Come over here, and I’ll discuss the plan.” As the teens came closer, he resumed speaking. “The closest major town is
South Lake Tahoe
. We’ll head there. There are a few tourist places in between us and there, but—”

“Wouldn’t that be one of the first places that the Seods look for us?” Molly interrupted, frowning as she twirled a strand of blonde hair around her finger.

Kenneth nodded.
“If we were to walk along the road, then yes.
That would be the obvious thing to do. So, I say we stick to the trees until we’re directly opposite
South Lake Tahoe
. Once we get to the outskirts, I’ll scan the area with the binoculars.”

“I thought we were going to go to
Sparks
today,” Molly said.

Kenneth nodded. “Well, we can still do that, but it is still early, so if we get to
South Lake Tahoe
by three or so, we can still get to
Sparks
tonight.”

Derek looked at his sister. “Are you up for more walking today?”

Molly nodded. “I’ll probably be slower, but if you can do it, I can.”

Kenneth smiled. “That’s the spirit.” He put the map back in the backpack and stood up. “Let’s start walking.”

With Kenneth leading the way, the group resumed the trek through the snowy undergrowth.

“We need a new plan,”
Logan
stated as he stared at the blueprints for The View.

Peter gazed out of the office window and frowned. “Looks like trouble.”

Jet hurried over and looked through the window. He slowly nodded. “We’ll need to leave.”

Intrigued by what was going on,
Logan
strode over. Men, in groups of four, were going from building to building in the street. They had just started, but as more men, all armed to the teeth, emerged from The View,
Logan
realized that Sanchez wasn’t taking any chances.

“There’s no way we can kill all those men,” Peter stated.
“Much as I’d like to, though.”

“We’ll have to head to the next street,”
Logan
said.

“Knowing Sanchez, he’ll be checking every building within a five-block radius. God knows he has the men to do it,” Jet said. “So going to another street isn’t going to do us any good.”

Logan
shook his head. “I’m not going to give up now.”

“I’m not saying that we need to give up, but now is the time to retreat,” Jet said.

“Retreat?
Where to?”
Peter asked.

Before Jet could speak, the door opened and Muscles appeared. “We need to get moving, pronto.”

“Where to?”
Peter asked.

“We can head to my cousin’s place,” Baldy announced. “It’s on the other side of town. We still have some men left over there, so it’ll be a good place to think things over.”

“You mean Greg’s place?” Muscles asked.

Baldy nodded. “Yes, unless you’ve got another safe house that I don’t know about.”

Muscles smiled. “There is one, actually, and it’s only a few blocks from Greg’s place, so it will work out nicely.”

Baldy frowned. “How come I didn’t know about this?”

“It was only a temporary one,” Muscles said, “but there’re still some weapons, food and—”

“We should go now, Dad,” Jet said, glancing out the window. “Sanchez’s men are getting closer.”

Muscles nodded. “You’re right. Grab your stuff and follow me.” He turned, opened the door, and hurried down the stairs.

~*~*~

As Kenneth walked down the main street of
South Lake Tahoe
, the charred remnants of buildings indicated that a fire had ripped through the town. This had occurred recently, very recently. He paused and studied a particular building. Looking through the broken glass, he spotted some smoke. He drew back and, with his hand on his pistol, glanced around.

“What’s wrong?” Molly asked.

“You think whoever did this is still in the area?” Derek questioned, also looking around.

Kenneth nodded. “This fire wasn’t started three weeks ago when the Seods struck.”

“Maybe it was the same group that attacked the army men at the camp we saw,” Molly suggested.

“Yes,” Kenneth said. “That would make sense. The question that remains though is whether or not those people are still around.”

“Let’s not stay to find out,” Molly said.

“We’ll need a vehicle if we’re going to get to
Sparks
,” Kenneth said, “so let’s start looking. The buildings don’t look as damaged on this side of town, so let’s walk over there.”

Kenneth led the way with the teens following close behind. It took them fifteen minutes to find a vehicle that worked. After taking some food they found in one of the stores, Kenneth drove out of town.

As Derek spotted Kenneth heading west, he pursed his lips.
“Why this way?
Isn’t it longer?”

“Yes, but I want to get as far away as possible from those Seods we saw at the ski resort. If for some reason they’re still pursuing us for the briefcase, they’ll be searching that side of the lake, not this one. At least that’s the plan. But with things the way they are, if you could keep watch—”

“I’ll look to the left,” Molly interrupted.

“I’ll take the right,” Derek said.

Kenneth nodded. “Thanks. I know it’s been a rough twenty-four hours or so, but once we get to
Sparks
, you can have a nice, long rest.”

“What if the soldiers aren’t there?” Molly said.

“Ah, well, let’s hope they are. Fortunately, I don’t have to meet up with my brother for another couple of days, so we have time to spare, but the sooner I get rid of this briefcase, the better.” Kenneth gazed across at the object sitting on the front passenger seat. “I still have no idea what it is, but as I’ve held on to it for this long, I may as well go a bit longer.”

“How long will it take to get to
Sparks
?” Molly asked.

“I don’t know.” Kenneth took the map that he’d been carrying around from the start of their trip and handed it to the girl. “Take a look at it and work out the best way.”

As the white sedan headed down
Emerald Bay Road
, Kenneth began to relax. He took note of the beautiful scenery they were passing and pointed it out to the teens.

Lake Tahoe
was stunning any time of day, but especially during the morning as the sun shone down on the crystal blue water. Even if it was for just a few minutes, Kenneth wanted to forget about the alien attack, the shootings, the blood, the dead bodies—basically everything that had happened in the past three weeks.

As the vehicle suddenly swerved to the left, Kenneth was brought back to reality. Grabbing the wheel with both hands, he brought the vehicle under control and braked. A few yards later, the sedan stopped.

“What just happened?” Molly asked, brushing her curly hair out of her eyes.

“I must have run over a sharp rock.” Kenneth climbed out and hurried to check on the tire that he assumed would be damaged. As he stared at the faulty tire, he saw a small hole. Peering closer, he realized that something had nicked the edge of the tire. He frowned. It suddenly all made sense.

“Shoot!” Kenneth ran back to the driver’s side. As he leaped in and turned the key in the ignition, the entire front windshield shattered. Glass flew everywhere.

“What is going—” Derek hissed.

“Keep down!” Kenneth shouted as he slammed down on the accelerator. With a screech and the smell of burning rubber, the vehicle thundered down the road.

Kenneth didn’t even try to remove a piece of glass that had pierced his
skin, that
was the least of his worries, especially when another side window was shattered.

With his foot down on the accelerator, he tried to reach for his pistol that was on the passenger seat, but as two Seods emerged from the trees farther down the road and fired their silencers, he had to swerve from side to side.

The energy bolts hit the metal of the sedan but didn’t do any serious damage. However, Kenneth knew that if a green bolt hit one of the tires, there’d be no way to maintain control of the vehicle. Looking at the speedometer, he realized they were slowing down because of the tire that’d been punctured by a green bolt.

He racked his brain for a solution as the vehicle careened down the road with the Seods in pursuit. They were running out of time. The tire would soon be torn to shreds, and then they’d be forced to stop whether they wanted to or not.

Derek grabbed a pistol and aimed it at the back windshield.

“Get down!”

“But—” Derek spluttered.

“Get down!” Kenneth thundered, shooting Derek an angry glance. As the boy obeyed, Kenneth noticed that there were a couple of tight turns on the road ahead. He went to put his foot on the brake, but as a green bolt smashed his
rearview
mirror, he thought better of it. Instead, he accelerated.

Kenneth knew that it was going to be tight going around the corners, and he was right. He was approaching the third corner when he failed to make the turn. “Grab hold of something! We’re going to
cra
—”

The vehicle
plowed
into the pine trees alongside the road. The sedan screeched past several trees before it came to a stop in front of a massive tree.

“Everyone out!”
Kenneth grabbed the backpack, and thrust the pistol, briefcase, and map inside.

As the three stumbled through the bushes, Kenneth glanced back. He couldn’t see any Seods at the moment, so he knew they had a small lead. “Run as fast as you can and follow me!”

“Where’re we going?” Molly asked, fear on her face.

Kenneth didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure. It’d all depend on what he saw once they were through the trees. They continued going downhill for about another two minutes, and then the trees parted as
Emerald
Bay
came into view.

Skidding to a stop, Kenneth hurriedly glanced around. He saw no Seods. Listening, he could hear noises behind them. He was sure that the Seods would soon catch up. Looking across at the bay, he saw that half of it was frozen.

“Where’ll we go?” Derek asked.

“We could head for that island,” Molly said, pointing.

Kenneth gazed at
Fannette
Island
—the only island in
Lake Tahoe
. Though he had never visited the tiny, sparsely timbered, brush-covered island, he could see that there wouldn’t be too many places to hide. Besides, the ice didn’t reach as far as the island. It stopped roughly a hundred feet short.

“We don’t have a boat,” Kenneth said. “But we can still travel across the ice. If the Seods come after us, we’ll see them coming.”

Molly followed her brother as they tested the ice. It looked and felt solid, so they started walking fast across the bay.

They made steady progress and were halfway across when Kenneth paused. Frowning, he took out the binoculars and gazed through them.

Focusing them on the trees on the other side of the lake, he swept the glasses from side to side. Dropping them, he turned to the teens. “We have a problem.”