Invasion (The Alien Wars #1) (27 page)

If he had night-vision goggles, he could have solved the problem right then and there. But he didn’t. Glancing in the direction of the generator, he saw nothing.
Just darkness.

He’d have to flee and hide. He didn’t like leaving Peter, who was likely on death’s door, but he couldn’t think of any other option.

Still holding the AR-15, he turned and began walking, going slowly to keep his footsteps as quiet as possible. He hadn’t studied the parking garage in any great depth, but as his feet made contact with a tire, he realized he was probably beside one of the parked cars.

Using his left hand, he ascertained that he was right. From memory, there weren’t a whole lot of vehicles parked in the garage and, of the ones that were there, most of them probably had been sitting in the same spot ever since the alien invasion.

A light appeared. He twisted around. The men had turned on their flashlights. Fortunately, all three were concentrating on breaking down the door, which meant no one was coming after him.

Remembering that his gun had jammed, he took a look at it. He soon
unjammed
the weapon, but before he could head toward the men, another light pierced the darkness from the other side of the parking garage. Two men armed with shotguns were walking in his direction.

Things were getting serious. He had to hide quickly before the power came back on. He hurried away, moving lightly on his feet.

~*~*~

As Kenneth released the rock, he saw it was Derek and not a Seod emerging from the bushes.

As the rock whizzed by Derek’s head, he ducked and prepared to launch himself at whoever had thrown it. He relaxed after seeing it was Kenneth.

“Thank God it’s you,” Kenneth stated as he emerged from the bushes. “What happened to the boat?”

“It’s moored on the other side. Did you get the briefcase?” Derek asked.

Kenneth shook his head. “No. There’s at least two Seods on this island …” He paused as Molly suddenly screamed.

“Molly!” Derek turned and raced through the bushes.

Kenneth followed the teen as they twisted and turned to avoid the trees. Ten seconds later, they emerged on the other side of the island. By the light of the moon, Kenneth spotted the boat against the shore. In the dim light, he spotted two figures struggling by the back of the craft.

As he and Derek got closer, Molly raced along the side of the boat and gasped. “George is fighting a Seod!”

Kenneth scrambled over some rocks, reached out for the railing, and pulled himself on board the boat. After grabbing the nearest thing he could see, a paddle, he rushed toward the fight. Before he could get there, the two combatants tumbled over the edge and into the water.

Kenneth cupped his hands to his mouth. “George!”

Light flashed onto the water and Kenneth glanced backward. Molly held a flashlight.

“No!” Kenneth grabbed the light from Molly and quickly switched it off.

“But—” Molly said.

“We can’t let the Seods see us,” Kenneth interrupted, turning back to the water. He saw nothing. He wasn’t one to give up hope easily, but a person could only hold their breath for so long.

The three gazed down at the water, each hoping that George would appear. After five minutes, Kenneth realized it was time to move on.

“It’s
all our
fault,” Molly cried out as Kenneth tried to comfort the teens.

“No, it isn’t,” Kenneth replied.

“Yes, it is. He tried to help us, just like Doug. And now both of them are dead. Everyone who tries to help us dies. We’re cursed!” Teary-eyed, Molly ran away from Kenneth.

Kenneth looked at Derek. “Do you believe that we’re cursed?”

Derek solemnly looked down at the water. “Molly is right. People die because of us. But it isn’t because we’re cursed. It’s because of that stupid briefcase. If you hadn’t wanted to take it to that stupid general, then—”

“That briefcase is important,” Kenneth interrupted. “Can’t you see that? These Seods will stop at nothing to get it back. And that includes killing people.”

Derek sighed. “Good thing they’ve got it then.”

Kenneth frowned. “I’m not too sure about that. They probably did find it, but if so, why haven’t they left?”

A yell suddenly rang out. It was in a strange language that sounded like gibberish to Kenneth. He turned to Derek. “We need to get out of here. If that alien is trying to find his friend, we’ll end up like George if he finds us here.” He headed to the front of the vessel. “We’ll start this boat and hope for the best.”

“But they’ll hear us,” Derek said.

“I know. That’s why I said we’ll have to hope for the best.” Kenneth reached the wheelhouse and opened the door. It was too dark to see anything, so he risked turning on the flashlight. He looked around. “I wonder where the keys are.”

“George might have had them when he went overboard,” Derek said.

Kenneth nodded. “Go and ask Molly—”

“Ask me what?” Molly said, standing in the open doorway.

“Do you know where George’s keys are?” Derek asked.

Molly hesitated as she thought. “I don’t know. I can’t recall seeing them.”

Kenneth searched the cabin. Muttering to himself, he left the wheelhouse and walked over to the railing. He shined the flashlight in both directions in case the keys had been in George’s pocket and had fallen out during the fight.

Molly hurriedly came up to him. “Turn off the light,” she whispered.

Kenneth frowned, confused. “What?”

“The light!
Turn it off. I think the alien might have seen it.” Molly glanced back at Derek, who was keeping watch at the front of the boat.

Kenneth flicked off the flashlight and put it back in his pocket.

Before he could say anything, Derek tiptoed toward them. “I saw the alien. I think he’s heading this way.”

Muttering to himself, Kenneth looked at the teens.
“Head to the back of the boat.”

“But—” Molly said.

“Go!” Kenneth shouted, pointing. As they left, he quietly walked to the front. He wanted to make sure that a Seod was coming in their direction. He was halfway to the railing when he stopped in shock at the sight of a hand grasping the bottom rail.

A moment later, another hand appeared and grasped the railing. Stumbling backward in fear, Kenneth turned and retreated.

Hoping the darkness would hide him, he tiptoed all the way to the wheelhouse. He leaned against the door and wondered if he had enough time to follow the teens.

He put his head to the door and listened. He couldn’t hear anything. He breathed a sigh of relief but paused at the dreaded sound of footsteps.

They were coming fast and heading his way. There was only one thing he could do. He opened the door to the wheelhouse and slipped inside the room, closing the door tightly behind him. A moment later, footsteps echoed along the wood as the Seod walked past.

Kenneth relaxed then stiffened. For a moment, he had forgotten about Molly and Derek. What would they do? What if they thought it was him? A moment later, he opened the door and slipped out into the moonlight.

~*~*~

As soon as the elevator stopped and the power went out,
Logan
knew something was wrong. This wasn’t part of the plan. Fortunately, he had easy access to his flashlight and soon the elevator was brightly lit as Muscles also switched on his own flashlight.

“I wonder why the power went out,” Baldy said.

“Whatever the reason, it can’t be good,” Jet said, his eyes narrowing. “I bet the traitor has struck again.”

Logan
stared at Jet. “Xavier isn’t a traitor.”

“Then Peter—” Jet said.

“Quiet!” Muscles glanced at each of them. “Arguing about who is and who isn’t a traitor isn’t going to get us out of this elevator.”

“We could wait till the power comes back,” Baldy suggested.

“What if it never comes back?” Jet asked.

Logan
sighed. “I wonder what happened.”

“It doesn’t matter what happened,” Muscles replied. “What matters is that we have to change our plan. Once we get out, we’ll have to walk up to the eighty-third floor.” He glanced at his watch. “We’ve got just over half an hour.”

“Good thing we came early,” Jet said.

“How are we going to get out?” Baldy asked.

“I’ll see if I can pry open the doors.” After handing his flashlight to his son, Muscles walked over to the doors and tried his hardest to open them. But he couldn’t.

“What if we work together?”
Logan
handed his flashlight to Baldy and gripped one side of the door, while Muscles took the other side.

“We go on three,” Muscles said.
“One, two, three!”

With muscles bulging and biceps straining, the two men tried to open the doors. Nothing happened for the first few moments, but then the doors slid open.

Gasping,
Logan
let go and grinned at Muscles. “We did it!”

Muscles didn’t answer as he looked through the gap. He had hoped there would be another set of doors opposite them, but that wasn’t the case. The elevator had stopped halfway between floors, which meant the doors were a few feet down.

“It’s not too far,”
Logan
said. “I think one of us could manage to get down to the doors.”

“What then?” Muscles asked. “Those doors would probably require two people to open them as well. It’s risky enough for one person to jump down, but impossible for two people.”

“I say we wait it out,” Baldy suggested. “I trust Peter and Xavier, so whatever the problem is, I’m sure they’ll be able to fix it.”

“It’s not about trust,” Muscles said. “And no, we’re not going to wait.” He glanced up at the roof. “We’ll have to try to get through the service hatch.”

Muscles pressed the stop button on the elevator several times. “I’m doing this just in case the power returns before we leave. I wouldn’t want anyone to get crushed if this started moving again.”

Muscles looked up at the hatch. “If someone sits on my shoulders, they might be able to reach it.” He turned to his son. “Do you want to try? You’re probably the lightest.”

Jet nodded. “I’ll do it.” He climbed on his father. He was just able to reach the hatch. With
Logan
shining his flashlight up at the roof, Jet had no trouble finding the screws that held the hatch in place.

But he couldn’t undo them. Deciding that they didn’t have time to waste, he used all the force in his arm and punched the hatch with his fist. “Yes!” Jet yelped as the hatch came away from the screws and fell down into the elevator.

“Can you climb up onto the roof?”
Logan
asked.

“I’ll try.” Feeling about with his hands, Jet was able to get some sort of a handhold, and a couple of moments later, he was standing on top of the elevator. He glanced around, but it was too dark to see anything. He bent down and reached out his hand. “Hand me the flashlight. I’ll see how close we are to the next floor.”

Logan
handed the flashlight to Muscles, who handed it to Jet.

The teen swung it around, the darkness swept away by the powerful beam. He grinned as he saw that the roof was just about level with the next floor. “The floor is only a foot higher.”

“That’s good news,” Baldy said, speaking for the first time in ages. He had been sitting down in the corner of the elevator since the power had gone out, but now he was standing next to the others.

“You two go first,” Muscles said, “then you two can help me up.”

As Baldy walked forward,
Logan
put a hand on his shoulder. “Wait!” He turned to Muscles. “I’m not sure Baldy and I could pull you up.”