Followed East

by Andre Gonzalez

  “Awareness? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Hey, neither do I, but they will be able to help you figure it out.”

  “Did you know about this, Mom?”

  Lori nodded. “I tried to pretend that I never knew about it. I heard the stories of some of the situations your grandmother went through, and I told myself I’d never let you get into that sort of danger. But, here we are.”

  “If you were to stay, you’d be wasting your life,” Travis said, lowering his head. “You see, The Crew always has its eyes open for people to recruit. Once you start excelling in life is when they come knocking.”

  “But I’m only a B student. I’ve never been an overachiever.”

  “It’s not about grades. Grades have nothing to do with how smart you are – they’re about discipline in school and playing the game right. You write essays in an hour that take some of your classmates three nights to complete—and it’s still B-quality work.”

  “You’re not challenged enough,” his mom added. She then broke down, burying her face into her hands and sobbing.

  Travis gestured for Kyle to do something since he no longer could. Kyle stood up and embraced his mother. “I’m going to be okay, Mom. I promise.”

  “I know,” she cried. “I’m supposed to have you for eighteen years, though. I’m not ready to have a few months taken away.”

  “You’re going to do great, Ky,” Travis said, tears forming in his eyes.

  Kyle waited a moment for his parents to gather themselves before asking, “So what do I do now?”

  “Call Colonel Griffins. He’ll have your travel arrangements ready for you,” Travis said. “You’re leaving tomorrow.”

  Kyle leaned back and pursed his lips, the weight of the world suddenly squeezing his skull.

  7

  Chapter 7

  The next twenty-four hours passed in a blur for Kyle. His parents had arranged a farewell dinner for Kyle and his two best friends that same night. He insisted they not invite his girlfriend, Jessica, who he planned to deliver the news to in person.

  His parents and friends agreed to publicly share the lie that Kyle was moving to the east coast to enter military school, not out of disciplinary reasons as many people assumed, but because he wanted to join the armed forces on the day he turned eighteen.

  The dinner with Mikey and Jimmy was full of laughs and memories. Not once did the topic of Exalls or their near-death experience at the extraterrestrials’ hands come up, which provided much-needed relief for Kyle to take his mind off his pending future. Dinner was followed by a short drive across town to breakup with Jessica at nine o’clock. She had questioned why he wanted to come over so late on a school night, her cranky father surely berating her with questions of his own. But Kyle assured it was too urgent to wait until the morning. While they both shed tears after a thirty-minute chat on her front porch, they hugged and went off on their separate ways. Kyle returned home needing to pack his bags, emotionally stunned and empty.

  Colonel Griffins nearly jumped through the phone to thank Kyle for joining, promising it would be a decision he’d never regret. He sent an email while they were still on the phone with Kyle’s travel arrangements for the following day.

  When he finished packing at one in the morning—with the help of his mother, who refused to spend a second away from him—Kyle looked around his bedroom, memories of his childhood screaming out, and cried himself to sleep. He didn’t know the first thing about living on his own. His cooking skills consisted of Kraft macaroni. Sometimes cereal.

  Was he expected to find a place to live on his own after the training program? How much were they going to pay him? All they ever told him was to not worry, that everything would be covered, but what the hell did that actually mean? The stress weighed down as he slept, causing him to wake up at least once an hour with a new worry he hadn’t considered before.

  When the sun broke through his blinds at 6:30, his eyes felt puffy, and his brain itched with exhaustion.

  I’m in no shape to start a new life today, he thought. His parents had a final breakfast planned for just the three of them before they’d drive him to the airport for his flight at noon. Everything had moved so quickly that he wondered if he’d ever have a moment to process what was happening. When he rolled his suitcase out of his childhood home, a tinge of despair ran through his body as he wondered if he’d ever return. There were no guarantees when dealing with Exalls—he’d learned that much from reading his grandmother’s journals.

  Life was now a movie running on fast forward, Kyle merely watching from the audience. Never had a two-hour breakfast passed in a matter of ten minutes. Destiny was tugging him to the next chapter of life, no matter how hard he dug his feet into the ground to try and prevent it.

  “It’s about that time,” Travis said, checking his watch at quarter to ten. Kyle’s mom clenched her lips together as she fought off fresh tears.

  Kyle’s body numbed as he felt himself going through the motions. Just a couple months ago he was a regular kid attending Larkwood High, giddy to have just received his driver’s license. Today he was boarding a plane to the nation’s capital with no idea when he’d return.

  His parents joined him all the way up to the security checkpoint where they gave their final goodbyes. His mother sobbed uncontrollably, while Travis gave a bearlike hug. As Kyle passed through security and looked over his shoulder, he caught sight of his dad embracing his mom, an image he thought he’d never see again. His leaving clearly took a toll on both of them too large to individually handle. They’d probably return home and resume their separate lives, but for this one moment it was heartbreakingly beautiful, and Kyle was grateful to have the image to keep in his heart.

  It left a wide grin on his face, even two hours later when he boarded the plane, and he trusted that everything was going to be alright.

  * * *

  Kyle slept heavily on the flight, his body demanding it catch up from the last week of shoddy sleep. He was snoring before they even took off, and didn’t wake up until the wheels touched ground, jerking the entire plane awake. Between the flight and the time change, it was already six in the evening when they arrived at Dulles International Airport.

  Colonel Griffins was to personally pick him up and escort him back to his new living quarters at the Pentagon, only he never mentioned it was going to be in such style.

  Kyle found the colonel waiting for him in the pickup area outside of baggage claim, standing in front of a shiny black town car, waving him over.

  “Welcome to Washington!” Griffins greeted, his hand stuck out firmly for Kyle to shake.

  “Thank you, sir. I can’t believe I’m already here.”

  “Well, we can, and we’re so excited to have you on board. Are you hungry for some dinner?”

  “Sure am.”

  “Let’s pick up some food on the way, and I’ll see you get settled into your dormitory.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Kyle had gone on a few family vacations, but had never traveled alone. Being responsible for himself in a new city provided an unexpected boost of energy. No one here knew him with the exception of the colonel, but even Griffins didn’t know him on a personal level. All the toxins of home—his parents’ divorce and his grandmother’s death, mainly—were in the rear-view mirror. Now he had an open road to the future, and for the first time after all of his skepticism, he realized he was free from his parents. Not that they were strict to begin with, but he no longer had to check-in regarding his whereabouts.

  The Crew must have truly thought highly of him to trust a 17-year-old boy to live on his own in a brand new city.

  “Tonight will be low-key,” Griffins said as they settled into the backseat. The front seat hid behind a thick black screen, where only the silhouette of a driver’s head could be made out. “I’ll show you around the Pentagon – well, our areas of it. Then you can get your room set up as much as you’d like, or go to sleep—I
’m sure you’re exhausted. Tomorrow I’ll give you a tour of the city so you can get familiar with it, and Wednesday we’ll jump right into the training program.”

  “Do I have a roommate?” Kyle asked.

  “A roommate? Of course not. We don’t expect you to share your living space with anyone. We want you as comfortable as possible. You’ll see that when we get to the Pentagon. We reside many levels underground. Even have fake outdoor areas, in case you need a quick break in the sunlight. You’re going to live inside, but we have everything you can imagine. It’s literally an entire underground city.”

  “I see.”

  The thought of living underground bothered him, but he’d hold his final judgment until he saw the living spaces for himself.

  “Just to give you an idea of what the next week will look like, Wednesday is the start of your training. We open with a raw skills test. We’ll give you basic tasks to complete, both mental and physical, without any training, just to see where you stand. Don’t feel pressured to achieve some sort of success. Just do your best. It’s strictly for us to formulate your training program for the following weeks. Thursday through Saturday will be actual training. Lots of classroom time to take you through the history of The Crew and the Exalls, and how we’re all interconnected. It sounds boring, but really is fascinating stuff.”

  “I don’t doubt it.”

  “Sunday is always an off day, so you’re free to do as you please. Just let us know if there’s anything in particular you’d like to do in town and we can arrange it.”

  “Anything?”

  “Yes. If you need a ride, tickets to an event, reservations at a restaurant, just let us know at least two hours in advance and we’ll get it taken care of. You’ll meet our concierge team—they’re the best.”

  Kyle gazed out the window as they passed Arlington National Cemetery, and chills broke out on his back as he remembered that’s where his grandmother’s gravestone stood, even though her body roamed somewhere in space.

  “Can I ask you something, Colonel?”

  “Of course.”

  “Were those attacks in Colorado done by . . . them? I saw the story on the news, and I couldn’t help but wonder.”

  Griffins stared at Kyle, first in amazement, but then in acceptance that he was now part of the team. “We are looking into it. We haven’t found any evidence yet that it was an Exall attack, but we can’t rule it out, either—it definitely has the characteristics of one.”

  “And that would throw everything off that we already know, right? Since they’re only supposed to attack every thirty years.”

  “You sure do know a lot already.”

  “My grandma took very detailed notes on just about everything. Every week in her journal was like a new discovery, even up to her final days.”

  “I see. You’re right, though – if the attack is confirmed as Exalls, we have a big problem on our hands. We’re already preparing for that possibility, but I pray every day it’s not true.”

  “Would I already have to go into battle?”

  “Not until you’re fully trained.”

  Kyle wanted to ask how long it would be until the training program was completed, but decided he didn’t want to know. Having a defined countdown would send his mind into a frenzy that he couldn’t afford. He kept his gaze out the window, letting the conversation with Griffins fade away, and he remembered what his father told him about having an ability to sense things.

  When he had watched the news about the bar attack in Stratton, the thought of Brian throbbed in his mind, nearly taking over his body. Every time he blinked he saw flashes of his old friend. And now again, just talking about the attacks created similar mental flashes. Brian grinning. Brian laughing. Brian staring into Kyle’s soul, promising to come find him.

  8

  Chapter 8

  They pulled into the Pentagon’s parking garage, and that’s when reality slapped Kyle across the face. This was his home now, the place where his future would mold his legacy. He felt his grandmother’s presence, knowing she had spent a lifetime in this same building, carving out a legacy of her own.

  The car entered the garage, cutting off the outside world as orange lighting splashed along the walls to guide the way. They drove down one level, then another. Four levels down they approached an armed gate with a giant stop sign and a booth with a solider holding an M5 rifle. The soldier nodded and pushed a button to raise the gate, and down they went to the sixth and final level.

  “This is so cool,” Kyle uttered, staring out his window. It had been nothing but a typical garage, but he noticed the cameras lining the walls, not even trying to hide. Guards stood in every corner, guns cocked and ready.

  The car stopped at steel double doors where two soldiers stood watch. They immediately raised their hands in a salute when Colonel Griffins stepped out of the car.

  “Good evening, gentlemen,” he greeted them as they parted ways to clear a path. “Follow me, Kyle.”

  Kyle had hesitated, momentarily terrified of the two soldiers who may or may not have known who he was. He was with the colonel, though, so had nothing to worry about.

  Colonel Griffins pulled open the door and led them into a lobby and whole new world. The dungeon-like feel of the garage gave way to a pristine office setting, glass walls, crystal chandeliers, and TV monitors behind an oak reception desk.

  “Good evening, Colonel,” greeted another soldier who appeared just as intimidating as the two standing outside. “Is this Mr. Wells?”

  “It sure is. Kyle, this is Jack. He splits the duty of manning our front desk with Rachel McDowell. You’ll meet her another time I’m sure, but these two will always be here if you need anything. They are our concierge team I had told you about.”

  “Jack Bridges. We have all the fun around here,” Jack said, reaching over his desk to shake Kyle’s hand. He had a buzz cut and a pair of glasses that seemed too small for his large face. “We know every little secret about this city, so if there’s anything you ever need, just let us know, Mr. Wells.”

  “Thank you,” Kyle said, returning the handshake and feeling how he imagined rich people must felt checking in to some exotic five-star hotel. “Do you get Nationals tickets?” he asked, making sure his baseball needs would be met.

  Jack chuckled. “How does front row behind the Nationals’ dugout sound?”

  Kyle gasped, not meaning to, but the genuine surprise and shock forced the sound out of his throat. Griffins and Jack looked at each other and started laughing.

  “It’s refreshing to have your basic joy of life around here, kid,” Griffins said, slapping a hand on Kyle’s back. “We sure could use it. Let’s head up to your dorm, but you can always come back down and see Jack.”

  “Nice meeting you, Mr. Wells, and welcome to The Crew.”

  “Thanks again.”

  Griffins led them into a bullpen area where hundreds of empty desks and a handful of workers filled the room.

  “This place is huge,” Kyle said, unable to see the back wall. “This many people work here?”

  “Yes,” Griffins replied. “And this is just Washington. We have a few remote offices around the country and tons of agents working in the field. As for our main office here, we have over 600 members who will come through over the course of a week. This place is chaos during the workday, but right now you can see there are only a few people still at their desks. Mostly everyone has gone home for the night, but there will always be someone here at any time of day, monitoring the activities going on around the world.”

  “Is this where I’ll be?”

  “No, the training program is a different part of the office. Keep in mind we have sublevels four through seven. Seven is below us and is our infirmary. We’re on six right now, the heart of the office, where the majority of the work gets done. All of the department heads have offices down here, myself included. You might spend some time down here during your training to see how different teams work, but most of yo
ur time will be on the fifth floor. That’s where we have our training room, gym, cafeteria, and outdoor patio. The dorms are on the fourth floor. So let me take you through five first, show you where you’ll need to be on Wednesday morning, then we’ll head to your room.”

  Griffins led the way, zigzagging through the labyrinth of desks until they reached the back wall a minute later where a stairwell led up to the fifth floor. Griffins’s boots clapped and echoed on the stairs as they worked their way up, stepping into a long hallway that stretched as far as the office space below them on the sixth level.

  “Up here, everything is divided into its own room. You’ll see each door is labeled with what’s inside.”

  Kyle gawked down the hallway. There had to be at least twelve doors on each side.

  “You’ll be getting a schedule every morning delivered under your door. It’ll have your class times for the day and which rooms they’ll be in. It will always be on this floor. Let me show you around. This first door is the cafeteria.”

  Griffins pushed open the door to the sight of dozens of rectangular tables in neat rows. A handful of people ate dinner while others stood at the counter placing their order.

  “You can order anything you want,” Griffins said. “You can actually create your own personal menu ahead of time – our chefs like that so they can prepare.”

  Kyle noticed a salad bar, vending machines, and a fountain machine, the modern kind with a touchscreen, and hundreds of random flavors to add to your Coke.

  “This is free?” Kyle asked, his jaw hanging open.

  “Free to you. Everything is free to you. Our department is treated the best in all of the military. Our budget is off the books, for obvious reasons.”

  “So if I wanted to order a steak with a side of mashed potatoes, I could go do that right now?”